MUSIC

Experiences Limited, now 3XL, with a sick new LP from Exael on a highly atmospheric ambient jungle tip, deploying 30 mins of percussive spasms seeping into smoked-out zoners - highly tipped if yr into anything from Lee Gamble to Malibu. Clearing their cache of stray bullets, Exael returns with a gyring plunge into percussive wormholes and low-lit mood enhancers .The tracks are broadly cleft along schisms of dark/light and demonic/angelic, switching from restive propellers to more sublime sensations in a fine testament to their practice - making for prob our favourite Exael release thus far. On the “darker” side, they commit the convulsive, fractious footwork pulses and warped tones of ‘Circle (Squishy Mix)’ in a sort of parallel to 33EMYBW’s insectoid rhythms and combustion systems, while ‘Ice That melts The Tips’ trades in rapid, ice-skating thizz and ‘Ghoul Search (Demonic Attachment Mix)’ fires up the junglist particle accelerator for a proper gauntlet of hyper techstep dynamics. The contrast is epitomised by ’Composure’, arranging flinty breaks on a luscious waterbed of floating pads, before ‘Eidolon’ renders a sort of airborne dembow pressure in the vicinity of Ben Bondy & special guest dj’s xphresh works. ‘L-theanine’ closes the session on a fine tread inside emo ambient styles and flurries on the same spectrum between DJ Lostboi and Teresa Winter, complete with a reverberating, half-buried vocal. All smoke & strobe doozies.

Benny says, “First and foremost, I’m a beat-maker. I started making music in the mid-90s while listening to De La Soul. When I write songs, I always start with the beat. Like a songwriter strumming their guitar, I drag kicks and snares.” After releasing his album Music in April 2021, Benny had several beats he hadn’t used, and decided to follow up his original self-released Beat Tape (2018) with a new collection. “The idea came to me to ask some rappers to join on the beats, to pay homage to where it all started: hip-hop. It was all very effortless, because there wasn’t a higher goal of wanting to write the perfect song. I was just having fun doing what comes naturally.” The many guests on Beat Tape II include British R&B singer JONES on “Look What We Do”, Stones Throw MC The Koreatown Oddity on “Song 13”, and Mocky, Cola Boyy, and Marc Rebillet on “Beat 100”. Kenny Beats produced “Don’t Look” with Cory Henry, while Canadian rapper and singer Rae Khalil appears on “Beat 5” and “CGEOOL”. PawPaw Rod, MadeInTYO, St. Panther, Oddisee and Faberyayo also feature. Benny says: “I feel so grateful to have all these new and established talents on here that make Beat Tape II what it is. I got people who are not very well known for rapping to rap. Mocky’s first albums, which I played a lot when I was younger, were rap albums, so it was great to ask if he would do that again, go back in time. Cola Boyy is a great singer, but his voice is perfect for rapping, so I was really excited to hear him do that. I’m also excited for my first collab with Kenny Beats. Hope this can be a start of some new stuff, who knows :)”

The scene is sunny, smoggy Southern California, early 1980s. Traffic is barely moving. In the passenger seat of one of those cars there is young Jason Jackson, spinning the dial on the FM radio. R&B, early hip-hop, electro, new wave, independent jams, and music from the superstars – it was all a few notches away when the airwaves were wild and free. And when the radio dial was not enough, Jason Jackson got his first pair of turntables. The DJ known as J.Rocc was born, like a character in a Marvel comic book learning how to use a super power. J.Rocc and his crew the Beat Junkies have been a seminal force in the rise of instrumental hip-hop, and were among a handful of DJs who transformed the craft into an art form. All along the way J.Rocc has been making his own beats, and A Wonderful Letter – his letter to Los Angeles, and his dedication to a lifetime of L.A. music scenes – is only his second full-length album.

