Review: The names Apollo Brown and Planet Asia evoke a rarefied set of expectations. The raps are as hard as galvanized steel. The syllable placement is meticulous and intricate. The beats bang: simmering in a soulful but warped inferno. They are maestros of raw and unalloyed hip-hop: full of as much grit and craftsmanship as anyone to ever incinerate a microphone or master an MPC. After all, high standards are essential. Sardines is curb-checking minimalist hip-hop: sharp, efficient, and well-executed as a guillotine chop. No wasted bars or rhythmic excess. Just poetic verses and night-time vulture vibes. Apollo sums it up best: it's "dirt, grit, mud, sticks, stones, all that. Leave your boots on." The title's name is a flip on their revered first album. Like sardines, anchovies are a love it-or-hate it proposition. It's not for everyone, but if it's for you, it's laser targeted to your interests.
Review: Les Rhythmes Ruban's tunnel-visioned modus operandi is to churn out some of the toppest reggae and ambient dub on the East side of the Channel. This time they welcome twin producers Blundetto (Max Guiguet) and Pupajim (Jean-Marie Cariolet) to their roster, for the ambitious and sensorial collaborative version record Tancardub, in turn a comprehensive dubbing of their 2024 record Tancarville. Guiguet is a longtime favourite on the French dub, electro, jazz and all-else underground, having made his initial way in Dijon before cutting his teeth as the seasoner of many a vocal artist's track, including Akale Wube and Hindi Zahra. Cariolet, meanwhile, is a favourite member of the renowed dub troupe Stand High Patrol, and has been at and about it since at least 2009. Together, Tancarville was an impressive roots rollick, with 'Groenland' standing out as the vespertine vocal number; but system huggers will appreciate this version much better, since Tancardub wholly commands a crisper yet stiffer, rattlier POV on an initially serene album.
Review: Superb package here for dub heads: Dub Cuts: Mixed By Paolo Baldini Dubfiles on Pressure Drop is an LP made up of different Al Brown obscurities. They're given plenty of trippy studio effects and heady reworks by Paolo Baldini Dubfiles at his studio in San Foca in Italy. The tense and moody sounds are finished in places with some top vocal work from Al Brown. This is the sort of collection that works in many different environments from sunny sound systems to darker stoner sessions on a Sunday afternoon.
Review: Common and Pete Rock are two towering behemoths in the hip-hop world. Rock is best known for his instinctive and distinctive beat making style and for plenty of seminal tunes which showcase that, while Common is the next level lyricist, rapper and iconic freestyler who paints vivid pictures with his words. The Auditorium Vol 1 is a remarkable coming together of the two which arrives on limited edition coloured vinyl across four sides of wax. The groundbreaking collab blends all their considerable skills into a record that draws on the golden era but also shows a new future for the genre. It's richly layered and hugely rewarding, as you would expect.
Review: Loma Vista proudly present the latest full-length album by Common, one of the so-called 'conscious' hip-hop scene's earliest progenitor. Here, the rapper teams up with fellow wordsmith and DJ Pete Rock - whom the former refers to as "one of The Greatest Creators Hip Hop and Music has ever seen" (capitalisations not going unnoticed) - for a 15-track meditation on the proverbial theatre: the setting in which the fantastical drama of hip-hop takes place. Never having worked together before, Common and Rock roll out an uncommon compendium, fulfilling in particular Common's dream of working with an antecedent great. Mid-album scratch-fests like 'All Kind Of Ideas' evoke golden-days hip-hop nostalgia through their easy, boppy grooves and images of hustling and "cooking up", while 'Wise Up' and 'Dreamin'' move more textural and vinyl-crackly with things, musing equally on the requisites of leg-breaking performance. A glisteningly soulful album, invoking the glabrous power of street dreams.
Review: Common and Pete Rock are two towering behemoths in the hip hop world. Rock is best known for his instinctive and distinctive beat making style and for plenty of seminal bums he has elapsed which showcase that, while Common is the next level lyricist, rapper and iconic freestyler who paints vivid pictures with his words. The Auditorium Vol 1 is a remarkable coming together of the two which arrives on limited edition coloured vinyl across four sides of wax. The groundbreaking collab blends all their considerable skills into a record that draws on the golden era but also shows a new future for the genre. It's richly layered and hugely rewarding, as you would expect.
Review: This forthcoming album, features 21 previously unreleased tracks by Paco de Lucia and his brother Pepe. Dating back to 1959 and 1960, these recordings provide a rare glimpse into the early musical endeavors of the duo, aged 11 and 13 respectively at the time. The tapes, restored using AI technology from a vintage Grundig TK46 tape recorder, capture the essence of the brothers' talent and passion for flamenco. Pepe de Lucia expressed astonishment at revisiting the recordings, reflecting on the joyous memories they evoke. Pepito y Paquito promises to be a poignant homage to the enduring legacy of Paco de Lucia and his brother, marking a significant milestone in the history of flamenco music.
