Green Bay, WI's Choke presents their blistering new debut EP "Desiphon"!
Mixed by Kurt Ballou at God City and mastered by Brad Boatright for
Audiosiege, "Desiphon" encapsulates Death Metal and Grindcore's great's
(think Rotten Sound, Napalm Death and Pig Destroyer) while covering all
new territory!
"Matasuna Records" returns to Mexico for a third time to dig for rare treasures. They got their hands on a special gem - two obscure Latin/Jazzfunk tunes by a band called "Colorado" from "Mexico City". The songs were released in 1976 on the Mexican label Peerless and the super rare original 7inch is virtually unavailable. Fortunately, the release is finally available for the first time as an official reissue in a remastered edition. An unjustly under-the-radar Latin jazzfunk highlight!
The song "Colorado", named after the band, opens the "A-side" of the single. The hypnotic fender rhodes puts the listener in the right mood right from the start, before the drums and percussion set the rhythm. The horns also add depth and melodiousness before the song takes a turn and reveals its funky side with guitars, synths and bass. A nice guitar solo also reveals the affinity for rock music without losing sight of the vibe of the song or tipping it a different direction. Definitely a fabulous song that comes up with a lot of ideas and inspirations, offering an unexpected richness in the under 3-minute running time.
The "B-side" also continues musically energetic in the same way with "Para Ti". Here, too, you can feel and hear the playfulness and experimentation of these extraordinary musicians. Atmospherically dense passages alternate with quieter phases and solo parts, before the tension rises again and literally explodes. As in the song "Colorado", rhodes, brass, guitars & bass offer a great and varied interplay. The secret highlight, however, might be the drum and percussion parts in the middle of the track, which will surely enchant not only the B-Boys and B-Girls.
Artist info:
The internet, a source of almost endless knowledge, offers no information about the band Colorado. All the more fortunate that one of the band's founding members, "Emilio Espinosa Becerra", provides detailed info for the reissue.
In 1968 the three brothers "Luis", "Francisco" and "Emilio Espinosa Becerra" from Mexico City started to rehearse together to play wellknown rock & pop songs at friends or family parties. At first, they played on Japanese guitars and a Teisco bass borrowed from a school friend. They saved up money to then buy guitar & bass amps and a microphone, which they always had to rent until then. However, the budget was only enough for Mexican replicas of the legendary Fender Bassman and the Fender Super Reverb. Original equipment was simply unaffordable.
Shortly thereafter, more members joined the band. Three musicians from the school band "Tepeyac": "Marco Nieto Bermudez" (trumpet), "Raymundo Mier Garza" (tenor saxophone) and "Alfonso Romero" (trombone). Another classmate named "Carlos Mauricio Fernández Ordóñez", who studied piano, also joined the group. His father had a chemical factory in the United States and helped bring equipment (amplifiers and a Farfisa Fast 5 organ) - hidden in the back of a truck - to Mexico. In the time that followed, more instruments were acquired, including bass and guitars (from Gibson, Rickenbacher and Fender) and microphones (from Shure) for vocals and horns.
With a larger band and new equipment, they played many parties in their district of "Lindavista" in "Mexico City" and neighboring areas from 1970 to 1973, as well as gigs at various festivals and school events. The group's band name at the time was "Sound Core Brass". However, more and more often people with turntables and speakers showed up at parties, which were also able to heat up. The so-called "Sonideros", a sound system culture that was emerging in the 1960s, charged less than a multi-piece live band, so the band's performances declined.
During those years, three other "Espinosa Becerra" family members joined the band: "Jorge Rafael" (trombone), "Sergio Alejandro" (tenor saxophone) and "Felipe de Jesus" (drums and percussion).
A brother of the musicians, "Carlos Espinosa Becerra", studied electrical engineering at the University. Together with another fellow student, he designed and built a 10-channel console with a variety of functions and features that far surpassed the devices available at the time. They also went to the US again to buy JBL speakers & tweeters to build their own sound system. On another trip to Los Angeles, they bought Phase Linear amplifiers, which offered enormous power by the standards of the time and had an extremely low distortion factor. With this equipment they could turn up the volume really loud and noise-free.
This was also the time when they stopped playing music from English bands & youth groups and changed their repertoire completely. They played mambos, chachachas, pasodobles and tangos on special occasions in big ballrooms and halls. Also, every now and then they hired a string quartet of well-known Mexican violinists to provide the musical entertainment at dinner events.
