New Releases: Aziza Williams - What's On Your Mind; Hayvanlar Alemi - Twisted Souvenirs; David Sancious - Transformation (The Speed Of Love)

AZIZA WILLIAMS - WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND

Surprisingly wonderful work from Aziza Miller – an artist you may know as the great Linda Williams, who cut the fantastic City Living album for Arista in the 70s! Aziza's got a groove that's more early 80s than you'd guess from the contemporary date of the record – a vibe that really sounds a lot like what we'd have heard from Williams, had she kept making records for a few more years – with some especially great jazzy undercurrents that show a strong maturation in her style, but still the same old great sense of groove that got our attention in the first place. Instrumentation is great, and production is very old school – never overdone, nor too contemporary – and the strength of the record makes us wonder how we managed to lose touch with Miller over the years! Titles include "Bop Bop Ba Da", "Buscando", "The Subway", "Diva", "What's On Your Mind", and "OAPT".  ~ Dusty Groove

HAYVANLAR ALEMI - TWISTED SOUVENIRS

If you think Turkish psychedelia is only a thing of the past, then guess again – because these guys really bring back the classic sound of Arabesk rock – complete with all its best fuzzy touches! The music is fast and free – driven by heavy drums, and cut through by lots of fierce guitar from Ozum Itez, who's joined by Gokce Basar on a few of the album's key tracks! The group turn in a cool cover of Mulatu's "Yekermo Sew" – alongside other instrumentals that include "Geneva Incident", "Karecikler Dolmadan", "Perils Of Haarlem", and "Med Cezir 2012". (Limited to 750 copies.) ~ Dusty Groove

DAVID SANCIOUS AND TONE - TRANSFORMATION (THE SPEED OF LOVE)

Cosmic fusion from David Sancious – one of his headphone-popping albums for Columbia from the 70s! The record has a really outerspace kind of approach – long tracks that build and layer sound, mostly electric instrumentation, with lots of keyboards, guitars, and percussion. He's again working as a trio with longtime friends and collaborators Gerald Carboy on bass and Ernest Carter on drums and percussion – now working together under the banner of Tone. The songs on Transformation are longer on Transformation, and they're working with more diverse style, adding some bluesy jamming and spacier prog sounds to their hard-hitting fusion sound. Gayle Moran sings lead vocals on the cut "Transformation (The Speed Of Love)", and other tracks include "Sky Church Hymn #9", "Piktor's Metamorphosis" and "Play & Display Of The Heart".  ~ Dusty Groove