I Came Home and Put the Record On: October 2025
Monthly Playlist and Blurbs About People Who Died
Playlist
Much to love this month, partly getting my hunger back and in a lot of ways just a massive flood of things I’m happy for. As usual in the month after Gonerfest, includes a heaping scoop of memories from the festival that’s given me more of my favorite new bands per capita than any other three days of music, including the lead-off track from Des Demonas, “Des Demonas Against Fascism” with its serrated, heartbroken and shattering hook “Living in a world with no pain, no fear,” along with ragers from old favorites like Snooper and Radioactivity and new finds like Twisted Teens and Wesley and the Boys. Stunning tracks from my favorite records from Lily Allen - I don’t know who else could pull off “Hundreds of Trojans, you’re so fucking broken,” with a luminous sense of lightness that also honors the weight of the heartbreak - and Lady Wray since either of their debuts.
Amanda Shires and Brennen Leigh with some of their finest work. Breathtaking protest song from Mon Rovia and (closer to home) Columbus’s own Garlic Jr., Remarkable jazz from Matthew Shipp, Donny McCaslin, Otherlands Trio (a remarkable conflagration of Darius Jones, Charles Lloyd, Stephan Crump, and Eric McPherson). The Necks and Jakob Bro/Wadada Leo Smith at the highest level in the cracks between genres. Avant-funk from Vernon Reid, Poirier, and Djely Tapa remixed by Bosq (hat tip to Andrew Patton for the Bosq recommendation that sent me down a rabbit hole). Cardi B and Kehlani in a duet I didn’t know I needed. As always, ending with a set of songs I think of as prayers/meditations, starting with the above-mentioned Otherlands Trio and ending with the Shires that takes the breath out of my lungs, and in between a gorgeous orchestra reimagining of Gabriel Kahane’s “Where are the Arms,” a finely wrought character study from Nicki Bluhm, and a rapturous, searching version of Paul Simon’s “American Tune” from Leslie Odom, Jr.
Tidal and YouTube Music links. Anything other streaming, there are converters out there—I’m partial to Soundiiz.
https://tidal.com/playlist/8b682a31-ec41-4ba9-bc73-ab8d5c98b040
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRapLNnEDPT-jZWM0mxFSLfSEQtLYzoCX&si=c4sBVV8xYC9dqNeK
Parting Gifts
Every time I do these, they’re about artists (sometimes bookers, critics, or radio personalities) who personally impacted me. Still, in this heavy month, everybody I’m highlighting (without the slightest exaggeration) shaped the way I think about music in at least one way.
D’Angelo - I don’t think there are enough words for the way D’Angelo’s questing mix of classicism and innovation, his - along with various producers and co-writers - hunger to make records that lived up to his idols and also spoke to the here and now, set and broke the template for contemporary music (starting with R&B and radiating out) at the same time, from the quintessential neo-soul document Brown Sugar and its gripping, alive counterpart Live at the Jazz Cafe, to the sui generis all-timer Voodoo and exceptionally strong comeback Black Messiah. I was lucky enough to see the Voodoo tour at 20 and it’s still one of the greatest shows I’ve ever seen. My favorite writing in the wake of his passing comes from Harmony Holiday at 4Columns and Jason King’s liner notes for the Light in the Attic reissue of Voodoo I hadn’t seen before.
Anthony Jackson - Anthony Jackson’s smoky, rich tone on The O’Jays records, especially that tectonic, rippling landscape he builds on “For The Love of Money” was my entry point into the world of Philly Soul and something I shoved down the throats of so many friends in my teens and 20s: I have an amazingly fond memory of driving around with my friends and that was one of the only tracks on that particular mix CD they approved of. I love his work on so many records - the Billy Paul hits, killer runs with Patti Austin and Chaka Khan, funky jazz with Mike Stern and Harvey Mason - but it all goes back to my first dose of the O’Jays.
Ace Frehley - I’ve gone back and forth on KISS in general, but they were mesmerizing to me as a child, and that rock-solid songcraft still works for me. I’m always happy to hear them on a jukebox, the radio, or at a party. The encomiums of my friends Craig Kempton and Colin Gawel - who’ve seen many shows and raved about Ace Frehley solo live in the last few years - have particularly sharpened my appreciation of KISS’s original lead guitarist, along with plenty of internet hosannas, including Bob Starker and Joe Oestreich talking about the ways his guitar figures shaped the music they went on to make (the selection below was highlighted by Starker).
Dave Ball - Soft Cell’s mix of influences: art-school avant-garde, swinging Northern Soul, orchestral pop, high drama, post-punk and noise popping all around them in London, and the burgeoning house and hip-hop scene in New York - I didn’t realize some of those sounds on early ‘80s hits like “Insecure Me” were scratching until years later (helped greatly by producer Mike Thorne’s essential memories, now at Web Archive). Dave Ball’s soundscapes as half of that band still get heavy rotation as soon as the weather gets cold, or the first time I go walking in New York when I land.