Twenty for 2012: 1–5

5. Esperanza Spalding :: Radio Music Society

I wrote earlier in the year that 2012 has been one of shifting tastes. Slightly bored with the insular world of indie rock I ended 2011 by experimenting with different genres of music such as Raphael Saadiq's Stone Rollin' and The Roots' undun. After those two albums found a permanent spot in my listening rotation I was open to a whole new stream of new music. By March of this year my tastes took an even more drastic shift. Around that time I rediscovered Erykah Badu's Baduizm and New Amerykah, Pt. 1, began listening to the soundtrack for David Simon's Treme, and picked up Esperanza Spalding's Radio Music Society. In many ways it was Radio Music Society that represented the extent of the shift that had taken place. For starters it was a new album that made me begin looking forward to things that might sound like it and hadn't been released yet. This was a far cry from looking forward to the next Pains of Being Pure in Heart 7".*

It's easy to understand why Esperanza Spalding would be a good gateway drug. Opener "Radio Song" will crawl into your ear and lodge itself there for weeks. It evokes the boisterous pleasure of any Stevie Wonder song. When she describes it (i.e. the radio song) as "the one" that will "life your spirits" and "you can't help singing along" it's not wishful thinking on her part. It's a catchy sing-along that does all those things and more. It's irresistible. But it's also no vapid pop song either. Midway through she cuts to an extended tenor sax solo before cutting to the catchy chorus and fading out with modern jazz piano. This isn't your simplistic radio cut. It's an exercise of contradictions. On the one hand it's a simple pop number. On the other hand it's full of complex movements that don't fit in the standard pop song tool box. And it is because of those contradictions why Radio Music Society has been so effective in pushing me forward as a listener of music. It's relentlessly pleasurable (AND has a song about Portland, OR) created by an accomplished performer and composer. She forces me to deal with all the different angles the album moves yet does it without sacrificing the endless delight of the radio song. In the end she's created a highly accomplished piece of work that meets every need for repeat listens.

*No disrespect to Pains of Being Pure in Heart. I like them very much.

4. Carolina Chocolate Drops :: Leaving Eden

For the first time since 2002 and the enormous popularity of the O Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack we are witnessing a folk revival. Whereas 2002 was much more of a ressourcement 2012 has been an example of rapprochement. The young bearded ones are putting away their Gibson and reaching for that banjo. But rather than update the 19th century Appalachian songbook these bands are really combining modern musical forms with older instrumentation. To these ears Mumford and Sons are a rock band playing different instruments.

This is where Carolina Chocolate Drops come in. It's not really fair to call them revivalists. They're too innovative for that. Yet more so than any popular modern folk act they are steeped in the roots songbook. They are musicologists. Nor is it fair to call them opportunistic either. Leaving Eden is their fifth album and I think its fair to say that if there were no folk revival happening they'd still be out playing the Black Banjo Gatherings. But at the same time they bring an unrivaled updating of the folk tradition. Unrivaled I say because unlike their compatriots who bring with them an indie/rock aesthetic, Carolina Chocolate Drops are unabashedly urban in their sounds. On 2010's Genuine Negro Jig they did a devastating cover of Blu Cantrell's "Hit 'Em up Style" that hit hard. Here they do that to even better effect on the traditional "Ruby, Are You Mad at Your Man?" and the original "Country Girl". Both those songs pull the power and the fury of modern R&B and hip-hop cast in a decidedly ancient form. The results are staggering. With Leaving Eden the Drops have created a genuinely American record in that it pulls from and re-interprets the great American songbook.

3. Dwight Yoakam :: 3 Pears

More than one listener of modern country has told me they like the genre of country but they don't like the twangy vocals of guys like Dwight Yoakam. This baffles me. For starters Yoakam has a one of a kind voice. It's instantly recognizable. There is no one like him. When he comes on the speakers you know it's him. Second, his voice has range. Yoakam is able to slide into whatever influence is tickling his fancy at the moment. On 3 Pears he weaves Bakersfield honkey tonk, British invasion, Motown, soul, rock and roll into whatever direction he sees fit. It takes a better than average vocalist to pull off that trick. Finally, even if it has nothing to do with that voice, the guy knows how to write and re-interpret a song. (Check out his 2004 Greatest Hits compilation. You'll hear what I'm talking about. Or just check out the highway ballad "A Thousand Miles from Nowhere." You can thank me later.) Thus it's high praise when I say that 3 Pears might just be his best collection of songs he's ever recorded. There is not a bad song in the bunch. It features probably a half-dozen songs that might just be the best thing an average artist might record in their entire career. At the center of the album is the Beck-produced hard rocking and swinging "A Heart Like Mine." It's a fitting epitaph to place at the center of a deeply personal album. On 3 Pears Yoakam lays it all on the line and shows why he's one of the best in the business.

