Cowboy Mouth - Word of Mouth 1992

This is passionate, professional rock from a tight quartet whose members seem to enjoy playing their all-original material en masse. You wouldn't know from their sound that they're from New Orleans. The first track leads off like Omar and the Howlers from Texas. While most of the songs here are smoking hot, "Maggie Don't Two-Step" is a waste of time for this talented band. AMG.

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Justin Townes Earle - Harlem River Blues 2010

Justin Townes Earle's previous records were promising -- if uneven -- offerings that revealed a considerable talent trying to find his own musical identity as a songwriter, apart from his parental heritage. It may have taken him three albums, but Harlem River Blues delivers in spades what his earlier offerings only hinted at. With co-production by Earle and Skylar Wilson and the backing of a killer, intuitive band, the songwriter drops 11 weighty originals steeped in American musical tradition yet bearing his own inimitable lyric and stylistic signature. The title track is an electrifying rockabilly-cum-truck-driving shuffle adorned by slapping bass, guitars, snare and cymbal, and a Hammond B-3. Despite the upbeat tempo and finger-popping rhythmic thrust, Earle's lyrics reveal the protagonist's intention to commit suicide by drowning. With a country gospel vocal chorus complete with handclaps on the refrains, the lyrics and music are intriguingly at odds; somehow the sense of near gleeful purpose in the protagonist's view -- revealing a sense of relief at the prospect of release from this plane of existence -- makes the tune gell. On the breezy summertime groove of "One More Night in Brooklyn," the Tennessee backwoods meets the urban street corner, led by guitars, a skeletal drum kit, Wilson's vibes, and a popping upright bass. "Move Over Mama" is a scorching rockabilly-and-reverb number, full of erotic bravado à la Warren Smith or Billy Lee Riley. (And does that bass ever get slapped!) "Wanderin'" captures the spirit of early Bob Dylan under the influence of Cisco Houston and Woody Guthrie, but the lyrics and sense of necessity and acceptance of the situation at hand are pure Earle. With a country fiddle added to the mix, you can also hear traces of early string bands and even the ghostly presence of A.P. Carter in the refrains. The horns on "Slippin' and Slidin' marry the late Eddie Hinton's brand of Muscle Shoals R&B to laid-back country rockabilly. The narrative love song "Christchurch Woman" is among the moving things here; Earle's vocal is underscored by a female backing chorus and organic instrumentation that also includes beautifully arranged horns -- as if Tom Waits' "Downtown Train" or "Jersey Girl" were filtered through Memphis R&B and Waylon Jennings' early-'60s country. "Ain't Waitin'" is a rockabilly blues, so skeletal it could be played on the back porch. Anyway you cut it, Harlem River Blues is utterly balanced, skillfully crafted, and exquisitely written and produced. Earle proves that he is a force to be reckoned with; in these grooves he embodies the history, mystery, and promise of American roots music. AMG.

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Stone Raiders - Truth to Power 2012

This excellent trio formed by guitarist Jean-Paul Bourelly, Darryl Jones bass player with the Rolling Stones, and Will Calhoun former Living Colour drummer. This album it's a mix of rock, jazz, and funk. Don't miss it. 

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Youssou N'Dour - Nelson Mandela 1985

The debut album from Senegalese singing sensation Youssou N'Dour was originally dedicated to Nelson Mandela during his stay in prison (as the title track would suggest). The arrangements are tight, laden with horn riffs and keyboard flute loops. Aside from "The Rubberband Man," all songs were penned by N'Dour himself here, and it is N'Dour that powers the album throughout with his vocals. With the exception of "The Rubberband Man," all of the songs have a nice groove to them, with some outstanding vocal prowess soaring over the arrangements. The songs have the feeling which has come to be associated with his work, with simple grooves hailing both from Paris and Dakar studios, and his singing providing a focus. Any pre-existing fan of N'Dour should be pleased by this album, and those who are just looking to make inroads into Senegalese music wouldn't find this a bad starting point, although Immigrés might be a more standard place to begin. Pick it up for a nice wander through the early sounds of one of the ambassadors of African music. AMG.

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Calamity Jane - Martha Jane Cannary 1992

Calamity Jane was an all-female American grunge/punk band, formed in Portland, Oregon, United States, in 1989.

Gilly Ann Hanner (vocals/guitar) and Lisa Koenig (drums) started playing together as a band in 1988 along with Ronna Era (bass). After a few live appearances Hanner's sister Megan took over on bass and the band was renamed Calamity Jane the following year. Their first gig was supporting Scrawl. The band then supported Fugazi on their 1990 tour. The band released three singles and an album Martha Jane Cannary with their original line up, and a final single with Marcéo Martinez - later of Team Dresch) on drums and Joanna Bolme (later of Quasi and The Jicks) on bass.

