Grafonola

Florence Adooni - Mam Pe'ela Su'ure ( Philophon ) Florence Adooni shares a long history with Philophon. Being part of Guy One's group she is the voice on his radio hit "Estre". Furthermore, she is a member of Alogte Oho's Sounds of Joy and can be heard on his smasher "Mam Yinne Wa". Last but not least, Jimi Tenor chose her to sing on his instant club classic "Vocalize My Luv". In addition to all these cooperations, Florence has locally released a series of albums under her own name and without a doubt, she can be called the queen of Frafra-Gospel. "Mam Pe'ela Su'ure" is a typical Frafra-Gospel Hymn, sung during Sunday services accompanied only with shakers and hand clapping. Our version here is backed up by Kumasi's finest High Life players, who transform the song into a massive wave of groove. "Naba Aferda" is a homage to the Chief of Zuarungu, Florence's home village, which was also the home village of...

NIK BÄRTSCH - Entendre ( ECM ) A fascinating solo album from the Swiss pianist, composer, and conceptualist best known as the leader of the band's Ronin and Mobile, Entendre offers deeper insight into Nik Bärtch’s musical thinking. As the album title implies Entendre is about hearing as a creative process, referencing the patient unfolding of Bärtch’s modular polymetric pieces, with alertness to the dynamics of touch, finding freedom in aesthetic restriction, serving the flow of each piece’s development while also taking the music to new places. Recorded at Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano, in September 2020, and produced by Manfred Eicher.

TAMIL OGEON - Son Of Nyx ( Soul Bank Music ) A lovely jazz album by Melbourne-based violist/violinist and orchestral composer, Tamil Rogeon, featuring Allyshea Joy and recorded by Harvey Sutherland. The album has echoes of Michael White or Jean-Luc Ponty's works in parts. Son of Nyx by Tamil Rogeon

VARIOUS - J Jazz Volume 3: Deep Modern Jazz from Japan (BBE) Since the first volume in February 2018, the J Jazz compilation series has showcased some of the most creative, inspired, and sought-after jazz recorded in Japan during a golden period spanning the 1960s to the 1980s. Illustrating the richness and versatility of the composers and musicians on this collection, the music spans a wide yet coherent range of styles: samba, funk fusion, modal, spiritual, post-bop, and bossa all combine to present an aural portrait of a jazz scene that was constantly moving and shifting its multiple musical centres of gravity. Mastered at the Grammy-nominated Carvery studio in London, many of the tracks featured are reissued for the first time, including mega-rare private press cuts from the YasuhiroKohno Trio, Masaru Imada Trio, and Hideyasu Terakawa Quartet. There’s heavy post modal bop by J Jazz legends Kohsuke Mine and Koichi Matsukaze; samba heat from Tatsuya Nakamura, Hideo Shiraki and Seiich...

JILALA - Jilala ( Rogue Frequency Recordings ) Until Now, Jilala has been a much sought-after phantom in relation to their better-known musical and spiritual contemporaries, The Master Musicians of Jajouka. Culled from three and a half hours of 1965 recordings by writers/artists/poets Brion Gysin and Paul Bowles, the first batch of Jilala recordings were released on a 1965 LP that was scarce even upon its initial release. The second batch of Recordings, which this LP has drawn from, came in the form of a CD by Baraka Foundation in 1998, which is also now long out of print. In the original liner notes Ira Cohen provides a breakdown of the Jilala ensemble: "The instruments used are the shebaba, a long transversal cane flute, which leads the way; the bendir, a handheld drum resembling a tambourine without cymbals; and the karkabat which is a double castanet made of metal. On this record, there are usually three flutes, six drums, and one pair of castanets." In conjunction with t...

TNT ROOTS - Supreme Dub ( África Mãe Do Leão Brazil ) [AML1002] TNT Roots is the mysterious dubplate anthem provider who operated in the shadows and became revered for supplying some of the toughest Soundsystem tunes for Aba Shanti-I for many years, and he has been slinging tunes in DIY style via CDs over the last decade or two until more recently he reared his head on wax via our friends Bokeh Versions and via a fine, unexpected linkup with John T. Gast. But ultimately, the vibe is – no fuss, no hype, just music – and this music happens to be some of the most cantankerous, charged steppers noise we’ve ever heard. This unexpected 10″ here for Brazilian label África Mãe Do Leão suits the DIY style of TNT to go along with what feels right at the time, and these cuts somehow combine that overdriven bassbin UK dub sound with a hint of grimey / Brazilian percussive rhythm in there somewhere (even if we’re just imagining that by association now – it kind of makes sense). Supreme is the k...

Heisei No Oto: Japanese Left-field Pop From The CD Age, 1989-1996 (digital version) by Various Artists VA. - eisei No Oto: Japanese Left​-​field Pop From The CD Age, 1989​-​1996 (Music from memory) Music From Memory is excited to announce a special compilation that they’ve been working on for some time now; MFM053 – VA – Heisei No Oto – Japanese Left-field Pop From The CD Age (1989-1996). Compiled by long-time friends of the label, Eiji Taniguchi and Norio Sato, Heisei No Oto delves into a world of music released almost exclusively on CD and brings together a fascinating selection of discoveries from a little known and overlooked part of Japan’s musical history. The last ten or so years have seen a global wave of interest in Japanese music encompassing ambient, jazz, new wave, and pop records from the 1980s, some of which is increasingly considered the most innovative and visionary music of that time. Although some music from this period, in the form of ‘City Pop’ or ‘rare groove’ rec...