![Let There Be Death [Vol. III]](http://www.icrates.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/michael_jackson_s1.jpg "Let There Be Death [Vol. III]")
Let There Be Death [Vol. III]
And so to the final category of the Let There Be Death series – a sideways glance at the making and breaking of the musical legacy. We’ve loitered in the graveyard long enough to know that not even death can rescue a career from catastrophic implosion. This installment thus features all those who reached the...
Back Beat Records, Amsterdam
Introducing Dick, Ed and Jeanet of Back Beat Records in Amsterdam… a cosy shop with heaps of character and a superb collection of jazz, funk and soul. Their answers may be somewhat enigmatic, but who cares… they own a shop that was opened by soul legend Arthur Conley. Nuff said, as they say… Please introduce...
Chico Hamilton – The Dealer
Tim from Rubber City Review takes a closer look at the iconic album The Dealer by legendary drummer and bandleader Chico Hamilton and featuring a young Larry Coryell in his first recording. The Dealer reaches out from jazz to soul jazz to psychedelic/free jazz and back to blues -- a milestone album for both artists....
Crystal Stilts: Don’t Forget to Dream
The days after Christmas can be a funny time. Having hung your brandy-soaked body out to dry, it is not uncommon to be hit with a little dose of winter depression. Sometimes we just need to be reminded of these darker times in order to overcome them. New York’s Crystal Stilts have unleashed a clutch...
Kitty Wells and the art of the noble retort
That Kitty Wells was a great cook, with a stable family life and a good husband doesn't make her any less of a revolutionary. In fact without these attributes it is unlikely that she would have been able to kick down the many barriers that she did. That she firmly suggested that the gates of...
5 Years on and Christmas has never been the same: R.I.P. James Brown, the Godfather of Soul
It was the morning of the 25.12.2006 – Christmas Day and the news spread like wildfire. I was listening to London’s Heart FM with some friends and having a merry little get-together enjoying the smooth soul and funk as usual until the DJ announced that James Joseph Brown Jr. born near Barnwell, South Carolina, USA...
Pearl Jam – ‘Vitalogy’ Remastered Audiophile Vinyl Edition
Ten, as we know now, was something of an aberration. For sure Pearl Jam had the innate talent to repeat it, but the desire to spread and experiment was always foremost in their minds and history has shown that the success of Ten led the band to recoil, regroup and flex their creative muscles. Vs...
Arthur Russell – The World Of Arthur Russell
This essential collection of Russell’s most potent productions is as comprehensive an introduction to his work as you’re likely to find. Intelligent and immaculately produced, this is demanding dance music which, like Russell himself, blurred the boundaries between the avant-garde and the Downtown New York club scene of the eighties. On the one hand, Russell...
Grover Washington, Jr. – Live At The Bijou
I still remember when I heard this totally great Grover Washington, Jr. record for the first time. And even with many years behind me, these fantastic early Kudu sessions still strike me like a natural force! Live At The Bijou was recorded in May 1977 at the Bijou Cafe in Philadelphia with such giants like...
The Official Digger: Diamond D from Diggin In The Crates Crew
Certified digger checked: Diamond D from Diggin In The Crates Crew (D.I.T.C.) is one of the HipHop legends that earned a master in sampling via contributions to the classic Fugees album „The Score“ and House of Pains „Same As It Ever Was“. Being famous for his skills in production and MCing, Diamond D is also...
Mina May – Everything Was Beautiful And Nothing Hurt
If the Beach Boys come back to musical earth as a robot super roadster, the name for that car tearing up the coast will likely be called a Mina May. Sure, there are 60′s surf rock elements to this record, that is, until the guitars come up against a wall of electric organs and complex...
Duke Ellington – Ellington at Newport 1956 (Complete)
There is one performance from the Newport Jazz Festival in 1956 that overshadows the rest, making the cream of the bop crop sound, literally, overblown. New England’s annual sit down affair has produced many recordings that have secured their shelf space, but the reissue of Duke’s is a compulsory purchase. Towards midnight on the last...
