Keep your eyes peeled for a live roll out at 20:00 on Sept. 20. The only thing better than GreenWing is more GreenWing.

Here is my listening for the past week. Its been a blast from the past and a blast into the future.

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The Tallest Man On Earth

Dark Bird Is Home

CD 2015

This one underwhelmed me. I had listened to this years ago and thought I had enjoyed it. Nope, it did not ripen with age. It’s not bad music; it just didn’t improve with age. I’ll try again in a couple of years.

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Dictator Ship

Electric Jihad

Stream 2023

Turn up the volume and hang on to your hat; things are about to get wild. Dictator Ship is a Swedish rock and roll band that really does rock and roll. Electric Jihad is not pop music. Electric Jihad is not the bland crap that gets played on popular radio—Electric Jihad is good old-fashioned rock.

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The Holy Ghost

Ignore Alien Orders

Stream 2023

The Holy Ghost is another Swedish musical group, but not in the same genre as Dictator Ship. The Holy Ghost leans towards 80’s post-punk with a smoother texture while still rocking and rolling—more good music from Sweden.

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Pathos Trio

Polarity

Stream 2023

This album is like an onion, with layers and layers of sound that take several listens to get past the outer skin. I hope you like onions as much as I do. Polarity reminds me of no one else. They are peeling their onion and serving it in six dishes, all of them different. Pathos Trio comprises percussionists Marcelina Suchocka, Felix Reyes, and pianist/composer Will Healy. They make music that weaves in and about around and through the spaces in my mind. Each time I listen to Polarity, another layer gets peeled back and presents me with a new listening experience. Pathos Trio has created a complex Polarity album that is also very easy to listen to. It can be background music while I work or a focused listening experience where I listen intently, trying to grab at threads of sound. I love it.

This album tied Tool Lateralus for best album cover art. You must have a physical copy to appreciate this.

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Talking Heads

Stop Making Sense

Imax 2023

I have been listening to Talking Heads for a long time. I remember the excitement Fear of Music gave me; I had a cassette copy that got worn out playing repeatedly. I remember the energy of Stop Making Sense. Talking Heads has given me a lot of music to listen to or see and hear, as I did in this experience. David Byrne has an energy that spins off into the band as they slowly join him on stage, and that energy flows out to the audience. Seeing this on Imax was quite the experience. It looked good. It could have sounded better. There was lots of sound in the middle of the spectrum and not so much at the top or the bottom. I still rate this as a good experience, good but not great.

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Tool

Fear Inoculum

CD 2019

I was overdue for a Tool listen. I started with Fear Inoculum. This album gets better every time I hear it. It did not disappoint this trip through my speakers. As usual with Tool, this is a complex album that needs attention to hear all the nuances that Tool brings into the studio.

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Tool

Lateralus

CD 2001

Lateralus is an album that Tool  10,000 Days. 4745 is how many days there are in 13 years. Lateralus continues Tools’ use of complex chord changes.

————————————————————————————————————–Lusitanian Ghosts

Lusitanian Ghosts III

Stream 2023

Playful. Talented. Fresh. Familiar.

A lot is going on with Lusitanian Ghosts III, a happy album that is easy on the ears. Every time I hear this album I like it more than the time before.

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Graham Parker

Last Chance To Learn The Twist

Stream 2023

Lusitanian Ghosts III segued into Graham Parker’s Last Chance To Learn The Twist like these two albums were made for each other. Graham Parker has a long and storied career and I am happy to see that he isn’t just riding on the waves from the past. He is channelling his talent into fresh music, making for a very listenable experience.

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Connie Francis

The Very Best of Connie Francis

LP 1962

Well, here is a blast from the past that wlil most likely collect dust.

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Robert Fripp

Exposure

LP 1979

This album is a bit of an oddity. It is Robert Fripp‘s first solo album, loaded with an “A” list of collaborations.

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David Frizzell & Shelly West

Golden Duets (The Best Of Frizzell & West)

LP 1984

Do you want to get your cowboy on today? This album is an OK place to start.

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Popsicko

Off To A Bad Start

LP 2022

Do you want to get your post-punk on today? This album is a great place to start. Full of energy with nice clean sound, this album is a winner.

