Hifi Pig

What a great title for a record first of all! Badgers and Other Beings is an album of clever jazz featuring pianist, drums and bass. The Helge Lien Trio has been a bit of a hit on the jazz scene since their breakthrough album Hello Troll and it’s no wonder really. Lien is joined here by Frode Berg on bass and Per Oddvar Johansen on drums with the album having been recorded at Rainbow Studios in Oslo and released on the Ozella label. Here it was downloaded from HIGHRESAUDIO and the quality of the recording is again superb. More »

Recorded and mixed by Stefano Amerio in Italy on July 15th – 16th and November 1st 2013 Flowers of Sendai is released on the Bee Jazz label and here it’s been downloaded from HIGHRESAUDIO. The trio is made up of Jan Lundgren (piano), Mattias Svenson (bass) and Zoltan Csors JR (drums).

Style wise Flowers of Sendai is jazz of the accessible kind and not the kind of “challenging” jazz that you need a degree from the University of Cool to understand never mind enjoy.  More »

I was very excited when the post lady pipped and handed me the envelope that I knew would contain what is being heralded as “A stunning new album in the finest tradition of progressive rock and space rock” because being a bit of an ageing hippie I’m partial to both a smattering of prog and a healthy double dipped dose of space rock. But this hasn’t been the records only accolades and “the space opera that Pink Floyd never wrote” and “a prog rock War of the Worlds” whetted my appetite for this record even more.

This eponymous album is out on Cherry Red on the 28^th of April and was recorded both in New York and London and has been co-produced and mixed by Youth of Killing Joke fame (I like a bit of Youth I do). More »

More funky disco rereleases here and I really make no apology for it…disco is making a comeback in the Hifi Pig household and we’re loving it. And so this time we have the expanded edition of the classic Patrick Adams Presents PHREEK. I think the opportunity to rediscover some of these classics from the 70s is most welcome and BBR (the label that are releasing a lot of these albums) should be applauded for making some real classics available to a new and younger (in some cases) audience.

Patrick Adams is a bit of a legend and the New Yorker contributed to no less than 32 gold and platinum releases, mainly on Salsoul and Prelude but also on the Atlantic label too. He’s worked with a veritable who’s who of disco including Sister Sledge, Loleatta Holloway and Jocelyn Brown…plus a whole load more. Listening to PHREEK you can certainly hear that the music has had a huge influence on modern day dance music, particularly the early 90s house scene. More »

Well, this one came as a bit of a shock.  After several lineup changes, the temporary hijacking of the band’s material by increasingly egotistical frontman Andrew Stockdale and a break-up which lasted about a month, Wolfmother have pulled a Beyonce. No they haven’t been captured un-photogenically at a Superbowl half-time show, they’ve dropped a surprise new album.

When the Aussie lads burst onto the scene with their debut album a decade ago, they were a breath of fresh(ish) air blasting straight out of 1969 and into the charts and festival circuits. A lot has happened since then, critical and commercial failures, acrimonious lineup changes and Andrew Stockdale enjoying the view from up his own arse… so, are they still the kings of retro-rock? More »

Alan Wilkes (AKA Vinny Peculiar – his real name is “lame”) is a Salford (NW England) based singer songwriter and “The Root Mull Affect” is a collection of outtakes and remixes picked from 15 years of his recordings and represents his 10th album release.

Some will be aware of Vinny Peculiar and he has indeed worked with some well known folk in his time like Bill Drummond, Tom Robinson and Luke Haines whilst his various bands have included members of The Smiths, Oasis, Aztec Camera and the Fall.

The Root Mull Affect is a wonderful collection of tunes and kicks off with “A Vision” which is a great story of psychedelic whimsy of the day John Cooper Clarke joined The Beatles. The new remix of “Jesus Stole My Girlfriend” is superb and tells the story of …well you can guess I’m sure.

“Flatter and Deceive” is a pseudo-country number of Peculiar’s life up to the date of writing the song and is very “northern” with its deadpan and self effacing lyric – I lived this tune much as I really loved the whole of this record.It manages to blend humour, tragedy and pathos in equal measure (Confessions of a Sperm Donor is a perfect example) whilst remaining very much in the pop vein and very much accessible. Lyrically it tells wonderful short stories of every day life that are both funny and moving.

