Buddy Guy
In The Beginning

An ex-member of some of Japan’s best underground groups of the last few decades (Miminokoto, LSD March and Usurabi among them), guitarist Masami Kawaguchi presents one of his most singular visions in new album ‘Self Portrait’. It's a collection of dynamic rock behemoths, encompassing gorgeous, folky blues to wind-blown post-rock.

Hurray for the Riff Raff release Small Town Heroes, its debut for ATO Records. The album features frontwoman Alynda Lee Segarra - who settled in New Orleans after leaving her native Bronx at age 17- with twelve new, original songs all written or co-written by Segarra, with support from a vivid cast of Crescent City musicians. Hurray for the Riff Raff 'sweeps across eras and genres with grace and grit,' never more so than on 'Small Town Heroes.' On the hedonist country lament 'I Know It's Wrong (But That's Alright)' Segarra sings to a forbidden love "I'll feed you watermelon off the vine," while on 'The Body Electric' she exposes the misogyny of the traditional murder ballad, and warns "Delia's gone, but I'm settling the score." Ultimately though, many of the songs embody that most magical and fated of American cities, New Orleans. Segarra bears witness to a wave of violence that struck the St. Roch neighbourhood in 'St. Roch Blues;' yearns for a night at BJ's Bar in the Bywater in 'Crash on the Highway;' and sings of her own Lower Ninth Ward home in 'End of the Line.'

The third album on Black Focus continues the South London tradition but this time in the form of one of the originators: a triple OG, Steve Spacek. Spacek recently released a solo record through Alexander Nut’s imprint Eglo, dBridge’s Exit Records as Blackpocket, following on from his work with Ninja Tune under the Beat Spacek moniker and collaboration with Mark Pritchard as Africa HiTech on Warp.He’s also made formative work with legendary artists J Dilla, Raphael Saddiq, Q Tip and Common and made early drum & bass tunes with his brother dBridge. It’s an incredible career resume and an honour to be releasing this new work. ‘Houses’ sees Spacek return to his Detroit influences, with house music at the heart of this record as it's foundation but as with all Spacek’s releases, it transcends genre and focuses more on swing, melody and feeling.There are elements of soul, jazz and R&B interlaced within the DNA of his electronic music, alongside his signature falsetto vocals. The entire project was produced using iPhone and iPad apps, an approach Steve champions and feels liberated by using technology to join the past with the present. Describing the project his own words: “It’s been well overdue for me to be releasing some 4/4 House vibes!This music has been a big part of my musical journey from dot. Mainly from two angles. The first is, of course, the early rave scene in London and the UK in general, with all its early iterations. Techno from the D, acid, (happy) hardcore, what we use to call dub house (pre jungle), coming into Garage and Balearic to name a few. The other angle is the music production angle: I’ve always used the basic 4/4 template as a means of being able to learn a new piece of recording equipment.Whenever I get any new beat making hardware or software, I’d always make a house beat. I find it the easiest music to make and have always joked about how I can knock up a house beat in 10 minutes! Well now I have an LP’s worth to share! Taken a tad longer than 10min but hey ;) Enjoy.”

A record-book proposition:- A 7inch vinyl record by Terakaft, produced by Justin Adams (Robert Plant, Brian Eno, Tinariwen…)- A novel by Philippe Brix written in English and French.Welcome to the fascinating world of Terakaft, one of the most legendary bands from the acclaimed Desert Blues / Tuareg Rock scene that’s been nurturing in the Sahara desert for the last two decades.A world made of light, dust, goats, tree shadows, gas, tea and fire.A world where teenagers don’t dream of being footballers but guitarists like Ibrahim of Tinariwen, like Sanou of Terakaft, or like Ousmane of Tamikrest.A world made of constant stuggles, of war zones, where getting a visa to tour is nearly impossible, where covering your face and head with tuareg turbans to face the desert winds will turn you into a potential islamist when boarding an airplane.A world that Philipe Brix knows damn well: he’s been managing those guitar heroes for the last two decades. 'Jagwar' is his coming-of-age story, a tale of resilience, of doom, of family, of utmost tensions and unrivaled peace, the adventure of a life time.His journey will take you from the deepest deserts of Mali, Morocco and Mauritania to the biggest music festivals all accross Europe and America.