New Music Mondays #5

Quick one this week - from the fantastic 2morrow's Victory. Some of you may have heard of these guys through their appearance at Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Awards. They performed the show-stealing Gil Scott Heron tributes (check one of them below) at Koko. They have an EP out today called Odeon (iTunes exclusive I think). Their brand of spacey, organic hip hop is exactly my vibe - the EP and it's predecessors are well worth a listen. I don't know much about the group, except that they are from South London and like cycling. Check out their Tumblr page here, and listen to a couple of tracks below.

New Music Mondays # 4

Some of you (or more accurately - none of you) may have noticed there was no New Music Mondays post last week - that's because I was busy recording the first edition of my new Excursions Radio Show. You can take a listen here and look out for the next instalment very soon! A couple of great new releases out this week, one brand-new and one new-but-old (if you see what I mean!). First up is the new single 'Folded' from Part Time Heroes. One of the great things about working in music is seeing artists develop over time, and PTH fall into this category for me. I've known about the guys (duo Toby Vane & Ross Wakefield) for a few years now and have always enjoyed their music, but this release takes things up a notch or two. Lead track Folded is beautiful - all haunting strings and ethereal vocals, but it's 'Close' that really does it for me. The combination of the lush instrumentation with stuttering club beats (think Jamie xx with a jazz degree) and Colonel Red's soulful vocals takes the track somewhere quite unique. It's a track I can imagine leaking out of my headphones on a night bus home - just stunning. Also on the release are instrumental track 'Wood', which is reminiscent of some of Bonobo's recent work, as well as a couple of clubbier takes on the lead track from rising talents LPZ and Paper Tiger. You can buy the release here or take a listen below:

My second release of the week is the new Spiritual Jazz compilation on the ever-reliable Jazzman Records. As someone with an increasingly wide range of musical tastes coupled with every-decreasing free time to find new stuff, 'gatekeepers' like Jazzman, Soundway and Sofrito are invaluable. I love pretty much every track on this album, but but apart from Michael Garrick I hadn't heard of any of the artists on this album and would probably be unlikely to. It's a fantastic release, lovingly compiled and has opened up an area of music that can seem quite intimidating to a newcomer. Take a listen below and make sure you check out the rest of their releases here - I've not heard a dud one yet!

New Music Mondays # 3

I made the foolish decision last week not to go to the Gilles Peterson Worldwide Awards on Saturday. As I sat at home experiencing it via twitter (not so fulfilling it turns out) I realised I'd missed a fantastic event. I think Gilles' show and associated projects are so important to the worldwide music scene. It's a sad state of affairs that sees him leave Radio One, I can't understand how the station that introduced me to such amazing music through the likes of John Peel, Steve Lamacq and Mark Radcliffe is now seemingly handing over all of it's specialist programming to artists rather than radio DJs. I'm not saying the people they've got in won't do a good job, but I can't see any of them having the legacy that the DJs mentioned above have. Anyway, old-man rant over - although the majority of the artists playing on Saturday were known to me already, I had not come across Bad Bad Not Good before. A little bit of internet snooping reveals that they are a 3-piece from Toronto who have collabed with Tyler the Creator amongst others. Covering hip hop classics in their jazz-infused style isn't necessarily going to be an automatic success (in fact I almost wanted to dislike it), but they bang so hard you can't hate on it! Check out their site for a heap of free downloads and take a listen to the clips below.
 

New Music Mondays # 2

A very concise (if slightly late) post this week. This track is new to me but the artists I am aware of. The first gig I went to following my move back to London in 2010 was at a grotty, nautically themed pub in New Cross. It was a friend's birthday and the event was part of a series called Look At Me SE15 - a showcase for local music. I knew that the fantastic Eska would be playing but apart from that I wasn't expecting much, which made the appearance of Conrad The Scoundral and United Vibrations all the more memorable. Conrad is a grime MC who has incredible charm, and fairly uniquely for a grime artist, sharp humour and genuine humility. United Vibrations are a 4 piece from South London who fuse afrobeat, reggae, free jazz, rock and hip hop with politicised lyricism - I realise that makes it sound like the worst kind of free festival worthy nonsense but they lift themselves beyond that with their sheer energy and talent.

I've since got involved with helping the UV guys on a distribution tip, and they have lived up to my early impressions. Fiercely passionate, opinionated and talented, they make the kind of music that excites me. I also discovered through them a rich vein of music in the area that includes the 12Tone Brass Band, Stepsons, Illersapiens and Ruby Rushton: a loose collective of young artists who remind me of the vibe we had in Leeds that birthed First Word. Look out for more from the above in the coming months, but in the meantime check out UV and Conrad's latest single 'London Bridge' and make sure you catch them live!

