Cerca:deep jazz

mule musiq welcomes british producer jimmy wallace, presenting his debut album “red, yellow, black” - a nine track strong record that partly leaves the dancefloor behind.

since childhood, music has been a strong influence on the 33-year-old artist. his mother, a music teacher, exposed him to classical sounds from an early age.

but it was hearing the electronic tones of the french touch movement, which really ignited his mu-sical journey. a year later he started to dj, acting out his love for four-to-the-floor grooves in local clubs. today you'll find him on the bill with artists like ruf dug, mr scruff, or bradley zero, heating up the dance floors.

as a producer he has already released a handful of stunning eps, including one for sweden’s finest house label studio barnhus, and one for london’s revered rhythm section international imprint.

both feature house tunes with an edge, house tunes with a love for the roots of the genre along-side more reflective, ambient moments. he also runs the label tartan records, where he publishes dancefloor focused white labels.

his music has been championed by titans of the scene such as palms trax, ryan elliott, dj tennis, gilles peterson, dixon, and hunee. axel boman even coined his debut ep as “one of the very best demo emails ever received at label studio barhnus hq”.

an advance praise, that wallace now acknowledges with an album full of deeply crafted music. some tracks lean towards the dancefloor, like the swung sounds of “bubbles”, the hypnotic mael-strom of “good morning”, or the epic, jazzy moments of “labyrinth”.

the theme of nature is evident throughout, with field recordings and environmental sounds he rec-orded on the road, being fused with his own musical ideas.

tracks like “waterfall” and “tokyo street”, draw influence on time spent in asia, whereas "dhq", "by the river", and "by the lake" are inspired by his childhood and hometown in the shropshire country-side. “i’ve been writing ambient and more nature focused material for a few years now without really having a plan for it.

finally, this year after writing the tune “labyrinth” i felt i had a body of work which was both diverse and cohesive enough to bring together on a record. so, the album represents moments of time i have spent in various outdoor spaces around the world, using sound to try and turn these experi-ences into musical format.” wallace discloses.

the result is a mesmerizing long player featuring an evocative, emotional story arc that avoids ste-reotypes and straight party orientated narration. “having written plenty of club music for the past few years, i wanted to show a different side to my sound.

something more intimate, private, experimental which can be listened to away from the party.” he reveals on the meditative, blissful “red, yellow, black” - an album, which has the power to transport listeners to places and spaces new – for inspiration, relaxation, and dancefloor moments off the beaten path

Atack’s founder member and lead guitarist Keith Atack has a long pedigree in the rock music scene. He grew up during the sixties and was influenced from an early age by bands like The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Yardbirds and then on to Jimmy Page and Ritchie Blackmore. He has also toured with many pop acts like Bonnie Tyler, Rick Astley and many others. He has a rock / funk / soul style as well as a jazz and blues influence. He is joined by band members that also have strong roots in the rock scene such as Bob Richards on drums who has rubbed shoulders with members of bands like Iron Maiden, Survivor, Asia and Shy. Bassist Chris Childs is well respected and is the bass player with UK stalwarts “Thunder/ Lonerider/Tyketto”, he is an ideal addition to the line-up along with seasoned vocalist Lee Small (Shy/Phenomena/Lionheart and many more). Finishing off the quintet is Nick Foley whose keyboard prowess is ever present throughout the album. The sound of the Hammond for which he is known gives the whole album a feel of Deep Purple and Rainbow with a true classic British Rock sound. “Nine Lives” is an exciting addition to the escape music roster and available in limited edition vinyl and CD formats, something very much to look forward to.

C"mon Tigre, the innovative music collective known for their genre-blending compositions, releases their highly anticipated fourth album Habitat. Drawing inspiration from the concept of an ecosystem where various forms of life, both animal and vegetal, thrive and coexist, the album takes listeners on a sonic journey through the intricate and ever-evolving nature"s theater. C"mon Tigre"s ability to blend inï¬éuences from distant corners of the world enriches their music and visual imagery. The album is deeply inï¬éuenced by rhythms coming from Brazilian tradition, the backbone is rooted in samba, forro, through instruments and tempos that come from this cultural magnificence. However, it retains the African jazz, electronic, and mixed inï¬éuences that have characterized the project thus far. Connecting the dots, the result is a richly layered and genre-defying soundscape. The record boasts a stellar lineup of collaborations. Among these are Seun Kuti, heir to the legacy of the legendary Fela Kuti, whose afrobeat roots infuse the album with a potent and infectious energy. The record also features Xenia Franca, a dynamic Brazilian artist hailing from Sao Paulo, Arto Lindsay, recognized as a pivotal figure in the world of experimental music, Giovanni Truppi and the Californian collective Drumetrics which featured on C"mon tigre"s records since their debut in 2014.

A quietly funky collection that repays repeated play by creating a mesmeric, almost
hypnotic, cocoon to lose yourself in" Echoes
Examining our relationship with the cosmos as well as more intimate liaisons closer
to home; new transatlantic future soul duo Cosmic Link are set to release their
eponymous debut album on 24th November.
The duo consists of Florida based Jay Myztroh and Bristol based producer Ben
Dubuisson, best known for the Hundred Strong project. Citing influences of Erykah
Badu, Prince, Alice Coltrane, Stevie Wonder and Esperanza Spalding; the album
crosses cosmic soul/RnB, low-end weighted hip hop, and conscious jazz. While the
musical vibrations lay down a groove on a sensory level, the lyrics prompt deeper
subconscious thought.
Under a “Cosmic” header, side one of the album starts with ‘Let It Go’, a song about
releasing the things that no longer serve you in your life, before exploring
meditation (‘Quiet Time’), karma, and responsibility in the way you live your life
(‘Metaphysical’).
Side two of the album is grouped with the theme “Link” and as narrative, explores
the evolution of a relationship: ‘Cellphone’ expresses the desire to be close to
someone, ‘Shoot’ is the introduction to the courting stage, and ‘Show U Love’ is a
request to take a step into a committed relationship.
“All of these songs are personal,” says Jay. “They explore either my experiences or are
written to me as understandings to help me navigate this plane of existence. The
personal nature of the music is what makes it universal to all humans”.
The overall theme of the album is summed up in the lyrics of the closing title track,
“Our motion is perpetual/together we move/at the speed of life/ intertwined by our
timelines/which coincide”.
Jay explains, “There is no separating the all from the source. With all living things
being products of the Cosmos, we are forever linked to it. We all share a source, atimeline, a planet, air, a sun etc. We are linked by simply being and doing the things
beings do”.
Introduced by mutual artist friends, the catalyst for their collaboration was the 2017
album 'Black Diamonds' by Jay's previous project Stono Echo, produced by the late,
great Paten Locke. Over the course of a few years they began remotely exchanging
music and lyrics, building a catalogue of finished tracks. During this time, Myztroh
was also completing his Masters degree in choral conducting that focused on
discovering and promoting compositions from the African Diaspora. Run by Ben
Dubuisson, High Noon Music has been based in Bristol since the early 2000s,
releasing records by artists including Ben’s own Hundred Strong, plus Boca 45,
Joseph Malik, Kali Phoenix, One Cut, Mr Fantastic, and Numskullz.

Two leading lights of UK house join forces for a special collaboration which delivers every bit as much as you would expect from anything with the Jimpster & Crackazat stamp on. Having been introduced to Crackazat’s vocal and lyric writing on his acclaimed Evergreen LP from last year Jimpster was keen to team up to bring some of that flavour to his own sound. Born out of a desire to stretch outside of their comfort zones, and with a mutual respect for each others productions, the Natural Child EP brings us two original vocal tracks and two dub versions covering a spectrum of moods from classic soulful to deep, atmospheric, contemporary house.

Opening track Natural Child leads the charge with Crackazat’s trademark jazz-influenced piano part, swirling moog lines and vocal being complimented with Jimpster’s punchy drums and warm, rounded bassline. The result is a spacious and deceptively simple track which will wrap you up in its warm confines.

Next up we have a completely different take on Natural Child which ups the BPM and adds a more live, percussive and rolling vibe which will no doubt get the house dancers throwing down.

My Harmony comes next with its slick and soulful sound which draws inspiration from golden era NYC sounds of Blaze and Louie Vega while Nick Cohen’s live bass brings a bounce to the chunky, shuffling house beats.

Closing out the EP we have a dub version of My Harmony which loops up the Rhodes part, strips back the groove and adds layers of FX and arpeggiating synths resulting in a heads-down deep and soulful track to warm up the dance floor.

Introducing Count Buffalo! An ambitious work that explores the sound of the next generation with innovative arrangements and outstanding performances. A new era opens here.

Akira Ishikawa, a drummer who led groups such as Midnight Sons, Genchers, and Count Buffaloes and has released countless works to the world. This work, the earliest recording under the name of Count Buffalo, features Ken Muraoka, Hiromasa Suzuki, Kiyoshi Sugimoto, Masahiko Sato, and others. Hip jazz-rock “Cougar” led by disquieting strings, “Greensleeves” with a hint of avant-garde, his own interpretation of “Hey Jude”, and a dry jazz-rock version of a folk song such as “Makouta”. , so dense that you don’t even have time to breathe. It is one of the most important works in the history of Japanese jazz-rock, not only in content, but also considering the era of 1969.
text by Yusuke Ogawa (UNIVERSOUND/DEEP JAZZ REALITY)

Limitierte Reissue zum 15-jährigen Jubiläum des legendären Albums der UK Mod-Jazz-Funk-Supergroup TRIO VALORE mit Steve White (Style Council), Damon Minchella (Ocean Color Scene) und Seamus Beaghen (Madness) auf kristallklarem Vinyl. Ursprünglich 2008 veröffentlicht, erreichten die 12 Tracks voller erschütternder Hammond-Grooves, heavy Deep-Funk und super Dancefloor-Mod-Jazz-Melodien schnell Kultstatus. Zu den Highlights zählen die hippen Versionen von 'Rehab' (Amy Winehouse), 'Fire' (Jimi Hendrix), 'Paint It Black' (The Rolling Stones) und groovige Eigenkompositionen wie die Boogaloo-Soul-Nummer 'Dam Square' oder der Dancefloor-Jazz-Titeltrack.

Ancient Infinity Orchestra is a 14-member jazz ensemble led by double-bassist and composer Ozzy Moysey, based in the bustling creative city of Leeds in the North of England – home to one of the most innovative and community-based jazz scenes in the UK. Saxophonist Matt Cliffe who also performs with Matthew Halsall is a key member and the rotating line-up which includes drums, two bassists, keyboards, harp, violin, cello, two tenors, alto, oboe, flute and percussion. "River of Light’ drinks deep from the well of spiritual jazz and is especially inspired by the soulful sounds of Pharoah Sanders, Alice and John Coltrane but also channels a certain Northern sensibility that can be heard in the music of Matthew Halsall or Alabaster de Plume. Melodic, warm and honest this is music that is happy to wear its heart on its sleeve.

Berlin party series and label AWAY Music continues its limited vinyl series called "Reissued", dedicated to re-releasing iconic cuts from the vast collaborative catalog of Move D & Pete Namlook. The third installment "Reissued 3", which follows the series' first two EPs from previous years, features again some exceptional pieces that were previously only available on CD. Move D and Pete Namlook are electronic visionaries whose 26-album relationship explored and intertwined psychedelic synthscapes, deep house and techno, future jazz, and downtempo on Namlook's cult imprint Fax Records. Their innovative and influential works keep inspiring electronic music producers today, showcasing their willingness to collaborate and push the boundaries of electronic music. First up on the A side, “Der Strahlender Verlierer”, from the 2006 Album “Let the Circle Not Be Broken”, begins atmospherically before pushing subtly into open filter and undulating synth territory. Introspective and accepting, the piece gradually lets the sum of its parts coalesce into a peaceful whole with sustained chords and the flicker of played steel strings.
“Hardwired Tangent” from the 2001 Album “Wired” rounds out the first side with edgier and more ominous tones. Brooding and bubbling its way through artificial textures absorbed by carefully weighted rhythmic tension. Shuffling jazz electronics. The moody low-mid hum providing buoyancy throughout. Also from the 2001 album, the B side’s “Hardwired Hypotenuse + Asymptote” is a synthetic journey. Textural, pseudo-organic, pulsating with urgency. The motoric percussion imparting structure to the sonic alchemy. Tactile yet integrated components offer the listener (or dancer) multiple entry points into the music. This is both artful and kaleidoscopic — a treatise on contemplative and psychoactive house music.
"Reissued 3" is a true testament to the innovative spirit and pioneering work of Move D and Pete Namlook. With these tracks now available on vinyl for the first time, AWAY's limited series is a must-have for old and new fans alike.

Berlin party series and label AWAY Music continues its limited vinyl series called "Reissued", dedicated to re-releasing iconic cuts from the vast collaborative catalog of Move D & Pete Namlook. The third installment "Reissued 3", which follows the series' first two EPs from previous years, features again some exceptional pieces that were previously only available on CD. Move D and Pete Namlook are electronic visionaries whose 26-album relationship explored and intertwined psychedelic synthscapes, deep house and techno, future jazz, and downtempo on Namlook's cult imprint Fax Records. Their innovative and influential works keep inspiring electronic music producers today, showcasing their willingness to collaborate and push the boundaries of electronic music. First up on the A side, “Der Strahlender Verlierer”, from the 2006 Album “Let the Circle Not Be Broken”, begins atmospherically before pushing subtly into open filter and undulating synth territory. Introspective and accepting, the piece gradually lets the sum of its parts coalesce into a peaceful whole with sustained chords and the flicker of played steel strings.
“Hardwired Tangent” from the 2001 Album “Wired” rounds out the first side with edgier and more ominous tones. Brooding and bubbling its way through artificial textures absorbed by carefully weighted rhythmic tension. Shuffling jazz electronics. The moody low-mid hum providing buoyancy throughout. Also from the 2001 album, the B side’s “Hardwired Hypotenuse + Asymptote” is a synthetic journey. Textural, pseudo-organic, pulsating with urgency. The motoric percussion imparting structure to the sonic alchemy. Tactile yet integrated components offer the listener (or dancer) multiple entry points into the music. This is both artful and kaleidoscopic — a treatise on contemplative and psychoactive house music.
"Reissued 3" is a true testament to the innovative spirit and pioneering work of Move D and Pete Namlook. With these tracks now available on vinyl for the first time, AWAY's limited series is a must-have for old and new fans alike.

-Domino is a spooky, bittersweet collection of cinematic soul cuts influenced by 1970’s ‘Giallo’ film scores layered with luminous vocals.
-Ella Thompson's first solo LP release since Janus (2015).
-Ella is the vocalist from the electro duo GL and formerly frontwoman of The Bamboos.
-Music by Karate Boogaloo aka The Frollen Music Library.
-She will be opening for Lee Fields on his Australian dates in December.
-For fans of Kadhja Bonet, Cleo Sol, Nancy Sinatra, Lady Wray.
Ella Thompson’s Domino is a spooky, bittersweet collection of cinematic soul cuts influenced by 1970s Italian 'Giallo' film scores, with luminous vocals that draw a line between 60s icons like Nancy Sinatra and contemporary soul artists like Kadhja Bonet. Ella’s effortless singing and haunting lyrics paint angular pictures in the moody darkness.
The sparse production is intentionally cinematic, deeply influenced by the music of Italian ‘Giallo’ film scores of the 1970s, particularly by composers like Piero Piccioni but comparable to current artists like Adrian Younge or Bad Bad Not Good in a meditative mood. Minimal but propulsive bass and drums know when to hang back, as they do in the title track and when to step forward as they do in the chugging, deep and funky rhythm section work on the single Never Fight The Way You Feel.
All the instrumentation used in Domino was created by Frollen Music Library, a library music project by the musicians behind Karate Boogaloo, Henry Jenkins, Hudson Whitlock and Darvid Thor, all long-term collaborators and friends of Ella’s.
Ella returned to making music under her own name in 2023 after years of releasing music with her electro-pop duo GL and cult indie band Dorsal Fins. One of Australia’s truly accomplished singers, Ella’s range ranges from art music to cinematic soul, jazz, and pop. In addition to her solo project and bands, she has been a featured artist for numerous acts, most notably deep funk pioneers The Bamboos and Mark Ronson.