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Tom Franzak

Shadow Boxing

LP 1985

I had a hard time listening to this 1980s pop Christian music.

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Tony Valentino

Dirty Water Revisited

CD 2023

I’m sorry, Tony, you should have stayed away from this project and retired, with both of us having good memories of Dirty Water.

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It has been a good week with lots of great music, a bit of good music and very few stinkers. 

Norman September 18, 2023

Trans-Atlantic alternative neo-folk collective Lusitanian Ghosts present their third long-player, ‘Lusitanian Ghosts III,’ released via the European Phonographiclabel. Lusitanian Ghosts III was recorded and mixed at Clouds Hill Studios in Hamburg by Sebastian Muxfeldt (Elbow, Peter Doherty, Teenage Fanclub). Lusitanian Ghosts III will be released in stereo and mono versions.

A Portuguese-Canadian-Swedish chordophone collective founded by Neil Leyton and Micke Ghost (a.k.a. Mikael Lundin), Lusitanian Ghosts revives lost instruments and presents ancient sounds in the 21st Century. Re-casting these heritage folk violas into rock n roll songs, the European artist collective writes from a socio-political perspective on building a better world, creating musical pieces for the heart and mind, recording on analogue tape and releasing moving music on vinyl.

Together with João Sousa, Abel Beja (from Primitive Reason), ToZé Bexiga (from Raia) and Jan-Eric Olsson, Lusitanian Ghosts plays traditional Portuguese chordophone instruments, ancient regional guitars (Amarantina, Beiroa, Campaniça, Braguesa, Toeira, Terceirense). Once on the verge of extinction, these instruments are the real “Lusitanian Ghosts” (Lusitania being an ancient Celtic tribe in what would become the central territory of Portugal).

“For ‘Lusitanian Ghosts III’, we wanted to write and record all together, live off the floor, on analogue tape like we used to back in the 20th Century. Lyrically, we explored deeper emotional territory than ever before, and sonically we ended up mixing each song twice – in mono and stereo – leading to two different LPs,” says Neil Leyton.

“We mixed down from 24-track multitrack analogue to 1/4 inch analogue also, then reeled the machine straight to the mastering suite next door at Clouds Hill, Soundgarden Tonstudio in Hamburg. I know it is a common thing to say, but I’m going to say it is the best record I’ve ever made.”

Earlier, the band previewed ‘The Long Train,’ ‘Shameless,’ ‘Got Enough’ and the latest single ‘September,’ bringing to the fore the Portuguese folk chordophone violas Amarantina, Campaniça and Terceirense, skilfully played by Michael Lundin, ToZé Bexiga and Abel Beja respectively. Lusitanian Ghosts make music with no guitars – just chordophones, bass and drums. Although a brand new rock n roll alt-folk sub-genre, these songs feel warmly familiar.

As of September 15, the ‘Lusitanian Ghosts III‘ album can be obtained everywhere digitally, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp. Mono and stereo versions are available on vinyl.

Photos by Katja Ruge

Keep up with Lusitanian Ghosts

Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Spotify | Apple Music | Booking contact | Press contact

Keep up with Shameless Promotion PR

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Big Stir Records is proud to announce the release date for an all-new album from British rock legend Graham Parker. Last Chance To Learn The Twist, credited to Graham Parker & The Goldtops and produced by Parker and Tuck Nelson, sees worldwide release on CD and all streaming services on September 8, with a limited-edition LP run on clear green vinyl to follow in October. The album, up for pre-order and pre-save now (https://orcd.co/grahamparker-lctltt), includes both of the pre-release singles that brought Parker back to the worldwide airwaves throughout the summer and will be supported by a full band tour of the UK this fall. 

Graham Parker’s first album of new material since 2018, Last Chance To Learn The Twist, finds the veteran singer-songwriter in top form, offering up thirteen new compositions with exquisitely tasteful backing by The Goldtops (bassist Simon Edwards, drummer Jim Russell, guitarist Martin Belmont and keyboard player Geraint Watkins) and frequent contributions from the Easy Access Orchestra horns and backing vocal duo The Lady Bugs. It’s a dazzlingly diverse album: sweet classic soul grooves and roots rock sounds dominate, all framing lyrics dripping with Parker’s vintage “Wicked Wit” (as one song title has it) and inimitable, passionate vocal delivery. Two early singles have hinted at the record’s depth: the devastatingly stark “We Did Nothing” with its heartbreaking examination of the cost of inaction on both the personal and global stages and the delightfully playful reggae-tinged “Them Bugs.” But there’s much more waiting to be discovered on the entire album, which is at once one of Parker’s most relaxed and boldest statements to date. 

