Due out May 2012 on CD & Vinyl, to pre-order a copy please contact us at info@conch.co.nz
Brownswood Recordings is delighted to announce that the second volume of its "Worldwide Family" series comes courtesy of LA native Kutmah, London's newly transplanted DJ, producer, visual artist and eternal beat-seeker. Kutmah designed all the artwork - pen and ink steez - for the sleeve, collaborating with his good friend Brandy Flower from Hit+Run LA.Tracklisting runs like this…
It’s the emotive, dreamy quality of Gang Colours‘ debut EP, ‘In Your Gut Like A Knife’, that really grips the listener to his/her core; indeed, all the way to the gut. Floating in ambiguity, not leaning towards one genre nor another, its organic simplicity leads to a unique groove: one that maybe hasn’t been paved just yet.
As a portal into a world of daydreams, tumbling into shadows and embracing luminescence simultaneously, Gang Colours turns drum patterns into magic. Breeding surreal headphone-friendly landscapes, he fills them with unexpected sounds that would otherwise seem out of place. Within his intricate collages however, they nestle so comfortably – it’s hard to remember their usual context. At times his sound effects strike a peculiar balance between otherworldly and familiarity (reminiscent of slide whistles or insects buzzing). At other points they conjure a sense of longing. Think Mount Kimbie with a playful sense of humour, Burial on a soft, sunny dancefloor, Gold Panda with an R&B lean.
Due for release May 2011 on CD & LP, to pre-order please contact us at info@conch.co.nz
In 2009 a close-knit London-based collective of musicians travelled to Kenya to collaborate with local musicians in Nairobi. There they met Joseph Nyamungu – a phenomenal nyatiti player/teacher whose scope of knowledge of traditional Luo music is unparalleled – and Charles Owoko, a drummer specialising in traditional Luo rhythms. A series of inspiring jam sessions concluded with time in a downtown Nairobi studio where the sound developed into something unique, fresh and full of verve.
The project – dubbed Owiny Sigoma Band – will finally be released on 2nd May 2011, preceded by a 12” boasting a monstrous Theo Parrish remix available exclusively via Record Store Dayon 16th April 2011. The Motor City legend stripped back the melodic content to the bare essentials and built one of his trademark twisted trips in a whirlwind session with Floating Points at Eglo Studios, London.
Africa is still largely untapped. The US has been dug to death, likewise most of South America and Brazil. Africa is the new Colombia in terms of uprooted treasures by the likes of Analog Africa and Soundway. Nigeria, Ghana and the French Colonies – Congo, Sierra Leone and maybe Ivory Coast – they’re the ones that have been tapped, but there’s so much more. I’ve started hearing stuff from Eritrea and Mozambique… funk bands… James Brown made an impact everywhere.What I heard when I first played Owiny Sigoma Band on the radio was a phat, wayward dance record with African leanings and it just felt completely right. That’s why it was good to continue along the path that they’d followed, because they’ve got a different approach to how the drums should sound and the bass should sound – it’s like they’ve been listening to a bunch of Arthur Russell and Liquid Liquid records. These characteristics alongside the nyatiti, the vocals and the cow’s horn, lend it these unique properties that you don’t hear in any other African music and make it exciting. But, fundamentally, the reason that it works for me (and Brownswood) is that it’s drum and bass heavy… rhythmically heavy. And all those little disco tricks… the reverbs and the tape delays that they used are brilliant. It’s by no means a disco record, but it’s got enough of that in it to make it sound new and inventive. Plus of course there’s the whole thing with bands like Vampire Weekend, the Damon Albarn touch and World Circuit… all of that has been embedded in people’s heads. So basically you throw this project in the mix which has all of those elements and that’s why it’s fresh.
Gilles Peterson
Owiny Sigoma Band on Facebook
Released Late February 2011, to pre-order please contact us at info@conch.co.nz
[Via Brownswood Recordings]
Recently migrated from the capital city of the West Midlands – Coventry – to the southerly climes of London, Ghostpoet looks set to make his mark on 2011. The softly spoken 24 year-old has already won over BBC Radio 1’s foremost tastemaker Gilles Peterson with a handful of off-kilter, loopy electronic ditties blessed with his delightfully rambling musings on modern life. Signing to Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings imprint, a free EP entitled ‘The Sound Of Strangers’ sidled into the public domain in June 2010. Comprising four tracks, three original compositions blessed with playful prose, one remix of A Tribe Called Quest’s ‘Electric Relaxation (Relax Yourself Girl)’… and a feature from left-leaning pop mastermind Micachu, it hit a hungry online audience and earned Ghostpoet a coveted spot in The Guardian’s New Band Of The Day feature as well as glowing recommendations from NME, CMJ, RCRDLBL, URB, XLR8R, Drowned In Sound and The Mercury Prize.
Born and raised somewhere between London, Coventry, Nigeria and Dominica, Obaro admits that his heritage is important to him, but that it hasn’t consciously affected his musical career: “My parents enjoyed listening to music around the house but never really encouraged it as a career. I kind of pursued listening to various sounds late into the night when the house was asleep.” And as for attempting to pinpoint his tastes… it’s hard to gauge when his palette flips from Badly Drawn Boy’s ‘The Hour Of The Bewilderbeast’ (the first CD he ever bought) to the angular dynamics of the UK grime scene via Iggy Pop, Fela Kuti, Radiohead, MF Doom and Squarepusher. This was the music that captured his imagination at university, where Obaro was part of a grime collective: “One of the guys made the beats with Reason, he taught me the basics and I kind of stumbled, bumbled and fumbled my way to the present.”
Dusting himself off, Ghostpoet drops his debut single – ‘Cash & Carry Me Home’ – on 24th January 2011, followed by his album on 7th February 2011. Showcasing Ghostpoet’s loveably ramshackle, but hook-laden productions and his lazy baritone, ‘Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam’ is a neat summation of the MC’s musical journey to date, but also an impressive statement of intent. Don’t sleep on this young, inventive, British MC – he’s destined for greatness.
World renowned globetrotting DJ, broadcaster and tastemaker, Gilles Peterson teamed up with the award winning Cuban jazz pianist, Roberto Fonseca, to find the very best up and coming musical talent in Havana. 12 Months in the making it represents the biggest collection of contemporary Cuban musicians in a single musical initiative since the highly acclaimed launch of Buena Vista Social Club in 1990.
Featuring the work of over 20 musicians and artists recorded across 28 tracks, the double CD album is a celebration of Cuba’s freshest musical talent from latin, afro jazz and fusion to hip hop, funk, reggaeton and R&B. The album includes a collection of new material written and recorded in Havana by undiscovered local street and urban musicians such as vocalist D’nay (described by Gilles Peterson as “Cuba’s Jill Scottâ€) and Doble Filo as well as international award winning artists such as rapper Kumar and pianist Roberto Fonseca. Fans of Cuban music will also recognise a number of traditional Cuban classics such as Chekere Son, which have been carefully re-recorded by Gilles Peterson.
PODCAST: Check out the podcast Gilles put together here featuring music from the Havana Cultura album
Check the track-listing below and get it hereTrack-listing:
Brownswood Recordings is delighted to announce that the second volume of its "Worldwide Family" series comes courtesy of LA native Kutmah, London's newly transplanted DJ, producer, visual artist and eternal beat-seeker. Kutmah designed all the artwork - pen and ink steez - for the sleeve, collaborating with his good friend Brandy Flower from Hit+Run LA.
Tracklisting runs like this…
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