For the sixth BATB release, we pursued the ‘Excursions in Gwoka’ series with a second volume putting focus on the legendary carnival outfit from Guadeloupe, Akiyo.
The EP contains two original tracks which were originally released in 1993 on Akiyo’s seminal second LP, 𝘔𝘰𝘶𝘷𝘮𝘢𝘯: ‘Déboulé’ and ‘Blo’.
The aforementioned album has become increasingly hard to find and these two tracks are presented for the first time side by side, officially licensed, freshly remastered in their original forms and with newly remixed versions.
The track ‘Déboulé’, which was written and composed by synth wizard from Marie-Galante Jacques-Marie Basses, is one of Akiyo’s most recognisable and celebrated anthems and has long been a huge favourite on the Beauty & the Beat dance-floor.
The man like Breakplus, who already featured on the first BATB release, gave ‘Déboulé’ a fresh London take with his incredibly inspired “broken tribute” remix. Dropped at the right time on the right dance-floor this is an absolute bomb!
For the track ‘Blo’, which as ‘Déboulé” depicts Akiyo “tumbling” into the streets of Pointe-à-Pitre during carnival, I tweaked some bits, added a few choice samples and extended the whole thing into cosmic carnival territory, in true BATB stylee.
This particular track was play tested on choice dance-floors throughout the summer from Jaminaround to Houghton festival to brilliant corners to BATB, and I am glad to say that it is a bona fide dance-floor heater, already certified BATB classic.
I personally met Michel Halley and Jacques-Marie Basses in Pointe-à-Pitre around Easter 2022 to licence these two tracks. Both still active on the global music scene, they go way back and – contrary to many Guadeloupean artists – they have lived their entire life on the island, major actors in the refound popularity of gwoka since the 1960s. As such they enjoy legendary status within the gwoka community. Michel is a master tambouyé who played with everyone from Gui Konket to Ti Sélès, while Jacques-Maries in a synth wizard (quite literally) from Marie-Galante who was involved in a multitude of projects, including playing keys on two of my all time favourite Guadeloupean records, Gaoulé Mizik‘s “Sonné Lékla Sonné” (which was included on Lèspri Ka) and The Henry-Wenceslas Thenard Band‘s “An Ho“. Both are founding members of Akiyo (see liner notes below) and it was an honour to spent time with them and be schooled deeper into Guadeloupe and gwoka history.
Thanks and praises to you both.
Liner notes written by yours truly (to be found on the insert):
“Akiyo is a legendary groupe de tambours from Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, whose influences come as much from gwoka as from mizik a mas (carnival music).
Formed in 1978 during a time of strong pro independence demands and sentiment across the island, Akiyo became popular for reintroducing skin drums and traditional masks at carnival (which at the time had been replaced by plastic instruments and satin-sequin costumes) with the objective to revalorise Guadeloupean culture, and reconnect with its people’s origins through songs and disguises which often refer to the customs and myths of the island.
Michel Halley, one of the founding members of Akiyo (and a legendary gwoka tambouyé) says: “The drum is an instrument of expression, an instrument of joy, of sorrow, of celebration, for births, deaths, it is a unifying instrument. Akiyo is a current of thought, an ideological movement above all, a desire to do things. At the time of creation, we decided to have two fundamental axes: to safeguard the carnival, with its costumes, its music, its spirit of derision, everything that makes the carnival universal, and to work with the objective of affirming the Guadeloupean identity. To make a carnival particular to Guadeloupe and not resembling other carnivals around the world.”
Akiyo is a gwoup a po (“groupe à peaux” in French, meaning a group which uses drums made with animal skin, usually goats’) whose music is a modernised take on the mas a Senjan rhythm (named after a popular mid 20th century group), itself derived from the mendé rhythm, one of the seven rhythms of gwoka. Instead of “carnival”, a colonisers’ word, the group has always preferred using the term “mas” which designates both the disguise and the popular procession, nourished by animist traditions: a “parade” intended to “scare”, to shake up the established order, but also to transmit the culture inherited from the ancestors…
During a déboulé (the word translates literally as tumble, a typically colourful Creole way to describe the loud and raucous manner in which the group parades in the streets during carnival), bands are preceded by whip crackers, goatskin drummers, conch blowers and cha cha (local maracas) shakers. In the case of Akiyo they are usually followed by thousands of revellers.
“Akiyo-la pwenté
mas-la ka déboulé”
Both songs included on this 12” have lyrics describing Akiyo “tumbling” into the streets of Pointe-à-Pitre during carnival, and were originally released in 1993 on Akiyo’s second LP, Mouvman. The song ‘Déboulé’, written and composed by the legendary synth wizard from Marie-Galante Jacques-Marie Basses, is one of Akiyo’s most recognisable and celebrated anthem and has been a huge favourite on the Beauty & the Beat dance-floor for the longest time.
The aforementioned album has become increasingly hard to find and it is an honour to present these two tracks side by side, officially licensed, both freshly remastered in their original forms and in newly remixed versions. The man like Breakplus, who already featured on our first BATB release, gives ‘Déboulé’ a fresh London take with his “broken tribute” remix, while our very own CW tweaks and extends ‘Blo’ into cosmic carnival territory. “
Thanks and praises to Marlène Meignan for the once again incredible cover art, to my very own Gina for the design, and to Metropolis for the stellar (re)mastering.
“Something’s about to come your way Extend your arms embrace the love (…) Breathe the winds of space and time Let your senses take control Listen to the rhythm of the cosmic dance Glance far away into the future Let your mind run through the fields that fill your heart with joy Meanwhile, let your soul inside touch the stars”
(from Kuniyuki’s sublime remix of Slam Mode’s ‘Pacifica’)
The 2024 edition of BABB vs Jaminaround in the enchanted earth house of the Ancient Technology Centre in deep Dorset was, yet again, a truly life affirming session. Words unsurprisingly fail to convey such a transcendental and ineffable experience so please be kind with the below wide eyed musings (a slightly updated version of an IG post I did a few days after the party).
Since 2018 this has become our little piece of heaven, a place with the perfect mix of the most magical, awe inspiring setting with the most special people, cosmically united in the here and now through dance, music and sound.
Our very own TAZ (Temporary Autonomous Zone), where, for a fleeting moment, we can create utopia and reappropriate collective consciousness.
Total freedom of expression, movement and love. Magical moments of childlike purity. The pure joy of dancing and bonding while suspended in time and space.
A full range of cosmic elements were out in force, rain, wind, fire, earth (house), (glorious) moon, sunrise, all contributing to the overwhelming sensation of feeling a l i v e.
I m m e r s e d in sound via the incredible acoustics of the Iron Age earth house replica and its circular design; breathing m u s i c through each and every pore.
People dancing in circle around the 🔥, looking up to the sky.
Josh dropping ‘Voodoo Chile’ and the place erupting in acid rock heaven.
Every record taking a whole other dimension. ‘It’s Raining’, ‘Light My Fire’, ’Garden of Life’, ‘Iko Iko’, ‘Kamaiurá’, ‘Xica Da Silva’, ‘Spaceship: Earth’, ‘Starchild’, ‘Mimoso’, ‘To Be Felt’, ‘NZimbab’, ‘Sweet Lullaby’, ‘Summer Madness’, ‘Nha Manera’, ‘Angola’, ’Mango Walk, ‘La Pli Si Tol’, …
Thanks and praises and eternal love to Malou Coindreau for the majestic sound bath, Gonora Soundz for the infectious live performance, Josh Beauchamp for sharing the tunes (especially the the bijou b2b 🤩), to Jaminaround head honcho Oliver Keen, and last but not least to the amazing BATB family.
Marathon time again, six months exactly after a first taste in Venezia, for my second official attempt at the distance outside of an ironman. As much as I enjoyed many aspects of the race towards la Serenissima, it had left me somewhat frustrated by the result (read race report here) and so really wanting for more and determined to give the distance another shot. Experience is key when it comes to marathon – just like an ironman really – and I was also tapping on some consistent winter training to achieve a more accomplished result. Having clocked 2:49:12 in Venice after being well (over) cooked for the last 15 K or so, including a few minutes spent battling with debilitating cramps by the roadside, I was hoping I could go sub 2:45, and perhaps even aim for a 2:40.
And yep, as much as I don’t need an actual race to be motivated to go out for a run every other day (I would go every day if I could really), and as sad as it might sound, I still have the mindset to think about these races in terms of outcome. After all, the marathon is the only distance left at which I can still dream of a PB. Any shorter distances are for younger legs, and with anything longer the clock doesn’t really matter.
Back in April 2023 my brother and I ran a virtual marathon on the same day as the official one, with the aim not just to qualify but to do the race together the following year. This was the plan until a few weeks ago when unfortunately Fabien injured himself after doing a trail marathon in rather extreme conditions…No London for him this year sadly, and neither for our fellow runner/music head Mike Hughes, who had qualified but would also be a DNS because of injury. Finding yourself toeing the start line of a marathon fit and healthy is perhaps the most difficult step in the journey! Partie remise for next year boys
Winter training is never plain sailing and this was confirmed yet again, what with having to juggle with the usual cold season ailments, small niggles, back to back party weekends and ensuing social jetlag, but at least it was somewhat consistent. Some good sessions on the treadmill showed me that I was on the right track (one of my new favourite session became what I call the Progressive/Tempo Run: 1% incline, 13 min progressive build from 13.5 kph to 16 kph, 10min at 16.1 kph, 9min at 16.2 kph, 8min at 16.3 kph then 13-15 min progressive build from 16.3 kph to 17.5 kph. Just over 14k and under an hour in total, quick and efficient just like a treadmill session should be. Did that 3-4 times over a few weeks and could really tell the progress. I also tried to add some slower recovery runs – something I have rarely been able to do throughout my career – as well as some intervals (mostly fartlek), hill sessions and a few long runs. Some days felt great but many felt terrible. All in all average 4-5 runs per week over 5 months, between 50 to 90k a week depending on whether I could run on weekends or not.
I sold (half of) my soul and invested in some carbon plated cheating shoes, though at least I stuck to my beloved Altra (the Vanish Carbon ones). If you ever see me wearing one of those ugly squeaky Nike Vapor Zoom whatever (or anything related to Nike for that matter), please save me as this would mean I’d fallen deep into the dark side.
Four weeks prior to the marathon I ran a half at Run Fest Lee Valley in a rather disappointing 1:17:10. Though I ran mostly on my own in very gusty conditions, this didn’t make me feel especially confident in my running form. The last long run I did alongside the Allier river near my home town felt especially bad, though at least it had the merit to make me realise that the supposedly revolutionary (?) Maurten gels are really not for me (I just couldn’t assimilate them). What I did pretty well though I think – after party bender post BATB two weeks prior the race mis à part – was the tapering part, as for once during the last ten days I was able to be smart and reduce the volume while keeping some good pacing. When race day came, apart from an ongoing niggle on my right knee, the legs and lungs felt fresh and raring to go.
To my surprise I must have slept 7-8 hours the night before, very much unheard of as it’s something I’ve never been able to do in the past before a big race. Racing on home turf and sleeping in my bed surely did help, though this meant I felt somewhat uneasy in the morning, unsure whether it was a good thing or whether I should have been more stressed…
Crazy thoughts really!
A short cycle ride to Dalston, a couple of trains to Blackheath and all of a sudden I was joined by an impressive mass of runners moving towards the official “blue wave” start line (where the “Good for Age” start), friends and family in tow. Clearly never done anything on that scale before. 60000 runners or so, the biggest ever in London apparently. I can only imagine how crazy it must be at the “red wave” start further down the hill. Up on the heath it was rather cold and windy but everything else went (surprisingly) very smooth. No queuing for the loos (!), no struggle finding the right lorry to drop bag, no big push at the start. As smooth as. At 10:02:20 here I was running past the start line, embarked on a solitary journey with myself, albeit surrounded by thousands of fellow runners.
The first few kilometres (mostly downhill) really flew by, as I focused on keeping the pace in check to avoid being very sore and sorry later on, all the while having to navigate around the hundreds (literally) of slower runners who had somehow managed to start at the front of the race. 3:47, 3:46, 3:32 (ouch), 3:42,… trying to stay conservative and as close as possible to the 3:48 per km target (which leads to a 2:40:15 marathon time). The intense cheering all along the course combined with the constant navigating meant that before I knew it we were already crossing Tower Bridge, enjoying the special moment despite running into a rather gusty headwind.
Soon after as we turned right towards Canary Wharf it was the halfway mark, which I reached in 1:19:40. Bang on target, even though I thought I’d been running faster by looking at the splits on my Garmin. Turns out these were pretty far off and unreliable, and it would get even worse after that (I even clocked a 3:22 at km 32 apparently… yeah right!). Fab and Silvia were waiting for me with a bottle of electrolytes soon after, as planned, then off we went for a loop of the Isle of Dogs. As the kilometres clicked and with less than 15k to go I still felt comfortable and rather confident I could hold that pace to the end, maybe even increase it in the latter stages. Gwan!
At mile 20.5, right outside Limehouse town hall (the venue where we host our All Or Friends parties) is the spot chosen by Run Dem Crew to drum up a storm all day long, bringing out the vibes and the rawkus as led by my mate Charlie Dark (MBE). I was waiting eagerly for that moment in the race, but I think I was starting to be a bit light headed by that point and so was taken a bit by surprise. I saw Charlie on the megaphone as I was running past him and missed my high five, though I still managed to catch Fab and Silvia again right after as they ran next to me for a bit. Didn’t see Gio, though I heard him shouting my name. Thanks guys, this makes all the difference.
Less than 10k to go now, we’re on the real stuff. Instead of slowing yourself down to stay on target it’s now all about grinding and hanging on to keep that same pace. And that bloody Garmin keeps on giving me wrong splits.
I’ll stick to a £15 Casio clock watch next time.
Lots of talking to myself in this section.
Maybe it’s fine if I stop here, I’ve done pretty well already?
No definitely not, the marathon starts here actually.
But my quads are failing me, I don’t think I can carry on.
Yes you can, you’ve done enough long distance triathlons to know otherwise.
And on and on and on.
As I reached the 40k I did some quick calculations in my head and thought if I kept that pace I would be just under 2:40!
But what pace was I on?
And how hazy was my brain?
And my quads?
As I finally made the right turn around St James Park and ran under the 383 yards banner I had a quick look at my watch. Just over 2:39… Ouch. No sub 2:40 then. The quads were smashed and sprinting down the home straight was not an option. And I would have needed a monster finish. Instead I increased the pace by a good 0.1 kph and stopped the clock at 2:40:17 (officially 2:40:22).
That’s a huge (9 min) PB and improvement compared to Venice, with a lot less suffering involved. Happy days then. But it’s also just 23 seconds short of the 2:40:00 cut off, which is a cool barrier to break in itself but on top of that it allows you to take part in the Championship start (as opposed to Good for Age) the following year. The kind of thing club runners like to brag about so I’m told.
PS: outside of those exquisite post race pints, here’s a quick lowdown on my nutrition game: I had four (SIS) gels in total, the first one 15 min before the start then one at 10, 20 and 30K. I also took a couple of salt tablets, which I believe prevented me from cramping like I did in Venice. But had I been lucid enough to take one more gel around 36-37K I believe it could well have allowed me to pick the pace up in the later stages…
Following on to the singles in part I, here’s my round up of the best albums and reissues which I had the pleasure to listen to in 2023. As always there’s a good mix of familiar artists and labels who constantly deliver the goods alongside some new names amongst the movers and shakers in our niche music world.
Moving house in the summer had me stop buying (new) records for a few months for probably the first time in my life (!), a blessing in disguise as it gave me the opportunity to revisit most of the collection, downsize a good chunk of it and rediscover lots of deep cuts and hidden jams I forgot about in the process. The last time I did that was with the previous house move nine years previously and that same process turned out to be equally refreshing. Trim the fat, say goodbye to some previously well loved records – thank you for the good times – keep the “essentials” and start digging again.
Madrid based artist Anthonius (also the label’s head honcho) appeared on my radar with the release of his first album Itoigaw, a collab with artists from Guinea Conakry whose music folklore was revisited with an 80s electro filter. The results sounded fresh and addictive and the album still hasn’t left my DJ bag since then (‘Tidiane’ especially is a huge favourite).
The label’s motivation “to preserve the most hidden folklore [and merge it] with the sonic spectrum of electronica” is once again applied to Goshinboku, as Anthonius teams up with South African guitarist and vocalist Sibusile Xaba (whose Ngiwu Shwabada solo LP released by Komos in 2020 was an underrated delight) and other musicians from Africa, Cuba and Europe. As with its predecessor the result is fresh and addictive, blending in Afro boogie, Cuban son with an electro/Balearic backbone. ‘A Night In Belice’, a tribute to Wally Badarou’s ‘Hi Life’ is one of the highlights which should please the White island brigade, but really the whole LP is a treat. One to follow for sure – thanks Pol Valls for the tip!
Ustad Noor Bakhsh – Jingul (Hive Mind)
Another amazing release from Brighton’s Hive Mind Records, a label whose tastes lie in hypnotic outernational cosmic sounds and which rather inevitably has been on my radar (and squatting my end-of-the-year round-ups) for years, since their reissue of Maalem Mahmoud Gania’s seminal Colours Of The Night LP. This time the first solo album from Balochistan musician Ustad Noor Bakhsh, master of the obscure zither-like benju.. The album is named after a bird that often frequents Noor’s house, and whose songs inspired the last track on this release, alongside interpretations of local poetry and shepherd’s songs in the Sufi devotional form of qawwali. The instrument’s distinctive, buzzing, bluesy quality is supported by a pair damboora (tanpura) players, whose sustained beds of drony harmonics help carry the evocative stories – and the hypnosis – with them. A deep and entrancing listen all the way through.
Galya Bisengalieva – Polygon (One Little Independent Records)
A dark and moody ambient album about environmental catastrophes in Kazakhstan will most likely not be for everyone’s tastes. As we learn from the liner notes, the Polygon of the title is the nickname of the Semipalatinsk test site in northeast Kazakhstan, once USSR’s primary nuclear testing zone and home to nearly a quarter of the world’s nuclear testing. Originally from Khazakhstan, London Contemporary Orchestra leader Galya Bisengalieva dedicates her solo projects to avant classical explorations inspired by her country’s folklore, ecology, history and geopolitical crises. After focusing on the shrinking of the Aral Sea caused by Soviet irrigation projects on her Aralkum LP in 2020,on Polygon she portrays the grandeur and desolation of the Kazakh countryside, both as an elegy and as a protest for its forgotten victims of the nuclear age.
Altogether calm and eerie, beautiful and menacing, soothing and pulsing, this is a truly unique piece of work. One could call it environmental music, though not in the comforting kankyō ongaku sense of the term, but rather closer to Hildur Guðnadóttir’s haunting score for Chernobyl, as Bisengalieva’s multi-tracked strings and electronics reverberate the natural landscapes as much as its nuclear radiation. Despite using only few elements (mostly violin, voices and traditional Kazakh instruments, along with slight electronic manipulation) the depth of the music gives the album a deeply cinematic and evocative feel on its own, a quality which was even enhanced during her performance at the ICA, where she played a multi sensory mix of deconstructed violin, frazzled beats and unyielding drones behind a haloed curtain on which were projected real time visual slides of hand made drawings and psychedelic effects. One of the performances of the year for one of the most idiosyncratic releases.
Flashbacks to We Out Here, 2022, Saturday afternoon by the main stage, nicely stoned on the grass, blessed by the late summer sunshine and the woozy, soothing celestial soul of Eddie Chacon coming through the bijou Danley sound system. The happy, hazy, heady multi sensory feelings of that gig come back to me instantly whenever I put Sundown on the deck, an album that perfectly encapsulates that laid back, unhurried, slightly melancholic feel of a Balearic sunset. Rather unsurprisingly the album was first conceived in Ibiza with producer/synth wizard John Carroll Kirby, before being completed in LA where the pair resides. A real feat of groovy minimalism for a truthful album from two musicians quietly carving out their own musical path.
CV & JAB – Κλίμα (Klima) (Editions Basilic)
Christina Vantzou’sNo. 5 LP was one of favourite records of 2022, one I still regularly reach for when in need of escape and solace through some experimental modern classical minimalism. This year she released Κλίμα (Klima), herthird collaborative album with fellow American composer, synthesist and multi-instrumentalist John Also Bennett.
The pair were invited to perform at the UNESCO world heritage site Santuário Bom do Jesus do Monte in Braga, Portugal, and soon after they started to investigate into melodic interplay, acoustic processing and field recordings, like archaeologists searching for unheard soundscapes. The narrative core of the album materialized as they travelled across Tenerife, trying to harness the volcanic island’s charmed, vastly different microclimates into a sort of audio travelog. The album deploys as a mirage through sonic wanderings in experimental ambient and classical minimalism, inducing listeners into a contemplative and semi hallucinatory state.
Yussef Dayes – Black Classical Music (Brownswood)
Quite possibly the most hyped and anticipated release of the year, the first solo album by UK jazz royalty Yussef Dayes. In hindsight, Yussef Kamaal’s Black Focus LP from 2016 (already on Brownswood), which linked UK jazz mentors 4 Hero with all the new movers and shakers in the jazz scene, was kind of a pivotal album which led the way to an incredibly fertile and versatile wave of UK jazz, culminating in the success of a festival like We Out Here and Ezra Collective winning the Mercury last year.
Black Classical Music is a really personal album from one of the most musical drummers out there, light and intense at the same time, which allows space for various VIP guests to shine while keeping a coherent (somewhat ethereal) tone overall. One that gets better with every listen and which will no doubt be revisited for years to come.
PS: one can only be amazed by the incredible depth of UK jazz drummers when you think that for his last ever gig on the saxophone, Shabaka Hutchings took over Hackney Church with a line up with four incredible drummers (Tom Skinner, Edward Wakili Hick, Moses Boyd and Jas Kayser), which didn’t include Yussef Dates nor Seb Rochford.
Greg Foat & Gigi Masin – Dolphin (Strut)
Greg “Symphonie Pacifique” Foat & Gigi “Wind” Masin have both been permanent fixtures in my end-of the year round-ups pretty much since I started doing them over a decade ago, a period over which both artists have been extremely prolific. Both are pianists by trade, with Foat coming from the (all shapes of) jazz side of things while Masin of course is routinely referred as the electronic ambient maestro, though they both always had this contemplative, cosmic quality within their respective outputs.
