Some stone cold jazz classics alongside epic heartbreakers, textural production magic and Malian treasure.

We start this new week with a proper all-timer. Available for the first time in ages, Deserter’s Songs is the absolute landmark of lushness from Mercury Rev. After some rocky commercial reception on the previous couple of releases, a major label debut followed and word-of-mouth success brought the band to a whole new level. Deserter’s Songs is just sublime, heartbreaking hooks and some of the most crushingly-beautiful cinematics going. It was a joy to stick this one on again over the weekend.
Also out of the racks for quite a while now is Burial’s stunning Untrue. The producer's second LP just grew and grew, with end of year lists and a Mercury-nomination adding to his mystique. It remains such dark and textural production, really amazing stuff.

As their fiftieth release, Awesome Tapes from Africa present iconic Malian singer Nahawa Doumbia’s beloved Vol. 2. Recorded in 1982 and not widely available outside Mali since, it is a really beautiful album, with Doumbia’s voice just souring, accompanied by her partner N’gou Bagayoko’s knotty guitar lines. The label really have done a meticulous job in cleaning up the audio too; not that we’ve heard the original outside of YouTube, but this 2024 edition is sumptuous listening.

The week’s jazz offer is rather spectacular, it has to be said.

Jimmy Smith’s The Cat is an organ woozing gem, with his Hammond B-3 really finding space between jazz and blues, and Lalo Schifrin orchestrations are bloody good too.

One of the funniest literal sleeves going, with saxophonist Sonny Rollins gunned right up the hip on Way Out West (shot by the iconic William Claxton). Recorded deep into the night with a trio of Rollins, Ray Brown (bass) and Shelly Manne (drums), it really has a lush breeze going on.

Two stonkers as part of the Blue Note Tone Poet series. Firstly, organist Freddie Roach’s swinging Good Move, that has a fantastic band and another brilliantly literal sleeve. Also, saxophonist Hank Mobley’s A Slice Of The Top with his formidable octet. Both editions are in stereo, produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tapes and pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI. Decent.
We did mention last week that we have a bit of a long standing Jack Kerouac thing going on, so we have been absolutely hammering Readings by Jack Kerouac on the Beat Generation. His third and final album was recorded ahead of the publication of his novel, Doctor Sax, and the way he weaves such hypnotic threads is pretty captivating. His retention is amazing, a furious and breathless flow.

Lastly, we have a cool tenth anniversary pressing of Run The Jewels always-essential 2. This edition is available on Audiophile-Grade 180-gram vinyl and the sleeve is customisable, with swappable RTJ stickers. It also includes the ‘Blockbuster Night Part 2’ featuring Despot and Wiki, which was previously a Japanese exclusive.