global beats
Track/Video: Singular instrumentalist and song-writer Low Leaf announces new EP ‘Red Moon’ with the spectral jazz-blessed ‘Blue Nile’.
It’s a testament to creative energy that LA multi-instrumentalist Angelica-Marie Lopez has continued to evolve the Low Leaf project over a spell stretching back to 2011’s ‘Chrysalis’. Nothing has ever flagged in this long running flow of multi-dimensional work, anchored around Low Leaf’s instrumental foundation of piano, harp, guitar and vocals but cast off by …
Track/Video: In-demand saxophonist Benjamin Samuels takes to the spotlight with ‘Ambitious Antithesis’ from upcoming debut album.
Sax-player, clarinettist and composer Benjamin Samuels is stepping out from the back line. A musician who’s worked with Californian fusionist Balkan Bump and Brighton’s own global beat pioneer Seb Taylor (aka Kaya Project), plus toured the world in the irrepressible Grouch in Dub’s band, Samuels has recently made time to pause. Except that hasn’t meant …
Album Review: Meril Wubslin – Faire Ça : Bluesy drones, alt-rock crunch and a world of rhythms make this band unique.
Does Bongo Joe Records have a signature sound? Well listen through the bulging rosta of releases since the label first output way back in 2015 and the conclusion would probably be a resolute ‘No’. But it does have a mission to give a platform to the extraordinary and less conventional, whether from the Swiss underground …
Track/Video: Multi-instrumentalist/producer Forest Law returns with the psych-infused global grooves of ‘Ooo,I’ ahead of a summer album.
To sum up multi-instrumentalist/producer Forest Law’s journey to this point as “Essex born, now London based” only hints at his musical story so far. Coming through Giles Peterson’s ‘Future Bubblers ‘artists’ development programme, earning a Brownswood EP release in 2020, being a key member of Esa Williams Afro-Synth Band then taking up an extended residency …
Album Review : Mohammad Syfkhan –‘I Am Kurdish’ : Bouzouki driven song and dance soul- music which makes a mighty impression.
Singer/ bouzouki player Mohammad Syfkhan’s bio underlines the fact that some back stories are more important than others. His journey to the release of his debut solo album ‘I Am Kurdish’ on Nyahh Records, while clearly fuelling his joyous North African electric dance sounds, has significance that extends far beyond music. Syfkhan began playing the …
Album Review: Ëda Diaz– Suave Bruta : electro – Colombian rhythms and song for today.
Bridges are not just about the places and people they connect, crossing them is an experience in itself. Colombian singer/bassist and song-writer Ëda Diaz’s music is a thrilling reminder of the wonders such a journey can deliver. As a child she shuttled regularly between Paris and Medellin with her French Colombian family, absorbing the languages, …
New Track/Video : Global groove-riders Nubiyan Twist announce new album and tour with the upbeat R n B flow of ‘So Mi Stay’.
Let’s move forwards with Leeds/London global beats collective Nubiyan Twist as they look into 2024 with a spotlight on their new music to come. Led by guitarist/producer Tom Excell, the big band who forge afrobeat, jazz, soul, hip-hop and latin while staying way ahead of the fusion cliché, have been defining their own space for …
Album Review: El Búho – ‘Strata’: Cumbia infused electronica to celebrate and satisfy.
If anyone was going to justifiably lay claim to the tags ‘organic electronics’ or ‘natural electronica’ with any degree of credibility then that must be El Búho. The UK producer/DJ, otherwise known as Robin Perkins, has always partnered his environmental activism with his music, they are parts of him that in many ways have grown …
Album Review : Chouk Bwa & The Ångströmers – Somanti : Vodou energy meets electro dub intensity to break new ground.
The partnership between Haitian mizik rasin (or roots music) collective Chouk Bwa and Brussels electronic beat masters The Ångströmers hasn’t exactly had a smooth ride. First connecting in 2016 around Rokskilde Festival time, the idea of fusing potent Vodou sounds with the dance informed, dub wise beat reductions felt like a good one. A couple …
Album Review: Fabiano Do Nascimento – Das Nuvens : New Fusion music for the heart and soul
If you know anything of guitarist/composer Fabiano do Nascimento’s significant back catalogue you will be expecting his new album ‘Das Nuvens‘ to be impressive. Each release from his debut ‘Dança Dos Tempos’ in 2015 onwards has shown: his accomplished instrumental touch, whether on seven, twelve or oktav guitar; his intuitive feel for classic Brazilian music, …