Anderson .Paak ‎– Ventura (2019)

Genre: Hip Hop
Format: CD
Label:  Aftermath Entertainment

Tracklist :
01.   Come Home
02.   Make It Better
03.   Reachin’ 2 Much
04.   Winner's Circle
05.   Good Heels
06.   Yada Yada
07.   King James
08.   Chosen One
09.   Jet Black
10.   Twilight
11.   What Can We Do?

It’s not often that an artist’s mum feels prompted to respond to criticism of their work, but that is precisely what happened in the wake of Anderson .Paak’s last album. Intended as a star-studded, big-budget epic to mark his move from indie labels to Dr Dre’s behemoth Aftermath Entertainment, Oxnard turned out to be a Grammy-winning commercial success despite mixed reviews, the most common criticism being that some of his previous work’s appeal had been forgotten amid the production gloss and the big-name guest appearances. Perhaps understandably, this interpretation held little sway with the singer/rapper’s mum. “To all the haters that said Anderson .Paak ‘lost his identity in the Oxnard album’, this Is what I have to say about it,” she offered, in a message shared on social media. “I don’t agree … on the contrary, Paak didn’t lose his identity, he presented his great diversity. And all the haters can take that to the bank!”

Ma Paak sounds like a woman not to be messed with, but something about what the people she styled as “haters” had said hit home with the artist. Ventura sounds like the work of someone intent on fixing the flaws in its predecessor. Paak’s tendency to supercharge the production for commercial appeal has been reined in. The sound centres around an appealingly stripped-down take on mid-70s Philly soul. The string arrangements are a little less plush and satiny, the rhythm tracks toughened up, but there’s plenty of pillowy electric piano, wah-pedal guitar, softly cooed backing vocals and – a dead giveaway to its inspiration – appearances from the sitar-like guitar sound that decorates the Delphonics’ Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time) and the hits of the Stylistics. 

There are famous cameo appearances, among them Outkast’s André 3000, who contributes a verse to opener Come Home, parodying romcom-style wooing attempts: “I’ll show up on a little moped, with a little puppy – it’ll be fluffy.” But their contributions feel far less intrusive than on Oxnard, where they carried a hint of the sitcom special guest star walking through the door to a gale of applause. Even a figure such as Smokey Robinson is relegated to backing vocals, although his best attempts to blend into the scenery on Make It Better are slightly undone by what you might call the Mick-Jagger-on-You’re-So-Vain effect – once you notice his distinctive voice in the distance, it’s hard to focus on anything else. Best of all, Paak seems to have dialled down his penchant for clumsy, sexually charged lyrics. His horndog persona makes a mercifully brief appearance on Winner’s Circle and Chosen One, the latter a vaguely Prince-ish cocktail of slap bass and electronically treated vocals, but there’s nothing as excruciating as Oxnard’s fantasies about crashing a car while being fellated or the lesbian romps of a fictionalised Donald Trump lovechild. 

Instead, there are tightly written love songs and the occasional dab of social commentary. On Yada Yada, persons unknown are wittily admonished for “casually talking that global warmth as if the temperature didn’t blow out your perm”. Condemned by some critics as a nebulous, platitudinous form of protest, single King James seems to be an attempt to respond to black America’s continuing trauma with the kind of graceful reason and sense of hope that was the late Curtis Mayfield’s trademark: “We’ve been through it all, though it could be worse … there’s nothing new or sharp about the cutting edge.” Anger bubbles just below the surface – “when I finally took a knee, them crackers took me out the league” – but there’s a distinct hint of People Get Ready about its promise that current events are a stage on a journey to a better future: “What about the love? Coming with me / What about the labour? Coming with me.” 

