The Run-Off Groove

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

The Run-Off Groove #226

(NOTE: This will be the last Run-Off Groove that I'll post here at Blogspot. From this point on, please head to ThisIsBooksMusic.com for further installments. This blogspot will remain here as an archive.)

Welcome to The Run-Off Groove #226. I am John Book, and when I say read, I mean the column as well as other things in this world. Educate and allow your mind to consume the information. Now that I've confused some of you...

It's been somewhat of a busy month, which is why the amount of columns this month was limited. I was going to wait since I have a lot more music to review but it can't wait. This is the last Run-Off Groove of 2008, with more to come in the new year.

BTW - if you like the column, please consider clicking the banner below for eMusic. You are able to subscribe and download albums in a way that I feel is more effective than iTunes, and there's a lot of incredible music here. You will not be disappointed.

If you wish to make a digital MP3 purchase, you can click the digital player icon that looks like this:

If a particular release does come out on vinyl, I of course will make a vinyl icon.

Now, the column.

I'll be honest, I haven't been what one would call a Brandy fan. Sure, I liked "I Wanna Be Down" and "Baby" but I haven't followed her career. I do, however, know a little about the path she has been on over the years, and she has reached a point in her life where she is looking for much more as an artist. That more is explored on her new album, Human (Epic), but it begins in an odd way where she talks about the benefits of being human. I question this only because would she be able to talk about her life as a puppy, an elephant, a tomato, or mold on cheese? She's proud to be a human at this stage in her life, but... let's just say the spoken introduction is unnecessary and should have never been placed on this album.

The rest of the album takes off in typical Brandy fashion, and the pop artist that Beyonce isn't, Brandy is. I say that with the utmost respect, Brandy is a pop artist. She hasn't done the R&B thing in awhile but her vocals are perfect for pop, and most of the songs stay away from the usual cliches that are often overwhelming in current pop and much of today's R&B. While I generally hate when an artist tries to conceptualize their life as current events, her recent divorce plays a role on this album in songs that range from heartbroken to heart warming, and feels a bit more authentic than the equivalent in today's marketplace. Brandy is 29, no longer the young teen with the curious eyes who told the world she wanted to be down. She's grown, she's mature, but she's not afraid to reveal a vulnerable side, nor is she tempted to cash in on what's hot to remain hot. Some artists try to show their maturity at 18 or 21, but Brandy is just around the corner from turning 30. Her voice, which has always had a lot of character, is put to good use here, and even in uptempo tracks she shows that she is the one in charge, not a particular producer. Even when she is in charge, as she is in "Torn" and "Shattered Heart", she allows the song to be the reason you want to hear these songs. A song I hope she considers to release as a single is "A Capella (Something's Missing)", where it's just her speaking and singing to herself through the magic of multi-track recording. It's a bold move that one generally doesn't expect from Brandy, but she has taken the opportunity to try something out with great success.

I'm surprised I liked this as much as I did. In a small way, Brandy has found a need to prove herself in an everchanging market when the old becomes outdated and if you're out of sight, you're definitely out of mind. While Miss Norward has never been out of the public eye for too long, it seems if you're not on a reality show or a guest judge on something just as bizarre, you're not relevant. Human is very much a human album, without the extra stimuli that we tend to get lured by. I'm not sure if it's her way of getting back to the core of who she is, or a way to let people know they need to check themselves too, but it holds up as an album that lets fan knows that yes, she is human, her feelings have been hurt, but when life brings you down, you can only look forward for a better tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how Brandy carries herself as an artist in her 30's.

Danny Green is a San Diego-based pianist whose love of Latin sounds has been an important part of his development. Some may be aware of the Past Due album by the Caballero-Verde Quintet, with Green of course being the "Verde" of the equasion. Now he's about to get more caliente (yes, I'll stop) with the release of his first album under his own name, With You In Mind (Alante Recordings).

The album shows that he will no doubt become one of the more important musicians and names in jazz, perhaps becoming this generation's equivalent of Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, and Dave Brubeck for this guy not only plays with elegance, but knows how to edge the listener on with his spacing, allowing the arrangements to lure people in to hear not only him, but the musicians (including Dylan Savage on drums, Allan Phillips on percussion, Justin Grinnell on bass, and Tripp Sprague on sax) to get into the precision Green is establishing with each song. There are elements of "Para Chano" that sound like Ram-era Paul McCartney, and just when the song feels like it will end comfortably, Green plays a repetitive chord structure and lets Savage and percussion enhance the flavors of the stew brewing with the kind of drive that will make people dance and perhaps get extra randy. "Doctor Pasta", "Panic Nap", and "Lullaby For A Poet" manages to take things as far as they can without ever going overboard, it's very polished and sustained and Green knows how to create his own style. That might sound silly, but I say this to suggest that sometimes a lot of musicians simply play and emulate. Green and the other musicians are obviously influenced by other great musicians but they're trying to make an effort to make it feel like them, so that you'll know this is the music of Danny Green. It is, and I hope he and the other musicians will continue to record and perform for years to come, as this is a continutation of the greatness that is jazz.

Sometimes I see another vocal jazz album and I just want to run away, for me it can get real old real fast, but it takes a quality singer for me to take interest.

Dennis Day is someone who is interesting because his voice has a lot of energy and sounds welcoming, like a friend you hadn't seen in decades even though that person may be a perfect stranger. All Things In Time (D-Day Media Group) is by a singer who knows how to carry himself and the music with class, partly because he picks a great selection of songs to interpret, including Ray Charles' "Hallelujah, I Love Her So!", and the Duke Ellington standard "Caravan". Upon listening to this, one tends to think that this guy has been making music for generations, but the biggest shock (for me at least) is the fact that this is his first jazz album. Not only does he pull off the standards with styles, bue he contributes some fantastic new songs that I hope will become a major part of jazz's landscape, including "African Musing", touching on the African diaspora and the link many have between the heart and one's ancestral home. It's a song that would have been perfect for people like Miriam Makeba, Lou Rawls, Al Jarreau and Harry Belafonte to sing, and I could easily see Bobb McFerrin take this to make it his own, if not used tastefully in animated features. The song becomes the album's centerpiece even though it's only the second song in the 12-track program but listen to it and find out why it will become an important piece. When he reaches the last words and creates a sweet falsetto as he sings about the Afircan rainbow, it brings a tear to the eye.

The album then moves back into a jazz motif with tough and rugged tracks such as "Sister Sadie", "You Are Too Beautiful", and "Desifinado" (the Antonio Carlos Jobim song), and it's obvious this guy has a love for jazz and music as a whole. I hope Day will continue to make albums as moving as this, and if he continues to write and release songs as powerful as "African Musing", he will become one of the most powerful songwriters of all time.

Not sure if she specifically did it this way intentionally, but vocalist Jessie Kilguss begins Nocturnal Drifter (Exotic Bird) with "Gristmill", an album that may or may not have sound kind of connection with her ethnic roots, whatever it may be. But to my ears it sounds like the comforts of home, creating a vocal and musical style that sounds like the starting line. It is welcoming, and you want to enter barefoot, but once she begins "Americana", we realize we are very far from home as it sounds like pop, rock, and that ethereal-ness which sounds as if Kilguss is ready to share with us her travelogue.

If you listen to what passes off as pop these days, it's an embarrassment. Kilguss has the kind of material that used to be a major part of what I heard on the radio growing up, strong and aggressive songs by a woman who is not afraid to share her strength, hopes, dreams, and fears in a way that isn't apologetic. One would find it easy to compare to a list of strong artists, be it Joni Mitchell, Luscious Jackson, Maxwell, or anyone else, but if there's a common glue between all of them, it's a knack to write songs that allow people to get into them lyrically and try to pull out the best and worst of the internal in order for the resulting song to be therapeutic. Kilguss's voice may sound melodic and delicate, but in "A Little Place Behind My Eyes" you have British-pop mixed in with Muscle Shoals horns mixed in with some leftover sounds from Roni Size's database, and one can visualize the colors and the painting that will be created by the song's conclusion.

While I'm a huge fan of soul music and the Northern Soul sound that artists are tapping into, Kilguss resists the temptation to be like everyone else and makes a successful effort in beind herself. That's hard to find in the marketplace, the kind of material where someone is exposed like an open wound or a freshly dug Q-tip and is really to reveal the yellow of it all. It reminds me of those secret albums you wish to share with the world, only to know the reality that most people would not care. This my friends is their loss, because Jessie Kilguss is the kind of artists you'd like to meet on the street and simply say "thank you".

(Nocturnal Drifter will be released on January 6, 2009).

Bands that make me bleed are the kind of bands I want to listen to for life, and Cactus's are just that band. Let's get these two words out of the way before I get deep into this review: power trio. Okay.

Put together elements of Mudhoney, Helmet, Unsane, Rapeman, The Cure and Grand Funk and you have the unpredictable energetic force that is Cactus's, consisting of Jru Frazier (drummist, vocals), Asher Rogers (guitarra, vox), and Sam Rogers (bassims, vogala), and these guys play with a passion not only to play and play with each other, but to create a euphoria that sounds like that millisecond before a boil bursts. Their lyrics can be very abstract but that's the beauty of it, things don't have to really make that much sense to get into, only to realize that it does make sense:

I refuse to bare the burden of a thousand child molesters
I refuse to fix my speechI will not fear my mouth
I refuse to wash my claws until I feel pure
I refuse to let you vomit into my ear, now I see you serve the serpent

Cactus's play the perfect "fuck you" music for a fuck you world, and they'll hurl into you if you're not careful. Then again, you're not careful and that's why these guys are demons. There's been a void in music in the last few years, and the 6 songs on this EP will hopefully start up a long awaited revolution. These guys are the Satan I need.

Need the kind of jazz that may bring to mind the best of The Modern Jazz Quartet? May I welcome Roger Kellaway into the mix, and his new double CD Live At The Jazz Standard (Ipo). The double CD features him with Jay Leonhart on bass, Stefon Harris on vibes, Russell Malone on guitar, and Boris Strulev on cello and together they play a number of great standards, including "C Jam Blues", "Cottontail", "I'm Beginning To See The Light", and "Tumbling Tumbleweeds", along with a Kellaway original, "All My Life".

Anyone who misses the feel of the MJQ will fall in love (be it with the music or a significant other) with the help of the 13 songs here, especially after hearing the 15 minute take on "Cherry". The thing about Kellaway is that he will play a beautiful melody when the emphasis is on him, or he'll duet in a solo and compliment them or take things on a different route as he makes his way towards the common goal. He's a unique player that I could listen to all day, and I will (heh heh). One of the solos he does in "C Jam Blues", where the band is playing an obvious 4/4 blues while he sounds as if he's behind and ahead of himself at the same time, only for him to get to where he needed to go without effort. It's an amazing moment.

Carol Fredette has released a number of albums over the years, and she returns with Everything In Time (Soundbrush), continuing with her grace and elegance on a selection of tracks that are quite good/

For this album she teams up with Lenoardo Amuedo (guitar), Adriano Santos (drums), Victor Lewis (drums), Mauro Refosco (percussion) David Finck (bass), Aaron heicke (sax), Bob Malach (sax), Barry Danielian (trumpet), Helio Alves (piano), Andy Ezrin (piano), and Dario Eskenazi (piano), and together they create a jazz album with a primary influence. Imagine a female version of Bob Dorough and you come close to what Fredette sounds like here. The album is beautifully produced, and her performances for the most part are done without flaws or error.

(Everything In Time will be released on February 10, 2009.)

Now this is vocal jazz I enjoy listening to.

Her CDBaby pages says Leslie Lewis "A jazz singer with an instrument that can deliver whether it's Monk, Ellington, or Jobim. She always makes a statement with her own point of view" and that is clearly obvious on Of Two Minds (Surf Cove Jazz), an album that features the Gerard Hagen Trio along with Larry Koonse, Gary Foster, Ron Stout, and Rob Lockart playing the kind of jazz you hope to be able to hear and understand on your death bed.

Lewis has the kind of spunk and classiness that comes from years of listening and singing this style of music, and if Hoda Kotb was a jazz singer, I'd imagine she would sing like this. Lewis sings with a fervor that makes you itch in all the right places, and is the ointment towards the spots that aren't, listen to "I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good" and it becomes perfectly clear that this one knows the blues because she's probably been there, but also knows the goods because she's been good and bad at the same time. "'Round Midnight" and "But Beautiful" deserves massive airplay if the United States cared about their jazz origins, but it doesn't so sadly she may be limited to NPR airplay. It makes me wish more people would be able to hear someone like her, because Leslie Lewis is just a personification of what jazz vocals is about, even when she jiggles her vocal chords in "I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good". She sometimes reaches for that hapa raspiness and I wish I could've heard more of that, but perhaps she'll enhance that on the next one. Kathie Lee Gifford, step off. She would be capable of doing some soul music too, maybe next time. Uh, stroke it Lewis, stroke it! Of Two Minds is the album that will make having affairs worth it. Special recognition to Foster's flute work in "Nature Boy", the eden ahbez classic.

Lets... (AHP).

Let's... what?

That's the point.

Roger Cairns is the kind of jazz singer that has the old style vibe going for him, and you sometimes don't hear that outside of Jerry Lewis telethons. He finishes the Let's... equation by bringing in the listener to listen to this 16-track album of jazz standards, ranging in "Let's Fall In Love", "Daydream", "Stormy Monday", "Things Are Swinging", and "Gravy Waltz". I like the titles but I don't like the singing, and the reinterpretation of the "Peter Gunn Theme", refocused as "Bye, Bye" was a bit too much for me.

I'll stop here and say that his voice is not to my liking, but I found the music (performed by guitarist Larry Koonse, bassist Darek Oles, and drummer Roy McCurdy to be incredible. If Cairns was moved to just release this album as an instrumental, I would rave over that.

Isaac Evans takes it easy on My Journey (self-released) with an album that will please fans of smooth jazz.

