Ozric Tentacles - Tantric Obstacles 1985

A band from another time, Ozric Tentacles served as the bridge from '70s cosmic rock to the organic dance and festival culture that came back into fashion during the '90s. Formed in 1983 with a debt to jazz fusion as well as space rock, the band originally included guitarist Ed Wynne, drummer Nick Van Gelder, keyboard player Joie Hinton, bassist Roly Wynne (Ed's brother), and second guitarist Gavin Griffiths (who left the group in 1984). The Ozrics played in clubs around London, meanwhile releasing six cassette-only albums beginning with 1984's Erpsongs. (All six were later collected on the Vitamin Enhanced box set, despite a threatened lawsuit from the Kellogg's cereal company for questionable artwork.) In 1987, Merv Pepler replaced Van Gelder, and synthesizer player Steve Everett was also added.

Ozric Tentacles' first major release, the 1990 album Erpland, foreshadowed the crusty movement, a British parallel to America's hippie movement of the '60s. Crusties borrowed the hippies' organic dress plus the cosmic thinking of new agers, and spent most of their time traveling around England to various festivals and outdoor gatherings. The movement fit in perfectly with bands like Ozric Tentacles and the Levellers, and the Ozrics' 1991 album Strangeitude became their biggest seller yet, occasioning a U.S. contract with Capitol. After the British-only Afterswish and Live Underslunky, 1993's Jurassic Shift -- featuring flutest John Egan, who would become known for his on-stage trance-dancing during the group's live performances, and new bassist Zia Geelani in addition to original bassist Roly Wynne, who departed the band in 1992 -- hit number 11 on the British charts, quite a feat for a self-produced album released on the Ozrics' own Dovetail label. The album was released in America by IRS Records, as was 1994's Arborescence. Neither album translated well with American audiences -- despite the band's first U.S. tour in 1994 -- and Hinton and Pepler left the band that year to devote their energies to their dance side project, Eat Static, releasing several albums on Planet Dog Records.

Ozric Tentacles returned to their Dovetail label for 1995's Become the Other, featuring new members Rad and Seaweed, who also appeared on 1997's Curious Corn. Ed Wynne's brother Roly, whose later life had been plagued with difficulties, committed suicide in 1999, a tragic development for the Wynne and Ozrics families. However, the band forged on, closing out the decade with the release of Waterfall Cities that year, and during the summer of 2000 the Ozrics resurfaced with Swirly Termination. The band also released Hidden Step in 2000, followed by the EP Pyramidion in 2002. Live at the Pongmasters Ball arrived in 2002 as well, their first venture to be released on both CD and DVD.

By 2004's Spirals in Hyperspace, Ozric Tentacles were largely guided by sole original member Ed Wynne, who was responsible for guitar, keyboards, and beat programming on the studio effort, which nevertheless included appearances from previous Ozrics contributors Zia, Seaweed, John Egan, and Merv Pepler, plus drummer Schoo (who had replaced Rad after the former's departure following a 2000 U.S. tour), Ed Wynne's wife Brandi Wynne on bass, and even space rock/electronica guitar legend Steve Hillage. Released in 2006, The Floor's Too Far Away continued the trend of Ozrics domination by Ed Wynne. A live appearance from June 2007 was documented in 2008's Sunrise Festival disc, and 2009 saw the release of a new studio album, The Yumyum Tree. Inspired by Lewis Carroll, the latter album featured, in addition to Ed Wynne in the leadership role, Brandi Wynne on keyboards along with bassist Vinny Shillito and drummer Roy Brosh. Yet another permutation of the latter-day Ozrics was a true Wynne family affair, with Ed joined by his son -- and the late Roly's nephew -- Silas on synths, wife Brandi back on bass replacing Shillito, and Ollie Seagle on drums. AMG. listen here

