"This is dedicated to the politicians who have forced refugees into life-threatening decisions. Pushing people into the hands of traffickers, into small boats and too many beneath the waves of our seas. Who stoke fears to create a place of more cruelty and persecution instead of assylum. It won't be forgotten and it won't be forgiven."

In the last few weeks of October 2022 Scrimshire wrote a new collection of songs with the working title "Scream". A direct response to the absurdity of the breakdown in the UK government, the horror of the treatment of refugees arriving on our shores and the callous disregard for the trauma being caused to low income people or anyone considered "other". While self-preserving conservative MPs fought for their jobs, while record profits were announced by energy companies, as they were gouging crippling amounts of money from people's pockets. How does a society stop the callousness and corruption from seeping into its bones? 

The anger, sadness, mourning, frustration was poured into these recordings.

Paroxysm

Unforgotten, Unforgiven

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Unforgotten, Unforgiven feat. Nat Birchall

Welsh producer and bassist Huw Marc Bennett is set to release his beautiful new
album 'Days Like Now'. Steeped in organic sounds of jazz, folk, soul, dub and the
earthy, psychedelic roots of his homeland; the music has history but also harmonises with the new world around it, understanding the changing landscape.

"I feel as if this is both a step back and forward with my identity, piecing together what I like about Welsh and Celtic music and feelings", says Bennett.

"Trying to move forward with a modern approach and bravery in that I may not understand everything but this is mine to use and be proud of".

His last album, 2020's 'Tresilian Bay', was widely supported on BBC radio by 6
Music's Cerys Matthews, Gideon Coe, Gilles Peterson, Huey Morgan, Lauren Laverne, Stuart Maconie, Tom Ravenscroft and BBC Wales' Adam Walton and Huw Stephens.

The Vinyl Factory said it “Melds south London electronica and Welsh psychedelia,
along with elements of Afrobeat and highlife” while Electronic Sound said Bennett is "Another name to add to the growing list of UK new jazz talents".

'Days Like Now' started as a continuation of the worldly-funk sound of 'Tresilian
Bay' before morphing inwards to become a more personal reflection of Bennett's
connection with living in, leaving, and revisiting Wales from his now home in south
London. Playing bass, guitar and synths, the tracks were written, performed and
recorded by Bennett and as the writing progressed, he became more influenced by
thoughts of home and melodies from Wales' extensive cannon of beautiful songs.

"Now I am older, home means more to me than ever", says Bennett.

"I look back at what I took from there. Being brought up in a quiet Welsh coastal setting gives you a sense of community but also a longing for the bigger world. I like to think this record is exploring a lot of those outside influences I've been exposed to, but following my journey back to where I started, and even deeper in to the destination where perceive my identity".

On ‘Y Gwydd’, Bennett takes direct inspiration from the music of Wales, offering his
version of the popular folk tune ‘Y Gwydd’ (The Loom), first collected by Maria Jane Williams. The original words of the tune, compares the threads of life, to the threads of the loom.

'Red Valley' refers to the Welsh who left their homes between 1936 and 1939 to fight in the Spanish civil war against Franco and the rise of facism. Bennett says,

"It's just my little nod to the humble people who saw themselves as global citizens and the responsibility that comes with that, and that their individual actions truly mattered".

Featuring the voices of Angela Christofilou, Cleo Savva and Bennett himself, the
beautifully serene 'Pinc Sunset' captures that moment when it's hard not to stop and recognise the beauty of nature.

"Whether on a busy main street or streaming in through the window in your small room, it makes you stop and have a moment of clarity and peace. To look at yourself, who you are, where you are going, and where you have come from. And whatever that is, you own it".

Days Like Now

Huw Marc Bennett - Y Gwydd

Buy / Stream it here: https://orcd.co/jazzroom2

Welcome to the 2nd Volume of the Jazz Room series compiled by DJ legend and label owner Paul Murphy.

Following on from the success of the original Jazz Room compilation released by BBE in 2019 Paul has compiled a double vinyl volume of Jazz dance tracks that range from heavy funk of New Orleans to Latin grooves and contemporary jazz from the new generation.
Tracks written by Dizzy Gillespie sit with those from the musical pens of Raul Monsalve and Fela Kuti.

