It always feels kinda weird, pushin' stuff here that falls somewhat outside the general NBT-sphere of things, but what with the serious lack of any genuinely rockin' discs headin' my way, I've been lookin' elsewhere for kicks.
London's Soul Jazz label has been steadily building an impressive catalogue of as diverse a sounds as you'd care to mention. Their reggae releases have set new standards, but recently I've been diggin' into some of their more "out there" material as well. New Thing! explores the late 60s/early 70s post-John Coltrane side of jazz. And even tho' it can only be described as "difficult", it's one of the most fascinating discs I've heard in the past couple o' weeks. I'll save you the track-by-track lowdown here, but will single out Alice Coltrane's take on here husband's A Love Supreme that starts of with some guru-type statin' the benefits of love 'n peace, and then heads straight into near VU-like territory w/ an organ-sound that is pure Sister Ray and Cale-ish violin. Definitely worth the effort it takes to digest this!. The Sexual Life Of The Savages is a compilation of "underground post-punk from Sao Paulo, Brazil", and even tho' we are promised the South American equivalents of the Pop Group and Gang Of Four, most of this sounds more like below-par Shriekback or A Certain Ratio. That said, the two tracks by the all-girl As Mercenarias would have been stand-outs had they been released on Rough Trade in '79 amongst like-minded bands, while Chance's Samba De Morro is a wonderfully subdued tune that wouldn't be out of place on the next Angel Corpus Christi disc. But three good songs just ain't enough to recommend this set. Maybe the post-punk mood wasn't really suited for the tropical climate. Case in point: If one place was suited for it, Berlin was the capitol of post-punk, and Monitor Pop provide the evidence with the excellent Berlin Super 80 sampler. A 2 LP set that rounds up the cream of the city's underground bands from the early 80s. With all the kudos 70s kraut-rock has been given in recent years it's about time the Neue Deutsche Welle gets some, long overdue, credit as well. Returning to South America, Pressure Sounds has just put out Safe Travel, a fine set of rocksteady productions by Phil Pratt. What with rocksteady bein' the Jamaican equivalent of the Impressions/Temptations cool-school of vocals and with Lynn Taitt's trademark guitar works, this is about a good as it gets, reachin' Treasure Isle levels of perfection. So there you have it. Please leave recommendations of similar material in the comments section...
