Category Archives: Switched On

On Record – John Morales Presents Teddy Pendergrass – The Voice – Remixed With Philly Love (BBE)

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written by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Teddy Pendergrass was the main voice of Philadelphia soul in the 1970s, whether as front man of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes or as a solo singer. Remix engineer John Morales has looked to recognise that in the latest installment of his remix projects with BBE Music, keen to bring improved clarity to each of the 18 songs he has selected. This involves highlighting individual musical contributions without losing the spirit of the original, while keeping the utmost respect for the principal instrument – which of course is Teddy’s voice.

The project has the blessing of Gamble & Huff, founders of Philadelphia International Records in 1971, and the Teddy Pendergrass estate.

What’s the music like?

Once you’ve experienced Teddy Pendergrass as a singer, you don’t forget it – and John Morales ensures each of these tracks captures that formative experience.

He gets the good vibes flowing immediately, with arrangements that give the music all the breathing space it needs. There is a sumptuous orchestral introduction bookending Don’t Leave Me This Way, while the piano powering If You Don’t Know Me By Now is the icing on the cake where the pleading vocals are the star of the show. Two classic songs, with their instrumental craft illuminated by Morales. The Love I Lost may be a bittersweet song but it is wholly uplifting here, while the impassioned vocal of Where Are All My Friends is given an active counterpoint from brass and strings that respond to its changing harmonies.

These instrumental touches elevate the songs still further. Do Me has a nicely pointed sax solo. I Don’t Love You Anymore has a brilliant vocal hook, the strings bubbling under. There are some lovely string flourishes taken up by the brass on If You Know Like I Know, and a beautifully crafted orchestral intro to Now Is The Time. Some of the songs are still powered by their meaningful lyrics – with Life Is A Song Worth Singing and Is There A Place For Me especially pertinent.

Morales has chosen carefully, selecting some of the outright classics from this era, but also delving deeper to bring out lesser-known songs such as Come And Go With Me and If You Don’t Love Me.

Does it all work?

Very much so. The love John Morales has for these tracks is clear in the painstaking work bringing each component to the fore – and his work is rewarded with some noteworthy tracks, giving this music wonderful clarity and renewed energy.

Is it recommended?

Yes – Morales fans will already be on it, but fans of soul music in general will love the collection in its sparkly new clothing.

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You can purchase this compilation at the BBE Music website, where you can hear more clips and read more about the project.

Switched On: Max Cooper – Unspoken Words (Mesh)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Max Cooper is a fully fledged multimedia artist these days, telling stories through his increasingly powerful music and a well chosen suite of video collaborations.

Unspoken Words is described as his most powerful and personal album to date, a substantial body of work ‘leading the listener through experiences of escapism and connection with personal stories of reflection, acceptance, grappling, idealism and rejection.’

Cooper draws on his own personal experiences, relating his own mental health in musical terms. Speaking about the writing process, he described how he has tried to put as much feeling and form into the album as possible – the unspoken words – dealing with thoughts that are by turns ‘beautiful, intense, abrasive, messy and baffling’.

The story is told through 13 short films, and mixed in Dolby Atmos.

What’s the music like?

Cooper has a recognisable style these days, but not one that pins him down to a single tempo or pattern. Instead, his music grows ever more personal and meaningful, drawing from Unspoken Words feelings of greater intensity than ever before.

Not all of this music is comfortable or ambient, and there is a strongly descriptive thread running through the album of over-stimulation – that is, too many signals and interactions for the brain to process in one go. Solace In Structure is especially frenetic, processing a lot of signal activity in its five minutes, while Symphony In Acid is more difficult as a close-up encounter. Often these challenges are followed by softer tracks with greater padding, as in Small Window On The Cosmos, where Cooper pans out to consider the bigger picture.

When the awesome potential of this music is let loose, as it is on Ascent, the outcome is thrilling, suggesting that one day Cooper really should write for orchestral forces, for he marshals his equipment with a musical mind that always thinks on the large scale.

Does it all work?

Yes – but not all encounters with Max Cooper’s music are easy or straightforward on this album. Questions are asked – not all of them comfortable – and doubts are raised.

Is it recommended?

Having said the above, Unspoken Words can be recommended as a fiercely relevant piece of work. Anyone interested in the relationship between music and mental health will find an encounter with Max Cooper’s latest to be extremely worthwhile.

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Switched On: Stelios Vassiloudis – All Else Fails (Balance Music)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

After a successful stint with John Digweed’s Bedrock label, Greek producer Stelios Vassiloudis takes a slight shift to Balance Music for his first full length ambient album.

What’s the music like?

Equal parts reassuring and reviving, All Else Fails is not an admission of defeat – far from it. From the opening notes it soothes the fevered brow with reassuring harmonies, light textures and comforting voices. There is still enough tension here though, the musical components woven in together and often bouncing off each other.

