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Our first vinyl release of 2023 sees two classic tracks from Groove Park take centre stage. Hit The Bang and Carrousel first came to the fore in 1995 as separate releases and, after a few solid remixes, our Bonzai Classics imprint resurrected both tracks along with top-notch remixes in 2002. 21 years later we bring to you the original versions of both tracks on glorious 12” vinyl. André Strässer and Sharam Jey aka Sharam Nickjey Khososi make up the dynamic duo that is Groove Park. They were also the brains behind massive projects such as 16C+, Three n One and Johnny Shaker to name just a few. The tracks found a unique place in clubland, having a diverse structure that spanned genres flawlessly. The A side features Hit The Bang with its hybrid progressive/techno flow. The relentless bass groove, distinct voices and stabbing synths gave rise to a powerful, energetic and mesmerizing moment that lives on. On the flip, Carrousel takes up the B1 slot opening with that infectious woodblock sequence alongside pumping kick drums. A groovy bassline joins the party as old skool pianos come through. The track reels us in with many twists and turns, from wide, epic progressive parts to energetic trance, all wrapped up in a warm, nostalgic glow. A proper piece of dance music history and a must for the serious collector.

Rubinho E Mauro Assumpção's 'Perfeitamente, Justamente Quando Cheguei' has to be up there as one of the finest Brazilian-psych-folk-MPB records we know. Unfortunately, it's very hard to find in the wild; even on digging trips to Brazil, an original copy rarely shows up, and when it does, it comes with a hefty price tag.

This highly sought-after rarity was released on the Brazilian label Tapecar Records in 1972 and is the one and only album by the sensational pairing of Rubinho and Mauro Assumpção. Effortlessly blending folk, MPB, funky-psych, rock, and relaxed, swaggering samba, this record ought to be heralded as a true Brazilian classic. However, maybe due to its scarcity and the previous reissue predominantly being only available to the Brazilian market, it has not had a chance to fully shine and find the wider audience it deserves. Through our reissue we hope to put things right. Fans of records by Milton Nascimento and Lô Borges are sure to enjoy the same magic and allure in 'Perfeitamente, Justamente Quando Cheguei'.

In addition to being the album’s songwriters, Mauro Assumpção took on the role of producer and Rubinho was co-producer as well as playing piano, organ, acoustic guitar and performing vocals. The record features the drummer Gegê who worked with Milton Nascimento, Edu Lobo, Nana Caymmi, Dom Um Romão and more. It also features guitarist Rick Ferreira, who played with Erasmo Carlos, Gal Costa and other greats. Rounding off the players on the album are Darcy Da Cruz and Formiga who have graced many a fine recording on horns.

'Perfeitamente, Justamente Quando Cheguei' is a truly stunning work that washes over you with beauty. Delve in and savour.

4 big ol’ chunks of heavy house music are the order of the day from New York producer Ralph Session’s how new EP for Black Jukebox. Combining his skills as a musician and seasoned DJ along with the technical know-how from his work as an audio engineer, the result is a collection of beautifully crafted, hard-hitting house cutz.

‘That Raw’ features a breathy spoken-word vocal from DJ Amir—one half of the legendary duo Kon & Amir—that laces the soulful, deep production with a hypnotic atmosphere. Thick bass bubbles beneath soaring strings and meandering synth arpeggios to give the track a set-building, big-room feel. ‘Do It’ rocks jaunty snatches of piano and sax over its peppy, skippy beat, with a little New Jersey feel in its incessant, phat-bottomed grove. ‘If You Want’ takes us into a deeper direction with its hazy pad work and dubby touches, with a slinky, rubbery bass groove that throbs hard beneath it all. Turn it up loud and feel it envelop you with its wide-open atmospherics. ‘Raw Sax’ rounds off with a dusty, skipping drum track shuffling around dreamy filtering synths, dubbed-out stab patterns and of course a sultry sax line.

'Atlantis' is a smouldering jazz-funk, cinematic excursion courtesy of the Brazilian maestro, Daniel Salinas. A conductor, pianist, arranger, and producer, he has worked across several genres within Brazil’s rich musical tapestry, including the Beatles-inspired Jovem Guarda movement, jazz-funk, and MPB to name just a few. He featured on records by Franco, Célia, Perfume Azul Do Sol, Wilson Simonal, Juca Chaves and a whole host of Brazilian greats.

Released in 1973 on Top Tape Records, 'Atlantis’, features one of Salinas’ best-known recordings (at least in Europe), his much-loved interpretation of 'Also Sprach Zarathustra’ entitled 'Straussmania’. It was inspired by Eumir Deodato's global hit of the same year and went on to be adopted by various scenes becoming a classic within rare groove circles as well as amongst breaks and beats diggers.

