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Moonbeam Levels – February 2026
Ello!
One twelfth of 2026 has already gone 🤯 How’s it been for you? January is always what I would call hard yards. Slowly thawing from Christmas, chasing the light and straining to act on all those resolutions – though rituals are far more important, ok.
Getting back to basics is my way of trying to ease in. Part of that is renewing my commitment to these monthly radio sessions. The gradual process of accumulating from all around, then weaving it all into something that feels cohesive and satisfying to you, even if some of it isn’t your vibe.
As a writer, sharing acquired knowledge is a big part of everything I do. So, I will always have notes and links to set you off on your own voyage of discovery.
This year I would like to have more open-ended conversations ‘on air’ with neighbours and strangers, dipping into the culture and events that provoked the art that fascinates me. Previous guests include musician Sam Akpro and FOLK author Stef Macbeth.
I’d like to talk more about the struggle to make work amid all the financial precarity, inner and outer conflict that exists. Is that you? Come on the show.
Perhaps, you’ll see more of me, quite literally. I hear algorithms like faces, and people seem more interested in being talked to than written for (when it comes to phone browsing, anyway). None of this tiny mic-holding affectation, however. It’s called a lapel for a reason 🤦🏽♂️
This episode is an amalgam. A bit of housecleaning as I open the window and let out a winter surplus of sounds. Inevitable tributes to more departed heroes, plus a look over the horizon to upcoming releases and rising stars.
As I explain on the broadcast, the February edition is a special gift for the subscribers, recorded at home on a primitive mixer, so apologies for the erratic levels. If you would like to listen live, I’ll be back on Sister Midnight FM every four weeks from 3 February 2-4pm (GMT). Working on a special guest…
Please let me know you’re into and what you would like to hear more of, either in the comments or by sending a message [at]amarofpatel through socials. Equally, if you subscribed to read more of what I am not providing enough of … well … I am a people pleaser. Try me.
As a board member, I am duty-bound to mention that we have opened the next round of crowdfunding to renovate an old working man’s club in central Catford, my neighbourhood in South East London, and turn it into the borough’s first community-owned music venue.
Shares are available from £25 and give you a real stake in how things are run. If you believe in solidarity, equity, mutual benefit and giving venues a legitimate chance of long-term security, community ownership is the way ahead.
And guess what: invest before 31 March and your amount will be match-funded by both Music Venue Trust and Co-operative UK's Energy Efficiency Sharematch, turning our £25,000 target into £75,000.
Join a community of more than 1,000 members and let’s kick open the doors. Stay close,
Amar***
YOSHIAKI OCHI – Anywhere [WRWTFWW]Ochi’s 1990 album Natural Sonic gets a loving reissue courtesy of WRWTFWW. A high point of so-called environmental music, created when he was in-house composer and performer for Issey Miyake. An interesting fact that hints at the artist’s elemental nature. This is a primal and deeply resonant record that offers vital breathing space. All water, wood, earth and stone. FYI, there is a Natural Sonic 2.
SAAGARA – Earth, Water and the Holy Groove (Shackleton Version) [Glitterbeat][4m 50s]There are few better than Shackleton when it comes to reimagining the possibilities of percussion in electronic music. Every once in a while, I pull out my ‘Blood On My Hands’ 12”, crank it up and let the endless trance take me.
Saagara asked the man from Lancashire to remix one of their tracks from 3 and he responded with his own version of the album. Now that is dedication to your craft. Shackleton also has a new album of rumbling, clattering skull disco out on AD93, called Euphoria Bound.
GRACE JONES – Private Life (dub version) [Island][10m 15s]Sly and Robbie can lay claim to being the most-recorded artists in history with great confidence. Not many rhythm sections could run the gamut from Bob Marley, Junior Murvin and Chaka Demus & Pliers to The Rolling Stones, Serge Gainsbourg and Marianne Faithfull. For disco dub disciples like myself, they are perhaps most loved for their time in the Compass Point All Stars and the three genre-bending albums they recorded with the inimitable Grace Jones.
This version of Chrissie Hynde’s song is bloodfire, the late drummer peppering the riddim with the rata-tat-tat. Other Sly-related releases to check out include Raiders of the Lost Dub (Black Uhuru, in particular), A Dub Experience, Riddims collection 1978-80 and Gwen Guthrie’s Larry Levan-enhanced Padlock EP (one of the best-engineered records of all time).
HUGH B & THE MODERN POP EMSEMBLE – Young Donny[18m 15s]I think Hugh B and the crew performed a version of this live set from Australia on Charlie Bones’ Do You breakfast show. A lovely way to start the day. Blissful, bleached-out, guitar-laced grooves in the key of Steve Hiett and JJ Cale, made for reflecting in the sunshine. Or imagining somewhere you can.
They do an energising cover of Stereolab’s ‘Brakhage’ but ‘Young Donny’ is calling to me. Fun fact: Hugh has also produced house music under the name Hubert Clarke Jr. Check this one put out by my friends Wolf Music.
