Category Archives: New Release “G”-views

A quick “G”-view of a book for all. My friends Dan and Claudia sent it my way to check out and I couldn’t help but want to add a few thouGhts.

Dan Zanes’ House Party (A Family Roots Music Treasury).
Publisher: Young Voyageur (December 11, 2018)

“No matter the generational gaps, learning styles & abilities or cultural differences between the people who share in this collection of sung tales, the ability to distinguish who is leading the conversation and teaching or learning while in mid-share can be wonderfully unknown. The connections in this songbook collection can be shared by anyone and everyone. It is another bridge to the then and now and the what’s next that we all have a map for. Each of us holds a different shaped key that opens part of this treasure. The treasures range from the colorfully simple illustrations (masterfully accomplished by Donald Saff) that depict portions of the tale and provide some insightful opportunities for answers as well as more questions.

The map within each song provides some of the why of where the stories came from, and the who(s) that have been behind the creation of and/or the pushing forward of the tales. There are steps to take to get to that “X” marks the spot location by pointing us to places to find out more, museums, books, which albums have renditions of the songs – since we all learn our best in different ways, the maps may take different routes and the treasure for each of us may look different at first, it’s those differences that are celebrated within these pages – and encouraged. Find your way, whatever that is!

Don’t forget for those kids of all ages within and around all of us – those who either know how or have the desire to learn, there are notes and chords for singing and playing each tune. (Music notation and all around inspiration by Claudia Eliaza)….Amazing! How these songs and stories opened and shaped the heart and mind of Dan Zanes and his family is just one window into what this music can be all about. You and your family, students, friends…..people you just met get to crack open your own windows in as soon as your open up the first page of House Party.”

During the first half of the show……As the sonGs went the patterns of the soundwaves create a new look to an old branch:

Antiphon- Midlake
~~~
Preach- Jocelyn & Lisa (live CJSW 12/30/2012)
Mellow Yellow- Mary Chapin Carpenter
Nervous Wreck- Sera Cahoone
Go to Hell- Star Anne
~~
Come to My Party- Black Joe Lewis
Toast of the Land of 10,000- the 4 on the Floor
King of the Jungle- the 4 on the Floor
Make it Back- Joan Jett & the Blackhearts
Cut me Off- SISU
~~~
Joe 90 Theme- the Giant Blue Zeta Puppies
Lucifer Sam- the Luck of Eden Hall (live in London)
~~~~
My Blind Life- the Yardbirds (live @ BB Kings Blues Club)
Tin Pan Alley- Stevie Ray Vaughn & Double Trouble (live 4/1/1980 Austin TX)
Your Love is my Disease- Sean Chambers
Rollin’ & Tumblin’- Tedeschi Trcuks Band (live)
~~~~
Six Hands- Rubblebucket
Queenie Eyes- Paul McCartney
Wiggle Worm- G Love & Special Sauce
~~
Chapter One- the Natural Yogurt Band
the Demon Part 2- Catalyst
Trip to Your Heart- Sly & the Family Stone (mono)
Party Hearty- Master Plan Inc
~
The Donkey- The Poets of Rhythm
The Butcher’s Bride- Calibro 35
~
Refused to be Saved- Elvis Costello & the Roots
Did Everyone Meet Siadon that Night- the Cactus Channel
Al Green Song- John Scofield

When the GRAMMY nominations were announced earlier this month, a light shined on the untold story of a singer little-known in the music scene. This is the tale of a woman who scoured every corner of the planet in search of soulful music, while climbing the elite ranks of business circles. After years of intense study, she is taking an ancient song form normally sung on streets and in homes, and sharing them in service to others. Her name is Chandrika Krishnamurthy Tandon and her album, Om Namo Narayanaya: SOUL CALL (on Soul Chants Music), has been nominated for a GRAMMY in the Best Contemporary World Music Album category, alongside musical greats like Béla Fleck, Bebel Gilberto, Angelique Kidjo, and Sergio Mendes. Soul Call is more than music. The eight songs were composed around a single eight-syllable chant that is over six thousand years old. Chandrika composed each song to follow a different Indian raga. She recruited global sarodCalcutta and New York. maestro Tejendra Narayan Majumdar to create arrangements using over 30 acoustic Indian classical, folk, and Western instruments including the vibraphone, acoustic guitar, and bass. The eight syllables of this chant-Om Na Mo Na Ra Ya Na Ya-are believed to form a protective armor around the body. “These syllables are literally vibrations from the ancient Vedic tradition handed down from generation to generation,” explains Chandrika. “Many traditions have incredible healing mantras whether in Africa, Brazil or Tibet . I can’t tell you in detail how they work; some things are beyond explanation. You have to experience it yourself.”
And that is my recommendation to you, try it out yourself. I will be spinning her album on the show soon, but feel free to get yourself ahead of me. Ears to the finish line!

The new release from Beat Circus (Boy from Black Mountain) on Cuneiform is a weird mix of Americana rock & weird American Gothic stylings that open eyes and ears with is eclectic experimental escapades.

Mizik Pou Dwa Moun disc 1. A compilation for the People of Haiti.

Musi­cal con­tri­bu­tions by: Satch Hoyt, Micah Gaugh, The Per­fect Man-Dave ‘Smoota’ Smith (feat. Sec­re­tary), Brazz Tree, Maya Azu­cena, Moist Paula Hen­der­son, The Cit­i­zens, ISWHAT, Day­ton Flic, Jere­miah, Will Mar­tina, Bruce Mack, Meret Koehler, The Avram Fefer Trio, Ladell Mclin and Swiss Chris, Mois­tur­izer, The Destruc­tion of Black Civ­i­liza­tion, BT3 and Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber.

