Sons of Kemet, Your Queen Is A Reptile

Sons of Kemet, Your Queen Is A Reptile

An London-based jazz outfit with heavy African and Carribean influences, Sons of Kemet play joyful, celebratory, emphatically danceable music built for tearing down the walls of white patriarchy. Each song is dedicated, by title, to power Black women leaders, thinkers and liberators (one of whom is bandleader Shabaka Hutchings’ great grandmother). Most of the songs are instrumental, but the vocals first two tracks make the band’s intentions clear: The music is unquestionably jubilant, but it is also pledged in service to a greater cause, and the fierceness and the power of this music is palpable even in the most festive numbers. Musically the core is avant-jazz but reggae, funk, African folk traditions, grime and modern dance music all join in the fun. Highlights: “My Queen Is Ada Eastman,” “My Queen Is Angela Davis,” “My Queen Is Albertina Sisulu”

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Richard Thompson, 13 Rivers

Richard Thompson , 13 Rivers Richard Thompson — 13 Rivers Arguably the most consistently engaging artist of the last 50 years, Richard Thompson continues to write deep, dark folk-rock songs with an acerbic wit married to a soft, calm wisdom. This new album isn’t widely divergent from his established catalogue but miraculously Thompson, who was already a guitar hero in the 1970s, still manages to grow as a guitarist and sound fresh. Working highly intricate riffs into the undergirding of each song’s frame, he also solos on every song and as usual, his virtuosity remains connected to the music, always moving the songs forward rather than grandstanding. Plus, Thompson’s one of a kind voice only deepens in resonance over time. Highlights: “Trying,” “O Cinderella,” “Bones of Gilead”

Courntey Marie Andrews, May Your Kidness Remain

Courntey Marie Andrews, May Your Kidness Remain This young old soul sings simple songs of timeless wisdom that could have been delivered in any genre; Courtney Marie Andrews has chosen folk-country stylings with some indie pop flavorings. The Phoenix-born Andrews has a voice that rings out clear and sonorous and heartfelt, and leaves the twang to the guitars. The first two songs are sheer perfection and at least half the songs approach it; she’s at her strongest when she’s extolling the core virtues of her message — love, kindness and self-awareness. Highlight: “May Your Kindness Remain,” “Lift the Lonely from My Heart,” “This House”

Hop Along, Bark Your Head Off Dog

Hop Along, Bark Your Head Off, Dog This Philadelphia band’s complex, literate, off-kilter indie rock gets better with every listen. This could never be pop music, no matter who produced it or what instruments they used. It is too strange, singlar and too unrestrained. Singer Frances Quinlan’s melodic acrobatics are all over the map — “angular” doesn’t begin to cover it — and the rest of the band careens along wildly; the whole thing barely holds together, in the most wonderful way. The same guy who told Mozart he used “too many notes” would’ve said the same to Hop Along and he’d be similarly wrong. The string section, the backing vocals and the occasional synths are apparently new with this album and they offset the band’s punk-infused spirit perfectly. Highlights: “Prior Things,” “The Fox in Motion,” “What the Writer Meant”

Album Reviews by Stefan Wenger

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