Sun Ra Arkestra’s endless boogie continues with new album Swirling
Everything about the legendary jazz group Sun Ra Arkestra exudes longevity, including its 96 year-old band leader Marshall Allen.
Album reviews for week of October 17, 2020:
JAZZ
Swirling
Sun Ra Arkestra
Strut Records/Planet
Jazz pianist Herman “Sonny” Blount, born in Alabama in 1914, adopted the name of the Egyptian sun god Sun Ra in the late 1940s. A visionary philosopher, poet and guru, he claimed the planet Saturn as his birthplace and considered his music painted pictures of infinity. That Sun Ra’s large ensemble Arkestra still exists, nearly 30 years after his death in 1993, is remarkable. Like the legacy bands of Charles Mingus and Count Basie, the Arkestra strives to keep Sun Ra’s extraordinary music alive. Everything about the Arkestra exudes longevity. Sun Ra appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone in 1969, while its current leader for 27 years, saxophonist Marshall Allen, joined the band in 1958 and is still going strong, aged 96. For much of its existence, the Arkestra was considered ahead of its time.
With its first studio album in 20 years, recorded in 2018, it now looks back to its great days. Nine of the 11 compositions are by Sun Ra, so these are new versions of old music. The album’s single Seductive Fantasy, written by Sun Ra in 1979, features a three-note riff that extends for 12 minutes, overladen with a variety of textures, including horn section phrases, electronic sounds, an excellent solo from pianist Farid Barron, collective improvisation, plus spoken word and vocals from Tara Middleton. The title track Swirling, Allen’s composition, features an Ellingtonian melody over a mainstream swing-feel reminiscent of the 1950s, plus solos and Middleton’s vocal once again. Otherwise this album borrows from the whole spectrum of black music: the blues, swing, ballads, bop, gospel, soul, R&B, free jazz, even rap. It’s all there. The uniqueness of the Arkestra lies in its being less an orthodox jazz orchestra and more an African-American family, attracting young musicians to a cult-like ideology. They believe that black musicians should suppress their egos and contribute energy to the collective; that music is not a commodity and need not be popular; and that their mission is to rebel against slick versions of African-American jazz emanating from white musicians.
Eric Myers
PUNK POP
So When You Gonna...
Dream Wife
Inertia Records
If little girls are made of sugar and spice, somebody threw a spanner in the design of Dream Wife. Opener Sports! kicks off with everyone’s favourite four-letter word and continues to rocket unapologetically through a punk-pop, snarling, saccharine ode to rebellious femme attitude. This trio formed as an art school performance project in 2014, but the once-fake band became the real deal post-graduation. Unlike its home-recorded debut EP, When You Gonna is a refined indie pop gem. Dream Wife is unashamedly 90s flavoured: its sound and aesthetic is an amalgam of the Spice Girls and Bikini Kill, resulting in pop princesses with a take-no-prisoners feminist fury. Album No 2 rarely veers far from a caramel-sweet, sailor-mouth modus operandi. It’s very glossy and accessible, but a bit of blood on the stage and some guttural wails would crack the veneer that shields their garage-band hearts.
Cat Woods
INDIE POP
14 Steps To A Better You
Lime Cordiale
Chugg Music
Sydney brothers Oli and Louis Leimbach — aka Lime Cordiale — have reimagined a self-help book for their second album, compiling a 14-track sonic guide to love, loss and embracing the unknown. Although this release is more refined and better produced than their 2017 debut Permanent Vacation, it doesn’t quite move their sound forward in many exciting ways. This is a testament to their winning formula: they know what works and that audiences will appreciate consistency. Robbery captures the essence of summer, Dear London is a rainy break-up lament and Elephant in the Room is peppered with jazzy piano. Their rhythms are funky and sprightly, and match the sentimentality of their witty and cheeky lyrics. 14 Steps to a Better You features an eclectic yet cohesive mix of instruments: guitars, brass, a variety of pianos from grand to Casio keys and even a kazoo.
Emily Ritchie
ROCK
Hate For Sale
Pretenders
BMG
After maintaining the same live line-up for 15 years, this British-American band has at last transplanted its cohesion and energy to the studio with its 11th album. Hate for Sale revisits the vitality of the Pretenders’ 1980 debut, with its similar mix of tough R&B, punk, rock ’n’ roll, soul and reggae. The instrumentation (two guitars, bass and drums) is the same, with Chrissie Hynde and drummer Martin Chambers the surviving original members. The title track is Hynde’s tribute to the Damned, The Buzz a rewrite of Kid (from the first album) that equates the euphoria of love and drugs, while Lightning Man is a homage to the Specials. Bo Diddley gets the nod on Didn’t Want to Be This Lonely, but the standouts are the sublimely soulful You Can’t Hurt a Fool and the nakedly candid closer, Crying in Public, with guitarist James Walbourne on piano complementing strings by the Duke Quartet.
