11 min read what's good

What's Good (Week of 5/25/26)

A grainy color photo of Monday Night crouching in front of a football goal post. He's wearing a brown hoodie and a blue LA Dodgers hat.

Last What's Good of the month, and we've got a lot of good stuff for you like new music from:

New Albums

  • Brian Jackson
  • feeble little horse
  • Leah Parrett & Bus Thirteen
  • Monday Night & Evidence
  • Ohbliv
  • Tyshawn Sorey

New Singles

  • Black Ends
  • Chong Wizard w/E L U C I D & Adibop
  • Patricia Brennan & Sylvie Courvoisier
  • Pearl & The Oysters
  • Rich Jones
  • Richard Spaven

As well as a very hefty Bonus Beats (my showcase for music writing, features, and live performances from around the web) for the week. If it's your first time joining us, or you haven't already done so before, be sure to subscribe so you don't miss the heat every week.

Playlists

TIDAL

TIDAL: What's Good Playlist - Week of 5/24/26

YouTube

Bonus Beats

Isaiah Rashad's excellent new album It's Been Awful released earlier this month, and shortly after it hit the streets Isaiah took to the stage at YouTube Music Nights for a celebratory performance. The above video's got footage of his set compromised of the new joints, but if anyone's got the full thing, holler at your boy.

Blue Note Japan let go of some footage of José James' set for last year's 1978: Revenge of the Dragon, with Takuya Kuroda accompanying him for their cover of "Rock With You".

The Return of Vordul Mega, Underground Rap’s Missing Link
As a member of Cannibal Ox, Vordul Mega was one of the most adventurous rappers of the 2000s—until he all but disappeared. After nearly two decades of struggle, he’s back to claim his legacy.
Hearing ThingsDash Lewis

Tapping for Hearing Things, friend of the blog Dash Lewis profiled Vordul Mega, 2000s underground rap giant, following his appearance at Elsewhere in February (with footage from other friend of the blog Shawn Alexander Allen)—and broader reappearance in a scene he helped to birth after a turbulent time away.

In conversation, the rapper born Shamar Gardner is warm and discursive, his thoughts blossoming into longer stories he doesn’t always expect to tell. “I don’t mean to stagger, and I apologize if I’ve been long-winded,” he tells me over the phone about a month after the Elsewhere show, “but I don’t have a concise way of saying the entirety.” It’s interesting to hear him follow himself into the unknown, and it connects back to his rhyme style, disparate images coagulating in service of an overall feeling. On “A B-Boy’s Alpha,” one of the early singles from The Cold Vein, Vordul esoterically touted the mind-expanding properties of both weed and memories of “juvenile maneuvers,” like swiping comic books and water guns from bodegas as a kid, and ended by explaining how the ambient threat of trigger-happy cops leads to the coping mechanisms of empty liquor bottles and stubbed cigarette butts. These are all threads in my fabric, he seemed to say, and pulling one only reveals the tangle.
‘An Old Cowhand,’ Sonny Rollins, and Jazz and Country Music’s Overlapping History
Who’s a real cowboy? The question has been central to American culture (popular and otherwise) for almost as long as it’s existed, filtered through novels and songs and (of course) endless Westerns, where myths around the tough, rugged and macho American West were consolidated by posh creative types in Hollywood
Don't Rock The InboxNatalie Weiner

To call Sonny Rollins merely a giant or a legend in jazz still doesn't cover his influence, and the void left by his passing last week at the age of 95 will be felt so long as anyone contributes anything to the art form. In honor of the "Saxophone Colossus", Natalie Weiner (yet another friend of the blog) revisited 1957's Way Out West for Don't Rock The Inbox as an examination of the crossroads where country and jazz meet.

Real cowboys, as imagined, don't exist; if they did, though, Sonny Rollins was one. Steadfast, independent, resolutely original, fearless, timeless. He claimed the title, more or less, on his 1957 album Way Out West which — if I may be so bold as to quote myself — "looks like a novelty and sounds like transcendence." It was almost surely intended and received as the kind of joking wordplay and visual gag quite common in that early generation of LPs, Rollins having recorded the album in Los Angeles (the West) instead of New York and thrown a couple cowboy songs in with his more conventional array of standards and originals to celebrate. On the cover, he's pictured in a cowboy hat and holster, standing in the desert — a pointed rebuke. "Yes, a Black cowboy," he seems to be saying without words; a joke for those clueless souls who think it's funny.

