Reviews – Page 33 – 7th Level Music

Rewind Review: Esquivel – Music from a Sparkling Planet (1995)

Music from a Sparkling Planet is a wonderfully titled compilation of Esquivel‘s space-age bachelor pad music consisting of Esquivel’s arrangements of other contemporaries’ music and his own compositions.

“Cachita” instantly plunges you into the groovy swimming pool of his music with his trademark blend of “latin-esque” sounds, beats, and grooves. “Cherokee” is idyllic to the point of mild hypnosis. “Third Man Theme” is more upbeat than anything you’d see in the Orson Welles movie. It belongs in a goofy European sex comedy from the 1960s about a guy who’s always bumped from hooking up with a lady because he’s the third wheel.

The electric piano on “La Bikina” is delightful. “La Paloma” and “Cachito” (the brother to “Cachita”) keep you in the lounging mood. The mellow accordion on “Cachito” is a neat touch. On “Granada,” he throws in those vocal “Zu zu zu” sounds that only he could make work in a tune, and combines them with Ennio Morricone-like trumpet.

“Question Mark (What Can You Do)” is one of his fully original compositions and arrangements, and it’s bold and bouncy and all-around fun (like the entire collection). “My Blue Heaven” is a quick, jumpy number that hops straight into his excellent version of “All of Me,” which practically throws you into a time machine and dumps you on the Las Vegas Strip circa 1965.

“Poinciana” is great example of Esquivel’s work. It has all the elements you want: Bold brass sections, jazzy piano, sultry vocal sounds, exotic percussion, and slightly psychedelic guitar work. “Flower Girl of Bordeaux” is perfect for rushing through the streets of a foreign land with someone beautiful in a quest of sexy adventure. “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” sends us out on a “cha-cha-cha.”

You can’t go wrong with stuff like this. It puts you in a better mood and transports you to faraway places that might be on Earth or in outer space.

Keep your mind open.

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Live: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs and The Tomblands – Sleeping Village – Chicago, IL – March 28, 2023

I almost didn’t come to this show. The venue, Sleeping Village, was over two hours’ driving time from my house. It was on a Tuesday night, and it started late – 9pm Central time, which is 10pm in the Eastern time zone where I live. I worked an eight-hour shift that day and had to work another the following morning. I guessed I wouldn’t get home until 2:30am if I was lucky.

Then I learned that this would not only be the first time Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs would be in Chicago, but it was their first U.S. tour ever. That’s when I knew I had to be at this show, and they’d already announced tickets were running low. I snagged one of the few remaining tickets and got in a disco nap before making the drive.

This was also the first show I’d seen at Sleeping Village, which is a nice, small venue. The stage and viewing area are in a space smaller than some convenience stores. As soon as I walked in and saw the size of the space, and knew how powerful a Pigs x 7 show could be, I thought, “They’re going to destroy this place.”

First to start the demolition were local noise-psych rockers The Tomblands. They brought a wall of guitars, two drummers, and a ton of energy to the stage. They also encouraged all the locals to get out and vote in the upcoming Chicago mayoral election.

The lads from Newcastle Upon Tyne came out at 10pm (Central) sharp and kicked things off with the raucous “Mr. Medicine” off their new album, Land of Sleeper. The power they unleashed felt like someone threw open the door of a blast furnace.

(L-R: Adam Ian Sykes, John-Micheal Joseph Hedley, Matthew Baty, Sam Grant)

They tore through “Rubbernecker” and “Halloween Bolson,” with lead singer Baty bouncing, stomping, and prowling around the stage like a kabuki performer, bassist Hedley played like his guitar he was holding an electric eel, and Sykes and Grant kept trading shredding solos.

Some of us finally got a mosh pit started by the time they got to “Ultimate Hammer” and continued to floor the audience with their combination of metal, doom, and punk. “Big Rig” was especially wild, and “GNT” and closer “A66” were downright fierce.

I got to shake hands and chat a bit with the porcine quintet after the show and asked Baty how the tour had been so far, especially after it was so long coming after 2020 shut it down the first time.

“It’s been…fucking amazing,” Baty said. “We thought we’d be playing shows to, like, fifty people, and they’ve all been like this. It’s incredible.”

It was.

Keep your mind open.

Thanks to the nice young lady who let me snap this photo of the set list she scored.

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[Thanks to Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs for the show, autographs, and chats!]

Review: Eaves Wilder – Hookey

Referencing both skipping school classes and filling songs with hooks, Eaves Wilder‘s debut EP, Hookey, is a fun record about teenage life and preferring to spend one’s time doing what you want instead of putting up with other people’s crap.