“My usual rather conservative arrangements went out the window on this album,” Parker says. “The songs morphed as they grew: ‘Grand Scheme Of Things,’ and particularly ‘Sun Valley,’ became less about ‘parts,’ as in a typical pop song, but more about ‘movements.’ Bridges arrive in unusual places, songs were restrained and held to under three minutes, The Lady Bugs sang like street corner rufans on ‘The Music Of The Devil,’ thenfoatedlikethechoirgirlsthattheyactuallyareontheballads,infusedwitholdsoul. TheGoldtopsgave me everything I wanted. Yes, I’m more than pleased with this one.” 

From the sinister shuffle of the opener “The Music Of The Devil” — a mission statement of sorts for the album and perhaps the singer-songwriter’s career – through the closing honky-tonk-infected “Since You Left Me Baby,” Parker blends humour and heartbreak as only he can. Touching on intimate and culture-wide concerns, often within the same song as on “We Did Nothing,”Last Chance To Learn The Twist finds Parker moving from strength to strength throughout its two sides. Highlights include the bittersweet, piano-led third single “It Mattered To Me,” the loose groove of “Sun Valley” with its soaring horns-and-harmonies coda, and the folksy meditation on mortality of the near-title-track “Last Stretch Of The Road” (already a fan favourite from its live airings at Graham’s recent solo gigs in the US). 

Last Chance To Learn The Twis is as warm and inviting a record as Graham Parker has ever issued. Still, it also delivers all the unflinching honesty, literate nuance and passion his admirers have come to expect from him. September brings their first chance to hear it for themselves.

BIG STIR RECORDS

2140 N. Hollywood Way #6607, Burbank CA 91505 bigstrrecords@gmail.com – rexbroome@gmail.com www.bigstrrecords.com

GreenWing can get inside my head live or on vinyl. Today, we will celebrate the release of a new single with a live roll-out for the new single from GreenWing. A truce between live and vinyl, a YouTube live off the floor.

GreenWing is proud to announce the release of a live performance video for their song “Dead Friends.” In the spring of 2023, the band enjoyed teaming up with Ryan Kuley and Ryley Surian at Communal Creative Studios in Red Deer, AB, to create this throwback early MTV/VHS era-inspired video. The resulting video perfectly captures GreenWing’s playful and energetic live performances they have become known for.

Established in 2021, GreenWing’s early days saw them living through COVID lockdowns and the harsh Saskatchewan winter while finding sanity through collaborating on a collection of songs and hoping to one day return to stages and touring. The band’s debut album “Late Bloomer” leans heavily on driving rhythms and pop-laden hooks. Reminiscent of the punk and post-rock they grew up listening to, the band interweaves themes of self-reflection, grief, and a newfound sense of self into a crushing wall of sound.

Once lockdowns lifted, GreenWing quickly made a name for themselves with tour dates that featured their signature singalong hooks, infectious driving energy, and chaotic stage presence. In short order, the band was enlisted for opening gigs for the likes of Three Days Grace, Mom Jeans, Reignwolf, Daniel Romano, The Dirty Nil and Single Mothers, as well as garnering multiple nominations and making various “Best Of” lists.

Look for GreenWing on tour across Canada in 2023 to support “Late Bloomer” and their subsequent single, “Dark.”

