Ryley Walker
Tanglewood SpacesAll Kinds of You 2014 via Tompkins Square
Swamp Fox
"A musical rollercoaster from start to finish, Ritual Beating System jolts us with its abrupt mood changes, yet never really strays from a percussive Brazilian-oriented theme. After opening with the soft Brazilian pop-jazz of "Retrato Calado," Bahia Black dives into hard-edged Portuguese-language rap ("Capitao Do Asfalto") before embracing post-bop jazz" - Allmusic.com
Maxinquaye still manages to retain its power; years later, it can still sound haunting, disturbing, and surprising after countless spins. It's an album that exists outside of time and outside of trends, a record whose clanking rhythms, tape haze, murmured vocals, shards of noise, reversed gender roles, alt-rock asides, and soul samplings create a ghostly netherworld fused with seductive menace and paranoia. It also shimmers with mystery - Stephen Thomas Erlewine