June 1st, 2023
Ghost Adds Some Flavor To Their Phantomime Sweden’s theatrical metalheads provide some fun from covering Iron Maiden to Tina TurnerBy: Dylan Peggin
Ghost is a band you can hardly run away from. Tobias Forge, who assumes the role of frontman Papa Emeritus IV backed by a revolving door of anonymous musicians known as Nameless Ghouls, has brought an element of theatricality back into the music world that can be traced to older acts such as KISS and Alice Cooper. With a schtick that serves as a Satanic parody of Catholicism it's one that could be seen as either sacrilege to the superstitious or tongue-in-cheek... Read More
May 29th, 2023
Haruomi Hosono’s ‘Hosono House’ At 50 The ever-changing legend's first solo album, reissued in Japan by Bellwood/King RecordsBy: Malachi Lui
Recently reissued for its 50th anniversary, Haruomi Hosono's 1973 solo debut Hosono House wasn’t the start of his career, but the first development towards forging his own path. It’s a short, comfortable-sounding record whose homely, domestic charm has proven its lasting appeal.
Read MoreMay 18th, 2023
Cécile McLorin Salvant's "Mélusine," Part 2: The Vinyl Edition The best living jazz singer's new French album sounds better still on LPBy: Fred Kaplan
In March, I wrote a rave review of Cécile McLorin Salvant’s "Mélusine", her second release on Nonesuch and the most unusual album that she (or any other singer on a major label) has ever produced: a series of songs adapted to a 14th-century fairy tale about a half-woman/half-dragon and the revenge she wreaks on a man who looks where he shouldn’t. Some of the songs were written centuries ago; others were Broadway showtunes, vaudeville ditties, or Salvant... Read More
May 14th, 2023
Tatsuro Yamashita's For You, Back on Vinyl For the First Time in 40 Years this "City Pop" classic "sparkles"By: Michael Johnson
One of the most fanatical groups of record collectors to emerge in the past decade are the (primarily western) devotees of a genre of Japanese popular music from the late 1970s and 80s, dubbed retroactively as ‘City Pop.’ City Pop, or in Japanese Shiti poppu (no I am not making that up), comprises a musical collective of soft rock, soul, R&B, funk, and disco artists whose rise in popularity and output mirrors the economic boom of the late 70s that transformed... Read More
May 14th, 2023
Daft Punk’s Newly Expanded ‘Random Access Memories’ Leaves You Wanting More The original album? Great as ever. The bonus disc? Unessential.By: Malachi Lui
As post-pandemic supply chain issues continue and the vinyl market shifts towards younger buyers with tighter budgets, slightly expanded $50-60 commemorative packages have taken focus over the elaborate anniversary box set. The 10th anniversary edition of Daft Punk's inescapable Random Access Memories, retailing at $50, includes a newer lacquer cut of the original album plus a new bonus disc with 35 minutes of “unreleased demos and outtakes.”
