balearic

African Head Charge: Songs of Praise (1990)

2017/07/11

We might not all be able to know the way to get on that righteous path but there are signals that could help us get there. These are ones found merely by observing that walk to it, in others. Adrian Sherwood’s experimental reggae and dub label On-U Sound wouldn’t have been what it came to…
Morgan Fisher: Look At Life (1984)

2017/06/13

I’m truly thankful I live in a world where circumstances led Londoner Morgan Fisher to visit Japan, fall in love with country, and proceed to sell nearly all of his life’s work to make his living there. Some would say it was a foolhardy move but it’s a move that proved essential to his reinvention…
Juan Martin: Painter In Sound ft. Mark Isham (1986)

2017/06/09

Simply sublime. What else can you say? From the man who literally wrote the definitive word on Flamenco technique, comes a work showing the full expanse of his personal creative method. Juan Martin is one of the most iconic names in Nuevo Flamenco. Somewhere, down the line, his lifelong interest in art and painting (owing a…
Mendes & Mendes: Mendes & Mendes (1982)

2017/06/06

What’s this? Just some sweet, sweet Lusophonic magic, from the great African island nation of Cabo Verde. Music fitting that jaw-dropping album cover. The self-titled debut from brothers Gérard Mendés (also known as Boy Gé Mendes) and Jean-Claude Mendés displays the intriguing combination of Creole Portuguese-African polyrhythms, American boogie, and Brazilian samba the duo became huge stars among the Cabo Verde diaspora…
José “Zeca” Afonso: Galinhas Do Mato (1985)

2017/06/02

I always hate to say never, but I’ll wager that you’ll never find another giant of fado music quite like José “Zeca” Afonso. A massive influence in the cultural milieu that transformed Portugal from a closed-off fascist state into one striving to understand its colonialist role and work towards rectifying it through freedom of thought…
Coste Apetrea: Airborne (1989)

2017/05/19

I am you. You are me, Coste Apetrea Airborne cover man. I feel you, ADIDAS sweatpants-tucked-in-full-length-fishing boots man. I get you, oversized-cardigan-above-open-buttoned-linen-shirted-friend. I know you, man trapped in between seasons dude. Is it warm enough to put away winter’s festoons and enjoy warmer moods with cooler duds? Your picture doesn’t tell me the full story.
Sonia Rosa: Samba Amour (1979)

2017/05/16

Heady, windswept, gauzy saudade that could only come from someone like Sonia Angelica De Carvalho Rosa, are things that don’t quite reveal themselves when you hear Samba Amour. Sonia Rosa had an unlikely musical career. Although she was born in São Paulo, Brazil it wasn’t there where’d she stake her claim to fame. A precocious child, she taught herself Joao Gilberto’s songs when…
Syoko: Soil (1986)

2017/04/28

Everytime I put on Syoko’s Soil I have to do a double-take. Seriously? The music coming out of my headphones right now was made by the same person who created the My Neighbor Totoro soundtrack and Kichijoutennyo. Sonically, I can see the connection to the latter but stretching the conceit to his countless Miyazaki soundtracks seems to question his elasticity…
Michael Karoli & Polly Eltes: Deluge (1984)

2017/04/07

Even for me, what I’m going to write next seems something out of a fever dream. Polly Eltes, elite, English model/actress seen in the pages of Italian Vogue, and on the catwalks of Europe, teams up with CAN guitarist Michael Karoli to create a forward-thinking blast of Fourth World dub music. If I didn’t have…
Flávio Venturini: Nascente (1981)

2017/04/04

There are few albums that just put me in a special place. Flávio Venturini’s Nascente is one of them. When it’s on, it seems my whole spirit bends to its will. Overrun with string instruments, mostly warm-sounding, and some of the most captivatingly tender harmonies on any side of the hemisphere, or era, Nascente just has…