Àṣẹ – a Yaruba philosophy signifying the power that makes things happen and produce change; given to Gods, ancestors, spirits, humans, animals, plants, rocks, rivers, songs and prayers. BOM takes influence from all the corners of Africa and its diaspora, blending with 25 years of Western electronic music into a melange of forward facing, leftfield afro futurism. Àṣẹ features one of Africa’s brightest rising stars Luka Productions (Mali), cosmic poet Sirius Rush (UK) and master drummer / vocalist Felix Ngindu (DRC/Liverpool). It goes on a journey where afrotech, gqom, shangaan electro and ampiano rub shoulders with Balearic, bass music, deep house and dub for a psychedelic kaleidoscopic celebration of collaboration and possibility. Learn More
Issue Two of SEEN focuses on decolonising electronic music and features photography from Alina Akbar and writing from Iyunoluwanimi Yemi-Shodimu, Amelia Fearon, Dhruva Balram, Jessica Rogers, Jad Ghazali, Dr Zakiya Mckenzie, Sashwati Mira Sengupta and Stephanie Ewurama (aka SCAPA). Articles include a project linking Mancunian and Palestinian artists, an interview with AFRODEUTSCHE, the ethics of sampling and a reggae orchestra led by a visually impaired Jamaican. Long reads include a look at a Ghanaian festival, a thinkpiece on solidarity and protest sounds in South Asia and the diaspora and the role of social media platforms in framing beauty standards in electronic music. A review of our panel at WOMEX in October 2024 is featured too. For the launch contributors Amelia Fearon, Jessica Rogers, Sashwati Mira Sengupta and Iyunoluwanimi Yemi-Shodimu will be in conversation with the SEEN founders, exploring the themes of the latest issue. The night will feature a DJ set from Taxi Cab Industries (who also designed the issue) with the magazine on sale to the public. No tickets are required for the launch at 7:30pm. Learn More
Placenta is the fourth collection of broadly imaginative and highly collaborative Carlos Niño & Friends music released on International Anthem in the last four years. It is also the first new music to be released by Carlos Niño & Friends following the November 2023 release of André 3000’s New Blue Sun – an album which Carlos produced alongside André, while co-writing, co-creating/playing, and co-mixing every song. Learn More
Flowing water is an essential element of Earthly existence, a living force, a process of nature, a path-making which combines infinite sources mixing imperceptibly into a singular energy. It’s also a potent metaphor. A childlike wonder at flowing water’s presence and power, all the impressions it makes and creative neurons that it fires, happens to be a personality trait shared by Evan Shornstein (aka Photay) and Carlos Niño. The two producers/musical connectors may have grown up and reside a continent and daily realities apart — Photay in the forest serenity of New York’s Hudson Valley, Niño on Los Angeles’s ocean-adjacent west side — yet this magnetic power of fluidity, its sound, its meaning, what it can teach us about art and circulation, mesmerizes them both. Learn More
In full gatefold LP form comes the latest Brazilian boogie compilation by Horse Meat Disco, selected selectors of the best rarities in the disco genre. Curated mostly by founding member Luke Howard and with added consultations from crewmates James Hillard, Severino Panzetta and Jim Stanton, a lifetime of frolicking among samba troupes, carnival processions and yearly Rio visitations went into the choices you hear here, consummating one man's intuitive taste for a sound whose appeal stretches far wider than its nation of origin. Mr Bongo invited Howard to their Brighton HQ for an extended on-site selection, proving its off-the-cuff expertise: early electronica experiments from Ze Carlos blend voluminously with Jorge Ben pennings and mouth-watering Luiza Maura 7" cullings, proving a hand-picking that is at once eclectic and unifying.
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Crate-digging reissue specialists Africa Seven has decided to flip the script on this fantastic album, asking a range of contemporary producers to "re-imagine" a string of rare soul, funk, Afrobeat and disco jams. Thrillingly for those who remember the original West London broken beat scene, the comp contains some killer "bruk" revisions - not least Silkie's brilliantly fluid and groovy take on Ekambi Brillant's "Soul Castle" and EVM's rolling, Bugz in the Attic style revision of M'Bamina's "Mosi Zole". Elsewhere, Appleblim delivers a typically fuzzy and bass heavy rework of Sorry Bamba, Dj Food chops up Sookie's organ-laden funk slammer "Rhythm on Rhythm" an IDM heroes Plaid join the dots between vintage African jazz and woozy electronica. In a word: superb.
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