Chris Robinson
@chris-robinson.bsky.social
Music writer, saxophonist, steel guitarist, PhD in American Studies, bylines in Downbeat, Point of Departure, Passion of the Weiss, elsewhere. Day gig: Duke University Press.
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The 10 Best Avant-Garde albums of 2025
Chris Robinson ranks the best of spiritual jazz, semi-feral cello drone, beeping collisions of man and machine, and other forward-thinking experiments from the outer galaxies of sound
By @chris-robinson.bsky.social
www.passionweiss.com/2025/12/17/t...
Chris Robinson ranks the best of spiritual jazz, semi-feral cello drone, beeping collisions of man and machine, and other forward-thinking experiments from the outer galaxies of sound
By @chris-robinson.bsky.social
www.passionweiss.com/2025/12/17/t...
The 10 Best Avant Garde Albums of 2025 | Passion of the Weiss
POW lists out the top 10 avant garde jazz(ish) albums of the year.
www.passionweiss.com
My year end list of favorite avant garde jazz(ish) albums is now up on @passionweiss.bsky.social Take heed, I have only seen 2, or maybe 3, of these 10 albums on anybody else's comparable list. So get weird. Buy the ticket. Take the ride.
Virtuosic microtonal guitar, a pedal board the size of a Cadillac, tight drums, loops and layers and polymeters, bonkers costumes, and a pocket deeper than the mines of Moria, Angine de Poitrine will fuck you up.
ANGINE DE POITRINE - VOL.1, by Angine de Poitrine
6 track album
share.google
February 14, 2026 at 12:17 AM
Virtuosic microtonal guitar, a pedal board the size of a Cadillac, tight drums, loops and layers and polymeters, bonkers costumes, and a pocket deeper than the mines of Moria, Angine de Poitrine will fuck you up.
Now that Harlequin has axed its historical romance list, I am proud to announce that I will be starting my own imprint to pick up the slack. Who wants to get in on the ground floor?
February 13, 2026 at 6:07 PM
Now that Harlequin has axed its historical romance list, I am proud to announce that I will be starting my own imprint to pick up the slack. Who wants to get in on the ground floor?
Read Val Wilmer's books and articles, look at her amazing photography, which captures musicians as people as opposed to the towering giants portrayed by Herman Leonard. Her obituaries are brilliant and a form of music criticism in their own right.
"She shot the The Beatles in 1963 and found them 'very bright and interesting.' Not long after, she captured Bob Dylan, still just in his 20s, and recalls: 'I think I was the only photographer at the gig.'"
Legendary music photographer Val Wilmer’s greatest shoots:
Legendary music photographer Val Wilmer’s greatest shoots:
‘Fela Kuti was always in his pants’: legendary music photographer Val Wilmer’s greatest shoots
She ate fried chicken with BB King, gave Jimi Hendrix a lift home from a gig and accidentally worked for MI6. The pioneer recalls her favourite subjects – and the ones like Miles Davis she’d rather forget
www.theguardian.com
February 13, 2026 at 3:11 PM
Read Val Wilmer's books and articles, look at her amazing photography, which captures musicians as people as opposed to the towering giants portrayed by Herman Leonard. Her obituaries are brilliant and a form of music criticism in their own right.
For all who celebrate, happy off with her head day to Lady Jane Grey. Also, what's with that portrait? She was what, 16, 17 when she died? She looks ghastly. I guess that's what 9 days on the throne will do for you.
Executed (alas!) OTD in 1554, Lady Jane Grey. Those crazy Tudors! Always executing people.
February 12, 2026 at 6:05 PM
For all who celebrate, happy off with her head day to Lady Jane Grey. Also, what's with that portrait? She was what, 16, 17 when she died? She looks ghastly. I guess that's what 9 days on the throne will do for you.
How about limiting military gear just to the military and the people who are trained to use it. Don't give it to the police, not the border patrol, not ICE. Of course abolish all that ish, but if you can't do that, don't give border patrols sharks with laser beams on their head.
