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Für sein neuem Album, Kiefers zweites für Label Stones Throw, hat sich der gefeierte GRAMMY-preisgekrönte Künstler mit anderen dekorierten Musikern, darunter DJ Harrison, Andy McCauley, Josh Johnson, Will Logan und Sam Wilkes, zu einer Band zusammengetan. Live eingespielt in nur ein bis zwei Takes, lebt das Album von Spontanität.
Auch wenn sich das Album thematisch mit Trauer und Verlust auseinandersetzt, so bleibt der Tonfall positiv, zumindest größtenteils.
Zweifellos einer der aufregendsten neuen Künstler, die die LA Jazzszene derzeit zu bieten hat.

45er Vinylschnitt für beste Audioqualität
Exklusiver Bonustrack nur erhältlich auf Vinyl

On the fringe of the indie Rust Belt scene since the 1990s,
Moviola has quietly forged a low-key career of high-quality
recorded output over twenty-five years, issuing ten (!) records
and countless 7-inch singles (including splits with Cobra Verde,
Hiss Golden Messenger, Handsome Family and many others).
In this artistic continuum, the band has evolved from everything
from 4-track fuzz to hi-fi country soul. Today, the band steps
forward with Broken Rainbows, its strongest collection of songs
to date, written, recorded, and mixed inside the group’s HQ in
Columbus.
Jake Housh started Moviola in 1993 as a student at “The”
Ohio State University as a noisy, fuzzed out lo-fi noisemakers.
Over the years, the band has morphed into a unique DIY
music and art-making collective with five distinct singers and
songwriters, recalling the creatively democratic lineage of The
Mekons, The Band, Pink Floyd, many others. Moviola is Jake
Housh, Ted Hattemer (Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments),
Scotty Tabachnick, Greg Bonnell, and Jerry Dannemiller.
Broken Rainbows is a milestone release, showcasing a band
newly energized and assured in its artistry, and supportive of its
members’ songcraft. The eleven-song album hovers over a plot
of ground that’s optimistic in its despair. Album topics range
from the personal to the political, showcasing each member’s
unique songwriting within an overall cohesive band aesthetic.
“Moviola was one of those groups I met early on back in the day
that showed me how to do it. Broken Rainbows is a highlight—
pastoral thumpers, fuzzy indie radness, hooks to spare, pretty
much all the good stuff. Feels like a glorious drive from one
disparate end of Ohio to another. I love this band.”
—Eric Johnson (Fruit Bats)

Soul Mass Transit System is a familiar name to fans of Shall Not Fade's highly popular garage imprint, Time Is Now. The Leeds duo made up of producers D. Jason and Baby J have been favourites of the series and of the UKG revival in general, recently scoring a release on another trend-setting label of the scene, Dr Banana.

The Dubble Trubble EP traverses the wide range of very British club sounds with ease that only comes with expertise, from frenetic hyper breaks to deep dubstep bass. Opener "Give It 2 U" tempts listeners in with its dramatic rolling minimalism, forward off-kilter drums and a chest-rattler of a sub. Sludgy A2 "My Name Is Down" centres a Niche style bassline, plenty of swing and dubwise sensibility.

On the B-side things ramp up a notch; "Trubble N Strife" tears it open, peak time cybernetic junglist gear with more than a few tricks up its sleeve. "U Got Me Burnin" is a real climax; jubilant, hands-in-the-air rave nonsense that closes out a collection of solid dancefloor toughness with more choppy breaks.

Limited edition 180g orange coloured vinyl + 4 bonus tracks. Originally
released as ‘The Great Artistry of Django Reinhardt’
(Clef Records MGC-516).
“Django was in his final weeks when he made this beautiful recording. He had
seemingly fallen out of love with music, or with performance, in the post-war
period and gained a reputation for unreliability. But there were signs that his
old fire was coming back.” - Penguin Guide To Jazz
“The disc you hold in your hands was the final album Django Reinhardt recorded before his death on May 16, 1953. The guitarist left behind a work as
vast as it was modern, and he left an indelible mark on the history of jazz guitar
and music in general.” - Jazz Magazine (France)

