Friday, July 08, 2016

NEW MUSIC: DJ SPINNA PRESENTS THE WONDER OF STEVIE; TANBOU TOUJOU LOU – MERINGUE, KOMPA KREYOL, VODOU JAZZ & ELECTRIC FOLKLORE FROM HAITI 1960-1981; BADBADNOTGOOD - IV

DJ SPINNA PRESENTS THE WONDER OF STEVIE (VARIOUS ARTISTS)

An incredible collection of Stevie Wonder cover versions – different versions of familiar tunes, but ones that really manage to sparkle with all the righteous soul of the Stevie himself! It's been over a decade since DJ Spinna brought us the last version of his Wonder Of Stevie series – and during that time, he's managed to come up with a huge amount of great tracks that make the whole thing go way way deeper than before – not just cuts that copy the Wonder mode, but which seem to draw strong inspiration from its genius, and really soar to the skies! Much of the music here resonates with a charm that's located around the years of albums like Music Of My Mind and Innervisions, with all the jazzy currents that might imply – and some cuts are 70s vintage, others are more contemporary. Titles include "Bird Of Beauty" by US Atlantic First Navy Show Band, "It's My Pleasure" by Billy Preston, "Love's In Need Of Love Today" by John Minnis Big Bone Band, "As" by Tony Sherman, "Buttercup" by Jackson 5, "Have A Talk With God" by East St Louis Gospelettes, "Betcha Wouldn't Hurt Me" by Quincy Jones, "Golden Lady" by Reel People with Tony Momrelle, "If You Don't Love Me" by GC Cameron, "If She Breaks Your Heart Again" by Foreign Exchange, "Don't You Worry Bout A Thing" by Black Sugar, "Go Home" by Jrod Indigo, and "Make My Water Boil" by David Ruffin. 2CDs – one of the cuts unmixed, one with the tracks in a continuous mix by Spinna!  ~ Dusty Groove

TANBOU TOUJOU LOU – MERINGUE, KOMPA KREYOL, VODOU JAZZ & ELECTRIC FOLKLORE FROM HAITI 1960-1981 (VARIOUS ARTISTS)

 Fantastic sounds from Haiti – served up in all the styles promised by the title, and pulled from a mixture of private collections and radio recordings that also document the Haitian diaspora during the nation's years of dictatorship! Yet given the restriction of the government, the cultural palette here is surprisingly wide and wonderful – with a mixture of jazz, Latin, and African currents flowing through the music in a really lively way – representing Haiti's unique crossroads in the Caribbean! Some of these cuts almost feel as if they could have been taken from Havana – save for the French language lyrics – while others echo a bit of the jazzy styles of Guadaloupe, and others maybe have the starker sound of vintage Colombia music – which makes for a tremendously vivid collection all the way through. Package comes with a huge amount of great notes – and titles include "Lagen" by Zotobre, "Bebe Showman" by Les Loups Noirs, "Lola" by Chanel 10, "Lonin" by Super Jazz De Jeunes, "Epoque Chaleur" by Shupa Shupa, "Soulfrance" by Ibo Combo, "Madeleine" by Super Choucoune 70, and "Prend Courage" by Ensemble Webert Sicot.  ~ Dusty Groove

BADBADNOTGOOD - IV

Badbadnotgood have always been pretty damn great, actually – and never better than on album IV – a remarkable step forward for the group! As ever, they take inspiration from some of the best prog, jazz, funk (and proggy jazz funk...they blend) of the 70s and beyond, but weave it into fairly distinctive and genuinely fun modern sound. It's built to last, too –we're sure be able to come back to their work in a couple decades and it'll still work! IV finds them with the confidence to trade in some fairly subtle, smoothed out moments between to more boisterous ones, and they're more dexterous in the instrumentation – especially in the horns, keys and percussion – but some great vibes, strings, flute and more when the mood calls. Includes the great vocal track "Time Moves Slow" with Sam Herring of Future Islands, "And That, Too", "Lavender", "IV", "Chompy's Paradise", "Structure No. 3", "Cashmere", "Hyssops Of Love" and more. ~ Dusty Groove


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