Sunday,
August, 31,
2008

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world music ring womex 08

Old Rare New - The Independent Record Shop (Book)

What a dream! If your on a trip across America making a film about independent record shops, why not take it one step further and compile a book on the subject with the bonus of some essays and interviews before the digital age of mp3s takes over total control of how we buy and listen to music? That’s what Emma Pettit did and Old Rare New is the comprehensive book to proove it.

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J.Rawls and Middle Child - Rawls and Middle

J.Rawls recently appeared on Peterson’s Worldwide radio show and it was one of the best interviews he’s done recently as it featured music from the forthcoming collaboration album with Middle Child.

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The Pack A.D. - Funeral Mixtape

The first thing that strikes you when hearing The Pack A.D for the first time is that this lot have filtered all the best of from rock, blues and boogie for Funeral Mixtape and it’s loud enough to wake the dead!

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DJ Brace Presents: The Electric Nosehair Orchestra In Nostomania

Don’t let the conceptual nature of the daft title put you off as Canadian DMC champion DJ Brace presents an instrumental hip-hop album from another dimension.

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Flying Lotus - Los Angeles

One of the standard bearers of the current beat generation is Flying Lotus and his first album on Warp was a tribute in sound to his home town of L.A. but does it travel?

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Dwele - Sketches of a Man

This, I feel, is Dwele’s best album yet, with twenty songs that give his fans a taster of his thoughts, feelings and emotions.

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Karl Hector & The Malcouns - Sahara Swing

Now-Again have done the impossible, they’ve hit on a combination that can challenge their own Heliocentrics and Mulatu Astatke as they put the Sun Ra and James Brown in the Sahara

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Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra - Miles Of Styles

Shawn Lee’s success as a musician has taken him all over the planet and in an effort to reduce his carbon footprint, he’s been hard at work in his studio to bring us 21 tracks that cover miles of different styles; ideal for global music appreciation.

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Rupa & The April Fishes - Extraordinary Rendition

I missed Rupa & The April Fishes this time around on their European tour but after listening to their debut album, I won’t make the same mistake next time around.

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V/A - Chess Moves - Chess Reworked (with Keith LeBlanc)

Full marks to Keith LeBlanc for remixing these blues tunes from the vaults of Chess and bringing them some new attention

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Daedelus - Love To Make Music To

You’ve heard the singles and at long last Mr. Daedelus Darling presents his album that he loves to Love To Make Music To; simply, album of the year!

 

Lalah Hathaway - Self-Portrait

Has Lalah Hathaway produced a modern classic to bear comparison with her father’s work?

 

Kaki King - Dreaming of Revenge

If revenge was on Kaki King’s mind as she wrote and recorded her latest album it’s a slow burning revenge of which little shows on the surface.

 

Herbie Hancock Sextet - Hear, O Israel - A Prayer Ceremony In Jazz

Recorded in New York in 1968 and originally released on a private label, for the first time this lost gem gets a commercial release; Hear, O Israel - A Prayer Ceremony In Jazz

 

Kon and Amir - Off Track Vol. 2: Queens

Queens is the place to be if the soundtrack to the NY borough is anything like this new compilation on BBE; totally awesome, inspirational and essential

 

James Pants - Welcome

When we say James Pants is HOT we actually mean he’s PANTS. Let put that another way, James Pants is HOT PANTS! No that’s not quite right but here’s a big FLY Welcome to the stunning world of James Pants.

 

Jackson Conti - Sujinho

Students at the FLY academy will immediately recognise Jackson Conti as the combined talents of Otis Jackson, Jr (aka Madlib) and Ivan (Mamão) Conti (he of Azymuth); lets face it, that makes Sujinho indispensible in itself.

 

Kail - True Hollywood Squares

Warning! This CD contains bad language from the very start. Warning! this is hip hop for folks that like a laugh and have a heathy disrespect for Hollywood celeb culture

 

Cadence Weapon - House Music

This is not you’re usual house music, this is Cadence Weapon’s House Music. Absolutely the best party rave-up track for sometime

 

Al Green - Lay It Down

Soul legend Al Green is rightly feted as music deity, his soul-kissed gospel-tinged vocals eclipsing a seemingly impossible marriage of the sensuous and the spiritual

 

Lyrics Born - Everywhere At Once

I’ve said it before, Lyrics Born, one of our favourite artists comes back big with his first studio album since 2003’s highly praised Later That Day

 

Jellybass feat. Abdominal - Transatlantic

The transatlantic connections between Southampton and North America have a long history and this new one has more bounce than what’s her name in that Titanic film.

 

Sugar Blue - Code Blue

It’s not that often we get to hear a new blues album that features a real harmonica player with tunes to match, so when we do, we like to go press the Code Blue emergency button

 

Daedelus - Hrs:Mins:Secs

When you get a little tired at work, the temptation is to start to watch the clock; Hrs:Mins:Secs drag by - not this new single from Daedelus as he puts on another cloak of inspiration on the decks

 

James Pants - We're Through

2008 is the year of Pants. Yep, Pants will be in your face very soon with his peculiar style of get down and dirty.

 

Steve Reich - Daniel Variations

Septuagenarian Steve Reich’s latest album is that odd mixture of classical minimalism of jazz infused cinematic operetta; in other words, it’s brilliant.

 

Replife - The Unclosed Mind

Gilles Peterson went a bit futuristica on us this week and quite rightly was getting excited with Ohio based Replife with his brilliant multi-faceted debut album, The Unclosed Mind

 

Tal M. Klein - Plastic Starfish

Tal M. Klein is a name you may not be too familar with as he’s also been known as Trancenden and The Hotness over the years. This new album shows how hot he is on the breaks and funk scene as it’s much more that “the same old thing”

 

Dabrye - Get Dirty EP

When there’s news of a Dabyre release from the Two/Three sessions, it’s time to get dirty and find out what’s going down at Ghostly International.