In the beginning, there was chaos_ A while later in the Heavens, where angels reigned, there was once held a great symposium, a glorious feast. Everyone was happy and having a great time, until Lucifer, fairest and mightiest of all the angels, brought in suspicious and strange substances, offering them freely with both hands for everyone to take. All were fooled by the Ancient Serpent, starting to misbehave and act in contradiction to the Heavenly Laws. The Almighty God, enraged upon learning about the mutiny, threw everyone down on earth to suffer eternally in hunger, ugliness and desperation. Vulnerable now to each and every temptation, they are ready to perpetuate Good and Evil, while building their new earthly Kingdom in any way they can. Angelic chants, Demon's screams, witches dancing and woeful mortal suffering are recounted in this album's songs, embellished with mesmerising hymns and sharp riffs. Chaos is always close and all that remains is the human revolution against the forces of evil. "Battlefields of Satan's servants, witch-hunt for our ways, face off reality and eat TV today. Lucifer, Forever Grey". - Bill Politis - "The Unknown Secretary" comes to further unsettle the turbulent waves of music and burn its own mark in history. Today, five years after its original release, Heavy Psych Sounds reissues this retro gem, serving it once again straight into your record case.

The intoxicating, high-octane hit is set to soundtrack a surge of pent-up revelry and romance throughout the summer of 2021, as it ushers in a bold new chapter for the band. Lifted from the new album Huffy - also announced today for release on 8th October 2021 - the band have revealed the secret ingredients of the lead single’s winning formula...

The intoxicating, high-octane hit is set to soundtrack a surge of pent-up revelry and romance throughout the summer of 2021, as it ushers in a bold new chapter for the band. Lifted from the new album Huffy - also announced today for release on 8th October 2021 - the band have revealed the secret ingredients of the lead single’s winning formula...

"Empty Facile" is the second EP from Body Portals. Delivering a spellbinding foray into down-tempo caustic temperatures; where samples and hardware create a full-on, yet carefully crafted singular sonic experience.

Truly, the luscious, soulful new album from Manchester singer-songwriter Caoilfhionn Rose (pronounced Keelin) moves through a tapestry of curious musical inflections; nods towards folk, jazz, ambient, electronica and even a subtle influence of psychedelia, it never stands still to take a breath, despite its ethereal and delicate core. Out April 9th on Gondwana Records (Mammal Hands, Portico Quartet, Matthew Halsall, Hania Rani), in Truly, the young singer-songwriter has accomplished a body of work that is both sonically and lyrically wise beyond her years.

Co-produced by Kier Stewart of The Durutti Column following Rose's collaborative endeavours with them on their album Chronicle LX:XL, the musician's song writing draws from a diverse palette of influences, including Building Instrument, Rachel Sermanni, Alabaster dePlume and Broadcast. Rose also professes to a love for beautiful, stripped back, piano based music, such as Dustin O'Halloran and label mate Hania Rani.

Truly came to exist due to a deep-routed need to create – even though its conception was interrupted as Caoilfhionn Rose recovered in hospital from an illness, she found strength within writing music. "In Spring 2019 I took part in a gig swap with my good friend and fellow musician Kristian Harting who is from Denmark. We played several gigs in the UK but unfortunately the Denmark part of the tour was cut short as I was taken ill. I was hospitalised for several weeks and have taken the last year out to recover" says Rose. "I gradually returned to finishing my second album" she continues. "Coming back to creating after being unwell was challenging but also therapeutic. This record marks a difficult time of my life and writing it helped get me through that. I am really grateful to have music as an outlet." It may be this tremendously challenging period that has abetted its characterising qualities.

Rose's beautifully restrained vocal is all at once soothing yet mesmerising. She demands and holds attention through her evident talent yet hypnotises the listener into a trance with her experimental tendencies. "After being unwell, getting back to recording helped me recover my voice after not singing for so long. Finishing bits of songs, writing lyrics and recording vocals helped me get back on my feet and get better."

Lead single from the album – 'Flourish' – is an intoxicating song that meditates on being present in the moment, allowing peace to come to you. "The song 'Flourish' is about looking forwards with hope and possibility, 'let it flow away, let it turn around and flourish'. It's about finding peace and feeling wonder again" says Rose about the track. "'Flourish' hints at the ideas of what could be, how things can unfold if you let go 'and just be here'."

A message of hope is instilled throughout the record, echoed again in 'Fireflies', a song inspired by a campsite in France, which became filled with fireflies at night. "To me 'Fireflies' has a nostalgic and comforting feel. It's about feeling hopeful about the future 'though there may be dark clouds the sun will always come'. There are references to older lyrics I have written. The line 'free from all the chaos' is a nod to a song I collaborated on with The Durutti Column. The song is about acknowledging the past and moving on as 'time is always healing'."

