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Tomorrow's Warriors' alumnus and part of all-female septet, Nerija, Rosie Turton presents her first release as a Quintet on the Jazz re:freshed label. As part of the 5ive's series, the tracks blend the sound of trombone, violin and electronics over a bed of interlocking grooves and soundscapes from the rhythm section and explore the sounds of jazz, hip-hop and Indian classical music among other influences. Tip!

Volume three in the Mr Bongo Record club series. Another showcase of recent vinyl finds and favourites from our DJ sets and radio shows. This is an extra special one however, as it lands in 2019, the year that we celebrate 30 years since it all began way back in 1989.
In celebration of the 30 years of Mr Bongo, 2019 will see a host of exciting events and even more releases. We take over Brighton Dome on the opening weekend of the Brighton Festival in May, an in-store takeover at Rough Trade East, in July a week long ‘Album Club’ at Spiritland, more at RAPPCATS in LA, record fairs in Utrecht and New York, alongside the digging (and no doubt surfing!) trips to Brazil, India, Australia, Portugal and France…
We’re releasing brand new music from punk-reggae superstars, The Skints; the previously undiscovered 25-year old master composer & arranger, Kit Sebastian; and crossover UK hip hop live show dons, Jungle Brown, this year.
Compiled by David Buttle and Gareth Stephens, assisted by Graham Luckhurst and Gary Johnson.

Koma Saxo is a highly potent new five-piece produced by the visionary Berlin-based Swedish bassist-producer Petter Eldh. The lineup brings together five heavy jazz names on the Berlin–Nordics axis, including Eldh on bass, Christian Lillinger on drums and the frontline of three saxes: Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar and Mikko Innanen. Despite the top-billing names, make no mistake: this is not just another "supergroup", but a real working band with their own sound and musical trejectory.
Eldh's vision for the Koma Saxo sound is one step ahead of what groovy avantgarde jazz could sound like in 2019, involving postproduction work with the raw material recorded in Helsinki in connection to Koma Saxo's successful debut at the We Jazz Festival. Both studio and live tapes exist side by side, and Eldh goes deep in molding the final music to be heard on the upcoming Koma Saxo releases.
The first introduction into the world of Koma Saxo comes in the form of a 7"/digital single "Port Koma / Fanfarum For Komarum". Side A presents a restlessly dubby beat track, which would be ripe for hiphop sample use. The flip launches into a joyful full-on groovy free jazz fest which is hard to resist. Think Art Ensemble of Chicago at their swingingest but add a little "Nordic Noir" dropped right into the busy streets of Berlin's Kreuzberg.

Any 45 by musician and composer Pat Van Dyke is a
must own—the tastiest of treats for your turntable.
This fresh platter of wax builds upon the success of
Van Dyke's 2018 full length effort “Hello, Summer”
which received overwhelming support and praise
from Pitchfork, Wax Poetics, Fleamarket Funk and
more. Pitchfork nicely summed up that LP: The New
Jersey jazzman combines hip-hop sensibilities with
the precision of Count Basie in a collection of highly
controlled compositions that are nonetheless warm,
languid, and dedicated to the funk.
Pat’s dedication continues to be on display on
everything he touches—this time on two brand new
cuts; “New Memories” b/w “Alright By Me”. Both
tracks burst with melody, the right amount of
breeziness and cleverness. Recorded at home on the
vintage Tascam 388 Eight Track tape machine, Pat
performed the rhythm section tracks on his own
before adding featured soloists Zac Colwell
(Saxophone on "New Memories") and Matt Chertkoff
(Guitar on "Alright By Me").
Van Dyke’s work is unbeatable and he’s managed to
keep his releases in a cadence that keeps audiences
hungry and quality control top of mind.
A sureshot. And as always, best paired with a fine
IPA or that Sunday morning coffee.

