MUSIC

Saxophonist, flautist Chip Wickham takes us to Cloud 10 with his most soulful and lyrical album to date Chip Wickham is a jazz musician and producer who divides his time between Spain, UK and the Middle-East and who has made a name for himself with a series of beautifully crafted solo albums that draw equally on the hard swinging spiritual jazz of Roland Kirk, Yusef Lateef and Sahih Shihab, alongside the music of British jazz legends such as Tubby Hayes and Harold McNair and the more contemporary sounds of Jazzanova, Kyoto Jazz Massive and Robert Glasper. Originally from Brighton, Chip studied in Manchester and became involved in the 00's UK jazz, soul. trip-hop and funk scenes, working with the likes of The Pharcyde, The New Mastersounds and Nightmares On Wax as well as playing with Matthew Halsall's Gondwana Orchestra. And his relationship with Gondwana Records goes right back to the very beginning as he played on Halsall's 2008 debut Sending My Love. Cloud 10 is his debut album for Gondwana Records (following a 12" of Lonnie Liston Smith covers in May) and it is a wonderful, timeless, lyrical, slice of hard-hitting, soulful, spiritual jazz and modal hard-bop with a distinctly UK flavour - driven by Chip's deftly funky flute work and hard-hitting tenor. Underpinned by Chip's restless energy and driven by his desire to connect with the listener on a deeper level. "My albums are my legacy. Each one is a statement to the world of music and my contribution to its growth, its energy and ultimately it's history." Cloud 10 features pianist Phil Wilkinson, vibes player Ton Risco, bassist Sneaky and drummer Jon Scott (all veterans of previous albums) together with harpist Amanda Whiting and percussionist Jack McCarthy whom Chip met touring in the Gondwana Orchestra, and rising star Irish trumpeter Eoin Grace who also doubles on flugel horn. The album was recorded at the legendary all analogue Estudios Brazil in Madrid, with the band spending a week at Chip's house in the mountains just outside the city, eating and drinking together, listening to music till the small hours and recording all day. It was a magical time and the positivity seeped into the recording. "It was a beautiful week of pure music and joy, I think you can hear it in the recording and that's the inspiration for the title: Cloud 10 is a place of a great happiness, way out beyond Cloud 9!" And it is that purity, energy and joy, that makes Cloud 10 such a life-affirming recording and makes Chip the perfect addition to the Gondwana Records family. Lean in, you'll be on Cloud 10 too!

Reissue, originally released in 1970. Terrific session originally licensed on Japanese indie label Nivico in 1970. Recorded at Victor Studio, Aoyama, Tokyo on September 11, the album is the essential work of four wicked minds. Saxophone player Steve Marcus has been cutting his teeth in late sixties with the Jazz Composer's Orchestra, while Miroslav Vitous was the former bass player in jazz-rock pioneers Weather Report. Sonny Sharrock is still considered one of the most original players in creative music, his guitar playing almost as cutting edge as the tenor of his mentor Pharaoh Sanders. The man has been for several years in Herbie Mann band, while collaborating with the likes of Miles Davis and Wayne Shorter. Drummer Daniel Humair is another extraordinary profile, the Swiss musician has been covering the post-bop and avant-garde area collaborating with the likes of John Surman, Henri Texier, and George Gruntz. Hereby a single appointment that made history, navigating the realms of free-funk, hard-bop, and fire music.

Finally this ghost gem left by Jiro Inagaki's Soul Media has been repressed on vinyl for the first time thanks to Cinedelic Records. ‘Woodstock Generation’ is a masterpiece of Japanese jazz/rock funk/soul that for some it even considered better then the acclaimed "Head Rock" in terms of perfection; surely there are many points in common between the two albums having been made a few months later, in 1970. Behind "The Soul Medium" name hides saxophonist Jiro Inagaki, an iconic figure of the japanese Jazz Rock scene during the late sixties to the early seventies. Jiro is supported by his legendary quintet "Soul Media" under its first incarnation featuring Ryo Kawasaki (g) Yasuo Arakawa (b) Masaru Imada (org) Sadakazu Tabata (ds) with Tetsuo Fushimi & Shunzo Ohno on trumpet in addition. "Woodstock Generation" is a tribute album to the Woodstock Festival including cover of songs performed on the stage by Sly & Family Stone (I Want To Take You Higher) The Who (Summertime Blues) or Ten Years After (Spoonful) but also Woodstock (written by Joni Mitchell in honor of the Festival) and Mamma Told Me (Not To Come) written by Randy Newman for Eric Burdon and The Animals. Titles include also variations on the "Head Rock" theme "The Ground For Peace” and original composition of Masahiko Sato "Knick Knack". All tracks arranged by Jiro Inagaki. Artwork by Eric Adrian Lee. Jiro Inagaki - tenor saxophone soprano saxophone Masaru Imada – organ Ryo Kawasaki – guitar Yasuo Arakawa – bass Sadakazu Tabata – drums Tetsuo Fushimi, Shunzo Ohno – trumpet

DEVIL’S NIGHTMARE (La terrificante notte del demonio) 1971 by ALESSANDRO ALESSANDRONI, considered one of the most evocative and suggestive horror soundtracks, marked his debut release on LP, from original master tapes, in 2017 thanks to Cinedelic records, and in a few days it was sold out. It is now repressed in 300 copies. Don't miss it!

