MUSIC

On the record New Chapter, sound from all directions of the sky is transformed as it flows through the bodies of the musicians. The source material is Viola Klein’s solo record Confidant and the collaboration with the Sabar Ensemble Diop from Saint Louis, titled We. Whodat in Detroit, Kassem Mosse in Leipzig, Nídia in Lisbon, and Viola Klein in Cologne and Dakar reshape the places where Deep House, Leftfield, Kuduro, and Mbalax originated and/or continue to thrive: the USA, Germany, Portugal, and Senegal.

The out-of-this-world recordings of Dilson de Souza, leading a kind of tropical chamber jazz on leaves from a ficus tree. Dilson was from Barra do Pirai, in the Brazilian countryside; moving to Rio as a young man, where he worked in construction. He recorded his first record in 1954, for RCA Victor. He travelled to Quito around 1957, soon hooking up with Benitez & Valencia, who introduced him to the CAIFE label. Dilson played the leaf open, resting on his tongue, hands free, with his mouth as the resonator. Though a leaf can also be played rolled or folded in half, this method allowed for more precision, a tethered brilliance. A picked ficus leaf stays fresh, crisp and clean-toned for around ten hours. He could play eight compositions, four at each end, before it was spent. Biluka plays trills and vibratos effortlessly, with utterly pure pitch, acrobatically sliding into notes and changing tone on the fly. In Manuco, he leads Los Caníbales into a mysterious landscape on a rope pulled from an Andean spaghetti western, and corrals and teases them into a dialogue. A leaf, a harp, a xylophone, and a rondador — joined in Bailando Me Despido (Dancing As I Say Goodbye) by a saucy organ, doing sloshed call-and-response. In Anacu de Mi Guambra, Biluka shows his full range of antics, hiccuping melodically over a set of magic tricks. His expressiveness was boundless. The eucalyptus leaf is popular among Aboriginal Australians. In China, they’ve played leaves for 10,000 years. In Cambodia, people play the slek, a leaf plucked from either the sakrom or the khnoung tree. But ain’t nobody like Biluka, ever. Astounding music.

Village of the Pharoahs is the eighth album by American saxophonist and composer Pharoah Sanders, released in 1973. The key word, and concept, informing this album is percussion: of the 13 musicians appearing on Village of the Pharoahs, seven of them are credited with contributing drums or percussion… and there is a conga player. The centerpiece of Village of The Pharoahs is the three-part title suite, which stretches over 16 minutes. This is the work of a confident explorer willing to go anywhere and do anything.

Klimt present a reissue of Don Cherry's Relatively Suite, originally released in 1973. Finally, available again on vinyl. Recorded with the Jazz Composer's Orchestra. At this time, Cherry was becoming increasingly interested in Middle Eastern and traditional African and Indian music, having traveled extensively and studied with Indian musician, Vasant Rai. This suite of songs was particularly influenced by the Indian Carnatic singing tradition, as can be heard from the very opening moments of the album. Featuring Carla Bley on piano, Charlie Haden on bass, and Ed Blackwell on drums, as well as an extended horn and string section, Cherry collaborated extensively with the Jazz Composer's Orchestra throughout the early '70s. His Swedish wife, Moki Cherry, plays tambura on "Trans-Love Airways". Clear vinyl.

The work of JJJJJerome Ellis lives comfortably in the gaps between silence and possibility. The Black disabled Grenadian-Jamaican-American artist creates atmospheric soundscapes with saxophone, organ, hammered dulcimer, electronics, and their voice. Improvisation is at the core of their artistry – often chipping away at large slabs of recordings to reveal the piece like a marble sculptor. It’s an expansive and interdisciplinary practice that allows JJJJJerome to adapt to any medium or form, including recorded music, live theatrical and performance art, scoring, spoken word and storytelling, and multimedia/visual works that incorporate sound. Living as a person who stutters, using their mouth to express themselves proved difficult growing up. The practice of spelling their performance moniker “JJJJJerome” stems from the realization that the word they stutter most frequently is their own name. Despite a brief placement in speech therapy as a child – Everything clicked when they picked up the saxophone in seventh grade. “I still stutter on the saxophone, but it’s different.” As an artist, their creative ethos now revolves around the exploration of stuttering through music, expounding upon the ability of each to shape time. They honor the stutter through art. Their career began when they started to improvise along with John Coltrane and Billie Holiday CDs on the horn. But as someone drawn to navigating limitations, JJJJJerome has since blossomed into an adept multi-instrumentalist, each instrument being a watershed in paving new avenues of potential sound worlds. Their voice is additionally guided by a reverence for the earth and ancestors – both human and otherwise. With maternal familial ties to the church, and memorable stories of their grandmother performing as a pianist and organist, JJJJJerome’s recent affinity for keyboards holds a meaningful weight. Forthcoming sophomore record Vesper Sparrow (Shelter Press) is born out of this connection to Black religious tradition and inheritance. It is a continuation of the artist’s ongoing study of the intersections between music and sound, stuttering, and Blackness, through the lens of time. The album is comprised of two complete thoughts, and hinges on a recorded stutter. JJJJJerome splits the four-part composition “Evensong” by fading out the stutter in part two, and sandwiches tracks three and four (“Vesper Sparrow” and “Black-Throated Sparrow”) in-between. “The stutter becomes a structuring moment,” they explain, regarding the opportunity to fill the time opened up. Suspension, then, becomes integral to JJJJJerome’s musical language. Both stuttering and granular synthesis can suspend moments in time, and “invite multiple ways of inhabiting, traversing, and connecting with others in those moments.” The artist also pulls in elements of pop production – electronic textures and distortions inspired in part by indie-rock; and spoken word, sampling, and audio manipulation drawn from Caribbean and Black American musics. JJJJJerome’s artistry has been recognized on a wide scale. Their debut record The Clearing (NNA Tapes, 2021) and accompanying book (published by Wendy’s Subway) was awarded the 2022 Anna Rabinowitz Prize for its “restless interrogation of linear time,” as described by esteemed writer Claudia Rankine. Their work has been presented by large cultural institutions, both internationally at the 2023 Venice Biennale and adventurous Rewire Festival; and at home in the US by the Whitney Museum, The Shed, the Center for African American Poetry and Poetics, and National Sawdust. JJJJJerome has additionally been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship (2015), Creative Capital Grant (2022), and several MacDowell residencies (2019, 2022). Recently, they have been commissioned by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Ars Nova. A Virginia native, JJJJJerome currently lives in a monastery on traditional Nansemond and Chesepioc territory, aka Norfolk, VA. They live with their wife, poet-ecologist Luísa Black Ellis. earned a B.A. in music theory and ethnomusicology from Columbia University, and went on to lecture in Sound Design at Yale University. With childhood friend James Harrison Monaco, they create vast sonic-storytelling productions as James & JJJJJerome. It’s JJJJJerome’s dream to build a sonic bath house.