 

V/A - King Britt Presents The Cosmic Lounge Volume One

Not heard from King Britt for a while and while there’s more than one good reason for joining him on “a spiritual quest for a higher sound”, because it’s brilliant will do for starters

 

V/A - Droppin' Science

The sub-title of this compilation (Greatest Samples From The Blue Note Lab) gives the game away as Blue Note plunders its illustrious back catalogue for yet another compilation of their greatest hits that have been sampled and scratched by the hip hop community

 

Cadence Weapon - Afterparty Babies

When Cadence Weapon raps about the tough streets of Edmondton, his accent gives it away that he’s not from North London, this is ‘Oliver Square’ hip-hop outta Canada and Big Dada Recordings’ latest discovery

 

The Million Dollar Orchestra - Better Days

Al Kent Presents his The Million Dollar Orchestra on BBE Music this year, a sublimely soulful album following in the funky foot steps of Omar or Amy Winehouse but this time with a full orchestra and more old school funk and soulful disco

 

Connie Price and The Keystones - Tell Me Something

Connie Price and The Keystones claim to make “hip hop influenced cinematic soul music”. Listening to their second album, Tell Me Something, it doesn’t take long to understand what they mean by that; it means they make a bloody good noise

 

Jose James - The Dreamer

Keeping it real jazz for folks who feel jazz. Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood label goes out west to track down the legend of Jose James

 

Mia Doi Todd - 'Sleepless Nights'

For Mia Doi Todd blog watchers, you know there’s an album coming soon but hey! what a taster of a single this is. Another mesmerising performance that’ll keep you awake with joy

 

Robert Owens - Night-time Stories

Those that got high over Christmas with the single from Robert Owens, ‘Merging’ will be ecstatic to hear that the album is coming out next month with an array of the finest producers to match the finest vocalist in dance music

 

Hal Singer & Jef Gilson - Soul Of Africa

After the excitement of the Jef Gilson Septet Avec Lloyd Miller 10” release, Kindred Spirits have gone the extra mile and re-issued the incredibly brilliant and equally rare album, Soul Of Africa

 

Guilty Simpson - 'Get Riches'

‘Get Riches’ is the first official single from the forthcoming album Ode To The Ghetto on Stones Throw Records and finds us back in Detroit for some old-skool hip-hip

 

The Heliocentrics - Out There

The stark reality is that this album by The Heliocentrics is definitely Out There but totally within your reach and you must get your hands on it

 

Steve Reid Ensemble - Daxaar

Fela managed it and Mulatu too, now Steve Reid unites jazz with Africa.

 

Yoshitoshi Montreal - Mixed by Sultan

Feel good house served up by the Sultan of Montreal in a celebration of the Yoshitoshi label

 

Nicole Willis And The Soul Investigators - Keep Reachin' Up Remixed

If you asked if the Fly office to come up with some suitable remixers for Keep Reachin’ Up, most of the them would be on this superb album of remixes

 

Ohmega Watts - Watts Happening

Watts Happening is what’s happening

 

Grupo Fantasma - Movimiento Popular

Movimiento Popular is the kind of music you might expect to hear blaring from a crackly car radio in Havana or echoing out of a dusty grocery store in Santiago, its origins however lie in Austin, Texas

 

Build An Ark - Dawn

Behold the Dawn. Jazz collective Build An Ark make a compelling case for this to be the album of the year

 

Norman Howard & Joe Phillips - Burn Baby Burn

In the early sixties, Albert Ayler was the figurehead of a vibrant jazz community in Cleveland. Norman Howard and Joe Phillips were disciples and these ‘lost tape’ sessions finally get the full ESP-disk release that should have happened back in 1968

 

The Bonedaddys - Waterslide

Baton down the hatches…the dance torrent, Waterslide, has arrived! Yes, The Bonedaddys are breaking out their much anticipated brand new album

 

Don Cash - '2k7'

The second release on Headman’s Relish Recordings by Don Cash is another tower of strength from Toronto’s whiz kid and it’s one of the sounds of the year

 

Kon and Amir - Off Track Vol. 1: The Bronx

Just when you thought the well of dusty grooves had dried up, New York’s Kon & Amir have put together a collection of rarities that will get you excited for your next big break

 

Orgone - The Killion Floor

Orgone first burst onto the scene with their floor filling cover version of ‘Funky Nassau’ on the Ubiquity Records compilation Rewind Vol. 4. Having built up an impressive live reputation they now release their debut album The Killion Floor. It’s definitely funky, but does it add to the sounds it so faithfully references?

 

Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals - Lifeline

Longstanding, free-spirited soul-collective stand up and be counted for their 0 studio album, becoming older, wiser and with even more disregard for the contemporary wave of thought.

 

Hezekiah - I Predict A Riot

Not to be confused with the Kaiser Chief’s theme tune, Hezekiah’s new album continues Rawkus’ push to set the new standard of hip hop

 

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings follow up Naturally with a killer album that takes you back to the school of blues and soul

 

V/A - 'Choices' EP Vol. 2

As with the first volume of ‘Choices’, this is an EP of exclusive Ubiquity tunes, Volume 2 takes on a beat focus, ideal for hip hop and soul heads.

 

Abdominal - Abdominal Workout

All this talk of the country being obese in the press makes you contemplate on you own position as a role model for the kids. Abdominal has taken it further and got busy in the gym; and Natural Self and Mr. Lamdin donate a Brighton punch bag of a remix!

 

Jean Baylor - Testimony: My Life Story

As half of 1990s sensation Zhane, ethereal chanteuse Jean Baylor’s emotive vocals graced memorable grooves like ‘Hey Mr. DJ’, ‘Sending My Love’ and ‘Crush’

 

V/A - Wild Style - 25th Anniversary Edition

The original Wild Style comes in at No 1 in Peter Shapiro’s The Twenty Best Hip Hop Albums Ever Made. You know that the author of The Rough Guide To Hip Hop knows what he’s talking about and so now is a good time to get it as the album gets re-issued on its 25th Anniversary

 

V/A - Lost & Found: Rockabilly & Jump Blues - Keb Darge and Cut Chemist

“I’ve got a secret, and I ain’t goin’ to keep it ‘cos I want you to know it Baby.” So starts the first track on Keb Darge’s CD of this two-disc compilation as he, and Cut Chemist let us into the little known world of Rockabilly and the Jump Blues

 

Elizabeth Shepherd - Besides

There was I thinking about when are we going to hear from Do Right! recently only to find this collection from our favourite lady of Canadian jazz is going to be released very soon

 

Elan Mehler Quartet - Scheme For Thought

Since the launch of Brownswood Recordings last year, there’s a huge feel good factor about their releases to date. Be prepared, the Elan Mehler Quartet are the deep, thoughtful, melodic jazz exception in their scheme of things

 

Jim White - Transnormal Skipperoo

I almost threw this one straight in the bin due to its stupid name.

