Childish Gambino - Atavista - Vinyl 2 LP

For years, Childish Gambino's Atavista hid in plain sight. When he released an unfinished version of the record on March 15, 2020, it spent just 12 hours on his website before he pulled it down. Reappearing on streaming a week later as 3.15.20, the project brought up almost as many questions as sparkling neo-soul anthems, which still sounded slicker than the average as raw cuts titled after timestamps.

Atavista is an ode to impermanence, never more directly than over the glimmering guitar of "Time" with Grande. ("One thing's for certain, baby/We're running out of time," they harmonize on the chorus.) But in Gambino's capable hands, Atavista also slows down to enjoy the view, the sonic equivalent of a luxe leather-interior BMW cruising an open California highway. "I did what I wanted to," he revels on closing track "Final Church." Atavista took many shapes over the years to reach a final form. In each warm refrain, tight sequence, and carefully chosen collaborator, Gambino demonstrates why some things are worth waiting for.

1978's Rough saw Turner depart from the high-octane rock and soul sound of previous albums. Recently separated from her husband and musical partner Ike Turner, this album carved a new musical identity blending disco and blues with the opening track "Fruits of the Night" and Bob Segar's "Fire Down Below." Billboard dubbed the album as an "adventurous variety of old and new material," adding that Turner's "delivery has lost none of it's snap and crackle.

Florian Weber - "Imaginary Cycle" [2 LP] Idiosyncratic, large-scale and in it's fundamental disposition one-of-a-kind, Florian Weber's Imaginary Cycle, conceived for the unique instrumentation of brass ensemble and piano, is a hybrid of multiple musical languages that seamlessly blends the harmonious with the oblique. Here, Weber presents a cycle in four parts, plus an opening and an epilogue, in which the German pianist is joined by a group of unexpected artists, together performing a work that blurs the line where improvisation ends and composition begins. 2 LP set. Verve Label Group; ECM; Jazz.