After a critically praised debut in 2023 and numerous tours across Europe, Yalla Miku returns with “2”, a new record that further asserts their unique identity. Still based in Geneva, the band moves forward with a reimagined lineup — not as a departure, but as the natural continuation of a project envisioned from the start as a space for encounters, movement, and musical reinvention.

Blending post-kraut grooves, mutant folklore and electronic trance, Yalla Miku continues to spark dialogue between traditions from the Horn of Africa and the most unrestrained experiments of Geneva’s underground. The krar riffs of Samuel Ades Tesfagergsh, the sculptural bass of Louise Knobil, the taut percussion of Cyril Bondi, the raw electronics of Emma Souharce, and Cyril Yeterian’s modified banjo weave a dense, collective sonic fabric, full of sharp turns and rhythmic surges.

There’s no smooth fusion here, nor any fixed folklore: “2” is an interplanetary journey where multiple voices overlap, clash or complement each other. It’s a music of otherness, built as a shared space where each texture keeps its own roughness.

With this second album, Yalla Miku digs deeper into its sound: raw, militant, unclassifiable — for curious ears and open hearts.

After a critically praised debut in 2023 and numerous tours across Europe, Yalla Miku returns with “2”, a new record that further asserts their unique identity. Still based in Geneva, the band moves forward with a reimagined lineup — not as a departure, but as the natural continuation of a project envisioned from the start as a space for encounters, movement, and musical reinvention.

Blending post-kraut grooves, mutant folklore and electronic trance, Yalla Miku continues to spark dialogue between traditions from the Horn of Africa and the most unrestrained experiments of Geneva’s underground. The krar riffs of Samuel Ades Tesfagergsh, the sculptural bass of Louise Knobil, the taut percussion of Cyril Bondi, the raw electronics of Emma Souharce, and Cyril Yeterian’s modified banjo weave a dense, collective sonic fabric, full of sharp turns and rhythmic surges.

There’s no smooth fusion here, nor any fixed folklore: “2” is an interplanetary journey where multiple voices overlap, clash or complement each other. It’s a music of otherness, built as a shared space where each texture keeps its own roughness.

With this second album, Yalla Miku digs deeper into its sound: raw, militant, unclassifiable — for curious ears and open hearts.

Strut presents an exclusive reissue of Oneness Of Juju’s classic 1976 album Space Jungle Luv, an essential addition to the Black Fire Records reissue series. When bandleader James “Plunky” Branch created Oneness Of Juju in 1975, he had spent five years working on both the West and East coasts of the U.S. The group’s previous incarnation, Juju, had become a fixture within New York’s avant-garde jazz scene. Upon moving to Richmond, Virginia, Plunky re-grouped with a new set of musicians, fusing African percussion with funk and R&B. The band recorded two of their most celebrated albums during 1975 and 1976, African Rhythms and Space Jungle Luv. This change of direction ushered in the most successful era yet for the band. Plunky connected with distributor, publicist and DJ Jimmy “Black Fire” Gray, and African Rhythms scored a huge local success. Plunky recalls, “A year later, with Space Jungle Luv, I moved from R&B into a more mellow, spiritual direction. The music featured a smooth progressive sound that was perfect for our singer Lady Eka-Ete’s mesmerizing, soulfully sweet vocals. That album also introduced guitarist Melvin Glover to the group; his songs broadened our repertoire by adding celestial, harp-like tones and textures.” The pianist from Pharoah Sanders’ band, Joe Bonner, also guested on the sessions. “With Space Jungle Luv, I was making a Pharoah kind of record,” continues Plunky. “I wanted to deliver a spiritually uplifting message; artists like George Clinton and Sun Ra had explored the theme of space and people were looking towards the future and new technology. We were also describing the album – space music, jungle music, love songs. Among the tracks, ‘River Luvrite’ describes positive people as constituting a flow, a continuous spirit. With ‘Follow Me’, we were just saying, ‘come along with us and find new places together.’” This new reissue of Space Jungle Luv features the full original artwork, including the cover painting by Muzi Branch. It is remastered by The Carvery and includes a brand new interview with bandleader James “Plunky” Branch alongside rare photos. The release also includes brand new liner notes by James “Plunky” Branch.

Strut present the first international release in over 30 years by legendary Afro-jazz group Oneness Of Juju with their new album Made Through Ritual on 4th July 2025.

In 1975, the late DJ / producer and jazz distributor Jimmy Gray and James “Plunky” Branch joined a musical revolution, founding Black Fire Records and releasing the label’s debut album, the classic African Rhythms by Oneness of Juju. This July, Plunky brings this important musical relationship full circle with Made Through Ritual, produced by Plunky’s son Jamiah “Fire” Branch and Jimmy’s son Jamal Gray. The album takes a novel approach to beat culture. Working from demos created by Jamal using a selection of original jazz samples, Plunky took the tracks, replayed and re-interpreted the arrangements using live musicians. “The album explores the art of deconstruction and reconstruction in music - sampling, sequencing, and live improvisation merge with multi-track recording to craft intricate harmonies and arrangements,” explains Plunky. “The process became a ritualistic expression of creativity and transformation.” The resulting album is a fascinating listen. Opening with the meditative soul chant ‘Share This Love’ voiced by regular Oneness vocalist Charlayne “Chyp” Green,

the album opens out into a series of jazz vignettes including the title track, ‘In Due Time’ and ‘Free Spirit’. The powerful album closer, ‘Children Of The Drum’ celebrates black culture and legacy through the poetry of Roscoe Burnem. Released on 1LP and 1CD with specially commissioned cover artwork by contemporary Ivorian artist Maxime Manga, Made Through Ritual represents an important new chapter in the Oneness story.

Strut present the first international release in over 30 years by legendary Afro-jazz group Oneness Of Juju with their new album Made Through Ritual on 4th July 2025.

