Pauli Lyytinen - Lehto / Korpi

Finnish saxophonist Pauli Lyytinen makes his We Jazz solo debut with Lehto / Korpi, a widescreen environmental jazz ambient album effortlessly bringing together Lyytinen's saxophone, field recordings and extended instrumentation. Lyytinen's solo music is built on textural compositions, extended saxophone techniques and electro-acoustic soundscapes and layers. Think albums like Evan Parker's "With Birds" and "Schwarzwaldfahrt" by Brötzmann/Bennink but with a whole other world of sounds to work with. Lyytinen's work is rooted in his native Finland's nature, finding its groove where the indoors and the outdoors meet. Lyytinen tours extensively in Finland during fall 2024 and will head out to international shows in 2025.

On Lehto / Korpi, Lyytinen plays tenor, soprano and alto saxophone, uses live effects, mellotron & percussion, and adds a subtle layer of field recordings to tie the record together. Cranes, swans and other voices familiar in the Finnish aural summer landscape bring their distinct character to the album, connecting back to the album's dual title. "Lehto", Finnish for grove, and "Korpi", which roughly translates as deep forest are two sides of the same coin, working together to form a full image of an artist using his surroundings to create a deeply emotive and singular piece of work, echoing love and respect for our natural environment.

Tracklist:
1. Lehto I
2. Lehto II
3. Lehto III
4. Lehto IV
5. Lehto V
6. Korpi I
7. Korpi II
8. Korpi III
9. Korpi IV

Domenico Sanna - Music is the Answer

"Music is the Answer" with Greg Hutchinson on drums and Ameen Saleem on double bass, is an ideal about the attempt to live by pursuing some important values that music itself teaches, such as knowing how to listen, collaborate, adapt, respect and appreciate others' perspectives. Study, research, curiosity and meditation are creative phases that offer us the opportunity to live more openly. After several years of collaboration with Ameen and Greg we finally recorded, I am very happy and honored to play with two such profound musicians."

Tracklist:
1. Ottobre
2. HD
3. Tea for Art
4. Mingus Overture
5. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
6. Possibility
7. Darn that dream
8. Music is the Answer
9. Nocturne Gaetano

VA - Bastard Jazz Presents: Hear No Evil Vol. 4

Here in Bastard Jazz Land, we release a lot of music. It can be overwhelming to keep up – so we’ve rebooted our old “Hear No Evil” compilation for a new 4th volume to feature some of our favorite recent catalog releases. The compilation has a little bit of everything that makes Bastard Jazz what it is as a label - cosmic jazz, instrumental hip-hop, future r&b, psychedelic beats, fuzzed out funk, deep house and more. Vibes on vibes from our proudly 23 years strong Brooklyn based record label.

Tracklist:
1. Robohands - Individuation
2. Posy - A Better Day
3. Moka Only - For the Soul
4. Joyo Velarde - Blur the Lines
5. Yoh - Indigo (Potatohead People Remix)
6. Simon Mavin - Only You & Me
7. Captain Planet - Music is Medicine (Captain Planet's Steppers Remix)
8. Cor.Ece - Mt. Miss U
9. Captain Planet - Mirage (RUMTUM Remix)
10. Dead Horse Beats - Gordon Pinsent
11. Daniel David - Devotion
12. Potatohead People - Paradise (Nicky's 1 Nite Only Dub)
13. Nick Wisdom - Be Like That
14. Toribio - Do Better (VIP Mix)

André 3000 - Listening To The Sun (an intimate album film for New Blue Sun 11/17/2023)

