100 words music reviews
A second wave of restockings at London record stores and another reissue announcement have arrived, and with them comes a reminder that an original copy of ‘DYGTWSLT,B?’ will set you back £1,000. For soon-to-be-listeners, picture Ye and Madlib deconstructing each of their samples and bringing them together in a single sound: it will come close […]
It took me a long while to figure out how I could like an album but not be enjoying it. Like an over-salted meal in a very nice restaurant, ‘WWHYITSBU’ offers a maximalist experience with the presumption that you are going to be stunned. When Thus Owls fail to reach the lofty heights of their […]
The front cover looks like a still taken from ‘Metropolis’. The title could be part of the film’s bombshell quote. Such sensory aperitifs are important in jazz and ‘Feeding the Machine’ begins before its first note with the tone of fierce unease. The saxophone does well in flailing but never drowning: this is a difficult […]
Some people hate jazz. Something in the supposed tangle of instruments tells their ears to stave off the genre in its entirety. ‘Blues to East’ appears to answer that (bullshit) criticism, smoothing its edges and clinically arranging the instruments while not losing a shred of groove, or jazz fundamentals. Certainly, jazz cannot all be so […]
‘A Time For Healing’ is an attractive, well-arranged declaration on behalf of spiritual return. The network of roots below this record extends from West Africa to Chicago, with the quartet breezing alongside a hypnotic kalimba and making time for tributes to Coltrane and Eddie Smith. If this record has a serious shortcoming, it is in […]
This underground project is equal parts prog rock, jazz, and poetry. With the shabbiness of honesty, ‘sound of sense’ welds the writing of Robert Frost and others to a band of jazz musicians playing straight down the line. Still, this record never feels like a hurried endeavour and is closer to the work of an […]
100 words music reviews 