Gapplegate Music Blog for November 2009

Pictured is the Washburn WB66 Bass in Goldtop. It's a beautiful instrument to play, see and hear.

November 30, 2009—For the morning of the last day of November an extreme Metal disk that came out last year. The band is Cavalera Conspiracy. The album is “Inflikted” (Roadrunner). This one has those exorcist vocals. That mode of delivery has become a little tiring, but the style is the style. What marks this album is the kicking guitars and band dynamics. They make up for the usual vocals.

A wall of metal sound envelops the senses. This is a band that might drive you nuts if they rehearsed next door to you. It is top drawer quasi-Death Metal though.

November 27, 2009—Maurice Ohana (1913-1992) has not been given his due, at least in the States. His compositions reflect the modernism of his age, yet they have a quality all their own, nowhere more so than in his “Music for 10-String Guitar” (Naxos), as performed with great skill and expressiveness by Graham Anthony Devine.

The 10-String guitar in question is a classical guitar with four additional strings, none of which seem to be stranded in octaves like the standard 12-string guitar or the mandolin. Ohana makes good use of the extended number of easily accessed intervallic relationships and simultaneously sounded notes. There is a kind of quasi-Spanish bravura to the music but also an exploratory, quiet meditativeness.

These pieces must be quite a challenge to play and Maestro Devine handles the technical end with results that sound effortless, but most assuredly aren’t. He tackles the individual works with a larger sense of the overall trajectory and musical thrust of the composer’s intentions with great sensitivity.

This is not “Malaguena.” These are thoroughly modern studies for guitar that are also quite idiomatically guitaristic. They require repeated careful listenings to fully absorb. I know of no other works in the guitar repertory that are quite like these. Devine’s recital is a welcome addition to the catalog of Ohana on disk and also to modern guitar literature.

November 25, 2009—I sometimes get promos a little after the fact, hand-me-downs from unnamed sources that provide me with music I may have missed. I welcome these extra additions to my review piles. Why not? Such is the case with today’s CD. It came without the inner insert, which is fine because nowadays in the Pop-Rock fields at least there is very little useful information to be gained by those image-bolstering marketing devices.

So, we have the first Elvis Perkins in Dearland (XL) CD, out since March but no less worth noting for its ancient lineage (at least where this sort of music is concerned—an artist can be a has-been in a few short months in the view of the great cyber-communications garbage disposal unit).

This Elvis fellow has strong songwriting chops. There are some genuine goodies here. He suggests to me a grafting of the bubbly personal ruminescing of a Jason Mraz with the musical density and serious mindedness of a John Butler. But not quite. Elvis plays an acoustic pretty much throughout and though his backup band includes electricity, horns and other accoutrements of the Rock-Songwriter deal, there is nonetheless a folksy feel to much of what he does.

There is an infectious quality to this music too—not God forbid in terms of some disease, but more like “the more it rains, tiddleypom.” He just sounds better every time you hear the CD. Good vocals, very interesting songs and some rather ingenious arrangements. I like this Elvis guy.

November 24, 2009—John Dowland (1563-1626) was one of England’s few truly exceptional early composers (along with William Byrd and Thomas Tallis) but also one who stills speaks to us clearly and passionately today across the many centuries that separate us from him.

He is remembered primarily for his songs, which were touched by a poignant melancholy, and his music for solo lute, which entered the realm of pure invention. There were many composers through the history of the music who were not especially developed melodists. Telemann, Reger, at times Schumann, even Beethoven serve as examples. Then there were those that had brilliance in that sphere. Schubert for one, certainly, and also Dowland. Follow the melody lines in his lute music and you’ll hear a consistently high level of line construction. Unlike some, Dowland never sacrifices the main line to the various passage work interludes where it sounds as if the composer has become more concerned with an extra-melodic goal at a particular point in a composition. Of course Dowland does not have to grapple with sonata form as did later composers, but nevertheless there is in Dowland a originality of line that transcends period. Even when he writes in a theme and variations idiom, the variations retain a melodic brilliance that can be missing with some of the other masters of the music.

Naxos has just released a fabulous four-CD box set of Dowland’s lute music, with Nigel North playing an expressive yet period-sensitive set of renditions. I’ve heard much of these on other recordings but never in so comprehensive a collection. The performances rival anything I’ve heard and the sound is excellent.

This set is indispensable for those who wish to get an understanding of Dowland’s greatness, for those who wish to understand what accomplished lute playing of the period sounded like, and. . . EVERYBODY AND ANYBODY ELSE who loves good music.

