Anya M. Wassenberg's Blog: Art & Culture Maven, page 19
October 9, 2022
Thoughtful Pop | Roy Shakked: Throwback (Groove Gravy Records / Release: 2 August 2022)
Roy Shakked: Throwback
(Groove Gravy Records / Release: 2 August 2022) Listen/Buy on Bandcamp
Thoughtful pop that catches the ear, and gives you something unexpected both lyrically and musically - that's the appeal of Roy Shakked's new release, Throwback.
Instrumentation is lush, and based on traditional instruments, with layers of melody and intriguing rhythms. His lyrics are clever, and range from the usual boy/girl dramas to observations on life.
Musically, he ranges through multiple genres convincingly, with an emphasis on retro grooves. There's a nice RnB feel that adds infectious rhythms to songs like Play On and Emotional.
Your Eyes takes a turn for the acoustic, while Nothing You Can Do is a smooth neosoul anthem. Ocean is a standout track, a trippy ride through jazzy chord changes and a disco rhythm. Fly On The Wall is another highlight, with a heavy electronic beat and jazzy melody.
He takes retro elements and blends them with a contemporary finish. This is an album you'll find yourself grooving to and humming along, even on the first listen.
Roy has composed music for dozens of TV shows and films, along with advertisements and trailers. After years of writing for others, over the last decade, he began to release his own songs digitally, with over 4 million streams under various names.
Personnel: Roy Shakked: Lead and backing vocals, Keyboards, Bass, Guitar, Percussion; Tim Lefebvre: Bass; Brett Simons: Bass; Amos Hadani: Guitar; Oz Noy: Guitar; Tamir Barzilay: Drums; Blair Sinta: Drums; Itamar Ben Yakir: Trumpet
Tracklist: 1. Play On; 2. Emotional; 3. Your Eyes; 4. Nothing You Can Do; 5. Ocean; 6. Fly On The Wall; 7. Harden Your Heart; 8. I’m Telling Everyone (Album Redux); 9. Oblivion (Throwback Mix); 10. Beautiful Things
Stay In Touch:
Website: https://www.royshakked.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RoyShakkedMusic/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/royshakked/?hl=en
New Music | Mr. Grossman: Novella (a mini-album) (Independent / 26 August 2022)
Mr. Grossman: Novella (a mini-album)
(Independent / 26 August 2022) Listen on Spotify Listen/Buy on Bandcamp
Prolific songwriter Mr. Grossman has released a collection of four songs on what he's calling a mini album titled Novella. As he describes it, the songs are "stories about people dealing with past love, needing courage, comfort, and closure."
Any Takers begins with a neoclassical introduction, then slides into a jazzy groove with a Latin edge. Grossman layers soft electronic keyboards over LatinX rhythms, with Chana Matthews' melodic vocals on top of it all - and an interesting electronic buzz that he throws into the mix.
Escape is a classic piano ballad, sung by Grossman himself in an expressive tenor, with a message about getting away from the grind. Intermezzo is the shortest at just under a minute of acoustic guitar in a contemporary singer-songwriter mode.
Up to Me, the last track, moves back into a jazzy groove with sinuous percussion and some intriguing electronic sounds that give it a fresh sound.
Based in Northern California, Grossman has an eclectic approach to music, and has written everything from trip hop to blues.
Personnel: Mark S Grossman/keyboards, guitars, vocals; Chana Matthews/vocals
October 5, 2022
Indie Pop With A Message | Johanna Dadap: The World’s Gone Up In Smoke (Independent / 25 August 2022)
Johanna Dadap: The World’s Gone Up In Smoke
(Independent / 25 August 2022)
At 19, Johana Dadap is an accomplished singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. After getting her first guitar as a child, she added profiency at piano, cajon, guitar, ukulele, and music production to her list of skills.
Her latest single The World’s Gone Up In Smoke establishes a soft indie-pop vein, lit up by her velvety vocals. She adds a few layers of instrumentation and vocal harmony effects with a sense of restraint. The main draw is her voice, and the rest highlights her expressive gifts.
It's a song with a message about today's world.
All the words in all the songs, they seem to fall on deafened ears
No one hears
No one hears a word till
The world's gone up in smoke
And mother nature’s broke
But she’s too young to die
She talks about her motivation as an artist in a media release.
"When people see my work, I hope they experience what I feel about my art when I make it. I hope they feel how passionate I am to inspire them." -Johanna Dadap
You can find her covers on YouTube, and her originals on most streaming services.
