New York klezmer band The Klezmatics are celebrating their 40th anniversary and that includes a (first-time) vinyl release of absolutely their best album, Rhythm & Jews, originally issued in 1991. Full of energy and innovation, it simultaneously holds a respect for the traditions alongside a fearless attitude towards breaking them. The punning name of the album is also symptomatic of the ensemble’s irreverent approach. The vinyl version has only 10 out of 15 tracks with a few alternative takes, although nothing profoundly different.
The opening ‘Fun tashlikh’ starts with percussion, and Nubian percussionist Mahmoud Fadl gives it an Arabic flavour, immediately subverting stereotypes. Then there’s David Krakauer’s…
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In 1957, nearly seven decades before Babau’s new “post-exoticism” album The Sludge of the Land, bandleader Martin Denny released an album called Exotica. At a time when the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom was still in living memory, the NYC-born composer and his band were under contract with “tiki culture” maven Don the Beachcomber at a Hilton hotel in Honolulu, where they’d developed a style of easy-listening music that incorporated animal sounds, Latin pop influences, and a mish-mash of traditional instruments like shamisen and gamelan from Asia and Polynesia. The new sound became a global fad, even in the locales that exotica artists fantasized about. The Japanese band Yellow Magic Orchestra, who pioneered the use of…
This is the soundtrack for the acclaimed Netflix documentary Cover-Up, co-directed by Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus centered on Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh.
The film’s subject Hersh is best known for breaking controversial stories about the US Military, particularly its actions in the Vietnam War and the Iraq War.
Rooted in analogue sound, the score for Cover-Up weaves Eurorack modular recordings, guitar feedback, typewriter samples, organ, brass, and live strings processed through tape into an evolving sonic landscape. The analogue textures converse with the film’s archival language, while the interplay between analogue and digital mediums mirrors the temporal reach of the story,…
1. Pullman – Kabul
2. Melody’s Echo Chamber – The House That…
3. Dry Cleaning – Let Me Grow and You’ll See…
4. Courtney Marie Andrews – Little Picture of …
5. Imarhan – Azaman Amoutay
6. Daniel Knox – Middle Names
7. Juliana Hatfield – My House Is Not My…
8. Wednesday Knudsen – Paillettes
9. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Joy (Live)
10. Langhorne Slim – On Fire
11. Sleaford Mods – The Good Life
12. The Damned – See Emily Play
13. Jana Horn – All In Bet
14. Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore – Melted…
15. Kahil El’Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble – Summertime
For Kid Kapichi, this fourth album marks a bold new chapter. Now a duo, after founding members Ben Beetham and George Macdonald stepped away, but recorded with them, it feels like a satisfying farewell, whilst ushering in this new beginning for the now two-piece.
Despite Kapichi’s reputation for political spit and fury, Fearless Nature swerves expectation. The rage is still there, but it’s been redirected inward. This is an introspective record, preoccupied with frontman Jack Wilson’s mental wellbeing during a time of deep depression and questioning what the meaning of his existence is. The band call it their “softest but heaviest” work yet, both atmospherically restrained and lyrically crushing. Mercurial opener Leader Of The Free World sets the tone brilliantly.
Working with his co-producer-and-arranger Gilad Ronen and four vision-sharing instrumentalists, acoustic bass guitarist Yosef Gutman Levitt has once again crafted a spiritually enriching collection. Spread across forty-four minutes, the ten settings on Resisei Lyla (fragments of night) are succinct in their expression yet no less powerful for being so. The album’s sound won’t be unfamiliar to listeners conversant with the South African-born and Jerusalem-based composer’s music as three of his collaborators, pianist Omri Mor, cellist Yoed Nir, and classical guitarist Tal Yahalom, appeared with him on 2023’s The World and Its People. The chemistry they shared on that release remains firmly in place on the new set but now with percussionist Itamar Doari included,…
Renowned drummer Antonio Sanchez again finds himself in an unconventional trio after convening last year’s BEATrio with Bela Fleck and Edmar Casteneda. This time, Sanchez collaborates with conquero/vocalist Pedrito Martinez and the multi-instrumentalist leader of Snarky Puppy, Michael League, in a rare configuration that features two percussionists and League’s array of instruments. Their mission is to unite cultures and musical genres, not unlike Sanchez’s previous project. Here, however, at play are African ethnic groups that speak Bantu languages, the Calabar culture of Nigeria, and the Yoruban chants of Cuba, transformed into contemporary dance music and today’s jazz. As you may know, Sanchez hails from Mexico City, Martinez from Havana, Cuba…
…newly remastered by East of Lincoln Productions and Blind Owl Records.