Dolphin is a collaborative LP they worked on and recorded during lockdown, exchanging files over the internet while both were stuck on their respective islands and dolphins started to serendipitously appear on both the coast of the Isle of Wight and on the Venice lagoon. That’s what we learned from Foat during a majestic concert they did at Kings Place, both artists interestingly taking turns between songs behind the grand piano and the electric piano, while Daniel Casimir on bass and Moses Boyd on drums provided a tight cinematic backbone. The music flows in a smooth and liquid cinematic fashion, deeply melancholic and peaceful at the same time.
Gi Gi – Sunchoke (Good Morning Tapes)
Ambient jungle permutations for the post club, sun is rising shenanigans, reminiscing of the blissful Balearic beats from mid 90s heroes The Orb or Terre Thaemlitz circaTranquilizer. Released on the always inspired Good Morning Tapes label, a French label from Seignosse in the south France whose motto is to “ask each of its contributors to pay homage in their own unique way to Spirit, Gaia or Source.” Over the last few years they have quietly built a rather impressive catalogue, to be filed under deep, cosmic and meditative, with previous favourites including Saphileum, D.K. and Eddie Rushca. Thanks Fab for the heads up on this!
Arp Frique – Analog People Digital World (Colourful World Records)
Arp Frique has been on my “must check everything from this guy” radar since the release of ‘Nos Magia’ in 2017, followed by the fantastic ‘Name Ye/Oi Quem Q’ue Nos’ 7” in 2021, arguably my favourite single from that year. These cuts became huge modern classics instantly. The Dutch producer and keyboard wizard specialises in updating the beloved sounds and rhythms of Afro/Caribbean funk (zouk, highlife, soukous, funana) through a cosmic funk prism – exactly the kind of creolisedtropical cosmic dance vibe I love so much.
On his latest LP, Analog People Digital World,Frique explores the digital coldness of the Yamaha’s classic DX7 synth using only its FM synthesis-based sounds “to find new heat for an analog world”. Previous Arp Frique family collaborators Ghanaian songstress Mariseya and Cape Verdean heroes Americo Brito (Go Now Wetiko) add their infectious vocals to the project – both shining on the 80s bubblegum beauty ‘Go Now Wetiko’, as well as Surinamese funkster Sumy. The album embraces the ‘70s private press machine funk style on ‘Spiritual Masseuse’, ‘Digital World’ and ‘Duncan Truffle’- the latest an intense and sexily wobbling instrumental straight outta the George Clinton / Drexciya mothership, with a welcome stop in Caribbean West London on the ace dig stepper ‘Jah Kingdom’. Real fresh!
Insólito UniVerso – Ese Puerto Existe (Olindo)
Insólito UniVerso are a Paris based Venezuelan combo led by bassist Raúl Monsalve who explore traditional Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Venezuelan sounds. The diverse geography, rhythms and traditions of their home country are played in a new light through a modern and often deliciously psychedelic filter, in a not too dissimilar way to what Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek do with their updated covers of traditional Anatolian songs and folklore, or Electric Jalaba with the gnawa repertoire.
Their sound is altogether groovy, dreamy and psychedelic, rooted in traditional Venezuelan folk music but blended with inspirations ranging from Brazilian wizard Hermeto Pascoal, Tortoise, Stereolab, and electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire – influences as impeccably deep and cosmic as can be. Indeed the songs on the A side segue into each other like a nice dream, though nothing prepares you for ‘El Chivo’, an 8.5 min full on cosmic UFO of a tune which opens the B side and acts as the centerpiece of the album. The avant-pop queen Lætitia Sadier herself makes an appearance to add her mesmerising vocals for what can only be described as one of the most out there psychedelic Latin fusion tune of recent memory. Tailor made for magic hour collective hypnosis on choice psychedelic dance floors from Beauty & the Beat to Beija Flor. The trip continues on a different plane with the tune coming next, ‘Goyo Tuyero’, another cosmic UFO sounding like Mozart on acid. Outta sight! Much love and praise to Miguel and Oli at Collectivo Futuro/Olindo Records for consistently delivering the goods!
Jantra – Synthesized Sudan: Astro-Nubian Electronic Jaglara Dance Sounds from the Fashaga Underground (Ostinato Records)
Perhaps the most surprising and unexpected record of the year, a compilation of the mind blowing sonic world of Jantra, the one man band behind the local sound known as jaglara music. Translated as “craziness,” the sound animates celebrations and gatherings in Sudan for hours on end. Rather impressively, all Jantra needs to whip up listeners into a frenzy is his trusty Yamaha keyboard, which has been modified by the “keyboard mechanics” of Khartoum market to reflect the tone of Sudanese music.
His approach is raw and minimal: raucous, hypnotic polyrhythms and improvised celestial synth melodies based on the audience reaction. Jantra has no complete songs, all of his tracks are permutations of the traditional sayra rhythm which characterises songs for men at their weddings en route to the bride’s home. For this very reason, the tracks on the compilation had to be reconstructed from snippets of live performances coupled with studio recreations, as we learn in thisfascinating interview with Ostinato’s main man Vik Sohonie. A new form of hybrid reissue, and a golden mine for the Beauty & the Beat dance-floor.
Dave Okumu And The Seven Generations – I Came From Love (Transgressive Records)
Watching and listening to a masked Dave Okumu playing guitar alongside Shabaka Hutchings on a purposely hazy Hackney Church stage during their (already legendary) rendition of John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme for Shabaka’s last ever show on the saxophone was definitely one of the major highlights of the year (see elsewhere).
Earlier in the year, Okumu had released I Came From Love, an expansive, genre hopping tapestry of black experience taking in the legacy of slavery, what it means to exist in an unjust society, and Okumu’s own family history. For his ambitious first solo album of original material, the polymath artist (altogether songwriter, producer, performer and musical director) invites some of his illustrious friends including Grace Jones, Eska, Anthony Joseph (whose delivery of Aimé Césaire’s seminal 1939 work Cahier d’un retour au pays natal) is one of the highlights) Byron Wallen or Raven Bush and imagines a self described “collaboration with his ancestors and successors”. This is a record which might be dense and fiercely political, but musically it never sounds difficult, its mixture of jazz, funk, blues, pop and streetwise attitude making it a compelling listen throughout. The accompanying booklet on which Okumu elaborates on his own history, the genesis of the album, its collaborators and his eclectic influences is also a real bonus. Definitely one of the very essential albums of 2023.
Natural Wonder… is the fruits a of collab between ethereal pop singer Ana Roxanne and left field NYC Brian Piñeyro. While I was unaware of Roxanne, Piñeyro’s 2022 EPClub Sentimientos Vol 2 under his DJ Python moniker had been one of my highlights of the year and led me to this project. Their sound could be described (by old dogs like me) as trip hop for the new generation, as their slow-motion grooves and downbeat electronic pop rather unavoidably evokes 1990s post club heroes Boards Of Canada or Broadcast. Their moody sound is however very much novel as it encompasses trip-hop, synth-pop, IDM drums, jungle, oddball ambient landscapes and samples of classical music.
I have to admit it took me some time to warm up to this sound (especially Roxanne’s vocals) but I found the album grew on me with every listen as I revisited it regularly and let myself blanketed in its dreamy, textural soundscapes. Despite the relative coldness of the music the record benefits from a top notch production by CZ Wang (of Mood Hut fame) and sounds real warm and open. Altogether peaceful and ghostly, tranquil and twitchy, they certainly have found an interesting balance between their sensibilities.
Richard Norris – Oracle Sound Volume One (self released)
Meandering late night atmospheric dub excursions from the prolific Richard Norris, aka one half of Beyond The Wizards Sleeve, taking in various shapes of electronica, ambient house, downtempo dread and more, from King Tubby to Basic Channel via Nightmares on Wax circa Smokers Delight.. Sounding so warm and comforting on the Klipschorns – big tip on this one!
Jimetta Rose & The Voices Of Creation – How Good It Is (Day Dreamer)
It took so long for this album to arrive after I pre-ordered it that I had all but forgotten about it when it finally landed. But as soon as I put it on it was just wow. I truly love this record, easily the most spiritually uplifting album that came out in recent memory. Jimetta Rose, whom I first heard singing with SA-RA Creative Partners back in 2009 (anyone remembers them? They did some cool stuff back then) is a vocalist, songwriter, arranger, producer and mainstay of the Los Angeles scene who now leads the community-based choir The Voices of Creation. Together they make music which whole-heartedly embraces love, joy and peace and acts as sonic healing balms for the body and soul – just what the world needs right now.
Their debut album comprises a mixture of originals and rearranged covers, which are performed in a wide-eyed mix of styles that reflect Jimetta’s vision for borderless music who echoes Yussef Dayes in calling her music “new black classical music.” Rather crucially, the album is incredibly well produced and well pressed, sounding war, fat and punchy – it really feels like having a choir in your living room. Their version on Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s choral jazz classic ‘Spirits Up Above’ (an absolute favourite of mine which I regularly play out) is quite spectacular, as is ‘Answer The Call’, a superb take of Funkadelic’s beloved psychedelic funk ‘Cosmic Slop’. An incredible sense of joy and togetherness and communal spirit instantly fills the room with each and every listen of How Good It Is. Must have!
Shabaka – Afrikan Culture (Impulse)
Shabaka Hutchings, the bandleader of several acclaimed bands (Sons of Kemet, The Ancestors and The Comet Is Coming) and imo the most important saxophonist (if not artist) of his generation, has been sharing his decision of quitting the instrument for a couple years at least. The transition happened gradually as he released Afrikan Culture in 2022 (though the vinyl version only came out in 2023),a (quasi) solo mini LP of dreamy, atmospheric calmness, on which he explores traditional African instruments such as the kora and the mbira in conjunction with the music box (a handmade, battery-powered synthesizer) and the shakuhachi, a Japanese bamboo flute, all the while continuing his intense touring routine and fiery explosive live performances with the aforementioned bands. This culminated in December last year at London’s Hackney Church, where he assembled an all star cast to give his own rendition of Coltrane’s ‘A Love Supreme’, perhaps the most sacred recording in the (spiritual) jazz canon, and bow out (of the saxophone) on that note, so to speak – read more about that gig in the revival section of the part 1 review.
Afrikan Culture indeed presents a radical departure from his (self described) “loud party music” public persona, offering instead a mesmeric collection of submerging, trance inducing beauty, which he describes as “a forest of sound where melodies and rhythms float in space and emerge in glimpses.” A track like ‘Teach Me How To Be Vulnerable’ from the We Are Sent Here By History LP by Shabaka & The Ancestors already pointed into this new direction. As he explains in afascinating interview on Zakia’s NTS show,Afrikan Culture served as a turning point in Shabaka’s career, pointing towards new shapes to come and a life dedicated to the exploration of what he describes as the fundamental instrument. As with everything he’s done, I am all ears!
Shelter – Acid M:)des (Antinote)
Five untitled electronic ragas in the spirit of the cult Synthesizing: Ten ragas to a disco beat by Charangit Sing (whoseRaga Bairagi I incidentally played out a on a few occasions last year, including in that aforementioned cosmic sunrise set at Houghton). The always inspired Alan “Shelter” Briand decided to dedicate a mini album as a tribute to Mr Singh, and it certainly doesn’t disappoint as the five tracks (or rather variations of the same track?) effortlessly flow and melt into each other to take you on a hypnotic and blissful journey. Cosmic lysergic dance all the way, enhanced by an incredibly warm and open sound on the vinyl, making it perhaps the best cosmic head trip release of the year trip. Apparently released on a strictly limited run of 150 vinyl copies – no snoozing on this one.
Henri Texier – An Indian’s Life (Label Bleu)
n a year 2023 in which the Native American genocide was brought back to the mainstream psyche by being the centre point of two major movies, Martin Scorcese’s Killers of the Flower Moon (about the massacre of the Osage tribe in Oklahoma in the 1920s) and Felipe Gálvez’ Settlers (about the genocide of the indigenous Selk’nam tribe by white settlers in Chile in the early 20th century), An Indian’s Life could have been the perfect soundtrack for either film as double bass hero Texier presented a new chapter of his lifelong interest in native American history and culture, first illustrated in 1993 with An Indian’s Week. Though not up there with some of his earlier masterpieces, it’s always a pleasure to follow in real time the latest moves of a legend.
David Toop & Lawrence English – The Shell That Speaks The Sea (Room40)
Dark haunting soundscapes from ambient music heroes and long time collaborators David Toop & Lawrence English, whose ‘The Shell that Speaks the Sea’ is the result of years-long conversation that articulates Toop’s long held sound vision (here executed with his own voice, electric and lapsteel guitars, whistling, percussion, flutes and electronics) around English’s stunning recordings of various insects, birds and exotic animals, such as the Tawny Frogmouth, an elusive creature whose voice is like a modulating low frequency oscillator. As English explains in the release notes, the record reflects the pair’s shared interest in sound from “the affective realm that haunts, rather than describes, experience.”
Certainly not a record you will put on the turntable to relax of uplift the spirits – background music it ain’t – but in the right mood listen to this record alone in a dark room and things can get very spooky very quickly. There’s a time and space for everything indeed, it’s all about finding it. For me this album was also the perfect accompaniment to (finally) reading David Toop’s extraordinarily insightful and erudite account of ambient music from 1995,Ocean of Sound.
V/A – 10 (Music From Memory)
Music From Memory has been a favourite label from day one and their very first release (Leon Lowman’s Liquid Diamonds) which was soon followed by the pivotal Gigi Masin compilation Talk To The Sea. A game changer not only for Gigi (whose music “career” changed radically soon after) but also for a whole generation of kindred spirits who started to follow MFM on their quest to connect the dots between largely forgotten experimental electronic music catalogues from Spain, Germany, Greece and Italy. The label soon started to create a coherent scene-that-never-was around these various ambient-not-ambient artists, and MFM became one of those labels whose releases you buy on sight (I just checked my discogs collection and I own 25 of their releases – that’s not counting the ones I bought as presents).
The label was born out Tako Reyenga and Jaimie Tiller’s most impeccable pairs of ears, as they both dug obsessively through the crates in off the maps record stores and in the process shaped the tastes of legions of avid followers worldwide. In a terrible turn of events, Jaimie passed away tragically in October last year, only a few weeks before the compilation 10, which was put together to celebrate the label’s 10 year anniversary, was released. The music created by MFM associated artists like Joan Biblioni, Yu Su, Suzo Saiz, Jonny Nash, Dea and many more resonates in a whole different way and plays like a tribute to Jaimie and a celebration of his vision and legacy. A deep and immersive and listen from start to finish, with the added bonus ofN John Gomez providing the most touching and on point liner notes. RIP Jaimie Tiller, thank you for the music.
PS: John has dedicated one of his NTS show to the legacy of Jaimie, with two hours of selections from Jamie Tillers friends and family. A heartbreaking though beautiful tribute. Essential listening.
✿.｡.:* ☆:**:. ♪ .:**:.☆*.:｡.✿
REISSUES
(In alphabetical order)
Ayizan – Dilijans (Comet Records)
Incredible fusion of traditional ra-ra and spiritual/modal jazz on this one off album released by Ayizan, the brilliant Haitian ensemble founded by guitarist and composer Alix Pascal. Ra-ra is a traditional Haitian musical form that is played to accompany processions in street festivals, religious ceremonies, protests, and beyond, akin to gwoka in Guadeloupe.
In the cosmology of Haitian voodoo, Ayizan is the goddess of the Earth, relocated to the Caribbean from her original home among the West African Fon people. She represents one of the four primal elements of nature, along with Loco (Wind), Legba (Sun), and Agwe (Water).
In the world of music, Ayizan is the brainchild of Alix “Tit” Pascal, a project marrying the haunting resonances of voodoo with the harmonic sophistication of modern jazz and progressive rock, with the fundamental goal to re-conceptualize the articulation of rhythm in Haitian popular music.
Recorded in New York in 1984 shortly before the end of Jean-Claude “Baby Doc“ Duvalier despotic reign as Haiti’s president, the album was like nothing else coming out of Haiti or the Haitian exile community in the US at the time. Dark, mystical, lyrical and abstract with hypnotic and otherworldly shifting rhythms, this album is one of a kind. Superfly had already reissued it a few years ago but it was long since sold out and luckily Comet Records stepped in with this new essential reissue of this masterpiece.
Black Dog Productions – Bytes (Warp)
Timely reissue of Black Dog Productions’ seminal first LP to commemorate the 30th (!) anniversary its release. Bytes was originally released by Warp Records as the third instalment in its landmark Artificial Intelligence series of albums released between 1992 and 1994 to exhibit the capabilities and sounds of post-rave electronic music.
Hailing from Sheffield, the group’s three original members (Ken Downie, Ed Hanley and Andy Turner – the latter two leaving the group soon after to focus on Plaid, a group I manage to at least mention with every yearly music review) were influenced by early Detroit techno artists like UR and in turn went on to stimulate later waves of electronic music from ambient to hardcore.
Bytes is more of a compilation, focusing on the various alter-egos and side-projects from the trio, taking in techno, breakbeat, ambient, experimental – quite a hodgepodge of sounds but strangely cohesive as a whole. While some of the tracks might arguably sound somewhat dated, overall this is a fascinating listen of a watershed for what became known as IDM.
“Are you sitting comfortably? Artificial Intelligence is for long journeys, quiet nights and club drowsy dawns. Listen with an open mind.”
Joanna Brouk – Sounds of the Sea (Numero Group)
Time disappears, imagination runs free and you find yourself embarked on a mystical voyage into the realm of sailors and mermaids, full of droning moogs, whale songs and otherworldly vocals that beckon like a siren’s call across the open sea.
Coming out of the ’70s Bay area new music scene though without any formal musical training, Brouk was more of a poet who became a pioneer of early electronic, driven by feeling rather than method, enhancing her tapestries with a generous use of recordings of the natural world. Sounds of the Sea was released in 1981 on cassette, a private press release on Brouk’s own Hummingbird Productions imprint, one of three albums she released that year. Some of these cassette-only albums were collected on Numero’s excellent 2016 anthology ‘Hearing Music‘, which featured most of the songs from Sounds of the Sea. This is however the first proper reissue of Joanna Brouk’s oceanic concept album in its entirety, and imo a must have even if you already own that aforementioned comp. Sounds of the Sea is at the nexus between ambient, new age, drone, and classical minimalism, stark in its simplicity though lush in its expanse, an uncompromising electronic and acoustic work of sleek beauty and primal power to be placed alongside Hiroshi Yoshimura, Iasos, and last year’s extraordinary new age Bay area retrospective Valley Of The Sun – Field Guide To Inner Harmony by the same Numero Group label.
Dambala – Revelation (Emotional Rescue)
Massive comp right there, as Chuggy’s legendary Emotional Rescue imprint gathered some of Dambala’s seminal 12”s recorded between 1978 and 1980 on an essential double vinyl release. Dreader than dread UK dub/roots & culture vibrations from a West London band which interestingly didn’t feature a single Jamaican member. I remember being introduced years ago in a house party at mine (or was it at Plastics?) by either Joel Martin or Alex Voices (memory seems to be suitable lost in a distant purple haze) to the deep roots and horns of ‘Me And My Dread’, a 12” I have cherished ever and whose sound to me represents the pinnacle of the live dub scene of the era. All four cuts and their dub versions stem from the same blood, deep, musical and conscious roots music which sounds immense played loud on a big system. Unsurprisingly ‘Babylon’ was a big Shaka play, while ‘Militant dub featuring Militant Barry’ has been sounding huge when dropped at BATB last year. Rebel music, proper.
Masterpiece alert! One of the finest and most enduring milestone in the modern British jazz canon lovingly reissued by Trunk Records on a rather incredible pressing. Recorded at the Lansdowne Studios and originally released in 1969, Hum Dono is a legendary ‘lost’ British jazz plate with a classic hypnotic modal sound and mesmerising eastern and western vibes. It pits Jamaican free jazz virtuoso Joe Harriott (whose 1966 LPIndo Jazz Suite alongside John Mayer was already ahead of its time and a precursor in Indo Jazz) and deeply emotive Indian guitarist Amancio D’Silva (later to be heard at his psychedelic peak on the seminal and equally cult Dream Sequence LP by Cosmic Eye – as compiled in my 2020 review) in a tight quintet with special guests that include Norma Winstone on wordless scat vocals.
Blending library-style exotica with tabla rhythms, cascading ethereal vocals and lively, labyrinthine guitar licks, the whole album is magnificent. The killer title trackHum Dono is a particular delight, its subtle yet hypnotic groove leaving bags of space for Harriott’s lyrical horn fluctuations and D’Silva’s masterfully restrained performance – one for the magic hours of the most eclectic and psychedelic dance-floors out there. The record closes with the blissful ‘Jaipur‘, a blunted fusion of Winstone’s scats, Carr and Harriott’s horn wails, Green’s gentle plucks and D’Silva’s delicate fingerpicking. Just wow.
Leon Keïta – Leon Keïta (Analog Africa)
Analog Africa has done it again with yet another killer 12’” in their “limited” dance edition series. This time they turned their attention to the incredibly deep and addictive Mandingue sound of Guinean singer and guitarist Leon Keïta,“a fixture on the Malian music scene” during the 1970s. As we learn from the liner notes, Keïta was born in Conakry on Guinea’s Atlantic coast in 1947, though by 1970 he had moved to Mali and ended up being one of the founders of the legendary Rail-Band. The all star band became a celebrated mainstay of Bamako’s nightlife and launched the international careers of Salif Keita, Mory Kanté and many others. Leon himself went on to join Les Ambassadeurs Internationaux before departing to work on his own compositions, five of which are compiled here. The infectious Afro-latin cut ‘Dalaka’ was apparently rediscovered by Barranquilla’s sound system operator Carlos Estrada and became an unexpected hit on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, while the hypnotic guitar solos, heavy bass riffs, psychedelic organ lines, and funky horns on both ‘Gnanassouma’ and ‘Dakan Sate, Korotoumi’ are golden material for the tropical cosmic dance aficionados.
Pharoah Sanders – Pharoah (Luaka Bop)
Ethereal, transcendental music for the soul, a timeless masterpiece whose themes and emotions are as deep and relevant today as they ever were and ever will be.
