Chavez Ravine
RY COODER
Nonesuch
Ry Cooder worked three years on the epic Chavez Ravine, a historical love letter to an old Los Angeles neighborhood that was bulldozed to make way for Dodger stadium. How serendipitous that it was released about the same time the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to broaden the powers of eminent domain. Such topicality wouldn't be worth a pile of rubble, though, if the music didn't deliver the goods, which Chavez Ravine does, even if it asks a lot of the listener.
Cooder, the guitarist/producer who spearheaded the Buena Vista Social Club series that revitalized interest in Cuban folk sounds, makes a musical return to his native city with high ambition and a continuing preoccupation with the Latino experience. Chavez Ravine was, after all, a working-class Mexican-American neighborhood.
Rhythmically, Cooder uses a mélange of Latin beats, from polka-inspired conjunto to various incarnations from South America. Lyrics, penned by an array of writers (many with Hispanic surnames), are in Spanish and English (with translations for each). He invited old East L.A. legends such as Lalo Guerrero, Ersi Arvizu, Don Tosti and Little Willie G. to perform on the sessions.
Much to its credit, Chavez Ravine does not emerge as a quaint exercise in arcane nostalgia. The disc's narrative – which also touches on Red Scare politics, government corruption, the toils and joys of common folk and an extraterrestrial "Space Vato" – hangs together gracefully, like a history lesson with emotional punch.
Cooder masterfully mixes pure traditional styles with more modern and progressive pieces. "Don't Call Me Red" incorporates found-sound speeches into an avant-collage. "El U.F.O. Cayó" is an eight-and-a-half minute space jam built around the spectral vocals of Juliette Commagere. "In My Town" is a quirky, ruminative acoustic ballad featuring Cooder's intimate, conversational vocal. In fact, Cooder, never known as a singer, turns in a few other credible vocal turns, most notably on the breezy lead track "Poor Man's Shangri-La," which he injects with a winning dose of whimsy.
In all, Chavez Ravine is so stylistically far-reaching it can initially come off as diffuse. That's why it takes a few listens to ingest the concept, after which the album's focus becomes sharper and it evokes a deeper and more profound sort of beauty.
-ERIC SNIDER
Bass Jihad
DUB GABRIELAzra
A decade or so ago, Gabe Freedman was just another bassist hopping from band to band around Tampa. (In fact, I played with him in one, and longtime scenesters may remember him from stints in Barely Pink and Magadog.) Following a move to Brooklyn, Freedman was reborn as instrumentalist/DJ/producer Dub Garbriel, and has enjoyed considerable international success by imbuing mesmerizing trance, dub and hip-hop rhythms with organic bass lines and elements of native Jamaican, African and Middle Eastern sounds. His second full-length solo set, Bass Jihad, continues the trend, steering clear of cheesy New Age-meets-World Beat clichés and providing enough energy and mid-tempo groove to keep out of the chill-out lounge. Those who don't dig an after-hours club vibe might find the lack of intra-song change-ups a bit monotonous, but fans of everything from classic dub to cutting-edge hypnotronica will find something to savor in Bass Jihad's transfixing, multilingual throb.
1/2-SCOTT HARRELL
Version 7.0 – The Street Scriptures
GURU7 Grand
The vocal half of pioneering rap duo Gang Starr returns with above-average old-school vibe and flow. Solar provides beats with an emphasis on organic instrumentation, while Guru radiates his inimitable casual confidence. Some production ideas (the repeated use of high-pitched chipmunks-on-helium hooks; slow-jams "Talk to Me" and "Too Dark See") seem misguided, but Guru's rich tone and eclectic lyrical persona are as effective as ever, and ace collaborators Jean Grae, Talib Kweli, B. Real and Doo-Wop all turn in formidable guest spots.
1/2-SCOTT HARRELL
Make It Through This World
GREG TROOPERSugar Hill
Better known as a songwriter, Trooper glides through 12 bluesy, literate country tunes, most of which feature just enough smart, laid-back rhythm to inspire visions of couples dancing, not on a roadhouse floor, but on the porch or in the living room long after the bars have closed. There's a certain craftsman's quality to the songs that overshadows any strong personality (and is probably why his material is so easily adapted by others), and sometimes keeps them from connecting on a more visceral level. But there's no denying that Trooper's got a knack for quality Americana, both as a writer and performer.
1/2-SCOTT HARRELL
What Up, Dog?WAS (NOT WAS)Chrysalis
Yes, this is the album with the novelty hit "Walk the Dinosaur" on it, but the rest brims with melodic R&B from a pair of wacky Motor City white boys and their cohorts. With Don Was' production savvy, David Was' clever, subversive lyrics, ace players and the vocal prowess of Sweet Pea Atkinson and Sir Harry Bowens, What Up, Dog? stands as an obscure classic – one that you should seek out.
-ERIC SNIDER
This article appears in Jul 13-19, 2005.