October’s musical additions include everything from nostalgic concept albums to bold international flavors and deeply emotional explorations. Let’s explore the soundscape of my October, shall we?
My Favorite Album of October
Warriors
By Lin-Manuel Miranda & Eisa Davis
“Warriors….come out and play.”
I was born in 1977, too late to have a strong connection to 1979’s cult classic, The Warriors, but I have an older brother who often called the movie one of his favorites, so I remember it as being part of my childhood, if only because when we played hide and seek, he’d sometimes call out as he hunted us, “Warriors…come out and plaaaaay.”
If you’re unfamiliar, The Warriors (which is based on a novel, which itself is based on the Xenophon’s classic Anabasis) tells the story of a gang from Coney Island that finds itself up in the Bronx being hunted by “20,000 cops and 100,000” of the city’s gang members. They’ve been wrongfully accused of assassinating Cyrus, the undisputed king of the streets, at a gang summit, and now have to survive the 27-mile journey from the Bronx back to their turf on Coney Island.
The story of the Warriors is Lin-Manuel Miranda’s follow-up to Hamilton. Co-written with the playwright, actress, and singer-songwriter Eisa Davis, Warriors is a concept album of a musical without a stage production (yet). Familiarity with the movie would be helpful, but I listened to it for the first time while driving with my 12-year-old kiddo and their friend, and once I gave them a brief introduction and summary of the overall story (no greater than what I wrote above), the kiddos were able to follow along with the story with no problem.
Musically, the album (which is executive produced by Nas) offers a mashup of genres and sounds endemic to New York City. The opening track includes Nas, Ghostface Killah, RZA, & Busta Rhymes, while Cyrus’s rousing speech is performed by the always incredible Ms. Lauryn Hill. As the Warriors traverse the city, the sounds of the various neighborhoods move from genre to genre, from salsa to hip-hop to ska and early-2000s R&B boy bands.
I should mention that Miranda and Davis gender-flip the story, so the Warriors are all women. As Davis told the Associated Press, “I think that it’s just so crucial to think about this — it’s a group of women that no one believes. Everyone is accusing you falsely, [so] what is it that you do? What is it that you try?”
If you loved Hamilton (i.e., if you breathe), you’ll be just as enthralled with this follow-up as I was.
A Close Runner Up
The New Sound
Geordie Greep
Sometime last year, I discovered the band black midi. They were super weird, but I dug them a ton. The lead singer had a voice that reminded me of Berlin musicals, and the band was clearly firing on all cylinders. The lyrics came from an off-beat perspective, and there were a ton of words. It was one of those bands that's so weird you hesitate to recommend them, but so good you want to tell everyone about them.
Well, in October, I received a text from a former student of mine (hat tip to Jonah!) who broke the bad news that black midi had broken up...but he quickly followed it up with the good news that their bandleader, Geordie Greep, had released his first solo album!
The New Sound doesn't lose a beat. This could be black midi, though it's perhaps not as hard (in the sense of "hard rock") as what black midi put out. Greep plays around with genre a little more — there's a distinct Latin influence on a number of tunes — but when its come to his voice and lyrics, what I loved about black midi is still there. I'm very thankful for this album; it tickles me in all the right places.
Shout Out to Shoemech
Spaced Out
The Holes
For those of you who attended Green Mountain College with me, The Holes are an electro-pop duo from Xiamen, China, one member of which is your friend and mine, Will Shoemaker. On 2023's Spaced Out, Will partners with Daniella Su (whom he calls "the only celebrity in Xiamen") to explore dancing in clubs, the darkness of toxic masculinity, dealing with bullies, and more. This six-song EP is heavy with synthesizer, dance beats, and autotune, and it's a lot of fun; I definitely bopped to it while working at my standing desk. Crank it up and let yourself space out with Willy the Shoe & Daniella Su!
For Your World Music Pleasure
Ex Generation
The Napoli Exchange
This is Italian Neapolitan funk: electronic drums, acoustic drums, keyboards, bass, horns, a bunch of percussion, Mediterranean singers, and a sound that fits around your soul like a bikini bottom.
Does it sound like the 1970s even though it came out in 2024? Maybe.
Is that bad? Not in Napoli.
Highlife
Peter Somuah
Jazz trumpet as played by an incredible Ghanian musician. On the opening track, Koo Nimo, a Ghanian folk musician, explains, "The British [colonists] taught the African musicians the waltz, samba, bolero. The African musicians realized why no use this technique to play our own songs for everybody at night? When they performed in the dance halls...people in the hall would describe the music as 'high life.'" Somuah welcomes you into that dance hall, and bugger off if you don't find yourself shaking it.