I'll be honest, sometimes smooth jazz gets on my nerds because it seems pointless to hear fantastic musicians blow it on wasteful music for coffeehouses only meant to make the unhip feel that they're cool in an atmosphere that has absolutely nothing to do with the music. What makes this album decent for me is that, while it arguably would fit those same smooth jazz stereotypes, the musicianship on it makes me feel as if they're making a legitimate effort to make good music outside of the smooth jazz tag. It reminds me a bit of the laid back funky jazz that was popular in the late 70's/early 80's, and perhaps the reason I like it is because it takes me back to a time when that jazz felt and sounded good, without the filter of knowledge. Think of Pat Metheny with a pinch of George Benson, Seawind, and Marathon-era Carlos Santana and you got something that might make most smooth jazz fans tingly with uncertainty. In other words, this is music that moves you to interact, not sit there and sip a tall Caramel Macciato breve laka doohickey. Evans is truly a gifted musician on the piano and keyboards, with the piano being the main reason you'd want to hear him. But he is also credit as the album's bassist and drum and bass programming, so not only can he do things electronically, he takes his knowledge to the real instruments and makes it happen.

I would not mind hearing him with more established vocalists, just to see where he would be able to take them.

In other words, this isn't your stereotypical smooth jazz album, but more like that laid back quiet storm funk before it got stale and java-fied.

Michael Jefry Stevens is not a madman, but when you look at his extensive track record, I'm not sure what's keeping him from resting. I guess when you love good music and have a passion for it, why rest when you can do that when you're read? Fortunately Stevens is very much alive and a part of us, and with the release of For Andrew (Konnex) he continues on with the dialogue he has created over the years, this time making an album in honor of pianist Andrew Hill.

The recordings on this CD were done in 1996 with a trio that includes Jeff Siegel on drums and Peter Herbert on bass, and hearing original Stevens compositions such as "The Lockout", "The River Po", "Specific Gravity", and "Spirit Song" will make the hairs on the back of your neck spine as you are blown away by his capabilities. Stevens is brilliant on the piano, and Siegel and Herbert egg on each other as if this was their last mission ever. Put that together with a recording that was done beautifully by engineer Chris White and this is definitely jazz music of a higher order. One can tell that the spirit of Andrew Hill was in the air, or at least he was on their minds when they were playing this, and Hill fans will appreciate the honor. Jazz fans will appreciate the fact that musicians like this are that passionate about their art.

Zen Zadravec is a musician some consider a virtuoso, and that usually is a lure to bring in readers for a review. I will say that the man is known to play a few instruments very well, but for Coming Of Age (self-released) he plays the piano along with his quartet (Chris Brown on drums, Alex Hernandez on bass, and Todd Bashore on saxophones).

Big deal? It is a big deal when you can make music that surpasses the expectations, especially someone who has won a lot of accolades and is known for studying under the greats of jazz, but now he knows it's his time to shine. Throughout this album he goes from the cool to the hard bop, from songs that would've been comfortable in a Miles Davis Quintet setting to something that would fit in on ECM, Zadravec has a style that feels welcoming, he commands when it's his time and even when he has Bashore doing a solo you can hear how he compliments him and the others into creating an aura that is undeniably rich. One can hear this in the gorgeous title track, along with "Have You Met Miss Jones", "We Miss You Mr. Kirkland", "Have You Meet Miss Jones", and teh two part "In Memoriam", written in honor of Zadravec's mother who passed away. It's great jazz, one that shows his love of the art and craft of the music, and one which features a lot of compassion through the communication of the musicians involved. All of this is captured beautifully engineered by Dave Kowalski at Bennett Studios in Englewood, New Jersey and while it may not have the classic RVG sound of neighboring Englewood Cliffs, it shows Kowalski has an ear to make his projects sound great. This is no exception.

Fine jazz never sounded any better, and time will show why Coming Of Age will be a necessary addition to any music collection.

Burr Johnson is a guitar wizard of the Al DiMeola variety, and he and his band get up in it and deep with What It Is (Lexicon). These guys mix up jazz with rock to create a fierce brew that doesn't let up, while it is a guitar-based album, you will enjoy hearing the musicianship of Thierry Arpino (drums) and Al Payson (bass), and together they are a trio that know each other's musical ways and quirks inside and out, as if they know the hairs on the backs of their hands, yes. In a song such as "Winter" they get smooth and laid back as they help create the scenario described in the title, while in "It Figures" it's a blitzkreig of sound that one finds hard to resist.

Don't resist. Each of them is mindblowing, with Johnson of course paving the way towards axe excellence. I didn't like it when a vocal showed up, but it's only a minor distraction. For solid jazz, rock, and a pinch of funk ("Slinky"), this is going to be hard to beat.

(What It Is is scheduled for release on February 5, 2009.)

That's it for this week's Run-Off Groove. If you have any new music, DVD's, books, or hot sauce, please contact me through my MySpace page and I'll pass along my contact address. In the past I have generally frowned over receiving digital files, but I will accept them on a case by case basic. I still prefer hard copy as I want to hear the quality of the recording (which is important to me), but digital files are fine.

I would like to say "mahalo nui loa" (thank you very much) for the support all of you have given me and the column this past year, especially with awkward schedules and the move to a new home. In turn, I wish all of you a Hau'oli Makahiki Hou (Happy New Year) and may 2009 be a much better year for you and yours, and all of us as a whole. To my fellow kama'aina, I still hope to make it home next year. Eight years is way too long.

Take care, and I will return very soon with #227.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

The Run-Off Groove #225

Welcome to The Run-Off Groove #225. I am John Book and things are fresh.

BTW - if you like the column, please consider clicking the banner below for eMusic. You are able to subscribe and download albums in a way that I feel is more effective than iTunes, and there's a lot of incredible music here. You will not be disappointed.

If you wish to make a digital MP3 purchase, you can click the digital player icon that looks like this:

If a particular release does come out on vinyl, I of course will make a vinyl icon.

Also, this column now finds its home over at my website, thisisbooksmusic.com. This blogspot will remain here as an archive for older columns, but after December 31, 2008, this blogspot page will no longer be updated. Bookmark now.

Now, the column.

Common has released album #8, and obviously he has been around for a long time to where I can say that this is not your mom's Common.

I say this because Universal Mind Control (Geffen) is a very different album from the man who gave us such classic hip-hop songs as "I Used To Love H.E.R.", "Resurrection", "Retrospect For Life", "The Corner", "Testify", "The Light", "The Question", and the countless cameos he has made on other albums. Fans have relied on him to be different from the norm during times when hip-hop had become an overwhelming mass of something undesirable. Some called him the boho poet, while some looked to him with class and style, the ladies dug his steez while guys were always blown away by his flows and rhymes. Much of that is still on this new album, but he has (at least for the moment) entered the place that most diehards usually resist going into: the club. Yes, Common is going for the club vibe by creating songs that would fit in the club. One generally associates Common with headnodder music, not something you would see with a lot of bling and choreographed dancing but this is a man who has gone Hollywood and appeared in a number of popular movies. What in the world is Common doing?

Well, it is a stretch but the one thing you can't deny is that Common has the style to rock any track that is given to him, and let's be honest, had he existed as an artist in the 80's, he would be doing tracks with The Jonzun Crew, Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force, and be considered the king of electro. Many of the songs on the album are produced by The Neptunes, so Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo offer Common a chance to be more accessible in a marketplace where it seems there's not much room to "have style" and "be original" in a KRS-One fashion. Even though it's odd to hear Common rhyme over club bangers, in an odd way it does work. Perhaps the reality of hip-hop being truly universal comes through in a rapper who is comfortable in making an album that is different from his past work. If Williams and Hugo offered Common a chance to do something in a N*E*R*D context, that would work too. Kanye West, ever the arrogant one, immediately states that he is the fly oen in "Punch Drunk Love", but then Common comes up with
my uh is in your body
my uh is in your mind
check my dictionary
that ass is so divine
it's slippery when it's wet, girl
I can read your signs
I knock and I knock, uh
Can I come inside?
I knock and I knock, girl
Can I come inside?
I feel like it's on when I'm in between your thighs

Yes, these are the words from Common himself, someone who always came off as a poetic gentleman only to reduce himself to being "like everyone else". Of course he's human so in truth he is very much amongst all of us but one reason why people felt so strongly about Common is because he did present himself as someone who was intelligent, wise, and with a gift. The voice and flows are very much on this album, but the lyrics are simply, well, common. Not Common, but common, as in "everyone has done this before". Maybe it's Common playing the role, wanting to know what it feels like on the other side and decides to put on a new jacket to see if it's comfortable. The issue for me is can he return to what he has been known for. Fortunately in this day and age, rappers from the early 1990's are a lot more successful in their careers than those who had their spotlight in the 80's, but as someone who was a fan of his from the beginning, moreso with his second album, I'm not sure if those who have supported him will support this. I'm also not sure if those fans who will now depart will find a reason to want to hear him if they now feel he can be fickle.

It's a different album, but maybe Universal Mind Control is a bit of a metaphor, a way to say "this is the album my label has wanted me to do for years, this is what some expect of me". I hope that in 2009, the final year of the first decade of the 21st century, he and many others will come off strong with something that is a statement of who Common is as an artist. Think about it, if Common were to pass on, how would it feel knowing that this was his last statement? This seems to be an album made for Hollywood, and he seems to be participating in the scenario he once talked about in "I Used To Love H.E.R." where he's now the one moving to L.A. I agree that black music is black music, and it's all good, but he's now treating the music, his music, in a way that seems a bit foul. Like the "woman" in that song, maybe she needs to make the rounds to realize what she is missing, but in a small way this might be a sign of what we could be missing from him. I just hope he'll be able to take back to make this shit stop, and whom I talk about is Common.

After releasing three albums, one of which was not released in her own home country, Amerie Rogers is saying goodbye to one label as moves forward to another. Her former label, Epic/Sony, is quick to mark this occasion by releasing a compilation of Amerie's greatest hits. Wait, greatest hits?

Generally someone gets a greatest hits package when they've actually had an album of hits, but this is not being called a greatest hits package per se. Instead, this is the iPod generation's idea of a compilation, and it's appropriately called Playlist: The Very Best Of Amerie (Legacy). In terms of actual hits, we do have them in the four songs people will generally associate with her: "Why Don't We Fall In Love", "Talkin' To Me", "1 Thing", and "Touch", but the rest of the album is filled with minor hits and album tracks. I think if this is a chance for people to listen to her as an artist at a time when things are increasingly becoming catered to the single, this will work. The CD is bargain priced and you do get the hits that will no doubt receive a lot of airplay. But perhaps it would have been better to release a 5 song EP/CD5 and leave it at that. If a jump to Def Jam will prove to be a good one for her as an artist, then this CD in Legacy's Playlist series will hopefully be the seeds of what will come to fruition.

He has been called "the Godfather of Gypsy Zen", but Aranos is definitely one of the more creative artists in the experimental/avant-garde field. His last few albums have been complete mindtrips, and that happens once again as the mind shifts into new realms with Alone Vimalakirti Blinks (self-released).

This one features six songs, and you have to listen to each track in full to get a grasp of what he's doing, which is to have various abstract sounds develop slowly but surely to become more durable sounds. "Rocket Sandals" sounds like someone striking a violin with a bow continuously for ten minutes as other sounds are mixed and filtered into it to where it may represent a crowded marketplace or a crowded mind. It then moves into a formal rhythm where you're not sure where it will lead you (or how or why) but it does. The other pieces continue on the adventure, with "This Job Is So Boring" sounding like the mundane songs we sing in our heads as we deal with the daily grind, while "Better Universe No. 2" is the evolution of what we hope to seek even if it seems it takes forever to find (which is perhaps why it sounds the way it does). It's a mixture of electronics, found sound, and real instrumentation, and Aranos does such a good job that you can't tell which is which. He takes you into his audio world and either you go exploring with him as filtered stringed instruments dance back and forth with the sound of heavy traffic, planes, ships, and boats, or move away. I suggest moving in and perhaps becoming a part of his voyage.

The title of Saltman-Knowles new CD, Return Of The Composer (Pacific Coast Jazz is meant to be a play of words on the Star Wars film, Return Of The Jedi, and it's meant to say that the world of jazz, if not music in general, needs to return to the strength of original compositions and new and innovating composers. The entire album features original compositions, either by double bassist Mark Saltman or pianist William Knowles, and along with vocalist Lori Williams Chisholm they show and prove that jazz music is very much alive and well in 2008 and beyond, that it doesn't always have to rely on the same old songs to be good. In songs like "Homeland", "Shalom And Salaam", and "Creepin' Up" they, along with drummer Jimmy "Junebug" Jackson, Alvin Trask on trumpet, and Robert Landham on sax, are able to make quality jazz that could easily influence future jazz musicians and vocalists. Landham's solo in "Bellport" comes in unexpectedly, since Saltman, Knowles, and Jackson work like an incredible jazz trio and it feels that way until Landham slips in and steals the show. Chisholm sings back and forth in a direct manner, and doing a bit of scat throughout. Her voice is the kind of jazz singing I enjoy listening to, and the silkiness makes me want to hear that all day and night. I hope she releases a full length under her own name, and as for the rest of the musicians, these guys are tight. It may be a return, but those in the know will say it's always been here, one just had to dust off the cobwebs

(Return Of The Composer will be released on January 26, 2009.)

Please, can someone answer me this question: who buys this bullshit? I'm talking about Akon and his new album, Freedom (Universal Motown).

Two years ago I reviewed his Konvicted album and it was pure crap. In 2008... more of the same. Well okay, he does have the usual suspects: Wyclef Jean, T-Pain, Lil' Wayne, and Kardinal Offishall, but sometimes the guests outshine the star, and perhaps that was the goal. Akon still can't sing, the lyrics are wasteful, and if you buy an Akon album how many times do you have to say "Akon... uh huh"? How many times does one have to tolerate it?

Akon makes silly ass music that makes me wonder why anyone cares for him as an artist, and do people think he has talent? Who said that voice of his is good? Mediocre at best. Pure crap.

Vocalist Joani Taylor swings in a fashion that I want to hear, as she is comfortable being backed by a band with a mean ass Hammond B-3 player (Bob Murphy) and musicians who know how to make the joint jump. While she calls her album In My Own Voice, I had to look at the CD a few times because Taylor reminded me a lot of Monday Michiru, both in style and tone. In other words, this lady rips and anyone who wants to hear a great, powerful female jazz singer will have to buy this album immediately.

