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2023-09 September Playlist SunNeverSetsOnMusic

2023-09 September Playlist SunNeverSetsOnMusic

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Matthew Halsall - An Ever Changing View

An Ever Changing View

by Matthew Halsall

Released 8 September 2023

Gondwana Records

*****

Manchester trumpeter, bandleader and composer Matthew Halsall's landmark new album An Ever Changing View is an expansive, immaculately conceived project which presents Halsall’s signature blend of jazz, electronica, global and spiritual jazz influences.

An Ever Changing View is released on Gondwana Record, the label Halsall founded 15 years ago.

Halsall who has been hailed as one of the leading figures of the UK jazz renaissance has never seen himself as part of any one sound or scene: he builds his own sonic universe instead.

An Ever Changing View finds him at his most experimental yet, once again expanding his sound and production techniques to create his unique brand of deeply meditative music.

During the album's creation, he was staying in both a beautiful architect’s house with breathtaking sea views and a striking modernist house, where he composed what he saw “like a landscape painting”.

In these new environments, Halsall wanted to capture “the feeling of openness and escapism” and to approach making music again from scratch. “I hit the reset button and wanted to have complete musical freedom,” he says. “It was a real exploration of sound.”

An Ever Changing View comes in a package as striking as the music, with handmade fonts designed by Ian Anderson of The Designers Republic and the specially commissioned tapestry by artist Sara Kelly is a stunning and harmonious complement to the record's sound. 

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Read more... Bandcamp

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Yussef Dayes - Black Classical Music

Black Classical Music

by Yussef Dayes

Released 8 September 2023

Brownswood Music

*****

‘Black Classical Music’ is such a sprawling masterpiece and musical autobiography, it seems impossible that it is celebrated multi-instrumentalist, masterful drummer and visionary artist Yussef Dayes' debut solo studio album. In fact, it is the inevitable result of a young man's musical journey: a frontrunner for Album of The Year status that marks Dayes as a giant of contemporary British Jazz.

Having been given a drum kit at the age of 4, by his bass-playing father, Dayes formed childhood bands with his brothers and along the way, age 10, was tutored by drum legend Billy Cobham. Playing what they described as "Afro-beat stylings with forward-looking jazz and rock", the young boys' band, named United Vibrations, released their first single "Ra!" in 2009 and their debut album "Galaxies Not Ghettos" in 2011. The EP "We Never Die" followed in 2012 and "The Myth of the Golden Ratio" in 2016.

Still in his teens, Dayes teamed with keyboardist Kamaal Williams for the short-lived duo Yussef Kamaal in 2016, releasing their only studio album 'Black Focus" on Brownswood and attracting widespread attention and acclaim.

In 2020, Dayes released a "What Kinda Music" with guitarist Tom Misch on Blue Note Records.

More recently, Dayes released "Live At Joshua Tree", an EP presented by Soulection, and other solo releases including the live album "Welcome To The Hills" and "Love Is The Message", which was recorded Live at Abbey Road Studios.

His list of collaborators is ever-growing and has blossomed to include the finest talents across both music and fashion. 

For more Yussef Dayes music, link to our 20 August 2023 Blog entry "Yussef Dayes- Recent Releases and Collaborations", which anticipated the release of "Black Classical Music")

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Read more... Bandcamp

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Irreversible Entanglements - Protect Your Light

Protect Your Light

by Irreversible Entanglements

Released 8 September 2023

Verve

*****

Irreversible Entanglements is a band built on improvisation, five jazz virtuosos—poet/vocalist Camae Ayewa (aka Moor Mother), bassist Luke Stewart, trumpeter Aquiles Navarro, saxophonist Keir Neuringer, and drummer Tcheser Holmes—coalescing around an idea and discovering where it takes them. Their live shows are typically presented as a single piece of music, one movement seamlessly evolving into the next as they explore their anti-colonial and anti-fascist politics through sound. Their albums so far have mirrored this approach. After bonding during a Musicians Against Police Brutality event, they recorded their self-titled 2017 debut in a single day in Brooklyn, their first time performing as a collective.

Their fourth album, Protect Your Light, represents a departure from this free-flowing process. Recording across several days, the ensemble leaned into the tools of the studio, reexamining material and layering overdubs with help from multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily. The list of production credits dwarfs the lyrics sheet; each member wields multiple instruments, producing an album that sounds bigger than the five-piece group that created it. Cymbals crash, saxophones scream, horns swirl, and basslines walk confidently before tumbling down the stairs. But the chaos is controlled. The songs are relatively concise for Irreversible Entanglements, with the longest one clocking in at seven and a half minutes.

