Terry Edwards & The Scapegoats
My Wife Doesn't Understand Me (RSD22)

Bristol based band Cousin Kula announce their debut album Double Dinners. With co-signs from the likes of BADBADNOTGOOD and newly signed to Rhythm Section, Cousin Kula have created their own musical universe of otherworldly pop serenity with vastly distinct, but complementary elements: “the possibilities of jazz, the emphatic energy of club culture, and the sonic tapestries of psychedelia” CLASH Magazine remark.Living and recording together, nestled in the sun-drenched hills on the outskirts of Bristol, Cousin Kula are masters of their craft, and also of restraint; widely regarded by their fans for their superior live show. Having performed live in various bands for the past 10 years since their early teens, not being able to hit the stage during lockdown took its toll on these musicians. Ever resourceful, however, Cousin Kula began a series of their own home-made live sessions, which lead in turn to a Boiler Room Session and further a request from XL signees BADBADNOTGOOD to record a live adaptation of their new single.Now, Cousin Kula flutter into the collective consciousness with a timeless slice of psychedelic soul on debut album Double Dinners. The latest band to emerge out of the buoyant Bristol music scene,they have stripped back all excess baggage for their most accomplished recordings to date. Existing on a similar plane to contemporaries such as Connan Mockasin, Mildlife, Toro Y Moi, Mac DeMarco and HOMESHAKE, the band caught the attention of renowned tastemaker Bradley Zero with their 'Casa Kula Cassette' EP at the end of 2020, with the Rhythm Section founder swiftly taking the 5 piece under his wing, with him commenting:“The band balance an outsider approach with more hooks than you can shake a stick at... the result being a gently beguiling sound that effortlessly draws you in, revealing more character with each listen.”

Paris, May 13th 1968. There was a general strike. One last plane left the runway, strewn with flaming oil drums. On board were three jazz musicians wondering whether they would be able to return home one day. But for the time being they really want to make it to Madagascar where concerts and workshops with young local musicians were waiting for them. Pianist and bandleader Jef Gilson was accompanied by his bassist Gilbert "Bibi" Rovère (Martial Solal Trio) and the young drummer Lionel Magal (Crium Delirium). Gilson, who already had a reputation for finding new talent (it was thanks to him that, amongst others Jean-Louis Chautemps, Henri Texier, Jean-Luc Ponty or Michel Portal first became known) was literally blown away by the standard of the young Malagasy musicians, all capable of imitating their American idols by ear. Their names were known only to jazz fans on the island; Serge, Allain and Georges Rahoerson, Arnaud Razafy, Roland de Comarmond, Joel Rakotomamonjy, Alain Razafinohatra, Samuel Ramiara... Gilson then had a vision: he wanted to encourage them to play jazz which was truly Malagasy and which would find its’ soul in the island’s culture and traditional instruments (Sodina flute, valiha, various percussion instruments...).He would go back to the big island three times, in March (with cellist Jean-Charles Capon), in October 1969 (alone), then in February 1970 (as a trio with guitarist Raymond Boni and drummer Bertrand Gauthier). The two trips in 1969 would lead to the sessions, recorded on a simple ReVox with two Neuman microphones, which would make up the essential part of this mythical album entitled "Malagasy", and first issued in 1972 on the Lumen label, and then reissued, as early as 1973, on Palm, Jef Gilson’s own label.Apart from the last track, recorded in Paris in 1971 with Malagasy instruments brought back from trips by the trio which would play on the avant-garde "Le Massacre du Printemps" (Futura), all the other compositions on the album are by Jef Gilson, Jean-Charles Capon and the young saxophonist Serge Rahoerson. There is also a cover of a song issued just a few months earlier and that the Malagasy musicians had only heard through bits and pieces played by Gilson on piano: the song is "The Creator Has A Masterplan" by Pharoah Sanders, and it is one of the most wild and mystical versions you will ever hear.In May 1972, Madagascar itself would be the theatre of youth revolt. And the composition "Avaradoha" by Serge Rahoerson, the second track of the first side of this album, would be the anthem of the revolution on the streets.

Ulla roots her style in improvised jazz and blues on a very welcome follow-up to her entry for our Documenting Sound series, and the sublime ‘Tumbling Towards A Wall’ LPUlla offers more precious room to breathe and space to think on ‘Limitless Frame’, dispensing a broader palette of instrumentation to evoke finer, ephemeral feels with a more timeless appeal. Her sound appears more porous to influence from strains of wistful jazz and blues here, vacillating and morphing her dreamlike ambient purview between parts of signature, aleatoric ambient pads and rustling room recordings, along with more classicist or traditionalist turns of guitars, sax and keys that call to mind K. Leimer via The Remote Viewer. It’s a perhaps surprising change in the winds of her music, and one we’re very happy to follow.In the artist’s own words “I made this music as a way to hug myself” and listeners can trust that hug will extend to them, too. She spends the first half of the record wrapping us up in clouds of pads, processed strums and fractured melodies, whisked to a gentle peak in the keening swoon of ‘Chest of Drawers’ around the middle, while the second half unravels into gorgeous loner arrangements. She captures the most wistful sensations akin to Annie Hogan’s parlour keys on ‘Something Inside My Body’, and crystalline trickles of guitars in ‘Clearly The Memory’, with the softly pealing wind of ‘Walk Alone’ calling to mind Loren Connors and Daniel Carter’s ‘The Departing of A Dream.’

Portico Quartet annonce Terrain, une suite en trois parties s'inspirant du minimalisme américain et de lamusique ambient et explorant de nouvelles perspectives musicales.Lorsque Duncan Bellamy et Jack Wyllie, la force motrice derrière Portico Quartet, se sont réunis dans leurstudio de l'Est de Londres en mai 2020 et ont commencé à travailler sur la musique qui allait devenir leurnouvel album, la majeure partie du monde était au milieu du premier confinement. En créant Terrain, ils ontété attirés vers des pièces plus longues, se déroulant lentement, et qui sont peut-être les plus libres sur leplan artistique et aussi les plus belles qu'ils aient jamais réalisés.Les terrains I, II et III sont tous subtilement différents, mais un court motif rythmique qui se répète est lepoint de départ des trois mouvements. Il y a un sens d'un voyage partagé à toutes ces pièces. Elles sedéplacent à travers différents mondes, avec une sensation de mouvement horizontal qui donne à lamusique un véritable élan. C'est ce sens du dialogue, à la fois entre les compositeurs, et entre la tranquillitéet une mélancolie subtilement troublante, qui fait de Terrain une déclaration si puissante. Celui qui parle à lafois de nos mondes intérieurs et extérieurs, de notre propre paysage personnel, de notre Terrain.

Superbe copie pour un superbe live.

Perfect piece of black music ! Organ power ! Real Gone Music re-issue of Chester Thompson's 'Powerhouse' from 1971, originally released in 1971 on Black Jazz Records.