My notable releases of 2023.
1. City of Gold by Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway
Tuttle has ascended to hero status in my pantheon. What a talent! The guitar and voice is obvious but her ability as composer, lyricist, arranger, and band leader are also impressive. The new album has a wide range of music with great players. You can find turbocharged bluegrass racing but I chose a slower one (with the estimable Jerry Douglas) for you that I think is a gem. I'm often not sure about what poetry means and that's the case here. I think it might be about watching TV.
Stranger Things
2. Miracle-Level by Deerhoof
This, their 19th album since starting in the year of AOL 1995, might be a good starting place for those not yet familiar with this ever imaginative, fun band. I have always admired their successful merger of the virtues of prog rock with 90s indie punk. The new album is apparently their first recorded as a complete project in one studio with a producer and it works well. Nothing seems to have been lost by this method and the music is a bit clearer, cohering well but also with parts in more focus.
Phase-Out All Remaining Non-Miracles by 2028
3. Memoria by John Zorn and Bill Laswell
Zorn (alto sax) and Laswell (bass guitar) improvise three cuts here, each named after a great jazz musician that died this year:
Pharoah Sanders,
Milford Graves, and
Wayne Shorter. My friend Gavin says the 2nd cut reminds him of
Stravinsky's Symphony for Wind Instruments. I'm not sure which bits of each correspond to the other ¯\_(⊙︿⊙)_/¯
Milford Graves
Honorable mention: I Am a Pilgrim: Doc Watson at 100
A various artists compilation, I believe of new recordings made for this album, each a song by the great guitarist and singer or one that he played a lot. There's a lot to enjoy here but like a lot of tribute albums, sequencing is tricky so it might be better to dip into it. (Kinda like the new Dolly Parton
Rockstar album which is just too much to listen to as an album. Way too much.)
Doc's Guitar played by Yasmin Williams. All guitar nerds gotta watch these three minutes carefully. It's really something.