GreenWing

https://linktr.ee/greenwingmusic

100 Mile House – From Fall To Fall
100 Mile House – Hollow Ponds
Chagall Guevara – Chagall Guevara
FM- Surveillance
Various – Folkways, A Vision Shared
Tom Waits – Rain Dogs
Four Seasons- -The Four Seasons Story
America – The Complete Greatest Hits
Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill
Peter Framptom – Frampton Comes Alive

It has been an interesting week musically. I didn’t stream much, just Chagall Guevara and Ignore Alien Orders, the third album from Sweden’s The Holy Ghost. I had good intentions of writing a blog about this album, but as usual, I go to the well, but the buckets dry. I will do a shout-out about this album. It is excellent. Sweden has been a hotbed of music recently, and Ignore Alien Orders keeps that trend going, and they do it in a refined style. The Holy Ghost doesn’t have a sound that fits easily in any genre hole. They made their genre, and it works smooth as silk. Ignore Alien Orders” was recorded in The Dustward, Stockholm, Sweden, by Stefan Brändström, who also mastered the album.

Chagall Guevar are like an old friend that I hadn’t sat down and had a coffee with for ages. I gave away the CD copy of Chagall Guevara that I had, and copies online are pricey so I’ll be content to stream it. Chagall Guevara were an American rock band formed in 1989 by solo artist Steve Taylor, guitarists Dave Perkins and Lynn Nichols (from the 1970s Phil Keaggy band), bassist Wade Jaynes, and drummer Mike Mead.

Steve Taylor needed no introduction for me. I have most of his catalogue and have listened to his music for ages. Dave Perkins is a great session player who has played for an impressive list of musicians. Bluegrass and swing with fiddle-maestro Vassar Clements, Texas renegade-country with Jerry Jeff Walker, singer-songwriter pop with Carole King, alternative rock with Chagall Guevara, Americana with Guy Clark, blues and jazz with violinist Papa John Creach, reggae with Mystic Meditations, and industrial hard-core with Passafist. And more:

bio:

Lynn Nichols has an impressive list of people that he has played with, Phil Keaggy being the big one for me.

Tom Waits is one of my favourite and underrated artists. Alphabetically he is in the last row of CDs against the wall and above a stack of cassette cases, yes, I still listen to tapes occassionally. Anyhow, Tom Waits may not get played a lot, but when it is, it is a pleasure.

The Four Seasons, wow, I hadn’t dusted this slab of vinyl off for ages. It had me smiling at songs that I remembered, places that I had been and people that I had known. Good music is timeless. I also don’t know how they became a super group with Frankie Valli’s voice. I love it and apparently a lot of other folks do as well. It is so distinct and singular, no one else sounds like Frankie Valli.

The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill is an album that garnered a boatload of positive reviews and was a good seller, those two don’t always dance with each other. I totally get the significance of this album and how it came to be an album of considerable importance in the history of rap and rock. I know that, but it took me several listening sessions before the music and lyrics began to attach themselves to me on a personal level. The education of Norman towards this album has moved from elementary school to junior high. A move that came with good marks.

Yeah, so that’s about it for this week, a short list with many respins on a few of them. Hear y’all next week, and may your listening be happy.

I am so far behind that I think I’m winning. I have stacks of albums in my online music queue. The vinyl has stalled in the middle of the letter F, no, not that F. I want to blame it on summer when I spend more time on the deck and mowing the lawn rather than spend the day looking at the flowers, the birds and the clouds drifting by. I can’t blame the summer, though; I fire up my old-school 160 GB iPod and churn out some old-school rock-and-roll through head cans while I push the lawn mower.

The music, though. The music still arrives in my inbox, and I still listen to good, healthy chunks that keep my musical brain happy. I don’t want listening to music to become a job that I have to do. I want my listening to be loose, spur of the moment, new and fresh or old favourites. Some play in the background, and some are front and center for focused listening. There is always music playing. 

So, I sit playing Flash and the Pan, Early Morning Wakeup Call, in the dead of night. The Grammarly word editor is open and ready to write. And….? I type out a treatise on why I am not writing: the irony, oh, the irony. Although promising, this album isn’t my favourite by Flash and the Pan. Their self-titled debut holds that spot quite easily.

La Faute released her debut album’ Blue Girl Nice Day’ on May 26, 2023. @LaFaute (the mistake, in French) (aka Peggy Messing) is a dark, dreamy solo project. A visual artist, multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter originally from Winnipeg, Canada, she explores surface vs. depth, longing, betrayal, mourning and desire themes. Using a four-string tenor electric guitar and obsolete hardware samplers, she created her captivating live show and released her debut EP just before the pandemic.

