Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Up from Below 2009

"40 Day Dream," the Motown-infused, OutKast-inspired, heavily orchestrated "Beatlesque" soul jam that opens Up from Below, serves as a pretty good litmus test for what follows. Listeners who are put off by the robe-wearingPolyphonic Spree's cultish glazed-eye self-help anthems or cringe when they hear the Mamas & the Papas' "Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon" would be advised to get off the magic bus early, as Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros have crafted a love letter to Laurel Canyon and all of its quasi-mystic juju that is as infuriatingly contrived and retro as it is forward-thinking and majestic. Formed in 2007 by Ima Robot frontman Alex Ebert, the mammoth 11-piece outfit embraces "the Summer of Love" with enough period beards, fonts, and Eastern mysticism to launch a thousand "Magical Mystery Tours," but despite all of the analog equipment and peacenik grandstanding, standout tracks like "Home," "Desert Song," and the aforementioned "40 Day Dream" sweep you up in their grandeur like a patchouli tornado and dare you to take your clothes off and jump in the lake with them. AMG.

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Barry Adamson - Back To The Cat 2008

Throughout his solo career, Barry Adamson has relentlessly pursued a muse that appeared on his first full-length solo offering, Moss Side Story, released in 1989 -- six full years before David Holmes' This Film's Crap, Let's Slash the Seats. At that time, Adamson began composing and recording his influential "soundtrack in search of a film" strategy. He's composed scores for a number of cinematic works as well; most notably David Lynch's Lost Highway. Adamson's seven previous full-lengths approached notions of noir, lounge, rock, funk, soul-jazz, and blues, with a gleefully morose, playfully grotesque, and comic book-like sense of violence, in a new mythology. With 2006'sStranger on the Sofa, Adamson took to handling many instrumental and sound sculpting responsibilities without much help. Back to the Cat is, in some ways a full-circle return to the motivating factors behind Moss Side Story -- named for the violent part of Manchester he grew up in -- and the EP that preceded it, The Man with the Golden Arm. The previous records were both deeply referential composed works indulging cinematic obsessions Adamson has held all his life. Here, he gathers those experiences as a composer, and adds the depth and breadth of an accomplished songwriter as well. Here, Adamson plays a slew of instruments, does most of the arrangements, and produces, creates, and edits his own samples. He also recruited some excellent help: a four-piece horn section, and a rhythm section with Nick Plytas on B-3 and piano, bassist Iain Ross, and swinging drummer Johnny Machin.Back to the Cat is a collection of delightfully sleazy songs and interludes that meld lounge jazz, Rat Pack pop, roots rock, and spy movie/noir thriller film themes. We get to accompany his protagonists through an aural cinema comprised of obsessive yet likeable if odious archetypes: guttersnipe hustlers, spies, junkies, sexual predators, victims, and musical, literary, and cultural heroes.

The brooding synth and drum kit, the slow, West Side Story-esque finger pops, and the snaky little oboe-like phrase introduce the opener, "The Beaten Side of Town." Adamson's narrator appears here too. His voice is a decadent cross between Scott Walker imitating Jacques Brel and interpreting Frank Sinatra singing Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht! What's so utterly beguiling about Adamson's vocal ability is that he delivers a terminal hipster's cool in the heart of darkness in a dirty, smoky, dingy and dangerous blind pig. His last words in this raucous jazz number are ironic: "The beaten side of town/And I'm goin down." They're almost a growl, as this keeper of the netherworld -- a low-life Orpheus -- opens the gates to a nocturnal adventure where everything's turned on its head. Adamson's protagonist knows the way even if he can't predict the outcome. "Shadow of Death Hotel" has funky, loping rock guitar meets Memphis soul in a heat-seeking B-3, bass, drums, and horns going on. Halfway through it becomes a balls-out garage rocker helmed by an evil, Elvis worshipping hepcat, before it shapeshifts again into a flute-driven soul-jazz groover. But it's a really a broken crooner's love song! "Walk on Fire" contains fat, funky, wah-wah guitars and stinging horns; they advertise brazen sexual neediness in the lyric. It sounds like Duane Eddy playing with John Barry with Lux Interior on vocals. The acid-drenched Serge Gainsbourg-esque jazz of "Psycho_Sexual," brings the bleary-eyed dawn in the aftermath of a night's wild excess; it signals the end of Adamson's orgiastic journey of a night on the beaten side of town. Back to the Cat is a mind-blowing work of musical sophistication. Adamson is a startlingly gifted storyteller -- in sound, word, and mythology, both arcane and contemporary. His achievement is worlds beyond what most songwriters/composers could accomplish in a career, let alone a single album. AMG.

