I can’t think of too many pairings better than ethereal music’s leading chanteuse, Lisa Gerrard, working with the Kosmische Music / Berlin School master Klaus Schulze. This is as good as you can imagine. The album is a three-CD set that was recorded live, meshing Gerrard’s hypnotic vocals with Schulze’s Continue Reading
Germany
Úzgin Űver – Ausklang
The venerable record label Lollipoppe Shoppe has released what is the final stop on Úzgin Űver’s long, strange trip. Included in this live session (in studio, without an audience) are acoustic renditions of older material with no post-production editing. The album brings together new acoustic interpretations of compositions from different Continue Reading
Michael Gibbs & the NDR Bigband – In My View
From the Cuneiform Records Bandcamp site: “Gibbs’ intermittent relationship with Germany’s NDR Bigband, one the world’s longest-running jazz ensembles, dates back to the early 1970s and has provided a particularly valuable vehicle for his vivid musical imagination. “I feel I know the individual players so well, that I write for Continue Reading
Burnt Friedman & The Nu Dub Players – Just Landed
From Burnt’s Bandcamp site: “Friedman had already founded the Nu-Dub Players in 1996 during a vacation in New Zealand (precisely, the Great Barrier Island off the coast of Auckland). The album Just Landed (Scape, 1999), released years later, was the product of a painful process of cut up. While the Continue Reading
Can – Düsseldorf 10/4/1973
From Reiffenvatter Repress’ Bandcamp site: “While Can’s UK shows were widely recorded (10 of the 20 shows from the 1973 UK tour were recorded and are available in various corners of the internet) – their German dates during this period aren’t as well documented. There is only one live recording Continue Reading
Suff Daddy – Baker’s Dozen: Suff Daddy
I’m rarely into hip-hop these days, but instrumental hip-hop is a rich field still worth mining. Suff Daddy is a producer from Germany who recorded this album for the legendary label Fat Beats. Meaty beats, worth a good listen.
Saba Alizadeh – Rituals Of The Last Dawn
Being an insomniac has some advantages. As is normal for me, I stayed wide awake until 4 a.m. listening to music. While doing so, I came across an album by kamancheh maestro Saba Alizadeh which was so eerily beautiful that I had to suggest it for your perusal. The avant-garde Continue Reading
sanguis – Wounding
From the sanguis Bandcamp site: “Wandinger tries to capture fleeting moments – all tracks are unedited first takes, some recorded only with his phone in various places, from a friend’s flat in Neukölln to his family home in rural Bavaria. Background noises become a part of the music and create Continue Reading
John Townley – Round Swamp Road
John Townley is a new name to me, but our dear friends at Lollipoppe Shoppe have come up with a gem that balances blues, folk, psych, and a relaxed style in a rather charming way. This has an authentic sound, for sure.
Various Artists – TAL Music: Music from the Caucasus – The Archive of ORED Recordings, 2013–2023
As much as I try to absorb as many new releases and great reissues as possible, I’m only one man, and sometimes treasures slip through the cracks. I wish to thank Praveer Baijal, who, besides being a great and good guy, is also a man of exquisite musical taste, for pointing Continue Reading