Kruder Dorfmeister ‎– The K&D Sessions™ (1998)

Style: Downtempo, Dub, Trip Hop
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Stud!o K7, G-Stone Recordings

Tracklist:
Part One
1-01.   Roni Size / Reprazent - Heroes (Kruder's Long Loose Bossa)
1-02.   Alex Reece - Jazz Master (K&D Session™)
1-03.   Count Basic - Speechless (Drum 'N' Bass)
1-04.   Rockers Hi-Fi - Going Under (Main Version) (K&D Session™)
1-05.   Bomb The Bass - Bug Powder Dust (K&D Session™)
1-06.   Aphrodelics - Rollin' On Chrome (Wild Motherfucker Dub)
1-07.   Depeche Mode - Useless (K&D Session™)
1-08.   Count Basic - Gotta Jazz (Richard Dorfmeister Remix)
1-09.   Trüby Trio - Donaueschingen (Peter Kruder's
1-10.   Lamb - Trans Fatty Acid (K&D Session™)
Part Two
2-01.   David Holmes - Gone (K&D Session™)
2-02.   Sofa Surfers - Sofa Rockers (Richard Dorfmeister Remix)
2-03.   Mama Oliver - Eastwest (Stoned Together)
2-04.   Bomb The Bass - Bug Powder Dust (Dub)
2-05.   Kruder & Dorfmeister - Boogie Woogie
2-06.   Sin - Where Shall I Turn? (K&D Session™ Vol. 2)
2-07.   Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - 1st Of Tha Month (K&D Session™)
2-08.   Kruder & Dorfmeister - Lexicon
2-09.   Knowtoryus - Bomberclaad Joint (K&D Session™)
2-10.   Rockers Hi-Fi - Going Under (Evil Love And Insanity Dub)
2-11.   Strange Cargo - Million Town (K&D Session™)

Do you have an album that always used to be playing in the background somewhere" You don’t know anything about it, and you can only remember little bits of it. It’s the album you try to describe to someone, so you can find it, but it’s no use. Maybe some of you haven't found it, but I have. A couple years ago, I ventured into my mum's cd collection. I found a card-case CD, and I put it in. I realized that this was that long-lost album, for which I had that vague recollection. From the very first second of the very first song, I instantly knew that this was the album I had been looking for for years.  

I was going to call The K&D Sessions electronica, but I suppose it is trip hope because it so down-tempo. Entroducing and Mezzanine are often credited as the heights of trip hop, rightly so, but I've felt for a while now that this cd has been overlooked. It doesn’t rank with DJ Shadow or Massive Attack in terms of popularity, so obviously that’s a reason. But still, I feel that this album needs to be listened to by everyone who is into trip hop or electronica. I also felt that there needed to be some information on sputnik about it. 

Basically, the K&D Sessions is a 2-disc remix album, with notable original artists Roni Size, Rocker's Hi Fi, Depeche Mode, and David Holmes. It would not be fair to say that the K&D Sessions isn’t a true work of music from Peter Kruder and Richard Dorfmeister. The majority of the songs may be remixes, but it isn’t exactly just mixing a few things around. I have downloaded some of the originals, and it’s fair to say that Kruder and Dorfmeister completely reinvented the songs, not just reanimated. 

One of the stand-out tracks is Speechless, originally by Count Basic. It is the ultimate demonstration of how trip hop transcends so many different sounds and vibes. It had an almost Wild-Western theme to it, yet there is ethnic percussion (whatever that means). After four minutes or so, there is an amazing trumpet solo. I suppose it sounds most like Spanish trumpet. It soars high, joyful and beautiful, with the dark bassline continuing in the background. Certain moments on this album meet the frenetic energy of some drum n' bass and jungle; wild and somehow primal (think of Basement Jaxx' affiliation with apes). 

The next best song, and one of my personal favorites, is Bug Powder Dust, which was by Bomb The Bass. Bug Powder Dust is most likely my favorite hip hop (or at least hip-hop rooted) song out there. It’s purely impeccable. I find it joyful, but not simple, and also humorous at times. One of the lines goes, 'Never been a fake and I'm never phony
I got more flavour than the packet in macaroni.' Maybe it sounds like something Insane Clown Posse, but in a completely different vein.  

I once mentioned to classmate that I liked Moby, and he said, 'Dude, techno sucks.' I didn't even bother to try to tell him the difference between techno and electronica/trip hop. Even Eminem thinks that Moby makes techno. The reason is, when most people think of electronic music, they think of simple music you mind find in Party Boy's cd collection. You know, that 'uhn'sah uhn'sah' rubbish. The K&D Sessions, although it can be considered trip hop, truly spits in the face of the musically ignorant. 

This is because the music is everything but simple. The amount of work and effort that went into this album is astounding. Not only is the K&D Sessions technically proficient, but it is also very atmospheric. It easily creates certain moods. The overall tone of the album is pretty mellow, but there are different kinds of chillout songs. Some are happy and soothing, like Brian Eno's work. Going Under, on the other hand, is very dark. It could be considered a chillout song by some, but it has a very paranoid sound to it, especially the second version of the song found on disc 2. "I'm going under, going under, I’m going under and I can’t turn around" creates a sinking feeling, that lasts for the whole song.  

