Posts Tagged Duo
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November 15, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Charles Rumback & Ryley Walker: Little Common Twist
Charles Rumback & Ryley Walker Little Common Twist Thrill Jockey It’s as if whenever they have a gap in their schedules – and are seeking new creative space to explore – Charles Rumback (drums) and Ryley Walker (guitar) come together to make something interesting built from the parts of folk, free jazz and the spaces […]Archive
September 27, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Into Orbit: Kinesis
Into Orbit Kinesis Ironclad Productions The intensity has increased across Into Orbit albums – and with the duo involved in other projects, most notably the melodic death metal group Dark Divinity, it makes sense that the ‘ambient’-setting has some real oomph behind it. I think back to that brilliant debut album, it was a cautious […]Archive
July 3, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 283
Hall & Oates, X-Static (1979) I’m revisiting Hall & Oates – not only that I’m learning on the job. This album is a bridge between the end of their soul (and rock) days and the start of their full-onslaught 80s pop. (That’s the stuff I grew up with). Here we have them stopping over at the new wave […]Archive
June 28, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The Black Keys: “Let’s Rock”
The Black Keys “Let’s Rock” Nonesuch The Black Keys now join the list of bands that were ‘cool’ and ‘good’ for less than half of their duration. The duo’s once unlikely longevity – sure, there was a big-ass hiatus most recently – adds to that damage of course. But where once they were vital and interesting within the […]Archive
June 24, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Vijay Iyer/Craig Taborn: The Transitory Poems
Vijay Iyer/Craig Taborn The Transitory Poems ECM Vijay Iyer and Craig Taborn, two of the finest pianists of the current crop, first worked together back in the early and mid-00s as part of Roscoe Mitchell’s band – this album marks their first work together as a duo. If you love/d the Herbie Hancock/Chick Corea album or any of Keith Jarrett’s solo piano explorations then you’ll want to sign […]Archive
May 13, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Bill Frisell / Thomas Morgan: Epistrophy
Bill Frisell / Thomas Morgan Epistrophy ECM Recorded in 2016 live at the Village Vanguard this is the second set recorded in the same year and circumstances by the duo of Bill Frisell and Thomas Morgan. Their Small Town album is lovely – a range of covers from various corners of the world. And so it is here too with this – effectively […]Archive
May 12, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 306
Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel As “Tom & Jerry”, Singles and Rarities 1958-1962 (2016) Before they were Simon & Garfunkel it was “Tom and Jerry” for Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel and the enduring number from the late 1950s is Hey Schoolgirl – it gets played in their reunion concerts, and turns up on compilations…they broke up and then reformed a few years […]Archive
September 9, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
Swing Out Sister: Almost Persuaded
Swing Out Sister Almost Persuaded Miso Here’s the tenth studio album by British pop duo Swing Out Sister – and their first in a decade. You remember them best from their breakout hit of 1986, er, “Breakout”. And since then it’s been a refinement of that approach really, they call the new music – and […]Archive
June 30, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
Skinny Hobos: Skinny Hobos
Skinny Hobos Skinny Hobos Skinny Hobos Here’s the self-titled debut full-lengther by Auckland-based rock/metal/riffers Skinny Hobos. It’s good too. Charging out of the gates with Sevenatenine, which opens in a Sabbath-meets-Alice In Chains way, with a bit of the windswept stoner rock of the Queens/Kyuss nature before losing the meandering coolness and lurching on over […]Archive
June 22, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
Venetian Snares/Daniel Lanois: Venetian Snares x Daniel Lanois
Venetian Snares/Daniel Lanois Venetian Snares x Daniel Lanois Timesig/Planet Mu This surprise collaboration features two Canadian wunderkind musicians that push and pull in very different directions. It might be a head-scratch (or indeed a head-fuck) for many, particularly if you are arriving at this as a Lanois fan unaware of Venetian Snares. But there’s gold […]Archive
June 9, 2018 by Simon Sweetman