The Lords of The New Church - The Lords of The New Church 1982

Although their roots were in punk rock, their debut album announced to the world that the Lords of the New Churchwere not your average punk band. They had ambitions: they would be the last beacon of truth in a world nearing its end. And while you can't call The Lords of the New Church entirely successful -- for every high point like "Open Your Eyes" or "Russian Roulette" there's a clunker like "Portobello" or "Eat Your Heart Out" -- you can't fault their effort. Guitarist Brian James and the Tregunna/Turner rhythm section provide a wide-screen setting, with guest musicians adding synths and horns to the guitar bass, and drums foundation. But the face, mouth, and heart of the Lords wasStiv Bators, who casts himself here in the role of rock & roll poet/preacher/prophet. He was no Bob Dylan, to be sure, but on The Lords of the New Church Bators demonstrates lyrical maturity surprising to anyone who ever heard Dead Boys songs like "I Need Lunch." Consider these few lines from "New Church," which may not be high art, but make their point and also serve as a neat summary of the Lords ethos: "Truth can't be found on the television/Throw away youth ya gotta take a stand/Music is your only weapon/Spanners in the works go start your gang...." Lords of the New Church is very much an artifact of the Reagan era and somewhat dated in its approach, but Bators' core message of personal freedom, and the fervor and sincerity with which he delivered it, have retained their resonance across the years. AMG.

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Purple Overdose - Indigo 1990

The bands sophmore album - Indigo - was released in 1990, again on Pegasus Records and sporting a Salvadore Dali painting on the cover. Still a quartet, joining Constantinou and Triantaphilopoulos were two new members: Andreas Andriopoulos on bass and Aris Kontoangelos on keyboards. Better production, a fuller sound, and rife with progressive rock influences, Indigo showcases a band that had clearly developed and matured in both composition and musicianship in the two years since Exit #4.

A much welcome element of Indigo is the inclusion of more instrumental passages and even an entire instrumental track in the form of "Suite For A Sunshine Day". One of the more prog rock oriented songs on the album, the music moves through multiple themes, touching on bits of trippy jazz and includes some organ sounds that will make fans of late 60's/early 70's prog-psych drool. "Moonlight Sunshine" is a floating psychedelic song with dancey, almost tribal rhythms and includes a beautiful singing guitar solo. "Cosmic Ladder" is a sweeping mildly acidic song with yet another seductive guitar solo from Costas and mind-bending organ from Aris. "Golden Eyes" is a standout song being an easy-paced journey with shimmering guitar blasts and slow cosmic solos.

The music reaches subtle levels of intensity but gently cradles the listener at all times. "Rain Without Storm" is another flowing prog-psych song with a Renaissance sound and flute embellishment from guest Tolis Labouris. "White Colours" is an excellent song that sets a psychedelic Beat jazzy groove lead by the organ and another flute contribution from Labouris. Finally, "(shady reflections at the) Magic Forest" features more Renaissance influences including violin and harpsichord. The band then take off into one of the heaviest rockin jams on the album that closes the set on ultra high note. Thanks to psychspaniolos.blogspot.pt!

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Mademoiselle K - Jamais La Paix 2008

Produced by Ken Allardyce (Green Day, Weezer) and Laurent Binder, Jamais la Paix is the second album from the French rock outfit fronted by Katerine Gierak, Mademoiselle K. Following debut Ca Ma Vexe, essentially a solo project for the Chrissie Hynde-esque vocalist, this 2008 release is the first LP recorded with permanent bandmembers, guitarist Pierre-Antoine Combard, bassist Pierre-Louis Basset, and drummer David Boutherre, and includes the singles "Maman Xy" and "Grave." AMG.

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Majid Bekkas - African Gnaoua Blues 2006

Abdelmajid Bekkas was born and still lives in Sale, Morocco. He learnt ‘gnawa’ music through the teachings of the master Ba Houmane. Gnawa's intact purity is the essence of authenticity.
This secular music, whose roots go back to the 16th century, is one of the origins of blues music, and is still considered the ‘healer of souls’, in Morocco - easily understandable when you listen to the spellbinding sound of Bekkas' voice, guembri, oud and guitar. This entrancing album was recorded in May 2002, with Bekkas accompanied by Rachid Zeroual on flute and cavala, and Khalid Kouhen, percussions - with guest guitarists : Marc Lelangue and Paolo Radoni.

