Review: Various - With Love: Volume 2 - Compiled by miche (Mr Bongo)

Down in deepest Dorset, well Bournemouth anyway, we like to thing that superstar DJ miche is our very own; but it's not been that way for a while as he puts together another 'original' compilation that's done 'With Love' and has taken him all over the globe.

Miche has definitely found a niche in soul, funk, jazz, Latin, disco deep diggin' fraternity following in the footsteps of Peterson/Charles/Scruff/Luke Una and particularly his mentor,  Mr. Glücklich himself, Rainer Trüby (see review HERE).

There's definitely a 70s Disco going on with soulful vocals and a huge horn appreciation as it's like a 'What followed Northern Soul' as all these tracks are super rare.  

And all are great but highlights include the two Billy Boomer tracks, 'Take To The Sky' by Mixed Generaton Enterprize, the 'Solar Radio' styled 'You And Me' (Mark Meadows) and a big 'As' by The Family Tree [stonking cover of the Stevie Wonder classic]: The Family Tree being a side project of Julius Brockington (see more on him HERE).

You might wan't to 'Save The Best 'Til Last' (Alice Cohen & Fun City) or the digs he's found in Brazil; and from Chile, what a closer, 'Te A Mare Mas Asi' (sung in english) by Rogers Mitchell.

Refering to my 'We Out Here' 2023 festival programme, 'Staff Picks' section, Miche played B2B with Rainer on the Grove Stage for nearly 3 hours so here's a chance to see what you missed 'With Love'; well 50% of it anyway.

'With Love' Volume 1 came out this time last year and worth checking it out if you've not done so already. 

Artist : Various Artists

Title : With Love: Volume 2 - Compiled by miche

Release Date : 06th October, 2023

Catalog Number : MRBCDLP280

Label : Mr Bongo

Format : 2XLP (Pink Limited) 2xLP (Black) / CD / Digital

Review: Atjazz & Shea Soul - Home (Reel People Music)

As all fans of Atjazz know, there's never going to be a moment when a new release from him or Atjazz Record Company isn't going to be of the highest quality; so why should his latest collaboration with Shea Soul be any different?

No reason at all, equally as mesmorizing as the recent release on Atjazz's label by Mr OFFBeat (see review HERE) but here on Reel People Music it's got that throbbing soul sound that's perfectly captured by Shea Soul; I'll even forgive the "Na, Naa, Nana, Naa, Naaahs".

As origin, radio edit and instrumental versions it'll get you on the dancefloor in a end of summer last hurrah before you get safely home.

PS. Don't forget the label only just released this killer by Mothers Favorite Child and the legendary Robin S called 'Tonight' as remixed by Opolopo - see review HERE)

Artist: Atjazz & Shea Soul 

Title: Home

Release date: 29th September, 2023

Label : Reel People Music
 

Catalog Number : RPM113 Digital / Bandcamp

Review: Dora Morelenbaum - Vento De Beirada EP (Mr Bongo)

Dora Morelenbaum doesn't sound like a tradition Brasilian name, but trust me, everyone who hears her says she's the new Joyce; and we agree.

So we first encountered Dora on the compilation 'Hidden Waters: Strange and Sublime Sounds of Rio de Janeiro' (see review HERE) and as one of Bala Desejo (yes, they of the best new Latin/Brazilian album in years, 'Sim, Sim, Sim' - see reveiw HERE).

So it's fantastic, and not very surprising, that her solo works are as about as opposite to  Ana Frango Elétrico (aka 'Ana Electric Chicken') as you can get (see review HERE of her 'Electric Fish EP').

Indeed, the mood is somewhat somber, reflective, sereen but with the voice of an angel (perhaps that should be redeemer?) on 'Avermelhar' and 'Dó a Dó' with the addition of big Hollywood strings (apparently arranged by her Dad); got a touch of Carlos Niño going on about this.

'Japão' falls between these two tracks and it the one destined to get radio airplay as it is influenced by her parents' association with Ryuichi Sakamoto (who sadly passed away earlier this year) in a Brasil meets Japan style whilst the clarinet on 'Vento De Beirada' takes the track to the next level of lovely.

