Griot Galaxy - Opus Krampus 1984

On Opus Krampus, Detroit's Griot Galaxy bring with them their usual sense of weirdness and entropy, all the while injecting incredibly paced rhythms and a mix of avant-garde and straight-ahead beats. Saxophonist Faruq Z. Bey leads the band with his furious accents and choppy rhythms that scurry by so quickly they almost sound smooth. His support's off-kilter time signatures work out minimal phase shifting patterns to temper Bey's perfectly unresolved tones. Considering the recording is culled from a live performance, one can only imagine Griot Galaxy's stage get-up at the time, usually comprising of mime-painted faces and gaudy, new wave-inspired dress, crossing Sun Ra with Art Ensemble of Chicago. Certainly, many of the sounds here match that comparison as well. This 1984 recording from Austria is crisp and true, as its near studio-like quality is definitely a testament to impeccable engineering. It consists of a mere three tracks, one of them utilizing the entire second side. This track, the 25-minute "Necrophilia," is a full-out assault on the audience with deafening sax skronks and squeals, complex percussion, and three-voice poetry lending an eerie, cult-like vibe to the recording. Opus Krampus is hardly a record that one might expect to come out of Detroit in the '80s, one of the city's roughest decades. And partly because of that assumption it proves to be a brilliant one. AMG.

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The Redlands Palomino Company - Broken Carelessly 2014

It’s looking to be a good year for what one might loosely term “alt country” albums with Scots acts the New Madrids and Red Pine Timber Company handing in excellent efforts so far. Time now to look to London to see what’s cooking down there and keeping their end up are The Redlands Palomino Company whose fourth album, Broken Carelessly is released this week. The Palominos are a classic UK “Americana” band with a sound that ranges from pedal steel laced country songs to jangled pop and rock while remaining true to their local roots. In addition their not so secret weapon is the wonderful voice of Hannah Elton-Wall (who’s had several mentions on Blabber’n’Smoke recently as backing or harmony singer on various albums). Here she sings like an angel and is the primary songwriter while hubby Alex adds his voice to several of the songs and produces. Recorded almost live in a Methodist Chapel in rural Gloucestershire within the space of a week there’s an immediacy and intimacy to the songs that is welcoming and reflects the recording environment which took on an air of a farewell party for drummer Dan Tilbury who emigrated to Denmark immediately the recording was over.

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Charlie Hunter Quartet - Natty Dread 1997

In choosing to record Bob Marley's classic 1974 reggae album Natty Dread track-for-track in an instrumental jazz style, eight-string guitarist Charlie Hunter opened himself up for skepticism. Yet an idea that looked questionable in theory would prove stellar in practice, as Hunter turned Natty Dread -- with the songs sequenced exactly as they were on Marley's original release -- into one of the best CDs of his career. Hunter's customized eight-string instrument and prodigious talent allow him to play simultaneous guitar melodies and basslines, but his Wurlitzer organ simulations and walking bass aren't the only highlights of the opening "Lively Up Yourself." Alto saxophonist Calder Spanier and tenorman Kenny Brooks alternate between swinging leads and supportive harmonies, and drummerScott Amendola gets in creative solo flurries near the end. Hunter's beautiful intro to "No Woman, No Cry" echoes both Pat Martino and Django Reinhardt; the saxophonists' interplay and Amendola's clever rimshots, tom-toms, and cowbell work lively up "Them Belly Full." The secrets to Hunter's success lie in separate amplifiers for his instrument's guitar and bass portions; great wah-wah pedal work to achieve keyboard tones, and the requisite brain power to play basslines with both thumbs while fretting and fingerpicking the melodies. All are illustrated in readings of the tranquil "Rebel Music," energetic "So Jah Seh" and the shuffling title track. Throughout Natty Dread, reggae is implied more often than played, as Hunter and his quartet portray the fun they had in arranging these pieces with performances both swinging and stirring (even dropping an "I Shot the Sheriff" quote into "Bend Down Low"). Spanier died after Natty Dread's release when he was struck by a car, and Huntersubsequently moved from California to New York and restructured his band. There's no telling what might have come afterward from this quartet of two saxophonists, a drummer, and Hunter, the one-man guitarist, keyboardist, and bassist. AMG.