Robert Glasper - Code Derivation

"Depending on who you ask—or when it was that they became acquainted with his work—Robert Glasper is either a prodigious jazz pianist who made good on the potential he displayed as a college freshman touring with celebrated composer Roy Hargrove, or a devout hip-hop head whose weapon of choice just happens to be the piano. In his second project of 2024, the Apple Music exclusive Code Derivation, he delivers the glutton’s rejoinder: Why not both? \n\nGlasper, who’s only ever had to focus his efforts on one or the other in the interest of time, made an album that splits the difference between the two, emphasising their shared genetics. Code Derivation is largely made up of two versions of the same tracks—one played live in studio by Glasper’s band and a version “flipped” by a producer of his choosing. “Jazz is literally in the beginning bones of hip-hop,” Glasper says. “That's why I even used the word ‘derivation’, because it’s a derivative of jazz. I’ve played with the masters of both of these genres, so I wanted to do a project where it’s like, ‘Hey, I’m going to do jazz songs that I wrote with my band—with my friends—and I’m going to get dope producers that are my friends to sample me.” the band side of things, that includes names like Walter Smith III, Mike Moreno, Kendrick Scott, Keyon Harrold and Vicente Archer—the majority of whom the pianist has known since long before his turn as a multiple-Grammy-winning artist and composer. “The beginnings of me is not only straight-ahead jazz, but it’s also particular players,” Glasper says. “I went to high school with Walter and Mike Moreno and Kendrick Scott. We literally grew up together and learned how to play jazz together. Keyon, we met in jazz camp in 11th grade.” the production side, he’s enlisted friends and collaborators like Hi-Tek, Black Milk, Karriem Riggins, Taylor McFerrin and the one guest Glasper would be hard-pressed to deny as his favourite of the bunch: his son Riley. “When I have guests, it’s always the best of the best,” Glasper says. “That’s my thing. People that I’ve wanted to work with or people that I’m just big fans of and the world are fans of. But at the same time, now that I’ve established myself and I have a certain platform, you’re going to see more and more of me using people [my fans] don’t necessarily know as much.” the MC front, Glasper’s called on less established acts like Beaumont, Texas-hailing Jamari (a frequent collaborator of his son), Minneapolis’ MMYYKK and Brooklyn-born Oswin Benjamin—young rhymers who Glasper says became the project’s pièce de résistance. “I almost didn’t have any guests at all, really,” he says. “I was just like, it could be the jazz tune and then the beats and that’s it. But then, at the last minute, I was like, ‘I could use some rap on here. I think that’ll really bring [us] to the hip-hop shit.’The project is indeed delightfully guest-heavy, assembling the perfect collective of contributors to help convey a personal investment in two of Black music’s most revered genres. Which, to let Glasper tell it, wasn’t very much work at all. “I trusted who I picked,” he says. “The beauty of my collaboration is that I don’t try to take over and overproduce. The fact that I picked you is the production. I know what you’re going to do and I know it’s going to be dope.”

Tracklist:
1. Soundcheck One
2. Say Less
3. Say Less (feat. Jamari) [Flipped by Riley Glasper]
4. Wake Up
5. Wake Up (feat. MMYYKK) [Flipped by MMYYKK]
6. Madiba
7. Madiba (feat. Oswin Benjamin) [Flipped by Hi-Tek]
8. AJ’s Vibe
9. AJ’s Vibe (Flipped by Black Milk)
10. Waiting on Arrival
11. Waiting on Arrival (feat. Taylor McFerrin) [Flipped by Taylor McFerrin]
12. Rm 112
13. Rm 112 (Flipped by Karriem Riggins)
14. Soundcheck Two
15. M&M March (Flipped by Riley Glasper)

Marquis Hill - Composers Collective: Beyond The Jukebox

Award-winning trumpeter, composer and bandleader Marquis Hill, widely acclaimed for his soulful, eclectic modern jazz sensibility, is proud to present Composers Collective: Beyond the Jukebox, a new album celebrating the compositions of others: in particular, a group of cherished colleagues and friends, many of them fellow Chicagoans, invited by Hill to compose a piece for the album with him specifically in mind. In addition to six of Hill’s compositions, the program includes pieces by Ernest Dawkins, Gary Bartz, Jeff Parker, Marcus Strickland, SABA, Geof Bradfield and Matt Gold, as well as the members of Hill’s core quintet: vibraphonist Joel Ross, pianist Michael King, bassist Junius Paul and drummer Corey Fonville.

Tracklist:
1. A Star Is Born
2. Joseph Beat (feat. Josh Johnson)
3. Meshell
4. The Cool (Constantly Opperating On Love)
5. Pretty For the People (feat. Gerald Clayton)
6. Enter The Stargate
7. I Promise To Listen (feat. Manasseh)
8. Step on Step (Smoke Break) [feat. Manasseh]
9. The OG's (Organic People)
10. Life Days (feat. Jeff Parker)
11. Two Check (For the Rich and Wealthy)
12. Shorter Days (Longer Nights)
13. When You've Got An Attitude (Still Love You) [feat. Manasseh]
14. Chef's Kiss (feat. Christie Dashiell)
15. Balladesque (Nothing To Lose) [feat. Samora Pinderhughes]
16. Smo Melody n Shit (feat. Caroline Davis)
17. I Remembered You
18. Libra (South Node) [feat. Makaya McCraven & Corey Fonville]

El Michels Affair - Glorious Game (Instrumentals)

An album of instrumental versions of the tracks from Glorious Game, the 2023 collaborative LP between American cinematic soul group El Michels Affair and Philly-based rap icon Black Thought. Stripped of The Roots’ lead MC’s lyrics, you can hear the bold, bottom-heavy arrangement of Leon Michels and his bandmates even more clearly.

Tracklist:
1. Grateful (Instrumental)
2. Glorious Game (Instrumental)
3. I’m Still Somehow (Instrumental)
4. Hollow Way (Instrumental)
5. Protocol (Instrumental)
6. The Weather (Instrumental)
7. That Girl (Instrumental)
8. I Would Never (Instrumental)
9. Alone (Instrumental)
10. Miracle (Instrumental)
11. Glorious Game (Reprise) (Instrumental)
12. Alter Ego (Instrumental)

Nala Sinephro - Endlessness

Endlessness is a deep dive into the cycle of existence. The 45-minute album delicately spans 10 tracks with a continuous arpeggio playing throughout, creating an expansive, mesmerising celebration of life cycles and rebirth. Following Sinephro’s critically acclaimed 2021 debut album Space 1.8, Endlessness further elevates her as a transcendent and multi-dimensional composer, beautifully morphing jazz, orchestral, and electronic music.

