London’s Shannen SP has had an ear for cutting edge club sounds since her secondary school days, when she developed a penchant for bass at DMZ nights and Club Exodus in Leeds. In the late 2010s, her NTS residency and multidisciplinary Ø party at Corsica Studios with Kode9 highlighted African diasporic genres from kuduro to gqom, bringing on guests like Nazar and DJ Lag. On Mzansi Bass, her latest curatorial effort for Colombian label TraTraTrax, Shannen SP assembles a team of South African producers innovating on local genres like 3-step, gqom, and amapiano. From veterans like DJ Lag to newcomers like Jay Music, the artists featured here share a murky minimalism that still imparts an irresistible groove, filling out the spaces between the four-on-the-floor.
Tag Archive: Various Artists
Hit That Perfect Beat: The London Records Story is a double-CD companion to a podcast of the same name, charting the history of the label from the early 1980s, after the British branch of Decca Records was acquired by PolyGram. Though the label was reopened in the 2010s, the compilation stops in the early 2000s, bringing highlights from more than 20 years of hit releases.
The set starts out in the new wave era, with a few classics like Bananarama’s enduring “Cruel Summer” and Bronski Beat’s queer anthem “Smalltown Boy,” along with U.K. hits by acts drawing from folk (the Bluebells, Hothouse Flowers) and soul (Total Contrast, Carmel). Bronski Beat appear again with the compilation’s namesake tune, and leader Jimmy Somerville’s…
BBE Music’s celebrated J Jazz compilation series reaches its fifth and final volume in early 2026, culminating in a track list that maintains the exceptionally high standard first set with volume one back in 2018.
This final volume features a selection of tracks that is as diverse as it is deep, reflecting the rich and varied Japanese jazz scene that spanned from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, a golden era of innovation and creativity. J Jazz volume 5 sees compilers Tony Higgins and Mike Peden dig ever deeper into their respective record collections to reveal tracks that encompass myriad styles including white hot jazz funk fusion from Toshiyuki Honda (Eastern Legacy) and Mikio Masuda (Sonic Barrier), super rare ethnic jazz…
There’s no doubt that London during the mid-’60s was one of the swingingest, downright hippest eras in the history of the world. From the fit of the clothes to the look of films, the nifty turns of phrase to the sound of the dazzling records being made, there’s a wealth of brilliance to discover. Numerous compilations have done their best to bring the era to life and this is easily one of the best. What’s It All About? Film & TV Music from Swinging London does what it says on the package and does it with the prerequisite style. It jumbles together TV and movie themes, songs from films, tracks by top bands and underground faves that appeared on both, and the occasional ringer to give a clear picture of just how much fun everyone was having.
London Jazz Classics originally came out in 1993 – the first album ever to be released on Soul Jazz Records. The album brought together rare and obscure dance tracks in a unique mix of jazz dance and fusion, funk, Brazilian and Latin grooves.
The album was ironically titled – none of the music was from London, none of the music was traditionally classified as jazz, and all of the tracks were at the time practically unknown to most people. Instead, these were tracks that were filling dancefloors in a nascent jazz dance scene in London being created by a small group of DJs – Paul Murphy, Gilles Peterson, Sylvester, Patrick Forge and a few others.
As demand for these rare groove jazz tracks grew, previously unknown records…
“What strikes me again, even now, is that rock from the late ’60s through the early ’70s remains the most compelling – whether Western or Japanese. In the mid-1960s, British groups like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones swept across the globe, while in the United States Bob Dylan famously swapped his folk guitar for an electric one, igniting the folk-rock movement. From the surge of new energy among young people in Britain and America – entwined with hippie culture, drugs, and the radical momentum of the anti-Vietnam War movement – an extraordinary body of rock music emerged, ushering in what would become the golden age of rock in the 1970s. In Japan, from around 1968, record companies began grouping these sounds under the label “New Rock”…
Sixteen killer 70s reggae funk and soul cuts from the likes of John Holt, Lee Perry, Cornel Campbell, The Cimarons , The Chosen Few and more featuring superb reggae takes on songs by artists including The Jackson 5, William DeVaughn, Diana Ross and The Supremes, War, The Temptations, Roberta Flack, The Stylistics and others!
