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The first-time teaming of Poland’s dynamic Marcin Wasilewski Trio and big-toned US tenorist Joe Lovano brings forth special music of concentrated, deep feeling, in which lyricism and strength seem ideally balanced. The alliance plays four new tunes by Marcin and one by Joe, as well as Carla Bley’s classic “Vashkar” (in two variations), plus collective improvisations with strong input from all four players;  Slawomir Kurkiewicz’s bass skills are particularly well-deployed in the spontaneous piece “Arco”. Joe will be joining the Polish trio for a number of selected concerts in the autumn. Arctic Riff was recorded at France’s Studio La Buissonne in August 2019, and produced by Manfred Eicher. - ECM

After critically-acclaimed ECM recordings with the Maciej Obara Quartet (Unloved, Three Crowns), Polish pianist Dominik Wania delivers a solo album recorded in November 2019 in Lugano. Wania’s sensitivity to touch, tone and texture is informed by his classical background. But he also has the in-the-moment instincts of a great improviser, acutely focused on the unfolding details of the music in the responsive interior of the Auditorio Stelio Molo studio. The balancing of influences from both disciplines makes Dominik Wania one of the most distinctive players of his generation. Lonely Shadows is a testimony to his creative originality as well as a significant addition to ECM’s celebrated line of solo piano recordings. Produced by Manfred Eicher. - ECM

The legendary original soundtrack to Cowboy Bebop is finally available on vinyl!

The Bebop crew is just trying to make a buck. This motley lot of intergalactic loners teams up to track down fugitives and turn them in for cold hard cash. Spike is a hero whose cool façade hides a dark and deadly past. The pilot Jet is a bruiser of a brute who can’t wait to collect the next bounty. Faye Valentine is a femme fatale prone to breaking hearts and separating fools from their money. Along for the ride are the brilliant, but weird, hacker Ed and a super-genius Welsh Corgi named Ein. On their own, any one of them is likely to get lost in the sprawl of space, but together, they’re the most entertaining gang of bounty hunters in the year 2071.

Composed and performed by Yoko Kanno and the band SEATBELTS, the music of Cowboy Bebop is one of the signature elements of the series. The energetic jazz-infused pieces rip and roar across the stars and are as indispensable as the crew of the Bebop themselves. - Light In The Attic

Never colonized, Thailand has remained purely itself across the years even while developing, evolving and selectively adopting international influences; the same can be said of Thai popular music, and can be clearly heard in previous releases of Thai music on EM Records.

Juu, a Thai talent who represents Asia and locals from the opposite direction of 88rising, and therefore creates completely fresh music that is globally accepted. Is it Captain Beefheart who got the auto tune? Is it a drake on a buffalo? 1st full album "New Luk Thung" is released.

This is Juu's first full-length album, which was completed in about two years after the talents and OMK members collaborated with each other and started co-producing with the lead of Stillichimiya / OMK's Young-G. Most of the tracks are in Young-G's hands, and the sound is also full of ambitions that reflect OMK's attitude. Thai instruments such as chin, cowbell, cane, and pin are used everywhere, but never used for exotic seasoning. In order to inject the original beats and grooves in Thailand, they are inevitably incorporated. And what oozes out in the mellow song is the flow (singing heart) that is similar to Luk Thung and Japanese enka. They create an indescribable "new song feeling" through Juu's background HIPHOP and reggae. - Em Records

How can we explain the power of music? How can songs delivered in a language which we don't understand move us so? This collection contains the very best songs from Hongthong Dao-udon, one of the great Thai singers of the "third generation" of Molam singers, one of the artists who succeeded in fusing Molam with Luk Thung, thus triggering a new generation of singers; in fact she was the first to sing both genres from the beginning of her career, considering herself to be situated happily between the two styles. But none of this matters, finally, to the listener. This is music, not musicology, and Hongthong Dao-udon sings to us, not the pedants. Her career was brief, and these songs from the late 70s and early 80s are her very best, showcasing her rich vibrato, her masterful control, and the undeniable emotional power of her voice, carrying us from joy and whimsy to melancholy and desolation. Produced mainly by Doi Inthanon, a legendary independent producer, these songs were very popular in Thailand, and it is easy to hear why, with strong melodies, impeccable swing, interesting arrangements, and of course her thrilling voice. Available on CD and vinyl, with two songs previously unavailable on CD, as well as her first recording and her biggest hits, this is essential.