In 1975, the late DJ / producer and jazz distributor Jimmy Gray and James “Plunky” Branch joined a musical revolution, founding Black Fire Records and releasing the label’s debut album, the classic African Rhythms by Oneness of Juju. This July, Plunky brings this important musical relationship full circle with Made Through Ritual, produced by Plunky’s son Jamiah “Fire” Branch and Jimmy’s son Jamal Gray. The album takes a novel approach to beat culture. Working from demos created by Jamal using a selection of original jazz samples, Plunky took the tracks, replayed and re-interpreted the arrangements using live musicians. “The album explores the art of deconstruction and reconstruction in music - sampling, sequencing, and live improvisation merge with multi-track recording to craft intricate harmonies and arrangements,” explains Plunky. “The process became a ritualistic expression of creativity and transformation.” The resulting album is a fascinating listen. Opening with the meditative soul chant ‘Share This Love’ voiced by regular Oneness vocalist Charlayne “Chyp” Green,

the album opens out into a series of jazz vignettes including the title track, ‘In Due Time’ and ‘Free Spirit’. The powerful album closer, ‘Children Of The Drum’ celebrates black culture and legacy through the poetry of Roscoe Burnem. Released on 1LP and 1CD with specially commissioned cover artwork by contemporary Ivorian artist Maxime Manga, Made Through Ritual represents an important new chapter in the Oneness story.

'Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes' is the debut album from Gregory Uhlmann (SML, Anna Butterss, Duffy x Uhlmann, Perfume Genius), Josh Johnson (SML, Jeff Parker ETA IVtet & New Breed, Meshell Ndegeocello, Anna Butterss, Leon Bridges), and Sam Wilkes (Sam Gendel, Louis Cole, Chaka Khan). The three improviser/arranger/producers’ impressive individual credits encompass such a wide stylistic pendulum swing that a collection of group music from the trio could mine any number of musical territories with masterful results. In these 11 instrumental songs, the trio explores a spacious lyrical curiosity that could be described as a jazz-informed take on progressive electro-acoustic chamber music.

Conceived during two live shows at ETA and a session at Uhlmann’s house in Los Angeles, the album maintains a focus on beauty, melody, and movement as the pieces unfold, with the trio pushing their instruments and highly-dialed effects to sculpt otherworldly sounds with the collective sensibility of a rhythm section. The ethos of these instant compositions is arrangement-minded improvisation that showcases the mournful beauty of Uhlmann’s fingerpicked electric guitar, the hybrid rhythm-lead of Wilkes’ bass chording, and the textural harmonic worldbuilding of Johnson’s effect-laden alto saxophone.

The trio’s explorations are rooted in more than just musicality, though. The arc of the group’s story is one of friendship and mutual admiration. Uhlmann and Johnson have known each other since their formative days as teenagers studying jazz. Shortly after first meeting in an educational setting, they would connect for nascent musical probing via low-stakes get-togethers back home in Chicago. They didn’t even know at the time that they had both taken lessons from a mutual guiding light – legendary guitarist/composer Jeff Parker.

After high school, they headed in separate directions – Johnson to Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana; Uhlmann to Cal Arts in Santa Clarita, California – but reconnected quickly upon migrating to LA, where shared opportunities for studio work as well as revolving-cast free improvisation at small clubs around the city naturally cemented their loose partnership. Uhlmann was both playing and programming, creating platforms for collaboration at the Bootleg Theater, while Johnson’s transition from student-of to collaborator-with Jeff Parker was well underway via their weekly gig at Highland Park’s ETA. In the immediate periphery of all of this was bassist Sam Wilkes, a serial collaborator well known in the LA creative music scene’s cross-pollination trenches.

“I was playing with some musicians who went to Cal Arts,” says Wilkes. “I started going up there regularly, and Greg had this great band called Fell Runner. A group I was in split a bill with them at the old Bootleg Theater and it really solidified my appreciation and deep respect for the band and for Greg’s playing. They were doing things that were completely unique. We’ve been friends ever since.”

Wilkes and Johnson’s first collaboration came after years of knowing one another in LA, but the musical connection and respect was similarly instantaneous. “It was a session for Louis Cole Big Band,” recalls Wilkes. “Everyone went around on this one tune and took 4 bars, and Josh took this really, really unique 4-bar solo that really stood out. After the session, Louis looked at me and said ‘Josh Johnson!’ and I was like ‘I know!’

In 2021, even before Uhlmann and Johnson began working on what would become SML, Wilkes and Uhlmann played together on an album by Miya Folick, which left them feeling like there was more music to be made together. Uhlmann suggested booking a live date as a trio with Johnson at ETA. With engineer Bryce Gonzales at the controls, the group worked through a short list of prepared material, augmented with passages of improvisation. “We all agreed that it was important to have a nice melodic repertoire to use as a starting point to freely improvise,” says Wilkes. “Landing zones, essentially, while we’re out in the field.”

Those landing zones include a stunning cover of “The Fool On The Hill,” perhaps the eeriest McCartney ballad in The Beatles’ songbook. Johnson’s tender rendering of the classic vocal melody unites the raindrop-leslie-plonk of Uhlmann’s electric guitar and the quietly grooving drone thump of Wilkes’ bass so comfortably that any move could feel natural by the time the trio opens it up for improvisation at the two-minute mark. What follows is a sublime take on the purring consonance only occasionally found in the best moments of the ECM or Windham Hill catalogs. Even more incredible is the fact that this particular recording of the tune documents the first piece of music this trio played together, from the opening moments of their first performance at ETA.

That instantaneous cualidad simpático is what makes this trio special. What we’re hearing is a friendship between high-level improvisers translated into musical moments and executed with such curious precision that the lines between supposed opposites – composition and improvisation, jazz and chamber music, ennui and contentment – are delightfully blurred.

“Frica” is, perhaps, the track on which that blur is most evident. The tune incorporates the staccato stutters and repetitions heard throughout the album, but doubles down with a subtly disorienting post-production chop by Johnson, which accentuates the trio’s live trance by introducing a floating phrase cut-and-mix. The fact that these concepts are employed intuitively, pre-edit, throughout Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes is precisely what makes the post-production shine. It can be difficult to discern what is a slip of the sampler and what is live, turn-on-a-dime action, and it’s exactly that mystery which draws us in.