The music is timeless, sweeping, flawless — one of the bestselling vinyl reissues of all time according to a random person on Bluesky. The cowboy songs, "Wagon Wheels" and "I'm An Old Cowhand," both begin with a bit of a wink and a nudge before Rollins uses them as a jumping-off point for something totally new (and totally serious, insofar as Rollins' exuberant playing can be "serious").
The ICE Detention of Frankie Jax No Mad
After being snatched off the streets of Portland, the indie rapper is currently being held at a facility in Washington.
POW MAGRhys Langston

First of a double dose of POW MAG, Rhys Langston details ICE's detention of Frankie Jax No Mad at a facility in Washington.

The first thing he asked me through the garble of the Northwest ICE Processing Center phone was “How was tour?” No, not even the illegal, roving outfits of Immigration and Customs Enforcement lackeys who had preyed upon him could sway his art-first M.O. A bit incredulous at his initial words, I nonetheless told him about my first time performing internationally with Open Mike Eagle, and I could hear in his responses his tell-tale tendency to relish in the successes of others. However, there was a bitter taste to regaling tales of my artful travels while he sat two states north in detention.

He said the facility felt safe and not outwardly violent, that he was simply unoccupied in feeling the long stretches of time go by, and that with his fast metabolism he needed to make sure he ate enough at the meal times. And as a matter of fact he did that then and there. It was funny, after days of waiting to hear from him, I did not expect him to hang up on me and tell me he’d call back after dinner. But he did just that, and shortly after we resumed our conversation. Whether in tacit acknowledgement of the surveillance undergirding our call, or his real feelings of the best of his circumstance, his infectious positivity continued to warble through my speakerphone, even as he recounted how masked agents had bum-rushed him a few days before, in what had all the signs of a targeted operation.
Time Doesn’t Matter: An Interview with HUMAN ERROR CLUB and Kenny Segal
Samuel Lamontagne speaks with the legendary producer and emergent trio about their collaboration.
POW MAGSamuel Lamontagne

Next from POW, Samuel Lamontagne chopped it up with HUMAN ERROR CLUB and Kenny Segal about their collaboration HUMAN ERROR CLUB at Kenny’s House:

Can you talk more about the way you improvise with each other? And how this is the basis of your compositional practice?

Diego Gaeta: We have nothing but a blank slate and a dense vocabulary of textures and rhythms. Basically, we have a shared language. We adapt to each other. Someone will motion a certain way, we’re all aware of certain signals. It’s really cool. The expectation from the beginning is that it is fully improvised, weaving a bunch of grooves, motions, rhythms and melodies. We’re like DJs but with instruments. We’re using textures of electronic music with spiritual jazz, which is our foundation. Being able to fluidly weave through dynamics so easily while still achieving big grooves is our thing. It’s how it works. That’s the recipe.

Jesse Justice: Especially when we’re at a new place like at Kenny’s. The discovery is a very fun part, new sounds from new instruments. Kenny was pulling out all these synths like, “Ah I haven’t pulled this Moog in years.” That Moog is on the album. Sometimes we’ll stop each other too like on the album you can hear Mekala saying “OOO What’s That,” which became the title of the song, featuring Quelle Chris and Cavalier.

Mekala Session: That song is sick because it is literally a sequel to the other song “Excuse Me, No,” on our first album, where the exact same thing happened. That’s the recipe of the band. We improvise song structure. We all listen to a bunch of music and we all know what eight bars going by feels like. You can only let so many of those go by without at least one person getting kind of bored and changing something or doing something by accident. And that inspires one of us to change something. It’s a free jazz band. I like to think we challenge people’s conception of free jazz because we don’t sound like what you think free jazz is. But to me we all have jazz chops, and we’re playing free without restrictions.

Action Bronson took his recent release Planet Frog to a venue I'm surprised no one's ever floated as a perfect concert destination for him before, the world famous Katz's Delicatessen. Peep him performing "MUTATIONS" with his band Human Growth Hormone up above, and get a bit of behind the scenes of the show on Fuck That's Delicious (cameos from Meyhem Lauren and Paul Wall).

Last August at the Lodge Room in Highland Park, Los Angeles, Jeff Parker's ETA IVtet performed what would become Happy Today, and International Anthem just released the full concert film up on their YouTube. Enjoy!

teedotEinsof and What's Good fave weirddough traded beats while hanging out in Solana Beach, CA.

Music

Fatboi Sharif & Child Actor - Cold Day In Hell (From Crayola Circles, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Physicals, digital, and merch via Backwoodz Studioz | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

Dillon & Paten Locke - Ponte Vedra (From Rations, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Full Plate | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

RetcH - Rainstorm (Out now. A video only loosie, looks like.)

Gabe 'Nandez - Crozier Freestyle (Out now. Also a video only loosie.)

