Sushil's Top Tips

This week's Top Tips have split in two. We asked Sushil K Dade to contribute to our weekly post and he got a bit carried away so we thought he warranted a post all of his own. Sushil is currently the producer of Radio Scotland's The Jazz House, Wednesday nights 8pm, pop pickers.

Over to Sushil:

Taken By Trees - East of Eden (Rough Trade)
This was the first CD I played in my newly bought R Reg Pillar Box Red Diesel Ford Fiesta a few days ago...(nb other cars are available...Ed) Imagine Leonard Cohen and Nico lost in the Indo sub-continent with Camera Obscura vocal stylings coming to their rescue and you may get some idea of this wonderful disc which was recorded in Pakistan. The production is post-modern with plenty of cut/paste which works really well with the organic impression, and the fragility in the main voice is a real treat driving along the mean streets of Glasgow in my dub mobile...

Portico Quartet - Isla (Real World Records)
I was lucky enough to produce a session with this group for the Jazz House programme a year or so ago...the band use a tantalizing instrument known as a Hang Drum (looks like a wok and sounds like a baby steel drum!)...if you like your jazz soaked in Pharoah Sanders treatment drenched with a dose of Philip Glass this is the ultimate for refreshing tired modern minds...beautiful artwork too and adding to the treasures of the Real World catalogue.

Evelyn Glennie/Fred Frith - Touch The Sound(DVD)
An extraordinary film out now on DVD capturing two great masters of improvised musics in a disused sugar factory in Germany.The emotional content of Glennie and Frith's pieces reaches a climax during 'A Little Prayer' which is worth watching for this scene alone...inspiring to the highest order and captured with breathtaking cinematography. You can catch a rare screening of this movie for FREE as part of this year's Scottish Mental Health Arts & Film Festival on Sunday October 4th at the CCA in Glasgow.