After being bootlegged on a number of occasions, Pharoah’s most elusive and most wanted recording has finally been given the proper reissue treatment by Luaka Bop, the same label which released his last ever recording (Promises in 2021). For the story, this is one of the very first albums Kay and I wanted to reissue at the start of Time Capsule back in 2018. I even wrote a personal letter to Pharoah via her manager, but it wasn’t to be. In any case it’s a blessing to have this reissued with the proper love and care this album deserves. Though not exactly audiophile (the album was ripped from vinyl copies rather than original tapes), much attention was obviously paid to the transfers and sonically it sounds superb, with lovely separation and stereo imaging, and the impression of having Pharoah and his band playing away in your living room. The circular saxophone motif played by Pharoah which precedes the entry of the harmonium sounds especially spectacular.
Pharoah’s music has always acted as a spiritual guide for our generation who grew up on Plastic People’s dancefloor in the early 00s. This is where I first heard ‘Harvest Time’, which sees Pharoah at his most tender and trance-like, a collective awakening of sorts for an incredibly powerful love manifesto to the world. It was recorded in 1977, at a transitional time in both Pharaoh’s career and African American jazz music, as the fierce black militancy of the preceding decade morphed into Afro-centric mysticism, and the music looked either to space and heavenly bodies or back to the roots – or both, in the case of Pharoah who was once again leading the way.
The other two cuts on the album, though hovering at the same heights, are nonetheless majestic and essential pieces which complete Pharoah’s love letter. Crucially the box set also includes two fascinating and previously unreleased live versions of ‘Harvest Time’, which were performed in Europe on an unsuspecting audience (Pharoah was then mostly known for the full on roaring feats of his Impulse recordings) shortly after the release of the album. I bought this as a present for my mum, and Silvia subsequently bought a copy for me.
Music is love.
Space Afrika – Somewhere Decent To Live (Sferic)
I only “discovered” the UK Manc duo Space Afrika with their 2021 LP Honest Labour, which I loved, but I was a few years late and had missed their previous album, Somewhere Decent To Live, which is the one that put them on the (nocturnal city) map. Luckily this was repressed last year, with the added bonus of a remastering from Stefan Bekte (aka early 00s dubtronic hero Pole) which seems the most obvious choice ever given how deep their sound is doused in atmospheric dub vapours. Shades of jungle, dubstep and deep techno emerge through the nocturnal haze, with slow pulsing strobes the only remnants of a beat. Despite the obvious influences (Basic Channel, Deepchord, Burial), the sound of Space Afrika is really unique and futuristic, perfect music to immerse yourself with a pair of quality headphones during one of those Babylonian late night second deck bus rides through the city, or simply at home in the dark watching the city lights in the background.
Pauline Anna Strom – Echoes, Spaces, Lines (Rvng Intl.)
Monumental release alert from the trusted Rvng Intl. camp, a box set which includes Pauline Anna Strom’s first three albums (Trans-Millenia Consort, Plot-Zero, Spectre) together with the previously unreleased Oceans of Tears. Interestingly these were all conceived and recorded during a highly prolific period in Pauline’s life between 1982 and 1984 (she then went on a long hiatus from the music, only to start creating music compulsively again between 2019 and 2020, some of which was compiled on the majestic Angel Tears In Sunlight, an album which was to be her swan song as she tragically passed away in December 2020, shortly before its release).
Born blind, as a self-taught sculptor of sound she communicated on an auditory plane. One just needs to listen to a track like the otherworldly ‘Energies’ from Trans-Millenia Consort, to join the conversation and transcend into a higher realm.
“The sound of water being Poured at one end of the Room but gathering at the Other”
Echoes Spaces Lines
“I consider myself the “Trans-Millenia Consort”, by which title I wish to be known. This to me is a personal declaration that I have been in previous lives, that I am in this life, and that I shall in future lives be a musical consort to time. My music is a timeless entity, clothes in the mists of pre-history, beautifully sensitive to the tortured and joyous emotions of the present, rich and voluptuously full of the glory and anguish of future worlds. And so, as the Trans-Millenia Consort, the living incarnation of this all-embracing entity of music; I endeavor through music to delve into all time spaces to tap resources of knowledge and power as ancient as the Universe and as young as unborn worlds, in the hope I may bring a measure of peace and joy to emotional, spiritual, material and physical complexity that is humankind.”
On a recent morning post BATB, back at home with the system plugged back in, we listened to the entirety of these four albums and had a glimpse into Paula’s expansive, synaesthesia inducing sonic world, a dream world filled with friendly reptiles, distant planets, eternal peace and cosmic love.
V/A – Borga Revolution! (Ghanaian Dance Music In The Digital Age, 1983-1996) (Volume 2) (Kalita)
Big release from the ever on point Kalita Records with the second volume in their ‘Borga Revolution!’ series, which focuses on the phenomenon of burger highlife, a crossover of West African melodies with disco and boogie that took over Ghanaian airwaves during the 1980’s and beyond. Most of these tracks were actually recorded in Europe after many Ghanaian artists had fled a country in turmoil by the end of the 70s. They then developed a digitised version of highlife music which fully embraced Western contemporary music styles and newly introduced technology such as the DX7 synthesizer and various drum machines. There are lots of amazing tracks on this comp, especially A.B. Crentsil’s ‘Mame Dwen Meho’ and Alan Cosmos’ ‘Onua Gyae’, but really the big pull is ‘Bepo So Dua’ by one Atta Frimpong (featuring Al Dickson on vocals), a deep and emotional track which was at the top on my (want) list since I was turned on to it by my friend Qpchan some years ago.
Not long afterwards, the sound of burger highlife would be stripped down even further and taken to new heights as exemplified by ‘Akoka Ba’, a track Gyedu Blay Ambolley originally recorded in pure highlife fashion in 1975 (a super cool version in its own right) before revisiting it in 1986 and turning it into a relentless futuristic funk masterpiece. As rinsed at BATB by Belle Bete all through last year.
V/A – Hyperituals Vol. 2 – Black Saint (Hyperjazz records)
Hyperituals Vol. 2 is a fascinatingdive into the deep catalog of Black Saint, the forward thinking imprint which operated out of Milan from the mid 70s to the early 90s. Though home to some of the most prominent African-American artists of the avant-garde of the era (Archie Shepp, Max Roach, Sun Ra, David Murray, Jeanne Lee, Andrew Cyrille, Sun Ra, Roscoe Mitchell…), the label seemed to have been somehow often overlooked in the jazz History books. Curated by Khalab, the great Italian producer whom I first noticed as part of the On The Corner Records family – his Black Noise 2084 LP was one the freshest releases of 2018 ), this compilation joins the dots between the different shades of African American jazz sensibilities (be they free, spiritual, conscious, ancestral) and is a fantastic listen from start to finish. The only song I already knew is the deep Archie Shepp masterpiece ‘Song for Mozambique/Poem: A Sea of Faces’, a song taken from the 1975 LP A Sea Of Faces (which for the record was masterfully sampled by Mark Pritchard in ‘Heavy As Stone’), and it was a revelation to discover such a depth of golden cuts, from the majestic ‘Zebra Walk’ by Diedre Murray & Fred Hopkins, Muhal Richard Abrams Octet’s ‘Laja’, Joseph Jarman with Don Moye feat. Johnny Dyani‘s incredible ‘Mama Marimba’ to‘Love on a Far Away Planet’ (one of Sun Ra’s very last studio recording). Much recommended.
Zen – Bakırköy Akıl Hastanesi’nde (Ada Müzik)
One of the most original and unexpected albums I’ve listened to last year (though it only came out in November I’ve played this a lot!) is the iconic Bakırköy Akıl Hastanesi’nde by Turkish improv/experimental art rock band ZeN which was recorded live during a performance at Istanbul’s Bakırköy Psychiatric Hospital in front of an audience of patients, doctors and visitors. As bonkers as it sounds, it turns out that the band had been approached by two nurses and invited to play a live show at the psychiatric hospital, which took place on June 23rd, 1998. By then the members of the band (which was formed during the post military coup era) were “living in a commune in a seaside shed and continuously jamming”, so the legend goes. Asked by the nurses to not go too dark and too deep in fear the patients would never come back (!), the band embarked on an entrancing journey through the vibrant sounds of 1970s Turkey, blending in krautrock with freeform Anatolian sounds and melodies and psychedelic flourishes galore. All improvised. As underground as can be. A real stoners’ delight, thanks also in no small part to a meticulous restoration process on this fresh remaster which brings out the nuances and details perfectly. Incredible sound and such a captivating story – one can only imagine what went on in that room at the time. Big up Zel Zele once again for unearthing the goods!
Following on to the singles in part I, here’s my round up of the best albums and reissues which I had the pleasure to listen to in 2023. As always there’s a good mix of familiar artists and labels who constantly deliver the goods, alongside some new names amongst the movers and shakers in our niche music world.
Moving house in the summer had me stop buying (new) records for a few months, a blessing in disguise as it gave me the opportunity to revisit most of the collection, getting rid of those records I felt I didn’t “need’ anymore while rediscovering lots of deep cuts and hidden jams I forgot about in the process. The last time I did that was with the previous house move nine years previously and that same process turned out to be equally refreshing. Trim the fat, say goodbye to some previously well loved records – thank you for the good times – keep the “essentials” and start digging again.
“War, huh (God y’all) What is it good for? You tell me (nothing) Say it, say it, say it, say it”
As good as any in terms of musical highlights and dance-floor epiphanies, 2023 was a year that will forever be marked by new scales of horror in the Israel/Palestine war. Darker times have fallen upon us and one can’t help but feel powerless in front of the escalation of atrocities in a 75 (or rather 100s) years old “conflict” which seems to have split the world, music community included, into two seemingly irreconcilable halves. A world in which uneducated online discussions have driven us to further political entrenchment , with barely any room for nuances.
Back in the summer of 2019, as part of the SILA Festival, a musical exchange between brilliant corners, Beauty & the Beat and various crews from the Palestinian scene organised by our good friend Mazen Zoabi, we visited (and played) in Haifa and the occupied West Bank (the legendary Sabreen venue in East Jerusalem, the first Palestinian music studio and a pillar of the art scene, as well as in Ramallah), and experienced first hand how vibrant the artistic community in Palestine was despite the relentless colonisers’ oppression.
As we were welcomed with open arms and enjoying the most incredible evening and daytime parties, one could almost forget, even if just for a fleeting moment, the repression that takes place outside of these walls for people born with the wrong passport.
Fast forward two years to May 2021 and Sheikh Jarrah (the neighbourhood where Sabreen is) was at the heart of global news as settlers backed by the Israeli state tried (as they succeeded in the past) to wrongfully evict Palestinian families out of their homes, with the respected elders of Sabreen taking once again the role as leaders of the rebellion. “Those awaiting”, the name chosen by Sabreen rings sadly as relevant today as it was over 40 years ago.
We have seen the denial of basic human rights and plain apartheid imposed on Palestinians on a daily basis. The current destruction of Gaza by a blood thirsty extreme right Israeli government is sadly the logical extension of all this. While I mourn the terrible loss of civilians on both sides of the conflict and while I despise everything about Hamas, from their ideology to their barbarism, I am all too aware of the imbalance of power relations, and of the fact that the war didn’t start on the 7th of October, nor did it with Hamas.
The least I/we can do is to keep on calling for peace and an immediate #ceasefireingazanow
“Music is the healing force of the Universe”
…wailed Albert Ayler, a feeling which has always been at the core of what Beauty and the Beat and All Our Friends is about.
The oh so powerful groove and lyrics of Edwin Starr’s deep funk anti war anthem resonated deeply on NYE this year, followed by Mike Anthony’s equally anthemic cover of Timmy Thomas.
“No more war, no more war, no more war, Mmm just a little peace No more war, no more war All we want is some peace in this world Everybody wants to live together Why can’t we be together?”
🎶❤️🎶
Music has the power to unite people and promote love, peace and equality – seems so simple and yet is so unbelievably hard to achieve.
These fleeting moments of collective joy and unity we experience on the dance floors of AOF and BATB, tracing back to the utopian dance floor of David Mancuso’s Loft, will always be a vital necessity as they bring us some much needed – if only temporary – light of hope and universal freedom.
Love to the world ☮️
After this long but necessary intro, I can now go back to the actual music.
Starting with BATB of course, as we celebrated our 18th anniversary with an exceptional party back in June, and experienced yet another legendary Jaminaround edition. The place, the people, the sound… the whole experience is pure magic, as close to utopia as can be. Read here the mini essay written by our good friend, fellow cosmonaut, deep selector, and one of Rude Movements’ operators Josh Beauchamp in the days following the last party 🥰✨
We’ll be back on the 20th of July this year – do save the date as it really does not get any better than this.
The All Our Friends posse has found the perfect spot at the Limehouse Town Hall, a grandiose venue where every party in 2023 felt extra special. We (AOF and BATB) also acquired new pairs of vintage KHorns,which meant we could for the first time experiment with a seven Klipschorn set up (!). The never ending quest for audio nirvana 🙂
On a less glorious tip there was some movement within the Lucky Cloud community, torn up by inflated ego and longstanding differences. A rather sad state of affairs for such a seminal and life affirming party whose very foundations are based on love, freedom, inclusivity and on the removal of the ego (!).
“Smiling faces, sometimes… “
Shortly after celebrating its 20th anniversary, theLucky Cloud Sound System has entered a new chapter – onwards and upwards. The collective will continue to throw regular events following (and expanding) on the set of principles laid out by David Mancuso – next one falls on the 17th of February to celebrate Valentine’s.
Love, ultimately, will save the day.
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Other big highlights for me last year included:
a cosmic sunrise set at Houghton, surrounded by the fam, during which I managed to sneak in Rodriguez (!), Sinead O’ Conor (!!) and Vangelis (!!!) amongst some funkier jams for the bendy shenanigans, on a glorious morning inna the Giant Steps yourt (read more about it in the “Revivals” section below). This was topped up later that day by a mighty b2b with brother Belle Bete on the closing night;
another b2b with Cyril for an open air Sweet Apricots edition in a spectacular park/art venue in Montreuil (the energy was just insane),
last but not least a double trip to Lisbon for Beija Flor, one of the parties born out of the rhizomic roots of BATB and which has already built a strong community in a bijou of a venue. Captain Pol Valls led the mothership back in February, and I did the same in January this year for a magicalmagic hour set (sic) between 3am and 6am – big up Sofia, Silvio and all the crew for what you have already managed to create in such a short time ✊🏽❤️
On a side note, with January being so busy this year (AOF! Beija Flor! BATB!) I wasn’t sure I would find the time and energy to write my traditional long form music review, but in a year which saw:
the ugly Spotify platform confirming its harmful action for the music sector by withdrawing from French partner festivals to protest against the new streaming tax (sic), in between investing in military weapons, pursuing its dramatic demonetisation of artists and no less thanthree layoff plans in 2023 (totalling 1500+ employees) (it remains a mystery to me why anyone would continue to use the platform and feed the evil, let alone the legion of so called progressive artists and labels) (!),
the beloved and potential independent artists saviourBandcamp laying off half of its staff after being bought up by music licensing startup Songtradr (!!),
I thought it was important to keep some sort of music journalism alive, even in its bedroom form ❤️🎶
As always I’ll start with the singles, and will address the albums and reissues in a second post to follow shortly.
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12”s, 10”s & 7”s (and a few album cuts)
Listed in an order that would make sense as a DJ set.
Yasushi Ide – A Place In The Sun(Dub version) (Love Injection)
Horizontal Balearic action by ways of Japan and Jamaica, featuring the guitar licks of reggae/jazz royalty Ernest Ranglin. Both versions are equally appealing on this lovely 7” from the Love Injection crew. Going nowhere fast, just as it should be.
Kulture Blak & Ras Asha – On My Path (Vocal Accompaniment) (Studiostarline)
A majestic and all too rare acapella reggae tune (bare some beautifully restrained minimal synth accompaniment), reminiscing of Barrington Levy’s seminal masterpieceVibes Is Right,on a 12” which also featuresa killer Balearic stepper (yep) mix of the same tune by Aba Shanti’s son Ashanti Selah.
“The universe is my guide”
CW – NZimbab (Duca Bianco)
Balearic Afro-dub mash up edit/remix of sorts, possibly the one I am most proud of. It’s from a track I found on a mysterious (and so far unidentified) white label 12” misplaced in a wrong cover. ‘NZimbab’ came about through countless hours of deconstructing and rearranging the tune, adding various bits and tings and handpans and field recordings of children on a beach. When I was finally happy enough with the result I quietly sneaked it in to the trusted ears of Pol Valls and Kay Suzuki during an after party at mine, and to my surprise it seemed to pass the test.
That was years ago, sometime around 2017, and since then I was just happy to have it on mysoundcloud and usb and to be able play it occasionally in festivals, until Duca Bianco asked if they could release an EP of some of my edits. ‘course I said, and flash forward to Beauty & the Beat in November 2023 and a last minute change of mind which led me to drop it as the last tune of the night. Just wow! I won’t expand much on how it felt, but I surely will remember this ‘moment’ for a long while. I subsequently played it during Beija Flor’s magic hour and the whole room was equally transported on a far away celestial beach – the one where the children play.
The Docksides Boy – The Docksides Boy (Roggtrax)
All four tracks on this EP by the mysterious mattrog are a lovely mix of Balearic nu disco with subtle yet lovely tropical nods. Laidback unpretentious summer vibes all the way, with my favourite leaning towards the breezy mid tempo groove ofMustang. Thanks Dizonord for the tip!
Yaşar Akpençe – Desert Wind (Hot Casa)
Heavy drum workout from Turkey, a highlight from master darbouka player Yasar Akpence‘s 2004 album Passion Percussion reissued for the first time on vinyl on a lovely 7”. Tight darbouka trills and phrases over a pulsing, almost dembow-esque core, this really takes no prisoner. As played by Jem Gilbert on NYE – huge!
Alfredo Linares – La Musica Por Dentro (Mushroom Pillow)
Percussive salsa banger originally recorded by Peruvian pianist, composer, orchestra leader, Alfredo “Sabor” Linares y su Salsa Star, given a new lease of life with this superb rework by Brooklyn based contemporary artist José Parlá and the NYC group The Phenomenal Handclap Band as part of their RE@LATIN series. Deep, and majestic psychedelic Latin groove for the hips and soul – la musica por dentro, verdaderamente. Big drop from Tim Lawrence at AOF!
Tonino Balsamo – Sta Guagliona Mo Ddà (Futuribile)
Killer reissue from the always on point Futuribile label out of Naples (same team as Periodica), a previously impossible to find pure Napolitan electro funk swagger (the original budget that should have gone into the production was apparently blown on women, lavish food and drugs, so we learn, meaning only a few cassettes were produced and a couple of promo vinyl copies). Irresistible groove and vocals, for a tune which makes a lot of sense alongside the new productions from that label (see Mystic Jungle andSpace Garage) which keeps the cosmic funk legacy well alive.
Daniel Monaco feat. Mame N’Diack Seck Thiam – Medicine (Rush Hour/Utopia)
Modern Afro-Italo disco banger from Daniel Monaco (who plays bass for the three seminal modern Napolitan bands Nu Genea, Mystic Jungle & Capinera), an irresistible modern take of Cerrone’sSupernature template.
You
Blow up
My Mind
Obiang Okane – Mind zouk (CW edit)
Peak time 130+ bpm Afro zouk banger from Gabon, on this extended edit of mine which was alsoreleased on vinyl last year on Duca Bianco.
Manabu Nagayama – Light And Shadow (Masalo Version)
Deep and dreamy euphoric house from the Rush Hour camp, with this huge Masalo remix of a 2015 tune by Manabu Nagayama. Spacious cinematic synth pads, bouncy piano riff and a slow building masterful arrangement make this an epic hands in the air anthem. Weirdly enough the only proper deep house record in this list, but what a tune!
Hanini –Maghreb K7 Club – Disco Singles Vol. 2 (Sofa/Bongo Joe)
The recent rai revival kept on going strong last year with the main initiators Sofa and Bongo Joe digging the cassettes and unearthing the goods once again. Both tracks featured on this 12” by late 90s/early 00s band Hanini are pure dance-floor material, the percussion heavyAllaoui and cosmic disco rai banger Mel’ha Marghbouna working amazingly well together.
Toumba – Istibtan (Hessle Audio)
Deep UK bass with an oriental twist on Ben UFO’s Hessle Audio label from newcomer Jordanian producer Toumba. Heavy!
Semtek – Denny Island (Rubadub)
When the hauntingly abyssal soundscapes of late 90s drum & bass meet the sparser fringes of UK Garage, from the veteran UK producer Semtek on the resurrected Rubabdub label. I find this plays best at minus 3 for maximum wobble effect. Sounded huge at Beija Flor!
Likwid Continual Space Motion – The Score (Super-Sonic Jazz)
Late night future jazz cosmic beauty from the original broken beat don I.G. Culture, featuring an all star cast of the UK jazz scene: Dwayne ‘Wonky Logic’ Kilvington on keys, Luke Wynter on bass, Benjamin Appiah on drums, Deji Ijishakan on tenor sax and Nathaniel Cross on trombone.
N-Gynn – Alistera (Mysticisms)
3am crooked house psychedelic wonkiness, from an outstanding EP released on Piers Harrison and Stuart Leath’s Mysticisms label.
ddwy – Naini’s Call (Public Possession)
Late night dreamy atmospheric wobbly kraut UFO from a mysterious UK duo. This comes from one of my favourite EP/mini LP of year with all tracks sounding fresh and personal and presenting different moods and moves, on a very prolific and exciting label which I’ve been following from day one and has just celebrated its 10 year anniversary (Wolfram’ s Automatic Dub Samo DJ Automatic Remix for instance is a devastating tune I pulled out a few times this past year). Big tip.
7Fo – ヒーリング剣 = Healing Sword (EM Records)
“Surf synth acid dancehall rock!!” is how Jackson Bailey aka Tapes describes this slice of forward thinking psychedelic dub mashup from Japan, and who am I to disagree. Like nothing you’ve heard or danced to before. Suitably bonkers.