The music takes advantage of the idiomatic qualities of the lute as constructed and tuned in Dowland’s era, and hence sounds completely natural to the ear. This of course is partially deceptive, since Mr. North contributes an artistry and sensitivity to the music which gives these performances the edge. He brings out the nuances of the parts, phrasing with elegance and care so that the structure of the multi-part writing comes through with brilliance and clarity. I would warmly recommend this set without hesitation. In fact I just did!

November 23, 2009—Metal can be interesting; it can be excruciating. Today I am afraid we have the latter. Professional wrestling, certain computer games and some Metal bands have something in common. They are phony and over the top at the same time. They exaggerate to the point of burlesque. Some people who participate in their various rituals recognize this and applaud the latest heroes/commodities with a big tongue in their collective cheeks. At least I hope so.

Dragon Force brings this sort of thing to the Metal field. They are UK based and have a number of CDs out there. I chose their first commercial release, “Valley of the Damned” (Noise) (2002) to listen to, getting a tip from my adolescent nephew to check it out.

Wikopedia dubs them as “melodic.” But what sort of melodies? They all sound the same. They are sing-song nursery rhymes. Everything is in a simple major or minor key. I don’t know if this group is associated with the computer game of the same name, but I suspect it must be so. The songs would form a good accompaniment to various episodic action sequences that are no doubt an integral part of the game. Fine. But there’s a super-slick, glib jive element to the music (associated with “product”) that I cannot stomach.

Then there is the “fast” part of their shtick. Almost everything is taken at a very speedy clip. The double bass drums are almost invariably played in double time. This is achieved by the pedals that give you two beats for every depression and release of the foot. Such a set of pedals virtually ALWAYS gives you the headache-pounding double blast and what in other groups can be exhilarating becomes in their hands a formula.

Then there is the speed of the lead guitarist. It’s some of the fastest playing I’ve ever heard. If it is not a product of studio trickery, it is achieved by hammering and that’s all fine. But there is almost no melodic interest there. It’s fast major or minor scales designed to impress but devoid of much musical content.

The songs could very well be manic advertisements for something, the game, the band, pimple cream. . . Or perhaps theme songs for some sports show, a UK football club, wrestling, whatever. To me this band signifies all that is repulsive in Rock today, in so far as there are repulsive aspects. How can you make this music and ignore all pentatonic or blues tonalities? It just sounds silly as a result.

It’s fast pablum, not really much better than slow pablum. Dragon Force belongs at the bottom of the Metal food chain in so far as musicality goes. I detest them. Sure I couldn’t begin to play that fast. So what? As a kid if you didn’t like a group, it usually sounded less horrible if you played the whole album at 78 rpm. We can’t do that anymore but this could well be the modern equivalent of Herman’s Hermits at 78. Ooof. This is music to grow out of at age 15. Enough.

November 20, 2009—Francisco Tarrega (1852-1909) was one of the founding fathers of modern Spanish Guitar. He left a body of work for unaccompanied guitarist that has genuine charm and, in the right hands, combines lyrical melodic writing with technical finesse. Such hands certainly are there in the performances of Swedish exponent Matt Bergstrom in his recent recording of Tarrega’s Guitar Music (Naxos). Included are the “Preludios,” “Las Dos Hermanitas,” "Recuerdos de la Alhambra” and “Gran Vals.”

What strikes me about Bergstrom’s interpretations is his judicious use of rubato. Some performers overuse the expressive qualities of this manner of articulation until the music gushes forth in a saccharine way and the kinetic momentum of the music is lost. I also sometimes suspect that some performers have not prepared sufficiently on certain pieces and the rubato pauses and slowing down has less to do with expressivity and more to do with not being able to get though a particular passage at tempo. Not at all so here. Bergstrom keeps enough of the rhythmic regularity of phrases to bring out the Spanish rootedness in dance forms (and sometimes European-Viennese rootedness too, as with the waltzes) without losing the capability of the guitar writing to soar well beyond our mundane world.

This is a fine program of Tarrega gems, performed lovingly. It’s a beautiful disk and I heartily recommend it.

November 19, 2009—There are certain instrumental combinations that are rather rare. When you encounter them, you are not quite sure what to expect. “Blue Flint Girl” (CIMP) by the David Haney Trio is one such example. The lineup consists of Haney on piano, and Michael Bisio and Adam Lane on acoustic basses. Two basses and a piano! And not just any two basses, not just any piano.