 

Don Cherry Quintet - Live At Cafe Monmartre 1966

By 1966 Cherry was a name in jazz, notably playing with Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler. Europe was the place to be for the visiting musician and Paris the epicentre of cool

 

Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass

None Shall Pass is Aesop Rock’s fourth album and even if it did take 2 years to produce, it’s bang up to date as he deals with the everyday aspects of life

 

V/A - Sound of the World 2007 (Charlie Gillett)

Charlie Gillett mixes the well-known with underground discoveries, crosses continents, sifts thousands of songs, balances the sexes and blends contemporary and traditional on this year’s crop

 

Willie Colon's Final Farewell - The Roundhouse, 10 Aug 2007

Willie Colón performs his final farewell set at London’s Roundhouse as Fania records release his double CD retrospective: The Player

 

Interpol - Our Love To Admire

Continuing to adore Interpol’s first two full albums Turn On The Bright Lights and Antics, I had some apprehension about whether their new LP could hit the same heights. Though it has taken a few listens once again I am delighted.

 

Aesop Rock - 'None Shall Pass'

Aesop Rock is a rapper known for his detail-driven narratives and dexterity defying word play and before his fourth album comes out, here’s a taster of his brand of underground hip hop defiance

 

Theory Hazit - Extra Credit

Theory Hazit of the hiphop is music stable outta Kentucky gets to release the first CD on the resurrected Superrappin label. It won’t be long before you’re praising a higher spirit

 

V/A - Putumayo Presents Americana

Putumayo know how to pick them. From the opening rumbling railroad beat of RobinElla’s ‘Down The Mountain’ you know you’re onto a winner.

 

Atlantic Starr - Radiant

It’s easy to forget that Atlantic Starr, best known for pop hits like ‘Secret Lovers’, ‘Always’, and ‘Masterpiece’, began their career as one of the most durable exponents of the urban contemporary and quiet storm movements of the late 70s and early 80s

 

V/A - Vintage Grooves: Old School Hip-Hop Vol. 1

Seamless’ 2 CD set is crammed with Vintage Grooves from the birth of hip hop that bring back sweet memories for this older rap cat

 

Domer - Work With Me

For an album called Work With Me, it’s notable that it’s singularly contained within the talents of Brooklyn based rapper/producer Domer

 

V/A - Crash Of Thunder

Following on from Explosivos and Action (Speaks Louder Than Words), can you really resist a compilation CD (or a box set of ten 7”s) of rare as funky hens’ teeth from King family of labels. Of course not

 

Dee Dee Bridgewater - Red Earth

Dee Dee has just released a wonderful album recorded in her spiritual homeland of Mali. Of course she was physically born in Memphis, TN but she explains on the DVD that as soon as she saw the bright Malian red earth, she felt that she had arrived home

 

Yerba Buena - Follow Me

Now I know you are not supposed to judge a book by its cover, or a CD for that matter, but it’s hard not to get excited by an album that boasts a bikini-clad lady leading a sombrero-wearing donkey down the road on its cover

 

Loudon Wainwright III - Strange Weirdos

While offspring Rufus and Martha have taken the limelight away from the old man of late, this (almost) soundtrack to Judd Aptow’s comedy feature film, Knocked Up, is being called LW3’s best album in 15 years

 

Mr. J. Medeiros - Of Gods And Girls

“Sometimes I look at what Mr. J. is accomplishing and I think this guy will be Rawkus’ biggest star EVER”, Rawkus co-founder Brian Brater

 

Snax - 'Honeymoon's Over'

Paul Bonomo is probably not one of you’re favourite Snax yet, but this slice of twisted electro synth funk puts him well above even a bag of Cheese ‘n’ Onion flava on my shopping list

 

Sa-Ra - The Hollywood Recordings

“We are going to be talking about the rise and rise of Sa-Ra in a minute but first the travel”, did I hear that right? Has the news of the debut album hit national radio already?

 

Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

With their seventh album release last month and an appearance on Jools Holland’s Later, why aren’t these guys household names?

 

Joshua Redman- Back East

Joshua Redman emerged in 1992 with great acclaim for his self-titled album. Like a beacon of hope, Redman offered a vibrant and engaging jazz, which was many miles way away from the stuffiness that the genre can be guilty of. This was jazz to listen to, fall in love with (and to) and importantly (and something which is often lost in jazz) the sheer, simple ability to whistle a tune in the morning

 

V/A - Interpretations: Celebrating The Music Of Earth, Wind & Fire

Mention of Earth, Wind & Fire should bring a nostalgic glow of soul, funk, jazz and love. This new album of ten top cover versions certainly does that

 

Robin Thicke - The Evolution Of Robin Thicke

When Gilles Peterson played ‘Lost Without U’ a couple of weeks ago, I thought who is this Robin Thicke?

 

V/A - Los Soneros: Voices of Fania

The Def Jam of Latin music is back with the latest in its series of re-issues. This time it’s the voices of the Fania stable that get the digital treatment

 

V/A - Putumayo Presents Latin Jazz

Putumayo World continues its exploration of the Latin sound with its début jazz release. It opts for the obvious rather than the surprising (Ray Barretto, Tito Puente and Eddie Palmieri all appear) but provides a good introduction to the world of Latin jazz

 

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble - 'Jupiter'/Balicky Bon' & 'War'/'Mercury'

Comprised of four trumpeters, two trombonists, a drummer and a sousaphone player — make way for an 8-piece band bringing brass supremacy

 

V/A - Time Out Presents The Other Side of Los Angeles (Madlib / Peanut Butter Wolf)

The latest in Time Out’s series of other sides matches LA’s greatest beats magician to compile the CD while his Stones Throw boss takes us on the DVD tour

 

Patchworks - 'Celebration'

Still Music have done it again — this time by enticing soulful dancefloor fillers Patchworks back into the fold

 

Bar-Kays - House Party

An unbelievable 40 years after their first hit ‘Soul Finger’, the Bar-Kays’ new album shows that they’re still superstars and the music is as good, if not better, than that of the image-obsessed r&b stars of today

 

V/A - Link Pins

Balanced Records have managed to attract a whole host of new producers for this remix project and it’s not just the pride of Manitoba! File under downtempo, dub, broken beat, house, MOD X and must get!

