Burning Ambulance (website/newsletter/record label)
@burningambulance.bsky.social
All posts by Phil Freeman, co-founder/co-owner (and author of IN THE BREWING LUMINOUS: THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF CECIL TAYLOR). When in doubt, assume I'm kidding. I'll have forgotten whatever we were arguing about by tomorrow.
John Zorn made his own Agharta with the Electric Masada double live CD At The Mountains Of Madness. It turns 20 this month, and is the subject of today's newsletter.
burningambulance.substack.com/p/john-zorns...
burningambulance.substack.com/p/john-zorns...
John Zorn's Electric Masada
At The Mountains Of Madness Turns 20
burningambulance.substack.com
November 18, 2025 at 4:06 PM
John Zorn made his own Agharta with the Electric Masada double live CD At The Mountains Of Madness. It turns 20 this month, and is the subject of today's newsletter.
burningambulance.substack.com/p/john-zorns...
burningambulance.substack.com/p/john-zorns...
It's not an Ugly Beauty column if I don't piss off at least one publicist or record label. (See if you can guess who I made mad this month!)
stereogum.com/2479871/bill...
stereogum.com/2479871/bill...
Billy Hart, Moving In All Directions At Once
A look at the 85-year-old drummer's new memoir and albums. Plus: the best new jazz releases of the month.
stereogum.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:59 PM
It's not an Ugly Beauty column if I don't piss off at least one publicist or record label. (See if you can guess who I made mad this month!)
stereogum.com/2479871/bill...
stereogum.com/2479871/bill...
One of the greatest disappointments in my life as a music fan is how awesome New Kingdom were versus how disappointing every subsequent project by ex-members of New Kingdom has been. They were a real lightning strike; we'll never see their like again.
November 18, 2025 at 2:10 AM
One of the greatest disappointments in my life as a music fan is how awesome New Kingdom were versus how disappointing every subsequent project by ex-members of New Kingdom has been. They were a real lightning strike; we'll never see their like again.
It sure is a shame when someone decides to call in a napalm air strike on your attempt at professional image rehab.
oh my god you have to read this until the end www.telos.news/p/part-1-how...
Part 1: How I Found Out
Olivia had just returned from a reporting trip—at least that’s what she told me it was—and her Herschel backpack, the one with the flap that never quite closed properly, was tossed beside our bed, its...
www.telos.news
November 18, 2025 at 1:17 AM
It sure is a shame when someone decides to call in a napalm air strike on your attempt at professional image rehab.
My latest Stereogum column is up; I profiled drum legend Billy Hart and reviewed 10 excellent new records. You have to be a member of the site to read it, though, so this is your encouragement to become one.
stereogum.com/2479871/bill...
stereogum.com/2479871/bill...
Billy Hart, Moving In All Directions At Once
A look at the 85-year-old drummer's new memoir and albums. Plus: the best new jazz releases of the month.
stereogum.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:38 AM
My latest Stereogum column is up; I profiled drum legend Billy Hart and reviewed 10 excellent new records. You have to be a member of the site to read it, though, so this is your encouragement to become one.
stereogum.com/2479871/bill...
stereogum.com/2479871/bill...
I reviewed three albums by Swiss art-thrash trio Coroner (their newest, and the two best from their back catalog) for Shfl this month.
Jam-packed #Shfl monthly newsletter out, with some reviews from me, guides and overviews from @andybeta.bsky.social, @darkforcesswing.bsky.social, @haroldheath.bsky.social and Chris Catchpole, other reviews from @burningambulance.bsky.social, @jtreppel.bsky.social, @joemuggs.bsky.social and more!
New on Shfl, November 2025
Andy Beta on 1980s African Music, Hank Shteamer on Wayne Shorter, Harold Heath on Charles Stepney, Chris Catchpole on Lawrence, plus a pile of new recommendations
news.theshfl.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:36 PM
I reviewed three albums by Swiss art-thrash trio Coroner (their newest, and the two best from their back catalog) for Shfl this month.
The excerpts I have seen here from the Olivia Nuzzi book read like an entry in the Bad Hemingway Contest where the prompt was "Write from the perspective of a female character pining for a Hemingway protagonist."
November 17, 2025 at 3:00 PM
The excerpts I have seen here from the Olivia Nuzzi book read like an entry in the Bad Hemingway Contest where the prompt was "Write from the perspective of a female character pining for a Hemingway protagonist."
If you've never seen this show, I hope it changes your life as much as it changed mine. (I actually got to see Ricky Jay live, in a revival of this show, years later. It was even more amazing in person.)
