Captain Yossarian – “Bob Marley in Dub” (Echo Beach)
You sometimes have chance encounters again, and in the end you happened to meet a man who had built a wonderfully bulky speaker tower that was standing around in the world: pyramid-shaped, wide subwoofers at the bottom, a little narrower in the middle and at the top, as a tweeter, still a brilliant loudspeaker horn. All painted in the colors purple and yellow. You have to smile in a very warm way when you see it. The man said he could pull this pyramid around on a trailer, so it was a completely mobile sound system. Then he disappeared behind a box, at least smaller than the tower, with many knobs and controls that he screwed and turned and pressed as if looking for a radio station from Mars, and suddenly Bob Marley sounded.
More precisely: Bob Marley played with local instruments from the Munich area. And from here it could of course become problematic – aesthetically, in questions of attitude, in other words with all the things that are usually subject to taste certainty. Bob Marley with tuba and accordion, the cynic’s brain naturally calculates the cowshed rubbish from many weeks on bare feet. A lot has been done to Marley in this regard since his death, and it turned out that the man with the pit tower actually plays drums full-time at LaBrassbanda. Manuel da Coll is his name for his postman. He calls himself a sound system Captain Yossarian. And what can one say: cynics are, with all due respect, disgusting contemporaries.
Because what Yossarian is doing on his recently released album “Bob Marley in Dub” (Echo Beach) and traveling around the world with a pyramid sound system is a really splendid late autumn warm musical benefit. A homage, of course, and a little mimicry. But the playbacks also drive incredibly smart, intuitive and controllable live (the buttons and controls!) Full of reverb and dub through space. Very elegant. Very sovereign. Extremely worthy. Great. Check out tips: “Three Little Birds”, “Stir It Up” and “Exodus”. Jakob Biazza
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – “B-Sides & Rarities (Part II)” (BMG / Warner)
What is the exact opposite of Bob Marley tribute music? Exactly: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. The dark Prince of Sorrows and his counterpart Warren Ellis, a man who mainly consists of mustache and receding hairline and somewhere behind has a brilliant mind for distorted, frightening, beautiful ghost sounds. Reliable taste is the basis for everything here, so you didn’t really have to worry whether “B-Sides & Rarities (Part II)” (BMG / Warner) will also be packed with light-absorbing indie and alternative beauties. Actually. The pre-singles finally worried a bit. At least the live version of “Push The Sky Away”, this original death-avoidance song that squeezes all lightness out of the soul, sounds a little bit as if Disney + has taken possession of Cave and Co., at the latest when the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra starts to smear. The rest of it looks better for the most part. Jakob Biazza
Lana Del Rey – “Blue Banisters” (Universal)
Only half a year after “Chemtrails Over The Country Club” comes another album from Lana Del Rey, the shady, melancholy update of the classic Beverly Hills songwriter. Do you need that? And whether. “Blue Banisters” actually gives some new, captivating comments on the great motifs around which the artist’s work revolves: youth, intoxication, love, freedom, motorized locomotion. And California, of course. Overall not quite as big as the previous two masterpieces. But the question of what Lana Del Rey wants to add to this really doesn’t need to be answered. Joachim Hentschel
Sly Alone – “Blessed” (Hayati Records)
Since her album “Montenegro Zero” at the latest, the Hamburg rapper Haiyti has been one of the very few promises in German rap. A manic worker who brings something to hip-hop (and even pop) with her neon-harsh voice, the very stylish trap beats and her just right weird lyrics that is very rare here: a really unique claim to art . In addition, she is now also the label owner, and on Friday the album “Gesegnet” (Hayati Records) of her protégé will be released on this label Sly Alone. Cuddly, fluffy, fluffy trap beats at first, followed by a couple of finely whimpering emo guitars later. Pleasant image of masculinity. All in all a bit more ordinary than the boss’s stuff. But what is it not? Jakob Biazza
Jarvis Cocker – “Chansons d’Ennui Tip-Top” (Universal)
And with that to the siltiest dandy in Great Britain: Jarvis Cocker publishes this Friday “Chansons d’Ennui Tip-Top” (Universal), so finally music that is included in his work Pulp or lastly Chilly Gonzales always resonated. The name basically says it all: reinterpretations of French chansons, sad, a bit cranky and also a little bit sexy. What one can announce here: Jarvis Cocker finally sounds completely, as if he was setting (good) soft porn from the 70s to music. Jakob Biazza