Phil Stafford
ROOTS/BLUES/SOUL
Gather Up The People
Hussy Hicks
Funk Fauna/Independent
With themes of unity, support and strength in numbers sprinkled throughout this album, Gold Coast band Hussy Hicks has used its 14 years of touring experience to bring the world to us. Soulful tune The Edge was recorded across four countries, with Alabama’s Kristy Lee adding vocals alongside Hussy’s Leesa Gentz. Hussy Hicks blends its bluesy folk riffs with rock and soul across the album, with heartfelt songs such as Hid Myself sitting alongside triumphant tunes such as Mountain Peak. Recorded as fires crested on the horizon of a recording studio in the Northern Rivers of NSW, Hummingbird’s Wings has an eerie foreboding energy that captures a particular moment, while Wilsons River Blues was captured as the same location was inundated with floodwaters. Despite the tough times in its creation, this work encourages us to stand together and stay hopeful.
Sarah Howells
Andrew McMillen’s Middle Eight column for October 17, 2020:
Leading the pack at the ARIA Awards nominations announced on Tuesday was Sydney indie pop duo Lime Cordiale, which is up for eight categories including album of the year, best group and song of the year. Founded by brothers Oli and Louis Leimbach in 2009, Lime Cordiale didn’t truly break through until this year. In July, second album 14 Steps to a Better You debuted at No 1 on the ARIA chart, while the band also clocked up 27 sold-out, COVID-safe seated concerts. I caught one of the Brisbane shows and can confirm Lime Cordiale is an accomplished and compelling band, with striking songs, plenty of instrument swapping and an easy charm shared by the co-frontmen.
On Tuesday I spoke with Louis Leimbach for his reactions to the head-spinning news that they’d received eight nominations — one more than Tame Impala, the pop act masterminded by singer, songwriter and producer Kevin Parker. Buzzing from the effects of four coffees, he was happy to reflect on the long path to a national audience.
“In 2019 we played 105 shows, but I think we were averaging about 60 or 70 shows a year for eight years,” he said. “It’s been a lovely journey. We’ve been doing our thing for so long; almost 11 years now. It’s been a real slow incline of success, which has probably been good in terms of humbleness and our skill set.”
Given the decade between starting Lime Cordiale and this extraordinary week, the brothers have put a lot of work into their art while working monotonous jobs and watching as some of their peers took off before they did. “There’s a lot of amazing artists that come out of the northern beaches,” Louis said. “When you’re friends with artists like Ocean Alley and Winston Surfshirt, and they sort of explode and gain success and momentum that they obviously deserve, it definitely can be pretty hard to watch them move past you, or get their break, and you’ve been doing it for as long as, or longer, than them. But you have to suck it up and, as cheesy as it sounds, I guess we’ve got each other.”
Through it all — from living in the same sharehouse in northern Sydney to sharing a bed on low-budget tours while keeping their bandmates and crew happy — the brothers have proven to be remarkably adept at staying motivated, even when there wasn’t a lot happening for the band they’d created. “There’s definitely been points when he’s been down, and vice versa,” Louis said of Oli. “But we get along super well, and we’ve done everything together.” And on November 25, if they’re lucky, the Leimbachs may be doing something new together: toasting to their hard-earned success, one or more ARIA awards in hand.
mcmillena@theaustralian.com.au
Album reviews for week of October 10, 2020:
METAL/HARD ROCK
Ohms
Deftones
Warner
Like the calm surface of a river before a crocodile flings its massive weight upon unsuspecting prey, the first 10 seconds of Genesis might lull you into suspecting the Californian five-piece has mellowed with age — but then Chino Moreno releases a window-smashing howl that Ozzy Osbourne would envy. Ohms is album No 9 from the Sacramento alternative metal pioneers, and it arrives 20 years after breakthrough third album White Pony, which combined distorted guitars with grungy vocals, the serpent hiss of synthesisers and industrial soundscapes. This newest work reignites memories of Deftones at their peak in terms of tightness of melodies, finding romance in despair, and allusions to the sublime, the supernatural and the suburban. Although it doesn’t break new ground per se, Ohms is still an evolution and a masterful offering.
The opening track embodies the mood, thematically and energetically. Guitar solos that mimic cheese graters running down a spinal cord; solid and spare percussion; bass that snarls and savages like a wounded wolf: all these traits combine to rip listeners from their everyday thoughts and fling them, unforgivingly, into Deftones’ world. “It’s all an illusion,” croons Moreno on Ceremony, but there’s nothing illusory about the rifle-sharp guitars triggering through Urantia. Chugging bass transforms into melodic riffs on Headless and the closing title track. Vulnerable in parts and grinding, growling and (mostly) furious, Moreno switches from balladeer to bone-breaker in a split second. His distinctive punk-metal screams blast straight out of The Spell of Mathematics, while his caustic words rattle the cage of a brutal life in This Link is Dead.
