Fatima & Joe Armon-Jones - Tinted Shades (March 4, 2022 Aquarii Records)

Fatima and Joe Armon-Jones unite for Tinted Shades; a three track EP that asserts personal truths whilst juxtaposing dark times with hopeful optimism - spanning soul, hip hop and R&B.

1. #1

2. Tinted Shades

3. Love Life Hope

Vocals - Fatima

Production, Keyboards, Bass Synth - Joe Armon-Jones

Drums on 'Tinted Shades' and 'Love Life Hope' - Moses Boyd

Drums on '#1' - Morgan Simpson

Engineer - Gilles Barrett

Mixed by Oli Barton-Wood

Mastered by Frank Merritt at The Carvery

Recorded at Soup Studios and Aquarii Studios

Artwork by Ralph Berryman

PRE-ORDER

Binker and Moses - Feeding The Machine (February 25, 2022 Gearbox Records)

After some years spent roaming the Valley of the Ultrablacks and exploring the Mountain of Forever, (where they narrowly avoided the lethal traps of The Voice of Besbunu), Binker and Moses are back with a new offering.

'Feeding The Machine' is their first studio album in five years, due for release on February 25th on all formats.

Recorded at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios by legendary, GRAMMY-winning producer Hugh Padgham, the new record features honorary third member Max Luthert on tape loops and electronics, moving their sound into an entirely new dimension that crosses into ambient, minimalism and experimental electronic territories.

With the use of modular synths and sampling, traditional melody and song structures are left behind as the musicians are pushed creatively to respond and in turn, 'feed the machine'.

1. Asynchronous Intervals

2. Active-Multiple-Fetish-Overlord

3. Accelerometer Overdose

4. Feed Infinite

5. After The Machine Settles

6. Because Because

Binker Golding: soprano and tenor saxophones

Moses Boyd: drums

Max Luthert: live tape loops and electronic effects

All tracks composed by Binker Golding, Moses Boyd and Max Luthert

Recorded at Real World Studio, 29th-31st March 2021

Engineered and mixed by Hugh Padgham

Assisted by Oliver Middleton

Mastered and cut by Caspar Sutton-Jones and Darrel Sheinman at Gearbox Records

Mastered using all-valve Decca equalisation and Telefunken limiters. Lacquer discs cut on a Haeco Scully lathe with Westrex RA1700 series amps, Westrex 3DIIA cutting head. Monitored using Audio Note equipment

Produced by Darrel Sheinman and Hugh Padgham

Photography by Dan Medhurst

Graphic design by Alan Foulkes

PRE-ORDER

We Out Here - We Out Here (BROWNSWOOD RECORDINGS 2018)

A primer on London’s bright-burning young jazz scene, this new compilation brings together a collection of some of its sharpest talents. A set of nine newly-recorded tracks, We Out Here captures a moment where genre markers matter less than raw, focused energy. Surveying the album’s running order, it could easily serve as a name-checking exercise for some of London’s most-tipped and hardworking bands of the past couple of years. Recorded across three long, fruitful days in a North West London studio, the results speak for themselves: they’re a window into the wide-eyed future of London’s musical underground. 

The album bottles up some of the vital ideas emanating from that burgeoning movement. A reflection of how London’s jazz-influenced music has reached outward into new spaces, the sound of the record draws from a wide pool. There’s plenty of crossover between each of the groups, too, speaking to the close-knit circles which make up the scene; shared line-ups reflect the mutual cooperation and DIY spirit which are second-nature. 

Ubiquitous, much-lauded saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings is the project’s musical director. His own recent projects span from South Africa-connected, spiritually-minded jazz players Shabaka and the Ancestors to Sons of Kemet, who match diasporically-connected compositions with viscerally-direct live shows. His input ties together a deft, genre-agnostic sensibility that’s shared through all the players on the record. 

Nodding to spiritual jazz influences, Maisha’s ‘Inside The Acorn’ is a wandering, explorative rumination, balancing delicate washes of piano and percussion with sharp interplay between flute and bass clarinet. Ezra Collective – whose drummer and bandleader Femi Koleoso has toured with Pharaohe Monch – run a tight, Afrobeat-tipped rhythm on ‘Pure Shade’, with the final third changing gear into a melodic, momentous closing stretch. 

On Moses Boyd’s ‘The Balance’, the drummer – who co-produced Zara McFarlane’s recent, critically-lauded album, as well as touring with the likes of Sampha – builds a steadily-paced, atmospheric creation, loosening up the rhythm and intensity as it progresses. Theon Cross – who’s part of Hutchings’ Sons of Kemet – starts his track, ‘Brockley’, with the solo, distinctive low rumble of his tuba. Winding and mesmeric, it sees tuba and sax lines winding together in rhythmic and melodic parallels. 

Showing a similarly controlled approach, Nubya Garcia’s ‘Once’ is taut and carefully-poised, her tenor sax guiding a carefully-built energy to an explosive conclusion. Shabaka Hutchings’ ‘Black Skin, Black Masks’ is typically difficult-to-define: with an off-kilter, shifting rhythmic backbone, repeated phrases – mirrored between clarinet and bass clarinet – shape the track with an alluring hue. 

Triforce’s ‘Walls’ is a performance in two parts: starting with Mansur Brown’s languorous, lyrical guitar, the second half switches up to a low-slung, g-funk-tipped groove. Joe Armon-Jones, whose ludicrous chops on the piano have seen him touring with the likes of Ata Kak, showcases earworm-like, insistent motifs on ‘Go See’, balanced with a playful, improvisatory approach with room for ad-libbing and solos a-plenty. Finally, taking a softer tact than many of the other entries, Kokoroko – whose guitarist Oscar Jerome has been making waves with his solo material – spin a lyrical, steady-paced meditation on ‘Abusey Junction’, matching chanted vocals with gently-played guitar.

1. Maisha - Inside The Acorn

2. Ezra Collective - Pure Shade

3. Moses Boyd - The Balance

4. Theon Cross - Brockley

5. Nubya Garcia - Once

6. Shabaka Hutchings - Black Skin, Black Masks

7. Triforce - Walls

8. Joe Armon-Jones - Go See

9. Kokoroko - Abusey Junction