On Time

The Way It Used to Be (feat. Paul Abrahams, Chris Schilder & Vic Higgins)

Keep On Moving

In The Jungle

Duck - EP

Enzio On Rainbow Road

Jabula

Jabula Happiness

B I L L Y G - Groove #1

The Funkiest Band You Never Heard

Ain't It The Truth

Black Voices Revisited

Asiko Revisited

Claremont Editions, Vol. 2

Walpole Days

Apparel Music continue their noble quest to nourish our ears and souls with their latest offering, KX9000's 'Plaisance Food EP'. Hot on the heels of label boss Kisk's excellent and suitably titled 'Jazzyness' album, here they continue to offer a glimpse of life through their organic house-tinted lens – serving up a selection of tunes that are as suited to nourishing the soul as moving one's feet.

Though London-based, the Apparel crew have been busily scouting for talent via the French underground, understandably so considering what fertile ground this has long proven itself to be. This time out, they present work from DJ, producer and multi-instrumentalist, KX9000, following on from his previous releases on labels including Pont Neuf and Better Listen. The result is a warm and varied EP of cuts which combine cleverly-crafted musicianship with an aptitude for groove, and just enough deviance to satisfy grubby sensibilities.

The low-slung feel of opening track 'Millenium Civic' is a gentle intro to proceedings. Emotive chords evolve under delicate top-lines as synth stabs and motifs glide in and out to create a lucid dream state. 'Unusual Lines' is one of the highlights, combining atmospheric chords, an urgent tempo, and – most importantly – a bastard acid line to full heads-down dance effect. Vocal chops, discrete percussion and hidden layers add energy and mystery in equal measure, and the purposeful spoken word sample completes the sonic landscape. Paul Cut's remix of 'Unusual Lines' endows the music with something of a classic US deep house feel, dare I say shades of Boo Williams or Glenn Underground here as the sub-bass powers over snappy beats and jazzy vibes solos.

I've opted to play you Ground Plane Aerial's remix of 'Millenium Civic'. While locked down there has understandably been a tendency to gravitate toward gentle tempos and horizontal sonic-soothing, so after pushing play on this one the allegro rhythm jumped out at me like some kind of charging disco rhinoceros. Utilising the original instrumentation while beefing things up quite considerably, GPA's version is effectively dance-floor dynamite. The well-programmed drums fills and drops give the track a manic live feel, while the dramatic arrangement and musical flourishes add fuel to the fire. The roof is well and truly off when the freaky lead synths eventually pop in, leading to uniform fist-pumping and pogo dancing.*

* I can certify this with more than a degree of certainty, the clubs are (for now) open in these ends, and both the 'Millenium Civic' remix and 'Unusual Lines' have been thoroughly road-tested and Cosmic Tiger approved.

Preview - KX9000 Millenium Civic (Ground Plane Aerial remix)clip

Layers

Layer 7

Born in Lagos, Nigeria in 1940, of mixed Nigerian and Ghanaian parentage, Tony Allen taught himself to play by listening to records made by the American jazz drummers Art Blakey and Max Roach. He began working as a professional musician in 1960, gigging around Lagos and variously playing highlife and jazz. Today living in Paris, Allen has long been acknowledged as Africa’s finest kit drummer and one of it's most influential musicians, the man who with Fela Anikulapo Kuti created Afrobeat - the hard driving, James Brown funk-infused, and politically engaged style which became such a dominant force in African music and whose influence continues to spread today.

Allen had to overcome strong parental opposition to realise his dream of
becoming a professional musician. “My parents were…not keen. Back then, in Lagos, musicians were more or less thought of as beggars, or worse. But I just put it in front of them. I was an electrical technician, but I wanted to make a change. My mother was never happy about it, but my father, who was an amateur musician, eventually agreed.”

Allen started out as a jazz drummer. “Art Blakey was my big influence, and before that, before I started club crawling, it was Gene Krupa. When I started, I tried to play like Gene Krupa. Then I discovered Blue Note Records and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers - it opened up another style to me. Max Roach was important too. I studied some lessons he wrote in Down Beat magazine about how to play high-hats. Most drummers in Lagos never used them, they were just a decoration on the kit,and I’d always thought that was something incomplete.”

Asiko Revisited

Tony Allen

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