The band played two support slots with Nirvana. One of these shows, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, ended in Calamity Jane being booed off the stage, which motivated Nirvana to intentionally sabotage their own performance.

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Cake - Fashion Nugget 1996

Sounding like a suburban, melodic white-funk-injected version of King Missile's performance art/standup comedy, "The Distance" became a novelty hit in the fall of 1996, sending Cake's second album, Fashion Nugget, to platinum status. Certainly, "The Distance" was the only reason Fashion Nugget went platinum, because the remainder of the album is too collegiate and arcane for mainstream music tastes. It isn't because it's obscure or intellectual -- it's because the band is smirking. An "ironic" cover of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" is the key to the album, sending the signal that Cake consider themselves above everyone else, and nothing is too insignificant to make fun of. And that wouldn't necessarily have been a problem if they had the wit or musical skills that would make their music either funny or listenable. Instead, they wallow in sophomoric jokes that rely on self-consciously elaborate wordplay. Occasionally, their blend of collegiate musical styles -- funk, hip-hop, alternative rock -- makes the music easy to digest in small doses, such as "The Distance," but it isn't varied enough to prevent the album from becoming tedious when played straight through. AMG.

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J.J. Cale - Travel-Log 1989

Cale's first album in six years finds him taking a more aggressive stance in terms of tempos and playing, although he remains a man with a profound sense of the groove and, especially as a singer, a minimalist. But as he says, "Shuffle or die." AMG.

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Carl Hancock Rux - Rux Revue 1999

 

Move over Gil Scott-Heron and Michael Franti, there's another poet on the loose and he's got a mind to speak out: enter lauded New York writer, the deep-voiced Carl Hancock Rux and his recording debut. Rux wastes no time cutting to the chase on the first track "Intro To (r)Evolution," while conjuring the spirit of the aforementioned musicians. His backing band is a dream roster who threaten to overshadow his message: Money Mark on keyboards, Joey Waronker on drums, and the legendary Carol Kaye on bass, among others. They twist and turn the jazz, folk, hip-hop, and rock rhythms inside out, helping to complete Rux's thoughtful commentaries on ghetto life and his place as a black male in the (art) world. In the end, Rux's soul power, delivered from various points of view wins out, proving difficult to ignore. AMG.

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Big John Wrencher - Maxwell Street Alley Blues 1982

 

While most blues albums bear romantic-sounding titles like the one used here, this is the real deal. Wrencher's one-armed amplified harp playing is perfectly supported by the lone guitar of Little Buddy Scott and the bar-bones basic drumming of Playboy Vinson. Listing titles is superfluous, since the feel and the ambience is the important thing. But blues albums seldom capture that elusive quality the way it is here, and that's the secret of its charm. Superlative in every regard, this is a great album by a very under-recorded artist. AMG.

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Carmen Sandim - Play-Doh 2019

Pianist Carmen Sandim's sophomore album, 2019's Play Doh, is a harmonically dense and artful production borne of several years of difficult life circumstances. The Brazilian-born/Boulder, Colorado-based performer and teacher had initially intended to finish the album soon after her 2011 debut, Brand New. However, in the years following, she gave birth to her children, went through a break-up, and found herself having to balance teaching, performing, and being a single mother. She eventually began pulling all-nighters to finish writing the charts for Play Doh, a choice that no doubt led to some tired days, but ultimately resulted in an album rich with themes of openness and fluidity; one that feels directly connected to her transformative experiences. Helping her achieve this fresh quality is longtime friend, producer Art Lande, who again helmed the sessions as he did on Brand New. Also coming along are Kneebody trumpeter Shane Endsley, saxophonist/clarinetist Bruce Williamson, trombonist Alex Heitlinger, guitarist Khabu Doug Young, bassist Bill McCrossen, and drummer Dru Heller. Together, Sandim and her group play with a searching, forward-thinking quality that balances kinetic group arrangements with adventurous soloing. The title track perhaps best expresses Sandim's aesthetic here, as she draws inspiration from the classic modeling clay (one of her children's favorite activities) as well as a three-note mantra they sing while molding shapes. The result is a roiling, tumultuous track marked by a fiery solo from Endsley. Elsewhere, "Aruru, Juju" is a dusky and angular piece with Latin undertones, while "Undergrowth" draws on '70s jazz-rock fusion as it's continually punctuated by Young's woozy electric guitar lines. Sandim also draws upon her classical training on "Isaura," a yearning ballad dedicated to her grandmother and featuring a delicate clarinet solo by Williamson. Conversely, the pianist offers the breezy, Dave Brubeck-esque "Waiting for Art" and closes with the similarly luminous, bossa nova-tinged "Free Wilbie." AMG.
 

