Buy on 12" vinyl or digital: orcd.co/lostmylove

Produced in collaboration with Berlin-based duo Re.decay, DJ Amir presents a brand new remix of Strata Records founder Kenny Cox’s track ‘Lost My Love’, taken from his long- forgotten mid 70’s album ‘Clap Clap! The Joyful Noise’.

Originally planned to be the second release on Detroit’s mythic Strata label (a precursor to its more famous cousin Strata East), pianist Kenny Cox’s first and only solo album came hot on the heels of The Lyman Woodard Organization’s classic ‘Saturday Night Special’. But, for reasons lost to the mists of time, the LP never saw the light of day until DJ Amir licensed the rights to the label’s catalogue and began scouring the archive in 2012, rediscovering ‘Clap Clap! The Joyful Noise’ and issuing it on his own 180 Proof imprint.

The closing track from ‘Clap Clap! The Joyful Noise’, ‘Lost My Love’ is a bossa-tinged, flute and mellotron string-laden, languid jazz-fusion gem, with Kenny Cox’s delicate electric piano chords at its warm centre. DJ Amir joins forces with Berlin production duo Re.decay for a complete rebuild of the track from the original master stems. Their version retains the cosy, analogue atmospherics of Cox’s original, complete with piano licks and flute trills, adding unhurried jazzy disco drums and drawing out the song’s subtly sleazy bass-line.

Serving as pianist for Etta Jones and recording for Blue Note records with his Contemporary Jazz Quintet, Kenny Cox founded the Strata label in the early 70’s, a natural progression from the Strata Concert Gallery which he opened in the late 60s, a tiny artist-led performance space that played host to jazz luminaries such as Ornette Coleman, Herbie Hancock and even Charles Mingus (a live recording of whose appearance at the Gallery was issued by BBE Music in 2018). He passed away at his Detroit home in 2008, survived by his widow, Barbara Cox.

Kenny Cox - Lost My Love

The latest Mystic Vybes show on WHCR 90.3 FM 📻

Mystic Vybes

Mystic Vybes WHCR 90.3 FM  11.11.2021

For our first premiere of the week, MIMS presents “Spellbound”, lead single from UK-based producer King Knut’s forthcoming “XL” EP, due for release Aug 21. “Spellbound” is a hypnotic, heavy affair, putting us in mind of gritty 90s NY hip hop, dub, 90s trip hop and early Theo Parrish productions. 

We’re also very glad to share a video for the track, produced by Drive Me Home (Barkley Bandon, Later, CASisDEAD) and made using footage shot in the Costa Rican jungle by migratory naturalist, photographer, and small-scale coffee farmer Seth Beaudreault.

The EP comes on the back of 2018's cassette release Unreleased Beats Vol. 3 that received support and airplay from NTS, Wire Magazine and Trevor Jackson, and last year's remix for Lunch Money Life's Unlimited Ice Cream Palace on Kaya Records. The EP is mastered by Amir Shoat (Dean Blunt, Klein, Brother May).

A remix EP will follow later this fall with remixes from Cherrystones (Twisted Nerve, Touch Sensitive), Capitol K (Faith And Industry), Double Geography (Invisible Inc) and A'Bear.

Pre-order on the link below the player.

Pre-Order

Exclusive Premiere: King Knut "Spellbound" (Forthcoming Self-Release)

Went into the crates to pull a few selections from the great jazz label Muse. Tried to stay away from some of the sample-favorites (no Walt Barr or Catalyst this time around). Instead, it's a journey into the a variety of styles and flavors, some creative and beautiful music made by a wide range of musicians in the 70s and early 80s. There's definitely another stack of records I wasn't able to include this round, so maybe a part two will be in the works for the future.

Tracklist: Dom Um Romao, Pat Martino, Cedar Walton, Joe Chambers, Mark Murphy, Deodato and Joao Donato, Eric Kloss

Subscribe on iTunes!

Pullin from the Stacks - Episode 143 (Muse Records Selections)

The return of Mystic Vybes on WHCR 90.3 FM 📻

Mystic Vybes 10.22.2020

My guest mix for the Rambo Boys Radio $how - Campus FM Toulouse - while 🇫🇷 remains in operation lockdown. Revel in the joyous/tortured emotional content of these beat ballads, psyche funk, x-over & modern soul joints. All killer no filler.

Mao - Rambo Boys Radio Show Guest Mix, 11.30.20

Saidêra Bloco Party

Saidêra, "Rima Brasileira"

Several inspirational artists left us recently, including the great Junior Mance, whose records I've really loved since DJ Center put me onto him years ago. RIP Mr. Mance, RIP Ricky Powell, RIP Double K, RIP DOOM...condolences to everyone who's lost loved ones and to others in the hip-hop and broader community who drew inspiration from the incredible work these folks and others put in over the years. Keep your heads up everyone. 

Tracklist: Junior Mance Tribute Set, Grant Green, Sergio Mendes

February 3 2021

Pullin from the Stacks - Episode 155 (Junior Mance Tribute + More)

South London-based 8-piece band Don't Problem is proud to present their new single 'CD's Lament', lifted from their forthcoming album planned for spring 2021.

