Lou Reed ‎– New York (1989)

Style: Art Rock, Rock & Roll
Format: CD, Vinyl, Cass.
Label: Sire

Tracklist:
01.   Romeo Had Juliette
02.   Halloween Parade
03.   Dirty Blvd
04.   Endless Cycle
05.   There Is No Time
06.   Last Great American Whale
07.   Beginning Of A Great Adventure
08.   Busload Of Faith
09.   Sick Of You
10.   Hold On
11.   Good Evening Mr. Waldheim
12.   Xmas In February
13.   Strawman
14.   Dime Store Mystery

Credits:
Bass – Rob Wasserman
Drums – Fred Maher
Guitar – Mike Rathke
Songwriter – Lou Reed
Producer – Fred Maher, Lou Reed

New York City figured so prominently in Lou Reed's music for so long that it's surprising it took him until 1989 to make an album simply called New York, a set of 14 scenes and sketches that represents the strongest, best-realized set of songs of Reed's solo career. While Reed's 1982 comeback, The Blue Mask, sometimes found him reaching for effects, New York's accumulated details and deft caricatures hit bull's-eye after bull's-eye for 57 minutes, and do so with an easy stride and striking lyrical facility. New York also found Reed writing about the larger world rather than personal concerns for a change, and in the beautiful, decaying heart of New York City, he found plenty to talk about -- the devastating impact of AIDS in "Halloween Parade," the vicious circle of child abuse "Endless Cycle," the plight of the homeless in "Xmas in February" -- and even on the songs where he pointedly mounts a soapbox, Reed does so with an intelligence and smart-assed wit that makes him sound opinionated rather than preachy -- like a New Yorker. And when Reed does look into his own life, it's with humor and perception; "Beginning of a Great Adventure" is a hilarious meditation on the possibilities of parenthood, and "Dime Store Mystery" is a moving elegy to his former patron Andy Warhol. Reed also unveiled a new band on this set, and while guitarist Mike Rathke didn't challenge Reed the way Robert Quine did, Reed wasn't needing much prodding to play at the peak of his form, and Ron Wasserman proved Reed's superb taste in bass players had not failed him. Produced with subtle intelligence and a minimum of flash, New York is a masterpiece of literate, adult rock & roll, and the finest album of Reed's solo career.

 Mark Deming / AllMusic

Lou Reed / John Cale ‎– Songs For Drella (1990)

Style: Art Rock, Alternative Rock
Format: CD, Vinyl, Cass.
Label: Sire, Warner Bros. Records

Tracklist:
01.   Smalltown
02.   Open House
03.   Style It Takes
04.   Work
05.   Trouble With Classicists
06.   Starlight
07.   Faces And Names
08.   Images
09.   Slip Away (A Warning)
10.   It Wasn't Me
11.   I Believe
12.   Nobody But You
13.   A Dream
14.   Forever Changed
15.   Hello It's Me

Credits:
Guitar – Lou Reed
Keyboards – John Cale
Viola – John Cale
Vocals – John Cale, Lou Reed
Mastered By – Bob Ludwig
Mixed By – Jeremy Darby, John Cale, Lou Reed, Michael Rathke
Producer – John Cale, Lou Reed
Recorded By – Jeremy Darby
Written-By – John Cale, Lou Reed

Regardless of whether it’s because it marks a crucial chapter in music history or simply because we can’t help but watch a train wreck, any talk about the shared legacies of Lou Reed and John Cale inevitably turns to the gory details about the prolonged pissing contest the two artists have had over the years. Ever since that fateful day Cale was unceremoniously ousted from the Velvet Underground at the behest of a control-mongering Reed -let’s be honest here – the two men have had a bizarre and often contentious sparring match that rivals any type of melodrama you’ll see in a television soap opera. 

Yet for all the hard feelings, bruised egos and darts thrown about in print media since Cale’s departure, the two men’s limited post-Velvets collaborations have mostly been respectable. Reed and Cale shared a stage with singer and cautionary tale Nico in an oft-bootlegged (and now commercially available) 1972 show in France, where the three former bandmates performed mellow, somewhat acoustic takes of various songs. Less successful -and that’s being charitable – was the Velvet’s ill-fated and legacy-humping reunion tour (and substandard live album, natch) in the early 1990s. 

