Marathon Vinyl & CDs

Review: After the breakout success of his 2019 debut album Fyah, Theon Cross is back with his hotly anticipated follow-up. The British tubist and trombonist is right at the vanguard of young, modern jazz, playing an integral role in scene-leading bands Sons of Kemet and Moses Boyd Exodus, and his second album reaffirms his vision in dazzling style. The contemporary sound of British jazz is all about embracing new modes alongside the core skills and traditions of the culture, and Cross demonstrates this across every inch of Intra-I. The tuba never sounded so futuristic, and Cross' virtuoso playing folds into slick electronic processes with a fluidity that comes from within. Cross embodies this hybridised music like only he can, making a vital creative statement in the process.

Review: Blue-noted jazz modulators Ill Considered here present their irst fully produced studio album on New Soil - 'Liminal Space'. After releasing a whopping 9 self-released albums in the space of 2 years, this is their first studio-crafted LP following their step up to the label, and are soon set to show it off at a debut interactive A/V residency at Southbank Centre's Purcell Room. Fresh with a new lineup, the noodling bass of Liran Donin courses the ears like velvet on 'Dust', while Dadaist freakouts, courtesy of Emre Ramazanoglu's drums, cause anxious goosebumps on reaching 'Light Trailed'. Don't miss this limited double black 2xLP.

Review: Senegalese favourite Baaba Maal is a unique kind of artist, having come up in his local music circuit with a bang, but not easily fitting in with an easily pinnable niche. The artist has made a steady name for himself for mixing sounds that could be described as desert blues and chant-driven uplifts, drawing on both local and international traditional music. Whether you speak Pulaar or not, its undercurrents of spirituality and optimism are more than evident, an effect achieved as much by Maal's singing and guitar-playing as it is by the efforts of producer Johan Karlberg. Excitable elements of trap and nighttime folk, backed by the quiet trill of crickets, unfurl across the album, evoking the awe of life through immeasurably wide and dense textures.