July dose of Sludge Metal/Doom/Hard-Rock

Band: Graveyard
Album: Hisingen Blues
Year: 2011
Genre: Hard-rock / Heavy-Psych / Blues&Roll

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Band: Becoming the Archetype
Album: Celestial Completion
Year: 2011
Genre: Metalcore
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Band: Indian
Album: Guiltless
Year: 2011
Genre: Sludge Metal / Doom Metal
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Band: Symphony X
Album: Iconoclast
Year: 2011
Genre: Progressive Metal / Power Metal
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Band: Pentagram
Album: Last Rites
Year: 2011
Genre: Doom Metal
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Band: Ramesses
Album: Possessed by the Rise of Magik
Year: 2011
Genre: Sludge / Stoner Metal

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Domo - Self titled

Ok this is the last post in the field of psych-rock derived music for a while. Don't want to get an overdose.
They are spanish and teach the same subject of previously featured Causa Sui: up-to-date heavy psychedelic rock dyed in stoner and blues. The album (originally released in 2009) has now been reprinted.
Give 'em complete credit.

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gerry hemingway - songs

this is a wonderful and unusual project by the great drummer & composer gerry hemingway.

the music and the lyrics are perfectly matched and played by a band which is kind of downtown all-star.

(gerry hemingway dr, sampler, voice; lisa sokolov, voice; james emery gt; kermit driscoll b; john butcher ts, ellery eskelin ts, thomas lehn synth; herb roberston tp, wolter wierbos tb)

here

World's Experience Orchestra - The Beginning of a New Birth

This is an amazingly crafted gem of spiritual-jazz, self-released and published in 1975 by this bostonian super combo comprised of John Jamyll Jones (composer, arranger, director), Earl Grant-Lawrence (flute), Khalid Farug (alto flute), Michael Cosmic (alto sax), Donald Hasaan (alto clarinet), Haquib Ishma'il Hasaan (tenor sax), Phillip Musra (soprano sax), Shaddu Jones (piano), Robert Ruff (bass), Tony Cerra, Chauncy Hutcherson (drums), Larry Roland (congas), Martin Yaseen, Lee Andrew Davison, Sis. Vernell Jordan, Lola Roland, Imani Grant-Lawrence, Gloria Hutcherson, Doug Morgan (vocals). It bidded some insane prices over the net, all ranging between 2000$ and 3000$.

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Causa Sui - Summer Sessions Vol. 1,2&3

What's better than the complete Summer Sessions from Causa Sui, the danish psychedelic brigade hailing from the outer space, to celebrate the season? A comprehensive and monumental effort revolving around the idea of jam-band, jazzy and fuzzy, soaked into jazz and rock improvisation but sounding absolutely new and unconventional. A must have.

Download Volume 1
Download Volume 2
Download Volume 3

Jaki Byard - Freedom Together!

Pianist Jaki Byard's best recordings were done for Prestige in the 1960s, and fortunately, they have been gradually seeing reissue on CD in the Original Jazz Classics series. This is a particularly unusual and colorful set, for Byard not only plays piano, but makes appearances on celeste, electric piano, vibes, drums and tenor sax. His tenor playing (best heard on "Just You, Just Me") is particularly excellent, while his piano solos show his usual diversity, hinting at 50 years of jazz styles. With the assistance of bassist Richard Davis (who doubles on cello) and drummer Alan Dawson (who also contributes some tympani on "Ode to Prez," plus some vibes), Byard is in excellent form. Only the two rather ponderous vocals of Junior Parker are a minus, but this should not discourage listeners from acquiring this largely successful set.

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Yusef Lateef - Live at Pep's Vol. 1 & 2

This mid-'60s concert was one of Lateef's finest, as it perfectly displayed his multiple influences and interests. There were hard bop originals, covers of jazz classics like Oscar Pettiford's "Oscarlypso" (a CD bonus track) and Leonard Feather's "Twelve Tone Blues," as well as an unorthodox but effective version of Ma Rainey's "See See Rider." On "Sister Mamie," "Number 7," and drummer James Black's "The Magnolia Triangle," Lateef moved away from strict jazz, although he retained his improvisational flair. Lateef played meaty tenor sax solos and entrancing flute and bamboo flute offerings, and also had impressive stints on oboe, shenai, and argol. This was a pivotal date in his career, and those unaware of it will get a treat with this disc.

