Music
Loose Cattle: Somebody’s Monster (Single Lock Records)
Though they recorded it well in advance, I doubt we’ll hear a song that speaks for post-election America better than this album’s opener, “Further On.” The lyrics’ message is simple—“I thought we’d be further on than this”—and while it states the dashed hopes that many of us are feeling, it comes down that much stronger on the case for peace, love and understanding.
Naughty Professor: Voices (Independent)
Sounds like Naughty Professor have found their direction, and not the one you expected if you had them pegged as a post-Meters/Galactic funk/jam band. True to its title Voices is a vocally oriented album but the real surprise is the musical style. There’s no jamming, no shredding and very little hard funk; instead, this is a set of smooth, chillout-style R&B. They flirted with that direction on their last album Identity and jumped in wholeheartedly this time.
Dale Dolese Band: Sugar & Fire (Independent)
Does New Orleans need another funk-rock album with Meters/Radiators grooves, lots of chant-along choruses, and songs about hanging out on Frenchmen Street and costuming for Mardi Gras? Well, it just got one, and a pretty good one at that.
The Tanglers: Gators in the City (Independent)
It’s been a whopping eight years between albums for local bluegrass band the Tanglers, who made a promising debut with Backwards Burner in 2016. Back for the sophomore effort is nearly the same lineup, but with an evolved musical approach—less traditional and more into progressive bluegrass.
Devin Johnson: The Future is So Near (Independent)
There was a time when reviewers applied the word “quirky” to every pop record that was just a little eccentric. But local songwriter Devin Johnson is quirky and proud of it. He made a small mark locally with a single called “Trump Ruined My Sex Life” (not included here), which was funny enough if you could find any humor in the subject matter.
Cary Baker: Down On The Corner: Adventures In Busking & Street Music (Jawbone Press)
Veteran journalist Cary Baker takes an overdue look at the phenomenon in this book and in doing so, he creates a workable alternative history of popular music—where the street players are the heartbeat that powers it all.
Joy Clark: Tell It to the Wind (Righteous Babe)
Thanks to her touring and visibility in the last few years, Joy Clark’s stands to be the highest-profile debut to come out of New Orleans in quite some time and suffice to say she hasn’t blown it. Working with producer and collaborator Margaret Becker, and a few nods from label owner Ani DiFranco, she’s made an impressively accomplished album that draws two streams of music—the introspective singer/songwriter realm and locally-rooted funk and soul—into something quite her own.
David Shaw: Take a Look Inside (Yokoko Records)
It sounds like David Shaw has just been through a bad breakup, a heavy round of therapy, or both. In terms of emotional intensity, his second solo album outdoes anything he’s done with the Revivalists, which for those who know the band’s work, is saying something. This is not the most radio-friendly record he’s ever made (and it’s on his own label so there’s nobody to complain), but an album for fans who will appreciate that he’s opened up this much.
Grayson Capps: Heartbreak, Misery & Death (Royal Potato Family)
Nothing but the truth in this album title, since every track on the album is about one or all of the above. Though he’s recorded some upbeat rock ’n’ roll in his time, Grayson Capps here turns his attention to the darker corners of the American songbook—murder ballads, downcast country songs, foreboding gospel numbers, and Leonard Cohen’s greatest hit are all accounted for. If you’re one of those depressives who became a Johnny Cash fan because of the haunting American Recordings albums, you’ll be right at home.
Karma & the Killjoys: Synthetic (Pal Productions)
Make immediate room on your Halloween playlist for “Stay My Fangs,” the closing track from Karma & the Killjoys’ six-track EP. Propelled by a gothy blues groove and Rain Scott-Catoire’s dramatic vocal, the song uses werewolf imagery to explore the nature of sensuality and strength. Somewhere Anne Rice is smiling.
