Best Albums of June 2024 | Sun NeverSetsOnMusic
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uNomkhubulwane
NDUDUZO MAKHATHINI
Released 7 June 2024
Blue Note Records
*****
South African pianist, composer, healer, and philosopher Nduduzo Makhathini's third Blue Note album uNomkhubulwane is a transcendent three-movement suite which pays homage to the Zulu Goddess uNomkhubulwane and explores Africa’s tragic history of oppression and features Makhathini’s trio, with bassist Zwelakhe-Duma Bell le Pere and drummer Francisco Mela.
Since making his international debut for Blue Note in 2020 with Modes of Communication: Letters From the Underworlds, and his 2022 master work In The Spirit Of Ntu, Makhathini has earned widespread acclaim for the genuinely spiritual transcendence of his music. For Makhathini, a Zulu healer and educator who has delved deeply into the histories and traditions of his ancestors, improvised music has never been merely about aesthetics or idioms. As the New York Times put it when naming Modes of Communication one of the Best Jazz Albums of 2020: “In a moment when spiritual jazz has become a dangerously buzzy concept, trust a musician who has truly devoted his life to As always, Makhathini’s message is ultimately one of perpetual optimism for his people, and for all people. “Essentially, this offering is an invitation to humanity to cultivate ways of being that yearn for freedom and balance,” he says. “Here I invite you to a new mode of humanism that is oriented towards singing the songs of uNomkhubulwane.”
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Read more ... BlueNote
Night Reign
AROOJ AFTAB
Released 31 May 2024
Verve Records
*****
On this, the Pakistani-American singer, composer, and producer's fifth studio album, the music holds visual context, a cinematic soundscape that brings life to the divinely ominous space we call the dark.
Some songs can only be heard at night - lunar lyrics for evening ears. It’s the songs of the night that stand us tall in the day, eyes filled with the work of stars. What voices will we take into our liminal slumber? What patterns and pieces will break open the night mind’s path?
Arooj Aftab answers these questions through, Night Reign. Within the realm of darkness, Night Reign points to layers of depth that blend each song into a narrative of uplifting surrender.
Night Reign is an act of tender defiance. Protest and prayer. It’s not geographical affiliations or the details of her birth certificate that awakens Arooj’s listeners. It’s her refusal to adhere to the limitations of race, borders, and gender, though her work is intricately tied to these malleable ideas.
Night Reign is an invitation or a call to action. This album permits us to give into the night because, in the night, we come into form, into the messiness of our whole beings.
Read more ... Verve Records
A Sorcerer or a Madman (EP)
ABDULLAH MINIAWY,
BAPTISTE-FLORIAN MARLE-OUVRARD, GUILLAUME HUMERY, YOM
Released 28 June 2024
Planetes Rouges / Phosphoric Passport
*****
This trio produces another astonishing work in which Miniaway's Arabic poetry, BFMO's pipe organ and Yom's clarinet are each given equal voice to soars free in majestic harmony.
Abdullah Miniawy born 1984 is an Egyptian expressionist poet, songwriter, musician, actor and activist who since 2019 has produced an extraordinary output of collaborative works, often with German trio Carl Gari (made up of musicians Jonas Yamer, Till Funke and Jonas Friedlich). The most recent release from this pairing was the acclaimed "Shoot the Engine", released only last month.
Now, for the evocatively titled "A Sorcerer or a Madman", Miniawy collaborates with French pipe-organist BFMO (Baptiste-Florian Marle-Ouvrard, the resident organist of the great organ of the church of St Eustache in Paris and the St Vincent-de-Paul church in Clichy-la-Garenne) and French clarinetist Yom (birth name Guillaume Humery).
No more information was available at the time of compiling this page.
Read more ... Abdullah Miniawy
Love Changes Everything
THE DIRTY THREE
Released 28 June 2024
Anchor & Hope
*****
To describe them is indescribable, but at a stretch, I’d call them post-punk-jazz. Music made with subtlety, freedom and empathy, that rides on waves, that narrates without the need for lyrics. There is a vibe…
Love Changes Everything comes 30 years after the trio's - violinist & pianist Warren Ellis, drummer Jim White and guitarist Mick Turner - self-titled (official) debut, though they weren’t harbouring hangovers this time around and they took more than a day and a half to create it, 5 in fact plus a year to mix it in Melbourne with Nick Huggins who had worked with the band previously.
All the compositions carry the album’s title, except the following numeral I-Vi, and as one would expect not a word is uttered.
So of course the question is how does Love Changes Everything sound… It sounds free, free for the three members of The Dirty Three to create without boundaries. There is a freshness that 12 years apart brings, Love Changes Everything harks back to discovering the band for the first time. That maniacal response to being able to listen to Jazz, but Jazz played by punk rockers and rastas has returned.
Read more ... 13th Floor NZ
Love Heart Cheat Code
HIATUS KAIYOTE
Released 28 June 2024
Brainfeeder
*****
For its high number of pleasurable components and intricacies, Stevie Wonder-worthy changes in key and tempo, and philosophical goodwill, "Make Friends" is the band's new creative apex. Palm's morphing into a one-woman Wonderlove seals it at the end.
Early into it, Love Heart Cheat Code seems to have the makings of the first concept album by Australia's premier hardcore avant-soul/jazz/funk/hip-hop band.
(The album-opening) "Dreamboat" enables dynamic-as-ever singer/guitarist Nai Palm and the preternatural rhythm section of Perrin Moss, Paul Bender, and Simon Mavin to travel the spaceways.
It leads to "Telescope," a glimmering groove of interstellar wonderment where everything apart from an interpolation of the Temptations' "My Girl" seems otherworldly. The following "Make Friends," however, departs from any perceptible sci-fi narrative with Palm praising a he, a she, and a they for being down-to-earth companions.
"Everything's Beautiful" is one of several songs that both references the sun and incorporates flute and harp, and on the lysergic Dilla-fied funk of "Dimitri," though that could be set in the Land of Oz.
Surprises and oddities flourish - "Cinnamon Temple," is a spasmodic eruption of technical life metal and "Longcat" pays swirling tribute to the Japanese feline whose figure became an Internet meme.
The band finishes off the album with a raucous remake of Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" that shoves the acid rock classic in front of a fun house mirror. Increased chaos and whimsy only heighten Hiatus Kaiyote's ability to enchant and exhilarate.
Read more ... AllMusic
Alibai
EMMA VOLARD
Released 14 June 2024
The Operatives Records
*****
Alibi sees Emma stepping confidently into their own sonic world, expanding further on their introspective storytelling and pushing the limits of the future soul sound.
Emma Volard is one of Narrm’s | Melbourne's most enigmatic and staunchly authentic acts. Her music is entrenched in lavish harmonies, broken-beats and gut-wrenching lyricism, and has garnered attention from national and international tastemakers alike.
After the avalanche success of their debut album ‘Deity’ in 2022, future soul artist Emma Volard's sophomore album ‘Alibi.’ represents years spent honing a signature sound that encapsulates Naarm | Melbourne’s experimental neo-soul and jazz scene.
Emma has never shied away from being a warrior for inclusivity, and these themes are often at the forefront of their storytelling. This has placed them as a leader within the Naarm music community, and turned the heads of industry heavyweights such as Gilles Peterson, Jamz Supernova, Thundercat, Cory Henry and Zan Rowe.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Keep Me on Your Mind / See You Free
BONNY LIGHT HORSEMAN
Released 7 June 2024
Jagjaguwar
*****
The themes are stacked high and staked even higher: love and loss, hope and sorrow, community and family, change and time all permeate Bonny Light Horseman’s most vulnerable and bounteous offering to date.
Bonny Light Horseman’s new album, Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free, is an ode to the blessed mess of our humanity. Confident and generous, it is an unvarnished offering that puts every feeling and supposed flaw out in the open. Yet for all of its humanistic touchpoints, Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free was forged from a kind of unexplainable magic.
Written over five months in 2023, this third album began when the band’s core trio - Anaïs Mitchell, Eric D. Johnson, and Josh Kaufman - convened in an Irish pub alongside beloved collaborators JT Bates (drums), Cameron Ralston (bass), and recording engineer Bella Blasko.
Mitchell suggested the pub as their first recording location, based on her one conversation with owner Joe O’Leary. She had a feeling about the place, and was surprised by her bandmates’ enthusiasm for the idea. Stepping inside the pub’s aged confines, the trio felt an immediate connection to its palpable sense of community, and of family, forged over many decades.
The pub was Levis (pronounced: “leh-viss”) Corner House, a century-old watering hole in Ballydehob, a tiny coastal village in County Cork, and its energy became a singular source of Bonny Light Horseman’s creative engine. The pub’s upright piano, which they lubricated with olive oil to quiet its creaking, became a sort of spiritual fulcrum, a single entity that embodied all of the album’s motifs: imperfection as a badge of honor; aging, endurance and the passage of time; how the simplest of acts can heal us....
Read more... Bandcamp
Sentir Que No Sabes
MABE FRATTI
Released 28 June 2024
Unheard of Hope
*****
Guatemalan cellist and vocalist Mabe Fratti seems most interested in using her avant garde background as source material to make pop that’s completely devoid of cliches. Her songs are abundantly melodic and her melodies surprise without jarring. They travel smoothly in unexpected directions
Even after scanning Fratti’s inspirations, you struggle to come up with anything to pin her music to.
Talk Talk circa Laughing Stock? Only in so far as the brass arrangements, the work of Tosta, lean more towards jazz than rock or pop. Cult French post-punk artist Lizzy Mercier Descloux? There’s certainly a disjointed funk feel to some of the rhythms, but you wouldn’t have volunteered her name without Fratti’s own prompting.
