It’s another largely downbeat selection for this edition albeit one that’s hopefully appropriate for post-work drinks on the beach / terrace / insert your favourite chill spot. We start off with a touch of Anatolian psych-rock before taking in a mixture of fresh new world music and female singer/songwriters. There’s also a recurring theme of flutes and saxophones plus a touch of psychedelic ambience; in other words not your run-of-the-mill chill-out compilation.
Avoiding lazy sampling this new project from Aggelose Baltas skillfully weds Greek folk music to post-modern dance beats and serves as the perfect companion to recent releases from Gaye Su Akyol and Altin Gun.
A hotly anticipated release in these quarters Xangô is just one of many excellent tracks on a new compilation entitled Jambú e Os Míticos Sons Da Amazônia and designed to transport you back to Northern Brazil’s Belem club scene circa mid-1970s. The extensive accompanying booklet fills in the details.
A four-track EP from Bristol’s Natural Sugars aka Tim Oxley Smith is designed squarely for the Balearic market. Lithuanian DJ Manfredas is on remix duties.
You know you’re onto a good thing when the EP opens with a track entitled ‘When the Sun Starts to Shine’. There’s no filler here as three more tracks of summery goodness follow from this new Danish act.
Super-excited to receive the new release from Melbourne’s Mildlife, having worn out my copy of last year’s eponymously title debut album. This one’s a three track flute-driven remix package; the original’s great, the extended Malba rework from Italian Cosmic Disco legends Daniele Baldelli and Marco Diongi is even better.
The Philly-based label has been throwing me some real curveballs lately with a number of new additions to their mainly jazz orientated roster. This one was six years in the making and comes courtesy of go-to touring rhythm section for hire Derek Nievergelt (bass) and Adrian Harpham (drums). Their broad tastes are reflected in the wide musical palette on offer here.
Rone’s star is currently in ascendancy but collaborator Haitian-Canadian singer Mélissa Laveaux, an accomplished artist in her own right, is also finally being marked out as one to watch. Fans of early Morcheeba will like this one.
Female singer/songwriters are faring well lately and for good reason. This one comes from last year’s Dogviolet album but the EP also includes an acoustic version and a remix from alt-pop duo TEME.
Female singer/songwriters are faring well pt II. Again the album (Designer) is already on the shelves but this is out to promote the accompanying Jodorowsky-esque video and tour. For local readers she plays Port Eliot Festival in late July.
The four track sampler I received for Colombian Soul, compiled by Bagar AKA Tricky D doesn’t have a disappointing track on it so I’m looking forward to the full release of this alternative to the more familiar up-tempo Latin numbers associated with Colombia.
Staying on the Latin continent for an album which, while working with “rhythms from the last century like argentinean Murga, ecuatorian San Juanito, brazilian Chocalho, and centroamerican Reggeaton”, still manages to sound completely contemporary.
Nothing contemporary about this release, even the locals call it agadi-akwukwo (old-school), from the man Louis Armstrong labelled the “highlife hep cat of Nigeria”. Six tracks recorded in Lagos, 1979, and a welcome reissue for something of a rarity.
The original vinyl of flautist Minoru Muraoka’s 1970 Shakuhachi Jazz release goes for a tidy sum these days so it’s good to see Mr Bongo putting out an affordable version of this cratediggers’ delight. The tracklist looks like an easy listening compilation until you hear familiar tunes played on traditional Japanese instruments. This Beatles’ cover and the version of Take Five are worth the price alone.
We continue this globe-trotting excursion with the Afro, Puerto Rican and Haitian influences of award-winning saxophonist David Sanchez. Not to be confused with Fernando’s Hideaway.
This is a download-only single from forthcoming album Rations and, in marked contrast to the previous track, takes us forward with a slightly more psychedelic and Eurocentric groove.
Filling the gap between the successful Lovers album and a planned second album this continues AotN’s slow-burn success story as an in demand artist du jour (see Tyler the Creator, Anderson Paak, Honne et al).
Jesca Hoop is back, this time with a more political edge from the Californian Mancunian whose John Parish produced Stonechild album arrives on July 5th.
Just to prove my earlier point re Ropeadope, this is four tracks of guitar-driven ambient rock courtesy of existing label Artists Reimagining their Youth.
It seemed appropriate to include at least one track with Hawaiian guitar and this is a quirky tribute to the 50s exotica scene.
And we end of on an upbeat note with the uplifting folky pysch-rock sound of this Deptford band seeking, in their own words, to marry the “absurdist poetry of Spike Milligan and the fear and loathing of late J.G.Ballard”.
Karl Phillips presents the Random Jukebox radio show on Source 96.1FM.
Source FM is a not-for-profit community station located in Falmouth and Penryn, Cornwall, and actively supports voices under-represented by traditional media.
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