The album was composed, produced, arranged, and engineered by Sinephro. Performing on the album are Sheila Maurice-Grey, Morgan Simpson, James Mollison, Lyle Barton, Nubya Garcia, Natcyet Wakili, and Dwayne Kilvington, joined by Orchestrate’s 21 string players.

1. Continuum 1
2. Continuum 2
3. Continuum 3
4. Continuum 4
5. Continuum 5
6. Continuum 6
7. Continuum 7
8. Continuum 8
9. Continuum 9
10. Continuum 10

Holy Tongue meets Shackleton - The Tumbling Psychic Joy of Now

The Tumbling Psychic Joy of Now, a ritualistic and expanding collaborative album between Holy Tongue and Shackleton, will be released by AD 93 on the 23rd August 2024.

Holy Tongue are a trio composed of Valentina Magaletti, Al Wootton and Susumu Mukai. Accomplished musicians in their own right, they combined to create psychedelic, free-form, high energy, spiritual dub-dance music across a trilogy of critically acclaimed EPs and their debut album Deliverance and Spiritual Warfare. Their high energy live performances invoke the experimental dub of On-U-Sound, the frenetic rhythms of 23 Skidoo, Liquid Liquid and ESG, and the spiritual energy of free jazz.

The trio’s dynamic collaboration extends in their meeting with Shackleton, one of the most original and critically lauded voices in electronic music. Shackleton has moved from the depths of the early 2000s dubstep underground to a diverse range of international collaborations and commissions over the last two decades. After honing his hypnotic beats on the cult UK record label Skull Disco, his unique rhythmic touch is now heard on some of the most adventurous and progressive projects that have emerged from the European dance scene in recent years. Shackleton’s work explores conceptual and spiritual themes with an emotional depth beyond most artists working in European dance music today, and his visions of inner space, apocalypse and dread are more timely than ever before.

This record was conceived after Holy Tongue and Shackleton shared a festival line up in Sweden. Holy Tongue were initially keen to get Shackleton to remix one of their existing tracks but they soon decided to have a project together and work on some fresh new music, allowing Shackleton to do something more creative with it in the studio. Thus Holy Tongue recorded a collection of raw material in the studio and sent it to Shackleton. The result is far more than the sum of its parts. A psychedelic, ritualistic, dub trip, oscillating between the maximal and the minimal, the internal and the external, the micro and the macro, ecstasy and agony, all the tumbling psychic joy of now.

Tracklist:
1. Ancient Model
2. Blessed and Bewildered
3. The Fruit of the Fall
4. The Other Side of the Bridge
5. The Merciful Lake
6. Gravity Will Fail Us

VA - Soulful Deep & Dope Ibiza 2024

One of the UK's best loved independent imprints, Reel People Music, continue to push their love and passion for all things Soulful as they drop the new installment of compilation series SOULFUL DEEP & DOPE.

The album is made up of 20 gorgeous slabs of Soulfulness and features wonderful contributions from the likes of TERRY HUNTER, TURBOJAZZ, OPOLOPO, SEAN MCCABE, MARK FRANCIS, ATJAZZ, EMMACULATE, ROCCO RODAMAAL, JAMIE 3:26 RALF GUM, SEBB JUNIOR, FOUK, REEL PEOPLE, OPOLOPO, RICHARD EARNSHAW, PIERS KIRWAN, ABEL, KAIDI TATHAM & more.

Tracklist:
1. Sean McCabe - Only You (Sean’s Day & Night Dub Edit)
2. Opolopo - The Ones You Love (Radio Edit)
3. LukaMusic - Lord, Grace & Mercy (Rocco Rodamaal Radio Edit)
4. Lola Vialet - All Or Nothing (Terry Hunter Radio Remix)
5. Fouk - Loving At First Sight (Vocal Mix Edit)
6. Turbojazz - Like You (Sean McCabe Remix Edit)
7. Emmaculate - Holy Ghost Power (Jamie 3-26's Sunday Stomp)
8. Magic Number - Loving You (Abel Remix)
9. Harold Matthews Jr - Turn Your Vibe Around (Piers Turned It Around Mix Edit)
10. Halo - Glory (Atjazz Galaxy Aart Remix Edit)
11. Justin Kayser - Always (Richard Earnshaw Mix)
12. Reel People - Upside (Sean McCabe Remix Edit)
13. Atjazz - Home (Emmaculate Remix Edit)
14. Ralf Gum - AWA (Ralf GUM Vocal Mix Edit)
15. Eric Ericksson - Don’t Hold Back On Love (Kaidi Tatham Remix)
16. Reel People - Something New (Mark Francis Radio Edit)
17. Atjazz - On The Road (Kaidi Tatham Remix)
18. Mr Milk Dee - 2 Positions (Sean McCabe Remix Edit)
19. Tarantulaz - I Wasn’t Kidding (Emmaculate Love Dub Edit)
20. Sebb Junior - Don’t Stop (Original Mix)
21. Various Artists - Soulful Deep & Dope Ibiza 2024 (DJ Mix)