As a grade-schooler listening to the radio in his dad’s car, Stimulator Jones thought Prince was singing “round spiritual ring” on the hook of “Raspberry Beret.” The adult Stimulator Jones, aka Sam Lunsford, now knows all the lyrics to “Raspberry Beret” – and can play the song on virtually any instrument, from bass to sitar – but when the time came to title his new album, he decided to name it after that misheard lyric. Round Spiritual Ring shows a more personal and vulnerable side than Stimulator’s debut Exotic Worlds and Masterful Treasures, with lyrics that touch on his struggles with depression and chronic pain. But Sam is an optimist at heart, and his album’s overarching message is that love and connection are the forces that will ultimately save us. Round Spiritual Ring also symbolizes the connectedness of everything, what Sam calls “repetitive forces in the world” – think DNA, the planets, or vinyl records.

Highly recommended. Kiefer, also known as post-Robert Glasper. The West Coast giant, also known for studying under Kenny Burrell, drops the latest EP from the Sanctuary again! The final title of the EP trilogy by the ace, who swallows urban vibes, earthy odor, and funkness and sublimates into outstanding beat music, has arrived. Seamlessly cross from spiritual jazz to neo-soul and instrumental hip-hop. A good work that shows off an excellent sound image as usual! Mastering by Matthewdavid. The magical sound that makes you feel as if you are watching the dream co-star of The Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra x Robert Glasper x Ras G (isn't it ?!) is exceptional.

First time vinyl reissue. Following the success of the early Brazilian rap artists Black Juniors, Villa Box, Buffalo Girls? Electric Boogies emerged out of São Paulo, Brazil, as a crew devoted to breakdancing under the influence of New York's B-Boy culture. They would record "Break Mandrake" in 1984, originally released on RGE Records. This single has two fabulous electro-funk tracks, side A is vocal and on the flip side you find the instrumental version with some extra keys that give it a jazzier touch. DJ Irai Campos would provide the scratches while the arrangements and keyboards were credited to Eduardo Assad, who also worked with Black Juniors, Sasha, and

Otherworldly beat science from the currently vibrant Washington DC underground. The heavily processed MCing of NappyNappa weaves in and out of the skewed electronics and stuttering percussion of Patrick Cain. Loosely affiliated with the Future Times crew and featuring contributions from Dolo Percussion (aka Max D). 

In the duo’s own words “a collaborative experiment in liberated sound, vision, and performance“, Model Home orbit in their own universe, with glimmers of light from distant galaxies refracted in their sound. The spirit of free improvisation pervades the tracks, a sound evolving from two artistic sensibilities bouncing off each other without a set plan and creating a third pathway to unknown worlds. 

One Year compiles tracks from 8 different self-released mixtapes made during an intense initial 12 month period of musical activity that birthed the project. Approached with the same archival sensibility that Disciples has brought to albums-that-never-were from Black Lodge, Bogdan Raczynski and His Name As Alive, but with the idea of creating a framework to present an underground NOW sound. A Jamaican style ‘showcase’ album for these outliers from the District of Columbia.

Masterpieces such as "Earth Rot" and "Song Of Innocence", which were loved by stars such as DJ Shadow, Madlib, and Jurassic 5, and became a treasure trove of sampling sources, names such as Cannonball Adderley, Letta Mbulu, and Lou Rawls. The second "Songs Of Experience" in 1969 by composer and arranger David Axelrod (1933-2017), who is known for his many famous works such as producing artists, is an analog reissue! This is also full of sampling material ... experimental jazz fusion work inspired by the British historical poet William Blake and with that image. Masterpiece numbers such as "Human Abstract" featured by DJ Shadow and "A Divine Image" loved by hip-hop producers such as Lord Finesse and Cypress Hill!

Originally it came out on UpTop Entertainment in 1998 on CD

Detroit based hip hop group Da'Enna C aka Da Enna Cirkle formed in 1991 consisted of P. Gruv, Sleeepy D aka 3E, Boog Woog and DJ Dez (Andres) the group has released 6 12" EP's, 1 Maxi Cassette (1994) and 1 full length CD. 

Da' Enna C is known for being the first group to release a Dilla production the song was "Now" included on the You Can't Use My Pen EP (1994) released on the UpTop Entertainment Record Label. In 1999 the group went into hiatus, focusing more on production for other artist an entities, producing a string of beat records for Hipnotech which included releasing three Enna C songs on the Beats & Rhyme 12 inch Series and another previously unreleased song recorded in 1994 - True to Rap produced by J Dilla and DJ Dez HR-018 (2010). 