 

Waajeed & The Bling 47 Group - The War LP

War, what is it good for? Music, perhaps. Waajeed of Platinum Pied Pipers delivers a sombre long player

 

Jose Conde & Ola Fresca - Revolucion

In Cuba they have a stew called ‘agiaco’ into which anything can be incorporated, Revolucion is the musical equivalent. It mixes son Cubano, jazz, funk, Latin dance and reggae, it has tracks in both French and Spanish and owes as much to New York as Cuba.

 

V/A - Modus Vivendi Music

Modus Vivendi Music say they create forward-thinking future music by any means

 

V/A - Super Cool, California Soul II: Raw and Rare Soul From The West Coast 1966 - 1982

Lovers of rare groove, soul and funk should lick their lips as Ubiquity subsidiary Luv N’ Haight delivers once again, focusing on lesser known artists from the California area

 

MIMS - This is Why I'm Hot

Great track, shame about the rapping . . .

 

V/A - Gypsy Groove

Every now and then the thin membrane that separates popular from eclectic is pierced and all kinds of interesting things slip through before the membrane repairs itself. This compilation celebrates a series of popular mash ups of Gyspy, Balkan and pop sounds from Central and Eastern Europe (and New York)

 

V/A - Fania DJ Series Gilles Peterson

The prolific compiler and taste-maker Gilles Peterson delivers his first Latin compilation after digging through a few hundred Fania albums

 

Gym Class Heroes - 'Cupid's Chokehold (Breakfast In America)'

“Cupids Chokehold is a kwel ass song!!”

 

Peder - And He Just Pointed To The Sky

Shuddering strings set the tone in the album’s opener ‘Ache’ — which enchants and steadily pounds the album into life, comparable to a bleak fairytale with beauty emerging through darkness like within a Miles Davis solo

 

Kieran Hebden / Steve Reid - Tongues

Gilles Peterson is on a roll at the moment writing the sleeve notes to Steve Reid’s forthcoming solo album on Domino but before that comes out in October, there’s the double act with Kieran Hebden to come to terms with.

 

Cannonball Adderley Quintet - In San Francisco

This reissue is part of the Keepnews Collection highlighting the contribution to jazz of one of the music’s top producers, Orrin Keepnews. Here ‘Cannonball’ delivers the soul jazz manifesto live to the beatniks of ‘Frisco.

 

Graham Collier - Hoarded Dreams: Live at the Bracknell Jazz Festival 1983

UK jazz legend has produced a masterpiece in the form of Hoarded Dreams

 

V/A - Witness Future Vintage Vol.2

Displaying the broad skills of artists on their roster, Dutch label Kindred Spirits have compiled a splendid mix of varied beats.

 

Marco Polo - Port Authority

Back in the day, Rawkus was the independent hip hop label outta NYC breaking names like Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Common, Hi-Tek and Pharoahe Monch. And here’s some good news: Rawkus is on its way back

 

V/A - Up Above Records - Carving A New Standard Vol.1

The carpenters of hip hop shape up the very best on the first in a series from Up Above Records called Carving A New Standard

 

Chin Chin - Chin Chin

New-York based band Chin Chin’s eponymous debut is an intriguing affair. The album brings disco into the noughties and puts you in mind of what fellow New Yorkers Scissor Sisters might have sounded like if they had grown up listening to Ohio Players instead of Elton John

 

Various - Sister Funk 2

Jazzman Records are worshipped for their crate diggin’ and for this new collection, they got DJ Ian Wright to delve into the lesser known reaches of the funky sisterhood

 

Oliver Nelson - The Blues and the Abstract Truth

In 1961, this was part of the jazz ‘new wave’ on Impulse! and how exciting to have been on this Creed Taylor produced album

 

Eric Dolphy Quintet - Outward Bound (Remastered)

Outward Bound was his first album as a leader recorded in 1960 on the New Jazz label (later Prestige) and is now remastered as another ‘lost’ gem on the RVG Edition series

 

Solidaze - Pleasure From Precision (Remixed)

You might recall that Solidaze is one of ten Canadian producers that form a collective at Balanced Records and this sees last year’s album remixed and repackaged for a download only release

 

Swollen Members - Black Magic

Canada’s Swollen Members have now released five albums with their latest being Black Magic and you can catch them live at the Jazz Cafe on Monday 12 March.

 

Andy Haas - Humanitarian War

Electronic impro-jazz from Canada via New York

 

Mocky - 'In the Meantime' feat Jamie Lidell

‘In the Meantime’ is being billed as a record to kick out those winter blues and, apart from being rather late (it’s not out till April 23rd) that’s exactly what it does

 

Kidz in the Hall - School Was My Hustle

Debut release from the conscious battle rapper Naledge and producer Double 0.

 

Gary Marks - Gathering

Thirty three years after its original release Gathering is getting a second airing as folk jazz rises on the wheel again

 

The Soul Searchers - Blow Your Whistle

Blow Your Whistle shouldn’t be taken as an instruction. Whistles are terrible things, with no place on the dancefloor and very little use outside aids for maritime rescue.

 

Anaïs Mitchell - The Brightness

I opened this CD mainly on account it comes out of Righteous Babe Records, the prolific, sometimes genius Ani di Franco’s label, hoping it to be a shot of adreneline-charged, Americana folk.

 

V/A - Movers!

Greasy soul takes on a rather visual meaning with Andre Williams demanding his ‘Chicken Thighs’ (‘I’d give my right eye for a thigh, ‘coz I’m a greedy greedy man’) in Vampisoul’s Movers.

 

The Life Force Trio - Living Room

Travel the spaceways with the Life Force Trio

 

Little Axe - Stone Cold Ohio

On-U Soundman Adrian Sherwood is reunited with Little Axe for more off-kilter adventures in sound

 

Misstress Barbara - 'Barcelona'

Barbara Bonfiglio is the Sicilian born Canadian DJ/producer, better known as Misstress Barbara, with a 12” called ‘Barcelona’ out on a London based label. Fairly global?