Other highlights include the only original Salinas composed track on the album; the driving, orchestrated Brazilian groover, 'Baião', and an epic, head nod breakbeat interpretation of Donovan's folky 'Atlantis'.

'Atlantis' was also issued by the American record label Cadet in 1974 with alternative yellow sleeve artwork; this re-issue is a replica of the original Brazilian Top Tape version from 1973.


• Smouldering jazz-funk & cinematic excursions from the Brazilian maestro Daniel Salinas.

• Featuring his much-loved interpretation of 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' entitled 'Straussmania'.

• Replica of the original Brazilian Top Tape version from 1973.

Scottish jazz trumpeter Malcolm Strachan releases his second solo album "Point Of No Return" on Haggis Records on 27th January 2023. A follow-up to his debut album "About Time" from March 2020 (also on Haggis Records), which received great critical acclaim and strong radio support across the globe. Once again, Malcolm delivers an album of original music written by himself and featuring material covering a broad spectrum of jazz styles. From modal jazz grooves to Brazilian samba beats, Latin rhythms to cinematic soundtrack vibes, and along the way, some beautiful ballads.

If the first album nodded slightly to mid-late 1960s classic Blue Note Records type jazz, this one is more reminiscent of the jazz fusion albums that Malcolms's jazz trumpet hero Freddie Hubbard recorded for the legendary CTI Records label in the early-mid 1970s. The same groove-based jazz where soul and funk beats are at the heart of the arrangement. Rock solid rhythms that allow complex horn parts and improvisation to float over the top with ease. The ensemble playing is strong and the leader's trumpet solos show why he's been one of the most in-demand session musicians in the UK for the last 20 years.

He's recorded and toured with the likes of Mark Ronson, Amy Winehouse, Corinne Bailey Rae, Jamiroquai, Martha Reeves and The Vandellas, Jess Glynne, The Craig Charles Fantasy Funk Band, Black Honey, The New Mastersounds, Abstract Orchestra and Blue Note Records jazz saxophone legend Lou Donaldson. Of course, he's also a founder and existing band member of the UK funk kings The Haggis Horns.

The core band on "Point Of No Return" are musicians that Malcolm has known and worked with for over two decades, often in The Haggis Horns, and most appeared on the debut album. Those musicians making a welcome return are Atholl Ransome (tenor sax/flute), George Cooper (piano), Danny Barley (trombone), Courtny Tomas, (double bass), and Erroll Rollins (drums). Newcomers this time are longtime Haggis Horns guest percussionist Sam Bell plus special guest vocalist UK jazz singer Jo Harrop, who adds non-verbal Flora Purim style vocals on tracks one and three. Three tracks feature strings, arranged by Phil Steel, with all the strings played by Richard Curran. One of the tracks is the beautifully poignant ballad for strings and trumpet "The Last Goodbye" which could easily have come from a film soundtrack and where Malcolm digs deep into his love for jazz ballads in his solo.

"Point Of No Return" by Malcolm Strachan will definitely appeal to lovers of contemporary acoustic jazz with a classic jazz feel. For those who love the music of Blue Note Records and CTI Records and trumpeters Freddie Hubbard, Donald Byrd, Lee Morgan, Art Farmer, and Miles Davis. Without a doubt, it will be one of the standout UK jazz releases of 2023.

French pianist Melaine Dalibert, known for his releases on contemporary music labels such as Another Timbre and Elsewhere, his work with David Sylvian, Ensemble 0, Sylvain Chauveau, and world premieres from Gérard Pesson, Giuliano D'Angiolini, Michael-Vincent Waller, Tom Johnson, has signed with FLAU in Japan to release a new album Magic Square.

Across the album's eight tracks, the French pianist and composer takes listeners on a "fantasy journey". Travel is at the heart of Magic Square, but not of the physical kind. Instead, his emotive and intriguing piano pieces inspire inward travel and daydreaming, reflecting the past two years of pandemic and introspection.

Having received his training in Rennes and the conservatories of Paris, Dalibert has a musical background that is naturally entrenched in the technical aesthetic of classical music. However, experimenting with algorithmic ways of writing and other mathematical concepts such as fractals, Dalibert's music combines emotion and logic for captivating results. His music has been played on BBC Radio, Radio France and NTS Radio, among others.

