MIMS is excited premiere "Alcazar" an uplifting & cinematic slice of dancefloor ready jazz that should sound incredible on a good sound system in a dark, low-ceilinged room.

Recalling 4Hero and Cinematic Orchestra, Vertaal's Odyssey is due for release on Empty Quarter Tribe as a bonus track on the new physical and extended version of their debut release, 'Paradigm Shifting'.

The track was inspired by observing people’s habits and home rituals during lockdowns. Multi-instrumentalist Theo Howarth and drummer Ajit Gill are joined by bass player Severin Bruhin and saxophonist Loren Hignall.

Gill and Howarth originally bonded over a shared love of groove, broken beat, Dill, neo soul, and that blend of jazz with funk, soul and electronic music often referred to as nu jazz.

As Vertaal the duo recorded and released music inspired be these shared musical tastes, releasing the 'Speric' E.P. in 2017, and 'Paradign Shifting' album in 2020, both on Empty Quarter Tribe.

Bandcamp

Exclusive Premiere: Vertaal "Alcazar" (Forthcoming on Empty Quarter Tribe)

JUNE EVANS: ‘IF YOU WANT MY LOVIN’ / ‘HARDLY NEED TO SAY’
IZIPHO SOUL are thrilled to announce their next release: Early 80s music from New Jersey of the highest order and a first time re-release on a 45.
IF YOU WANT MY LOVIN’ is a synth-soul boogie bomb that we’ve taken to another level. The ‘Sunshine Mix’ by Philip Ward - miraculously restructured - giving it the feel of a 12” but keeping it under 5 minutes, the instrumental break in the latter stages is simply stunning. 
The sublime flip ‘HARDLY NEED TO SAY’, hardly needs an introduction. 
Whilst the Rhodes and intricate guitars weave their way throughout the track, June’s vocals shine with passion and power.

HARDLY NEED TO SAY

Buy / Stream the album here : https://orcd.co/breakthewall

Effortlessly dismantling the barriers between R&B, soul, funk, disco and jazz sounds, MF Robots present long player ‘Break The Wall’, on BBE Music. 

Astonishing musicianship, pristine production and top-tier songwriting, ‘Break The Wall’ immediately calls to mind those iconic American rhythm sections of the 70s and 80s. The music is energising, uplifting and the potent result of a highly accomplished musical partnership maturing, growing and hitting their stride together in lock-step. 

Jan Kincaid and Dawn Joseph met as members of one of the UK’s most successful Acid Jazz bands, which influenced Mark Ronson, D’Angelo, Jamiroquai, Erykah Badu and The Roots to name a few. Founding the Brand New Heavies was an important chapter for Jan, but once he and vocalist and songwriting partner Dawn began working together, the chemistry was instant and irresistible. It was time to turn the page, and soon MF Robots was born. 

“When we made our first album, we didn’t have a band as such. We basically made a lot of the record at home and called on other musicians as and when we needed them. Our sound was developing organically, and when we finally released the record to great critical acclaim, it was time to get out on the road,” says Jan. “We put together a band of likeminded young musicians, playing intimate gigs and big festivals all over Europe and beyond, growing tight as a unit, so that when it came time to think about making this, our second album, we knew we had an extra level of musicianship full of personality that could realise our vision.” 

Inviting band members Alex Montaque (keys), Naz Adamson (bass), Mark Beaney (guitar), Jack Birchwood (trumpet), Ben Treacher (sax) to improvise and contribute their own ideas over song-sketches laid out by Jan and Dawn gives ‘Break The Wall’ a special sense of offthe-cuff brilliance. Even on the polished final product you can detect a collaborative, fluid and unhurried approach to production that’s all-too rare these days. 

There’s guest performances from bassist Gail Ann Dorsey (‘The Love It Takes’, ‘Make Me Happy’) and guitarist Cory Wong ('Shine', 'Make Me Happy'), the former a top-flight session player who’s collaborated with Lenny Kravitz and David Bowie among others, the latter a member of the incredible Vulfpeck collective and an accomplished solo artist in his own right. Mixed by Clinton McCreery and mastered at The Carvery in London, the album was completed in March 2020, just before the World went into COVID19 lockdown. 

As for concept behind the project, “the name of the band, MUSIC FOR ROBOTS, is an entirely tongue in cheek one. It’s a poke at the generic nature of a lot of present day pop music, of a certain “factory” songwriting style and lack of real individuality and personality in ‘manufactured’ music. We want to create strong Soulful music with a timeless classic feel, drawing from a lot of diverse influences that makes you feel good, so maybe you can lose yourself for a little while. We want to create something that touches a feeling in people, the way that we are touched by a lot of great music and want it to still sound good in years to come.”

 In this long player, the duo’s musical mission has been both accomplished, and surpassed. The title ‘Break The Wall’ could not be more apt.

Break the Wall

MF Robots - Make The Call

An amazing record recently landed in my post office box, an absolute classic of an album I honestly never thought I’d see in person let alone get a copy of: Winston Mankunku Ngozi’s quartet masterpiece “Yakhal Inkomo” - I insist everyone at least take a listen to this on Spotify or elsewhere. On this episode I've included the title track to start off the set. There is also an excellent interview with South African jazz scholars Percy Mabandu, Kevin Davidson, Nduduzo Makhathini and Salim Washington discussing the importance of this recording, available at: https://www.allaboutjazz.com/yakhal-inkomo-a-south-african-masterpiece-at-fifty-winston-mankunku-ngozi-by-seton-hawkins

Anyway, I decided to partner it on this podcast with a few other horn-heavy selections. Hope you dig!

