If a man in a trench coat approaches you and gives you a choice of "zu" or "no zu", you are hereby advised to take the less obvious choice. Sure, you might be tempted to take the first choice and become the proud owner of some zu which, you think, surely must be better than no zu at all. However, if you take the second choice you will have Heat Beat, the new EP by Melbourne's ultra terrific No Zu. If this discussion hurts your head, turn off your brain, press "play" on Heat Beat and let your heart and feet be your guide. This is punk funk. It is dance. It is world beat. It is dark but vibrant. It is the one and only heat beat.
No Zu are icons in Melbourne (and probably everywhere else they have played). Heat Beat is their first record in several years, and presents their last recordings with vocalist Daphene Camf, who died in 2021. We hope they continue because there is nothing quite like them. But the future aside, the weekend comes and everyone should have Heat Beat on their soundtrack. The EP is available in vinyl and digital formats via Chapter Music.
We are here to suggest that you can turn your computer/phone into an instrument of excitement and energy, all without visiting a site that would shock your mother. All you need to do is hit the Bandcamp link for Where's The One?, the 2022 release by supergroup Congotronics International. You get the excitement and energy promised above, and a groove that may keep you up way past your bedtime. After all, the album lasts 82 minutes.
We realize that the term supergroup may be overused, but Congotronics International earns it. The project combines Konono No.1, Kasai Allstars, Juana Molina, Wildbirds & Peacedrums, and members of Deerhoof and Skeleton. The project was developed over a period of years, including a lot of remote collaboration as well as face to face sessions. With multiple styles and artists speaking different languages the music is adventuresome and expansive, but remains rooted in the fusion of traditional Congolese music and rock. Dig in, folks, it is like an audio National Geographic collage.
Where's The One? is out now in vinyl, CD, and digital formats via Crammed Discs.
Let's Make Love - as titles go, it is hard to quibble with that sentiment. But that is fitting, because the music offered in the album under that title is pretty damn wonderful as well. Brazilian Girls has been with us for over a decade, but this album is only their fourth. While the sparse production is understandable, as the members all have lives and don't, at this point, even live in the same city, it is unfortunate as the band is excellent. Their sweet spot is energetic dance music painted with a broad palette of jazz, electronica, South American and Caribbean influences. Thirteen years after their debut album, the music world finds the members of Brazilian Girls with a bit of maturity and perspective, and perhaps even more confident and subtle. But make no mistake, this band was born and nurtured in the New York City club scene, built on talent, improvisation and fearlessness, and happily those attributes remain core elements of Let's Make Love. Released in April, this album could be your feel-good party album for the entire summer and beyond.
For the readers unfamiliar with the band, we will perform the public service of advising you that the band consists of New Yorkers Didi Gutman, Aaron Johnston, and Jesse Murphy, with European vocalist Sabina Sciubba. That's right -- no Brazilians and only one woman. But with the spirit of Brazilian party music infusing their music, no one can feel cheated. I think we all can agree on that.
Maria Usbeck, who in the past has thrilled us as the vocalist for Selebrities, has now given us one of the prettiest albums of the year in Amparo. It is light, playful, warm, highly rhythmic, and exotic. While Maria lives in New York, where the album was recorded, she wrote the album while traveling in Buenos Aires, Santiago, Barcelona, Lisbon, Easter Island, Costa Rica, Florida, L.A. and her native Ecuador, as well as her adopted home. And the circumstances of the songs' creation influences the listener's experience. Cue up the album, close your eyes, and you can imagine you are watching a high quality travelogue of the locales visited by Maria, watching the sunlight dance on the waves, the clouds race through blue skies, and the warm and welcoming faces of the residents for faraway lands. The lyrics are mostly in Spanish, with bits of other languages from the countries where the songs were composed, and all in languages that I don't speak or read. But quite frankly I found that aspect of the recording to enhance, rather than lessen, my listening experience. Other delightful touches are unusual percussion and snippets of field recordings.
Regardless of your usual musical taste, we highly recommend Amparo. It is out now via Labrador in Europe and Cascine in North America.
Dubarry, from Australia's Sunshine Coast, creates electronic music with world beat and dub elements. They are said to deliver a smashing live show as well. Let your introduction be their new "Depth of Perception". Well conceived and executed, the tribal percussion is outstanding.
Dubarry are Brett Gadenne, Kate Gadenne, Damian Campbell and, from time to time, Adam Scriven and Chelsea Campbell-Wilson.
An early treat from the folks at Reverberation Radio. It's their usual curated mix of 60's psychedelia, garage, early world rock combined with Music recorded and played by bands who treasure the era.
Taureg singer/guitarist Omara "Bombino" Moctar has released his third album: Nomad. The cover art - a wildman screeching away on his motorcycle, long scarf trailing in the breeze - gives some sense of the full-throttle proceedings inside the record. It's a session in which superstar producer and world-class rock guitarist Dan Auerbach (at whose Easy Eye studios the album was recorded) plays the role of facilitator and enabler. It appears that Auerbach only plays on one song, the joyous "Niamey Jam", but he clearly gives Bombino room, encouragement and the space to spread out and take these songs wherever they lead.
Moctar was nicknamed "Bombino" by one of the approving musical elders who helped guide him on his improbable journey from refugee to shepherd to Auerbach's Nashville studio. Tradition and heritage being very important to Bombino, you will hear echoes of other Taureg music and even song titles. But he's also a man of the 21st century, and after all his travels and travails, a fairly cosmopolitan citizen of this very small YouTube world we live in, so the album resounds with echoes of European and American guitar heroes like Mark Knopfler, Jimi Hendrix and Richard Thompson. Knopfler and Hendrix are mentioned specifically as influences, artists whom Bombino was exposed to by friends playing him videos. I would be surprised if he wasn't also exposed to Thompson, but even if not, I find a lot of similarities between their sounds - in a most enjoyable way.
