Out Of The Desert

In 2009, together with Moroccan oud and guembri virtuoso Majid Bekkas and Spanish percussionist Ramon Lopez, Joachim Kühn recorded "Out of the Desert", the follow-up to their celebrated debut "Kalimba" which was described as "pure magic" (Jazzthetik). "Out of the Desert", praised for its "previously unheard sound" (Kulturspiegel) went on to win the German Record Critics Award. It was this "desert jazz", which culminated in 2011 with the powerfully organic and incredibly intense "Chalaba", that Stötzler suggested that Kühn transpose this to a greater dimension, that the trio’s African inspired improvisations should fuse with the diverse sound repertoire of the big band. Kühn was immediately taken with the idea of playing with the Frankfurter big band because, as he says, "they put their whole heart and soul in it"…

Boundary busting and inventive though it was, Kalimba (ACT, 2007)—the first album by German pianist Joachim Kuhn, Moroccan vocalist and guembri player Majid Bekkas, and Spanish drummer Ramon Lopez—ultimately felt like Kuhn's album more than a fully integrated, cross-cultural group exercise. Two years on, the trio's second outing, Out Of The Desert, offers a deeper mix—and an altogether more absorbing one.

Norwegian rock n' roll warriors Wig Wam return with a new album, "Out Of The Dark". Coming on the heels of renewed, enthusiastic interest in the band thanks to their classic track 'Do Ya Wanna Taste It' being used as the theme song for HBO's popular Peacemaker television series, "Out Of The Dark" sees an already extremely talented band feeling truly reinvigorated and inspired. Wig Wam, vocalist Glam (Åge Sten Nilsen), guitarist Teeny (Trond Holter), bassist Flash (Bernt Jansen), and drummer Sporty (Øystein Andersen), formed in Halden, Norway in 2001 and have been mixing '80s inspired glam metal with classic hard rock, with entertaining lyrics and over-the-top imagery thrown in, to create a good old fashioned rock n' roll vibe for over two decades.

This album perfectly showcases the Queens monolithic rock in a "warts and all" style befitting of the band and representing their ferocious liveshow fully and accurately. Even if you've never set eyes on him before, you can tell just by listening to this album that QOTSA's giant frontman Josh Homme is an imposing onstage presence as he rips through classics old and new - pausing just long enough to straighten his immaculate ginger quiff (or in one rather humourous case, to publicly humiliate an audience member for "throwing stuff" at him) before ripping into the next slab of rhythm and riffage.