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Read more... Pitchfork

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Cleo Sol - Heaven

Heaven

by Cleo Sol

Released 15 September 2023

Forever Loving Originals

*****

Cleo Sol occupies a rarefied space. A press-averse cult figure, she’s quietly but uncompromisingly codified the sound of UK soul. Earlier this year, the London-born singer performed sold-out shows at the Royal Albert Hall; for a singer without hits to her name, this was a monumental feat. Cleo’s affirming odes have chimed with an audience who’ve grown with her, bearing witness to a repertoire of soul-seasoned fusion – distinctly homegrown but with the kind of transatlantic appeal that made Sade a crossover success.
New album ‘Heaven’ is Cleo Sol’s third in under four years, and like previous LPs – ‘Rose In The Dark’ and ‘Mother’ and her essential contributions to the eleven studio albums released by the enigmatic SAULT collective in the same period – it dramatises the vicissitudes that comes with enduring love, fidelity, motherhood and the orbit of platonic relationships.

‘Heaven’ develops rather than radically departs from the muted palette of its predecessors, this time through the lens of an earned maturity. These are short stories with a heightened sense of spiritual self-work coursing through them.

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Read more... CLASH

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Cleo Sol - Gold

GOLD

by Cleo Sol

Released 29 September 2023

Forever Loving Originals

*****

Cleo Sol has an excellent artistic strategy: make something great, release it, and then disappear back to her family, and – no doubt – the studio. Dipping in and dipping out when she feels ready, this sense of control pervades her work – whether it’s the intensity of Sault or the languid neo-soul of the songwriting released under her own name, every single detail is attended to.
‘Gold’ is her second album to be released in two weeks. While it’s a hopeless endeavour to compare and contrast unique artistic works, Clash endeavours to say the following: while ‘Heaven’ felt like a mood piece, ‘Gold’ is more defined, the music more sketched out, and with more evident strengths. Obviously everything Cleo Sol releases is excellent, it’s just that some projects are more excellent than others – in the Cleo Sol league table, this is challenging for a European spot.

‘Gold’ is a record that dares to be optimistic in an increasingly dark world. It’s soulful euphoria as a form of protest, a song cycle that revels in the quiet power of connection; in a catalogue replete with soaring highs, ‘Gold’ touches the clouds.

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Read more... CLASH

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Jorja Smith - falling or flying

falling or flying

by Jorja Smith

Released 29 September 2023

FAMM

*****

There’s always a forlorn edge to Jorja Smith’s voice, even when things are going well. “A love like this is nothing I have known before,” she sings on “Make Sense,” a track from her new album, “Falling or Flying.” Even as she rejoices, “A home in you I’ve found,” the chords circle around a minor key and she sounds cautious, almost disbelieving.

Smith, 25, has been delivering pensive British R&B since she emerged with “Blue Lights” in 2016, singing about racism and police violence. She has released a steady string of her own tracks and collaborated prolifically and internationally: with Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Burna Boy, Stormzy, Kali Uchis and Ibeyi, among many others.

From the beginning, and more than ever on “Falling or Flying,” her second full-length studio album, Smith has kept her sound strictly focused. No matter how many layers are in the final mixes — and there can be plenty tucked in — the songs present themselves as minimal, with stripped-down riffs behind aching vocals. In other words, rhythms and blues.

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On first impression, Smith might seem diffident. Her tone is natural and understated, and as her catalog has grown, she has raised her voice less and less. Smith uses nuance instead of volume. With a voice that often sounds like it’s on the verge of tears, she brings flickers of vibrato, jazzy curlicues, grainy inflections and subtle pauses and accelerations to her phrasing. It’s not modesty at all — it’s precision, and it has been ever more sharply honed.

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Read more... New York Times

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Shakti, John McLaughlin - This Moment

This Moment

by Shakti, John McLaughlin

Released 23 June 2023

Abstract Logic

*****

As a cornerstone of what is now called World Music, the vision and virtuosity of Shakti has inspired generations of musicians from around the world to explore sonic hybrids once thought impossible. Born of the musical and spiritual brotherhood shared by the revolutionary British guitarist and bandleader John McLaughlin and master Indian percussionist Zakir Hussain, Shakti’s soulful, organic intermingling of Eastern and Western musical traditions has proven transformative for both the band’s members and its listeners.

