Cerca:ry co jazz

Carrier’s debut album features eight elegantly rude arrangements that dance in negative space between Photek’s frictional syncopations, Rhythm & Sound’s dubwise minimalism, and Torsten Pröfrock’s fractured dynamics, bolstered on two tracks by contributions from Voice Actor and Memotone, summoning a noirish, jazzier frisson to his signature metrics and temporalities.

Since hard-snagging our ears and feet in 2023 with 12”s for FELT and his own eponymous label, Guy Brewer’s Carrier has become the go-to project for anyone who had almost given up on chasing these sorts of ultra-subtle but vitally distinctive new permutations in dance music. For the past two years, his unpredictable variations within a style have kept us all tip-toed and seat-edged with organisations of a finely chiselled percussive palette and smouldering ambient noise that distils the salient aspects and spirits of D&B, dub techno, electro-acoustic music, and trip hop with unique traction. In effect, he’s enacted a clear leap of imagination from previous work issued as part of Commix and solo as Shifted that only continues to reveal hallucinatory psychoacoustics on this first album detail.

»Rhythm Immortal« sees Brewer tilt the project into slower, resoundingly more atmospheric realms, better to luxuriate in the instinctive guile and integer-stepping style ’n’ pattern of his incredible sound. At the album’s poles, a vocal cameo by cult gynoid Voice Actor follows from Gavsborg’s on a preceding 7” single to ideally model his sound’s mutability and compatibility with trip hop forms, and Memotone helps seal the deal with a hovering glow lent to »Offshore«, whilst Carrier jostles the reins throughout with masterful control of his thing, crisply purposed to the album canvas. In that context, it’s perfectly adaptable to bodies both supine or in motion, ushering a hypnagogic sway with »A Point Most Crucial«, and hingeing around the slightest interplay of 16th-note hi-hat ruffles and recoiling reverbs on »Outer Shell«, or blissfully stepping on knife-edge 2-step on »Wave After Wave«.

The album conveys a deeply personal pulse and spiritual devotion to that kind of all-tension-no-release mode typical of so much music we love – from Kode9’s earliest re-factoring of Prince to Photek’s »Ni-Ten-Ichi-Ryu«, from T++/Dynamo and Traktor’s asymmetric dynamics to Burial’s shockout debut – refactored with a rare conviction in its unspoken powers to activate the eyes-shut imagination.

VERVE ACOUSTIC SOUNDS SERIE: komplett analog von Ryan K. Smith bei Sterling Sound von den
Originalbändern gemastert, QPR-Pressung (180 g), stabiles Tip-On-Gatefold (Stoughton Printing), wattierte Innenhülle.
McCoy Tyner - Inception
Als Pianist McCoy Tyner im November 1962 sein Debütalbum für Impulse! Records aufnahm, wollte er ein
eigenes musikalisches Statement setzen und sich damit von der modalen Musik abgrenzen, die er damals
mit John Coltrane spielte. Bei den Aufnahmesessions mit Bassist Art Davis und Schlagzeuger Elvin Jones
- beide Kollegen aus dem Coltrane-Ensemble - setzte er deshalb vor allem auf eigene Kompositionen, in
denen er seine unverwechselbaren Voicings und seinen rhythmischen Drive in den Vordergrund stellte. In
der AllMusic-Rezension von Alexander Gelfand heißt es: “Dieses Album gibt Hörern die Möglichkeit zu erfahren, wie ein sehr junger Tyner außerhalb der Grenzen des klassischen John Coltrane Quartet der frühen
60er Jahre klang; es offenbart einen lyrischen Ansatz für das Jazzpiano, der weit entfernt von Tyners reifem
Stil zu sein scheint.”

Forged from the fire of internal struggles, Loraine James was wrestling with confidence and a desire for change when she embarked on “Detached From The Rest Of You”. A guiding hand came through producing 2025's “Clandestine” EP with singer Anysia Kym, which gave her the experience of a more 'pop' setting and the tools and insight to work her instrumentals into more conventional shapes; a shift from club driven sounds and winding instrumentals into more precise song forms.


Loraine’s production is stripped to the bone, soundscapes of clicks and glitches inspired by Aoki Takamasa, Ryoji Ikeda, and the early-00s Clicks & Cuts school. Here, often with not much more than sparse keyboard chords to fill in with subtle colouring, she uses the space around the sounds and vocals to draw the listener in to a succinct and direct album, her most confident yet.


Guest contributors include vocalist Sydney Spann on “In a Rut”, Alan Sparkhawk (Low) on downcast anthem “Peak Again”, Miho Hatori (Cibo Matto) on “Flatline”, Anysia Kim on “Score”, and Tirzah on “Habits and Patterns”. Finally her old spar, the rapper Le3 bLACK returns to spit fire with the jazz-indebted track “Ending Us All” with Fyn Dobson backing on tumbling drums.

Shaped from fragile, emotionally charged piano motifs that distort, disappear and transform into dense, cinematic textures, 'CANALS' is a debut that's finely matured, the result of years of friendship and growth. Italian artist Vanja Sturno and Montréal-based Belgian-Spanish composer Pablo Geeraert (aka Sanea Ima) have worked together extensively on various projects up until now, but 'CANALS' is their first official release as a duo. Having both studied music academically, the pair were eager to work more intuitively, so applied their well-honed set of skills to sound that, instead of fitting into a conceptual box, reflected more personal experiences.

Back in 2023, Geeraert travelled to Rome to support his friend at a difficult time and, during the trip, received some bad news of his own. The complicated feelings unconsciously surged through a series of delicate Ryuichi Sakamoto-inspired piano improvisations and a new project began to coalesce. They didn't realize it at the time, but once the record was finished, Sturno and Geeraert began to understand that the entire process had been a form a joint catharsis - a release of pressure. They were able to function so effortlessly and swiftly because they had already provided the space for each other to resonate emotionally and the music flowed from that point.

So the album's title, while remaining ambiguous, suggests its formation: a sequence of eight interconnected channels that feed a creative whole. On the first segment, Sturno and Geeraert's initial recordings can be perceived most nakedly, the melancholy, Satie-like phrases floating peacefully for a moment before the tranquility is agitated by stormy distortions and swelled into thick waves of harmony. The piano provides the record with its emotional anchor, offering focus and clarity as multi-dimensional noise wells up around it before inevitably dissipating, leaving gentle, unadorned sounds once again.

And the familiar instrument is reshaped into a wheezing artificial organ on the animated 'CANALS III', punctuated by percussive, tape-warped pitch fluctuations that seem to bite into its very essence. Gauzy acoustic granulations snowball into a powerful, bass-heavy crescendo on the fourth part, setting the tenor for the album's second half. But after the crushing 'CANALS VI', possibly Sturno and Geeraert's heaviest track, a brief tremolo-heavy vignette that ripples through experimental rock and ambient music's braided history, the duo clear the air with a jazzy diversion, introducing soft woodwind blasts as a palate cleanser before an epic, widescreen finale.

It's an album that's best absorbed as a whole, a vortex of ritualistic, rhythmic repetitions that Sturno and Geeraert appropriately refer to as "spiral listening".

