Friday, 5 July 2024

The Joseph Malik / Digital Liquid track 'Only Fans' gets a big remix treatment by the only fans that could, X-Press 2!Well, Ashley Beedle might be on the cards but it's be a while since he, Darren House and Darren Rock were rockin' up at Top Of The Pops with David Byrne doing the chart hit 'Lazy'.But since Ashley went off to do his own thing (and sometimes teaming up with Yam Who?), the two Darrens (aka Rocky and Diesel) really are X-Press 2 as the...
As an accompaniment to the amazing J-Jazz 'Free and Modern Jazz Albums From Japan 1954 - 1988' book by Tony Higgins and Mike Peden, BBE have gone the extra mile and produced a compilation CD of even more J-Jazz goodness.So what started out a specialist project in 2018 as a compilation, has grown into its own 'genre' of rare and exclusive Japanes jazz that only 'heads' like Higgins and Peden have the knowledge, enthusiasm and commitment to get...
Coincidence is amazing sometimes isn't it? There we are at the big festival this weekend and I overhear someone say, "Craig Charles plays all the best remixes on his Funk & Soul show" and the next day, we get 19 tracks on the The Craig Charles Trunk Of Funk Vol. 3 compilation.It hasn't been that long since Craig interviewed Ramrock Records' Jo Wallace for their 10 year anniversay Trunk Of Funk mix and whilst there's no Ramrock artists, he's...
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Black Diamond are not the type to be re-arranging deck chairs on their own Titanic as this new jazz album sails into port with all the passengers and crew fully on board.As unauthodox as any jazz musicians from Chicago, Artie Black and Hunter Diamond (Ed. did you see what they did there; Black Diamond?) lead the group that can be both duo and quartet incarnations.As a group, as in the single 'Say To Yourself', the busy group has a mix of the modern...
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The perfect answer to anyone who says there's nothing new in music anymore, this is so fresh, Surfin' Dave has promised to hang up twangin' guitars!Regular readers will know that we love a Japanese element, whether it's the incredible 400 page ' J Jazz - Free and Modern Jazz Albums From Japan 1954 - 1988', the more focused compilation 'East Wind: Revolutionary Japanese Jazz in the 70s' or 'DJ Notoya Presents Funk Tide: Tokyo Jazz Funk from Electric...

Monday, 1 July 2024

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If there's one modern surf album you need this year, this is it!  In fact, it's the type of album that could change your life!The cover looks dodgy?  A bit 70s Greek holiday.  Or even Scandavian?  But what's that at the bottom, "The neo-surfterranean sound of Or Kantor"!  Well it's all those cross genre surf meets Morricone/OST to Batov Records to Astake's Ethio jazz as leftfield Balearic soft rocks off baby.Crazy to find...

Friday, 28 June 2024

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OK, I know you expect some clever double entendre / entendres for this review with the title and the featured artist; but you ain't going to get it from me as this track (and instrumental) is for everyone. The F*CLR massive have recently been on a dancefloor roll Miss N.K.K from her remix of Mr. Malik's 'With A Capital T' remix (see review HERE) and her own magnificent synthed out 'Galactic Love' (see review HERE).  For their latest...
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We are 'TRIBE' - the gang are gonna love this!We've been lucky enough to follow Cee ElAssad on Ensouled with the first release, 'CLEVER' when he was assisted by Jaidene Veda (see review HERE) that was followe by Trinidadian Deep's equally impressive 'Moments Of Sounds EP' (see review HERE).You can still hear his Morrocan roots but this teaming up with Japanese producer Masaki Morii there's deep Afro-House soul that's got at least one foot in...

Thursday, 27 June 2024

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This might be 3 track, but Julian Marazuela's 'Seven Islands' is the lucky number for Be Adult Music's latest release to prepare us for a summer in the Balearics (other idealic island archipelago locations are available).For those looking to enjoy carefree summer sounds, this EP of 'Lights', 'Carnaval' and the title track will transport you to a world of cooling breeze and sandy feet: plus, its flute gang friendly.It's been almost exactly a year...

Tuesday, 25 June 2024

You'd be hard pressed to find a more important album than this as Gaspare Di Lieto takes 'A Journey Into Poetry with Sonia Sanchez, Amina Baraka, Genny Lim and Amiri Baraka and they all having something to say.When you think of the conjunction of jazz and poetry, the obvious names of Jack Kerouac, Tom Waits and Gil Scot-Heron spring to mind.  More recently there's Anthony Joseph (as seen HERE) and Jasmin Tutum (as seen HERE) but here's...