In The Pocket: November 2012

21 November 2012

Wax Wednesday: Playlist 'In The Pocket with 90' Wed 21 Nov on Radio Ponsonby

It was the "Well, It's Kinda Jazz Special" on Wax Wednesday today, with an all-vinyl selection of jazz and other things fringing jazz. Check the tunes below...

www.radioponsonby.co.nz

Seu Jorge | Everybody Loves The Sunshine
Assembly Line | Cosmic Ballad
J Rawls Presents Liquid Crystal Project | So Fly
Beatless | Like Sugar Like Rain
G-Litter | Seoul 88
Slide Five | Rhode Trip
Fat Freddy's Drop | Del Fuego
IG Culture Presents Zen Badizm | Girl U Need A Change Of Mind
Rhythm Section | Circular Logic
The Budos Band | Up From The South
The JuJu Orchestra | Kind Of Latin Rhythm
Nuspirit Helsinki | Trying (Butti 49 Nu Niveau remix)
Miles Davis | Miles Runs The Voodoo Down
Ping Pong | Shmoo'sville
Dorothy Ashby | Soul Vibrations
Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway | Baby I Love You
Quincy Jones | Killer Joe
J Rawls & John Robinson Are The 1960s Jazz Revolution Again with Tiffany Paige | Relax Ur Mind
MF Doom | Galangal Root
Feak | Baby E's Ain't No Joke
Greyboy | Ruffneck Jazz
Fertile Ground | Another Day (Povo rework)

Review: Label Love Volume 5 "The Jazz Edition"

Various Artists
LABEL LOVE VOL. 5
The Jazz Edition
[Various Labels]

When is jazz not jazz? When is "not jazz" jazz again? And does it really matter when the music's this intriguing? These are the questions I find myself asking after listening to Label Love Volume 5: The Jazz Edition, put together by a collective of independent record labels (check out the links at the bottom of this review) who have been quietly releasing a fabulously free series of compilations for a minute now. Yep, five free compilations of new, exclusive and/or previously unreleased forward-thinking music from some of the hottest acts on the planet. Volume 5 narrows its' focus to the much-maligned genre of jazz, which some say died when its' key players from the '40s and '50s passed; this selection alone illustrates that's a viewpoint politely described as "misguided". Featuring the likes of Nostalgia 77, Kit Downes Trio, Matthew Halsall, The Greg Foat Group, Examples Of Twelve and many more, this comp highlights some of the most beautiful, enthralling and exciting jazz music around, as well as pushing a few boundaries: album opener The Chosen, by Menagerie (otherwise known as Bamboos bandleader Lance Ferguson) leans heavily on the soul-funk side of jazz, while Troyka go waaaaayyy out on the abstract Rarebit, and Red Balloon sees Gizmo throwing down a lazy rap over a sparse beat laced with tasty piano grooves. At a time when copious amounts of free music is available over the internet, this is one free download you need to get hip to, you dig?

3 and 1/2 stars from 5

www.tru-thoughts.co.uk
www.impossiblearkrecords.bandcamp.com
www.gondwanarecords.com
www.jazzmanrecords.co.uk
www.editionrecords.com

www.katalystentertainment.com

www.revivalist.okayplayer.com

www.bashorecords.com

Please take the time to visit the labels involved in putting this project together on the links above, and to download the full album here. Gratis. Nice one.

19 November 2012

Wax Wednesday: Playlist 'In The Pocket with 90' Wed 14 Nov on Radio Ponsonby

12 November 2012

Friday Freshie: Playlist 'In The Pocket with 90' Fri 9 Nov on Radio Ponsonby

Shapeshifter | Diamond Trade
Superspirit | We Belong To The Cosmos
Bing Ji Ling | Do What I Gotta Do
Positive Flow | Phaedra's Flight
Superspirit | Brand New Day
Positive Flow | Axis
Positive Flow with Colonel Red | Hold On
Bing Ji Ling | Move On
Fat Freddy's Drop | Silver And Gold
Positive Flow with Omar | My Prediction
Martino | Reasons (Sigg Buggz remix)
Bing Ji Ling | Home
A-Trak, Kimbra & Mark Foster | Warrior (What So Not remix)
Positive Flow with Andre Espeut | Tapestries Of My Mind
Bing Ji Ling | Thought Our Love Was Strong
Bing Ji Ling | Money In The Meter
Wagon Cookin with Gabriela Smith | All The Night
Positive Flow with Sharlene Hector | Look Around Any Corner
Toomy Disco | The Brush
Cajmere | Chit Chat (Clubhouse mix)
Frank Booker | No Delay