The K&D Sessions is composed so flawlessly, in my opinion, that it easily ranks in my top 5 albums. I could not recommend it more, and I only wish that it could be heard more than it is. So now that I have found that mystery album, the one I could never put my finger on, I rate it a 5/5 without a doubt.

ocelot-05 / sputink music

Hare, Hunter, Field: The Secret Passion Of Rudolf Peterson - A compilation Of Sad Love Songs (1992)

Style: Abstract, Experimental, Ambient
Format: CD
Label: Johnny Blue

Tracklist:
01.   Hélène Sage - Press Release
02.   The Grief - Trying To Fix A Pipe Dream
03.   Von Magnet - Malhaya (Saeta)
04.   Katharina Klement - Piano Piece
05.   Syllyk - La Chute
06.   Das Synthetische Mischgewebe - 3:40
07.   Jon Rose - The Future Looks More And More Just Like The Past
08.   Durutti Column - The New Fidelity
09.   Asmus Tietchens - Wenn Die
10.   Bel Canto Orchestra - Ti Amo
11.   Alfred 23 Harth - Be Chamel Di Funghi
12.   Elizabeth Schimana - Peter
13.   Tenko & Kenichi Takeda - Spiral Pain
14.   Architects Office - Saudade From Faust's Other: An Idyll
15.   Violence And The Sacred - Mille Regretz
16.   Muslimgauze & Hesskhe Yadalanah - Zarm

Perhaps the most interesting & varied album in this series has been released on CD - a rather more deserving medium - the others ought to follow suit as vinyl, good as it is, doesn't really do them justice. Many of the tracks are gelled together by an ambient soundtrack of insects serenading summer nights. The album opens with the curious "Press Release", a short montage of spoken word by HÉLÈNE SAGE - very strange use of deep, slowed male voice, female voice & sampled infant - has a good sense of humour without overstating the fact. "Trying To Fix A Pipe Dream" by THE GRIEF comes next - a post-Industrial cumbersome series of thudding grey/brown machine groans, off-White Noise, sparkles of distant metal and a bass guitar whose movements would attract the attentions of a passing policeman - a disquieting atmosphere of re-heated desolation. VON MAGNET come next with the longest track on the album (at 6'16") - "Malhaya (Saeta)" - a hauntingly beauteous, mysterious thing with harmonic voices floating like smoke waves over a terra firma of scrap odds & ends, mostly hidden, some bared to view - a hybrid, Catholicized call to prayer whose emotional charms occasionally rip to show the rawness of true passion beneath. It concludes in an Industrial rhythm - a collaboration of man & machine. Following instantly on it's heels, "Piano Piece" by KATHARINA KLEMENT is a cold, stark piece of music - lonely & angular, hauntingly strange - a dusty memory from a parallel childhood. "La Chute" by SYLLYK is another strange thing - the actual musical backing is a huge, shifting greyness, moody, dramatic but basically benign. Offsetting this is a voice - maybe human, maybe animal, but chillingly outre, nevertheless. It moves into an Industrial, machine-like labyrinth of sounds, the squeaking of springs, distant echoing of large objects. DAS SYNTHETISCHE MISCHGEWEBE bring us the next track, moving from harsh, sharp, piercing sounds to minimalism, this can only be described as experimental - Concrete Music maybe, with pitch-shifted tapes of metal sounds, strange ambient noises, as of someone working in a toolshop - minimal, metal & wood, crumbs of disjointed sound. This falls somewhere around the RUNZELSTIRN & GURGELSTØCK area. JON ROSE brings us "The Future Looks More And More Just Like The Past" is more musical, by the barest margin. Opening with the distant ambient sound of passing traffic, this soon reveals itself as a post-LAURIE ANDERSON composition, combining spoken voice (often sampled) & a high, mischievious violin, running alongside each other - it's a fascinating little work which stretches & plays with the human voice in odd ways. Next comes a breath of surprisingly normality - DURUTTI COLUMN with a wholly wonderful little track "The New Fidelity" - a collaboration of fast, EuRock sequencer with VINI REILLY's guitar describing beauteous, colourful pictures over the top. I've never really rated them as a group, but this makes me want to seek out more - a calm mood piece with underlying excitement - worth the price of the album alone. Composer ASMUS TIETCHENS comes next, with his "Wenn Die", which is built upon a dark moody drum-machine-and-sequence grizzling underlay. Sounds echo out into the distance while the dark, low body of sound throbs &warps beneath. Female voice & brighter sounds appear overhead, adding the right ingredient to the song. Perhaps the most surprising track on the album is the toyshop tinkling low-tech "Ti Amo" by BEL CANTO ORQUESTRA which, for all it's pre-set plasticity & cheapness is nevertheless a catchy & thoroughly enjoyable little instrumental. I doubt I could take a whole album's worth, but it breaks tthe dark mood & injects a certain happiness - a welcome cuckoo in a Surreal nest. ALFRED 23 HARTH takes us back into realms of the strange with "Be Chamel Di Funghi" - a combined instrumental of ungrounded electronics & more traditional Jazz instruments - sax, piano & keyboards. Despite it's flaunting any degree of rhythmic structure, it remains surprisingly together - this is the way Jazz should be moving! SCHIMANA ELIZABETH give us the weird voice-heavy "Peter" which combines samples with minimal instruments - flagellation? But it's the voices - harmonic, grating, moaning, humming, spoken which make this track the bizarre Artwork it is. TENKO & KENICHI TAKEDA collaborate to bring us "Spiral Pain", again using human word - in this case TENKO' strong female voice, they combine metallic sounds with KENICHI's HENDRIX approach to Taisho-Koto - taking it far FAR beyond it's designed musical abilities. This places them amongst any of their Western experimental contemporaries - it has to be heard, but I guess there can be almost no more sounds a Koto could make. An Oriental FRED FRITH. Those reliable bizarros ARCHITECTS OFFICE bring us "Saudade From 'Faust's Other: An Idyll'" - the French Horn playing 'doublestops' while bounced percussive sounds blend with various sound snatches & electronics & 6-year-old TREVOR HAERTLING sings in surprisingly suitable form over the top. It's weird, disconnected stuff - just what we've come to expect. VIOLENCE AND THE SACRED bring us "Mille Regretz", following on the previous track's tail rather well. It is a much more melodic thing than the album - a Medieval instrumental built on harp/sichord with dark monk-like voices offering harmonic but slight discord over the top. Electronics pick up the tune in a more shattered, broken way. The final track on the album is a collaboration between our old friends MUSLIMGAUZE and HESSKHÉ YADALAMAH called "Zarm" - typical of their druming style, it has a more laid-back feel to it - a gentler, passive atmosphere through which the various tones suggest the East. Harmonic keyboards fly overhead while various voices talk or wail in the background. Warm & colourful, this lacks the slight political edge of earlier works - a song for peacetime?
As with the other albums, this stands as a fascinating work on it's own, as a starting point to hear those groups you've only read about, or a hunting ground for the completeist. I for one hope JOHNNY BLUE will keep pumping out albums of this style & quality for years to come. Very much a recommended item. 

