The Return of Jason Swinscoe's Cinematic Orchestra

This is the first full studio album by Jason Swinscoe's Cinematic Orchestra since 2002's "Everyday". Entitled "Ma Fleur," the record was written as the soundtrack to a specially commissioned screenplay for an imagined film (which may or may not yet be made).
Shortly after finishing "Everyday," a piece of music which achieved great critical and commercial success Jason Swinscoe relocated from East London to Paris. Here he began work on the instrumentals which would form the basis of his new record - more moods than finished tracks, a series of sketches or diagrams of directions to follow. Having completed a rough version by early 2005, he gave this to a friend who disappeared for 3 weeks and came back with short story scripts in which each scene represented a story of a different time in life, expressing the emotions which underpin the journey from birth to death. Jason then took this and worked some more on the tracks, and in turn gave this back to his scriptwriter, the two aspects of the project developing alongside one another. Gradually, Swinscoe recruited suitable vocalists for the atmospheres and themes he wanted to deal with. The remarkable Fontella Bass, who is now sadly in frail health, is the woman behind both legendary soul number "Rescue Me" as well as some of the Art Ensemble of Chicago's finest moments, had worked on "Everyday" and was an obvious choice to voice the parts of the elderly protagonist that Swinscoe envisaged. Mercury-nominated Lou Rhodes is not only a fantastic singer but a young mother and so perfect for the "mid-life" singer. The as-yet unheralded Patrick Watson, a remarkable vocalist from Montreal, became the youngest of the trio. Swinscoe, now based in New York, then filled out the arrangments with the band and assistance from his old collaborator, bassist Phil France. As a final part of the process, renowned New York photographer Maya Hayuk was commissioned to take 11 pictures to represent each of the scenes/tracks. These pictures, scenes where the characters are missing or abstracted or metaphoric, would once again feed back into world of the soundtrack for a missing film. These images relate to individual moments and the overall at the same time, "leaving the spaces as empty as possible was paramount" so the viewer/listener can fill them, finish them or re interpret them as they see fit.Dealing with themes of loss and love - and in itself representing a kind of absence - "Ma Fleur" is fertile ground for Swinscoe's brand of music-making, for while people have talked about what he does in terms of jazz, the truth is that the basis of his music has always been in raw emotion. From the achingly beautiful opener "To Build A Home" to the finale, "Time And Space," this is an album which reaches for and finds a truth and honesty far beyond what we would normally expect from such a record, but without losing any of the accessibility which made TCO popular in the first place. If the mood is melancholy, Swinscoe and the musicians he works with manage to make it an ultimately uplifting experience, perhaps in the end more about the love you find than the love you lose. (Courstesy of Soul Seduction)

Free Cinematic Orchestra MP3
To Build a Home (edit)

Cinematic Orchestra website

Cinematic Orchestra MySpace

ZEEP | Zeep, the new band from Nina Miranda and Chris Franck (previously of Da Lata/ Smoke City fame), are about to embark on a 4 date mini tour beginning this
Thursday at London's Favela Chic niterie. You can check out Zeep's website -
www.myspace.com/zeepband - to get a flavour of the funky and folky, Tropicalia - tinged tunes that puts the eeeeep into Zeep. Do yourselves a favour and jump on a bus, tube or plane to the Zeep show closest to you and find out what all the fuss is about. You can download their track 'Have You Ever' for free for 1 week only! Here's the link

Robert Strauss’s latest album project “Mr Feelings” has been signed to BBE Records this week for worldwide release with the album slated for September 2007. Their will be more E.P’s and single releases in between now and then and also a full, live tour in October 2007 with the planning and some dates already under way.

Simon Flower releases Shinjuku Skyline on CurlCurl | Simon Flower from Auckland, New Zealand flies a flag for so-called minimal house (a real misnomer), because there are actually more intricacies and progressions happening in his music than in a Woody Allen plot, aye! Simon Flower regularly plays live laptop sets at and just finished a remix of 'Chicaco' for Shahrokh (Compost Records), and has a 12" in the pipeline for another German label. The Luna City Express remix picks up the deep original and transports it into contemporary Berlin (the city where Jesse Rose leads the pack). Berlin’s own Luna City Express simply know what works right now. Their remix builds and builds and always holds the peak back until it – finally – rains. This minimal peaktime remix rolls like an avalanche. Luna City Express also release a new mix label compilation on Moon Harbor soon.