“Marvis," the album opener, makes that clear from the jump. This fresh spin on a tune from Johnson’s solo album 'Unusual Object' checks many of the same boxes as “Frica” on the production level, but it’s all in service of a truly demented low-key groove. The trio is in lock step here, but it’s unclear how many legs are doing the stepping and just whose legs are taking which steps.

Conversely, the Uhlmann composition “Arpy” is a slow-paced, descending four chord meditation teeming with the life provided by the guitarist’s causally precise reverberated triplet repetitions and held down by Wilkes’ sturdy bass chording, which occasionally wanders into flamboyant high register flourishes. Johnson’s soft alto treatment morphs in tonality throughout, eventually settling into something more aurally reminiscent of an Ondes Martenot or some gently twisted echo of Clara Rockmore.

All told, 'Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes' is a beautiful snapshot of three endlessly interesting players at the top of their game, rendered in such a skilled manner that its inherent mastery flows effortlessly, making passive atmospheric immersion as pleasant and stimulating as deep focused listening. 

Chicago Underground Duo is the long-running collaborative project of composer/trumpeter/electronicist Rob Mazurek (Exploding Star Orchestra, Isotope 217, New Future City Radio with Damon Locks) and composer/drummer/mbiraist Chad Taylor (jaimie branch’s Fly or Die, Marshall Allen’s Ghost Horizons, Luke Stewart’s Silt Trio). Hyperglyph is their first album in 11 years, and 8th in the absolute cabinet of wonders that is the Chicago Underground Duo.

The pair have played music together in a multitude of formations over nearly three decades, including their ongoing partnership in Mazurek’s large-format-skyward-expressionism vehicle Exploding Star Orchestra, in the expanded Chicago Underground Trio & Quartet (with guitarist Jeff Parker), and in a plethora of other assemblages. The early albums by the Duo have proven to be embryonic blueprints for the avant-jazz / electronic / indie rock hybridizations of the time, making them majorly important moments in the articulation of the “jazz” dimensionality of the then-burgeoning "post rock" sound. That sound, of course, was being transmitted far and wide due to the success of these groups as well as Mazurek’s Isotope 217 project with Jeff Parker, and the Chicago Underground’s frequent collaborators in Tortoise.

But the sounds being created by this extended family are and were far from static. Just as most of the still-working artists born of that Chicago era have evolved, reconfigured, and grown, Chicago Underground Duo has undergone a number of musical moltings, with the project always in the background of disparate individual aural investigations — always an option, always an outlet. As the project drops off and picks back up, the concurrent personal evolutions of Mazurek and Taylor make the Duo a true reflection of their own lives and friendship.

“Rob is my longest collaborator and also one of my best friends,” says Taylor, who first performed with Mazurek at a club in Chicago in 1988, aged 15.

“When it feels right we do it,” says Mazurek of the gaps in duo activity. “We have worked together and have been friends for a long time. This creates a kind of continuity not only in the music, but in our lives.”

Musically, there are certainly internalized nods here to AACM composers like Wadada Leo Smith, or albums like Don Cherry & Ed Blackwell’s “Mu” and El Corazon, but the songs of Hyperglyph exemplify Mazurek and Taylor’s individualities while also addressing another longtime influence on the Chicago Underground Duo sound — the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost of extreme studio editing in jazz-adjacent music, Miles Davis and Teo Macero’s Bitches Brew, In A Silent Way, and Get Up With It.

“Post production has always been a big part of our process,” says Taylor.

“Sometimes it just flows and we one-take a thing,” Mazurek elaborates. “Other things take time to ferment. We hit those hard in the post production.”

International Anthem engineer Dave Vettraino was indispensable as part of this process, recording and mixing the entire album at IARC HQ in Chicago. “We are very open and free in the studio,” says Mazurek. “Working with Dave is a joy because he is so intuitive and open with his approach as well. We can try anything with him. In this way it is more like a trio than a duo.”

Couple this trio’s take on the now classic cut-and-recut production techniques of Davis/Macero with Mazurek and Taylor’s longtime interest in deep electronic sounds (think Bernard Parmegiani, Morton Subotnick, Xenakis, Eliane Radigue, Plux Quba), transformative processing (think Autechre, King Tubby, Mouse On Mars, Carl Craig) and we can finally get close to understanding just where the duo lands in this lineage — this ongoing narrative each individual finds themselves in whether they see it or not. The Chicago Underground Duo, it seems, sees it.

While the musical language of Mazurek and Taylor can certainly be clocked in the slew of projects that they participate in together, the sound of a Chicago Underground Duo album is singular among them. Hyperglyph is no exception and could even be considered a distillation of that intuitive yet complex sound. A key can be found in the title of the album itself: highly complex geometric structures which can seem overly complex at first but, when thousands are arrayed in 3D space and with user training and adaptation, can significantly enhance perception and information assimilation and lead to new knowledge and insights.

The album opener “Click Song” kicks off with a blown-out horn chant from Mazurek, doubled by tuned bells and nestled into a muscular and symmetrical stereo-overdubbed polyrhythm from Taylor. Synthesized bass pulls our ears along cyclically, dropping in and out to almost severe dynamic effect while Mazurek and the subtle-yet-persistent bells elaborate upon the melody before ultimately departing from their repetitive psalm in favor of improvisation. It’s all held together by the steady, deep, chest-thump boom of Taylor’s kick drum pattern.

“There has always been a lot of African influence in the rhythms we play,” says Taylor. “With this record, specifically, we utilize rhythms from Nigeria, Mali, Zimbabwe, and Ghana.” Taken as a whole, spiritually, this introductory three-minute stomper lives somewhere between a Tuareg wedding and the most hypnotic moments of the click songs of Northern Africa.

Title track “Hyperglyph” follows, and begins with a chromatic moving harmony played by Mazurek on the RMI electric piano, an instrument famously utilized on Miles Davis’ groundbreaking Filles de Kilimanjaro. The vibe here, though, is one of unyielding, trancelike repetition. The trumpet introduces the time, with Taylor's chunky smacking rhythm hitting hard from the get go. Eventually, the tune undergoes a transformation, with the back and forth of melody and rhythm hitting a fever pitch. A pitch-shifted trumpet becomes a New Orleans march baritone. Dennis Bovell-style dub sounds enter (or, maybe, reveal themselves) at the start of the song’s final movement, followed by wordless incantations. Swelling and saturated, the track sounds as if it’s about to tear itself apart. Static pulsing merges and overtakes the recorded percussion to present a new rhythm of hissing electronics — the harnessed wailing of the unleashed ghost in the machine. A spiritual awakening from the bowels of the earth.

