• Music

    Nicadrio Lee – Palette

    June 4, 2021 - By 

    Aloha Got Soul is a record label out of Hawaii documenting the lost soul that was coming out of the state during the 1970s and 1980s, but this release is actually the work of a local prodigy called Nicadrio Lee who put this album together last year if I understand correctly.  It’s been hyped for quite a few months, but to be honest, I figured that it was merely some kid noodling with his guitar.  I am happy to say that I was terribly wrong.  It’s a rather sophisticated City Pop, all instrumental and very mellow.  Nicadrio is very good…

  • Music

    Various Artists – The Hired Hands: A Tribute to Bruce Langhorne

    May 31, 2021 - By 

    We will be celebrating Memorial Day with my family today, and in honor of the holiday, we offer up this compilation dedicated to American guitarist Bruce Langhorne, who influenced so many indie musicians that it’s a wonder so few outside of this select club have heard of him. Byron Coley, whose writing influenced my music selection so much in the 1990s when he wrote for Forced Exposure, then a magazine, now a wonderful distributor of weird music, speaks warmly about Bruce in this essay he contributed for this compilation: An Introduction to Bruce Langhorne Greil Marcus has often written about…

  • Music

    Samo Salamon & Hasse Poulsen – String Dancers

    May 28, 2021 - By 

    Musicians never cease to amaze me.  Despite the horrible conditions which have led to worldwide lockdown, artists like Samo Salamon, a guitarist out of Slovenia, and Hasse Poulsen, originally from Denmark, manage to weave together an acoustic guitar-only album of improvisations that don’t sound like what you normally associate with “improv.”  It’s a mellow album, and though there was a distance between the two musicians, they ping-ponged tracks back and forth to each other, growing and molding each tune until the final product was crafted.  It’s a stunningly relaxing album.  Those words should not go together under normal circumstances, but…

  • Music

    George Christian – África em mim

    May 16, 2021 - By 

    Our friend and colleague George Christian Vilela Pereira has released an album that I could only describe as mellow strumming psychedelic noise with elements of Krautrock and instrumental psych that one could have found in Japan in the late 70s and early 80s.  The lo-fi feel of the recording adds to the hazy pleasantness of this album. According to George Christian’s notes, this is a paean to the African influence in Brazil and on his music.  He explains it clearly here: This album came up with a basic motivation in mind: to show how much Africa there is in my…

  • Music

    Tommy Guerrero – Sunshine Radio

    April 19, 2021 - By 

    Tommy Guerrero’s music came to me via a recommendation of a friend online.  I had heard his name bandied about years ago because of friends of mine who were into skateboarding, but I had no idea he was making music.  And such good music, I must say. The album is full of instrumental psychedelic tracks.  According to Tommy, influences such as Ethio-Jazz, Afrobeat and spiritual jazz inflect the album, and you can hear this from the first few notes.  This is one I’ll be coming back to frequently.

  • Music

    Fradejas & Fradejas – Oum

    March 10, 2021 - By 

    It’s always a pleasure when you get to announce the release of an album made by dear friends.  Amandine and Santiago Fradejas operate in two different genres of music – she, in a more ethereal and progressive rock sound​ and he in a more experimental and improvisational setting.  Both of their respective talents compliment each other well, and the record is a very pleasant creative departure for both.

  • Music

    Emel – The Tunis Diaries

    February 13, 2021 - By 

    NPR does a great disservice comparing Tunisian singer Emel’s voice to Björk.  There’s absolutely no comparison, and I say this as someone who likes Björk’s work a lot.  Emel is simply a better singer. Her album, The Tunis Diaries, is something closer to the Portuguese band Madredeus, whose singer, Teresa Salgueiro, Emel bares some vocal resemblance to. The production is sparse, and it works perfectly for this album.  She also does a great rendition of David Bowie’s, The Man Who Sold The World, which you can hear below.  Remarkable.

  • Music

    Rüstəm Quliyev – Azerbaijani Gitara

    February 6, 2021 - By 

    Rüstəm Quliyev’s story is one of tragedy.  First, he was born in the Nagorno-Karabach area of Azerbaijan (contested by Armenia as recently as last year, where a small war was fought over the territory).  The fighting was so bad in Quliyev’s youth that he had to flee. He would move to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, where his music blossomed into a mix of local Azeri music, psych, progressive rock, and whatever else his rapacious appetite for music all over the world could be fit into each composition.  His releases could be bought as far afield as Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,…

  • Music

    Departure Street – Everybody’s Leaving

    February 5, 2021 - By 

    From the bio: Allan J. Kimmel (aka Departure Street) is an American/French solo electric guitarist based in Paris France. He plays alternative ambient and neo-folk music with shoegaze & American blues underpinnings. I could not have said it more succinctly.  This is not my first time reviewing Allan’s wonderful guitar work.  I featured his previous release, Two Islands In The Heart, in March of 2020. This album is one filled with clouds of guitar ambiance which relaxes and doesn’t get too much in the way of one’s thoughts.  There continues to be a shoegaze or very minimalistic indie rock-flavored guitar…

  • Music

    Santiago Fradejas – Montages, Volume One

    January 19, 2021 - By 

    Santiago Fradejas is an experimental musician based currently in Spain, though he hails from Argentina. He is also a friend whose work I have been honored to champion for several years now, along with the work of his wife, A.M Ferrari Fradejas. In this release, the two pair up with Diego Mamani Di Giuseppe and Coco to make bleak, dystopian guitar and moog-scapes. Considering what a horrible year 2020 was, and what disasters wait for us this year, this may well serve as a perfect soundtrack to the mess awaiting us.