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Details: Written by: Shannon Holliday; Category: Shannon's Select Sounds; Created: 01 November 2011

West coast hip-hop, quirky alt-rock, and a bit of angelic folk have been keeping unlikely company in my rotation of late. And while these artists have nothing in common, they’re worthy listens if you’re looking for some select new tunes to close out the year.

Lateef the Truthspeaker prepares to release his first solo effort, Firewire (CD, Quannum Projects QP93), on November 8, 2011. A prolific collaborator in the West Coast underground hip-hop scene, Lateef co-founded the artists’ collective and independent record label Quannum Projects (which is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2012), as well as several successful Oakland/Bay-area rap groups including Latyrx and the Mighty Underdogs. His lyrical prowess, combined with a willingness to tackle subjects of societal injustice, has earned him a reputation as one of the best rappers today. Born Lateef K. Daumont in Oakland, CA, in 1974, he was raised by his parents, who were both members of the Black Panther movement. Firewire is his first album released independently rather than as part of a collaborative project, but that doesn’t mean it’s a one-man show. He invites old and new friends to contribute, giving the album a beefy roll call that includes DJ Shadow, Lyrics Born, Chief Xcel, Dan the Automator, and Headnodic among others. Most of the album’s tracks feature different producers, lending a unique sound and flavor to each song. The opener, "Let’s Get Up" (produced by Chief Xcel) is an energetic embarkation and gives the album good thrust right out of the gate. "Hardships" examines how politics and inequity affect the poor, and it laments the current US economic hardships of the many due to the gross exploitation of the system perpetrated by the few. It’s a potentially perfect anthem for the Occupy Wall Street movement. The songs range widely from pop and jungle-mystique to R&B and island jams, but throughout the album Lateef’s rhymes address intelligent themes and are delivered with unparalleled alacrity and skill. Firewire celebrates the past accomplishments of Lateef the Truthspeaker and his collaborative nature, and it ushers in his next era of quality music making under his solo guise -- this is truly hip-hop to be reckoned with.

Read more: Josh Nelson: "Discoveries"

Details: Written by: Joseph Taylor; Category: Regular Reviews; Created: 01 October 2011

Café Blue Premonition Records 90760-1
Format: LP (reissue)

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Patricia Barber’s third release, Café Blue, was her 1994 breakthrough, a critics’ favorite that helped the singer/pianist develop a strong following. This vinyl reissue is, by my count, the third appearance of Café Blue on disc. Jim Anderson, the original engineer, remixed this two-LP/33 1/3rpm set at Capitol Studios in Hollywood; Bob Ludwig remastered it; and Doug Sax cut the lacquers for pressing by RTI. Anderson had already taken great care with the recording, but he was eager to use Capitol’s tools, both old and new, to tweak it. I compared this pressing with the MFSL Hybrid SACD, and the difference on "What a Shame" was immediate and dramatic. The heavy reverb that surrounds Barber’s voice and, to some extent, the other instruments on the earlier disc is much reduced on this LP. Her voice now has just a hint of reverb and sounds more natural, which gives the other instruments more space to breathe. At first I thought I preferred the older mix on "The Thrill Is Gone," but after a few listens I liked the new version much more. It pulls the bass back just enough to let it flow better with the music and gives Barber’s voice more focus. Fans may go back and forth between their earlier CD/SACD or LP and this new one, especially since the songs are in a different sequence, but they won’t want to miss this reissue.

. . . Joseph Taylor
josepht@soundstagenetwork.com

Details: Written by: Rad Bennett; Category: Regular Reviews; Created: 01 October 2011

Self released
Format: CD

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Fluteus Maximus When I was in college, Herbie Mann was a big part of the music scene. His version of Memphis blues crossed boundaries to successfully mix soul, pop, and jazz, and just about everyone could enjoy it. When I played this new album by flutist Mindy Canter, it popped the cork on a lot of happy memories. Though classically trained, Canter visits the same eclectic mix that Mann pursued. In fact, she plays some tunes closely associated with Mann, such as "Do It Again" and "Watermelon Man." A virtuoso herself, Canter has a backing group that grooves right along with her, heart and soul. Guitarist Denny Geyer stands out, and not just for his rich and vibrant guitar tracks. He proves to be a fine blues singer on "High Heel Sneakers," "Funny How Time Slips Away," "Hallelujah," and the old Tennessee Ernie Ford hit "16 Tons." The album closes with songs that work but might seem to some like strange bedfellows to the others on the disc -- "Over the Rainbow," featuring a Latin beat, and "Happy Trails," which features a flutist’s idea of a "lonesome wail." To cash in on the funk aspect of the disc, Canter overdubs some amazing Hammond B3 tracks that are perfectly recorded, always audible, and never unduly spotlighted. The other instruments are just as well recorded; Paul Smith’s bass is rich and full, providing terrific impetus to every track. To preserve spontaneity, the group recorded one take of each song in a four-hour session. I’d be up for a second volume and maybe a spin-off disc featuring Geyer as vocalist.

