Ken Ishii & Lemon D

Every now and then, random play on the iPod brings up something you'd completely forgotten about and it sounds good. This is not flavour of the month in 2007. Conceivably it was in about 1996. Ken Ishii is a Japanese purveyor of intelligent techno (read ' not too fast, and with a melody'). Lemon D is a tier 2 jungle producer that had a knack for getting under the skin (read 'didn't get too much hype'). The result of their meeting, which was probably designed to chase two trends, I think still sounds pretty good. Forget scenes, listen to music for music's sake, and I think this has got something.

Ken Ishii - Overlap (Lemon D Remix) - Overlap CD Maxi Single - 1996

LINK REMOVED BY ARTIST REQUEST

Strings of Inner City Life

Photo taken on a recent walk around the site of the 2012 Olympics in East London.

Spreading the Word has posted the excellent live instrument 'jazz' version of Strings of Life by Chris Prommer. Go over and get yourself a copy. Remaking classic modern tunes this way is not new. The German group Re:Jazz has recorded albums full of them, including a fantastic version of Goldie's classic Inner City Life a couple years back, and Crybo's post has inspired me to put this up for you. The drum 'n' bass anthem turned into the deepest night-time vocal jazz...

Re:Jazz - Inner City Life
Goldie - Inner City Life (short single version)

Nephew of Phela

Check out Captain's Crate with Nephew of Phela's nice long break beat take on the Mulatu Astake track, Yegelle Tezeta I posted a little while back...

Pharoah Sanders - Astral Travelling

I know its hard, but please forgive the ridiculous album cover. No matter the situation this track has the power to soothe me. It’s simply stunning. Every component works perfectly. Cecil McBee’s understated bass gives the tune structure and movement. Pharoah Sanders keeps himself restrained to blow some of the most beautiful and joyous saxophone you’re ever likely to hear. Lonnie Liston Smith trills on his electric piano to great effect. All of them, plus friends, add wonderful percussion elements including distinctive bird-like sound effects. Lonnie Liston wrote this, but this version on Pharoah’s Thembi album is superior in fluency and movement to the one he recorded on his own Astral Travelling record. I first heard this tune on a mix tape made for me by someone working at the Notting Hill Music and Video Exchange back in '97. At the time I was excited because I recognised it as the source for samples on Photek’s Rings Around Saturn. But it soon excited me far more in its own right. Enjoy.

Pharoah Sanders - Astral Travelling (from Thembi, 1970)
Lonnie Liston Smith - Astral Travelling (from Astral Travelling, 1973)
Photek - Rings Around Saturn (Peshay Decoder Mix)

Jacob's Optical Stairway - Harsh Realities

A nice piece from Jacob's Optical Stairway, AKA Mark Mac and Dego from 4 Hero. Released in 1995, this is a mid-point between the bonkers rave of their early 90s years, and the lushly (possibly over) produced Two Pages album later in the decade. It's split into two parts. It opens with a gently swinging bit of percussion and bass, some piano and swirling pads later joined by some heavily vocoded vocals. It's space-jazz Detroit-fusion interpreted in a London style. Half way through they accelerate the breakbeats, throw in a few helium grunts, and bounce around with some sub-bass to stir things up a bit. Nice tune. Shame about the album cover.

Jacob's Optical Stairway - Harsh Realities