Top 5 Albums of the Week
Culture Calling's Top 5 albums of the week, an eclectic mix of records from across genres and decades. Come discover weekly albums to bulk out your collection.
João Bosco - Essa é a Sua Vida (1981)
A collection of minimal, gorgeous acoustic pieces from a master of MBP, Bosco hits a beautiful run of samba-infused guitar melodies with little accompaniment to create solid fields of sound.
On ‘Agnus Sei’, the album takes off, delving into an ethereal yet uneasy, rapid yet sensitive religious elegy, a pun on the hymn ‘Agnus Dei’. So adept at crafting a tinged beauty, Bosco’s moral journey is fraught with difficulty and pain, seeking the glorious salvation of God with willpower alone.
When the album picks up later on, incorporating more jazz elements on ‘De Partida’ and subtle rock influences on ‘Foi-se o Que Era Doce’, he finds his new 80s style that he would develop on later albums, not entirely ditching the sertanejo, but modernising it.
Playing with alternating paces, differing styles, overscored by his extreme dexterity on the guitar and his highly symbolic lyrics, Bosco here begins a decade of work that he would go on to be most known for outside of Brasil.
Kibrom Birhane – Here and There (2022)
We all love the Ethiopian jazz classics of the 70s, with ‘Tezeta’ becoming something of a viral sensation in the last decade, and many of these patrons will be more than pleased to know the Ehtiopian jazz scene isn’t just alive, it’s thriving, and producing some of this decades best music.
Here and There opens in pure delight. A walk through a major scale, hi-hat dominated drums, guitar solos, a crazy infectious groove, Birhane only goes on to top it in successive tracks. Ethiopian Jazz isn’t without its darkness, as ‘Weleta’ burns bright a dark, moody flame, and the following ‘Enate’ turns this darkness into a danceable format. But really, it’s the fourth track, ‘Ethiopia’, that really lights up the record.
It's too easy to overuse the word ‘ethereal’ in describing this track, but ‘Ethiopia’ embodies it more than most I’ve heard. A slow keyboard intro, before dropping into a sublime ¾ rhythm at such a slow, sultry pace, with brass played so delicately, with no attack, until the chorus, where the horns light up the show. It then turns modal, allowing solos from each of its instruments, cascading into a transparent daydream. It’s easy to forget you’re even listening to music.
He hasn’t dropped a record since, with his biggest track only at a half a million plays, but such a master of spiritual jazz in the modern day, where spiritual jazz is possibly at its peak in popularity, can’t stay hidden for long. Remember the name.
Kuniyuki Takahashi – Early Tape Works 1986 – 1993 Vol. 1 (2018)
Excavating the early, largely unreleased, and hidden works of this now-known house artist at the time felt like a revelation; the tapes weren’t damaged or lost to time, and we got a glimpse into some of the earliest electronic ambient that sprouted from the east.
Using analogue synths and a 4-track recorder, Takahashi paints lush, romantic soundscapes that fuse the sonic elements of feudal Japan with its gilded modern face its now known for. The synthesised mimicry of string instruments like the shamisen, and the synthetically generated feelings of harmony and serenity, known as wa [和], bring a cultural bastion into the then-modern era.
Meshell Ndegeocello – Ventriloquism (2018)
Reaching heights in the 90s with her funky, early neo-soul, veering between highly sexual and deeply political, later in her career she picks up the guitar, losing the lush, maximalised funk for a stripped back, indie rock aesthetic.
It’s almost comedic, then, that an artist known for her funk and soul, is doing indie rock covers of classic funk and soul tracks. It is a testament to how well she understands and feels the music that she can translate it to whatever language she chooses. Who knew George Clinton’s ‘Atomic Dog’ translates so well into country-folk?
She gives it a new, emphatic meaning, to have to be like that, to chase the cat, in a way that was mostly just funny for Clinton. Her Prince cover sounds like it was natively downtempo indie, and ‘Smooth Operator’ into some curious, manic, knife-edged jazz track like it was meant for it. A fantastic talent.
Hermeto Pascoal – Zabumbê-bum-á (1979)
Once allegedly described by Miles Davis as “the most impressive musician in the world”, and one of Brazil’s most acclaimed composers, Hermeto Pascoal took traditional Brazilian music to new experimental heights.
A man able to make just about anything into an instrument - hoes, sickles, bottles, axes, kettles, plastic toys, bowls – he also modified existing instruments, like putting adhesive tape on piano keys to try and mimic the sound of one of his favourite birds.
The cacophony on just the first track of the album, ‘Sao Jorge’, is like a boast of all the weapons at his disposal, how he can incorporate everything without sounding indulgent, and with a clear artistic vision. It’s a whirlwind of sound, worthy of being the most popular on the album, being a rare example of where experimental can be sunny and optimistic.
The record takes many dark and moody turns, each more ecstatic and experimental than the last. He plays around with the newly-available synths on the record toward the end of side A, in some ways an indulgent, confused sandbox of electronica, before going right back into smoother and softer tones on side B. This record has just about everything.