Enji Erkhem is a jazz singer who is originally from Mongolia, but who currently calls Munich, Germany, home. She has quite an interesting personal story, growing up in a yurt to a working-class family, traveling to Germany to study music pedagogy, and getting utterly inspired by jazz singers like Carmen Continue Reading
Germany
Harald Grosskopf & Ramón Amezcua – Quetzalkrautl
¡Demasiado kosmiche…! Two absolute legends in electronic music grace these pages with a combination whose name cracks me up, but whose music entinces. Ramón Amezcua is best known under his nom de plume Bostich and is known as the godfather of the Nortec scene which combines hard electronic music with Continue Reading
Muito Kaballa Power Ensemble – Mamari
Fiddling around on the Youtube stream today as I have the house to myself, I came across a video of this album, and within the first second or so, I got hooked into a mix of Malian blues, funk, Cuban rhythms and a general Afrobeat vibe. Muito Kaballa are a Continue Reading
Jisr (جسر) – Too Far Away
It’s a minor tragedy that Jisr have not made their debut album available as a download on Bandcamp, but you can find it over at La Boîte à Musique and Turtle Records in Belgium, Deejay.de and Decks in Germany and surely other fine record shops near you, though I’d pick Continue Reading
Biliana Voutchkova – Seeds Of Songs
This release is a double introduction of sorts for me; first, for the chance to finally delve into a full recording of the work of Biliana Voutchkova, an interdisciplinary artist, violinist, performer, composer, improviser and curator from one of the countries I most enjoy visiting, Bulgaria (though she is based Continue Reading
Various Artists – Can You Feel It? Vol.2 Modern Soul, Disco & Boogie 1976-84
Tramp Records out of German is gaining quite a following because of their high-quality compilations. This one is a scorcher if you’re into funk-inflected disco. At least as I understand it, and I’m sure the label can correct any errors I make, the artists were from around the Akron, Ohio Continue Reading
Trigger Cut – Rogo
Wow! Imagine a mangling together of Gang Of Four, early Wire, an angry Birthday Party and all that is good in post-punk, and you would have the bones to make Trigger Cut. The tracks are minimal, punchy, and full of distorted angst. I’ll have to hear the rest of this Continue Reading
The Claudia Quintet +1 with Kurt Elling & Theo Bleckmann – What Is The Beautiful?
Cuneiform Records offers a very generous program where a release from their back catalog is offered for $5 ($7 for a double album release), and they don’t skimp on the quality of these releases. Drummer John Hollenbeck’s The Claudia Quintet released this disc in 2011, and as a Rock-In-Opposition / Continue Reading