Jack White - Blunderbuss 2012

Jack White leaves such an indelible stamp on any project he touches that a solo album from him almost seems unnecessary: nobody has ever told him what to do. He's a rock & roll auteur, bending other artists to fit his will, leading bands even when he's purportedly no more than a drummer, always enjoying dictating the fashion by placing restrictions on himself. And so it is on Blunderbuss, his first official solo album, arriving five years after the White Stripes' last but seeming much sooner given White's constant flurry of activity with the Raconteurs, Dead Weather, Third Man Records, and countless productions. Here, he's once again placed restrictions on himself but they're not quite as clearly defined as they've been in the past, as when he's gotten great dividends by working with a limited palette. All the restrictions are entirely of a comforting variety: he's abandoned the primitivism of the White Stripes, something that came easily with Meg White bashing away on the drums, and has chosen a quieter, polished route, rotating in different musicians for different tracks. Jack still pulls out some standards from his bag of tricks -- clenched blues explosions, squealing guitars, and a cool breeze of electric piano -- but musicians matter and this bunch of pro players tightens and softens his attack (sometimes to its detriment, as on a clumsy cabaret version of Little Willie John's "I'm Shakin'"). When Blunderbuss gets furious, it's hard not to miss the chaos Meg brought to the Stripes -- with her at the drums, "Sixteen Saltines" would fly off the rails -- but it's a mistake to think of this album as a professionally produced White Stripes record as it relies as heavily on ideas White explored on his handful of old-timey acoustic cuts and the '70s guitar rock of the Raconteurs. If it resembles any Stripes album it's Get Behind Me Satan, the dark, odd 2005 set written in the wake of a breakup and filled with songs of paranoia and recrimination. This too is a divorce album with every song concerning love gone wrong, yet it's easy to ignore all the pain roiling underneath because Blunderbuss plays so sweetly, its melodies easing into memory and its surface warm and pleasant. Contradictions are nothing new for Jack White but he's never been as emotionally direct as he is here, nor has he been as musically evasive, and that dichotomy makes Blunderbuss a record that only seems richer with increased exposure. AMG. listen here

Die Antwoord - $O$ 2010

Representing the Lady Gaga Era’s dark underbelly, South Africa’s Die Antwoord are the real “Little Monsters” of their time, brought to fame by a series of videos that looked like David Cronenberg and Keith Haring were co-directing. On their debut album, $O$, the music is just as phantasmagoric, unsettling, and bursting with the same sick humor as their videos, but there’s also the same amount of care put into the product. Even as these incredibly busy hip-hop-meets-rave productions rocket toward the brink of chaos, the listener is harnessed in by layers of hooks and plenty of cheeky musical ideas. First, there’s the setup: a duo of South African’s trashiest trailer kids, including a lead male rapper, Ninja, who is obsessed with his namesake plus an albino kewpie doll, pixie-voiced back-up singer, Yo-Landi Vi$$er, who often channels her inner sex goddess even when she’s traditionally unsexy. A third, shadow member, DJ Hi-Tek, supplies much of the music, making wonderfully outlandish decisions like sampling Smile.dk’s sugary hit “Butterfly” for the massive “Enter the Ninja,” a hypnotic motivational track that should pump up any given mutant before they enter the ring. When “Scopie” - this album is chock-full of NSFW South African slang -- samples “Short Dick Man,” it’s clever, and borrowing from the Bronski Beat for the epic sex track “Beat Boy” is just one example of the album’s fascinating love of old synth music, from new wave to gabba hardcore with a little love thrown dubstep’s way. Jamaican dancehall is referenced on “Evil Boy,” which turns Little Red Riding Hood into a story of phallic bragging, as is dancehall’s iffy relationship with the “batty boy”, because Die Antwoord are hardly politically correct. Elsewhere, your mom’s private parts end up in a “Fish Paste” jar as an insult, and Ninja’s idea of a sexual encounter always requires post-coital mops and buckets. If it matters, none of this is real, and Die Antwoord are actually conceptual artists, presenting “exaggerated versions” of their “inner zef”. Whoever they are, $o$ is utterly unique and downright dazzling if you dream of a Grand Guignol hosted by P. Diddy. AMG. listen here

RPWL - Beyond Man And Time 2012

RPWL (Risettion Postl Wallner Lung - the band members) is a German progressive rock band. The band was formed in 1997 as a Pink Floyd cover band. After three years they started to make their own music based on their influences from their cover band era. Their debut CD, God Has Failed was met with international enthusiasm, praise and excellent reviews in all the major progressive rock music magazines.

