Nino Gvilia 'Nicole' (Hive Mind Records) - single premiere!

November 23, 2023

Video and single premiere! We invite you to enter the strange and enchanting world of Nino Gvilia, where nothing is quite what it seems. ‘NICOLE’ is the first track of the eponymous two EP's project (presented on one disc in March 2024 on Hive Mind Records) that will draw you deep into her dreamlike sound-world of hushed late night atmospherics and surreal songwriting. Watch // Listen.

Nino Gvilia - video interview

November 20, 2023

As we prepare to premiere (this Thursday!) the first song from her forthcoming double E.P. release on Brighton’s excellent Hive Mind Records, we are happy to present a short video interview with the enigmatic Georgian singer-songwriter Nino Gvilia.

Assiko Golden Band De Yoff 'Magg Tekki' (Sing a Song Fighter / Mississippi Records) - a review

November 14, 2023

If drums are your thing then this sensational debut album from the Senegalese band Assiko Golden Band De Yoff will blow your head off. The massed ranks of the Dakar-based outfit teamed up with Swedish producer and Sing a Song Fighter label boss Karl Jonas Winqvist after meeting in 2018, somehow pulling this record together via recordings in Senegal and Sweden. With the subtle addition of sax, accordion and kora, some of these potent songs signpost the Senegalese connections to Brazil’s bloco de rua traditions, others offer a link to the Caribbean but the source is always Senegal. In alliance with Mississippi Records, we now have this brilliant album to listen to and own and I can’t recommend it enough. If you know about Babatunde Olatunji’s ‘Drums Of Passion’, then you know I’m making a big call saying this offers that same energy. Read / Listen.

TONN3RR3 X BIKAYE 'It's a Bomb' (Born Bad Records) - a review

November 8, 2023

It’s been forty years since the great Congolese innovator Bony Bikaye released his collaborative cult masterpiece ‘Noir et Blanc’ on Crammed Discs, an album that merged his wildly unconventional vocals with the edgiest of electronic textures. Now, after decades outside of the industry, he has returned with the Parisian production trio TONN3RR3, once again in search of the musical spaces in between. His voice is stronger and more unhinged than ever, the post-club dynamism of TONN3RR3 a perfect foil for his singular sound. Read / Listen.

Harper Trio 'Passing By' (Little Yellow Man Records) - a review

November 3, 2023

For decades, the harp was a rare flower dotted meagerly amongst the accepted solo instruments that were afforded respect in the world of jazz. Outstanding harpists such as Alice Coltrane and Dorothy Ashby needed new generations to recognise their genius and worth but now, on the shoulders of these giants, we live in a golden era of jazz-harpists and Greek born Maria-Christina Harper will surely find herself in the frontline with her debut album. Harper Trio’s exploratory merging of Mediterranean folkloric influences and bluesy expression alongside touches of the contemporary avant-garde offers a new way of viewing the instrument and how it can be played. Alongside the brilliant Josephine Davies on saxophone and Evan Jenkins on drums, she has created an outstanding album that vibrates with its own distinct personality. Read / Listen.

The Belgian Soundtrack: A Musical Connection of Belgium with Cinema (1961-1979) (Sdban Ultra)

October 31, 2023

If you’re a fan of film soundtracks, sample-hunting or just a lover of evocative music, then this new compilation from the excellent Belgian label Sdban Records is for you. After the discovery of 650 soundtrack LPs in the attic of a former film journalist, the soundtrack addicts and researchers Robin Broos and Tom ‘Pélé’ Peeters waded through the entirety of the haul to bring us this brilliant collection of music that has in various ways, a Belgian connection. There are barely known composers and there are the super-famous, all of them are great. Read / Listen.

A08 'Waiting For Zion' (Compost Records) - a review

October 27, 2023

Formerly known as Africaine 808, the German duo Dirk Leyers and DJ Nomad (AKA Hans Raabe) return under the name A08. Their name may have changed but their ability to weave the polyrhythms and melodic traits of many cultures into their club-ready productions hasn’t changed. With star guests from Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, Trinidad and Germany along for the ride, ‘Waiting For Zion’ has Grime X West Africa collisions, jazzy bruk sounds, Caribbean electronica and a host of hard-to-define tracks that work just as well at home as on the dancefloor. Big recommendation. Read / Listen.

The KBCS / Shirley Turner - I Wish You A World Of Happiness (Sonar Kollektiv) - a review

October 26, 2023

The ace German label Sonar Kollektiv have a superb double-headed 7” coming soon that includes an unheard and remastered take of Shirley Turner’s 1965 Northern Soul stomper ‘I Wish You A World Of Happiness’ and a brilliant Modern Soul / 2-Step Soul interpretation by The KBCS who have taken it into Bobby Caldwell / Roy Ayers territory. Read / Listen.

Move 78 'Grains' (Village Live Records) - a review

October 20, 2023

Move 78’s third studio album is another fine example of their unique way of creating music. Take a core of skilled jazz musicians from Berlin, let them jam and improvise around riffs and motifs whilst sampling and processing live back into the mix. Then record the results, remix, add featured instrumentalists, remix again and what do we have? A surprisingly organic sounding record that merges groove-heavy jazz moods, hypnotic atmospherics and psychedelic hues. Read / Listen.

