Author: jerobear
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Courtney Marie Andrews: May Your Kindness Remain
Her previous albums have been noteworthy simply because she has a nice voice, and sometimes that’s all you need. This new one is deeper and slower, and while it takes more time to get used to — it’s not pop — it’s ultimately better. In a coincidental echo of the Basil Athanasiadis album (see this…
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Andrew McCormack: Graviton
Nominally jazz, if only for the instruments used, this ambitious album takes in everything from prog to bop. On his website McCormack explains that gravitons are tiny particles that carry the force of gravity. “It is what brings you back down to Earth when you jump,” he says, though how this applies to the album…
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Namosh: Music Muscle
Sometimes we hear an interview with a cool DJ and order some hardcore dance (ie disco, four beats to the bar, nothing too whacky) from Chicago or somewhere; Frankie Knuckles is way too commercial, it’s people like Cajmere or songs from genres with “jack” in the title. The music is often hard, almost industrial, a…
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Black Sedan: Adventure Lit Their Star
This is an odd but interesting album: it’s a “collective” project orchestrated by Yorkshire-based journalist and author Mark Hodkinson and sees him bring together five vocalists and 30 musicians to create what is probably a bit of a Marmite record. His previous bands / albums include Black September, a rather fine indie effort that has…
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The Flaming Lips: Scratching The Door
This album is tracks recorded by The Flaming Lips’ original line-up, which featured Wayne Coyne’s brother Mark on vocals. It includes the band’s first and second cassette demos and a self-released EP, and it’s surprisingly decent. The added fun for fans of a certain age is guessing the English bands the Lips were into when…
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Alexander Bakhchiev, Elena Sorokina: Piano Duet, Vol 2
This superb collection of piano pieces is the second part from the series of recordings by the duet of Sorokina and Bakhchiyev; known as the “Golden Duet of Russia” in their native land, apparently. This album features four sonatas for four hands by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, including the unfinished KV357, and his sonata for two…
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Fatoumata Diawara: Fenfo Something To Say
We were never not going to like this: Diawara played with/on AfroCubism (the original idea of the Bueno Vista Social Club album) and with Benin’s Orchestre Poly Rythmo de Cotonou — two of our most-played world albums — as well as Herbie Hancock, and she combines the roots sound of the more traditional bands with…
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Calypso Rose: So Calypso
Calypso Rose is 78 and a calypsonian (a new word on us). She started writing songs at 15, and has composed more than 800 tunes and recorded more than 20 albums. Born Linda Sandy-Lewis, she grew up on Tobago, the birthplace of calypso. This new one is a follow-up to her 2016 platinum seller Far…
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Sun Ra: The Early Albums Collection (1957-1963)
Sun Ra claimed he was an alien from Saturn on a mission to preach peace, and once he adopted his new name (after the Egyptian god) he denied all knowledge of the man formerly known as Herman. He’s got to be the jazz man for people who think they don’t like jazz; he reminds us…
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The Handsome Family: Through The Trees
This re-issue — it’s 20 years since The Handsome Family first released it — is bloody marvellous. Its basic sound could be 100 years old, a couple of (rather sinister) folks with beards and overalls making country music on a porch, but it’s got a modern feel and the lyrics are heartfelt; in fact, that’s…
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