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Malka Family - Tous Des Oufs 1992

Excellent french funk group from the nineties, nice compositions and does works fine, give it a try!

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Kas Product - Try Out 1981

An inspired blend of the murkily primitive and crisply cool, KaS Product's debut album relies on a partnership that seems initially to make little sense but quickly becomes something really special. Mona Soyoc's voice almost instantly calls Siouxsie Sioux to mind, equally strong and passionate and sometimes using cryptic or archetypal imagery instead of flat description, but it never feels like a simple cloning, with catches and calls in her voice all her own. Her guitar work aims for the simple but effective: heavily flanged rumbles, quick solos, and melodies that have a skeletal, creepy feeling somewhere between the B-52's' demented surf and the Cramps' horror-shock. It's easily the match of any proto-goth work from around the same era -- check the aggressive riffing on "Countdown" and the downright evil noise she kicks up on the brilliant "So Young But So Cold" -- and on its own would deserve greater attention for Soyoc. Meanwhile, Spatsz's electronic work is brisk, bass-heavy, and effective at building up a quick, sudden hysteria not all that removed from Fourth Drawer Down-era Associates. Hearing the sudden swoop of synth moans on "Man of Time" and unearthly alien drones on "Digging in a Hole" just adds to the collapsing, careening atmosphere of the album. The resultant combination is so good it's almost a crime that KaS Product haven't gained more attention -- perhaps ironically they were too warm for electronic freaks and too chilly and futuristic for rock fiends. Other highlights are the easy swing of songs like "No Shame," a finger-snapping sashay down the boulevard (if the setting were Blade Runner, perhaps), and the feminist humor of "Underground Movie," complete with director's commands. The 2005 reissue adds the contents of the earlier Mind Seven and Take Me Tonight EPs. AMG.

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Me'shell Ndegéocello - The World Has Made Me The Man Of My Dreams 2007

