Review: This life-affirming new record from Down Under is a fine celebration of soul, broken beat, house and jazz that brims with rhythmic percussion, dynamic synths and syncopated basslines. Close Counters' effortless instrumentation shines throughout as paired with intricate production that maintains energy while allowing spaciousness with plenty of drum power. The album highlights the band's collaborative spirit with standout performances from Lyric Jones, Tiana Khasi, Allysha Joy, Jace XL, Shiv and others while the presence of Adam Halliwell of Mildlife on the opener further enriches what is a richly musical and adventurous album.
Review: Coolin' Out's back with a fourth volume of seductive edits for those more cultured dance floors. This one kicks off with 'Solstice' which is laidback and oozes cool. Gentle drums and mellifluous synths rise up from the deep cut and slow-motion groove with plenty of cosmic edge. The tight instrumentation creates a sublime atmosphere that is both full of relaxation and subtle euphoria. The flipside, an edit of Soul Vibrations,' flips the script with dusty drum breaks, a hint of Italian Library music instrumentation and some rousing melodies that get you on edge.
Destroy Create (feat Kemani Anderson - part I) (1:52)
Rain Will Come (8:25)
Staring At The Sun (feat Caitlin LM) (4:43)
Family (feat Ellen Beth Abdi) (3:05)
Parhelion (6:37)
Give Back My Love (feat Ellen Beth Abdi) (3:37)
Destroy Create (feat Kemani Anderson & Ellen Beth Abdi - part II) (5:22)
Daylight (feat Ellen Beth Abdi) (7:09)
Review: Wah Wah 45s present Sun Dogs, the debut album from composer, songwriter and producer Jamie Finlay - a unique blend of electric soul, spiritual jazz and psychedelia. A deeply layered and personal album that explores themes of love, loss, grief, and finding strength through turbulent times, this curt selection of eight tracks sports a throng of talent on both production, instrumental and vocal duties, be these contributions from Ellen Beth Abdi, Caitlin LM or Kemani Anderson. All glued together by a crisp broken beat aesthetic and ultra-crisply mixdown standard, we hear an expansively uplifting album unfurl in the continuous inspirational spaces opened in by the dialogic legacies of greats like Lonnie Liston Smith and Pharaoh Sanders.
Review: On The Inside is the debut album from acclaimed Leeds dark jazz and funk trio, Gotts Street Park. A genre-hopping odyssey with silky production and an impressive set of guest collaborators, the album is an intended sonic diary of everything their relationship as a band encompasses, both as collaborators and close friends. Following up their more studio-oriented compendiums 'Volume One' and 'Volume Two', this album is more of a personal invitation into their own practice space, though it also does just as well to channel original Motown influences and provide ample space for featuring artists Rosie Lowe, Pip Millet and ENNY to flourish.
Review: Japanese nu-jazz doesn't get any more smouldering than this deep cut from Yusuke Hirado featuring Lil Summer on vocal duties. 'Fly Away' is a mellow melter thanks in no small part to the moody strings lingering behind Hirado's fluid funk production. It's a downtempo vibe which calls to mind the UK street soul sound, contrasted by B-side joint 'Dear Limmertz' which has a more jazz funk oriented flavour. Both joints won't let you down when you want to set the mood as smooth as possible - with a seasoned pro like Hirado at the controls, what else would you expect?
Review: Poet, novelist and musician Anthony Joseph shares his latest Afrofuturist opus; a seven-track album of defiant, zooming, return-to-source music, comprising arched spoken word, broken/Afrobeat and soul jazz. Built mainly around the core triad that is 'Tony', 'A Tuba For Janet' and 'Churches Of Sound', this LP has the pull and gravitas of a classic album about it; it channels the fluvial, downstream consequences of historic exploitation and erasure, mixed in with a revolutionary lyrical spirit, charged with the hard-treaded grace of dub and Pan-African funk. Described as an Afrofuturist poem by Joseph, there is talk of genealogy, secret languages and wizardry: our fave has to be 'A Juba For Janet', a dub narrative constructed around the titular Miss Janet.
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.