I mean, “I Stole Your Jumper” pretty much flips the table on a lover who made her feel bad. She’s done with that business, and her chugging 1990s alt-rock guitar chords only seem to fuel her sneer and desire to kick someone in the groin. Plus, she gets a new jumper out of it.

“Are You Diagnosed?” is a standout as Wilder sings about her treatment at a hospital and how that treatment was affected by her status of whether or not she was officially diagnosed with anything. “You could be dying up close, but are you diagnosed?” she sings, but you’re not going to get treatment until stacks of paperwork are completed and you’ve been through a maze of appointments, phone calls, and visits with people who have no idea what you’ve already done. The hooks in it are killer. “I’m sick of asking for help,” she says. Who wouldn’t be?

“Morning Rain” is a tale of skipping school because it’s just too lovely outside to be cooped up all day. Her guitar work in it has a sort of melted sound to it that’s difficult to pull off, but she does it well.

In “Connect the Rooms,” Wilder sings (in a somewhat distant voice sprinkled with reverb) about making music while elevating in her room thanks to certain substances. It’s clearly the most psychedelic of the four tracks and could easily earn her a spot at a Levitation festival if she wants.

This EP is the start of something big. It’s the kind of record you want to get now so later, when she’s playing big stages, you can say, “I’ve been following her since the Hookey EP.”

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jessica at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Black Helium – UM

You might look at the track listing of Black Helium‘s new album, UM, and initially think, “Five tracks? Why isn’t this considered an EP?” It’s because it’s five tracks of wild London psych-rock with two tracks that are over ten minutes long…and one of those is over fifteen minutes long.

The first of the double-digit tracks is the album’s opener, “Another Heaven,” which unloads on you like cosmic cannon fire and then settles down into a groove as trippy as the album’s cover. Their love of Black Sabbath is evident in the second half of the track when it goes from weird psychedelia into bass-heavy (thanks to Beck Harvey) doom sludge (which I love).

“I Saw God” (at only eight minutes and nine seconds in length) brings in some garage rock and, dare I say it, some pop-like beats for a good blend of genres resulting in a toe-tapping rocker. “Dungeon Head,” at under three minutes, is a mantra-like appetizer for “Summer of Hair” – which is a great name for a track that harkens back to the swinging 1960s of London with its trippy sound and the 1990s of London with its electro-bass thumps and beats.

Ending with the fifteen-plus-minute “The Keys to Red Skeleton’s House (Open the Door),” Black Helium go for broke and unleash everything from cosmic guitar roars from Stuart Gray and Rush-like rhythms from Diogo Gomes to more of that heavy sludge that brings with it slow head-banging and a sense of menace.

The menace doesn’t overpower UM, leaving you with lots of cool grooves and powerful vibes. They could’ve named this album OM just from the way it vibrates in your chest, but instead named it UM, possibly to make you contemplate it and the rest of the cosmos.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Beck Harvey of Black Helium!]

Review: Sarayu – Intelligent Jump Rope Music

Hailing from Bangkok, Sarayu has brought us a cool slice of the Thailand house music scene (Yes, of course there is such a thing.) with his new EP, Intelligent Jump Rope Music.

Opening up with subtle synths that grow and grow until they become floor-filling grooves with thick bass lines on “The Bag,” the EP never lets up with dance beats designed to get you shaking in a sweaty club or a street festival. The snappy percussion of “E30 Track” will inspire pop-locking and / or kickboxing. The repetitive beats mix perfectly with the almost subliminal bass.

The title track, and a remix of it by Locked Groove, take up the second half / side of the EP. It seems to emerge from you speakers like a serpent being summoned by Buddhist monks to hunt for mice who tend to eat ancient scrolls. The percussion in the remix thumps harder and ups the glam.

It’s a sharp EP, and it looks like the trend of great house music releases continues from last year if Intelligent Jump Rope Music is any indication.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Harbour Music Society.]

Rewind Review: Tinariwen – Emmaar (2014)

In case you hadn’t noticed, I’ve been on a Tinariwen kick this month.

Emmaar is an album they released in 2014 and was recorded in a different desert than they one in which they live and sing about in Algeria. Emmaar was recorded in Joshua Tree, California in the spring of 2013. They were amid cacti, mountain flowers, horses, a different kind of heat, cowboy culture, and probably a bunch of hippy Californians. They were far from their homeland, which might’ve fueled the songs on Emmaar (The Heat on the Breeze) – as they are about the Tuareg people and their struggles and the peace of their home desert. One can’t help but wonder if Tinariwen saw Southwestern Native Americans as their own desert nomads and felt kinship with them.

