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London-based duo Kit Sebastian share their new single ‘Inertia’, a world cinema inspired gem. It is the second track to be taken from their forthcoming sophomore album, ‘Melodi', which is released 1st October on Mr Bongo. ‘Melodi' is a joyous expression of vibrant grooves and sophisticated lyricism that transcends boundaries, borders and social-cultural preconceptions. Those familiar with the band's cult classic 2019 debut record 'Mantra Moderne' will instantly recognise their unique take on world music, jazz and psychedelia. With this next album the duo have expanded their language and concepts and transposed them into something larger and more contemplative.

Influenced by their love of world cinema, ‘Inertia’ is infused with lush orchestral textures inspired by soundtracks from some of the duo's favourite films. The lyrics were written as a response to Marlene Dietrich’s performance in ‘Der Blaue Engel’, and how the apathy of modernity is communicated in cinema. 

It sits in a relaxed, loose, smoky cinematic funk setting, with Merve's lead vocals sparring with the horn section, whilst strings and exotic instrumentation interweave in and out of the backbone of the song. Kit's backing vocals float almost ghost-like, mirroring Merve, giving it a dreamlike quality. The tone of 'Inertia' evokes a sense of longing and searching, a muted melancholy that is uplifted by the horn and string sections. 

It is a sophisticated groove with a deeply seductive complexity that draws the listener in, being both timeless and borderless in its origins.

Kit Sebastian - Inertia

Grace & The Flat Boys' first ever studio single, released ahead of their debut EP due mid-September 2021.

Produced by Ed Meltzer at Meatlocker Studios, Edinburgh.

Recap for Joe

‘Melodi’ is the second album from Kit Sebastian. Those familiar with the band's cult classic 2019 debut record 'Mantra Moderne' will instantly recognise their unique sound that blurs boundaries of world music, jazz and psychedelia. Not to be content replicating the same album, sonically the feel of ‘Melodi’ is a maturation. It is more diverse and provides glimpses into many different worlds from the Italian Riviera to the mountains of the Caucasus, the beaches of Bahia to the city streets of Istanbul and Paris. This joyous merging of soundscapes evokes a borderless planet with music as an international language, belonging everywhere and nowhere.

Melodi

Kit Sebastian - Please Don't Take This Badly

Kit Sebastian - Ahenk

Kit Sebastian - Agitate

Australian jazz funk ensemble Kerbside Collection return with dusty grooves of “Round The Corner”, the second single to be taken from their forthcoming fourth studio album of the same name, following the lush & laidback “‘Glaze”.

Referring to some of the ‘unknowns’ and ‘uncertainties’ around the corner post cv-19, “Round The Corner” is also an uplifting groove affirmation looking forward to the positive things, and seasons to come round these kinds of unknown corners, and the new year ahead.  

In contrast to the cruisy, layered and cinematic first single, ‘Round The Corner’ is a tight, dancy, uptempo, jazz funk burner featuring the group’s core trio raw and upfront. The Rubbery, pulsating electric bass guitar of Lachlan Symons, the silky Fender rhodes (and acoustic piano solo), jazzy guitar licks guitar of Andrew Fincher, and the gritty, razor sharp grooves and percussion of drummer paprika, are all wrapped up into this dancefloor-friendly, contemporary live jazz funk track.

“Round The Corner” embodies some of the current resurgence of live jazz-house crossover sounds coming out of Australia (Horatio Luna, First Beige etc), whilst also reminiscent of Incognito, The Rebirth and Herbie Hancock’s 70’s jazz fusion years. Another sumptuous taste of what to expect on this special new record from ‘down-under’ out on modern funk and soul label Légère Recordings.

Exclusive Premiere: Kerbside Collection "Round The Corner" (Forthcoming on Légère Recordings)

poor me - A COLORS ENCORE

Dublin Darlin

Magazine

find myself playing this wonderful song from the jewish liturgical canon in this conflicted time

avinu malkeinu in 2025

Selfportrait

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

Record label. Record shop. Film label. Since 1989.

Kit Sebastian - Please Don't Take This Badly

Mr Bongo

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