by Tamil Rogeon
Tamil Rogeon 24 Hours in Lapa (PBS Feature Record)
From the seeds of tragedy comes a powerful new album by one of Australia's most innovative composers, Tamil Rogeon (The Raah Project, Harvey Sutherland & Bermuda, True Live). 24 Hours in Lapa is a mesmerising 12-part song cycle built on Brazilian rhythms, an orchestral score and subtle electronics.
In May 2007, young expat Joseph Martin was shot dead while celebrating his 30th birthday in the Rio party district of Lapa, after intervening in an attempted mugging. The gunman was an off-duty police officer. Rogeon has taken the story of this man's final hours and created a sweeping, cinematic suite meditating on the themes of vice, impetuosity and extinguished youth.
That this is Rogeon's first album as a solo artist, and his most ambitious work to date, surprises on both counts. Previous works include a tribute to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring performed by a 100-piece orchestra, a soundtrack to a concert screening of the drawn 2010 AFL Football Grand Final performed by the Melbourne SYmphony Orchestra, and the Red Bull Beat Suite, a unique work combining orchestra, turntablists, beatmakers and vocalists including Aloe Blacc and Ladi6. He continues to co-lead the cut-up orchestral jazz of The RAah Project and is the one-man violin n' effects maestro of disco/house/funk trio Harvey Sutherland & Bermuda.
This is not a 'solo' album in the usual sense of the word. Long a fan of Brazilian music, Rogeon packed his violin and travelled to Rio where he partied, performed and most importantly recorded a percussion section led by Tiago Loei.
Having conducted in Melbourne's top concert halls, ROgeon has chosen to hold his album launch on 28 April at legendary Fitzroy venue The Night Cat, providing a rare opportunity to witness an orchestra in a nightclub setting. 24 Hours in Lapa will be performed in full with the Australian Youth Orchestra, Allysha Joy, Ryan Ritchie, Doug de Vries and more. Supporting acts will be the moody progressive jazz of Krakatau plus DJs including Heard and Felt label head and Brazilian music aficionado Ennio Styles.
Boss Hog Brood X (featured on The Breakfast Spread)
Boss Hog re-emerged last year after half a decade in the freezer and have been slowly thawing out since. Brood X is them hitting their stride again. Christina Martinez and Jon Spencer make for a formidable pair drenched in rock'n'roll history and mystique.
This is propulsive post punk married to the swampy dirge that The Scientists were peddling when they moved to the East Coast. There's plenty of swagger and slow burning menace going on here. Visceral splinters of funk and blues pierce the steady, confident tick of backbone Jens Jurgensen and Hollis Queens.
Boss Hog deliver a bunch of scorchers that stimulate both cortex and rump. If only all reunions were this rewarding.
Review by Nick Brown (The Breakfast Spread)
This week's Top 10:
