BellyBuster

FEATURED RELEASES

• GOLDMUND - The Time It Takes

  "Keith Kenniff’s output as Goldmund has established him as one of the preeminent composers of minimal piano-based music alongside peers like Hauschka, Dustin O’Halloran, and Ryuichi Sakamoto, who himself once described Kenniff’s work as 'so, so, so beautiful'.His recordings tread sincerely along paths laden with dusty timbres, diffuse synthesizer, and soaring string textures tinted by the muted glow of a cloudy analog sky above. On The Time it Takes, Goldmund’s newest book of aural polaroids, Ke

• JULIANNA BARWICK - Healing Is A Miracle

  "In an interview late last year, Louisiana-born musician Julianna Barwick offered up some sound advice. –You need to think of ways to combat the evil and the state of earth wherever you can,– she suggested. –And enjoy life, because life is still really wonderful, it really is.–Her first album in four years, and her debut on Ninja Tune, Healing Is A Miracle feels like an out-and-out distillation of that line of thought. Inspired, title and all, by how the body heals itself – the so-called ‘miracl

• HAZEL ENGLISH - Wake Up!

  "Hazel English's debut album, Wake UP!, is a delightful triumph that incites self-discovery and love — it's like a soothing, sunbaked day by the pool with a thick book, and also like a rollicking party that forces your shoes off. But more than anything, it's about each and every single person listening to it. English's sound is drenched in '60s iconography and inspired by the music of the Mamas and the Papas, the Zombies, and Jefferson Airplane. That being said, Wake UP! grapples with very prese

• LOVING - If I Am Only My Thoughts

  "Since their self-titled debut in 2016, Victoria, BC band Loving have remained relatively quiet, save for a few scattered performances. With their latest release, If I Am Only My Thoughts, the band display an innate talent for lush compositions and soothing melody, capturing a delicate blend of melancholy and optimism. Loving continue to operate within the same framework of sound that defined their previous work: smooth and rhythmic guitar grounded by gentle percussion and subtle vocals, all of

• VARIOUS - Come On Up To The House: Women Sing Waits

  "The truest testament to a song’s power is how it plays with others. Songs written by the performer are more likely to land in the singer’s stylistic and vocal wheelhouse; take away that crutch to witness the song’s true strength and character. So while Tom Waits’ genius has been beyond dispute for at least a quarter-century, hearing his songs performed by the dozen female artists of –Come On Up to the House: Women Sing Waits– casts new light on their brilliance.Freed from Waits’ gravelly, way-d

• BOWIE'S BOOKSHELF: The Hundred Books That Changed David Bowie's Life

  "David Bowie was a voracious reader: no surprise there. But what did he really rate? We learnt something of his tastes in March 2013. Keen eyes at the opening of the exhibition David Bowie Is at the Victoria and Albert Museum sought out his list of key texts. John O’Connell was one such fan and in the introduction here he is careful to underline this was not Bowie’s ‘favourite’ books as such but those he regarded as the most important and influential to his life and work.What we are presented wi

• OXFORD AMERICAN 2019 Music Issue: South Carolina

  "At Hitsville U.S.A. recording sessions, when Motown Records producers would give James Jamerson, the studio’s in-house bassist, the charts for new songs, they provided him only the chord changes with no actual bass lines. No one could tell Jamerson how to play. No one could hear what he heard beneath a chord progression and melody. –They’d let me go on and ad lib. I created, man,– he told journalist Nelson George. –I picked things up from listening to people speak. From the intonation of their

• VARIOUS - Dave Godin's Deep Soul Treasures Volume 5

  "15 years on from both Dave Godin’s death and his fourth volume of Deep Soul Treasures, Kent has compiled a further 25 tracks using titles chosen by Dave for future projects in the series. Many are recordings he wanted from day one of the Treasures concept, but licensing quirks made them unavailable until now. The Emotions’ Somebody New, Helena Ferguson’s Where Is The Party, George Jackson’s My Desires Are Getting The Best Of Me and others are tracks he had wanted to include from the outset. As

• VARIOUS - World Spirituality Classics 2: The Time For Peace Is Now

  "The Time For Peace Is Now compiles fourteen songs that, while recorded over four decades ago, speak now more than ever. The tracks are a subset of 1970s-era gospel, not directly talking about Jesus or God, but instead tackling how we live with ourselves and each other. These are undeniably soulful, passionate, and urgent songs from obscure 45s, dug up from a long dormancy in attics, sheds and rated across the American south. Compiled by Gospel guru Greg Belson.The Gospel bands heard on The Time

• DAVID KILGOUR - Bobbie's A Girl

  "I got swept away by it, to be honest.I turned it up loud and let the warmth of it flow all around me – and it transported me to a place I didn't even know I wanted to go.Something about that loose tangle of electric and acoustic guitars, the swinging heft of the bass, those distant constellations of piano notes, the subtle smack of drums, slightly behind the beat.When it got to the end, I didn't want to break the spell, so I just had to play the whole damn thing all over again." Stuff

