Friday 15 January 2016

Short Attention Span Record Reviews - 2016 Kick-off

ANTHRAX – For All Kings
Not exactly for ALL Kings, I’m pretty sure that Kerry King for one would scoff at this. (6)

COLIN LINDEN – Rich In Love

Mentored by Howlin’ Wolf and a sideman for Bob Dylan, Gregg Allman and Diana Krall, Linden occasionally releases his own exciting, fun Americana albums like “Rich In Love”. Check it out if you like T-Bone Burnett and Tom Russell. (7)

DAVID BOWIE – Blackstar
(10)


ELEANOR FRIEDBERGER – New View
Is she this year’s Julia Holter? Or is she this year’s Sharon Van Etten? (8)

IRONING BOARD SAM – Super Spirit

Swampy Mississippi soul ‘n’ blues from Sam Moore (who earned his nickname from years of using an ironing board as a keyboard stand), backed by a band including Jimbo Mathus (see #2 on last year’s Best Of list) and Screaming Tree Barrett Martin. (7)

IGNITE – A War Against You

If Disturbed = metal, then Ignite = punk. Auto-Tuned but catchy. (7)

JESU/SUN KIL MOON – Jesu/Sun Kil Moon

Genius post-rock godfather meets genius folkie asshole. (8)

JOHN ZORN – Inferno

Mind-blowing, eyeball-melting metal/jazz fusion from Zorn’s latest ensemble featuring John Medeski’s smokin’ hot Hammond organ, a metal shredder on guitar and an octopus on drums, makes Dream Theater sound like Venom. (8)

MAMAK KHADEM – The Road

Discovered this with a 4-month delay, definitely a contender for 2015’s best world music album: Iranian singer with otherworldy voice accompanied by virtuoso musicians from all over the world blends musical influences from Persia, North Africa, the Balkans and Southeast Asia with stunning results. (8)

PETER CASE – Hwy 62

Another talented but underrated American singer/songwriter, I seem to discover at least a couple of these every month (thank you, Internet). If you’re into stuff from Tom Petty to Jason Isbell you’ll certainly enjoy this record. (7)

SKUNK ANANSIE – Anarchytecture

A somewhat awkward attempt at revisiting 90’s glories. (6)

THE THING – Chase

Epic sax skronk from Swedish free-jazz power trio, guaranteed to make your cat climb up the curtains. (8)

TINDERSTICKS – The Waiting Room

Cinematic late night melodies, also featuring a duet with the late great Lhasa de Sela. (8)

VARIOUS ARTISTS – Truckers, Kickers, Cowboy Angels The Blissed-Out Birth of Country Rock, Volume 6 1973

If I haven’t convinced you to invest in this great compilation series when I raved about the first 5 volumes then it ain’t gonna happen now, is it? Doug Sahm, Willie Nelson, Gram Parsons, Townes Van Zandt, JJ Cale, New Riders Of The Purple Sage, The Band, Little Feat, Allman Brothers, Asleep At the Wheel, Commander Cody, Kinky Friedman, Sir Douglas Quintet, what else do you need? (9)

WITCHCRAFT – Nucleus

A couple of 15-minute long tracks and lots of flutes, don’t say we didn’t warn you. (7)

No comments:

Post a Comment