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What is “luk thung”?

A musical genre whose name means ‘country person’s song’ or ‘children of the field’. The name became established in the latter half of the 1960s and now has the status of a national genre of popular song unique to Thailand. The lyrics of luk thung songs deal mainly with the rural idyll, comparisons between the city and the countryside, life in the big city and current affairs. There are certain typical traits to the music, but no official musical form.

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What is “Molam”?

"mo" is an artist and "lam" is a kind of performance art where the artist tells a story using tonal inflexions. In other words, the term molam refers to both the singer and art form. Molam pieces are not strictly speaking "songs". – EM Records - Bandcamp

"Many miss the mark with this kind of thing, but Naoito succeeds by running afro beat, spiritual jazz, and soul-funk through the lens of modern beat production - all executed with the lightest of touches. So sick!" - Light In The Attic

Former member of the Kingdom Afrocks band and one of the most talented artists of today’s Japanese music scene, drummer and multi-instrumentalist Naoito creates with “dotA” an explosive and unique mix of spiritual jazz and afro flavors. Sung in Japanese and English and bringing the very best musicians of Tokyo’s underground scene, “dotA” is released in Japan on the legendary Jazzy Sport imprint. 180g is proud to bring to the international audience this essential album of contemporary grooves straight from the far-east!

Manufactured and distributed by 180g under exclusive license from Jazzy Sport, Tokyo, Japan. – Bandcamp

Hot on the heels of ‘Mordechai’, the critically acclaimed third album from US psych-rockers Khruangbin, the Texas trio are set to become the latest act to present their own LateNightTales in the popular, long-running musician-curated album series.

Having first come to prominence in 2013 when producer and D.J. Bonobo included Khruangbin’s ‘A Calf Born in Winter’ in his own collection of songs for the series, the little known Houston trio had yet to release an album, but have since gone on to become international superstars forming their own exotic, individual sound. “The LateNightTales series is such a special thing to be a part of because we wouldn’t have made it if it wasn’t for Bonobo’s LateNightTales, because that’s how we got into the LNT family – and got a break.”

With a mind-blowing selection of tracks that cross borders and cultures, Khruangbin’s deep love of global grooves – from Asian pop to Nigerian reggae – Japanese mellow groove to Latina flavas – are steeped in eclecticism; Nazia Hassan’s Hindi-disco ‘Khushi’, produced by British-Indian legend Biddu, South Korean rock band Sanullim who contribute ‘Don’t Go’, a pair of African bangers from Nigerian Maxwell Udoh and Roha Band, from Ethiopia; a diversion to Belarus for Песняры and thence to Madrid for the strident vocal performance of Paloma San Basilio with ‘Contigo’ before hightailing back to Texas.

The LateNightTales series was established back in 2001 with Fila Brazilia taking to the controls and mixing up the first of what would continue to be the first choice of music connoisseurs worldwide. Since then, the series has seen releases from the likes of The Flaming Lips, Hot Chip, Floating Points, David Holmes, Bonobo, Jon Hopkins, Röyksopp and many more. - On Bandcamp

The Japanese trumpeter’s dense and cosmic sixth album blends jazz with Afrobeat, hip-hop, neo-soul, and funk.

akuya Kuroda hails from Kobe, Japan, a nation that to a dedicated strand of Western jazz obsessive serves as a sacred tomb of rare riches. You can place the trumpeter next to 20th-century Japanese virtuosos such as Toshiko Akiyoshi, Masabumi Kikuchi, Ryo Fukui, and Koichi Matsukaze, and he looks extremely comfortable in the lineage: All respected the core tenets of jazz while offering their own unique interpretations. Kuroda, after all, is a guy who has name-dropped Lee Morgan as an inspiration while playing in DJ Premier’s touring outfit, the Badder band.

Having relocated to New York to study jazz and contemporary music at The New School in the mid-2000s, Kuroda has since traversed the city as a recording artist—he notably spent some time on Blue Note Records—and musician for hire. Sixth album Fly Moon Die Soon is the work of a man who has undertaken his own musical Gulliver’s Travels. The album’s nine cuts are united by Kuroda’s determination to branch out from jazz and into hip-hop, funk, Afrobeat, electronica, and neo soul. But Kuroda isn’t simply quoting corners of his own record collection; he skillfully synthesizes his influences, hitting sweet spots that feel purely of his own creation.