Originally reviewed for Soft Watch.

bonnicon / Discogs

Test Dept. ‎– The Unacceptable Face Of Freedom (1986)

Style: Industrial, Noise, Tribal
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Ministry Of Power, Some Bizzare

Tracklist:
01.   Fuckhead
02.   51St State Of America
03.   Comrade Enver Hoxha
04.   Fist
05.   Statement
06.   The Crusher
07.   Victory
08.   Corridor Of Cells
09.   The Unacceptable Face Of Freedom - Face 1
10.   The Unacceptable Face Of Freedom - Face 2
11.   The Unacceptable Face Of Freedom - Face 3

Credits:
Bagpipes – Alistair Adams
Organ – Max
Producer – Ken Thomas, Test Dept.
Programmed By – Phil Erb
Engineer – Ben Young

Primeira passagem à pratica do velho, estafado e nunca aplicado slogan «a classe operária avançará pelos seus próprios meios» (martelos, bigornas, bastões, etc). O Sindicato dos Metalurgicos  rubrica assim o seu primeiro facto socialmente relevante. A «poesia toda» (do ferro) está no «Blitz» nº 90.

 Ricardo Saló / Blitz (1986) 

 

Back in the day, the term "industrial" applied to the noisy grinding of non-instruments, clamorous beats, and genuinely scary shrieks—and not to the anemic bastardization of metal and dance music that goes under the name today. Early industrial outings were released by small labels like Great Britain's Some Bizarre; among the bands on that label was Test Department, a British group that mashed the listener's face into the grindstone that was its music. From its opening track on, 1984's Unacceptable Face of Freedom is a battle cry for people of all races lost under the weight of free-market imperialism. Test Department's musical assaults are set up to counter what it saw as the intangible everyday assaults of the state. For example, on one of the album's more effective tracks, "The Statement," a real-life striking Welsh miner recounts his story of a peaceful picket line being broken up by police thugs; in the background, the band provides a muted soundscape of blows, cries and sporadic drum beats. The Unacceptable Face of Freedom is a classic which should not be kept from any fan of industrial, political or aggressive music. Test Department also appears on If You Can't Please Yourself, You Can't Please Your Soul, a Some Bizarre compilation that features The The, Cabaret Voltaire, Psychic TV and six other bands. Every track is coated with seething anger, which is released in either machine-gun outbursts or, in the case of Marc Almond's "Love Amongst The Ruined," cabaret camp. If You Can't Please Yourself is a good snapshot of industrial music in its prime. Noisy, angry and melodic, it's bound to obliterate the idea that Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails are the alpha and omega of industrial music.

jgarden / AV/MUSIC

Material ‎– Hallucination Engine (1994)

Style: Dub, Acid Jazz, Experimental, Downtempo, Ambient
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Axiom

Tracklist:
01.    Black Light
02.    Mantra
03.    Ruins (Submutation Dub)
04.    Eternal Drift
05    Words Of Advice
06.   Cucumber Slumber (Fluxus Mix)
07.   The Hidden Garden / Naima
08.   Shadow Of Paradise

Credits:
Bass – Bill Laswell, Bootsy Collins, Jonas Hellborg
Drums – Sly Dunbar
Electric Piano, Organ – Bernie Worrell
Ghatam – Vikku Vinayakram
Ghatam, Congas, Percussion – Aiyb Dieng
Guitar, Sitar, Baglama – Nicky Skopelitis
Kanjira, Tambourine – Michael Baklouk
Ney – Jihad Racy
Oud – Simon Shaheen
Sampler, Programmed By – Bill Laswell
Synthesizer – Jeff Bova, Nicky Skopelitis
Tabla – Trilok Gurtu, Zakir Hussain
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Wayne Shorter
Violin – Shankar, Simon Shaheen
Voice – Fahiem Dandan, Liu Sola, William S. Burroughs
Zither – George Basil
Arranged By – Bill Laswell
Mastered By – Howie Weinberg
Producer – Bill Laswell

Some albums come along without any real intention other than to be what the are yet, without any fanfare, completely change the possible ways music can be perceived, felt and created by those lucky enough to hear them. Today's Rediscovery is one such album, a record that wasn't just ahead of its time when it was released in 1994; it seems still ahead of its time today, more than twenty years later.  

Initially a loose collective of musicians that, with bassist Bill Laswell and keyboardist Michael Beinhorn at its core, centered around New York City's avant-edged downtown scene, by the time of Hallucination Engine the No Wave group had really become synonymous with Laswell alone, having moved through everything from disco-tinged R&B (with singers Nona Hendryx and a very young Whitney Houston) and jazz-rock fusion to reggae-tinged funk and non-idiomatic free improv.  

But while Laswell's increasing interest in music from many cultures had already begun to surface, with Hallucination Engine he brought together a disparate bunch of musicians—from saxophone giant Wayne Shorter, P-Funk bassist Bootsy Collins, Indian violinist Shankar and tablaists Zakir Hussain and Trilok Gurtu, to in-demand Jamaican session drummer Sly Dunbar, P-Funk/Talking Heads alum keyboardist Bernie Worrell, longtime Laswell collaborator, guitarist Nicky Skopelitis, virtuosic electric bassist Jonas Hellborg and Naked Lunch author William S. Burroughs—for an album that truly transcended all attempts at classification.  