In between that Bataclan one-off novelty and the reunion clusterfuck, Reed and Cale created Songs for Drella. Their most successful and creative collaboration, the album is an emotional and sincere (if occasionally fictionalized and romanticized) concept album about the life and death of pop artist and now crudely commercialized icon Andy Warhol. A sparsely arranged album based around Reed’s guitars and Cale’s keyboards and occasional strings, its songs trace a rough chronology from Warhol’s childhood in Pittsburgh to his eventual death in 1987. It’s a moving and striking homage to the artist as a person instead of his more widely known, primarily distant public persona, and still stands as one of the most inventive concept albums to date. 

Giving those armchair psychologists who view Reed as a diabolical control freak plenty of ammunition, Reed handles the bulk of the vocals here, sometimes to mixed results. Occasionally the vocals are over-enunciated and far too over the top (especially on “Starlight”), an unfortunate and frankly annoying tendency that has plagued Reed throughout his post-VU career. Yet these cases are rare and most of Reed’s vocals are compelling. Opening track “Small Town” begins with Cale’s bouncy keyboards as it describes the young Warhol – “Bad skin/ Bad eyes/ Gay and fatty” – and his desire to get the hell out of his Pittsburgh hometown. Up tempo and dryly humorous, it establishes the theme of Warhol as artistic visionary that later surfaces throughout the album. “Open House” offers brief biographical sketches as it portrays Warhol looking back at his Czechoslovakian heritage, against Cale’s piano melody that simply repeats the same two notes. “Work” and “Images” take a crack at Warhol’s artistic philosophy (“images are worth repeating“) and approximate the Velvet’s style, especially in the electric viola that tears through the latter song. 

The tracks sung by Cale usually take a decidedly different approach. With the exception of the manic “Trouble With Classicists” and the dully electric “Forever Changed,” Cale’s songs are mostly hushed and languid, relying on atmospherics, strings, and keyboards to convey Warhol’s story. “Style It Takes” and “Faces and Names” are both airy and floating, with somewhat orchestral strings, subdued percussion, and a fluid guitar line. Cale’s depiction of Warhol is similarly heartfelt and sympathetic; the lyrics read like a eulogy to the artist. These songs also straddle the line between biographical reporting and mythmaking; anything that could be perceived as a character flaw in Warhol is instead depicted as the quirks or eccentricities of a misunderstood genius. 

The songs that focus on mortality and aging, often in the guise of the two musicians offering a farewell to Warhol with a mixture of regret and pathos, still remain the album’s true centerpieces. It’s on these songs where both Reed and Cale explore themes that extend far beyond the sphere of a Warhol retrospective. “A Dream” is perhaps the album’s standout track; a spoken word piece with Cale accompanied by minimal piano and brushes of percussion, it depicts Warhol pouring over his past in a dream, both his Factory crowd and artistic inspiration long gone. As Factory shadows from Warhol’s earlier years flit in and out, Cale imagines the artist as brooding and pensive, as he recalls everything from not being invited to Reed’s wedding to being shot by Valerie Solanis in 1968 (“There’s blood leaking through my shirt/ From those scars from being shot“). Similarly, Reed provides his own tribute in closing song “Hello It’s Me.” Backed by Cale’s viola, it’s one of Reed’s more confessional and emotional songs, thankfully free of the macho armor and posturing that have sunk too many of his post- VU albums. It’s a goodbye disguised as an apology, where Reed does a shitload of pride swallowing, blankly admitting that he has “some resentments that can never be unmade.” 

Though Songs for Drella doesn’t match the musicians’ output from either The Velvet Underground and Nico or White Light White Heat, it’s still one of music’s more unassuming and unimposing concept albums. It focuses not on the aloof and cool public persona usually associated with Warhol, but instead on a poignant and personal depiction of Warhol as someone with insecurities and doubts about his life and what it’s meant. Though it’s likely that Lou Reed and John Cale will never collaborate together again – the punches that the two men still occasionally throw at each other don’t count – Songs for Drella is a nice closing chapter to that relationship.

