Multifaceted Estonian artist Tommy Cash brought his world tour to a sold out crowd at Lincoln Hall in Chicago, IL on Wednesday, February 23rd. Even though it was a work night, the crazy amount of energy emanating from the hundreds of people in the crowd made it feel like a Saturday night.
In lieu of an opening act, they played Eurobeat music to warm up the crowd. Once the house was packed, Tommy Cash brought over an hour of non stop dancing, even getting the entire crowd to fully squat down and jump back up on beat. Spitting through classic hits, like “Winaloto” and “Little Molly,” and hit collaborations, like Quebonafide’s “Benz-Dealer” and Salvatore Ganacci’s “Heartbass,” Tommy Cash didn’t skip a beat once, captivating the crowds energy and attention his entire time on stage.
A heartwarming moment happened when Tommy Cash spotted a fan holding a Ukrainian flag, which he got ahold of while smiling and proudly waving it around on stage.
During quarantine, Parks orchestrated four songs for Verónica Valerio, a singer, songwriter and harpist born in Veracruz, Mexico. The EP is titled, “Only in America, Solo En America.” While the lyrics are in Spanish, the mood and emotion of the project is evident no matter what language one speaks. Don’t forget to take a moment to study the album’s cover art: it was created by Klaus Voorman, The Beatles’ chum who created the ever-enduring album art for Revolver.
Camberwell, UK | Rat Records in Camberwell to permanently close in June 2022: Rat Records, the brilliant second hand vinyl record shop in Camberwell, South London, has announced that it will be closing for good in mid-June this year. Founded by ‘expert vinyl dealer, collector and music nutcase’ Tom Fisher in an Oxford street market 33 years ago, Rat Records has evolved into a hugely popular record shop in South London. Offering affordable prices, they’ve sold over 1,000,000 second hand records since 1988, adding that they’ve “stuck on 1.3 million plus price stickers, driven 860,000 miles, worn out 17 vehicles (and counting) and found the only known copy of a collaboration between Mick Jagger and John Lennon.” In a Facebook post, the owner said: It is with regret that we need to tell you that the Rat Records shop will close in mid-June. The current lease is expiring and Tom has decided to retire. We will be trading as normal until June, and will keep you updated with more details soon, here and on the Rat Records site. We would like the shop to continue, so if you are interested in purchasing the business name, assets etc, please contact Tom: 
Oslo, NO | Neseblod Records: This record shop and unofficial black metal museum is an ode to Oslo’s heaviest musical export. This unassuming storefront should be a top priority for any metal fan visiting Oslo. A record shop and unofficial metal museum in Norway’s capitol city, Neseblod Records (“nosebleed”) is also central in many regards to the early history of black metal. The record shop, originally named Helvete, was first opened in June 1991 by the late and now-infamous guitarist Euronymous. The term helvete is Norwegian for “hell,” and comes from the Norse hels víti, translating to “hell’s punishment.” As co-founder and guitarist for the early Norwegian black metal band Mayhem, Euronymous was a central figure in the nascent music scene. He was the only constant member from the band’s formation in 1984 until his death in 1993. The basement of this early record store was a gathering spot for many of Euronymous’ friends and bandmates, making the space something of 
However, there was a time when that claim was not true. In the early ’80s, a successful host from Florida was sent to the swampy Meadowlands of NJ to create a radio station that would rival all others in the New York City metro area. That man was Scott Shannon and he is my guest this week to discuss a new film that has been released which explores those primal days at Z100 and how they climbed from the bottom of the ratings to the top. It’s called 
Flamenco music enjoys the revival of vinyl records: Flamenco en vinilo (Flamenco on vinyl) was born with the purpose of recovering flamenco treasures that have never released on vinyl. When a song comes to mind, usually we go to YouTube or Spotify to listen. Streaming platforms have revolutionized the way we consume music, and have made it a very difficult for traditional record companies to turn a profit, especially those dedicated to underground genres and artists. Beyond the success of the digital market, vinyls reminiscent of old times are on the rise again. After the collapse of the market due to the closure of shops during the pandemic, there was a growth in sales of 39.6% in physical records, according to the organization Producers of Music of Spain (Promusicae). Forty-three percent of those sales were vinyl records, with around 10.7 million euros ($12.1 million) in revenue. In an effort to rescue the great myths of flamenco, the record label Flamenco en vinilo (Flamenco on vinyl) was 