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Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs - All Her Fault 2014

British-born garage rock queen Holly Golightly has a long history of throwing down raw, scuffy recordings at a prolific rate, with some of her best albums being gorgeously unpolished classics that don't fuss with much more than the bare bones of rock & roll. The quick and dirty productions often captured an electric spontaneity and highlighted the various layers of humor, pathos, and gritty attitude in Golightly's one-of-a-kind voice. All Her Fault, the seventh full-length from Golightly and her partnerLawyer Dave (the sole member of "the Brokeoffs"), took a much different path, with the recording process stretching out over a series of many months, hindered by day jobs, summer thunderstorms, and intermittent power outages. While by no means overwrought or over-produced by almost anyone's standards, All Her Fault has a deeper refinement than most of Golightly's back catalog, with the heightened focus of the album giving it a somewhat more serious feel, even in its moments of lightheartedness or drunken blues-rock shambling. Stylistically, Golightly and Lawyer Dave have been tending more and more toward rollicking country-rock sounds for a while, and the 12 songs here infuse a little more rural folk-blues influence, going so far as to cover Richard M. Jones' stomping "Trouble in Mind." Songs like this, the lurching and murky "1234," and the barroom singalong of "Bless Your Heart" recall the same glorious haziness of rock & roll masterpiece Exile on Main St., where more stripped-down tunes like "The Best" highlight Golightly's eternally badass persona with sharp clarity. The album continues the trend of recent output from the duo, romping through honky tonk Western flavors like "Pistol Pete" and the occasional hint of punk blues like raging album opener "SLC," but there's something different about this record. Possibly the result of a protracted recording process, the album retains its rough edges while expanding the duo's sonic breadth. The darkness seems more dire and the fun moments feel more exciting and reckless, making All Her Fault a new chapter in a history of successes. AMG.

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Power Tools - Strange meeting 1987

Power Tools was a one-off semi-supergroup that, if it didn't quite fulfill expectations, at least offered up this enjoyable album. It's an odd mixture; drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson was in the midst of his time with the free-metal-noise band Last Exit, bassist Melvin Gibbs was involved with various avant funk bands (including that of Arto Lindsay), and the pre-Naked City Bill Frisell was beginning to delve into that hazy area between country/Americana and jazz. Things don't gel so well when the band gets closer to free improv, as Frisell's inherent gauziness conflicts and deadens the impact of Jackson's more rambunctious approach. Things work better with the more song-oriented pieces, particularly those penned by Gibbs. His "Wadmalaw Island" and "Howard Beach Memoirs" both strike an appropriate balance, allowing Frisell to build on more solid structures while at the same time leaving room for Jackson to embroider freely. Much of the recording ping-pongs between these two poles: pleasant, if overly languid pastoral songs and higher-energy pieces that never quite rev up high enough. The closing rendition of "Unchained Melody," a song dear to Frisell's heart, is very effective.Strange Meeting, an apt title, is worth checking out for Frisell fans who only came to hear his work in the following years. AMG.

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Talk Talk - The Colour Of Spring 1986

With It's My Life, Talk Talk proved that they could pull off an entire album of strong material. With The Colour of Spring, they took it one step further, moving to a near-concept song cycle, following the emotional ups and downs of relationships and pondering life in general. Musically, they built on the experimental direction of the previous album with interesting rhythms, sweeping orchestration, complex arrangements, and even a children's chorus to create an evocative, hypnotic groove. Though the songs were catchier on the earlier efforts and the ambient experimentation was more fully achieved later on,The Colour of Spring succeeded in marrying the two ideas into one unique sound for their most thoroughly satisfying album. AMG.

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David Fiuczynski - Amandala 2001

Guitarist David "Fuze" Fiuczynski served up jazz/rock and fusion-based renditions of Pat Metheny's "Bright Size Life," Jimi Hendrix's "Third Stone From the Sun," and Chopin's Prelude Opus 28 no. 4 on his curiously interesting and altogether impacting 1999 release titled Jazz Punk. Now in 2001, the artist cranks out a set consisting of blazingly executed original compositions, augmented by a powerhouse band. Fiuczynski's now trademark style of execution comes to fruition in gleaming splendor with this enthusiastic melding of electrified interplay with rock-solid and often steamy rhythmic developments amid tricky time signatures and propulsive undercurrents. However, percussionist Daniel Sadownicksupplements the overall proceeding via his shrewd employment of worldbeat and loosely structured accents while drummer Gene Lake and bassist Fima Ephron prove to be near perfect foils for the guitarist's emphatic lines, rippling harmonics, and enticingly unorthodox phraseology. And while theHeadless Torsos are not for the faint of heart, this recording dutifully highlights David Fiuczynski's distinct artistry. AMG.