Eric Dennis / Spectrum Culture

Black Renaissance ‎– Body, Mind And Spirit (1976)

Style: Free Jazz
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Luv N' Haight

Tracklist:
1.   Black Renaissance
2.   Magic Ritual

Credits:
Bass – Buster Williams
Drums – Billy Hart (tracks: 1), Howard King (tracks: 2)
Percussion – Earl Bennett, Billy Hart, Howard King, James Mtume
Piano – Harry Whitaker
Tenor Saxophone – David Schnitter
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Azar Lawrence
Trumpet – Woody Shaw
Vocals – Assata Doby, Edna Holt, Lani Groves, Sandy Nakamura
Voice [Speaking] – Andaye DeLaCruz, Bobby Andrews, Dwight Carson, Fikisha Cumbo, Sekou Sundiata

Having already achieved varying degrees of commercial and critical success with Roy Ayers' Ubiquity project and Robert Flack, Harry Whitaker went into the studio to record Black Renaissance: Body, Mind & Spirit, a tone poem reflecting on the state of African American music in the 1970s. Debunking the myth of the record's rarity aside (scarcely available for decades until its 2002 reissue by Ubiquity), this album is a map of the African American musical canvas -- a symphony of melding influences as far reaching as Sun Ra's call and responses to the future, John Coltrane's tonal meditations to the holy spirit, and the electronic wizardry of Herbie Hancock's "Raindance" all nestled together in unison. The strength of this album lies in all these variables and Whitaker's own unique composition sensibilities bringing it all together in a way that's accessible to people unfamiliar with any of the aforementioned artists. Black Renaissance: Body, Mind & Spirit is a haunting echo of progression in a time where innovation was the norm, not the exception.

Rob Theakston / ALLMusic

Laibach ‎– Krst Pod Triglavom - Baptism (1988)

Style: Modern Classical, Industrial, Experimental
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Sub Rosa

Tracklist:
819-822
01.   Jezero/Der See, Valjhun/Waldung, Delak
02.   Koža/Die Haut
1095-1270
03.   Jägerspiel
04.   Bogomila - Verführung
05.   Wienerblut
1961-1982
06.   Črtomir
07.   Jelengar
08.   Apologija Laibach/Laibach-Apologie
1983-1987
09.   Herzfeld
10.   Krst/Die Taufe, Germania
11.   Rdeči Pilot/Der Rote Pilot

Laibach's reason for existence has always been an exploration of extremities, but in many ways the group rarely got more extreme than on the soundtrack for the massive Neue Slowenische Kunst stage production Baptism, or Krst Pod Triglavom -- Baptism Below Triglav in full. Triglav itself is Slovenia's highest mountain, while the baptism in question refers to a historical battle between Slovenian pagans and invading Germans who won the day and forcibly converted the losers to Christianity. The parallels between that and more recent examples of military and cultural invasion are not merely obvious but fully intended. Numerous photos of the production are included in the album packaging, showing a compelling design making equal reference to medieval imagery, fascist stylings and Weimar-era experimentalism -- arguably the music and art had rarely been so appropriately matched. That music itself was the most ambitious the group had yet recorded, something which could appeal to the classical music aficionado as much as the industrial/experimental wing, while the humor is of an extremely rarified nature -- a collection of Beatles and Rolling Stones covers this isn't. Wagnerian opera is unsurprisingly a chief reference point, though the group focuses on a mantra-like repetition of musical and lyrical phrases, doubtless the better to draw the parallels to unthinking fascist reactions. Not everything is strings and horns, admittedly -- sometimes it can be as simple as a looped beat and chant with the occasional vocal bark of "Raus!" What sounds like crowd samples and possibly political speeches get mixed with metallic sound snippets and even acoustic guitar, while more than once the band just bodily dropped in extended performances from other operas entirely! With sly, bitter hilarity, Baptism is packaged in an obvious knockoff of the Deutsch Grammophon in-house style for its run of classical music releases -- another example of German cultural colonization, one could argue.

Ned Raggett  / ALLMusic

SPK ‎– Zamia Lehmanni: Songs of Byzantine Flowers (1986)

Style: Industrial, Ambient
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Side Effects, Normal

Tracklist:
A1  Invocation (To Secular Heresies)
A2  Palms Crossed In Sorrow
A3  Romanze In Moll (Romance In A Minor Key)
A4  In The Dying Moments
B1  In Flagrante Delicto (Introduction)
B2  In Flagrante Delicto
B3  Alocasia Metallica
B4  Necropolis
B5  The Garden Of Earthly Delights

Credits:
Graeme Revell - Composer, Engineer, Multi Instruments, Producer
Sinan - Voices
Brian Lustmord - Supervisor

SPK was the electronic/industrial/ambient brainchild of Graeme Revell - now known for his soundtrack music for numerous films and television programs. His sense of composition and orchestration (and I don't use that word in the traditional sense...) which are apparent in his current work have been present all along, to which this recording, originally released in 1986, will testify. This music is played/constructed/composed with creative brilliance and genius - there are many contemporary artists that owe a great debt to his pioneering work, and much of what passes for innovation in this genre doesn't hold a candle to this. 

