Merchants Of Air
  • Home
  • Reviews
    • Albums
    • Concerts
  • Premieres
  • Interviews
  • Giveaways
  • Playlists
  • Shop
    • Merchants Of Air releases
  • About us
    • About Us
    • Writers Wanted
    • Logos and banner
    • Advertise
    • Mailinglist

Yves Peeters Gumbo - The Big Easy

6/2/2016

Comments

 
jazz / soul / funk
De Werf
Amazon
Website
Foto
Picture
Support Merchants Of Air Check out our THISISNOTABANDSHIRT collection
When this album arrived last week I had no idea what to do with it.  Before I even started listening to it, I was scratching my head and wondering what to write about this.  After all, this is not our usual cup of tea.  So last night, I brought this album with me when we were going to visit a friend. He is a jazz fan and has a bit more knowledge about jazz and related genres.  In the end we ended up getting quite drunk and reminiscing about music history. Result: I still didn't know what to write about it, but I am going to try anyway.

Yves Peeters is a Belgian drummer who has been fascinated by the rich musical history of New Orleans.  With his project Gumbo he tries to blend jazz, gospel, blues, funk and parade bands music together.  He also got help from some well-known musicians, including Francois Vaiana & Bruce James (vocals), Nicolas Kummert (tenor sax); Dree Peremans (trombone) and Nicolas Thys (bass).  

The album opens with the groovy 'My Gombo's Free', a warm and soulful song which somehow reminds me of world music festivals in the midst of summer.  That feeling continues throughout the first three songs.  It is as if this band is playing, much to the enjoyment of a big smile wearing audience, while the sun is heating up all the souls in attendance.  Funk, groovy, soul and jazz are being blended into a joyful Mardi Gras.

'Force Of Nature Part 1' takes on a full-on jazz approach with solos and complex rhythms while 'Part 2' suddenly comes up with what seems like African chants and immersive percussion.  I guess this second part is my favorite tune on this album.  Both songs also show the versatility of this project, making music that sounds familiar but never hesitates to experiment a little, I quite like that about this album.

'Lighthouse' suddenly goes a lot darker, driving on piano, bass, lingering wind instruments and minimalistic soundscapes. It nudges towards the darkjazz scene, which I like a lot.  Perhaps this is also the most radio friendly song on this album, but to be honest, I have no idea about the music they play on the radio nowadays.  I prefer to ignore that medium.  Nonetheless, this is a strong piece of music.

'Masquerade' shows the big band approach and 'No Hero' is a calm ballad, driving on almost droning bass.  Both are again two quite different songs on an already highly varied album.  But the key question is, 'who am I going to recommend this to?'  Well, if you're into jazz, funk, soul and groove, this certainly is something that you want to check out.  If not, do it anyway, it wouldn't be the first time you're pleasantly surprise by something beyond your own scene.


​Serge
Comments

Angéline - Back to Pike Place 

21/8/2015

Comments

 
singer / songwriter / soul
facebook
Picture
Foto
In my opinion, there's two different kinds of music: music that irritates me and good music.  I really do not care about genres, techniques or other points of discussion.  When the music doesn't annoy me, it has the potential to be played often in this household.  Besides, usually I look beyond the music, I listen to the heart, mind and soul of the artist and try to capture the story he or she is trying to tell me.  

Today I found a gem that will probably find the way to the media player a lot from now on.  It's way different from most things you can find on this website but it has a lot of heart and certainly a lot of soul.  The artist's is named Angéline. She hails from France but studied music in England.  This record was initially composed from sounds from everyday activities, like tapping on desks and such.  From their she recorded the demos and eventually the e.p. was gradually being born.

The e.p. opens with the beautiful song 'Black Butterflies'.  This song fits perfectly in the current wave of female electronic artists like Banks, Austra or Emika.  However, as I mentioned before, there's a lot of soul in here and names like Lauren Hill or Mary J. Blige aren't far away.  'Si J'avais La Choix' repeats that quality, be it in a darker, eighties electronic fashion.  Mainly because of the French vocals in this song, I'm reminded of Lara Fabian.

'Aama' is a beautiful song, seemingly borrowing from trip-hop or at least perfectly fitting in that genre.  The song was initially recorded for a Nepal relieve charity fund and features a lengthy ocarina solo.  Well, I think it's an ocarina, it reminds me of an ancient tape I bought for my father decades ago.  'Ghost Dance' then takes things down to a calm, intimate level and quickly becomes one of my favorite electronic ballads in a while.  'Kohly' is a strange intermission, consisting of recorded bird sounds.  

Closer 'While I Was Away' returns the earlier soul-feeling with very strong vocals and a dubby bass line.  It feels even more organic than the previous songs and shows hints of traditional African and Caribbean music along with the droning electronics.  This is the stuff heard on world music festivals around the world and I'll be sure to keep an eye out for when Angéline appears on one of those places.  This is beautiful music with the heart in the right place.  Respect!


Serge
Comments
    subscribe to our newsletter

    Genres

    All
    Acoustic
    Alternative
    Ambient
    Avant Garde
    Avant-garde
    Black Metal
    Blues
    Children
    Classical
    Country
    Crust
    Dark Ambient
    Dark Jazz
    Darkwave
    Death Metal
    Doom
    Dream Pop
    Drone
    Drum & Bass
    Dub
    Dubstep
    EBM
    Electro
    Electronic
    Ethereal
    Experimental
    Folk
    Folk Metal
    Funk
    Gothic
    Grindcore
    Grunge
    Hardcore
    Hard Rock
    Heavy Metal
    Hip Hop
    Hip-hop
    Idm
    Indie
    Industrial
    Instrumental
    Jazz
    Krautrock
    Martial
    Math Rock
    Metal
    Metalcore
    Neo Classical
    Neo-classical
    Neo Folk
    Neo-folk
    Noise
    Noise Rock
    Noise-rock
    Nu Metal
    Nu-metal
    Opera
    Pop
    Post Metal
    Post Punk
    Post Rock
    Progressive
    Psychedelic
    Psytrance
    Punk
    Reggae
    Rock
    Score
    Shoegaze
    Singer/songwriter
    Sludge
    Soul
    Southern Rock
    Speed Metal
    Stoner
    Symphonic Metal
    Synthpop
    Techno
    Thrash
    Triphop
    Trip-hop
    World

    Archives

    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

Find us on

facebook
google+
twitter
tumblr
​
minds

About Us

Contact
FAQ
Logos and banners
© COPYRIGHT 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.