The Root Mull Affect came out on 10th March on Cherry red and comes very much recommended. It’s the perfect introduction to Peculiar’s work (which warrants further investigation for the uninitiated) and is a useful addition to existing fans’ collections. I found it highly addictive and lyrically it could only be the product of a Northern mind and made me feel right at home immediately!

Slowly Rolling Camera is a British four piece band made up of Dionne Bennett (lyrics and vocals), Deri Roberts (sound design, electronics, trombone, additional saxophone and production), Elliot Bennett (drums and drum programming) and Dave Stapleton who is the composer as well as playing keys. There’s a whole host of other contributing musicians on the eponymous album (out now through Gearbox Records) and the guy that recorded and mixed this record (Andy Allan) may be familiar to some as he’s worked with Massive Attack and Portishead in the past …and this is where the heart of the Slowly Rolling Camera sound lies. More »

Fire were a late 60’s/70’s three piece band, The Magic Shoemaker (“a fairytale opera”) was released on the Pye label in 1970 and was recorded in January 1970 at the label’s studios in London. This reissue is re-mastered from the original master tapes by Ben Wiseman at the Audio Archiving Company and released on Esoteric Recordings.

Dave Lambert (guitars, percussion, piano and vocals), Bob Voice (drums, percussion and vocals) and Didck Dufall (bass guitar and vocals) made up the band with all tracks being written by Lambert. Dave Lambert later joined The Strawbs. More »

I must confess that I’m a bit of a new comer to Jazz but the more I explore its wide and varied sub genres the more I am enjoying it. Step up to the turntable Gearbox Records and Tubby Hayes “Seven Steps To Heaven: Live at The Hopbine 1972”.

Now, to aficionados of British Jazz I’m sure the name Tubby Hayes is well known, but to me it was a new I hate to confess and so a little history is perhaps in order for those readers in the same boat as me.

Hayes was born in London in 1935, is best known for his playing of tenor sax and has been regarded as one of the very best British jazz instrumentalists. At just 16 (in 1951) he joined Kenny Baker’s sextet and later played for lots of big-band leaders, but in 1955 he toured UK with his own band. He was a co-leader of The Jazz Couriers with Ronnie Scott from 1957 – 1959 and even had his own television series in the early 60s. Thanks Wiki. More »

OmenOpus are, it has to be said, a new band to me and they have a handful of albums and EPs on the Monty Maggot label that we’ll take a listen to over the next couple of months, but judging by what I’ve heard so far they certainly know where they’re going and what they’re up to musically.

First in the CD drive is their album “The Archives”, which is incidentally their latest CD, and very good it is too if you like your music unsettling and disturbing and with a story to it. The Archives is a concept album set in the 24^th century and is best listened to in one sitting to really appreciate it properly and get a feel for the narrative.

I’d just read Philip K Dick’s short story “The Gun” when I first started listening to this and The Archives has a similar feel – it is actually based on a short story by Sheriden Starr from the band along the lines of:

Machines have seemingly done away with the need for man to fight in wars but the story takes a twist where the Operators of the machines turn on the Creators (through necessity) and hold mankind to ransom with the machines until the Creators put forward a solution (based on Asimov’s three laws of robotics) called the Zeroth Commandment. The album is split into three distinct parts (Containers), which are I presume the “archives” from whence the story evolved, with each telling a different bit of the story.

Style-wise it’s difficult to decide what pigeonhole to pop The Archives into as it swaps and changes throughout the record. It has elements of space rock (Bridget Wishart of Hawkwind (…and Hippy Slags) fame is a player), elements of metal and bits of prog’.

Whatever, it’s certainly musically very accomplished and manages to conjure images of disconcerting future landscapes and a bleak outlook for humanity, but that’s not to suggest that it doesn’t have its moments of beauty too.

Interesting and thought provoking …play it loud!

