New Album 'Curiosities' Available November 12
<a href="https://bastardjazz.bandcamp.com/album/curiosities">BUY ALBUM</a> (CD, Vinyl, Digital)
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/curiosities/id732812842">BUY ON iTUNES</a>

Bastard Jazz Recordings is proud to present the sophomore album Curiosities by New Zealand multi- instrumentalist and producer Lord Echo (aka Mike Fabs). An enticing sonic excursion that effortlessly transcends genre and geography, the release finds Echo flexing his dual-mastery of 60's production techniques and modern dancefloor aesthetics, while also highlighting the vocal prowess of his soulful compatriots through a flowing blend of boogie-laced Funk, disco-primed Dub, futuristic Soul, and timeless African rhythms.

Fabs, known worldwide for his production work with NZ’s biggest Reggae export The Black Seeds, drew a groundswell of excitement around his debut solo album Melodies in late 2010. The independent release became a cult classic strictly through word-of-mouth, championed by tastemakers like Gilles Peterson (who played it repeatedly on his BBC Radio 1 show), Oliver Wang (Soulsides) and Richard Dorfmeister. Re-issues of the album soon followed in Japan and Europe, with vinyl copies quickly becoming a hot commodity among discerning collectors around the globe. Echo was introduced to Bastard Jazz’s DJ DRM in 2011 (via Detroit producer Recloose), and a limited 7” vinyl release on the Brooklyn-based imprint soon followed in 2012, precipitating this full length release with the label.

Curiosities picks up right where Melodies left off, with the sun-drenched psychedelic dub sounds of tracks like “Bohemian Idol” (featuring vocals by Toby Laing of Fat Freddy's Drop), and the jerky funk vibes of cuts like “Digital Haircut” and “Street Knowledge”. The album provides a wealth of DJ fodder, with forward thinking 70s-inspired disco tunes such as “Molten Lava” (featuring the soaring vocals of Leila Adu), as well as analog Afro-infused burners like “What Is That Feeling” and “Put It In My Head” (complemented by the golden-voiced Mara TK of Electric Wire Hustle fame). Down-home spiritual jazz/electronic meanderings ("Ghost Hands", “Arabesque”) provide a counterpoint to Echo's driving cover-version of the Pharoah Sanders & Leon Thomas classic “The Creator Has a Master Plan”. His inspiring take on the track is uplifted by the soulful singing of Lisa Tomlins (who's notable vocals on Echo’s rendition of Sister Sledge’s “Thinking Of You” made it a standout hit from his Melodies album).

The finely-tuned collaborations throughout Curiosities underscore Lord Echo's pivotal position in the thriving New Zealand music scene. "I generally only work with people I know quite well personally", says Echo humbly. That personal and organic approach to creating his music is revealed as the album unfolds, layer by delectable layer. "I made this record primarily with DJs in mind," he continues. "They are generally people who really love music and are often obsessed with various aspects of it. I'm not making music for people for whom it's just some background noise in their lives, I'm making music for people for whom it IS their lives. And for better or worse, I guess I am one of those people."

A diverse, yet grounded LP chock full of head-turning sounds, Curiosities further pushes Lord Echo’s repertoire into the realm of the inimitable, and is sure to pique the interest of discerning music lovers from down-under to the big apple.

Buy on iTunes

Lord Echo feat. Toby Laing - Bohemian Idol

Ed Wizard & Disco Double Dee - Loveturn

Red hot Italian DJ and production collective Aura Safari is back with a second full-length album, Island Dreams. It lands on Hell Yeah Recordings on September 15th and is another live and sun-kissed odyssey through balmy Mediterranean evenings, gorgeous sundown sessions and funky analogue grooves.  

Andrea Moretti, Lorenzo Lavoratori, Daniele Melloni, Nicholas Iammatteo, Lorenzo Francioli, Ruggero Bonucci and Nicola Pitassio are Aura Safari, and between them, they play drums, percussion, bass, keys, and guitar. They contributed to the first volume of the Buena Onda compilation in 2020 on this label, a year after serving up a debut album on London's Church Records. Since then they have become ever more entrenched in their local scene in Perugia. They are skilled musicians and instrumentalists with an effortlessly charming sound inspired by having grown up attending the Umbria Jazz Festival and spending winters keeping warm at the legendary Red Zone Club, while these days and host their own Tropical Climax parties each month in the town centre.

Aura Safari are also deep-digging music collectors who have extensive and far-reaching tastes. When cooking up their sounds they draw on everything from Afro to Italo, house to disco, 80s boogie to world music, jazz and Balearic beats. This new album shows that once more across four sides of vinyl that sweep you up and transport you to somewhere idyllic.

The title track kicks off with steamy Mediterranean grooves embellished with lush Rhodes chords and sprinkles of cosmic magic. 'Sur Mon Balconnet' then slips into dubbed-out disco territory with 80s synths and leggy drums while 'Riserva Naturale' is a new-age jazz house sound with majestic lead synths and heart-melting chords that speak of a sunset dance on the beach. 'Onda' has squelchy boogie bass with hip-swinging drums, 'Wave Riding' is a lo-fi funk excursion with hints of West Coast Californian swagger and 'Magic Malbe' is loose-limbed Balearica with clear blue skies and blissed-out chords.

