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A compilation of the deepest and most affecting songs by The Philosophers National from Nigeria, beginning in the 1970s. Lilting, multi-layered, pulsing music, with muted trumpet solos, mesmerising guitar runs, driving percussion, and concise and clear-eyed lyrics sung so beautifully by Celestine Ukwu.
‘Celestine ditched the jaunty dance rhythms and relatively facile lyrics typical of the reigning highlife tunes, and ignoring the soul music tropes most of the highlife bandleaders were appropriating in an effort to inject new life to their ailing format. Instead Celestine concocted a new highlife style that was more contemplative and lumbering; with the layering of Afro-Cuban ostinato basslines and repetitive rhythm patterns that interlocked to create an effect that was hypnotic, virtually transcendental. Meanwhile, Celestine himself sang as he stood coolly onstage in a black turtleneck and a sportscoat, looking like a university professor. The message was clear: this was not necessarily music for dancing—even though the rhythms were compelling enough. This was music for the thinkers’ (Uchenna Ikonne).
An uncompromisingly deep, rugged, rootical collection of dubs and instrumentals; funky to the max.
A terrific compilation. It’s a must.
No particular theme this time around… except scorchers only admitted.
A fresh, personal selection, stuffed with bangers and welcome strays and surprises; like getting a killer mix-tape from an old friend.
Jazzbo riding a vicious mix of Sidewalk Doctor, for example, and Spear’s majestic Door Peep Shall Not Enter… Wiggle’s Diggles by Noel Bailey the Hippy Boy… two sublime Sugars…
The broom to sweep the room!
‘Swooping, sub-heavy sci-fi from Riz Maslen, under a new moniker.
‘Heavy-lidded and ethereal, its balance of bass weight, mechanical metre, and darkly tinted new age feels like a cinematic re-approach to some of the textures, moods, and themes of her 1996 Laundrophonic maxi, under the alias Neotropic.
‘Stairway 13 folds in decades of experience in sound design and theatre, along with shards and elements abstracted from Riz’ more recent folk-like music, zoning into a deep, retreated, altogether dreamlike and expansive atmosphere. The scale and soundscape is reminiscent of Geinoh Yamashirogumi and their Ecophony album series, resonating to similar frequencies and exploring themes of chaos and rebirth in feature-length form.
‘The four parts spread and swoop as single extended sides across this double LP. Carried by waves of sub bass and heavenly chorus, and later punctuated with autonomic clicks of machinery, whirrs, and pulses, the work forms a gothic, otherworldly ambience. A subtle space opera.’
Superb, mid-eighties, soulful gospel, with popping bass and amazing singing; obscure but musically right up there with the Winans, DJ Rogers, Vanessa Bell Armstrong and co, from the same bountiful vintage.
Going on fifty Duke Reid ska and r&b sides.
Tommy McCook, Eric Morris, Bongo Man, Stranger Cole, Baba Brooks, Don Drummond…
Terrific, propulsive, widescreen version of the Jon Lucien classic, flavoured with Curtis, featuring brilliant percussion by Montego Joe, alongside Ron Carter, Richard Tee, Ron Carter… Plus a Moondance excursion, on the flip.
One for the HJ pensioners massive.
Calling all Disco Freaks!
‘The great South African tenorist Mike Makhamalele was a graduate of the key early-seventies group The Drive (alongside Bheki Mseleku and Kaya Mahlangu); and a mainstay of the scene centred on the Pelican nightclub in Soweto. From 1975, he began to record under his own name, developing a sophisticated fusion sound in a musical lane which few of his contemporaries were travelling.
‘Always attuned to other global fashions in Black dance and pop music, under numerous studio aliases he cut 45rpm covers of Fela’s Shakara and the Sugar Hill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight; and in 1979 he entered the Gallo studios with producer Peter Ceronio to respond to the ascendant sound of disco. Named after a township dance craze, Kabuzela was the result: four extended tracks of bouncing, upful disco jazz. Perfectly calibrated for dancing, heavy on the bass and drums, the album is set off by a gleaming centre piece, Disco Freaks — a joyous paean to the weekend and true lost gem of global disco, perfect for the most discerning dancefloors.’
Superb, under-the-radar, late-seventies roots. Beautifully sung, punchy, serious-minded; but under-stated and natural.
‘The world is getting dread… dreader dread… so stand up, and look up… for the time is so hard… harder times to come.’
Crucial bunny.
Killer UK lovers. Jeniffer Redman at the mic; Jah Bunny at the controls. Bubbler worries.
Tougher-than-tough instrumental by the Links house-band, featuring Joe White and Ken Boothe on keys, and killer guitar and trombone by Harris Seaton and Derrick Hinds. Same circle of heaven as tunes like Sidewalk Doctor and Tight Spot. Something new, ushering rocksteady out the door, into the past.
‘The same band as New Movements hit the stage a year and a half later, again for FMP, recording Pink Pong. Even more adventurous and tightly wired, this version of Gräwe’s fivesome plays more concise compositions, a total of eleven of them, spread out almost evenly amongst band members. The resulting album is one of FMP’s absolute classics, simultaneously a nod at precursors like Alexander von Schlippenbach’s early groups and Manfred Schoof’s killer mid-sized ensembles, but also indicating a new path for a younger set of players. Steeped in a love of folks like Lennie Tristano and Steve Lacy, the band’s points of reference were diverse enough to make them stand out against some of the more exclusively hard-blowing Germans of the era.’
His 1976 debut, for FMP.
‘A classic hard-bop configuration with trumpet, saxophone, and rhythm section. Though some vestiges of that hard-bop feel permeate the music, it’s been fractured and expanded in its ambitions to include post-bop, freebop, free jazz, and free improvisation, all with an overall set of structures that betray Gräwe’s deep interest in contemporary classical forms. It is an audacious debut, one of the most thrilling jazz-related European outings to emerge from the FMP program. Tenor and soprano saxophonist Harald Dau is spectacular, reminiscent in places of the great Gerd Dudek’s work with Manfred Schoof Sextett — tough as nails, free within a blues-oriented context, totally inventive. He’s matched by lithe trumpeter Horst Grabosch, and Gräwe’s rhythm team is impeccable, with Hans Schneider’s bass and Achim Kramer’s drums. The album kicks off with a 22-minute-long rollercoaster ride written by Gräwe, and continues with two more long tracks by Dau, all of them featuring thrilling interplay and brilliant tunes.’