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Quantum Baby is the second installment in Tinashe’s Bb/ang3l album trilogy. The first in the series, Bb/ang3l, was released Fall ‘23 and was followed by the Bb/ang3l tour and Tinashe’s first Tiny Desk performance. Tinashe began teasing the hit single “Nasty,” this past Spring, debuting the song at Coachella 2024. The song quickly went viral, to become the song of the summer. This led to everyone asking the most prevalent question of the summer: “Is somebody gonna match my freak?” “Quantum Baby is about getting to know me on a deeper level. It's about exploring who I am as a person and who I am as an artist. I’ve never been one to be put into a box, so the name Quantum Baby encompasses all the different parts that make up who I am as a creative,” says Tinashe, describing the album as “forward, hot and lot’s of bass!”

Something About Livingis an album of live recordings by experimental jazz composer/multi-instrumentalist Robert Stillman. The music was captured over the course of Stillman's time as the solo support act for The Smile (Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Tom Skinner). The album weaves excerpts from various theater and arena shows along the tour's North American routing into a seamless whole, creating a 40-minute program that represents an expanded version of Stillman's ever-transforming live set.
Something About Livingis the product of a steady, on-stage evolution that happened over the course of the nearly 60 shows opening for the Smile across the EU, UK, US, Canada and Mexico. However, the creative origins of the set began in relative isolation during the pandemic, through Stillman's work on projects like his multi-media installationUnseen Forcesand his monthly broadcast for Margate Radio, both of which drew upon solo improvisation using saxophone, cassettes, Yamaha DX7 synthesizer, and effects.
"At the time The Smile asked whether I'd like to open for them on their first tour, I felt like I'd already been preparing without really knowing it," says Stillman. "I'd been doing this music constantly, but always for a hypothetical audience" During the pandemic, Stillman's solo set-up served as the research lab where he worked on all the concepts he was interested in: solo improvisation, creating and manipulating cassettes, FM synthesis, analogue delays chains, no-input mixing, and non-metric rhythmic pulses. So when he was offered the first Smile tour, the idea was to bring "the lab" onto the stage.
What Stillman could not have prepared for was the experience of playing in venues with capacities of up to ten thousand listeners. "The first tour was in summer 2022, so not that long after the worst of the pandemic, when I had pretty much made peace with the idea that I might never be able to perform for an audience again. Then all of a sudden I found myself in front of huge numbers of people, and felt the massive responsibility of being with an audience, of this thing I'd done alone for so longactually being witnessed, and it was completely overwhelming!" On the flip-side, Stillman also recalls, was a new appreciation of how powerful the live performance was as a social phenomenon. "It's a cliche, but also true: the moment of making and hearing music in a shared time and space has a very specific meaning and power; there was a sense that everyone in the venue was necessary to make it real, regardless of what they were doing, or how they felt about it. There was an inevitability about it that I'd never fully appreciated."
Over the course of the tours that followed, Stillman transformed this appreciation of the shared moment into an ethic of spontaneity that guided the development of his live set. "An important reference for this set has always been an Animal Collective show I saw when I first moved to New York, probably in 2001 or so, that has always set the high-water mark for what I wanted to do live- they were improvising a lot, and out of what would seem to be absolute chaos they'd find their way to something structured, and then back out again into the unknown. It was so thrilling to witness".
ThoughSomething About Livingcompiles recordings from different dates along the tour, Stillman has edited and mixed them into a work that seeks to reflect the ebb and flow between 'chaos and control' that characterizes his live set. Among the compositions featured are some from previous album releases ("Time of Waves", "What I Owe", "What Does it Mean to Be American") as well as some new compositions ("The Dream of Waking", "Renaissance 2.0," and the title track, "Something About Living").
The album/track title "Something About Living" is a reference to a line from Stillman's favorite film,My Dinner With André: "André Gregory is explaining the value of life experiences that, as he says, are'to do with living'.That really struck me, the way he articulated it. I strongly believe live music situations can ask these kinds of questions, for performers and audiences. I hope that's reflected in this music."

Latin funk at its finest. A kingpin player of Miami’s Cuban music scene, Ray Fernandez, brought together his ‘court’ for this sensational Afro-Cuban funk triumph. Largely a family affair, the album features his wife, two sons and a range of other talented musicians including Rickey Washington on saxophone, father of the contemporary jazz maestro Kamasi Washington. Originally released in 1973 on Manuel J. Mato’s iconic and collectible Sound Triangle Records, Ray & His Court is a dose of Miami heat fuelled by a Cuban fire, taking in salsa, soul, funk, calypso and Afro-Cuban rhythms.

A kaleidoscopic album that draws influence from a range of different genres and scenes blended together in true Ray Fernandez style. Side A, showcases an array of traditional Latin workouts including the addictive enticing opener 'La Señorita Lola' and the pulsating 'Lo Sabia' with its punchy horns and Ray’s wonderful, quirky bubbling organ groove. The tantalising ‘Venimos Acabando’ and bouncing organ stabs of ‘El Alacran’ are two further tickets to get a dancefloor vibing.

