Sigh, the very first song, those cautious guitar chords, those violins sliding, slipping, melting down the heavy thirds, exhausted like tired wanderers. In addition, the tender singing, so thin and yet so warm. Sure, that sounds terribly enthusiastic here, but what if it’s really that great? “Reggae Film Star” (Maraqopa Records) likes what feels like the hundredth album by Damien Jurado be, but the Seattle songwriter is proving to be again… oh, let’s reach out: Nick Drake of the present.
The yearning in his head voice is reminiscent of Bon Iver, the eccentricity of the delivery of M. Ward, but somewhere in between he is always himself. And quite disillusioned: “I know that life can be so cruel,” he sings. And: “It’s a sick joke where the bad guys win.” To do this, he touches the strings of his guitar as if that were asking a lot. But you have to, you mustn’t let it get you down. On the contrary. Maybe Damien Jurado is a kind of savior – he shoulders the burden of human existence in his songs so that his listeners’ hearts become light and free. Tough job for him, nice thing for us.
So Seattle might as well treat itself to a Damien Jurado day. Since 2019, New York also has an official “Regina Spektor Day”. Proclaimed by the then Mayor Bill de Blasio himself. Of course because of Spektor’s music and its success, but also because of its history, so typical of the city: Came to New York from Moscow at the age of six in tow of her parents, then fought to the top , and if you can make it there… After a six-year break, their album “Home, before and after” (Warner) is now being released. Again very nice ballad pop, really tasteful, yes. But also a bit edgeless for long stretches “One would like to get stuck, alone: what? The ballads ballad along, sometimes strings and orchestral tam-tam join in, but that only increases the volume, not the intensity. It gets a bit more catchy with the more rhythmic songs like “Sugar Man” (no, not that of Sixto Rodriguez). In the good moments you can think of Aimee Mann, also because of the voice. But she always sailed past the great success. No “Aimee Mann Day”, nowhere. Too bad e actually.
It may be that hip-hop and electronic music all feel very modern, 21st century and so, but the distribution of roles is often still very old school: men make the beats, women are allowed to get involved, usually vocals, please look pretty and don’t talk to the guys in production. bad. The operators of the music blog Stereofox now want to start with the compilation “Beat Queens” (Sterefox) to point out that there are women (and non-binary people) at the samplers and mixers. “Beat Queens” was originally a Spotify playlist, the album contains 14 tracks, from producers such as Hippo Dreams, Basmati and Nydia. And so that it doesn’t just stay with the gesture, the Stereofox operators have declared that twenty percent of the income should be donated: to an organization that specifically supports women in creative professions.
Finally, a story that sounds like a joke. One says: Hey, there’s now a sequel to “Friday Night In San Francisco”. Says the other, and what’s that called? Says the first: “Saturday Night in San Francisco”. Brilliant. Why was there never “Tell Me Why I Don’t Like Tuesdays” or “Saturday I’m In Love”? Anyway, as Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin and Paco De Lucia sat down on stage together in San Francisco in 1980 and organized a kind of Formula 1 race with three acoustic guitars, the result was an amazing classic that left the boundaries of jazz behind and also became a pop success. Virtuosity, Mediterranean atmosphere, flamenco, jazz, red wine, millions of copies sold. So now, discovered in an archive, the recording of the next evening. You might think, well, encore, not that important. But “Saturday Night In San Francisco” (Earmusic) is worth it. It contains other pieces. The 13-minute “Meeting Of The Spirits” is a real ride, the encore “Orpheo Negro” goes to your heart. Most importantly, it’s still completely absurd how fast people can play acoustic guitars. The album should actually be called “Saturday Night With The 3 Speedy Gonzalez”.