With a total of twenty participants, Hallucination Engine merged music that might have seemed incompatibly disparate into a seamless whole that makes nothing less than perfect sense; not fusion as the term has come to be accepted, but fusion in the truest sense of the word as, with Laswell at the helm providing bass, beats, loops, samples and overall direction, the album's eight compositions prove that music can, indeed, be a universal language without borders or stylistic definers.  

Case in point: "Cucumber Slumber (Fluxus Mix)," where the funkified tune from Mysterious Traveller (Columbia, 1974)—one of the best tracks from one of the best albums by fusion supergroup Weather Report, co-founded by Shorter, Joe Zawinul and Miroslav Vitous in 1971—is sampled and, expanded with thick layers of tabla, drum kit, other percussion and additional composed sections. The end result is something that actually realizes Zawinul's increasingly fervent desire to turn a group initially predicated on impressionistic music and improvisation of the most electric kind into one whose primary raison d'être was to be a pan-cultural mélange; the only difference being that Laswell actually achieve that goal far more successfully.  

That's not to suggest a negative connotation for the now-departed Zawinul; only that, because he was as much a performer as he was a conceptualist, his work was inherently driven by the stylistic and sonic parameters of his own playing. With Laswell as much a producer as he is a performer, his voracious musical interests could be realized on a much broader soundstage, and with Hallucination Engine Laswell created quite possibly the most expansive, stylistically unfettered and culturally unbound music he'd ever made...or, perhaps, would ever make.  

Few musicians would be able to conceive the bringing together of original music of near-cinematic expanse with one of John Coltrane's most memorable ballads, "Naima." Or, in collaboration with Shorter, create a piece like the album-opening "Black Light" that—bolstered by Skopelitis' shimmering chords and an unshakable groove driven by Laswell and Dunbar—revolves around Shorter's relatively simple but absolutely perfect melody and equally spare and considered improvisational foray.  

Hallucination Engine never achieved the popular acclaim it truly deserved, but those familiar with this wonderful cross-pollination of jazz, funk, dub, Indian music and more into something truly greater than the sum of its many parts were forever changed by Laswell's innovative vision. Hallucination Engine still feels ahead of its time 21 years after its release, rendering it the quintessential Rediscovery. 

John Kelman / All About Jazz 

The Durutti Column ‎– The Return Of The Durutti Column (1980)

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

Tracklist:
01.   Sketch For Summer
02.   Requiem For A Father
03.   Katharine
04.   Conduct
05.   Beginning
06.   Jazz
07.   Sketch For Winter
08.   Collette
09.   In "D"
10.   Lips That Would Kiss
11.   Madeleine
12.   First Aspect Of The Same Thing
13.   Second Aspect Of The Same Thing
14.   Sleep Will Come
15.   Experiment In Fifth

Credits:
Guitar – Vini Reilly
Bass – Pete Crooks
Drums – Toby
Electronics [Switches] – Martin Hannett
Engineer – Chris Nagle, John Brierley
Producer – Martin Hannett

It would be hard to think of an album less in line with the majority of Factory's output in the late 70s than The Return Of The Durutti Column. The Column, were originally put together as a ‘proper’ band by Factory founders, Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus. But by the time this album became fact (hoho) Wilson’s wilful disposition had seen to it that it was just guitarist Vini Reilly who held onto the name. Oh, and a producer by the name of Martin Hannett. 

Hannett’s idiosyncracies are well documented. His bullying and cajoling of Joy Division to invest in electronics was the tip of the iceberg. The deeply personal vision of this troubled man only found voice when he sat behind a mixing desk. Having mined the possibilities of digital delay on Unknown Pleasures, he saw, in Reilly, a fellow traveller who could indulge his passions for more abstract fare. 

Reilly himself was a devoted student of the six stringed kind of ambience that had more to do with the krautrock stylings of Ashra’s Manuel Gottsching than anything that emerged from a Detroit garage. This was (originally) an album of singularly pretty instrumentals, drenched in reverb and chiming in some kind of delicate, yet still somewhat chilly imaginary space. 

The two men worked as co-musicians on this project, and it was hannett’s synth washes underpinning Reilly’s arpeggios that anchored the work which in future years become more ethereal and less rooted in grim Noerthern reality. 

The Return a bloody-minded contradiction of everything Factory stood for at that time. As if to underline its refusal to sit happily with its playmates, initial copies came housed in a sandpaper sleeve that would rub horribly against its neighbours: A situationist trick that, while as arch as the band’s name (appropriated from the Spanish civil war), still signalled Hannett and Reilly’s extreme faith in their vision. Hannett’s wayward nature would prove his undoing, while Vini merely kept on spiralling into some crystaline alternative universe. The Return is a perfect meeting of minds…

Chris Jones / BBC Review

Microdisney ‎– Everybody Is Fantastic (1984)

Style: Pop Rock, New Wave
Format CD, Vinyl
Label: Cherry Red

Tracklist:
01.   Idea
02.   A Few Kisses
03.   Escalator In The Rain
04.   Dolly
05.   Dreaming Drains
06.   I'll Be A Gentleman
07.   Moon
08.   Sun
09.   Sleepless
10.   Come On Over And Cry
11.   This Liberal Love
12.   Before Famine
13.   Everybody Is Dead

