Let’s start by being honest – I knew nothing about MLC before hearing Alex Robinson from Stones Throw play ‘Heaven’ on the Dom Servini radio show. After a quick internet search and a couple of emails it turns out Stones Throw will be putting out a MLC compilation entitled ‘The Complete Works’ and I have been assured it is KILLLERRRR! If the description is to be believed I think I may agree: This anthology collects Bay Area soul-jazz singer/songwriter Matthew Larkin Cassell’s complete works (comprising his ‘Pieces’ album, an EP entitiled ‘Matt The Cat’, a 7″ single and a recently recorded and issued vinyl EP). Contains a 20 page booklet containing never before seen photos, liner notes, annotation and an extensive interview with Cassell. Contains ‘Heaven’, as sampled by Madlib for Madvillain ’3.214′.

New DJ Nuts-Arthur Verocai Mix Available Now!

You know it makes sense. The sun is out. The Afrobeat has already started to make it’s way into the bag. The Steve Reid tribute tunes will be doing likewise soon enough. Should be a goodun. As always, we start at 6 so you can pop in after work. See you there…

‘Smile’ is an amazing new album from Ben Lamdin of Nostalgia 77 fame on Impossible Ark records which combines jazz, funk, afrobeat and most obviously the Ethiopian grooves of Mulatu. In fact, it is good to see that Lamdin chose to name one of the tracks ‘Mulatu’ as the nod to the main inspiration for the album is well deserved and a nice touch. There are so many strong tracks on the album it is hard to pick any one out for special praise, but both ‘Positive Force’ and ‘Over The Bridge’ have been getting constant rewinds this weekend. While fans of Alice Russell might just go straight to ‘Adam and Eve’ to hear her stunning voice over the African jazz.

What is all the more impressive is the fact that this isn’t some ensemble piece of master African musicians, it is in truth an homage lovingly created by Lamdin himself using offcuts of previously commissioned library music (the skeletons in his cupboard) as the primary source material. As he himself explains; ‘Skeletons is a made up band.  I kid you not – it doesn’t exist. These musicians never stood in the studio together, they just passed through my house or left some scraps of sound behind after sessions we were working on…  some of the music here started life as commissions for a library music company, pastiches and forgeries paid for by the current vogue for a certain style of African jazz. Once I’d done a few though I couldn’t stop, it was my default preoccupation, something for me once I’d finished working on other people’s albums.  It was relaxation, something that didn’t matter whether it worked or not. The whole LP was made like that, done in the time between recording jobs’.

I’ve picked up the limited edition letterpress vinyl version which is a beautiful designed and printed by atwopipeproblem (shown above), but be quick if you want one of them as they are only doing 300 of them.

New look flyer hopefully highlighting how nice a space Corbet Place really is.

OK, so it might not be my normal thing and it might not be hip bigging up Gorillaz, but this is definitely doing it for me. Featuring Mos Def and the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble it could just be the sound of the Spring.

Of course I did know about it… and that is why I’m sharing it with you now. 36mins of things I like…

Greymatter is not only a lovely man but a helluva producer and this album release is a testament to his skills on the buttons. On the Mind Over Matter album Greymatter mixes sparse sound beds with ricocheting jittery percussion to create 13 intense pieces that will leave you reeling until you pop it back to the start and listen through again.

The beats are massively up front in the production here, with some fairly ear-splitting (in the best possible way you can imagine) snares hammering home what is quite often a heavy carnival sound – you’ll be digging this out in August for your trip to Notting Hill. In fact the filthy bass sounds and dirty machine-gunning noises that cover this album don’t hide the essentially latin influences and rhythms that, at least to me, run through all of the tracks on here. Most obviously on Eu Fumo but also in the title track itself.

My personal favourite moments are When I Was Lost, which I played in the Splendidly Blended podcast a few months back, the beautiful Raw Root which for me has a lot of Greymatter’s trademark sound to it and the stunning Bunda (Wait for the bass drop at 3 mins 30…).

SO what are you waiting for, get it direct from the man himself via his bandcamp page.

Artist: Various
Title: We Made This: Volume 1
Label: FYE
Cat No: FYE001
Release Date: 22/02/2010
Tracklist:
1. Clause Four “Afro” (2:31)
2. Onur Engin & Krystal Hardwick “No Other Way” (2:25)
3. Mr Beatnick “Dancing On Ice” (4:35)
4. Surra “Aletheia” (8:40)
5. Breakplus featuring Guynamite “Hope” (3:32)
6. Colm K & The Freestyle Mellowship featuring Elaine Dowling “Basics” (3:46)
7. Deep Space Orchestra “Storm Warnings” (5:18)
8. Red Rack’em “I Have Seen” (6:36)
9. Bergs “Disco For Two” (5:42)
10. K. Schreiber “Roma” (4:24)
11. Jimi Oh “70707” (4:45)
12. Nikey “Must Make Amends” (4:57)
13. Scrimshire featuring Inga-Lill Aker “Say Something” (6:16)
14. Richard Brown “Wonky” (4:38)
15. Q Jay and The Sons of Thunder “Chicken Riddim Dub” (5:24)

Featuring bits from Four Tet, Subeena, Greymatter, Tammie Terrell and even a recipe for Chocolate Truffles, it is not to be missed.

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