According to multiple NYT sources, it wasn’t even military personnel at Fort Bliss that fired an anti-drone laser at alleged cartel drones. It was CBP who used the weapon on loan from DoD against a child’s party balloon they mistook for a drone. The Pentagon gave CBP an anti-aircraft weapon.
February 12, 2026 at 3:13 PM
How about limiting military gear just to the military and the people who are trained to use it. Don't give it to the police, not the border patrol, not ICE. Of course abolish all that ish, but if you can't do that, don't give border patrols sharks with laser beams on their head.
Yeah, it's been 20 degrees warmer where my sister lives in Montana. We had more snow than they did. It's all fucked.
February 12, 2026 at 3:10 PM
Yeah, it's been 20 degrees warmer where my sister lives in Montana. We had more snow than they did. It's all fucked.
Doubles luge is maybe the most ridiculous thing. It's like something discussed over way too many pitchers. "You know what would be rad? Let's do luge, but put another person on top of the first person. Why, you ask? Because." And it was so.
February 12, 2026 at 1:53 AM
Doubles luge is maybe the most ridiculous thing. It's like something discussed over way too many pitchers. "You know what would be rad? Let's do luge, but put another person on top of the first person. Why, you ask? Because." And it was so.
According to the avg life span of my family, I will be checking out permanently at about the right time, or maybe a smidgen too late.
February 11, 2026 at 8:32 PM
According to the avg life span of my family, I will be checking out permanently at about the right time, or maybe a smidgen too late.
I was at a kind of a antique/thriftshop in San Juan and it randomly had a massive collection of nothing but salsa records. Thousands of them. $5 a piece. Not knowing anything about salsa, I did some best guess digging and found what turned out to be absolute bangers. I should have spent more money.
February 11, 2026 at 7:35 PM
I was at a kind of a antique/thriftshop in San Juan and it randomly had a massive collection of nothing but salsa records. Thousands of them. $5 a piece. Not knowing anything about salsa, I did some best guess digging and found what turned out to be absolute bangers. I should have spent more money.
It's warm and sunny and I've got Sam Cooke on the speakers for the first time in what feels like forever. Not too bad gir February at all.
February 11, 2026 at 7:22 PM
It's warm and sunny and I've got Sam Cooke on the speakers for the first time in what feels like forever. Not too bad gir February at all.
Good point. I was actually following the playback, and here I thought I was being a renegade all along.
February 11, 2026 at 5:55 PM
Good point. I was actually following the playback, and here I thought I was being a renegade all along.
Please tell me it is: "eats peanut butter and jelly sandwich," like that time I went rogue in our performance of Cobra 9 or 10 years ago.
February 11, 2026 at 4:38 PM
Please tell me it is: "eats peanut butter and jelly sandwich," like that time I went rogue in our performance of Cobra 9 or 10 years ago.
So stoked for this. Somehow I think this will be unlike every other big band I've ever played in. And I can't wait to hook up with folks I haven't played with in forever. There's some serious firepower here.
Sunday March 1
premiere of a new big band project from @gorgonparis.bsky.social & me
featuring:
Danny Finney
Carrie Shull
Jimmy Ghaphery
Fred McGann
@chris-robinson.bsky.social
Tim Westberg
@photoblaster.bsky.social
Charles Phaneuf
Dylan Angell
Jason Bivins
Lynn Book
premiere of a new big band project from @gorgonparis.bsky.social & me
featuring:
Danny Finney
Carrie Shull
Jimmy Ghaphery
Fred McGann
@chris-robinson.bsky.social
Tim Westberg
@photoblaster.bsky.social
Charles Phaneuf
Dylan Angell
Jason Bivins
Lynn Book
February 11, 2026 at 3:58 PM
So stoked for this. Somehow I think this will be unlike every other big band I've ever played in. And I can't wait to hook up with folks I haven't played with in forever. There's some serious firepower here.
