Astigmatic Records
From sessions in 2020 that saw Ed "Tenderlonious" Cawthorne travel out to Lahore, Pakistan, with EABS pianist Marek Latarnik Pędziwiatr, we have the brand new single from Astigmatic's Jaubi collective with 'Satanic Nafs'. The revered saxophonist and flautist managed to secure the Jaubi team for his own heavily improvised 22a project 'Ragas From Lahore' and has subsequently returned the favour for in light of Jaubi's new single.
Jaubi’s releases with Astigmatic have nicely presented the quartet’s music to western audiences and what is truly fascinating about their music is that, for a collective that creates Hindustani (North Indian) classical music, to see the impact of hip-hop culture permeate through their sounds is genuinely inspired. From previous tributes to the music of hip-hop icons J Dilla ('Dilla Taal') and Nas ('Lahore State of Mind'), this year also saw Jaubi pay tribute to the music of MF Doom whose untimely passing, announced in December 2020, still rings raw with fans the world over. 'Figaro (Farewell MF Doom)' was lovingly unveiled and gifted to fans as a free download which proved to be a wonderful start to the year and a move that has been swiftly followed up with the release of 'Satanic Nafs'.
The Gaslamp Killer and Mophono once again reaffirm Jaubi's hip-hop credentials with an awesome, beats-heavy reinvention of the original spiritually intricate composition making this a great combination of tracks.
Def Pressé
Originally produced by the French DJ and producer, GUTS, 'Carrot Cake' initially found its home on Pan Amsterdam's 'HA Chu' full-length released in 2020. This year, however, has seen the track receive a new lease of life courtesy of the Japanese production duo comprised of brothers Satoshi and Makato Tomino. Amsterdam's unique and off-kilter delivery has been incredibly fortunate to have married itself to some brilliant production exemplified on 'HA Chu' and the preceding EP, 'Elevator Music', courtesy of names including the aforementioned GUTS, Malik Ameer and thatmanmonkz - Satoshi and Makato's distinct Casio-inspired compositions make a wonderful playground for Amsterdam's vocals, ingeniously reinventing the track and firmly asserting themselves as producers we'd love to see collaborate with Amsterdam again for music in the future.
Starting life as a trumpeter in New York, Leron Thomas’s musical journey saw him struggle to fit into the city’s jazz scene like the proverbial square peg in a round hole. Thomas would eventually set the trumpet aside and claim centre stage as a lead vocalist, releasing his solo effort ‘Cliquish’ in 2015. Collaborating with Scott Moncrieff – better known as the prolific producer thatmanmonkz – helped set Thomas on to a new path all over again resulting in his further reinvention into the boundless witticisms of Pan Amsterdam. "A jazz musician died, Pan Am was born."
We've gushed countless times about The Soul Sound Collective's thrilling take on contemporary soul music and the myriad of influences that permeate their distinctive and inspired compositions. With the collective having been founded by multi-instrumentalist and producer, Craig Sims, and boasting the talents of bassist Tim Higgins and guitarist Simon Lee, the group have hit such an awesome rhythm of consistently releasing some wonderful projects.
With their first single having been released nearly three years ago, Sims & company can boast three instalments of their 'Music and Minds' series of EPs, along with the more alternative project, 'An Experimental Journey'.
While the group have excelled as purveyors of lush instrumental soul music, their collaborations with a great range of vocalists have also led to some fantastic results - their tracks with Flyt are continually winners as were the songs 'Love Is Real' featuring Kyra Simone and 'Isn't It All' featuring Steven Bamidele. 'You Bring The Sunshine In' partners the Collective with vocalist Elaine Simpson who soars over the infectious summer groove.
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