Mop Mop ‎– Lunar Love (2016)

Style: Funk, Soul, Contemporary Jazz
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Agogo Records

Tracklist:
(The Journey)
01.   Alfa
02.   Adhara
03.   Totem
(The Awakening)
04.   Spaceship: Earth
05.   Omega
06.   Lunar Love
(The Experience)
07.   The Barber feat. Anthony Joseph
08.   Habibi
(Close Encounters)
09.   Plato
10.   The Serpent
11.   Supreme
12.   Foreign Correspondent

Credits:
Congas, Surdo, Bendir, Udu, Shaker, Rattle, Talking Drum, Percussion – Danilo Mineo
Drums, Vocals, Drum Machine, Percussion – Andrea Benini
Electric Bass, Double Bass – Salvatore Lauriola
Electronics, Synthesizer (Moog) – Nicola Peruch
Guitar – Davide Angelica
Idiophone – Christoph Matenaers
Piano, Electric Piano, Bass, Synthesizer – Alex Trebo
Steel Drums, Kalimba – Max Castlunger
Synthesizer (ARP) – Telonio
Vibraphone, Marimba, Glockenspiel, Balafon – Pasquale Mirra
Arranged By, Producer – Andrea Benini

Mop Mop ‎– Isle Of Magic (2013)

Style: Funk, Soul, Contemporary Jazz
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Agogo Records

Tracklist:
01.   Jua Kiss
02.   Let I Go
03.   Kamakumba
04.   Heritage
05.   Phantom Of The Panther
06.   Run Around
07.   The Golden Bamboo
08.   Loa Chant
09.   Black Ivory
10.   Damballah
11.   Mojomamy
12.   Afro Jojo Part One
13.   Afro Jojo Part Two

Credits:
Acoustic Guitar – Lutz Schlosser
Baritone Saxophone – Johannes Schleiermacher
Clarinet, Flute – Guglielmo Pagnozzi
Congas, Bongos, Talking Drum, Djembe, Bells, Drums (Dununba), Shaker – Lorenzo Gasperoni
Congas, Surdo, Karkabas], Bendir, Udu, Cowbell, Shaker– Danilo Mineo
Double Bass, Cello – Bruno Briscik
Drums, Percussion, Vocals – Andrea Benini
Electric Bass – Lorenzo Ternelli, Salvatore Lauriola
Electric Guitar – Simon Rainer
Idiophone– Emanuel Valentin
Piano, Electric Piano, Clavinet, Synthesizer (Moog) – Alex Trebo
Steel Drum, Kalimba, Shaker– Max Castlunger
Trombone – Fred Wesley
Vibraphone, Marimba – Pasquale Mirra
Vocals – Anthony Joseph, Sara Sayed
Arranged By, Producer – Andrea Benini

Mop Mop ‎– Ritual Of The Savage (2010)

Style: Future Jazz
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: INFRACom!

Tracklist:
01.   The Return Of The King
02.   Destination
03.   Ash
04.   Mr. Know It All
05.   So High
06.   Outerspace
07.   Blue Soul
08.   African Freedom
09.   Ritual Of The Savage
10.   Naja Haje (Omaggio A Don Cherry)
11.   Hot Pot
12.   Aria

Credits:
Piero Bittolo Bon - Clarinet (Bass), Flute, Sax (Alto)
Bruno Briscik - Double Bass
The Duke of Neverland String Quartet - Strings
Alan Farrington - Composer, Lyricist, Vocals
Salvatore Lauriola - Bass (Electric)hy
Danilo Mineo - Percussion
Virgen Montalvo - Vocals
Baby N'sola - Composer
Alberto Oliva - Trombone
Guglielmo Pagnozzi - Clarinet, Sax (Alto)
Gabriele Pesaresi - Double Bass
Gianluca Petrella - Trombone
Lazzaro Piccolo - Guitar
Federico Poggipollini - Guitar
Marco Pretolani - Flute, Sax (Tenor)
Mirco Rubegni - Trumpet
Alessandro Scala - Sax (Tenor)
Beppe Scardino - Sax (Baritone)
Pasquale Mirra - Arranger
Alex Trebo - Clavinet, Composer, Piano, Piano (Electric), Synthesizer
Andrea Benini - Arranger, Composer, Drum Machine, Drums, Engineer, Lyricist, Percussion, Producer