Memphis, TN | Redemption in Vinyl: An under-recognized aspect of the punk and garage scene in Memphis is the musicians’ love of strange, old records. After all, one of the best models for kicking back against corporate rock hegemony is hearing how artists made music when rock and other genres were considered the radical fringe. Such was the context back in the ’90s, when the heathen underground played venues like the Antenna and Barristers. By day, many of those club denizens were fanning out to the city’s thrift stores, combing through vinyl. The Royal Pendletons were mainstays of the local scene then, often making the trip north from their home base in New Orleans to play with such local pioneers as Impala or the Oblivians. It’s no accident that all of the players in those bands — notably Michael Hurtt and Matt Uhlman of the Royal Pendletons, Scott Bomar of Impala, and Greg Cartwright and Eric Friedl of the Oblivians — are respected DJs and curators of rare vinyl 
NEW RELEASE PICK: Kendra Morris, Nine Lives (Karma Chief) Although based in New York, vocalist Morris is from Florida, having moved to NYC with a band that’s fortunes didn’t pan out, Instead, she recorded her debut album Banshee for the Wax Poetics label a decade ago and then self-released a follow-up EP “Babble” in 2016. Nine Lives reinforces the artist as a specialist in neo-soul, an increasingly crowded field that Morris navigates pretty well for a couple reasons. The first is that she uses her obvious vocal prowess to productive ends. Put another way, she doesn’t oversing (the stumbling block or outright downfall of so many vocalists), which would be easy to do in an attempt to stand out in a crowded field. Instead, Morris flows rather than strains with numerous flashes of sweetness that combine well with the instrumental scheme, the thrust of which is tangibly neo-soul in nature but without being rigidly throwback. Instead, there are recurring psychedelic soul gestures and production values that strike my ears as post-hip-hop. The key is restraint, even when the strings come in. B+
REISSUE/ARCHIVAL PICKS: Keith Tippett, Julie Tippetts, Philip Gibbs, Paul Dunmall, Mahogany Rain (577) Like Onosante, a recording from 2000 featuring pianist Keith Tippett, guitarist Philip Gibbs, drummer Peter Fairclough and multi-horn man Paul Dunmall that 577 reissued last year, Mahogany Rain was initially released by Duns Limited Editions, with its original date of issue 2005. As the name of the label should make obvious, the number of available copies for both sets was finite; 100 copies for each, in fact. Some of the discs issued by Dunmall’s enterprise had numbers as low as 50, in a catalog totaling 67 CDrs and a DVDr, all issued between 1999-2009. That means Duns releases, at least in physical form, are pretty scarce, if not commanding ridiculously high prices on the collector market, in part due to the format and also the type of music offered (mostly avant jazz and free improvisation). But if the dollar amounts for Duns stuff aren’t (with a few exceptions) overinflated, that shouldn’t infer a lack of listener interest, as Onosante’s reissue was well received (and included on TVD’s Best Reissues of 2021 list).
Sussan Deyhim & Richard Horowitz, Desert Equations: Azax Attra (Crammed Discs) From 1984-1995, Crammed Discs amassed, by the label’s count, 35 releases in their Made to Measure undertaking, an endeavor once and occasionally still considered a sublabel, but described by Crammed Discs instead as a recently reactivated series, and more specifically a series with a loose focus on composers creating for other artforms, particularly film, dance, and theater. Released in 1986, Desert Equations: Azax Attra was the eighth Made to Measure entry, one that differs a bit from the tendency outlined above, offering a collaboration between Iranian vocalist Deyhim and US-based electronic composer Horowitz, who’s noted as an expert on Middle Eastern music (he also lived in Paris and Morocco for a long stretch prior to the ’80s). If aspects of this recording tie it to its era, and mostly from Horowitz’s side of the equation, that’s largely through a bold embrace of the possibilities of the time, an attitude that combines well with Deyhim’s groundbreaking presence. The record’s wildest moments belong to her. A-