The opening track seems to be named after Lenny Kravitz and features a distorted funk-rock bassline, but there the similarity seems to end. Under the circumstances, you might as well )chuck avante garde cellist, the late Arthur) Russell’s name into the ring: at least they share an instrument and a delightfully off-message approach to songwriting.
The latter aspect of what Fratti does feels important. It’s easy to read her press, conclude that she deals in austere experimentation and abstraction and decide on that basis whether her music is for you or not: phrases such as “electro-acoustic improv”, “collaboration with celebrated noise artist” and “experimental jazz” abound. There are scattered interludes when Sentir Que No Sabes sounds like what the advance publicity might lead you to expect, although the improvisation feels full-blooded and emotionally driven rather than an intellectual exercise. The drones of Elastica I give the impression that her cello is being heavily amplified, that she’s playing sparsely but at immense volume so that every movement of the strings is attended by squeals of feedback – with shades of John Cale’s treatment of his viola in the Velvet Underground.
Read more ... The Guardian
Rectangles and Circumstance
CAROLINE SHAW, SŌ PERCUSSION
Released 14 June 2024
Nonesuch Records
****-
Composer and vocalist Caroline Shaw’s second album with the four multi-instrumentalists of Sō Percussion is a true collaboration, with writing and performing duties shared between all five musicians. There’s a gleefully eclectic range of sources and influences woven into the sequence of 10 songs.
Caroline Shaw is a musician who moves among roles, genres, and mediums, trying to imagine a world of sound that has never been heard before but has always existed. She works often in collaboration with others, as producer, composer, violinist, and vocalist. Caroline is the recipient of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music, several Grammy awards, an honorary doctorate from Yale, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship.
For almost two decades through its sensational interpretations of modern classics, innovative multi-genre original productions, and “exhilarating blend of precision and anarchy, rigor and bedlam, Sō Percussion has redefined the scope and role of the modern percussion ensemble, placing it at the leading edge of 21st-century music.” (The New Yorker).
"Rectangles and Circumstance" follows Cartoline Shaw / Sō Percussion's Grammy-winning Nonesuch debut, Narrow Sea, and their first record as a band, 2021’s Let the Soil Play Its Part, with Shaw on vocals backed by Sō (Eric Cha-Beach, Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, and Jason Treuting).
Sliwinski says in the new album’s liner notes, “Most of the songs started with instrumental pieces or fragments of pieces from Jason or Eric. As both a songwriter and a classical composer, Caroline is accustomed to writing lyrics as well as setting them. Going over texts with her is like working on music: I collect a handful of poems and send them over to her, waiting to see if anything catches her interest, then I modify my search based on her feedback. For this album, Caroline, Eric, and I sourced a group of nineteenth-century poems that shaped its expressive mode [and] ended up using verses by Christina Rosetti, Emily Brontë, Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, and William Blake … The lyrics on this album by members of the band contain wordplay that explores the same profound feelings explored by Blake and Dickinson.”
Read more ... Caroline Shaw, Bandcamp, The Guardian
Sweet Whispers: Celebrating Sarah Vaughan
ZARA MCFARLANE
Released 14 June 2024
Eternal Source Of Light
****-
Multi-award-winning singer-songwriter and leading UK jazz vocalist Zara McFarlane honours the jazz great who inspired her on her own artistic journey and whose centenary year is marked in 2024.
‘Sweet Whispers’ is more than a run-through of some of Vaughan’s most popular songs. It’s not hard to imagine the immense task in selecting those songs, after all, Vaughan’s recording career spanned 50 years notching up almost 60 albums (plus nearly 30 again in compilations and box sets). Through a thoughtfully chosen selection of songs, formed across months in collaboration with producer, and the album’s clarinettist and saxman, Giacomo Smith – Zara journeys through the musical life of Sarah Vaughan, from her first to last recording, bringing to life and breathing new life into some of her best and less familiar songs. But importantly, the songs that mean the most to Zara.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Time and Again
ELIANE ELIAS
Released 26 June 2024
Candid Records
****-
Eliane Elias once again demonstrates her artistic ingenuity and ability to surprise listeners with her creative prowess. Her alluring vocals, masterful musicianship, and songwriting skills cement her status as the reigning queen of Brazilian jazz, delivering a landmark recording that affirms the beauty of life and invites listeners to experience her brilliant musical journey time and again.
Eliane Elias, the internationally renowned Brazilian jazz pianist, singer, composer and arranger Eliane Elias continues to reach new heights with her latest album, "Time and Again."
Building upon her frequent Grammy® and Latin Grammy Award successes over the past 20 years, as solo artist and collaborator, this album showcases Elias' unique blend of her Brazilian roots, jazz mastery, and a fusion of R&B and popular song influences.
Produced by her long-standing collaborators Marc Johnson and Steve Rodby, "Time and Again" features eight original compositions that highlight Elias' exceptional songwriting abilities.
The album boasts an impressive lineup of musicians, including guitarists Conrado Goys, Marcus Teixeira, Daniel Santiago, and the legendary Bill Frisell, as well as guest appearances by vibraphonist Mike Mainieri, drummer Peter Erskine, and the background vocals of Mark Kibble. Notably, the legendary Brazilian composer and pop star Djavan graces the first single release, "Sempre."Elias reimagines three of her previous instrumental compositions, infusing them with new lyrics, tempos, and arrangements, revealing an emotional depth influenced by her collaboration with the poet Vinícius de Moraes. The album's tracks, sung in both English and Portuguese, explore themes of love, joy, and life's transitions, with standouts like "At First Sight," "It's Time," and "How Many Times."
Read more ... The Guardian
VANTABLACK
LALAH HATHAWAY
Released 14 June 2024
Hathaway Entertainment / SRG/ILS
****-
Titling her latest opus after a material that can absorb 99.965% of visible light hitting it, VANTABLACK is an odyssey of urban alternative, dance, and progressive jazz affirming life, love, and the embodiment of Hathaway’s full spectrum of being.
There’s a biased predisposition to associate darker skin with malice, evil, or negativity. Researchers call it the “Black is Bad” effect. Proving herself an alchemist and activist, Lalah Hathaway has been hard at work developing its cure.
“Trying to make the skin I'm in a sin,” she protests over the soulful guitar-pop of the obsidian title track. “Take it all back and start again / Melanin rising, don't be mad / I want everything VANTABLACK.”
This, her first album in seven years, she regards as “a deeply personal examination of my relationship with my Blackness, my place in this country, and how embracing the different facets of my identity has allowed me to feel the most authentic version of myself.”
After impressive contributions to Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly (2015) and every installment of Robert Glasper’s album series up to Black Radio III (2022), Hathaway has captured a sound worthy of her status. Though far from a “jazz” record, she deploys her scatting ability frequently. Hip-hop is well represented too.
Read more ... Albumism
Sample The Earth
LAURA MISCH
Released 7 June 2024
One Little Independent Records
****-
“Through playing in forests and adapting to ever shifting environments, I realised that there was this essence I really wanted to try to capture that wasn’t there before. I wanted to reveal something new that happens when you strip away a lot of the production”.
‘Sample The Earth’, a new collection regrown from original tracks, follows UK artist Laura Misch's acclaimed 2023 debut ‘Sample The Sky’ and comes alongside the announcement of a special Union Chapel London headline event on September 19th, where she will be performing these new reworks for the first time with a full live band.
The idea for this reimagined record formed following a series of events that unearthed the acoustic roots of the material.
A mapped “Forest Sound Walk” in Sydenham Woods, curated in collaboration with eco-social design studio Holobiont, encouraged deep listening within nature. Misch performed stripped back versions of the tracks using only her unamplified voice and saxophone with Marysia Osu on harp. Amongst the undergrowth the original album’s inner potential was revealed. This was followed by stage performances, which after a series of unexpected power outages, led to spontaneous acoustic improvisations.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Don't Forget To Have Fun
JO HARROP
Released 7 June 2024
Lateralize Records
****-
The Path Of A Tear is an ear-watering slice of mid-70s soul with a sublime shot of jazz and a subtle twist of Americana.
Jo Harrop has firmly established herself as one of the most distinctive singer songwriters in British jazz. Harrop burst into the spotlight with a string of critically-acclaimed, award-winning albums - Weathering The Storm (2020), The Heart Wants (2021) and When Winter Turns To Spring (2022) attracting widespread airplay and an eclectic array of highly respected admirers including Iggy Pop, Christian McBride and Chris Seefried.
Harrop's new album, The Path Of A Tear was recorded at The Village Studios in Los Angeles in September 2023 and produced by Larry Klein (best-known for his groundbreaking work with a host of legendary artists including Joni Mitchell, Madeleine Peyroux and Herbie Hancock), The Path Of A Tear is an ear-watering slice of mid-70s soul with a sublime shot of jazz and a subtle twist of Americana.
The Path Of A Tear features some of the finest jazz musicians in the world including guitarist Anthony Wilson (Diana Krall, Madeleine Peyroux), drummer Victor Indrizzo (Willie Nelson, Alanis Morissette) and pianist and Hammond B-3 organist Jim Cox (Leonard Cohen, B.B King) alongside Larry Klein on bass.
Read more ... Bandcamp
CARE/TAKING
JESS CORNELIUS
Released 14 June 2024
Tender Loving Empire Records
****-
On her new album CARE/TAKING, Jess Cornelius offers a poignant record of upheaval and transformation, charting her journey from New Zealand to Melbourne and now Los Angeles.
Collaborating with LA based musician Mikal Cronin, the album navigates themes of motherhood, loss, and self-discovery.
