January 2021 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

Screenshot of Gilette Barbier in Lourdes by There Stands the Glass.

Top Ten Albums

1. Alexander Hawkins- Togetherness Music

My review.

2. Patricia Brennan- Maquishti

Concussed.

3. R.A.P. Ferreira- Bob’s Son

My review.

4. Miguel Zenón and Luis Perdomo- El Arte Del Bolero

My review.

5. Behzod Abduraimov- Debussy Chopin Mussorgsky

My review.

6. Caroline Shaw- Narrow Sea

Experimental gospel.

7. Sleaford Mods- Spare Ribs

My review.

8. Estelle Revaz and the Geneva Chamber Orchestra- Journey to Geneva

Startling interpretations of compositions by Frank Martin and Xavier Dayer.

9. Rich The Factor- Mobbligated

Straight off Kansas City’s grimiest assembly line.

10. Shame- Drunk Tank Pink

Queasy.

Top Ten Songs

1. Anavitória- "Terra"

Brazilian wall of sound.

2. Selena Gomez- "De Una Vez"

The pop star shares my affection for Bad Bunny.

3. Morgan Wallen- "Quittin' Time"

Remember Clint Black? Morgan Wallen does.

4. Chai- "Action"

“It’s going to be ok.”

5. Saweetie and Doja Cat- "Best Friend"

Cruisin’.

6. Flee Lord, Eto and Westside Gunn- "Ain't Hit Nobody"

Knockout.

7. Julien Baker- "Hardline"

Darkness, darkness.

8. Olivia Rodrigo- “Drivers License”

Teen spirit.

9. Rhye- "Come In Closer"

Sade sounds better than ever.

10. Anuel AA and Ozuna- "La Maria"

Rap it soft and it’s almost like praying.

Top Ten Films

1. Lourdes (2009)

Dogma and disability in France.

2. Say Amen, Somebody (1982)

Anointed! My new all-time favorite music documentary.

3. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020)

Superb rendering of August Wilson’s estimable play.

4. The Little Foxes (1941)

Superb rendering of Lillian Hellman’s estimable play.

5. Fitzcarraldo (1982)

A wondrous shipwreck.

6. Gräns (2018)

Uninhibited Swedish fairytale.

7. The Blues Accordin’ to Lightnin’ Hopkins (1967)

Mojo workin’.

8. Little Joe (2019)

Cautionary fable about GMOs.

9. Jazz on a Summer’s Day (1959)

Incredibly, I’d seen only excerpts.

10. The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)

Drugs, treason and the NSA.

Links to previous installations of my monthly recap series begin here.

Never Too Much: Playboi Carti and R.A.P. Ferreira

Screenshot of Komische Oper Berlin’s production of "Semele" by There Stands the Glass.

Two hip-hop albums I’ve listened to compulsively in the last several days have almost nothing in common.  Playboi Carti’s synthetic Whole Lotta Red is a decadent exercise in willful stupidity.  R.A.P. Ferreira’s organic Bob's Son: In the Garden Level Cafe of the Scallops Hotel resembles the extracurricular activities of an undergraduate teacher assistant in an elite university’s philosophy department.  I love ‘em both.  The loony idiocy of Whole Lotta Red is propelled by exhilarating digital beats.  And while the Atlantan’s lyrics are absurd, Carti possesses the flow of a futuristic jazz artist.  Ferreira actually is a sort of jazz artist.  Bob’s Son sounds like a J Dilla remix of a collaboration between Frank Zappa and the Last Poets.  Yet one element of Bob’s Son is disappointing.  A few of his raps about rapping- one of my biggest pet peeves- can be interpreted as insults of mumble rappers like Carti.  Why so reactionary?  My world is big enough to accommodate the wildly disparate work of both men.

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I’m already backsliding.  Three days after concluding my opera-a-day marathon, I began watching Komische Oper Berlin’s production of "Semele", a remarkably saucy George Friedrich Handel opera I’d yet to see.  I was rewarded by the discovery of "Endless Pleasure, Endless Love" at the end of the first act.  Playboi Carti would approve.

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I review The Standards, Vol. 1, the new album by the Christopher Burnett Quintet, at Plastic Sax.