The B-side then steps things up, slipping a hit of heavy-weight Miami funk into the mix. Take the DJ favourite ‘Cookie Crumbs’ with its fiery bassline, tripped-out voiceovers and breakbeat drums. Or the amazing, memorable and truly unique funk instrumental ‘Soul Freedom’ with some mighty fine bass clarinet work courtesy of Gary Gottfried. Also featured is a seductive organ-led Cuban funk rework of Bobby Hebb's 'Sunny' (are there any bad versions of this song?), with a sumptuous female vocal that combine to serve up a seductive take us this much-loved classic.

'Ray And His Court' is a brilliant blend of Afro-Cuban gems and Miami funk heat from an influential group on Miami’s Latin music scene. A majestic and magnetic classic where every track is a surefire winner.

Florida producer, multi-instrumentalist and coder Tristan Whitehill - AKA Euglossine - continues to surprise with his latest record. "Biggest Part" is a departure from previous styles - the early interstellar sound design, serrated onslaughts, and later labyrinthine meme jazz and rain soaked bossa guitar.
The songs here are perhaps his most musical - and vulnerable - to date. Familiar glow-worm melodies and meandering bass are now supplemented with lead vocals, big hooks, and backing singers (!?). Tristan's storytelling has always been rooted in imagined worlds, but the cast of characters and magical interludes that bubble up from "Biggest Part" are his most soulful and relatable yet, for all their fairytale bizarre-ness.
Recommended if you like Steely Dan, Beatrix Potter, Untitled Goose Game.

Debut solo album from Hundred Waters m...

Big Crown Records is proud to present Forever & Ever, the debut album from Thee Heart Tones. Hailing from Hawthorne, California, Thee Heart Tones are both carrying on a tradition and pushing the boundaries with their music. Lead singer Jazmine Alvarado is just 19 years old and the oldest member of the group, Jorge Rodriguez is 21, but one listen to their record and it becomes blatantly apparent they are a talent well beyond their years. Thee Heart Tones are Jazmine on vocals, Ricky Cerezo on keys and organ, Jorge on drums, Jeffrey Romero on bass, Peter Chagolla on lead guitar, and Walter Morales on rhythm guitar. As the story goes, "one day I got a DM from Ricky Cerezo asking if I wanted to write a song for his new (then unnamed) band," Jazmine says. "I knew his drummer and the other boys from middle school, so they were familiar faces. They sent me an mp3 of an instrumental they'd written and told me they wanted lyrics, so I wrote some and sent it to them." That song ended up being "Don't Take Me as a Fool," a downbeat, minor key ballad on which Jazmine's sultry, pitch-perfect vocals soar, and which is now destined for their debut album. Ricky went home to play "Don't Take Me As a Fool", recorded as a voice note on his phone, to his dad. "I was hesitant. Dad knew this music better than anyone; he grew up with it. But he grabbed my phone and held it to his ear. His approval meant a lot to me. But he had the same reaction Jorge and I did when we fi¬rst heard Jazmine sing. `This is going to be a hit,' he told me. `You guys have something really special here'." It was that same recording that caught the ears of Leon Michels and Danny Akalepse of Big Crown Records, who both heard the potential in the group immediately. After they signed to the label, Leon flew out to Los Angeles to record their debut album with Tommy Brenneck at Tommy's Diamond West studio. They knocked out 14 songs in fi¬ve days, capturing the charm of teenage soul and mixing it with their seasoned production prowess and the result is a modern classic Soul album. Album opener and title track "Forever & Ever" is an infectious two-stepper that instantly lifts your mood while heavy duty B side ballads like "Should I Call You Tonight", "Cry My Tears Away", and "It's Time" hold court with the genre's classics. They pick up the pace and ¬fill the dancefloor with "Need Something More" as Jazmine matter of factly sets the record straight on a Northern Soul styled track. They cover the Alvaro Carrillo penned classic "Sabor A Mi" to great effect, doing it justice and putting their version right up there with the best of them. Another standout is their version of The Vanguards classic "Somebody Please" which they change the tone of and take to a different level. The punching drums of "No Longer Mine" juxtapose Jazmine's honeyed vocals and wind up with the gritty energy of a mid-90s hip hop sample. Forever & Ever is both a testament to their unmistakable musical chemistry and talent. Their intentions as a band are testament to their collective character. Choosing to cover "Sabor A Mi" "allows us to let our audience know we go back to our roots," Jazmine says. "Growing up in LA, you get influenced by the city, the artwork, the music," Ricky says. "Dad didn't own a lowrider car, but other members of our family did. Impalas. El Caminos. We were influenced by the culture, particularly Chicano culture. And oldies and soul music played a big part." The style. The culture. The nod to the past. "That's what we're going for. We want to connect young Chicanos with their heritage. And we want to unite people _ old and young."