Marla Mase:"Half Life"

Holding up to the True Groove Label's crusade to bring new music to 2014 on a monthly basis, Marla Mase is followis up her "Speak Deluxe" album with "Half Life". Since this is an ep, Mase doesn't waste time. She opens up with a driven punk number that caries the ambiance of Kim Gordon fronted Sonic Youth. The song brings to mind some of the more accessible moments from "Goo", laced with a PCP like hit of the Stooges.

Like her previous album their is no shortage of dynamics in the color spectrum of musical diversity that characterizes True Groove's Global Soul vision statement. The title track embraces elements of funk set against a Sade like simmer, while not forsaking Mase's alt-rock leanings. Her lyrics take a more introspective and personal turn this go around.She muses her idiosyncrasies with a sax backing the beat.

Mental health is tackled in her social dissection in "Things That Scare Me". The quirk in the melodies bring the B-52's to mind. Although this is a club mix is still rides the new wave line between dance and rock the Talking Heads once waltzed over. The distorted guitars keep a rock glaze over the song.

Bill Laswell pops up laying down the bass line to an almost Tom Waits inspired brooding number called "the Heart Beats". The lyrics ponder the universal truths music inspires, that is a familiar concept on True Groove projects. This is followed by the Rolling Stones like shuffle of "Gaping Hole".More lyrically self aware than Jagger's apologies for being a beast of burden, Mase instead questions the gaping hole the masses seek to fill with relationships as much as they do drugs of any flavor.

The reprise of "Drown in Blue" resembles the opener very little, instead taking a more intimate blues approach.Another True Groove alumni Charlie Funk contributes backing vocals to the blues rock of "Bitch in Heat" that finds Mase holding fast to her more subdued vocal approach while the groove winds around her. There is a pretty ripping guitar solo, I assume to be courtesy of Doncker , whose band once again backs Mase for this album.

The ballad "Hold Fast Your Dreams" is inspired by the Louise Driscoll poem of the same name. This goes back to the type of 1920's lounge , but with the air of indie rock to it, not unlike something you might hear in a more cheerful moment of a David Lynch film or even the Velvet Underground's Nico comes to mind.

This is more to the point than "Speak Deluxe" due to the abbreviated nature of the medium she chose to present these songs in, but sometimes less is more and this works for Mase as a more concise portrait of where she is . She continues to carry on True Groove's vision and does it in a very thought provoking manner. If you are in New York on June 12th , make sure to catch her at the Cutting Room and see how these songs translate live.
    

Up From the Underground:The Tomas Doncker Band - "Power of the Trinity...A Slight Return"

O.k.  We are really going past the bounds of what we normally cover but there is more common ground than you might suspect,  if for no other reason than the fact this is a Bill Laswell project who not only helmed avant garde jazz metal outfit Painkiller but worked with  John Zorn and Swans and  it's not Dead Can Dance but if you are a fan of world music, then this release is worth checking out and frankly has me thinking that I quit smoking pot a decade too soon, as I would have gotten  a lot of play from this album back in my bong's glory days. There is a coat of psychedelics over their jazz-inflected funk. It takes you back to the glory days of Parliament Funkadelic.

From the start it's evident Tomas has surrounded himself with the cream of the crop, when it comes to the players he has on this thing. Bill Laswell's  wife Ethiopian singer Gigi, is featured on the opening track "Brooklyn2Ethiopia" appear on the album, along. The more rock tinged guitars are handled by Laswell protégé James Dellatacoma. The quasi-rasta spiritual overtones to the lyrical content is much more evolved, than your run of the mill funk outfit.

Laswell's bass playing  is prominent on "We Need Justice"  along with Trombonist Joe Bowie from the fusion act , Defunkt lends his talents to the track. There is a wider exploration and emersion of genres on this song, though none of the experimentation burdens the groove but enhances it along with the more etheric touches of female vocals that glide in over the second half of the song, brings texture that takes it beyond the urban funk and into other dimensions.

Laswell returns to provide the low end Curtis Mayfeild bump of "Peace ( Hold on). The song is flawless, the layers of backing vocals are as breathtaking as they are smooth. The soulful resonance of Doncker's voice is best displayed here and shines in the call and response section.

"Habesha Girl" takes on more of an electronic element. The vocals on this album don't bother with western pop conventions, yet are not devoid of hooks. Doncker's voice shines in the layered harmonies preceding the verses. The turn to dance hall, is a little jarring despite the fluid backdrop.

Afrika Bambaataa's right hand man Charlie Funk shows up on the track "Happy" that holds a 70's funk groove and is the album's most straight forward song, relying on the elegant guitar that slides in through the cracks in the bass line, to make it interesting.

Ethiopian singer Mahmoud Ahmed appears on the blues soaked "Abet Guarage" This song seems like more of a live jam and doesn't adorn itself with the multi layered back drops the others have. It's a celebratory closer that makes sense but compared to the other songs lacks some of the surprises. I think it is more of a showcase for Doncker's guitar playing which amid all of the varied genres touched on here is most at home playing the blues as he highlighted on the Howlin Wolf tribute he released this year.

It comes down to a matter of taste, and how expansive yours is if you will dig this album, it's air tight in both execution and intention. Doncker has perfectly achieved to make the album that was in his mind and got by with a little help from his friends.