Review: After Dinner is like one of those molecular gastronomy adventures, where dishes are both playful and highly complex, not necessarily revealing themselves until the very end. Done with talk of food? Let's just say this is a loose art collective led by a composer called Haco, who were concerned with taking musical plurality and splicing disparate elements together to create a kind of friendly Frankenstein's monster of sound.
And friendly it definitely is. Considered a true one-off of Japanese pop-art rock-avant garde, Paradise of Replica is jaunty, it's amusing, it's beguiling and, ultimately, incredibly immersive. There are moments where the clash of pianos plucked straight from a comedy of manners opera and rough electric guitars (to give one example of the juxtapositions) feel rather strange, but it doesn't take too long for you to get sucked right into the centre of this insane sonic universe.
Hangin Your Life On The Wall (feat Ramblin Jack Elliott) (3:33)
The Randall Knife (5:31)
Review: A reissue of a 1995 release from Texas songwriting great Guy Clark, this one gets a new mix from original co-producer Miles Wilkinson, restoring warmth and space to ten gorgeously plainspoken tracks. Clark's delivery is unhurried and unadorned, leaning on lived-in detail and dry wit, whether on the fiddle-laced resolve of 'Stuff That Works', the aching 'The Randall Knife', or the breezy storytelling of 'Baby Took A Limo To Memphis'. Cameos from Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Emmylou Harris and Darrell Scott add gentle texture, while the arrangements remain spare and acoustic-led, grounded in Clark's dry baritone and fingerpicked guitar. A quietly luminous return to one of Americana's most humane voices.
Medley: The Lark In The Morning/Rakish Paddy/Foxhunter's Jig/Toss The Feathers (4:04)
Tam Lin (7:16)
Crazy Man Michael (4:41)
Review: Universally acclaimed British folk pioneers Fairport Convention had a remarkable rise to the top of a series of superb albums that came in quick succession. This, their fourth album, came in 1969 after the band was involved in a fatal car accident in which their drummer Martin Lamble was killed. Liege And Lief now gets reissued as it was back then and with its five traditional tracks sitting next to three originals in a folk style. It is the template they followed for many years after and the one that made them such a widely regarded band. The epic 'Matty Groves' is one of the band's most long-lasting anthems.
Review: Good things from those who wait, someone should have definitely said at some point. For Bill Fay, who had both the privilege and the nightmare of being able to choose from some 40 years of material to put this together. Amazingly only his third LP, arriving 50 years after his debut, at 76-years-young he has clearly mastered the art of keeping things simple in order to be truly, staggeringly powerful. It's unforgettable stuff to say the least. Tender vocals, gentile guitar, delicate pianos and little more, aside from some incredibly evocative lyrics. Works such as "I Will Remain Here" and the title track summarise Fay in many ways. Songs about ancient, mysterious places and histories imagined and real, our poet-cum-troubadour acting as both guide and accomplice to the act of marvelling at it all. Records like this literally don't come along everyday, and we should treasure every moment of them.
Review: For his new album, New York's anti-folk hero Jeffrey Lewis headed to record in Nashville with Roger Mountenot (long-time producer of Yo La Tengo, and the previous Jeffrey Lewis album Bad Wiring!). With the Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage band in-tow, the album carries on in the rambling sharp-witted, irreverent style that he's known for. Afterall with the album cover, he's nakedly re-staged The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan cover to prove he's "even more" freewhellin than Bob!, so you can understand that Lewis isn't taking life too seriously. The chorus to 'Sometimes Life Hits You' is "Ow! F*ck that hurt!". And 'Just Fun' is a playful, self deprecating ode to dating, whereby getting the jokes in about himself before someone else does he sounds stronger and more comfortable in his skin than any macho man ever would.
Quarteto Em City - "Aleluia" (with Tamba Trio) (3:30)
Lena Platonos - "Bloody Shadows From A Distance" (3:05)
Ray Davies - "I Go To Sleep" (2:44)
Alfred Schnittke - "Piano Quintet, V" (3:21)
Agnes Obel - "Stretch Your Eyes" (Ambient acappella) (6:01)
The Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Choir - "Pilentze Pee (Pilentze Sings)" (2:22)
Agnes Obel - "Glemmer D" (2:03)
Agnes Obel - "Bee Dance" (2:34)
Sibylle Baier - "The End" (2:29)
Michelle Gurevich - "Party Girl" (4:28)
CAN - "Oscura Primavera" (3:19)
David Lang - "I Lie" (5:08)
Nina Simone - "Images" (live In New York 1964) (2:50)
Agnes Obel - "Poem About Death" (3:05)
Review: The latest missive in the evocative and open-minded Late Night Tales series comes from Agnes Obel, a Danish singer/songwriter whose fragile, pastoral songs seemingly join the dots between traditional folk music, neo-classical and early music. Fittingly, Obel's selections, while more diverse than many may have expected - see the soulful reggae throb of Nora Dean, the creepy jazz of Yello's "Great Mission" and the whispered synth-pop shuffle of Lena Platanos - are every bit as atmospheric and ethereal as her own work. It helps that she's included several of her own compositions, alongside inspired cuts that touch on Berlin School ambient, hazy easy listening, neo-classical, psychedelia, lo-fi art rock and, of course, folk.
Review: Posuposu Otani is a mysterious throat singer and songwriter from Japan who dropped his debut physical album in March. By merging open-tuned guitar, Kohkin (aka the Jew's harp) and traditional throat singing, Otani creates a sound filled with rich harmonics and fluid rhythms that all evoke the mood of Impressionist art and explore themes of freedom, nature and self-discovery. Influenced by his punk roots, worldly travels and immersion in mountain life, Otani's storytelling music reflects his deep connection to the natural world and makes for a far-journeying listen.
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