• Music

    Luneta Freedom Jazz Collective – Slaves and Masters

    November 29, 2021 - By 

    Quite an impressive band out of the Philippines, courtesy of Mahorka Records out of Bulgaria.  Some info from their Bandcamp site: Luneta Freedom Jazz Collective is an experimental jazz group from Manila, Philippines. Their first studio album “Ethos”, was recorded and released in April 2015. The group would go on to be featured at 2015’s To Be Continued on Stazione di Topolò/Global Health Incubator. Their second album, “Inland Empire” was released in 2017. In 2021 their third album, “Slaves and Masters”, comes out on Mahorka, the dialectic as a narrative that examines the exploitation of labour and social stratification, with…

  • Podcast

    La Montaña Rusa 44.2021. Especial Pat Martino

    November 28, 2021 - By 

    blockquote class=”wp-embedded-content”>La Montaña Rusa 44.2021. Especial Pat Martino. Today is a rest day for me, so I spent it listening to my friends at Spain’s greatest jazz podcasts, La Montaña Rusa.  The program is dedicated to guitarist Pat Martino, who passed away recently. The tracklist: El Hombre (06:00). El Hombre, 1967. Prestige Records. Cisco (04:32). El Hombre, 1967. Prestige Records. Mr. PC (08:18) Gene Ludwig & Pat Martino Trio. Young Guns, 1968. HighNote Records. Baiyina (11:59). Baiyina (The Clear Evidence), 1968. Prestige Records. East (12:44). East!, 1968. Prestige Records. Desperado (08:00). Desperado, 1970. Prestige Records. What Are You Doing The…

  • Music

    The Scorpios – Let’s Go

    November 27, 2021 - By 

    The Scorpios are a Sudanese/British Afrobeat band with an incredible pedigree.  Regia Ishag, the band’s singer, is the daughter of the guitarist of one of Sudan’s funkiest bands, The Scorpions (obviously not the German hard-rock band bearing the same name). This new generation band maintains the funkiness of their forefathers and adds jazz, more funk and a more general Afrobeat element to the music.  It’s rapturous and made for the dance floor or the wedding ceremony equally.

  • Music

    Şatellites – Seni Sen Olduğun İçin Sevdim

    November 26, 2021 - By 

    Batov Records, based out of Tel-Aviv, Israel, is producing some funky and hard-hitting music, and this 7-inch by Şatellites simply rocks.  The title song of this single is a cover from Arabesque rock legend Hakkı Bulut is a driving jam which is described as a tune “with the force of The Stooges crossed with The JBs.” The second track is an instrumental which is also engaging, but passes too quickly, as I would have loved to hear so much more from it.

  • Music

    Zhang Si’an (Djang San 张思安) – Hutong Jazz – 胡同爵士

    November 25, 2021 - By 

    Jean-Sébastien Héry is a French ex-pat musician living in China.  He has a very impressive body of work covering over 50 albums of music ranging from electro music to rock performed on traditional Chinese instruments like the zhonguran and pipa.  His work is singular, as there doesn’t seem to be anyone, either inside or outside of China, combining these elements together. His latest album covers ten evergreen recordings, including Herbie Hancock’s masterpiece, Cantaloupe Island, and My Favorite Things, made into a classic by the film The Sound of Music starring Julie Andrews.  The album is charming all the way through.

  • Music

    Jacaszek & Kwartludium – Catalogue des Arbres

    November 24, 2021 - By 

    Michał Jacaszek is a Polish composer joined by the Kwartludium, a contemporary classical music quartet who, until coming across this recording, I had never heard of previously.  Jacaszek, the quartet, and the musicians who supplement this recording make a very tense, yet totally organic series of an electroacoustic series of soundscapes, which, as he says, are “forgotten songs performed secretly by my beloved trees.”  He lists his inspiration as coming from the legendary French composer Olivier Messiaen’s seminal work, “Catalogue d’Oiseaux.”  A stunning work to be inspired by, and the ensemble have done justice to Messiaen’s memory.

  • Music

    Scott Lawlor – The Mountains Cast Long Shadows

    November 23, 2021 - By 

    Scott Lawlor is an incredibly prolific composer out of Corinth, Texas.  He’s collaborated with scores of musicians and has many fine albums under his belt, but this is a one-track piece clocking in at a bit over 1 hour and 14 minutes.  It’s drone laden, cavernous in sound, and surprisingly warm, a bit like going for a walk under a volcano and feeling the magma and steamy water while you journey ever deeper into the bowels of the earth.  Well done.

  • Music

    Kawol Samarqandi and George Christian – Telegraph Paths

    November 22, 2021 - By 

    The Internet, for all the garbage one finds on it, amazes me some days.  This album, a collaboration of a friend of the blog, George Christian (out of Brazil), collaborates with Kawol Samarqandi (based in Japan) and release this collection on a Spanish record label, Bestiar and an Australian label, Ramble Records.  The world becomes smaller everyday. The is a pure guitar album.  George performs on acoustic-electric flat-top guitar, electric guitar, while Kawol performs on electric oil can guitar.  The plucks and twangs blend into each other seamlessly, and the music suits the day rather well, as it is rainy in Brno…

  • Music - Youtube

    Razam / Iva Marešová – Harpyje U Pramene

    November 21, 2021 - By 

    On Friday night, my beloved friends, Helenka and Tomáš, suggested I go out to a club called Stará Pekárna, a club where Tomáš works.  The owner of this fine establishment is a heavy blues aficionado who happens to book very impressive bands.  Imagine my surprise when I walk into the club into a lovely sound: The singer, Iva Marešová, had a wonderfully open voice, full of power and energy, and even though most in the club were sitting, you could see quite a large number of patrons fidgeting around wanting to dance.  I myself could feel my feet tapping around…

  • Music

    Muva – Yum Cháak

    November 20, 2021 - By 

    Mexico’s new music scene is criminally underrated, which is a shame considering the immense talent hidden there.  Yes, of course, we love boleros, the folk songs out of Veracruz and Yucatan, and the insanely good psychedelic music of the 1960s and 1970s, the Rock-In-Opposition of bands like Nazca, Decibel and Banda Elástica, all worthy listening. Let us introduce you to a new group called Muva.  They evoke a cinematic aesthetic which combines atmospheres of many national cultures (think Scotland, Mali and Israel) surrounded by elements of rock, electronic, classical, tribal music and jazz improvisations.  It’s not quite any genre, but…