After all, the opening track is “Toumast Tincha” (“The People Have Been Sold Out”), and the album’s first lyrics translate to “The ideals of the people have been sold out, my friends. Any peace imposed by force is bound to fail and give way to hatred.” Add sizzling guitars to that kind of piercing imagery and you get a powerful track. “Chaghaybou” is a song about a man who reflects the proud spirit of the Tuareg people.

“Arhegh Danagh” (“I Want to Tell”) is a great example of the “desert blues” Tinariwen play so well. It blends haunting guitar sounds and hand percussion with deep Delta blues lyrics like “Today’s love is like a mirage. The closer you get, the further away it goes. It’s been ten years since love left me, since it deserted my soul and no longer crosses my path…” I mean, Howlin’ Wolf sang stuff like that every night. “Timadrit in Sahara” (“Youth in Sahara”) is a call to action of the Tuareg kids to challenge the world. In reverse, “Imidiwan Ahi Sigdim” (“Friends, Hear me”) is a call to the band’s own generation to remember those who sacrificed before them but also to not get trapped in the past and old ways of thinking that destroyed so many.

“Tahalamot” is a beautiful song about a woman so beautiful that the singer puts on his best robes and musk and brings out his best saddle to ride to her like a nobleman. The droning bass and snappy guitar exude the man’s confidence and determination to see her again and win her heart. “Sendad Eghlalan” (“This Constant Lethargy”) is another call for the Tuareg men to snap out of being “engrossed and seduced by a world that’s forever advancing.” It’s interesting to note that women are included in this cry, as they’ve already figured out all this and are able to see through the illusions far easier than us stubborn dudes.

“Imidiwanin Ahi Tifhamam” (“Friends, Understand Me!”) is a song about love that has come and gone, but there are no regrets – only fond memories and lessons taken to heart. “Koud Edhaz Emin” (“Even if I Seem to Smile”) has the singer putting on a brave face as he watches so many of his brothers suffering from oppression, illusions they willfully embrace, and the pursuit of materialistic pleasures while they have far better things like Tuareg songs and music to enjoy. “Emajer” is delightfully playful, and the closer, “Aghregh Medin” (“I Call on Man”), a call for unity, is like a mantra.

It’s another beautiful record by Tinariwen, among their many others, and the blend of African and U.S. desert culture is a powerful incense you’ll want to float around you for a long while.

Keep your mind open.

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Live: Viagra Boys – The Salt Shed – Chicago, IL – Feb. 24, 2023

My friend and I arrived at Chicago’s Salt Shed (the former Morton’s Salt factory) too late to catch The Steens, mainly due to chilly weather and heavy traffic, but we made it in plenty of time to see Viagra Boys. The venue is pretty damn big, and they packed the place in a near sold-out show that lead singer Sebastian Murphy said might’ve been their biggest show in the United States.

They certainly brought the energy to back that claim, opening with a pounding version of “I Ain’t No Thief” that had beer cans and water cups flying everywhere over the large main crowd floor. Following that with “Ain’t Nice” was like pouring gasoline on a fire.

The crowd was jumping, yelling, singing and even sometimes dumbfounded as Viagra Boys ripped through old and new tracks and sometimes wandered into weird psychedelia, including a Captain Beefheart-like saxophone solo by Oscar Carls.

Other highlights included the crowd favorites “Sports” and “Troglodyte” (which had everyone chanting), the graphic deep cut “Liquids” (which Murphy admitted, on stage, is “a song about getting peed on.”), a trippy version of “Creepy Crawlers,” and a long, wild version of “Shrimp Shack” to close out the main set. It was also cool to hear “Worms” during the encore, as it’s a sharp song about impermanence but almost a relaxing tonic before “Research Chemicals” hits you in the face.

They set a high bar for bands the rest of the year. Enjoy the chaos with them if you get a chance.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Tinariwen – Aman Iman: Water Is Life (2022 reissue)

Originally released in 2007, Tinariwen‘s third album, Aman Iman: Water Is Life, is a stunning piece of work that tells stories of rough desert living, friendship, spiritual searches, heartbreak, and blessings.

“Cler Achel” starts off the record with Tinariwen’s characteristic handclaps and Mohammed Ag Itlale‘s snappy, raw, and blues-influenced guitar work. I don’t know how Touareg bands do it, but only they can seem to make guitars sound like this, and Itlale is a master at making a guitar sound like a desert wind one moment and a chattering, happy bird the next.

The vocal trills on “Ahimana” instantly transport you out of your environment and into a desert landscape, and the languid rhythm of “Soixante Trois” curls around you like a warm cat at your feet. “Toumast” (one of multiple calls on the album for Touraeg clans to unite) might be one of the more psychedelic tracks on the album, as the guitar tones on it shift from mesmerizing to almost garage rock sounds.

