A repeat!
It seems like a concept that would be kind of evergreen - ska up some jazz standards, add a few originals, off you go. But somehow, it had diminishing returns? Each album worked a little less than the previous one, and by the third, it was down to just “fine”. It’s fine! But that’s all.
Goddamn!
[Read More]Whe Mick Jones left The Clash, he started a new band, Big Audio Dynamite. He wanted to explore the use of dance music techniques, sampling, and the like. That band too broke apart, but he took another run at things with Big Audio Dynamite II, where he was the only member in common. This is the first album from that second incarnation, and “Rush” was a decent sized hit. It’s pretty charming in how eclectic and playful it is, and the “rhythm and melody” section is a serious jam.
[Read More]Alles Wieder Offen (“All Open Again”) represents Neubauten fully completing their new model of creating albums. In 2002, Neubauten wanted to get themselves total creative freedom to create the music they wanted, without any label interference. They managed to get 2,000 people signed up at $35 a piece, which was enough to fund some sessions. Those recordings would turn into Supporter Album No. 1, which I have a copy of somewhere around here. However, the band turned to Mute records to turn it into a full release (Perpetuum Mobile, which re-worked some of the songs from it), which allowed them to fund a tour.
[Read More]Love a trombonist/singer!
Madvillain, the collaboration between MF Doom and Madlib, is such an incredible record, it’s a shame that there’s no followup to it. This is a great example of the wizardry - it’s only a minute and a half, but the beat sounds amazing and Doom is on top of his game, so it feels like a whole song. With the belated announcement of Doom’s death last year, this is a perfect time to listen to this album again.
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