Given their combined talents, you'd expect any collaborative album crafted by Andrew Ashong and Kaidi Tatham to be nigh-on essential. Happily, we can confirm that Sankofa Season, their first joint album, is ruddy, bloody brilliant (as Alan Partridge might say). Richly soulful, quietly jazzy and wholeheartedly positive from start the finish, the set sees them jump between deep jazz-funk, hazy contemporary soul, jazzy broken beat, breezy Latin soul, organic deep house and immersive, slow-motion soundscapes. Throughout, Tatham's organ, keyboard and piano work is highly impressive and Ashong's vocals are every bit as sumptuous as usual. Recommended.

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Given their combined talents, you'd expect any collaborative album crafted by Andrew Ashong and Kaidi Tatham to be nigh-on essential. Happily, we can confirm that Sankofa Season, their first joint album, is ruddy, bloody brilliant (as Alan Partridge might say). Richly soulful, quietly jazzy and wholeheartedly positive from start the finish, the set sees them jump between deep jazz-funk, hazy contemporary soul, jazzy broken beat, breezy Latin soul, organic deep house and immersive, slow-motion soundscapes. Throughout, Tatham's organ, keyboard and piano work is highly impressive and Ashong's vocals are every bit as sumptuous as usual. Recommended.

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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
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When DOOM reemerged on the scene in the 90s, he firmly marked his return, capturing the theory of knowing the rules if only to better break them.

That sentiment was captured not only in his unique writing method, but also in his production style that birthed the moniker Metal Fingers. He seamlessly blended creative ingenuity with the all-too-obvious, and a unique ability to sample things oft-considered off limits, yet still create magic.

The 10 volume Special Herbs instrumental series captures a key moment in time of Metal Fingers DOOM as producer, assembling, and sometimes slightly reworking, select beats from albums such as MM..Food, Operation: Doomsday, & King Geedorah, as well as a collection of exclusive beats.


Tracklist:
1.1SAFFRON
1.2ARROWROOT
1.3ZA'ATAR
1.4FENUGREEK
1.5SUMAC BERRIES
1.6CORIANDER
1.7SHALLOTS
1.8CHARNSUKA
1.9MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE
2.1RED #40
2.2NETTLE LEAVES
2.3MULLEIN
2.4MUGWORT
2.5ALL SPICE
2.6LOVAGE
2.7EUCALYPTUS
2.8MYRRH

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Los Angeles-based producer and DJ Captain Planet returns with his sixth full-length album, DIG—a high-energy project that channels the global spirit of his world-renowned DJ sets. Having lit up clubs and festivals across Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and the U.S., Captain Planet is celebrated for his ability to fuse Afro, Latin, and Caribbean traditions with hip-hop, dancehall, and electronic funk. With over two decades of experience, he delivers a sound that is as eclectic as it is unifying, built to move dance floors worldwide. DIG brings together vocalists from Brazil, Colombia, Haiti, Nigeria, Ghana, and Angola, weaving their traditions into bass-heavy, drum-driven tracks with infectious energy. Standout single Tony's House—a rework of Afrobeat legend Tony Allen's "Afrodisco Beat"—is already earning heavy festival play from top DJs around the globe. The record also showcases Captain Planet's versatility, from the nature-infused textures of "Thirst No More" to the soulful "Mi Calor" with longtime collaborator Chico Mann. Backed by international press coverage (The Fader, Complex, Bandcamp), strong radio support (BBC, NPR, KCRW), and chart-topping past releases, DIG cements Captain Planet's reputation as a boundary-pushing producer bringing global sounds to the modern dance floor.

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First Word Records is very proud to bring you a brand new 11-track album from Quiet Dawn, one called 'Celebrate'. French multi-instrumentalist Quiet Dawn has been an integral part of the First Word family for a full decade now. His diverse catalogue has included organic ambient-jazz (2018's 'Human Being - The Short Story Of The Reed'), Dilla-esque instrumental beats (2023's 'Simple' beat tape), head nod Hip Hop (the 2015 debut album 'The First Day') and broken beat (2022's 'Movements' EP). It's the latter project that this new project is the most obvious successor to, which he produced directly afterwards. This new album from Quiet Dawn (real name Will Galland) takes on an array of broken beat flavours and features a few luminaries from that scene along the way, including the legendary Bembe Segue (on the smooth soulful grooves of 'All Around'), LyricL (dropping bars on the lively title track 'Celebrate') and Oliver Night from the CoOp Presents crew (on 'Follow Your Instincts' and single 'Lost From Life'). Elsewhere there's uplifting jazz samba-tinged vibes (on 'It's All About Freedom' & 'He Is Lion'), a sprinkle of downtempo boom bap ('Flow' & 'See The Good'), and an assortment of instrumental bruk riddims with squelchy synths, sweet rhodes, skippy percussion & funked-up basslines. Quiet Dawn once again effortlessly combines the organic with the electronic. The whole piece exudes positivity and good times.

