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Genre |
Artist |
Title |
Label |
Web |
Text |
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blues |
John Nemeth |
Magic Touch |
Blind Pig Records BPCD5109 |
The label's grooming him to break big, and the basic strategy seems to be to use him as a Myrtle Beach-esque soul singer instead of a ... well, no reason for repetition. See the Tommy Castro review below ... same observations, which is a shame, because John Nemeth and Tommy Castro are hardly interchangeable, and I am sorry that reviews of their new releases are. |
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blues |
Tommy Castro |
Painkiller |
Blind Pig Records BPCD5111 |
Blues/Doo Wop/Soul is the thing these days, and that's what this record is. The producers are hip to the strategy. The engineers want everybody happy, but know who butters their bread, so that's the side of the toast they offer up first. The artists, conditioned better than bank tellers to team work by years on the road with bands, do their best to cooperate, but their sound comes from those years on the road and not from a first-half-of-2007 trend, which is what this Blues/Doo Wop/Soul thing is.
Tommy Castro's a topnotch singer/arranger ... deliverer of songs. Not to take away from the B/DW/S trend, fueled by the labels to insure their survival, which absolutely equals the survival of our cherished musical forms, but he'd shine more brightly with materials he'd selected with the help of his club/festival audiences than with what he's put together in collaboration with the corporate whiz kids here.
Oh yeah, he's great. You will put some wear on your living room carpet when you crank up your speakerage here, but TC's his own man, and he sounds more like a composite blue-eyed soul man here than he really needs to to give this reviewer prime ear candy. |
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blues |
Anthology |
Ruf Records Anthology |
Ruf Records RUF1121 |
Ruf's a scrapper label, by which I mean not only that they're street fighters in the rough world of small blues label competition, but that they often use “scraps,” recycled, throwaway or even bootleg tracks for their releases, especially the compilations.
This anthology is a nice, novel addition to one's collection, and some great names are represented here, but it lacks the quality for frequent replay. It's more like “Guess what Robin Trower's doing now?” gossip than like a thorough, educated tour of 2007 blues. It's a collection to have, but not when you've got only enough jack for one CD purchase. |
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blues |
Gonstermachers |
Gonstermachers |
indie |
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When I get those late night cravings for Klezmer/blues fusion, I seek out The Legendary Shack Shakers. A menacingly precise, road savvy outfit fronted by “Colonel” J. D. Wilkes, a fast, hip harmonicist with a bizarre stage presence that somehow combines Moe Howard, Ernest T. Bass, Sid Vicious and James Brown, that's a hell of an act to follow, and in an obscure genre like Klezmer/blues fusion, comparison is inevitable.
The Gonstermachers are devoted to their form, and they've studied and mastered it, and their songs are great. Some of the menace they're trying to pass along, though, comes from North Mississippi hill country blues drone, and while that's a great tool for the tunes, it's not theirs. I'd like to see a follow-up album that grabs that feeling with some aspect of Klezmer rather than that of blues, like more harmonic minor backing vocal harmony instead of open-tuned, heavy reverb instrumental work.
They're going to be killers, but right now, they're not using their weapons quite as lethally as they can. |
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blues |
The Rounders |
Wish I had You |
Blind Pig Records BPCD5110 |
North Mississippi hill country blues is best played by people who are related to one another. They get it. This stuff has to be explained non-verbally and from the crib on. There are lags and snags and hypnotic, merged-instrument drones and vocal nuances and scraps of harmony that simply can't be learned later. They can't be replaced by recording techniques, studio tricks or even the deep love for this subgenre the Rounders obviously feel.
Maybe it's a good introduction to the form. North Mississippi hill country blues is an acquired taste that's never going to appeal to everyone, or even to every blues fan. It's too raw and scary for most people. If these guys succeed at making it palatable to more people, then more power to them. I hope they do. It's a hell of a challenge for outsiders, and that, to this form, they are. |
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blues |
Bob Margolin |
In North Carolina |
Steady Rollin' Records SRR001 |
This is the sort of record that has to come out before the artist moves on to bigger and better things. This does not mean that Bob Margolin isn't already bigger and better than a lot of players, for he is part of the tip of the blues guitar iceberg. It means only that this first release on his own “Steady Rollin' Records will let loose all the energy he's stored up from not having that particular level of control in the past.
This is his music. It is a collection of favorite songs by a man with a huge knowledge of good music. These are the things he wants to say, played and sung as he wants to play and sing them.
He's always had great taste in music. This is the best chance he's had so far to share it with us. There are beautiful, beautiful moments throughout the release and nothing bad or boring or less than admirable and rewarding. |
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Caribbean |
Caribbean Steeldrums |
Steelasophical |
ARC Records EUCD1486 |
Steel band music is an odd thing, quirky as a genre by virtue of its being created wholly with manmade materials. That's why it never escapes that children's toy mechanical crank guitar sound. I think that sticky association is a big part of the challenge/reward that draws natural and superlative musical talents to the genre.
This release benefits from the sensitive production and high recording standards of the ARC label, which presents world music to new audiences as a successful revival presents religion to sinners, making fervent converts with every performance. One can make no better steel drum recording purchase decision than this one. |
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Fado |
Rosa Negra |
Fado Ladino |
Arc Music EUCD2046 |
Altogether poignant, memorable and rewarding material. The kind of stuff that lets newcomers know that songs sung in languages other than their own can touch the heartstrings as well as those in their own tongues.
The orchestration, the voice out front, matching and, by a hair, surpassing the performance and instrumental arrangements ... My God, this is good. |
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Latin |
Joe Craven |
Django Latino |
Compass Records 7-4414-2 |
Tunes associated with Django Reinhardt done in a variety of Latin styles. Facile, versatile and thoughtful. Music to paint to. Music to dance to. Music to dream to. Thank you, Mr. Craven, for icing the Django cake so dulce. |