End of year listicle: 2025

I find it ironic that in a year in which I vowed to forego writing in favor of activism (an intention I have, for the most part, honored), I was asked to participate in the Downbeat Critics' Poll -- an indication, I suppose, that with the ranks of "legit" critics being thinned by the morbidity of legacy daily and weekly rags, they're forced to reach down into the muck and mire of the blogosphere to shore up their ranks. I got a nice T-shirt, and because DB (like NYC) uses ranked choice voting, not all of my votes were statistically insignificant. This is going to be a quick one, because I have other activist and musician shit to attend to, having returned to the boards against all odds in both solo acoustic (Stashdauber/Folknik) and electric trio (STC) guises. You never know what's around the corner. 

I find it heartening that I saw six out of ten acts represented here live. Other live things I like: 1) The return to performance of Gregg Prickett's Monks of Saturnalia, and the prospect of a release from them. 2) The inception of a fledgling new music outfit, Denton's Minerva Contemporary Ensemble. 3) The inclusion on a regular basis of dancers in experimental and new music performances. 4) The continuation of adventurous booking policies at Fort Worth's Grackle Art Gallery, Dallas' Full City Rooster, The Wild Detectives, New Media Contemporary, and Texas Theatre, and Denton's Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios. 

Finally, remember, kids: Your freedom comes with responsibility attached. Accept it, embrace it, live it. So there.

1) Craig Taborn/Nels Cline/Marcus Gilmore -- Trio of Bloom (Pyroclastic). Three top notch improvising composers join forces to remind me of everything I loved about '70s fusion. Produced by David Breskin, of course.

2) Richard Dawson -- End of the Middle (Weird World). Geordie singer-songwriter whose every song is like a Mike Leigh film in miniature. This might be my favorite album of his, although Peasant and 2020 continue to signify.

3) Patricia Brennan -- Of Near and Far (Pyroclastic). The great new voice on her axe (vibraphone) continues to expand her compositional vision along with the size of her ensemble. 

4) Darrifourcq Hermia Ceccaldi -- Unicorn and Flexibility (Hector). French trio of saxophone-cello-bass and you can tell it's the drummer's band. Prog rock meets Euro improv and kicks much ass.

5) Hemphill Stringtet -- Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill (Out of Your Head). All-star unit helmed by Sam Bardfeld and Tomeka Reid reimagines the master of multi-horn polyphony's works (including a Mingus tribute) for strings.

6) Solan Dorr -- Vol. 1: Pale Face, Pale Moon and Vol. 2: Pattern and Shadows (Bandcamp). Led by Debussy-via-Keith Jarrett channeling polymath Taylor Collins, two generous length (82 and 76 minutes, respectively) digital volumes bring intelligent psychedelia into the 21st century.

7) Senso di Voce -- Through Itself (Sonic Transmissions). Two gifted improvisers explore mystical and philosophical concepts through composed chamber music and live extemporizations.

8) Sandy Ewen -- Little Tour Down to Texas and Back (scatter/Archive). A truly singular voice on guitar, influenced by but not in thrall to Keith Rowe, in a surfeit of solo improvisations. I witnessed one from five feet away and was thrilled by her resolution and invention. "Improvised music is transient.... It's not meant to be precious." Amen.

9) Smothered -- Dirty Laundry (No label). Courageously intimate garage rock, replete with smart songwriting and the sound of surprise. Their release show, played outdoors in freezing temperatures, is a lifetime Top 10 for your humble chronicler o' events. These kids (pictured above), fronted by Taylor Watt, have heart. 

10) El Mantis -- El Lago de los Ciegos (No label). Houston's great free jazz-Latin rock fusion in their first outing as a quintet. I saw them perform this in its entirety before reedman Danny Kamins took a season off to kick cancer's ass. Stirring stuff.