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Playlist
3/16/2012
Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars
Radio Salone
Cumbancha
Radio Salone feels like everything good about radio (still a strong influence in African musical
culture)…the excitement of being glued to the dial waiting for what they’re bringing next, with
fresh-familiar references—reggae, tenory soukous guitar, West African majesty—and that thing
that makes this everyone’s music. From the funky analog imprint of producer Victor Axelrod
(Amy Winehouse, Sharon Jones) to the way hands hit drums on the “Goombay” interludes—
when this band tells you to shake your booty, you do. These tracks don’t strive for perfection
but achieve it anyway, in their honesty and ease.
Leah Jones
Nick Waterhouse
You Can’t Say That
Innovative Leisure
How can 25-year-old
SF bandleader Nick
Waterhouse be such an
old “soul”? Following
throwback powerhouses
like the Dap Kings
and Charles Bradley,
Nick’s debut is as Gold
Star Recording retro
R&B-styled as it gets
without having a time
machine in your studio.
This approach really
only works if it’s the
band making the record,
not vice versa; mission
accomplished here. A
great collection of stellar
big-boogie talent sounds
both silky and gritty.
Craig Dalton
Breton
Other People’s
Problems
Fat Cat
Forgiving the
monotonous spokenword
vocals, Londonbased
Breton’s
old-school cut-up,
stompfoot electronica is
a revitalizing antidote in
these days of Pro Tools
conformity. Collaging
samples ranging from
queasy strings, harp,
and seaside found
sounds to overheard
conversations and
industrial noise, Other
People’s Problems comes
on like Coldcut by way
of De La Soul.
Ken Micallef
The Carolina
Chocolate Drops
Leaving Eden
Nonesuch
The latest album from
retro string/jug band
the Carolina Chocolate
Drops was produced
by the Americana
Association’s reigning
Artist of the Year, Buddy
Miller. Like Miller’s
other productions
(Robert Plant/Band of
Joy, Solomon Burke,
Patty Griffin), this music
is warm, joyful and
authentic without being
a bit dusty. Of course, it
helps that these three
young musicians are
brilliant players and
powerful singers with a
palpable connection to
the history and beauty of
this music.
Barbara Schultz
Steve Thomas
Audnoyz Project
Volume 2
www.audionoyz.com
Somewhere between
2001: A Space Oddity,
Kraftwerk, and Tangerine
Dream lies recordingindustry
expert Steve
Thomas’ Audionoyze
Project, a self-described
“aural journey for
the inner eye.” It’s a
beautifully rhythmic
journey of electronica
surfing waves of ambient
vocal and instrumental
passages. Listening to
this fresh approach to
multicultural instrumental
influences, you start feel
like you are experiencing
synasthesia, seeing the
music. A natural work for
filmmakers to explore, this
genre-breaking collection
pleases, startles, and
stimulates the mind.
Craig Dalton
Birdy
Birdy
Warner
Fifteen-year-old
Jasmine van den
Bogaerde (aka Birdy)
is a seriously old soul
channeling haunted
songs and angelic vocals
in her slight teenage
frame. Already a star
in England for her
rendition of Bon Iver’s
“Skinny Love,” Birdy
covers songs by Fleet
Foxes, The National,
Phoenix, and James
Taylor. She sings with
the kind of passion
and depth of soul that
typically come from
years of a life well lived.
That a teenager pulls off
this feat of time travel
is nothing short of a
revelation.
Ken Micallef
Todd Snider
Agnostic Hymns &
Stoner Fables
Aimless Records
Todd Snider’s genius lies
in his ability to see more
than one layer of irony
wherever he looks, to
express this musically.
His new album points
a sharp stick at greed
and selfishness, and
other human failings,
without ever losing a
sense of humor. Made in
his friend and frequent
collaborator Eric
McConnell’s Nashvillearea
home studio, the
arrangements are a
bit more fragmented
(bordering on
psychedelic) than much
of his studio work, but
Snider is always worth
listening to, word
for word.
Barbara Schultz
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