“Melaine Dalibert, himself a composer whose works similarly deal in patience and space, is an ideal interpreter « As with his other releases, Dalibert breaks boundaries difficult to define but easy to hear, rendering and dissolving their polarities with a new iteration of his already luminous language. » (Mark Medwin, Dusted Magazine, juillet 2021) of such beguilingly modest music, and this sensitive recording lets every detail resound.”
Steve Smith — The New-Yorker

“compositions by French pianist Melaine Dalibert, is a warm stream of harmonious ripples that echoes the graceful postclassical music of Max Richter, Ólafur Arnalds, Jóhann Jóhannsson, etc, but the economy and precision, combined with Dalibert’s calm hands on the keys, put it on a whole other level of beauty.”
Derek Walmsley — the WIRE

“As with his other releases, Dalibert breaks boundaries difficult to define but easy to hear, rendering and dissolving their polarities with a new iteration of his already luminous language.”
Mark Medwin — Dusted Magazine

“Dalibert is one of the most effortlessly talented and subtlety creative pianists at work today”
Roger Batty — Musique Machine

“Au-delà des genres et au dessus de ce monde, le pianiste français Melaine Dalibert continue d’échafauder une œuvre d’un autre temps, d’un futur à construire avec une musique qui doit autant à Federico Mompou qu’à l’Acousmatique. Night Blossoms, son dernier disque en date (avec la participation de David Sylvian sur deux titres) est une pure merveille !”
Greg Bod — Benzine Mag

“La musique de Melaine Dalibert, héritière de cinquante ans d’expériences minimalistes, correspond à l’impérieux besoin du public d’aujourd’hui de cultiver un hors-temps et de se plonger au cœur du son. Elle y répond parfaitement”
Guillaume Kosmicki — Res Musica

“Comment des pièces reposant sur des constructions aussi abstraites et rigoureuses peuvent-elles susciter autant d’émotion à l’écoute ? La musique de Melaine Dalibert projette l’auditeur dans un univers où l’assommant temps quotidien n’a plus cours. Plus de mesure, plus de début ni de fin : pour qui accepte de se laisser prendre, Night Blossoms fait perdre tous les repères du commensurable”
Guillaume Kosmicki — Hémisphère Son

Meg Baird’s songs are rarely made up of tidy stories. In fact, for Meg, mystery itself is often the
medium. With ‘Furling’, Meg’s fourth album under her own name, she explores the breadth of
her musical fascinations and the environments around them - the edges of memory,
daydreams spanning years, loose ends, loss, divergent paths, and secret conversations under
stars. ‘Furling’ moves through these varied spaces with the slippery, misty cohesiveness of a
dream - guided by an ageless, stirring voice that remains singular and unmistakable.
Since co-founding the beguiling and beautiful Espers in the mid-aughts amid Philadelphia’s
fertile underground music community, Meg’s solo recordings have constituted just a fraction of
her work.
Her first solo LP, the disarmingly out-of-time ‘Dear Companion’ (2007), saw her carve a quiet,
sunlit space away from the flickering swirl of Espers. Since her last solo releases, ‘Seasons on
Earth’ (2011) and ‘Don’t Weigh Down the Light’ (2015), Meg has lent thunderous drumming,
lead vocal, and poetry to Heron Oblivion (Sub Pop) on an album that garnered praise from the
New York Times and made Mojo’s Top Ten Albums Of 2016 list. She collaborated with harpist
Mary Lattimore on the mesmerizingly hazy ‘Ghost Forests’ (2018). She’s played drums with
Philadelphia scuzz-punks Watery Love (In The Red, Richie Records) and explored her deep
familial folk roots in the Baird Sisters (Grapefruit Records). She also contributed her vocal
arrangements to albums from Sharon Van Etten, Kurt Vile, Will Oldham and Steve Gunn, and
toured with Angel Olson, Dinosaur Jr., Bill Callahan, Thurston Moore and Bert Jansch, among
others.
Yet ‘Furling’ is the album that most irreverently explores the span of her work and musical
touchstones. It showcases her natural tether to 1960s English folk traditions. But it also reveals
her deep love for soul balladry, the solitary musings of Flying Saucer Attack and Neil Young
shackled to his piano deep in the foggy pre-dawn, dubby Bristol atmospherics, the melancholy
memory collage of DJ Shadow’s ‘Endtroducing’, and the delicious, Saturday night promise of
St. Etienne.
‘Furling’ was primarily recorded at Louder Studios by Tim Green (Bikini Kill, Nation of Ulysses,
Melvins, Wooden Shjips). Additional piano and vocal recording were captured at Panoramic
Studios in Stinson Beach, CA with Jason Quever (Papercuts). It was mastered in Brooklyn by
Heba Kadry, who mixed Bjork’s ‘Utopia’ and mastered albums for Slowdive, Cass McCombs
and Beach House.
For all its adornments, ‘Furling’ remains deeply intimate. The entire album was performed by
Meg and her long-time collaborator, partner, and Heron Oblivion bandmate Charlie Saufley.
While her prior solo work hinted at more expansive horizons, ‘Furling’ explores the idea of Meg
Baird as a band much more freely. Venturing beyond the musical confines of fingerstyle guitar,
she plays drums, mellotron, organs, synths, and vibraphone over her piano and guitar
foundations. Her distinctive, simultaneously elegiac and uplifting vocals, meanwhile, connect
surreal dream montages, graft sunshine sonics to swooning mediations on romantic solidarity
in trying times, and weave odes to the simple gestures of friendship - and the loss of family and
friends.
This rich sound world makes the songs a varied bunch: ‘Twelve Saints’ mates Pacific sunset
ambience and Pink Floyd pastoral to a meditation on mortality and escape. The infectious and
kinetic ‘Will You Follow Me Home’ contemplates hope and longing through the looking glass of
a Jimmy Miller-era-Stones strut. And in the closing piece, ‘Wreathing Days’, language
disintegrates over tone clusters that feel somewhere between falling and flying.
‘Wreathing Days’ also reveals much about Meg’s mastery of contrast - situating the dear and
delicate adjacent to chaos. And while it’s true that some songs on ‘Furling’ grapple with
humanity’s existential unknowns in stark terms, they primarily revel in the mysteries that hide in
nature and humanity at their most ordinary. ‘Furling’ lives in the notion that whole universes of
experience, enlightenment, elation and ecstasy can bloom in these corners.

