Browsing Tag

Jazz Fusion

The Third Arrangement give us a whole lot of ‘Rosie’

Posted on 18 May 2021

The Third Arrangement formed as a four-piece in South Jersey in 2016, around keyboardist and song-writer Nathan MacAdams and guitarist Frank Morley. Growing in numbers at the same time as in influences and scope, they’ve become a fine, innovative Acid Jazz-styled group, taking in rock guitar, funk, and of course jazz. ‘Rosie’ is a prime example of their art, with elements of Ben Folds, bits of Dave Brubeck, touches of JD McPherson, and occasional flashes of J. Mascis guitar breaks, all mixed in with storytelling, narrative lyrics.

‘Rosie’ is a beautiful mix of jazz guitar, flashes of rock flourish, and Rhodes piano, mellow and outlandish at once, all wrapped around the overall sound of a band that’s utterly aware of the sum of its parts; tight, assured, and with some serious groove. ‘Rosie’ is smooth, composed, with a lovely minor third rise and drop, and some absolutely filthy piano licks to compliment the sexy-as-hell guitar-work.

The Third Arrangement released their debut EP “Scarecrows” in 2019, and are currently recording more singles for release later in 2021; on the basis of this, we’re all going to need to get our hands on every last one of them.

Listen to ‘Rosie’ on Spotify. Follow The Third Arrangement on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

Ariane Mamon goes into the wild with her arcane jazz fusion single, ‘Dangerous Trees’

Posted on 14 May 2021

For her latest EP, ‘Vertical Seas’, Jazz vocalist, performance artist and composer Ariane Mamon pulled inspiration from across the globe and created arcane feats of jazz fusion. The instrumental roots in the lead track, ‘Dangerous Trees’, vastly pre-date western genres as Mamon simultaneously carries the air of an 18th-century mystic and a Parisian chanteuse in her operatic highs and rhythmic non-lexical vocals.

We can’t fast-forward from 2021, but we can escape into our collective history, appreciate the power in the natural world and feel a part of it, that is exactly what Ariane helped her listeners to do here. With gritty funk in the basslines and fiercely tribal percussion against glassy vocal notes, the extended single captivates you through every improvised progression; allowing the energy to flow naturally, serenely, intensely.

The official video to Dangerous Trees released on April 20th. You can check it out for yourselves by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

That Romantic Planet: Irish artist Tadhg dreams of that sweet ‘Space Love’

Posted on 2 May 2021

Sparking in hot with a supremely creative debut single that has your attention and brings in a cheeky smile, Tadhg takes us to an exciting new planet to rejoice, with the freshly squeezed new single called ‘Space Love‘.

Tadhg is a proudly Queer Irish indie pop/rock artist, Jazz and Contemporary performance student who makes that catchy music, which has your whole body moving and grooving.

”Mix Elton John with Lady Gaga, add a hint of George Michael, and a sprinkle of Queen, smack it in the oven for 21 years and boom, you’ve got me baby.” – Tadhg

You feel the vibrant lyrics that hugs you so close — while taking you to a new place that is full of freedom and care — far way from this dark world that can be so dull and very undesirably hateful sometimes. The razz and jazz mix in so sweetly here like a perfectly poured drink, the crisp texture is a joy to listen to as this tasty sip gets your blood flowing again.

‘Space Love’ from the new and entertaining Ireland artist Tadhg, is that romantic groove that has you feeling like you are in a rocket ship, and headed towards that person that you care about so much. With vocals that are full of compassion and a deeply intriguing tone, this is a song to play loud and proud when you need some inspiration to believe in love again.

Stream this fresh new single on Spotify and see the IG for more.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Strap yourselves in for the sonically celestial ride Suris will take you on with their psych-folk album, ‘Bonehouse’.

Posted on 29 April 2021

UK-based husband and wife duo Suris released their third album, Bonehouse, on April 29th. After a six-year gap in releases, anyone previously acquainted with their arcane sound will want to adjust their expectations accordingly for the evolution in their expression. During lockdown, Suris have taken their sound to an artfully transcendent level; strap yourselves in for the smooth celestial ride.