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Dead Skeletons - Dead Magick 2011

Brian Johnstown Massacre frontman Anton Newcombe has earned his stripes in combining blues, spiritualism and psychedelia. His popularity took a boost following the controversial documentary Dig (2004) in which his love/rival relationship with Courtney Taylor of Dandy Warhols was brought into the public gaze.

The Dead Skeletons have offered a suitable new vehicle in which Anton Newcombe rides alongside Jón Sæmundur, Henrik Björnsson and Ryan Carlson Van Kriedt from Reykjavik. They take Tibetan Buddhism (Lamaism), mantras, death, spirtualism and forge it into something that borders many fringes, it’s difficult not to get sucked into it. This album illuminates the fact that magick – as well as music – is far from “dead.” In fact, Dead Magick is a vibrant collection of mystical meanderings through space, time, and all that is. Dead Magick formulates and communicates dynamic concepts, as well as illustrates them via the oldest form of human expression: music.

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V.A. - Zydeco The Essential Collection 2002

As part of Rounder's 30th anniversary celebration, this album collects the finest zydeco available on the label within the last 30 years. As Rounder is one of the premier forces in archiving traditional musics, the liner notes are outstanding, with a nice history of the genre paying heed to the original innovators. Having paid the proper dues to the founders of zydeco, it proceeds to throw the listener into a musical collage of the more previous material (that which has been available on Rounder, that is). This newer material is essentially split stylistically into the followers of Clifton Chenierand those of Boozoo Chavis. In the Chenier camp are Nathan Williams, Lynn August, Li'l Brian Terry, and the outstanding Buckwheat Zydeco. In Boozoo Chavis' camp is Beau Jocque, among others. Every aspect of the genre is covered in some manner or another here, with the high-energy party zydeco of Buckwheat Zydeco, the funk-influencedBeau Jocque, the more Cajun end of it in Steve Riley, and the Delafose family providing numbers. There's even a nod to the founder, Amede Ardoin, in a couple of songs with his descendants, Chris and Sean Ardoin, who show off some incredible accordion work along the way. Throughout the album, it's a rollicking affair as the party-makers from throughout southern Louisiana make appearances with a song or two. As far as zydeco collections go, this is an outstanding one with all the necessary bases touched upon. For the newcomer, then, it's a wonderful album. For the initiated, it's still a good album for its breadth, though single albums by a number of the artists might serve as a longer lesson in the history of the genre. AMG.

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Bumcello - Animal Sophistiqué 2005

Sometimes classified simplistically as trip-hop, Bumcello is a downtempo electronica duo from Paris, France, whose wide-ranging music draws from groove-driven styles such as jazz and left-field house as well as dub reggae and hip-hop. Comprised of producers Vincent Ségal and Cyril Atef, who perform most of the music themselves, Bumcellomade their full-length album debut in 1999 with Bumcello on the independent label Comet Records. Their second album, Booty Time (2001), comprised in part of a live performance on public radio station France Musique, was released on the label Signature - Radio France. In 2002 they advanced to their third label, Tôt ou Tard, a prestigious subsidiary of Warner Music France, and released Nude for Love (2002), a sample-free effort featuring notable guests such as Mathieu Chédid (aka M) on "Death in Brest" and Lateef the Truth Speaker, Gift of Gab, and Chief Xcel on "Beautiful You." A long tour of Europe with Chédid followed along with the accompanying double live album Get Me(2003). Successive albums Animal Sophistiqué (2005) and Lychee Queen (2008) on Tôt ou Tard were well received and, reaching numbers 198 and 159 on the French albums chart, marked the steadily growing popularity of Bumcello. AMG. Thanks to MFP.

