Hifi Pig

Recorded in 1963 and released in July of the same year on the Verve label (and then later in 97 where there were extra tracks) this is Ella Fitzgerald and the Count Basie Orchestra with Quincey Jones being responsible for the arrangements (Fitzgerald later worked with Jones on the 1989 “Back on the Block”) and with production credits going to Norman Granz . Ella and Basie had worked together previously on just one occasion on the 1957 record “On the Sunny Side of the Street”.

Let me say that the first thing I thought when listening to this hi-rez version from High Res Audio was how spot on and modern the recording was and I’m becoming a bit of a convert of this digital format it has to be said…there’s a real opening up of the sound and soundstage for me.

I’m sure many will know this album and many of the tunes therein. It kicks off with a the Fats Waller/Andy Razaf tune “Honeysuckle Rose” with an absolutely glorious arrangement and Ella’s scat style adding a great touch to the tune. This is big band jazz and whilst it may well be from 1963 it doesn’t seem at all dated and that is indeed true for the rest of the album. More »

Empyrean Isles was recorded in 1964, released on the Blue Note label, established Hancock as a serious artist and is now available on hi rez format (this copy came from HighRes Audio in Germany)

The album contains two of Hancock’s most famous compositions –  “One Finger Snap” and the brilliant “Cantaloupe Island” which is one of my favourite tunes of all time.

Recorded by Rudy Van Gelder, players on the album are Herbie Hancock on piano, Freddie Hubbard on cornet, Ron Carter on bass and Tony Williams on drums and all push themselves to their limits. More »

Out 27^th January on the Kompakt label Pop ambient 2014 is the 14^th instalment of this series of albums presided over by label head honcho Wolfgang Voigt.

Pop Ambient kicks off with “The God of Pads” Ulf Lohmann who’s had a six year hiatus and it would appear he’s back in fine form with the wonderfully dreamy “Sicht” and the tune that finishes off the record PCC. Both are majestic offerings that carry you along on a wave of lush pads and are an apt pairing to open and close this album.

Mikkel Metal’s “Patience” introduces percussion and beats of sorts with slightly disturbing noisescapes over the top – this is a little reminiscent of a lite version of Ben Frosts “By the Throat” album in that it explores similar territories only in a less menacing way. More »

Like me, the name Leon Haywood may well be a new one to you but don’t let that stop you from reading further because this one is a bit of a hidden gem. Haywood is best known for his crossover hit “I Want’a Do Something Freaky To You” from 1975 which has been sampled by Public Enemy, Dr Dre, Redman, Aaliyah, 50 Cent, Mariah Carey and others.

He was born in Houston, Texas and he’s had a pretty wide and varied musical career including him accompanying Guitar Slim on piano when he was still a teenager, playing keyboards in Sam Cooke’s band and playing on a number of one hit wonder bands’ tunes. His first solo hit on Decca records was “It’s Got To Be Mellow” which reached the giddy heights of #21 in 1967.

So from an artist that I’d heard nothing about previously I was a little taken aback to hear that Naturally was actually his ninth studio album, was originally released in 1980 on the Century Fox label and was at the time his most successful release reaching #22 in the R&B charts. More »

Charo, or Maria del Rosario Mercedes Pilar Martinez Molina Baeza as her parents would have known her, is a Spanish-American singer, actress, comedienne and  flamenco guitarist well known back in the day for her somewhat flamboyant style and her catchphrase “Cuchi-Cuchi” (‘Cuchi’ is a Spanish slang term for a woman’s genitals. However, Spanish speaking countries often have local dialect for the term. In Venezuela, it refers to something pleasing to the eye.” Thanks Ask.com). She’s done films, television (she was a regular on The Love Boat by all accounts but that was all before my time)… and she was voted Best Flamenco Guitarist by Guitar Player Magazine…TWICE! More »

The Koto is the traditional 13 string Japanese instrument and Kimio Eto is widely regarded as its master. He began training on the instrument at the age of eight and composed his first work aged eleven. Amazingly he was blind from the age of five according to the sleeve notes and this makes this record all the more astonishing. More »

I stopped listening to BBC Radio 1 a long time ago but that’s not to say I don’t enjoy dipping into that totally uncool territory that is the hit parade as I believe it’s called by the younger people.

We bought last year’s Live Lounge sessions and enjoyed it a great deal despite my preconceptions and so getting hold of this year’s CD seemed obligatory. For those that don’t know Live Lounge is where Radio 1s DJ Jo Whiley gets in current big names and some lesser names to perform live on her show. Some perform their own tunes while some perform other artists’ songs, indeed most of the tunes herein are covers: Arctic Monkeys perform Hold on “We’re Going Home “by Drake, Vampire Weekend do a version of Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” and Mumford and Sons have a bash at “Tesselate” by Alt-J. More »

Now Sounds have raided the vaults of Hollywood’s Capitol Records to bring us 24 slices of psychedelic pop pie from the late 60s with many of the tunes being on CD for the first time, all sourced from the original master tapes and compiled and produced by Steve Stanley.