Most apparent is the music of 1970s West Africa (Kuroda has previously collaborated with a group of similar interest in New York’s Akoya Afrobeat). The horns, guitar stabs, and rattling percussion of “ABC” gesture heavily toward Fela Kuti, while the driving rhythms of “Moody” recalls 1970s Afro-funk bands like the Funkees and Monomono. The brass instruments throughout Fly Moon Die Soon are often used to deploy catchy riffs, Kuroda’s trumpet frequently amalgamating with Corey King’s trombone. The title track shows a more experimental side, with programmed beats and a Moog bassline that swirls like a Thundercat jam. It’s the kind of dense and cosmic jazz hybrid that would blow minds over at Brainfeeder. - Pitchfork

Favorite Recordings and Charles Maurice proudly present the 4th edition of the AOR Global Sounds compilations series: 14 rare and hidden tracks, produced between 1977 and 1986 in various parts of the world. Started in 2015, the AOR Global Sounds series was born from the will of Charles Maurice (aka Pascal Rioux) to share his longtime love for the AOR and WestCoast movement and highlight its influence for many artists in the late 70s and early 80s. In this 4th volume, he selected again highly forgotten productions, deeply infused with Disco and Soul flavours.

Half of the compilation’s tracklist is naturally coming from the US, homeland of this music style, but the other half is made of productions from all over the globe, from France, Belgium, Italy, to Mexico. And for most of these beautiful songs, it came from artists and bands rather unknown and often released as private press. – Favourite Recordings

Leeward opens with "Dawn" a long and slow piece led by a Fender Rhodes played in flanger mode, on which Mabumi Yamaguchi expresses a certain melancholy, which we also find on “Dewdrop”, a duet piece with Ichiro Doi at the piano. The rhythm picks up on "Distant thunder", a kind of jazz-funk samba in which Mabumi Yamaguchi lets each of his musicians take a long chorus before ending by taking up the haunting theme of this superb piece. The beautiful "Leeward" closes the album in a slightly more traditional but equally mastered style. It is not known if the cover of this album contributed to its lack of success when it was released, but it is almost impossible today to find an original pressing of this record.

A reissue was therefore more than necessary! – Le Très Jazz Club

The official Mr Bongo reissue! 

A1. Eu Hoje Acordei Com A Luz Do Sol 2:50 / A2. Salamandras 4:44 / A3. Preludio Em Si Bemol Menor 1:50 / A4. Viver 3:15 / A5. Só 3:53 / A6. Sem Nome 3:35 // B1. Primitivo 5:40 / B2. Irracional 3:12 / B3. Papa-Mama 4:27 / B4. Imagem 3:12 / B5. Yélris 1:35

Brazilian arranger and composer Hareton Salvanini was born in Bauru and grew up in Campinas. S.P 73 is his first LP – he worked tirelessly with his right man and brother, Ayrton, was a theatre director. The 'Hareton + Meta' EP was written and recorded for one of Ayrton’s productions – Hareton wrote the music, Ayrton the lyrics – which was given out at performances. – Mr Bongo

First ever official vinyl reissue from the original master tapes!

Some albums are certainly a kind of holy grail for music lovers and collectors of a certain genre, style and era. FAR OUT with their eponymous debut and unfortunately also farewell album from 1973 have created such a sacred gem. Original copies in good condition change hands for up to 2000 USD and there are certainly a few not so official reprints on vinyl and CD out on the market which do not even come close to do justice to the greatness of the old original black gold. But here we go with the first ever official vinyl reissue taken directly from the original mastertapes supplied by Nippon Columbia.

This is the real thing for those who still miss the melodies and atmosphere of the late 60s and very early 70s when people had a dream of a peaceful world and who enjoy early German cosmic kraut rock like AMON DÜÜL II, ORGANISATION (later to become KRAFTWERK), the debut album by TANGERINE DREAM and more obscure stuff but also international bands like PINK FLOYD, GONG, TWINK and HAWKWIND just as an East Asian version. A real gem and finally available with the real sound and package again. – Everland Psych

The self-titled debut by the duo Jaime & Nair is a revelation of all sorts. Released in 1974 on CID under the influence of albums like “Clube Da Esquina” it is an expressive album full of charm through a gesture of swing. It shows an overall dreamy lullaby vibe with subtle touches of Brazilian folk and features well-known artists such as Wilson Das Neves, Orlandivo or José Roberto Bertrami as studio musicians.