After a gap of over ten years, the Grammy nominated Jazz Funk band Down To The Bone are back with their groove laden, Acid Jazz tinged new album “This Way Forward”– here on an ultra-limited, special release of a doublepack vinyl album. Bringing together a good groove fueled album of ten original tracks with a diversity of flavours – from Jazz Funk to Soul to Brazilian tinged delights that are sure to get the musical juices flowing. Packed full of the band’s trademark grooves and bringing together multi talented musicians from the past and the present all culminating into a melting-pot of sounds that together represent Down To The Bone’s essential sounds.

The new album also brings together multi-talented vocalists on no less than seven tracks From the exquisite soul talents of Hil Street Soul, who co-wrote the opening soul infused groove track “Get Up And Dance”, to the equally soulful tones of Natasha Watts and then the Brazillian sounds of Guida De Palma. The pulsing horn section of Tim Smart, Ryan Jacob (Bonobo/Alice Russell) and James Arben (Vibration Black Finger/Mulatu Astatke), together with Piers Green on sax solos, along with the driving bass of both Julian Crampton and Jo Phillpotts to the pumping beats of drummer Davide Giovannini (Snowboy/Jazztronic/Da Lata and Pucho/Lisa Stansfield), to the melodic chords of Neil Angilley (Snowboy/Jazzhino/Maceo Parker) and Anders Olinder (PeeWee Ellis/Courtney Pine), to the chugging guitar of Tony Remy( Dave Lee/The Sunburst Band/Incognito/Omar) and Mark Jaimes (Simply Red) plus Gianni Chiarello – and the icing on the cake with percussion from Joe “Bongo” Becket.

All working together to bring a stellar performance on this cracking new release to show that DTTB are a force to be reckoned with both on stage and on the wheels of steel.

"Nusa" is the last part of a trilogy started in 2020 with Masao Yamamoto and Akira Uchida. A project that began with light (“Sasanami”, 2020), moved through darkness (“Kurayami”, 2023), and returned to the ambivalence of the two (“Nusa”, 2026), which ultimately sustain and complement one another in all their variations and complementarities. Both in terms of tones and in the humanity that runs through us in these times of such stark contrast.

For this last part of the trilogy, Masao Yamamoto and Akira Uchida travelled to the island of Hokkaido at the beginning of 2026 to supplement the project with photographs and audio recordings of the ice and the surrounding landscapes.

Graduated in saxophone from Senzoku Gakuen College of Music, Akira Uchida explores sound through tuning, medieval music, and acoustics, supporting jazz pianists as a piano tuner. After training under instrument maker Masahiro Adachi, he became an independent clavichord builder. In 2020, he created an instrument for Ryuichi Sakamoto. In 2021, he crafted one using reclaimed wood from Kiyomizu-dera Temple (FEEL KIYOMIZUDERA). His work focuses on making, tuning, and performing instruments.

If – in some parallel universe (or perhaps a not-so-distant-future version of the one we’re already sentenced to living in) – the evil overloads of artificial intelligence were actually successful in their attempts to create convincingly enjoyable “original music,” more specifically tasked with wholly encapsulating my own personal tastes by data-chugging some cocktail of – oh, I don’t know – the posters on my wall, the records in my “most listened to” pile, the mixtapes I made for others, intensive physical scans of my auditory cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, heart strings, whatever else they have splayed out on their autopsy table with the intention of generating one all-encompassing “perfect band” based on the fruitful sum of their findings – that band, for me, would be (or would at least sound exactly like) the Tara Clerkin Trio. It is, quite simply, without exception, the music I wish to hear.

Formed in Bristol UK (where none of them are from yet all of whom are deeply engrained) in 2020, the Tara Clerkin Trio – as it somewhat democratically exists today, despite the singular authority implied by its name – consists of the titular Tara Clerkin, her partner Sunny Joe Paradisos, and Sunny’s brother, Patrick Benjamin. I’ll confess, I don’t know what their respective roles are within the operation and there’s only a very small part of me that cares to learn, as one of my favorite qualities in an objective listening experience is the mystery of who is playing what, which sounds are “authentic” versus synthesized, which chunks are performed “live” in a room together versus meticulously Frankenstein’ed from measure to measure, or how exactly the overall sound is so (seemingly) effortlessly achieved. Though, I suspect, if and when I do witness a live performance by this band at any point, my enjoyment of the music will not be lost in my better understanding of it.

With two extraordinary mini-albums – In Spring (2021) and On The Turning Ground (2023) – making a splash on London’s formidable World of Echo label in wake of their self-titled 2020 debut, this upcoming Somewhere Good LP is, in many ways, the band’s most realised work. In running their usual gauntlet of idiosyncratic (*an overused adjective for which here there is regrettably no sufficient alternative) approaches, Clerkin & co. colour in and outside of compositional lines over the course of 40+ celebratory minutes - never wallowing, despite inherently somber subject matters of self-defeat, disease, displacement, restlessness, gentrification - allowing their arrangements and improvisations ample space and time to situate, stretch out, breathe, cross-pollinate, and ultimately take deeper hold on the listener’s imagination – all while somehow sounding more like themselves than ever before.

Of course, there are traceable influences herein, if one felt that such comparisons were necessary to properly examine and enjoy this music (they aren’t)… Being the big dumb American from the small boring town that I am, cornfed on ‘90s alternative radio with the enchantingly exotic sounds of Maxinquaye and Mezzanine emanating from my chunky tube television, I can’t help but to make a blatantly obvious reference to a “Bristol sound”, ie the whole trip-hop trip, the pastoral crooning over the suggestive urban grime of cracked electro/piano treatments, the digitally-yet-primitively reconstructed James Bond soundtrack string-beats, etc.. But the Tara Clerkin Trio is so infinitely much more than that. There are elements of avant-pop, modern classical, kraut-folk, audio verité, dare I say indie rock (and not of the beer guzzling, masturbatory fuzz-flex variety but perhaps more like a Trish Keenan-fronted Faust, Adrian Sherwood at the mixing desk of If You’re Feeling Sinister, or – in expanding on our alternate reality – a world in which High Llamas cut a full-length for Warp Records with Andrew Weatherall on coffee duty).

The hazy, unmappable skyline-mirage of droning harmonium, upright bass, peculiarly accentuated wind instruments, acoustic guitar, hushed yet literally mighty keys combine to hypnotizing effect. The band may make underlying nods to jazz, sure, but it’s not appropriation, it’s that they have the actual chops to build it out. Beneath the janky samples and oddball percussive embellishment lies actually great drumming. Beyond the manipulated vocal witchery and woefully reflective plain-spoke moments are Tara’s subtly inspired melodies, sung with what might honestly be the glue to the whole crazy equation. A calming consistency throughout the otherwise unpredictably dynamic, boldly intuitive, uniquely British exploration of this (their own) universe in song. – Ryan Davis (Chicago, February 2026)

Numbered 150 copies on green vinyl.

The duo Sławek Pezda & Witek Ryć is a project by Krakow-based musicians, a hybrid of ambient, noise, experimental music, jazz, trance, electronica, and ethnic music. The two musicians' musical paths were united by the practice of meditation, which also significantly translates into their musical language and the need to share the peace that flows to the listener through sound.