If naming is a form of claiming, of being claimed, how is one tethered to both the physical landscape that surrounds us, as well as our own internal emotional landscape_at times calm, at times turbulent, and ever changing? H.C. McEntire's new album Every Acre grapples with those themes_themes that encompass grief, loss, and links to land and loved ones. And naming_claiming land, claiming self, being claimed by ancestry and heritage_permeates the hauntingly beautiful landscape that is this poignant collection of songs. The songs straddle the line between music and poetry. In "New View," McEntire cites poets "Day, Ada, and Laux, Berry, and Olds"_fixtures in the world of writing, whose works are beacons of light over bleak horizons. The beginning of the song is backed by soft guitar plucks that fall on the downbeat and spangle like stars, and, throughout, guitar, bass, and drums swell together gently, mimicking ebbing and flowing tides under the moon. McEntire's voice (at once tender and fierce) intones the truth of both giving and taking, releasing and claiming: "Bend me, break me, split me right in two. Mend me, make me_I'll take more of you." Permeated by heartbeat-like drums, "Shadows" develops quiet ruminations on surrender and loss_reminiscing, moving on. This ponderous, dreamlike song asks the question of how "to make room." How does one make room, for self and for renewal and surrender, when it is so difficult to leave what you know behind? Playing with slivers of descending chromatics, along with the occasional downward-stepping bass, here McEntire yearns for home, and for nesting. Perhaps one of the more grief-stricken songs, "Rows of Clover" is a lamentation, one that touches on the loss of a "steadfast hound." The lone piano in the beginning of the song is rhythmically hymn-like. The stark verse arrangement gradually leads to a chorus that reads like a moody exhale, swollen with lush guitar strums and a Bill Withers-esque understated soul groove. But what stands out the most is an image of being "down on your knees, clawing at the garden"_the only explicit mention of a person in the song. "It ain't the easy kind of healing," sings McEntire, seemingly from further and further away as her voice echoes; and healing ta;kes time, time takes time_truths that linger painfully. "Dovetail" is a song that tells of various women. The song moves back and forth between solo piano and the addition of bass and drums under vocals. McEntire's gentle, trembling vibrato_harmonized in thirds in a celebratory manner_calls to mind a rejoicing psalm and shines through these images, leaving the listener cuttingly fraught with emotions_such as wonder, sadness, nostalgia_that can only arise with these juxtapositions. Gracious (and graceful) with its lilting melodies and lush harmonies, Every Acre ex - plores the acres of our physical and emotional homes. These songs are reaching for the kind of home that we all seek: one where we can rest and lay down (or tuck away) our burdens of loss. And maybe, moving through every acre of a world that often tries to tear our sense of identity and heritage down, McEntire sheds light on what it is to be human in this life_both stingy and gracious, both hurtful and kind.

