New album: Fantastic Planet
Artist: Noveller
Label: Fire Records
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Recording under the name Noveller, musician/filmmaker Sarah Lipstate creates dense, cinematic soundscapes that are generated by heavily processed electric guitar.
Much like the pioneering Robert Fripp/Brian Eno collaborations that melded electric guitar with ambient textures, Noveller creates searing music quite unlike almost anything currently on the market. Lipstate’s background in film is apparent in her music, as much of “Fantastic Planet” sounds like a soundtrack to a monumental film.
The album works best if listened to in an entire setting, but the skeptical should check out “Into The Dunes,” a bright melodic tune that exudes beauty and menace. “Rubicon” may or may not be a nod to ambient/krautrock band Tangerine Dream, but the laser beam guitar textures do mine similar territory.
The electric guitar has been declared dead more times than Keith Richards, but with “Fantastic Planet” Noveller shows that its still possible to get new tricks out of an old dog.
Classic album: Mississippi Delta Blues
Artist: Mississippi Fred McDowell
Label: Arhoolie
Rating: 5 stars out of 5
Mississippi Fred McDowell had been a world-class delta bluesman a couple of decades before he picked up a following around 1960. Part of his attraction to audiences was his unwavering devotion to the acoustic blues that many of his colleagues had abandoned.
There are tons of McDowell compilations available, but none of them eclipse Arhoolie’s “Mississippi Delta Blues.” The best known track here is “You Got To Move,” which the Rolling Stones covered on their “Sticky Fingers” album. Another track that should sound familiar to rock fans is “Shake ‘Em On Down,” a song first popularized by Bukka White that Led Zeppelin “borrowed” for the “Hats Off To Roy Harper” track on “Led Zeppelin III.”
Part of the appeal of this collection is the fidelity. Most authentic acoustic blues of this caliber had been recorded decades before under less than state-of-the-art circumstances. That someone put McDowell in a recording studio in the early 1960s was the equivalent of having Beethoven come in to play on his own compositions.
There is nothing slick or approaching the pomp of rock and roll on “Mississippi Delta Blues,” but fans of the uncut real deal will wear this record out.
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Jon Dawson’s album reviews appear every Thursday in The Free Press. Contact Jon at 252-559-1092 or jon.dawson@kinston.com.