In their recordings and live performances, the musicians utilize tenor saxophone, modular synthesizers, electronics, drums, flutes, drum pads, Tibetan bowls, gongs, and a wide array of percussion instruments. They have played together in improvised concerts, relaxation concerts, chamber sessions, and even spiritual jazz.

"Kardamon" is the result of one of the live sessions, where the rhythm, based on a simple pulse flowing from a frame drum, accompanied by Ankle Bells (Indian janissary bells played with the foot), is enriched by Sławek's tenor saxophone. In addition to the aforementioned instruments, a synthesizer and a Roland HPD 20 drum machine were also used, accompanied by various percussion instruments (shaker, chimes, bells, etc.), as well as a fragment of Witek's own field recordings from the Polesie National Park.

The remix on the B-side was created by DJ PLASH, who gave the duo's original sounds a completely new dimension. Plash (Marcin Przeplasko) is arguably one of the most sought-after DJs playing for b-girls and b-boys worldwide, a feat culminating in his official performance behind the turntables at the last Summer Olympics. PLASH is Witek's neighbor from Krakow's Nowa Huta district.

The front cover artwork is a painting by Witek Ryć, and the entire album was assembled and framed by Animisiewasz. Mastering was handled by Eprom. The single is limited to 150 copies and is being released by Funky Mamas and Papas Recordings, a label specializing in seven-inch singles since 2008.

Mana is the International Anthem debut by trombonist and composer Kalia Vandever. The collection carries the spirit of their first solo album, We Fell In Turn, while entering a new landscape of spacious songwriting. Mana, which in Hawaiian means "foundational, supernatural, or divine power and strength", reveals more of their voice and words, drawing from yearning, loss, and bewilderment. Vandever"s music has quickly and widely gained traction in the last few years despite the fact that their style has been consistently difficult to pin down, boasting a compositional scope ranging from the palatial modern jazz of their quartet work to the synthetic, gauze-like droning ambience of their solo material. Mana leans into the expansion of the latter: solo trombone filtered through a well-dialed pedalboard, manipulated live; spare piano à la the late-career work of Ryuichi Sakamoto; electroacoustic interplay simultaneously echoing and transforming the long-note melodicism of Vandever"s melancholic brass work; head-on, unambiguous, and deeply personal lyricism - a particularly fresh move for the composer... Appropriate for the early riser"s first step into the day or the night owl"s weary and quiet walk home.

2026 Repress

Maltese talent Human Safari debuts on Mutual Rytm with jazz-influenced techno EP, 'Culture Shock'.

Human Safari is a key player in his native scene in Malta. He's a resident at Glitch Festival, has played cult spots, and has a dynamic sound that brings jazz improvisation to techno, often featuring live instrumental elements. His music has found its place on top labels like R&S Records, and most of this new EP for SHDW's Mutual Rytm imprint was produced during his Colombian summer tour last year - written and recorded amongst inspiring and unusual settings with just a laptop and headphones.

"This EP represents embracing new beginnings that, though might bring uncertainty and fear, the
light always guides you to where you were always meant to be." - Human Safari.

Opener 'Mouse on Keys' has been a key cut for the label boss across the past year, a unique track that peaks curiosity from dancers to DJs whenever it's played. Its cantering techno rhythm is overlaid with delicate, heartfelt piano keys straight from a smoky jazz bar, making for a great counter to the physical drums. 'Fragments' is a deeply personal track dedicated to the artist's late grandfather. It's a funky, soulful techno roller with blissed-out and sunny chords full of hope.

Next, 'Classique' gets more gritty with loopy drums and bass and glitchy percussion that fizzes with energy, while 'The Labyrinth' features piano motifs recorded in just one take. It brings a dark paranoia in the uneasy, off-grid keys which dart about with nervous energy over the booming low ends. There is just as much intensity and edge to the unresolved keys that loop over the raw drums on 'A Rainy Day in Bogota', before digital bonus cuts 'Dorian' and 'Phantom' bring more jazzed out techno madness with warped keys and expressive elements bringing great invention.

Who could have imagined that Ryo Fukui had left behind a recording like this? Captured on June 8, 1977, this previously unreleased live session was recorded at the Sapporo jazz club Vidro by Masataka Ito, the producer behind Fukui’s albums Scenery and Mellow Dream. It is unmistakably the Ryo Fukui Trio of that era, yet the performance possesses an overwhelming intensity and freshness that far surpass any studio recording—excitement in its purest form.

The 16-minute, searing performance of “Mellow Dream” is just the beginning. The propulsive energy of “Speak Low”, the beautifully woven lyricism of “Body & Soul,” the blistering drive of “Love For Sale”, the weighty depth of “Mr. P.C.”, and the crystalline fragility of “My Foolish Heart”—each track is delivered with feverish brilliance. It was this very live recording, excerpts of which were evaluated at the Trio Records headquarters at the time, that ultimately led to the production of Fukui’s second album Mellow Dream. In every sense, this is an extraordinarily precious document.

This is joy beyond expectation the arrival of a new Ryo Fukui recording. Captured on June 26, 2004, this live session documents the ninth anniversary concert of Slowboat, the jazz club Fukui founded and considered his musical home. The trio features Ryo Fukui on piano, Benisuke Sakai on bass, and Yoshihito Eto on drums. Fukui was 56 years old at the time, and his playing is powerful and expansive, yet still marked by delicacy and razor sharp precision. In terms of energy, stamina, and technique, he was entering a true period of artistic maturity. He delivers the music of his beloved Phineas Newborn Jr. and Tommy Flanagan with depth and elegance, and approaches the works of Wayne Shorter—an early-life influence—with thrilling intensity. The performance captures Fukui at a moment of profound fulfillment, offering a truly compelling glimpse into his late career brilliance.

His fresh, delicate playing has captivated countless listeners, and his debut album Scenery has come to be highly acclaimed around the world. Fukui, who began playing the piano at the age of 22, recorded this album when he was just 28. The earnest passion of his youth resonates throughout the music, gently stirring the emotions of those who listen. The spacious, confident swing of “It Could Happen To You”, the refreshing joy radiating from “Early Summer”, the late autumn coolness imbued in the title track “Scenery” each embodies the uniquely expansive yet nuanced “Hokkaido sensibility” that flowed naturally from Fukui’s artistry.
Within this album, the beautiful landscapes that Ryo Fukui crafted his Scenery continue to breathe eternally.
text by Yusuke Ogawa (UNIVERSOUNDS / DEEP JAZZ REALITY)

Ryo Fukui, the renowned pianist from Hokkaido who sadly passed away in 2016, has earned global recognition among jazz listeners through his highly praised early works Scenery and Mellow Dream. A Letter From Slowboat, recorded in 2015, marked his first leader album in sixteen years. The sessions took place at Slowboat his musical home together with two young musicians whose talent Fukui himself deeply trusted. The lyricism that seeps through “Sonora”, the poetic warmth enveloping “Stella By Starlight,” the vibrant energy coursing through “Speak Low” each performance is filled with life. His touch grew more forceful, his emotions more profound, his musical fragrance even more luxuriant.

