Музблог Гусли
http://www.gusli.su/mangelek_mon_tatarstan/
Kevin Russell spent much of his musical career with the Gourds, an Austin-based Americana band that was highly influential in the development of alt-country and the growing Americana scene. During his lengthy tenure leading that group, Russell would occasionally step out for solo gigs in Houston as Shinyribs, and he released a couple of records under that moniker. Now that the Gourds are on hiatus, Russell is doubling down on his Shinyribs project. He assembled a full band this year and they have a new record coming down the pike with I Got Your Medicine scheduled for 24 February 2017.
Shinyribs is described as an American country-soul, swamp-funk band, the kind of mixed up genre stew that we always seem to love here at PopMatters. In other words, the Louisiana-born Russell is going back to the sounds of his home state with a big dose of New Orleans R&B, a horn section and the excitement of working with a new palette. “I Got Your Medicine” is the album’s first single and it highlights Russell’s change of musical direction with its swampy funk, smooth vocals, and some major influence from one of NOLA’s favorite sons, Allen Toussaint. Russell says, “If Woody Guthrie and Allen Toussaint had collaborated on a song about the slow descent of the working class into pharmaceutical dependence and dwindling economic opportunity. It would sound a lot like this.”
As the great Congolese composer/singer/bandleader Tabu Ley Rochereau approached his final days in 2012, he summoned the musical director of his band, L’Orchestre Afrisa International, from America to his bedside and made a last request. Modero Mekanisi had played saxophone at Tabu Ley’s side since 1974. Now he had one more assignment: to keep the band and the music going, despite the leader’s passing. It has taken this long for Afrisa to honor that wish with a finished recording, the band’s first since 1996, but man, was it worth the wait.
For fans of classic Congolese big-band dance music, this is as fine a release as we’ve heard in many years. It appeals to old-school tastes, with no programmed drums and minimal use of keyboards. Also absent is the chanting “animation” passages, wherein names of patrons (or would-be patrons) are shouted out in an odd blend of crowd pumping and commercial advertising—good fun in appropriate doses, but hardly missed here. Melanie is all about musicianship: groove, guitars—ooooh what guitars!—brass, and lusciously layered, impeccably arranged vocals.
First, about those guitars, most of these 11 tracks feature three electric guitar parts: rhythm and mi-solo panned left and right, and lead right up the middle. Those guitar parts are all played two Afrisa veterans, Dino Vangu in Paris and “Huit Kilos” Nseka in Los Angeles. Dino plays lead on the first six tracks and Huit Kilos on the remaining five. Two tracks—“Mela,” a love song to one of Tabu Ley’s wives, and “Ma Fille,” a song for Tabu Ley’s daughter—appear in both Paris and Takoma versions. (Modero and star vocalist Wawali Bonane live in Takoma, Washington, and those last five tracks were mostly recorded there.) It is fascinating to compare the two lead guitarists’ styles. Dino’s sound is fat and chunky with lots of double-stops; Huit Kilos’ is sharp and stinging with piercing single-note precision and clarity. Listeners may have their preference, but both are sterling examples of one of the world’s most blissfully melodious and seductive guitar styles.
Wawali is the dominant lead vocalist, though Dodo Munoko, Djeffard Lukombo and Habiba Batantu take the spotlight at times, and provide robust choral backing throughout. But Wawali’s voice is truly a marvel, full-throated and gentle but easily capable of reaching those high, horn-like tenor notes that Tabu Ley delivered so memorably. “Kaful Mayay,” with its rolling 12/8 groove, is a fine example. This is the song Wawali used to audition for the band in 1974, and here he sings it definitively: Congolese high lonesome magic.
All these songs come from Tabu Ley’s huge canon of compositions, from “Micheline,” a song he wrote for the pre-Afrisa band, African Fiesta, to “Muzina,” the last hit Tabu Ley recorded before entering his brief and ill-fated career in Congolese politics. (See my interview with Modero Mekanisi for more on that.) This version of “Muzina” begins with gorgeous a cappella vocal before a trimmed-down version of the band joins in for the album’s hook-laden finale. The arrangements of these iconic songs is consistently engaging here with rhythm changes, brass passages, smart interplay of vocals and guitar, and never a tired riff or overlong solo. The music is brisk and dynamic at every turn, resulting in an album one just wants to hear over and over. Since long before Buena Vista Social Club, the notion of past veterans coming back to the stage and studio for a twilight run has tugged at heartstrings. Rarely has it been done this well. On Melanie the old guard show us all how it’s done—case closed.
