Femi Kuti will always be connected to his father, ‘the cornerstone of Afrobeat’, Feli Kuti. Filling the shoes of such a legend isn’t an easy task and is even deemed impossible by most. Impossible or not, from a more positive side one can say Femi learned from the best. Femi joined his father’s Egypt 80 band as a saxophonist when he was a teenager and during the decades that followed he frequently led the band while his father was locked up in a Nigerian prison due to various politically motivated activities. Femi Kuti experienced his solo breakthrough in 1998 with the release of Shoki Shoki after his father died of AIDS in the year before. Hereafter he gathered more fame by collaborating with artists such as Rachid Taha, Roy Hargrove, Common and by hosting a radio station in the videogame Grand Theft Auto IV. Femi did however never lost track of his heritage and prolongs the legacy of his father by addressing the many problems of African societies in his music. Fight to Win (2001), Day by Day (2008) and Africa for Africa (2010) are all prime examples of the latter. No Place For My Dream adds a new chapter in the battle against injustice and inequality. Continue reading
Summoning – Old Mornings Dawn (2013)
To be very honest, I did not expect a new album from the Austrian ambient black metal duo Summoning anymore, not after the seven years of silence that followed the sublime Oath Bound. So when the news broke that Old Mornings Dawn was on its way, it came quite out of the blue. Will our favourite Tolkien-inspired black metal band be able to top what many people still regard as their finest hour, or does Old Mornings Dawn fall flat in that regard. Here, we find out. Continue reading
The Heliocentrics – 13 Degrees of Reality (2013)
Critics do tend to categorize new music into genres so it’s understandable for everyone. Certain bands however seem impossible to pin down. The Heliocentrics are such a band, for they play jazz and funk. Well… that’s done and dusted you might think. Now for the tricky part, the Londoners intermingle the before mentioned styles with avant-garde, electronics, psychedelics, hip hop and ethnic traditions. So obviously no category seems to suit the well-orchestrated eclecticism of The Heliocentrics. Luckily there is always room in the extraordinary universe of Afrofuturist, Sun Ra, with whom the band is frequently compared.
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Deep Purple – Now What?! (2013)
It has taken British rock legend Deep Purple over seven years to come up with a sequel to Rapture of the Deep. That is a long time, especially given the more advanced age of the various band members (ranging between 58-67), and I am sure there will have been people out there not even expecting another studio release by the band. Last month, however, Deep Purple decided to grace us with the appropriately titled Now What?!, and boy, is it good. Continue reading
The Baptist Generals – Jackleg Devotional To The Heart (2013)
Morning haste is a normal part of life for many city dwellers. As long as you don’t dawdle, waking up, showering, brushing teeth, making and eating breakfast, drinking coffee, getting to the station and cramming yourself into a train can be done in about thirty minutes. But what sort of music will keep you from dawdling (setting aside those nonsensical radio shows)? A friend of mine came up with an answer: The Baptist Generals. Their EP Dog (2000) contains 19 minutes of rusty Americana that will undoubtedly turn those drowsy mornings into a fresh start. At a high rate, eight straightforward lo-fi tracks will blow you towards a new boring day at the office. Dog did not get much attention but can nevertheless be seen as a rediscovery of a rougher kind of Americana. The Baptist Generals, who started off playing for beer money in Denton (Texas, USA), continued their endeavors in 2003. No Silver / No Gold is once more a ‘bucked-sounding’ album that excels in terms of loudness and sleaziness. Hereafter it became relatively quiet for about ten years. During these years founders Chris Flemmons and Steve Hill where primarily active on stage in different settings and attempted to release a new studio record in 2005. Unfortunately this record never made it to the stores “[…] life got in the way for a while after 2005”, according to Flemmons. This persistent silence foreshadowed the end of the band, however ‘The Generals’ nearly escaped oblivion this month for Jackleg Devotional To The Heart was finally released on Sub Pop. Continue reading
Ghost – Infestissumam (2013)
When Swedish metal sensation Ghost released their first single Elizabeth, there was an almost immediate underground buzz. Elizabeth was simultaneously retro and incredibly catchy, and the band itself properly mysterious, fronted by the masked Papa Emeritus II and a host of nameless ghouls playing the instruments. The underground buzz quickly went to what might be called major hype with the release of their debut album Opus Eponymous, an incredibly well made album full of very old-fashioned and evil sounding heavy metal. It was as if the likes of Mercyful Fate, Black Sabbath and Blue Öyster Cult had merged into an entirely new entity. Continue reading
Suuns – Images Du Futur (2013)
With Zeroes QC (2010) Montreal’s Suuns experienced a marvelous debut. According to various media it was: ‘self-assured’, ‘a gorgeous onslaught’, ‘testosterone-fuelled’ and ‘creeping atmospheric’. I fully agree to these superlatives, for to this day the shrill electronic beats combined with stoner rock of Zeroes QC are still dominating my playlists… and that does not happen very often. Suuns were neglected by many but used this lee to constructively develop themselves as a well appreciated live-act. Naturally a band that displays this much talent has ambitions to reach a larger audience. In an attempt to accomplish this the band released their sophomore album, Images Du Futur, earlier this year. Continue reading
The Flaming Lips – The Terror (2013)
Although the title of the latest Lips suggests otherwise, there is actually nothing to be afraid of. That is, if you’re familiar with their work during the last few years. If so, take a breath and keep your calm because once more the band shifts their paradigm, this time to weighty ambient. The well-known theatrical freak pop seem to be a thing of the past, for The Terror is breathtaking hypnotizing, subdued and hazy at the same time. But above all, it’s almost impossible to deconstruct for those who lost their interest in the band since Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (2002). If this is the case, feelings of fear are in place, for an unpleasant surprise will probably await you. Continue reading
Avantasia – The Mystery of Time (2013)
Avantasia’s The Metal Opera, released all the way back in the dark age (2001), is still one of my favourite modern power metal albums. Edguy frontman Tobias Sammet managed to capture just about anything that makes Teutonic power metal into such a joy (the rolling double bass drums, the epic choruses, the choirs, the optimism), got a few if not all of my favourite vocalists of the time and released an absolutely smashing record. Deciding that enough wasn’t enough, der Tobi released a follow-up the next year, an album much in the same vein, featuring largely the same cast. After that, everything changed. Continue reading
David Bowie – The Next Day (2013)
This review very nearly went unwritten. I have an immense love for David Bowie, and sometimes, when you love something a lot, it can get extremely difficult to write something, because you feel you’re either too critical or too fanboyish in your lavish praise for a new work. Then there’s the fear of just not getting it right, because what do I really know about the artist in question in the end? Surely there are other people out there hitting nails on the head whilst I am muddling along trying to exude the proper words and struggle to write a coherent piece? You read other, well-written reviews and think to yourself that you will never be either as elaborate or effective in your descriptions and you just want to give up. It’s on those days that I sometimes miss writing for an established magazine, where one did not have the luxury of waiting until an album was out and being beaten to the bush, but had to write your article weeks before it actually hit the streets, all because I’m at my very best when confronted with deadlines. On the other hand, Sounds from the Dark Side gives me the chance to let an album gestate and sink in for a while without any pressure from anyone, and if I decided not to do a review after all, there would be no harm done. You probably wouldn’t even miss it. When you love something a lot, though, you want to share it with the world, and you have to get it off your chest one way or another. Continue reading
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