Ello you,
How’s things? I am still chasing my dog’s tail while dealing with death admin and the grief of it all. Meanwhile, Winter is coming in fast and there I am being yanked around a soggy London park at 7.30am in shorts and sodden shoes. A man at odds with the world and out of season.
On Friday, I returned to Dad’s place to continue the clearout and was overwhelmed by an avalanche of food tubs, plastic bags, ancient tissues, compression stockings, mobility equipment… I can’t be the only one who stands there in such moments, paralysed by the enormity of the task ahead and wishing you could just f*ck it all off and run away.
It feels like a punishment, to be honest. Then you stumble on a handwritten card to your absent father from their neighbours’ kids, saying, “We made you a rainbow for your window. We hope it makes you smile.”
Or their YMCA card featuring that (rare) smile above the words “Positive Placements Mentor” (the first I’d heard of it). Or a note with the word “Antidisestablishmentarianism” scrawled on it because… Why?
I wonder what other curios I’ll find in all his clutter and what they will trigger?
In the midst of my ennui [the struggle feels more gallant en français], doing live radio might have felt like a chore. And in the early stages, it often is. Trying to reflect my world in sound over the past month, gathering unusual music that feels meaningful to me and presenting it in a personal way. On air and in words.
But into the second hour of this meandering and introspective show, I began to feel calmer and more present. Out to Alyssa for the encouragement in the studio. Perhaps these two hours will offer you a release of some kind. Come along.
I am hoping to have a few quests in the upcoming months, including artist feeo (see below) and a special on the club night I used to help run in Brighton. We must document these rights of passage. They are our culture.
In other news, I’m planning a hike around Snowdon with my best mate and the little monster, and a youth music project in Lewisham featuring a few local legends. More on all that soon.
👋🏾
RYUICHI SAKAMOTO/ALVA NOTO – The Sheltering Sky (Alva Noto Remodel) [Milan]
Let’s reset the room with a gently sweeping, chiming tribute to Ryuichi Sakamoto by collaborator Alva Noto (Carsten Nicolai). A cover of the great man’s theme to Bertolucci’s 1990 film of the same name. Sakamoto san is never far from my thoughts. A guiding spirit who was a humble and devoted artist that embraced change and evolved through time. To The Moon & Back, a compilation from a few years ago, also features interpretations by David Sylvian, Thundercat, Cinematic Orchestra, Fennesz…
JOHN MARTYN & DANNY THOMPSON – Solid Air (Transatlantic Sessions) [Iona] [4m 57s]
It was through John Martyn’s music that I first heard Danny Thompson – this track, in fact – and he almost stole the show. I was transfixed by his expressive bass playing. The virtuoso, who worked with Kate Bush, Richard Thompson, Nick Drake and Toumani Diabate among countless others, passed recently and I wanted to pay tribute with a few selections.
This rendition of a Martyn standard was captured as part of a BBC Scotland programme called the Transatlantic Sessions. There were two series but only the second resulted in music being released. ‘Solid Air’ isn’t on either of those CDs – but it’s out there on film. Watch the chemistry rekindled between two old friends who hadn’t seen each other in years after a fallout. A poignant reconciliation happening before our eyes at the Montgreenan Mansion House Hotel in Kilwinning, Ayrshire.
Thompson described this as the most satisfying musical moment of his career and John as his most important collaborator. “If John Martyn had been the only person that I worked with, it would have given me everything out of music that I could ever want.” 💜
Danny was also a geezer, who had stories for days.
PENTANGLE – Reflection (live) [11m 38s]
As insidious as Google can be with its all-seeing eye, the behemoth did give us YouTube and the platform continues to unearth gems that have me time-travelling wide-eyed in the middle of the night.
While searching for Danny Thompson, I came across this 1972 Belgian TV special with Pentangle, one of his first bands. What a mighty intro. No wonder several of his bandmates are grinning along. Pentangle’s fusion of folk, jazz, blues and rock remains unique and unmatched on these shores.
