Ebo Taylor The Pelikans
Ebo Taylor And The Pelikans

Sensational by Erika de CasierSensational expands the universe of Erika de Casier’s 2019 self-released debut album Essentials. Where Essentials dealt more with the infatuation stages of love, Sensational has more of an attitude, aiming to dismantle the stereotype of single women looking for love, tackling relationship dramas and the toxicity of dating. It was a chance to rewrite scenarios in ways that empowered her, fantasising about what could’ve been.Sensational was produced by de Casier and Natal Zeks and is a breath of fresh air to anyone with a passion for music in all its genres, as much influenced by Aaliyah and Janet Jackson as house, garage and techno. With hushed, pillow-soft vocals and production that references turn-of-the-millenium sounds, de Casier’s sound surveys the past while looking to the future.

Freestyle Records reissue a DIY 7" from 1980 by short-lived all-female group Spoilsports. Existing at the intersection of post-punk, jazz-rock and modern soul - these two political yet playful numbers were laid down by a band formed from a range of players active in London's feminist and improvised music scenes at the time, and represent the groups only recordings.

Carl Erdmann’s Bizzarrophytes was recorded in Roswell, New Mexico, during the final years of the 70’s. A desert-fried haze of buzzing sitar raga, shimmering guitar soli, and lonesome instrumental psych. Erdmann had been galvanized several years prior by witnessing an intimate performance by Ravi Shankar at Austin’s University of Texas. Erdmann spent the next several years with a sitar in the back of his pickup truck - teaching himself the instrument between stints working on an oil field as a geologist.After settling in Roswell, Erdmann procured a Tascam 4-track reel to reel tape machine and began to experiment with recording. He played most of the instruments himself, and followed a fresh muse each day. One day his recordings would mine the same instrumental guitar territory as Leo Kottke and John Renbourn, like on Bizzarrophytes’ opening track, Majesty. The next day Erdmann might multi-track some bass and drums and end up landing in the same hazy psych-folk territory as Relatively Clean Rivers, as evidenced on album standouts Turritella Flats, and Portugal. And then, perhaps his Ravi Shankar influence would shine through, and he’d deliver a stirring sitar raga like Dhun. Erdmann explored all of these sounds without ever considering releasing them into the world. He was simply experimenting with his equipment and his instruments, and flexing his muscles with whatever kind of inspiration happened to strike. It wasn’t until 1980 that a friend convinced Carl to assemble some of these recordings into an album and self-release it.Bizarrophytes was released in a miniscule private press run, financed and distributed by Erdmann himself. Most copies didn’t make it out of the southwest. And it has remained woefully hard to find until now. The disparate sounds of Erdmann’s experimentation hang together as a beautifully cohesive tapestry of home-brewed psychedelic folk. A menagerie of eclectic instrumental experimentation, baked in the desert sun, and captured to tape. Morning Trip Records is proud to present Bizzarrophytes.

Legofunk 7 inch series no. 13. Bringing together two excellent set of edit for all the aficionados of this genre.Revamped disco flavour tracks for the modern dance floor, to make this release a sure fire winner.

Le temps lent by Enfant MagiqueSlowing down time with Eric GingrasThe simple acoustic guitar plucks out a lulling back-and-forth, accompanying a voice that seems to arrive from another, far-off era. Elsewhere, the guitar moves around in the background, repetitive and drawn-out. But here, alone, it takes the time to find its rightful place, much like the deceptive simplicity of a hand-made quilt. This humbly whimsical patchwork seeks out form, succeeds, and is reunited with the voice. Articulate and elastic, it sometimes crisscrosses, sometimes circumnavigates this landscape of song both subtle and rich. Its clear lines of flight point to a remote village and its recent arrivals, a motley crew of hybrid things and beings: woolly sheep, beat-up robots, small synthetic drums, minimalist jaw harps, obsessive alarms, light footsteps on a gravel path, a few propellers, many layers of slow time.The sea’s waves break against this shoreline where our mutant from the 1970s seems to have washed up. He isn’t looking for a fight, and he isn’t looking to show off. However, as the custodian of utopian leftovers from an open agreement between artifice and artful making, he is clever and skillful in a thousand and one little ways. His voice is stubbornly discreet, but also able to take flight, carrying with it words devoid of preciosity and over-categorization. This is a voice that prefers attention to affectation. Bresson-like, it knows how to recount when recounting is needed, articulating both quivering fatigue and deep doubt.Joined now by others, the mutant feels supported, loved. He withdraws, and an assertive, childlike voice moves into the foreground. The mutant accompanies, discreet but fully present. And what better medium for this finely woven poetry and play of childhood’s expression, both clumsy and bold.- Anne Lardeux (translated from French by Simon Brown)

Not to be confused with the 80s heavy rock/funk band from the US, this Living Color track was written, produced and released by Tony Kalangis on his Sophisticated Funk label in 1974. Kalangis, who sadly passed away in 2017, was a man of many talents who could not only write a great tune but also novels, poems, and film scripts.'Plastic People' has one of those faultless grooves that goes where you want it to go and does what you want it to do. Small but perfectly formed, somewhere between mellow funk and a mid tempo 2 stepper. A great niche if ever there was one.The clavinet riff is gently twangy and instantly funky, the horns punctuate an uplifting melody, while the backing vocals float in and out celestially. The relevant lyrics are carried off with a vocal style full of emotional urgency. Pure joy."Plastic people, better make some changes soon, or you'll never find a dancer for your tune". Thankfully not the case on this groove! Clavinet freaks will love the instrumental on the B side.