Download not available

Download not available
En 2018, alors qu'il venait d'enfoncer le clou et d'exploser avec 19, second effort studio porté par les hits "Bébé" et "Bella", le rappeur français Mohamed Sylla, alias MHD, annonçait se retirer de la scène musicale pour une période indéterminée. En 2021, c'est pour le plus grand bonheur de ses nombreux fans que le MC revient avec le titre "Afro Trap Part. 11 : King Kong", annonçant la parution de Mansa, son troisième opus studio. Bénéficiant des travaux d'une douzaine de beatmakers parmi lesquels Dany Synthé, Junior Alaprod ou StillNas, Mansa propose une collection de quinze nouveaux titres évoluant entre pop rap et recette afro trap dont MHD fut un précurseur, et décroche une cinquième position dans les charts hexagonaux avec l'aide du single "Pololo" en compagnie de Tiakola.© TiVo

As early as his first official studio release, 2011’s Section.80, Kendrick Lamar’s albums have been intricate and conceptual, constructed more like ambitious theatrical narratives than mere collections of songs. Fifth album Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers follows this trajectory as a double-album’s worth of interconnecting statements that are relentlessly complex, emotionally dense, and sometimes uncomfortably raw. Unlike the lush, spacious sonics of DAMN. or the life-affirming funk of To Pimp a Butterfly, Mr. Morale is scattered both in terms of musical approaches and lyrical perspectives. The album’s first half is particularly messy, with themes of trauma, grief, society, and Kendrick’s own uneasy relationship with fame all overlapping. His technical abilities are stunning and versatile as ever, but the frantic flows and jarring beat switches of “United in Grief” begin an angsty catharsis that runs throughout many of the tracks. “N95” is a seething cultural critique where Lamar spits bile in multiple directions over a bleakly catchy, bass-driven instrumental. Issues with lust addiction and infidelity are put under a microscope on the tense and minimal “Worldwide Steppers,” and Lamar depicts his troubled relationship with his father in painful detail on “Father Time,” which features a gorgeous vocal performance by Sampha on the hook. There’s further exploration of deeply personal family history on “Auntie Diaries,” which chronicles Lamar coming to understand the experiences two of his relatives had with transitioning gender identities. Throughout the album he funnels all of these experiences inward, seeking to grow through his own changes and the changes he sees around him. This shows up as a dismissal of celebrity on “Rich Spirit” or as striving for self-acceptance on “Count Me Out.” The album’s quick musical and thematic shifts can make for an uneven flow. The floating R&B instrumental and tender introspection of “Die Hard” come just a few tracks before cacophonous swirls of piano on “Rich - Interlude” and the jagged cosmic hip-hop of Ghostface Killah and Summer Walker collaboration “Purple Hearts.” The album’s intensity reaches a full boil on “We Cry Together,” a song that sounds like live audio footage of the most vicious couple’s argument imaginable, and reaches the same levels of ugliness as Eminem’s “Kim,” a clear reference point. As always, the production is immaculate and Lamar is joined by a host of industry giants, with contributions coming from Baby Keem, Thundercat, and even a vocal cameo from Portishead’s Beth Gibbons on the stunning sadness of “Mother I Sober.” While not as immediately accessible as some of the work that came before it, there’s value in both the harrowing and enlightening moments here. Lamar puts everything on the table with Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, trying to get closer to his unfiltered personal truth, and creating some of his most challenging, expectation-defying work in the process. While not always an easy listen, the album shows more of its intention as it goes, and ultimately makes sense as the next logical step forward in Lamar’s increasingly multi-dimensional artistic evolution.© Fred Thomas /TiVo

This album (which has been included in Joe Henderson's complete, eight-CD Milestone Years box set) has quite a few classic moments. At that point in time, tenor saxophonist Henderson was a sideman with Herbie Hancock's Sextet, so Hancock was happy to perform as a sideman, doubling on piano and electric piano, with the all-star group, which also includes trumpeter Mike Lawrence, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Jack DeJohnette. Highlights are many and include the original version of "Black Narcissus," "Isotope," a lyrical rendition of "Lazy Afternoon," and the free-form "Foresight and Afterthought."© Scott Yanow /TiVo

3 Feet High and Rising was almost universally acclaimed, but De La Soul still felt a bit misunderstood—and even a bit defensive about it. So while the title De La Soul is Dead is just as much a hyperbolic "wouldn't this be a funny title for a second album" gag as it is an actual mission statement, it's also a way of reining in the debut's we-can-do-anything sprawl to focus a bit more on some of the things people didn't necessarily expect of them. De La Soul is Dead refines the known quantities of their style: Pos and Dave are still every bit the kind of MCs who will sound approachably conversational and unpredictably complex in their flows, Maseo and Prince Paul's DJ/production flourishes are still hilariously tongue-in-cheek and filled with inspired post-genre juxtapositions (the first bassline on the album, in "Oodles of O's," comes from an early Tom Waits song), and the humor is still frenetic and idiosyncratic and crammed with elaborate inside jokes. But the mood's soured noticeably, and in ways that add a quickly-earned cynicism to the mix. That's clear from the framing skits where a bunch of teens roast the album for not being "hardcore" enough, the fame-fatigued stories of getting into fistfights on tour ("Pease Porridge") and dealing with people fiending for a co-sign foot in the door ("Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)"), and a handful of highlights that draw on the bleaker moments of their real-world experience—molestation victim revenge story "Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa" chief amongst them. But that these moments are expertly mixed in with some of their most upbeat material—the comedic dozens in "Bitties in the BK Lounge," the euphoric roller-disco nostalgia of "A Roller Skating Jam Named 'Saturdays,'" a three-song run at the end ("Shwingalokate," "Fanatic of the B Word," and "Keepin' the Faith") which leaves an outwardly bitter album on a glorious high note of funky boom-bap party jams—that leave an unspoken long live De La Soul lingering at the end of that title. De La Soul is Dead might've cast a pall on the day-glo rep burnished by their debut but another facet to the group was revealed that would not only sustain them but gave them even more freedom to be who they wanted. © Nate Patrin/Qobuz