Lead single 'People Move On' shows the album's introspective nature, blending jangly guitars and an insistent bass line with lyrics on life's changes. Opener 'Tui Is A Bird (The Work)' sets the tone with vintage '70s sounds and an expansive rock groove. 'Back to the Mainland' is a cinematic ballad, with a balance of strength and vulnerability that's shown across the record.
Work on these songs started years ago as Cornelius sketched ideas on her Yamaha Portasound keyboard. “There was a lot of change happening in my life,” she says. “I was coming out of a relationship with the father of my child. It was a turbulent time being from New Zealand, living in L.A., and realizing that this family unit wasn't sustainable.”
While that dissolution was a heartbreaking shift in her life, Cornelius felt grateful for the stability she did have: her support system, the home she felt settled in, and her craft. CARE/TAKING reflects all this, serving as a poetic document of resilience in the face of change.
Read more ... RRR
POPtical Illusion
JOHN CALE
Released 14 June 2024
Domino Recording Co
****-
John Cale may be a respected elder statesman of adventurous music that explores the nexus of rock and art, but on Poptical Illusion he sounds like a contemporary artist bubbling over with ideas and the will to execute them. urface.
A bit over ten years separated John Cale's 2012 album Shifty Adventures in Nookie Wood and his next LP of original material, 2023's Mercy. Chalk it up to a more dedicated creative focus or simply momentum, but a mere 18 months passed before Cale delivered this follow-up.
As the title suggests, Poptical Illusion is a bit more approachable than the dark, forbidding tone of Mercy. While the arrangements are largely built around electronics, in terms of melodies, the songs recall the more graceful tone of albums like 1970's Vintage Violence and 1973's Paris 1919, and the material has a warmth missing from much of Cale's catalog.
Just as Mercy found Cale sounding fully engaged in new music after a long period of working with others or examining his past, Poptical Illusion is full of ideas and energy, perhaps not the work of a man full of hope but certainly one with plenty to say. At the age of 82, Cale's music is fresh and contemporary in a way very few of his peers can manage, making use of the seemingly endless palate of electronic sounds in a way that engages the head and the heart, and even the darkest selections here display a bold, uncompromising humanity that turns his pessimism into a rage against the dying of the light. He is also in fine voice, singing with a force and control that's as flexible as it was 50 years ago.
It may not be especially optimistic, but it's certainly powerful and inspiring, and we probably need that more from Cale than forced cheeriness, a skill he need not acquire this far into his career.
Read more ... AllMusic
The Art of the Lie
JOHN GRANT
Released 14 June 2024
Bella Union
****-
The singer-songwriter brings in earthy bass lines and sensuous drum patterns on his playful, soulful sixth album
In the five solo albums since 2010’s debut Queen of Denmark, singer-songwriter John Grant has employed his storytelling baritone in a number of guises. From downtempo, guitar-strummed folk to programmed synths on 2015’s Grey Tickles, Black Pressure and the eerie electronic textures of 2021’s Boy from Michigan, a new Grant album typically heralds a sound few expect.
His sixth album, The Art of the Lie, follows suit. Supplanting folk for funk and cloaking his silky voice in layers of vocoder, these 11 tracks present a glorious new direction. Opener All That School for Nothing sets an infectiously grooving tone, pairing an earthy bass line with Grant’s synthesised voice, invoking P-funk master George Clinton. Album highlight It’s a Bitch continues the funk odyssey while Grant sardonically expounds on life’s trials.
Crawling electronic drum patterns mark out the sensuous Meek AF but other quieter moments work less effectively, with sparse ballad Daddy developing too slowly over its marching snare patterns. Still, this is a confidently playful, soulful record heralding an exciting new phase for Grant.
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Read more ... The Guardian
always centred at night
MOBY
Released 14 June 2024
always centered at night
****-
Perhaps not the wisest moment to release it on Play’s 25th anniversary, nevertheless, this LP boasts a charm of its own. It does feel more varied and relaxed than its predecessors, compiling bits of everything we’ve heard Moby compose since 2008’s Last Night.
Always Centered at Night started as a record label created by Moby, where he could release whatever music his heart desires without any compromises or commercial pressure. One would argue this is what he has been doing since his 2009 release Wait for Me.
From the synth punk of the Void Pacific Choir LPs to the low-key, ambient epics, there was always an experimental project behind his main albums. At the beginning of this decade, the man decided to cater a bit to his legacy, rearranging his most renowned tracks, alongside a string of deep cuts with the Budapest Orchestra. The resulting affairs, Reprise and Resound NYC featured a plethora of guests, such as Gregory Porter, Kris Kristofferson, Nicole Scherzinger, Vikingur Olafson or Damien Jurado, among others. This was a deserved victory lap in his career, one that also brought Moby back into the spotlight.
In the meantime, Always Centered at Night was pumping out a new song every other month or so, gradually becoming the album we can hear today.
Read more ... Sputnik Music
Don't Forget To Have Fun
DON GLORI
Released 7 June 2024
Deep Matter Records
****-
The musical companion to the 2023 book of the same name - the ultimate illustrated commemoration of iconic Australian musicians Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter in songs, stories, photographs and tributes.
A product of the not-so-underground, genre-bending melting pot that is Naarm (Melbourne, Australia). producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Don Glori's (AKA Gordon Li's) new album ‘Don’t Forget To Have Fun’ follows his much-heralded 2022 LP ‘Welcome’,
On the album’s title, Don explains: ‘The name Don't Forget To Have Fun is a nice reminder to myself about the journey of the album. How you can change the narrative by keeping a positive attitude, trusting the process and continually experimenting.’ A true work of art, traversing jazz, funk, soul, RnB, samba and beyond, this record is hard to describe, but even harder to forget.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Mildlife Remixed II
MILDLIFE
CC:DISCO!, LOVEFINGERS, PRINS THOMAS
Released 11 June 2024
Mildlife / [PIAS]
****-
Mildlife Remixed II presents fans with two alternative versions of two of two tracks from the band's excellent third studio full-length "Chorus", which was released in March.
The first of the two "Musica" is a racey kraut-rok romp which was the centrepiece of "Chorus". The original piece was built on hours of improvisation, touring and studio time, honed over 100-plus shows across 23 different countries in the past year alone; at the end of each night, the band would dedicate space in their legendary extended encores to lengthy improvisational passages, out of this ‘Musica’ eventually coalescing from nebula to its fully recorded, synth-starred glory. CC:DISCO!'s dub version retains the steady, metronomic structure of the original but promotes the rhythm elements and submerges the original's striking lead melody. Midlife's own remix moves the vocals to the front and adds Italian spoken vocal elements.
The second track "Return To Centaurus" unfolds slowly in the original, it's synthesised vocals swelling to fill swirling clouds of celestial riffs. Lovefingers adds congas, Hawaiian guitars and a middle section of slow-vocal monologue. Prins Thomas prefers flutes, enriches the celestial elements and ups the tempo for good measure.
Read more ... Bandcamp
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Costello (EP)
MARK GUILIANA
Released 28 June 2024
Edition Records
****-
"Costello" is a preview of the forthcoming album “Mark”, the new solo record from acclaimed drummer and composer Mark Guiliana, which is due for release in July: an auditory manifestation of one of the world’s most creative and innovative musical minds.
Guiliana’s new album “MARK”, represents an introspective voyage into his creative depths. On the record, Mark performs solo on a wide array of devices; you can hear his quintessential grooves intermixed with intriguing percussive soundscapes, sublime tapestries of synthesisers and fragments of spoken word. “MARK” is an album that peels back the layers of Guiliana’s experiences, reflections, and the wisdom gleaned from a life immersed in music. It transcends genres and defies categorisation, floating in the boundless space of pure expression. Through music and through life, Mark looks into the mirror and asks eternal questions of identity and growth: who am I, where am I going and what do I stand for?
Read more ... Bandcamp
Prism of Pleasure
ELKKA
Released 7 June 2024
Ninja Tune
****-
Written around the notion of queer intimacy, Prism of Pleasure is like a peep into a steam-filled room of wonders, via the female gaze (a concept beautifully represented in the pink-tinged album artwork, photographed by Elkka’s wife and longtime creative collaborator Alex Lambert).
Written over the space of 18 months, Prism of Pleasure encapsulates Elkka’s essence as an LGBTQ+ artist who pushes freedom and sensuality to the forefront of her work.
It hasn’t always been like this: born and raised in South Wales, with next to no queer community in her immediate vicinity, Elkka had to piece together her identity slowly and curiously, gradually finding herself along the way. After coming out and moving to London in her 20s, the musician started DJing, writing and producing, which eventually led to her launching her own record label, femme culture, and running her own queer club nights off the back of that. “I think sometimes things unlock, and start to make sense and then you just follow it,” Elkka says now. “I started to go out more and become part of a community. I was more confident in myself, so I was more confident in writing and producing – it all came together at the same time.”
Ultimately, Prism of Pleasure is the result of Elkka opening herself up in new ways, and being as authentic as possible. “I wanted a rawness to this album,” she says. “It’s something that can be felt, and that helps you connect with someone that’s listening to it, if you’re willing to expose a part of yourself. And again, this is all really transferable to relationships, and being with someone, all of that stuff. and that’s why these things overlap for me. I gave everything I could, and hopefully that translates.”
Read more ... Bandcamp
Bad Cameo
JAMES BLAKE, LIL YACHTY
Released 28 June 2024
Quality Control Music
****-
Whether this will be an ongoing partnership or ships passing in the night remains to be seen, but despite its expectation-lowering title, “Bad Cameo” is a strong addition to both artists’ discographies.