The Doppelgangaz - Just Another Day in the P.U. (From Beats for Brothels Vol. 9, out on 6/26/26. Preorder: Bandcamp | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

Pearl & The Oysters - Mandarin Moon (From Monkey Mind, out on 6/26/26. Preorder: Bandcamp | Vinyl via Stones Throw | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

St. Vincent & The Jules Buckley Orchestra - Digital Witness (From Live In London!, out now. Purchase: Preorder the vinyl via St. Vincent's Official Site | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

Jay Worthy, Rome Streetz, & Evidence - IF I (From Once Upon A Time: The Soundtrack, out now. Purchase: Soundtrack CD included with the DVD documentary via Westwide Worldwide | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

Black Ends - All I'm Bone (Out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

The Free Association Syndicate - Surrendering (From "Downsizing At The Headquarters", out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

Sleep Sinatra & TenTen - Overload feat. Soo Do Koo (From JazzEtherix, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp, Stream "Overload": Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

Jacques Greene & umru - What You Say (Out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

Jadasea - Cobra (From Holly Grove, out on 6/25/26. Preorder: Bandcamp | 10k Global, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

Pigeon John & L.A. Jay - Pink Champagne On A Roof (From Pigeon John Is Hard, out now. Purchase: Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

Kristin Hersh - Dark Eyed Junco (From Sugar on Blackstone, out on 8/18/26. Preorder: Bandcamp | Physicals via Fire Records | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

Monday Night & Evidence - Lighthouse feat. 3wayslim (From Football, out now. Purchase: Digital via Bigger Picture Recordings, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

Haasan Barclay - Built Better (Out now. Purchase: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

Rome Streetz - Cocaine Coltrane (From the upcoming Sock It To My Pocket. Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

38 Spesh - Used 2 (From 8 Shots, out now. Purchase: Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

B-Movie Millionaires (Black Josh & Lee Scott) - ICL (Out now. Purchase: Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Youtube Music)

Le$ & DJ Mr. Rogers - Streetlights (From Midnight Club 2, out now. Purchase: Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Youtube Music)

Patricia Brennan & Sylvie Courvoisier - The Time We Spent (From Talamanti, out on 6/26/26. Preorder: Bandcamp | CD via Antlia Records, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

Equipoise (pt. 1), by Tyshawn Sorey
from the album Members... Don’t!
Tyshawn Soreythierry_b

Tyshawn Sorey - Equipoise (pt. 1) (From Members... Don't!, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | CDs via Pi Recordings | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple)

Brian Jackson & Masters At Work - We Almost Lost Detroit feat. Moodymann (From Now More Than Ever, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Vinyl via BBE Store | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

Richard Spaven - Out of the Quiet (From Light of Day, out on 7/24/26. Preorder: Bandcamp | Physicals and Digital via Edition Records (UK) | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

psalm (S280F), by PRISON RELIGION
from the album Out June 6
PRISON RELIGIONBandcamp New & Notable May 27, 2026

PRISON RELIGION - psalm (S280F) (From SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP, out on 6/6/26. Preorder: Bandcamp)

Tantanmen, by Rich Jones
from the album Bar Talk
Rich JonesBandcamp New & Notable May 28, 2025

Rich Jones - Tantanmen (From Bar Talk, out on 6/4/26. Preorder: Bandcamp)

Leah Parrett & Bus Thirteen - Green Hills (From Little Songs, Big Feelings, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

Chong Wizard - Head Cleaner feat. E L U C I D & Adibop (From VIDEO TAPE CLUB, out on 6/19/26. Preorder: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Youtube Music)

Ohbliv - Lil Chivalry (From Kurio, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Qobuz, Stream: YouTube Music)

The Difference Machine - God's Watching feat. Opio (From Some of Us Never Die, out on 6/26/26. Preorder: Bandcamp | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

Kutmah - '76 Seville (From Old Ghosts, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

feeble little horse - Doorway (From bitknot, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Physicals (preorder, shipping 6/26) and digital via Saddle Creek | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)

Tega & DeevoDaGenius - Detour feat. 4FIVE6 NICE (From Da Story Of Tega Brady, out now (DSPs on 6/10/26). Purchase: E11evation Records)

That does it for this week, and the month of May! As always, if you enjoyed the blog make sure to spread the word and share it with your people. Don't hesitate to reach out either down in the comments or on social media. Take care of yourselves, enjoy the weekend, and make good choices.

DJ Regular

DJ Regular

Game and Music Lover. Writer. Unfortunate optimist. "Spare me the Hallmark Karl Marx."
SF Bay Area