Revell utilizes all sorts of sounds - keyboards, orchestral instruments, percussion, ethnic instruments from around the world, voices (including solo voices recorded specifically for this music, as well as altered recordings of choirs and altered and looped voices from primitive culture rituals), found sounds (ambience from a railway yard, clanking chains, printing factory noises, a child's swing, sheet metal) and recordings from nature (toads, crows), mixing them not at random, but with precision and skill and emotion, to form a cohesive whole that is nothing short of astonishing. The resulting music has elements of the sacred as well as the profane - it is darkness and light, possessed of a heavenly beauty and gut-wrenching power, subtle and overt. The loveliness of many passages will bring tears to the eyes - and a chill to the spine. 

Some of the notes from the CD insert are revelatory - a quote from Wellesz (from BYZANTINE MUSIC AND HYMNOGRAPHY) portrays Byzantium as `...the centre of civilization...' for Europe during the Dark Ages, `...and it now laid the foundation for the music of Christendom through a fusion of elements, religious and secular, eastern and western.' The image is an apt one - this recording is itself a blend of sounds from all over the world, an audio lens through which Revell shines the light of diverse cultures and belief systems, illuming the mind of the listener. There is also a verse quoted from `Byzantium' by W. B. Yeats, which expresses some of the mood of this album: 

`...by the moon embittered, scorn aloud
in glory of changeless metal
common bird or petal,
and all complexities of mire or blood.' 

The instruments (include in that definition: taped sounds) on this recording are played by Revell - the voices are by Sinan (who also appears on earlier SPK releases), Jan Thornton, and the Choir of the Russian Old Orthodox Church of the Holy Annunciation-Assumption of Sydney, Australia. There are voices that sound like they were recorded in perhaps Bali or Vietnam that have been made into loops - and Revell has done this with great care, preserving the rhythm of the lines sung so that the layers he has added contribute to that rhythm and feeling, rather than clash with it. Several of the tracks have an obvious influence of the Balinese gamelan orchestras, as well. 

The mood changes from track to track, from section to section of each piece - but it does so logically, never jarring the listener. It's easy to experience to this in a `trusting' way, allowing the composer/performer to lift the listener and pull him/her along on this journey. As some of the titles reflect, there is darkness to be found here - but there is also much light. This is a stunning sonic document.

 Larry L. Looney / amazon.com

Nels Cline ‎– Lovers (2016)

Style: Contemporary Jazz
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Blue Note

Tracklist:
1-01.   Introduction / Diaphanous
1-02.    Glad To Be Unhappy
1-03.    Beautiful Love
1-04.   Hairpin & Hatbox
1-05.   Cry, Want
1-06.   Lady Gabor
1-07.   The Bed We Made
1-08.   You Noticed
1-09.   Secret Love
1-10.   I Have Dreamed
2-01.   Why Was I Born?
2-02.   Invitation
2-03.   It Only Has To Happen Once
2-04.   The Night Porter / Max, Mon Amour
2-05.   Snare, Girl
2-06.   So Hard It Hurts / Touching
2-07.   The Search For Cat
2-08.   The Bond (For Yuka)

Credits:
Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar – Julian Lage
Bass Clarinet, Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone – Douglas Wieselman
Bassoon – Sara Schoenbeck
Celesta, Synthesizer – Yuka C Honda
Cello – Erik Friedlander, Maggie Parkins
Clarinet [Bb Clarinet], Alto Saxophone – Gavin Templeton
Contra-Alto Clarinet, Clarinet – Ben Goldberg
Contrabass, Bass Guitar – Devin Hoff
Drums, Percussion – Alex Cline
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Lap Steel Guitar, Effects – Nels Cline
Flute, Alto Flute, Bass Flute, Clarinet, Alto Clarinet, Baritone Saxophone, Bass Saxophone – JD Parran
Flute, Alto Flute, Bass Flute, Oboe, English Horn, Alto Saxophone, Clarinet – Charles Pillow
Harp – Zeena Parkins
Trombone, Bass Trombone – Alan Ferber
Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Cimbalom, Celesta – Michael Leonhart
Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Valve Trombone – Taylor Haskins
Trumpet, Trumpet (Slide Trumpet), Flugelhorn, Alto Horn – Steven Bernstein
Vibraphone, Marimba, Percussion – Kenny Wollesen
Viola – Stephanie Griffin
Violin – Antoine Silverman, Jeff Gauthier
Violin, Viola – Amy Kimball