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Ronald Shannon Jackson & the Decoding Society - Raven Roc 1992

Drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson, and his Decoding Society of the 1980s, learned from the example of Ornette Coleman's Prime Time and were a logical extension of the group. They featured colorful and noisy ensembles; were not afraid of the influence of rock; and their rhythms were funky, loud, and unpredictable. Jackson played professionally in Texas with James Clay when he was 15. He moved to New York in 1966, where he worked with Byard Lancaster, Charles Mingus, Betty Carter, Stanley Turrentine, Jackie McLean, McCoy Tyner, Kenny Dorham, and most significantlyAlbert Ayler (1966-1967), among others. He took time off of the scene and then joined Ornette Coleman's Prime Time (1975-1979). Jackson also worked with Cecil Taylor (1978-1979) and James "Blood" Ulmer (1979-1980). The Decoding Society (formed in 1979), through the years, featured many talented and advanced improvisers, with the best-known ones being Vernon Reid, Zane Massey, Billy Bang, and Byard Lancaster. Jackson also played with the explosive group Last Exit(starting in 1986), and in the early '90s with Power Tools. Ronald Shannon Jackson's music is not for easy-to-offend ears. The drummer died at his home in Fort Worth, Texas on October 19, 2013 after battling leukemia; he was 73 years old. AMG.

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The Hillbilly Goats - Out Of The Mountains Show 2012

With their undeniable passion for Mountain Music, the instruments and the harmonies, their recordings paint a picture of traditional songs from 1710 through to the 1940’s with a high energy, modern & quirky edge.  Featuring Banjo, Bones, Mandolin, Double Bass, Guitars, Fiddle, Dobro, Harmonica, Percussion, Tap Dancing, 4 part Harmonies and more, there is a tale told of the history of Mountain Music’s evolution into Blues, Country, Bluegrass and Rock n Roll.

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Objectivo - Out of Darkness Anthology 1969-72 (2009)

Objectivo were one of the most important psychedelic bands in Portugal operating from 1969 to 1972. Some of the best musicians of the time were in the band (through several line-ups) such as Mike Sergeant (Marmalade (UK), Quarteto 1111, José Cid, etc.), Jim Cregan (Cockney Rebel, Rod Stewart, Blossom Toes, Family (all UK)), Zé da Cadela (Xarhanga, Kama Sutra, etc.), Mário Guia (Ekos), Zé Nabo (Banda do Casaco, Heavy Band, José Cid, etc.). The band sang in English and they recorded one EP and three singles, all of them very rare and nearly impossible to find. The music ranges from psych pop influenced by the Beatles to harder, groovier freakbeat. For the first time reissued in glorious white vinyl, with full color cover and 2 page insert with detailed band history and rare photos. Includes their 3 singles, the EP and one super rare test-pressing edit version!

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Screaming Headless Torsos - Screaming Headless Torsos 1995

Part jazz/funk/rock orgy, part political tirade, this 1995 debut by Screaming Headless Torsos is not for the easy listening fan. Strongly allied with the Black Rock Coalition, the Torsos at times sound like an angrier and infinitely funkier Living Color. Vocalist Dean sings, raps, and emits heavy metal screams while David Fiuczynski lets loose with his signature guitar pyrotechnics. The rhythm, absolutely monstrous, is laid down by bassist Fima Ephron, drummer Jojo Mayer, and percussionist Daniel Sadownick. This is no mere wall of sound, however. The music is thick with harmonic and rhythmic detail, the stuff of stellar musicianship. The group's lyrics are rancorous, subversive, and at times racially provocative, with buckets of vitriol directed against sellouts and jazz-funk phonies, the analog to those hip-hop arch-villains, "sucker MCs": "Tell a story of the honky dory/Living in the past/Kicks off his shoes, destroys the blues/Let's splice his ass." They also take aim at mainstream American entertainment in general: "We celebrate mediocrity and worship crap/This country went to camp and never came back." Declaring war on corrupted aesthetic values, the group answers with defiant pronouncements: "I won't be a fool in your school of misinformation"; "I won't sublet or pretend to beget/a shackled down music that's nothing but hype." In "Graffiti Cemetery," the Torsos decry the disappearance of New York subway graffiti as a loss for oppositional culture. Going beyond local concerns, the band laments war in the Balkans with "Wedding in Sarajevo." They also pay Miles Davisa double tribute with "Blue in Green" (hit the dirt, jazz purists) and the theme from A Tribute to Jack Johnson. Along with outfits like Lost Tribe, the Torsos are creating a new kind of uncompromising fusion that Miles would likely have smiled upon. AMG.

