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Southern cookin’
The excellent Country Got Soul (Casual) collection of late 60s swampy Southern groovers cut by ornery DIY singer/songwriter hombres like Tony Joe White , Donnie Fritts , Eddie Hinton , Larry Jon Wilson , Dan Penn , Travis Wammack and Jim Ford actually has less to do with country & western – or anything twangy – than with gut-bucket funk. Even Charlie Rich ‘s Hi Rhythm-enhanced version of Hank Williams ‘s Hey Good Looking seems dance-floor ready. Whatever you wanna call it, this music feels real good.
Jazzy Björk
While searching for a way to reinvent herself post- Sugarcubes , Björk decided to test her pipes on a selection of Icelandic standards backed by an acoustic jazz trio. The resulting Gling-Gló ( One Little Indian ) disc – just reissued – succeeds largely because of the tastefully understated arrangements and the glorious power of Björk’s otherworldly voice. You don’t need to understand the meaning of Brestir Og Brak or Börnin Vid Tjörnina to be spellbound by Gling-Gló. Björk appears at Olympic Island Wednesday (September 3).
Hiphop Hieros return
Speaking of Björk, the Wu-Tang Clan evidently aren’t the only hiphop crew to have been beguiled by the siren song of the quirky ice princess. Oakland’s Hieroglyphics posse make good use of that charging tympani progression from Human Behaviour on the Domino -produced track Let It Roll hidden on the flip of their much less exciting Powers That Be 12-inch single from the upcoming Full Circle album. Pure genius. Hopefully, they just let Domino produce the whole thing.
Dub-tastic!
Broad-minded funk DJs having trouble trying to mix their favourite dub reggae joints into sets should find Michael “Pablo” Hunter ‘s revision of New Orleans funk standby Cissy Strut ( Red Hook ) very useful. The blunted beats and smoky effects that creep in midway through turn the familiar head-nodder into into King Tubby meets the Meters downtown. You might need two.
