MUSIC | Records – Jazz & World ALSO RELEASED
TV ON THE RADIO Seeds (Harvest Records / Virgin EMI) ●●●●● NEIL LANDSTRUMM Nights of Shame EP (Kick + Clap) ●●●●●
TV On The Radio appear to have retreated to a safe musical place on Seeds, adopting the streamlined style evident on current single ‘Happy Idiot’, which sounds like an emasculated New Order’. A couple of nice choral touches remain; otherwise, the idiosyncratic quirks have been ironed out of their sound. (Fiona Shepherd) SIMPLE MINDS Big Music (Caroline International) ●●●●●
The Minds’ 16th album does a decent job of living up to its title, recalling the group’s mid-80s pomp and (sparingly) referencing the Europhile electro of earlier days. Jim Kerr pays tribute to his Southside stomping ground on ‘Honest Town’, one of a couple of co-writes with Iain Cook of Chvrches. (FS) THE ORCHIDS Beatitude #9 (Acuarela) ●●●●● While Taylor Swift touts a narrow interpretation of the year of her birth on current album 1989, for some the sound of the 80s is hazy melodies, jangling guitars, wistful vocals and a dash of electronica. Glasgow's the Orchids haven’t changed the record in nearly 30 years – why would they when it still sounds fresh and lovely? (FS) MICAH P HINSON The Gospel of Progress (Talitres) ●●●●●
A reissue of the 2004 debut album from Texan singer / songwriter whose hangdog vocals, gently skiffly rhythms, mellifluous guitar picking, mournful strings and lo-fi woodwind flourishes are now common currency. The ragged passion of ‘Patience’ still resonates. (FS)
Silly-good new stuff from producer Neil Landstrumm (above) which he says, ‘jacks so hard, it has to be from Chicago’. In reality, these squelchy, chiming and banging acid house beats were actually made in Marchmont, Edinburgh, and put out by Django Django drummer Dave McLean. It’s getting a standing ovation. (Claire Sawers)
DEAN BLUNT Black Metal (Rough Trade) ●●●●● The unpigeonhole-able London and Atlanta-based artist continues his project to fascinate, confound, and here, make swooningly beautiful, melodic, ambitious music. ‘Forever’ is a hypnotic 13-minute woozy loop; ‘Hush’ and ‘Mersh’ are a reminder of his dubby/trappy/jazzy past as half of Hype Williams. (CS)
JON HASSELL & BRIAN ENO Fourth World Vol 1: Possible Musics (Glitterbeat) ●●●●● Re-release of 1980 classic by composer/experimental trumpeter Hassell, and electronic visionary Eno. Proto-afrobeat in a very slowed down, primitive and bendy sense, as they create the ‘Fourth World’, their new style of music which used modern technological treatments to reinterpret various cultures and times. (CS)
RICHARD DAWSON Nothing Important (Weird World) ●●●●● The superb Geordie troubadour returns, with more of his beautiful balladry of the mundane. Off- kilter twanged guitars, soured vocals and odd ditties make for a playfully, occasionally gorgeously idiosyncratic piece of modern folk. (CS)
72 THE LIST 13 Nov–11 Dec 2014
JAZZ & WORLD WORLD VARIOUS Peru Bravo: Funk, Soul & Psych from Peru’s Radical Decade Tiger’s Milk ●●●●●
Peru Bravo documents the fertile, if short-lived, Liman music scene during the 1968-75 Velasco regime, offering tasty psych and funk nuggets and the odd gem. Los Destellos’ ‘Onsta la Yerbita’ is a trip, with an echo-drenched MC inviting the kids to dance and two guitarists pouring fuzzy psychedelic syrup across a cool Latin groove. It’s hard not to warm to an artist who dubs himself ‘El Troglodita’, as Jean Paul does. His
‘Everything’s Gonna Change’ is one of the best things here, his high and raspy voice leading the band through a series of hip James Brown-inspired vamps to land on a catchy psych-pop chorus. Laghonia are clearly the most accomplished band here, working up a driving groove beneath the progressive pop of ‘Bahia’. Los Holys’ curious stumblefunk take on the Meters’ immortal ‘Cissy Strut’ intrigues, but the real interest lies in the Peruvian originals. (Stewart Smith)
WORLD MORENO VELOSO Coisa Boa (Luaka Bop) ●●●●●
Coisa Boa is Brazilian singer, songwriter and producer Moreno Veloso’s first album in 13 years and it’s a beauty. Relaxed and airy, it’s less obviously experimental than some of his earlier work, with Veloso’s soft, inviting vocals wrapped in predominantly acoustic textures. Veloso hasn’t stepped back from the vanguard so much as refined his mix of the traditional and the modern, with leftfield touches rubbing gently against the warm
acoustic grain. The results are utterly gorgeous, with lovely, deceptively light melodies floating over acoustic guitars and subtly inventive electronic textures. Dreamy swells of lap steel lift the wistful ‘Lá e Cá’ into a starlit sky, while Arto Lindsay’s electric guitar transmits faint avant-rock signals from a distant satellite. Glistening surf guitars usher in the bouncy samba of ‘Um Passo à Frente’, while the charming ‘Jacaré Coruja’ teems with tiny percussion sounds from miniature steel drums to coconut shells. (Stewart Smith) JAZZ RASHIED AL AKBAR, MUHAMMAD ALI, EARL CROS, IDRIS ACKAMOOR Ascent of the Nether Creatures (No Business) ●●●●●
Taped in the Netherlands in 1980, Ascent of the Nether Creatures is a thrilling live set from four undersung Loft- era musicians. Trumpeter Earl Cross played on Noah Howard’s classic Black Art, but his work as leader has been under-documented. He’s on magnificent form here, taking hip bop themes like ‘Earl’s Tune’ and pushing them into knotty realms of abstraction. The long title track follows the Art Ensemble of Chicago deep into
the forest at night, all chittering insects and skreeing birds, before exploding in a miasma of incredible free drumming from Muhammad Ali. ‘4 for 1’ alternates between intense bursts of simultaneity and short solo shots, with Ackamoor’s high-velocity trills and Cross’s spiralling flights leaving your brain spinning before Ali mashes it completely. The raw fidelity only adds to the excitement, with the music working itself into a blurry ecstasy. (Stewart Smith)
JAZZ MARY HALVORSON Reverse Blue (Relative Pitch) ●●●●● New York guitarist and composer Mary Halvorson combines the history of jazz guitar with an avant-rock sensibility: think Mark Ribot or Bill Frisell drawing oblique pop angles with Deerhoof. What sets her apart from other virtuosos is her distinctive compositional voice: harmolodically complex, but with a knack for attractive themes and strong rhythmic hooks. ‘Torturer’s Reverse’ opens with her plucking out a pretty, almost baroque, figure, as Chris Speed’s saxophone glides softly by. The band shifts gear into a driving rock vamp, all purring power chords and fidgety fretboard runs. Ace drummer Thomas Fujiwara ratchets up the energy levels, pushing Halvorson to skronky abstractions, before she pulls back to trace crab-like patterns over his free-pulse barrage. ‘Hako’ has a lovely modal jazz feel, while ‘Really OK’ knocks a neat bebop theme out of orbit with wonky axe mischief. (Stewart Smith)