Hey, summer, looks like you are about to leave, so I just wanted to say it’s been nice having you. You’ve given me a lot of new music, and we got to celebrate 50 years of hip-hop. Thanks for everything, see you next year!

Terrace Martin – Fine Tune + Curly

The latest (two!) albums from the jazz producer extraordinaire and Kendrick Lamar collaborator are so well done, I can’t stop playing them.

Jungle – Volcano

Jungle’s last album was one of my favorites from 2021, and this one is likely to end up on top in 2023. Energetic, funky, and fun.

Ritmo Machine – Experience

A collaboration between Cypress Hill’s percussionist Eric “Bobo” Correa and mix master Latin Bitman. This is music to rob banks too.

Panda Bear & Sonic Boom – Reset in Dub

A dub version of one of my favorite albums of 2022, this is both spaced out and focused at the same time.

Open Mike Eagle – another triumph of ghetto engineering

Open Mike Eagle fits in that space vacated by MF Doom on my hip-hop food pyramid. He’s weird and abstract with his rhymes but it comes together in remarkable ways, like waking-up-with fragments-of-these-songs-in-my-head ways.

Other albums that found their way to me (and stayed) this month:

• Arnold Dreyblatt – Resolve (crazy driving instrumental guitar)
• Pharoah Sanders – Karma (32 minute classic track The Creator Has A Master Plan)
• David Murray – Plumb (great jazz album, a collaborative project with Questlove, Ray Angry)
• The Bear 2 Soundtrack (epic show and epic soundtrack! Thanks to whoever put this together)

I love discovering new music and hope sharing my finds inspires you to check out something different (and support the artists you love). Happy listening. ✌️