Juno Recommends Brokenbeat / Nu Jazz: August 2022

Review: SeNor Coconut is Uwe Schmidt and is a project that is inspired by his move from Germany to Santiago, Chile. For the last 20 years he has been serving up Latin grooves and brilliant covers such as these with the help of a hugely talented orchestra. First up here is a rework of a Daft Punk classic 'Around The World' with has the same loopy synth leads and percolating groove but all with extra spice and percussion. On the flip is a fantastically big band styled version of "west Dreams' that sounds exactly the same yet somehow totally different. Great stuff.

Review: Those who keep a keen eye on the contemporary British nu-jazz scene should already have encountered producer Tom Funk's The Sultan's Swing project. He's already released a trio of fine albums under the alias, each of which combines authentic jazz, jazz-funk and acid jazz instrumentation (provided courtesy of a rotating cast of guest musicians) with nods to trip-hop, downtempo, dub, Balearica and Latin beats. The Sultan's Swing Sessions, Funk's contribution to the Colin Curtis Presents series, takes a similar approach, with predictably excellent results. Our picks of a very strong bunch are the gently spaced-out dancefloor Latin jazz of 'Lotta Arlotto', the summery jazz-fusion of 'Hitchfunkers Slide To The Galaxy' and impeccable opener 'The New Beginning'.

Review: Uwe Schmidt's SeNor Coconut project was a delightful curio of the 00s, as he took a break from myriad techno aliases to create vibrant Latin covers of pop hits. Drawing from the first Coconut album, 2003's Fiesta Songs, this 7" revisits two of the most successful re-versions Schmidt created. On the A side we have a luxurious take on an already luxurious anthem, Sade's 'Smooth Operator'. This is no token sprinkling of salsa samples, but a startlingly accurate homage to the Latin music tradition which is as sincere as it is fun. The same goes for the version of 'Beat It' on the B side, which turns the tempo up and embraces some frantic percussion diversions in the middle of the action.

Review: Neapolitan duo Massimo Di Lena and Lucio Aquilina are Nu Genea, masters of the Balearic form and musical wizards who transport you to a better place in an instant. Four years later their last album they finally return with more sumptuous sounds in the form of Bar Mediterraneo, which swings open its doors and invites you in for a cocktail or two. Acoustic instruments, voices and synthesizers all come together on this funk, soul, Afro, Latin and jazz fusion and it's exactly the sort of record you needing your life when the temps begin to rise.

Review: FKJ's glossy brand of instrumental funk and soul has reached many a great height, so now it's high time we looked back on the artist's roots. 'French Kiwi Juice' was his first album, showing off the artist's incredible multi-instrumental chops. Super-sweet yet also tart sonic juices from the Franco-New Zealander, returning to this exclusive vinyl pressing.

Review: Brownswood have got the debut album from DoomCannon here and it's a doozy. His meticulously crafted record takes us on a journey of awakening that reimagines the young Black British experience. It roams through rich and evocative landscapes, all of which have been inspired heavily by an assemblage of the artist's own experiences over the past four years. Of course, some of the events in that time are the Covid pandemic and the global Black Lives Matter movement in the summer of 2020, so heavy topics indeed.

Review: Techno legend Jeff Mills and keyboard wizard Jean-Phi Dary embark on a live musical trip, documenting their most recent performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland - and encapsulating their mission to fuse techno and jazz, Nobu style. In the past Jeff has spoken of the need to "take a few steps back and try and assess what has been done, and what might need to be approached to be able to go forward." Jeff's reassessment manifests as jazz-hno, film music-hno, conceptechno... anything to happily build of the mad range of influences he's drawn on over the years. Paradox: Live at Montreux is the result.

Review: Smoothed out, slow motion grooves from LA resident Fields of Mist, who was tempted into the studio on one of his regular trips to Munich and persuaded to lay down this glorious selection of uniquely West Coast-flavoured creations for Ilian Beat Tape. The 12 tracks here vary from the laid back techno of 'Dme03' to 'Ocean Waves', with its exquisite sound design and echoes of Art of Noise's 'Moments In Love', spanning a variety of tempos and moods but keeping its core offering of horizontal waves of synths and chunky but restrained machine beats pretty intact.

Review: Maverick Japanese producer Yasushi Ide's 2020 album Cosmic Suite was widely heralded and critically acclaimed. It now gets a welcome follow up with a second volume that features an a-list of international artists including Don Letts, Josh Milan, Japanese diva UA, Afrika Bambaataa and many more. As such all sorts of sounds from dub to house, broken beat to Afrobeat, freeform, jazz, post-punk and more feature. It is a future-facing collection of cuts all masterminded and conducted by Ide from his Grand Gallery HQ in Tokyo.