2026 Repress.


There is with Tour-Maubourg an eternal desire to translate the feeling of love into music. Sometimes cheerful, sometimes melancholy, always exhilarating, the producer, native of Brussels and expatriate in Paris, has continued for 3 years to attract the praise of his peers and the support of a growing audience. The man who was described by Trax Magazine upon the release of his 1st EP as ‘‘one of the most promising producers of the French house scene’’ has revealed himself in this hyperactive new scene to become one of its best standards.

After several EPs released in France on Pont Neuf, FHUO (ie. Folamour’s label), as well as Happiness Therapy or in England and Germany on FINA and Salin, Tour-Maubourg unveils his first album, Paradis Artificiels. The Parisian producer refers to Charles Baudelaire’s poem, to which he links his melancholy music, who wrote:

‘‘common sense tells us that the things of the earth exist very little, and that the true reality is only in the dreams’’.

If the producer’s first EPs were mainly focused on club music, Paradis Artificiels oscillates between the atmospheres that made the success of these previous releases and those of a studio album. Composed of both house songs and downtempo sound researches, always flirting with the jazz sounds that have made the fame of the producer, this first album invites us on a journey in the lineage of St Germain, Massive Attack or Nicolas Jaar.

Turn On The Sunlight is the long-running project of Texas-born, Maui-based musician and producer Jesse Peterson.

Originally formed in New York in the late 2000s, Turn On The Sunlight has evolved into a fluid, location-spanning practice rooted in collaboration, intuition and process. Now based on Maui, Peterson’s work draws together a wide network of musicians and environments, with recordings taking shape across Los Angeles, Tokyo, London, San Miguel de Allende and Haʻikū.

Loosely situated within a framework of organic, ambient-leaning jazz, 'Iseo' unfolds as a series of open, exploratory pieces, with electronics sitting subtly beneath acoustic and environmental elements. Built from layered instrumentation including synthesizers, guitar, zither, flutes, voice and field recordings, Peterson moves between grounded, tactile detail and more expansive, immersive states. A sense of warmth and permeability runs throughout: organic percussion, environmental textures and drifting rhythmic elements lend the record a gently saturated humidity, reflecting Peterson’s base in Hawaii, where the presence of nature is felt as much as it is heard.

Underlying the project is a way of working rooted in gathering, listening and tending. Instruments, ensemble sessions, field recordings and everyday environments are approached with attentiveness, shaped through collecting, refining and allowing things to settle. Relationships, landscape and lived experience shape the sound, giving 'Iseo' a tactile, almost hand-made quality.

Rather than fixed arrangements, the album feels as if it has been organically and lovingly assembled through a process of listening and response, each element finding its place within a wider, evolving whole. This approach reaches a natural centre point in the 15-minute piece 'Medianoche En La Calle Aurora', which unfolds patiently, bending through shifting environments as motifs and textures emerge and dissolve with quiet continuity.

Peterson’s role as both instigator and facilitator is central to the project. Bringing together a diverse group of collaborators including Carlos Niño, Mia Doi Todd, Laraaji, Ko Ishikawa, Luis Pérez Ixoneztli and Miles Spilsbury, he creates space for individual voices to emerge within a shared language. The result is a music defined by openness and generosity.

'Iseo' takes its title from Peterson’s son’s middle name, a word that can be understood to mean ‘one-world life’. The piece itself takes the form of a gentle lullaby, its melody loosely shaped around the syllables of his name and sung to Peterson’s son by Luis Pérez Ixoneztli, a close collaborator whose presence across the record reflects a long-standing relationship that extends beyond the music itself.
Sleeve art and design by Michael Willis.

Vom Wall Street Journal als "eine der faszinierendsten Sängerinnen der modernen Musik" beschrieben, hat die in New York geborene und in Tamil Nadu aufgewachsene Sängerin und Multi-Instrumentalistin GANAVYA Details zu ihrem neuen Album "Daughter of a Temple" veröffentlicht, das am 15. November 2024 erscheinen soll. Das Album folgt auf ihren Auftritt bei SAULTs umjubeltem Live-Debüt 2023 in London, bei dem, laut The Guardian, ihre "Stimme eine zarte emotionale Kraft hatte, die selbst Stoiker zu weinenden Wracks machen konnte." Für "Daughter of a Temple" lud ganavya über 30 Künstler*innen verschiedener Disziplinen zu einer rituellen Zusammenkunft nach Houston ein. Dementsprechend sind auf dem entstandenen Album zahlreiche Mitwirkende zu hören, darunter renommierte Musiker*innen wie esperanza spalding, Vijay Iyer, Shabaka Hutchings, Immanuel Wilkins und Peter Sellars. Die Ergebnisse, eine innovative und zutiefst bewegende Mischung aus spirituellem Jazz und südasiatischer geistlicher Musik, wurden zunächst von Ryan Renteria aufgenommen und dann 2024 von Nils Frahm im LEITER Studio in Berlin weiter bearbeitet und abgemischt. ganavya ist die Autorin und Sängerin des ersten tamilischen Textes, der mit einem Latin Grammy ausgezeichnet wurde, sie war Sängerin in Vijay Iyers Ritual Quartet und Solosängerin auf dem von Quincy Jones produzierten "Tocororo", das Platz 1 der Jazz-Charts erreichte. Ihr letztes Album, "like the sky I"ve been too quiet", hat sie mit Shabaka Hutchings aufgenommen und versammelt Gäste wie Floating Points, Tom Herbert, Carlos Niño und Leafcutter John.

THE OPRHIC HYMNS is an ode to the mystical. A celebration of the languid. An exploration of the id. A journey into self. The project was written, performed, and produced by Ryan Grieve and Tom Kuntz over the course of a year in a secluded location, with a few visits from notable guest contributors such as Alex Kassian and Logan Hone to sprinkle in a little of their magic. Kuntz (aka Pinchy Don) is the Pinchy in PINCHY AND FRIENDS. Grieve is the man behind HOLE IN THE SKY RECORDS and projects such as Heart People, Canyons, and Absolute Unity. This is their first release as THE ORPHIC HYMNS.

Bilingual rapper/producer Joe Cupertino, hailing from Cupertino, California, follows his 2024 mini-album RE: with a 7" single featuring two standout tracks. RE: was conceived as a thematic counterpart to his 2025 release DE: (focused on destruction), while RE: explored the theme of regeneration.

Side A features "Wagamama," with Mamiko Suzuki (chelmico) on vocals and production by longtime collaborator T-Razor. The mellow jazz arrangement evokes a daydream-like atmosphere, perfectly matching the bittersweet theme of the title.

Side B, "Ruby," features Lil' Leise But Gold and production by Ryuju Tanoue (w.a.u). The track blends Brazilian, reggae, and Afrobeat influences into an alternative, cross-genre groove that embodies Joe Cupertino's unique sound.

DJ Support: Antal, I Cube, Noel Watson, Colleen Cosmo Murphy, Sean Johnston, San Soda, Takaya Nagase, Tina Edwards, Pete Herbert, Kenneth Bager, Severino, Aaron Paar, Felix Joy, Harri Harrigan, Laroye, Telford, Darker Than Wax, Rocky (X Press 2), Shane Johnson, Dan Tyler, Felix Dickinson and many more

Having previously released selected retrospectives focused on the musical output of Ryo Kawasaki and Joan Bibiloni, NuNorthern Soul has now turned its attention to the vast back catalogue of Jasper Van’t Hof’s pioneering electro-acoustic, Afro-fusion collective, Pili Pili.