Taylor has released many albums over the years, but this is my first listen to her voice and music. She is often billed as "Canada's first lady of the jazz ballad", but on this album she shows she is much more than a balladeer, there's even a bit of hip-hop flavor in her version of Paul Desmond's "Take Five", with a rap done in 5/4 from Jay Kin). It was unexpected, but it was definitely welcome on an album that ranges from the acid jazz vibe of the late 60's and early 70's to bebop. Taylor shows her experience throughout this album, able to wrap herself around the music and making it her own, and the majority of this album features original Taylor/Murphy compositions and whether it's a passionate love song or one with a hint of the blues, you listen to her and believe in it because she most likely has felt these things, you can hear the joy, fear, pain, and pleasure with every word, line, and verse.

In My Own Voice was recorded live in the studio with everyone in the same room at one time, and it's a probably good indication of what her live shows are like. Let's hope she'll perform at jazz festivals next year, showing her old fans what they've come to see and hear and showing new fans that all one needs to find is a powerful jazz singer who knows their craft. Taylor is someone who knows and honors the craft of jazz.

When a new album comes across my way by an artist I hadn't heard before, I get semi-upset (not really) that I hadn't heard of them before. Fortunately if I really like them, I'll want to hunt down their previous work, and I can say that about Stephen Wilkinson, a British bloke who goes by the simple one-word moniker Bibio, and he makes one-man music.

His new, third album is called Vignetting The Compost, has him creating all of the sounds heard and what hit me at first was how lo-fi and raw it sounded. It immediately reminded me of some of the surf movie soundtracks I've heard over the years, a bit of rock and pop with a love for folk sensibilities. In Bibio's case it probably comes from his upbringing, but it's the kind of music that brings to mind a sense of freedom that was once heard in those songs, representing that era very well. The lo-fi quality comes from the fact that, according to his bio, he uses cassette decks, a half-broken sampler, dictaphones, and experimental ways of affecting sounds, so the end result is different audio textures that is nice to hear in a time when twisting sounds is often done in an artificial/computerized way. "Flesh Rots, Pip Sown" opens the album as water cascades downs the falls and makes ready for the sun to come up and greet the day, at least that's how I hear it. The entire album has that earthy quality where you can imagine dirt and dust collecting on the instruments, but what you hear within your assumed muck is well-written music done by someone who attempts and succeeds at capturing a dated sound without him sounding dated. That can be a challenge for some artists who don't seem to grasp the power of a certain style, but he does. Each layer of his music pulls you in and never wants to let you go, and you never want to lose its grasp as you hear his guitar work in "The Ephemeral Bluebell", "Over The Far And Hills Away", or "The Garden Shelter", nor do you want these songs to become too electrified (although it would work perfectly in the hands of other artists).

Bibio, at least with this album, is folksy, wholesome, surfy, melancholy, and colorful. It's the sound of someone who makes music with cassette players. In the past those tapes would go into a shoebox and perhaps never heard of again. It has a personal feel, perhaps I'm applying my sensibility to the cassettes of yesteryears, but it's a welcome change from the too-clean sounds of today.

(Vignetting The Compost will be released on February 3, 2009.)

Fuck, why do people torture other humans with this excrement? FALAKA!!!

Circus is far from sounding anything like Lenny Kravitz's Circus, which is a far better album than this leftover bowl of tripe stew. It's warmed over dookie and no amount of sugar sprinkles will make this shit sound sweet (thank you Jemini The Gifted One.) So what's on it? Well, Britney Spears sings, again in a higher pitch so that her music sounds less womanly and more girly, even the ballads sound like a pre-teen who is ready to grow up. But is she? Through the crap, it seems obvious that she wants to reveal that she is a woman with heart and someone who cares, but is afraid that being stuck in the spotlight has and will hold her back. The liner notes claim she had a hand in five of the tracks, but I'm not sure what input she actually had in them, but most of the album is done from an autobigraphical point of view, as if she's telling her family, friends, and world that she lives in a circus, and someone forgot to clean up the elephant shit. To be honest, it works in that sense but the music isn't adventurous, risky, or mindblowing, it's all been done before by everyone from Pink to Kelly Clarkson, it sounds more American Idol-influenced than the music of someone who eventually influenced others to follow her "lead". She has worked with the best, but this album features names that, outside of Danja, don't really stand out. It's a risk for her to be releasing music like this at this stage in her career with people who simply want to add Spears to their growing resumes, and that's fine, we all network.

But... for someone who is pushing herself to be better than best, and as someone who people feel is this generation's Madonna, she really doesn't have the voice, material, or producers to deserve that status. It sounds like everyone else who is out there, and yet people still view her as one of the best. Maybe she is one of the best, but it's certainly not as a musical artist.

The duo of Darunam/Milan have made music together for a few years, and with The Last Angel On Earth (64-56 Media) they feel that the power of the world can be found through spirituality. They do this by combining elements of pop, electronic music, and various worldly sounds to create a fusion that will please fans of Trilok Gurtu and the more recent works of Peter Gabriel. The album goes through different movements, the path of which is indicated in the track titles:

"Sarasvati (Amma)"
"Karl (Move)"
"Mahatma (Truth)"
"Therese (Night)"
"Raphael (Sunshine)"

Lyrically they get into the temptations that exist within the world, and the lure of the entities that create ones sense of spirituality. It's an adventurous road that will take the listener through a lot of emotions, as if you're traveling throughout the countries gathering the elements and information towards your final place. It requires a deep listen, and will suit fans who may feel that today's music is missing a little extra something.

Chuck Bernstein is a member of the group Monk's Bones (whom I reviewed awhile back) but is also a musician and songwriter who gets into his muse and comes up with some incredible and often very interesting music. For Delta Berimbau Blues (CMB) his instrument of choice is the Brazilian Berimbau, but he has tweaked it to where it becomes similar to a Diddley Bow, and it has a built-in wah-wah! Can a one-string instrument pull off a full blues album? It can when you're accompanied by some powerful musicians, including Greg Douglass, Sister Debbie Sipes, Sam Bevan, Roswell Rudd, and Lisa Kindred among many others.

The songs are either duets or trio situations where Bernstein's playing, often coming off like Indian drones, backs up a guitarist or bassist. It gets more interesting when two berimbau players are playing with each other, as is the case with "Viola Foot Stompin' Blues". It feels more rural and arguably more backwoods, but you can imagine the crickets and the creek in the back as you hear these. Delta Berimbau Blues is not your typical blues album, but it's that reason alone that makes this a worthwhile listen, as it takes the blues out of its normal home, takes it to Brazil and brings it back, showing that any sound can be turned into the blues with the right knowledge and appreciation from the best musicians.

(Delta Berimbau Blues will be released on January 27, 2009.)

Leonisa Ardizzone, depending on the song, tends to sound like across between Sade Adu and Carole King, with a touch of Michael Franks. While she is being promoted as a jazz artist, she could easily be a pop or folk artist if she wanted to, as her vocals are quite versatile. On The Scent Of Bitter Almonds (self-released) she performs with her quintet through a nice range of material, including "Take The A Train", ""Well You Needn't", "Scary Face" (written by her drummer, Justin Hines, "On The Ropes" (written by her guitarist, Chris Jennings, and her own "The Architect's Lament". Her voice is very lively, able to create an instant mood without any vocal theatics that often make some jazz singers go beyond overboard. She is subtle yet effective, and with a quintet that includes Hines, Jennings, Bob Bowen (bass), Bob Sabin (bass), and Jess Jurkovic (piano), they allow each other to challenge and take each other into places often unexpected. "Midnight Sun" is a song that one could easily find Steely Dan pulling off. I was at first put off by the drum solo in the song, which is odd for me since I'm a huge fan of them (drum solos that is), but it made me think of the song in a rock fashion where it's thrown in as a way to create an unexpected sense of momentum. Hines does that before the quintet goes right back into the theme of the song again before it feels as if they pulled the plug unexpectedly, Ellington-style.

The Leonisa Ardizzone Quintet sound like a group I would enjoy in a live setting, and it would have been a nice bit of extra if she had added a live recording as a bonus track (maybe next time). The Scent Of Bitter Almonds is a vocal jazz album that doesn't get stale during its duration, which for me is a very good thing.

Jazz pianist Pamela Hines has impressed me with her last two albums with the kind of playing that I feel should put her up there with some of the greats, as she's already up there. For her new album she takes the Christmas route and eases up a bit in her approach, but it allows the listener to hear the subtleties in her playing with an applied, delicate touch.

New Christmas (Spice Rack) may sound short with a 9-song line-up, but five of the songs clock in at over five minutes, one that comes close to reaching the seven minute mark ("Custom Santa"). The playing that I found on previous albums is still here, hearing her solo in "What Chance Have I?" makes one hope this will be the kind of Christmas music that will be on mainstream airwaves for the next forty years. For this album she brings in a group of three ladies who alternate with eack track, and then coming together for two tracks. Patricia Williamson, April Hill, and Monica Hatch have all had their share of awards and accolates, and in these songs they show why they've made an impression on thousands of jazz fans. I was most impressed by Williamson's voice, who can do a bit of jazz scat with ease (as she does in "Gift Of Giving") and then caress the mic ever so nicely in "Custom Santa". Add to this the great rhythm section of bassist Dave Landoni and drummer Miki Matsuki, and Hines was definitely with good company during these sessions, and that strength only helps make Hines play like the professional she is. Regardless of the holiday, Hines is the kind of player that should be heard year round, and in a better world she would be world famous.

Rebecca Cline & Hilary Noble are a duo that like their jazz to be played with funk and strengf (yes, that's spelt "s-t-r-e-n-g-f"). Cline (piano) and Noble (saxophone) are a part of the group Enclave, and in fact this is is a new Enclave album but perhaps by placing actual names and faces on the cover, people may be able to identify with them and their music a bit more. The album is called Enclave Diaspora (self-released), and it is an energetic album that is pretty much Latin jazz at its best, showing its heavy influence from New Orleans and its connection to the Caribbean. It seems that Hurricane Katrina has allowed many musicians to go back and strengthen their love of jazz and one of the cities that it calls home, and this album is full of the richness that makes this music great. What moves me the most is the fact that most of these songs are original compositions, so in many ways this is Cline's and Noble's way of thanking the places and cultures that offered this music, while adding their little bit to the push for continuity for more. "Chorinho pre lemãnjá", "Iyá Modupué", and "Nameless" sound like the kind of wicked hybrids that would've fit perfectly on albums by Herbie Mann, Ramsey Lewis (Cline's Fender Rhodes solo in "Rue de Buci" is reminscent of Lewis' work from the early to mid 70's), and Herbie Hancock (think "Sly" from Head Hunters if it was lead by Gato Barbieri or The Fania All-Stars). It's non-stop energy from start to finish, and the only think that holds this back from being perfect is the elementary looking CD cover that gives it a slightly cheap look, far from what the music itself suggests. In truth the cover is secondary, and yet it might hold people back from wanting to buy this. Look past the cover and find out why I like the music so much. Then make your own cover.

It would be a bit foolish to say that in the vast world of recorded jazz, you still have to look for music of substance. Considering how much jazz is released on a regular basis, there's more than enough music to go around, but sometimes they end up bring nothing but sonic clutter. Gene Ess is not clutter, in fact for some it may be the jazz album you've been seeking for for most of your life.

He was born Gene Shimosato, a cool enougn name right there but that's besides the point. For now he is known as Gene Ess, which in a way is cool in itself but that will leave potential listeners and fans to question "what's Ess?" Now you know. He could've been Gene @, and people would've asked "at what?" At his music, that's what, and his music is incredibly played and recorded on his brand new album, Modes Of Limited Transcendence (Simp). Ess produced this alongside engineer Randy Crafton and mix engineer Sal Mormando, and on top of that, Ess mastered this disc himself. The Japanese tend to have a keen ear, and as I'm currently listening to the audiobook of Olver Sacks Musicophilia I learned that there is a strong belief that some ethnicities do have a better sense of listening and comprehension, although it is uncertain still as to how this happened. Is it with the ear canal, or the hairs within the ear? That's besides the point, for we are talking about Gene Ess.

Ess plays the guitar in a Pat Martino-style occasionally offering a few Pat Metheny touches, or at least this is what I hear. Whether it's a luxurious solo or something that plays along the piano melody (courtesy of Tigran Hamasyan, he plays with such elegance and grace that you wished he would record more so you could buy his entire discography, or hopes he performs at a nearby jazz venue for two weeks so you could skip meals and check out whatever they play. Then there's the incredible rhythm section of Tyshawn Sorey drums and Harvie S. (no relation to Ess, on bass), and these guys play with the kind of finesse reminiscent of some of the best jazz albums of the 1970's, when freeform could weave itself into bebop or bop while mellowing out in the ECM range. "Messiaen Shuffle" is a track that combines all of these elements into an energetic song where you can visualize the walk and strut created by Ess while the traffic and disgrunted faces (created beautifully by Hamasyan, S, and Sorey) are put in view. The tone that Ess has is most welcome, not distorted nor complex, not unlike Larry Coryell. The contrasts and coloring of these musicians are not so much precise, but... how do I say this, it's an exciting listen to not only hear musicians play like this, but to hear it recorded and mixed so well.

Keen musicianships, keen ears, keen love of jazz and music, and creativity in general. If you welcome these things, welcome Gene Ess into your mental vicinity. One of the best jazz albums of 2008.

While some people don't enjoy cover version, I enjoy them if they are creative and the artist makes an attempt in trying something different. It doesn't have to be that way, because a good song is a good song, but when given a new hat, give it a new twist. Wave Mechanics Union are a trio consisting of Ryan Fraley, Ralph Johnson and vocalist Lydia McAdams, and for their debut album they decide to tackle progressive and classic rock and give it a jazz motif. Second Season (HX Music), the title of which is taken from Led Zeppelin's "The Rain Song" (covered here in an excellent arrangement), gives these classic songs a fresh set of clothes to change into, not only showing their love of the material but also how fine these musicians are. Wave Mechanics Union are a trio that collaborate with a wide range of musicians, including horn players and a string quartet so their sound is full and rich to the point of no return. A lot of these songs are often thought of with a penis attached, so to have them performed with a woman singing them is a welcome chance, especially upon hearing the war chestnut "Won't Get Fooled Again" (The Who) or "Killer Queen" (Queen). They even get into Rush's "Available Night" to where you might not even recognize it as a Rush song. For those who were raised on these songs, the jazzy approach may sound like something Norah Jones would be comfortable in doing, but McAdams voice' is stronger and perhaps more comforting. One of the song's defining moments has to be their cover of Yes' "Heart Of The Sunrise", which truly sounds like something you'd hear on a high school band album if high school bands were this cool and skilled. Screw the Airmen Of Note, this is Wave Mechanics Union!

