SADAKA – Premonition (jazzman records/ RELEASE DATE 6/9/2)

The album Premonition is a masterpiece of spiritual jazz, and reflects the spiritual awakening of a natural musical genius, Umlah Sadau Holt. In the 1970s, Holt was involved in all kinds of jazz, reggae, and world music projects in the San Francisco Bay Area. Over time he absorbed the global rhythms that can only come from extensive involvement with a variety of international musicians, and he integrated them into his own developing ideas of jazz. When his friend Emmanuel Nado returned from Africa one day, Umlah was fascinated by his pictures and stories and was inspired to learn more about his heritage — even to the extent of learning to play soccer! He was also inspired to use his skills to create music that would bridge the spiritual gap between the continent in which he now lived and that of his ancestors. Drawing upon his close friends and a varied selection of session musicians, the concept for an album developed, and eventually Premonition was born. Umlah composed and arranged all the songs on Premonition, his first and only album, and released it on his own private label in 1981. Yet despite an enthusiastic response from jazz aficionados and favorable reviews by the critics, as is often the case with independently produced records, sales were poor. In the time since, the LP has become an elusive — and expensive — collectors’ item. With this first-ever reissue, Premonition finally receives the exposure it deserves. Here is an album that is the sole representation of an inspired jazz artist who had the talent and dedication to see his dreams materialize. A work significant and important enough in the heady realms of spiritual jazz to be rescued in its entirety from obscurity. Another exceptional album in the Jazzman Holy Grail Series.

 

 

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BARNA HOWARD – Quite A Feelin’ (Mama Bird Recording /loose/out May 18th )

Barna Howard was born and raised in a quintessential Midwest town. His youth in Eureka, Missouri was pure Americana – the sort of childhood that inspired E.T.-era Spielberg – baseball cards in his bicycle spokes, flying freely down Main Street and through neighbours’ backyards.However, much of Barna’s story is not unique to his hometown, and, like most of small town America, Eureka has lost some of that charm over time. Main Street has changed, kids don’t run around quite so carelessly, and in an almost laughably cruel twist, his childhood home was knocked down in favour of a Walmart parking lot.After high school, Howard moved north to study animation in one cold and windy city and then east for love in another. Years later, he blindly followed two friends to the Northwest, crossing the Rockies for the first time, in search of inspiration, opportunity and a fresh start.Barna’s self-titled debut chronicled these moves as he struggled with the contrast between his small town upbringing and these big city wanderings. The album was met with critical acclaim and underground success, partly thanks to an opportunely placed song in the hit indie film, Drinking Buddies. One critic even likened him to some “lost genius of the 60’s.”The songs on Barna Howard’s second album, Quite A Feelin’, ruminate on his relationship with home. Now entrenched in Portland, Oregon, many of the album’s tracks immortalise and reflect on the Eureka he once knew, while others focus on the relationships that define his new home out west. Small town life has long been celebrated in country and folk music, but Barna’s knack for capturing his own deeply personal nostalgia resonates in a rarely universal way.Quite A Feelin’ was produced by Adam Selzer at Type Foundry Studio in Portland. The album will be available on LP, CD and digital download on May 18th in Europe (Loose) and May 19th in North America (Mama Bird Recording Co.).

 

 

JE BANDE EN VERSION ORIGINALE

 

Une ode au support physique

Dogbowl – Zone Of Blue (62tv records/2015)

TRACKLIST :

1. Long island railroad

2. Love is a crystal

3. I love you. I love you

4. Blue ambulance

5. Transister sister

6. Love in vain

7. Long white line

8. Lunar module

9. Saturnian soap opera

10. Red and Blue

11. Zone of Blue

 

Sarah Cracknell – Red Kite (chez cherry red en juin 2015)

Saint Etienne’s Sarah Cracknell released her first solo full-length, Lipslide, back in 1997. Now she’s back with a new one this summer. Red Kite is out on 15th June.