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Bruce Forman With Joe Henderson - Forman On The Job 1992

Guitarist Bruce Forman's second CD for the small San Francisco-based Kamei label features him with bassist John Clayton, drummer Vince Lateano, and sometimes percussionist John Santos, plus guests. Pianist Mark Levine is on eight of the 11 tracks, tenor great Joe Henderson helps out on four, and steel drummer Andy Narell drops by for two. Although there are three Forman originals and one by Clayton ("Angels Just Are"), the emphasis is on bop-era tunes, including Bud Powell's "Un Poco Loco," "A Night in Tunisia," and a swinging "I Concentrate on You." The beautiful "Autumn Nocturne" is a high point. AMG.

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Eric Burdon & Robbie Krieger - Detroit Tapes 1990

Around Eric Burdon and Robbie Krieger get together and made some live dates, and here we can enjoy the encounter of such great personnalities of the 60/70' rock scene. Hard to find. Enjoy.

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Crazy Horse - Left For Dead 1989

In 1987, Crazy Horse mainstays Ralph Molina and Billy Talbot had a falling-out with their perennial employer, Neil Young, who, in his mercurial way, had decided to organize a horn-filled R&B band called the Bluenotes. Crazy Horseguitarist Frank Sampedro stayed on with Young to play keyboards, but drummer Molina and bassist Talbot were not part of the new ensemble. They responded by organizing yet another new lineup of Crazy Horse. Left for Dead, the fifthCrazy Horse album in 18 years (and the first in 11), its title seeming an unmistakable allusion to the treatment received from Young, is also the fifth Crazy Horse album with a different frontline of musicians. Molina and Talbot are in place as ever, but there is a new lead singer, rhythm guitarist, and primary songwriter, Sonny Mone, and a new lead guitarist, Matt Piucci, formerly of the Rain Parade. Nevertheless, the style of the music much of the time strongly recalls Neil Young & Crazy Horse, particularly in the 1975-1987 Sampedro era. The opening tracks, "Left for Dead" and "Child of War," very much display the harsh, guitar-heavy approach of Young with Crazy Horse, albeit without Young's distinctive voice and lyrics. Mone, like Young, has a high, strained tenor, but it couldn't be mistaken for Young's, and of course his songwriting ability usually doesn't approach Young's, even though he is clearly influenced by Young. (For example, he borrows the phrase "Tin soldiers and Nixon" from Young's "Ohio" for "World of Love.") But the melodic, mid-tempo "I Could Never Lose Your Love" easily could be mistaken for a Young composition. And the primitive production (a press release admits that the disc sounds "like it was recorded in a mine shaft"), with lots of distortion and echo, also has that live-in-the-studio, warts-and-all Young & Crazy Horse feel. Thus, not for the first time in its career, Crazy Horse has made a Crazy Horse sound-alike record, which may be the fate of a "band" that is really just a rhythm section, or, to put it another way, a bunch of different bands playing in similar styles under one name. AMG.

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Cherif Mbaw - Kham Kham 2000

Off stage, Cherif Mbaw keeps himself to himself; on stage, he tends to let himself go. There is an aura of gentleness about the Senegalese singer, born in Casamance on Christmas day 1968. Although keen not to be a griot’s child, and despite being discouraged, as a young man the path he chose to make his own was music.
The revelation came to him twenty years ago, when he was living in one of Dakar’s working-class neighbourhoods training as an apprentice carpenter. “One of our customers was Youssou N’Dour. I heard that he was looking for singers. I went to his house and he suggested trying me out at the Thiossane Night Club. He told me that I had potential and that I should work on my singing for a month with a voice teacher. But the teacher just told me to learn to read music and to follow my own path.”

That day changed the destiny of the man now so often compared to You. “There are worse yardsticks! But I wasn’t out to imitate the inimitable.” Especially since his real godfather is Baaba Maal, another customer at the carpenter’s, with whom he went on to develop a close relationship. “He was like a big brother to me. He even gave me money to buy supplies and made sure I signed up at music school.”
While pursuing his apprenticeship, the young carpenter nourished his musical side by listening to free jazz and symphonic music and then starting up a duet with a classical guitarist, Fada N’Dyae. His intention was not to limit himself to the mbalax, following an intuition that his future lay elsewhere.