Take One
Hallelujah Chicken Run Band
My buddy Mikey recommended this one to me. Compiled from songs recorded throughout the 1970s, Take One reveals the wonder of the Hallelujah Chicken Run Band, a Zimbabwe group originally created to entertain the workers at the Mangura copper mine. The band went through many iterations during its decade, but its founder, trumpet player Daram Kantanga, stuck around through it all, creating a legacy that can be heard throughout much of southern African music.
Instrumental Only, Please
Breaking the Shell
Kit Downes, Bill Frisell & Andrew Cyrille
Bill Frissell is a dude. A jazz guitarist's jazz guitarist, Frisell has been wowing me since I first him pluck his strings on 1998's Gone, Just Like a Train. On this album, Breaking the Shell, he's joined by an award-winning jazz organist and a Haitian-American avante-garde jazz drummer. Together, they create and explore a sonic landscape — one fully formed by Downes' 1,670-pipe organ. This is an adventure, but it's not always musical. Be warned.
NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
From Godspeed You! Black Emperor's announcement of their album title:
"No Title= What gestures make sense while tiny bodies fall? What context? What broken melody? And then a tally and a date to mark a point on the line, the negative process, the growing pile."
This album is heartbreak in sound, recorded by some of the most talented musicians that Canada has to offer, the undisputed kings of post-rock, commemorating the victims of Israeli genocide in Gaza.
Every GY!BE album is a gift.
This one comes with tears.
Black Seeds
Benjamin Sanz Directions
Led by its French drummer, Benjamin Sanz, this improvisational quintet includes Americans, Italians, Cuban, French exploring swing, the blues, and jazz. I might have listened to this album the most over the course of the month — it's relatively traditional, but so, so good, and it supports a lot of different activities, from working to writing to cooking to driving. Regardless of what kind of music you generally prefer, I highly recommend Black Seeds. As its American pianist says of playing music with these folks, "It's magical. It's kind of the essence of humanity."
The Lady of October
Odyssey
Nubya Garcia
Coming in at #45 on Mojo's 75 Best Albums of 2024, Odyssey brings complex orchestration to the British jazz scene, layering strings atop Garcia's sexy saxophone. Recommended to me by @somewhere_soul, this album has been a staple of my evening commute up and over the Green Mountains that bisect the state of Vermont, a perfect aural backdrop to the fading foliage and disappearing light. The title track, especially, continues to blow my mind.
Three...Not So Much
Things to Do
Annie in the Water
I have to start by saying I'm biased. My brother-in-law is the former drummer for this band, so I wasn't going to allow myself to be impressed by their first album without him, no matter what.
With that being said, I haven't been a huge fan of the singers' voices from the beginning, and while I have ALWAYS thoroughly enjoyed their live shows and found them all to be very sweet gentlemen, their albums haven't quite hit the mark.
I do like their guitars, however, and if you enjoy poppy jam bands, I think you'll dig 'em.
Electrified
Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown
Recommended by my brother (the same who used to call out "Warriors...."), Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown is Southern Rock accompanied by the strong scent of '80s hair metal tinged with arena rock. As I listen to songs such as "Snake Oil," I can see the video on MTV, with the women in Daisy Dukes dancing around kegs and leaning back against the hood of a yellow Corvette, their perky boobies promising to a bunch of teenagers what their 20s will bring.
This isn't a negative critique — it's just an observation.
Unfortunately, I'm more of a conceptual instrumental post-rock meditations on the genocide in Gaza kind of guy.
Meanwhile
Eric Clapton
I did enjoy this album, so maybe "not so much" is too harsh of a category to put this in, but to be honest, he's an anti-vaxer racist, so I'm gonna put him here anyway.
I'm also putting it here because you already know what it sounds like. The man can play guitar, and he's accompanied on a couple of tracks by Van Morrison, and another with Jeff Beck ("Moon River"!), so you can imagine what those sound like too. Pretty good, right?
Yep. So no need to listen. It sounds just like that.
October was a month of rich and varied listening. A concept album that told a compelling story, world music that transported me across continents, the bold beats of Napoli, the return of Godspeed, and eclectic stylings of jazz fusion. I’m grateful to share this journey with you. Until next month, keep listening and let the music guide you.