David Haney grew up in Calgary, Canada and has come onto the scene in the past few years with a prolific, well received series of recordings for Cadence Jazz and CIMP. He is in the realm of Free Improv and has a style that is at once thoughtful and spontaneous. Adam Lane and Michael Bisio have been covered in the pages of this blog with no small amount of frequency. They are simply two of the very best advanced improvisational bassists active today.

The resultant three-way dialog brings into play all the technique and imagination these three masters can conjure. Much of the time the two bassist’s roles split along the lines of bowed versus plucked, arco versus pizzicato, but not all the time. Their interaction with Haney can become quite dense and is best appreciated if one gives the music the focused concentrated listening it demands. It is the sort of session that takes a fair number of exposures to assimilate. As one listens serially one discovers a wealth of collective strengths and well wrought, well thought out three way melodic counterpoint and timbre contrasts.

One wonders what a second session with an added drummer would do to the chemistry so evident here. Clearly it would bring about a much different dynamic, but doubtless no less interesting than the one created on that day.

“Blue Flint Girl” is a sleeper. It requires actual listening (!) and it begins to astound you the more you hear of it. Those who appreciate free bass virtuosity and like the idea of a piano-two-bass hit will not be disappointed. This ranks with Ornette Coleman’s recent two-bass outings as some of the most provocative such sessions I have heard.

November 18, 2009—Virtuoso shredding is what the Buckethead guitar style is about, coupled with irreverence and a tendency towards trips to the outer spheres of metaldom. There's a quite decent free live download available in the Creative Commons domain at the Live holdings of www.archive.org. It’s a longish concert set from the Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, February 25, 2006.

He has a solid power trio as his palette, and he paints a lively canvas with effects, hammerings and post-Hendrix groans and dives in between various interesting Metal thematic material. It’s a fun gig and either a good introduction to his playing or a worthy supplement to his many interesting commercial releases. This sounds like an audience recording but he comes through with brash clarity.

November 17, 2009—Eyal Maoz can cover much stylistic ground. That’s clear when you compare his recent duo recording on Ayer Records (see below) with the latest by his quartet Edom. The latter, “Hope and Destruction” (Tzadik) combines a bit of the Avant with contemporary guitar-oriented instrumental Rock that has a strong middle-eastern minor mode orientation. The former is a free improv duet of guitar and drums. Both are quite interesting.

As is often the case with music that comes out on Tzadik with a Rock edge, there’s a retro-meets-downtown flair to the program. A hint of Surf, ‘60s spy movie soundtracks and earlier Progressive Rock and Fusion influences infiltrate a rock solid avant-Jewish music with shred and ensemble in a continual balancing act.

It is a provocative yet accessible mix that shows you the richness of Eyal’s musical imagination. And there’s some very good guitar work here too. The emphasis, though, often lies in the ensemble and its interlocking part writing.

November 16, 2009—Brandon Seabrook has spent time in the company of some of the Avant players of distinction, such as Peter Evans, Roswell Rudd, and Marc Ribot. His debut CD “Seabrook Power Plant” (Loyal) finds him fronting a power trio. It’s not just any old power trio. It puts across a kind of Avant-Fusion-Speed-Metal the likes of which I have never heard before. Seabrook plays both the electric guitar and the tenor banjo on this session, and what he does has the striving energy and heaven-climbing expression of ecstasy and pain you would expect from a New Prometheus.

There is much in the way of complexly jagged punctuations and frantically minimalist repetitions of searing heat. Brandon’s banjo work makes use of the inherent qualities of the instrument for some rather incredible moments of kinetic fire; his guitar work can be that and also indulges in Doom Metal riffs that assault your ears with a more slowly unfolding sort of intensity.

It is music that doesn’t let up. It does not engage in the slightest bit of lyricism or banality. It is crazed machine utterances. It is awe inspiring. It is a cosmic stutter that brings out a most unusual artistry. Prepare to be amazed.

November 13, 2009—Japanese Spacerock Jamband Dachambo has a live set on archive.org that I’ve been giving some spins. It’s from Shinjuku Loft, Tokyo, July 15, 2006. Judging from this pretty well recorded performance, they have listened to early Floyd, Santana, and Jambands that do interlocking trance segments. The lead guitarist is good, as is the keyboard guy. The rhythm section is able, and I think there are two drummers going at it. Vocals are of the “who wants to sing; somebody has to” variety.

