MUSIC | Records – Jazz & World
ALSO RELEASED Nozinja
NOZINJA Nozinja Lodge (Warp) ●●●●● URVANOVIC Amateurs (Survivalist) ●●●●●
A first official solo album from Nozinja, king of shangaan electro (think South African folk on disco-charged steroids). Tin- can production, garish synthetic marimba and superfast rhythms can make for difficult listening, but listening is beside the point: nothing less than furious ass-shaking is the intention. (Laura Ennor) If Idlewild hadn’t reconvened this year, Edinburgh's Urvanovic could stake a claim to a chunk of their ‘young Celtic folkies meet angstful rockers’ territory. They incorporate fuzzy alt.rock on opener ‘Open Ground’, although there’s more of an orchestral element throughout, and lovely interplay between male and female vocals. (David Pollock)
ROBYN STAPLETON Fickle Fortune (Laverock) ●●●●● This Stranraer native builds on her 2014 BBC Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year award with her first album. The songs and arrangements may be traditional but the selections reveal a liking for feisty, modern-feeling characters, in jaunty, humorous ballads and wistful laments. (LE)
NUMBERS ARE FUTILE Sunlight on Black Horizon (Song, by Toad) ●●●●● The current vogue for all things psychedelic continues with this debut from a Greco-Portuguese, Edinburgh-based duo. ‘Monster’ has already attracted national radio play with its combination of dreamy shoegaze and spooky lyre. Here it’s surrounded by fuzzy electronica, full of cascading synths, tribal drums and faraway vocals singing of fire and oblivion. (LE)
FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (Island) ●●●●● How big, how bland, how bloody loud. Florence ‘why-sing-when- you-can-bellow’ Welch continues to ply her trade with all the subtlety of a technicolour foghorn. No change to previous releases’ formula of stompy, angsty, indie pop (although there’s a bit of brass thrown in here) and no change either to Flo & Co’s tendency to beat you round the head with every song. A fan pleaser and no more. (LE)
LAU The Bell That Never Rang (Reveal Records) ●●●●● Recorded with Joan ‘Joan As Police Woman’ Wasser in the producer’s chair, Scots folk-rock trio Lau have managed to avoid going full New York here. There’s something of the Wild West as well as the glens to the reedy, crooned ‘First Homecoming’ and the pounding folk train song ‘Tiger Hill (Armoured Man)’, however. (DP)
CHEMICAL BROTHERS Born in the Echoes (Virgin EMI) ●●●●● This eighth Chemical Brothers album leads on the disco falsetto- voiced rave grind of ‘Sometimes I Feel So Deserted’, taking in a guest roster including Q-Tip on the smooth electro of ‘Go’, St Vincent floating over ‘Under Neon Lights’ and Beck on blissed-out finale ‘Wide Open’. (DP)
EVERYTHING EVERY- THING Get to Heaven (RCA) ●●●●● On this third album’s evidence, Manchester’s Everything Everything will only launch their stock even further as post-post-modern channelers of rock’s already convoluted web of cross-genre contaminations, throwing R&B, math rock, classic house, UK garage, tropicalia and industrial into the mix. Delivered with an arched eyebrow, no question, but it’s a masterful extended piece of pop invention. (DP)
86 THE LIST 4 Jun–3 Sep 2015
JAZZ & WORLD JAZZ KAMASI WASHINGTON The Epic (Brainfeeder) ●●●●●
This triple album arrives on the back of collaborations with Kendrick Lamar and Flying Lotus, but there's no hip hop here. Washington’s own style is rooted in 60s jazz, with a touch of cosmic funk courtesy of electric bassist Thundercat. ‘Changing of the Guard’ acts as an overture, a flourish of McCoy Tyner-esque piano announcing the soulful theme. Like the gargantuan album it leads, not everything works, but there’s no doubting Washington’s talent or ambition.
JAZZ KEITH JARRETT Creation (ECM) ●●●●●
Jarrett’s melodic improvisation, with one foot in jazz and the other in the European classical tradition, can be affecting, but the piano solos of Creation, recorded on a 2014 concert tour, are rhythmically inert and light on harmonic invention. Without his crack rhythm section of Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette to rouse him, Jarrett maintains the same moderate pace throughout, building to pompous crescendos of lush nothingness. JAZZ STAN TRACEY Alone & Together with Mike Osborne (Cadillac) ●●●●●
The late British pianist Stan Tracey’s Under Milk Wood, released in 1965, was an instant classic, but by the 1970s he was considering packing it all in. Meeting alto saxophonist Mike Osborne revitalised him. The 42 minutes of 1974's Alone crackle with invention, as bright melodies, stumbling Monk-ish tone clusters and avant-garde abstractions fly from Tracey’s graceful fingers. The previously unreleased duo set sees chemistry turn to magic. WORLD TERAKAFT Alone (Tenere) (Outthere Records) ●●●●●
Terakaft’s fifth album Alone is one of the most powerful Tuareg rock statements in some time. ‘Anabayou’ is a bold opener, reimagining the traditional camel train rhythm as a bouncy Schaffel beat. The guitars flicker and burn, as snaking leads interlock with clipped rhythm parts and driving riffs. Baritone surf guitar and a whomping kick drum drive ‘Karambani’, while ‘Amidminin Senta Aneflas’ skips to an infectious Cajun rhythm.
WORLD FADIMOUTOU WALLET INAMOUD Isswat (Sahel Sounds) ●●●●● Fadimoutou Wallet Inamoud’s debut recording presents traditional Azawad folk, her rich, poetic vocals striding over hypnotic vocal drones, handclaps and calabash rhythms. These songs of folk history, revolution and longing are mesmeric and completely transporting.
WORLD SUPREME TALENT SHOW Danbe (Sahel Sounds) ●●●●●
Featured on last year’s glorious Balani Show Super Hits compilation, Bamako street party kings Supreme Talent Show get their own release in Danbe. It’s a ridiculously exciting sound: frenetic djembe rhythms, balaphone samples, klaxon-like synths and infectious rapping over bass-heavy beats. Taps aff! WORLD VARIOUS Peru Boom: Bass, Bleeps & Bumps from Peru’s Elec- tronic Underground (Tiger’s Milk) ●●●●●
The beats of Peru Boom are less party oriented, with the producers dialling down the BPMs to fuse indigenous sounds with electronica. There’s some generic EDM and techno here, but tracks like Chakruna’s ‘Cumbia Achorada’ and Tribilin Sound’s ‘El Carmen’ offer intriguingly cosmic takes on Peruvian rhythms. ■ All reviews by Stewart Smith.