Dynamite cuts gives you a wonderful hard to find Jazz 45, from the Canadian P.M label. Bernie Senensky, a superb piano player, set the pace with this Hard Piano driven jazz groove. With a little treasure on the flips with Beloved Gift, a superb interlude that ends with Heavy bass hip hop vibes

Hailing from one of the world’s most famous harbours, Rotterdam, a true multicultural melting-pot, the music by 6-piece band called the Greyheads mirrors the daily life of this busy city. They approach jazz from a hip-hop point of view, or hip-hop from a jazz point of view, always carefully adding a perfect dose of other influences (all the members are heavily influenced by artists like Miles Davis, J Dilla, Herbie Hancock and Robert Glasper) with an exciting, groovy and vibrant tone.

After having self-released their debut EP "GREYHEADS × KYTOPIA" in 2017, they recently finished recording "HOMES", their first full length album.

Led by drummer Nello Biasini, this truly international band of like minded musicians was formed in 2016 and have since been busy creating their own, fresh and unique sound. Whether an intimate jazz club or the main stage of a big festival, they are all about creating a feel-good groovy vibe using live rlectronics, drum 'n bass, jazz, hip hop and pop fused together.

GreyHeads performed at NN North Sea Jazz 2019 and several other festivals such as So What's Next Festival, Jazz Delft Festival, Cutting Edge, ProJazz, Big Rivers Festival, as well as opening for the bands Moonchild and Knower.

'Homes' is a journey through space and time, travelling in opposite but jointed paths that lead to the places we call home. The concept of the record is to carry the listener to experience what every place and time can in any way, represent home, characterized by different atmospheres, sounds, images and sensations.

On the heels of massive successes with his main projects Lettuce and Break Science, celebrated collaborations with jazz guitar luminary John Scofield, and high profile hip-hop production placements with the likes of 50 Cent, Talib Kweli, and Redman, GRAMMY-nominated drummer/producer Adam Deitch finally unveils Egyptian Secrets, the long-awaited debut LP from his Adam Deitch Quartet. A fluid expression of the funkier side of soul-jazz, Deitch and his curated collective hint at the avant-garde, but stay grounded in warm traditions. AD4 adventures through the vibrant forest of late 60’s Verve and Blue Note cool, respectfully mining the essential elements of what makes a great hip-hop break, and then Deitch reimagines them in his own contemporary context.

In December 2013, after a Lettuce show at the Fillmore, Deitch connected with Bay Area organist Wil Blades. They played together for a late night jam at a popular haunt Boom Boom Room in San Francisco, and there was an instant chemistry. Blades had come up in the Chicago blues scene, before relocating to the West Coast. There, he studied and performed with venerable Hammond organ virtuosos Dr. Lonnie Smith and Ronnie Foster, titans of this specific brand of late 60’s/early 70’s B3-bolstered rare groove and jazz funk.

After establishing a rock solid rapport and common goal with Blades, Deitch reached out to his trusty cohorts Ryan Zoidis (saxophones) and Eric Benny Bloom (trumpet), aka The Lettuce Horns. Both players are well versed in the groove-jazz aesthetic with the vocabularies to match; the duo solidified the AD4 lineup and soon the drummer’s long dreamt-of, organ-driven groove quartet was born.
The fledgeling band began by performing exclusively covers, a selection of timeless tunes from Grant Green, Jimmy Smith, Cannonball Adderley and even Michael Jackson, the quartet traversing warm arrangements of familiar classics, songs levitating somewhere between jazz and funk. Firmly ensconced in the rare-groove idiom, AD4 channeled and established a vibe, and then Deitch began to carefully integrate his own masterful compositions to their repertoire; slowly but surely, Egyptian Secrets began to take shape. But not before a superhero would jump into the frey; guitarist and jazz immortal John Scofield, who once tapped a young Deitch to be his co-pilot on his celebrated Uberjam efforts, wanted in on the action. Before long, the prodigious axe-man had contributed to three songs on the LP, and his patented jazz-fusion serenade informs the identity of Egyptian Secrets in subtle, nuanced fashion.