Orange Viny

If naming is a form of claiming, of being claimed, how is one tethered to both the physical landscape that surrounds us, as well as our own internal emotional landscape_at times calm, at times turbulent, and ever changing? H.C. McEntire's new album Every Acre grapples with those themes_themes that encompass grief, loss, and links to land and loved ones. And naming_claiming land, claiming self, being claimed by ancestry and heritage_permeates the hauntingly beautiful landscape that is this poignant collection of songs. The songs straddle the line between music and poetry. In "New View," McEntire cites poets "Day, Ada, and Laux, Berry, and Olds"_fixtures in the world of writing, whose works are beacons of light over bleak horizons. The beginning of the song is backed by soft guitar plucks that fall on the downbeat and spangle like stars, and, throughout, guitar, bass, and drums swell together gently, mimicking ebbing and flowing tides under the moon. McEntire's voice (at once tender and fierce) intones the truth of both giving and taking, releasing and claiming: "Bend me, break me, split me right in two. Mend me, make me_I'll take more of you." Permeated by heartbeat-like drums, "Shadows" develops quiet ruminations on surrender and loss_reminiscing, moving on. This ponderous, dreamlike song asks the question of how "to make room." How does one make room, for self and for renewal and surrender, when it is so difficult to leave what you know behind? Playing with slivers of descending chromatics, along with the occasional downward-stepping bass, here McEntire yearns for home, and for nesting. Perhaps one of the more grief-stricken songs, "Rows of Clover" is a lamentation, one that touches on the loss of a "steadfast hound." The lone piano in the beginning of the song is rhythmically hymn-like. The stark verse arrangement gradually leads to a chorus that reads like a moody exhale, swollen with lush guitar strums and a Bill Withers-esque understated soul groove. But what stands out the most is an image of being "down on your knees, clawing at the garden"_the only explicit mention of a person in the song. "It ain't the easy kind of healing," sings McEntire, seemingly from further and further away as her voice echoes; and healing ta;kes time, time takes time_truths that linger painfully. "Dovetail" is a song that tells of various women. The song moves back and forth between solo piano and the addition of bass and drums under vocals. McEntire's gentle, trembling vibrato_harmonized in thirds in a celebratory manner_calls to mind a rejoicing psalm and shines through these images, leaving the listener cuttingly fraught with emotions_such as wonder, sadness, nostalgia_that can only arise with these juxtapositions. Gracious (and graceful) with its lilting melodies and lush harmonies, Every Acre ex - plores the acres of our physical and emotional homes. These songs are reaching for the kind of home that we all seek: one where we can rest and lay down (or tuck away) our burdens of loss. And maybe, moving through every acre of a world that often tries to tear our sense of identity and heritage down, McEntire sheds light on what it is to be human in this life_both stingy and gracious, both hurtful and kind.

Die neue Ausgabe der Bootleg Series von Bob Dylan, "Fragments - Time Out Of Mind Sessions (1996-1997): The Bootleg Series Vol. 17" erscheint als 5 CDs umfassendes Deluxe Boxset sowie als Standard-Version auf 2 CDs oder 4 LPs. Sie enthält in der Standardversion das Album "Time Out Of Mind" in einem 2022er Remix sowie zwölf ausgewählten Outtakes und Alternativversionen. Volume 17 der gefeierten Dylan-Reihe wirft 25 Jahre nach seiner Erstveröffentlichung einen neuen Blick auf das Meisterwerk "Time Out Of Mind" und zeichnet dessen Entstehung nach. Angefangen bei den bislang unveröffentlichten Song-Fassungen aus den 1996er Teatro-Sessions mit Dylan (Gesang, Gitarre, Piano), Daniel Lanois (Gitarre, Orgel), Tony Garnier (Bass) und Tony Mangurian (Schlagzeug, Percussion) bis hin zu (ebenfalls unveröffentlichten) Live-Mitschnitten aus den Jahren 1998-2001. Anfang 1996 begann Dylan, der seit der 1990er LP Under The Red Sky kein Album mit Eigenkompositionen veröffentlicht hatte, mit der Arbeit an neuen Songs. Von August bis Oktober ging er mit Daniel Lanois, der sein 1989er Album Oh Mercyproduziert hatte, ins Teatro Studio in Oxnard/CA, um dort Demos für eine mögliche neue LP aufzunehmen. Als die Songs im Januar des Folgejahres Form angenommen hatten, zog man ins Criteria Studio in Miami/FL um. Die Studiobesetzung wurde aufgestockt, und so fand sich in Florida ein illustrer Mix aus Session-Musikern und Mitgliedern von Dylans Tourband ein: Bucky Baxter (Akustikgitarre, Pedal Steel), Duke Robillard (E-Gitarre/Gibson L-5), Robert Britt (Martin Akustikgitarre, Fender Stratocaster), Cindy Cashdollar (Slide Gitarre), Tony Garnier (Bass, Kontrabass), Augie Meyers (Vox Orgel, Hammond B3, Akkordeon), Jim Dickinson (Keyboards, Wurlitzer E-Piano, Pumporgel) sowie die Schlagzeuger Jim Keltner, Brian Blade und David Kemper. Das Album "Time Out Of Mind", der schließlich aus diesen Sessions entstand, avancierte zu einem Dylan-Klassiker. Songs wie "Love Sick", "Can't Wait" oder "Not Dark Yet" wurden zu Lieblingsstücken der Fans. Mit "Make You Feel My Love" gelang Dylan sogar das Kunststück, dem Great American Songbook einen neuen zeitgenössischen Standard hinzuzufügen. Zahllose Künstler, darunter Billy Joel, Neil Diamond oder Adele, haben diesen Song gecovert. Bei den Grammy Awards 1998 gewann "Time Out Of Mind" in den Kategorien 'Album of the Year' und 'Best Contemporary Folk Album'.