Fellow Californian band Tool set the standard for post-metal, industrial-style guitars and percussion skewed through the warp and weft of synths and combined with unusual instruments such as tabla. Steadfastly intellectual in its approach without losing melodic integrity, Tool was a clear influence on Deftones; now Ohms emerges 20 years after the quintet truly established itself as fellow border-crossers of hard rock and alternative metal.
Cat Woods
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SOLO GUITAR
Riff Raff
Jordan Brodie
Planet
Like a lot of acoustic fingerstyle guitarists, Jordan Brodie genuflects to Tommy Emmanuel. But while there’s more than a hint of the flair of Australia’s internationally renowned string-bender in the whiz-bang tunes that top ‘n’ tail Brodie’s second album, overall there’s also evidence to indicate that the young man is developing his own inimitable style based on thoughtful composing, phrasing and arranging as much as pyrotechnics. Blessed with excellent harmonic and spatial awareness, flawless technique and an appreciation of dynamics, his playing is clean and agile, and when he cuts loose and plays more on the edge — as in the Lennon-McCartney pastiche Beatle Bug, the intricate Twitch and the rollicking Boogie Woogie Wonderland — his work is admirably imaginative. In time, Brodie’s innate talent should lead him to deeper places beyond the pastel shades of soft jazz and neo-folk.
Tony Hillier
–
ROCK/AMERICANA
XOXO
The Jayhawks
Sham/Thirty Tigers
The Jayhawks embrace democracy on this 11th studio album, with each of the four core members getting a turn at singing and songwriting. The resulting jukebox vibe acknowledges the Minnesota ensemble’s alt-country roots while opening the door to other bountiful modes. And so bristling indie rock (Society Pages) and Big Star-style power-pop (Dogtown Days) naturally coexist with choral harmonies (Illuminate) and roadhouse blues (Little Victories). The constant throughout are bright, ringing choruses, and This Forgotten Town offers the clearest cross-section of the band’s stacked roster, co-written by guitarist Gary Louris and bassist Marc Perlman while Louris and drummer Tim O’Reagan trade vocal duties. Keyboardist Karen Grotberg sings scene-stealing lead on Ruby and Across My Field, cementing the feeling of a veteran band fully aware of its deep bench of talent.
Doug Wallen
–
ELECTRONIC
Maybe We Could
Kllo
Good Manners Records
The title of Kllo’s second album speaks to the uncertainty surrounding the Melbourne duo after the success of 2017’s Backwater. After relentless global touring, Chloe Kaul and Simon Lam both pursued solo projects while pondering a formal break-up. The hiatus has reignited the cousins’ creative spark, however, because Maybe We Could is outstanding, slightly less dancefloor-aimed than its predecessor, but with plenty of percussive kick and rolling, restless and emotive energy. Lam’s production style is assured and multi-layered, melding warm chords and melodies, shuffling beats and booming bass, tipping his hat to R&B, house and pop. It’s a mature, rich soundscape and the perfect canvas for Kaul’s voice, which is affecting as ever: vulnerable on the moody opener Cursed, and at once “hopeless” yet “not going anywhere” on first single Still Here. From start to finish, this is excellent; no maybes.
Tim McNamara
–
HIP-HOP
South West
L-FRESH the Lion
Elefant Traks
Lessons for your 13-year-old self aren’t typical grist for the rap-music mill. But Sukhdeep Singh — better known by his stage name, L-FRESH the Lion — isn’t your typical rapper. South West recalls Singh’s experiences growing up a second-generation Australian Sikh in southwest Sydney, and plays as a guidebook to his young self, sharing knowledge he wish he’d had when growing up. Such a focused idea has produced a leap forward for Singh’s artistry on album No 3. The songs are full of clever wordplay and cut and thrust beats. There’s the rolling-thunder production and split-lip vocals of Alchemy, the coiled power of Strength, and the shimmering, single-worthy Oh My. But it’s the album’s contemplative back-end that sticks with you – particularly Mother Tongue’s sadness for Singh’s loss of his parents’ Punjabi language. 2020 will produce better rap records than South West, but perhaps none so heartfelt.