Pasillaneando A Modo De Amor En Tachira Total (2:07)
Gaita De Aniceto Rondon (1:51)
Vaporum Purpura (7:42)
Review: Alzheimer, the record, is a stranger everywhere on earth - that is to say, wherever you might be listening to it, it will always sound like it's from somewhere else. The product of a foreign culture, for even though it was created and recorded in Caracas, Venezuela between January 1997 and 9/9/99, it's the result of forgetting everything and recomposing a new Sound World from the faintest, blurriest recollections of musical culture. Its purpose is confusion, its uniqueness is creating it in the realm of Music; a clash of instruments and minds. Everything you hear on the record was performed by humans and insects, spoken and sung by living beings, roughly a decade before the smartphone. The Alzheimer ensemble still exists and fully supports this initiative of celebrating the 24th year of its first of two published albums on vinyl. The spirit of our group will never be captured by robotic 'intelligence'.
Review: Resonance is the superb new album from Essa and Pitch 92. Essa is something of a veteran who back in the early part of this millennium was putting out tunes under the name Yungun. He is a Londoner and lawyer who played a key part in the UK's golden hip-hop era and picked up props for his work from dons like Nas while also working with De La Soul, Wu-Tang Clan, Guru, Slum Village and Pharoahe Monch. This record taps into that time with its soul-drenched, low-slung and late-night beats, specially and politically aware lyrics and gorgeous samples. A contemporary classic steeped in authenticity.
Review: Never heard of Zoroastrianism? Nothing to do with Zorro, this ancient religion is still practiced by a comparatively small number of people today, and has its roots on the Iranian plateau. Hugely overlooked in the modern world, not least given its incredible influence over may of the tropes we associate with recognisable creeds - heaven, hell, good, evil - here M Geddes Gengras and Psychic Reality pay homage to the history of what might be Western Asia's most mythologised and yet misunderstood nation, while also introducing modern sonic elements and effects.
The result is something that's unarguably original. Ambient work that is vivid and transportive, it's highly rhythmic stuff from start to finish, with tracks like 'The Incremental Spirit' taking that format to the nth degree, while the likes of 'Wilde Pastures' break with a more abstract idea of what these sounds can be.
Russell Haswell - "Heavy Handed Sunset (Autechre Form Conversion)"
Viviankrist - "Creatures"
Powell Tillmans - "Stairwell"
NHK - "Binah"
Russell Haswell - "Hypersonic"
Review: Diagonal celebrates its 13th anniversary with a 4x12" release, highlighting both long-time label artists and notable collaborators. LP1 kicks off with a dark, atmospheric remix of Russell Haswell's 'Heavy Handed Sunset' by Autechre, transforming their 2016 version into something more intense. Label boss Powell joins forces with Turner Prize winner Wolfgang Tillmans for a quirky pop experiment, while NHK and Viviankrist deliver moments of striking beauty. Russell Haswell's nod to Cybotron rounds out the set, embodying the boundary-pushing, eclectic spirit that Diagonal has championed for over a decade.
Review: Is there a more iconic modern disco duo that Lindstom and Prins Thomas? The superb Scandic-pair link up here to great effect on a six track record for Smalltown Supersound. As ever the references are far and wide, from world music to deep house, cosmic ambience to synth music. The tracks are stuffed with subtle details and a rich overarching musicality that makes them as good for focussed headphone listening as it does an early evening dance. 'Oranges' is achingly gorgeous, 'Harmonia' is awash in lush arps and 'Small Stream' is dreamy bliss. Once again these maestros have come through with the goods.
Review: For the label's latest release, the dusty-fingered diggers behind Archeo Recordings have decided to reissue a little-known but undeniably brilliant album from fellow Italians Fulvio Maras, Alfredo Posllipo and Luco Proietta. Recorded in 1992 and originally released in staggeringly low numbers (only 300 were pressed first time around), "Sfumature" drew on a disparate array of influences (think jazz, ambient, new age, fourth world, Afro-cosmic and electronica for starters) and loose-limbed drumming and melodious percussion instrumentation (marimba, glockenspiel etc) with ear-catching synthesizer sounds, sparse drum machine rhythms and occasional improvised vocals. It's a genuinely unique sounding anthem and well worth picking up, especially in this highly limited white vinyl pressing (apparently only 100 of these exist).
Review: Truly living up to its name, Venusia - a word that has three meanings; a genus of moth, town in Italy, and the Roman goddess of love (who, as it happens, was named after the planet, Venus) - is essentially an homage to the fragile beauty of life, and the sense that our being present in this existence is something of a marvel. A one in a billion gamble that paid off without us even having to decide if the odds looked good enough to bet.
A collaborative work from four friends, with Henrik Meierkord on cello, Pawel Kobak playing flute, Marco Lucchi in charge of electronics, and Rocco Saviano on guitar duties, this atmospheric and cinematic ambient soundscape is grand and small, expansive and intimate, but overwhelmingly emotionally captivating in each of those modes. Complimented by gorgeous butterfly artwork by Valerii Bogorod, it's impossible not to fall for this intoxicating experience.
