Musical selections and ramblings
Music zine creater, label runner, radio host and all round nice guy Anand Patel aka Rawtrachs has a new album out you should check. The album’s full of dancefloor gear all of it produced with a gritty, lo-fi, DIY mentality. There’s plenty of variety too with vibesy housey numbers, grimey bits, techno moments all present. All that and it’s yours to download for £1.49, can’t complain at that.
Mother Tongue is a brand new record label and vinyl pressing plant run by Patrick Gibin out of Verona Italy. They currently have a couple of great vinyl only releases out in the wild that are seriously good.
First up is Pezzate #001, four wicked disco boogie edits from Twice & Volcov. No titles or details on these, just great music that speaks for itself. If you’re a fan of Patrick’s Black Aroma series you’re going to love these. Click here to secure a copy.
The second release is shrouded in even more mystery than the first. All we have is 黒舌, I’m not sure if this is an artist name, not much to go on here. A listen to the music may well give you a clue who’s behind it, I think I know, though I won’t spoil the fun. Two tracks of groovy dancefloor goodness. Check it out at this link
Of all of Marc Mac’s many aliases, it’s his Nu Era guise that always gets me the most excited. He’s been releasing his unique blend of Broken Beat mixed with that warm Detroit Techno sound on and off since the mid nineties. This one is another top quality Nu Era album, edging more towards the techno side of things than some of his previous offerings. Check ‘Closer to Mars’ for my highlight pick, but the whole album is warm, fuzzy and very lovely.
This new one by Melbourne’s Jonny Faith has proved something of an earworm for me over the last few weeks. If you follow the blog’s Spotify playlist, you might recognise lead track ‘Fana’, as we featured it a few weeks back. It fetures a great vocal from Mohamed Camara giving a lovely Guinea flavour to the uptempo track. The second single, ‘Stay In Your Lane’, featuring the lazy vibes of Lady K on vocals has just been added to the preview. The whole set is set to be released on the 22nd November with a further 3 tracks still to come. You can of course preorder in the meantime from the bandcamp page at the link below
Modern Urban Jazz or Mjazz for short was originally set-up by Justice in the nineties to put out forward thinking drum n bass. The relaunched label has been releasing music of a variety of styles and tempos for a good while now.
This latest one for the most part takes in a lovely slow-mo house with a hip hop breaks kind of vibe. And then there’s the closing cut ‘Locomotives’ which ups the tempo somewhat and by all accounts is an absolute belter. Available as a 3 track 45 or 6 track digi. Hit play and thank me later…
I’ve been a little obsessed with this song, without actually knowing what it is, for something like 18 months now. Theo played it a long time ago on a guest mix he did for NTS without actually mentioning what it was. I spent alot of time trying to find out who was behind it, Shazam, asking random people on facebook, scouring endless soulful house releases, hoping to stumble across it. I think it was the Dego mix he played, as it didn’t sound quite so obviously a Theo production as it does when I listen now. I’m very happy to see this finally coming out, so I can play it on loop to my hearts content, and I will. It’s great to also learn that it’s a collaboration with a number of members of the currently super hot Melbourne jazz soul scene. Featured on the track are as follows…
Lori (Laura Christoforidis) – Vocals
Silentjay (Alejandro Abapo) – Saxophone
Simon Mavin – Keys
Perrin Moss – Drums
Paul Bender – Bass
An album of downtempo treats from the Futurepastzine family, err yes please. The label has been consistently putting out great and interesting music from like minded friends for some years now. The output is mostly in a club ready, bass heavy kind of vein so this release is something of a curveball. I played a couple of highlights on the latest show which you might have heard, but the whole package is worthy of your attention. All for three and a half quid too, can’t go wrong in my opinion.
If you listened to our latest show you must have noticed a totally out there piece of future jazz business from DayKoda. The whole album is absolutely nuts, in a good way of course. There’s a sweet Reginald Omas Mamode IV remix on there as well if it all gets a bit too much for you. Check the whole thing at the link above👆
Dutch label Next Phase Records are predominantly known for their excellent Drum ‘n’ Bass releases. However, they occasionally put out some real beauties that are less worried about BPM restrictions and more concerned with tranquil atmospherics. The labels Wound Up Beat Tape series was a great example of this. This latest double header from Marenn Sukie and Drummotive is another stunning example. Check the link below to order the vinyl or digital direct from the label and if you like what you hear, have a hunt around the rest of the label catalogue.
The last Ep by acronym lover N.O.T.E was a massive highlight of last year for me. I was initially drawn to it as included was a remix by Glenn Astro. This always attracts my interest. However it turned out that the original s were the favourite on offer this time (no offence Glenn). This release is just as tasty with a couple of super offbeat house numbers. I think opening cut ‘P.A.L.’ has the edge, but there’s not much in it. There’s also a great Fantastic Man remix of second track ‘Burning Palm’. One to watch for sure.
Tell Me I'm Dreaming 