Fifty years after the informal conversations and jam sessions that sparked the band into existence, their music continues to resonate and evolve. This Moment – Shakti’s first new studio album in more than 45 years, is a work of immense depth and radiant optimism, This Moment offers a set of new compositions and performances that burn with a rare intensity born out of passion. With McLaughlin (guitar, guitar synth) and Hussain (tabla) joined by vocalist Shankar Mahadevan, violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan, and percussionist Selvaganesh Vinayakram, the Shakti of now is a powerfully dynamic collective, defined by deft interplay, dazzling unison passages, extraordinarily dexterous improvisations, and the ability to draw from a vast well of global traditions and, miraculously, put them in conversation with one another.
 

Read more... Bandcamp

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Joseph Tawadros - To Those Who Came Before Us

To Those Who Came Before Us

by Joseph Tawadros

Released 14 July 2023

Joseph Tawadros

*****

SunNeverSetsOnMusic favourite Joseph Tawadros’ 20th studio recording sees him totally solo and in his element. Drawing upon the ancient music tradition of taqasim, Tawadros attempts a soulful meditative hour long improvisation in this tradition. After 20 albums, this will be the greatest feat of solo creativity, a long extended solo work using the Arabic maqam system and the other influences picked up in his 20 year recording career.

"For my 20th album, I wanted to be solo. Solitary. Lost within the confines of my beloved Taqasim, the traditional Arabic musical art form of improvisation," says Tawadros. "I wanted to honour the people that have come before me, who have inspired my thoughts, my dreams, my feelings, my musical phrases and directed me on the path I'm on today."

Taqasim is the traditional musical art form of improvisation. It is based on the maqam  system of 72 heptatonic tone rows or scales. Each maqam is built on a scale, and carries a tradition that defines its habitual phrases, important notes, melodic development and modulation and shows the prowess of the player through modulations and shifts in modes.

Joseph’s 1 hour taqasim is a challenging work, engaging the listener and allowing them to be lost in an extended modal journey. Joseph is constantly evolving as a musician and composer and the music on the new album will feature a modern take on taqasim.

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Read more... Origin Music

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Angelika Niescier, Tomeka Reid & Savannah Harris - Beyond Dragons

Beyond Dragons

by Angelika Niescier, Tomeka Reid & Savannah Harris

Released 15 September 2023

Jones Schoder

*****

Always seeking new musical adventures, alto saxophonist Angelika Niescier (after winning the prestigious Albert Mangelsdorff Prize, she was recently awarded the WDR Jazz Prize 2023) is one of the most distinguished voices on the European jazz scene. Continuously, she has established close ties with some of the most significant and distinctive figures of the American jazz scene.

Together with renowned cellist Tomeka Reid and acclaimed drummer Savannah Harris, three technically accomplished instrumentalists with sparkling temperament, drive and a joy for experimentation are united to let the complexity and originality of Niescier‘s compositions shine on Beyond Dragons. This is a trio that explores every possible aspect of interplay, at times transparent in chamber music, at other times dense and boisterous, and always with captivating intensity. “This is an ensemble with a cohesiveness and empathy, and is an object lesson in the notion that collectivity need in no way blunt the radical individualism of participants”, writes Alexander Hawkins in the liner notes

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Read more... Bandcamp

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Jayda G - Guy

Guy

by Jayda G

Released 9 June 2023

Ninja Tune

*****

"Guy", the new album from the Grammy-nominated writer, producer, DJ, environmental toxicologist, campaigner and broadcaster, Jayda G is co-produced with Jack Peñate, who has previously worked with the likes of SAULT, David Byrne and Adele, with contributions from Lisa-Kaindé Diaz (of Ibeyi), Ed Thomas (Stormzy, Nia Archives, Jorja Smith) and more.

The album arrives on the back of a busy few years that includes Grammy nomination, worldwide performances amd marriage.

The new album brings Jayda’s own voice and words more prominently into focus than ever before, across 13 tracks that draw on her House, Disco, RnB and Soul roots while emphasizing her pop songwriting sensibilities, while interspersed with archival recordings of her late father, the eponymous William Richard Guy.

Those recordings — of which there are more than 11 hours, made shortly before he passed away when Jayda was just 10 years old — form the bedrock of the album’s narrative, capturing a small snapshot of the American experience, told through the eyes of a young African American man.

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Read more... Bandcamp

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Victoria Monet - Jaguar II

Jaguar II

by Victoria Monet

Released 25 August 2023

Lovett Music / RCA

*****

When Victoria Monét released Jaguar in 2020, she intended the EP to function as the first part of a trilogy taken altogether as her debut album. She changed course three years later with Jaguar II, a concluding LP sequel she considers the EP's "older sister." It's without doubt a more rounded display of Monét's writing and vocal talents, and at the same time underscores her high-wattage synergy with chief production associate D'Mile.

