Thompson Twins were another band from the early to mid 80s that pretty much completely passed me by. Of course I know some of their tunes by name like We Are Detective, Doctor! Doctor! and Hold Me Now, but as the interview with Tom Bailey on the sleeve notes says “ music was more tribal […]
Goblin are an Italian progressive rock band that are perhaps best known for their work on film soundtracks, though I have to confess they are a new name to me. Beyond The Darkness is an anthology of the second half of the career of the band and spans the dates 1977 – 2001 where a […]
In 2011 Chicago resident Sarah Marie Young won the Shure Montreux Vocal competition judged by Quincy Jones and used the prize, a week at the Balik farm Studio in Switzerland, to record her first album of original material, but now she’s signed to Dutch label SnipRecords and has just released her new album Little Candy […]
I must confess that I missed out on the first wave of punk, but I do distinctly remember seeing a copy of the Sniffin’ Glue fanzine, for which Alternative TVs Mark P was the founding editor, brought into school by one of the cool kids. I also had a couple of Sex Pistol records. Mark […]
There’s a fantastic amount of great electronic music coming out of South America at the moment and here we’ve got Brazilian Gui Boratto, once a member of the band Sect, adding to that output with his album Abaporu. The opening lines of the first track immediately put me in mind of William Orbit and this […]
The Turn by Jerome Sabbagh was recorded live by James Farber at Sear Sound, New York City on June 6th 2013 to analogue tape and on this Bee Jazz release from HIGHRESAUDIO it really shows. This is a really fantastic recording in the true tradition of jazz music. There is spontaneity and freedom within the […]
Born in Durban, South Africa in 1974 the violinist Daniel Hope moved to London as a child as his parents escaped the apartheid regime, and this is sort of the starting point for Escape To Paradise (released 18th August).
This album arrived a good while ago and I was really excited when it did as I was a bit of a fan of the Hippy Slags back in the festival days and as readers will know a huge fan of Hawkwind with who Bridget Wishart performed on Space Bandits, Palace Springs, California Brainstorm and […]
Ok, so the sleeve note’s are telling me that Matchbox were one of the most successful singles bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s, but I must confess that their popularity hit its peak just as my interest in the charts was waning and as a result they’re a new one on me. But […]
Bob James is regarded as one of the founding fathers of the smooth Jazz sound and has been heavily sampled in more recent years ( NWA, Run DMC, Soul II Soul, Missy Elliot and many more). He began his professional music career at age 8 playing piano for a tap dance class but also plays […]
él (via Cherry Red) are an interesting label that are putting out some pretty out there and unusual recordings. One flick through the titles of the tracks on Les Baxter’s Original Quiet Village album will give you a good indication that this is exotica as colourful as it comes; Shanghai Rickshaw, Deep Night and Gardens […]
Gasoline, on the excellent Comeme is the labels very first compilation and by crikey it’s a good one…very much my kind of music. For those that don’t know Comeme it’s a label that has been making all the right noises for me for a year or so now with its pared down, acidic-tribal-techno grooves.
Regular readers will be well aware of my love of the Kompakt label and it’s pretty rare that I don’t absolutely love everything that gets released on rhe Berlin imprint. Here we have number 14 in the popular compilation series Total.
The Brazilian Scene is a collection of tunes from Antonio Carlos Jobim with Herbie Mann (“One Note Samba”), Baden Powell with Herbie Mann (“Consolacao”), Zé Maria with George Ben, Gilberto Gil, Luiz Bonfa (“Murmurio”), Radamés Gnattali and Heitor Villa-Lobos all with a laid-back Brazilian theme which is just perfect for the long awaited summer. Brazilian […]