Dinner Music 113: The weekly lineup
funk jazz, global slow groove, left-field disco
This week we’re listening to atmospheric albums, the kind that create their own atmosphere, not necessarily exist only as an atmosphere, or background, these demand space and air to expand and shift — they have their own ecosystem. Expect a lot of jazz, naturally, and funk and disco. Many are bass-forward, some demand a dance floor. Throughout, there’s a theme of place and rootedness, a juxtaposition of atmosphere, which is everywhere. These albums are specific and universal, with their own sound that proliferates.
We begin with Mysteries of the World, an album created by a collective of over thirty musicians and led by Dexter Wansel — a highly acclaimed funk-jazz record combining synthesizers and traditional jazz and orchestral instrumentation, a fusion of old and new. For the gear curious, the title track uses three different synths on top of the rhythm section, string, harp and flutes, an Oberheim 4 voice, a Polymoog, and an Arp 2600v, to get that cosmic-laden funky groove sound. This is a fresh one, even after forty years. Next, a new album by way of
and , on CARE/TAKING, Jess Cornelius gives “Beatles-esque pop with razor-sharp insights.”1 Each track is a bit of a surprise, as if the album has a molten core its rotating around, trying different sounds that are all fed by the same dynamic center, creating faults and folds in the sonic terrain. We stay with the new and keep the faulting and folding metaphor, though this time it’s applied to jazz in Anna Butterss album Mighty Vertebrate. Equally as unique as the album itself is the approach Butterss took to making it: each track began with a prompt:- I’m going to make a song where the bass doesn’t function in the role of a bass.
- I’m going to work on this for an hour and then I’m going to stop.
- I’m going to make a song that uses groups of three-bar phrasing.
- I want to sample something and make it into a song.
- I’m going to start with a drum machine.
According to Pitchfork, this leads to a bit of a world-splitting difference between the tracks. To my untrained ear, it feels like new ecosystems springing up in each track. If you’re looking for new, very good jazz, start here. We move into something lighter, imbued with the glitter of the late-seventies. Alan Sorrenti’s LA & NY feels like a disco album flirting with post-disco, with a bit of synth overlaying guitar-forward riffs in an impossible-to-describe-why (for me) Italian way. This is southern Italy’s pop-rock, disco, funk soundtrack. We end with a “certified jazz-funk classic,” Dancing in Outer Space by UK group Atmosfear. The title track supposedly made an appearance (or two) at Paradise Garage.
Enjoy.
Or listen on Apple Music.
Paid subscribers have access to the full Dinner Music archive (via Spotify and Apple Music, links at the bottom of this newsletter), an after hours playlist, a “New York Grooves” playlist and more — hundreds of hours of groove, soul, jazz, folk, samba, hi-life, disco, electro, post-punk, funk and more, thoughtfully selected.
Monday
Mysteries of the World - MFSB (1980)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Tuesday
CARE/TAKING - Jess Cornelius (2024)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Wednesday
Mighty Vertebrate - Anna Butterss (2024)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Thursday
LA & NY - Alan Sorrenti (1979)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Friday
Dancing in Outer Space - Atmosfear (1979)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Pair with:
Oven roasted rosemary garlic brick chicken. Busy with holidays? Just start roasting everything and you’ll be fine.
Lambrusco Sbagliato. Lambrusco season, again! Thank god for that.
These insane wineglasses. Absolutely $$$$ a perfect gift if you’re looking to spoil someone with something very beautiful and completely unnecessary (arguably the perfect kind of gift).
This article on what a woman ate on the road with the Grateful Dead when she was a kid. “Madison Square Garden always, without compromise, meant orange chicken and water chestnuts, the fat that falls off the edge of spare ribs, and duck-sauce stains on old merch shirts.”
Thank you, thank you. Have a great week.
NPR All Songs Considered
Jess Cornelius 🙌