VIA PRESS RELEASE | Craft Latino proudly announces the return of Metiendo mano!, the influential 1977 debut from Willie Colón and Rubén Blades that started it all.

In the late ’70s, bestselling bandleader, producer, and trumpet player Willie Colón and Panamanian singer-songwriter Rubén Blades forged a musical partnership, blending Blades’ socio-political lyricism with Colón’s innovative approach to salsa music, resulting in what would become known as “conscious salsa.” The first of four LPs by Colón and Blades, Metiendo mano! changed the Latin music landscape with thought-provoking tracks like “Pablo Pueblo,” “Plantación adentro,” and “Según el color.”

The album, which has long been out of print in the US, returns to its original format on July 11th, featuring all-analog mastering and 180-gram vinyl. A limited-edition (only 300) “KO Red” color vinyl variant is available exclusively at Fania’s online store, bundled with a Fania Retro logo T-shirt. Both vinyl options are available for pre-order.

The story begins a decade earlier with Willie Colón (b. 1950). A Latin GRAMMY® Lifetime Achievement Award winner and multiple GRAMMY® nominee, Colón was instrumental in shaping the sound of salsa through his prolific work on and off the stage. The Bronx native launched his storied career at just 15 years old when he signed to New York’s own Fania Records.

Read More »

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Virtually no other album anywhere in history is known to its audience by its label number. Not Kind of Blue, nor Pet Sounds, Glenn Gould’s Goldberg Variations, none. Except this one. Rounder 44. Probably the most seminal bluegrass album of all time. Notice we didn’t say modern bluegrass, though it originally came out in 1975. That’s because, unlike, say, Aereo Plain by John Hartford (who contributed notes to the original package, reproduced here), The New South didn’t reinvent bluegrass. It perfected it.

Bandleader and banjoist supreme J.D. Crowe got his start as a teenager in Jimmy Martin’s Sunny Mountain Boys, before returning to Kentucky and forming The Kentucky Mountain Boys. That band morphed over the years to become The New South, boasting probably the most formidable line-up any American band of any genre has enjoyed. Bassist Bob Sloane (of The Kentucky Colonels) was the first to join, followed by one legend after another: fiddle and mandolin player Ricky Skaggs, dobroist Jerry Douglas, and guitarist/vocalist Tony Rice.

Together, they were pure magic: technically brilliant but soulful, inventive but disciplined, each a virtuoso but still part of the unit. And, oh, those harmonies! The New South is the cornerstone of any bluegrass collection. Of course, a group this talented wasn’t destined to last long. Within a year, each member went their own way, pioneering progressive bluegrass with each successive project. But the one album they recorded together, Rounder 44, is THE ONE.

Real Gone’s reissue of The New South features two sets of added liner notes, one by guitarist Skip Heller and one by mandolinist Jarrod Walker, along with the bonus tracks “Why Don’t You Tell Me So” and “Cryin’ Holy” with Emmylou Harris. We’re pressing 1,000 copies of this classic in root beer vinyl—don’t you dare miss it!

Remembering Joe Cocker, born on this day in 1944. —Ed.

If you’re going to write a piece about the late, great Joe Cocker, or so it seems to me, that piece should be every bit as spastic and twitching all over the place as the feller himself. When he was singing that is. I don’t know as Joe walked the streets gesticulating and twitching and wringing his hands and all. If he did, God bless him.

Anyway, I tried to write a spastic and twitching review of 1969’s Joe Cocker! but gave up after sentence one, because the man did it better than I could ever do. He was possessed by genius, and told those who would exorcise said genius to piss off. A voice as gravelly and soulful and great as his came with a cost, and if that cost was that he twist himself into pretzel-like contortions ever time he sang, so be it.

The early Cocker was a genius of such magnitude that his idea of a great gig was coming on stage, vomiting on the front row, and passing out. A real showman, our Joe. But if his gravel-grinding voice was a gift from Heaven, it need be said that it was not the only reason Joe Cocker! is an indispensable piece of vinyl as you should turn red with shame for not owning.

No, Joe Cocker! is a classic due in part to the pure dead brilliant performances of the people behind the voice, namely his backing outfit the Grease Band, to say nothing of Leon Russell, Sneaky Pete Kleinow, Clarence White, and a veritable heavenly choir of backing vocalists including Rita Coolidge, Merry Clayton, Bonnie Bramlett, and Shirley Matthews, amongst others. I take my hat off in particular to Chris Stainton, the fella as played piano in the Grease Band. His every performance is hair-raising, and he makes the LP worth owning all by his own self.

Read More »

On May 23, the latest full-length record from the Thalia Zedek Band arrives; like the previous five it’s available through the auspices of the Thrill Jockey label of Chicago, Illinois, USA. And like those prior volumes, The Boat Outside Your Window documents its maker’s enduring growth as a guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, and bandleader, as bassist Winston Braman and drummer Gavin McCarthy return to a lineup that’s solidified by pedal steel guitarist Karen Sarkisian. The 10-song set, released on limited coke bottle clear vinyl, compact disc, and digital, reinforces Zedek as one of the underground rock scene’s most reliable and yet consistently undersung figures.