Fans of Nels Cline are accustomed to his adaptability. After starting his career in jazz’s progressive currents—and playing alongside saxophonist Julius Hemphill—the guitarist later became a member of Wilco, starting with Sky Blue Sky. He’s also maintained a feverish schedule as a solo artist: participating in improv-noise summits with Thurston Moore and recording an album with the fusionists in Medeski, Martin & Wood. 

Still, ardent followers of this guitarist may be unprepared for his latest reinvention. Romantic “mood music” isn’t what most listeners expect from him—even if refined, soft-touch playing has long been one aspect of his overall sound. On his 2xCD debut for the Blue Note label, Cline has delivered a chamber-orchestra set that’s notable for relying on some “Great American Songbook” standards by the likes of Jerome Kern and Rodgers & Hammerstein. 

This isn’t a setup for some punkish deconstruction, either. The album starts off with a quarter-hour that sounds surprisingly straight-ahead. (Even the adventurous touches in the early going can be traced back to Gil Evans, Miles Davis’ sometime big-band arranger). Cline and his talented supporting musicians play “Glad to Be Unhappy” without any hint of camp—instead endeavoring to treat familiar themes with tenderness. Outside of those performances, the album offers some pensive Cline originals, as well as covers that wouldn’t normally be assigned to a “standards” group. 

It’s this final batch of songs that gives Lovers an edge. The inclusion of pieces by experimentalist Arto Lindsay and Third Stream saxophonist Jimmy Giuffre honors Cline’s diverse fascinations, yet what's more interesting is the way that Cline makes these compositions seem like natural extensions of a program that also includes music by Henry Mancini. After Cline and his band have moved on from Tin Pan Alley in order to visit No Wave New York, the “for lovers only” feel is maintained. The orchestra’s performances may briefly include rougher attacks, though not to such a degree that the album’s conceit is ever risked. 

Much credit for this unusual achievement is due to conductor and arranger Michael Leonhart—as well as to the cast of contemporary-music ringers that Cline has assembled for his backing ensemble. Harpist Zeena Parkins, cellist Erik Friedlander, and keyboardist Yuka Honda are all familiar to frequenters of America’s experimental music venues, though you’ve rarely heard them as restrained as they are on Lovers. 

Initially, this can feel like a waste of good avant power. But over the course of the album, the benefits become clear. Leonhart’s arrangement of the melody to Sonic Youth’s “Snare, Girl,” goes well with the mournful lyricism of Rodgers’s “I Have Dreamed.” And a droning, exploratory version of Hungarian guitarist Gabor Szabo’s “Lady Gabor” winds up sharing a sound-world with Lindsay’s Ambitious Lovers track “It Only Has To Happen Once.” 

Cline’s guitar playing delights in this parade of upset expectations, too—sounding dirtier in Kern’s “Why Was I Born?” than during the various resettings of modernist rock. He plays lap steel during “Dreamed,” and swings amiably on other vintage cuts like “Beautiful Love” and “Secret Love.” The only task he doesn’t quite pull off is the composition of original themes that stand with the classics he’s selected. Almost half of the first CD is made up of Cline originals, and these pale a bit in comparison with the surrounding material. Though thanks to its sly and measured embrace of the experimental, Lovers still has all the originality it needs to endear.

Seth Colter Walls / Pitchfork

The Durutti Column ‎– LC (1981)

Style: Abstract, Indie Rock, Post-Punk
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Factory

Tracklist:
01.   Sketch For Dawn I
02.   Portrait For Frazer
03.   Jacqueline
04.   Messidor
05.   Sketch For Dawn II
06.   Never Known
07.   The Act Committed
08.   Detail For Paul
09.   The Missing Boy
10.   The Sweet Cheat Gone
Related Works
11.   For Mimi
12.   Belgian Friends
13.   Self Portrait
14.   One Christmas For Your Thoughts
15.   Danny
16.   Enigma

Credits: Martin Hannett - Producer Bruce Mitchell - Percussion Vini Reilly - Composer, Guitar, Keyboards, Producer, Writer

