Day 0944 - Phrenology

The Roots “Phrenology” (2002) – got it

Considering the Roots now have a prolific discography and are prominent as the house band for 'the Late Show with Jimmy Fallon', they had relatively humble beginnings.  Drummer ?uestlove and rapper Black Thought would busk on the street with ?uest playing on buckets.   The group kept a reasonably organic sound as they developed into their first recordings, playing with live musicians and mixing jazz sounds into their backing tracks.

Over their first few albums their line-up changed a bit.  They experimented with some different genres, and formed the Soulquarians collective which (as previously mentioned) also worked on albums by Erykah Badu and Common.

Their fifth album 'Phrenology' is bursting with music, from the brief explosion of hardcore in "!!!!!!!", the funky soul of "The Seed (2.0)", the jazz-backed rap of "Something in the Way of Things".    There's the Epic track “Water” which swings from hiphop to a run through what almost sounds like an Ennio Morricone score and an almost avant outro.

The closing song hidden in the tracklisting as an untitled track and mixes hip-hop in with electronica.   Basically these guys can touch upon any area of music they like and it seems to work.

Really need to check out some more of their stuff, I kind of lost track of them after the following album "The Tipping Point".

Day 0918 - Punishing Kiss

Ute Lemper "Punishing Kiss" (2000)

I'd not heard of Lemper, but it seems she is an acclaimed actress as well as being a singer.   She had built much of her music career dipping into the past, particularly interpreting the songs of Kurt Weil.  For this album she went with modern composers, though many of them had been inspired by Weil too, so still within Lemper's comfort zone.

Thankfully it's VERY much in my wheelhouse too, with her modern composers being such luminaries as Scott Walker, Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Elvis Costello and Neil Hanlon.   Hanlon's band the Divine Comedy provide backing for much of the album and he duets with Lemper on a couple of tracks.

The album is bombastic, theatrical and bursting with good music.    Though the individual composers' voices can certainly be heard (Lemper even seems to mimic Costello's snarling crooning style on some of his songs) there's a cohesiveness across the album, and Lemper owns each song with a voice that ranges from gentle theatrical murmur through to passionate howl, on the almost Bjork-esque opener "Little Water Song".

The Costello-penned title track is a fun highlight for me, but the whole album is really good.  The finale is a brooding 10-minute late-era style Scott Walker dirge, which is quite frankly as good a way as any to close an album.

Day 0755 - Strange Cargo III

William Orbit "Strange Cargo III" (1993)

 

William Orbit is now a well known name in music, with production and remix gigs ranging from U2 and Madonna, through Blur, Finley Quaye, P!nk and Chris Brown.   But back in the day he was just starting out as an artist in his own right.

Orbit had been in a group called Torch Song, making music from their home-made studio... learning on the job essentially.  The group disbanded and Orbit started on his solo career.

The book opines that this album sounds like it could have been recorded yesterday rather than decades ago... I'd have to agree.  The trance-like soundscapes and well-aged synth sounds are as fresh as anything out today.

Day 0606 - Calenture

The Triffids "Calenture" (1987)

I had heard the Triffids' name but had no real idea of what they'd sound like.  This album is almost indie-meets-gospel.  It has a really raw, soulful feel that is admittedly curtailed somewhat by the amount of studio sheen heaped on it.

The musical style, combined with David McComb's deep and declamatory vocal delivery make the music sound like a more upbeat take on early-mid era Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.  Not surprising then that bass-player Martyn Casey would later go on to play in the Bad Seeds.

Definitely enjoyed this and will keep it in mind for further investigation at a later date.