Category: Music archive

  • Run Away (Eric Lau & Kaidi Tatham Remix) – Moonchild

    Run Away (Eric Lau & Kaidi Tatham Remix) – Moonchild

    Stripped down interpretation of some refined LA neo soul Back in 2012 this Los Angeles-based trio released their debut album Be Free to zero fanfare. No one knew who they were. A year later DJ Jazzy Jeff and James Poyser remixed the album’s title track. Off the back of that fine reworking, an overlooked LP […]

  • Murmuration album – The Expansions

    Murmuration album – The Expansions

    Sumptuous jazz-funk and kindred grooves by busy UK outfit Jazz funk, which originated in the ’70s, never really died it just laid low. The genre’s most obvious reincarnation was Acid jazz in the ’80s, then came ’90s broken beats and, most recently, it’s been revived in the work of Yussef Kamaal and the 22a label. […]

  • A Humdrum Star album – GoGo Penguin

    A Humdrum Star album – GoGo Penguin

    Jazz with a contemporary twist from the second Blue Note album by the Manchester-based trio The fractured beats of drummer Rob Turner in the above video Bardo hints at what makes this UK trio so appealing. On the surface GoGo Penguin sounds like a traditional jazz outfit, but dig a little deeper and it’s clear […]

  • Brixton Baby video – Ty

    Brixton Baby video – Ty

    From the UK rapper’s A Work of Heart LP comes a song exploring a phenomenon that’s uprooting scores of communities This video is about the gentrification of Brixton, although Ty could just as easily have been rapping about Brooklyn, New York or East Palo Alto, California. Those areas, like the south London enclave, have witnessed […]

  • 8R1CK C17Y album – Tenderlonious and Dennis Ayler

    8R1CK C17Y album – Tenderlonious and Dennis Ayler

    Understated south London label releases a fine LP of jazz funk and fusion Yussef Kamaal’s debut LP, Black Focus, was so well received in 2016 that it’s surprising the pair disbanded. That leaves a gaping void for their modern take on jazz funk and fusion that proved so popular. Enter south London label 22a, which […]

  • Simmering & The Long Climb In The Sun EP – Tatham, Mensah, Lord & Ranks

    Simmering & The Long Climb In The Sun EP – Tatham, Mensah, Lord & Ranks

    Jazzy boogie courtesy of a quartet well-practised in crafting a groove Kaidi Tatham, Dego, Matt Lord and Akwasi Mensah release a 12″ that will no doubt have sold out by the time you’ve read this. Their music is popular. Downloads are, of course, still available. On both Simmering and The Long Climb In The Sun, […]

  • It’s Time album – Thee Gobbs

    It’s Time album – Thee Gobbs

    Summery soulful house by a South African producer who cut his teeth as a sound engineer To coincide with summertime in the northern hemisphere and the long 4th July weekend in the States, the Atjazz label has released It’s Time, the debut album by Manqoba Sishi, aka Thee Gobbs. The former sound engineer at South […]

  • Phantom Of The Oberheim & Broken Beat (Kaidi Tatham remixes) – Resolution 88

    Phantom Of The Oberheim & Broken Beat (Kaidi Tatham remixes) – Resolution 88

    Two broken beat remixes, one of which is free, by a frequent Dego collaborator and ex-4hero keyboardist To promote the Japanese release of Resolution 88’s Afterglow album, AMSA Records is generously giving away a free download of Kaidi Tatham’s remix of Phantom Of The Oberheim. The raw material for Mr Tatham’s reworking is pretty damn […]

  • Summertime Chi. album review – Micki Miller

    Summertime Chi. album review – Micki Miller

    Overlooked LP for musos who like their neo soul sprinkled with jazzy, left-field harmonies Outside of a clique of musicians such as Mark de Clive-Lowe and K15, few have heard of Indiana-based keyboardist Tarrah ‘Micki’ Miller. And that’s a criminal oversight. Her 2016 album Summertime Chi. is one of the best neo soul LPs of […]

  • Brownswood 10 album – various artists

    Brownswood 10 album – various artists

    Jazz, neo soul and electronica collide on this compilation celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the Brownswood label Back in 2006, Gilles Peterson launched the Brownswood label. By this point in his career the London-based DJ was wise to the ways of the music biz: he’d already worked with recording behemoth Phonogram via his Talkin’ Loud […]