Say what you will about bassist, songwriter, singer, bandleader, and arranger Me'Shell Ndegéocello, any box you attempt to put her into is not possibly big enough to hold her creativity and restless, unwieldy aesthetic vision. On "The Sloganeer: Paradise," a tune in which she equates the bland, complicit nature of blindly living modern life with committing suicide, she sings: "To know me is to know I love with/My imagination." It's a summation of her entire career thus far, and this album furthers that notion exponentially. The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams isNdegéocello's debut for Decca; it is wilder than Cookie: An Anthropological Mixtape, or her last recording, The Spirit Music Jamia: Dance of the Infidel. The latter set was a project that indulged her love of postmodern jazz and engaged in improvisation. She directed an ensemble that included Oliver Lake, Don Byron, Jack DeJohnette, Kenny Garrett,Ron Blake, Brandon Ross, Lalah Hathaway, Cassandra Wilson, and others. It walked a line between tight song-oriented material and longer jam-based tunes, and she didn't really sing on it. That's remedied here, and her sultry, smoky voice is heard on virtually every cut. Musically, this albums walks through walls. There are funky soul tunes whose backdrops are full of psychedelic music that would make the latter-day Jimi Hendrix smile in delight (think the material from Cry of Love). There are jazz-oriented tunes that slip toward pop, folk, and whole-tone folk songs. The lyrical content engages spiritual concerns and carnal love more often than not in the same song. And while she once more employs a wildly diverse collection of collaborators that include everyone from Ross and Lake to Pat Metheny,Oumou Sangare, Robert Glasper, Mike Severson, Daniel Jones, Doyle Bramhall, David Gilmore (not the one fromPink Floyd), James Newton, and Graham Haynes, she also cut two songs ("Evolution" and the bonus cut "Soul Spaceship"), playing all the instruments herself. So what does it sound like? The future arriving fully formed on the doorstep. It opens provocatively enough with noted American Muslim teacher and Islamic scholar Shiek Hamza Yusuf reciting the predictions of Mohammed to a backwash of Ross' guitar and ambient sounds. (Yusuf was the man who appeared with George W. Bush after 9/11 and denounced the attacks and all religious violence, and is working for a return to Islamic sciences as well as assisting Western governments in understanding Islamic culture and Muslims.) It moves into a rock & roll dreamscape called "Sloganeering: Paradise" awash in keyboards, a drummer playing drum and bass breaks that would make Prince jealous. "Evolution" is a spaced-out psychedelic dirge with few lyrics and a sound field worthy of Hendrix (and indeed her guitar playing is influenced in that direction). The sci-fi jazz of "Virgo," with Lake, Newton, and trombonist George McMullen, hovers and floats in vanguard space before turning into a dreamy pop song with acoustic guitars, synth washes, and samples but is held together with a gorgeous melody and vocal performance (and contains a funky little solo by Lake on alto saxophone). "Shirk" is a gorgeous spiritual duet between Sangare and Ndegéocello with Hervé Sambe and Metheny on acoustic guitars. Metheny also appears on "Article," the following cut with a guest appearance by Thandiswa Mazwai singing with Ndegéocello, but this time out she pops that bass of hers in response. It's a dizzying cut with shifting rhythms and textures, and call-and-response vocals that feel more like counterpoint as different sonic and textural motifs move across the front of the tune. All this and the record is just over halfway. The deep spirituality at work here has been present in Ndegéocello's work arguably since the beginning, but it has become more pronounced in recent years. That said, the beautiful and poetic expressions of desire as it encounters both flesh and the divine are soulful, without pretension or artifice. "Michelle Johnson" is a freewheeling exploration of electronic outer realms, tough guitar, and bass-heavy funk, with killer drum kit work by Deantoni Parks and hand percussion by Gilmar Gomes. The sonic treatments by Scott Mann and Chad Royce are all structure to fill the space around the artist's basslines and expressive belly-deep voice -- and you can be the judge as to which Michelle Johnson she's speaking of here. "Solomon" is among the most beautiful songs this woman has ever written. It is presented in a painterly way, illustrated and framed inside a warm bubbly electronic backdrop that gives way to languid melody, a spine-moving bassline that grooves low and slow on this futuristic soul lullaby. The official album closes with the completely out-to-lunch "Relief: A Stripper Classic," which is the true missing link between urban soul, heavy metal, and slow, downtempo funk -- all of it with a pronounced hook and refrain. "Soul Spaceship" is the place where Sly Stone, Amp Fiddler, and Millie Jackson meet in a big bass sci-fi wonderland presided over by Rick James and Teena Marie! The basslines and synth lines are huge, drum machines abound and skitter, and all the while Ndegéocello and Sy Smith make a beautifully grooving mess with the vocals. Ultimately, The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams, with its irony, sincerity, seeming contradiction, and elliptical paradox, is the most expansive, complex record yet released by this always provocative artist. It will take more than a single listen to warm up to, but once you actually take it in, it will be one of her recordings you go back to over and again because while it gives up its secrets slowly, it gives the listener something new each time too. Wild, visionary, and marvelously tough, this is a groover that will turn you inside out. AMG.

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Omar & The Howlers - The Screamin' Cat 2000

Although no new ground is covered on The Screamin Cat, Austin-based Omar and the Howlers simply continue to forge ahead, creating another energetic blues and boogie disc. Luckily, the Howlers have never stuck to one style of blues; they aren't purists, which allows plenty of room for a hopped-up mixture of swamp blues, Memphis soul, roots rock, and whatever else it takes to get their audience moving. Their party ethics are personified on The Screamin Cat by songs like "Party Girl," "Steady Rock," "Snake Oil Doctor," and the title track. Lead guitarist Omar Dykes' gravelly Howlin Wolf roar remains intact while Howler musical duties are shared by Bruce Jones on bass (three tracks); Rick Chilleri on drums (one track); Malcolm "Papa Mali" Welbourne on guitar, B-3, and bass; and B.E. "Frosty" Smith on drums, percussion, B-3, and Fender Rhodes. AMG.

