Music
Tha Cartel, Cartel Diem: Lifestyles of the Young & Reckless (Independent)
On “Dream,” the fifth track on Cartel Diem: Lifestyles of the Young & Reckless, Tha Cartel detail their music’s background and New Orleans birthplace in terms not so much geographical […]
Impulss n’ Bazooka Joe, Bronx, New Orleans: Respect Where it Started (Quarter Rat Musique)
Bronx, New Orleans: Respect Where it Started is an idea that more or less markets itself: using New Orleans samples, Bronx DJ Bazooka Joe and New Orleans rapper Impulss bring […]
Etta James, The Essential Modern Records Collection (Virgin Records)
These were Miss Peaches’ first recordings from the mid-1950s, recorded for the legendary Los Angeles label. Discovered by bandleader Johnny Otis as a teenager, originally, James had mixed success cutting […]
Stanton Davis’ Ghetto Mysticism, Brighter Days (Cultures of Soul Records)
For a teenaged New Orleans trumpeter in 1967, a ticket to Berklee College of Music in Boston was an irresistible draw. After finishing college, Walter Cohen High School grad Stanton […]
The Scorseses, Presenting the Scorseses (Independent)
Ska’s the launching pad for the Scorseses, and it’s never clearer than on “Drink the Blood of Spacely Sprocket,” a Jetsons reference that seems done once it connects us to […]
Various Artists, Ace Story Volume 3 (Ace Records)
A couple of issues ago, we reviewed the first two volumes in this important series, both of which had a New Orleans rock ’n’ roll slant. This one does too, […]
James Andrews, The Big Time Stuff (Independent)
Over Jazz Fest, I got to thinking about the increased prevalence of adrenaline in contemporary New Orleans music, particularly the brass department. Bullish young bands, trombonist dynamos, trumpeters who rap—they […]
Big Freedia, Scion A/V Presents Big Freedia (Scion A/V Records)
For those who have been asleep—or maybe just living outside of New Orleans—Big Freedia is a transsexual rapper of “bounce,” a New Orleans-style party music wherein the MC exists almost […]
Tommy Sancton/Lars Edegran New Orleans Legacy Band, City of a Million Dreams (GHB Records)
Tommy Sancton’s notes to City of a Million Dreams include a photo taken during a performance at Preservation Hall in 1965. Sancton sits alongside his mentor and idol, clarinetist George […]
Morella and the Wheels of If, Shipwrecked (Independent)
Morella and the Wheels of If are a musical period piece. Their first album, Shipwrecked, recreates a spooky place and time not sepia-toned, but certainly black and white. A period […]
