Loco & Hot

With a proven track-record of four successful studio albums to date, Berlin-based Italian multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer Andrea Benini, alias Mop Mop, has rounded up the troops and announced the upcoming release of his combo’s fifth longplayer “Lunar Love” on Agogo Records.

So far, not much is known about their latest project, but judging by the band’s previous productions, rooted in jazz, yet incessantly seeking to widen the genre’s [...]

“A Picture of a pipe isn't necessarily a pipe, an image of 'African Fabric' isn't necessarily authentically [and wholly] African.” –Yinka Shonibare

Global tastemaker, DJ, producer, labelhead and urban bass music connoisseur Daniel Haaksman, who apart from his weekly Luso FM radio show on Funkhaus Europa recently brought us his sonic Duck Rock essay, returns to our speakers with his personal interpretation of what African music in the 21st century sounds [...]

From the hands of APE Records' label-head and drummer-extraordinaire Tamir Muskat (Balkan Beat Bot) comes one of our favourite productions of 2015, namely Israeli vocal artist Victoria Hanna's musical rendition of the Hebrew Alphabet, in a mesmerising video that went viral and generated over half a million YouTube views to date. 

The video shows Hanna standing in front of an all-girls classroom, as she begins to recite the Hebrew letters one by one, while her [...]

There is a new beast in Tel Aviv’s musical animal kingdom, a newly formed boutique imprint with a music-first approach to handling its business. Founders Tamir Muskat (drummer & producer) and Eyal Gruenberg (an experienced music executive) set the record straight from the start:

"We are not a label”, Muskat says. "Our passion is music and that's what we are aiming for, be it nationally or internationally. All we want is to put out records we love that are [...]

All the way from the Brazilian megalopolis of São Paulo comes this hyperenergetic ten-piece of ubertalented individuals in it for the same reason. Music is their connection, their driving force and their collective ambition: "Their collective influences include jazz, funk and Afro-Brazilian music, and stretch further afield into dub and reggae, electronics, cumbia and carimbó, ethio-jazz and samba."

Named after a vibrant neighborhood in downtown São Paulo, [...]

Self-proclaimed purveyors of "Global Eclectic Supersounds", the Radio Martiko soundsystem is on a worldwide mission of digging up exotic, lesser-known tunes on vinyl and playing them out live. Last year the Belgian collective of DJs and diggers added a record label to the mix and began furnishing quality re-issues from the vaults.

They are not, as one might assume, a radio station. However, they do have a string of equally fresh mixtapes under their [...]

During their "Global Warming Tour 2015" in October and November of last year, the Jewish Monkeys travelled to Dresden to take a musical stand against racism, discrimination and the rising Neo-Nazi-affiliated, right-wing Pegida movement by sharing a moment of love, unity and joy with and for the stranded refugees.

Needless to say, the impressions gathered there, left a lasting impression on everyone involved. Time to take a minute to reflect on the experiences [...]

Let's take a trip down memory lane, shall we? Not too far, say back to November of last year, when the Jewish Monkeys travelled to Germany as part of their Global Warming Tour 2015. There, besides delivering a string of excellent, crowd-pleasing shows, they also took to the stage against racism and discrimination with their one of a kind satirical verses.

Singer Jossi Reich documented their experiences in an exclusive, outspoken, up close and personal tour [...]

Championing soundscapes unlike anything we’ve heard before, Copenhagen’s musical masterminds, die-hard crate diggers, composers and DJs Den Sorte Skole are an absolute revelation. Trailblazers in the art of sampling the Danish duo* of Simon Dokkedal and Martin Højland have established a form of musical storytelling that goes beyond the confines of genre and style to create a mesmerisingly beautiful hybrid. Their work can be described as a seamless acoustic [...]

Time for another musical history lesson: In case you forgot, last September we recommended the brilliant "Don't Think I've Forgotten" documentary project on Cambodia's thriving music scene during the '60s and '70s, that is until full-out war broke out and ripped the country's rich culture to shreds.

Likewise, L.A.'s very own Now-Again Records, run by Stones Throw Records GM and A&R Egon and specialising in global funk, psychedelia and sometimes jazz, is [...]

Europe beware! February and March mark the return of the infamous Jewish Monkeys, back on track for a string of new sweat-inducing, eyebrow-raising performances. Hot on the heels of an eventful 2015, featuring a busy tour schedule, global turmoil, mass migration, overwhelmed authorities, jam sessions with refugees and brave musico-political stands, the Global Warming Tour continues in 2016, officially kicking off in Stuttgart, Germany on February 20th. For [...]

Believe it or not, there are still people out there excavating old shellac records. Yes, shellac, that's right, as in that form of resin used to make records, before vinyl (alias wax) came around, offering a more durable medium with less surface noise.

But back to those special few 'musical archaeologists' investing their time and money digging up rare treasures to now be digitally preserved for all time. Meet David Murray from Oakland, CA, head of [...]