Some songs are given the instrumental treatment. The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby" features an arrangement that makes it sound like something you'd hear on a Stan Kenton (who is referred to in the liner notes) or Johnny Harris album, while Pink Floyd's "The Great Gig In The Sky" could have been destroyed if the upbeat (!!!) arrangement featured vocals and fortunately it doesn't.

It's a jazz album with a twist, one that is actually good without it being predictable. Curious to know where this group will lead us next.

That's it for this week's Run-Off Groove. If you have any new music, DVD's, books, or hot sauce, please contact me through my MySpace page and I'll pass along my contact address. In the past I have generally frowned over receiving digital files, but I will accept them on a case by case basic. I still prefer hard copy as I want to hear the quality of the recording (which is important to me), but digital files are fine.

I still have a few more CD's to go and because of that, I may have yet another column by the weekend, but we'll see.

Thank you, and come back next week for #226.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

The Run-Off Groove #224

Welcome to The Run-Off Groove #224. I am John Book and ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on, bra. La la how the life goes on.

The Zang Tuum Tumb 25th Anniversary tribute podcast I did for Book's Music had taken up my time two weeks ago, and I decided to take a makeshift Thanksgiving break last week, thus the reason for the gap between this column and the last. I am back, and now I'm a bit backed up so for this week the column will be brief.

BTW - if you like the column, please consider clicking the banner below for eMusic. You are able to subscribe and download albums in a way that I feel is more effective than iTunes, and there's a lot of incredible music here. You will not be disappointed.

If you wish to make a digital MP3 purchase, you can click the digital player icon that looks like this:

If a particular release does come out on vinyl, I of course will make a vinyl icon.

Now, the column.

A Block Of Yellow are very pop friendly, and their bio asks "tired of faux emo? Gloomy retros down you down?", to suggest that they are a slight throwback to the eclectic pop sounds of yesteryear. I think they are very modern, and Do I Do (Around Sounds) shows they know how to be very much in the vein of The Violent Femmes or Let's Active but most of the time they get stuck in that cutesy retroness and fail to challenge themselves and escape for a breather.

If anything, one of the guys in the band looks like Sean Lennon with meat on his face. If you have ever wanted a band to salute the theme to The Courtship Of Eddie's Father, A Block Of Yellow are you gentlemen, but they're just too gentle for me. That could be a good or bad thing, I'll leave it to your interpretation.

The Secret History is a group created by former My Favorite member Michael Grace Jr., but the heart of the songs on the Desolation Town EP (Le Grand Magistery) belong to its primary vocalist, Lisa Ronson. The group play the kind of aggressive pop that pulls your heartstrings when it matters without dipping into the sappiness of most pop music. It's aggressive for a reason but does so with a spirit I know I haven't heard in awhile. Either pop music has become a bland Disney nightmare or more American Idol crap and The Secret History is neither. Comparisons to The Smiths, Roxy Music, and The Patti Smith Group. have been made, but one could also feel free to add Concrete Blonde, The Smithereens, and The Replacements to that list.

Favorite songs include "Our Lady Of Pompeii", "Mark & John (Bring On The Glitter Kids)", and "Our Lady Of Palermo".

My Dear Disco seems like a cool enough name with a possible decent concept, that is until I hear the great voice of vocalist Michelle Chamuel ruined with Auto-Tune. That kept me from wanting to listen to this CD seriously, and all I could do was cringe in disgust. Their cover of Stevie Wonder's "All I Do" will bring them a small bit of attention, and Chamuel pulls it off with a great vocal performance with limited Auto-Tune use. If the entire album sounded like this, I'd be alright with it.

Maybe it's best if she just went solo so we could hear her voice without anyone else's idea of what she sould sound like.

Oh yeah, the album is called Dancethink, but you'd be better off just buying one track.

Knitting By Twilight have been around for years, and each releases always reveals something new, interesting, and unique. An Evening Out Of Town (it's Twilight Time) is a mixture of different styles and genres, where you'd not sure where you'll be headed but you're always pleased to reach each song's destination. The core of Knitting By Twilight has always been multi-instrumentalist John Orsi, and he goes at it by creating mostly-instrumental pieces that could be anything and everything from jazz to new age, light electronic music, folk, to sounds that show a possible classical influence. "Soothing Stars" is Orsi and Orsi only, and the backdrop sounds like something you might find on a Tangerine Dream album. The percussion on "Evelyn's Glen" could easily fit on any world music playlist, but the interesting about Knitting By Twilight is that it's hard to say which world or territory they're rooted in. In other words, the territories they represent as a collective may be as different as their backgrounds and influences. While those cores are somewhat represented, it seems once again that this group iare more about the creation of a new borderless territory where there is no final resting place, kind of like how Duke Ellington always ended his music without a proper ending. Each piece sounds like it could continue into the next phase, with Mike Marando's guitar work becoming a call for an answer that never comes to fruition, or Manny Silva's ebow guitar in "Oblivion's Poppied Slope" that helps the listener get locked into an alternate universe that the listener wishes they could explore.

It's simple in its complexity, and it's complex in its simplicity, which means they pull their music in every direction in order to find new things in their creative minds. Even when a discovery is made, they set off on the next journey, and that is what makes listening to Knitting By Twilight an enjoyable experience.

That's it for this week's Run-Off Groove. If you have any new music, DVD's, books, or hot sauce, please contact me through my MySpace page and I'll pass along my contact address. In the past I have generally frowned over receiving digital files, but I will accept them on a case by case basic. I still prefer hard copy as I want to hear the quality of the recording (which is important to me), but digital files are fine.

Thank you, and come back next week for #225.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

The Run-Off Groove #223

Welcome to The Run-Off Groove #223. I am John Book and ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on, bra. La la how the life goes on.

BTW - if you like the column, please consider clicking the banner below for eMusic. You are able to subscribe and download albums in a way that I feel is more effective than iTunes, and there's a lot of incredible music here. You will not be disappointed.

People may have heard the name 88 Keys for awhile, and the release of The Death Of Adam (Decon) has pushed him into the forefront in the world of hip-hop. It also doesn't hurt to have an album executive produced by Kanye West, so it might have its share of expectations.

So what does it sound like? The album is rooted in hip-hop, and it's partly a hip-hop album but he's not just about the boom bap. There are some tracks that sound like Kanye outtakes, and with the type of sped up samples he uses, it also has a bit of crossover appeal. It could be pop, it could be R&B, and some of it could be soul too, especially with contributions from Bilal and J*DaVey. In fact, J*DaVey's appearance in "Dirty Peaches" is one of the highlights of the album, and trust me there are many. Phonte's lines in "Close Call" is a continuation of this man's excellence as he talks about "until one night you let a nigga put the head in/and we ain't never use the motherfuckers no more/started going in and out with the raw sex, pull it out/seeded on your chest, like bring your ass herre/playing Justice Leia to your Jazmine Cashmere/so one night you said, baby leave it right there", and when Redman drops his in something called "The Burning Bush", you know you're asking for trouble.

The album is about the sins of the world, why they are sins, why we commit them, and why no one is ever completely pure. It's not a concept in the true sense but rather has a running theme about the lure of the apple from the tree that is too irresistible to ignore. 88 Keys' main role is that of a producer, but you do hear him rap and sing, so he continues to show the diversity he's had throughout his career. The album begins on a somewhat poppy note but fortunately it doesn't stay that way. It's hip-hop with a touch of soul, and perhaps it's that touch that hip-hop sorely needs today. Some of the poppier touches are disposable, so hopefully he'll ignore them in the future. Nonetheless, the apple is here, I dare you to not bite.

(The Death Of Adam is available from CD Universe.)

Spoken Nerd is about the spoken word, and the word that is involved in hip-hop. His flows sound like a cross between Mike Shinoda and Jesse Dangerously, and he likes to play around with sampled hip-hop and real instrumentation. On 24 Carrot Dreams he tends to want to push his sense of humor, which is great, but this is someone who is far from a joke as his rhymes are on the money and worth listening to.

There are moments on this album where Spoken Nerd will enter that type of abstract world that will please Anticon fans immensely, but then he'll move out of it as fast as he went in and he's doing something that's more traditional. "Running Man" is the former while "This Is Hip-Hop" is the latter, and what I like is that he does this while sounding as raw as possible. Some of these songs sound a lot like rough demos, but it's well produced and mixed. If this guy had a bigger budget, I could only imagine how much better this album would be.

(24 Carrot Dreams is available from CDBaby.)

It may be a little over a week after Senator Barack Obama was elected to be the next president of the United States, but when this mix CD by DJ Noodles was made, that reality was nothing but a big dream. It wasn't too far from reality, but it had to be made official. What DJ Noodles does is puts together a number of songs that touched on the idea of a black president, and throughout PSA (The Closing Argument) (self-released) you can hear what people had been hoping for for years. That hope is now reality, but it doesn't take away from the power these tracks originally had. Listen to Nas' "Black President", Jay-Z's "Enough", Mims' "Barack Star", or Young Jeezy's "My President" and it felt good to know that these songs were providing the energy to make true change. After the fact, this mix CD holds up as a document of a historic moment, and no doubt a document hinting of the changes to come.

(PSA (The Closing Argument) is available as a free download directly from DJNoodles.com, where you will find many other of his mixtapes/CD's for free.)

Elizabeth Willis was a musical prodigy whose love of creating had been something she wanted to now and forever. She received classical training and learned from the best, leading many to believe that she could become an important part of the classical world. Instead she had other, more personal ambitions, and proceeded to move into creating incredible pop but without sacrificing her classical influences. The end result is her self-titled debut (Little Blackbird Music), and she is very much of the Joan Armatrading, Tracy Chapman, and Melissa Etheridge traditions in terms of recording raw and honest songs that are gutsy and edgy. If anything, she easily could reach into the corners Tori Amos often finds herself in, and with Willis she is able to create these arrangements that go a little further than the average pop song. That's a good thing.

As I listened to the album, some of the ideas seem to repeat, and I'm not sure if it's just Willis looking for a way to find a comfortable place or a slight fear to get more adventurous, because I hear it in the way she sings and plays (here she handles piano, violin, and acoustic guitar). There's a slight shift in the song "4am", and it makes me wish the entire album changed up as it does in "4am", but when repetition sets in it gets to be tedious.

What I do hear is incredible potential, which is my way of saying I hear the greatness she wants to offer but it's not quite there just yet. I give her another album or two and I can see Willis becoming an artist who will overwhelm people with her talent. For now, these are the seeds towards something much greater.

Luke Jackson could become this generation's rock/pop superstar, and his album ...And Then Some (Popsicle) has him sounding like a cross between The Clash, Weezer, and Ben Folds with his energy, passionate vocals, and jingle-jangle spirit that makes this a very moving power-pop album.

Comparisons aside, Jackson is someone who is influenced by a wide range of artists and styles, sometimes he could fit into an Elton John-type mode but in a track like "Goodbye London" it sounds like he's been listening to a bit of Green Day or The Buzzcocks. The wide direction he is going for is not as scattered as one might think it is, and when you listen to the lyrics and hear his playing and arrangements, you know there's some sense of craft and activity, it's not just "okay, let's bring this guitar bit here and fit in in where the drums are". It sounds healthy and live, I would even use the word vibrant. His songs are personal and come off as those type of diary entries you wouldn't dare share with anyone. Unless you're an artist of course, when the release of those personal thoughts become someone of a catharsis, especially in the track "The Fear":
We've all got the disease but we've all got the cure
We've all got the fear but our hearts are all pure
So let go of the things you know you'll never control
We've gotta lose the fear, it'll save us all

There are lot of nice touches on here, brief accents that help move the songs to where they will become personal anthems for those who will listen. Luke Jackson is someone who deserves to be heard, for he may provide the audio mirror you've been searching for.

...And Then Some is available digitally from eMusic.)

Future Clouds & Radar are a group fronted by Robert Harrison, and upon first listen the music on Peoria (The Star Apple Kingdom) sounds like an eclectic pop version of Maroon 5 in that themes within each song sound like something that came before, but you're not quite sure where it came from. What makes these guys different are the vocals and lyrics of Harrison, who at least sounds like he makes an effort to write something of long lasting value.

It's very much quirky pop, where bells, chimes, and steel drums are filtered to where they're almost unrecognizable, along with some Mellotron-type samples (most likely plug-ins) that help give these songs a more contemporary edge unlike those who go for the actual sounds which helps make them sound more... I was going to say "authentic" but Future Clouds & Radar are real and very much authentic, the kind of pop band who would be very welcome on a Lenny Kravitz or Flaming Lips tour package. Harrison can hit those high emotional notes as he does in "Old Edmund Ruffin", where he tends to hit those sensitive John Lennon or Glenn Tilbrook areas that will make people want to hear them. The horns during the break are a very nice accent that would help push this on the charts if the charts dared to put anything like this on the top of the charts. These guys could be a huge band if they were pushed to the forefront, for they show an appreciation for British pop while showing slight nods to The Doobie Brothers and Fireball with enough of their own ingredients to make them a band that could pull in big audiences. I hope they take it as far as they can, for this is quite remarkable.

(The compact disc for Peoria is available from CD Universe, and can also be digitally downloaded from eMusicFuture Clouds and Radar.)

Previous to hearing this, I was unfamiliar with the music of pianist Larry McDonough, but his album Simple Gifts (self-released) made me wish I had heard of him before, and now I want to catch up.