Various Artists "In the Mind of Nitin Sawhney" | District 6 is the new label from the people who previously brought you Ether records. District 6 will kick off and continue where Ether left off, within a remit of producing exciting, funky, cutting edge releases from the genres and sub-genres of jazz, dance, world and soul. The first of these releases is the start of what promises to be an exciting series of compilations called “In the mind of”. District 6 is proud to announce that it is initially tapping into the musical mind and genius of Nitin Sawhney. Nitin is one of the industry’s most respected music producers, has worked with an enviable lineup of musical talent including Terry Callier, Aqualung, Massive Attack and 4 Hero, won the Mercury Music Prize and released a string of hugely successful and highly respected albums thus far. Although currently working on his latest album Nitin also finds time to write film and computer game scores, stage productions and is regularly touring the world in his live entity and collaborating on stage with other artists.

Launch Party @ Cargo. Thursday 19th April.
Nitin Sawhney (Live)
Special guest DJs Ges-e & Osmani Soundz (Nasha Records)
8pm - 1.00am. £12

Bebel Gilberto
Releases “Momento”

Bebel Gilberto is back with Momento, her third solo album, presenting some of her most elegant and personal musical statements since bursting on the scene in 2000 when her Grammy nominated debut album Tanto Tempo took the world by storm and conquered audiences worldwide. Momento is about a moment in time and living in the moment, an apt title for these times of fast but shallow information. The album draws on the graceful, low-key electronica of Tanto Tempo and the enchanting, acoustic simplicity of her second self-titled album. Gilberto’s voice is presented in a variety of settings that showcase her magical delivery and subtle, powerful emotions. On Momento Gilberto also comes into her own as a songwriter, writing or co-writing the majority of the songs, and delivers three impressive covers: Caçada (written by her uncle and famed songwriter Chico Buarque); Tranquilo (written by young Rio producer Kassin) and a heart-stopping bossa-jazz version of Cole Porter’s classic Night And Day. “I take total responsibility for this album,” Gilberto says of Momento. “I took a lot of risks: trying different approaches, experimenting with sounds and getting away from the perfectionism of the studio. This one is more about my feelings and views. It reflects who I am now, as a person and as an artist.” Momento was made with the help of four diverse producers, including the artist herself, and recorded in three of her favorite cities: London, Rio de Janeiro and New York. Four of them were produced by Guy Sigsworth (known for his high quality work for the likes of Björk, Madonna, Imogen Heap, and who used to be part of Bomb The Bass). Three other tracks were produced by Brazilian Girls (the New York-based band formed around Bebel's ex-keyboardist Didi Gutman and singer Sabina Sciubba), while Ms Gilberto herself produced or co-produced the rest of the pieces, with the exception of the joyful "Tranquilo", which was recorded with Orquestra Imperial (the big band founded around three young men who count arguably among Brazil's most inventive musicians/producers: Kassin, Moreno Veloso and Domenico).

A series of reworkings of the track "Bring Back The Love" (made by up-and-coming remixers such as Prins Thomas, Mungolian Jetset, Bombay Dub Orchestra, Brazilian Girls, Shrift etc.) will be circulated, both digitally and on limited-edition vinyl. Bring Back the Love has been released in two separate remix Eps, both available only by digital download. Each Ep features five mixes, including reworkings by the Brazilian Girls, Bombay Dub Orchestra, Mungolian Jetset, Stuhr, and Scandinavian "space disco" master Prins Thomas.

Free MP3 samples of Bring Back the Love:
Bring Back the Love (Mungolian Jetset Dub) -- Remixes Ep 1
Bring Back the Love (Brazilian Girls mix)

Bebel Gilberto Website

Bebel Gilberto MP3 available at eMusic
(25 free downloads with membership!)

Ba Cissoko is Coming to America

Ba Cissoko is coming to America. It will make its U.S. debut at the Houston International Festival on April 21 and 22, then perform at Festival International de Louisiane in Lafayette and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival the following weekend before heading up to Madison, Detroit and Chicago then on into Canada. When born a Cissoko, one is a kora player. The Guinean Ba Cissoko perpetuates a more than centenary history. He is the last born of a long lineage of griots, master singers and agile string pluckers. He knows all the codes and secrets of tradition. He estimates its reach, for posterity, but he isn’t the kind of artist who reproduces the work of his illustrious elders, starting with his uncle, M’Bady Kouyaté, who passed him his knowledge on since he was a child, and transmitted to him his entire patrimony. Since then, Ba Cissoko has emancipated himself without ever breaking that link, renewing his instrument’s approach while refining his knowledge of the art and of the good manners of storytelling.