Details: Written by: Joseph Taylor; Category: Regular Reviews; Created: 01 October 2011

429 Records FTN 17832
Format: CD

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Dedicated When Steve Cropper first heard "Think" by the "5" Royales, he must have thought, "Man, that’s what I want to sound like." The R&B group was at its peak for roughly ten years beginning in 1952, and Lowman Pauling was its guitarist and principal songwriter. His simple, clean, and powerful guitar style was a prime influence on Cropper’s work, and Cropper pays tribute to him and the group on Dedicated. He and producer Jon Tiven get help from a variety of singers, including Steve Winwood, Bettye LaVette, Sharon Jones, and Lucinda Williams. Williams is mannered and overwrought on "Dedicated to the One I Love," but she does a nice, restrained turn on "When I Get Like This." Blues Traveler’s John Popper is excellent on "My Sugar Sugar," but the high points belong to LaVette and Willie Jones on "Don’t Be Ashamed" and Sharon Jones on "Messin’ Up." The band includes Muscle Shoals stalwarts Spooner Oldham and David Hood, and the horn arrangements by Cropper, Tiven, and Neal Sugarman are true to the "5" Royales’ original ’50s sound. Cropper, who’s outstanding throughout, proves that it isn’t how many notes you play; it’s how you play them. Dan Penn, who does a beautiful vocal on "Someone Made You for Me," engineered the recording in his own studio, and the sound is as vintage as digital can get.

Details: Written by: Rad Bennett; Category: Regular Reviews; Created: 01 October 2011

Jazzed Media JM1054
Format: CD

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Parallel Lives I can’t begin to count the number of "girl singer" discs that arrive here during a typical month. If it’s not in the dozens, it seems so. Some of them are good, but we have limited space and a disc needs to be quite good to make the cut. Andrea Wolper’s standout set is a disc everyone should hear. She’s got a warm and versatile voice, which on this set carries her all the way from crooning a ballad like "Skylark" to scatting and making exuberant vocal sound effects on "Blue Wind." She’s a terrific arranger, taking new paths rather than expected ones ("Who Will Buy?" from the Broadway musical Oliver becomes a sexy, lazy samba), and she’s a composer as well, contributing three originals to the disc. Moreover, she’s a talented program builder, picking good but not overexposed tunes that range all the way from Joni Mitchell ("Song to a Seagull" and "Be Cool") to Buffy Sainte-Marie ("Maple Sugar Boy"), and she even adds a nod back to Richard Rogers ("Something Good"). Her band is tight, consisting of musicians who can be part of the whole or set out in a blaze of glory on a solo riff. The sound that conveys all of this talent is warm and focused, and it presents a stage that has appealing depth, with the drums sounding behind the piano but no less clear than if they’d been in front. This one’s a winner; don’t let it pass you by.

Details: Written by: Joseph Taylor; Category: Featured Releases; Created: 01 September 2011

The Left Banke Sundazed LP 5375
Format: LP

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When, in 1967, The Left Banke completed its first LP, Walk Away Renée/Pretty Ballerina,the New York quintet had already made a couple of personnel changes. By the time Smash Records released Left Banke Too in 1968, only three of the group’s five original members remained. That instability, along with ego problems and legal complications, shortened what could have been a long and distinguished career in rock’n’roll. Left Banke compilations have drifted in and out of print over the years; Sundazed Records’ reissues of Walk Away Renée/Pretty Ballerina on CD and LP are the first versions available in almost two decades.

Details: Written by: Shannon Holliday; Category: Shannon's Select Sounds; Created: 01 September 2011

September is here, and my soundtrack for celebrating the cooler days ahead has lately consisted of the music of two legends, each of whom has a knack for continuing to produce incredible music; the impressively strong sophomore release of an up-and-coming West Coast band whose sound is a throwback to the 1960s; and a wild-card Norwegian fiddle band who liven things up with a light-hearted, heavily skilled vengeance.