Lamin Fofana – Niary Ngorong (Itinerant Mix)
Still hovering deep inna dub land as we embark to Senegal to be taken on a phantasmagorical excursion which sees Lamin Fofana taking the fourth world aesthetics into the club. This comes from the Labour double LP, a project initiated by Honest Jon on which modern producers were given free reins to experiment with the mbalax rhythms and recordings of master percussionist Doudou Ndiaye Rose (a key drummer in the musical history of the world who developed a system of five hundred original drumming patterns, ancient and new). Apparently the project has beenbrewing since 2020, but sadly the vinyl comes with no context or liner notes so I can’t expand much more. All I know is that I heard about it inZakia’s NTS show when she invited Beatrice Dillon. Both were in Senegal during the genesis of these tracks, with Dillon providing the other killer track of the album, ‘2020’, a radical cut in which she marries the mbalax rhythms with the trademark crafty conceptual energy of her Workaround album (a personal favourite from 2020, released the same year she went to Dakar, which makes sense).
Michal Turtle – Phantoms Of Dreamland (Live At Café Oto) (Invisible, Inc)
Michal Turtle is one of those artists who were given a new lease of life by the taste makers at MFM label following a compilation of their often ultra niche and impossible to find creations to a modern audience. In a similar way to Gigi Masin, Turtle’s career was somewhat resurrected and the great Invisible, Inc label has just released a reinterpretation of Turtle’s first LP Music From The Living Room. All tracks sound great but the highlight is a live recording at Café Oto of the cult ‘Phantoms Of Dreamland’ featuring original album vocalist Lucianne Lasalle and regular collaborator HOVE on electronics. A unique and pulsing cosmic electronic odyssey with a post punk attitude – 100% ‘la danse cosmique’ material.
Dreamy organic beatdown beauty from the NTS cohorts, the highlight of their collaborative album Coasty. After buying the LP on Bandcamp, Richard sent me his own Rehearsing Heat solo LP from 2021, an absolute delight of floaty ambient soundscapes which I had missed at the time – full points!
Hoodie x James K – Scorpio (AD 93)
Incredible soundscape on this lovely 10”, a breathtaking piece of dreamy ethereal beatdown bliss for an unexpected throwback to early Massive Attack.
Antone & The Underworld – Windows of My Mind (AOTN)
Haunting late night cosmic digi soul private press magic from San Diego, California, 1985, unearthed and reissued by the ever fantastic Athens of the North. Played as the penultimate tune at Beija Flor.
Hieroglyphic Being – An Astronomical Object (Yellow Jackets)
Astral ascension with Hieroglyphic Being aka Jamal R. Moss, Chicago’s modern answer to Sun Ra on a cosmic techno tip.
Cumbaya – Tools For Progress (Wake Dream)
We’re diving deep in cosmic ambient mode and analog Atlantic tubular waves on this mysterious new collab between Gilb’r and Cosmic Neman (of Zombie Zombie fame).
Kuniyuki Takahashi – When We Are All Truly Free (The Cosmic Arts Ambient Suite) (SORA)
Deep space levitation aboard the mothership with the master Kuniyuki as the pilot.
Calm – Moon Shower / Oyasumi, Ohayo (Mukatsuku)
Double A side of celestial bliss under the moon with yet another Japanese master, Calm. TheQuiet Music Under the Moon LP it’s extracted from was near impossible to find as never released in the UK, so big up Mukatsuku for this lovely sampler 7”.
Cinnamon Soulettes – I’ll Show You How (Melodies)
Heavenly, otherworldly love vibrations for this perfect end-of-the-night closer. Released as a private press in the 1970s by the mysterious Cinnamon Soulettes (apparently still unidentified) and brought back to life by the Melodies International crew, with Matt Colton on a masterful remastering.
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REVIVALS
(In no particular order)
Abdel Ali Slimani – Mraya dub (Jah Wobble remix)
A record I’ve had for a while but had never quite realised how good it was. When I was packing my bag for Houghton I wanted to pay tribute to the incredible Sinead O’ Connor who had tragically just passed away. This record and title jumped at me when I looked up Sinead O Connor in my discogs collection (discogs is such a blessing for this particular kind of research – when you’re looking for all the records in your collection that feature Sinead for instance). Not only it features Sinead, but also Jah Wobble and Algerian rai singer Abdel Ali Slimani (all were part of Jah Wobble‘s Anglo-Arabic groundbreaking unit Invaders of the Heart in the 1990s). Rai, dub and Sinead – what more can you ask?
Sadly I couldn’t locate the record in time for Houghton (I playedI Am Stretched On Your Grave instead, on a tip from Chuggy, which circa 6am in the Giant Steps turned a few heads upside down), but once located I played it pretty much at every party afterwards – this record is IMMENSE. RIP Sinead O’Connor. I have only but respect for this incredible woman, for walking the walk and being true to her beliefs against all the odds. If you haven’t seen theNothing Compares doc I highly recommend looking out for it.
Michel Laurent – Gaston
Devastating gwoka action with the master Michel Laurent at the height of his powers, on a similar tip to his delivery on ‘A Ka Titine’. I’ve been playing this for a while but somehow last year it stayed in my bag and I rinsed it everywhere from Houghton to Sweet Apricots to AOF to BATB’s NYE. The reactions on the floor are just insane, this track really takes no prisoners, it’s so powerful. This comes from an album of covers from the gwoka repertoire recorded by Gaoulé Mizik (though their name is not credited here). The “Gaston” of the title is forGaston “Chaben” Calixte, a grand maître gwoka singer whose caustic lyrics about everyday life in Guadeloupe have made him a legend on the island (for the French readers, Marie-Line Dahomay’sbiography about Chaben is a fascinating insight into gwoka and rural Guadeloupe in the post war decades). ‘Bébé’ is one of those people’s favourites, a song about a scène de ménage between Chaben and his partner (Bébé) which is often heard covered on the street or inconcerts across the island.
“Gaston ola’w kalé
An ka woulé mwen kité Bébé”
(“Où vas-tu Gaston ?
Je m’en vais quitter Bébé)
Bim Sherman – Melting Pot (part 2)
I’ve always had a soft spot for Bim Sherman since the days of having his A Rub-A-Dub Style LP with Horace Andy and U.Black on heavy rotation a la casa (usually played b2b with Johnny Clarke’s seminal Dreader Dread comp on Blood & Fire). I was reminded of this lesser known but equally good Got to Move 2 LP by hearing John Gomez play a track off it in one of his ever great NTS shows. The whole LP is great from start to finish, in a unique warehouse dig dub style, and nowhere it is more evident than on the relentless groove of Melting Pot part 2, which I opened my set with on NYE. I could dance to this on repeat for days.
Perhaps one of the most unexpected drops at Houghton this year (or any year for that matter), and one I really hoped I could pull off despite not really having a plan on how to lead up to it. I somehow found an opening towards the end of my set, circa 7am in a Giant Steps tent filled up with ravers in every kind of state (some of these dilated faces you only see in Houghton!). Rodriguez had died only one or two days before and I’m not sure many people knew it, though whether one did or didn’t I’m guessing it was a surprise for pretty much everyone when Sixto’s voice came in through the Scalas. I had actually forgotten how cosmic the arrangement of this song is, and it seemed to slide perfectly into what I was trying to achieve that morning. Memory for life!
The immense Gérard Lockel, master of the guitar ka and creator of the gwoka modenn (GKM) style has sadly passed away last year. I wrote at length about his legacy and about being invited to his house in Baie-Mahault on a couple of occasions and so won’t repeat myself here, but suffice to say that my discovery of Lockel’s music was an important milestone in my life, as not only it led me to the Lèspri Ka project, but also to realise that yes, given the right conditions, you can play free jazz in a dance party settings and people will go nuts. It’s always an immense satisfaction to play tracks like Mendé Nº1,Woulé Nº1 andGraj Nº1and see them work so well on an unsuspecting dance-floor. Rest in power Mr Lockel.
Playing this at Jaminaround and witnessing the reactions was one of the year’s biggest highlights. Scenes I will never forget. ‘City Country City’is of courseone of the ultimate Loft classics, a song forever associated with David Mancuso, which he adored and played at almost every party (to the point that I once asked him why and his reply was “do you know a better record than this?” Of course I probably don’t as it is also one of my favourite records of all time…). I’ve listened to that song hundreds of times, more often than not at the height of an acid trip, but haven’t played it that often in a party – some Loft records have this sacred feel attached to them which means you don’t pull them out too often. The earthy yet otherworldly settings of Jaminaround seemed to me the perfect place to play it though, for similar reasons David loved this record so much (he made a habit of escaping to the country upstate during the week to recoup in between parties). It sounded immense. BATB @ Jaminaround. City, country, city. Made all the sense in the world.
As a huge fan of Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek since their very first EP in 2017 (Nem Kaldı), and many of their tracks have become big favourites at BATB over the years. It was a real treat to finally get to see them live, in Dalston qui plus est, the heart of London’s Turkish community – which probably made up a good half of the audience. Their unique blend of groovy psychedelic funk workouts and contemporary takes on traditional Anatolian folk ballads is such a ferocious and uplifting live performance to witness- the whole gig was a huge explosion of contagious joy.
The Detroit legend, who sadly departed last year, was a bona fide motor city royalty, the natural link between Georges Clinton (he played keys in Parliament/Funkadelic), Jay Dilla, Moodymann, Theo and Carl Craig. He enjoyed a well deserved renaissance in the early 00s, his trademark cosmic Detroit soul groove gracing so many classic records, from Hieroglyphics to Detroit Experiment to Tribe, as well as his own of course.He toured a lot around that time as well, and I was lucky enough to catch him live a few times at the Jazz Cafe. He was such a humble and infectious presence on stage. On NYE just after midnight (right after Marc Anthony’s ‘Why Can’t We Live Together’) I played Only Child – ‘U Bring Me Vibes’, a fantastic and uplifting nu disco tune he did with Mark Rae back in 2003.
Other favourites from him areJazzanova’s remix of ‘Faith’, The Detroit Experiment’s Stevie cover ‘Too High’, and his own ‘Freakin’’ and ‘Eye to Eye’ of course, a staple at Plastic People which takes me back to that fabled basement every time I listen to it. RIP legend, thank you for the music.
Aba Shanti I
For the first time in 25 years of attending carnival I didn’t follow the trustedcircuitfrom Aba Shanti early doors into Channel One for the last couple of hours on the Monday. Though we did arrive to Shanti as planned, we actually never made it out and ended up staying there for the whole afternoon. The legendary selecta was just on absolute fire, behind the decks, on the mic and on the EQs. Sometimes he would just leave the subs on for a minute or so and everyone would just have no idea of what is actually going on; often he would just cut the bass for the first minute and just slam it in for 10 seconds, and then rewind. Classic sound system selecta ting, and always oh so efficient. Some of his dub plates sound like pure techno, raw and rough and with the heaviest physical bass I have ever witnessed. It seems to me they have now bettered Channel One in terms of physicality of the sound, which I didn’t think was possible! For a few days afterwards however I was worried I’d lost half of the hearing on my left ear, so I think I might have to reluctantly reach for the earplugs next year…
More 🔥!
While we’re on the topic of UK dub sound system operators legends, rest in power to the mighty zulu warrior Jah Shaka, king of all kings, who sadly departed in 2023.
Tenor Saw – Lots of Sign
In the summer Silvia and I moved to a new flat, only a few minutes away to the previous one we lived in for eight years, but slightly bigger. The move was pretty overwhelming, especially realising the amount of records and books accumulated. 12K+ of records is no fun to move, even with a big team of friends to help out, and having these in boxes occupying the whole flat ain’t fun either…how did I get here?! It took me months to empty the boxes and some are still unopened to this day… The home system was however plugged in within a few days, and even if it took a while to get there, we had our first after party in December. More often than not when it’s just us two in those wee hours we revert to some all time favourite reggae classics, from JJunior Byles to Jacob Miller, Steel Pulse, Johnny Clarlke, Lee Perry,…and of course the one and only Tenor Saw. Our happy place.
“I said, Lord, let me have joy Never let me have sorrow I said, Lord, let me have joy Oh Lord, never let me have no sorrow Life is one big road, with a lot of signs Signs and more signs I’m gonna make up my mind to face Reality all the time, whoa”
Shabaka Hutchings
As far as I’m concerned, any project involving Shabaka, from his own as a bandleader to his many appearances on other artists’s albums (be it withCarlos Niño,Sibusile Xabaor any of the tentacular UK jazz pool of talents) will always draw me in. Having seen and heard Shabaka live multiple times over the last decade, from the handful of legendary Played Twice events at brilliant corners or the more recent fiery live explosions of his Sons Of Kemet and Comet is Coming projects, it has been an absolute privilege to witness part of Shabaka’s journey in real time, one of the most important artist of our generation without a doubt.
After deciding to put an end to playing saxophone at the end 2023, Shabaka had announced that he had allowed himself “the indulgence of playing what I want to my home crowd” for his final London appearance on the instrument. This indulgence turned out to be performing his own interpretation of ‘A Love Supreme’, arguably one of the greatest and most spiritual pieces of music ever written, as a commemoration of the spirits of John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders and of the influence they had on Shabaka. A sort of conclusion of his relationship with the saxophone, complete with a line up of no less than four (4) drummers, Tom Skinner, Eddie Hick, Jas Keyser and Moses Boyd, two bass players (Tom Herbert and Neil Charles), and Dave Okumu on guitar.
What a line up, what a (wall of) sound, and what a way to bow out and transition away from the self proclaimed “loud party music” he became known for into a decidedly more meditative flute kingdom, – a deeply thought and long prepared move away from western instruments into a life dedicated to the exploration of what he describes as the fundamental instrument (again, listen to that aforementionedpodcast, it really offers a fascinating insight into Shabaka’s thought process as an artist. I could listen to him for days). Thanks and praises for the music, and very much looking forward to the next chapter.
Running a marathon on “fresh” legs (as opposed to the shuffle that takes place at the end of an ironman) has always been on my mind, even more so since I stopped racing triathlons.
Always thought it’d be nice to have a reference time over the distance, and even extra nice for that reference to be under 2h40. Of course I am long retired from professional racing, and, really, I shouldn’t be focusing on times and performance any more, but hey, like it or not (I don’t), once a competitor always one.
Only the goals cursor has changed, unavoidably shifting rightward. A few (ten? fifteen) years ago I would/could have reasonably dreamed about a sub 2h30, but what with ageing legs and rather limited training the sights have been lowered.
I still do think however that it should be possible to run circa 2h38, which means sustaining a 3:45 min/km pace for the whole of 42.195 km. After all it’s a pace I know very well and which I’ve been comfortable with for most of my running life. For various reasons I never found the time and space to actually do it, but, at a youthful 46, I was determined to make it happen this year.
The first goal was to qualify for London 2024 by running the Virtual marathon in April 23, which I did with my brother doing loops around Victoria Park and some stretches of the canal.
Despite the lack of preparation (my longest run up to that point being 26k), the run felt pleasantly smooth. We’d left some gels and electrolytes drinks on a bench which served as our aid station for the day and never strayed too far from a comfortable 4:00 pace. I had wondered what could happen beyond the 30k mark but the dreaded wall never materialised and to my surprise I was even able to accelerate towards the end of the run. Having cruised the marathon distance in 2:48:49 (according to my Garmin) and feeling very much in control throughout, this felt like a good boost of confidence. Surely with adequate training and knowledge of the distance I should be able to shave a dozen minutes a year from that?
Three weeks prior to that I had run a half marathon, also in Victoria Park but in an official race. 1:17:31 was the time – not exactly fast, but fairly decent nonetheless (my PB stands at 1h09 sth back in 1999 (!) when I was in my running prime, and I ran 1h12 sth in a half around Hackney Marshes in 2010 – that’s some implacable and cruel statistics of getting old right there).
Two weeks after that I went through a (long planned) inguinal hernia surgery (!).
I hadn’t really given it much thought beforehand and got caught by surprise upon realising how disabled I was in the following days/weeks. Me who thought I’d be ok to play an 8 hour set a brilliant corners the day after the surgery (which was the plan)… yeah right. Five weeks of no running followed, and another five-six weeks of progressively getting back into it. Truth be told it took me a good three months to run properly again (especially uphill), and nearly six months on I still don’t feel fully recovered. No jokes.
Given all that, the Venice marathon wasn’t in my plans at all, but after hearing about it randomly, the thought of entering it quickly appealed to me for various reasons.
a/ Silvia is from Venice,
b/ it falls during half term meaning we can go together,
c/ it falls exactly six months before the London marathon, and regardless of the result it should be a perfect way to test myself and understand what I can hope for.
In I was 😍
What with only two months of proper training, the longest run I clocked was a 30k two weeks before the race (which I really struggled with in the latter parts), and the biggest week I’d done was a 70k one that same week; otherwise my regular routine hovered around 3-4 runs or about 50k a week.
The preparation was also marred by two bike crashes in successive weeks, one which had me somersault over a cab passenger door carelessly opened on my front wheel (!), and the second one just the Monday before the marathon which led me to spend an evening in A&E with a dislocated little finger (!!). Commuting tribulations inna Babylon…
Thanks and praises to the NHS services for providing the best care on the day, and to my trusted osteopath Joe Dale (himself a 2h29 marathon runner) for loosening me up on the Monday before the race (only hours before that dislocated pinky that is!) 🙏🏼 🙏🏼
Marathon ready I certainly wasn’t but Venezia, here we came nonetheless (always a pleasure, thanks).
*•.¸♡ 🏃🏽 ♡¸.•*
With the customary delayed flight we arrived in Lido past midnight on the Friday, Silvia’s parents waiting for us with a meal of wholegrain short rice (a rarity in Italy), spinach and chards, as per instructions from Silvia ❤️. Perfetto.
Cheeky 30 min run on the Saturday past the Palazzo del Cinema (home to the Biennale) and along the beach past Murazzi and back – a real favourite of mine when in Venice, which I really had no intention to resist.
This might be dubbed the Venice marathon but most of the race take place outside of the islands, on terra ferma, with the start taking place in front of Villa Pisani, apparently the Queen of Venetian Villas.
Getting there in the morning was quite a trip in itself, waking up in the heart of Venice after a mostly sleepless night and having to navigate the spellbinding maze of the city, dead quiet in the morning dusk, to get to the shuttle in time. Silvia of course led the way with her eye closed, and for a minute it felt like being transported in a time capsule of bygone days – until our paths crossed those of other rather incongrous red-eyed marathoners.
After a long hour bus journey, we marvelled at the grandiloquent Villa for a minute, until the sight of (literally) thousands of runners lining up for the portaloos somewhat took some of the magic away. Having no choice but to get in line, it took me a good 30 min to get in, and I’ll spare the details of what I saw. Instead here is a pic of the villa:
Soon it was time to be shepherded around the back gardens onto the start line.
There were literally thousands of people in front of me and I started to panic a bit, even though the start was still nearly an hour away. This might be a small marathon when compared to London or Berlin, but still the scale of it felt quite overwhelming – much bigger in size than any sporting event I have ever taken part of. Eventually I found my way to my allocated “corral” (new word to me), with forty minutes to spare.
What are you then supposed to do in a 50 m2 space squeezed between dozens of other runners (to be fair my corral was luckily not as contrived as the others behind me)?
You can:
a/ Listen to the local mayors and whatnots congratulating each other about how beautiful the region is (that we know)
b/ Listen to the Italian national anthem played by the local Alpinis, with choir provided by the runners themselves (ouch)
c/ watch the doors of the Villa Pisani suddenly opening, Sesame style, letting a bunch of feather light elite runners escape to jog unimpressed to the start line
d/ do this
e/ do all of this
*•.¸♡ 🏃🏽 ♡¸.•*
And finally… off we went!
The race?
Super smooth up to just after the halfway mark.
Locked on a 3:50 pace, mostly on my own.
With a 1:21:08 for the first half marathon I felt good and started to dream of a negative split, even of approaching the 2h40 barrier. Very soon however I understood that it wasn’t going to be a smooth ride, and that in fact another, very different race was starting there and now – instead of slowing myself down to keep the 3:50 pace I now had to dig deep to barely keep it. I was still on track by K25, but I was already struggling.
I knew Silvia’s zio and zia – residents of Mestre, which sits bang in the middle of the course – were waiting for me at the 27k mark with a bottle of electrolytes I gave them the day before, and I had planned to take my second gel around this (the first one I took at k14).
With hindsight I realise I probably hadn’t eaten enough already by that point. My quads were already starting to give in and I was sweating profusely (Venice’s climate is crazy humid, surprise surprise), meaning I lacked sugar, salt,… and miles in the legs.
I managed to grab that bottle, but there was no miracle. The pace slowed to 3:55, 3:58, 4:01, 4:08 even. One never knows how comfortable it can feel to run at a 15.7 kph pace early on, and how excruciating 14.5 kph can be an hour or so later, until you do a marathon that is. Likewise one would never think how running up a highway bridge can feel like a climbing a mountain…until you bonk in a marathon that is.
The ponte della Libertà which links the mainland to Venezia was one of those Way of the Cross I encountered oh so often in my triathlon carrier (hello Embrun, Nice, Lanzarote, Langkawi, Alpe d”Huez, Super Besse,…). A never-ending 4k straight line, running solo and desperately looking for a second wind, but instead inhaling the fumes of a bumper to bumper traffic jam on the side. Not fun.
*•.¸ 🏃🏽 ¸.•*
Arriving in Venice could (should) have been a hallelujah moment but instead, like so often in the past in similar overcooked situations (see above), the dreaded abductor cramps awoke to haunt me and within seconds I had to pull over and was left on the side in heavy contortions trying to stretch the muthaf**** (in a scene reminiscing of Blummenfelt earlier this summer at the PTO championships – watch here at 0:40).
At least two minutes and four or five guys went by – strangely enough I had spent my whole race overtaking people up to that point – until I could finally go again, albeit at a different pace. I was now hovering around 4:20, just about managing the cramps and on survival mode to the finish line. Getting my feet wet in the Aqua Alta, running around Piazza San Marco and the Doge’s Palace, I sadly didn’t enjoy much of those supposed highlights. Not on the moment anyway, though in hindsight (as I write this), yes!
The final official time of 2h49:12 (2h49:06 chip time) might not be what I was hoping for, especially considering how easy I felt for the first half of the race, but at least it got me hungry for more, eager to nail the distance with some better experience and preparation.