The five points of light were Thompson on bass, Terry Cox on drums, Bert Jansch and John Renbourn on guitars and Jacqui McShee on vocals. Her phrasing is so beguiling. Not too familiar with Pentangle? Then start with their 1969 album Basket of Light.
DANNY THOMPSON – Minor Escapade [Hannibal] [23m 45s]
Between 1987 and 2012, Thompson also recorded six solo albums. This is my pick from his 1987 release Whatever, featuring Tony Roberts on reeds and Bernie Holland on guitar.
BIZIMUNGU DIEUDONNE – Inyange Ibarusha Kwera [Mississippi] [29m 02s]
Vintage tape vibes out of 80’s Rwanda here. Bizimungu Dieudonne with wife Agnes Umbibizi plus family and friends. Praise songs and extended electric jams sit comfortably alongside one another on Inzovu Y’Imirindi.
The story behind this release is tinged with sadness as everyone on the record lost their lives during the genocide and because of the savagery of the Hutu militia. But Bizimungu and Agnes’ daughter Noella was left with one treasured artefact – the masters for this album.
Out to Mississippi Records for the cultural preservation and celebration.
TOM SKINNER – The Maxim (featuring Meshell Ndegeocello) [Brownswood] [36m 50s]
The Smile, Sons of Kemet, Wildflower, Hello Skinny, Owini Sigoma Band… How many projects and guises can you squeeze into one still fresh-faced career? Kaleidoscopic Visions, the second album under his own name, sees Tom Skinner reflecting on his journey thus far and finding interesting passages down the way. Coming along on this expedition are Tom Herbert on bass, Chelsea Carmichael on tenor sax and flute and Kareem Dayes on cello.
I share his adoration for Meshell Ndegeocello, a collaborator on this track who he first encountered at Glastonbury in 1994. Now his friend and the artist I have seen more than any other in my life. “The Maxim is a 10-minute meditation on time,” Skinner tells us. “An incantation and exploration of human existence – addressing birth, life and death in one breath.”
You can feel that depth of inquiry between the notes as they loop around us in a gentle spiral. I recommend watching the accompanying video by Sam Blair, which is constructed from Super 8 footage shot by Skinner’s grandfather around the UK and California in the 1960s and 1970s.
Blair intuited the significance of ‘The Maxim’, saying, “There was a sense of Tom crossing a personal and musical threshold. ‘The Maxim’ itself is so ambitious and sweeping as a piece of music, so delicate and defiant and rich with meaning, I didn’t dare to make a literal interpretation of it, but instead we made a video that’s in a kind of parallel dance with the track.”
FEEO – Requiem [AD93] [45m 10s]
FEEO – Here [AD93] [51m 23s]
Sam Akpro, who I did a special with earlier in the year, put me on to feeo, one of the featured artists on his debut Evenfall. The experimental singer-songwriter and producer has followed up her 2024 EP Run Over with an audacious album called Goodness, which brings together elements of the organic, electronic, ambient and drone.
The result is a very intricate and elusive body of work, its beauty lying far beyond surface consumption. A bold move for a debut solo album. In feeo’s words, it’s “an exploration of simultaneous yet opposing states of being: darkness and lightness, obscurity and visibility and most fundamentally, solitude and togetherness.”
Goodness was mixed by feeo, who also created the artwork. A truly personal offering. I need the lyric sheets – words to be unravelled.
feeo plays Café Oto on 10 October. If her state51 set is anything to go by, that one will be very live and in the moment.
JAY ELECTRONICA – Letter to Mars [Roc Nation] [58m 32s]
From A Written Testimony: Mars, The Inhabited Planet, this is my pick of the flurry of unreleased music shared by the enigmatic Jay Electronica. A poetic monologue over a beatless mood piece, where we can appreciate his mic control and imperious diction. Three albums dropped in seven days or whatever. Is it Christmas already?
