Diamond
Third Culture

It's been a long time since the UK jazz scene was as thriving and fertile as it is right now, and one of the most fascinating artists currently doing it is Emma-Jean Thackray. UM Yang is her long-envisaged project "dedicated to the Taoist philosophy of duality and harmony" and it has been record straight to vinyl, lending the sounds a real, visceral feel. The DJ, beat maker, trumpeter, singer and composer draws on all her skills to collide worlds here as she leads a septet into the unknown. Free jazz, wailing trumpets, deconstructed marching bands and so much more make for a dense tapestry of sound that leaves you spellbound.

Back in the day, French pianist, composer and all-round jazz superstar Jean-François Quiévreux, a.k.a. Jef Gilson, was up there alongside the likes of peers John Coltrane, Oscar Peterson, and Sun Ra. In a fitting homage to the decades worth of sublime music, and his sad passing away in 2012, French quarter Palm Unit have released a lively, honest tribute, upbeat and contemporary re-interpretative vision of his legacy..Gilson has been noted for changing the face of bebop with free-jazz and afro. Along the way his big band featured the likes of Lloyd Miler, Bill Coleman, Michel Portal, and others. With his own recording studio and label Palm Records, Gilson released music from greats including Byard Lancaster, David S. Ware, François Jeanneau, and more. He also helped embed a more entho style to the world of jazz, inspired by his visits to Madagascar, which resulted in the famous Malagasy jazz albums.Palm Unit are a wildly eclectic super-group of jazz greats includes uKanDanZ's saxophonist Lionel Martin, keyboardist Fred Escoffier from Le Sacre du Tympan, drummer Philippe 'Pipon' Garcia whose mostly known from his worth with the Erik Truffaz Quartet, and special guest Del Rabenja -- who played alongside Gilson in Malagasy -- on the Magascan valiha harp. Palm Unit plays Gilson's repertoire without any a priori, in a totally complex-free manner, reinventing it whilst preserving its original essence. The keyboards sound almost psychedelic (and often not that far from the style of Eddy Louiss on Jef Gilson's 60's albums), the sax scratches, mews and wails, whilst the drums make the whole thing swing. Even Del Rabenja was surprised to rediscover the songs still sounding so modern, decades after they were created.

ELISHA / REUBEN ADDISJudgement DayRoots Youths

COLORE VIVO is a concept album with an atypical genesis: the idea was born from a sequence of images, as the soundtrack for a movie (never made) on the exploration of the uses and customs of archaic and mysterious populations. The soundscape he paints shows an extraordinary coherence in this. Bjondo is an artisan, as in the tradition of the great masters of the Italian Mondo Films, and it’s precisely to that manual knowledge, to that exploration and to those sounds that the disc is most recalled. The artist's research and his eclecticism translate into the wise use of rudimentary tools (bamboo, pieces of wood, stones, vases, necklaces and even a sort of self-made berimbau) to obtain unique and unclassifiable exotic sounds. His research on the evocative skills of primordial sounds breaks with the COLORE VIVO is a concept album with an atypical genesis: the idea was born from a sequence of images, as the soundtrack for a movie (never made) on the exploration of the uses and customs of archaic and mysterious populations.His research on the evocative skills of primordial sounds breaks with the narrowness of the genre and opens up to total experimentation.Each listening opens the window of imagination on other worlds. A dizzying look at the lost memory that is hidden inside each of us. A continuous (re) discovery! There's strong Gamelan music inspiration. Gamelan music can be describe as the traditional ensemble music of Java and Bali in Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. The most common instruments used are metallophones played by mallets and a set of hand-played drums called kendhang which register the beat.

Tripped out and experimental dub from Ireland, starring the elusive songwriter with a captivating voice - Sarah Gleeson. Produced by Dan Taliras, founder of Echobus Records, who has been recording and championing reggae from his Dublin studio for over a decade.