Gypsy Soul soulful

Originally published by the Saturday Star, 20 October 2007
Gypsy Soul
Gypsy Soul
3/5
Gypsy Soul are an American Celtic/folk duo who hail from Los Angeles. Calling upon a diversity of cultural backgrounds, with roots in British, Italian, Irish, Canadian, Ukrainian and South African cultures, the duo have developed a large following and achieved relative success as independent artists with a number of albums already released and a string of festival headlining performances to their name. The duo’s music is acoustically oriented with female vocalist Cilette Swan delivering a breezy warm, highly talented vocal performance. Swan is lyrically adept too, writing thoughtful, insightful prose. This release sees the group include a number of re-interpreted cover versions. U2’s I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For is given an acoustic make-over which taps into an Americana rendering that I believe U2 themselves would appreciate (considering what U2 were trying to achieve with the song at the time). Other highlight covers include Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game and The Beatles’ Blackbird. With these covers as a reference, Gypsy Soul will be appreciated by a more mature, discerning audience.

José Gonzalez, naturally

Originally published by the Saturday Star, 13 October 2007
José Gonzalez
In Our Nature
5/5
For the listener, coming to terms with José Gonzalez’s subtlety is key to appreciating his unique blend of classical acoustic guitar upon which the artist almost inaudibly delivers his lyrics. Musically In Our Nature does not differ greatly from Gonzalez’s highly acclaimed debut, Veneer (read my Veneer review and my B-Sides Collected review). Minimalism remains the order of the day with Gonzalez fortunately practicing restraint, opting not to over develop his sound. The growth over the past two years however comes more specifically in Gonzalez’s lyrical poignancy. Veneer revealed a young, musically deft artist still maturing as a song writer, but In Our Nature highlights a more mature artist. Gonzalez now eschews a confidence that allows him to bluntly address issues he feels strongly about, specifically issues relating to war and modern colonisation. The meditative backdrop upon which these issues are addressed provides an apt platform for their contemplation. Artistically, In Our Nature is worthy of note and a fine release from a very important new artist.

Katie Melua picturesque

Originally published by the Saturday Star, 6 October 2007
Katie Melua
Pictures
3/5
Katie Melua has achieved much success with her particular brand of sugary pop/jazz and now holds such accolades as the United Kingdom’s biggest selling female artist for 2006. Pictures is Melua’s third album release, and is very similar to her previous offerings Call off the Search and Piece by Piece. Those who enjoyed her previous work will enjoy this. It’s significant to note, though, that this release showcases more input from Melua herself and suggests a certain blossoming of the 23 year-old artist. Melua has composed four of the tracks on this album and these stand out from weaker Mike Batt compositions (Batt being Melua’s manager and main songwriter on her previous releases). Batt has groomed Melua well though and though he is responsible for such cringeworthy lyrics as “If I was a telephone you’d ring me” (from the first single off this album, If You Were a Sailboat) he has provided a solid platform for the young starlet to further develop her career.

Japan and I, Stanley Clarke and Pink

I’ve been a terrible blogger of late and haven’t updated my blog for quite a while now, even though I have watched a few live shows over the past few months. It’s too late now to go in-depth on any of them but I thought it would be worth mentioning a few highlights. In August I attended the Japan and I CD launch at The Bohemian and watched performances by Japan and I, the Diesel Whores and Swivelfoot. Sivelfoot is a Johannebsurg based punk band – very loud, very noisy – their punk is quite hardcore. Not quite my taste, I can’t recommend them. For the Diesel Whores I have a love/hate relationship. I enjoy watching them, but their music is such a blatant rip-off of the Pixies and of Johnny Cash, but, they do what they do well, so… still (and this is after many, many years) I’m not quite sure what to make of them. But, I enjoyed their performance. Funnily, this band has been performing the same set for the past couple of years, and fortunately lead vocalist Jaxon Rice did indicate that this would be changing soon. I look forward to hearing their new stuff. Japan and I headlined the evening and I thoroughly enjoyed their set. Japan and I are a female punk/punk-pop band. I recommend you check them out, they could go places.

Also in August, I attended the Joy of Jazz festival which featured jazz greats such as Stanley Clarke and George Duke. Despite certain bad management by the organisers, which saw artists performing at much later time slots than they should have, the music was fantastic. The Stanley Clarke and George Duke performances on both evenings absolutely blew my mind. They are such showmen and absolute professionals. Musically you can’t compare them to anybody else, they are leagues ahead of anything. Other highlights included local diva Miriam Makeba, American jazz artist Delfeayo Marsalis and local legend Sipho Mabuse.

In September I attended Pink’s concert at the Dome in Northriding, Johannesburg. It was excellent. Pink is an incredible performer, and though she often appears as quite butch in music videos and press photographs, she is actually quite petite, feminine and very attractive. She is an absolute professional and has an incredible voice and live persona. Local indie-rock act Cassette opened up for Pink. Their set too was excellent. These guys have done their time in the local music arena (as part of various other bands and projects) and have built on that to deliver a seriously professional set. I enjoyed what they had to offer.

Hard-Fi, how the West was won

Originally published by the Saturday Star, 29 September 2007
Hard-Fi
Once Upon a Time in the West
4/5
It’s been two years since this British indie-rock act released their highly acclaimed debut, Stars of CCTV (read my review here). This follow-up sees the band continue to pursue very much the same jaunt, so much so that there is very little that would tell their debut apart from this release. Both feature similar nondescript album cover detail, both feature exactly 11 tracks, even the two down-tempo tracks feature at exactly the same positions on both albums – at tracks seven and 11. So what do we do regarding Hard-Fi’s brazenness? Well, we rock-out exactly as we did at their arrival. The gritty Brit-rock sound which initially defined their style prevails, with a slight added maturity. Songwriter Richard Archer remains grounded, having not allowed fame to detract from issues addressed on the debut, including financial struggle, politics, youth culture and relationships. Considering the genius of both albums, I’m willing to forgive their certain brashness, but with the next album, I’d like to see some changes in their sound.