Good news: If you would like to watch Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants on YouTube I have done a painstaking 4k upscale of this. www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0gW...
November 17, 2025 at 3:43 AM
If you've never seen this show, I hope it changes your life as much as it changed mine. (I actually got to see Ricky Jay live, in a revival of this show, years later. It was even more amazing in person.)
Re-watched season 2 of THE WIRE this week and it's still really good, but it has some definite flaws:
1) Jimmy McNulty. Cut him out and you've improved the whole show by like 20-25%.
2) Don't make me listen to an entire goddamn Steve Earle song. Steve Earle sucks.
1) Jimmy McNulty. Cut him out and you've improved the whole show by like 20-25%.
2) Don't make me listen to an entire goddamn Steve Earle song. Steve Earle sucks.
November 17, 2025 at 1:09 AM
Re-watched season 2 of THE WIRE this week and it's still really good, but it has some definite flaws:
1) Jimmy McNulty. Cut him out and you've improved the whole show by like 20-25%.
2) Don't make me listen to an entire goddamn Steve Earle song. Steve Earle sucks.
1) Jimmy McNulty. Cut him out and you've improved the whole show by like 20-25%.
2) Don't make me listen to an entire goddamn Steve Earle song. Steve Earle sucks.
I did not realize non-low-income people ate at McDonald's. Why?
www.latimes.com/business/sto...
www.latimes.com/business/sto...
McDonald's is losing its low-income customers. Economists call it a symptom of the stark wealth divide
These customers are feeling the pressures of higher prices on groceries and apparel and the growing cost of rent and child care, the company's chief executive said in a recent earnings call.
www.latimes.com
November 16, 2025 at 6:50 PM
I did not realize non-low-income people ate at McDonald's. Why?
www.latimes.com/business/sto...
www.latimes.com/business/sto...
I need to listen to Lila Downs more. (@iza3800.bsky.social showed me this clip.)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIis...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIis...
Natalia Jiménez, Lila Downs - La Cigarra
YouTube video by NataliaJimenezVEVO
www.youtube.com
November 16, 2025 at 3:39 AM
I need to listen to Lila Downs more. (@iza3800.bsky.social showed me this clip.)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIis...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIis...
Every time I read something by Packer I think about the description, first applied to Newt Gingrich, "a stupid person's idea of a smart person." And then I think about how very, very stupid so many of our journalistic elites must be, that this schmuck, this lunkhead, could be as revered as he is.
in the actual real world secret police are disappearing americans on behalf of an openly white nationalist government but george packer’s latest is a novel about a world beset by woke totalitarianism
What Happens When an Empire Falls? This Novel Has Some Ideas.
www.nytimes.com
November 15, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Every time I read something by Packer I think about the description, first applied to Newt Gingrich, "a stupid person's idea of a smart person." And then I think about how very, very stupid so many of our journalistic elites must be, that this schmuck, this lunkhead, could be as revered as he is.
Reposted by Burning Ambulance (website/newsletter/record label)
I love that every generation has the same Tom Jones experience. "Oh this guy is corny as hell" to "Okay this guy is corny as hell but it's fun to laugh at him" to "Okay this guy has bangers" to "Okay this guy is a generational talent and a complete fucking genius."
November 15, 2025 at 6:59 PM
I love that every generation has the same Tom Jones experience. "Oh this guy is corny as hell" to "Okay this guy is corny as hell but it's fun to laugh at him" to "Okay this guy has bangers" to "Okay this guy is a generational talent and a complete fucking genius."
Weekend used book score: Three Travis McGee novels, chosen pretty much at random, for $6.
November 15, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Weekend used book score: Three Travis McGee novels, chosen pretty much at random, for $6.
Did you know there are now TWO exorcism-themed movies starring Russell Crowe? And incredibly, they're both good! THE POPE'S EXORCIST is a rollicking spookablast, while THE EXORCISM is much darker (emotionally and literally - half the movie seems to take place in unlit rooms) and scarier.
November 15, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Did you know there are now TWO exorcism-themed movies starring Russell Crowe? And incredibly, they're both good! THE POPE'S EXORCIST is a rollicking spookablast, while THE EXORCISM is much darker (emotionally and literally - half the movie seems to take place in unlit rooms) and scarier.
Your periodic reminder that there's a review archived on Rolling Stone's website that describes "the transitional albums that moved [Metallica] from the pure aggression of Kill ‘Em All to the flawless 'black album'". Yeah, those "transitional" '80s Metallica albums...
November 15, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Your periodic reminder that there's a review archived on Rolling Stone's website that describes "the transitional albums that moved [Metallica] from the pure aggression of Kill ‘Em All to the flawless 'black album'". Yeah, those "transitional" '80s Metallica albums...
