1967-1972. Although there is a dearth of documentation, some say the music between the death of John Coltrane and the death of Lee Morgan was the greatest jazz of all time. In The Nation, my cover story on Slugs' and the archival release FORCES OF NATURE: thenation.com/article/cultur…

We are pleased to announce the shortlist for the 2024 Novel Prize: — HOW TO LIVE TOGETHER, Rey Conquer — TOUCH ME NOW, Neal Amandus Gellaco — PORCUPINE, Nick Holdstock — RUINS, CHILD, Giada Scodellaro — MOSS HOUSE, Hollen Singleton More details here: fitzcarraldoeditions.com/prizes/the-fit…

As good as it gets man

Setting aside his trumpet, Nate Wooley weaves a 'strange funeral mass for a fictional everyman' out of phrases culled from John Berryman, Joseph Mitchell, Wendell Berry and a Kafka bio by Reiner Stach, with Mat Maneri and Megan Schubert as the narrators. culturedarm.com/nate-wooley-he…

Described as 'microtonal chamber jazz' inspired by La Monte Young’s solo improvisatory epic The Well-Tuned Piano, the new album Hemlocks, Peacocks by the Will Mason Quintet proves slinkily and at times queasily seductive. culturedarm.com/will-mason-qua… New Focus Recordings

Travis Laplante, Andrew Smiley and Jason Nazary team up with Nathaniel Morgan for a wild ode to the natural world as Sun & Rain, whose limpid reeds, flitting harmonics and kindling drums segue into rollercoaster rides with water features. culturedarm.com/sun-rain-water… Out Of Your Head Records

The underground legend Booker T. Williams with his fellow Seattleite and tenor saxophonist Gary Hammon punctuates fine grooves and ecstatic sighs with three odes, all squalls on a stirring ensemble record put together by the best of Mahakala Music. culturedarm.com/booker-t-the-p…

A couple of (((((((577))))))) mainstays in matthewputman and Federico Ughi with Michael Sarian and the newcomer Ledian Mola pay heartfelt tribute to Sun Ra, blending Cuban folklore and trips on the Rock-Si-Chord with bluesy romps and other fusion textures. culturedarm.com/michael-sarian…

Lots of new music reviews up at Culturedarm, including albums by Ingrid Laubrock, Fred Moten and Brandon López, Mopcut, aya, perila, Ledley, The Hemphill Stringtet, plus Ingrid Schmoliner and Alexander Kranabetter as drank. culturedarm.com

From whorling winds and processions to the dial tones or transmissions of 'Exorcism: Clearing the Electromagnetic Field', the duo of Angel Bat Dawid and Naima Karlsson find spiritual succour on Journey to Nabta Playa while honouring David Ornette Cherry. culturedarm.com/angel-bat-dawi…

ariel kalma has passed away, at the age of 78. after contending with health challenges over the past several years, his departure was sudden though peaceful, surrounded by his dear family. we are so grateful for our time with ariel, and of course, his magical music ~

On TRACES a new Swedish ensemble starring Mats Gustafsson, Goran Kajfeš, Christer Bothén, Juan Romero and Kansan Zetterberg as Cosmic Ear draws inspiration from the music of Don Cherry, showing their chemistry on a set of deep grooves and swampy licks. culturedarm.com/cosmic-ear-tra…

From conventional squawks to the sounds of rubber chickens and wrung necks, on percussion, electronics and a modified alto saxophone 吉田達也 Yoshida Tatsuya and Martín Escalante deliver one of the rowdiest records of the year with The Sound of Raspberry.

There is a radiance to Walter Zanetti’s guitar on Cantos Yoruba de Cuba, which he captured after spending a month outside of Havana learning alongside the composer José Angel Navarro, trying to recreate sacred batá drum songs using only his six-string. culturedarm.com/walter-zanetti…

zadie smith vocals on this music.apple.com/gb/album/vivid…

Obligatory Bandcamp Friday message to remind you of two records near and dear to me that have been released in the past two months: SQUANDERERS' "Skantagio" and Bitterviper's self-titled debut. Do yourself a favor or two, you genuinely deserve it.

"Better than some ballsack spunking out hot takes on the ineffable blandness of Substack" Lots of new music reviews over at Culturedarm (most recently Squanderers, Menchaca, Aruán Ortiz and Blood Orange) plus other bits and pieces on literature and film. culturedarm.com

Wrote about three new albums released last week by ECM Records: Sokratis Sinopoulos and Yann Keerim's lustrous third stream take on Béla Bartók, Meredith Monk's meditative and defiant Cellular Songs and the Zehetmair Quartett's headlong dive into Brahms. culturedarm.com/sokratis-sinop…

Here's a piece from a few weeks ago about the new album on Leaving Records by BlankFor.ms, which stacks tape loops and draws deftly from ambient, house and drum 'n' bass, skirting decay while steeping and cleansing itself in visions of water. culturedarm.com/blankfor-ms-af…

And here's another which surveys briefly Essex Honey the new record by Blood Orange, feting especially Zadie Smith's vocals on 'Vivid Dreams', a thrilling moment on one of the album's standout tracks. culturedarm.com/blood-orange-e…