Hifi Pig

The Brazilian Scene is a collection of tunes from Antonio Carlos Jobim with Herbie Mann (“One Note Samba”), Baden Powell with Herbie Mann (“Consolacao”), Zé Maria with George Ben, Gilberto Gil, Luiz Bonfa (“Murmurio”), Radamés Gnattali and Heitor Villa-Lobos all with a laid-back Brazilian theme which is just perfect for the long awaited summer.

Brazilian Scene opens with the wonderfully infectious “One Note Samba” by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Herbie Mann and is closely followed by “Consolacao”… I’m a bit of a fan of the virtuoso guitar style of Baden Powell anyway and this is as good a starting place as any to become acquainted with his style…though I’d have liked to have had more than just the one tune. More »

“Fresh as the moment when the pod went pop”. Patsy Kensit first entered the UK’s collective consciousness at the age of 4 when she fronted the well loved and iconic Birds Eye peas television advert…I still remember it and I’m sure many others do too!

Eight Wonder were formed by Kensit’s brother Jamie who put her at the front of the band and by all accounts they caused quite a stir with London’s A&R departments before finally signing a deal with CBS. All this was in the heady days of 1985! The band had success in Italy and Japan but in the UK the record buying audience were slower to respond. There was an album – “Fearless” which was released in ’88 but then the band split in ’89! More »

Born in 1955 in Boston but growing up in Hamburg, Richard Schumacher first began to make a name for himself as a session player in the 70s with the likes of Udo Lindenberg and Carsten Bohn’s Bandstand. In the 80’s he studied jazz composition and arrangement at the Berkley School of Music whilst in the 90’s he formed (in Berlin) Vibe Tribe and released the albums “Cool Shoes” and “Foreign Affairs And Views”. More »

Stuart Listening to More Classical Music Shocker… and again quite enjoys it!

Now I don’t know if it’s my impending birthday (I’ll be 47 nurse tells me) or what, but the last two classical music albums I’ve listened to I’ve really enjoyed a great deal indeed.

Alexander Chapman Campbell is a solo pianist who decided that a university life wasn’t for him and so he moved to the North coast of Scotland where he worked as a chef and the rest of the time composed music at his piano. More »

“A crack squad of the finest British early music singers” Early Music Today said about Ensemble Plus Ultra, but as regular readers of my reviews will know I’m no fan of classical music, but only a few weeks ago I was mentioning to Linette that I really quite liked the odd bit of choral music…and then this dropped into my virtual postbox via HIGHRESAUDIO and on the Archiv Produktion label.

Historian, Richard Kagan says that “El Greco and Toledo are one” as this Spanish city was Cretan born Domenikos Theotokopoulos’ home for almost 40 years and it is sacred music intrinsically bound to this city that From Spain to Eternity pays tribute.

All the music is choral and the work of just three composers: Alonso Lobo (1555 – 1617), Cristobel De Morales (1500 -1553) and Francisco Guerrero (1528 – 1599) and it really is quite beautiful.

Ensemble Plus Ultra were formed in 2001 and aim to “promote historically-aware performances of liturgical marvels from the Renaissance” and they do sound glorious on this recording.

I confess to knowing nothing about the music herein but doubt that those more in the know will be in any way disappointed by what they find on “From Spain to Eternity.

The record has certainly whetted my appetite to explore this particular musical niche a little further.