This four track version of the EP is available on 12" and I think they won't hanging around for long and you don't want to end up red faced do you? 

Artist: Dora Morelenbaum

Title: Vento De Beirada EP 

Release date: 29th September, 2023

Label : Mr Bongo

Catalog Number : MRB12058

Format :  Digital / Bandcamp

Reveiw: Joseph Malik - Adjust Like Dat (Ramrock Red Records)

Craig Charles' favourite track of the new album, 'Adjust Like Dat' has just got a single release on Ramrock Red Records as vocal and instrumental versions.

Can we possibly say how good the album is, 'Proxima Ebony' (see review HERE) but if Mr Charles plays any track on BBC 6 Music's flagship 'Funk & Soul' show 3 (count 'em) weeks in a row, you know it's a tune.  And even more gratifing that's it's Joseph's tribute to his Dad, Francis Ukachukwu Malik (hence the tradition Nigerian dress in Igbo tribal colours.

And for those with a ear for this kinda of thing, you might reckonise Darren Morris' backing track is a cover of Norman 'The Harris Machine' Harris' 'In Good Faith' that got a wider audience when the 1980 track turned up on Harmless' compilation, 'Jazzy Vibes - Soulful Jazz Licks From The 70s'. 

Getting back to Mr. Malik's track, did someone say Jo Wallace is on back vocals?  And what's Joseph's Bill Wither's story anyway?

Artist: Joseph Malik 

Title: Adjust Like Dat 

Release date: 29th September, 2023

Label: Ramrock Red

Cat. No: RRR053

Format: Bandcamp / Digital

Review: Two Things Of Gold - Two Things Of Gold (A.MA Records)

Two Things Of Gold are a mother and son duo o Francesca Sortino and Diego Lombardo and it's more than a big pot from Rome.

In a departure from the straight jazz that A.MA Records are known for (like Enrico Bracco, Antonio Trinchero, Enrico Le Noci, Pippo D'Ambrosio, Opus Trio, Davide Peluso Quartet  (not withstanding the remixes by Chicago's Elbert Phillips), Two Things Of Gold (let's say TTOG) are on the jazz end of beats n' Baleraics which maintains through this 14 track album.

You get a little bit of rap ('FIne', 'Where Flamingos Fly', 'You Go To My Head') but it's the whole vibe of "summer gentleness" that the band perfectly achieve; being Francesca (Vocals), Diego (beat and clarinet) with Roberto Rossi (horns), Alessandro Maiorino (bass), Alberto Parmegiani (guitar), Mauro Beggio (drums) and at times featuring Franco Piana (flugelhorn), Francesco Lento (trumpet), Sofia Ara (flute), Fabio Tullio (saxophone) and Pierpaolo Bisogno (vibraphone; 'Con Alma' and 'Wind Blows' are great!).

Francesco steals the show a couple of times, notably 'Nothing Gold Can Stay' and 'Malachi',  but the single 'Rooms To Go' (and the next one, 'Wind Blows'?) are natural highlights (as is the afro-jazz centric 'Noru') and together with the 'band' tracks, like 'Nowadays', 'Con Alma', 'Lover' and 'Much Love To Earthward' work the best; perhaps that should be 'jazz-beat band' as, dare I say, Two Things Of Gold are a little Futuristica Music at times (wonder what Peter Franks would say about that?), a little bit early Cinematic Orchestra and equally, that other great Italian label that has produced such fantastic, nu-jazz, soul, funk, jazz, downtemp, Afro, Latin and more, Schema Records. 

That said, the remix potential for a Reel People style 'Soulful Deep & Dope Ibiza' compilation is massive, (are you ready Elbert?) but for now, lets enjoy Two Things Of Gold as it is - trust me, it sounds better on every listen.

And it's been a really strong week for this kinda of laid-back soul-jazz beats; the more 'world' album by Eric Hilton with Natalia Clavier, 'Corazón Kintsugi' also being released (see review HERE) so there's only one thing to do, get both!

