The Duffler
Fantastic Negrito
Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz is the real name of singer-songwriter Fantastic Negrito who feels at home in R&B, blues and black roots music and who’s music is powerful and authentic. Having grown up in Oakland, Negrito fled to LA to escape the vagaries of petty crime as a teenager, which ultimately led to an international career that has been rewarded with two Grammys so far. Negrito returned to Oakland later, became an activist for social change and an avid gardener who wants us to grow as much of our own food as we can. More about this in the title track of the album, Have You Lost Your Mind Yet. Then there’s a short documentary about this life you can see here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TocA9rB4Kww. A car accident changed this man’s life and turned him into a deeply spiritual being. And he is such a great singer! (sgs)
NPR Music, June 2020
On the tender spot of every calloused moment
Ambrose Akinmusire
Also born and raised in Oakland, California, Ambrose Akinmusire was a member of the Berkeley High School Jazz Band Ensemble when he caught the attention of saxophonist Steve Coleman who asked him to join Coleman’s Five Elements. That’s how Ambrose embarked on a European tour at age nineteen, while he was a student at the Manhattan School of Music. After returning to the West Coast to pursue a master’s degree at the University of Southern California, Akinmusire went on to attend the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz in Los Angeles, where he studied with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Terence Blanchard. With on the tender spot of every calloused moment, Akinmusire not only asserts himself as of the best trumpeters in the world, he’s using his voice to dissect the complexity of black life in America.
Blue Norte, June 2020
Homegrown
Neil Young
In Neil Young’s career of over forty years, failure is part of the game. Last week, however, the seventy-four-year-old dropped Homegrown, a lost studio album from 1974 and one of his best. He is still to release a lot of the music that was swallowed by his private archives, so that we may still be in for some surprises in the not too distant future. After all, gems aren’t kept in drawers. Homegrown is a gentle opus. A little melancholy, it perfectly embodies the expressive spirit of the times. Homegrown has been highly praised by music critics and recalls a very productive period in Western music history. “Homegrown is not only the missing piece in the puzzle of an important decade, it also ranks with great radiance among the solitary masterpieces of an entire career.” (Neue Zürcher Zeitung)
Warner, Juni 2020
Mordechai
Khruangbin
The multicultural musical trio that make up Khruangbin, Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar and Donald Ray “DJ” Johnson on drums, hails from Texas. Their style is known as a mix of dub, psychedelia and soul – with a good shot of ambient in this case. “Mordechai, Khruangbin’s third proper album, is the first to prominently feature vocals, with all three members contributing. The introduction of singing suggests a new interest in songcraft, a welcome development… And Mordechai’s most memorable tracks are the ones with the most singing, like the poolside disco of ‘Time (You and I),’ and the highlife-inspired pop of ‘So We Won’t Forget.’ The best is ‘Pelota,’ whose sun-baked lyrics does not point clearly to any particular reference, offering a lively possibility for what Khruangbin might sound like when they are not trying to be anyone but themselves.” (Pitchfork)
Dead Oceans, June 2020
Art of the Descarga
The John Santos Sextet
John Santos has been faithfully carrying the Latin Jazz torch on the other coast for years. He has generally been a sparkplug for a wave of musical invention at the vortex where Jazz, Latin and other ideas meet. Born in San Francisco, in 1955, he was raised in the Puerto Rican and Cape Verdean traditions of his family, surrounded by music. His studies of Afro-Latin music have included several trips to New York, Puerto Rico, Cuba. Brazil and Colombia. He is known for his innovative use of traditional forms and instruments in combination with contemporary music has earned him much respect and recognition as a prolific performer who has recorded with countless masters of several musical generations.
Record Store Day, June 2020