Th' Losin Streaks "Last House"
The album was recorded at Louder Studios in Grass Valley, California, with Tim Green (Nation of Ulysses, Fucking Champs) behind the board. Green played piano on several tracks, and Anton Barbeau – a friend of the band since the beginning – plays organ on some cuts. All of the band members – Tim Foster, Stan Tindall, Mike Farrell and Brian Machado – contributed to the songwriting, and the album also features a cover of The Weeds classic “It’s Your Time.” The album cover and other photos were shot by their pal (and Bay Area punk legend) Al Sobrante.
We asked the band what the record is about. This is what they told us:
This album is about true love and good times. And bad decisions. It’s about breaking down. It’s about coming apart. It’s about sleeping rough. It’s about Dyer Lane. It’s about shaking it til you make it. It’s about EKO, Silvertone and Supro, Vox (Super Continental) and the Hohner Marine Band. It’s about 2” tape. It’s about the plague, and politics, and war or hands of time. It’s about the ice cream man after the apocalypse. It’s a trans-world punk rave up. It’s about Link Wray, The Sonics and the Downliners Sect. It’s about The Rolling Stones covering Sam Cooke. It’s about Folk
Rock. It was about time slipping away (but it’s not now). It’s about bullshit. It’s about being too late, always too late. It’s about getting old. It’s about those who never will. It’s about the person you dream about but never get. It’s about nothing in this world. It’s about surviving T-Minus self-destruction. And about the other side.
The Cavemen "Ca$h for Scrap"
New Zealand’s THE CAVEMEN are back with a new long glob for a dirty and dilapidated world, and it’s as grimy as you’ve ever heard from the wretched brethren. “Ca$h 4 Scrap” scrapes up more than enough degenerate garage-punk trash with unavoidable forays into theme of death, demons, and even amputation, making sure to stop for a kiss on your daughter’s lips along the way. YUCK MOUTH SAY MUAH! “Booze, Ciggies ‘n Drugs” is the first single, and leaves us wondering how many types of cancer these ghouls have among them, and if all four Cavemen share a brain tumor. “Leather Boys” is solid gold junk shop stomp, and the rest… well, you know by now how THE CAVEMEN rock’n’roll – the ONLY way, because any other way ain’t!
Konkolo Orchestra "Future Pasts"
Konkolo Orchestra is a Zürich/Switzerland based project initiated by multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer Alexis Malefakis. With strong jazzy afrobeat and highlife references, Konkolo Orchestra pays homage to musical innovators such as Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Tony Oladipo Allen, Ebo Taylor and many more.
This first album continues the warm, vibrant, percussive motif of the hugely popular “Blue G.” single of 2022. For those who like their music to inspire journey and movement, this album is the equivalent of gatecrashing a wedding party where even granny can get her groove on.
Malefakis is hardly rewriting the afrobeat textbook here, but his production charms the listener with a confident mastery of the genre. His compositions have a distinct personality and a tight structure, and are peppered with a talented array of guest vocalists: Nongoma (South Africa), Sir Frank Karikari (Ghana) and Kitio Batola (Congo); alongside Eric Owusu (Ghana) on percussion. The uplifting lyrics and joyful melodies are held together by a powerhouse horn section bearing all the swinging hallmarks of a highlife fanfare.
Hard to define the standout tracks when the entire oeuvre gels together so well as a festive fusion. Deeply funky and syncopated, Malefakis has produced a motivational winter warmer for both feet and spirit.
Phillip Glass "Phillip Glass Solo"
Orange Mountain Music presents “Philip Glass Solo” a collection of Glass performing some of his most enduring and beloved piano works.
Philip Glass Solo was recorded at a time when the world was undergoing a major shift—for Glass, that shift manifested in going from a busy tour and premiere schedule to time spent at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. The storied musician dedicated this time to revisiting some of his older piano music, occasionally reacquainting himself with these old friends, playing them for an audience of one in his home studio in New York. It is his most personal record to date, offering a snapshot of his life, and a portrait of daily practice over eight decades through several cherished works.
Now 86, Glass reflects, “This record revisits my works for piano. From 2020-2021, I had time at home to practice the works I have played for many years. This record is both a time capsule of 2021, and a reflection on decades of composition and practice. In other words, a document on my current thinking about the music. There is also the question of place. This is my piano, the instrument on which most of the music was written. It’s also the same room where I have worked for decades in the middle of the energy which New York City itself has brought to me. The listener may hear the quiet hum of New York in the background or feel the influence of time and memory that this space affords. To the degree possible, I made this record to invite the listener in.”
Philip Glass Solo opens with “Opening,” originally written for the 1982 album Glassworks, which remains one of Glass’ most transfixing pieces and established a sound that quickly became a calling card. Next we hear Mad Rush, one of his most beloved pieces and longest performances on record (at 16:35), which he composed originally as an organ piece in 1978 when the Dalai Lama made his first public address in New York. This is followed by Metamorphosis I, II, III, and V, the series of music Glass arranged for his first solo piano concerts in the 1980s; the album ends with a reworked version of “Truman Sleeps” from the soundtrack of the beloved 90s film The Truman Show, where Glass appeared on screen performing the piano in one of the pivotal scenes of the film. His changes to the piece speak to the heart of all artists’ evolution of both themselves, and their music, over time.