The band was established in 1984 by Van’t Hof, a Dutch pianist who began his career in Europe’s jazz scene of the late 1960s, as a way of combining his love of jazz-fusion and the music of North-West Africa. Van’t Hof already had a reputation for combining roles in traditional jazz combos with more experimental and abstract projects. These included a spell in violinist Jean-Luc Ponty’s first band, years spent masterminding jazz-rock outfit Jasper Van’t Hof’s Porkpie, the recording of an all- electronic album (1982’s Visitors), and a celebrated collaborative live album with the great Archie Shepp, Mama Rose.

Pili Pili, though, was another step forward for Van’t Hof. Working with percussionists and vocalists from Benin and Mali (including the now legendary Angelique Kidou) and a string of adventurous jazz soloists (saxophonist Tony Lakoto and trumpeter Annie Whitehead included), Van’t Hof’s collective frequently combined live and programmed percussion, electronic and acoustic instrumentation, and the talented improvisor’s own memorable melodies and impactful solos.

NuNorthern Soul’s retrospective focuses on the most productive and celebrated period of Pili Pili’s near three-decade history, showcasing tracks originally recorded and released on studio albums released between 1984 and 2002. The six tracks on show offer an essential glimpse into the musical gold to be found across the Pili Pili catalogue.

In keeping with NuNorthern Soul’s previous retrospectives, the vinyl version of Selected Works 1984-95 comes with extended liner notes telling the remarkable story of this most unusual of cross-cultural collaborations. These feature extensive quotes, reflections and memories from Jasper Van’t Hof and were written by music historian Matt Anniss.

Cali Lanauze delivers pure magic on A Matter Of Time - a spellbinding collaboration with Ryan Crosson and Greg Paulus that seamlessly fuses deep grooves, subtle textures, and jazz-soaked elegance. With masterful remixes from Reboot and YokoO, this Opulence release is nothing short of breathtaking. A timeless journey through refined house music - hypnotic, soulful, and essential.

"I want to hear more of Ryo Fukui's performances." The dream of listeners around the world has now become a reality. A spectacular live performance full of the charm of the mature Fukui who has been with .This is what an unexpected joy is all about. The appearance of Ryo Fukui's "new work". Recorded on June 26, 2004. This is a live recording of a live performance commemorating the 9th anniversary of , the jazz live house that Fukui presided over and used as the base of his activities.



The members of the trio were Fukui, Kosuke Sakai (bass), and Yoshito Eto (drums). Fukui was 56 years old at the time. His performance was powerful and large-scale, yet delicate and sharp. In terms of the balance of energy, stamina, and technique, he was just approaching his prime. He spins heavy yet elegant renditions of his beloved Phineas Newborn Jr. and Tommy Flanagan, and thrillingly plays Wayne Shorter, who he was a huge fan of in his youth. It is a spectacular performance that reflects the fulfillment of Fukui's time. , which opened in June 1995, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.



Text by Yusuke Ogawa (UNIVERSOUNDS / DEEP JAZZ REALITY)

A compilation of rare and unique pop songs sung in Okinawa's unique musical scale with rock and soul grooves. It is based on “Ryukyu Rare Groove” released in 2003 and its sequel “Ryukyu Rare Groove 2” in 2006. This is a renewed version of those two albums, with more carefully selected and new songs included.

The Yara Families, the symbol of this series, as well as songs by Shokichi Kina, the originator of Okinawan folk rock, Mitsuko Sawamura, who made a breakthrough from Okinawa into American musical films, and Teiko Saito (Teiko Taira), a jazz singer who released her debut album in 2022 at the age of 86 and became a topic of conversation, The album contains 14 precious tropical groove songs. A renewed version of “Ryukyu Rare Groove” is now available in analog format!

The compilation “Ryukyu Rare Groove” became a hot topic as many people became addicted to its unique groove, which was created by applying Western arrangements to Okinawan scales and traditional Okinawan music. Ryukyu Rare Groove Revisited” is now available in analog format.
It features 14 precious tropical grooves, including not only the iconic Yara Families from this series, but also songs by Shokichi Kina, the originator of island song rock, and Teiko Saito (Teiko Taira), a jazz singer who released her debut album in 2022 at the age of 86 and became a hot topic.
Ryukyu Rare Groove Crossover,” a selection of jazz arrangements of Okinawan melodies and folk songs, was also released simultaneously, featuring MURO selection
‘Diggers Dozen’ and Kiyoshi Yamaya's Okinawan folk song Jazz Funk, which was featured on the ‘Ryukyu’ 7-inch from Tropic Night Records. and other instrumentals,

including Latin big band jazz by Naoteru Misuna and the Tokyo Cuban Boys.

A compilation of tracks that rearrange Okinawan folk songs into Jazz Funk, crossover, and large ensemble jazz, featuring works by Kiyoshi Yamaya, who was also highlighted in "Diggers Dozen" (BBE) by the Japanese DJ MURO, known as the "King of Diggin," and "Wamono Groove: Shakuhachi & Koto Jazz Funk 1976" (180g). This collection debuts as the latest installment in the "Ryukyu Rare Groove" series, which was originally released in Japan in 2003 to great acclaim.

Quiet Village collaborate with Vanessa Daou on 'Naked Hunger’ Legendary New York artist and The Daou front-woman Vanessa Daou lends vocals to Matt 'Radio Slave' Edwards and Joel Martin's second release on the ‘The Quiet Village’ imprint.

Matt ‘Radio Slave' Edwards and Joel Martin's critically acclaimed Quiet Village project follow-up, 2024's 'Reunion' with the Vanessa Daou collaboration, 'Naked Hunger' on September 5th, '25. 'Naked Hunger', which comes in 'Vocal Mix' and 'Spoken Word Mix' versions, sees Quiet Village employ their hypnotic sensibilities to one of house music's most tantalising vocal talents in Daou, resulting in a mid-tempo house cut that completely envelops.

While the vocal mix of 'Naked Hunger' leans into the interplay between Vanessa Daou's cosseting song voice and spoken vocals, with the rest of the track embracing a subtly dubby ethereal musicality, Quiet Village ramp up the instrumentation on the' Spoken Vocal' version with bass guitar and piano flourishes accompanying her sultry poetic delivery.

'Naked Hunger', Daou's first collaboration with Quiet Village, marks her first release since 2019's 'Little Black Dress'. Throughout her illustrious career, the acclaimed three-time #1 Billboard Dance Chart topper has collaborated with Danny Tenaglia, David Morales, Mood II Swing, Ralphi Rosario, Terry Farley (Farley & Heller), Charles Webster, Horse Meat Disco's Severino Panzetta, Hifi Sean, and Eli Escobar.

Friends since meeting at Goldie's legendary MetalHeadz sessions at London's Blue Note in the '90s, Quiet Village, aka Matt Edwards and Joel Martin, began releasing their brand of dubbed-out, balearic-and-beyond tracks in 2005 via NYC's Whatever We Want Records. The duo's 2008 'Silent Movie' LP was a critical smash hit that resulted in remix commissions for the likes of Bryan Ferry, The Gorillas, Leftfi eld, Francois K, Massive Attack and many more. After a few years in the wilderness, unable to use their nom de plume due to contractual restrictions, the pair launched The Quiet Village label in 2024 with 'Reunion', a stunning 6/8-time urban jazz odyssey, a favourite of the likes of Luke Una, Gilles Peterson and Ryan Elliott.

