Tag: album reviews
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Jazz Re:freshed Vol. 1 album review – various artists
This compilation by London promoters Adam “Rock” Moses and Justin “TopRock” McKenzie is a studious snapshot of nu jazz and broken beat sounds, genres long snubbed by major labels. Without this album, where else would you hear Femi Temowo’s poetic Wood And Things, the head-nodding broken beats of Kaidi Tatham or the psychedelic soul of […]
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Sketches Of A Man album review – Dwele
Dwele loves vowels. The neo-soulster likes nothing better than taking a vowel, any vowel, and wrestling with it. So phrases like “with you” are, in Dwele-speak, pronounced “weeeeeed yhoooooo”. Add some crisscrossing harmonies and a hip-hop beat so leisurely it would send most into REM sleep, and you have an aural hangover cure to ease […]
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This Thing Of Ours… album review – Fanatix
Back in the day, an artist only had to knock out eight or nine songs before releasing an LP. (Wasn’t Off The Wall 45 minutes long?) But with CDs, musicians feel compelled to give punters value for money, which means This Thing Of Ours… weighs in at 16 tracks. With so many tunes to wade […]
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Then What Happened? album review – J-Live
Like R&B, most hip-hop is so mainstream it could be considered a subgenre of pop. Rhymesters like 50 Cent and Lil’ Wayne are little more than breathing brands who’ll endorse everything from sneakers to video games, before the obligatory Hollywood roles come a-knocking. So there’s no room for the reflective J-Lives of this world. Indeed […]
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Guaranteed Niceness album review – Sonar Kollektiv Orchester
To celebrate its tenth anniversary, jazzy Berlin label Sonar Kollektiv has released a collection of old tunes that sound remarkably new. A lush blanket of strings and horns transform songs that were once enveloped in electronic wizardry. Jazzanova faves No Use and Run have been stripped of their club-friendly oomph and replaced with a live, […]
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Loud… Louder… Stop! album review – Neil Cowley Trio
This album is sandwiched between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Fans of nu jazz, who favour a mains-powered instrument in the mix, will be put off by an acoustic trio. Meanwhile “proper” jazzers — those musos who listen to suites rather than songs — will find Loud… Louder… Stop! too damn catchy for […]
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Junkyard Gods album review – Two Banks Of Four
There wouldn’t be a broken beat or nu-jazz scene without the likes of Earl Zinger and Demus (of Galliano and the Young Disciples fame, respectively). Both were trailblazers of acid jazz, a genre that spawned numerous soulful incarnations. Intriguingly, this CD stirs up memories of those heydays. Maybe it’s the waltzy backdrop of Queen Of […]
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…mixing album review – various artists (4hero)
The aim of this compilation is to “investigate the musical influences” of 4hero (aka Marc Mac and Dego) through an expansive selection of songs that spans J Dilla’s hip-hop breaks, the P-funk of Bootsy Collins, not to mention a smattering of retro electro and a dab of dub. For completist or new fans unfamiliar with […]
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Seven Ways To Wonder album review – Reel People
Upon hearing the first few bars of Seven Ways To Wonder, you suspect Oli Lazarus and co. have omitted a couple of words from this album’s title. Seven Ways To “Be Stevie” Wonder might be more apt, seeing that the percussive opener resembles the Motown legend’s work (circa mid ’70s). The song sets the tone […]
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California album review – Natalie Gardiner
In much modern music, Svengali-like producers exert an inordinate amount of control over an album’s sound. That’s not the case here. Gardiner’s voice is central to California‘s mood and feel. Come Find Me Again‘s overlapping vocals flitter deftly around a light percussive rhythm, while the cool harmonies of Fading Hours delicately ebb and flow beneath […]