Blockhead - Music By Cavelight (20 Year Anniversary Reissue)

140g 4LP marbled forest green vinyl housed in a gatefold sleeve. Includes bonus Aesop Rock Instrumentals, plus previously unreleased Lost Files ‘99-’03. Download card included.

Tracklist
1. Insomniac Olympics
2. Carnivores Unite
3. You've Got Maelstrom
4. Sunday Seance
5. A Better Place
6. Road Rage Breakdown
7. Triptych Pt. 1
8. Triptych Pt. 2
9. Triptych Pt. 3
10. Jet Son
11. Breathe and Start
12. Music by Cavelight
13. Daylight (Instrumental)
14. Nightlight (Instrumental)
15. 11.35 (Instrumental)
16. Maintenance (Instrumental)
17. Forest Crunk (Instrumental)
18. Beef & Brocs
19. Uplifting Corn
20. Need A Tissue
21. Okay Alright
22. Dead Or Alive
23. Checkers
24. Marvelous
25. Graveyard Hunt
26. Another Time
27. Dreamtime
28. Organic Beef
29. Spy Games
30. Bloop Bloop
31. Happy Baby
32. P's Joint
33. Space Disco
34. Summertime
35. Hawkeye
36. Sing Along

Takeo Moriyama & Masahiko Satoh - Live At Café OTO

BBE Music presents a meeting of musical spirits in a unique live recording captured just a few months before the world changed due to a global pandemic. Recorded in September 2019, Live at Café Oto sees two giant heavyweights of the post-war Japanese jazz scene come together with a pair of exemplary musicians from the heart of the new UK jazz movement. Generations and continents apart but united as one for a very special concert.

Together, performing at London’s leading space of innovative and exploratory music – Café Oto in East London – pianist and composer Masahiko Satoh and drummer Takeo Moriyama fuse their musical forces with saxophonist Idris Rahman and bassist Leon Brichard, at the time both members of Ill Considered, one of the UK’s most notable experimental jazz groups.

Masahiko Satoh and Takeo Moriyama are more than mere players of their respective instruments. They inhabit a higher realm, a space closer to icons or totems in their chosen fields. Both Satoh-san and Moriyama-san emerged as potent forces in the late 1960s – Satoh-san as an experimental and iconoclastic composer and pianist and Moriyama-san as the dynamo to the blistering Yosuke Yamashita Trio – a critical period in the development of free and modern jazz in Japan. A time that witnessed creative boundaries dissolve, new vectors of cultural transmission emerge and the very definition of ‘jazz’ undergoes intense and wide-ranging reframing by a new generation of artist. These artists eschewed prior conventions and forms and looked to construct a new musical vernacular.

That spirit of change and transformation is shared with the two younger players who accompanied them on that autumn Sunday evening in East London. As members of Ill Considered, reed player Idris Rahman and bassist Leon Brichard (Brichard has since left the group) were at the fulcrum of the burgeoning UK jazz and improvisation scene that has taken the world by storm in recent years. Ill Considered’s sound was – and remains – centred on free improvisation and, in their own words, ‘based loosely around simple pre-written themes or composed on the spot’. It was therefore natural that Idris and Leon were well matched to play alongside two seasoned veterans of the revolutionary free improvising scene of the late 60s and early 70s Japan.

Live at Café Oto presents a unique moment as generations meet in a unity of purpose to create a truly ecstatic experience that will not be forgotten by those lucky enough to be in the audience that night. That special moment can now be shared with you.

Tracklist:
1. Evening Snow
2. Ringo Oiwake
3. East Plants
4. Watarase
5. Other Worlds
6. Chiasma

Badbadnotgood - Mid Spiral

At the start of 2024 BADBADNOTGOOD were brimming with new creative energy. Having just come off a run of one-off international tour dates and a series of sessions for projects with artists Daniel Cesar, Charlotte Day Wilson, reggie, Baby Rose, and Turnstile, the Canadian-trio of Al Sow, Chester Hansen and Leland Whitty were eager to get back into the studio to simply create. The trio called on some of their closest friends and collaborators, BADBADNOTGOOD touring member Felix Fox-Pappas (keys) and a few key-players in the Toronto jazz scene including Kaelin Murphy (trumpet), Juan Carlos Medrano (percussion) and LA musician Tyler Lott (guitar), for an intensive and productive one-week of recording at Valentine Studios in Los Angeles in February 2024. The result of those sessions is the Mid Spiral series, originally released as 3 parts – Chaos, Order and Growth – digitally earlier this year and now collected altogether on a double LP and CD.

