Matthew Dear ‎– Backstroke (2004)

Style: Techno, Minimal
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Spectral Sound

Tracklist:

1.   Another
2.  Tide
3.  Takes On You
4.   Grut Wall
5.   I Know Howser
6.   Huggy's Parade
7.   Good Girl
8.   And In The Night

If you're attempting to keep tabs on Matthew Dear, Backstroke arrives eight months after Leave Luck to Heaven; during the time between these releases, he produced two more singles for Spectral Sound (including one as the relatively hostile Audion) and another for Richie Hawtin's Minus label (as False), in addition to remixes for Monobox, Lusine, and Håkan Lidbo. By today's silly standard, Backstroke is being classified as a mini-LP, even though it's 40 minutes in length. (The LP version has one less track and is still longer than your AC/DC or early Prince records.) Whatever its designation, Backstroke is a marked turn away from Leave Luck to Heaven, if scarcely a stylistic changeup. Several cuts will indeed serve adequately in the clubs, but the album as a whole is tailored for a more personal setting. "Grut Wall" is an instant standout, one of the handful of instances where Dear continues to tweak the traditional pop-song format. Backward-sounding basslines, cascades of battered keyboard melodies, and multi-tracked vocals make it askew enough to make you feel as if you've just spent too much time on a sit 'n' spin, but the hooks are equally important -- it's the strangest and catchiest song he has made yet. On "Tide," everything is tangled up with great intricacy and is nearly as insidious and addictive when balled together, assisted by another refrain that could double as a playground taunt. The closing "And in the Night" is the greatest diversion, a chaotic Afro-German hybrid that crosscuts Dear's natural rigid bounce with a muffled disco rhythm section and shards of horns. The chances he takes pay off almost without exception, but the album doesn't have the easy-fit cohesion of Leave Luck to Heaven, and the dispassionate vocals that surface here and there won't be for everyone. (During "I Know Howser"'s verses, he sounds like he'd rather be folding laundry or sorting recyclables.) Some will see this as the Amnesiac to Leave Luck to Heaven's Kid A. There really isn't anything wrong with that.

Andy Kellman  / AllMusic

Matthew Dear ‎– Leave Luck To Heaven (2003)

Style: Techno, Minimal
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Spectral Sound

Tracklist:
01.   Nervous Laughter (Intro)
02.   Fex
03.   Just Us Now
04.   The Crush
05.   But For You
06.   In Unbending
07.   Dog Days
08.   Huffing Stuff
09.   Reason And Responsibility
10.   You're Fucking Crazy
11.   It's Over Now
12.   Machete (Outro)

Credits:
Lacquer Cut By – r
Mastered By – Rashad
Producer, Written-By – Matthew Dear

Najma ‎– Pukar ~ Calling You (1992)

Style: Fusion, Indian Classical
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label:  Last Minute Productions CBS/Sony, Mondo Melodia

Tracklist:
1.   Jheel Mai Chand
2.   Mousum Suhana
3.   Dil Mai
4.   Jhoomo Gao
5.   Pukar
6.   Dil Jala Ne
7.   Improvisation (Semi-Classical)
8.   Baabul
9.   Pukar (Without Tabla)

Credits:
Bass Guitar – John Deemer
Keyboards – Paul Honey
Oud – Bahman Nowroozi
Percussion – Arun Shendurnikar
Shanai – Kadir Durvesh
Soprano Saxophone, Alto Saxophone – Ray Carless
Tabla, Dhol – Sirish Kumar
Violin – Nawazish Ali Kahn
Voice – Salma Akhtar

Najma ‎– Atish (1989)

Style: Fusion, Indian Classical
Format: CD, Vinyl, Cass.
Label: Triple Earth, Polydor, Shanachie, CBS/Sony

Tracklist:
1.   Atish Fishan
2.   Naina
3.   Apne Hathon
4.   Parvanon
5.   Nikala
6.   Ghoom Charakhana
7.   Faithless Love

Credits:
Bass – John Deemer
Guitar – Clem Clempson
Keyboards – John Smith, Roland Perrin
Saxophone – Ray Carless
Tabla, Percussion – Talvin Singh
Violin – Kamal Bir Nandra
Vocals – Najma
Producer – Iain Scott
Mixed By, Producer – Bunt Stafford-Clark
Recorded By, Mixed By – Hugo Nicolson

Najma ‎– Qareeb (1987)

Style: Fusion, Indian Classical
Format: CD, Vinyl, Cass.
Label: Triple Earth, Shanachie

Tracklist:
1.   Neend Koyi
2.   Jane Kis Tarha
3.   Dil Laga Ya Tha
4.   Apne Hathon
5.   Zikar Hal Apna
6.   Karoon Na Yad Magar
7.   Har Sitam Aap Ka