2. Robert Glasper Experiment :: Black Radio

I wrote earlier that this has been a good year for the piano. No less than five of my top twenty albums use the piano as its musical center. (And this doesn't even touch the many other albums that didn't make my list. Like I said: it has been a good year for the piano.) No other album rises higher than Black Radio. Band leader Robert Glasper is best known for his work as a modern jazz pianist capable of creating some of today's best genre work. Already well known for his innovations he took it to the next level on the back half of 2009's Double Booked. There Glasper led the quartet of himself, Chris Dave, Derrick Hodge, and Casey Benjamin into an original meld of modern R&B and classic jazz with a dose of hip-hop thrown in for good measure. It served notice to anyone who believed jazz had nothing left to offer the modern ear or had been fully eclipsed by other forms of music. The success of Double Booked helps explain the magnitude of names on the guest list of Black Radio. It is a regular "who's who" of the modern R&B. Clearly people are onto what Glasper is trying to do here. He's a man with a vision and has the know how to bring it into fruition.

Black Radio begins with the great Shafiq Husayn doing his spoken word thing and setting the theme. If you're familiar with Husayn's Shafiq En' A-Free-Ka you're already salivating. "Lift Off" slides into to the effortless Cuban jazz classic "Afro Blue" and features the peerless Erykah Badu's neo-soul lead turn. Those first ten minutes set the listener up for hearing one of the best mixed-tapes in recent memory. I could probably stop there and be incredibly content. It keeps getting better. Picking the high point is fruitless. They're all high points. We hear the hip-hop of Lupe Fiasco and Mos Def. The brilliant R&B of Lala Hathaway and Me'Shell Ndegeocello. It even closes with a cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" for goodness sake. But this is no mix-tape of pre-recorded material. It's all held together by Robert Glasper's use of the piano jazz template and using his quartet to flesh out a meld of jazz, hip-hop, neo-soul, and contemporary R&B. The end result is a moody masterpiece that blurs boundaries of genres and makes a definitive statement of the collective power of this experiment. It's success isn't just a triumph for Glasper but a piece of work that should be studied and built upon for years to come.

1. Tift Merritt :: Traveling Alone

Tift Merritt has already established herself as one of the leading voices in the alt-country movement. She's proven herself over and over again that she is one of the most compelling voices in the scene. It should be exceedingly clear that she has already placed herself in the rarefied air of the Emmylou Harrises, Allison Krausses, and Gillian Welches of this world. Traveling Alone's first single is the appropriately titled "Sweet Spot." Merritt pines for the most reasonable of all requests: not too much, not too little, just the right amount. It's not exactly the most rock and roll of sentiments but it resonates just the same. On Traveling Alone she really hits that sweet spot. Between heart wrenching duets with Andrew Bird, smoke-filled rock songs, or plaintive piano numbers Merritt brings it all together into one cohesive whole. As the title suggests, Traveling Alone is an album about movement. It is an album of pilgrims on their way. Its protagonists are characters who either are going somewhere or wish they were. These are people desperate for change and Merritt gives them a voice. In doing so she gives any of us who have felt paralyzed our own voice to venture out boldly. She give words to those of us who are on our way and don't quite know where that path will lead. According to Merritt the "alone" portion of the title is personally important to her. She had reached a point in her career where she felt it necessary to step out and do what she needed to do on her own. (Even if that meant recruiting a cracker jack band.) But looking a little bit deeper Merritt articulates another deeper dilemma: the balance between the one and the many. On one level we're responsible to our self alone. There are certain things that only I can do for myself. But at the same time there is no escaping those around us. The protagonists of Traveling Alone may feel they're by themselves but that journey always leads somewhere and to someone. More so than any album this year Merritt has written a piece of work that hits me at every level. It's an album I can turn to in all moods and at all times of the day. It's an album I can put on repeat and never grow tired of its sounds. I haven't seen Traveling Alone on too many end of the year lists. That's too bad because Tift Merritt has gone and written a classic.

Original Review.

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