Thalia Zedek’s musical journey began at the dawn of the 1980s in the vicinity of Boston, Massachusetts. The band was White Women, long represented by a sole song, “Midge,” released on a compilation tape in 1981 by the Propeller label. The same tape offered “Catholic Boy” by Dangerous Birds, a somewhat higher profile outfit featuring Zedek; they released the single “Alpha Romeo” b/w “Smile In Your Face” in 1982. After that, it was Uzi, a highly regarded but short-lived outfit that broke ground on the fringes of post-punk and art rock, releasing one EP, “Sleep Asylum,” on Homestead Records in 1986.

Zedek made a bigger splash on the national scene when she joined New York City’s Live Skull for the albums Dusted (1987, Homestead) and Positraction (1989, Caroline). Upon Live Skull’s disbandment, Zedek joined Come, a critically lauded heavy indie two-guitar four-piece who made a big splash with their 1992 debut 11:11 for Matador Records.

Come had a nice run of it on record before winding down in 2001; from there, Zedek branched out on her own, first with two solo studio efforts under her own name, Been There and Gone (2001, Matador) and Trust Not Those In Whom Without Some Touch of Madness (2004, Thrill Jockey), and then with The Boat Outside Your Window, six records fronting the Thalia Zedek Band and four as one-third of the ensemble E, alongside guitarist James Sanford and until their most recent LP, drummer Gavin McCarthy doing double duty; he’s replaced on 2024’s Living Waters by Ernie Kim.

Read More »

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Celebrating its 20th anniversary this June, Jamiroquai’s Dynamite will be released as a double-LP set on Dynamite Smoke vinyl. The original album will be featured alongside a bonus CD of the original promo album sampler, which features different pre-release track versions. The album will be released on 13 June, and pre-orders can be placed now.

Dynamite was the hotly anticipated sixth album from the band. It followed the release of their 2001 album A Funk Odyssey that had garnered critical and commercial success globally. Also in the intervening period between the two albums, the band were exposed to rafts of new fans when their 1999 track “Canned Heat” became the focal point of cult-turned-smash-hit movie Napoleon Dynamite (2004) when the movie’s namesake lead performed his now infamous dance.

Originally released in the UK on 20 June 2005, its lead signal and first track on the record “Feels Just Like It Should” became the band’s fourth number-one on the US Dance Chart that also broke into the UK Top 10 Singles Chart and was accompanied with a Grammy Award nominated video that features Jay Kay going from nerd to himself and also adopt the role of the Candyman—all of who adopt Jay’s unique style and moves.

Dynamite, like all of their previous albums, continued their great album chart success, this time entering at number three. The second single, “Seven Days in Sunny June,” entered the top 15 and, in 2006, saw the band’s relationship with smash hit movies continue, appearing in The Devil Wears Prada. “(Don’t) Give Hate A Chance” was released as the third single, once again featuring a hugely captivating video, this time with an animation of the band’s infamous “Buffaloman” logo throwing some signature Jay dance moves.

Read More »

Celebrating Pete Townshend on his 80th birthday. —Ed.

Who loves The Who? Everybody loves The Who, that’s who. Six billion Chinese people love The Who. That Turkish family that walks on all fours loves The Who. Kim Jong-un loves The Who. The ape at the zoo loves The Who. Okay, I suppose there are lots of people who don’t love The Who, but I don’t understand them. Why, I would even go so far as to say there’s something terribly, terribly wrong with them.

Then again, how much do I really love The Who? I have no use for Tommy, dislike everything after 1973’s Quadrophenia, and have never really listened to their early stuff beyond what’s on the 1971 compilation Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy. And don’t even get me started on the post-Keith Moon Who. Face Dances? Why, I have half a mind to dance on your face, Mr. Peter Dennis Blanford Townshend, for reanimating the corpse of a band that died with its heart and soul, Keith Moon.

So, unlike our friends the quadruped Ulas Family from Turkey, I suppose I’m ambivalent about The Who. But I have no mixed feelings about Who’s Next, the band’s 1971 masterpiece. From its cover of the foursome at Easington Colliery, having apparently just finished pissing on a concrete “monolith” emerging from a slag heap, to “Baba O’Riley” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again”—two of the greatest rock songs ever written—it’s a gas, especially when you toss in such odd birds as the hilarious “My Wife” and the cool and amusing “Going Mobile.” It may include some songs I flat-out dislike, but I don’t care. It’s still the best thing to come along since sliced Altamont.

