Nu-Jazz | Broken Beat 10 Items

New album by the maestro! Parrish's electronics getting blended with a good dose of Jazz & Soul influence - here the past collides with the future.

Susso, aka bassist / producer Huw Bennett, creates music inspired by, and directly sampling, the magnificent sounds of the Mandinka people, recorded during a recent trip to Gambia. Initially travelling with the aim of gaining perspective as a musician and to discover a new world of music first hand, Huw found himself humbled by such a welcoming community of artists, mostly belonging to the celebrated Suso and Kuyateh griot families. The tracks are composed entirely from original source material, field recordings and Huw’s talents as a multi-instrumentalist; performing tuned percussion from the region including the Mandinka Balafon, Kutiringding drum, aswell drawing on his skill as a professional upright / electric bassist. The music produced has a contemporary electronic sound, whilst still paying homage to a traditional Gambian aesthetic. Keira (meaning peace) guides the listener through Huw’s journey up the River Gambia, being welcomed into remote dusty villages, where your people are the most important thing in life.

Follow-up to the critically acclaimed "Play" album from 2011!

Journeyman, DJ, radio presenter, beat raconteur – it’s been hard to keep up with all of iZem‘s movements lately. The innovative Lisbon-based French producer has been hard at work on his debut LP Hafa, exploring the sounds of Latin America and North Africa in a vivid analogue-digital, genre-defying soundscape that is sure to leave your head spinning. Inspired by cultural greats like Jack Kerouac, Paul Bowles, Tahar Ben Jelloun and Matisse, iZem spent time soaking up the atmosphere at the inspiring Café Hafa, an idyllic cliff-pop joint overlooking the strait of Gibraltar, in Tangier, Morocco, which has formed a golden backdrop to his debut LP. Brimming with soulful exoticism, personal narratives and adventurous collaborators, Hafa has been an experiment in taking on the afro-centric sounds of his journey to-date by incorporating modern, introspective songwriting and hybrid beats.
Often writing music whilst crossing continents, the only place iZem allows dust to settle is in the heart, heat and rhythms of his local-global future sounds. A decade of nomadism between Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Ireland and Portugal made way for a series of critically acclaimed EP’s and remixes for Soundway, GAMM, Far Out, Agogo, ZZK records, Wah Wah 45s, and Mais Um Discos. Arrival on the global, forward-thinking, artistically leftfield scene was predicted by Gilles Peterson, XLR8R, Okay Player and fellow tropical hed Quantic. iZem is an acronym for “In Ze Early Morning” and his debut album “Hafa” evokes new days dawning in far-off lands and stirring horizons of the present. So if you aren’t hearing iZem’s pastiche of future tropical rhythms and organic grooves on stations such as BBC, KCRW or Funkhaus Europa, then make sure you you catch him raising the dance floor temperature on one continent or another.

New album by the maestro! Parrish's electronics getting blended with a good dose of Jazz & Soul influence - here the past collides with the future.

Following their seriously strong debut release from rising talent & label mastermind Thatmanmonkz. We have an absolutely superb duo of reworks (and dubs) from the man himself & Chicago polymath Khalil Anthony, an author, musician and celebrated collaborator in theatre productions.

Ladi6 is a singer with soul. A singer with a hip-hop background and masses of pop-appeal. A singer who first gained attention through her features with the legendary New Zealand export-band Fat Freddy's Drop, but who has also performed alongside such diverse artists as Gil Scott-Heron, Mayer Hawthorne and Mos Def. In short: A singer whose eyes have seen much and whose style is not governed by rules. As if that wasn't enough, her enormous charisma enables her to win her audience over within minutes with full support of her band of Parks and Julien Dyne (BBE).
The 30-year old has always endeavored to use music to tear down barriers and dissolve purported genre-boundaries. With her previous album, "Time Is Not Much" (BBE) which was produced by Parks and Mu (Fat Freddy's Drop), Ladi6 has already taken a perfect shot at her goal, which, combined with the interplay between the many diverse elements of the music, has a highly impressive effect. "The Liberation Of…" has already top the New Zealand independent charts for consecutive weeks and her single "Like Water" is the #1 independent New Zealand song on radio.

Ladi6, a New Zealander of Samoan origin, feels a deep connection to her homeland. And her homeland has suffered some tragic events in recent years: One and a half years ago, the South Sea paradise of Samoa was stuck by a Tsunami. Ladi6, whose real name is Karoline Tamati, was present when the wave of destruction arrived. A few weeks ago an earthquake, measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale, devastated the New Zealand city of Christchurch - the town in which her family lives. Again, Karoline bore witness to a natural catastrophe inflicting deep wounds on the soul of a population.

All the more surprising then, that 'The Liberation Of…' doesn't for one moment sound burdened or melancholy. Quite the contrary, in fact: It is an easygoing, feel-good album. The title of the record, however, suggests both the aim of the songs and the result, which their creation has achieved. For the album is exactly that, which its title suggests: Liberation.

Manchester’s Walton returns to Tectonic following last year’s explorations in grime flavoured house/techno offshoots on the killer “Bulldoze EP”. This time Walton leads with a dance floor crushing anthem that cruises a cool line between grime and tribal dubstep. Featuring a looping Riko Dan sample, “Gunman” sets a stone cold tone from the offset, hi-hats setting up the groove before a grime flavoured melody cuts in preparing you for the drop. When the bass and drums come crashing in they bounce off each other to produce a disorientating tribal rhythm that will set the dance floor alight!

Steve Spacek returns to Eglo Records after making his label debut with the summer smash 'Follow Me'. The Lewisham born singer/producer continues to innovate, utilizing the latest technologly (he made these two tracks on an ipad) to push his unique London style from his new home in Sydney NSW. 'If U Wan 2 Find Me' is a celestial slice of vocal footwork/soul, with Spacek offering his own zero gravity take on the chicago sound. Bside 'Time Is Running Out' completely switches up the tempo, this stripped back techno bubbler feels like the soundtrack to a late night cruise around the red planet. Signature Spacek swing and acid bounce througout. Steve Spacek remains one of the most unique and versatile artists from the UK, born out of Londons soundsystem culture his fearless and forwarding thinking approach to music and technology has made him impossible to pigeon hole. Consistently on the cutting edge of new evolutions in sound and style.