Credits:
Bass – Lazar Der Gregorian
Keyboards – Ian Terry
Santoor – Kiran Pal Singh
Saxophone – Ray Carless
Tabla, Dholak, Percussion – Naushad Sheikh
Violin – Navazish Ali Khan
Vocals – Najma Akhtar

Conjunto Corona ‎– Santa Rita Lifestyle (2018)

Genre: Hip Hop
Format: Digital
Label: Meifumado

Tracklist:
01.   Jesus é Uma Merda
02.   187 No Bloco
03.   Perdido Na Variante
04.   Eu Não Bebo Coca Cola, Eu Snifo
05.   As Profecias
06.   Santa Rita Lifestyle
07.   Street Ganza Do Jardim
08.   Funk & Dopamina
09.   Dalí Somali
10.   Delírios Místicos
11.   Splash Bang Boom
12.   Isto Não Pagas Com Part-times Só

Credits:
Guitar, Arranged By – Frederico Ferreira, Marco Duarte
Lyrics By – Edgar Correia
Music By, Mixed By, Mastered By – David Bruno

É possível gostar do Conjunto Corona sem nunca ter fumado um charro? No limite, a resposta afirmativa será óbvia. A legitimidade é a mesma com que se apreciam os momentos mais bairristas de YG sem nunca ter pisado Compton ou as referências gastronómicas de Action Bronson sem nunca ter comido uma refeição gourmet (mas, pese a banalidade, talvez não seja a mesma coisa). Só que há, em Corona e em Santa Rita Lifestyle, outros universos de que é impossível fugir. Em primeiro lugar, todo o imaginário do Grande Porto, claro está.

Não que esse entendimento seja essencial para que o ouvinte se identifique e relacione com os artistas, como acontece com YG ou Bronsolino, mas sobretudo por uma questão de discurso. A começar pela finíssima escrita de Logos, mesmo que o tom raramente denuncie o conteúdo — ao bom estilo do Porto, onde a poker face é mais antiga que o popular jogo de cartas. Se as personagens de Corona são, ao quarto disco, mais reais do que nunca, isso começa na força de expressões aparentemente tão inócuas como “refustedo” ou “levas duas putas”. As letras de Edgar Correia não caricaturam quem fuma um “charro”, mas sim quem “mata um berloque” ou um “pavão”.

O quadro só fica completo com as “ninas” que vão polvilhando o vídeo que acompanha o álbum, com o 13-05-JC que os conduz ou com os interlúdios samplados das míticas rádios locais do “norte”. E é exactamente aí que se encontra o segundo grande ponto deste disco: a religião. Aqui, como representativa da “portugalidade” — ou mesmo da humanidade — no seu todo, mesmo que a pronúncia nunca se perca. A intenção e o destaque são óbvios (só os skits é que têm direito a legendas), e talvez não seja coincidência que a viagem comece em Santa Rita.

É na união desses pontos que se torna quase impossível definir, mais do que a forma, o conteúdo de Corona, e é nesses interlúdios que se percebe de uma vez por todas que as caricaturas de Logos e dB são, mais do que uma crítica jocosa, uma homenagem. O povo que retratam, e que fuma “berloques” no seu Honda Civic, é o mesmo povo que acredita em “profecias”, mas é exactamente o mesmo povo que responde a esse tipo de declarações dizendo “nós, os homens, é que temos que resolver o problema”.

O que o Conjunto Corona faz pelo hip hop, a partir do Porto, é bonito. E recomenda-se com entusiasmo redobrado: é bom que haja mais homenagens destas, às pessoas, ao país (e noutras zonas do país) e à música. A mestria de dB, no pensamento e na execução, não é novidade, e está, tal como a escrita e a entrega de Logos, cada vez mais perto do ideal — e de irónica também não tem nada. O Conjunto está mais rico, a música continua a crescer e ganha mais camadas. A mensagem, com ou sem legendas, já passou.

