Friday, May 30, 2014

NEW RELEASES: THE IMPELLERS FEATURING CLAIR WITCHER - MY CERTAINTY; TOCO - MEMORIA; NATE WOOLEY / HUGO ANTUNES / CHRIS CORSANO - MALUS

THE IMPELLERS FEATURING CLAIR WITCHER - MY CERTAINTY 

“My Certainty” is the third album by The Impellers and according to the band, their most accomplished yet. With their previous releases “Robot Legs" (Freestyle) and “This Is Not A Drill” (Légère/Mocambo) this group from Brighton have established themselves as a tight and authentic raw funk unit. With “My Certainty” the band - featuring vocalist Clair Witcher and composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Glenn Fallows - explore fresh territory. “We wanted this album to be different to other material we’ve produced, but still keeping the big and heavy sound which people have liked about us.  There’s a couple of reasons why we hope this album will surprise people,” Clair Witcher explains. With "My Certainty" there's no question that The Impellers have re-invented their sound. "We've used different musical styles which match the stories and sentiments in each of the songs. There's a couple of soulful ballads, some acoustic folky soul, a bit of R&B-inspired stuff. Having said that, there's a load of influences from individual band members too, which seem to bleed through into the overall sound," Glenn Fallows explains.  

TOCO - MEMORIA

Toco just gets better and better with each new record – to a point where it's almost impossible to separate the sound of this recent release with Brazilian classics from the 70s! The vibe is great – not a bossa rehash, but kind of a post-bossa style that's almost more in the territory of Caetano Veloso or Gal Costa in the 70s – more sophisticated, and with a deep sense of songwriting – but still served up with a sense of economy learned from the bossa generation – which comes to play in the light instrumentation used on most tracks. Fender Rhodes is expertly blended with acoustic guitar and percussion – and a few numbers featre slight sweetening with strings, but just in a gentle way. Most numbers have Toco's vocals with some slight harmony backing on the chorus – in a way that recalls some of Marcos Valle's laidback music from the early 70s. Titles include "Cigana", "Breque Bom", "O Tempo E Aqui", "Divino", "Rainha", "Minas", "Mane", "Meu Rio", "Bate", and "Vendaval".  ~  Dusty Groove


NATE WOOLEY / HUGO ANTUNES / CHRIS CORSANO - MALUS

Nate Wooley's turning out to be one of the most powerful voices on the trumpet of his generation – a player in the left side of the spectrum, but one who can also evoke a classic sense of tone as well – used in a spacious, majestic way that's very commanding! This set's a great illustration of Wooley's growing power as a player – working here in an improvisational format in a trio with Hugo Antunes on bass and Chris Corsano on drums – but with a sense of vision and focus that's really amazing – almost like Ted Curson at his most out, but with an even greater sensitivity to his members in the trio. Titles include "Sawbuck", "4 Cornered", "Gentleman Of Four Outs", "Sewn", and "Seven Miles From The Moon". (Limited edition of 300 copies.)  ~ Dusty Groove


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