On the Snap by Brian Case

“Three decades of snapshots from the world of jazz, film and crime fiction”

Caught by the River, out June 18

The Anglo-Irish son of a Deptford cop, Brian Case got hooked by Charlie Parker at the age of 12 and never looked back. For five decades, writing for NME, Melody Maker, Time Out and latterly Uncut and The Times, his distinctive hard-bitten voice rapped out pieces on a thrilling after-midnight world of jazz, film and hard-boiled fiction.

A true original to stand alongside such peers as Nick Kent, Julie Burchill and Tony Parsons, Case wrote about a parallel, hipper universe in a sharp, speedy idiom all of his own. The ultimate turner-onner, his passion was for the noir of James Ellroy and the frenzied hard-bop of Johnny Griffin, but he was also the first journalist to go on tour with The Sex Pistols and was perfectly happy to shoot the breeze with Al Pacino with his pockets laden down with live ammo.

On the Snap is a collection of conversations with Case where he discusses some of his most memorable encounters – from Chet Baker and The Sex Pistols to Jack Nicholson to Michael Caine. All delivered in the unique vernacular of one of the great contemporary journalists, it’s a snapshot of an intoxicating and disappearing world.

As Richard Williams – his editor at Melody Maker and a long-standing admirer of his work - eulogises in his introduction:

“His writing was surprising, funny, elusive, erudite, emotionally engaged and all his subjects in this book, from Ian Dury to Norman Mailer, from Don McCullin to Tom Waits, the whole gang of motormouths and shutterbugs, junkies and pussy hounds, the witnesses to bebop and Belsen, get a fair hearing and words shaped by acute sensibility.”

On the Snap arrives this June via the publishing arm of Caught by the River – the nature/culture website that punches above its weight.

www.caughtbytheriver.net


Al Pacino


A mixtape created by T.O.C for Nicholas Daley's AW16 collection, 'KinDread'.

For more info go to: nicholasdaley.net


T.O.C X NICHOLAS DALEY Autum/Wnter 16 - MIX

Maria Rita
“Brasileira” LP

Brazilian duo Selvagem partners up with Optimo Music to launch the label Selva Discos. First release is the official reissue of the scarce and sought-after “Brasileira” LP by singer Maria Rita Stumpf

A1 Cântico Brasileiro Nº3 (Kamaiurá)
A2 Felicidade
A3 Cântico Brasileiro Nº6 (Temporã)
A4 Canção da Garoa
A5 Lamento Africano/Rictus

B1 A Cidade
B2 Cântico Brasileiro Nº1
B3 Relhaços
B4 Trilhas
B5 Melodia de Veludo
B6 Canção de Barco e de Olvido
B7 O Amor

An original copy of the Brasileira LP by Brazilian singer Maria Rita Stumpf has been on top of collectors' and music lovers' wishlist for the past couple of years, since "Cântico Brasileiro No 3 (Kamaiurá)" broke out and cast a spell worldwide – from Japan to Brazil, from Norway to South Africa, everybody was flabbergasted after they first heard the song, and each and every time they heard it again. For the lucky ones that could listen to her whole album – and get to know other gems such as "Lamento Africano/Rictus" and "A Cidade"– it is clear that it is an ouvre that more people should have access to, not only an elite of listeners and connaisseurs.

The good news are that the LP will be available again in its entirety in a new, glossy, loud and clear pressing released through Selva Discos, a new label run by Augusto Olivani and Millos Kaiser (the DJ/production duo known as Selvagem) in partnership with JD Twitch's Optimo Music. It's a legit reissue overviewed by Maria Rita Stumpf herself, the music being remastered from the remaining DAT tape of the original release and artwork faithfully updated by Brazilian design studio Colletivo, featuring liner notes by the singer/songwriter. 

Maria Rita Stumpf is owner of Brazilian production company Antares Produções, responsible for bringing international artists to Brazil for the past 30 years, such as Philip Glass and Mikhail Baryshnikov. After distancing herself from the music business since the Brasileira original release, almost 30 years ago, she’s now back in the game.

Augusto Olivani and Millos Kaiser have been working under the alias Selvagem for the past 5 years, standing by their monthly residencies in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, releasing edits and reworks for labels like Beats in Space, Disco Deviance and Disco Halal. Now they’re also behind the label Selva Discos, whose mission is to unearth and update exquisite, overlooked Brazilian music - not without the aid of JD Twitch from Optimo Music.

The follow-up to this first release is a reworks 12" featuring a remake of "Cântico Brasileiro No 3 (Kamaiurá)" produced by Selvagem & Carrot Green (based on a new studio session with one of the original session musicians, Paulo Sergio dos Santos from Uakti) backed by a Joakim remix of "Lamento Africano/Rictus", to be released shortly after the Brasileira reissue.

Released on vinyl (and digital) on July 14th 2017. Distributed by Kompakt.

Optimo Music / Selva Discos - OMSD 001 - Maria Rita - Brasileira (album sampler)

Originally broadcast on Two Lochs Radio (106 & 106.6 FM) on September 24th, 2017. 

This programme combines readings and audio from the Folklore Tapes Sacred Island release in a radio play. The main narrator is Jordan Ogg, with the introduction and quoted passages read by Ian Humberstone. 

