Sin Killer Barbies

After a short hiatus, The Gaslamp Killer has returned with turbulent, moody, and gorgeous symphonies on his third full-length album, Heart Math. An intense and emotional masterpiece, it reaffirms why he remains one of the best DJs and instrumental hip-hop producers of his generation. This is a work conceived and creative with every last ounce of love and pain, all of it made in turmoil and psychic unrest, with music providing the only form of solace or opportunity to find even a fleeting moment of happiness. It is as pure as catharsis gets. Heart music to survive a season in hell.

It’s difficult to talk about Exotic Sin, the duo of Naima Karlsson and Kenichi Iwasa, without discussing Karlsson’s prestigious musical bloodline. Her father, Bruce Smith, drummed for The Pop Group, the Slits, and Public Image Ltd; her mother is Swedish singer Neneh Cherry. The spare and spontaneous music on their debut album, Customer’s Copy, on the other hand, draws upon the legacy of her grandparents, Don and Moki Cherry. Don Cherry first made his name in jazz circles alongside Ornette Coleman, but he soon struck out for a rapturous mixture well outside of the tradition. Combining free improvisation, folk, traditional music, and drone, Cherry and his wife pulled from all corners of the globe to make and live their art. That the duo first performed together at a performance celebrating the Cherrys’ unique amalgam of art and music is fitting.

One of the greatest bands no ones heard of who are hereby rescued from slipping into the ether. Despite once being on the verge of a deal with Transatlantic and garnering a massive live following in their native Newcastle Upon Tyne area during the early to mid seventies, Its only now that they have their CD debut. This CD pieces together what should have been a debut LP on Transatlantic from remaining studio tapes and acetate sources and has good audio quality. The six tracks are pure killer.
Steve Brown formed this outfit in 1971, and they quickly developed a tight style of cool but potent jazz rock, characterised by lengthy powerful instrumental breaks and sax, and infectious beats.

Judas Priest's major-label debut Sin After Sin marks their only recording with then-teenage session drummer Simon Phillips, whose technical prowess helps push the band's burgeoning aggression into overdrive. For their part, K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton employ a great deal more of the driving, palm-muted power-chord picking that would provide the basic rhythmic foundation of all but the most extreme heavy metal from here on out. Sin After Sin finds Priest still experimenting with their range, and thus ends up as perhaps their most varied outing. Yet despite the undeniably tremendous peaks here, the overall package doesn't cohere quite as well as on Sad Wings of Destiny, simply because the heavy moments are so recognizable as the metal we know today that the detours stick out as greater interruptions of the album's flow.

With 1990's near-fatal boating accident now well behind him, Nestor Torres offered up this package of Latin-accented, hip-hop-tinged smooth jazz, assembling 11 tracks with several producers and production teams. In contrast to his previous album, My Latin Soul, a collection of Latin standards, most of the material here comes from Torres in league with his production staff. The two numbers that are not originals are "Contigo Apprendi," where Torres' flute dances particularly playfully at the close, and the Alejandro Sanz Latin hit "Regálame la Silla Donde Te Espere."

Dan Baird is best known for his work as the singer/rhythm guitarist for the 1980s band Georgia Satellites. Baird left the Georgia Satellites in 1990 and has pursued a solo career since that time…