Album Review: Mauskovic Dance Band – ‘Bukaroo Bank’: an urgent post punk dub directive from Amsterdam.
Those Mauskovic Dance Band boys are back, back with Bongo Joe Records and back with another fine slice of snappy syncopation. The mischievous Amsterdam four piece, Nico, Donnie, Marnix and Mano Mauskovic, may quirkily take the same surname to maintain their mystique but this time around their collective purpose seems intensely serious. New album ‘Bukaroo …
Album Reviews: Virgilio Armas – ‘De Repente’ & ‘Espejismo’ : Sensational 70’s Latin jazz twin releases.
They are definitely spoiling us ! So far this year Toronto’s We Are Busy Bodies have graced us with seminal releases from the less frequented corners of South African jazz history. Now they’ve switched the spotlight to the equally hip seventies Venezuelan scene where the fusion of American jazz and Latin stylings reconsidered the possibilities. …
Album Review : Síntesis Moderna – An Alternative Vision Of Argentinean Music 1980-1990 : a ‘must have’ compilation.
Knowledgeable compilers, significant context and cracking music – these are the key components of a ‘must-have’ rather than ‘may be’ collection. Fresh onto those discerning record store racks, Síntesis Moderna: An Alternative Vision Of Argentinean Music 1980-1990 (available on Soundway Records) ticks off all these criteria without any squabbling: diligently curated by people in the …
Album Review: Maral – Ground Groove : global big beats with vision.
The fine art of sampling is less about cut and paste or stitching together, it’s much more than finding that funky line or hipster phrase and building from there. The best sampling becomes part of the overall story, not an add-on or slot-in but entrenched in the overall soundscape, a part of the music’s roots. …
Track/Video: DAAM announce ‘bivouac of the avant-garde’, a stunning three part excursion through experimental soundscapes.
What makes for the best small labels? A clear identity, enthusiastic curation, independence and endurance are good for starters. Well Difficult Art And Music (DAAM) gives you all of these plus heaps of creative ambition. Focusing steadfastly on the experimental and specialising as they say in ‘short-run, research-orientated, art-objects’ DAAM releases come as music tapes, …
Track/Video: Eminent composer and film-maker Christina Vantzou previews album ‘No 5’ with the radiant ‘Reclining Figures’.
If you are looking to explore a ‘body of work’ rather than a plain old back catalogue then Christina Vantzou’s CV will see you right. The composer, artist and experimental film-maker has been engaged in the refinement of sound and vision since her 2004 collaborative release ‘The Dead Texan’ with Adam Wiltzie (Stars of the …
New Track/Video: Global beatniks Mauskovic Dance Band present pumping single ‘Face’ from soon-come album ‘Bukaroo Bank’
Amsterdam’s leftfield space disco troubadours Mauskovic Dance Band are getting busy. With their new album ‘Bukaroo Bank’ due 28th October via Bongo Joe, it’s time for a second snapshot to cue us up for the main event in the shape of new single ‘Face’ . Streaming now through all the usual operatives, the track pumps …
Album Review: Star Feminine Band – In Paris : Afro-pop energy from Benin’s ‘band like no other’.
If you missed catching onto the joyous pop of Star Feminine Band when their self-titled debut burst onto the scene a couple of years ago, then now is the time to get connected with their second album ‘In Paris’ available from 7th October through Born Bad Records. This all-girl, teenage group from Natitingou village, Benin …
Album Review: Jessica Moss – Galaxy Heart: art-rock atmospheres with an enduring soul.
What will we think of lock down records when we listen back to them in years to come? Introspective music from a time of looking inwards because the outside world just stood still? Or maybe there was more space to dream, to take more risks, to break free from constraints because everything ahead was unknown. …
New Track/video: More bumping 80’s funk: Soundway preview ground-breaking Argentinian electro compilation ‘Sintesis Moderna’ with single ’Como Son Los Retratos’.
A few weeks back those flawless global beat curators at Soundway Records announced the 21st October release of their next ‘must have’ artefact ‘Síntesis Moderna: An Alternative Vision Of Argentinian Music 1980-1990‘. Meticulously put together by Argentinian DJ/ producers Ric Piccolo and Ariel Harari, a pair of tireless crate diggers turning the spotlight on their …