These are the 1BTN DJ recommendations going into the month of May. Spotify playlist at the bottom of the page.
Tom Caruana feat. Skuff
Also
(Tea Sea)
Hard to choose just one track off of the excellent Brewing Up album but this is one of my faves; great beats, witty lyrics: UK rap at its best. Tom has been doing this kind of stuff for years, often with big name rappers. This is more of a home grown effort but every bit as good as his Wu Tang and Hendrix blends.
Glyn Bush (Bigga’s Big Dig)
The Tibbs
Another Shot Fired
(Record Kicks)
Another Shot Fired is the title track of the second studio album from the Dutch soul combo produced by Paul Willemsen (Michelle David & The Gospel Sessions) and is a Jamaican Soul scorcher. By popular demand it has been pressed on a limited edition 45 vinyl with the uptempo soul belter The Main Course on the flip side.
Dumani Ncube
Nuron & Fugue
Likemind 06
Likemind
Essential comp of chilled 90s techno from Nurmad Jusat under his Nuron and Fugue aliases that will appeal to fans of B12, Global Communication, Boards of Canada et al. The original 12s have been selling for princely sums on Discogs.
Ian Lawton (Trainspotters)
Tapes
Sauna Research
(Research Records)
Somewhere between proper chill out, old school electronica and dub which makes it perfect for Melodica. The b side is called Aquarium Trousers, which makes the whole package even better.
Chris Coco (Melodica)
Anunaku
Spirale
(AD93)
Anunaku’s second release on AD93 and this time it seems like he’s taken a more spiritual sounding approach. Stripped back on the percussion and focussed more on the addictive beat and hypnotic female vocal. I really enjoyed this EP, emotional, personal and beautiful throughout.
I-Sha
Mocky
Bora!
(Heavy Sheet)
This is the first single from Mocky’s upcoming album Overtones for the Omniverse, featuring a full orchestra, recorded in L.A, where Stevie Wonder once recorded Songs In The Key Of Life. Bora! sounds like the perfect modern dance tune; harp-laden, vocal-heavy and groove based. It sounds and feels to me like the width and depth and air of long summer days, eternal holidays and romance. It has definitely put a spring in my step!
Jo Dressler
Million Dollar Disco Machine
The Loneliest One
(Million Dollar Disco)
Scottish legend Al Kent takes an Ashford and Simpson track, adds a Levi Stubbs acapella and turns it into a heart melting anthem. I reckon this is one of the tracks of the year and cannot wait to hear this loud in a club. Incredible.
Murray Scott (UBIK)
Amanda Whiting
After Dark
(Jazzman Records)
Welsh harpist Amanda Whiting follows last year’s Little Sunflower 10″ EP with her stunning debut album After Dark on Jazzman Records. For lovers of Dorothy Ashby, Alice Coltrane and Matthew Halsall… Bucolic jazz harp business!
Jim Lister (Version)
The Zenmenn
Enter The Zenmenn
(Music From Memory)
East meets West ambience with shades of perfect pop, echoing Prefab Sprout, Retiree and Lake Heartbeat. Music from Memory, best know for reissues, have put out two excellent debut albums from new artists this year. The Zenmenn’s ‘Enter The Zenmenn’, already feels like an old friend. One of the albums of the year.
Andrew Houghton (Sounds of Eighty Six)
DJ Format
Devil’s Workshop
(Project Blue Book)
Devils Workshop is already a very strong contender for my LP of the year. To know how much time and effort was put into the making of this album, has really shown me whats required for my own music. I can only hope my stuff is half as good as this. Got soul… 5/5
Leon Ricciardi (Jazzology Radio Show)
Self Esteem
I Do This All the Time
(Fiction Records)
I don’t normally get along with spoken word songs but I heard this for the first time today and it stopped me in my tracks. You have to just sit and listen, or sit and watch Rebecca Lucy Taylor’s glorious face in extreme close up sing to you in the video. Starts off slowly and builds gloriously into a gospel-like anthem for a generation. I reckon it’ll be all over the place this summer. Out now on all the usual platforms.
Kerry Jean Lister (Feel Up)
Michael J Blood
LOOSE NDZ
(Blood Inc)
Whole LP is ace, third long player from the reluctant Mancunian (I think). KDJ fans check. Proper homemade bedroom tackle. (In a good way)
Danny Webb
Modha
Harzer Straße
(Kryptox)
The Kraut Jazz Futurism compilation shows what’s cookin’ in the new German Jazz scene. Young German bands and a few of the international musicians working in Berlin now. Fresh artists that combine Jazz, Krautrock, Afro, Hip Hop and Electronica in a new way.