For years — and to his ongoing astonishment — Blake has been a featured guest of choice for some of the world’s top rappers and R&B singers: His sprawling discography includes collaborations with Kendrick Lamar, Beyonce, Frank Ocean, Andre 3000, Travis Scott, Vince Staples and multiple others. Meanwhile, Yachty was pushing the boundaries of trap even from his early days in the mid-2010s — and burst out completely with the full-on psychedelic rock of last year’s “Let’s Start Here” album, which basically did what its title stated: Since that album dropped, he’s made stylistically far-ranging songs with everyone from rappers J Cole and Flo Milli to electronic-pop savant Fred Again.
Their singing voices, while quite different stylistically, are in a similar high register, so Yachty’s often-autotuned verses fit comfortably alongside Blake’s lush synthesized textures and ping-ponging beats. Here, Yachty sings more often than he raps and Blake generally leaves him to it, chiming in with otherworldly harmonies or melodic interjections, a
The duo have described the album as ambient and experimental, and while that’s certainly the musical vibe — there definitely aren’t any bangers — it’s more song-based than that description might suggest.
The vocals are often heavily dosed with effects, which makes the lyrics hard to understand, although some ear-grabbing Yachty verses float past.
Read more ... Variety
Maisha
The ZAWOSE QUEENS
Released 7 June 2024
Real World Records
****-
There is spirit and fire in the music of The Zawose Queens. There’s the vibrations of the ancestors, coming through on traditional instruments - soaring chizeze fiddle, buzzing illimba thumb piano, ngoma drums that chatter and thunder - and voices that go deep, high and out there.
The Zawose Queens’ "Maisha" is a long-awaited first release by female members of one of Tanzania’s most famous musical families.
There’s the connection to nature, to ceremony and ritual, in their dance-inspired fusion, their blend of the organic, harmonic and modern-day electronic. There are lyrics that tell, in their native kigogo, of the passion for music, the wonders of life. Of pride in environment, in tradition. In their East African roots.
Pendo and Leah Zawose showcase the fluid polyrhythms and rapturous polyphonic singing of the Gogo (aka Wagogo) people of the arid, hilly Dodoma region of central Tanzania. The most famous exponent of this musical tradition is the late, great Dr Hukwe Zawose (Pendo’s father and Leah’s grandfather). The album marks the first time that women from this famous musical family take their place as lead vocalists and performers. The resulting collection of songs range from the stripped back and traditional-sounding to those treated with subtle electronic elements, with beats and drops and found sounds and switch-ups.
Read more ... Real World Records
Guruguru Brain Wash 2
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Released 5 June 2024
Guruguru Brain
****-
A compilation of tracks fro artists from the Rotterdam, Netherlands label, to celebrate it's10-year anniversary!
What started as packing tapes in our flat in Tokyo is now a label based in Rotterdam with 33 releases and more to come.
Our very first release was “Guruguru Brain Wash”, a digital-only compilation showcasing underground Japanese artists. 2 hours 38 minutes compilation, total brainwash. Here comes the “Guruguru Brain Wash 2” compilation to celebrate all that!
This time around we want to update current sounds from across Asia including Taiwan, India, China, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia.
It was a lot of fun to dig around and find new artists. We did it with the help of our friends Dito (Orange Cliff) and Leon for curation and Jiun Chi Hung for illustration. We finally can share it with you all!!
Read more ... ECM
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kiioto - pain killer (singles)
kiioto, Lou Rhodes, Lamb
Released 6 June 2024
Nude / kiioto
****-
kiiōtō is the love-child of lou rhodes, mercury-nominated singer/songwriter and founder member of lamb, and multi-platinum songwriter and keyboardist, rohan heath.
These are the first three singles from the forthcoming album, to be released in July
Together, Lou Rhodes, Rohan Heath have recorded an album that is both richly instinctive and inquisitive: drawing on the roads the pair have taken to reach this point, 'as dust we rise' arrives infused with a transporting spirit of ongoing exploration and discovery. Written and partially recorded in Lou and Rohan’s home studios in London and Wiltshire, the songs were then taken to producer Simon Byrt’s studio.
Contributors included Valerie Etienne of acid-jazz outfit Galliano. Byrt’s advocacy of analogue recording and vintage equipment proved instrumental to the record’s warm air and organic sound, nurtured lovingly into being with the help of guest musicians on live drums, strings, bass, guitar and horns: collaborative processes, say Lou and Rohan, that they intend to develop on their next album. “it’s a record that doesn’t shy away from the big themes of life,” Lou says, “we kinda rolled up our sleeves on this one.”
Read more ... Resident Music
My Prophet
ODED TZUR
Released 7 June 2024
ECM
****-
On My Prophet, Oded Tzur together with his quartet of pianist Nitai Hershkovits, bassist Petros Klampanis and the new group member Cyrano Almeida on drums, continues on the idiosyncratic musical path he has carved out for himself – a flowing jazz idiom that seamlessly combines multiple forms of expression –, while delving deeper into the meditative and highly concentrated realm of improvisation
There’s a cunning intensity that inhabits this freshly etched programme of five extensive pieces plus an introductory miniature, presenting saxophonist Oded Tzur in a light that balances the extremes: bright inflections of fiery refrains go hand in hand with long passages of ruminative and deeply felt interplay. In the process, the saxophonist exhibits some of his fiercest playing yet. Accompanied by his quartet of pianist Nitai Hershkovits, bassist Petros Klampanis and the new group member Cyrano Almeida on drums, the saxophonist continues on the idiosyncratic musical path he has carved out for himself – a flowing jazz idiom that seamlessly combines multiple forms of expression –, while delving deeper into the meditative and highly concentrated realm of improvisation.
Read more ... ECM
Grush
µ-ZIQ
Released 14 June 2024
Planet Mu
****-
µ-Ziq (Mike Paradinas), veteran producer and Planet Mu label owner's new album is full of weird bangers that reclaim the 'dance' part of the woeful term IDM.
A back-to-first-principles record, inspired in part by the group of artists IDM was coined for; melodic dance music that didn't come out of urban scenes, but interpreted them from a distance.
The tracks on ‘Grush’ are all road-tested live favorites developed with feedback from Mike's touring partner and visuals guy ID:Mora (Jan Moravec). It's a detailed and energetic journey which replicates the flow of a live gig. A lot of the tracks have been made in hotel rooms in response to shows, ‘Imperial Crescent’ is named after a Japanese Hotel, as is ‘Belvedere’ in Prague, while some tracks such as ‘Hyper Daddy’ were created specifically to play live.
Drums are confidently at the fore here and the album feels like it traces Mike's musical history and interests neatly around his sweetly nostalgic melodies, with atmospheres and structures which twist and turn with a charming softness which contrasts with the tension in the drums.
Read more ... Bandcamp
New Views
PETER VUUST, AARHUS JAZZ ORCHESTRA
Released 14 June 2024
Storyville Records
****-
With its blend of pleasure and learning, New Views, offers a captivating exploration of musical textures and emotions. Whether you’re a big band enthusiast or a music lover seeking new perspectives, this album is sure to leave a lasting impression!
Storyville Records is Europe’s oldest independent jazz label. It releases a rich variety of jazz, blues and related musical genres, often accompanied by authoritative notes and rare extras. This iconic label was founded in 1952 in Denmark and today continues to augment its historic catalogue of recordings made by American jazz and blues legends with new releases from contemporary jazz artist
Peter Vuust is an award-winning composer and bass player and has released seven albums as a solo artist, but this is his first record with a large-scale orchestra. Reflecting on the collaboration, Vuust expressed: “…to hear your own compositions arranged so beautifully and played by such an extraordinary set of musicians, each of them solo artists in their own right, is one of the most touching experiences of my career - an ambition I did not know, I had”.
Read more ... Bandcamp
OATH
MONO
Released 14 June 2024
Pelagic Records
****-
Throughout the album’s 71-minute runtime, MONO meditates on that theme of time and life in myriad ways. The unhurried evolution of a song that is a hallmark of MONO’s catalog is infused with an air of elegance that elevates OATH to new heights.
The year 2020 turned what was once quintessential late-night stoner existentialism into a daily mantra for nearly everyone on this planet. What are we doing with our limited time in this life? What is our purpose? What should we be doing?
For the past 25 years, MONO have explored themes such as the relationship between darkness and light; hope in the face of disaster; and the duality of birth and death. On their 12th full-length album, OATH, they ponder the time that makes up life, and how to make the most of that time.
Recorded and mixed with longtime friend and collaborator, Steve Albini, OATH opens like a sunrise with a slowly ascending orchestra and brass section, the full band taking its time to revel in the atmosphere before joining in the splendor.
MONO challenged themselves with a universally relatable existential examination, and answered with OATH, an album that offers benevolent reflection rather than fleeting respite.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Trouble
VIJAY IYER,
JENNIFER KOH, GIL ROSE,
BOSTON MODERN ORCHESTRA PROJECT
Released 11 June 2024
BMOP/sound
*****
Alongside Iyer’s meteoric career in the jazz universe, he has maintained a parallel life as a classical composer that has often gone unnoticed…until now.
Marking his debut recording as an orchestral composer, polymath Vijay Iyer showcases his high-minded yet emotionally expressive approach to music-making with this collection of bustling textures, surprising forms, and pulsating rhythms. Vijay Iyer: Trouble comprises three of his holistic musical responses to living in times of struggle:
"Asunder"" (2017) employs an Ellingtonian palette to portray American life as “pulled apart, broken, anxious, untethered” ;
Trouble" (2017) uses the violin concerto format to voice our unfinished quest for equal rights; and
"Crisis Modes" (2019) speaks of an unease around rising threats to humanity via strings and percussion.
