STACK April 2016 Issue 138

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20 APRIL 2016
MUSIC
Lontalius I'll Forget 17
The processed vocals and minimalist beats of the
opening track on the debut album fromWellington
teenager Eddie Johnston – aka Lontalius –
suggests we’re in for a tasteful but safe collection
of modern pop: after all, he first came to attention
with his YouTube cover versions of chart hits. But
after a minute or so, A Feeling So Sweet glides
gracefully into a languid acoustic jangle and it soon becomes clear that
Lontalius is coming from a much more organic place than the plastic pap
that dominates the charts. While the hushed electronic grooves of All I
Wanna Say wouldn’t sound out of place on commercial radio, I’ll Forget
17 is mainly about chiming guitars and lovelorn melodies, no more so on
dreamily melancholic tracks such as Kick In The Head , Glow and It’s Not
Love. He may not have been a classmate of Lorde’s (as some early media
reports had it), but this young singer-songwriter is clearly a talent to watch.
(Inertia) Graham Reid
Santana (1969)
The debut which introduced Latin-infused jazz-
rock to the audience which hadn't been there for
the band's stunning debut at Woodstock earlier
that month. Prepared the ground for the equally
impressive follow-up a year later, Abraxas. Both
essential.
Caravanserai (1972)
Because it followed three great albums which
established the vigorous Santana sound, this
controversial departure into jazz and more
meditative explorations was widely derided at
the time. But it has stood the test of time. It
announced a new direction Santana would continue
to explore, sometimes with mixed results.
Moonflower (1977)
Initially this double album credited to the Santana
band seems like an odd mix of new studio tracks
and live hits, but the meld mostly works. He's on
the money with his singular sound and style, and
they even scored a hit single with their version of
the Zombies' She's Not There.
The Swing Of Delight (1980)
Although his guru got many writing credits
(presumably so Carlos could flick him some
royalty money), this double album outing under
his adopted spiritual name Devadip Carlos Santana
found him with stellar jazz players from Miles
Davis' band (Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron
Carter, Tony Williams) and others on a free-flowing,
relaxed and sometimes expansive piece. Essential,
but a different Santana.
And also...
There have been any number of Santana band
and solo compilations, but the band collection
Santana's Greatest Hits is the one to find. It draws
from those first three “Woodstock era” albums.
For more interviews, reviews and overviews
from Graham Reid visit
Carlos Santana’s new album Santana
IV finds him re-united with most
of the original band. Graham Reid
recommends some essential early
albums by the band or from his own
solo catalogue.
SANTANA
Yeasayer Amen & Goodbye
Yeasayer never shy from a challenge.
The NewYork outfit have spent
several albums inventing and
reinventing new modes of operation
and musical expression. From their
early expansive psych-pop jams to
abstract electronic and deconstructed
dance music, very few songs have
trodden the same path twice. The
making of Amen & Goodbye took
Yeasayer from their home in the
city to the Catskill mountains and
back again: an intensely creative
process beset with obstacles, such
as studio invasions from goats or
the time when rain damaged a large
portion of their recorded work. The
resulting songs here are among
their most adventurous to date,
blending the analogue with the digital,
the spiritual with the physical and
chemical. Lullabies for end times and
experimental pop forms for the
next world.
(Create Control) SimonWinkler
Violent Soho WACO
You get the feeling Violent Soho are
never going to fall into the trap of
trying to please some chimerical
public demographic, because they
are what they eat. Getting chummy
with FIDLAR’s Zac Carper comes
as naturally to the four-piece as
the unabashed voice-flinging Luke
Boerdam displays in the middle portion
of HowTo Taste, or the serene last
few bars of the album, on stand-out
Low; it’s like Shivasana at the end of
yoga, where you just lie there and
feel your body breathing, and what’s
come before is as much a work-out
of the emotions as, if you like to hurl
yourself around to the most solid of
indie pop rock, your body. Boerdam has
described WACO as the “older sister”
to 2013’s Hungry Ghost; its gallivanting
spirit and quieter twists definitely
show an assured but ever-inquisitive
growing up.
(I OHYOU/Mushroom)
Zoë Radas