Beatjoint news section number four…you want more???!!! Well you got it as we still explore the whole wide world in search of good music for you…First off let’s say it again one more time: underground or overground it doesn’t necessarily matters for us, what really counts at the end of the day is quite simple: does it moves us, does it grooves us or not???!!!

So we stand our heads up high and proud, yes we keep saying it: even though Mister Tellier’s character is a bit ludacris, even though he’s not Gainsbourg (or even Gainsbarre) yet and even though our man hasn’t won the Eurovision contest last week-end with his delicious and easy to sing along weird and beautiful pop song “Divine”, well he’s still a champ in our eyes! And we also recommand the video to this track, it’s absolutely hilarious…Sébastien Tellier? Divine indeed! Daaaamn right! Vive la France!

Next up, still coming from our French Capital, we offer you the wonderful sounds of Kif recordings…old and new…but always sooo fresh! Firsts on the menu we got Jazz Liberatorz, unique beatmakers proudly hailing from Meaux-town (in the suburbs of Paris) showcasing a timeless boom bap concept full of deepness in the path of Pete Rock, Madlib or even 4 Hero’s Visionneers project... a refined approach taking in from the classics to bring out their quintessence while reinventing itself constantly. A strong nodd to jazz is displayed throughout all this chef d’oeuvre with the help of bad ass french musicians - Soul Clan, Ky and not forgetting two Oliviers, M'Sellem and Portal; and on the mic la crème de la crème of soulful indy US hip hop. Who? The list itself is not so impressive as the cohesion reigning between everyone here. Judge for yourself: after prestigious twelves over the last five years on Kif records with none others than Wildchild, Aloe Blacc or Fatlip (ex-Pharcyde, on the eloquent “Backpackers” 12” amongst others), they’ve brang in even more leftside charismatic mc’s to the table to make this unpeccable album which is “Clin D’Oeil”, a long lasting piece of true hip hop music. Inviting people in full sync with Jazzlib’s sincere direction like their old friend T-Love (sublime singer / poet often compared to Erikah Badu for her audacity -based in Paris after residing Detroit, Londres and Oackland), Sadat X (Brand Nubian), Captain Buckshot (Blackmoon) or even the gracious Lizz Fields (who stoles the show on the divine "Speak the Langage"... a soul jazz ballad constituting the climax of this remarkable record before the last track, a daring cover of Ahmad Jahmal’s “Ishmaël” spiritual jazz anthem). An elegant yet humble and personnal effort which also transpires in the simple, old school black & white artwork paying tribute to the old Black Jazz record label iconography. And still on Kif, on the reissue camp this time… we bring you two remarkable examples of sweet french touch flavours from the 70’s. First of the two, “Mélodie En Soul Sol”…a superb french rare groove compilation set up by Michael Darmon (boss of Kif records) in 2002. A rare collection of tracks demonstrating that in terms of jazz, funk, jazz funk, soul, soul jazz and other psychedelic moods our hexagonal musicians were highly influenced by the american sounds of the 70’s. Big tunes from Vladimir Cosma, Martial Solal, Claude Vasori and Vincent Gueminiani, Daniel Janin, Jean-Claude Pierric or last but not least Nancy Holloway and her astounding hit “It Hurts So Bad”. The second reissue being Harlem Pop Trotters’s eponym LP, “Harlem Pop Trotters”. A lost jazz fusion classic (the original version appeared on the highly collectible Les Treteaux). This is their only album released in 1975. A little piece of heaven made by liberated library musicians. The conductor being J.C Pierric again (with the help of Francois Rolland). Jazz freaks inspired by Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul, and George Duke…some funky bizness indeed!

And we continue with a Beatjoint Promo Exclusive from our dear friend Jazzamar on his Jazzmin records imprint from Strasbourg to Paris via Tokyo....two tracks from the very awaited Sleep Walker’s brand new album. This amazing Japanese jazz band featuring Masato Nakamura (sax), Hajime Yoshizawa (piano), Kiyoshi Ikeda (bass) and others gives us a great follow-up to their debut eponym album “Sleep Walker” from Especial records and to the more recent singles “The Voyage featuring Pharoah Sanders” and “River of love” (not forgetting their Especial Records compilation album, “Essence of Especial”). Two wicked tunes: “Brotherhood”, a brillant cover of a Yusef Lateef gem and “Resurrection". A taste of this fat album to come out soon!

Still not out of breath? Check this out: here’s more live music to be reckoned with: Sonar Kollektiv Orchester “Guaranteed Niceness”. A Sonar Kollektiv super-group made up of label artists and friends from Jazzanova's label to celebrate its 10th anniversary. SKO's repertoire is a cross selection of tunes from the SK label back catalogue, the original styles of which cover a wide range from deep house and broken beats to reggae and experimental hip hop. From “L.O.V.E. & You And I” (a cover of the Jazzanova track which was the opening number on their acclaimed 2002 album “In Between” on Compost) to the verypopular “Midnight Marauders” by Fat Freddies Drop’s singer Joe Dukie or even Ame's dance-floor hit “Rej”. Also on SK check out Frost & Wagner “Remixes” with nuff dub reggae vibes…like their remixes of Torch Of Freedom (originally written by Cleveland Watkiss), Eva Be “She Walks Alone”, Taxi “A Certain Something”, Deyampert “The Sweetest Delusion”, Onejiru “We Carry On over”or “Everything” by Clara Hill. Dub wise bizness!And to finish off this special SK delivery we keep bigging up the ones called Soulphiction! This time they bring us a fresh new 12” with two remixes of tracks taken from their excellent second LP “Do You Overstand?!" (to be found reviewed in our previous Beat Joint news section). Nice reinterpretations by Losoul and Kalabrese. Losoul (from the Playhouse label) remixes “Cargo” into a slowly builder for the floors. On the flipside, Kalabrese (of Perlon records fame) takes “Reclap” in a chilled laid back mode. German beatdown house at his finest!

More from other German cousins, Compost records in the shape of their “Compost Blacklabel series vol.3” compiled by Jay Shepheard. A sub label to put Compost back on the dancefloor map with less jazz and soul but more house and tekky stuff. The outcome is not the typical Compost “nu jazz” sound anymore which people related with the Munich based label. This is bleepy and creepy, dark and pumping! Once again the third volume unites the brightest moments of the successful 12" series on a CD compilation - this time in form of a special DJ mix done by uprising Blacklabel act Jay Shepheard (who did their debut for the label on an EP recently, “Blacklabel #19").

And finally we go even furhter into deep German waters with the exclusive Scape label’s compilation, “Round Black Ghosts”. An album compiled by label owners Stefan Betke (Pole) and Barbara Preisinger together with Tim Tetzner (the heart and mind behind Berlins Dense Records shop), throws a spotlight on dubstep sounds from Berlin. Merging the classic uk dubstep heavy basslines and breaks with the more hypnotic deep German techno grooves. From Martyn in a Detroit style on “Velvet” to Syncom Datas “Beyond The Stars” (which reminds us Basic Channel’s dub techno minimal approach). A quality selection to please all dub, dubstep and
techno diggers.

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