Published on
June 28, 2024
Category
Features
Essential weekend listening.
This week’s rundown is by VF contributors Annabelle Van Dort, Emily Hill and James Hammond.
Ahmed Malek
Musique Original De Films, Volume Deux
(Habibi Funk)
Habibi Funk returns to the archive of esteemed Algerian composer Ahmed Malek for their second compilation of his unreleased works. His luscious, orchestral arrangements–fit for the yearning and brooding scapes of a film noir – recall the best of Mulatu Asatake and Ennio Morricone. Malek also ventures into reggae-inflected grooves and jazz-funk rhythms, truly capturing the breadth of his innovations and creativity.–JH
Various Artists
Arthur Baker presents: Breakers Revenge-Original B-Boy and B-Girl Breakdance Classics 1970-1984
(Soul Jazz)
Legendary producer Arthur Baker joins forces with Soul Jazz Records for a comprehensive musical trip through Breakdance history. Full of high-energy breakbeats and punchy, bongo-heavy rhythms, Breakers Revenge captures the infectious spirit of a South Bronx block party, that’s guaranteed to get bodies moving. Featuring canonical B-boy and B-girl classics like The Jimmy Castor Bunch’s “It’s Just Begun” and James Brown’s “Get on the Good Foot”, alongside lesser-known obscurities, this compilation pin-points the evolution of hip-hop from these New York dance parties into the genre we know it today.–AVD
Dionne
Feel Da Rain (D’pac Dub)
(Collective Rhythm Network)
This Detroit gem has been a weapon in many a DJ’s arsenal and it now receives an extended reissue, including remastered versions of previously unreleased versions. Originally released on Kevin Saunderson’s KMS label, back in the ’90s, new life has been leased to the iconic funky jam–released just in time for the full swing of festival season. This is a hot tip for those classy house heads.–EH
Dirty Three
Love Changes Everything
(Drag City/ Bella Union)
The trio of Mick Turner, Warren Ellis and Jim White return after a ten-year pause in recording, bringing forth another set of expansive instrumentals. True to Warren Ellis’ extensive work in film soundtracks in recent years, these instrumentals play out with a cinematic vocabulary that brings varied elements of the group’s interplay in and out of focus. Merging disjointed guitar with motoric rhythm before moving onto swirls of ambience, sparing piano and mournful strings, this one ventures far and wide.–JH
Loren Connors & Alan Licht
The Blue Hour
(Otoroku)
Recorded during a two-night residency at Café Oto in May 2023, The Blue Hour adds another intriguing document to Loren Connors and Alan Licht’s thirty-year history of collaboration. With Connors largely known as a guitarist, a rare piano performance here shows his singular touch transferring across instruments and the duo carefully stoking the flames of a spontaneous and affecting set. A step closer to the melodic centring of their earlier work, that’s not to say that The Blue Hour still doesn’t push at the reverb abstractions and atonal overspill of their shared approach to improvisation. –JH
