Past Machine” (originally written for John Peel):
 "Only a few weeks before the late great John Peel died, he honored Lali Puna by inviting them for a Peel Seesion. It was recorded in BBC's studio 4 in London on sept 30th 2004. The band performed ''6-0-3" , "Small Things" , as well as the exclusive song "Past Machine" and "Nin-Com-Pop"

Lali Puna: Past Machine (John Peel Session 2004)

Underwater Nocturne

Don Cherry & Jon Appleton
Don & Jon
Cacophonic

Released 29th January 2016

Rare outtakes from early pioneering and controversial electronic jazz experiments presented on vinyl for the first time.  This previously unpressed music provides and absolutely essential insight into Zen master experimental jazz outrider Don Cherry on the eve of his fertile Holy Mountain period which saw the composer combine all his well-travelled influences – such as the free music incubation of France and Germany with the traditional instrumentation of India, north and west Africa – then return to New York with a technicolor dream team and a healthy appetite for emerging synthesisers and electronic music. This project between electro-acoustic pioneer and Synclavier developer Jon Appleton coincided with his own history defining years at Dartmouth College where he played an integral part in the formation of one of Americas first electronic music institutions.  Recording benchmark LPs for Folkways Records and Flying Dutchman Jon collaborated with Cherry to create the album Human Music which tested the boundaries of electronic sound, jazz and ethnological disciplines in a series of melodic and rhythmical interfaces that would polarise both musical tastes, pop politics and potential spiritual beliefs in the process.

Recorded in the exact same sessions at Bregman Electronic Music Studio, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire the two tracks Don and Jon did not appear on the Human Music LP and now show a glimpse of what future unisons might have bequeathed before both artists coincidentally re-located to Sweden to pursue their individual and very specific journeys into contemporary music. Released with the blessing and encouragement of Appleton himself this record is quite simply a treasure of a dream-combination from the early doors of genuine alternative popular music. These rare sides combine the creative technology that directly coincided with the dawn of Bob Moog’s and Don Buchla’s synthesiser revolution with the homecoming of outernational free jazz which, in tandem, spearheaded America’s most radical music developments in the subsequent two decades and beyond. Don/Jon and The Human Music sessions also prelude Cherry’s further imminent electronic positioning alongside Carla Bley and Don Preston (on Escalator Over The Hill) and in film soundtracks for Jean Rollin collaborator Jean-Noël Delamare and Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain (with Walter Sear) before a hiatus from the for almost a decade. This extra glimpse of that important era, at the hands of these two pioneers, is now available in this very special package.

www.finderskeepersrecords.com

Don Cherry & Jon Appleton - Don

Field Music return with new 14 track album ‘Commontime’, set to be released on 5th February 2016 via Memphis Industries. 
The first song to be taken from the album is ‘The Noisy Days Are Over’, an insistent, sax-punctuated groove and a conversation between two friends struggling to say farewell to the bad old boozy days, when they should “get to bed like everyone else".

 
Over the past four years, North-East siblings Peter and David Brewis have threaded their way through one extra-curricular project after another but were inevitably drawn back to working together on their own songs. "As much fun as we might have had on our own or collaborating, we missed just spending time in the studio, the two of us, trying things out and playing together." explains David.

The space that Field Music vacated in those four years still appears to be empty. No one else really does what Field Music do: the interweaving vocals, the rhythmic gear changes, the slightly off-chords, but with the sensibility that keeps them within touching distance of pop music. But with Commontime, Field Music show off their unashamed love of choruses in a way they’ve only hinted at before.

Written and recorded in spontaneous bursts over six months in their Wearside studio, Commontime is built around the brothers playing and singing together again, but also features a wider array of players, including original Field Music keyboardist Andrew Moore, Peter's wife Jennie Brewis and new member of the live band Liz Corney on vocals, plus a panoply of other players.

“We wanted to embrace being a duo and, perversely, that made us feel more comfortable about all of those conspicuous cameos” reveals David.  Over the fourteen songs of Commontime, real life conversations are replayed, acquaintances come and go, hard won friendships are left to drift and diffuse snap shots of the everyday are pulled together into what must rank amongst Field Music’s best works to date. 

