Of course we've been looking forward to Mr Bongo's Record Club Vol 7 ever since Vol. 6 came out (see reveiw HERE) but when you have a track that features Asha Puthli (Asian space disco queen) and king of a modern dancefloor, Stockholm's Sven Wunder on a track by fan of both SOYUZ, you know 'Spring Has Sprung'.
Lush spiritual disco Swedish OST and you've got the idea.
Asha has been giging all over Europe and you may have seen her at Glastonbury and there's We Out Here Festival to come soon (can't wait). And not only that, Mr Bongo are re-issuing her 'The Devil Is Loose' LP on gold vinyl no less later in the year!
Deep In Your Soul have dug deep into the future of Afro-spirited house with three versions of 'Makukhanye'.
If your still on the Aytiwan & Kaudron & Nes Mburu collaboration on 'Es Vedra' (with the Chaleee Remix - see review HERE), or anything to do with Aytiwan to be honest (also see HERE), you'll be excited to here that Deep In Your Soul have gone the extra mile after the original version with the atmospheric vocals of Tabia and Nokwazi with some mesmerizing beats and Serengeti synths.
There's two remixes, one from Belgian's Aytiwan (that get a European piano house tilt with some added percussion) and the duo known as the Afro Brotherz who take a 3step approach! (one for the adventurous will a cut-down shuffle).
If you're looking for some futuristic Afro-house designs, try today's 'Yeke, Yeke'.
It's not love actually, it's better that that with 'Love Avatar' as Peter Gall does it in his own name.
Similar in format to Michael Reinboth's single 'Let The Spirit' / 'RS6 Avant' (see review HERE) but totally different in approach as drummer/composer Peter Gall gets ready for the album, 'Love Avcatar'.
The title track is a brilliant take on 60s Blue Note jazz/fusion for a nu-jazz/broken generation for fans of Herbie Hancock in the 70s. It's that whimiscal/clever.
'Echoes Of A Dystopian World' is just that as it's got the depth of a OST and a live jazz gig; i.e. it's special.
Peter's worked in the past with Max Herre (see review HERE), Roberto di Giola(see review HERE) and some pretty popular bands as one of the best drummers in Germany so there's a big buzz for the follow-up to his debut album, 'Paradox Dreambox'.
Put it in your diaries, the album ' Love Avatar' is out on 27th September
Time to get fit with Be Adult Music's latest, Midnight Workouts as they are 'Losing Me'.
We've been sailing around this islands with Julian Marazuela's 'Seven Islands' (see review HERE) so it's now time to get excited with 4 different versions of this track that features the the vocals of Eva Essa.
The original is typically dreamy and you've got a choice of three variations with remixes by Nikos Diamantopoulos (another sailing style in the sun), Mauro B (it's a clever one this), and the ever reliably outstanding St Ego.
Don't lose out and get deep with these four as none will disappoint and you don't want to lose out as we peak this summer.
Artist: Midnight Workouts
Title: Losing Me (Original with remixes Nikos Diamantopoulos, Mauro B,St.Ego)
"Going the extra mile" is such an over used phrase these day, it often doesn't cover the first step; Compost Records ain't like that though as Yuu Udagawa's new single, 'Ride It' / 'The Peaceful Dawn' has a trio of remixes by three of our favourites on the knob twiddles: JKriv, Fred Everything, Manuel Tur.
You can tell from the cover that this is special as Yuu's jazzy keys feel like an update of Herbie Hancock and Bugge Wesseltoft combined for clubland cool on both tracks
The incredible 'Set Me Sneakers' (think that might be missing a 'free' at the end) as it grooves for nearly eight minutes and the lead track, 'Ride It' with the remixes by JKriv and Fred Everything (fresh from his Lazy Days release of 'Never' with Robert Owens and Osunlade and Waajeed remixes (see review HERE).
'Ride It' certainly has that West Coast freeway about it with sexy dawn whispers that's just disco enough for JKriv (who we know from Detroit's Rocksteady Disco label with main man Peter Croce; but he's just as likely to turn up on Razor 'n' Tape, BBE or Defected) to give it more depth to groove too.
The Fred Everything mix take on the whispers and makes it more mainroom.
So what's this about Manuel Tur? Well, that's part 2 of this set with a track called 'The Peaceful Dawn' as Fred Everything's mate Mr Tur providing 2 remix variations; 'Octamix' and 'Deep Dub' for some big house. That's not out until the 6th September but 'Ride It' will more than keep you entertained in the meantime.
Highlight of the summer so far!.
Note: Check the JKriv & Manuel Tur remixes on Colour & Pitch Sessions August mix (see below)
For those avid Emanative watchers/listeners, here's the latest on the long awaited next release, 'Abstact Intuition' is out digitally on 30th July and vinyl out first week in September!
After the interview fellow London lover DJ Kobayashi (co-founder of Batov Records) on the B-Side Sessions show (Soho Radio - 14:00 to 16:00, Wednesdays - Dom Servini was on there the other week too!).
Of course we've seen Batov and Nick together before on Sandman Projet's remix release (see review HERE) (with Jessica Lauren) and back in April with the Yellowtail/Mark Murphy remix of 'Seasons In My Mind' (see review HERE) so we kinda know what to expect?
