Spins, Streams & Downloads
like any reasonable 12-yearold, we’re still laughing about it. But like everything he does, that’s just Mono being Mono, and this album once again proves that he refuses to be anything else. —Jon D’Auria
MonoNeon My Feelings Be Peeling The infinitely funky and highly prolific MonoNeon is back with yet another album that falls into suit with his previous work as a groove clinic of raw musicality and candid lyricism. Laying down funky line after funky line, the nine-song LP features Mono on bass and guitar with a little help from collaborators in the form of fellow low-ender Alissia Benveniste and drummers JD Beck and Sam Porter supplying intricate beats. The album kicks off with the laid-back grooves and crisp guitar strumming of “Don’t Make This World War 3,” and then continually builds with increasingly fast and soulful hits like “She Was Round & Brown” and “She Look Cute With My Hoodie On.” Every song features the intense musical mastery that Mono has become viral for, but the continual growth and expansion of his vocal range and one-ofa-kind songwriting won’t be lost on any listener who cops his latest work. If you’re just in it for a good time, don’t skip out on the first single, “Fart When You Pee” — because
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Tedeschi Trucks Band Signs Whose Hat Is This? Everything’s OK Tim Lefebvre’s five-year stint in TTB (now anchored by Atlanta bassist Brandon Boone) resulted in two sterling studio sides and one live album, exposure to a swath of southern music for Lefebvre, and a cadre of new grooves for our ears, as he processed said music through his jazz-rooted filter. It also has produced an exciting experimental quartet,
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Whose Hat Is This?, made up of Tim and his TTB mates Kebbi Williams on tenor sax and flute, and drummers JJ Johnson and Taylor “Falcon” Greenwell. On their dizzying debut, Everything’s OK, cut live in Baltimore with guest hip hop artist Kokayi, the unit’s all-improvised set leads to many noteworthy moments. This includes “Jon Homes,” which rides Lefebvre’s kinetic P-Bass boogaloo, “X’s for Eyes,” Tim’s random interval exploration, via pick and effects pedals, “If I Had to Decide Between the Pork and You,” a free-tempo, bluesy theme and development on acoustic bass, and the electric-Miles-esque “Well Alright, Playboy.” As for the song-rich Signs, it’s a worthy swansong for Lefebvre, who shares three co-writes and reminds how interwoven he was in the band’s creative fabric with lyrical lines that never overstep but always serve and swing. It’s also a sad goodbye to the brilliant, late keyboardist/ flautist Kofi Burbridge, who was pivotal to TTB’s musical DNA, and who shared a special bond with Lefebvre at live shows, where the two enjoyed a stepout segment. Track-wise, Tim adds a minor 9 subhook to the simmering ballad “I’m Gonna Be There,” drives the riff-heavy “Shame” and the trippy “Still Your Mind,” and serves as the funky, bouncing rhythmic core on “Walk Through This Life.” Five years well spent. —Chris Jisi