Tracklist: Mankunku Quartet, Azar Lawrence, Lee Morgan, Sahib Shihab, John Coltrane

October 20 2021

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Pullin from the Stacks - Episode 179

Artist: Eddy & Dus
Title:  A From B
Release Date: 8th June (Vinyl) 22nd June (Digital) 2015
Format: Vinyl/Digital
Cat No: FR203/FRD203

Eddy & Dus are long standing and highly respected Croatian DJ and
production duo Eddy Ramich and Zvonimir Dusper.  They’ve been
responsible for many classic remixes on labels such as Compost,
Especial and Schema but after a long hiatus we’re happy to say the
boys are back, on their best form yet and now we can present to you
the mighty A From B.
In its original form A From B is some kind of mutant afro techno
deep house jam that could probably only ever be conjured up in
Zagreb.  It’s almost as if all those incredible festivals that
dominate the Croatian coastline every summer have spawned their own
new genre of house music where tropical beats clash with classic
techno and blunted jazz sits right alongside the deepest disco.
A From B could be seen as something of a flag-bearer of this genre-
bending antics, evoking images of packed dancefloors dancing under
the starry skies in the warm night air.  Or something.
Who better to take on the remix than one of the masters of true
deep and soulful house, Osunlade himself. Knowing a thing or two
about delivering legendary DJ sets at Dalmation festivals his
Yoruba Soul Remix drips with the kind of musicality and integrity
that many can only aspire to.
Finally we have a brilliant dub version of the original, going
heavy on the beats, keeping things tribal and hypnotic for those
heavier moments when all you want is to get locked into the groove.

Eddy & Dus -  A From B (Yoruba Soul Remix) [Freerange Records] (96 Kbps)

Rivalling their legendary output from the 70’s onwards, Brazilian jazz-funk pioneers Azymuth’s latest album Fênix saw the band on top form, with their trademark samba doido (crazy samba) sounding as slick as ever. Since then, Far Out Recordings has comissioned a special one-off remix for the project, from Chicago deep-house legend Ron Trent, who has long cited Azymuth as musical heroes and one of his biggest influences. With a toughened groove and gorgeous swirls of synth and pad embelishments, Ron’s remix takes Azymuth’s futurist disco even deeper.

Fenix- Azymuth (Album Version)

Astral Progressions is a superb blend of jazz,ballads,  hip hop, funk, meditation, and of course, progressions.

Astral Progressions

The Awakening

Previously Unreleased Modern Soul from 1980

MARY HOLMES Living In A World of Make Believe [PREVIEW]

JOOOOJOOOOO

The original Rio beach boy returns in style, with a new record of unabashedly feel-good Brazilian party music. Featuring Azymuth bassist Alex Malheiros (responsible for some of Brazil’s all-time funkiest low-end licks), a horn section including Valle’s go-to high-trumpeter Jesse Sadoc, and percussion master Armando Marcal, Sempre has all the masterful composition, exceptional musicality, and forward-thinking ideas you’d expect from the Brazilian titan, and it’s fresher than a fruity caipirinha in the Copacabana sunshine.

Updating Marcos Valle’s seminal boogie-era sound, Sempre spans ecstatic disco, cosmic samba, and late-night jazz-funk, drawing obvious comparisons to some of Valle’s late-seventies and early-eighties output. ‘Estrelar’ (1983), for example, an ode to the joy of exercise, has become one of the biggest Brazilian disco hits of all time. But lyrically the new album is more closely reminiscent of Valle’s progressive early seventies’ releases. Heralding love, tolerance and living in the present, while satirising political corruption, the new release recalls a time in which Valle, together with his brother Paulo Sergio, was writing subtly subversive lyrics in order to bypass the censorship imposed by the military dictatorship, which ruled over Brazil between 1964 and 1985.

The album marries compositional genius with pure pop perfection. From the blistering brass arrangements on up-tempo disco hit ‘Olha Quem ta Chegando’ and the infinitely classy ‘Vou Amanhã Saber’, to the nine-minute synth-heavy instrumental funk stepper ‘Odisséia’, which gradually morphs into an interplanetary samba jam, the songs are tightened and given an extra coat of gloss, by London based producer Daniel Maunick (son of Incognito frontman Bluey). More moments of boogie delight come in the form of ‘Minha Roma’ (a musical nod to the famed ‘Estrelar’), and the sunshine anthem title-track ‘Sempre’.

Translating as ‘Ever’, Sempre is a testament to the continual drive for development and reinvention that has defined Marcos Valle’s astounding six-decade career. Ever changing, ever moving forward, he began as one of the second-wave of early bossa nova composers in the sixties, writing the world famous bossa standard ‘Summer Samba (So Nice)’ for his sophomore album ‘Samba 68’. After a brief stint in the States, Valle returned to Brazil, and the early ’70s saw the release of four ground-breaking Valle albums which incorporated progressive rock, psychedelic influences, pop, jazz, soul and cinematic arrangements. These albums would see Valle work alongside a number of hugely influential Brazilian bands, including Milton Nascimento’s backing band Som Imaginaro, the prog-rock band O Terco and jazz funk legends Azymuth. Returning back to the US in ‘75, Valle resided in LA, writing music for the likes of Eumir Deodato, Airto Moreira, Chicago, Sarah Vaughn and Leon Ware, before returning to Brazil once more, where after releasing a handful of hit pop records, he took a hiatus from recording.

Since the mid-nineties, Marcos Valle has been experiencing a renaissance with Far Out, where his approach to music has remained, as always; decidedly open to new influences, possibilities and technologies. Sempre is Marcos Valle’s fifth album for the label, following 2010’s critically acclaimed Estatica.

Just in time for summer, Sempre is out on Vinyl LP, CD and digitally 28th June 2019

HARDLY NEED TO SAY

IZIPHO SOUL

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