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'Hotel Florida', the debut album by trombonist Andreas Tschopp and
baritone saxophonist Matthias Tschopp's Swiss sextet Sparks and Tides,
delivers an enthralling, improvisation-laced set of electro-acoustic
soundscapes
The first collaboration co- led by brothers Andreas and Matthias Tschopp, the
Swiss sextet makes a subtly enthralling debut with Hotel Florida, an album
marked by lapidary textures, extended melodies, and finely calibrated production.
Sparks and Tides also refers to the flow of their music, which unfurls in unhurried
waves until suddenly surging with quicksilver flurries. Cinematic and full of
intriguing passages, it's music for unsettled dreams. "There are lots of little things
like drum machine tracks, bass drones, live sampling of the horns by the
keyboardist and using the sounds as samples, and also some modular synth
processing of the saxophone," Andreas says.
The group brings together some of the most creative figures on the small,
intertwined and fervently inventive Swiss jazz scene. A member of the R&Binfluenced electro- duo True, drummer Rico Baumann is as deeply versed in hip
hop, pop and electronic music as he is jazz and improvised music, which is the
terrain he inhabits with Andreas in the collective jazz quintet Le Rex.

He may not have known it before, but Toronto-born, New York-based
guitarist Matthew Stevens, prized for his forceful, distinctive electric
sound was an ideal candidate to make an album fully devoted to solo
acoustic guitar: the intimate, unadorned, straightforwardly titled
'Pittsburgh'
September 2020, Stevens was hunkering down in his wife's family's hometown of
Pittsburgh, while navigating his way through the crisis. He had with him a vintage
Martin 00-17, a small- body mahogany guitar. Practicing daily on the Martin, he
began generating a series of short song "starts" - ideas and sketches he thought
might lead somewhere. Then one rainy Pittsburgh day, Stevens' bike slid out from
under him and he broke his right elbow. Rather than getting derailed musically, he
became immersed in a creative process that led straight to 'Pittsburgh': a
document of those short song "starts" from the notebook, now hatched as
completed compositions. "Playing this music became a big part of my rehab,"
Stevens recalls.
As the album took shape, it became clear to Stevens that he was headed in the
direction of a wholly unaccompanied recital, with no overdubs or sound layering
of any kind. Just him and this special Martin, two Neumann U89 mics and enough
peace of mind across two separate sessions to make 'Pittsburgh' the triumph that
it is.
In addition to his extensive high-profile work with Esperanza Spalding (serving as
co- producer on 'Exposure' and '12 Little Spells'), Stevens is also a member,
songwriter and co-producer of Terri Lyne Carrington's GRAMMY-nominated Social
Science band. He has made vital contributions to groups led by Dave Douglas,
Linda May Han Oh, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Ben Williams and more. With
tenor saxophonist Walter Smith III he co-leads the In Common collective. Stevens
has also amassed many credits beyond the jazz world, collaborating on
forthcoming releases by Anna B Savage, Jamila Woods, Tyler Armes
(Murdagang) and Berlin-based electronic artist Robag Wruhme.

The “Tumult Hands” duet is made by Jacek Sienkiewicz and Jerzy Przezdziecki - the producers
whose composition has - to a large extent- defined the Polish techno music. Sienkiewicz - as
early as Recognition - started his adventure with music in the late 1990s. Subsequent records,
already under his own name, were released, among others, at Cocoon Records, Trapez, Klang
Elektronik and WMFRec. Przezdziecki started publishing a little later. Over the last two
decades, he has been presenting various types of electronic music, among others, as Praecox,
Epi Centrum and Jurek Przezdziecki.
“Tumult Hands” has two EPs on its account – “Tumult Hands EP” (2014) and “Tropic
Factory” (2016). Both were published by Recognition. So a full record was a matter of time.
The album titled: “TH” (Recognition, 2022) has been prepared for many years. The repertoire
was created mainly out of improvisation. As artists themselves say, “it is the result of
discovering and accepting a chance event.” For both producers, close contact with
instruments was important during their composition; the type of interaction between the maker
and an electronic device. Individual works have been maturing for a long time. Paradoxically -
the lapse of time did not cause them to be ageing but vice versa - allowed them to mature and
gain natural weight.
“TH” brings very diverse music. In part, it is the repayment of the debt that Sienkiewicz and
Przezdziecki incurred towards the most creative techno period, that is, the 90s of the 20th
century. The lovers of experimental dance music from before the quarter of the century will
easily capture in the duet’s themes the art of Cristian Vogel, producers known from the tin
series of Chain Reaction record company or early recordings of Richie Hawtin (Plastikman,
F.U.S.E.). This is a very similar, non-standard approach to sound structure and an original
approach to rhythmic structures. Minimalist melodies, accompanying e.g. the opening of the
“enter TH” or “pow” set, contribute to the composition an element of some sublimity and
metaphysical anxiety. Obviously, it is still the dance music but the duet - to some extent by
abandoning the club functionality (understood in the techno convention) - has given its music
a definitely sophisticated, artistic elegance.
Publishing cooperation between such important makers, as well as high quality of recordings,
leads us to see “TH” as something more than just another techno record. It is an event and an
electronic adventure that all lovers looking for dance music will appreciate.

