By Maxazine South Africa 
Dozens of new albums arrive at Maxazine’s editorial staff every week. There are too many to listen to, let alone review them. It ensures that too many albums are left behind. And that’s a shame. That is why we post an overview of albums that arrive at the editors in short reviews today.
Photo (c) Jorge Fakhouri Filho
Gudinöv – Spin! Buy! Recycle!
The Belgian power rock group Gudinöv is releasing the mini album “Spin! Buy! Recycle!” to mark their 25th anniversary. The record contains five songs and builds a bridge between past and present. The first two songs “Number One” and “Recycle” are brand new and are supplemented by reworked and rerecorded songs from the YEARN’d era. Very old songs, in other words, from before the band made a fresh start in 2013 and changed the band name to Gudinöv. The songs in question are “Go”, “Wish Me Well” and “The Way You Move”. The EP is released by 3300 RPM Records, the label of vzw Sweet Sounds. All in all, a successful album to celebrate the 25th anniversary. Solid power rock with that typical sound that our southern neighbours seem to have a patent on. (Ad Keepers) (7/10) (3300 RPM Records)
Take My Breath Away – Denise Donatelli
Stevie Wonder, James Taylor, George Duke, Donald Brown, Larry Goldings, Nathan East. It is a selection of the artists you encounter when listening to “Take My Breath Away” by American jazz vocalist Denise Donatelli. The recipe is simple: take existing compositions and pour a jazz sauce over them. For this, she collaborated with pianist Geoffrey Keezer, who was responsible for the arrangements, production and musical direction. Keezer, in turn, approached musicians who were certainly no minor players, including saxophonists Ron Blake, Donny McCaslin and Sarah Hanahan, guitarist Yotam Silberstein and vibraphonist Chien Chien Lu. And the result? An album that it is impossible to take issue with. It is all simply put together very well. Highlights are Stevie Wonder’s “As If You Read My Mind” (the original on “Hotter Than July” already had a salsa rhythm, in Keezer’s arrangement the tempo has been significantly slowed down, something the composition can handle very well) and James Taylor’s “You and I Again”, which thanks to a tasteful string arrangement becomes a completely different song from the original. Donatelli’s trained voice does the rest. She sings uptempo pieces with just as much ease as ballads, in which she gives the pieces a new soul thanks to her excellent control and phrasing. Donatelli ‘lives’ the lyrics. Irving Berlin’s “How Deep is the Ocean” is perhaps the best example:: the intimacy pours through the speakers in abundance. Then we are more than happy to immerse ourselves, even though the arrangements are quite predictable here and there. If it has been done with care, you will not hear us complain. (Jeroen Mulder) (7/10) (Savant Records)
Julia Holter – Materia
With a career spanning twenty years and eleven albums, Julia Holter is certainly no newcomer to the broad musical landscape she enters with her new album “Materia”. What is special about Holter is that she continues to surprise and regularly puts the listener on the wrong track. As a songwriter, producer, composer, artist and academic, she possesses a versatile palette of talents that come together convincingly on “Materia”. The opener “The Laugh Is in the Eyes” immediately sets the mood for the album, which runs for just over half an hour. A subtle bass line weaves its way through the composition, while Holter’s voice moves through it almost imperceptibly, as if she were wandering through a Chinese garden. “My Lost One” sounds pleasantly contrary and evokes associations with Laurie Anderson, with the saxophone adding subtle jazz elements. In “Materia 2”, a nasal, midrange bass sound forms the core. It brings to mind Jaco Pastorius’ characteristic bass work on Joni Mitchell’s “Hejira”. In “Clepsydra” too, Holter uses her voice emphatically as an instrument, bringing Laurie Anderson’s innovative “O Superman” to mind. The song vividly portrays how strange and alien time can feel. “Materia” has a strong neoclassical character, in which narrow sounds, alienation and avant garde come together. Yet Holter’s experiment remains accessible. An intriguing album that slowly unfolds. (Bart van de Sande) (8/10) (Domino)
Benny Blanco – Hermoso
With “Hermoso”, Benny Blanco releases his first fully Spanish language album, a project in which the American producer pays tribute to the Latin music that has inspired him for years. Across eight tracks, he moves between cumbia, reggaeton and electronic influences, with an array of guests as his calling card. The opener “Un Poco Perdido”, featuring Neton Vega, sets the melancholic tone with a confession full of longing and self reflection. “Te Olvido (La La)”, together with his wife Selena Gomez and Becky G, combines a solid cumbia rhythm with horn arrangements and a chorus that sticks in the mind. In “Joven Y Salvaje”, Bb trickz brings an exuberant, carefree energy, while “Memoria De Paz” with The Marías sketches a dreamy, restrained atmosphere. “Ay Bendito”, produced together with Ovy On The Drums and featuring Mora, exudes a lighthearted summer mood. Blanco manages to give each collaboration its own colour, with the artists repeatedly being given the space to let their own style speak rather than adapting to one fixed concept. The result is an elegantly crafted, short but cohesive album. (Alejandro Garcia López) (7/10) (Interscope Records)
Denzel Curry & Kenneth Blume – ii
“ii” is a follow up to “UNLOCKED”, released in 2020, the earlier project by Denzel Curry and Kenneth Blume, the latter then still known as Kenny Beats. That first project was a short explosion of grimy, samurai like beats with tight straightforward bars. The sound fitted within the context of its time, when hip hop and counterculture had merged with internet culture and psychedelic cartoons, a phenomenon of which Denzel Curry, among others, was a forerunner. Although years have passed between them, “ii” sounds like a direct continuation of “UNLOCKED”, but you can clearly hear the additional six years of experience. Although there is still a sense of spontaneity and hard bars on impactful beats with short lines, you also hear more swing and cadence, as if it comes more easily to them the second time around. They even claim to have used the same set up as the first time. The vision therefore seems to be the same, but the mastery is greater. You literally get the package ‘bigger and better’ than the first time: tightly put together with a feeling of ease and enjoyment. A safe landing from a flight that took off years ago. (Alessandro Di Perna) (8/10) (Loma Vista Recordings)
