Category Archives: On record

Switched On – Joe Armon Jones: Turn To Clear View (Brownswood)

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reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Joe Armon Jones is a man with a vivid imagination and a thirst for collaboration, so it is hardly surprising that he fits into the world of jazz with such refreshing ease. Yet that is not the only world with which he rubs shoulders, as his second album for Brownswood deftly shows. With guests including Georgia Anne Muldrow and fellow Ezra Collective members Oscar Jerome, Moses Boyd and Nubya Garcia, Turn To Clear View promises musical exploration, a feeling furthered by its P-funk style album cover.

What’s the music like?

Turn To Clear View builds on the promise of instinctive music that Jones’ first album for Brownswood, Starting Today, showed. The fact he has followed up that album in less than a year and a half, with other projects on the go, shows the rich vein of creativity he is currently mining.

Crucially, Turn To Clear View is accessible from almost every entry point. If you come to this from the P-Funk of Funkadelic or more outright jazz leanings, or even slower disco and hip hop, there will be something for you here.

Perhaps the most obvious and appealing groove is Icy Roads, a nice syncopated number that works up a light-headed euphoria. Asheber’s vocal on Try Walk With Me is part of a warm welcome to the album, with the telling lyrics ‘time to let go’, while the Muldrow-fronted Yellow Dandelion is a treat, full of colour and expression and with a great keyboard solo from Jones himself.

Gnawa Sweet shows off a lovely, burnished trumpet sound from the Ezra Collective’s Dylan Jones, while (To) Know Where You’re Coming From has a nice breezy ensemble melody with trumpet and sax. Jehst’s vocal on The Leo & Aquarius dovetails beautifully with another sensitive contribution from Jones, before an energetic rap towards the end, while Nubya Garcia delivers a passionate saxophone solo on You Didn’t Care.

Finally on Self:Love the entreaty to ‘be yourself’ from Obongjayar is perfectly timed, effectively bringing the mood of the album full circle.

Does it all work?

It does. Turn To Clear View is a well-crafted yet instinctive piece of work, musically fluid and enjoying the rich colours and individual styles of those involved. Jones is very sensitive to the guests on the album, but is clearly a force to be reckoned with when he comes to the fore.

Is it recommended?

Very much so. Joe Armon Jones has a stellar career ahead of him on this evidence, and the speed of thought he currently has with his musical projects is enviable. It won’t be long until his next move, for sure!

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Let’s Dance – Mike Dunn: My House From All Angles (Classic)

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reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Mike Dunn is a highly respected name in house music. The Chicago figurehead is already responsible for original house classics God Made Me Phunky, Face The Nation and Let It Be House, but as his many and varied pseudonyms indicate he is capable of an extremely versatile approach to house music.

The title of his first album since 1990 recognises that, the fourteen tracks including solo instrumentals and a few guest slots. My House From All Angles has been out since the summer, but Arcana wanted to recognise its existence and worth!

What’s the music like?

If someone asks you to play them some classic house music, Mike Dunn will never let you down. Because of the rich heritage he has in Chicago, he is capable of making music that recognises how house music sounded at the beginning, but brings it up to date in execution and variety.

He also has at his disposal another weapon – his voice. You don’t forget the Dunn tones in a hurry, his smoother than silk lower range used to cheeky effect on tracks like Phreaky MF or on the top notch track Move It Or Work It.

Classic house is not the only order of the day either. Modulation gets closer to techno, a brilliant instrumental whose closest cousin could be Kerri Chandler’s Bar A Thym. On the other side, The Wake Up Call, featuring Deejay Alicia, is darkly lit – as is You R, an acid tinged celebration.

Does it all work?

Yes. Dunn’s experience works so well here – he knows how to make a great house track but also the elements that keep it sounding fresh. That means that nothing is over-produced, nothing is too calculated – and that leaves room for a bit of instinct and a chance to tap into the party vibe, which after all is where house music works at its very best.

Is it recommended?

Yes. Mike Dunn is still full of ideas, and each of these tracks brims with creativity and a wish to have a good time. My House From All Angles is a show home definitely worth buying.

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Switched On – BUNKR: The Initiation Well (VLSI)

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reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

BUNKR is the operating name by which Brighton’s James Dean operates. Before we even hear his music a strong impression is created by the bold cover, which promises discovery, scope and bright light amid dark clouds, not to mention a hint of danger.

The Initiation Well, as Dean puts it, ‘provides the listener with an intrepid exploration of the BUNKR sound world. It’s melodic, pretty atmospheric and a little bit woozy’.

What’s the music like?

As BUNKR describes. Headphones are the best means of discovery here, allowing the listener to take in the widescreen sonic views BUNKR creates on substantial tracks like Docking Procedure, The Initiation Well and Rheasvilian Lakes.

East Of Eden would seem to represent the star at the centre of the album cover. Try listening as the sun comes up and you are in for a magical experience, as it also acts as an upbeat for the kick drum of Docking Procedure, where a lumbering groove and slightly cosmic treble work really well together, and the layers of different textures and loops build up beautifully.

Left For Dust picks up speed and adds a lovely fuzzy bass to go with its busy drum track, and then Rheasvilian Lakes is a lovely floaty number, stretched out as our view disappears into the distance.

Does it all work?

Yes – the tracks work individually but the album works even better as a whole. If anything James Dean’s work here could be compared to that of his label heads, Echaskech – finely crafted pictures where the imagination is left open, though his beats are a little more dub-weighted and a bit slower.

Is it recommended?

Absolutely. This is a versatile album that works on the morning commute and during work but also as a body of work to admire and – in the faster tracks – throw a shape or two. The Initiation Well is an intriguing title that draws you in – and once initiated you’ll want to be submerged again!