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Cold Chisel - East 1980

 

Cold Chisel's following had been steadily building for a number of years when their third -- and slickest to date -- album, East, broke them through to a wider audience in 1980. More commercial without compromising on the rawness of their roots, the band hit pay dirt with a clutch of songs it seemed everybody could get into. The virtuosity of the Chisel's musical abilities still comes through on songs that were, nevertheless, compact enough to be radio-ready. The up-tempo loner anthem "Standing on the Outside," the enchanting ballad and breakthrough single "Choirgirl," and the tongue-in-cheek "Ita" all had the hooks to land a singalong audience. On "Star Hotel," the sonic fury of the chorus captures the essence of the subject matter: a wild street battle between angry pub patrons and police that took place in the city of Newcastle, Australia, in September 1979. And the customary, all-out rockers are here, as well: "Rising Sun" (singer Jimmy Barnes' love-lost song about his Asian girlfriend) and the rousing closer "My Turn to Cry." As always, the rhythm section gymnastics of drummer Steven Prestwich and bassist Phil Small provide an alternately swift and delicate undercurrent for Ian Moss' guitar heroics, Don Walker's exuberant piano playing, and Barnes' banshee wails. Walker still holds down the job of head songwriter, but the duties are more shared on this album: five of the 12 tracks were written by the other members of the band with Barnes penning two and Prestwich, Small, and Moss one each. The album peaked at number two on the Australian national charts and even broke into the Billboard 200. With East, Cold Chisel signaled that they had moved on up without selling out. The glory days had come at last. AMG.

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Yazz Ahmed - Polyhymnia 2019

 

Polyhymnia is the third full-length from British-Bahraini trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Yazz Ahmed. Her remarkable meld of post-bop jazz, Arabic folk traditions, and electronic sound design has brought her to a prominent and influential place on London's vibrant jazz scene. Like 2017's La Saboteuse, the album is adorned with a stunning six-panel sleeve design by Sophie Bass. The music here is an extended suite-like work commissioned by Tomorrow's Warriors in 2015. It was performed by members of the Nu Civilisation Orchestra in a concert at the Women of the World Festival on International Women's Day. The album is titled for the name of its inspiration: ancient Greece's muse of poetry, music, and dance. Each of the work's six compositions is inspired (and often named for) women of historical and cultural import: film director Haifaa Al-Mansour, civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks, activist Ruby Bridges, saxophonist and bandleader Barbara Thompson, female education advocate Malala Yousafza, and, of course, the suffragettes of the early 20th century. This music conveys an extended message of empowerment that is not without struggle. It is performed by a large ensemble of more than 30 musicians and singers playing in varying groups; they include members of Ahmed's band, Hafla, and favorite players on the London scene.

The recorded version of Polyhymnia has been expanded considerably from its live version. Ahmed added elements such as her newly designed quarter-tone flugelhorn that expands the possibilities of the Western scale toward the "blue notes" of Arabic modal music. All of these pieces are extended; none is shorter than eight-and-a-half minutes. Opener "Lahan al-Mansour" (Melody of Al-Mansour) is dedicated to Saudi Arabia's first female film director. It has a minor modal intro played in layers of overdubbed flugelhorn framed by hand percussion, elliptical Rhodes piano, guitars, bass, drums, violin, and swirling saxophones. Composed lines and improvisations are intertwined in Ahmed's arrangement. In "Ruby Bridges," loping post-bop framed by flugelhorn and guitar meet a funky, pulsing bass line, swinging drums, and expansive, polytonal reeds and brass. "2857" (for Rosa Parks) is introduced by a bluesy Middle Eastern bass line and drum kit. Ahmed leads the horn section in a tune where gospel, folk, classical, and jazz intersect. Closer "Barbara" (for Barbara Thompson) juxtaposes contrapuntal statements on bass clarinet, multi-tracked alto saxophone, flugelhorn, and electric guitar with boisterous brass, strings, vibes, drums, percussion, and Rhodes. Avant and modern jazz meet pop and classical music in sections that range from propulsive, dynamic, and knotty to blissed-out and nearly pastoral, delivered in gloriously upbeat tones, myriad textures, and brilliant colors. Evidenced by Polyhymnia's ambitious scope and flawlessly executed meld of compositions, charts, and focused improvisation, Ahmed and her work no longer belong strictly to London, but to jazz the world over. AMG.