LISANE BAHIR – Lisané Bahir ልሳነ ባሕር [Flying Carpet][23m 00s]Fourth album in and Lisane has used analogue modular synth to summon his Ethio-jazz ancestors and transport them to a distant musical dimension. In their new context, these traditional scales feel born again. The record’s textures so tactile as they waft into the ears. The title track sounds like Tangerine Dream hooking up in the studio with Hailu Mergia.
PHIL UPCHURCH – Black Gold [Cadet][29m 00s]This is probably the first track I heard that was credited to the late guitarist and composer when I was following the tributaries of Charles Stepney and The Rotary Connection’s “I Am The Black Gold of the Sun’. Dusty Groove put me on to his eponymous solo debut and said in no uncertain terms that this was a seminal recording in the history of Chicago soul, blues and rock.
They weren’t wrong. Step arranged, conducted and produced this session. He also wrote ‘Black Gold’, the psychedelic seed of what would become the aforementioned anthem. Here, Upchurch was “backed by 36 pieces, including 20 strings and five voices”, as the liner notes tell us, and the result is “sheer electricity”.
A quick look on Discogs reveals that Upchurch has more than 600 credits, almost 200 of which are for writing and arrangement. He co-wrote ‘Voices Inside (Everything is Everything)’, made famous by Donny Hathaway and ‘Afro Harping’ with Dorothy Ashby.
The kind of prolific artist who goes underappreciated. PS If you haven’t heard this Stepney podcast I helped to make, treat yourself. I tried to get Phil involved but he was busy working on his autobiography, which I will be picking up if/when it comes.
UPCHURCH & TENNYSON – Don’t I Know You [Kudu][34m 20s]A mid-tempo banger that I discovered in the early 2000s on a compilation. Keyboardist Tennyson Stephens was a perfect foil for Upchurch, who eschewed any grandstanding on the guitar in favour of a more symbiotic exchange from track to track. ‘Don’t I Know You’ recalls Curtis Mayfield and wouldn’t feel out of place on a classic Blaxploitation soundtrack. The rest of the album is strong, spritely – not-too-smooth soul jazz arranged by Bob James. It also features another version of ‘Black Gold’, which echoes the refrain of his first on that self-titled Cadet LP that Stepney produced.
NAISSOO FREEFORM QUINTET – White [NooPop][37m 12s]I’ll take any chance to show a little love to musicians from Estonia, a country I have visited and toured a bit on my limited DJ excursions. Jazz heritage runs deep across different parts of the Baltic state and this set led by keys player Tõnu Naissoo is among the more expansive ones I have heard. The vibe segues from Mwandishi 70’s fusion to the astral reveries of Lonnie Liston Smith. Moog, Fender Rhodes and ARP Odyssey in full effect, with Meelis Vind’s bass clarinet adding an ear-catching counterpoint on this one. Destination out.
THE CONTEMPORARY JAZZ QUINTET – Unknown Track #3 [BBE][45m 40s]A high-tension and sinuous standout from DJ Amir’s second volume of The Sound of Detroit, which shares more precious recordings from the gone-too-soon Strata label that brought us Lyman Woodard Organisation’s Saturday Night Special and Kenny Cox’s Clap Clap among other diggers’ delights. Things get very interesting halfway through here – someone must have sampled that bass riff! There’s also music from The Soulmates, Keith Boone and Fito Foster. Volume one is here in case you missed it.
FLEA – A Plea [Nonesuch][54m 35s]Anyone familiar with Michael Balzary and the origins of Flea will know that there is a jazz man in him eager to burst out. He doubted he could go there but with the support of some prime exponents of the form including Deantoni Parks on drums, Anna Butterss on bass and Jeff Parker on guitar, he’s flying. The sentiment behind this rousing number is the energy I would like to carry into 2026. “Make something beautiful. I don’t care if it’s a little scrap of squiggly crayon on a paper. Make something beautiful and see somebody. Give it to somebody.” Album Sonora is on the way at the end of March.
DJ HARRISON – Recycled [Stones Throw][1h 02m 15s]The Richmond producer returns with more so-good-it-could-have-been-sampled grooves, organic and effervescent. His music continues to explore the lineage of black music in a way that feels more of the moment than retrospective pastiche.
New album Electrosoul lands somewhere between an eclectic mixtape and starry radio show, and was born after Devonne had sudden health issues. The experience reaffirmed something in him and ‘Recycled’ was one of the first fruits of his renewed creativity after a lengthy hospital stay. Like a good architect, he sees the big picture and knows what goes where. And who to bring in when – among them Miguel Atwood Ferguson, Yaya Bey and Kiefer and Fly Anakin.
GENA – HOWWEFLOW [Lex][1h 06m 15s]Lots of buzz around this class collab between Liv.e and Karriem Riggins (sparked at Detroit Jazz Festival), and it’s justified. ‘Circlesz’ hooked me in with its finger-snapping breeziness last year but ‘HOWWEFLOW’ has the grand and intergalactic stomp that’s fit for striding into a new year. That majestic chorus reminds me of superfreaks Sa-Ra (who also have new music out). We have a whole album’s worth of this head-nod soul to look forward to. The Pleasure is Yours drops in late February.
