Squirrel Flower "I Was Born Swimming (Polyvinyl)"
Destroyer "Have We Met? (Merge)"
Remember back 20 years ago when Y2K was gonna destroy all technology? (Looking back over the last few years, would that have been the worst thing?). Well, while the rest of us were hanging out by ATMs at the time in hopes that money would just come flying out of them when the clocks turned over, Dan Bejar was writing what has eventually become Have We Met? (Merge). Originally started then, and aping the then-appropriate sounds of Air, Björk, and Massive Attack, the idea was eventually scrapped. Well, here it is 20 years later and the album has finally been finished. The whole thing is mysterious (as all the best Destroyer albums are) with the sound landing somewhere between his normal output, and the sounds described mere moments ago by yours truly mixed with something of a lounge-y approach. Check out the ethereal “Crimson Tide.”
Eduardo Fernández "Guitar (Delmark)"
From Delmark:
For his debut on Delmark Classics guitar virtuoso Eduardo Fernández put together a program covering two centuries of music and two continents. From Paganini to Brouwer, this album offers a variety of schools, tendencies and techniques that very few performers can match. In addition to brilliant pieces by Denisov and Chávez, this CD features a rarely heard works by Mertz and Rebay. An internationally recognized guitarist and scholar, Eduardo Fernández was born in Uruguay in 1952. He studied guitar with Abel Carlevaro. In 1975 he was awarded at the Radio France (Paris) competition and won the Andres Segovia Competition in Spain. His New York debut in 1977 received critical accolades. Since then, Fernández has been performing and teaching all over the world as well as releasing numerous acclaimed albums
Check out the absolutely stunning performance of Niccolò Paganini’s “Sonata No. 24 in G Major: I. Minuetto.”
Jimmy Johnson "Every Day of Your Life (Delmark)"
From Delmark:
Four decades ago, Jimmy Johnson permanently established himself as a front-rank Chicago bluesman with his unusually imaginative Delmark debut album Johnson’s Whacks (DE 644). Now he’s come full circle: Jimmy’s back on Delmark with this exciting release, which shows that he remains a vital blues force into his 90s. Johnson’s fluid, slicing guitar licks dart and spark with unpredictable elasticity throughout this set. His voice soars to the heavens time and again, never misplacing its melismatic passion no matter the tempo.
From the funky opening original “Every Day Of Your Life,” constructed around a wise lyrical message, to a churning “Down In The Valley” and exquisitely tailored revivals of the lights-out slow blues “Strange Things Happening” and a hard- driving “I Need You So Bad,” Jimmy is never less than masterful. Few contemporary bluesmen are so devastating when working in a minor key— witness Johnson’s personalized treatment of Fenton Robinson’s classic “Somebody Loan Me A Dime.” “My Ring,” another standout original, takes a swaying and unexpected reggae turn (pushing the stylistic envelope has long been one of Jimmy’s trademarks), and Johnson sits down behind the 88s for a solo reprise of Bobby “Blue” Bland’s uplifting “Lead Me On” to close the album in deeply moving style.
Funny thing is, Jimmy only became a full-time blues guitarist in the mid -1970s. Prior to that, he mostly traversed the R&B side of the tracks. Born in Holly Springs, Mississippi, Johnson grew up along with another future blues luminary, Matt Murphy. “I picked up a guitar because Murphy had a guitar,” he says. Sacred and secular sounds competed for his attention. “My first time of singing in front of an audience, I was singing gospel,” notes Jimmy. “My uncle had a Victrola, the ones you wind up, and I got to hear John Lee Hooker, Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, Sonny Boy Williamson.”
Check out the laid-back funk “Down In The Valley.”