Tags: Experimental Jazz

Review: 20 years have now passed since The Cinematic Orchestra unveiled their soundtrack to experimental, Soviet-era silent documentary film The Man With The Movie Camera. As this deluxe, deliciously packaged anniversary reissue shows, it remains one of J Swinscoe and company's most timeless and on-point works - an effortlessly atmospheric affair that blends neo-classical strings and deep, smoky jazz instrumentation with subtle electronics, swelling ambient chords and nods to contemporary music. This time round, the album - which boasts highlights including the fan favourite title track, the dancefloor-ready 'Theme De Yoyo' and the stirring 'All Things' - has been pressed to coloured vinyl and comes accompanied by extensive new liner notes.

Review: Released on Shabaka Hutchings' Native Rebel Recordings, like the sky i've been too quiet is a full-length from vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Ganavya. A former collaborator of Wayne Shorter, here she enlists help from the likes of Kofi Flexxx, Carlos NiNo and Floating Points to create the perfect backdrop for her nebulous vocals, one that will find favour with fans of spiritual jazz. This, however, is nothing like your standard standard fare; this album's impeccable electronic embellishments and sublimely sensitive ear for recording and timbre make it unlike anything we've ever heard in the spiritual jazz or electronica traditions.

Review: Brownswood Recordings proudly present the first ever reissue of Toshio Matsuura's 2018 cult classic Loveplaydance, issued for the first time as a complete album on limited edition red and white double vinyl. The project focuses on covers, presenting classics & influential tracks in a contemporary context. For example, among the most immediately prominent is Toshio Matsuura Group's version of 'Black Gold Of The Sun' by Rotary Connection, though the new version lays down a patent Afro-Cuban tinge, enlisting the aid of singer Dayme Arocena and her prodigious Havana-based players. Such ingenious rerubs all came down to the bold movements of legendary DJ and producer Toshio Matsuura, whose selections and comings-together still cast a novel light on these early 90s jazz proceedings.

Review: This is a black vinyl version of a reissue that we also have on gold vinyl of Soyuz's '2' album. Originally released in 2019, this album marks a significant phase in the band's evolution, offering a glimpse into the sound that would define their later work while retaining traces of avant-psychedelic-pop influences. Produced during bandleader Alex Chumak's transition from Minsk to Kyiv, the LP reflects the tension between exploration and homesickness. Drawing from influences like Mikita Arlou, Ethiopian jazz, and Italian library music, the album eloquently captures the melancholy of long-distance travel and transience, creating a sonic narrative of emotional flux.

Review: Soyuz follows up their 2022 debut Force Of The Wind with a stark but subdued reissue of their second album, Ii, released three years earlier in 2019. The album captures a pivotal evolution in the band's career, the recordings giving a snapshot of what would become their sound on Force Of The Wind, yet with echoes of avant-psychedelic-pop footprints from yester years. Produced at a time when bandleader Alex Chumak had moved from Minsk to Kyiv, torn between the need to try something new and the homesickness it brought about, Ii nicely captures the slow burn of homesickness extended across a long bouts of travel and transience, through stylistic recollections of Mikita Arlou, Ethiopian jazz and Italian library music.

Review: Brand new promo pressure from veteran label Right Tempo, hailing from Milan. Pushing acid jazz and downtempo since 1993, they here continue to demonstrate just how it's done exactly with Attilio Zanchi's 'Mingus Portrait' and their remixes by their very own resident DJ Farrapo. Forfending brasher breaks or whackout jazz - in favour of a set of much steamier, downtemporal distillations - Zanchi's originally, already romantic takes on Charles Mingus' sonic world are lent an even slinkier feline essence by the remixer. Ever further realising Zanchi's dream of honing Mingus' essence, the best of the bunch has to be the slow burner 'For Harry Carney'.

Review: Amaro Freitas's Y'Y marks a departure from his previous work, delving into humid, spacious compositions influenced by indigenous Amazonian music. Freitas's polyrhythmic piano playing, described as a fusion of lacy delicacy and propulsive thumping, takes center stage, displaying his remarkable ability to blend diverse influences seamlessly. Tracks like 'Uira (Encantada da Agua) - Vida e cura' feature prepared pianos and intricate basslines reminiscent of Ethio-jazz, pushing the boundaries of traditional jazz into avant-garde territory. In the album's second half, Freitas engages in dynamic collaborations with guests like Jeff Parker and Brandee Younger, adding layers of texture and depth to his compositions. "Y'Y" represents a bold exploration of cultural fusion and experimentation, solidifying Freitas's position as a visionary pianist and composer in the contemporary jazz landscape.

