Category: FEATURED RELEASES
Here is another weekly rundown of just some of BeatCaffeine’s new release recommendations, featuring music from Chris Bang’s Nova Vida project, adventurous saxophonist Isaiah Collier, free jazz pioneer Alan Braufman, cosmic keyboard wiz David Versace, and another “must-own” Ghana-based compilation from London’s Soundway Records.
Legendary UK-based DJ and producer Chris Bangs follows-up last year’s superb My Only 7″ debut from his latest project Nova Vida with a highly-anticipated full-length release, titled Ritmo Da Vida, on London’s BDQ Records. This is also his first album since 2023’s equally impressive record, Firebird (Acid Jazz Records).
In an effort to cover more releases on a weekly basis, BeatCaffeine will kick off the ‘Weekly Record Rundown’ series, which will focus primarily on LPs, EPs, and 7″ featuring new music. We will still do single dedicated features on full-length albums, reissues and compilations during the week, however this allows (hopefully) more coverage for the many great records that continue to come out over a month.
In an impressive collaborative effort, rising Italian collective Aura Safari and legendary Finnish musician Jimi Tenor have teamed up on a brilliant new cosmic jazz-funk album on the Hell Yeah label, titled Sensory Blending.
Bristol-based quintet The Jazz Defenders returns following 2022’s acclaimed LP King Phoenix and a number of notable 7inch singles with a superb new full-length on Haggis Records, titled Memory In Motion.
Multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer Lucas Arruda, who’s from the Brazilian state of Espírito Santo (near Rio de Janeiro), has returned with his fourth and arguably best album to date for the superb French label Favorite Recordings, titled Ominira.
In celebration of their 45th release since 1996 and 25th since reforming the label in 2019, Ten Lovers Music has put out their latest record in their superb Best Of Various EP compilation series featuring a mixture of both rising new musicians and established artists that the label have worked with previously.
This Saturday, April 20th is Record Store Day 2024. I believe this international record store celebratory day has reverted back to just one day annually, which to me makes the most sense. Over the last several years, this has become the prime day in which many labels release limited-edition or never-before-released vinyl albums, singles, compilations and reissues. Sometimes it feels more like “record label day” or “new vinyl collectables day”, given how it’s evolved. While the day usually attracts many hardcore collectors, shops also often see a large influx of casual music fans and even a few that might be buying their first record. Regardless, these are all great things.
The incredible German-based label Analog Africa, who has arguably been the leader when it comes to releasing rare music rooted from major regions in Africa and parts of Central and South America, have recently issued another brilliant compilation, titled Congo Funk!, which unearths a number of funky selections from two influential capital cities along the Congo River.
Manchester-based saxophonist Nat Birchall, who has released a string of incredible recordings in which he’s playing all the instrumentation (Songs of the Ancestors, Afro Trane, The Infinite, and Ancient Africa), has returned with a full 7-piece ensemble for his latest offering, titled New World.