If It Ain't Jazz, we don't know what it has! Back, after a punctuated pause, the label return to dazzle us with their enduring, distinctive brand of instrumental disco-soul razzmatazz, and here we hear Laroye and Aroop Roy rub two heads' choices up the right way, both into phattened, globular, kick-boosted anthems. First comes 'You're A Star', an electroni-cization of Aquarian Dream's 1978 disco explosion, to which Laroye brings much extra shimmy and sway. Then there's Roy's 'Let The Music Play', sampling an unknown (to us) number that - don't get caught off guard - certainly *isn't* Shannon's freestyle hit from 1983. Whatever it is though, it's a banger too!
Review: When she made her debut on Far Out way back in 2003, Sabrina Malheiros was hailed as the queen of "nu-bossa" - a contemporary, nu-jazz era update of vintage Brazilian bossanova that blended the best of the past and present. Interestingly, on Clareia - her first album for six years - Malheiros has chosen to avoid contemporary thrills in favour of a set of songs inspired by the "golden age" of Brazilian music (that's the '70s and early '80s). In practice, that means doffing a cap to rich and hazy, jazz-funk influenced boogie ("Celebrar", "Sol Ceu E Mar"), languid sunshine disco ("Renescera"), gentle bossa and samba-soul. Naturally, Malheiros's sublime vocals take centre stage, guaranteeing an eyes-closed dreaminess throughout.
Review: DJ Kuna Maze was born Edouard Gilbert and is a Brussels-based producer and multi-instrumentalist who excels at life-affirming, soul-drenched broken beats. Layers is his second album and it features such joys as 'Stab' and 'Bristol Changes' which do a good job of informing you what the energy of his live band performances is like. Influenced by those touring experiences, Kuna Maze blends jazz, house and dub in a way that is so hot right now in the UK. The album's title represents his creative process of layering instruments and tracks to create depth and complexity and is what makes this such a rewarding one to keep revisiting time and time again.
Storm Before The Calm (feat Kaidi Akinnibi) (3:01)
Review: As fast-rising underground stars in their own right, you'd expect any collaborative album from soul-fired South London singer/songwriter/beat-maker Tom Misch and prolific jazz drummer Yussef Dayes (best known for his now long-running collaboration with Kamaal Williams) to be rather good. "What Kinda Music" is, with the pair mixing and mangling elements of soul, jazz-funk, electronica and jazz, a set that defies easy categorisation. Both musicians exceed themselves throughout, with tipsy electronics, sweeping strings, bass, effects-laden guitars, woozy synth lines and Misch's heartfelt, soul-flecked vocals offering a perfect foil for Dayes' loose-limbed, headline-grabbing drumming.
Review: Berlin's Moses Yoofee Trio return with their first new material since 2023's Ocean. Recorded over ten days at Glaswald Studios in April 2024, with two additional tracks finished at Leiter's Funkhaus studio in Berlin, the album is available on vinyl. Produced with long-time collaborator oh.no.ty, the standout track 'WHIP.wav' showcases their sophisticated jazz, driven by Moses' fluid piano lines, Noah Furbringer's deft drumming, and Roman Klobe-Baranga's understated bass. The trio's minimalist approach distills their sound to its essence, letting their prodigious talents shine, focusing on "emotions, moments, and bangers."
Review: Rising Canadian guitar dexter Bobby Bazini presents the 7" vinyl edition of one of his latest singles, 'Waterfallin'', which features none other than Gilles Peterson on an even rarer remix. With source material from one of five of Bazini's Spanish guitar debuts - 'Waterfallin'' having emerged from the affective foams and mistings-up of a friend, Connor, whose performance in front of him on the nylon guitar conjured images of a waterfall in Bazini's head - Peterson brings a folktronic verve to Bazini's originally vintage, Latin disco vision, dousing it in evermore pipe reverb as if to liken it to a steep cataract's rapids.
Review: Last year, Kiko Navarro unveiled a regularly updated Spotify playlist, entitled TwentyFour, which he uses to showcase his favourote productions, reworks of other artists, an d remixes if his work. That playlist has now spawned the first of what we believe will be an ongoing series of EPs. The long-serving Spanish artist (and Afroterraneo Music founder) begins by showcasing his fine, pleasingly rolling re-edit of Blaze's hybrid soulful house/Earth Wind & Fire style disco classic, 'Breathe', before treating us to a superb, sample-heavy and piano-rich Tucillo remix of his own 'The First Time'. Over on side B, he serves up some bouncy disco-house action ('Jammin' All Night Long', with its female spoken word vocals, jazzy pianos and killer groove) and an authentic-sounding Afrobeat re-make of 'Isao' by DJ Fudge.