Well, the first thing to expect is some of the best known names in 'modern electronic jazz' being long-time musical partners Jessica Lauren (not wife) and Ben Hadwen (tenor sax, bass clarinet, flute) with Twm Dylan (upright bass), Peter Zummo (trombone), Sarathy Korwar (Tabla - he also featured on the 'Ominous Shanti' release), Magnus Mehta (Congas/percussion), Raimund Wong (Yamaha MT400/electronics) and Nick himself on drums/percussion (of course), vibes and synth.
This might only be 4 tracks, 'Spice Routes' (deep bass driven space jazz with Ben leading(?) the way with sax and bass clarinet as metaphorical walking sticks), 'Messimalism (Above Thought)' is the space-jazz-dub that you've always craved, 'Paradox' (not the challenge that you might expect as all the musicians push themselves deeper within a soup of gong baths) and the magnificent 'Pathways to Presence' but fans like the influencial DJs Patrick Forge and Michael Ruetten are lost for words to describe how good this is.
So you can tell Emanative is as much a band (family) as an individual and if you know your Art Enemble of Chicago from your Kahil El Zabar's Ethnic Heritage Ensemble to Amirtha Kidabi's Elder Ones (see review HERE) alond with th Coltrane's spiritual legacy, you'll get this immediately; especially the 18 minute long 'Pathways To Presence' that's includes all of the above and even dips into early Cinematic Orchestra vibe; that said, this is a "proper jazz walk to the cosmos".
This is perfect for the We Out Festival (next year Gilles?) but what with Nick's connections with the Sun Ra Arkestra and Tribe jazz royalty alumni, Ahmed Abdullah and Phil Ranelin, we have our own Carlos Niño & Friends, or could we rename the Emanative family an Emanumni?
The only thing that's missing is Nick's "real" wife of 25 years, Liz Elensky; lets hope that's not caused an argument.
Do you have the post-WOMAD blues? Well, they're not going to last long when you tune into 'Radio Masoda' with Franck Biyong!
The Cameroonian guitarist, composer and singer releases his 20th album and be prepared for "the creator of the Afrolectric" getting deep with the traditional sounds of makossa, Afrobeat, Highlife, Congolese rumba and all things West African with elements of jazz, funk and rock.
"Makossa, as in 'Soul Makossa'?". Yes, the great Manu Dibango was Frank's mentor and there's some other big names that Frank's called upon from his Paris base, Tony Allen (RIP), vocalist Sandre Nkaké and the horns of Pat Thomas' Kwashibu Area Band.
And talking of Paris (Olympic City and all that), there's a touch of French jazz histoire in this album too (which isn't a great surprise) but 'Jela Kubwa Na Viboko' is so gentle and cooling it's an instant classic for me (very 'Nostalgie Ya Mboka' to my Resonance ears) along with 'Liwa Ya Wech'.
But most of the album is upbeat and 'Diamane Abele' is another dancefloor killer and 'Elephant Rumble' is exactly what it says on the tin.
I like the cover image as it's DJ/Soundsytem but it's a bit diceptive as it's an album for DJs, Paris or not!
Trust a serious musicologist 'of the cover' version like Jo Wallace (Ramrock/F*CLR head honcho) to know that the 1980 disco chart buster 'Casanova' by Coffee was not the original version!
The original tribute to the exploits attributed to Giovanni Jacopo Casanova was sung by Ruby Andrews in 1967 and I bet they'd never have imagined that song re-interpreted as Dan 'The Drum' Spalding and Ronnie Turner have in 2024 with Emma Noble on vocals. It's full of cool 60s Blue Note/Dave Brubeck 'Take Five' swing with Emma's vocals perfect for the jazzification of the lyrics; "Hey boy, your playing days are over". They've even squeezed in a bit of a nod to hip-hop and dub; kinda US3 'Cantaloop' that was just as massive.
We're told there's lots more to come from this Spalding/Turner set up that's going to appeal to BBC 6 Music's obvious candidates like Craig Charles (what did I say on his latest compilation on BBE - see review HERE) and Gilles Peterson - and way beyond.....trust me
It may not be "Coming Home" but you can't keep a good thing down and here's some 'Resurrection' to proove it from Mzala Wa Afrika.
If you thought the 'uMsindo weNdlovu EP' by AfroNerd and featuring Notha Shoto was good (and we certainly thought it was better than that, see review HERE), you're going to love this new 3-track EP on Ostowana even more!
We've got a deep dub flava on the high plains with 'Amasiko' (Original Afromix) that has all the elements of sunrise, sunset and morning chorus infused in the synths. Definitely my favourite (and in the office) but don't rule out the opener, 'Ngikhulule Set Me Free' featurig the vocals of Nhlanseko which is your main room stomper/dreamer and the 'Samburu' chant.
We're told this is a "must-listen for all Afro House music aficionados", but this has a much wider appeal and any of the tracks could be included in our sets - watch out for the 'Best Of' July session.
After BBC Proms did 'D-I-S-C-O' last week, lets get all Latin-disco boogie down with the BAVHU and watch 'Everybody Groove'.
This is ideal 'Ring My Bell' party people music and it's outta New Zealand!
Last year they released a cover of 'Always Dancin' but for 'Everybody Groove', more cowbells is the order for the summer and get that bit of sax - it's like a Radio 1 Summer Roadshow of old (without the sleeze) but with the extended version rocking it.
