Spring has sprung and Mail & Guardian reviewers recommend these fresh sounds to help usher in the festive season
Oumou Sangare
Seya (Sheer)
Oumou Sangare is back and she has returned in style. It’s been 13 years since Sangare’s last studio album and five since World Circuit put out the double-disc compilation, Oumou.
With business interests in the hospitality, agriculture and motor-vehicle sectors, Sangare may be forgiven for taking such an extended break. But her new album, Seya, is definitely worth the wait and may possibly be Sangare’s best work yet.
With a great cast of musicians, such as Mali’s rock star griot Bassekou Kouyate offering some more subtle N’goni rhythms on Sukunyali, and Tony Allen funking up the drums on albumcloser Koroko, Seya is a masterpiece.
But Sangare’s biggest collaborator on Seya is Malian musician and arranger Cheick Tidiane Seck, an original member of Mali’s infamous 1970s Rail Band, who has worked with African greats such as Fela Kuti, Mory Kanté, Salif Keita and Youssou N’Dour.
Seck arranged five of the 11 songs on the album and, with Sangare, co-arranged another three. It is his flourishes on the Hammond organ that bring the delightfully soulful Kounadya to life and his calabash percussion on the title track that blends with Will Calhoun’s drumming to create a fresh rhythm track for Sangare and her backing singers to drive home. Mali’s queen has reclaimed her crown. — Lloyd Gedye
Albert Frost
Devils and Gods (Sheer)
It’s been a while since Albert Frost’s first solo effort, 2002’s live Catfish. In the intervening years he’s honed his considerable skill with projects such as Arno Carstens’s New Porn, his late father’s Blues Broers.
But sheer class can fool us into believing it’s effortless, although an artist as accomplished as Frost will always allow controlled grittiness to seep back into his songs, to remind us that rock is nothing if it isn’t also raw. Some people might call that the blues, if anyone still believes in the blues.
Frost gives us a powerful, convincing cover of Willie Dixon’s Spoonful that’d make any addict climb right back on to the horse.
But the finest track on this six-track EP is the eponymous Devils and Gods, an arrogant interrogation of both ontology and the perceived wisdom that a song can’t start with assailing guitar — and damn the intros. There’s not a bad bar on this album, except maybe the one you’ll find yourself driven to in homage. — Chris Roper
Inspiration Information 3
Mulatu Astatke and The Heliocentrics (Kurse)
The concept is a great one. Teaming up musicians with one of their heroes in studio, with the aim of creating an album together. Strut Record’s previous albums in the Inspiration Information series saw roots reggae star Horace Andy teamed up with British house DJ Ashley Beedle and Dub legends Sly and Robbie teamed up with funk production maestro Amp Fiddler.
But their third album is the finest yet, with Ethiopian jazz legend Mulatu Astatke collaborating with British groove monsters The Heliocentrics. Not content to just recreate an Ethiopiques record (the reissue series that raised Muluta’s profile in the West), The Heliocentrics provide a gritty urban groove to Muluta’s beautiful African jazz numbers. Fourteen tracks of spellbinding magic, this is one to own.
And if that isn’t enough, keep your eyes open for number four in the series, which will feature a collaboration between Finnish saxophonist Jimi Tenor and Afrobeat legend Tony Allen. — Lloyd Gedye
Jon Hopkins
Insides (EMI)
More than a producer, London’s Jon Hopkins is a musician. Insides is his third full-length album, a record of electronic magic. The album starts off with a classical, heartbreaking violin solo on The Wilder Sun, which blends into Vessel, a piano-led track with soft strings and unexpected glitchy breaks.
The title track is the hardest and rawest on the album, but with sensitive melodic undertones trying hard to break through the industrial noise. The rest of the album jumps between tones and moods, which can bring you from tears to elation in the space of a track.
The soft melodies are interspersed with merciless synth and bass, and Hopkin’s impeccable timing keeps each sound and each instrument a surprise. Insides needs time and appreciation. This is not background music — it is easily one of the finest electronic albums of the year. — Ilham Rawoot
Nul
Drie (One F)
Although protest music has a strong heritage in South Africa, there are very few bands writing contemporary protest songs. Sure, there’s Fokofpolisiekar and their lesser talented Belville spawn with their songs of the Afrikaans new rebellion, but, let’s face it, the target audience for their angsty outpouring is limited.
