07032014 - Paloma Faith "A Perfect Contradiction"

Dear Paloma. I remember your first album. I loved the title, "Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful", and I loved the way you referenced other great artists, but still showed us a personality of your own. Your voice had that little something extra - shall we call it a slightly flawed charm? - that made you stand out, and there were songs - oh, the songs - whose timeless quality made you just a tiny bit unique. I must admit that I never did check out your second album, so I have no idea how it came to this, but I do hope that repeated listens to "A Perfect Contradiction" will make it sound less like someone told you to sound like Adele or Amy W. Because you don't need to sound like them. You should sound like you! Do you want the truth or something beautiful? Because the truth is that although this is far from bad, you can do a whole lot better. And I believe you will again. Actually I don't just believe. I have total Faith!

06032014 - La Femme "Psycho Tropical Berlin"

This is a strange one, but utterly compelling! Influences range from punk/new wave to electro-disco via surf rock, mambo, psych-funk, kraut synth and several other genres - often within the same song. The opening track takes about 15 seconds to make you want to dance like an epileptic maniac all over the place, and from there on the album showcases all kinds of groove, from the franticly upbeat to the sleek and b-movie mysterious. It's both clever and playful, in a very French way, and throughout the entire album there's plenty of stuff going on, so even after repeated listens "Psycho Tropical Berlin" should have something new to offer the listener. One for both going crazy on the dance floor and chilling at home with the headset on, whatever takes your fancy. La Femme est trés cool!

05032014 - Tommy Shaw "Girls With Guns"

Has it really been 30 years? Damn, I remember hearing the title track on this album when it first came out. And it's still one of the greatest upbeat pop songs from any AOR artist I can think of from that era. So what about the rest of the album? Because I really only heard that one song back in the day. Well, I am enjoying this - how could I not? After all, this is classic melodic rock with strong rockers, strong ballads and extreme catchiness all over the place. Most of the songs on the first half of the album could have been singles, and almost all of them are instantly hummable. Halfway through the album we are treated to the epic piece "Kiss Me Hello", which with its 7 1/2 minutes demands a bit more of an attention span, but if you can handle it there's more light entertainment directly afterwards. Not all songs are classics, and the second half of the record has the least wonderful songs, but hey - when you have a tune as great as "Girls With Guns" the rest of the songs could have been recordings of nails scraping across a blackboard backed by a tone deaf plumber playing an untuned violin, and as a whole it would still have been pretty great!

04032014 - Ingrid "Babylove"

Her name is Ingrid, the album is called "Babylove" and the album cover shows her head, seemingly unaccompanied by her body, under water. So far, so intriguing; let's check it out. The opening track is called "This is Motor Oil Dude" - what's there not to like? Of course it helps that the music is lush, mystical, dark and bewitching. There's shrieking violins, tribal rhythms and a mighty choir. There's haunting harmonies, ghostlike voices that gives you chills and lyrics blacker than pitch, and all this set to songs that Kate Bush might dream up in her most beautiful nightmares. Ingrid Helene Håvik is also the vocalist in Highasakite, but personally I prefer this. Most artists would not get away with a hypnotic oriental inspired song in the middle of an album like this, but "Bomonti Sisli" fits perfectly in between her tales of murderous revenge fantasies and soothing autumn moods. An impressive album!

03032014 - Harlem River Drive "Harlem River Drive"

Village Voice recently published a list of The 50 Most NYC Albums Ever, and this album by Harlem River Drive came in at #6, making it the highest of the fifty that I had not already heard. Released in 1970, it has the first recorded performances of brothers Charlie and Eddie Palmieri as bandleaders, and is a wonderful showcase for the funky latino jazz you associate with the two. On some of the songs you can feel the heat rising from the asphalt, obviously making this very much a summer album. The Puerto Rican and Cuban influences blend perfectly with elements of soul, fusion, big band jazz and experimental funk, and there's such a nerve in every note played and every syllable sung that it's easy to imagine how magical the recording sessions must have been. Definitely a masterpiece!

02032014 - Dedalus "Dedalus"

Once more we have an album chosen because of the album cover, because it's from 1973 and because, why not? And what we have here is part prog, part psychedelia, part jazz and all intriguing weirdness. There's "Meddle" era Pink Floyd in there right next to Hawkwind, Miles Davis, Soft Machine, and more. And these Italians blend everything together seemingly without effort. The instrumentals that make out this album are led by saxophone, guitar, electric piano and cello, and will be enjoyed by all lovers of obscure prog, fusionists and even fans of, say, Ozric Tentacles.

01032014 - Brainticket "Psychonaut"

A classic example of stumbling upon an album and liking what I see before I hear a single note. Just the band name and album title alone are enough to get my attention, and a description of Brainticket as an obscure experimental Krautrock band from the early 70's with members of Belgian, Swiss, German and French descent make me even more interested. The band was founded by Belgian pianist and mastermind Joel Vandroogenbroeck, a name that probably translates into "drugged out mad genius", in the late 60's and their first album, "Cottonwoodhill" from 1971 got banned in several countries, including the USA, for its association with psychedelic substances. Which is nice. There's nothing in "Psychonaut", their second album, to suggest that the psychedelics had worn off, even though it sounds quite different than its predecessor, with more exotic instruments, such as sitar, flute, slide whistle, tabla and tbilat. I love the mood this album conveys, and it's easy to see how fans of Amon Düül II, Hawkwind and Gong could easily get into this.