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OK so we all have a bit of paranoia, but is it me? On this week’s Gilles Peterson show he highlighted Joy Obision (that’s good), Mos Def (and that’s good) and Shuanis (she of Floating Points’ Eglo label and FunkinEven) with her re-work of John Coltrane’s classic ‘Naima’. And equally as good as for a modern ‘update’ it’s fresh and new and keeping the sound and spirit of jazz relevant in this increasingly confusing world; even if it’s the 30th Anniversary of the release of Coltrane’s Love Supreme this year. So when you hear Emanative’s version of ‘Naima’, you can tell that it’s a giant step better than so many versions that you may or may not have heard over the past 30 years or so.

As a quick aside, on the subject of Coltrane (or more accurately Alice Coltrane), really worth checking out the compilation Athens as it’s as good an introduction to ‘leftfield’ for 101ers; bearing in mind pre-Emanative, Nick was the son of a Spider From Mars and a hip-hop head to boot (see interview In Space And On Earth).

And back to the EP, if I tell you ‘Naima’ is not the best track on the EP, you’ll be as equally astounded as me when you get on the Space-house of Tony Nwachukwu remix of ‘When On Earth’. For fans of all things non-handbag in the house department, this thake’s things to the outer limits. Could this be the first time we’ve heard Nwachukwu on remix since the Heavyweigh Gringo action of ‘Sunshine Lazy’? If you needed evidence of the power of CDr/Burnt Progress, this remix is it - we need more of this. WaH-cHU-kU!

And you’re thinking “What’s next?” It’s only Marc Rapson, who was the name Peterson was dropping this year as a remixer of choice with re-edits of and last seen here on Deborah Jordan’s album with the track ‘Home’). Not only that, Marc was part of the Ben Westbeech phenomenon as he played keyboards in the band. Now I’ve recently met Marc and can exclusively reveal that, not only is Marc a fan of ping-pong, there’s a new Westbeech project in the pipeline (and that’s as much as I can say at the moment except there’s currently no ping-pong action planned) but back to his remix of ‘When On Earth’. It’s another belter taking all the best elements of the performers; Liz Elensky on vocals, Deborah Jordan on vocals, Neville Malcolm on upright bass, Ben Hadeen on wind instruments and Nick on drums and percussion of course.

As another aside, I met Marc recently a the Futuristic Music night at 60 Million Postcards in Bournemouth (a night run by head honcho Simon S and featuring Martin Gordon) and it’s the mid-week bash of choice on the south coast (even if Kasabian fans we off to see their favourites at the BIC) and if you’re in the area this Saturday, there’s going to be another Jazz Chronicles session (see details below) but could it possible be as good as Emanative’s set last month?

Again, back to the EP, the set closes with ‘We Travel The Spacebeats’, a track taken from the album of the year Space and whilst Jimi Tenor / Tony Allen collaboration Inspiration Information run it close a couple of months ago and Build An Ark’s Love (Part 1)) in a late contender, Space is the album of 2009!

And EP artwork is just as special (by Gene Pendon of HVW8 (see Music Is My Art) as that of the album so my vote for ‘Man of the Year 2009’ has got to be Emanative; love your work Nick.

Reviewed: Emanative - Spacebeats EP (Furturistica Music) Cat. No. FM017 Release date: November 2009
A1. When On Earth (WaH-cHU-kU’s Mtronik Bassled Dub) (6:03)
A2. When On Earth (Marc Rapson Remix) (5:10)
B1. Naima (5:38)
B2. We Travel The Spacebeats (5:09)

Links:
www.myspace.com/emanative
http://soundcloud.com/emanative
http://emanativespacebeats.blogspot.com
myspace.com/tonynwachukwu
myspace.com/marcrapson
Heavyweight www.hvw8.com
myspace.com/futuristicamusic
www.myspace.com/floatingpoints
eglorecords.com
5th December 2009 - Simon S, Martin Gordon & Gerry Hectic : Jazz Chronicles @ Sixty Million Postcards, Bournemouth 3 to 8pm www.sixtymillionpostcards.com
following on from Electric Conversation, Emanative (new remix EP out in 3 weeks) and K15 (definitely one to watch) together with the ever present Martin Gordon (Brownswood).
Gilles Peterson :: 2nd December 2009 :: BBC Radio 1, Joining the musical dots, plus Gilles’ special guests are Joy Orbison, Mos Def and Shuanise
Gilles Peterson :: 21st August 2008 :: Quiet Village In The Mix