Thankfully Impulse had the good sense to complete the entire Live at Pep's evening by releasing Volume 2 in 1999. Impulse has been notoriously slow to release Yusef Lateef's material that he recorded for them in the 1960s onto CD (shamefully, only the two Live at Pep's albums were domestically available in 1999). Volume Two carries on this document of a live Yusef hard bop date in much the same fashion as Volume One. Both are particularly incredible in their recording quality and the performances of each player. The selections and the energy that is put into each and every song is especially moving, but shines specifically bright on "P-Bouk" and "Yusef's Mood," -- both showcase Yusef's highly personal and breathy approach to the flute. If you've got Volume One, Volume Two is an absolute, unquestionable must-have. If you don't have Volume One (or any Yusef Lateef recordings for that matter), buy them both.

Download Volume 1

Download Volume 2

Sam Rivers Quartet - Lazuli

Recordings for Rivers were sporadic at best in the '80s, so this disc is a welcome addition to his discography. Electric guitarist Darryll Thompson, electric bass guitarist Rael Wesley Grant, and drummer Steve McCraven form a very capable and powerful rhythm section, contemporary and traditional, supportive and commanding in their own way. For the first half of this CD, Rivers alternates tracks between flute and soprano sax. The opener "Swirl" is the gem of the set, an ultra-funky number with a bass/guitar ostinato line setting up the cut-loose flute of Rivers. Also with flute is the bluesy funk and more prevalent Thompson on the title cut and the funky kids melody on the "Hollywood Swingers"-type bottom line of "Coral." The piquant, pungently sharp soprano of Rivers is featured on the funky calypso rocker to hard swinger "Dominant," the kinetic funk of "Chant," and the basic "Lapis." The remainder of the selections have Rivers on tenor sax where he cements the notion that he is as solid a player on that instrument as anyone out there today. The easy swingers "Ripples" and "Desire" are thoughtful or have boppish guitar, respectively, the former potentially a new standard. "Dandelions" is a soul calypso, while "Devotion" is a distinct "Body & Soul"-styled ballad. "Sprung" sports a choppy stop-start head and inserts in a hard-charging bridge, while his famous signature standard "Beatrice" is played neat and clean with McCraven, who is excellent throughout no matter the rhythm, brushing his way in a rock beat toward essentially urgent proportions.

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sound d'afrique vol. 1&2 - african pop from the eighties

......someone may ask: why a post on "old" african pop in this blog?

well, I was looking for some nice party music to "celebrate" my first post (thanks jizz for inviting), and the intriguing mixture of simplicity and complexity of this music sounded perfect to me.

I hope you will enjoy it.

CJ

volume one

volume two

Arthur Blythe - Light Blue

With his unusually voiced, piano-less quintet Blythe takes on the music of Thelonious Monk. As often seems to happen when others play Monk, particularly without a piano, the songs seem less 'odd', less Monkish somehow. The music is enjoyable and adventurous and Blythe is powerful and emotional in his solos, but somehow it just never achieves the infectious swing and humor that I associate with Monk. I like it a lot mind you, but differently. I think that when others play Monk's music, just the smallest changes in time or melody and the pieces somehow seem loose their 'Monk-ness' and become just another good song.

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Miles Davis - Live-Evil

This is where Miles Davis turned funk into jazz, rock into soul, and chaos into Beauty. With a rotating cast of bands featuring keyboardists Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea, guitarist John McLaughlin, percussionist Airto Moreira, saxophonists Gary Bartz and Wayne Shorter, and myriad other explorers, Davis kept up with the times...and surpassed them. He rocked harder than Sly, got funkier than J.B., and turned jazz inside out, slicing the music open till blood spilled on to the floor. More focused than Bitches Brew, which is all the more surprising since it's actually a piecemeal recording from various dates and venues--some in the studio, some on stage, but all very much l-i-v-e. --Robert Wilonsky

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