After a 3-year hiatus, Noerk is back with a spacey acidic three tracker plus a rolling peaktime remix from our good friend and really talented producer Lee Burton. Untitled_02 is an electrified, deep yet funky tribute to Vangelis (as we perceive it) with lush synthesizers and grooving 303s. Pending forties is reminding us of the 90s era when sample based breakbeat and acid realised they were made for each other like peanut butter and jelly. It's Over (original mix), on the other hand, follows a more straightforward 4 on the floor loop and lets the jazzy chords and the intergalactic melodies do all the work. Lee Burton's remix wraps up the EP nicely offering us a certified banger with 90s house elements that can destroy any dancefloor. We have entered the wormhole. Time and space are no longer relevant. Only feelings.

tom Ravenscroft at 6music amongst others. And now, in true AMO1 creative fashion they are presenting an off-shoot release of that album, one completely reimagined by the man, the myth: Ricardo Villalobos.
Much has been written and talked about when it comes to producer/DJ Ricardo Villalobos over the years.
The mercurial Chilean-German artist has consistently redefined the boundaries of techno and electronica over the past 30-years as a producer, whilst also traversing the world and expanding minds as a DJ who can equally delight as he does challenge.Like a great jazz drummer (he was a percussionist before discovering mixing records), Villalobos has not so much as broken “the rules” of structure as just created his own unique approach. One that is often surprising, ever open-minded, and clearly lead by whatever happens to be inspiring him at any given moment. Watching him work or hearing him play music always feels live and free. He’s an artist. And that is exactly how this (perhaps unlikely) collaborative album has come to light – but then this is Ricardo, so maybe we should all know by now that anything is possible.
Villalobos explains, “In my scientific search for some electroacoustic musical landscapes, the offer of remixing ‘Black Apple Pink Apple’ was just perfect for me… In general, the song writing is so very good and particular, with all the instruments played into a sequencer, so it was very inspiring to strip down these pop songs into my dubby extensions, taking only the drums, bass, and vocals of the song.” Expanding further, “After delivering the first remix, Mo and myself came up with the idea of reimagining the whole album in a new way, mixed simple with other ears and my inspirations, with a new and different point of view of what instruments are important to hold the song to bare itself.”
It says a lot, and somehow captures the essence of Ricardo’s approach to music (and life), that one remix soon evolved into a whole plethora of reimagined works, driven by a creative slipstream and a clear connection to the songs created by A Mountain of One.
Mo Morris provides more insight into his own connection with Villalobos, “I lived in Berlin back in 2002-04 and used to religiously go to dance to Rici at the after (after) hours parties: little, tiny events. And he just used to blow my mind, I hadn’t heard anything like it before (or since). Ultra-modern and forward thinking.”
Mo continues, “A good friend connected to Ibiza happenings introduced me to Ricardo as it transpired that he was a fan of our early material, so I sent him some demo’s when we were in the studio creating ‘Stars Planets Dust Me’ and he loved ‘Black Apple Pink Apple’. The relationship and collaboration grew from there really, and I hope that this release is still at the start of what we can all create together.”
Focussing in on the album at hand – ‘Ricardo Villalobos reimagines: Stars Planets Dust Me’ – we are treated to a concept listen that guides us from dreamy daytime Balearic pop – staying very true to the original songs – all the way through to completely original deep dubby techno excursions. And to Villalobos fans, it will perhaps surprise (and hopefully delight) how light a touch he has provided to the opening tracks, focussing more on enhancing the sonics, and allowing the originals to shine brighter through remastering and mixing down. It’s in these moments that we see Ricardo as a pure music fan, needing not overly change or alter what’s already been created, but simply doing what he can to maximise what’s already there.
What will certainly delight Ricardo fans are the four full ‘klub’ remixes provided of ‘Black Apple Pink Apple’, ‘Make My Love Grow’, ‘Softlanding’ and ‘Dealer’ that each boldly explore the outer regions of the dancefloor in a way that only Villalobos can.
Mo rounds off, “From an electronic and sonics standpoint he’s kind of out there on his own. It’s such a unique sound. Weatherall also had this, and Harvey has that unique flavour, and also people like Nils Frahm and Max Richter have this gift. It’s not an easy thing to produce. Ricardo has his own personal cosmic trademark.”
Indeed he does. Take a trip with him around the stars and planets and see for yourself.

Istanbul born performing artist, producer, composer and instrument builder Berke Can Ozcan, in collaboration with critically acclaimed Norwegian trumpet mastermind Arve Henriksen and Brooklyn-based baritone saxophonist Jonah Parzen-Johnson, takes you on a captivating journey through the depths of nature on the Lycian Way, immersing the listener in a mesmerizing soundscape that echoes the wonder and mystery of the trail leading to the ancient Lycia As Ozcan ventures deeper into uncharted territory, he stumbles upon a sight that would spark an artistic flame - the Twin Rocks. This collaboration weaves together a tapestry of sonic explorations that capture the essence of Ozcan's journey. The ambient-jazz album's delicate balance between organic sounds and electronic manipulation creates a dreamlike atmosphere that transports the listener to the rugged terrain of the Lycian Way. Mastered by three time Grammy winner Dave Darlington, each track on this ethereal album mirrors a different aspect of the journey to the Twin Rocks, meticulously composed by Ozcan, Parzen-Johnson and Henriksen with each section of the trail in mind. The album is infused with melodic bird songs and sound walk memories that add depth and texture to the ethereal soundscape. Ozcan's array of self- crafted instruments made out of bamboos, soda bottle caps, straws, house keys, terracotta flower pots alongside with his long time companions like his steel drums, chimes, gongs, and vibraphone, serve as the medium through which he expressed the reflections of his encounters in his own world of rhythm and melody

New one-off press limited edition transparent green double vinyl edition of Soul
Jazz Records long unavailable Studio One Roots 2, featuring classic tracks recorded
at Studio One.
Studio Roots Vol. 2 delves deep into the vaults of the legendary Jamaican Reggae
label and features rare and classic roots as well as an unprecedented seven
unreleased tracks that up till now had never seen the light of day.
Roots and rastafarian music was being recorded at Studio One by Clement "Sir
Coxsone" Dodd from the early 1960s onwards to the 1990s and this album reflects
the depth and diversity of roots music at the label.
From the slow-ska of Dudley Sibbley, to the deep instrumental jazz cuts of Cedric Im
Brooks over classic roots rhythms such as "Satta Massagana" to Winston Mathews
stunning eerie version of Bob Marley and the Wailers "Sun Is Shining". The Zion All
Stars features the Burro rastafarian drumming of Count Ossie and the Mystic
Revelation of Rastafari.
This album features many of the classic Studio One artists – Willie Williams, Tommy
McCook, Cedric Brooks, The Gladiators, Vin Gordon – as well as many less wellknown artists – all who produced classic roots music under the guidance of producer
Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd and recorded at the legendary Studio One Records.

George Coleman (born March 8, 1935) is an American jazz saxophonist best known for his work with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock in the 1960s. Coleman was born in Memphis, Tennessee and learned to play the alto saxophone in his teens. After his work with Ray Charles, George started working with B.B. King in 1953 and switched to playing the tenor saxophone.

George Coleman was a member of legendary outfits such as Max Roach’s quintet, The Slide Hampton Octet, Miles Davis’ Quintet and The Chet Baker Quintet. The list of his collaborations is impressive to say the least, Mr. Coleman recorded and performed with greats such as Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Charles Mingus, Ahmad Jamal, Idris Muhammad, Pharoah Sanders, Ornette Coleman, Melvin Sparks, ArtBlakey…and many others.

Coleman was named an NEA Jazz Master, was added to the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2015, and received a brass note on the Beale Street Brass Notes Walk of Fame. George Coleman’s performances were included on classic recordings released by prominent labels from the likes of Blue Note, Atlantic, Prestige, Strata-East, Muse, Verve and Impulse!

On the album we are proudly presenting you today: Amsterdam After Dark (Recorded in 1978 at the famous NY Sound Ideas Studio and released on Timeless Records in 1979) the listener is treated to six majestic tracks of the highest caliber and features a remarkable outing of advanced musicianship by jazz-giants in their prime, delivering an inspirational gem of an album.

The all-star line-up includes Sam Jones (Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Ben Webster) on bass, Billy Higgins (Donald Byrd, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane) on drums and Hilton Ruiz (Roy Brooks, Rashaan Roland Kirk, Sonny Rollins) on piano. Most players featured here were also part of the legendary ‘Eastern Rebellion’ collective responsible for releasing multiple ground-breaking albums over several decades.

Amsterdam After Dark shows off George Coleman’s mastery of the sax, his brilliant vintage techniques and deep soulful tones. Coleman plays from the heart and is on top of his game. Expect both original compositions as well as standards, beautiful ballads with elegant (yet fierce) solos alternating between the instruments, growling blues-oriented themes…this is a contemporary sounding Hard Bop & Post-bop crossover album and a must have for any self-respecting jazz fan or collector!

In the decade or so that hard-working New York quartet Sunwatchers have operated, the group has steadily & subtly refined their sound - a brain-blasting mixture of jazz, psychedelia, krautrock, punk, noise, & Saharan blues - into something that is avant-leaning enough to appeal to the discerning jazz & experimental music fan & weird & wooly enough to get the true heads' toes tapping. "Music Is Victory Over Time" is the band's 5th album, and fourth for Chicago-based Trouble In Mind Records, seeing the long-running lineup of Peter Kerlin (bass guitar), Jim McHugh (guitars), Jason Robira (drums), and Jeff Tobias (alto saxophone and keyboards) in prime form. Album opener "World People" is a classic Sunwatchers number whose title expresses their Anarcho-Internationalist ideology (and the atypically multi-culti make up of their crowds), with an underlying melodic resonance to New Orleans funeral marches à la Albert Ayler _ a triumphant call to arms to all peoples. Live fave "Too Gary"'s gang vocal shout punctuates a motorik rager named for a phrase often uttered by a badass eight year old skateboarder McHugh knew with a speech impediment (it means "that's too scary"). "T.A.S.C." (or "Theme For Anarchist Sports Center") is inspired by Sonny Sharrock's maligned 80's output & sounds exactly like a wrathful, mutant version of a prime-time athletic show theme, replete with the requisite "sitcom ending." The sun- scorched "Foams" - a longform piece intended to depict natural stuff like tides, nightfall, and time slowly passing, ancient, peaceful and slightly gross all at once - practically jumps out of the speakers, its palpable intensity crackling in your eardrums. The title of "Tumulus" might reference an ancient burial mound, but the music itself might be the group's most high-tech song to date, complimented by an arpeggiating sequencer, three different forms of tape delay and an electric saxophone; ecstatic, fiery & deeply spiritual. "There Goes Ol' Ooze" is a smoky creeper that lets Tobias & Kerlin take a walk for a while, with respectful nods to the Stones and Steve Reich. "Song For The Gone" closes out the album, showcasing a sincerely tender moment for the gang, as an expression of love and resolve for dear friends who had recently, tragically died. Its cascading, bluesy melody attuning itself to our own collective unconscious grief. Having the distinct pleasure of being the first band to record in John Dwyer 's new LA-based recording studio Discount Mirrors, "Music Is Victory Over Time" boasts a beefed up sound. The band worked closely with in-house engineer Eric Bauer - facilitator, troubleshooter, sonic obsessive, a legendary freak and a DIY lifer. The band also had full access to the studio's epic armory of gear: amps, axes (it's Dwyer's Eddie Harris model electric sax), synths, a bass guitar once belonging to Klaus Flouride of the Dead Kennedys. Crucial for the sounds and the vibe. The album art was created by Josh MacPhee, the activist artist, author, archivist and founding member of both the radical artist collective Just Seeds and Interference Archive, a public collection of materials from social movements based in Brooklyn. MacPhee's participation in the project works as a statement of Sunwatchers' progressive utopian intentionality, and organically underscores their involvement in revolutionary projects within and without of their hometown. Listening to "Music Is Victory Over Time", Sunwatcher's rebellious spirit & unbridled enthusiasm remain fully intact, but the secret sauce is their infectious irreverence in the face of the horrors of this world. Much of our best cultural commentary is Trojan-horsed to the general public via humor & satire & the band has a knack for lacing the ridiculous with the radical. It's good to have them back. "Music Is Victory Over Time" is released worldwide digitally via most DSPs, on CD, black vinyl & a limited "Sunflare" blue/red splatter vinyl while supplies last.

In the decade or so that hard-working New York quartet Sunwatchers have operated, the group has steadily & subtly refined their sound - a brain-blasting mixture of jazz, psychedelia, krautrock, punk, noise, & Saharan blues - into something that is avant-leaning enough to appeal to the discerning jazz & experimental music fan & weird & wooly enough to get the true heads' toes tapping. "Music Is Victory Over Time" is the band's 5th album, and fourth for Chicago-based Trouble In Mind Records, seeing the long-running lineup of Peter Kerlin (bass guitar), Jim McHugh (guitars), Jason Robira (drums), and Jeff Tobias (alto saxophone and keyboards) in prime form. Album opener "World People" is a classic Sunwatchers number whose title expresses their Anarcho-Internationalist ideology (and the atypically multi-culti make up of their crowds), with an underlying melodic resonance to New Orleans funeral marches à la Albert Ayler _ a triumphant call to arms to all peoples. Live fave "Too Gary"'s gang vocal shout punctuates a motorik rager named for a phrase often uttered by a badass eight year old skateboarder McHugh knew with a speech impediment (it means "that's too scary"). "T.A.S.C." (or "Theme For Anarchist Sports Center") is inspired by Sonny Sharrock's maligned 80's output & sounds exactly like a wrathful, mutant version of a prime-time athletic show theme, replete with the requisite "sitcom ending." The sun- scorched "Foams" - a longform piece intended to depict natural stuff like tides, nightfall, and time slowly passing, ancient, peaceful and slightly gross all at once - practically jumps out of the speakers, its palpable intensity crackling in your eardrums. The title of "Tumulus" might reference an ancient burial mound, but the music itself might be the group's most high-tech song to date, complimented by an arpeggiating sequencer, three different forms of tape delay and an electric saxophone; ecstatic, fiery & deeply spiritual. "There Goes Ol' Ooze" is a smoky creeper that lets Tobias & Kerlin take a walk for a while, with respectful nods to the Stones and Steve Reich. "Song For The Gone" closes out the album, showcasing a sincerely tender moment for the gang, as an expression of love and resolve for dear friends who had recently, tragically died. Its cascading, bluesy melody attuning itself to our own collective unconscious grief. Having the distinct pleasure of being the first band to record in John Dwyer 's new LA-based recording studio Discount Mirrors, "Music Is Victory Over Time" boasts a beefed up sound. The band worked closely with in-house engineer Eric Bauer - facilitator, troubleshooter, sonic obsessive, a legendary freak and a DIY lifer. The band also had full access to the studio's epic armory of gear: amps, axes (it's Dwyer's Eddie Harris model electric sax), synths, a bass guitar once belonging to Klaus Flouride of the Dead Kennedys. Crucial for the sounds and the vibe. The album art was created by Josh MacPhee, the activist artist, author, archivist and founding member of both the radical artist collective Just Seeds and Interference Archive, a public collection of materials from social movements based in Brooklyn. MacPhee's participation in the project works as a statement of Sunwatchers' progressive utopian intentionality, and organically underscores their involvement in revolutionary projects within and without of their hometown. Listening to "Music Is Victory Over Time", Sunwatcher's rebellious spirit & unbridled enthusiasm remain fully intact, but the secret sauce is their infectious irreverence in the face of the horrors of this world. Much of our best cultural commentary is Trojan-horsed to the general public via humor & satire & the band has a knack for lacing the ridiculous with the radical. It's good to have them back. "Music Is Victory Over Time" is released worldwide digitally via most DSPs, on CD, black vinyl & a limited "Sunflare" blue/red splatter vinyl while supplies last.

Perth-born, Naarm-based duo Special Feelings, aka Naomi Robinson and Poli-Pearl, are stepping up on Bradley Zero’s Rhythm Section label with their first long player – released on November 10, 2023. Across its 9-tracks, Special Feelings combines the electrically improvisational feel of live performances, with snappy broken beat-esque percussions and house-inspired looping synth hooks. Tapping into the infectious collaborative spirit of Naarm’s jazz community, Special Feelings are joined by a crew of the city’s rising artists.