Snarky Puppy founder, multi-instrumentalist and
Grammy winner Michael League and crossover
piano icon Bill Laurance take us to an imaginary
place full of beauty, peace and energy.
‘Where You Wish You Were’ is the name of their
first duo album, released on ACT. The album’s
protagonists surprise, almost as an antithesis to
the stadium act Snarky Puppy, with an intimate,
atmospheric, melody-driven dialogue.
Spanish resident and North Africa enthusiast
Michael League draws colourful musical
landscapes on oud, bass and guitar. And Bill
Laurance, otherwise also known to us especially
for dense walls of sound on keyboards and
synthesizers, transfers their sound palette to the
acoustic world of the piano. Musical escapism,
world jazz 2.0 and an invitation to a place where
we wish to be.

If naming is a form of claiming, of being claimed, how is one tethered to both the physical landscape that surrounds us, as well as our own internal emotional landscape at times calm, at times turbulent, and ever changing? H.C. McEntire’s new album Every Acre grapples with those themes that encompass grief, loss, and links to land and loved ones. And naming claiming land, claiming self, being claimed by ancestry and heritage permeates the hauntingly beautiful landscape that is this poignant collection of songs. The songs straddle the line between music and poetry. In “New View,” McEntire cites poets “Day, Ada, and Laux, Berry, and Olds” fixtures in the world of writing, whose works are beacons of light over bleak horizons. The beginning of the song is backed by soft guitar plucks that fall on the downbeat and spangle like stars, and, throughout, guitar, bass, and drums swell together gently, mimicking ebbing and flowing tides under the moon. McEntire’s voice (at once tender and fierce) intones the truth of both giving and taking, releasing and claiming: “Bend me, break me, split me right in two. Mend me, make me I’ll take more of you.” Permeated by heartbeat-like drums, “Shadows” develops quiet ruminations on surrender and loss reminiscing, moving on. This ponderous, dreamlike song asks the question of how “to make room.” How does one make room, for self and for renewal and surrender, when it is so difficult to leave what you know behind? Playing with slivers of descending chromatics, along with the occasional downward-stepping bass, here McEntire yearns for home, and for nesting. Perhaps one of the more grief-stricken songs, “Rows of Clover” is a lamentation, one that touches on the loss of a “steadfast hound.” The lone piano in the beginning of the song is rhythmically hymn-like. The stark verse arrangement gradually leads to a chorus that reads like a moody exhale, swollen with lush guitar strums and a Bill Withers–esque understated soul groove. But what stands out the most is an image of being “down on your knees, clawing at the garden” the only explicit mention of a person in the song. “It ain’t the easy kind of healing,” sings McEntire, seemingly from further and further away as her voice echoes; and healing takes time, time takes time truths that linger painfully. “Dovetail” is a song that tells of various women. The song moves back and forth between solo piano and the addition of bass and drums under vocals. McEntire’s gentle, trembling vibrato harmonized in thirds in a celebratory manner calls to mind a rejoicing psalm and shines through these images, leaving the listener cuttingly fraught with emotions such as wonder, sadness, nostalgia that can only arise with these juxtapositions. Gracious (and graceful) with its lilting melodies and lush harmonies, Every Acre explores the acres of our physical and emotional homes. These songs are reaching for the kind of home that we all seek: one where we can rest and lay down (or tuck away) our burdens of loss. And maybe, moving through every acre of a world that often tries to tear our sense of identity and heritage down, McEntire sheds light on what it is to be human in this life both stingy and gracious, both hurtful and kind.