 

V/A - Putumayo Presents A New Groove

If the origins of the artists on Putumayo’s A New Groove are diverse, the connecting theme is laid-back jazz fuelled songwriting - lounge jazz for a new generation

 

Mark Murphy - Love is What Stays

There was a bit of a delay in the release of this one but anything by Mark Murphy is eagerly awaited by fans of the ever youthful jazz crooner

 

Beats of the Heart: Salsa - Director: Jeremy Marre, 1979 (DVD)

Salsa is and was a controversial term for music that escaped between the edges of definition. It wasn’t simply Puerto Rican, Cuban, commercial, from New York, black etc and yet it wasn’t possible without all of these things

 

V/A - The Rough Guide To The Blues

You’ll know the history of the blues as it progressed from the sharecroppers in Mississippi Delta, the electrification of the blues with the migration to Chicago and Detroit and the influence on young British rock/pop bands in the sixties. Even so, this compilation by Nigel Williamson is a reminder of how very great the greats were

 

Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra - Voices and Choices

Providing entertainment for home listeners, djs or music-makers after a killer or quirky beat or break, Shawn Lee’s Voices and Choices is a goldmine of sounds.

 

Daniel Bouliane - Tagayet

Ambient, techno, African roots and folk with elements of progressive rock from an artist better known for writing scores for film.

 

Chico Mann - Manifest Tone Vol.1

Manifest Tone Vol.1 generates images and feelings that originated in Lagos during the 70s but which have been splendidly re-produced in 21st Century New Jersey.

 

Myra Barnes, Common, Roy Hargrove and Erykah Badu - R.E.-Edits Volume Five

You don’t often get a line up like this one: Myra Barnes, Common, Roy Hargrove and Erykah Badu!

 

Starless & Bible Black - Starless & Bible Black

Chicago label Locust Music spotted the nu-folk Manchester based Starless & Bible Black and released their debut album late last year.

 

Nat Baldwin - Lights Out

Nat Baldwin has the whole Jeff Buckley vocal thing going on, plaintif and high. Yet this isn’t the most remarkable thing going for his debut album Lights Out: the most remarkable aspect is that the vocals are recorded solely with double bass as accompaniment.

 

Arrested Development - Since The Last Time

So how long has it been Since The Last Time we were getting down with Arrested Development?

 

Town And Country - Up Above

Town And Country have been quiet of late but their latest CD has caught the spirit of the experimental, folk modern classic.

 

Hi-Tek - Hi-Teknology²: The Chip

Hi-Tek’s Hi-Teknology from 2001 linked him with all the names at Rawkus like Common, Talib Kweli and Mos Def. The new album, The Chip, provides an even more impressive list of guests but Hi-Tek has produced his own album.

 

V/A - Kings Of Techno: The History Of Detroit (Carl Craig / Laurent Garnier)

If you love your techno, you love Craig and Garnier but check the tracklisting to this double CD set before you buy.

 

Dr. Octagon - 'Trees'

The latest single from Kool Keith (aka Dr. Octagon) has touched a nerve on MTV

 

Dabrye - Two/Three

Two/Three logically follows on from Dabrye’s 2001 debut One/Three.

 

Joe Henderson - Milestone Profiles

The final part of this quartet of Milestone Profiles, we find another post-bopper that was ready for the experimental fusion period of the late 60s to mid 70s

 

Sonny Rollins - Milestone Profiles

This year was the 40th Anniversary of Milestone Records and the saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins has been associated with them for all but five of those years

 

Jimmy Smith - Milestone Profiles

Jimmy Smith wasn’t known as ‘The Incredible’ Jimmy Smith for nuthin’ and to celebrate his Milestone period, here’s another CD in the Profiles series

 

McCoy Tyner - Milestone Profiles

The man who was so much a part of John Coltrane’s success went onto a solo career that put him at the forefront of jazz piano along with Herbie Hancock, Chick Chorea and Keith Jarrett.

 

V/A - Putumayo Presents: One World, Many Cultures

The authentic and tender ‘coffee bean’ is taken from the little, simple land, flown over to the West, repackaged, doused in sugar, combined with more digestible ingredients to cover up the true difference and then sold to a blind audience. It isn’t a representation of culture. It is the interpretation of cultures by the West.

 

Tammen Harth Dahlgren Rosen - Expedition (Live at the Knitting Factory)

Recorded at the high temple of experimental jazz back in 2001, you don’t even need to open this issue from ESP - Disk to know this is going to be challenging stuff

 

Nick Andre / E Da Boss & DJ Enki - 'The Singles'

San Francisco’s Slept On Records have selected some prime cuts for their debut 12” release.

 

Lee Hazlewood - Cake or Death

Cake Or Death, a title borrowed from his favourite comedian Eddy Izzard, may very well be the final album of the old man terrible of the music biz. Firstly, he has terminal cancer and secondly he says he hasn’t got the money to produce another anyway

 

V/A - New Orleans Christmas

Putumayo bring huge doses of sassy seasonal cheer to the world from New Orleans

 

Lydia Lunch - 'Smoke In The Shadows'

Mule Musiq have an interesting back catalogue, but this Limited Edition 12” is unusual even for them, according to Gerry Hectic on his trip back into no wave land

 

Joanna Newsom - Ys

About this time a couple of years ago, I had a stand-up row with a journalist from Kerrang! about the relative merits of Kate Bush. “Pointless, self-indulgent warbling…” is a phrase of mine that comes to mind, so why on earth am I so smitten by Joanna Newsom?

 

Pitbull - 'Bojangles' Remix

The Cuban-American from Miami causing waves at the moment is Pitbull and there’s a ‘Bojangles’ Remix coming out to promote the forthcoming album El Muriel.

 

Joe Driscoll - Origin Myths

The one man band of the twenty-first century no longer straps a bass drum to his back and cymbols between his legs. All he needs is a loop sampler, a guitar, the ability to beatbox and something to say, (which sounds better even if it doesn’t look quite as distinctive).

 

Solo Andata - Fyris Swan

The cover of this CD is ‘Study for Samson St. Series’ (1998) by Eveline Kotai and it really suits the ambient feel of Solo Andata’s debut release…

 

Eliot Lipp - Tacoma Mockingbird

Earlier this year, Tacoma Mockingbird was released on Hefty Records and it’s just the thing for electronic hip hop heads.

 

Ugly Duckling - Scala, London (Live Review)

Ugly Duckling take the Scala, London by storm

 

Kinder Atom - Soft Hand Feel

This is the fourth album by the Toronto-based collective of Kinder Atom as they continue to explore the myriad styles of electronic music

 

Guru - Version 7.0 - The Street Scriptures

Guru pronounces, “you can put me in the hall of fame, I’m worldwide, I’m a legend at this game.” Maybe, but is his latest solo effort (the dog’s) bollocks?

