A flip through our bins will bring the outside sounds in.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
THE RIGHT NOW AVAILABLE SOON
The Right Now: Ain't Going Back From Carry Me Home (Unsigned/Independent, 2010)
Who said pop was dead? Pop music certainly isn't in the best state, artistically speaking, these days. The Right Now are up-and-comers out of Chicago with a decidedly pop sound inflected with soul tinges here and there.
Their debut CD, which they'll be selling on their current tour, as well as other outlets such as iTunes, Amazon, their own website (linked above on the album title), and a few indie shops, officially releases March 3rd. (Side note: they're also releasing a 45 that features a non-album track called “7 To 10.”) The Right Now is a completely self-contained unit. Brendan O'Connell plays various keyboards as well as guitar and had a hand in penning/co-penning every song on the album. Lead singer Stefanie Berecz has an absolutely beautiful voice, both in tone and power. The rest of the band members are no slouches either with a sound best described as clean and polished.
“Ain't Going Back” is definitely the strongest song on the album. Over a funky intro, Berecz comes into the track singing in a sultry voice. Right before the first chorus, the song crescendos into a blaze musically and vocally as Berecz works her pipes with an authority that doesn't let up especially after the bridge.
Much of the rest is catchy, hummable pop such as “Doing Nothing” that reminds me of Rod Stewart's “The Motown Song” with its affable MOR melody that makes you swing your hips along to its poppy soulfulness. “I'll Get Down” gets back to a funkier side with the metronome cranked up as the horn section, especially the saxes, provides an energetic boost.
All in all, this record is about fun, while not sacrificing quality, as The Right Now represents musicianship to the fullest and have crafted a solid album that warrants repeated listens.
You can check out a few more of their songs as well as their tour itinerary on their MySpace page. If you're in Chicago on March 19th, be sure to check out their CD release party/show at Lincoln Hall located at 2424 N. Lincoln Ave.
The one thing I've always admired about Latin music is that the band and singers always sound like they're having so much fun. It's contagious, really. Case and point: the opening of “Bang Bang” by Joe Cuba with his talented crew in tow with their “beep beep” chant in unison, which Donna Summer and her producer's must have been listening to prior to recording Bad Girls.
Cuba brought his brand of boogaloo from his corner of Spanish Harlem to the masses, many through collaborations with Cheo Feliciano and Willie Torres. One such track, “Componte Cundunga,” features a sweet workout on the timbales that maintains a danceable groove throughout.
One of the main reasons Cuba was able to succeed was that he had songs in both English and Spanish. This allowed him to have crossover appeal as well as help the boogaloo scene expand to non-Latin audiences. In crossing over, though, he still was able to keep true to the sound of his music, a pitfall for many artists who try to go down that path. “Swinging Mambo” with Willie Torres is one such song in which the lyrics are in English. Their take on the mambo is less focused on lyrics than it is on rhythmic feel where it fully succeeds.
For those looking to expand the breadth of their music collections into more worldly grooves, this 2-CD set is an excellent place to start.
In advance of the upcoming album, Valleys Of Neptune of previously unreleased studio material from Jimi Hendrix, there are a couple of retailers who have singles (yes, those still exist) - one CD and one vinyl. Each include a bonus track not found on the other.
1. Wal-Mart is offering a CD single (remember that format?) featuring "Valleys Of Neptune" (the song) plus a b-side entitled "Peace In Mississippi," which if I'm not mistaken was originally released on the LP "Crash Landing" in the mid-70s ('75?). The b-side is an absolute killer rock instrumental with Hendrix showing off an almost heavy metal flare. From what I've read, this single is limited to 15,000 copies and is only available at the brick and mortar stores. Sorry online shoppers. The good news is that its pretty cheap. I picked one up at my local Wal-Mart for $1.88.
UPDATE: I completely forgot to mention that there's also a code in the Wal-Mart CD single to download a live version of Red House (played at Clark University).
2. Amazon, among other places, has a limited edition 45 also featuring "Valleys Of Neptune" as well as a b-side called "Cat Talking To Me." I haven't personally heard this version, but feel free to chime in if you have. No word on how many copies of this were pressed.
As far as bonus tracks, iTunes will have 2 bonus tracks not found on the regular physical copy of the full album: "Slow Version" and "Trash Man".
It will be interesting to see if indie shops score something completely different or any of these songs previously mentioned as a bonus giveaway.
Congratulations to Sean of Massachusetts who won the Mayer Hawthorne "A Strange Arrangement" deluxe edition CD. Thanks to everyone who entered and for your continued support! We plan to have more contests in the future so keep on the lookout.
I recently was asked to contribute articles to the Indy Jazz Fest blog. Periodically, I'll write articles that will be exclusive to them, although I'll mention it here in this space.