Ike & Tina Turner's Kings Of Rhythm, a rhythm & blues/rock'n'roll group formed in Clarksdale, Mississippi in the late 1940s, released their 1961 album "Dance" as an vinyl reissue from . It is a piece full of rock R&B magic, and includes the original hit version of "It's Gonna Work Out Fine".

This album, released in 2012, continues the themes and sonic textures found in Music for Films, Music for Airports, and Apollo : Atmospheres and Soundtracks, where Eno began his exploration of ambient music. It is clear that he is pursuing further possibilities. Eno himself regards this album as the latest project in his "Music for Thinking" series, which also includes "Discreet Music" (1975) and "Neroli" (1993).

LUX is one of Eno's most ambitious works to date. 75 minutes in length, it consists of 12 parts and was originally developed from music created for the sound installation exhibition "Music for the Great Gallery of the Palace of Venaria" currently being held in Turin, Italy. It evolved from music originally created for a sound installation exhibition [Music for the Great Gallery of the Palace of Venaria] currently being held in Turin, Italy. This is Brian Eno's third work for the label, following "Small Craft on a Milk Sea" with Jon Hopkins and Leo Abrahams and "Drums Between The Bells" with poet Rick Holland. It is Brian Eno's first ambient album of the 21st century, and the one that the world has been waiting for.

First new album in nine years by a musical visionary and hugely influential figure in new music. Forty years since its creation, Jon Hassell's Fourth World aesthetic remains a powerful influence on modern electronic music. Continuing his lifelong exploration of the possibilities of recombination and musical gene-splicing, fragments of performance are sampled, looped, overdubbed and re-arranged into beguiling unexpected shapes. Hassell applies the painterly technique of ‘pentimento’ to the arrangements, teasing out texture by the overlaying of sound upon sound, or a carefully timed reveal of the delicate bones pinning the frame of a track together.

The release of this new album also sees the launch of Jon’s own label, Ndeya (pronounced “in-day-ya”), which will be a home for new work as well as well as selected archival releases, including re-presses of classic sides and some astonishing unreleased music.

The album was released in 2013, following the immortal albums "Music Has the Right to Children" (1998), "Geogaddi" (2002), and "The Campfire Headphase" (2005). Written, recorded, produced, and artwork designed by members Mike Sandison and Marcus Ion, the album is entitled "Tomorrow's Harvest".

Originally issued as a cassette on the ROIR label alongside the likes of Bad Brains, Suicide and The Contortions, this second album from 1983 is an uncompromising collection of heavy dub manners and experimental studio soundscaping. Dreader than dread roots rhythms sit alongside delay-baked post-punk instrumentals such as “Drilling Equipment” and “Synchroniser”.

1993 album, their last On-U produced LP for 12 years. African Head Charge blend dub, trance, electronica and world music throughout with Bonjo I at the helm and typically skilful production from Adrian Sherwood.

Originally released in 2011 to celebrate the 30th year of On-U Sound. The album is essentially the continuation of a process that has seen both band and label expanding and transforming the landscape of contemporary reggae into new and exciting shapes. All the elements of a classic African Head Charge album are present; a triumphant mix of dub, psychedelia, trance, afro and tribal rhythms that have given them their own unique place in contemporary music.

Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah is on vocal duties and assisted with ground-shaking grooves from On-U mainstays Doug Wimbish, Skip McDonald, and Jazzwad (amongst others). The resulting sound sculptures on this 2005 album are whipped into a dubwise frenzy by label head Adrian Sherwood. A great entry in the rich AHC back catalogue, and a fitting way to mark their return to the label.

Considered by most fans to be AHC's masterpiece. One of the prominent elements throughout African Head Charge’s discography has been the ethnomusicology influence. On Songs Of Praise this is even more pronounced, featuring religious chants set to an African dub backdrop of hand percussion, with a mighty sonic and great musicianship. A significant record both for African Head Charge and On-U Sound, originally released in 1990.

Unreleased tracks and version excursions 1981 – 1986.

