Seun Kuti, the youngest son of Afrobeat legend and African music icon Fela Kuti continues to draw from the deep well of his father’s music while forging his own path in the 21st century. He returns with his fourth album, Black Times, which is in stores today. The album features appearances from Carlos Santana, Robert Glasper, and others.
Seun Kuti has carried the did mantle of his father and his father’s music since 1997 when Fela passed away and he inherited his band as a 14-year-old. Egypt 80 was originally known as Egypt 70 and appeared on many of Fela’s most important works.
Though Seun maintains his father’s band and has the same understanding of the role of music in addressing injustice in the world as the famed musical revolutionary, he is clearly living in this century. As with his previous album, A Long Way To The Beginning which was released three years ago, Black Times was co-produced by the Grammy-winning jazz pianist Robert Glasper.
An Old Music Style Becomes New: Records: Good Records NYC, located on E 5th Street., was founded in 2005. The store is marked by simple window text reading, “Records.” Inside, there are vintage records from the 1950s, as well as ones from current artists. The selection is tastefully eclectic, with genres ranging from jazz to rap. You can check out the kind of music they enjoy both in store and online, where they’ve put together some awesome music mixes. Good Records has 
Bathurst’s Record, CD and Vintage Fair, 2018: No longer on the outer, vinyl will continue its comeback with the greatest hits at Bathurst Showground. The annual Record, CD and Vintage Fair is on this Sunday with all music lovers invited along for the party. Fair co-ordinator Jon Ordon said the event will feature tens of thousands of music items. “It provides top quality records and CDs for the Central West that people wouldn’t have access to,” he said. “There will be cool collectibles and dealers offloading records as well.” Mr Ordon said many music lovers prefer to listen to vinyl because of the different sound it produces. “You actually get a much better sound, 
NEW RELEASE PICKS: Steve Barton, Tall Tales and Alibis (Sleepless) Barton is known mostly as a member of (the still active) San Fran New Wave-era guitar band Translator, but he’s cut a slew of solo efforts, and this 3CD set is his latest. The main snag with Translator was unevenness brought on by commercial concerns, but Barton is unshackled by such matters here. The original idea was to release three individual albums simultaneously, though the decision to issue them together was wise, as the contrasts are complimentary. Two of the three discs are truly solo and are mostly guitar focused; Star Tonight occasionally brings Ted Leo to mind, while parts of Shattered Light give off a pre-hobo Tom Waits vibe. Before I Get Too Young features a full band, it bests any of Translator’s ’80s (non-comp) LPs. A-
Trees Speak, S/T (Cinedelic) This 2LP debuts the psych project of Daniel Martin Diaz (ex-Blind Divine and Crystal Radio), who’s veteran accompaniment includes members of Black Sun Ensemble, Giant Sand, and Myrrors. Described as a sound laboratory as much as a band, there’s a definite experimental edge to the proceedings, but it comingles with an emphasis on rock, with a high quotient ’70s Germanic. It’s safe to say that fans of The Oh Sees will find much to enjoy here, but it’s also important to note that this doesn’t fit the garage punk scenario; Trees Speak also does its thing sans vocals. The first album is loaded with shorter tracks with elements of kosmische and even a little Meddle-era Floyd in the mix, and the second spreads a long multitiered piece across two sides. The packaging is magnificent. A-
REISSUE PICKS: V/A, Voyager Golden Record (Ozma) As a young blues fan, I was utterly chuffed to learn that this ambitious project of the Voyager Interstellar Record Committee (chaired by astronomer and educator Carl Sagan), launched on a tour of the solar system via the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecrafts in 1977, included Blind Willie Johnson’s “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground.” These days, I’m far more struck by the gesture of goodwill in communication. Yes, it was assembled to, maybe, one day, be absorbed by possible lifeforms somewhere “out there,” but meanwhile, listening to its contents (which encompass so much more than music) in the here and now is a beautiful reminder that humankind is far more capable of decency and beauty than ugliness and atrocity. Let it give you a boost. A+
Sandra Bell, Net (Drawing Room) Bell’s discography stretches back to an ’84 cassette she made with fellow New Zealander Kim Blackburn, though she really caught the attention of those hungering for u-ground Kiwi sounds with ’91’s Dreams of Falling, which came out on tape through Xpressway and was cut with the contribution of Peter Jefferies. Net was its excellent ’95 follow-up, initially issued only on CD by the IMD label. Upon first listen, Bell’s voice and phrasing will likely conjure thoughts of Patti Smith, but overall, her work fits snuggly into the ’90s lo-fi/ noise milieu, with the important distinction that she’s a song-based artist, one as likely to connect with fans of early Cat Power as lovers of Dead C. This is a terrific vinylization made even better with an extra LP rounding up two of her period singles. A-
Soul music plays on at DJ’s Record Shop: Jerry “DJ” West figures the half-century he’s spent running a used record store goes back to growing up in Blackshear, Ga., where he would tune in at night as disc jockey John R., a white guy many people thought was black, spun rhythm and blues all the way from Nashville, Tenn. In tiny Blackshear, that soul music was like a message from the bigger world, and it was one you did not want to miss. If you were out and about, you found John R.’s WLAC show on your transistor radio, which you stuck in your front pocket with the antennae sticking up out of it. If you were home, your father put John R. on the radio, and everyone in the house went to sleep to the music. Everywhere you went in Blackshear, it was playing. And more than five decades later, soul music is still playing inside DJ’s Record Shop, at the corner of Edison and McDuff avenues — all day long, 
Music lovers opens vinyl record shop: Music lover Pete Bennett will be living the dream when he opens his own vinyl record shop in Devizes on Saturday. Mr Bennett, 55, has been running Vinyl Realm as an on-line business for seven years but he is delighted that he will now be able to meet his customers 