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Bloto’s bold 2020 debut brought forth three albums in just twelve months. This prolific creative burst, followed by an ongoing tour and involvement in other projects, meant fans had to wait over three years for the next release. During this time, new ideas took shape, and the vision for their fourth LP crystallized. The wait for Bloto's new album is nearly over. As always, autumn signals the arrival of Grzybnia (Mycelium).

The idea for the album had been simmering within the band since the release of Kwasy i zasady and finally took shape in early 2023 at Warsaw's Studio Pasterka, under Piotr Zabrodzki's guidance. It was the group's most fruitful session, resulting in two singles, Szlam / Scieki and Bakteria, as well as material for an EP to be released next year.
The seemingly chemical title of Kwasy i zasady (Acids and Bases) referred to interpersonal relationships, describing traits that prevent harmony and reflecting the polarization of modern societies. The metaphor of Grzybnia (Mycelium) goes further, emphasizing cooperation as a skill that yields diverse results, both good and bad. Above all, it underscores the power of collective action.

In a fragmented, unstable world, mycelium offers a powerful model. It thrives in degraded, lifeless environments created by humans. Cooperation benefits all parties involved, where each contributes something and receives something in return. Mycelium forms a symbiotic relationship with certain tree species through mycorrhiza, where roots and mycelium exchange life-sustaining substances, benefiting both. This cooperation is key to survival and growth.

Like a mushroom that dies, yet whose mycelium endures, Bloto’s music is an organic and evolving force. The band operates much like mycelium itself, drawing on cultural products and transforming them into new forms. The collaboration of Latarnik, Cancer G, Wuja HZG, and OlafSaxx produces surprising combinations, resulting in music that blurs the lines between genres like jazz, house, techno, and improvisation.

A1 - Lysiczka
A2 - Kozak
A3 - Shiitake
A4 - Boczniak
A5 - Prawdziwek
B1 - Podostroma
B2 - Muchomor
B3 - Szatan
B4 - Zaslonak

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“We started with the principle – the cosmic idea that we were taught by our father from a very young age – that the stars and planets make a sound, that deep in outer space there is audible harmony.”

With its cathedral-like, richly resonant acoustics, the new HBE album is a brilliant expression of this interplanetary principle. The album is by turns urgent and contemplative, funky and reflective, varied in its textures; but entirely of one piece. Underpinned by concepts of our earth’s place in the cosmos, held in place by meditation, swirling with notions of history, science, theology, ancestry, there is a rich conceptual brew here. But always, what talks loudest is the music. The album rings with what back in the 1950s the jazz critic Whitney Balliet called “the sound of surprise”. At a time when the phrase Spiritual Jazz threatens in some quarters to become a tired cliche, this is a record that makes you believe again in the genre’s validity.

Talking to Cid, one of the Ensemble’s two trombonists, one phrase recurs: “back to the beginning”. “We wanted to go back to the beginning, when we were kids, real young, and our father would wake us up at 5 AM to practice for two hours before breakfast.” One outcome – initially unplanned but subsequently embraced – is that unlike their two previous albums on Honest Jon’s, this is an album without a drummer. “When we started, as Wolf Pack, just brothers on the street with our horns, there wasn’t a kit in sight.” Book Of Sound retains plenty of rhythmic heft, but the absence of a drummer opens up space for a notably varied instrumental palette. Acoustic guitar, piccolo, synthesiser, alto sax – none of them typical HBE Instruments – all have their place on the album. Most striking perhaps are the vocal lines that thread through the album and give it a palpable warmth. “In Wolf Pack, we rapped and played, this time we took it a step further.”

Sessions were recorded in Brooklyn and Chicago, and brilliantly mixed at Abel Garibaldi’s studio in the Loop (“Abel was like a musician on this record”), and it’s the Hypnotic’s hometown that permeates. For Cid this is a deeply Chicago record: “it’s got the vibe of the lake, the vibe of the prairies opening up to the west”. It also has the vibe of those Sun Ra Arkestra albums recorded in Chicago in the 1950s, and – of course - the Phil Cohran albums from the 1960s.

It’s Phil Cohran (the father of all seven members of the Ensemble and their first teacher, and not just in music) who is the album’s guiding spirit. For Cid it’s a major regret that, in the months before their father’s death early in 2017, Phil was not well enough to play on the album. “He loved the whole idea, and we had the perfect place for his zither”. But Book Of Sound is a magnificent testament to their Cohran legacy. “You know, it’s tough trying to satisfy everybody with our music. It’s hard enough satisfying ourselves, let alone the jazz scene, the hip hop guys, what have you. With this album we just dropped all that as a consideration, and tuned into deeper principles.”’


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