Luaka Bop Vinyl & CDs

Review: The magnificent Luaka Bop label has been showcasing the work of Alhaji Waziri Oshomah - a master of Afro sounds and rhythms that cut deep - for a while now across several albums and compilations. He hails from Edo State in southern Nigeria and is known for holding sermons of the religious as well as musical sort. After various volumes of work and the superb World Spirituality Classics 3: The Muslim Highlife Of Alhaji Waziri Oshomah record comes this new series of gems that show off his unique take on international rhythms across four long, ever evolving and always engaging grooves.

Review: If you know Blunt's story then you'll already know how genuinely cool, exciting and creative he is. If you don't, look it up - he didn't even start learning to playing music until his mid-30s and he regularly touted his lo-fi, wonky community-spirited fuzzy funk by busking and performing at old people's homes. A big influence on Luka Bop founder David Byrne, Dean Blunt, Dam Funk and many more, this is the first time his work has been available since his highly sought after self-released album Gentle Persuasion. Scuffed, scratched and strangely mixed down, his status as an 'outsider funk' spokesman makes complete sense when heard in all his glory. Genuinely unique.

Review: RECOMMENDED
Last October, acclaimed saxophonist Pharoah Sanders turned 80 years young, and his input on this album is testimony to the fact he has clearly aged like a fine wine. Not that this is to suggest preceding outings were anything less worthy than this collaborative project, which sees Sam Shepherd, the British electronic artist better known to most as Floating Points, write nine spectacular arrangements which are then performed by said brass legend, alongside The London Symphony Orchestra.

The results are spectacular, and wildly far-reaching, albeit firmly rooted in jazz with classical undertones. From the movements that made this final cut, some are whisper quiet and delicate to the point of risking breaking off if you were handling haphazardly. Others are booming loud, musical jumbo jets landing at the end of another great crescendo. Whether hushed or monumental, though, we can feel every note and bar of this masterpiece.