Tag: jazz

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Anthony Calonico – Gray Glow

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This is taken from Spacious Heart the debut solo album from Los Angeles-based musician Anthony Calonico who I was introduced to last year through his work as part of the trio Total Blue. Spacious Heart is a collection of songs and instrumentals, all of them lush, and expansive, but it’s when he sings that the record really comes to life. There’s something about his voice that is just so inviting; timeless and yet familiar, as if he’s been unearthed and dusted off from a previous, purer time.

https://music-from-memory.bandcamp.com/album/spacious-heart

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Laura Misch – Breathing

Laura Misch’s lates LP Lithic follows Sample The Sky and Sample The Earth, completing a loose trilogy of records shaped by landscape, natural processes and the relationship between sound and place, with this latest album taking its cues from caves, stone, weather systems and the vast stretches of time that leave their mark on both. Recorded across quarries, cliffs and caves in Cornwall, as well as locations in Greece, Berlin and South London, Lithic feels denser and more subterranean than its predecessors, with saxophone, voice, field recordings and electronics combing to impressively atmospheric effect.

https://lauramisch.bandcamp.com/album/lithic

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Tara Clerkin Trio – Silently

Tara Clerkin Trio’s Somewhere Good is the Bristol group’s first full-length album, following EPs In Spring and On The Turning Ground. Across eight tracks, the trio continue to blur the lines between folk, jazz, ambient, dub, trip-hop and experimental pop. They draw from a broad palette of influences, but their hazy melodies, fragmented rhythms and subtle improvisation come together with remarkable ease, with Silently a clear album standout.

https://taraclerkintrio.bandcamp.com/album/somewhere-good

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Kokoroko – Da Du Dah

Jazz collective Kokoroko channel the greats of West Africa, building on the foundations laid by Fela Kuti, Tony Allen and Ebo Taylor and lacing together their influences into a soul shaking, horn-fueled sound. Taken from their new album Tuff Times Never Last, Da Du Dah is breezy, jazz-and-funk-laced soul ripe for BBQs and struttin’.

https://kokoroko.bandcamp.com/album/tuff-times-never-last

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Bilal, Robert Glasper – The Story

Here’s another one I missed from last year, taken from American singer, songwriter and producer Bilal’s sixth studio album Adjust Brightness: a heady blend of soul, jazz and funk through an electronic lens. Full of life and warmth, there’s also a menacing undercurrent to The Story that adds to its allure.

https://officialbilal.com/album-adjustbrightness

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SAULT – I Look For You

SAULT’s Acts of Faith was originally released as a free download back in July 2024 before a surprise official release on Christmas day last month. I missed both of these releases, so I’m sharing the beautiful opening track now for everyone else whose fingers is a firmly on the pulse as mine.

https://saultglobal.bandcamp.com/album/acts-of-faith

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Earthen Sea – Present Day

Jacob Long aka Earthen Sea is an American electronic musician and producer. Formerly the bassist for post-hardcore bands Black Eyes and Mi Ami, Long transitioned to solo work, exploring ambient and dub techno landscapes. His previous album, 2022’s excellent Ghost Poems moved away from the dub techno that characterised his first two solo LPs and new release Recollections delves further into jazz and downtempo, albeit through a heavily muted, soft-focus lens.

https://earthensea.bandcamp.com/

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Milan W. – Ballad

Milan W.’s new album Leave Another Day feels like the culmination of 16 years weaving his way through projects like Crumar Young, Mittland Och Leo, Speedqueen, and Beach. Across 12 tracks, he distills dusky country, noir jazz, and indie-pop melancholia into a cohesive, dreamlike whole. His voice – weightless yet commanding – hovers in perfect suspension, threading through warm synth tones and intricate textures with the grace of an old soul navigating new terrain.

https://stroomtv.bandcamp.com/album/leave-another-day

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Greg Foat & Gigi Masin – Sabena

Following their excellent collaborative LP Dolphin, UK jazz maestro Greg Foat and Venetian electronic luminary Gigi Masin join forces once again for The Fish Factory Sessions, an exclusive release for Record Store Day 2024. Also featuring the talents Moses Boyd on drums and Tom Herbert on bass, Sabena is an alternative version of the track of the same name from Dolphin; a beautifully poignant tribute to Masin’s late wife, with this new version even more delicate than its predecessor.

https://gregfoat.bandcamp.com/album/the-fish-factory-sessions

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Ms Ray – Signs

Shout out to Alexander Crickdog for drawing my attention to Ms Ray’s incredible Wow Is Now EP from a few years ago, which remains a dinner party staple. Signs is similarly shimmery Sade-adjacent bedroom pop and hopefully signals an imminent album announcement.

https://ms-ray.bandcamp.com/