Read more ... Across The Universe Magazine
Live at Cafe Oto
SANAM
Released 7 June 2024
Mais Um
****-
‘Live at Café Oto’ captures the intensity of the shows, a ritual where improvised rock, free jazz and noise underscored an exorcism of traditional Egyptian song and Arabic poetry.
Beirut’s SANAM burst on the scene in 2023 with their debut album Aykathani Malakon, chosen by The Guardian as one of their 5-star albums from 2023: “Aykathani Malakon thoroughly embodies their originating influences, whipping up kosmische, post-punk, psych rock, free jazz and Levantine folklore into an alchemical tour de force delivered with a defiant, DIY disposition”.
Under difficult conditions, the band took to the road for a European tour in November 2023 with the final show at Café Oto, London’s hub for experimental music. From their incendiary European debut earlier that month at LeGuessWho then rapturous, sold out shows in Switzerland, Belgium, Germany and the UK, spirits for the Cafe Oto gig were high and it was destined to be a tour highlight.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Leviathan
JOHN PSATHAS, MARC TADDEI,
ORCHESTRA WELLINGTON
Released 9 June 2024
Atoll
****-
The piece (takes) its inspiration from Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, imagining how that great composer might respond to modern environmental degradation. And it began in an intensely cinematic mode, all thudding, ominous beats and sharp stabs of sound
But if humanity is ‘Hightailin’ [it] to Hell’, to quote the first movement’s title, the second movement, ‘The Final Brook’, reminded us of the human capacity to enjoy nature, as Carmina Burana-style murmuring strings gave way to a luminous vibraphone solo. Less successful was Gerassimez’s splashing and straining of water, virtually inaudible underneath the orchestral sound.
The ensuing solo on a water bottle, though inventive and an apt reminder of plastic pollution, was a fraction overlong.
But the final movement, ‘A Falcon, A Storm, or A Great Song?’, powerfully summed up all that went before, its propulsive energy balanced by positivity and a Beethovenian sense of hard-won hope.
Read more ... Stuff
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Ye Woodbeast // Omnibdgr Split (EP)
YE WOOBEAST
Released 31 May 2024
3029198 Records DK
*****
Titling her latest opus after a material that can absorb 99.965% of visible light hitting it, VANTABLACK is an odyssey of urban alternative, dance, and progressive jazz affirming life, love, and the embodiment of Hathaway’s full spectrum of being.
It’s a simple but seductive theory: the older the recording, the more magic locked within. Seemingly down with that notion, Richard Hawley has long repurposed the spirit of ’50s and ’60s balladry with style and great affection, his quiff, tailoring and fondness for the lonesome twang of a Gretsch guitar badges of nostalgic allegiance. Tapping influences from both sides of The Atlantic, and viewing the topography and humanity of his native Sheffield through the prism of yesteryear’s special sauce, Hawley hit peak wide-screen wistfulness on 2005’s Cole’s Corner. A true romantic then, but 2009’s Truelove’s Gutter, with its themes of loss and mourning, was sometimes black as the Kellingley colliery pit shaft; a sobering, if beautiful dose of social realism.
The question of just how long an artist should mine a particular seam is complex, but even although In This City The Call You Love again hymns Sheffield, is again in thrall to sounds of a certain revered vintage, Hawley continues to enchant.
Parochial Hawley’s world often may be, but his themes are universal and timeless, and this is a vocation, you sense, not just a career. You might say he’s doing for Sheffield what Bruce Springsteen has done for New Jersey,
Read more ... Mojo
Why Ten?
YOSEF-GUTMAN LEVITT
Released 21 June 2024
Soul Sing Records
****-
Bassist Yosef-Gutman Levitt's modest, soulful playing radiates a thoughtful beauty, a bright colored land of sound. A sound that’s drawn by the quill of the soul, tradition and world music influences, something completely unique and ever changing. A music that is rooted in Jerusalem but draws on global inspirations.
“Why Ten?", which features Israeli guitarist Gilad Hekselman follows up Levitt’s 2023 release “Soul Song" (with Lionel Loueke)" and "The World and its People" in February 2024.
Why Ten? references the symbolism of the number 10 in Jewish mysticism, in particular the ten utterances of creation, as recorded in the Torah, and the ten supernal sefirot, from kabbalah. The ten utterances represent foundational principles through which the universe came into being, in all its complexity and intentionality. The ten supernal sefirot are attributes or emanations through which the Infinite Divine reveals itself, embodying various facets of existence, from wisdom and understanding to beauty and sovereignty, forming a bridge between the finite and the infinite.
Read more ... Jazz Guitar Today
All good?
NONKEEN
Released 21 June 2024
LEITER
****-
The album serves as a heartfelt homage to the legendary Herbert Laser, the innovative mind behind ‘Laserjazz’ and a longtime musical inspiration for the band.
Nonkeen is a German experimental trio consisting of pianist/composer Nils Frahm and his childhood friends Frederic Gmeiner and Sepp Singwald, who have been creating music together since they were in primary school. Their improvised recordings reflect on their youth and upbringing, and musically resemble a hazy mix of Krautrock, mellow electronic jazz, and ambient music.
Frahm has built a formidable individual reputation with a unique and personable mix of ambient, classical and experimental music. Gmeiner has a low key profile without any solo music releases. His personal website suggests that his primary foci involve family, research and teaching in HCI (Human Computer Interface), media and technology. Singwald has no further credits.
"All good?" is Nonkeen's third release after "The Gamble" and "Oddments of the Gamble", bot released in 2016.
Intriguingly, the tracklist of "All good?" reads as a statement "I'm sure / that love / will never / be a / product / of plasticity / exclamation / mark".
With Nonkeen, Frahm allows himself to participate in music that is often far more energetic than is found in his solo work.
Read more ... Bandcamp
30/108
CORTO.ALTO
Released 20 June 2024
New Soil x Bridge The Gap
****-
The album serves as a heartfelt homage to the legendary Herbert Laser, the innovative mind behind ‘Laserjazz’ and a longtime musical inspiration for the band.
Limitation can be a creative force in a world where anything is possible, and for a young Liam Shortall, that pool of influence & opportunity was as diverse as any. Born in Glasgow and surrounded by music from a young age, he gravitated initially towards instrumental music, picking up the trombone, learning his jazz chops, and listening to the big band, blues, and ska sounds of his family home.
During the ‘Bad With Names’ promo campaign, Liam Shortall produced 108 new demo ideas for corto.alto, a process not focused on perfection, but rather with the aim to produce as many ideas as possible and deepen his individual writing and production style.
Early 2024, he had 108 ideas in a folder - not fully composed tracks that would be placed well on a standard 12 track album, but not throw away ideas either.
He decided to dedicate the following 4 months to finish 30 of these tracks; recording some of his favourite musicians in his home studio and remotely. The goal wasn’t to make a perfectly clean and polished album, but to get these ideas out into the world and explore new grooves, sound design worlds and composition ideas
Each track has its own single artwork created from photos that Liam took on tour over the last year. The process of making these artworks was very similar to the music: create something from the material you have without doubting yourself - focusing on the creative process rather than the perfect end results.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Miss Flower
EMILIANA TORRINI
Released 21 June 2024
Groenland Records
*****
It’s a seductive and captivating record, intimate and silky, taking inspiration from the mysterious titular figure, the mother of one of Torrini’s friends.
Icelandic singer, songwriter and producer Emilíana Torrini has enjoyed an incredibly successful career, but her name is one you might not instantly recognise. Yet, with her stunning new album, Miss Flower, her first in 10 years, Torrini will surely expand her fanbase.
Best known for her 2009 single "Jungle Drum", her 1999 album "Love in the Time of Science", her performance of "Gollum's Song" for the 2002 film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Grammy-nominated in 2005 in the Best Dance Recording category for co-writing and producing "Slow", for Kylie Minogue) the artist used Geraldine Flower’s collection of letters as a starting point for the album. She was an enigmatic woman who, according to Torrini, lived with “a fearless loyalty to her truth.” She turned down many men who proposed to her, reluctant to tie herself down to anyone. With references to “espionage”, “heartbreak”, and “great lust” found within the mountain of correspondences, Torrini used these themes within her lyrics, creating an album that feels highly personal and special.
Miss Flower bears the influence of genres like trip-hop, pop and folk, weaving these seemingly opposing sounds into coherency. The album opens with ‘Black Water’, which sees Torrini speak over subdued electronic beats before singing the chorus, which contains compelling lines like “We’re only as sick as our deepest secrets.” Torrini immerses us in Flower’s world with great storytelling power; the words she delivers are vivid and rich with sensorial energy.
Torrini has crafted an album that totally inhabits its own world. It is wholly cohesive and never falls into stagnation thanks to the musician’s ability to switch up tempos or her vocal style, for example. Miss Flower is perfect for the summer months, although you’ll hardly want to turn it off after the sunny days are replaced with wind and rain; it’ll simply transport you back to the season, where a sense of romanticism and mystery is ever present.
Read more ... Far Out
Her Melodious Lay
JOHN ZORN, JULIAN LAGE, GYAN RILEY
Released 21 June 2024
Tzadik
****-
"Her Melodious Lay" contains nine poetic, through-composed pieces that blend classical, folk, jazz, film music and more into a strikingly dramatic musical vision.
Modern guitar music at its very best!
Guitarists Julian Lage and Gyan Riley have a magical rapport, a deep mutual respect, and have recorded some of Zorn’s most melodious and intimate compositions.
In addition to the many books of music written for their trio with Bill Frisell, they have also worked together as a duo on other Zorn projects - The Bagatelles (2015), Midsummer Moons (2017), Book Beri’ah (2019), and Quatrain (2023).
