J. Cole

September 2024 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

Screenshot of a preview of San Francisco Opera’s production of Giuseppe Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera by There Stands the Glass.

Top Ten Albums of September (as of 9/23)

1. Sarah Davachi- The Head as Form’d in the Crier’s Choir
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth.

2. Nala Sinephro- Endlessness
Limitless.

3. Masayoshi Fujita- Migratory
Flight paths.

4. Colin Stetson- The Love It Took to Leave You
My review.

5. Blackstarkids- Saturn Dayz
Interplanetary pop.

6. Caroline Davis- Portals, Volume 2: Returning
Passages.

7. Future- Mixtape Pluto
Slime.

8. Alice Zawadzki- Za Górami
Euro folk a la ECM.

9. Jason Stein- Anchors
With Joshua Abrams and Gerald Cleaver.

10. Max Richter- In a Landscape
Stunning vistas.


Top Ten Songs of September (as of 9/23)

1. Midland- “Barely Blue”
Honky tonk masquerade.

2. Dwight Yoakam and Post Malone- “I Don’t Know How to Say Goodbye (Bang Bang Boom Boom)”
Heartaches by the number.

3. Bad Bunny- “Una Velita”
Burning.

4. A$AP Rocky and J. Cole- “Ruby Rosary”
Unholy.

5. SleazyWorld Go- “Olé Olé”
Made it.

6. Dom Salvador with Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad- "Os Ancestrais"
Brazilian bounceback.

6. Amaria- “Finer Things”
Luxurious.

8. Jerry Douglas and Aoife O’Donovan- “What Might Have Been”
Possibilities.

9. Regional Justice Center- "Moral Death Sentence"
Here comes the judge.

10. Foxing- “Kentucky McDonald’s”
Art is hard.


Top Ten Performances of September (as of 9/23)

1. Khatia Buniatishvili at Helzberg Hall
My Instagram snapshot.

2. Dwight Frizzell’s “Bridge” at Charlotte Street Foundation
My Instagram clip.

3. Reverie Road at Washington Square Park (Kansas City Irish Fest)
My Instagram clip.

4. Negativland at recordBar (Outer Reaches Festival)
My Instagram clip.

5. The Kansas City Symphony conducted by Matthias Pintscher with cellist Alisa Weilerstein at Helzberg Hall
My review.

6. Damon Smith, Jeff Harshbarger, Krista Kopper and Aaron Osborne at Westport Coffee House
My Instagram snapshot.

7. Jackie Myers, Rich Wheeler and Jeff Harshbarger at the Market at Meadowbrook
My Instagram snapshot.

8. Abraham Olivo at the Market at Meadowbrook
My Instagram clip.

9. The Mighty Mo Jazz Orchestra at Second Presbyterian Church
My Instagram clip.

10. The Sons of Brasil at Harmon Park (Prairie Village Jazz Festival)
My Instagram clip.


The previous monthly recap is here.

January 2022 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

Screenshot of the trailer of The Face of Another by There Stands the Glass.

Top Ten Albums (released in January)

1. The Weeknd- Dawn FM

My podcast analysis.

2. Andrew Cyrille, William Parker and Enrico Rava- 2 Blues for Cecil

My review.

3. Earl Sweatshirt- Sick!

My review.

4. Tony Malaby’s Sabino- The Cave of Winds

My review.

5. Silvana Estrada- Marchita

Not unlike peak k.d. lang.

6. Modern Nature- Island of Noise

Jazz-stained freak-folk.

7. Lise Davidsen and Leif Ove Andsnes- Edvard Grieg

My review.

8. John Mellencamp- Strictly a One-Eyed Jack

My review.

9. Pan Daijing- Tissues

Industrial opera.

10. FKA twigs- Caprisongs

Peculiar pop.


Top Ten Songs (released in January)

1. The Smile- "You Will Never Work in Television Again"

Static.

2. Big Boss Vette- "Heavy"

The weight.

3. Christina Aguilera- "La Reina"

I knew she had it in her.

4. Barbara Hannigan- "Youkali"

Well done Weill.

5. Che Noir- "Split the Bread"

Food for thought.

6. The Streets- "Wrong Answers Only"

“I am a God: I can turn wine into vomit.”

7. Banda Los Recoditos- "Me Siento a Todo Dar"

Drinking and dancing.

8. Love Regenerator featuring Sananda Maitreya- "Lonely"

Terence Trent D’Arby!

9. Sebastián Yatra featuring Rosario and Jorge Celedón- "Dharma"

Dance, laugh, cry.

10. Benny the Butcher and J. Cole- “Johnny P’s Caddy”

The Butcher arrives.

Top Ten Movies, Television Broadcasts and Streaming Programming (viewed for the first time in January, in lieu of live music)

1. The Face of Another/他人の顔 (1966)

Freaky Japanese psychological thriller.

2. Jeopardy! (2022)

Amy Schneider’s remarkable 40-game streak ends.

3. Handsome Serge/Le Beau Serge (1958)

Très barbare.

4. Buffalo Bills vs. Kansas City Chiefs (2022)

The NFL is made for TV.

5. Mary Lou Williams and Carline Ray- At Les Mouches (1978)

My associated review.

6. The Lost Daughter (2021)

Grief in Greece.

7. The Royal College of Music’s Die Zauberflöte (2021)

My review.

8. The Catered Affair (1956)

Ernest Borgnine, Bette Davis and Gore Vidal.

9. Winter JazzFest (2022)

A handful of the virtual performances are stunning.

10. From Vienna: The New Year's Celebration 2022

Life goal.

Links to previous monthly surveys begin here.