You know the drill
For the monthly updated playlist, follow this playlist
For the findings during September 2020, follow/listen to this playlist :
We hope you are having a peaceful start of October. The moon shined on the 1st and will shine again on the 31st. We shall see you again soon after. Enjoy the music !
Shabaka and the Ancestors – We Are Sent Here By History (2020)
jazz in 2020? could it be..?
Naoito – dotA (2019) – Jazzy Afrobeat from Japan.
Estrada Orchestra – Jazzbeatjäätis (2017)
This song and this whole LP have the exact smell of the Bastards’ Basement. It’s dirty, messy, sweaty, and if you give it just enough time you won’t be able to leave it.
J.LAMOTTA SUZUME- Suzume (2019)
There is a lot of recent neosoul rnb but the instrumentation on this is delicious.
Nubya Garcia – SOURCE (2020)
Since joja is sleeping i guess ima submit it. Also, watch her tiny desk. On a boat.
I’m not sure if Nubya is the new Alice Coltrane or what. Too early to tell. But id bet my pennies that we will still be talking about her in decades to come.
Natalie Greffel – Para Todos (2020).
錯乱前戦 [Sakuran Zensen] – I am SAKURAN-ZENSEN (2020)
Punchy garage punk. Always good to take an extra one.
Matmos – The Consuming Flame: Open Exercises in Group Form (2020)
Hey! New Matmos….3h collage of 99 BPM sounds gathered from 99 artists. Probably not one of their most accessible opus, but one of their most ambitious. Clear your calendar because it’s time to go deep.
Tigran Hamasyan – The Call Within (2020)
Sparkle Division – To Feel Embraced (2020)
Ambient and Jazz
I Think You’re Awesome, Aarhus Jazz Orchestra – The Kiss Your Darling Suite (2020)
For me, ITYA is the definition of comfort jazz. Whenever you’re feeling melancholic, straight up down in the dumps, or just relaxed – their music might be for you too. In this one they collaborate with the Aarhus Jazz Orchestra to shape a through and through emotional suite. It’s that type of music that might bore you on some days but absolutely destroy you on those off days.
SAULT – Untitled (Rise) (2020)
With their 3rd record after their debut in may last year, still anonymous band SAULT put out an impressive amount of music in a short amount of time. With this and the last one ‘Untitled (Black Is)’ clearly being in the spirit of the current civil rights movement, this music sprawls roots left and right. Amazing percussions, powerful lyrics and that decisive sault-y sound (as I like to call it from now on) make it one of my favourite albums this year.
YAH3 – Yah3 EP (2020)
This invigorating synth jazz EP is the product of 2 days of improvisation by this trio stemming from Berlin. Influenced by afrobeat and jazz pioneers like Tony allen and Herbie Hancock, this music just simply works and feels right.
Okvsho – Kamala’s Danz (2020)
In this album, Swedish duo Okvsho create truly delightful pastures for listening, nestled somewhere in the valley where flutes and trumpets meet and cavort. Good walking through the city at dusk kind of music.
Firetail – Bamboo EP (2020)
This EP draws together eclectic influences from jazz-fusion to southern Indian Carnatic percussion, but the effect is simultaneously smooth and wild.
John McLaughlin, Shankar Mahadevan, Zakir Hussain – Is That So? (2020)
It is tempting to call this group “Shakti”, as they were formerly called with the addition of the late U Shrinivas on the mandolin, but it is not quite the same without the sounds of the mandolin to provide the buoyant and quicksilver quality that we had come to associate with this 1970s Indian raaga-inspired fusion group. Nonetheless, this album’s success is in recognizing the inherent limitations and pivoting to a more mellow and pared-down approach with Mahadevan’s lilting vocals and McLaughlin and Hussain’s mellow musical dialogue over guitar and tabla.
That is it for last month’s musical findings. See you soon !