Read MoreMay 13th, 2023
"In the Shadows" Gil Evans Orchestra World Pacific Title Gets the "Tone Poet" Spotlight early iteration of "La Nevada" here called "Theme" is but one highlightBy: Michael Fremer
Reissue annotator Thomas Conrad just about backs into his praise for this lesser known Gil Evans album but he gets the vehicle parked without incident and by the time you've finished reading, if you peruse the notes before playing the record, you'll be anxious to hear it, especially if like Conrad and many other Evans fans (count me in) you can't get enough Evans on record— whether he's covering Hendrix or arranging so many classic albums with... Read More
May 11th, 2023
Record Store Day Presents Ramones “Pleasant Dreams (The New York Mixes)” A rawer sounding alternative truer to the New York punk rockers’ rootsBy: Dylan Peggin
Within the musical landscape of the 70s, the Ramones came out of the woodwork like a brutal attack. Their style of downstroked three-barre-chord songs about sniffing glue, sedation and lobotomies was the antithesis of the overproduced pop and self indulgence prevalent at the time. The band’s first several albums released from 1976 to 1978 (Ramones, Leave Home, Rocket to Russia and Road to Ruin) are, as far as I know, the punk rock bible that every future punk band... Read More
May 7th, 2023
Craft Reissues Albert King's "Born Under a Bad Sign" in All-Analog Stereo in celebration of King's centennial yearBy: Evan Toth
Don’t let the blues get you down. In fact, sometimes, a good blues session can be an uplifting experience, perhaps even cathartic, if you like. The blues aren’t played to make us feel bad, on the contrary, they exist to remind us that we’re not alone with our troubles, and while we may not find the answers we need, sometimes misery loves company and that companionship can be very valuable especially when it comes in the form of a well-pressed piece of vinyl.Such is... Read More
May 6th, 2023
John Lee Hooker "Burnin'" Reissued by Craft Records in Stereo Hooker meets the Motown Funk BrothersBy: Joseph W. Washek
In 1961, John Lee Hooker recorded "Burnin’", an album accompanied by an early version of Motown's legendary Funk Brothers band for Vee Jay Records in one session, probably four hours in length. Vee Jay was an independent label based in Chicago, owned by an African American married couple, Vivian Carter and James Bracken, which had achieved considerable success selling R&B, blues, gospel, and jazz records to Black audiences. Hooker had been recording... Read More
May 4th, 2023
Olivia Jean Summons A Raving Ghost The Detroit garage rocker delivers her heaviest offering to dateBy: Dylan Peggin
Olivia Jean is a jack of all trades. When a demo of Olivia Jean’s material found its way into Jack White’s hands in 2009, she relocated to Nashville and joined Third Man Records’ (founded by White) stable of artists. After carving her way as a session musician for the likes of Wanda Jackson and Karen Elson, in 2010 Olivia became the lead vocalist/guitarist/primary songwriter of the all-female garage goth band The Black Belles. The material that didn’t quite fit the... Read More
May 3rd, 2023
"Tár"- Music From and Inspired By The Motion Picture Hildur Guðnadóttir and Todd Field assemble an interesting sonic companion to their 2022 arthouse sensationBy: Michael Johnson
Back in 2014 when I was an undergraduate student at the Manhattan School of Music, I remember the Jazz department in a perpetual uproar over the release of the film Whiplash. It seems every Jazz musician I knew had something to say about that movie, from praise to condemnation, from astonishment at what it got right, to a laundry list of everything it got wrong (it didn’t help that supposedly the fictional “Schaefer Conservatory” was based on our own institution).... Read More
May 3rd, 2023
Harold Vick's Blue Note Session Leader Debut And Finale with Blue Mitchell, Grant Green, John Patton and Ben DixonBy: Michael Fremer
Why saxophonist Harold Vick's Blue Note debut as bandleader was also his last, isn't clear. It certainly couldn't have been because the session was a musical disappointment. Far from it! Maybe it's because the date produced an album closer to the hard charging warm up for an r&b review than what Blue Note was typically releasing in 1963. Vick had played with all here but trumpeter Blue Mitchell and all had played in or skirted the r&b... Read More
April 26th, 2023
Absolutely Astounding New LPs From Yarlung Records Violinist Petter Iivonen and mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke Each Deliver Mesmerizing PerformancesBy: Jacob Heilbrunn
April 26th, 2023
Verve's By Request Series Releases Gabor Szabo's "The Sorcerer" Szabo Conjures Up Magic in 1967By: Evan Toth
Live albums aren’t always my preferred format. Sure, there are certain tracks that I’ve grown accustomed to hearing performed in the live vein, but I’m not often excited about the prospect of an album “captured” in a live setting, or of a particularly excellent live recording. I’m primarily interested in music that’s created in the studio; that’s what I consider the recording artist's ultimate canvas. However, Hungarian guitarist Gabor Szabo is one of my... Read More
April 24th, 2023
Deep Catalogue Gems from Wheeler and Vasconcelos Lead Off ECM Reissue Series Arvo Pärt, Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek and others to followBy: Jan Omdahl
ECM is arguably the most influential jazz label since the heydays of Blue Note and Impulse!. The German label recently announced Luminessence, its first ever audiophile vinyl reissue series. The two first releases, reviewed here, are Kenny Wheeler's Gnu High and Nana Vasconcelos' Saudades.
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