• Music

    Various Artists – Legends Of Benin: Afro Funk, Cavacha, Agbadja, Afro​-​Beat

    November 3, 2021 - By 

    Benin (formerly Dahomey) has produced so much good music, yet it’s suffered from a lack of availability in the West, meaning that only the most expert crate-diggers or West African music specialists were able to enjoy these artists. Thankfully, Analog Africa has been doing their best to make sure this music gets documented, digitized, and publicized around the world.  Some of the composers included on this disc are Gnonnas Pedro et Ses Dadjes, Antoine Dougbé, El Rego et Ses Commandos and Honoré Avolonto.  These were the cream of the crop of Beninois balladeers during the 1960s and 1970s.  The comp…

  • Music

    Fontän – Svett / Bekçi

    November 2, 2021 - By 

    Sweden’s Höga Nord Rekords always produces some from psychedelic rock, but this 7-inch singe from Fontän is a kraut-y scorcher. Fontän hail from Gothenburg, the home of the label, and they produce two solid slabs of fine psychedelic fuzz with a gently grooving drum beat, dubby bass, loads of echo and electronic effects, and some impressively clean production for the genre.  The single will be out on November 26, 2021.

  • Music

    Various Artists – Wounds of Love: Khmer Oldies, Vol. 2

    November 1, 2021 - By 

    Death Is Not The End is a profoundly interesting record label (and radio program on NTS) operating out of London, and how they find such oddball gems like this I’ll never understand. What is clear, though, is that the Khmer music scene really got into music from France (from colonial connections, the United States and the United Kingdom, but also imported genres like bolero from Latin America.  The Khmer language seems to be perfectly adaptable to the quirks of Western Music, and these covers hold their own rather well. A final note – the cover shows a Khmer beauty with…

  • Music

    James Ross / Jim Goodin / Joseph Benzola – Ross Drone: 2nd February 2014

    October 31, 2021 - By 

    Joseph Benzola is an electroacoustic composer, drummer and percussionist whose work I had the pleasure of reviewing on my old blog, but it’s time to catch up on his work. He has been joined by James Ross, who composed this 33-minute track and plays guitar and electronics, and Jim Goodin, who adds viola and more electronics. The track is excellent, and what impressed me most was the fact that it was a gentle wall of noise, reminding me of gamelan music somehow. It’s a rather elegant release for an experimental music recording.

  • Music

    Jeff Gburek – Works Within the Upright Ruins of the Kaszubian Piano, 2015​/​2021

    October 30, 2021 - By 

    Our first review on returning to Brno is a burner, naturally.  Our friend, man of the world, and experimental music composer Jeff Gburek comes by these pages again with a droning masterpiece. This is not the ordinary drone you hear reviewed on these pages, though, truth be told, nothing I review is even remotely ordinary.  The backstory is almost as impressive as these waves of hypnotic (in the best of senses) drones are. To catch the whole story, read Jeff’s writeup on how this fine album came to be.  When he advised me of the album the word Kaszubian brought…

  • Music

    Jerry Jones – Jerry Jones at the Hotel Kingston

    October 29, 2021 - By 

    According to the legendary Studio One Records Bandcamp site, “Geraldine “Jerry” Jones arrived in Kingston in May of 1970 to perform at the Miss Jamaica International Model Pageant held at the Hotel Kingston. She would also appear at the House of Chen, VIP Club, Hotel Flamingo, Runaway Bay Hotel and the Courtleigh Manor Hotel backed by top Jamaican show bands like Tomorrow’s Children, the Mighty Vikings, and the Boris Gardiner Happening. Her visit was arranged in part by Miami-based record producer Alty East, for whom she had recorded three singles released on the Pal Label.” Imagine loving a place so…

  • Music

    Niels Henning Ørsted Pedersen – The Bass in the Background

    October 28, 2021 - By 

    Niels Henning Ørsted Pedersen was a phenomenal jazz bassist originally out of Roskilde, Denmark.  He was good enough to be drafted by Count Basie’s touring band but had to reject it due to age restrictions. Imagine working with pianists like Kenny Drew, Tete Montoliu, Lee Konitz, Dexter Gordon, Palle Mikkelborg, Svend Asmussen and Stéphane Grappelli among a host of jazz luminaries.  This collection highlights his work with some of these leading lights, and he makes the bass bop madly.  A stellar collection by Storyville Records.

  • Music

    Various Artists – Canary Records: To What Strange Place: The Music of the Ottoman​-​American Diaspora, 1916​-​30

    October 27, 2021 - By 

    Ian Nagoski’s stunningly and consistently impressive Canary Records releases a giant collection of songs from immigrants of the, by then, collapsing Ottoman Empire.  These songs span the time period between the First World War and the Great Depression, and are lovingly transferred and curated by Nagoski, whom you can hear in tracks 54, 55 and 56. Be they Christian, Muslim or Jew, the sons and daughters of the Empire brought so much incredibly good music to America’s shores.  It’s a blessing to have these works preserved.

  • Music

    Merema – Kezeren Koiht (Ancient Custom)

    October 26, 2021 - By 

    Out beloved friends at CPL-Music have released another fascinating album of Russian folk music! Merema hail from Saransk, which is the capital of Russia’s autonomous Republic of Mordovia.  The music is beautifully documented by CPL Records and the documentary work of professor Ekaterina Modina.  The tones of the voices are dulcet, and it sounds unlike most Russian music as the languages of the region have far more in common with the Finno-Ugric family than it does with Russian.  Utterly worthy.  For a more complete review, consider checking out a full album analysis at WorldMusicCentral.org or at WorldListeningPost.com.

  • Music

    Bester Quartet – Piazzolla Angels

    October 25, 2021 - By 

    Poland’s For-Tune Records have been consistently releasing high-quality jazz and improv music for some time now, but their latest has a special place for me. This collection, with the exception of Por Una Cabeza (composed by Carlos Gardel) was composed by the inimitable Ástor Piazzólla and arranged Bester Quartet leader and accordionist Jarosław Bester.  It’s remarkable to hear how fluidly tangos by the masters can be translated so well into jazz and improvisational music.