JILL SCOTT – Pressha [Blues Babe][1h 08m 44s]Jilly from Philly is everywhere – from COLORS to Camden Town – and I love it. One of those generational artists you grow with, her debut album will forever be one of my great record shop blind buys. An artist who instantly came through with such vulnerability, honesty and sensitivity, and yet someone who could fire your spirit with the promise of a new day.
Poet first, singer second, her ability to tell stories and unpack emotions is eternal judging by the material I have heard on To Whom This May Concern. The chord dissonance, as she put it, is delicious on this track. The perfect platform for the artist to speak on some sh*t. Shy One’s interview with Jill is worth a listen if you’d like to know where the artist is coming from in 2026.
PS Out to my 826+ crew – disc one should be in the conversation about the greatest live albums of the 21st Century.
ALEX NUT – andthenitstarted (featuring James Mollison) [Eglo][1h 12m 50s]Listening to the Eglo Records boss’s impressive first EP, I can almost trace his influences after years of tuning in to his NTS and Rinse shows and probably attending the same nights at Plastic People, before we’d even met. You can hear Alex trying to respect the beat, use space evocatively and move soulfulness a little to the left. Looking forward to hearing more. In your own time.
JEAN-CLAUDE PETIT – The Age of the Breaking Down’ [WEA][1h 17m 15s]Plucked from Favorite recordings label founder Charles Maurice’s latest compilation Endless, which gathers hard-to-find records from liminal spaces between the jazz-funk, ambient and electronic fields, Petit’s cosmic jam is a helluva ride. All the great keys sounds of the era are in the mix, from ARP Odyssey to clavinet. Quite a departure from the scores to Jean De Florette and Cyrano de Bergerec, which help make his name. Maurice’s French Disco Boogie and AOR collections are also worth a look.
MAURICE POTO DUODONGO – Yelele [Editions De Lux][1h 22m 10s]The Lost Album from 1987 may have come out previously on Crammed Discs but in limited quantities. Anyway, the headline is that this is seriously fun and bursting with ideas. A synth R&B meets Congolese rumba record with a sprinkle of Wally Badarou, made after Maurice had moved to Brussels. You can hear an artist eagerly funnelling all their influences into “an unstoppable current” of a session. ““Music has no frontier,” he says. “You take what you like. Prince, Fela, Papa Wemba – there is no contradiction. It’s all part of the sound.”
VOX POPULI – Alternative Fresh [Dark Entries][1h 26m 40s]Trust Dark Entries to find those weird little oddities on DIY cassette tapes of yesteryear, gathering dust in some forgotten corner of the world. Vox Populi’s members had roots in Palestine, Greece and Tehran but came together in Paris in the early 80s, melding new wave electronics, post-punk rhythm and industrial grit. The result was hypnotic, kinetic and elusive records like their sixth album, Sucre de Pastèque.
HONOUR – U&Me (decemberseventeen) [PAN][1h 29m 40s]A respin for one of 2023’s standout, slow-burn albums. With Àlááfíà, the Chicago-based artist frequency-hopped through a collage of guitar drone, ambient wash, gospel, field recordings, conversation fragments, trap-y beats, rap and RnB references. The result was more than a mournful and often opaque dedication to his beloved grandmother.
As the lo-fi sketches crash or vaporise into one another, they form this diasporic sound continuum that will feel compelling – transcendent, dare I say – to anyone that floats between worlds. Into Dean Blunt, Space Afrika and Mica Levi on a dark one? You need this.
KEN ISHII – Endless Season [R&S][1h 34m 10s]Last year was the 30th anniversary of Jelly Tones, Ken’s pioneering album of electronic-to-ambient soundscapes that would have entranced fans of Warp’s Artifical Intelligence among many others in the mood for something other than bangin’ techno, something more abstract, after the rave. ‘Endless Season’ makes me feel like the star of my own sci-fi manga film, or perhaps that’s just the memories of Koji Morimoto’s MTV Europe award-winning video for ’Extra’ replaying in my mind.
LUKID – Toy Surge [Death Is Not the End][1h 40m 30s]Whether it’s solo or as one half of Rezzett, Lukid knows how to send air participles exploding all over the place with his electrostatic frequencies. This is music built with machines but infused with the messy soul of humankind. Underloop passes from beatless, bleeping washes of sound to thudding pulsations to more frenetic out-of-body experiences. Never ordinary, always out there.
YU SU – Bonita [Short Span][1h 43m 50s]Has Yu Su been staying up late? The Vancouver-to-London transplant has upped the bpms and crept closer to the dancefloor on this release. Apparently conceived to play out at festivals such as Mutek you can still hear her aptitude for texture and warmth coming through. ‘Bonita’ has the extra intimacy I crave in the dark as the tempo builds.
