Episode 51
Featuring tracks by Erol Josué, Madison McFerrin, Sly Johnson, Bokani Dyer, Kaytranada, Anohni, Yoni Mayraz, Art Framer, Paulinho da Costa, Genevieve Artadi, The Elder Statesman & Lord Echo, Mark de Clive-Lowe & Shigeto & Melanie Charles, Benny Sings, and more…
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Episode 51 Highlights
Erol Josué
This wildly acclaimed Port-au-Prince-based artist delivers an unforgettable 2nd album Pelerinaj (Pilgrimage). He blends sacred chants and traditional rhythms with elements of funk, jazz, rock, and electronic music. His avant-garde take on the tradition.
The vodou priest, singer, actor, and choreographer Erol Josué is on a mission to dispel the myths and misconceptions about Haiti's religion with his new album in fifteen years.
His 2007 debut album Regleman had proved him an artist to be reckoned with. His reputation as a sort of spiritual sage, an expert on Haitian history and culture. Josue is ready to once more put his spiritual faculties intermingle with his musical power to provide solace to his community while building a bridge to others.
The album is an ambitious, even epic, work with a reach that spans a lifetime from his childhood through his journey outside of Haiti and to his eventual return to his birthplace.
"I'm presenting a way of life using sacred and secular language," he says. "Even though these songs were composed for musicians to play, not for use in rituals, they represent spiritual knowledge."
Mark de Clive-Lowe & Shigeto & Melanie Charles
Revered composer, pianist, DJ and two decade-long bridge between jazz, dance and hip-hop, Mark de Clive-Lowe (MdCL), links up with influential drummer/producer/DJ, Shigeto and Brooklyn-based, Haitian-rooted, flautist/songwriter and Verve Records artist - Melanie Charles on Hotel San Claudio, a collaborative LP of spiritual jazz, live deconstructed beats, and a three-track set of Pharoah Sanders reinterpretations.
'Strings' speaks to the group’s love of hip-hop, with Shigeto’s Dilla-esque ‘hanging off the beat’ slap and Melanie Charles’ deft rhymes and MdCL’s sample-chops, whilst 'Kanazawa' references a love of soulful house, with Charles’ 70s disco/fusion-tipping flute solo, leading into a euphoric and climactic club outro. The warrior-themed Bushido, first heard on MdCL’s album Heritage, leans even heavier on 70s jazz fusion as MdCL’s unruly synth impulsions and Donald Byrd-leaning soul-jazz production strides the line between atmospheric and experimental. MFT showcases Charles’ jazz vocals, treated here with big reverbs and delays, affording a vast, celestial quality that stands present throughout Hotel San Claudio.
One musician the group kept circling back to as a major influence was saxophone titan and cosmic sage, Pharoah Sanders. The trio’s absorbing 2-part versioning of Sanders’ 30m-long classic ‘The Creator Has A Master Plan’ as well as his iconic ‘Love Is Everywhere’ become the centrepiece of Hotel San Claudio’s spiritually-focused, reimagined jazz core.
Madison McFerrin
Madison McFerrin’s anticipated debut I Hope You Can Forgive Me represents an evolution in her career as she finds ways to improvise and self-produce in the midst of an ever changing global pandemic landscape. Following the a cappella projects that corralled early fans (Finding Foundations Vol. I and II), she collaborated with her older brother, Taylor McFerrin, for her subsequent EP, You + I, her first project with instrumentation. I Hope You Can Forgive Me builds upon that next step sonically while exploring themes of love, self preservation, fear, and conjuring. A majority of the tracks on I Hope You Can Forgive Me are produced by Madison, a newly refined skill she honed during the pandemic. In addition to being a producer and arranger, she is also an instrumentalist, playing bass, synth, and creating background vocals for several of the tracks. The intimate album features her father, Bobby McFerrin.
Late last year, Madison released a groovy, soulful single, "Stay Away (From Me)" alongside a vibrant visual, artfully juxtaposing hypnotic, danceable instrumentals with lyrics that tackle the uncertainty of our times and her inner struggle with anxiety. With “(Please Don’t) Leave Me Now”, the enchanting singer-songwriter-producer continues to deliver ethereal vocals and euphonious melodies, and a delightful blend of electronic, pop, jazz, and soul with undeniable technique and expressive depth.
