PUPPINI SISTERS

Betcha Bottom Dollar

Poised somewhere between the Andrews SistersNouvelle Vague, the Puppini Sisters modernize vocal harmony pop while keeping its "so traditional, it's hip" appeal. On their debut Betcha Bottom Dollar, the Sisters' style is their substance; it's not a coincidence that the founding Puppini, Marcella, worked for fashion icon Vivienne Westwood before forming the group. Fortunately, the trio's style -- vintage '40s outfits, cheeky covers of new wave and post-punk classics and all -- manages to stay on the likeable, not grating, side of kitsch. Taken individually, the trio's voices aren't spectacular, but they blend together nicely enough to create a convincing homage to the heyday of vocal harmony pop in the '30s and '40s. A very pleasant "Mr. Sandman," a pretty, languid "Java Jive" and "Sway" are among the best vocal pop standards on Betcha Bottom Dollar, but interestingly enough, the Puppini Sisters often sound less campy on the songs they remake than on the classics. Not surprisingly, the original versions of the tracks they've chosen to give three-part harmony makeovers have strong melodies and distinctive singers, so it's not really all that surprising that Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights" sounds lovely with three-part harmonies, or that their version of Blondie's "Heart of Glass" fits right in with "Mr. Sandman." There are times on Betcha Bottom Dollar that things feel a little too knowing and ironic, as on the chirpy cover of the Smiths' "Panic," and the album might be a little too long for the mood it's trying to sustain. On the whole, however, the genuine affection for the styles the Puppini Sisters adopt and adapt saves Betcha Bottom Dollar from being insufferably cutesy.

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The Rise & Fall of Ruby Woo


On record you can't see the many costume changes into stunning '30s vintage dresses, or be impressed by the trio's mugging or musical chops -- Marcella Puppini plays piano and accordion and Stephanie O'Brien plays credible jazz fiddle. This leaves the vocalizing, and while the trio isn't half bad, its members are not spectacular or particularly adventurous singers. On their second album they follow the template of their first. There are a couple of standards including "It Don't Mean a Think If It Ain't Got That Swing," and contemporary numbers -- "Spooky," "Walk Like an Egyptian" -- delivered in '40s vocal trio-style arrangements. Fine as far as it goes, but the joke is wearing thin. The Puppini Sisters' salvation is clearly in their original material. All three Sisters write solid tunes; the sooner they can come up with a full album's worth of original tunes, the better their career prospects will be. Puppini's "I Can't Believe I'm Not a Millionaire" is a blues full of arch humor, and her "Jilted" sounds like it would have been a natural for Peggy Lee, a sultry, sexy tune with a strong hook and a great lyric. O'Brien contributes "Soho Nights" a jump tune with a strong vocal arrangement, a perfect evocation of the era they obviously love. Kate Mullins may be the strongest writer of the three. Her "It's Not Over (Death or the Toy Piano)" is another song in the big-band mode, but its complex melody and inventive lyric make it one of the album's strongest tracks.

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Volvemos al Africa (a pedido)

The Sound of Kinshasa: Guitar Classics from Zaire

Included are Zairian classics from the acoustic '50s to the soukous '70s, from an example of the great Shaba acoustic tradition and a gorgeous biguine in a forgotten style, to biggies such as OK jazz and early-empire bakuba. Every cut is crème de la crème, and they're arranged chronologically so you can hear the style grow from acoustic birth to electric maturity two decades later -- by which time it was profoundly influencing music all across Black Africa.
1 Masida Ngalina Charles Ombiza 2:58
2 Etoile des Neiges Orchestra a H DePalo 3:08
3 Mickey Me Queiro Orchestra Rockamambo 2:52
4 Mokozi Ya Mboka Orchestra African Jazz 2:50
5 Bomboko Awuti Na New York Franco & Orchestra ... 2:51
Performed by: Franco & Orchestra OK Jazz
6 Tika Nedeka No Te Pepe Kalle ... 2:46
Performed by: Pepe Kalle, Orchestra OK Jazz,
7 Madina Rochereau, Tabu Ley ... 3:15
Performed by: Rochereau, Tabu Ley, Orchestra African Fiesta,
8 Finga Mama Munu Rocherean Mujos ... 3:38
Performed by: Rocherean Mujos, Orchestra OK Jazz,
9 Limbisa Ngai Michel Ngwalau ... 4:53
Performed by: Michel Ngwalau, Orchestra African Fiesta,
10 Komokosaka Te Na Basi Jojo, Orchestra OK Jazz 4:26
11 Christina DePiano ... 3:19
Performed by: DePiano, Orchestra Beguen Band
12 Kiri Kiri Mabina Ya Sika Doctor Nico ... 5:27
Performed by: Doctor Nico, Orchestra African Fiesta,
13 Ya Yongo Orchestra Empire des Bakuba 5:22