Solo bedroom-pop project of Michael Ramos (Flowertown, April Magazine, Hectorine). Mostly recorded between last Christmas and New Year's during a window of isolation at home, “Hey There Flower” preserves Tony Jay’s prowess at making beautifully eerie lo-fi pop; like a hazy memory where your favorite Sixties girl-group melody is perpetually slowed down. Without a band to practice with, Tony Jay recorded the music alone, but recruited a slew of friends to remotely record backing vocals: Karina Gill (Cindy), Griffin Jones (Galore), Kati Mashikian (Mister Baby), Alexis Harper (Al Harper), & Hannah Lew (Cold Beat). "Hey There Flower", the most recent release from the prolific and mysterious Tony Jay delivers real melodies -- both lacey with vocal harmonies and dusty with layered guitars -- as fans have come to expect. This release also carries forward and elaborates on Tony Jay's tradition of songs that express a kind of naked honesty about things we all know -- love and loneliness and all that -- while communicating at the same time a wry edge of skepticism, so that the songs are like coins spinning on edge before landing heads, tails, or lost under the couch. Tony Jay brings us into a nostalgia where we recognize moods from music of the past -- Marc Boland definitely comes to mind, as well as Velvet Underground of the Nico era, and Tony Jay even covers Francoise Hardy on this collection -- but the songs create a three dimensional space with what feels like a thousand layers so that instead of being thrown back in time, it's like stepping into a little world with its own laws of nature, of which the listener gets just a few hints. - Karina Gill, Cindy/Flowertown. “Hey There Flower” is introduced by thudding snare beats eliciting reverb-stained tattered noisy guitar scrapes, to weave abrasive shimmery emotive vibrations, imbued with shattered nostalgic dreams, lit by brittle yet dazzling forsaken keyboard flows, over submerged and distorted male vocal’s whispery deluge of obsessive longing, lonely melancholy, and dark desire to exude a hazy gritty concoction of awkward sadness and brooding unrest.” White Light // White Heat // “What Tony sketches are concise commentaries on love, loneliness and a few things in between. His mode of expression is sparse, intense, and captivating. The arrangements are invariably lo-fi and slow tempo, blanketed with a fuzzy hiss. And it only took one listen to decide that it is a very special album. It has a '60s feel, albeit washed in an eerie slowcore machine. An ace example is "September Skies", which could be the 1965 'last dance' at the prom for the introverted students.” - When You Motor Away