The Mid Spiral suites see BADBADNOTGOOD return to their roots of instrumental jazz while once again pushing the boundaries of how they cross pollinate genres, incorporating their love of hip-hop, neo-soul, psychedelic, funk and more. For the sessions, the trio incorporated additional musicians to add more voices of instrumentation, resulting in a deeply collaborative and expansive new sound. As the trio sifted through the weeks’ worth of material, it was clear that three distinct moods emerged, a deeper reflection of where the musicians are within their own personal lives, along with the state of the wider world: Chaos, Order and Growth.

CD1:
01. Eyes On Me
02. Take Me With You
03. Weird & Wonderful
04. Mid Spiral
05. Last Laugh
06. Your Soul & Mine

CD2:
01. Playgroup
02. Juan's World
03. Taco Taco
04. Sétima Regra
05. Sunday Afternoon's Dream
06. Rewind Your Mind

CD3:
01. First Love
02. Audacia
03. Celestial Hands
04. Ways of Seeing
05. White Light *24bit - 44.1kHz

Los Yesterdays - Frozen In Time

Founded by producer/drummer Gabriel Rowland and singer/songwriter Victor Benavides in Altadena, CA in 2017, Los Yesterdays remained – literally – a garage band for years, a chance for the duo to create their take on the sweet soul music that enveloped childhood experience as young Chicanos in LA.

In a Billboard article about them and their scene, it was noted - "…there is a generations-long appreciation for sweet soul music among California’s Latino communities. Eastern Los Angeles teens.... helped foster a love of sweet soul in the early ‘60s by covering soulful ballads by artists like James Brown... Those sounds....were kept alive by record collectors and people who spent evenings cruising along East Los boulevards."

A chance meeting between Rowland and Now-Again’s Egon at a barbecue hosted by Beastie Boys’ producer Mario C got them talking about their favorite sweet soul 45s. Rowland pulled out his phone and played the first Los Yesterdays track he and Benavides created – “Mr. Yesterday” – and Egon immediately offered them an opportunity on his label. This was followed by an offer from Daptone’s Gabe Roth for his Penrose imprint. And, now, after a series of singles including an unlikely Tik-Tok hit “Nobody’s Clown” and work with Trish Toledo, Los Yesterdays have issued debut alblum on Now-Again Records.

Tracklist:
1. Nobody's Clown (Payaso version)
2. Frozen In Time
3. Something Happened
4. I Can't Feel
5. Brown Boy
6. Last Request
7. I Want You To Stay
8. But You Did
9. Name On Me
10. Love Is A Game For Fools

Mark de Clive-Lowe - Tide's Arising Instrumentals

The future of modern / broken soul has arrived. This album is so fresh & clean it makes others seem inadequate. Covering all styles of nu-beat from future jazz to nu-soul to broken beat & back again this is an accomplished masterpiece. You just have to listen from start to finish. Essential. (MS)

Tracklist:
1. Slide (Instrumental)
2. State of the Mental (Instrumental)
3. Quintessential (Instrumental)
4. Syndrome (Instrumental)
5. Pino + Mashi (feat. Pino Palladino)
6. Tide's Arising (Instrumental)
7. Heaven (Instrumental)
8. 4.Y.V. (Instrumental)
9. Heaven, Pt. II (Instrumental)

DJ Vadim - The Soundcatcher 2.0

Tracklist:
1. Warrior (feat. Kim Milan & Preach Jacobs)
2. Like the WInd pt2 (feat. Deuce Eclipse & Abstract Rude)
3. Fear Feats pt2 (feat. Emo & Syrus)
4. Black is the night pt3 (feat. Kathrin Deboer)
5. i can never pt2 (feat. Emo)
6. Ride to the Beat (feat. Sean Haefeli)
7. I was told (feat. Shabazz mystic & Kathrin Deboer)
8. Thinkin about (feat. Diane & 1773)
9. Got to rock pt2 (feat. Zion I)

VA - Found

Explorative bass music meets hypermodern techno and hypnotic dubstep explorations on Found, the latest V.A. from Of Paradise. A distinctly polished and highly immersive 8-track showcase of brand-new music, Found brings together a cluster of artists hell-bent on shaking up the underground.

Featuring pristine cuts from Gent1e $oul & Hiroma Keo, Jan Loup, Slolek, Pugilist, Silent Era, Mercy System, Destrata, and Tymotica, Found is a crushingly good example of artists thinking outside the box who are working with sounds that are both unique and dynamic. This is music that bubbles through the aether and then demands you sit up, listen, and take notice.