Pigus, Drunkus, Maximus was recorded in 1981 but not released until 1987, soon went out of print and has been unavailable for years. A popular attraction on the Los Angeles club scene in the 1980s, Top Jimmy and the Rhythm Pigs counted Van Halen singer David Lee Roth and Tom Waits among their fans, as well as their peers on the L.A. club scene, such as X, the Blasters, Maria McKee of Lone Justice and the Dream Syndicate’s Steve Wynn.
It was Wynn who originally released the album on his own Down There label, but it’s been out of print for nearly 40 years.
…From the R&B-infused opening track, “Dance with Your Baby”, to the electrifying and…
The Sha La Das leave a mid-century trail: falsetto croons, soft romantic lyrics, seething basslines and harmonies, lots of harmonies. It comes from the larger retro Daptone universe, though producer Tom Brenneck (the Budos Band, Menahan Street Band, Sharon Jones, etc.) now releases records through his own Diamond West label. Like most of the bands Brenneck has been involved with, this one mines an archaic vibe, in this case, the elaborately arranged, silky vocal arrangements of classic 1940s and 1950s doo wop, but it is too full of life to feel like a museum piece.
The band is a family affair, headed by papa Bill Schalda and filled out by his three sons, Paul, Will and Carmine. Shared genetics may explain, at least in part, why their voices meld so…
…features three new tracks.
Like John Prine and Jerry Jeff Walker before him, Hayes Carll has made a career out of blending mellow, infectious acoustic folk with sharp, often humorous portraits of everyday people. But on We’re Only Human, his 10th studio album, one of the first things you’ll notice is that Carll has turned that same wit inward, making himself the subject of his own storytelling.
“The record was inspired by a desire to start listening to my inner voice rather than running from it. The songs are my way of solidifying the lessons I’ve learned, not because I have all the answers, but because I need the reminder that we’re all only human.” And he doesn’t go easy on himself, aiming his humorous takes on his own…
It’s in the nature of Jana Horn’s music to creep up on you. Just when you think you’re dealing with some pretty straightforward singer-songwriter fare, she’ll slip in a reminder that something more complex and more interesting is going on just beneath the surface. When it seems like melodic prettiness is the order of the day, a lyrical barb will lodge itself under your skin, or a brief passage of uncanny avant-pop will blindside you. Perhaps this is why her music is so difficult to pin down: her second album, The Window is a Dream (2023), saw her singing compared to Greta Kline, Nick Drake and Broadcast’s Trish Keenan and her sound described as country, jazz and post-folk. All of that is true, but none of it is quite sufficient, because Horn occupies an in-between…
Dreams can be either of two things: alluring or fleeting. It can either pull you into its fascinating details, stirring enough to stick with you for quite some time. Or it just washes over you, where hazy moments can be observed, but feel like there’s not much to glean at the end of it all. Sassy 009’s newest project, Dreamer+, falls under both edges. Carrying an intriguingly amorphous character to its soundscapes, yet simultaneously never fully embracing its capabilities.
Take the meditative, atmospheric rock of “Tell Me”. Its moody presentation and Sunniva Lindgård’s airy singing eventually bring Blood Orange into the fray. His voice nestles well within the song’s atmosphere, yet the track just ends there, like a faint breeze that glides across. Its impact…
Despite only being in his twenties, Cavetown, aka Robbie Skinner, boasts a large discography – five studio albums, a live album, several EP’s, and more – each track detailing a phase of his life with disarming honesty. From the palpable teen angst in his first two albums, to the soothing sense of self-acceptance in his 2022 album, worm food, Skinner never shies away from exposing every part of himself. His sixth studio album, ‘Running With Scissors’, is no different.
Cavetown’s discography tells a tale of growth, with Running with Scissors at the forefront, exhibiting a new chapter in his life – one of self-assurance and self-expansion.
Using his introspective lyrical talent to shine light on happier experiences, Skinner…
Ya Tseen is a continually evolving musical collaboration guided by Nicholas Galanin/Yeil Ya Tseen. Born into the Sitka Tribe of Alaska (Tlingit) Galanin is L’uknax.ádi (Raven Coho clan). He began learning music from his father, Dei Kee Tla Tin (Dave Galanin, 1955-2021), an accomplished Blues guitarist who performed under the name Strummin’ Dog. In 2013, Galanin was in a serious boat accident while returning home from a hunting trip that broke his back and ribs. He recalls the stars overhead as he was airlifted from the boat, connecting him to his earliest memory of looking up at the night sky, and his connection to Land. Galanin has returned to this experience of intense connection to Land throughout his career; in many ways, it guides his creative practice.
