Review Corner

Author: jerobear

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    Chris Gekker: Moon Marked

    Chris Gekker is one of America’s most acclaimed trumpet players, and currently professor of trumpet at the University of Maryland. This is his second album for Metier, recordings of works by six composers. Given his academic role, this programme of music could come over as dryly technical it does not, thanks to the warmth of…

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    Sebastien Tellier: Domesticated

    Monsieur Tellier is an exasperating character, his output ranging from brilliant to tedious. Two members of the Review Corner walked down the aisle to his best song, La Ritournelle, then went to see him at a festival where he was such a clown he ran out of time and was closed down by the stage…

  • Himlische Cantorey: Johann Pachelbel, Magnificat

    Pachelbel was a German composer, organist, and teacher who “brought the south German organ schools to their peak”, says Wikipedia: he composed a large body of sacred and secular music, but today he is mostly famous for one piece of music: Canon in D Major. You’ve all heard it, and Pete Waterman called it “almost…

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    Millicent B James: Moyo, Vol.1 EP

    Releases by local bands always make us nervous; if they’re no good, what do we say? Sadly for everyone else, this new EP from Biddolphian Millicent sets a new benchmark: it’s wonderful. She’s is not a novice: a composer, cellist and vocalist, she regularly sings with the RBC Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra and RBC Jazz…

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    Oliver Tree: Ugly Is Beautiful

    Mr Tree is new to us. Wikipedia informs us that he is in fact Oliver Tree Nickell, singer-songwriter, producer, rapper, comedian, and filmmaker. He has said he would retire as soon as this debut was released and plays a character, Turbo, though the track 1993 apparently refers to an alien called Little Ricky ZR3, which…

  • Sara Lew: Sunday Morning

    Judging books by covers and all that we thought Lew would be country (or western), or maybe an earnest warbler with acoustic guitar but she’s neither. We played it through a couple of times before looking on the web and were surprised to learn she is from Copenhagen, but not surprised that Nis Bysted worked…

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    Damien Jurado: What’s New, Tomboy?

    This is the 15th studio album from singer songwriter Jurado, and it’s a more solid musical offering than we were expecting. It’s still a fairly stripped-back sound, but it just seems a little more forceful, although we guess Jurado fans buy his albums for the lyrics. All the songs are about relationships and many of…

  • Emil Ingmar: Karlavagnen

    This is easy-on-the ear jazz with a travelling theme. The opening song Karolinabacken (which according to Google translate is Caroline Hill) has a rhythm suggesting a train ride or maybe passing lampposts (or trees, given that he’s Swedish) flashing by. He’s a pianist and the piano melody over the top is bright and breezy: a…

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    Lack of Afro: I’m Here Now

    Adam Gibbons, aka Lack of Afro, is from Devon, born in Exeter but now living in Ilfracombe. Wikipedia reports that he was given the nickname Lack of Afro while a student, when he DJd and played a lot of funk, presumably looking the opposite of the performers he loves. This new one opens with an…

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    In This Moment: Mother

    An odd album, this, “drawing on spiritual and philosophical ideas, they have created a concept that transcends cultural and metal boundaries” said one review, by which we think they mean (“we just regurgitated a press release”) “threw in some covers of huge songs to make an album to sell a few more copies”. We’ve never…