Rodrigo Campos – Bahia Fantastica (l’original en 2012 chez Nucleo Contemporaneo et reedition en 2023 chez Goma Gringa)

Originally released in 2012, the second album by the São Paulo-born composer Rodrigo Campos marks a turning point in both lyrical and aesthetic inspiration. “Bahia Fantástica” is the result of the absorption of a then recent influence of soul music (especially Curtis Mayfield) and is in the middle of this path marked by an unlikely geography in the lyrical part (São Mateus, Bahia, Japan) and by an expansion of sound ( from samba to the indefinable, with a passage through black American music).

The album turns ten years old in 2022 and exudes vitality. The soul reference takes on a different aroma when it passes through the filter of the composer and his band – formed by Kiko Dinucci on guitar, Marcelo Cabral on bass, Maurício Fleury on keyboards, Maurício Takara on drums and Thiago França on sax: it has Brazilian sauce, hints of afrobeat and a very particular seasoning. The lyrics bear the artist’s mark: they project scenes in the listener’s imagination and design the characters and environments with their own style of subjective chronicle. Bahia is both imaginary and intimate in Rodrigo Campos’s music. (Goma gringa)

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RIP TOM VERLAINE (1949/2023/Télévision dans les Inrocks en octobre 1992)

Ai Aso est une nipponne de cœur de Mr persévérance

DEUX COMPILATIONS DE COEUR DE MR PERSEVERANCE (paru en 2022 sur le label batave The Knekelhuis)

FABIANO DO NASCIMENTO – LENDAS, WITH ARTHUR VEROCAI AND VITTOR SANTOS’ ORQUESTRA chez NOW AGAIN

Fabiano Do Nascimento – Lendas, with Arthur Verocai and Vittor Santos’ Orquestra

Sun Ra & His Arkestra – Prophet chez Modern Harmonic en 2022

Amongst the hundreds of recordings issued by Sun Ra and his Arkestra, under their various guises, the majority were recorded in concert or in makeshift studios such as their early 1960s set-up at NYC’s Choreographer’s Workshop. Beyond those, roughly 22 albums were recorded at Variety Recording Studio in New York’s Times Square. However, on August 25, 1986, Sun Ra and cohorts entered Mission Control, a state-of-the-art 24-track studio north of Boston, which was teeming with electronic keyboards and otherworldly sound generators. Nestled within that arsenal was a brand-new digital ultra keyboard — the Prophet VS (« Vector Synthesizer »).

Of all the keyboards Ra played throughout his half-century career, the Prophet was one of the most sophisticated. There’s no evidence that he had played either of the instrument’s earlier incarnations, the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 and Prophet-10. Created using microprocessors, a then-new technological advance, under the auspices of engineer Dave Smith in 1978, the Prophet-5 revolutionized electronic music as the first polyphonic and, most importantly, programmable synthesizer.

Ra was intrigued by the Prophet (surely by the instrument as well as by the name). Recorded during a single day, it’s about time that these once lost performances have now been found. (MODERN HARMONIC)

UNE POCHETTE DE DISQUE DE COEUR DE MR PERSEVERANCE (j’ai trouvé le disque à Londres circa 1986 dans un disquaire à Camden lors d’un voyage scolaire, j’ai passé le plus clair de mon temps chez les disquaires ,j’ai réussi durant la quasi totalité du séjour a fausser compagnie aux profs etc…)

Ferry Djimmy And His Dji-Kins – Rhythm Revolution (l’original est paru au mi temps des 70’s et la réédition en 2022 chez Acid Jazz records)

Un des albums salué comme l’un des plus mystérieux, des plus rares et des plus fascinants d’Afrique maintenant disponible ! Cet album est un pur produit de son temps (1971), lorsque le funk a rencontré la révolution marxiste et la conscience noire. La rumeur veut que moins de deux cents copies aient survécu lorsque des piles de disques ont été brûlées dans l’enceinte de SATEL à la fin des années 1970, alors que la révolution marxiste avait déjà fait ses ravages et que Ferry n’était plus une nouveauté. Il aura fallu de nombreuses années pour rechercher les héritiers de Ferry à travers le Bénin et le Nigeria. L’album donne à entendre l’un des exemples de funk africain et d’African Soul psychédélique les plus radicaux jamais gravés sur disque habillé avec l’un des artworks les plus marquants de l’histoire de la musique africaine. Avec des clins d’œil à James Brown, Fela Kuti, George Clinton et Jimi Hendrix, Ferry Djimmy parvient à créer huit tranches de « garage funk » brut du Bénin. (Acid jazz records)

Luna – Lunapark ( l’original sur Elektra en 1992 et réédition en 2023 chez Run on groove vinyl)

Luna’s 1992 debut (originally released under the short-lived band name Luna 2 for contractual reasons) got most of its press due to Dean Wareham’s former position as leader of the critically adored Galaxie 500, but his new cohorts Justin Harwood (bass) and Stanley Demeski (drums) were fresh from stints in the Chills and the Feelies, respectively. A rarity among albums by this type of alt-rock supergroup, Lunapark sounds like an appealing conglomeration of some of the best aspects of all three participants’ former bands.

The album spawned two college radio hits, the deliciously depressive ‘Slide’ (with its memorable opening line, ‘You can never give the finger to the blind’) and the jittery, propulsive ‘Slash Your Tires,’ but nearly all of the 12 songs have memorable guitar hooks, stick-in-your-head choruses, and a newfound sense of humor in Wareham’s deadpan lyrics.

This reissue is expanded to include previously unreleased pre-Elektra demos. It features deluxe packaging and never-before-seen photos. (Run out groove vinyl)

R. Stevie Moore – Games And Groceries (l’original en K7 en 1982 et réédition en 2023 chez Think Like A Key Of Music)

TLAK Goes DIY series presents a most welcome remastered edition of Games and Groceries by R. Stevie Moore. Originally a cassette album recorded in 1978 by this pioneer of home recording and do-it-yourself musical aesthetic. This double album features some of his most imaginative and entertaining writing and recording from this period, making it one of the most popular albums among RSM fans. Its music diverse, ranging from sunshine pop to new wave powerpop, with a fair share of novelty tunes, musique concrète and disco satire. Includes one of Moore’s best, « Part of the Problem » in its original late 70’s form. Since 1968, the pop craftsman has cranked out hundreds of underground album-length recordings and with his catalogue exploding across the internet in the 2000s, future generations are now certain to discover him as well. Featuring a proper remaster by Prof. Stoned, this is a great entry point for those who are new to the world of R. Stevie Moore and for fans, this is an overdue reissue. (Think Like A Key Of Music)