PEVEN EVERETT & TONY TOUCH – No Wonder (Yoruba Soul Mix) [Funkbox][1h 48m 00s]Anything Peven does, I am all over it. He’s a living legend who writes, sings, plays and performs like few others. But when Osunlade applies his Yoruba Soul touch, then I move double-time to pick it up. This BBE collection is timeless, particularly his version of Roy Ayers’ ‘Searching’.
Then there’s the unreleased catalogue, which I am working through. Prince’s ‘Movie Star’ is hot. Osunlade’s take on PE’s collaboration with Tony Touch is warm and uplifting, like the sun coming up on a day off.
APHRODISIAC – Song of the Siren [Nu Groove][1h 53m 40s]I had to slip something in from the late Ronald ‘Rhano’ Burrell, who, along with brother Rheji, came to define the sound of late 80s’ NYC house as The Burrell Brothers on Nu Groove. A mark of real quality to check for (listen to Gerd Janson’s mix for confirmation).
They brought a unique combination of sensuality, rawness and precision to their productions. Musicality also – the brothers joining their first band together at 13. Aside from solo aliases such as KATO and Equation, it was as Aphrodisiac that he made this classic. Mystical and transcendent.
Did you know the brothers worked with Toni Braxton and Aaliyah? Check this interview with Lenny Fontana and beam at their longstanding integrity and an I-don’t-give-a-f*ck mentality.
JAZZANOVA – That Night (featuring Vikter Duplaix) (Wahoo Remix) [JCR][1h 58m 00s]Someday I’ll have to reflect on the influence of this German supergroup on electronic music, ‘future jazz’ and myself. Their first remixes collection still sounds revolutionary from the off – a flurry of ideas beyond borders and a will to take originals someplace else. Early original productions such as ‘Fedime’s Flight’ continue to carry an ineffable aura.
What to pick from the deluxe reissue of debut album In Between hmmm… This remix by Georg Levin and Dixon was my tune from back in the day and we don’t hear enough Duplaix on the mic so let’s run this one.
BLAKE BAXTER – When A Thought Becomes You [Mint Condition][2h 5m 00s]Keep an eye out for Tresor reissues of classic trax from The Prince of Techno, including special EP Dream Sequence-X and his 1995 album Dream Sequence. Still unheralded for his influence. I can rarely look past this sexy number, first released on UR in 1991. Here’s Blake doin’ it live in 2019. Interesting interview here.
GLENN UNDERGROUND – Sound Struck [Peacefrog][2h 10m 30s]Glenn’s classic debut album Atmosfear has its 30th anniversary this year and should be in more hands and on more decks. Thankfully, Peacefrog knows what’s up and decided to reissue it on some very smokey double vinyl. Joyous, uplifting house music rooted in the discotheque, stacked with those signature layers of keys from the Chicago OG and Strictly Jaz Unit founder.
VELVIT – Testament [Exit][2h 16m 20s]Out to Simon See for sending this EP my way; always unearthing things I may have missed or never knew existed. Velvit is an alias of D&B champion dBridge, born from his “recent sonic explorations with the Elektron hardware”. Gospel house is about as close as I’ll get to ecstatic fervour. With ‘Testament’ he’s added tech-stures to the mix, which takes this kind of track into another dimension. Ok, let us pray…
MU-ZIQ – Houzz 14 [Balmat][2h 21m 55s]Tucked into a mostly calm and abstract set from Plant Mu founder Mike Paradinas, recording under µ-Ziq, is this acid whirlpool of a house cut. It’s giving me the energy I need to make the hard yards in winter, with the promise of reaching euphoria in little over four minutes.
HOT CARGO – What’s In It For Me? (long mix) [Still Music][2h 25m 30s]When I started getting heavily into dubby disco and boogie in the early 2000s, one mysterious record I obsessed over and relentlessly pursued was a Faze Action edit of The Jammer’s ‘Be Mine Tonight’. The man behind that project? Richie Weeks, an NYC triple threat who could write, arrange and produce dancefloor dynamite. He also performed at Studio 54 and Paradise Garage. Yeah, he was in the thick of it.
This Hot Cargo track is previously unreleased and part of a third volume of tracks selected from his personal archive. This RA documentary offers a valuable insight into Richie’s career and struggles in the industry.
THE STONE ROSES – Something’s Burning [Sony][2h 33m 55s]For my money, the best thing that the Roses ever recorded, perhaps apart from ‘I Wanna Be Adored’. Certainly one of dearly departed Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield’s most seductive basslines, runnin’ the Manc voodoo down at length with drummer Reni and the gang. ‘Something’s Burning’ is on the b-sides and rarities compilation Turns to Stone.
If you want to get to know “Manniechester’s” favourite son a bit better, a man for whom “laughter was his number one pursuit” as bandmate and lifelong friend Ian Brown put it, listen to his and Bobby Gillespie’s eulogies. For Roses lore, try documentary Made of Stone or any podcast featuring Mani.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amarofpatel.substack.com
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By Amar PatelEllo!
