June 2021 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

Screenshot of the trailer of Lili by There Stands the Glass.

Top Ten Albums (released in June)

1. Migos- Culture III

My post-vaccination party soundtrack, 1/2.

2. Billy F Gibbons- Hardware

My post-vaccination party soundtrack, 2/2.

3. Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion- Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part

I love the elements I love more than I loathe the elements I loathe.

4. Anthony Braxton- 12 Comp (Zim)

My review.

5. Chris Thile- Laysongs

Anxious gospel.

6. Tyler, The Creator- Call Me If You Get Lost

Goblin grows up.

7. Julian Lage- Squint

A different type of power trio.

8. Wild Up- Julius Eastman, Vol. 1: Femenine

A vital conceptualization.

9. Mac Lethal- Winter Heartbreak II

My review.

10. Angel Bat Dawid- Hush Harbor Mixtape Vol. 1 Doxology

Ancient to the (lofi) future.

Top Ten Songs (released in June)

1. Megan Thee Stallion- “Thot Sh*t”

“Lit since brunch.”

2. Little Simz- "Rollin' Stone"

Quenched.

3. Rauw Alejandro and Anitta- "Brazilera"

Carnival.

4. Moor Mother- "Zami"

Traveling the spaceways.

5. Billie Eilish- "Lost Cause"’

Dead flowers.

6. Petra Haden- "Silence"

Song for her father.

7. Becky G and El Alfa- “Fulanito”

Rhythm nation.

8. Jennifer Hudson- "Here I Am"

Aria for Aretha.

9. Bfd Da Packman- “Wendy Williams”

“Back to Walmart.”

10. Brittney Spencer- “Sober & Skinny”

You got a fast car.

Top Ten Concerts (first monthly ranking since March 2020!)

1. Irreversible Entanglements- Stephens Lake Park Amphitheatre (Columbia, Missouri)

My review.

2. Johnny Rawls- Gladstone Summertime Bluesfest 

My notes.

3. Bird Fleming and Bill Summers’ “Voyage of the Drum”- Dunbar Park

My review.

4. Second Nature Ensemble- Westport Coffee House

My review.

5. En Vogue- Hy-Vee Arena

My review.

6. Mike Dillon and Nikki Glaspie- 1900 Building

My review.

7. Adam Galblum Quartet- Market KC

Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli revived.

8. Kian Byrne- Second Presbyterian Church

A singer-songwriter sweats it out under the setting sun.

9. Roman Alexander- KC Live

My review.

10. The Kansas City Chorale- Rolling Hills Presbyterian Church

Docked several notches for a clergyman’s abhorrent mask-shaming.

Top Ten Movies (viewed for the first time in June)

1. Jojo Rabbit (2019)

Gesundheit!

2. Lili (1953)

A French twist on The Wizard of Oz.

3. La ciociara/Two Women (1960)

Sophia Loren and Eleonora Brown suffer unspeakable trauma.

4. Polish Wedding (1998)

Love in Hamtramck.

5. Murder, My Sweet (1944)

Psychotropic noir.

6. I Accuse! (1958)

Straightforward depiction of the Dreyfus affair.

7. Lisztomania (1975)

Richard Wagner is Satan in Ken Russell’s gonzo freakout. 

8. Terri (2011)

Teen cringe.

9. The Shadow on the Window (1957)

And Jerry Mathers as the murder witness.

10. Small Town Crime (2017)

Negligible noir.

May’s recap and links to previous monthly surveys are here.

Album Review: Anthony Braxton- 12 Comp (Zim)

I binged on Anthony Braxton’s 12 Comp (Zim) this week.  Rather than savoring each of the 12 concerts in the new set, I elected to plow through all 638 minutes of the recordings from 2017 in three days.  My approach may have devalued the music, but it elevated even the most mundane aspects of my daily life.  The work of the decorated genius demands- and merits- attentive listening.  Yet I experienced it amid the footsteps of joggers, the thrum of kitchen appliances, the chatter of tree-dwelling creatures and the rumble of street traffic.  I felt consecrated by the merger of hallowed and commonplace sounds.

As someone who traveled 500 miles to attend a Braxton concert in 2018, I realize I’m an atypical listener.  Even so, it’s amazing how some of his most challenging music is transformed into semi-easy listening after just a few hours. My life partner didn’t once complain about the continual onslaught. She may share my sense that the spectral sounds are divinely inspired. The interstellar chamber music documented on 12 Comp (Zim) is a self-contained universe.  Akin to an alien life form derived from unknown biological building blocks, Braxton’s drummer-less band exists apart from established Earth-bound categories.

The sonic wavelengths created by a core group that includes an accordionist, a pair of harpists and a tuba player operates within a system of recondite rules outside the realms of classical, jazz and popular music. Figuratively and literally, it’s a lot. I would be content spending the remainder of 2021 decoding 12 Comp (Zim). Corresponding video documentation would aid in the analysis. Yet Quartet (Standards) 2020, an even bigger box of Braxton with a very different set of collaborators, was also released this month. The Braxton binge is just beginning.