Rhiannon Giddens

Folk/Singer Songwriter

Rhiannon Giddens is an American musician best known as the lead singer, violinist, banjo player and a founding member of the Grammy-winning country, blues and old-time music band Carolina Chocolate Drops. She has quite a few Gaelic tracks as well. Heres a 21 song playlist I put together of some of my favourite songs by here. Click on the top left corner to expand the list.

World Beat,

Jawhar has created his own signature style of world-folk music that one could probably describe as midway between arab chaâbi and Nick Drake’s dreamy folk lullabies. The Tunisian singer-songwriter re-explores his roots and his mother tongue to let them sing once again with his newly released album Qibla Wa Qobla- Jawhar

And here is a side project of his. RAS KALB is a collective inspired by Jawhar Basti’s music of Macbeth – Leila & Ben, a play co-written by Lotfi Achour, Anissa Daoud and Jawhar Basti, directed by Lotfi Achour.

Funk & Disco, Soul/R&B

Thundercat was never going to exist in the background for long. His father drummed for both The Temptations and Diana Ross, and when Stephen Bruner started on his own path as a session bass player in LA he was hard to ignore, wearing a helmet and colourful shoulder pads to perform with the likes of Suicidal Tendencies and Erykah Badu. His vibrant wardrobe, dark humour and love of obscure South Korean movies attracted Flying Lotus, who signed him six years ago. Soon everyone from Dr Dre to Odd Future was a convert. But his really big break came as the creative architect behind 2015’s ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’, Kendrick Lamar’s ambitious, jazzy second album. Which means he has a lot of famous fans, a number of whom return some favours on this, his fourth album: Kendrick, who pops up on the shuffling ‘Walk On By’; Pharrell, who lends a spacey vocal to ‘The Turn Down’; and Wiz Khalifa, who raps about the dark side of excess on ‘Drink Dat’. Kamasi Washington and Flying Lotus are also there. So too is Thundercat’s long-time hero Kenny ‘The Soundtrack King’ Loggins (of ‘Top Gun’ and ‘Footloose’ fame) cropping up on ‘Show You The Way’, a Kenny-G- meets-Prince smoochy slow jam. ‘Drunk’ is jazz, but not the La La Land type. It’s a futuristic brand that’d be as at home at Coachella as at Ronnie Scott’s. Funk, soul, pop, electronica and hip-hop orbit around each other. When they cluster and fuse, the results are cosmic (‘Bus In These Streets’ and ‘Them Changes’). It’s funny, too, in an odd, silly, cartoonish way. ‘Drunk’ ponders some serious issues – the death of a close musician friend, police brutality and Thundercat’s own demons – but that’s contrasted with fart sound effects, snoring and meowing cat noises. Sure, there’s some annoying wiggy tangents (‘Uh Uh’ and ‘Blackkk’) and occasionally it feels longer than its 43-minute lifespan. But those things are forgiveable, because ‘Drunk’, as out-there as it can be, is an album totally high on its own unique ideas.- NME Magazine

https://youtu.be/llQ31DRgyx4

Folk/Singer Songwriter

Caoilfhionn (pronounced Keelin) Rose is a singer-songwriter from Manchester studying Music at NewcastleUniversity.
She gigs between her home in Manchester and Newcastle and dreams of travelling round the world with her music.
Caoilfhionn is part of several collaborations and featured on The Durutti Column (Vini Reilly)’s 2014 album ‘Chronicle LX:XL’.  SoundCloud

https://soundcloud.com/keelinmusic/black-is-the-colour

https://soundcloud.com/keelinmusic/sets/the-durutti-column-chronicle

Jam Bands/Trippy Beats

Mesmerizing, spellbinding and genre-defying: With their fourth full-length studio release Extras In A Movie, Papadosio reveals a striking cinematic cornucopia of sounds: orchestral, electronic, organic, acoustic, psychedelic and celestial. The 16 selections that comprise the song cycle are concise and structured – launch pads for the improvisational excursions that are a hallmark of the band’s celebrated concert performances. Originally from  Athens, Ohio, the band is now centered in Asheville, North Carolina – Soundcloud

Michal Menert

Beats, Glitch/Hydro Funk

Michal Menert Albums: songs, discography, biography, and listening guide - Rate Your Music

Michal Menert is an electronic music artist and producer based in Denver, Colorado. He was also the first artist on the Pretty Lights Music label and was an integral part of Pretty Lights, producing their debut album, Taking Up Your Precious Time as well as contributing to several tracks after his official departure from the project. Throughout his youth, his father exposed him to a wide variety of Eastern and Western music, giving Menert fertile soil in which to plant his musical visions. His passion for original analog sounds coupled with a vast knowledge of music history has given him an even larger platform from which to produce. A multi-instrumentalist, he incorporates live guitar and keys into his final production for a full sound and rich feel. By tapping into the world of music that surrounds him, Menert twists and turns day-to-day inspirations into music that is all his own. 