Burda Pellet (All Around The Globe)
Willie Dunn
I Pity The Country
(Light In The Attic) I don’t usually pick reissues for the Bunker Buzz Chart but Willie Dunn was an exceptional artist. Taken from the career spanning retrospective compilation Creation Never Sleeps, Creation Never Dies, the raw yet poetic lyrics of I Pity The Country lay bare just how little has changed since the track was first recorded back in 1971.
Senor Mick (Garden Of Earthly Delights)
Rhode & Brown
Cruise
(Permanent Vacation)
Munich duo Rhode & Brown return with a delicious taster of their forthcoming debut artist LP on Permanent Vacation. Cruise is infused with Italo disco and ’80s synth-pop, as the duo conjure up relaxed Balearic summers evenings.
Clara Suess (INTER-MISSION)
Joe Yorke & Stand High Patrol
Quicksand
(Stand High Records)
Brand new single from Bristol based singer Joe Yorke alongside France’s Stand High Patrol. Joe’s soulful falsetto voice is the perfect pairing for this late 60s style rocksteady/reggae rhythm, the lyrics an ode to his brothers struggling through dark times. Stand High Patrol always bring a slightly left-field and uniquely authentic approach to their productions and this is no exception!
Jon Jones (Roots Garden)
DJ Sprinkles
Gayest Tits & Greyest Shits: 1998-2017 12-inches & One-offs
(Comatonse)
2 CD distillation of 20 years of deep house action from Terre Thaemlitz, previously only available on vinyl. A tastefully packaged thing that includes the long out-of-print Sloppy 42nds (a tribute to the 42nd St. transsexual clubs destroyed by Walt Disney’s buyout of Times Square) Bassline.89 and Masturjakor. Midtown 120 Blues has also been rereleased. https://boomkat.com/products/gayest-tits-greyest-shits-1998-2017-12-inches-one-offs
Ian Lawton (Trainspotters)
Baltra
Baby (Local Action Records)
A totally vibing new treat from Baltra, hitting all of the sweet ambient, deep housey spots – check it out!
Anya Lux
L’Imperatrice
Taku Tsubo
(Microqlisme)
Majestic, Parisian Disco and Electronic grooves. Slick and slinky stuff. Album of the month on Don Dayglow’s Dippy Egg.
Adam Hignell
Emma-Jean Thackeray
Say Something
(Movementt)
Emma-Jean Thackeray returns with a beautifully melodic, up tempo, floor-shaking epic!!! Big and beautiful soulful sounds!!!
Chris Lewis (Turn On Tune In)
Burial
Dark Gethsemane
(Keysound recordings )
Burial coming through with some biblical theme like a dusty garage Jesus. An important message on love contained within, this is a socially distanced, sit down rave heater.
EVIL TOM ( THE EVIL TOM SHOW )
Kero Kero Bonito
Well Rested
(Polyvinyl Record Company)
KKB add yet another string to their bow with an ambitious move away from compact pop structures. Well Rested is a 7-minute deep-house inspired excursion framed within the mythological world they have introduced in recent releases.
Matthew Balaam (inter~mission)
Birds Of Pandæmonium
Out For You (Each Other remix)
(Our Starry Universe)
Come take a cosmic flight with the interstellar Birds of Pandæmonium, 1BTN’s very own Millenium Caulkin (Our Starry Universe) and the brilliant Hazy James. Sure to set the summer dance floors on fire with this intergalactic slice of arpeggiated, space bound, peak time goodness.
Jayne Winstanley
Janeel Mills
In The Ghetto
(Irie Yute Records)
Fresh reggae vibes from a fresh young artist outta Jamaica. Boom!
Kris Venum
Andres y Xavi and Rolo McGinty
Walking in the sun (Remixes)
(Bandcamp)
Our very own Steve KIW and Glenn Fallows have had a little help from their friends with the first single from the forthcoming album Sounds From The Secret Bar. Rolo McGinty, front man of The Woodentops, was behind original Balearic Beat classic Why. These remixes from James Bright and Coyote could see him back in Alfredo’s box.
BAOL
Beverly Knight
Everything’s Gonna Be Alright
(Toolroom Records)
New Mark banger featuring Beverly Knight on lead vocals backed by London Community Gospel Choir. Written by Mark and Andreya Triana.
Dumani Ncube