The Larry McDonough Quartet play the kind of jazz that will be a delight for fans of Dave Brubeck, Herbie Hancock, and Phil Woods in terms of the musicians involved (McDonough on piano, Fender Rhodes electric piano, and voice, plus Chas Draper on drums, Crag Materrese on bass and electric bass, and Richard Terrill on tenor and soprano saxes). They play in a very open fashion where all you want to do is kick back, relax, and let the music take you away to a place untraveled. "Tuscarora", a McDonough original, could easily find its way among the ECM discography, as Terrill's saxophone solo graces the soundscape as McDonough fills in the colors and eventually helps develop the picture. Their cover of Steely Dan's "Aja", done in a 5/4 time signature, will definitely keep you attentive throughout its close-to-eight-minute duration, and it's sure to be a Steely Dan cover worth telling everyone about. The 5/4 time signature returns at the end when they go into "My Favorite Things", and before the familiar melody is revived, it sounds a bit like the start of an Indian raga with the drones coming from Materrese's bass. Most listeners will probably familiar with the song in 3/4, so to hear it in 5/4 is a challenge but one that you'll want to take.

Simple Gifts may be a subtle way to describe the talents of McDonough and friends, but their arrangements are anything but simple or subtle. It's not too heady or avant-garde either, but for those who like their jazz with an unpredictable source of energy, McDonough is someone who is in full control of that power distribution, and he does so in a fashion that will make everyone beg for more.

(Simple Gifts is available from CDBaby.)

François Virot is the kind of guy you would pay to watch in concert at any decent venue, but would be welcome at any soup kitchen or VFW Hall. Anyone who picks up an acoustic guitar and makes the kind of music that would please people as much as it would irritate some deserves attention. Yes Or No (Frenetic) is along the lines of some of John Frusciante's solo material, especially the early stuff where Virot overdubs himself so it sounds like five Virot's singing and two of his clone brothers playing guitar. "Say Fiesta", ""Fish Boy", and "I Wish I Had You" (the latter made famous by Billie Holiday sound intensely rich with color and dynamics, as if he is a one-man Electric Light Orchestra but without that big hair. There are tracks with full instrumentation, or where it may be just drums and percussion, and... this is not the kind of music you would expect to hear at Carnegie Hall. Rather, it's the kind of music you would hear in the back of the teriyaki place off of of I-82, and that's a good thing. Sometimes the guitars are not tuned right, unless it's "alternate tuning".

It doesn't matter, this Virot guy is great and someone who enjoys the tortured soul who really isn't tortured, but enjoys being able to make music that will make people smile and laugh because of the spontaneity. Dig it.

(The CD for Yes Or No is available directly from Frenetic Records and digitally from eMusic.)

Dark Developments (Orange Twin) is the new album by Vic Chesnutt, who teams up on this one with Elf Power & The Amorphous Strums to record a rootsy, Americana-type album that feels a lot like some of The Band's best mixed in with a bit of post-modern Lou Reed-type ruggedness. With songs like "Little Fucker", they're not about to conquer Top 40 radio any time soon, but what they do is make some rip roaring music that mixes up the swagger of good rock'n'roll with the kind of jingle jangle unmockery that might bring to mind the music of Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes. This is Chesnutt by the way, who has never been afraid to say his mind or bring forth the music he feels is pure and the best.

Recognition goes to Derek Almstead for some of the most incredible basslines I've heard on a rock album in awhile. Job well done.

(The CD for Dark Developments is available from CD Universe, and digitally from eMusic.)

Lowfish is the one-man electronic project of Toronto's Gregory De Rocher, whose style of music is a mixture of sound that's beat happy but also goes back to the days when analog was king. Frozen & Broken (Noise Factory) will please those who enjoy the inner workings of Brian Eno, Kraftwerk, Jean Michel-Jarre, and some of Prince's and Arthur Baker's work from the early 1980's, even Moby's most intense moments throughout his career.

Of course with that many comparisons, one might ask "how about the originality?" It's very much in there, from the pulsating rhythms to the type of sounds he creates in his songs, with melodies and counter melodies to please those who want their electronic music to be a bit more musical. He doesn't shy away from just making electronic noise, he does this throughout the album within breaks and the most unexpected moments. However, his gift of composition makes it possible for his music to be used for television, movies, or even video games without sounding cheesy, because cheesy this isn't. Every song in here will make you want to dance, twitch, or the wave which you can pass to your friend, which he'll pass on to his, which she will pass... etc.

(Frozen & Broken will be released on December 9. The CD can be pre-ordered through CD Universe and digitally from eMusic.)

Trumpter Roy Hargrove has set a high standard for himself on the level of many jazz legends. He may be too humble to rank his output and talents, but if one is to listen to the music on Earfood (Groovin' High/EmArCy/Decca), many are sure to put him up high.

Hargrove is a man that plays jazz with so much soul, but this isn't just jazz with a soulful touch or a wall of smooth jazz. This is someone who plays with a high caliber, and any musician he chooses to work with treats him with honor and respect, and it leads to a healthy exchange that always ends up with the kind of music you want to tell everyone about. The album has some lengthy pieces such as "I'm Not So Sure", "Style", and my personal favorite, the close-to-eight-minute "Starmaker", where he and the entire quintet (which includes Montez Coleman on drums, Danton Boller on bass, Gerald Clayton on piano, and Justin Robinson on alto sax) come up with the kind of music that will inspire fellow musicians to challenge themselves and take their music to the next level. It's not revolutionary by any means, but it has the kind of chemistry that makes you want to grit your teeth, bite your upper lip and go "damn, now that's nice". The album moves through a lot of textures, including blues, gospel, and the undeniable presence of hip-hop, and that unfortunately might be a red flag for some so allow me to explain. A good amount of jazz has influenced some parts of hip-hop music, when producers and MC's would look to their old Blue Note, Prestige, and Verve albums for the best breaks, horns, and basslines. The influence of jazz would allow producers to flirt with and manipulate the music into new sounds that has lead to what Roni Size and Jazzanova are known for. While some jazz artists reject the connection, you do have a generation of players who grew up with Eric B. & Rakim right along with the Marsalis brothers. The influence here is full circle, as those beats made famous by Leo Morris (Idris Muhammad), Elvin Jones, and Tony Williams are now brought back home and explored even further. What you hear is a modern approach to the music, one where Hargrove plays with all that he has in him to keep the spirit of jazz going while taking it to a generation who may never have experienced it face to face. "Starmaker", along with "Rouge", "Mr. Clean", and "To Wisdom The Prize", are songs that may lead to an essential bridge for different audiences to come to Hargrove and jazz. As for those who have remained fans since his debut album 18 years ago, they're going to find this to be as powerful and meaningful as anything with his trademark of quality.

Earfood couldn't be a more appropriate title, fans who are hungry for the goods will load up musically on the meat, beans, two scoops of rice, and a serving or two of dessert. It is very much jazz as most people know it, and it comes from someone who continues to put his spin in the music to assure fans that jazz is still one of the most breathtaking styles in the world. When he closes the album with "Bring It On Home To Me", you feel like walking down the street along with his band to offer gratitude because you feel you understand his music inside and out. Even without words, there's a dialogue going on, and it's one of hope and promise, with a need to keep the journey moving forward. It's not too heady, but it's as complex as you expect for Hargrove to be. It's musical comfort food, undo a button and allow the music to put you in that zone you always take time to get lost in.

(Earfood is available from CD Universe.)

Barbara King is a jazz singer who does something quite well: sing. That might sound funny, but considering the amount of vocal jazz that is released on a weekly basis, sometimes it's difficult to know who is good and who isn't. MP3 samples mean nothing if you can't get a feel for the full song, but I'm here to say that Perfect Timing (CCC Music Group) is an album for anyone who is a fan of vocal jazz, and those who want to hear someone who can truly sing with all of their heart and soul.

What I hear is someone of the Natalie Cole tradition, and hearing her perform "One More Day", Bob Dylan's "Forever Young", and Donny Hathaway's "Tryin' Times" makes one want to hear more of whatever songs she feels like singing. I like it because as I've said in the past, sometimes a jazz singer will blow me away but it would be nice to hear them do something more than jazz and pop standards. Here she takes these songs and molds them into something new but recognizable, and it may move you to consider her version one you'll want to listen to for a long time. Stevie Wonder's "Ribbon In The Sky" is even a slight Brazilian touch, and is one that is sure to get a significant amount of airplay on smooth jazz radio, especially with the Herb Alpert-esque trumpet solo from Cecil Bridgewater. It should be said that King is not a smooth jazz artist, far from it, and anyone who says she is after hearing her do The Beatles hit "Let It Be" is obviously in denial. It's a nice album, and one that fans of vocal jazz will be pleased to add to their collection.

(Perfect Timing is available from CDBaby.)

Mt. Sims have been around since the beginning of the decade with their brand of gothy rock that may make some long for those days in the early 80's when it felt like a healthy movement. On Happily Ever After (Hungry Eye) they take on the topics that matter to today's generation and tries to find a way to deal with it and instruct their mentors to do what feels right despite the circumstances. It's very dark and gloomy, and it sounds like the entire world is monochromatic.

Perhaps it is.

"Grave", "Continuations", and "Tightrope" are the kind of songs you'll find goth kids swirling to at a bus stop as they hold their diabetic Big Gulps and bags of glow in the dark Cornnuts. The album is produced and mixed well, and those who have been crying for the day someone would make music that brought back the sacredness of Joy Division, this is your lucky day. Or unlucky, as the case may be.

(The CD for Happily Ever After is available directly from Hungry Eye Records and digitally from eMusic.)

The voice that is heard in the opening track of ph10's Well Connected (Helmutplex) album explains that electronica music is a weird place, but one that is inventive and interesting. This is possibly why so many have moved to electronic music and electronica, because of the endless possibilities and lack of limits one can place on the music and themselves. ph10 is a mix of that heavy funky Crystal Method-type beats to the deep drum'n'bass that keeps everyone on ludes for the duration of the songs and mantras.

That right there is key, for ph10 create electronic mantras that you want to turn in something sacred. The entire vibe sounds like the kind of techno, jungle, and drum'n'bass that started massive movements in the early to mid-90's, but the difference is that it sounds clean and modern, and at times one can be taken aback by it if you're used to the grittiness some of the genres and sub-genres had provided in the past. "Enter The Underground" features Pete Miser and Jamalski doing a little bit of that reggae stylee, and "Serious Delirium" will make a number of DJ's mix it alongside Ming + FS, Roni Size, or any white label sides from the Metalheadz crew. The great thing about artists who are heavily into drum'n'bass is that they more often than not reveal their hip-hop upbringing, and that can be heard throughout the construction process of this album. It bites hard and it sends zings to the molars as the beats and bass pulses as it searches for any open cavity. Once it's in, it repeats the process until something juices. Well Connected is that non-sticky lube.

(Well Connected is available from CDBaby.)

Jon Larsen had worked with Jimmy Carl Black a number of times in the past. While this album was completed before Black's death last week, it seems Black may have told Larsen about his health as the album was pretty much in honor of the man Frank Zappa fans knew as being "the Indian of the group", in reference to The Mothers Of Invention. With The Jimmy Carl Black Story (Zonic/Hot Club), he makes an attempt to share that story while defining what his own music means as he says thanks to a trooper who would eventually depart on his afterlife journey.

Larsen has always shared his love of the kind of compositions Zappa made famous, and this album is a jazz album full of the abrupt changes, intense musicianship, and clever musical humor that made Zappa a true legend. Larsen's guitar work ride along the voyage and he rips it whenever possible without going overboard. Rob Waring's work on the marimba will definitely bring back memories of Ruth Underwood, in fact much of this album is a tribute to Zappa's early to mid-70's work, where jazz could mix in with classical, not afraid to mix it up with rock, blues, doo-wop, and whatever was of the moment. The common string running through it is Black's narrative, as he shares his life story from childhood to his now-current status as a martian (you'll have to listen to understand). It's a little lonely in space, but Black senses this is where he will end up being. Now that he has passed on, one tends to feel that loss more than ever. Larsen interprets that with the kind of music that sounds more like a celebration than a eulogy, and that's probably how Larsen and Black wanted it to be. The CD is packed with another CD featuring a full Jimmy Carl Black interview, and... perhaps it's a bit too soon but again no one but perhaps Black new of the situation, and it doesn't come as a surprise that this album was released now, as if other entities were speaking for everyone. Now, the memory of Jimmy Carl Black will live on. Rest in peace.

(The compact disc for The Jimmy Carl Black Story is available from CD Universe, and can also be digitally downloaded from eMusic.)

Hot Club de Norvège is a jazz combo who play in a stripped down manner, with just two guitarists (Jon Larsen and Per Frydenlund), a bassist (Svein Aarbostad) and a violinist/harmonica player (Finn Hauge). They call their style of music "gypsy swing", and yes these guys do swing despite the fact that there's no drummer here. At time when there is a missing component in the group sound, we tend to listen a bit closer, or at least we think "no drums? Wow, I wonder how they compensate?" It's not about that, but what it is is about a great set of musicians who have been doing this for over 30 years years, and if you're a fan of the work of Stéphane Grappelli or even some of Al Di Meola's work, this is going to be a CD you may not get through in an hour, for you'll want to play each song about three times or more before playing the next track.

"Karius & Baktus" definitely would get the juke joint jumping, while the balladry of "Echo" could easily bring anyone to tears, especially as the violin of Hauge gently plays along with the dual guitar of Larsen and Frydenlund, as both guitarists communicate and compliment each other in song. It's elegant and romantic, and they know how to sweep the feet of anyone who listens to how great these gentleman play together, and the harmonica is a very nice touch. It's called Django Music for a reason, as it carries on the same spirit and virtuosity that Mr. Reinhardt once had, with some of the same European influences that gave his music its spark. A splendid piece of work.

(Django Music is available from CD Universe.)

If Bruce Springsteen had started out hanging out with Ben Folds, The Clash, and Eddie Vedder, it might have sounded like what the guys in The Frontier Brothers were able to do with Space Punk Starlet (self-released). Their brand of rock'n'roll is a rugged one, and now when someone does something in a slightly different manner, it might be considered punk or alternative and if that means it's a throwback to the trusted formulas what once was, so be it. There's a bit of that late 70's/early 80's punch to their music, and every now and then vocalist Marshall Galactic has a slight Wayne Coyne tinge to it. That is, if Coyne was heavily influenced by Springsteen. It sounds like an odd combo that wouldn't work, but this power trio has it takes to make that formula work.