If he invented that look he's way more deserving of a statue than most military figures of his era.
sideburns being named after general burnsides sounds like one of those apocryphal folk legends except it's true. They're literally named after this guy
November 14, 2025 at 11:54 PM
If he invented that look he's way more deserving of a statue than most military figures of his era.
The Olivia Nuzzi story in the New York Times is very funny. I mean, the author quotes KARA SWISHER, a woman who's done so many 180s on her interview subjects (You're a genius! Oh, your stock's down? You're an idiot, and I was the first to notice!) her spine must have ball bearings in it.
November 14, 2025 at 11:53 PM
The Olivia Nuzzi story in the New York Times is very funny. I mean, the author quotes KARA SWISHER, a woman who's done so many 180s on her interview subjects (You're a genius! Oh, your stock's down? You're an idiot, and I was the first to notice!) her spine must have ball bearings in it.
The "bad" season of True Detective (2) is better than people say. The "best" season of True Detective (1) isn't as good as people remember. The best season of True Detective is 4. (I haven't seen 3.)
Today's Elliptical Cinema: rewatching Season 1 of True Detective.
I'm trying to remember if this is actually good or not, or if it just points at it. If the nonlinear construction is helping or sleight of hand to make the narrative seem like more than it is.
I'm trying to remember if this is actually good or not, or if it just points at it. If the nonlinear construction is helping or sleight of hand to make the narrative seem like more than it is.
November 14, 2025 at 9:47 PM
The "bad" season of True Detective (2) is better than people say. The "best" season of True Detective (1) isn't as good as people remember. The best season of True Detective is 4. (I haven't seen 3.)
Holy fuck, this list is amazing. "Steely Dan... were a far more commercial force than Gang Starr, but both are now beloved mostly by dads who got into jazz as part of a midlife crisis."
www.passionweiss.com/2025/11/14/t...
www.passionweiss.com/2025/11/14/t...
The 100 Best Rap Albums Of All-Time List – As Rock Albums | Passion of the Weiss
"They'd never have the balls to do this to rock music." Son Raw dissects and inverts the new canon.
www.passionweiss.com
November 14, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Holy fuck, this list is amazing. "Steely Dan... were a far more commercial force than Gang Starr, but both are now beloved mostly by dads who got into jazz as part of a midlife crisis."
www.passionweiss.com/2025/11/14/t...
www.passionweiss.com/2025/11/14/t...
"It's a big club — and you ain't in it!"
November 14, 2025 at 6:07 PM
"It's a big club — and you ain't in it!"
Today's BA newsletter is about some of the most uncanny music I've heard since beginning the Leo Records reissue project: a series of haunted, mind-warping "folk song" albums by Evgeny Masloboev and his daughter, Anastasia Masloboeva:
burningambulance.substack.com/p/evgeny-mas...
burningambulance.substack.com/p/evgeny-mas...
Evgeny Masloboev
Russian folk songs transformed into esoteric sound art
burningambulance.substack.com
November 14, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Today's BA newsletter is about some of the most uncanny music I've heard since beginning the Leo Records reissue project: a series of haunted, mind-warping "folk song" albums by Evgeny Masloboev and his daughter, Anastasia Masloboeva:
burningambulance.substack.com/p/evgeny-mas...
burningambulance.substack.com/p/evgeny-mas...
This is kinda what I expected from a Running Man remake, except that Drew Magary and I do not agree on the appeal of Glen Powell, who is a rain-soaked photocopy of a 1990s US Weekly story on Brad Pitt.
SFGATE columnist Drew Magary critiques Edgar Wright's '80s remake.
Everything 'The Running Man' does wrong
SFGATE columnist Drew Magary critiques Edgar Wright's '80s remake.
bit.ly
November 14, 2025 at 3:22 PM
This is kinda what I expected from a Running Man remake, except that Drew Magary and I do not agree on the appeal of Glen Powell, who is a rain-soaked photocopy of a 1990s US Weekly story on Brad Pitt.
One of the many things I love about death metal: Press releases that tell you who designed the band's logo.
November 14, 2025 at 3:16 PM
One of the many things I love about death metal: Press releases that tell you who designed the band's logo.
A biography of Alice Coltrane, by Andy Beta? Yes please. (Coming from Hachette in March.)
www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/andy-...
www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/andy-...
November 13, 2025 at 11:57 PM
A biography of Alice Coltrane, by Andy Beta? Yes please. (Coming from Hachette in March.)
www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/andy-...
www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/andy-...