Date: February 22, 2013
Venue: Drom (NY)
Review by Matt Cole
On 22 February, Washington D.C.- based multinational band Elikeh played at DROM in Alphabet City. The show was a make-up for an earlier date cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy. As I had enjoyed their new CD, Between 2 Worlds, I was looking forward to hearing their live performance.
Massama Dogo (photo courtesy of Massama Dogo)
Date: March 6th, 2013
Location: house concert in Bloomington, Illinois
Review by Phil
Arist: Lo’ Jo
Title: Cinema El Mundo
Label: World Village
Genre: French avant pop/ world
The CD begins with jungle sounds, and a poem (in French, which unfortunately, I don’t understand) by singer / keyboardist / band leader Denis Péan. This led into the second track; a soft, lilting ballad with memorable melodies, seductive backing vocals, and Péan singing / reciting his story.
Lo Jo’s latest release, Cinema el Mundo is a multi-faceted recording marking their 30 year existence as a group, and proving their creative wellspring is far form dry. Péan is joined by his longtime partner Richard Bourreau (violin / kora), Kham Meslien (bass), Baptiste Brondy (drums), and the Nid el Mourid sisters Yamina and Nadia (vocals), Cinema El Mundo guest artists include Menwar, Gan Guo, Andra Kouyate, Vincent Segal, Stephane Coutable, Ibrahim Ag Alhabib and Eyadou, Niaz Diasamidze and Robert Wyatt.
Artist: Manu Koch
Title: Triple Life
Label: self released
Genre: genre border-crossing music
I had the pleasure of attending a live performance by Manu Koch not long ago (for which I wrote a review). The concert was amazing, and I was eagerly anticipating taking the time to listen to what he and his colleagues would come up with in the studio. The results were pleasantly unexpected.
The lovely jazz poetry of a Fender Rhodes floats out of a void. It slips like incense smoke into the framework of the bass and drums. Lush chord melodies speak softly like a lover. This dreamy dialogue surrenders to a funk beat with ornaments of clavichord, synth, and vocals. Thus begins New Year’s Labyrinth, the first track on Koch’s CD Triple Life.
Date: Saturday, February 16, 2013
Venue: 17 Frost Theatre of the Arts
Review by Matt Cole
On Saturday, 16 February, THE DISSIDENT ARTS ORCHESTRA, provided an improvised score to a newly restored version of Sergei Eisenstein’s seminal film Battleship Potemkin at the 17 Frost Theatre of the Arts in Williamsburg Brooklyn. Led and conducted by THE RED MICRPHONE‘s vibraphonist/percussionist John Pietaro , the Orchestra included on this night Nora McCarthy on vocals, Cheryl Pyle on flute, Quincy Saul on clarinet, Rocco John Iacovone on soprano and alto saxes, Patrick Brennan on alto, Ras Moshe on soprano, tenor and flute; SoSaLa‘s Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi (making his debut with the DAO) on tenor sax and vocals, Alon Nechustan on accordion, Javier Hernandez-Miyares on electric guitar, Laurie Towers on electric bass, Nicolas Let-man-Burtinovic on double bass, and Hollis Headrick on drums and percussion.