Review: Wipeout XL was a game changer for electronic music, video games and the marriage of the two and it no doubt, inspired legions of fans of both throughout the last 25+ years. This adrenaline-charged album - inspired by the iconic series - delivers six high-energy tracks, each contributed by two artists known for their mastery in electronic music, immersing listeners in a fast-paced, futuristic anti-gravity racing adventure. With thunderous breaks, atmospheric jungle rhythms and liquid drum & bass, the album captures the essence of 90s and Y2K video game soundtracks, while evoking the smooth vibes of artists like LTJ Bukem, Peshay and Soichi Terada. Each artist brings their own flair, contributing three tracks each to the limited-edition LP, which comes housed in a heavyweight 350gsm sleeve designed by the legendary junkboy, creative director at Mojang Studios. The vibrant artwork perfectly complements the album's energy, creating a visual and auditory experience that transports listeners to another world. Following a string of successful releases, this album offers a turbo-charged, nostalgic escape for fans of synthwave, jungle and drum & bass, while also appealing to those who cherish the golden age of video games.
Mary J Blige & Dolly My Baby By Super Cat - "Real Love" (remix) (2:00)
Warning (4:11)
Gimmie The Loot (2:22)
Me & My Bitch (2:31)
Juicy (2:44)
Unbelieveable (4:20)
Machine Gun Funk (3:22)
Big Poppa (4:32)
Respect (2:34)
Party & Bullshit (3:54)
Flava In Ya Ear (2:19)
Craig Mack (Freestyle) (3:14)
Biggie (feat Real Niggaz - Freestyle) (3:53)
Review: Now here's a real slice of East Coast hip-hop history, packaged for those Londonites who - even as far back as the early to mid 90s - felt the genre's magnanimous influence deeply, despite the transatlantic journey required of its promotion outside the USA. Existing only so far perhaps on bootlegged white label vinyl marked "Import" in big block lettering, this mythical live recording of The Notorious B.I.G.'s 1995 performance at the Hammersmith Palais in London (as part of Tim Westwood's 1FM Rap Show Launch Party) otherwise floats the interwebs either in casual YouTube video or cassette rip format. Clocking in at just over 50 minutes, Big Poppa's tragic ghost sounds to haunt the record, masterfully moving through his most hard-boiled, ironed songs in quick sixteen-track succession, chopping and changing between them through the adeptest of DJ scratchups; the hypiest, airhorn-blariest transitions. All Biggie's greatest hits feature (he'd released most of his chart-toppers by 1995; this recording was made two years before he died) and the heavy douse of reverb, supplied by the venue, lends an extra historic gravitas to Smalls' not-so-small voice. The acapella at the end is an especially grave, hushed moment; it's as if the lack of instrumental backing portends the many moments of silence that would follow two years later.
The Cursse Of Hypervigilance (In Politics, Romance & Cohabitation)
Insecurity
Smiling (Quirky Race Doc)
Leave People Alone
A Short About A Guy That Dies Every Night
Protectors Of The Heat (feat Hemlock Ernst)
Insecurity: The Moor The Marry Her (part 2)
Dive Bar Support Group
Drunk Dreaming
Reprieve
Review: Open Mike Eagle may not have all the answers, but he asks some of the smartest questions in hip-hop. On Hella Personal Film Festival, he teams up with British producer Paul White for a psychedelic blend of soul-funk, booming drums and introspective storytelling. Recorded in London, the album continues where Dark Comedy left off-witty, anxious and deeply reflective. Eagle dissects modern life's absurdities, from social media addiction to racial microaggressions and uses that to craft surreal yet painfully real vignettes. With guest features from Aesop Rock and Hemlock Ernst, these tense anthems explore vulnerability with a cutting sense of humour.
Review: The criticism of Anderson .Paak's last album, the glossy, big-budget "Oxnard", was so voluminous that his mum took to social media to defend it. The fast-rising rapper laughed off the haters at the time, but it must have hurt. Either way, he's changed direction again on "Ventura", a follow-up that's noticeably more refrained than its predecessor. Musically, what we're offered is stripped-back '70s soul and Prince style purple funk instrumentation fused with head-nodding hip-hop and R&B beats. Paak is lyrically on point throughout, eschewing some of his more sexually explicit lyrics in the post #MeToo era. To complete the picture of an artist going back to his roots, the assembled guests (Outkast's Andre 3000 included) are generally pushed to the background in an unobtrusive manner.
Review: If you have ever wondered what a German oompah band might sound like if they were doing low-slung and playful house music then check out 'Ofterschwang' which is one of Jurgen Paape's finest and silliest moments. Thankfully it also makes the long-time Kompakt servant's new Kompilation. It comes across four sides of vinyl and features some of his best bits from over the last 20 years. It is a wide-reaching and often leftfield collection with piano pieces, loopy disco gems, loved-up deep house sounds and steamy and seductive vocal minimal music in the case of 'So Wird Die Zeit Gemacht'. If nothing else this proves what an underrated and unique creative mind Paape really is.
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