Lou Reed New York 2020

BMG’s new imprint Modern Recordings are to release atmospheric new album SulaMadiana by Mino Cinelu and Nils Petter Molvær on 21 August. Look for title track ’SulaMadiana’ to be released as a single on 24 July.

zeitkratzer is as always good for a surprise and finally goes Jazz! Looking at the line-up of the “modern composition supergroup” (The Wire) it seems astonishing that it took so long. Saxophonists Frank Gratkowski and Hayden Chisholm both won independently the German Radio SWR Jazz award; the French horn virtuoso Hild Sofie Tafjord grew up with Jazz, as her father and uncle are members of the famous Norwegian jazz group Brazz Brothers; Hilary Jeffery toured with numerous jazz musicians, as did the drummer Maurice de Martin who spent his early years in the New York downtown scene; Reinhold Friedl studied piano with Alexander von Schlippenbach, and Ulrich Phillipp is a known improviser who toured with Charles Gayle… and zeitkratzer is joined by a second bass player: Martin Heinze, member of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

zeitkratzer goes Jazz! zeitkratzer is as always good for a surprise and finally goes Jazz! Looking at the line-up of the “modern composition supergroup” (The Wire) it seems astonishing that it took so long. Saxophonists Frank Gratkowski and Hayden Chisholm both won independently the German Radio SWR Jazz award; the French horn virtuoso Hild Sofie Tafjord grew up with Jazz, as her father and uncle are members of the famous Norwegian jazz group Brazz Brothers…

The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964 by singer/guitarist Lou Reed, multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Angus MacLise (replaced by Moe Tucker in 1965). The band was initially active between 1965 and 1973, and was briefly managed by the pop artist Andy Warhol, serving as the house band at the Factory and Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable events from 1966 to 1967. Their debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico (with German-born singer and model Nico), was released in 1967 to critical indifference and poor sales but has become critically acclaimed; in 2003, Rolling Stone called it the "most prophetic rock album ever made."

In the aftermath of punk rock, and inspired by the glamour of the likes of David Bowie, young elites in England’s major cities threw off the shackles of grey, damp and dreary turn-of-the-80s Britain and sought something more refined and cultured than punk’s primal howl. Armed with wardrobes full of colourful and outrageous second-hand clothes, cheap make-up, extensive record collections, their own extroverted imaginations and an urge to dance (not pogo), a collection of DJs, dancers and junkshop fashionistas would frequent clubs such as The Wag in London, Pips in Manchester and The Rum Runner in Birmingham. The resulting scene would famously go on to spawn countless 80s pop scene faces and trigger what became the New Romantic movement.

Une sélection de 40 titres Glam Rock & Neo-Glam en Hi-Res, avec David Bowie, Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop & The Stooges, New York Dolls, Lou Reed, Kiss, Bryan Ferry, Ace Frehley, Elton John, The Tubes, Japan, Rod Stewart, Sparks, Heart, Suede, The Lemon Twiggs, Art d'Ecco..

AN UPDATED, COMPREHENSIVE COLLECTION OF LYRICS FROM THE VELVET UNDERGROUND FOUNDER AND SOLO ARTIST LOU REED, INCLUDING INTRODUCTIONS BY MARTIN SCORSESE, LAURIE ANDERSON, JAMES ATLAS, AND NILS LOFGREN

Filled with focussed recordings showcasing a band still determined to make it, and produced in conjunction with Tony Defries’ MainMan organisation, who famously steered the careers of Bowie, Iggy and Lou Reed during that period, ‘Born In A Trailer’ is a must-hear document of one of the great bands of the age accelerating into the final lap of a career which inspired a new generation of anti-establishment rock ‘n rollers in the years immediately following their demise.

Run by brothers Hy Weiss and Sam Weiss, New York City's Old Town Records label and its subsidiary imprint Barry Records specialized in deep soul and R&B sounds during their run in the 1950s and '60s. While they were based on the East Coast, Old Town's best material was very much in the vein of Southern soul, and Heavy Soul: Old Town & Barry's Deep Down & Dirty Sides collects two dozen of the stronger recordings they released between 1962 and 1969. The Weiss brothers were not above lifting arrangement and production styles from other popular artists of the day, and "Sugar" by Bobby & Betty Lou sounds like a lost classic from Stax's glory days, while Lester Young (no relation to "Pres") is a dead ringer for Otis Redding on a couple of cuts, both in his performance and the work of his backing band. But what these tunes might sometimes lack in originality, they more than make up for in pure passion, and Bobby Long's driving "Heartbreak Avenue," the anguished "Nobody Knows" (Bobby Byrd recording undercover as "the Flambeaus"), John Standberry, Jr.'s slinky "Marie," and the wild and funky "Dirty Old Man" from Irene Reid are superb examples of '60s soul obscurities that deserve wider circulation. While a few cuts sound as if they were rescued from old vinyl pressings, for the most part the remastering on this set sounds quite good, and John Ridley's liner notes are informative and well researched. If you're looking for hits, they're in short supply on Heavy Soul: Old Town & Barry's Deep Down & Dirty Sides, but fans of classic soul will find plenty to savor here.~Heavy Soul: Old Town & Barry's Deep Down & Dirty Sides Review by Mark Deming