Track 1 on Jack Barone & Robohands' collaborative EP 'R.F.I.'

Floating on the Walls

Track 4 off of Jack Barone & Robohands' collaborative EP 'R.F.I.'

Under Under Under

Having just released his latest solo album Paper Can’t Wrap Fire to critical acclaim, Don Glori treats listeners to a special new version of album track ‘Song for Ants’. A more stripped-back, ethereal take on the original, this alternate version was born out of being on tour and the limitations it brought with it.

Whereas the original is a spiritual journey of energetic intricacy, full and fierce, Don’s new version dials things back into dreamscape territory. The pace slows, the phrases have more space to breathe, as the synergy between keys, bass, drums and horn erupts into a cosmic-fuelled saxophone whirlwind. 

In Don’s own words “This version of ‘Song for Ants’ was born from being on the road and not being able to have two horns in the touring lineup. I love the melody of ‘Song for Ants’ and wanted to include it in my live set, so I wrote this new version around the melody. It has a bit of a rock edge to it, so I leant into that. It was definitely inspired by acts that can sit in that jazz crossover space like The Necks, BADBADNOTGOOD, GODTET, Kamasi, and Nala Sinephro - all artists that I think are terrific at taking you on a journey.

The first time we played it out was last year in Norway, followed by London Jazz Festival and then I took it around Australia on my last tour back home. Seeing the reaction that it was pulling out of the crowd (as well as myself), I knew I had to quickly get in the studio and lay it down. I remember it was the 10th of January, and we had an impromptu show at Kindred Bandroom that evening, plus a festival set at Loch Hart festival the next afternoon (three hours away on the Great Ocean Road), with rehearsal scheduled for the morning of the 10th. So, I decided to can the rehearsal and go for the studio instead. It was the right decision, we got a great take of this track as well as a few new songs for the next record.”


Song For Ants (Alternate Version)

With two critically acclaimed compilations already under his belt, DJ / collector miche returns to Mr Bongo with the third instalment of his With Love series. Testament to his ever-expanding taste, Volume 3 isn’t just a subs bench call-up from the past compilations, it’s an evolution and progression casting the net deeper and wider than before.

Keeping true to the series, but with some fresh surprises along the way, this carefully curated compilation is a celebration of soulful, independently released music from across the globe, and the amazing (often unsung) musicians and vocalists that made these sublime records.

Across the third volume, miche explores a jazzier side of his tastes. “The deeper I went, the more I found myself gravitating towards jazzier music - not leaving soul behind, but following that same feeling into new territory”, he explains. Tracks like the gliding jazz funk found on Late Nite Music Band’s ‘Sundance’, or the glorious jazz-soul number ‘In Flight’ by Spectrym are shining examples of this.

That defining soulful thread of previous volumes is still in full effect throughout this latest edition. “There’s a healthy dose of impossible-to-find soul gems that have that unmistakable, heartwarming feel. Tracks like John Simmons' 'Ain't Nothing Like The Love', which I've adored ever since Zaf Love Vinyl played it, sit perfectly alongside records like Le Cop and New Way”, states miche.

The addition of some top-tier Turkish music showcases another side to his ever-broadening taste. Nükhet Ruacan's 'Gölge' is something unique, a floaty Brazilian-inspired gem recorded in Turkey and not what you’d typically expect from Turkish records of this era.  

It also wouldn’t feel right to leave out a stop in Brazil, with miche looking to the work of Carlos Bivar whose track 'Amargo Amar' carries that undeniable groove of samba-funk from Rio.

Spreading the With Love message far and wide the series has led to miche DJing across the globe, “from batucada sessions in Timisoara, to all-night sets in a club in Beijing, and even an eight-hour Root Down With Love stage takeover at We Out Here festival, joined by Danilo Plessow, Jeremy Underground, and of course, my mentor and buddy Rainer Trüby.”

Volume 3 then, carries that message even further. It’s an eclectic but intentional collection, built for the music lover who wants to discover something new. Working just as well as a soundtrack to cook dinner to, as it does keeping a packed dancefloor moving into the small hours. 


Nükhet Ruacan - Gölge

The first single to be taken from СОЮЗ (SOYUZ)'s enthralling fourth album KROK, sees the release of the emotive and personal title track. “Krok” means “step” in Belarusian - and for Alex Chumak and his band this word comes with a lot of meaning. It’s a theme running throughout the album, reflecting the journeys the band has navigated in recent years. 
 