The band wanted to make a statement with Trying To Kiss The Sun in 2002, which relied more on the band as a creative entity and less on their influences. Their 3rd studio album, Stock was released in 2003. It was formed of the tracks that didn't make it onto the first 2 albums, plus a cover of Syd Barrett's "Opel", which the band used at shows as a soundcheck.

In 2005 they released their 4th studio album World Through My Eyes. This was received well by fans and off it their first single was taken- "Roses" sung by former Genesis and Stiltskin vocalist Ray Wilson.

Later that year, the band released their 1st live album Live- Start The Fire. The double disc album contains the whole of the band's Rockpalast concert, again featuring Ray Wilson on lead vocals for "Roses" and one other track this time, "Not About Us", which is from Ray's one and only album with Genesis entitled Calling All Stations.

In 2007, saw the release of 9--a compilation including 5 previously unreleased live songs and 4 brand new solo songs recorded together by the band. Those studio-tracks are representing the different influences in the band. 9 was released in a limited edition of 999 CDs and was only available from their website.

In February 2008, they released a new album called The RPWL Experience, which diverted greatly from previous efforts. Martien Koolen of DPRP writes, "The southern German prog rock band certainly explores new musical horizons on this album as some songs even sound raw and unpolished." Proarchives.com listen here

Apparat - Walls 2007

Having made a considerable splash with the Ellen Allien collaboration Orchestra of Bubbles, Apparat returned to his own path with Walls, a remarkable album that ranks as his best yet. Beginning with the gentle string and vibes beats of "Not a Number" -- which in its own melancholy way, combined with the title, suddenly sounds like one of the most humanistic songs yet recorded, passionate in its elegant sorrow -- Walls takes a simultaneously familiar and unsettled path. While the continuing impact of disparate strands of music -- the fallout of My Bloody Valentine and its many imitators, the electronic obsessions of Warp, the stadium-ready melancholy of early Radiohead and its own horde of followers -- has resulted in a 21st century computer music of crushed sorrow; on Walls, Apparat transcends the downbeat limitations of the incipient form with astonishing grace. Hearing how what could be a standard filter-house volume build in "Limelight" becomes a fierce trap for a voice barely understandable, or how the post-Jeff Buckley/Thom Yorke woundedly sweet vocal on "Arcadia" actually means something working alongside the busily frenetic beats make the listener regard familiar approaches in a sudden new light. Meantime, "You Don't Know Me," which appears towards the album's conclusion, might actually be the best song on it. While there are a lot of songs that could be described as soundtracking a nonexistent film, this actually feels like it, strings and a handclap beat creating a pitch-perfect atmosphere to the end of a romantic movie. Raz Ohara's various vocal appearances throughout are nice additions but the highlight is "Hold On," where his perfectly in-the-moment R&B style contrasts the squelching bass and nervous but righteous groove to a T. AMG. listen here

Laura Allan - Reflections 1980

When you don't tire of an album after hundreds of listenings, you can crown it a "classic." Laura Allan plays zither and sings melodies of eternal inspiration and exquisite depth. A few refrains have lyrics, and they are pure poetry. "My heart is grateful--just to be, and nothing more. I am the joy, and the sorrow. The tear, the death, and blessed bird. As I am today, I am tomorrow: a child of God, flying out to love on this earth...." Though you'll probably remember only Allan's zither and angelic voice, other notables contribute to the magic: Paul Horn on swirls of flutes, Dallas Smith on Lyricon wind synthesizer, Geoffrey Chandler on synthesizer, and Kent Middleton on bells. Everything about this album seems to have been "Special Delivery" from Heaven; even the faint auto sounds in the background are totally forgiven, even embraced. Even if this album is available only on cassette tape, get it. It is available on tape only through Steven Halpern's Inner Peace Music. AMG. listen here

