Marika Hackman - Big Sigh - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

7-piece funk band Blinddog Smokin' are releasing their hot new album ''High Steppin''' which was produced by Grammy and Oscar winner Donny Markowitz and features three time Grammy nominee Billy Branch blowing harp on three songs. New Orleans pianist David Torkanowsky and Hall & Oates music director and guitarist Shane Theriot add their talents to the recording. The band backed long time soulmate, Blues Music Hall Of Famer Bobby Rush, on their Grammy and Blues Music Award nominated 2014 ''Decisions''.

hand solo, Inchblow,Inch Inchconventional rideInch-these are just a few of the cheeky offerings off Any Human Friend, the new album from rock provocateur Marika Hackman. InchThis whole record is me diving into myself and peeling back the skin further and further, exposing myself in quite a big way. It can be quite sexual,Inch Hackman says. InchIt's blunt, but not offensive. It's mischievous.Inch There's also depth to her carnal knowledge Any Human Friend is ultimately about how, as she puts it, InchWe all have this lightness and darkness in us.Inch Hackman lifted the album's title from a documentary about four-year-olds interacting with dementia patients in senior homes. At one point, two little girls confer about their experience there, with one musing on how it's great to make Inchany human friend,Inch whether old or young. InchWhen she said that it really touched a nerve in me,Inch says the London-based musician. InchIt's that childlike view where we really accept people, are comfortable with their differences.Inch Such introspection has earned Hackman her name. Her folky 2015 debut, We Slept at Last, was heralded for being nuanced and atmospheric. She really found her footing with her last , I'm Not Your Man-which earned raves from The Guardian, Stereogum, and Pitchfork-and it's sybaritic, swaggering hit InchBoyfriend,Inch which boasts of seducing away a straight guy's girlfriend. InchHer tactile lyrics keep the songs melodically strong and full of surprises,Inch remarked Pitchfork. InchI'm a hopeless romantic,Inch she explains. InchI search for love and sexual experience, but also I'm terrified by it.Inch Hackman is a Rid of Me-era PJ Harvey for the inclusive generation unbounded by musical genre, a preternatural lyricist and tunesmith who isn't afraid to go there. (Even her cover art, which finds Hackman nearly nude while cradling a baby pig, is a nod to Dutc

It's amazing how the floodgates open when you shut out all the internal and external noise, stop pandering to stereotype, cease listening to your anxieties, and disregard the compartment society has built for you. I'm Not Your Man, the Charlie Andrew (Alt-J, Rae Morris)-produced second album from Marika Hackman, begins with an impromptu hearty laugh. It's not the sound of silliness; it's the sound of liberation, spontaneity, and joy. 24-year-old Hackman is feeling more herself than ever. Life isn't necessarily funnier or happier, but when there's cause for a joke or a big ballsy statement, she's not holding back any more. The album took almost 18 months to complete, during which time Hackman switched to a new manager and a new tag, transitions that yielded new avenues for exploration, a lot of time, and a lot of distance - mainly, she insists, from self-imposed boundaries. InchI used to be very self-conscious,Inch explains Hackman. InchIf something sounded a bit too pop or like I'd heard it before I'd mold it into something different. This time around I thought, 'F**k it, I'll just let it flow.'Inch The results of this semi-anarchic approach are evident in the grungier, catchier sonics of I'm Not Your Man, and the lyrics, which reveal an unhinged and shamelessly free Hackman. There's an open-ended nature to the lyrics, which delve into femininity, S*x and sexual identity, millennial ennui, the pressures of living in a social media bubble, and the perils of being young in a fast-paced industry.