"The plug stressed sitting at the dentist thinking about enamel."---Lungs, "She Could"
February 11, 2026 at 1:35 PM
"The plug stressed sitting at the dentist thinking about enamel."---Lungs, "She Could"
Looks rad. Like all the best parts of what Moogfest was for a few years where I happen to live before it vanished without explanation. This was before the In Music buyout.
February 10, 2026 at 10:04 PM
Looks rad. Like all the best parts of what Moogfest was for a few years where I happen to live before it vanished without explanation. This was before the In Music buyout.
Oh fuck laptop subscriptions. May a curse be placed on the wretched soul who greenlit this. Anybody up for a little Butlerian jihad?
February 10, 2026 at 10:02 PM
Oh fuck laptop subscriptions. May a curse be placed on the wretched soul who greenlit this. Anybody up for a little Butlerian jihad?
Yeah, this guy is a bad ass. I saw him on a podcast or radio show or something talking about the need to abolish ICE, structural racism and violence, etc. As soon as I get my car washed I need to put my Tell Your Dog I Said Hi sticker on it.
February 10, 2026 at 9:57 PM
Yeah, this guy is a bad ass. I saw him on a podcast or radio show or something talking about the need to abolish ICE, structural racism and violence, etc. As soon as I get my car washed I need to put my Tell Your Dog I Said Hi sticker on it.
Reposted by Chris Robinson
Through this #SuperBowl weekend, you can get the e-book edition of "P FKN R" by Vanessa Díaz and Petra R. Rivera-Rideau for $9.99 or less! Links to retailers are on our site. #BadBunny
buff.ly/c3O101k
buff.ly/c3O101k
February 7, 2026 at 4:02 PM
Through this #SuperBowl weekend, you can get the e-book edition of "P FKN R" by Vanessa Díaz and Petra R. Rivera-Rideau for $9.99 or less! Links to retailers are on our site. #BadBunny
buff.ly/c3O101k
buff.ly/c3O101k
I think I remember Chance the Rapper being proud of not being signed to a label and doing it himself. Now he's taking that sweet AI cash. I guess everybody has a $ amount at which they can be bought.
February 8, 2026 at 4:50 PM
I think I remember Chance the Rapper being proud of not being signed to a label and doing it himself. Now he's taking that sweet AI cash. I guess everybody has a $ amount at which they can be bought.
This one is special.
February 8, 2026 at 12:17 AM
This one is special.
Congrats Laura!
February 8, 2026 at 12:16 AM
Congrats Laura!
Because nobody reads them. Especially if they are end notes and not footnotes. Says the guy who wrote a half-page tangential endnote about Paul Desmond's favorite cigarettes in his thesis. One member of my diss committee, a historian, said put theory in the notes.
February 8, 2026 at 12:14 AM
Because nobody reads them. Especially if they are end notes and not footnotes. Says the guy who wrote a half-page tangential endnote about Paul Desmond's favorite cigarettes in his thesis. One member of my diss committee, a historian, said put theory in the notes.
Somebody give me a Muppet Show sketch with Swedish Chef and Too Much Tuna. Fozzie and Seth Meyers go day drinking. Electric Mayhem battle of the bands with Geese. MJ Lenderman sings "The Rainbow Connection" with Kermit with Rowlf. Janice and Jenny Slate go shopping on 5th avenue.
February 7, 2026 at 3:23 PM
Somebody give me a Muppet Show sketch with Swedish Chef and Too Much Tuna. Fozzie and Seth Meyers go day drinking. Electric Mayhem battle of the bands with Geese. MJ Lenderman sings "The Rainbow Connection" with Kermit with Rowlf. Janice and Jenny Slate go shopping on 5th avenue.
Reposted by Chris Robinson
production of The Muppet Show should not be dependent on petty vulgarities like “ratings” or “revenue.” it should be preserved as a vital function of american culture. it should have a taxpayer-funded budget rivaling the CIA
February 7, 2026 at 12:40 AM
production of The Muppet Show should not be dependent on petty vulgarities like “ratings” or “revenue.” it should be preserved as a vital function of american culture. it should have a taxpayer-funded budget rivaling the CIA