Jonas Hellborg - Temporal Analogues of Paradise 1996

Here's another stunningly beautiful Jonas Hellborg album with another misleadingly dorky title (cf. Octave of the Holy Innocents, Ars Moriende, etc.). The dorkiness of the title is misleading because it's simply not reflected in the music, which, while decidedly virtuosic and occasionally even esoteric, is for the most part admirably grounded and accessible. With guitar hero Shawn Lane and drummer Apt. Q-258 (aka Jeff Sipe), Hellborg spins out two half-hour long improvisations (or, as they're called here, "movements"); the first is the more rockish, and also the less interesting of the two. Opening with a ringing tonic-dominant figure from Hellborg and a pummeling beat from Sipe, the piece quickly takes off into guitar-god territory as Lane lets loose -- his playing is genuinely inspiring, as pretty as it is jaw-droppingly virtuosic -- but on this track the trio doesn't ever hook into anything really transcendent. On the more lyrical and restrained "Second Movement," though, there is magic at work. Lane starts out in a South Asian modality and then gradually glides into a series of variations on achingly sweet diatonic themes while Hellborg supports him with solid but intricate bass figures underneath. Hellborg's solos are brilliant as well. The album is a solid success overall. AMG. listen here

Lena Horne - Seasons Of A Life 2006

Lena Horne had effectively retired in 2006 when Blue Note released Seasons of a Life, an album compiled for her by her musical director, Rodney Jones, and including unreleased performances recorded between 1994 and 2000. It's an effective capstone to her career, and shows that even at the age of 80, the former Cotton Club featured attraction had lost little of the verve and sophistication she exhibited throughout her career. The material comes from six different sessions, some live but most in a studio environment, including outtakes -- most of which sound like outtakes -- from her Blue Note albums of the '90s. Three of the performances come from the Blue Note project Classic Ellington, which allowed Simon Rattle and the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra to pay tribute to Duke Ellington in a classical context. (For this release, Rodney Jones appears to have merely excised the symphony to make these small-group performances.) Most interesting, however, are two tracks recorded with Herbie Hancock, the first a trio recording of Billy Strayhorn's "Chelsea Bridge" and the second a Horne-Hancock duet on "Willow Weep for Me." AMG. listen here

Keith Jarrett Trio - Somewhere Before (1969-1981)

While still a member of the Charles Lloyd Quartet, Keith Jarrett did some occasional moonlighting with a trio, anchored by two future members of Jarrett's classic quartet, Charlie Haden (bass) and Paul Motian (drums). On this CD, Jarrett turns in a very eclectic set at Shelly's Manne-Hole in Hollywood, careening through a variety of idioms where his emerging individuality comes through in flashes. He covers Bob Dylan's "My Back Pages" -- which actually came out as a single on the Vortex label -- in an attractive, semi-funky style reminiscent of Vince Guaraldi. "Pretty Ballad" delivers a strong reflective dose of Bill Evans, while "Moving Soon" is chaotic free jazz. By the time we reach "New Rag," we begin to hear the distinctive Jarrett idiom of the later trios, but then, "Old Rag" is knockabout stride without the stride. As an example of early, unfocused Jarrett, this is fascinating material. AMG. listen here

Doudou Ndiaye Rose - Djabote 1991

Doudou N'Diaye Rose has been called the "Jimi Hendrix of the drum skin." A virtuoso percussionist, Rose has proven equally effective whether he's working with a small ensemble or a symphony orchestra. According to www.runprod.com, Rose "has a passion for sounds and for harmonies; he loves to make his group reverberate like a tremendous rhythmical machine, which he controls with the hands of a master, using his baton to guide the musicians with an irresistible authority and natural charisma." Born to a Wolof family, Rose has inherited the status of griot or oral historian. Rose is reportedly the father of 38 children.
Unlike most drummers in the West African traditions, Rose has always tended to work with large ensembles. Yet their enormous power has mostly come with little loss of subtlety, as these recent recordings attest. This open-air set involving no less than 50 drummers and as many singers has a sweep and strength that take your breath away.AMG. listen here

