KAMASI WASHINGTON - Heaven & Earth (Young Turks) There's a growing feeling both inside and outside jazz that Kamasi Washington could well turn out to be one of the style's all-time greats. He's certainly making all the right moves, delivering thought-provoking concept albums of eyebrow-raising length that simply refuse to settle on one sound, rhythm, style or sub-genre. Heaven & Earth, his first album for almost three years, continues this trend, comprising angry instrumental answers to America's growing issues with class division and racism, Rotary Connection style workouts, Sun Ra-esque spiritual workouts, funk and soul-influenced burners, spiraling choral and orchestral affairs, and electric fusions of rubbery synth-funk and mind-altering jazz-blues. Typically, the results are never less than sublime, with Washington's virtuoso saxophone playing taking centre stage throughout.
VARIOUS - Onda De Amor: Synthesized Brazilian Hits That Never Were 1984-94 (Soundway) Some crate-digging compilations are often the result of someone hand-picking their choice favourites from another country’s musical history, perhaps unaware or uninvolved with its cultural lineage in the process. On Soundway’s latest release - a treasure trove of synth jams, pop, samba boogie, Balearic and electro from 1980 & 90s Brazil - the tracks are picked by Millos Kaiser, one half of the Brazilian duo Selvagem, who is at the helm of throwing some of the country's best dance parties. It’s a rare compilation that offers Brazilian music actually picked by a Brazilian. This collection of sixteen tracks doesn’t comprise tracks scoured from deeply in-demand records, the rare sort that sell for eye-watering sums and that collectors spend years tracking down. This collection of sixteen tracks doesn’t comprise tracks scoured from deeply in-demand records, the rare sort that sell fo...
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