With just two single releases under their belt to date, the Jakarta based trio Batavia Collective have made an instant splash on the music scene with their infectious brand of neo-jazz fuelled funk, finding a highly receptive audience in the process.

On their latest ‘BTCV’ EP, released on genre shifting Belgian label R&S Records, the collective return, this time coming heavy handed with four new instrumental pieces, each one brimming with mesmerising melodies and dramatic passages.

As on previous singles ‘Propulsion’ and ‘Affirmation’, Doni Joesran, Elfa Zulham and Kenny Gabriel continue to enthral with a level of musicianship and musical nuance that goes beyond words, as the seasoned players drill deep into the soul of the genre and peel off four stunning recordings with ease.

At pains to not be defined or pigeonholed, BTCV explain “we are often asked what kind of jazz this is. To tell you the truth we don’t know. We don’t even know if our music can be considered jazz or not. We create the music through jamming, and afterwards, we vote on certain compositions together,” say the collective. Who said modesty was dead!

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Cet article Batavia Collective – Interchanges [R&S Records] est apparu en premier sur Bolting Bits.

Over the past few years, Retromigration has built up a loyal following and gained solid support from tastemakers within the electronic music press and radio landscape. For example, BBC Radio 1, NTS Radio, Worldwide FM, Mixmag, DJ Mag, Phonica, Ransom Note, 5 Magazine, Bolting Bits, SlothBoogie all giving his music their seal of approval. With representation from one of the scene’s most credible DJ agencies, Sounds Familiar.

His debut LP, ‘Straight Foxin’, is a carefully curated and crafted journey showcasing the creative explosions firing off in his brain. Joining the dots between genres, taking elements from here, ideas from there – twisting and turning yet never out of place. It contains fourteen expertly executed tracks, ranging from hazy beats and jazz-tinged broken rhythms to club-ready groovers, deep excursions, soulful footwork and even some jungle energy. An LP that has long been in the works (and for good reason), it’s packed with a flavour for every occasion Straight Foxin, mad flexin – Retromigration has laid down the law with this LP, a debut album done right.

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Cet article Retromigration – Mild Fever [Wolf Music] est apparu en premier sur Bolting Bits.

WAAN represents the musical marriage of seasoned saxophonist Bart Wirtz and keyboard wiz Emiel van Rijthoven. As a pair of self-confessed tech nerds hailing from The Netherlands, their bromance was a slow burning one, but nevertheless their eventual collaboration fulfilled a dream that they’d both held close since first working together back in 2010. With influences as disparate as Floating Points, Belgian band Stuff, BadBadNotGood and Eddie Harris, the album is far more complex than just being a dance music influenced jazz record. Co-producer Oscar de Jong, of Kraak & Smaak fame, encouraged the pair to play freely as part of a jazz group and then add the electronic elements.

The pair’s first meeting, though, was a somewhat forced affair. It occurred in 2010 at the Paradox club – an esteemed jazz venue in Tilburg, in the southern Netherlands. It was the club’s open-minded approach of inviting musicians of different styles to play together as an ensemble that finally got Bart and Emiel in the same room. They wrote and played together, and quickly formed a deep bond. Their styles complemented each other perfectly, they listened to each other, and both shared a desire to play expansive, experimental music.

This turned out to be something of a singular encounter though, and the duo didn’t connect again until Bart asked Emiel to join him in the studio five years later. The saxophonist had been looking for a synth and keys player to help take his music to more out-there places, and Emiel fit the bill perfectly. Having tried to involve the whole band in the creative process, Bart realised that his writing relationship with Emiel was the only one that clicked and, taking the music recorded with the band as a starting point, the duo we now know as WAAN (a Dutch word meaning “craze”) were formed. Consequently, the pair began to work with session musicians, keeping their vision solely between the two of them, and found themselves behaving more like dance music producers than traditional band leaders.

The new dynamic worked though, the result being their debut album Echo Echo.

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Cet article Waan – Chivat [Sonar Kollektiv] est apparu en premier sur Bolting Bits.

Turbojazz burst out of the Milan scene with this multi-genre long player that marks 20 years in the game. Musician, producer and DJ, Tommy ‘Turbojazz’ Garofalo, delivers the full spectrum in this incredibly well put together effort. Featuring a host of talent like Los Angeles MC Dave Giles II, (featured on recent Honey Dijon EP and Beyonce’s album Cosy), UK House don Sean McCabe who delivers the highly credible, ‘In Love Again’ with Detroit (Mahogani Music) vocalist Nikki O.