Commontime is available to pre-order at www-field-music.co.uk on limited edition 2 x 180gram green vinyl + download code, CD, and download. The first 250 physical orders include an exclusive signed print.   The album is also available to pre-order on iTunes with an instant download of ‘The Noisy Days Are Over’.



Commontime

The Noisy Days Are Over (Edit)

Field Music - The Noisy Days Are Over (Single Version)

Timestretched to the length of the longest recording. Now available for download / vinyl: https://heyexit.bandcamp.com/album/every-recording-of-gymnopedie-1

buy the vinyl

Every Recording of Gymnopedie 1

Steve Reich - 18 Musicians

"I love The Expansions their futuristic leanings inject new life into the form. Fresh material!" Ian Merchant (Black Acre)

“Exudes all the qualities I cherish most in music, warmth, integrity and a dedication to the groove… it’s a hard road to travel when you step in the footprints of giants, The Expansions are treading that path with ease and assurance.” Patrick Forge
=========
When The Expansions self released their first single in 2013, the laid-back jazz funk of Lavender, it quickly gained strong support from soul and rare-groove aficionados including Kenny Dope, Dom Servini, Patrick Forge and Andy Smith. A run of shows followed and before long, when someone was asking if there was a soul-jazz band around to play with, “The Expansions” was the answer. 

Although this popularity meant a hiatus in releasing music, the band have been constantly busy, playing around Europe with legendary British-Ghanaian soul singer, Andrew Ashong and the exceptional, upcoming talent Connie Constance. 

But always, The Expansions has remained a central focus and the true home of these four jazz and soul lovers, with occasional trips out to the country to form ideas and practice new music for the eventual album. 

Murmuration, recorded over three days at Big Noise in Southend, is constructed of single takes, with minimal overdubs, as the band attempt to capture the feeling and energy they create live. 

Debut single Breakthrough introduced the insanely catchy but deeply soulful blend of synths and groove, but here on the album that is explored to the fullest with longer breakdowns and more expansive, experimental solos. Pocket 5 displays the, possibly unexpected, influences of broken beat and almost combative rhythm playing – particularly in the complex guitar and keys breakdown where Koor and O’Keefe layer conflicting time signatures and battle to ride it out to the heavy drum return. 

Cannonball brings warm mellowness that delicately evolves through beats, touching on bossas alongside their fundamental hip-hop sensibilities. But even here there is a raucous zenith before the band sublimely recede into the silence of the a-side ending. 

Colossal album highlight Ivory Mountain is truly an epic. Evoking moments of 4Hero, there is a lightness of groove in the first half of this soulful exploration. But at the halfway point, all restraint is let go as a live string section joins the four quarters of the band for three glorious minutes of soulful disco. Evoking sounds of Quincy Jones, George Benson and Johnny Hammond, all the way through to a beautifully cacophonous finale. 

Dragonfly undoubtedly reflects on the work of Herbie Hancock and is the most direct throwback to the band’s earlier work, which is a welcome marker of how far they have come. A quintessential jazz funker. 

The album closes with the thoughtful and introverted shuffle of Miles Away. In the final eight minutes of Murmuration, The Expansions allow space and time to take precedence, with once-more-restrained peaks and developments. It becomes clear though, that the band cannot resist one last explosive finale, as they rise with screeching synths, strings and dubs for a perfect race to the finish line. 

You can hear the influences of Idris Muhammad, Grover Washington, even parallels with South London peers Yussef Kamaal and Ruby Rushton. But The Expansions have tirelessly worked to create a sound of their own and are very proud, along with label Albert’s Favourites, to finally share it.

Cannonball (Murmuration Preview)

The Expansions - Cannonball (Radio Edit)

Producers: Brian Eno and Robert Fripp
Track: Evening Star
Album: Evening Star

Evening Star

Brian Eno and Robert Fripp - Evening Star

Order now on vinyl / CD / digital: https://BBEmusic.lnk.to/EastPlants

BBE Music is proud to present the next instalment in the J Jazz Masterclass Series: ‘East Plants’ by Takeo Moriyama, one of Japan’s finest jazz drummers.
A genuine ‘under the radar’ album known only to a handful of Japanese jazz collectors, ‘East Plants’ is now available once more, reissued for the first time as a double 180g LP, with exact reproductions of the original artwork, obi strip and insert. It also comes with the original notes fully translated. ‘East Plants’ is also available as CD and digital formats. This reissue is fully endorsed by Takeo Moriyama himself.