Blue Girl Nice Day is good. Easygoing but not lethargic. Smooth but not bland. Musically challenging but not arduous.

http://www.barkpr.co.uk/ 

THE 3 CLUBMEN – a new project from XTC’s ANDY PARTRIDGE, JEN OLIVE and STU ROWE. The trio’s eponymous debut EP, THE 3 CLUBMEN, was released on June 30 via the Swindon-based Lighterthief label in cooperation with Burning Shed. Recalling XTC’s later pastoral period, a touch of Jen Olive’s math-pop angularity and the eclectic sound of producer-artist Stu Rowe. These avant-pop delights offer a strange, seductive blend of experimental pop, jazz and sci-fi cinema excellence.

I didn’t know what to write about this album. I have listened to it repeatedly and like what I hear, but I have drawn a blank on what to write—there, done. I wrote something. Now it’s your turn to listen. 

 Shameless Promotion PR at contact@shamelesspromotionpr.com

LOW-RES released DÄRFÖR Collaborating with Maria Pettersson and Calle Olsson (Paper, Paddington DC, The Bear Quartet) for the release, ‘Kitchen’ makes for a wonderfully broad and atmospheric listen. High-energy music. Yeah, high-energy. Synth-driven and 80s-influenced, good energy. johan@mysticsons.com

Guitarmy of One is the solo project of guitarist Scott Helland, who combines the thrilling sounds of spy-themed instrumental surf guitar music with punk vitality. Taking listeners on a sonic adventure to the realms of intrigue, danger and surf-soaked excitement, Helland channels that raw and unconventional spirit into a quirky fusion of genres. ‘Top Secret Agent Man on a Wire Tapped Phone at Sea’ https://youtu.be/W0EDFef7blQ

Come on! Any music that mentions Soylent Green deserves a listen. Shameless Promotion PR at contact@shamelesspromotionpr.com

Graham Parker. Yes, that Graham Parker. I love his new album, “Last Chance To Learn The Twist.” I have listened to this album at least a dozen times, maybe even a baker’s dozen. It hits all the right buttons for my listening tastes. It has British New Wave all over it, which is no surprise considering the origin story of Graham Parker. He had a cracking good band backing him up, and they worked the British pub scene until their breakthrough to the big leagues with the album Squeezing Out Sparks, released in 1979. I suggest you read his story on Wikipedia, listen to his back story in music on Apple Music and then listen to Last Chance to Learn The Twist. That, my friends, is an excellent way to spend a day.

Pathos Trio   +Polarity-

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The Brooklyn-based Pathos Trio releases its second album, Polarity, on September 15 on the Imaginary Animals label. This album landed in my inbox yesterday, and I gave it a passing glance. Today, I gave it two listens from front to back. Polarity isn’t just an album; it is an opus. Pathos Trio is percussionists Marcelina Suchocka, Felix Reyes, and pianist/composer Will Healy.

The group’s commitment to bringing its love of dark, dense, and heavy sounds into a contemporary classical framework is everywhere on the album, as is the group’s passion for collaboration. Polarity features new works from composers Ian Chang (Sun Lux), Phong Tran (MEDIAQUEER), Andrew M. Rodriguez (Close Your Eyes), Vicente Hansen Atria, Paul Mortilla, and Clara Warnaar.

The album takes listeners on quite a ride from Ian Chang’s buggy, pulsating Mega Cicada to Paul Mortilla’s more oceanic exploration of breathing 21600. Clara Warnaar’s piece Home/Gone is inspired by her phone’s auto-correct changing the word “home” to “gone.” She says in her notes: “That unsettling deconstruction of what we began with gets replaced by something more distorted and complex, but potentially beautiful.” And suitably, that’s where this album leaves us.

Whew, so much new music. I am drowning in music. On top of the new crop listed above, I have sampled dozens of other artists/albums and listened to some of my collection of vinyl or CD and streamed music while working. So much good music and so little time.

I start fresh on September 1. Everything in my inbox will quietly exit stage left, and I will see what new music comes my way on Friday, which is release day for most albums. The vinyl will rotate again, restarting in the letter F, and I will begin my autumnal activities.

Happy listening, everyone.

