Head Nodding #1

Azymuth - Villa Mariana (Far Out Records)
Fabiano Do Nascimento - Oya Nana (Now Again)
Six Organs of Admittance - Threshold Of Light (Drag City)
Fawda Trio ft. SwamiMillion - I Got The Blues (Original Cultures)
Matthew Halsall & The Gondwana Orchestra - Into Forever, Barck & Comixxx rmx (Sonar Kollektiv)
Baba Ali - Cog In The Wheel (Ways and Means)
Sa Ra Creative Partners - The Bone Song (All Young Kings)
Noname - All I Need (Self Release)
Tay Sean - Space Madness (Homeskillet)
Dennis Ayler - Friday Night (Dennis Ayler Music)
Emanative - Ominous Shanti (Home Planet)
The Kondi Band - Yeanoh (Strut)
Guem - Le Serpent, Jeremy Sole Edit (Bandcamp)
Pirana - Soso Love Version (Dub Store)
Dazion - Rigola (Music From Memory)
Paz - Laying Eggs (BBE)

So most of the mixes so far from us have been fairly chilled, maybe upping the tempo a little near the end so we thought it was time to get your head nodding and toes tapping. You probably won't burst out dancing around the living room but we've put together a nice selection of soulful, jazzy, funky beats & pieces, thrown in a little Brazilian, a bit of dub, some African vibes even a bit of stoner rock and got a steady groove on just to keep your head nodding rather than let you nod off.

Whilst I'm here we've finally launched the website (www.theslowmusicmovement.org) and the social media is now in full effect if you want to stay in touch. We try and post daily a new musical discovery and there are some good tips online, even if I say so myself. Feel free to make social media truly social and say hello, we're always keen to get some feedback, your thoughts or suggestions.

The Slow Music Movement Radio Show #3

So a further dive into the world of The Slow Music Movement and as you are probably realising anything goes. From ambient electronica, abstract dub techno, stoner folk, vintage black rock, cutting edge beats to deeper house and future leaning broken beats. Enjoy the ride and come and say hello on the various social media channels.

James Murray - Holloways (Ultimae)
Christopher Chaplin - Je suis le Tenebreux, Tim Story rmx (Fabrique)
Forest Swords - Sjurvival (Ninja Tune)
Tara Jane O'Neil - BLOW (Bandcamp Self Release)
Braxton Cook - Somewhere In Between (Fresh Selects)
Eureka the Butcher - I Want That (Alpha Pup)
Ante Matas - Track 1 (Bandcamp Free Download)
Cuisine Dub - Lungomare (Udacha)
Blackilites - BL Movement (Now Again promo)
Cosmic Analog Ensemble - Point De Bascule (Mybags promo)
Scott Gilmore - Paranoid Days (Bandcamp Self Release)
Addictive TV - Hangman (K7 promo)
Matthew Halsall & The Gondwana Orchestra feat. Josephine Oniyama - Into Forever, Barck & Comixxx rmx (Sonar Kollektiv promo)
Ikonika - Not Actual Gameplay (Planet Mu promo)
Manu Dibango - Les Cavaliers, Plaid Edit Over Dub (Africa Seven promo)
Pete Josef - Colour, Thousand Island Mix feat. Manu Delago (Sonar Kollektiv)
Laurel Halo - Jelly (Hyperdub)

If you are feeling the show then check out our social media feeds which highlight some of the great music that we stumble across in our wanderings through the world of music:

www.theslowmusicmovement.org
www.twitter.com/slowmusicmovmnt
www.instagram.com/theslowmusicmovement
www.facebook.com/theslowmusicmovement
www.slowmusicmovement.blogspot.de
www.theslowmusicmovement.tumblr.com/
www.pinterest.com/slowmusic
www.soundcloud.com/the-slow-music-mov...
www.bandcamp.com/theslowmusicmovement

The Slow Music Movement Radio Show #2

So here we are, the difficult sophomore radio show but I think we've nailed it. Arabic electronica, Norwegian stoner Americana, mystic beats, tropical vibes, otherworldly ambient, Brazilian, boogie and deep house it's all here. Get stuck in...



