First of here is a perfect example of an amazing piece of music you might never have heard of ever, and I mean never ever -if it wasn’t for the patience and dedication of deep collectors putting out priceless reissues such as our friend Antoine Rajon from Heavenly Sweetness: Al Rahman! Cry of The Floridian Tropic Son. A very rare album –rare indeed, in every sense of the word- from pianist Doug Carn (husband of Jean Carn) famous for his many classic recordings on theBlack Jazz label. Mystic –at times arabic- soul-jazz songs with a disco twist under the common influences of Earth Wind & Fire and John Coltrane. Doug Carn is one of the most famous artist of Black Jazz records (the cult spiritual jazz record label of the 70’s). After four albums considered as soul jazz classics in the seventies, Doug Carn left the Black Jazz label and he converted to Islam. He changed his name into Abdul Rahim Ibrahim, and cut this nice record of spacey soul. Best track being the spiritual jazz classic "Al Rahman", a fifteen minutes prayer to the creator. As original liner notes said : “Part of the purpose of this album is to show the members of the funk-pop-rock and jazz-afro-cuban-latin and the traditional-blues-gospel oriented subcultures in western societies, that the Arabic language and Islamic Din are note necessarily alien to them. And more specifically, to show that the syllabilistic expression of the be-bop language and the evolved musical ideas of the great innovators John Coltrane and McCoy Tyner are equally Arabic in nature, as Jazz itself is a word of Arabic Origin”…

Next up, Peter Herbolzheimer R C & B “Bigband Bebop” on Mons records. Another odd, slightly special or at least quite confidential in his own way, Peter Herbolzheimer’s project from Germany which was spelled R C & B (standing for Rhythm Combination & Brass). An international soul jazz big band very active in Europe from the 1970s right up to today. The German composer and bandleader Peter Herbolzheimer has, through this, and many other ventures, revolutionised European big band music. In the late 1970s the band even toured successfully with guest stars like Esther Phillips, Stan Getz, Nat Adderley, Gerry Mulligan, Toots Thielemans and more.This adequatly called RC&B big band was unique in that it had a line up of eight brass, but originally only one saxophone. The rhythm combination consisted of two keyboards, guitar, bass, drums and percussion. And big it is!

Now let’s switch it to the opposite -just to prove the point that at Beat Joint we’re not nerdy elitists (or at least not all the time!)- we also propose the most obvious but still the most tasteful soul artists… like the timeless Afro-american hero that is Sam Cooke and his “Forever” anthology on Not Now Music. A mighty damn fine retrospective of the early career of one of the greatest soul voices that ever graced this earth, Mister Sam Cooke. This two cd box features his debut album for the Keen Label as well as a selection of the best of his recordings with the Soul Stirrers. Among the 30 tracks is the hit number "You Send Me" plus two rare bonus tracks "Lovable" and the title track "Forever" (which he originally recorded and released as Dale Cook, a name he used in order not to alienate his gospel fans when issuing his first (so called devilish then) pop recordings). A must for any fan of Sam Cooke or just a lover of gold old soul music!

Our fourth choice is something Pascal Rioux (our man from Favorite records) confessed he had a personnal affection for (when we interviewed him a few days ago, check it in the Blog section)…”Cut Basic” by another innovative beatmaker in this very competitive game, Dal Gren. An American dude who banged his first tunes out of his Playstation and keeps digging and growing larger while getting inspired from all angles from jazz to rock, soul, funk, hip hop and electro. Living in tune with his machines, forgoing clichés and fashions to create his very own staple of moody and timeless hip hop seemingly stemming from a distant planet. Quite a basic cut n’ paste? True… but nuff sweet flavours for your big curious ears!