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Folk/Singer Songwriter

Diane was born in Nevada City, California on April 20, 1983. She grew up singing with her musician parents and performing in the school choir. She taught herself guitar, and began writing songs that blend tense, trance-like arpeggios with warm vocals and meditative lyrics about family and nature. Her first recordings were self-released in 2003 as Forest Parade. Her first solo public appearances were at the invitation of fellow Nevada City native Joanna Newsom. She also did a stint in the Nevada City band Black Bear before continuing with her solo pursuits. – Wikipedia

 

Soul/R&B

Purchase LP, Digi, CD: bastardjazz.bandcamp.com/album/the-11th-sky

Electric Wire Hustle return with a third studio album, The 11th Sky…Expanding on their psychedelic-soul sound, The 11th Sky continues the surreal storytelling of last years Aeons EP, which also featured Kimbra and Deva Mahal on vocals. The brand new album is described as “David Lynch meets Motown” by frontman and producer Mara TK, and indeed, a sense of the otherworldly is present here within EWH’s layered electronic production and Mara’s soaring vocals. Tracks like “Go Slow” walk into the genre-fog amongst drum machines and synthesizers. Meanwhile “I Light A Candle” with it’s piano, chopped vocal samples, towering strings and 808s strikes right at the heart of soul music.Electric Wire Hustle’s last album ‘Love Can Prevail’ found support from The New York Times, BBC Radio and Wax Poetics, and won “Best Electronic Album” at the New Zealand Music Awards, continuing a track record of critical acclaim that started with their debut self-titled album. The 11th Sky is due out on September 30th on LP, CD and digital via Bastard Jazz Recordings (World) and Loop Recordings (New Zealand).- Soundcloud

Global Bass, Latin/South American

Night Visions is a collection of stories which dance alive over an infectious blend of Afro-Latin rhythms and contemporary dancefloor beats. Told by a variety of characters, drawn from the vibrant imagination of Chico Mann, these stories take place in an endless night, where we move through dimly lit clubs, jungle moonlight, pitch black desert plains, and the internal shadows of personal darkness. Captain Planet’s production, informed by his regular crowd-moving DJ sets, keeps the album sounding effortlessly danceable & contemporary. Meanwhile, Chico’s vocals have an instant classic appeal, hinting at old Cuban rumba and vintage Afrobeat LP’s. The two are aided by guest vocals from regular collaborators Kendra Morris & Brit Manor, as well as some talented friends who contributed additional horns, guitar & marimba.Night Visions highlights the creative symbiosis of two of the biggest names in contemporary alternative Latin sounds. The result is a truly unique album that speaks as much to listeners who don’t understand Spanish as it does to old abuelos. The feelings and rhythms that flow through these songs are universal, appealing to hearts and hips all around the world. -Soundcloud

 
Released by:
Bastard Jazz

 

 

 

Glitch/Hydro Funk

Hailing from Dayton, Oh, Tangled Branches, the musical vision of Zachary Hill, has been infusing modern visionary electronic music with flowing guitar melodies, creating a funky, timeless sound since 2013. Using a colorful palate of influences including psychedelic funk, trip hop and dub, Tangled Branches has created music that is intended for celebration, reflection, exploration and healing. From deep and funky basslines to waves of morphing synthesizer organic guitar melodies, Tangled Branches takes listeners on a journey through the infinite layers of human consciousness. In between playing festivals such as Resonance, Zen Awakening and Kinetic Fire and sharing the stage with national acts including Vibe Street, Govinda, Desert Dwellers and Blockhead. – (Essential Productions)

 

Experimental

Materializing from the intergalactic zone of Queens, New York, Macula Dog produce a bonkers electronic music that floats through star clusters and old Radio Shacks.Two guys sit opposite each other, one with an electronic drum kit, the other with a large assortment of synths and samplers. Both have damaged-looking alien puppets sitting on their shoulders. They create the kind of music you imagine the Devo-loving shift manager at a cryogenics warehouse would play late at night. – Noisey