Two Lochs Radio is the UK's smallest radio station, broadcasting to the Loch Ewe and Loch Maree areas of Wester Ross. We often tuned in while working on the project and were thrilled to have our words and sounds broadcast over Isle Maree itself via their FM signal.

Ian Humberstone and Jordan Ogg - Sacred Island Radio Play

Let me save you from you mates' shocking taste in Christmas music. Yes we all Slade, but frankly no-one needs to listen to Merry Xmas Everybody anymore. I spent a week dredging up my favourite Christmas tunes, that range from Ella Fitzgerald singing the hell out of Have Yourself A Merry Christmas to Donny Hathaway's celestial This Christmas. Thirty four tunes, 90 minutes of music. You're welcome (and mine's an egg nog).
Babz Gonzalez - Be-Bop Santa Claus
Lowell Fulson - Lomesome Christmas
Isaac Hayes - Mistletoe & Me
Jimmy Smith - Jingle Bells
Cleveland Robinson - Xmas Time Is Here Again
Rufus Thomas - That Makes Christmas Day
The Temptations - Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
Marvin Gaye - I Want To Come Home For Christmas
Otis Redding = Merry Christmas Baby
Louis Armstrong - Christmas Night In Harlem
Brenda Lee - Rockin Around The Christmas Tree
Louis Prima - What Will Santa Say
Music Lab Collective - All I Want For Christmas
Staples - Who Took The Merry Out Of Christmas
The Emotions - What Do The Lonely
Gladys Knight - Do You Hear What I Hear
Meditation Singers - What The World
The Dramatics - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
Donny Hathaway - This Christmas
The Bionic - Disco Claus
Short Stuff - Merry Christmas Baby
The Emotions - Black Christmas
Stevie Wonder - What Christmas means To Me
Music Lab Collective - Merry Xmas Everybody
Charles Brown - I’ll Be Home at Christmas
Ella Fitzgerald - Have Yourself A Very Merry Christmas
Chet Baker - Winter Wonderland
Ramsey Lewis Trio - Sleigh Ride
Pearl Bailey - Jingle Bells
Brenda Lee - Rockin Around The Xmas Tree
Mabel Scott - boogie Woogie Santa Claus
The Hipsters - Rockin Rolling with Santa
Big John Greer - We Wanna See Santa Do The Mambo
Allen Toussaint - Silent Night

BILL BREWSTER Presents FUNKY CHRISTMAS 2017

This track was produced to mark the publication of the novel ‘All Among the Barley’ (Bloomsbury, August 2018). The vocalist is Helena Ward: www.helenawardmusic.com

The Ripe and Bearded Barley

The Ripe And Bearded Barley

This track was produced to mark the publication of ‘All Among the Barley’ (Bloomsbury, August 2018). Recorded on location in a Suffolk barley field, it's a companion piece to 'The Ripe And Bearded Barley', which can be found here: https://soundcloud.com/mzharrison-1/the-ripe-and-bearded-barley. The vocalist on both tracks is Helena Ward: www.helenawardmusic.com

The Ripe And Bearded Barley (reprise)

Rising star Kalson's cosmic take on Cameroonian Esa's 1986 classic A Muto.
@kalson

FREE DOWNLOAD

Esa - A Muto (Kalson Cosmic Rework)

I'm going to upload a series of 'mixes' over the coming weeks of music that I find particularly calming. I will try to make these one hour sessions filled with beautiful music that is helpful and calming to listen to while we get through this extraordinarily hard time. The music here definitely helps me feel less anxious. I have just segued it together so the credit is really all due to the wonderful souls who made the tracks I used. It is also available as a 320 download. Tracklisting -

Takashi Kokubo - A Dream Sails Out To Sea part 1
Mkwaju Ensemble - Lemore
Hiroshi Yoshimura - 小川にそって
Yumiko Morioko - Rainbow Gate 
Haruomi Hosono - Fujitsubo
Inoyoama Land - Glass Chaim
Inoyama Land - Pokala (remix)
Popol Vuh - Ah!
Justus Köhncke and Fred Heimermann - Albatros
Nuno Canavarro - Blu Terra
Erik Satie - Gnossienne No. 1
World Standard - Rozo, Du Pecoj
Testpattern - Souvenir Glacé

JD Twitch - Tranquility Mix 1

For full track listing click here: bleep.com/features/bleep-mix-104--jd-twitch

Earlier this year Matt Anniss released the book Join The Future - UK Bleep & Bass 1988-91. Some five years in the making it tells the story of the rise of British dance music during the late 80s and 90s. To coincide with this book, Optimo (espacio) founding member JD @Twitch has put together a compilation with some of the key tracks during this period. To celebrate the release of this compilation we have a special mix focussing on these genres Bleep Techno & Bass.  JD Twitch effortlessly pulls together classics from the genre starting with the seminal Test Four from Richard H. Kirk and DJ Parrot, through his own remix of Nightmares on Wax’s Dextrous,  LFO, Tough Little Unit and Ital Rockers. Sitting neatly alongside these blueprints, we have modern productions on labels indebted to this sound such as Batu’s 2017 Hessle Audio cut Marius, I-iii’s Livity Sound release and Luca Lozano’s And It Was Good - released through Twitch’s own Optimo Trax.

Bleep Mix #104 - JD Twitch

The sonic tributary of Caught by the River.

Al Pacino

CaughtByTheRiver

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