A large chunk of the music from today's show was taken from three albums: Flow Lines by Positive Flow, on the outstanding Tokyo Dawn Records; Superspirit's 2009 album Permission To Come Aboard; and Bing Ji Ling's 2004 album Doodle Loot Doot Doodle A Doo.

07 November 2012

Wax Wednesday: Playlist 'In The Pocket with 90' Wed 7 Nov on Radio Ponsonby

Review: Kylie Auldist 'Still Life'

KYLIE AULDIST
Still Life
[Tru Thoughts]

This kind of soulful pop music is often deried as "cafe lite". As in, it initially sounds sweet and entertaining, but upon closer inpspection ends up sickly saccharine, or lamely boring. In truth, it's an exceptional artist who can pull off this sound consistently, as it is a fine line to tread. Luckily for us, the close collaboration of vocalist Kylie Auldist and producer Lance Ferguson is more than capable of such consistency. They've been quietly building an impressive body of work via no less than five Bamboos albums, and now Auldist's third solo record. Still Life continues in the vein of her early work, with heartfelt and emotive tales of life, love and loss, backed by full-bodied instrumentation and production. Ferguson has always had a way with a clever pop song, but some of these tracks, particularly the huge Daydream, sound like stadium anthems to rival Duffy and Adele. Balancing that are tracks like Letterhead Life, which references '50s doo-wop and soul ballads, and (a cover of The Black Keys' track) Howlin' For You, which channels John Lee Hooker via Prince Jammy. Auldist and Ferguson are music lovers with life experience, and they write consistently good pop music, with a broad stylistic reach. So it's one of life's cruel ironies that such consistency has probably hindered them from reaching further levels of fame; particularly in this age of one trick pony production line gimmickry masquerading as music. This stuff is proper pop music, and its creators should be celebrated in far greater fashion than they are/ Spread the good word, folks.

3 and 1/2 stars from 5

Check out the track Howlin' For You here, or in the player below...

Kylie Auldist - Howlin' For You by Fuse Group Australia

03 November 2012

Friday Freshie: Playlist 'In The Pocket with 90' Fri 2 Nov on Radio Ponsonby

Lots of exciting new music today, with a few selections taken from the excellent Label Love Vol. 5: The Jazz Edition album. The Label Love series is a fantastic one, with a host of excellent record labels (the likes of Tru Thoughts, Impossible Ark, Jazzman & more in this instance) joining forces to promote their artists together. Google and download. Or click here.

Kora | Dream Life
Chrome Canyon | Memories Of A Scientist (Matthewdavid remix)
Knx | Jamfroze
Knx | Ashok
Sara Mitra | April Song
Greg Foat | Girl And Robot With Flowers
Kahil El'Zabar's Ethnics with Nona Hendryx | It's Time
Nostalgia 77 & The Monster | The Taxidermist
Kenny Cox | Lost My Love
Ivo Neame | American Jesus
Karriem Riggins | Matador
Sade | Jezebel (Finnebassen og Hansebassen remix)
Kora | Story Ain't Over
Sixth Avenue Express | Take You Up
Escort | Starlight (RAC remix)
Kylie Auldist | Howlin' For You
Troyko | Rarebit
Reeno | Eternal Wisdom
Tony Betties | You And I (Isaac Tichauer remix)
John Talabot & Pional | Braves
Stan Smith | Disco Technic (Lay-Far remix)
Jorge Takei with Moku | The Clock
Colonel Red | The Riddle