Jaguar II nudges contemporary R&B forward as it mixes inspirations spanning continents and generations. "Party Girls" and "Cadillac (A Pimp's Anthem)" radiate carefree pleasure and nonchalant swagger with a combination of early-'70s cinematic soul and dub. The first of the two includes a dancehall section featuring the duly energizing presence of genre legend Buju Banton, a major figure in Monét's musical upbringing. Jaguar contained an all-too-brief interlude with echoes of peak Earth, Wind & Fire, another inspiration. The group is even more of a factor this time, namechecked by Lucky Daye, Monét's well-matched duet partner on the stoned opener "Smoke," while "Hollywood," a wistful and resigned reflection on fame, is augmented by the voice of Philip Bailey and the bass of EW&F partner Verdine White. The elements more subtly inform the song that follows, "Good Bye," a slow exhalation -- with strings, brass, and a group-harmony chorus neatly laid atop a sailing rhythm -- that feels like a lost Faces-era gem co-written by Brenda Russell and David Foster. Just as salient is that Monét always comes across as an everywoman at heart, no matter how fantastical or personal she gets, followed closely by her ability to sound authoritative without increasing the volume or toughness of her dulcet voice. Those notions are backed up strongest with "On My Mama," slinking and triumphant Southern funk with more horns and a punctuating sample from Charlie Boy's 2009 hit "I Look Good."

Monét's wordplay is full of humor and stated as if she's just presenting facts off the dome: "I'm so deep in my bag/Like a grandma with a peppermint/They say, 'Ooh, she smell good'/That' just 'cause I'm heaven-sent." Wittier yet is "Stop (Askin' Me 4Shyt)," a confrontation that takes some unexpected sonic turns and delivers on its title.

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Read more... AllMusic

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Corinne Bailey Rae - Black Rainbows

Black Rainbows

by Corinne Bailey Rae

Released 15 September  2023

Black Rainbows Music / Thirty Tigers

*****

Anyone in the vicinity of a radio around 2006 heard “Put Your Records On,” Corinne Bailey Rae’s warm ode to feeling relaxed and fulfilled in the moment. Since then, the song has become a staple of easy listening channels and kindred playlists, even spinning off one viral cover. The commercial success of the song—alongside Rae’s self-titled debut, which stayed on the Billboard 200 for nearly a year and a half—helped solidify jazz, soul, and R&B as the foundation for her breezy pop. Seventeen years later, Rae has taken a sharp and surprising turn toward unabashed rock music with her scuzzy, guitar-powered new album, Black Rainbows. She’s not whispering but roaring.

As a 15-year-old in her home city of Leeds, Rae was in an upstart, all-girl rock group called Helen, drawing inspiration from women-led bands like L7, Belly, and Veruca Salt. The young ensemble garnered

attention from the alt-rock heavy hitter Roadrunner Records but the deal fell through, an industry heartbreak that nonetheless kept Rae pursuing music. For the first time in her solo catalog, Black Rainbows strikes directly at those formative tastes; Rae indulges the affections of her younger self without succumbing to cheap pastiche. With ferocious energy and clear-eyed confidence, it’s as though Rae is introducing herself all over again.

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Read more... Pitchfork

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Fat Freddy's Drop - Blackbird

Blackbird

by Fat Freddy's Drop

Released 21 June 2013

The Drop

*****

Heavyweight soul providers Fat Freddy’s Drop take flight once again with their third full-length release Blackbird.

Featuring nine tracks, Blackbird was written and recorded at Bays, the band’s own studio, which was one of the last vinyl pressing plants in New Zealand and then an apostolic church. Fitchie says, “What you hear on the album is the sound of Bays; the room itself, the vibe of the place and the performance we can get out of the band in there.”

“Blackbird is truer to FFD's musical philosophy than anything else we've done”, says Chopper Reeds. “The song structures are open and unruly - just like our live shows - whilst we've pushed ourselves to deliver rich and deeply layered arrangements that showcase Joe Dukie's exceptional voice. We feel totally at home melding together this unholy mix of disco, rootsy dub, blues, soul and electronic funk - it's what we do.”

