320 kbps | 105 MB | LINKS
For over a decade, Nika Roza Danilova has been recording music as Zola Jesus. She’s been on Sacred Bones Records for most of that time, and Okovi marks her reunion with the label.
Fittingly, the 11 songs on Okovi share musical DNA with her early work on Sacred Bones. The music was written in pure catharsis, and as a result, the sonics are heavy, dark, and exploratory. In addition to the contributions of Danilova’s longtime live bandmate Alex DeGroot, producer/musician WIFE, cellist/noise-maker Shannon Kennedy from Pedestrian Deposit, and percussionist Ted Byrnes all helped build Okovi’s textural universe.
320 kbps | 78 MB | LINKS
Tracklist:
01. Gone Rogue 03:05
02. Last Night 04:51
03. Me Swimming 06:17
04. Watching the Sun Go Down 03:58
05. One Big Wave 03:11
06. Bring Me the Fever 02:41
07. Burned It Down 03:48
08. Towards the Dawn 02:43
09. Lost Everything 02:57
10. Surprise Yourself 03:35
320 kbps | 105 MB | LINKS
Greg Howe’s new album, “Wheelhouse” marks a highly anticipated return to his solo instrumental work. It features Greg Howe at his best along with appearances from guitar legend Richie Kotzen (Winery Dogs, Mr. Big) and legendary keyboardist Ronnie Foster (Stevie Wonder, George Benson).
320 kbps | 165 MB | LINKS
World renowned guitarist, singer and songwriter Martin Simpson releases his 20th solo album in 40 years ‘Trails & Tribulations’ on September 1st 2017 via Topic Records. The brand-new studio album, his first new solo work since 2013’s widely praised ‘Vagrant Stanzas’.Produced and engineered by Andy Bell, ‘Trails & Tribulations’ features some of Martin’s most inventive playing yet, showcasing his virtuosity on a variety of instruments including acoustic guitars, resonator guitars, Weissenbown lap steel guitar, electric guitars, 5 string banjo, ukulele – and voice.
“‘Trails & Tribulations’ is a collection of songs about nature, about travels and about real life stories. There are traditional songs, poems and contemporary songs by great writers, and songs that I had to write because nobody else knew what I wanted to say. I travel, I learn songs, I write and try to get better at the skills required for me to do my job. I look at the world as I pass by, on the road, out of the train window, or as I stop and pay close attention to the square foot under my nose. There is so much to see and to hear and to inspire and to try and understand. I had a huge amount of fun playing and recording these songs, using different instruments, different noises, old friends and new ones, all of whom brought so much to the mix.”
Martin Simpson, April 2017.
The Tiger Lillies
Edgar Allan Poe’s Haunted Palace
(Misery Guts Music, 2017)
more details
On Runnin’ for the Ghost, Big Mean Sound Machine sounds intent on obliterating every imaginable musical border: the lines between regional or geographic styles, the divide between acoustic and electronic instruments, the boundary between live and sampled music, the gap between ancient and contemporary music…just about any and every musical “box” you can think of.
The fourth full-length chapter in the musical story of this ten-piece afrobeat band led by bassist Angelo Peters was inspired by performing with master afrobeat drummer Tony Allen; their liner notes reveal that, “This album is dedicated to the sharing of music and education.”
Runnin’ for the Ghost continually grows in density, color and dynamics, and feels like…
…you’ve jammed your ears into the high-speed spin cycle of an afrobeat washing machine. “Seeing the Bigger Picture” synthesizes afrobeat guitar and melody with Afro-Cuban percussion patterns, convening near the Caribbean through Peters’ hard-rocking bass line (as if meeting in their geographic middle), with a synthesizer solo wriggling through like a line scribbled in fluorescent color.
“Van Chatter,” which blends Central African Soukous with West African Highlife, kicks off from Andrew Klein’s drumrolls and just keeps right on rolling. Klein and other percussionists keep this pot boiling hot while guitarist Dan Barker spreads electric juju on top like sticky glittery jam, melting with the horns and the rhythm section into that curious musical place where rhythm and melody meet. As its title suggests, “Triple Bacon” stacks thick slices of meaty bass, drums, percussion and guitar into a multi-decked afrobeat and highlife sandwich, joyous and tasty.