The album starts with ‘Argus’, a spacey ambient feat of psych-folk that carries reminiscence to Bowie through the argonaut-inspired instrumentals and Kate Bush through Lindsey’s vocals which switch from evocative vibrato to chorally ethereal and back again. It perfectly sets the tone for the record that never allows you to get comfortable.

Instead, with their soulfully pretence-less writing and production style, Suris meld elements of jazz, folk, progressive rock, psych-pop and avant-garde pop in compelling arrangements that breathe with the new age freedom of a Fleetwood Mac record, yet, there is always something striking, and indulgently unsettling waiting for you in the next progression.

With the more atmospheric singles such as, ‘Wanted’, and ‘Eclipse’, the self-recorded and produced record feels so spiritual that it almost becomes metaphysical. Bonehouse is an incredible testament from Suris. If you appreciate true aural pioneers, you’ll want them on your radar.

Bonehouse is available to stream from April 29th, 2021. You can check it out for yourselves on SoundCloud.

Keep up to date with new releases from Suris via Facebook and Instagram.

Lewis Daniel asks what we’ve all been thinking – ‘Why Me’?

Posted on 26 April 2021

The debut single from your debut EP can always be a nerve-wracking time, even for a performer as highly sought after as Lewis Daniel. Playing across venues as wide-ranging as the Royal Albert Hall, Glastonbury Festival, and Ibiza Rocks, and composing for and performing with artists as diverse as MOBO-winner Rachel Kerr, Boadi, The Last Dinosaur, The House Gospel Choir, and his own horn section The Biscuit Horns, BRIT School and Guildhall School of Music alumnus Daniel’s debut, ‘States Of Being’, is a concept piece which melds his British and Caribbean influences; ‘Why Me’, as the title suggests, talks about that peculiar introspective place between anger and meditativeness, an internal questioning of why the world is the way it is.

A mostly instrumental piece, save for some deliciously evocative French-language spoken word sections, ‘Why Me’ mixes Daniel’s trademark saxophone with dance beats, synth bass, Caribbean steel drums, and electronics, melding jazz, hip-hop, and garage into an auditory experience that’s at times dazzling in its complexity, surprising, uplifting, and toe-tappingly good.

You can hear ‘Why Me’ on Spotify now. Lewis Daniel’s ‘States Of Being’ EP is out on the 30th April; in the meantime, you can follow on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

Chadwick Station keep us ‘Coming Back For More’

Posted on 22 April 2021
Chadwick Station

After hitting the coveted Number One spot in the Beach Music Top 40 with their Northern Soul single ‘Cryin’ Ain’t Gonna Win Her Back’, Britain’s Chadwich Station have gone full-on R&B swing-time with new single ‘Coming Back For More’. A lot of Harry Connick Jr, a dash of Jamie Culham, and a certain splash of ‘Swing When You’re Winning’ Robbie Williams’ mixed up with beach music, swing, and jazzy R&B, ‘Coming Back For More’ grooves like it’s just bought its new tuxedo and it’s determined to show it off to you in the absolute best way possible. A dash of neat bourbon, some table tea-lights, and a groove that hangs on the three-beat; the horns swing, the piano adds some sparkle, and the bassline bumps and bounces along nicely underneath. It’s a quality tune, and adds just a little bit of alternative spice to regular R&B swing to keep it fresh and interesting.

You can hear ‘Coming Back For More’ here, and follow Chadwick Station on Facebook or Twitter.

Review by Alex Holmes

K-Magic gets ‘Mythic’ with Jazzy new single.

Posted on 21 April 2021

How’d you like THEM Jazz apples, then, huh? Well, so much so that we’re looking to buy the whole damn bushel of ‘em, that’s how much. Thanks to Kevin Bernstein, a 29 year old pianist, based in Brooklyn, NYC who, having lent his keyboard skills backing a variety of singers, bands, and comedians alongside his work with the Alison Shearer Band, has now launched his own instrumental solo project, K-Magic.

And what a project it is, too. Oh, yeah; about those apples. Well, that’s exactly what we have here – a whole barrel of jazzy trills, harmonies, and counterpoints. It’s fun, it bounces along, it sounds a little like the theme tune to one of those slightly more highbrow US sitcoms like Frasier or Will and Grace, or maybe the thing the band would improvise on Whose Line Is It Anyway. That’s not a bad thing, by the way – it’s an excellent musical piece, stop-starty at times, moving through two or three different movements but consistently returning to a repeating central motif, the ideal accompaniment to dinner and cocktails, and fine conversation; it’s left us wanting more, and that’s always got to be a good thing.

