My Favorite Albums of 2023, part 3

Ten satisfying reissue/archival titles and an additional list of worthwhile new recordings from the past year

Jan 04, 2024

Frequency Festival 2024

Before we get to the final part of the year-end rundown, I did want to mention another endeavor I’m involved with. One of the other things I do apart from writing about music is organizing concerts, and the day after my final post in December I announced the lineup for next year’s iteration of Frequency Festival, which happens in Chicago between February 20-25. I’m very excited about the program: BCMC, andPlay, Nate Wooley, Sarah Saviet, Eyvind Kang & Jessika Kenney, Zarabanda Variations, Ellen Arkbro, Ensemble Dal Niente, Austin Wulliman, and Cory Smythe. You can find the full details at the festival website, including links to buy tickets.

I launched a GoFundMe campaign to help cover the ever-mounting expenses. It would be fantastic if you could find it in your heart to pitch in to that effort to ensure the sustainability of Frequency Festival. And, of, course, I’ll be back in Chicago for the week and hope to see many familiar faces.

Favorite Archival Releases and Reissues (in alphabetical order)

I don’t know if anything has suddenly made me feel old as much as scanning the albums selected under this heading on other lists. Stuff that just seemed to drop yesterday has now been reissued. It’s weird. I suppose someone might lob the Dream Syndicate reissue here into such a class, but it has been four decades. Most of the records featured here were either totally new to me or featured only previously unissued material. Because I’m bad at math, there are eleven selections.

Umeko Ando, Upopo Sanke (Pingpong)

My introduction to the music of the Ainu, an indigenous race from northern Japan. This record was made in 2003, but not only does it seem timeless, it doesn’t quite sound like anything else I’ve ever heard.

Fred Anderson Quartet, The Milwaukee Tapes, Vol. 2 (Corbett vs. Dempsey)

I can’t say it wasn’t worth the 23-year wait to hear the second half of this scorching performance from 1980 by Chicago tenor saxophone legend leading one of his great early bands with trumpeter Billy Brimfield in exceptional form, drummer Hamid Drake already fully in command at 25, and bassist Larry Hayrod. John Corbett issued the first part in 2000 on his old Unheard Music Series imprint, and we finally got the rest on his current imprint in 2023.

Derek Bailey & Paul Motian, Duo in Concert (Frozen Reeds)

I don’t think I was aware that these two idiosyncratic greats had ever played together until this essential item surfaced, but even without a build-up the results of the two performances are astonishing. The digital-only NYC date is rough, sound quality-wise, but the Gothenburg show, on the vinyl, is everything you’d hope it could be and more.

Baikida E.J. Carroll, Orange Fish Tears (Souffle Continu)

A rare early recording from one of the best and most overlooked trumpeters across the history of free jazz and improvised music. Carroll has only made a few recordings a leader over a five-decade career, which is surely part of his undeserved obscurity, but the vision and openness on display here are par for the course with his work.

Tony Conrad, Jim O’Rourke & Arnold Dreyblatt, Tonic 10-01-2001 (Black Truffle)

Visceral as fuck—a sound world I didn’t fully appreciate the first time around. Now I want to spend my days there.

The Dream Syndicate, The Days of Wine and Roses: History Kinda Pales When It And You Are Aligned (Fire)

The Days of Wine and Roses will always be one of my favorite rock albums, busting open my ideas of weird rock. Yes, the Velvets came first, but the Dream Syndicate were mine. This exhaustive reissue doesn’t really add new perspective or lost gems, but there are some curios, like Steve Wynn’s solo take on “That’s What You Always Say” as 15 Minutes, from a 1981 single. The additional live stuff and rehearsal takes on this 4-CD set are probably worthwhile for obsessives—I love the early version of “Too Little, Too Late,” the song sung by Kendra Smith—but the real pleasure is checking out the in-depth writing by Pat Thomas, who put the 40^th anniversary package together.

Dror Feiler, Maavak (Ideal)

Dror Feiler, an uncompromising saxophonist and composer from Israel who’s remained a staunch critic of his homeland after decades in his adopted Sweden, has quietly sat on recordings of his work covering most of his career. He finally opened up the archive with 20 CDs worth of material. It’s daunting, uneven, and deeply inspiring in its range, passion, and ferocity.

Osmo Lindeman, Electronic Works (Sahko)

Out of the blue—for me—excursions in early 70s dissonance and electro fuckery from Finland. There’s always more to discover.

Éliane Radigue, 11 Dec 1980 (Important)

As I noted in yesterday’s post, re-encountering Éliane Radigue’s Naldjorlak, the piece she developed with cellist Charles Curtis, reset the way I listen. This collection of electronic pieces, performed years after they were first made, only adds nuance and greater meaning to pieces like Chry-Ptus and Triptych in complementary fashion.

Various artists, Avant Garde (Deutsche Grammophon box)

What can be said? Landmark in numerous ways, from the original design to a prescient selection of enduring work—the choices, of course, were wildly sexist, with not a single female composer included in the 21-CD set (missing the three Stockhausen recordings originally produced for the series). It ain’t all good, but this is a genuine public service.

Various artists, The Complete Obscure Records Collection 1975-1978 (Dialogo)

Shocking that it’s taken so long for this group of 10 records released by Brian Eno on this short-lived imprint to be reissued in full. Some of it hasn’t aged well, but it’s crazy how much mind-blowing stuff surfaced with this project. Nicely packaged with voluminous notes and documentation.

Abdul Wadud, By Myself (Gotta Groove/Bishara)

For once a collector’s holy grail is much more than a rarity. Wadud was pioneering several threads: a solo cello improviser with an expansive view of what he could do. Unreal.