Last year’s month of new Taquwami everyday felt like a challenge at the time, but one that had the faithful (me, for sure) ready to commit to hear unreleased material from one of the decade’s very best. The recent effort to wrangle all those tracks together — aptly titled 31 — not only makes for a good argument in favor of albums as a way of self-containing an artist’s output, but reveals the depth of each track by giving listeners the chance to actually compare them right away (well, more conveniently at least). It also results in two bonus cuts getting added on, which is always a good thing. “Bye” is great bait to get folks snapping up this physical offering. It’s a short number that works well as a coda to 31 as a whole, finding Taquwami building tension before letting skittery percussion and playful keyboard notes scamper over it. After some bursts in the middle, it closes out with piano and what sounds like clinked glass. A wide range of textures and feelings in just over two minutes. Listen above.
