http://www.commercial-break.biz Impartial reviews recommending the best in nu jazz, neo soul and broken beat music, alongside articles on contemporary and leftfield culture en-gb Copyright 2007-present Commercial Break Sun, 24 Jan 2010 04:09:56 +1100 http://www.rssfeedssubmit.com/rss-generator/ http://www.commercial-break.biz/nino_atwood_ferguson_suite_for_ma_dukes_timeless_dvd.html The most overlooked recording of 2009 was undoubtedly Suite For Ma Dukes, an EP by Carlos Nino and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson that commemorated the work of hip hop DJ J Dilla... http://www.commercial-break.biz/nino_atwood_ferguson_suite_for_ma_dukes_timeless_dvd.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/silhouette_brown_two_news.html To many, the imminent release of Silhouette Brown's new album, Two, will mean absolutely nothing. However, to those who bought Silhouette Brown's debut album five years ago... http://www.commercial-break.biz/silhouette_brown_two_news.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/zo_just_visiting_too_EP_news.html An increasing number of musicians are giving away their work in a bid to get noticed. It's a ploy followed by Maryland-based music producer Zo!. On ...just visiting too, he, along with singers like... http://www.commercial-break.biz/zo_just_visiting_too_EP_news.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/got_the_bug_2_bugz_in_the_attic.html Like Domu's One Offs, Remixes And B Sides compilation, which shows off Dominic Stanton's talents better than his solo album, Got The Bug 2 does the same for this west London collective. Their 2006 album... http://www.commercial-break.biz/got_the_bug_2_bugz_in_the_attic.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/kamaal_the_abstract_q-tip.html There are several theories as to why the music industry is in a bind. One reason points to record company greed: it helped stoke the flames of piracy. Judging by the tortuous history of Kamaal The Abstract, we... http://www.commercial-break.biz/kamaal_the_abstract_q-tip.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/blacksummers_night_maxwell.html Eight years after Now, the Brooklyn-born sex god is back, minus the afro, to serenade any female within earshot. But before Maxwell became a statuesque bundle of erotic energy, it's worth noting that... http://www.commercial-break.biz/blacksummers_night_maxwell.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/sweet_liberation_colonel_red_news.html Singer-songwriter Colonel Red, whose voice can be heard on such hits as Daz-I-Kue's Rokstone (Soon Come), is about to release his second solo album on the... http://www.commercial-break.biz/sweet_liberation_colonel_red_news.html http://www.commercial-break.biz But hopefully you won't notice anything. If there are any problems, please accept our apologies http://www.commercial-break.biz http://www.commercial-break.biz/one_offs_remixes_b_sides_domu.html At the turn of the century, it seemed that on a weekly basis, another broken beat track was released on ground-breaking labels such as Bitasweet and Main Squeeze. The likes of IG Culture, Bugz In The Attic, Seiji... http://www.commercial-break.biz/one_offs_remixes_b_sides_domu.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/extensions_4hero_news.html It's customary to wait a while for 4hero albums - Play With The Changes was six years in the making - so, after just two years, it comes as welcome surprise to hear that another album is due in October... http://www.commercial-break.biz/extensions_4hero_news.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/hyper_reality_clyde.html The Encyclopaedia Britannica says "funk defies literal definition". Damn right it defies literal definition. What on earth is "funky"? Are any of those "funky house" tracks truly... http://www.commercial-break.biz/hyper_reality_clyde.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/through_sight_and_sound_news.html Fans of The Cinematic Orchestra should check out the free Through Sight And Sound EP by Inspired Flight, a duo that hails from San Diego, California. Tracks An Outlet and... http://www.commercial-break.biz/through_sight_and_sound_news.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/all_in_one_audio.html Back in the '80s when CDs began superseding vinyl among music lovers, the question raging among audiophiles was which format sounded best. (It was vinyl, by the way.) Today that debate... http://www.commercial-break.biz/all_in_one_audio.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/rob_van_de_wouw_news.html Nu jazz keyboardist Mark de Clive-Lowe took a break from his world tour to present tracks from Tunnelvision, the forthcoming album by Dutch trumpeter Rob van den Wouw... http://www.commercial-break.biz/rob_van_de_wouw_news.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/andy_gilmore_geometric_illustrations.html For a while, this designer from Rochester, New York, has been creating ripples in the art world. Many of his complex, geometric images resemble etches produced by Spirograph toys... http://www.commercial-break.biz/andy_gilmore_geometric_illustrations.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/philips_cinema_news.html 'Tis a little known fact that when you watch your regular TV - which delivers movies at a standard 16:9 ratio - you're not seeing the entire film. Bits are left off. Hence... http://www.commercial-break.biz/philips_cinema_news.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/higher_michelle_amador.html Roy Ayers. Roy Ayers. Roy Ayers. That's the name that springs to mind when listening to Higher. In fact, Ayers is pretty much in the room on He And She, a superb song that... http://www.commercial-break.biz/higher_michelle_amador.