February 2020 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

Top Five Performances
1. Post Malone- Sprint Center
My review.
2. Roddy Ricch- Uptown Theater
My review.
3. Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin- Folly Theater
My Instagram image.
4. Matt Villinger, Peter Schlamb and Zach Morrow- Blue Room
My review.
5. Joseph- Madrid Theatre
My Instagram clip.


Top Five Albums
1. Beatrice Dillon- Workaround
My review.
2. Obongjayar- Which Way Is Forward?
My review.
3. Blackstarkids- Surf
N.E.R.Ds.
4. Jóhann Jóhannsson- Last and First Men
End times.
5. Tame Impala- The Slow Rush
Smooth sailing.


Top Five Songs
1. Pongo- “Uwa”
Sonic sunshine.
2. Boosie Badazz- “Mop Wit It”
Cleanup on aisle America.
3. yMusic- Gabriella Smith’s “Tessellations”
Classical pops needn’t be lame.
4. BTS- “Ugh!”
Get on up.
5. Sam Hunt- “Hard To Forget”
Webb Pierce for the win.

Last month’s selections are here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Hair of the Dog

I’ve anticipated hearing something like Obongjayar’s Which Way Is Forward? for most of my adult life.  The Nigerian’s seamless blend of hip-hop, indie-rock, gospel, electronica and Afrobeat is the effulgent fulfillment of the most optimistic version of my fevered reveries.  Here’s the essential “10K”. 


---
Tears filled my eyes when Waylon Jenning’s “Just to Satisfy You” popped up on Miranda Lambert’s pre-show playlist at the Sprint Center last night.  Her walk-on music was Aerosmith’s “Back In the Saddle,” another song from my childhood I hadn’t heard in years.  I reviewed Lambert’s concert for The Kansas City Star.

---
I can’t say I saw this coming.  The pop-country superstar Sam Hunt recasts Webb Pierce’s “There Stands the Glass” on his new single “Hard To Forget”.

---
I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.  Encountering the salvaged music video for Mark Anthony & Lyte Speed’s “I’m Just a Boogie Roller” turned my day around.

(Original image of an Arab-Israeli dog by There Stands the Glass.)