Well, this re-release on Esoteric Recordings is certainly one for the progressive heads. The year is 1969 and Egg emerged from an earlier quartet with Steve Hillage going by the name of Uriel, but Egg founding members were Dave Stewart (No not the one of Eurythmics fame) on the organ, Mont Campbell on bass and vocals, plus Clive Brooks on the drums.
Egg finally got the record deal they were after in June 1969 when they signed to Decca , releasing the single “Seven is a Jolly Good Time” (it was in 7:4 time) which got favourable press but failed to make an impression on the hit parade. More »

Now, I have been known to enjoy a bit of 10 000 Maniacs in the past but I never really got into them in any kind of big way and they were never top of my list when it came to choosing what got played next, so when Natalie Merchant’s eponymous album landed on my virtual doorstep, courtesy of HIGHRESAUDIO and on the Nonesuch Records label, I never put two and two together and connected her with the aforementioned Maniacs. I also must admit that I’ve not heard any of Natalie Merchant’s solo stuff since she quit the band in ’93…this may have been somewhat remiss of me I think! More »

Out yesterday in the UK and today in US, this album on Kompakt is one I’ve been looking forward to taking a listen to for a while now. Icelandic band Gus Gus and their Arabian Horse record were what initially highlighted the Kompakt label to me after a long time in the electronic music wilderness. More »

Induologue are Alexandra Lerta (vocals) and Vasilis Stefanopoulos (double bass) and is described as a dialogue between the voice and souble bass…simple enough then.

Blue Skies was recorded in a chapel in the woods of a Dutch National Reserve over a couple of days and this adds a really beautiful atmosphere to the record. The double bass’ tone is allowed to shine through and Vasalis’ playing is solid and forthright and yet sympathetic to Alexandra’s vocal, which in turn is understated yet strong. More »

Out now on the Comeme label The Silver Album from this self exiled Russian now living in Berlin is a difficult one to tie down and I must admit that on the first few listens I found it difficult to get my head around.

The Silver Album could never be accused of being easy listening and it does need to you engage your brain ans well as your feet. It’s forward thinking and somewhat avant-garde with its jarring acid basslines and Russian lyrics. I want to give it the label “Acid House” because it does have a feel of the early Acid Trax tunes, but there are perhaps elements of the early Antler Subway label in there too. More »

This is the first full length album for Elekfants Daniel and Leo who first met over 20 years ago when they played together in a blues band. Daniel is well known in his native Brazil and is something of a local hero where he is considered one of the country’s finest Djs. Leo on the other hand is a professional drummer, singer and composer and has played with some of Brazil’s best known artists.

Dark Tales and Love songs is accessible and in parts poppy but always in the same house/tech tradition  – it’s also beautifully engineered by D.O.Cs (the label) boss Gui Boratto. To me, musically it’s a little reminiscent of HotChip at their best and that’s a good thing I think! More »

Kompakt is fast becoming one of my favourite “go to” labels when it comes to techno but this release from Rebolledo is a bit different in that it’s actually a DJ mix…yes, remember them??

This is the first major outing for Rebolledo since his first full length debut Super Vato way back in 2011 and it contains exclusive edits and sought after remixes alongside original material from the likes of Barnt, Red Axes, Justus Kohnke and more. More »

What a great title for a record first of all! Badgers and Other Beings is an album of clever jazz featuring pianist, drums and bass. The Helge Lien Trio has been a bit of a hit on the jazz scene since their breakthrough album Hello Troll and it’s no wonder really. Lien is joined here by Frode Berg on bass and Per Oddvar Johansen on drums with the album having been recorded at Rainbow Studios in Oslo and released on the Ozella label. Here it was downloaded from HIGHRESAUDIO and the quality of the recording is again superb. More »

Recorded and mixed by Stefano Amerio in Italy on July 15th – 16th and November 1st 2013 Flowers of Sendai is released on the Bee Jazz label and here it’s been downloaded from HIGHRESAUDIO. The trio is made up of Jan Lundgren (piano), Mattias Svenson (bass) and Zoltan Csors JR (drums).

Style wise Flowers of Sendai is jazz of the accessible kind and not the kind of “challenging” jazz that you need a degree from the University of Cool to understand never mind enjoy.  More »

I was very excited when the post lady pipped and handed me the envelope that I knew would contain what is being heralded as “A stunning new album in the finest tradition of progressive rock and space rock” because being a bit of an ageing hippie I’m partial to both a smattering of prog and a healthy double dipped dose of space rock. But this hasn’t been the records only accolades and “the space opera that Pink Floyd never wrote” and “a prog rock War of the Worlds” whetted my appetite for this record even more.