Oiseaux-Tempete - Ya Layl 3anyanki (Sub Rosa)
Geir Sundstol - Florianer (Hubro)
Kutiman - Mineral (Bandcamp)
TV POW - 1976 (Bandcamp)
Lost Midas - Calipatria feat nuTrik, Te'Amir Rmx (Tru Thoughts promo)
Afrikan Sciences - Inventors (Bandcamp)
Barrio Lindo - Na rua feat. Carrot Green (Shika Shika)
Steve Hauschildt - Strands (Kranky)
Supersentient Intelligence Construct - Altostratus ([d]-tached records)
Arthur Verocai - Caminho Da Roca (Far Out)
Danny Boy - Discomix (Eskimo)
Donnell Pitman & Wings Of Sunshine - Do You Wanna (Star Creature)
Karim Sahraoui - Gang Of Love, Afropahadisiac Mix (Compost Black)


If you are feeling the show then check out our social media feeds which highlight some of the great music that we stumble across in our wanderings through the world of music:

www.twitter.com/slowmusicmovmnt
www.instagram.com/theslowmusicmovement
www.facebook.com/theslowmusicmovement
www.slowmusicmovement.blogspot.de
www.theslowmusicmovement.tumblr.com/
www.pinterest.com/slowmusic
www.soundcloud.com/the-slow-music-mov...
www.bandcamp.com/theslowmusicmovement

The Slow Music Movement Radio Show #1

Welcome to the inaugural Slow Music Movement radio show,I hope you enjoy the music and if you do then hold tight there will be plenty more to come.

The Slow Music Movement was tentatively launched last year to provide an outlet for quality, eclectic, laid back music with a motto of "Lazy Days, Hazy Moments and Dancing To A Slower Groove". We're slowly ramping things up and the movement will eventually be many things but at the moment enjoy the music

Justin Walter - Unseen Forces (Kranky promo)
1982 - 06:19 (Hubro)
Fink - Little Bump (R'Coup'd)
Dexter Story - Xamar, Stomach Club Reflix Ruff 03 (Soundway)
Dazion - Rigola (Music From Memory)
Baba Ali - Cog In The Wheel (Ways & Means)
Ant Orange - Little Wing (Karaoke Kalk promo)
Luka Productions - Dignetignena (Sahel Sounds)
Six Organs Of Admittance - Threshold Of Light (Drag City)
Spirituals - Love Changes (Doumen)
Polygrains - Salome (Costa Levanda)
Manzanem - Don't Interrupt (PPU)
HOVE - Portes du Soleil (Light Of Other Days)


If you are feeling the show then check out our social media feeds which highlight some of the great music that we stumble across in our wanderings through the world of music:

www.twitter.com/slowmusicmovmnt
www.instagram.com/theslowmusicmovement
www.facebook.com/theslowmusicmovement
www.slowmusicmovement.blogspot.de
www.theslowmusicmovement.tumblr.com/
www.pinterest.com/slowmusic
www.soundcloud.com/the-slow-music-mov...
www.bandcamp.com/theslowmusicmovement

Ruspo - Dourados

It was with great joy last week we noticed a new Ruspo album in our Bandcamp feed so we felt compelled to spark the blog back into life and shout about it to the world. So without further ado hit play below and carry on reading as, not only is this a wonderful musical endeavor, there is a very serious message in the music. Now The Slow Music Movement is primarily concerned with the promotion of our deliberately vague musical philosophy and it is not our intention to enter the world of activism or politics but sometimes the two are so intertwined as to be inseparable. Welcome to Ruspo's world.




Ruspo first came to our attention in 2013 with his excellent debut album Esses Patifes which was one of those wonderful finds only Bandcamp's global platform could provide and which makes it our favourite and such an all round exciting place to go digital digging. You can have a listen to it here if you like:




Full of lo-fi, home produced breezy, Brazilian charm the new album Dourados partly picks up, certainly in its production approach, where Esses Patifes left off but due to the serious subject matter and Sposati's recent and disturbing experiences there is an unmistakable air of melancholy that pervades this sophomore album. The contrast between the two albums is most obviously highlighted by the new album cover. Gone is the warmth and the organic, artisanal vibe and in comes a grey, misty, vaguely dystopian photo which in my darker moments I imagine to be reclaimed agricultural land cut off from it's original displaced owners by newly installed fencing.

It's always interesting to have sleeve notes with an LP to provide further context to the music, especially in this digital age when such a thing is mostly deemed superfluous, and even more so when the lyrics are in a foreign language and really saying something so I've copied them here. Please brace yourself this is not pleasant reading.

  A little bit" grayer" than its predecessor, the new album is mainly set nearby Dourados, the second largest city in Mato Grosso do Sul state, near the Paraguay border - which is where the Guarani and Kaiowa indigenous peoples live. They have longstanding conflicts with agribusiness corporations, as the state is a central area in the Brazilian soybean industry. The monocultural export crop is notorious for displacing small farmers and Indigenous peoples.

