With so much good music coming through thick and fast, it’s easy for albums to drop online and go overlooked. No lengthy write-ups as who reads those anyway? We keep it short and to the point because you’re here to listen to the music! Check out our weekly mini-guide below and if you like what you hear, click the links and support the artists.
Albums
Sunken Cages – When the Waters Refused Our History
Drummer and electronic music producer Ravish Momin, aka Sunken Cages, lands on London label On The Corner. Blurring the lines between composition and improvisation, his new album continues his experiments in triggering sounds and textures and working with live loops. Essential.
Khalab & M’berra Ensemble – M’berra
Italian producer Khalab links up with M’berra Ensemble, a collective of musicians from the M’berra Refugee Camp in southeast Mauritania. Afrofuturism meets desert blues, electronic and jazz on this brilliant LP. The album comes with a 32-page booklet documenting the making of the LP and text about the project. Essential listening and reading!
Joseph Shabason – The Fellowship
Canadian composer and saxophonist Joseph Shabason returns with his third solo album. Across eight instrumental tracks, Shabason elegantly mixes jazz with fourth-world to paint an auditory tale of the early stages of his childhood. This is an album that is dynamic and extremely beautiful from start to finish – highly recommended.
Mara TK – Bad Meditation
An incredible return from Māori-Scottish singer Mara TK. Written and produced by Mara himself, ‘Bad Meditation’ is a profoundly personal account of heritage, love, loss and healing. Encompassing a blend of hypnotic soul and smooth electronica paired with his equally enticing vocals that supply a honey-textured warmth that is so easy on the ears.
Daniel Aged – You Are Protected By Silent Love
In 2018, we got a hint of where Daniel Aged was heading with his self-titled instrumental album. Next, come his ‘Bass Improvisations EP’, and now he takes his meditative head music into even deeper waters. Beautifully played pedal steel textures and inquisitive bass, this is a hypnotisingly good album and beyond categorisation. A must-listen for lovers of guitar-based instrumental music.
EP’s
Shrimpnose & Joe Nora – Between Dunes EP
Riding along his prolific rise in 2020 with the beautifully visceral projects’ A Ghost From A Memory’ LP and ‘Small Wonders’ EP, Riley Smithson, aka Shrimpnose, joins forces with long time friend and mainstay beat-smith Joe Nora for a collaborative EP of alluring lo-fi, beat-driven instrumental electronic/hip hop full of lush and vibrant textures.
Gratien Midonet – A Cosmic Poet Revisited
The music of Martinique poet and composer Gratien Midonet is reworked on, A Cosmic Poet Revisited, providing a new context for the original recordings’ which encompass political activism coupled with a cosmic folk sound. Remixes come from Kuniyuki, Kay Suzuki and Khidja.
Singles
Yaatri – Gold
New single ‘Gold’ from Leeds-based jazz crossover quintet Yaatri is a smooth track, which combines a warm psychedelic soundscape with b-ahwe’s lush vocals. Mark this band under ones to watch.
Ruby Rushton – Gideon’s Way
Get excited as we have new music from Ruby Rushton! The new track ‘Gideon’s Way’ is a hypnotic and funky, jazz-fusion number inspired by Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters. The band’s upcoming EP of the same name is due for release 6th of June via 22a.
Tampo – Keumgang / Tampomambo
Inspired by cumbia and mambo, mystic sextet Tampo drop two Latin jazz bangers via We Jazz Records. If you love psychedelic music with character, click play below!