At the start of the summer I had the pleasure to be invited for a guest mix on the ever excellent My Analog Journal YT channel. This first time around Zag came to my flat to film and record a strictly gwoka mix, but now was my turn to blend in with the plants and do a lil wiggle in front of the cameras.
Given the setting and time of the year I figured it’d be fitting to play some of my favourite tropical and cosmic records of the moment. The most important thing for me when I play out or record a mix, be it 50 min or 8 hour long, is to be able to tell a story. Here are records from the Caribbeans (Cuba, Dominica, Guadeloupe and Guyane), Cabo Verde and Canada (!) which reflect not a genre but a mood, altogether cosmic, tropical and of resilience, with lyrics depicting universal tribulations.
TRACKLIST
– Juan Pablo Torres – ‘Son a Propulsión’
– Ophelia – ‘I Man Suffering’
– Swanha Desvarieux – ‘Ka and Fire’
– Emboule Jean-Claude et le Groupe Kako – ‘Poukisa’
Here is the second part of my 2022 review, this time focusing on albums and reissues. Lots of familiar artists and labels in there, as well as a fair share of discoveries. I didn’t do a top 10 or top 15, but if I had to choose one I’d most likely go for the new Ron Trent (under his Warm project), such a dope and mature release from one of the members of the deep house royal trinity (alongside Larry and Joe), and there is not even a single house track in sight!
There are so many releases I’ve missed of course, but that’s the beauty of music. The more you know, the more you realise how little you know, but the fact that I’m discovering a new song or artist I like (usually many more) on pretty much a daily basis is the best reward to a life dedicated to music. Life is music, music is love, fuck spotify and all that.
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.
The first effort from drummer and percussionist Stephen ‘Bunny’ Bunn and guitarist and keys player Jon deBrett (both founding members of cult UK jazz troupe, Mother Earth), was one of the delightful surprises of 2022, which was praised by pretty much everyone in the jazz universe and beyond. The quintet has now come back with the same core of musicians (Neil Corcoran on bass, Crispin Taylor on drums, Roger Beaujolais on vibraphone as well as spoken word artist Tenesha the Wordsmith), alongside guest contributions from instrumentalists Nathan Haines, Crispin Taylor, Alastair Martin and the poet Daniel B. Summerhill.
The result is a somewhat more concise but no less superb effort, sounding deep and spatial as the band combines the spiritual with the modal and the modern in the most fluid way. Once again atmosphere is key, with softly psychedelic undertones and an unhurried mellow vibe sounding effortlessly cool and instantly pleasant to the ear.
Lord Of The Isles – Night Of The Endless Beyond (ESP Institute)
LOTI is easily one of my favourite electronic producer over the last decade, a master of introspective dance music who’s been on my radar almost since day one (and his Pacific Affinity EP from 2011 to be precise) and must have featured in most of my yearly charts. In 2022, the prolific Scottish Lord came up with not one but two LPs: Subtle Thoughts, which I didn’t have time to properly check yet, and Night Of The Endless Beyond, which I found plenty for.While I can easily picture the dub techno odyssey ‘Quadralogue’ going down swimmingly well on a warm surround sound with the 6am troupers, this collection of ultra deep and atmospheric soundscapes makes for fascinating and hazy home listening, away from the club, and even features (on ‘Truth’) the genius sampling of (then 90 years old) Harry Dean Stanton from his penultimate movie, David Lynch‘s Lucky. One for all the lovely stoners out there; pitch black room and full immersion a must.
The Maghreban – Connection (Zoot Records)
The most surprising and eclectic album to come out in 2022. If the Chicago house tribute ‘Waiting’ feat Omar was understandablyone of my favourite singles of the year, the rest of the LP is of a very different mould, with a strong cosmic Middle Eastern vibe overall, and an amalgamation of styles from jazz to ambient to techno.
The haunting ‘Anzilli‘ featuring Egyptian vocalist and composer AbdullahMiniawy is one of the big highlights, in a techno meets Egyptian reggae kind of way (!), as are the two collaborations featuring saxophonist Idris Rahman, which wereapparentlybased on Ayman Rostom communicating his love of British jazz player Tubby Hayes: the results are two modern eastern jazz beauties, hypnotic and psychedelic à souhait. Don’t sleep on this!
Gigi Masin – Vahinè (Language of Sound)
Two years on from the stunning Calypso LP, the master of electronic textural ambience Gigi Masin has returned with his latest offering, the first release of a brand new label, Language of Sound. Comprissed of just six tracks, Vahine is much more concise than its expansive predecessor, though the emotional spectrum on display remains remarkably wide as the album was conceived as a tribute to Gigi’s recently departed wife.
The album opens in familiar Masin territory with the warm and mesmerising Marilene (Somewhere in Texas), a floaty Balearic number which features a softly plucked kalimba and delicate piano lines cosmically dancing in a seabed of nautical synths. As peaceful an intro as can be, until the music then shifts into somewhat darker moods with Barumini, a pulsing and atmospheric deep techno jam reminiscent of a 6am post rave comedown circa ‘92.
The beats then disappear on Shadye as we are sent eerily levitating in a daydreamed phantasmagoria of blinding lights and angelic voices. Flipping the record over, the dancing returns with ‘Malvina’, a dreamy, trance-like, full on cosmic beauty of a tune, like a long lost ethereal Alan Parsons’ on shrooms out-take (it’s a good thing!).
The track Valerie Crossing is Gigi’s inspirational tribute to his beloved wife, a poetic exploration of where souls go when departing their earthly bodies. A deep, mystical and ultimately hopeful celebration of death. Truly majestic.
“I told myself that maybe at the end of the road it’s possible to realise dreams, and I’m sure that she’s finally able to dance like never before, and is able to move without any impediment, with no suffering, free to make all the movements that she couldn’t make for so long, turning to me with a smile and a wink.”
Then comes the extraordinary “Vahinè” (woman in Tahitian), the album’s closing track, which was inspired by a documentary on traditional Tahitian dance which Gigi watched during the night following his wife’s passing. An aerial, Plaid-ian funk groove from above to make us all dance together into eternity.
“So, in the clouds, you will discover and see an extraordinary ‘Vahinè’, because she will move and dance and smile until the end of time.”
Md After Hussain, PAQ – Matir Gaan: Songs From The Earth (Hive Mind Records)
Matir Gaan: Songs From The Earth is the result of a collab between Bangladeshi migrant Mohammad After Hussain and Italian artist Andrea Rusconi (nurtured by Rimini’s Associazione Ardea for refugees) who majestically combine ancient folk and cosmic synth exotica. Md After sings and plays both the harmonium and the two headed pakhawaj drum over Andrea Rusconi’s warm Crumar synth and Veena synth drones, creating fresh psychedelic renditions of traditional and mystical Baul folk songs. Beautifully entrancing, the very definition of cosmic music, released on Brighton’s always ace Hive Mind Records.
Carlos Niño & Friends – Extra Presence (International Anthem)
Another year, another new delivery from the Niño and friends camp, and another essential release. This one comes in the form of a double LP with long time collaborators including Jamael Dean, Nate Mercereau, Sam Gendel, Laraaji,and Iasos, an expanded edition of a 10-track suite called Actual Presence from 2020. During lockdown Niño decided to revisit and give those tracks the expanded treatment, in a world where free jazz, new age and hip-hop melt and collude in a dilated time and space continuum. Niño self describes his sound as “spiritual, improvisational, space collage”, as exemplified by tracks like ‘Actually’ (which I already raved about in the Singles review), and most strikingly the majestic ambient piece ‘Recurrent Reiki Dreams, (featuring new age master Iasos, one of Niño’s mentors), a dramatic 23-minute extension of ‘Mushroomeclipse‘ which occupies the whole of side D. One of my most listened to albums at home in ’22, be it on Sundays, early mornings or after-after parties: a spacey, three dimensional experience that requires repeated immersions to reveal its higher, universal love powers.
Taro Nohara – Poly-Time Soundscapes / Forest Of The Shrine (WRWTFWW)
Interestingly, this album of “pure environmental ambient bliss” (in the words of WRWTFWW) is the work of Taro Nohara, who’s also well known as a rapper and hip hop producer under his Yakenohara moniker. His Pharcyde reminiscing ‘Relaxin’’ tune from 2013 is one of the unheralded treasures of Japanese hip hop for instance.
The Poly-Time Soundscapes / Forest Of The Shrine Album is his modern take on the Japanese environmental music sound (known as kankyō ongaku), a style which enjoyed its heyday in the 1980s in Japan only to be resurrected worldwide in the last few years with countless of (stunning) reissues from the likes of Midori Takada, Susumu Yokota or Hiroshi Yoshimura.
In this case, the only obvious track that betrays Nohara’s roots as a beat maker comes in the form of ‘Freakout Ondo’, a rather eery and menacing tune made of percussive and ghostly environmental sounds. Overall though, the meditative soundscapes of Yoshimura’s (whose A·I·R (Air In Resort) LP is an ultimate classic of the genre) act as the main template, with dreamy pads and nature field recordings galore, and make this album the perfect soundtrack for contemplative peace.
Two genius musicians exiled in the Portuguese countryside, both long fascinated by psychedelia in all its shades and colours, decide to join forces and make an album framed around a backbone of looped intros from pop hits of the 50s and 60s – a dream of a collab on paper, which sounds as good as it should. Sunny, bubbling and softly psychedelic that is, with Noah Lenox’s angelic voice, melodies and harmonies melding and mixing perfectly inside Sonic Boom’s hypnotising soundscapes (and vice versa!). Upbeat and joyful in a Pet Sounds kind of way but with “conscious” lyrics reflecting the signs of the time, Reset was one of the freshest and most vibrant releases of the year.
Salamanda – Ashbalkum (Human Pitch)
“Ah, fuck, it’s a dream” is a rough translation of “Ashbalkum”, the (pitch perfect) title of the album which cemented my full devotion to the floaty, humid and oh so playful world of the Korean duo. A singular sound that grows on you with each and every listen, and one of my most go to albums of the year, which followed the door openers which for me were “Planting a Blue Velvet” released on Good Morning Tapes in 2021, and “No Vacation” (released on Gems Under The Horizons in ’22 – check the Singles charts for more on that).
In Salamanda’s sonic universe, bubbling subaquatic synths, ambient-techno-dub electronic rhythms coupled with soft and surreal vocal samples (sighs, coos, children playing, meowing cat, all included) transport you into the softly psychedelic spirit of childlike wonder. Like finding yourself on a waking dream, altogether meditative, whimsical and wistful, quietly dancing in a hallucinatory perception of time and space.
Sélène Saint Aimé burst onto the (jazz) scene in 2020 with her album Mare Undarum, arguably one of the most refreshing debut in recent memory, on which she transcribed the influence of the moon on her music through a unique blend of poetry, pan African jazz and classical influences. Potomitan, her anticipated follow up on the ever excellent Komos labelshould rightly establish the young double bassist, vocalist, composer and band leader on a more global scale.
Early in 2022, some of us were lucky enough to witness her first ever performance in the UK in the intimate confines of brilliant corners, in a trio configuration featuring master percussionist Boris Reine-Adélaïde from Martinique and Irving Acao from Cuba on tenor saxophone. Within the first few seconds ofArawak Uhuru, the album opener which also kicked off the concert, the whole atmosphere in the room was instantly transfigured by the transcendental quality of the music, led by Sélène’s semi improvised counterpoint of voice and double bass swimmingly riding alongside a hypnotic bélè beat.
Potomitan has a deeply spiritual meaning in Haitian voodoo as it refers to the central pillar of the temples where ceremonies take place and spirits are awakened. In Martinique and Guadeloupe it also designates the mother who supports the equilibrium of an entire family. During the pandemic Sélène spent many months in Martinique (where her dad was born) exploring her family roots and the strength of Caribbean women. When she returned to Paris to record the album, the mostly improvised sessions naturally drew from traditional Caribbean music, placing legendary maitre ka Sonny Troupé from Guadeloupe and bélè tanbouyé Boris Reine-Adélaïde right at the heart of the album. The traditional gwoka and bélè polyrhythms interact majestically with Sélène’s swinging double bass, while her angelic vocals are mostly sung in an otherworldly made up language, as heard on the title track,Potomitan.
The album also features trumpeter Hermon Méhari, who forms a brass section with Irving Acao on the majority of the tracks and brings a splendid rendition of Charlie Parker’sThe Bird, while the other cover on the album,Mélisande (à mamie Jacqueline), an arrangement of a theme by Jean Sibelius, places Mathias Lévy’s violin and Guillaume Latil’s cello at the forefront, in a version for a string trio and vocals. The music as well as the combination of musicians evolve fluidly between each track, from trios to septet, as Sélène invents a new folklore, a fresh form of Caribbean jazz vivified by improvisation which belongs entirely to her. One of the albums of the year without a doubt, and a talent to follow for years to come.
Note that, also in 22 and on the same label, Hermon Mehari released his own (splendid) album, Asmara, inspired by his homeland Eritrea.
Studia Spiritual – Final Eons / Celestial Objects (12th Isle)
Studia Spiritual is a collection of recordings from synthesists Vasiliy Stepanov and Vlad Dobrovolski under various monikers, a collaborative duo whose creative process is based on sampling and distorting old de-magnetised tapes. In a true collage-style approach to music making, they then add layers of cosmic synths, off-kilter woodblock percussion and lysergic field recordings that interplay with dense ambient textures. The queen of modular synthesis Suzanne Ciani inevitably comes to mind, alongside the likes Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and their love of natural sounds, as the pair displays a refreshing genre-crossing attitude, across new age, fourth world, cosmic ambient and quirky dancing. Following what they describe as a hauntological approach, altogether organic and synthetic, they create a truly unique and surrealist sonic world, which had me subjugated with each and every listen.j
Fascinating stuff really,, to put alongside Vlad Dobrovolski’s Playbacks For Dreaming, a solo album which also came out in 2022 and on which Stepanov collaborates on two tracks, ‘Ultramarine XY‘ and ‘Sundayish All Over’. I’ve had both LPs on repeat all year and rather unsurprisingly included a few cuts in the extended Xmas mix for my folks.
Sun Ra Arkestra Directed By Marshall Allen – Living Sky (Omni Sound)
The alto saxophonist Marshall Allen has been the Arkestra musical director since 1995, following the ascension of Sun Ra in 1993 and John Gilmore in 1995, after spending 40 years leading the reed section. At the now tender age of 98, he has kept the Arkestra flame, spirit and big band tradition alive and on the road for nearly three decades, rejoicing spirits of fans old and new. The performances at Cafe Oto I witnessed a few years back were absolutely mind blowing. However I don’t think I had ever listened to a new Arkestra release since 1989’s Blue Delight, and I probably wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for a tip from my mate Josh Beauchamp.
Living Sky’s includes pieces of recent Allen compositions and classic material from the Arkestra’s repertoire, taking on a decidedly more tranquil hue in this context than their fiery and often dramatic live performances. Somebody Else’s Idea, a mighty cover of Somebody Else’s World by Sun Ra and his Solar Myth Arkestra, featuring the ever so incredible June Tyson on vocals (perhaps my favourite Sun Ra track ever) and the hypnotic modal beauty of ‘Night of the Living Sky’ are just two of the album’s highlights. Opening up with a (magnifique) cover of Chopin’s ‘Prelude in A Major’(!) and all the way to another cover with the superb ‘Wish Upon A Star’ a long-time feature in the Arkestra’s live repertoire which closes this set, this fully instrumental album is a majestic listen that lives up the ongoing legacy of Ra and his fellow astral travelers. The sound and mastering are pretty spectacular too, so much respect to all involved and particularly Omni Sound, the label which commissioned the album and which takes its named after the Sun Ra quote:
“Omniverse is the totality of all universes and you are welcome to be citizens of Omniverse”
Christina Vantzou – No. 5 (Kranky)
When listening to an album by audio/visual artist and ambient classical composer Christina Vantzou, music styles and genres become as irrelevant as familiar shapes, sounds and structures. My introduction to her unique sonic world was with her 2020 Multi Natural LP, one of my highlights from that year which I described as “cinematic, organic and nicely psychedelic, a trip always eventful and even verging towards ominous territory at times.”
Out on the legendary Krankylabel, home of my teenage post rock heroes Labradford,No. 5 is Vantzou’s fifth album, though she refers to it as “almost like a first album.” It was conceived during the pandemic on the Cycladic island of Ano Koufonisi, in near complete isolation, as an exercise in experimental neo classical music in which sound design and narrative are keys. Sparse minimalist vignettes are layered with field recordings and electronics, like a reflection of the surrounding landscape. Right from the intro, as we enter a dank, dripping cavern with ghostly voices and footsteps in the distance, we are taken on a journey that feels like the soundtrack of a dream. Fleeting configurations of piano, strings, wind, and found sounds rise and fall with their own rhyme and reason, fluctuating between moments of sublime, breathtaking beauty and ominous darkness.
A truly compelling and rewarding listen, and one to get fully immersed into.
Ron Trent Presents Warm – What do the stars say to you (Night Time Stories)
A new LP by Ron Trent, a true house hero and one of the most revered producers of the genre, is always highly anticipated, even more so when it’s been eleven years since the previous one. While Raw Footage contained its fair share of seminal tunes, altogether it felt more like a collection of tracks rather than a proper LP per se. What do the stars… on the other hand is a love letter to the long player, designed for deep and repeated listening from start to finish.
The always evolving artist with a legacy of deep house masterpieces like ‘Sweetness’,Sundance‘ ‘Morning Factory’ or ‘Morning Fever’ (notice a theme here?!) has always kept things fresh and soulful throughout his 30+ year career. No house music per se to be found on What do the stars… but hey, house is a feeling and Trent’s unique themes and moods from those beloved classics are undeniably present here, with each song playing as its own odyssey, like multiple journeys within a journey.
“It’s all about storytelling” says Trent, a Loft baby himself and as such forever grateful to his mentor David Mancuso, adding that the “album is actually within the realm of a Loft-style record.”
The only release under the WARM moniker previously was the ‘Night Ride” 12” from 2019, which notably contained ‘On A Journey’, a mid tempo cinematic odyssey which set the tone for his long-planned side project. What do the stars… is a live electronic album on which Trent plays drums, percussion, keys, synths, piano, guitar and electronics and which he plans to present live on tour in the near future. The overall feel is like a reimagining of the cinematic jazz-funk records that shaped his childhood (Sun Palace often comes to mind), filled with sunny soft pads, plucked bass synths and vintage drum machine. Trent went quite big to fulfil his vision, inviting some of his all time hero Azymuth and Jean-Luc Ponty (Wally Badarou was also meant to feature), as well as Gigi Masin and Khruangbin to collaborate and add their magic touches on the sonic foundations he built for them.
Designed for balmy nights and psychedelic mind trips, between opener ‘Cool Water’ featuring Ivan Conti (Azymuth) and Lars Bartkuhn and closer ‘What do the stars say to you’, we are on cinematic flight mode as we travel through cosmic hills and valleys, flowing along ridges from summit to summit. ‘Cycle of Many’ which sees Trent on a solitary flight, ‘Melt into you’ with Azymuth’s Alex Malheiros, a magic hour tune with a groove and sensuality to die for, the Jean-Luc Ponty driven ‘Sphere’, a cosmic delight with timeless qualities which lifts you soulto previously unseen places(what a coup!), and the blissfully transcendental liquid soul of ‘Flowers’ (featuring Venecia) are all sublime. Elsewhere Gigi Masin’s delicate and evocative nautical padsshine on ‘Admira‘, whileband of the moment Khruangbin make a welcome appearance on the only obvious dance-floor oriented track ‘Flos Potentia (Sugar, Cotton, Tabacco)’, a mesmerising (if slightly too short) late night disco groove which I’ve played a lot last year.
As Trent explains, the album “evolved out of the spirit of the third ear audiophile” and to that effect was mastered by no less than François K, a long time collaborator who played his part in turning this glorious journey into a truly audiophile affair. Also as an added bonus, FK did a continuous mix of the album, complete with added effects and all, which is available as a download and makes all the sense in the (cosmic) world.
Wau Wau Collectif – Mariage (Sahel Sounds)
Mariage is the follow-up to 2021’s Yaral Sa Doom, the fruits ofa transcontinental collaboration between more than twenty artists from Senegal and Sweden born at the impulse of music archaeologist and musician Karl Jonas Winqvist (read here for more info on the background).
The collectif continues their groundbreaking take on West African musical traditions, seamlessly incorporating a wide array of outernational influences to create a cohesive whole, open to experimentation and free of traditions. Winqvist’s subtle and airy production is perfectly adapted to capture what’s special about the Sengalese musicians with minimal artifice.
I’ve already raved about the addictive ‘Xale (Toubab Dialaw Kids Rhyme),’ the obvious single of the album led by children’s rhymes, funky guitar, hand slapping hip hop beats and a changing tempo. My other favourite cut, ‘Yay Balma,’ moves like a desert blues trance set to motorik motion as it incorporates both traditional xalam and fuzz guitars, hand-drums and a squalling saxophone.
Like its predecessor, Mariage is an album that will transport you to a fresh and yet by now recognisable sonic world, even if the overall mood is somewhat darker than the whimsical, dreamlike magic that has already made Yaral Sa Doom a classic. The album is dedicated to the late Ousmane Ba, whose flute can be heard throughout ‘Nécessaire‘ and ‘Mariage Forcé‘.
Bugge Wesseltoft – Be Am(Jazzland)
Since the impossibly beautiful“(All I Wanted) To Make You Feel Good” from 1998 as well as the whole of the follow-up LP New Conception Of Jazz: Moving, from 2001, which was a David Mancuso favourite and a landmark “electronic jazz” album for me (I still play it regularly), I’ve always kept a keen ear for the ‘prince of post-modern Nordic jazz’.A quasi solo album, except for birdsong, a kalimba (“Life”) and the saxophonist Håkon Konrstadwho appears on two songs, Be Am was recorded in Wesseltoft’s own home studio in Norway during the pandemic, in between daily forest walks. As Wesseltoft moves between acoustic piano and a toned-down Fender Rhodes, the mood remains personal and meditative throughout, beautiful and understated. A treasure to get immersed into on wintry Sunday mornings.
