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 […]
Category: News
Jaminaround vs Beauty & the Beat – 2024 edition
“Something’s about to come your wayExtend your arms embrace the love(…)Breathe the winds of space and timeLet your senses take controlListen to the rhythm of the cosmic danceGlance far away into the futureLet your mind run through the fields that fill your heart with joyMeanwhile, let your soul inside touch the stars” (from Kuniyuki’s sublime […]
London Marathon 2024
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 […]
Tropical Cosmic Dance with Cedric Woo
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 […]
XTERRA Super Besse XL
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 […]
Lèspri ka a la Gwadloup, printemps 2022
In late March ’22, following two cancelled trips in the past two years due to the pandemic, we were finally back in Guadeloupe. Once we’d navigated all the bureaucratic nonsense involved in being able to travel (mainland France’s frontiers were fully opened but not Guadeloupe’s), it was as always a special feeling to set foot […]
Excursions in Gwoka Vol. 1 (BATB 005)
Two years in the making, the fifth release on our Beauty & the Beat label has finally landed. This project turned out to be quite a labour of love, requiring no less than two sets of test pressings (!), and it is such a great feeling to finally see this out in the flesh (on […]
2021 – A Year In Music, Part 2 (Albums & Reissues)
Despite the ongoing pressing plant chaos and ever increasing costs of making records, 2021 saw more than a healthy amount (!) of exceptional releases, on every genre and format imaginable. My previous blog post focused on the singles and here I will put my attention to my favourite albums and reissues. Early in the year […]
2021 – A Year In Music, Part 1 (Singles & Revivals)
After a bleak and blank 2020, 2021 was the year we returned to party and started dancing (collectively) again. It took what seemed like forever to get there, but when we did, what a spectacular release that was! A truly “special” moment which seemed to make the traversée du désert that preceded it almost worthwhile. […]
Lèspri Ka – New Directions in Gwoka (Time Capsule/Séance Centre)
Sometime in 2017, when my friend Kay Suzuki first came up with the idea of starting a high quality reissue label, asking a bunch of us to act as curators, the first idea that came to my mind was a project dedicated to gwoka in general, and gwoka moderne in particular. As a frequent visitor […]