Search results: Joyce

Review: One of the many musical golden moments Joyce has given us during her 20 album/40 year career, "Aldeia de Ogum" is a full-bodied samba smash that enjoyed a renaissance during London's acid jazz era in the late 80s. Meanwhile on the flip Roshina lays down an incredible version of Fitzgerald's "Summertime". Spider like nylon string finger business, softly backed by emotion-drenched strings, it's one of the best cover versions Mr Bongo have ever given us.

Review: Passarinho Urbano (Urban Bird) is the album-length result of a chance encounter between singer and musician Joyce Moreno and producer Sergio Bardotti in Rome, Italy. Thoroughly relaxed and recharged after a long break in the city, Moreno's rejuvenated state of mind lent immediately to a spur-of-the-moment reimagining of some of her favourite classical Brazilian MPB and bossa nova standards, some of whose original composers were leading lights of the underground cultural resistance during the country's military dictatorship by the Brazilian Army during the 1960s. With a soft-spoken, intimate vocal intonation by Moreno, and a composition centring on slow-building, rhythmically deft call-and-response cantos, this album deserves its longstanding status as a secret masterpiece, a status which'll surely be renewed once more by this first-time-worldwide reissue by Week-End Records.

Review: Joyce Cooling went on to become a hugely successful pop and jazz singer and guitarist but before all that she recorded Cameo, a much-revered debut album that now gets reissued for the very first time. It's a tune with rich Brazilian influences that veers from swing to pop and back again with her vocals on three of the seven tunes as much of the focus is on her guitar. She is joined by skilled sideman such as keyboardist Jay Wagner and it makes for a superb listen featuring several fine performances.

Review: Detroit-born Joyce Hurley learned how to play the basics of piano in the USA but recorded this soulful jazz classic in Sydney in 1978. It is very much held in high esteemed by jazz cats around the world and despite its popularity and the fact that it is often spoken about, it has been incredibly hard to find. It features some standards as well as instrumental songs by David Martin Group who act as backing on tunes including 'Sambole' and 'Here And Now'. There is also a standout version of Herbie Hancock's 'Maiden Voyage' helping to make this such a doozy.

Review: This album is an opportunity to hear the music of Philip Glass as you never have before. It is perfumed by Donald Joyce who has selected some of the most haunting of Glass's works to play on one of America's best tracker pipe organs. it means all the many nuances of Glass's music and its unique sonic characteristics are brought to life in a new way with this handcrafted instrument comprising 4861 pipes, four keyboards, and 70 stops. These works are said to reconcile Glass with Wagner - their music shares a neo-romantic vibe that is unique to them and eloquently augmented here with the source music take from as far back as the late sixties.

Review: Veteran Brazilian singer-songwriter Joyce first teamed up with Mauricio Maestro for Visions Of Dawn, a 2009 album of samba, bossanova and folk which celebrated everything vital about Latin American music culture. Now they're back on Far Out with a new album of sunkissed magic that will take you right back to that feel-good place they explored on their first collaboration, taking in delicate balladry and playful whimsy steeped in soul and sentiment. It's a joyous listen from two totems of Brazilian music, produced, arranged and conducted by Claus Ogerman.

Review: This record is named after Vedanta, an ancient philosophy based on the Vedas, the sacred scriptures of India. The music, originally composed and produced by Joseph S Joyce and later remixed by Sebastian Mullaert of Minilogue, was greatly inspired, after reading commentaries from Swami Rama Tirtha's biography "The Scientist & Mahatma" - Chapter 1 - Vedanta and The Secret of Success. Now, some nine years later, it gets served up as a remix EP. There's a dark El Choop Reconstruct, a gorgeous ambient version from Sebastian Mullaert, a minimal headscape from Van Bonn, Federson SF goes warm and dubby and then a crisp, tech-edged vibe from Paul 90 ends the EP in style.