Reverb

Two Cow Garage

Please Turn the Gas Back On

( Attention Falta Track 3)
Cleverly described as Uncle Tupelo's nephews, Two Cow Garage takes strong cues from Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy's punkier sides. Not easily pigeonholed, the band also digs deep into the honest country-rock of Slobberbone and Drive-By Truckers, but somehow still manage to maintain their own soulful sound. Young vocalist Micah Schnabel gives the impression that he's smoked a pack a day since elementary school with his gritty rasp, aptly fitting their songs of heartache and leavin'. Bassist Shane Sweeny's gently shouted backup vocals add depth to the tearful "Girl of My Dreams," while Dustin Harigle's drumming is the only thing that holds the manic "River" together. Every song on Please Turn the Gas Back On burns with the amber light of the heartland -- hungover and heart-wrenching, sweetly fumbling and furiously pounding, gritty as barn doors and sweaty as a backseat in August.

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The Wall Against Our Back

It's really a shame that the Bob Stinson edition of the Replacements never did much more than flirt with country music. If they had, the results would have sounded an awful lot like Two Cow Garage's The Wall Against Our Back that gives the otherwise , and that's intended as a compliment to both bands. Recorded in appropriately garage-like conditions by Slobberbone's Brent Best (who infuses the proceedings with the same ragged-but-right feel as his own band), the Columbus-based trio blasts out 13 songs that toy with grunge-era soft/LOUD dynamics at a thrashing pace. The relentless forward motion is broken once -- again, just like on a Replacements album -- by "Saturday Night," a solo acoustic ballad by singer Micah SchnabelWesterberg-hoarse singer a chance to be a bit more gentle to his vocal cords and the listener a chance to rest up a bit for the seething revved-up country two-step of "If This Is Home" and the flat-out punk fury of "Smell of Blood," which wouldn't sound out of place on a Hüsker Dü album. Cowpunk (as opposed to the more polite and rootsy alternative country) lives on in these grooves.

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Ali Farka Touré

Niafunké

Malian guitarist Ali Farka Toure's music has always managed global travel with ease and musical grace, shrinking the miles between Western Africa and the Mississippi Delta and seemingly visiting every city in between. Toure has received his share of accolades for blurring the lines between his contemporary/traditional fingerpicking style and "country blues." Toure has routinely collaborated with musicians from other cultures and musical genres, most notably the prolific and internationally influenced Ry Cooder on their widely acclaimed 1994 album Talking Timbuktu. He establishes a firm aesthetic residence on Niafunké, his first and most welcome CD in five years. Niafunké was recorded using a state-of-the-art portable studio in Toure's home village of Niafunke, which clearly lends a decisive authentic flavor and sense of musical place to the disc. Each tune is a lithe and resonant labyrinth of call-and-response patterns: a fingerpicked guitar speaks to a one-stringed njarka fiddle, calabash pummelings weave into those of the conga drums, and a lively small chorus answers Toure's authoritative lead vocals. A couple of the best cuts include "Ali's Here" and "Saukare." A beautifully rendered and intoxicating record.

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The Source

African guitarist Ali Farka Toure's previous releases were wonderful mixes of traditional language and rhythms being supported by contemporary concerns, instrumentalists, and producers. His most recent session features his working band backing Toure in a series of impassioned, animated tunes that are done in both his native tongue and English. The similarity between Toure's sparse playing and percussive writing and early blues songs has been noted. What also deserves mention is the cohesive qualities his band have and the way his electric and acoustic playing, with its light, frilly air, fills in the spaces underneath his vocals easily.

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THE RIVER

Toure's second release expands his adventuresome blues-based approach, with a harmonica, sax, and native violin beefing up the sound on several cuts.

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Various Artists - Urban Rai 2008 -

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AFRICAN WORLDBEAT

Imperdible.
Todos los clásicos africanos.
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Parliament - Live, 1976-1993

This mammoth British anthology of live P-Funk contains virtually every notable track released by George Clinton and his Parliament/Funkadelic crew. There is some overlap with the earlier Greatest Hits 1972-1993 associates anthology (as well as a rare Japanese set) but the set contains many new tracks. Of most interest to fans will be a set of tracks recorded in 1972, with the original line-up of Funkadelic. The sound quality, as can be expected, varies from the murky 1972 tracks to the most recent 1993 tracks, which sound as clean and precise as modern technology allows. While the song selection may seem strange (especially the inclusion of tracks by obscure ClintonBelita Woods and Louie Kabbabie). It's also true that the newer tracks, despite their higher fidelity, aren't quite as groundbreaking and energetic as the older, rarer recordings. Still, the set as a whole is impressive, mixing well-known classics with obscure but key album tracks, and containing no truly subpar performances. It's probably too much for newcomers to attempt at one sitting (and the original P-Funk albums are far better for introductions) but longtime fans will find much of value here.

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