For this fifth duo CD Zorn turns again to William Shakespeare for inspiration and has composed a varied collection of ballads, dances, lullabies, and fantasies that will delight, stimulate, and inspire.
The album's title comes from Shakespeare's "The Tragedy of Hamlet: Prince of Denmark": as Claudius and Ophelia’s brother Laertes are plotting to murder Hamlet, Gertrude enters to relay the news that Ophelia is dead, her monologue concluding with the lines But long it could not be / Till that her garments, heavy with their drink, / pull’d the poor wretch from her melodious lay / To muddy death.
Read more ... Tzadic
Molde Jazz Festival 1972
KEITH JARRETT
Released 21 June 2024
Top Note
****-
Recordings of two sublime performances by Jarrett at or near the height of his powers, in at Molde Jazz Festival in Norway.
This album captures two remarkable improvised solo piano performances by Keith Jarrett, at the Molde Jazz Festivals in Norway, on 2 Aug. 1972 and 13 Aug. 1973.
Although released this month on digital platforms, this is not the premier release of this set: Discogs identifies that these recordings were previously released 6 August 2021 by Iac Music Japan (IACD10623/624) and Hi Hat (HH2CD3160).
However, as neither release is featured on Jarrett's official website, which is co-authored by ECM, it maybe that these recordings are unauthorised.
Nevertheless, the quality is superb and the performances are sublime.
To place these recordings in the context of Jarrett's career, the concerts in Norway fall between the officially-released "Solo Concerts: Bremen, Lausanne"(performances dated 20 Mar. 1973 and 12 Jul.1973).
The celebrated Köln Concert performances, considered to the the most sublime recordings of Jarrett's career (reputed to be the best selling piano recording in history) followed, in January 24 1975.
The re-issue of recordings such as the Molde recordings are to be savoured as precious jewels, especially because in February 2018, Jarrett suffered a stroke that has resulted in him being unable to perform. A second stroke in May 2018 left him partially paralyzed and unable to play with his left hand.
Read more ... Jazz Syndicate (Japan)
Outer Spaceways Incorporated - Kronos Quartet & Friends Meet Sun Ra
RED HOT ORG, CHRONOS QUARTET
Released 21 June 2024
Red Hot Org
*****
Another remarkable album from the Red Hot Org, this time commemorating the 110th pass around the Sun of the great Sun Ra - born May 1914.
Writing about the album on Kronos Quartet's we page, bandleader David Harrington says: “I wanted Outer Spaceways Incorporated: Kronos Quartet & Friends meet Sun Ra to honor Sun Ra’s creative genius. I believe the music of Sun Ra belongs in the same sentence as a few other composers who have totally enlarged American music such as Charles Ives, Duke Ellington, Terry Riley and Laurie Anderson. If I could have called Ives and Ellington, I would have. As it was, the first composers I spoke to regarding Red Hot’s offer to honor Sun Ra and use his original recordings and compositions as source material, were Terry and Laurie.
“Sun Ra lived his life always centered on possible next steps he could take in music and technology. It seemed very natural to bring in some of the most thrilling forces Kronos has worked with, such as Jlin, Nicole Lizée, Zachary Watkins, Trey Spruance, Victoria Shen and Jacob Garchik.
Collaborating musicians, composers, producers, emcees, include, in order of appearance): Kronos Quartet, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Jacob Garchik, Jlin, Laraaji, Marshall Allen, Laurie Anderson, Steven Bernstein, Sexmob, Doug Wieselman, Nicole Lizée, Zachary James Watkins, Corey Fogel, Raffi Garabedian, RP Boo, Armand Hammer, 700 Bliss, Trey Spruance, Secret Chiefs 3, Victoria Shen (Evicshen), Terry Riley, and Sara Miyamoto.
Harrington adds "Pretty soon there began to emerge a sonic picture of Sun Ra’s world that felt similar to the breadth of scope I aim for in the other Kronos albums we’ve made over the years."
KRONOS QUARTET:
David Harrington – violin
John Sherba – violin
Hank Dutt – viola
Paul Wiancko – cello
Read more ... Kronos Quartet
Bestia
ANDRZEL KORZYNSKI
Released 21 June 2024
GAD Records
****-
A movie about madness. And Andrzej Korzyński's obsessive music, combining diabolical motifs of flutes, distorted guitars and synthesizers with bucolic images for a string orchestra. A phenomenal soundtrack, a summary of the composer's artistic explorations from the 1970s.
Although the film itself is slightly forgotten today, the music is one of the most important in Andrzej Korzyński's achievements - also according to the composer himself. "Bestia" sums up the entire 1970s, showing both the composer's classical inspirations (Mahler!) and the constant search for new colors and harmonies in contemporary instruments. Anxiety and terror, uncertain pauses, diabolical flute, distorted guitar - all this can be heard in the opening "W mroku". Next, you can hear numerous versions of these terrifying motifs, filled with the sound magma of synthesizers and drums, but also completely different, almost idyllic pieces arranged for orchestra. There's even a spooky waltz!
"Bestia" appears for the first time on CD, remastered from the original tapes from the composer's archive. The booklet includes an extensive sketch about film and music, posters, stills and photos of tapes.
Read more ... Kultowe Negrania (Translation)
The Heartening
AMY AILEEN WOOD
Released 3 May 2024
Colorfield Records
****-
Drawing from such eclectic influences as 90s hip-hop and punk rock to artists like Floating Points and Brian Eno, The Heartening is a record steeped in subtle textures, unpredictable twists and ear-turning instrumentation, a paradoxical listening experience that is at once both calming and chaotic.
Amy Aileen Wood is unaccustomed to the spotlight, which is very much by design. A calming presence in any room and a force behind the drum kit, Wood meshes her astute listening skills with an undeniable ownership of the music at hand, as illustrated in her work on Fiona Apple’s 2020 record Fetch The Bolt Cutters, which Wood co-produced.
When initially approached by Pete Min of Colorfield Records about collaborating on an album of her own, Amy was met with a mix of intrigue and abject terror.
“My motivation was entirely fear based,” Wood explains, “I think my first question for Pete was, ‘are you sure?’
But it’s always good to get out of your comfort zone. And ultimately it was equal parts uncomfortable and rewarding.”
By harnessing those feelings of discomfort, Amy manages to create a lush soundscape rife with tension, release, curiosity and playful exploration on her debut release, The Heartening.
Armed with little more than a cymbal bag, a bottle of wine, and a willingness to explore, Amy and Pete hunkered down in Min’s Los Angeles studio, Lucy’s Meat Market, for a series of experimental sessions in the spring and summer of 2023. The goal of those sessions? In Amy’s words,“to come in and be as unencumbered as possible.”
The resulting album features cameo appearances from Bolt Cutter brethren Fiona Apple, Sebastian Steinberg, and John Would, with guest work from Daphne Chen, Nicole McCabe, Wayne Whittaker, and Kelsey Wood.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Reflections Vol. 1:
Let the Moon Be a Planet
STEVE GUNN & DAVID MOORE
Released 31 March 2023
RVNG
****-
Let the Moon Be a Planet is an invitation to relive the intimate moments shared between two artists finding their way along a single path, and into a world where the most subtle of gestures can ripple for an eternity.
Let the Moon Be a Planet marks the first volume of Reflections, a new series of contemporary collaborations orchestrated by RVNG Intl., and documents an inspired exchange between guitarist and songwriter Steve Gunn and pianist and composer David Moore (of Bing & Ruth).
Conjured by a mutual curiosity, and appreciation, for the respective musician’s work, Let the Moon Be a Planet initially took form over a progression of remote sessions and ultimately harmonized when Gunn and Moore completed the album together in the bucolic surroundings of Hudson, New York.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Reflections Vol. 2:
Black Decelerant
BLACK DECELERANT
Released 21 June 2024
RVNG
****-
From start to finish, Black Decelerant possesses a cinematic quality, like they were meant to soundtrack some hypothetical high-brow drama. Yet the album never seems solely fixated on beauty—a common pitfall that can sometimes leave similar neoclassical records feeling vapid and unambitious.
Since 2003, prolific New York City label RVNG Intl. has worked hard to solidify its place as a tasteful staple of left-field music. With releases from artists as wide-ranging as dreamy dance producer CFCF, dubby space rocker Sun Araw, and microtonal Baltimore shredders Horse Lords, on a cursory glance the imprint’s catalog may seem somewhat disparate. But spend a little time exploring the RVNG universe, and a weathered, bookish charm begins to reveal itself as the throughline between its many endeavors. In March 2023 RVNG introduced the collaborative series Reflections, which it christened with a record from ambient-adjacent legends Steve Gunn and David Moore (the latter of whom some may know better as the founder of Bing & Ruth). The second installment of Reflections arrives via Black Decelerant, a duo made up of Khari Lucas (aka Contour) and Omari Jazz—two low-key yet nonetheless accomplished producers who have done most of their past work behind the scenes. Like Gunn and Moore, their work together skews airy. But unlike Reflections Vol. 1: Let the Moon Be a Planet, which embraced the rambling tropes of cosmic Americana, this self-titled record lands in a cloudy gray area between burbling analog psychedelia and placid spiritual jazz.Though Black Decelerant’s numerically-titled yet out-of-order tracklist is marked by subtle stylistic variation, it’s united by a clean sonic aesthetic that evokes some otherworldly force breathing
Read more ... Bandcamp
Erube Jambo
UNITY
Released 11 June 2024
Voom Voom Records
****-
This long-awaited inaugural release from DJ Fred Spider's Voom Voom Records visits an iteration of the legendary South African jazz funk ensemble of the 20th century. Spirits Rejoice recorded two incredible jazz fusion albums in the late 70’s with amble lashings of funk and soul
Between 1972 and 1973 Poy-Poy Makhubela appeared on 4 singles with The Young Movers produced by David Thekwane.