“Hemiunu”, a Chad Taylor composition, is a waltz based around a simple piano figure repeated throughout. A folk melody from anywhere, the kind that’s been in the air for as long as anyone can remember. One might imagine the melody played clawhammer on an Appalachian afternoon, bowed somberly on the Chinese erhu, or hummed nonchalantly on the factory line. From the jump, Taylor’s percussion threads itself into the sound of a well-worn upright piano as the high register is haunted in wide stereo by that roiling RMI electric piano in octaves, alternately dubby and harplike. Enter Mazurek with another folk-like melodic phrase. Pause. Again. Pause. Leaving room for the now densely waltzing bouquet to bloom before diving deep into laser-sharp Lee Morganesque territory with a wildly vibrating high trumpet cry, but with a tone Mazurek owns completely.

The deeper reference for Mazurek’s most untethered emotional playing is his late friend and mentor Bill Dixon, an extraction most apparent in the three-part "Egyptian Suite.” At the start of part one (“The Architect”) a cyclical pattern from Taylor becomes a bed for Mazurek’s repeating, descending, synthetic-Egyptian scaled theme. This call to action dissolves into the second movement, “Triangulation of Light,” where Taylor’s bowed cymbals set the stage for an exploration of microtonal color with and against the occasional joining and un-joining of tones that stretch the frequencies to their limits from Mazurek's open and half muted trumpet. Like a tornado siren in the distance, breaking through the membrane of storm clouds on the horizon, in search of another siren.

The third and final movement, “Architectonics of Time,” announces itself with free rolling swaths of percussion from Taylor à la Robert Frank Pozar’s mind-bending percussion on The Bill Dixon Orchestra’s classic Intents and Purposes. Here, though, the lineup is limited to two, with no overdubs or post-production. Taylor's singular style and Mazurek's tonal painting coalesce into a maelstrom of intervallic tone and beat before the final repeat of the lead melody from the suite’s first movement. It truly feels like reaching the summit. It’s pure and free duo interaction, the symbiosis of 30 years.

“Succulent Amber,” the final track on Hyperglyph, could fit just as easily on side two of Autobahn. After a brief modular synth-induced pan-harmonic melody shift, a steady kalimba is joined by the gentle intermittent raindrop-melodicism of the RMI electric piano in this understated final duo performance, unadorned by further studio arrangement. It’s a full-on comedown moment after the intensity of “Egyptian Suite,” though rather than winding down or petering out, here the Chicago Underground Duo still manage to point toward some kind of incoming mystery with four sudden-yet-patient ascending chords on the low-register of the RMI electric piano just before the curtains close. The piano notes end on a leading tone, leaving the resolution to the listener.

Once we’ve climbed the mountain, they remind us, we have to deal with what’s on the other side.

Land Back!

An unadulterated opening statement intoned by Saul Williams three times, as he joins Carlos Niño & Friends in sound ceremony underneath oak and black walnut trees in Coldwater Canyon Park, Los Angeles, on December 18, 2024.

The performance, which was organized by Noah Klein of Living Earth on the grounds of longstanding conservationist organization TreePeople, was the first of its kind for longtime friends and collaborators Williams and Niño. The two have been in contact since 1997 and have worked on a variety of projects together, but had never been moved to present in this way. For the occasion, Niño assembled and directed an ensemble of frequent collaborators including Nate Mercereau (Guitar Synthesizer, Live Sampling with Midi Guitar, Sample Sources), Aaron Shaw (Flute, Soprano Saxophone with Pedals, Tenor Saxophone), Andres Renteria (Bells, Congas, Egyptian Rattle Drum, Hand Drums, Percussion), Maia (Flute, Vibraphone, Voice), Francesca Heart (Computer, Conch Shell, Sound Design), and Kamasi Washington (Tenor Saxophone).

Williams’ inspired poetics both fit seamlessly and guide clairvoyantly the electro-acoustic ecosystem created by Niño & Friends – a constellation of deep connections and intersecting linkups from complementary sound makers. There’s the dialogue between not just Niño & Williams but Niño and Renteria’s reciprocal percussions; the intergenerational woodwind counterpoint between Washington and Shaw; the hovering harmonics of Maia’s vibraphone in aerial resonance with Heart’s digital designs. Heart’s sounds also make a beautiful analogue to synth-guitarist Nate Mercereau, whose live sampling and manipulation techniques turn fleeting moments of sonic presence into musical architecture in real time. Deepening the dimensionality of this constellation, Mercereau and Niño are several years into a shared musical simpatico that has yielded dozens of powerful collaborations, making their particular interaction on this recording as spiritual and transcendent as it is subtle and implicit. And there is yet another connection to be highlighted still.

Late in the set, Williams shares an extended reflection on the Dutch East India Trade Company, the indigenous Lenape people on the island of Manahatta, the origins of Wall Street, and a prayer for the end of empire as he incites an epic crescendo from the ensemble, swirling behind the twin winds of Shaw and Washington, spirited by his repeated call “I’ve seen enough.” The smoke has only begun to clear from this emotional apex as Williams passes the torch to poet Aja Monet, who arrests the atmosphere with a soft apocalyptic reading of a piece from her notebook, “The Water Is Rising.”

As Monet finishes her poem and steps aside, Williams follows her foreboding words with a solemnly hopeful return – closing the ceremony with a parable about a firing squad, where one member's dilemma is a "system of belief" allowing for humanity in the heart of an oppressor.

Different Rooms is a collection of songs and musical motifs we composed, edited, and collaged in the weeks between late 2024 and early 2025. Most of the recorded material was performed during that editing process, except for live performances taken from improvisations we recorded with Jeff Parker and Josh Johnson some time in 2023.

In our typical process, much of our material is collaged and combines moments of live improvisation, field recordings, and in-studio experimentation. This record, however, marks an evolution in our approach to studio production.

Our studios are side-by-side. When we were writing this album, you might have found us tracking viola stacks in one studio while, in the other, we were writing through-composed themes and rearranging the material. Granular synthesis and tape manipulation are key tools we use to create variation and movement in a composition. This process often yields surprising results, capturing the emotion but expressing it in unexpected ways. It feels essential that we embrace a bit of chance.

