• Music

    Ясный — Svetly – Project 0

    October 18, 2022 - By 

    Our friends at the ever-brilliant Russian record label, internet radio station and magazine Meticulous Midgets continue to work with interesting bands within the country and (now) internationally. Ясный — Svetly are a Moscow-based band which has a very forward-looking sound, yet the music they produce sound incredibly nostalgic, with wisps of Berlin School electronics, NDW industrial elements and post-punk beats which makes this sound like a marriage between Suicide and Tangerine Dream.  A brilliant release.  

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    Brian Auger – Auger Incorporated

    September 22, 2022 - By 

    Brian Auger is the father of Acid Jazz and really needs no introduction, but his Bandcamp site provides a fine one anyway for those of you readers who haven’t had the pleasure of being introduced to the man: “Soul Bank Music announces a back catalogue deal with legendary musician and jazz keyboard master Brian Auger – with the release of a career spanning compilation ‘Auger Incorporated’. Lauded and loved by artists as diverse as Mose Allison to The Brand New Heavies, his tracks have been sampled by Mos Def, Common, Air and Kid Loco, his original compositions covered by Sarah…

  • Music

    The Cosmic Kangaroos – .​.​.​improvise!

    September 16, 2022 - By 

    Our comrades at German’s finest psych label, The Lollipoppe Shoppe, release a wild album of heavy-duty psychedelic rock by The Cosmic Kangaroos that sounds more like a 1960’s California (West Coast) indie monster rather than a gem recorded in the 1990s.  This label has a knack for absolutely incredible rare gems!

  • Music

    Adrian Belew – Elevator

    June 17, 2022 - By 

    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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    Jerzy Milian – Optima Fide

    May 17, 2022 - By 

    Jerzy Milian is one of the most important jazz musicians to ever come out of Poland.  In this rather expensive album, he is collaborating with the BRT Radio (now VRT Radio) Orchestra during the late 1960s.  The release showcases Milian’s vibraphone talents, but also shows how multi-faceted his music was, incorporating beat, rock and soundtrack music into his oeuvre.

  • Music

    William Shatner – Rocket Man

    April 1, 2022 - By 

    We’re going to have to wait until June 27th before we can actually hear a sample from this 7-inch single by the absolutely legendary actor/”singer”/raconteur and real-life astronaut William Shatner, but it’s pretty exciting to know he’s working with a prog-rock luminary like Steve Hillage covering Elton John’s Rocket Man and the metal god Ritchie Blackmore covering David Bowie’s Space Oddity as a B-side  Click here to read more about this release.

  • Music

    Bernard Purdie – Purdie Good!

    February 6, 2022 - By 

    Imagine having a resume working with the following acts: James Brown, The Beatles, Jeff Beck, Hummingbird, Steely Dan, Aretha Franklin,Gil Scott-Heron, King Curtis, The Rolling Stones, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Randy Brecker, Quincy Jones, Hall & Oates, Isaac Hayes, Cat Stevens, Hair and Larry Coryell among so many others. Bernard “Pretty” Purdie is something akin to an institution in modern drumming. This album, reissued by Prestige Records, is one of his more mellow jazz excursions.  The sound is meaty, and it shows off a pleasant finesse he has with percussion.  His touch is about as golden as it gets as…

  • Music - Youtube

    Alèmayèhu Eshèté – Alteleyeshegnem

    September 3, 2021 - By 

    Another day, another great loss to music.  The legendary Alèmayèhu Eshèté, known lovingly as the “Ethiopian Elvis,” passed away yesterday at the age of around 80.  I came across his work on this particular album, Éthiopiques 10: Tezeta – Ethiopian Blues & Ballads, and though I didn’t hear much Elvis (despite some physical similarities), I was floored by how beautifully Ethiopian music, rock and blues could blend into each other.