Further collaborative experiments in liberated sound, vision, and performance. This is the second compilation of tracks drawn from the Washington DC crew’s continuing series of self-released mixtapes, including an unreleased collaboration with Japanese post-punk icon Phew, plus guest appearances from Michael R Bernstein (Double Leopards/Religious Knives), and Mike Petillo (Geo Rip/Project U). The basis of the group’s sound continues to be the free form FX-warped flow of MC NAPPYNAPPA and the abstracted beats and synths of Pat Cain. Follows releases on Future Times, Don Giovanni, Purple Tape Pedigree, and the One Year compilation on Disciples.

Vancouver producer Jeremy Rawkins aka PARC’s 2nd collection further finesses his signature fusion of dexterous rhythm dynamics, liquid field recordings, and digital synth ambience into an immersive, aerodynamic domain: Wave Iridescence. Embracing the limitations and tonal saturation of 80’s and 90’s digital synths and converters, the tracks gleam and slipstream with a sleek, weightless futurism, conjuring visions of fiber optic clouds and lost biodome terrariums. Rawkins cites notions of organic electronics, randomized beauty, and the peripheries of dance music as inspiration, but ultimately the sound he maps is too fluid and prismatic for effective categorization. It’s music of heights and breaks, precision and vertigo, loops and radiance – vivid cybernetic heavens forever in flux.

The latest in their Beat Series, the Zenker brothers Illian Tape brings us the first collaboration between Munich based beat makers IROCC and Packed Rich suitably available as a Vinyl and Ilian Tape Rizla bundle. Smokers or not, there is an enticing vibe at play that we find hard to imagine anyone with even the mildest of head nod hip hop proclivities not enjoying. Ducked bass thuds and relaxed piano chords rest up easy against skweee chirps and pitch bent rhodes vibes, bring to mind a meeting of the finest Golden Age Boom Bap and the most laid back work of more recent heads such as Dorian Concept, Kiefer, Hud Mo, Nosaj Thing and Dâm-Funk. Chill the schnapps and juice, light one, apply stylus to vinyl....

Listeners who know much of anything about Bryn Jones’ work as Muslimgauze know that he was prolific in both his work and in the way he sent out his work to labels and other interested parties (it’s one of the reason some of that body of work is still being sorted through and released 20+ years after his passing). Fittingly enough for an artist that feverishly productive and often taciturn to the point of frustration, he didn’t tend to give much more information than handwritten track titles on the sleeve of a DAT. Why he would submit multiple copies of the same or similar tracks to those he worked with, often in totally different configurations, is now a permanent mystery, but it does lead to Jackal the Invizible, essentially a compilation of material from multiple other releases* that Jones had also submitted at the time on its own DAT. All of the songs here were released at least 20 years ago (a few over 30!) and as with practically all Muslimgauze releases they were limited and/or hard to get ahold of now. Jackal the Invizible is both a way to issue those tracks on vinyl as the Archive Series has been consistently doing, and in interesting look into how Jones would organize and sequence his albums. The track listing here was faithfully reproduced from the way Jones titled these tracks on this submission, which is how you get Fedayeen’s “Bharboo of Pakistan Railways” here called “Fedayeen Bharboo of Pakistan Railways 2001” (although that album came out in 1998 and Jones sadly was not making anything by 2001, only leading to more questions). This compilation as with most of his work was submitted without comment, so it can be asked, was it intended to be a compilation? Had he at some point decided he preferred these tracks in this arrangement rather than on their other tapes? Did he produce so much work and/or was so disorganized he simply forgot this batch had been mailed off before? Did he have a standing arrangement with his postal worker and just handed him whatever was closest to the door each week? (Well, probably not that last one.) One thing we don’t have to question is the quality of the tracks here, regardless of familiarity. The new juxtapositions can be quite striking; shifting suddenly from the harshly distorted blurts of “Resume and Shaduf Fatah Guerrilla 1999” to the cooly nocturnal atmosphere of “Abu Nidal 1987” and then to the dubby bass pulses and rattling hand percussion of “Hand of Fatima 1999” (possibly the most misleading to longtime listeners - it has indeed been heard on it’s almost-namesake album, but there it’s known as “Mint Tea With Gadaffi”) is an experience unlike much else in Jones’ oeuvre, even though all three modes are ones he has worked in before. The result doesn’t touch on every single mode explored throughout the vast body of Jones’ work (you’d need a box set for that), but does prove to be a multifaceted experience that also serves as an excellent introduction to or refresher on Muslimgauze as a whole.