Vinyl version of Regina Spektor’s eighth sudio album ‘Home, before and after’ which was released on CD and digital earlier this year and features the single ‘Up The Mountain’.

‘Home, before and after’ is Spektor at her most inspired and opens with the recently released ‘Becoming All Alone’, a surrealist ballad with a majestically swelling arrangement that comes alive. The album possesses her most palpable New York atmosphere in years, which is fitting as it was recorded in upstate New York, where it was produced by John Congleton and co-produced by Spektor.

The Russian-Jewish-American singer, songwriter and pianist first achieved commercial success with the RIAA Gold-certified breakthrough ‘Begin To Hope’, which included the singles ‘Fidelity’, ‘On The Radio’, ‘Better’ and ‘Samson’. Spektor’s fifth and sixth albums ‘Far’ (2009) and ‘What We Saw From The Cheap Seats’ (2012) both debuted at #3 on the Billboard album chart. She has performed at The White House as well as on Broadway and Saturday Night Live, and has contributed to many projects spanning film, television, and music including ‘The Hamilton Mixtape’.

Spektor’s previous album, 2016’s ‘Remember Us To Life’, received extensive critical praise from the likes of NPR, Entertainment Weekly, New York Magazine, People and many more. Her subsequent UK tour included a London show at the Eventim Apollo, which prompted The Guardian to state, “All hail a songwriter of substance… she’s a cult artist, but it’s a cult big enough to fill the Apollo.”

During the summer of 2019, Spektor completed a successful five-night Broadway residency at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. Next comes a run of solo shows, including a special night at Carnegie Hall, plus tour dates with Norah Jones.

Emapea made his way into the world of beat-making after several releases and a first album in 2016. After releasing his LP Dreaming Zone, Polish producer Emapea is back on the French label Hip Dozer with a brand new album this fall, 'Still Got It'. With over 400k monthly listeners, Emapea didn’t lose his spark and brings a long player that reminds his connection to an old-school Hip-Hop style, yet always pushing towards freshness brought by the typical use of groovy piano leads and the addition of smooth vocals. Energetic, dynamic but at the same time chill vibe, this album in the colors of the Indian summer is a cocktail of strong and groovy beats balanced with light and jazzy melodies. ‘Still Got It’ achieves a certain airiness yet thoughtfulness that will carry your spirits up in another auditive dimension.

"Sisu" marks the beginning of a new chapter for esteemed Estonian pianist and composer Kristjan Randalu - as his first large ensemble project recording. It"s also the debut outing for the New Wind Jazz Orchestra conducted by Wolf Kerschek and features special guest trumpeter Ingrid Jensen and guitarist Ben Monder.

It is of course impossible, but we will risk it anyway, because this "Live In Paris" delivers her at her peak: eight tracks recorded at the Olympia between October 1956 and June 1957, and four others at Bobino, in March 61. The singer, who had just begun a film career (which she had not yet anticipated would be highly ephemeral), was at the height of her career. The time of the lean cows and the Taboo is over.

Now firmly established in the forefront of the great performers of French Song, we find her here singing Desnos, Queneau and Mac Orlan, alongside Brel, Trénet, Ferré and Brassens. And it's almost as if we were there: starting with a rare duet with Eddie Constantine, she is accompanied throughout by the quartet led by the piano of the faithful Henri Patterson, and the accordion of

Freddy Balta. In addition to Ferré's famous "Jolie Môme", she delivers here her famous version of Queneau and Cosma's "Si Tu T'Imagines", as well as Brel's "On N'Oublie Rien", and notoriously, Brassens' "Chanson Pour l'Auvergnat".

With 'Parallel Light', AndrewWasylyk offers an alternative mix album to 2020's spiritual-jazz and neo-classical masterclass in melody, 'Fugitive Light And Themes Of Consolation'. This new LP, his third with Athens Of North Records, is as much a different perspective as a companion piece.

The ten songs still circle landscapes for meaning, channelling half-heard melodies and misremembered memories; caught somewhere between settling down and setting out towards the shining levels of the estuary and beyond. Each magnifying the bold, expansive arrangements of FL&TOC with layers are lifted and peeled away.

The soft-focus glow of gently pressed piano keys, the well and wash of strings and brass remain, but the deduction of instrumentation serves to highlight the ornate and offers comfort with this new found space. In the warmth reshaped, a romanticism illuminated.

At the essence of these reframed compositions Wasylyk's blue and gold, mellifluous refrains prevail. It's a seamless, sublime flow from a restless artists and an album quietly reawakened.