Sauce Combo is a powerful and dynamic jazz trio lead by Marcjean, saxophonist from Bestown (Besançon), sided by the mercenary drummer Tom Moretti and the melodious Victor Pierrel on bass. The trio's music takes place in the modern jazz renewing coming especially from England and the USA. France has now a champion.
Inspirated by vintage african and west indies jazz, 70's jazz funk and fusion but also 90's drum & bass, broken beat and hip hop, the repertoire is a rich jazz bomb exploding to the ears. Each second brings its his new colorful burst to admire. The band's brilliant game makes it a living listening experience. The music is rich and versatile but cohesive and united. Why?
Crash Test came to light in one day during a single 7 hours recording session at the Honey For Bear laboratories. Arnaud Bataillard, the sound's engineer, wanted to try several new tubes and audio gears added in his studio set up. The trio went to test it in a crash test session. All the recordings could have been compromise somewhere but... What was before planned as a try ended into a fantastic album. The mental disposition, while playing when you know that all can be lost in a minute, gave the musicians the proper dimension to express their feelings in a total freedom. They were playing for pleasure and without any pressure. It was for all, but it could have been also for nothing. And we can literally feel that.
This unique record had to be release as soon as possible to transmit the freshness of this beautiful impact to the listeners. Above all, Clément Laurentin's "Equilibre Précaire VI" achieves this album, offering a painting with four figures at the edge of the fall, in a constant imbalance, playing with time and gravity. It's the perfect allegory for the three band's members plus the engineer while making this record.

imited to 100 copies.

Carsten Rubeling - trombone, keyboards
Andre Wickenheiser - trumpet, flugelhorn
Steve Fletcher - keyboards
Steve Shepard - bass, synth bass
Colin Adhikary - drums

Composed/Arranged/Produced by Carsten Rubeling
Co-produced by Sean Nimmons-Patterson
Recorded by Patrick Palardy at Public Lunch Studios
Mixed by Trey Mills at Unbound by Sound
Inner Ocean Records © 2019

Trombonist and Composer, Carsten Rubeling features his debut album on Inner Ocean Records. A powerful and fluid blend of jazz, soul, hip-hop and electronic music, skillfully navigating between traditional and modern influences on a distinctive sonic path.

Rubeling wrote and produced VOLK//PEOPLE with a vision to mix acoustic and electronic palettes in a way that never obscures its human feel. He weaves a fabric of hard-hitting drums, soulful improvisations and warm synthetics with the vibes of a live, instrumental mix tape.

Originally from Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, Carsten Rubeling is one of Canada's most active and dynamic trombonists and composers, highly in demand playing a wide array of music from jazz and classical music to hip hop, salsa and everything between.

Carsten completed his Masters Degree in Jazz Performance at the City University of New York where he studied with Michael Philip Mossman, Antonio Hart and Michael Dease. He earned his Undergraduate degree in Jazz Studies from Humber College in Toronto where he played alongside some of the Canada's best jazz musicians including Pat LaBarbera, Alastair Kay, and John MacLeod.

US issue of 2019’s "Doğu Çiçekleri”

This is the first stop on Sven Wunders musical journey. Wunder takes the listener somewhere around the easternmost part of the Mediterranean Sea, around the Levantine Sea, where he paints a colourful portrait and illustrates the regions flora through sound. The fruitage is a vivid bouquet where Wunder fuses colours and pigments by using traditional and modern instruments merged with arrangements and melodies that stretches from popular to folk music by portraying tulips, red roses, hibiscus, hyacinths, chamomile, magnolia, daisies etcetera. With both fine and thick brushes are these flowers being pictured in a both modern and classic idiom. The outcome is prismatic. It stands between Anatolian rock and European jazz-funk with ponderous drum patterns, groovy organs, far-out synthesizers, enchanting Saz and impetuous bass lines. Eastern Flowers sweeps through time and space and points towards the future. It could appeal both psych and prog listeners, folk or jazz aficionados and as well the gourmet hip hop connoisseurs.

Eastern Flowers is the US issue of 2019’s Docu Çiçekleri. This record is produced with financial support from the Swedish Arts Council.

