Various Artists – Gilles Peterson Presents: MV4 [Brownswood Recordings]

Our album of the week is “Gilles Peterson Presents: MV4 (Live from Maida Vale)“,  coming from our lovely Brownswood Recordings family, released on the 17th of March.

Gilles Peterson presents a time capsule of musical magic on this exclusive. Taken from a day of live sessions in London’s legendary Maida Vale Studios – studio MV4 to be exact, it was originally intended just for Peterson’s BBC radio show broadcast on 20th October 2018. Struck by what a special moment the sessions captured, Peterson has decided to mark the results with a release proper on his Brownswood imprint.

A limited special double vinyl release, it features a diverse, all-star cast of some of the acts celebrated by Peterson in recent years, in a series of freewheeling and off-the-cuff recordings, several of the tracks backed by the group of Brownswood signee, Joe Armon-Jones. Featuring Dylan Jones, James Mollison, Mutale Chashi, and Marijus Aleksa as well as guest turns from Fatima, Asheber, Nubya Garcia, Hak Baker, and Oscar Jerome, plus a double track special from Bristol based collective, Ishmael Ensemble.

Tracklist:

A1. Starting Today (feat. Asheber) (Live from Maida Vale) – Joe Armon-Jones
B1. Do You Really (Live from Maida Vale) – Oscar Jerome & Joe Armon-Jones
B2. Only (Live from Maida Vale) – Fatima & Joe Armon-Jones
C1. Hold (Live from Maida Vale) – Nubya Garcia & Joe Armon-Jones
C2. Thirsty Thursday (Live from Maida Vale) – Hak Baker & Joe Armon-Jones
D1. The Chapel / Tunnels (Live from Maida Vale) – Ishmael Ensemble
D2. Almost Went Too Far (Live from Maida Vale) – Joe Armon-Jones

Nuyorican house legend and Grammy-winning remixer Louie Vega is bringing a new mini-series to Worldwide FM, he’ll be gracing our airwaves every day this week from 18:00-20:00 BST // 13:00-15:00 EDT. Louie Vega has been a Worldwide FM fixture with his Open Air Sessions since 2018, showcasing his seemingly infinite collection of soul, jazz, funk and of course, house.

A global pandemic isn’t enough to stop Louie Vega’s turntables turning. Stuck at home with an enviable stockpile of records, remixes, sessions – accumulated through years of collaboration and extensive touring, he’s put together this series to explore some of his favourite styles and tide us over until we can all go out and dance again!

Louie Vega is known for his unique ability to mix everything from house, salsa, Afrobeat, jazz, hip-hop, gospel to soul, so we’re in for a rollercoaster of groove. He’s remixed or produced for Michael Jackson, Luther Vandross, Jamiroquai, Tito Puente, George Benson, Femi Kuti and Earth Wind & Fire to mention just a few. He says: “I can’t wait to go through the full breath of my music collection at my Lockdown Sessions on Worldwide FM every day, there’s so much in store, get ready Open Air Sessions fam!”

MONDAY: DISCO & BOOGIE
Grab your roller skates for a deep dive into disco and boogie jams curated by a true expert.

TUESDAY: HOUSE CLASSICS
The history of house, spanning 35 years – and who better to present it than a leader of the global dance scene?

WEDNESDAY: EXPANSIONS NYC
Named after Louie Vega’s esteemed club night which ran through 2019, bringing together dancers, poets and musicians. This night was also the inspiration for Louie Vega’s upcoming album. A celebration of collaboration!

THURSDAY: ECLECTIC
A journey through eclectic, jazzy, Latin soul. From samba through to salsa, Louie Vega touches on jazz, Afro Latin groove music with a nod to his Nuyorican roots.

FRIDAY: UNRELEASED JAMS & TRIBUTES
A special treat to end the series: Louie Vega digs out exclusive unreleased jams, collaborations and sessions spanning Nuyorican soul, Masters At Work projects as well as his solo work that has yet to hit the shelves.

Nicolás Jaar – Cenizas [Other People]

Our album of the week is coming from Chilean sound maker Nicolás Jaar. “Cenizas” is out on his label Other People on the 27th of March, 2020.

Cenizas was written, produced and mixed by Nicolás Jaar between 2017 and 2019. The cover image is designed by Maziyar Pahlevan, mastering is made by Rashad Becker and Patrick Higgins was also included in mixing this beautiful and thoughtful album. In 2019, Patrick Higgins and Nicolás Jaar mixed some of the record in Higgins’ Future- Past studios in Hudson NY and Electric Lady Studios in Manhattan. Additional mixing was done in Figure8 Studios in Brooklyn by Nicolás.