In early 2022, Chumak and original members, Mikita Arlou and Anton Nemahai, joined tens of thousands of Belarusians seeking safety from the political unrest in their homeland and the outbreak of war in Ukraine. Resettling in Warsaw, the band released Force of the Wind in October 2022, garnering widespread acclaim, a string of major European gigs, and led to Polish musicians Albert Karch and Igor Wiśniewski joining the band.
 
Embracing the uncertainty became both the inspiration and main lyrical theme for Alex Chumak, SOYUZ’ composer and arranger. ‘Krok’ was one of the initial songs written for the new album and was the first to feature lyrics. It paved the way for Chumak to find the new poetic language on the record - for the first time in his native Belarusian language. Chumak demoed the song whilst he was still in Minsk in early 2022, and then, as he and his band moved to Poland, he continued developing it. In September 2024, together with other songs, Alex took it on a trip to São Paulo, where he recorded it with the help of his longtime friend and collaborator Sessa and extraordinary musicians Biel Basile and Marcelo Cabral.
 
It is a song about transition and migration, in which this act is poetically reduced to “a step” – into the unknown and unexplored. While singing about it, Chumak also makes a step forward musically. He delivers his very atypical view on samba, which doesn’t pretend to sound Brazilian. A strict yet loose rhythm section is covered with layers of tense acoustic guitars, aleatoric piano lines, and a lush yet restrained arrangement for strings and flutes.
 
This ethereal opening track is taster of the magic to come from СОЮЗ (SOYUZ) new career-defining album.


Крок / Krok

Hollie Cook wears her heart on her sleeve with the bittersweet love song ‘Frontline'. Steeped in deep roots flavours, it’s a timeless production written alongside friends and fellow collaborators Ben McKone and Luke Allwood of General Roots fame.

One of the more melancholic productions taken from Hollie Cook's forthcoming fifth album Shy Girl, ‘Frontline’ embraces Hollie's dedication to staying true to herself and authentic to her craft. A vintage British lovers’ rock vocal delivery sees Hollie open up through her lyrics with an emotional depth and striking honesty. It stirs up feelings of underground classics such as Sonia's 'Easier To Love’, yet is backed with a slightly tougher and rougher roots tone, giving it a distinctive edge and attitude. Raking electric guitar lines and a dubby bassline from the General Roots band lay the foundations, as an uplifting horn section brings a sense of hope to proceedings. 

In ‘Frontline’ Hollie delivers a powerful cut that’s both ethereal and empowering, providing another signature example of her classic yet contemporary sound.

Frontline

Having worked together on his 2024 album Colours & Light, Project Gemini aka Paul Osborne joins forces once again with Wendy Martinez, French singer and composer, and also part of renowned psych-girl group Gloria on a new collaborative EP. Landing on Mr Bongo, ‘Time Stands Still / Le temps s'arrête’ is a sonic exploration that shows a shared love of the progressive music emanating out of France in the ‘60s and ‘70s and the celebrated film soundtrack composers of the time. A more melodic and romantic excursion than Paul’s previous recordings, this EP marries his richly textured, cinematic psych rock with Martinez’s captivating vocal presence. 

A body of work born during the period Paul was finishing up his last LP Colours & Light, he penned an album’s worth of instrumental library-style music and had the idea of having Wendy add vocals and lyrics to a selection of them. The instrumental record got scrapped, but thankfully ‘Time Stands Still’ grew out of it.  

Paul was a fan of Wendy’s work as both a solo artist and in the band Gloria, and her inclusion on the Project Gemini tracks ‘Entre chien et loup’ & ‘Extra Nuit’ showed a clear synergy to their musical approaches and sounds. For ‘Time Stands Still’ he sent over instrumental tracks one by one, with Wendy taking time to find melodies and French poetry she was happy with and returning her ideas from her home just outside of Lyon.

Drawing inspiration from French soundtrack composers such as François de Roubaix, Francis Lai and Michel Colombier, as well as French female artists including Léonie and Laurence Vanay, these productions are a contemporary love letter to this sound, not a homage. Mixing psych, folk, chanson, and French new wave, it’s music that pulls you in deeper, with groove, grit and passion at its core. 