Sprouting from a rich humus of Latin and African polyrhythms, GHOST HORSE creates a fusion of free jazz, hip hop, blues & loop music. The result is fascinating but quietly menacing, pulsing & breathing with the visceral force of nature reclaiming abandoned structures. Full Color Poster insert!
Generic Gatefold Cover.

Pyaen is the reflection of 5 souls. Their joy, their happiness, their worries and experiences come together in one unified higher identity. Pyaen’s story will be expressed not only musically but also with other visual arts. Consisting of guitarist Dani Diodato, trumpeter Dylan Jones, saxophonist Ben Vize, drummer Charlie Hutchinson and bass player Benjamin Crane, Pyaen have been touring in the UK this year with dates at iconic venues such as the Jazz Cafe, Vortex Jazz Club and Ronnie Scott’s as well as playing Glastonbury, Love Supreme and Brainchild Festival. Described by Jazz Wise Review as having “a groove propelled with dynamism and formidable technique”, Pyaen seamlessly meld funk, afro-beat and contemporary sounds with nods to hip-hop and disco, whilst acknowledging the traditional era of 1920s jazz and dance music. Their debut self-titled album ‘Pyaen’ was released on 20th September 2019, both digitally and physically with 300 limited copies of Vinyl being distributed across selected UK record stores, as well as Bandcamp. The album will also be supported by a graphic novel, which will tell the story of Pyaen and the influences and stories behind the songs.

Following a wide variety of solo albums, sepalot released his two-part series of albums “hide&” and “seek” in 2017. with this exceptional release the Foundation to an additional musical passion was laid and with the help of his newly established quartet, his studio antics made it to the big stage.
“The issue was always: How could I transport my work as a producer and beatmaker on to a stage? How can something, that is happening behind locked doors in the studio, emerge into a live experience?” With this vivacious live quartet, he has found his answer.
Songs from a productive solo career spanning a period of over 10 years, Sepalot has a wide variety of songs to pick and choose from. Even in the live set up, his ove for electronic music remains unaffected and the subtle in uence of Hip Hop is undeniable. Despite this being the ini- tial state of the project, a distinctive sound has evolved from jamming together in dark rehearsal rooms. The different characters compliment each other like a puzzle on stage, though Sepalot’s part as producer and svengali is undisputable.
The electronic beats, the pulsating bass, Sepalot’s enthusiasm for ambient sound design – all this remains unchanged and is garnished with the element of jazz. A unique, unequalled sound that strives for high- er ideals and has immense international potential.
In 2018 the quartet performed in Cannes for a an established automotive trade show, at the “Jazz Week” (London), at the “Jazz in allen Gassen” (Dachau) and and in September at the “Reeperbahn festival” (Hamburg). In the beginning of 2019 a tour all the way through Germany is in the making.

Italian cult combo CALIBRO 35 release their highly anticipated 7th studio album “DECADE” on January 24th 2020. “Momentum” follows “DECADE” their previous studio album released in 2018 that has marked 10 years of Calibro 35 and it stands out as a new starting point for the project. In the last 10 years Calibro 35 have dug the golden age of soundtracks and they’ve been to the future with “S.P.A.C.E.”, “Momentum”, as the band stated: "represents a look at nowadays and a reflection about making music right in the time that we’re living”.
Inspired by the work of artists such as Tortoise, Jagajazzist, Dj Shadow, Budos Band, Stelvio Cipriani, Ennio Morricone, Sandro Brugnolini, White Noise, Comet is Coming, JPEGMafia and DJ Signify, compare to the previous Calibro 35’s full lengths on the 10 tracks that make up the new album band’s instruments and sounds have increased in number and complexity as the reality around has it too. The music palette is further extended by incorporating even more synths and electronic sounds, but keeping everything true and 100% real, with all the instruments played live and with no presets or programming. The two featurings on the album serve the cause as well. On the first single “Stan Lee” they’ve collaborated with rapper, producer and songwriter Illa J a former member of super group Slum Village and younger brother of the late legendary hip hop producer and rapper J Dilla. On “Black Moon”, the Milan combo provided the groove for London-based artist MEI. "If Decade was the sum of everything that the band had felt in the previous ten years" Calibro 35 says "Momentum is the prequel of what you will hear in the next ten".