Includes a long version of "Get Down on It" sampled by Snoop Dogg & 98 Degrees and the original studio version of "Summer Madness".

1987, Kanagawa, not so far from Tokyo, Japan. Minoru Fushimi teaches his high-school classes during the day. Back from work, he transforms into “Hoodoo” Fushimi, turns on the drum machines, the synthesizers and the sequencers, blends them with his own shamisen playing and builds a cult album: Kenka Oyaji is born and becomes a milestone in Japan’s early hip hop and electro-funk history, now reissued for the first time since its original release, in collaboration with Hoodoo Fushimi himself. Essential!

Grup Ses, Istanbul based veteran beatmaker returns to Souk after 2 years with first fully instrumental album since 2011's sought after 'Beats and Pieces from Turkish Psychedelia'. Grup Ses project dates back to 2007 which at the time focused on v/vm style edits and breakcore infused mash ups. Starting from 2008 Grup Ses started to build a version of Stones Throw & Brainfeeder influenced beatmaking mixed with a touch of humour. A blend including all kinds of local recorded material like records, tapes, radio broadcasts etc., which became the building blocks of signature Grup Ses sound. 'Beats from the vaults' is a showcase of beatmaking aesthetics Grup Ses visited between 2008 and 2021. Including various cuts available only on soundcloud plus unheard material compiled just for this album. Limited edition of 500. Vinyl edition includes 10 tracks not available on digital and streaming formats.

Innercity Griots, the second album from Freestyle Fellowship, is perhaps *the* essential West Coast left-field rap album of the early ’90s. Released in 1993 on 4th & Broadway, it’s a towering, progressive hip-hop masterpiece that expanded rap’s boundaries through lyrical elevation and production innovation. Their talent was ahead of everybody else by light years. This is pure b-boy jazz. The original single vinyl LP is now hideously scarce, and of course the sound suffers from not being officially released as a double. This Be With re-issue fixes both problems, and for completeness also includes “Pure Thought” from the CD version of the album. This incredible display of imaginative hip-hop sounds better than ever. Freestyle Fellowship were some of the earliest technically dazzling rappers to come out of California. Mikah 9, P.E.A.C.E., Aceyalone and Self Jupiter - along with DJ Kiilu - forged their famed lyrical dexterity in the ultra-competitive crucible of the Good Life Cafe. Founded in Leimert Park, South Central LA in December 1989, this earthy health-food store and cafe was where the city’s finest microphone fiends would gather to showcase their freestyle skills at the Thursday night open-mic.

David Goren is a radio producer and audio archivist based in Brooklyn, NY. For several years he's researched New York City’s pirate radio community, producing “New York City’s Pirates of the Air” for the BBC World Service & "Outlaws of the Airwaves: The Rise of Pirate Radio Station WBAD” for KCRW’s Lost Notes podcast. More recently, Goren has been cataloguing his meandering across his local pirate radio frequencies via the Brooklyn Pirate Radio Sound Map (BPRSM) - tracing the lingering connections between unlicensed radio broadcasting and Brooklyn's local neighbourhood culture in the digital age. Brooklyn Pirates: Neighbourhoods in the Sky, 2014-2021 pulls together a clutch of cut-up recordings captured by David on the BPRSM, traversing the dial across raucous soca jams & kompas, through to Grenadian election news, Haitian funeral announcements and ads for Jamaican patty shops & spiritual healers - plus broadcasts from Turkish, and Orthodox & Sephardic Jewish pirate stations to boot. Covering a period between the mid-2010s right up to earlier this year, the B side in particular captures the uniquely idiosyncratic and hyper-local reactions of the Brooklyn pirates to the global disintegration of the early 2020s - the coronavirus pandemic, George Floyd, the US election and more - acting as a vital document of social history demonstrating the value of DIY community broadcasts during a period of worldwide lockdowns and the wholesale breakdown of politics.