In contrast to our first album, Recordings from the Åland Islands, we wanted this music to feel very present. Where Recordings was intended to transport you to another place, Different Rooms is meant to meet you where you are. It’s a decidedly urban album. The field recordings were captured on train platforms, in city streets, in rooms at home, and intentionally paint a quotidian sonic image, blurring the line between what you hear in your own environment and what is on the record.

The song cycle is set in palindromic sequence, figuratively, with certain pieces (reflected) by a reprised or recurring motif that is often reimagined with new instrumentation.

The sonic and temporal abstraction between what is performed in real-time versus what is recorded, manipulated, and collaged reinforces our intent to collect the works under the title Different Rooms, which literally expresses the way the material was recorded in different rooms while reminding us that our shared experience of present time is also one that is asynchronous, historied, and complex.

On the 6th of October 2023, the release date of her third solo album ‘Ghosts’, Hania Rani organised a special album release concert with a string ensemble in a very unique location - Witold Lutosławski's Concert Studio at the Polish Radio in Warsaw. “Over the years, the spaces of Polish Radio became an important part of my life - both privately and professionally. I visited it for the first time as a student of Chopin University of Music and came back to make my first recordings in late 2018, just before the release of the debut album ‘Esja’. Since then I have been a regular guest.” The building is located in the Mokotów district in Warsaw and has served generations of musicians and sound engineers for decades. For Hania it is a home from home; a beloved recording studio but something more important and resonant too. Nostalgia does more than just present a memorable concert; it celebrates a space and an idea as through the mediums of photography and recorded sound. Hania creates something profound and enlightening. “Some months after this special concert in Studio S1 I came back to the chambers of Polish Radio. This time not as a musician, but as an observer. It was one of the coldest Mondays of January and Warsaw was adorned with fresh, plush snow. The building seemed completely empty, so I was able to navigate freely with my camera from space to space without interruption. I relished each object and each room waiting patiently to be consumed by a film roll. The obscure lighting was putting things in a subtle movement, the strong white beams were making them still again” Through Nostalgia, Hania presents the studios in her own perspective, as somewhere unique and unknown. A place of work, but something more. A place of ghosts and hidden meanings, of inspiration and mystery; The deluxe LP comes with a 16-page booklet featuring Hania’s unique analogue photos, along with her thoughts on the recording process, studios, and the compositions themselves. The CD includes these photos in a beautifully glued-in 12-page booklet.

Ethio-jazz pioneer Mulatu Astatke joins the Hoodna Orchestra, Tel Aviv’s number one Afro funk collective, melding his enchanting vibraphone playing with their brass heavy force across seven original compositions that play tribute to the classic Mulatu sound while forging fresh paths. Produced by and featuring Dap-King Neal Sugarman, the results are gritty, yet majestic, soulful and uplifting.

Mulatu Astatke requires little introduction at this point. Born in Jimma, Ethiopia, Mulatu went on to live and study in London, Boston and New York. Initially drawn to and trained in jazz and Latin music, he developed the sound he called “Ethio-jazz” over a series of seminal albums combining jazz, Latin, funk and soul, with traditional Ethiopian scales and rhythms.

Long a cornerstone of the Ethiopian recording industry, his albums and even guest appearances were long sought after by record collectors and music enthusiasts around the globe. However the release of an acclaimed ‘Éthiopiques’ compilation dedicated to his instrumental recordings in 1998, followed by the 2005 release of Jim Jarmush’s acclaimed ‘Broken Flowers’ film, which heavily featured Astatke’s irresistible music, introduced him to a much wider international audience. Mulatu would go on to be sampled by the likes of Nas, Kanye West, Cut Chemist and Madlib, whilst touring to large audiences across the globe, and collaborating with London-based psych jazz collective, the Heliocentrics.

Formed in 2012 on the south side of Tel Aviv, the 12 member Hoodna Orchestra is a collective of musicians and composers who initially bonded over a shared love of Afrobeat. They have gone on to incorporate psychedelic rock, hard funk and soul, jazz, and East African music into their sought after releases, winning praise and airplay from the likes of Iggy Pop and Huey Morgan on BBC Radio 6 Music. The collective draws together a huge array of musical talents such as guitarist Ilan Smilan and organist Eitan Drabkin of Sababa 5 fame, Shalosh trio drummer Matan Assayag, and percussionist Rani Birenbaum of The Faithful Brothers, many of whom also contribute compositions to the orchestra, ensuring its collaborative environment.

Over time, members of the orchestra came to find they shared a growing interest in Ethiopian music, particularly the Ethio-jazz of Mulatu Astatke. Since releasing a recording with Ethiopian singer Tesfaye Negatu, Hoodna Orchestra had been looking to find ways to collaborate with Astatke himself and in early 2023 the opportunity arose to invite Astatke to Tel Aviv, record an album and perform it live for their home audience. Stars aligned as Neal Sugarman, multi-instrumentalist member of the Dap-Kings and co-founder of Daptone Records, joined and produced the session with Smilan.

The album commences with title track “Tension”, leading Mulatu’s signature sound in a new, rhythmically intense direction, hence the name, providing fresh creative ground for the collaborators. Astatke’s vibraphone sets the scene, before drummer Matan Assayag attacks the beat and Nadav Bracha’s marching bassline and Rani’s percussion propel the track forward, and Hoodna’s brass section delivers a classic Ethio motif. Mulatu’s enchanting vibraphone solo is followed by a blistering tenor sax solo by Eylon Tushiner. This is Ethio-jazz on turbochargers.

Recorded towards the end of their session, “Major” provides a whole new dimension, joyously and effortlessly swinging out of the speakers after “Tension”. You can sense how comfortable the band feels together at this point. The track features a superb organ solo by Drabkin. The Smilan composed “Hatula” embodies the sound of a cat prowling outside on a hot summer’s night with poise and finesse, before building into a great crescendo that belies the feline creature’s unpredictable behavior and wilder instincts. “Yashan” on the other hand is classic smoke-filled- lounge Ethio-jazz with an undercurrent of tension you can cut with a knife, with the Elad Gellert baritone sax solo lulling you into a false sense of security.

The Latin-jazz tinged grooves of “Delilah” play homage to the early roots of Mulatu’s sound. Leading the song’s key motif, Tushiner’s seductive flute is well balanced by Smilan’s guitar, proceeding beautifully into an enchanting solo by Astatke himself. Tushiner takes an extended turn himself, soloing like Hungarian guitar legend Gábor Szabó, if only he’d moved to Cairo instead of San Francisco. Joined by Sugarman on saxophones, the brass section plays a subtle but important role on his occasion, gently accompanying in the background.