To mark the new beginning and come full circle, the recordings took place under the expert hands of usual suspect Tommaso Colliva, in the same studio where Calibro released their self titled debut album twelve years ago.
Been sampled by Dr. Dre on his Compton album and Jay-Z, Love Child & Damon Albarn CALIBRO 35 enjoys a worldwide reputation as one of the coolest independent band around. During their ten years career they shared stages worldwide with the likes of Roy Ayers, Muse, Sun Ra Arkestra, Sharon Jones, Thundercat, Headhunters and as unique musicians they've collaborated with, amongst others PJ Harvey, Mike Patton, John Parish and Stewart Copeland and Nic Cester (The Jet). Described by Rolling Stone magazine's as "the most fascinating, retro-maniac and genuine thing, that happened to Italy in the last years", Calibro 35 now count on a number of aficionados worldwide which includes VIP’s fans such as Dj Food (Ninja Tune), Mr Scruff and Huey Morgan (Fun Lovin’ Criminals) among others.

"I'm always looking for ways to be surprised," says composer and multi instrumentalist Jeff Parker as he explains the process, and the thinking, behind his new album Suite for Max Brown, released via a new partnership between International Anthem and Nonesuch Records.
"If I sit down at the piano or with my guitar, with staff paper and a pencil, I'm eventually going to fall into writing patterns, into things I already know. So, when I make music, that's what I'm trying to get away from-the things that I know." Despite its musical departures, in presentation Suite for Max Brown is an informal companion piece to The New Breed, Parker's debut release on International Anthem, which was honored as one of the "Best Albums of 2016" by New York Times, Observer, and Los Angeles Times.
"I made The New Breed based off these old sample-based compositions and mixed them with improvising," Parker says. "That's in a nutshell how I make a lot of my music; it's a combination of sampling, editing, retriggering audio, and recording it, moving it around and trying to make it into something cohesive... With Max Brown, it's evolved." Though Parker collaborates with a coterie of musicians under the group name The New Breed, theirs is by no means a conventional "band" relationship.
Parker is very much a solo artist on Suite for Max Brown. His accompanists are often working alone with Parker, reacting to what Parker has provided them, and then Parker uses those individual parts to layer and assemble into his final tracks. The process may be relatively solitary and cerebral, but the results feel like in-the-moment jams-warm-hearted, human, alive. Suite for Max Brown brims with personality, boasting the rhythmic flow of hip hop and the soulful swing of jazz.

"I'm always looking for ways to be surprised," says composer and multi instrumentalist Jeff Parker as he explains the process, and the thinking, behind his new album Suite for Max Brown, released via a new partnership between International Anthem and Nonesuch Records.
"If I sit down at the piano or with my guitar, with staff paper and a pencil, I'm eventually going to fall into writing patterns, into things I already know. So, when I make music, that's what I'm trying to get away from-the things that I know." Despite its musical departures, in presentation Suite for Max Brown is an informal companion piece to The New Breed, Parker's debut release on International Anthem, which was honored as one of the "Best Albums of 2016" by New York Times, Observer, and Los Angeles Times.
"I made The New Breed based off these old sample-based compositions and mixed them with improvising," Parker says. "That's in a nutshell how I make a lot of my music; it's a combination of sampling, editing, retriggering audio, and recording it, moving it around and trying to make it into something cohesive... With Max Brown, it's evolved." Though Parker collaborates with a coterie of musicians under the group name The New Breed, theirs is by no means a conventional "band" relationship.
Parker is very much a solo artist on Suite for Max Brown. His accompanists are often working alone with Parker, reacting to what Parker has provided them, and then Parker uses those individual parts to layer and assemble into his final tracks. The process may be relatively solitary and cerebral, but the results feel like in-the-moment jams-warm-hearted, human, alive. Suite for Max Brown brims with personality, boasting the rhythmic flow of hip hop and the soulful swing of jazz.