☆:**:. ♪ .:**:.☆
REISSUES
(In alphabetical order)
Ferkat Al Ard – أغنية9 (Habibi Funk)
Much welcome reissue of Ferkat Al Ard‘s glorious 1978 debut, an album rooted in Palestinian poetry, jazz, folk, and strong Brazilian influences. It highlights the deep-rooted musical links between Lebanon and Brazil (a country with a huge Lebanese community) as much as it acts as a powerful tribute to Beirut’s so called cultural ‘golden age’ before the 1975 civil war.
The orchestral soul of Arthur Verocai immediately come to mind at the first drop of the needle, and it’s no surprise to hear that the album was arranged by none other than Ziad Rahbani, aka the Verocai of the Arab worldand the pioneer of the genre ‘Lebanese bossa nova’ (his groundbreaking arrangements of classic bossa nova songs for his mother Fairuzwere a major factor in the genre’s enduring popularity across the country). Rahbani’s genius touch is nowhere more obvious than on the opening songs of the album, Matar Al Sabah and Entazerni, two impossibly lush and beautiful songs which are worth the price of the album alone. Thanks to these majestic arrangement the record moves elegantly throughout.
As always with Habibi Funk, the reissue is lovingly presented and well documented, and comes with a very insightful booklet retracing the historical context at the time and the genesis of this release. We learn for instance that at the impulse of the band’s singer’s Issam Hajali, a leftist militant who had spent three years in exile in Paris before moving back to Lebanon after the end of the war, the album’s lyrics were adapted from work by the Palestinian poets Samih al-Qasim, Tawfiq Ziad and Mahmoud Darwish. Iconic album right there, for all the good reasons.
Alice Coltrane Featuring Pharoah Sanders And Joe Henderson – Ptah, The El Daoud (Verve)
Fantastic to finally see a legit vinyl reissue of this ultimate classic of spiritual jazz, Alice Coltrane’s third album under her own name which originally came out in 1970. Blessed with great pressing and mastering, the timeless music on display is given full justice with a full sound and wide frequency spectrum. A landmark album in many ways, representing a black female artist taking control of her music as she recorded itin the basement of her ranch-style house on Long Island, New York, which she and John shared from 1964 until his death. Switching between harp and piano, Coltrane leads a dream quintet featuring tenor saxophonists and flutists Joe Henderson and Pharoah Sanders, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Ben Riley at the top of their powers.
The album was conceived at a time of grief following John’s passing as she pushed through music past her traumas into a transcendent space. As she stated in Leonard Feather’s liner notes: ”My meaning here was to express and bring out a feeling of purification. (…) Sometimes on Earth, we don’t have to wait for death to go through a sort of purging, a purification.” Ptah, The El Daoud is the result of this process, and nowhere is it more evident than on’Turiya And Ramakrishna’ and ‘Blue Nile’, the album’s two summits of Coltrane’s signature otherworldly sound drenched in blues. Mindful meditations which anticipate by a year the release of the seminal Journey In Satchidananda.
Tülây German, François Rabbath – Homage To Nazım Hikmet (Zéhra)
The German based Zéhra label came to the fore a couple of years back with the essential reissues of two cult albums from Morocco,Apocalypse Across The Sky by The Master Musicians Of Jajouka andThe Trance Of Seven Colors by Maaleem Mahmoud Ghania with Pharaoh Sanders. With a particular focus on ethnic sounds, they have recently turned their attention to Turkey with the reissues of two deep Anadolu folk albums recorded by Tülay German & François Rabbathin the early 80s.
Tülay German (born 1935 in Istanbul, Turkey) is a singer mostly known for her modern interpretations of Turkish folk music (her first 7″ Burçak Tarlası from 1964 is considered the cornerstone of what was to become the Anadolu rock movement), while François Rabbath (born 1931 in Aleppo, Syria) is a French double-bass player and teacher, known as much for pioneering the so calledcrab fingering system as an alternative to traditional shifting (after watching a crab run and jump along the beach as the story goes), as for his solo recitals in the world of neo classical and his prominent role on the French jazz scene since the 70s.
Neither had any respect for the boundaries that separated classical, jazz and ethnic musicians and both were as comfortable playing chamber music at a formal concert one day and improvising with jazz musicians the next. When the pair met in Paris where they had both relocated, they decided to collaborate on two back to back albums which consisted of unique and modern interpretations of Turkish folk songs, naturally blending Eastern and Western influences while referring heavily on Turkish poets and the tradition of aşıks (singer-poets and wandering bards). Following on from their self-titled debut came the majestic Homage to Nazım Hikmet from 1982, on which they paid tribute to one of Turkey’s most celebrated poets of the 20th century, Nazım Hikmet (1902-1963).
This is deep Anadolu folk music mixed with contemporary jazz in an intimate duo setting, which sees Tülay German on vocals and Rabbath on double bass and saz. Henri Texier‘s works from his seminal Varech and Amir LPs come immediately to mind on the great instrumental openerHomage To Nazım Hikmet which gives its title to the album. Tülay German’s haunting presence appears on the second track never to leave again, her passionate voice permeating an album which flows effortlessly, the sparse arrangements of Rabbath (Abidin!) turning these centuries old poems and melodies into glowing manifestos for love and justice.
Gil-Scott Heron – Pieces of A Man (Flying Dutchman/BGP Records)
To celebrate its 50th anniversary, the seminal Pieces of A Man album has received a much welcome upgrade in the form with a bijou of a pressing that even surpasses the original. Cut in an all-analogue chain by The Carvery’s Frank Meritt, sounding loud and crisp at 45rpm and spread over two vinyls. We’re talking about one of the best albums ever recorded in history here, the landmark civil rights era soul funk jazz masterpiece by one of the most important artists of our times.
All the previous pressings I’ve heard (even originals) have always sounded somewhat tinny and distant (sadly a common thread with Flying Dutchman) and it’s always been frustrating to play ‘Lady Day And John Coltrane’, ‘Home Is Where The Hatred Is’ or ‘The Needle’s Eye’ at a party while knowing that such seminal tunes would deserve a much better, fuller sound. I’m guessing that an original 7” of ‘Lady Day…’ might sound amazing, but given the price tag I might never find out, plus I wouldn’t be surprised if this reissue betters it. The sound is crisp, transparent, with spectacular separation and definition. And of course the best music ever. The hype is real. Big up Frank, BGP Records and everyone involved in this.
Khotin – New Tab (Pacific Rhythm)
Straight repress of Khotin’s modern ambient/IDM album from 2017. New Tab is a lovely suite of feathered ambient chords adorned with field recordings and a wide-open embrace of the outside world. Commuting trains, watery sounds and croaking frogs are interlaced with human dialogues (Japanese, Russian, English) in a somewhat foggy sequence of sounds that makes for a compelling and evocative listen. Though a mostly horizontal affair, some effervescent breakbeats make a welcome apparition along the way, leading us to the centrepiece of the album, ‘Fever Loop’, a liquid deep balearic beauty of a tune which pays tribute to the heyday of IDM heroes Plaid and Boards of Canada. A tune I included in the end-of-the-year mix for my folks, and worth the price of the album alone.
V.A. – Lèspri Ka : New Directions in Gwoka Music from Guadeloupe 1981-2010 (Time Capsule/Seance Centre)
I’m slightly biased on this one so will just copy and paste the review from PAM, which included the comp in their best reissues of 2022.
“Selectors Brandon Hocura and Cedric Lassonde take a look at the sonic soul of Guadeloupe by condensing 30 years of gwoka music into 10 handpicked tracks. The compilation not only centers its history on this big drum called gwoka, a symbolic instrument of resistance to slavery, but it also tells the story of how musicians have innovated around this ancestral genre. Initially made of songs and percussions, this music anchored in the musical, ritual and social practices of African slaves and their descendants has mutated to welcome jazzy, funky or electronic atmospheres. Singers convey powerful messages of independence in psychedelic and danceable arrangements rarely heard outside the island. Pioneering artists such as Gaoulé Mizik, Gui Konket or Kalindi Ka combine Creole culture and innovation in this indispensable double LP.”
The Group NSI – Roger A Ti Wawa (Mad About Records)
Huge release alert (!) with this reissue of the cult album by Georges Decimus’ side project The Group NSI. Roger A Ti Wawa had become ultra rare and a bit of a holy grail, which needless to say makes this reissue by Mad About Records absolutely essential!
Decimus of course is Kassav’s co-founder, a band which, like George Clinton’s Parliament, always left space for their members to record solo records in parallel to Kassav’s main releases, often in the same year and with the same players. Roger A Ti Wawa was recorded in 1981 between Kassav’s #3 and #4 albums, and sounds very much aligned with what the band wasexperimentating with at the time. NSI means “New sound From the Islands”, which musically translates as a Creole declination of f.u.n.k in its most cosmic and tropical shades.
The album doesn’t even last 24 min (!) but my goodness how good it is. The Decimus brothers (who both appear on bass, synth and production duties) are killing it with an unparalleled string of heavy tropical funk numbers: ‘Oui ce Yes’, ‘Mande Moin On Lajan, Pa Mande Moin Za Fe An Moin (My Business)‘ (as sampled by Kaytranada – ‘Midsection’ tune feat. Pharell Williams!), the cosmic UFO banger Steel Ka Dance, and finally Moin Epi Vou, a doper than dope late night funk groove featuring the ever so gracious Cida Desvarieux on vocals. As good as it gets really.
The album also features Jocelyn Moka on vocals, a singer which appeared a lot with Kassav’ at the time (the band always had a rotating roster of singers, yet another pioneering trademark) but sadly not on later releases. Moka remains my favourite Kassav singer, as can be heard throughout this LP, as well as on the killer tropical funk tunes Lajan An Moin An Vouèy An Pa Vouéy (released on Kassav’s #4) and 1983’s Mizik Maladi, two of my all time favourite party tunes.
Emmanuelle Parrenin – Maison Rose + 17 Décembre / La Forêt Bleue (Souffle Continu)
The seminal French psychedelic folk not folk debut by Emmanuelle Parrenin from 1977 received a much welcome deluxe reissue treatment by the always on point Souffle Continu label, complete with an exclusive 7” of previously unreleased songs. Think about a French version of Linda Perhaps’ “Parallelograms” (there can hardly be a better compliment than that) and you’ll get the (ethereal) grift. Then, unwarned, you quite literally fall upon “Topaze”, the bonkers, cult-within-a-cult electro-trad banger, on which she improvises on her beloved hurdy-gurdy over a proto hip hop rhythm track, totally reinventing the instrument in the process. I can’t think of anything else like it. And then you have the cosmic ambient bliss of “Après L’Ondée”, which adds yet another layer of depth to this masterpiece. Absolutely essential!
PS: Parennin is still very much active in music, and gifted us with a super cool album in 2021 called Jours de Grève, a collab with Detlef Weinrich (of Tolouse Lo Trax) released on Glib’r’s Versatile. Check for instance “Gelbe Schlange” to hear an update of sorts of ‘Topaze’.
Pharoah Sanders / John Hicks / Curtis Lundy / Idris Muhammad – Africa (Music on Vinyl, Timeless)
The spirit and music of Pharoah Sanders was everywhere in 2022, the year which saw the passing of one of the last living legends with connections to players like Sun Ra and John Coltrane. As far as I’m concerned, Pharoah is up there as one of the most influential musician ever, and I will never have enough of a lifetime to explore and immerse myself in the man’s many musical endeavours, from his primal scream, wall of sound phase to the more cosmic and ethereal output of his later years, via the seminal spiritual and tribal recordings of his prime.
A stellar discography to revisit and rediscover time and time again, starting with the 1987 album Africa which was reissued as part of Timeless Jazz 45th Anniversary Series to celebrate the 45th anniversary of iconic Dutch jazz label Timeless Records. Sanders plays with an all-star line-up consisting of Idris Muhammad on drums, the incredible John Hicks on piano and Curtis Lundy on bass. The so called ‘Africa sessions’ features the quartet at their best, soulful, spiritual and groovy à souhait. The updated version of ‘You’ve Got to Have Freedom‘ is a stunner, pure raw power and the very definition of freedom through music, with ‘Africa’ is the other huge track of the set, a long time club favourite which is great to finally see widely available on vinyl.
On that note, I had missed the supposedly audiophile 2019 reissue on Tidal Waves, but I am pleased to report that – contrary to the bad rep this label sometimes receives – the sound on this Music On Vinyl reissue is full and detailed, and plays loud and clear!
Lonnie Liston Smith And The Cosmic Echoes – Astral Travelling & Cosmic Funk (Real Gone Music/Flying Dutchman)
The first two albums of Lonnie Liston Smith as a bandleader have finally been properly by the trusted label Real Gone Music. If like me you come to music to have your spirits lifted and your mind expanded (sic), then anything made by LL Smith and the perfectly named Cosmic Echoes will occupy a place of choice in your discotheque. Astral Travelling, the 1973 debut album featured Liston Smith a multifaceted ensemble with Cecil McBee on bass, George Barron on sax, James Mtume and Sonny Morgan on percussion, David Lee Jr. on drums, Badal Roy on tabla, Geeta Vashi on tamboura, and Joe Beck on guitar (recruited to achieve or the space sound Smith was striving for on the title track). The track ‘Astral Travelling’ was of course first recorded two years earlier for Pharoah Sanders’s seminal spiritual jazz album Thembi, the first time Smith played on an Electric Piano and a time doing which he was studying Astral projections. There we go and the rest is, as we know very well, history.
“I try to leave my music open so that everyone can find something in it for his own inner being. I don’t try to force anything on anybody. My hope is to be able to heal people physically, spiritually, emotionally, mentally. My intent is for people to go away from my music feeling rejuvenated and uplifted”
With the album Cosmic Funk, most likely inspired by Herbie Hancock‘s work with the Headhunters, Smith took quite a departure and began to emphasise funkier textures on his albums. The title track especially is nothing but a deadly funk-jazz workout à la War’s The World Is A Ghetto, while the other songs are more explicitly fusion that straight funk. The real treasure though comes in the form of ‘Sais (Egypt)’a song penned by Mtume which hints at the previous album with its echoes of Alice Coltrane and transcending Echoplex(ed) Rhodes (!). If you’re into mind expanding music, this is as good as it gets.
Charles Stepney – Step On Step (International Anthem)
Amongst countless other musical delights, Charles Stepney was of course the master producer behind widescreen cosmic soul masterpieces suchas ‘I Am the Black Gold of the Sun’ and ‘Les Fleurs’, two seminal party tunes which sound enormous on any proper sound system. The focus of Step On Step however is exclusively on minimalist demos uncovered by his daughters, showing a more intimate side of Stepney as he explores the new found possibilities of an early Moog synthesizer. It’s fascinating to hear original versions of the aforementioned ‘Black Gold’ for instance, as well as ‘That’s The Way of the World’ which would become such a huge classic with Earth, Wind & Fire. Expect chamber soul and miniature synth funk (Daddy’s Diddies is another favourite) on this gem of a compilation released on always impeccable Windy City label International Anthem.
Sunstroke – Nothing’s Wrong In Paradise (Libreville)
Sunstroke was a mysterious Belgian project, a duo of percussionist/cellist Etienne Delaruye and synth player Ben Pollaert. Nothing’s Wrong In Paradise was recorded in Ghent in 1985 and released as a private press only. As we learn in the liner notes, the album was conceived as an imaginary “soundtrack to a film that doesn’t exist,” something that sounds very much aligned with the mid-80s musical fashions indeed. With inspirations ranging from Weather Report (on the majestic cosmic-pop chugger ‘Race of the Oasis’) to Vangelis (the new age ambient bliss ‘Dance of the Prophets’) or Eric Satie (‘Re-Incarnation’) this is music that sounds as much of its time as it does coming from the future. I’m not sure whether that was the case, but to my ears the dreamlike atmospherics of the album sound very much in tune with the Japanese ‘Music Interior’ ambient series of the same period from JVC.
As described perfectly in the liner notes, “once you have spent some time with it, the whole record starts to seem bathed in a dim half-light, suggesting utopia glimpsed through a smudged lens.”
Remastered from the master tapes, the sound on this vinyl is absolutely stunning, full, rich and three dimensional. Yet another winner from Libreville Records, the Paris based label ran by Robert Benjamin whom I have come to trust blindly both for his impeccable tastes and attention to details. – each and every one of his releases have featured in my end of the year charts.
Bahtiyar Taş – Acaip (ZEL ZELE)
Acaip is the latest discovery ofZEL ZELE, the label ran by my good friends Debora Ipekel and Ece Duzgit, both amazing DJs and crate diggers of all things deep, quirky, psychedelic and danceable. Compiled by Grup Ses, the seven tracks are a selection of DIY tunes recorded in Hamburg by Turkish bassist (and one man band!) Bahtiyar Taş between 1981-88 and released only on cassettes. Think infectious arabesque melodies, cheeky synth jams and oddball drum machines. Groovy, ludicrous outsider music, in the best meaning of the word. What a discovery!
V.A. – Valley Of The Sun – Field Guide To Inner Harmony (Numero Group)
Essential release from the Numero Group camp with this overview of Arizona ad man turned self-help guru Dick Sutphen‘s Valley of the Sun publishing company turned music label. The label’s extensive catalogue is a nourishing deep dive into eccentric US new age music, with this particular compilation material spanning 1977-1990.
Sutphen opened a hypnosis center in 1970 and soon after began publishing self-help books under his Valley of the SunPublishing imprint. In 1976, his book on reincarnation “You Were Born Again to be Together” apparently sold over a million copies (!), and he was referred as America’s leading past-life therapist and often seen on daytime television doing live hypnotisms (!!). He then started releasing self-hypnosis tapes, and by the beginning of the ’80s, his imprint was also producing meditative, synth based healing music, home to some of the country’s most exciting new age musicians.
The compilation is remarkably well-sequenced and plays almost like a continuous mix, with clever fades and segues between tracks which take the listener on a deep and cosmic journey. We’ve played this a lot during the long summer days and as we let ourselves drift off it truly felt like stumbling into an undiscovered utopia. Sublime music of the cosmic hippy kind that will lead you to a more serene and hopeful world. A field guide to inner harmony indeed.
Wganda Kenya – Africa 5.000 (Vampi Soul)
Much welcome reissue of the cult Africa 5.000 LP, originally released on the legendary Disco Fuentes by their in house studio group spearheaded by “Fruko’ Estrada. The relentless groove of Tifit Hayed, an Afro-latin-cosmic monster of a tune, has been a firm favourite ever since it was included by Soundway on the seminal 2007 comp Colombia! (The Golden Age Of Discos Fuentes, The Powerhouse Of Colombian Music 1960-76). This is included on the album, on top of seven other dance-floor heaters, staring with the epic ‘La Torta’, Wganda Kenya’s attempt at doing 𝘬𝘰𝘯𝘱𝘢 based on Les Loups Noirs’s Afro-Haitian cosmic bomb ‘La Sirène’, one of my favourite Haitian tune ever (which says a lot!). Bim!As good as it sounds really. Then you get “Fiebre De Lepra”, a wild fusion of funky wah wah, crazy organ, makossa baseline and bonkers vocals. Yep. And that’s only the A side, while the flip is also filled with Afro-Latin funk groovers. Unmissable!
And on that note, that will be me for 2022. Till next year.
2022 was the year when parties started to be regular again, with no more lockdowns or pandemics in the way. We were able to plan ahead and host monthly Beauty & the Beat, bi-monthly All Our Friends, go to festivals and even to carnival, which hadn’t happened since 2019.
So many highlights to recall, from waving The Yard goodbye (mahalo for the good times!) and calling The Baths our new permanent home for BATB, with both the space and freedom to refine the sound and listening experience, to hosting a legendary double NYE/NYD party with Electric Jalaba playing an extended cosmic gnawa set on the system on NYD, to finding a great new spot for AOF and having fantastic guests at every party, to some incredible times at Gala, Houghton, We Out Here and carnival!
A rather intense year on the party front, but perhaps the memories that that will linger on the longest will once again be those from Jaminaround, our now traditional pilgrimage to thatEarthouse in Dorset. Special place, special people and oh so treasurable moments. There’s simply nothing like dancing around the fire, in such an awe inspiring space and with the most amazing people around. Mystical, magical times, and easily the most important date in the calendar. Let’s just hope we can carry on doing this for many years to come.
On the live music front, we were graced by the Sélène Saint-Aimé trio in the intimate settings of brilliant corners, a gig I’d be working hard behind the scenes to make happen for over a year. From the very first hit of the bélè drum (played by Boris Reine-Adélaïde) there was an air of awe and reverence in the room which lingered on until the very last note. Such a magical evening – don’t miss her if she comes in a venue near you! Gilles P. was in the room and instantly booked the band for Worldwide Festival Sète. Whoop whoop!
On a glorious early summer excursion to Peckham, Joe Armon-Jones inna dub jazz stylee, Nu Genea at sunsetand Sons of Kemet made for the perfect day at Gala festival, with the latter stealing the show on the Giant Steps stage. Witnessing live their fiery brand of militant jazz is truly an incredible experience to be part of, their most unique line up (two drummers, one tuba, one saxophone) allowing both Shabaka Hutchins and Theon Cross for spectacular fireworks throughout their set, just unlike anything I’ve seen or heard before. Sadly the band has declared they were calling it quits after ten years together, which made that gig even more special.
The return to Houghton after three years of no show fell on the hottest weekend of the year, the land as dry as the Nevada desert, dust a plenty and water a rarity. Extreme conditions which didn’t encourage us from straying far from the Giant Steps oasis, not that this changed much compare to previous years. Outside of a much welcome new chill out live stage at the back of the woods, I wish there were much more live action to see, and a proper main stage to speak of with proper acts and music. As it stood the GS yurt was still the main and almost unique attraction for our tribe. I had the immense pleasure to play a sunrise set on the Saturday from 6:00 to 7:30am, a truly special moment which I’ll often refer to in my below list of highlights of the year.
It was my first time at We Out Here and what a great surprise that was. The vibe, the people, the cross generational melting pot, the incredible energy in the Lemon Lounge and Love Dancin’ tents, the eclecticism on display… The programming of the live acts especially was right on point, with a bijou Danley sound system on the main stage and memorable performances from BCUC and UR (more on that in the ‘Revival’ section below). Full points to the organisers for putting on such a spectacular event, oozing with love and passion and zero BS to be heard anywhere.