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP – XX [Be With] [1m 3m 10s]
Thanks to Rob at Be With for sending this over at the 11th hour. Diggers and collectors will know this label for reissuing in-demand yet hard-to-get albums across the sound spectrum, from Ian Carr with Nucleus to Bahamadia and Lewis Taylor. Immaculate too.
Here is the first-ever vinyl pressing of a twanging instrumentals cassette tape by Thought Leadership. I can see the waves rolling up to the shore as the sun takes its sweet time to set. Coming on 14 November but you can pre-order now. A limited run of 300.
RN HARRIS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BAND – Portrait of Tracy [1h 7m 00s]
I approach Instagram browsing with caution and usually bounce within five minutes or so. But thanks to my friend Miguel, who swears he’s barely on there, I found out about the RN Harris Elementary School Band, directed by a teacher called Tim Lorelli, in Durham, North Carolina.
Joyous, beautiful, often very heavy covers of hip-hop tracks and sample sources. Erykah Badu’s ‘The Healer’ and De La Soul’s ‘Stakes Is High’ come to mind. Check out the archive and donate to keep these lessons bangin’ out across the world and putting instruments in young hands.
KEIYAA – Take It [XL] [1h 8m 35s]
Playing this one for anyone who owns Forever, Ya Girl – a life preserver from 2020 and a modern classic that I’ve been falling in love with all over again. Let’s call it homework in preparation for KeiyaA’s next album. “Hooke’s Law is the spiral of life,” says the Chicago artist. “This is about being. This is about all my parts coexisting together in harmony … this is an invitation to repeat, fail and start again.”
What can we expect? Something more rhymically dynamic, unpredictable and combustible on the evidence of tracks like ‘Take It’. Join us for group therapy and sound bathing on 13 November in London at Corsica Studios, which will soon be no more (in its current form, anyway).
ANAIIS – Call Me (a)(B) [5dB] [1h 14m 20s]
Anaiis’ new album Devotion & The Black Divine has arrived and it feels like a warm embrace and an honest heart-to-heart. She’s in conversation with us and the world through this music. I love the flow, the interludes, the other voices that float in and out of the mix. I could have chosen any of the tracks but went with the curious title ‘Call Me (a)(B)’.
DEMAE – Closer [FAMM] [1h 20m 10s]
From a AA side by one of London’s best songwriters and fly individuals, here is Demae with ‘Closer.’ Check the visuals on YouTube. Art direction is always A1. All part of the experience. Time to give that Madlib mixtape another blast.
DWELE – Find Me, Beep Me [1h 24m 15s]
I swear I had this on record somewhere but can’t find it. Big up Simon see for bringing this vintage Dwele back into my life on a compilation of low-key releases by Dwele, put together by BamaLoveSoul. That MySpace shoutout got me in my feels. We had a good time circa 2006. I didn’t find my daddy on there but I do remember chatting to Maxwell, A&R’ing a compilation through it… Who was in your top eight then?
WALLY BADAROU – The Daiquiri Diaries (Vintage Extended) [Diskotopia][1h 27m 25s]
From the Unnamed Trilogy of previously unreleased solo work, this is the synth mystic Wally Badarou, who’s played on important records by Grace Jones, Talking Heads, Fela Kuti, Level 42 and Robert Palmer. The new sensations he manages to create with his instruments and patches – some intense, others subtle – are remarkable. This one emerged in 2017 but is evergreen. What a decadent title: ‘The Daquiri Diaries (Vintage Extended)’. His Red Bull Music Academy lecture is worth a (re)watch.
SPIRITS REJOICE – Confusions [Frederiksberg] [1h 32m 40s]
Vibrant jazz fusion out of South Africa, salvaged from the 1970s. If you like your horns leading the dance, then this one’s for you. Frederiksberg released this in 2023 but it was a recent discovery of mine, probably through a mailout by the always dependable Rush Hour. There’s a hefty crew in session on ‘Confusions’ and I must shout out a few musicians in particular, including Duke Makasi on tenor and soprano sax, Robbie Jansen on alto sax, Sipho Gumede on bass and Gilbert Matthews on drums. Go see what else they have played on.
