I highly recommend Alan Shorter’s Orgasm and Medeski, Martin & Wood’s The Dropper! Those two pressings sounds phenomenal and both are great, experimental-esque albums! I think BADBADNOTGOOD’s Talk Memory is a pretty great album too - it makes for a nice swaption if you want a modern jazz record!There's a ton of interesting bits in this month.
Alan Shorter - Orgasm
Medeski, Martin & Wood - The Dropper
Jazz Is Dead - 7
Jazz Is Dead - 8
Irma Thomas - Down At Muscle Shoals
Relief - A Benefit For The Jazz Foundation...
BADBADNOTGOOD - Talk Memory
Booker Ervin - The Book Cooks
Man I’m old…I have no clue who these artists are
I’m getting 2/4 ROTM’s for the February picks! I’m getting the Essentials ROTM - Grimes’ Visions, and getting the Classics ROTM - Sylvester’s Step II. I think both albums are excellent, and I think Grimes’ Visions is an album that has actually aged better with time!
I think the Rap & Hip-Hop and Country picks for February are quite weak - they aren’t mediocre albums, but also aren’t great albums in my opinion! The Loretta Lynn pick in particular is boring! I still do love Coal Miner’s Daughter however - a stellar ROTM!
Unfortunately, I felt the same for January’s Rap & Hip-Hop pick - that E-40 album is a decent album, but I think it hasn’t aged too well. Tha Hall of Game is nothing amazing in my opinion! The January Country pick - Iris DeMent’s Infamous Angel, is an album I wasn’t familiar with and didn’t connect with at first listen. Even though Infamous Angel is a skip for me, it seems to be a great pick if you love Country music!
The Sigur Ros (Essentials) and Barbara Lea (Classics) picks last month for January were both excellent picks however! Both albums were great discoveries for me!
Part of the appeal of VMP for me was always discovering new artists I otherwise might have never heard of, but QC issues and price increases kind of put a damper on that. Now I usually don't bother sampling a new drop I'm unfamiliar with unless other people are hyping it.
That's what it goes for at her bandcamp or secretly and probably local storesSo I really like Hatchie and was hoping for her new album something in the high 20's. $37 it is. Ugh.
Pretty much how I feel about 90% percent of VMP exclusives. I mean I have heard of a lot of them but I am like who actually listens to them.
Same boat for me. For $20 or so, I’d take a chance on rising artists or albums I wasn’t 100% familiar with. If I didn’t like it I could always PIF or sell it at what I paid for it. Kate Bollinger, Still Woozy and Holy Hive were three of my favorites. Just can’t justify it anymore price-wise. I still stream the jazz reissues and some other older reissues they do just to see if anything grabs my attention but haven’t heard any true exclusives that I’ve really wanted to drop $30+ onPart of the appeal of VMP for me was always discovering new artists I otherwise might have never heard of, but QC issues and price increases kind of put a damper on that. Now I usually don't bother sampling a new drop I'm unfamiliar with unless other people are hyping it.