Dos minas injustamente olvidadas de fines de los 80 (Tks IRINA)

Tanita Tikaram

The Best of Tanita Tikaram
Tanita Tikaram

The Best of Tanita Tikaram sums up the singer/songwriter's first five albums, with a little too much emphasis on material from Lovers in the City and Eleven Kinds of Loneliness, and not enough from Everybody's Angel and Sweet Keeper (only one song from each album made it onto this set). Still, this is a lovely collection from start to finish, and showcases Tanita Tikaram as a singer who deserves much more attention than she has received. The album contains all of her U.K. hit singles, including four from her stellar debut, Ancient Heart, among those the sublime "Twist in My Sobriety," easily one of the greatest songs to have come out of the 1980s (an additional dance remix of that song closes out the album). Other highlights include the astounding, heartbreaking "Only the Ones We Love" (quite possibly the best song on this collection), the Phil Spector-ish "You Make the Whole World Cry," and the haunting "I Might Be Crying." Another definite standout is this album's only new recording (and the only cover), which is her version of "And I Think of You" (originally titled "E Penso a Te"). One only wishes other tracks, such as "We Almost Got It Together" and "Valentine Heart," were accounted for as opposed to so much material from her otherwise fine album Lovers in the City. Tikaram, with her heartbroken, world-weary, smoky voice, is in a league all her own and, because of her early start in the recording business, will hopefully have enough material to some day warrant a best-of volume two.

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Toni Childs

Union

Union's release in 1988 announced a bold, incendiary new voice in the singer/songwriter sweepstakes in Toni Childs. The well-traveled Childs, the short-term original lead singer forBerlin, draws upon the vast experiences of her life and delivers them with an urgency that is hypnotically compelling. It's all tied together by David Tickle's production and aided by first-rate backing by musicians including songwriting collaborator David Ricketts, drummerRick Marotta and guitarist David Rhodes. The single "Don't Walk Away" kicks things off in high gear and Childs rarely looks back. Her take-no-prisoners vocal drives the funky, horn-driven track, which is backed by the gospel swell of the background vocalists. Although the rest of the album is a little more sedate, Childs never loses the urgent edge to her dusky voice. "Stop Your Fussin'" is sung to a restless lover over a Caribbean rhythm and "Hush" has a playful bounce to it. Elsewhere, "Zimbabwae" is a parable detailing African strife complete with chanting background vocals and "Dreamer" provides her with a bed of keyboards that shimmer like stars. The twice Grammy-nominated Union received universal critical acclaim and is riveting right through the moody poetry of the final track, "Where's the Ocean."

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re-upload Dr. Feelgood Stupidity (live)

Comprised of recordings taken from 1975 tours, the live Stupidity finally captures the relentless, hard-driving energy of Dr. Feelgood at their peak. All the music on Stupidity is presented raw and without overdubs, making it clear that the dynamic friction between guitarist Wilko Johnson and vocalist Lee Brilleaux could propel the band toward greatness. While many of the versions here don't differ in form from the original studio versions, these unvarnished performances are considerably more exciting, revealing the Johnson originals "She Does It Right" and "All Through the City" as minor rock & roll classics. AMG



1 Talking About You 1:58



2 20 Yards Behind 2:01



3 Stupidity Burke 2:25



4 All Through the City Johnson 2:54



5 I'm a Man Diddley 5:10



6 Walking the Dog 2:58



7 She Does It Right Johnson 3:05



8 Going Back Home Green, Johnson 3:43



9 I Don't Mind Johnson 2:17



10 Back in the Night Johnson 3:09



11 I'm a Hog for You Baby Leiber, Stoller 3:16



12 Checking up on My Baby Williamson 3:17



13 Roxette Johnson 2:54



14 Riot in Cell Block #9 Leiber, Stoller 3:47



15 Johnny B. Goode Berry 3:59





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HAITIANOS, URUGUAYOS, NORUEGOS, TODOS VENIMOS DE MADRE AFRICA

Ballaké Sissoko

One of the modern-day masters of his instrument, Ballaké Sissoko is a Malian kora player who found success as a recording artist, generally in collaboration with others, most notably fellow Malian kora player Toumani Diabaté. Born in 1968 in Mali and based in Paris, France, he is the son of Jelimady Sissoko, a master of the kora. Sisso

