Gil Scott-Heron: I'm New Here

Label: XL Recordings

Well, this is rather unexpected. And while it may not be televised, Gil Scott-Heron‘s powerful new album — his first in more than a decade, and after just as long a period of run-ins with the law (including at least two stints in the house) — will certainly be blogged about, hailed and celebrated. And with good reason: Heron, who’ll always be identified with his landmark piece “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” may be a little bit worse for the wear of a hard life, but I’m New Here is a moving document, one in which his narrative and that of Black America — and in no small way, America period — blaze into life. Singing and speaking in his singular gruff baritone, which hides nothing of his experience, Scott-Heron voices truths ranging from the personal to the political over a variety of deep productions: spare piano, drama-inducing beats both electronic and real, and cavernous space in which his voice can reverberate like thunder across a night sky. Including covers of songs by Robert Johnson and Bill Callahan, I’m New Here is the kind of record that, from the outside, you’d probably try to associate with the radical African-American art movements of the early ’70s. But even shot through with strains of gospel and blues and a potent sense of history, this is a thoroughly modern record, and absolutely necessary. (Vinyl contains digital download code.) (M.L. Thrope)