For the last 7 years, Jaar has released a large volume of recordings through his label OTHER PEOPLE (including music by LYDIA LUNCH, WILLIAM BASINSKI, PATRICK HIGGINS, DJ SLUGO, LUCRETIA DALT, PIERRE BASTIEN & TOMAGA, VTGNIKE and others) along with scoring “Dheepan” by director Jaques Audiard which won Palme d’Or at Cannes that year. After many collaborations and works in his divergent path, Jaar presented “Cenizas” which has traces of his previous multimedia work and his journey through sound and music.

Tracklist:

1. Vanish
2. Menysid
3. Cenizas
4. Agosto
5. Gocce
6. Mud
7. Vacíar
8. Sunder
9. Hello, Chain
10. Rubble
11. Garden
12. Xerox
13. Faith Made of Silk

In the first instalment of a new series called ‘The 20’, Gilles Peterson selected 20 key tracks from the back-catalogues of Brit Funk (specifically 1978-1982, not to be confused with Brit Funk beginnings which might just warrant its own ‘The 20’ episode). Brit Funk was a formative genre for Gilles – Bluey of Incognito was his first ever interviewee, with the conversation conducted in Gilles’s garden shed when he was just 17. Bluey later became the first signee on Gilles’s Talkin’ Loud label.

But as much as Gilles would relish the opportunity to play 20 Bluey tracks in a row, ‘The 20’ series limits him to – agonisingly – one tune per artist. And so, the show was kicked off with one of Gilles’s first ever promo gifts, Powerline’s ‘Double Journey’ from Elite Records.

Next up: The UK Players with ‘Everybody Get Up’, followed by Kabbala with ‘Ashewo Ara’, a perfect example of the Afro/Latin feel often present in this music. This tune demonstrates a variation on a rhythm usually played on Cuban timbales over a 3/2 clave. The lyrics are in Yoruba, as are the lyrics of many Cuban songs from the Santería tradition – interesting stuff!

Then, ‘(Somebody) Help Me Out’ from Beggar & Co. Having collaborated with Light of the World, Horn Section and Spandau Ballet (check out ‘Chant No. 1’), this group shows the connections between the jazz/funk and punk movements that the media never really picked up on. The next record, The Hudson People’s ’Trip To Your Mind’, was thrown out into the audience after a gig at an all-day event in London and Gilles caught it!

Caché’s ‘Jazzin’ and Cruisin’’, the B-side to the more widely-known tune ‘Where Is The Sunshine?’ comes next. The record was released on Groove Records, a legendary shop on Greek Street which was the place to go for hip-hop, afro-latin groove music and other imports. Mike Allen would feature the Groove Records hip hop sales chart on his weekly Friday night show on Capital Radio from 11pm GMT to midnight.

Up next, Second Image. Ronnie Vincent (an influential DJ who was broadcasting on Radio London at the time) used to manage the band, which of course made for lots of radio play! Second Image’s material sometimes tended to be geared towards the charts, but their B sides were something special, Gilles went with ‘Image’.

The Rah Band’s ‘Perfumed Garden’ follows, along with Level 42’s ‘Love Meeting Love’, which beat some stiff competition from some other classic Level 42 tracks: ‘Love Games’, ‘Eyes Waterfalling’ and ‘Starchild’. Followed by Linx’s ‘You’re Lying’, which first hit turntables on a white label disc that eluded Gilles the first time around…

Some escapism in the form of ‘Walking Into Sunshine’ from Central Line and then… who else but Incognito?! More summery vibes with ‘Summers Ended’, from the ‘Jazz Funk’ album, which features some gorgeous flute-playing. Bluey worked with many, many musicians across the scene and was infamous for bringing full bands on tour, despite it hurting his profits, to give his audiences the best show possible.

Then, the recently departed Tony Williams, producer of reggae shows for Radio London and band member of Funk Masters, with ‘Love Money’, which became a big tune on the New York scene at clubs like Paradise Garage and The Loft. Direct Drive’s ‘Time Machine’ is followed by The Real Thing with ‘Can You Feel The Force’ (with notable producer Nigel Martinez on percussion) and ‘Dancing In Outer Space’ from Atmosfear, which comes from a double A-side single which hit the UK Top 50 in 1979 and remains the band’s most notable release.