Paul's own label, Jazz Room Records, specialises in re-issues and it is his expertise in finding the rare and the obscure and matching with the new and the fresh that creates the joy filled atmosphere on this compilation.

This album really is as much for the party people as it it for the headz and links the audiences from his legendary gigs in the 1970s and 80s at the Electric Ballroom, 100 Club and The Blue Note to those at his current appearances at Spiritland, Shiftless Shuffle and
Brilliant Corners.

Indeed, among the rarities and the global rhythms in this collection are some excellent cover versions of tracks from the aforementioned Fela Kuti, The Stranglers, Azymuth and The Human League (yes, The Human League). What Paul Murphy has done here is compile a selection of tracks that could easily be a DJ club set, a soundtrack to a party, a Summer festival highlight or a night of music appreciation with a favourite tipple and partner.

The Jazz Room Volume 2 is a must have compilation and, along with Volume 1, is a masterpiece of music curation.

Raúl Monsalve Y Los Forajidos - Black & Decker

Moon Milk

Marking the 50th anniversary of Terry Riley's pioneering masterpiece ‘In C’, Africa Express will release the first African version of the minimalist classic, 'Africa Express presents… Terry Riley's In C Mali'. This new version was recorded at the Maison des Jeunes youth club in Bamako, Mali in 2013, and is led by young contemporary conductor André de Ridder. The album features the cream of new artists from Bamako, among them Adama Koita, Bijou, Cheick Diallo, alongside Africa Express stalwarts Damon Albarn, Brian Eno and Nick Zinner. Co-produced and mixed by Andi Toma (Mouse on Mars), the album will be released via Transgressive Records on digital formats on 24th November, with a CD and limited edition vinyl following 26th January 2015.

iTunes - out 24th November 2014 http://geni.us/2mbg

CD / LP - out 26th January 2015 http://shop.transgressiverecords.com/

Africa Express Presents... Terry Riley's In C Mali (5 Minute Edit)

Majora D. - Three Of Hearts {Abundance}

A Certain Distance

Baffle

Luck Be a Weirdo Tonight

Pollo De Palo

New song from the forthcoming album by Nahawa Doumbia, out 29 January on Awesome Tapes From Africa.
Pre-order/stream http://smarturl.it/kanawa

Nahawa Doumbia’s new album Kanawa concisely captures this current moment in Malian history. The singer, whose storied career spans more than four decades, reflects on the immigration crisis from the Malian perspective in the title of her new album Kanawa. Across eight songs recorded in Bamako with a band including traditional and modern instruments, Doumbia merges her early work that relied on a spare expression of her trademark didadi rhythm with the bombastic range of contemporary Malian pop. The beautifully complex musical accompaniment that results is courtesy of the large ensemble she pulled together with producer and arranger (and day one collaborator) N’gou Bagayoko. 

The band features two highly expressive Malian string instruments, the ngoni and the slightly smaller kamalé ngoni, as well as a variety of percussion, drum programming, karignan (a metal scraper) and acoustic and electric guitars. Doumbia’s daughter, a celebrated singer with her own group and busy concert schedule, Doussou Bagayoko sings on “Adjorobena,” a song about patience, tolerance and living in peace. Doumbia weaves together a roadmap of her psyche when it comes to the good and bad life has to offer. She talks about marriage and women leaving home to join another through the metaphor of a tree in the garden; she includes gunshot samples in the song “Foliwilen” to honor the bravery of hunters, soldiers and other courageous people; she uses a bird in “Djougoh” to talk about lazy people; and, in “Ndiagneko” she advises people to ignore critics, just do you.  

Mali has gone through an intense period of regional strife and terrorist incidents over the last ten years and Doumbia roots the album in tragic local concerns with deep global implications. “The meaning of Kanawa is so simple. We see our children trying to cross the ocean all the time. I said that many of our children die in the ocean and some of them die while crossing the Sahara. But I ask them why do they leave their country? They said that they leave because of the family situation or problems like poverty and unemployment. I ask them to stay and work in their country. I call on the UN and African leaders so that we can coordinate our efforts to find a solution, to create jobs for them so that young people stop leaving. That’s why I chose it as the title of my album so that everybody can learn from it and also so that there is a reduction in the number of people emigrating. So that some will hear the message and stay home and grow the land. Leaving is not the only solution. My message is to help the youth find jobs.”

Huw Marc Bennett - Y Gwydd

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