Pages

January 28, 2010

Ep/Album Review - Four Tet - There Is Love In You

Four Tet (alias Kieran Hebden) just released is fifth album, called "There Is Love In You" on Domino records.

Following the release of the excellent "Love Cry" Ep late last year followed by an almost even better "Love Cry Remixes" Ep (with a great version from Joy Orbison) I was wondering how the full album would sound like.
It is in fact quite different from the groovy, dark and hypnotic Ep.
We're talking of a really diverse electronic record, remembering me of the amazing work from Bibio for instance (cf his "Ambivalence Avenue" album that we commented on our 2009 review) .
This album is a bit more dance-oriented than Bibio's one but carries the same dose of creative sounds and quality of production setting the stage for a stimulating musical journey.

Here is a deezer streaming of my second favorite track from the album, "Angel Echoes" alongside the already famous "Love Cry".
Découvrez la playlist Four Tet avec Four Tet

January 22, 2010

Ep/Album Review - Jose James - Blackmagic

Here is a record I couldn't wait to discover.
Why is that? well in only a couple of years Jose James has easily entered my circle of favorite artists with an already almost legendary first record "The Dreamer" (Brownswood, 2008), a brilliant jazz project around Alice and John Coltrane work (see more info here on our 2009 year review) and great live performances.
The man has an incredible smooth and deep preacher-like voice and has so far always made great artistic choices to get a musical support as good as his vocal talent demands.
Hence my high expectations for his second album, still on Gilles Peterson's Brownswood label.
Looking at the artists that contributed to this production (Hip-hop producers Flying Lotus and Dj Mitsu The Beats, legendary deep-house producer Moodyman among others) I knew that this record would probably sound less jazzy than "The Dreamer" and would probably be more nu-soul/beats oriented.
In fact half of the tracks is reminiscent of The Dreamer, great groovy modern jazz with piano drums and bass supporting his fantastic lyrics flow. "Save Your Love For Me" and "Beauty" being two new jewels in that genre in my humble opinion.
The other half is, as expected, more "beats" oriented. I remember chatting with him following a concert last year and him telling me that D'Angelo is one of the singer that most influenced him. I actually thought about it while listening to the beats-like tracks of Blackmagic. For instance the album intro track "Code", produced by Flying Lotus, is a fantastic deep nu-soul track (video below) that clearly reminds me of some early D'Angelo stuff.

This record is clearly a success, Jose James widens its musical scope while still building on its solid jazz background. Still I would not put it on the same level as "The Dreamer" as Blackmagic alternates between incredible tracks and a few less memorable ones.

Now I'm really looking forward to see this album performed live. All his tour dates on his site.
Let's also note that Jose has signed on the legendary Verve label and should be releasing mid-2010 a jazz album with belgian pianist Jef Neve with whom he did this great Coltrane revisited project.

January 21, 2010

Gil Scott-heron - Documentary

A few days before the release of the long awaited new album from one of my true musical hero, Gil Scott-heron, I thought you may enjoy this really interesting Bbc documentary about his career and influences that I found the other day while surfing on Youtube.
It is split in 6 parts, the first is here, the other have links below. Thanks to Benanddonner1 for having put this online.


Part2
Part3
Part4
Part5
Part6

January 19, 2010

Vibes4YourSoul Mixes#4 - On The House Side

Fancy mid-tempo groovy house? well that's what's on the menu of our mixes serie's 4th episode, "On The House" .

Rather recent tracks from talented producers such as Floating Points, The Revenge, Booka Shade, Popular People's Front or Motor City Drum Ensemble but also a couple of timeless classics from Moodyman and The Clash that still feel sooooo good!

Enjoy,

streaming below :



Tracklisting :
The Revenge - Get Up On It
Floating Points - Vacuum Boogie
Tony Lionni - This Feeling
Spirit Catcher - Motown Spring
Booka Shade - In White Rooms (Neo Mix)
The Popular's People Front - My Baby Stays Out All Night
Four Tet - Love Cry (Joy Orbison Remix)
Simioni And Flip - Exterminate
Karizma - Tech This Out (Pt.2)
Motor City Drum Ensemble - Raw Cuts#3
Moodyman - I Can't Kick This Feeling When It Hurts
Freedie Ross - First True Love Affair (Eddie Tour Edit)
The Clash - Magnificent Dance

January 8, 2010

Ep/Album Review - Jay Electronica - Exhibit C Ep

Here is an amazing Ep from Jay Electronica (produced by Just Blaze) that was released at the end of December 09, missed it at that time which is a shame as it would have appeared on my 2009 favorites records review for sure!