Yes, I agree that this is a five star album. The vocals are stunning, the lyrics deeper than nearly any in rock history. That's not hyperbole. Cathal Coughlan doesn't deliver a single tossed off line. Every line has depth and meaning, and show an almost frightening insight into what it means to be human. And the music provides just the epic grandeur the lyrics deserve. This disc is Sean O'Hagan's crowning achievement as a musician. But what frustrates me is that I'm not a music critic, nor do I want to be. But I do know this is a life-changing work of art and to hear some informed insights as to why that might be would be very welcome. I've been forced to the conclusion that Microdisney and Cathal's later work with the Fatima Mansions, as well as solo, were wilfuly ignored because, at some level, we're frightened by what he had to say. It's always perfectly expressed and his conclusions are not optimistic. In both miniature encounters and sweeping overviews, he has painted a picture of our civilization in the process of a collapse both irreversible and deserved. No one likes confronting this brutal truth. So maybe if we ignored Coughlan he'd go away. And so, it appears, he has. But that doesn't make what we see in the mirror he held to our face any less true. It boggles my mind that there are those out there who'd endow a selfish, abusive blowhard like Jim Morrison with the title 'poet', when the real thing was blazing before our eyes for nearly two decades. Rather than look straight at what Coughlan's visionary power and gift of expression showed us -the ugly truth - we swooned over him and those like him. The only lyricist who comes close to Cathal Coughlan was Ian Curtis of Joy Division. He saw the same reality and made the informed decision to end his life.

Ted Lesser / AllMusic

The Durutti Column ‎– Amigos Em Portugal (1983)

Style: Avantgarde
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Fundação Atlântica

Amigos Em Portugal
A1.   Amigos Em Portugal
A2.   Menina Ao Pé Duma Piscina
A3.   Lisboa
A4.   Sara E Tristana
A5.   Estoril À Noite
A6.   Vestido Amarrotado

Dedications For Jacqueline
B1.   Wheels Turning
B2.   Lies Of Mercy
B3.   Saudade
B4.   Games Of Rhythm
B5.   Favourite Descending Intervals
B6.   To End With

Nos primeiros dias de janeiro de 2013, o mundo da música - pelo menos daquela mais alternativa ou independente - sentiu um misto de choque e surpresa quando, através das redes sociais, um sobrinho de Viny Reilly lançava um apelo desesperado: o tio, um dos mais originais guitarristas e compositores da era pós-punk do Reino Unido, enfrentava sérias dificuldades financeiras, mal conseguindo pecúnio suficiente para as necessidades básicas, nomeadamente para alimentação. O apelo rapidamente se transformou num impressionante movimento de solidariedade e a questão terá sido resolvida a contento. Quer isto dizer que restaram, para a posteridade, o choque e a surpresa acima mencionados. 

A notícia que então circulou contrastava em absoluto com o trabalho desenvolvido por vários anos pela dupla Viny Reilly/Bruce Mitchell que, com uma ou outra colaborações externas de maior ou menor monta (Dave Rowbotham, Chris Joyce, Phil Rainford e Tony Bowers), constituíam o núcleo duro de uma das bandas mais extraordinárias emergidas nos anos 80 no panorama da música europeia, nomeadamente da Bretanha industrial e, mais concretamente ainda, de Manchester: os Durutti Column. 

O nome foram obviamente buscá-lo à mítica Coluna Durruti que, nos idos de 1936, teve um papel fulcral na Guerra Civil espanhola. Criada na capital da Catalunha, batizada com o apelido do revolucionário e sindicalista Buenaventura, chegou a ter perto de 6 mil elementos de forte componente anarquista, que combateram ao lado das forças republicanas e que rapidamente se transformaram num dos movimentos mais populares na luta contra a ditadura espanhola. 

Porventura fascinados com a história que a História reservou àquele movimento armado, os Durutti Column chamaram a si, pelo menos o legado de revolucionários, que aplicaram com sensibilidade e bom senso na história... da música. Os primeiros acordes foram dados ainda em 1978, e desde cedo se percebeu que algo de novo e absolutamente original saía do talento de Viny Reilly; basta pensar quão avançado era, à época, o conceito de "chill-out" que hoje cativa (com alguns excessos, diga-se) plateias consideradas... modernas: sem o saber, os Durutti Column davam os primeiros passos num género que não apenas não se deixou influenciar pelo "disco" e demais movimentos que preenchiam as tabelas do que se chama "trending", como criavam um conceito único no panorama musical. 

Melhor prova que as palavras é a música e, felizmente, durante algum tempo, ela figurou nos nossos escaparates e, direta ou indiretamente (por encomenda), é possível adquirir a vasta e profícua obra dos Durutti Column entre nós. A construção da frase não é inocente: é que a banda atuou por diversas vezes cá no burgo (nomeadamente no Primavera Sound em 2007), e uma das raridades na sua discografia chama-se justamente... "Amigos em Portugal". Gravado nos estúdios da Valentim de Carvalho, o álbum é, à semelhança de todos os outros, uma delícia para os ouvidos; os mesmos que podem e devem escutar temas como "Lisboa", "Estoril à Noite", "Saudade" ou "Lies of Mercy". Sempre com a prestação de Bruce Mitchell, nome decisivo na fundação da editora Factory Records, e a quem o "The Guardian" apelidou de "Mr. Manchester", Viny Reilly e os Durutti Column brindaram o público e a crítica com inúmeras pérolas que parecem injusta e injustificadamente esquecidas. 

Álbuns como "Circuses & Bread" (onde se destaca, muito provavelmente de entre todos os temas da banda, o sublime "Tomorrow"), "Lips That Would Kiss", "Obbey The Time" ou o genial "The Return of the Durutti Column", entre muitos outros (entre todos os outros) são exemplo de inequívoca consistência e de um não-alinhamento que, curiosamente, nada parece ter de obstinação ou de um assumido remar contra a corrente, mas antes se assume como um "statement" tão suave quanto o são as melodias e o prodigioso som que emana da guitarra de Viny Reilly. Que ninguém espere uma interpretação vocal de génio mas, à semelhança de Tom Jobim, muito provavelmente um dos maiores compositores do século XX, é sobretudo o valor instrumental dos Durutti Column que releva de uma vasta obra caída num estranho esquecimento, à semelhança de tantos outros nomes que fizeram história na música, curiosamente num tempo (os anos 80) que é alvo de chacota e zombaria, talvez porque os símbolos dessa década se sobreponham, fruto de uma pouco seletiva exposição mediática, aos conceitos que realmente nela imperaram. Além dos Durutti Column, nomes como os dos australianos The Triffids, da francesa Anne Pigalle, da holandesa Mathilde Santing ou das editoras Crammed Discs (Bélgica) ou 4AD (Reino Unido), merecem renascer nos vários formatos que a tecnologia põe à disposição do potencial ouvinte. O mesmo que, estou certo, irá deliciar-se com os Durutti Column e com o talento de Viny Reilly, de quem o lendário Ian Curtis, dos Joy Division, era fã, à semelhança de John Frusciante: o antigo guitarrista dos Red Hot Chili Peppers considera Reilly "o maior guitarrista do mundo". É preciso dizer mais? Seguramente que não. É preciso ouvir mais? Seguramente que sim.