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/the_new_continent.html Some say material on this album sounds a bit like Pat Metheny. They're mistaken. There's material on this album that sounds a lot like Pat Metheny. All those "eee yaaahs" and... http://www.commercial-break.biz/the_new_continent.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/brotherly_news.html Anna Stubbs and Robin Mullarkey (aka Brotherly) have released Spin Down, the decidedly funky single from their forthcoming LP that's currently being mixed at Flowriders Studio in Amsterdam... http://www.commercial-break.biz/brotherly_news.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/the_after_suite.html This New York pianist looks like a jazz man, sounds like a jazz man, and yet makes music non-jazzers would love. The numerous vocal tracks on this album will reassure those who flee at the hint of a sax solo... http://www.commercial-break.biz/the_after_suite.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/del_tha_funkee_homosapien_news.html Oakland native Teren Delvon Jones, better known as Del tha Funkee Homosapien (and Ice Cube's cousin), had a hit with the rather catchy Mistadobalina back in 1991. The album from which it sprang... http://www.commercial-break.biz/del_tha_funkee_homosapien_news.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/when_planets_explode.html With his floppy blond locks and second-hand T-shirts, Dorian Concept personifies nerdiness. You can hear it in his music. Every intro on When Planets Explode begins with, what appears to be, a... http://www.commercial-break.biz/when_planets_explode.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/pakula_rollover_financial_crisis.html Business journalists have, with some justification, been criticised for not foreseeing the current economic crisis. Hollywood, it seems, may have done a better job. Flawed financial thriller Rollover culminates... http://www.commercial-break.biz/pakula_rollover_financial_crisis.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/in_search_of_hope.html Kaidi, like other broken beat practitioners, shuns the limelight. But if you've been paying attention during the past decade, you would've heard his Hancock-esque keyboard playing on tracks by... http://www.commercial-break.biz/in_search_of_hope.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/j.period_q-tip_news.html Q-Tip, from seminal rap group A Tribe Called Quest, is no stranger to record company politics. His 2002 album Kamaal The Abstract was dropped by Arista Records for not being commercial enough, while... http://www.commercial-break.biz/j.period_q-tip_news.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/the_renaissance.html There was probably an almighty unclenching of buttocks when this CD was released, such was the tension surrounding it. Q-Tip was under pressure; only President Obama had more... http://www.commercial-break.biz/the_renaissance.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/new_amerykah_part_one.html There's been a lot of ballyhoo - bordering on hysteria - surrounding this album. That's because Badu is neo-soul royalty; the kind of artist blessed with fans (or should that be... http://www.commercial-break.biz/new_amerykah_part_one.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/lomography.html Analogue is on life support. It's been teetering on the edge of extinction for two decades, as music, photography and TV succumb to all things digital. But tucked away in... http://www.commercial-break.biz/lomography.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/a_next_set_a_rockers.html Major labels make it painless for fans to buy their wares anywhere in any format. Wanna download? iTunes and Amazon are primed to take your cash. Prefer a CD? You can buy one... http://www.commercial-break.biz/a_next_set_a_rockers.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/karen_p_broadcasting.html There are really just two types of movies. Those that dole out what audiences expect: punching, humping and pyrotechnic spectacles; and those that dissect issues close to their... http://www.commercial-break.biz/karen_p_broadcasting.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/cultureintro.html The best way to capture the essence of Claire Brewster's work is by seeing it in person. Images and words fail to convey the precise, meticulous quality of her... http://www.commercial-break.biz/cultureintro.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/planet_pimp.html If you're not already familiar with this Japanese sextet, they apparently play death jazz. According to a press release, the term was coined by the band... http://www.commercial-break.biz/planet_pimp.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/jazzrefreshed_vol1.html Double CDs have a bad rep because record companies flog them like bog rolls. Now That's What I Call Ukulele Hits doesn't promise punters fabulous music; it promises them value for money, as if by... http://www.commercial-break.biz/jazzrefreshed_vol1.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/sketches_of_a_man.html Dwele loves vowels. The neo-soulster likes nothing better than taking a vowel, any vowel, and wrestling with it. So phrases like "with you" are, in Dwele-speak, pronounced... http://www.commercial-break.biz/sketches_of_a_man.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/this_thing_of_ours.html Back in the day, an artist only had to knock out eight or nine songs before releasing an LP. (Wasn't Off The Wall 45 minutes long?) But with CDs, musicians feel compelled to give punters value for money, which means... http://www.commercial-break.biz/this_thing_of_ours.