The album closes fittingly with “Dung Gate”. A Birenbaum composition, the track features slow, heavy, melodic motif led by the brass section, counterbalanced by a tidal wave of percussion and hand-clapping. One can imagine the band slowly marching out of the venue through the crowd at the end of their show, the audience clapping in time with the orchestra’s brass and percussion, recalling another legend, the late great Sun Ra.

On one hand, ‘Tension’ is clearly a deeply personal tribute by the Hoodna Orchestra to iconic Mulatu Astatke, but at the same time the recordings emit a remarkable amount of chemistry, and together they have created an essential addition to Mulatu’s rich discography that charts new directions in his Ethio-jazz trajectory and provides the Hoodna Orchestra with their strongest album to date. 

Ethio-jazz pioneer Mulatu Astatke joins the Hoodna Orchestra, Tel Aviv’s number one Afro funk collective, melding his enchanting vibraphone playing with their brass heavy force across seven original compositions that play tribute to the classic Mulatu sound while forging fresh paths. Produced by and featuring Dap-King Neal Sugarman, the results are gritty, yet majestic, soulful and uplifting.

Mulatu Astatke requires little introduction at this point. Born in Jimma, Ethiopia, Mulatu went on to live and study in London, Boston and New York. Initially drawn to and trained in jazz and Latin music, he developed the sound he called “Ethio-jazz” over a series of seminal albums combining jazz, Latin, funk and soul, with traditional Ethiopian scales and rhythms.

Long a cornerstone of the Ethiopian recording industry, his albums and even guest appearances were long sought after by record collectors and music enthusiasts around the globe. However the release of an acclaimed ‘Éthiopiques’ compilation dedicated to his instrumental recordings in 1998, followed by the 2005 release of Jim Jarmush’s acclaimed ‘Broken Flowers’ film, which heavily featured Astatke’s irresistible music, introduced him to a much wider international audience. Mulatu would go on to be sampled by the likes of Nas, Kanye West, Cut Chemist and Madlib, whilst touring to large audiences across the globe, and collaborating with London-based psych jazz collective, the Heliocentrics.

Formed in 2012 on the south side of Tel Aviv, the 12 member Hoodna Orchestra is a collective of musicians and composers who initially bonded over a shared love of Afrobeat. They have gone on to incorporate psychedelic rock, hard funk and soul, jazz, and East African music into their sought after releases, winning praise and airplay from the likes of Iggy Pop and Huey Morgan on BBC Radio 6 Music. The collective draws together a huge array of musical talents such as guitarist Ilan Smilan and organist Eitan Drabkin of Sababa 5 fame, Shalosh trio drummer Matan Assayag, and percussionist Rani Birenbaum of The Faithful Brothers, many of whom also contribute compositions to the orchestra, ensuring its collaborative environment.

Over time, members of the orchestra came to find they shared a growing interest in Ethiopian music, particularly the Ethio-jazz of Mulatu Astatke. Since releasing a recording with Ethiopian singer Tesfaye Negatu, Hoodna Orchestra had been looking to find ways to collaborate with Astatke himself and in early 2023 the opportunity arose to invite Astatke to Tel Aviv, record an album and perform it live for their home audience. Stars aligned as Neal Sugarman, multi-instrumentalist member of the Dap-Kings and co-founder of Daptone Records, joined and produced the session with Smilan.

The album commences with title track “Tension”, leading Mulatu’s signature sound in a new, rhythmically intense direction, hence the name, providing fresh creative ground for the collaborators. Astatke’s vibraphone sets the scene, before drummer Matan Assayag attacks the beat and Nadav Bracha’s marching bassline and Rani’s percussion propel the track forward, and Hoodna’s brass section delivers a classic Ethio motif. Mulatu’s enchanting vibraphone solo is followed by a blistering tenor sax solo by Eylon Tushiner. This is Ethio-jazz on turbochargers.

Recorded towards the end of their session, “Major” provides a whole new dimension, joyously and effortlessly swinging out of the speakers after “Tension”. You can sense how comfortable the band feels together at this point. The track features a superb organ solo by Drabkin. The Smilan composed “Hatula” embodies the sound of a cat prowling outside on a hot summer’s night with poise and finesse, before building into a great crescendo that belies the feline creature’s unpredictable behavior and wilder instincts. “Yashan” on the other hand is classic smoke-filled- lounge Ethio-jazz with an undercurrent of tension you can cut with a knife, with the Elad Gellert baritone sax solo lulling you into a false sense of security.

The Latin-jazz tinged grooves of “Delilah” play homage to the early roots of Mulatu’s sound. Leading the song’s key motif, Tushiner’s seductive flute is well balanced by Smilan’s guitar, proceeding beautifully into an enchanting solo by Astatke himself. Tushiner takes an extended turn himself, soloing like Hungarian guitar legend Gábor Szabó, if only he’d moved to Cairo instead of San Francisco. Joined by Sugarman on saxophones, the brass section plays a subtle but important role on his occasion, gently accompanying in the background.

The album closes fittingly with “Dung Gate”. A Birenbaum composition, the track features slow, heavy, melodic motif led by the brass section, counterbalanced by a tidal wave of percussion and hand-clapping. One can imagine the band slowly marching out of the venue through the crowd at the end of their show, the audience clapping in time with the orchestra’s brass and percussion, recalling another legend, the late great Sun Ra.

On one hand, ‘Tension’ is clearly a deeply personal tribute by the Hoodna Orchestra to iconic Mulatu Astatke, but at the same time the recordings emit a remarkable amount of chemistry, and together they have created an essential addition to Mulatu’s rich discography that charts new directions in his Ethio-jazz trajectory and provides the Hoodna Orchestra with their strongest album to date. 