Track List:

01 On the Swings
02 Nothing Left to Talk About (ft. Nicky Wire)
03 In the Dark
04 Ragdoll
05 Underneath the Stars
06 Hearts Are For Breaking
07 Take the Silver (ft. the Rails)
08 The Mutineer
09 I Close My Eyes
10 It’s Never Too Late
11 I Am Not Your Enemy
12 Favourite Chair

The album was recorded and produced by Carwyn Ellis of Colorama, Edwyn Collins and Seb Lewsley, and also features guests Nicky Wire of Manic Street Preachers and the Rails.

The Manyfingers – The Spectacular Nowhere (MIND TRAVELS/2015)

Ici d’ailleurs est heureux de vous présenter le troisième volet de la collection Mind Travels. Nouvelle escale, avec The Spectacular Nowhere de Manyfingers. Destination « nulle part » donc, mais pas n’importe lequel. Ce serait mal connaître Chris Cole, tête pensante de ce one-man band pour qui l’inconnu est par définition le meilleur des terrains d’exploration.

Habitué du label depuis de nombreuses années, Chris Cole est en effet déjà venu poser sa patte sur plusieurs albums de Matt Elliott (pour ensuite l’accompagner sur scène lors de ses premières tournées) ainsi que sur The Dark de The Third Eye Foundation et officie au poste de batteur au sein du all-star band Numbers Not Names dont le premier opus What’s The Price ? fut l’un des disques de hip-hop marquants de 2012.

Plus de 10 ans après ses premiers travaux (Our Worn Shadow entre autres, paru sur Acuarela) sous le nom de Manyfingers, Chris Cole revient aujourd’hui avec The Spectacular Nowhere, avec lequel il confirme son statut de compositeur atypique, capable de marier très naturellement les références et les genres, pour obtenir une œuvre parfaitement singulière, entre dynamisme pop, lyrisme classique et démarche expérimentale. Un mélange savamment orchestré, conséquence de plusieurs années de travail acharné, pour un album peaufiné à l’extrême.

Accessible tout en proposant une écriture remarquablement exigeante, ce disque, et c’est là sa force première, est une véritable porte d’entrée vers des genres parfois méconnus du grand public. Car The Spectacular Nowhere est issu de l’esprit d’un mélomane éclairé et fait écho aux compositions de Philip Glass, Steve Reich ou Moondog (« Ode To Louis Hardin », un hommage avoué au viking de la 6ème avenue) mais renvoie également à un registre plus pop (on pense par exemple à Hood et Portishead). Une œuvre dont la tension augmente progressivement, édifiant un univers ambigu où les drones fantomatiques côtoient les mélodies les plus pures, le tout irradié par des incursions parfois plus bruitistes, pour confronter l’auditeur à ses craintes : la peur de la solitude, la victoire de la médiocrité, les angoisses du quotidien… Mais si l’album se veut sombre et mélancolique, il ne manque pas d’offrir des moments plus lumineux, moins anxiogènes, comme pour apporter ses propres réponses aux traumas qu’il dépeint.

Et s’il s’agit là d’un disque éminemment personnel, il séduit également lorsqu’il accueille les voix de David Callahan (Moonshake, Wolfhounds), également auteur des textes et Ida Alfstad, dont les interventions poussent The Spectacular Nowhere dans ses derniers retranchements. Un album hors-catégorie, de ceux qui possèdent multiples niveaux de lecture, entre réflexion, défrichage, et pur plaisir d’écoute. (Ici D’ailleurs)

 

RUPTURE – ISRAEL SUITE – (DIGGERS DIGEST/2015)