BRAINTICKET – Places of Light [Above Board Projects] [1h 38m 54s]
One of the more obscure tracks from the Optimo 25 compilation, which marked a quarter of a century of the anything-goes night in Glasgow’s Sub Club, started in 1997 by the late JD Twitch and Jonny Wilkes. We lost Keith (JD) recently and the outpouring of love and respect was very touching.
Lauren Martin, writing for The Guardian, got to the crux of his divine talent. DJ Magazine collected tributes and recollections from friends such as Tim Sweeney who said “There was no ego, only service to the music and the people making it.”
And Philip Sherburne, who writes Futurism Restated on here, has done God’s work by compiling a spectacular list of JD mixes. There’s also a post-punk special of his on NTS that’s compulsory for fans of 23 Skidoo, Maximum Joy and many of their contemporaries you might not know.
Optimo were incomparable in how they could pull together the punk, funk, electro and slightly weird, blowing dance music wide open. And Keith, mix after mix, revolutionised what a DJ could be and get away with. I never made it to Optimo but author Stef Macbeth, a friend of the show, has regaled me with a few stories, proudly wearing his “No DFA without Optimo” T-shirt at a recent book launch.
But back to Brainticket and ‘Places of Light’, a groove-heavy, hallucinogenic dose of krautrock, which you can find on an album called Cottonwoodhillfrom 1971. Lots of panned flute and ominous incantations over a tuff rhythm section. File under trippy (well, the cover says it all).
2000BLACK – Constant Disappointment [2000Black] [1h 43m 10s]
Seeing us down the home straight is the ever-reliable 2000Black. Chief rocka Dego, Kaidi Tatham and co blessing us with that raw jazz-boogie-house-sumthin outta London Town. The album is called 27 and features 4Hero family Lady Alma on a track. LOL title. I feel you, Dego.
PRIMAL SCREAM – Circus of Life (A JD Twitch Remix) [BMG] [1h 47m 38s]
Another one for JD Twitch who I first came to through his remixes. It wasn’t this one but his twist on ‘Circus of Life’, from Primal Scream’s 12th studio album Come Ahead, is the essence of the man. A cosmic, chugging wig out that will breathe new life into you.
MARK DE CLIVE-LOWE – Control [Be With] [1h 55h 50s]
Mark is one of the hardest-working musicians out there. I know, because I receive his regular mailouts, which are stacked with gigs and studio collaborations like this one with Shigeto and my girl, Melanie Charles.
He’s an intrepid New Zealander who became part of the extended West London family in the early 2000s, when genres such as broken beat and future jazz were taking shape and mutating night after night. It was a fluid mindset Mark adopted and carried forward. Here he is with Bembe Segue and Tawiah refixing one of his best contributions to the scene, ‘Relax (Unwind)’ in 2007.
I probably first met ‘Mashi’ at the weekly live session Jazz Re:freshed on Portabello Rd (now at Ninety One Living Room). His debut album came my way while working at Straight No Chaser magazine, which was like a fanzine for so much of this music here and abroad, especially before the Internet and social media.
Six Degrees is an audio travelogue or sonic diary of Mark’s year abroad in 1998. Soaking up the Afro-Cuban rhythms of Havana, the jazz heritage of New York, crate-digging in San Francisco, getting busy in London studios and basement clubs. A musical awakening, that’s for sure. MPC2000, Fender Rhodes and synths in hand, he paid homage to forebears such as Lonnie Liston Smith and The Mizell Brothers while speculating on the shape of things to come.
Listening now, 25 years later, this music still sounds so fresh, fizzing out of the liminal spaces between house, hip-hop, jazz, and bruk. ‘Control’ owes a small debt to the angular jungle and drum’n’bass spun by Grooverider and Jumpin Jack Frost in the smoky darkness of places like Rage.
Another limited edition reissue from Be With. Be quick.
