BRAZZAVILLE
Somnambulista (South China Sea Records)
Reviewed by Holly Day

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I absolutely love this record. If I had to make the call, I'd say this was easily one of the best albums of the past year. See, I have this incredible bossa nova/tropical jazz fetish, especially the type that Gilberto and that wonderful clan released back in the early 60s through 70s, and this album is one of the closest I've heard to recapturing that easy, marimba-and-tin punctuated sound. However, instead of aping a genre long-past its heyday, Brazzaville puts a wicked spin to the music, throwing in a little electric guitar/bass here and there, voice samples and loops, and wonderful lyrics (sung by an absolutely amazing vocalist named David Brown) about homeless people living in cardboard boxes, airplane rides and crashes, and crazy memories of childhood, parents, and lost friends. These additions are mixed in so slyly, however, that the music could easily slide into a dozen archaic classifications of jazz as well as it could in the "alternative" stack. It always makes me sad to hear this record come to a close, because it means I've got to put it up and listen to something else for a while.

© 2001 - Holly Day