Inspired by Eno’s “vision of a psychedelic Africa”, English dub producer Adrian Sherwood and master Jamaican percussionist Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah collaborated on a series of studio experiments under the African Head Charge moniker, resulting in groundbreaking albums such as Environmental Studies and Off The Beaten Track. The otherworldly sounds they conjure up have touchstones in Count Ossie’s mystic revelations, Can’s ethnological forgery series and the post-punk underground, but ultimately inhabit a genre of their own creation.

These radically different versions of early AHC classics and been lovingly restored and sequenced from the original master tapes by On-U archivist Patrick Dokter. This compilation first released in 2016.

Tercer volumen de nuestra serie de sonidos afrolatinos de la época dorada del sello seminal Discos Fuentes en Colombia. Una excelente selección de 26 cortes difíciles de encontrar, muchos reeditados por primera vez, cubriendo una amplia gama de géneros de raíz afro, con un mayor enfoque en los orígenes folclóricos de la música que en volúmenes previos, incluyendo grabaciones de artistas como Michi Sarmiento, Wganda Kenya, The Latin Brothers, Los Corraleros De Majagual, Peregoyo… Incluye un extenso libreto con notas a cargo del compilador del proyecto, Pablo Yglesias aka DJ Bongohead.

This album from 1976 unites a dream team of musicians from Os Mutantes, Black Rio, Som Nosso and special guest Dominguinhos, into an amazing fusion of Brazilian regional rhythms of capoeira, forró and candomblé, with the heaviest funk, soul, rock, progressive and psychedelic music ever released in Brazil. In his own words, Eduardo Araújo stated in 1976: "Our musical philosophy remains the same: mixing rock and northeastern music to make a universal sound." It is curious to observe the aesthetic changes that Eduardo Araújo underwent until he reached the cult sound of this 1976 album: echoes of Santana, Tim Maia, Luiz Gonzaga and Emerson, Lake & Palmer in an album that was released independently at the time and, until today, never re-released. The original release of 'Sou Filho Desse Chao' in 1976 was made totally independent by Eduardo Araújo himself, with total lack of commercial distribution, remaining obscure from music charts and later rediscovered acquiring a well-deserved status of rare gem for music collectors.

Guitarist and Producer Godriguez (producer of Sampa the Great's “The Great Mixtape") marshalled together some of the best musicians of the new generation in Sydney: A head priest of the Cuban Ifa religion, the step-son of Australia’s greatest ever funk and soul musician, Australia's leading drummer in this new generation and a deeply emotionally gifted pianist from New Zealand. These disparate backgrounds culminate with incredibly sensitive musical and emotional connections to form GODTET.

From Godriguez: "I’ve always wanted to make a triptych. I got obsessed with Francis Bacon and then wanted to make a musical triptych. When GODTET started I wanted there to be no preconceptions, the music and the sessions. I just wanted it to become what it was going to become and go where it was gonna go. I definitely didn’t plan a three part oeuvre. But here we are…

GODTET III feels like the distillation of the GODTET sound. It feels like the essence and definition of our sound... for now. Whilst the whole GODTET concept for me is about organic development and evolvement and to remain always searching, this album feels like the end of an era. Like everything is now for many people I think. Its been 3 years of very intensive playing, recording and gigging. The first record felt like an explosion of our minds meeting for the first time even though we’d all played together for years in various contexts. An explosive release from the lack of freedom in the musical contexts we’d previously been involved in.

The second record found us exploring improvising with a sample loop as a launch pad to playing. Marrying the worlds of beat production and improvised band. Then in reaction to only improvising we recorded a through-composed suite. 

GODTET III saw us return to the beginning where we recorded purely improvised with no sample or composed or preconceived launchpads. It is interesting comparing the first record and GODTET III. Both came from open improv but are quite different. You really can hear a distinct subconscious concept of what the GODTET sound is or has become. You can hear 3 years of intensive playing, recording and gigging. GODTET III is the final album of this initial triptych where the GODTET sound was forged. It is the end of an era. 

What best sums up GODTET is the fact that at the very same sessions for III we simultaneously were playing and improvising a brave new world for GODTET. You will hear this soon too. But for now let us relish in what has been the culmination of 3 intensive years as we present you the final piece of the GODTET triptych: GODTET III."

A virtual wizard of the mixing desk, Overton H Brown has been one of the key figures in dub since the late 1970s. Getting his start as a teenager at King Tubby's legendary studio in Waterhouse, Brown was known as 'The Scientist' because his imaginative approach to the mixing desk and electronic gadgetry seemed to derive from magical powers that linked him to some intangible, futuristic realm.