All is Gladness in the Kingdom (featuring Steven Bernstein), a 2010 Clean Feed release has my ears and bones working in synch to feel the strength of such a forceful release.

Have you ever felt like you were walking on the shore of a perfect place and had a loss of words to describe it? Have no fear because this duo has remembered them for you, “Undersea Poem” from Six Degrees is the project of Chris Root and Juju Stulbach. With each trip to their favorite spots on the Pacific coast of Mexico or to the beaches of Brazil, they’ve been inspired to document their adventures into dreamy, sexy and uniquely intimately individualized songs. . Undersea Poem is the band and the album that has been something I feel like I have been waiting for since the disbandment of Root & Stulbach’s much-loved trio, Mosquitos, and it showcases their most captivating songs yet. This is music that can be as close to you as anything has been and still leaves you searching for the end of the ocean, or is it the beginning.

Which Way World, a 2010 release from our friends looking out for us over at Sci-Fidelity.

the newest from Teddy Presberg on Outright Music, is an exciting thrill for my ears as they are proven often throughout the listen, getting down will be getting on. There is a spacey UFO glow to a few tracks that are reminiscent of funkadelic Bernie Worrell splatt…..

My Name is Khan is a film by Karan Johar…the album has me intrigued about the nature of the film. As a film “score” it is music that open up your heart to being kind and compassionate, it is a key to the door so many people could benefit from opening. The album is definitely MORE than music.

John Ellis & Double Wide off of ObliqSound.

Kasmir is high quality Danish psych-rock, just in case you forgot that!

1. Kalifornia
2. The Cynic* – features a guest appearance by David Bowie
3. Ophelia
4. The Curse of Being A Girl
5. She’s Made Of Chalk
6. Either

This EP was just released digitally….

Their new full length album, Trespassers is approaching the Platinum sales mark in Denmark.

Tierra Negra & Muriel Anderson

The brand new release from Nneka off of the Decon Record label, this album is making a way into my heart via my ears pretty quickly. From the “tell it like it is” vocals that trap rap into a hip hopped up reggae dub dance-a-holic rhythm that speaks to my mind/soul/feet. Nneka has an album here that plays well in a club mix, a world music set or a funky transition track that’ll change the gears of a music program that temps the ears of people with spirits….people that dream to hear the sounds that have never encompassed them before…Concrete Jungle shows love for the listener while sharing with us some uncomfortable truths…challenges our minds vs our hearts through the very rhythms and beats of Africa and all the sounds that have come from her sands.

With Ed Alstrom on the Hammond. After one listen through, I have come to one conclusion thusfar, HOTT!! And now after several listens and some radio airplay, this album is easily a mainstay in my programming as it enters and exits sets of all kinds of music with a fluidity that isn’t easy to find. The album is very backyard on a summer’s day playful and downright groovin’ at times that you cannot help but shake the very things shakeable and sometimes breakable. There are many moods to the album within the grooves…Starting off with melodies rich in reflection and guitar licks (Charlie Jones) hotter than a Bar-B-Q pit, drum beats (Don Guinta) like a sidewinder snakes heartbeat~ and there are some highly ORGANic dashes that are equal parts soul refreshing and body moving and at times making the blues feel a little happy…..For me they style of “Booganova” is something I have loved for so long but never knew the word that went with he sound, in many moments on this album I am reminded that the reason I like musicians like Ed Alstrom is that they keep on re-defining the sounds I recognize pieces of, and turn them into a whole new thang. I believe this album has the power to do that for more people than me.

Leroy Powell and the Messengers new release ATLANTIS has those moments I treasure in an album, surprises. It has tough rock-N-roll tracks that reminded me why I love it, and deep drifter blues tunes that put me in the boots of the shoveler at final resting time…there are sweet-like country-esque ballads that move the sweet side of those of us with a heart (that has some twists in it). The delivery on Leroy Powell’s work this time around with the Messengers reeks of the truth as someone has lived it…the words come out of him so believable that at times you feel like you are riding next to him in a van on a cross country tour, as he remembers long lost tales of days gone by and things that once happened. I believe as you listen into this album you’ll too find that moment of surprise, as it is somewhere between the words and the notes.

Harmonyville Records is proud to release: PROJECT Trio’s third studio recording – a self-titled album that continues the ensemble’s unique and heralded musical exploration. Based in Brooklyn, PROJECT Trio emerged from a classical background, but has found an unconventional and energetic voice through the exploration of unique performance techniques. Their obsession with program versatility and contrast of musical style is executed by Flutist Greg Pattillo, Cellist Eric Stephenson, and Double Bassist Peter Seymour. Simply put, their music synthesizes Hip-hop, Rock, Bluegrass, Americana, Jazz, and Classical music to create their truly distinctive sound. Pattillo, Stephenson and Seymour’s roots can be traced back over 13 years to when they met at the Cleveland Institute of Music. After working with famed ensembles including the Cleveland Orchestra and the Houston Symphony, PROJECT Trio got its first big break in 2006 when Pattillo’s groundbreaking beatbox flute videos were featured on youtube showcasing a key part of the group’s signature sound. After 40 million views, PROJECT Trio’s youtube channel, “Freedomworksfilms”, has amassed a following of over 45,000 subscribers. Pattillo has been lauded by The New York Times as “the best person in the world at what he does”. I first listened to this release with a room full of kids and they were the first to recognize the Brubeck track from their own collections at home and we were all hooked on the changes and immediaely I knew this cd was going to be a winner with me. Which will translate nicely into selected airplay and sets of music build right around pieces to create a set of music that Project Trio would be glad to be a part of.

From Draw Fire Records.