Back story in telegraphic form: Formed in 1964 and briefly called The High Numbers… Mods vs. rockers and gratuitous guitar smashing… “My Generation” and rock opera Tommy… drummer Keith Moon drives limo into swimming pool… shirtless Roger Daltrey swings mic in great arcing loops… John Entwistle, bass genius, as great as Jack Bruce… Pete Townshend’s windmill guitar and famous boiler suit, STOP.

Read More »

VIA PRESS RELEASE | The Kinks, one of the greatest ever British rock groups, continue the 60th Anniversary celebrations of their illustrious musical journey with the final part of their career-defining trilogy, The Journey, out July 11 on BMG.

With The Journey – Part 1 (featuring Kinks standards such as “You Really Got Me,” “Waterloo Sunset” and “All Day And All Of The Night”) and The Journey – Part 2 (which included “Lola,” “Sunny Afternoon,” and “Everybody’s A Star (Starmaker)”), released in 2023, The Journey – Part 3 covers their transformative RCA/Arista period spanning 1977 to 1984. The period saw the band finally break America, leaving behind their iconic pop and experimental phases, and returning to a fresh and concise style of classic songwriting that draws on their own distinct British sense of self.

Compiled by the band, the release comes on two discs. Disc 1 is made up of 11 classic tracks and hits from the era, freshly remastered from the original ¼” production master tapes including “Come Dancing,” “Destroyer,” “Living On A Thin Line,” and more.

Disc 2 is a very special release featuring never-before-heard recordings, discovered in the Konk archive, from the band’s euphoric, historic Royal Albert Hall show from July 11, 1993, including formidable renditions of “You Really Got Me,” “Till The End of the Day,” and “Sunny Afternoon,” among many others.

Read More »

It’s hard to believe that horn band Chicago, along with Grand Funk Railroad, were one of the most popular touring acts of the early Seventies. Why, I would go so far as to suggest the above proves that the young people of America had lost their collective fucking mind. Personally, I blame the Ohio National Guard.

I would blame drugs—acid and speed and St. Joseph’s Baby Aspirin and the like—but what respectable dope fiend would have been caught dead at the live shows that make up Chicago’s eight-sided beast, 1971’s Chicago at Carnegie Hall? Chicago was only slightly less square than the likes of fellow horn band Blood, Sweat & Tears and vocal group Three Dog Night, both of whom also raise questions about the intelligence, taste, and indeed sanity of the Children of America in the Age of Nixon.

I can only think that collective societal trauma induced a sort of mass idiocy that led America’s supposedly turned-on kids to buy albums by horn bands, including a quadruple live album that is largely unlistenable. So unlistenable indeed that you can tell it’s unlistenable without actually listening to it, or so concluded Robert Christgau in his contemporaneous review of the LP (“I’m not claiming actually to have listened to this four-record set—you think I’m a nut?”). And he wasn’t even apologetic about it!

Lester Bangs did listen to all eight sides, which makes him a hero in my book, and after sarcastically calling the album “a classic” and commending it for its sheer heft (3.2 pounds according to his calculations) he went on to add, sarcastic still, “Loving Chicago at Carnegie Hall as much as I do, though, I still don’t play it very often. In fact, I’ve only played it once since I got it, and never intend to play any of it again.”

Read More »

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Yusuf/Cat Stevens has announced his long-awaited memoir, Cat On The Road To Findout. Launching in the UK through Constable on September 18 and in North America on October 7 through Genesis Publications, the new autobiography is an extraordinary soul-baring journey through the triumphs, trials, and transcendental quest of one of music’s most enigmatic figures of our time.

More than a memoir, the Yusuf/Cat Stevens story is a backstage pass to the mind of a man who has lived a thousand lives. From his folk troubadour beginnings, to the glamorous chaos of ‘60s pop stardom, to his ‘70s reign as a generational voice, his songs formed a musical odyssey that intricately recorded the journey to self-discovery. Then came his unexpected departure from superstardom, embracing Islam and leaving fans heartbroken.

Missing from the public narrative has been the intimate story of his deeply emotive transformation—until now. Cat On The Road To Findout finally reveals the curious complexity and intellectual reasoning behind his navigation through life—a voyage that has now culminated in his return to music and art, to share his lessons of life with those seekers, dreamers, and believers who still love and admire him. He remains true to the optimistic message of his melodic peace train.

Yusuf/Cat Stevens says: “I’ve been on an amazing journey, which began in the narrow streets of London, and led me through the most iconic cities, to perform upon the great stage of Western culture, ascending the dizzying heights of wealth, recognition and artistic pinnacles; freely exploring vast ranges of religions and philosophies, wandering through churches, temples, all the way to the Holy abode in Jerusalem—ignoring myths and warnings—and crossing the foreboded, desert heartlands, to arrive at the House of One God in Abrahamic Arabia. What finally elevated my perspective was a luminous Book that perfectly alchemized my thoughts, beliefs, with human nature. It taught me Oneness, and my place and purpose within the universe.”

Read More »