In 1975, as a lead guitarist, he decided to bring together four musicians to form the band Unity.
Jeff Radine (Fender Rhodes, Moog), George Legobye (bass), Edward Modiselle (percussion) and Robert Moema (drum). The members were all from the group The Sound Jaws, except Jeff Radine who was with Rugare and played with Harari, Chicco, The Black Five or Prince Nico.
In 1978, after hearing Unity playing in a club, Mike Tswai joined the band as a manager.
Poy-Poy has gone on to have a long career, touring the world and playing with some of the South African’s greats including Brenda Fassie, Don Laka, Blondie & Pappa, Dorothy Masuka as well as Kwaito bands like Alaska, Boom Shaka or Trompies.
Produced by the team “Van Blerk/Roos & Greg Cutler", it includes succulent voices and melodies, psychedelic Moog, Hohner clavinet & Fender Rhodes surrounded by some Afro-folky guitars. This album is definitely a winner.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Algorithm
LUCKY DAYE
Released 28 June 2024
Keep Cool / RCA
****-
Performed with a high degree of musicianship, evoking nostalgia and cinematic imagery, this is a moving and exhilarating set of compositions.
Algorithm pairs Lucky Daye’s inventive songwriting with top-tier production, including input from R&B MVP D’Mile. But don’t expect a rehash of previous LPs Painted or Candydrip. Algorithm embraces a rock aesthetic that does wonders to diversify his sound, as well as keep the listener’s pulse pounding.
Opening track “Never Leavin U Lonely” is the perfect tone-setter. Electric guitar licks light up the track, creating an energetic yet soulful rock experience. It bleeds directly in the single “HERicane,” one of the best tracks of 2024. It’s that blend of edgy sensuality that only the greats like Lenny Kravitz can pull off, but Lucky doesn’t miss a beat.
“Soft” slows the pace down just a tad for a more yacht-rock groove; The title track is an intriguing two-sided coin – the first half is the usual upbeat affair but everything is flipped on the second half, with his vocals now distorted and melting into a sea of confusion. From the 80s-inspired “Top” to the unmistakable Prince vibes on “Pin” and even a formidable duet with Teddy Swims on “Blame” the first half of Algorithm features some of the best R&B I’ve heard in years.
That said, the album’s second half can’t maintain the momentum of the first. That’s not to say it’s bad – far from it. Things just go from downright exceptional to just pretty good.
While the second half isn’t as razor sharp as the first, Algorithm remains a triumph, Lucky’s most daring and, yes, his best album to date. More than that, it currently stands as the best R&B album of 2024 so far.
Read more ... Soul In Stereo
RICHAXXHAITIAN
MACH-HOMMY
Released 17 May 2024
Mach-Hommy
****-
The New Jersey rapper returns with a supreme sense of confidence. He glides effortlessly over grainy beats, putting his skill for meandering but meticulous raps on full display.
#RICHAXXHAITIAN is Mach’s first solo venture in nearly three years, since the critically acclaimed Pray for Haiti and Balens Cho (Hot Candles) dropped in 2021. The list of collaborators is packed with familiar faces: Fellow underground darlings, like Sadhugold, Conductor Williams, and Quelle Chris, help out on production duties, while Tha God Fahim, Your Old Droog, and other guests contribute verses.
But the close-knit circle doesn’t mean Mach needs to rely on old tricks; instead, he’s thrillingly meticulous, putting his talent for daisy-chaining raps and concepts on full display.
#RICHAXXHAITIAN is his most expansive project since 2016’s HBO (Haitian Body Odor); it’s an opus executed with a level of precision that’s come to be expected of the prolific rapper.
Read more ... Pitchfork
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The Remedy
LCSM (LIKWID CONTINUAL SPACE MOTION)
Released 14 June 2024
Super-sonic Jazz
****-
I G Culture's "The Remedy" celebrates London's vibrant underground culture and highlights the interconnectedness of all musical styles.
"The Remedy," is I G Culture's latest album under Likwid Continutal Space Motion, Culture draws parallels between the complex world of fungi and London's Underground dance music scene. Both are intricate networks that thrive beneath the surface, connecting diverse elements and influencing one another. The London dance music scene, like fungi, encompasses a variety of styles and genres, from drum and bass to Garage Dance Subcultures may go unnoticed to the casual observer but are musical corner stones in our society. Dance floors and clubs serve as spaces for communal healing, allowing people to let go of daily stresses and connect through music and dance. Through his innovative production and thematic depth, he underscores the transformative power of dance music, emphasizing its role in promoting well-being and unity. The idea of Fungi also is expressed in the artwork by Amsterdams 'Machine' with IG's direction, who used fungi in an original collage revealing a secret world.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Heart Trio
WILLIAM PARKER,
COOPER-MOORE, HAMID DRAKE
Released 28 June 2024
AUM Fidelity
*****
The music flows pristinely, filled with clarity and naturalness, and enriched with subtle expressive touches that highlight the well-ingrained telepathic interplay these musicians share.
Acclaimed bassist and multi-instrumentalist William Parker (doson ngoni, shakuhachi, bass dudek, Serbian flute, ney flute), recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award at Vision Festival, reunites with longtime collaborators and members of his quartet, Cooper-Moore (ashimba, hoe-handle harp), and Hamid Drake (drums, frame drum), for a freely improvised trio session centered on world music Their effort, characterized by soothing and richly rhythmic spiritual vibes, aims to ease our troubled modern times.
Predominantly influenced by West African sounds, the trio also incorporates Balkan dances and other Eastern flavors. Parker switches between different flutes and the doson ngoni, Cooper-Moore toggles between instruments he built himself in the 1970s - the ashimba (an 11-tone xylophone) and hoe-handle harp - and Drake makes everything dance with his percussion expertise.
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Read more ... JazzTrail
Let's Walk
MADELEINE PEYROUX
Released 28 June 2024
Just One Recording / Thirty Tigers
*****
Whatever she’s singing about, Peyroux puts it through her stylistic filter and makes it palatable. What she makes is, in essence, easy listening, even on chilled blues cuts. But she does it with intelligence and wit, culturally aware and musically sweet-natured.
Madeleine Peyroux made her name with her second album, 2004’s Careless Love. It consists almost completely of cover versions, delivered in a quiet, jazz-blues shuffle redolent of singers from the 1930s. She’s never flown as high again but has maintained a decent career, mostly mining similar sonic territory.
Her new album, and first in six years, does not wander far from the path, but is all originals, written with regular collaborator Jon Herington. Despite being spiked with songs that have something to say, it’s a deliciously lazy summer listen.
Peyroux tackles meaty lyrical themes, such as the murders that sparked the Black Lives Matter movement on “How I Wish”, a doleful waltz wherein she sings of “empty dread” and treading "between fear and disgrace”. The song “Nothing Personal” is about sexual abuse. It’s gentle slow moodiness belies its lyrical brutality.
The overall feel of the album is not po-faced, though. Serious themes are approached but Let’s Walk does, indeed, walk about musical styles, restless. Opener “Find True love” is a twinkling, hushed celebration of New Orleans, lyrically bubbly. The title track refers to civil rights marches and is ebullient gospel-themed doo-wop. “Me and the Mosquito” is a flamenco jolly, as might be perceived from the title.
Read more ... The Arts Desk
Little Home
PAUL KLEBER
Released 31 May 2024
Paul Kleber & XJAZZ! Music
****-
The music flows pristinely, filled with clarity and naturalness, and enriched with subtle expressive touches that highlight the well-ingrained telepathic interplay these musicians share.
This captivating collection of tracks showcases Kleber's unique blend of jazz, electronic, and ambient music, creating a mesmerizing listening experience for music enthusiasts.
With "Little Home," Berlin musician Paul Kleber invites listeners on a musical journey filled with emotive melodies, intricate rhythms, and innovative soundscapes. Each track tells a story, evoking feelings of nostalgia, introspection, and wonder.
Kleber's masterful use of instrumentation and production techniques shines through in every song on the album. From delicate piano melodies to pulsating electronic beats, each element is carefully crafted to create a rich sonic tapestry that captivates the listener from start to finish.
Read more ... HighResAudio
September Night
TOMASZ STANKO QUARTET
Released 21 June 2024
ECM
****-
The great trumpeter himself is at his charismatic best here, playing superbly, clearly inspired by the energetic support and communicative power of Marcin Wasilewski, Slawomir Kurkiewicz and Michal Miskiewicz, the dynamic young musicians for whom he had been a mentor.
Recorded at Munich’s Muffathalle in September 2004, this previously-unreleased live album of the Tomasz Stanko Quartet is a fascinating document, capturing a developmental chapter in the group’s music.
The work with his Polish quartet lifted Tomasz Stanko to a new level of recognition - the European Jazz Prize. From the jury’s citation: “While Stanko has obviously drawn on American models, he has developed a unique sound and personal music that is instantly recognizable and unmistakably his own, rooted in his Slavic heritage, romantic upbringing and classical education, which he received in Cracow before starting a jazz career in the early ‘60s. His distinctive rough tone conveys a sense of drama, melancholy, sadness and existential pain. A free-jazz pioneer, he went on to become one of the finest trumpeters, a world-class player, a stylist, a charismatic performer and original composer, his music now assuming simplicity of form and mellowness that comes with years of work, exploration and experience. Tomasz Stanko – a true master and leader of European jazz.”
