On his seventeenth album, the French dub pioneer Brain Damage has assembled together the Japanese experimentalist Emiko Ota and the British dub-eccentric Mad Professor and made a brilliantly strange record of what he calls ‘Post-Dub’. It is, however, so much more than that title suggests. Each track is named after one of the many mysterious spirits unique to the Japanese imagination - the yōkai - and each song takes on the unfathomable characteristics of these creatures, be they malevolent or benevolent to us mortals. Musically, the album swings from post-punk edge to cavernous digi-dub to curious theatrical vignettes, always with this sense of esoteric wonder. Read / Listen.
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YAHYA a.k.a. Constantine Weir ‘Service Rendered’ (ITEZ) - a review
Aligned with his own path, Constantine Weir has travelled from the hothouse days of co-founding Galliano and their subsequent fame and splintering in the 90s’ to spending a decade studying the mysteries of Sufism in Senegal. Firmly back in London town, his music that he has returned to, carries the tales and wisdom of his experiences, spirituality merging with earthly love on this gorgeous Afro-folk-soul EP that channels the greats of Black music. With a voice and musical aesthetic that suggests heavy listening of Terry Callier, Curtis, Richie Havens and even further afield, ‘Service Rendered’ is a majestic collection of songs that, hopefully, signpost a full album to come. Read / Listen.
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Brion Gysin 'Junk' (WEWANTSOUNDS) - a review
Initially released in 1985 and only one year away from his passing, this expanded and remastered version of Beat guru, inventor and pioneering multi-disciplinary artist Brion Gysin’s ‘Junk’ finally sees a vinyl reissue after 40 years. Produced by the ace French producer Ramuntcho Matta and featuring the cream of the French underground at the time, plus jazz-experimentalist Don Cherry and Senegalese drum legend Abdoulaye Prosper Niang, the record is both deadly No Wave-y funky and definitely a bit strange. The song ‘Kick (Discomix)’ is worth the price of admission alone. Read / Listen.
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Rasha Nahas 'Desert' (Rmad Records) - a review
The debut album ‘Desert’ from Palestinian singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Rasha Nahas is an intoxicating combination of Weimar-era theatrics, rock’n’roll backbone and Rasha’s thrilling voice and poetry…. Read / Listen
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