The outstanding and largely hailed song ‘Sob O Mar’ brings us back to a pure Brazilian soft-bossanova-beat adorned by luscious orchestral arrangements. It became a popular DJ tune for those in the know after being comped in the fantastic “High Jazz” series in the early 2000s, gaining this album grail status among collectors worldwide. – Vampi Soul

Golden-era, 1977, Brazilian jazz-funk album from the legendary Azymuth. Lush Rhodes, soaring synths and fusion guitars combine with the inimitable drum grooves from Ivan Conti that create the signature Azymuth sound. The album moves from mellow soulful moods, into screaming disco-jazz-funk, samba funk, synth boogie and ends with a tough Batucada workout.

It all began in 2017 when High Pulp emerged from a weekly “Funk Church” jam session at Seattle’s historic jazz club The Royal Room. It was here that High Pulp’s founding members discovered one another. An inexplicable force pulled the collective together to produce the high-octane jazz, funk, hip-hop, punk, psychedelic cocktail that soon became their signature sound.

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In 2019, High Pulp’s orbit collided with three well-known Seattle-based R&B/soul artists - JusMoni, Falon Sierra, and Shaina Shepherd (BEARAXE) - bringing vocalists into High Pulp’s extended musical family for the first time. Each of these artists joined in writing and recording a track with High Pulp, and together the three tracks formulate the Light Fix EP (released Fall 2019).

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Now, the story continues with UK-based label KingUnderground, who released High Pulp's debut full-length Bad Juice on deluxe 2xLP vinyl (Fall 2020) and who is also releasing Mutual Attraction.

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Mutual Attraction is a trilogy of trilogies where each track is a cover performance intended to honor the original composition while also electrifying it true High Pulp style. In the way that music is a grand tapestry of past, present, and future threads woven together, the Mutual Attraction series explores what happens when an artist meditates deeply on the threads of their musical upbringing and reweaves them into the musical present, repeatedly asking the question: “What if?” – High Pulp

‘Ceremonial’ is the second full album from Anchorsong – AKA Tokyo-born, London-based electronic artist Masaaki Yoshida. The LP continues the progression of 2014’s “Mawa” EP (BBE), on which this ever-curious musician began to blend the minimalist, catchy melodic phrasing and unique beats of his acclaimed debut album ‘Chapters’ (2011) with a newfound love for vintage African music. Influences from Orchestre Poly-Rythmo to Fela Kuti-style Afrobeat to High Life now hold sway, while he retains the crisp production sensibility and immersive arrangements that set him apart and have seen him supported by the likes of Huw Stephens, Gilles Peterson and Q Magazine.

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“I came across The Vodoun Effect by Orchestre Poly-Rythmo at my local record shop”, recalls Yoshida, of the moment that sparked this new direction; “It had a profound effect on me, and I began to dig deeper into ‘70s African music. Everything sounded fresh to me, and I felt a need to make music reflecting these inspirations.” The album title and the striking cover image, of an African tribesman in ceremonial attire, nod to the importance of these influences; “This record wouldn’t exist without this music, or its feeling of celebration. One of my favourite things about African music is its cheerful and uplifting feeling. I think about how their lives must not have been easy, but it still sounds like they’re celebrating their everyday life.”

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Yoshida has always infused his work with a sense of ceremony and occasion; with his Anchorsong project he made it his goal to bring to the world of live electronic music the feeling of excitement, warmth and human connection experienced in his previous incarnation as a guitarist in a rock band. An early adopter of the practice of creating electronic music completely live in front of the audience, using a sampler (MPC2500) and a keyboard (also sometimes incorporating a string quartet for a truly spellbinding experience), he gained a strong online following with more than 400,000 YouTube views for his performances. Having built on this via sets for Boiler Room, he has also just filmed several videos at RedBull’s Tokyo studios, to be launched soon. Since leaving Japan in 2007 to ensconce himself in London’s electronic scene, Anchorsong has become a global live act with regular headline shows, support for Bonobo, DJ Krush, Daedelus, Gonjasufi and Jaga Jazzist, and sets at prestigious venues including London’s Roundhouse and Queen Elizabeth Hall. – Bandcamp

Otis Redding says these words just before launching into “Respect” on April 8, 1966, wrapping up the first of seven sets he’d play over the course of three days at Los Angeles’ Whisky A Go Go. A few songs earlier, he first informed the crowd that they were recording the concert with plans of releasing it as an album, playing the newly-written “Good to Me” for the second time in nine songs simply because it was the single and they needed to get it right. For his ’66 stint at the Whisky A Go Go, he was backed by his road band, the Otis Redding Revue—a ten-piece group similar to the bands who supported him whenever he toured the south. This is the residency that is captured in its entirety on Stax’s six-disc box Live at the Whisky A Go Go: the Complete Recordings.

