#90/100 – Wynton Marsalis

Jazz is a very interesting musical genre where a single word can encompass such a wide array of related, but different sounds. More modern Jazz, like this Wynton Marsalis album, takes cues from the past and builds on those notes. Most of my Jazz ear comes from the era between 1955 and 1970. Anything older seems like it’s early steps in the sound while the artists figure it out. Later than 1970, and especially 1980, the more experimental things get.

This album was released in the early 80s and is very much early contemporary Jazz with what is also known as the modal sound, which is complicated but intellectually and sonically stimulating. It is, however, not really my bag, so when I put this one on and listened to Side A for the first time, I was pretty sure I knew what I was getting in to. I did appreciate, as it happens, one of the two tracks not written by Wynton himself but by the legendary bass player Ron Carter. It’s a very rapid double-time jaunt that feels very much like a bass player wrote it. I found a lot to like on that track.

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#89/100 – FaltyDL – Hardcourage

This was a very impressive album when it turned up as a Nerd Show promo back in 2012 and I played it a lot on the radio. It had a different sound that was a bit more quirky but in a very thick and chunky way. A few very good singles but a pretty solid album, on a full listen. This copy I picked up on what is my best music night ever outside of SXSW, when FaltyDL opened for James Blake at The Depot in SLC, after which I saw Bonobo at Urban Lounge, on my birthday.

Side A is two impressive tracks to open the album, but She Sleeps just has the most lush and vibrant feel on the album and it was an easy pick this time around. It’s what I needed this evening.

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#86/100 – Jori Hulkkonen – We Are Invisible

This is one of those weird and quirky EPs that I picked up somewhere, somehow, long ago, and basically forgot about. It was in my much smaller collection when I was still playing vinyl on the Nerd Show in the studio, so I’d play Back When We Was Attached on occasion if I was feeling weird. However, on this occasion things were a little bit different and we also listened to Side B.

I’d not originally sat down to listen to anything for this project, but a recent home renovation meant dismantling the studio entirely and moving equipment around. This was just a record close to the temporary turntable/mixer/amplifier setup I’d assembled to test the room sound and it occurred to me that this totally qualifies.

Flash Boy is a track that I would not normally like, to be completely fair, but in this new studio arrangement the sound staging was so interesting and wide, with a lot of on- or slightly off-center instruments going on that captivated me. It gets the nod this time.

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#85/100 – RJD2 – Since We Last Spoke

One of a few happenstance purchases from Waterloo records in Austin one year, this sophomore effort from the then Definitive Jux artist is an interesting one. Recent podcast interviews with the Dad Bod Rap Pod and Can’t Knock the Shuffle have enlightened my understanding of RJD2’s origins and work quite a lot. This album remains pretty similar to Deadringer, and has a few notable tracks, but is a solid work of his.

I chose Side D and the track One Day because it just had that fly RJD2 groove where you know he was really on point with the samples and it just has all of the fingerprints of one of his tracks.

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#84/100 – Zion I – Juicy Juice 12″

This is a neat single that I picked up many years ago at a Zion I show in Park City. This was also an opportunity to meet Amp Live, the guy behind the beats, and do an interview. Unfortunately that audio file was lost, but it was cool to speak to him before the show at Star Bar.

Side A has the title track, plus an instrumental, and a track called Antenna, which is my favorite on this side. It’s mostly Amp’s instrumentals, as they’re very beautiful and very much make Zumbi’s flow work very well.

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#83/100 – Geotic – Traversa

Another nifty Ghostly International artist I’m mostly aware of from Nerd Show. There’s usually a high probability that a promotional company sending me something from Ghostly is gonna be right in my lane, and Geotic is very much so. Mostly instrumental minimal and deep house? All. Day. Long.

Side B is front to back fun and very groovy tracks with a lot of melody and playfulness. Maglev, the final track on this 8-track album, feels like the train heading out of town with a known destination.

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#82/100 – Graphs – Posthuman EP

I think this gem came on my radar through the radio show and I was instantly a fan of it. Graphs was closely aligned with Om Unit, who I was familiar with and a fan of, and this felt very much in that pocket of deep, contemplative, driving bass music. It’s a terrific little EP and I just love Posthuman on Side A. It’s got that snappy double-time hustle over the top of a nice two-step groove that I can’t get enough of.

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#81/100 – Kardinal Offishal – MIC T.H.U.G.S.

As one of the O.G. Canadian MCs, Kardinal really rocks the mic over some terrific beat loops on this four track mega single release. Dirty, Clean, and Instrumental versions of almost all the tracks. Side A is an easy pick with MIC T.H.U.G.S. being a solid cut and Kardi’s second set of bars really showing his writing chops with lyrics and syllables focused around the “dis” signpost. Really great cut and an MC that I should know more about.

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#80/100 – New Order – Substance 1987

Another grab from a sale at a library, this one is a true gem but one that I was already familiar with, having owned the dual tape version in the 80s and listening to it constantly. It’s a slightly unusual 2xLP, but given the number of tracks even on this abbreviated vinyl release, it needed it. I picked Side A because it’s lacking any really popular tracks that got radio play, but represents the oldest cuts on the compilation.

Ceremony, my pick on this listen, was actually written and credited to Joy Division, the precursor to New Order, and it really feels it. Sumner’s vocals are treated very much in the Joy Division manner, Hook’s bass is midrange as every, the drums are snappy and it feels like a halfway track between two worlds, but completely devoted to being great.

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#79/100 – Lazerbeak & Edison – Kill Switch

I picked up this neat little collaboration, on Fieldwerk, at a show that Edison opened for Aesop Rock at In the Venue in SLC. It was probably for the Skeleton tour, and Aes had been doing some projects with Edison around the time called 900 Bats, or something like that. Edison is a monome master and I’d loved his videos and what I could get my hands on for Nerd Show. Lazerbeak, on the other hand, is one of the two masterminds behind the sound of the Doomtree collective and I think he prefers the MPC style. Nonetheless, I was stoked to pick this up.

I decided to go for the Lazerbeak side, as I was more unfamiliar with his solo work, and it’s full of neat beats. Some are brief, while others are longer compositions. All feel very thought out, and it still amazes me that these were probably recorded on an MPC. Hard to pick a single tune from this side, but Don’t Tie Me Down was my favorite this listen. Strangely, I couldn’t find this on YouTube so I can’s share it. Perhaps it’s available on other services.

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