Needless to say I was a babe in arms when these tracks first made their way onto the Dansettes and radios of the US but that’s not to say they’re not worth a listen. Indeed the collection here harks back to a much more innocent time, but it’s good fun and shows us why Capitol were the undisputed kings of pop in this era. More »

Another band I missed first time round as I was in full on house and techno mode in 1991 when Quality Street, the band’s only album, was first released. This re-release on the 3 Loop Music label is a two CD package with the original album, a CD of selected B sides and two Radio 1 sessions plus a 24 page booklet.

World of Twist were seemingly a great influence on a lot of bands and Noel Gallagher apparently almost named Oasis after the second track on the album, “Sons of the Stage” and Liam Gallagher’s band Beady Eye even covered the track. More »

Let me go on record by saying that I’m a bit of a fan of The Polyphonic Spree. Let me also say that I’m a bit of a sucker for all things festive. So I was quite excited when “Sounds of the Holidays Vol One Holiday Dream” dropped through the letterbox recently. More »

There’s been a bit of a trend recently towards metal supergroups (the heavy music community is practically salivating at the prospect of Killer Be Killed), but Mutation is one that may slip under the radar.  Well I’m gonna do my best to see that it doesn’t.

Describing themselves as a “collective”, the band is comprised of a seemingly disparate group of musicians.  Shane Embury (Napalm Death), Ginger Wildheart (The Wildhearts), Mark E. Smith (The Fall), Jon Poole (Cardiacs), Rich Jones (Amen), Chris Catalyst (Sisters of Mercy), Denzel (Young Legionnaire), random members of alt metallers Hawk Eyes and Japanese electro-terrorist Merzbow…. plus heaps more which are too numerous to mention. More »

Arcade Fire.  The Canadian indie heroes have been pretty quiet of late… the only murmurs that have permeated our newsfeeds were allegations of pop diva Delta Goodrem ripping off their classic track “Rebellion (Lies)”… Until they announced they were releasing a double album! More »

Bird Radio (Mikey Kirkpatrick) is originally from Hereford, is a graduate in music from Goldsmiths College in London and has his own production company (Avacado Music) which has produced over 30 recording projects.

The world needs more artists like Bird Radio who are not afraid to stand apart from the mainstream musical dross with which we are bombarded on a daily basis. Bird Radio eschews the X Factor-radio-friendly format and very much walks his own path. Indeed, he is a one man band armed with a suit case that takes the role of kick drum, a flute which he loops in on itself along with other instruments and an interestingly quirky vocal delivery that lies somewhere between medieval troubadour and a wicked Daevid Allen. He sets his stall out from the very start of the album as being that little different from the norm – and that’s a good thing! More »

Nu metal.  Time has made a generic misnomer of  the term.  It’s no longer “nu”, and in many pundits’ eyes & ears, isn’t even metal.  Whatever your opinion of the bands lumped into that category, general consensus is that Korn were among the pioneers and just about the cream of the crop.  This is either a compliment or means they’re guilty of the greatest crime in the history of recorded sound depending on your musical bent . 

2013 marks 20 years since the band released their first demo, so it’s a  bit of a milestone year for them.   However, in the current musical climate of an incalculable number of bands spawning an inconceivable number of heavy sub-genres, a group widely perceived as irrelevant has-beens or never-weres releasing an album entitled ‘Paradigm Shift’, is either a really brave, or really fucking stupid move.  Which is it?  Read on, dear reader…. More »

Of the slew of ’90s/alt/grunge acts releasing albums of late, Pearl Jam is pretty much the only one which boasts a steady line-up and a consistent timeline of releases dating back to their debut.

They’re late to the party if you choose to compare the most recent release dates, but they’ve been omnipresent for the last two decades.  This could work either for, or against them; on the one hand the members’ experience and familiarity with each other may contribute to the album’s cohesion, but on the other hand they may be missing some youthful exuberance and simply going through the motions… 20 years is a long time and Lightning Bolt is their 10th album… More »

“Hey there sugar with your eyes so blue, ridin’ around in your red HQ!”.  Haha, those lyrics… they warm the cockles of my rural Aussie heart!

After releasing a couple of well received EPs, the four Findlay siblings and best known band from the tiny rural town of Darraweit Guim if you can believe it, have finally launched their debut album. More »

Seasoned readers of the Album review section of Hifi Pig will already be aware that you have a bit of a space-case fanboy of the undisputed kings of the spacerock genre in the form of yours truly and so it was with a good deal of excitement that I went and collected the latest release from Mr Brock and his boys from the mail box.

Essentially the “Spacehawks” album is a run through a few remixes of recent tunes and reworking of well trodden tracks and is released on the Eastworld label and kindly sent by Daz at Plastic Head Distribution. More »

“So much to see here in the darkness…” 

Australia (and indeed the world) is enjoying a wealth of heavy music right now.  Metalcore, new-school thrash, death and progressive metal are all thriving and our newsfeeds are chock full of new releases, gigs, tours, mind boggling arrays of sub-genres and all manner of heavy goodness. Yep, metal is alive and well.