Reinaldo Serrano / Expresso

Art Blakey & The Afro-Drum Ensemble ‎– The African Beat (1976)

Style: Afro-Cuban Jazz
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Blue Note

Tracklist:
A1.   Prayer By Solomon G. Ilori
A2.   Ife L'Ayo (There Is Happiness In Love)
A3.   Obirin African (Woman Of Africa)
A4.   Love, The Mystery Of
B1.   Ero Ti Nr'ojeje
B2.   Ayiko Ayiko (Welcome, Welcome, My Darling)
B3.   Tobi Ilu

Credits:
Bass – Ahmed Abdul-Malik
Bata, Congas – Robert Crowder
Congas – James Ola Folami
Congas, Drums [Telegraph Drum], Percussion [Double Gong] – Chief Bey
Drums [Bambara Drum, Log Drum, Corboro Drum], Percussion [Double Gong] – Montego Joe
Drums, Timpani, Gong, Drums [Telegraph Drum] – Art Blakey
Oboe, Flute, Saxophone [Tenor], Horns [Cow Horn], Kalimba – Yusef Lateef
Percussion [Chekere], Maracas [African Maracas], Congas – Garvin Masseaux
Timpani – Curtis Fuller
Vocals, Whistle [Penny Whistle], Talking Drum – Solomon G. Ilori
Producer – Alfred Lion
Recorded By – Rudy Van Gelder

Bridging cultures, Art Blakey combined powerful African rhythms and American jazz melodies on a session that Blue Note reissued recently because the album explores roots common to all of jazz. Blakey’s ensemble for this 1962 project included artists from both worlds: Solomon G. Ilori and James Ola. Folami are from Nigeria, Chief Bey is from Senegal, and Montego Joe is from Jamaica. 

Man, does Art Blakey play loud on this session! Gentle melodic instruments are served with severe punctuation as Blakey attempts to add his drum set in contrast to the more natural sounds. Strong bass work from Ahmed Abdul-Malik holds it all together. Native drums and smaller percussion instruments set up hypnotic rhythms that form a seamless foundation. Yusef Lateef provides aural images of Northern African dancing women on "Obirin African" through an exotic flute arrangement. "Ayiko, Ayiko" serves to demonstrate a thorough combination of the two cultures as Lateef pours out spirited tenor saxophone jive alongside a relaxed folksong tune. The longest piece on the album, "Love, the Mystery of," places oboe in the featured role in front of various chants, hypnotic percussion and a strong syncopated bass. Art Blakey brought together an ideal membership for his searching project, but laid it on much too harshly each time he decided to add his own drum kit participation.

Jim Santella / All About Jazz

Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers ‎– Moanin' (1958)

Style: Hard Bop
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Blue Note

Tracklist:
1.   Moanin'
2.   Are You Real
3.   Along Came Betty
4.   First Theme: Drum Thunder
6.   Third Theme: Harlem's Disciples
7.   Blues March
8.   Come Rain Or Come Shine

Credits:
Bass – Jymie Merritt
Drums – Art Blakey
Piano – Bobby Timmons
Tenor Saxophone – Benny Golson
Trumpet – Lee Morgan
Producer – Alfred Lion
Recorded By – Rudy Van Gelder

Throughout its history, jazz has constantly evolved, developing from and reacting against its earlier incarnations. The mid-1940s saw bebop reinvent jazz as an artist's genre, distinct from the swing style that was the popular music throughout the 1930s and '40s. Bebop was music for listening, not dancing, and the emphasis became virtuosic improvised solos instead of memorable tunes and arrangements. However, the advent of bebop itself led to further reactions and developments within jazz during the 1950s. The newer genre again divided; cool jazz became a reaction against bebop, while hard bop maintained much of the bebop aesthetic. 

Hard bop players continued in the bebop idiom by emphasizing improvisation, swinging rhythms, and an aggressive, driving rhythm section. Hard bop artists retained bebop's standard song forms of 12-bar blues and 32-bar forms as well as the preference for small combos consisting of a rhythm section plus one or two horns. 

One of the premier hard bop artists and, in fact, the one who coined the term with the 1956 album Hard Bop, is drummer and bandleader Art Blakey. His band, the Jazz Messengers, was an extremely talented and influential group from its conception. Blakey formed the Jazz Messengers in 1953 with pianist Horace Silver, but, with the group's personnel constantly changing, few artists spent an extended period. This frequent turnover resulted in Blakey consistently working with the talented youth on the jazz scene. His band served as a developmental stage for future bandleaders including Hank Mobley, Kenny Dorham, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, Chuck Mangione, Jackie McLean, Wayne Shorter, Cedar Walton, Wynton Marsalis, Benny Golson, and Bobby Timmons. 