Exactly the type of hip-hop I love with (as usual) a great flow by Jay Electronica and an amazing soulful beat supporting it.
I've been listening to it for the last few days and I keep asking myself : can Hip-hop really get much better than that?

(Most of the lyrics transcribed on this SITE)

January 4, 2010

Vibes4YourSoul Mixes#3 - Dubby

Hi everyone,

third opus of our mixes serie, "Dubby" oscillates between mid-tempo groovy ragga/dub tracks and very deep electronic dub sounds.
Pump up the bass volume of your speakers and enjoy these groovy riddims!

Streaming below (downld link here) :



Tracklisting :
Harvey K Tel - Boops Apocalypse
Horace Andy - Skylarking (The Revenge Caribbean Sunrise Rework)
Boozoo Bajou - Sign (Dublex Inc. Slower Remix)
Floating Points - Love Me Like This (Nonsense Dub)
Beat Pharmacy - Rooftops Feat. Coppa
Zomby - Tarantula
Sis - Voices Of Istanbul
Substance And Vainqueur - Reverberate
Rhythm & Sound With Tikiman - Never Tell You
Deepchord Presents Echospace - Elysian
Tikiman - Ruff (Afefe Iku Edit)
Broken Social Scene - Alive In 85

December 28, 2009

Vibes4YourSoul Selection#4 - In The Mood For Folk

Welcome to "In The Mood For Folk"!

Call it "folk", call it "indie songwriters" or anything else you want, "In The Mood For Folk" selection is first and foremost about great melancolic guitars-based melodies. Simple beautiful songs I love to listen to peacefully while letting my thoughts wander.

Most of the tracks are relatively recent. Between "Guilty Cubicles", the instrumental intro piece by one of my favorite band, Broken Social Scene, and the outro "London Planes", a sweet ou-of-time instrumental gem by Bibio, you will mostly listen to a new generation of songwriters that I find particularly talented.
I'm talking about Bon Iver, Cass McCombs, Alexi Murdoch, Piers Faccini or the Erlend Oye galaxy represented by Kings of Convenience and The Whitest Boy Alive. These artists all share a common gift for writing great folk songs. I hope this selection will make you want to dig deeper into their productions.
Alongside this up-and-coming folk scene, I also picked underlooked "folkish" tracks from well-known musicians I love like Morrissey, Jean-Louis Murat or british nu-jazz combo The Cinematic Orchestra.

True, this blog is mostly dedicated to my love for "black" music in its multiple forms, but even though I don't follow the indie scene as closely, it remains a vital piece of my musical puzzle. So from times to times, when I'm in the mood for it, I'll drop a few messages on that matter that I hope you will find interesting.

Enjoy!

(Oh, and I was about to forget, Happy New Year!)

JmSelector

Listen to the streaming below (or directly on 8tracks.com)



Tracklisting :
Intro - Broken Social Scene - Guilty Cubicles
Alexi Murdoch - Love You More
Piers Faccini - Two Grains Of Sand
Bon Iver - Re - Stacks
Kings Of Convenience - Parallel Lines
The Delgados - Accused Of Stealing
Cass McCombs - She's Still Suffering
Jean-Louis Murat - Dieu N'a Pas Trouvé Mieux
Solal & The Moonshine Sessions - I Lost Him (Feat. Melodie Cannon)
Morrissey - Mexico
The Whitest Boy Alive - Borders
The Cinematic Orchestra - To Build A Home(Live, The Royal Albert Hall, 2008)
Cassandra Wilson - Harvest Moon (Neil Young cover)
Outro - Bibio - London Planes


P.S. : Thanks to Littleblackbooks for the amazing artwork I shamelessly picked from his great Flickr gallery. Go check it out HERE if you liked it!

