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Spomeniks E.P.

AK CHAMEL THE GIVER OF ILLNESSThe TotemistAkuphone France

Written after a trip home to Swaziland, now known as eSwatini, Sydney recorded the sound of life there after completing studies of sonic signatures and comparison of traditional instruments around the world. When there, the third generation Brownswood Future Bubbler artist hooked up with local man Ralph who took him on some rich journeys and to meet amazing local musicians, all with the aim of making a body of work that used traditional worldly sounds in authentic new ways.“The creative energy in eSwatini is so healthy and powerful that there's too many projects to list, but one that stood out was Mr Freddy, involving Ralph Smitt and Mwesigwa Kisaakye, a mixing bowl of psychedelic world improv which I helped record at Semitone Records, and later was mixed by myself and Louise Grainger and released via Stay Put, a small collective I am part of who run parties in Bristol and host a fortnightly radio show on Noods Radio. The Intro to the Album played by me and Ralph became the intro to this album as we shared the journey!”The richly atmospheric tracks are spiritual, organic affairs with indigenous percussion, tumbling drums and spoken word samples that are beautifully earthy. Broken beats with drifting sax lines, lazy deep house and jazzy hip hop that oozes soul all feature and make this record a perfectly escapist and immersive listen.

Zeitgeber and L.B Dub Corp split the second in Stroboscopic Artefacts series of fifth anniversary records. Zeitgeber is the collaborative project of SA label boss Lucy and Dutch techno royalty Speedy J. Their joint alias birthed an exceptional long-player last year and has since been presented as a b2b act at festivals and clubs around the world. Totemism is their first officially released output since that album, and is every bit as compelling.

There's naturally much to enjoy on the latest volume in Africa Seven's A7 Edits series, which pairs original - and usually obscure - old Afro-disco and Afro-boogie gems with fresh 21st century edits. This time round, the A-side is all about Kemayo & K System's piano and horn-heavy disco-funk jam 'Biram', a two-minute blast of dancefloor exuberance that Phillip Lauer cleverly re-imagines as loopy, locked-in chunk of Afro-disco/disco house fusion. Over on the flip there's a chance to savour Afro National's heavy, low-slung stomper 'Push Forward', a cut that brilliantly adds chanted vocals and Hendrix style guitar solos to a sweaty, non-stop groove. Al Zanders does a great job in ratcheting up the tension and heaviness on his accompanying club-ready extension.

Face A :Musique berbère du haut-atlas.El Hussain Safir,Chant et bendir.Lahcen Akil.Lotar.Lahcen Bouri.Chant et violon.Face B;Antoine ELIAS : Keyboards, NIMB, vx.Anatole PETIT : Drums, vx.Enregistré a Tamlate ,vallée de Dades.Février 2016.Artwork Krystian Trog.Enregistrement et mixage,Lutch et Clodo Misére,Master,R.Cuvillier,Production,Olivier et Lucien.