CD of the week:
CD OF THE WEEK: Nelly Furtado: Folklore
“I am not a one-trick pony,” Nelly Furtado sings on One-Trick Pony, the opening track of Folklore (Universal), the follow-up to her hit debut album Whoa Nelly!. And one has to agree wholeheartedly.
Furtado proves herself to be a versatile singer-songwriter, with Folklore less commercial but more textured and colourful than her debut, with its roots anchored in Brazilian folk-rock.
It’s an album packed with musical surprises and oddities: the Kronos Quartet help out on One-Trick Pony with its seductive string arrangements; there is a “squeaky organ” playing on Explode (no, it’s not someone having sex on rusty bedsprings) and the same track has a credit for a fireworks display; the stunning closing track, Childhood Dreams, features a “huge organ” with “64-foot pipes”.
The style varies from Sheryl Crow-type folk-rock, like on the confident single Powerless (Say What You Want), and simple balladry (Fry, with its beautiful melody, and Build You Up) to vibrant, funky tracks such as Fresh Off the Boat with Lil’ Jaz’s scratching and the lively Forca, which has an ebullient, almost tribal chorus.
And Furtado binds it all together with panache, with the help of Caetano Veloso on the Eastern-sounding Island of Wonder and Jarvis Church on the playful duet Saturdays, on which abbreviated phrases craftily come together as a slice-of-life expression.
Whoa, Nelly! soared on the value of its catchy pop singles, but Folklore proves that Furtado is indeed much more than a rather pretty face.
Blomkrag: Boerecountry (BlomCD)
This is almost like a South African supergroup, or an Eighties reunion with added extras. Former members of The Kêrels, Khaki Monitor, The Softies, Die Gereformeerde Blues Band, and more, plus Scooters Union and Acoustic Kitchen alumni, do a whole lot of different things under the loose heading of “boerecountry”, which means it’s all in Afrikaans. Country it is not, or not in the twangy Willie Nelson way at least; country in spirit, perhaps, country as in “down home”. Vigorous variety seems its keynote: grungy guitars dominate Vrouens and Buurmans; Palms en Broedbome sounds like something Bob Dylan might’ve tried on Love and Theft, had he been Afrikaans-speaking. — Shaun de Waal
Hardy Boyz: Nasty Noise (Sheer)
Local DJs Dizzy and Manuel barge headlong into a, well, dizzying collection of hard trance beats that pack a mean punch. They also give a welcome nod to the local dance industry with the inclusion of, among others, a manic mix of DJ Speedy’s To the Rhythm. — Riaan Wolmarans
Various: Lady Sings the Blues II (EMI)
They’re all ladies, so to speak, but they ain’t singin’ the blues. That said, this is a rather nice collection of woman vocalists, mostly in the jazz-to-pop range, though Billie Holiday (to whom the title refers) is represented by Georgia on My Mind. Otherwise, the bluesiest here is Nina Simone, but that’s just because of her dark voice — she pops up twice, in fact, the second time for the classic My Baby Just Cares for Me. But one’s always happy to hear it again. For the rest, we have the classic jazz divas (Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington), and a sprinkling of more mainstream (but old) pop: Peggy Lee, Julie London and Bobby Gentry, for crying out loud. A mishmash, to be sure, but an enjoyable one. — SdW