Shay Hazan radiates with musical diversity on 'Wusul وصول', His second solo album on Batov Records. Acclaimed Tel Aviv bassist, band leader, composer and producer, Shay Hazan emerges into the limelight with his highly anticipated second solo album, 'Wusul وصو’. This groundbreaking musical odyssey artfully melds the enchanting sounds of Gnawa music, spiritual jazz, hip hop grooves, and electronic production, with a rich tapestry of Middle Eastern and African influences. Hazan's debut solo album for Batov Records, 'Reclusive Ritual,' unveiled a fresh musical realm. It introduced the guimbri, a three-stringed camel-skin-covered bass plucked lute used by the Gnawa people of Morocco, to a landscape of jazzy horns, synths, and laid-back hip-hop beats. The album garnered support on BBC 6 Radio Music and earned Hazan a mix on the Huey Show. With over two four-star reviews, Songlines magazine dubbed it "groovy," while Mojo magazine described it as "hypnotic." 'Wusul وصول' builds on this legacy, offering a broader sonic palette, enhanced organic instrumentation, a lighter atmosphere, and elevated production values. The album's enigmatic title, 'Wusul' (Arabic for 'arrival'), celebrates the expected birth of Hazan’s first born child, expected to arrive around the same time as this album. Fitting, given that the latter is the result of a transformative phase in Hazan's career, with many of the album’s songs evolving and taking shape during live performances. Most notably, a majority of the musicians featured on 'Wusul وصول' are integral members of Hazan's live band, bringing a synergy and connection to the music that is palpable. Standout track, “Sunflowers”, featuring the exceptional Nitai Hershkovits on keys, showcases Hazan's prowess on guimbri, guitar, percussions, and synths. This mesmerising composition, recorded by Hazan himself, seamlessly weaves together a diverse array of musical elements, resulting in an uplifting and danceable masterpiece. On “A Walk In Dir El-Assad”, Hazan invites listeners with him to the small Arabic village of El-Assad, where at night the air is full of sounds of music emanating from multiple weddings. Over a cacophony of percussion, live drums from Shahar Haziza, and Hazan’s earthy guimbri-led basslines and gritty guitar, Eyal Netzer and tenor sax and Roy Zuzovsky trade solos and harmonise over the melody. Delivering one of the heaviest grooves on the album, “Vibe jadid” commences with the distinctive percussive sound of krakebs, large iron castanet-like musical instruments, primarily known for supplying the rhythmic aspect of Moroccan Gnawa music, before the earthy guimbri bassline hits, accompanied by a half time hip-hop-like kick drum and clap. Triumphant horns ring out the anthemic melody, offset by otherworldly synths. Shay Hazan's creative process reveals a cross-cultural narrative influenced by his extensive travels, from Central America to Japan, where he encountered the rich tradition of Gnawa musicians in Tel Aviv. The album includes a fascinating tune named “Shimo Kitazawa”, inspired by a Tokyo neighbourhood, as well as other tracks infused with the global vibes that have touched his musical soul. Dedicated compositions like “Dew” and 'Yooltz” pay homage to the friends and musicians who helped shape this album. Opener “Dew” is a nod to trumpeter Tal Avraham, who contributes a hypnotising solo. “Yooltz” is a loving tribute to tenor saxophonist Eyal Netzer, who contributes a soulful solo to the song, adding a distinctive layer of brilliance to the album. The Afrobeat leaning “Oladipo”, on the other hand, is dedicated to the late great drummer, musical director of Fela Kuti's band legendary Africa '70, and pioneer of the sound, Tony Allen. Hazan utilises synths to create an eerie atmosphere on “Street Souls”, inspired by the characters who frequently inhabit the streets around Hazan's studio, sharing insightful comments from time-to-time. The slim wall of separation, provided by his machines and studio walls, from the junkies and prostitutes outside is emblematic of the slim divide between his privileged existence and theirs. This urban tension continues on album closer “Riff Raff”, taps into the tumultuous undercurrents of social movements and demonstrations, injecting a sense of urgency into the album's diverse tapestry, with its jolting groove. Shay Hazan's journey continues as he embarks on a series of international performances, including the Jazz Jantar Festival in Dansk, Poland, and the Tel Aviv Jazz Festival. He has recently captivated audiences at the prestigious Jazz in the Park Festival in Romania and the Jerusalem Jazz Festival. His music transcends borders, uniting listeners worldwide in a vibrant celebration of sound and culture. 'Wusul وصول' is an introspective journey through the intricate tapestry of musical influences that have shaped Shay Hazan's unique sound. While Western and Mizrahi pop have left their marks on the record, they serve as threads

"Crossover City – Misty Morning" is a curated compilation of Japanese jazz fusion and crossover gems from the 1970s and 1980s. Featuring artists like Terumasa Hino and Sadao Watanabe, it captures the smooth, urban soundscapes of a golden era. A must-listen for fans of city pop and sophisticated grooves.

A landmark in Detroit deep house.

Forevernevermore is Moodymann’s second full-length album on Peacefrog Records. This 2000 release sees Kenny Dixon Jr. at his most soulful and experimental, blending dusty samples, live instrumentation, and hypnotic grooves into a deeply personal sonic collage. Drawing from his earlier KDJ releases, the album reimagines rare cuts into a cohesive, emotionally rich journey through love, loss, and the spirit of the Motor City. Essential for fans of deep, narrative-driven house music.

Originally released in 2004, Black Mahogani is arguably one of Moodymann’s most revered and sought-after works. It completes the puzzle laid out by his rare and elusive KDJ 12” releases from the mid to late '90s. With the help of Detroit legends like the late Amp Fiddler, Roberta Sweed, and Norma Jean Bell, Dixon infused his analog soundscapes and samples with a new organic warmth—expanding the deep house genre while simultaneously paying homage to 1970s soul and cinematic soundtracks.

Dixon’s masterful control of tension—knowing exactly when to hold back and when to let go—makes Black Mahogani an enduring masterpiece. It's not just a landmark in electronic music, but a definitive statement in 21st-century Black American music.s

Silence In The Secret Garden is an intensly personal and spiritual journey into the heart & soul of black music.

From the reckless dark minimalism of the title track Silence In The Secret Garden to the irresistible funk of Yesterday’s Party… this classicalbum has continued to surprise and inspire.

Smokey 2LP with limited edition Obi Strip to celebrate Peacefrog Records 35th anniversary.

live during the 4th anniversary of Sagome at Cafe Oto, London - 20th January 2024 ( January Jenilek + Ottomani Parker Live)

Recorded in one straight take - no over dubbing.

it was recorded live at my first concert in new york city in the summer of 2022, right before i recorded iiyo iiyo iiyo and right after i recorded the doober with sam gendel and then Nothing with Louis Cole.

i think it is my most grooving record.