Crucial Material – Best Releases Of The Week (July 29th, 2019)

It the wise words of LL Cool J “Don’t Call It A Comeback…”

We’ve been away for a few months but it certainly wasn’t for lack of great music being release. The steady stream of new albums, EP’s and reissue projects never stops! We simply needed a breather and regroup and focus our collective energies on releasing our weekly highlights.

Thank you to everyone who reached out who asked, begged, pressured us to come back with our weekly Crucial Material selections. So here you are. Time to open your ears and hearts and perhaps your wallet should you discover something you love!

– The MIMS team

NEW RELEASES

Various ‘Sunny Side Up’

Label: Brownswood Recordings
Buy (Physical / Digital): Bandcamp
Stream: Spotify

Following last year’s London jazz focused We Out Here compilation, Gilles Peterson and his Brownswood label have turned their attention to the coastal Australian city of Melbourne, highlighting nine incredible acts that make up the region’s currently diverse music scene. Featuring rising artists like Phil Stroud, Dufresne, Kuzich, Audrey Powne, the Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange, Laneous, Horatio Luna, and Allysha Joy, this record highlights the regions fusion of a wide range of genres, including jazz-funk, hard-bop, electronics, hip-hop inspired beats, spiritual melodies, and electric soulful grooves.
– Selected by TJ Gorton

Resavoir ‘s/t’

International Anthem Recording Co.
Buy (Physical / Digital): Bandcamp
Stream: Spotify

Led by producer Will Miller, the expansive Chicago-based jazz collective Resavoir release their brilliant debut album on International Anthem. Written and recorded mostly at Miller’s apartment, this 29-minute nine-track recording features eighteen musicians, and fuses together jazz instrumentation, minimal classically-inspired orchestrations, layered atmospheric textures, and funky rhythmic grooves.
– Selected by TJ Gorton

Scrimshire “Listeners”

Label: Albert’s Favourites
Buy (Physical / Digital): Bandcamp

On this, his 4th album, Adam Scrimshire entwines jazz, soul, hip hop, electronic music & beyond into a unique body of work, full of warmth and love of music, whilst esteemable collaborators such as Georgia Anne Muldrow, Chip Wickham, Joshua Idehen, Soothsayers, Madison Mcferrin, James Alexander Bright, Ego Ella May, And Is Phi & Emma-Jean Thackray fit beautifully into Adam’s musical landscape. Crucial listening!
– Selected by Oliver Brunetti

Nicolas Gaunin “Noa Noa Noa”

Label: Hive Mind Records
Buy (Physical / Digital): Bandcamp

A “tropical trip” from start to finish. Traditional African rhythms seem almost tuned out of focus, as if heard through a hallucinogenic haze, such is the result of Padua -based Nicola Sanguin’s hypnotic sound experiments under this alias. Layered rhythms, odd motifs, noises, and rainforest recordings contributing to a playful album that evokes Francis Bebey, Domingo Cura and even CAN.
-Selected by Oliver Brunetti

“Hifidelic.Lp1” by [ruffiankick.]

Label : WrapGatos
Buy (Physical & Digital): Bandcamp

Perfect beat-tape that combines hip hop & future funk, keeping it simple with neck-cracking loops, heavy synths and banging drums. “the duality of complexity & minimalism.. not much sampled tracks.. roland gaia sh-01.. korg monologue.. sp-404sx.. ableton.. enjoy..” [ruffiankick.]
– Selected by Walla P

Daniel Maunick – Sombra do Dragao EP

Label: Far Out Recordings
Buy/Stream: Bandcamp

Member of the Far Out family through the Far Out Monster Disco Orchestra, this is Daniel’s second outing on the label under his name and it’s a corker! The EP starts of with perhaps my favorite, the percussive, bassline-led deep groove of “Dirty Trix”. This is followed by the “Until the End”, a banger reminiscent of early Theo Parrish productions, that leads nicely into the EP’s final number, the cinematic, batucada-esque title track “Sombra do Dragao”.
An EP pretty much perfect for any floor!
– Selected by Spacewalker

Jesse Fischer – Cross Currents

Label: Soul Cycle Music
Buy: Bandcamp

Brooklyn based producer and multi-instrumentalist Jesse Fischer returns in 2019 after last year’s brilliant “Flipped II” LP, following it up by going deeper into the more fusion sound of jazz. It’s clear that the further Mr Fischer goes into his explorations, the more he feels at home. Check the stunning “Infection Point” featuring an all-star cast that includes Nate Smith on drums and Marcus Strickland on tenor sax.
– Selected by Spacewalker