Arthur Gunter, a seemingly obscure blues singer will never be forgotten because he holds a unique place in American pop history. His first recording, ‘Baby Let’s Play House’ in 1954 for Excello Records of Nashville became one of the first recordings by Elvis Presley.
This is the first time both sides of his Excello singles have been collected together in chronological order and the quality of these sessions are all exciting and typical of the kind of blues popular in the south.
Tracklist:
01. Baby Let’s Play House (2:47)
02. Blues After Hours (2:31)
03. She’s Mine All Mine (2:25)
04. You Are Doing Me Wrong (2:47)
05. Honey Babe (2:35)
06. No Happy Home (2:39)
07. Trouble With My Baby (2:40)
08. Baby You Better Listen (2:38)
09. Hear My Plea Baby (2:37)
10. Love Has Got Me (2:47)
11. Baby Can’t You See (3:04)
12. You’re Always On My Mind (2:40)
13. Ludella (2:57)
14. We’re Gonna Shake (1:57)
15. Don’t Leave Me Now (2:34)
16. Crazy Me (2:48)
17. No Naggin’, No Draggin’ (2:46)
18. I Want Her Back (2:41)
19. Little Blue Jeans Woman (2:30)
20. Mind You Own Business Babe (2:21)
21. My Heart’s Always Lonesome (2:30)
22. I’m Fallin’, Love’s Got Me (2:20)
23. Who Will Ever Move Me From You (2:18)
24. Workin’ For My Baby (2:19)
320 kbps | 116 MB | UL |
Tracklist:
1. The World’s Tip Jar
2. Boom & Bust (Most Decent Folks)
3. Nothing Here Was Ever Meant To Last
4. I pulled Into Reno (‘Cause I Couldn’t Make Salt Lake)
5. If You Pray (You’d Better Cry, Cry, Cry)
6. Mesmerized
7. Coverin’ Ground
8. Two-Finger Wave
9. Jenny Lake
10. The Rags Of Absence
320 kbps | 139 MB | UL |
Tracks:
1.Intro to My Starter Won’t Start (feat. Barry Marshall-Everitt)
2.My Starter Won’t Start (feat. Kevin Russel, The Gnola Blues Band)
3.Intro to Loretta (feat. Barry Marshall-Everitt)
4.Loretta (feat. Stiv Cantarelli)
5.Intro to Pancho & Lefty (feat. Barry Marshall-Everitt)
6.Pancho & Lefty (feat. The Lucky Strikes, Michele Gazich, Sid Griffin)
7.Intro to Dollar Bill Blues (feat. Barry Marshall-Everitt)
8.Dollar Bill Blues (feat. Cheap Wine)
9.Intro to Buckskin Stallion (feat. Barry Marshall-Everitt)
10.Buckskin Stallion (feat. Antonio Gramentieri, Winston Watson, Stiv Cantarelli)
11.Intro to Katie Belle Blue (feat. Barry Marshall-Everitt)
12.Katie Belle Blue (feat. Richard Lindgren)
13.Intro to Marie (feat. Barry Marshall-Everitt)
14.Marie (feat. Will T. Massey)
15.Intro to Waiting Around to Die (feat. Barry Marshall-Everitt)
16.Waiting Around to Die (feat. Chris Cacavas, Winston Watson, Michele Gazich)
17.Intro to a Song For (feat. Barry Marshall-Everitt)
18.A Song For (feat. Tim Rogers)
19.Intro to Short Haired Woman Blues (feat. Barry Marshall-Everitt)
20.Short Haired Woman Blues (feat. Ragsy)
21.Intro to Song of the Shrimp (feat. Barry Marshall-Everitt)
22.Song of the Shrimp (feat. No Good Sister, Maurizio Gnola Glielmo)
23.Intro to Sanitarium Blues (feat. Barry Marshall-Everitt)
24.Sanitarium Blues (feat. Will T. Massey, Tim Rogers, Rod Picott)
25.Intro to Tecumseh Valley (feat. Barry Marshall-Everitt)
26.Tecumseh Valley (feat. Rod Picott)
27.Intro to Colorado Girl (feat. Barry Marshall-Everitt)
28.Colorado Girl (feat. The Plastic Pals, Jonathan Segel, Chris Cacavas)
29.Outro (feat. Barry Marshall-Everitt)