ko first made a name for himself as a recording artist in 1999 with co-billing on the Toumani Diabaté album New Ancient Strings. The following year, he released the solo-billed album Déli (2000), which features his wi

fe, the vocalist Mama Draba, among other musicians. Subsequent albums include Diario Mali (2003), a collaboration with Italian contemporary classical pianist Ludovico Einaudi; Tomora (2005); 3MA (2008), a collaboration with Moroccan oud player Driss el Maloumi and Madgascan valiha player Rajery; and Chamber Music (2009), a collaboration with French celloist Vincent Ségal.

New Ancient Strings

Toumani Diabate & Ballake Sissoko

Toumani Diabate is one of the finest contemporary kora players. Diabate teams withBallake Sissoko for New Ancient Strings, a collection of African harp duets. Recorded in one take in Diabate's native Mali, New Ancient Strings is at once ethereal and earthy.

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Ludovico Einaudi & Ballake Sissoko - Diario Mali

Mali Diary (Diario Mali) is a studio recording of duets between the highly succe

ssful Italian classical-crossover pianist, Ludovico Einaudi, and Mali musician Ballake Sissoko - one of the most gifted ‘kora’ players in Africa.

Diario Mali: a journey
Two friends who speak different languages, from different worlds; they meet in the desert and make each other a gift of their music in the shade of a henna tree. They create a free-flowing dialogue, they improvise.... the string of the kora and the piano keys-weave a story beyond time.
With traditional Mali music in the background they melt echoes of blues, renaissance harmonies and carribean beats.

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Chamber Music
Ballaké Sissoko & Vincent Ségal (new file, no psw)

Live

on Monday November 16th 2009
at the "théâtre de l’Atelier", Paris

For any musician, playing as a

duo is an experience that definitely stands apart. It pursues the ideal of the one-on-one, the context where the voices of the protagonists fuse together inside the crucible of common thought, and where the notion of sharing is placed at the very origins of an instrument’s movement. It requires not only exceedingly high quality in the discourse, but also an exceptional listening-quality. Within a duo, the ear—the first authentic instrument of the musician—is where everything is played.

This art of conversation based on understanding, on the attentiveness of one musician towards the other, is developed here by kora player Ballaké Sissoko and cellist Vincent Segal to its highest degree of exactness. Chamber Music is an album that might have remained a mere sound-document that testified to a brief encounter within a mixed-breed cultural context. Fortunately, it’s much more than that. Formerly stable-mates at the same label (Label Bleu), the two men began by taking time to forge a close, personal bond of friendship. The idea of working together on an album germinated in Ballaké Sissoko’s mind a few years ago; Sissoko had been present at a concert given by Bumcello at the Amiens Jazz Festival, where Vincent Segal had been playing with Cyril Atef, the other half of the explosive Bumcello duo. But there was no need for either to precipitate matters. As the Malian musician says, “It was important to get to know each other musically. For quite some time we got together at Vincent’s home whenever I was in Paris, and we also played a few concerts. We built our complicity step by step. Today, when we play, we understand each other without saying a word: one look is enough. Our hearts are together.”

This care brought to the human aspect of all music is something that Sissoko and Segal have been cultivating for more than two decades—Sissoko’s strings have notably crossed paths with those of Taj Mahal or the pianist Ludovic Einaudi, whilst Segal has enjoyed many roles as an accompanist, arranger or producer with such diverse performers as Cesaria Evora, -M-, Blackalicious, Piers Faccini, Sting or Marianne Faithfull. Their respective careers have shown the importance they attach to communicating thoughts and sensations. The pair came from multi-secular musical backgrounds—the Mandinka griot tradition for Sissoko, the classical school for Segal—and it would have been easy for them to remain locked inside such mapped formats, both in music and in life. But they transformed the historic significance of their instruments and original cultures into objects they could carry with them, luggage with which they could travel and slake their thirst for knowledge. In May 2009, when Sissoko and Segal finally decided to record together in Bamako, they once again applied these principles dictated by a simple, illuminating common ethic, one whose terms the Frenchman describes succinctly as: "You just look for the pleasure of music where you can.”