Mike Oldfield was back into the extended composition game with Five Miles Out, continuing the "Taurus" series with the mammoth "Taurus II," an entertaining enough romp with references to Irish music, brass bands and Oldfield's beloved Morris. The true standout, though, was the title track, a paean to flying in bad weather that could easily double for Oldfield's feelings about the sort of monumental critical drubbing he was accustomed to receiving. "Family Man" became a huge worldwide hit for Hall & Oates.© Steven McDonald /TiVo

Hubert Parry's Scenes from Shelley's Prometheus Unbound, from 1880, here receives its world-recorded premiere. Perhaps recording companies thought there wouldn't be much of a market for a heavy 19th century choral work with, it must be said, a ponderous text by Percy Bysshe Shelley (Prometheus was a play intended to be read, not performed, just to give an idea). How wrong they were. This release made classical best-seller lists in the summer of 2023, and it is altogether enjoyable. At the time, Parry was under the spell of Wagner, whom he traveled to Bayreuth to meet. That influence certainly shows up in Scenes from Shelley's Prometheus Unbound, with its basically declamatory text, partly through-composed music, wind-and-brass-heavy orchestration, and splashes of chromaticism. Yet what is remarkable is that the music does not come off as an imitation of Wagner at all. Rather, it uses elements of his style to match a specific kind of English literary text. The work gradually disappeared, but it would be surprising if Elgar, whom it clearly prefigures, did not know it well. The performances here are luminous, with William Vann using the lighter-than-expected London Mozart Players to create transparent textures against which he can set the substantial voices of Sarah Fox, Sarah Connolly, and other soloists. Parry did write some shorter pieces that remain in the repertory; one of these, Blest Pair of Sirens, is included here as a finale. However, the Scenes from Shelley's Prometheus Unbound are the main news here, and this performance, showing how this kind of thing should be done, may generate a new life for the work. © James Manheim /TiVo

Saxophonist and composer Charles Lloyd celebrated his 80th birthday in 2018. His wife and manager Dorothy Darr decided to commemorate it with a series of shows that would, in and of themselves, be remarkable celebrations. 8: Kindred Spirits Live at the Libero was cut at the 150-year-old Libero Theater in Santa Barbara on March 15 (his actual birthday). Lloyd was in the company of a stellar band that included longtime drummer Eric Harland, and more recent companions pianist Gerald Clayton, bassist Reuben Rogers, and guitarist Julian Lage. He was joined during the second set by organist Booker T. Jones and Blue Note boss Don Was. The full show was released as an expensive, limited-edition package that included three LPs, two compact discs, and a DVD of the entire performance, along with a whopping 96-page hardcover book and a pair of photo prints. This standard version contains both an audio disc and a DVD (or a pair of LPs) and a visual disc that features the concert’s first set sans guests, but it's quite strong on its own. It opens with Lloyd's biggest "hit," a 20-plus minute version of "Dream Weaver," originally recorded in the mid-'60s. Its first five minutes are spent in warm yet abstract improvisation; Lloyd engages sound more than song. Clayton's ostinato ring & roll prompts Lage to deliver tight arpeggios atop Rogers' modal bass and Harland's intricate cymbal and snare play. At five minutes, Lloyd delivers a mantra-like phrase three times then engages the tune's melody. The band finds it quickly and settles into a simmering, song-like exchange; all players wind through and around one another, taking turns soloing before returning to the lucid groove. "Requiem," issued on Notes from Big Sur in 1992, finds the saxophonist delving deeply into the blues in both the intro and his solo, while Lage delivers a shadowy exercise in post-bop's scalar harmonics. The Mexican folk standard "La Llorona" has been with Lloyd since the beginning, though he didn't cut it in the studio until 2016. The frontline of Clayton (who at times gets his piano to sound like a marimba) and Lage offers a quiet drama and tension like a spell, until Harland sets it all free with his consummate fills and accents. The saxophonist enters at 5:33 and moans through his own lyric statement of the theme, adding whispers and wails, and turning it into an emotional watershed, especially when he quotes form "'Round Midnight." The closer, "Part 5: Ruminations," is a relatively new tune. Its early minutes are spent in improvisation, with Lloyd touching on mentors Coltrane, Rollins, Ben Webster, and Coleman Hawkins before Lage and Clayton push into the melody and swing it as Rogers states the groove. There are duo improvs between Lloyd and Lage (the latter's solo is magnificent), the guitarist and Clayton; Harland and Lloyd; Rogers and Lloyd, etc. At over 18 minutes, it is at once exploratory and accessible. This edition comes with its own 40-page hardbound book of photos that include stirring moments of now-absent figures from Lloyd's long life: pianist Michel Petrucciani, guitarist John Abercrombie, and drummer Billy Higgins. Arguably, this edition of 8: Kindred Spirits, though only a first set, is one of Lloyd's strongest live offerings to date.© Thom Jurek /TiVo