Blj Jks – Lakeside

Afrocentric

The reach of Western monoculture, the end of apartheid, the Internet, mp3 file-sharing…we may never know what seismic historical shift to thank for the musical stew that is South Africa’s BLK JKS. But in the 21st century, this quartet has been loosed from history and geography. Rather than build upon Ladysmith Black Mambazo or Thomas Mapfumo (who defined South Africa’s Stateside musical influence in the 1980s) or attempt an East-West melding à la Graceland, BLK JKS emulate the grandiose rock gestures of their peers and contemporaries: TV on the Radio, Radiohead, U2. Already experiencing success at home when tastemaker Diplo encountered them, BLK JKS (guitarists Lindani Buthelezi and Mpumi Mcata, bassist Molefi Makananise, and drummer Tshepang Ramoba) soon were entering New York’s Electric Lady studio with Secret Machines’ Brandon Curtis as producer for their 2009 EP Mystery. Flashing all the (slight) overreach of a much-anticipated debut album, After Robots still exuberantly delivers. “Banna Ba Modimo” bests the Mars Volta at their own game: anthemic, knotty, horn-laced, explosive. “Skeleton” is a prog-dub concoction lanced by Buthelezi’s falsetto, which recalls TVOTR at their most eclectic, while “Lakeside” evokes them at their catchiest. And epic centerpiece “Kwa Nqingetje” reimagines OK Computer if it had been unwittingly downloaded by teens in a Johannesburg township. Let the mythologizing begin. – Spin 

Psych-Rock

Hazy Sea is an instrumental stoner rock trio from Athens formed in 2015 exploring the stoner and desert rock sound. Electric Abyss is their debut full length album, filled to the brim with fiery passion. 7 tracks of top notch Heavy Rock grooves. – Youtube

Psych-Rock

Naxatras is a hard psychedelic rock band from Greece. They have been playing together for three years developing their sound. This year sees the release of their first LP. Naxatras recorded the album live 100% analog at Magnetic Fidelity Studios with a guy named Jesus. Only analog equipment was used during the recording, mixing and mastering stages. Naxatras recorded the album at a small village in northern Greece in just 3 days.- Youtube

https://youtu.be/WNjyvtjAmUo

Lewis Del Mar

Rock

Concert Review: Lewis Del Mar // The Basement // 10.10.16 -Lewis Del Mar is an American rock duo from Rockaway Beach, New York City. Consisting of childhood friends singer and guitarist Danny Miller, and drummer and producer Max Harwood,  the group first received attention in early 2015 when their debut single Loud(y) was featured in the number one spot on Hype Machine. They released their debut EP in January 2016 which peaked at number 7 on Billboard Emerging Artists.Their self-titled debut album was released on October 7, 2016 through Columbia Records. – Wikipedia

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Psych-Rock, Rock

From the “Watch Out” (1970’s) LP. Zimbabwe Psychedelic Rock.
n an explosion of rock music that spanned from Nigeria to Zambia during the late 1970s, the revolutionary Zimbabwean rock movement, although rarely recognized and widely obscured, played a distinct role in its nation’s musical history.
This is the first time that Watch Out! will be released outside of Zimbabwe. In the liner notes, project curator and researcher Matthew Shechmeister writes, “The people who made this record, and the world it came out of, make for the most compelling and heart wrenching story we’ve ever heard behind an album we’ve featured.”
A culmination of afrobeat, heavy jams and psychedelic sounds, Zimbabwean rock uncovers the underground sound that has come to make up the distinctively African genre. As a part of the counterculture movement that took root in the country during the late 1970s, Wells Fargo rose to fame as Zimbabwe entered the last decade of its war for independence. In the face of a systemically racist and oppressive Rhodesian government, rock became an outlet for expression- Youtube

https://youtu.be/A2hS_w_v1-0

 

 

Techno

Soukie & Windish. The duo consisting of Fritz Dyckerhoff and Nayan Soukie has been creating quite a string of acclaimed releases since 2008 and have become clubbers favorites with tunes on labels like Darkroom Dubs, Time Has Changed or URSL in the past eight years. Now they’re a making their Upon.You Records debut with their new Mountain EP. – Soundcloud