Moisés / Rimas e Batidas

Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes ‎– Expansions (1975)

Style: Jazz-Funk
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: RCA Victor, Flying Dutchman

Tracklist:
A1.   Expansions
A2.   Desert Nights
A3.   Summer Days
B1.   Voodoo Woman
B2.   Peace
B3.   Shadows
B4.   My Love

Credits:
Engineer – Dave Wittman
Mixed By – Bob Thiele, Dave Wittman, Lonnie Liston Smith
Producer – Bob Thiele, Lonnie Liston Smith

When Lonnie Liston Smith left the Miles Davis band in 1974 for a solo career, he was, like so many of his fellow alumni, embarking on a musical odyssey. For a committed fusioneer, he had no idea at the time that he was about to enter an abyss that it would take him the better part of two decades to return from. Looking back upon his catalog from the period, this is the only record that stands out -- not only from his own work, but also from every sense of the word: It is fully a jazz album, and a completely funky soul-jazz disc as well. Of the seven compositions here, six are by Smith, and the lone cover is of the Horace Silver classic, "Peace." The lineup includes bassist Cecil McBee, soprano saxophonist David Hubbard, tenor saxophonist Donald Smith (who doubles on flute), drummer Art Gore, and percussionists Lawrence Killian, Michael Carvin, and Leopoldo. Smith plays both piano and electric keyboards and keeps his compositions on the jazzy side -- breezy, open, and full of groove playing that occasionally falls over to the funk side of the fence. It's obvious, on this album at least, that Smith was not completely comfortable with Miles' reliance on hard rock in his own mix. Summery and loose in feel, airy and free with its in-the-cut beats and stellar piano fills, Expansions prefigures a number of the "smooth jazz" greats here, without the studio slickness and turgid lack of imagination. The disc opens with the title track, with one of two vocals on the LP by Donald Smith (the other is the Silver tune). It's typical "peace and love and we've got to work together" stuff from the mid-'70s, but it's rendered soulfully and deeply without artifice. "Desert Nights" takes a loose Detroit jazz piano groove and layers flute and percussion over the top, making it irresistibly sensual and silky. It's fleshed out to the bursting point with Smith's piano; he plays a lush solo for the bridge and fills it to the brim with luxuriant tones from the middle register. "Summer Days" and "Voodoo Woman" are where the electric keyboards make their first appearance, but only as instruments capable of carrying the groove to the melody quickly, unobtrusively, and with a slinky grace that is infectious. The mixed bag/light-handed approach suits Smith so well here that it's a wonder he tried to hammer home the funk and disco on later releases so relentlessly. The music on Expansions is timeless soul-jazz, perfect in every era. Of all the fusion records of this type released in the mid-'70s, Expansions provided smoother jazzers and electronica's sampling wizards with more material that Smith could ever have anticipated.

Thom Jurek / AllMusic

Kid Creole And The Coconuts ‎– Private Waters In The Great Divide (1990)

Style: Synth-pop, Funk, Reggae-Pop
Format: CD, Vinyl, Cass.
Label. CBS

Tracklist:
01.   I Love Girls
02.   (No More) Casual Sex
03.   The Sex Of It
04.   Cory's Song
05.   Dr. Paradise
06.   Takin' A Holiday
07.   Lambada
08.   Funky Audrey And The Coconut Rag
09.   When Lucy Does The Boomerang
10.   He's Takin' The Rap
11.   Pardon My Appearance
12.   Laughing With Our Backs Against The Wall
12.   My Love

Credits:
Producer – August Darnell
Bass – August Darnell, Carol Colman
Drums – Davey Boy Span
Guitar – August Darnell, Danny Blume, Eugene Father Grey, Jimmi Ripp
Percussion – Bongo Eddie
Saxophone, Clarinet – Charlie Lagond (tracks: 1, 2, 10)
Synthesizer – Brian Walker, Peter Schott, Ronnie Rogers
Trumpet – Ken Fradley
Lead Vocals – August Darnell
Vocals – Adriana Kaegi, Bongo Eddie, Cheryl Poirier, Cory Daye, Dutch Robinson, Gichy Dan , Janique Svedberg, Taryn Hagey

Wagon Christ ‎– Phat Lab. Nightmare (1994)

Style: Abstract, Ambient
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label:  Rising High Records

Tracklist:
1.   Mahadelic
2.   Glass World
3.   Phat Lab. Nightmare
4.   Aerhaart; From Within
5.   Aerhaart; Ahead
6.   Aerhaart; Barrier
7.   Panorak
8.   Dances With Francis

Credits:
Producer – Wagon Christ
Written-By – Luke Vibert

The Balanescu Quartet ‎– Possessed (1992)

Style: Contemporary
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Mute

Tracklist:
1.   Robots
2.   Model
3.   Autobahn
4.   Computer Love
5.   Pocket Calculator
6.   Possessed
7.   Want Me
8.   No Time After Time
9.   Hanging Upside-Down

Credits:
Cello – Caroline Dale
Viola – Bill Hawkes
Violin – Alexander Balanescu, Clare Connors
Performer – The Balanescu Quartet
Arranged By, Producer – Clare Connors
Written-By – Alexander Balanescu, David Byrne, Schultz, Schneider, Bartoff, Hutter