During those years, classmate "Pablo Rached Diaz" joined the band, playing tenor saxophone. Pablo was very active and organized many parties. He was also the one who helped the band to record on the Mexican label "Peerless". So in 1975 they were asked by Peerles Records to record their own songs. They had recorded a total of 12 songs - six of these songs were released on three vinyl singles (45rpm). Most of the songs were composed by "Gustavo Ruiz de Chavez Sr.". The band was asked to adopt a more commercial name, and so they had chosen the band name "Colorado". In the course of the releases, the band made some promotional tours and appeared in shows on "Televisa", the most important television station in Mexico in those years.
Later, several members of "Colorado" graduated and began to pursue regular professions. They didn't stop playing at events, but priority was given to more formal duties and the band was no longer as active as it had been in its heyday.
About 8 years ago, the band got back together to play again. The next generation of musicians also joined the band: two sons, a nephew and a brother-in-law of the original band members. Currently, they are back playing at friends' parties and family gatherings in Mexico City.
Highlighting the continuing evolution of Durban's globally influential gqom sound, this special trilogy of releases showcases three separate artists from South Africa's fertile musical landscape. The set captures a fresh wave of gqom innovation from veteran producer DJ Skothan/DJ Scoturn, DJ Scriby, and 20-year-old DJ MaRiiO. DJ Skothan/DJ Scoturn has been a key figure in Durban's underground scene for many years, producing alongside Phelimuncasi, Bhejani, Tweeyking, Lafaristo, MaRiiO and DJ MP3. His gqom and house tracks have quietly provided a rumbling engine for the city's scene, and "Nevegation" is his debut full-length, providing a complex diagram of his dancefloor versatility. This isn't the gqom you might expect to hear: immediately on opener 'The Gringo' familiar sounds - shovel kicks, chopped vocals, sampled gasps, horror movie strings - are shuffled into atypical patterns, creating jerky soundscapes rather than the expected four-on-the-floor bump. 'Salut to DJ Lag' pays respect to Durban's Beyoncé-approved pioneer, but twists the template into a propulsive new form, adding rolling and evolving percussion that teases fractal shapes each bar. But the album's most unexpected and forward-thinking moment arrives with the aptly titled 'The King of Gqom', a track that simmers the genre's percussive sounds into limber sci-fi club futurism, tweaking the bass sounds into patterns that nod to dubstep, Jersey club and ballroom. 25-year-old DJ Scriby has been working behind the scenes since 2013, assisting the first wave of gqom innovators promote their sound both inside Durban and beyond. In 2017 he joined London's Trax Couture to release "The Clermont EP", and here he introduces his long-awaited follow-up "Izingoma zeGqomu". Scriby's approach to gqom is well-studied and self-aware, which gives him the ability to stretch the sound's scope across the diaspora: just peep the Atlanta trap synths on the dynamic 'Friday 13th', or the absorption of tight grime snares on opening track 'Goi'. Scriby's engineering skill pushes his productions to the next level, lending slithering downtempo tracks like 'Ouuu1' and 'Igqom Libuye' a widescreen, big-room punch without losing the genre's undulating funk. And the producer even eyes the EDM mainstage with 'Qumqum!!', balancing saccharine synths with jerky kicks, claps and rolling toms. The youngest artist featured in the collection, DJ MaRiiO started producing when he was just 12 years old, watching YouTube production videos. "No one told me how to use FL Studio," he admits, "and no one helped me doing different genres." This might be why his music sounds so completely unique; the basic structure of gqom is still present, but MaRiiO augments these elements with youthful energy and carefree use of unusual sounds and production methods. "Zulu Man" opener 'GQom NyeGe' manages to mash together trance synths, DMZ bass and a driving woodblock rhythm that reminds you of its Durban roots, while the bizarre 'Ngom ya Phesh', featuring MaRiiO's regular collaborator Hot Chicks on vocals, pushes the gqom template into the red, with overdriven kicks and disorienting environmental sounds. All three records provide a 360 degree view of Durban's contemporary underground, nodding to the past, present and future of gqom. It's a genre that's constantly in flux as it moves from South Africa's bedrooms and basements to main stages and movie screens across the globe.
Es geschah gegen Ende des Jahres 2008, als drei Liebhaber der 7"-Single beschlossen, in Berlin eine neue Vinyl-only Clubnacht zu starten. Mit dem Ziel, die Fixierung auf einen speziellen Musikstil, den bis dahin die anderen Vintage Dances zelebrierten, zu durchbrechen. Es sollte keine Grenzen geben, also begaben unsere drei sich auf eine lange Reise, immer auf der Suche nach neuem schwarzem Kleinvinyl für die Sammlung, möglichst oskur, aber mit der Prämisse, den Tanzboden zu füllen. Und hier nun findet sich die 3. Sammlung aus dem Dusty Ballroom Schatzkästchen - eine spannende, aber eklektische Mischung aus 40er Jahre Jump Blues, 50er Jahre Exotica, einer Prise DooWop, Surf mit Eastern Vibe, Rock & Roll aus Hawaii, Burlesque Tunes und mehr. Funktioniert in jeder Lebenslage!