Mop Mop ‎– Kiss Of Kali (2008)

Style: Future Jazz
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: INFRACom!, Nebula, Obi

Tracklist:
01.   Living Beat
02.   Locomotive
03.   The Lowered Flag
04.   Jazzdancer
05.   The Round Table
06.   KIss Of Kali
07.   I Wish I Was In Hell
08.   Crunk
09.   Get Into It
10.   Soul Call
11.   Last Trip

Credits:
Bass Clarinet – Piero Bittolo
Clarinet – Guglielmo Pagnozzi
Double Bass – Bruno Briscik, Gabriele Pesaresi
Drums – Andrea Benini
Electric Piano – Alex Trebo
Human Beatbox – Andrea Benini
Percussion – Andrea Benini, Danilo Mineo), Max Castlunger
Piano – Alex Trebo
Piano – Alex Trebo
Saxophone (Alto])– Guglielmo Pagnozzi
Saxophone (Baritone) – Beppe Scardino
Saxophone (Tenor) – Alessandro Scala
Trombone – Alberto Oliva
Trumpet – Diego Frabetti, Mirco Rubegni
Vibraphone – Pasquale Mirr
Written-By – Alex Trebo, Andrea Benini
Arranged By – Andrea Benini
Producer – Andrea Benini

The Cinematic Orchestra ‎– To Believe (2019)

Style: Contemporary Jazz, Downtempo, Soul-Jazz
GFormat: CD, Vinyl
Label: Ninja Tune

Tracklist:
1.   To Believe
2.   A Caged Bird / Imitations Of Life
3.   Lessons
4.   Wait For Now / Leave The World
5.   The Workers Of Art
6.   Zero One / This Fantasy
7.   A Promise

Credits:
Bass – Kaveh Rastager, Sam Vicary
Double Bass – Kevin Abdella
Drums – Luke Flowers
Guitar – Kevin Abdella, L D Brown
Keyboards – Dominic J Marshall
Orchestra – Metropole Orchestra
Organ – Dennis Hamm
Percussion – João Parahyba
Piano – Aleks Podraza, Dennis Hamm
Saxophone – Tom Chant
Strings – Miguel Atwood-Ferguson
Synthesizer – Dennis Hamm
Vocals – Dominic Smith
Backing Vocals – L D Brown
Performer, Producer, Arranged By, Written-By – Dominic Smith, Jason Swinscoe

I’ve always found the Cinematic Orchestra too pretentious, too austere, a band whose ambitions outran their abilities. With this fourth album, 12 years after their last, that austerity is over. To Believe is heartbreakingly brilliant: a collection of exquisitely assembled songs that appear delicate from a distance before revealing a close-quarters core strength. Band leaders Jason Swinscoe and Dominic Smith have loosely arranged seven lightly jazzy tracks around the themes of belief and what it means to believe. Much as the pair attempt to make movies with their music, the best song has no dialogue: the meandering instrumental Lessons is a glorious balm, nine minutes of murmuring conversation between the players, dominated by Luke Flowers’ gently military drums. It has depth and meaning without context, the ideal soundtrack to a film that doesn’t exist. The sweeping grandeur of A Caged Bird/Imitations of Life is another cinematic collaboration with the always articulate and engaging Roots Manuva, a sort-of sequel to the epic All Things to All Men, and just as good. Every song here could easily be five or 10 minutes longer. A triumph. 

Damien Morris / The Guardian

Joe Harriott And John Mayer Double Quintet ‎– Indo-Jazz Fusions I & II (1998)

Style: Fusion, Free Improvisation, Easy Listening
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Redial, EMI, Double-Up, EmArcy

Tracklist:
1.   Partita
2.   Multani
3.   Gana
4.   Acka Raga
5.   Subject
6.   Raga Piloo
7.   "Song" Before "Sunrise"
8.   Purvi Variations
9.   Mishra Blues

Credits:
Alto Saxophone – Joe Harriott
Bass – Coleridge Goode
Drums – Alan Ganley, Jackie Dougan
Flute – Chris Taylor
Harpsichord – John Mayer
Piano – Pat Smythe
Sitar – Diwan Motihar
Tabla – Keshav Sathe
Tambura – Chandrahas Paigankar
Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Kenny Wheeler, Shake Keane
Violin – John Mayer
Composed By, Directed By – John Mayer
Mastered By – Erhard Meldau