On October 30, 1958 Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers recorded the album Moanin' at Van Gelder Studio in New Jersey for the Blue Note label. Moanin' is one of the most influential and important hard bop albums due to its outstanding compositions, arrangements, and personnel. The quintet at this time consisted of Pittsburgh native Art Blakey on drums, trumpeter Lee Morgan, tenor saxophonist Benny Golson, bassist Jymie Merritt, and pianist Bobby Timmons, all from Philadelphia. Benny Golson wrote the arrangements and contributed four of the album's six tracks. The title track, "Moanin,'" composed by pianist Bobby Timmons, became the greatest hit of Blakey's lengthy career. 

Despite being only twenty years old at the time of the recording, Lee Morgan had already spent two years touring with Dizzy Gillespie's band. His improvisational contributions are indispensable to the sound of the album. Morgan and Benny Golson carry the melodic and solo responsibilities as the only horns in the band. Clifford Brown strongly influenced Morgan's style, characterized by an aggressive rhythmic attack, long melodic phrases, and a brassy timbre.

Golson performed with artists such as Tadd Dameron, Lionel Hampton, and Johnny Hodges before joining the Dizzy Gillespie band on a tour of South America from 1956-58, the same years Morgan played for Gillespie. Golson's tunes "Are You Real?," "Along Came Betty," "The Drum Thunder Suite," and "Blues March" lend a notable variety and versatility to Moanin', utilizing varied song forms and musical styles. As an improviser, Golson's smooth tone and fluid lines contrast with and complement the aggressive playing of Lee Morgan. 

Morgan and Golson provide a solid frontline, but the Jazz Messengers rhythm section drives the band and propels the soloists to ever higher levels. Pianist Bobby Timmons, a jazz veteran who played with Kenny Dorham's Jazz Prophets, Chet Baker, Sonny Stitt, and Maynard Ferguson, composed the title track and consistently makes his presence felt through his tasteful comping and solos. Duke Ellington's bassist Jimmy Blanton especially inspired the Jazz Messenger's Jymie Merritt, though he studied formally with a member of the Philadelphia Symphony at the Ornstein Music School. His first gigs were with Tadd Dameron, Benny Golson, John Coltrane, Philly Joe Jones, and, from 1955- 57, he toured with blues artist B.B. King, Merritt provides the bass lines and rhythmic punctuation depending on the style of the song and is featured as a soloist several times throughout the album. 

Drummer and bandleader Art Blakey provides the aggressive, driving pulse that propels the Jazz Messengers and is so characteristic of the hard bop style. Blakey was 39 at the time of this recording, the Jazz Messengers had already progressed through several lineups, and Blakey remained the only constant. Despite the changing personnel, the Jazz Messengers remained the archetypal hard bop group, characterized by an emphasis on the blues roots of the music. Blakey is notable for his aggressive drumming, use of polyrhythm, musical interactions with his soloists, and his personality. Blakey felt strongly that jazz was underappreciated in America and he sought to bring it to a broader audience. As a bandleader, he provided his musicians with ample space for solos and encouraged them to contribute compositions and arrangements. He constantly added new talent to his band and made no effort to prevent musicians from leaving the Jazz Messengers. 

This combination of Pennsylvania born musicians collaborated to record one of the milestones of hard bop. The track listing includes Bobby Timmons' "Moanin';" Benny Golson's "Are You Real?," "Along Came Betty," "The Drum Thunder Suite," and "Blues March;" and a single standard, Arlen and Mercer's "Come Rain or Come Shine." The selection of songs for Moanin' demonstrates the variety of styles in which the Jazz Messengers comfortably performed. The album features aspects of blues, funky jazz, Latin-American music, and New Orleans style marching bands. 

The song "Moanin'" is one of the tunes that helped to generate the "soul jazz" style of the late '50s and early '60s. Influenced by gospel, "Moanin'" makes use of call-and-response technique between the piano and horns. Instead of a walking bass, Merritt plays a rhythmically driving bass line, while Blakey plays a swing rhythm with emphasis on beats two and four. Morgan, Golson, and Timmons all play two-chorus solos followed by one chorus by Jymie Merritt. Morgan's solo makes use of blues inflections and maintains its cohesion through the use of catchy riffs. Golson proceeds into his solo from the end of Morgan's and uses a similar riff-based approach. Timmons continues in a bluesy style, alternating piano runs with chords, and progressing to develop upon a series of formulaic riffs. "Moanin'" concludes with the return of the head and a short piano tag. This song is a prime example of funky or soul jazz. 

Benny Golson's "Drum Thunder Suite" was composed to satisfy Blakey's desire to record a song using mallets extensively. The suite consists of three contrasting themes. The first theme, "Drum Thunder," is primarily a drum solo with horns playing short melodic ideas in unison (soli writing). The second theme, "Cry a Blue Tear," utilizes a strongly Latin rhythm in the drums. It features a lyrical melody with trumpet and saxophone playing complementary lines. The final theme, "Harlem's Disciples," begins with a funky melody, and then a piano solo sets the stage for the concluding drum solo. "The Drum Thunder Suite" makes interesting use of different stylistic approaches and arranging techniques. 

"Blues March," also composed by Benny Golson, is intended to invoke the spirit of a marching band, with the drums clearly marking all four beats of the measure. The rhythm section is minimally invasive in this tune, and all of the listener's attention is drawn to the soloist. Morgan and Golson play typically bluesy choruses, though Bobby Timmons' solo is the highlight of the track. His solo begins with a simple line, developing into an exciting, chordal conclusion. 

Golson's "Are You Real?" is a more straightforward hard bop tune featuring a 32-bar chorus and a faster tempo. The standard "Come Rain or Come Shine" is performed with the attention to melody and arrangement not typically associated with hard bop, but is convincingly and faithfully represented by the Jazz Messengers. 

Moanin' is one of hard bop's seminal albums due to the extremely high quality of the personnel and compositions featured. The mastery with which Lee Morgan and Benny Golson provide the frontline is further elevated by the solidarity of Timmons, Merritt, and Blakey. It is a testament to the great quality of the performers, compositions, and the hard bop genre. The accessibility of the album is surely a result of Art Blakey's desire to promote jazz as an art at a time when public interest in the music was waning, and the genre as a whole was threatened by the popularity of emerging musical styles such as doo-wop and rock and roll.