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Redding’s residency was a deliberate attempt on the part of the singer and his management to move him out of the Chitlin Circuit and into the mainstream. The idea wasn’t to have Otis record pop music, but rather bring his act straight to the rock audience. So they set up shop right on the Sunset Strip, home to such hip rock‘n’rollers as the Byrds, Love, the Turtles and the Doors, figuring there was no better place to introduce Redding to a white audience.

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Otis managed that crossover but not at the Whisky. It happened later at the Monterey International Pop Festival in ’67—backed then by Stax/Volt house band Booker T. & the M.G.’s—because he benefitted from the festival setting. In the open air, excitement spreads like fire. Indoors there is a different dynamic, particularly if it’s a crowd confronted with something they’ve never seen before, which was certainly the case of the Los Angelinos that headed to the Whisky to see Otis Redding that April weekend in 1966.

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Once Otis hit the stage on April 8, the applause was polite but not enthusiastic. He had to work to win that crowd, which he does by the end of the set, by which point they’re cheering “Respect.” At that point, Redding wasn’t unknown, particularly in R&B quarters—he had three Billboard R&B Top 10s, with a fourth soon to follow—but such gutbucket soul shows simply weren’t played in mainstream rock venues like the Whisky A Go Go.

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That alone made the three nights at the Whisky a step forward from Redding, who was hungry to become a star on his own terms. But the concerts alone weren’t the main thing: These shows were designed to be the primary source for an album, one that could capture the raw power of Redding on wax and hopefully bring in a wider audience. Throughout the seven full sets captured on Live at the Whisky A Go Go: the Complete Recordings—a box that doubles Stax’s 2010 set Live on the Sunset Strip, which contains about half of the sets from that April ’66 stint—Redding reminds the audience they’re cutting a record and, in a way, the sets are structured as recording sessions. Over the course of the seven shows, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” is played no fewer than *ten *times, a sure sign that Redding wanted to be sure he nailed this song for the album. A few other songs appear nearly that often (“I Can’t Turn You Loose,” “Good to Me”) but he also made sure to play almost every song he and his Revue knew, throwing in covers of James Brown’s “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” and the Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night” along the way—anything that could snag new listeners. – Pitchfork

The story of Bradley's remarkable rise from the depths of poverty, neglect and violence to the heights of international celebrity has been told many times. His tough times were well documented in autobiographical songs like “Why Is It So Hard” and “Heartaches & Pain”—which tells the story of waking up to the ringing of gunshots and sirens on the day his brother Joseph was murdered—and in Charles Bradley: Soul of America, Poull Brien’s 2012 documentary following Charles in the days leading to the release of this breakthrough first album No Time For Dreaming.

A debut album from a 62-year old was unheard of and its reception from music fans and media alike was rapturous. It was an enigmatic record–Bradley's soulful moans, screams and passion dripping freshly over the ethereally timeless funk of Menahan Street Band. By the time they made it down to South by Southwest a few months later, fans were lining up to get in to see him. The album would go on to be named one of Rolling Stone's Top Fifty Albums of 2011 among other accolades. – Daptone Records

The beauty of creation isn't entirely sweet. Think of Igor Stravinsky's dynamic and dissonant Rite of Spring, which was so extreme in its time it caused a riot at its 1913 premiere. As the score to the "origins of the world" sequence in Walt Disney's animated feature Fantasia, the bold and mind-boggling music was set to volcanic eruptions, dinosaur battles, and oceanic waters flooding away the detritus of mass extinction. Elements of darkness go hand in hand with discovery and rebirth.

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Drone titans Sunn O))) subscribe to this mindset, too, or at least that's what their brightly textured eighth record, Life Metal, would imply. Recorded with Steve Albini at Electrical Audio in Chicago (along with a more meditative sister album, Pyroclasts, which will be released later this year), the album is as slow, heavy and massive as anything the band has ever put out, but this time around each track radiates a warmth and majesty filtered through a prism of intense, stratosphere-scaling sound. It's a striking change of pace, even for a group whose previous material has run a sweeping conceptual and emotional gamut, exploring everything from the bleakest underbellies of society (2005's Black One) to a Buddhist deity of mercy (2015's Kannon).

