https://www.nts.live/shows/theo-parrish/episodes/theo-parrish-17th-july-2022

Theo Parrish 170722

Continuing the series is Mancunian producer, dj and music teacher Tom Burford who just released his LP 'Elevations' with us as Contours (@contoursmusic). Interview (excerpt) down below.

www.musicfrommemory.com

MFM: Hey Tom. You just returned from a big hike, how was it?

TC: Hey! Yeah, we were able to get out on some beautiful hikes around the Anaga national park in the north of Tenerife. It’s a stunning landscape and a nice change from the overbearing grey we get in Manchester for half the year. 

MFM: Does nature play an important role in your life and music?

JC: Definitely in life, and then I guess that just seeps into my music. I grew up in a pretty rural part of Cumbria. It was very beautiful landscape but with very little to do from an entertainment perspective, so getting out in the landscape or jamming with friends always felt like the two most freeing things to do. 

MFM: About jamming with friends... Your new album Elevations includes a lot of collaborations with other musicians, of which you did the recordings yourself. Can you highlight one special moment from those recording sessions?

TC: When recording Pots, I had initially written and recorded the percussion and synth parts at home and hit up Abraham to see if he wanted to add some Trumpet parts. He is based in London and so he recorded initial takes remotely and sent them through. They sounded great, but I really wanted to transform and process his parts for the track to manipulate them into sounding more synth like at points. Doing, that without him in the space felt like there was dialogue missing. In the end I went down to London and we recorded and dubbed them out in the same space at the Rhythm Section studio (shouts to Mali on engineering duties). Being able to respond to his playing and him in turn being able to respond to the dubbing of his parts felt like it was able to capture some really special elements.  

MFM: The A side of your new LP has Elevations 1, 2 and 3. Was it intentional for these tracks to end up separately or did they used to be one larger piece?

TC: When I started writing Elevations 1, 2 and 3 it just began as a series of jams and recording sessions in my flat bouncing ideas back and forth between myself, Beka, Abel and Simmy. These sessions were always just me and one other collaborator at a time, partly down to schedules, the size of the flat, but also the chance to not have to rush the process and to really dig into how we worked together. I continued building out the same project over multiple sessions so that I could have access to all the material collated in one place. Specific sections and ideas started to come together, but I liked the idea of them forging part of a wider piece. I’d previously worked in a largely self-contained track basis but had been listening to a lot of pieces like Six Marimbas, Music for 18 musicians and Tehillim by Steve Reich that build over a long period and loved the scope this gave to get completely lost in the music. I love the hypnotic nature created when polyrhythms morph over each other for a long enough period, shifting emphasis and eventually melting away.  

MFM: What can you tell about the mix you've made?

TC: I wanted to create a mix that was able to showcase the variety of sounds that influence me, both as a DJ and Producer. I love listening to mixes and radio at home and the best club experiences I’ve had have always been when a DJ is able to surprise you and really take you on a journey. The album makes heavy use of strings through the violin and cello, but also the Guzheng, a Chinese Zither and the Clàrsach a Celtic Harp. The initial three tracks of the mix focus on these sounds before skirting into more percussive and jazz focused influences and then into some deeper acid-tinged downtempo tracks and sub heavy club sounds. Hopefully this mix takes people on a journey and is something for people to get lost in.

MFM Mix 051: Contours

Moonlit Melodies

On May 25th 2024, to accompany the launch of his Arthur Russell book "Travels Over Feeling" Richard King put together an event at London's Barbican celebrating Arthur's life with an all star musical cast recreating and reimagining his music.

I was thrilled to be invited to play a DJ set in the foyer afterwards. I have been an Arthur Russell devotee for 30 years and decided to play an all Arthur Russell DJ set*. The atmosphere was very special with lots of love transmitting back and forth from the DJ booth to the dancefloor. I really felt a freedom to slowly build it up playing so many of my favourite AR tracks and it was one of my very favourite DJ gis of 2024 so far.


*Full disclosure - there was an additional 30 minutes finale of this set that didn't record where I played non Arthur Russell, disco / disco adjacent records.

JD Twitch - All Arthur Russell DJ set, live at The Barbican, London 25/05/24

In recent years Japanese Jazz Fusion has experienced somewhat of a revival, with several tracks becoming underground Youtube hits. Laying the foundations for city pop, Japanese Fusion players combined more traditional jazz elements with the sounds from the latest synthesisers. With the use of the Minimoog and Arp synths, artists like Jun Fukamachi created a unique style.

Although it’s by no means definitive, this episode covers some of the great tracks of this prolific era. 