Review: The Only Angel I Ever Saw Wore Black is yet another majestic album from Bastien Keb that further diversifies his already cinematic sound pallet. The 15 tunes draw on everything from melancholic funk to longing voiceovers, surreal and hallucinogenic folk ditties, ambient synth sketches and plenty of mystical melodies that make for something beautifully bittersweet. It's inspiration is to tell the story of a failed relationship with a narrator offering imaginary comfort. The recording is as lo-fi as is to be expend from Seb and is big of heart no matter the tools he has used to create these sounds.

Review: François Tusques, a pioneer of French free jazz, founded the Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra in 1971. Known for his earlier work on the 1965 album Free Jazz, Tusques had grown disillusioned with the genre by the early '70s. Seeking new musical horizons, he formed Intercommunal, a collective uniting diverse communities and fostering collaborative composition. Initially featuring professional jazz musicians, the group soon incorporated talents from the vibrant French Popular Music scene. In 1981, at the renowned Paris venue 28 rue Dunois, Tusques and partner Carlos Andreu performed 'Le Musichien,' an afro-Catalan tale set against a slow, mesmerising bass line by Jean-Jacques Avenel, with dynamic contributions from percussionist Kilikus, saxophonists Sylvain Kassap and Yebga Likoba, and trombonist Ramadolf. This performance illustrated the limitless possibilities of their collective creativity. The following year, at the Tombées de la Nuit festival in Rennes, bassist Tanguy Le Doré joined Tusques, creating a powerful 'brotherhood of breath.' The ensemble, featuring Bernard Vitet on trumpet, Danièle Dumas and Sylvain Kassap on saxophones, and Jean-Louis Le Vallegant and Philippe Le Strat on bombards, wove together elements of modal jazz reminiscent of Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders. The Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra's ecumenical project transcends boundaries, resonating with audiences worldwide. This reissue comes with an insert and booklet talking more about the project, making it a great history lesson alojng with the excellent music.

Review: In the mid-80s, Svitlana Okhrimenko, Oleksandr Kohanovs'kyi, and Tamila Mazur, students at the Reinhold Glier Kyiv Academy of Music, formed the foundation of Cukor Bila Smert. Their blend of music and camaraderie led to the addition of Eugene Taran, who further helped shape the band's vision. Dubbed Sugar - White Death, their ironic moniker challenged media sensationalism and amidst endless musical exploration, they crafted two albums in 1988 and 1989. The band's unique "sugar calypso sound" emerged, a blend of Kohanovs'kyi's music and lyrics by Okhrimenko and Taran. A significant studio session in 1990 yielded tracks featured on the Mannered Music compilation which sparked international interest. Their journey concluded in 1993 with the release of "Selo" by Koka Records, and now some of the best bits make it onto this new collection.

Review: Amaro Freitas, hails from Recife, Brazil, and is propelled through life through by searching out different experiences. Venturing to Manaus in the Amazon basin in 2020 before starting work on this album, pianist Freitas immersed himself in a transformative journey that influenced his musical creation profoundly. Collaborating with the Satere Mawe indigenous community, his album Y'Y pays homage to nature and ancestral wisdom. Through tracks like 'Mapinguari (Encantado da Mata)' and 'Uiara (Encantada da Agua) - Life and Cure,' Freitas weaves tales of powerful spirits and mystical encounters. Incorporating elements from Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous cultures, the record is a significant exploration of connection, tradition, and the incandescent power of enchanted spirits.

Review: Maxwell Hallett, better known as Betamax from The Comet Is Coming, and Speaker's Corner Quartet man Pete Bennie have formed a new collaborative project Coma World and this is their most exhilarating debut album. It is a tense and dense world of experimental sound designs and 'rhythmadelic' drum rapture that twists frequencies, skews bass and layers up ramshackle percussive sounds in a loose limbed and DIY fashion which sounds ink it all might collapse at any moment, but that is part of the beauty of it. The album is inspired by a friend's memories of being in a coma and frankly is exactly what you might expect given the brief.

Review: With their name, London's four-piece jazz group Unknown To Known seem to prophesy their own rise to prominence, one that is especially more likely to unfold in a continual way now that they've released their next LP Lightship. As with their prior EP 'River Crossing', Lightship was also made on a lightship, which happened to double up as a recording studio. Staying true to their craft so far, this iteration of the project was once again born of a session. The record meanders through neo-folk, international and cinematic music , and jazz, moving from the erratic but calming bamboo flutes of 'Wide Waters' to the matte steel-string slides and gourds of 'Good Morning Moon', ending on the fervent flute and cymbal devotional 'Lightship'.