The pleasure of music, here, is condensed into the time-space that the two friends created for themselves: one bare room in Salif Keita’s Moffou studio and three recording-sessions without overdubs that were woven inside the protective cocoon of the Mali night. Sheltered from the agitation of mankind inside the heart of the world, Ballaké Sissoko and Vincent Segal chased out of their minds everything that can distance a musician from his art—all the vain considerations of genre and style that only have interest for collectors of labels—the better to concentrate on the essence: harmonious imbrications of language and signatures, and the interlacing of their inner song, to which the subtle waves of improvisation and the secret vibrations of silence contributed additional density. Their complicity is such that the kora and the cello, far from resulting in an overly formal exchange of rejoinders, seem to express themselves here with a single voice: Sissoko et Segal mix their blood and their sounds to conclude a pact that aims to cause a (precisely) unified word to spring forth with incomparable clarity. What the listener hears in Chamber Music is both rare and precious: two sensibilities in unison, on the same wavelength, creating music which, literally, follows naturally.

The same feeling of concord, the same impression of fluidity, inhabits the dialogue between the friends who intervene, friends to whom Sissoko and Segal opened their door. The voice of singer Awa Sangho drapes the solemn song Regret, composed as a tribute to vocalist Kader Barry, in a fine veil. On Houdesti, the long track on which all the quiet strengths composing this album seem to converge, Mahamadou Kamissoko (ngoni) and Fassery Diabaté (balafon), both fleeting but significant presences, conjure out of the earth music that has been torn away from all trends and fashion. On two titles, Demba Camara causes the traditional karignan to crackle with all the science of a master of fire. Yet the entire record bears an imprint of infinite gentleness; it has softness that privileges, rather than modifies, the greatest intensity of expression. In recording this album, Vincent Segal says that musicians like songwriter Nick Drake or pianist Annette Peacock came to mind, both authors of pure outlines that contain the strength of etchings. The vibrating sketches of Chamber Music naturally confirm his vision: stripped of all superfluous material, they go straight to the heart of the prime, overwhelming truth of music.

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The Moaners - Dark Snack

The Moaners

Fusing the gut-level emotive sound of blues with the lean, wiry power of indie rock, the Moaners are a two-woman two-piece rock & roll combo hailing from Chapel Hill, NC, comprised of former Trailer Bride frontwoman Melissa Swingle on guitar and vocals and Laura King, formerly of another Chapel Hill band, Grand National, on drums and sometimes guitar. Swingle and King first met when Trailer Bride and Grand National played a show together. Swingle was impressed with King's abilities behind the drum kit, and after Trailer Bride split up, she approached King in hopes of putting together a more rock-oriented project. The duo dubbed themselves the Moaners, and following plenty of regional touring, the band signed with Chapel Hill's Yep Roc label in 2004. Shortly afterward, they went into the studio with Southern Culture on the Skids guitarist Rick Miller, who produced the group's first album, Dark Snack, which was released in early 2005. Blackwing Yalobusha followed two years later, produced by former Squirrel Nut Zipper Jimbo Mathus.


Dark Snack

While Melissa Swingle was easily the best thing alt-country drifters Trailer Bride had going for them, one listen to the first album from her new band, the Moaners, suggests that she might have be

en better off taking a different tack from day one. The Moaners' 2005 debut, Dark Snack, is a stronger and more engaging disc than nearly anything Trailer Bride had to offer; Swingle and drummer Laura King's simple but expressive blues-influenced tunes give this duo a strong melodic backbone, and Swingle's primal guitar and King's rock-solid drumming kick the melodies forward with a welcome degree of muscle. If there's a shade more irony in Swingle's vocal delivery than she really needs, the rock action of the music more than makes up for it, and these stripped-down blues accents favor her more than Trailer Bride's faux-country lope. Rick Miller's production gives this two-piece an admirably full sound without cluttering the surroundings, and the band manages to sound alert and snappy while bowing to the classic behind-the-beat traditions of the blues. Dark Snack is a solid reintroduction to a gifted artist, not to mention a fine debut from a band with no small amount of potential.
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