There are some very engaging moments and I would like to listen to some of their commercial releases if I can get to them. A band worth hearing.

November 12, 2009—This blog is not about who did what or who said what or who dissed what. I suppose that need not be said. So when I listen to the Jay-Z CD “The Blueprint 3” (RocNation) for review, I don’t give a hoot about anything except the music. He’s big. You know that. I know that. You may either like him, hate him or feel indifferent, and that’s cool. With someone like this, it absolutely doesn’t matter what I think. The wheels are in motion and he’s a star and forget all the rest.

Jay-Z’s raps aren’t something I want to talk about. There they are. Does the rap reach me? Not precisely. But it’s not meant for me.

The most successful track, “Run This Town,” is that in part because there is a memorable song.

It’s Pop Culture, so it’s made to be replaced, usually with its opposite. The future will come. What will the raps be like then?

So I guess I’m relating to the lyrics in any event. It's about his life, and that's just fine. But I must say I prefer Lupe Fiasco. There's something in his raps that hits me harder.

Musically, this album has a great deal more to say for it than the average Hip-Hop tracks. There are real drums at least part of the time, you can hear some real percussion, a soprano sax, a guitar or two. And maybe some real horns. A lot of it still has that cheesy synth keyboard in string or brass mode. OK. What works always seems to be when they interject some kind of actual melody. The singers do a good job contrasting the raps. I think I'll just leave it at that. More guitars???

November 11, 2009—Regular readers of this blog should be familiar with Michael Bisio, whose music gets regular coverage on these pages. He is a phenomenon, as one of the very best bassists active today in the free-er areas of Jazz and Improvisation, as a bandleader who picks the right players and gives them a tangible direction, and as a writer of memorable charts that balance the written, conceptual and improvised.

He returns with the fourth album by his quartet. This is “AM” (CIMP), and it continues the string of strong outings by the group. Teaming the twin hornwork of Avram Fefer (soprano and tenor) and Stephen Gauci (tenor), both off-and-on bandleaders in their own right, gives the group a fundamental identity. They are very compatible stylistically, able to run interesting lines in “Post-Freebop” mode, to slow burn like musical Edgar Kennedy’s, and to invent experimental-based improvisations that never sound tentative. And each is unique enough to stand out in a crowd. Drummer Jay Rosen gives the proceedings just enough heat and drive to never let things get slack or stale. Of course, Michael Bisio’s bass in ensemble and in solo is a model of the thinking modern improviser.

If I were asked to participate in some sort of critics poll (which I am not often) he would be at the top of it as bassist. And so would this band for that matter. “AM” shows just how much can be accomplished, how wide a spectrum of moods and musical mindsets can be brought into play. It is excellent.

Remember, to fully appreciate the sonic spectrum of CIMP audiofile recordings it is necessary to up the listening volume a tad. There is no compression, so the softer parts come out as they were played live in the room, softer! For everything to come through you just need to tweak your volume control and you’ll get the sort of live sound that you’d get in a club, minus the chatter of the tourists.

“AM” is highly recommended as a really representative sample of modern, uncompromising improvisational music that communicates directly, 2009 style. Go to www.cadencebuilding.com and click on CIMP to get the finer details on grabbing yourself a copy of this CD.

November 10, 2009—I get periodically a CD in that I look at and think, “Oh, geeze, this one is going to stink.” Such was the feeling I had when I unpacked Goblin _____’s “Follow Me If You Don’t Want to Die” (Robcore). It had a video game sort of fantasy illustration of a Goblin on the cover that made me wonder. And the name. . . . Silly. I listened anyway and got a surprise. This is Dark Metal, Doom Metal or Whatever Metal and it’s pretty good. I can’t vouch for the lyrics, which I didn’t take the trouble to make out.

The music—some sophisticated (relative to the genre) playing for two metal guitars, interlocking parts, interesting riffs and power chords that don’t get stuck in the clichés available, bass and drums rough and ready, vocals not irritating, hey what, not bad at all.

To attract the younger listener there are spooky thematic things happening. OK.

This is musically on a much higher level than most of what gets sludged out in the Metal area. The name of the band isn’t going to win any awards. Ignore the name and you’ll hear some interesting music.

November 9, 2009—I get movie soundtracks for review from time to time. Usually I am not familiar with the movie but it’s the music that is at issue. So “Jennifer’s Body” (Fueled by Ramen) is one I have given my ear to. Don’t know the movie but the soundtrack disk offers 15 tracks in a youthful Alt-Rock-Pop bag. You’ll forgive me if I am not familiar with Screeching Weasel, or pretty much the rest of the bands.

