Back catalogue: All genres

Review: It has been a full half a century since legendary Brazilian outfit Azymuth made their debut and their new album, Marca Passo, reaffirms their place as legends of jazz-funk. It was recorded in Rio and produced by Daniel Maunick and is the group's first album since drummer Ivan "Mamao" Conti's passing, with bassist Alex Malheiros now the sole founding member. He's joined by Kiko Continentino and new drummer Renato Massa to continue Azymuth's tradition of blending samba soul, funk and cosmic jazz. Highlights include a tribute to Conti, 'Samba Pro Mamao,' and a refreshed take on 'Last Summer In Rio.' The album is a vital, heartfelt continuation of Azymuth's enduring legacy.

Review: Calibro 35 recalibrate with Exploration, a fresh dive into cinematic jazz-funk marking their first full-length LP on the independent since 2023's Nouvelle Aventures, continuing the path set by last year's 'Jazzploitation' EP. Yarning vintage soundtrack stylings with contemporary groove, the Milan group balance reverent covers - like Roy Ayers' 'Coffy' and Bob James' 'Nautilus' with bold, golden originals. Lead tune 'Reptile Strut', not to mention 'The Twang' and 'Pied De Poule', twine round taut rhythms, lush horn lines, and evocative cinematic textures. The band tips its hat to touchstones like Herbie Hancock, Lalo Schifrin, and Italian great Piero Umiliani, whose 'Discomania' appears on the accompanying limited clear blue 7" single, backed with 'Jazz Carnival'.

Review: Cicciolina. Now there's a character. Disco-pop singer, porn star, politician, and ex-wife/muse of legendary shiny balloon artist Jeff Koons i it's fair to say the Italo-Hungarian icon has worn a few hats over the years. Perversion features a selection of reissued tracks from her 80s heyday, including the magnificently titled 'Sexy Porno Shop', which in itself renders the record worthy of consideration. If you hadn't already guessed from the preamble, the music is kitsch, to say the least, with bubblegum vocals, earworm synth lines and generally pulsing tempos. But there are hidden gems: the (ahem) innocent vocals and twinkling melodies of 'Goccioline', the rousing congas and inspired 'no drugs, I love sex, much more sex' vocal of 'No Drugs', and the brilliant cover of the Rolling Stones' 'Satisfaction'. Echoing far, far simpler times, it's either politically incorrect nostalgia or pioneering, sexually liberated abandon. Either way, it's bags of fun.

Review: Amsterdam-based duo Maarten Smeets and Lars Dales - Dam Swindle - offer us their album, Open, prying ajar our otic tract with 14 quixotic tracks. After years of introspection, Open marks a rupture, as the pair break from their preeminent deep house for an even-deeper-down embrace of the lower tempi, with them now incorporating synthwave, hip-house, and ambient elements. A first taster comes with the smoothly lavished 'Girl' with Faye Meana, while 'Bloom' with Joep Beving develops the theme of self-analysis through well-shovelled deep house chords. Still reining in some four-to-the-floor precepts, Dam Swindle have nonetheless presented their most heartfelt and least harried detour to date.

Review: "Instead of escaping somewhere else, this time I want to be here." We're not 100% sure if that's Fabiano or E35 Netherlands quoted, and woe betide anyone who thinks they can interpret such cryptic (not to mention borrowed) quips without asking the person who said them what they meant. Nevertheless, Landmarks very quickly presents itself as an ambient beauty born of this planet and nowhere else. At times the sounds are challenging - heavily textured tracks rather than the lush dreamscapes we often associate with the rather reductive 'ambient' label. Sometimes things are quite eerie, like the disquiet that materialises around halfway through 'Flowers On The Hospital Grounds', and the dense static waves of 'Saturated Memory On A Rooftop'. At other moments, tones invoke the mystery of night skies over Earth, or the rhythm of a world filled with enough life to mean we're still finding new species today.