Filho Da Mãe ‎– Água​-​Má (2018)

Style: Acoustic, Blues Rock, Experimental
Format: CD, Vinyl, FLAC
Label: Lovers & Lollypops

Tracklist:
01.   Praia
02.   Não Me Voltes Atrás
03.   Os Meus Ombros Chumbaram a Geografia
04.   Nem Chuva, Nem Cães
05.   Não, Não Danço
06.   Perseguição De Bananas
07.   Camelos Nas Levadas
08.   Poncho Como O Vento
09.   Marraram As Ondas, Partiu-se O Pontão
10.   Casa

Credits:
Mastered By – Nuno Monteiro
Producer, Songwriter – Rui Carvalho
Recorded By, Producer, Mixed By – Hugo Valverde

Filho da Mãe já é um sedimento na música portuguesa - ao longo dos anos, o rio que Rui Carvalho evoca com a própria música criou o pós-hardcore dos If Lucy Fell, os caos acústicos de Palácio e Cabeça e o Mergulho no pouco convencional, não esquecendo ainda colaborações com artistas como Ricardo Martins. Apesar da jornada ter sido longa e variada, o guitarrista de Lisboa regressa à complexidade que usou para fazer o seu primeiro álbum a solo, Palácio, e infunde-lhe uma dose extra de americana e primitivismo. 

Agua Má - o resultado de uma residência na Madeira - é já o quarto álbum de estúdio que Filho da Mãe edita em nome próprio em apenas 7 anos e revela-se como um exercício mais sóbrio sobre velhas tendências. Melodias e harmonias bem pensadas são reforçadas por uma produção minimal, em que as respirações que pautam e marcam o compasso humano de cada tema são tão musicais como a música em si. Rui Carvalho continua a impingir a sua impaciência musical nas pequenas variações que incute às frases que constrói à volta de cada tema, sendo possível, como sempre, respirar a mesma substância que certamente também terá inspirado Norberto Lobo, suada pelos grandes nomes da guitarra primitiva de John Fahey, Robbie Basho e Sandy Bull, entre outros.

Surpreendentemente, a empunhar o típico instrumento mais cliché possível e a fazer apenas uso dele, Filho da Mãe consegue ser ainda dos artistas portugueses mais refrescantes da atualidade, não precisando de esquemas complexos ou de sonoridades caricatas para fazer render as 6 cordas que enchem salas e corações. Por todo o disco há uma sensibilidade musical característica, ressoando ao logo da primeira metade de Água Má. Somos levados por linhas orelhudas que, por breves instantes, se ausentam para abrirem desarmonias - um caso catedrático é "Não, não danço", com uma melodia quasi-pop, a tornar imprevisível a agradável sensação de estranheza que acordes mais dissonantes causam. 

"Perseguição de bananas" marca a entrada no lado mais ambicioso do disco. Abandona-se o pop mas retém-se a sensibilidade, com o "pós-folk" de "Camelo nas Levadas", o dedilhar incessante e incansável de "Poncha como o vento", e as reverberações exageradas e sinuosas de "Marraram as ondas, partiu-se o pontão", uma epopeia em menos de 7 minutos àquele que é Filho da Mãe - um tema que nos deixa ao abandono para mais tarde nos vir buscar, um tema que é perder para de novo encontrar, um tema que castiga para mais tarde abraçar e que se destaca como o melhor momento deste disco. De uma maneira pouco comum, "Casa", a última "música" do disco é talvez a que nos soa mais familiar, uma gravação de campo com lugar que chegue para o íntimo. 