40-plus years since its original release, the pop-punk-new wave inventions of Anthony
Moore’s ‘Flying Doesn’t Help’ are freshly remastered, blasting the sparkling, angular
sounds into today with perfect vitality.
 After spending the early years of the 1970s making experimental music first as a solo
artist, then with Slapp Happy and Henry Cow, 1976’s ‘OUT’ sessions had reinvigorated
Anthony’s youthful love of the naive pop melodies of pop radio, the undeniable excitement
of songs. While ‘OUT’ ultimately went unreleased at the time, the iconoclasm clouding the
late ’70s air was addictive and transformative for Anthony. England seemed to be roiled
as violently as it had been in counter-cultural days a decade earlier; the UK pop charts
breathlessly reflected the changing spectrum with equal parts aging hippie and prog
delicacies alongside new ascendant sounds: rough-hewn pub and punk rock, plus dub
reggae and disco and ska and Stiff and Krautrock. This proved to be an ideal environment
for Anthony to make records by exploring, as he puts it, the “deep connection between
minimalism, repetition, working with tape and celluloid and forming the modules of a
three-minute pop song.”
 Caught up in a no-holds-barred era, Anthony was more than happy to play the out-of-hishead madman, raving through outrageous exchanges with the press, while ‘Judy Get
Down’ received Single Of The Week honours from the NME (with review penned by Brian
Eno). Represented by Blackhill Enterprises, Anthony did production work throughout
1978-1979, on Kevin Ayers’ ‘Rainbow Takeaway’, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band’s ‘Angel
Station’ and the first This Heat album, meanwhile cutting his own songs on a dead time
deal at Workhouse Studio with engineer / producer Laurie Latham. Through the wee
hours of countless nights, the two pieced together ‘Flying Doesn’t Help’, with a little help
from friends (an inspired bunch, including Bob Shilling, Charles Hayward, Chris Slade,
Robert Vogel, Festus, Matt Irving, Sam Harley, Bernie Clark, Edwin Cross and Martine
Moore on the telephone).
 Building upon the axis of pop and experimental impulses that distinguished ‘OUT’, and
informed further by the raw sensibilities exploding everywhere, ‘Flying Doesn’t Help’
blasts out of the speakers with its own unique blend of sophistication and aggression,
Anthony’s keyboard flashes between arpeggiations and outright stabs among the noise of
slicing guitars, funk basslines and the reverbed blare of the drumkit. Opening with
Anthony’s greatest hit, ‘Judy Get Down’, and containing a noise-laden remake of the
Slapp Happy/Henry Cow number, ‘War’, among other delightful sweet-and-salty
confections, ‘Flying Doesn’t Help’ never stops moving, fuelled with raw outrage and dark
satirical intent, churning with the energy of next-gen types like Tubeway Army and DEVO,
while shimmering with the elegance of the still-challenging old guard types, like Cale and
Bowie.
 Clearly, ‘Flying Doesn’t Help’ was steeped in the time, and the original release reflected a
deep mistrust of the corporation mindset. Information was a dubious concept, and
connections to any recognizable organization were seen as untrustworthy, so facts like
musician credits were left out of the package, and even Anthony’s name was altered (he
was credited as A. More on the album and Tony More on a single release). The label
name QUANGO was conceptual as well, standing for ‘Quasi Autonomous NonGovernmental Organization’; each record was sealed with red tape that the listener was
required to cut through in order to get to the music. Rather than recreate the conditions of
the original release of ‘Flying Doesn’t Help’, this reissue instead embraces the changed
environment of the current time and place: instead of no credits, now they are complete,
with Anthony’s full name restored and even the artwork subtly ‘relocated’ to reflect a new
set of relationships. All of which brings the forward-looking sounds of ‘Flying Doesn’t Help’
into the more independent-minded 21st Century syntax where it belongs.

Justin Thurgur has been at the heart of the UK's World Music scene for over twenty years; principally in his collaborations with the former Fela and Femi Kuti keyboardist, Dele Sosimi, and with the pianist and composer Kishon Khan, most recently in his groups Lokkhi Terra and Cubafrobeat. He has also worked with the likes of Afrobeat drum legend Tony Allen, and with the Cuban giants Giraldo Piloto, Julito Padron and Changuito. Thurgur is also a member of the seminal English folk group Bellowhead.

'Many Faces' brings together this musical journey, with Afro-infused grooves and nods towards Cuban Jazz and Dub, with Thurgur's early passion for the likes of Miles Davis, Coltrane, Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, et al....

It features both Khan and Sosimi, who have contributed as co-writers as well as bringing their own inimitable sounds on piano, rhodes and hammond organ. Alongside them are some of the leading musicians on the UK's African, Cuban and Jazz scenes, plus collaborations with rising star singers Jade Pybus and Sahra Gure.

Justin Thurgur - trombone (and some additional keys)

Graeme Flowers - trumpet and flugel horn

Simeon May - tenor, baritone and alto sax

James Allsopp - bass clarinet

Jade Pybus - vocals (on 'Woman')

Sahra Gure - vocals (on 'Be A Little Wiser')

Kishon Khan - piano, rhodes and hammond organ (on tracks 1,3,4 and 5)

Dele Sosimi - piano (on tracks 2 and 6) and vocala (on track 6)

Phil Dawson - guitar

Suman Joshi - double bass (except track 5)

Jimmy Martinez - double bass (on track 5)

Tansay Omar - drums (on tracks 1,3 and 4)

Kunle Olofinjana - drums (on tracks 2 and 6)

Yoann Julliard - drums (on track 5)

