Don't tell anyone

...but new songs are starting to arrive. These seem roots rocky where the last ones seemed...????

What I'm Listening To 10-10-06

Yo La Tengo, I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass (Matador) One of the two greatest middle-aged bands in the world (the other is Dead Moon, and I think they're even older), after two albums of soft, sunny pop they stretch out and treat us to Memphis soul, reverb-crazy rockabilly, dreamy ballads, and psychedelic jams. And you can hear the fun they're having--in the mystery goofball title, the review they had David Cross write for eMusic, and of course the songs. I think this one is as good as their acknowledged best album I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One and wider-ranging to boot.

Fela, Army Arrangement (Wrasse) Pretty prime midtempo from the master, even if the drummer isn't as madly propulsive as Tony Allen.

Kaoding Cissoko, Kora Revolution (Palm) Beautiful kora playing throughout, but a third of it sounds like Westernized World Beat kind of stuff. Those pieces are pretty, too, but not nearly raw enough.

Nomo, New Tones (Ubiquity) These are second-generation, Caucasian Afro-whatever musicians, but they mix up some interesting pieces: Congotronics, non-Afrobeat Nigerian funk. Very jazzy, more instrumental than vocal, you can probably dance to it.