Markus Schwartz & Lakou Brooklyn

Markus started with electronic music in 1993. Starting to deejay with friends at a youth club and illegal parties in Leipzig, he went on spinning techno records till 1997. After a three-year-detour over hip hop - Markus was a DJ of local sound crews - he eventually came back to 4/4 rhythms…

Arguably the UK’s leading independent electronic music maestro Ian Boddy has teamed up once again with German touch guitarist, Markus Reuter to create a stunning album called Pure.
Although Boddy and Reuter have collaborated in concert (at Jodrell Bank in 1999 & the E-Live Festival in Eindhoven 2000), Pure represents their second proper studio outing since their impressive 1999 debut, Distant Rituals.
Pure is radically different from the impressionistic prowl of its predecessor. Their collaboration earlier this year was based around a series of distinct musical ideas. Boddy and Reuter explored and expanded the pieces into a cycle of intricate, inter-connected compositions; delicate in expression and character, graceful in execution and richly harmonic…

Arguably the UK’s leading independent electronic music maestro Ian Boddy has teamed up once again with German touch guitarist, Markus Reuter to create a stunning album called Pure.
Although Boddy and Reuter have collaborated in concert (at Jodrell Bank in 1999 & the E-Live Festival in Eindhoven 2000), Pure represents their second proper studio outing since their impressive 1999 debut, Distant Rituals.
Pure is radically different from the impressionistic prowl of its predecessor. Their collaboration earlier this year was based around a series of distinct musical ideas. Boddy and Reuter explored and expanded the pieces into a cycle of intricate, inter-connected compositions; delicate in expression and character, graceful in execution and richly harmonic…

This end-of-the-millennium quartet session probably best defines all the inherent contradictions in who ECM attracts to the label – what kind of musician records for them – and what concerns these artists and ECM's chief producer (and creator) Manfred Eicher hold in common. This set, although clearly fronted by Markus Stockhausen and Arild Andersen on brass and bass, respectively, allows space for the entire quartet to inform its direction. Héral and Rypdal are not musicians who can play with just anybody; their distinctive styles and strengths often go against the grain of contemporary European jazz and improvised music. Of the 11 compositions here, four are collectively written, with two each by Andersen and Stockhausen.

Alleingang (Going it Alone), Markus Becker’s second solo album is released by BERTHOLD records on October 29th 2021. In his own inimitable style, the renowned concert pianist has created a jazz and classical music mosaic. In his first solo album Freistil (Free Style) he developed structures out of largely spontaneous improvisations. “In Alleingang,” explains Becker “I most often thought out structures and themes first, and then created the music live in the Sendesaal, Radio Bremen’s concert hall, where as always they did such a great job. That suits my own ‘Alleinstellungsmerkmal’ which is a lovely German word for ‘unique selling point’.”

Brooklyn Funk Essentials have been fusing soul, hip hop, spoken word, jazz and, of course, funk for 25 years and over 6 albums, the most recent ’Stay Good’ is released on September 20th. During this time they have made a name for themselves as electric performers, exhilarating their loyal and broad fanbase with performances on every continent. Established in the early ‘90s by Arthur Baker and Lati Kronlund, Brooklyn Funk Essentials were regulars of New York’s vibrant club scene when their debut album, ‘Cool & Steady & Easy’, hit the shelves. Released by pioneering funk and electronic taste-makers Dorado Records and combining classic funk’s raw, mind-bending basslines, peak-era disco’s euphoric vocals and early hip-hop’s observational lyricism, the album and its follow up, ‘Make Em Like It’ topped charts around the world. Fast forward to 2019 and following 2015’s reunion with Dorado and the success of ‘Funk Ain’t Ova’, the band are set to release ‘Stay Good’, a fun, funky and fresh collection of tracks featuring throughout are the powerful and soulful vocals of Alison Limerick, now a full time member of the band. Lati wrote and produced her debut hit ‘Where Love Lives’.