Check out K-Magic on Instagram and Facebook. Listen to ‘Mythic’ on Spotify.

Review by Alex Holmes

Speak The Truth: HaloMino impress mightily with debut single ‘Blacklight’ (feat. Ezra Skys)

Posted on 17 April 2021

With soothingly crisp vocals and refreshingly mellow beats that gets the temperature setting just right, HaloMino sends us a groovy debut to take carefully penned note of with ‘Blacklight‘ (feat. Ezra Skys).

HaloMino is a poetic bedroom-based Neo-soul, jazz fusion and hip-hop morphing two-piece act formed by good mates Ben Cipolla and Oli Jones.

They creatively blend creative piano soundscapes, smooth saxophone brilliance and ice-cool hush beats that has you feeling so flush, as they are a new school feel that are the real deal.

You feel the marvelous beat that echos into your happy speakers, the pure love is there and you just know that he wants it to be fun like it used to be, when they had just met. With a chilled out style which has your head in the clouds and your mind alive with those reflective possibilities — you close your eyes and wonder when you will find that soul — who makes you elusively happy forever.

‘Blacklight‘ (feat. Ezra Skys) from HaloMino, is a quality new track that tries to compromise into finding the heart-stopping love again, despite the sadness that comes with somehow trying to sort things out, that could be turning for the worse.

The darkness is getting you down but the sunny light is on the way — you just need time to get through this winding road that is making things rather bumpy — when it should be much simpler to be together.

Stream this debut song on Spotify and see more news on IG.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

About ‘Last Night’ – Beatnik drop us some deep cut soulful grooves.

Posted on 10 April 2021

There’s an immediate familiarity around Beatnik to anyone who’s ever whiled away their entire teenage school holidays playing the old coin-op road-race game ‘OutRun’ over and over, or spent, say, 29 hours straight watching 70’s cop-show re-runs on Paramount. Not that we’ve done either, of course. Heaven forbid. But it’s exactly that sort of jazzy, funky, 70’s disco-tinged soulful chill that leaps out of the speakers when hitting ‘play’ on ‘Last Night’; a deep-groove old-school funk-pop dance track, all wandering bass, off-beat drum fills, syncopated Nile Rodgers-style guitar chords, Rhodes piano, and stabs of perfect, jazzy brass, all underlying keyboard/vocalist Peter LaBarge’s awesome soulful vocal delivery.

It’s an absolute killer of a track, a bouncy, beach-and-palm-tree infused love letter to South Florida wrapped up in Acid Jazz Brand New Heavies Chic-meets-Jamiroquai catchiness; we’ve been humming the chorus refrain from ‘Last Night’ all day since first listening to the track, and – given the amount of music we get to review – there doesn’t get much higher praise than that.

‘Last Night’ is taken from Beatnik’s ‘Night Shift’ EP, due for release on April 1st. You can pre-save ‘Night Shift’ through BandCamp now, listen to ‘Last Night’ on Spotify, and follow Beatnik on Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

Christopher Nielsen gets inspired with a jazz-funk groove on new single ‘Payne’

Posted on 3 April 2021

Returning after a fifteen year sabbatical to a music industry which has changed beyond all expectation in the intervening years is always going to be a challenge, but it’s one which multi-instrumentalist Christopher Nielsen has taken up with aplomb. Taken from his new, thirteen-track instrumental album ‘Our Voyage Home’, ‘Payne’ is a jazzy, funky little number driven by Carmine Appice-style upfront drums and a delicious seventies-toned Rhodes piano lead.

It’s lively, old-school without being dated, rootsy, and very driven; think an instrumental jam breakdown in an Earth, Wind, and Fire concert, or a little Weather Report studio wig out time. Jazz meets soul meets folk all mixed up by pushed percussion and wandering keyboards. It’s fluid, expressive, and genuinely good, uplifting, fun.

‘Payne’, and the rest of ‘Our Voyage Home’, is available on Spotify. Check out Christopher Nielsen’s website here.

Review by Alex Holmes