On a personal note it was also the year which saw not one but two releases of projects dear to my heart and which I’d been deeply involved in: Lèspri Ka and Excursions In Gwoka Vol. 1, both of which I’ve written at length about already (follow the links), and both of which received a lot of love (the 12″ is long sold out and Lèspri Ka even made it to the best reissues of 2022 chart in Pan African Music). Given how difficult it has become to produce a small run of records, this is a small win in itself! Incidentally I was invited to speak about the comp live on air on Bintou Simpore‘s legendary Neo Geo show on Radio Nova, which is also pretty cool!
Which leads me to my favourite music podcast of 2022, La Danse du Zèbre, a retrospective on 40 years of Radio Nova, one podcast for each year between 1981 and 2021. The station wasn’t influential for me growing up (I wasn’t in Paris), but having spent a few formative years in a radio associative myself, and with personalities as unique and bonkers as Jean François Bizot, Rémy Kolpa-Kopoul, Jamel Debouzze, Rachid Taha or Edouard Baer mixing it up with just about every important artist and musician of the day who popped up on the airwaves at some point or another, this makes for equally fun and fascinating listening. The station was really at the heart of everything, defining trends and anticipating the global eclecticism of later years with their groundbreaking sono mondiale. The incredible freestyle between NTM and Assassin during Dee Nasty’s show is the stuff of legends (that’s year 1989), which you can also watch as part of the great mini series about the birth of hip hop in France, Le Monde de Demain (available on Netflix under the name Reign Supreme).
Add to this the ever insightful and often hilarious podcast Love is the Message: Music, the Dance Floor and Counterculture ran by Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert (which I raved about last year and continue to do so) and my commutes to work were never ever dull!
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Last but not least, cookies and berries: I seem to have spent even more time than before digging for music, old and new, often within my own crates (!), and I’m uploading many of these finds on my YT channel. Mostly Caribbean stuff but not only, though 90% of the material falls under the la dance cosmique bracket. Look up for the #ladansecosmique, as well as the playlist to which I add tracks daily (1432 songs so far).
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And finally… onto the m.u.s.i.c with my favourite tunes of the year (albums and reissue will follow in a later post).
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Favourite tunes of ’22 (7”s, 12”s, album cuts, reissues – strangely no 10”s this year)
As per tradition, rather than a regular chart I’m listing these tunes in an order that should make sense if playing these back to back in a party situation, from first record to last, loosely following the three bardos.
Chip Wickham – ‘Sais’ (Gondwana Records)
Flautist and saxophonist Chip Wickman, whose 2020 Blue to Red cosmic jazz LP for Lovemonk was one my favourite of that year, has now moved to Gondwana and released covers of three seminal Lonnie Liston Smith cuts, ‘Astral Travelling,’ ‘Sais,’ and ‘Peaceful Ones’. Adhering to both LLS and Matthew Halsall’s ethos, the vibe is full on cosmico spiritual, life energy channelling through music. All cuts are great but ‘Sais’ is my favourite one, oozing with spiralling synth and psychedelic warmth.
As a bonus, this 12” had the added merit of making me revisit LL Smith’s original, which was itself already a cover of a Mtume’s song – two masterpieces in their own way. While James Mtume sadly passed away in 2022, Lonnie Liston Smith is still well alive and saw his first two albums, Astral Travelling and Cosmic Funk, get a much needed proper reissue treatment in 2022.
Carlos Niño & Friends – ‘Actually’ (International Anthem)
A cosmic bubbly head nodder from the Carlos Niño camp, featuring Jamael Dean on synths, Deantoni Parks on drums and Nate Mercereau on bass, taking us on a subaquatic odyssey to the island of dreams. As featured onExtra Presence, one of 2022’s very best album release.
Deep and haunting atmospheric dub, which makes you feel like floating in space through sound wave levitation. It sounds like it could have come out of the early 90s UK from the likes of Alpha & Omega, but apparently this is previously unreleased material from LA based reggae drummer Shakaman. One for the floaters out there.
Haunting melo-metalic 𝘥𝘶𝘣–𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘬 from the Ruf camp on a great little 7”. Somehow seems to have gone below the radar but in my book that’s a total keeper – just wait for the second half. Top year for the Dug, what with that other 12” and his NTS show winning some radio award. Respect sir!
Carlinhos Cardozo – ‘Salve O Morro Dub’ (Local Dish)
Brazil meets Jamaica outta Canada in a dubbed out 𝘕𝘺𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘩𝘪 mystical style. Recorded and pressed on a super limited lathe 7” by the great Toronto label Local Dish records. Heavy! Alongside Turning Point these two labels have been putting out some incredible music over the past couple years. The whole catalogue is worth checking, starting with Debbie Gaskin’s fiery disco cut “Feel the Fire“, also from 2022.
Ruf Dug feat. Private Joy – ‘Don’t Give In’ (International Feel)
Big tune alert! A 90s UK street soul throwback which was unsurprisingly massive with all the Balearic heads, aperol spritz sippers and DJH forum members alike (glad to see this resurrected by the way, even if I haven’t managed to engage yet, let alone – and most importantly – to find my avatar), but not only. Ruffy’s silky slick production coupled with Private Joy’s timeless delivery give the track the “instant classic” stamp, in both its streetsoul and reggae versions.
Double A side winner from Philophon, the always impeccable German/Ghana label which I’ve been following since day one (2014), already with Alogte Oho Jonas and his Sounds Of Joy and the song Zota Yinne, which remains a huge favourite to this day. Both tracks are amazing on this latest 7”, though it’s the reggae stepper meets frafra gospel ‘Gure Yose Me’ which I’ve played the most – sounded incredible when dropped right after a cavernous Tubby dub at a pre carnival special set in brilliant corners last August. Tip!
Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – ‘Hastane Önü’ & ‘Haydar Haydar’ (Bongo Joe Records)
This trans-continental band became a BATB favourite following the release of their first EP, Nem Kaldıback in 2017. The new EP DOST 1 followed up on those pre(o)mises, with references to The Doors (‘The Trip’), west coast US psych, and Anatolian folk heroes, offering us a rich mix of global funk led by Yıldırım’shaunting vocal melodies and hypnotic bağlama (a long-necked lute used in traditional Turkish folk music), on a bedrock of cosmic synths.
So far so very good, until you get flipped over by the poignant, goosebumps-inducing balladHaydar Haydar, with its lysergic noir atmosphere a la Mazzy Star, and bythe stupendousHastane Önü, a modern psychedelic soul beauty of a tune which was clearly designed for BATB’s dance-floor. I certainly couldn’t get enough of it and played it everywhere I could. Sounded like heaven at Jaminaround. Add to this the infectiousDeniz Dalgasız Olmaz, and a cosmic sunrise closer, and surely we have the EP of the year!
Double A side 7” of summery goodness from the Periodica team, flipping from Sting circa ‘Englishman…’- influenced Italo-reggae-pop to the typical laid back funk that’d become associated with the Napoli sound. Borderline cheese, but the very good (Balearic) kind.
Cheb Tahar – ‘Zina Zina’ (Bongo Joe/Sofa Records)
More Algerian raï greatness from the 1980s unearthed from cassettes by Sofa Records and Bongo Joe. With killer synths and a hypnotic digi reggae groove, the hit ‘Zina Zina’ is an absolute delight to dance to, while the 12” also features Rachid Baba’s ‘Racine’, an unlikely instrumental cosmic disco nugget which would have surely pleased Baldelli and the likes.
Children rhymes, acoustic guitar, hip hop beat and changing tempo – what’s not to like! A super cool tune which caught Silvia’s ear on first listen and was subsequently played to wild acclaim at brilliant corners, BATB and AOF. Part of yet another fantastic album by the Wau Wau Collectif, an intercontinental project between musicians in Senegal and Sweden, also included in my 2022 charts.
One of the most ubiquitous tunes of the year, a killer broken beat/jazz dance party starter which celebrates the freedom of letting go and being in the moment. As the lyrics go, “just get up and dance.”
Irresistible jazz-funk stepper, produced circa 1975 by Lloyd L Harris Jr and featuring a cast of obscure female musicians and performers from the New Orleans area. Hypnotic groove, Rhodes, clavinet, shimmering horns, talking congas, psyched electronics and lyrics about flying away, all the ingredients of an instant (lost) classic, as certified on AOF’s dance-floor.
Cruisic – ‘Pacific-707′ (Flower Records)
Another year another killer Japanese cover of a presumably untouchable classic (remember Whistle Song by Reggae Disco Rockers in 2021), this time by Cruisic, a duo which, judging from a quick glimpse at their discography, seems to specialise in these. Here they turn the 808 State trans-generational anthem into a cosmic-space-age-jazz-fusion nugget, complete with everyone’s favourite loon birds and tropical wildlife samples. As cool as and as balearic as it sounds, a summer ’89 anthem brilliantly turned into a summer ’22 anthem.
Played circa 7am during an unforgettable sunrise set at Houghton last year, the sun peeping through the yurt filled with dancing cosmonauts. Big memories! On the flip the 4Beat Club version is perhaps even more impressive as it reworks and reinvents the track for the jazz dance massive. Huge 7”!
Alex Figueira – ‘Juicy’ / Aprende (Music with Soul)
Killer double A side 7” from Alex “one-man funk band” Figueira, a Portuguese-Venezuelan percussionist, producer and DJ living in Amsterdam and self dubbed “hardest working man in the tropical music biz”. Acoustic piano, steel drums, conga solos, melodica are all in there, mixing flavours in an addictive fusion of Caribbean styles: calypso jazz, forró, guaguancó, reggae,… ‘Aprende’ sounded so good around the fire at Jaminaround!
Gigi Testa – ‘Blue Ocean’ (Rush Hour)
Superb EP from one of Naples’ unheralded heroes, who’s been quietly releasing dope electronic music in various shades and colours over the years, often on his own World Peace Music label. I loved his Rio Grande 12” (both versions) from 2010 and I love even more this new EP, especially ‘Blue Ocean’, a laid back tropical jazz funk beauty which sounds like a cross between Sun Palace and K&TG’s ’Summer Madness’. Pure tropical cosmic bliss, perfect for sunrise, sunset, and all the hours in between. The calypso tinged Neopolitan funk Guayaba on the flip is also splendido, as is the dreamy Balearic cut ‘Moments in Time’, making the release a fantastic addition to the trusted Rush Hour Jam series.
Extra special release for many reasons. First of all it features ‘Koultans’, the unlikely zouk/flamenco cut unearthed by master digger Niko Skliris and which Hunee had been susbsequently rinsing ever since he got hold of a copy. I was there on both occasions in the summer 2017 when he played the track three times at Giant Steps and then again in Houghton at sunrise in the middle of a techno set. It’s quite simply one of the most stunning pieces of music I know, song, groove, production, pressing, everything is just perfect. Hello Mr John! I had my copy already from Niko, but at least this masterpiece is now available for everyone. Furthermore, what an honour to be featured in the liner notes by Hunee himself as an inspiration which “re-calibrated my sense of experiencing and dancing to music” after being in the room at brilliant corners during my Freedom Suite in the summer of 2019. One to treasure for my mum and my grandchildren.
Joyce – ‘Feminina’(Produced Arranged And Conducted By Claus Ogerman) (Far Out Recordings)
Massive 12” alert! The eleven minute version of ‘Feminina’, produced and arranged by Claus Ogerman in 1977 for the album Natureza which for some reason was never released (and is now forthcoming on Far Out). We all know and love the short version from the 1980 album of the same name, but frankly this is quite something, a full dose of psychedelic sunshine soul medicine!
Jose Marquez, the producer already responsible for a pair of bona fide BATB classics with his remixes of (Afro-Colombian) La Mezcla and (North African) Gnawa, has now turned his attention to Brazil and more specifically Guinu, reworking the slick Brazilian jazz-funk of the original track into a percussion-heavy, nicely cosmic Afro-Latin house burner. This came late in the year and I haven’t had the chance to test it in situ yet, but I have no doubt this will become a future classic.
Gaoulé Mizik – A Ka Titine (Kay Suzuki Gwoka Dub) (Beauty & the Beat)
Kay Suzuki’s monster remix of ‘A Ka Titine’, inna sound-system stylee, was finally released this year, rightly becoming ubiquitous across discerning dance-floors and festivals everywhere. I’ve written at length about the genesis of this 12” already, so I’ll just add that with the track being praised by the likes of François K and becoming a staple at the Loft in both NYC and London, the circle (of my journey through dance music) somewhat feels completed. All hail to Kay-san on this one, and very much looking forward to the next chapter.
Esnard Boisdur – ‘Défencè (COEO edit)’ (Resista)
More classic gwoka (from one of Guadeloupe’certified maîtres ka and one of its most instantly recogonisable voice, Esnard Boisdur) given a modern re-rub, this time on a more conventional cosmic deep house tip. It’s a banger nonetheless, really well done and respectful to the original. I played it a lot last year, it’s one of those records you always need in your bag, as you can either play it within a house section or you can use it as a transition between genres. Probably not legit but a banger anyways, which makes it the second Boisdur remix to become a classic, after Africaine 808‘s killer update of ‘Mizik Bel‘ from a few years back.
Hamed Farras – ‘Chef, C’est Pas Moi (Lipelis Remix)’ (Sentinel Island Disco)
Alpha Blondy vibes all this way on this golden Ivorian reggae nugget from 1991, unearthed by Sentinel Island Disco out of the Netherlands. The original track is fantastic to start with but the remix by revered producer Lipelis takes it to a whole other level. Deep, groovy, melodic, dreamy –tailor made for the BATB dance-floor.
A flat house beat, an acoustic kora and a Fela sample are all you need to create some serious euphoria on the floor. Apparently this had been rinsed for years by Acid Pauli before it finally received an official release. Such a perfectly executed, universally loved feel good anthem; not quite the same heights as Joe Claussell’s seminal remix of Amadou & Mariam’s Bara, but on a very similar tip.
“Let’s start what we have come into the room to do
Right on
Here goes…”
Peven Everett– ‘Heat Up’ (Groovin Recording)
When on form the ultra prolific Chicago producer Peven Everett is at the very top of my list of favourite purveyors of deep, funky, soulful house music. There’s the all time classic ‘Gabriel’ of course, there’s ‘I Can’t Believe I Loved Her’ but there’s especially ‘Easy Livin’ (Lava mix)’, a tune I’ve been rinsin’ at BATB since day one (2005!). ‘Heat Up’ is on a very similar tip, an irresistible uptempo soul banger that is, originally released in 2010 but almost impossible to find until this timely reissue. So so good.
Always such a treat to hear Omar, and furthermore with an absolute banger of a tune! A sound that never gets old, like a long lost Chicago house classic, with an insanely good production by The Maghreban, whose Connection LP (from which ‘Waiting’ is taken from) also features at the top of my ’22 charts. One to look out for for real.
Mike Huckaby – ‘The Jazz Republic’ (Back to Life)
Classic deep house groove from Detroit, with this 1997 cut from one of the unheralded masters of the genre who sadly departed in 2020. Pure rhythm and soul, pure vibes, pure house music, Moodymann, roller rinks and all that.
Omar S ♥ Desire – ‘54321 (vocal mix)’ (FXHE Records)
Heavy Detroit underground soul from one of the city’s most prolific and consistent producers, here teaming up with Italian Do It Better’s Desire to create a nine minute, take no prisoner, raw underground banger. Play at your own risk!
“When The Lights Go Down
We Go Underground
Meet Me There
You Know Where
It’s A New Number
54321”
Richard Sen – ‘My Definition Of Funk’ (Public Release)
Big room, peak time business from my old buddy Rich, a (sigh) veteran on the scene still at the very top of the game. Some must remember Padded Cell and their mighty remix of LCD Soundsystem’s 45:33 which did some serious damage at the Loft, alongside their remix of Sly Mongoose’s Bad Pulse which I remember giving to David Mancuso when it came out (2007) – David loved it so much he ended up playing it every time. Back to‘My Definition of Funk’ and I can’t believe how good it is, raw electronic machine funk restrained to its bear bones, inna UR stylee. A very good definition indeed, which comes with a great cosmic funk variant on the flip (Social Science), alongside a floaty mid tempo breakbeat thingy which is equally dope. Full points Mr Sen.
Onegram – ‘Trans Europe Express (Masanori Ikeda remix)’ (Flower Records)
And make it two in the killer-cheeky-Japanese-cover-of-a-classic section, with yet another ace 7” hitting all the right buttons and managing to give new life and perspectives to a well loved classic – a classic amongst classics no less. Both versions are equally great, the original cover a super slick and floaty jazz funk rendition complete with wah wah and scorching saxophone that suddenly shifts gear halfway through, while on the flip Masanori Ikeda’s kills it on the remix with a vintage TR-808 house beat and the most unexpected free jazz interlude on the break. Sounded every bit as bonkers as it should in the wee hours of Jaminaround.
Stimela – ‘I Love You’ (Mr Bongo)
A rather irresistible cosmic boogie beauty from South Africa, first discovered thanks to Jeremy Spellacey via his awesome Crown Ruler Sound comp from a few years back, and now lovingly reissued on a loud 12” by Mr Bongo. Hypnotic mid tempo groove and bubbly synth a gogo, a sound and vibe I absolutely adore and a tune which has grown into one of my favourite instrumental boogie ever. Played both at Houghton and on NYE, this one will never stray far from the bag.
Two of my favourite and most played tracks of the year came from the same 12”, released by the inevitable Chuggy on Emotional Response. Nagase is a producer from Japan who seems to have made his own the African Acid is the Future motto. Both tracks feature sampled African chants mixed with acid b lines and a cosmic chug of a groove, a formula which is usually risky at best, but which when crafted to perfection like here has proven irresistible on the floor. Two modern balearic bangers, both Silvia Gin certified which have given us so much joy already and become staples in the magic hours on BATB and AOF’s dance-floors.
Originally released in 2019 on Zisling’s Expanse album, The Sky Sings has been turned into a dance floor winner by Obas Nenor, who transformed the beautiful but relatively laid back jazz-funk original into an extended disco dub beauty, rightly bringing the infectious vocals upfront in the mix. Played at the right time (circa 3am) this is real Balearic communion-on-the-dance-floor type of track. If you’re after the vinyl, this is hidden on a True Thoughts comp (Shapes: Spectrum) which contains some other worthy bits.
Super cool remix by Tornado Wallace, a smooth breakbeat balearic rendition of a techno stomper by Germany’s Eira Haul. Deep and floaty, organic and groovy, the tune has all the trademarks of the Australian producer, very much a specialist in the realm of outdoor ravey dance music. I would have loved to hear that blasted from the forest stages of both Houghton and WOH, which would no doubt have gone down well alongside this other outdoor breakbeaty ravey beauty also released by Wallace this year, Sea Translation. Just saying.
DJ Python – ‘Club Sentimientos Vol 2′ (Incensio)
Deep reggaeton anyone? Two words one would never have thought to associate, until DJ Python came along with his introspective take on the ubiquitous dance music genre. With his idiosyncratic way of blending ambient soundscapes with breakbeats, IDM and, yep, reggaeton (or rather the dembow rhythm associated with the genre), the genius of DJ Python lies in translating that relentless thump into something altogether heady and ethereal. On both TMMD (IMMMD) and Club Sentimiental Vol Three for instance, the space and textures that hover between the rhythms are brought to the fore, as important as the beats themselves.
Angel on the flip is a gentle swell of a tune which grabs you from the start and doesn’t let go for nearly 11 minutes of airy, floaty dance music which should delight all the dreamers out there. It should come as no surprise to hear – all time hero – Plaid being evoked on all three tracks, an act whose influence on the younger generation of electronic music producers continues to spread every year. An unlikely fusion of genres which I absolutely adore.
Alien Mutation – ‘Starship Heart Of Gold’ (Transmigration)
Space is definitely the place on these two slices of psychedelic ambient produced through a Goa trance filter by Jake Stephenson and originally released in 1994 on his own Ambient Space Acid (!) label. A scene I know virtually nothing about and of which I am so grateful for the current revival trend led by Berlin’s Transmigration and the likes. Both sides are equally good. One for the early-morning-after-the-night-before shenanigans.
Timely reissue of the infamous Psychotronic EP, the first release on the legendary hardcore and jungle label Moving Shadow in 1991, and arguably the finest example of the bleep & breaks sound that combined the weighty bass and bleeps of turn-of-the-90s Yorkshire techno with the crunchy breakbeats associated with early London breakbeat hardcore. Just like Goa trance it’s a scene I was nowhere near at the time (except for seeing Orbital live at Borealis circa 1997) and it’s fantastic to discover decades later that some of these jewels’ aesthetic fits perfectly with BATB’s deep dance music with a psychedelic soul ethos. Shades of Orbital are evoked on “Over 92”, a sub heavy yet deliciously lysergic shuffler, while the alien-sounding electro-bleep creepiness “No Idea” is one for the head strong only! Lovely piece off history right there!
“The doors are where the windows should be, and the windows are where the doors should be”
Ugné & Maria – ‘Into Orbit’ (Gems Under The Horizon)
Gritty broken techno beats and spaced-out atmospherics on this cool, late night gem from the Lithuanian duo. Unearthed by the aptly titled Gems Under the Horizon label and part of a faultless 12” which also features the ethereal beauties ‘Vigo’ by &apos and ‘No Vacation’ by Salamanda. One for the all round morning troopers, head nodders and floaters alike.
Ron Trent presents WARM – ‘Melt Into You’ (Night Time Stories)
Relance/re-entry time with possibly my favourite tune of 2022, nicely nested within my favourite album of 2022. Yep the new Ron Trent LP was a modern masterpiece, which I’m getting deeper into in my Albums review, and I already know that when I listen back to that album in 10 years the memories will evoke a time capsule from 2022.
‘Melt Into You’ is a collab with Azymuth’s Alex Malheiros, a magic hour tune with a groove and sensuality to die for. A tune which I simply couldn’t get enough of, played at Houghton during sunrise, in the magic hour of NYE, and at pretty much every party in between, sometimes alternated with Flos Potentia (Sugar, Cotton, Tabacco), a mesmerising late night psychedelic disco tune made in collaboration with Khruangbin which reminded me of Tiago’s unheralded remix of Isle of Tearsfrom nearby a decade ago.
