Review: Various Artists - Candomblé: Sacred Rhythms in Brazil (FLEE)

In all honesty, I don't know what to make of this except that it's hypnotic and exceptional - transidental rhythms and song from Brazil: perfect for the World Cup.

Regular readers will know if i've got half a chance I'll refer to the FEEE compilation, 'Athos: Echoes from the Holy Mountain' (as "the Greek equilavent to Tai Chi Mountain in China" (see review HERE).

A massive 20 tracks as a double LP that extremes at trance and dub, the compilation sets exclusive field recordings made in 1985 and 1988 at Ilê Axé Opô Aganjú, a terreiro near Salvador, alongside newly commissioned pieces from contemporary artists including DJ Anderson do Paraíso, XEXA and Felinto, who revisit and reinterpret those sonic legacies.

The accompanying with a bilingual (English–Portuguese) book to document the Afro-Brazilian religion that enslaved West Africans rebuilt on Brazilian soil five centuries ago, tracing both its history and its ongoing transformations.  With essays, artistic commissions and rare archival photographs by the late Pierre Verger, it tells the story of Candomblé through the voices of initiated practitioners and ceremonial musicians while drawing on researchers and anthropologists to address how the religion now circulates, and is contested, well beyond Brazil.

Not exactly mainstream, not exactly out there either but definitely mesmerising!

BUY LINK / PRE-ORDER: CANDOMBLE: SACRED RHYTHMS IN BRAZIL | FLEE   

Artist: Various Artists

Title: Candomblé: Sacred Rhythms in Brazil 

Release date: 12th June, 2026

Label: FLEE

Cat. No. :  TBC

Format: 2xLP + Artbook / Digital / Bandcamp 

Review: Various Artists - Athos: Echoes from the Holy Mountain (FLEE)

I can't pretend I know anyting about the monks of the Athos monastery in the north eastern peninsula of Greece, but time to hear some 'Echoes from the Holy Mountain' from people that do.

First off, you gotta say, that's a very big bell on the cover!  

Apparently there's 2,000 monks in the area and they're been their for centuraries and in immersed in Byzantine chant and prayers; it's the Greek equilavent to Tai Chi Mountain in China.  

Following on from the album 'Ulyap Songs: Beyond circassian Tradition' earlier this year, this album that includes tracks by Holy Tongue, Jay Glass Dubs, Prins Emanuel 7 Inre Kresten Grupp, Jimi Tenor (who is still looking for love in outter space? - see review HERE), Gilb'r, Daniel Paleodimons, Esma & Murat Ertel and Organsa Ray.  There's also a 300 page book and a European tour.

All the tracks have a hynotic dubby vibe (Ed. hardly surprising) in a experimental/spiritual/world trippy environment that includes original field recordings from the 1960s.

Gibr's 'L'île Météore' and Jay Glass Dubs' 'Synapitc Riddles' probably best showcases this album but it's a shame Jah Wobble has spent so much time on South London buses recently as this would been ideal for a contribution from him.

Even so, if you've just had your holidays in the Aegean Sea island or Greek mainland, here's a bit of local culture you didn't come across - like I say, it's hypnotic to say the least.

PS. In the same region, Kolida Babo's 'Spirits Of Mauronoros' is coming out very soon on Veego Records (see review HERE) 

Artist: Various Artists

Title: Athos: Echoes from the Holy Mountain 

Release date: 27th September, 2024

Label: FLEE

Cat. No. :  FLEE006

Format: 2xLP + Book / Digital / Bandcamp