Mike Hoppenheim / All About Jazz

Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers ‎– Drum Suite (1957)

Style: Afro-Cuban, Hard Bop
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Columbia

Tracklist:
Drum Suite
A1.   The Art Blakey Percussion Ensemble - The Sacrifice
A2.   The Art Blakey Percussion Ensemble - Cubano Chant
A3.   The Art Blakey Percussion Ensemble - Oscalypso
The Jazz Messengers
B1.   The Jazz Messengers - Nica's Tempo
B2.   The Jazz Messengers - D's Dilemma
B3.   The Jazz Messengers - Just For Marty

Credits:
Alto Saxophone – Jackie McLean
Bass – Spanky deBrest
Bass, Cello – Oscar Pettiford
Bongos – Candido
Bongos – Sabu
Drums – Art Blakey
Drums – Jo Jones
Drums, Timpani, Gong – Charles Wright)
Piano – Ray Bryant
Piano – Sam Dockery
Trumpet – Bill Hardman

The album is made up of two sessions. Side A consists of exotic, Afro-Cuban rhythms and the flipside is a swell session of Blakey’s working band of the period consisting of alto saxophonist Jackie McLean, trumpeter Bill Hardman, pianist Sam Dockery and bassist Spanky DeBrest. The first part (as well as the classy album cover) suggests that Art Blakey was eager to put Africa back into jazz. Yet, in drummer Art Taylor’s book of interviews Notes And Tones, (Da Capo, 1982) Blakey insisted that he has always felt that ‘our music has nothing to do with Africa. (…) No America, no jazz. (…) African music is entirely different, and the Africans are much more advanced than we are rhythmically, though we’re more advanced harmonically.’ In this view, which perhaps unintentionally ignores the impact of both Afro(-Cuban) rhythm and imported European musical standards on the cradle of jazz, New Orleans, Drum Suite isn’t jazz but African music. Or better said, African music played by American men of jazz. But Blakey would know. The Pittsburgh-born drummer traveled in Africa for almost a year in 1949. By his own account, just listening, not drumming. 

Tossing two sessions together on an album was a not uncommon practice in the classic jazz era. It could have a number of reasons. Sometimes, studio time ran out. And occasionally, musicians weren’t available anymore due to other obligations. Companies also might go for the easy way (and/or a fast buck), rounding out albums with sessions from the vault. Such albums usually lack coherence, an encompassing idea. Drum Suite is incoherent. But it’s a high quality affair, so who cares? 

Beat happening! The Afro-Cuban tunes, wherein Blakey is assisted by drummers Jo Jones and Charles “Specs” Wright, the bongo’s of Candido and Sabu Martinez, bassist Oscar Pettiford and pianist Ray Bryant, sans horns, get you into the groove, no doubt. The aptly-titled The Sacrifice starts off with an indelible African backwoods chant, slowly but surely developing into a multi-layered rumble of toms, flavored with chubby chords and staccato lines by Ray Bryant. The tom-figure from the opening is repeated at the end. Interestingly, it’s reminiscent of the drum part in Richard Strauss’ Also Sprach Zaratustra, which was used to such imposing effect in Stanley Kubrick’s epic 1968 science-fiction movie 2001 A Space Odyssee. 

Ray Bryant will undoubtly have been thrilled by the re-visit of his original tune Cubano Chant. Initially, Bryant had recorded it in 1956 on the Epic LP Ray Bryant Trio, including, coincidentally, Jo Jones and Candido. The broadened palette of instruments results in a piece of tough swing, highlighting Bryant’s inventive left hand, which generally puts emphasis on the low register and down-home fills that reach back to the era of swing, blues and stride. Staccato, swinging right hand lines weave in and out of Bryant’s left hand bottom. Bryant would revisit the uplifting Cubano Chant a number of times during his career. Finally, Oscar Pettiford’s Oscalypso ends the Afro-Cuban side on a groovy note. But three tunes in, the pounding percussion sounds of the basic calypso riff might start to get up one’s sleeve. 

Part of an elite jazz family that brought Afro-Cuban music to the jazz realm, including Duke Ellington, Juan Tizol, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Kenny Dorham, the Drum Suite-section is a convincing, spirited affair, and one of the first percussion-oriented jazz album sides. It’s a February 22, 1957 session. Just a while later, Blakey would expand on his percussion fetish on the Blue Note label, releasing Orgy In Rhythm, a date that was recorded in May and October, 1957, as well as Drums Around The Corner and Holiday For Skins in 1958. 

Obviously, despite Blakey’s assesment of his own, ‘American’ style, Blakey’s drumming incorporated some African devices, such as the altering of pitch with the elbow, tangible rim shots, and multiple rolls on the toms: an armoury of effects to stimulate the soloists. Some of these assets, embellishing the signature Blakey style of a propulsive beat and thunderous polyrhythm, are present on the other session of Drum Suite, a date of December 13, 1956. They especially fill Bill Hardman’s fast-paced, swinging tune Just For Marty to the brim. It’s a top-rate session with vigorous blowing by Jackie McLean and a number of jubilant, fluent statements by Bill Hardman, an underestimated player with a delicious, sweet-sour tone. 

Before Blakey gained widespread recognition with the Blue Note album Moanin’ in 1958, it was hard to make head or tail out of the drummer’s recording career, as Blakey recorded albums for a varying string of labels, including Vik, Jubilee, Bethlehem, Atlantic and Columbia. Yet, however disparate Blakey’s catalogue of that period between the early classic Jazz Messenger sides on Blue Note and successful comeback on the famous label in 1958 may be, it was of a continuous high level. The singular Drum Suite album is no exception.

FLOPHOUSE magazine