• Music

    Samo Salamon, Arild Andersen & Ra Kalam Bob Moses – Pure and Simple

    June 21, 2022 - By 

    This is some fine jazz improv.  The trio of a friend to this blog, guitarist Samo Salamon, working alongside bassist and ECM Records legend Arild Andersen and Ra Kalam Bob Moses, and this group have an incredible way of flowing with each other’s vibes. Samo, of course, absolutely shreds on this album, and Arlid serves as one of the best anchors in the history of jazz, but for me, the one stealing the show is the utterly mad percussion of Ra Kalam Bob Moses, who gives this album a frantic heartbeat.

  • Music

    Jeff Gburek – Tamarind Winds: Songs for Javanese Rebab, 2022

    June 20, 2022 - By 

    Tamarind Winds has to be the best album of 2022 for me to get lost in.  Composer and friend of the blog Jeff Gburek continues to awe with the magic he imbues in each instrument he touches, spinning haunting drones, field recordings and soothing the senses with his rebab.  From his Bandcamp site: Various parts of the traditional Javanese rebab are made of tamarind wood, hence the flavor, the aromatic suggestion of the title. These are spontaneous compositions, duets and trios created in thye studio among me, myself and I. There are no effects or plug-ins used other than reverb…

  • Music

    Various Artists – La Souterraine: Vallée du Don

    June 18, 2022 - By 

    La Souterraine are one of France’s coolest indie labels.  They frequently release compilations of alternative music influenced by chanson, bedroom pop and post-punk.  Some of the ditties on offer are almost Beatlesque in their pop perfection.  Vallée du Don is one I stumbled upon, but the whole catalog is worth exploring.

  • Music

    Adrian Belew – Elevator

    June 17, 2022 - By 

    Legendary King Crimson and David Bowie guitarist Adrian Belew returns with a brand new progressive rock album that emphasizes rock loudly.  It sounds like a very complicated version of power-pop if the song a13 is any indication of what the rest of the album sounds like.  The only off-putting thing is the VERY high price tag for what is a normal-sized album.  The economy back home must be getting ever more brutal, I guess.

  • Music

    Reinier van Houdt – drift nowhere past / the adventure of sleep

    June 16, 2022 - By 

    Going through Twitter contacts on my account (which will be changed soon, as I want an account that will only concentrate on music and not any other of my pursuits), I came across the name of a label whose work always left me impressed, but whom I had forgotten about, Erstwhile Records.  Jon Abbey and Yuko Zama have run this label for years, but it looks like Yuko is branching out and running a new label called elsehwere music. Perusing the catalog, I found a release by Dutch pianist Reinier van Houdt which left me suitably impressed.  From the release’s…

  • Music

    Various Artists – Síntomas de Techno: Ondas Electrónicas Subterráneas Desde Perú (1985​-​1991)

    June 14, 2022 - By 

    Buh Records out of Peru has released a compilation which serves as a snapshot of Lima’s grimy techno scene.  From the label’s Bandcamp site: “The title of this compilation is inspired by the name of a concert held in Lima in 1991, considered to be the first techno concert to have taken place in Peru. Even though not all intervening groups were doing techno at that time, they did share the fact that they all used keyboards. Four of them, however (Cuerpos del Deseo, Ensamble, Círculo Interior and Reacción), were in fact affiliated to an electronic sound (techno-pop, EBM). The…

  • Music

    Henryk Debich – Dyskusja / Busz

    June 13, 2022 - By 

    What a jazz-funk gem this is!  From the Henryk Debich Bandcamp site: Despite the ongoing pandemic, the past year was very successful for the celebration of Henryk Debich’s 100th birthday anniversary. The master’s albums: Zbliżenie [Astigmatic Records] and Horyzonty [GAD Records] turned out to be a huge success, bringing great reviews and attracting huge interest. The continuation of the publishing series devoted to archival recordings was a bull’s eye. Jazz Funk from the communist time is still in demand. Astigmatic Records presented the works of Henryk Debich and the Lodz PRiTV Orchestra in the form of a seven-inch single “Monika…

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    Noori & His Dorpa Band – Beja Power! Electric Soul & Brass from Sudan’s Red Sea Coast

    June 12, 2022 - By 

    I can’t say I know much about who Noori, the tambur-guitarist and leader of his eponymous band is, but to learn more, consider reading this article by OK Africa.  From the Bandcamp site: A soundtrack of Sudan’s revolution and the first ever international release of the Beja sound, performed by Noori and his Dorpa Band, an unheard outfit from Port Sudan, a city on the Red Sea coast in eastern Sudan and the heart of Beja culture. Electric soul, blues, jazz, rock, surf, even hints of country, speak fluently to styles and chords that could be Tuareg, Ethiopian, Peruvian or…