Artist: Dominique Fils-Aimé Album: Live At The Montreal International Jazz Festival Label: Ensoul Records Link: domiofficial.com/fr Style: Jazz, Soul, Funk
Quebec singer Dominique Fils-Aimé grew up in a family where music was very present, listening to soul and jazz classics and training in classical piano and singing. She was part of several bands before releasing an EP and participating in the TV show “La Voix.” She then participated in numerous festivals and her releases were noticed, cited by the press and in award selections, including the JUNOS and the Félix, which she won. Each of the albums in her first trilogy explores a style of African-American music such as jazz or blues, and her latest studio album, Our Roots Run Deep, delighted our turntables.
No stranger to concerts and captivating stage presence, the singer has finally released her first live album. Inspired by Nina Simone and Billie Holiday, she masterfully blends genres without resorting to intellectual pretension. This concert feels more substantial and expansive than her studio albums, giving her compositions a more direct and physical impact. The gospel and soul influences are still present, but funk takes on a more prominent role, without being too intrusive, as the artist knows how to draw us into this moment of sharing without a single moment of boredom.
Her firm and composed voice is totally mastered, but she knows how to be playful at times to introduce a touch of fantasy. Like the singer, the accompaniment defies categorization, offering a wide range of acoustic and electric instruments. The quality of the sound recording is equally impressive, highlighting the energy of the electric bass and the subtlety of the brushes on the cymbals. The strong bond between the musicians is often palpable, and the feel of the venue contrasts with listening to an album recorded in a studio. As with any live performance, this is particularly noticeable and appreciable during audience participation, which immerses us in the concert with the artist.
Artist: McKinley Dixon Album: Magic, Alive! Label: City Slang Link: www.mckinleydixon.com Style: Rap, Hip Hop
This American rapper was born in Maryland before moving to Virginia, where he attended Commonwealth University in Richmond. He threw himself fully into music in 2015, at the age of 20, and his first album was released in 2016. However, it wasn’t until his third album, For My Mama And Anyone Who Look Like Her, that he achieved critical acclaim thanks to his sophisticated lyrics and instrumentation. In ten years and five albums, McKinley Dixon has carved out a place for himself among hip-hop artists whose productions are eagerly awaited and scrutinized by specialists in the genre.
Known for the narrative power of his lyrics, McKinley Dixon takes a step away from the introspection of his previous albums, preferring instead to explore the feelings of a group of young people facing the loss of one of their own. Musically, he remains true to his love of jazz, which provides a rich and warm backdrop for his compositions. Far from the stereotypical image of aggressive rap with broken rhythms, the atmosphere reflects the rapper’s long, relaxed voice. A few tracks pick up the pace, but they fit perfectly into the flow of the album.
Although Hip-Hop-oriented, the music on Magic, Alive! showcases acoustic instruments. Numerous brass instruments illuminate the compositions, and even the percussion is not the result of a software: it is played by drummer Desean Gault. The backing vocals of the various guest artists reinforce the fluidity of the tracks. Without achieving the cohesion of a live performance, it is the organic connection between the flesh-and-blood musicians that you feel when listening to this album. Added to this is the meticulous arrangement of all the instrumental lines, which makes for pleasant listening even on high-fidelity systems.
Artist: Young Fathers Album: 28 Years Later Label: Milan Records Link: https://www.young-fathers.com/ Style: Soundtracks
For those who missed it, 28 Years Later is the latest installment in a series of dystopic films that began in 2003 with 28 Days Later. The three members of Young Fathers met in Edinburgh when they were only fourteen years old. They recorded their first compositions using a karaoke machine and took their current name in 2008. Their style is characterized by an eclectic mix of influences, including hip-hop, electronic, and pop. Their debut album won the Mercury Music Prize in 2014, and in 2016 they opened for Massive Attack.
It’s as if the dangerous and adventurous world of the film was destined to meet these curious musicians, who are not afraid to venture outside their comfort zone. Illustrating a film like this allows you to escape the constraints of a three-minute song, and while a few effective tracks would fit well on a pop album, the trio has a field day creating tense or light atmospheres depending on the scene. To do this, they can use a string ensemble and choirs in a conventional way or switch to more adventurous electronica.