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For founders, guitarists Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley, the comparatively uplifting vibes of the new album are a reflection of their friendship and musical partnership that's now in its third decade, and their general sense of contentment in their personal and creative lives. "The recording session [for Life Metal] was kind of a 20th anniversary gift to ourselves," Anderson tells NPR. "You know, 'We've made it, we're still alive, we're still together as a group, and we're really enjoying it, so let's celebrate.'" – NPR

A waltz about the working class, a jazz riff on a trumpet to accompany the story of a war photographer who killed himself, Sylvia Plath at the disco and a harp-assisted stark account of a caged, mistreated animal. Yes, this was the ‘commercial’ smash that elevated Manic Street Preachers to populist heights. While ‘Everything Must Go’ might have room to breathe musically, it was hardly the light to the shade of its predecessor, ‘The Holy Bible’, that popular mythology has forever decreed. It arrived at the perfect time, with guitar music virtually unassailable around the top of the charts and, by bringing on board Siouxsie and Associates producer Mike Hedges who had recently worked his magic on McAlmont & Butler’s ‘Yes’, the band had carved out a sound that would be embraced by those far beyond their usual circle. - Clash Music

1981 was a groundbreaking year for the music industry. By releasing BGM and Technodelic in one year, YMO made a shift happen in Pop music. YMO introduced a new way of using samples and loops by cutting sound bites into fragments and reprogramming them with newly available computer technology.

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Technodelic is far more experimental than previous albums, and at the same time their 5th album is more minimalistic and full of Funk and Soul. YMO remained remarkably adept at inventing new ways of looking at compositions and creating a whole new music scene at the same time: Dance. – Music On Vinyl

Restored artwork + Obi Strip

First ever vinyl reissue of this French free jazz nugget from Sahib Shihab & Jef Gilson Unit

Remastered from the master tapes.

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Paris, February 1972. A few months after having released Le Massacre du Printemps, Jef Gilson was back behind his keyboards for a completely different experience. Heading up his Unit, he was joined by Sahib Shihab, expartner to Gillespie, Monk and Coltrane, for a brief stroll in the desert. For three-quarters of an hour, the caravan passes by, evoking, one after the other, Pharoah Sanders and Alice Coltrane, Pierre Henry and Karlheinz Stockhausen… Oh yes, and one other thing, we forgot to mention that Shihab’s saxophone is… amplified.

La marche dans le désert, (The Walk in the Desert) is first and foremost the meeting of two iconoclastic musicians: Jef Gilson, pianist who tried his hand in all forms of jazz (bebop, choral, modal, free, fusion…) collaborating with emblematic American musicians (Walter Davis Jr., Woody Shaw, Nathan Davis…) or French musicians who were on their way to becoming so (Jean-Luc Ponty, Bernard Lubat, Michel Portal, Henri Texier…), and Sahib Shihab… Shihab is one of the many black American jazzmen who found refuge in Europe.

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After having played in the bands of Fletcher Henderson and Roy Eldridge, the saxophonist worked with Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Art Blakey and Tadd Dameron. He came to the old continent with the Quincy Jones orchestra, spent a few years in Copenhagen, returned to Los Angeles, then came back to Europe. When he met Jef Gilson, in February 1972, the saxophonist was happily touring with the Clarke-Boland Big Band.

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La marche dans le désert, is therefore the opportunity for this supporting player to show what he was capable of. And it was some opportunity: with Gilson and his Unit (Pierre Moret on keyboards and Jean-Claude Pourtier on drums, with whom the pianist had just recorded Le massacre du printemps, but also with Jef Catoire on double bass, and Bruno Di Gioia and Maurice Bouhana on flute and percussion respectively), Shihab got maximum exposure.

To mark the occasion, he put aside his baritone saxophone to play a soprano… varitone. The amplified instrument, while losing nothing of its natural sound, was capable of generating the same presence as Gilson’s electronic keyboards. And it would change the face of modal jazz: in a forest of percussion, Shihab and Gilson go on a sensual walkabout that will remain with listeners for long after. Between the two takes of Mirage, Shihab, this time on baritone again, takes up the mantle once more of a style of jazz he was unable to strictly define: “For me there is only one type of music: good”. Let’s make one thing clear from the outset: La marche dans le désert, is definitely good.