Artist: Two Things Of Gold 

Title: Two Things Of Gold 

Release date: 29th September, 2023

Label : A.MA Reforged / A.MA Records

Catalog Number : CD / Digital / Bandcamp 

Artist: Two Things Of Gold

Title: Two Things Of Gold

Release date: 29th September, 2023

Label : A.MA Reforged / A.MA Records

Catalog Number : CD / Digital / Bandcamp 

Review: KAYYAK - Mönchhof Amour (feat. Xenia Lasareva) (rumpelmusig)

Fans of the disco new wave that found favour in New York with Talking Heads a few decades ago will hear echos in this killer track from KAYYAK called, 'Mönchhof Amour'.

As a Swiss label, rumpelmusig (no capital 'R') got a winner with the last KAYYAK single 'Let Love Find Itself' (as featured on last month's Colour & Pitch Session) and split with the equally wild 'Dancing In The Dark' by Kalabrese who happens to be head honcho, "producer, DJ, club owner and village romantic" at the label.

Whilst that track had more Europe in it ('Disco to Disco' perhaps, Xenia Lasareva adds additional vocal to 'Mönchhof Amour' asking us about going to Italy.  

Well if it's the country or Little Italy, we'll be taking it to the dancefloor (the extended 8 minute version as opposed to the radio edit) and the next big hit.

BMusic | Rumpelmusig (bandcamp.com)

Colour and Pitch · Colour and Pitch Sessions with Sumsuch - August 2023

Artist: KAYYAK feat. Xenia Lasareva

Title: Mönchhof Amour   

Release date: 29th September, 2023

Label : rumpelmusig

Catalog Number : RUMP011 Digital / Bandcamp 

Review: Eric Hilton with Natalia Clavier - Corazón Kintsugi (Montserrat House)

Eric Hilton has been on the boarders of house for nearly 30 years as half of the seminal Theivery Corporation and together with singer Natalia Clavier, the new release on the Montserrat House label, 'Corazón Kintsugi' shows how to use all that experience to craft something special.

Those house boarders have long been on the trip-hoppy jazz side, like the tone set by the title track 'Corazón Kintsugi' featuring the dreamy vocals of Argentinian singer-songwriter Natalia Clabier (who you may recall on the "Theives" album 'Saudade', one of 12 albums that they made over the years).

If you need a more of a Latin jazz-funk dancefloor vibe, 'Nene', 'Tres Sesenta' and 'Cada Vez' are the ones with a groovy bassline that nealy steals Natalia's performance. 

Hilton (as Theivery Corp.) was so influencial (as masters of the trip/dub/downtempo/future jazz genre and check their many remixes including our favourites Rockers HiFi) and with tracks like 'Amor Astral' and 'Divagar' he's lost none of the cross-over elegance (and he plays nearly all the instruments on the album) plus Clavier's Spanish/Portuguese vocals perfectly fit the Latin-world trip vibe.

Fans of Antiques Roadshow to Flog It! will know that Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold/silver/platinum dusted lacquer.  And being Japanese, it almost goes without saying that there's a philosophy at the heart of the process, the breakage and repair beng the history of the object rather than something you should attermpt to hide.  And Corazón is Spanish for heart - did you see what they did there?

Clearly, there's nowt broken or in need of repair on these nine tracks: lets dub out with 'Luna'.

Artist: Eric Hilton with Natalia Clavier 

Title: Corazón Kintsugi

Release date: 29th September, 2023

Label : Montserrat House
 

Catalog Number : MH026 Digital / Bandcamp 

Review: Darius Jones - fLuXkit Vancouver (i̶t̶s̶ suite but sacred) (Northern Spy / We Jazz Record)

Is any free jazz suite an easy listen?  Let's hope the answer to that one is a 'NO' in a traditional sense of "easy" but I found this four track LP an easy listen in that it was mezmorizing (as the cover), intriging, and fun (check out the 'score' video below).

