int'l genre adds for 8/22
these five discs are in the air room NOW....artist: Harv
title: Polka Raggioso
file under: int’l / Sweden
grade: A
Harv, those wacky Scandihoovian folksters that can drink all you lot under the table (see the insert for their 2002 Tost! disc if you don’t believe me) are back with a vengeance with Polka Raggioso. The squeezebox-fronting cover is a bit misleading, as their sound continues to be more string-led (with guitar and percussion underneath). More to the point is the back cover—is that a Ford Fairlaine that viola-clutching arm is protruding from? All tracks here are all wooden instrumentals—but beware! While the band is capable of downshifting on pretty tracks like “Tösen” (05) and “Hægsta” (06), they are as often going full-bore on cuts like the opener “Grythyttehyl” (01) and “Raggarvals” (03). Punk rock for ethnomusicologists. Harv kicks ass.
choice cuts: 01, 05, 07, 03, 02, 09
reviewer: bjorn ingvoldstad
artist: Milton Nascimento
title: Pietá
file under: int’l / Brazil
grade: A
Pietá, helmed by the late, great producer Tom Capone, actually came out in Brazil three years ago. It’s kind of a stylistic retrospective: some songs recall Nascimento’s spookily beautiful records of the early 1970s, mixing his painfully honest, wavering voice with Catholic Mass solemnity, advanced harmony and Beatlesque hook; others, with swelling, cinematic orchestral arrangements by Eumir Deodato, evoke the records he made for the American market in the late 1960s. A version of Herbie Hancock’s “Canteloupe Island” (11) with Hancock on piano, Pat Metheny on guitar, and Nascimento layering wordless vocals acknowledges his importance to jazz musicians. But “Pietá” (12), full of Capone’s fingerprints, is the most impressively original: it’s essentially 12-string guitar, orchestra, tape loops and surdo drums, with Nascimento chanting lyrics that match the drum rhythm…
choice cuts: 12, 04, 02, 01, 11
reviewer: Ben Ratliff, New York Times
artist: Ernest Ranglin
title: Surfin’
file under: reggae / instrumental jazz-ska swirlle
grade: A- / B+
Mix smooth jazz guitar with ska horns and irie rhythms: what do you get? 73-year-old Ernest Ranglin’s new disc, apparently. Ranglin was a session man at Studio One back when ska first went mega, and had a hand in such classic tracks as “My Boy Lollipop” and “Rivers of Babylon.” This is smooth going, but in a nice, end-of-the-summer way. You don’t normally hear this kind of guitar work on reggae releases—which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it certainly works here. Other than the must-avoid “Dancing Mood II” (10), all tracks are instrumental.
choice cuts: 01, 07, 12, 04, 02, 09
reviewer: bjorn ingvoldstad
artist: Gogol Bordello
title: Gypsy Punks
file under: int’l
grade: A
With each release, Gogol Bordello further establish themselves as snubbers of assimilation, be it cultural or musical. Madman/vocalist/ mustachioed visionary Eugene Hutz leads his brigade of border-smashing punkers on a mission to rescue world music from the bowels of academic beard-strokery. The band's sound remains unchanged: three-chord fury hopped up on Gypsy violin, accordion and two-step rhythms. Yet on tracks like "Not A Crime" (03) and "Immigrant Punk" (04), the band expands their sound to include Clash-styled reggae riffs, dub sound effects and even a hint of Django Reinhardt. Regardless, the outcome is no less surly. Steve Albini, who plays field recorder rather than producer, superbly captures the contagious chaos. To the uninitiated, Gypsy Punks may sound like an ethnomusicological trainwreck, but it holds true as an anarchic goulash uniting the world's varying rebel music traditions.
choice cuts: 03, 08, 04, 13, 11, 15
FCC ALERT: 01, 02, 05, 07, 10
reviewer: Matthew Field, CMJ
artist: v / a
title: The Rough Guide to Balkan Gypsies
file under: int’l
grade: A
On the heels of this year’s Shukar Collective release on offshoot Riverboat, WMN rolls out a Roma Rough Guide compilation. A lot of big names here, doing what they do best: Markovic’s brass band (03), Papasov’s claranet (04) are choice in this regard. While there aren’t a whole lot of surprises, you can’t help but sit up and notice the collaboration between Markovic and violinist Felix Lajko (12). Certainly not the last word on Balkan Roma tunes, but a welcome reminder / primer. Lots to choose from!
vocal cuts: 04, 06, 16, 10, 07
instrumentals: 12, 03, 11, 01, 15
see also: Shukar Collective, Urban Gypsy
v / a, The Rough Guide to the Music of the Balkans
reviewer: bjorn ingvoldstad
posted by Anonymous @ 5:24:00 PM
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