SERvin’ Up! – w/c December 11, 2017

Sly5thAve – The Invisible: An Orchestral Tribute to Dr Dre
Wilco – being There (Deluxe Edition)
Sharon Van Etten – (It Was) Because In Love
Pony Face – Déjà vu
Jim James – Tribute To Volume 2
Various Artists – Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection of Music From The Arab World
—

Hello,

There are still a few gems 2SER can unearth for you as the year in music winds down!

Multi-instrumentalist and producer Sly5thAve might hail from New York but he sure knows his West Coast hip hop, and in particular one of its biggest names in Dr Dre. Some time back, Sly5thAve – let’s just call him Sly – organised a tribute concert to Dr Dre’s work with an orchestra in tow to raise money for a non-profit music school. More than 1200 people attended the night in Los Angeles, one of those being Dr Dre himself who was blown away by Sly’s interpretations of his productions. Now comes a studio recording, The Invisible: An Orchestral Tribute To Dr Dre, for all to hear these classy reworks that reveal in full the prowess and vision of Dre’s cinematic arrangements. Dr Dre took hip hop off the street but stayed street smart – a canny sensibility that made for his mass appeal. Backed by one of the most soulful and funky orchestras you might hear, on The Invisible, Sly5thAve’s makes that crystal clear in the name of pure groove.

Habibi Funk is a term coined by the label of the same name for Arabic music that defies easy category. The latest in the Habibi Funk series – Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection of Music From The Arab World –  is a great overview of their work, showcasing artists who didn’t just adopt a Western flavor into the traditional music of their region but found inspiration from a range of local and regional sounds. Tracks found here were made by Arabs living in the Middle East, North Africa and the Caribbean Islands, all exuding a vibrancy and funky way that’s feels very singular against the raft of non-Western music unearthed for compilation year in year out.

Before she built a band to beef up her songs, Sharon Van Etten hit many a stage in her adopted New York with just an acoustic guitar and delicate folk songs. Her lesser-known debut from 2009, (It Was) Because I Was In Love, has just been re-released with a new mix and added tracks. The album was originally recorded by Greg Weeks from psych-folk revisionists Espers, however this new edition has been remixed by Craig Silvey, who’s worked with Arcade Fire and more recently gave Julien Baker some newfound sheen on her second album. While Van Etten is known for a tenderness at the core of her songs, here it’s at its most bare-boned with spare instrumentation and none of the defiant force driving her ensuing work. (It Was) Because I Was In Love shows the start of the art form she’s made of her self-acknowledged frailty, though if she hadn’t done an about face in direction, that may have petered out all too quickly. As it stands, this debut captures her essence and hints at her transition and ultimate strength.

Also, so many new singles – we’ve got tunes from Newcastle newcomer Grace Turner, Calexico, Omar Musa, Total Control, The Ocean Party, Slowdive remixing Ghostpoet, Ty Segall covering Hot Chocolate, tUnE-yArDs, Augie March, Jonathan Wilson, Holiday Oscar and Sufjan Stevens singing about Tonya Harding.

Enjoy it all on 2SER,

Andrew