Not everyone feels constrained by a conservative Calvinistic upbringing. Well, Pretoria’s electro-industrial outfit Nul has just delivered an engaging album of social commentary and protest, soundtracked by a stomping aggressive sound. There is Die Man van Telkom, about Telkom’s useless service, which most people with a landline can associate with.
Mystic Bohemia is about last year’s raids on Cape Town’s bars by over-aggressive members of the South African Police Force, who battered a number of young people and ended up making some minor arrests for a few joints. Then we have God Red die President, an attack on lazy politicians who perpetuate the lack of service delivery. ‘Die toekoms lyk bleek” sings frontman Adrian Pelzer, referencing the Sex Pistols’ cries of ‘no future for me”.
Add to that a menacing remix of the popular hit Kokainekop Kosie from their second album and the melancholic Hoëveld and the result is an album to treasure. If you don’t want a physical copy you can download it from www.nul.com.sg/
for free. Catch them soon in a dingy bar near you. — Lloyd Gedye
Taxi ViolenceThe Turn (Sheer)
It’s been a long time coming, but the second album from Taxi Violence is here. In truth, no fan would begrudge the long gestation. This is a band that’s all about craft, about authenticity and about getting it right. Yep, Taxi Violence are that rare beast, an old-fashioned band. If they were fine artists, they’d be painting the oil masters of tomorrow rather than staging the conceptual performances of yesterday’s news.
Raunchy rock ‘n roll mates messily with gospel-tinged blues, especially in a song such as Devil ‘n Pistol, which is both a helter-skelter prayer for protection and delirious dance with the devil. Singer George van der Spuy has that intense presence we associate with all good front persons, as well as a depth of sexiness that imbues Taxi’s performance with a gleeful gravitas that manages to be earnest while avoiding the turgid.
Guitarist Rian Zietsman is developing a signature style that veers from lyricism to wild abandon, but never compromises the song. This isn’t the great album that Taxi Violence will still make, if they avoid the usual implosion. But it puts down a marker in the dusty landscape of South African rock, a parched environment that is made that little bit greener by their passion and truth. — Chris Roper
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (Honest Jon’s)
Often the brass in a band is there to lay the groundwork for the big act. The Dennis Bovell Dub Band, for instance, warming up the crowd before the man — Lynton Kwesi Johnson — bounds on to stage. But with the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble it’s all brass, save the drums.
They’ve been around for a while, but by now they’ve grown into a tightly focused unit that sound not so much like a band as a family, which in fact they are. Seven of the eight members of the band are sons of Phil Cohran, who played trumpet for Sun Ra in the 1950s. Their sound brings with it all the theatrics and excitement of a brass band — the trumpeter standing to deliver his solo, the trombones and saxophones swaying in time.
There are also two trombones, which convey that dirty, infectious glissando to their sound. I’ve been listening to this for a month now, and it’s a gift that keeps on giving. — Matthew Burbidge
Bat for Lashes — Two Suns (EMI)
Three years after Natasha Khan’s first album, Fur and Gold, broke onto the indie music scene, she has released one of my favourite albums of 2009. Two Suns is an elaboration on all the best things about Fur and Gold. It feels as though the first album was made by a girl, and this one by a woman. The melodies are heartbreaking and the lyrics so honest and hopeful that they can only make you want to fall in love, right now.
The singles, Daniel and Pearl’s Dream are the most accessible on the record, but there are other gems that are far more special and intense, such as the opening track, Glass, Sleep Alone and Two Planets. While there are one or two tracks that do absolutely nothing for me, the better ones steamroll them into a triviality. Khan is confident in her musical ideas, and has not shied away from the obviously emotive key changes and poignant hooks that, had she not been as good, ran the risk of cheesyness, but instead makes her music what it is. The album could well be the soundtrack to a fantasy love story. —Ilham Rawoot
Extra Life — Secular Works (Kurse)
Extra Life makes intense music. Abrasive and awkward, their debut album Secular Works is a bombastic collection of unusual rhythms and time signatures that at times are reminiscent of math-rock legends Slint. Formed in Brooklyn in 2006, their singer and composer Charlie Looker was a core member of noise group ZS and has worked with the Dirty Projectors, John Zorn and avantgarde composer Glenn Branca. While Looker and Co’s music is not for your average listener, it is definitely interesting, best described as the point where math-rock meets the Middle Ages.