Well it's been more than 365 days and nights since we released a record on our small and independent record label based in Vancouver, BC. For better or worse we have always operated at a pace that feels natural to us. The same could be said for Mood Hut recording artist Jack J who has not released any music in over seven years. Do you remember his last record? It was called Thirstin' and it came out in the summer of 2015, hot on the heels of Something (On My Mind) which came out the year before. So naturally after this very long silence we are proud and excited to be able to finally share Opening the Door, the first full length LP by Jack J. Self-recorded slowly but surely between 2015 and 2019 between Mood Hut and C'est Life Studios, and featuring some crucial saxophone work by Linda Fox, this LP confirms Jack J to be a masterful mood maker as well as an incisive songwriter. Over the course of the album an undeniably blue haze settles over inward-peering ambient jazz, On-U-inspired digital-dub and quiet storm soft rock leaving a distinct sense of sadness amongst all the tangerine funk. Check it out!

Nico Niquo (Orange Milk), Midori Hirano, ju ca (phinery, angoisse) and more are also on the label. A limited edition of 50 copies of the CD "bonus," a self-titled companion piece released by "Picnic," a collaborative unit of "angoisse" labelmates ju ca and mdo, has been reissued on 2LP! This is also recommended as one of the most important ambient works of this year. From Nadia Khan of Where To Now, to Pepper (Ulla), Monkey Twenty (Pontiac Streator), Ben Bondy, Nap, Mister Water Wet and other heroes from around West Mineral, to Australian talents includes Low Flung, Other Joe, and many more. Allstars creates a new milestone in dub ambient. Mastered by shy, aka uon, a genius in the dub ambient world around West Mineral. Don't miss it.

Reticulated bassbin minimalism from NYC’s K Wata, runner of the pivotal clubnight, Slink, and now producer of note with a mutant style comparable to Batu or Mosca Daring to differ in a field of unapologetic copycats, K Wata makes a strong impression with his debut haul of skeletal rhythmic tics and aerated textures that feel like a ghostly distillation of current UK mutations. Feeling out murky negative space with brittle 2-step bones in ‘Meet me at the One’, he proceeds to dial up the atmospheric content around the displaced steppers footing of ‘2 Spot Text’, and proper gyring sound design in the superb centrepiece ‘Lost My Focus’. At its most supple, ‘Dot Dot Dot’ toys with delicate 2-step patterns in subtly warped hyperspace, and ‘Sling of Life’ reduces his style to pure plasmic textures and whispered murmurs that could make for a crafty bridge in DJ sets.

Late last year, Canadian producer Priori returned with his second album ‘Your Own Power’ to great acclaim. Released via his NAFF imprint, the album showcased a more contemplative style to his productions and featured one collaborative track with label partner Ex-Terrestrial. The story continues as Priori enlists a heavyweight line-up of artists to rework some of the album’s standout tracks. Slated to drop on the 18th March, ‘Your Own Power Remixes’ features new editions from Donato Dozzy, Aurora Halal, DJ Python, and Bambounou alongside a Priori VIP - each bringing their own flair and style to the record. Priori is an alias of Francis Latreille who first put out solo releases on Greek label Echovolt and Canadian imprint ASL Singles Club. Known to be an avid collaborator, Latreille is involved in a number of projects including Jump Source, M.S.L., Housemates, New World Science, ANF and more. He has also worked on mixing projects by fellow artists including Roza Terenzi, Ex-Terrestrial, RAMZi, Bambii, and Ouri.

The latest offering from 12th Isle collects a variety of recordings from Vasily Stepanov and Vlad Dobrovolski as part of their on-going S A D project (Udacha/Muscut). As part of their process, S A D sample and distort old de-magnetised tapes, constantly adding to and reworking their own sound-world. Layers of kosmiche synthesisers, off-kilter woodblock percussion and lysergic field recordings interplay with dense ambient textures in a true collage-style approach to music making. Across the nine tracks, multiple collaborations and aliases coalesce to present a thorough look at both artists approach to communicating the world around them. Drawing influence from nature and the outdoor concerts of Vladislav’s band Kurvenschreiber as well as late night free jazz shows and a similar ‘hauntological’ approach seen in Dobrovolski’s recent ‘Playbacks for Dreaming’, the pair express a unique genre-traversing attitude. More from the 12th Isle due very soon!

A well-known masterpiece that has been further foiled by the recent re-evaluation of city pop has been re-released from Italy's . Haruomi Hosono, Masataka Matsutoya, Shigeru Suzuki, and Tatsuo Hayashi, who have been active as backing bands for numerous works under the name of Caramel Mama since 1973, have been renamed Tin Pan Array and announced in 1975. 1st album. Yoshitaka Minami, Tatsuro Yamashita, Taeko Ohnuki, Makoto Kubota, Masahiro Kuwana and others are participating as luxurious guests! Also includes Haruomi Hosono's self-cover "Choo Choo Gatta Got '75" and the tropical masterpiece "Yellow Magic Carnival" reminiscent of Martin Denny's sound, which seems to have started here three years before the formation of YMO. !!