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Louise Taylor - Written in Red 2000

Louise Taylor is a talented singer/songwriter whose openness to new cultures has helped define her purpose and growth as a musician. It's taken her down the paths of American balladry and Celtic storytelling, along the back roads of the blues, into the realm of self-discovery. Storytelling is important to her songs, but she embraces folk, jazz, Celtic music, and blues to expand her avenues of expression. Taylor's songs came from tough wisdom in 2001 after enduring the personal hardships of divorce and her mother's death. Despite these personal setbacks, her songs remained earthy and poetic and full of melodic grace. Travels to Ireland inspired her 2000 CD, Written in Red (Signature), Taylor's fourth album, which blended her bluesy style with the lyrical beauty of traditional Irish storytelling. For Taylor, music was not always an integral part of her life. She hit the road from her home in Brattleboro, VT, at age 15 as an itinerant troubadour unsure of herself, playing songs on the street, but not consciously seeking a career in music. In her youth she was shy, but through the encouragement of her brother and other musicians, she found her way. Finally, in 2000, after three albums, she discovered the confidence and poise to make her an accomplished singer/songwriter on Written in Red, but she's always ready to learn new things. Two other vital factors in her development as a musician came from her association in the late '90s with guitarists Chris Smither and Ray Bonneville. From Smither, she learned more about the emotional expression needed in playing the guitar and from Bonneville she honed a sharp fingerpicking style. Taylor's newfound expression on guitar took her from being primarily a rhythm player to one adept at maneuvering through any number of musical styles and ideas. Thanks to B. AMG.

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Chad Taylor - Circle Down 2009

As an important contributor to the Chicago underground creative music scene, drummer and composerChad Taylor has been on the rise, even leading his own groups. Circle Down should elevate him much further nationally and internationally, a beautiful statement of modern jazz music played with attractive melodic content courtesy of pianist Angelica Sanchez, the deft bass musings of Chris Lightcap, and Taylor's spot-on rhythmic shadings, mid-level urgency, and a taste factor that should appeal to many stripes of listeners. This set of originals -- with no scent of standards -- is played with ease, grace, and dynamism, especially from the viewpoint of Sanchez. She is developing into a first-rate post-Geri Allen performer whom everyone should be paying close attention to in the coming years. Playing pretty on "Box Step" or in sneaking, tip-toe refrains through raucous discourse during the steadied beats of "Rock," Sanchez proves an able and original musician that can transcend both time and space. Lightcap continually emerges as a force of natural rhythmic propulsion, via his probing, two-note musings on "No Brainer," setting up, then establishing a rolling stream of consciousness between Sanchez and Taylor. The Asiatic flavor of "Traipse" is undeniably lovely, another example of how this trio dedicates itself to a certain sophistication wise beyond its years. Where the first half of the program concentrates on the compositions of Sanchez and Lightcap, Taylor's pen takes over on the remainder of the session. "Opal" is a lithe theme in 6/8 time, and "Level" is only slightly diffuse but more elusive, à la Allen or perhaps Cecil Taylor. There's the short waltz "Miriam"; a repeat Latin/Spanish sentiment to variation from Sanchez pervading "Pablo"; and Taylor finally getting a workout for "Pascal" with Lightcap, as Sanchez rambles on. Every selection is finely crafted and thoughtfully performed, and it is rare that any modern jazz effort is so satisfying from start to finish. What is even more remarkable is that there is no wasted motion, no histrionics or grandstanding, as pure emotion is translated to superlative music making on this most highly recommended recording, one for the ages. AMG.

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