December 8, 2009

Vibes4YourSoul Selection#3 - Lyrics Do Matter

Sometimes lyrics do matter.
In this third musical selection I tried to pick tracks, mostly from the 60/70's jazz/funk scene, that blend unforgettable soulful vibes and thought provoking, socially-conscious lyrics.
In short, a kind of "when blues meets soul/funk" selection.

So-called "blaxploitation" is the word that often comes to mind when talking about these type of tunes, but I do not really like the term as I find it way too restrictive.
If most of these songs effectively originated in the afro-american black People fight for emancipation, I believe that the greatest artists of this "genre" have a timeless reach that goes way beyond this troubled period.

Don't Gil Scott-Heron's messages in tracks like the legendary "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" or less well-known "We Almost Lost Detroit" still resonate really loudly?
Aren't Curtis Mayfield's "The Other Side Of Town" or Marlena Shaw's "Woman Of The Ghetto" songs sadly describing the inequalities and miserable urban conditions that too many people still have to deal with?
From inequalities to racial discrimination problems, from women's rights to environmental issues, or simply talking about day-to-day life difficulties, these artists' messages are still (sadly) very much up-to-date.

Being the noble heir of Blues/Gospel musicians and singers, this 60s/70s part of the soul/funk scene inovated by adding a groovy soulful musical frame to its message.
Deep & heavy keyboards, funky basslines, powerful voices, words for reflection : the result is timeless emotion.

Make your own opinion with the streaming below (or directly on 8tracks.com) :



Tracklisting :
Natural Essence - The Other Side Of Town (Curtis Mayfield Cover)

Clarence Smith - Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child (From J.W. & J.R. Johnson)

Esther Phillips - Home Is Where The Hatred Is (Gil Scott-Heron Cover)

Angela Bofill - People Make The World Go Round (The Stylistics Cover)

Vicki Anderson - The Message From The Soul Sisters

Bobby Womack - Across 110th Street

Gil Scott-Heron - We Almost Lost Detroit

Curtis Mayfield - Future Shock

Marlena Shaw - Woman Of The Ghetto

24 Carat Black - Mother's Day

December 4, 2009

Vibes4YourSoul Mixes#2 - Groovy Beats

2d round of our mixes serie, "Groovy Beats" is a collection of jazzy hip-hop tracks.
From legendary groups like A Tribe Called Quest or Jurassic 5 to more recent artists like Kid Sublime or Julien Dyne, this selection is full of groovy rythms, warm keyboards and of course great lyrics flows.

Hope you enjoy it.


You can listen to the streaming below :

Tracklisting info on request

November 28, 2009

Vibes4YourSoul Concert Review#3 - Havana Cultura Project

Havana Cultura Band/Kumar/Ogguere/Danay - Elysée Monmartre, Paris, 11/27/09


Ola!

Both a latin music fan and passionate about Cuba, I could not miss last week Havana Cultura's party at parisian venue "l'Elysée Monmartre".
Gilles Peterson and several up and coming young Cuban musicians that all contributed to the recently released "Havana Cultura" double album (link here) were all in town for a 8pm to 2am free party sponsored by Radio Nova and a famous Cuban rum brand.

Two concerts took place during the evening on top of Gilles and RKK(Nova) latin dj-sets.
First cuban hip-hop singer Kumar supported by his band from Barcelona :
A 1-hour hip-hop performance with two singers, one Dj, one percussionist, 1 keyboard (rhodes) and 1 trumpet player.
The mixture of classic hip-hop beats with latin-style percussion and horns resulted in an enthusiastic show. Between a socially-conscious hip-hop reminiscent of Arrested Development and more ragga-style sounds, Kumar's crew quickly managed to get the crowd full attention (not always easy in this kind a free party where a part of the audience was not necessarily here because of the muscal line-up).
This young artist definitely deserves hip-hop fans attention.

