Short Attention Span Record Reviews June 2021

BALKAN TAKSIM – Disko Telegraf
Romanian Ethno-electronica duo raise a storm. Great music to dance to. (8)

BLACK MIDI – Cavalcade
Weirder and noisier than the rest of the British post-punk bands they’re grouped together with, these guys are more like a mid-90’s math rock combo doing an 80’s King Crimson tribute. (8)

BLACKBERRY SMOKE – You Hear Georgia
The true heirs to Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allmans are back with another strong effort – they even look more like Skynyrd now, with an expanded 9-person line-up featuring three guitarists plus female back-up singers. (8)

BLOODKIN – Black Market Tango
Unfortunately I just discovered this great band because Danny Hutchens, its driving force, passed away, thanks to a loving tribute by friend and megafan Patterson Hood. A fantastic album of hard rocking but literate Americana, produced by David Barbe (remember Sugar?). (8)

DAVID BOWIE – The Width Of A Circle
My love for Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold The World” is well documented, and this compilation of BBC live radio sessions, alternate mixes, remasters, demos, and singles from 1970 is marketed as a companion piece to last year’s alternate title/cover re-release. A lot of it is non-essential, not that this will stop the obsessive fans of course. (7)

CIRITH UNGOL – Half Past Human
True heavy metal that’s as ugly as the guys who make it. As with every Cirith Ungol release, the love-or-hate vocals make all the difference. (8)

JOHN HIATT WITH THE JERRY DOUGLAS BAND – Leftover Feelings
Legendary Nashville tunesmith teams up with hot bandleader/producer for bluegrass-leaning Americana collaboration that works fine. (8)

ANTHONY JOSEPH – The Rich Are Only Defeated When Running For Their Lives
Jazz and poetry, coming across like a “made in UK” version of The Last Poets. (8)

LOSCIL – Clara
This ambient electronica record is perfect to listen to while listening to something else, and I mean this in the best possible way. (8)

MDOU MOCTAR – Afrique Victime
2021’s second unlikely guitar hero (the previous one being Yasmin Williams), this self-taught, Niger-based Tuareg lets rip on his left-handed Stratocaster with a fresh take of the desert blues pioneered by Tinariwen. Check out the shredding title track. (8)

MONSTER MAGNET – A Better Dystopia
Covers album focusing on obscure tracks by Hawkwind (of course), Pentagram, Poo-Bah, Dust, The Pretty Things, Table Scraps, The Scientists, Morgen etc. Get yourself an educational ass-kicking. (11)

DAVID JOHN MORRIS – Monastic Love Songs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V_hCqO6UQs. (5)

MARIA MULDAUR WITH TUBA SKINNY - Let's Get Happy Together
Remember “Midnight At The Oasis”, a hit from 1973? Apparently Muldaur still records, and this collaboration with a New Orleans band specializing in 1920’s & 1930’s traditional jazz is a riotous romp down Bourbon Street. (7)

PERTURBATOR – Lustful Sacraments
Honestly, I don’t get synthwave in general and Perturbator in particular – this goth electropop thing was not very interesting in the 80’s, and it’s not very interesting today. (6)

DUSTY SPRINGFIELD – The Complete Atlantic Singles 1968–1971
You know, when I was a kid I thought Dusty Springfield and Buffalo Springfield were relatives? True story. So anyway, here’s a batch of recordings that can rival even Aretha’s output on the same label during the same time period. (9)

Short Attention Span Record Reviews May 2021 - The Edition Where I Give Three 10's

AROOJ AFTAB – Vulture Prince
NY-based Pakistani artist creates one of the most stunning sets of music in recent memory by merging her country’s musical tradition with jazz. This will give you chills. (8)

THE BLACK KEYS – Delta Kream
Going back to their Delta blues roots and stripping it down on covers album, paying tribute to their heroes (John Lee Hooker, Junior Kimbrough, R.L Burnside etc.). I loved it. (8)

HOLLY COLE – Montreal (Live)
Look, I’ve had a respectful little crush on Holly for the past 25+ years, and I think she’s a fantastic jazz singer, and I love her albums with the original Holly Cole Trio, and an intimate Holly Cole Trio Xmas gig in NYC back in the mid-90’s is one of the 10 best concerts I’ve ever attended, and this is a live reunion of that trio, so: (10)

ADRIAN CROWLEY – The Watchful Eye Of The Stars
Good album by the Irishman with some help from John Parish and members of Portishead, but Leonard Cohen comparisons are impossible to avoid. (7)

DROPKICK MURPHYS – Turn Up That Dial
The kings of the beer-soaked singalong are back with another batch of working-class Celtic punk anthems. (8)

MARIANNE FAITHFULL WITH WARREN ELLIS – She Walks In Beauty
Faithfull recites poems of the Romantics (Keats, Byron, Shelley, Tennyson, Wordsworth) over ambient soundscapes created by Nick Cave’s right hand. A labor of love. (7)

FUCKED UP – Year of the Horse
This is a fucked up masterpiece. A Fucked Up masterpiece. Fucked Up’s masterpiece. Whatever. (10)

GOJIRA – Fortitude
Definitely the metal album of the year, possibly the metal album of the decade. (10)

JACK INGRAM, MIRANDA LAMBERT, JON RANDALL – The Marfa Tapes
Desert session live, one-take, acoustic, recorded outside lo-fi with one mic and a guitar or two. A beautiful country album with great songwriting and a bold move from Lambert, a bona fide superstar of the genre. (8)

TOM JONES – Surrounded By Time
At 80 years old he releases his most experimental album ever. Ethan Johns produces for the fourth time and does a great job again on a bunch of very interesting covers, ranging from Michel Legrand to Todd Snider. (8)

ASHLEY MONROE – Rosegold
Subversive country artist and 1/3 of the Pistol Annies skips country altogether this time and goes for a pop/trip-hop vibe, with mixed results. (7)

ROSALI – No Medium
Country rock like prime Linda Ronstadt fronting Crazy Horse, and yes, it sounds as awesome as it looks. (8)

ST VINCENT – Daddy’s Home
Not her best album, but an entertaining and rather shticky early-70’s pastiche. (7)

TODD SNIDER – First Agnostic Church Of Hope And Wonder
Funky hippie country blues from veteran singer/songwriter trying to get over the recent loss of close friends and musical heroes. (7)

SONS OF KEMET – Black To the Future
Shabaka Hutchings is already a star on London’s jazz scene and this riotous party of an album will make him a mainstream household name. (8)

SQUID – Bright Green Field
Yet another interesting young English post-punk band with a vocalist who can’t (or won’t) sing to add to the whole Black Country, New Road / Dry Cleaning thing, so it’s officially a trend now. These guys are more like early Talking Heads/Gang Of Four gone krautrock. (8)