Afla Sackey - congas and djembe (on tracks 1,2 and 6), shekere and cowbell, and vocals (on track 6)

Oreste 'Sambroso' Noda - congas (on tracks 3 and 5)

Evie Hilyer-Ziegler - violin and viola

Paul Sartin - violin

Track 1 written by J Thurgur and S Gure

Tracks 2 and 6 written by J Thurgur and Dele Sosimi

Track 3 written by J Thurgur

Track 4 written by J Thurgur and J Pybus

Track 5 written by J Thurgur and K Khan

Recorded at Fish Factory by Simone Gallizio and Sean Douglas, at Boneman Studios by Justin Thurgur, at Better Pass Your Own Studios by Phil Dawson, at Thank You Please Studio by Kishon Khan and at 224 Studios by Matteo Musetti.


Mixed at Hi Street Studio by Mauro Caccialanza.

Mastered at Gearbox by Caspar Sutton-Jones.

Artwork by Matthieu Dufour

Photos of by Siobhan Bradshaw, Justin Thurgur, Stephanie Sian Smith,

Chantal Azari, Alex Bonney, Heather Hoyle, Nicole Thurgur, Joanna Mendel, Tansay Omar, Richard Gearey, Faye Hilyer-Ziegler and Svetlana Onye.

Benefits are an issues-based music collective from Teesside in the
North East of England. They write songs about the urgencies that
concern them, and they play them loud.

Forming in 2019 and consisting of Kingsley Hall on vocals, Robbie
Major and Hugh Major on synths and noise, and Jonny Snowball
on drums, they quickly evolved from a standard shouty punk rock
outfit into a minimalist, overtly political band that merges noise,
hip-hop and industrial rock, creating an effect that feels urgent,
darkly hilarious and unsettling all at once.

Thus far, Benefits have been completely DIY yet, via a succession
of digital singles and accompanying videos through 2021, they
built a following that enabled them to complete a sold-out headline
UK tour in March 2022. They also gained fans in high places,
including Sleaford Mods, Black Francis, Garbage and Elijah Wood
and Steve Albini.

James and Ryan of Yard Act were also instant admirers and that’s
where their label Zen F.C. comes in. Using their ill-gotten major
label gains Zen F.C. are pressing Benefit’s single ‘Flag’ (backed
with ‘Empire’) on vinyl.

On working with Yard Act, Kingsley comments: “I think Benefits
come at some of the same subject matter that they talk about but
from a slightly different angle (and by ‘slightly different’ I really
mean ‘more frequent swearing’, though we've never said the C
word in a song unlike...ahem). We appreciate every bit of help
we’ve had off them, we just wish we could somehow repay that
kindness (not monetarily mind, we're totally skint).”

Yard Act’s James Smith says of the release: “Lots of bands are
saying all this stuff so what makes Benefits so special? Why do I
need to be told what I already know over and over again by a
shouty man from Teesside? Well, because no one else is saying it
with such physicality they sound like their voice box is about to
leap from their throat and eat your eyeballs. With that little bit of
influence we’ve garnered and the small fortune of money we now
have kicking about, I’m so glad we can play a part in spreading the
word on Benefits, because I think they’re well on their way to a
classic debut album, and I’m going to fucking love being able to
brag about how important I was in making it all happen.”

