Category: Music

  • 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 […]

  • Bugz In The Attic live in Stockholm – free music download

    Bugz In The Attic live in Stockholm – free music download

    Exuberant performance by a broken beat collective that included Kaidi Tatham, Daz-I-Ku and Mark Force Back in the early noughties broken beat collective Bugz In The Attic were, to use the parlance of their west London base, “runnin’ t’ings”. They had a record deal with Virgin and were in demand, particularly for remixes. A glance […]

  • 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 […]

  • Worth the Wait (Mark de Clive-Lowe remix) – Nils Wülker

    Worth the Wait (Mark de Clive-Lowe remix) – Nils Wülker

    Jazz trumpeter’s low-key ballad gets an uptempo overhaul Outside dedicated jazz circles, Nils Wülker isn’t particularly well known. However, this remix of the German trumpeter’s track might change that. Keyboardist Mark de Clive-Lowe, who’s worked with such talented folk as Omar and Bémbé Ségué, is on remix duties giving the balladry original an uptempo overhaul. […]