More album reviews

Released at the end of January 2014 on Blue Castle Records (the label that Crosby founded with Graham Nash in 2011) and downloaded here in FLAC from HighResAudio, “Croz” is David Crosby’s first album of solo material in twenty years and contains eleven new and original tracks recorded at Crosby’s home studio. Croz will be supported by series of concert dates in the US. More »

Well this is certainly a good deal of music for your money with Dusty Kid’s third album coming in at round about the two hours mark spread over two CDs which are limited to just 1000 copies on the Isolade label.

III is interestingly mixed with the use of vintage consoles and everything being recorded on to reel-to reel tape to give the finished product a distinctly dirty and lo-fi feel to it and this is apparent from the off with the opening track “Crepuscolaris” where a grimy and distorted kick lay the foundations for more deformed sonic shapes thrown over the top. It’s dark and menacing but the strings over the top lift it a little – as if there is hope rising from the burned ashes of a destroyed future city. More »

Recorded in 1963 and released in July of the same year on the Verve label (and then later in 97 where there were extra tracks) this is Ella Fitzgerald and the Count Basie Orchestra with Quincey Jones being responsible for the arrangements (Fitzgerald later worked with Jones on the 1989 “Back on the Block”) and with production credits going to Norman Granz . Ella and Basie had worked together previously on just one occasion on the 1957 record “On the Sunny Side of the Street”.

Let me say that the first thing I thought when listening to this hi-rez version from High Res Audio was how spot on and modern the recording was and I’m becoming a bit of a convert of this digital format it has to be said…there’s a real opening up of the sound and soundstage for me.

I’m sure many will know this album and many of the tunes therein. It kicks off with a the Fats Waller/Andy Razaf tune “Honeysuckle Rose” with an absolutely glorious arrangement and Ella’s scat style adding a great touch to the tune. This is big band jazz and whilst it may well be from 1963 it doesn’t seem at all dated and that is indeed true for the rest of the album. More »

Empyrean Isles was recorded in 1964, released on the Blue Note label, established Hancock as a serious artist and is now available on hi rez format (this copy came from HighRes Audio in Germany)

The album contains two of Hancock’s most famous compositions –  “One Finger Snap” and the brilliant “Cantaloupe Island” which is one of my favourite tunes of all time.

Recorded by Rudy Van Gelder, players on the album are Herbie Hancock on piano, Freddie Hubbard on cornet, Ron Carter on bass and Tony Williams on drums and all push themselves to their limits. More »

Out 27^th January on the Kompakt label Pop ambient 2014 is the 14^th instalment of this series of albums presided over by label head honcho Wolfgang Voigt.

Pop Ambient kicks off with “The God of Pads” Ulf Lohmann who’s had a six year hiatus and it would appear he’s back in fine form with the wonderfully dreamy “Sicht” and the tune that finishes off the record PCC. Both are majestic offerings that carry you along on a wave of lush pads and are an apt pairing to open and close this album.

Mikkel Metal’s “Patience” introduces percussion and beats of sorts with slightly disturbing noisescapes over the top – this is a little reminiscent of a lite version of Ben Frosts “By the Throat” album in that it explores similar territories only in a less menacing way. More »

Like me, the name Leon Haywood may well be a new one to you but don’t let that stop you from reading further because this one is a bit of a hidden gem. Haywood is best known for his crossover hit “I Want’a Do Something Freaky To You” from 1975 which has been sampled by Public Enemy, Dr Dre, Redman, Aaliyah, 50 Cent, Mariah Carey and others.

He was born in Houston, Texas and he’s had a pretty wide and varied musical career including him accompanying Guitar Slim on piano when he was still a teenager, playing keyboards in Sam Cooke’s band and playing on a number of one hit wonder bands’ tunes. His first solo hit on Decca records was “It’s Got To Be Mellow” which reached the giddy heights of #21 in 1967.

So from an artist that I’d heard nothing about previously I was a little taken aback to hear that Naturally was actually his ninth studio album, was originally released in 1980 on the Century Fox label and was at the time his most successful release reaching #22 in the R&B charts. More »