NALDJORLAK – Éliane Radigue
Two+ hours of Radigue-meets-solo-cello brilliance: heavy rotation, to be sure.
BY MYSELF – Abdul Wadud
Self-released in 1977 and out of print until its reissue earlier this year, Wadud's solo masterpiece sounds as throughly modern and daring now as I can only imagine it did when it first landed. Essential.
LYSINE (You Bred Raptors?, 2023)
In the interest of full disclosure, the trio's cellist and co-composer is a good friend of mine but I'd extoll the virtues of this regardless: harkening back to the glory days of The Dirty Three and infused with just the right amount of that something something (metal funk? glockenspiel metal?) that elevates it beyond and unapologetically into its own character. A hell of an album – congrats, all.
CHARACTER (Julia Kent, 2013)
More than a decade after it came out, CHARACTER remains a favorite.
