iCrates celebrates its 1st birthday with a special edition showcasing our writers’ favourite records and our readers’ favourite articles
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…
Mastodon – The Hunter
Readily available on vinyl (through two different labels, with WEA/Reprise offering up a single disc version with the special edition black cover and Roadrunner offering up a single disc with the normal red…
Festive Floorshakers: On the Search for the Finest Christmas Cuts
As far as music is concerned, Christmas knows no boundaries. Look hard enough, and it quickly becomes clear that almost every successful artist has released a christmas album. From Phil Spector to Yellowman,…
Distortion Records, Amsterdam
Amo Spay, the owner of Distortion Records in Amsterdam is certainly in the right business. A record collector turned retailer, Amo can now not bolster his own collection by importing records for “the…
The Kinks – Arthur (Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire)
Ray Davies and The Kinks’s 1969 concept album Arthur (Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire) illuminates chronologically one man’s disillusionment with the fading ideals of the British Empire. From rousing…
Let There Be Death [Vol. II Pt. II]
Welcome to part four of this six part series entitled Let There Be Death – a sideways glance at the making and breaking of the musical legacy. In part four, we continue our…
Deaf Center – Pale Ravine
While there really isn’t a perfect album since it just depends on the mood your in, it’s very difficult to find a time or place I don’t love listening to Deaf Center’s 2005…
Introducing… Lord Mouse: The Ambassador Of Calypso
To get the rarest calypso records in the world, you don’t only have to dig some forgotten crates in some backyard in Trinidad, you’ve even got to go diving in the sea! And…
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
These are the sounds to listen to whilst wading through high grass on an unexpectedly sunny day. These are the warm lagoons we long for after a harsh winter. The auditory beauty of…
Sviatoslav Richter – Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.1
It’s true what they say about composers with big hands; they have big concertos. Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninov’s four piano concertos are about as big as they come – epic themes, sweeping Russian…
Let There Be Death [Vol.II Part I]
Although their egos would surely disagree, a musicians greatest gift is mortality. In the second part of our death-triology we deal with the musicians who choose or were chosen to leave when it was just about time. The triumphant, History´s heros – we salute you. Please R.I.P.
Mary Lou Williams – Black Christ Of The Andes
One of the most overlooked pianists and composers of the modern jazz era, Mary Lou Williams recorded Black Christ of the Andes an astonishing forty years after taking her first tentative steps on…
