fusion
New track/Video: Electric-jazz energisers Stellar Legions preview debut album with the cosmic grooves of ‘An Arp in Tunisia’
You might know Ghent based Sdban Records for their exquisite re-issues (think Raphael/’Stop Look and Listen’ or their ‘Utopic Cities’ jazz prog comp). Or maybe you grabbed ethio-dub fusionists Black Flower’s ‘Magma’ album in January, a record that’s destined to scorch into those best of ’22 lists. Well the Belgian label look set to make …
New Track/Video: Old friends/nu-jazz- Sam Wilkes and Jacob Mann announce collab album ‘Compositions’ with synth funk bubbler ‘Dr T’
What is genre? Is it a help or a hindrance to the maker and listener? LA’s pioneering label Leaving Records have an answer, flying with the strapline pun ‘Genre All’ and nuturing a catalogue that swerves definition, wide ranging in tone but unified by the drive to experiment whatever the starting points. Now comes news …
Album Review: Akusmi – Fleeting Future : pulsating electro-acoustic conversations with Fourth World sensibilities.
‘I want the future now’ pronounced Peter Hammill on one of his late seventies solo outpourings. Scroll forward almost half a century and producer/electronic musician Pacsal Bideau has been exploring his own avenue of future thinking. If you put him in a room with the old prog-curmudgeon, he might quiz Pete about which version of …
Album Review: L’Eclair- ‘Confusions’
It’s not surprising to hear that eclectic jazz funk instrumentalists L’Eclair and their record label go back a long way. Drifting home to Geneva from a London expedition in 2015 the band’s founders Sebastian Bui (keys) and Stefan Lilov (guitars) discovered a like- minded creative community revolving around the Bongo Joe record shop. Beyond the …
Album Review: Portico Quartet – ‘Monument’
I can still remember the kerfuffle Portico Quartet sparked off at Womad 2012…Where’s the hang drum? What’s this, loops? Is this dance music? For a crowd expecting the pastoral acoustic soundscapes of their first two records, the Mercury nominated ‘Knee Deep in the North Sea’ and follow up ‘Isla’, the sweeping electronica fused with upfront …
Album review: Final Step – ‘Disconnections’: passionate, rhythmic and unashamedly funky
I LOVE fusion bands. I really do. You never know what to expect, and that’s because they’re a fusion of flavours. Italian musicians in particular have always delivered when it comes to jazz music, a truly energetic burst of blues, funk and rock and roll. From the multi-lingual border region of Ticino, in Switzerland, guitarist …
Album Review: Caravela deliver the sparkling fusion of ‘Orla’
Now here’s a new thing beaming out from the London jazz firmament. Caravela, a five-piece multinational band from everywhere (well Portugal, South America and Australia), now based in the capital and delivering their debut LP Orla via None More Records. The record is just a bit different from the burgeoning body of work regularly rolling …
Limited EP: Pyjæn – Sage Secrets
‘Sage Secrets‘ is the latest EP from PYJÆN, a quintet that seamlessly melds funk, afro-beat and contemporary sounds with nods to hip-hop and disco, whilst acknowledging the heady days of 1920’s era jazz. The EP takes the listener on a tour of the group’s broad influences. It’s rock-solid rhythm section, triumphant brass fanfares and truly …
Not Forgotten: Lowell George – Thanks I’ll Eat it Here
One of the things that is most often remembered about Thanks I’ll Eat it Here is the fact that it was released just ten days before the Little Feat frontman’s early death. What is remembered less frequently is that Lowell George’s only solo album is very good indeed. Given that George had slowly been losing …
Premiere: Pocket Dragon reveal video for new single ‘Vagabond Capulet’
Five piece alternative Funk / jazz band Pocket Dragon have just announced a new double A side single ‘35 Degrees’/‘Vagabond Capulet’. It sees the band, who have been honing their skills both in the studio and playing at the likes of Cheltenham and Cambridge jazz festival give their neo-soul/fusion funk even more of a twist. …