Repress on colour vinyl for Good Morning – Prize / Reward

Cocteau Twins, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Julia Holter, DIIV, Washed Out, Broadcast, Insides, Beach House, Drug Store Romeos. Introducing Beneather, a BAFTA-nominated composer from North London obsessively crafting sad, lo-fi, cinematic, ambient scandi-dreampop submerged in gently fuzzy tape loops. Much like the paintings of Gerhard Richter or a heavy mist rolling through a familiar landscape, the debut long player from Beneather obscures and blurs ten beautiful tracks beneath washes of cinematic, ambient scandi-dreampop – details emerge and fade, voices ooze and flow, tunes soothe and unnerve, metronomic beats click and swing. It would not be out of place on a David Lynch or Jim Jarmusch soundtrack. Inspired by the likes of Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Hammock, Grouper, Low, GAS, Huerco S., Emeralds, Jenny Holzer, William Basinski & ABBA!! Beneather is the solo project of Lewis Young - composer and collaborator in The Leaf Library, drone pop from north London. As a composer, Lewis recently scored the British short ‘Lucky Break’ which found its way into the BAFTAs short list only to narrowly miss out on the gong. Lewis is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, designer and filmmaker currently living in Walthamstow, London. He started as a guitarist in noughties math-rockers Tea with the Queen, shifting to bass for multi-harmonied Naomi Hates Humans before returning to thumping roots as drummer for The Leaf Library. Objects Forever - the imprint label created by The Leaf Library - has provided Lewis with the vehicle to jump back into experimental song craft, inspiring the genesis of Beneather. “I just needed to make a project which spoke to all the aspects of music I’ve loved creating as a multi-instrumentalist. Plugging things into things to make satisfying little electronic loops, then layering extremely minimal bass and guitar lines with a lo-fi aesthetic. Melinda and I spent a few days in the studio - picking out objects, patterns… items that could inspire a thread of instinctive wordless melody. I took that expressionism and sliced it to pieces, rearranging it into ambient vocal hooks.” Beneather is an exercise in hypnotic simplicity. Experimental, dream-like music built on layers of scratchy electronic tape loops, chiming spacious guitars and abstract pulsing vocals. These cinematic songs combine Grouper's wistful deviations with the warm fuzz of Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, the nocturnal hum of Emeralds, the crackling collapse of William Basinski and Low's glacial pop melancholy. Outside of compositions for film, TV and Podcasts - Lewis plays with the indie drone-pop band The Leaf Library, featuring Matt Ashton from John Peel faves Saloon (“World-weary yet innocent, blissful dream-pop” - UNCUT - 8/10). Lewis has supported the likes of Lali Puna, Joanna Newsom, Lætitia Sadier & Alexis Taylor.

Having scooped the prestigious Record Store Day Unsigned 2020 award, her debut album 'In The Blue Corner' was released as a limited edition run on turquoise sparkle vinyl in November 2021. Now available on a full digital and physical release including a new vinyl pressing on dusk blue coloured vinyl. "Loving this. Really cool voice_ love the voice!" Craig Charles (6Music) // "The most original sound. Like Little Richard, Mark Ronson, Nina Simone and Nick Cave all got locked in a New Orleans speakeasy" Record Store Day Unsigned Panel 2020 // "Wow, I mean what's not to like about that? That is sensational! How groovy is that?! Mark Radcliffe, BBC 6Music // "What a voice!" Robert Elms, BBC London // "Her voice is stunning, powerful and unique, and her stage presence hits the back of the room at any venue she plays" DJ Anne Frankenstein, Jazz FM // Included in Craig Charles' Funk and Soul 'Ones to Watch 2022' list. From London via Lagos, charismatic chanteuse Sister Cookie will take you on an eclectic excursion into the roots & fruits of black music. Old sounds, new tricks. Sensuous, seductive and moody. As well as possessing a distinctive voice that's tender and sweet when it needs to be, she's a composer and self-taught pianist who writes honest and raw songs about pain, heartbreak, suffering - all that bad (meaning-good) stuff. A mainstay on the vintage Soul & R'n'R circuit since 2015 with slots at Wilderness, Latitude, Red Rooster, Port Elliot and more under her belt - as well as touring across Europe with her band - Sister Cookie has so far been supported by Craig Charles, Mark Radcliffe & Cerys Matthews at 6Music, Robert Elms on BBC London plus plays on Resonance, Jazz FM and Amazing Radio. Craig Charles is a big supporter on BBC 6 Music and has played current single 'Ain't No Good (But It's Good Enough For Me)' several times. Steve Lamacq and Lauren Laverne have also given the track multiple plays. The track has also been playlisted at Jazz FM. Singles from the album have been played many times across European radio stations including France Culture, Rock Radio (Greece), Radio Nova (Portugal), Mach 5 (Italy), HR Radio Sijeme (Croatia). She's performed at some of the UK's most esteemed venues including the 100 Club and Union Chapel, The Round Chapel and has enjoyed a number of stints as a guest vocalist with The Soulful Orchestra, Jim Jones & The Righteous Mind, Future Shape Of Sound & MFC Chicken. Sister Cookie Is going to be part of the judging panel for Record Store Day Unsigned competition in April, the competition she won in 2020.

Praised for his genuine originality, the American-Canadian Rufus Wainwright has established himself as one of the great male vocalists and songwriters of his generation. In 2004 he released Want Two, his fourth studio album. According to Wainwright himself, it is the darker sibling of 2003’s Want One - its subject matter concerned with “the world we live in” after Want One focus on the intensely personal. Wainwright produced the album in collaboration with Grammy Award winning British producer Marius de Vries, who is best known for work with U2, Madonna and Björk.

