Today (+/- several days) Google launched an all-in-one media storefront called Google Play. For the next undetermined number of days they’re selling media for discounted rates, so I thought I’d peruse the selection for today and to my surprise I found, for the first time, an appropriately priced pop album. $0.25. This, of course would be wholly too […]
Author: 帅巴J
Joe Baker And His Barefoot Brakemen: Shook, Broke, Hung
Folk stories for the Shook, Broke, and Hung. The kind of music that may help you better understand the sudden end to your bachelor days and help you move on. A good album, but kind of flat in my Grado Labs SR80s and ultimately left me wanting more sound, more stories, more energy or dispair. *Sigh. [itunes […]
Kris Delmhorst: Songs For A Hurricane
When it’s spelled with a K, it’s a woman. This is not a steadfast rule, but for Kris Delmhorst, it is. To use the term ‘Chick Rock’ loosely, Kris seems to fit the bill. The typical drum and guitar accompaniment gives the listener the security of familiarity while vocalist Kris divulges the emotionally heavy lyrics […]
Bob Brozman: Devil’s Slide
Slide Guitars vs. Slide Whistles? Both, together? I wish. Bob Brozman’s light-fair blues album Devil’s Slide (1988) could only be made better by the latter and is a perfect demonstration of the former. The album also magnifies the prohibition-model muted horns and maestro man-call music. So that’s interesting. But the blues instrumentals are the true […]
Keur Moussa: Sacred Chat & African Rhythms From Senegal
Argument: Religion is the foundation of all music. Assessment: Who cares?! Some religious rock is like living in musical hell, while other religious pop is like sweet nectar to the nymphs upon mount Reallyhighus. Then again, sometimes religious music exists because there’s nothing else to talk about and it is good Lady-PR for the musicians, […]
De Dannan All Stars: The Star Spangled Molly
As a Sino-Pop junkie, I can’t differentiate much between jigs, waltzes and what ever else you could call flute, fiddle and squeeze box music from the British Isles. I can say however, that when it’s good, it’s dancing’ good and nearly impossible not to jiggle at the tempo of the tune if you’re not already […]
Tucson Folk
This week I spent on the road enjoying the vistas and freedom of a desert road trip. Since the Old Pueblo is a lonesome wildcat of the South West, it’s culture rarely escapes past the surrounding desert winds and this visit seemed to be a great opportunity to explore some of the border-folk I’d missed […]
Bombay Dub Orchestra: Self Titled
While seeking out tunes on a list Architorture sent me, I came across this album that the jacket told me would be solid. Electronic ambient with eastern vocal and instrumental sampling. With 6 minute tracks, it’s a solid double disc that sometimes enchants the audible environment with a single resonating gong, or a cacophony of endless musical […]
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
“I am the proprietor of the Penguin Cafe. I will tell you things at random…” said Simon Jeffes in 1970. Since that day, until his death decades later, Jeffes and his musical entourage produced nude penguo-human afro-commune art and the unique sounds to match, casting themselves Out of the mainstream. This, appropriately shot them back In as their music became a staple […]
Blue Sky Black Death: Noir
By way of Colorado’s University in Pueblo, I’ve been introduced to Blue Sky Black Death. With fourteen albums and ten ‘other’ releases, these two are by no means freshmen in production. This ambient sampling pair of Seattilites, ‘Kingston’ & ‘Young God,’ transform the world around the listener into a melancholy film, or VW commercial, carrying lighthearted themes throughout […]
Steve Martin: The Crow, New Songs for the Five-String Banjo
“Truely Wonderful and Just as Advertised” Inspired, musically, by Kingston Trio, Flatt and Scruggs, Steve is a self-taught comedic super-genius and Orange County, California native. With humor and wit shining through his well paced and precise self-acclaimed plink, plink, plink-staccato, he remains just as facinated by the music as the listener, noting, the beautifully geometric object “shouldn’t even be […]
The Temper Trap: Conditions
As I suffered through a significant hangover this past weekend, I had a chance to reevaluate my sense of youth and reflect on my most recent offerings. Astonished that Mr. J hasn’t brought much more than Chinese-Pop and Smithsonian Folk collections to the table, I felt it was time to put the word out to […]