A recurring theme of reflection and being grounded in the present, acknowledging the past and looking forwards with courage is one that envelopes 'Truly', and is something that is echoed in its beautiful swelling flourishes and its tranquillity – resonating with atmosphere, the album all at once sounds so large and yet so subdued. "The line on Every Waking Minute; 'we forget what lies behind the eyes' is about remembering that everyone has their own things going on and challenges to face but we should 'feel every waking minute', become aware of what's unfolding around us outside of our own stories. It's a self-reflective song really, reminding myself that 'life can take you bysurprise', there are going to be ups and downs along the way"

Elsewhere on the album, Rose explores the connection between nature and life on single To Me. "I love going on long walks and the healing power of nature is a recurring theme in a lot of my lyrics. I have a very optimistic outlook and I find solace in the small things like being outdoors."

Caoilfhionn's debut Awaken, co-produced with label mate Matthew Halsall, saw the singer, songwriter and producer tie together remnants of Manchester's musical past with its evolving present. Prior to this, the artist collaborated with one of her biggest musical influences, Vini Reilly of The Durutti Column. The musician worked with the Manchester band on four songs on their album Chronicle LX:XL. "I've learnt a lot from collaborating with musicians like Vini Reilly, Matthew Halsall and my bandmates" says Rose. "This is reflected in my current style and approach to making music. I no longer just write as a therapeutic or reflective process; I can write more abstractly and outwardly."

Kier Stewart of The Durutti Column co-produced her latest offering, Truly, following his band's collaborations with Rose. "I befriended Kier after we worked together. Collaborating with The Durutti Column was my first experience of recording music with other people in a studio." Together, the pair have created something expansive yet fragile – and altogether unique. "He's brought so much to this project" she says. "I feel Keir has brought out the best in the songs, adding really intricate and subtle details and effects. It was inspiring getting to work with Keir and I've learnt a lot from his approach of just experimenting and seeing what works."

• Long lost 1968 album from visionary South African jazz composer incorporating traditional African music sources and instruments.

• Officially licensed from the Nxumalo family and reissued with inner sleeve containing archival photographs and new liner notes by Francis Gooding.

Gideon Nxumalo’s Gideon Plays might just be the most mythologised and sought-after LP in the whole South African canon. A sophisticated bop excursion with a distinctive African edge, it was only Nxumalo’s second LP as leader, despite his crucial place in South African jazz history. Pianist Nxumalo was a visionary jazz composer who had recorded regularly during the 1950s, and his 1962 Jazz Fantasia album was the first South African jazz recording to incorporate traditional African musical sources and instruments. But he was also the country’s most significant radio presenter and jazz tastemaker – from 1954 onwards, he had worn the nickname ‘Mgibe’ to introduce ‘This Is Bantu Jazz’, South African radio’s premier jazz show.

But in the aftermath of the Sharpeville Massacre in 1961, Nxumalo had been side-lined from radio play, and was eventually sacked for playing records with political meanings. By 1968, he had not been heard on record or airwave for several years. Gideon Plays was a celebrated return to the studio for one of South Africa’s best loved and most forward-thinking jazzmen, and it showcases Nxumalo’s deep understanding of jazz, his brilliant touch as a composer, and his commitment to bringing South Africa’s indigenous sound into the music.

However, it was released on the tiny JAS Pride label owned by production impresario Ray Nkwe, and after one pressing in 1968, Gideon Plays fell into the undeserved silence that has obscured so much of the South African jazz discography. It has since become a legend: hardly more than a rumour, it has been bootlegged by the unscrupulous, changed hands for eye-watering sums, and has scarcely been heard outside the circles of the most committed South African jazz devotees. It goes without saying that it has never been released outside South Africa, and even now only a handful of original copies are known to have survived.

Over the last ten years, Matsuli Music has been proud to present some of the greatest lost and found jazz recordings in South African history – but we have never presented a rarer, lesser known album than the mighty Gideon ‘Mgibe’ Nxumalo’s Gideon Plays.

The Metallica Blacklist celebrates the 30th anniversary and enduring influence of the iconic Black Album, with one of the most ambitious projects ever conceived by the Metallica team: An unprecedented 50+ artists spanning an unbelievably vast range of genres, generations, cultures, continents and more, each contributing a unique interpretation of their favorite Black Album song. Artists include Royal Bllod, St Vincent, Sam Fender, Biffy Clyro,Weezer) All profits from The Metallica Blacklist will be split evenly between the All Within My Hands Foundation and 50+ charities chosen by the artists who play on the album. All music overseen by executive producer Giles Martin. Out September 10th. The seven LPs will be housed in die-cut jackets with a booklet in a library-style slipcase. Comes with an MP3 download card. The four CDs will be housed in 10-panel digipak with a booklet. Artwork by David Turner. EXISTING ORDERS STILL STAND

This is a limited edition, golden vinyl of "Deep Shadows".

You are holding in your hands an album, which was never heard at the time it was recorded. For over 30 years it was stored in the archive of record producer and musician Dave Hamilton, one of the unsung heroes of the Detroit soul scene. The box of reels was marked simply "The Possible Little Ann Album".

Little Ann's songs, are timeless masterpieces of soul music. That is why we here at Timmion Records thought that they belong together on an album like they were originally intended to be heard. Sometimes possibility takes time to be fulfilled.

This album comes with authentic 60's style tip-on sleeve.

Events currently taking place throughout the world only serve to stoke a fire under the likes of Pillow Queens, who find themselves continually inspired by a Dublin that is no stranger to fighting social injustice. Street artists, fashion designers, musicians, film makers and more comprise a scene which routinely champions queerness and marginalized groups, and engages with and activates young people in response to the likes of the city’s ongoing housing and mental health crises. Pillow Queens’ songs of togetherness and unity ring out louder than ever before.

In their short lifespan as a band they've released two demo EPs, performed on a successful string of UK & Irish dates & festival appearances, had playlisting from BBC 6 Music, and found themselves opening for the likes of American Football and Pussy Riot, as well as stadium performances opening for IDLES and Future Islands.

With all this under their belt, the band began working with Mercury Prize nominated producer Tommy McLaughlin for their single 'Gay Girls' – which received a nomination for the RTE Choice Music Prize song of the year, as well as International pickup from NPR’s World Cafe and KEXP. The song also found its way into the heart of actor Cillian Murphy and his BBC6 mixtape show.

2019 saw Pillow Queens venture into mainland Europe, as they lit up the Eurosonic festival and completed a string of tour dates opening for Soak. The tour was a messy and joyous affair captured beautifully in the DIY video for the bands summer single 'HowDoILook'.

In Waiting is Pillow Queens’ debut album, the result of four years of brotherly love in a sisterly unit from Ireland’s most urgent, yearning, rock band. Crafted from our lives, and honed in a studio in rural Donegal in the northwest of Ireland, this is a record by queens in waiting and kings in the making. It’s an album about love; self-love, queer love, the anxiety-inducing fault lines of romantic love, and the love for a city and a country that simultaneously has your back and is on your back.

UK multi-instrumentalist and story-teller Mara Simpson's new album In This Place will be released on September 24th, 2021. A heady blend of alt-folk, analogue synth and classical composition, In This Place is a tale of quiet rebellion, and taking back control. Fittingly, the new album marks the start of another new journey for Mara. In This Place will be the first record to be released on Downfield Records, a non-profit imprint set up by Simpson, placing artists at it’s centre. “I want to try and promote transparency and equality, assist other artists to get public funding and to ‘pay’ forward the time and resources I’ve benefited from,” she says. The label’s mission is to see musicians paid fairly and release records through a creative and joyous process.

Whilst the struggles of 2020 will go down in history, for Mara it was 2019 that was the tough one. A year spent consumed by worry, whilst in and out of hospital with her one year old daughter, had left Mara feeling like she was playing a constant game of catch up with a world that wouldn’t slow down. With songs ready to be recorded for her new album, she headed into the studio. “I stepped into the studio not needing my hand held, just my voice heard” explains Mara, who quickly came to the realisation that she was working in a toxic environment. Enough was enough

It was whilst waiting for a train that she had the sudden realisation that the album she was recording would never see the light of day. Struck by an overwhelming feeling of failure, Mara began to ruminate on the time and money she had wasted but then something clicked. “Perhaps it’s something about train stations, the coming and the goings, that allows a stagnating frame of mind the grace and space to clear” she says. “The funny thing is, upon realising failure, the despair I’d been feeling was now replaced with something else...Relief”.

Feeling re-energised, Mara called her dream producer Ellie Mason, of Voka Gentle, and together the pair began working on a new record. “I’ve been more hands-on with this album than I’ve ever been, taking a much more active role in production. Throughout the whole process Ellie has heard my voice, and been open to any possibility” explains Mara. “We’ve stumbled across golden moments, recording four part harmonies in Brighton’s oldest church, using every drum there is in Brighton Electric, layering New Zealand bird song with tape delayed piano, all thanks to her nurture, playfulness and kindness” she continues.

Album opener ‘Serena’, named after the apartment building in Brighton where Mara’s daughter was born, is based on the experience of becoming a mother and the responsibility of making important healthcare decisions. “How will I know how to love you” she sings over undulating synths and sparse piano chords. Title-track ‘In This Place’ is about the confrontation between mother and new-born child. The ‘sizing-up’ of one another as they embark on a new journey together. “When I left home to travel around the world and was so worried about breaking my Mum’s heart,” says Mara. “I just remember her saying that your children are never yours to keep. This is a song about the rawest of loves, and the fact that however much we love someone, they are never ours, and the beauty in that.”

In addition to the experience of motherhood, the songs on In This Place take inspiration from a wide range of places, including Mara’s ‘second home’ New Zealand. ‘Christchurch’, written in response to the Christchurch Mosque shootings in 2019, layers New Zealand birdsong on top of swirling piano and moving choral vocals. ‘Fault Lines’ was inspired by The Waitangi treaty. Signed in 1840 in New Zealand by the British Crown and Maori chiefs. The British understood that the Maori were signing over land that the British could now govern and effectively ‘own’, however to the Maori people it is impossible to own land, in the same way that you can’t ‘own’ air. “We live and die, the land remains and we are just it’s keepers for the very short time we are here. This song is about us not owning this earth - how can we? We are only the guardians of it while we are here” says Mara.

Backed by a band of accomplished musicians (Jools Owen (Bears Den) on drums, James Smith (Anaïs Mitchell) on banjo, Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres on clarinet and strings by Poppy Ackroyd) on In This Place, Mara sounds the most confident she’s ever sounded. With her new material, Mara Simpson hopes to promote a gentle, yet radical shift toward kindness and it’s this warmth that can be both heard and felt across her new record.

Blind, Chicago soul singer Willie Williams was first discovered performing in clubs in and around the Windy City. He was signed to ABC records by their A&R Director for the Midwest Johnny Pate a former Jazz bassist, independent producer, arranger and songwriter in his own right. Pate was a friend and colleague of fellow musician, songwriter and founding member of one of ABC’s prolific vocal groups The Trends, Tom Dorsey. Pate and Dorsey would contribute heavily as writers and producer throughout Willie’s recording career, beginning with his first ABC 45 release in 1966 “Have You Ever Been Played For A Fool/With All My Soul”. The release’s b-side became a popular radio play at the time with Willie becoming known as Willie “Soul” Williams for a while. Two further ABC releases were to follow “It Doesn’t Pay/Just Because” (1967) and “I’m Through With You/Strung Out” (1968).

Willie’s next 45 release although recorded in Chicago under Johnny Pate’s supervision found it’s way to another major label, RCA, although credited as a GWP Production (Gerrard W. Purcell). The 45 in question being the excellent Tom Dorsey penned songs “Just To Be Loved By You/Name It” released during 1969.

Two Willie Williams 45 releases did appear on the Gamma label but I’m unsure if one or both of these are by the same Willie Williams in question.

Throughout his recording career Willie continued to work the clubs with his own band which was led by his bass guitarist and confidant Bradley (Brad) Bobo a man who featured as a session musician on many recording sessions including the creation of The Notation’s album of the same name for Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom subsidiary label Gemigo.

On the 22nd of December 1970 a recording session was held in RCA’s Studio B, on North Wacker Drive, Chicago with sound engineer Russ Vestuto. The session was financed by Tom Dorsey who amongst other song writing gratuities had been paid handsomely for the 3 songs “Love Machine”, “My Baby’s Love” and “How Are You Fixed For Love” which he had wrote and contributed to the blue-eyed hit group, The O’Kaysion’s “Girl Watcher” ABC album. The result of this session yielded four Willie Williams tracks. Brad Bobo played bass guitar on the session, the composer of the four songs Tom Dorsey supplied the arrangements and Tom’s wife Carolyn (also a former group members of The Trends) joined both he and Brad on backing vocals.

The four songs were then offered to Eddie Thomas who chose two of them to release on a 45 single. The two songs being “Must Mean Love” which was later renamed “The Baa Baa Song “and “Psyched Out” which Eddie then released on his own Lakeside label, thus leaving the two other songs to remain unissued in the can.

