Blog Roddus

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Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Oran Etkin - Kelenia (USA 2009)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review



With all the debate and jumping up and down about the downloading of music from the Internet, let me point out that my purchase of this album is a direct result of downloading a song off the web and several others I have also recently purchased, have been because I was able to download the complete albums off some blog or torrent and was impressed enough to go and buy them, especially the African comps I have been getting recently.
 This particular album was brought to my attention  by downloading the Track  "Nama" from the "All About Jazz" web site from their daily MP3 page(they have almost 2000 sample MP3s of all types of contemporary jazz to check out). I was so suitably impressed by that song and it's smooth Afro rhythms and great Sax soloing, that I added this disc to my Amazon wishlist.
 Oran is an Israeli born Clarinet and Sax player living in the US and has made this excellent album of jazz and Mali music, with tracks evoking traditional Malian music both vocally and rhythmically with jazz styled sax and clarinet playing giving it the jazz angle. The album has a wonderfully laid back vibe with the playing flowing effortlessly out of the speakers. An excellently well produces affair and more mellow than the 70s Afro Funk/Jazz that I usually groove to. Would sit nicely with the Gasper Lawal albums I reviewed some time back.
Rating 4.5/5

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Sun Ra and His Intergalatic Cosmo Arkestra - Live At Montreux (USA 1976)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review



I was introduced to to the music of Sun Ra many moons ago via a radio show solely dedicated to his music on our local student radio station.( The same way I was introduced to Frank Zappa). From listening to this show, I was intrigued enough to investigate further into the mysterious world of Ra. I raided the local public library and found they had a small collection of Ra on vinyl and one of those records was this live recording, which I duly borrowed and took home to annoy my flatmates with.
For many years, the thunderous and chaotic free jazz type piano solos from this album stuck in my mind, but I was unable to find a copy for purchase as it was out of print and hadn't yet been re-released on CD and second hand copy's seemed to be non existent here. A few years back, I did some online searching to see if I could find a digital copy to download until I could find a CD copy. Again I turned up blank. I requested it over at Rare Mp3 blog and fortunately the intrepid MP3 sleuth,  Chuntao, found me a copy, which she posted on her blog for all to enjoy.
Unknown to me at the time, Inner City Records had re-issued it on CD(I believe for the first time) in 2008 and a CD copy of this album has finally arrived in my mail box from Amazon in the very recent past.
Normally I don't go for much in the Avant-garde/Free Jazz scene, although it permeates most modern jazz in small amounts. I find it frustrating and quite grating and annoying to listen to, but there are a few exceptions and for some strange reason John Zorn and Sun Ra are two composers of this type of music that I do enjoy.
Live At Montreux is an excellent, colossal rollercoaseter of a live recording of Sun Ra and his big band Arkestra blasting out their brand of warped jazz for a very appreciative audience. The actual music is not as free sounding as it sounds on these discs as, like Zorn, Ra directs the musicians in their playing  and the whole thing is tightly controlled.
Wild sounding, chaotic Archestra ensemble playing is interspersed with manic trumpet and sax solos and topped off with some awesome piano excursions from Ra himself, not to mention some of the almost industrial sounding organ and Moog experiments. Not a lightweight listening experience and not a lot of melody here, just a large group of musicians really letting loose within the context Sun Ra allows them. Rating 4/5

Osmium - Relentless, Primal Being (New Zealand 2008)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review




And Now for something considerably different.
Staying in Invercargill with this next acquisition and found on the same day, same shop as the one below, this is another band that I stumbled across on my blogging travels and as they were a Kiwi band, I decided to check them out.
Self released on their own Osmium Records, this thunderously heavy riff monster of an album probably won't see too much world wide distribution. Which is a shame really, as it is a quality slab of New Zealand Metal. Not outstanding, but competent and accomplished, as well as being well recorded. Average vocals but plenty of enjoyable guitar riffing. Pretty standard Metal fare in the Pantera/Metellica vein, probably has some specific Metal genre nomenclature, but I am not too sure which category it would fit into. Speed/thrash are the strongest themes here. My rating 3.5/5


Pretty Wicked Head And The Desperate Men - New Age Savage (New Zealand 1989)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review



I had this long lost album on request over at Rare MP3, as I hadn't replaced my original copy, it was commercially unavailable and, until recently, I had actually forgotten that it existed. Until even more recently, a Google search on this album turned up very little information.
Just this last week, Mrs Roddus and I were browsing in one of the few remaining CD shops left after the recent earthquakes, when low and behold, I find a second hand CD copy of this release, which I immediately purchased for a surprisingly reasonable sum.
I don't now recall how I first heard of "Pretty Wicked Head..." back in 1989/90, but the name alone would have been enough to gain my attention, back then. Anyhow, they were playing at the old Zetland hotel(one of the last gigs there before they remodeled it into the Cafe Bleu in 1990) when a mate and myself stumbled across the gig and decided to check it out. I remember being very impressed with a great fast paced all out rockin' affair, considering that I knew none of their music. I may have purchased the one of the 500 copy limited addition cassette of this album at that gig or soon after from a shop. It was later re-issued on CD in limited quantities.
Back in those days, Hotels like the Zetland had to close at 11PM and I remember after the gig, someone handing out flyer's to a private party/gig at an old house on the other side of the central city. The band playing at this party was a local post punk type outfit all dressed in Nuns Habits and calling them selves Nuns Fart.