Personnel: Johanna Dadap- Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals, Acoustic Guitar: Paul ‘Taffy’ White - Electric Guitar, Bass, Keyboards, Backing vocals, Instrumentation.
Websites:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dadapjohanna/Twitter: https://twitter.com/_johannadadapInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/johannadadap/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6tXn2ZNoRXcux5ZEWtl45ZInventive Inter-Cultural | Montreal's Yaya Diallo & Kachii: Traditions to Traditions (Independent / April 17, 2022)
Montreal's Yaya Diallo & Kachii: Traditions to Traditions
(Independent / April 17, 2022) Stream/Buy on Bandcamp
Complex, yet calming, with a tendency to mesmerize - that's the music of Yaya Diallo. Yaya Diallo is an author as well as a musician, originally from Mali in West Africa, and now based in Montreal, Canada.
He is well known as the author of the book The Healing Drum. His compositions use a combination of West African and Western instrumentation that blends into a seamless and often hypnotic sound.
Diallo plays balafon (a xylophone-like instrument), djembe and talking drum, using their tone and beats in unusual ways to mark rhythm and mood, as the melodic instruments - violin, cello, double bass, flute, and vocals - weave in and out of that core.
Each track has something distinct to offer, with moods ranging from the meditative Kachi Zie to a joyous Fantakolo parts 1 & 2.
Some tracks, like Bon Yi and Mato, have a distinctly West African flavour both melodically and rhythmically. Others, like Hakili, blend more of a Western sensibility into the mix, highlighting the expressive power of the strings.
Polyrhythmic and often contrapuntal, Diallo's pieces explore the rich possibilities of and unusual combination of instruments. Vocal techniques range from traditional West African call and response to wordless choral textures.
Other than Kachi Zie, the remaining 11 tracks are quite short, some clocking in at less than 3 minutes. They're about rhythm and texture, and all about mood. West African music isn't meant to be a passive experience - it's meant to move you in one way or another.
A defender of his Farafina Donia culture, Diallo has created and worked in many collaborative and inter-cultural projects, as well as touring as a solo act.
The selection of music in this recording draws from a repertoire of ‘lost’ and ‘hidden’ music which is no longer played in Minianka villages. Though this music is not normally meant to be heard by the public, now that Yaya is an elder, he feels it is necessary to record it, as he comments in a media release.
"This album honors the traditional role of coredjouga in Minianka culture, whose music is featured on the album. A coredjouga is a person who has shed everything, who has no need for material possessions, and can educate others through irony. The symbol of the coredjouga is the vulture, who can live on scraps that others have left behind. That is what I have done in this new album, I have taken instruments that are old and left behind and transformed that into a new energy. We should stop wasting things and recycle them," he says.
“This music belongs to humanity. My people say that when an old African dies, it is like a library burning. If I can share the small things that I get, I can be happy. I want my grandchildren to be able to play this music.” - Yaya Diallo
Personnel: Yaya Diallo - balafon, djembe, talking drum ; Jeanne-Sophie Baron - violin; Fili 周 Gibbons - cello; Freddy Speer - double-bass ; David Gossage - flute; Malia Pellerin - vocals; Sara Rénélik - vocals
Stay In Touch:
FacebookHis BooksInstagramKachii: Traditions to Traditions by Yaya DialloSeptember 28, 2022
Indie Alt-Rock | Galactic Fuzz: Galactic Fuzz (Independent / 28 October 2022)
Galactic Fuzz: Galactic Fuzz
(Independent / 28 October 2022) Stream The Single Transparent
Transparent is the preview release for the eponymous upcoming album by Galactic Fuzz. It's an alt-rock track with an instantly recognizable feel, driven by insistent guitar rhythms.
The verse has an earworm groove, but then takes a detour into the interesting rhythms and contrapuntal vocal lines of the chorus. It's alt-rock with an intellectual approach to the music that adds intriguing texture.
My one quibble would be that the vocals could come up louder in the mix - the lyrics sound interesting... I think, and those great vocal effects are somewhat muted.
Vocalist/guitarist and songwriter Javier Guell says in a media release, "I've always loved singing, but had mostly been a backup singer and lead guitar player in all my bands. The inception for Galactic Fuzz was my decision to sing my own songs for a change, as I had always written for others to sing.
The name of the band comes from my fascination with Science Fiction works by the likes of Isaac Asimov, Arthur C Clarke, and Frederik Pohl, and some of our sounds and lyrics influenced by that even if not apparent at the surface.