ここ最近日本のジャズ・フュージョンは、YouTubeによるいくつかの名盤が再発見されたことをきっかけに、リバイバルブームが起きています。日本のジャズフュージョンプレイヤーたちは、シティポップよりもむしろシンセ的サウンドをトラディショナルなジャズと掛け合わせることで昇華させてきました。ジャズミュージシャン・深町純らは「Minimoog」や「Arp」といったシンセサイザーを用いて、いままでにないユニークなサウンドをつくり出しました。これからの時間は、そんなジャズ・フュージョンの傑作を紹介していきます。Translated by Satoko Akune. 
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/japanese-jazz-week/episodes/jazz-fusion-special-6th-may-2021

Japanese Jazz Week: Fusion Special 060521

Sticky Groove for Every Direction. 
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/aoki-takamasa/episodes/aoki-takamasa-5th-february-2025

Vibrations for a Better World w/ AOKI takamasa 050225

Amsterdam selector Orpheu The Wizard connects oddball and straight forward jams from different decades and different record shelves in a monthly show.  
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/orpheu-the-wizard/episodes/orpheu-the-wizard-8th-august-2025

Orpheu The Wizard 080825

VERSION SPECIAL 2

passing it clockwise is good luck,
anyone can join the joy of joint, just choose a time and post !


Passing it clockwise (14:30 - Flatic)

Astral.  Jazz.

If you are a deep listener of cosmic / astral / spiritual / free / exotic etc. jazz then skip this as there probably won't be any surprises here. I don't for a minute profess to be any sort of expert with regard to this music and know I am only scratching the surface, but what I have listened to is some of thee most transcendental music I have ever heard. Listened to at the right time and the right place, there is no other music i know that will transport me to such a blissful inner space.

I guess my introduction to this music came courtesy of Soul Jazz Records and their wonderful 1995 "Universal Sounds Of America" compilation (http://www.discogs.com/Various-Universal-Sounds-Of-America/release/405103). i'd been desperate to hear Sun Ra for a long time but back then his music was very hard to get hold of. Sun Ra was a revelation, everything I'd hoped for and much more, and so was everything else on the album. At this time, FOPP records in Glasgow was one of the best record shops in the country. The owner was a jazz fanatic and sold an incredible selection of long out of print vinyl and cd jazz albums at very low prices, many of which he had licensed and had repressed specifically to stock in his chain. The prices were low enough that it was possible to risk buying albums one knew nothing about on the off chance they might be great, and most of them were. I discovered wonderful albums by Archie Shepp, Albert Ayler, Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, Sonny Sharrock, Alice Coltrane, Pharaoah Sanders and many more that opened my mind in a different way from any music I had previously encountered. As a result of FOPP's super cheap vinyl policy, these records filtered around Glasgow and records that would be cult favourites in other parts of the world would be heard all over the place here. I remember one Sunday morning going to my local newsagent's to get some milk and hearing Alice Coltrane's "Journey In Satchidanada" rippling through the shop. Allegedly FOPP were selling as many copies of "Bitches Brew" as they were of Radiohead's "The Bends". I sometimes wonder if this had any impact on the music that was being made in Glasgow around this time? Myself and Jonnie did our first and only studio session together back then with a local act who were trying to channel Alice Coltrane, Sun Ra, Keiji Heino and Kim Fowley! Needless to say the results were an unlistenable mess but the spirit of adventure was definitely in the Glasgow air.

As with most music I like, this is all over the place, both in form and with regard to when it was recorded. Some of it will instantly calm your deepest woes while some of it may challenge your ears to the maximum, but, all of it is music that seems to have been beamed to its makers from a dimension the vast majority of us are not in touch with. "Deep" is a much misused and abused word with regard to music but these sonic missives are the embodiment of that word. Immerse yourself.

As usual we aren't making a track listing available for the podcast, simply because we feel that knowing the contents often precludes actually listening to it. But, if you want to know what anything is, feel free to get in touch and we will let you know. The podcast is not mixed, merely segued, contains 13 tracks, lasts 78 minutes and the download is a 192kbps mp3 (107mb).

The other Optimo podcasts are available via iTunes or from here - feed://www.optimo.co.uk/podcasts/index.xml

Optimo Podcast 10 - Astral Travelling

Broadcast live on WNYU 89.1FM in New York City on August 1st, 2017. 
https://soundcloud.com/thinner_groove
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Beats In Space

BIS Radio Show #897 with Powder

No words for this mix by one of the best DJs out there. JD Twitch is an absolute legend and definitely one of the most interesting record collectors in the world. Just sit back and listen how it is done [period]

JD Twitch (Optimo)

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Japanese Jazz Week: Fusion Special 060521

NTS 2024-2025