Meanwhile, the episodic Reachin’ 2 Much lives up to its title by meandering on for six minutes and breaking out the scat vocals, but elsewhere Ventura is scrupulously trimmed of fat. There’s enough experimentation to make the album not seem like a mere pastiche of the past – Twilight offers a fantastic melding of pounding house beats, aged horn samples and lush harmonies. But the striking thing about the disc is something more prosaic. From Make It Better’s homage to Al Green to the closing What Can We Do?, a duet with the late Nate Dogg so sparkling it seems incredible that Paak is singing along with a recording of man who died eight years ago, the songs are great. The latter track ends not with a show-stopping finale, but on a shambolic, low-key note, Nate Dogg abandoning his vocal and suggesting the tape be erased. It feels like evidence that Ventura is a less ambitious and grandiose project than its predecessor. But it’s also a better and more satisfying album that plays to its author’s considerable strengths and skirts around his weaknesses. No need for mum to put her dukes up in defence this time around. 

Alexis Petridis / The Guardian

Urban Verbs ‎‎– Urban Verbs (1980)

Style: New Wave
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Warner Bros. Records, WEA

Tracklist:
1.   Subways
2.  The Angry Young Men
3.   Next Question
4.   Frenzy
5.   Ring-Ring (My Telephone's Talking)
6.   The Only One Of You
7.   Luca Brasi
8.   Tina Grey
9.  The Good Life

Credits:
Backing Vocals – Adverbs
Bass, Piano – Linda France
Drums, Percussion – Danny Frankel
Guitars, Written-By – Robert Goldstein
Producer – Mike Thorne
Synthesizers – Robin Rose
Vocals, Written-By – Roddy Frantz

Depeche Mode ‎– Construction Time Again (1983)

Style: Synth-pop
Format: CD, Vinyl, Cass.
Label: Sire, Mute, Orion

Tracklist:
01.   Love, In Itself
02.   More Than A Party
03.   Pipeline
04.   Everything Counts
05.   Two Minute Warning
06.   Shame
07.   The Landscape Is Changing
08.   Told You So
09.   And Then...
10.   Everything Counts (Reprise)

Credits:
Producer – Daniel Miller, Depeche Mode
Written-By – Alan Wilder, Martin Gore

When Depeche Mode released their 3rd album (Construction Time Again, 1983) it proved to be a crucial point in the bands history. Right from the first track, 'Love, In Itself' the groups sound is immediately more dense with countless bleeping sound effects and samples exploding away in the background, accompanied by the richest, catchiest synth the boys had yet deployed (as opposed to the melancholic, almost minimalist tunes found on 'A Broken Frame').  

Also, Alan Wilder became a full-time member of the band (previously he had only joined them on their 1982 tours), which seemed to propel Depeche's creativity far beyond anything they had done so far as a trio (after Vince Clark left in 1981). Being the only trained musician in the band, his skill can be heard everywhere on the album - his sharp arrangement skills and heavy use of samples enabled the band to create a rich, thick synthetic sound that they would later develop into their trademark dark boom, in just a couple of albums time. 

The aforementioned 'Love, In Itself' is a genuinely good synth-pop tune, with a straight-up catchy main riff and lots of nice touches, such as the change from synth to piano for a brief moment at the tail end of the song, and the subtle twinkling to be heard behind Dave's much improved vocals. The improvement in vocals is carried across to 'More Than A Party' - probably the first time we hear Dave's voice in all its familiar baritonal, echoed glory, even if he is singing pointless lyrics like "Keep telling us we're here to have fun - then take all the ice cream so we've got none".  

'More Than A Party' aside, Martin's song writing has improved a great deal. The cynical lyrics found in 'Everything Counts' and 'Told You So' are a clear hint of the dark, personal songs Gore would later write, although you wont hear any darkness in these two tunes (which surprisingly turns out to be their biggest strength). 'Told You So' is a cynical look at religion with Dave's fierce roaring of "Everybody’s waiting for judgement day - so they can go I told you so", oddly running over the top of the most danceable beat on the album. The wierd mix of dark lyrics and upbeat synth ends up being one of the highlights of 'Construction Time Again'. 