Review: NOW Music is on with a big project here that sees the long-running label present a new series of vinyl compilations, NOW That's What I Call 80s Dancefloor. Each one is set to include what they deem to be "an essential collection of tracks" that they hope offer fair representation of a number of key musical movements and genres from across the 80s. The first volume presented the best in HI-NRG and POP and this one, a double album, focusses on Soul & Disco. All the names you'd expect are here from Prince to Daryl Hall & John Oates, Loose Ends to Rufus & Chaka Khan, so it is a useful one indeed.

Review: Under The Influence is Z Records' effort to document and preserve lost, forgotten soul-and-funk-feeding-into-house finds. Rahaan, from Chicago, here gets their attention and praise; a DJ and early progenitor of Chicago house, these tracks (unearthed from the vaults) are expensive and weighty forays through italo, disco and new wave, all carefully chosen by the man himself.

Review: Today, what does it mean to form relationships and love each other, IRL? That's exactly what British singer-songwriter Mahalia's latest album attempts to answer, having been inspired by a traumatic breakup and period in therapy. Broader in style than her earlier work, one might read cognitive dissonance, double-consciousness, or a post-breakup divided selfhood into this album; whether that's reflected in the tick-box conditionality of spectacular relationships on the track 'Terms And Conditions', or the inevitable consequences of this in the r&b-swangy 'Cheat' or the critical reconciliation of 'Hey Stranger'. Smooth but shaded throughout, this is the sound of Mahalia working through her demons and restructuring her idea of what real love is.

Review: Free Nationals released their debut album back in 2018. The LA-formed R&B collective comprised of Jose Rios, Ron "T.Nava" Avant, Kelsey Gonzales and Callum Connor are best known as being the backing band for Anderson .Paak but also make grooves just as tight on their own. This debut was packed with top guests such as .Paak himself as well as Mac Miller and Kali Uchis and it was nominated for Best Progressive R&B Album at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. It mixes up classic R&B with twists of funk and soul greats like Stevie Wonder.

Review: There's no doubt that the brilliant, synthesizer-heavy soundtrack played a key part in the success of Netflix's deliciously odd thriller, Stranger Things. Written and performed by Survive members Kyle Dixon and Michael Steen, it got the right balance between John Carpenter style creepiness, Vangelis-like melodiousness, and the cinematic feel of classic movie soundtrack material. Happily, the streaming behemoth has decided to release two volumes of musical highlights from the series, beginning with this first volume. It's testament to the quality of the Texas-based duo's work that those who've not seen the series should still enjoy it. This is atmospheric, clandestine electronic music of the highest order.

Review: The Now collections have long been a staple of pretty much everyone's lives. In some cases, they are an introduction to the music of the day for young people looking to broaden their horizons and they have always nailed that MO. Now the series is so old they are also great for looking back on a time to get a good overview of what was going on. Here it is the 80s in the spotlight with endless amounts of singalong classics including from the likes of Phil Collins, Aretha Franklin, Bronchi Beat, Eurythmics, Fine Young Cannibals and many more. It's a fun and nostalgic listen, to be sure.

Review: Sky Girl is the work of two noted (but arguably under-appreciated) crate diggers, DJ Sundae and Julien Dechery, and gathers together a veritable treasure trove of obscure material loosely connected by (in the label's own words) "the same longing sentiment". Its' fifteen tracks touch on a variety of hazy, down-tempo styles, and were recorded at various points between 1961 and '91. There's much to admire throughout, from the folksy psychedelic pop of The Rising Storm's "Frozen Laughter", and spoken word eccentricity of Scott Seskind's "I Remember", to the dreamy, eyes-closed ambience of Nini Raviolette & Hugo Weris' "Slow" and string-laden samba-folk of Nora Guthrie's "Home Before Dark".

Review: This ambitious project from P-Vine looks at an impressive 27 different compilation album and pulls together the best of them into an all new collection that arrives in celebration of Toru Hashimoto. This year makes his 30th anniversary as a compiler - in all his has put out more than 350 of them across the last three decades and many of them have been big hits such as Free Soul and Cafe Apres-midi. As such he is now rather a household name in Japan thanks to his next level ears and fresh taste - this collection will hopefully make him a more globally renowned talent.