The album’s title refers to the creation story of the Yoruba people, a West African ethnic group with a revered tradition. Songs on Primordial Waters tell stories of deities and divinities, with Jamael drawing a through line between his tradition’s origins and contemporary jazz. “Èṣù” is a jazz interpretation of a traditional Yoruba spiritual melody, and “Ṣàngó” tells the story of the popular king deity, god of thunder and lightning. These sit alongside songs inspired by Jamael’s black Los Angeles community. “Galaxy In Leimert”, influenced by Alice Coltrane’s “Galaxy Around Olodumare,” pays celestial homage to Jamael’s rapidly-gentrifying South L.A. neighborhood, Leimert Park. Jamael’s hip-hop influence comes through in the album’s second half, with Jamael assuming his hip-hop alter ego Jasik to rap over beats he created entirely by sampling the jazz material on the first half of the album. Jamael invited his regular collaborator, vocalist Sharada Shashidar, and Mekala Session from his local music community to perform on the album. Jamael is a seasoned collaborator: he currently leads music collective The Afronauts, has participated in the Pan Afrikan People’s Arkestra, and has played with the likes of Kamasi Washington, Thundercat, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and Carlos Niño.

A 22-year-old genius jazz pianist who also works with Kamasi Washington, Thundercat and Carlos Niño, including his grandfather legendary soul jazz drummer Donald Dean, Sun Ra, Alice Coltrane, Herbie Hancock and more. A young Jamael Dean who needs attention to be influenced by. The long-awaited official debut work is fully released from the prestigious ! Currently, he leads the music group The Afronauts and participates in the legendary black jazz "Pan Afrikan People's Arkestra". It is a two-part album consisting of 10 hip-hop songs produced under the name of his own nickname "Jasik" using jazz performances by his group and beats sampled from them. Sharada Shashidhar and Mekala “Mickey” Session, who are also enrolled in Brooklyn's female singer and have collaborated with Jamael Dean many times, participated. The title comes from the Genesis of the Yoruba, a West African ethnic group. Both sides are fertile and superb!

Rare Pleasure is Mndsgn's third album to be released on Stones Throw Records. Following 2016's Body Wash, this album truly shows the artist's evolution from his roots as a heralded beatmaker to vocalist, songwriter and arranger. Though he began writing for the album in 2018, the final recordings took just a week in studio with the help of trusted collaborators: Swarvy on bass, guitar and as Musical Director for the sessions, Stones Throw label mate Kiefer Shackelford on keys, drum work by Will Logan, the blessed percussion of Carlos Niño, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson on strings, and accompanying vocals from Fousheé and Anna Wise.

This is a great masterpiece that further updates the boundaries of what can only be described as his unique style. As a member of the famous hip-hop crew, Origami, he has been active with Nanorunamonai. In 2021, he released his self-produced full-length album. This is an instrumental version of sibitt's self-produced full-length album "SHINGANGINGA" released in 2021.

the 3rd album released in 1970 by the genius David Axelrod, who was loved by stars such as DJ Shadow, Madlib, and Jurassic 5 and became a treasure trove of sampling sources.

Highly recommended. Kiefer, also known as post-Robert Glasper. The West Coast giant, also known for studying under Kenny Burrell, drops the latest EP from the Sanctuary again! The final title of the EP trilogy by the ace, who swallows urban vibes, earthy odor, and funkness and sublimates into outstanding beat music, has arrived. Seamlessly cross from spiritual jazz to neo-soul and instrumental hip-hop. A good work that shows off an excellent sound image as usual! The magical sound that makes you feel as if you are watching the dream co-star of The Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra x Robert Glasper x Ras G (isn't it ?!) is exceptional.