His mother Kate McGarrigle and aunt Anna McGarrigle both sing on the track “Hometown Waltz”. The album also features Wainwright’s popular tracks “The One You Love”, “Agnes Dei” and “Old Whore’s Diet”. The latter features Anohni from Antony and the Johnsons.

Want Two includes an insert with lyrics.

Toro y Moi’s seventh studio album, ‘MAHAL’, is the boldest and most fascinating journey yet
from musical mastermind Chaz Bear. The record spans genre and sound - encompassing the
shaggy psychedelic rock of the 1960s and ‘70s, and the airy sounds of 1990s mod-post-rock -
taking listeners on an auditory expedition, as if they’re riding in the back of Bear’s Filipino
jeepney that adorns the album’s cover. But ‘MAHAL’ is also an unmistakably Toro y Moi
experience, calling back to previous works while charting a new path forward in a way that only
Bear can do.
 ‘MAHAL’ is the latest in an accomplished career for Bear, who’s undoubtedly one of the
decade’s most influential musicians. Since the release of the electronic pop landmark ‘Causers
of This’ in 2009, subsequent records as Toro y Moi have repeatedly shifted the idea of what his
sound can be. But there’s little in Bear’s catalogue that will prepare you for the deep-groove
excursions on ‘MAHAL’, his most eclectic record to date.
 The second the album begins we’re immediately transported into the passenger seat, jeep
sounds and all, ready for the ride Chaz and company have concocted for us. Seeds of some of
‘MAHAL’s 13 songs date back to the more explicitly rock-oriented ‘What For?’ from 2015.
 ‘MAHAL’ was mostly completed last year in Bear’s Oakland studio with the involvement of a
host of collaborators, Sofie Royer and Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Ruban Neilson to Neon
Indian’s Alan Palomo and the Mattson 2.
 “I wanted to make a record that featured more musicians on it than any other record of mine,”
he explains. “To have them live on that record feels grounded, bringing a communal
perspective to the table.” As a result, ‘MAHAL’ is lush and surprising at every turn, from the
cool-handed ‘The Loop’, which recalls Sly and the Family Stone, to the elastic psych rock of
‘Foreplay’ and the dizzying Mulatu Astatke-recalling of ‘Last Year’.
 Lyrically, the album zooms in on generational concerns, picking up where the ‘Outer Peace’
standout ‘Freelance’ effectively left off. Bear seems to be surveying the ways in which we
connect with technology, media, each other, and what disappears as a result. Cuts like the
squishy ‘Postman’ and ‘Magazine’ take a deep dive into our relationship with media in a
changing digital world. “It’s interesting to see how we adapt to this new age. We’re so
connected, but we’re still missing out on things,” Bear ruminates while discussing the album’s
themes.
 It’s not all introspection. Bear cools things down near the album’s end with the Mattson 2-
featuring ‘Millennium’, a laid-back jam with tricky guitar licks about ringing in new times even
when everything else seems upside down. “It’s about enjoying the new year, even when it’s
been shitty,” Bear explains. “There’s nothing else to do.”
 Finding a sense of joy in the face of adversity is embedded in ‘MAHAL’s DNA, right down to the
jeepney that literally and figuratively brings the music out into the community. “We know that
touring is messed up for now, and large gatherings are a fluke,” he explains. “It’s about the
notion of us going out to the people and bringing the record to them.” And with the wide-open
atmosphere of ‘MAHAL’, Toro y Moi stands to connect with more listeners than ever before.

