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Celebrated singer-songwriter Tori Amos’ hotly-anticipated new album Native Invader will be released on Decca Records on 8th September. Tori’s confessional style of writing sees her continue to push boundaries with her music. Her messages of empowerment, tenderness, acerbic assertiveness and her utterly peerless sound speaks to audiences across the globe. In this new album, Tori delves even deeper into her personal experiences, and the standard is there to be seen.
320 kbps | 82 MB | LINKS
New solo album by a founder member of The Jayhawks.Mark Olson & Ingunn Ringvold are singing ‘Spokeswoman of the Bright Sun’, the follow-up to the critically acclaimed Alternative Country/Americana masterpiece ‘Good-bye Lizelle’ (Glitterhouse Records, 2014).”Our album was recorded during a Joshua Tree summer basically inside our cabin/home but sometimes outside on the porch”, says Mark, “it was warm and I was making a lot of strange ice teas, brewing recipes that came from an herb book I had bought at the local thrift store. We went right from writing, to rehearsal to recording in the May, June and July time period and I think that is the secret to making a unique album, keeping the momentum of the writing and part learning of the song as you move towards to final takes. The recording sessions with Danny Frankel (drums) took place in the morning before the Mojave heat was on. Danny lives near by and has developed his own language via his beat communiques (a type of tambourine Esperanto). We were able to go back over some of the grooves and try different approaches and some of the songs just worked on the first couple of takes. Later that summer we visited with Lewis Keller (bass) in his home in Colorado. We had a time and rather than show him charts and such we went on and on about the themes and significance of each song and how it relates to the recorded folk-rock legacy on certain albums stuck in time. The writing of the music for this album is the desert I long to return to, this valley of string sounds is where I really want to be and what takes up the most time in my heart. The remembering of how I was just a young teenager driving up Topanga Canyon with my Aunt to a bluegrass festival. The sounds of banjos in the Santa Monica Mountains and the beautiful outdoors. That is why now I write mostly outside, under an old Siberian Elm tree that is home to a colony of Bumble Bees. Wow! Look Out! They buzz me on occasion and also just float above my head, hovering in a curious way like some natural apis blimps sent out to observe my lonely work!” Ingunn Ringvold – Marks wife and musical partner in life and music – comes from Norway, the home of Thor Heyerdahl, the explorer of Easter Island and Kon Tiki raft author. She has been singing in public since she was a very young person. Her voice is one of natural beauty. Ingunn is honest, trustworthy and strong. She hears music in her heart and writes emotionally dramatic and moving string arrangements. She plays the Armenian Qanon. She studied with Arax a very well established Qanon master from Vanadzor, Armenia. In Vanadzor she learned how to harness great strength in her performance style. Ingunn also plays the keyboards, djembe, guitar and dulcimer. “Composing and arranging for Spokeswoman of the Bright Sun was one of the most joyful experiences of my recording career.” Ingunn recalls, “I’d bought a Mellotron from Stockholm that I was very excited about, every different string arrangement was like a different color in an impressionistic painting, I was able to incorporate from my musical heritage, the hymns and the folk songs of my Grandmother, to my own style of minor and major walking hand in hand. Working with Marks original material and unpredictable chord progressions has been the highlight of my musical journey, it’s like I’m standing in the desert holding a gemstone in my hand”. All original track recordings were made with a Nagra field recorder. These tracks were delivered to John Schreiner for mixing and mastering. This is the moment a rainbow came into town. John has worked in some of the most important historically speaking and result speaking recording studios in Los Angeles. John worked with Hal Blaine in the past and in the present reinforced his studio sounds in San Clemente, CA with room sounds from studio 3 at Western Recorders. John mixes in groupings and the results are a new step forward in post modern folk-rock sound exploration. Enjoy the warmth and spaciousness of these outstanding musical mixes! Mark Olson was born and raised in Minnesota by a family of mostly farmers and school teachers. He has been involved with musical instruments since the age of twelve and is self taught for the most part and uses alternate tunings and two part unison singing followed then by breaking off into harmony in his writing and live performances. He lives now in the California Desert with his wife Ingunn Ringvold.
Alan Vega
IT
(Fader Label, 2017)
more details
Sparks
Hippopotamus
(BMG, 2017)
more details
320 kbps | 80 MB | LINKS
Time Catches Up with Milk Teddy is the Melbourne band’s fashionably late second album.
Having lit spot fires across the Australian indie landscape in 2012 with their debut LP Zingers, Milk Teddy have now coaxed together twelve songs that expand the band’s gift for canny hooks and catchy concepts with structural concision.
Like all the best pop groups, Milk Teddy possess the formula – that innate ability to strike a balance between everything being in its rightful place but then forgetting to close the back door before a large gust blows through and dishevels everything.
Release Date: July 21, 2017
Label: Tuff Gong
Artist: Damian Marley
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Tracklist:
01. I’ve Got Your Back 03:55
02. Living A Lie 02:48
03. Eliza 03:31
04. A Simple Embrace 02:29
05. Donna May 04:34
06. Strollin’ On Sundance 02:20
07. Down In Mickey’s Basement 04:30
08. Fall In Love Too Fast 04:30
09. Someday When I Grow Up 03:08
10. I’ll Find A Way 02:57
11. The Messenger 04:36
12. Sense Of The Moment 03:04
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Soul Jazz Records’ new Nigeria Soul Fever is their first release to explore the vast wealth of Nigerian music recorded in the 1970s. The new album comes with introductory sleevenotes by Bill Brewster (author of Last Night A DJ Saved My Life).
Packed-full with Afro-Funk, Disco and Boogie all from Nigeria, this triple album/double CD set brings together a stunning collection of diverse West African sounds. Whilst a small handful of the artists featured (Joni Haastrup, Tee Mac, Christy Essien) have seen the light of day outside Africa, this is essentially a collection of killer tracks by an array of artists completely unknown outside of Nigeria.
Artists such as Don Bruce & The Angels, Akin Richards & The Executives, Angela Starr, Jimmy Sherry & The Music Agents. It’s no surprise that these records are extremely rare and expensive to buy individually so this album will save you going broke trying to find them.
These recordings were made at a time when Nigeria’s trade restrictions banned imported records. Whilst new musical trends (such as American soul, funk, disco etc) entered and influenced the country, the local music scene remained just that – local. Consequently, these recordings remain practically unknown to anyone outside of the country.
Nigeria Soul Fever is released as triple-album vinyl + download, double-CD digi-pack and digital download. This album follows on from Soul Jazz Records’ 1960s collection Nigeria Freedom Sounds, released last month, and will be followed by the reissue of the incredibly rare and groovy Nigerian 1980 disco boogie funk album Tee Mac’s Night Illusion.
“Excellent new soul jazz compilation Nigeria Soul Fever: Afrofunk, Disco And Boogie: West African Disco Mayhem!” THE GUARDIAN
320 kbps | 103 MB | LINKS
The Felice Brothers return with nine songs in their unique blend of folk, country, rock and soul. Uncut magazine has described the band as, ‘just glorious.’ Life in the Dark was recorded in the garage on a farm in upstate New York, with no distractions and no outside influences. So, it’s not surprising the band produced the album themselves. Highlights include, ‘Aerosol Ball,’ and ‘Plunder.’