During the 20th century, the Guarani and Kaiowa lost more than 90% of their territory to ranchers (and non-indigenous populations from other states, initially settled by the government as part of the "Conquer Of The West" national policy), and were put in small indigenous reservations, which are overpopulated. Food insecurity amongst their communities is as high as up to 100 percent - over four times higher than the national average. -, while also having one of the highest suicide rates in the world, and are plagued by alcoholism, depression, poverty and violence, due to the lack of land.

For the last couple of years, Sposati was one of the few journalists permanently based in Mato Grosso do Sul covering the Kaiowa story of their ongoing struggle to have their ancestral lands demarcated.

Although Brazil has strong constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression, the country is one of the most dangerous places in the world to practice journalism. Media workers are frequent targets of aggression, intimidation, and judicial censorship, while impunity for crimes against journalists remains high.

In response to his work, in 2013, federal policemen seized Sposati’s computer and sound recording equipment without a warrant while he was documenting the forced removal of an indigenous population from a land currently owned by a wealthy ex-right wing congressman and landowner from the state, and claimed by the Terena indigenous people as theirs.

Besides that, Sposati suffered several lawsuits and police inquiries aiming to put him off the track of his work of speaking out against violence targeting indigenous populations and other traditional communities in the country. He was also investigated in a parliamentary inquiry that falsely accused him of being related to the paraguayan guerillas (!) training indigenous peoples to "invade" private property, "serving international corporative interests" that are "interested in Brazil's natural resources". This is the surrealist environment where "Dourados" the album was crafted.

Despite this tragic story of the Guarani and Kaiowa people and Sposati's harrowing experiences in reporting it being the inspiration driving the album, there is still a Brazilian joie de vivre bubbling under the surface, as with so much of Brazil's music. A certain musical optimism that is saying that despite the dark political turns of recent times and the countless struggles, not only in Brazil but worldwide, there is still hope if all good men and women stand up and confront the greed, hate, discrimination, sexism, inequality, racism and violence.
  
Have a listen. Have a think. if you feel so compelled spread the word, do your bit and spread some love.

Mark McGuire - Cool Cloudscapes of The Four Directions Vol. 1 (Bandcamp Self Release)

The new age of new age music is upon us. Now I was never a fan of the whole new age vibe, perhaps it's just me getting old or possibly this has more balls or substance than your run of the mill, well meaning but far too glassy eyed, wishy washy new age fare? Possibly I'm increasingly feeling the need to decompress from modern living - the constant bombardment of information, the dissatisfaction with global elites be them media, political, business or military, the pace of change and the unsustainability of it all? Possibly it's because this album is sold on Bandcamp rather than a web site that looks like it was designed in 2002? Perhaps I just need to buy a house in the country? Whatever - this album is helping.

Noname - Telefone (Bandcamp Self Release)

When you are this natural sounding you don't need to cake on the studio make up. This album is organic wholemeal musical bread from an artisanal hip hop bakery not an urban music donut from Walmart. Eat this album and feel a whole lot healthier.

If Nonames effortlessly flow was not enough she has also enlisted a wonderful cast of collaborators to compliment her conscious, fluid like water, lyrical dexterity. I've never heard of any of them before but there could be the makings of an epic Chicago collective if the talents of theMIND, Raury, Cam O'bi, Xavier Omar, Eryn Allen Kane, Akenya, Ravyn Lanae,  Saba, Smino & Phoelix chose to combine.

If that wasn't enough the girl is doing it for herself by self releasing the album so show her some love and buy it from her Bandcamp page above.

Smith & Mudd - Gorthleck (Claremont 56)

So judging by their release schedule it would appear that Smith and Mudd have been living in an abandoned fisherman's hut in a secret Ibizian cala for the last few years not having released an album since 2009. That is until you realise this is just one alias amongst various pseudonyms that the duo have utilised, either together or separately, to release a steady stream of EPs and albums in that seven year period..

It has to be said that it has been well worth the wait. In those fallow years the duo have honed their craft and the production and song writing has reached a whole new level of maturity. If you know and love Smith and Mudd's previous records then don't worry the vibes have stayed the same, this album will be your new summer soundtrack and DJs at any musically discerning beach bar will be utilising several of the tracks to serenade the sun's decent into the sea over this and many summers to come. Quite how they managed that feat having decamped to humid, chilly old Scotland with a tight team of musical accomplices to record the album is a mystery - perhaps the album is a climatic cry for help?