Early iterations of Special Feelings’ music drew on psychedelic sun-dappled rock, with Naomi playing guitar and singing alongside Poli-Pearl on the drums. Over the years, this has shapeshifted into Naomi on bass and rhythms, with Poli-Pearl helming synths and keys – rooted in the sounds of Perth’s and London’s jazz of the moment, intertwined with Brainfeeder-nodding electronica. Today, Special Feelings’ influences span from the deep grooves of Moodymann to the freewheeling horns of Emma Jean Thackray to the stepping drums of Kaidi Thatham, and beyond.

Both Naomi and Poli-Pearl are self-taught multi- instrumentalists and producers; Naomi got her start playing in high school dream pop bands, before moving to Naarm to immerse herself in its musical communities, and study classical guitar at the University of Melbourne.

Pixel Prison is a deeply introspective album that explores the themes of societal division and the struggle for unity. Rising Tide combines the best elements of Roots Reggae, Jazz, Rhythm & Blues and adds deep meditative Dub into their music. Incorporating sounds from across the musical landscape and rooted with hard-hitting conscious lyrics, the band has tapped into another deep well of inspiration for their sophomore release!

“We’re excited to share ‘Pixel Prison’ with our global following,” says Rising Tide founder Marcus Urani. “This album is a reflection of our commitment to using music as a tool for positive change, and we hope our fans will join us on this journey.”

Lady Wray released her Piece Of Me album. A deeply personal record that takes on the good and the bad in life from deception and abuse to the joys of motherhood and long awaited professional triumph. The accolades the album has received since its release speak volumes. From performing on The Stephen Colbert Show to selling out multiple US tours to cleaning up in the best of 2022 lists to crushing an NPR Tiny Desk on the 1 year anniversary of the album, Piece Of Me continues to prove itself a timeless classic. In March of 2023, Lady Wray had Ghostface Killah join her on the "Piece Of Me" remix and had Pete Rock lend his legendary remixing skills to "Joy & Pain". Now it's a Big Crown family affair as Les Imprimés lends his production prowess to a remix for "Come On In" and Surprise Chef take the warm weather anthem "Under The Sun" and give it their unorthodox Jazz / Funk treatment. Both of these remixes put brand new energy on the originals that will hold us over while Lady Wray is finishing her new album with El Michels Affair.

The sound that swallows jazz rock, mode jazz, and free jazz is serious and profound.

A magnificent concept album that will remain in the history of Japanese jazz with the theme of global anti-war and peace

Hiromasa Suzuki, a rare pianist/composer/arranger who showed his skills in the groups of Terumasa Hino and Akira Ishikawa. Collaborating with Big Soul Media, led by Jiro Inagaki, one of the best jazz rock groups of our time, this work is unusual for a Japanese jazz work, and the concept is based on the theme of “global anti-war and peace.”

The sound that swallows jazz rock, mode jazz, and free jazz is serious and solid, but at the same time, it is full of overwhelming dynamism.

Suzuki’s ability to manage a big band and create a masterpiece sound is also splendid, and Big Soul Media, which listened to Suzuki’s intentions and responded to his request, is also splendid.

Both Suzuki and Inagaki’s activities in the jazz-rock era are at their peak, and this work is also important in that it captures the overlap.

text by Yusuke Ogawa (universounds/Deep Jazz Reality)

Composition/Arrangement/Conductor: Hiromasa Suzuki
Performed by Jiro Inagaki and Big Soul Media
Jiro Inagaki (S.Sax, T.Sax)
Shigeo Suzuki (A.Sax)
Tadayuki Harada (B.Sax)
Takehisa Suzuki (Trumpet)
Tetsuo Fushimi (Trumpet)
Takeshi Nomura (Trumpet)
Shigemichi Domoto (Trombone)
Tadataka Nakazawa (Trombone)
Kazuo Usui (Trombone)
Tsunehide Matsuki (Guitar)
Masaru Imada (Piano, Organ)
Hiromasa Suzuki (Piano, Organ)
Yasuo Arakawa (Bass) / Gen Ishimatsu (Drums)

The fledgling Deeppa label is back with a seventh sublime sound, this time from Eloi who brings plenty of fresh ideas and creative sound designs to four tasteful cuts. 'You'll Keep Going' is a lush late-night fusion of noodling basslines and jazzy chords with soulful vocals and 'Karma' then gets even more horizontal in balmy chords and lazy grooves. There is a little more bite to 'Manage Your Temper' but it is still a super cuddly house sound. On the flip, 'Mental Game' offers hazy late-night reveries and 'Confusion' is a swirling mix of warm and soulful house. 'A Few More Breaks Should Do The Trick' is a jazzy and zoned-out closer. What an EP.

Spirit of Sundaze Ensemble (SOSE) is the latest evolution from London based DJ / producer, label and party series Secretsundaze. Sitting at the intersection of live music and electronic music innovation, leading contemporary musicians reimagine, record and perform a selection of tracks which have been foundational across Secretsundaze’s 20+ year history, embracing a myriad of influences from Balearic to synth pop to Brit funk.

EP 1 opens with their first single, a re-imagination of Photek’s seminal ‘Mine to Give’. Featuring Wayne Snow on vocals and garnering wide support from the likes of BBC 6 Music heads Gilles Peterson and Nabihah Iqbal, through to NTS and Worldwide FM tastemakers including Zakia, Moxie and Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy, the tempo is slowed and explored in a more synthy 80s production style.

Next is their take on Joyce Sims’ (RIP) ‘Come into My Life’, moving the original Mantronix production into a more contemporary UK / Street Soul / Balearic territory.

The B-side sees them take on beloved Phil Asher (RIP) production, Nathan Haines’ stunning ‘Earth is the Place’, a classic Secretsundaze record if ever there was one. Featuring the vocals of Cherise, the SOSE version is a dance floor ready update which will appeal to all lovers of proper deep, soulful-leaning house music, one for the heads.

Closing the record is a flip of Wbeeza’s ‘Coast Spotting’. Featuring synths from the excellent Hinako Omori, this one goes in with an extended late night transcendental electronic / jazz rework with the original’s looped lead line modulating throughout the piece.

Leading musicians feature on the record including Myele Manzanza (Theo Parrish, Sound Signature), Lewis Moody (Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange), Nikos Ziarkas (Theon Cross, Chelsea Carmichael), Oli Savill (Basement Jaxx), and Johnny Brierley (Fofoulah).

Following their debut sold out show at Southbank’s Centre Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Ensemble next take to the London stage at the iconic EartH Theatre, Dalston on September 21st for an EP launch party as well as a headline open-air concert at Las Dalias, Ibiza as part of Beat Hotel on September 30th.

All in all, an impressive debut showcasing the breadth and scope of this exciting new live project from Secretsundaze founder James Priestley, one to watch.

South London soul artist Andrew Ashong returns with his first full release since 2014 - an expansive six-track collaboration with Kaidi Tatham, the unrivaled underground virtuoso described as the UK's Herbie Hancock. 'Sankofa Season' takes both artists to new heights as they seamlessly complement each other's musical language, giving voice to productions that criss-cross genre and time to move into their own distinct lane. Expect deep jazz funk, hazy contemporary soul, jazzy broken beat, breezy latin soul, organic deep house and much more.

Anniversary Edition 2xLP in 25th-Anniversary-Pot-At-The-End-Of-The-Rainbow Gold, in a gatefold jacket.

When Los Amigos Invisibles first released "The New Sound" - exactly a quarter of a century ago!) - it was the ultimate party album. Time has passed, but the party has kept on- and this party music, full of non- stop funked out grooves - traveling through house, funk, acid jazz, and bossa nova, to name a few musical avenues - is a journey deep into the pants of rhythm. (We won"t even mention the old sound of the Venezuelan Gozadera).

Established in 2016, Little Giant Records is the Brooklyn-born label founded by Anna Cavazos that specializes in the kind of deep house sounds that belong in the dark and sweaty basements of underground clubs. Anna is a DJ, producer, and vocalist who has played out across the globe for over 15 years mixing and blending the deep house sounds of Chicago, New York, and Berlin. . Her discography includes original compositions, remixes, and collaborations with the likes of Satoshi Tomiie and Eli Escobar.

The EP kicks off with the original of ‘Love Interlude’ - melancholic and piano-heavy with an ultra-deep baseline embellished with warm pads and soulful drums. Anna’s soulful vocal floats above the melody creating an emotional and moving interlude. Next up Matthias Vogt delivers a deep-house masterpiece adding extra keys, drum accents, and a well-placed baseline that is weaved neatly into the vocal hook while Vogt delivers the warm, jazz-flecked vibrations he is well known for.

Up next Rick Wade weighs in with some ever so classy house laced with flashes from the Motor City of Detroit. Warm electro piano, glowing synths, and vocal parts contrast with the deep sub baseline. Closing out this EP Rissa Garcia draws heavily on her New York house inspirations. Organ riffs and a funk-inspired bass line lead the charge dropping in and out between vocal harmonies and subtle synth work. Percussive accents bring it all home making this closing cut one dancefloor destroying, peak-time bomb.

Drivetrain
Music Got Me - The quintessential blend of retro sophistication with ultramodern late night chic. A rolling bass transports a melodious string accompaniment through an arresting vocal hook.
Afterhours Mix - Following the same path with a slightly different spin, incorporating an electronic touch on the retro syncopation.

Melodymann
Keep It Movin - Intelligently enriched with uplifting vocal drops complementing spicy horn fills, funk bass and electrifying beat oscillation.
Up & Down - Maintaining the energy but substituting the horn fills with jazzy keyboard riffs while the vocal slices continue to drop over bouncing subfrequencies.

Balmat co-founders Philip Sherburne and Albert Salinas have been fans of Shy Layers’ lilting, Balearic pop for years, so when Shy Layers’ JD Walsh asked us to listen to a set of demos he was working up with fellow Atlanta multi-instrumentalist Jeff Crompton, we jumped at the chance. And once we heard their work in progress, the decision was almost immediate: We have to release this.

Together, Walsh and Crompton are Anagrams, and their debut album together, Blue Voices, might initially seem like a departure from Balmat’s habitually electronic terrain. It’s not ambient music, but it’s also not not ambient music, at least to listeners in the right frame of mind. The two musicians, who met when Walsh moved from Brooklyn to Atlanta in 2016 and began collaborating a few years later, see the music in similarly ambiguous terms. “I like it because it’s not jazz,” jokes Crompton, a veteran and credentialed jazz player. “And JD likes it because it’s jazz.”

Crompton is a musician (and former high-school band teacher) with deep roots in Georgia’s improvised and experimental music scenes; his credits include shows with Eugene Chadbourne, a guest appearance with Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and a collaboration with Duet for Theremin and Lap Steel’s 12-hour drone performance at Knoxville’s Big Ears. On Blue Voices he plays alto and tenor saxophone, clarinet, electric piano, and organ. Walsh has been releasing music as Shy Layers since 2015, when he started self-releasing on Bandcamp; the following year, Germany’s Growing Bin packaged his first two EPs as a self-titled album, and in 2018, Tim Sweeney’s Beats in Space label put out Shy Layers’ sophomore album, Midnight Marker. Where those records channeled Walsh’s playful harmonic instincts into wistful songwriting with tropical overtones, on Blue Voices he lets his experimental tendencies take the lead. Playing acoustic and electric guitars, electric lap steel, bass, Moog Matriarch, modular synth, and programmed drums, he concentrates his energies on richly textural layers and abstract assemblages of tone color.

Across the album’s 11 tracks, there are faint echoes of familiar touchstones: the atmospheric twang of Daniel Lanois’ pedal steel on Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks; the mercurial modal runs of Ethio- jazz; the late-summer calm of Fuubutsushi; the versatility of players and composers like Patrick Shiroishi and Sam Gendel, who are asking similar questions about where jazz ends and some other, nameless territory begins. Mostly, though, what Blue Voices captures is the quixotic sound of two restless musical imaginations making it up as they go along, two voices discovering a shared language in a hitherto unexplored shade of blue.

To celebrate the 45th anniversary of iconic Dutch jazz label Timeless Records, Music On Vinyl is releasing a series that features albums that are part of the Timeless Records legacy and will be released mainly throughout 2021/2022.

Archie Shepp’s Black Ballads first came out in 1992 and celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2022. This 2LP features eleven great jazz ballads including classics such as “Embraceable You” and “Georgia On My Mind” by the tenor saxophonist. Shepp is supported by pianist Horace Parlan, bassist Wayne Dockery and drummer Steve McRaven.

To celebrate the legacy of Wim Wigt’s Timeless Records 45th Anniversary, Music On Vinyl is releasing the 45th anniversary Jazz Series. Each release includes the Timeless Records insert showing the first 8th albums on limited coloured vinyl.

Black Ballads is available on vinyl for the very first time as a limited edition of
500 individually numbered copies on translucent magenta coloured vinyl. The package comes with an insert with upcoming titles from The Timeless Records
45th Anniversary Jazz Series.

Just what the doctor ordered...

Next up on Q1E2 Recordings - for the label's fifth release so far - is Dr Sud. He's a Rome-born, Berlin-raised producer whose music is a fusion of percussion-centric soundscapes and integrated jazz-leaning harmonies, drawing inspiration from diverse genres like electronica, funk, and house.

On 'Heading South', the broken beat don serves up his specialist percussive sound, folding all manner of drums into synth-smothered house. The EP explores the undulating cycle of morning into night, back into morning, inviting you to dance your way through it all.

'Brina', a word which in Italian refers to morning dew - perhaps found on a tent on the morning of a festival - represents the breaking of dawn with broken beats. The track breaks and squints into the start of the day with spacious kick drums leaving room for warm, almost familiar pads and keys.

Then, 'Life Itself' reflects daytime, revolving around an arpeggiating synth that soon makes way for luscious keys.

An excursion into percussive bliss concludes side A in the form of the magical, grin-inducing 'Evening Breath'. This, as you might have guessed, is where the listener cruises through smoothly into the final stages of the day. It encapsulates that last burst of light as the sun sets and a slight shiver of the evening air slivers up your spine.

Then, before you know it, the mysterious night arrives. Flip to that B side, and 'Tramontana' will greet you, inviting you to dance deep into the late hours.

When you're there, the chugging '3/4AM' will hit the spot like an unforgettable dance floor moment, bursting with low and slow Balearic tendencies.

Finally, 'Mondgesicht' - "Moonface" in German -fittingly concludes proceedings with deep lounge vibes. Mumbles of effortless trumpet manoeuvre through a swaying sea of percussion and delicious, wavering synth solo. The day is here again. The cycle is complete.

This is some seriously high-quality music on show here from Dr Sud. The EP is out on Q1E2 Recordings in October.

GREEN AND WHITE MARBLE VINYL.

The Beths occupy a warm, energetic sonic space between joyful hooks, sun-soaked harmonies, and acerbic lyrics. Their debut album Future Me Hates Me, forthcoming on Carpark Records, delivers an astonishment of roadtrip-ready pleasures, each song hitting your ears with an exhilarating endorphin rush like the first time you heard Slanted and Enchanted or 'Cannonball.'

Front and center on these ten infectious tracks is lead singer and primary songwriter Elizabeth Stokes. Stokes has previously worked in other genres within Auckland's rich and varied music scene, recently playing in a folk outfit, but it was in exploring the angst-ridden sounds of her youth that she found her place. 'Fronting this kind of band was a new experience for me,' says Stokes. 'I never thought I had the right voice for it.'

From the irresistible title track to future singles 'Happy Unhappy' and 'You Wouldn't Like Me,' Stokes commands a vocal range that spans from the brash confidence of Joan Jett to the disarming vulnerability of Jenny Lewis. Further honeying Future Me Hates Me's dark lyrics that explore complex topics like being newly alone and the self-defeating anticipation of impending regret, ecstatic vocal harmonies bubble up like in the greatest pop and R+B of the '60s, while inverting the trope of the 'sad dude singer accompanied by a homogenous girl-sound.'