Light Of The World ‘Time’, from the album Round Trip (1980) finishes off the show with a handful of other big-hitters in the Brit Funk game, including Hi-Tension (with ‘Hi-Tension’, which shares the same Lover’s Rock feel as Tony Williams’ repertoire, beating some other great Hi-Tension tunes like ‘British Hustle’ and ‘Objects’ to the list). Last up: Freeez with ‘Southern Freeez’, hailed by Gilles as “the ultimate tune!”, high praise indeed.

If you want more Brit Funk, check out Gilles’ interview with Bluey here or Bluey’s feature on this year’s Worldwide Awards here. The rest of ‘The 20’ series will be bringing you 20 favourite tracks from the worlds of broken beat, Brazilian jazz and much more! As always, send us your favourites on socials and via our chatroom!

Various Artists – Isolation Therapy [Stamp The Wax]

Our album of the week is Stamp The Wax‘s ‘Isolation Therapy‘ compilation, made for these hard times.

With the world in Covid-19 lockdown and the events industry stopped in its tracks, artists and online media like ourselves have been left financially vulnerable and, well…pretty bored.

In an effort to alleviate both, Stamp The Wax launches Isolation Therapy, an emergency compilation built from scratch at lightning speed. We reached out to as many friends of the site as we could who may need a hand, and gave them three days to make a track from scratch in isolation. 27 artists rose to the challenge.

For the artwork, illustrator Jess Ebsworth has depicted the comfort represented by collective isolation as the music industry rallies together to face its biggest challenge in a generation.

In order to provide artists with financial support as quickly as possible, royalty splits have been increased and accounting periods have been reduced to fortnightly during Coronavirus restrictions. Isolation Therapy will also provides much-needed funds for STW, having been hit heavily by the collapse of the events industry and postponement of all our media partnerships. If you can afford to buy the album, even if you don’t like every track, it will be a massive support for independent journalism and go a long way to help us fight through this lockdown.⁣⁣

Tracklist:

1. Olsvangèr – 2120
2. The Head (Joseph Shabason & Thom Gill) – All The Things I Am
3. Hector Plimmer – Precipice
4. Lily Haz – No Mo Dinin’
5. Nikki Nair – Time Enough For
6. Alek Lee – Put Your Hand On That Television
7. MYKI – Genesis
8. Manuel Darquart – It’s A Dub
9. Bayetë & Probably Sean – Corona Theresa
10. Hysteric – Tomorrow
11. Prequel – The World Is Love
12. Aleqs Notal – Blessing
13. Generation Next – We Own The Night
14. Super Drama feat. Reece Spooner – Never Stop
15. Tom Blip feat. James Ocen – Pineapple Boosts Your Melatonin
16. Pletnev – Linear Algebra
17. Niklas Wandt – Totemic Rite
18. Modula – The Memory Of A Little Child
19. Abcès – Amor Amor
20. Panorama Channel x Kayron – Noelia
21. Philou Louzolo – Artificial Combat
22. Matisa – Scream Freedom
23. Desert Sound Colony – Mary Monkhausen
24. Tom VR – SUN2314
25. Winters – The Breathing Earth
26. Autarkic – Shangri-La
27. Anna Wall – Solitude

Steve Reid Foundation x Worldwide FM Fundraiser Day

Click here to get involved!

During these uncertain times, many of us turn to art to provide comfort, insight or just to keep us occupied. The Steve Reid Foundation, set up by Gilles Peterson, aims to support musicians far and wide through times of trouble, especially in terms of healthcare, disability and life-altering illness. It’s the perfect time to shed a light on what we can do to help the people we rely upon to soundtrack our lives – and so Worldwide FM is teaming up with The Steve Reid Foundation to present a day of programming dedicated to the organisation in order to fundraise and spread some good energy.

We want all our listeners to get involved. We’ll be running a Jazz Jukebox with all proceeds going to Help Musicians (UK) and Jazz Foundation (NYC) to help musicians whose work/livelihoods are affected by the Coronavirus crisis. Regular jazz tracks will cost £5, rarer tracks on independent labels will cost £10 and any track Steve Reid as a featured artist will accrue a donation of £20.

With your help on the selections, the day is sure to bring many a tantalising musical nugget! Programming for the day will include shows provided by a line-up of Worldwide FM DJs and friends of the station. You can expect to hear from the following:

Morning Mari*
Gilles Peterson
Bex Burch
Emanative
Nubya Garcia
Charlie Dark
Kieran Hebden
Fay Milton
Tommaso Cappellato
Sarathy Korwar
Daniel Brandt
Ola Szmidt

Join us from 8:45 AM this Bank Holiday Monday to bask in the glory of shows specially curated to help us all through this period of isolation, throw in a request to help musicians in need and spread the good vibes! All requests can be made here.