"Get Up Go" sounds like the Tacoma band Seaweed while "Take It For Love" could be Sara Bareilles if she mutated with Mark Arm of Mudhoney. Galactic sings about being kicked in the face after being overwhelmed by beauty, all while encrusted with horn sections and great arrangements that make this band a must-see/must-hear entity for anyone who enjoys excellent power pop in all of its glory. Dare I say it would be something that Elton John or Todd Rundgren could get into? I could see them wearing Frontier Brothers tour T-shirts.

(Space Punk Starlet is available from CDBaby.)

...AND NOW, THE HAWAIIAN MUSIC CORNER

Two years ago I reviewed her album Generation Hawai'i and felt that the growth of vocalist Amy Hanaiali'i Gilliom could be felt in the songs that made up her sixth album. The confidence had been there from the beginning, as she slowly made the transition from a jazz singer to someone who wanted to explore and share her Hawaiian side. Her debut album, Native Child, was released 13 years ago and at the time it seemed people weren't sure what to make of her. Someone doing jazzy covers of Hawaiian standards? Nonetheless, she continued on releasing a string of albums that kept her in the public eye, giving her numerous awards, and finding a growing fanbase in Japan. It might come as a shock to know that 'Aumakua is an album split with one half being sung in Hawaiian, the other half in English. It may also be a surprise to see that this album is being distributed by Concord, the jazz label that resurrected Stax as a label of modern artists like Angie Stone. Hanaiali'i's musical career has had its share of controversies, and this will no doubt lead to a few whispered discussions as to why she made her new album this way. This is her doing what she wants to do, the way she wants to do it, thus becoming Hanaiali'i's tradition.

First, her English songs. The album begins with a reconstruction of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Have You Ever Seen The Rain" (the recordings of which are now owned by Concord), and she turns it into a sweet ballad. The arrangement by Matt Catingub might help it crossover to getting airplay on NPR, AOR, and perhaps a few television shows and films. If it's one way to have her and her voice be heard by a wider audience, this cover will definitely do the job. Randy Newman's "Feels Like Home" gets treated with the kind of beauty only Hanaiali'i can do, and one will have to look at the liner notes to remember that this is indeed a Newman cover (perhaps more female vocalist should cover her songs in this manner). "When You Wish Upon A Star" is a standard that never gets old, and here she brings out the innocence many of us remember when we may have first heard it, be it a Disney cartoon or a Gene Simmons solo album. Another pop standard (Hawaiians love a good pop song) brought into the 21st century is "Blue Moon", which some may remember as a cherished doo-wop song, is almost made into a melancholy song of loss and wonderment. The album closes with "Oh, What A Beautiful Morning", and while one tends to enjoy the wonders of the evening, it is a joy to see the sun rise and wonder what lies ahead in the coming day.

Now, her Hawaiian songs. The title of the album 'Aumakua is meant to represent a guardian or something that represents you and your family, be it rain, sharks, turtles, a mountain valley, or something generally found in nature. When you are given a Hawaiian name, it is well researched so that the name itself doesn't bring the new child bad luck, and often times it leads back to what is considered the 'aumakua. Naming the album 'Aumakua can lead to a number of interpretations, whether it's the music within representing her as an artist, or Hanaiali'i exploring what 'aumakua means to the people of Hawai'i. It is in many ways her spiritual journey, one she has touched on throughout her career but not this extensively. As she started her album with "Have You Ever Seen The Rain", she like many view the rains as a blessing, which she sings about in "Ka Ua 'Ula". One of the best songs on the album, and perhaps one of the best in her career, is "Manu O Ku", which features the playing and arrangment of Sean Na'auao and Hanaiali'i singing with authority as she speaks to the many people who have ridden on the Hokule'a, a boat where the only means of navigation are the tides in the ocean and the stars in the sky (perhaps not a coincidence that the song is followed by "When You Wish Upon A Star"). The way "Manu O Ku" sings will definitely bring chicken skin to any one who holds true to traditional Hawaiian music, and the confidence and slight sassiness in her voice will bring to mind the mid to late 70's work of Melveen Leed, whose music and voice continues to be an influence on many Hawaiian singers both male and female. "He Mana 'O Au" is a Hawaiian interpretation of Kui Lee's "I'll Remember You", generally performed in English so hearing it in Hawaiian is somewhat of a rarity. It is one of those songs, no matter how much time has passed, will bring to mind the last few minutes at the Honolulu International Airport before boarding a plane. "Ka Makani Ka'ili Aloha", featuring the Matt Catingug Orchestra Of Hawai'i, sounds like the arrangements the Sunday Manoa had on their 1973 album 3, complete with the same kind of reverb and production techniques that made songs like "Pupuhinuhinu" and "A Hawaiian Lullaby" instant classics. "Ka Makani Ka'ili Aloha" will definitely become an instant classic for her.

At first I was indifferent to the half Hawaiian/half English approach, but Hanaiali'i has rarely complied to what people expect to hear from her. What she has ended up with is an album that is a continuation of the strength of Hawaiian music and culture, one that honorably looks back at what came before, and with courage looks at the future with hope. 'Aumakua represents the strength and courage we tend to look for during troubled times, and perhaps it is not a coincidence that this album has been released at this moment in time. A true artist in a time when artistry has become a lost art.

('Aumakua is available from CD Universe.)

That's it for this week's Run-Off Groove. If you have any new music, DVD's, books, or hot sauce, please contact me through my MySpace page and I'll pass along my contact address. Hard copy is preferred over digital files, and will get reviewed a lot faster than a digital files due to the amount of e-mails I receive. Next week or so I will have reviews of new music by Beyonce, Aaron Novik, Herb Ohta Jr. & Daniel Ho, Tia Carrere & Daniel Ho, Frank Kawaikapuokalani Hewett, Kurupt, Danny Green, The Leonisa Ardizzone Quintet, Lole, and Pequeno Pionero, and no doubt many more.

Also remember that by the end of the year, this column will be moved to my website over @ ThisIsBooksMusic.com. You will find this column there as well, but by January first all future installments will be there and only there. This Blogspot page will remain for archiving purposes.

Thank you, and come back next week for #224.

Friday, November 7, 2008

The Run-Off Groove #222

Welcome to The Run-Off Groove #222. I am John Book and this has been one incredible week. Barack Obama is now our President-Elect, and today he didn't mind poking the finger at himself when so many others were doing the same. He called himself "mutt" during his first press conference since being elected this past Tuesday. So to my fellow mutts out there, I salute you. With all of the new young voters, hopefully this will make many of you continue to be politically aware and active in the next four years.

Before I begin, I should say that if you like the column, please consider clicking the banner below for eMusic. You are able to subscribe and download albums in a way that I feel is more effective than iTunes, and there's a lot of incredible music here. You will not be disappointed.

Also, each review features links to the artist's home page or MySpace page, so if you want to hear them, you can do so easily. Links are also provided to make a vinyl, CD, or digital purchase, since your local mall probably doesn't have most of these titles.

Now that I have my own website, this column will no longer be updated here @ Blogger. You can head to ThisIsBooksMusic.com and you'll be able to read this column there as well, and future editions until the end of the year. All columns that were posted here at Blogger/Blogspot will remain her for archival purposes until if and when I change my mind.

Haji Rana Pinya is known to some simply as Haj, and he is one part of the hip-hop collective known as Dumhi. Based out of Philadelphia, he has managed to create some incredible music with his group, who take on the traditions of the music and take it on a green, smoke-filled adventure. Haj is also branching out with a number of other projects, including the recent Fermented Spirits project with MicheleQJ, Demystification, and a great album he released under his own name, Yoga At Home Vol. 1 which features Sadat X, Von Pea, Che Grand, and Reef The Lost Cause. In a short time he has been able to execute these songs while slowly gaining a faithful audience, and as he looks towards doing more projects with Dumhi and other artists, it's only a matter of time before we see Haj doing things on an international level. Here is my interview with him, done on a binary level somewhere in cyberspace:

The Run-Off Groove: What are you listening to right now on your iPod or listening device of choice?
Haj: I just left Best Buy actually. I copped Heltah Skeltah and Jake One. Looking forward to hearing both. I've mostly been listening to the new Oasis record recently. Also a bunch of new Reef the Lost Cauze material.

Let's go back a bit. How did you get started in production?
In about 2000 I bought an acoustic guitar. I was always very much into music but I guess I was into beer, girls, and weed a bit more. So I breezed through high school, then shot through college... then joined the world of Corp America and then realized that I was completely miserable and needed something more in my life. As soon as I could play two chords on that guitar I started writing my own songs and as soon as that happened, I knew I needed drums. A cheap drum machine was next and then some software and then so on and so forth. Buying that acoustic (guitar) was the best decision I have ever made with my life.

Was there one particular artist that made you say "I want to be able to do what they're doing"?
No, not (just) one. I have always been amazed by the connection between musician and instrument. The way a musician can channel emotions through his instrument and transmit those emotions to a listener: I think it is one of the few true forms of magic that exists in our world. I want to be able to do that. Of course, the music I have released isn't exactly along those lines (ha ha). But that is prolly what initially drew me to music. As far as the sample based music: I would say I am mostly inspired by Prince Paul, MF DOOM, Madlib, RZA... it would be a long list.

As with anything hip-hop related, it has to be asked: did you have aspirations to become a rapper?
(Laughter) Nah, I know my limits. Aside from a few drunken freestyle sessions... nah. Rappers do have all the fun though.

What lead to the creation of Dumhi?
When I first started making beats I was working with a DJ friend of mine named Roger Riddle. We started calling the beats we were making around that time "Pickled Beats". As I started to build up a stash of my own beats, I knew I needed some kind of moniker or brand name or something to put out a project under. Dumhi seemed as good of a name as any.

People might ask the guys in Tanya Morgan "who is Tanya?" In your case, what exactly is a "Dumhi"?
Depends on who you ask I guess. At its most simple form, Dumhi is a state of mind. Smoke and listen to (or better yet make) some music. I wanted to have everyone who was interested involved in my early projects. In fact 2005's Vote Dumhi was initially going to be a compilation of various MC's laying vocals on my beats. The first two MC's who came over to record wound up staying all weekend and recording over nearly half of the project. Two more projects would also be put together with those same MC's doing the bulk of the rhyming. So to many people, ShamelessPlug, MashComp, and myself are Dumhi. To me.. everyone who has ever contributed to a Dumhi project (from the creation to the enjoyment) is Dumhi.

I hope that doesn't sound coy.

Nah, not at all, kind of a revolving door situation where it's always open to anyone and everyone. Outside of that, you are also doing a number of other projects. When putting together something, do you have to go into it with a different mind state than you would with a Dumhi project?
I don't think so. What I really try to do is to get a bunch of beats together and slowly let them sort of find each other until I have a general flow or theme or sound of some sort. Then listening to that I sort of get an idea of what voices and styles I'd ideally like to have on that beat. Maybe topics or themes for the vocals. Then I switch into a project manager role as much as anything. But all of the projects really have started with a bunch of beats which I have tried to lace together to make some kind of 20-50 minute statement with.

Let's talk about your means of producing. What is your gear set up?

Primary DAWS - Sonar & Ableton Live
Technique 1200s
Bunch of instruments I do not really know how to play
Bunch of records

I basically run things into the computer and manipulate them from there.

Is there a "secret" weapon that you always make sure to use with each project?
I don't think so. I do love sampling Billie Holiday tho.

Do you plan on expanding your set-up within the next year or two?
I actually just bought a new PC and a new audio interface. This will hopefully let me run more mics into my box and let me experiment more with recording real instruments. I am also going to upgrade to the newer version of Ableton soon and I also hope to get a nice keyboard in 2009.

One recent project I really enjoyed was the Fermented Spirits project you did with MicheleQJ. I believe you had said this one had taken a few years to finalize, how did it come about?
I believe Mike had heard some of 2004's The Pickled Beats Prhaject Nothigns Perfect and hit me up about jamming with a band he was just joining. The band didn't work out too much but it gave us time to kick some ideas around for a project. One day he came over with a couple keyboards and I started playing some Brazilian jazz music. We went through that stack of records and made about four good beats that weekend. Then four more the following weekend. Before long we had about 15 and the project started forming. It just took us another three-plus years to finish it (laughter).

Did it receive a good response?
Not really. We got a good handful of compliments on it but it sort of fell by the wayside. It is so hard for indie artists to make any kind of splash and we were pushing music which was mostly four years old so... I dunno. I dont consider it a failure in any sense but I def wouldnt call it a GOOD response.

Now how about Dumhi? You guys have done a small batch of albums, performed a number of shows, each of you are doing your own thing for maximum coverage, what is the next phase for the group?
I honestly don't know. There are no immediate plans for another Dumhi record (at least not with Dumhi = Haj, Mash, Plug, Flud & Brown). I do have contributions from all of them for my next project and they all have beats of mine for their projects. Like you said though, everyone is doing their own thing right now. We all still talk pretty regularly and we still make music together. Just have to see what 2009 holds.

I want to get into your new project, Yoga At Home. What made you decide to release this as the first installment of a series of EP's, rather than offer it as one or two full length albums?
Just trying something different. Like I mentioned..it is not easy for indie artists to get heard so I thought instead of trying to get 1 full length album out a year (which is still a pretty good pace) why not try to get three short projects out a year? Keep the music coming. Cut down on filler. People are gonna download it anyway, listen once and then either delete it or bury it on a hard drive... maybe with this short album they will listen twice.

The EP of course offers you a chance to share your productions, and for this one you were able to get people such as Che Grand, Soulbrotha, Doap Nixon, Random, Trek Life, Jermiside, Reef The Lost Cauze, and the almighty Von Pea. When you selected these guys, what were you looking for from them, specifically?
I just have a ton of respect for them. I am fans of their art.. admire their passion and work ethic... and most of them are friends of mine which makes it that much more special. As with anything.. I reached out to some folks specifically for certain tracks.. other just landed where they landed and it worked out. I honestly still geek out when I think about the folks who contributed to Yoga.