Levon Helm’s Dirt Farmer (2008) won him a Grammy, and that same year he received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his involvement with The Band, and was named "Artist of the Year" by the Americana Music Association. The following year, hot on the heels of so much recent acclaim, he recorded a concert that was finally released this spring as Ramble at the Ryman (CD, Levon Helm Records), at Ryman Auditorium, the legendary venue in Nashville, Tennessee, that was the original home of the Grand Ole Opry. His core band that night was an impressive 12-piece crew that included his talented daughter, Amy Helm, of the folk band Ollabelle, but the guest list is what makes this disc a must-have: Little Sammy Davis, John Hiatt, Buddy Miller, Sam Bush, and Sheryl Crow. The 15 tracks span Helm’s career, with such favorites as "Rag Mama Rag" and "The Weight," from his days with The Band, to material from Dirt Farmer, to classic covers of songs by Chuck Berry and the Carter Family. The recording is warm and spontaneous, and the genuine respect for Helm is palpable, both from the adoring audience and from the heavyweight musicians joining him onstage. Helm’s distinctive voice still has the high-pitched, lonesome quality it did in the 1960s, but age and excellence have since further permeated his singing, like spirits preserved in some ancient oak barrel. Many magical moments were captured during this performance, and while Helm sings about how "You Don’t Know the Shape I’m In," if you ask me, he’s still in top form.

Read more: Cooler Days

Details: Written by: Joseph Taylor; Category: Regular Reviews; Created: 01 August 2011

Fuzzy Music PEPCD018
Format: CD

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Movie Music Drummer Peter Erskine says his record label, Fuzzy Music, is for musicians who "find themselves dipping into rich cultural pools of musical styles, beliefs and realities that do not fit into the large corporate record company way of thought or aesthetics." The label’s emphasis is straight jazz, accurately recorded. This is Erskine’s second collection of standards, and he’s joined on Standards 2 -- Movie Music by pianist Alan Pasqua, tenor saxophonist Bob Mintzer, and bassist Darek Oles. Erskine says in his liner notes that the songs are standards "in both the jazz and cinematic sense." This quartet finds plenty to chew on in the nine themes presented here, and each of the players gets a shot or two at arranging. Erskine’s take on "Tara’s Theme" (from Gone with the Wind) swings lightly, while Pasqua approaches "Somewhere" as a subtle ballad, giving Mintzer beautiful harmonic support during his solos. Mintzer takes "Night and Day" from bossa nova to bop, with space for a nice feature from Erskine. Oles’s impressionistic arrangement of "Rosemary’s Baby" is a model of restraint, and Pasqua responds to it with a solo that shows a unique understanding of space, allowing a sustained note or chord to carry the moment rather than filling every space. The recording is exemplary. Warm, subtly detailed, and spacious, Standards 2 -- Movie Music is a gift to both you and your hi-fi.

Details: Written by: Rad Bennett; Category: Regular Reviews; Created: 01 August 2011

Self released
Format: CD

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Southern rock bands were commonplace 30 years ago, but they’re not so easy to find in 2011. Hailing from Arkansas, Zach Williams and the Reformation might be just the band to bring back this genre, or perhaps to prove that it never really went away. In ZWR’s case, you can tell a lot by scanning some the song titles, which include "Gravy Train," "Mason Jar," "The Fix," "Rock’n’Roll Me," and "Motels and Highways" (naturally about life on the road). Fans have compared ZWR to the Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Molly Hatchet. You can easily hear clear references to those bands, but I think ZWR has its own style built around one thing: energy. From the driving opener, "Gravy Train," to "Wishing Well," the tenth track, there are pounding rhythms and high energy. Then surprisingly, and perhaps defiantly, the album closes with its only quiet tune, "Sky Full of Treasures." ZWR is heavy on guitars, but Williams has no trouble punching through as lead singer. His voice is strong, and he’s been compared to other Southern-rock greats. But I find that his voice, especially when it’s near breaking, reminds me of Bob Seger. The recording is loud and raucous, with some intended guitar distortion for aural color. Though ZWR might recoil at the thought, I found this album perfect to load on my iPod Nano for the gym. You can find it on iTunes and at Zach Williams and the Reformation’s official website.