'Everything Counts' takes a paranoid view of the music business or capitalism in general, with lines like "the graph on the wall, tells the story, of it all". It becomes ironic when matched with, perhaps the most upbeat, jolly tune Depeche have ever made, with metallic scrapings, countless miniscule synth bleeps and buzzes and a trumpet wailing in the background (or at least a synthesised version of the instrument), all melding into one.  

The metallic noises found on tracks like 'Everything Counts' (but found throughout CTA, floating in the background of most tracks) are more fully explored in the experimental 'Pipeline'. This is pure industrial noise with hammers banging, metal clattering and other manufactured noises flickering in and out of rhythm in the background, married to chain-gang like vocals from the band. It stands as an all important sign that Depeche weren’t afraid to experiment with their sound, and also an indication of what they would do next. 

There are a couple of dark tracks to be found in 'Shame' and 'Two Minute Warning', with the former featuring a muddy sounding melody that moves at snail-pace and desperate lyrical shouts of "it all seems so stupid - it makes me want to give up". 'The Landscape Is Changing' is one of the more pretentious moments on 'Construction Time Again' with its eco-warrior lyrics. Its one of only two lyrics written by Wilder on this record - the other being 'Two Minute Warning', a gloomy look at the possibility of nuclear apocalypse (almost inevitable for any early 80’s band) with a funky beat and aggressive vocals from Gahan. 

Things started coming together for Depeche Mode on this album - the mould hadn't fully set yet, but the blueprint for brilliance had - a blueprint that contained Dave's improving vocals and live star power, Martin's first steps into writing meaningful lyrics, and Wilder's technical capability.  

Their sound would come to full fruition on their next album, 'Some Great Reward', but what we have here are a set of rich synth tunes full of overlapping samples and sound effects, an essential DM track in 'Everything Counts', and a few other worthy contenders - 'Told You So', 'Love, In Itself' and the interesting, industrial experiment 'Pipeline'. Overall, its a fairly consistent effort with enough worthwhile moments to warrant a listen and makes for an optimistic expirence for fans, as Depeche take a decent-sized step in the right direction. 

Tom93M / sputnik music

The Sa-Ra Creative Partners ‎– Nuclear Evolution: The Age Of Love (2009)

Style: Broken Beat, Soul, RnB/Swing, Future Jazz, Neo Soul, Funk
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Ubiquity

Tracklist:
01.   Spacefruit
02.   Dirty Beauty
03.   I Swear
04.   Melodee N'Mynor
05.   He Say She Say
06.   Traffika
07.   Souls Brother
08.   Bitch Baby
09.   Love Czars
10.   Gemini's Rising
11.   The Bone Song
12.   White Cloud
13.   Move Your Ass
14.   Love Today
15.   Can I Get U Hi?
16.   My Star
17.   Cosmic Ball
18.   Spaceways Theme
19.   Just Like A Baby
20.   Double Dutch (Co Co Pops)
21.   Death Of A Star (Supernova)
22.   Powder Bump
23.   Hanging By A String

While they have worked on several other records and even dropped their own record with 2007's The Hollywood Recordings, Erykah Badu's New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) is what springs to mind whenever I hear about Sa-Ra Creative Partners. The trio's magnificent work on tracks like "Me", "The Cell", "Twinkle", and others was impressive and helped mold new territory for Ms. Badu. Whether fans loved or hated the change in her sound, they would be hard-pressed to deny how sonically gorgeous that record was. And one would hope that same sound would transfer to Sa-Ra's latest, Nuclear Evolution: The Age of Love. Musically, the group continues breaking ground and solidifying itself as a powerhouse. Unfortunately, that only remains true in the sonic regions of the record, which are weighed down by mundane, in-your-face sexuality. 

The issue plaguing this record is actually one that rears its head frequently in the realm of modern R&B and soul. Gone are the days of subtlety where, yes, it was implied you were singing to a lady who you would hope to have breakfast with the next morning. But instead of implications, you have straightforward suggestions, such as on the otherwise smooth-as-butter "The Bone Song". That track in particular, as its title indicates, is the greatest criminal in the case of overt sexuality, which you can hear dispersed all over the record. 

