| RADIO
CITY FEATURING BAJKA "E.P. ONE"
“Encompassing
future funk, old soul, new jazz and dreamy dub into their well-rounded
sound…. The lovechild of Morcheeba and Portishead.”
BLUES & SOUL (SINGLE OF THE FORTNIGHT)
“Great release,
nice to see the ex–Poets Of Rhythm coming back strong. ‘Everything’
is a real beauty. 5/5”
RAINER TRÜBY
“Just what I’m
into these days. Bajka’s voice fits perfectly with exotic,
ethereal and esoteric jazz styles like that”
GERALD SHORT (JAZZMAN RECORDINGS)
“Heavy, heady,
and very good.”
FUTUREBOOGIE
Strictly
Limited Edition wax featuring 4 brand new tracks from Radio City.
Heavyweight future funk meets spiritual jazz on the follow-up
to Radio City’s “The Hop”, already getting the
nod from Gilles Peterson et al…
Stepping out Summer 2005 with “The Hop” on the HVW8/Ubiquity
“Music Is My Art” compilation Radio Citys mad DJ-friendly
mix of dub and soul caught the ears of folks worldwide. This is
the first EP from the group featuring a total of 4 brand new tracks,
including 2 new exclusives with Bajka the vocalist from “The
Hop”. “The Hop” was featured on the HVW8 12”
which we could not keep in stock and was a lead track on the HVW8
full-length compilation.
“Everything” is a mid-tempo DJ friendly old school
soul meets funk joint, while “The Prophets” treads
in Mulatu territory combing Afro-beat, jazz and funk. On the flip,
Bajka vocals ride a mad jazz track called “Voices”
complete with furious drum breaks and rounding out the EP is the
heavyweight soundtrack-like epic “Mondlicht”.
Radio City aka Niko Schabel (and a collective of musicians and
vocalists) hails from Berlin and their sound ranges from slack
dub, moody folksy-soul, to adrenalin infused and spirituall-charged
cinematic jazz. Radio City tracks are a loosely glued collage
of sampled textures which are embellished with gifted musicians
and often topped-off with the seductive vocals of the worldly
Bajka. It sounds complicated, but the end result is simple and
addictive. Think Fela meets Mulatu meets Archie Shepp meets Quantic.
It’s future world funk and global jazz business.
In addition to the sampler and mixing desk Schabel plays alto
saxophone, clarinet and bass clarinet, kalimba and small percussion,
plus rhodes, flute and synthesiser. He is regularly assisted by
vocalist Bajka and flute and sax man Wolfi. Bajka was born in
an Indian temple and grew up in Afghanistan, Nepal, Pakistan and
on a catamaran in South Africa. She has traveled the world with
a music commune called Embryo that her uncle founded and father
was a member of, and which coincidentally Schabel was also a latter
day guest. Bajka has recorded with Compost act Beanfield and released
solo records on the Jazzman label. In addition Schabel has played
and performed with the Niko Schabel Quartet, the Express Brass
Band, the Poets of Rhythm, Jojo Kuo (ex-Fela Kuti), Nik McCarthy
(Franz Ferdinand), the Last Poets, and many more.
Radio City aka, 27 year old Niko Schabel, was brought to our attention
by Quantic. “Have a listen, you might like this,”
he said handing over a CD-r to Ubiquity A+R rep Andrew Jervis
after a gig in San Francisco. He was right.
To read more about Radio City, click
here.
BLUES
AND SOUL SINGLE OF THE FORTNIGHT:
RADIO CITY: Radio City EP One (Ubiquity)
Ooooh, how delish is this? Radio City is Berlin boy Niko Schabel
and his enviable band. Encompassing future funk, old soul, new
jazz and dreamy dub into their well-rounded sound, Radio City
release this debut 4-track EP and the finished product is pure
niceness. On the A are ‘Everything’ and ‘The
Prophets’. The former is the EP highlight- sounding like
the lovechild of Morcheeba and Portishead, with big bass, bold
brass and a scrumptious, smoky vocal from her royal highness of
funk, Bajka. The latter is a hectic Giles Peterson-style jazz
funker. Bajka returns on the flip with the trippy spoken word
of ‘Voices’, while track ‘Mondlicht’ is
more mellow than those pink and white fluffy sweets. If you like
Ursula Rucker, Massive Attack and Nostalgia 77, you’ll love
this. (Out: February 7th)
(verdict: delicious and nutritious) 5/5
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