‘Maliu’
Ikaika Blackburn
(Na Hoa)
Hawaiian falsetto singer Ikaika Blackburn brings the 3-D revival to Hawaii’s record industry with the illustrations for his album’s liner notes booklet (3-D glasses included). The 3-D art is a novelty, but take it as value added to a memorable new chapter in his career.
Blackburn is a member of the Na Hoku Hanohano Award-winning trio Na Hoa, but he’s working with a different group of musicians on this beautifully traditionalist project. Most of the songs are modern Hawaiian standards; Blackburn’s originals include a song he wrote for his parents and two for his wife.
Kamakoa Lindsey-Asing (guitar), Iwalani Ho’omanawanui Apo (piano) and Jeff Au Hoy (steel guitar) do excellent work as his band. The zesty, unmistakably Hawaiian rhythms of "Hola E Pae" get the album off to a winning start and make Blackburn’s arrangement of "Ke ‘Ale Laua’e" a standout number later on.
Guest trombonist Curtis Abe gives a nostalgic early-20th-century vibe to "Manu Le’a" — an add-on that’s timely indeed with the latest film version of "The Great Gatsby" now in movie theaters.
Blackburn could have closed the album with the 12th song, "Ke Kahikolu," a Christian song from his church. Instead he goes one step beyond with an unlisted original pop ballad, "My Wife," that he sang during his wedding ceremony. The lyrics speak for countless men, and the song could take Blackburn far beyond his core Hawaiian-language audience.
www.facebook.com/ikaika.blackburn
"Hola E Pae"
‘This Wave’
Stef Muzic
(Steftunes)
With the songs of "This Wave," alt-rocker Stef Muzic (aka Stephanie Marie Mariani) documents an escape from a dysfunctional relationship. The first few selections cover issues we all can relate to — a lover who is inconsiderate or neglectful, and the gradual realization that we deserve better. Her voice, reminiscent perhaps of Tracy Chapman, effectively conveys the emotional turmoil experienced. With Shawn Moseley as her co-producer, Muzic sings her emotions out over a rich and diverse pallet of instrumental arrangements.
Mandolele (a nylon-string mandolin with single rather than double courses) brings Hawaiian shadings to the title song. A cello adds to the gloom of "Ode to Tyson" as Muzic declares her love to a "baby boy" who is no longer with her — either taken from her or dead.
The bright tune and bouncy rhythms of "Maui Song" close the album on an optimistic note.
www.steftunes.com
"This Wave"