The point is not whether I know these people. The music itself has some definite moments and provides some sort of panorama of what is new out there. I would say that this is something to appeal to the late high school-college frat crowd. It is lively music and the lyrics deal with dysfunctional romantic sorts of things, which I suppose go with the movie subject matter. Yes and for those that care, guitars permeate the music.

November 6, 2009—When I studied electronic music at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in 1972, the original RCA Synthesizer-Computer built in the ‘50s was there, taking up an entire room with its many tube driven modules, hundreds of patch cords and its keyboard and punch-card activation system. It was a wonder of metal and gizmos, a daunting site. We weren’t allowed to touch it. “That’s Milton Babbit’s baby,” was the reason.

Allegedly RCA had built the cumbersome monstrosity in the hopes of creating a machine that would replace musicians, that would create computerized big-band music that would do away with the need to pay any of those pesky human music makers. Well, it didn’t work out so they more or less abandoned the project and donated the machine to the avant garde academic folks.

Today the vision of those original computer music nerds has come to pass in some ways. Most Pop tracks, Hip-Hop and etc. are made by a very few number of programming-performing dudes in any given session. Clubs and weddings often hire DJs and the general scene is not as promising as it was in ancient days for somebody who arduously learns to play an instrument.

RCA’s vision was that THEY would be in control of the show. THEY would put together the synthesized music for their radio and TV broadcasts, THEY would create and put out the records made on these machines. That didn’t quite turn out. Every little Tom, Dick and Harry now can buy some MIDI-synthesizer equipment for an affordable price and set up a little studio. And they can produce their own batch of CDs cheaply. Of course they might not sell so the major labels (and the major indies) mostly generate the successful Pop products via their sophisticated marketing and distribution systems.

And the MIDI generated sounds do not often stand alone. Live instruments supplement such sessions, to a greater or lesser degree. There are studio cats out there making a living, just not as many.

With that in mind we turn to the latest album by the group Zero 7, “Yeah Ghost” (Atlantic). Here is the positive side of such developments. There are nicely arranged songs here in a sort of Alt-Pop-Rock bag. The electronics blend well with the live instruments and they get all sorts of interestingly arranged sounds going. Vocals are handled by a couple of people. There’s a guy with early Prince-like soul, an interesting female voice and a bunch of songs that go all over the place. You can hear ambiant music, a little psychedelia, some Bluesy Rock-Soul numbers, and other things, too.

Work for the itinerate musician may have become scarce. But musical project people have increased opportunities to at least make some interesting tunes. Zero 7 is one of the better of the studio-centered Pop amalgams I’ve heard of late. The music has some definite charm. There’s a little hope, then.

November 5, 2009—Today we have another jolt of new Progressive Rock, this time from the band Knight Area. Their new third CD, “Realm of Shadows” (Laser’s Edge), brings out the old school sound tempered by the more sprawling soundscape orientation of the newer bands. Long, legato mellotron lines, velvety sustained guitar parts and solos, retro-sounding synth passages, cosmically opaque vocals and the long song-form prevail, and not unskillfully so.

This is a band that seems to be in the process of finding its own sound within Prog parameters. There is a dark strain that prevails and it has its attractions. Knight Area exemplifies the re-emergence of the style as a fully refurbished Art-Rock form. These people are very good at it. It may not find a lot of converts to the Prog domain, I fear. It deserves plenty of attention, though, and will surely strike a lost chord with those already comfortable in the world it occupies.

November 4, 2009—When I was a senior in high school a musical fellow traveler (who played a variety of bowed string instruments) told me that he hoped after graduation to form an improvising string quartet. At the time that seemed astonishing to me. I don’t know if he ever did it but these days there are such groups. In a modified sense, today’s CD features an ensemble that does just that.

I refer to the Dom Minasi String Quartet and their provocatively interesting CD “Dissonance Makes the Heart Grow Stronger” (Konnex). This is not quite the conventional string quartet. Mr. Minasi holds forth on what sounds like amplified classical guitar, Jason Kao Hwang plays violin, Tomas Ulrich is on cello (he has an interesting group himself, Cargo Cult. See an earlier posting in this blog and watch for a review of their latest CD), and Ken Filiano is on upright bass.

