that zola jesus link leads no where, and i'm curious to hear it.

BBC REVIEW On the back of his highly acclaimed 2009 collaboration with London-based astral funk group The Heliocentrics – album of the year in Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Awards – Ethiopian jazz-fusion maestro Mulatu Astatke was lured back into the studio for his first album in his own right for two decades.

Long dubbed the “father of Ethio jazz”, Mulatu’s blend of Ethiopian folk melodies with free-form jazz, Latin flavours and various Western influences gleaned from his time living in the UK and America (he was reputedly the first African student at Boston’s Berklee College of Music) made him a seminal figure during pre-Communist Ethiopia of the 1960s and 1970s.

His determined renaissance at 67 not only defies age decay, it overrides the cloying magnets of sentimentality and nostalgia that usually accompany the return to public attention and affection of a long-neglected artist in their twilight years. Far from basking in the reflected glory of his younger self, Mulatu sounds hungry, eager, innovative and even forward-thinking. His previous album with The Heliocentrics predominantly revisited various earlier classics, and this too includes radical revisions of a couple of old favourites, Boogaloo and I Faram Gami I Faram. But there’s nothing remotely retro about it. Mulatu’s peerless vibraphone soars buoyantly throughout over some intense arrangements as he throws himself into a colourfully jagged array of instrumental grooves on an album that’s constantly explorative, always fascinating and – on a track like the haunting Motherland – sometimes utterly beautiful.

Some of The Heliocentrics lend support, along with members of Massachusetts jazz band The Either/Orchestra, to provide additional potency and richness; yet it’s still an album that essentially works on intimacy, stealth and guile. Never does it take the grandstanding option, even when the pace steps up a gear on an inspired Afro swing arrangement of Mulatu’s Mood (featuring some gorgeous kora) and the evocative The Way to Nice. Glimmers of blues, salsa and funk seep seductively into the action, but a strong African heart drives Mulatu as he weaves his highly individual magic in a probing style that is as infectious as it is mysterious.

GRAMMY-winning, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer – SOLOMON BURKE, a true soul pioneer and a major architect of American music, debuts his much-anticipated 70th birthday release – NOTHING’S IMPOSSIBLE -- April 6 on E1 Music. It's a very special, yet bittersweet occasion, marking one of the final projects produced by Willie Mitchell, Burke’s musical soul brother and key collaborator , who passed away on January 5, 2010.

NOTHING’S IMPOSSIBLE was 35-years in the making, with "King" Burke finally arriving at Mitchell’s storied Royal Studio in Memphis, trademark Throne and all, for five weeks . Mitchell’s blueprint and spirit canvas these musical stories, in a partnership that stands proudly with the classics he produced with Al Green, Ann Peebles, and others for the immortal Hi Records imprint. Something spiritual and beyond a mere recording session has manifested.

Comments Burke: “If I could turn back the hands of time, I would freeze frame every second of it. It hurts so much to know I won’t get that chance again…You know when God’s in it, because everything works. No matter how hard you try for it not to work; it works. It was the last great shot (with Mitchell)…”

NOTHING’S IMPOSSIBLE is a musical conversation between two brothers, one minute teasing, the next sharing intimate war stories on the battlefield of love. Background vocals and Mitchell’s legendary orchestra subtly enhance and embellish twelve classic tracks of pure heart and soul.

The project’s title “Nothing’s Impossible,” was not only Mitchell’s intended CD title, but also Burke’s personal mantra. At nearly 70 years of age, he remains musically active and relevant, while continuing to resonate with a widening demographic, both nationally and internationally. To date, Burke has sold more than 17 million records. His soul standard “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love” has been covered by everyone from the Rolling Stones to Wilson Pickett to the Blues Brothers. His 2002 GRAMMY for “Best Contemporary Blues Album” (Don’t Give Up On Me) has introduced his genius to a whole new generation, while one of his best known hits “Cry To Me,” was used in the seduction scene of the major motion picture “Dirty Dancing.” His biggest fan, however, was the late Pope John Paul II, who invited Burke to perform at the Vatican’s Christmas celebration in 2000, that he organized with the present Pope Benedict XVI.

