Ribot

On Real Gone, Tom Waits walks a fraying tightrope. By utterly eliminating one of the cornerstone elements of his sound - keyboards - he has also removed his safety net. With songwriting and production partner Kathleen Brennan, he strips away almost everything conventional from these songs, taking them down to the essences of skeletal rhythms, blasted and guttural blues, razor-cut rural folk music, and the rusty-edge poetry and craft of songwriting itself. His cast includes guitarists Marc Ribot and Harry Cody, bassist/guitarist Larry Taylor, bassist Les Claypool, and percussionists Brain and Casey Waits (Tom's son), the latter of whom also doubles on turntables. This does present problems, such as on the confrontational opener, "Top of the Hill." Waits uses his growling, grunting vocal atop Ribot's monotonously funky single-line riff and Casey's turntables to become a human beatbox offering ridiculously nonsensical lyrics…

John Zorn - O'o (2009) {Tzadik}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 357 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 55 Mb
© 2009 Tzadik | TZ 7376
Jazz / Post Bop / Modern Composition

Essentially, John Zorn's O'o (named for an extinct Hawaiian bird) is a sequel to his brilliant and wonderfully breezy 2008 set, DREAMERS. The band is exactly the same: guitarist Marc Ribot, keyboardist Jamie Saft, drummer Joey Baron, bassist Trevor Dunn, percussionist Cyro Baptista, and vibraphonist Kenny Wollesen. If anything, this is an intricately sequenced, impeccably performed series of tunes that meld together in a cycle that is seamless yet wildly diverse and more detailed than DREAMERS. Careful attention reveals a wealth of musics on display.

Tom Waits - Bad As Me (2011) [2CD] {Anti, Deluxe Limited Edition}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 316 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 128 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 581 Mb | 5% recovery rar
© 2011 Anti, Inc. | 7177-2
Rock / Experimental Rock / Alternative / Songwriter

Bad As Me is Tom Waits’ first studio album of all new music in seven years. This pivotal work refines the music that has come before and signals a new direction. Waits, in possibly the finest voice of his career, worked with a veteran team of gifted musicians and longtime co-writer/producer Kathleen Brennan. From the opening horn-fueled chug of “Chicago,” to the closing barroom chorale of “New Year’s Eve,” Bad As Me displays the full career range of Waits’ songwriting, from beautiful ballads like “Last Leaf,” to the avant cinematic soundscape of “Hell Broke Luce,” a battlefront dispatch.

Tom Waits - Bad As Me (2011) [2CD] {Anti, Deluxe Limited Edition}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 316 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 128 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 581 Mb | 5% recovery rar
© 2011 Anti, Inc. | 7177-2
Rock / Experimental Rock / Alternative / Songwriter

Bad As Me is Tom Waits’ first studio album of all new music in seven years. This pivotal work refines the music that has come before and signals a new direction. Waits, in possibly the finest voice of his career, worked with a veteran team of gifted musicians and longtime co-writer/producer Kathleen Brennan. From the opening horn-fueled chug of “Chicago,” to the closing barroom chorale of “New Year’s Eve,” Bad As Me displays the full career range of Waits’ songwriting, from beautiful ballads like “Last Leaf,” to the avant cinematic soundscape of “Hell Broke Luce,” a battlefront dispatch.

Following on the success of her 2009 studio album,`Bare Bones,' comes Madeleine Peyroux's first-ever live concert DVD, with an hour-long documentary about her life and career, plus five exclusive, never-before-seen, acoustic performances. The concert,'Live in Los Angeles,' was filmed in a club setting in Los Angeles in January, 2009 and captures the distinctive jazz chanteuse and stellar band performing a mixture of Madeleine's uniquely-styled covers alongside the very personal songs she has written for her recent album. The documentary, 'Somethin' Grand - A Portrait of Madeleine Peyroux,' is an intimate film portrait about Madeleine's background and history.

Musically, the production is excellent. Béatrice Uria-Monzon is a smart…Roberto Alagna is in excellent voice, too, offering honeyed tones that never disguise his passion or his potential for violence…Erwin Schrott is an impressively self-confident Escamillo…The other roles are well handled-and Marc Piollet and the orchestra provide a high-contrast palette, with plenty of detail and vitality. Sound is first-rate, as is clarity of the picture; and the patient and luxurious camerawork avoids the hyperactivity that mars so many opera videos these days. All in all, then, a very good Carmen… (Fanfare)

Though he uses the luscious framework of traditional bossa nova–steamy rhythms, bittersweet melodies, and soft singing–Brazilian star Vinicius Cantuaria is more subversive than slavish. As on his previous stateside releases, 49-year-old Cantuaria draws upon the modern language of sampling, sound effects, and the mood of dark soundtracks to imbue his forlorn, deeply blue acoustic bossa with an otherworldly quality. A former drummer with Caetano Veloso, Cantuaria seems to enjoy slow-motion fission. His songs float and drift, suspended in space by the slightest effort of his liquid voice and gentle acoustic guitar strumming. Electric guitarists Marc Ribot and Bill Frisell add resonant shades of red and hot pink to the simmering mix, as in the beautiful, hazy version of Jobim's "Ela e Carioca." Also onboard are bassist Marc Johnson, drummers Paulo Braga and Joey Baron, pianist Brad Mehldau, and vocalist Veloso.
"Agua Rasa" is one of the album's many glimmering moments, a soft, undulating melody underlying a tale that sounds utterly familiar and intimate, even if it's in Portuguese. "Ordinaria" uses a street samba groove and the sound of clinking bottles, muted trumpet, and low bass for a kind of desolate, sun-scorched Brazilian epic poem. Cantuaria's guitar unfurls poignantly here as a trumpet cries over rolling brush strokes. It's romantic, yet somehow tragic. "Rio," with David Byrne, is street-smart and sassy, rumbling with frame drum and eerie samples. "Nova de Sete" recalls Jobim, a lovely, fragile song supported by a lonely, lost vocal and Bill Frisell's haunting guitar tones.

–Ken Micallef / Editorial Reviews - Amazon.com