Also, while the vocals primarily complement the erratic production well, they do have a tendency to get lost in the mix as the album plays. At first it doesn't appear that will be the case. Sa-Ra kick things off with the Latin-infused, dance-party "Spacefruit", which features Debi Nova assisting with crooning in both Spanish and English. And, similarly, Ms. Badu graces "Dirty Beauty" with her gorgeous throaty vocals for the otherworldly space jam. Tracks of this breed, however, are too few and far between. And when Sa-Ra's Om'Mas Keith, Taz Arnold, and Shafiq Husayn handle the duties on the mic, you are left craving more Nova, Badu, or, at least, a male vocalist with better range. Actually, since they do mesh well with their music, the men of Sa-Ra would be more palatable had they at least given more thought to the lyrics. 

Where these three galactic producers shine is in their, well, production. Almost every joint on here, especially those aforementioned tracks, is an experimental hip-hop/R&B head's wet dream. The trio incorporates the crunchy drums of Flying Lotus on album standout "Traffika". They get funky and smooth on the break-up track "Melodee N'Mynor", which features perfectly-mixed, low-laying horns for effect. Another highlight is the longest track on here in "Love Czars". At nearly eight minutes, one would assume the jazzy drums and tight bass would grow tiresome by the five-minute mark. But no, it's so infectious that when it ends, you will get entranced for another eight minutes when you play the song again. 

Tracks like "Traffika" and "Love Czars" are what make Sa-Ra's music both unique and enjoyable. These three guys are doing things that most R&B producers wouldn't either think of or even try if they imagined it. And while some songs, like the aforementioned standouts, are undoubtedly inaccessible to some listeners, they deserve to be heard by anyone who appreciates solid songwriting and experimentation. Even further, those alienated pop-R&B fans should at least give Sa-Ra a shot or two and take a break from the stale love anthems plaguing the radio. Note: That's not exactly a bash to the mainstream, because it's more than well known that R&B has been on a steady decline in the past decade with few exceptions. 

Obviously -- as we all know from their past work -- the three members of Sa-Ra are some talented cats. Their instrumentation and production is hands down phenomenal at times. They have an innate ability to take sounds associated with the likes of Prince, Flying Lotus, and J Dilla, smash it all together, and then lay it down for funk-driven ear candy. But their skills behind the boards aren't enough to accelerate their disappointing lyrics and fitting, but average vocals. 

Andrew Martin / popMATTERS

Terry Riley ‎– Descending Moonshine Dervishes (1982)

Style: Modern Classical, Minimal
Format: CD, Vinyl, Cass.
Label: Kuckuck, Beacon Sound

Tracklist:
A.   Part 1
B.   Part 2

Credits:
Stephen Hill - Remastering
Ulrich Kraus - Engineer
Terry Riley - Composer, Keyboards, Liner Notes, Piano, Primary Artist, Synthesizer, Vocals

If you will allow a controversial opinion, I maintain that nobody’s music embodies pure peace like Terry Riley’s. From In C to A Rainbow In Curved Air to Persian Surgery Dervishes to Shri Camel and beyond, the legendary American composer has forged a body of work that’s established minimalism as an ultimate conduit of sonic transcendence and an overall sense of well-being. If all of your chakras aren’t resonating with utmost harmoniousness while you’re listening to Riley, you may want to schedule a soul-doctor appointment. 

