FLYING LOTUS | BRONX SLANG | MADISON MCFERRIN | BRAD MEHLDAU | ISHMAEL ENSEMBLE FEAT. YAZZ AHMED

Hello again friends, freaks and fans of nu-jazz music of the kind that never manages to come back from 3-0 down.

Have I not got some bangers for you this week!

Kicking us off is the frantic gegenpressing of Flying Lotus; his relentlessly energetic electronic jazz makes up my Charm Offensive.

And going ‘route one’ for a bit is Bronx Slang with the brute force of their back-to-basics hip-hop proving oddly effective as my Military Coup choice.

Employing a bit of agile tiki-taka either side of half-time is Madison McFerrin. The cute, cultured a cappella of No Time to Lose serves as my Peaceful Protest this week.

And, throwing on all the big men for the showstopper finish is jazz / classical piano royalty Brad Mehldau. His track, The Garden forms my Guerrilla Warfare selection.

And so, all that’s left is the victory lap which is aptly underscored by the grandiose ambient / electronica of Ishmael Ensemble (pictured) and middle-eastern scales of Yazz Ahmed. They provide my Quiet Riot in the form of The River.

For those of you who are fans of English football, that will have provided some lovely colour with which to whet your appetite for what is to come. For those of you who aren’t, rest assured that we’ll go light on the ‘game of two halves’ clichés and Baddiel and Skinner are nowhere to be seen.

And for my American readership, just think of everything as being like a massive ‘Hail Mary’ delivered straight from the golden arm of Aaron Rodgers.

So, go on, take a punt on some of these…

FLYING LOTUS: TAKASHI
BRONX SLANG: LADIES AND GENTLEMEN
MADISON MCFERRIN: NO TIME TO LOSE
BRAD MEHLDAU: THE GARDEN
ISHMAEL ENSEMBLE FEAT. YAZZ AHMED: THE RIVER

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 –