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Alejandro Escovedo with Don Antonio - The Crossing 2018

In 2000, Alejandro Escovedo wrote a play with music titled By the Hand of the Father, a moving song cycle that dealt with the Mexican-American experience as families left one home behind in hopes of finding another on the other side of the border. Escovedo is the son of one such man, and By the Hand of the Father was informed by the lives of his own family members. In 2018, Escovedo explores not dissimilar themes on his concept album The Crossing, but instead of telling the story of his father and those like him, here he imagines a story of two expatriates not unlike himself, and what their lives might be like if they made their way to America in these times. In 17 songs, The Crossing follows the journeys of two young men who came to America -- Diego from Mexico, Salvo from Italy -- chasing a dream of the nation they came to love from vintage punk rock, film noir, and beat-era literature. In their minds, America is not only a place of freedom and opportunity, but of ineffable cool, and if the art lives up to their expectations, the reality of daily life outside the American mainstream is another matter. These songs run the emotional gamut from the furious celebration of "Sonica USA" ("I saw the Zeros and they looked like me/This is the America that I want to be") to the bitter rant of "Teenage Luggage" ("America is beautiful, America is ill/America is a bloodstain in a honky tonk kill") to the rueful wisdom of the title cut ("Thoughts and prayers they never last/Don't waste them on the past/We all become history when we make the crossing"). Escovedo wrote these songs in collaboration with Italian rock musician Antonio Gramentiere, with Gramentiere and his band Don Antonio providing the backing, and the partnership proves to be inspired, with the musicians tackling the multiple influences and shifting moods of this music with passion and aplomb. And Escovedo has brought in some impressive guests for these sessions, including Wayne Kramer of the MC5, James Williamson of Iggy & the Stooges, Peter Perrett and John Perry of the Only Ones, and Joe Ely (who lends harmonies to a beautiful cover of his song "Silver City"). With The Crossing, Escovedo puts a new and compelling spin on the oft-told tale of the American dream as seen both from a distance and up close. In his hands, this story is both timeless and as up to date as the latest news bulletin, and it connects as great music and outstanding storytelling delivered by an artist who has a unique talent for both. AMG.

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Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia - Mother Earth 1982

As both bandleader and collaborator, British saxophonist and flutist Barbara Thompson has for decades been a key contributor to cutting-edge jazz and jazz-rock ensembles based in her home country as well as continental Europe. With a classical music education at the Royal College of Music, Thompson was nevertheless attracted to the world of jazz, joining Neil Ardley’s New Jazz Orchestra in the mid-‘60s, where she met Colosseum drummer Jon Hiseman, whom she married in 1967. (Thompson has also performed and recorded with Colosseum on occasion, and she became a permanent member of the group in 2004.) During the 1970s, Thompson joined the United Jazz + Rock Ensemble (a ten-piece band also featuring Wolfgang Dauner, Ian Carr, Kenny Wheeler, Albert Mangelsdorff, Charlie Mariano, and Hiseman) and formed her own jazz-rock outfit, Paraphernalia, as well as a Latin-flavored ensemble, Jubiaba. Thompson’s recordings have run the gamut from jazz-rock fusion and modern creative jazz to world and folk music and even modern classical, and she has also composed music for theater productions (beginning a working relationship with Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1978) and for film and television soundtracks. In 1996 Thompson was awarded the rank of MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) for services to music. Thompson was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1997 but continued to record and tour into the new millennium while devoting much of her energies to composing. Her albums during the 2000s have included two releases on Intuition, Barbara Thompson and Friends' In the Eye of a Storm (2003) and Paraphernalia’s Never Say Goodbye (2007). AMG.

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Widespread Panic - Ain't Life Grand 1994

Widespread Panic's fourth album features tighter, more song-oriented writing. The searing guitar of the opening tune, "Little Kin," introduces a grittier album than the previous year's Everyday. After touring with the first two H.O.R.D.E. tours in 1992 and 1993, the band's popularity was growing. Their rousing version of Bloodkin's heartbreak tune "Can't Get High" earned them radio play. As did their own smoothly melodic "Airplane," which features lush vocal harmonies. "Blackout Blues" celebrates the hangover with electric guitar screams and a dance-inducing beat, while "Fishwater"'s chaotic percussion intro awakens the soul. The disc also includes two gorgeous instrumental pieces, "L.A." and the hidden, acoustic guitar track "Waiting for the Wind to Blow the Tree Down in My Backyard." Ain't Life Grand increased Widespread Panic's fan base dramatically and gave them a taste of what continued radio play could mean for the band. AMG.

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