Def Presse Vinyl & CDs

Review: Tom Caruana's Salsa Verde marks the seventh chapter in Def Presse's Crate Diggers series with KPM, built around exclusive access to the exalted library music production house whose reserves have fuelled hip-hop samplers, among others, for decades. A seasoned producer and multi-instrumentalist with a now 25-year track record, Caruana takes to the craft with easy motor automaticity, handling drums, keys, bass, and guitar himself, all while using samples for colour and melody rather than structure. The result is a rich, boom-bap-rooted album inhumed in live instrumentation, plus contributions from UK and US MCs. Caruana merges subtle humour, reflections on social media, and a refined, not overwrought showmanship.

Review: Earl "Damu the Fudgemunk" Davis returns with Peace of Action, the latest addition to Def Presse's KPM partnership series. Known for his standout Conversation Peace in 2021, Damu builds on the momentum, delivering nine fresh, fully instrumental tracksihis first purely instrumental project in over seven years. With no vocals and an absence of guests, Damu dives deep into KPM's archive, unearthing new sounds while breaking his own creative boundaries. Peace of Action blends jazz sensibilities with hip-hop techniques, crafting a dynamic, story-driven album where each track stands alone yet ties into a broader, transformative theme. From the meticulous crate digging to the rich textures, it's an intricate exploration of rhythm and sound, reflecting the accelerated changes of the past few years. A masterclass in storytelling without words, Damu reimagines jazz through a contemporary lens, rooted in the tradition of classic samples but with a fresh, forward-thinking approach.

Review: Dizraeli's fallback bio is "multi-instrumentalist MC, singer, producer from Bristol, UK, distributing explosions that journalists find hard to describe." Well, we'll happily rise to the challenge, if not because it is our job. The Bristol-born artist has found a slow but sure footing in recent years on the UK jazz circuit, and now proffers his latest record Joy Machine to the collective ear. ecorded almost entirely in a single day at the legendary Total Refreshment Centre in London, the album brings together faces both new and old in London's new jazz pizzazz, from Alabaster DePlume to Jonathon Enser (Nubiyan Twist), from Ben Brown (Alfa Mist, Mulatu Astatke) to Daisy George and Joe Downard; the list goes on. A steamy and varied record following the tradition of Miles Davis' Bitches Brew, Dizraeli's now patented new album/invention - bound, of course, to deliver on its promiseL: the soliciting of joy - does just that, albeit in a curveball manner. Rather than putting on a pure rictus smile, Dizraeli opts for a sultry sepia sound, one that hardly fails to find joy in the many mournful corners of life (he grieves his dog on 'Greek Summer', and pens a timeless letter to a long-lost friend on 'Abigail').

Review: As a powerhouse for new hip-hop, Washington D.C. still stands strong, and it centres on two masterminds known as Raw Poetic and Damu The Fudgemunk. Here the artists present the limited LP version of their latest album, 'Laminated Skies', self-described as a 9 track meander through blossoming feel-good funk, hip hop, chamber music and pop. Fans of Chance The Rapper or

Review: A sonic space opera for hip-hop, jazz and electronica, Raw Poetic's 'Space Beyond The Solar System' is a huge project, conveying the grandiosity - and potential unendingness - of the cosmos' outer reaches. Charting collaborations between Raw and his friends Damu The Fudgemunk and legendary sax player Archie Shepp, this is a playful LP that eschews narrative for pure punk creativity, nihilistically shouting 'sike!' at our assumption that this might be a concept album in favour of skit-heavy freakouts and cloudy movers.