All four members of The Beths studied jazz at university, resulting in a toolkit of deft instrumental chops and tricked-out arrangements that operate on a level rarely found in guitar-pop. Beths guitarist and studio guru Jonathan Pearce (whose other acts as producer include recent Captured Tracks signing Wax Chattels) brings it all home with an approach that's equal parts seasoned perfectionist and D.I.Y.

'There's a lot of sad sincerity in the lyrics,' she continues, 'that relies on the music having a light heart and sense of humor to keep it from being too earnest.' Channeling their stew of personal-canon heroes while drawing inspiration from contemporaries like Alvvays and Courtney Barnett, The Beths serve up deeply emotional lyrics packaged within heavenly sounds that delight in probing the limits of the pop form. 'That's another New Zealand thing,' Stokes concludes with a laugh. 'We're putting our hearts on our sleeves—and then apologizing for it.'

Ltd Edition! Mit seinem dritten Album Diagnosis dreht der in Chicago lebende Multiinstrumentalist Sen Morimoto das Rad der Zeit zurück. Die 12 Tracks, die in Chicagos Friends Of Friends Studio aufgenommen wurden, wechseln zwischen funkigem, hellem Jazz-Pop ("Bad State"), vertrackten gitarrenbasierten Tracks mit Radiohead-Feeling ("What You Say") und orchestralen Wunderlandschaften wie "Forsythia". Sen Morimoto ist ein wandlungsfähiger Musiker: Er kann ein Saxophon-Solo herausreißen, tief in intimes Singer-Songwriter-Territorium eintauchen und massive, brüllende Alt-Pop-Songs mit gleicher Souveränität anführen.

In the midst of the UK house rave-olution of the early-’90s, London’s V4 Visions imprint documented the confluence of street soul, deep house, swingbeat, and jungle sounds emanating from the clubs and pirate radio signals. Over the course of half a decade, V4’s unparalleled 12” output referenced every significant Black British music scene; from lovers rock to jazz-funk, sound system reggae to hip hop, new jack swing to garage, from artists Ashaye, Julie Stapleton, Maureen Mason, Rohan Delano, The Wades, and Endangered Species. This 18-track double LP is the first critical overview of the label, with extensive notes by Simon Reynolds, era-defining photographs, and fresh remasters, all housed in a glorious foil-stamped gatefold tip-on sleeve. Is this a dream?

The last twelve months have been a whirlwind for Henry Counsell and Louis Curran, the men who make up Joy (Anonymous). Having established themselves during the Covid-19 era by playing impromptu meet-ups on London’s South Bank, they have graduated to bigger venues, travelled to far-flung locales and recorded their second album, Cult Classics, while maintaining the spontaneous energy and irrepressible joy that made their name. Their music revels in the euphoria of being alive and all the feelings, good or bad, that come with it. It invites us into a community, draws us close and promises the night of our lives.

Recorded over the course of a year, the blueprint for Cult Classics was laid down over a two-week span at Imogen Heap’s Round House in east London. Joy (Anonymous) invited friends old and new to visit - they’d record live instruments in jam sessions upstairs and then retreat to a second room to flip and loop and generally mess with the sounds, moulding them into sizzling dance tracks. “Loads of people were coming up to me like ‘I thought this was going to be a dance record?’” Louis says, remembering the quietly beautiful music they’d be recording. “I’d be like, don’t worry about that, just keep playing.” He’d send it back to people later and they’d be floored - “That was my bit and you’ve made it... jungle!”

It was an organic and creatively fulfilling approach, one that didn’t allow any of the music to get stale or stagnate. As they built the tracks from the sounds they’d collected, Joy (Anonymous) would weave the new songs into their famously improvised live sets, testing them, refining them, taking note of the audiences’ reactions. In a year punctuated by a lot of travel, they’d also incorporate the voices of people they met along the way - “Beazley’s Poem”, which opens the record, features the words of a man who was working security at a Fred Again show at New York’s Terminal Five. “He was basically doing the opposite of his job and being a hype man, climbing on the fence and ramping up the crowd - we ended up hanging out with him - like, who’s this legend?” Louis explains. “He just speaks really amazingly about his life, all these amazing thoughts and opinions - he started jumping on the mic when we were playing, preaching these amazing messages to the crowd, like that we all need to be nicer to each other. The first time we played the record in its entirety, he introduced us and that’s the recording we’ve used.”

Joy (Anonymous) remain dedicated to the spirit of spontaneity. They shut a street down with a surprise waterside party in New York. On a trip to Copenhagen they played an impromptu set in a cafe, which turned into a house party and a night-long good time. In Lithuania, they ended up playing in a decommissioned prison. It’s harder, perhaps, to keep that spirit alive now that they are operating more within the confines of the music industry but they will keep lugging their kit to wherever the party calls for as long as they can. “I think if we lose that, we’ve kind of lost what makes us us,” Henry says.

Bursting with multi-genre reference points and disparate influences, Cult Classics is very much a dance album. The samples we made ourselves or we took from music that is quite different to dance music, but we definitely wanted to shout out a lot of the dance influences that we love,” Henry says. They listened to a lot of Daft Punk and Basement Jaxx as well as The Prodigy (“more rage stuff”), taking songwriting tips from their dance forebears, but also recording bits that felt more like jazz and motown (see: A Place I Belong and the lovely album closer, You’re In Or You’re Out). Emir Taha’s gentle classical guitar runs like a thread throughout Cult Classics, washing into the undertones of the record, tying it all together.

The album follows the beat of a night out, from frenetic, sweaty movement to the gentler winding down as the dawn breaks. At times it is euphoric, celebratory and pure, whirling fun, at others it seeks the joy in the darker emotions that life throws our way. 404 is designed to encapsulate everything about the Joy (Anonymous) journey so far. Skittering beats and ghostly vocals give way to vibrating house chords: sirens blare as we approach a dubstep drop. It’s dramatic and wild, ratcheting up, seeming to settle then hitting you with an intense and frantic breakdown before the ghostly vocal returns to lull us back into the world. It has the feel of a hungry cat playing with a mouse, toying with it before letting it get away.

What sounds like someone playing the spoons on playful, housey How We End Up Here is actually Louis’ restless habit of clicking his rings on everything, one of a myriad of calling cards and easter eggs that day one fans will recognise. They rework Miley Cyrus and Swae Lee’s Party Up The Street into a French-electro-inspired future classic, adding a note of melancholy to a tune that you can imagine hearing blaring from every car on a summer drive. The lyrics on Cult Classic are generally reassuring, inspirational, originally drawn from Henry in stream-of-consciousness freestyles. You’re fine the way you are, they seem to say - the repeated “No need to try” of A Place I Belong, the assurance that “It’s in me all the time” on In Me All The Time. Even the summery but regretful Did You Wrong hints at the growth that is possible from less than ideal behaviour. For Joy (Anonymous), joy isn’t about just being “happy” all the time - it’s about relishing every element of your being.

The name ‘Joy (Anonymous)’ is taken from the work Henry did with Alcoholics Anonymous groups: it is a way to build a community around sharing joy. Their impromptu live sets are known as ‘meetings’; they encourage fans to share moments of joy to their website. They care deeply about the scene they’ve come up in and are determined not to leave it behind. Every show is another chance to reach out and connect with people who love to come together and revel in music as loud as it can go.

Support slots for Fred Again and The Streets, wild B2Bs with Fred and Skrillex, and a set at Four Tet’s Finsbury Park all-dayer this summer have given the duo the opportunity to live out childhood dreams and introduced their infectious live shows to new audiences at huge venues.

With an album as assured and joyful as Cult Classics on the horizon (and a killer collab with The Blessed Madonna coming up), they’re only going to reach higher heights. But the essence of Joy (Anonymous) remains on the South Bank. Between shows at Ally Pally in September, they dragged their camping chairs and gear back down to the banks of the Thames: and it just felt right.

Adroit jazz guitar, prog rock fantasia, and Japanese environmental music all rest comfortably behind Leo Takami's Next Door. The follow up to the acclaimed Felis Catus & Silence, Next Door finds Takami ruminating on passages—of time, seasons, consciousness. Through music, Leo contemplates daily events and finds beauty in ordinary moments. He also seems to be questioning the value of being stuck in the world, allowing his mind to wander towards something beyond it. His music is earnest, deeply personal and introspective, and is sort of akin to Rousseau’s Reveries of the Solitary Walker or Kenji Miyazawa’s Night on the Galactic Railroad. On “As If Listening” Takami takes inspiration from a Van Gogh art show organized chronologically, articulating the sense of “enlightened resignation” that is intrinsic in the act of creativity. “Beyond” is a dream of otherworldly nostalgia, a watercolor of past lives. His music is a hazy cinema of memory, the soundtrack to a cherished memory that may have never really happened, but still radiates in the mind like the sun on an unusually warm winter day.

Katie Meluas Debütalbum "Call Off The Search" machte sie sofort zu einem außergewöhnlichen neuen Talent. Das Album, welches dieses Jahr sein 20-jähriges Jubiläum feiert, zeigt ihren einzigartigen Gesangsstil, der Jazz-, Blues- und Folk-Einflüsse mit zeitgenössischer Pop-Sensibilität vermischt. Das Album wurde von Mike Batt mitgeschrieben und produziert, der eine zentrale Rolle bei der Entwicklung des prächtigen und anspruchsvollen Klangs des Albums spielte. Das zentrale Thema von "Call Off The Search" ist die Liebe und die Selbstfindung, ausgedrückt durch eine Sammlung von gefühlvollen und introspektiven Songs, darunter die Leadsingle "The Closest Thing to Crazy", die mit ihrer gefühlvollen Performance und der fesselnden Melodie das Publikum weltweit sofort in ihren Bann zog. Von Kritikern und Zuhörern wurde das Album für seinen reifen und gefühlvollen Sound gelobt, vor allem wenn man bedenkt, dass Katie Melua zum Zeitpunkt der Veröffentlichung erst 19 Jahre alt war. Call Off The Search" fand bei einem breiten Publikum Anklang, wurde ein kommerzieller Erfolg und zu einem der meistverkauften Alben des Jahres 2003.

Diese Neuauflage zum 20-jährigen Jubiläum wurde in den Metropolis Studios in London neu gemastert und enthält B-Seiten sowie sieben bisher unveröffentlichte und unverfälschte Demos, die Katie und Mike Batt 2002 aufgenommen haben. Die von Pete Paphides verfassten Liner Notes enthalten Beiträge aus einem neuen Interview mit Katie.

Foundation Music is proud to present ‘The Flowers EP’ by Foremost Poets aka Johnny Dangerous. Back in the news after being featured on the Grammy winning Alien Superstar from Beyonce’s latest album - but for those that know - he has never gone away as he is always on someone’s dance floor.

Foremost Poets productions and his vocals are simply devastating and label head, Ross Allen, has been a fan since he first heard the Nu Groove classic ‘Reason’s to Be Dismal’ on the reworked Richard Long Edition. It was a record that blew him away then and now, recently played by Pete Tong on Radio One, with Sven Vath including it on his anniversary compilation too. Ross signed this record when he hooked up with Johnny in New York 3 years, but wanted to wait until the time was right. That time is now.

‘Flowers In the Attic’ is no normal dance record, clocking in at thirteen minutes. It’s an epic Johnny D production, falling into that place where funk and house come together in the most magical, danceable way. It’s long but enticing, taking you through different phases and surprises you as it sucks you in, twists you up, and pulls you out.

‘Escape From Dubai’ is almost trance like but with that New York lean that keeps it very much on the right side of the Foundation Music fence. Full of funk, it has a deepness that builds and swells into an epic journey that takes you to another dimension.

The broken beat of ‘Don’t Shut Your Eyes’ closes out and is another piece of New York/ New Jersey up-tempo funk, syncopated and grooving with a repetitive hook, that goes deep via its Hammond organ solo and jazzy vocal.

Formed in 1999 by bassist Jim Barr and drummer Clive Deamer, best known as the rhythm section of seminal act Portishead, award-winning Bristolian jazz-rock disruptors Get The Blessing present their seventh studio album 'Pallet' Like most artists around the world, the pandemic forced the ensemble to rethink their creative processes. Born from a series of improvisations between Barr, Pete Judge on trumpet and Jake McMurchie on saxophone, the trio built up a rough portfolio of recordings which they then sent to Deamer, who added his drum parts at home in Oxfordshire. The result is nine minimalist compositions driven by groove, texture, electronics, and spontaneity. Built around the hypnotic loops that have become synonymous with their sound, 'Pallet' is an exploration of the nexus of improvisation and modern production. Grounded by thick, punchy bass lines and playful drum grooves, the record creates deep sonic spaces through the use of dizzying delays, squelching filtered loops and trails. The album's title owes much to the obtuse punning jazz musicians have enjoyed since the '50s; the song titles conjure up an imaginary colour chart with which the listener can fill in the paint-by-numbers image of a wooden pallet on the cover art

Copenhagen’s Terry Tester (Brownswood / BBE) serves up five slabs of deep and gritty Detroit-inspired house on new outing ‘Walkin’’ for Creak Inc., seamlessly weaving snappy snares and crunchy kicks into soulful chord progressions in his trademark MPC-infused sound. For fans of Kyle Hall, Zopelar, DJ Spinna, Jason Hogans or Jay Sound
Within Terry Tester’s two-decade long career as a turntablist and beatmaker his eminent take on house, hiphop and soul has been commissioned by Gilles Petterson for his ‘Bubblers’ compilation series on Brownswood, Jahi ft. singer Dwele, and Marc Mac on BBE remixing alongside DJ Jazzy Jeff.
Terry’s latest efforts has yielded spins from influential selectors such as Carista, Sassy J, Alexander Nut, Mr Beatnick, Soulection and FS Green.

Walkin’ releases via sonic soulseekers Creak Inc. – a Copenhagen-based label specializing in groundbreaking Danish music.

Copenhagen's Terry Tester (Brownswood / BBE) merges his love for Midwest house and cosmic funk butter on four-tracker 'Space Million' for Creak Inc., journeying through dream state deep house, gritty MPC workouts and low-end boogie territory for an undeniably original take on four-to-the-floor rhythms.

Within Terry Tester's two-decade long career as a turntablist and beatmaker his eminent take on house, hiphop and soul has been commissioned by Gilles Petterson for his 'Bubblers' compilation series on Brownswood Recordings, Jahi featuring american neo-soul singer Dwele, and Marc Mac (4Hero, Visioneers, Nu Era) on BBE remixing alongside DJ Jazzy Jeff, as well as releasing two full-length solo albums 'Horses and Diamonds' and 'Short Suite'.

Takeo Moriyama, Japan’s leading jazz drummer, loved by many new and old fans. Since the late 1960s, he has swept the free jazz world with the Yosuke Yamashita trio. After leaving the group, the radiating heat was condensed into an ensemble, evolving and deepening the musicality in a more melodic and rhythmic direction. And that activity will reach a peak in this work “Smile”.

Aussie icons The Cat Empire have had an illustrious career, spanning decades, genres, and millions of adoring fans from across the globe.

The Cat Empire veröffentlichen ihr neuntes Studioalbum, gleichzeitig ihre erste Veröffentlichung nach einem großen Personalwechsel in 2022. Das multikulturelle, australische Kollektiv ist für sein stilistisches Amalgam aus diversen Einflüssen von Jazz, Ska und Reggae über Funk, Latin und Hip-Hop bis zu Klezmer und Rock bekannt. 'Where The Angels Fall' wurde in ihrer Heimatstadt Melbourne aufgenommen und ist nach rund 20 Jahren das erste Zusammentreffen mit dem Produzenten Andy Baldwin, der auch für ihr selbstbetiteltes Debüt 2003 verantwortlich war.

Mayer Hawthorne hat seine Wurzeln in seiner Heimatstadt Ann Arbor, Michigan, wo er auf dem Höhepunkt des Detroiter Hip-Hop mit dem Produzieren von Beats und dem Auflegen von DJs begann.

Er hat bisher 5 Alben veröffentlicht und Auszeichnungen von angesehenen Publikationen wie GQ, New York Times Magazine, Playboy und Rolling Stone erhalten. Von der Verkündung seines bevorstehenden Ruhms durch NPR bis hin zu BBC Music, hat seine Kunst die Herzen von Kritikern und Fans gleichermaßen erobert. Mit einer Fülle von weiteren Beiträgen in namhaften Magazinen wie Billboard, Entertainment Weekly und Vanity Fair sowie Auftritten bei Conan, Letterman, Kimmel, der Today Show und darüber hinaus ist Hawthornes kultureller Einfluss unbestreitbar.

