“Ku‘u Pua Sakura”
Hoku Zuttermeister
(Kaleiola)
Hoku Zuttermeister doesn’t record often. When he does, his work is significant. Zuttermeister recorded his debut album, “Aina Kupuna,” in 2007; it received six Na Hoku Hanohano Awards including Most Promising Artist and Male Vocalist of the Year in 2008. His second album is as substantial as the first.
First, it displays Zuttermeister’s range as a vocalist. He sings falsetto on some songs, lower register on others. Six were written by kumu hula Kawaikapuokalani Hewett, one of the great Hawaiian songwriters of his generation, but Zuttermeister wrote “Ku‘u Pua Sakura,” for his mother, Susan Misae Zuttermeister, who is of Japanese ancestry.
Zuttermeister sings “Pua Laniuma” in falsetto as a tribute to the late Genoa Keawe. Many of the other songs are tied to kumu hula Hewett’s Kuhai Halau O Kawaikapuokalani Pa Olapa Kahiko. All are arranged in traditional nahenahe (sweet, melodious) style. Zuttermeister’s choice of instruments is also traditional with one exception — a koto player sits in on the title song. It is an inspired blending of two cultures.
An illustrated booklet provides Hawaiian lyrics and English translations.
Visit hokuzuttermeister.com.
“Beyond Paradise”
Streetlight Cadence
(Streetlight Cadence)
Streetlight Cadence followed several years of performing on the streets of Waikiki and a 2015 Hoku Award by leaving the islands and settling in Los Angeles to pursue major market exposure. Six months later, they’re negotiating with mainland record labels for a larger commercial release of “Beyond Paradise”; but Oahu residents can buy it at Hungry Ear Records and Logos Bookstore in Honolulu.
The tight-knit quartet — Jonathon Franklin (violin), Brian Webb (cello), Chaz Umamoto (guitar) and Jesse Shiroma (accordion and foot percussion) — has an unusual sound for a group from Hawaii. Labels can be tricky, but “alternative folk pop” is a good tag.
They open the album big with “Rooftops,” a joyous celebration of finding love after having pretty much given up. “I‘m in love, I’m in love, and she loves me!”
The quartet’s current single, “Great Unknown,” is a wistful farewell to someone moving on in search of bigger opportunities. The lyrics use space exploration as a metaphor —“If I could only be your shining star, then maybe you might orbit me; but I’m too small to be your gravity, and there’s so much life out there. … ” It’s a tragedy many can relate to.
Visit streetlightcadence.com.
“Reminiscing”
Michael Chock
(Seawind Productions)
Michael Chock is known in island musical circles as a member of Greenwood, the last of the great local Top 40 nightclub bands of the 1970s and early 1980s. This collection of 12 original songs is his debut as a solo recording artist, studio musician, producer, arranger and studio engineer.
It is an impressive and noteworthy demonstration of his versatility.
“My Dream Came True” stands out with a 1950s-style vocal arrangement. With two others — “The Girl Who’s Everything” and “Without You” — Chock creates contemporary pop by adding a melody and additional lyrics to poems written years ago by a friend in intermediate school.
He steps away from modern pop with “Sadie,” whose lyrics he attributes to a woman who died in the geriatric ward of a hospital in Scotland. It’s a reminder to listeners that the “old” people of today were once young, and that we too will be “old” if we live long enough.
“Reminiscing” is available at cdbaby.com/cd/michaelchock2.