Dom is part of a movement I’ve seen increasingly in terms of key recordings. His ensemble plays what is aptly dubbed Chamber Jazz or Chamber Improvisation. This in itself has been with us for a long time (for example in the small group dynamics of Jimmy Giuffre in the ‘50s and ‘60s and the Modern Jazz Quartet.) But the form the new ensembles take differs from those earlier examples.

There has been a renewed commitment out there, I believe, to realize a music that owes something to Contemporary Classical but nevertheless comes out of a Jazz orientation as its foundational moment.

Minasi’s group performs seven medium-lengthed pieces, with composed parts and group improvisations blending into a seamless sort of whole. As the title of the CD implies, there is a fair amount of dissonance in this music. Key centers are loosely present, and sometimes there are twelve-tone-like soundings that obscure any pitch center there might be.

It’s a music that demands careful, repeated listens. It is not something that gives you an easy go of things unless you surrender yourself to it. Minasi's music is quite a pioneering achievement, however. His guitar adds a flavor to the string sound colors that makes for an unusual mix. Plus the inclusion of bass along with the usual cello gives the ensemble a certain dark sound that isn’t unappealing. The music has much to recommend itself.

Kudos for Dom Minasi for putting this music together and playing some pioneering guitar improvisations as well. This may not be for the musically timid. It is well worth hearing for those willing to grow into its exploratory world.

November 3, 2009—When the label Tzadik turns out new music, the unexpected can be expected. John Zorn’s record company covers much ground, even within the various categories of musics it espouses. Koby Israelite’s fourth album for the label gives you a good example. This is from one of the more prolific and talented exponents of what Tzadik calls “Radical Jewish Music.” In part what’s radical is that, though tradition is always lurking somewhere underneath it all, the artists utilize modes of stylistic expression not usually associated with the music. The CD of the day, Israelite’s “Is He Listening,” sounds like some superior movie soundtrack to a film in your head. It is almost Jewish-David Lynchian in its setting of mood.

The record corrals a coterie of musicians in no small number, though not everybody plays all the time. There are ten musicians including Israelite, and the leader plays everything from accordion to guitar to keys to cajon. This is a brilliantly arranged music. A mideastern minor mode prevails, as you might expect. But there are elements of Metal, Funk, Eastern European-Middle Eastern dance rhythms, Fusion, a little Surf and Psych, and so forth. It’s the way these elements mix together that most intrigues. The musical motifs are substantial and interesting. They are treated with considerable skill. And there's a couple of killer guitar solos, too.

Anyone with a liking for the minor strains and very adventuresome yet rooted modern musical fare will no doubt enjoy this. There are somewhat ancient and folk-like elements incorporated into the sound at large, but it all comes (to me at least) as a genuine blast of fresh air.

In the ‘60s the music of the future was sometimes conceived as a scientistically (as in pseudo-science) more rigorous affair. Those modernists discounted the continuing influence of roots and ethnicity. None of that has ever really gone away, but the permutations of those influences continue into the present with an unprecedented set of transformations and syntheses. Here is a good example—and an excellent listening experience.

By the way, if you are in the New York City area the night of this November 14th you might wish to know that Tzadik records is having a “Mini-Festival,” as they call it. The dynamic Mr. Cyro Baptista will be there, the very interesting and accomplished guitarist Eyal Maoz and his Edom ensemble doing what they call “powerful futurist Jewish Rock instrumentals,” and the seemingly rather wacky marching band of Wollesonic Labs. Go to www.lepoissonrouge.com for ticket info.

November 2, 2009—Techno-Cumbia and Tropical House? Yes, there’s that. Not that I know anything about it, but has that stopped me before? Yes, sometimes. Not today, though, because I have an anthology of that on my desk. “Zizek—ZZK Sound, Volume 2” (Nacional) to be specific. This is something of what is coming out of Buenos Aires right now. I set aside my usual prejudices against dance music as soon as I began to listen to this one. It combines things. It combines things well. There’s Cumbia, Techno, a little Hip Hop. But it isn’t just that it’s all combined. It’s the result. Pretty cool, no kidding.

The beats avoid the humdrum, since they are grafted onto Latin-Tropical rhythms. There are 18 cuts, and at this point I suppose one could write “by some of the best on the scene,” but who knows? What’s important is that this is really refreshing music. The vocalists sound good, the synth-midi-sampled parts are unusual, and there are enough organic instruments included to spice it up. This bears your attention if you crave a change from the usual dose of what you’ve been hearing. It surely is not likely to be like this.