Tracklist:
1. Hiroma Keo & Gent1e Soul – Le Grand Bitoque
2. Jan Loup – Marée Basse
3. Slolek – Slip Of The Tongue
4. Pugilist – Sinkhole
5. Silent Era – Dark Energy
6. Mercy System – Vacuum
7. Destrata – Snap
8. Tymotica – Riptide

Thee Marloes - Perak

When you ­first hear Thee Marloes, their particular soul sound may seem familiar enough. There are the weighty drums, a crooning guitar, and a beautiful voice singing about unrequited love and the complications inherent in affairs of the heart. But then there is something undeniably different about Thee Marloes and their music, something new and distinct. And while you may be acquainted with soul music, you've probably never heard it from Surabaya, Indonesia the place they call home.

Thee Marloes are Natassya Sianturi singing and playing keys, Tommy Satwick on drums, and Sinatrya ("Raka") Dharaka on guitar and handling production. Their sound has the universal appeal of soul, jazz, and pop, but with a distinct approach attributable to their local culture and global influence. Regardless of any language barrier, the sentiment in their music is palpable, helping to make their songs relatable and heartfelt. The rest of Perak fi­ts perfectly in between those bookends of both energy and language, “I Know” is a mid-tempo burner that talks about pulling the veil of lies off a love affair founded on falsehood. “Not Today” is right up there with the grooviest feel good songs you could ever play on a Sunday morning with Natassya reminding us to make space for ourselves no matter what life throws our way. “Mungkin Saja” brings the tempo back up with another dance floor smoker while “True Love” fi­nds Thee Marloes dipping into the soulful side of jazz with a beat ballad that could soundtrack a Tarantino dance scene. “Over” starts out with a heavy drum break and evolves into an epic arrangement drenched in layers of gorgeous melodies capturing the havoc of a love affair that ends abruptly perfectly.

Tracklist:
1. I Know
2. Logika
3. Summer
4. Midnight Hotline
5. Beri Cinta Waktu
6. True Love
7. Mungkin Saja
8. Not Today
9. Over
10. No One Else
11. Nona
12. Thank You

Telemakus - Seven of Eight

A prelude EP to Telemakus' 'Eight Ring Revival' album, giving you the first 7 tracks of the forthcoming double LP full-length

"This album has been an incredible journey for me. It was very challenging to make most of this album without my hands. The full LP is a larger collection of songs than I’ve ever put out before but consists of music I made during that time. These first seven songs really started the project for me, and the process of learning how to create music with my disability. I’m grateful for EDS and learning how important creativity is to me, I don’t need hands, fingers, to make music . I realized I had my mind, community, (toes) and creativity to push myself. This EP is only the beginning, but it means a lot to me. I hope you enjoy it."

– Tele

Sometimes, on the other side of a break-through moment is a full-fledged breakdown just waiting to happen. For Californian producer/pianist, Telemakus, it was only a few short months after the initial success of his debut album 'The New Heritage' in late 2021 when he was told that he might never be able to play the piano again.

The budding Indo-Mauritian multi-talent had set out to make his mark with an ambitious new sound: one that revitalized the fast-playing excitement of peak 1970’s Jazz Fusion and re-imagined it through the modern day DIY techniques of home-recorded bedroom beats – all alchemized with a reverence for the past and ambitious plans for music’s future.

The record was quickly gaining steam upon release, with radio support coming from the likes of KCRW (Chris Douridas), BBC Radio 2 (Huey Morgan, Cerys Matthews), and Jazz FM, then going on catching the attention of coveted media outlets like The New York Times and NPR – and, perhaps most importantly to the lifelong music lover behind the artist, he’d even come to earn the approving co-sign of some of his heroes, such as Flying Lotus, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, and Butcher Brown.

Excited to build on this newfound acclaim, and poised to do so with a hard-drive perpetually full with countless demos and new ideas for his next album, all of that momentum came to a screeching halt all too suddenly, when soon after the album’s release, Tele sprained his wrists from over-exertion. What appeared at first to be a mostly minor injury, and temporary obstacle to his piano playing, would go on to become months of ensuing pain with a concerning lack of progress being made in his recovery. After countless tests, referrals, and specialists, the ambitious 22 year old with a promising future in music just outside his grasp, was given the life-changing diagnosis of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome – a genetic connective-tissue disorder that doctors warned could be a fatal threat to any career as a full-time musician.

Unable to use his hands for any extended period of time, thus unable to record new material for the foreseeable future, Telemakus was at a crossroads. While anticipation was growing for a sophomore effort from the promising new artist, his future had never looked so uncertain.

Persevering through the hard setbacks that his EDS brought with it, Tele was determined to carry on, and circled back on an earlier conversation with the indie label Fresh Selects to help devise a plan forward. Having recently completed a remix for their act, Sons Of The James, Tele knew that the label had a decidedly hands-on approach to their A&R work and project development, making them the right fit for the task at hand. Now having a discerning outside ear and surrogate set of my hands on board for the project, the pair began to comb through the troves of unreleased material recorded before his injuries. After sending each other various track selections, notes, and ideas back and forth, the album’s concept started to emerge: a narrative through-line that told the journey of everything Tele was currently going through.

