Music In, 2022, Batch 3

This is the music I acquired in July, August, & September.

• Kaidi Tatham, "Don't Rush The Process", 2022, 12 tracks, Bandcamp. This is the third album of his I have, the Afro-Jazz is consistently relaxing yet energizing?!?!? 4 stars. Here's "We Chillin' Out (feat. The Easy Access Orchestra)".

• The Mountain Goats, "Bleed Out", 2022, 12 tracks, Bandcamp. I was somewhat flummoxed - the more I listened to the album, the more bloody-minded it seemed. Songs like "Make You Suffer", (we may run out of bullets, we're never gonna run out of) "Hostages", "Need More Bandages", and the title track, it all seemed somewhat thematic. So, I looked it up, and per the review on Apple Music, John Darnielle spent COVID lockdown in 2020 bingeing action/adventure thrillers, from whence this album sprang. OK, makes sense. 4 stars. Here's "Need More Bandages".

• Tom Waits, "Mule Variations", 1999, 16 tracks. Wow, his vocal style is all over the place, but there are many great songs on this album: "Pony", "Picture In A Frame", "Georgia Lee", "Take It With Me", "Come On Up To The House". The paranoid recital "What's He Building?" is oddly compelling, and the Captain Beefheart influence is evident. 4 stars. Here's "Hold On".

• John Legend, "LEGEND", 2022, 24 tracks. 11 collaborators. Very listenable. Funny, I looked up the album on Wikipedia, and noticed, as Rick Beato said, man, there were a lot of writers & producers. I created a spreadsheet, results are: writers, 2-11, average 5.6; producers, 1-5, average 3.1. I guess it's like all the (executive) producers in movie credits. Apparently big media is a massively multiplayer game. One wonders, though, how much invidual genius still manages to sneak through? 4 stars. Here's the catchy "All She Wanna Do", which is apparently a hit - it came up on the muzak when I was selling a high chair back to "Once Upon A Child" - I got $20, FTW!

• Lake Street Dive, "Fun Machine: The Sequel", 2022, 6 tracks, Bandcamp. Not quite as much fun as "Fun Machine" - which came out in 2014, wow, 8 years ago - but, it seems like this just came up, the 2nd album of fav covers is not going to be as good as the 1st album - duh. Several songs had weird beats & arrangments?!?!? Still, 4 stars. The big winner is "Nick of Time", by Bonnie Raitt. I put this song in my book, playing it I realized that the thing that makes this song is the backup vocals. I love this video! Rachel has stolen sooo many of my dance moves ...

• St. Vincent, "Daddy's Home", 2021, 14 tracks. The album celebrates the release from prison of her father, who did 9 years for financial crimes. The vampiness at times is a bit much. A lot of 70's sounding Fender Rhodes electric piano, sitar, ??? OK, per the Wikipedia Article on the album:

  Daddy's Home was inspired by Clark's father's release from prison at the end of 2019, as well as the musical palette of New York City in the first half of the 1970s. The record musically incorporates 1970s inspired rock and psychedelic music.

  Not my favorite of her work. 4 stars. Here's "The Melting of the Sun", featuring a psychedelic video.

  [Note, my Vincent blue Sterling By Music Man St. Vincent Signature guitar is still my current go-to electric guitar.]

• The Beths, "Expert In A Dying Field", 2022, 12 tracks, Bandcamp. The 3rd album of New Zealand energetic indie rock. Very listenable. 4 stars. Here's the title track.

That leaves the unrated smart playlist of October, November, & January acquisitions at a current count of 125 - and 49 of that is the abortion rights benefit compilation. I may actually go through my emails from Bandcamp & try out some new stuff, woo-hoo!