B-Side Entertainment is releasing a documentary later this spring on Bill Withers as I previously mentioned. What's really cool about the way their distribution works, though, is that you can actually get a screener of it - for free, except for S&H - prior to its release date for purchase, and through their Host Your Own Screening program you can screen it in your home, and even charge admission. The difference in the screening DVD you get and the retail copy that will be released in the coming months is, in part, that the retail version will have bonus features. More details of hosting a screening can be found on their site as linked above. It is certainly a bold alternative to the normal business model for movie distribution and one that I think can truly succeed for certain genres of film.
Now onto the film...
Bill Withers won't soon be confused as an artist to be a representative on the Mount Rushmore of soul. That, however, doesn't make his music any less important. A late bloomer, he didn't have a hit in the music business until his early 30s. His path wasn't about the glitz and glamour, the fame or fortune; it was about telling great stories.
His sound, though, wasn't necessarily what the labels thought it should be. Instead of stories about grandmas and dark corners of love, they felt he should incorporate "horns, gold suits, and 3 chicks." He did it his way, though, proving he didn't need their advice as his first album produced the #3 hit "Ain't No Sunshine." It was a song that led him to a spot on the Johnny Carson show, a call which he got the same night he also got called back to his real job - installing toilets on 747s.
The most enjoyable part of Still Bill: The Movie is not in hearing the music or its background but in hearing HIS background. As anyone could tell who has spent any time with Mr. Withers through their headphones, the music and stories match perfectly with the person that Bill is. He's perhaps the most humble artist/person who has ever topped the charts.
That life started in the shantytown of Slab Fork, West Virginia. A coal mining town to the core, it was also predominantly white. In fact, the black cemetery is now wooded over. While searching for graves of relatives, Bill had to stoop to make his way through. The corresponding white cemetery is well kempt.
It was in a town like this, though, where he learned such a hard work ethic. During a segment where he's talking with Dr. Cornel West and Tavis Smiley, he flipped a commonly held notion on its head. "As an entrepreneur the best sign you can put up is SOLD OUT," he states. The trio go on to discuss how he remained true to himself in his career in which he admits that at times, "Fame was kicking my ass."
That wasn't the only trouble that he encountered in his life. Early on he battled a stuttering problem. He felt labeled as he was told, "You can't do nothing." It led to a self-proclaimed crisis of confidence. From this he learned valuable life lessons. Some of these he passed along to a group of kids with the same affliction in the Our Time Theatre Company as a guest speaker. His time with them hit close to home and brought tears to his eyes.
He has passed many of these life lessons along to his kids of whom one is in law school and another who is aspiring to perform music. In a nugget we could all take to heart in telling ourselves and our own children, Bill offers this advice: "It's okay to head out for wonderful. But on the way to wonderful, you're gonna have to pass through alright. When you get to alright, take a good look around and get used to it because it may be as far as you're gonna go." He himself, though, didn't make a permanent stop in alright. He defied expectations, but only those of others. He knew he had a gift and a story to tell.
While he may not have one of the all-time great singing voices in terms of range, he more than makes up for it in sincerity. His voice exudes confidence - in what he sings about and who he is as a man. Again, he may not be a part of the Mount Rushmore of soul, but he's lived to tell the tale into his septuagenarian years.
The directors of this introspective and riveting film have done a superb job in bringing out the man behind the music. While following him around Slab Fork recounting stories from yesteryear, to a class reunion, to honorary concerts, and into the studio where he still records and tinkers today, they have brought us even closer to the man than what he brought us to through his music. It's the touching story of a man having the balls to succeed or fail on his own terms. He left music when many people still thought he had plenty more to accomplish and record, but doing it on others' terms wouldn't be the Bill Withers way.
That aforementioned fame may have been getting the best of him then, but he has persevered and become one of the truly great - and underappreciated - musical songwriters and performers in recorded music history. He's a blue collar guy through and through. Fame never swallowed him. He's been Making Music and Making Friends, as he would say, Just As I Am. Through it all, he is truly Still Bill.
STILL A HALF DAY LEFT ON VALENTINE'S CONTEST FOR A FREE CD
UPDATE: Sorry for the confusion on this as the e-mail that went out said that there were a few days left on this contest in the title. It ends tonight at midnight. A name will be chosen tomorrow!
You still have a half day or so to win Mayer Hawthorne's debut album for the Valentine's contest!
For your chance to win, it's a 2-step process.
1. Join our Facebook page and get 5 of your friends to become fans as well. 2. E-mail recordracks AT gmail.com and put Valentine's Contest in the subject line and your Facebook name in the body along with anything else you want to say.
We will randomly select 1 name from all entries on Sunday, February 21, 2010.
The Beastie Boys are a band that is hard to say they're one thing or another. They're one of the few bands who combined rock and rap with respectable results. It didn't hurt that they got better as a band the longer they recorded.
