Really great vocal work from legendary underground figure Brion Gysin – best known as a poet, but also a key European connection for the American beats – and a frequent partner in the language experiments by William S Burroughs! Here, Gysin mixes his words in both singing and spoken styles – a bit more of the former than some of his recordings with avant jazz musicians – and hits a groove that bubbles over with all sorts of cool funky touches that often recall the vibe of the Ze Records material from the French scene of the early 80s. Ramuntcho Matta handles production and the main creative direction of the music – and opens the door to work from Don Cherry on pocket trumpet, Lizzy Mercier Descloux and Caroline Loeb on vocals, and Yann Le Ker on bass and guitar,. Titles include "Sham Pain", "Junk", "Kick (discomix)", "Stop Smoking", and "Baboon". LP also features the unreleased tracks "Kick (alt 7" mix)" and "Kick (alt 7" inst)" – plus "All Those Years", "VVV", and "Stop Smoking (alt mix)". LP, Vinyl record album

A really unique little record – this amazing mix of keyboard jazz and spoken word – and unlike anything else we can think of! We might be tempted to think of the set as a more spiritual journey into territory that Rick Holmes explored with Roy Ayers – but the record is much more open and free-flowing – with a range of different keyboards from leader Abdur Razzaq, who plays Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, and other keys – and also delivers a lot of percussion too! Rafiyq performs the vocals – and is recorded with this slight echo that makes his wisdom sound even more majestic – and titles include the long "Night Of Power (parts 1 & 2)", and the shorter "Reflections From The Grave". (Jazz, Spoken Word) CD