Music In, 2024, Batch 4

I'm doing something different here, in the name of efficiency. I am starting this post December 23, still in this quarter, rather than towards the middle/end of the next quarter, which is when I usually create and post these album lists. I'll enter all the albums I've acquired so far; if I acquire any more before the end of the quarter (year), I'll add them as acquired. Then as I listen to these albums (they are playing now), if I spot the album's "catchy tune", I can capture it, rather than try to remember months later. Lots more Una Mae Carlisle, other good stuff, this quarter.

• Una Mae Carlisle, "Beautiful", 1941, 8 tracks. Looking for Una Mae online, after finding the 5 live songs from last quarter on Amazon, I found this album of 8 tracks on Apple music. Surely there's more? More on that later.

  I am working up 4/5 on the other album, from this one I will add 4 more: "i met you then, i know you now". "if i had you", "love walked in", and "you made me love you". "hangover blues" was on the 5 track album. "blitzkrieg baby" is a cute song, but I don't think I'll do it. 4 stars.

• Vampire Weekend, "Only God Was Above Us", 10 tracks, 2023, BandCamp. The 1st track starts out maybe a little dolorous, I was concerned, but the album very quickly got back to peppy, upbeat songs & beats. These guys are really producing a consistent body of work. 4 stars. Here's "prep-school gangsters".

• Delta Sleep, "Blue Garden", 12 tracks, 2024, BandCamp. British, currently based in Brighton. The 2nd of their albums I've purchased. Like the other, these are great songs, but just a little to high-energy & punky for me at my advanced age. 3 stars.

• Nubian Twist, "Find Your Flame (Deluxe Edition)", 2024, 17 tracks, BandCamp. Many guest artists, which may help this band be as productive as it is. Power horn R&B band from Manchester, UK. Great tracks. 4 stars. Here's "lights out", with Niles Rodgers.

• Andrew Bird, "Cunningham Bird", 2024, 10 tracks, BandCamp. Bird & Cunningham recreate the landmark "Buckingham Nicks" album of 1973. That album was a flop, and has never been reissued, so it is hard to lay your hands on. Bird & Cunningham have fun with these tunes. 4 stars. I thought my fav would be "crystal", which is in my book, but I wound up liking "crying in the night" best.

• Bon Iver, "Sable", 2024, 4 tracks, BandCamp. Apparently their 1st in a while? OK tunes, 4 stars. Here's "things behind things behind things", with some nice pedal steel.

• Una Mae Carlisle, "In Chronology - 1938-1941", 21 tracks; "In Chronology - 1941-1944", 24 tracks; "In Chronology - 1944-1950", 25 tracks. Well, here's the rest of Una Mae's recordings. 70 tracks total, in chronological order no less, 4 stars for all! The 1st disk contains all the songs on the other 2 albums I already had. These CDs were like $19.95 each, so less than $1/track, but more than you would expect to pay for a compilation like this. Somebody was smart $$$-wise withholding the rights to these songs. This series looks like it could be a good resource.
  
  
  I think the best material of the 12 years covered here is the earliest. As time passes the arrangements get more big band sounding, which I like less. Here's another early song which she wrote and which I think was her biggest hit. Per Wikipedia, this song made her "the first black woman to have a composition appear on a Billboard chart". Recorded 1940-11-13, "walkin' by the river". Ella and others have covered this song.

  I will work this one up, and I suspect several more: "you're gonna change your mind", "it ain't like that", "i like it 'cause i love it", "throw it out your mind", "forgive me for getting forgetful" - I have a total of 16 Una Mae songs in my list, including 1 recorded & 1 in process.

• William Tyler, "Future Myths", 2024, 10 tracks, BandCamp. Guitar rock that is in the sweet spot: lots of reverb, harmonics, hammers, pulls, very ethereal - somehow I'm thinking John Fahey, who I'm not sure I remember??? Hmmm, I gave his 7 track album 3 stars, this is similar quality, so I guess 3 stars again.

• soccer mommy, "Evergreen", 2024, 11 tracks, BandCamp. These are very nice tunes, very chill, very easy to listen to, but I could not find the catchy 1 to provide a video, so 3 stars.

• Redeyes, "Redeyes Soul Edits Volume 3", 2024, 4 tracks, BandCamp. French (Toulouse) techno, apparently around since 2006. Only 4 tracks, nothing really jumped out, unlike their last effort. So, 3 stars.

• Wes Montgomery, "Boss Guitar", 1963, 10 tracks. My good friend Canadian harpist (and former virtuoso guitarist) Owen Evans recommended this album to me after I mentioned I had never found much Wes Montgomery I particularly liked. Sadly, that still seems the to be the case, sorry Owen. Very abstract stuff, with some catchy melodies, but just way too jazzy - I seem to be finding out that I am really not that big a fan of jazz. Listening to it, I'm kind of like "OK, I could play that." with an occasional "Wow, that was a fast lick.". Just not song-like enough for me. I'm about songs. 3 stars.

• Darwin Deez, "of course i still love you", 2024, 20 tracks, BandCamp. I don't know if I've seen this before: the album has 10 songs, recorded 1st with vocals, and then as instrumentals. I like the instrumentals more than I expected to. Nice pop tunes, his distinctive guitar sound is still there, 4 stars. Here's "sophie softly":

I think getting this done early will give me more time to listen to new 2025 stuff. But, lately, I'm still more interested in Music Out, i.e., Jaz Dumoz, than I am in Music In. Still, 3 new albums so far this year. The process is still ongoing.