Review: An exceptional, almost entirely unreleased jazz-funk LP from Roland Haynes Jr., previously known only for a single 45 released in 1983 (included here). If you're thinking undiscovered James Mason, you're on the right track. This LP is huge, even by the highest standards. Until now, that rare single was the only material trace of Haynes and his band. However, Haynes meticulously documented his musical journey, recording both packed-out live gigs and studio sessions. The tracks on this release come directly from Haynes' personal archive, offering an incredible glimpse into his unreleased, carefully crafted studio work.

Review: The latest Lindstrom album is so good that he appears to have dispensed with the spell-checker for the copy i but it's always such a terrific pleasure to hear new music from the Norse disco titan that even the most uptight proofreader will surely forgive him. Back in the noughties, he and compatriot Prins Thomas flipped the script with their immaculately crafted take on the meta-disco sound. And though the frequency of Lindstrom's output has slowed over time, the quality of his production retains its magnificent allure. Syrius Syntoms begins with a bang i glistening synths, snappy drums and pristine melodics on 'Crkl' i before taking acidic turns via 'Thousand Island Man' and drifting into dreamland on 'Moo)n'. 'These Are a Few of My Favorite Strings' adds a little NY house bump, with evocative keys and low-end groove, while the feel-good arps and bouncy bass of the title track are vintage Lindstrom i full of kitsch sparkle and joyous main room energy. Top marks.

Review: Germany's funk collective expand their sound on this release, recorded live at the MPS studio in the Black Forest. The raw, break-heavy foundation remains, but the album ventures into jazz, soul, and psychedelia, capturing an organic energy that feels both spontaneous and precise. Tracks like 'Open The Gate' blend punchy brass with intricate rhythms, while 'Spinning' layers folk-psych guitar and cinematic horns, creating a fluid dialogue between the musicians. 'Back And Better' highlights Nichola Richards' soulful vocals, adding depth to the sparse beats. The album also explores playful experimentation, with 'Sparks of Joy' embracing a swampy groove, and 'Phantom Power' introducing an electric phin, nodding to world jazz influences. Carlton Jumel Smith's performance on 'Can't Stop This Fire' and the gospel-tinged 'Homebound' anchor the album, grounding its expansive journey. The result is a cohesive and evolving soundione that truly captures the clearly audible joy of collaboration.

Review: Italian DJ and Producer Jo Paciello proves that full length album do very much still have a place int he modern world wit his superb debut on Groove Culture. The title of this one gives you an idea of what to expect - jazzy melodies and sophisticated house beats. He does so with a modern viewpoint but also plenty of reverence for the glory days of jazzy house. Trumpets, saxophones and guitars all feature here and embellish the drums with quality, meaningful layers of melody adn mood. As he merges the past and present, this richly textured work shines with improvisation and timeless deep house warmth.

Review: The Iron Curtain, a politically charged term of the 20th century, symbolised the divide between East and West. Winston Churchill famously referenced this metaphor, describing how an "Iron Curtain" descended upon Europe, obscuring the actions behind it. This two-parter record from Jazzman does the impossible, lifting the curtain through sound alone, representing jazz's ablation of political and cultural barriers, as it flourished in Soviet states and exposed the contradictory histories of Soviet jazz, from the 1960s to the 80s. Despite Cold War tensions and MADs, the Soviets didn't hold their breath for a second, embracing the jazz modernisms of hard bop, modal, Latin jazz and Eastern folk-jazz. The resilience of jazz artists during an era of geopolitical conflict thus offers a sprightly affirmation of spirituality and formal reinvention, in the face of adversity.

Review: A new compilation from Spiritual Jazz shows the genre's predisposition to thrive despite heavy political oppression, with underworld eminents euphonating their radical music despite a hard immuring behind the Iron Curtain, which represented the gash between East and West during the Cold War. Contemporary jazz and European folk collide on the first of a two-parter record here, reflecting muted but reassuring sonic utterances sounding against oppression, a somewhat unspeakable sentiment whipping across the Eastern Bloc of the 50s and 60s. Vagif Mustafa Zade, an Azerbaijani pianist, and the Manfred Ludwig Sextett, from the same era, are only two such featured artists; they helped push the embrace hard bop and modal, and the boundaries of what was permissible under the regime.