Swiss techno icon Deetron shows his class with a new four-track EP on Mutual Rytm's sub-label, X.

Deetron is one of the most respected producers of his time. From sleek house to deep techno, he brings impeccable sound designs and melodic elegance to his work while remaining true to his authentic signature sound. He always delivers, whether landing via labels like Ilian Tape under his Soulmate guise or via the likes of Axis and Music Man, and that quality is on show once again as he brings the class on this new EP via the sub-label of SHDW's Mutual Rytm.

First up, 'Translate Rhythms' layers jazzy, de-tuned melodies into a quick and slick deep techno groove. It's a colourful and playful sound with a serious impact. 'Cause' is a more heads-down and moody sound with walls of drums and bass rolling beneath raw percussive loops and tight vocal stabs that ramp up the energy levels. The fantastic 'Move' brings grainy pads, inescapable bass weight and bulky drum loops to make for an immovable wedge of serious concrete techno funk. Last is the digital bonus cut 'Orbit', which heads off to the stars with a deepspace
vibe, swirling pads and minimal drums that tap out a rumbling groove.

Have you ever wondered what might happen when you collide Mighty Ryeders' timeless rare-groove classic 'Evil Vibrations' and De La Soul's iconic hip-hop jam 'A Roller Skating Jam Named 'Saturdays'' into one new tune? Well, wonder now more, because that's exactly what Groove-Diggers have done here. This fresh version blends the sampled parts of 'Evil Vibrations' with De La Soul's raps and vocals while Japanese hip-hop group FNCY have added their own new mic work into the mix as a way of paying tribute to De La Soul's original hit. Also included is a Japanese cover of 'Evil Vibrations' by Taiwanese jazz and neo-soul singer 9m88 which brings a whole different respective. A fun and sure-to-be effective package.

CINEMATIC VOYAGE THROUGH COSMIC RITUAL AND ETERNAL SOUND - a work that exists outside time—equally at home in the temples of antiquity and the neon-lit voids of speculative futures, merging ceremonial percussion, interstellar synthwaves, and wordless incantations into a 31-minute ritual for the infinite. Born from a three-year metamorphosis between studio and stage and rooted in a Takhmira (a Zar ritual poem), Ninety Nine Eyes channels the archetypal quest—a search for the “land where light is seated.” Its soundscapes evoke the grandeur of forgotten civilizations and the hum of celestial machinery: droning mizmar lines and drowning tombak and duff rhythms dissolve into maximalist synth storms; choirs of phantom voices rise like starlight through the static of ages. - Sound: Structured like a Sufi Hadra, the LP’s undulating peaks pull at old ways of communing with the divine - Part I builds tension, a breath before the storm, while Part II erupts into unfettered synth-drenched trance, gates flung open - only the listener can close the circle through their own interpretation.- For fans of Vangelis’ Blade Runner, Jon Hassell’s Fourth World, Alice Coltrane’s spiritual jazz, Autechre’s glitch rituals, and Pauline Oliveros’ deep listening.- Production: Mixed by VII, mastered by Heba Kadry (Björk, Ryuichi Sakamoto).- Artwork: Features a portrait of Yunis by Cairo underground photographer Kafrawy and hand-sewn costume design by Alaa Eideh, with graphic design by Giovanni Murolo (Countersubject). EU Tour spring 25

360 mcn white-white light cardboard paper / one side only hand plasticization / 2 separated parts prints / hand gluing / PVC outers / original artwork / gatefold sleeve / Bandcamp limited edition 30x60 cm insert with extended liner notes by Tony Higgins and Interview with Babs Robert and Sébastien Gorlé with exclusive pictures and self-portrait by Babs Robert himself printed on GF Smith "Takeo Tant Select" Canvas Paper tip-on left jacket panel / Exclusive never released Memorabilia from Babs Robert's vault.

Personnel:
Babs Robert - alt sax, tenor-sax, electric tenor-sax, Bin Recorder, Acme siren, Chinese-bell, sleigh-bells, maracas, tambourine,hand-rattle,claves)
John Van Rymenant - baritone-sax, fluegelhorn, Bala, tambourine, sleight-bells, cowbell, triangle, claves
Johnny Peret - vibes, bongo's, cowbell, maracas, castanets, rattle-snakes, tambourine, drums, woodclock, trinagle
Johnny Brouwers - piano, prepared-piano, triangle, cowbell, sleigh-bells, maracas, caves,hand-rattle, guiro, woodblock, tambourine
Paul Dubois - bass, triangle, cowbell, claves, rattlesnakes, hand-rattle, woodblock, tambourine
Michel Gobbe - bass,Chinese-bell, claves
Robert Pernet - drum, tambourine, seven-notes M'Bichi, guiro, alarm-siren, home-made metal xylophone, African telephone-drum, triangle, sleigh-bells, Siku

Notes:
Despite its modest role on the world stage, Belgium has produced a number of internationally renowned musicians and composers. There is the iconic gypsy jazz guitar maestro Django Reinhardt, whose position remains unassailable, and guitarist/harmonica player Toots Thielemans, who became an internationally renowned artist performing and recording with Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Shirley Horn and Quincy Jones. The other key Belgian figure is composer/arranger Francy Boland, co-leader with US bebop drumming legend Kenny Clarke of Europe's leading big band of the 60s, the Clarke-Boland Big Band.

The Love Planet performed in the main clubs of Brussels, such as Blue Note, Pol's Jazz Place, and Smog as well as in major musical events throughout Belgium including to big festivals in 1969 - the Avant-Garde Festival in Ghent and the First International Jazz Event in Liege – where the Love Planet shared the bill with Miles Davis - and the Bilzen Jazz Festival in 1970. The contrast between the musical architecture of the themes and sonic freedom in the improvised playing perfectly illustrated the polymorphism – an order within disorder – which the Love Planet aimed for.

The initial original quartet line-up was Babs Robert (sax), Paul Dubois (bass), Johnny Brouwers (piano), and Johnny Peret / Robert Pernet (dru- ms). On the album session, the quartet was augmented with the addition of John Van Rjimenant (saxes) and Michel Gobbe (bass). As well as their main instruments, the band members also played an array of unusual instruments, principally percussion. This is the first official re-release
of the 'Babs Robert and the Love Planet'. Original copies of the album fetch many hundreds of Euros on the collecting circuit and it remains a curious and fascinating window into a moment in time that still resona- tes some fifty years later. Come with us to the Love Planet. (Tony Higgins)

2025 Repress

Midnight In Tokyo 2, the second installment to the compilation series that rounds up hidden gems by Japanese artists that's perfect for listening at night in Tokyo, is here. This time the collection brings together some tasty electric jazz fusion from the '80s , compiled by Dubby, the man behind the online record store Ondas.

