Ten New Albums I'm Enjoying Right Now

All styles, all genres, all geographies

Here’s my latest roundup of outstanding new albums. As usual, I live in a world without borders, and cover a wide range of genres, styles, and geographies.

I can confidently claim that this music (with a couple exceptions) won’t get covered in Rolling Stone. Or any other major media outlet, for that matter.

So these licorice pizzas are just a secret between you and me. But you have my permission to share our insider tips with a few trusted friends.

Happy listening!

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Jeb Loy Nichols & Jennifer Carr: Shadow on the Day
Gospel-ish Love Songs

You can’t get more back-to-basics than this. Take a piano, a singer, and a love song. Musicians have been doing it for centuries, and always will. But few handle it as convincingly as singer Jeb Loy Nichols—born in Wyoming and now living in Wales—who is joined by his longtime associate, Australian pianist Jennifer Carr.

Jeb Loy Nichols went from Wyoming to Wales

This is one of the best albums you will hear in 2024, but it’s totally hidden from view. When I first discovered this track, it only had 28 views on YouTube. That’s a lover’s crying shame. But don’t you miss out.

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Tom Penaguin: Tom Penaguin
Analog Prog Rock from France Inspired by Zappa and Stravinsky

I sometimes make jokes about aging rock stars and their fans. It’s all in good fun—I’m really laughing at myself, because I’m part of the same demographic. But a few rockaholics do get riled up by my jests.

But here’s a young prog rock musician releasing a self-titled solo album, and it’s no laughing matter. So I’m cheering from the pews.

Tom Penaguin is his name, and he doesn’t mess around. Tom has built a retro analog studio in his home, drawing on his personal collection of vintage equipment. And he needs plenty of it—because he plays guitar, drums, piano, organ, and various museum-ready keyboards, including:

• Fender Rhodes MK2

• Cembalet II

• Yamaha YC20

• Hohner Pianet T

• Hohner String Melody

• Moog Matriarch

He plays them with total commitment. As a jazz snob, I sometimes look down on rock solos. But not this time. These tracks sizzle, and sometimes at great length. If you’re a fan of Zappa or Wakeman or the Canterbury sound, this will be your cup of scalding hot tea.

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Gunter Herbig: Lux
Gurdjieff’s Music Transcribed for Electric Guitar

This music represents the fringe of a fringe. The story starts with G. I. Gurdjieff (1867-1949), a Greek-Armenian spiritual teacher with a small but devoted cult following. Some might even call him a philosopher, but his writings are too mystical to get accepted in university philosophy departments.

If I’d ever mentioned Gurdjieff’s name at an Oxford philosophy tutorial, my teacher might have slapped me—and we’re not talking symbolic Zen slaps. Yet 75 years after Gurdjieff’s death, his work is still read and quoted by his fringe devotees.

But even more esoteric is Gurdjieff’s music—although he has had some famous advocates, notably Keith Jarrett, who devoted an entire album to the mystic’s compositions. Jarrett relied on Thomas de Hartmann’s piano transcriptions, and now they have been adapted to electric guitar by Gunter Herbig.

That’s a complex genealogy for this music. But the compositions themselves feel like they have finally found a home with Herbig’s Gretsch White Falcon G7593. This music is both haunting and inspiring. But you will have to seek it out, because this is far outside the realm of radio rotations and promoted playlists.

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