Black artists have been marginalized from the mainstream for decades — despite being the originators of nearly all popular music genres. Industry gatekeeping and systemic barriers have historically sidelined their contributions, even as their innovations continue to define popular music.
The past year, however, saw a major shift. Hip-hop and R&B, currently two of the most popular genres in the United States, made up an estimated 25.3 percent of audio streaming sales, reaffirming that Black creativity remains the foundation of popular music. Beyoncé and Shaboozey topped the country charts, Kaytranada made waves in the electronic scene and Brittany Howard blurred the lines between rock and soul.
To celebrate Black History Month, this list highlights albums from some of the most compelling voices in their respective scenes today.
“Black Origami” by Jlin
Electronic music has not been the same since footwork — an electronic genre defined by its dance battle elements — broke out following Planet Mu’s “Bangs & Works, Vol. 1.” This compilation album captures the scene brewing in Chicago's South and West Sides since the mid-to-late ‘90s.
“Black Origami” sees Jerrilynn “Jlin” Patton mutate the already imposing rhythmic skeleton of footwork into something almost otherworldly. The title track opens with a deceptively simple synth melody before launching into a perpetually escalating sequence of conflicting rhythms and disembodied vocal samples. On another track, “Hatshepsut,” whirlwinds of polyrhythms whiz by at near-imperceptible speeds as a flurry of percussion, from techno hi-hats to marching band drumlines, is unleashed into the mix.
Footwork is, at its core, a highly physical genre — its frenetic rhythms and breakneck speeds practically force the listener to move. Jlin, however, seems more interested in the mechanisms that drive that warfare, abandoning loops for meticulously composed drums that edge beyond electronic music and into the avant-garde. The result is a towering feat of composition that is both dizzying and disorienting. With “Black Origami,” Jlin not only deconstructs footwork, but rhythm itself.
“Maps” by billy woods, Kenny Segal
“Maps” shows billy woods in peak songwriting form. woods, over the course of his nearly thirty-year long career, has proven himself a more-than-competent writer and thinker. His back catalog proves he is willing to write about anything from botched robberies to love-life troubles and omelets.
Kenny Segal — woods’ preferred producer — offers blood-curdling beats that provide the perfect sonic backdrop for woods to deliver his cynical sermons. On “Year Zero,” a stand-out song on the album, cavernous drums creak under industrial clatter as billy woods remarks, “my taxes pay police brutality settlements.”
woods’ bleak prophecies feel more prescient with each passing year. However, his sardonic delivery and doom-fueled rantings make the rare moments of peace in his music all the more powerful. On “Soft Landing,” he reflects, “from up here the lakes is puddles / the land unfold brown and green, it's a quiet puzzle.” On “Maps”, billy woods proves that behind every cynic is a disappointed idealist.
“The Way Out of Easy” by Jeff Parker, ETA IVtet
Jazz has increasingly become relegated to “background music” — pleasant noise for coffee shops and bookstores to keep your ears occupied while you empty your wallet. “The Way Out of Easy” boldly rejects that characterization.
Opener “Freakadelic” immediately demands your attention with a controlled chaos that lurches forward along a lopsided groove. The rhythm section, composed of bassist Anna Butterss and drummer Jay Bellerose, seems to tumble down a bottomless pit for the first eight minutes of the over twenty-minute song. That is, until Bellerose gets sick of holding the groove down and goes on a tangent, plunging the band into chaos. Saxophonist Josh Johnson responds by warping his instrument with whatever effects pedals and tone-manipulating devices he has on hand. The result is a saxophone that sounds more like a synthesizer than a brass horn, casting an ambient soundscape that envelops the band.
Jeff Parker, bandleader and guitarist, is at the center of it all, quietly orchestrating the chaos, playing the role of anchor and instigator. His angular playing holds down the band when they get too rowdy — and eggs them on with new riffs when they get complacent.
“The Way Out of Easy” follows the band as they go back-and-forth between a mess of frenzied drums and piling feedback before morphing the chaos into beautiful passages. Parker and his quartet — or IVtet, if you will — do not just toy with time and space, they tear them apart and reassemble them into new shapes.
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