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/then_what_happened.html ... most hip-hop is so mainstream it could be considered a subgenre of pop. Rhymesters like 50 Cent and Lil' Wayne are little more than breathing brands who'll endorse everything from sneakers to video games, before the obligatory Hollywood roles come a-knocking... http://www.commercial-break.biz/then_what_happened.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/guaranteed_niceness.html To celebrate the tenth anniversary of Sonar Kollektiv, an independent label that crafts clinical cuts of a jazzy nature, the Berliners have released a collection of old tunes that sound remarkably new. An avalanche of strings and horns transform songs that were... http://www.commercial-break.biz/guaranteed_niceness.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/blek_le_rat.html With Bristolian graffiti artist Banksy fetching a whopping £322,900 at Sotheby's in 2007 for his work The Rude Lord, it's worth noting that before Banksy, there was Xavier Prou (aka Blek le Rat), dubbed the "the godfather of politically conscious graffiti" by... http://www.commercial-break.biz/blek_le_rat.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/kissey_asplund_news.html Kissey Asplund has been described as Sweden's answer to Erykah Badu and, to be honest, that's a fair assessment. Like the Headwrapped One, the sound of this songstress (of Swedish and Caribbean parentage) is steeped in hip-hop, as reflected in her debut album Plethora... http://www.commercial-break.biz/kissey_asplund_news.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/loud_louder_stop.html This album is sandwiched between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Fans of nu jazz, who favour a mains-powered instrument in the mix, will be put off by an acoustic trio. Meanwhile "proper" jazzers... http://www.commercial-break.biz/loud_louder_stop.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/junkyard_gods.html There wouldn't be a broken beat or nu-jazz scene without the likes of Earl Zinger and Demus (of Galliano and the Young Disciples fame, respectively). Both were trailblazers of Acid Jazz, a genre that spawned... http://www.commercial-break.biz/junkyard_gods.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/4hero_mixing.html The aim of this compilation is to "investigate the musical influences" of 4hero (aka Marc Mac and Dego) through an expansive selection of songs that spans J Dilla's hip-hop breaks... http://www.commercial-break.biz/4hero_mixing.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/seven_ways_to_wonder.html Upon hearing the first few bars of Seven Ways To Wonder, you suspect Oli Lazarus and co. have omitted a couple of words from this album's title. Seven Ways To "Be Stevie" Wonder might be more apt... http://www.commercial-break.biz/seven_ways_to_wonder.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/california.html In much modern music, Svengali-like producers exert an inordinate amount of control over an album's sound. That's not the case here. Gardiner's voice is central to California's mood and feel... http://www.commercial-break.biz/california.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/broadcite_acetate.html The Broadcite crew is a resourceful bunch that isn't afraid to take risks. Years ago, when the collective set out to attract clubbers to its new broken-beat gigs, it didn't hand out cheap flyers... http://www.commercial-break.biz/broadcite_acetate.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/the_real_thing.html This album should be dire, since Scott has been preoccupied of late. While recording The Real Thing, she appeared in Tyler Perry's comedy drama Why Did I Get Married?, before auditioning for the role of Precious Ramotswe... http://www.commercial-break.biz/the_real_thing.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/rf_presentsr.html Fans of nu jazz tread a different path from the rest of the pop-besotted world. They love the idiosyncratic scene, with its unpredictable rhythms and oblique melodies. But with their passion comes frustration... http://www.commercial-break.biz/rf_presentsr.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/bauhaus.html To suss out what makes cities tick, a schooling in he immensely influential Bauhaus movement is advised. At the beginning of the last century its lofty ideals... http://www.commercial-break.biz/bauhaus.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/takashi_murakami.html It's a cliche to call Takashi Murakami "Japan's answer to Andy Warhol", but there are some inescapable similarities between the hip Japanese artist and the iconic US figure. Warhol took everyday... http://www.commercial-break.biz/takashi_murakami.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/ruedyr.html Vincent Helbers, the Dutch dude behind the Flowriders, appears intent on sabotaging his career. Take, for instance, his moniker. Flowriders sounds more like a lavatory cleaner than a cutting-edge band... http://www.commercial-break.biz/ruedyr.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/art_of_love_and_warr.html Even though she came to prominence on the back of the success of neo-soul artists such as D'Angelo and Erykah Badu, Stone has never sat comfortably with those incense-burning cat... http://www.commercial-break.biz/art_of_love_and_warr.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/power_soulr.html Articles on this multi-instrumentalist often mention that he's an underrated talent and you sense he's distinctly aware of being overlooked. On Power Soul, Peven never tires of reminding you of who you're listening to... http://www.commercial-break.biz/power_soulr.html http://www.commercial-break.biz/the_politik.html You might not have heard any debates or seen any rallies, but you'll no doubt be already familiar with The Politik. For years, keyboardist Mark de Clive-Lowe and songstress Bembe Segue have elected to campaign... http://www.commercial-break.biz/the_politik.html