My beautiful wife Valerie and I were on vacation the last four days, so we had road tunes sandwiched between casual listening on my brand-new CD player. My old Onkyo has lasted 35 years; it will now join me in retirement.

The new Yamaha works fine, but I have one beef with it, the lack of lights on the all-black front makes it difficult to see the function buttons. Thankfully it comes with a remote control. I also like that it can display album, artist and song name with letters, not just numbers; it can also do that.

The music? I started the week with The Beatles‘ white album, I listened to it last week, and I could listen to it again next week. Good music and good memories set the tone as we hit the road. First up was Tracy Chapman‘s self-titled debut album. It takes my breath away every time I listen to it. We let the lyrics wash over us. The message is as powerful today as it was in 1989 when it won several Grammy awards.

Next up was The Definitive Collection by Randy Stonehill. There are some good cuts on this best of disc, but the flow of the songs seemed choppy at times. There are a couple of songs on this disc that I still enjoy. If you want a one-song sampler, I would recommend Rachel Delvoryas.

Getting close to home, we went with Voulez-vous by ABBA. Having a Swedish heritage, ABBA is close to royalty status for me. They also knew how to make an excellent radio-friendly song or two. This album went gold and was in the top ten worldwide. 44 years later, it is still charting and selling impressively well.

Safely home, I popped Those Who Tell The Truth Will Die by Explosions In The Sky into the big stereo and relaxed. My son Joel, the other half of WeatheredMusic, is flying to Portland, Oregon, in a few days to see EITS live. That should be fun. I am sitting this one out since I just got home from one long drive and plan to take two more mini-road trips later this month.

Happy listening, everyone.

This is what I listened to this week, albums only, I listen to a boat load of singles but don’t bother listing them. Would The Loveboat be a boatload of singles? No, my wife and I took our honeymoon on one of the Loveboats, definitely not single.

Dylan Marlowe – Dirt Road When I Die – Streamed – 2023
A shot of C/W to start the week, I’m generally not a fan of modern country, but I can always sneak some in under the radar. I have Wanted! The Outlaws in my car as the CD of the day.

Dick Dale & His Del-Tones – Surfer’s Choice – – Streamed – 1962
I was working on a guitar riff, and when I surfed the internet for the chords, this caught my eye. Like C/W, I am not usually listening to surf rock, but a dose here and there doesn’t hurt.

Sorrows – Love Too Late – Streamed – 1981
Research for a review of Arthur Alexanders new album, Steppin’ Out

Roy Orbison – All-time Greatest Hits of Roy Orbison Volume 1&2 – CD – 1989
I had the privilege of seeing Roy Orbison live in/about 1977, and it still ranks as one of the best shows I have seen.

Arthur Russell – Picture of Bunny Rabbit – Stream – 2023
Test run of some new music; it’s quirky but in a good way.

Tony Allen & Adrian Younge – Tony Allen JID018 – Stream – 2023
Friday’s new music, this one is a keeper. Nigeria meets the USA for a funky jazzy percussion driven album of pure joy for my ears.

Stevie Wonder – Various – Stream – 2023
I like Stevie Wonder’s music, mostly the ’70s albums.

Roberta Flack – Chapter Two – LP – 1970
I took a break from blogging and got back to the LPs. Roberta Flack had a captivating voice. I like her early material, this is her second album.

Flash and the Pan – Flash and the Pan – LP – 1979
Still listening to “F.” This is a deserted island record.

T.R. Bruce – Selling Your – Stream – 2023
I’m back to streaming some new music.

Nevis – Reverberations – Stream – 2023
The first track on this album blew me away the first time I heard it.

Flash and the Pan – Early Morning Wake Up Call – LP – 1984
More “F” ing vinyl.

Annie Taylor – Inner Smile – Stream – 2023
Inner Smile is an excellent mowing-the-lawn album. I put on my over-the-ear active noise-cancelling headphones. Inner Smile is nearly the same amount of time I need to mow the backyard lawn. Now I am listening to Inner Smile in the office and this is one sweet rock and roll album.

Guided By Voices – Welshpool Frillies – Stream – 2023
More new music from Friday.

Some of these recordings are reviewed on my blog site, WeatheredMusic.ca

Kevin – On Repeat #205 – Stream – 2023
Another playlist that I enjoyed listening to. Thanks, Kevin.

