Captain Beefheart and “Bat Chain Puller”
Captain Beefheart aka Don van Vliet remains one of the most creative and enigmatic figures in the history of pop music. Shrouded in an aura of myth and madness, the Captain had a…
Kyoka: iSH released as Ununpentium on Raster-Noton’s unun-series
It’s been 5 years since Thom Yorke’s The Eraser laid down new a new path to self-created, self-cut, DIY electronic music that artists could make anywhere there was a plug point and wifi…
Leon Thomas – Spirits Known And Unknown
Leon Thomas’ first solo album Spirits Known and Unknown is just that; a meeting of traditional and avant-garde jazz spirits. As a young vocalist, Thomas had succeeded in putting together a fairly respectable…
Top 5 Punk Resistance Records
From the classic to the underground, iCrates bring you the definitive top 5 punk resistance albums and the causes they fought for… 1. Dead Kennedys – Frankenchrist (1985) Resistance factor? As high as…
Jende Ri Palenge (People of Palenque): Afro-Columbia [Soul Jazz Records]
The Jende Ri Palenge (People of Palenque) compilation on Soul Jazz provides an exhaustive collection of homegrown Afro-Columbian roots sounds and a comprehensive insight into a vibrant musical and cultural legacy fusing Latin and…
Plants and Animals – The End Of That
Montreal-based Plants and Animals return with their 3rd full-length LP The End of That, a scarcely-definable back-to-basics romp that finally places the band in a category alongside neighbours Arcade Fire and the nation’s…
Review: Shangaan Shake (Various Artists) – Honest Jon’s
Shangaan Shake is the follow up to Honest Jon’s 2010 release “Shangaan Electro”. This new compilation from the London-based label and record shop twists and shakes the original South African dance music with…
Neil Young’s “Living With War” – A Retrospective Look
On “Let’s Impeach The President” Neil young can be heard singing the words “flip-flop” with regards to presidential policy. It’s an inspired lyric and the point was gleefully rammed home on the subsequent…
Brand Nubian: One For All and All For One
Social consciousness, the black diaspora and controvertial, charged lyricism blended with pure funk breaks and a creative sampling aesthetic. These were the characteristics of the New York Five Percenters, Brand Nubian and their…
Spirituals on Vinyl
The darkest chapters of a people’s history sometimes evince the size of their spirit. More so when the chapters are recorded not in prose but in verse and song. The spirituals accrued by…
Hugh Masekela – Masekela
South African musician Hugh Masekela has been releasing albums of conscientious music since 1962. Of the many socio-political albums he’s released it is his 1968 album simply entitled Masekela that is the most powerful….
Voguing and The House Ballroom Scene of New York 1976-96 (Soul Jazz Records)
A highly stylized dance initially developed in New York’s ballrooms during the 1960s, Voguing enjoyed a renaissance with the city’s gay black and Hispanic crowd at the beginning of the 1990s. Until now,…
