Composition in the age of digital proliferation
*James Carter: Caribbean Rhapsody (2011): There are multi-minute chunks you wish Martin Williams and a pair of scissors were around to excise, but Carter blows in top form even on the concerto, making Roberto Sierra swing as least as much as Miles made Gershwin.
*Gorillaz: The Singles Collection (2011): Didn’t transform my understanding of the band. If that sounds like it’s asking too much, the precedent is The Best of Blur, which changed my view of Albarn’s old group from “good band, some excellent songs, kind of annoying” to “hey, these guys could rock and roll when they felt like it”. With Gorillaz I’m still stuck at good band, some excellent songs, kind of annoying.
Oneohtrix Point Never: Replica (2011): Compared to Rifts, Replica is a less drony, more unified single disc that leaves you searching for adjectives to prefix with “post”, yet it’s distanced: holding up an old TV and calling it a mirror misleads.
Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie xx: We’re New Here (2011): Viewing GSK as the ur-rapper doesn’t demand much of him: where’s the competition? Giving the progenitor his due requires emphasising his continuity: to soul, to the xx.
Craig Taborn: Avenging Angel (2011): I’m not a fan of post-post-bop solo jazz piano, and all the ECM records in the genre sound the same to me: modernist tropes that ain’t got that swing.
Lee Perry: Rise Again (2011): Perry meets Bill Laswell and, for better or worse, it’s no trainwreck. It chugs along pleasantly, but who thought either of the two would ever be too respectful?
