The Austrian ‘krautjazz’ septet Shake Stew are celebrating ten years of heavy, rhythmic improvisational jazz this year with an outrageously ambitious double album called ‘TEN ONE TWO’. This isn’t a ‘Best Of’ record, Lukas Kranzelbinder’s outfit have recorded sixteen new compositions (plus a third edition out later in the year) and they are a powerful reminder of their status in European jazz circles. Not unlike the great Sons Of Kemet (RIP), their lineup of two bassists, two drummers and three horns make a serious statement - hypnotic grooves, intense interplay and a trancelike attitude to improvisation. It’s amazing. Read / Listen.
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Cover art & design - Fiona Ryan)
Assiko Golden Band De Yoff 'Magg Tekki' (Sing a Song Fighter / Mississippi Records) - a review
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.
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Silvan Strauss 'Facing' (Kabul Fire) - a review
Hamburg-based drummer and composer Silvan Strauss has created a debut album of ten short but dazzling micro-instrumentals. With fifteen collaborators in total, his creations veer between Madlib style jazz cut-ups to filmic beatscapes that showcase his brilliant drumming chops, never taking the focus away from the audience. “I wanted to make it so that people love to listen to it. It’s a little wonky, sure a few imperfections but fuck it, it’s fun and alive!”. Read / Listen
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Edrix Puzzle 'Deep in Dionne' (On The Corner Records) - Single Premiere!
We present the PREMIERE of Edrix Puzzle’s second single from their forthcoming collision of cosmic jazz and heavyweight dub-funk - ''Coming Of The Moon Dogs” - released on On The Corner Records, the single is a militant yet loose drum and free violin number, a march to the cosmos through burning stars. Read / Listen
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Alabê KetuJazz 'Kan' (Poeira Music / Memória Discos) - a review
The inspirational São Paulo-based DJ, producer and compiler, Tahira, has set up a new label and the inaugural album release by the labels is ‘Kan’ by the Brazilian/French duo Alabê KetuJazz. The record is an exceptional blend of Pharaoh Sanders-esque lyrical saxophone and the intricate ritualistic rhythms of the Candomblé religion. Both are practitioners of the Brazilian faith and their sensitive and deeply felt beliefs make this a truly ‘spiritual jazz’ record. They are spinning the tales of the Orixás into new shapes and it is seriously good. Read / Listen here
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Various Artists 'Covers 3' (Tru Thoughts) - a review
Tru Thoughts bring out the cover versions once again in the third installment of their ‘Covers’ series and there are beauties within. Hot 8 Brass Band, Quantic, Mark de Clive-Lowe, sUb_modU and J-Felix amongst many stirring up the ingredients and coming up with something fresh! Read / listen….
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Music that speaks To....Ben Marc
As Ben Marc’s brooding first single off his forthcoming LP ‘Glass Effect’ is released, we asked the in demand bassist and composer to select some music that rocks his boat and he’s chosen some beauties from Monk to Grieg, Mulatu to Radiohead….read / listen on
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Recondite Caribbean Gems: Rhythms of the Dominican Republic
An illuminating look and listen at the wondrous yet often overlooked rhythms of the Dominican Republic from Santo Domingo native and creative wunderkind Mauro Ferreiro. Read / listen here….
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