The second concert hosted the Havana Cultura Band playing with hip-hop duo Ogguere and female singer Danay, also all present on Gilles Peterson's double album.
So 7 musicians (among which a classic horns section) and three singers on stage mixing classic latin-jazz vibes with truly contemporary hip-hop/soul flows. I particularly appreciated the live versions of the album highlight tracks : Fela Kuti's "Rofoforo Fight" and Donald Byrd "Twink Twice" fantastic covers.
A special mention for Danae, she's an incredibly gifted young singer full of sincerity and charm, I'm looking forward to her future productions once she'll have found a label.

Overall even if I was already convinced by the album before coming to this show, I felt that the live acts truly gave all its meaning to this project.
Gilles Peterson and the sponsors that worked with him on this project deserve a lot of credit for making this up-and-coming cuban scene better known to the international audience, I hope they'll be back in Europe soon for a longer tour.

In the meantime you can listen to this really interesting album to get an idea of what's going on in the rich and diverse cuban musical world!


Here is my favourite track from the album :




Thanks to Reg for the picture

November 25, 2009

Vibes4YourSoul Selection#2 - I Need Reggae

Shorter days, humid weather (at least here in Paris), I don't know what it's like for you, but as far as I'm concerned, I Need Reggae.

In this second episode of our musical selections you'll find just that.
Only legends, only groovy tracks, starting with this Derrick Harriott song, "Dancing The Reggae", that I've been really keen on lately. This one has to make you forget November!
Among the other oldies I've been listening to a lot recently are Alton Ellis, the Heptones or Cedric Im Brooks.

Enjoy!


You can listen to the streaming below (or directly on 8tracks.com) :


Tracklisting :

Derrick Harriott - Dancing The Reggae

Alton Ellis - It's A Shame

Myrna Hague - What About Me

Hopeton Lewis - Express Yourself

Alton Ellis & The Heptones - Woe Child

Delroy Wilson - I Want To Love You

Gregory Isaacs - My Time

The Abyssinians - This Land Is For Everyone

The Heptones - Ready To Learn

Augustus Pablo - Baby I Love You So
Cedric Im Brooks - Give Rasta Glory

The Rebels - Rhodesia

Ijahman Levi - Are We A Warrior

Bob Marley & The Wailers - Pimper's Paradise

November 21, 2009

Vibes4YourSoul 2009 Favourite Records!

Well 2009 is almost gone and it's therefore time to look back to a year full of great musical surprises.
No meaningless ranking here, just a selection of albums/Ep's I particularly enjoyed this year in a wide range of musical styles.
If you're not familiar with the artists mentionned I hope this will make you want to discover their work.
If you know them all already, feel free to let me know if you agree/disagree with my enthusiasm about the records I picked!
Here is a streaming with an extract from each record to help convince you!



José James & Jef Neve - Facing East, The Music Of Alice & John Coltrane (Jazz)
Well I’m cheating a bit here as this is not an album, at least not yet, but a live project set up by Belgian jazz pianist Jef Neve and American singer Jose James along with two other great jazz musicians.They revisited some Alice and John Coltrane standards on which the incredible singer José James wrote lyrics. The result is a fascinating spiritual jazz experience.
They did only 4 live shows so far, I was privileged enough to attend the one in Paris at the “New Morning” last september for a truly unique musical moment. More concert dates and a studio record may be released next year so beware.
In the meantime, luckily for our ears, they did a live video recording of the first concert in Brussels and broadcasted it for free on the web (link here), audio extract here.

As José keeps sermoning during the gig, quoting the Coltrane's from their standard "Cosmic Music" album : "may there be peace, and love and perfection throughout all creations”



Build An Ark – Love Pt.1
(Kindred Spirits Records) (Jazz)
Build An Ark is a californian jazz collective (45+ musicians) under, among others, the magical supervision of great producer Carlos Nino and arranger Miguel Atwood-Ferguson.
Associating spiritual jazz and poetry, in the direct filiation of the likes of Pharoah Sanders or Alice and John Coltrane,(yes them again!), the band first two LP’s were spaced-out musical journeys inviting to peace and meditation.
Let’s make it straight : Love Pt.1, their third album, goes even deeper in that direction. We’re talking about a pure musical jewel here, an incredibly well produced spiritual jazz album.
Anyone sensitive enough to receive the peaceful vibes irrading from this music will enjoy a moment of grace and poetry, really. A must-listen to!