Although Descending Moonshine Dervishes isn’t typically rated among Riley’s greatest accomplishments, it should be. Honestly, I’ve always been a Rainbow In Curved Air/Persian Surgery Dervishes/Shri Camel guy, but Portland label Beacon Sound’s fantastic 2016 vinyl reissue—with a strong remastering job done by former Seattle producer Rafael Anton Irisarri—has me reconsidering. The more I listen to it, the more I’m convinced that Moonshine is Riley’s peak, which means that it’s among the loftiest works of art in the Western world. If you will allow another controversial opinion… 

It starts with urgent burbles similar to those of one of Riley’s greatest hits, “Poppy Nogood And The Phantom Band,” then ascends to an ever-so-dissonant cruise-control drone that pits two competing organ motifs against each other to create a wonderful friction. Sporadic surges in intensity increase the sublimity of the drone, creating the sensation of frantic yet salubrious cellular activity. (I should say that this magnum opus was mostly improvised live at Berlin’s Metamusik Festival in 1975. Terry was on a goddamn roll that night, y’all.) 

At times, Descending Moonshine Dervishes is almost too much to handle, as the surfeit of silvery tones gather density and crash against the shore of your consciousness, inundating you with way more pleasure than you deserve in one lifetime, let alone in one sitting with an LP. Such is the man’s benevolence, though, that he keeps bestowing you the godly goods, never really letting up on celestial symphony that emanates from his modified Yamaha YC 45D organ. 

Really, Riley? 52 minutes of this? How are we ever gonna deal with the escalating shitshow of reality after such a glut of galactic gloriousness? If god exists, she’s playing this in her lair—and then perhaps seguing into an epic Bösendorfer piano piece by Charlemagne Palestine, for good measure.  

Buckley Mayfield / Jive Time Records

Edwyn Collins ‎– Hope And Despair (1989)

Style: Pop Rock, Country Rock, Indie Pop
Format: CD, Vinyl, Cass.
Label: Demon Records, Werk Record Label

Tracklist:
01.   Coffee Table Song
02.   50 Shades Of Blue
03.   You're Better Than You Know
04.   Pushing It To The Back Of My Mind
05.   If Ever You're Ready
06.   Darling, They Want It All
07.   The Wheels Of Love
08.   The Beginning Of The End
09.   The Measure Of The Man
10.   Testing Time
11.   Let Me Put My Arms Around You
12.   The Wide Eyed Child In Me
13.   Ghost Of A Chance
14.   Hope And Despair

Credits:
Bass, Organ, Backing Vocals, Drums, Piano, Trumpet – Dennis Bovell
Drums – David Ruffy
Guitar, Backing Vocals – Roddy Frame
Guitar, Dobro – Steven Skinner
Guitar, Vocals, Written-By, Banjo, Flute, Dobro – Edwyn Collins
Organ – Alex Grey
Pedal Steel Guitar – Bruce Dern
Piano, Organ, Synth – Bernie Clarke
Co-producer, Synthesizer – Tom Dokoupil
Co-producer, Backing Vocals, Drums, Bass, Synthesizer – Phil Thornalley

Collins's post-Orange Juice debut album has the familiar trappings of one of Glasgow's most celebrated songwriters -- a man whose main fallbacks seem to be lovelorn pessimism and cynicism toward the entertainment industry. Still, when you prepare the same feast as lovingly as Collins does, you'll never be short of house guests. The songwriting craft here is as keenly evident as you'd expect, with reggae hero Dennis Bovell (previously a member of Orange Juice's inner circle) providing production help and bass. Aztec Camera's Roddy Frame also contributes guitar. Highlights include "The Beginning of the End," which is downcast even by Collins' world-weary standards, as the artist treads carefully through everything from blue-eyed pop to rustic country in his resolutely surefooted manner. 