 

Thunderball - Cinescope

I tried to resist it, but if you play the first track on Thunderball’s Cinescope album The Road to Benares, you become dangerously close to sliding on a pair of mafia wife shades, something black preferably PVC, calling yourself Trinity or Blade and embarking on a Thelma and Louise road trip.

 

Glenn Kotche - Mobile

I’ve been keeping my eyes open for this one since the release of a one-sided promo of ‘Projections Of (What) Might…’ early this year.

 

Archie Shepp - Kwanza

Kwanza is a celebration of “all things African and African-American”.

 

My Name is Albert Ayler (Film)

Going to see this film was one of Gilles Peterson’s recomendations for the 2006 London Jazz Festival and as Mr. Ayler said, “If people don’t like it now, they will”.

 

Plug Research - The Sound Of LA

It’s somewhat of a big boast to get the sound of the city of angels on one 12” but Plug Research don’t tend to do things by halves.

 

Forro In The Dark Feat. Seu Jorge - Suor De Pele Fina

The meeting of City Of God star’s “smoky voice” from Rio and the ‘forro’ from the Northeast of Brazil transplanted to NYC’s Nublu club on a Wednesday night is a winning combination.

 

Peven Everett - Power Soul

You often hear the phrase, he/she loves the sound of their own voice. In Peven Everett’s case he’s not the only one.

 

V/A - Pure Fire! A Gilles Peterson Impulse! Collection

Pure Fire! is a suitable companion to the recent Sunday Afternoon At Dingwall release and it features some of our long time heroes on the scene and some top tunes like the classic ‘See You Later’ and ‘The Blessing Song’

 

People Under The Stairs - Stepfather

“I’m writin’ a letter to the old skool, shockin’ and rockin’ the house” sums up this album in many ways, but there’s more to it than just a homage to eighties b-boys.

 

V/A - Sensacional Soul

Plucked straight out of 60s soul fever this Double CD compilation is guaranteed to put a smile on the face of any Aretha Franklin or James Brown fan. Plugged as being ‘El Soul música, made in the USA, para las discotecas españolas’ or rather Soul music, made in the USA for Spanish clubs, this collection does exactly what it says on the tin

 

Xzibit - Full Circle

If you didn’t know better, you may have thought that Xzibit is only the presenter of Pimp My Ride on MTV. His new album, Full Circle sees a return to his rappin’ roots.

 

E-40 - My Ghetto Report Card

Out on the West Coast, the ‘hy-phy movement’ is begining to see light in the mainstream, a long standing and evolving hip hop subcultural style that originated in the Bay Area

 

Gym Class Heroes - As Cruel As School Children

I’m told Gym Class Heroes are, “too indie to be hip hop, too hip hop to be indie” but is that a problem?

 

Andre Williams - Movin' on with...

Subtitled, ‘greasy and explicit soul movers 1956 - 1970’, this collection of raw gut-bucket rhythm and blues is heavy on the blues and about as subtle as a German porn movie

 

V/A - Back To Mine: Mercury Rev

Artful rockers Mercury Rev show their eclectic tastes off in the latest in the Back To Mine mix CD series

 

Huw Stephens vs Daedelus Throws a Fit in the UK [Almost]

Radio 1’s Huw Stephens from Cardiff and your humble correspondent wouldn’t seem to have much in common, but there’s a couple of things we agree on. Fancy dress parties aren’t our thing and we’re both big Daedelus fans.

 

Mocky - 'Extended Vacation'

Nobody likes the summer to end and this forthcoming 12” is going to be doing the rounds until the very end of the last days of the holidays.

 

V/A - Folk Off - New Folk and Psychedelia from the British Isles and North America (Rob da Bank / Bestival)

Sunday Best’s Rob da Bank has been busy getting this mammoth 30-track compilation out on the crest of the folk revival

 

V/A - Gold Digging : As Sampled By 2Pac

The third in the Gold Digging series features a shed full of tunes sampled by 2Pac (aka Tupac Shakur).

 

Wayne Shorter - The All Seeing Eye

The same names are always cited as the first holy trinity of sax players (Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster). The listing of the second trinity is more disputed, but the first two slots almost always include the same two names: John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter

 

V/A - World 2006

In a world awash with free cover-mount compilations and triple CDs for a tenner, why on earth would you buy Charlie Gillett’s latest round up? Perhaps because you really do get what you pay for…

 

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - The Letting Go

I first heard of Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy through my brother, whose music collection has a higher than average hit of ‘credible’ if somewhat downbeat, moany albums.

 

V/A - Strange Country

‘Oh, we got both kinds. Country and Western’ Shielah Wells tells Dan Aykroyd in John Landis’ Blues Brothers when he asks about the music in the bar he turns up at. This was such a formative memory it was enough to make ‘country’ a slightly dirty word for me for the best part of two decades.

 

Mia Doi Todd - Manzanita

Causing a stir with the Adventure Time mix of ‘Amor’ at the Worldwide Awards last year, Mia Doi Todd is a vocalist destined to have a much larger audience

 

Elizabeth Shepherd Trio - Start To Move

Back in my favourite record store in Toronto, “Gerry, I’m glad you’re back, I’ve thought of another one you’ll enjoy.”

 

V/A - Moonstarr Remixes

While we’re getting to grips with all sounds Canadian, time to check one of Toronto’s leading lights on the DJ and remix scene.

 

V/A - Ready Or Not 2 - Deep Jazz Grooves From The CBC Radio Canada Archive

Wow! John Kong and Tim Perlich have dug into the vaults of CBC Radio Canada archives and uncovered some real jazz gems.

 

V/A - Jamaica To Toronto - Soul Funk & Reggae 1967 - 1974

The release of this compilation by DJ Sipreano on the breaks label Light In The Attic, caused a bit of a stir when it came out last month.

 

V/A - History Is Bunk (Parts 1 & 2)

“History is more or less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present, and the only history that is worth a tinker’s damn is the history that we make today.”

 

Roots Tonic Meets Bill Laswell - Roots Tonic Meets Bill Laswell

When it comes to bass saturated dubness, Bill Laswell is a name to be ignored at your peril.

