Posts Tagged Instrumental
Archive
January 7, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
Kevin Keller: The Front Porch of Heaven
Kevin Keller The Front Porch of Heaven Kevin Keller Prod Kevin Keller’s “ambient chamber music” is the sort of balm I am always there for – and glad it’s there for me. For most of the last decade it’s been one of my absolute go-to genres. The figureheads for me – and for many – […]Archive
December 17, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Brian Eno: Film Music 1976 – 2020
Brian Eno Film Music 1976 – 2020 UMC (Universal Music Catalogue) Brian Eno: dreamer, schemer, enabler, conceptualist, visual artist – he’d be important if he wasn’t in any way connected to music. And though he doth almost protest too much as blatant “Non-Musician” his influence is towering. I always say that his fingerprints are all […]Archive
December 6, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 6
Little Stevie Wonder, The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie (1962) Stevie Wonder hated being called “Little Stevie” (and then “Little Stevie Wonder”) but he was 11 and 12 and 13 years old. He was little, and new on the scene – little literally and figuratively. And though he was a wonder – a genius – […]Archive
November 26, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Kodama 木: Yamabiko [EP]
Kodama 木 Yamabiko [EP] dreaming of distant worlds Yamabiko is an album of layered synth-sounds, all at once introspective and otherworldly, this is music to keep close to your chest but it also expands the mind; music that combines the ambient blueprint laid out by Brian Eno with the glitch/dissonance/disintegration ideals and ethereal soundscape patterns […]Archive
November 24, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Ben Harper: Winter Is For Lovers
Ben Harper Winter Is For Lovers Anti / Epitaph If this lockdown hasn’t already recalibrated how we feel and what we know is real then I’m painfully aware of that now as I throw almost my full support behind a brand new Ben Harper album.Archive
November 16, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Dave Brubeck: Lullabies
Dave Brubeck Lullabies Verve This is Dave Brubeck’s final album – released just now, but recorded a decade ago. It’s a set of charming-enough lullabies, the real weight of them can be measured by the wait I guess – and the timing now of release; early next month it is the jazz legend’s centenary so […]Archive
November 15, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Fred Hersch: Songs From Home
Fred Hersch Songs From Home Palmetto Records Covid records. There’ll be many more to come. What to do when you can’t play a show – when you can’t get together with the full band, when you can’t do your job but need to try to make some money; more than that need to connect – […]Archive
November 10, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Shit That’s Good! Crap Albums I Love # 40 – Frank Zappa, “Jazz From Hell”
Frank Zappa, Jazz From Hell, 1986 Almost a trick question really – looking for the crap Frank Zappa albums that are good. His music lives in the vacuum of its cult endorsements. Ask the wives and girlfriends. Ask the bemused best friends of certain music nerds. Ask yourself. Is there an enjoyably Frank Zappa album? […]Archive
November 5, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Michael Silverman (w/ Jeff Lorber): Human Spirit
Michael Silverman (w/ Jeff Lorber) Human Spirit Autumn Hill Records Michael Silverman has been a jobbing composer and player of TV themes (Two And A Half Men, The Good Wife) and he and composing partner Jeff Lorber have dabbled in smooth jazz and light pop orchestrations as well as making music separately. Here they combine […]Archive
October 1, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Alec Bathgate: Phantom Dots
Alec Bathgate Phantom Dots Alec Bathgate / Bandcamp The return of Alec Bathgate to the world of recorded music has been a lovely surprise. Chris Knox’s silencing – via that damned stroke – has, on some level, been Bathgate’s silencing too. Or at least that’s how it has seemed to me. Bathgate made a great […]Archive
September 25, 2020 by Simon Sweetman