Matt Shea
Album reviews for week of October 3, 2020:
Country/pop
The Speed Of Now Part 1
Keith Urban
EMI
You’d be forgiven for thinking that you’d hit play on the wrong album when you begin to listen to The Speed of Now Part 1. Initially there is little of the country twang we have come to know and love from Queenslander Keith Urban, but don’t worry — it’s coming. On his 10th studio album Urban takes us to many corners of the genre world, including pop, electronic, country and folk. His three most recent albums — Fuse, Ripcord and Graffiti U — have seen him branch out from the country music on which he has built his empire. Slogging it out since the 1990s in Australia and Nashville, Keith Urban is one of the biggest music stars Australia has produced. The guests here reflect this, with legendary musician Nile Rodgers and country-trap artist Breland kicking off your listening experience with the big, bold electro-pop sounds of Out the Cage. Not slowing down, One Too Many is a return to the country songwriting we are more accustomed to, bringing in Pink for a heartfelt duet. These songs are stadium-ready, which is somewhat ironic given the album was written largely in lockdown.
You can find love songs for wife Nicole Kidman throughout the album, with the uplifting Soul Food reflecting on how her love quenches his appetite and Ain’t It Like a Woman expressing his gratitude for her support. He even goes right back to the beginning, with Polaroid telling the story of meeting someone at a party: “We’ve come a long way since we were strangers in a basement at a party we hated.” It’s a suspiciously familiar story to Urban’s meeting with Kidman in 2005 at G’Day LA, a Hollywood event promoting Australia. The sequencing of the album is unexpected on first listen, but if you leave your preconceptions at the door you’ll find it is filled with some absolute gems. Nostalgic ballad We Were taps into Urban’s country roots and appears twice: once as a duet with contemporary country singer Eric Church, and once as it was originally recorded with Urban solo. Breaking down barriers and expectations, this work bounces from big electronic-pop numbers to heartfelt country ballads, offering songs and stories for everyone. It’s Urban’s most musically adventurous album yet, and it encapsulates the themes of love and living through a pandemic that we can all relate to.
Sarah Howells
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Indie folk
Golden State
Radnor and Lee
Flower Moon Records
US actor Josh Radnor — best known for his lead role in the television series How I Met Your Mother — and Australian artist Ben Lee spent most of their debut album cycle in 2017 answering one main question: “Is this a joke?” With their follow-up Golden State, the unlikely duo are out to prove that theirs is not a novelty. Rather, they look to pose as an earnest force of positivity in an era of dark times. Lee has form here — indeed, his 2005 single We’re All in This Together has made an unexpected comeback in the COVID era. The problem lies with Radnor, who cannot sing to save his life. Try as Lee might to sugar-coat with endearing harmonies and bright acoustic guitar, Radnor’s wavering vocals are the album’s key weak spot. Golden State isn’t an album that can rely on its songwriting strengths, either. It’s certainly a pretty record, replete with warm production and major-key pleasantries. However, its hollow interior ultimately provides a fruitless, vapid listening experience.
David James Young
–
Rock/post-metal
Forever Blue
AA Williams
Bella Union
AA Williams has made a beautifully bleak debut that showcases her skills as a classically trained pianist and cellist, a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and vocalist. Forever Blue combines classic instrumental work with a gothic flavour, inviting guest vocals from Swedish metal band Cult of Luna vocalists Johannes Persson on Fearless, and Fredrik Kihlberg on Glimmer. Williams cites Deftones as an early influence and the blend of orchestration with post-metal, drone rock makes perfect sense thanks to her skilful combination of explosive ferocity and slow-burning balladry. The album was largely recorded in the two-bedroom flat she shares with her husband, bassist Thomas Williams, and the vocals and lyrics yearn with the rawness of solitude. Not surprisingly, Williams has toured with British gothic rock stalwarts Sisters of Mercy and Texan post-rock band Explosions in the Sky. Duet Dirt with Tom Fleming of Wild Beasts is brooding, hypnotic and haunting, much like this striking debut in sum.
Cat Woods
–
Chamber pop
Unfollow The Rules
Rufus Wainwright
BMG
It has been eight years since Rufus Wainwright released a pop album, having been focusing on opera. But clearly he has missed being a singer-songwriter exploring his life at the piano and, despite looking very Grizzly Adams on the cover, this isn’t an alt-country opus: indeed, at first listen it could have come out 18 months after 2012’s Out of the Game. There’s also a 1970s flavour: first single Trouble in Paradise sounds like a fever-dream collaboration between George Harrison, the Eagles and Randy Newman while the phrasing of Damsel in Distress is pure Joni Mitchell. The lush, epic title track is the album’s slow-building centrepiece, contrasting with the stripped-down two-minute sketch My Little You, Wainwright’s tribute to his nine-year-old daughter. Admittedly, 12 reasonably similar-sounding mid-paced songs get a little soporific towards the end, although the martial drums and electronic pulse of the anti-Trump anthem Hatred ought to wake listeners the hell up.
Andrew P. Street