Nicht nur die Kritiker und Fans lieben Hawthorne, sondern auch seine Kollegen. Er eröffnete die letzte Tournee von Amy Winehouse und war Support von Bruno Mars; er schuf moderne Yacht-Rock-Jams mit Pharrell am Pool in Miami und John Mayer nannte sein Debüt auf Twitter das "Album des Jahres".

Jetzt ist Hawthorne bereit, sein neues Studioalbum For All Time zu veröffentlichen, eine eindringliche Erfahrung, die Grenzen überschreitet und die Schatten umarmt. Auf diesem Album taucht er tief in die Tiefen des menschlichen Herzens ein und erforscht die Komplexität der Liebe und die rohen Emotionen, die sie begleiten. Es ist eine fesselnde Mischung aus dunklen, sexy und stimmungsvollen Vibes, die Sie direkt in einen verrauchten Art-Déco-Jazzclub versetzen wird. For All Time ist eine Feier einer Liebe, die mit Intensität brennt
und einen bleibenden Eindruck in der Seele hinterlässt.

Repress! We at Now-Again unearthed so much information about the bands that recorded the definitive disco and modern soul contained in our recently launched Soul Cal anthology that we decided we had no choice but to release an album and a book at the same time. Well, following that line, the music contained on Loving On The Flip Side music is too damn good to be anonymously relaunched, decades after musical visionaries blended the best of heavy funk and sweet soul into a unified whole. And simply telling the stories of these vocalists and bands without allowing their lovelorn pleas to be heard again wasn’t an option. Thus, Loving On The Flip Side again offers the enthused a chance to listen to, read about and reflect on another great burst of black American creativity: the creation of the sublime
genre we like to call “sweet funk.”
It seems laughable to skip past Thomas East’s “Slipping Around” 7” for the cheesy funk of ‘Just A Trip,” or to listen obsessively to Lou Ragland’s instrumental funk on the Hot Chocolate LP and ignore his indolent-yet-stirring “We Had True Love.” Yet we did just that, until we first heard the Darling Dears and Funky Heavy’s beautiful
two-sider nearly ten years back. This was the record that set Loving On The Flip Side in motion, as the Darling Dears and Funky Heavy’s two songs precipitated the sweet funk genre: the dichotomy of Funky Heavy’s skull snapping rhythm section and the teenage Dears’ angelic harmonies didn’t sound like anything we’d heard before. That discovery set off a decade long search for the band and culminated in their discovery, the documenting of their stories, the emergence of their master tapes and the inclusion of their songs on Loving On The Flip Side.
The excitement we felt while listening to the Darling Dears and Funky Heavy’s masterworks forced us back into the field, in search of other sweet funk swooners and beat-heavy ballads to round out this anthology. The opportunity to present anew such wondrous soul music made the exhaustive process that produced Loving On The
Flip Side worthwhile, and allowed us to collect one-offs that escaped prior investigations into the deep funk and sweet soul genres.

Midnight EP brings another four heavyweight cuts from the London based Club of Jacks production duo showcasing their varied sound. 'Midnight' opens up with deep, haunting chords and a lush reworked vocal laid over a smoky 2 step beat. 'Let It Ride' brings the 4x4 house vibe, mixing infectious synths, catchy lyrics and a rolling bass groove. On the flip, 'Remember This' digs into the garage house sound, infusing jazzy organ chords and solos with skippy drums and tasty vocal chops. To finish off, 'Smokers Dub'' takes us into a darker, speed garage inspired vibe, with weighty bass and dub reggae flavour.

Last summer the idea came up that the material of the Chillum Trio live act, which had been matured for years by then, would deserve a release on its own. The concept was to try to reproduce the experience of the live performances as close as possible, so a semi-mixed album was created, on which the seven tracks work separately, but the effect is best when listening to the record in its entirety. The musical world of Random Rituals is crazy dense and colorful, similar to Chillum Trio's previous releases, an exotic mix of contemporary electronics, world music and club sounds;s still, it has a unified character, which is due to the fact that it has grown from a live set that has been constantly developing over the years. Genre-wise, it is characterized by low-tempo, organic desert house, tropical acid drops, deep dub, hypnotic tribal beats and psychedelic episodes. Just like genres, eras and cultures are mixed as well: from the jazz-funk of the 70s, via tribal trance of the 90s to modern deep house, from Peru to Pakistan, from Sudan to Senegal: a real musical journey through space and time.


Géza Szekeres, the heart and soul of Chillum Trio, summed up the essence of the record as follows:
"Random Rituals shows me the paradox that recharges can be planned and ad-hoc at the same time. Rituals are characterized by a predictable scenario, but the effect can also be unexpected, so that events spin without a score. You don't walk into the ritual, but it comes to you, creating the same state that then fills you up."

Kamai Music’s 26th release comes from the Electronic producer duo and live act Kon Faber.

A1: “Ambiguity” is a bouncy, groove- and percussion-heavy collaboration between established producer Iorie,
including a vocal duet.

A2: “Cheer” is an emotional, atmospheric track with a mesmerizing interplay of synth lines and jazzy melodic
licks from professional jazz saxophone player Marius Dick.

A3: “Weberwiese” is a large space with choirs and wide synth pads. The track opens up through a virtuous,
acoustic lead guitar embedded into a hypnotic and bouncy groove.

B1: South African producer Fka Mash gives a deep Afro House twist including a rich bass lead synth.

B2: Kamai’s own Jacob Groening shows a simplistic interpretation of “Cheer” and adds a new depth through a
non-metrically played lead synth.

B3: “Weberwiese” is remixed by Joep Mencke, who adds trance-like melodies and creates a melodic house
spin for the big stage.

Polish jazz rebels sneaky jesus are back with their second studio album For Chaching Taphed.The highly imaginative quartet out of Wroclaw comprising Maciej Forreiter (Guitar), Matylda Gerber (Saxophones), Ben Łasiewick i(Bass) and Filip Baczyński (Drums) have won fans around the world for their restless, quirky brand of jazz which takes in breakbeats, twisting chord progressions and improvisation as well as a wealth of musical influences.

The band have been touring their asses off ever since they surprised the world with their debut album For Joseph Riddle in 2021. From out of nowhere their debut LP of 500 copies sold out in a month and they quickly went on to sell close to 1,000 CDs of the album. Fast-forward to 2023 and the band are sharing stages with artists such as Ill Considered and Theon Cross.

For Chaching Taphed was created in complete isolation. The group locked itself in a barn at the Museum of Agricultural Technology in Piotrowice Świdnickie. It worked on its sophomore output surrounded by machinery, trucks and carriages. These new compositions mirror the abstract conversations which the group frequently has just for fun. Contrary to For Joseph Riddle, this album is simple and does not rely on ongoing grooves. This enabled the group to be much more experimental. The band was joined by friends Flautist Mariya Mavko on Piękno Niemożliwe (Impossible Beauty) and her playing is sampled in Hipotetyczny Taras (Hypothetical Terrace). Pięciu Pszczelarzy (Five Beekeepers) closes the album featuring EABS' Jakub Kurek on trumpet. His fiery solo is one of the most intense moments of the album.

Spacer Po Nadodrzu (A walk around Nadodrze) opens the album and is inspired by one of the districts of Wrocław. It is a sonic story depicting a walk through Nadodrze late at night. A steady bass rhythm imitates a careful pace and the responding sax line is a spooky theme that might pop to oneʼs head in a moment of uncertainty.

The album's first single Krztusiec (Whooping Cough) finds the group diving head first into their most recent influences. The trackstarts with drum improvisation, rolling into a solid hip-hop backbeat provided by Ben Łasiewicki on Bass and Drummer Filip Baczyński. Sax and Guitar weave steady but dissonant lines, written by Maciej Forreiter after many hours spent listening to the Ethiopian jazz greats. The track takes off right after that. Matylda Gerber delivers a fiery Sax solo, while the group picks up the tempo and quickens the groove. The essence is the middle section, a dubby collective improvisation. Forreiter, Gerber and Baczyński take turns playing both classic dub phrases and fierce avant grade lines. Łasiewicki keeps everybody in check with a steady bassline. The energy slows down until Baczyński's drum solo, which explores phrasing detached from the rest of the tune.

Second single Chiński Sprzedawca Smażonych Kasztanów (Chinese roasted chestnut seller) is a fusion of breakbeats, energized songo rhythms and motifs inspired by South African melodies. Presenting the group with spacious and rhythmic horn lines, guitarist Maciej Forreiter wrote a chord progression while Beniamin Łasiewicki and Filip Baczyński took care of the rhythm section. This first part of the track suddenly drops out and explodes into the dramatic main motif which includes double sax and fierce guitar playing in harmony, plus the rhythm section playing more and more jungle-esque. Powerful guitar and sax solos feature before we return to the main theme with a completely different rhythmic backdrop.

W Klatce z Bykiem (In a cage with a Bull), starts like a race. The music plays with an incredible nerve and when the theme is right on edge it suddenly stops. It is followed by an animalistic growl on the saxophone and a doom metal-esque bash of downtuned, distorted guitars and heavy drums. In this heavy fashion it slowly approaches the finishing line hitting one final metallic clang.

Piękno Niemożliwe (Impossible Beauty) features wonderful flute playing of Mariya Mavko (Kadabra Dyskety Kusaje). Her work in the opening motif evokes sounds of Polish and Ukrainian folklore. This brief mellow moment serves as a contrast to the usual frantic sounds of sneaky jesus. It is an appreciation of thepolish jazz music of the past, intrinsically-linked to folklore. The band took this idea and reworked it into their own unique style.

Hipotetyczny Taras (Hypothetical Terrace) is built on top of a lengthy vamp in an unusual 7/8 time-signature. The bass anchors the quartet in a simple line, while the rest of the quartet share an emotional conversation. This track is the most open of the whole project and it ends accordingly. The final burst is a call back to the basics ofspiritual jazzand the whole band shows every emotion simultaneously and gracefully fades out.

Pięciu Pszczelarzy (Five Beekeepers) is For Chaching Taphed's conclusion and is a non stop assault of heavy horn lines, punk rhythms and noise. The band is joined by the extraordinary trumpeter Jakub Kurek from EABS, who blends in perfectly with sax and guitar. His exchange of solos with Maciej Forreiter is a combination of classic jazz phrasing and discordant clatter. In the same fierce manner the whole group works within the motif, switching up accents and breaks.

In the short space of two years, sneaky jesus has gone from ambitious upstart looking to break out from its home city playing spit and sawdust venues, to touring Europe as well as prestigious Jazz clubs such as Jassmine in Warsaw. In the process, it has delivered two full-length albums that don't stay in lane or pander to established jazz sub-genres as so many groups do. Some artists make the same record twice or even more than that, but not sneaky jesus. For Chaching Taphed shows the band as restless, experimental, fun, irreverent but purposeful as never before.

“A lot of over-hyped improv / jazz projects out there at the moment and Sneaky Jesus are genuinely excellent and out on their own. Drawing on the expansive atmospherics of a barn as the recording's setting, the album immediately pulls you in with the unsettling 'Spacer Po Nadodrzu' and lifts off on 'Krztusiec', effortlessly moving from angular, abrasive jazz to trippy dub and cinematic intrigue. Tempos shift and intensities shift naturally. The whole set warrants a deep listen from start to finish and watch out for two great guest features from flautist Mariya Mavko and Jakub Kurek bringing some mad fuzz licks to the boisterous closer. Brilliant album.”
Quinton Scott — Strut Records

WRWTFWW Records is proud to announce the first ever release of the long-lost original motion picture soundtrack from the 1988 cult horror comedy sensation Ghoulies II by the incomparable Fuzzbee Morse. Digging deep to uncover a true gem of the VHS era, this limited-edition vinyl release (500 copies worldwide) marks history in the making as a piece of film score lore is resurrected from the depths of oblivion. The LP is packed with 39 tracks and features an exclusive artwork by French illustrator Pierre Thyss, as well an obi and composer notes.

The captivating melodies that once played hauntingly in the background of Ghoulies II were long believed to be lost forever. It took over 30 years and Fuzzbee Morse's unwavering determination to dig out the legendary recordings – and restore them for full audio pleasure!
The superb soundscape of Ghoulies II perfectly captures the chilling and wacky essence of the cult movie, as well as its creepy carnival setting. Morse, citing influences such as Bernard Hermann, Frank Zappa, and Igor Stravinsky, flexes his multi-instrumentalist skills, flowing with ease between magical fairground elements (with brilliant use of calliope, tuba, flutes and sparkly sounding synthesizers), dark atmospheres and frightening attacks (tribal percussion, strings, along with dissonant, atonal gongs, bowed cymbals), and goofy moods (bassoon, bass clarinet, glockenspiel, trumpet, clarinet). It’s big cinematic horror movie music with a lighter comedic touch – the 80s live again!

To complete this collector's edition, French illustrator Pierre Thyss (the man behind the WRWTFWW Records logo) lends his (immense) talent to provide awe-inspiring visuals that flawlessly encapsulate the juxtaposition of horror and comedy.

Ghoulies II follows the release of the full uncut soundtrack of Ghoulies (1985) which was released on vinyl for the first time ever by WRWTFWW Records in 2020 alongside soundtracks for other Richard Band-composed, Empire Pictures-produced classics: TerrorVision and Troll. All these 80s horror favorites are still available – complete the collection now!

Emerging from the heart of Brussels, the captivating five-piece Azmari is set to release "Maëlström" on October 20. For Maelström, the follow up to their acclaimed debut album Sam?'? (with raving reviews in Uncut, Songlines, Uk Vibe and Electronic Sound), the group has delved into uncharted musical territories creating a mesmerizing "azmarian" identity and melding intricate jazz textures with intoxicating oriental influences, otherworldly ethio grooves, enigmatic dark funk, and the pulsating beats of dub music,

For the creation of "Maëlström," Azmari embarked on an intensive one-week recording journey. During this time, they meticulously honed the sound of their instruments, blending the nostalgic notes of old-school clavinet keyboards with cutting-edge synth sounds, resulting in a distinct and alluring atmosphere. Enriching their traditional instruments with balanced pedal effects and special amplification, the band added new flavours to their sound.

Founded in the vibrant musical haven of Brussels in 2015, Azmari have been crafting a truly unique tapestry of musical exploration. Azmari defies conventional labels to weave a narrative of sonic innovation and artistic liberation. Influences range from an eclectic array of artists, including Okay Temiz, Heliocentrics, Whitefield Brothers, Surprise Chef, Antibalas and Sons of Kemet.

From the band: "For the third part of our musical journey, we dug into a deeper creative process. We literally immersed ourselves in deep waters during a unique two-week aquatic residency. The tracks on this album are thus directly imbued with distinctive underwater frequencies, the sounds of abyssal creatures, and the beauty of the seabed. Convinced by this creative experience, and guided by captain (and producer) Frederik Segers, we brought this album back to the surface and reveal a resolutely scaly, sandy, and deep soundscape."

Der vielschichtige schottische Künstler und Musiker Barry Can’t Swim veröffentlicht sein Debütalbum, „When Will We Land?“, auf Ninja Tune. Das elf Tracks lange Album, bewegt sich von Deep House bis Jazz, von Ambience bis zur perkussiven Ladung Afrobeat und ist sein bisher umfassendstes und vielfältigstes Projekt. Alles wird durch seinen einzigartigen Sinn für Zielstrebigkeit und die typische Lebhaftigkeit zusammengehalten; mit seiner geschickten Finesse ist es ein Album, das als eine Art musikalische Autobiografie fungiert.

Der in Edinburgh geborene Musiker erregte 2020 mit einer Reihe von Veröffentlichungen Aufmerksamkeit, bevor er beim Ninja-Tune-Label Technicolor für seine sensationelle EP „More Content“ aus dem Jahr 2022 unterschrieb. Billboard ernannte ihn zu einem ihrer „10 Dance Artists To Watch“, während die Single „Blackpool Boulevard“ auf der Playlist von BBC Radio 1 landete – der Radio-Legende Pete Tong war begeistert, während Tastemaker:innen wie The Blessed Madonna und Annie Mac große Fans wurden. „Man kann sein Debütalbum nur einmal machen.“, betont Barry Can’t Swim. „Deshalb möchte ich alle Elemente der Dinge präsentieren, die mir bis jetzt an der Musik Spaß machen.

