Trance Sessions - Live in the Studio and on Tour
Since the release of the critically acclaimed 'Tell No Lies' Justin Adams And Juldeh Camara have been touring pretty much non-stop for two years, taking their raw afro-blues to increasingly enthusiastic audiences. As their repertoire of music unfolds over time on many different stages it takes on a character only hinted at on their studio albums. Juldeh, using griot skills honed since childhood, stirs the audience to a frenzy while Adams' drone guitar can provide sheets of sonic attack sometimes closer to The Velvet Underground's Sister Ray than a conventional world music gig.
Before the group leave for their next live assault - this time in the UK - we made sure there was time to get them back into the studio at Real World. We wanted to capture the spirit of the live performance, open up the tracks and give them free expression . These recordings, the Trance Sessions, are their first featuring ex-Shriekback drummer Martyn Barker, were made live in the studio, each track
done in one take, with no overdubs. They are being released in their full length forms, with an African sense of time and structure - no 3.30 here. Repetition builds on each track that grows slowly from song to abstraction, infused with psychedelic energy, a web of sound far greater than the sum of the three player's parts.
The music will be available digitally from Real World direct or from iTunes on January 11th and as a limited edition physical CD later in the month from the band on tour.
Bought For A Dollar, Sold For A Dime
The musical melting pot of 'Bought For A Dollar, Sold for a Dime' is large, and bubbling. Here are addictive rhythms. Soulful vocals. Pinches of dub and funk, reggae and gospel. Oh-so-subtle samples and innovative electronics. And underpinning it all, McDonald's shimmering blues guitar licks, conjuring a space where the dirt roads of the Deep South meet the shiny lanes of the Information Superhighway.
Utopia
The guitar is the most popular instrument in the world. However, informed interpretation, the essential characteristic of western classical music, is only possible if you have a repertoire of the highest quality to interpret. The gap between popular and classical guitar culture is huge and I have been eager to begin to bridge it, as well as to add to the range of contemporary music repertoire.
Admission
From the driving drums on opener 'Falling Down' to the campfire sing-along on the final track 'Please', there's a sonic nod to Muse, perhaps an echo of Radiohead's Street Spirit, with Gareth Hale's yearning, passionate vocals suggestive of Jeff Buckley, a fresh urgency reminiscent of The Jam... But comparisons aside, the dynamic sound of The Black Swan Effect is all their own.
Trance Sessions
Repetition builds on each track that grows slowly from song to abstraction, infused with psychedelic energy, a web of sound far greater than the sum of the three player's parts.
Hobo
Charlie distills his music to its raw essence, a hearty modern gumbo of blues-folk, straight-talking lyricism, and soul, all laced with beat-boxing and quirky instrumentation. From the anthemic 'Like a Hobo' to the existential campfire pop of 'Kick The Bucket', from 'Generation Spent's passionately strummed critique of contemporary culture (or lack of it) to the whimsically melancholy 'My Life As A Duck', the album playfully resists easy genre categorisation yet maintains a spirited, contagious rootsiness...
Isla
Portico Quartet sound like nobody else in jazz, World or contemporary music. Each of the nine tracks on Isla has a distinct mood and atmosphere, while remaining firmly within their soundworld. From the churning maelstrom of Clipper to the pounding pedal points of Dawn Patrol; from the fragile ostinatos of Line to the anthemic ensemble of the title track, Isla is an album whose contents reveal fresh nuances and facets on each listen.
Kalashnik Love
"I've always had this rage that I need to express." Mehdi Haddab sits back, rests his electric oud on his lap. "Rage against, I don't know... injustice. Inequality. The system." He pauses, smiles. "And music - loud music - is the thing that helps me channel it."
Better hold on: with Haddab behind the wheel of Speed Caravan you know you're in for a ride. Electrified, amplified and fuelled by creative fire, the Paris-based quartet charge towards a psychedelic horizon; slaloming through rock, dance, electro, hip-hop, world and other music - blazing a trail with raised fists, a hand brake turn and a sharp spray of desert sand.
Return to Addis
The EP, 'Return To Addis', features all unheard material: two new tracks and two remixes from the album 'A Town Called Addis'. Track 2 is a Sima Edy remix by that most irie emperor electric, Cesar Diaz - a Real World Remixed competition winner (producer Dubulah was so taken with the winner he wanted this track to reach a wider audience). It features "Mr Mesenqo", Teremage Woretaw, on lead vocal and mesenqo, vocalists Sintayehu Zenebe and Tsedenia Gebremarkos Woldeselassie, Samuel Yirga and Feleke Hailu on keyboards and sax, topped off by the unbelievable bass playing of Winston Blissett (possibly the best bass player in the world).