CD Reviews

Mulatu Astatke and the Heliocentrics | Inspiration Information 3

Strut (2009)

By GUSTAVO TURNER | April 28, 2009

3.0 Stars

The idea behind the Strut label's Inspiration Information series is simple: pair "modern artists and producers with their musical heroes" and lock them in a studio for five days or less to play off each other. Following two Jamaican-flavored installments (Amp Fiddler/Sly & Robbie and Horace Andy/Ashley Beedle), this third volume combines the talents of UK soul-jazz collective the Heliocentrics with the one and only Mulatu Astatke.

An ultra-sophisticated composer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist from Ethiopia who spent time in New York when jazz giants roamed the streets, Mulatu brought back to Africa the spirit of Horace Silver, Coltrane, Miles, and Ayler through a series of initially obscure albums. A few years ago, the fourth volume of the excellent Éthiopiques series rescued him from the world-music ghetto and made his work indispensable for the most discerning musicians, producers, and fans.

Among these younger acolytes, British drummer Malcolm Catto (a veteran of DJ Shadow's touring band and Madlib's samples) and his Heliocentrics have managed to create a suitable modern aural bed for Mulatu compositions new and old. Rather than a marriage of distinct cultures, the result is a potent blend of shared genealogies of cool — music that would be equally at home in a down-tempo lounge, at a boutique hotel, or on the PA at a progressive hip-hop festival.

Plainville, James Farm, and the Infrared Band
When Antoine Batiste is looking for a guitarist, the one thing he doesn't want to hear is "white boys with bad hair playin' them cowboy keys."
The Asteroids Galaxy Tour | Out of Frequency
Getting a boost with songs from their 2009 debut, Fruit , featured in iPod and Heineken ads, and getting handpicked as concert openers by a then-still-functioning Amy Winehouse in their native Copenhagen, the Asteroids Galaxy Tour rode a lucky streak out of the gate.
Micachu & The Shapes | Never
Like her stylistic sista Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs, Micachu's Mica Levi makes pixelated, abstract anti-pop that sounds like marionettes jamming in an aluminum factory.
Dennis Taylor | Steppin' Up
The set-up is familiar and unpretentious: a saxophone-fronted organ trio playing blues 'n' roots.
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark create a newer wave
A wise man once said that there's no future in nostalgia, and conspicuously missing from these pre-packaged retro tours have been Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark.
Brad Mehldau, Fred Hersch, Dan Tepfer, Jason Palmer, and Donny McCaslin front a busy week
Brad Mehldau, Fred Hersch, Dan Tepfer, Jason Palmer, and Donny McCaslin front a busy week
Beady Eye | Different Gear, Still Speeding
Beady Eye's eagerly awaited debut represents Liam Gallagher's uninspiring foray into the spotlight without Noel, his battle-weary brother and Oasis's chief songwriter.
Tal Gamlieli Quartet at Lily Pad
Sometimes it's all a matter of making complex things simple. Or revealing the complex depths beneath simple surfaces.
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears | Scandalous
The soul revival has been going on long enough now that maybe it's a not a bad idea to stop calling it a revival at all.
Cold Cave | Cherish the Light Years
The '80s have been dead for a while, but the decade's goth-rock/post-punk/synth-pop sounds still maintain cultural prestige.
Libya: Why Obama is right
That the nation is apprehensive and ambivalent about President Barack Obama's military intervention in Libya is natural, even healthy.
Less

Topics: CD Reviews , Mulatu Astatke, Mulatu Astatke, Ethiopia, More

| More

view all

[ 05/24 ] Ra Ra Riot + Magic Man + Other Bones @ Port City Music Hall

[ 05/24 ] Rex Fowler + Con Fullam + Tom Dean + Alana McDonald + Kate Schrock @ One Longfellow Square

[ 05/24 ] Rosie Schaap @ SPACE Gallery

ARTICLES BY GUSTAVO TURNER

IAN KING | PANIC GRASS AND FEVER FEW | March 16, 2010
Just a few weeks after we reviewed the belated release of African Head Charge's latest, another, more recent gem from the always rewarding sonic laboratory of Adrian Sherwood arrives.

JOE CUBA | EL ALCALDE DEL BARRIO | March 09, 2010
Fania kicks off 2010 with what is sure to end up being one of the year's most important archival releases of Latin music.

ALEJANDRO FRANOV | DIGITARIA | March 03, 2010
Alejandro Franov is an Argentine multi-instrumentalist who's been involved in the more serious, and often experimental, side of the Buenos Aires music scene since he was a teen in the late 1980s.

THE SOULJAZZ ORCHESTRA | RISING SUN | February 23, 2010
We're living in the middle of a veritable renaissance of "Spiritual Jazz."

AFRICAN HEAD CHARGE | VISION OF PSYCHEDELIC AFRICA | February 09, 2010
UK dub guru Adrian Sherwood and adventurous percussionist Bonjo I have been releasing their sonic experiments as African Head Charge since the early 1980s.