What has changed with this album is the extra assuredness in the song writing that the duo seem to have developed. R&B, flamenco, kosmiche, folk, ambient, dub, classical & rock are all effortlessly interwoven to soundtrack that difficult transition from the beach towel to the bar stool with a sea view or the sofa to the corner shop for skins, depending on your luck. There really is a new found confidence in their musical expression and a better understanding on how to convey all those moods and moments without the aid of lyrics in this instrumental delight of an album. Where perhaps silence would have previously been filled by effects or slightly cliched synth (wishy) washes now instruments either solo or interlocking are given space to breathe and tell their tale. Not that there isn't a healthy amount of electronic tinkering during the recording just that these days it sounds far more complimentary than compensatory.

So as usual music is much better listened to than read about so get your ears around the album via the player below and see what you think.....

Lazy Dubs #1

So here is the first of The Slow Music Movement's Dub mixes and trust us there's going to be a few of these. Ever since the 60's in Jamaica dub has been gradually infiltrating the outer reaches of music production and, despite increased awareness due to the rise (and fall) of dubstep in recent years, it has never fully gained mainstream acceptance. Instead it's been lurking in the musical shadows adding it's staple traits and effects to outsider music across the genre spectrum and this mix attempts to highlight some of those backwater resting places for this most timeless of musical genres.




Vatican Shadow - Swords Over Paradise (Infrastructure New York)
Teichmann & Ukoo Flani - Whateverman Dub (Outhere)
Deadbeat - Ain't No More Flowers feat. Fink (BLKRTZ)
Blundetto - Above The Dub (Heavenly Sweetness)
T_A_M - You Don't Want To Look Back There (Apothecary Compositions)
Dr. Zygote - Lunar Dub (Black Acre)
Shantel - Bucovina, OMFO Dub (Essay)
Stillhead feat. Mu Vonz - Maybe We Ain't Dead (Here & Now)
Nomine - Lost Girl feat. Iustina (Nomine Sound)
Me Raabenstein - Ad (Nonine)
Root 70 - Get Things Straight, Instrumental (Non Place)
MM Studio - The Good Star Dub (Album Label)
Hidden Operator - Cloudy Dub (Kings Chamber)
Urich Troyer feat. Vin Gordon - Deadlock, Vin Gordon Version (4 Bit Productions)
Doomsquad - Farmers Almanac (Bella Union)

I hope you enjoy and if you do maybe you would think about sharing it on social media? This is just the beginning of The Slow Music Movement, we have big plans but any assistance along the way would really be appreciated. Talking of social media we are totally covered so connect & stay in touch. Facebook & Twitter are updated pretty regularly with musical tips & reviews appear on the blogs.

Lazy Days #2

So the second installment of the newly minted Lazy Days mix series is up for listening. As usual it is an eclectic selection of laid back grooves and tunes mostly from this year but this time I've also thrown in a couple of older tunes that helped to connect the disparate styles. It's not easy listening lounge designed to wash over you and a good listen or two will definitely be rewarded.

So from ambient to dubstep, hip hop to beats, deep house to Balearic, a couple of quirky leftfield pop numbers and a forgotten Zouk classic to finish - it's all here in a nice flowing mix which attempts to make sense of all the various styles.

I hope you enjoy and if you do maybe you would think about sharing it on social media? This is just the beginning of The Slow Music Movement, we have big plans but any assistance along the way developing interest in the project would really be appreciated. Talking of social media we are totally covered with just about every type of account you can think so connect and stay in touch. Facebook and Twitter are updated pretty regularly with musical tips and small reviews of great new releases appear on the blogs.

Enjoy.


Olivier Alary - Yangtze (Fat Cat)
Kaiju - Burn Down Babylon (Deep Medi)
Clubroot - Low Pressure Zone (Lo Dubs)
Terem - Turn My Head (Bandcamp Self Release)
Your Gay Thoughts - Spitting Image (King Deluxe)
Strangers Of Necessity - Mass Appeal (Bandcamp Self Release)
Sly Johnson - Why feat. Rachel Claudio, Erik Truffaz & Valerie Delgado (Heavenly Sweetness)
Letherette - Suzette (Wulf)
Raphael Top-Secret - Love So High (Antinote)
David August - J.B.Y. (Counter)
Guiro Meets Russia - Ziggurat (Verlag System)
Jessy Lanza - Begins (Hyperdub)
Markus Stockhausen & Martux_m Crew - Mm02 (Resiliens)
Loose Ends - Hanging On A String, Frankie Knuckles Classic Club Reprise (Chair)
Ramon Pyrme - Vacance Union (Heavenly Sweetness)