LANEOUS | SARATHY KORWAR FEAT. MC MAWALI | LAZARUS & THE VERY BEST | EZRA COLLECTIVE | NOÉ ZAGROUN FEAT. MARO

Hello again friends, freaks and fans of nu-jazz music of the kind that probably wouldn’t get voted into power even against this lot.

Have I not got some bangers for you this week?

On one side of the ballot paper – and coming out punching like a modern-day Prescott – is LANEOUS’ Hold My Hand. This week’s Charm Offensive stands up for the plucky, *humble* common man and isn’t afraid to crack a few, ahem, eggs to make an omelette.

While, across the other side of the spectrum is the cool, conservative élan of Noé Zagroun and MARO. As poised as Portillo and demonstrating oodles more personality than any of the politician’s (in)famously loud items of apparel, their lounge-jazz mini-masterpiece Move On forms the Quiet Riot option.

If serious electioneering is what you’re after, look no further than my Peaceful Protest choice of Lazarus’ (pictured) Ndife Alendo which fights prejudice in his home country of Malawi; all while demonstrating a flair for African rhythms that Theresa May can only dream of.

Alternately, my Military Coup choice – Sarathy Korwar’s Mumbay comes from an upcoming album called More Arriving, which challenges listeners, themselves, to examine what their own prejudices may be towards migration (thankfully without having to put up with Nigel Farage’s horrible, guffawing, fuck-button of a face.)

And finally, joining everybody’s party is Ezra Collective with their latin-laced left-field jazz banger, São Paulo. The newly-crowned Mayors of London are more eccentric than Boris and more all-over-the-place than his bikes. Brilliantly bonkers and all the more lovable for it, their track takes the final, Guerrilla Warfare spot.

So, comrades, I open it up to you. Available for you to read below are five meticulously prepared and completely airtight manifestos outlining why each of these five artists should be your new glorious leader. Please do take a read and, at the end, I’ll open it up to a public vote (after all, when has democracy ever failed us in the past?)

The voting is now open, bollocks to Brexit, education-education-education and I commend this statement to the house…

LANEOUS: HOLD MY HAND
SARATHY KORWAR FEAT. MC MAWALI: MUMBAY
LAZARUS & THE VERY BEST: NDIFE ALENDO
EZRA COLLECTIVE: SÃO PAULO
NOÉ ZAGROUN FEAT. MARO: MOVE ON

P.S. You can find all of the tracks reviewed above in the 45 Revolutions per Minute playlist below or click to access the 45 RPM Playlist on Spotify itself.

If you like what you hear (or even if you don’t), please engage in dialogue with me @45rpm_Reviews on Twitter. And, if you’d like to receive updates weekly, please subscribe to the email list to get these recommendations sent to your inbox weekly.

– SV –