Night After Night

NPR: "NPR Music's 27 Favorite Songs Of 2021 (So Far)"

"NPR Music's 27 Favorite Songs Of 2021 (So Far)"
NPR Music
June 30, 2021

Ryley Walker, "Rang Dizzy"

Two years after kicking addiction to the curb, singer, songwriter and guitarist Ryley Walker has achieved fever-pitch productivity, documenting pellucid songs, psychedelic jams and freewheeling improvisations on his Husky Pants label. Course in Fable, issued in April, weds his customarily airy tunesmithing with gently abstruse lyrics and prog-infused arrangements. "Rang Dizzy" is lush and brusque, a waking dream with implicit edge: When Walker ends each chorus with, "F*** me, I'm alive," his wonder feels weighty.—Steve Smith

NPR: "NPR Music's 26 Favorite Albums Of 2021 (So Far)"

"NPR Music's 26 Favorite Albums Of 2021 (So Far)"
NPR Music
June 30, 2021

Gabriella Smith/Gabriel Cabezas, Lost Coast

Inspired by California coastal woodlands ravaged by wildfires, Lost Coast is a paean to nature, an expression of outrage and a celebration of the close-knit bonds among its makers: composer Gabriella Smith, cellist Gabriel Cabezas and producer Nadia Sirota. The titular composition began life as a concerto, but then transformed into a rangy threnody for cello, voice and electronics; "Bard of a Wasteland," the buoyant album-opening ballad, breaks new ground for everyone involved.—Steve Smith

Playlist (Another Loop in a Line).

A weekly tally of noteworthy things that got stuck in my ears…

King Crimson - Audio Diary 2014-2018 (DGM/Panegyric; 2019)

Michael Harrison - Seven Sacred Names - Michael Harrison, Roomful of Teeth, Tim Fain, Ashley Bathgate, Caleb Burhans, Payton MacDonald, Ina Filip, and Ritvik Yaparpalvi (Cantaloupe; 2021)

Dire Wolves Just Exactly Perfect Sisters Band - Bolinas (Pome Pome Tones subscriber exclusive; 2021)

Claire Rousay - Live (self-released subscriber exclusive; 2021)

Jeffrey Alexander + The Heavy Lidders - Grays Ferry Bridge, Philadelphia, PA, 18 June 2021 (self-released subscriber exclusive; 2021)

Kevin Drumm - Neighbors (self-released; 2021)

King Crimson - The Elements of King Crimson – Tour Box 2014 (DGM/Panegyric; 2014)

Motion Sickness of Time Travel - If We Were Landscapes (self-released; 2021)

Grant Evans - Taciturn, Moribund (Flag Day; 2021)

John Cage - Number Pieces - Apartment House (Another Timbre; due late July 2021)

King Crimson - The Elements of King Crimson – Tour Box 2015 (DGM/Panegyric; 2015)

Enslaved - Utgard – The Journey Within (Cinematic Tour 2020) (Nuclear Blast; 2021)

Ryley Walker - Course in Fable (Husky Pants; 2021)

Gabriella Smith/Gabriel Cabezas - Lost Coast (Bedroom Community; 2021)

Tom Hall - Failed Attempts at Silence (Superpang; 2021)

Konx-om-Pax - Cabin Fever EP (Superpang; 2021)

Voice of Eye - Hearts in Darkness (self-released; 2021)

Jon Hassell - Seeing Through Sound (Pentimento Vol. 2) (Ndeya; 2020)

Mario Pavone/Dialect Trio +1 - Blue Vertical (Out of Your Head; 2021)

Tangerine Dream - Live at the Rainbow, London – 27th October 1974 (Virgin; 2020)

Eventless Plot - Anisixia (Edition Wandelweiser; 2021)

Enslaved - The Rise of Ymir (Verftet Online Festival 2020) (Nuclear Blast; 2021)

Goings On About Town, July 5, 2021.

The Goings On About Town section in The New Yorker has begun a gradual return to its conventional format, with live, in-person events resuming their place among the album reviews and online events that replaced them throughout pandemic quarantine months. (Click on the image to enlarge it, or hit the link to read the text on the New Yorker website.)

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NPR: "Springsteen, Foo Fighters, Strokes Rock Vaccinated New Yorkers In June"

"Springsteen, Foo Fighters, Strokes Rock Vaccinated New Yorkers In June"
NPR
June 8, 2021

Playlist (The Heat and the Steam of the City).

A weekly tally of noteworthy things that got stuck in my ears…

Roger Sessions- When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd - Esther Hinds, Florence Quivar, Dominic Cossa, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, Boston Symphony Orchestra/Seiji Ozawa (New World; 1977)

Ralph Vaughan Williams - Pastoral Symphony (No. 3); Symphony No. 4 in F minor; Sarabande "Helen" - Elizabeth Watts, David Butt Philip; BBC Symphony Chorus, BBC Symphony Orchestra/Martyn Brabbins (Hyperion; 2020)

Michael Tippett - A Child of Our Time - Indra Thomas, Mihoko Fujimura, Steve Davislim, Matthew Rose, London Symphony Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra/Colin Davis (LSO Live; 2008)

Memoriam - To the End (Reaper Entertainment; 2021)

King Crimson - Meltdown: Live in Mexico (DGM; 2018)

Genesis - Coliseum, Oakland, California, February 20, 1984 (ROIO; 1984)

Devin Gray - Melt All the Guns (Rataplan; 2021)

Viktor Orri Árnasson - Eilífur (Pentatone; due June 18, 2021)

Sandy Ewen/Keith Rowe/Damon Smith + Gooseberry Marmalade - Houston 2012 (Balance Point Acoustics; 2021)

Clíona Doris - Cantares de la Frontera (Louth Contemporary Music Society; 2021)

Peter Garland - Cantares de la frontera; Deirdre McKay - handwoven

Kevin Volans - Lenguas de Fuego - Mia Cooper, Anna Cashel, Joachim Roewer, William Butt, Silvija Scerbaviciute, Brian Dungan, Andrew Synnott (Louth Contemporary Music Society; 2021)

Robert Fripp - Salisbury Cathedral, Salisbury, England, June 2, 1997 (DGMLive; 2021)

Jeffrey Alexander and the Heavy Lidders - Jeffrey Alexander and the Heavy Lidders (Arrowhawk; due Aug. 6, 2021)

Genesis - San Siro Stadium, Milan, Italy, May 19, 1987 (ROIO; 1987)

Vanessa Rossetto - Legends of American Theatre (Regional Bears; 2021)

Tom Johnson - Counting to Seven - Dedalus (New World; 2021)

Anthony Braxton - 12 Comp (ZIM) 2017 (Firehouse 12; 2021)

Ralph Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis - London Symphony Orchestra/Antonio Pappano (LSO Live; 2021)

King Crimson - Live in Vienna (DGM; 2018)

Clara Warnaar - Perfect Try (self-released; 2021)

Tony Malaby - Turnpike Diaries, Vol. 4 (self-released; 2021)

Skúli Sverrisson with Bill Frisell - Strata (Newvelle; 2021)

Lucy Railton & Kit Downes - Subaerial (SN Variations; due Aug. 13, 2021)

Nick Storring - Newfoundout (mappa; due July 16, 2021)