There are performances from vocalists Sara Vanderwert -who Turbojazz met while she was busking in Puglia – and Arya, with both female vocals reaching up to the roof and touching the souls of listeners. Celebrating the sonics and genres that have shaped his sound, this album glides through house, nu-beat-jazz, hip house and soul. If there is one record you buy this month, make it this one.

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Cet article Turbojazz – Live At Apollo [Last Forever Records] est apparu en premier sur Bolting Bits.

Mumbai based artist Nate08 has been dazzling his home crowd with outstanding performances as a DJ and live performer. Signed to London label Needwant, his sound touches on the groove-oriented territories of R&B, neo soul, and soulful house with his elegantly spun productions. Real name Nathan Thomas, Nate08 presents a kaleidoscopic debut in the shape of this much anticipated album ‘Furaha’. Setting the tone with Latin guitars that glide over intricate percussion on the title cut, Azamaan Hoyvoy’s vocal follows livening up the summery haze of ‘Trigger Fool’, while the funk-flecked ‘Bunker’ sees Nathan’s bass proficiency arrive in full force.

The captivating chords of ‘Hold Up’ soar over rolling bass and shimmering synths, while ‘Sunrise Sunfall’ is a stunning example of Nate08’s organically spun deep house prowess that features Jitwam’s soul-drenched vocal locked inside the dancefloor groove. ‘Want You’ features Mumbai artist Megan Murray who’s vocal provides the perfect hook, there’s an R&B house hybrid ‘Feel It’, with a striking performance by Lojal, followed by ‘Cold Muse’ with its broken drums and heavy chords that play out over some deadly bass. The album closes with the warm and friendly soulful house joint ‘Primrose’, which sees the album home with a most fitting flourish.

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Cet article Nate08 – Untitled [Needwant Records] est apparu en premier sur Bolting Bits.

Multi-dimensional future-jazz outfit JK GROUP to release a new EP, ‘Rising’ on La Sape Records. The brainchild of award-winning saxophonist, Joshua Kelly (30/70 collective, PBS Young Elder of Jazz 2019), the band returns to the label with a follow up EP to the mind-bending 2021 release, ‘What’s Real?’

Where ‘What’s Real?’ served as a platform for wild experimentation, ‘Rising’ returns to a more considered and familiar format for the band, offering up 4 cohesive tracks that are deep in conception and expression, at once original and fresh. Conceived after recording an as yet unreleased body of work written whilst undergoing chemotherapy, ‘Rising’ celebrates bandleader Josh’s survival and eventual recovery from the intense treatment he received for lymphoma in 2020.

The band stays true to their honed format of jazz traditions melding with influences from electronica and beyond. Like the first release, ‘The Young Ones’, ‘Rising’ sits comfortably in the crossover of raw, live jazz and electronic dance music, whilst also throwing an unexpected curveball to the listener expanding the palate of the bands sound to a pigment never before heard in their music.

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Cet article JK Group – Find Strength [La Sape Records] est apparu en premier sur Bolting Bits.

Melbourne-based artist Interface Palm presents “Curated Space” on Broken District, his first mini-LP, with 6 tracks skirting the line between broken beat, house, cosmic jazz and hip-hop, including collaboration with fellow Melbourne producer and bass player Horatio Luna.

Interface Palm is the project from Australian artist Jordan Hankins. Having established himself as a producer and DJ in Brisbane, he journeyed south seeking a change of scene. A right move for him, as relocating to Melbourne led him signing an EP with local label +Romantics, quickly followed with another release on Beats Of No Nation.

Jordan opens the release with 3 tracks mixed together and served as one continuous production. First track is “Check In”, a cosmic, multi-layered jazz-infused piece, serving as an introduction for the whole release, but also paving the way to the first single of the record: “Readymade”.

More than a track, this is a true journey breaking barriers between styles, mixing elements of disco, G-funk, jazz and broken beat. Kicking-off slowly with a moody piano, Jordan then brings-in a catchy bassline, blending it with uplifting keys and strong broken beat elements, turning it into a one-of-a-kind masterpiece!

