GURU, jazzy… like Jeff and the Prince from Fresh

Originally published by the Saturday Star, 21 July 2007
GURU
Jazzmatazz Volume 4: The Hip Hop Jazz Messenger: “Back To The Future”
3/5
The concept behind the Jazzmatazz series is excellent, combining two musical genres that both rely on a freestyle quality for their effectiveness, hip-hop and jazz. GURU, Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal, is an acclaimed hip-hop artist who has since 1993 been releasing the Jazzmatazz series, fusing the two genres, with the help of collaborative musicians, which on this release include, among others, the likes of Common, Bob James, Damian “Jr Gong” Marley, Vivian Green, Caron Wheeler and Brownman. The series intends to attract and educate audiences of each genre about the respective musical styles of the other, and in this manner has so far succeeded in its purpose. However, on Volume 4, I have my doubts as to whether each element in the crossover is good enough to attract aficionados of the particular musical styles. This release might be slightly too middle-of-the-road for enthusiasts, but for general audiences it’s a pleasant, positive, intelligent delve into the world of freestyle musicianship.

Tom McRae, The King

Originally published by the Saturday star, 14 July 2007
Tom McRae
King of Cards
5/5
King of Cards is British singer/songwriter Tom McRae’s fourth album. McRae came to prominence when his debut album, released in 2000, received a Mercury Music Prize nomination. Since then his releases have been endearingly received yet never quite living up to the expectations following his debut. King of Cards, however, sees McRae at his most accessible. McRae is blessed with a most soulful voice and is generally comfortable brooding over his acoustic guitar, and on this release he incorporates these elements, yet successfully tackles new avenues within his repertoire and within the genre. Known for his melancholic demeanour, this album diverges slightly exposing McRae’s moments of upbeat joy, to moments of distorted aggression. There is a good variety of musical styles on this release to enchant the discerning music listener. I suppose McRae might fall into the same stable of musicians as James Blunt, but McRae is honestly leaps ahead of Blunt in his innovation within the field.

Brett Anderson as dramatic as ever

Originally published by the Saturday Star, 7 July 2007
Brett Anderson
Brett Anderson
3/5
The self-appointed father of Brit-pop has issued his first solo album. Brett Anderson enjoyed much popularity in the United Kingdom as the lead vocalist of the rock group Suede in the early to mid-nineties. After two album releases, the departure of guitarist and song-writing partner, Bernard Butler, Suede experienced a decline in popularity that would never again see the band reach quite the same heights of success. After years of trading off the success of the first two Suede releases, and constantly attempting to reinvent the group, Anderson’s solo release taps into certain musical elements that made Suede popular in the first place. On this release Anderson’s compositions are essentially dark, gloomy pop songs with a melancholic nature. The artist, with his flair for the dramatic, is brutally open about the lowlights in his life, and eschews quite a poetic delivery. The album is not dissimilar to certain material on Suede’s Dog Man Star release (which reached number three on the UK charts).

Bob James eschews Urban Flamingo

Originally published by the Saturday Star, 7 July 2007
Bob James
Urban Flamingo
3/5
Each note on this album has been carefully selected as two-time Grammy Award winning artist Bob James delves into a lifetime of experience to bring out Urban Flamingo. It shows. Accompanied by a superb band, jazz keyboarder, arranger and producer James performs flawlessly in these, his own, smooth jazz compositions (a genre that uses instruments and improvisation traditionally associated with jazz as well as influences drawn from R&B, funk and pop). Soloing on this release is very well handled, with tracks of up to eight minutes allowing the soloists enough room to take the compositions to another level. James is also a founding member of the group Fourplay, which has had relative success among jazz audiences in South Africa. The music on this album is not all that different from what Fourplay generally releases. Electric instrumentation is predominantly opted for throughout, but personally, a highlight is the acoustically oriented Niles A Head. There are two vocal tracks on this release, one by James’s daughter, and both are delivered with aplomb.

Good, but not quite Razbliuto!

Originally published by the Saturday Star, 30 June 2007
Lark
Mouth of Me
3/5
Fresh from having claimed their prize at the South African Music Awards for Best Alternative Album, Lark are at it again and have just re-released their debut EP, Mouth of Me, with a few alterations. The release has been tailored into somewhat of an album. It includes the six songs that previously featured on the EP, remixed, plus other remixes off their full length album and some new material. Notably, the tracks Moonlight and Tricksy, that some have claimed should have been incorporated into Razbliuto!, have been included. For fans who attempted to get their hands on the EP, but failed due to availability issues, Just Music have issued this release to quell the high demands. With the added value tracks, it is a must have for fans of this goth/electronic type outfit. For those not familiar with Lark’s music, this release is good, yet not quite as accessible as Razbliuto!

Flat Stanley just got phat

Originally published by the Saturday Star, 30 June 2007
Flat Stanley
Between 2wo Worlds
4/5
Between 2wo Worlds is an apt title for this, the second album release, from the Cape Town based rock band Flat Stanley. It’s quite a progression from their debut in that the song writing has improved dramatically and it is a lot cleaner in production. This release should see the band gain rapturous commendation and seriously propel them into the echelons of rock stardom (locally at least). The odd thing is that some of the members of the band still hold down day jobs. In a way this “in between” status might help contribute to what makes this album endearing, in that it’s very much grounded to values that appeal to a white working-class. The one criticism I have is that the band tend to try and make every song an epic stadium rock anthem. Half the songs on this release are over 4 minutes long, when they don’t necessarily need to be. But this is a minor criticism of what is generally an excellent rock / folk-rock album.