Burke first broke through in 1961 with a cover of the country standard “Just Out Of Reach Of My Two Empty Arms” that was a hit on the R&B and Pop charts. He released 32 singles on Atlantic over the next several years, producing six Top Ten R&B hits, four of which crossed over to the Top 40: “Just Out Of Reach (Of My Two Empty Arms),” “Cry To Me,” “Got To Get You Off Of My Mind,” “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love,” “You’re Good For Me,” “Tonight’s The Night” and “If You Need Me” (written by Wilson Pickett).

Burke has long been championed by his peers, music critics and celebrity fans. Ahmet Ertegun called him “probably the greatest soul singer” while Mick Jagger openly admitted trying to imitate the phrasing of Burke’s inimitable voice, and contemporaries such as Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty have performed his songs in concert. Now, with the release of the magnificent NOTHING'S IMPOSSIBLE, audiences can once again hear why they call Solomon Burke, the "King" of Rock & Soul.

Matthew Houck’s one-man-band Phosphorescent has been kicking around the alt-country universe since the early aughts, effecting a downbeat mix of plaintive howling and stirring atmospherics which has drawn favorable comparisons to Neil Young and Will Oldham. Following To Willie, a Willie Nelson covers LP, Here’s to Taking it Easy is Phosphorescent’s first set of original material since 2007’s dark, deeply moving Pride. On Pride, Houck played nearly all of the instruments himself, creating a habitat of a beautiful, harrowing loneliness. But a different mood is present on Here’s To Taking It Easy, as Phosphorescent’s touring band have come on board for the recording, and the influence of boozy classic rock is as apparent as that of forlorn singer-songwriters.

any have a re-up of the MULATU?

Anybody know the file size of the "better" High Violet leak?

No but if you find a link, post it here. I need a better copy too. From what I've heard, the best out there is still just a 192 rip. I'm hoping a V0 rip will surface any day now...

i do, jsh. here you go:

On face value, Johanna and Klara Söderberg - 19 and 16 respectively - shouldn't have blackened hearts or a taste of bitterness in their mouths. But their brand of Sweden-bred folk portrayed in The Big Black And The Blue suggests otherwise.

Take Hard Believer for starters. Jolly, simplistic major chords and full teeth smiles are swept aside by the dismissal of religion and the admittance that "time is rough on me". Their (albeit limited range of) guitar playing takes the polar opposite direction to their lyrics and the sisters come off as a pair very experienced in the hardships of modern life.

Folk with a touch of melancholy took a surge when bands such as Midlake and Fleet Foxes (whose material the girls have covered) rose to considerable acclaim over the past decade. Their acoustic-centred take on a typically bright and sunny genre looks set to remain in the public eye, but while it'd be startlingly obvious to dismiss First Aid Kit as naive and inexperienced in such company, they avoid such criticism by scattering references to sadness and regret across this, their first full length album. This approach has more of an impact given that both singer-songwriters are so tender and young. Their voices match like jigsaw pieces, naturally; a sisterly combination, one husky and grieving, one light and fluffy.

Waltz For Richard tells of a lover departing by sea, cynically asking "Of course I was going to lose you. Were you ever even there?" In A Window Opens they quip: "I would just like to stay here, and not say a word, maybe I'd see it in clarity, for I'd say nothing at all". The artwork accompanies this loss of hope perfectly; a lone child stands, lute in hand, vacantly looking to one side as a blackened sea and domineeringlt yellow moon sit grimly in the background.

What many of us forget is that being a teenager can be the toughest of times. By the sounds of it, both sisters have been through their fair share of break-ups, and they have, with guts, allowed this platform of a debut album to express their beaten and battered-at thoughts. The result is a collection of remarkably accomplished songs. With age, their early lyrical maturity can only blossom.
- Jamie Milton

zola jesus

Dalen - find me the junior boys remix of "odessa" by caribou!