Read more ... ECM
Four Elements (EP)
JACOB KARLZON
Released 14 June 2024
Nilento Records
****-
Four Elements” is an improvised suite - another fruit of a unique collaboration spanning decades with acknowledged producer and sound designer Lars Nilsson from Nilento Studio. The suite consists of four independent pieces, inspired and named by the four elements ”Water”, ”Fire”, ”Air” and ”Earth”.
Swedish jazz pianist and composer Jacob Karlzon has been compared to luminaries such as Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans and Sweden’s own legendary Jan Johansson.
Karlzon’s playing style oozes technical brilliance, rhythmic and harmonic complexity with a perfect feeling for form.
For a piano virtuoso, he likes to add edge; metal and electro all have their place in his music as well as folk songs from his Swedish homeland. With such an open attitude, Karlzon balances depth and musical ideas to achieve vibrant pulsating soundscapes ranging from light to energetic, fragile to powerful, organic to electronic, sometimes all at once. He calls this approach 'technorganic', a kind of improvisation which bursts out of conventional musical borders.
Karlzon's music sits at the intersection of cool Scandinavian sensibilities (space, melancholy and sensitivity) and their emotional opposites (heat and passion).
Karlzon’s powerful techniques and deep sensibility have made him a popular 'sideman' working together with stars like
Cæcilie Norby, Gino Vannelli, Nils Landgren, Till Brönner and Lisa Bassenge as well as being a sought after musical director for artists such as Viktoria Tolstoy .
Read more ... Jacob Karlzon
Sonic Creed Volume II
Life Signs
STEFON HARRIS + BLACKOUT
Released 14 June 2024
Stefon Harris. Motema Music
****-
The music flows pristinely, filled with clarity and naturalness, and enriched with subtle expressive touches that highlight the well-ingrained telepathic interplay these musicians share.
Stefon Harris’ passionate artistry, energetic stage presence, and astonishing virtuosity have propelled him into the forefront of the current jazz scene. Widely recognized and lauded by both his peers and jazz critics alike, award-winning musician is committed to both exploring the rich potential of jazz education and blazing new trails on the vibraphone.
The vibraphone. It feels like the vibrating metal discs haven't been used in jazz since Lionel Hampton.
Stefon Harris takes a different view and has brought his xylophone with him. Surrounded by a variable backing band called Blackout, he plays a series of original compositions and a piece by Stevie Wonder.
Harris describes the music on the album as "the sound of right now". That seems bold. Of course the mix is contemporary, but the pieces often sound like "solid US jazz school with tradition". There are braver musicians in the genre and more innovative ones. Harris, on the other hand, comes across as a traditionalist who knows his craft. And that's not because of the vibraphone.
The music itself may be fresh, but it doesn't seem fundamentally new. It is lively and colourful, but also somehow familiar and therefore predictable. The time now is the complete opposite.
However, the contradiction of the statement perhaps suggested by the marketing does not detract from the album. It is a formidably recorded piece of jazz that can refresh the day as a fine companion. And that, too, is a quality that suits this genre well.
Read more ... Bandcamp, High Res Audio
A Place Called Home
ODDGEIR BERG TRIO
Released 21 June 2024
Ozella Music
****-
On A Place Called Home, Oddgeir Berg takes us to his father's birth place, the island of Rolla - tiny and sparsely populated, a mere 900 people live here - for a concept album about the magic of nature, the spaces hidden in memory, and the bonds that family provides.
Oddgeir Berg Trio comprising Oddgeir Berg (piano, keys), Audon Ramo (double bass) and Lars Berntsen (drums) is based Oslo, Norway and has toured widely across Europe, Japan, China and USA at major festivals and leading clubs such as Ronnie Scotts. The group has also toured in Japan, China and the USA.
They perform the gamut of emotions with one leg in the realm of ecstasy and the other in the realm of melancholy. They describe their jazz as "electro acoustic".
Recorded with a new trio line-up and featuring arguably the strongest compositions of his career, this is at once his most personal and most universal work.
Read more ... Oddgeir Berg
COLLAB
HAMILTON DE HOLANDA
GONZALO RUBALCABA
Released 30 May 2024
Sony Music
****-
The fusion of Rubalcaba's Afro-Cuban jazz with Holanda’s Brazilian influences creates a unique synergy. The result is music that is both rooted in tradition and innovative in its approach, a celebration of the richness and diversity of Afro-Cuban and Brazilian musical traditions.
Collab is personified by two of its greatest exponents: the renowned Afro-Cuban pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, named one of the great pianists of the 20th century (Piano & Keyboard Magazine) and known for his impeccable technique and rhythmic innovation, and the virtuoso Brazilian mandolinist Hamilton de Holanda, whose skill and creativity has revolutionized the instrument and Brazilian music. Equal parts challenging and accessible, Collab is a musical journey through varied soundscapes, with each track offering a new discovery rooted in their common African ancestry.
Brazilian star special guests composer and singer João Bosco, as well as harmonica player Gabriel Grossi, add additional layers of depth and meaning to the tracks, providing an even richer and more engaging auditory experience.
Essential in today's world, Collab is an example of true cultural diplomacy.
Read more ... Lydia Liebman Productions
The Virtue of Signals
JOSEPH TAWADROS
Released 28 June 2024
Joseph Tawadros
****-
Performed with a high degree of musicianship, evoking nostalgia and cinematic imagery, this is a moving and exhilarating set of compositions.
With 8 ARIA awards under his belt, Australian oud and cello master Joseph Tawadros has found new sounds and musical territory with each release.
For his 21st album, Tawadros plays is joined by two of his former collaborators: Australia’s acclaimed jazz pianist, Matt McMahon and percussion wizard James Tawadros. Rounding off the quartet is the extraordinarily sensitive improviser, Gary Daley on accordion.
Featuring soulful, reflective and meditative pieces alongside more upbeat and joyful compositions, this is an album full of musical surprises and deep emotion.
The Virtue of Signals features unique instrumentation and is an instrumental album – yet is accessible and appealing for a wide range of listeners.
Joseph Tawadros composed these pieces for the documentary ‘A Memory Film: A Filmmaker’s diary’ (2023) directed by Jeni Thornley.
Read more ... Joseph Tawadros
Proxy Music
LINDA THOMPSON
Released 21 June 2024
StorySound Records
****-
For years, the singer Linda Thompson faced a problem that, for someone in her line of work, seemed insurmountable. Slowly over time, and then suddenly all at once, she lost the ability to hold a note surely enough to sustain even the simplest tune.
Consultations with doctors eventually brought a brutal diagnosis: spasmodic dysphonia, a neurological disorder in which the muscles in the larynx tighten or lapse into spasms, strangulating speech while making singing a significant challenge.
Even so, losing her voice didn’t mean forsaking her songwriting, a talent that led to a resourceful strategy for a comeback. Because almost everyone in Thompson’s extended circle of family and friends is a gifted vocalist, she thought, why not engage them to perform the songs and make an album from that?
What clinched it for her was the pun-y name she devised for the result: “Proxy Music.” Thompson had the plucky idea to have herself dolled up on the cover to mimic the iconic shot from Roxy Music’s 1972 debut album, which featured a 25-year-old model in the pose of a Varga girl. “I thought what fun to play an ancient pinup!” Thompson said with a laugh.
It helps that Ferry himself, whom she met years ago, loves the shot. The humor of the cover contrasts sharply with her po-faced image from the Richard and Linda Thompson days, underscored by songs of the time that she herself described as “music to slit your wrists by.”
Read more ... New York Times
Gravity Stairs
CROWDED HOUSE
Released 31 May 2024
Lester Records / BMG
****-
Enough of Gravity Stairs contains a distinct pulse to keep it from sleepiness. They're now built for comfort, not speed, a shift that can pay great dividends.
Appearing a mere three years after Dreamers Are Waiting, the 2021 album that debuted the third iteration of Crowded House, Gravity Stairs finds the veteran pop group settling into their new skin. In most regards, Gravity Stairs isn't far removed from its predecessor. Like Dreamers Are Waiting, this 2024 record moves slowly, not so much marching at a deliberate pace as drifting along with a wayward breeze. The difference here is, Crowded House choose to linger, dwelling upon different moods and melodies instead of letting the moments slip away. Individual tracks may be distinguished by subtle flair -- vocal harmonies, a spike of fuzztone or tremulous treble guitars, a wash of analog synths -- but the accents are never so pronounced that they distract from the overall sense of comforting reverie.
Read more ... AllMusic
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Umoja (Joaquin Joe Claussell Sacred Rhythm Music & Cosmic Arts Remixes)
NICOLA CONTE, JOAQUIN "JOE" CLAUSSELL
Released 28 June 2024
Far Out Recordings
****-
Claussell's collaboration with Nicola Conte and Far Out Recordings helps mark the label’s 30th anniversary, as Claussell joins fellow producers such as Theo Parrish, Ron Trent, Kenny Dope and 4hero in remixing music from the label’s catalogue.
Nicola Conte is an Italian spiritual jazz master, DJ, producer, guitarist, and bandleader. He has released on Blue Note, Impulse!, Far Out Recordings and Schema. Since founding the Bari-based bohemian cultural movement and club night Fez at the dawn of the nineties, Conte has proven to be a pillar of the contemporary, intern/
Joasquuin "Joe" Claussell is an American electronic dance producer, remixer, label-head and record shop owner from New York city.
Extending the tracks from Umoja for full length, dance-floor focused mixes, Claussell has accentuated the original music’s global, afro-futurist vision with comprehensive rearrangements - featuring additional percussion, guitars, keyboards, synthesizers and drum programming - excavating the source music and re-recording many of its parts under the auspices of his Sacred Music & Cosmic Arts banner.
Read more ... Bandcamp