One of my favorite tracks is the one with Sadat X, "The Yoga At Home Theme Song". I wished Sadat would have offered another verse, but what he said in the song to me seemed perfect not only for what you've done in your music, but it seems to be a move to put hip-hop back to a more humble state. How did you hook up with him?
Mash Comp knows everyone. I was talking to him about some of the folks I was recruiting for this project and he said that he knows Sadat's people and shot an e-mail out.. I got an e-mail a couple days later, started passing files back and forth and boom. It's amazing really. Brand Nubian stayed in my car stereo growing up. He is a legend, and I asked him to pen a song about Yoga and involve weed smoking (laughter).. It really has been a great ride.

When you are putting together a project like this, do you ever go through the process of elimination, in terms of wanting to make sure your work is as tight as it can be without going overboard or wanting to add more to a song that may sound sparse?
Yeah I guess so. When I am working on projects I really listen to my own music a LOT. I dunno if that sounds like arrogance or ego or whatever but its really not.

When I'm in the middle of a project, I do that as well.
I just am constantly burning CD's and listening in the car.

Exactly.
Playing with sequencing one beat into another. Stretching beats and adding to some, taking away from others. Basically working and listening constantly. That becomes my quality control. If something doesn't excite me after 800 listens it prolly wont make the cut (laughter).

This is the first of a series of EP's, what should people expect with the next installment?
Well... my plans constantly change but right now... a new Dumhi Ep called Flowers is in the works. Its looking like it will be anywhere from 5-10 songs long and so far has features from Flud, Signifire, John Blake, Sabrina Cuie, and ShamelessPlug. All of those names might be familiar to folks who have followed the Dumhi projects at all. I am hoping to have this ready by January.

I am also close to having an EP finished with Mash and Vex. Some old songs, some new songs. This will prolly be a bit of an informal project that will hopefully be floating around the internet before the end of the year.

Then who knows? Hopefully Yoga at Home v.2 next summer.

I've noticed more hip-hop producers, or producers who define themselves as hip-hop, doing things that aren't exactly the norm, such as making music that may sound more like rock, or new wave, or whatever. While sampling from rock source is nothing new, there seems to be a specific move to cater to a certain sound or perhaps a demographic. Have you noticed this and if so, where is this coming from?
Not sure.

Do you think the diversity in a producer's cannon is a healthy one?
Eh. Ionno. Jimmy Rollins is versatile and Ryan Howard isn't so much but they were both MVPs. Meanwhile.. Steve Jeltz sucked in basically all aspects of the game so...

For myself I do take pride in doing some different things. I want to be able to work in different styles and still have pieces of me shine through the music. For me it's healthy. But ultimately the people it moves and the people it doesn't move will decide all that.

In 2010, are there things that you hope to be able to accomplish with your work, is there a list of people you'd like to collaborate with?
I just want to keep improving. Id like to get better on instruments and incorporate more playing and layering over the sampling. Want to be able to better develop themes and concepts with my projects and convey those to the listener without being blatant about it. My ultimate collab is still to do a DOOMhi album. Maybe that can happen.

Got to get that going.
Who knows? I do have a list but I don't want to jinx anything (laughter).

Hip-hop is dead, hip-hop is alive, hip-hop is here. There seems to be a lot of debate and arguments over this music and the community that creates it, what is it about hip-hop that makes people so devoted to the cause?
I dunno. Its really kind of crazy. I go back and forth from being obsessed to flat disgusted by it all. I always go back though.

If you went somewhere and somehow came across Raekwon's Killer tape, what would you do with it?
Pop it in and pour a little out for Shameek from 212.

To listen to the works of Haji Rana Pinya, click over to his MySpace or check out the Dumhi MySpace page, where you are able to take a listen to past and present work.

That's it for this week's Run-Off Groove, which means the next installment will be jam packed with reviews. If you have any new music, DVD's, books, or hot sauce, please contact me through my MySpace page and I'll pass along my contact address. Hard copy is preferred over digital files, and will get reviewed a lot faster than a digital files due to the amount of e-mails I receive.

Thank you, and come back next week for #223.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

The Run-Off Groove will be moving by the end of the year

A few weeks ago I reserved a domain, and by the end of the year The Run-Off Groove will be moved over to ThisIsBooksMusic.com This column at Blogspot, however, will remain so that those of you who have linked to reviews on your websites will be able to keep them there without a reroute.

I will be posting the column for the rest of the year here and at ThisIsBooksMusic.com. If you haven't been to my new website yet, it will feature this column plus DVD reviews, music news, and whatever I feel like talking about outside of the limits of music discussion. It will also cover my work as Crut, so if you're unfamiliar with my music, head to my MySpace and take a listen. I'll have a new album out early next year, and would love to have your support.

Stay tuned.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

The Run-Off Groove #221

Welcome to The Run-Off Groove #221. I am John Book and this is brand new. A lot of great albums have been making it my way as of late, and this is what I was able to fit in. Lube up, and let's start digging.

BTW - if you like the column, please consider clicking the banner below for eMusic. You are able to subscribe and download albums in a way that I feel is more effective than iTunes, and there's a lot of incredible music here. You will not be disappointed.

Sometimes when you listen to music, you aren't sure if what you're listening to is great, special, or something more. Australia's Kylie Auldist is a name that I was initially unfamiliar with at first, even though I am familiar with the group she sings with, The Bamboos. It had been awhile since I heard them, so Auldist did not ring a bell at first. While I prefer vinyl and CD's for review, I received Just Say (Tru-Thoughts) as a digital file. I believe the file came with an image of the cover, but I did not look at it at first. The first thing I heard was music with a distinct 60's soul vibe, very much the Northern Soul sound that made Amy Winehouse the smash she was with Back To Black. A lot of artists have taken that girl group sound to heart, so without knowing her Bamboos connection, I assumed she was just another white lady singing soulfully. As the album moved on, her voice began to sound more "authentic". If not that, there was a sense of soul that I couldn't quite figure out. Then it reached "Everybody Here Wants You", which is very much a 70's vibe in the vein of The New Birth. It was a slow ballad, and it was seductive, smooth, elegant, all before she begins to sing about "29 pearls and your kiss/ kiss, a singing smile/coffee smell and lilac skin, your flame in me". I felt like I was in a dark room with that one I've been looking for all my life, and she's luring me with all that is alluring to me and then some. Nowhere to go, I'm trapped in a chair, taking in everything I can detect with the senses I'm conscious of, and I'm caught up in it. In other words, I'm sold, I'm completely blown away by what I hear, and I have to to know who this woman is. I see her photo and say "oh shit, don't tell me..." She looks like someone who might be familiar, the kind of local girl I probably could have hung out with Hawai'i if we went to the right clubs, hung out at the safe thrift stores and coffee shops, as I held her bag. I began to do the research, and I'm close with my Polynesian connection. Auldist is part Samoan, and has been singing for years. I listen to the remainder of the album and I begin to understand what she's about.

Just Say is the kind of soul album that is sorely missing in the marketplace, and it's not just the Northern soul thing that makes her who she is. She can easily commit to a laid back funk vibe, but there's also "Pretty Things", an acoustic number that will definitely please fans of Clara Hill more recent work. Along with her voice, what makes these songs work are the fact that they are well written, touching on experiences and emotions that are often overshadowed by fashionable verses and the producer trying to outshine the actual artist. Like any good soul album, there's a lot of joy and happiness, a touch of sadness, and a hell of a lot of glory. It's the kind of album with a sound that immediately touches the soul, and you want to tell everyone "have you heard of Kylie Auldist? This is better than everything in the Top 50 right now". Auldist knows how to work a song and never goes beyond her limits, some singers push things and ruin their voice or it makes them sound as if they have more than their capabilities. The album as a whole flows very well from nice dance numbers to a bit of the quiet storm, some humble material, before returning to the dance floor, and that in itself is worthy of approval. But it's her voice and the music I can't get enough of, and as I've said many times before, as much as I'd like for every artist to tap into some of the formuals of the past to show its relevancy, some would essentially ruin it. Auldist is an artist who knows what music means, and by sharing that she is sharing a talent that has to be experienced. This will definitely become one of my favorite albums of the year.

(Just Say is available from Dusty Groove and digitally from eMusic.)

Upon first listen of Lizzy Parks, the first few notes made me wonder if this was another visit into Northern soul land. But she begins to sing and I'm hearing very different from the rest, very jazzy influences. With a title like "Raise The Roof" I begin to wonder if she's someone who wants to make modern references just to be able to crossover to a younger audience. I'm proven wrong again as the music changes in style, almost sounding like what Monday Michiru would sound like if she hooked up with Jazzanova

Raise The Roof (Tru-Thoughts) is modern jazz with hints of soul, funk, and at times a hip-hop urgency, but this is far from anything that sounds like hip-hop. Or maybe it's a bit closer to the source, just as the Daptone guys do it. Parks' voice sometimes reaches that of a chanteuse, or a Minnie Riperton where she wraps herself in the music and flirts with the bottom heavy rhythm section, the lush string arrangement, or the schnazzy piano solo ("Ode To St. Cecilie"). For someone with such a delicate voice, she has a lot of power and it comes off gracefully, but she takes things to a higher level with "Prayer". The gentle sound of her voice, complimented with just a bass and piano at first, sounds like the perfect music you'd hear during a recently discovered romantic film shot in black & white. The color begins to come in slowly and you see the different tones and smell the scent of autumn through the emotions experienced through her singing. She's in control and sets the path of each song, and that's when you know someone knows what they're doing, that control that makes you want to put this on repeat. Everything gels in perfectly and it feels... right. Jazz vocals with hints of pop, it's a bold statement from a very bold singer.

(Raise The Roof is available from Dusty Groove.)

Little Jackie is a brand new artist based out of Brooklyn who, like many others these days, is trying to gain attention showing an appreciation for 60's and 70's soul. Her album cover has her looking like a B-girl, so one can say she wants to be a "hybrid" artist. Unfortunately it comes off like she's making music to suit the needs of a record label who want to have their own Amy Winehouse or Lily Allen, Peaches or Solange Knowles.

The album features many odes to Northern soul, tweaked so that they have extra bass (think reggae), but lyrically she adds a modern touch with references to cell phones, computers, and popping a lot of pills. Okay, so Winehouse did the same thing but it sounded a bit more authentic when someone broke out of the sound and showed she had a bit of balls. She sings, she raps a bit, she does the sing-song rap, and while it can be impressive upon first listen, it gets boring about half way through the album. "The Kitchen", with its very crispy and raer breaks, would work as a single if people understood what makes this song so great. Her vocals here standout and it would have been great if she had spread that out for the duration of the album. Instead, it's an album that goes everywhere without a plan, and it's unfortunate.

(The Stoop is available from CD Universe.)

Psapp are a British duo of the electronic variety, or at least one half creates the musical soundscapes while the other sings. The Camel's Back (Domino) isn't just a female voice singing over hard booming beats. Carim Clasmann is a masterful craftsman in the field of sound assembly, he will create something that sounds very ethnic ("Part Like Waves") or do something where you're not sure if it's rock, new wave, or something you can't quite figure out ("I Want That"). With "Fickle Ghost" it sounds like a simple keyboard melody, but then the heavy, almost industrial-beat comes in with a string section and it takes the listener on an unexpected journey. Each song doesn't sound anything like the song before, so one can't grasp the scope of the album until it is initially heard in full.

The music is complimented with the great voice of Galia Durant, who is able to weave herself through Clasmann's musical fabric and envelope everything that goes on, without her sounding strange, out of place, or hesitant. Sometimes when musicians and singers attempt to do something they don't want to do or aren't sure how to do it, you can hear that in the music. You don't hear that with Durant, who is much of a rocker (think Pat Benatar or Pink as she is a balladeer or a folk singer. Together, Psapp are an exciting listen, a duo that aren't afraid to get diverse and include as many of their influences as possible, whether it's ragtime jazz ("Parker") or circus music ("Marshrat"). They might fool us the next time and deliver an incredible pop album, but I hope that guilty pleasure is something they'll hold back from for a few years. By the time the ride is over, you'll want to head to the back of the line and start again.

(The Camel's Back is available directly from Psapp.net. Those who seek the vinyl version can purchase it directly from Domino Record Co.. Earlier works by Psapp are available digitally from eMusic.)

Psapp - The Monster Song

Black Element is that guy who understands the history of the music and musicians who have come before him to pave the path he's about to create. With A Major Minority (Ill Roots), he makes a bold move by starting his album with a hot hip-hop track, only to touch on a bit of hip-house vibe with "The Stickup Kid?!?!", or at least the tempo may make you bust out your old Scoob and Scrap Luva moves. Even at this tempo, he sounds comfortable and certain that people will rock as he rattles off things endlessly and flawlessly. "Out In The Cold" sounds like something from the Common and/or Mad Skillz vaults, and as far as telling stories, you're right there with him looking at asses in Daisy Dukes, waiting for a feud at award shows, and him walking down the street waiting to execute fake rappers on stage.

Energy-wise, he sounds like the kind of guy who would be alongside Lupe Fiasco or Kanye West, but seems less affected by the role an MC tends to hold, he is a storyteller with privileges and he's not going to take advantage of it. A Major Minority has a lot of different musical textures that will please the hardcore cratedigger, the smooth sample-spotter, and collegiate listeners who enjoy hearing soundscapes fold onto and into each other. Black Element is, as he says in "Quiet Night", out to compete and when ideas come to head, he'll put pen to paper and commit himself to inevitable excellence. Welcome Black Element into your consciousness, he is what will keep hip-hop alive in the next five and beyond.

(A Major Minority is being made available for free directly from AMajorMinority.com.)

A 6-Pack With Black: Black ELement's A Major Minority from Daniel Hedges on Vimeo.

K-The-I??? is one big motherfucker, and I mean that in a good way. Anyone who is big and makes an attempt to bring themselves out in any musical genre has a lot to deal with. In hip-hop, it is the eternal comparisons to Biggie Smalls but let's get it out of the way: K-The-I??? sounds nothing like Biggie. If I have to compare him, I'd compare him more to Chill Rob G more than anything. If there is a cliche that always gets mentioned with big rappers, it's this: when you listen to Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow (Mush), the brother shows that he has a lot of heart.