One twelfth of 2026 has already gone 🤯 How’s it been for you? January is always what I would call hard yards. Slowly thawing from Christmas, chasing the light and straining to act on all those resolutions – though rituals are far more important, ok.
Getting back to basics is my way of trying to ease in. Part of that is renewing my commitment to these monthly radio sessions. The gradual process of accumulating from all around, then weaving it all into something that feels cohesive and satisfying to you, even if some of it isn’t your vibe.
As a writer, sharing acquired knowledge is a big part of everything I do. So, I will always have notes and links to set you off on your own voyage of discovery.
This year I would like to have more open-ended conversations ‘on air’ with neighbours and strangers, dipping into the culture and events that provoked the art that fascinates me. Previous guests include musician Sam Akpro and FOLK author Stef Macbeth.
I’d like to talk more about the struggle to make work amid all the financial precarity, inner and outer conflict that exists. Is that you? Come on the show.
Perhaps, you’ll see more of me, quite literally. I hear algorithms like faces, and people seem more interested in being talked to than written for (when it comes to phone browsing, anyway). None of this tiny mic-holding affectation, however. It’s called a lapel for a reason 🤦🏽♂️
This episode is an amalgam. A bit of housecleaning as I open the window and let out a winter surplus of sounds. Inevitable tributes to more departed heroes, plus a look over the horizon to upcoming releases and rising stars.
As I explain on the broadcast, the February edition is a special gift for the subscribers, recorded at home on a primitive mixer, so apologies for the erratic levels. If you would like to listen live, I’ll be back on Sister Midnight FM every four weeks from 3 February 2-4pm (GMT). Working on a special guest…
Please let me know you’re into and what you would like to hear more of, either in the comments or by sending a message [at]amarofpatel through socials. Equally, if you subscribed to read more of what I am not providing enough of … well … I am a people pleaser. Try me.
As a board member, I am duty-bound to mention that we have opened the next round of crowdfunding to renovate an old working man’s club in central Catford, my neighbourhood in South East London, and turn it into the borough’s first community-owned music venue.
Shares are available from £25 and give you a real stake in how things are run. If you believe in solidarity, equity, mutual benefit and giving venues a legitimate chance of long-term security, community ownership is the way ahead.
And guess what: invest before 31 March and your amount will be match-funded by both Music Venue Trust and Co-operative UK's Energy Efficiency Sharematch, turning our £25,000 target into £75,000.
Join a community of more than 1,000 members and let’s kick open the doors. Stay close,
Amar***
YOSHIAKI OCHI – Anywhere [WRWTFWW]Ochi’s 1990 album Natural Sonic gets a loving reissue courtesy of WRWTFWW. A high point of so-called environmental music, created when he was in-house composer and performer for Issey Miyake. An interesting fact that hints at the artist’s elemental nature. This is a primal and deeply resonant record that offers vital breathing space. All water, wood, earth and stone. FYI, there is a Natural Sonic 2.
SAAGARA – Earth, Water and the Holy Groove (Shackleton Version) [Glitterbeat][4m 50s]There are few better than Shackleton when it comes to reimagining the possibilities of percussion in electronic music. Every once in a while, I pull out my ‘Blood On My Hands’ 12”, crank it up and let the endless trance take me.
Saagara asked the man from Lancashire to remix one of their tracks from 3 and he responded with his own version of the album. Now that is dedication to your craft. Shackleton also has a new album of rumbling, clattering skull disco out on AD93, called Euphoria Bound.
GRACE JONES – Private Life (dub version) [Island][10m 15s]Sly and Robbie can lay claim to being the most-recorded artists in history with great confidence. Not many rhythm sections could run the gamut from Bob Marley, Junior Murvin and Chaka Demus & Pliers to The Rolling Stones, Serge Gainsbourg and Marianne Faithfull. For disco dub disciples like myself, they are perhaps most loved for their time in the Compass Point All Stars and the three genre-bending albums they recorded with the inimitable Grace Jones.
This version of Chrissie Hynde’s song is bloodfire, the late drummer peppering the riddim with the rata-tat-tat. Other Sly-related releases to check out include Raiders of the Lost Dub (Black Uhuru, in particular), A Dub Experience, Riddims collection 1978-80 and Gwen Guthrie’s Larry Levan-enhanced Padlock EP (one of the best-engineered records of all time).
HUGH B & THE MODERN POP EMSEMBLE – Young Donny[18m 15s]I think Hugh B and the crew performed a version of this live set from Australia on Charlie Bones’ Do You breakfast show. A lovely way to start the day. Blissful, bleached-out, guitar-laced grooves in the key of Steve Hiett and JJ Cale, made for reflecting in the sunshine. Or imagining somewhere you can.
They do an energising cover of Stereolab’s ‘Brakhage’ but ‘Young Donny’ is calling to me. Fun fact: Hugh has also produced house music under the name Hubert Clarke Jr. Check this one put out by my friends Wolf Music.
