Reviews: Recordings
Camille, Music Hole
Written by Alexis Petridis - The Gaurdian   
Friday, 04 April 2008
It's not often that one record can claim to have laid waste to an entire musical genre, but then, it's not often that anyone releases a record as unmitigatedly wretched as Bobby McFerrin's novelty hit Don't Worry, Be Happy. It wiped the collective memory of the glorious musical heights that can be scaled with the human voice alone - the gorgeous old doo-wop singles, the chilling, blood-spattered folk ballads, the Beach Boys' ethereal Our Prayer - in three minutes of revolting bumper-sticker sentiment and flatly dreadful advice: in the event that your landlord say your rent is late and he may have to litigate, there are several options open, but the one thing you definitely shouldn't do is follow McFerrin's suggestion, which seems to involve chuckling at him and saying, "Look at me, I'm 'appy." Ever since, acapella pop has been a cordoned-off area. Like one of those game Ukrainan businessmen who organises tourist trips around Chernobyl, Björk had a go with her 2004 album Medúlla, but the public remained deeply wary.

Read the full article here.

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Motown Hitsville USA
Written by Damelia Ajla -The Star Online   
Monday, 18 February 2008
AH ... have nearly two decades gone by since the men were boyz? Let me at least admit that the group’s early singles offered some pure, enduring pleasure with plain bluesy harmonies beneath sweet romantic melodies.

Read the full review of Boyz II Men's latest CD here.

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Rahzel Preps For His Greatest Knock Out
Written by CASA NewsLink   
Thursday, 17 January 2008
Rahzel, who rose to fame as part of The Roots Crew, has announced the release of a new studio album, Greatest Knockouts The Album, Vol. 2, set to hit stores this summer via Ipecac Records. This album will be the third for the Human Beatbox. His last album was released in 2004, and was titled,Rahzel's Greatest Knockouts.

Rahzel spoke about the new album. He told Billboard, "It's still hip-hop. It's like the music I grew up on, the music that made all of these things that are present now in existence. So I'm continuing that with raw beats, raw rhymes, beat-boxing, rhyming. The whole nine."

Read the full article profiling Rahzel and his latest CD, here.

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Choral CD from St. Louisans is a winner
Written by CASA NewsLink   
Tuesday, 15 January 2008
A winning new recording by St. Louis musicians should demonstrate to anyone's satisfaction that the local classical scene is alive and well.

The St. Louis Chamber Chorus is surely the most consistent commissioner of new works — all for a cappella chorus — in the region. This disc, with music by both long-established and up-and-coming composers, offers some of the Chamber Chorus' most significant commissions in a studio recording.

Recorded in the nave of Our Lady of Sorrows Roman Catholic Church in south St. Louis by engineer Barry Hufker, it offers beautiful singing, clean sound and engaging music. Although Ned Rorem is the big name here, and his "Ode to Man," from Sophocles' "Antigone," is an important work, it's not the most impressive of the works on the disc.

Read the full review here.

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JERRY LAWSON AND TALK OF THE TOWN Don’t Call them Doo Wop!
Written by Jonathan Minkoff   
Friday, 23 November 2007
When you think of Doo Wop you think of back-ups singing “shoo doo bop” and basses distinctly pronouncing their “bum bum bums” as they gravelly arpeggiate their way through simple chord progressions like I-IV-V. You think of a soulful, streetwise lead, perhaps with a worldly rasp. You might think of a high falsetto “ooh” descant. You might think of a free wheeling sense of intonation and blend, and a strong, stage-filling, presentational delivery. Jerry Lawson & Talk of the Town deliver all that and more on their eponymous release, but whatever you do, don’t call them Doo Wop!

 

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