Como não há maneira de o pôr sem soar bajulador, digo-o de uma só vez: este é o melhor trabalho que Rui Carvalho, em todas as suas incarnações, produziu. É simultaneamente sensível e agressivo, com uma premonição sobre-humana para saber o que é preciso em cada momento para que as frases musicais se concretizem em temas concretos. Esta água pode não ser boa de nome, mas faz-nos tão bem. 

thresholdmagazine.pt

Bonobo ‎– Migration (2017)

Style: Downtempo, House, Electro, Future Jazz
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: No Paper Records, Ninja Tune

Tracklist;
01.   Migration
02.   Break Apart
03.   Outlier
04.   Grains
05.   Second Sun
06.   Surface
07.   Bambro Koyo Ganda
08.   Kerala
09.   Ontario
10.   No Reason
11.   7th Sevens
12.   Figures

Credits:
Bass Clarinet – Mike Lesirge
Cello – April Dawn Guthrie
Clarinet – Mike Lesirge
Double Bass – Simon Gree
Drums – Jack Baker
Electric Piano– Simon Green
Electronics – Simon Green
Flugelhorn – Ryan Jaco
Flute – Mike Lesirge
Guitar – Simon Green
Keyboards – Jon Hopkins
Mellotron – Simon Green
Percussion – Harrison Mills
Piano – Jon Hopkins, Simon Green
Producer – Simon Green
Programmed By – Simon Green
Synthesizer – Simon Green
Tenor Saxophone – Mike Lesirge
Trombone – Alan Hardiman
Trumpet – Ryan Jacob
Viola – Rocio Marron
Violin – Bianca McClure
Vocals – Innov Gnawa, Nick Murphy
Written-By – Jon Hopkins, Simon Green

It’s been a long road for Simon Green, aka Bonobo, since his 2000 debut Animal Magic. Back then, he was seeking a bridge between downtempo electronica and the more playful and experimental artists on his soon-to-be-label home Ninja Tune; he came off as a bit too fuzzy for the former and not quite adventurous enough for the latter. Over the years, Green has honed his craft, shedding his early Amon Tobin Lite image and taking downtempo more seriously as a genre. On this way, he’s discovered late-breaking success: His last album, The North Borders, became a mainstream hit across Europe in 2013. On Migration, Green makes his most sophisticated record yet. 

Green’s songwriting on The North Borders failed to match the sophistication of his production, and the album’s persistent moodiness grew wearisome. On Migration, Green has jettisoned the tepid slow-build dynamics: The nearly-eight minute colossus “Outlier” and its shuffling gallop of a beat leave downtempo in the dust, taking the listener on a journey that’s part Burial, part Rival Consoles. The song’s breakdown and slowly disintegrating comedown suggests Four Tet at his most delicate. These aren’t typical reference points for Bonobo, and show an artist still willing to seek new ideas. The piano of opener “Migration” is pulled from the playbook of post-classicists like Ólafur Arnalds or Peter Broderick and an “Amen”-esque drum break midway that amplifies the song’s sense of longing. The triumphant “Ontario” is the closest thing this relatively forward-looking record gets to nostalgia, with a booming beat and sitar that hearkens back to Animal Magic and other turn-of-the-millennium Ninja Tune releases. 

Green continues his periodic use of vocalists to transform his ideas into full-fledged pop songs. The results in the past have been hit-or-miss, but he finds his stride here. “Break Apart,” featuring the graceful genderless contralto of Rhye’s Milosh over a sampled harp, is exquisite; “Surface,” featuring Hundred Waters’ Nicole Miglis, is even better. Nick Murphy’s (fka Chet Faker) “No Reason” is less interesting, though it’s easy to imagine how it (or “Surface” for that matter) could become a club hit in either current or remixed form.

All told, Migration is an impressive improvement over The North Borders, and easily the most listenable record of Bonobo’s fifteen-plus year career. It’s a record with equal appeal for electronic music fans and general listeners, something you could put on anywhere. Essentially, it recasts downtempo as a genre with more potential than party music on the Bosphorus. 

Benjamin Scheim / Pitchfork 

Generation Next / Big Strick ‎– Like Father, Like Son (2014)

Style: Deep House, Techno
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: 7 Days Ent.