LISANE BAHIR – Lisané Bahir ልሳነ ባሕር [Flying Carpet][23m 00s]Fourth album in and Lisane has used analogue modular synth to summon his Ethio-jazz ancestors and transport them to a distant musical dimension. In their new context, these traditional scales feel born again. The record’s textures so tactile as they waft into the ears. The title track sounds like Tangerine Dream hooking up in the studio with Hailu Mergia.
PHIL UPCHURCH – Black Gold [Cadet][29m 00s]This is probably the first track I heard that was credited to the late guitarist and composer when I was following the tributaries of Charles Stepney and The Rotary Connection’s “I Am The Black Gold of the Sun’. Dusty Groove put me on to his eponymous solo debut and said in no uncertain terms that this was a seminal recording in the history of Chicago soul, blues and rock.
They weren’t wrong. Step arranged, conducted and produced this session. He also wrote ‘Black Gold’, the psychedelic seed of what would become the aforementioned anthem. Here, Upchurch was “backed by 36 pieces, including 20 strings and five voices”, as the liner notes tell us, and the result is “sheer electricity”.
A quick look on Discogs reveals that Upchurch has more than 600 credits, almost 200 of which are for writing and arrangement. He co-wrote ‘Voices Inside (Everything is Everything)’, made famous by Donny Hathaway and ‘Afro Harping’ with Dorothy Ashby.
The kind of prolific artist who goes underappreciated. PS If you haven’t heard this Stepney podcast I helped to make, treat yourself. I tried to get Phil involved but he was busy working on his autobiography, which I will be picking up if/when it comes.
UPCHURCH & TENNYSON – Don’t I Know You [Kudu][34m 20s]A mid-tempo banger that I discovered in the early 2000s on a compilation. Keyboardist Tennyson Stephens was a perfect foil for Upchurch, who eschewed any grandstanding on the guitar in favour of a more symbiotic exchange from track to track. ‘Don’t I Know You’ recalls Curtis Mayfield and wouldn’t feel out of place on a classic Blaxploitation soundtrack. The rest of the album is strong, spritely – not-too-smooth soul jazz arranged by Bob James. It also features another version of ‘Black Gold’, which echoes the refrain of his first on that self-titled Cadet LP that Stepney produced.
NAISSOO FREEFORM QUINTET – White [NooPop][37m 12s]I’ll take any chance to show a little love to musicians from Estonia, a country I have visited and toured a bit on my limited DJ excursions. Jazz heritage runs deep across different parts of the Baltic state and this set led by keys player Tõnu Naissoo is among the more expansive ones I have heard. The vibe segues from Mwandishi 70’s fusion to the astral reveries of Lonnie Liston Smith. Moog, Fender Rhodes and ARP Odyssey in full effect, with Meelis Vind’s bass clarinet adding an ear-catching counterpoint on this one. Destination out.
THE CONTEMPORARY JAZZ QUINTET – Unknown Track #3 [BBE][45m 40s]A high-tension and sinuous standout from DJ Amir’s second volume of The Sound of Detroit, which shares more precious recordings from the gone-too-soon Strata label that brought us Lyman Woodard Organisation’s Saturday Night Special and Kenny Cox’s Clap Clap among other diggers’ delights. Things get very interesting halfway through here – someone must have sampled that bass riff! There’s also music from The Soulmates, Keith Boone and Fito Foster. Volume one is here in case you missed it.
FLEA – A Plea [Nonesuch][54m 35s]Anyone familiar with Michael Balzary and the origins of Flea will know that there is a jazz man in him eager to burst out. He doubted he could go there but with the support of some prime exponents of the form including Deantoni Parks on drums, Anna Butterss on bass and Jeff Parker on guitar, he’s flying. The sentiment behind this rousing number is the energy I would like to carry into 2026. “Make something beautiful. I don’t care if it’s a little scrap of squiggly crayon on a paper. Make something beautiful and see somebody. Give it to somebody.” Album Sonora is on the way at the end of March.
DJ HARRISON – Recycled [Stones Throw][1h 02m 15s]The Richmond producer returns with more so-good-it-could-have-been-sampled grooves, organic and effervescent. His music continues to explore the lineage of black music in a way that feels more of the moment than retrospective pastiche.
New album Electrosoul lands somewhere between an eclectic mixtape and starry radio show, and was born after Devonne had sudden health issues. The experience reaffirmed something in him and ‘Recycled’ was one of the first fruits of his renewed creativity after a lengthy hospital stay. Like a good architect, he sees the big picture and knows what goes where. And who to bring in when – among them Miguel Atwood Ferguson, Yaya Bey and Kiefer and Fly Anakin.
GENA – HOWWEFLOW [Lex][1h 06m 15s]Lots of buzz around this class collab between Liv.e and Karriem Riggins (sparked at Detroit Jazz Festival), and it’s justified. ‘Circlesz’ hooked me in with its finger-snapping breeziness last year but ‘HOWWEFLOW’ has the grand and intergalactic stomp that’s fit for striding into a new year. That majestic chorus reminds me of superfreaks Sa-Ra (who also have new music out). We have a whole album’s worth of this head-nod soul to look forward to. The Pleasure is Yours drops in late February.