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Kandia Kouyate - Biriko 2002

Few voices can truly command attention, but Kandia Kouyate is one of them. A Malian national treasure and quite possibly that country's greatest female singer, she's what her countrymen call a ngara, a person with almost supernatural powers. And from her singing, it's quite feasible that she possesses them; she not only exudes charisma, even on CD, but there's also a sense that she's barely using the extent of her gifts. This collection of her songs based in the Bambara tradition is acoustic, a perfect setting for her. In addition to standard instruments like djembe, the marimba-like balofon, guitar, and ngoni, flute features occasionally, as do Indian violin and saxophone (which sounds out of place, really). But this is a disc that plays one of its strongest cards at the opening of the first track, as guest guitarist Djelimady Tounkara, from the Super Rail Band, unleashes a jaw-dropping cascade of notes as the introduction to "San Barano" -- a minute's worth of playing that's worth the price of the album by itself. Richly and warmly produced by veteran Ibrahim Sylla, the ultimate aim is to showcase Kouyate, and that's what happens, from the raw, churning groove of "Tchegniba" to the rhythmically dense "Kadabila," where she seems to simply float over the rhythm. Apart from offering 11 tracks of superb music, this record proves that Kouyate is the equal of the best divas in the world -- and deserves the respect that goes along with it. AMG.

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Michael Jackson - Thriller 1982

Off the Wall was a massive success, spawning four Top Ten hits (two of them number ones), but nothing could have prepared Michael Jackson for Thriller. Nobody could have prepared anybody for the success of Thriller, since the magnitude of its success was simply unimaginable -- an album that sold 40 million copies in its initial chart run, withseven of its nine tracks reaching the Top Ten (for the record, the terrific "Baby Be Mine" and the pretty good ballad "The Lady in My Life" are not like the others). This was a record that had something for everybody, building on the basic blueprint of Off the Wall by adding harder funk, hard rock, softer ballads, and smoother soul -- expanding the approach to have something for every audience. That alone would have given the album a good shot at a huge audience, but it also arrived precisely when MTV was reaching its ascendancy, and Jackson helped the network by being not just its first superstar, but first black star as much as the network helped him. This all would have made it a success (and its success, in turn, served as a new standard for success), but it stayed on the charts, turning out singles, for nearly two years because it was really, really good. True, it wasn't as tight as Off the Wall -- and the ridiculous, late-night house-of-horrors title track is the prime culprit, arriving in the middle of the record and sucking out its momentum -- but those one or two cuts don't detract from a phenomenal set of music. It's calculated, to be sure, but the chutzpah of those calculations (before this, nobody would even have thought to bring in metal virtuoso Eddie Van Halen to play on a disco cut) is outdone by their success. This is where a song as gentle and lovely as "Human Nature" coexists comfortably with the tough, scared "Beat It," the sweet schmaltz of the Paul McCartney duet "The Girl Is Mine," and the frizzy funk of "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)." And, although this is an undeniably fun record, the paranoia is already creeping in, manifesting itself in the record's two best songs: "Billie Jean," where a woman claims Michael is the father of her child, and the delirious "Wanna Be Startin' Something," the freshest funk on the album, but the most claustrophobic, scariest track Jackson ever recorded. These give the record its anchor and are part of the reason why the record is more than just a phenomenon. The other reason, of course, is that much of this is just simply great music. AMG.

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Johnny Kidd & The Pirates - Rarities 1983

Kidd (b. Frederick Heath, 23 December 1939, Willesden, London, England, d. 7 October 1966, England), is now rightly revered as an influential figure in the birth of British rock. Although his backing group fluctuated, this enigmatic figure presided over several seminal pre- Beatles releases. Formed in January 1959, the original line-up consisted of two former members of the Five Nutters skiffle group, Kidd (lead vocals) and Alan Caddy (b. 2 February 1940, Chelsea, London, England, d. 16 August 2000; lead guitar), joined by Tony Docherty (rhythm guitar), Johnny Gordon (bass) and Ken McKay (drums), plus backing singers Mike West and Tom Brown. Their compulsive debut single, ‘Please Don’t Touch’ barely scraped into the UK Top 20, but it remains one of the few authentic home-grown rock ‘n’ roll performances to emerge from the 50s. Its immediate successors were less original and although they featured session men, most of Kidd’s group was then dropped in favour of experienced hands. By 1960, Kidd and Caddy were fronting a new rhythm section comprising Brian Gregg (bass) and Clem Cattini (b. 28 August 1939, London, England; drums). Their first single, ‘Shakin’ All Over’, was another remarkable achievement, marked by its radical stop/start tempo, Kidd’s feverish delivery and an incisive lead guitar solo from session man Joe Moretti. The song deservedly topped the charts, but its inspiration to other musicians was equally vital. Defections resulted in the formation of a third line-up - Kidd, Johnny Spence (bass), Frank Farley (drums) and Johnny Patto (guitar) - although the last was replaced by Mick Green. Onstage, the group continued to wear full pirate regalia while the singer sported a distinctive eye-patch, but they were under increasing competition from the emergent Liverpool sound. Two 1963 hits, ‘I’ll Never Get Over You’ and ‘Hungry For Love’, although memorable, owed a substantial debt to Merseybeat at the expense of the unit’s own identity. The following year, Green left to join the Dakotas, precipitating a succession of replacements, and although he continued to record, a depressed leader talked openly of retirement. However, the singer re-emerged in 1966, fronting the New Pirates, but Kidd’s renewed optimism ended in tragedy when, on 7 October, he was killed in a car crash.