Under The Sun is the follow-up to the astonishing Roots and contains yet more absolutely essential Nucleus material. Originally released on Vertigo in 1974, Under The Sun was never re-pressed and of course those original copies are now very tricky to score. Like all the Nucleus records, it’s aged ridiculously well and this Be With re-issue, re-mastered from the original analogue tapes, shows off just why this deserves to be back in press.
Genius trumpeter and visionary composer Ian Carr was one of the most respected British musicians of his era. He was a true pioneer and saw the potential in fusing the worlds of jazz with rock, just as Miles Davis and The Tony Williams Lifetime did in the US. In late 1969, following the demise of the Rendell-Carr quintet, and tiring of British jazz, Carr assembled the legendary Nucleus. Regarding music as a continuous process, Nucleus refused to “recognise rigid boundaries” and worked on delivering what they saw as a “total musical experience”. We can get behind that.
Under bandleader Carr, Nucleus existed as a fluid line-up of inventive, skilled musicians. This constant evolution and revolution was all part of the continuous musical exploration and discovery that took jazz to new levels. And the music has stayed relevant. To steal a line from a recent review of our re-issue of Roots, when it comes to anything Nucleus “it’s basically already hip-hop”.
Under The Sun opens with the crisp, medium tempo “In Procession”. It’s a typically inventive Carr track with layers of dramatic, riff-led themes and repeating brass blasts. Bryan Spring’s “The Addison Trip” is a moody funk piece, with Kieran White guesting on wordless vocals. Roger Sutton contributes some fine bass guitar on this track, particularly the great solo at around the two minute mark. The excellently-named cool, jazzy ballad “Pastoral Graffiti” paints bucolic pictures with its mellow sonics, plaintive horns and Bob Bertles’ flute.
Sutton’s superb, bass-driven “New Life” brings a different dynamic. Horns, guitar and electric piano swirl over the head-nod bass motif and a killer Ken Shaw guitar solo. A false fade out halfway through brings in a new bass riff that’s picked up by the whole ensemble as Carr wah-wah noodles over the top. It’s full-on. The gorgeous, laidback “A Taste of Sarsaparilla” is exactly that - closing out the first side with a cute blast of what is to come over on the killer flip.
The whole of Under The Sun’s second side is a suite of three “Themes” written by Ian Carr. The uptempo first theme “Sarsaparilla” is comfortably one of Nucleus’ best. What would’ve been a cluttered mess in the hands of most is instead an effortless lesson in clarity and zing. Between Geoff Castle’s electric piano solo, the relentless funky drumming and more wild wah-wah trumpet from Carr, Nucleus show you how it’s done.
The languid groove of second theme “Feast Alfresco” is much more typical of “classic” Nucleus and sounds like something that might’ve been on Roots. A Bertles baritone solo and a guitar solo from Shaw weave around the core, serpentine brass theme.
The darker “Rites of Man”, the third and final theme, is a slow build to a solid bass and electric piano riff, shored up by some tricky brass. Carr takes the theme even further and there’s still plenty of room for soloing from all corners of the Nucleus. As usual, the dynamic Sutton/Spring, bass/drums duo is holding down the rhythm for the rest to jam around.
This Be With edition of Under The Sun has been re-mastered from the original Vertigo master tapes, Simon Francis’ mastering working together with Pete Norman’s cut to weave their usual magic with these wonderful recordings. The bleak, rain-dappled cover matches the melancholic vibe of the record and has been restored as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.
