Around The World In A Neddy Daze – 2nd Leg Edition: Sundays & Cybele, Tamikrest, Les Amazones d’Afrique, Sr. Langosta & Shintaro Sakamoto
By Aaron Stein Apr 12, 2017 • 9:31 am PDT
Sundays & Cybele: Chaos & Systems
Last week the USS RecommNeds toured Europe and this week we venture to a couple other continents. First stop is Japan, home to some of the finest and weirdest psychedelia in the world. Sundays & Cybele is a worthy representative. Their new release, Chaos & Systems is a glorious, far-ranging five-tracks with churning grooves, soaring Santana-esque guitar jags and plenty of exciting day-trip excursions. Out on the never-steer-you-wrong Beyond Beyond Is Beyond label, Chaos & Systems is a jam-lovers dream … if you’re reading this column, you’ve got to go listen to this right now.
Tamikrest: Kidal
From Asia to Africa, we set our coordinates on Mali, another destination that has sourced one fantastic musical discovery after another. On this trip we find the newest album from Tamikrest a fine entrant in the Tuareg tradition. Kidal is the album name and also the town where the band formed, the southwestern frontier of the Sahara. Like their forebears, the music is a hypnotic hardpan of guitars and drone rhythms. Tamikrest back fills western motifs and grooves to the traditional desert sounds for an easily-digestible and incredibly enjoyable album, that doesn’t lose the power and imagery of the source material. Enjoy!
Les Amazones d’Afrique: Republique Amazone
Staying on the continent we find a West African “supergroup,” Les Amazones d’Afrique, which includes Angelique Kidjo and Mariam Doumbia of Amadou & Mariam, among many others. The group and their music exists to campaign for gender equality in Africa and beyond. The music on their album Republique Amazone stretches across a range of African styles often intermixed. Taken together, it is a powerful, infectious record, funky and engaging, well worth digging into.
Sr. Langosta: El Experimento Caribeño
We’ll take the slow boat to Puerto Rico where we find Sr. Langosta, an experimental jazz band from San Juan. On El Experimento Caribeño they are mixing the addictive bounce of Latin jazz with a more far-reaching psychedelic rock ‘n’ roll. The sound is big: a tenacious horn section goes toe-to-toe with organs and guitars, all ensconced in a serious rhythm section providing a Caribbean soundtrack of the highest order. There’s a lot going on in this one, familiar grooves with surprising twists, so get at it!
Shintaro Sakamoto: Love Is Possible
Pacific to Atlantic and back to the Pacific, back to Japan, making this trip a decidedly round one. Our final album this week is from Shintaro Sakamoto whose third solo album, Love Is Possible, is a weird, slow-groovy masterpiece. There is much fun to be had here, with lap steel and somewhat silly kid-voice effects, the sound palate is a unique one. But the tunes are excellent and the groove is real, a sort of half-speed Beck funk-pop with a lovedrug vibe. A perfect come-down for another trip around the world. Bon voyage!
