Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Pete Newman Clarinet Project : Is It Warm Here ?

Pete Newman is a clarinettist, saxophonist and composer based in Cambridge, UK.
Pete has toured extensively across the UK, Europe and Canada, most notably with world-fusion outfit Horace X. His current focus is the Pete Newman Clarinet Project, an ambitious amalgamation of funk, jazz and other styles, featuring Pete’s distinctive approach to the clarinet on his own compositions.

 

Monday, March 30, 2015

Astronauts, etc. : I Know

There is a fragile balance to Astronauts, etc. — an attempt to reconcile contradiction. Harmonious conflict rolls through Anthony Ferraro's soulful compositions with a struggling duality innate in each note. As a classically trained pianist Ferraro approaches his songwriting with both a disregard for his 15 years of focused lessons and a respect for the skill those studies have afforded him.
 

Feverkin & Koresma : Golden (feat. Cuff Malloy)

Collaboration between electronic producers Feverkin and Koresma with Cuff Malloy on jazz saxophone.
 

Sunday, March 29, 2015

The Mighty Mocambos : Showdown

The Mighty Mocambos’ new album “Showdown” sets another cornerstone in their prolific career as a globally active instrumental funk outfit. While maintaining their organic approach of recording real musicians live on tape, the group has refined their trademark sound with a dramatic edge, a hard hitting production and ventures into less obvious musical territories.

 

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

James Clarke : Mystery Movement

James Clarkes "Mystery Movie" was released in 1974 as library record, small group compositions in various moods. Ideally suited to the new Americanised style of T.V. and cinema film where music was used to create the mood and carry the action.
 

Monday, March 23, 2015

Cheyenne Fowler : Come Back To Me

Produced by Gene Russell in 1976 and appears on the very rare and killer album "Cheyenne's Comin'"
 

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

The Dip : Don't Make Me Wait

The Dip is an electrifying soul group from Seattle, Washington. The band (containing three members of Beat Connection) is comprised of seven musicians and originated at the University of Washington. Fueled by their self-released EP in 2013, The Dip has played a string of packed shows in Seattle, including an evening slot at the Northwest Folklife Festival, a capacity show at the popular Capitol Hill Block Party, an opening slot for the legendary Dirty Dozen Brass Band at Neumos, and numerous headlining shows of their own at various venues in Seattle and Bellingham. The Dip recently finished recording their first LP at Avast Studios, which will be released on April 14th. Their lead single, “Ready To Go,” came out in November 2014.
 

Friday, March 13, 2015

Jamie Lidell : Believe in Me

British producer Jamie Lidell became as widely recognized for his effective neo-soul vocals and performances as for his earlier career as a producer of groovy experimental techno. After some EP releases for labels such as Mosquito and an appearance on the Mille Plateaux-released Industrialsamplecoregouchbeat compilation, Lidell collaborated with equally well-known techno producer Cristian Vogel as Super_Collider in 1999. Following this project, most noteworthy for the popular track "Darn (Cold Way o' Lovin')," Lidell recorded a solo album for Warp in 2000, Muddlin Gear. Five years later, still on Warp, he pursued an organic neo-soul direction for Multiply, heavily assisted by fellow instrumentalist and producer Mocky. 2008's Jim was similar in approach and sounded much more natural than its predecessor. Compass For 2010's Compass, Lidell changed directions once again, employing the likes of Beck, Feist, and members of Grizzly Bear; its lead song, the title track, was a rather spacy folk-blues epic that later appeared in the soundtrack for the Rockstar video game Red Dead Redemption. He also wrote and sang on a track for Simian Mobile Disco's Unpatterns album from 2012, and moved to Nashville. After building his own studio, he used it to record his follow-up album for Warp, the self-titled Jamie Lidell, which saw release in early 2013.
"Believe In Me" is Jamies latest single.
   

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Lyn Christopher : Take Me With You

Released on Paramount Records in 1973, written by Kaplan Kaye, Christopher's self-titled debut and the 7" version of "Take Me With You" have been heavy collectibles by at least two different crowds. The first are KISS fans; Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley played on her album before they would blow up as KISS, after Smut Peddlers looped this up lovely in 1998, it then got "outed" on Dusty Fingers Vol. 3 and that all helped blow things up for sample hounds who began to chase after the LP and 7" versions.
 

Ramon Morris : Sweet Sister Funk

Ramon Morris' lone Groove Merchant date remains one of the most potent fusion records of its time. An uncommonly soulful tenorman, Morris proves ideally matched to the jazz-funk idiom, and Sweet Sister Funk achieves a near-perfect balance between its mainstream and experimental leanings, forging a series of fierce grooves as imaginative as they are accessible. Recorded with a crack supporting unit including trumpeter Cecil Bridgewater and percussionist Tony Waters, the album radiates with positive energy, it's a genuine shame Morris never again recorded as a leader, because the mind reels at the possibilities his muse might have pursued.
 

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Jimmy Smith : Root Down (Shanti Edit)

Toward the end of his stint with Blue Note, Jimmy Smith's albums became predictable. Moving to Verve in the mid-'60s helped matters considerably, since he started playing with new musicians (most notably nice duets with Wes Montgomery) and new settings. Not coincidentally, the title track is the song the Beasties sampled on their 1994 song of the same name, since this is one of the only sessions that Smith cut where his playing his raw, vital, and earthy. Recorded live in Los Angeles in February 1972, the album captures a performance Smith gave with a relatively young supporting band who were clearly influenced by modern funk and rock. They push Smith to playing low-down grooves that truly cook: "Sagg Shootin' His Arrow" and "Root Down (And Get It)" are among the hottest tracks he ever cut, especially in the restored full-length versions showcased on the 2000 Verve By Request reissue. There are times where the pace slows, but the tension never sags, and the result is one of the finest, most exciting records in Smith's catalog.
 

Reuben Wilson : Got To Get Your Own

Reuben Wilson was one of many soul-jazz organists to emerge in the late '60s, but he was one of only a handful of new organists from that era to be signed to Blue Note. Between 1968 and 1971, he recorded five sessions for the label. None of his records received much acknowledgment at the time, but they were later rediscovered by a new generation of soul-jazz fans, becoming collector's items within acid jazz and soul-jazz revivalist circles.
  On his only album for Chess' Cadet imprint, B-3 organist Reuben Wilson pulled the second of his now classic career change-ups. On that date Wilson and producer George Butler brought in a female backing chorus, a large soul band, and arranger Wade Marcus for a driving set of psychedelic soul, hard funk, and rockist B-3 workouts.  Chess was in dire financial straits by this time and was soon to close its doors; the album became a cutout almost immediately. It languished in the bins and in record stores and distribution warehouse basements until beatsamplers and British DJs picked up on it in the late 1980s.