Well-documented is the influence of American black music on Jamaican styles of the 1960s – from the birth of ska music, when The Skatalites ska-ified the jump-up southern USA rhythm and blues music of Rosco Gordon, Louis Jordan and Fats Domino, through to the creation of rocksteady when Jamaican artists like The Techniques, The Paragons, Alton Ellis and The Melodians turned to the slower rhythms…
Over the last 50 years Scotland has often been the centre of some of the most exciting things to happen to guitar music. Author Grant McPhee has put together this comprehensive 3 CD set which documents 1985 to 1999 when Scottish independent music was thriving. It’s released by the ever reliable Cherry Red and covers a range of scenes and styles. Following on from the beginning of the decade with the mighty Postcard Records label led the way with iconic Scottish guitar bands like Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera. The baton was passed on to many of the groups featured here.
Beginning with Jesus & Mary Chain’s, ‘You Trip Me Up’ we’re thrown right into 1985. Originally signed to Creation Records…
Back To The Garden (A Tribute To Joni Mitchell), the excellent free CD accompanying the June 2026 issue of MOJO Magazine, is less a conventional tribute album and more a lovingly curated journey through the many worlds of Joni Mitchell. Bringing together artists from folk, jazz, soul, indie rock and Americana, the collection celebrates not only Mitchell’s songwriting genius, but also the remarkable flexibility of her compositions.
What makes the compilation so engaging is its refusal to play safe. Rather than simply recreating familiar classics, the artists reinterpret them with personality and emotional depth. Roberta Flack brings warmth and elegance, while Fleet Foxes add a dreamy, atmospheric quality that perfectly suits Mitchell’s introspective writing.
1. Marisa Anderson – Rop Koh
2. Ed O’Brien – Blue Morpho
3. The Sleeves – Empty Thoughts
4. Tamikrest – Imanin
5. Thomas Dollbaum – Pulverize
6. Blood Sucking Maniacs – Family Tree/Heartbeat (Lucky Marlo Allen)
7. Jeff Parker ETA IVtet – Like Swimwear (part two)
8. The Lemon Twigs – 2 Or 3
9. Kevin Morby – Badlands
10. Brown Spirits – Bakelite Dashboard
11. Aldous Harding – Venus in the Zinnia
12. Angélique Kidjo – Big Heart
13. Hiss Golden Messenger – I’m People
14. Suss – Sunset IV
15. Hurray for the Riff Raff – Pa’Lante (Live)
Stopped A Freight Train With A Grain Of Sand is the latest instalment from the Let’s Go Dancing series – an epic (and still unfolding) 100-song living tribute to Drivin N Cryin singer/guitarist and celebrated songwriter / solo artist Kevn Kinney.
This new set sharpens its focus on the harder, faster and louder edges of Kinney’s songbook. If earlier chapters leaned into folk-born introspection, Stopped A Freight Train With A Grain Of Sand roars, spotlighting the grit and voltage coursing beneath Kinney’s writing, whether delivered solo or at the helm of Drivin N Cryin.
Deer Tick set the tone straight away with a rugged, heartfelt Let’s Go Dancing, leaning into the song’s weather-beaten melody with the kind of loose charm that keeps Kinney’s music evergreen.
Jacklyn records is famed among soul record collectors as the home of three great Darrow Fletcher 45s issued on the label in the mid-60s. The imprint was owned and run by his father, Johnny Haygood, and though it served as a stepping stone in Fletcher’s extensive career, it was launched for a different artist and provided Chicago soul fans with several great discs over its seven-year existence.
A teenage shop assistant who worked in Haygood’s record store called Paul Smith launched the label, following in the footsteps of the young Fletcher who had begun his career a couple of years previously. Though Smith only had two 45 releases, the three sides on them revealed a great voice and writing talent worthy of a much bigger stage.
Guy Clark’s debut, Old No. 1, did not sell many records upon its original release in 1975. However, over time the album has earned a reputation as a masterpiece that has inspired a zillion songwriters since. The list of notables influenced by Clark and this LP includes a host of prominent singer-songwriters, including Rodney Crowell, Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith, and Vince Gill. They have all proudly paid tribute to Clark in song and story. Fifty years later, Truly Handmade Records, an independent record label and imprint established by Guy Clark LLC, has released Old No. 1: Revisited. It’s a track-by-track tribute to the original, featuring some of the best young(er) musicians working in the Americana and alternative country fields today, such as Margo Price,…
nagoyaka na kaze / 和やかな風 – (quiet wind): a collection of forward-thinking electronic experiments sourced from central Japan – co-curated by Nagoya artist abentis for Facta & K-LONE’s Wisdom Teeth imprint. The project profiles a close-knit community of music makers operating in and around the Japanese city of Nagoya: one of the country’s most populous and industrial cities, but one all too often overlooked in terms of its cultural significance.