Alex Ogg / AllMusic

Mildlife ‎– Phase (2018)

Style: Jazz-Funk
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Research Records

Tracklist:
1.   The Magnificent Moon
2.   Zwango Zop
3.   Im Blau
4.   Phase
5.   Two Horizons
6.   The Gloves Don't Bite

Credits:
Bass – Tomas Shanahan
Drums – James Donald
Electric Organ – Kevin McDowell
Electric Piano – Kevin McDowell
Flute – Adam Halliwel
Guitar – Adam Halliwell
Melodica – Kevin McDowel
Percussion – Craig Shanahan
Synthesizer – Kevin McDowell
Vocals – Adam Halliwell, Kevin McDowell
Vocoder – Adam Halliwell
Written-By, Producer – Mildlife

Emerging fully formed as though from nowhere (in reality: Melbourne, Australia), this new young space-kraut-jazz outfit announced their existence last November with a sinuous, nine-minute single called The Magnificent Moon, a groove that could have happily gone on for ever. Here were four musicians on guitar, bass, drums and analogue synths pretending it was 1974 and that brown was the most kaleidoscopic colour. 

As with The Magnificent Moon, Mildlife’s debut album, Phase, falls just on the right side of the line dividing smug progressive fusions a la the Alan Parsons Project from questing psych-disco-jazz, the kind that wouldn’t sound wrong supporting Tame Impala on tour. The most enduring tracks are the calmest, where Mildlife foreground flow and beauty over virtuoso musicianship. Two Horizons starts with some oceanic space noises, but turns beatific with the overlaying of a trumpet-like synth line. There’s much to admire, too, on funk workouts like Zwango Zop, or tracks such as Im Blau that join the dots between Daft Punk and Tortoise. 

Kitty Empire / The Guardian

Gatupreto ‎– Distino Di Nos Vida (2017)

Style: Deep House
Format: Vinyl, FLAC
Label: Think! Music

Tracklist:
A1.   I Became Me (Featuring – NBC)
A2.   I Became Me (Remix – Philou Louzolo)
B1.   Afrowerk
B2.   Gatu Di Noti

Credits:
Helder Russo, Ka§par

Gatupreto release their sophomore "Distino Di Nos Vida" on TINK! Music! The duo from Lisbon's hinterland return with a second round of their impeccable, futuristic theory on modern club music after the acclaimed "Modo Di Trabadja" EP, released in 2015. The tropical taste of Cabo Verde, the cool of that Lisbon dance floor fusionism, the appeal of classic vibes. Tracks too dark and twisted to be called "Afro", too sexy and melodic to be called "Techno", too smart and freaky to be called "House" and too cool and mature to be called "Kuduro", it is simply Gatupreto.  

On the A side "I Became Me", deep afro dub with a killer sub bass and endless echoes, starring Portuguese soul and hip hop legend NBC as guest vocalist and a remix by afro Dutch master and fellow TINK! artist Philou Louzolo - who turns "I Became Me" into an irresistible deep house with african undertones.  

On the flip side, the dark dramatic stomping tracks "Afrowerk" and "Gatu Di Noti", the first an eerie, irresistible peak time banger, and the later a stormer with sounds from natural Africa, harpy acid lines and an off kilter beat. 

Bandcamp

The Polyversal Souls ‎– Invisible Joy (2015)

Style: Highlife, Afrobeat, Soul
Format: CD, Vinyl, FLAC
Label: Philophon

Tracklist:
01.   Yelle Be Bobre
02.   Starlet Road Filling Station Romance
03.   Momaminka
04.   Sad Nile
05.   Love In Outer Space
06.   Asembi Ara Amba
07.   Race
08.   Goin' In
09.   Dunia Dela Da'a
10.   Invisible Joy

Credits:
Producer – Max Weissenfeldt

In The Nursery ‎– Counterpoint (1989)

Style: Modern Classical, Industrial
Format: CD, Vinyl, Cass.
Label: Wax Trax! Records, Danceteria, Sweatbox

Tracklist:
01.   Breach Birth
02.   Compulsion
03.   Workcorps (Fist Style)
04.   Twins
05.   Iskra
06.   Arm Me Audacity
07.   Sentient
08.   Bling Me
09.   Libertaire
10.   Elegy
11.   Joaquin
12.   Butyrki
13.   Breach Birth (Inception Mix)

Credits:
Written-By – Klive & Nigel Humberstone