Official reissue of probably the rarest vocal jazz funk album produced in France. Conceived by Sylvain Krief (ex-drummer of the Michel Fugain’s Big Bazar and better known as the mysterious Airto Fogo) with the help of the french song writer Boris Bergman and pianist Jean-Pierre Mas who composed severals tracks. This clearly impossible to find brilliant concept album has not been recorded in the goal of expressing the political vision of the musicians. As Sylvain states « it was more a bunch of friends that I gathered. Yves Chamberland, owner the Studio Davout (also known for producing another cult french masterpiece : Les Masques) let the band using the studio, while rehearsal we recorded several tunes during May & June ». Guest artists like Nicole Croisille, Michel Fugain also gave a little help to their friend for some chorus, while rythmic section was guaranteed by Jean-François Jenny Clark on bass and Georges Locatelli on guitar. Sax legend Jean-louis Chautemps makes some quick apparence also. The long esoteric piece « Israel Suite » on side 1 relates the struggles of young Nation of Israel and is musicaly inspired by the electric funky jazz fusion of Herbie Hancock and also influenced by the modal jazz of Arvanitas or Gilson. The B side mostly composed by Jean-Pierre Mas features 6 beautiful pop jazz chansons fusion that instantly reminds Cortex « Troupeau Bleu ». We don’t really know exactly how many original copies were made but you can bet it is under 100 and we are now sure it was never commercialy released. Reissued produced by Digger’s Digest & French Attack at 500 copies. Don’t sleep on this essential french Rare Grooves Masterpiece.(digger’s digest)

 

 

 

LES FRERES SMITH – Free to Go (available on 21/04/2015)

Paris-based collective ©© Les Frères Smith follow up their acclaimed (by La Sélection FIP, Radio Nova, Vibrations, Songlines, Gilles Peterson, Laurent Garnier, and more) 2011 full-length debut, Contreband Mentality, with an even more ambitious LP. Free to Go was recorded the old-school way and mixed by genius producer Masta Conga in line with the tradition of the great albums of the analog era, which results in a warm and heavy sound, worthy of comparison to the productions of Daptone Records or Truth & Soul. Generously sprinkled with multiple influences inherited from the warm ’70s sound, their dynamic and sharp recorded music reveals itself as totally explosive on stage where the Parisian combo is now recognized as one of the best live Afrobeat acts, mainly thanks to years of stage experimentations and multiple tours in France, the UK, and Europe (Roskilde Festival, Lounge On the Farm, Les Nuits Zébrées). While their first album featured Tony Allen, Oghene Kologbo, and musicians from Fela Kuti’s band, Free to Go features the divine Malian singer Mamani Keïta, Guinean griot Djeli Moussa Condé, and the Barbadian flow of Milo. Other vocals are performed by the charming and enchanting Swala Emati Smith, with a soul resonant of Lauryn Hill’s style, and the charismatic Prosper Smith in a Camerounaise libertarian protest-style spoken word.

 

 

l’Orchestre du Montplaisant’s second LP, simply titled II, will be released on 29th May 2015 on Polychrome Sounds. The band will be on tour, playing live all over Europe in June 2015. Stay tuned for tour dates!

Formed at the beginning of 2010 in East London, l’Orchestre du Mont-Plaisant are a band of multi-talented musicians, featuring Juste Voyant on guitar, Luke Warmcop on drums, Piro on bass and Graham Mushnik on accordion and organ.

Their debut was released on Catapulte Records in 2011, their second LP, simply titled II, is set to come out in Summer 2015 on Polychrome Sounds.

Orchestre du Montplaisant are a worldly troupe, who display the intrepidness and roaming interests of true explorers. The band’s sound can be defined in its diversity, ranging from a darker form of mystic exotica to the sun-kissed soundtrack to some future film set on the shores of a faraway island. Their new record defiantly combines the authentic sounds of fuzzy 70s high-life, the sensual sway of oriental Arabiana and a trippy Cumbia track of the sweltering kind, a kin to that of The Meridian Brothers. The charm of this LP lies in the band’s ubiquitous authenticity. These songs could so easily be the standards, which you would otherwise hear covered and re-covered from generation to generation in their native countries.

The record is awash with guest vocals, bouncing carnival beats and vintage organ solos, inviting you to close your eyes and imagine the sunbeams reflecting off the ice-cubes in your glass, while your feet carry you away, across the sand.

The band have significantly evolved their outernational sound since their first release and have recorded two sessions for Cerys Matthews on BBC 6 Music, as well as enjoying regular plays on different BBC Radio shows, including Tom Ravenscroft’s.

“I put the music on and it blew me away!”

Cerys Matthews – BBC 6 Music