Album Review : Ghana Special Volume 2 : a thrilling ‘burger-highlife’ compilation charting the roots of today’s afro-beats and so much more…
So, what makes a great compilation album? It so much more than flinging a gaggle of tracks together which have got a loose connection to a time or place or label or genre….and let’s not get started on the ‘Greatest Hits’ collection. No, outstanding compilation albums are assembled by people who know and care about …
Track/Video: Exquisite ambient music for a living city – Hong Kong based composer Olivier Cong announces new album ‘Tropical Church’.
A label with discernment is what you need to help you navigate the oceans of ambient electronica. Lawrence English’s Room40 provides such a service, “a beacon of sound…ringing out from the deepest south” as it’s strapline goes. So any transmission coming in from them is reassuringly one to tune into. Cue the news of the …
Album Review : Scott Lavene – ‘Disneyland in Dagenham’ : More alt-songs of wit, wisdom, life, love and laughs from the Essex story-teller.
Steve Earle coined the phrase ‘Hard-core Troubadour’ probably with one eye on himself and the other on Townes Van Zandt but it’s a tag you could easily stick into Scott Lavene’s bio. Yes he’s from Essex not Texas but there are plenty of trucks around Tilbury docks and his story in its own way fits …
Album Review: Kee Avil -‘Spine’: experimental pop with a thrilling, raw urgency from the Montreal artist.
Two years ago Montreal producer Kee Avil’s debut for Constellation ‘Crease’ turned heads with its leftfield pop mosaicism, an intricate patterning of vocal, sound and instrumental shapes set with experimental glue but framed in song form. Now at last we have the follow up ‘Spine’, again via Constellation, and a chance to engage with Avil’s …
Track/Video: Groove conscious, Ethio-jazz fusionists Sandman Project step forward to announce debut album ‘Where Did You Go?’
Tel Aviv based, global grooving combo Sandman Project are spot-on calling their new album (due June 7th via the irrepressible Batov Records) ‘Where Did You Go?’ It’s been six years since they whipped up the outer-national dance floors and airwaves with their ethio-jazz meets Habibi funk mega-EP ‘Royal Family’. DJ Kobayashi, Gideon Coe, Laurent Garnier …
Album Review : Nubiyan Twist – ‘Find Your Flame’: Pioneering global beats collective on scorching form for album number four.
Nubiyan Twist, the global beats collective lead by guitarist/producer Tom Excell, are in many ways pioneers of a contemporary big band sound. Front runners when it comes to forging afrobeat, jazz, soul, hip-hop, latin and dance, they’ve been defining their own space for almost a decade now while still managing to swerve the more formulaic …
Track/Video: Producer/composer Àbáse previews his re-energised new album ‘Awakening’ with the elevating afro-funk of ‘Menidaso (My Hope)’.
Hungarian keyboardist and producer Szabolcs Bognár aka Àbáse has been on the ‘one to watch’ list for a while now. A cornerstone in the Budapest nu-jazz/ afro-beat scene as a band leader, his first solo album, ‘Laroyê‘ in 2021 turned muso heads in his direction with its seamless weave of soulful beats, West African vibes …
Album Review: Bill Laurance/The Untold Orchestra-‘Bloom’: Gently moving, deceptively powerful orchestral jazz from the Snarky Puppy mainstay.
It’s tricky to summarise the range and significance of pianist and composer Bill Laurance’s musical CV to date. The chance hook-up as a student in Leeds, backing a young Michael League during his sojourn from the States; the subsequent return invitation to travel to the US to play in League’s new band the then unknown …
Album Review : Herandu – ‘Ocher Red’ : a dazzling jazz-fusion journey from the brothers Gavrilov.
If there was a section in the record store for ’Music by Brothers’ just imagine how expansive that would be. Stretching from the Everlys to the Johnsons, Louvins to the JAMC boys and beyond, the genre could probably consume all others. But there is something else about brotherly music-making, whether driven by love or hate, …
Album Review: Harvestman –‘Triptych: Part One’ : a breath-taking opening to an epic drone-folk series.
Steve Von Till (aka Harvestman) has always been a deep thinker who aims to reach beyond the surface level with his music. Probably more widely known as guitarist/vocalist/lynch pin of seminal post metal pioneers Neurosis and their experimental avant offshoot Tribes Of Neurot, his wider creative intentions have necessitated the release of a vibrant catalogue …