It's a pretty safe bet that this one didn't get released because of the Beatles sample, however minimal it may be, which is unfortunate because I think it's a pretty catchy tune even if I wouldn't rank it as one of their top 20 songs. “I'm Down” makes me wanna go buy some Filas and '80s sunglasses and reminisce back to when MTV was actually worth a shit.
It's that special day for you and your loved one. You've pulled your hair out trying to find that special gift, and now that you've (hopefully) succeeded, it's time to reward yourself with the chance to win something of your own. After all, you've earned it. Record-Racks.com has one CD copy of the deluxe edition (4" bonus vinyl included) of Mayer Hawthorne's "A Strange Arrangement" to give away to you!
With Record-Racks recently joining the world of Facebook, we want to see how much you love us by becoming a fan. Has showing your love ever been this easy?
For your chance to win, it's a 2-step process.
1. Join our Facebook page and get 5 of your friends to become fans as well. 2. E-mail recordracks AT gmail.com and put Valentine's Contest in the subject line and your Facebook name in the body along with anything else you want to say.
We will randomly select 1 name from all entries next Sunday, February 21, 2010.
Contest Rules:
1. Contest ends at midnight on Sunday, February, 21, 2010. Entries that arrive after that time are ineligible. 2. Only US addresses are eligible. Sorry international readers! 3. Only 1 entry per person.
Record Racks finally got on board with Facebook. Come check us out, and feel free to share with your friends and colleagues. You can view our Page by clicking the link in this post or in the sidebar under the Subscribe section.
Fort Knox Recordings is a record label based out of Washington, DC, and they've assembled another compilation featuring a mishmash of styles – reggae, funk, Latin, Indian, and more.
“Sitargazer” by International Velvet is the standout track on the compilation. With its bass heavy rhythm, the sitar gives it some Eastern flair creating an amalgamation of disparate styles that blend quite well together. If it had more aggressive drum programming, you'd almost think it was the Chemical Brothers. International Velvet also has a cover of Gordon Lightfoot's “Sundown” that features another sitar solo (certainly not a phrase you hear often) and is a modern twist of the adult contemporary original.
Other highlights include the South American “Cumbia” by the Empresarios with its skitterish synth sounds hiding behind a Latin-styled piano and impressive bongo work; Speedy Consuela's “Number One Fan” with its pouncing bass and keen record scratches; and the uptempo “The Sax Pusher” by the Fort Knox Five with the sax player taking center stage – it's enough to make Oliver Sain proud.
While it lacks cohesiveness as a whole, when taken individually many of the songs themselves work quite well. In the age of digital downloading, pick the songs that work best for you and get an early start on preparing your summer BBQ mixtape. It's not all golden treasure stored inside, but there are enough nuggets with luster in here that prove it's not fool's gold either.
Ashley Beedle's latest oeuvre (releasing March 2), along with musical brother-from-another-mother Darren Morris, finds the British producer (among other things) bringing a unique idea to the table. Long fans of soulstress Mavis Staples, a maven in her own right of bringing righteous sounds and feelings to vinyl platters, they fell in love with her take on the Bacharach classic “A House Is Not A Home”.
So they constructed a piece of music built around elements from the song and sent it to some fellow friends and collaborators to write lyrics to accompany it. Those lyrics were then recorded, but in an ingenious move on the producers' parts they retooled their backing track for nearly each song by taking various components to highlight over the 11 songs found on this release.
On songs like the beautiful “Puzzles And Riddles,” Beedle and Morris revel in providing a quiet but engaging backdrop that stirs emotions equally in the spaces in between the notes as it does within the notes themselves. Vocalist Ed Harcourt laces a mesmerizing vocal that marries well with the song's style - evocative but understated, enigmatic and comforting.
“Dreamers Interlude,” which appears just past midway through the album, recalls Earl Zinger's spoken word piece in Koop's “Beyond The Son,” with its inquisitive nature. Maybe someone should just record a full album of blokes with an English accent reading over top of soothing melodies? I almost think I'd buy that!
Where the album leads off, it also ends much like Dilla's “Donuts” album's last track, where musically speaking it's nearly the same as its first track that lends to a seamless looping listening experience. Instead of Kurt Wagner singing, however, Edwyn Collins sings an uplifting tune about the power of positive thinking and finding joy in life after a few setbacks in “Feeling Lucky.” Mix in a few time-honored “sha-la-la's” and a guitar solo from his son (in his first recorded output), and you've got a song that brings the album to a nice close It's the sound of winter winding down and spring preparing itself for full bloom.
More on Joe Cuba's upcoming "El Alcalde Del Barrio" in terms of a review at a later date, but in the meantime if you're in one of these cities below, be sure to check out the record release parties. The album is in stores on February 23rd.