Ash Walker
Four years on from his explorative third full-length ‘Aquamarine,’ Londoner Ash Walker returns with an equally ambitious follow-up, set for release via Night Time Stories on 30th June. Alongside a plethora of award-winning collaborators and combining a dizzying array of sounds, ‘Astronaut’ hears Walker push his astral shower of rhythm and vibes to new heights. If 'Aquamarine’ was the take-off of his audial spaceship, ‘Astronaut’ is the cosmic voyage reaching terminal velocity; a rocket-powered masterclass spanning jazz, blues, soul, funk, and reggae.
An avid record collector, Walker has DJed far and wide... from the infamous Royal Mail squat party to the canals of Venice, spinning vinyl in Brixton with The Specials to scattering dub across San Francisco and LA. His own production output is similarly exploratory: his journeys have taken him far and wide, from tunnels under the river Thames to recording local percussionists in the Atlas mountains of Morocco. Inspired by a deep dive of sounds from artists including Duke Ellington, Quincy Jones, King Tubby, Bo Diddley, 4Hero, J Dilla, Pete Rock, Curtis Mayfield, Philip Glass, and Steve Reich; his first two albums, ‘Augmented 7th’ (2015) and ‘Echo Chamber’ (2016) gained attention from the likes of BBC 6 Music DJs Gilles Peterson, Don Letts and Gideon Coe.
Genevieve Artadi
“Forever Forever” is the new album by Genevieve Artadi, the LA-based singer-songwriter, producer, archer and Dr. Mario enthusiast (“I keep my Switch in my back pocket most days”). A creative tornado, Genevieve is known for being the force in KNOWER, Expensive Magnets and her former band Pollyn, signing to Brainfeeder to release a sparkling solo album “Dizzy Strange Summer” in 2020. The following year she also collaborated with Thundercat, Raedio and Louis Cole on ‘Satellite Space Age Edition’ for the Insecure Season 5 soundtrack (HBO). “Forever Forever” encompasses a truly kaleidoscopic range of influences, making it impossible to pin down stylistically. Rooted in jazz, but winding up at alternative rock or avant pop, it’s in the lineage of legendary boundary-testers Stereolab and Talking Heads.
Genevieve hails from the scarily talented crew that includes Louis Cole, Pedro Martins, Sam Gendel, Sam Wilkes, Jacob Mann and Chiquita Magic, bearing a similar foundation of classical and jazz traditions offset with a healthy punk attitude and passion for musical hybridity and fusion. She admits that being surrounded by these talented individuals is motivation to create in and of itself.
Sly Johnson
Sly Johnson reimagines this iconic funk classic by his namesake Sly and the Family Stone. Following his critically acclaimed album 55.4 , Sly shows that he still has more funk to share with the world.
The original Sly and the Family stone track bookended the funk era, where jazz was replaced with funky riffs. Johnson takes the 1969 slap bass funk and modernises it in his own funky neo-soul style.
The ‘Dilla-Timed’ production is married seamlessly with Johnson’s soulful vocals, with Laurent Salzard on bass and Anthony Jambon on guitar , this cover fits right in with the vibe of the much loved 55.4 album.
Tracklist
Ash Walker & Sly5thAve - Time Gets Wasted
Erol Josué - Erzulie
Yoni Mayraz - 1999
Bacao Rhythm - The Healer
Malombo Jazz Makers - Matshenyogo
Anohni - It Must Change
Madison McFerrin - (Please Don’t) Leave Me Now
Art Farmer - Maiden Voyage
Barbara Mason - Half Sister, Half Brother
Kaytranada & Shay Lia - Chances
Dynasty & Dave Lee - Still In Love
Paulinho da Costa - Deja Vu
Genevieve Artadi - Forever Forever
Bokani Dyer - Ke Nako
The Elder Statesman & Lord Echo - Trans-Alpine Express
Mark de Clive-Lowe & Shigeto & Melanie Charles - Kanazawa
Jordan Fields - Chicago 84
N.C.C.U. - Super Trick
Colourbox - Baby I Love You So
Brandee Younger - Brand New Life
Sly Johnson - Than You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again
Benny Sings & Emily King & Peter Cottontale - Miracles