The shape-shifting veteran Jeff Parker crafts a beautiful soundscape pitched between tradition and futurism, modal jazz and digital glitch in new album Suite for Max Brown. Over a fascinating, boundary-straddling career with the likes of post-rock gods Tortoise, Isotope 217, Tricolor, the Chicago Underground Quartet as well as countless dates as a sideman and collaborator, … [Read more...] about Jeff Parker & The New Breed: Suite For Max Brown – Review
New Music 2020: The Best Releases for the Start of the Decade
Who are the exciting new artists you should be investigating or seeing live over the next twelve months? Here are Vinyl Chapters writer Michael Sumsion’s tips for the top in 2020… As a new decade is upon us, I’ve thrown down the gauntlet to anticipate the big breakthrough artists and bands of the coming twelve months. Which promising new faces are set to slip into the … [Read more...] about New Music 2020: The Best Releases for the Start of the Decade
The Best Tracks of 2019
Michael Sumsion takes stock and presents his personal selection of the Best Tracks of 2019, from cyber-soul to Americana, encompassing brooding ballads, spacey avant-jazz reverie and oddball folk. 10. TYLER, THE CREATOR: Puppet Tyler Okonma aka rapper, producer, director, songwriter and fashion designer Tyler, The Creator, wowed fans and critics alike this year with his … [Read more...] about The Best Tracks of 2019
Roy Brooks: The Free Slave – Vinyl Reissue
Michael Sumsion explores the vinyl reissue of a cult gem from the jazz vaults, Roy Brooks’ exquisite 1970’s masterpiece, The Free Slave. The drummer Roy Brooks was a pillar of the Detroit jazz scene of the 1960s and 1970s, predominantly known for his sterling support for household names such as Yusef Lateef, Pharoah Sanders, Horace Silver, Charles Mingus, Dexter Gordon, Lee … [Read more...] about Roy Brooks: The Free Slave – Vinyl Reissue
Arlo Parks: Super Sad Generation – Review
At the tender age of nineteen, singer-songwriter Arlo Parks has already cemented an exalted reputation in the music industry for her precocious talent, a tremulous synthesis of gritty, poetic lyricism and dusty beats that has garnered her the extolment of ‘breakthrough star of 2019’. Having broken onto the scene last year with her Cola single, a delicate exploration of the … [Read more...] about Arlo Parks: Super Sad Generation – Review
The Best Vinyl Reissues and Compilations: 2019
From Afro jams to soulful gospel, encompassing psychedelia, dub and Krautrock, Michael Sumsion runs his eye over the cream of the crop of 2019 reissues and compilations on vinyl. The vinyl renaissance continued apace in 2019, augmented by a plethora of archival releases. With a spread of geography, genre and theme further widening the scope of product, this year has … [Read more...] about The Best Vinyl Reissues and Compilations: 2019