New Music Mondays # 1

Happy New Year! Now that the festive season is well and truly put to bed and the decorations have been taken down at FW Towers it's time to turn our thoughts to 2012. As I paused for breath over Christmas I realised that in amongst the chaos of last year, I had missed out on so much amazing new music. It's almost impossible now to find the time to listen to everything that jostles for attention in your web browser, but seeing as it's both my job and my passion, I thought I best make an effort.

Amongst the many things I slept on in the last year are the fantastic Teebs album, this gem from I' Ced and the Stepkids album on Stones Throw. So, in 2012, I've vowed to not make the same mistakes again - with that in mind, I'm going to use this blog to share a few things that I've discovered every Monday - hence 'New Music Mondays'. This is a bold claim, and one which I'll probably be back-tracking on come February but I figure it's worth a go. For this first blog, I'm just gonna pass on a few more things from 2011 that passed me by - a few suggestions for using up those Woolworth's vouchers from your Nan.

kidkanevil put me on to the Sonic Brat album Hana which is available as a free download from Totokoko label. The album's delicate atmospherics are perfect for a cold winter's day - lush, dreamy and emotive. Check out the title track here:

One name that I heard loads last year, without actually hearing any music was Zara McFarlane - her debut album Until Tomorrow came out on Brownswood - check out a live version of Chiaroscuro recorded in London:

Another amazing Jazz Vocalist that I picked up on over the break is Gregory Porter. His album 'Water' is fantastic, as is this track '1960 What?'.

Lastly, here is a track from Lewis McCallum called 'Fly or Die'. I know nothing about this guy, but this track is exactly my kind of music - deep, funky hip hop with skewed vocals. Can't wait to play this one out.

So, that's all for now - I'll be back next week with actual new music, rather than stuff you've already heard. Hopefully the title of these posts will start to make a modicum of sense. See you then.

Soundwave Festival

Last week was the 3rd installment of the imperious Soundwave Festival - 5 days of music brilliance in the beautiful Croatian town of Petrcane. Put together by our good friends from New Bohemia and Soundcrash it is definitely the spiritual home to FW over the summer season. This year we were represented by Ariya Astrobeat Arkestra, kidkanevil, The Simonsound, Eliphino, Laura J Martin and myself (DJ Gilla). As ever, it was an incredible few days - personal highlights include Submotion Orchestra, Bonobo, Mr Thing (as ever!), Andreya Triana as well as the Eglo crew. I had an interesting few days - filling in between every act on the main stage: a fantastic challenge as a DJ. Whilst the hype set before Roots Manuva was the most energetic (props to Chunky on the mic!) the 45 minutes before Bonobo was the most rewarding. I played almost 250 tracks over the weekend, but the combination of atmosphere, expectation and a really switched on crowd made the Friday night slot a real high point. A couple of people had asked, so here's my set-list. And those who didn't make it down, make sure you're there next year!

Fuse - Hudson Mohawke
Wut - Girl Unit
Wildfire - SBTRKT
Wind it Up - Mark Pritchard ft Om'Mas Keith
Toxic (16 Bit Dubstep Remix) - Yael Naim
NY Is Killing Me - Gil Scott Heron / Jamie XX
CMYK - James Blake
Hyph Mngo - Joy Orbison
Ready Set Loop - SBTRKT
I Am (LV Remix) - Trim
The Terrorist - DJ Vadim
Ug - Mr Sccruff
The Jellyfish - Danny Breaks
Baron Zen Theme (Danny Breaks Remix) - Baron Zen
Glorious - Sa-Ra
Flowers - Dudley Perkins
J Dillalude - Robert Glasper
The Healer/Hip Hop - Erykah Badu
Angel Echoes - Four Tet
Another New Day - Jazzanova
Boom Clicky Boom Klack (Mr Scruff Vocal Mix) - Jazzanova
When She Smiles She Lights The Sky (4 Hero Remix) - Plantlife

First Word Top Sevens: #14 Soulist

Soulist mixes food and drink with music - nice!

Amplified / Q Tip / Produced by J dilla /
First Solo Album from Q Tip, This album is just perfect , the vibe , Q tip's flow, it grooves all the way and was under rated , never knew why ..

Justments / Bill Withers /
One of my favourite Soul Artists .. He made popular music with such a sensitive touch.
Loving in particular the track " The same Love that me made me Laugh "

Roundtree Hit On You / Idjut Boys edit/
An Amazing Band From NYC in the end of the 70's , This edit is just mad, a killer - taking the best of Guitar riff , bass is sick. It has the boogie vibe that I love.

Club Soda / Thomas Bangalter /
With Fulgeance we are crazy about this track, a crazy synth and drum loop , French touch at it's best ...

Raw Cuts # 3 / Motor City Drum Ensemble /
An amazing house by this great German producer track that always gives me a good feeling. For me, It's already a classic ..

PIMMS (Drinking)
We had Pimms for the first time with Aly from First Word when we did our first tour in UK. Today when we come over it's a must have .. It bring us always refreshing and good memories..

Steak Tartare (Food)
Just get it in a good Brasserie when you come over to France ... loving it!