The Answer Is In The Beat

Mark Zaleski Band: Our Time: Reimagining Dave Brubeck (Origin Records, 2021)

October 2, 2021 at 11:21 am | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Boston’s Mark Zaleski pays tribute to his biggest influence with a set of Brubeck interpretations. While the compositions are recognizable, he does add new elements to them and avoids being too faithful, because you can just listen to the originals if you want to hear them the way Brubeck arranged them. “Blue Rondo a la Turk” opens the set, and it sounds like he added a shot of caffeine to the song, as it sounds even more tightly wound than the original, yet it’s still cool, sophisticated, and graceful. He turns “Unsquare Dance” into more of a soul-influenced tune instead of a country one, keeping some of the handclaps from the original. “They Say I Look Like God”, a plea for unity originally written for Louis Armstrong to sing, is featured due to its continued relevance. Zaleski gives vocalist Michael Mayo space for his stark reading of the lyrics, and the song comes alive during the vibrant middle section. “The Golden Horn” is one of the most playful tracks here, with a busy yet straight-ahead rhythm and lots of spirited soloing. Zaleski himself says his favorite Brubeck songs to play are either the fast, complex ones or the slow numbers, and while he does try to add something new to the ballads, he does a more faithful rendition of “Fujiyama”, which peacefully draws the album to a close.

Cyanide Tooth: Tentative Identity tape (ever/never records, 2021)

October 1, 2021 at 9:49 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Creamo Coyl of WFMU’s Spin Age Blasters returns with a tape that has one foot in the oldschool industrial/noise current of his past work, but also ventures into more beat-forward and synth-heavy waters. “Wither Report” douses a news transmission in out-of-broadcast-range static and erects a sparse but cracking beat on top of it. “Cracked Library Window” has several layers of synths sequences harmoniously floating in the sunlight, nearly melting with excitement at one point. “Slow Dance the Abyss” is an off-center techno track with a serious headache, though it clears up somewhat and hums along with a nice acid bassline by the end. “Banishment Park” is maybe the best of the atmospheric synth pieces, simply a gorgeous horror-lullaby, if that makes sense — beautiful and soothing even if it’s unmistakably dark and ominous. The second side has some of the more playful drum machine-centric tracks, with “Are We Here Yet?” bearing a trace of A Big 10-8 Place-like sampling, and “Radium Spray” having a sort of clanky robo-funk rhythm. “Machine Alive in Bradford Lab” is a return to the horror-lullaby space, and the short final piece is the ending to a Bible-themed broadcast loaded with sappy strings, blown out and distorted so that its schmaltziness takes on a sickly tone. The whole tape is a fun sort of sinister.

Native Soul: Teenage Dreams (Awesome Tapes From Africa, 2021)

September 23, 2021 at 8:42 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

ATFA follows first albums by Teno Afrika and DJ Black Low with another debut from a young act making amapiano, this time the Pretoria-based duo Native Soul. Far from the more hopeful, sweet, pop-oriented amapiano of artists like Sun-El Musician, this is darker, eerier stuff that pushes in more of a gqom direction, although it’s not quite as tense. Still, there’s gun clicks and “Thriller”-type MJ howls on “Way to Cairo”, and suspenseful synth-strings and snare rolls during tracks like “The Journey”. It’s summery music, but it sounds like you’re traveling at night and not sure where you’re going to end up. “Rejoice” is the only vocal track, and even though the title and the touch of gospel organ suggest fervent celebration, it sounds more like it’s clinging to hope out of necessity. “United as One” is an anthem for resistance, although it’s still of a piece with the rest of the tracks and doesn’t cry out too much louder. Energetic, inventive, homegrown dance music that reflects the times instead of merely providing escapism.

v/a: Cold Wave #2 (Soul Jazz Records, 2021)

September 22, 2021 at 8:52 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

I missed out on the first one, but this is a second volume of current D.I.Y. electronic artists which range from minimal/darkwave acts to L.I.E.S.-affiliated outsider/industrial techno producers. There’s also some holdovers from the neo-electro scene circa 2 decades ago — longtime Cybernetic Broadcasting System favorite Beta Evers appears with the sly, sneaking “Hiding”, and the chameleonic Krikor Kouchian, a onetime French Touch producer, ends the set with “Deserver Dub”. L.F.T.’s “Stay Away From The Light” is definitely a shadowy minimal synth tune, and Job Sifre’s slow-burning “At Least We Try” sounds like a more high-tech update of something that could’ve been on one of the late Richard H. Kirk’s early solo releases. Tolouse Low Trax’s occult-themed “Rushing Into Water” is actually even more Kirk-ian. De Ambassade (aka Dollkraut) appears with the delectable minimal wave tune “Niet Van Mij”. “Hum” by V.C.V.S. has a slow EBM-ish beat and glitchy samples of faint reflections of a no wave group. Dave I.D.’s “Help Starts” is much more in the dark and gloomy but slow glide realm, and then it just roars at you at the end. Broken English Club’s “Vacant Cars” is another slow, gritty one that makes you want to take a shower, although it’s not as scummy as the most grimy industrial. There’s so much more ground that this series could cover, so hopefully the label is planning on digging deeper with future volumes.

Brogan Bentley: Diapason Rex (Leaving Records, 2021)

September 21, 2021 at 7:17 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Brogan Bentley’s second album uses sharply diced Amen breaks and draws heavily from drum’n’bass production techniques, but can’t really be defined as a d’n’b album, or house or garage, or any of the other genres he channels. There’s something just out of reach to the way he combines floating vocals with expansive breakbeats and synths. This is fitting, since some of it was recorded around the time that people close to Bentley died, so there’s a certain supernatural quality to it as he’s creating music with the spirit world on his mind. Bentley’s own vocals aren’t my cup of tea, tbh, but there’s still much to adore here, with the glimmering, footwork-y “Trust Yourself” being a particular highlight.

Erroll Garner: Symphony Hall Concert (Mack Avenue, 2021)

September 20, 2021 at 7:46 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

This previously unreleased 1959 concert is an intimate gig with the pianist leading his trio through several standards (mostly Gershwin or Rodgers/Hart) and originals. Very spirited, rollicking musicianship, with lots of eerie moaning in the background, presumably coming from Garner himself. The constant moaning might actually be audible enough to draw strange looks from your dinner party guests, but it lends a rawness to the recording, and at least to me, it doesn’t distract from the good vibes. “Dreamy” and “Moments Delight” are gorgeous slower pieces, but most of the rest are uptempo, celebratory, and enormous amounts of fun.