Lagos Thugs 'Chaos' (Immensum Music) - a review

October 17, 2023

Lagos Thugs are a young 12-piece Afrobeat orchestra from Nigeria in the vein of the classic Africa 70 and Egypt 80 outfits of Fela Kuti. Led by singer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Adetunji Adeyemi, the band have come a long way since their inception in 2020. On this, their debut album, they deliver four lengthy new compositions that hark back to the golden eras but also mark out new ideas with touches of New Orleans style brass collisions and a touching and soulful vulnerability. With forthcoming projects with Ezra Collective and more coming, Lagos Thugs are bringing that home-grown authenticity back to the genre. Read / Listen

Web Web x Max Herre 'WEB MAX II' (Compost Records) - a review

October 16, 2023

German jazz supergroup WEB WEB return for their second collaborative album with Max Herre for Compost Records and it is an exceptional dive into the more cosmic sounds of the 70s with Krautrock and Spiritual influences adding multicolours to their tight compositional chops. With guests including Carlos Gabriel Niño and Marja Burchard from Embryo adding their magic dust, ‘WEB MAX II’ is an easy album to love even if you’re only jazz-curious. Read / Listen.

E.R.Thorpe 'E.R.Thorpe' (Cwm Saerbren) - a review

October 6, 2023

E.R. Thorpe’s self-titled E.P. of smouldering and spectral ‘dark folk’ came out in July and has been a presence on our playlists for some time. A member of The Low Drift and a collaborator with Huw Costin and the late Mark Lanegan, Emma’s beautifully constructed songs of poetic uncertainty draw in religious visions, nature’s murmurings and the unsaid thoughts of the self. Fans of PJ Harvey etc will love this. Read / Listen.

Rave At Your Fictional Borders 'Potion Trigger' (Dave De Rose Records) - single premiere!

October 4, 2023

We are zinged to premiere the bone-rattling title track from Rave At Your Fictional Borders forthcoming E.P. 'Potion Trigger'! Dave De Rose’s collab project sees top class musicians improvising and composing on the wire, creating a moment of cosmic motorik intensity that shakes itself silly somewhere between Hawkwind and Underground Resistance. Read / Listen.

Torben Westergaard 'The Gori Project II' (Torben Westergaard Musik) - a review

September 29, 2023

With 18 albums under his belt and over 40 years of musical connectivity at the heart of his practice, the Danish composer and educator Torben Westergaard is a musician striving to work in an egoless environment. On his fantastic new album 'The Gori Project II', his second immersion into the merging of influences between Nordic jazz and Korean folk music has come good, creating something that belongs entirely to the four musicians involved. Cinematic, theatrical and blissed out at times, the album really does take you away. Read / Listen.

Diepkloof United Voice 'Harmonizing Soweto: Golden City Gospel & Kasi Soul from the new South Africa' (Ostinato Records)

September 28, 2023

During lockdown you may have been lucky enough to catch the viral phone video of nine young South African men singing a heart-bursting song called ‘Too Late For Mama’ a capella in a darkened room. These wonderful singers are Soweto’s Diepkloof United Voice and thanks to New York’s Ostinato Records (who discovered them via said video), they now have a debut album coming out in November. The word ‘essential’ gets way overused in the hype game of musical releases but this really is. The combined voices of this new generation of Mzansi gospel singers is a gift. Read / Listen..

Daniel Ögren 'Fastingen-92' (Mr Bongo) - a review

September 21, 2023

Originally released in 2020 on Sing A Song Fighter, Daniel Ögren’s brilliantly uncategorisable 'Fastingen-92' LP is being lovingly repressed by Brighton’s Mr Bongo (sing hossana!). A founding member of cosmic soul outfit Dina Ögon and a contributor to Sven Wunder’s musical universe, Daniel is a prime example of Sweden’s new golden age of musicians, producers and labels. Hugely ambitious in scope, he slides easily from cinematic orchestral grooves into Balearic dreamscapes via pan-global dancing oddities without ever being too difficult to understand. In an alternative dimension, this would be topping the mainstream charts. Read / Listen.

Viva el Sábado: Peruvian disco pop hits (1978-1989) (Buh Records)

September 19, 2023

Luis Alvarado from Buh Records has dug deeper than most to find this treasure trove of obscure Peruvian disco and disco-adjacent wobblers from 1978-89. Some are raw and untamed, some are as shiny as the 80s demanded but all are fun and funky! Read / Listen.

Luzmila Carpio 'Inti Watana: El Retorno del Sol' (ZZK) - a review

September 13, 2023

The great Bolivian Andean singer, producer and activist Luzmila Carpio hasn’t released a new album in a decade (she has made over 25 though!) but she is now back with a beautiful collaboration with Argentinian folktronica producer Leonardo Martinelli that is both charming and deeply emotional in equal measure. Luzmila’s voice has lost none of its power or childlike wonder and her songs of ritual, communion and ceremony merge seamlessly with Martinelli’s soundscapes. A triumph. Read / Listen

Vumbi Dekula 'Congo Guitar' (Hive Mind / Sing A Song Fighter) - a review

August 23, 2023

There’s something special appearing soon for fans of the irresistible and hypnotic grooves of Congolese soukous and rumba. After 40 plus years of playing with some of the best dance orchestras, we shall have the first solo album from the legendary Congolese guitarist Kahanga Dekula aka ‘Vumbi’! Composed and recorded in just two days, this is the sound of the Congolese guitar traditions at its rawest. Complemented by the occasional use of Karl Jonas Winqvist’s rhythm box drum machine and subtle complementary backing vocals and percussion, Vumbi’s sparkling syncopated playing is front and centre. Bursting with joyful verve and bluesy intent, this co-release between Karl Jonas’ Sing A Song Fighter imprint and the UK’s brilliant Hive Mind Records is a standout of the year for me so far. Read / Listen.