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Read more... Bandcamp

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Fat Freddy's Drop - Blackbird Returns

Blackbird Returns

by Fat Freddy's Drop

Released 29 September 2023

The Drop / DRM NZ

****-

To mark the tenth anniversary of their landmark 2013 album "Blackbird", New Zealand's Fat Freddy's Drop have enlisted a plethora of producers from around the world for a track by track remake: Nightmares on Wax, Jazzanova, KINGS, Syrup D, Christoph El Truento and Lucky Lane, DJ Philippa, Feiertag, Marcus Worgull, The KCBS, YARNI feat. Liv East, Dub Pistols vs Freestylers and Kid Fonque.
 

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Van Morrison - Moving On Skiffle

Moving On Skiffle

by Van Morrison

Released 10 March 2023

Exile Productions

****-

After two albums where Van Morrison spent a great deal of time griping about the modern world, it's hard not to interpret the title of Moving On Skiffle as "moving on from the political unpleasantness of the last few years to skiffle, the music of my childhood."

Morrison has returned to skiffle before, cutting a dynamite live album with Chris Barber and Lonnie Donegan at the tail-end of the 2000s, but Moving On Skiffle is a different beast. Where The Skiffle Sessions: Live in Belfast 1998 benefitted from its live setting, Moving On Skiffle is clearly a studio album, a record so relaxed and unhurried it takes over 90 minutes to reach its conclusion. That's not to say it doesn't have its share of sprightly tempos: the band often kick up dust to a train-track rhythm, yet they never seem on the verge of descending into a frenzied rave-up or hoedown. The music's easy touch allows Morrison to be a bit playful, juxtaposing familiar melodies and lyrics in a surprising fashion; for instance, "Worried Man Blues" has him riffing upon words from "Mystery Train." This same attitude leads Morrison to reworking "Mama Don't Allow" into "Gov Don't Allow," giving him a place to grouse about how the government is shutting down free speech and skiffle. It's the one time on Moving On Skiffle where Van Morrison allows his inner curmudgeon to take the reins; otherwise, Moving On Skiffle is light and lively, an easy record to enjoy.

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Read more... AllMusic

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Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammed, Tony Allren - JID018 Tony Allen

JID018 Tony Allen

by Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammed, Tony Allen

Released 7 July 2023

Jazz Is Dead

****-

With each subsequent release, Jazz Is Dead continues to exalt the legacies of iconic musicians who have shaped the fabric of Jazz across generations, genres, and continents.

For their latest installment, the label connected with the late great Tony Allen, best known for his foundational work as the drummer for Fela Kuti's Africa 70, and later Egypt 80.

Over the course of Allen's recording career, he defined the Afrobeat sound, meshing Funk & Jazz influences with Nigerian Highlife to create a cross-cultural dialogue that has gone global.

It was no small honor to welcome Mr. Allen for a very special recording session at Linear Labs Studio, and we could not be more thrilled to share these crucial and downright funky cuts with you.
Despite the finite time that Allen had on this planet, as do all of us, his contributions to music are timeless and untouchable, and will continue to inform and inspire generations to come.

Jazz Is Dead is honored to have played a part in the legacy of Tony Allen and invites you to discover the unparalleled genius that shifted the entire world's conception of time, a magician who alchemized the past with the future and influenced countless listeners, currently and to come. 

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Read more... Bandcamp

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Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammed - Instrumentals JID019

Instrumentals JID019

by Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammed

Released 29 September 2023

Jazz Is Dead

****-

Jazz Is Dead celebrated the end of its first season (2021) with JID09 The Instrumentals, offering versions of tracks issued on volumes by Roy Ayers, Marcos Valle, João Donato, and Gary Bartz. Multi-instrumentalists/label bosses Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Adrian Younge issued it under their names, and relied heavily on the source tracks, stripping out their legendary collaborators' vocals. Two years later, the label closed out its second season following triumphant titles by Katalyst, Jean Carne, Phil Ranelin, and Wendell Harrison, drummer/composer Garret Saracho, Lonnie Liston Smith, and drummer Tony Allen (posthumous). The producers appear on virtually every release, and more often than not co-write with their guests, play many of the instruments, and guarantee a level of professional accompaniment for the originators present on the label's recordings.

JID019 Instrumentals differs from its predecessor. All ten selections were co-written by Muhammad and Younge with either Carne (Vol. 7) or Smith (Vol. 3). The tunes (selections from their individual volumes) were re-recorded with stunning sound and production, and given crystalline mixes.

JID019 Instrumentals is a fitting conclusion for the duo's season: It's creatively inspired, sonically imaginative, musically tight, and wonderfully accessible to fans of jazz, hip-hop, funk, and R&B.

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Read more... AllMusic

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Yulugi - Chasing Stars To The Mother Tree

Chasing Stars To The Mother Tree

by Yulugi