An iconic landmark album within Death Metal. “Testinomy of the Ancients” gets the well-deserved reissue! Two years after releasing one of the best death metal albums ever to surface from The Netherlands, Pestilence hit jackpot again with their 1991 album “Testimony Of The Ancients”. The biggest differences with their previous effort “Consuming Impulse” are simple: The production is more clean, short intermezzos between all the songs, the average pace is lower and Patrick Mameli has taken over lead vocals. Pestilence has had a well-deserved place in the first wave death metal elite, mentioned in one breath with the likes of Death, Sepultura, Cynic, Atheist and the likes. Rightly so, because their progression up untill this album is comparable to, say, Carcass. With every album they developed their sound so no release sounds alike but still stays Pestilence undeniably. Their previous album “Consuming Impulse” was unprecedented in brutality and morbidness. ‘Testimony of the Ancients” is less relentless, but it makes up for that with an onimous dose of morbid melodies, great lyrics and an all out Lovecraftian atmosphere. The highlight of this album is definately the guitars. Patrick Mameli and Patrick Uterwijk are a great tandem, combining melodic (twin) soloing with screeches and crashes of tremolo filled chaos. Take for example the song “Land Of Tears”. The guitar solo starts out very emotional, almost ballad like and then switches into high gear, so that all listeners who were dreaming away immediately abbandon all hope for solution of the saddening first guitar part. Noteworthy also are the supportive keyboard samples, never obnoxious, always morbid. Other album highlights are the title track (with truly frightening and insane lyrics), ‘Twisted Truth’ with its catchy dynamics, ‘Profetic Revelations’ (excellent chorus) and basically the whole album is perfect. Special attention to the final track (the album sticks together with samples, which are all great by the way) ‘Stigmatized’. This is death metal perfection, combining Slayer, Death and even Iron Maiden to create a masterpiece of metal.
Recorded predominantly in Orlando’s studio in Los Angeles, ‘When the Lights Go’ is his first album since 2012’s critically acclaimed ‘Trouble’. The new album marks a departure in sound, defined, of course, by the events of the last few years. Encompassing songwriting, ballads and a pop-centered aesthetic, it’s full of depth, feeling, storytelling and woe - presented in a compelling manner, as only he can.
When the Lights Go is a substantial body of work, containing 17 tracks, representative of the duration between albums, “I feel grateful to know that there are people who are interested in more music from me. So I want to give them something significant in length”, he says. When the Lights Go also marks a shift into the pop domain, Orlando’s vocals take center stage with arrangements that complement the sadness in the songwriting.
As pockets of new jazz scenes emerge around the world, it's apparent that New Zealand's bubbling microcosm in Wellington interprets the genre through a unique lens. Clear Path Ensemble bottles the energy of that burgeoning movement and distils it into moody morsels of differing styles. From electric jazz to ambient, experimental, house and funk - it's a DIY, jam-session attitude towards composition, as the band members freely cherry-pick from a vast orchard of influences. Citing inspiration from 70s ECM catalogue, the ensemble channels the "expansive and astral" elements of electric jazz, with an introspective dynamic. At times it's fused with catchy synth hooks, smooth basslines and shuffling beats, while other tracks morph into moody electronic soundscapes, and even Sun Ra-esque free jazz. Led by percussionist Cory Champion, the band released their debut self-titled album in 2020, followed by a headline performance at the 2021 Wellington Jazz Festival. Champion has played drums alongside some of New Zealand's most revered contemporary musicians (Lord Echo, Lucien Johnson and Mara TK to name a few), and also produces leftfield deep house and techno under the name Borrowed cs, which partly informs the ensemble's electronic production.
Das dritte Soloalbum von Sheku Kanneh-Mason, das von ihm persönlich kuratiert wurde, spiegelt die musikalische Bandbreite des Cellisten wider. „Song“ verbindet fantastische Stücke aus den Bereichen Klassik, Folk, Jazz sowie Pop: Shekus eigene Arrangements schöner Volkslieder, darunter „Myfanwy“; Werke von J. S. Bach, die Sheku zum ersten Mal für mehrere Celli arrangiert hat; Improvisationen über Jazzmelodien wie die weltberühmte Ballade „Cry me a river“; Shekus Solo-Pizzicato-Bearbeitung von Aretha Franklins „I Say a Little Prayer“; ein Satz aus Messiaens bewegendem „Quartett für das Ende der Zeit“ und ein neues Auftragswerk von Edmund Finnis, das speziell für Sheku geschrieben wurde. Das Album
enthält außerdem Stücke für Cello und Klavier von Beethoven und Mendelssohn, die Sheku zusammen mit seiner Schwester und Konzertpartnerin, Isata Kanneh-Mason, spielt. Neben seiner Schwester hat Sheku mit vielen Musikerfreund:innen zusammengearbeitet, darunter dem Jazzpianisten Harry Baker, der Sopranistin Pumeza Matshikiza und dem Sänger Zak Abel, mit dem Sheku einen neuen Popsong für dieses Album geschrieben hat.
In the gutter lie sun dried leaves, scraps of paper, burnt matches and cigarette butts. It is early morning; the sun rises with warm grace. you've come to the right party... you see, the body of a young man sitting by a pool, nobody important, really. Just a movie writer with a couple of "b" pictures to his credit. He always wanted a pool. Well, in the end he got himself a pool, but let's go back some time and find the day when it all started in “Hollywood,” the place where they pay a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul.
