Jukebox Babe by former Suicide frontman Alan Vega hasn’t been in print since 1981, so this 7-inch slab of new wave synth-pop is a welcome addition to the Suicide pantheon.
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La Souterraine are one of France’s coolest indie labels. They frequently release compilations of alternative music influenced by chanson, bedroom pop and post-punk. Some of the ditties on offer are almost Beatlesque in their pop perfection. Vallée du Don is one I stumbled upon, but the whole catalog is worth exploring.
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Legendary King Crimson and David Bowie guitarist Adrian Belew returns with a brand new progressive rock album that emphasizes rock loudly. It sounds like a very complicated version of power-pop if the song a13 is any indication of what the rest of the album sounds like. The only off-putting thing is the VERY high price tag for what is a normal-sized album. The economy back home must be getting ever more brutal, I guess.
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Going through Twitter contacts on my account (which will be changed soon, as I want an account that will only concentrate on music and not any other of my pursuits), I came across the name of a label whose work always left me impressed, but whom I had forgotten about, Erstwhile Records. Jon Abbey and Yuko Zama have run this label for years, but it looks like Yuko is branching out and running a new label called elsehwere music. Perusing the catalog, I found a release by Dutch pianist Reinier van Houdt which left me suitably impressed. From the release’s…
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I never thought I’d have the opportunity to hear Velvet Underground demos, but I suppose this new Lou Reed album will serve as a fine replacement until I find such a box set.
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Buh Records out of Peru has released a compilation which serves as a snapshot of Lima’s grimy techno scene. From the label’s Bandcamp site: “The title of this compilation is inspired by the name of a concert held in Lima in 1991, considered to be the first techno concert to have taken place in Peru. Even though not all intervening groups were doing techno at that time, they did share the fact that they all used keyboards. Four of them, however (Cuerpos del Deseo, Ensamble, Círculo Interior and Reacción), were in fact affiliated to an electronic sound (techno-pop, EBM). The…
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What a jazz-funk gem this is! From the Henryk Debich Bandcamp site: Despite the ongoing pandemic, the past year was very successful for the celebration of Henryk Debich’s 100th birthday anniversary. The master’s albums: Zbliżenie [Astigmatic Records] and Horyzonty [GAD Records] turned out to be a huge success, bringing great reviews and attracting huge interest. The continuation of the publishing series devoted to archival recordings was a bull’s eye. Jazz Funk from the communist time is still in demand. Astigmatic Records presented the works of Henryk Debich and the Lodz PRiTV Orchestra in the form of a seven-inch single “Monika…
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I can’t say I know much about who Noori, the tambur-guitarist and leader of his eponymous band is, but to learn more, consider reading this article by OK Africa. From the Bandcamp site: A soundtrack of Sudan’s revolution and the first ever international release of the Beja sound, performed by Noori and his Dorpa Band, an unheard outfit from Port Sudan, a city on the Red Sea coast in eastern Sudan and the heart of Beja culture. Electric soul, blues, jazz, rock, surf, even hints of country, speak fluently to styles and chords that could be Tuareg, Ethiopian, Peruvian or…
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Cristina Quesada seems to be the missing link between Italo-Disco, Debby Harry, France Gall and indie-pop. She appears on Elefant Records, one of Spain’s finest independent record labels, and this album absolutely floors its competition. It’s perhaps the funnest record I’ve heard in months, with the energy of a power-pop disc. Worthwhile!
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Sad news to report today. Julee Cruise, who served as the muse for the David Lynch-directed TV series (and movie) Twin Peaks, and who had a massive hit with the song Falling, which was composed by Angelo Badalamenti, has passed away at the age of 65. She had been suffering from lupus since at least 2018, when she announced her condition. I had the pleasure of saying a few words to her during my earlier Facebook days, and she struck me as being a kind, unpretentious person. Rest in peace.