Minneapolis-based folk rockers, The Pines, have always been led by the insightful songwriting of David Huckfelt. On I Was Born, But…, we don’t get his songwriting; instead, we get inspired interpretations of mostly lesser-known works by a wide range of North American songwriters. In some respects, the album reads much like Dylan’s Self-Portrait. In fact, both have a version of Gordon Lightfoot’s classic “Early Morning Rain.” That, along with George Jones’s “The Race Is On,’ and Bo Diddley’s “Who Do You Love?” are by far the most recognizable in this group of fifteen. And speaking of Dylan, I find similarities to the Duluth bard’s vocals with Huckfelt, which is rather interesting, considering I had never made such an observation through Huckfelt’s work with The Pines…
Mel, the second East River Pipe album released by Merge Records, will be reissued on vinyl this January as the label’s first entry in the Secretly Society. Going beyond bringing a long out-of-print classic back to wax, the reissue represents the first time Mel has been available in full on any physical format, as “Spotlight,” exclusive to Merge’s 1996 LP and CD, is joined here by “The Way They Murdered Me” and “Miracleland,” which were exclusive to the Shinkansen CD issued outside of North America.
Like all of East River Pipe’s output, Mel was written, performed, recorded, and mixed by F.M. Cornog on a Tascam 388 mini-studio at his home, which was then a small apartment in Astoria, Queens.
Within that space, he conjures nothing less than the fullness of life beyond it, the characters…
London’s groundbreaking psychedelic pioneers, still led by founder Paul Rudolph along with former Hawkwind bassist and Lemmy protegé Alan Davey, return for a brand new album Covered In Pink cover songs. The Fairies tear into some of the classic rock’s biggest monuments from “American Woman” to “Mississippi Queen” to “Baby’s On Fire” and “Communication Breakdown” PLUS a brand new version of their proto-punk hit “Do It” and original tune. Includes special guest appearances by Nik Turner (Hawkwind co-founder), Michael Moorcock (Hawkwind) and Danny Faulkner (Pre-Med).
The excessive, drug-fueled Pink Fairies grew out of the Deviants, a loose-knit band formed in 1967 by members of the West London hippie commune Ladbroke Grove.
Amanda Bergman has long been one of Sweden’s most quietly powerful singer-songwriters. Her best work to date, Your Hand Forever Checking On My Fever, was only just released in 2024, making it a fantastic surprise to receive embraced for a second as we die so soon afterwards.
Where Bergman previously folded her vulnerabilities into folksy arrangements, here she leans into a soft-rock warmth.
Songs like ‘grasp’ feature unashamedly ’80s arrangements, big open road melodies and hooks that feel almost Californian, somewhere between the glow of Dylan’s Infidels and the clean, sun-soaked sound of HAIM.
These songs exist in the space between despair and consolation. The grief-stricken never…
Nashville-by-way-of-Philly musician Langhorne Slim has released more than half a dozen records blending folk, Americana, and the occasional indie-pop song. But five years after Strawberry Mansion — a deeply personal, post-pandemic record that in part documented his journey to sobriety, delivered through often delicately beautiful musical movements — he has found his way to a louder amp and strapped on an electric guitar for his next offering.
Appropriately enough, he’s tapped producer Sam F. Kiszka, whose group Greta Van Fleet is one of the biggest guitar bands of the past decade. The result is a surprisingly natural evolution for Slim, keeping his deep lyrics at the core of these songs.
Even the recording process was a step out…
…The remixed and remastered expanded edition of ‘Whichever Way You Are Going, You Are Going Wrong’ includes ten previously unreleased bonus tracks presented as a ‘mini’ album.
Whichever Way You Are Going, You Are Going Wrong is the debut album by the London-based duo Woo. Originally issued on the Sunshine Series imprint in May 1982, it was subsequently picked up for a 1987 US release by the LA-based Independent Project Records label. After this, Woo’s second album, It’s Cosy Inside, came out in 1989 on Independent Project Records. There was no UK version of the follow-up album back then; a US reissue on Drag City followed in 2012.
When Whichever Way You Are Going, You Are Going Wrong appeared in the UK in 1982,…