Hyperjazz 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: Those who've heard Astral Travel's previous releases - and there sadly haven't been all that many - will attest that their take on spiritual jazz is far from "standard". While it has freewheeling, improvised jazz at its core, it is so much more than that, as this fabulous new album proves. Alongside standard jazz instrumentation (think drums, double bass, piano, flute, saxophone and so on), the former Jazz:refreshed outfit also makes extensive use of glitchy electronics and skewed samples. The results are undeniably cosmic and otherworldly, with frequent glimpses of the kind of aural chaos more associated with free-jazz and experimental electronica.

Review: Khalab's new album Layers comes on his own Hyperjazz Records and signifies a culmination of sorts. His musical journey started back in 2015 with this first EP on Black Acre Records and has then evolved through Afro-future sounds like his Black Noise 2084 album through On The Corner Records in 2018. His development has continued at pace after that and this record shows how across a series of deeply musical and spiritual tracks full of rich layers, jazz freedom and electronic rhythms. Top shelf guests help elevate the record with multi-instrumentalist Tenderlonious jazz singer Alessia Obino and Burkinabe guitarist and kora player Gabin Dabire just some of those adding extra magic.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Record has light surface marks/scratches & split seams on outer sleeve, otherwise in excellent working condition***


One uptick we've seen of late is labels delving into the catalogues of other labels, sharing in the love. 'Hyperituals Vol. 1' is one such brilliant example; Italy's Hyperjazz, the nu-jazz pushers with a mantra of championing "hyper-intense" genre-shedding music, here look in at fellow, older Italian imprint Soul Note. On the front of jazz, they were Italy's very own CBS, with over 300 LPs to their name. Thoroughly plundering their decade-spanning backlog, Hyperjazz here reissue and sonically pay tribute to only the label's most spiritual, international and ritualistic ends.

Review: One uptick we've seen of late is labels delving into the catalogues of other labels, sharing in the love. 'Hyperituals Vol. 1' is one such brilliant example; Italy's Hyperjazz, the nu-jazz pushers with a mantra of championing "hyper-intense" genre-shedding music, here look in at fellow, older Italian imprint Soul Note. On the front of jazz, they were Italy's very own CBS, with over 300 LPs to their name. Thoroughly plundering their decade-spanning backlog, Hyperjazz here reissue and sonically pay tribute to only the label's most spiritual, international and ritualistic ends.

Review: Hyperituals Vol 2 is a compilation curated by Khalab (Raffaele Costantino, HJ's founder and head of A&R), featuring rare and unreleased tracks from the Black Saint music world. Black Saint was an Italian label that, since the 1970s and throughout the 1980s, established itself as one of the most important imprints for international jazz. The album features some of the brightest names in creative jazz or the 'avant-garde' of the era; including Sun Ra Arkestra, Archie Shepp, Muhal Richard Abrams Octet and World Saxophone Quartet. The selection is focused on rhythms, grooves and Afrocentric traditions, blending moments in which the rhythmic aspect is powerfully explicit, with others in which the kinetic aspect dialogues on different levels with African-American cultural contexts. In their own words, Hyperituals Vol. 2 is a philological investigation that delves deep into the wellspring of influences that gave birth to a transnational sound.