JILL SCOTT – Pressha [Blues Babe][1h 08m 44s]Jilly from Philly is everywhere – from COLORS to Camden Town – and I love it. One of those generational artists you grow with, her debut album will forever be one of my great record shop blind buys. An artist who instantly came through with such vulnerability, honesty and sensitivity, and yet someone who could fire your spirit with the promise of a new day.
Poet first, singer second, her ability to tell stories and unpack emotions is eternal judging by the material I have heard on To Whom This May Concern. The chord dissonance, as she put it, is delicious on this track. The perfect platform for the artist to speak on some sh*t. Shy One’s interview with Jill is worth a listen if you’d like to know where the artist is coming from in 2026.
PS Out to my 826+ crew – disc one should be in the conversation about the greatest live albums of the 21st Century.
ALEX NUT – andthenitstarted (featuring James Mollison) [Eglo][1h 12m 50s]Listening to the Eglo Records boss’s impressive first EP, I can almost trace his influences after years of tuning in to his NTS and Rinse shows and probably attending the same nights at Plastic People, before we’d even met. You can hear Alex trying to respect the beat, use space evocatively and move soulfulness a little to the left. Looking forward to hearing more. In your own time.
JEAN-CLAUDE PETIT – The Age of the Breaking Down’ [WEA][1h 17m 15s]Plucked from Favorite recordings label founder Charles Maurice’s latest compilation Endless, which gathers hard-to-find records from liminal spaces between the jazz-funk, ambient and electronic fields, Petit’s cosmic jam is a helluva ride. All the great keys sounds of the era are in the mix, from ARP Odyssey to clavinet. Quite a departure from the scores to Jean De Florette and Cyrano de Bergerec, which help make his name. Maurice’s French Disco Boogie and AOR collections are also worth a look.
MAURICE POTO DUODONGO – Yelele [Editions De Lux][1h 22m 10s]The Lost Album from 1987 may have come out previously on Crammed Discs but in limited quantities. Anyway, the headline is that this is seriously fun and bursting with ideas. A synth R&B meets Congolese rumba record with a sprinkle of Wally Badarou, made after Maurice had moved to Brussels. You can hear an artist eagerly funnelling all their influences into “an unstoppable current” of a session. ““Music has no frontier,” he says. “You take what you like. Prince, Fela, Papa Wemba – there is no contradiction. It’s all part of the sound.”
VOX POPULI – Alternative Fresh [Dark Entries][1h 26m 40s]Trust Dark Entries to find those weird little oddities on DIY cassette tapes of yesteryear, gathering dust in some forgotten corner of the world. Vox Populi’s members had roots in Palestine, Greece and Tehran but came together in Paris in the early 80s, melding new wave electronics, post-punk rhythm and industrial grit. The result was hypnotic, kinetic and elusive records like their sixth album, Sucre de Pastèque.
HONOUR – U&Me (decemberseventeen) [PAN][1h 29m 40s]A respin for one of 2023’s standout, slow-burn albums. With Àlááfíà, the Chicago-based artist frequency-hopped through a collage of guitar drone, ambient wash, gospel, field recordings, conversation fragments, trap-y beats, rap and RnB references. The result was more than a mournful and often opaque dedication to his beloved grandmother.
As the lo-fi sketches crash or vaporise into one another, they form this diasporic sound continuum that will feel compelling – transcendent, dare I say – to anyone that floats between worlds. Into Dean Blunt, Space Afrika and Mica Levi on a dark one? You need this.
KEN ISHII – Endless Season [R&S][1h 34m 10s]Last year was the 30th anniversary of Jelly Tones, Ken’s pioneering album of electronic-to-ambient soundscapes that would have entranced fans of Warp’s Artifical Intelligence among many others in the mood for something other than bangin’ techno, something more abstract, after the rave. ‘Endless Season’ makes me feel like the star of my own sci-fi manga film, or perhaps that’s just the memories of Koji Morimoto’s MTV Europe award-winning video for ’Extra’ replaying in my mind.
LUKID – Toy Surge [Death Is Not the End][1h 40m 30s]Whether it’s solo or as one half of Rezzett, Lukid knows how to send air participles exploding all over the place with his electrostatic frequencies. This is music built with machines but infused with the messy soul of humankind. Underloop passes from beatless, bleeping washes of sound to thudding pulsations to more frenetic out-of-body experiences. Never ordinary, always out there.
YU SU – Bonita [Short Span][1h 43m 50s]Has Yu Su been staying up late? The Vancouver-to-London transplant has upped the bpms and crept closer to the dancefloor on this release. Apparently conceived to play out at festivals such as Mutek you can still hear her aptitude for texture and warmth coming through. ‘Bonita’ has the extra intimacy I crave in the dark as the tempo builds.