Now Is The Time (Ashley Beedle Warbox dubplate special)
You Wish
Mind Eye
Argha Noah
Calling
Dreddoverboard
Thinking Of Omara
Be There
Les Nuits
Morse
I Am You (live in Chicago)
Passion
Give Thx
195 lbs
70s 80s
Flip Ya Lid
Be, I Do
(Man) Tha Journey
Now Is The Time
Bless My Soul
Da Feelin
African Pirates
Mega Donutz
Mission Venice
Dextrous
Aftermath
I'm For Real
Set Me Free (Piano dub)
Nights Interlude
Review: Amazingly, it's 25 years since George 'E.A.S.E' Evelyn and then production partner Kevin 'Boy Wonder' Harper sat down and recorded "Dextrous", their monstrous, bleep-era classic on Warp. A quarter of a century later, Evelyn is still going strong, though the grooves have mellowed a lot in that time. Here, Warp celebrate the producer's epic career with a much-deserved retrospective. All the familiar favourites are present, from the rush-inducing thrill of early dancefloor smashers "I'm For Real" and "Aftermath", to the sinewy downtempo goodness of the decidedly Balearic "Les Nuits", the blazed hip-hop dub of "195 Llbs" and stoner soul of "70s 80s".
On The One (feat Mr Auden Allen & Renegade Brass Band) (2:56)
Only Because You're Around (feat Andrea Brown) (4:23)
Blockbuster (4:00)
Tears (4:14)
So Real (feat Lumi HD) (3:38)
Review: Since switching to original production following years spent offering up killer remixes and re-edits, Sam Redmore has released an increasingly impressive stream of singles. The consensus has been that has long-promised debut album, Universal Vibrations, would be extra-special. And so it has proved. Put simply, it's brilliant - a musically rich and expansive affair full of quality sung (and occasionally rapped) vocals, organic instrumentation (including inspired string and horn arrangements) and effortlessly good fusions of soul, broken beat, jazz-funk, disco, hip-hop, Afrobeat, Latin grooves, tropicala and head-nodding R&B. It's little less than a triumph and could end up being one of the most acclaimed albums of 2022.
Review: Fulgeance and Soulist continue their beautiful collaborative work together with a record that will tickle you pink. Literally... 'Guili' means tickle in French. Paying homage to acts like Azymuth, 'Guili' is a full adventure that never sits still as the synths and drums lead us into a carnivalesque groove laced with plenty of acid and a delicious slap bass section. 'Toro' continues this organic, live groove feeling with even bigger keys and loose limbed drums driving us to an almighty and chaotic breakdown. For added magic Art Of Tones is on side with a crucial remix. What a session.
Review: Motor City techno legend Jeff Mills founded the American-Japanese tech-jazz/jazz-funk group Spiral Deluxe as a live outfit four years ago, but they've only just got round to recording a debut album. It's rather special, all told, with each of the four original tracks being laid down in one take at Faber Studios in Paris. Consequently, there's a pleasingly fluid feel throughout, with epic opener "E-MC2" - all virtuoso piano solos, freaky jazz-funk electric bass and bumpin' beats - arguably offering the best representation of their sound. You'll find some fine techno/jazz-funk fusion on the slap-bass-propelled title track, while "Let It Go", featuring the mesmerizing vocals of Tanya Michelle, sounds like an end-of-night classic in waiting. Mills old pal Terrence Parker gives his interpretation of that track on side four, re-imagining the delicate and poignant original version as an organ-heavy slab of gospel house brilliance.
Review: It's a while since we last heard from Spiral Deluxe, the deep house/nu-jazz fusion project of Jeff Mills, fellow Underground Resistance affiliate Gerald Mitchell, jazz guitarist Kenji Hino and Buffalo Daughter member Umiko Ohno. Having previously released two EPs (in 2017 and 18 respectively), the quartet has finally got round to recording a debut album. Fusing beats and electronics rooted in deep house, jazz-funk and - in a roundabout way - Motor City tech-jazz - with the virtuoso playing of Hino and Ohno, the set delivers a more fluid, instantaneous and loose-limbed exploration of the jazz-house blueprint drawn up by St Germain in the early 1990s. Basically, it's an album that draws the best out of its contributors, and there's no greater praise than that.
