• Music - Music Articles

    Russian World Music Chart 2021

    December 6, 2021 - By 

    I’m proud to have been asked to participate in helping to decide which albums would top the Russian World Music Chart.  Here is a press release on this event: Russian World Music Chart 2021 Making Russian world music visible to the world In October 2021, Russia’s first world music chart, the Russian World Music Chart (RWMC), was launched. The purpose of RWMC is to attract the attention of the world music community to the novelties of folk music of multinational Russia, as well as popularization and assistance in promoting unique musicians from remote corners of Russia in the Russian Federation…

  • Music

    Perila – How much time it is between you and me?

    December 4, 2021 - By 

    Perila i(Alexandra Zakharenko) s a composer from Berlin of Russian roots releases one of the heaviest and, frankly, bleakest albums of the year.  I spent today trying to unwind a bit as the snow looked pleasant, but after watching Juraj Herz’s The Cremator, hearing this album left me in a somewhat dark place. The sounds are deep and cavernous.  It is, in fact, my favorite style of ambient music, as it becomes easy to get lost in the sonic abyss the artist is projecting through her lens.  There are two standout tracks on this album; Vaxxine, with gives me the…

  • Music

    E.U.E.R.P.I. – Timid Memories

    December 2, 2021 - By 

    We have a new band to follow, and they’re out of Bulgaria.  E.U.E.R.P.I. produce a sonorous and pleasantly dark ambient music that sounds heavily influenced by the works of Steve Roach, Matthias Grassow, or even Lustmord.  E.U.E.R.P.I. have proven to be as masterful at using field recordings, blending them into their live performance as documented on this record.  One to watch out for.

  • Music

    Various Artists – Lèspri Ka : New Directions in Gwoka Music from Guadeloupe 1981​-​2010

    December 1, 2021 - By 

    This compilation released by Time Capsule Records is going to be stunningly good.  From the release’s Bandcamp site: The innovative, radical soul of Guadeloupe explored across thirty years of contemporary gwoka music, released by Time Capsule and Séance Centre. As Guadeloupean vocalist and composer Marie-Line Dahomay writes in her liner notes to the compilation, gwoka is more than a style of music, it is “a way of living and thinking.” Rooted in the social, musical and ritual practices of enslaved African people and their descendants on Guadeloupe, gwoka has always sought to express the spirit of independence and resistance authentic…

  • Music

    Cut Chemist – Adidas To Addis​/​Povo De Santo

    November 30, 2021 - By 

    Cut Chemist is an institution in Los Angeles.  I first came across his work as a member of Jurassic 5, and it seems he still has the skills of a groove surgeon. Both tracks are bangers, but the first one is my favorite, as it’s a keep originally recorded by Belaynesh Wubante & Assegedetch Asfaw and arranged by the venerable Mulatu Astaké.

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    Luneta Freedom Jazz Collective – Slaves and Masters

    November 29, 2021 - By 

    Quite an impressive band out of the Philippines, courtesy of Mahorka Records out of Bulgaria.  Some info from their Bandcamp site: Luneta Freedom Jazz Collective is an experimental jazz group from Manila, Philippines. Their first studio album “Ethos”, was recorded and released in April 2015. The group would go on to be featured at 2015’s To Be Continued on Stazione di Topolò/Global Health Incubator. Their second album, “Inland Empire” was released in 2017. In 2021 their third album, “Slaves and Masters”, comes out on Mahorka, the dialectic as a narrative that examines the exploitation of labour and social stratification, with…

  • Podcast

    La Montaña Rusa 44.2021. Especial Pat Martino

    November 28, 2021 - By 

    blockquote class=”wp-embedded-content”>La Montaña Rusa 44.2021. Especial Pat Martino. Today is a rest day for me, so I spent it listening to my friends at Spain’s greatest jazz podcasts, La Montaña Rusa.  The program is dedicated to guitarist Pat Martino, who passed away recently. The tracklist: El Hombre (06:00). El Hombre, 1967. Prestige Records. Cisco (04:32). El Hombre, 1967. Prestige Records. Mr. PC (08:18) Gene Ludwig & Pat Martino Trio. Young Guns, 1968. HighNote Records. Baiyina (11:59). Baiyina (The Clear Evidence), 1968. Prestige Records. East (12:44). East!, 1968. Prestige Records. Desperado (08:00). Desperado, 1970. Prestige Records. What Are You Doing The…

  • Music

    The Scorpios – Let’s Go

    November 27, 2021 - By 

    The Scorpios are a Sudanese/British Afrobeat band with an incredible pedigree.  Regia Ishag, the band’s singer, is the daughter of the guitarist of one of Sudan’s funkiest bands, The Scorpions (obviously not the German hard-rock band bearing the same name). This new generation band maintains the funkiness of their forefathers and adds jazz, more funk and a more general Afrobeat element to the music.  It’s rapturous and made for the dance floor or the wedding ceremony equally.