Not one to avoid earnestly discussing and exploring the sounds of his English influences, Cullum reached into the overflowing 60s/70s British folk bag, proffering three selections from pillars of the era in Kevin Ayers, Trees, and Bridget St. John. These deft reinterpretations are patient and affecting, each take heightened by Rae’s truly fine vocal accompaniments. Overt respect to the forebears.
Category: Lagniappe Sessions
The Lagniappe Sessions :: Pachyman
Pachyman, the one-man dub reggae project of Pachy Garcia, is not to be slept on. Born in San Juan, PR, and now residing in Los Angeles, Garcia’s latest long-player is laced with the good shit. At a dozen tracks, it’s a roots ride of originals, all with knowing nods to the genre’s greatest innovators.
For this installment of the lagniappe sessions, we asked Garcia to riff on the inimitable Greensleeves label.
The Lagniappe Sessions :: Tobacco City
For their debut Lagniappe Session, the Chicago band emits several shades of their distinct musical palette, including the wayward, burnt-out sardonicism of Warren Zevon, the AM country sheen of Female Species, the mysterious pastoralism of early 70s Dylan, and the imbibed care-free state of mind we call Jimmy Buffett.
The Lagniappe Sessions :: Carlos Niño & Friends
Carlos Niño picks up on frequencies. In return, he transmits them back out into the universe. He’s built a vast body of work via radio broadcasts, intergalactic jams, and completely free sonic excursions. Openness requires listening, and Niño is an expert listener. “Frequently, I would say I’m doing some version of supercomputing, where I’m completely free in the moment and I’m also bookmarking sections I know I want to get back to,” he told us when he was a guest on our Transmissions podcast. For his first Lagniappe Session, he turns his ear to music by his friends and collaborators, Iasos and Laraaji, plus Pharoah Sanders and Joe Bonner.
The Lagniappe Sessions :: Sonny & The Sunsets (Second Session)
Covering two tracks from the mighty Troggs, when asked about the band’s longevity, Sonny attests “they always felt so mysterious , and now fifty years later they seem like unknown mystics from another time. It’s the same feeling when you think about some old world mystic poet, Rasputin, or Rumi or something”.
The Lagniappe Sessions :: Yuma Abe
For his debut Lagniappe Session, Tokyo-based singer-songwriter Yuma Abe cites influences and inspirations, including Devendra Banhart, who toured with his band Never Young Beach in Japan and contributes guitar to Fantasia, and Haruomi Hosono (Chu Kosaka’s former bandmate and frequent collaborator).
The Lagniappe Sessions :: Sugar Candy Mountain
Bay area duo Sugar Candy Mountain returned late last month with the release of their fourth long-player, the 13 track psych-pop that is Impression. Recorded with Papercuts’ Jason Quever, the record maintains the aesthetic touchstones of previous work, yet organically expands their sonic palette. For this installment of the Lagniappe Sessions, the group take on the nonpareil oeuvre of Serge Gainsbourg.
The Lagniappe Sessions :: Robert Walter (Third Session)
Spirit Of ’70, Robert Walter’s 1996 solo debut–and collaboration with sax legend, Gary Bartz–was issued on vinyl for the first time this month. To commemorate, Walter steps up for his third Lagniappe Session in eight years. Inspired as ever, this third round finds the artist dipping into exotica, reggae, nascent rap and the jazz of Silver Cycles.
The Lagniappe Sessions :: Real Estate
Five songs chosen by four different members that pull from the likes of British rock, American honky-tonk, and obscure instrumental B-sides – all wrapped in the group’s signature warmth. An (unofficial) EP of covers, if you will.
Parsley Sound | John Cale | My Bloody Valentine | Roger Miller | Jawbone
The Lagniappe Sessions :: Orions Belte
From the lush, exciting outskirts of “left field” this series likes to summon, the band plucked for us Mac Miller’s ‘2009’ and Danzig’s ‘Am I Demon.’
…re-imagining ‘2009’s lovely strings and piano and ‘Demon’s classic riffage. Worthy and original results, to be sure.
The Lagniappe Sessions :: David Nance
David Nance knows his way around a cover, having previously recorded and released reimagined versions of Lou Reed’s Berlin, the Stones’ Goat’s Head Soup, Doug Sahm And Band, and Beatles For Sale—all of which disappeared faster than you can say NO RETURNS ON THE MERCHANDISE. Now he gives Bonnie Raitt and Mindy McCreedy the treatment. Better get these while they’re hot.
The Lagniappe Sessions :: Alabaster dePlume
The Lagniappe Sessions blast off in 2021 with Alabaster dePlume–the man behind one of our favorite lps of last year. The following three covers find the artist paying tribute to friend and contemporary, Jaimie Branch, a traditional Russian love song, and the incomparable Arthur Russell.
The Lagniappe Sessions :: Jack Name
Jack Name moves in the shadows. Born John Webster Adams, the perennial chameleon’s fourth album, Magic Touch, breaks in stark contrast from his previous solo work. Dialing back the multi-layered production, yet eschewing none of the soul, this latest offering finds the artist naked and at the fore. The following, his first Lagniappe Session, only compliments this approach.
The Lagniappe Sessions :: Badge Époque Ensemble
Toronto’s Badge Époque Ensemble are a tireless assembly line of lysergic mood music, with November’s Self Help marking their third release in just over a year.
For their Lagniappe Session, Badge Époque picked a pair of unsurprisingly idiosyncratic songs to interpret from Henry Mancini in 1961 and Mica Levi’s 2013 Under The Skin soundtrack.
The Lagniappe Sessions :: Chico Bernardes
The past 18 months have found our ears trained on Brazil’s burgeoning contemporary music scene. To name a handful, Ana Frango Elétrico, Tim Bernardes, Sessa, Kiko Dinucci, Catavento, and O Terno’s records have all soundtracked our Los Angeles HQ.
São Paulo singer-songwriter Chico Bernardes is the latest to join this loose cadre, whose debut lp remains ripe and in steady rotation. For his Lagniappe Session the 20-year-old multi-instrumentalist reflects on early inspiration (Grizzly Bear), and local sonic compatriots (Sophia Chablau and Téo Serson).