w h i s k M I X - 8

Artist: @mogier
Format: Digital [Free Download]

Free Download

The Commodores - Brick House (Mogier Edit) [HZRX]

Mark Holder - Music Turns Me On (Mark Wayward Edit)

Kool & The Gang - Jungle Boogie (X & Ivy's Swingers Cut)

https://soundcloud.com/petel-music-499055027

Prince & The Revolution - Kiss (PETEL TopBoard Edit)

Superfly:  Deluxe 25th Anniversary Edition

Superfly

Aurora Archives – Restored Edition, Vol. 7
Steam Over Lapland – The Lost Sauna Tapes

Året var högt i norr, någon gång mellan de eviga nätterna och de eviga dagarna. En bastu vid en avlägsen sjö i Lappland förvandlades till ett improviserat tempel för ljud. Det sägs att fönstren immade igen innan bandspelaren ens var igång, och att tejpen nästan smälte av värmen. Musikerna, avklädda både kropp och själ, lät rytmerna stiga som ånga ur stenar dränkta i vatten.

Ingen publik fanns, bara sjöns stillhet och midnattssolens eviga sken – en eld som aldrig slocknade. Det som återstod på de spruckna banden har nu restaurerats: rå, hypnotisk avant-garde jazz med bastuångans täta närvaro och en känsla av att något större vakar i mörkret bakom norrskenet.

Frosted Keys in August

The Payback

Delights of the Garden

It's a Trip

"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
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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)

The Budos Band - Unbroken, Unshaven

Ultra-rare jazz-funk/fusion album by Japanese drummer, Akira Ishikawa. Featuring percussion-heavy versions of ‘Let's Start’, ‘Bongo Rock’ and ‘Pick Up The Pieces’.

'Back To Rhythm’ was the final recording in Ishikawa’s African-influenced period. He cut this record with his band ‘Count Buffalos’, featuring Kiyoshi Sugimoto, Takeru Muraoka, Larry Sunaga and arranger Hiromasa Suzuki.

Includes excellent cover versions of The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, BT Express, Stevie Wonder, Average White Band, Incredible Bongo Band and Fela Kuti.

Originally released in Japan in 1975 by Columbia, this is now extremely difficult to find in its original format, and very pricey indeed!


Official Mr Bongo reissue. Licensed from Nippon Columbia Co., Ltd.

Akira Ishikawa - Do It Til You're Satisfied

Mr Bongo

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