Henry Hicks AKA Horatio Luna is a Melbourne based improviser, composer, bassist and producer.
A founding member of hip-hop/soul community "30/70 collective", he is an active member of the Australian beatz, jazz and soul music scene.
After parting with 30/70 in 2019, Horatio featured on the Gilles Petersons Brownswood compilation 'Sunnyside Up', released a 12" 'Print It, Run It, Send It', Remixed Moodyman approved Jitwams music and focused his sights on working and collaborating with the younger generation of players in Melbourne, serving as the musical director on 'downundaground' and joining Antiphon among many other groups.

The Brussellians of Commander Spoon interlace their eclectic wealth of influences into an energetic jazz sound, respectfully demolishing walls between jazz, hip hop, rock and electronica.

After the 2019 release of their debut album "Dark Smoke", the Danish trio Athletic Progression has gone from strength to strength in Denmark. Multiple sold out shows in DK and abroad, as well two Danish Jazz Award nominations - and even one for Danish musician of the year! - later, the group is now ready to release their next album, an instrumental opus years in the making. Highly recommended for fans of Thundercat, J Dilla, Comet is Coming and the likes.

We are excited to present Tom Misch and Yussef Dayes’ “What Kinda Music” – an astonishing collaboration between two artists of very different disciplines, and one of the most unique and seamlessly original projects of its ilk to date.

Moving fluidly through sleek electronica, avant-garde jazz, vintage hip hop and so much more, Misch and Dayes take you on a journey that is by turns surprising and spontaneous, heady and head spinning, and nothing less than compelling – a singular vision which fuses the DNA of both musicians with spectacular results, as can be seen in the title track, which comes backed by a gorgeously atmospheric video by XX.

Even though the fundamental bones of this project came together very quickly, its actual provenance stretches back much, much farther back, with the pair not only growing up in the same area of South East London, but Misch actually seeing Dayes play on drums in the school talent show for the first time when he was roughly 8 or 9. They both kept tabs on each other – Misch becoming a fan of Dayes’ act Yussef Kamaal, Dayes clocking his videos in 2014 – but it was only when they met at a launch party for Misch’s debut LP “Geography” in 2018 that the proverbial creative sparks began to fly. “As a musician you’re always looking for contemporaries who can push you and challenge you and make you better”, says Dayes. “I instantly felt that with Tom – he was such a gifted musician, and so prolific”. That summer they decided to go into the studio together, jam a little, and see what happens, with no other expectation placed upon it.

As it turns out, the music came fast and furiously. Two initial tracks were suddenly followed by a handful of others, and the pair found themselves contemplating what to do next. “Pretty soon, we knew that something was gelling”, Dayes says. “It didn’t feel like a one-off collaboration, it felt like a body of work”. What made the pair click, according to Misch and Dayes, were the exact same factors that meant it shouldn’t, by all rights, work. Misch says, “Yussef comes from a more experimental background, and he has a lot of loose, crazy ideas. I know how to write a catchy melody, but with interesting chords and have a good understanding of popular song forms, so I think I streamlined those ideas and made them accessible”. And certainly, in “What Kinda Music” you can sense the DNA of both musicians, but fusing so effortlessly and beautifully that it creates something else entirely, the appropriately named “Lift Off” sending goosebumps with its jazz flecked crescendo, and “Night Rider” hynotising with its deeply mesmeric grooves. “I have a love for harmony and chords”, Misch adds. “Working with someone like Yussef, who has such a gifted sense of rhythm allowed a perfect balance”.

Throughout the record, there is an utterly joyful feel of two musicians at the top of their game sparking off one another, picking up ideas and running with them – zigging where the other zags, ebbing where the other flows, with Misch producing the majority of the record and both having a hand in the overall sound and feel of the record.