Want to know more about this record : click here (Kindred Spirits Records page link)

Lee Fields & The Expressions - My World (Truth&Soul) (Soul/Funk)
A long awaited record after the promising early release of a few of its tracks in 07/08 on the great “Fallin’ Of The Reel” compilations from the remarkable Tru Thoughts label.
Lee Fields is a soul/funk scene veteran singer, and in fact by listening to “My World” you could truly believe that it was released in the 70’s, same “old-school” sound, same powerful voice, in short everything a classic soul/funk fan is looking for. To me this is the best record of this category in a long long time.
Essential, period.
Want to know more about this record : click here (Truth&Soul Records page link)

Quantic & His Combo Barbaro – Tradition in Transition (Tru Thoughts)(Latin/Soul/Funk)
Uk-based producer and Will Holland (aka Quantic) is well-known to most modern soul/funk lovers thanks to his multiple great productions as Quantic or with his Quantic Soul Orchestra. But this time he moved south, to Colombia where he settled for a while, living in the city of Cali, known for its rich and diverse musical history.
The result has been the creation of the “Combo Barbaro”, an orchestra set up with revered central and south-american musicians. Together they produced this refreshing and innovative latin groove record that just put a big smile on your face while inevitably making you want to move to its sunny beats.
I saw the band perform in Paris last October, it was a great concert, each and every musician of the combo is amazing, with a special mention to the outstanding piano legend Alfredo Linares. Highly recommended if they play anywhere nearby you!
Want to know more about this record? click here (Tru Thoughts Record page link)

Cesar's Salad The Latin Beat (Perfect Toy Records) (Latin Jazz & Beats)
The Latin Beat is Cesar's Salad first album. This a great latin jazz/beats record revisiting several afro-latin & brazilian classics.
The combo counts only 4 musicians : 1 drummer, 1 congas, 1 bass and 1 piano players. It is therefore rather heavily geared toward the beats/percussion side as no horns or vocals counterbalance them, this makes the originality of this album that stick to the core of these great latin tracks : the rhythm.
If you like percussion you will enjoy this salad that should make you shake a bit!
Want to know more about this record? click here (dustygroove page link)


Kings Of Convenience – Declaration Of Dependence (Astralwerks )(Pop/Folk)
Kings Of Convenience are a norwegian pop/folk duo formed by Eirik Glambek Bøe and well-known musician and producer Erlend Øye.
After 5 years of absence, Declaration of Dependence is their third album. If there’s no revolution from their earlier work as we’re still in a minimalist acoustic guitars/voices environment, the duo hasn’t forgotten its skills : creating beautiful melodies and bringing their listeners a healthy dose of melancholy. This works again this time and I like it!
Want to know more about this record? click here (Kings Of Convenience site link)


Fink – Sort Of Revolution (Ninja Tunes) (Pop/Folk/R&B)
Fink is Fin Greenhall, a Uk-based musician/producer. Sort Of Revolution is his third album.
Either alone at the guitar, or supported by a bass player and a drummer, Fink manages to mix his amazing songwriting talent to a kind of groovy vibration, this combination make this record really special, at the frontier between pop, folk and R&B. Maybe the fact that famous soul-producer John Legend contributed on two tracks explains this a bit. If “quietly groovy” means something then this is what I feel when listening to it.
Want to know more about this record? click here (Ninja Tunes page link)

Bibio – Ambivalence Avenue (Warp) (Beats/Downtempo/Pop/Experimental)
Hard to classify this record, is it Beats? Downtempo? Pop? Well a bit of all of that I would say, but more importantly a great musical experience with amazingly creative sounds. Typically the type of record that needs to be listened to a few times in full to truly grasp its essence.
I also strongly recommend his first three LPs, “Fi”, “Hand Cranked”and “Vignetting The Compost”. They all are great melancolic ambient/pop albums, there again the quality of the production and the variety of sounds are astonishing. His productions remind me of one of my favourite ambient indie/pop group : Broken Social Scene.
Want to know more about this record? click here
(Warp Records page link)
Floating Points - Love Me Like This & Vacuum Boogie Ep's (Eglo) (House)
Sam Sheperd, the young man behind Floating Points, is a stunningly talented London-based producer. To me these two Eps, alongside with other things he has been releasing on his Eglo label recently, simply represents house music as good as it can get. These tracks transport you in a “spacy” groovy mode. Actually “floating” is a good word to describe your state while listening to these soulful deeeeeep vibes!
Want to know more about these records? click here (Floating Points MySpace page link)


