Blood Warrior "Animal Hides (Ernest Jenning Record Co.)"
From Ernest Jenning Record Co.:
Animal Hides is the third album by Blood Warrior. It’s a collection of songs affected by the anxieties and securities of these times, documented by two friends in their late thirties, Joey Weiss and Greg Jamie (O’Death). Recorded onto tape at Joey Weiss’ studio in the Hudson Valley, Animal Hides was mixed and mastered by Kevin McMahon (Swans, The Walkman, Real Estate) and is being released by Ernest Jenning Record Co. (who also released the band’s 2010 debut) on November 15th, 2019.
The band always describes Blood Warrior as a project that “exists so two old friends can continue to make music and check in on each other”. Weiss and Jamie first met at summer camp in 1994 and have remained friends and music collaborators ever since. They have been continuously recording and releasing as Blood Warrior for over a decade, their albums existing as snapshots of different points in their lives. If Letter Ghost—the band’s second album, released in 2015— was an introspective affair, dealing with the dissolution of Greg’s marriage, Animal Hides instead chooses to focus on the cultivation of community and family. The importance of finding a home, no matter how small, inside this strange, evolving world.
Check out the haunting “Animal Shades.”
Ryley Walker & Charles Rumback "Little Common Twist (Thrill Jockey)"
From Thrill Jockey:
Charles Rumback and Ryley Walker are both known for their creativity and curious spirits. Rumback is a drummer in high demand in Chicago’s free-jazz circles, and a pillar of the second wave of improvisers in a scene first shaped by the legendary players like Sun Ra and the AACM. Walker draws deeply on other distinctly American styles, bringing a strong sense of folk tradition to his playing that is as arresting as his freewheeling performance style. Walker’s musical explorations are not limited to his own songwriting: the guitarist regularly collaborates in Chicago and now New York with innovators of every genre. Together, Rumback and Walker find common ground in their kinetic, intuitive playing and yearning creative outlook. Little Common Twist, their sophomore release as a duo, finds both players at their most adventurous. It compiles instrumental pieces that convey a striking range of emotions, at once introspective and expansive, with a delicate interplay that delights as they move with ease across a spectrum of styles. The recording has a pastoral quality that recalls Van Morrison’s classic album Veedon Fleece, and captures a remarkably dexterous performance by both Charles and Ryley that make this album so expansive and fresh.
Check out the jazzy, acoustic wonder of instrumental gem “Half Joking.”
Shifts (Fat Cat) "Shifts (Fat Cat)"
From Fat Cat:
A wonderfully immersive suite of five stunning new tracks, ‘Shifts’ expands upon Swedish-Iranian pianist / composer Shida Shahabi’s debut album and confirms her as a genuine new force in contemporary piano music.
Check out the stunningly intimate “Futo.”
Xylouris White "The Sisypheans (Drag City)"
From Drag City:
Xylouris White’s fourth installment of progressive Cretan lute compositions present the sounds of the lute, George Xylouris’ vocals and Jim White’s drums in an open, spacious sound-field. With the philosophical bent that suits their music’s ancient headwaters, Jim and George are meditating on the life of a traveling musician, Sisyphyan in its repetition, but inspired in an eternal recurrence of themes and techniques that allow them to climb ever-further into their experience as players.
Check out the haunting, pastoral “Tree Song.”