The compilation begins with "Hikobae," a dark and slow cosmic jazz by saxophonist Genji Sawai, followed by "Danza Lucumi," an odd Caribbean-style jam by Today's Latin Project, a band fronted by Tadaaki Misago of Tokyo Cuban Boys, with arrangements by Yasuaki Shimizu. "On The Coast" is a soulful and mellow vocal track arranged by Ryuichi Sakamoto, from guitarist Shigeru Suzuki's album White Heat, and fusion boogie cut "In The Hot City" is by Mr. Theodore, which was a one-off project by a mysterious artist.

The melancholic soul jazz number "So Long America" is the title track from the album Yasunori Soryo released in '82, following a stint in America with the band Brown Rice. "Twisty" is a tropical reggae tune from the album Samba Kathy, an underrated classic by Jugando which was released on Trash, a sublabel of one of Japan's finest jazz labels, Trio. "Samarkand" is an electric Latin jazz jam that sounds like something Miles Davis and Santana could have played on, performed by a Latin funk band from Fussa. "Imagery" is a primal African fusion track by Katsutoshi Morizono, a member of the prog rock band Yoninbayashi.

"Windmill" is the most acoustic sounding tune on this compilation, a breezy Brazilian affair with a Hermeto Pascoal feel. "Mystery Of Asian Port" is by the band Parachute, which consisted of Japa-nese fusion giants like Akira Inoue, Tatsuo Hayashi and Masaki Matsubara. The cosmic jazz record sounds like something Daniele Baldelli would play in his sets. "Bay Sky Provincetown 1977" is a classic Japanese fusion tune by guitarist Yuji Toriyama.

The set also features the mellow but danceable "Heatwave" by keyboardist Keiichi Oku, featuring a female vocalist (which some have identified as Rie Ida), and last but not least, closing out the 13 track compilation is "Day Dream At The Bob's Beach," a wonderful urban fusion with a beautiful vibraphone melody, from the Japanese fusion classic album that was a one-off project by studio musicians

Besides achieving a very personal and characteristic sound, John Coltrane opened the way to free jazz.

Hybrid is a word used indiscriminately in our daily lives. This record isn't a hybrid; it's beyond hybrid, post-hybrid, so to speak. Does this phrase sound complicated to you, and are you never overly convinced by music theory and its caricatural aspect? Then forget what you’ve just read and listen to both sides of this record. You'll soon realise that these tracks are deliciously deft, drawing their essence from dub while leaving room for some skillful jazz writing. For those of you intrigued by melodies, the art of musique concrète or the exploration of dub music’s deviant angles, this record will easily find its place on your turntable.

The two sides of the record are cut with play, improvisation and effects, while leaving room for themes and ideas. If this record’s first chapter was born from a request to remix and pay homage to Jackie Mittoo, its themes tell another story. They have been declined and even reduced to an explosion point. The tracks are also driven by subtle details of musique concrète, giving the record the effect of an intimate musical production – but, above all, one of uncategorisable beauty.

In Androo’s case, this is hardly surprising. He is a craftsman who is unassailable in every respect, a poetic dynamiter and, for this reason, one of the most unpredictable musicians in Geneva (and beyond). His appetite for dynamite is perhaps an indication of his conception of music as, first and foremost, an experience. His highly personal and inventive tribute to figures from free jazz and contemporary music proves the point. But perhaps it is also an indication of his attachment to Jean-Luc Godard. You'd have to imagine Androo at his mixing desk without a pre-written script. The idea of editing infuses the record. The two sides are very much in this style and spirit: (un-)shot, meticulous, (ir-)reverent. In this respect, this record is a formidable proposition, and perhaps difficult to understand, but not striving to be understood.

Its combination of improvisation and composition is underpinned by a razor-sharp precision and dexterity that's hard to ignore, especially if you're curious about the art of sound mixing and the romantic accidents. It has a dexterity that transforms musical grids into romantic essays and sketches. A romanticism in which Androo takes us on a liberating musical experience that makes us forget the inertia of the ramping formatting of the record industry. In any case, this record is an invitation to (un-)think the category, and will delight any ear curious to wander into territories of intuition where the word hybrid no longer makes sense.

Text by Carl Åhnebrink

29 Speedway is a record label and performance series based in Brooklyn, NY featuring forward-thinking improvisational music and live multimedia. Founded in 2020 by Ben Shirken a.k.a. Ex Wiish (‘Shards Of Axel’, Incienso 2023), 29S serves as a platform for artists exploring the fringes of interdisciplinary art and music. Hosting D.I.Y-guerrilla style sound and performance art concerts at Pioneer Works (NYC), Public Records, and in Europe in partnership with Index Records, they have worked with artists such as James Hoff, J. Albert, Yolabmi, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, AceMo, Flora Yin Wong, Nexcyia, Young Boy Dancing Group, UMFANG, Color Plus, Poncili Creación, Special Guest DJ, Arushi Jain, Drumloop, Isabella Koen, Ben Bondy, Kamran Sadeghi, Yawning Portal, James K., Syndey Spann, Debit, Pent and many others.

Resident Advisor called their most recent compilation record ‘Channel Plus’ “one of the most stunning documents of the ‘modern ambient-techno movement pioneered by labels such as Motion Ward and West Mineral’, with a focus on New York as well as a global outreach that encompasses chilled-out trap, electro, downtempo and even early '00s electroacoustic music”. Their debut solo artist release from J. Albert and Will August Park, entitled “Flat Earth” (2023), was based on free improvisation and ambient jazz, receiving praise from Philip Sherburne, Shawn Reynaldo, and was included in RYMs top EPs of the year. 29S has been written about on ID, Bandcamp Daily: Best Ambient, Boomkat, Paper Mag, Artnet, Dazed, Clot Mag, Nina Protocol, and Document Journal.

The newest release from 29 Speedway, UltraBody, is a compilation record featuring the music of Jake Muir, Pent & Dylan Kerr, Nexcyia & Mu Tate, James K, Flora Yin-Wong, Ex Wiish & Dorothy Carlos, Kamran Sadeghi, Tati au Miel, James Hoff, Eric Frye, Muein and Maxwell Sterling. The record is emblematic of the artists who have performed at 29 Speedway shows in New York and Europe during the past two years, and is the third in a series released by the label.

The record was born out of a desire to investiage how the self, spirituality, and language are intertwined with the intervention of subjectivity by new technologies. With increasingly sophisticated tech, and the supposed ability to remake the world and ourselves, what differentiates our individual discretion from the will imposed upon us by software? Quoting Walter Chaw from his piece on David Cronenberg’s Videodrome, “Decades of rampant, unregulated and ill-considered technological leaps have begun to evolve, to mutate, humans at a biological level”. This haphazard acceleration towards a techno-utopic transformation of humanity has faulted, and as William Gibson put it, is leading us to live in a “half assed singularity”. In this reality, artistic processes are influenced by excessive access to computational tools and assistance, but not utterly controlled.

This in-between state of dominion is explored in 29 Speedway: UltraBody. “Incoherences” samples the utterances of Dylan Kerr’s voice processed between Pent’s percolated glazes, muddying the gulf between vaporous ambient and reflexive sound design. The voice on James Hoff’s “A... ...Cha.... A... I feel l” was created by trying to get voice cloning technology to sing a gps data stream, the music an extrapolation from an earworm he got stuck in his head while shopping in Kyoto. On “Plogue Chain”, Eric Frye’s most speculative sci-fi observations spiral into a glazed pool of digital cacophony, while Kamran Sadeghi’s “Formula Fiction” is an experiment in (un)controlled generativity. Incorporating minimal pings from a 3D simulation scene based on gravitational interaction, cello bits evolve on “Assimilation”, a collaboration between Ex Wiish & Dorothy Carlos.