The relentlessly undulating serpentine horn chart in the title track is remarkably arranged and even more expertly played. This tune comes out of the box sounding like it’s already been (pre-)remixed by The Chemical Brothers—a computerized rhythm like the underbelly of a rampaging mechanical bull driving a Latin brass band’s march through ancient Egyptian deserts, and ending with a birdsong’s curtain call of solitary flute against harmonizing electronics. Simply remarkable.
Recorded live, with half captured in a Baptist church, Runnin’ for the Ghost presents the sound of tomorrow’s music, more than a few days early.
Personnel: Alicia Aubin: trombone; Ray McNamara: guitar; Tyler Burchfield: baritone sax, flute; Greg Blair: baritone sax; Andrew Klein: drums, cymbals, percussion; Lucas Ashby: congas, percussion, effects; Angelo Peters: bass, mini-moog, synthesizers; Dan Barker: guitar, baritone guitar; Dana Billings: Roland Juno, mini-moog, combination organs; Paulie Philippone: mini-moog, Wurlitzer electric piano; combination organs; Lex Schmidt: congas, percussion; Bobby Spellman: trumpet; Jamie Yaman: tenor saxophone; Josh Oxford: mini-moog, synthesizers; Jack Storer: trumpet.
Twenty-three studio albums into his career, you have a pretty good idea what you’re getting from Chico Buarque. Even though he’s dipped his toes into the new media world by joining Instagram in July, Buarque’s latest record, Caravanas, adds another nine warm, graceful songs to a catalog that goes back 50 years.
The new record, released Aug. 25 on Biscoito Fino, coasts from genre to genre—a jazzy, singer-songwriter opener, followed by a blues number, followed by a spare acoustic arrangement of a ballad that Buarque originally composed for a musical in 2001. Caravanas is a testament to when longevity turns into range.
Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1944, Buarque was one of the post-bossa nova pioneers of música popular brasileira, or MPB, in the 1960s. Unlike his peers in the Tropicalia movement—Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil and their ilk—Buarque wasn’t into the pop art of the time, nor the idea of being a pop star. He went as far as staging a play about a pop star who is eventually torn apart by the public and eaten. To drive the point home, the play’s audience was pelted with chicken meat. Maybe his music didn’t eschew the older forms, but never let it be said that Chico Buarque isn’t willing to try something weird.
He’s always had these interests outside of music: He’s an award-winning novelist. People will describe him as a poet, acknowledging him as one of Brazil’s greatest living songwriters.
Buarque’s experience writing for the theater shines through on Caravanas. He has an eye for detail and a short-story writer’s ability to concisely find and evoke the sweet sadness in a moment, like in “Massarandupió,” a grandfather and grandson hand-in-hand on the beach. The melody of “Jogo de Bola,” or “ball game,” bounces up against the beat like a soccer ball being dribbled—samba and football together at last.
There are a few reworked older songs on the album: the aforementioned “A Moça do Sonho,” from the musical, as well as a “Dueto,” originally performed with bossa nova queen Nora Leão, now paired up with his granddaughter.
Buarque cut his teeth in the early ’70s trying to sneak political commentary in metaphor past the censors of Brazil’s military dictatorship, but on this album’s standout title and closing track, he holds nothing back. The song castigates “the orderly and virtuous people” who recoil in fear from “suburban Muslim types” and “black naked torsos,” and make appeals to the police to send them back to Africa or wherever they’ve come from. The song borrows dynamics from Duke Ellington’s “Caravan,” and the absurd explanation for Islamophobia from Albert Camus’s The Stranger. Perhaps most surprisingly, it features the rapper Rafel Mike providing beat-boxing. I guess that goes to prove that even at 73 years old and deep into his career, maybe you don’t always know what Chico Buarque’s going to do.
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Wildfire, perfectly captures in a word the burning power of Elles Bailey’s vocals and stage presence as she sings blues that have captured in its blue flame, country, roots and soul. The voice is smoky with textures and tones that pulls out lyrics and coats them in Elles special brand of Bristol fanned Wildfire.