• ARETHA FRANKLIN - Amazing Grace (DVD)

  "In Aretha Franklin’s revelatory concert film Amazing Grace, she barely speaks a word. Aside from one muffled request for water and a hushed discussion with her musical director, there’s not a peep out of her. Instead, she focuses her concentration wholly on the spirit of the gospel music she came to perform during the film’s historic two-day shoot, which took place in January 1972 at the New Temple Baptist Mission church in Los Angeles. –She came for a church service,– the late singer’s niece S

• JAMES & BOBBY PURIFY - I'm Your Puppet: The Complete BELL Recordings 1966-69

  "The complete works of this incredible 60s soul duo – a 2CD package that features both their albums for the Bell Records label, lots of contemporaneous 45s, and even some unreleased tracks too! James & Bobby Purify followed in a tradition that was strongly started by Sam & Dave – the two-male soul duo, with both voices coming in on the lead, breaking apart as the tracks progressed, and crossing back and forth, for a fuller sound that often made for a more dynamic approach than with a single sing

• BRIAN ENO - Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks (Extended Edition)

  "In honor of the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11's moon landing, Brian Eno's classic 1983 album has been re-mastered and re-released with an additional whole album of new music. Featuring co-producer and ethereal guitarist Daniel Lanois and pianist Roger Eno (younger brother of Brian), the album has withstood the test of time and remains one of ambient music's most influential releases.     Apollo's compositions are well-developed and surprisingly lively considering the artist's propensity to crea

• STELLA DONNELLY - Beware Of The Dogs

  "'It's never too late to be on time.' If there's one message to take away from Beware of the Dogs, it's this, because when Stella Donnelly calls you out — and she is calling most of you out — it's not so much finger-pointing as it is a wake-up call. Her debut is a striking proclamation that holds the powers that be accountable for misbehaviours on all fronts. Unlike last year's Thrush Metal, the Perth artist has expanded her arsenal and now stands at the helm of a full band. The simple addition

• KEVIN MORBY - Oh My God

  "It takes seconds for Kevin Morby to set the mood for Oh My God: piano roll, hushed melody and harmonized chorus, the sum of which induces a spellbound attention for the rest of the album. This is Morby's secular gospel album, a record envisioned and recorded aloft in planes, awake in beds and indefinitely on the road, with Morby, in rapturous disbelief, muttering "Oh my god" at his fortune all the while. Not a single cut on Oh My God feels out of place. Each song is effulgent in its composition

• MARI SAMUELSEN - MARI

  "Norwegian violinist Mari Samuelsen’s debut for the Yellow Label is entitled simply MARI, and is set for international release on 7 June 2019. Recorded with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and conductor Jonathan Stockhammer, the album explores the contradictions of contemporary life – the fact that, despite the excitement of city life and the convenience of instant communication and express travel, many of us still feel a need to ground ourselves in the peace and quiet of the natural world. Mari

• VARIOUS - Floating Points: Late Night Tales

  "I once heard Floating Points DJ in bright sunshine and was disappointed: he played a forgettable mix of funk and disco that bore little resemblance to his production work. His best music is masterfully paced, transitioning effortlessly between the calm and the cacophonous, and it's better suited to a patient listener than a raucous crowd. This sets him up perfectly for a Late Night Tales mix: the solitary, nocturnal headphones-wearer has always been the series' target audience, and beneath the

• VARIOUS - Spiritual Jazz Vol.9: Blue Notes

  "The Blue Note Record label needs little introduction. Musically, graphically and sonically iconic, the label created and defined the golden age of modern jazz on record. Founded in 1939 by German émigré Alfred Lion, the label's roster of artists is a litany of giants -- Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins, Horace Silver, Lee Morgan, Art Blakey, Lee Morgan, Herbie Hancock, and many more. With peerless musicians in the grooves, the legendary Rudy Van Gelder behind the boards, and graphic design genius

• TOM ZE - Estudando O Samba

  "Incredibly unique concept album from the one and only, Tom Zé. As featured in Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Brazilian Albums of all-time list (2007). One of Ze’s finest albums in our opinion, originally released by Continental Brazil in 1976 – a tough one to find at a good price in its original form now.‘Estudando do Samba’ (or ‘Studying The Samba’) is a post-Tropicalia studio experimentation laiden with layers of hypnotic percussion, effects & samples that deconstructs the ‘samba’ form

• MARTIN FRAWLEY - Undone At 31

  "...Poor Martin Frawley. He broke up with his long-time girlfriend, Jules MacFarlane, after eight years, which also put him out of a job, since the two of them founded and co-led the angsty, jangly Melbourne band Twerps. He’s also evidently broken the 3-0 barrier, a classic, nearly stereotypical age for soul-searching, progress-measuring and feelings of inadequacy in any business, let alone one as exposed and emotionally on display as songwriting. But good news, Frawley has made lemonade, squeez