House

London’s fast rising producer duo, Toyboy & Robin, have been infectiously fusing the sounds of house music with slices of garage, bass and everything in between. Raised on a healthy diet of Garage and 90’s RnB & Hip Hop Toyboy & Robin, started gaining admirers early in their career when they released ‘No More Sunshine’on UK Independent label Sccucci Manucci, which went on to reach number one on Juno and positioned a spotlight firmly on Toyboy & Robin’s slick garage-flecked productions.- Windish Agency

Jazz

Fusion-influenced jam band Snarky Puppy make exploratory jazz, rock, and funk. Formed in Denton, Texas in 2004, Snarky Puppy feature a wide-ranging group of musicians known affectionately as “The Fam,” centered around bassist and leader Michael League. They debuted with the concert album Live at Uncommon Ground in 2005. Since then, the band has built up a loyal following with a steady touring schedule and a handful of well-received albums including The Only Constant (2006), The World Is Getting Smaller (2007), Bring Us the Bright (2008), Tell Your Friends (2010), and groundUP (2012). In 2013, Snarky Puppy released the album Family Dinner, Vol. 1, which featured a cover of Brenda Russell’s “Something.” The song proved a hit and propelled the album up various digital download charts. In 2014, they shared a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance for the song, and recorded the live We Like It Here in Utrecht, Netherlands. The set was released on Ropeadope. Late in the year, Snarky Puppy signed to Impulse! Sylva, their debut offering for the label, was released in April of 2015. The album was greeted enthusiastically by the international press. They followed it with two live documents. The first was World Tour, a 32-disc box featuring their 16 favorite concerts. The deluxe package was sold exclusively through their website. Early in 2016, they issued the audio/video disc set Family Dinner, Vol. 2, a documentary follow-up to the first Family Dinner, recorded the preceding year. It showcased the band during a concert (and included guests Charlie Hunter, Susana Baca, Salif Keita, and David Crosby), in interviews, and backstage sequences. In April, the group struck again with Culcha Vulcha, their first studio album in eight years. It topped jazz albums charts the week of its release. ~ Matt Collar- I Tunes Review

Here is a 13 song playlist of some of my favourites. Click top left corner to expand playlist.

To view the entire playlist, click the top left corner.

Deep House/Deep Techno, Techno

For more than the last decade, Ron Flatter has been enriching the house and techno landscape with his own direct and energetic productions and warm, groove-driven DJ sets. Initially the young German was a keen skateboarder and hip hop fan, but the lure of dance music soon pulled him in and he has never looked back since. Over the years he has turned out a high number of consistently excellent and innovative tracks that are filled with unique sound design, fresh melodies and plenty of dance floor drive. He has done so on labels like Pour La Vie, Still vor Talent and Traum Schallplatten, always evolving with each new release and exploring fresh new ground. Plenty of taste making talents ardor the world have all played his productions in the past, and recent cuts like “Stupid World” and “Desert” have taken DJs by storm: they combine heavy drums with light, emotive pianos and well-timed breaks that thrill and surprise just when you least expect- Soundcloud

Funk & Disco

Vulfpeck is an American funk group founded in 2011. The band aims for a sound that is minimal, raw, and approaches that of a live performance. The band has released four EPs, two albums, and a silent album on Spotify titled Sleepify – royalties from which funded the band’s admission-free tour in 2014. The band’s latest album, The Beautiful Game, was released in October 2016.- Wikipedia.                                                                                                          Here is a 16 song youtube playlist I put together.

To see the whole playlist click top left corner

Beats

Ta­ku is a modern day renaissance man. Rising to prominence as one of Australia’s most in­ demand beat-makers, the Perth ­based artist (real name Regan Matthews) has found himself curator of a rapidly expanding, multi­disciplinary creative empire. Borne from a late ­night sideline to his day job selling health insurance, Ta­ku’s music has quickly become a global, full­ time concern. From early days uploading chopped hip­hop cuts to Soundcloud, the “genre ­killer”’s prodigious credits now include ambitious projects like 50 Days For Dilla, high ­profile remixes for Flume, Chet Faker, BANKS, Childish Gambino and Justin Timberlake, as well as a clutch of co­writes, production efforts and countless self ­releases.- http://www.windishagency.com/artists/taku

https://soundcloud.com/takugotbeats/sets/25-nights-for-nujabes

https://soundcloud.com/takugotbeats/sets/remixes-compilations