You can call us an Alternative Rock band but it's an oversimplification of the truth. We all have varying influences. Our drummer Ricky comes from a school of punk bands but also plays blues and loves jam bands. Jorge grew up with Classic Rock and hard rock and metal from the 80s and 90s."
I'll look forward to the full release from the Miami/Las Vegas based band later next month.
Personnel- Guitar, songwriting, lead vocals, keys: Javier Guell; Bass: Jorge García; Drums: Ricardo Mere; Guest musicians on the record: Roger Izaguirre (back vocals, keys)
Find Them Online:
Website: https://www.galacticfuzz.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GalacticFuzzInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/galacticfuzz/YoutubeDIY Indie-Pop | Sparky's Magic Piano: Never Twice the Same Colour (Independent / 9 September 2022)
Sparky's Magic Piano: Never Twice the Same Colour
(Independent / 9 September 2022) Listen/Buy on Bandcamp Stream It On Spotify
All it takes is a room with a laptop and a DAW to make music these days, and Sparky's Magic Piano is proof of the pudding, as they say.
The London-based duo creates melodic indie-pop from their living room with guitars, synths, and a glockenspiel (and a vocal booth made of drain pipes and curtains, reportedly). The result is catchy pop with a vintage influence but thoroughly contemporary sound, anchored by Marion Barlett's breathy soprano.
Hanging For The Bang, the first single from their release Never Twice The Same Colour, has an ethereal kind of feel. Just when you think it's settling into a familiar kind of genre, it veers into something a little different. That's a common thread throughout the release.
The tracks are melodic, with elements of vintage pop - like the Diahann Carroll-esque A Pair of Keys. At least, it starts out like a bright orchestral pop song, but then adds a layer of prog rock. Some of the tracks are quite short, including Tiny Shiny Shoes at 2:20 and NTSC at just 1:42.
Colette is a standout, with a jazzy feel and lovely vocal harmony that fleshes out the melody. Each track has something different to offer. Albie I Know is another highlight of the release, folk-tinged and lit up by vocal harmony.
Oli Barlett's production is smooth and warm, emphasizing the sweet edge of Marion's vocals, and a blend of instrumentation that keeps it interesting.
Oli commented on the evolution of the music during the pandemic in a media release.
"This album was inspired by the lives of our friends, our families, even our pets and our fictional friends on TV over the past 3 years. We've written about the emotions and upheaval lockdown put us through, but also about the stories of heartbreak, miss-firing love, and abandonment that were still there during the pandemic, unaffected.
Musically I wanted it to sound as far away from a home recorded/produced album as possible - so this meant replacing the synth bass from our first album with real bass, the 808 with sampled live drums, more live guitar, more live violin, cello and a trumpet for good measure!
The release marks a comeback for the husband and wife duo, who released their first work back in 2007 to indie acclaim. It's a polished effort with a lot of replay appeal.
Personnel: Oli Bartlett (guitar/bass/synths/violin/production); Marion Bartlett (Vocals/Glockenspiel)
Find Them Online
Website: https://www.sparkysmagicpiano.co.uk/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sparkysmagicpiano/Twitter: https://twitter.com/sparkythebandSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/75B4GvKh6I45PSoM2iu1rcBandcamp: https://sparkysmagicpiano.bandcamp.com/Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/sparkys-magic-pianoHanging for the Bang by Sparky's Magic PianoSeptember 5, 2022
Surfing Your Way To Fitness: Hang Ten at Verdad Nicaragua Playa Escameca
Hang Ten at Verdad Nicaragua
Grab your pals for a swell time riding the waves with Surf Fit Package
Information at the LinkNicaragua — Instead of riding the metaphorical waves of daily life, you can round up your pals and spend a week in paradise surfing the waves of the Pacific Ocean off the remote beaches of Southern Nicaragua with Verdad Nicaragua’s Surf Fit Package.
Playa Escameca from Verdad (Image courtesy of Verdad Nicaragua)A consistent offshore wind and reliable beach break bless the area with surf spots perfect for all levels of surfers.
The Surf Fit Package is available year-round and includes:
Accommodations in an architecturally designed casita overlooking the ocean3 surf lessons with professional coaches3 Surf fitness and stretch classes in an open-air studio with ocean views1 Guided SUP River Tour and 1 Guided Trail HikeVisit to Vivero Escameca Turtle Sanctuary1 hour-long massage3 daily meals
Verdad Nicaragua, reception area (Image courtesy of Verdad Nicaragua)
Verdad Nicaragua
Nestled on the hillside overlooking Playa Escameca, you'll stay in a luxury boutique property with just five casitas and two rooms.