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Switched On – Dominik Eulberg: Mannigfaltig (!K7)

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reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Few musicians can claim to have received an ‘Outstanding Contribution’ award from the UN Decade of Biodiversity.

Yet as you soon find out from the packaging around this release, Dominik Eulberg’s Mannigfaltig is not just any other project.

It is a musical and artistic plea for recognition. Recognition that although we are custodians of some weird and wonderful species here on earth, we might not be for too much longer if things don’t change.

A multi media release, Mannigfaltig (meaning manifold, diverse) combines twelve musical portraits of colourful species with a pack of cards featuring a pair of each of those animals, and an intricate video – another award winner – paying homage to the colourful mayfly on the single Eintagsfliege. The cover art is beautifully realised too, the animal portraits laid out in the shape of a ‘play’ symbol. Eulberg may have been eight years away from the albums game, but he has clearly given his return some thought.

What’s the music like?

Eulberg’s work is of intricate construction but colourful output, rather like the species he portrays.

If you were listening without any knowledge of the album’s subject, you would pick out the opening Eintagsfliege, the Mayfly, as a sublime sunrise moment. Eulberg uses the rich timbre of the lower register of the piano to make a piece of music that stops the listener in their tracks, especially once the clipped beats kick in.

As the album progresses, and Eulberg profiles moths, butterflies, birds and dormice, the little twists and turns make for a really substantial set of tracks. After the beautiful mayfly, Zweibrütiger Scheckenfalter (Meadow Fritillary) has a wavy profile with a glockenspiel at the top end, a tactic Eulberg often employs. Fünffleck-Widderchen (New Forest burnet-moth) plays subtly with the pulse, using some darker shades, while another moth, Sechslinien-Bodeneule, puts its foot down. Siebenschläfer (Dormouse) comes out as a persuasive anthem in waiting, a feel good moment, while Goldene Acht, a pale-clouded yellow butterfly builds its layers to a rich swathe of colour.

As the album moves on the music gets weightier. Neuntöter, a Red-backed shrike, brings out the heavier gear, and then the really substantial Zehnpunkt-Marienkäfer, at 11 minutes, its blissful, warm chords backing another clipped beat glockenspiel, ending in suspension with the delicacy of the chimes.

Does it all work?

Yes, and despite the album’s length it has enough light and shade, fast and slow, to work. The craft behind the music is considerable, but so is the emotion, Eulberg using harmonies that pull gently but insistently at the heartstrings. Throwing in a few genuine anthemic moments at the end with tougher beats completes the deal.

Is it recommended?

Yes – another very fine addition to the Dominik Eulberg discography, Mannigfaltig is his most meaningful album yet, and contains some genuinely memorable music.

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Switched On – Telefon Tel Aviv: Dreams Are Not Enough (Ghostly International)

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reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

In the 2000s, Chicago-based duo Telefon Tel Aviv were highly regarded for their moody electronic music, notable for its wispy vocals and expansive panoramic views. Three high quality albums were released in that time, peaking with Immolate Yourself in 2009. Almost immediately following the album release however tragedy struck, with band member Charles Cooper unexpectedly passing away.

The surviving member Josh Eustis continued in a solo capacity under different aliases, exploring new ground with Puscifer, The Black Queen and striking solo project Second Woman, while briefly appearing as part of Nine Inch Nails’ touring line-up. Then he announced work on new Telefon Tel Aviv material, to the delight of the band’s still devoted fan base – and with Dreams Are Not Enough he releases their fourth album.

Its track titles link to describe a dream Eustis experienced at an early age. I dream of it often…a younger version of myself…standing at the bottom of the ocean…arms aloft…mouth agape…eyes glaring…not seeing…not breathing…still as stone in a watery fane.

What’s the music like?

The nine tracks unfold as a dream sequence might, staying true to the Telefon Aviv sound but if anything branching out towards more experimental territory. I dream of it often makes a really ear-catching start to the album, arriving by stealth as a reverie might, but gradually imposing itself with rhythms that ricochet and echo, the sound waves bouncing off the walls. The sonic panorama is vast, and captivating when heard on headphones, Eustis using drones that are incredibly comfortable on the ear but then blossom into something more substantial.

He continues to shift the sonic perspective, sometimes up close and very personal and then suddenly cutting away to a vast oceanic view. When he does this for standing at the bottom of the ocean, mouth agape or especially eyes glaring the vocals sound like ancient plainchant, the setting a vast underwater cathedral, the beats now resonating around the windows and arches.

There is perhaps inevitably a sense of sadness on the album, remembering Cooper, but there is an incredibly strong resolve too. As it progresses the vision of the recurring dream continues to be remarkably descriptive. Not breathing hammers home its heavy kick drums, as though the heart is struggling to cope, but when final track still as stone in a watery fane arrives there is a lasting peace, Eustis completing his cathartic journey.

Does it all work?

Yes. Electronic music is rarely as moving or as distinctive as this, and although Dreams Are Not Enough is not always an easy listen, it is never less than captivating. Eustis has a wholly original way with beats, the corrugated surfaces on tracks like arms aloft borne of a vivid imagination. It is great to hear his vocals again too, and although they are disembodied at times they frequently strike a chord.

Is it recommended?

Without hesitation. While Immolate Yourself was dreamy and leaned more towards song-based productions, Dreams Are Not Enough feels like an important part of the recovery stage for Eustis, and it continues the story of Telefon Tel Aviv in a reverential way, never wallowing but seeking new sounds, methods and ways of communicating. Anyone who thinks electronic music is devoid of emotion should head right here.

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