After some abortive collaborations, Reilly hooked up with a regular drummer, talented fellow Mancunian Bruce Mitchell, to create LC, Durutti's second full release. Self-produced by Reilly but bearing the unmistakable hints of his earlier work with Martin Hannett, LC, named after a bit of Italian graffiti, extends Reilly's lovely talents ever further, resulting in a new set of evocative, carefully played and performed excursions on electric guitar. Mitchell's crisp but never overly dominant drumming actually starts the record off via "Sketch for Dawn I," added to by a simply captivating low series of notes from Reilly that builds into a softly triumphant melodic surge, repeating a core motif again and again. His piano playing adds a perfect counterpart, while the final touch are his vocals -- low speak-singing that sounds utterly appropriate in context, mixed low and capturing the emotional flavor at play via delivery rather than lyrical content. As great as Return is, this is perhaps even better, signaling a full flowering of Reilly's talents throughout the album. Mitchell proves him time and again to be in perfect sync with Reilly, adding gentle brio and understated variation to the latter's compositions. Nowhere is this more apparent than on "The Missing Boy," the album's unquestioned highlight. Written in memory of Ian Curtis of Joy Division, on it Mitchell adds quick, sudden hits contrasting against the low, tense atmosphere of the song, while fragile piano notes and Reilly's own regret-tinged, yearning vocals complete the picture. For all the implicit melancholy in Durutti's work, there's a surprising amount of life and energy throughout -- "Jaqueline" is perhaps the standout, with a great central melody surrounded by the expected Reilly elaborations and additions in the breaks. As with the rest of Durutti's mid-'90s reissues, the expanded version of LC appears full to the brim with intriguing bonus tracks galore. The first three capture an abortive collaboration with another Manc drummer, funk performer Donald Johnson. A contribution to a holiday album, "One Christmas for Your Thoughts," finds Reilly back with drum machines, while the very first Reilly/Mitchell collaborations, "Danny" and "Enigma," round out this excellent release.

Ned Ragget / ALLMusic

Shri ‎– Drum The Bass (1997)

Style: Breaks, Drum n Bass, Ambient
Format: CD. Vinyl
Label: Outcaste Records

Tracklist:
1.   Meditation
2.   Camels
3.   Village By The River
4.   Trains
5.   Inside Outside
6.   Camels (Instrumental)
7.   Before The Rain
8.   Bombay
9.   Maybe But Not Really

Credits:
Sanjeev Bhasker - Vocals
Tina Grace - Vocals
JC-001 - Beatbox, Vocals
Meera Syal - Vocals
Eshan Khadaroo - Drums
Nitin Sawhney - Composer, Keyboards, Producer
Shri - Composer, Primary Artist
Dev Singh - Vocals
Shrikanth Sriram - Arranger, Composer, Liner Notes, Mixing, Producer
Mandy Parnell - Post Production

One of the rare cases in the British dance underground where an artist actually understands the ethnicities of the countries he's fusing, Shri is classically trained on the tabla, and uses his intricate knowledge of percussion to create a complex drum'n'bass outing with Indian environments.

John Bush / ALLMusic

Jazzanova ‎– The Pool (2018)

Style: Trip Hop, Breaks
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Sonar Kollektiv

Tracklist:
01.   Now (L.O.V.E. And You & I - Part 2)
02.   Rain Makes The River
03.   Follow Your Feet
04.   No. 9
05.   Sincere
06.   Slow Rise
07.   Let's Live Well
08.   Everything I Wanted
09.   Heatwave
10.   It's Beautiful
11.   I'm Still Here
12.   Summer Keeps On Passing Me By

Credits:
Jazzanova are Alex Barck, Claas Brieler, Jürgen von Knoblauch, Stefan Leisering & Axel Reinemer.

The DJ collective known as Jazzanova don't have many "proper" albums to their name. Sure, there have been many EPs and remix compilations along the way to keep the main albums company, yet the press material for Jazzanova's album The Pool states that this is their first album in ten years. It's funny to imagine that an album like the live-in-studio Funkhaus Studio Sessions, which I very much enjoyed, doesn't appear to count in the long run! Any way you choose to look at it, The Pool is very much a worthy follow-up to Of All Things and can take its rightful place alongside any other classic album of the electro-crossover persuasion. 

