93 f
1 Boys Of The Hills Boys Of The Hills (Own label) Musically impressive Celtic con- coction from Madrid that is technically more than alright. Canny instrumental arrange- ments with intriguing aural twists display infinite promise. Bog standard song choice and dreadful vocals spoil the effect.
www.boysofthehills.es
1 Various Artists Accordeon: Musette/Swing 1925-1954 (Frémeaux & Associates FA 5292 (Double album)) A survey of what happened to Parisian musette mainly in the interwar years as it merged with a wide range of the popular musics of the time, though the accordeon remains ever present. Some tracks are outstanding , some so-so and a few gimmicky dross.
www.fremeaux.com
1 Bruce Wilson M’appen I May (CD & Song Book) (Haystack HAYCD 001) This is a dialect song CD and booklet from a Cumbrian singer, from an area that is under-represent- ed in the traditional song recorded cata- logue. The songs and the dialect interpreta- tions are interesting and there has been con- siderable care put into the preparation of both booklet and CD. The problem is that Brian’s unaccompanied singing is not sure or interesting enough to sustain it through an entire album.
www.haystackrecords.co.uk
1 Dub Sonata Nights In Cuba (Illest- Rated 700261–315942) New York producer Dub Sonata went to Cuba in January 2010 to collect atmospheric samples heard here on 19 tracks blended with piano, guitar, flute, sax, trumpet, bass, percussion and scratches, com- plemented by a booklet of striking photos.
www.dubsonata.com
2 Fruko & Joe Arroyo Rebelión Tropical: The Very Best Of (Nascente NSDCD023) Clas- sic Colombian cumbia, champeta, chichi, salsa and Latin funk from the renowned Discos Fuentes vaults, and the breakout artists who put Colombian dance music on the pan-Latin soundtrack of the ‘70s and ‘80s.
www.demon-
musicgroup.co.uk/nascente
@ Tomislav ‘Little Pigeon’ Goluban 200$ Sun (Croatia Records CD 5903079) Croatian Goluban ships up in Memphis for a blues con- test and zips into Sun Studios to lay down five pretty inept tracks of harmonica blues backed on two by piano and out-of-tune guitar. He pads out the CD with some solo performances recorded on a pocket recorder in a couple of Beale St clubs. His singing is on par with his harmonica playing.
www.goluban.com
2 Mark T Folk Songs & Ballads Circle Of Sound COS 326CD) Born-again folkie Mark (T stands for Turauskis) presents a plain-spoken but evidently committed selection of respect- ful personal treatments of said traditional items, to deceptively simple but masterly gui- tar accompaniment. Much better than it might sound on paper…
www.circleofsound.co.uk/markt
2 Néillidh Boyle A Feeling in the Blood (Cairdeas na bhFidiléirí CNF 007) Massive three-CD collation of seemingly every com- mercial and private recording of the hugely influential Donegal fiddler; also an RTÉ radio show commemorating Boyle and tracks by his son Paddy and brother Con.
www.donegal-
fiddlemusic.ie
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
2 Ladysmith Black Mambazo Songs From A Zulu Farm (Proper PASS0027) Got to admire Joseph Shabalala and group for their unique harmony sound, all-round class and longevity. How many years now? Grammy awards, a bulging concert diary (UK and Ire- land in May) and here is an album designed to carry us to an idyllic rural Zululand of child- hood. Lots of animals, timeless wisdom, and fun.
www.properuk.com
2 na-mara The Bite (Right Back RBRP 010) Hertfordshire-based duo (Rob Garcia and Paul McNamara) specialise in considered translations of songs from the French-speak- ing world, but even better are Paul’s original songs exhibiting a keen sense of history. Sim- ple but expert accompaniments (guitar and mandolin/mandola), equally dextrous on instrumentals.
www.na-mara.com
1 Stompin’ Dave & Dave Saunders Country Blues (CB001) Rough, ready, unpre- tentious blues of the acoustic kind sung by Stompin’ Dave, who plays banjo, fiddle, gui- tar, slide guitar and harmonica, backed effi- ciently by guitarist Dave Saunders. Stompin’ Dave’s fluent fiddle and banjo adds real flavour, his singing is OK, but he needs to brush up on his slide guitar and harmonica.
