Richard Parsons
Breathe It In – Ambient Jazz Ensemble
6 February 2019
I love it when a musical connection is made! I’ve been banging on about Zero 7 and then their offshoot, Fragile State, on this curation and then what happens? I come across someone new with a name that sounds like I should like them – Ambient Jazz Ensemble – and who’s central to them? None other than Neil Cowley…
Big Time – Hardage feat. Peter Gabriel
30 January 2019
I can barely believe that I’ve let this curation go so long without more than a passing reference to the legend that is Peter Gabriel – though Genesis feature here with “Cinema Show” from “Selling England By The Pound” which has him on lead vocals…
The Suns of Afterlife – Bliss
22 January 2019
In keeping with the “world” themes of this curation, Bliss hail from Denmark, though their collective owes as much to influences from Guinea and Sweden! They first appeared in the early 2000’s which really was the halcyon period for ambient chill stuff it seems – a golden age? …
All Kinds – Kinkajous
16 January 2019
Bang up to date sounds of alt-jazz from this five piece outfit that hail from London. Travelling through places where borders disappear, Kinkajous give birth to an innovative sound that very much reminds me of another favourite band of mine that features on this collective; namely Submotion Orchestra…
Aphrodite’s Child – Aegean Sea
9 January 2019
A Greek band from the 60’s and 70’s with quite an antecedence – the keyboards man was “Chariots of Fire” composer Vangelis and their singer was “Ever and Forever” Demis Roussos…legends. This track is taken from their 1971 album “666” which is generally regarded as their best…
Elysian Fields – Minus 8
18 December 2018
This is one of those gentle tracks that repeats a subtle riff overdubbed with echoing voices and held together by cymbals and congas. Sounds all so simple but this one’s riff really infiltrated me…
Summertime – Angelique Kidjo
11 December 2018
OK I know there’s a myriad of covers of this Gershwin classic, and I already have featured Deep Dive’s version of it on this collection, but this puts a West African twist on the same song, and is beautifully different with its acapella style…
Nothing More – Fotheringay
4 December 2018
Fotheringay emerged from Fairport Convention in the late 60’s. “Nothing More” is from their one and only album, and is Sandy Denny’s attempt to reach out to her former bandmate Richard Thompson, quietly grief-stricken in the wake of the crash that killed his girlfriend Jeannie Franklin and Fairport drummer Martin Lamble…
Spanish Steps – Van Morrison
28 November 2018
If you’re expecting to hear the distinctive gravel sounds of The Man, well, unusually, this is an instrumental from him; a sweet sax piece with underlying piano and strings which then further develops into a piano solo. It comes from his lesser known 1987 album “Lesser Champions Compose”…
Aquarius – Boards of Canada
20 November 2018
Championed by John Peel, and often cited as one of the pioneers of electronica, BOC – a pair of brothers called Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin – hail from Scotland. “Music Has The Right To Children” from which this track comes was their album released in 1998 after sending out countless demos to labels…
Mother Nature’s Spies – Fila Brazillia
14 November 2018
A short-lived collaboration between two guys from Hull, Fila nevertheless were one of the new millennium electronica acts forging tongue-in-cheek stuff with wacky treatments and even wackier names – check out their albums “Maim That Tune” and “Luck Be A Weirdo Tonight”!…
Glistening Glyndebourne – John Martyn
6 November 2018
OK so most people know “Solid Air” and perhaps think of John Martyn as that rather gruff voiced dude who died (essentially) from consumption, having had a leg amputated along the way,…