Three years after he celebrated “Sketch of Japan” EP, Superpitcher returns to Mule Musiq, bringing an epic super-pitched 40 minutes trip named “Hollywood”, that perfectly works as the score for the above remixed opening scene of a famous movie on the trances of Hollywood, the cage, that catch our dreams. It’s a slow grower, incorporating some of core elements of the city of celluloid dreams: action, drama, romance - all epic noir and yet so flooded by light. As ever the producer and DJ from Paris garnished his long building up and going down voyage with se-ducing melodies, glamorous pop, and psychic rhythms, creating the hippy dance ambiences he is famed for. Even though the twelve inch comes in accustomed a/b chapters, “Hollywood” should be perceived in one go to feel the depth of Superpitcher’s tropical leaning story arc, that stretches the idea of a track into a dream of satin teardrops on flickering velvet lights. It paints sonic celluloid pictures of ghostly creatures, while a female/male voice is the music’s constant melodic companion, injection Janus-faced longing dream pop spheres on the overall tripping house melancholy. A heroic electronic drama, elegant as Tamara de Lempicka painting. It asks for endless rides on the Hollywood freeways. in the back the sun – a big orange ball – sinking slowly below the horizon.
You've come to the right party... you see, the body of a young man sitting by a pool, in the back a long, graceful bar, bathed in soft light, filled with elegant customers. There's nothing else, just us and the music and those wonderful people out there in the dark, ready for a divine dance in closeup.
After 11 years of existence, Gratitude Trio releases on September 2nd, 2022 its 4th album " Birth" on the remarkable Belgian label W.E.R.F. RECORDS in partnership with Mercury and Collectif Koa from Montpellier, France.
Protagonists Jeroen Van Herzeele (sax, analog synths), Alfred Vilayleck (electric bass, fx) and Louis Favre (drums, fx) worked for more than a year on this new album, continuing to develop the musical framework of the previous album: a blend of sensitivity and groove, contemplative vocals and raging solos.
Mixing acoustic and electronic sounds, the compositions of reflecting realities that inhabit them: to let oneself be touched by the beauty and the dark sides of life, to be amazed by nature, to accept what we cannot change, to create bonds, to commit ourselves to fulfill ourselves.
Music that is both sophisticated and organic, with an energy and boldness that characterize them.
Gratitude Trio is a Belgian/French band based in Brussels known for their strength and sensitivity that open people's hearts. The music of this power trio is tinged with spacy sounds, African rhythms, sexy grooves, endless trances, sensitive ballads, crazy free jazz, and a large dose of unpredictability. Gratitude exists since 2010 and has performed in prestigious venues in Europe. Their two first albums «Gratitude» and «alive» released in 2012 and 2015 under the label El Negocito Records have been very well received by the critics and the enthusiastic audience. The 3rd album «Gratitude III» was released in April 2018: new sound, new approach, but same soul. Gratitude Trio impressed! Indeed, voices and EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument) enrich the sound palette while the musicians have developed a new way to create together.
The brand new 4th album "Birth" is an absolute masterpiece, a synthesis of a decade of adventurous musical explorations.
The hotly tipped rising producer ED1999 is releasing his fifth 12" on his own label Porpax. On "Body Fluid", the Belgium-based artist unleashes four slices of high octane big room techno. "Indigo Blood", the second track, after the EP's bitter-sweet Carl Craig circa "Landcruising" reminiscent ambient opener "Blurry Blue Eyes", primes you for "Body Fluid"'s overall energy level. Balls-to-the wall techno with more than a hint of ED1999's love for Detroit techno. How deep this influences run in ED1999 is nowhere more audible than in "Abyssal Terror" with its jubilant chords and arpeggios. Another fast-paced whirlwind of a track is "Deep Sea Hunter", which has a loopy vibe to it, that is trance-inducing in the best possible way. The bleepy "Azura Sequence" rounds the EP off with another perfectly balanced execution of tracky forward drive and deepness. Visually, the collaboration with Berlin-based graphic artist Oliver Sperl continues. The cover of "Body Fluid" is one of Sperl's artworks that the Porpax team purchased at an exhibition in Berlin a while back.
Unmittelbar nach der Veröffentlichung seines Debüt - Album "Where I Come From" attestierte der SPIEGEL: "Großartiger Start eines Supertalents", die NEUE MUSIK ZEITUNG kürte das Album zum "Debüt des Monats" und die renommierte "Münchner Konzertgesellschaft" verlieh ihm den Jazz - Förderpreis.