In 1994, he arrived in Paris, having won a Unesco grant to study music. He soon found himself penniless, “The money had just vanished!” So he went down into the Paris Metro to perfect his repertoire before enrolling at Créteil conservatoire in 1997 as promised, to study classical guitar.
But it was down in the subway’s bowels that the licensed busker found his audience. While some hurried by, others pricked up their ears, including one impressed producer. As the new millennium dawned, Cherif Mbaw signed his first CD: Kham Kham,  "knowledge" – eleven songs that showed off the melodist’s talents.

Accompanying him were musicians from varied backgrounds, like Cuban Omar Sosa on piano and Debashish Bhattacharya on slide guitar. This opening out to the world was to become one of his undercurrents. “I’ve always tried to take Senegalese music into other worlds by introducing foreign instruments, like this time the pedal steel guitar and the lap steel guitar. This album moves towards rock, pretty close to Ben Harper.”

Almost ten years later, after a second, barely noticed, opus, Cherif Mbaw is back at the forefront, with an album inspired from all of his travels and meetings with people like Amadou and Mariam, Neneh Cherry and Erik Truffaz, and especially Tracy Chapman, for whom he played support act 25 times in 2006, including a memorable date at Olympia. “That experience made a deep impression on me in terms of musical arrangement. Her creative perfection really gave me a boost. I like her folk-rock and her conscience-raising lyrics,” insists the man who has worked in Burkina Faso for the Abbé-Pierre Foundation and the NGO, Action et Développements.

With this kind of perspective, a stylistic range that takes him to funk and reggae, and even some English lyrics, Cherif Mbaw sat down to write his new album Sing For Me. He worked in his home studio before recording with Bruce Springsteen’s bass-player, Francis Campello, as producer. “My singing is still Senegalese and the mbalax is still there. But I want to show that African music is not just about playing the kora under a baobab tree.”
The Senegalese demonstrates his faith with Mame Yalla before saluting two “spiritual guides”, Cheikh Amadou Bamba and Baye Laye. “In this album, I decided to put the accent on love and spirituality, even though there are a lot of reasons to grumble.”

And even though his single Cuckoo Baby “is about two lovers’ desire for intimacy”, the singer still takes a jab at the disarray eating away at Africa. He sings symbolically about deforestation in Pitch Me, “It’s the story of a fledgling living on a tree. On the fifth day, he flies away, and after a storm he can’t find his tree any more because it’s been cut down.”

He dedicates one song to Africa, the continent that he now contemplates from his home in the heart of Paris. “We have to count on ourselves. Our governments should value their children. And improve social conditions. Too much money doesn’t reach the right place. And there’s too much welfare, which in the end doesn’t help us move forward.”

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Dr. Dog - B-Room 2013

While the old cliché claims that you can't ever go home again, B-Room, Dr. Dog's first album in their new studio, makes a pretty strong case for just building a new home. Continuing to use the same collaborative process the group began to explore on Be the Void, it feels as though a place to call their own was the missing ingredient for the bandmembers. Despite it only being a year since their last release, it feels as if Dr. Dog are refreshed and reinvigorated, returning to the studio with an enthusiasm and warmth that shines through on the album. This gives B-Room a kind of comforting warmth that's hard to resist as it throws its metaphorical arms over listeners' shoulders and invites them to sing along.B-Room also feels like the band's most soulful work to date. On album opener "The Truth," Dr. Dog evoke the Philly soul of their native Pennsylvania with a song that finds them infusing their pop leanings with the lush sounds of classic acts like the Delfonics. This opener creates a nice nostalgic feeling, putting listeners in the right headspace for the rest of the album as Dr. Dog weave together the sounds of the past to create something that somehow feels both fresh and ornate. While it shouldn't be a surprise for a Dr. Dog album to be a beautifully crafted slice of psych-pop goodness, the magic of the band lies in its ability to consistently beguile listeners with a sound that shows all the mark of genuine craftsmanship, something B-Room delivers from start to finish. AMG.