With a group consisting of Darius Jones (alto saxophone, composer), Gerald Cleaver (drums), James Meger (bass), Jesse Zubot (violin), Josh Zubot (violin) and Peggy Lee (cello) the 'unusual' set-up of 'jazz' trio and strings certainly adds a certain Nonclassical vibe to proceedings.

Certainly would be an interesting mix if there was a Darius Jones approach to avant garde gods Ayler/Coleman and the like, even last weeks' 'The Betrayal' by ENEMY (see review HERE).

And for any doubters, Free-Jazz is not cheap jazz, the musicians here are excellent; indeed to quote the press release, it's an "earthy blend of compositional and sacred music where sound becomes visual, emotional, and visceral"!

Artist: Darius Jones
Title: fLuXkit Vancouver (i̶t̶s̶ suite but sacred) 
Release date: 29th September, 2023
Label : We Jazz Records
Catalog Number : WJLP054 / CD / Digital / Bandcamp 

Review: Idrissa Soumaoro - Diré (Mieruba)

"[it's] shaping up to be the year of the Touareg takeover. Fortunately the appetite for the heavy, bluesy, desert rock made famous by Tinariwen is matched by the supply of fine bands".*

This is what we were saying in 2006 and whilst Tinariwen remain the most well known of the desert blues World/WOMAD discoveries (indeed you'll probably have spotted that they've got a new album just out, 'Amatssou'] for "supply", here's Idrissa Soumaoro on a longer awaited and very rare album during the past 20 years from Idrissa Soumaoro.

Composer, singer, guitarist and master of the kamalen n’goni he sings in French, Bambara and English and throughout the album it's a awash with distinctly West African stringed instruments, percussion with flute and balafon and a very 60s sounding organ; I'd like to think that if the Small Faces ever chilled out in the Desert, they'd produce such a masterpiece as 'Diré'.

For the single, 'Sababou' I'm still love the organ on this, like a Brian Auger goes to Mali; Malian Mod? Beautifully sung, it's lovely throughout with highlights like 'Don't Worry' and 'N'den tedi'.  There's even a bit of a jazz dance percussion on 'Yélé', brilliant stuff.

The mainstream press (such as MOJO, Uncut, Songlines, The Guardian and the like) will be championing this album (quite rightly) as it's a 10 track love song for 'Diré', a town where he met his wife: I'm in love with 'Diré' (the album) too!

Artist: Idrissa Soumaoro

Title: Diré 

Release date: 22nd September, 2023

Label : Mieruba

Catalog Number : -

Format: LP / CD / Digital / Bandcamp 

*FLY Global Music - El Tanbura - 'Between The Desert And The Sea' Review: 06 October 2006 (see HERE)

Review: GODTET feat. Novak Manojlovic - +Strings (La Sape Records)

Fans of the experimental/electronic/ambient jazz of GODTET (and indeed La Sape Records) know that they are partial to a bit of a '+' experiment but this is the first time it's been recorded as a live album and with the addition of Australian pianist Noval Manojlovic and a string quartet.

It's was apparently Noval's idea of the 'classical' strings and it really work as an experimental (lets hope Godriguez/they are all best buds now as we definitely want more of this.  

Love the faint 'Love Supreme' vs shoegaze vs. heavy percussion of 'Lilt' and you can't blame 'em if sometimes it slips in the 70s prog sphere of say a Camel ('Nautical') but not a Gentle Giant.  Jazz funkers, it's  'Broadening'.

This is GODTET's fifth album and a couple of years ago I said, "Ambient jazz club types that fall in the Cinematic Orchestra/Portico Quartet envelope with be onto GODTET's trio of tracks, Meditation I, II & III as a beautiful landscape of outer spatial sounds".

'+Strings' was performed in a former women's prison at VIVID Festival in Sydney 2022 and this recording has certainly captured an 'atmospheric' that's mezmorising in just an audio format; check the appropriately named 'Texture'. 

You don't have to be Jez Nelson to love this and many thanks to the label for making this event more widely available.

Artist: GODTET feat. Novak Manojlovic 

Title: +Strings

Release date: 22nd September, 2023

Label La Sape Records

Cat. No. :  SAPE026

Format: Digital / Bandcamp