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Takeo Moriyama - 竹(Take)

WRWTFWW Records is honored to announce the much anticipated reissue of Satoshi Ashikawa’s undeniable classic of Japanese environmental/ambient/minimalism, Still Way (Wave Notation 2). The album, available on vinyl (first time since 1982) and digipack CD (with one bonus track), comes with a cover artwork by Hiroshi Yoshimura and liner notes by Midori Takada, Satoshi Ashikawa himself, and Irish producer Gareth Quinn Redmond (whose Still Way-inspired album Laistigh den Ghleo is being released simultaneously on WRWTFWW).

Initially released in 1982 as part of the Wave Notation series*, Still Way is, without a doubt, a seminal Japanese environmental/ambient/minimalism album, often mentioned alongside Midori Takada’s Through Looking Glass and Hiroshi Yoshimura’s Green as one of the genre’s most important pieces.

"Like the moment of stillness, after the wind passes through the garden, when the rain stops for a brief second…" Notably inspired by Erik Satie’s Furniture Music and Brian Eno’s ambient work, Satoshi Ashikawa aimed to compose music "intended to be listened to in a casual manner, as a musical landscape or a sound object…not something that would stimulate listeners but music that should drift like smoke and become part of the environment."

The result is simply phenomenal, subtle minimalism and emotional elegance exquisitely orchestrated by Satoshi Ishikawa and his team consisting of his wife Masami Ashikawa (on flute), Midori Takada (on vibraphone), Yuko Utsumi (on harp), Tomoko Sono (on piano), and Junko Arase (on vibraphone).

In conjunction with Still Way, WRWTFWW is releasing Laistigh den Ghleo, a companion album by Irish ambient/minimalist composer Gareth Quinn Redmond, inspired by Ashikawa’s approach.

*The Wave Notation series also includes Hiroshi Yoshimura’s Music For Nine Postcards album.

芦川聡 Satoshi Ashikawa - Still Way (Wave Notation 2) [TRAILER - WRWTFWW030]

Hailu Mergia & the Walias Band "Endegena"

Join the BBE Mailing List: http://eepurl.com/yfBFX

Founded in 1996 by Peter Adarkwah, Barely Breaking Even (BBE Music) started life as a London club night, taking its name from the eponymous Disco record by the Universal Robot Band.

The label grew from the vibrant early 90's club scene with its first release, Stop & Listen compiled by Dr Bob Jones in 1996, opening the door to iconic series' such as All Back To Mine & Late Nite Tales.

A tonne of releases followed, ranging from Disco to Funk, Jazz to House. In the year 2000, the label celebrated Masters at Work's 10th Anniversary with a mighty box set that featured near 80 tracks.

A year later BBE Music spawned the Beat Generation Series of artist albums, notably introducing J Dilla (Welcome 2 Detroit) & a young Will.I.Am's first solo outing, alongside DJ Jazzy Jeff, Madlib & DJ Spinna, all of whom contributed to this seminal set of long players.

A quarter of a century and well over 500 titles later, having worked with Mark Ronson, Roy Ayers, Questlove, Hugh Masekela, DJ Premier, Dimitri from Paris, Joey Negro, Kon, RZA, Laurent Garnier, Black Coffee, DJ Shadow, David Rodigan and John Morales among many others, BBE Music looks to the future, celebrating its rich heritage while continuing to release a bounty of fresh titles.

The label’s most recent projects include an expansive reissue series from pioneering Nigerian label Tabansi, new imprint ‘Batakari’ in association with Boddhi Satva and the critically acclaimed ‘J Jazz’ Japanese Jazz multi-album project, not to mention the recent landmark 500th label release: a brand new version of 'Barely Breaking Even', featuring Leroy Burgess, Patrick Adams and Louie Vega.

In 2021 BBE Music is celebrating its 25th anniversary. To mark this milestone, the label is offering up some special projects, from the 20th Anniversary edition of J Dilla’s ‘Welcome 2 Detroit’, through David Bowie tribute album ‘Modern Love’, to a special new ‘Worldwide’ compilation from old friend Gilles Peterson. BBE Music will also be looking to the future with more exciting original artist projects, plus merch collaborations events and more...

Takeo Moriyama - 竹(Take)

BBE Music

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