VARIOUS Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Masterful curator Paul Hillery returns with another essential instalment in this wonderful BBE series. Volume 3 continues his tradition of unearthing rare, high-quality tracks so it is a perfect companion to his Children of the Sun trilogy. This one spans funky folk, jazzy AOR, lo-fi dub and DIY folktronica and includes numerous gems like Sheila Chandra's ethereal vocals and Tim Green's euphoric grooves, a playful vibe from Gil De Ray on 'Something About Nothing' and plenty more besides. With extensive sleeve notes, this is a deep sonic journey that also cements the man behind it as an expert archivist.

Review: East London record label and shop BBE assign their curators' arm over at If Music another reccy in Latin and Afro-infused "deep jazz", yielding this brilliant fourth edition in a series. Made up solely of material formerly licensed to, but not necessarily released by, If Music, this one represents a global diversity of Afrobeat and jazz artists: from the creeping, hair-raising panter 'N'Kon Kini N'Kon N'Kon' by none other than stowaway Cream drummer Ginger Baker (cut from the album Eleven Sides Of Baker, on which there is an impressively mammoth cast of contributors) in collaboration with Ransome Kuti, through to the Japanese drummer George Hirota ('Process Of Cloud') and Kan Digor ('Croonardise').

Review: Prepare yourself for a wry chuckle, as we impart the fact that the compilation you see hyperlinked before you was not at all prepackaged, with work cut out for its curators. Rather, it came from the source, having first manifested as a pile of Ghanaian highlife LPs buried at the bottom of DJ Jerry Frempong's wife's garden. Frempong is the son of one of one of the most prominent former Ghanaian-British label owners, Anthony Roberts Frempong of Asona Records, whose founding movements in the South East London district of Peckham proved highly popular helping disseminate highlife music in the English capital. BBE Music owner Pete Adarkwah caught wind of the serendipitous discovery and approached Jerry to discuss the reissue of this historic catalogue, which you hear here. The sweetest of early and untrodden highlife highlights are heard here, including sparklers by Kantata, Jewel Ackah, Sam Yeboah, Mr Cee and even Thomas Frempong himself.