Jolifanto
Everybody gather 'round, the circus is in town! Always keen to feast our ears on extraordinary productions from around the globe, this latest release on the Madrid-based imprint Lovemonk has us in a positive state of frenzy. It's an all-out Spanish affair if you will, bringing together two boundary-pushing acts, placing them before a white canvas and hoping for the best. The result of this particular amalgamation is nothing short of a revelation, a visionary endeavour marked by a certain dadaistic nonchalance and penchant for the progressive – call it avant-garde.
In 2022, Andalusian flamenco 'cantaor' Tomás Fernández Soto, aka Tomás de Perrate, released his celebrated oeuvre "Tres golpes". Produced by mastermind Raül Refree, Perrate's first album in eleven years was an absolute statement, which saw him "[explore] the outer edges of flamenco without forsaking its profound essence rooted in lineage and tradition, evident in every note of his voice." Offering a glimpse of what modern flamenco might sound like, Perrate thus announced his momentous return to the global circuit and eagerness to experiment.
This in turn lead to a serendipitous encounter with Catalan two-piece ZA!. Innate explorers in their own right – known for their unconventional and borderline ludic approach to musical production as well as utter disregard for anything resembling a genre – the duo's "radical and unclassifiable" style instantly struck a chord with Perrate, when he witnessed one of their shows at a festival. Long story short, these "two powerful musical entities" decided to join forces and see where this collaboration might lead them.
Enter "Jolifanto", a ground-breaking and no-doubt transformative experience that resembles a flamenco fairground of sorts: loud, iridescent, polyrhythmic, timeless, unexpected. Jam-packed with sonorous attractions, "both improvised and meticulously planned," the record successfully circumnavigates a broad spectrum of musical territories to stake out its own. Over the course of eight tracks, "ZA! and Perrate [...] form an organism traveling from the roots to the rave, with nothing sounding out of place because the place is yet to be defined."
The virtuosic spontaneity of it all reveals a mesmerising insouciance, a state of being perfectly unconcerned with external validation and focused entirely on the magic of co-creation. "I don't care what the most radical traditionalist minds may think of this or any other work I do," says Perrate. "This is my time and I intend to live it according to my way of feeling and living flamenco – my ancestors had a lot to do with the birth of this culture, and each of them created according to their feelings and their time. And I do the same."
More posts
Locomotive Train
Sitting on a train from Bruges to Bruxelles, we felt it might me a good moment to share this recent highlife reissue on BBE with you. Remastered and re-released digitally earlier this month on Ghanaian Independence Day, this early 1970s album by the African Brothers Band International of Ghana is an absolute gem and thoroughly engaging from start to finish. Blending classic highlife with elements of rock, funk and reggae, "Locomotive Train (Keteke) - Meko [...]
I Too Am A Stranger
It's back to the basement, we thought to ourselves as we readied ourselves to review the latest album by Leeds-based outfit The Sorcerers. "I Too Am A Stranger" is the follow-up to the group's sophomore LP "In Search Of The Lost City Of The Monkey God" and their eponymous 2019-released debut and sees the core trio of bassist/guitarist Neil Innes, drummer Joost Hendrickx and reed/flute/vibes/keyboard player Richard Ormrod bolster their brass section with [...]
Souvenirs
There are recordings that are specifically made to move you and then there are recordings that genuinely move you. The latest release on Mississippi Records is of the latter kind, a collection of self-recorded solo piano songs by the revered Ethiopian nun, composer and pianist Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru. Simply titled "Souvenirs," these cassette recordings had previously only been available on CD, as sold in the gift shop of the Kidane Mehret monastery in [...]
Zaman Ziyan
Bridging continents from birth and styles since initially getting together in 2001, Istanbul-based outfit Ayyuka has been reimagining Turkish music – notably the infamous psychedelic era of the 1970s – on its own terms, and with quite some success. Juxtaposing their local roots and musical influences with global genres such as afrobeat, surf rock, funk and more, the four musicians have created an extensive discography by just doing their thing. We first [...]
Rekorder
Anticipation was high when we received the first notification for Berlin-based sound gymnast M.RUX's forthcoming longplayer, the follow-up to his 2020 concept album "Vermonische Melodien", which appeared on Pingipung. His latest eight-track feat just dropped on his very own YNFND imprint and is titled "REKORDER" – a nod to the miraculous process of recording sounds and the technology behind as well as the 150-year-long history of phonography or 'sound [...]
Tropikantele
Happy Kalevala Day everyone! Releasing today, on Finnish Culture Day, is this intriguing debut album by Finland's Sami Sammalkallio, who on this project goes by the stage name of Ruttusound. A singular project to say the least, this one absolutely blindsided us. A few weeks back, a colleague forwarded us a press info and download code via Finnish imprint Eclipse Music detailing this forthcoming release and we decided to give it a spin, not knowing what to [...]
Dens
Retracing our steps, we recently delved into the 2023 sophomore full-length by Belgrade-based project Lenhart Tapes. Released back in November on Glitterbeat Records, the hard-to-wrap-your-head-around aural patchwork of this multi-layered tour de force is nothing short of a revelation. Lenhart Tapes is a musical venture conducted by – excuse the platitude – mad scientist, tape lover and downright walkman virtuoso Vladimir Lenhart, who has been honing his [...]
The Room
One of a kind, is the sentiment that instantly runs trough our mind as we tune into the brand-new instrumental album by Brazilian guitarist Fabiano do Nascimento and American saxophonist Sam Gendel. And yes, besides the fact that American saxophonist Stan Getz and Brazilian guitarist João Gilberto had previously gathered worldwide acclaim for their 1964-released bossa nova connection, this modern-day pairing of two groundbreaking talents is nonetheless a [...]
La Voz de las Cumbres
Best file this under 'special interest' and yet, there is no doubt in our minds, that this latest release on the infamous Bongo Joe Records should appeal to a wide array of music aficionados. "La Voz de las Cumbres" ('the voice from the summits') by The San Lucas Band (of Guatemala) is the first-ever reissue of "cult 1974 recordings of a Mayan brass band playing funeral dirges and popular songs in its distinctive extended harmonic and rhythmic style." As hinted [...]
Wagadu Grooves
This here release is, quite unpretentiously, the stuff of legend, actually several legends wrapped into one phenomenal release. Paris-based reissue label Hot Mule has just compiled a heavy collection of productions by Gaye Camara, "one of the great independent music producers of his generation, and a pillar of the Parisian Soninke diaspora." If you are not familiar with the Soninke, they were the founders of the ancient empire of Ghana dating back to the 3rd [...]
Future Pasts
From Zurich, Switzerland, of all places comes a fresh batch of afroheat to help get us through the winter season – which is admittedly mild here in Berlin at the moment. We nonetheless acknowledge the intent of Barcelona/Lausanne-based Rocafort Records to keep us upbeat in these trying times. Enter the Konkolo Orchestra, a project initiated by multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer Alexis Malefakis [also co-founder and drummer of The Anthronauts and, if [...]
Sacred Love
Classic late night vibes, we thought to ourselves, when we first hit the link to the sophomore album of Sicillian DJ/producer Massimo Napoli, aka Galathea. Not sure if this shoe would fit, there was something about the viscous yet ethereal groove kneading our souls like putty that urged us to keep listening. And oh, how that paid off! "Sacred Love" – the follow-up to Galathea's self-titled, 2019-released debut full-length – is an irresistible groover that [...]