The album kicks off with the babies of the bunch, newcomers WAAN, and the appropriately entitled Open, taken from their forthcoming album. Pulsing keys make way for gorgeously languorous drums, which are then joined by perfectly pitched woodwinds. The three elegantly intertwine and separate, before dispersing and leaving the listener wanting more. Fans of the UK jazz sounds of artists like Gogo Penguin, Mammal Hands, Matthew Halsall, or Portico Quartet won’t be disappointed.

01 WAAN - Open PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

Tutu Amuse represents the musical and artistic union of guitarist, vocalist and actor Rosa Landers and drummer, composer, vocalist and producer Janek van Laak. Their recent album, recorded in the Marzahn tower blocks of Berlin, and entitled Two To Amuse, trod a delicate path between contemplative, sparse and pensive moments, and more frank, provocative and frankly racy ones with the album striking a delibera- tely uncomfortable balance between intensity and reflection. Ohm probably falls on the side of the latter with its acoustic, ‘60s free love feel complete with naive sounding vocals and a wistful tone. “New Jazz”, of course, doesn’t always have to sound like the future!

02 Tutu Amuse - Ohm

Another outfit who were “made in Berlin” are Sonar Kollektiv stalwarts Micatone. This enduring six piece have been making music together for almost a quarter of a century. Their sound has developed over those years from more electronic roots (thanks largely to the programming work of Stefan Rogall) to the far less convoluted melodies you can hear right here on the exclusive track, Going South. Lisa Bassenge’s vocals remain a constant in Micatone’s output and here she delivers a sweet and honest performance that bodes well for what’s to come next from this prolific band.

03 Micatone - Going South EXCLUSIVE

If Lisa’s tones have been a touchstone for the imprint during its foundation, then one man who’s very much been the voice of the label in recent years is the blue-eyed soul singer from Bristol, Pete Josef. His intimate, jazz inflected vocals aside though, Pete has also always taken the reins on his own productions. Here, on Pinos Altos he does just that with a sultry piano led beauty that’s another exclusive on this star studded compilation.

04 Pete Josef - Pinos Altos EXCLUSIVE

And stars don’t come much brighter than the stellar production outfit, and founders of Sonar Kollektiv, Jazzanova. If selecting a track of your own is a tough task, then imagine trying to do so with a back cata- logue as deep and diverse as theirs. The production collective’s work ranges from early dance floor facing club anthems to their more recent focus on performing as a live band, and it’s from their more current material that Joy Road was selected. The track is lifted from their fresh collaboration with DJ Amir, 180 Proof Records and UK label BBE to celebrate the output of Detroit based label Strata Records. Despite its title, Joy Road is a melancholic piece played by the Jazzanova live band and very much conjures up the feel of what it must have been like to be in late ‘60s Detroit at a time of huge decline and subsequent civil unrest. It’s a contemplative cut that sits perfectly at the heart of this compilation.

05 Jazzanova - Joy Road

Originally released in 2020, La Parisienne by prolific Dutch producer and live-act Joris Feiertag lifts the mood some what and is something of a modern jazz funk track, reminiscent of the glorious days of ‘70s library music while forging links to the aesthetics of Early Sounds Recordings in Napoli or Mildlife in Melbourne. It’s the epitome of an underrated release from the label, so here’s another chance to immerse yourself in this inspiriting slice of beat driven musical goodness.

06 Feiertag - La Parisienne

Having traded the great Californian imprint Ubiquity for a return home to Germany with Sonar
Kollektiv, Munich based Niko Schabel and his Radio Citizen project haven’t looked back. Their delicate balance between electro and acoustic sounds, between live instrumentation and programming or sam- ples, have always made them an obvious fit for the label. The other thing you’re always guaranteed with Radio Citizen though, is a sense of drama and Kantine, which is exclusive to this compilation, delivers just that. Marching drums, inquisitive horns and pressing percussion combine to conjure up a typically climactic concoction that could only come from this illustrious outfit.

07 Radio Citizen - Kantine EXCLUSIVE

Once again very much representing the “new school” come Key Elements - the brainchild of Berlin producer and co-founder of Beatkollektiv, Marian Tone. Tone’s hip hop roots are always evident in his productions, as is the case here with previously unreleased and exclusive track Space. Despite the junglist tempo of drummer Waldi’s playing and the very jazz feel of Marian’s keys, a hip hop aesthetic underpins the music, as it does with all of Key Elements productions. This is very much music for the “heads” and a track that you‘ll find something new within on every listen.

08 Key Elements - Space EXCLUSIVE

The jazz oeuvre has always thrived on musicians exploring their own take on a “standard”. With a nod to that tradition then, this compilation wouldn’t be complete without a cover version of its own. Here, South American woodwind master Vinicius Mendes offers up his vision of Brazilian songstress Joyce’s classic Aldeia de Ogum. Miss Moreno’s vocal line is seamlessly replaced by Vinius’ flute with great effect. The 2021 recording is part of a perhaps overlooked album that featured Lucas de Moro on Rhodes and Wurlitzer pianos, Paulo Cardoso on acoustic and electric bass and Cyrano Almeida on drums. It’s an uplifting and life affirming take on a Rio anthem that’s not easy to make your own.