Vusinator – ‘It’s Never Too Late’ and King Jazz – ‘Lockdown’ (NTS)
Both tracks were featured on the Amapiano Now comp released by NTS which focused on the defining sound of the South African underground scene of today. Lots to love in there, but the pick of the crop for me were the deepest (aforementioned) cuts, both instrumentals and on a rather mellow and introspective mood, away from the big room. Built around a trademark log-drum groove, the deep house influence and jazz-inflected keys take these two tracks apart, equally at home within a 6 hr + cosmic ambient mix for my folks as on BATB’s dance floor on NYD.
Alex Kassian – ‘Strings Of Eden (Garden mix)’ (Pinchy & Friends)
Following his release of Spirit of Eden in 2021, Kassian followed up with a superb update, pitched down to a more Balearic-friendly pace, with – as hinted by the title update – the strings coming to the fore to be glued in your mind even more. A most inspired and welcome rework which was incredibly bettered by LA based arranger, composer and string wizard (and oft Carlos Nino associate, check 2020’s sublime Chicago Waves LP) Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, whomanaged to steal the show with his Garden mix on the B side. Truly magnificent stuff, to the point that nothing can be played after that. Funeral song material.
✿.｡.:* ☆:**:. ♪ .:**:.☆*.:｡.✿
REVIVALS
An integral part of the music year, as always: tunes and artists that were revived and paid tribute to in 2022.
PHAROAH SANDERS
The prince of peace passed away in 2022, leaving us with an incomparable legacy of love and beauty through music. Sadly I missed his (last ever) set at WOH as I had to dash back to London for a pre carnival gig at bc, but the man had already left an indelible trace on me and pretty much all the music heads I know around me.
Starting from the Origin… Pharoah to me will forever be associated with Plastic People. I’ve written at length already about the seminal ‘Balance’ nights, which we religiously attended every Saturday between 2000 and 2007. Amongst all the classics (‘Life on Mars’, ‘Umi Says’, ‘Cascavel’, ‘Eu Sou Como Você É’, …), the one that best embodies what the night was about is undoubtedly Pharoah’s ‘Got to have Freedom’. Week in week out, without fail, we learned inside out what is possibly THE best jazz dance tune of all time, a unique combination of a relentless groove laid out by Joe Hicks (piano) and Idris Muhammad (drums), Pharoah’s life-affirming saxophone wail (such a singular moment of emotional intensity) and timeless positive lyrics. Pure exhilarating joy which works its magic on the floor every single time. We even had the blessing of being there on during that legendary NYE 2001, when Pharaoh played ‘WGTHF’ live at midnight, a once in a lifetime moment that will be forever cherished (as is his performance at the Jazz Cafe a few years later for what possibly remains the best live gig I’ve ever witnessed).
On a side personal note, I will forever remember one of the very first times I did the warm up at Balance (early 2001), when I decided it was a good idea to play some Pharoah early doors… turned out Ade was not impressed, telling me something along the lines of “I don’t invite you to play what I could better play myself”. A very important lesson that stayed with me and helped me grow as a DJ and (don’t try to please or copy anyone, be yourself!). Flash forward to BATB October 2022, barely a week after Pharoah’s passing, not trying to please anyone but myself, and I played not one but seven Pharoah songs at BATB, including four at peak time, three in a row (‘Nigerian Juju Higlife’, ‘Bailophone Dance’ and ‘Pharomba’), ‘WGTHF’ a bit later, with Cyril having played ‘Tomoki’ as well. I joked afterwards that we could easily have played Pharoah all night, but I wasn’t far off!
The queen of tropicalia also departed in 2022, an absolute legend who left us with a discography overflowing with treasures across the MPB (Música popular brasileira) spectrum. Her passing roughly coincided with me finishing the (fascinating) Caetano Veloso’s autobiography’ Tropical Truth – A Story of Music and Revolution in Brazil, in which he describes Gal as the embodiment of the movement’s adoption of personal freedom in politics, music, and lifestyle. A must watch also is the Tropicalia doc (available on YT), starting with Gal Costa’s dramatic performance of ‘Divino, maravilhoso’ at the peak of the tropicalia movement (1968): that fierce delivery was a revelation and a pivotal moment in Costa’s career.
A song I’ve rediscovered and subsequently played a lot was Bahia De Todas As Contas, a lesser known MPB winner from 1983, alongside perennial favourites ‘Milho Verde’ and ‘Relance’, the latter a totally bonkers and relentless cosmic funk groove (complete with bonkers TV performance to boot) which goes perfectly (in a twisted, lysergic mind) with Tom Ze’s equally bonkers ‘Xique Xique‘.
And let us not forget of course, ‘Baby’, one of the most beautiful love songs ever, which sounded like heaven as the penultimate song at All Our Friends in November.
UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE
A gig I didn’t miss at WOH is Underground Resistance, the highlight of a festival that featured so many. Led by Jon Dixon on synths, the latest iteration of UR also featured a turntablist and a saxophone player and literally floored everyone. Motor City sounds through and through, sounding fatter than ever on the bijou Danley rig (never heard a sound system sounding so huge and so clean on such a scale before). Techno-jazz a la Galaxy 2 Galaxy vs machine-soul-funk a la UR for a total rampage of a set, no prisoners taken whatsoever. The only downer being that the rest of the night felt – somewhat unavoidably – flat afterwards.
Only a month earlier, our good friend Henry Keen (aka The Room Below, one half of Soundspecies)had played Galaxy 2 Galaxy’s ‘Journey of the Dragons’ to rapturous applause at Jaminaround, reminding everyone how deep and funky those Detroit cats are. This in turn led me to pull out that double 12” and subsequently play ‘Rhythm Of Infinity’ at BATB, albeit at 33 instead of 45, which I’m only finding out now. I’m usually not one to enjoy records played at the wrong speed, but in this case, just wow! This reminds me of that other record which sounds (much much) better at 33 than 45, the entire side C and side D of Charanjit Singh‘s groundbreaking Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat, of which I recently uploaded Raga Bairagi on my YT channel. (#ladansecosmique ☺️)
Sun Palace – ‘Rude Movements (Moodymann remix)’ (bbe)
The original version of ‘Rude Movements’ is invariably up there in the top 3 of my favourite tracks of all time. It was played during my first – life changing – acid trip at a party thrown by Loft members in a Chelsea bunker in NYC at the turn of the century, and 1000 listens later I am still in awe of what this song does to me. Words are meaningless when trying to express the unparalleled beauty of this song, except for saying that this is my definition of nirvana in music.
With that in mind I was never even interested in listening to the bunch of remixes put out by bbe a couple years ago, and despite the hype around it I simply ignored it. Then I eventually stumbled upon the Moodymann remix when played by Zakia on her NTS show, and I was instantly converted. Moodymann, being the don that he is, gave the song a new life I never believed was needed, making it a KDJ tune while fully respecting the depth and flow of the original. That break just kills me every time. A boss of a remix, which I’ve ended up playing a few times this year, including on NYE.
Sophie Lloyd feat. Dames Brown – ‘Calling Out’ (Classic)
There is only a limited amount of recent vocal house tunes that can claim “classic” status, but if the floor reactions circa 3am at BATB’s NYE party are anything to go by, 2018’s ‘Calling Out’ most definitely belongs to that category. There are a few remixes floating around but it’s all about the original really, uplifting gospel house at its very best and a bona fide crossover anthem from the basement to the main room. To file next to “Stand on the Word”, The Clark Sisters’ “Ha-Ya (Eternal Life)”, Karizma’s “Work It Out” or Robin S’ “I Want to Thank You”.
The acclaimed Queen of mutuashi (a sensual dance native to her Luba tribe in Congo) also passed away in 2022. She was a legendary figure In Congo, where she was affectionately called Mamu (Mother) National. There, she was mostly known for the song ‘Karibu Yangu’ as well as for her feminist stance and her commitment to the national and African cause. She spent her career carrying ancestral cultural values and mixing them with styles like rumba, soukous and even western influences when she lived in Paris during the bubbling melting pot that were the 80s and 90s.
In the rest of the world she is mostly known for ‘Lekela Muadi’, an irresistible Afro-Cuban beauty of a tune from 1996 (produced by no less than Boncana Maïga) on which she connects the mutuashi rhythm with the Cuban son, and which became an international hit. That’s how I discovered her (this song will forever have a special place for me), and over the years I made sure I bought her LPs every time I came across one. They are not especially rare and there are always some incredible tunes to be found. ‘Amina’, ‘Mbombo’, ‘Tshebele’, ‘Tshibola’, ‘Biduaya’ are some of the favourites I’ve played regularly over the years, not forgetting the irresistible ‘Dezo Dezo’, an Afro zouk banger which I’ve played at peak time on NYE.
Rest in power and big 🙏🏽 for the music.
Meredith Monk – ‘Do You Be’ (ECM)
Houghton festival circa 7am on the hottest weekend of the year, the sun already pretty high in the sky and peeping in the Giant Steps oasis. Meredith “the bird woman” Monk is coming to the party. I had always dreamed about finding the right time and setting to play this, and that moment finally came to me, right after FK’s remix of Nina Simone’s ‘Here Comes the Sun’. Memories for life.
Olivia Newton-John – ‘Jolene’ (Tom Bullock edit)
Cheeky edit from Mr Bullock, who added snippets from The Blues Brothers and turned everyone’s favourite country song into an ultimate energy raiser. As played at Houghton during the very last hour of the festival on Sunday morning – grown men crying and all that. Rest in power Olivia.
Souls of Mischief – ’93 ’Til Infinity’ (Jive)
Everyone loves that trans-generational golden age hip hop anthem to bits. Instant goosebump inducing stuff (which might be one of the very few hip hop tunes with that rare quality), which sounded right on point at Silvia’s 30th b’day (yep, 1993 baby) on NYD.
Ti L’Afrique – ‘Soul Sock Séga’ (Soundway)
Twisted, wobbly funk banger with haunting vocals, aka the bonkers sound of Ti L’Afrique, founder of the 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘴𝘦𝘨𝘢 musical genre from Mauritius. The tune was reissued by both Strut and Bongo Joe a few years ago, and somehow found its way on many a dance-floor in 2022. Psychedelic funk madness ensuing every time. Anyone with aclue about what that spooky instrument is, please reach out 😳
Jocelyn Moka & Kassav – ‘Mizik Maladi’ (Debs)
Another year another new old Kassav favourite, this time in the form of a Caribbean cosmic disco banger. A groove to die for, haunting vocals (and a rap verse!) from my favourite Kassav singer Jocelyn Moka, and lyrics about being addicted to music. So deep, so emotional, so pure – I live for this.
Le Mistral – La Police, l’ambulance et pompié dérôe
THE gwoka tune of the year for me, a straight-up tumblak from Sartana’s Le Mistral. A rhythm as hypnotic and driving as they come, which destroyed many a dance floor last year, and quite particularly brilliant corners’ on a pre carnival set.
“Allez vous coucher les enfants”
KLAUS SCHULZE / MANUEL GÖTTSCHING
The two kraut rock titans both departed this planet only a few months apart in 2022, leaving us with a legacy of seminal, timeless cosmic explorations which still sound ahead of their time 40+ year after their initial releases. Tracks like Transfer Blue Station, Druck and of course ‘E2 E4’ are ultimate masterpieces of what can be achieved when technology, talent, musicianship and visionary minds collide at a moment i time. Landmark tunes which sonically are like the finest caviar for an audiophile sound system. The first two were played at BATB, alongside Joe Claussell’s remix of Ashra’s ‘Ain’t no Time for Tears’ (an all time BATB classic which Jem played just after Pharoah on NYE), ‘Tango-Saty’, and Baldelli’s rework of Ashra’s ‘Shuttlecock’.
Buffalo Springfield – For What It’s Worth
At BATB in February ’22, we somehow mixed up the numbers at the door and let way too many people in. At some point the room was way too packed that you could barely move on the floor, let alone have a dance. Russia had just declared war on Ukraine and the mood was electric. I was on last and thought I’d seize the opportunity to play a few anti war anthems. Digital Mystic‘s ‘Anti-War dub‘ and Zao‘s ‘Ancien Combattant‘ went down a treat, but the real moment was when I dropped ‘For What It’s Worth.’ It seemed like the whole room started to sing along and hug each other in a rare moment of unisson that night. Phew. Music is love.
VANGELIS
Last but not least, Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou, aka Vangelis, yet another genius cosmonaut who also decided to depart in 2022. ‘Multi-Track Suggestion’, ‘Who’ ‘State of Independance’ are all part of the BATB/AOF repertoire (the latter being played as the last song at BATB’s May party).
And there is ‘Let It Happen’, one of the most beautiful cosmic love songs ever recorded.
The last race report I wrote dates back to nearly four years, November 2018 to be precise, for a rather simple reason: I haven’t pinned a race number since. What with being well settled in the (wrong) side of my forties, I admittedly didn’t expect to ever do this again, but yet here I come with a new blog post about a triathlon race.
In early April this year, when I first got word of an Xterra taking place in Super Besse, on the very slopes where I learned to ski as a kid, I immediately thought that it was about time Xterra explored the spectacular terrain my beloved Auvergne region has to offer. Despite having run and mountain biked my way in quite a few idyllic spots across the globe, I’ve always known that the volcanic trails on offer across the chaîne des Puys could compare favourably with those to be found in off road meccas such as Rotorua (NZ), Scanno (Italy) or Whistler (Canada). Home is where the heart is you see, and the good trails too!
The seed was planted, the occasion too good to pass, and came late May I went for it and entered the race.
*********
Soon after that Maui 2018 mud fest, a race which itself was already kind of a come back after my “official” retirement at Ironman Barcelona the previous year, I had fairly easily come to terms with the idea of not racing anymore. I had done my time, enjoyed a great (and unexpected) decade of competing and traveling in exciting corners of the world, and was ready to move on to the next chapter. Which I happily did, putting all this newly found spare time into some exciting music related projects (which some of you might have read about if you follow me on the socials or check out this blog from time to time).
I wouldn’t say that I didn’t miss competing at times, and more specifically the feeling of being fit and the reassuring routine when preparing for a particular event, but I had accepted the fact that in life there is a time for everything. My wetsuit ended up in the bin directly after IM Barça, with both bike box and home trainer following suit a year later post Maui. Sure enough I’ve kept on running and swimming a bit, but nowhere near the levels and intensities of yesteryear. Besides, and despite the drastic easing down in training load, my lifelong Achilles/ankle injuries never really went away, to the point that I was pretty much ready for surgery on my torn ATFL ligament only a few months ago. In March 2022, shortly after having caught covid for the 2nd time, I can safely say I was at my lowest fitness level in about 20 years, probably since my bout of pneumonia in 2002.
Then I read about Xterra Super Besse. The date fitted in my calendar, the race being held on the only free weekend of a summer overflowing with parties and festivals, and I knew I couldn’t miss it. It didn’t matter that it was advertised as an “XL” race (I’d never heard of an Xterra XL before, let alone done one of these), I had three months to get back to some kind of shape in order to be able to enjoy the stunning but oh so tough Sancy trails. Thirteen years on after my first ever Xterra (in 2009 in Zittau, Germany), I would be back racing as an age grouper again, with no other objective than embracing the moment and reaching the finish line.
See below what was on the menu:
And this:
Ouch !
There was supposed to be some swimming too, in the tiny but beautiful lac des Hermines, but sadly that was cancelled at the last minute due to a high level of cyanobacteria caused by an unusually long lasting heatwave. Quite a shame as the swim was the one discipline in which I had kept a level close to what it was during my racing days (!). Not that it would make a huge difference overall, what with the epic bike and run portions on offer, but still that would definitely change the race dynamics quite a bit.
At first we were told that the swim would be replaced by an extra 6.5K run loop (complete with 300m D+ !), but after -understandably- receiving some complaints from a few of the athletes, the race directors decided towards a more palatable 3K loop. 1.5K up the slopes, 1/5K down. To be honest, despite running being my strong discipline, I was happy with the decision as the course was hard enough as it was!
Come race morning, it felt great to see familiar faces from the circuit which I hadn’t seen for a long while (Hey Nico ! Hey Nat ! Hey Mi…what was your name again ?!), and to toe the line next to my old buddy Graham Wadsworth, with whom I’d shared some really cool moments on the European and World circuit, most notably the once-in-a-lifetime South-Asian tour we did in 2012.
As the pressure started to build up nicely, we could hear legendary xterra speaker Chun De Stokel urging athletes to take it easy on the first run as apparently we had a long day day ahead. I couldn’t agree more and so when the gun finally went I made sure not to get carried away. There were fast guys at the front, starting with mountain biker/trail runner extraordinaire Sebastien Carabin, and I was in a very different league. Barely five minutes into the run most of us were already walking (!) on a crazy steep section with huge steps which we would have to endure two more times a few hours later. I somehow reached T1 in 6th position, having made my way through the field, and so started the bike in a fairly good position.
I had recced the bike course on the Friday before the race and knew what was in store: some rolling bits, roots, lots of dust, and lots of slow climbing. Graham flew past me right out of transition, as did a few others in the first 15K or so. When I finally managed to (just about!) hang on with a bunch of riders coming from the back, it was pretty much when the course started its way back up to the station. I got caught in the game and started racing like it was 2012 (when I was at my fittest) and a standard (not XL) xterra. Up to the front (of that group) I went, throwing caution to the wind and simply loving the moment. Once a racer… Shortly after and rather unsurprisingly the legs started to complain a bit; by the time we hit the bottom of the majestic hairpins of the chemin de croix (living up to its name both literally and figuratively) that leads back to the station, I’d started to feel cramps building up in my abductors – an all too familiar feeling which I had all but forgotten about. Flashbacks to races like Alpe d”Huez LD or Xterra Xonrupt started to come through as I released the pressure in a desperate attempt to control the cramps while pedalling uphill (which sounds as awkward as it actually is).
The first loop wasn’t even done and I knew I was in trouble. All my mates were gone ahead, never to be seen again. In fact I did not overtake one single athlete during the whole bike course, which pretty much sums it all: not only I wasn’t ready for such a long and brutal course to start with, but those burnt matches early on really didn’t help either. And so did not an epic aid station fail at the 45K mark, as I threw away my half full bidon only to drop the fresh one I was given… Why oh why did I not turn back and pick it up (I guess I was still on race mode at that time), as that left me in no man’s land for a good hour, without any fuel nor fluid and running on a tank that was pretty much empty. At my lowest point I was so wet and dehydrated I was feeling shivery while riding uphill in the scorching heat…
At the top of the steepest climb of the course, past a chèvrerie (a farm where they make goat cheese), I remembered spotting a fountain nearby. In a happy delirious moment I decided to fill up my empty bidon and started to sing Hallelujah, until a bemused local urged me NOT to drink that water as it was non potable. As cruel as can be. I had a few words with myself, considered lying myself in a cross position right there and then (would that sort me out?), but in the end there was no other choice but to soldier on as I was literally in the middle of nowhere, in the rising heat, with only a few goats to call for help. The next aid station became my ultimate goal. Survival mode on, not even sure I’d be able to even stay on the bike on the steepest sections – but I got there eventually (the 60K mark). Never before had the sight of a trail side buffet overflowing with gels and fruits and isotonic drinks felt so close to heaven. Blimey, there was even some coca cola – paradise!
“What do you want?” I was asked. “Bit of everything” I replied. I indulged for a good few minutes and felt much better instantly. Some watts reappeared in the legs and as I finally reached T2 I then thought I might be able to complete the race (which had been unthinkable only an hour previously).
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As I would find out post race, my second loop on the bike was a good 20 minutes slower (!) than the first one – just a little blow up 🙃
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Entering transition I vaguely overheard that I was in 26th position, not that it mattered much anymore. As per tradition in T2 I took all the time in the world, putting on fresh socks, fresh vest and a backpack filled with drinks and gels, and headed out onto a run course I had not recced (but my brother did and had warned me). Vincent, my mate from high school, appeared right there and then, and ended up running alongside me for a couple of hundred meters, in flip flops. A rather comical sight from the outside I suppose, but that could well have been the deciding move which got me to the finish line. No way out from this!
To cut the story short, the run was extremely tough. 800m D+ over 20k is a lot of climbing (and some brutal descending!), which was made even harder by debilitating cramps (those damn abductors) and a very inflamed Morton’s neuroma under my foot forcing me to a walk multiple times (walking up while physically pushing the cramps away with my fingers was really a first for me!). I even had to take off my right shoe and run shoeless at some point! Despite the stunning scenery as we passed near the summit of the Puy de la Perdrix (1825m), there was never a time I could really run properly and fully enjoy the moment. Survival mode all the way, which to be fair seemed to be the case for almost every other athlete around me – even in my sorry state I managed to “run” past a few athletes in distress, and when I finally made it to the finishing chute I was rather surprised to find myself in 17th position overall, and a winner in the 45-49 A/G category (unbeknownst to me I had overtaken the then leader of that A/G at the last aid station).
Six hours, twelve minutes and nineteen seconds of mostly pain, that’s over one hour more than winner Sebastien “Xterra-terrestre” Carabin (who was already fed and showered by the time I arrived), some 35 min deficit to Joeri Hofman in 2nd and 25 min to my mate Graham who had a stellar race, finishing fourth and winning the 40/44 AG.
surrounded by my old time buddies Lolo and Vincent
Thirteen years after finishing second in my A/G for my first ever Xterra (in Zittau, Germany), the circle seemed somehow complete with winning my A/G on my “return” to racing.
An A/G win means a qualification to the World Champs, to be held this year on the 1st of October in Trentino, Italy, at the heart of the Brenta Dolomites – the first time ever outside of Maui. Though that was never in my plan, it suddenly became quite appealing, even more so since I was asked to DJ at the after party by Marketing Director of XTERRA Europe Konstantinos ‘Kostas’ Koumargialis only a couple days before. Could definitely make out for a fun and unusual weekend!
I definitely needed a few days to reflect and think about how feasible this would be (hint: probably not), and so in the meantime I decided to do something I had always wanted to: ride up from from my parents’ flat in Clermont-Ferrand to the top of the Puy-de-Dôme, using 90% of trails. A tough but incredible ride which I did that two days after the race, right after lunch and a fair few glasses of white wine, in 35ºC+ heat. The more I climbed, the better I felt, and I was literally in the zone when I reached the top.
Go figure.
The day after that, Silvia and I went off the grid for a few days of hiking in the Monts du Cantal, part of the largest volcano crater in Europe to be found two hours south of Clermont-Ferrand. So stunning I had to include a few pics here.