Enter Circles.  Hailing from Melbourne, their debut 2010 EP ‘The Compass’ was released to universal acclaim and (willingly or otherwise) immediately had the mark of “progressive” stamped upon it.  The band seemingly has a most promising future.  ‘Infinitas’, their self produced full length album has been (to use a hackneyed cliche) ahem… highly anticipated. More »

Kathryn Williams is Liverpool-born but resides in the fine city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Crown Electric, the company Elvis used to drive for before finding fame, is her tenth album and her first solo record in four years.

The album is the distillation of over sixty songs that were narrowed down to the thirteen we hear on Crown Electric. The album was recorded live in three days at Bryn Derwen Studios in Snowdonia with Neill MacColl as guitarist, bandleader and producer, Lamb’s Jon Thorne on double bass and Cinematic Orchestra’s Luke Flowers on drums. It was mixed by David Wrench with sumptuous strings added later at Ray Davies legendary Konk Studios, arranged and recorded by cellist Ben Trigg (Dexys, UNKLE, Arctic Monkeys). There are collaborations on the record with Ed Harcourt appearing on three of the tunes and James Yorkston on another. More »

If you’re new to Drugstore (and I am) then here’s a brief history lesson. They’re labelled as a dream pop (whatever that is) band who formed in 1993 and debuted with an eponymous album which reached 31 in the UK charts…their second album from 1998, “White Magic for Lovers”, reached number 45. In total they’ve released four albums and had a top twenty single with “El President which was a duet between the band’s Brazillian singer-songwriter and bassist Isabel Monteiro and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke. “The Best of Drugstore” takes, not surprisingly, songs from these albums. More »

This, on the Righteous label, arrived in the post on Friday and come Friday night it was on constant repeat on the CD player. Northern Boys is an album crammed full of Northern Soul tunes made “famous” by clubs such as the Blackpool Mecca and Wigan Casino and it is a really infectious collection.

Most of the twenty six tunes herein were originally released in 1959 and 1961 on obscure 45s (remember those?) and will be nigh on impossible to source now and so perhaps just for the rarity value this album is worth having – but that’s missing the point a bit I think. More »

It’s been 8 long years since The Arctic Monkeys first smashed their way onto the indie rock scene.  They sure came out swinging, brandishing the adrenaline fuelled foot stomper “I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor” and its parent album ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’ which both went straight to number one on the UK charts. 

Despite having a predilection for inconveniently long titles, they knew how to write a damn good rock song and deliver it in no uncertain terms.! However since that initial burst of energy and creativity, the band hasn’t been able to reach the bar they set so high early in their career.

Enter ‘AM’.  The title’s short… good start, but does it fulfil expectations?  Initial sales figures say yes, but that’s never any real indication.  Stew says…. More »

This popped through the letter box from those helpful chaps at Cherry Red a couple of weeks ago and I was a bit surprised that they’d sent me something from the mid 70s. Actually this is a re-release of the ninth album from Man, – originally released on UA Records – this one is released on Esoteric Recordings (ECLEC 2020) and comes with the original album plus a second CD recorded at the Whiskey a Go Go and previously unreleased – this release originally came out in 2007. The original album reached the giddying heights of 12 on the “hit Parade” in the UK. The album is produced by Roy Thomas Baker who you may know from his work with Queen.

Now, Man is an interesting band. For a start they’re Welsh, South Wales – Merthyr Tydfil in fact! If you look back into the bands history there have been numerous line up changes with people coming and going with great regularity and the only real mainstay being Micky Jones. Their style on this record can be roughly described as East coast psychedelia  – which is no bad thing in my book. More »

Snip Records is a new record label which focuses on high resolution digital music and this is the debut album from the group “ti-an-guis” an international group which play folk music from all over the world. The band’s name is derived from the Mexican word “tianguis” which is an open air market and reflects the band’s melting pot of influences and sounds, though I initially assumed the name was of Breton origin for some reason.

The group consists of a female vocalist, a bass player, two guitarists and a percussionist who met in the Netherlands but come originally from Mexico, Brazil, Portugal and Croatia. More »

“It costs ten bucks or go fuck yourself”.

A nice personable accompaniment for the album’s release from Trent Reznor himself. He’s obviously not terribly fond of  the “pay what you want” system as championed by Radiohead… never mind Trent, thousands upon thousands of people will pay absolutely nothing besides a bit of bandwidth for it.

Anyway, the current state of music retail notwithstanding, this is NIN’s 8th release and the first since 2008′s ‘The Slip’ and depending on who you talk to, the first with any merit since 2005′s ‘With Teeth”.  A lot of water has cascaded under many bridges in that time though.  Reznor and co-conspirator Atticus Ross (who co-produced this very album) have become Hollywood darlings, winning numerous awards for their collaborative film scores.  So much so that the very existence of NIN appeared to be quite nebulous and Reznor has surprised many with the announcement of this full length offering. More »