09 Vinicius Mendes - Aldeia De Ogum

WAAN represents the musical marriage of seasoned saxophonist Bart Wirtz and keyboard wiz Emiel van Rijthoven. As a pair of self-confessed tech nerds hailing from The Netherlands, their bromance was a slow burning one, but nevertheless their eventual collaboration fulfilled a dream that they’d both held close since first working together back in 2010.

KinK is the first single to be taken from the duo’s forthcoming debut album Echo Echo. The piece sprung to life during one of Bart and Emiel’s final recording sessions for the album, whilst working with session musicians Kasper Kalf (double bass), Jimmi Hueting (drums) as well as Oscar de Jong and Lucas Meijers who contributed to percussion. The recording started with a simple line on a Maestro Effect, using a tape echo, and what you hear is a very natural and easy Dr John voodoo style groove that came from the first two takes. The pair then took what they had of this very instinctive performance to Emiel’s studio and added harmonics, synth sounds, samples and a very percussive distorted clavinet to the groove. The key to this evocative and wondrous piece of music was to create percussive sounds from harmonic instruments and conjure up something otherworldly.

With influences as disparate as Floating Points, BadBadNotGood and Eddie Harris, Echo Echo is far more complex than just being a dance music influenced jazz record. Co-producer Oscar de Jong, of Kraak & Smaak fame, encouraged the pair to play freely as part of a jazz group and then add the electronic elements. As a result the album owes as much to Duke Ellington and Lalo Schiffrin as it does NERD and The Eurythmics!

KinK

WAAN - KinK

TRUST

Sonar Kollektiv was founded in 1997 by Jazzanova. Designed as a platform for own releases it soon attracted numerous new discoveries and like-minded musicians to lead their trumps right here. Still it was never the intention of Sonar Kollektiv to pursue one specific sound or provide an already existing scene. Each and every release on the label (450 and counting) was at all times meant to illustrate the musical taste of the collective, its flavourful development and recollection of past sounds. The various compilations and label showcases played a big part of it. From the renowed „Secret Love“ compilation (No. 6 will be released these days), the „Computer Incarnations For World Peace“ edition, the  „...Boadcasting“ and „....Mixing“-series to the „Romanian Jazz“ label showcase Sonar Kollektiv continuously cares about broadening its own and the horizon of any type of music lovers. How broad this horizon can be expanded showed the release of Âme’s „Rej“ in 2005. Shorthandly minimal techno was redifined and at the same time the sublabel Innervisions (runned by Dixon) was leveraged to worldwide fame. Other milestones in the eventful history of Sonar Kolletiv were the discovery of the New Zealand reggae soul combo Fat Freddy’s Drop (2005), the debuts by Micatone (2003), Benny Sings (2005), Clara Hill (2003) and Eva Be (2004), the first releases by Dimlite (2003), Tricksi (2006), Christian Prommer’s Drumlesson (2007), as well as Georg Levin (2005) and his collaborative project with Dixon, Wahoo (2004). Also for some of today’s legends of more sophisticated electronic music, like Ulrich Schnauss, Ben Klock and Marcin Kozlowski (now a member of Whitest Boy Alive) Sonar Kollektiv offered a stepping stone to their international careers. And in 2003 a certain Eric Wahlforss released his first record here, just before founding Soundcloud.

When at the end of 2009 the rate of fire ceased some thought the label is running on empty or lost touch to contemporary sounds. But the releases of this year so far should prove doubters wrong. The remix album „Jazzanova Upside Down“ (released in January) gathers the who’s who of the currenty most happening and game-changing DJs and producers (Henrik Schwarz, Motor City Drum Ensemble, Filippo Moscatello, Manuel Tur, Mark E, and more) to catapult Jazzanova classics into the future. By signing Phil Gerus from Moscow, the new project Hot Coins out of the UK, EnaWadan from South Africa and the pan-Geman duo Paskal & Urban Absolutes four of the most promising new acts slantingly offside the dancefloor have been added to the already impressive roster. And once again all true pop aficionados with an addiction for soul and a genuine craft in songwriting are pierced to the heart with the brand new albums by FETSUM („The Colors Of Hope“) and Micatone („Wish I Was Here“).

But what is the formula of success of the Berlin based label? A dance music imprint that – with a few exceptions – actually doesn’t release club music? Is it even after all exactly this? Delievering music for prior to, succeeding and one day after a club night?

There’s no other German record label that can boast such an adventurous range of styles: reggae, folk, electronica, jazz, funk, calypso, house, techno and now also chillwave, dubstep, dream pop, and so on. At Sonar Kollektiv there’s somehow room for everything. Still, all of the 250 and counting releases have one common denominator: It’s music made out of passion - without any financial aim or attemps of ingratiation. From and for music lovers.

03 Micatone - Going South EXCLUSIVE

Sonar Kollektiv

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