Explicit Samouraï - Rap

Label: Toxic
Catalog#: 7243 5 63264 2 2
Format: Cd, Album
Country: France
Released: 2005

Explicit Samouraï is a french rap combo based in Bagneux (France) composed by Specta, Leeroy Kesiah and Dj Eddy Kent. Established in 1994, the combo also was part of the french collective/super-group Saian Supa Crew with OFX and Simple Spirit.

Specta left SSC in 2002 allowing Explicit Samouraï to focus on different projects (their label – Toxic – and a DVD series called “Toxic TV”) as well as creating a new 9-rappers-combo called “La Horde”, while Leeroy left SSC in 2007 to pursuit his solo career.

The Police – Zenyatta Mondatta

Label: A&M Records
Catalog#: AMLH 64831
Format: LP
Country: Uk
Released: 1980

The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For the vast majority of their history, the band consisted of Sting (lead vocals, bass), Andy Summers (guitars) and Stewart Copeland (drums). The Police became globally popular in the late 1970s and are generally regarded as one of the first New Wave groups to achieve mainstream success, playing a style of rock that was influenced by punk, reggae, and jazz. Their 1983 album, Synchronicity, was number one on both the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200, and sold over 8,000,000 copies in the US.

The group disbanded in 1986, but reunited in early 2007 for a one-off world tour lasting until August 2008. The Police have sold more than 50 million albums worldwide, and were the world’s highest-earning musicians in 2008, thanks to their reunion tour. >>>

Keith Jarrett & Gary Peacock & Jack Dejohnette – Changeless

Label: ECM
Catalog#: ECM 1392
Format: Cd
Country: Germany
Released: 1989

One of only a handful of Keith Jarrett “Standards” Trio records without a standard within earshot, this is a triumph, for Jarrett has successfully brought the organically evolving patterns of his solo concerts into the group format. Each of the first three selections is built upon a constant revolving ostinato, and each evolves from one stage to the next like a Jarrett solo piano improvisation.

“Dancing” has a swaying Latin beat in the percussion and bass; “Endless” is full of lyrical invention at a slower tempo; “Lifeline” is catchy and hypnotic; and the fourth number, “Ecstasy,” grows out of “Lifeline,” closing the album perhaps inevitably with a drawn-out, peaceful piano tremolo. Bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette are clearly listening hard, going with the flow. The recordings were taken from four separate concerts in Denver, Dallas, Lexington, KY., and Houston.

Jarrett may spout off about society’s self-centered soullessness in his querulous liner notes, but he and his trio have clearly backed his words by example, pulling off a genuine collective musical experience. [Review by Richard S. Ginnell] >>>

Herbert – Secondhand Sounds: Herbert Remixes

Label: Peacefrog Records
Catalog#: PFG021CD
Format: 2xCD, Compilation, Digipack
Country: UK
Released: 2002

Matthew Herbert (born 1972), also known as Herbert, Doctor Rockit, Radio Boy, Mr. Vertigo, Transformer, and Wishmountain, is a British electronic musician. He has pioneered the use of so-called ‘real’, ‘ordinary’ or ‘found’ sounds in modern electronic music. ›››

How great is it to get into an artist at the exact moment when he’s at the top of his game? Mathew Herbert is pretty much unstoppable right now, a one-man juggernaut assaulting the world of electronic music on several fronts: high-profile experimental pop under his own name, underground releases as Doctor Rockit, Radioboy and Wishmountin (some of which are available free) and collaborations too numerous to mention– all packaged with biting anti-globalism dogma which you can pay attention to or ignore without affecting your appreciation of the music in the slightest. His beat programming is always on time, he’s writing vocal melodies to rival prime Stereolab, and he’s a sampling theorist on par with Matmos or DJ Shadow. This guy is firing on all cylinders.

As one would expect of a busybody electronic producer such as Herbert, he does a lot of remixing, and the two-disc Secondhand Sounds collects 21 of his post-production tweaks created over the past six years. It’s definitely one of the best remix albums ever, but given how many shitty ones are clogging the used bins, that statement doesn’t tell you much about the record’s quality. [...] It’s a testament to Herbert’s approach that these two sound like they could be original tracks in their own right. And that’s pretty much the story all down the line. Take a guy with serious skill who actually gives a shit about remixing and you get Secondhand Sounds, one of the finest records of its kind. ›››

Flanger - Spirituals

Label: Nonplace
Catalog#: NON18
Format: Cd, Album, Digipack
Country: Germany
Released: 2005

The Flanger project was founded in 1998 by Uwe Schmidt (aka Atom Heart aka Señor Coconut) and Bernd Friedmann (aka Burnt Friedman), who have both been active in the music business since the early 1990s.

Two of the most prolific producers in electronic music, Atom (aka Uwe Schmidt, Señor Coconut) and Burnt Friedman, team up as Flanger to create music that looks retrospectively to the past for its inspiration. With a group of marvelous musicians they swing back to the raw soul of the 1920s. Crafting jazz that blurs the lines between analog and electronics, this new Flanger album is all about re-imagining a period when music was still playful. Referencing a spiritual aesthetic when music was instantaneous and pure, they corralled material from their diverse live performances and guest musicians, much like the fin-de-siècle researchers who recorded the first spirituals. Infusing this release with a global bent, they sent their efforts back and forth electronically between their studios in Santiago, Chile and Cologne, Germany.

Despite these technological touches, this album is not about reconstructing endless virtuoso solos via mere knob-twiddling. With Spirituals, Flanger want to explore and relive the emotional sides of this jazz-before-jazz, its moods and sentiments. The duo Flanger have been one of the boldest pioneers of contemporary music, known for doing the unexpected and for their ability to float freely into new frontiers. But no one could have expected that their fourth album, Spirituals would be a musical trip to the pre-jazz era of Swing music dating from 1920 to 1940, Django Reinhardt, New Orleans blues and Dixieland. Duke Ellington springs to mind. 1920s original styles recorded with the techniques of today — modern acoustic instruments and hard drive science. Say hello to Burnt Friedman and Uwe Schmidt plus an Australian vocalist and a load of marvelous musicians, including: Riff Jackson III, Laurence Pike aka MF Shakespeare, Hayden Chisholm, Robert Nacken, Cameron Deyell, Thomas Hass, Lars Vissing, and Mocke Depret. ›››

Musicaperbambini – Dei Nuovi Animali

Danger Mouse - The Grey Album

Label: Not On Label (self-released)
Catalog#: n/a
Format: Cd, Vinyl
Country: US
Released: 2004

The Grey Album is a mashup album by Danger Mouse, released in 2004. It uses an a cappella version of rapper Jay-Z’s The Black Album and couples it with instrumentals created from a multitude of unauthorized samples from The Beatles’ LP The Beatles (more commonly known as The White Album). The Grey Album gained notoriety due to the response by EMI in attempting to halt its distribution, despite the fact that both Jay-Z and Sir Paul McCartney said they felt fine with the project.

Danger Mouse released The Grey Album in limited quantities to a few internet outlets. Due to the amount of attention the mashup received EMI, copyright holder of The Beatles, ordered Danger Mouse and retailers carrying the album to cease distribution. Because of the overwhelming popularity of Danger Mouse’s work this did not happen. Danger Mouse never asked permission to use The Beatles’ material, and intended to produce a limited production run of 3,000 copies. Jay-Z’s material, on the other hand, was commercially released in a cappella form. Although that work was copyrighted, it was released for the implicit purpose of encouraging mashups and remixes.

The album quickly became popular and well-distributed over the Internet because of the surrounding publicity. It also came to the attention of the critical establishment; it received a very positive write-up in the February 9, 2004 issue of The New Yorker and was named the best album of 2004 by Entertainment Weekly. The Village Voice’s annual Pazz and Jop critics poll ranked the album 10th for 2004. ›››

More info, some free download and some buy link on INRI.

Sounds supports indie labels and quality music. We just need to do it more :)

Fu Manchu – The Action Is Go

Label: Mammoth Records
Catalog#: 0170702MAM
Format: Cd, Album
Country: US
Released: 1997

Fu Manchu is a Southern Californian stoner rock band, who released their debut single “Kept Between Trees” in 1990. They have been featured on compilations put together by Tony Hawk and ESPN’s X Games, and invited to perform on the US television program Monster Garage. They are featured in the video game The BIGS 2.

From the ashes of the legendary stoner rock band Kyuss, rises drummer Brant Bjork. Bjork has his own style of drumming that he’s been perfecting for years. While i could probably describe the riffs that this guy uses, i think i’ll save myself the embarassment and let you all listen to him on the CD. In interviews, Scott Hill, Fu’s fearless leader, explains that almost ALL Fu Manchu lyrics are about girls, cars, and (probably) drugs. I’ll believe that. It becomes painfully apparent that these guys have an obsession with anything that emits exhaust.

Whether the lyrics are or not, every song on this release is incredibly powerful and meaty. >>>

The Next Diffusion - Dritto dal cuore (Straight from da heart)

Label: Zulu Beats Records / Crime Squad
Catalog#: n/a
Format: LP, CD
Country: IT
Released: 1995

Maurizio “The NextOne” Cannavò is an italian B-boy and true hip hop pioneer (as dancer, breaker, choreographer, dj, beatmaker and producer) based in Torino, Italy. He was a former Rock Steady Crew member featuring its explosive dance techniques and his own unique style as a breaker (in the words of some RSC founding members).

In 1995 he teamed up with Left Side (aka Lefty) and Right Voice (aka Maury B) founding The Next Diffusion – italian hip hop combo officially recognized by Afrika Bambaataa as part of the Zulu Nation. Straight from da heart is their only full length work, produced by NextOne featuring Afrika Bambaataa and King Master Freeze (Zulu Nation), Dre Love (Radical Stuff) and Dj Mesta. This album is somewhat a landmark in the italian hiphop history, its roots in the purest NY hip hop culture: personal and powerful lyrics, samples dug out of their LP crates.