This eponymous album is out on Cherry Red on the 28^th of April and was recorded both in New York and London and has been co-produced and mixed by Youth of Killing Joke fame (I like a bit of Youth I do). More »

More funky disco rereleases here and I really make no apology for it…disco is making a comeback in the Hifi Pig household and we’re loving it. And so this time we have the expanded edition of the classic Patrick Adams Presents PHREEK. I think the opportunity to rediscover some of these classics from the 70s is most welcome and BBR (the label that are releasing a lot of these albums) should be applauded for making some real classics available to a new and younger (in some cases) audience.

Patrick Adams is a bit of a legend and the New Yorker contributed to no less than 32 gold and platinum releases, mainly on Salsoul and Prelude but also on the Atlantic label too. He’s worked with a veritable who’s who of disco including Sister Sledge, Loleatta Holloway and Jocelyn Brown…plus a whole load more. Listening to PHREEK you can certainly hear that the music has had a huge influence on modern day dance music, particularly the early 90s house scene. More »

Well, this one came as a bit of a shock.  After several lineup changes, the temporary hijacking of the band’s material by increasingly egotistical frontman Andrew Stockdale and a break-up which lasted about a month, Wolfmother have pulled a Beyonce. No they haven’t been captured un-photogenically at a Superbowl half-time show, they’ve dropped a surprise new album.

When the Aussie lads burst onto the scene with their debut album a decade ago, they were a breath of fresh(ish) air blasting straight out of 1969 and into the charts and festival circuits. A lot has happened since then, critical and commercial failures, acrimonious lineup changes and Andrew Stockdale enjoying the view from up his own arse… so, are they still the kings of retro-rock? More »

Alan Wilkes (AKA Vinny Peculiar – his real name is “lame”) is a Salford (NW England) based singer songwriter and “The Root Mull Affect” is a collection of outtakes and remixes picked from 15 years of his recordings and represents his 10th album release.

Some will be aware of Vinny Peculiar and he has indeed worked with some well known folk in his time like Bill Drummond, Tom Robinson and Luke Haines whilst his various bands have included members of The Smiths, Oasis, Aztec Camera and the Fall.

The Root Mull Affect is a wonderful collection of tunes and kicks off with “A Vision” which is a great story of psychedelic whimsy of the day John Cooper Clarke joined The Beatles. The new remix of “Jesus Stole My Girlfriend” is superb and tells the story of …well you can guess I’m sure.

“Flatter and Deceive” is a pseudo-country number of Peculiar’s life up to the date of writing the song and is very “northern” with its deadpan and self effacing lyric – I lived this tune much as I really loved the whole of this record.It manages to blend humour, tragedy and pathos in equal measure (Confessions of a Sperm Donor is a perfect example) whilst remaining very much in the pop vein and very much accessible. Lyrically it tells wonderful short stories of every day life that are both funny and moving.

The Root Mull Affect came out on 10th March on Cherry red and comes very much recommended. It’s the perfect introduction to Peculiar’s work (which warrants further investigation for the uninitiated) and is a useful addition to existing fans’ collections. I found it highly addictive and lyrically it could only be the product of a Northern mind and made me feel right at home immediately!

Slowly Rolling Camera is a British four piece band made up of Dionne Bennett (lyrics and vocals), Deri Roberts (sound design, electronics, trombone, additional saxophone and production), Elliot Bennett (drums and drum programming) and Dave Stapleton who is the composer as well as playing keys. There’s a whole host of other contributing musicians on the eponymous album (out now through Gearbox Records) and the guy that recorded and mixed this record (Andy Allan) may be familiar to some as he’s worked with Massive Attack and Portishead in the past …and this is where the heart of the Slowly Rolling Camera sound lies. More »

Fire were a late 60’s/70’s three piece band, The Magic Shoemaker (“a fairytale opera”) was released on the Pye label in 1970 and was recorded in January 1970 at the label’s studios in London. This reissue is re-mastered from the original master tapes by Ben Wiseman at the Audio Archiving Company and released on Esoteric Recordings.