The eclectic styles are naturally reflected in the soundtrack, with the studio’s ever-refined sound. In keeping with the film’s narrative, the soundscape alternates between a dense, instrument-laden panorama and passages where unsettling textures take over the listening room. The presence of heavy saturation also plays on the emotions, without the need for a plethora of instruments this time around for the music to convey a sense of anxiety. Even if you’re not particularly drawn to the film itself, listening to this album may pique your interest in seeing the images it seeks to illustrate.
Artist: Matt Berninger Album: Get Sunk Label: Concord Records Link: www.concordrecords.com Style: Pop, Alternative & Indie
Trained as a graphic designer, he also paints and sculpts, but is best known as the singer and lyricist of The National, a band formed in the late 1990s. When Matt Berninger arrived in New York with Scott Devendorf, they had already been friends for several years, but their first band had not been successful. Critics took notice of them as soon as they released their first album with their new line-up, and since their second album in 2003, their fame has continued to grow. This hasn’t stopped the band’s frontman from wanting to produce solo music.
As Matt Berninger is the voice and soul of The National, his second solo album is inevitably reminiscent of the band. We find the same nonchalant, natural class in the phrasing and melodies, which, without seeming to, become catchy and haunting. While the songs’ themes turn to more intimate considerations, openly referring to his period of doubt and artistic decline, this is only to better highlight the beauty of the light that comes after melancholy. In this sense, Get Sunk is an album made to gently accompany us when we want to return to the world.
For the sound engineering and production, the singer with the deep baritone voice has once again placed his trust in Sean O’Brien, who played the same role on The National’s albums. It’s a winning choice, because while the record won’t confuse the band’s fans, it has a lighter side, even though the songs are still extremely polished, with an immediacy that sets them apart. The warm voice glides over the guitars and synthesizer, a saxophone nestles in the gaps, all carried by a haunting rhythm. All you have to do is let yourself be taken by the hand.
Artist: Stephan Eicher Album: Non Ci Badar, Guarda E Passa… Label: Universal Music Division Barclay Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqCshM4TBQQ Style: French chanson
Like his two brothers, the Swiss artist was introduced to music by his father, an amateur jazz violinist. He cut his teeth in various bands, including one of his brothers’, Grauzone, which enjoyed fleeting success thanks to a single that sold several hundred thousand copies. He began his career playing electronic instruments associated with the emerging New Wave movement, but the young Stephan Eicher took his relative lack of success as a personal affront and put all his energy into gaining popularity. He then introduced more acoustic instruments into his music, even using some old ones, such as the hurdy-gurdy and the cimbalom. It was around the same time that he met the writer Philippe Djian on the set of Rapido, Antoine de Caunes’ television show. A friendship developed between the two men, leading the novelist to write most of the lyrics for the multilingual singer’s best songs in French.
The year 1989 was a real turning point for Stephan Eicher’s music, with the album My Place selling over two million copies. The following album, Engelberg, exceeded all expectations, partly thanks to the track “Déjeuner En Paix”, which seemed unbeatable at the top of the Top 50. Released in 1993, Carcassonne was of at least the same high quality, although less successful. Such success led to busy tours, as evidenced by Non Ci Badar, Guarda E Passa…, the artist’s first live recording. However, the Swiss artist did not follow the crowd, far from it: his album consists of two discs, the first of which captures what a concert on this tour must have been like, with a captivated audience and the musicians playing with appropriate emphasis, performing the songs the audience wanted to hear. The second disc features unexpected versions of the same songs, recorded in impromptu locations, often played without an audience and off the cuff, offering a different vision of the artist, imbued with the magic of the moment.
Already on the first disc, tracks alternate between those where, carried away by the energy of the rock musicians, you want to sing along, and others where there is more sensitivity and emotion, helped by Philippe Djian’s lyrics, a mixture of poetry and almost adolescent feelings. The second album takes us into something almost unprecedented, bringing us closer to the lives of musicians on tour, with the impression of sharing their moments of fantasy and latent tension. This feeling is further reinforced by the video that accompanies the album’s release but is unfortunately not available in the digital version.
Far from what an audiophile expects when listening to an album, the production takes a different approach, using an atypical sound recording technique that seeks neither clarity nor precision, but rather to create a sense of closeness to the musicians, something that can sometimes be lacking in overly polished albums, where everything is often too perfect. Non Ci Badar, Guarda E Passa… is, on the contrary, an album that overflows with love and life.