Reverberations are the repetition of a sound resulting from the reflection of sound waves. Reverberation is not an echo; it is more like the echo of an echo; repeat as needed. Reverb is common in an electric guitar setup. It could be a floor pedal, a rack component or built into the amp and activated with the flick of a switch. Reverb is also used by sound engineers, architects, and numerous others, it is literally all around us.

Reverberations is also the name of a Nevaris album released nearly two months ago. Better late than never, I hope. When the single Dub Sol hit my inbox in March of this year, I put it on repeat and got my groove on. I loved it! And then, I waited for the full release to drop, which it did on June 2nd, which will be two months ago, in a couple of days. I have listened to this numerous times over those two months as I waited for inspiration to hit me and write something about this incredible album. It hit me today.

Manhattan-based artist NEVARIS and legendary bassist-producer BILL LASWELL have crafted an energetic and soulful collaboration inspired by the energy of New York City. Dub Sol garnered the praise of CARLOS SANTANA, who called this collection “a work of supreme creativity.”

‘Reverberations‘ is the third collaboration between Nevaris, Bill Laswell and this lineup of musicians (D.J. Logic, Will Bernard, Peter Apfelbaum and Lockatron, with the addition of Matt Dickey), here focusing more on the dub aspects of their sound. Here, the musicians’ New York City roots shine through. Bass, percussion, drums and turntables take center stage on this track, with a New York sound that channels the energy and vibrancy of the city. Reverberations is released via Laswell‘s boutique label M.O.D. Reloaded. 

These songs wouldn’t fit on a 45 vinyl. Correction, one piece; Locatronic clocks in at a mere 3:43. The remainder are at lengths ranging from 4:29 to 7:46. Heck, you would need both sides of a 45 to contain some of these tracks. All told, these are gathered together as a glorious 45 minutes of head bobbing, toe-tapping, and pausing whatever I’m doing while I listen to this music. Did you notice how I slyly moved from a 45 to 45 minutes? Continuity folks, all in the name of continuity.

A musician and visual artist, Nevaris is a percussionist, keyboardist, vocalist and composer whose music is influenced by Afro-Latin, dub, funk and the sounds of the streets. Born and raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, he is of European and Mexican descent with multi-generational roots in both N.Y.C. and L.A.’s Echo Park neighbourhood. Dang, it would have been so cool if he had lived in Reverberation Park instead of Echo Park!

Before recording ‘Reverberations,’ Nevaris recorded and performed with an evolving lineup of musicians named Loud Apartment, most notably Bernie Worrell of P-Funk and Talking Heads fame.

“This record builds on the momentum from ‘System Breakdown’ and ‘New Future,’ which we released in 2020 and 2022 as Loud Apartment. There were dub aspects of those recordings, so Bill Laswell and I decided to create a recording entirely focused on that sound. It was a logical next step and came together in an organic way. We let the music go where it needed to go,” says Nevaris.

Photo Credit: Nevaris photo by Michael Black

“It’s a dub-based project, with breakbeat, funk, ambient, and afro-latin elements. It’s rhythm-based music where the pocket is essential. Lockatron is a huge part of that, as, of course, is Bill Laswell, DJ Logic and everyone else involved. Peter Apfelbaum‘s horn arrangements are also a core aspect. In my mind, it’s a cohesive piece of music that is best listened to as a whole rather than as individual songs. And Bill takes it where it needs to go with the production like no one else really can.”

In addition to his work as a musician, Nevaris is a visual and multimedia artist who has worked on various creative projects across mediums. He also co-founded Nolej Records, Nolej Studios and the Uncomun Festival.

Enough talking for now. Let’s listen to the music, please.

Reverberations is released via Laswell’s boutique label M.O.D. Reloaded. 

Pre-order the ‘Reverberations’ album https://nevaris.bandcamp.com/album/reverberations

Spotify  https://open.spotify.com/artist/7v3fX2yK24jpCaMktBQUbY

‘Interference’  https://nevaris.bandcamp.com/track/interference 

‘Dub Sol’  https://nevaris.bandcamp.com/track/dub-sol

Apple Music  https://music.apple.com/us/album/reverberations/1669589207