Break SL - City Wastelands
(Philpot) (Electro/House)
Break SL is a young german producer from Dresden, Sebastian Lohse. After two great EP’s released in 07 and 08, City Wasteland is his first album. “When german minimal electro goes soulful” would be my definition of this record.I particularly love the warm and spaced-out keyboards works on most tracks that seem to be one of Break SL's signature.
Want to know more about these records? click here (Break SL MySpace page link)



Ooft / The Revenge - Instruments Of Rapture Part Three (IOR Records)
(Nudisco/House)
I had to pick one of the multiple superb NuDisco / Disco Re-edits Ep’s that have been flourishing for the last couple of years and that were again really numerous in 2009. Glasgow-based Ooft being my favourite producers in that field I chose this IOR Part Three Ep which is a perfect example of the current quality of productions in that space. The original track “This Sound” is a true funky house gem while the amazing Marvin Gaye “Heavy Love Affair” re-edit by The Revenge is so groooovy!
Want to know more about these records? click here (Ooft MySpace page link)


November 7, 2009

Vibes4YourSoul Selection#1 - Smooth Soul

First of our serie of musical selections, this soul playlist will bring you back to the late 70's- early 80's.
Hope you enjoy the smooth and warm sound of these classics!

Listen to the streaming below (or directly on 8tracks.com) :


Tracklisting :
Coke Escovedo - I Wouldn't Change A Thing (1976)
The Melton Brothers With Alfie Moss - Livin' In The City (1979)
Howard Johnson - Keepin' Love New (1982)
Paris - I Choose You (1984)
Sly, Slick & Wicked - Sho' Nuff (1973)
Atlantic Starr - When Love Calls (1981)
Breakwater - Work It Out (1978)
Dexter Wansel - The Sweetest Pain (1979)
Angela Bofill - People Make The World Go Round(1979)
Leroy Hutson - So In Love With You (1978)
Miriam Makeba - Quit It (1974)
Faze-0 - Riding High (1977)

V4YS Concert Review - Alice Russel - Bataclan, Paris, 11/05/09

Alice Russel, Bataclan, Paris, 11/05/09
Busy week on the soul front in Paris!
After Maxwell on Tuesday, I went to see Alice Russel yesterday night, here is a quick feedback.

Set description :
Really sober stage, no decor or video projections, basic lightning set.
8-member band accompanying her : 1 drummer,1 bass, 1 guitar, 3 horns, 1 keyboard and 1 violin/chorus singer. Concert time : around 1h45mn












The concert :

After cool versions of some of her recent tracks such as "Living the life of a dreamer" or "Let us Be Loving", they oscillated between her repertoire and great covers.
Among them a particularly good Common's "The Light" interpretation followed later by a version of Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" full of energy.
The last part of the show was more focused on tracks from her previous albums.

Impressions :
I enjoyed the gig, she definitely is one of the most beautiful voice of the current soul/funk scene, natural, warm and powerful. True, she lacks a bit of presence and dancing skills, but I guarantee her voice makes you easily forget that.
If I had to be a bit more critical I would point out that I found the whole show a bit too "academical".
I really missed the improvisations/solos that you usually get from this type of band from the upcoming soul/funk/afro scene (think of shows from Antibalas, Budo's band, Quantic orchestras, Breakestra....). I had the impression that her young band is maybe not yet living up to the really high standard she sets. I'm sure they will probably offer much "deeper" performances in the months and years to come with more experience.
Considering the enthusiastic response from the overall crowd yesterday, the last part of my commentary is maybe only due to me being too demanding!

Anyway go and see her whenever you have the opportunity, she is an incredible singer!

JmSelector 11/06/09

Thanks to Reg for the picture