Daniel Crawford has always been an amazing musician, but when an artist creates a tribute for a wonderful human being, Robert Pelenkahu, it gives us goosebumps. They too had connected through music and talked often. Robert helped with some music business in Indonesia and they spoke the day before Robert passed away.
This weekend I read some status updates on Facebook myself and got sad for a brief moment. Robert, who was known as the ‘friendly big guy’, passed away on July 4th. I won’t lie, a few tears were shed even though I never met Robert in my life. We had talked a few times, but more importantly, I knew deep inside he was a beautiful person with a love for music.
He had worked closely with a my brother Leno (Goodnws) and my thoughts go out to him and all others that were close to Robert. Rest in power and may he be remembered for all his positive and good deeds. The bad we will forgive and forget! And thank you Daniel Crawford for immortalizing Robert Pelenkahu with your song “Robert Takes Flight“.
Berlin-based female producer Josa Peit sings, writes and perhaps even more interesting…she sculpts soundscapes.
As a singer Josa Peit is currently part of Ben Lamdin’s 7 piece band, Nostalgia 77, and has been touring extensively throughout Europe. Back in 2013 she collaborated with Dexter (Melting Pot Music), who returns the favor by remixing the title song.
She draws influences from Electronica with Disco, Psych, Folk and Soul elements and is about to release her debut “Constellation” EP on The Gym Records by the end of this summer. It will feature a psychedelic, yet jazzy remix of the track Constellation from Max Graef & Glenn Astro (Money $ex Records).
Now I wasn’t expecting virtuoso bassist and singer-songwriter Thundercat to release a surprise mini-album.
Stephan ‘Thundercat’ Bruner returns to the Brainfeeder fold with his first solo material in two years. His new project titled “The Beyond / Where the Giants Roam” picks up where “Apocalypse” left off. Together with longtime sparring partner Flying Lotus Thundercat explores the outer limits of Jazz-Funk and they get a little help from Herbie Hancock, Kamasi Washington, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Dennis Hamm and Mono/Poly.
Though I’ve been a big Fusion fan for many years, on most songs I personally miss the element of Soul. Of course this is not the case with “Them Changes” and for this reason I find this the bomdiggity and by far an ultimate favorite. Upon exploring the rest of the mini-album, I found that Thundercat’s voice is really soothing. I also found songs like “Lone Wolf and Cub” and “Where The Giants Roam / Field of the Nephilim” make for incredible background music. In my opinion they just don’t pack that oomph that Them Changes packs.
I guess I was hoping for a little bit more, but none the less a quality piece of music from the Brainfeeder camp once again. Available on iTunes now.
It almost feels like an eternity, but finally we have some new music for you by Kirkis. Like we promised a while ago the “Liverbleach” EP has finally been released on Eglo Records.
With mesmerizing songs such as “Mirror” and “Hypno” Kirkis has managed to win over our hearts and ears. The Australian bassist, slash producer, slash writer, slash painter Matthew Kirkis delivers four tracks that drop like electronic acid. The most amazing track for us is the super soulful, yet spaced out “Helium”. Such uncanny vibes! Both “Kirkis Runs The Woods” and “Vovo” mind-boggling too, but make sure you get into your spaceship before putting these two on.
The digital version of the EP is now available on iTunes or you could always visit the Eglo Records Bandcamp page too.
Ladies and gentleman, good news for all the lovers of true Jazz music. Kamasi Washington has his debut album (released on a label), titled “The Epic”, which contains enough material to split up into three albums. The shortest song on this album is six and a half minutes long and if you add all seventeen songs up, you have a whopping three and a half hours worth of Jazz goodness.
One of our favorite tracks is “Re Run”, but if you’re into contemporary Jazz music you will find many gems on here. The Epic is available worldwide via Brainfeeder and will be pressed on vinyl too I believe. For now you will have to do with a link to iTunes I’m afraid.
Two music makers from New York, Jesse Fischer and Sly5thAve, have joined forces on their newly released “Vein Melter” EP. On this homage to Herbie Hancock’s legendary Jazz album “Head Hunters”, the duo reframes four masterpieces for the modern day music fans and do it oh so well.
Multi-instrumentalist/producer/engineer and computer science savant Jesse Fischer has made quite a name for himself. He did this by producing for other artists as well as his own album projects and touring with artists like Freddie Jackson.
Jazz school alumnus Sly5thAve, who plays a mean horn, is a composer/producer/arranger who has toured with artists including Prince, Taylor Swift and Quantic. We strongly suggest you peep his super jazzy debut album titled “Akuma”, which was released last year.
Vein Melter is available on Tru Thoughts and pressed as a limited edition 12-inch (300 copies) and of course on iTunes. We played the incredible “Chameleon” on our previous radio show, but here it is once more. This is too good to be ignored!
Dego‘s sophomore solo LP, “The More Things Stay The Same”, promises to be a wonderful collection of soulful, mid-tempo melodies laced with warm synths and dope beats.
Now the first two tracks of this long-awaited album can be heard online and we thought this would be a perfect time to stream “It Don’t Get No Better” for your listening pleasure. Dego carries out the vision of his 2000black label and collective, formed to continue the legacy of black music.
Dego explains: “This album is about the state of play – truth can bring despair as well as hope. The two sit side by side. Like history often repeating mistakes, but also bringing learning and progress”. Watch our site for more info on the release of this album and once a new delivery date is available, pre-orders will be available again here.
Hussein Ibn Faraji has been working long and hard on the Faraji Heritage Experiment master debut album entitled “Nafsi“. It is finally out and is a true work of art which fuses multiple genres such as Jazz, Soul, Electronica and for this reason I decided to call this project Jazz Fusion.
The “A/R/T” experiment blew us away back in 2012 and now we get further blown to bits by an incredible new album from the Moroccan composer. I rarely have a hard time choosing the best songs, but this time around the entire project was so divers that it was hard for me to pick. Really love tracks like “Indecision”, “Love & Compromise” and “Ode To Wattstax” (which we premiered a little over a week ago).
Like we said before Nafsi means soul or being in Swahili and trust me this album gets to your soul. Very happy Cosmonostro is putting this out and we hope that one day this can be pressed on vinyl, for it deserves to be available on black gold. Please support good music and purchase Nafsi right here.
On our previous show in February we played Farnell Newton’s first single “Peace + Love” featuring Jarrod Lawson & Tony Ozier of his new “Ready to Roll” album.
The trumpeter out of Portland has been touring around the world with renowned artists like Bootsy Collins and Jill Scott, but some how found time to work on this solo project as well. There’s some additional vocals on here by Ashley Jayy, Donyea Goodman and Cleveland P Jones. We decided to pick out our favorite two tracks, Peace + Love and “You Gotta Move”, and stream them below for your listening pleasure.
Farnell Newton’s soulful eleven track Jazz album is available in its entirely on iTunes now, so act accordingly.
Those who have been following us for a while, might remember Faraji Heritage Experiment‘s “A/R/T” project from 2012.
The Bandcamp demo was a mere taste of greater things to come and the time for this coming is upon us. The Moroccan composer is back on the set with a brand new project, entitled “Nafsi“, which means soul or being in Swahili. Hussein Ibn Faraji discovered his grandfather’s name was not Arabic, but Swahili. This inspired him to bring together musicians of various backgrounds and have them use swahili nicknames. The same way Herbie Hancock and other Jazz men did back in in the seventies.
It also might be the best fusion of contemporary Jazz-Funk and Soul on one album albums to come out this year! Much respect to Cosmonostro for releasing this April 20th and for giving us the opportunity to premiere this amazing “Ode To Wattstax” track. Pre-orders available here!