That’s exactly what’s at stake with this new album. To project himself in the future without ever forgetting that glorious past Ba Cissoko speaks about contemporary issues, about burning questions, about his daily life as a musician who goes all around the planet. That’s how he paints a perfect picture of the post-modern griot. This man is just as firmly rooted in his family’s earth as he is opened to other’s possibilities. In 2006, he is fructifying all the experiences he acquired on the sinuous path that leads towards artistic blossoming. He has built himself a name in the field of music, and has affirmed his musical personality : his boiling shows, setting your feet afire and burning your head, easily prove it. A pure organic electroshock administered to stereotypes. (Jacques Denis)

Ba Cissoko Website
Sterns Music (listen/purchase here)

Mark de Clive-Lowe's Freesoul Sessions Releases "Depth Charge"

Improvised and recorded live at London's Jazz Cafe, Freesoul Sessions second official EP release features Mark de Clive-Lowe with Bembe Segue, Kaidi Tatham and Richard Spaven on three spontaneous stage-born creations. The concept of the project is simple - MdCL armed with MPC and keyboards is joined by a rotating cast of top soul, jazz, hip hop and beat-artists coming together in the spirit of total improvisation. Stylistically rooted in the sound of West London, Freesoul Sessions does what has never been done before - each and every time, the live show is totally unique and a one-off experience for the musicians and the audience. The first thing the audience hears is the click of the MPC as MdCL builds beats from nothing, building on the beats with bass lines and keys as the other musicians join him in improvising beat-centric music laced by the vocalists completing the session's magic.

'Depth Charge Part I' is a broken funk dancefloor explosion right from the kick off. This is Freesoul Sessions - something created from nothing, taken through to the outer reaches of space. 'Reintroducing' brings the jazz back to the heart of the Freesoul experience, somewhere between broken beat and the cosmic fusion jams of 70s giants. Finally, 'Bring U 2 The 1' is a spontaneous p-funk inspired jam. Remember, none of this was preconceived, rehearsed, discussed or prepared in any other way... this is how it happened live on stage.... Freesoul Sessions!

Freesoul Sessions Myspace
Digital download of "Depth Charge"
Mundovibes interview with Mark de Clive Lowe

The Dining Rooms Release “Ink”

"Ink", the fifth studio album by The Dining Rooms (eighth if considering the remixed ones) goes a little bit back to the origin of TDR feeling: cinematically funky and with great ballads. With 5 instrumentals and 6 vocal tracks "Inki" is a balance of sound and expression. The Dining Rooms touch is a mixture between electronics, samples and live instruments: Leziero Rescigno on drums, Marcello Testa on bass and double bass and Patrick Benifei, Marco Rigamonti and Don Freeman on rhodes. The album cover is inspired by Jean Michel Basquiat, whose art is really close to the philosophy of writing and therefore of "ink". So "Ink" becomes a sort of manifesto of things to say, as well as of the energy to try to say things. Parts of the songs in the album have then been used as soundtrack of the short movie "Ceremony" directed by Maria Arena and inspired by "La Voix Humane" of Jean Cocteau. For the first time the group features English language in the songs and one track from Brazilian singer Toco and another one by French actor Renaud Chaurè. Toco's touch in Cobra Coral is really contemporary Brazilian noir-wave while Renaud gives us a monster interpretation in "Etage Noir", written by TDR and Luca Lezziero, paying homage to maestros Serge Gainsbourg and Katonoma. Going back to English language, Sean Martin, from South Africa, goes deep in blues and soul in "Thank U ?". A strong piece with politically conscious lyrics. The Dining Rooms usually have new singers for each new album and in this case Afro-German Dodo N'kishi and North American queen Georgeanne Kalweit are featured. Dodo, better known being the singer and drummer of Mouse on Mars ( and member of other interesting combos as NatiMatti and Pet), sings the opening track of the album "Freedom" interpreting at best the instrumentals given to him, to create a meeting point between Nick Drake and Stevie Wonder. The lady of the island Georgeanne then, co-wrote "Hear us Now" and "Ink", two emotional gems to be intended as a sort of birth of nu folk. And Maria Arena produced 2 found footage videos of "Thank you?" and "Hear us now" that will be added to the CD version of the album.

The Dining Rooms website
Ishtar Records