Tag: album reviews
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Choose Your Weapon album – Hiatus Kaiyote
For geeky music fans who may possess a rudimentary grasp of chords, scales and rhythms, Choose Your Weapon is a revelation. The Australian quartet toy with tempos, switch melodies and hijack genres with scholarly precision. It’s scary at times. Take Jekyll – it appears to be a conventional neo-soul outing until, two minutes into the […]
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Big Luxury album – Potatohead People
Not sure why Nick Wisdom and AstroLogical call themselves Potatohead People. It’s not as if either resemble Potato Head, the Hasbro toy, or pen tunes of an agrarian nature. In fact, the only thing this Canadian duo cultivate are hip-hoppy electronic tracks, often with some subtle jazzy flavours. The web is awash with unimaginative boom-bap […]
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Renegades album review – Mark de Clive-Lowe
de Clive-Lowe has made a few tweaks in his life that may have influenced the sound of his ninth album. Having recently moved from London to Los Angeles, Renegades gestated in the City of Angels. That may account for the high-profile personnel, which includes Prince percussionist Sheila E and arranger extraordinaire Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. de Clive-Lowe […]
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Masterpiece album review – various artists (Gilles Peterson)
Among jazz/nu jazz DJs, Peterson is perhaps the most recognizable on the planet, which means you’ve probably heard him deejay. Not only does busy Peterson broadcast from the UK’s second most popular station, Radio 1, but he has syndicated shows in Japan and Europe. But if for some baffling reason you’ve never heard a Peterson […]
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Shapes 10:02 album review – various artists (Robert Luis)
With recession gripping the globe, less music is being released and of the albums that do reach our shelves, most are creatively bankrupt. However one label whose stock is rising is Tru Thoughts. Its valuable assets includes acts like Maddslinky, Quantic and Hidden Orchestra, all of which have attracted positive press. Diversification also contributes to […]
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Cries & Smiles album review – Izzi Dunn
We expect albums to have strong, singular themes, even though the artists that create them aren’t one-dimensional beings.Cries & Smiles, as its title suggests, has a dual identity: its jazzier, clubbier cuts sit alongside more chart-friendly soul singles. So those of a funkier ilk will home in on Tits & Ass, G@Ngst*R Bitch and the title track. […]
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Party-Keller Vol. 3 album review – various artists (DJ Florian Keller)
Florian Keller has indulged his love of rare funk 45s by running Munich club nights since the early ’90s. He has the collector’s lust for the quirky or offbeat, but unlike some aficionados he isn’t rooted in the past. This selection is a mixed bag of old and new, ranging from classic rare grooves to […]
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LateNightTales album review – various artists (The Cinematic Orchestra)
Anyone assembling a compilation that includes folksy guitarist Nick Drake, minimalist composer Steve Reich and MOR crooner Burt Bacharach should be carted off to an asylum. There’s no way these acts belong on the same playlist but that’s exactly what Jason Swinscoe, the man behind The Cinematic Orchestra, has done — and done well, it […]
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Living In The Moment album review – Prince Sampson
The somewhat cheesy album cover suggests the songs on this disc are of the “smooth jazz” variety — a much-maligned genre that’s regrettably heard when, let’s be honest, you’re at your most exasperated: bored in a lounge, on hold on the phone, trapped in an elevator. But fusion — as it’s also known — is […]
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Radio Silence album review – Neil Cowley Trio
Neil Cowley must be getting fed up of critics’ veiled digs. His trio has, for instance, been characterised as an outfit prone to pull “the plug on improvisation” (The Guardian). Really? As if mindful of such gibes, Radio Silence is a more serious affair than 2008’s Loud… Louder… Stop!. Consequently, it has to be spun […]