Verdad Nicaragua is an eco-friendly boutique resort nestled on the shores of Playa Escameca in Southern Nicaragua. The laidback luxurious property features modern casitas with private decks and poolside rooms that overlook the gardens and sea.
The secluded hillside resort invites guests to explore the stunning landscape, or simply relax on the untouched Southern Pacific coast. The resort offers custom designed adventure packages, a surf school and PADI certification programs.
Resort amenities include open-air yoga and fitness studios, a relaxing pool, and a laid-back lounge perfect for enjoying a sunset cocktail after a day perfecting your surf skills.
2022 Rates for the Surf Fit Package start at $1100. For more information on the program, check out the link. Check out a video tour at the link.
Surfing at Playa Escameca from Verdad (Image courtesy of Verdad Nicaragua)
Bass Forward | Toronto's Robert Lee: 'Cha-Ran' (August 26, 2022 / TPR Records)
With material from a media release
Bass ForwardToronto's Robert Lee: Cha-Ran
(August 26, 2022 / ℗ 2022 TPR Records) Buy/Listen on Bandcamp
Toronto bassist Robert Lee's new release puts the bass centre stage in melodic and often mesmerizing music. You could call it global jazz, or fusion of sorts. It's unique and inventive, and quite compelling.
In his hands, the bass becomes a lyrical solo instrument, capable of carrying the tune, so to speak.
Lee weaves his intricate bass lines in and out of the vocals, with electronic keyboard as a sweet edged harmonic backdrop in The King and the Mountain, the first single from the release. It's typical of the mix of moods and genres on the release.
‘Cha-Ran’ is the sophomore album of bassist and composer Robert Lee. He combines jazz and the spirit of improvisation with melodic and harmonic elements inspired by Korean folk stories and music.
Peaks and Spires of the Summer Clouds
"The main goal of this music is to evoke the same emotion that is perceived from the narrative storytelling of Studio Ghibli films (i.e. Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle)," he writes in a release.
The music is evocative, with elements of straight jazz melded to other genres. The mix has an organic and natural flow. Lee has used multiple collaborators and a range of instrumentation on the album, creating a fresh sound that always seems to have a surprise up its sleeve.
He'll be touring in support of the release.
Personnel: Robert Lee: Upright bass, Compositions, Lyrics; Carolina Alabau: Vocals (Tracks 1-3, 5, 6); Mateo Falgas - vocals, lyrics (Track 4); Nina Nicolaiewsky - vocals, lyrics (Track 7); Mai Choma - violin (Track 1); Marco Pisani - Guitar (Tracks 2, 3, 5, 6); Kris Ramakrishna - flamenco guitar (Track 1); Brandon Atwell - vibraphone, Marimba (Tracks 1, 2, 6); Marc-Olivier Poingt - piano (Tracks 3, 5); Songah Chae - piano (Track 4); Adem Mehmedović - piano (Track 1); Tetyana Haraschuk - drums (Tracks 1-6)
The King and the Mountain
Electronic, Ambient, Eclectic & Unique | Three Neuma Records Releases Summer 2022
Three Neuma Records Releases Summer 2022MC Maguire: Transmutation of ThingsLawson & Merrill: SignalsComposers Inside Electronics: David Tudor's Rainforest IV
Neuma Records releases a constant stream of innovative new music, with a leaning towards electronic and otherwise genre-defying works. Here's a look at three releases from earlier this summer.
MC Maguire: Transmutation of ThingsGet it from BandcampToronto based composer MC Maguire uses pop music songs as a springboard into what could be called a "post-modern hybrid". As the liner notes point out, there is a long tradition of using popular music as a starting point for classical compositions. Here, Maguire goes full digital orchestra - with 300 layered tracks - on Ariana Grande's Positions in his piece for orchestra and CPU, Dispositions.
The second piece on the release is called Apophis, named after the Egyptian god of chaos, and referencing an asteroid due to hit Earth in 2029. Snippets of Katy Perry's Tsunami are lurking among the complex orchestral arrangement.
The effects are sweeping, and filled with grandeur, but in a mode as if built by manic robots. Along with musical complexity, Maguire builds more meaning into the pieces. Dispositions, as he states in the liner notes, references the struggle between genetic predisposition and free will.