PEVEN EVERETT & TONY TOUCH – No Wonder (Yoruba Soul Mix) [Funkbox][1h 48m 00s]Anything Peven does, I am all over it. He’s a living legend who writes, sings, plays and performs like few others. But when Osunlade applies his Yoruba Soul touch, then I move double-time to pick it up. This BBE collection is timeless, particularly his version of Roy Ayers’ ‘Searching’.
Then there’s the unreleased catalogue, which I am working through. Prince’s ‘Movie Star’ is hot. Osunlade’s take on PE’s collaboration with Tony Touch is warm and uplifting, like the sun coming up on a day off.
APHRODISIAC – Song of the Siren [Nu Groove][1h 53m 40s]I had to slip something in from the late Ronald ‘Rhano’ Burrell, who, along with brother Rheji, came to define the sound of late 80s’ NYC house as The Burrell Brothers on Nu Groove. A mark of real quality to check for (listen to Gerd Janson’s mix for confirmation).
They brought a unique combination of sensuality, rawness and precision to their productions. Musicality also – the brothers joining their first band together at 13. Aside from solo aliases such as KATO and Equation, it was as Aphrodisiac that he made this classic. Mystical and transcendent.
Did you know the brothers worked with Toni Braxton and Aaliyah? Check this interview with Lenny Fontana and beam at their longstanding integrity and an I-don’t-give-a-f*ck mentality.
JAZZANOVA – That Night (featuring Vikter Duplaix) (Wahoo Remix) [JCR][1h 58m 00s]Someday I’ll have to reflect on the influence of this German supergroup on electronic music, ‘future jazz’ and myself. Their first remixes collection still sounds revolutionary from the off – a flurry of ideas beyond borders and a will to take originals someplace else. Early original productions such as ‘Fedime’s Flight’ continue to carry an ineffable aura.
What to pick from the deluxe reissue of debut album In Between hmmm… This remix by Georg Levin and Dixon was my tune from back in the day and we don’t hear enough Duplaix on the mic so let’s run this one.
BLAKE BAXTER – When A Thought Becomes You [Mint Condition][2h 5m 00s]Keep an eye out for Tresor reissues of classic trax from The Prince of Techno, including special EP Dream Sequence-X and his 1995 album Dream Sequence. Still unheralded for his influence. I can rarely look past this sexy number, first released on UR in 1991. Here’s Blake doin’ it live in 2019. Interesting interview here.
GLENN UNDERGROUND – Sound Struck [Peacefrog][2h 10m 30s]Glenn’s classic debut album Atmosfear has its 30th anniversary this year and should be in more hands and on more decks. Thankfully, Peacefrog knows what’s up and decided to reissue it on some very smokey double vinyl. Joyous, uplifting house music rooted in the discotheque, stacked with those signature layers of keys from the Chicago OG and Strictly Jaz Unit founder.
VELVIT – Testament [Exit][2h 16m 20s]Out to Simon See for sending this EP my way; always unearthing things I may have missed or never knew existed. Velvit is an alias of D&B champion dBridge, born from his “recent sonic explorations with the Elektron hardware”. Gospel house is about as close as I’ll get to ecstatic fervour. With ‘Testament’ he’s added tech-stures to the mix, which takes this kind of track into another dimension. Ok, let us pray…
MU-ZIQ – Houzz 14 [Balmat][2h 21m 55s]Tucked into a mostly calm and abstract set from Plant Mu founder Mike Paradinas, recording under µ-Ziq, is this acid whirlpool of a house cut. It’s giving me the energy I need to make the hard yards in winter, with the promise of reaching euphoria in little over four minutes.
HOT CARGO – What’s In It For Me? (long mix) [Still Music][2h 25m 30s]When I started getting heavily into dubby disco and boogie in the early 2000s, one mysterious record I obsessed over and relentlessly pursued was a Faze Action edit of The Jammer’s ‘Be Mine Tonight’. The man behind that project? Richie Weeks, an NYC triple threat who could write, arrange and produce dancefloor dynamite. He also performed at Studio 54 and Paradise Garage. Yeah, he was in the thick of it.
This Hot Cargo track is previously unreleased and part of a third volume of tracks selected from his personal archive. This RA documentary offers a valuable insight into Richie’s career and struggles in the industry.
THE STONE ROSES – Something’s Burning [Sony][2h 33m 55s]For my money, the best thing that the Roses ever recorded, perhaps apart from ‘I Wanna Be Adored’. Certainly one of dearly departed Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield’s most seductive basslines, runnin’ the Manc voodoo down at length with drummer Reni and the gang. ‘Something’s Burning’ is on the b-sides and rarities compilation Turns to Stone.
If you want to get to know “Manniechester’s” favourite son a bit better, a man for whom “laughter was his number one pursuit” as bandmate and lifelong friend Ian Brown put it, listen to his and Bobby Gillespie’s eulogies. For Roses lore, try documentary Made of Stone or any podcast featuring Mani.
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