theAngelcy - Exit Inside (2015)

Folk band from Israel.

 

 

 

 

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Xavier Rudd & The United Nations - Nanna

Flanked by new band the United Nations – comprised of musicians from Australia, Africa, Samoa, Germany and New Guinea – Xavier Rudd serves up what he has dubbed his "dream project". A thick reggae influence dominates Nanna – "Flag" is pure Marley – but Rudd adds his twists and his band weave in their individual world music flavours: the swirling Andean atmosphere of the title track and the modern indigenous feel of "Rainbow Serpent' in particular add a nice contrast to the LP's dominant sound. For the most part, Nanna is a beautiful celebration of global sound, the only flaw being that Rudd's own unique voice gets a little lost in all that egalitarianism.

 

 

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Xavier Rudd - Koonyum Sun

Australian singer-songwriter Xavier Rudd has a voice that needs to be heard to be understood. Soaring, plaintive and deeply emotive, he sings every verse as if it were his last. There's a poignancy, intimacy and gravitas he achieves with each utterance and intonation that makes nearly every moment worth remembering. It's an achievement many artists can strive a whole career to achieve and never attain.

Rudd is fortunate enough to possess such a voice, but he is far from a one-trick pony. Having already garnered a sizable following for writing socially conscious songs that speak about pestilence, conservation and the plight of the Aboriginal people, he is also a favorite at music festivals for his multi-faceted live sets. It is widely documented that Rudd travels with a trunk full of instruments, including but not limited to: three didgeridoos, electric bass, banjo, stompbox, assorted percussion and an arsenal of Weissenborn slide guitars.

Returning to the blues and roots feel of his album White Moth, Koonyum Sun, his sixth studio album, marks his first studio foray with bassist Tio Moloantoa and percussionist Andie Nqubezelo. The album opens with "Sky to the Ground," a soaring, hypnotic anthem that is arguably one of the best songs he has ever written. That claim though is repeated nearly a half-dozen times before Koonyum Sun draws to a close. Though he's not the kind of artist to be pigeonholed, there's no denying Rudd's love of reggae. "Fresh Green Freedom," and "Time to Smile," are surefire proof of this, with the former drawing on a harmonica lick and a breezy swagger while the latter draws on banjo, bongos and a cresting chorus.

Diving into the Aboriginal landscape, he incorporates tribal chanting into the 1:40 acapella cut "Reasons We Were Blessed," and on the swampy title-track, which draws on a bellowing didgeridoo and the reedy vocals of a young child. For those that prefer music far more spartan and self-assured, look no further than the intimate reflection "Loves Comes and Goes," and the affectionate valentine "Woman Dreaming." While Vampire Weekend has drawn acclaim for drawing on Paul Simon's Graceland, it feels almost criminal to not lend some support and praise for Rudd, who seems to chase down the same thing.

There's an age-old adage that music is supposed to take you to a different place and make you feel better about the world, but what if music was trying to make the world a better place and make the world feel better about itself? That is the essence of what Rudd is trying to do. And thank the cosmos, he's here.

 

 

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Thievery Corporation - Radio Retaliation

It's ironic that a band with its musical head so firmly in the clouds thinks so much about what’s happening down here on Terra Firma. Yet, that’s what Thievery Corporation's Radio Retaliation is all about. The musical approach is the same; just as they have on releases like 2005's The Cosmic Game, Rob Garza and Eric Hilton still bring the dub-oriented beats, silky textures, world musicology and outer spacescapes. And while Thievery Corp have always been tuned into the strange currents and impulses of the now, words have never been so central to their work. Femi Kuti lets loose on Africa's long, sad history of oppression on "Vampires" while Seu Jorge preaches the gospel of peace on "Hare Krisna." Both those tracks are killers, but the record has a way of topping itself. In the midst of all the charged slogans and lullaby charm (listen to LouLou's Gallic flow on "Le Femme Parallel" for an example of the latter), Garza and Hilton will drop a celestial bomb like the painfully gorgeous "The Shining Path." So, while there's no missing how politically engaged they are (the liner notes include relevant words of wisdom from a range of open minds including Einstein, John Lee Hooker and Mos Def), Thievery Corp can still help us return to the serenity of nothing.

 

 

 

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Dubxanne - The Police In Dub

Introducing DubXanne: a group of Hamburg-based musicians devoted to bringing out the original dub roots from the biggest band in '70s-'80s Britain, The Police. At the apex of their career, The Police were a massive, bleached-blond juggernaut, surfing a new wave sound which valued intellectual cool and lightly sprinkled ethnic influences over the discredited rock 'n' roll bluster of old. The first post-punk supergroup. At the end of 1977, over the Christmas period, Stewart Copeland played Sting some of his reggae records. When Summers returned to Britain from his vacation in the United States, he found his bandmates newly inspired by Jamaican sounds. Reggae rhythms finally shook The Police free from post-punk rock convention and the rest has become history -- to date, 40 million people all over the world have bought a Police record! The first recordings for Police In Dub sessions by DubXanne started in September 2006. After exhaustive scrutiny of the Police back catalog at EMI Music Publishing (which controls and manages the rights for Sting's songs) and lengthy negotiations with Sting's management team, final consent for the project was granted in March 2008. Now the world can sit back and look forward to dub versions of the biggest tunes by The Police. The musicians behind DubXanne are members of the group Okada (backing band for Zoe, Maxim, Don Abi to name a few): Mykal (drums), Marcus (bass), Manougazou (guitar) and Guido Craveiro (guitar/keyboards; produced Moloko, Zoe and Bootsy Collins). Also featuring well-known vocalists such as: Big Youth, Ranking Roger from The Beat (who recently shared the stage with The Police in Manchester), Earl 16, Benjamin Zephaniah, Seeed and Jazz'min. DubXanne's album is a unique masterpiece, paying respect to an influential super-group. This is massive roots reggae.

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Lucas Santtana - O Deus Que Devasta Mas Tambem Cura (2012)

Lucas Santtana, born in Bahia in 1970, is a musician with a compelling background that merges popular and classical culture. A follower of candomblé (a Brazilian sect of an African cult), since childhood, Lucas Santtana was brought up among Afro-Brazilian rhythm.
At the age of 15, he enrolled into a pioneer music school in Salvador, where musical theory was taught through scores of Tom Jobim, Dorival Caymmi, João Gilberto and others.
Later on, he graduated from the University of Bahia, where he had contact with classical music and composers such as Bach, Stockhausen, Stravinsky, Debussy, Mozart, Anton von Weber… During his studies, he traveled around Brazil, getting involved in Young Orchestras, and also played with a Cuban band in music floats around Bahia.
In 1993, Lucas Santtana got a scholarship from the Karlshure School of Music (Germany) but he preferred to accept the invitation to join Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil on tour for the album ‘Tropicália 2’.
The following year, he was invited by Gilberto Gil to record the album Gilberto Gil Unplugged MTV, a job he maintained for three and a half years, having participated in two tours of Europe, North, South and Central America.
His solo career started in the year 2000, with the album ‘Eletro Ben Dodô’, produced by the renowned Chico Neves and mixed in Realworld Studio of Peter Gabriel. The album was praised by critics in Brazil and in important musical publications around the world like Village Voice, Down beat and Chicago Tribune (EUA); Le Monde and Vibrations (France); Latino and Esquire (Japan), apart from having been included in a select list of the best ten independent albums in the year 2000 by The New York Times.

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