Tuesday, January 20, 2015

NEW RELEASES: THE LIONS - SOUL RIOT; JOHN ZORN - HERMETIC ORGAN VOL 3: ST. PAUL'S HALL; LERON THOMAS - TAKE IT

THE LIONS – SOUL RIOT
The Lions seem to get deeper and deeper with each new release – moving past their start as a funk band with a focus on Kingston sounds – into a group who've got a really fresh feel of their own! Sure, some cuts here are great reggae numbers – the kind of mellow, head-nodding cuts The Lions have always given us – but there's also some more complicated elements going on too, these little touches of darkness at times, especially on the rhythms, which can break from obvious patterns into something nicely unique. Plenty of guests help flesh out the tunes – including Malik The Freq Moore, Black Shakespeare, Alex Desert, and Myron Glasper – and titles include "My Girl", "Going Nowhere", "Rhythm Rock", "Feels Good", "At A Loss", "Smoke & Mirrors", and "When It Rains". (Includes download! Pressed at 45 rpm – for even more booming sound!)  ~ Dusty Groove 

JOHN ZORN - HERMETIC ORGAN VOLUME 3: ST. PAUL'S HALL

Insanely great organ improvisations from John Zorn – an artist you might know best for his groundbreaking reed work, but who turns in a tremendous performance here on a full-voiced church organ! Zorn's range of sounds is mindblowing here – sometimes bold and bracing, sometimes just at the very edge of the sonic spectrum – used in these subtle, quiet ways that build beautifully as John deftly makes his ways over the keys and different stops on the instrument – with almost a building's worth of breadth in the results. All tracks are long – and titles include "Spectral Angels", "The Fall Of Satan", and "The Revelation Of St John".  ~ Dusty Groove


LERON THOMAS - TAKE IT

Totally wonderful work from Leron Thomas – an artist we're only discovering with this full length album, but one who we totally love already! Leron's got this hip style that's a mix of funky soul and darker, more sci fi-styled touches – some crispness on the beats, weird processing on his vocals, and a nice sense of abstraction that really inflects some great moments on the album's lyrics! Leron's worked before with Jason Moran, Guts, and Zara McFarlane – but this full length set on his own is a real revelation – with a sense of power and presence that should well have us hearing a lot more from him in years to come. Titles include "Enemy", "Kept", "Take It", "Appear To Stack", "Cover Band", and "Ass Kickin". (Includes download.) ~ Dusty Groove


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