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Irons in the Fire - Close The Illegal Go-Go Bar 2010

During a quick visit to the USA last April, I had the opportunity to meet Rob Tiger from Hayesville, NC, as I was wearing a sweat shirt saying "Trust me, I'm an antropologist" he trusted me and kindly offered me some CD's from his group Irons in the Fire from Hayesville, NC, which is an interesting country band socially aware in their critical lyrics, fantastic songs with a rock touch sometimes. Excellent musicians that take us to a high level music. Recommend, give it a listen!

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Acoustic Junction - Live at Husky Blues 2000

The jam band Acoustic Junction was formed in Boulder, CO in 1989 by singer/guitarist Reed Foehl; although the group endured endless lineup changes in the years that followed, other mainstays of the roster included multi-instrumentalist Tim Roper, bassist Curtis Thompson and drummer Matt Coconis. Earning a devoted cult following thanks to their relentless tour schedule, Acoustic Junction independently issued a pair of albums, Surrounded by Change and Love It for What It Is, which together sold in excess of 50,000 copies; the group then signed to Capricorn, but as the "acoustic" description no longer fit their music they rechristened themselves Fool's Progress to release their self-titled 1997 major label debut. A return to the better-known Acoustic Junction moniker preceded the 1999 release of Live 5-4-99; Strange Days appeared early the following year. AMG.

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Campfires - Tomorow, tomorow 2013

Somewhere in the Pacific Northwest there lives the ghost of some great folkloric deity, a celestial being that energizes the region with the gift of storytelling and individuality. When Jeff Walls, better known as Campfires, moved from Chicago to Portland, this supernatural entity embodied his music and his tales, turning homespun pop into idyllic folk illustrations.

On his newest record, Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Walls refines a lot of what he infected us with on 2011’s Slaughter Tropes. Less about frantic tambourine shaking and more focused on palatable, toe-tapping rhythms, Tomorrow, Tomorrow’s foundation is built squarely on consistency and availability. Akin to actual songs you could hear around a campfire, the album houses short bursts of guitar and simple percussion that functions as a medium for delivering obvious, but never boring stories.

As Walls sings in his most relaxed tone, “It’s been a little long, I’ve been a little stoned, it’s been a little lie, it’s been a little strange / Another week, another day, another time” on “Time for a Ride”, it’s obvious that he has little concern for embellishing his life. Honest, if maybe not a little trite, songwriting goes a long way on Tomorrow, Tomorrow, making refrains like “dream my life away” on “Simple Things” seem almost admirable.

What sounds anachronistic resolves itself to be charming and inviting throughout all of Tomorrow, Tomorrow. It’s a record so unapologetic about its home recording methods and lo-fi peculiarity; for example, the jaunty, acoustic guitar on “Acre Looks” or “Glass Arrows” brings to mind the raw naturalism behind Real Estate or The Microphones. Yet it’s also an effort born out of character and experience. No matter how banal or plain they might be, Walls relays his anecdotes with an organic and honest tinge, giving Tomorrow, Tomorrow an unadulterated sing-along style appeal.

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The Avett Brothers - I and Love and You 2009

Fans held their breath when Rick Rubin took the Avett Brothers under his wing. What would the co-head of Columbia Records -- a man known for recording rap-rock albums and resurrecting Johnny Cash's late career -- do with a small-time folk trio? The answer is "relatively nothing," as the band's major-label debut continues charting the same musical course as Emotionalism and Mignonette. the Avett Brothers have expanded their reach since 2000, adding elements of pop and hillbilly country-rock to a bluegrass foundation, and they carry on that tradition with I and Love and You, whose songs introduce a new emphasis on piano and nuanced arrangements. Working with a major label's budget allows the group to add small flourishes -- a cello line here, a keyboard crescendo there -- but the resulting music is hardly grand, focusing on textures rather than volume. Scott and Seth Avett share vocals throughout the album, delivering their lyrics in a speak-sing cadence that, at its best, sounds both tuneful and conversational. Given the opportunities presented here -- the ability to add strings, organs, and harmonium to the mix -- the two devote more time to slower songs, which display those sonic details better. The result is an intimate, poignant album, laced with rich production that often takes as much spotlight as the songwriting itself. AVG.

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