november 2025

🌴 🌝 🌴 [insert that university challenge ‘we need jungle i’m afraid’ clip here] 🌴 🌝 🌴

you know, sometimes i forget i live in engl*nd. sheffield, i remember. it feels like, yeah, i live in sheffield! i love it here! and i really do. but then something happens and i am forced to remember that that means i don’t live in scotland 😩. for example, being one of only two people (the other being innes, in the very same booth) watching 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 SCOTLAND QUALIFY FOR THE FREAKIN WORLD CUP 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 in an otherwise staid and empty pub on a tuesday. i was so amped i nearly ordered shots but i settled for a celebratory vodka dc.

for example #2, rather than discovering tony morris through some tip to “come to the poetry club on friday night”, i had to find out from the fence’s ‘off the fence’ substack. tony is a 72-y/o ex-teacher who has been quietly taking the weirdo electronic music scene by storm for a few years. i was shook to learn that house of god is a version of a song from an early 90s producer from san francisco, as i cannot fathom how singing i am excited / about the house of goddddddd in such a droll manner could have been conceived of by anyone but an elder scottish presbyterian man. such a good bit and so so catchy.

of COURSE i love a cheeky little set of unreleased roy ayers numbers and versions, put together on an album secrets of the sun. pathfinder is decent; dragon’s nest is so good it puzzles me that it never made it out before. lots of smooth grooves, layered harmonies, classic ayers vibraphone… but then at around 1:45 we enter this little vocal breakdown want your love / need your love / should i stay / far away / must i wait / all my life / will my love / be in vain etc. when it hits that section i have to turn it the fuck up and also mouth along (at a minimum!) every single time.

charlotte dos santos is brazilian-norwegian: on insta she said that “my life has always been a juggle between my two identities and this project is an homage to both…here i show my love for jazz, soul and brazilian music.” indeed the very latin vibes of the guitar and drums in the chorus are balanced out by juddery jazzy broken up synths and verses. it’s really fun and summery and does ~transport you~ honestly! i feel ~transported~. i did also hear it for the first time while stuck in traffic on the u1 bus in york so i was, literally, transported, albeit to campus and albeit in like 45 minutes.

more summer transportation (beep beep!)

huge love to jazz is dead/adrian younge/ali shaheed muhammad for continuing to introduce me to legends of the game with new and interesting material. i knew nothing of carlos dafé, who turns out to have been a shining light of the brazilian soul scene of the late 70s and early 80s.

1. me and kay went to see french experimental gamelan collective ensemble nist-nah at firth hall. i was slightly nervous because after we’d decided to ‘go to the gamelan’ she was like ‘is it white people gamelan tho?’ and i had to be like yes, yes it is, and thus worry that she/we would have a Cringe Experience and be subject to Imminent Cancellation. it popped off tho! gamelan is an indonesian percussive orchestra; effectively, a wide array of drums, gongs, bells, metallophones, things you can hit and make sound. and honestly — gongs rock. that resonance!!

   

2. me and josh went to see herbert and momoko at forge. the vibes was pretty off — there was a very high and very high (tall) man in front of us filming everything, a fight nearly broke out adjacent to me, momoko’s mic stand was falling down, herbert’s equipment made some loud pops, i was lowkey dead on my feet and dreaming of pyjamas after being ill in bed most of the week — and YET i really enjoyed it? she played basketballs!! he sampled his own heartbeat!! i just eat that shit up tbf.

that bassline bitch!!!! fuck me. who’s walking that bad boy?? discogs is giving me nothing, but one blog suggests someone called kenny johnson. big ups kenny. big ups also sirrey for playing it and bringing it back to my attention.

sickly sweet and not really up my usual street but i took a wrong turning one day and found myself enchanted by her voice.

as discussed in the august edition, i saw kahil el’zabar at we out here this year. a first line up announcement for woh 2026 came out a couple weeks ago, featuring a great selection of acts including… kahil el’zabar. one of my first reactions, to a line up including people i haven’t seen and am pumped to (mulatu astatke, arthur verocai, jazzanova, joshua idehen, etc) was ‘fuck yeah i get to see kahil el’zabar again???’ haha.

i’m playing at peddler market 5-7pm this friday (5th dec), come get ur dirty fries. i’m also (i believe!) playing at the kitchen radio 1st bday party at grub on thursday (11th dec), come get ur mince pies. hogmanay tbc but i’m sure you’ll hear about it xx