Mit dem neuen Album hat Sandro Roy nun augenscheinlich seine künstlerische Richtung gefunden, denn zum einen stellt er erstmals eine feste Besetzung, die Sandro Roy Unity Band, vor, zum anderen lässt er hier und da aber auch aufblitzen, dass er musikalischen Hochkarätern wie Bireli Lagrene, Jermaine Landsberger, David Gazarov oder Martin Taylor ein gern gesehener Partner im Studio ist.
Der auch bei SKIP schon mit eigenen Alben in Erscheinung getretene David Gazarov lässt das Django Reinhardt - Stück 'Place De Brouckere' in fast monkischer Schule daherkommen und zu Höhepunkten geraten die Begegnungen mit dem legendären Bireli Lagrene an der Gitarre, sei es die Hoagy Carmichael - Ballade 'The Nearness Of You', der Stevie Wonder-Klassiker 'You Are The Sunshine Of My Life' oder 'Dinelo', bei dem Sandro Roy und seine Band feinfühlig aber stets mit modernem Blick den Di Piazza-Klassiker mit Bireli Lagrene präsentieren. Und natürlich darf auch sein langjähriger Begleiter Jerome Weiss am Piano nicht fehlen, der in der Henry Mancini-Komposition 'Sabrina' den vielleicht klassischsten Zugang zu Sandro Roy offenlegt. Damit wird die Bandbreite unterschiedlichster Konstellationen abgebildet, die derzeit von Sandro Roy angeboten werden. Sandro Roy wird im Duo, Trio, Quartett, mit Orchestern und als virtuoser Solist sein Publikum weiter vergrößern, man darf gespannt sein, welche Ensembles er für sein Publikum auf den Festivals und in den Clubs bereithält.
Die CD erscheint im wertigen Digisleeve, das Vinyl kommt klassisch schwarz!
There have been many great Jazz Pianists, but foremost amongst them is Bill Evans.
Accepted by all fans as being supremely influential for defining the format and scope of the
Jazz trio, Evans entered his first purple patch in the mid to late fifties and refined his playing
with a series of album. Over the years he recorded many trio albums with frequent changes
of members, with the most lauded being his first and second line-ups. By May 1962 Evans
cut what would be his seventh album for Riverside . New Bassist, Chuck Israels, joined the
group, and together this second classic line-up cut two albums in the same sessions. The
first was Moon Beams which contained ballads, while the second one, How My Heart Sings,
had the up-tempo numbers. These were recorded as a mixture during the sessions as
producer Orrin Keepnews wanted to release an album of just ballads from Evans, and so
made up the album from the varied session tracks. During the recordings, Evans only
revealed the tracks to his trio at the session itself. Fans and critics alike were more than
appreciative of Chuck Israels' ability to meld into the trio with his punchy lines, meshing in
especially well with Motian
ORANGE W/ BLACK SPLATTER Vinyl[31,72 €]
Vinyl Packaging: Gatefold LP + download card. Indie Exclusive Transparent Orange vinyl in gatefold jacket Limited to 1000. CD 6 panel Digipak. Gnosis is the highly anticipated 8th full length from Russian Circles. Across the span of their previous seven studio albums, Chicago-based instrumental trio Russian Circles traversed a diverse topography of sounds, moods, and approaches with their limited armory of drums, bass, and guitar. It’s difficult to chart an evolution in their sound when their records have always felt like well-curated playlists. It wasn’t uncommon to hear drone-heavy meditations, dazzling prog exercises, knuckle-dragging riff-fests, haunting folk ballads, and tension-baiting noise rock all within the span of one album. Still, it’s difficult to ignore the progression from the pensive and intricate melodies of Enter (2006) to the layered distorted dirges of Blood Year (2019). It’s been a gradual sonic shift owing to the band’s rigorous tour schedule and a predilection towards playing their more authoritative material on stage. But with their latest album, Gnosis, Russian Circles eschew the varied terrain of their past work and bulldoze a path through the most tumultuous and harrowing territory of their sound. As was the case for so many artists in the age of COVID, the obstacles of geography and isolation forced Russian Circles to reevaluate their writing process. Rather than crafting songs out of fragmented ideas in the practice room, full songs were written and recorded independently before being shared with other members, so that their initial vision was retained. While these demos spanned the full breadth of the band’s varied styles, the more cinematic compositions were ultimately excised in favor of the physically cathartic pieces. Gnosis was engineered and mixed by Kurt Ballou. Drums and bass were tracked at Electrical Audio in Chicago to maximize the natural room sounds of the rhythm section. Guitar and synth overdubs were conducted at God City in Salem, MA to take advantage of Ballou’s vast inventory of amps and effects pedals. Despite the entirety of the album being written remotely, the songs were recorded with the full band playing together to retain the live feel of the material. Owing to the climate of the times and a new writing method, Russian Circles created their most fuming and focused work to date—an album that favors the exorcism of two years’ worth of tension over the melancholy and restraint that often colored their past endeavors. European Co-Headline tour with Cult of Luna slated for Marc 2023 (Dates TBA). Russian Circles have received coverage from most notable press including Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Stereogum, FADER, AV Club, Consequence, Decibel, Revolver and much more.