 

Mossman Meets Vander - Montreal Dub Sound System

To continue the Canadian tour and our love of all things dub, I couldn’t believe the poster in record shop as I arrived in Montréal on a Monday; “DUB OUT! Tous Les Lundis”.

 

Kool Keith - The Return of Dr. Octagon

Kool Keith (aka Dr. Octagon) is holding his surgery in the cage of the UFC as he battles with some beats to make a perfect world after his arrival from Jupiter

 

Thomas Brothers - Louis Armstrong's New Orleans (Book)

Sometimes less is more and by focussing on Satchmo’s early life, Brothers sheds more light on Armstrong than many biographies covering the artist’s whole life have done

 

Sun Ra - Concert for the Comet Kohoutek

This is an overlooked gem from 1973, recorded at the Townhall, New York City a couple of days before Christmas. Sun Ra’s mind was on his ‘Space is the Place’ film and like an avant-garde film of that time, the music is restless, shifting and all over the space

 

Michael Franti And Spearhead - 'I Know I'm Not Alone'

Mr. Franti has many admirers including none other than Chris Blackwell who has said that he is “the most important artist recording and touring today who has yet to reach a mass audience.”

 

DJ Spinna - Intergalactic Soul

When you’re a top internationally acclaimed DJ, Remixer & Producer, it’s little surprise that your album has a DJ set feel to it.

 

Dr. Octagon - 'Aliens'

Extraterrestrial hip hop? Well it isn’t world music, but it’s certainly different…

 

Sa-Ra - Creative Partners?

It seems a long time ago that Sa-Ra graced the cover of Straight No Chaser as ‘The Future of Funk’… Gerry warms to them afresh with a first listen to their new album

 

V/A - MKL Presents Suits & Dahikis

What a great compilation this is lovingly put together by MKL and featuring one of the best Fat Freddy’s Drop remixes you will find.

 

V/A - ¡Baila! A Latin Dance Party

It’s from Putumayo — expect nothing less than for it to do exactly what it says on the tin.

 

Kinky - Latin Alt Rock Sensation

Kinky’s Ulises Lozano (keyboards, accordion, programmer) talks about their new album Reina and creating their unique sound

 

Louie Vega Presents Luisito Quintero - Percussion Maddness

Bronx-born Latino ‘Little’ Louie Vega teamed up with Venezuelan percussion maestro Luisito Quintero on the ground-breaking Nuyorican Soul project nearly ten years ago, and this rhythm-soaked recording takes the union in a whole new direction.

 

Dr. Octagon - Aliens

Kool Keith (aka Dr. Octoagon) is the ex-Ultramagnetic MCs outta the Bronx old skool but definitely has a nu-skool open mind to his hip-hop thing.

 

Brad Mehldau & Renée Fleming - Love Sublime

Brad Mehldau is one of those names you recognise from jazz reviews but I’d not heard of Renee Fleming before.

 

Shaggy Manatee - In Between

The Bay Area continues to throw up intelligent hip hop while much of the rest of the States continues its frantic materialistic bingeing, literally, to the end of the earth.

 

Jern Eye - Authentic Vintage

Here’s some summer hip hop that’s happy with its old skool heritage

 

Malena Perez - 'Chase The Butterflies' (The Kenny Dope Remixes)

Malena Pérez is blessed with a beautiful voice and with Cuban-American roots, she can sing in both Spanish and English.

 

Osunlade - Aquarian Moon

Don’t expect anything like his re-mixed work of late as this is, whisper it, a little concept albumish

 

Dabrye - Two/Three

San Francisco-based Tadd Mullinix dropped his first long-player under the Dabrye moniker way back in 2001. His progressive, beat-driven take on instrumental hip hop garnered serious plaudits from the hip hop cognoscenti and now, five years on, he’s back to do it all over again.

 

Chico Hamilton - Believe

The legacy continues. Chico remains on form with a beautifully textured album that stays true to an old jazz ethos and vibe, but executes it so passionately that it sounds as fresh as ever.

 

Ammoncontact - With Voices

From the maverick beatsmiths Ammoncontact, comes With Voices an album packed with all the trademark warped menace and skewed soulful excursions the duo are famed for. More collaboration-focussed and vocal-based than previous outings this is the colossus album the duo have always wished to make and threatened to craft.

 

Chico Hamilton - Juniflip

Still exploring the phenomenon of groove at the ripe old age of 84, renowned percussionist Chico Hamilton is living proof that not every cat has had its day

 

Daedelus - Denies The Days Demise

“You’ve influenced my next album more than you’d think”, Daedelus, August 2005.

 

Joshua Tree Music Festival 2006 - Joshua Tree, California (Review)

The atmosphere at the Joshua Tree Music Festival is like stumbling across a campsite of a large family reunion full of cousins whose names you can’t remember but they are still glad to see you. For three short days Joshua Tree Music Festival creates a unique world in the California desert with over 26 bands, food, and various desert vendors

 

Solidaze - Pleasure From Precision

Solidaze is one of the ten Canadian producers that form a collective at Balanced Records.

 

Aaron Lacrate feat. Amanda Blank - 'Blow' (Remixes)

“Come on it’s just a song…. it sounds great I love it …”

 

Jesse Rose - Presents More Than One

Even before I’d heard this CD by Jesse Rose, I was impressed. I remembered that in a recent DJ magazine, there was a short interview with him where he warned us about the amount of “same shit” house music coming out of Miami this year. You’ll understand where he’s coming from when you hear his album of collaborations, Presents More Than One

 

Dr. Rubberfunk - Riding With The Ratman

Hot on the heels of ‘Watch The Tables Turn’ there’s a limited edition 7” coming out soon on GPS Recordings that’s caught my eye.

 

Tunng - Woodcat

Good to have a 7” vinyl single to support the release of the new Tunng album.

 

Dave Matthews - Live at Academy, Manchester

There are few artists who inspire the kind of devotion that encourages fans to travel halfway round the world for the chance of seeing them.

 

Jimmy McGriff - The Best Of The Sue Years 1962-1965

Jimmy McGriff is one of the biggest names of 1970s jazz (not to mention being a fave with the acid jazz crowd)

 

Douglas Pagan - Kara Walker Variation 32

Voltage Music has pulled out a big one here.