Tommy Largo is a big deal in the world of jacking house and here he lands on Greenhouse Recordings with plenty of evidence to support that. His sound comes steeped with Southern influences on opener 'BBQ Ribs' with its noodling jazz chords and spoken word mutterings making for a lively atmosphere over funky beats. The Jam Funk Remix has a Chicago bump to it with the jazzy keys left in place over well-swung drums. 'On No Not Again' hints at new jack swing with its steamy sax lines and effortlessly catchy groove before 'BBQ Ribs' (Oddphonic remix) closes out with the deepest sound of the lot, perfect for when the sun has gone down and the party heads indoors.

Funk The System! The recipe is simple: Dig deep, listen to your heart, record everything you got on a dusty old desktop computer, leave it to simmer for the time of a pandemic, and if it's still fresh, serve it up on the finest plate of black wax! This collaboration started in Dusseldorf in the year 2018. Locked up for a week in the Flanger Studios, Wolf Muller and Credit 00 recorded everything: from the jaw harp to smartphone apps, chopping up GDR Jazz breaks and squeezing the Funk out of every synthesizer and drum machine at hand. You will hear the open mindedness towards all sorts of musical influences from the first note. Each of the five tracks showcases a wild mix of flavours: Disco Reggae, B-Girl Breakbeats, Protest Folk, Subway Funk, Tabla Rhythms, you name it... they'll take it and shake it! It is obvious these two got sonically socialized and educated by the multiculturalism of Hip-Hop in their early days. After the first Recording Session, the tracks fermented for some time until they were cracked open again. This time in Leipzig at Credit 00's Westend Workshop. That's also where Rizmi from Birmingham joined the team and lent her voice to the title track. She reinterpreted the lyrics of the obscure German 1980s Workers' Rock Song, that Wolf digged out for the Intro Skit of ,,Funk The System". A long time in the making, Rat Life is very happy to finally publish this EP!

Jorja Smith is officially back. Further to making a recent return to the musical sphere with her singles ‘Try Me’ and ‘Little Things’, today she has confirmed the details of her highly anticipated second album, ‘falling or flying’, set for release globally on September 29th 2023 via FAMM and available to pre-order now - here.

Alongside the announcement, Jorja has also unveiled the album's poignant artwork; a stunning portrait of her, shot on film by the prestigious British photographer, Liz Johnson Artur. In addition, Jorja has also announced a series of UK live shows in September, commemorating the release of the album. Further details below.

Through her new record, Jorja has delivered an undeniable modern classic, effortlessly condensing any number of disparate styles and genres into music which thrillingly broaches any gap between Jazz, Soul, R&B and Funky House. A bold, brave and courageous leap forward from her critically acclaimed debut album ‘Lost and Found’ - ‘falling or flying’ is an album that speaks to the musical and emotional era where Jorja is now, and how she got here. It isn’t so much an exploration of how she’s found herself but more a statement that she has arrived, and that her understanding of her life, her relationships, and her feelings, have deepened, matured and crystallised as she enters her twenty six year. ‘And despite it all,’ she says, ‘it's definitely a journey I've just started. That's what's crazy.

It's only just begun.’ Sonically, this album, a no-skips body of work, isn’t like anything you’ve heard before. It sits masterfully in this same space of excitement, self-exploration and self-assertion that Jorja does. Compromised of deep, thumping drums, racing basslines, irresistible hooks and distinctive beats, ‘falling or flying’ runs at the same pace that Jorja’s mind does. ‘I don't slow down enough’ she says. ‘This album is like my brain. There’s always so much going on but each song is definitely a standstill moment.’

Much of the creative energy that shaped the album emerged from studio sessions with the producer duo DAMEDAME* back in her hometown of Walsall, where, to Jorja, the heart is. The album is both a sonic and an emotional tour of where she’s been, and what she’s been about, in the two years since she dropped her latest offering, ‘Be Right Back’. ‘It touches on breakups, relationships with my friends, relationships with old friends, relationships with myself.’ She says. ‘It's definitely about a lot of relationships, but every song I write I can sing it to myself.’

Of the many British voices in music today, Jorja is among the most commanding, writing at a pitch of intensity and urgency that few can match. Over the past five and half years, since the release of her debut album ‘Lost & Found’, she has been celebrated unanimously across the world for her evocative song-writing, powerful delivery, pure emotion and unbridled talent as a young woman navigating her way through life and in 2021 was the year Jorja’s hiatus from music was broken. Enter ‘Be Right Back’, the holding space between the sensation that was ‘Lost & Found’, and ‘falling or flying’. ‘Be Right Back’ was born from playing, jamming, freestyling, and sounding out what Jorja had been on the edge of expressing all her life. It was a project entirely for her fans. “Be Right Back did exactly what I wanted it to do. It was a little waiting room so people knew I was coming back.”

And come back she has - entering a chapter of her return to music that’s certain to draw in and intoxicate Jorja’s fans and new listeners alike. And what has changed for her, in the five years since ‘Lost & Found’ dominated the charts and the soundscape? “I like this world that I've just come into. And I’m still figuring things out. Always figuring things out.” Jorja says. “This is the first time I’m putting stuff out there that I can connect with right now.” Over the last few years, it’s been a reflective and transformative step into her mid twenties for her.

She’s been able to step into herself and evolve as a songwriter and a woman despite an ever-changing musical landscape.

While she recognises that the global pandemic has been completely devastating, she acknowledges that it allowed her to stay still, to come more into herself, and to be more in control of the person she is, and of her musical output. Like some of the legendary musicians that came before her, Jorja is looking at the chaos and disorder in the world right now with resourceful, refined eyes, and she sees the glorious opportunity and enormous responsibility that affords. The net result is that while ‘falling or flying' sounds very much like Jorja Smith, it sounds like no Jorja Smith album you have ever heard before.

‘falling or flying’- released on September 29th

The eponymous debut disc from German-Swedish supergroup 4
Wheel Drive went straight to the top spot as Best-Selling Jazz Album
In Germany For 2019. And the media didn’t hold back with their
praise either: “Four first-league jazz musicians with pure joy of playing
and a love of good pop music,” said ZDF’s ‘heute-journal’ about this
spirited and enjoyable group that combines trombonist / singer Nils
Landgren, pianist Michael Wollny, bassist / cellist Lars Danielsson
and drummer Wolfgang Haffner.
 For ‘4 Wheel Drive II’, it is evident that things have shifted up a gear
right from the start, with the rocky, pulsating opening track, ‘Chapter
II’, straight from Wollny’s compositional workbench. Landgren likes to
let his trombone roar like a sports car engine. In similarly dynamic
vein are pieces like Danielsson’s final track of the album, ‘The
Wheelers’, which, thanks to Haffner’s nimble brushwork, makes you
think you’re on a high speed train.
 Compared to the first album, there has been another change, an
increase in the proportion of original compositions written by all of the
participants, as Lars Danielsson, who has contributed a sensitive,
poppy ballad to the new album, ‘Just Another Hour’, remarks.
“Interpretations of worldwide hit songs were a factor behind the huge
success of the debut album, but the ratio to original compositions
here is getting closer to 50:50. That said, the fuel powering 4 Wheel
Drive has remained the same: this band is all about creating music
from deep within, and with like-minded people whom you can
absolutely and implicitly trust to be in the driving seat.”
 “It just flows,” enthuses drummer Haffner, “we’re a group of close
friends with nothing we need to prove, we can just go for it. I've had
so many magic moments with this band, it really is incredible!”
 On the new album, listeners are treated to several new moments of
pure magic, continuing 4 Wheel drive’s illustrious story. For example,
their new instrumental version of the Simon & Garfunkel classic,
‘Sound of Silence’, has something mysteriously Nordic about it. Or
their newly-cast version of the surprisingly infrequently covered
Genesis ballad, ‘Hold On My Heart’, putting it into a jazz context. The
courage to approach pop tunes that have become so ingrained in
many people’s minds from a completely different perspective pays off
in full. Within 4 Wheel Drive are four originals at work, each of whom
can be recognised from the very first note they play or sing.

Now comes the vinyl LP format of the album with reduced track listing to fit on one disc. After their previous two more concept- based releases, 'David Gordon Trio Speaks Latin' and 'Alexander Scriabin's Ragtime Band', the second of which was Mojo Magazine's jazz CD of the year, the trio returns to its roots with a elease entirely of original compositions from the pen of award- winning composer/ pianist David Gordon. A heady mixture of innovation, deep understanding of musical traditions, spontaneous wit, rich melodic language and deep grooves ensures a musical result that couldn't be mistaken for any other trio working in the jazz world today.

The debut recording by Setting, a trio comprising Nathan Bowles (solo/trio, Pelt, Black Twig Pickers); Jaime Fennelly (Mind Over Mirrors, Peeesseye); and Joe Westerlund (solo, Califone, Sylvan Esso, Jake Xerxes Fussell). Deluxe LP edition features 140g black virgin vinyl and a reverse board jacket with art by Timothy Breen. Deluxe CD edition features a gatefold jacket with art by Timothy Breen. RIYL: Popol Vuh, Brian Eno’s Ambient 4, Harmonia, The Necks. Setting, befitting its name which can be read as noun or verb, and simultaneously suggests the sun, or any star in the firmament from our earthbound perspective; a story and its surroundings, its scenic context or mise en scène; or a psychedelic experience, as in the prescription to mind one’s “set and setting” arose outdoors, uncontained and unconstrained by architecture. The group’s debut recording Shone a Rainbow Light On traverses textural, phosphorescent topography with a certified organic folk-engine. Kosmische correspondences are inevitable and valid, but also somewhat deceptive, given this meditative music’s terrestrial rootedness in the familiar natural world, more in native humus and humidity than in outer space. Fuelled by a vibratory hybrid of acoustic and electronic instrumentation, these four stately longform pieces sound like a UFO slowly sinking into a peat bog (or, as we call it in North Carolina, a pocosin). An instrumental trio comprising Nathan Bowles (solo/trio, Pelt, Black Twig Pickers) on strings, keys, and percussion; Jaime Fennelly (Mind Over Mirrors, Peeesseye) on harmoniums, synthesizers, and piano zither; and Joe Westerlund (solo, Califone, Sylvan Esso, Jake Xerxes Fussell) on drums, percussion, and metallophones, Setting established its own setting and found its footing in regularly scheduled improvisational sessions outside Westerlund’s home in Durham, North Carolina, beginning in 2021. The three players began as two, in the context of occasional Bowles and Westerlund percussion duo performances dating back to 2018. Fennelly provided the initial impetus to gather and play together with intentionality and discipline, as well as an harmonic adhesive and thickening agent in the grain and gravity of his harmonium and synthesizer. As always, Bowles’s background as a pianist and drummer informs his approach to banjo, imparting a woodiness, a piney verticality and resinous tang. Westerlund’s training with Milford Graves is apparent in his polyrhythmic flow and its correspondences to human circulatory and corporeal rhythms. They recorded their collective discoveries with engineer Nick Broste in the spring of 2022.The record begins, like the group’s name, and like the language of its unique instrumental interplay, with ambiguous grammar: “We Center,” the first and longest track at thirteen and a half minutes, builds patiently to a percolating climax of tidal heaving, with ceremonial connotations. “Zoetropics,” the shortest piece, follows, offering a more diaphanous counterpoint to the density of its predecessor. The zithery, shivering “A Sun Harp,” its title redolent of Sun Ra, showcases Westerlund’s unfettered drumming, which skitters restlessly until anchored, at its conclusion, by a minor bass progression. Finally, “Fog Glossaries” exhales through the maritime and meteorological evocations of its title, distant buoys clanging. Although certainly elements and strategies of so-called ambient and drone musical traditions are invoked and deployed, those diffuse terms feel inadequate to describe everything else happening here: the devotional valences, the minimalist rigor, and even submarine jazz inclinations perceptible beneath the surface. Throughout this four-movement program, which invites deep listening, it is often difficult to differentiate individual instruments from the massed choir of the group’s unified sonic presence. At times what sound like field recordings cicadas, birds, wind, water splash out of this slow but powerful current, only to be revealed as overtones produced by harmonium, banjo, or cymbals. Setting’s sound is fundamentally synthetic in the sense of synthesis, not artifice—in a manner remarkable for its almost entirely acoustic arsenal of instrumentation, often registering as the product of a single alien technology, perhaps the rainbow lights of that bog-marooned UFO. (“Setting,” of course, can also refer to a machine’s variable operational amplitude its temperature, volume, speed, elevation, etc.) Sometimes the most seemingly extraterrestrial lifeforms are in fact our unfamiliar earthbound neighbors. Despite the destruction of many such habitats, the coastal plains of eastern, tidewater North Carolina is home to more pocosins freshwater, evergreen wetlands with deep, acidic, sandy, peat soils than anywhere else in the world. These threatened peat-bog ecosystems are the only native environment to sustain the carnivorous Venus flytrap, among other oddities. The sonic ecosystem of Setting similarly deep, acidic, and boggy contains equivalent wonders, savage and delicate, for listeners willing to take the time to sink.

Trumpeter, composer and bandleader Nick Walters returns to his D.O.T. Records imprint with his majestic new album, Marine Moods. The album revives his sextet, who last appeared together on his 2019 album 'Active Imagination' (22a). This stellar collection of musicians picks things up where they left off, delivering an exquisite suite of contemporary jazz-fusion, gleaning the very best elements from afro, modal and spiritual jazz.

For more than a decade, Bert Dockx has been one of the most prolific and versatile musicians in Belgium. A masterful guitarist, gifted songwriter, and innovative composer, crossing boundaries between avant-garde rock, customized blues, and instrumental jazz, with bands such as Flying Horseman, Dans Dans, and Ottla, singing in his native Dutch as Strand, or solo under his birth name, and now as the Bert Dockx Band. Ghosts is his fifteenth (!) album on the Ghent-based label Unday Records.

Two years after the crash, Bert Dockx presents his new Bert Dockx Band and Ghosts, an album of rebirth and transgression, one of many firsts. Dockx never dedicated this much time to meticulously crafting each song. For the first time, he entrusts a finished record to a complete outsider. Never before has he reached out so far into the outside world.

The relaxed and positive atmosphere during the recordings is magnified in what Dockx calls 'my best guitar playing ever', and the deep, powerful use of his voice in its natural range. 'I had fun making this album,' says Dockx, 'and I really hope it shows'.
'There's no escape now/ I'm inside of the storm', Bert Dockx sings on his new album, the first with the Bert Dockx Band. 'I smile, I cry/ I die, I'm born/ I'm in love'. Ghosts is the culmination of a two-year odyssey, from hitting rock bottom to flourishing into new heights. An album of rebirth and transgression, a record of milestones and many firsts. Never before has Dockx turned so deep inside in order to reach out to a world beyond himself.

The album is mastered by US producer Philip Weinrobe. Weinrobe previously worked with Arianne Lenker, Indigo Sparke, and Kings of Convenience, and is praised by Dockx for his 'infallible intuition and great inventiveness'. This occasion marks the first time he hands over a finished record, permitting an outsider's perspective during the final mix.

on Voyage is the 1987 jazz album recorded by the McCoy Tyner Trio, featuring McCoy Tyner on piano, Avery Shape on bass, and Louis Hayes on drums. The album includes original compositions by McCoy Tyner, George Gershwin’s standard “Summertime” and Irving Berlin’s “How Deep Is The Ocean”.

Originally released as a 1LP, Bon Voyage is available for the first time as a 2LP-set, including alternate takes of “Jazz Walk”, “How Deep Is The Ocean” and “Don’t Blame Me”.

Bon Voyage is available as a limited edition of 500 individually numbered copies on silver coloured vinyl and contains liner notes on the sleeve.