Kate Bollinger's songs tend to linger well beyond their run times, filling the negative space of ordinary days with charming melodies and smart phrasings. She writes them at home in Richmond, Virginia, letting her subconscious lead, an open-ended process she likens to dreaming. From a chord progression appears a line, maybe a syllable will start to stick, enough to pursue, but she says sometimes the words don't feel likeher own, more like shapes that form in the mind's sky. Bollinger's musical universe is relaxed, tender, and unassuming; within lives a timeless sensibility, a songwriter's knack for noticing the little things and their counterpoints. Darkness and light, pain and pleasure, reality and escape. Her new EP, Look at it in the Light, her first project on Ghostly International, is collaborative; she shoots music videos with her friends and colors each of her folk-pop songs with musicians in her community. The title Look at it in the Light is a reference to the aspects of Bollinger's life that she knows need examining. For one, there's her persistent resistance to change _ she chooses to ignore it on the title track ("I try not to notice / I deny my fate"), as wiry strums sync with crisp drums. She surrenders to comfort on "Who Am I But Someone," a light and softly psychedelic number. "Yards / Gardens" finds Bollinger in full swing, skipping verses of uncertainty above a bright and nimble bassline and kick. Guitar riffs unravel across the bridge, trailing her lines like ellipses. The string-backed "Lady in the Darkest Hour" is the set's most luxuriant statement, recorded during a session at Matthew E. White's Spacebomb Studios with in-house arranger Trey Pollard (Natalie Prass, Helado Negro). Here her lines ring bittersweet yet reassuring, uplifted by swells of golden-hued instrumentation. From the hushed abstractions of "I Found Out" to the biting suspicions of closer "Connecting Dots," Kate Bollinger uses every inch of this dazzling EP to find her footing amidst the ever-present sways of life.

Kate Bollinger's songs tend to linger well beyond their run times, filling the negative space of ordinary days with charming melodies and smart phrasings. She writes them at home in Richmond, Virginia, letting her subconscious lead, an open-ended process she likens to dreaming. From a chord progression appears a line, maybe a syllable will start to stick, enough to pursue, but she says sometimes the words don't feel likeher own, more like shapes that form in the mind's sky. Bollinger's musical universe is relaxed, tender, and unassuming; within lives a timeless sensibility, a songwriter's knack for noticing the little things and their counterpoints. Darkness and light, pain and pleasure, reality and escape. Her new EP, Look at it in the Light, her first project on Ghostly International, is collaborative; she shoots music videos with her friends and colors each of her folk-pop songs with musicians in her community. The title Look at it in the Light is a reference to the aspects of Bollinger's life that she knows need examining. For one, there's her persistent resistance to change _ she chooses to ignore it on the title track ("I try not to notice / I deny my fate"), as wiry strums sync with crisp drums. She surrenders to comfort on "Who Am I But Someone," a light and softly psychedelic number. "Yards / Gardens" finds Bollinger in full swing, skipping verses of uncertainty above a bright and nimble bassline and kick. Guitar riffs unravel across the bridge, trailing her lines like ellipses. The string-backed "Lady in the Darkest Hour" is the set's most luxuriant statement, recorded during a session at Matthew E. White's Spacebomb Studios with in-house arranger Trey Pollard (Natalie Prass, Helado Negro). Here her lines ring bittersweet yet reassuring, uplifted by swells of golden-hued instrumentation. From the hushed abstractions of "I Found Out" to the biting suspicions of closer "Connecting Dots," Kate Bollinger uses every inch of this dazzling EP to find her footing amidst the ever-present sways of life.

"Sonny Stitt & The Top Brass" - Sonny Stitt (as); Jimmy Cleveland, Matthew Gee (tb); Blue Mitchell, Dick Vance, Reunald Jones (tp); Willie Ruff (frh); Duke Jordan (p); Perri Lee (org); Joe Benjamin (b); Philly Joe Jones, Frank Brown (dr)
General opinion has it that Sonny Stitt always stood in Charlie Parker’s shadow. That, however, is unjustifiable. The legendary jazz critic Nat Hentoff wrote, for example: »Sonny has been one of the wholly involved players, well known and admired for his soul and the earthiness of his message only by musicians who feel and play like he does and by that part of the jazz audience that is most moved by naked, open emotion. He has made his mark with them as an honest yea-sayer who can’t help but play what he knows and feels.« The present recording is proof of this – a session which shouldn’t really have worked out so well. Sonny Stitt’s alto saxophone presides over a seven-man-strong brass group, and although the prospect of a Sonny Stitt big band does not sound too promising initially, this rendezvous is really enjoyable, thanks in part to Stitt’s superb solos. At this time he was on the top of his form and he plays freely over the basis provided by the brass section consisting of Blue Mitchell, Jimmy Cleveland and Willie Ruff. The arrangements by Tadd Dameron and Jimmy Mundy are closely-knit yet offer enough room for swing and a generous pinch of soul. Special highlights are contributed by the unknown, female organist Perri Lee –, little groovy additions that are really successful and infuse the arrangements with a slender sound and sparkle. Although "Sonny Stitt & The Top Brass" may not stand in the limelight like "Boss Tenors" or "Salt And Pepper", it is certainly on a par with these from an artistic point of view.