Fancy some autumnal sunshine and great free music then you should be here at Womad’s Gran Canaria festival!
The following articles were authored by James Barrie
This year our man on the ground is James Barrie, aka the Global Souljah. Join him as he checks out the best of this global scene and then drinks all the free wine
Happy Birthday to Tru-Thoughts, 10 years young, a major achievement for any independent record label especially in these turbulent time of falling record sales, thoughtless free loaders/uploaders and distributors going bust (which happened to the label last year).
Jeb Loy Nichols is an artist, writer and musician living a sustainable existence in Wales. He’s also just released an incredible album full of moving, delicate, beautifully arranged songs sung in his seductive and distinctive southern American accent
Continue reading Jeb Loy Nichols – Strange Faith and Practice
Mary Anne Hobbs is now officially the queen of the electronic new school with her weekly radio show offering a portal to the freshest electronic experiments and cutting edge urban sounds from across the globe. Wild Angels is her third compilation for the cutting edge Planet Mu label and is another great album showcasing where new electronic music is at in 2009 and a good pointer to where it’s going.
Peter Kruder is a bit of a compilation king racking up six and seven figure sales with some of his previous outings and once you’ve listened to this album you’ll know why they sold so well. The concept with this private collection is that Peter Kruder invites us into his living room to listen to some of his favourite records. Great! Milk, two sugars, thanks Pete
Kelpe is back with a new album and it’s another studied exercise in lovingly stitched together beats with more references than Wikipedia
Architeq is a young Scotsman called Sam Ammand now based in London where, after a minimum amount of fuss and not a lot of previous form, he has just unleashed one of the most accomplished beat driven debut albums that I’ve heard in a while
Luaka Bop started life as the pet record label of David Byrne as an outlet for his Brasilian musical discoveries but it wasn’t long before it developed into one of the finest independent record labels on the planet, defying pigeon holes, albeit with a fondness for all things Brasilian, to become a home for interesting music rather than any particular genre.
Continue reading Luaka 21 – Twenty First Century, Twenty First Year
I like multi genre producers the best. There has to be sense in keeping your ears and mind open whilst knowing your roots. Not only does genre hopping and moving with the times keep you fresh and young, listening only to drones or house kick drums your whole life music must send you a bit mad eventually and I for one need to look after my few remaining brain cells.
This is an album of two halves
The Strut records revival continues apace under the guiding light of K7 records as they release another sterling compilation this time focussing on the music of Brasil that was under the influence of the soulful, funky sounds of their North American cousins.
Continue reading Black Rio 2 – Original Samba Soul 1971-1980
If you’ve had any interest in modern bass line music the last couple of years then there has been no escaping the justifiable rise and rise of the floppy haired Sheffield youngster, Toddla T