“Working with Yussef has actually changed the way I work as a musician”, Misch muses. “He’s pushed me and unlocked a more experimental part of me that I hadn’t really allowed myself to explore before. I think we really did impact each other in a fundamental way”. Dayes is similarly effusive in his praise for Misch. “A musician like him, who’s at the top of his game, he doesn’t need to do this”, he raves. “He can just keep doing the same thing and why not? He’s killing it. The fact that he’s so humble, that he’s so curious about everything and open to collaboration, speaks a lot to him as an artist, because it’s not easy finding musicians who want to collaborate. Something always gets in the way, whether it’s ego or their team or whatever. But with Tom it felt like the intention was purely creative, and that’s what made it exciting”. In fact, Dayes says that the intentions of the record go even deeper than just music. “Both our parents who’d never met each other before, are now best friends as a result of this, they now see each other more than we do! I’d like to think, in some small way, that this album has a similar impact for people too – everything feels so divided these days, it would be nice for people to hear the record and hear two very different musicians coming together and realise it doesn’t have to be that way”.

The Berlin based label Sonar Kollektiv has been waiting for it anxiously: Key Elements‘ debut album leads Jazz music into the new decade down-the-line. The music Key Elements create is fresh, merciless and ruthless and has always the finger on the pulse of the time. The album‘s eight tracks are all far away from Broken Beat nostalgia or Beatmaking nedism, they breathe inspiration from the young, thriving British jazz scene.
Key Element‘s initiator, DJ and producer Marian Tone, built up a reputation in the Berlin hiphop, soul and jazz scene over the years (also as a co-founder of Beatkollektiv). With all of his compositions you always feel this heritage and his love and passion for hiphop. But the other two allys within «Key Elements», drummer Waldi and the keyboard or bass player Jim Dunloop made their contribution with compositions and ideas as well. An album which was initially designed to be a mere solo project became an effort of a trio over the years being inherently consistent. Already the opening track «Mike Needs Sugar» shows the direction this album will take us: To the land of the good groove. It‘s here where the three thoroughbred musicians feel on top of the world obviously and deliver one luscious track after the other. From the cheerful «Morning Boom» to the kinda furtively laid back «Impossible» and the final «Funky Dave», which could be on an Italian soundtrack from the 70‘s every single tone and note from «Key Elements» is great fun.
Especially because even when you listen to it a second, third or fourth time you will discover new nuances and niceties again and again. As is right and proper for really good jazz album.

The second offering by SEPALOT QUARTET presents itself as a loosely layered fusion album incorporating the best of jazz, indie and electronics - constantly infused by SEPALOT's HipHop roots. On A NEW CYCLE, the quartets first release, they had to limit themselves to delivering versions of SEPALOTS already released discography, a trial run they stated then. But the concept blossomed and with this album it came to fruition. The work on NOWNEXT provided a solid foundation for self-discovery on a grand scale. NOWNEXT is an unambiguous, contemporary album with international format, that draws its rich repertoire from the musical background of its diverse members (Sepalot, Angela Aux, Fabian Füss, Matthias Lindermayr). Memories, associations and visions are awakened and poured into a musical form.

Record Store Day 2020 Release.

Record Store Day exclusive Otherland expands on the themes of South Asian identity explored on Sarathy Korwar’s politically-charged and critically-lauded album More Arriving. "Otherland can be seen as a close blood relative to More Arriving,” Korwar explains. “The songs Juggernaut and Birthright were born during the writing for the album, and in my mind are a continuation of that record. Both songs play on themes of identity, ‘othering’ and borders.

Tushar Menon’s artwork draws attention to the bureaucracy and tedium that is every immigrant’s reality. Filling out a hundred forms to prove you belong. "Once again, the words of the South Asian diaspora are key, with Kushal Gaya (Melt Yourself Down), Mirande and Mumbai hip-hop collective Swadesi all lending their voices to Otherland. Birthright features another brilliant, cutting turn from London-based poet Zia Ahmed, whose dark, provocative sense of humour shone through on album tracks Bol and Mango, and has been a focal point for Korwar’s recent live shows.