list.co.uk/music Records - Jazz & World | MUSIC
JAZZ BOBBY BRADFORD, FRODE GJERSTAD, INGEBRIT HAKER FLATEN, PAAL NILSSEN- LOVE Kampen (No Business) ●●●●●
An inspired summit between 78-year-old West Coast cornettist Bobby Bradford and the younger Norwegian trio of clarinettist and alto player Frode Gjerstad, bassist Ingebrit Haker Flater and sticksman Paal Nilssen-Love. The session has a thrilling past-
into-future feel, with Bradford applying Big Band-era wah effects and vocalisations to an avant-garde harmonic sensibility. Gjerstad is a brilliant foil, and Haker Flaten and Nilssen-Love, two-thirds of punk- jazzers The Thing, really swing here, combining hard bop and New Thing moves with lateral thinking and extended technique. (Stewart Smith)
JAZZ JOHN BUTCHER Bell Trove Spools (Northern Spy) ●●●●● WORLD ROBERT SOKO Balkan Beats Soundlab (Piranha Music/K7) ●●●●●
Considering John Butcher’s PhD in theoretical physics, it’s tempting to think of him as a boffin painstakingly investigating the possibilities of the saxophone. Yet there is nothing drily academic about the Londoner’s avant-garde explorations: the sounds he conjures are mind-boggling, but also moving in their beauty. Using the natural echo of an empty
hall and his formidable circular breathing, Butcher layers Coltrane like-sheets of sound into an ecstatic thrum. Heady tones and atavistic noises vie for attention throughout ‘Perfume Screech’: lunar ballads and braying Daleks, gobstopper smacks and chattering monkeys, hunting horns and rainforest ambience. Gorgeous and frequently astonishing. (Stewart Smith)
Balkan folk, with its breakneck tempos and whirlwind instrumental breaks, is some of the wildest, most energetic dance music around. Small wonder that DJs like Bosnian expat Robert Soko have sought to put a modern twist on these traditional styles. The problem with Soko’s remixes is that the club elements he brings are so cheesy and dated, diluting the raw vitality of the originals. The last thing gypsy brass bands need are naff Manu Chao- style ska, dodgy rapping and beats that wouldn’t pass muster on a ‘90s Euro-dance flop. The novelty cover of Reel 2 Reel’s ragga-house hit ‘I Like To Move It Move It’ is the nadir, although the jazz-hands swing of Tommy Dollar’s horrid ‘Balkan Bettie’ comes close. (Stewart Smith)
WORLD GETACHEW MEKURIA, THE EX & FRIENDS Y’Anbessaw Tezeta (Terp) ●●●●● Getachew Mekuria, the great Ethiopian saxophonist, ends his 65-year career with Y’Anbessaw Tezeta (‘In memory of the lion’), an album recorded with Dutch avant- punks The Ex. Perhaps surprisingly, the tempos are moderate and the guitars tightly coiled, creating a subtle momentum behind Mekuria's from whom gorgeous, exotic melodies unfurl in a burnished, husky tone. The bonus disc features a scorching Montreal performance with The Ex and assorted jazzers, but the undoubted highlight is the recording of Mekuria and the Haile Selassie 1 Theatre Orchestra from 1960: an astonishing insight into the birth of Ethiopian jazz. (Stewart Smith)
ALSO RELEASED
Interpol Turn On The Bright Lights (Matador) ●●●●● Tenth anniversary re-release of the New Yorkers’ debut which galvanised a new wave of post-punk guitar bands at the turn of the century. With previously unreleased Peel Sessions, B-sides and early demos. Josef K Sorry For Laughing (LTM) ●●●●● Initially recorded for Postcard Records in 1981 but later shelved, this first attempt at a debut became the great ‘lost album’ of the post-punk era. This remastered vinyl- only edition features an added 12-track bonus CD.
A Band Called Quinn Red Light Means Go (Tromolo) ●●●●● Debut LP from Scottish art-pop outfit finally released after having been shelved for three years. Littered with synth soaked choruses and melodic clichés, the album offers up little in terms of originality.
The Douglas Firs The Furious Sound (Armellodie) ●●●●● Edinburgh based psychedelic pop outfit. Inspired by the East Lothian Witch trials of 1590, the album is a hypnotic journey of indie- folk tinged with hypnotic post-rock melodies weaving in and out of tribal drums.
The Babies Our House On The Hill (Woodsist) ●●●●● Album two from the Brooklyn band. Jingle- jangle guitars, delicate vocal melodies from Cassie 'Vivian Girls' Ramone and often wistful pop melodies. Mission Of Burma Learn How: The Essential Mission Of Burma (Fire) ●●●●● Two disc compilation spanning the career of the cult icons. Having disbanded in 1983 after one album, the band are enjoying a renaissance and this honours the finest cuts from their back catalogue. (Jack Taylor)
SINGLES & DOWNLOADS
As we approach the end of the year, the inevitable petering out of single/album releases is to be expected but in these final few weeks, there is always the opportunity to sow a few seeds for the coming 12 months. As usual, it’s a mixed bag. First up is Woodpecker Wooliams – aka
Brighton’s Gemma Williams – with ‘Gull’ (Robot Elephant, ●●●●●), a glitchy cut from her album, The Bird School Of Being Human. It’s almost too easy to peg this harp-strumming oddity as a Joanna Newsom wannabe but it’s just weird enough to warrant another listen. The same can’t be said, however, for Of Monsters and Men’s mind-crushingly beige folk jam ‘Mountain Sound’ (Island, ●●●●●) or Little Green Cars, who effectively play out like their Irish counterparts on ‘The John Wayne’ (Glassnote/Island, ●●●●●).
The faux-folk implosion continues with lacklustre efforts from Matt Corby on the warbling, phone advert-ready ‘Brother’ (Atlantic,
●●●●●), while Jamie Flett saves things a little with the glimmering and beautifully arranged ‘Bouncing Ball’ (Big Rock Candy, ●●●●●). Meanwhile, Kid Cudi’s ‘Just What I Am’ (Island, ●●●●●) featuring King Chip is equally disappointing in its gargling lyrical pointlessness, but the glassy synth textures and measured mid-tempo groove are enough to move a head or two.
This month’s keeper, and Single of the
Month is from talented Swedish sisters First Aid Kit (pictured). Despite being an unabashed country/folk throwback in its own right, the title track from their album The Lion’s Roar (Wichita, ●●●●●) just pinches it on the strength of the vocals alone, which are as sublime as ever. (Ryan Drever) ■ Woodpecker Wooliams plays at Shhh!, ‘a day and evening of quiet music’ co-curated by RM Hubbert at Platform, Glasgow on Sat 1 Dec. First Aid Kit play 02 ABC, Glasgow, Sat 24 Nov.
15 Nov–13 Dec 2012 THE LIST 81