Curated in close collaboration with local scene organiser Yuya Abe – aka abentis – the record seeks to capture the creative energy of a community of artists making hard-to-define, future-facing electronic music away from the clamour of the bigger cities.
1. Caroline Polachek – Look at Me Now
2. Mike Polizze – Cheewawa
3. Royal Trux – Waterpark
4. King Kong – Scooba Dooba Diver
5. Steve Gunn – The Handshake
6. Red Red Meat – Gorshin
7. Oneohtrix Point Never – Krumville
8. The Halo Benders – Virginia Reel Around the Fountain
9. Jessica Pratt – World On a String
10. Kim Gordon – Dirty Tech
11. Viktor Vaughn – Vaudeville Villain
12. Stress Eater – Giving Back to the Universe
13. Sun Ra – Trying to Put the Blame On Me (Live)
14. Sunburned Hand of the Man – Nimbus
15. Kurt Vile – Constant Repeat
Browse the live listings in Tokyo long enough and you’ll inevitably stumble across a party themed around modular synthesizers. Whether it’s an annual event at a multi-level nightclub (Festival Of Modular) or an intimate set at a cozy neighborhood venue (Modular Wednesday at Shibuya Otto), the itinerary remains the same-artists plugging away in the moment, tinkering ad hoc for a live audience.
Ephemeral & Fleeting: Modular Music of Japan celebrates the transient nature of the country’s contemporary modular scene. Curated by accomplished modular artist Yumi Iwaki, these 10 songs are a chronicle of the diverse sonic approaches taken by synthesizer aficionados, and the creative rewards that await those steadfast enough to master…
Lowell George may well be the most underrated and underappreciated figure in the history of rock ’n’ roll. As a writer, guitarist, singer, and producer, his influence spanned genres—rock, R&B, country, blues, and the adventurous rhythms of West Coast jazz—and seemed to know no bounds.
Born and raised in Hollywood, California, George mastered multiple instruments at an early age. His prodigious talent soon caught the attention of Frank Zappa, leading to a stint with The Mothers of Invention. In 1969, after parting ways with Zappa, George formed Little Feat. With Zappa’s support, the band secured a deal with Warner Bros. Records and quickly became a musicians’ band, revered for its originality and virtuosity. Alongside George were standout players…
There was a time when Djax-Up-Beats was spoken of in the same breath as Tresor, R&S, Soma and Peacefrog: a cohort of labels that shaped the sound of European techno. Founded in 1989 by Saskia Slegers, AKA Miss Djax, the Eindhoven label operated as a vital transatlantic conduit, connecting sounds from Chicago and Detroit with a rapidly expanding rave infrastructure in Europe. The cultural exchange went both ways, as US producers found eager audiences while Dutch and Belgian artists pushed that raw machine funk into harder and faster territories.
This storied legacy isn’t at risk of erasure — Dekmantel reissued Djax-Up-Beats material as recently as 2019, after all. But a new retrospective compilation series from another…
1. Miles Davis – When Lights Are Low
2. Sarah Vaughan – It Might As Well Be Spring
3. Sonny Rollins Quartet – I Know
4. Charlie Parker’s All Stars – Ah-Leu-Cha
5. Miles Davis – Jeru
6. Coleman Hawkins All-Stars – Bean-A-Re-Bop
7. Miles Davis – Weirdo
8. Miles Davis – Générique
9. Michel Legrand – ‘Round Midnight
10. Lee Konitz Sextet – Odjenar
11. Miles Davis All-Stars – Milestones
12. Cannonball Adderley – Autumn Leaves
13. Miles Davis – The Maids of Cadiz
14. Herbie Fields Band & Rubberlegs Williams – That’s The Stuff You Gotta Watch
15. Miles Davis Quintet – Solar
When Dave Grohl and Nate Mendel took over the curation for the May 2026 issue of MOJO, they didn’t just pick a few favorite songs—they built a bridge between the Foo Fighters’ legendary past and their 12th studio album, Your Favorite Toy.
Foo.Fm functions as a 15-track “musical odyssey.” It’s a rare look behind the curtain at the records that fueled the band’s recent creative pivot back to their punk-rock roots.
The tracklist is a masterclass in balance, weaving together the “holy trinity” of their influences: legacy pioneers, contemporary heavyweights, and the new guard of alternative rock.
The compilation kicks off with a heavy nod to the underground. The inclusion of Hüsker Dü and Kim Gordon acts as a reminder…