1) Frank Turner, “FTHC” / The British singer-songwriter rates high among a group of artists I didn’t initially get, but completely warmed to after an interview. Turner’s heart came through that conversation, and now I hear it in all his work. The title of his latest (short for Frank Turner hardcore) suggests a return to the heaviest sides of his punk bonafiides; that isn’t necessarily so. Turner isn’t much more aggressive or cathartic here than elsewhere, but continues to deliver rock and roll with soul, a potent dose of idealism that doesn’t ignore reality but reaches to transcend it. If you can’t feel a little better, a little more inspired after time with “FTHC,” spin it again.
2) Ethan Iverson, “Every Note is True” / Iverson owns one of my favorite musical voices, but the man never sings a note. The founding pianist for the vanguard trio The Bad Plus, Iverson is now on his own—sort of. His new record comprises both solo recordings, and excellent trio joints in the company of all-stars Jack DeJohnette and Larry Grenadier. You hear traces of Iverson’s work with The Bad Plus here, especially in his planing melodicism, but the pianist is also clearly inspired to forge new, delightful directions. Here, “Every Note is True” isn’t an aspirational title, but a promise kept.
3) Empath, “Visitor” / The latest from this Philly outfit is the best, most glorious kind of mess. Loud, melodic, prone to fits and starts yet always delivering emotionally, the songs on “Visitor” recall the best of ‘90s buzz bands while taking a completely 21st-century approach to self-expression. Killer stuff.
4) Jenny Lawson, “Broken (in the best possible way)” / A popular humor writer, known online to many as The Bloggess, Lawson’s work here is a delightful, often-poignant series of vignettes and essays, all of which eventually circle back around to themes to social anxiety, mental health and the poverty of systems we’ve designed to address such issues. Lawson will lead the reader down all sorts of side trails (funny in their own right), then reveal where the path was heading all along, with a punchline or gut punch that delivers. A chapter’s worth of (all-too-familiar to me) regrettable things she’s said at parties is worth the book’s price, but there’s so much here to commend “Broken.”
5) Hanif Abdurraqib and Ashley Evans, “Sing, Aretha, Sing!” / Hanif Abdurraqib might be, pound for pound, our best young writer today. A soulful poet, a remarkable essayist, a perceptive cultural critic. When I saw he was writing a children’s book on Aretha Franklin, I was intrigued; and that intrigue is rewarded in “Sing, Aretha, Sing!” In company with Ashley Evans’ lovely illustrations, Abdurraqib brings poetry and history together on a child’s level, showing how one song might not save the world—but can move the hearts, minds and feet of those with the power to make revolution. There might be a genre Abdurraqib can’t write, but I haven’t found it yet.