'Dancing in the Moonlight' featuring legendary Zeke Manyika has all the vibrant feelings of bubblegum pop with Afro vocals and steel drum sounds next to rich xylophone sounds. There is plenty of heat and exotic charm to the proto-Afro house of 'Tropical Climax' and as well as dub versions of 'Sur Mon Balconnet' and 'Dancing in the Moonlight' come the scuffed-up Dam-Funk style beats and boogie of 'Disco Mantra' before closer 'Patagonia' shuts down with elastic drums and bass and playful synth leads that send you home wanting more.

Island Dreams is a tropical escape to a rich world of fusion sounds that look back to go forwards. It's a feel-good record to accompany hot nights and lazy afternoons, cocktails at dusk and dancing till dawn.

vinyl-download

Aura Safari - Wave Riding

Intro
Le fini.                     Ursula 1000
Pollution                  4Dkiller
Riviera 69                Chris Joss (67 Re-edit)
Wave of love            Chris Joss (67 Re-edit)
Rolling Space           Expo 80 (67 re-edit)
A silness song         Puccio Roelens  (67 Re-edit)
That fat man            Dick Walter (67 Re-edit)

Spring rain              Al Kent (67 Re-edit)
Planet Medora         Berry Lipman
La famiglia Nicotera  Piero Piccioni
Hard Times             Piero Umiliani (67 re-touch)
Masquerade            Trovajoli  -Gak Sato remix-
Sesso Matto            Trovajoli Karminsky Exp remix   (67 re-edit)
Departures             Karminsky Experience Inc.
Tess                       David Holmes
Wooly Waltz            Chriss Joss (67 re-edit)
A soft reprise         Chriss Joss 
Mama Lion              The Electric Peanut Butter Company (67 re-edit)
Lady Magnolia        P.UMILIANI Kid Loco remix (67 re edit)
Liquid                     The Bas Lexter Ensample
Liquid Sunshine     John Cameron
Le dernier verre     De Kersaint (67 re-touch)

Riviera 70

Groove Mix 55

A cheeky Zenlike Cover of Photek's 'Ren 2' which feature in the Animatrix and the subsequent soundtrack album.

The album itself is a personal favourite and this track, along with the episode in which it features, has always been a standout in my eyes - the imagery it generates is something else.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy! :)

Ren 2 (Zenlike Cover)

Discotexas subsidiary, Forbidden Cuts returns with another of its club-focussed EPs,
this time a jazzy affair from Oma Nata, a mysterious Portuguese artist living in
Hamburg.
The man behind the Oma Nata moniker has released a wide range of music but with
this project focusses on a more moody, vibrant and exotic sound that takes in
everything from Latin American influences to West African jazz as well as classic
house.
First up, the fantastic ‘Twisted Luck’ is a freeform house number with jazz trumpets
and finger clicks, low slung bass and blues vocals all coalescing into a vibrant groove.
A mélange of melodies and saxophones, chords and percussive lines all take turns in
being the lead and it’s the sort of swinging track to get any floor moving.
The equally brilliant and busy ‘A Break Forever’ is all jazzy chords and prickly
percussion. It’s loose yet loopy and will get anyone up on their toes thanks to its
excellent St Germain style deep house vibes.
These are two fresh and original tunes that bring real originality and invention to house
music.

Connect:

www.facebook.com/omanata
www.facebook.com/forbiddencuts

Twisted Luck EP

Twisted Luck

Dream Boat Sailing (Niceice Edit)

Track from the new Alex Cortiz album 'Dope Spheres'.

Available on all downloadstores and streaming services worldwide.

Follow Alex Cortiz on Instagram: instagram.com/alex.cortiz

Dope Spheres

Chase 103

Chase 103 (full version)

Just a quick little re edit we did years ago of 'Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)' by Eumir Deodato (originally by Richard Strauss and in the soundtrack of 2001 A Space Odyssey). Only spent a while at it and never finished it. We did it for somebody else, so would have done it a little bit differently if it was just us, but what ya gonna do. They never got back to us to finish it, so it was lost and forgotten till the one friend I did give a copy to, played it for me last night and burnt me a copy. So i thought I might as well bang it up here, so more than just 3 or 4 people get to hear it. And here's the original - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNANko0SMgw" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNANko0SMgw</a> .... Sorry no Wav. but the original was lost:-(

Also Sprach Zarathustra(2001) Keep Schtum Rough Edit (320/Unmastered) Free D/load again

The FSO's tracks from our latest Scruffy Soul EP4 release :)

The Found Sound Orchestra - Makin' Babies

Zenlike Creature was initially set up as a side-project, born out of a love of the psychedelic music scene.

It could be said that this project is almost 30 years in the making since that wonderful summer of 93 and that first listen of the Ozric Tentacles 'Live Underslunky' album - it certainly opened more than just eyes! 

Since then it's been a continual music adventure hunting down bands and artists of similar style and genre. Whilst not always fruitful, there is a selection of bands/artists who have helped shape and influence Zenlike Creature and this work would not have happened without them: Ozric Tentacles, Gong, Shpongle, Steve Hillage, Eat Static, Hallucinogen, Pink Floyd, and Hawkwind. 

The bands/artists above have taken us on some fantastic musical journeys and adventures and Zenlike Creature hopes to take you on some similar journeys too.
Discography:
https://visionaryshamanics.bandcamp.com/album/gathering-dust-lp
https://visionaryshamanics.bandcamp.com/track/psybur-koru-hari-dub-zenlike-creature-rmx
https://visionaryshamanics.bandcamp.com/album/hofmanns-potion-lp

https://www.facebook.com/zenlikecreature/
https://www.mixcloud.com/Zenlike_Creature/

Ren 2 (Zenlike Cover)

Zenlike Creature

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