Plus 30 other favorites in rap and hip-hop — I’m picky when it comes to hip-hop. My taste relegates countless artists famous and obscure to the same dustbin of music history, but I’m always searching for that special sound, and every now and then I run across a keeper. Recently, I knew within moments that I had exactly such…

Even a foreign invasion couldn’t stop this recording — One recording of Richard Wagner’s tetralogy of music-dramas Der Ring des Nibelungen (composed 1848–1874) was a “small miracle,” according to liner notes by Kurt Malisch. During recording sessions in Nuremberg in 1968, the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia, causing members of the Czech Philharmonic to rush home before borders closed. When…

Gimme fuel, gimme fuego, gimme gasol-i-i-i-na! — Speaking of collections by various artists, my current favorite is Gasolina!!: 100% Reggaeton (EMI Music, 2005). Album opener “Gasolina” by Papi Rankins is immediately winning, brimming with attitude, dembow and, best of all, girl gang shouts: “Dame la gasolina!” I love girl gang shouts. I first realized this through tracks…

Viking Jazz × Dixieland Jazz × Manouche Jazz — Why Viking jazz? Because Papa Bue’s Viking Jazzband leader and trombonist Arne Bue Jensen was from Denmark of course. American clarinetist George Lewis joined the band on a 1959 release from Storyville Record and together they laid down just over a dozen tracks in Dixieland jazz. Whether performing traditional numbers…

Get up, sit down and chill away . . . — Bossa n’ Marley (Playlists Music Brokers, 2005) is an appetizing collection of musicians you’ve never heard of putting a bossa nova spin on Bob Marley classics. Amazonics come strolling in with a version of “Redemption Song” so laidback it’ll instill instant couch-lock, and this mood is permanent. Despite differing credits…

It should be the best music for putting a baby to sleep, but . . . — Not long after my son was born, he went through what his mother and I still refer to as The Fussy Phase. He simply wouldn’t sleep, preferring to act unhappy every moment of every day. This led to us trying anything that might prove soothing, including a bath routine each…

Slinking all over the place . . . in the buff — One of my favorite manga is Cutey Honey by Go Nagai. Honey changes into different costumes — nurse, waitress, bike racer— as she combats evil, but in a ribald twist on magical girls à la Sailor Moon, she’s stark naked during the moments of transformation. This is known as the…

A violin prodigy plays 15 renowned violins — On The Glory of Cremona (MCA, 1973), Ruggiero Ricci plays 15 famous violins, all fashioned by masters of Cremona, Italy. The oldest was created by Andrea Amati, the father of the violin, around 1560 to 1570. The most recent was crafted by Joseph Guarneri in 1744 and is known as…

Thank you to the readers — Tomtit Music Reviews is where I write about any music release I feel like. Each review is brief, usually one paragraph just over 200 words, although the latest batch contains a few departures from that format. I hope you’ll check them out and won’t hesitate to drop a comment, however…