Vassiloudis gets a very satisfying ebb and flow, too – while Ashes focuses more on percussion, beneath a swaying motif, Mother has a steadier beat and the added richness of a cimbalom. Neon Dream is ushered in by the chirping of house sparrows before establishing a solid rhythmic presence

The rhythmic profiles are continually inventive, especially the easy but subtly funky five-beat loop for White Cells. Avissos is expansive, airy and ambient for its title, the sonorities of the elbow and a wordless choir effect casting a mysterious spell. Womb, by contrast, has a heavily treated, automated voice. As the album progresses to the compositions become more substantial, heading for the finely constructed album track, where shards of rhythm back slower moving background thoughts. There is brief threat from the slightly ominous ticking of the clock at the start of Time To Die, but the track settles into an extended meditation.

Does it all work?

Yes. Vassiloudos makes it all sound very easy and instinctive, yet on closer inspection there is a lot going on here. All the elements are carefully and cleverly combined to make a satisfying and extremely comforting whole.

Is it recommended?

It is. All Else Fails is a more ambient complement to Vassiloudis’ debut album from 2011, It Is What It Is, but shows the assurance of experience, finding a winning combination of exploration and familiarity. Warmly recommended.

On Record – Vanessa Wagner: Study Of The Invisible (InFiné)

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written by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Vanessa Wagner returns with a thoughtfully compiled album bringing together a selection of modern piano music that might be described as ‘minimal’. Her concept is to show how new music can still explore the instrument afresh, using the barest of melodic or harmonic material as its stimulus but finding something substantial within.

The selection here includes works by 14 composers, many of them rare and unpublished.

What’s the music like?

This is a really inspired compilation, logically ordered and with a natural rise and fall. In the process of the anthology, Vanessa Wagner shows off a wide range of approaches to the piano, from flowing, watery pieces to more percussive interludes. The music might be predominantly slow but Wagner finds its pressure points and releases its emotional energy in full, showcasing some fine compositions in the process.

The rippling surfaces of Suzanne Ciani’s Rain, first in the collection, are a kind of homage to a Debussy Arabesque. Harold Budd’s La Casa Bruja has a slower, more reflective beauty, as does the Brian and Roger Eno collaboration Celeste. Contrast these with the gently twinkling ivories of Bryce Dessner’s Lullaby (Song for Octave), and the thicker brush strokes of David Lang’s Spartan Arcs.

The two Philip Glass selections range from a sombre, deeply felt Etude no.16 to a staccato Etude no.6 that sounds a bit more like a fly buzzing against the insides of a jam jar. Wagner really gets Glass’s phrasing, and the powerful refrain that the piece returns to is forcefully and brilliantly played. Even more dazzling is the following Etude no.3, ‘Running’, by Nico Muhly, its thrilling discourse brilliantly distilled.

Elsewhere Moondog’s flowing Prelude no.1 in A minor casts its eyes towards the past, while Julia Wolfe’s Earring finds striking sounds in the piano’s upper register. Ezio Bosso’s Before 6 complements the activity of the Glass and Muhly Etudes with almost complete stillness, the effect both meditative and moving.

The most striking of the compositions, however, is the album’s centrepiece. Caroline Shaw’s Gustave Le Grey, based on a Chopin Mazurka, starts with clumps of chords and a solemn, slow bass. From these beginnings the piece progresses to contemplation, lost in thought in its centre before a searing expression of feeling, the piano cutting through in Wagner’s intense interpretation. A sense of pathos is evident at the end, a satisfying resolution.

Does it all work?

Yes, on many levels. What this compilation also does is somehow highlight the importance of the music of Erik Satie, without including any. Much of the music here is both minimal, interesting and emotional, mirroring the older composer’s achievements in his Gnossiennes and Gymnopédies. Wagner plays this music with great feeling and panache.

Is it recommended?

Without hesitation. This is a fine creative project, brilliantly scoped and realised. If you want to discover new piano music, here is a whole album’s worth on which to reflect and enjoy.

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Switched On – Hannah Peel & Paraorchestra: The Unfolding

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A nudge in the direction of this new release from Mercury-nominated Hannah Peel and Bristol’s Paraorchestra, under their artistic director Charles Hazlewood. The Paraorchestra are an ensemble of professional disabled and non-disabled musicians, and Peel has been working with them for a couple of years.

Their collaboration The Unfolding is a beauty, as a listen to the title track will confirm. Remote voices paint an airy sound picture, with sonorous cello and flickering electronics.


While that piece is more obviously classical, We Are Part Mineral honours its title by bringing a fulsome percussion section to the fore, a nice combination of propulsive rhythms and spacious textures:

The Unfolding is out now on Real World, and comes highly recommended! You can hear more from the album by listening on the Bandcamp link below: