Review: Vibraphonist Khan Jamal has made many fine albums over the years, though few are quite as revered within the jazz scene as Infinity, a self-released set from 1984 that has been near impossible to find for years. While Jamal's fluid and attractive vibraphone playing is given an airing throughout the album, it never dominates the sound space, with the storied members of his backing sextet - including scene legends Byard Lancaster (alto sax, flute) and drummer Sunny Murray - all being given a chance to shine. Musically, it sits somewhere between spiritual jazz, jazz-funk and Latin jazz, with hectic dancefloor numbers (see the superb 'The Angry Young Man') being joined by a wealth of deeper, more laidback compositions.
Review: The eponymous album from The Modern Jazz & Folk Ensemble, led by saxophonist Sean Khan, is a special blend of jazz and folk, paying homage to the late 60s and early 70s folk revival. Featuring guest vocalists like Jacqui McShee, Rosie Frater-Taylor, and Kindelan, the album breathes new life into classics by Pentangle, Sandy Denny, John Martyn, and Nick Drake. Sean Khan's impeccable saxophone work shines throughout the album, seamlessly bridging the worlds of Coltrane and Drake with his distinct sound. The latest single, 'Solid Air,' featuring Rosie Frater-Taylor, offers a captivating glimpse into the ensemble's enchanting fusion of genres. Frater-Taylor's ethereal vocals, coupled with Khan's evocative arrangements, create a spellbinding atmosphere that enthralls from start to finish. With each track, For fans of both genres, this album offers a refreshing take on familiar classics while showing the boundless creativity and talent of Sean Khan and his ensemble.
Review: Dick Khoza's Chapita is a South African jazz masterpiece laced with funk and seeped in Afrobeat. As stage manager of Soweto's legendary Pelican Club, Khoza played a key role in cultivating Johannesburg's soul, funk and jazz scene. Inspired by the Afrocentric rock juggernaut Osibisa, he assembled his Pelican Club compatriots for the 1976 session that yielded this landmark nugget of African vinyl history. Mastered from the As-Shams/The Sun label's archival tapes, Tooth Factory present a 2021 edition of this rare classic.
Review: 'Mordechai is another blissed-out record from Texan party-chill-psyche trio Khruangbin. It's also among the outfit's most defined and driven, a smooth, sticky hot funk odyssey made for hazy afternoon soirees. Leader Laura Lee is, as ever, unfathomably siren-like on vocals, her bass grooves aiding the process of seduction no end. Even at the most upbeat and anthemic, 'Time (You and I)', it's hard not to feel woozy and intoxicated by the pared-back breaks and guitar lick combination. Dance floor ammo for sure, as is Pelota. Overall, though, it's an album best savoured slowly, allowing you to fully appreciate every lackadaisical moment of opiate goodness, with tracks such as 'Father Bird, Mother Bird', 'One To Remember' and 'Shida' summoning stunning sticky, heavy, deep atmospheres.
Review: Khruangbin has very much become the masters of the downtempo sphere over the last decade. The Texan Thai-funk trio makes spaced-out, star-gazing and gently psychedelic sounds with deep and dubby rhythms, barely-there but alluring vocal hooks and persuasive basslines. Mordechai was their third studio album back in June of 2020 and is an ode to everything that'd done to date. Building on their Thai and Iranian rock roots, they head into new ground with a subtle lyrical freshness and more widescreen world of intercontinental influences all perfectly fused into their own sublime sounds.
Review: Desert funkers Khruangbin announce their latest album A La Sala, turning their efforts inward to a more personal recollection of childhood and origination, and to reach a firmer understanding of what exact influences made this troupe who they are today. In contrast to their last record Mordechai (2020), uniquely conceived as a party record from the jump of its making, A La Sala (translation: 'to the room') is the measured, self-reflective morning after; lead singles 'May Ninth' and 'A Love International' pare back the layers even further than we could imagine Khruangbin pulling otherwise, making for emotional ponderings of the external world, inextricably tied to the internal as it is.
Review: Firm festival favourites Khruangbin are a Texan trio that make star-gazing Thai funk, psyched-out soul and seductive fusion sounds. They are currently releasing a number of live albums with one of them being 'Live at Stubbs' featuring them playing as well as performances by Kelly Doyle, Ruben Moreno, The Suffers and Robert Ellis. This record really captures the band's unique energy, the warmth of their bass and the majesty of their melodies so makes for a bewitching and entrancing listen with a limited-edition and unique album cover.
Review: Kiefer's first live album captures the brilliant energy of his trio which features longtime collaborators Luke Titus and Pera Krstajic. This record was recorded at an intimate, secret Los Angeles show in April 2023 and includes a brand-new title track alongside selections from Kiefer's catalogue and a moving rendition of Bobby Hutcherson's 'Montara'. A GRAMMY-winning artist, Kiefer has worked with Anderson .Paak and Drake and recently performed an NPR Tiny Desk concert with Nate Smith, Carrtoons, Theo Croker and Charlie Hunter which have helped establish him on the world stage. This album is one that will resonate with fans of acts like Theo Croker, Mndsgn and Dinner Party.
Review: It feels like every couple of years a new reissue of Kikagaku Moyo's magical 2013 album Forest of Lost Children comes around, but we are not moaning. This group is "a musical union between five free spirits" or in less poetic terms, band founders Go Kurosawa (on drums and vocals) and Tomo Katsurada (on guitar and vocals) plus bass by and Akira also on guitar. Their sound is as unique as any, with psychedelic, folk, prog-rock, psychedelic-folk-mixed-with-prog-rock and more all collided into one another on an album that keeps you on your toes and guessing at what might come next even within each track, let alone across the whole album. If you're a new interested party this is a great primer for what the band is all about.
Review: Recorded in 2021, The Road to Tibooburra marks The Winged Heels’ second album: an eclectic, inspired collection of Steve Kilbey’s songs, loosely converging in the middle of outback Australia. Originally conceived as a musical during Kilbey’s journey through the backblocks, four intense days in the studio later conceived an album as the mode of choice, whereafter the band would commit their signature fusion of pop-rock to ancient, medieval, and classical troubadour influences. Kilbey’s 12-string and vocals form the album’s core, with additional bass and electric guitar on select tracks; Gareth anchors much of the bass work, alongside classical and resonator guitar, while Roger provides keyboards and cello.
Review: The debut album from founding members Jason Kohnen and Gideon Kiehrs, the Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble (now a sextet) was originally conceived as a means to realise imaginary scores for classic silent films, such as Nosferatu and Metropolis. Often made and played together with fragments from these films to help intensify the impact of the audio, each song here is a brooding noir slinker, not lacking in its heady supply of drum brushes, trombone drones and chromatics. The album is also a semi-synthetic affair, with Kiers providing synths, visuals and sequencing on this romantic yet mildly creepy 2xLP - a reissue of the original from 2006.
Review: Boston based psych/sludge/doom (riff monster) supergroup KIND boast a line up made of members featuring Matt Couto (ex-Elder), Tom Corino (ex-Rozamov), Craig Riggs (Roadsaw) and Darryl Shepard (ex-Black Pyramid) and finally return with their trudging, groovy third full-length Close Encounters. Following on from 2020's exceptional Mental Nudge, the material here sways from embracing their 70s indebted psychedelic roots to the more bombastic sludge metal motifs of the modern era, yet kept at a delicate precipice by the unashamedly retro vocal delivery.
A New World (The Tale Of The Altered Beast) (0:59)
Altered Beast I (2:23)
Alter Me I (0:46)
Altered Beast II (4:29)
Alter Me II (1:25)
Altered Beast III (2:14)
Alter Me III (1:27)
Altered Beast IV (5:10)
Life/Death (1:01)
Some Context (The Lord Of Lightning vs Balrog) (0:16)
The Reticent Raconteur (1:13)
The Lord Of Lightning (part 1) (1:54)
The Lord Of Lightning (part 2) (3:03)
The Balrog (4:33)
The Floating Fire (1:54)
The Acrid Corpse (0:58)
Welcome To An Altered Universe (Han-Tyumi & The Murder Of Universe) (0:55)
Digital Black (2:46)
Han-Tyumi, The Confused Cyborg (2:15)
Soy-protein Munt Machine (0:30)
Vomit Coffin (2:19)
Murder Of The Universe (4:11)
Review: These Aussie psych-mayhem merchants have set their sights on releasing a terrifying five records this year, and only a fool or a cynic would deny they're capable of it, given the freewheeling abandon and hell-for-leather chutzpah they've delivered on each of their ten outings to date. Whilst the majority of bands habitually claim to be pursuing a uniquely uncompromising vision, few are as guileless and full-on as the outfit we feast on via 'Murder Of The Universe', one completely unafraid to deal with four-part sagas concerning Tolkein-esque mythical monsters and Japanese cyborgs via a kinetic and combustible melange of garage fury and third-eye-massaging acid visions. Who knows where King Gizzard are heading, but right-thinking folks will be willing them to keep their foot firmly on the accelerator.
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