As the bones of the album started to take shape, a rallying cry was sent out to some of Tele’s most trusted peers to help finish what he’d started. In a moving show of community, collaborators both old and new all came through to lend a hand where they could. Now playing along to his unfinished pieces were bassists Chino Corvalán (Radio Juicy) and CARRTOONS (recent NPR Tiny Desk star), drummers Raghav Mehrotra (‘School Of Rock’ on Broadway, NBC’s ‘Late Night with Seth Meyers’) and bobbyy (Bobby Granfelt of High Pulp), guitarist and vocoder innovator takoda (Minaret Records), prolific saxophonist/composer, Ted Taforo, and a slew of still to-be-announced special guests.

Thankfully, towards the end of an expansive two-year process recording the album, having now made it through the worst of his injuries, thanks to multiple medical procedures and a strict physical therapy regiment (all while finishing up his graduating year at UC Davis, no less) – Telemakus was able to again be (literally) hands-on with crafting his sophomore LP and seeing his vision through to the end.

The result of those efforts live in ‘Eight Ring Revival’ – a boldly dynamic sonic journey through the stages of diagnosis, therapy, recovery, and all that comes with it – expressed through virtuosic solos, beautiful chords and break-neck switches, laid over propulsive breakbeats and woofer-worthy basslines.

But, these things take time. And so, while Telemakus and Fresh Selects work on putting the last finishing touches on their ambitious endeavour, they’ve decided to let the rest of the world get a taste of what they’ve been cooking up. Here now to whet the appetites of the four-course meal to come is ‘Seven of Eight’ – an action-packed EP that shares the first 7 songs of the forthcoming double LP epic.

Rounded up here are the three singles that Tele has been piece-mealing his audience with throughout 2024 – the double-whammy beat combo “Fluttering,” forward-thinking prog-fusion workout “Future Overture,” and explosive funk of “The Love Bomb” – as well as four previously unreleased heavy-hitters. “Away Back” (heard here it’s more raw demo form, currently still being sharpened up for the full-length) suspensefully raises the curtain with a cinematic synth build before blasting things off into the stratosphere. The rip-roaring journey continues with the triumphant announcement of “The Return of Tele” – a proud reminder of our protagonist’s singular voice and signature playing style.

Perhaps most notable of the new work is “FYIB (Only Right)” – at least for its origin story. Defiantly made against doctors’ orders – recorded and programmed using just one hand (only [his] right), the titular acronym of “F*** You, I’m Back” marked one of the earliest resurgences in Tele’s playing ability, refusing to let his injuries hold him back any longer. You can feel the sheer, palpable joy in the recording as the re-inspired musician mischievously relishes in the brief refuge from his nearly two years of mandated time off.

Rounding out the final seventh of the 8RR saga’s first leg is “Sushi Funk” – a concise connective-tissue interlude that’s as raw and pungent as both halves of its namesake. These seven songs, meticulously crafted and thoroughly refined for maximum replayability until the full-length is ready, all serve as just the first arc of what will become the ‘Eight Ring Revival.’

Tracklist:
1. Away Back (Demo Mix) (feat. Chino Corvalán, Bobbyy, takoda)
2. The Return of Tele (feat. David James, Ted Taforo, Amarinder Singh)
3. FYIB (Only Right) (feat. Ted Taforo, Chino Corvalán, David James)
4. Fluttering
5. Sushi Funk (feat. Chino Corvalán)
6. Future Overture (feat. Ted Taforo, Chino Corvalán, Raghav Mehrotra)
7. The Love Bomb

DJ Muggs - Soul Assassins Instrumental Library, Vol. 1 & Vol. 2

Volume 1:
1. John Bena
2. Tiburones
3. Southern California
4. Death Wish
5. High Explosive
6. Resume
7. Olympic Stamps
8. E-Train
9. No Off Season

Volume 2:
1. What a Night
2. No Vacancy
3. Warning Shots
4. Queens Get the $$$
5. Shooting at the Dance Hall
6. Vega
7. Crazy Eddie's
8. Iron Fist
9. Kouign-Amman
10. Harvest

Sculpture - Max Ax

Sculpture’s new album Max Ax is the product of constant recombination of wildcard sonic and visual elements into new forms in performance. Catching a live AV set by the duo is to enter a maximal portal into their visionary aesthetic, as Sutherland's kaleidoscopic visual turntablism and Hayhurst's analogue/digital hybrid of electronic pop and experimental splatter combine in free associations and unstable reactions.

Max Ax is the capture of one possible frame in this ongoing sequence, but it is also Sculpture’s most direct and focused transmission yet.

Sculpture’s music may be compulsively metamorphic but a consistent intent and stylistic confidence connects these eleven compositions. Hayhurst’s signature junk pop gnarl is present, a chewed tape melodic sensibility holding the assembly together while surfing chaos. Tape loop psychedelia, overdriven techno, cassette deck melancholia and disintegrating chamber pop combine with a moire of varispeed electronics and percussion.