Still Life, the new album from vocalist Sachal Vasandani and pianist Romain Collin, continues the sound trajectory of their deeply emotive and intimate 2021 acclaimed album 'Midnight Shelter', reworking classic and modern songs interspersed with spellbinding and memorable originals. 'Still Life' is an album of intimate delicacy and tender lyricism with a brutal honesty at the centre. It’s beautifully emotive and deeply compelling. Featuring up-close and personal re-workings of classics by outstanding songwriters Billie Eilish, Paul Simon, Sam Smith, Peter Gabriel and others, alongside unforgettable originals.

In the early '70s, after relocating from his native Genoa to Rome, young saxophonist Gianni Oddi was beginning to establish himself as a super-cool arranger thanks to a series of cover albums recorded for RCA Italy. They contained funk, soul and easy-listening versions of contemporary pop hits, but Oddi often managed to include one or two original compositions of his own – like the ones contained in this new instalment of Four Flies's 12-inch vinyl series for DJs.

The luscious funk of Dreamin', on side A, shows Oddi as an Italian master of groove. Warm, sexy and nocturnal, the song combines breaky drums with tantalizing vocals (provided by Baba Yaga's Isabella Sodani), adding a romantic, dreamy vibe in the special with strings and piano (the latter played by Oddi himself) that are at once reminiscent of soulful black music and influenced by the melodic tradition of Italy.

Geronimo, on side B, is almost a tribute to Manu Dibango – a favourite of Oddi's at the time. Here, Oddi's signature groove, at once refined and infectious, is driven by Mario Scotti's pulsating bass, Silvano Chimenti's wah-wah guitar, Oddi's own persuasive sax and, in particular, sound engineer (and former drummer) Enzo Martella's 'moose call' sound (made by sliding a thumb across the top of a conga). In a nutshell: Africa reimagined in Via Tiburtina (the street in Rome where RCA Italy's recording studios where located).

Both tracks are perfect examples of Oddi's sound and... Style (yes, his 1974 album for RCA Italy's SP series). The same sound (and style!) characterizes masterpieces like Le Montagne della Luce (co-written with Romolo Grano), La Sbandata (the funky theme from Domenico Modugno's soundtrack, which Oddi arranged and produced) and Mondo di Notte Oggi (co-written with Gianni Dell'Orso). All of these have been released by Four Flies, which continues to celebrate this fantastic groove maker.

2 LPs-set (3 sides)
Recorded in Paris, November 22 and December 17, 1958.
Original issues: LP Fontana 680.202 ML & EP Fontana 460.642 MR.


”I’ve never played for such an audience” declared Art Blakey in tears. lt was November 22nd, 1958, and he’d just come offstage after one of the “Jazz Wednesdays” concerts at the Paris Olympia. For a first appearance by the “Jazz Messengers”, they’d made quite an impression. Not content with pulling a huge crowd off the Boulevard des Capucines (the demand was so great that a second concert had to be staged on December 17th), they’d converted everybody to the “Hard Bop” religion in two sets where, united in a kind of exultant communion, jazzmen, jazzophiles and curious bystanders alike had been crushed together in high spirits, paying no attention to the presence of Brigitte Bardot escorted by Sacha Distel. That night Blues March had almost replaced the Marseillaise anthem (and Moanin’ the Oignons). Yet none of the Messengers had ever been to Paris. They’d get to that later, and then some, but for the moment they were perfect strangers. Not only strangers to the public, but unknown even to a sizeable group of jazz fans : the next issue of “Jazz Hot” magazine (most of it devoted to them) arrived like an invasion by the carabimeri… the blaze lit at the Olympia had gone out, of course, and Blakey had moved into the “Club St. Germain” to light others; there, each of his gigs could have been a remake of the famous cabin scene in the Marx Brothers’ “A Night At The Opera”…

Among the Messengers’ “greatest hits”, only Moanin’ came close to Blues March. Constructed in the manner of a gospel, with the piano in the role of the preacher, and the orchestra that of the congregation, punctuating the sermon with shouts of approval, the theme was by pianist Bobby Timmons, whose fiery spirit can be explained by his educayion: “… the fact I played rhythm ‘n’ blues had a great influence on my style, and for me, it’s the foundation of jazz.” Moanin’ had sent the Olympia fans Into transports of delight, and even excited the curiosity of Hugues Panassié, who chanced to be passing by (“Bop”, in any form, being hardly his cup of tea) : he was prompted to go backstage and ask what it was he’d heard… Decidedly, in 1958, the Jazz Messengers were miracle-workers!