Articles
2010 Artist Picks
Francesco Tristano
Albums
36
Access To Arasaka
Aeroplane Trio
Christian Albrechsten
Gilles Aubry
Andreas Bick
Wil Bolton
Caroline
Chaim
Scott Cortez
Dead Voices On Air
Margaret Dygas
F. Gerard Errante
Seren Ffordd
Field Rotation
Marcus Fischer
The Ghost of 29 Megacycles
Tania Gill
Gord Grdina Trio
Herion
Hummingbird
Ironomi
Yoshio Machida
Machinefabriek / Liondialer
Phil Manley
Matta
Mem1
me:mo
Miko
Momus
Moshimoss
Roger O'Donnell
orchestramaxfieldparrish
Cédric Peyronnet
Resoe
Danny Saul
Dirk Serries
Shedding
Clive Tanaka y su orquesta
Robert Scott Thompson
Two People In A Room
Undermathic
Wires Under Tension
Clive Wright
Compilations
Joachim Spieth Selected 6
Playing with Words
Reconstruction of Fives
20 Centuries Stony Sleep
EPs
Balmorhea
Clara Moto
d_rradio
Deepgroove
Kyle Bobby Dunn
Fear Falls Burning
Hammock
ptr1
Quiroga
Sawako
Quiroga:
Really Swing
Vol. 2
Really Swing
Why is Quiroga not more of a household name? Certainly the ultra-fresh material on this ten-inch vinyl sequel to the mid-2010 Really Swing Volume 1 release (also a ten-inch vinyl afffair) suggests that the man behind the mask, Napoli, Italy-based Walter Del Vecchio, deserves to be better known, even if he has issued music on Cactus Island Recordings and Irma Records, and also appeared on Symbolic Interaction's The Silence Was Warm Vol. 2. Pitched as “Free Thinking Adult Entertainment” (cheekily borne out by the back cover sleeve), the second volume plunges the listener into a phantasmagoric and off-kilter yet totally captivating blend of hip-hop, soul, and funk, with vocal elements liberally shredded and broken beats routinely splintered into stutter-funk.
Quiroga's fresh style is immediately evident from the first moment of “Sessomatto” when fresh vocal cut-ups, claps, and stop-start rhythms abruptly turn into a faded hip-hop episode elevated by the crisp snap of the drummer's snare and soul vocal hiccups. In “Feel This,” a female's soulful voice emotes reflectively over a piano-sprinkled jam that's as much lounge music as it is instrumental hip-hop, while a pair of uncredited MCs trade rhymes over a bass-heavy, old-school funk groove during “Worst Gov.” Moments of wiry electro and lounge-styled hip-hop also surface during a fabulous outing that, with only eight cuts split across two ten-inch sides, is over way too fast.
January 2011