With a hazy and powerful sound, Cleveland duo Mr. Gnome issues a pair of B-sides to its well-received sophomore LP.
A group of Wodaabe and Tuareg people from Niger, Etran Finatawa, explores tribal music as channeled through electric guitar and a blues sensibility, and an acoustic guitarist with a rich, diverse catalog (Ralph Towner) drops a disc of duets with an Italian/Sardinian trumpeter (Paolo Fresu). (more…)
After a five-year absence, Norway’s Jaga Jazzist releases the symphonic prog rock of One-Armed Bandit, which immediately has become the group’s best album.
Turntablist Rob Swift, formerly of the X-ecutioners, takes a foray into the classical world with The Architect, a dynamic DJ disc; stoner-metal trio High on Fire picks up its pace and crafts an album that isn’t as outstretched.
Malian sensations Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté present another beautiful set of duets that sees a posthumous release after the passing of Farka Touré in 2006.
Icelandic producer Valgeir Sigurðsson establishes a name for himself as a composer with the gentle, mini-orchestral soundtrack to Dreamland, and Greek black-metal quartet Rotting Christ puts out another striking, original album that fuses its dark style to the ethnic sounds of its ancestors. (more…)
There’s plenty of musical inbreeding as well as doom, drone, and psych this week as we sort through new releases from Sunn O))), Khanate, Grizzly Bear, Sir Richard Bishop, Master Musicians of Bukkake, and Vieux Farka Touré. (more…)
