Music In, 2022, Batch 4

October, November, and December acquisitions, & 2022 is in the bag!

• katie dey, "the kraken", 2022, 5 tracks, Bandcamp. I commented last time about how prolific dey is, they are not slowing down. These tracks are not hard to listen to, slow & dreamy, but no standouts. 3 stars.
• Björk, "Fossara", 2022, 13 tracks. The World's Greatest Living Composer does not disappoint. Some definitely odd orchestration, yay! Thematically, a lot of earth & nature mystical memes.
  The 1st video, of the 1st track, "Atopos", is LOL - I think I saw a quote "Björk at her Björkiest" - FTW! Bizarre visuals, instrumentation 7 bass clarinets. 4 stars. Here is the "Atopos" video.

• Various Artists, "Good Music to Ensure Safe Abortion Access to All", 2022, 49 tracks, Bandcamp. This was a 1-day special fundraider. Hmmm, apparently they meant it, searching for it on Bandcamp gives no results.
  Lots of good tracks from quite a roster of contributors, including:
  • Amanda Shires & Jason Isbell
  • Andrew Bird
  • Animal Collective
  • Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros
  • Cat Powers
  • David Byrne & Devo
  • Death Cab For Cutie
  • Dirty Projectors
  • Fleet Foxes
  • My Morning Jacket
  • Pearl Jam
  • R.E.M.
  • Soccer Mommy
  It was a "pay what you want" deal, $49 per my normal $1/track algorithm seemed too much, I think I gave $30. I should have given more, even if not tax-deductible. [Bullshit capitalist algorithm running ...] 3 stars.
• Todd Rundgren, "Space Force", 2022, 12 tracks. This took a while to grow on me, but it did. Some good tunes, some odd tunes ("Down with the Ship", "Your Fandango", "Stfu"). A different collaborator, in many different forms, on each track. Here's a really interesting 35 minute video on the album, with Rundgren talking w the Lemon Twigs brothers.
  4 stars. Here's a peppy "I'm Leaving", with the Lemon Twigs, which could have come from anytime in Rundgren's incredible career. Totally a fan, at age 74 he is totally an inspiration to this old dumbass.

• Blossom Dearie, "SINGS ROOTIN' SONGS", 1963, 12 tracks. This album was billed as 1963 hits. You got it by mailing in 3 Hires root bear bottle caps and $0.50. Some interesting songs, some I would have just as soon not heard again. As interesting an historical figure as she is, I think I'm done with Bloosom Dearie. 4 stars for "I've Got Your Number" and "He Loves Me", 3 stars for the rest. Here's "He Loves Me", which I remember from 1963 or so (although it was originally "She Loves Me").

• Takuya Kuroda, "Midnight Crisp", 2022, 6 tracks, Bandcamp. I really enjoyed his last album, this is more of the same, tasty jazz tunes. I almost don't miss vocals. 4 stars. I could have picked any of the tracks for the video, here's the title track.

• Marianne Faithful, "A Secret Life", 1995, 10 tracks. I got this from the old English guy whose "journal of a grumpy old man" I subscribe to - mostly to be aghast at his eating habits ;-> This album really seems like an old person making music for other old people. She was born in 1945, so currently 78 YO, she would have been only 50 when this album was recorded - her 12th of the 21 albums she is up to now. 3 stars.
• Low, "C'mon", 2011, 10 tracks, Bandcamp. An indie band that was founded in 1993, mostly a guitar/drums duo with 4 different bass players. Rick Beato mentioned it last year at the death of the drummer/vocalist Mimi Parker. They were known for slow, sparce music. I like it. 4 stars. Here's "You See Everything".

• Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, "Cool It Down", 2022, 8 tracks, Bandcamp. This band is a fav of my oldest daughter Erica. Their 1st album in 9 years. Very listenable tunes, some punkier than others. Here is my of course favorite track, the upbeat, poppy "Different Today".

• Sylvan Esso, "No Rules Sandy", 2022, 16 tracks, Bandcamp. 5 tracks are short (< 30 seconds), with their name parenthesized. I got their 1st album when it came out in 2014. I like this 1 better that that 1. 4 stars. Here's the peppy & upbeat "Didn't Care".

• Jodi, "Blue Heron", 2021, 10 tracks, Bandcamp. Hunh, very much cut from the same cloth as Low (above): slow, dreamy. Definitely borderline 3 stars, but the title track (last) saves it. 4 stars.

Happy New Year!

5 More

Well, I did start writing the review of the economics book. Got maybe 1/4 of the way done. Then, my wife came down Saturday Feb 10, & Saturday we drove to Miami & flew to St. Martin for a week's stay. Our 1st time back at Grand Case Beach Club in 15 years! After visiting Martinique & Guadeloupe, it was amazing how small St. Martin/St. Maarten is! But Grand Case was as funky as ever. Our favorite restaurant Il Netuno was gone, as was Le California. The FishPot was now Seaside 82 or some such. The French food did us in tho. You have got to be in training to eat that rich stuff. We found a place with a good seafood or shrimp or nicoise salad & ate there 3x.

Unfortunately, either during the ~1 hour I waited (unmasked) in Punta Gorda airport for my wife, or during the (masked) trip to St. Martin from Miami International, I finally caught the COVID. Symptoms Sunday, miserable Monday night, tested positive Tuesday. Still symptomatic, mostly mild but variable, I hope to be over it soon.

But enough brain fog that I don't think I'm up to trying to disentangle / refactor the economics book, so I'll grind through the easy books I've read since last time. I may go on and do another Music In batch too.

1st, "Imperium Restored", by Walter Jon Williams, 2022, 510 pages, 138k words. I think this is the last book of this series! I always enjoy Williams' writing, but, enough of this feudal, classist universe already! I looked back through my comments on the other volumes of this series and there is definitely ambiguity in my views. A little bit of a twist at the end, and, we're done!

2nd, "A Mirror Mended", by Alix E. Harrow, 2022, 132 pages, 33k words. More on the multiversal versions of Sleeping Beauty/Snow White, this time featuring the Evil Queen trying to escape her narrative. Quick & easy read, creative ideas. Harrow was my neighbor for a while, ~40 miles away in KY, it appears she has moved to Virginia :-(

3rd, "Children of Memory", by Adrian Tchaikovsky, 2022, 406 pages, 125k words. The 3rd in the series. It started with uplifted hunter spiders, then uplifted octopuses & a bacterial race with atomic memory encoding. This installment ... CORVIDS, FTW!!! Uplifted 2' tall crows with yet another very odd model of intelligence. Plus a very complex, very rewarding framework. Tchaikovsky continues to delight, he has done really well with this series. Just preordered the 4th book, out in June, yay!

4th, "Lady of Mazes", by Karl Schroeder, 2005, 402 pages, 116k words. Schroeder has some of the most interesting ideas out there, somehow I have found it hard to engage with his writings. Hence just reading this 2005 release. A future post-scarcity utopia, with AIs ruling the solar system & preventing humans from becoming post-human, although there are some "gods" who used to be humans. Virtual reality tech allows multiple, technologically incompatible worldviews to coexist and overlap. But, is it a utopia or a dystopia? A very good read.

5th, "Hopeland", by Ian McDonald, 2023, 495 pages, 153k words. What an odd novel! It starts out reminding me of John Crowley's "Little, Big" - high praise - with 2 "magical" "families" finding each other, plus electromancy with Tesla coils used to fight demons, & winds up a work of climate fiction?!?!? A great, if strange, read.