With their new album, the combo challenges the common perception of a "covers" brass band, exclusively writing original material and adding electronics, synths & strings, a reflection of their wide encompassing interests. They introduce us to a very personal journey; the moment in time where a brass band affirms their love for club culture and delivers an album that travels from heavy funk to psychedelic jazz and UK dance music.

"‘CD’s Lament’ is an homage to Craig David. The single started with a chord and melody idea inspired by Garage music. Through our workshop-style rehearsals, this morphed into other heavy brass sections that are synonymous with our sound" says the band.

https://www.musicamacondo.com/2021/02/premiere-dont-problem-cds-lament/

Premiere: Don't Problem - CD's Lament

Piano and keyboard heavy episode this week, including two selections from the legend Chick Corea who sadly passed a few days ago. One of those artists you think will always be around, who made so many incredible records that I've been listening to since I first started collecting. Rest in Power. 

I have a stack of things old and new that have been landing in my post office box the last month, playing a few here and hope to play more soon! Hope everyone digs it.

Tracklist: Chick Corea, Allegro Jazz Ensemble, Marcos Resende and Index, Hampton Hawes, Vyacheslav Novikov, Michel Sardaby, Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock

February 17 2021

Pullin from the Stacks - Episode 156 (Pianos and Keys)

For years it was believed that José Mauro was dead. Rumours on blogs and comment sections circulated that the mysterious Brazilian genius had either been killed in a road accident, or been ‘disappeared’ by Brazil’s military junta in the 1970s. But following Far Out’s 2016 reissue of José Mauro’s debut album Obnoxius, the label heard word that José Mauro is in fact alive and well, living a quiet life on the outskirts of Rio.

After years of trying to track him down (with many twists and turns along the way), Far Out Recordings is overjoyed to finally present, with the blessing of the man himself, the long-awaited release of José Mauro’s forgotten masterpiece A Viagem Das Horas, featuring three previously unreleased and unheard tracks from the original studio sessions.

Recorded in 1970 at Odeon studios in Rio de Janeiro: the same time and place as all the music he ever recorded, José Mauro’s A Viagem Das Horas wasn’t released until six years later, when label owner and producer Roberto Quartin licensed the tracks to fellow Brazilian label Tapecar, who curiously released the album with several tracks already released on Obnoxius. Finally, over half a century on, A Viagem Das Horas will be released with three never before heard tracks, “Rua Dois”, “Moenda'' and “Variação Sobre Um Antigo Tema”, as Mauro and Quartin had originally intended.

Conceived under the gloom of Brazil’s military dictatorship, from which many artists had either fled or been exiled, José Mauro and his songwriting partner Ana Maria Bahiana, combined their shared interest in Candomblé - a syncretism of traditional West African religions and Roman Catholicism - with MPB, psychedelic folk and orchestral music. Expressing a spiritual response to the world they found themselves in, the result was a sacrosanct, post-tropical music of pure transcendence. “Finding our place in a country under a brutal dictatorship, and not believing in either civil war or fascism, we were part of a generation in transit, searching for another option.” 

Many of the musicians who played with José Mauro would go on to become some of Brazil’s most important and prolific, including Wilson Das Neves, Dom Salvador, and Ivan ‘Mamao’ Conti, and their raw talent in these early days is palpable throughout A Viagem Das Horas.

Ana Maria Bahiana eventually moved to the US, and followed her passion for writing and journalism. Interestingly, she notes that while none of her lyrics were ever censored by the Brazilian government, for many years, most of the articles she wrote for independent outlets (including the Brazilian edition of Rolling Stone) were either banned or botched. 

Compared to the notoriety he gained with Forma, Roberto Quartin saw little commercial success with the label named after himself. He too moved to the US where he would work (most notably) with Frank Sinatra, with whom he also became great friends.

Jose Mauro, however, stayed in Rio. “After my second album, I started working with music for theatrical plays, both as a composer and as music director, especially at Rio’s prestigious Tablado Theatre School. I also devoted myself to guitar teaching, and I was very good at that. I had a long waiting list of prospective students.” But before long Mauro faced health complications and was forced to stop playing altogether. “My body pushed me away from music, health became a stumbling block for me. If I had the strength to carry on with composing, I would have... always focused on achieving a sense of beauty, a sense of wonder.”

It’s tempting to think of what could have been, had José Mauro been able to continue making music. But what he achieved in those few sessions in 1970, with the help of Roberto Quartin, Ana Maria Bahiana, Lindolfo Gaya and the musicians and studio engineers, stands alongside some of the great works by Brazil’s most celebrated artists. Over half a century since it was created, José Mauro’s music has lost none of its power to totally mesmerise and bewitch.

José Mauro - Moenda

When I'm not at the dayjob, I'm probably at a record store. Pullin from the Stacks podcast most Wednesdays, available here, Apple Pods (please subscribe!) and elsewhere.

Pullin from the Stacks - Episode 156 (Pianos and Keys)

DJ Ian Head