"After 11 pm, you stop hearing regular rock on the classic hits radio
station and start hearing more strange stuff, one-hit wonders from 1976,
or really minor singles from artists I thought I didn't like because I just
hadn't heard this one weird song before," says Bloomington, Indianabased singer-songwriter Damion - Rather than let those offbeat classics
fade into the twilight on his late-night drives, Damion returned home and
went straight to the Tascam cassette machine - Inspired by both the
sound and the bleary-eyed ambiguity, the result of that late-night
recording is the bronzy Special Interest, a record bathed in memory and
the antigravity of '70s AM radio
Once he had finished demoing songs at home, Damion brought the nine tracks
that would make up the album to his preferred studio, Russian Recording, and
worked with Ben Lumsdaine and Lewis Rogers to polish them up. Aesthetically,
Damion aimed to fit within the limits of the era that inspired the songs.
"Recording to cassette tape, you either have to play the part right or learn to love
the way it sounds wrong, so even in the studio we abided by those same
limitations," he says. Rather than limitations, the structures and styles of vintage
rock perfectly suit the album's lithe falsetto, eerily familiar melodies, and hazy
storytelling--the listener immersed in a soup of poetic fragments, Damion himself
always at a beguiling arm's length. On lead single and opener "Company Man",
resonant acoustic guitar and Super Ball bass provide a platform for Damion's
knowing ability to split the difference between confident swagger and laid-back
charm. The singer-songwriter pulls joy out of musical echos and lyrical wordplay,
in part coming from his love of classic songwriters and long history as a
performer. "I am mostly inspired by singer- songwriters like Carole King, Todd
Rundgren, etc.
Grammy nominated, Love Scenes features Diana's mastery of the romantic ballad in an intimate piano trio setting with Russell Malone on guitar and Christian McBride on bass.
"When my producer, Tommy LiPuma, and I were deciding on the songs for my newest album, it never occurred to me that the songs we ultimately chose would be all about love. I selected songs that I personally liked, and that had a special meaning for me. However, as is often the case during the creative process, a connection among the songs just seemed to organically appear. The songs are indeed about romance. But to me there is a broader and more personal attachment to each of the songs than the standard definition of romantic love might imply. I think that these songs represent the strength of love, including the love of family and friends. But rather than describing my own thoughts about each song, it is my hope that all of you who listen to the music and read the lyrics will discover and imagine your own personal "love scenes" among the mountains, oceans, rain and gardens of these songs." - Diana Krall
Alexandra Sauser-Monnig and Amelia Meath have been yodeling together for upwards of fifteen years – in the backseat of a Prius while on their first cross-country tour, on back porches and backstages. It’s what led them to Fruit, their debut release as The A’s – a joyous ten-song collection spanning genre and decades, with interpretations of traditionals, lullabies, and an original song, it weaves between the weird and the wonderful. “Why I’m Grieving,” originally recorded by the DeZurik Sisters, was the inspiration for the A’s existence. The A’s reach into the past to hold hands with the DeZurik Sisters, two farm girls from rural Minnesota who taught themselves to yodel amongst all their animals, in a continuing celebration of the tradition of folk eccentricity and whimsy. The A’s played their first show together in 2013 after Sauser-Monnig first moved to North Carolina, where Meath had been living at the time, but it wasn’t until summer 2021 that they thought seriously about making Fruit. They decamped to Sylvan Esso’s Chapel Hill studio, Betty’s, for two weeks in the midst of a balmy and blooming Carolinian summer. They rehearsed during the day, deconstructing yodeling parts phonetically and staring absurdly into each other’s eyes as they practiced tongue twisting harmonies - and recorded in the nighttime, candles lit, a flickering glow against the windows framing the violet twilight outside. “There was a lot of giggling during the session,” Sauser-Monnig explains. “At one point I was getting a tangle out of my hair and was like, oh, my God, that sounds really cool – the sound of my hands in my hair. And then I thought, what if we recorded hair for a percussion track? And then it just sort of snowballed.” Across the record, the A’s employ a bizarre-o ghost orchestra of strange noises that are percussive and melodic. The credits include nylon shorts, string (singular), hair, shoes, ice chunk, gravel, frog sample, and shoelace, among other unexpected makeshift instrumentation. The backing band is built out by a more traditional group of players: saxophone from Sam Gendel on “Copper Kettle,” backing vocals from Jenn Wasner (Flock of Dimes, Wye Oak) on “When I Die,” string arrangements from Gabriel Kahane on “He Needs Me,” and more. Fruit is made up simply of songs the A’s love to sing – there are lullabies and love songs; “He Needs Me,” written by Harry Nilsson and first released by Shelley Duvall in the 1980 Popeye film; traditional ballads like “Swing and Turn Jubilee,” “Copper Kettle” and closer “Buckeye Jim,” a multiplying song about frogs and nature. The sole original track to appear on the album is the penultimate “When I Die,” written by Meath. It contains both wishes and instructions for the celebration of her death, a low synth bubbling beneath Sauser-Monnig and Meath’s voices. It’s a collection of ten seemingly incongruous songs, but with the throughline of Sauser-Monnig and Meath’s vocals and sense of humor working in tandem, they fit together into a cosmic yodeling-folk masterpiece. Fruit feels like blowing the dust off a precious artifact of decades past, but also winking and modern. Sauser-Monnig sums up their ethos on the project succinctly: “If it doesn’t make you cackle or cry, it doesn’t belong.”