However Looker’s vocal style, which sounds otherworldly because of its ancient folk influences, takes some getting used to. But when it comes to the music, Secular Works offers quite a smorgasbord, whether it’s the grinding guitar monster I don’t see it that way, the hypnotic folky ambience of I’ll Burn or the Morrisey meets John Cale stylings of The Refrain. So if you’re looking for some challenging experimental music to sink your teeth into, give this a try. After numerous listens I still can’t figure out if I like it or I just like the idea of it. One thing’s for sure I’m glad it exists. —Lloyd Gedye
Lucky Elephant — Star Sign Trampoline (Sheer Music)
This album is so difficult to describe, which can often be a bad sign. But when an album like this comes around it is a good thing. In fact, it is an exciting, refreshing, happy thing.
Label Sunday Best informs us that it was recorded from start to finish on analogue tape. It is different every time you listen to it, joyously irreverent; so blue as to be black on occasion. Tracks veer from pathos to sheer festivity, buoyed up by twinkling guitar work on the likes of Edgar, then mellowed out with the gentlest keys whether they be piano or Wurlitzer, in the likes of the Timebomb. The vocals supplied by Frenchman Emmanuel Manu’ Labescat are ineffably charming, the fact that you have to listen closely to what he is saying, only a delight where it should be a hindrance. Own this music. —Lynley Donnelly
Seeland — Tomorrow Today (Kurse)
Named after a track from krautrock album Neu! 75, Seeland is a two-piece space-age pop band formed in 2004. While a couple of early singles on Sterolab’s Mighty Duphonic label, hinted at their quest for psychedelic pop bliss, Tomorrow Today fleshes out their Joe Meek influenced swirling pop style. Hang on Lucifer is a quirky throw down that sounds like Beck fronting Apples in Stereo, while Static Object hints at their krautrock influences with its mechanical beat and swirling synths.
Singer Tim Felton’s vocals at time reminded me of The National’s Matt Berninger, but his voice is less earthy than Berninger and leans more towards that 80’s Pet Shop Boys vocal style. On the whole the album is pretty consistent, but it is lacking in real attention grabbing hooks. It’s not going to change the world, but I don’t think that was this duo’s intention. If a quirky up-tempo synth-pop album is what you are looking for, you could do worse than this, but my word of warning is that it can feel a little frivolous at times.–Lloyd Gedye
aKING — Against All Odds (Rhythm Records)
You have no doubt heard aKING’s irredeemably catchy single Against All Odds pumping across radio stations all over the county. The new album, which takes the track’s name, is not immediately as catchy. But it does grow on the listener and is rescued from sameness by tracks like Know your Bones, You and I and The Wishing Well.
It is savvy pop/punk/rock that has worked so well for bands from Belville and no doubt that association alone should keep the loyal fans coming. Laudo Liebenberg’s compelling voice is somewhat reminiscent of a peppier, perhaps angrier Dan Roberts, when he dips into a deeper register. The lyrics seem to have garnered a lukewarm reception, but they work as far as this reviewer is concerned. They are rather flamboyant, faux-poetry; occasionally self-conscious enough to earn sympathy. Not half bad. —Lynley Donnelly
Melisa Morgan — Until I Met You (Sheer Sound)
Until I Met You introduces a new voice to the long and prestigious line of jazz vocalists Melissa Morgan — and boy does she swing. She opens her debut album with a tribute to Nancy Wilson with a Buddy Jordan composition, Save Your Love for Me. Here the band manages a set of tight tensions that find a lush release in both her and the capable trumpeter, Christian Scott. It is an easy enough track to sell, though the band offers a convincing take and they don’t take their skills for granted. Pianist Gerald Clayton gives a stunning and eloquent display on A Sleepin’ Bee.
This fair track is delivered in a traditional quartet format which is well suited for a display of aptness by the instrumentalists, and they do take advantage. The eleven-track album features a well-balanced selection of tunes without loosing its sophisticated appeal, mixing the easily recognisable tracks and those aimed at jazz connoisseurs.
They also play well to the requirements of big band and slimmer arrangements. However it appears Morgan’s vocal range is wider than she shares and one gets the sense that she is not pushing herself hard enough. I caught myself expecting a scat and some more vocal play, but to no avail. After all Morgan is an alumnus of the grand choral tradition, so she’s no chance-taker and makes for the brightest promise this side of swing. —Percy Mabandu