This pivotal figure is remembered both as an innovator and for the many musicians who passed through his ranks. John Weider (the Animals and Family), Nick Simper (Deep Purple) and John Moorshead (also spelled Moreshead and Morshead) are a few of those who donned the requisite costume, while the best-known line-up, Green, Spence and Farley, successfully re-established the Pirates name during the late 70s. AMG.

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Dudley Perkins - Holy Smokes 2009

On "E&R," left-field rapper -- and that's deep left-field -- Dudley Perkins looks around the room and notices "We gotta lotta fake people here this evening." "We gonna expose and remove" he continues, and then proceeds to chant down the walls of Babylon by calling out John McCain, Louis Farrakhan, Miss Cleo, and many others, all over a broken version of the George Clinton beat courtesy of the album's sole producer, Georgia Anne Muldrow. Besides these ghosts that the track exorcises Lee "Scratch" Perry-style, there isn't a lick of "fake" on Holy Smokes, an album that shares its release date with Muldrow's own Umsindo. Both are inaugural releases for the duo's own SomeOthaShip label and are accordingly free of outside influence, allowing Perkins to follow any of his ideas down the funky rabbit hole while letting the conspiracy theories fly, like on the apocalyptic "Chem Trails" ("Look ma/In the sky/They tryin' to kill us"). The skits and interludes are plentiful and, in the case of this free-flowing album, essential while falling into the categories of either far-out poems or terrifying political rants. Perkins' stream-of-consciousness lyrics are in overdrive and often nostalgic for the funky and boogie-filled slang of the '70s, but his unwillingness to connect is as firm as ever, something that's underlined twice when "Understandment" spits "If you can't understand this/This ain't for you." Holy Smokes is as strange and otherworldly as the Tokio Aoyama cover it sports, and when you add Muldrow's off-kilter funk as the base along with the decline of Western civilization as the inspiration, this could easily be consideredPerkins' most difficult album to date. It's also his most rewarding, growing with every listen and revealing its secrets little by little. AMG.

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Los Lobos - Acoustic en Vivo 2005

While maintaining their tenure with Mammoth Records for frontline, English-language, studio recordings, Los Loboslaunch their own independent record label with the release of Acoustic en Vivo. The band that began its career with the self-released 1978 album, Just Another Band from East L.A., repeats that formula here and also follows up its Grammy Award-winning 1988 LP of Mexican folk music, La Pistola y el Corazon on a disc that is well described by its title: the performances are acoustic and live, and the language is Spanish, for the most part. Exceptions include two songs from Kiko, "Two Janes" and "Saint Behind the Glass," plus the previously unheard "Teresa," all sung in English. Other selections derive from other earlier albums, such as "El Cuchipe" and "Guantanamera," which appeared on Just Another Band from East L.A.; "La Guacamaya" and the title song from La Pistola y el Corazon; "Maricela" fromColossal Head; and "Volver, Volver," which appeared on the compilation album Just Another Band from East L.A.: A Collection. There are also several other newly recorded songs, among them the rousing opener, "Canto a Veracruz." Of course, the band plays this music enthusiastically and effectively, ranging from guitarron-driven Tejano numbers to the R&B/rock & roll-styled "Volver, Volver." The live aspect is de-emphasized by including only sparse applause, but the vivacity of the band makes up for that. In their commercial heyday, Los Lobos were able to include their ethnic side more prominently on their mainstream releases; now they're back to putting out this kind of music themselves, but it's still an important part of their sound. AMG.

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