Mississippi Bluesman Vasti Jackson is a force to be reckoned with, as an artist, Vasti is known for sweat-drenched, soul ripping performances.
In 2015 he recorded the real soul masterpiece ‘I’m Still In Love With You’. The song is a testament to the fact that true love never dies. Passion lives forevermore and grows stronger with every kiss and embrace. Share this delicious, sensual, sonic delight with that someone special, and let them know that you are still in love!
The B Side should not be overlooked either, another big sound ballad from two years earlier.
This mega-rare 1969 album pays tribute to the Bronx and Brooklyn neighborhoods where young Latinos had invented the boogaloo a few years earlier. This record highlights the quality of Peruvian boogaloo and the talent of musicians such as pianist Otto de Rojas and percussionist Coco Lagos. First time reissue. In the mid-sixties, when young Latino musicians in New York fused Afro-Cuban rhythms with rock, soul and jazz, they had no idea that their boogaloo bang bang would reverberate just as strong and loud in a distant South American country. From 1955, La Sonora Macedo, took Cuban music to every corner of Peru, backed the leading musicians of the Peruvian tropical universe, such as Ñiko Estrada, Joe di Roma, the double bass player Pepe Hernández, and the trumpet players Tito Chicoma and Charlie Palomares. All diehard fans of Cuban music, always alert to any new artist arriving from the island. In the early sixties, light rock, doo-wop, ballads, Italian songs and bossa nova paraded across Lima's stages, making performances by Cuban bands, previously so frequent, a thing of the past. Moreover, the unanimous success of the Beatles from 1964 onwards, gave the impression that music from the English-speaking world would dominate the rest of the decade. But this was not the case. In large part because of Manuel Guerrero's good relations with U.S Latino labels, such as Alegre Records, which released the initial recordings by Johnny Pacheco and Charlie Palmieri, allowing listeners in Lima to follow the development of the salsa movement almost from the beginning. MAG was undoubtedly the best representative of these new sounds. In 1969, the LP "Acabo con Lima, huyo pa' Nueva York" was released on this label, a project which brought together three figures from Lima's show business world: Manuel Antonio Guerrero, owner and founder of MAG, who wasn't shy of joining in on the chorus and percussion during recordings, Pablo Villanueva "Melcochita", a multifaceted artist from a talented musical family from the popular district of La Victoria, was responsible for the vocals and percussion on the album. And the third Lima show business figure in this project was the musician, singer and comedian Alberto Montroy Laostervened, who gained fame in the sixties while still in his twenties for his imitation of Cantinflas, the Mexican actor. Alberto bore a devilish resemblance to Cantinflas, not only in his gestures but also physically. Under the name of Pepe Moreno "Karamanduka" he also went on to record songs abroad such as "El boogaloo de Cantinflitas". "Acabo con Lima, huyo pa' Nueva York" was immediately re-released in other countries, highlighting the quality of Peruvian boogaloo and talent of musicians such as pianist Otto de Rojas and percussionist Coco Lagos, who feature prominently on the album. Songs such as 'Vuela mi descarga', 'Peruvian boogaloo' and 'Peruvian guajira', pay tribute to the Bronx and Brooklyn, neighborhoods where young Latinos had invented the boogaloo a few years earlier.