Dave Lambert (guitars, percussion, piano and vocals), Bob Voice (drums, percussion and vocals) and Didck Dufall (bass guitar and vocals) made up the band with all tracks being written by Lambert. Dave Lambert later joined The Strawbs. More »

I must confess that I’m a bit of a new comer to Jazz but the more I explore its wide and varied sub genres the more I am enjoying it. Step up to the turntable Gearbox Records and Tubby Hayes “Seven Steps To Heaven: Live at The Hopbine 1972”.

Now, to aficionados of British Jazz I’m sure the name Tubby Hayes is well known, but to me it was a new I hate to confess and so a little history is perhaps in order for those readers in the same boat as me.

Hayes was born in London in 1935, is best known for his playing of tenor sax and has been regarded as one of the very best British jazz instrumentalists. At just 16 (in 1951) he joined Kenny Baker’s sextet and later played for lots of big-band leaders, but in 1955 he toured UK with his own band. He was a co-leader of The Jazz Couriers with Ronnie Scott from 1957 – 1959 and even had his own television series in the early 60s. Thanks Wiki. More »

OmenOpus are, it has to be said, a new band to me and they have a handful of albums and EPs on the Monty Maggot label that we’ll take a listen to over the next couple of months, but judging by what I’ve heard so far they certainly know where they’re going and what they’re up to musically.

First in the CD drive is their album “The Archives”, which is incidentally their latest CD, and very good it is too if you like your music unsettling and disturbing and with a story to it. The Archives is a concept album set in the 24^th century and is best listened to in one sitting to really appreciate it properly and get a feel for the narrative.

I’d just read Philip K Dick’s short story “The Gun” when I first started listening to this and The Archives has a similar feel – it is actually based on a short story by Sheriden Starr from the band along the lines of:

Machines have seemingly done away with the need for man to fight in wars but the story takes a twist where the Operators of the machines turn on the Creators (through necessity) and hold mankind to ransom with the machines until the Creators put forward a solution (based on Asimov’s three laws of robotics) called the Zeroth Commandment. The album is split into three distinct parts (Containers), which are I presume the “archives” from whence the story evolved, with each telling a different bit of the story.

Style-wise it’s difficult to decide what pigeonhole to pop The Archives into as it swaps and changes throughout the record. It has elements of space rock (Bridget Wishart of Hawkwind (…and Hippy Slags) fame is a player), elements of metal and bits of prog’.

Whatever, it’s certainly musically very accomplished and manages to conjure images of disconcerting future landscapes and a bleak outlook for humanity, but that’s not to suggest that it doesn’t have its moments of beauty too.

Interesting and thought provoking …play it loud!

More album reviews

Released at the end of January 2014 on Blue Castle Records (the label that Crosby founded with Graham Nash in 2011) and downloaded here in FLAC from HighResAudio, “Croz” is David Crosby’s first album of solo material in twenty years and contains eleven new and original tracks recorded at Crosby’s home studio. Croz will be supported by series of concert dates in the US. More »

Well this is certainly a good deal of music for your money with Dusty Kid’s third album coming in at round about the two hours mark spread over two CDs which are limited to just 1000 copies on the Isolade label.

III is interestingly mixed with the use of vintage consoles and everything being recorded on to reel-to reel tape to give the finished product a distinctly dirty and lo-fi feel to it and this is apparent from the off with the opening track “Crepuscolaris” where a grimy and distorted kick lay the foundations for more deformed sonic shapes thrown over the top. It’s dark and menacing but the strings over the top lift it a little – as if there is hope rising from the burned ashes of a destroyed future city. More »