Album Reviews Archives - Slow Culture Magazine

BBsitters Club, BBsitters Club & Party – ALBUM REVIEW #29

13 December 202013 December 2020Album Reviews, Music & Records Marc Louis-Boyard

Chicagoans BBsitters Club released BBsitters Club & Party in October 2020, and limited by time, we’re only bringing the good news in the middle of December.

Because the album delivers borderless energy and borderline maturity, this release caught our attention and took care of our many moods at first listen. Three months after, the feeling hasn’t disappeared.

That being said, do not get us wrong: this album contains more tact and genius that it may seem at first glance. Who said airiness couldn’t be treasured?

Takuya Kuroda, Fly Moon Die Soon – ALBUM REVIEW #28

20 September 202021 September 2020Album Reviews, Music & Records Marc Louis-Boyard

Excellent news from (and for) the jazz microcosm: trumpeter and Berklee graduate Takuya Kuroda is back with Fly Moon Die Soon, his fifth album.

Piri Piri (from his album The Rising Son) was our first encounter with Takuya Kuroda’s musical expression. This was already six years ago. As his album releases go by, we are delighted -but definitely not surprised- by the fact that Takuya didn’t lose any of his former spice along the way.

Cathlene Pineda, Rainbow Baby – ALBUM REVIEW #27

2 August 202020 September 2020Album Reviews, Music & Records Marc Louis-Boyard

The first notes of Rainbow Baby instantly let us believe that keeping quiet about this album for long was an impossible mission. To be honest, at that time we didn’t know much about Cathlene Pineda despite her indisputable talent and extensive curriculum.

We first heard Cathlene’s music the exact same way we would have heard the music of an interesting stranger. Thanks to her vivid sense of communication and her generosity of spirit, we now hear Rainbow Baby the exact same way we would listen to the music of a friend.

And we really hope you will too.

Be Afraid, Remember Fun – ALBUM REVIEW #26

14 June 202014 June 2020Album Reviews, Music & Records Marc Louis-Boyard

Coming from Vancouver and signed on Hidden Bay Records, the band Be Afraid released Remember Fun on May 8th.

For the record (no pun intended), these six tracks were engineered through the summer of 2019, but not in any case does the music sound outdated.

Remember Fun is a memorable party of many colors, and you’re invited.

Beauty Pill, Please Advise – ALBUM REVIEW #25

25 May 202025 May 2020Album Reviews, Music & Records Marc Louis-Boyard

Chicago has been under the spotlight on this blog for a series of recent reviews, but now is the time to bring Washington D.C. on the forefront with Beauty Pill’s not-so-enigmatic album Please Advise, out now on Northern Spy Records.

Marketing being what it is, personal choices are often induced by the attractiveness of an album cover. Something deeper attracted us this time. If you haven’t missed our guide to Miles Davis, you know how much we love the man and the music. The album title, Please Advise, is actually made of the two words who sealed Bitches Brew’s naming.

Now, this might be quite a futile reason too. Nonetheless, we’re glad that this potential futility led us to discover the music of Beauty Pill, a band which has been active since 2001 but unheard of since 2015.

NIIKA, Close But Not Too Close – ALBUM REVIEW #24

17 May 202017 May 2020Album Reviews, Music & Records Marc Louis-Boyard

Albums like NIIKA’s Close But Not Too Close are the reviewer’s most disconcerting challenges. Listening to this album is like opening a treasure made of so many valuables that the whole sensorial experience is paradoxically unspeakable.

That being said, let us not use this unspeakable reality as an excuse. Pleasures of this kind, when kept, are nothing but halved in the end.

The artist’s promise is the following:

A genre-bending, continent-crossing, soft explosion of intimate indie, soul, and dirty pop.

Let’s see how Chicago’s vibrant scene managed to conquer our soul again, before next time, as it is usually a matter of days.