And what’s next? Another Dilla disciple?! Yes, and it’s cool, we can’t complain (as long as the beats are really good!). Here it’s better than just good but we’re sorry we can’t provide much information on the next one…because it comes from a very secretive artist from a very secretive island, Japan (also I must confess that all the details I found on the guy they name 45’s myspace are not translated…and I can’t read japanese). It’s called “Hello Friends” by a beatmaker and pianist who calls himself 45 or is it a collective? Or 45 people?! Or a secret entity?! Nevermind. Just listen and feel the great blend of beats, keys, and samples at its core - all served up with a crispy, old school feel! Highlights being “Searchin' (Feat. Tasita D'mour)”, “The Night Life (Feat. Steph Pockets)”, “Underground Superstar (Feat. Yu Sakai)” or of course “Hello Friends (Lark Chillout For A.Y.B.Force Remix)”.

One more drop in the endless sea of releases in the vast house music story, check out the “Giant Steps EP” by BitterSuite. Not to be confused neither with Giant Steps recordings (the soulful label from New York)! Nor with The Bitasweet label (the broken beat home of Bugz In The Attic releases inna West London)! This Giant Steps EP is made by BitterSuite and it is their debut on a brand new label, DeepSystems Music. A 5 track digi-EP of seriously deep tracks. Ranging from the 303 acidic tinged “Fingers”, a tribute to the magic fingers of the acid king: Larry Heard aka Fingers Inc, to the more shuffled hypnotic “Reflection”. A diverse selection of tracks for the more discerning lover of moody deep house, dark rooms and big sound systems…can you feel it?

A bit more unknown than the last ones is Lars Behrenroth. Maybe because we mentionned him here (many times already in this particular News column) but also because the man is old school and has been around doing it right for more than a decade. This time Lars Behrenroth signs an EP on the always fresh, always on point house UK label Freerange entitled “Ice On The Sun”. Lars delivers as usual in the subtle style of his stuff on Deep4Life, Compost, Sonar Kollektiv and his remixes of The Rurals, Dubtribe, MJ Cole, Alma Horton, Slope, Arnold Jarvis just to name a few. Here we have two tracks from him plus a sweet remix by Version (aka Charles Webster teaming up with Atjazz). A minimal deep house stripped back approach sure to please the quality dancefloors!

Magic? Boddhi Satvas? Is this the new age all over again? Anyway Anto Vitale’s “Majico (Doruk Ozlen & Boddhi Satva Mixes)” on Seasons Limited is -dare we say it…uplifting! A greatfollow up to the massive "Can't help" by Kemal, "Majico" is a gentle laidback track featuring mesmerizing vocals and wicked chants alongside lush keys and synths over a deeply stormin' percussion enriched backing groove Doruk Ozlen and his imaginary buddhist buddies are taking it even higher with a mesmerizing afro-tribal vibe in both versions! Body & Soul deep afro-latin house style like Joaquin “ Joe” Claussell would love...

And from Joe’s deep tribal juju style we switch to The Boogoos’s take on “Theme De Yoyo”, (the afro-funk version of a cosmic jazz classic originally made by Lester Bowie and The Art Ensemble of Chicago). The beaux gosses??? No, check the spelling and get the name right: The Boogoos! Munich’s finests forming a 13-piece group (that includes members of the Poets Of Rhythm, Express Brass Band and The Hi-fly Orchestra) who present their first single, which combines the afro-rhythms of Fela kuti with american funk and soul. On the flipside, “The Journey (Ghana ‘74)” is a nine minute afrobeat stomper fueled by the extensive instrumentation and the driving bassline, as well as the colourful horns and Zsolt’s unique vocals. Watch out for the forthcoming LP in october 2008!

Last on this week’s list, a cursed genius who has always been singled out (may it be for for his weird signature broken techno beats or his twisted taste for chubby girls!). Let’s just say Colin Lindo aka Nubian Mindz likes to keep it fat not flat! Fact of that this “Sellouts EP” is pure gravy all the way up! Yes Nubian Mindz (aka Alpha Omega) is still mashing it ruff and tuff from drum-n-bass to Detroit techno to house to broken beat to samba…from Reinforced to 2000Black, Archive, TOV, Irma etc. His second EP on Bagpak Records is a massive bash of techno smashers with Colin’s very own bad-bwoy riddimz and deep-ass bass. From dark dub-tech-step to straight-up booty shakin techno to tech-jazz bruk numbers, Nubian Mindz continues his quest in pushing the levels! Not for the sell outs! Riiiiiight!

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