Review: Disco creator T-Groove has received high praise on both the domestic Japanese and international scene. What better motive, then, to trade on his newly gilded name than to pair up with street drummer George Kano for a transformative set of grooves, in the form of 'Let Me Ride', 'Midnight Lady' and ensuing tracks? That's just what T-Groove has done on his latest record here for P-Vine, incorporating a fusion-like style exquisitely crossing between jazz, rock, Latin and quiet storm. A testament to the chemistry shared between T-Groove and Kano - drummer-and-producer-dyad extraordinaires - this is a well-cooked slice of late night urban fusion and groove.
Tony Allen - "Don't Believe The Dancers" (Mophono remix)
Midnight Hour - "Phoenix" (Theon Cross remix)
Katalyst - "Reflections" (Bei Ru remix)
Jean Carne - "Love Brings Happiness" (Melanie Charles remix)
Henry Franklin - "Black Rainbow" (Shabaka Hutchins remix)
Lonnie Liston Smith - "African Sun" (feat Kaidi Tatham - Tall Black Guy remix)
Garrett Saracho - "Altitude" (LO & Diisko remix)
Phil Ranelin & Wendell Harrison - "Running With The Tribe" (DJ Nyack remix)
Review: To mark the 20th instalment in their popular and ongoing series of collaborative albums, Jazz Is Dead, Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad have decided to serve up fresh remixes of cuts from the series' bulging back catalogue. Given the series love of fusing jazz's past and present, it's a concept that makes perfect sense. The resultant rubs are uniformly inspired, too, with our picks of a very strong bunch including Shabaka Hutchings' fantastic revision of Henry Franklin hook-up 'African Sun', Mophono's psychedelic, dancefloor-ready tweak of Tony Allen collaboration 'Don't Believe The Dancers' (which comes complete with heavy drums and hazy, Fela-esque horns), Theon Cross's drum & bass style re-imagining of 'Phoenix' (featuring the Midnight Hour), and Bei Ru's duty, head-nodding hip-hop interpretation of Katalyst collab 'Reflections'.
Typhorns - "Nightlife" (feat Trudy Newman - Full Jazz version) (5:54)
2 Men 4 Soul - "Spread Your Sax" (5:16)
The Sonic Family - "Never Stop Dreaming (Never Stop Jazz Dream)" (6:03)
Voo Doo Phunk - "Starsky" (5:20)
Soul Quality Quartet - " Amor Ideal" (4:27)
Man Sueto - "Mansueto Theme" (3:01)
Review: ** REPRESS ALERT ** Released back in 2014 on Bologna's Irma, Acid Jazz Classics: The Finest Club Jazz Tracks From The 90s Till Now features a couple of dozen underground goodies from the modern jazz scene - fusing with soul, funk and house music. From the beginning of the '90s up until today, with new artists influenced by nu-jazz. With the best artists from the European acid jazz scene and Japan, many of these tracks were played by DJs like Gilles Peterson, Patrick Forge and Dr. Bob Jones. Featuring Jestofunk, Sarah Jane Morris, 2 Men 4 Soul, Bossa Nostra, Gazzara, Black Mighty Orchestra, Black & Brown, Ohm Guru and many others.
Review: On the cover of his first album for a decade, saxophonist Kamasi Washington stares intently out, the universe stretching out to infinity behind him. You see, Washington is something of a Sun Ra acolyte, and there's something of the great man's spiritual, psychedelic and far-sighted feel about The Epic. Rooted in a loose, soulful and occasionally riotous blend of spiritual jazz, it more than lives up to its' name, stretching across three themed CDs. While Washington's tenor sax offers a focal point throughout, it's merely part of a greater ensemble effort - Sun Ra Arkestra style - that helps The Epic fly by in a flurry of loose-limbed drums, rubbery double bass, hammered-out pianos and intoxicating vocals.
Review: There's a growing feeling both inside and outside jazz that Kamasi Washington could well turn out to be one of the style's all-time greats. He's certainly making all the right moves, delivering thought-provoking concept albums of eyebrow-raising length that simply refuse to settle on one sound, rhythm, style or sub-genre. Heaven & Earth, his first album for almost three years, continues this trend, comprising angry instrumental answers to America's growing issues with class division and racism, Rotary Connection style workouts, Sun Ra-esque spiritual workouts, funk and soul-influenced burners, spiraling choral and orchestral affairs, and electric fusions of rubbery synth-funk and mind-altering jazz-blues. Typically, the results are never less than sublime, with Washington's virtuoso saxophone playing taking centre stage throughout.
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