Verdict: A brainy musical matrix.
Lawson & Merrill: SignalsGet it from Bandcamp David Margolin Lawson and David Merrill were both engineering different sessions at the CityVox Studios in New York City when they discovered a mutual love of mid-century electronic music. Both were into composers like Edgard Varèse, Ilhan Mimaroğlu, and Steve Reich, among others. It began a musical friendship.They call their recent collaboration "sonic sculpture pantings" - there are five on the release. It's ambient music using both vintage analog and modern instrumentation, with an attention to craft as both sound designers and engineers that makes for compelling music.
The tracks are atmospheric, opening slowly and gradually building layers of texture, sound, and detail. In Morning Meditation, the music pulses like waves of peaceful vibration. A Day At The Beach inhales and exhales slowly with the waves. In Rivière, the music rushes like water, kinetic and hypnotic.
Verdict: Wonderfully evocative.
Composers Inside Electronics: David Tudor's Rainforest IV Get it from BandcampIn 1973, in a barn in Chocorua, New Hampshire, composer David Tudor launched Rainforest with an ensemble of young musicians, composers, and electronics enthusiasts. Tudor was just coming off a five-year tour with Merce Cunningham Dance Company, one where he'd create music for them to perform to by amplifying small objects on a tabletop. Together, that first group became Composers Inside Electronics.
Specifically, Rainforest is performed by taking a collection of tiny everyday objects, along with those the group creates, and making them vibrate. The objects are suspended in space, with a vibration created by a small electro-magnetic transducer. The results are unpredictable, what they call a "performed installation" and the effect is quite mesmerizing.
At times, it's like a thousand birds of different species twittering to each others, then the sound veers into something like insects, or animals of unknown origins, with a jittery underlying rhythm.
Verdict: Intriguingly hypnotic.
Jazz CD: Lou Pomanti & Friends (Lou Pomanti/Vesuvius Music)
Lou Pomanti & Friends
(Lou Pomanti/Vesuvius Music)Stream It On Spotify
A producer, composer, musician and musical director, Lou Pomanti adds a Canadian Screen Award to a distinguished resume. He's worked with a who's who of Canadian music artists, and he's brought many of them on board for his latest project, a CD of jazz music released this summer.
Lou Pomanti & Friends is an effective tribute to Canadian jazz, full of stellar performances and lush arrangements. It's a milestone in a storied career.
After studying music at Humber College in Toronto in the Jazz Program, where he received the Duke Ellington Scholarship Award for Arranging, Pomanti got a call to join Blood, Sweat and Tears in 1980. It began a long association with David Clayton-Thomas, one that included producing his Soul Ballads album for Universal.
From there, Pomanti became a highly sought after session pianist/keyboard player in Toronto, playing, arranging and touring with icons of Canadian music like Gordon Lightfoot and Anne Murray, Kim Mitchell and Triumph. He's written music for TV and movies, and produced music by David Clayton-Thomas and many others.
This is an album of jazz recorded with a long list of his contacts and friends in the industry. The variety and calibre of talent results in a fresh sound and approach for a familiar genre.
Among the classic jazz tracks like Windmills of Your Mind, given a haunting treatment by vocalist June Garber, there are surprises like a jazzed out arrangement of the Beatles' classic Come Together, with vocalists Robyn Black and Marc Jordan.
2001: A Space Odyssey is another cool surprise on the album, combining the groove of jazz in a spacey mode. Amarte Duele is another standout track, a Latin burner featuring vocalists Irene Torres and flutist Bill McBirnie.
It's an appealing collection of tracks with a wide flavour range that keeps it interesting.
FEATURING
Emilie-Claire Barlow, Randy Brecker, David Clayton-Thomas, Matt Dusk, Marc Jordan, Oakland Stroke, John Finley, Dione Taylor, Robyn Black, Larnell Lewis, Irene Torres, June Garber, Sam Pomanti
PLAYERS
Justin Abedin, Scott Alexander, Lou Bartolomucci, Tony Carlucci, William Carn, Steve Heathcote, Chris Howells, John Johnson, Drew Jurecka, Jake Langley, Blair Lofgren, Jason Logue, Steve MacDonald, Bill McBirnie, John Panchyshyn, Prague Smecky Orchestra, Marc Rogers, Kathryn Rose, William Sperandei, George St. Kitts, Simon Wallis
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