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Cet article Interface Palm- Readymade [Broken District] est apparu en premier sur Bolting Bits.

Greg Dowling and Shane Johnson return to the Go Deep label for their third album, ‘This Bit of Earth’. Beginning work in the relative normality of 2019 and finishing over the strange summer of 2020, the resulting music mirrors the thoughts that such upheaval brings up – our world and our place in it – while also functioning as a kind of travelogue of journeys past and planned, real and imaginary.

Mixing samples with modular synths, programmed drums with jazz loops, and quirky plugins with outboard gear, the album ranges far and wide while retaining a warm, natural sound.

‘Suburban Key’ follows on a groove of busy drum work and deep sub bass, the stately piano and strings setting the stage for an undulating synth solo.

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Cet article Fish Go Deep – Suburban Key [Go Deep] est apparu en premier sur Bolting Bits.

Australia’s Analogue Attic returns mid-March with the debut album from Alex Albrecht. The ten-track project is entitled ‘Campfire Stories’ and features collaborations with label/production partner Sean La’Brooy, Allysha Joy (30/70), Thomas Gray and more.

Here Albrecht delivers his debut solo album which we’re told ‘’explores dreams, the unconscious and the intertwining of feelings and memory. Interspersed field recordings lend to the fragmented way people recall experiences. It is a narrative in which the listener is encouraged to attach their own thoughts and impressions to the soundscapes.’’

Since 2014, Alex Albrecht and Sean La’Brooy, better known to most as Albrecht La’Brooy, have released an array of material on Apollo Records, Scissor & Thread, their own Analogue Attic Recordings and more, always leaning towards the deep, hypnotic and emotive side of House, Techno and Ambient. The project was designed as a gapless album, intended to be listened from start to finish and welcomes a number of collaborations throughout with the likes of 30/70’s Allysha Joy and Ziggy Zeitgeist (ZFEX), Thomas Gray, Carla Oliver (Badskin) as well as long-time musical partner and co-label head, Sean La’Brooy.

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Cet article Alex Albrecht – Sunshower [Analogue Attic Recordings] est apparu en premier sur Bolting Bits.

Out on Edinburgh’s notorious Athens of the North, comes ‘Fugitive Light and Themes of Consolation’, the latest album from Scottish writer, producer and multi-instrumentalist, Andrew Mitchell aka Andrew Wasylyk. AOTN is a label dedicated to releasing fresh rare soulful music from all over the globe. Working with artists from Scotland to the Bahamas, the label is committed to serving listeners with quality music only!  

Today’s premiere track, “Awoke In The Early Days of a Better World” is no exception. A jazz-inspired, laid back number, laced with familiar relaxing melodies that bring a undeniable feeling of calm and hope. ‘Fugitive light and Themes of Consolation’ is the third part of a trio of releases from the Scotsman. It follows the spectacular ‘The Paralian’, a record gaining much recognition and praise from listeners last year, making it a shortlister for the Scottish Album of the Year 2019. 

This release feels well-timed with the closing of summer, a perfect time as his balmy tones provide the ideal companionship for the last warm summer days. Synthesia plays a distinct role throughout, with pastel oranges appearing through with softened textures.   

Warm clarinet sounds and the classy clarsach harp provide a quilted nostalgic warmth in a track that does not feel wholly optimistic despite its name. Remnants of sadness can be felt and it’s a necessary lowness which allows the track to rise triumphantly – Knowing sadness in order to know true happiness. 

The shimmer of hope that in this world things can get better, is apparent throughout. The echoing wooden knocks take us to a simple place, to a beginning, there’s a distinct feeling of newness and fresh possibility. 

The silky smooth bassline gives the track an essence of 60s coolness and as the track builds we can feel the textures in the room in which the composer is waking. There are moments of reflection, akin to looking into a mirror gaining acceptance of your past and present, allowing yourself to welcome the unknown of the future.

This sound is the subtle comfort wrapped around us, where we lay safely in the knowledge that spaces and emptiness can always be filled by love and light. There is solace in surviving hardships. Gaining the courage to understand the role of loss in life but believing there is always light. This track is being grateful for awakening if nothing else. 

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Olivia

Cet article Andrew Wasylyk – Awoke In The Early Days of a Better World [Athens of the North] est apparu en premier sur Bolting Bits.