list.co.uk/music Records – Jazz & World | MUSIC
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Buddy Morrow and his Spooky Friends GRANT HART Music to Scare Your Neighbours The Argument (Domino) ●●●●● (Fingertips) ●●●●● From punk mosh-pits to Milton’s A jazz reissue, based on writings of Paradise Lost, the ex-Hüsker Du Edgar Allan Poe. Expect a 50s drive- drummer’s voyage has certainly thru movie feel and a beatnik-styled swerved a little. The epic poem English lecturer telling tales along to upon which his eighth album is spooky, doo wop jazz melodies. intricately based is unfortunately not the only archaic presence, as Dead Sea Souls rhyming couplets imbue melodies We Were Always Electric (Big Rock with a lacklustre predictability. Hats Candy) ●●●●● West Lothian well-and-truly off for thought, scope skanking. And some very knowing and complexity. Hats firmly back on lyrics about the cynicism and for final delivery. (Harris Brine) snobbery of the music scene, especially at the unsigned end THE CAIRO GANG of things. One for fans of Twin Tiny Rebels (Empty Cellar) ●●●●● Atlantic’s high-energy riffery. The band’s moniker may be unwittingly released in poor taste Trapped Mice this month, but Emmett Kelly’s Winter Sun fourth standalone effort will tantalise (Armellodie) ●●●●● those craving 12-string sun-dried A debut LP from five guys from throwbacks to decades previous. Edinburgh, using horse hooves, The collaborative intimacy of Bonnie accordions, spoken word and lyrics ‘Prince’ Billy may be lost in the trip, about ‘longing, confusion but nostalgia is not. ‘Shivers’ is a . . . and the good fight for artistic wonderfully gloomy highlight. (HB) credibility’. Earnest, melancholy avant-folk. KILL THE CAPTAINS Sounds Mean (Armellodie) ●●●●● Keser They may boast a drummer named Audeamus P Collins but this Sheffield’s second (Alex Tronic) ●●●●● effort appears to have had its Ambient Eno-esque electronica from genesis in harmful genetic mutation. Gavin Clark and Kevan Whitley, put ‘Nowbiter’ fearlessly soars while out by Leith label Alex Tronic, with its anthesis ‘The Taking Of’ merely atmospheric, New Agey vibes, and woolgathers. Such bipolar disparity an aptly titled opener ‘Aqua Aura’ – is a perfect example of how difficult meaning ‘natural crystal . this four-piece’s very own land of confusion is to grasp. (HB) James Walsh Lullaby (Smith & Songs) ●●●●● THE DEEP RED SKY James ‘Starsailor’ Walsh joins Plans Sacha Skarbek (hit-writer for Lana (thedeepredsky.bandcamp.com) ●●●●● del Ray & James Blunt) on this An Auld Reekie outfit whose first underwhelming rock concept LP, attempt is admirable, if uninventive. inspired by Chuck ‘Fight Club’ ‘Getting Easier’ and ‘Paralysed’ are Palahnuik’s tale of a deeply chilling siphoned from Biffy Clyro’s softer baby-killing. sounds, but the simultaneous male/ female vocals jostle instead of Mudhoney
Dead Sea Souls We Were Always Electric (Big Rock harmonically straddling melodies. Candy) ●●●●● West Lothian A gentle reminder: in order to be skanking. And some very knowing atmospheric, you at first need to lyrics about the cynicism and create an atmosphere. (HB) snobbery of the music scene, especially at the unsigned end ENSEMBLE of things. One for fans of Twin ECONOMIQUE Atlantic’s high-energy riffery. The Fever Logic (Not Not Fun) ●●●●● Trapped Mice Heavy, wasted, doomy, funereal Winter Sun vibes on this grey slab of electronic (Armellodie) ●●●●● unease. Although Californian A debut LP from five guys from Brian Pyle beachcombs for fun, Edinburgh, using horse hooves, his brooding music creates a accordions, spoken word and lyrics feeling more like doing blindfolded about ‘longing, confusion potholing. (Claire Sawers) . . . and the good fight for artistic credibility’. Earnest, melancholy TORTOISE avant-folk. Millions Now Living Will Never Die (Thrill Jockey) ●●●●● Keser A reissue on blue vinyl of the 1996 Audeamus second album from the Chicago (Alex Tronic) ●●●●● post-experimental kraut-rockers. Ambient Eno-esque electronica from Revisit their sprawling sound Gavin Clark and Kevan Whitley, put exploration, ‘Djed’, which somehow out by Leith label Alex Tronic, with manages to stir up grungey/chill- atmospheric, New Agey vibes, and out and also jazzy 90s vibes all in an aptly titled opener ‘Aqua Aura’ – the space of its 21 minutes. (CS) meaning ‘natural crystal . JAMES MCVINNIE James Walsh Cycles Lullaby (Smith & Songs) ●●●●● (Bedroom Community) ●●●●● James ‘Starsailor’ Walsh joins Ever-inventive, collaboration-loving Sacha Skarbek (hit-writer for Lana modern composer Nico Muhly (his del Ray & James Blunt) on this LA Dance Project score will soon underwhelming rock concept LP, be part of the EIF) writes an album inspired by Chuck ‘Fight Club’ for ‘the original synthesiser’, that Palahnuik’s tale of a deeply chilling is, the pipe organ. With a mix of baby-killing. gorgeous and dull results. Eerie, austere, churchy tones alternate Mudhoney with warmer, frenzied bursts. (CS) Live In Berlin, 1988 (!K7 Records) ●●●●● MIKA VAINIO A DVD of Mark Arm and co the first Kilo (Blastfirstpetite) ●●●●● time they played abroad, paving the From the same dark, brutalist way for grunge to take over the 90s. minimalist school of electronic A satisfying mess of long hair, on- music/avant-techno as Ben Frost, the-knees riffage, wailing and their Raime and co, Vainio unsettles with usual, entertaining onstage dicking this creepy, bleepy, dread-filled set. about. (CS)
JAZZ & WORLD JAZZ & WORLD WORLD DIRTMUSIC Troubles Glitterhouse ●●●●●
Dirtmusic are among the latest western musicians to be drawn to the mesmeric and powerful sound of Saharan desert rock. 2010’s BKO saw them collaborate with the Tuareg band Tamikrest, and Troubles is the result of jam sessions with Malian musicians on the dancefloor of Salif Keita’s Moffou Club in Bamako. Something was clearly lost in the transition from club to studio, for most of the tracks here are distinctly lacking in spontaneity. The
moody desert rock numbers drift aimlessly, while the tepid fusions of funk-rock and West African rhythms fail to spark. With excellent singers like Samba Toure and Zoumana Tereta involved, it is a mystery why the core duo of Chris Eckman (The Walkabouts) and Hugo Race (The Bad Seeds) bothered stepping to the microphone. Eckman’s earnest half-whispers are faintly ridiculous, while Race’s impersonation of that over-rated ham Nick Cave on the slick reggae number ‘Trouble’ is quite unpleasant. (Stewart Smith)
WORLD MARK ERNESTUS PRESENTS JERI-JERI 800% Ndagga / 800% Versions Hardwax/Honest Jon’s ●●●●● Best known as the co-founder of legendary Berlin minimal techno label Basic Channel, Mark Ernestus is now deeply engaged with African dance music, remixing Konono No 1 and helping to compile Honest Jon’s astonishing Shangaan Electro compliation. 800% Ndagga, and its remix companion volume, 800% Versions, collects his collaborations with Jeri-Jeri, a clan of Sabar drummers from Kaolack in Senegal. Guests include singers Baaba Maal and Mbene Diatta Seck, and legendary drummer Doudou Ndiaye Rose, a man who has played with Josephine Baker and Miles Davis. Ernestus remains in the background on the originals, yet there are affinities between the Sabar drummers’ mesmeric layering of complex polyrhythms and the Berliner’s own dub-techno constructions. Ernestus subtly reworks each track’s sonic architecture, feeding vocal scraps through decaying reverbs and tweaking the percussion. (Stewart Smith)
JAZZ KEITH JARRETT TRIO Somewhere (ECM) ●●●●●
Whisper it, but I’m not entirely convinced by the claims of Keith Jarrett’s genius. Before the jazz police start looking through my folders, I should add that he is undoubtedly brilliant. But to these ears, his brilliance as a pianist and improviser doesn’t match that of a genuine original like Cecil Taylor or McCoy Tyner. Putting avant-garde prejudices aside, however, there's much to enjoy about this 2009 live recording of Jarrett’s long-standing trio with
bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette. Jarrett’s gift for melody is undeniable, and his expansive sense of harmony, combined with inquisitive, rhythmic phrasing ensures that standards like Bernstein’s ‘Somewhere’ and ‘Stars Fell on Alabama’ sound genuinely beautiful, rather than merely pretty. The impressionistic dissonance of ‘Deep Space’ is the undoubted highlight, with Jarrett’s Satie-esque abstractions gradually morphing into a classy, Latin-tinged reconstruction of Miles Davis’ ‘Solar’. (Stewart Smith)
JAZZ MELODIC ART-TET Melodic Art-Tet (No Business) ●●●●●
No Business do a masterful job of documenting free jazz’s vital, neglected Loft Movement, and this 1974 radio session is a real find, letting a remarkable group finally be heard. Formed by Charles Brackeen (sax), and Sun Ra Arkestra's Roger Blank (drums), Melodic Art-Tet was conceived, according to Ahmed Abdullah (trumpet), as ‘an instrumental approach striving to embrace communication among the good angels in humanity’.
Brackeen provides striking melodies that are the basis for collective improvisations. ‘Before Heaven and Earth' marches in like Albert Ayler’s Village Vanguard quartet, before the musicians wander off in crab-like improv moves, surfacing somewhere between Africa and Saturn. Blank is hugely engaging, laying swinging tom grooves under Brackeen and Abdullah’s spiralling exchanges and young William Parker’s urgent bowed bass. (Stewart Smith) 11 Jul–22 Aug 2013 THE LIST 85