John Shand Posts

May 23, 2015 / Album Reviews - Archive

90 ͦ Degrees of Shade (Soul Jazz) Islands foster not only unique fauna, but distinctive musical forms. This double-album compilation, subtitled Hot Jump-Up Island Sounds From the Caribbean, covers the vibrant output of Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and more – all sharing the collision of European,…

May 18, 2015 / Concert Reviews - Archive

505, May 6 It’s the sort of sound they might outlaw in certain countries as being against the best interests of some deity. Joseph Tawadros’s oud has been surrounded, cushioned or jostled by instrumentation ranging from organ to banjo to the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and most often by James Tawadros’s…

May 16, 2015 / Album Reviews - Archive

The Shining Sea (Audioguy) A guitar and a voice may sound as unremarkable a combination as supermarket cheese and yesterday’s bread, but not the way Ben Monder and Sunny Kim do it. The American guitarist and Korean singer have taken the format’s innate intimacy, intertwined it with the deep mutual…