'Je n'ai plus peur' kicks things off with a sultry energy. It’s a psych-funk production drenched in attitude, swagger, and edge, which nods to the left-field side of Serge Gainsbourg’s music. Elsewhere, 'Âme contre âme' feels like the opener from a forgotten new-wave film, managing to be at both beautiful yet sinister and longing. 'The Crawler' could be incidental music from the same film, with Wendy using her voice as an instrument layering the backing track as Paul's bass takes centre stage. The ghostly spoken word of 'Ce qui est intact' echoes a funky version of what the Théâtre du Chêne Noir d'Avignon may have recorded.

A transportive journey ‘Time Stands Still’ is nostalgic yet new in the same smoke-filled breath. Fuzzed-up guitars and driving basslines meld with folk-leaning organs and mellotron vibrations to give that eerie, otherworldly edge. All of which are seasoned by the sensuous, layered vocal tones of Wendy Martinez, alongside crisp drums from Tony Coote and considered percussive touches by Paul Elliot.


Project Gemini & Wendy Martinez - Crawler

The next single taken from Hollie Cook’s forthcoming fifth album, Shy Girl, is a heavenly and distinctive reggae cover of Skip Mahoney & The Casuals, ‘We Share Love’. Further embodying Hollie's dedication to staying true to herself and remaining authentic to her craft, it has the air of a timeless production yet with a contemporary edge. 

Providing the perfect send-off and closing track to Shy Girl, ‘We Share Love’ is a celestial cover of Skip Mahoney & The Casuals 1974 classic. It sees Hollie and the General Roots band flip the soul-infused original into a hazy, sun-soaked roots beauty. Hollie’s dreamy tones are supplemented by a bouncing bassline, tender organs, and lush vocal harmonies from the brilliant Jalen Ngonda. Bathed in emotion and grounded in love and longing, this reggae reinterpretation is an exquisite ethereal ending to the album.


We Share Love

Who would like to hear that in 2025? A mix of Sade, Barry White, the Beatles, Tears for Fears, Mark Morrison, Marvin Gaye, EPMD, Erykah Badu, Larry Heard, the Eagles, Ashford and Simpson, Roy Ayers, Empire of the Sun, Grace Jones and, to finish, BJ Thomas as a tribute to the great song selection in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’! Thanks to the work of producers such as Tall Black Guy, Stefan Ringer, Luxxury and others, it could work. Enjoy listening, everyone!
Thanks to Daniel Best, Jazzanova and all the many friends and supporters. Leave a sign of respect if you like it. 


Nobody really wants to hear that! Resoul live and direct on 2 Turntables!

The second single taken from СОЮЗ (SOYUZ)’s career-defining fourth album KROK comes in the form of ‘Ніці / Nici’. A dreamy, timeless production, it showcases SOYUZ’s composer, Alex Chumak’s brilliance as an arranger. Almost genre-less in quality, the music incorporates elements of AOR, jazz, and folk, but the structure and interplay between the instruments feel unique and are a testament to Chumak’s original thinking as a modern composer.

Broadly speaking, ‘Ніці / Nici’ is a song about the strange nature of dreams. Both wistful and hopeful in the same breath, that ethereal essence carries through as Chumak effortlessly rides the melodies with his signature soft vocal tones. Across this fourth album, Chumak took the step to change the language in which he writes songs from Russian, which is used as lingua franca in many post-Soviet countries, to his native Belarusian. The poetic nature of that switch shines in ‘Ніці / Nici’, with a distinct delicacy and intimacy to Chumak’s delivery. Deft Rhodes playing and a shimmering string arrangement by Chumak, coupled with a laidback beat by Biel Basile and electric bass from Marcelo Cabral, form the breezy basis of the song. Alex’s celestial vocals and the hypnotising, gently phasing guitar melodies loop around the ether, leaning ever further into the dreamstate nature of the song.
 
On first listen, due to its mellow nature, the production on ‘Ніці / Nici’ feels stripped back. But as you delve deeper into the song, its rich and delicate textures appear, and their subtle use transforms what first felt minimal into something understatedly expansive.


Ніці / Nici

Luisa (Feat. Azymuth) - Romantica

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

Project Gemini & Wendy Martinez - Crawler

Mr Bongo

Related tracks