Reissue CDs Weekly: Oneness Of Juju - African Rhythms 1970-1982

ONENESS OF JUJU - AFRICAN RHYTHMS 1970-1982 Driving jazz, grooves, funk and electrifying percussion from James 'Plunky' Branch and Co

Driving jazz, grooves, funk and electrifying percussion from James 'Plunky' Branch and Co

“These are African rhythms, passed down to us from the ancient spirits. Feel the spirits, a unifying force. Come on, move with the spirits. Stand up. Clap your hands. Groove with the rhythms. Get down. Get off.”

So begins “African Rhythms”, originally released in 1975 as the opening cut from an album of the same name by Oneness Of Juju. It was issued on Black Fire, their own label.

Album: The Streets - None of Us Are Getting Out of This Life Alive

★★★★ THE STREETS - NONE OF US ARE GETTING OUT OF THIS ALIVE Casually pulled together mixtape turns out to be some of Mike Skinner's finest work

A casually pulled together "mixtape" turns out to be some of Mike Skinner's finest work

Given the collaborator list on this album, it should be a bit of a mess. Brit punks IDLES, Aussie woozy pop auteur Tame Impala, pumping bassline house producer Chris Lorenzo turning his hand to drum’n’bass, as well as Ms Banks, Dapz On The Map, Oscar #Worldpeace and a host of other UK rap talents all add their distinct musical personalities to the mix.

Glastonbury Festival 2020: Beyoncé, Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E., marijuana and time travel

GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL 2020 Beyoncé, Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E., marijuana and time travel

With Glastonbury halted, our intrepid reporter attempts to recreate it, while dreaming of the 1990 Festival

Coronavirus blah blah blah. Glastonbury cancelled. What to do? Didn’t go to the 2010 festival for reasons too tedious to go into. Suffered the worst FOMO of my life. This is different. There is no Glastonbury. But sitting around at home… we’ve all been doing that for months…

Album: Lady Gaga - Chromatica

★★ ALBUM: LADY GAGA - CHROMATICA A few treats sprinkled amongst stock club-pop

The latest from the pop superstar has a few treats sprinkled amongst stock club-pop

Lady Gaga proclaimed by Tweet that her sixth album represents her “absolute love of electronic music”. Chromatica features EDM names such as Axwell from Swedish House Mafia, French DJ-producers Tchami and Madeon, bro’step superstar Skillex, as well as a good few more.

Album: Hodge - Shadows in Blue

★★★★ HODGE - SHADOWS IN BLUE Bristol techno-dub mainstay releases overdue first album

Bristol techno-dub mainstay releases his first album a full decade into his career

For underground music producers, there almost always comes a phase in life when they accept they're no longer young guns and embrace either massively complicated synthesisers, floaty new age music, or both. For Bristol-based Jake Martin aka Hodge it's the latter. This, his debut album after a decade releasing a couple of dozen EPs on connoisseurs' favourite labels and DJing around the world, has all the signifiers.

Album: Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia

Lipa frees her inner disco diva, and the world is a better place for it

Dua Lipa's self-titled debut was unmistakably the sound of a musician feeling their way. It had all the flavours of trap, tropical house, autotune and Lana Del Ray-ish triphop introspection you'd expect on a 2017 pop record. The multi-billion-stream single “New Rules” was the most transatlantic-sounding thing there, and it must have been tempting to try and repeat its success by following current generic templates.

Album: Moby - All Visible Objects

★★ MOBY - ALL VISIBLE OBJECTS Too many clouds

US electronic dance perennial takes a rare stumble with his bombastic latest

Moby is perhaps better known these days for his two ultra-candid biographies, Porcelain and Then It Fell Apart, than he is for his massive album successes of two decades ago. His memoirs are compulsive, unique windows into the screwed up life of an intellectually inquisitive, punk rock-spirited, rave nerd who accidentally, briefly experienced superstardom.

CD: Caribou - Suddenly

The Canadian psyche-pop genre fuser further hones his craft

Around the turn of the millennium, when Dan Snaith started releasing music – initially as Manitoba, then Caribou, and latterly also Daphni – he tended to get lumped in with the folktronica movement. In fact, the closest he came to actual folk was a heavy influence from the more delicate side of late 60s psychedelia.

Album: Tame Impala - The Slow Rush

★★★★★ TAME IMPALA - THE SLOW RUSH Kevin Parker returns, optimistic

Kevin Parker returns with his most optimistic album yet

And so, Tame Impala’s evolution from riff-laden psych-mongers to dancefloor-fillers is complete. It’s undeniable from the opening drum machine on “One More Year” supplanting Kevin Parker’s trademark kit-work. The band’s music has always been built from the groove up, but now the head banging has been replaced with waves of rhythm that flow through the body. The Slow Rush is an apt name.