Here's a video about the origins of the album and the relationship between Bombino and Auerbach:
And here's a short summary of his amazing journey, from the information on the Nonesuch website which accompanied this release: Before 2009, Bombino was little known outside Saharan Africa, where his career consisted of regionally available cassettes and roles in local bands. Born and raised in Niger, in and around the northern city of Agadez, Bombino is a member of the Tuareg Ifoghas tribe, a nomadic people descended from the Berbers of North Africa. The Tuareg people have fought the Niger government to secure their rights on numerous occasions, causing Bombino and his family to flee several times. During one such exile, relatives visiting from the front lines of the rebellion left behind a guitar and Bombino began teaching himself to play it. He eventually studied with the renowned Tuareg guitarist Haja Bebe, who asked him to join his band, where he acquired the nickname Bombino—a variation on the Italian word for “little child." Bombino worked regularly as a musician and also as a herder in the desert near Tripoli, spending many hours alone watching the animals and practicing his guitar.
I love the joyous abandon of "Niamey Jam", which features Auerbach on bass and everybody in the studio on something (including bassist/percussionist Kildjate Moussa Albade on cowbell!). I am also charmed by the sad, slow cowboy sounds of "Imidiwan" - the way it's played and arranged may be a confirmation of the universality of the experiences of cowboys, shepherds, desert dwellers everywhere. "Zigzan" has an Oriental feel to it, but the predominant tenor of the album is joy. Pure, unadulterated joy. Check out the video above, of the guys in the studio. And check out this live video of an encore at a show in Nashville, captured by John Brassil:
Nomad is a tremendous record - sure to be treasured by world music fans and anyone with an appreciation for blues-based guitar rock. Bombino's enthusiasm and talent are pretty much irresistible. You can learn more, listen to songs and order the record at the Nonesuch website.
Norwegian Arms is a Philly-based duo (Brendan Mulvihill, Eric Slick) playing some intriguing, exotic folk rock along the lines of Vampire Weekend, Walkmen and Arcade Fire (to my ears, anyway). This debut album, Wolf Like A Stray Dog, is the result of lyrical and musical reflections on a year spent in Siberia by vocalist/mandolin Mulvihill, shaped into an album upon his return to the states with Slick (who is also a member of Dr. Dog.), in Dr. Dog's studio in Philadelphia.
The album integrates Eastern influences in a slightly different way than the afro-pop of Vampire Weekend, but it's not dissimilar, which raises all kinds of questions about the commonality of rhythms and musical approaches the world over...
The record is intriguing and pretty charming - and you have every incentive to check it out, since you can stream (and currently download for name-your-price) at Bandcamp:
It's on Big School Records and you can pre-order vinyl, physical cd's and other merchandise at this link.
Maria Rodés is a Spanish singer/songwriter who is creating some of the most beautiful pop music I've heard in some time... touching on folk, alt/country and even some gently rocking soul, but with an almost supernatural voice in front of all the tempos and arrangements.
Here's the lead track "Te Vi" - gently picked acoustic guitar, lush keyboards, and that voice:
And here's the second song "Cae Lo Que Fuego Fue", which features a gently rocking second half, and serves as a good example of the variety and quality of her songs on this record:
Covers of other artists' works are tricky. While the covering artist most certainly thinks that they are providing an honorable tribute or interesting interpretation, there always is the risk of leaving the listener disappointed and aching to cleanse his ears by pressing play on the original work. So I was understandably wary of The Great Expectation, an entire album of covers by Jamaica's The Jolly Boys. Sure, the cover of Winehouse's "Rehab" that I posted last week was great fun, but could they make an entire album of covers interesting? The answer, is a resounding "yes". They tackle songs by Lou Reed, The Clash, Iggy Pop, The Rolling Stones, The Stranglers, Johnny Cash and others, and make them their own. The listener forgets about the originals, and gets lost in the Caribbean rhythm party. Listen to the group's version of "The Passenger" while we provide some background.
The Jolly Boys are from Port Antonio, Jamaica. The band was formed in the mid 1950s and enjoyed success over the next four decades among reggae and world music fans. Their style of music is known as mento, which preceded ska and reggae on the island, and fuses elements of jump blues and New Orleans R&B. While sometimes referred to as calypso, it is its own distinct genre. Despite their ages (lead vocalist Albert Minott is 72), The Jolly Boys currently are the house band at the GeeJam hotel in Port Antonio. The Great Expectation uses the traditional mento instruments -- banjo, acoustic guitar and rhumba box -- and adds digital beats to beef up the sound for the group's interpretation of rock standards. By the way, the album was released in 2010, but I only recently became aware of it. If you like to get outside the rock/pop comfort zone, this is a recommended listen.
Here the band tackles Cash and the Stones:
The Jolly Boys are --
The Foundation Group:
Albert Minott : vocals, guitar
Joseph ‘Powder’ Bennett : backing vocals, maracas and ‘vibes’
Derrick ‘Johnny’ Henry : marumba box and backing vocals
Allan Swymmer : percussion
Egbert Watson : banjo
The New Blood: Donald Waugh : banjo
Lenford “Brutus” Richards : guitar
Dale Virgo : percussion
For those who may have missed it last week, here is the fine video for one of the best songs on the album, "Rehab":