Fuck the cliches and let's get into the meat of the matter. K-The-I??? is a true MC, someone with that gift on his own, and he's able to find producers who are able to share their works by offering them who blesses them with flawless lyrics. "Decisions" has Melltron-type samples that sound like something from a prog rock album, then some Pharrell Williams-type background vocals, and then a pounding double time beat that would give Timbaland a decade. K-The-I??? raps bold as if he is a politician, standing on the podium insuring everyone is there to listen as he speaks with authority. He looks for a world without poverty, and he seeks the good life by exploring any and all musical worlds, including sounds that aren't the stereotypical hip-hop sound, and it sounds right as it comes from him.

(Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow will be available on vinyl and CD on November 7th, and can be pre-ordered directly from Mush Records.)

Ruste Juxx has been heard on a number of albums and mix CD's in the last year, and now he's presenting himself in full length form with Indestructible (Duck Down), and as he talks about in the Black Milk-produced "Wipe Off Ya Smile", don't fuck with him or your bitch ass will get the kl-kl-klack.

Ruste Juxx is a grimy MC who wants to commit crimes and isn't afraid to explain his methods in detail. With tracks like "Pimpin' Ya Wife", "Machine Gun Skunk", "Morgue Truck", and "Homicide Niggaz", he proves himself by making the kind of songs that may make you want to sharpen your razor blades, and after hearing the congas of "Get Up", if Brooklyn doesn't come to mind, you haven't been paying attention. This album is trademark New York hip-hop, done without regret, and it makes you want to raise your first to salute the return of the good shit. Remember when people used to talk about hip-hop and refer to the word "science"? This album is done with a science, and while the guy carries him off as someone you wouldn't want to fuck with anywhere, songs like "Optimistic" and "Love Is Worth Waiting For" (complete with 70's soul samples) reveal that the guy can be compassionate when needed. Don't call him a thug rapper with a heart, that's for the mainstream media to come up with when they're bored. But call him a top notch MC who isn't afraid to show his reaction to the streets as he looks to the future for a way to get off the streets. It may be trademark NYC hip-hop, but it's also wordly too, a wordly message that hopefully people will be able to find and seek without the lure of the Broadway lights.

(Indestructible is available from CD Universe and digitally from eMusic.)

The West coast is represented on a new mix CD by JNatural and DJ Ray Ray Raw. JNatural is a female MC who raps raw with stories of sex, lust, and power and on Sex, Lies and Sextape (self-released) does it with the same kind of punch that Lil' Kim and Princess Superstar offered in the old days with a sass that is uniquely their own. She also sings too (and quite well) but likes to let herself be known as the rugged bitch who can do things with a sense of humor but her style and lyrics are no laughing matter. DJ Ray Ray Raw does his best with the beats and samples he uses, I'd like to hear more exploration from him in a full length setting. However, JNatural is someone who shows that you can be a female rapper and prove that you have what it takes to step up with the big boys. Don't let her looks fool you, she'll verbally slash all combaluns with a vengeance, and that's the point behind this CD. As she says in the intro, the lure of the cover photo is nothing more than eye candy, but now that you have the candy in your hands, now what? It may appear at first that she does nothing but sex rhymes, but if you look at just the titles and make that assumption, you're not really paying attention. This lady is serious, and I hope she's pushed to the forefront with her style. It would be cool to hear her do some rhymes with Leila "Topik" Shun and Mash Comp. DJ Ray Ray Raw has knowledge of the music he uses, and I want to hear more from him.

(Sex, Lies and Sextape is available as a free download from JNatural 's and DJ Ray Ray Raw's respective MySpace pages.)

The folks at Decon Media were sponsors of a recent hip-hop tour featuring Dilated Peoples, The Alchemist, Aceyalone, and 88 Keys and now they have released the festivities as a budget priced DVD/CD combo.

The DVD portion of Fresh Rhymes and Videotape (Decon) is brief and somewhat unfulfilled. There is documentary footage of what the guys did on the tour bus, outside of the tour bus, and backstage, but there's not much content. The highlight of the documentary footage is when The Alchemist talks about how to eat a bagel properly so that the cream cheese doesn't turn into cheese soup. That's really it, you probably get more interesting stuff on a YouTube or MySpace video, but you see it here in much better quality. Another highlight? DJ Babu. The guy is funny and he's the guy you'd wake up early in the morning to go fishing with. That's the kind of guy he is. Or isn't.

Even though the audio CD features a mere six songs (thus it's an EP), these tracks are some of the best these guys have done. 88 Keys and Mars Whiteman offer "I'm Like", and he also shows up in the "Fresh Rhymes and Videotape Anthem" along with Evidence, The Alchemist, Aceyalone, and Iriscience. Iriscience and Aceyalone team up for the uplifting "Legendary Status", while "Left Out In The Cold" unites Aceyalone, 88-Keys, and The Alchemist for a song that wraps up the disc nicely. Some may argue that an EP is nothing more than an inbetween-album-toss off, but these cuts are worthy of being major songs for everyone involved. I would have liked more songs of course, but six tracks left me wanting more and I have to be impatient and wait.

Considering this is being released and sold for a very nice price, it's definitely worth what you'll have to pay for it. Consider it a basic DVD with a bonus CD, or an EP with a bonus DVD. The DVD may be appealing but it's the music on the CD that blows it away. Get it.

(Fresh Rhymes and Videotape is available from CD Universe.)

DJ Babu is back with a brand new edition of his Duck Season mix CD series, and we're now up to Vol. 3 (Nature Sounds). Babu is still creating those incredible boom bap-style hip-hop, and this time he has people like Little Brother, MF DOOM, Sean Price, Joe Scudda, Cali Agents, Strong Arm Steady, Likwit Junkies, Termanology, Oh No, Percee P, and many others. No deep concepts or any type of continuity other than musical, it's about raw beats and scratches going into each other one right after the other, it feels like a live show or a radio freestyle session where everyone is just dropping one incredible rhyme while the room smells like beer and reefer. Favorite tracks include "The Unexpected" (featuring MF DOOM and Sean Price), "Fan Mail" (featuring Little Brother, Joe Scudda, and D-Brock, and the scorching "2-Feet" (featuring Kardinal Offishall and Babu's fellow dilated person, Iriscience. Within the 18 tracks are a bit of turntable dialogue, so for those who seek the raps, listen. For those who want to hear Babu speak with his hands, let the exchange in dialogue begin.

(Duck Season Vol. 3 is available from CD Universe and digitally from eMusic.)

B-Real has become a legend in his own right for his work with Cypress Hill and after 17 years of holding things down in a group setting, he's about to release his debut album in the form of Smoke-N-Mirrors (Duck Down). His rhymes and weeded stories about fraudulent rappers, street dealers, and personal struggles will appeal to those who seek more from their lyrics than brand names and endorsements. The sing-song choruses are a nice touch and while it's generally been a territory he has (perhaps) purposely avoided, it has the feel of Ice Cube and W.C. tracks.

The album features a number of producers, and the one track that stands out from the rest is the one The Alchemist did, "6 Minutes". If this isn't selected as a first single, I don't know, because this would be the perfect way to let people know and remind everyone else who B-Real is. The biggest surprise here: the tracks produced by B-Real himself, he could have easily done this album himself but using outside producers are definitely a helpful lure. His track with Damian Marley, "Fire", will deserve a lot of airplay when the album is released, and I can easily see the both of them performing this during the 2009 festival season. Sen Dogg surfaces in the trippy "One Life", while the track with Snoop Dogg ("Dr. Hyphenstein") is definitely the weakest of the bunch.

Cypress Hill have always had great music, and as a group they have increasingly relied on choruses to make their songs work, due to the accepted norm with today's hip-hop audiences. It doesn't sound like an old album, it's very much about the West Coast here and the sound they have developed in the last two decades. The Alchemist has his own sound that is as strong now as DJ Muggs' sound was 17 years ago. I'm making the comparisons to let people know this isn't Cypress Hill lite, it suits the vibe B-Real has always created and it's shows a side of him some may have been waiting to hear. Those who crave the rock edge of CH will have to check out Sen Dogg's album instead, but for the L.A. hip-hop hustle, pick this up.

(Smoke-N-Mirrors will be released on January 27, 2009.)

The Germans must have something in the water, for there has been an intense amount of creativity in the country in terms of creating hip-hop and electronica. DJ Bizkid is based in Berlin. He teams up with Maine's own Nomar Slevik, whose recent works have been nothing short of amazing. Together they united musically to create The Mixtape, which is just that, a collection of no-nonsense tracks that show what these two are capable of, and how the sum of its parts are just as powerful.

The album moves from nice and deep hip-hop to tracks with a bit of a rock and psychedelic edge, with "Society" (featuring JD Walker and the almighty K-The-I???) being one of those tracks that will make high schools change their dress code policies, it's cult worthy. Nomar deserves an intense listen, because even when it sounds as if he's doing things abstract, there is much comprehension in his pieces, sometimes it might take two or three songs to finally figure out. "Smoke Screens" changes tempo with each verse and may not be for everyone, but if you are able to take it in, you should be able to take this challenging listen to heart. The entire "mixtape" is non-stop so it's somewhat-claustrophobic feel is intentional and easily works as a proper album. I hope the both of them will work with each other again, and I will definitely be checking DJ Bizkid in the future.

(The Mixtape is available from eMusic.)

When Nomar Slevik isn't committing greatness under his own name, he's making himself known through a number of other projects. Done are a band that mixes up rapping with eclectic electronic sounds, indie rock, and a bit of the avant garde. Their slight tribute of Buddy Holly's "Everyday" sounds something nine inch nails might do or something Mike Patton would scream over on an Ipecac release.

The artwork and promotional material for How To Own A Shadow (Emben Digital) is very post-apocalyptic, or maybe it's about surviving the inevitable downfall of a country that gambled its way to world supremacy and failed. Now we're all on the same level, and Done offers the soundtrack for a dying world. It's nice to hear a derivative that is so unfamiliar it sounds strange, and yet welcoming. Insane.

(How To Own A Shadow is a digital release that is available through eMusic.)

Let's make this one thing perfectly clear: I'm upset. Not really, but I bring this up because The Knux are being promoted as "alternative hip-hop" when they're not. What makes them different from the pack? They do not rap about what is stereotypically the norm, so they want to be pushed as being "something other than". They do not dress up in hideous T-shirts that might look good on 50 Cent and your 75 year old grandmother, complete with the same gold and diamonds. Do they look smart, nerdy, and if so, is that the assumption that mainstream hip-hop is full of hoods, thugs, and dumb asses? It's not exactly cool to call something the alternative, since that's often viewed as "a bit more clever" than the next man, but sometimes the tag fits.

So, are The Knux really that different? No, they are a group that do rap about things you would normally expect to hear on underground/indie hip-hop, but they're signed to Interscope through a connection with Eminem. Does that make that "alternative"? No. Remind Me In 3 Days (Interscope) sounds like the kind of album you'd expect to hear from The Jungle Brothers or New Kingdom, where the adventure is in their lyrics as much as it is in their music, a combination of real instrumentation and select samples. Don't expect to hear club anthems, they're the kind of guys who might be kicked out of the club. Instead, these are basement jams, apartment slammers, and sidewalk funk, the type that isn't difficult to listen to, serious enough to where you wouldn't want to be distracted. What the real instrumentation does is adds a unique dynamic to their songs, in that when they want to expand on a line or a verse, they are able to without it sounding programmed.

By the time the album was over, I wondered what made this so "alternative"? It's not really that different, and as Me'Shell NdegeOcello would say, the alternative to hip-hop is silence. It's hip-hop, and quality hip-hop at that, so don't believe the naysayers. This is a decent album from a brand new group that should make some serious moves in the coming years.

(Remind Me In 3 Days... is available from CD Universe, in explicit form and without. Vinyl junkies are also able to order it.)

The Clutchy Hopkins phenomenon made everyone wonder who was this saluted genius? Was he really some bum who had a gift to jam, or was he a producer (or a group of producers) moonlighting? Only a select few know, but Hopkins has joined up with Shawn Lee for an album that will move many to salute their unified musical styles.

Clutch Of The Tiger (Ubiquity) sounds like one of those obscure albums I often talk about, the ones that sound like there's absolutely no mainstream appeal to it, but it manages to find its way into your collection because you care for good music. It has the feel of those much-sought-after library albums, or something that Yesterdays New Quintet may have indirectly influenced, but each song here are mental soundtracks that are laid back to the point where you may find yourself floating upstream and beyond. The music is loose, funky, and laid back, as if Lee and Hopkins decided to bring in instruments and discover what the day brought to them. It's not until the seventh song, "Dollar Shot", where some mid-tempo funk shines through with an open break and something from the farfisa files. "Bad Influence" sounds like the kind of filtered break I would love to use in one of my own songs, and... it just sounds very distant and obscure. Even "Till Next Time", which could easily be brought up to the surface by Justin Timberlake if he wanted to, sounds a few notches off from the norm, and you're into it because you know it doesn't belong anywhere but your own collection. It's the kind of album you would find on 8-track at a pawn shop, covered in soot and lettuce of unknown origin.

(Clutch Of The Tiger is available from CD Universe and digitally from eMusic.)

DJ Myxzlplix out of Los Angeles is a guy who knows his funk and soul, and proves it with a new mix CD highlighting some of the best funk and soul of the last few years. Strictly Social Mix Vol. 2 is a collection of who is how and what should be, and includes flawless flows from Amp Fiddler, Flying Lotus, Beatphreak, Belleruche, and many more creating the kind of soul that brings back the old through the new phase without Auto-Tune.

It's a very classy mix that made me not only want to hear this mix over and over, but made me want to seek each individual artist and release. I dig this one a lot.

(Strictly Social Mix Vol. 2 can be streamed directly from DJ Myxzlplix's blog.)

On a promotional note, my new website will be opening in a few days. Currently you can access my weekly podcast, my Crut MySpace page, along with this column, and my food blog that I update every now and then. It will feature a lot more in the coming months, so head to ThisIsBooksMusic.com and bookmark the Book.

Thank you, and come back next week for #222.

The Run-Off Groove

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

The Run-Off Groove #226

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

The Run-Off Groove #225

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

The Run-Off Groove #224

Thursday, November 13, 2008

The Run-Off Groove #223

Friday, November 7, 2008

The Run-Off Groove #222

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

The Run-Off Groove will be moving by the end of the year

Thursday, October 30, 2008

The Run-Off Groove #221

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