Habibi Funk is digging deep to present the songs of Ibrahim Hesnawi, otherwise known as “The Father of Libyan Reggae.” Kingston meets Tripoli in this incendiary collection of Arabized roots, dub, dancehall and more. Featured on Habibi Funk’s last compilation (HABIBI015) with his track “Tendme,” Hesnawi crafts restless funk with evident buttressing from a reggae foundation. Highlighted across the LP is how Hesnawi essentially pioneered such an effortless synthesis between traditional Libyan music and Jamaican reggae stylings, plus the endlessly disparate funk, jazz, and disco accents which firmly situate Hesnawi in a league of his own. LP out everywhere October 6th.

Horros, the third album by Finnish sonic voyagers Virta, is issued in September 2023. With Horros, Virta build on and take into new terrain the questing, jazz-tinged electroacoustic adventures of their last album, December 2016’s Hurmos, and its predecessor, their November 2012 debut Tales From Deep Waters. Still recognisable as who they were, the Virta of 2023 now delves further than ever before into their inner world to craft their most affecting, most atmospheric and most cinematic music to date. Even so, Horros does not need to be accompanied by images – it envelops so much that signposts are unnecessary. The music itself is the guide through this sound world. The creators of this environment are Antti Hevosmaa (electronics, flugelhorn, trumpet, vocals), Erik Fräki (electronics, drums, percussion, vocals) and Heikki Selamo (bass, electronics, guitar, lap steel, vocals). Together as Virta – which translates from Finnish as electricity, energy or stream – the trio were acclaimed as a “cornerstone of Finnish experimental music” by Finnish daily by newspaper Savon Sanomat in 2016. Horros will ensure this status becomes the case internationally. Beyond Finland, Virta already have dedicated listeners in Canada, France, Germany, Poland, the United States and the UK. Reflecting on Horros, Antti says “We’ve always made music we want to listen to ourselves. We’ve asked what is the sound we want to listen to? We are digging deeper now, with new elements – more vocals. Lyrics too, which we haven’t done before.” Without sacrificing who they are, Virta now have a wider scope than ever. “A key idea with Virta is to make the music you hear in your head and share it with people,” adds Heikki. “Yes, to share what is in our heads,” agrees Erik. “But also, it becomes live music, that’s the point

Brutter continue with their deep dives into the endless possibilities of beat music. The duo has a gravitation towards headstrong bass drums and pulsating patterns that contain remnants of everything from dub to disco, from hip-hop to mechanical workshop. On their fourth album 'Outta', Brutter steps out of their good dogmatic rhythm skin and brings strings into the mix. Auto-harp and lap steel guitar contribute twisted sweet tones and floating comments to everything that otherwise thumps and beats. 'Outta' gives a precise sound picture of where Brutter has ended up after 10 years of digging for rare beat metal. Brutter is the duo consisting of Norwegian brothers Christian and Fredrik Wallumrød, founded in 2012. Christian Wallumrød is a well renown pianist and composer, releasing music since 1996 on labels like ECM Records, Jazzland and Hubro. Fredrik Wallumrød was educated at the Trondheim Music Conservatory, same as his brother, with focus on drums and jazz as a genre. He has later changed his course for rock/metal and more pop-oriented music, such as Span / El Caco / Dog Almighty, in addition to his work with singer/songwriter Susanna and soul / r&b artist Jarle Bernhoft. Christian Wallumrød – drum machines, electronics, auto harp Fredrik Wallumrød – drums, drum synth, electronics, lap steel.

Foliage Records introduces Volume 2 of the new 12” Sampler Series.
Volume 2 offers four stunning cuts from the Foliage Records back catalogue for the first time on vinyl. The A side of the sampler features Jimpsters bumping Deep House rework of South African electronic producer, Thakzin and songstress Ray T’s ‘Don’t Let Me See’. Fresh from remixing Solomun, Kerri Chandler & Joey Negro, Jimpster picks up the pace, adds layers of Afro inspired percussion and creates an ethereal effect on the vocals, resulting in a club ready classic. Side A also features the stunning ‘Addicted’ by Richard Earnshaw & Kholi, a Deep House, bass heavy groover.


The B side of the sampler has the Afro anthem ‘Unification Vibration’, remixed by legendary producer Atjazz. A prolific remixer with a career spanning 20 years, Atjazz has worked with the likes of Bob Sinclar, Gilles Peterson & Jazzanova. The track is an ode to coming together in ‘our house, our only home’. The B side also contains the heavy talents of Turbojazz & Sean McCabe with their deep & dope remix of Diephuis feat. Ursula Rucker – Listen To This Drum. This remix takes things down a deeper path to the original, with a focus on the bassline and extra percussion.

One of the most prolific and celebrated blues-rock artists in the UK,
Danny Bryant is to release a brand-new album - 'Rise' - on 29 September through Jazzhaus Records

His 13th album, it is Danny at his dynamic best - his distinctive guitar once again complementing his gravel tone vocal that exudes with the raw emotion this new body of work intended.'Rise' follows the release of his critically acclaimed 2021 album 'Rage To Survive' which Blues Matters! Magazine described as"... everything I part with money for and this will be played and played" and Classic Rock Magazine noted Danny's true blues- rock credentials by describing it as"... new songs with blues- rock provenance." Written by Danny (except for the Bob Dylan cover 'I Want You') and co- produced with Ian Dowling and mastered by Gwyn Mathias, 'Rise', like all twelve albums previous, further deepens Danny's authority as one of the leaders in British blues- rock proving his genuine authenticity.

The album opens with title track 'Rise' - 2 mins 52 of pure blues-rock with Danny's playing evolving throughout to then fade and almost blend into 'Animal In Me' which raises the tempo with its more classic blues rhythmic pattern allowing his vocal to stretch and shine before track three - 'Louise' - slows the album back down with a more solemn acoustic feel that brings anguish out in the track.

Track four - 'Hard Way To Go' - goes back to the more riff- heavy- guitar playing Danny is known for before beautifully contrasting with the toned down acoustic playing of 'Scarlett Street'. 'Into The Slipstream' moves the album into a positive optimistic direction beautifully encapsulated by a gospel vocal accompaniment that supports and builds the track throughout before once again contrasting yet blending brilliantly with track seven 'Julienne' that is more piano focused, relying on Danny's vocal to bring the emotion while still running gospel vocal through the track.

The final three tracks of the album are almost an encapsulation of the whole album. 'Silver and Gold' has a more traditional, stripped back blues feel, whilst Bob Dylan cover 'I Want You' follows a simple acoustic chord pattern and once again Danny's vocal carries the tracks passion throughout with light and shade demonstrating his vocal power before going into the final track 'Drown Jam' that as the title suggests, is Danny playing with pure feel. The album's final trio of
tracks is testament to why Danny is one of Britain's great blues-rock artists.

Roy Davis Jr. & Byron The Aquarius and Jamie 3:26 & Danou P remix Radio Slave’s Wildlife.

‘Wildlife’, released a few months back, found Radio Slave tapping into his house and disco roots. It proved a dancefloor smash that got support from a wide array of artists, from DJ Bone and Tim Sweeney to Roman Flugel and Axel Boman. As such, the artists chosen to remix come from similar backgrounds and bring all new perspectives to this irresistible gem.

First up are Chicago house legend Roy Davis Jr. and keys playing maestro Byron The Aquarius. Both make the sort of dusty, feel-good deep house that will never grow old and have done so on the scene's best labels. Their sizzling seven-minute rework of 'Wildlife' has jazzy, life-affirming keys and smeared synths that bring the warmth. The drums are rubbery and inviting, and the whole thing brings real musicality to the floor.

The second remix is from original Chicago innovator, deep digger and edit king Jamie 3:26 and a young Dutch artist he has long since mentored, Danou P. Between them, they have cooked up gems like 'What It Is' together on Shake Records and remixed for Defected, all with a healthy respect for disco, funk and soul from the 80s onwards. Their take on 'Wildlife' is a piano-laced and upbeat party starter. Noodling bass riffs,zippy synth details and lavish chords make for a sophisticated sound that will swell the heart.

: Written and recorded in a series of bedroom studiosin England and France, London-based Gareth Donkin’s extraordinary debut, Welcome Home, showcases the 23-year-old’s stunning mix of instrumental virtuosity and emotional intuition, blending highly sophisticated melodic and harmonic craftsmanship with deeply moving lyrical explorations of longing, desire, and determination. The songs here draw on soul, funk, pop, yacht rock,hip-hop, jazz, and even bossa nova, hinting at times to everything from Michael Jackson and Bill Evans to George Benson and Jamiroquai, and Donkin’s performances are nothing short of mesmerizing, layering up instrument after instrument in the best one-man-band tradition of Prince or Stevie Wonder. The result is a moving work that’s equal parts brain and brawn, a masterful coming-of-age self-portrait from a young artist discovering himself—and his sound—one song at a time. Born with perfect pitch, Donkin was already fanatically obsessed with both jazz piano and drums before he turned twelve. In high school, he began DJing and teaching himself to record and sample, and by the time he headed to the Leeds College of Music to pursue a degree in production, he was already writing and recording his own material at home. His first single, “Catharsis,” would go on to rack up more than a million streams on Spotify, and a series of subsequent tracks would find similarly organic success and help land him a deal with the burgeoning drink sum wtr label.

The influential Detroit pianist’s sole 1970s album. Remastered and lacquered by Bernie Grundman. Now-Again presents the denitive Tribe Records reissues. Deep, Spiritual Jazz of the highest order. The Tribe label, one of the brightest lights of America’s 1970s jazz underground, receives the Now-Again reissue treatment. This is your chance to indulge in the music and story of one of the most meaningful, local movements of the 20th Century Black American experience, one that expanded outwards towards the cosmos. In the words of the collective themselves, “Music is the healing force of the universe.” Included in an extensive, oversized booklet, Larry Gabriel and Jeff “Chairman” Mao take us through the history of the Tribe, in a compelling story that delves not just into the history of the label and its principals, but into the story of Black American empowerment in the latter half of the 20th Century. The booklet features never-before-seen archival photos and rare ephemera from Tribe’s mid-1970s heyday.

'Dreamer Awake' is the fifth album from Rachel Sermanni, her first for
Navigator Records (Katherine Priddy, Kitty Macfarlane, Sam Kelly & The
Lost Boys, Bellowhead)
Hailing from the Scottish highlands, Sermanni is an enchanting singer-songwriter,
whose performance and lyrics draw from a deep well of mysticism, dreams,
nature and the simple-complex experience of being human; a contemporary folk
musician influenced by a wealth of genres including jazz, rock, old- time and
traditional.
'Dreamer Awake,' was recorded at Middle Farm Studios, Devon with co-producer,
Peter Miles. Recording live to tape with people that, "most of the time, are jazz
improvisers," the sessions were conducted with an almost Lynchian approach,
with Sermanni choosing "to flow through the experience like a dream". The result
is an album that captures the intimacy of the room, and the immediacy of these
songs that transform thought, memory and emotion into such wondrous light.
Channelling the metamorphic experience of becoming a mother, and processing
the demise of a long-term relationship, Sermanni dove deep into her psyche and
returned with songs that have a sharpness, an acuity of feeling, and that capture
the fluidity of our mind and the depth of our emotional experience.
Rightly described by critics as a "Folk noir gem" (MOJO), "Stately, poetic" (CLASH)
and "Folk of the Highest Order" (Time Out), Rachel Sermanni has been making
music for over a decade and has developed her artistic voice over her many
releases, each time pushing boundaries and experimenting with different musical
textures while maintaining the raw emotional connection, to herself and others,
that defines her music.
Rachel Sermanni has toured the globe, played alongside artists such as Mumford
& Sons, Fink, Ron Sexsmith, John Grant, The Staves, Karine Polwart, The Maes
and many more at venues and festivals all over, most recently playing with Charlie
Cunningham. She also runs a songwriting workshop called Cultivating A Creative
Life and her podcast, Rachel Sermanni's Finger That Points To The Moon,
similarly explores her relationship to creativity and inspiration, with the hope that
it will help point in the direction of truth for herself and those listening

Bristol's soul jazz kings The Jazz Defenders release a new vinyl 45 single this autumn as a taster for their third album, which is destined for release in spring 2024. Once again, they are bringing together their love of 1960's soul jazz and golden era 90's hip-hop, just as they did on a couple of tracks on their last album "King Phoenix" (Haggis Records 2022). This new single sees them reunited with London MC/rapper Doc Brown, who guested on the track "Perfectly Imperfect", and his flow sits so naturally over the Jazz Defenders' music and beats, you'd think he's a permanent band member.

The A-side "Rolling On A High" is a real old school boom bap style party hip-hop jam. Big beats, rolling bassline (acoustic double bass), Ramsey Lewis soul jazz piano vamps, funky Hammond organ and some punchy horn section business, all topped off with Doc Brown bouncing bars back and forth with that laid back vibe he always brings to the mic. A guaranteed dance-floor bomb, whether you're a breaker, a jazz dancer or simply a Saturday night disco shuffler. The B-side "Looking Back" takes the tempo right down. An 'end of the night' number when the lights in the club are low, the last drinks are being drained and you're thinking and reminiscing about times gone by. The good times and bad, successes and mistakes. And made even more poignant and reflective halfway through when the mellow strings come into the song (once again excellently arranged by pianist/bandleader George Cooper). If "Rolling On A High" is the fire then "Looking Back" is definitely the ice. Proof that the Jazz Defenders can rock the party and grab the dancers but also dig deep with emotive tunes that draw in the discerning listener.

The Jazz Defenders, led by keyboard maestro George Cooper from The Haggis Horns, have been building a reputation as a great musical unit since their debut Blue Note/hard bop-inspired album "Scheming" appeared on Haggis Records back in 2019, which received a huge amount of praise from critics, and subsequently went on to spend 5 weeks in the top ten of the American jazz charts In 2021, their double A-side vinyl single "The Big Man/Love's Vestige" got them the breakthrough they deserved. It garnered heavy support on radio from top folks like Craig Charles (BBC6 Music), Helen Mayhew (Jazz FM), Jamie Cullum (BBC Radio 2), and Worldwide FM resident DJ's Ashley Beedle and Colin Curtis. They further enhanced their reputation as a rocking band with album number two "King Phoenix" and by electrifying audiences at sold out live shows across the UK, including the legendary Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London.

Album number three is well on its way but for now, check out this tasty limited edition 45 single on Haggis Records. The JDs and Doc Brown...the perfect combination, still keeping that sweet jazz/hip-hop love affair alive today.

Celebrated composer, performer, saxophonist, soloist, band leader, educator, activist, and mixed-media artist Matana Roberts returns with a new installment of their acclaimed Coin Coin series. For over a decade, Coin Coin has been the central artistic project for Roberts, a remarkable exploration of American ancestry and the nature of memory through "sound quilting": modern composition that draws on a wide range of musical sources and traditions, along with research-driven historical and genealogical narratives that yield prose and poetry both spoken and sung, field recordings, and graphic scores. The Quietus declares "when the 12-album cycle is complete, it will be regarded as a singular masterpiece of 21st century sonic and narrative art" and Pitchfork calls it "one of the most provocative ongoing bodies of work by any American musician." Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the garden... is the first new recorded audio chapter since 2019 and centers upon reproductive rights, summoning the story of a family ancestor who died in early adulthood, from a cause kept obfuscated and hushed, shrouded in disinformation and shame. Roberts reimagines diaristic and oral narratives, delivered in strident streams of spoken word that punctuate the hour-long work, with recurring musical themes frequently accompanied by the declarative refrain "my name is your name / our name is their name / we are named / we remember / they forget." As Roberts writes in the accompanying liner notes essay: I find it absolutely disgusting that the same trauma my grand ancestor, whose story we are telling in this chapter, is closely mirroring the experiences of some poor soul today as I write this... Our aforementioned grand, who perished at a young age, leaving her growing children motherless, did not have to die. The negative consequences of her death have reverberated down through generations in my family line, in the same way that a similar resounding might happen for someone else's ancestral line generations from today. While often jazz-adjacent, and with Matana's inimitable saxophone and indomitable voice at the core, Roberts situates Coin Coin outside the Jazz genre and within heterodox pathways of post-modern composition, electroacoustic music, sound collage, experimental voice, and sound art. In the garden... undeniably continues to express and expand upon the project's magnificent iconoclasm, nonetheless being the most jazz-inflected chapter since Coin Coin Chapter Two: Mississippi Moonchile(2013). Recorded in Brooklyn with a stellar acoustic ensemble that includes Stuart Bogie, Gitanjali Jain, Darius Jones, Matt Lavelle, Mike Pride, Ryan Sawyer, Corey Smythe, and Mazz Swift, abetted by some sparkling pieces featuring modular synthesis courtesy of album producer Kyp Malone (Bent Arcana, TV On The Radio), In the garden... traverses a vivid stylistic array of thematic overtures, excursions and set pieces, ranging from spacious textural invocations to gorgeously tempered horn-led compositions to driving free jazz and exhilarating through composed bursts of cacophony. With storytelling spoken-word lead vocals by Roberts channeled recurringly throughout, alongside various other deployments of layered and group voices, the album is alternately a meditation and fever dream of narrative potency. This is some of the most intense and intensive music Roberts has composed and captured to date, richly conceived and deeply felt, restless yet focused, unflinchingly substantive and unique. Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the garden... channels epigenetic trauma and tragedy with teeming complexity and fierce beauty _ a eulogy, testimony, and celebration, melding music and language in a stunning polychromatic flow of vernaculars and poetics. A powerful work of subjective commemoration and historical-cultural communion that speaks indelibly to the present moment.



