Record Rooms - Emily's Rare Jazz Collection

Emily is a buyer at a Toronto record store, a DJ and also runs a community radio station. She rates jazz dudes over rock dudes.

Big Foot vinyl reissue - Crayford and Gooch

Recorded in 2007 at Trident Studios, Big Foot captures the collaboration between longtime friends Jonathan Crayford and Riki Gooch, recorded live with Gooch on drums and Crayford moving fluidly between Hammond organ, Rhodes, Clavinet, Mini Moog, electric bass, flute, bass clarinet and percussion. 

Grown out of material from regular performances at venues across Wellington in the early 2000s, and backed by the voices of Lisa Tomlins, Emma Paki, and Hollie Smith, Big Foot is an abstract reflection on the colonisation of Aotearoa, finally releasing on vinyl for the first time at the urging of Crayon Records producer Michael Robins. Don't mess about.

Crayford: "These are tunes I played with Riki and others at our regular gig at Havana Bar and other venues in Wellington for a couple of years back in 2002 to 2006, music I wrote to express some kind of feeling I had at the time - often to do with growing up in NZ and then living outside of it in places like New York.
"When I moved back to NZ in 2000 I was amazed to discover a whole new generation of musicians that were really happening and a fertile scene. This was a great period and one in which we all got together and played and played and played. This album is a product of that, a time stamp of that wonderful colourful and abundant period.”

Preorder vinyl from Flying Out

Nuevos Ríos bring the grooves

Great new cumbia album on then ZZK label... "Nuevos Ríos is the new project born from the meeting of Colombia’s iconic Canalón de Timbiquí, led by the unmistakable voice of Nidia Góngora (Quantic, Ondatrópica, The Bongo Hop), and the Toulouse-based trio Reco Reco, known for their explorations of trance-driven rhythms from South America and beyond.

Rooted on the banks of the Timbiquí River in Colombia’s Pacific region, the collaboration fuses ancestral Afro-Colombian traditions with electronic and amplified sounds. The result is a powerful and hypnotic journey where marimba, percussion, bass, and voices intertwine with keyboards, guitar, and drums. Between ritual intensity and dancefloor energy, the music bridges continents—echoing West Africa, the Caribbean, and the sweaty clubs of Europe—while always returning to the river as a vital source of life and inspiration.

Released on ZZK Records (home to Son Rompe Pera, Nicola Cruz, La Yegros, among others), this debut album is both a manifesto and a celebration: a living testimony of Colombia’s Afro-descendant heritage, reinvented through collective creativity. Nuevos Ríos is not just fusion—it is a new current, a sonic ritual where traditions flow into modernity."

P-Funk documentary from PBS

Some light relief from the Mothership... 

New Sola Rosa album out this Friday

 

Woo, this is sounding cool. Sola Rosa did a really great remix for our Rewind Reversioned project with Hallelujah Picassos, check it if you aint heard it. 

Misled Convoy remixes collection out, featuring Picassos

Misled Convoy aka Mike Hodgson (also of Pitch Black) did an epic groove mashout on Rewind for our 'Rewind Reversioned' project for Hallelujah Picassos last year. He's included that remix on his latest collection of his remix work, some great spaced out dub vibes on there, take a listen. 

He also chopped up and reworked our original music video for Rewind, watch it below:

Out Of The Past Record shop - keep it in the family

Billy Preston doco coming....

This looks good...

"Billy Preston was 5 years old when he backed gospel legend Mahalia Jackson. Over the following six-decade career, Billy contributed his signature sound to the greatest artists of his time, including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Barbra Streisand, Sly Stone, Ray Charles, Rufus, and others, while establishing himself as a GRAMMY-winning solo artist. 

Despite his success, Billy struggled to reconcile his deep relationship with the Black church with his sexuality, setting off a lifelong quest to find love and acceptance. Learn more or to find a theatre near you at billyprestonfilm.com

Zherav debut 45

Out in mid March on Batov Records, very cool to see a local hook up with this label; "New Zealand-based producer ZHERAV announces his debut release, NAJA / BAZAAR, a double single and 45 on Batov’s Middle Eastern Grooves series. The record fuses psychedelic rock, hypnotic rhythms, and electronic production influences, creating a sound that moves between swung grooves and cinematic, reverb-soaked textures.

ZHERAV draws from his background in house and techno, layering live guitar, bass, and synths over programmed drums. “I had a production template for house music on Ableton” he explains, “and I thought about how to switch to this Middle Eastern sound using the same format”. Most of ZHERAV’s tracks developed through improvisation - starting with programmed drums, then experimenting around scales on instruments until something works. ZHERAV has already received support from independent radio in Australia and New Zealand, and encouragement from international artists like Ko Shin Moon.

Both tracks explore Middle Eastern scales, bringing a distinct flavour to the grooves, while maintaining ZHERAV’s signature hypnotic layered sound. ZHERAV had something in mind related to snakes and their charmers when creating the A-side, NAJA (“Indian Cobra”). An ominous bassline loops repeatedly over snapping drums and percussion, whilst ZHERAV improvises guitar riffs and effects over the top.

The B-side, Bazaar, evokes the bustling, nocturnal imagery of a Middle Eastern market at night. Again, shaped organically through improvisation and analogue texture, but at a faster pace. Flutes and percussion introduce the song before a pulsating bassline leads the way.

Looking ahead, ZHERAV is exploring live/DJ hybrid sets and collaborations with local musicians. NAJA / BAZAAR is the latest exciting edition to Batov’s Middle Eastern Groove series, promising to transport listeners into a world of rhythm, texture, and hypnotic instrumental storytelling."

Zherav.

Cool new local buzz

 Three fresh tunes from some talented locals... great uptempo soul cut from Romi Wrights, dance floor delight from Lady Shaka and Rubi Du, and a bouncy synth bopper from Amamelia. Go support them on Bandcamp.