Everything in its Right Place

Fare Evader

Consulate Case

Websites

Superb

Sleep Dreams

Kodak

Mr Bongo proudly announces the first single from Don Glori’s forthcoming third album ‘Paper Can’t Wrap Fire’. The cornerstone of the LP, 'Brown Eyes' is a joyous soul-jazz groover featuring the captivating lead male vocals of fellow Melbourne/Naarm local, ML Hall. On first listen you’d be mistaken for thinking this is a straight-up love song. Yet underneath its uplifting soulful flavours and sultry vocals, lies a deeper topic at play.

‘Brown Eyes’ discusses the comfort of seeking and finding your community when you had previously felt like an outsider. As Don mentions, “This song is about feeling 'othered' in a predominantly white society like Australia. The first verse is about being tokenised/tolerated and having to stake your claim to a place at the table. The second verse and hook are about finding people who have a shared history with you and feeling at ease around them. When you meet another person like that, and you don’t have to explain all the above, it’s a comforting feeling.” 

“It was the first song I wrote start to finish for the record, starting with the opening riff on the piano. I was taking a lot of cues from Jordan Rakei’s cover of Donald Byrd’s ‘Wind Parade’, as well as throwing in a nod to The Doobie Brothers inserting hooks where they shouldn’t be.”

The result is an empowering hit of jazz-injected soul, nourished by a funk flavour. A track that ebbs and flows between sections of sweeping tenderness and head-nodding, bassline-heavy grooves. Crisp swung drums, masterful keys and those honeyed vocals from Hall, backed with lush harmonies from Ruby Dargaville, Isadora Lauritz, and Bianca Kyriacou, combine to send you cruising out across the horizon.


Don Glori - Brown Eyes (Ft. ML Hall)

Qwalia is the experimental, improvisational home for a quartet of some of London’s most prolific and inspiring musicians. 

Led by drummer Yusuf Ahmed (Joy Crookes, Anoushka Shankar, Unknown to Known), much of the band’s music to date surfaced in a single two-day session at the Fish Factory in Willesden, West London. 

Although improvisational at its core, the band’s fluency and innate musicality makes it hard at times to believe these pieces weren’t written and developed over weeks, rather than conjured in the moment, with no prior rehearsal. Qwalia’s music is an instinctive aural expression of how things seemed in the moment of creation.

Featuring Ben Reed on bass (Frank Ocean, David Byrne, Richard Russell’s Everything Is Recorded), Tal Janes on Guitar (Jordan Rakei, Cherise, Waaju) and Joseph Costi on keys and synths (Cat Stevens, Tom Herbert, Heidi Vogel), the band’s debut album ‘Sound And Reason’ was released by Alberts Favourites in March 2023.

This beautiful version of Elevator Company was recorded in Yusuf's living room last spring for a live video promoting the 2nd album Abbreviations. The band rarely, if ever, replay music they've already recorded, so this is a unique moment and one we're incredibly happy to be able to share. 

Elevator Company (Live)

Qwalia - Elevator Company (Live)

A laid-back lo-fi track blending warm guitar tones, mellow beats, and nostalgic textures. The gentle layering creates a dreamy atmosphere, perfect for late-night listening or background vibes while studying or relaxing. Crafted with care, it captures both simplicity and depth, inviting the listener into a chill, intimate soundscape.

And, you may

AstroWorld

The New York Nod

Surprise Chef’s music is based on evoking mood; their vivid arrangements utilize time and space to build soundscapes that invite the listener into their world. The quintet’s distinct sound pulls from 70s film scores, the funkier side of jazz, and the samples that form the foundation of hip hop. 


Hailing from just outside of Melbourne, Australia, their first two albums, All News Is Good News and Daylight Savings amassed a die-hard fanbase and brought their sound from their home studio to every corner of the globe. The band is now signed to Big Crown Records, joining a lineage of contemporary and classic sounds that have influenced Surprise Chef’s music since their formation in 2017.


Surprise Chef’s self proclaimed “moody shades of instrumental jazz-funk” encompass punchy drums, infectious keys, rhythm guitar you might hear on a Studio One record, and flute lines that could be from a Blue Note session; but when you step back and take in the entirety of their sound and approach, you’ll hear and see a group greater than the sum of its parts.

Websites

Surprise Chef

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