After advising the listener to turn off the lights, unplug the phone and essentially lose themselves within the context of the music, the album settles into a series of warm analog grooves that touch on psychedelia, funk, soul and sound library recordings that harken back to an age nearly a half century now gone. It’s a warm, wholly immersive listening experience that calls to mind hazy, warm summer afternoons when the world was a much different place. “Little Bird” kicks the record into high gear with its vaguely Latin groove and swirling atmospherics that slowly mutate into a unison line melody, the bass doubling the guitar and horns before ceding control to the vocals. There’s a hypnotic quality that begins to settle in right about this point, one which lasts the remainder of the album, each track flowing into the next with a fluid ease. – Spectrum Culture

Mixing creole poetry, heavy-grooving cosmic synths and folk mysticism.

Martinique artist Gratien Midonet is the subject of a new compilation from Time Capsule, called A Cosmic Poet from Martinique 1979 – 1989.

A Cosmic Poet from Martinique 1979 – 1989 collects thirteen tracks taken from Midonet’s first four albums, which were recorded between 1979-1989.

“Midonet’s musical world is cosmic, mystical and he has created his own idiosyncratic style around it: not plain folk, not bélé, chouval bwa, beguine or gwoka, but rather a transcendental fusion of all these and a true reflection of his personality,” explains curator Cedric Lassonde in the liner notes.

This music was influenced by “smells and colours… subliminal noises… fruity notes, the memories of funeral wakes, the bombastic organ of the cathedral and the gasps of the drums…” from his childhood in Martinique, shares Midonet. – The Vinyl Factory

On their 2nd live album, recorded during their 83-84 World Tour and released in 1984, again YMO succeeded in producing a live album with incredible audio quality.

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Vibrant, lively, energetic and infectious as ever, the crowds can't seem to get enough. Listen to this live album and you will want to go back in time to experience the brilliance yourself. – Music On Vinyl

A polished, wide-ranging work in its own right, Oil run’s the gamut from moments of lush, meditative sound design, to banging mutant-Bruk and flailing percussive dancefloor cuts. Kicking off with restless ambient excursion ‘Jawahar Park’, into the deep, evolving dancefloor affair with title track ‘Oil’, and rounding out with the shimmering slo-mo house of ‘Flora Waves’, the first side of the record showcases Dampé’s sonic range and his unique approach to forging new sounds. On the flip side, ‘Awning Slapper’ is the EP’s certified party starter led by distorted bass and accented with fleeting chords and percussion, while ‘Manzana’ brings us on a rhythmic excursion built on saturated found sounds and some made-for-the-Adriatic euphoric synth lines. Also featured on the record is a remix from Canadian producer Teo Mattress, putting his signature dreamy Vancouver-house spin on ‘Jawahar Park’. Despite travelling through a number of diverse auditory peaks and valleys, Oil oozes consistency and polish from front to back – a solid spin at home or in the club. - Darker Than Wax

The timbre, amplitude, frequency, and duration of every note on Spirit of Eden tell a great, sad story of pop music, a war of art and commerce that birthed a new genre in its wake. Its breadth and scope are intimidatingly large: Silence is as important as tone, stasis is as important as movement. Inky chord progressions resolve into mystery, and lyrics leave only afterimages. The emptiness of its first two minutes allows you to adjust to the dim light of an album recorded in almost complete darkness. Then it just glows.

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Never once do these six songs reveal the thought or labor that went into them, never once is there too much or too little. One moment (a muted trumpet, for instance) is always placed exactly where it should be alongside another (feedback from a blues harmonica), thousands of hours of tape painstakingly laced together as part of the vision and spiritual largesse of its composers, singer-songwriter Mark Hollis and co-writer/producer Tim Friese-Greene. It is a deep blue book of sound, humid with melancholy. Rare is rock music this simple made with such toil and unbearable emotion that there’s no better way to classify Spirit of Eden than by the elemental virtue of its sound, the very first thing of all music.

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If only Talk Talk’s record label felt the same way. What if the massive EMI corporation had known that when Talk Talk delivered the masters to Spirit of Eden in the spring of 1988, the record would be a once and future marvel of pop music, the nexus into which jazz and minimalism poured and out of which a new post-rock flowed. - Pitchfork