“Imidiwan Winakalin” rolls along with a danceable beat and fades out like the sun going down behind a tall dune. Other tracks lull you into a sense of being part of something bigger and yet something that can be found in something as small as a sand grain. The closer, “Izarharh Ténéré,” drifts away from you like a warm breeze moving toward a night sky.

It’s another lovely album from them, and a perfect balm for stress.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Sam at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Tinariwen – Imidiwan: Companions (2022 reissue)

Tinariwen‘s fourth album, Imidiwan: Companions sends you into a hypnotic desert landscape from the first notes of the opener, “Imidiwan Afrik Temdam.” The simple, yet haunting guitar, the handclap percussion, and the group vocals during the chorus instantly are uplifting.

The whole album is like that (as is pretty much every Tinariwen record). “Lulla” will get you and everyone around you dancing. The heavy guitar chords of “Tenhert” would make Johnny Cash smile. “Tamodjerazt Assis” has a cool psychedelic rhythm that will make your head sway like its turned into a willow tree in a soft wind.

The chant-like vocals of “Imazeghen N Adagh” are almost as hypnotizing as the dust devil guitar chords and unhurried hand percussion. “Assuf Ag Assuf” moves like smoke. “Ere Tasfata Adouina” is perfect for a ride through the desert with no particular agenda or destination with its dreamy guitar licks and relaxed, but soulful vocals. The album closes with “Desert Wind,” a slightly eerie instrumental of simple guitar and synth loops that creates a mind-warping effect.

Tinariwen were making a lot of international waves when this album originally came out in 2009, and its reissue is a welcome treat for fans of Tuareg music, desert rock, and the band’s early career.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Sam at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Rewind Review: Esquivel – Cabaret Mañana (1995)

Cabaret Mañana is an excellent collection of the space-age composer, maestro, bandleader, musician, and arranger, Juan Garcia Esquivel, who was so cool that he could just go by his last name like Karloff, Lugosi, Bowie, Kubrick, Hitchcock, and Morricone.

The compilation covers tracks from 1958 to 1967 and begins with “Mini Skirt,” which was only released in Mexico and Puerto Rico until this album was released in 1995. It’s a fun track about one of Esquivel’s favorite subjects, women, complete with wolf whistle’s and sexy piano riffs.

“Johnson Rag” blends big brass sections with singers singing “Zu-zu-zu” again and again. Esquivel was known as mixing traditional sounds with plenty of outsider stuff like nonsense lyrics just for the sound of them or putting Chinese bells in Latin music. His arrangement of Cole Porter‘s “Night and Day” sounds like it could be a Bond film theme at one point, and then bachelor pad music in the next. “El Cable” is so happy that it could probably banish rainclouds if you played it loud enough.

“Harlem Nocturne” also sounds like an action film theme, and Esquivel did write a lot of music for action TV shows (Miami Vice, The Six Million Dollar Man, and The A-Team among them). “Mucha Muchacha” is one of two tracks on the compilation, the other being “Estrellita,” that are from his Latin-Esque album. Esquivel was so committed to capturing stereo sound on that album that he divided his orchestra in half and had them play simultaneously in separate studios while he and another conductor worked together via closed-circuit television.

Yeah, that was the kind of work ethic he had.

“Time on My Hands” reminds me of some of Ennio Morricone‘s work with its ticking clock setting a constant beat while a slightly sorrowful trumpet plays in another room. “Malagueña” transports you to an exotic desert land on another planet. His take on “Sentimental Journey” is a blast and loaded with his trademarks of space-pop sound, flirting whistles, and those lovely ladies singing “zu-zu-zu.”

The percussion on “Limehouse Blues” is delightfully weird, especially when you mix it with Tiki bar guitar riffs and synths that sound like they’re drunk on margaritas. “April in Portugal” shows off Esquivel’s piano skills. “Question Mark (Que Vas a Hacer)” sounds like the opening theme of a 1960s European sex comedy. His version of “It Had to Be You” is bawdy and beautiful, suitable for night clubs and strip clubs.

“Yeyo” is snappy and a bit bratty (in a fun way). “Lullaby of Birdland” practically struts its sexy stuff down the boulevard on a hot summer day. “Flower Girl from Bordeaux” is full of bold trumpet work, jazz lounge piano, and exotic vocal sounds that create a luscious cocktail.

It’s a fun, lovely compilation from one of the best composers of the 1960s and should be heard by many.

Keep your mind open.

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