www.stompindave.com
1 Doug Cox and Salil Bhatt Slide To Freedom 2 (NorthernBlues NBM0053) This meeting of slide masters Cox on lap resonator guitar and Bhatt on manic satvik veena falls into the curate’s egg category: the extended ragaesque pieces are brilliantly played but meander like hell, and the songs are, frankly, dull.
www.dougcox.org
2 Steve Baughman Celtic Collage (Acous- tic Music 319.1461.2) Ignore the stupid title: there’s as much Appalachian, Hawaiian and original guitar music here as there is ‘Celtic’. Baughman is an excellent guitarist with a warm, smooth style, and this compilation is a good introduction to his accomplished play- ing.
www.celticguitar.com
2 Marisa Anderson The Golden Hour (Mississippi Records, no cat no) Oregon-based Anderson plays 12 improvisations for solo lap steel and fingerpicked guitar, usually electri- fied. A haunting, atmospheric blending of blues, country and highlife picking, this has grace and guts in equal measure.
www.mys-
pace.com/marisaandersonmusic
2 Pipoka Veto (RockAdillo ZENCD 2135) Smart and appealingly rich playing of original music, developing on their ‘Brazilian-Ugric chamber jazz’ origins, by Finnish trio’s unusu- al line-up of chromatic and quarter-tone but- ton accordeons or bandoneon, tuba, and frets including acoustic and electric guitars, cavaquinho and banjo.
www.rockadillo.fi
1 Lucky Peterson You Can Always Turn Around (Dreyfus Jazz FDM 46050 369672) Peterson has a fiery soulful voice and is a wiz on electric guitar and keyboards but is heavy- handed when playing acoustic guitar on sev- eral of this CD’s items. With some classic old blues and gospel mixed with contemporary songs from the likes of Tom Waits and Lucinda Williams, Lucky offers a real variety of music. Some tracks hit the mark... some miss.
www.disquesdreyfus.com
1 Bruce Sagan & Lydia Levins North- lands (Own label, no cat no) Two fine US fid- dlers, both skilled in the fiddling of Sweden and Norway and well accepted there, har- monise their elegant compositions in those styles, on fiddles, nyckelharpas and Hardan- ger fiddle. No us-toos, they bring to a pleas- ing spread of melodic forms their own sensi- tivity, warmth of tone and unforced dignity.
www.northlandsmusic.com
1 John Primer Call Me John Primer (Wolf 120.823CD) An enjoyably solid compilation from the Austrian Wolf label vaults that col- lects 15 (including five previously unissued) tracks recorded between 1987 and 2009 by Chicago-based vocalist/guitarist John Primer backed by various bands (including Magic Slim & The Teardrops) that demonstrate Primer’s consistency and true dedication to the art of mainstream urban blues.
www.johnprimerblues.com
1 Peadar Ó Lochlainn And Aggie Whyte Seancheol Ar An Seannós (Na Píobairí Uil- leann) Originally released by Breandán Breathnach’s SPÓL label as an EP in 1963, this features six mellifluous, easy-paced duets, from the Clare flute-player and East Galway fiddler; whether less than 14 minutes of music is worthy of a €9 price tag is open to question.
www.pipers.ie
1 Jarek Adamów Etnomalia Projekt (Folken Music 04) Adamów again, this time in a brasher context, his clarinet and kaval with electric guitar, bass guitar and drumkit in instrumental workouts based on traditional Polish dance tunes. His laudable aim is to find a modern expression of the mix of cultures that makes up Poland’s past and present, but perhaps this line-up gets stuck in the late 20th century.
www.myspace.com/folkenmusic
1 Future Trad Collective Future Trad Collective (Vertical Records, VERTCD093) Michael McGoldrick’s latest folk-jazz fusion has flutes, uilleann pipes, whistles, guitars, fiddle, bass, percussion and tabla fusing tradi- tional tunes, jigs and reels with strong, rest- less rhythms (Brazilian, African, breakbeat, jungle, dub, funk). The palette ranges from the AfroCelts to Shakti.
www.vertical-
records.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108