Tracklist:
01.   Big Strick - 1802
02.   Generation Next - The Myth Of Miami
03.   Big Strick - Stickin' & Movin
04.   Generation Next - And You Too
05.   Big Strick - Rain Dance
06.   Big Strick Ft. Tony Coates - The Ride
07.   Generation Next Ft. Don Q - Mo' Money
08.   Generation Next / Big Strick - Like Father Like Son
09.   Generation Next / Big Strick - Full Of Life
10.   Generation Next - Flynn's

Credits:
Mastered By – PCMJR

Big Strick founded 7 Days Ent. after a string of releases on Omar-S's FXHE. In late 2012, the label released Resivior Dogs Volume. 1, which featured "Family Affair," a collaboration with Omar-S, and "Windsor Nights," a track from Generation Next, Big Strick's 16-year-old son Tre Strickland (and, as it happens, Omar-S's nephew). Generation Next has since released two solo 12-inches of aqueous jams on 7 Days Ent., and he returns here with Like Father Like Son.  

Like Jay Daniel's recent EP on Sound Signature, the two solo tracks here suggest a young producer with an impressive but still maturing sound. "And You Too" is wintry house, with a choked atmosphere and grotty sub-bassline. It's moody and slightly indistinct, but still effective. Generation Next works well with his dad on "Like Father Like Son," riding on a juicy bassline and tentative percussion that has the kind of gauzey, early morning sound Fred P's a master of. Still, Big Strick's own "Rain Dance" is the standout, evoking Rick Wilhite's Analog Aquarium, with muted bells, puffy arpeggios and dub reggae organs. Big Strick doesn't let the distortion overpower the arrangement, and the resonant metalwork and feathery kick together are divine. 

Big Strick founded 7 Days Ent. after a string of releases on Omar-S's FXHE. In late 2012, the label released Resivior Dogs Volume. 1, which featured "Family Affair," a collaboration with Omar-S, and "Windsor Nights," a track from Generation Next, Big Strick's 16-year-old son Tre Strickland (and, as it happens, Omar-S's nephew). Generation Next has since released two solo 12-inches of aqueous jams on 7 Days Ent., and he returns here with Like Father Like Son.  

Like Jay Daniel's recent EP on Sound Signature, the two solo tracks here suggest a young producer with an impressive but still maturing sound. "And You Too" is wintry house, with a choked atmosphere and grotty sub-bassline. It's moody and slightly indistinct, but still effective. Generation Next works well with his dad on "Like Father Like Son," riding on a juicy bassline and tentative percussion that has the kind of gauzey, early morning sound Fred P's a master of. Still, Big Strick's own "Rain Dance" is the standout, evoking Rick Wilhite's Analog Aquarium, with muted bells, puffy arpeggios and dub reggae organs. Big Strick doesn't let the distortion overpower the arrangement, and the resonant metalwork and feathery kick together are divine.  

Aaron Gonsher / Resident Advisor

Señor Coconut Y Su Conjunto ‎– El Baile Alemán (2000)

Style: Cumbia, Merengue, Latin, Cha-Cha, Experimental
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label:  Emperor Norton, Multicolor Recordings, EFA

Tracklist:
01  Introduccion
02  Showroom Dummies (Cha-Cha-Cha)
03  Trans Europe Express (Cumbia)
04  The Robots (Cha-Cha-Cha)
05  Neon Lights (Cha-Cha-Cha)
06  Autobahn (Cumbia Merengue)
07  Homecomputer (Merengue)
08  Tour De France (Merengue)
09  The Man Machine (Baklán)
10  Music Non Stop (Cumbia)

Credits:
Arranged By, Conductor – Señor Coconut
Programmed By, Concept By, Producer – Atom™
Shaker – Ricardito Tambo
Vocals – Argenis Brito, Jorge González

Despite his name, his album title and the fact that his introduction is in Spanish, Senor Coconut is a German called Uwe Schmidt who fronts a six-piece Danish backing band. "El Baile Aleman" means "the German dance", a perfectly logical title for Herr Coconut's Latin-tinged Kraftwerk tribute LP (recorded in Chile). Only a maniac, you would think, would filter the Dusseldorf wunderkinder through an array of South American dance beats, but it works staggeringly well, not least because of the ingeniously Kraftwerkian vocals. 

The paradox of Kraftwerk is that their apparent iciness achieves sleek and sensual results, as, in its way, does Coconut's squad of ersatz Latinos. The Robots closely echoes the original's spooky shimmer, but with extra hip-swivel; Trans Europe Express uses Latin percussion to evoke a chuffing train; and Home Computer sustains the illusion that a digital pulse is ticking beneath its trumpets and jittery merengue beat. Surely unique. 

Adam Sweeting / The Guardian