INXS - X 1990

The seventh album from Australia's INXS basically sticks to the formula set up on Kick, mixing solid remixable dancefloor beats with slightly quirky production tricks, Michael Hutchence's rough-edged, bluesy vocals, and some good solid song hooks. The most immediate numbers are, of course, the two singles, "Suicide Blonde" and "Disappear," but other tracks stand out as potential hit material as well, including the anthemic "The Stairs." The biggest problems with the album are a tendency to play it safe, sticking to the tried and true -- echoing a line in the thumping "Who Pays the Price," when Hutchence sings "it's all been felt before" -- and the fact that there's very little in the way of subtlety on the entire album. All of the songs are designed for immediate radio contact -- they don't really give you a chance to grow into them, they just grab you by the throat and start shaking. "Know the Difference," as an example, threatens to be sneaky but immediately switches to an obvious assault instead. In the finish, the overwhelming lack of subtlety and sense of sameness overcomes the album as a whole. It's not that's it's a bad album. It's just nowhere near as good as it could -- and should -- have been. AMG. listen here

Susan Tedeschi - Just Won't Burn 1998

The very idea of a lady slinging a guitar sets traditional blues fans swooning. But with the release of her debut, Susan Tedeschi slings, aims, and hits her target. What a talent! Singer, songwriter, player, performer, and more, the lady from Boston can do it all. Effective, she does justice to John Prine's classic "Angel from Montgomery" while making her own efforts known. Her tunes include "You Need to Be with Me," "Found Someone New," and the title cut. Leading her own band, she has what it takes to keep the boys in line while she wails away. Big Mama Thornton and Bessie Smith must be proud, and B.B. King must be impressed, since she has opened for that blues master on several occasions. Just a little taste of things to come, Just Won't Burn blazes a trail that Tedeschi is pioneering for herself and younger women in the blues world. A brave heart with spunk and plenty of soul. AMG.
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Prince - Planet Earth 2007

Comeback accomplished, Prince now settles into a groove with 2007's Planet Earth, his 26th studio album and successor to the two deliberate comebacks, Musicology and 3121. Those two albums were designed to storm the top of the charts but, more importantly, they were made with the intention of making Prince prominent again -- a gambit that worked since Prince worked hard, stealing the show at both the Superbowl and the American Idol fifth-season finale and turning into an in-demand concert ticket once again. Both records were recorded with the expectations of making a splash, and 3121 even made some overtures toward modern music, most noticeably in the sleek electro workout of "Black Sweat," which suggested that Prince had heard the Neptunes, even if he didn't pay them much mind. In contrast to such grudging nods at his progeny, Planet Earth doesn't attempt to make concessions to contemporary music, although it does make a point of addressing the modern world, whether it's in the neo-apocalyptic warnings of destruction and God on the title track or his offhand reference to "this digital age" on the sweet slow jam "Somewhere Here on Earth." Such passing asides are enough indication that, even if Prince may belong to his own universe, he surely lives in our world, something that's also apparent from his move to give away the album with Sunday newspapers in the U.K., a move that infuriated record labels in Britain -- since how can you sell something that's being given away for free? -- yet makes some sense in terms of sheer marketing. After all, Planet Earth is the kind of sturdy, highly enjoyable music that needs some manufactured hoopla around its release; otherwise, it will fade into the artist's prodigious back catalog because of its very nature. This isn't a self-styled comeback, it's an album that showcases a still-vital veteran relaxing and playing music that's not surprising, not fashionable, but not stodgy or fussy. That may mean that Planet Earth isn't much more than a quite good Prince album, one that hits upon his most accessible personas -- impish popster, funk-rocker, seductive balladeer, charmingly mystic weirdo -- and doesn't go much further than that, yet it still offers plenty to enjoy, either as sheer music (some of the synths are a bit glassy, but nobody knows how to make a record sound warm like Prince) or as songs. If there are no classics here -- or even songs that are as instantly grabbing as "Lolita" -- there are no bad songs either, with the very funny, tightly wound rocker "Guitar," the light, frothy "The One U Wanna C," and the NPG knockoff "Chelsea Rodgers" being as engaging as slow jams like "Future Baby Mama." There's no fluff and no fat, just ten strong songs delivered with just enough flair to remind you it's the work of Prince, yet strategically avoiding the indulgence that marginalized him throughout the '90s. Ultimately, Planet Earth is the sound of a working musician working, which makes it a bit of a passing pleasure, yet there's no denying that it is indeed a pleasure having him turn out solid records like this that build upon his legacy, no matter how modestly. AMG.
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Gil Scott-Heron - Ghetto Style 1998