After being so blown away by their live act, The Heads.... "New Age Savage" album itself was, on first listen, a little disappointing and I thought it was a bit tame. So it didn't get as much attention at the time as it deserved and after disposing of my tape collection several years later, I then forgot of its existence.
Listening to it now, some 20 years later, it is apparent to me that this short lived foursome from the arse end of the music world, Invercargill, have produced a classic of New Zealand Indie Pop/Rock that had fared well over the test of time. Full of great pop vocal melody's and well constructed tunes make for a whole album of catchy numbers that were instantly recognisable after all these years and I am pleased how much more I am enjoying this now than I did back when I first heard it. The closing track, "All New Zealand Hero's" is a minor NZ classic, and I think did some time in the charts. "Mercy Of The Moon Girl" is also a beautiful stand out track, a slow atmospheric sound scape of a pop song. A touch of the Dunedin sound, gives this album it's New Zealand feel, but otherwise this could have been recorded anywhere(and some of it was recorded in Canada).
A fun and enjoyable listen that deserved more attention than it got on initial release, and maybe the recent re-release will go some way towards changing that. My rating 4/5.

Friday, August 26, 2011

VA - Next Stop...Soweto Vol 3:Giants,Ministers and makers:Jazz in South Africa 1963-1978 (Strut 2010)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review.


    CD 1

  • 01. THE MINISTERS – NGENA MNTAN'AM
  • 02. SKYF – BE THERE *
  • 03. SPIRITS REJOICE – JOY
  • 04. DENNIS MPALE – ORLANDO
  • 05. MANKUNKU QUARTET – DEDICATION (TO DADDY TRANE AND BROTHER SHORTER)
  • 06. BATSUMI – ITUMELENG
  • 07. THEMBA – OU KAAS
  • 08. MALOMBO JAZZ MAKERS – SIBATHATHU
  • 09. TETE MBAMBISA – STAY COOL
  • CD 2

  • 01. EARLY MABUZA QUARTET – LITTLE OLD MAN (MAXHEGWANA)
  • 02. THE SOUL JAZZMEN – INHLUPEKO
  • 03. CHRIS McGREGOR & THE CASTLE LAGER BIG BAND – SWITCH
  • 04. THE HESHOO BESHOO GROUP – EMAKHAYA
  • 05. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS FEELINGS – OOSOGA *
  • 06. MALOMBO – SANGOMA
  • 07. DUDU PUKWANA AND THE SPEARS – JOE'S JIKA *
  • 08. THE SOUL GIANTS – PINESE'S DANCE
  • 09. JAZZ MINISTERS – TAKE ME TO BRAZIL
  • 10. CHRIS SCHILDER QUARTET feat. MANKUNKU – SPRING
Uncle Roddus has been shopping on Amazon again, and has, over the last couple of weeks, received a plethora of excellent CDs from my wishlist. This excellent compilation  from the awesome Strut Records, is one that I had come across on my internet travels and had downloaded a copy for investigation and knew I would have to get my hands on the real thing, along with the rest of the series. The clued up dudes from Strut have struck gold again with their in depth knowledge and awesome good musical tastes to bring us an outstanding collection of melodic, African tinged jazz from an assortment of mostly  Black Musos from the deep, dark days of Apartheid. Heaps of great sax melodies here that worm their way very quickly into your subconscious and not a dud track to be heard. All pretty straight ahead stuff, from big band swing to be-bop quartets, with great rhythm tracks to support the excellent brass solos. Too many highlights to mention in a quick review like this but very highly recommended for lovers of Afro Jazz and getting a Roddus Rating of 5/5

Ebo Taylor - Life Stories - Highlife And Afrobeat Classics 1973-1980 - (Strut, 2011)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review
African Music month


1. Ebo Taylor - Heaven (6:04)
2. Ebo Taylor - Atwer Abroba (8:14)
3. Ebo Taylor & Uhuru-Yenzu - Victory (4:20)
4. Asaase Ase - Ohiani Sua Efir (4:02)
5. Apagya Show Band - Kwaku Ananse (3:11)
6. Ebo Taylor - Peace on Earth (7:45)
7. Ebo Taylor - Aba Yaa (14:59)
8. Pat Thomas & Ebo Taylor - Ene Nyame Nam 'A' Mensuro (6:16)
9. Apagya Showband - Tamfo Nyi Ekyir (3:57)
10. Ebo Taylor & Uhuru-Yenzu - Love and Death (8:19)
11. Ebo Taylor - Ohye Atar Gyan (6:07)
12. Super Sounds Namba - Yes Indeed (4:56)
13. Apagya Showband - Mumude (3:04)
14. Ebo Taylor & Uhuru-Yenzu - What Is Life (4:38)
15. CK Mann Big Band - Etuei (6:28)
16. Ebo Taylor & The Pelikans - Egya Edu (6:51)

Oh yeah! Strut have done it again. Another essential Afro funk release from the Ghanaian Ebo Taylor with this  compilation of solo recordings and other side projects he was involved in during the 70s. Packed with plenty of excellent tracks that I know from various compilations I have, this wonderful blend of Jazz and Funk infused with Afrocentric rhythms has been blowing my mind on the MP3 player at work for the last week. Lots of great jazzy Sax solos and excellent guitar work getting into fusion territory on occasions, really keeps me interested.This collection is right up there with Fela kuti and Orlando Julius in the awesome Afrobeat stakes and is an essential purchase for all Afroheads, I will be looking out for this in my favorite record store soon. Rating 5/5

This one has recently arrived from Amazon to boost my ever growing CD collection and it sounds even better on CD, so get your copy today, you won't regret it.