This was Gainsbourg’s last studio album before he died. Gainsbourg always adapted to the times; here he went deeper into dance and tight ‘80s funk type grooves with his songs. On top of this, he had refined his songwriting to its most articulate – the lyrics were surreal and very tongue in cheek, more so …
Listening to trumpet player and multi-instrumentalist Jaimie Branch’s newest release, Fly or Die II: Bird Dogs of Paradise is like making an investment in the visionaries, believers and dreamers of tomorrow. It’s the discovery of music this inspiring and important which makes all this music collecting a worthwhile endeavour. Fly or Die II functions …
At the rate that they were going, The Beastie Boys were destined to flame out. With Adam ‘MCA” Yauch, Michael “Mike D” Diamond, and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz all doing their best semi-ironic frat boy impressions, their 1986 Def Jam debut, Licensed To Ill, was forceful and blustering, helmed by the meaty guitars and punchy drums …
Popular music did not have much impact on me as a child. I attribute this to the fact that 1970s pop was universally dreadful. Moreover, my limited exposure to it was either via light-entertainment programmes such as the Two Ronnies, or through children’s TV such as Crackerjack. The former would feature the likes of Dana and …
The story of Digable Planets begins during the late 1980’s in the culturally rich City of Brotherly Love. Ishmael ‘Butterfly’ Butler was based in Seattle, interning at Arthur Russell’s Sleeping Bag Records in New York, and intermittently visiting his grandmother and father in Philadelphia. Meanwhile, studying at the prestigious HBCU Howard University in Philadelphia, Craig …
On Universal Beings, Jazz drummer & producer Makaya McCraven has crafted together a series of gigs from around the globe: London, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, using a different grouping of musicians for each gig / city). The live recordings were then pulled into the studio for processing. The result is completely new and …
by Blake Thomas
Before Jane Birkin, Serge Gainsbourg’s muse was French pop princess Brigitte Bardot, and his work with her was a mutation of swirling chanson with slight psychedelic leanings. But when ol’ Serge turned his gnarled eye towards the Mod-era British model and actress, all bets were off. The two were like a perverse, twisted Sonny & Cher; but instead of warming hearts, they lit a dark fire, like some erotic demons possessed with sexual desire.