This compilation features 21 tracks from Gil Scott-Heron's first three long-players -- Small Talk at 125th and Lenox (1970), Pieces of a Man (1971), and Free Will (1972) -- all for producer Bob Thiele's Flying Dutchman label. Although Scott-Heron's seminal recordings consisted of his radical street poetry set to a bombast of conga accompaniment, he honed his prose into socially conscious R&B. This would heavily influence rap music nearly a decade prior to its fruition in the early '80s and 1990s. The original recitation version of "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" -- which comes off as militant as the more familiar instrumentally accompanied reading -- as well as the slice-of-life commentary title track "Small Talk at 125th and Lenox" appropriately represent Scott-Heron's first disc with an edgy political incorrectness taken directly from the soul of the American ghettos. Although the tone of his later work would become somewhat melodically tempered, the lyrical content remained in-your-face and wholly uncompromising. On the follow-up, Pieces of a Man, the artist is accompanied by a bevy of studio musicians and jazz heavies, including Ron Carter (bass), Hubert Laws (flute/saxophone), as well as Bernard "Pretty" Purdie (drums). This would also begin Scott-Heron's dramatic and fruitful collaborative relationship with Brian Jackson (keyboards), which would spawn several landmark and otherwise socially conscious discs, including the apropos bicentennial release It's Your World (1976). Jackson's delicate interplay on "Did You Hear What They Said" and "Or Down You Fall" demonstrates the musical cohesion that would continue to develop between the two. Although this is a European import, as no domestic compilation of this material exists, Ghetto Style (1998) is a highly recommended primer. AMG.
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Jane's Addiction - Ritual De Lo Habitual 1990

Ritual de lo Habitual served as Jane's Addiction's breakthrough to the mainstream in 1990 (going gold and reaching the Top 20), and remains one of rock's all-time sprawling masterpieces. While its predecessor, 1988's Nothing's Shocking, served as a fine introduction to the group, Ritual de lo Habitual proved to be even more daring; few (if any) alt-rock bands have composed a pair of epics that totaled nearly 20 minutes, let alone put them back to back for full dramatic effect. While the cheerful ditty "Been Caught Stealing" is the album's best-known track, the opening "Stop!" is one of the band's best hard rock numbers, propelled by guitarist Dave Navarro's repetitive, trashy funk riff, while "Ain't No Right" remains explosive in its defiant and vicious nature. Jane's Addiction always had a knack for penning beautiful ballads with a ghostly edge, again proven by the album closer, "Classic Girl." But it's the aforementioned epics that are the album's cornerstone: "Three Days" and "Then She Did...." Although Perry Farrell has never truly admitted what the two songs are about lyrically, they appear to be about an autobiographical romantic tryst between three lovers, as each composition twists and turns musically through every imaginable mood. And while the tracks "No One's Leaving," "Obvious," and "Of Course" may not be as renowned as other selections, they prove integral in the makeup of the album. Surprisingly, the band decided to call it a day just as Ritual de lo Habitual hit big, headlining the inaugural Lollapalooza tour (the brainchild of Farrell) in the summer of 1991 as their final road jaunt. Years later, it remains one of alt-rock's finest moments. AMG.
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