2x10” in 350 gsm widespine jacket w/interior colour flood + 300 gsm printed inners + 20”x 10” fold-out insert + DL card

Jazz, funk, and bossa vibes kiss each other, all wrapped up in JLR's trademark cinematic feel. In his colourful Un Hombre de Buenos Aires, recorded in 1978, JLR puts the political outcry of his early 70s works aside and focuses on his love for the city of Buenos Aires.

Jorge López Ruiz gets far less credit than he deserves. His crucial role in shaping Argentina's jazz history should place him right next to Gato Barbieri and Lalo Schifrin, who found success abroad. It's an honour do dig deeper into his vast discography after having already reissued his masterpiece Viejas Raíces and his historical milestone album Bronca Buenos Aires.

As always, Jorge López Ruiz enroled for the recording of Un Hombre de Buenos Aires some of the best musicians in the country. The line-up includes Dino Saluzzi on bandoneon, Domingo Cura on percussion and his lifelong friend Pocho Lapouble on drums.

2023 Repress

Since Jesper Munk's debut album in 2013 the German singer-songwriter has made a name for himself as multi-instrumentalist , "in the paths of Jack White and Dan Auerbach," as the Rolling Stone Magazine puts it, playing music that ranges from Blues and Soul to heartfelt Pop and indulging Jazz, all this with a very unique, post-Punk
edge. His new album Taped Heart Sounds offers an evolution of Munk's sound: warm, gentle and soft vibes that go deep. "If there is a way to give you a hug in form of an album, this is how I'd attempt to do so," says Munk.

Recorded in an offbeat band room in Berlin with The Cassette Heads, the album brings together classics reaching from Blues to Rock'n Roll. Twelve songs of legendary artists who have influenced and inspired Munk since his early days, including Tom Waits, JJ Cale, Etta James, Hank Williams, Willie Dixon, Jacques Brel, and Mocky.
The entire album was recorded with a Tascam Portastudio 8-Track Cassette Recorder which brought an original and authentic sound to each song: "The technical limitations immediately liberated all other aspects of the recording," Munk says. "It shows how much of making music is just listening and without a screen to catch your eye, you really have no choice but to do so." All Songs face realness and live from these volatile moments that reveal vulnerability and musical generosity. The outcome of this analogue experiment is a very personal album, both inspiring and consoling.
Taped Heart Sounds courageously opens with Donnie & Joe Emerson's Baby; a song so iconic that it actually cannot be enhanced. However, Munk's interpretation stands out and has a presence that gives the song a life of its own - made for walking. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, All the World Is Green, I'd Rather Go Blind, Head in the Clouds - what follows is a journey through Blues and Soul that is so vital and "now" that End of the Line may be the final track but certainly not the end of the story.
The album wouldn't be what it is without collaboration and partnership. Munk's special thanks go to his fans who helped to crowd-fund the recording. "On top of having had a real fun learning experience it all felt like a community project with real support from friends, the Cassette Heads, incredibly inspiring guests, and from Miles Deico, a wonderfully open and able engineer," so Munk about the making of the album.
Taped Heart Sounds is Jesper Munk's 4th album, following acclaimed debut album For in My Way it Lies (2013), CLAIM (2016), and Favourite Stranger (2018). Released via Billbrook Records, Hamburg-based Distributor Wordandsound's new label, the album is available for pre-order now - for purchase on vinyl and CD. The first single 'Baby' is going to be released on November 19, 2021.

This EP is the first release to mark the start of a new adventure, illustrating Rude Jude's commitment to a smooth and melodic vintage sound.

Featuring 3 original songs, a cover and an epilogue, it is deeply inspired by the legends of Adult Oriented Rock and a mix of 70s/80s Soft Rock, Jazz and Pop.

The contribution of the talented vocalist, songwriter and violin player, Jon GK can't be understated in creating and interpreting these songs. All the parts are played by musicians and the production is made through as much analog gear from that era as possible. It is not just a tribute but an attempt to carry the torch and bring something new to the current music landscape.

Jorja Smith is officially back. Further to making a recent return to the musical sphere with her singles ‘Try Me’ and ‘Little Things’, today she has confirmed the details of her highly anticipated second album,
‘falling or flying’, set for release globally on September 29th 2023 via FAMM and available to pre-order now - here.
Alongside the announcement, Jorja has also unveiled the album's poignant artwork; a stunning portrait of her, shot on film by the prestigious British photographer, Liz Johnson Artur. In addition, Jorja has also announced a series of UK live shows in September, commemorating the release of the album. Further details below.
Through her new record, Jorja has delivered an undeniable modern classic, effortlessly condensing any number of disparate styles and genres into music which thrillingly broaches any gap between Jazz, Soul, R&B and Funky House. A bold, brave nd courageous leap forward from her critically acclaimed debut album ‘Lost and Found’ -
‘falling or flying’ is an album that speaks to the musical and emotional era where Jorja is now, and how she got here. It isn’t so much an exploration of how she’s found herself but more a statement that she has arrived, and that her understanding of her life, her relationships, and her feelings, have deepened, matured and crystallised as she
enters her twenty six year. ‘And despite it all,’ she says, ‘it's definitely a journey I've just started. That's what's crazy. It's only just begun.’
Sonically, this album, a no-skips body of work, isn’t like anything you’ve heard before. It sits masterfully in this same space of excitement, self-exploration and self-assertion that Jorja does. Compromised of deep, thumping drums, racing basslines, irresistible hooks and distinctive beats, ‘falling or flying’ runs at the same pace that Jorja’s mind does. ‘I don't slow down enough’ she says. ‘This album is like my brain. There’s always so much going on but each
song is definitely a standstill moment.’
Much of the creative energy that shaped the album emerged from studio sessions with the producer duo DAMEDAME* back in her hometown of Walsall, where, to Jorja, the heart is. The album is both a sonic and an emotional tour of where she’s been, and what she’s been about, in the two years since she dropped her latest offering, ‘Be Right Back’. ‘It touches on breakups, relationships with my friends, relationships with old friends,
relationships with myself.’ She says. ‘It's definitely about a lot of relationships, but every song I write I can sing it to myself.’
Of the many British voices in music today, Jorja is among the most commanding, writing at a pitch of intensity and urgency that few can match. Over the past five and half years, since the release of her debut album ‘Lost & Found’, she has been celebrated unanimously across the world for her evocative song-writing, powerful delivery, pure emotion and unbridled talent as a young woman navigating her way through life and in 2021 was the year Jorja’s hiatus from music was broken. Enter ‘Be Right Back’, the holding space between the sensation that was ‘Lost & Found’, and ‘falling or flying’. ‘Be Right Back’ was born from playing, jamming, freestyling, and sounding out what Jorja had been on the edge of expressing all her life. It was a project entirely for her fans. “Be Right Back did exactly what I wanted it to do. It was a little waiting room so people knew I was coming back.”
And come back she has - entering a chapter of her return to music that’s certain to draw in and intoxicate Jorja’s fans and new listeners alike. And what has changed for her, in the five years since ‘Lost & Found’ dominated the charts and the soundscape? “I like this world that I've just come into. And I’m still figuring things out. Always
figuring things out.” Jorja says. “This is the first time I’m putting stuff out there that I can connect with right now.” Over the last few years, it’s been a reflective and transformative step into her mid twenties for her. She’s been able to step into herself and evolve as a songwriter and a woman despite an ever-changing musical landscape.
While she recognises that the global pandemic has been completely devastating, she acknowledges that it allowed her to stay still, to come more into herself, and to be more in control of the person she is, and of her musical output. Like some of the legendary musicians that came before her, Jorja is looking at the chaos and disorder in the
world right now with resourceful, refined eyes, and she sees the glorious opportunity and enormous responsibility that affords. The net result is that while ‘falling or flying' sounds very much like Jorja Smith, it sounds like no Jorja Smith album you have ever heard before. ‘falling or flying’- released on September 29th

Jorja Smith is officially back. Further to making a recent return to the musical sphere with her singles ‘Try Me’ and ‘Little Things’, today she has confirmed the details of her highly anticipated second album, ‘falling or flying’, set for release globally on September 29th 2023 via FAMM and available to pre-order now - here.

Alongside the announcement, Jorja has also unveiled the album's poignant artwork; a stunning portrait of her, shot on film by the prestigious British photographer, Liz Johnson Artur. In addition, Jorja has also announced a series of UK live shows in September, commemorating the release of the album. Further details below.

Through her new record, Jorja has delivered an undeniable modern classic, effortlessly condensing any number of disparate styles and genres into music which thrillingly broaches any gap between Jazz, Soul, R&B and Funky House. A bold, brave and courageous leap forward from her critically acclaimed debut album ‘Lost and Found’ - ‘falling or flying’ is an album that speaks to the musical and emotional era where Jorja is now, and how she got here. It isn’t so much an exploration of how she’s found herself but more a statement that she has arrived, and that her understanding of her life, her relationships, and her feelings, have deepened, matured and crystallised as she enters her twenty six year. ‘And despite it all,’ she says, ‘it's definitely a journey I've just started. That's what's crazy.

It's only just begun.’ Sonically, this album, a no-skips body of work, isn’t like anything you’ve heard before. It sits masterfully in this same space of excitement, self-exploration and self-assertion that Jorja does. Compromised of deep, thumping drums, racing basslines, irresistible hooks and distinctive beats, ‘falling or flying’ runs at the same pace that Jorja’s mind does. ‘I don't slow down enough’ she says. ‘This album is like my brain. There’s always so much going on but each song is definitely a standstill moment.’

Much of the creative energy that shaped the album emerged from studio sessions with the producer duo DAMEDAME* back in her hometown of Walsall, where, to Jorja, the heart is. The album is both a sonic and an emotional tour of where she’s been, and what she’s been about, in the two years since she dropped her latest offering, ‘Be Right Back’. ‘It touches on breakups, relationships with my friends, relationships with old friends, relationships with myself.’ She says. ‘It's definitely about a lot of relationships, but every song I write I can sing it to myself.’

Of the many British voices in music today, Jorja is among the most commanding, writing at a pitch of intensity and urgency that few can match. Over the past five and half years, since the release of her debut album ‘Lost & Found’, she has been celebrated unanimously across the world for her evocative song-writing, powerful delivery, pure emotion and unbridled talent as a young woman navigating her way through life and in 2021 was the year Jorja’s hiatus from music was broken. Enter ‘Be Right Back’, the holding space between the sensation that was ‘Lost & Found’, and ‘falling or flying’. ‘Be Right Back’ was born from playing, jamming, freestyling, and sounding out what Jorja had been on the edge of expressing all her life. It was a project entirely for her fans. “Be Right Back did exactly what I wanted it to do. It was a little waiting room so people knew I was coming back.”

And come back she has - entering a chapter of her return to music that’s certain to draw in and intoxicate Jorja’s fans and new listeners alike. And what has changed for her, in the five years since ‘Lost & Found’ dominated the charts and the soundscape? “I like this world that I've just come into. And I’m still figuring things out. Always figuring things out.” Jorja says. “This is the first time I’m putting stuff out there that I can connect with right now.” Over the last few years, it’s been a reflective and transformative step into her mid twenties for her.

She’s been able to step into herself and evolve as a songwriter and a woman despite an ever-changing musical landscape.

While she recognises that the global pandemic has been completely devastating, she acknowledges that it allowed her to stay still, to come more into herself, and to be more in control of the person she is, and of her musical output. Like some of the legendary musicians that came before her, Jorja is looking at the chaos and disorder in the world right now with resourceful, refined eyes, and she sees the glorious opportunity and enormous responsibility that affords. The net result is that while ‘falling or flying' sounds very much like Jorja Smith, it sounds like no Jorja Smith album you have ever heard before.

‘falling or flying’- released on September 29th

Early on, his prodigious technique and wide-ranging style garnered comparisons with the great Oscar Peterson. But there has always been another side to Alexander's playing. Usually, jazz grabs the upper hand, but on occasion he digs deep into his Jamaican roots.

The 1974 We've Only Just Begun recording signals the beginning of Jamaican pianist Monty Alexander's fruitful relationship with MPS, lasting over a decade and encompassing some dozen albums. On many he partners with no one else than fellow Jamaican and one of the fathers of ska, guitarist Ernest Ranglin.

Among others, this Best Of includes tracks from Monty's MPS classics like RASS!, Here Comes The Sun, Montreux Alexander - The Monty Alexander Trio Live At Montreux, We've Only Just Begun, Monty Strikes Again, Cobilimbo, or the untitled Monty Alexander & Ernest Ranglin.

2LP - 180 Gram Vinyl Redefining Element 78 presents a new work by British pianist-composer Rebecca Nash - a distinct musical voice with a deep musical identity. It got a 4-star review from the Jazzwise Magazine and The Jazz Mann Magazine.

2LP - 180 Gram Vinyl / Handnumbered Edition limited to 200 Units / Turquoise Marble Vinyl Redefining Element 78 presents a new work by British pianist-composer Rebecca Nash - a distinct musical voice with a deep musical identity. It got a 4-star review from the Jazzwise Magazine and The Jazz Mann Magazine.

Before the Odysee, there was the Iliad; a tale of the golden age of heroes and warriors.'

The idea behind the new Iliads series is to return to the sound of the golden age of Jungle/Drum & Bass, and more specifically the original ‘heroes’ of the Odysee label.
This second in the series pays homage to the unique sound of the Mirage releases. The influence of these releases on the SD sound that followed has often been overlooked, principally because it was assumed that the ‘Mirage’ moniker was simply another pseudonym for Source Direct, when in actual fact it was a lethal combination of the powerful engineering and arrangement skills of Jim Baker (Source Direct) and the sound selection and co-production of Odysee’s founder, Tilla Kemal (T-Mirage).

Face In The Shadows immediately opens with that slightly darker feel, with tracks like Feel My Dreams and Stonekiller in mind. The trademark SD style of break switches (aptly named ‘call & response) are immediately evident, although the Funky Mule gives the track its primary momentum. The sound selection is eerie, focusing on the 70’s Film-Noire, and deep Electro in line with Tilla’s particular preferences. The spoken word quotes are also unmistakably ‘Mirage-esque.’

Regenesis is a classic Odysee B-side track; lighter, more experimental and Jazzy in it’s feel. It showcases intricate and crisp rolling break work, and a beautifully refined selection of real stand- out musical quotes; from the sweet R&B-esque vocal ad-libs to the lush 70’s style sleaze of the Rhodes rolls. The interaction of these elements is the glue that holds this tune together.

The Darkness Within is the final track of the E.P. and it is the arrangement of samples that really emulates the ‘Mirage’ sound. Tilla & Jim were very particular about grouping sounds to work with & answer each other in each section of a tune. Samples were often sourced from obscure Film OST’s or rare electro albums which had sample diggers scratching their heads for many years! This track is dubbed out deeper, with a punching & rolling Soulpride features as the hero break and a repetitive deep chord stab forming the foundation of the tune.

Look out for the final instalment Volume III, where we will be focusing on the dystopian Jazz sound of the Hokusai releases!