Willie has now sadly passed away but in his later life once the opportunity’s for performing artists began to dwindle he chose a different path in his life, gaining a Doctors degree, he went on to become a College Lecturer. Tom Dorsey too turned his back on the music industry apart from his publishing company to concentrate on his family life as well as founding a very successful business involving one of his other great life passions, photography. Luckily for us he never lost the master tape of Willie’s sessions and after several years of tentative enquiries he graciously relented to my request to put them out. So now before you we have the two excellent previously unissued Willie Williams songs that Eddie Thomas passed on, the delightfully soulful “Give It All I Got” backed with the funky, social conscience themed “Do You Understand”, lost early 1970’s Chicago Soul at its finest.

A Civil Rights activist who marched alongside Jesse Jackson, preacher for Earth Wind & Fire, Stax recording artist, “Family Feud” contestant, Stephen Curry soundtracker, high school drop out, and Kanye samplee, Pastor T. L. Barrett stuffed a dozen lives into one. His signature 1971 spiritual soul jam “Like A Ship” has transcended its humble South Side Chicago beginnings, rediscovered by Leon Bridges and Beck and described by Radioheadʼs Colin Greenwood as “The most euphoric celebratory music that makes you want to jump around the house and explode with joy.” This box is the definitive statement on Barrettʼs two decades of recordings, 49 tracks spread across five LPs, including Like A Ship, Do Not Pass Me By Volume 1 & 2, I Found The Answer, plus a bonus album of singles and sermons, a 10,000 word blow-by-blow, and illustrated discography.

Elite Beat is a musical collective from Portland, Oregon with a history spanning back to 2006.

'Selected Rhythms' captures the finest moments from all three of their ultra limited cassette series 'Casual Rhythms'.

Packed full of DIY dub mixing, cosmic orchestration and raw, percussion driven polyrhythms, the recordings have been remastered and put to vinyl for the first time with sections from Casual Rhythms Vol. 1 being re-shaped into previously unavailable single tracks.


Recording plays a big role in the Elite Beat creative process. The studio as an instrument. Much of the Elite Beat music is mixed in an all-hands-on-deck dub style approach - live with an analog mixer and loads of FX being thrown and dubbed in real time. The sound is genre-less rhythm music with an emphasis on live playing, free form expression and technique that borrows from soundsystem culture. Inspiration can be heard from all parts of time and place. Some Ethio Jazz, Black Ark psychedelia, Exotica, Malian blues, even Haight-Ashbury in the summer of love. Each member an accomplished musician in their own right, Elite Beat thrive on collaboration. 2018 saw the release of their astral-Saharan jams with celebrated Taureg guitarist Mdou Moctar.

The players get together every Wednesday evening, sometimes to chat, sometimes to play. The 'record' button gets pressed when they find what they are searching for. For this crew it's all about 'Casual Rhythms / Harmonious Lifestyles' - if things don't fall under that mantra, then it's got to go. 'Less is more' for Elite Beat and their cosmic sounds.

Bristol experimental jazz collective Ishmael Ensemble reveal their expansive new album Visions of Light. The follow-up to their critically acclaimed 2019 debut A State of Flow, praised by the likes of The Guardian, Mojo, The Wire and tastemakers across BBC 6Music, this sophomore record sees the group reimagine what an ‘ensemble’ can do; expanding into a shifting collective, where human relationships between artists underpin far-ranging, stunningly ambitious and emotionally heavyweight compositions.

Helmed by producer and saxophonist Pete Cunningham, Ishmael Ensemble’s richly inventive 2019 debut A State Of Flow marked them out as an explosive new force in UK jazz, imbuing lush cinematic compositions with left-field dub and electronic sensibilities

redolent of Bristol’s vital musical landscape. NamedThe Guardian’s ‘Contemporary Album Of The Month’ and Mojo’s ‘Jazz Album of The Month’, it saw the group perform Maida Valesessions for both Gilles Peterson and Tom Ravenscroft, as well as feature on compilations for Brownswood Recordings and Soul Jazz Records. Cunningham’s rise as an in-demand producer led to remixes for the likes of techno royalty Carl Craig,as well as legendary jazz label Blue Note Records alongside a plethora of the UK’s finest musical talent on Blue Note Re:Imagined.

Ishmael Ensemble has since become a platform for Cunningham to subvert the conventional notions of producer/artist relationships, unsettling genre tags, and transcending the familiar landscape of UK jazz itself. Across the album’s 10 tracks, Cunningham practices a holistic approach with a long list of collaborators. Together, they explore vast new sonic terrain with an honesty, intimacy and emotional heft impossible for a conventional band.

Visions Of Light tells the story of Ishmael Ensemble’s development across its two sides. The first draws from the energy Cunningham and his bandmates discovered whilst extensively touring A State Of Flow.