2/11 - SF Record Release Party at the Elbo Room featuring Chico Mann performing live Joe Cuba songs. 2/12 - LA Record Release Party at the Mint featuring Chico Mann and The Boogaloo Assassins performing live Joe Cuba songs. 2/24 - NYC Record Release Party - Full details are as yet unconfirmed, but I believe it will be at Le Poisson Rouge and also featuring The Boogaloo Assassins, Bobbito Garcia, and DJ Turmix
Now and again, you come across an album so good that you just can't get it off repeat. From the opening to closing notes, I was spellbound in between. The opening track, “Awakening,” is peaceful and reminds me of the first time I heard Lonnie Liston Smith's Garden Of Peace. My mind and heart had been kidnapped - thrown into a trunk and I was going wherever this band steered me for the next hour or so.
“Awakening” is what you hear and feel in those groggy moments before your eyes pop open. It captures the sounds of wherever we go in Dreamland and is the reveille that beckons us back to reality. That last held note is like the morning stretch that says, “You're up and you're ready to go!” which leads you to...
The Souljazz Orchestra: Agbara From Rising Sun (Strut, 2010)
this shot of musical caffeine. Skip the morning coffee and throw this into your music player of choice. If you aren't able to get through the drudgery of the morning with this playing in the background, then don't even bother with the rest or your day. Musically, it hearkens to the Latin classic “Tiger of San Pedro” as performed by Bill Watrous. It bounces with verve with its marimba-laden background, and those horns... MY GOD!
The rest of the album follows along the same lineage, closing out with a two-part cover of Pharoah Sanders' “Rejoice” suite with first part being more meditative and the second part being more rhytmic and lively.
You can check more out clips over at the official release page. With roots in Ethio-jazz, Afrobeat, Latin, and soul, the band shows they are capable of astounding range, which is no small task. More importantly, though, they accomplish it with a fortitude and semblance of musicality that allows them to be original while still honoring those who inspired them.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the first must-have release of 2010, and it comes your way February 16th.
Sunday marks one of the biggest television days of the year. In honor of the big game, here are a few selections of songs from or about the three cities involved: New Orleans and Indianapolis, the two participants, and Miami, the host city.
While New Orleans may be underdogs per the oddsmakers, their city's musical history needs no introduction and has a considerably strong edge over Indianapolis. From zydeco, funk, early rock n roll, they have the bases covered.
Indianapolis, though, is no slouch when it comes to musical history. It has produced jazz legends such as Freddie Hubbard and Wes Montgomery as well as pop/R&B icon Babyface who has had considerable success as a writer, producer, and performer.
Starting with the away team's city, Huey Piano Smith and crew present some classic New Orleans music. While not the song they're primarily associated with (that would be “Rockin Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu”), “High Blood Pressure” comes from the group's highest charting single that is led primarily by a busy horn section and a simple chord change on piano.
If this Super Bowl is the shootout that many analysts are predicting, high blood pressure may be symptomatic for the viewing audience.
In the mid-60s, high school bands cutting records was not uncommon. In Indianapolis, friends who attended Crispus Attucks and Shortridge High Schools, cut their only work (under this moniker, at least) for Lamp Records. They were striving for a dance-based tune, which funny enough has a kind of New Orleans-ish sound a la The Meters.
Catch the drum break toward the end that's by... a teenager. Mean stuff! Soon, I'm supposed to be meeting with Rodney Stepp, who was the leader of the band, to get more inside info about this track and numerous others he worked on throughout his career for a release that's still in the works.
Will Smith: Miami (Miami Sound Machine Remix) From Miami (CD Single) (Columbia, 1999)
The last of the bunch is an ode to the host city. Will Smith, unless you've been living under a rock, needs no introduction. This isn't the version you'll be likely to hear on the TV going into commercial break, although you may remember a clip of this version from the official music video. While it lacks the familiar Whispers sample, it more than makes up for it with energy from the Emilio Estefan-overseen remix.
The BPMs are cranked compared to the original, and given the content of the song I have always found the music in this version to be more congruent to the subject matter than the original offers, especially with the Latin music history that Miami is known for.
Bob Blank's Blank Tapes studio saw a smorgasbord of styles during its tenure, from later period Gladys Knight disco to avant garde Sun Ra jazz. What got some of the highest acclaim was his work with Tito Rodriguez and Eddie Palmieri as Charanga 76, which was nominated for numerous Grammys. This, and other work, finds its way on Strut's latest compilation celebrating Bob Blank's work at the studio.
Coming in with the best song title I've heard in years is James Blood Ulmer's “Jazz Is The Teacher, Funk Is The Preacher,” which would warrant inclusion even if the song sucked (it doesn't). From a historical standpoint, “Crystalized” by Milton Hamilton is also featured. It was the first song recorded at the studio. With its jazzy, disco-like vibes especially on its electric piano solo, it's an homage to the Ulmer track: jazz truly is the teacher.