Stefan Leisering, Alex Barck, Claas Brieler, Axel Reinemer, and Jürgen von Knoblauch have never strictly stuck to any one genre because, back in their early days, they weren't sure what they were going to create. As time rolled along, old-fashioned soul, R&B, and modern hip-hop had no problem cozying up to electronic dance pop or anything remotely "jazz" related in Jazzanova's world. This time around, the flagship single from The Pool "Rain Makes the River" could eerily pass for Portishead. "If rain makes the river / Rain needs to fall," Rachel Sermanni coos in a voice that barely registers in a mix stuffed with hypnotic trip-hop samples and soft horns. Two tracks later, we're in Gorillaz territory as KPTN tags slightly extended drawls at the end of his phrases on "No. 9". The odd thing is, when you're listening to The Pool, a stylistic shift from "Rain Makes the River to "No. 9" (which samples the Beatles's "Revolution 9", in case you were wondering) doesn't feel the slightest bit jarring.

This isn't hard to believe. Jazzanova have been honing their niche "thing" for more than 20 years now. To have at least 11 different guest vocalists appear on a 51-minute album without it sounding like a badly jumbled amateur mixtape is a special skill, not to mention a subtle one. Good songs and professional performances help, too. The easy-going and soulful "Let's Live Well" is a highlight thanks to Jamie Cullum's smooth melody. Pete Josef's pop-friendly tenor keeps "Follow Your Feet" light. Paul Randolph, who sang on the ruthlessly magnetic single "I Human" from Funkhaus returns for "It's Beautiful", which holds the catchy cards close to the chest while playing all the abstract, moody ones. My personal favorite could be the last word, "Summer Keeps on Passing Me By" featuring Ben Westbeech. It swiftly swings on a waltz beat, chugging over an electric piano, never giving in to modern R&B clichés. 

To be perfectly honest, I didn't think that an outfit like Jazzanova was capable of making an album like The Pool. I knew they were good, but I wasn't aware that they were this good. Each track can survive on its own in the wild. Together within one album, and it's an unstoppable force. I don't know how they did it -- and I doubt that Jazzanova are all that confident on how they did it either -- but they have made a classic with The Pool.

John Garratt / popMATTERS

Delia Derbyshire Appreciation Society ‎– Delia Derbyshire Appreciation Society (2017 )

Style: Ambient, Experimental
Format: CD
Label: Six Degrees

Tracklist:
1.   Blue Filter
2.   Cloudface
3.   Half Light
4.   Sine Language
5.   St. Tropez 1966
6.   Ride Under Trees
7.   The Scent Of Rain

Credits:
Garry Hughes - Composer, Keyboards, Sleeve Photo, Synthesizer, Treatments
Harvey Jones - Composer, Keyboards, Synthesizer, Treatments
Bob Katz - Mastering

Music industry veterans Garry Hughes and Harvey Jones have crossed paths several times before, but Delia Derbyshire Appreciation Society is their first full-scale collaboration. The duo intriguingly named the project in tribute to the British sonic innovator best known for her groundbreaking work with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, including the original theme to Dr. Who, recorded in 1963. However, the DDAS moniker is somewhat misleading, as the pair's debut album isn't nearly as eerie or playful as Derbyshire's work, and definitely nowhere near as weird as An Electric Storm by White Noise, an absolutely brilliant experimental pop album from the late '60s that Derbyshire played a major part in creating. Instead, DDAS sound much closer to the serene ambient recordings of Brian Eno (with or without Robert Fripp) as well as '90s ambient techno artists such as Pete Namlook. Both Hughes and Jones are avid collectors of vintage synthesizers, and here they pool their resources for seven original compositions. Considering that Jones resides in New York City and Hughes lives in Wales, the collaboration feels seamless and natural rather than pieced together through the mail or over the internet. There are no beats on the album, but there's still plenty of lightly pulsating rhythms. Opener "Blue Filter" seems to calmly dance its way in, punctuated by deep bass plunges and warm, scattered arpeggios. Some pieces like "Half Light" are more free and drifting, and also somewhat darker. They also contain slightly warped textures that signify the analog nature of their recording. The most light-spirited moment is "St. Tropez 1966," which features layers of softly bubbling, melodic textures and a general feeling of dazed cheerfulness. "Ride Under Trees" starts out smooth and new age-y, with plenty of crystalline synths and reversed bell-like tones, but it ends up being almost overwhelming as it becomes flooded with swerving bass and sweeping filters. The release is an enjoyable effort that never seems to take itself too seriously.

Paul Simpson / ALLMusic