The resulting first thought best thought dynamism is sometimes ferocious, sometimes joyous, trashy ecstatic or strange, but always singular.

Sutherland's artwork playfully references recurrent motifs in the duo's work. The opaque corporate/ scientific department with its maze of abandoned zones visualises environment as pattern, threatening containment while inviting exploration. The visual language of product design and commercial exploitation is subverted in absurdist combinations of the organic and synthetic, banal and fantastic, geometric and cartoonish. Cryptic devices for calculation, summoning or nonsense are simultaneously futuristic and medieval. The facility has been compromised in some unknown event and strange code has broken through.

Max Ax marks a first collaboration between LTR Records and Psyché Tropes. Available on deluxe double gatefold 10” zoetrope disc and download. The album is available direct from LTR Records and Psyché Tropes, as well as from select record stores, online and via all streaming services.

Tracklist:
1. Max Ax
2. Blood Sharpie
3. REPO
4. Your Security Code
5. Cross Processor
6. Vent
7. I Entered into a Phase
8. Califonia
9. Chromophoria
10. Wave Scroll
11. End of Inquiry

Tomin - Flores para Verene / Cantos para Caramina

27-year-old Tomin Perea-Chamblee is a brass- and reed-centered multi-instrumentalist, the composer and arranger of pieces with excellently thorny harmonies, an at-times reluctant musicker and enthusiastic Brooklynite (born and raised, so his admiration primarily concerns the borough’s pre-gentralification qualities), who, by day works as a bioinformatician. If you're in New York, there’s an OK chance that you’ve heard him play before, with young (jazz-adjacent) bands and musicians of some renown. Flores para Verene / Cantos para Caramina introduces Tomin as an individual artist to the wider public, and is in many ways a tribute to family and heritage. It’s music grounded in clear purpose and a gravity seemingly beyond his youthfulness, yet coloured with unexpected hues, engaging a newness and hope that lies beyond tradition’s solemnity.

Tomin has been self-releasing the music compiled on Flores para Verene / Cantos para Caramina since 2020. Originally, these pieces were low-key exercises in personal expression, mini markers of intentional beauty. They were also a kind of culmination. By the time Tomin got around to recording them, he’d already been a high-school trombonist in the Jazz at Lincoln Center Youth Orchestra, and a many-hats-wearing horn player with Standing on the Corner, while studying at Columbia. Setting these sounds down on tape was just a matter of time and follow-through.

Flores para Verene (“Flowers for Verene”) brings together solo clarinet-and-trumpet versions of compositions by Tomin’s musical paragons — Mingus, Coltrane, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Albert Ayler, Eddie Gale, among others. They were recorded to honour his life’s great hero, his maternal grandmother, Virlenice Diaz Valencia, who’d passed away in late 2019 in her native Colombia. (Tomin’s liner notes express the love the two had for one another with an exceptional clarity.) These versions are miniatures—short-length, layered constructions offering little more than the song’s theme, in lo-fi recordings that embrace the click of the clarinet keys—yet full-hearted in their intimacy. As with all the best sounds, laughter and tears are on equal footing here.

On the album's Cantos para Caramina (“Songs for Caramina”) side, it’s Tomin’s own originals—dedicated to his older, very much living sister, Caramina—which rise to the fore. Horns are abandoned for the sine-waves of synths and electric keyboards. The longing of remembrance is replaced with the allure of a future yet to happen. The textured air is filled with melodic abstraction reminiscent of Erik Satie or Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou, or maybe even Ra at his solo and sanguine. In 2021, as hope came into view, Tomin wanted to honour Caramina by creating something new. And this quartet of (equally) small-scaled compositions dance like a gathering of angels on the head of a pin. None too fancy, but eminently breathable. The kind of thing that insists, “There is more to this world.”

- Piotr Orlov

Tracklist:
1. Father and Son (for Cal Massey)
2. Come Sunday, Bass (for Ellington and Dolphy)
3. The Inflated Tear, v1 (for Rahsaan Roland Kirk)
4. Fire Waltz (for Waldron, Dolphy and Little)
5. Desert Fairy Princess (for Sharps, Sebastian and P.A.P.A.)
6. Fables of Faubus (for Mingus and Richmond)
7. Aquarius (for J.J. Johnson)
8. Warm Canto (for Waldron and Dolphy)
9. The Inflated Tear, v2 (for Rahsaan Roland Kirk)
10. Come Sunday, Soprano (for Ellington and Dolphy)
11. Assunta (for Cal Massey)
12. Father and Son (for Cal Massey) [Alt. Take]
13. Spirits Rejoice (for Albert Ayler)
14. Ogún Bára
15. Angela's Angel
16. Naima
17. The Prayer
18. Rahsaan Is Beautiful
19. A Walk with Thee
20. Humility in the Light of the Creator
21. Love
22. Life
23. Love (Alternate Take)
24. Life Revisited