Primal Instinct

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 [...]

Among the many great musicians, who passed away in 2015 was the legendary and expressive trombonist Rico Rodriguez. Dave Katz wrote a comprehensive obituary for FACT Magazine, giving insight to the pioneering Jamaican/British ska artist, who worked with The Specials among others:

“As his career progressed, he yielded impressive hybrids that melded ska, jazz, reggae and the niyabinghi music of Rastafari, which affected a wide and diverse audience around the [...]

Anybody familiar with the Tel Aviv or Berlin underground music scene will probably be familiar with the Raw Tapes imprint, home to a host of local beat scene-affiliated artists, the likes of Cohenbeats, Sol Monk, Mo Rayon or the ever so promising Buttering Trio, featuring multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter KerenDun, the producer Rejoicer (Bajka a.o.) and bassist Beno Hendler (Balkan Beat Box).

Having released their tremendous debut LP “Toast” back in [...]

Remember that team of dedicated researchers, staff and students of the University of Central Lancashire on a worldwide mission "committed to mapping the sonic landscapes of unique geographic locations”, alias the Global Sound Movement? Remember their recent expedition to Uganda, where they compiled the “Unique Sounds of Uganda” pack of samples and field recordings, totalling over 240 high-resolution loops and 2 GB of rare, royalty-free material for [...]

A few months back, as our very first story actually, we reported on an ambitious Malawi-based prison project initiated by US Grammy-winning record producer Ian Brennan (who now has a total of four Grammy-nominated albums under his wing) along with his Italian wife Marilena Delli, a documentary photographer herself, who travelled to southeast Africa in the summer of 2013 for an incredible, musical human rights project at a local maximum-security facility.

Upon [...]