 

Ugly Duckling - Bang For The Buck

Ugly Duckling might not have the ring of other street cred hip hop luminaries but there’s more to this album than just the pop-art cover to be admired

 

Devendra Banhart - Cripple Crow

Devendra Banhar’s tripped out and lonely tunes come across as simultaneously disaffected and innocent and his latest release is one of high contrasts: delicate and attacking, rambling and coherent.

 

V/A - Impulsive: Revolutionary Jazz Reworked/ Impulsive: Unmixed

A crucial component to the development of jazz music in the 60s and 70s, Impulse! Records were responsible for a series of ground breaking free jazz releases that consistently lived up to the label motto of “The New Wave In Jazz”

 

DJ Drez - Jahta Beat

Somewhat of an unknown quantity DJ Drez, proves himself to be quite a talent recording, arranging, mixing and producing Jahta Beat in its entirety

 

Charlie Hunter Trio - Copperopolis

Having recently concentrated his efforts upon other bands, other formations of his band (from duo, to quartet to quintet) and endless work in the capacity of either side-man, studio musician or collaborator, Charlie Hunter finds himself returning to where it all began — the trio

 

V/A - Fusion With Attitude

The impeccable Soul Brother Record’s latest release is as essential as the old Jazz with Attitude sessions.

 

Dwight Trible - Living Water

Dwight Trible has been hangin’ out with all the youngsters but his latest album brings back a golden age of jazz.

 

Nicole Willis and the Soul Investigators - Keep Reachin' Up

The combination of a New York born Willis, producer/husband Jimi Tenor and a Helsinki based backing band have together created a geographically diverse Northern Soul album for the mid-noughties.

 

Cassandra Wilson - Thunderbird

Why hasn’t Cassandra Wilson had the success of Norah Jones? Compared to her Blue Note coleague, she had a head start, as it’s been 20 years since her debut album was released.

 

Kevin Johansen - City Zen

This slice of light-hearted pop-fuelled acoustica by Alaskan/ Argentinian bi-lingual chillster Johansen and his group the Nada is probably going to be running round your head all summer long.

 

Spank Rock - YoYoYoYoYo

Spank Rock is hip hop outta Baltimore but the first single got radio plays from Radio 1’s Zane Lowe, Annie Mac & Mary Ann Hobbs. So fairly mainstream then? Well sort of as their hip hop is a strange mash up of old skool influences, a fair touch of electro bass boom and a few swear words (erm… quite a lot of swearing actually).

 

ABCDEFG - Dominoes & Dice

In a folktronica version of breaks, samples and live instrumentation, LA-based producer ABCDEFG has been sequencing and mixing a soundscape to produce something a little bit more ‘Independent’ than most.

 

Public Enemy - New Whirl Odor

It’s twenty years since Public Enemy first scorched their way into the public’s consciousness with their mould-breaking combination of radical politics and incendiary polemic, however the years since the glory days of the late-1980s and early-1990s have seen the struggle to stay relevant in an increasingly fickle hip hop scene.

 

Malkovich - Skeletons

Malkovich instantly demonstrates his confident and able rapping ability, which he uses to drop a variety of flows and styles throughout this hit and miss album

 

Gym Class Heroes - The Papercut Chronicles

Gym Class Heroes are a four piece indie/hiphop band from upstate New York. Much of this, their debut album which follows on from a series of EPs, is great material, showcasing a tight combination of live instrumentation with similarities to the UK’s own Rawdog

 

Various Artists - Develop(Mental) 1

This NatAural High Recordings release is an enjoyable US album showing the solid talents of many little known producers and vocalists

 

Rich Medina - Connecting The Dots

Rich Medina is a DJ, poet, performer and now producer of his first album, Connecting The Dots. It was released on Dutch label Kindred Spirit earlier in the year and as there’s a growing interest in the jazz poetic at the moment, it’s a good time to have a closer listen

 

V/A - The Kings of Jazz (Compiled by Gilles Peterson and Jazzanova)

Gilles Peterson digs out obscure gems from well-known jazz masters and Jazzanova get to play with contemporary forces

 

Kero One - Windmills of the Soul

Windmills of The Soul is Kero One’s debut album and the Plug Label’s first full-length release. In addition to the vocals, Mr One is also responsible for the scratching, bass, Moog, synths and the Fender Rhodes playing. Apart from some guest vocals this guy is pretty much self-contained but you wouldn’t think so from the full on soulful sound.

 

The Bordercollies - Sticks and Stones

Atlanta-based quintet The Bordercollies serve up a new album of mostly original tunes along similar lines to their last album The Road From Swannanoa.

 

The Youngblood Brass Band - 'Nuclear Summer'

Just when you think you’ve heard it all, along comes a band ready to break the rules. The fact that The Youngblood Brass Band are a nine piece that’s being assembled from all over the US (Madison, WI / New York, NY / San Francisco, CA / Chicago, IL) is rare enough but these guys are a hip hop brass band!

 

Soul Survivors - When The Whistle Blows Anything Goes

Originally from 1968, the Soul Survivors are still surviving (via CD at least).

 

Omni - Ballyhoo

Cool, eclectic flows from a contemporary native tribalist…

 

Tom Tallisch - Duality

An album of sax and guitar with nothing else to disturb it immediately sets alarm bells ringing. Sustaining interest with 2 instruments for a whole album is a fairly heavy ask of anyone, but Tom Tallisch and Dave Manley pull it off in fantastic style.

 

Colossus - 'The Tribute'

Stating the obvious, Colossus is huge. ‘The Tribute’ EP has the names and the hybrid hip hop beats we love and with the guest appearances of choice

 

V/A - Gilles Peterson Digs America

Gilles Peterson has gone and done it again.

 

David Banner - 'Play'

This one caught my eye but only after I saw the review in Metro, who gave it one star out of five. We’re on the ‘explicit lyrics’ issue again. As the paper says, Mr. Banner spends “four minutes telling his girl to play with herself. No wonder I haven’t heard it on the radio”.

 

Jordan Fields - Jordan Fields Presents 2084

Clearly, the clichés and disco template are evident such as the sythns, handclaps, Chic guitar and bassline but don’t write this off as a musicial George Orwell +1000.

 

V/A - Explosivos: Deep-Soul From The Latin Heart

For a few short years from 1966-70, Latin Soul was the hip, young sound of Spanish Harlem. A riotous collision of Latin rhythms, late-1960s psychedelia and Afro-