Ryan Porter – Force for Good

Label: Alpha Pup/World Galaxy
Buy: Bandcamp

Ryan Porter’s third album in as many years, and it’s one more you just cannot miss. Recorded sometime between 2014 and 2019, it’s another journey through the sounds of one of the core members of the now legendary West Coast Get Down crew. And speaking of which, the likes of Thundercat, Kamasi Washington and Brandon Coleman, musicians that need no introduction pop up throughout the trombonist’s latest opus, with Porter’s label mate Nia Andrews showing up on the sole vocal tune. Don’t miss the great version of Rotary Connection’s “Memory Band” which ATCQ fans will instantly recognize as Tribe sampled it not once, but twice, as well as a version of “Oscalypso”, a composition made famous by another trombonist, the legendary Curtis Fuller. Perhaps the tracks I keep coming back to the most on the record are the ones that lean towards the more spiritual and modal side of things, check for the sublime opener “Madiba” and the waltzy summer vibes of “Mesosphere”. Vinyl soon come!
– Selected by Spacewalker

Kit Sebastian “Mantra Moderne”

Label: Mr Bongo
Buy (Physical / Digital): Bandcamp

A beautiful collection of music, recorded in rural France by this UK/France based duo, blending Brazilian Tropicalia, Anatolian psych, jazz and 60’s European pop, and recalling the likes of Caetano Veloso, Portishead, Stereolab, Broadcast, Khruangbin, Serge Gainsbourg and Insólito UniVerso. Their fantastic sound is matched by a panache for captivating songs and arrangements. Crucial listening!
– Selected by Oliver Brunetti

Madlib & Freddie Gibbs “Bandana”

Label: Keep Cool Records
Genre: Hip-Hop
Stream / Buy: Link

Five years after the release of the instant classic “Pinata” on the Madlib Invazion label, the godly collab of Madlib & Freddie Gibbs returns. Real rap heads worldwide had high hopes for the second full lenght collab and despite the surprise element being diminished with the release of four singles before the album, this is a very solid album. At the risk of being cliché, one that gets better with each listen from top to bottom. Actually, maybe that’s not a cliché anymore seeing as hardly anyone listens to full record. Bandana, like any Madlib project is a world unto itself from the artwork, the interludes to the roster of guests but his collab project with Gibbs keep him more focused on simple and effective drums and dusty soul samples closer to production from the likes of Roc Marciano, Muggs and first wave RZA.
– Selected by Lexis

REISSUES & ARCHIVAL

Jake Hottell “Break The Chains”

Genre: Machine Folk / Cosmic Country / Baked New Age
Label: Space Talk
Buy: Bandcamp
Stream: Spotify

The events in Jake Hottell’s life between 1966 and 1982 would compel him to record ‘Break The Chains’. From the death of his mother to being subjected to military medical experimentation, and then to his own deteriorating health, Jake’s personal misfortunes took their toll, but they also set him free. Spread delicately across 7 tracks, ‘Break The Chains’ is Hottell’s message of protest to the world; a protest against the exploitative acts against our planet. You won’t find his protest in lyrical form though, as the recordings are primarily instrumental, but his message is still very much there.
-Selected by Jake Stellarwell

Dennis Young “Primitive Substance”

Genres: Experimental / Jazz / New Age
Label: Athens Of The North
Buy: Bandcamp
Stream: Spotify

Former Liquid Liquid drummer Dennis Young took to recording his own music shortly after the group disbanded in ’85. After partnering and recording with fellow musician Andy Gomory at Andy’s studio in New Jersey, Dennis realized he had recordings that could be perfected to an even greater extent. He proceeded to overdub his own drum and percussion sounds along with those of guest musicians like Don Slepian and Michael Gribbrook, who each contribute tranquil wind instrument passages, to his archived recordings. The most current recording on the compilation is from 2004, and the eldest is from the mid/late ‘80’s, but they all sound perfectly situated together on this timely release.
– Selected by Jake Stellarwell

Various “Pop Sympathie”

Label: Versatile
Genre: French Synth-Pop
Buy: Bandcamp

Vidal Benjamin presents the follow up to his equally brilliant Disco Sympathie with this 15 track deep dive into 80’s French Synth jams that never quite made it. Pop that never quite popped. No musical decade went as full cheese as the 80’s and no one makes cheese like the French, so put two and two together and voilà! But seriously, kidding aside even though I wouldn’t listen to 80’s synth pop every day, this compilation deserves major props for the simple fact that most of the tracks are dope and have never been compiled before.
– Selected by Lexis

World Series “Try It Out / Head Over Wheels”

Label : Chuwanaga
Buy (Physical & Digital): Bandcamp

“Like a good recipe, this little beauty actually got all great ingredients: great Rhodes parts, catchy vocals, solid basslines and lovely Moog-esque synthesizer melodies. “Try It Out” brings together a classy AOR-Funk/Soul vibe with a solide funky groove. On the other side, “Head Over Heels” looks more towards proper british Jazz-Funk territories with its uptempo beat and slapped bass.”
– Selected by Walla P