On UltraBody, sound has no separate existence from space.

2024 Repress

Lars Huismann is back on Mutual Rytm with the much-anticipated third volume of his 'Sounds From The Past' trilogy.

A core part of SHDW & Obscure Shape's ever more crucial Mutual Rytm imprint thanks to his timeless techno offerings as part of his ongoing 'Sounds From The Past' series, Berlin-based DJ/producer Lars Huismann's stock continues to rise release by release as a talent merging influences from the past with forward-thinking nuances of the future. Drawing on the early 2000 techno sound, he embellishes it with his own perspective, as evidenced by his earlier releases on the label. This latest six-track offering is another accomplished outing from this unique talent as he concludes the three-part series on the label in style.

The title track 'Sound From The Past III' opens up with a finely filtered chord groove that provides a smooth and hypnotising foundation. A subtle bassline, buoyant kick drums, and embedded vocal patterns harmonise with the synths, unveiling a smooth linear groove that soon sweeps you up.

'Fusion' brings more intensity with its barreling drum kicks, a dirty driving bassline, and melodies flashing by like headlights on an intergalactic motorway, with the overhanging pent-up energy inescapable. Next, 'Shimmer' rides on vast, heavy layered drums that are warm, and comforting as the track travels through a journey of diverse dub techno elements.

Like in 'Loucura', taken from 'Sounds From The Past II', Lars again showcases his strong influences from Brazilian and Latin music. On 'Estar Farto', the drums and bass are tightly interwoven, racing beneath bright and funky synth lines that bring ever-evolving shades of colour. A jazz drummer himself, the music transports into the groove via intelligent brass chord progressions and fine-tuned vocal and percussion elements.

It's straight dance floor business on the closing vinyl production 'Bittersweet', with its muted synth smears darting over more macho drum programming, while digital bonus 'Dusty Lick' is an unrelenting, jazzy, percussion-driven banger that hits hard and heavy in all the right places.

Ever since he made his first trip to Japan to DJ, Optimo Music founder JD Twitch has been bewitched by Japanese music, and particularly the vibrant, imaginative, and often far-sighted sounds which emerged from the island nation during the 1980s. Now he’s put years of digging in Japanese record shops to good use on Polyphonic Cosmos, the latest release on his compilation-focused Cease & Desist imprint.

Subtitled ‘A Beginners Guide to Japan In The ‘80s’, the collection offers a personal selection of Japanese gems recorded and released between 1981 and ’86 – a period when advances in recording and musical technology offered the nation’s artists and producers a whole new tool kit to employ. When combined with the unique musical culture of Japan, where local traditions are frequently fused with Western styles to create timeless, off-kilter aural fusions, this embrace of locally pioneered music technology had spectacular, often unusual results.

Eight years in the making, Polyphonic Cosmos provides an endlessly entertaining musical snapshot of Japanese music of the early-to-mid ‘80s with all of the open-minded eclecticism and sonic twists that you would expect from the Glasgow-based DJ.

Compare and contrast, for example, the gently breezy, morning-fresh folk-plus-electronics bliss of ‘ばら二曲 Baranikyoku (Fellini&Rota)’ by World Standard – the most familiar alias of long-serving musician/producer Sohichiro Suzuki – and the hallucinatory, slow-motion tribal rhythms, post-punk rhythms and tape delay-laden electronics of Imitation’s ‘Exotic Dance’. Or, for that matter, the tipsy mid-‘80s electronic reggae of Pecker’s ‘Sha La La’, the grungy but melodic post-punk strut of ‘You Go On Natural’ by Earthling (a track Twitch accurately describes as “sheer unrelenting groove”), and the unearthly, swirling sonics, new age instrumentation and flotation tank vocals of prolific (and seemingly mysterious) act Geinoh Yamashirogumi’s ‘Rimme Kohkyogaku Meiki’.

It’s a credit to JD Twitch’s curatorial skills that the quality never dips, and sonic surprises lurk around every corner. Consider for a moment the hard to describe, far-sighted audio immersion of D-Day’s ‘Ki-Ra’ – all languid post-pop guitar, enveloping chords, spoken word vocals, shuffling 808 beats and marimba melodies – and the two contributions from video games soundtrack specialist (and driving instrumental synth-pop specialist) Hiroyuki Namba.

The collection naturally includes some selections that have long been favourites in Twitch’s DJ sets – see Masumi Hara’s ‘Your Dream’ – as well as a handful of tracks from artists who may be more recognisable to those with only rudimentary knowledge of Japanese musical culture. The great Yasuaki Shimizu, whose work as Mariah has become far better known in recent years thanks to reissues of some of his most magical albums, is represented via ‘The Crow’, a picturesque chunk of horizontal, hard-to-define jazz-not-jazz smokiness, while the collection fittingly concludes with a sublimely funky, oddball electronic workout from Yellow Magic Orchestra legend Ryuichi Sakamoto (the frankly incredible ‘Wongga Dance Song’).

Matt Anniss

Reflections of the Sun is a collection of new music that see JOHN ROCCA experiment with a more laid back side to his musical personality. John is best know in Jazz Funk circles for his 1980s self funded, self produced and self released Brit Funk classic 'Southern Freeez', and as the band Freeez's founder.

"The melancholic suburban soul of ‘Southern Freeez’ never gets tired for me....an album that has remained at the top of my Brit Funk pile!" - GILLES PETERSON

Much of the album is also somewhat reflective. A personal and emotional reflection on John's life - the tracks a nod to John's varied musical pasts. Sounds, a pondering upon his collection of global influences and his life experiences over the years; Genre, the pulse of today, societal, musical or otherwise - but not easy to place as is John's character; Lyrics, the present dilemmas we face as humanity, whilst reflecting on our own private and deepest human feelings, of life and, of love in all its wonderous forms.

Musically, the 'Reflections of the Sun' album casts a glimpse back to Rocca's Brit Funk roots growing up amongst 1970s classic Jazz Funk and Soul, while also blending inspiration from his 1980-90s electronic influences topped off with everything else he has seen and heard on his life travels since then.

Giving a nod to John's own past while bringing Reflections of the Sun up to date was completed by adding elements of London's re-surgent and vibrant jazz scene. Not so different from John’s own early days jamming with Freeez, he is accompanied on all the album's tracks by his two young nephews and highly respected jazz musicians, Benjamin Rocca on keyboards and Joel Rocca on Saxophone. The two youngsters are known on the current London Jazz scene as the "Rocca Brothers".

The album's title track, "Reflections of the Sun" refers to how humanity, gorging on the sunshine that brings life to everything, also has a tendency to reflect the hellishness of the sun itself. Comparing our self-destructive nature with our planet's volumes of un-ending beauty.

Initial support for various tracks has come via radio plays on UK stations such as JazzFM, Jazz Funk & Soul Radio (JFSR), Soul Groove Radio and Solar (amongst others).