BONUS: My Favourite Digs of 2023
Here's a list of fifteen of my favourite digs from the year that has almost been.
Selected Works is a weekly (usually) newsletter by the Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa (Wellington, New Zealand) based freelance music journalist, broadcaster, copywriter and sometimes DJ Martyn Pepperell, aka Yours Truly. Most weeks, Selected Works consists of a recap of what I’ve been doing lately and some of what I’ve been listening to and reading, paired with film photographs I’ve taken + some bonuses. All of that said, sometimes it takes completely different forms.
I know I said I was done for the year, but before I’m really done for the year, I wanted to share a few personal record/CD digs and discoveries from 2023. Some of this stuff is pretty obscure, and some of it is just really great music people have tried to tell me about in the past but I never got around to listening to - until this year. Music is a beautiful thing, but it’s also a funny thing. Sometimes you have to take your own time and build your relationship with it on your own terms and time.
Roberto Cacciapaglia, The Ann Steel Album
The first time I heard about this record was when Matt McDermott referenced it in his review of Kate NV’s Room For The Moon (2020) for Resident Advisor while describing it as “1979 but futuristic as fuck.” After I read that, I was keen to check it out properly, but it took me a couple of years to find an affordable copy (shipping to New Zealand can be a killer). A one-off collaboration between the Italian electronic composer Roberto Cacciapaglia and Michigan singer Ann Steel, The Ann Steel Album reframes Cacciapaglia’s avant-garde influences inside a sturdy future-pop sound. Long story short, it’s a lot of fun. [Listen here]
Culturemix, Geography
When I interviewed the Japanese pianist and composer Yumiko Morioka for Bandcamo Daily in 2021, she put me onto Culturemix, her nineties band project with British guitarist Bill Nelson (of Be Bop Deluxe). While their 1995 album, Culturemix with Bill Nelson, was easy to score, getting hold of their 1993 album Geography, took a lot longer. Essentially, it’s a continuation of the global village fantasies she explored with her Synergetic Voice Orchestra group. Maybe one for the completists, maybe not. The full album used to be on Youtube, but sadly no longer.
Jane Fostin, Jane Fostin
Jane Fostin, born December 27, 1973, in Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, is a French singer and a former member of the group Zouk Machine. In 1997, she released her self-titled RnB/Swing album through the Ariola label. I found my way here while I was conducting some research into the 90s French RnB, New Jack Swing, and Neo Soul scene for a two-hour DJ mix for Dublab. The best of the tracks on here achieve a perfect balance between the swingbeat bounce, the whirl of g-funk and the richly ascendent possibilities of French RnB. Here’s a sample track [listen].
Jane Siberry, No Borders Here
I think people know this album for the MTV song ‘Mimi On The Beach’, which does a few similar things to Laurie Anderson’s ‘O Superman.’ No Borders Here is the second album from the Canadian art-pop chanteuse Jane Siberry. By adopting a striking melange of pop classicism, new wave, minimalism, and synth exploration, she very much came into her own. If you dug The Ann Steel Album, you’ll probably like this one as well. [Listen here]
Jeanette, Prefab In The Sun
Prefab in the Sun is the UK singer-songwriter Jeanette’s final LP before she faded from view. Driven by spectral vocals and delicate, goth jazz rhythms, the album is an exercise in electro-pop blueprints colliding with heavy but sentimental love songs. My friends at In Sheep’s Clothing Hi Fi are into it in a big way. Listen to the title track here.
Jeff Joseph, Self-Titled
I landed on this one during my ongoing and rather feverish quest for outernational new jack swing/swingbeat cuts. The track that really grabbed me was Jeff Joseph’s live-sounding song ‘Big Beat’, which is driven by exactly what the title suggests: a big beat. Hailing from Dominica, Jeff was a pioneer of Cadence-lypso music, an up-tempo form of calypso sung mostly in Antillean Creole and French he helped develop and popularize in the early 1970s. During his lifetime, he was a member of Grammacks Band, Volt Face, Grammacks New Generation and had a solo career as well. Read about his fascinating life [here].
Lamont Dozier, Going Back To My Roots
This is just one of those absolutely incredible tracks that feel like they’re never going to end, and actually, once you’ve sunk into the groove, you don’t want them to end either. The great Black American singer, songwriter, and record producer Lamont Dozier recorded ‘Going Back To My Roots’ for his 1977 LP Peddlin' Music on the Side with production assistance from Stewart Levine, Hugh Masekela and Rik Pekkonen. Apparently, it was a favourite for David Mancuso at The Loft in New York, and as it builds, builds and builds, I can see why.
Les Nubians, Princesses Nubiennes
When the Parisian duo Les Nubians released their nouveau soul album Princess Nubiennes in 1998, they embarked on a journey that took their neo-soul/street soul/swingbeat slanted sounds from France into the American charts, along the way performing at the Soul Train awards. This one isn’t so much a dig as it is something I forgot about and have absolutely loved reconnecting with. As the quality of their songs like ‘Makeda’ effortlessly illustrates, good music truly does transcend languages and borders. I love ‘Les Portes du souvenir’ as well. I found this 1999 Washington Post review of the album to be somewhat interesting context-wise.
Marcia Johnson, Moonlight
Supremely restrained and stylish classic Street Soul from the London singer Marcia Johnston. Produced by Andy Sojka and Terry Roberts for the Jam Today label, Marcia recorded her Moonlight album in 1988 after touring as a backing vocalist with Deep Joy and working with French producer Gerard Langella. I love the long intro on ‘Come Back Tomorrow’ and the sultry bop of ‘Wanna Make Love To You’.
Mechanism, Morningstar
“A raw, blunt, adrenalin mix of Escape(Namlook/Laswell), Thomas P. Heckmann, UR, Detroit and hardcore style of techno. A wonderful rollercoaster into melodic hard-edged techno delivered with variation and energy...Get it while you can!” - player
You can listen to most of this album on Youtube. I’m not gonna say much about it right now, cause I’ve just completed a major profile of the guy who made it, which will be live on Audio Culture next year.
Mezzanotte, Self-Titled
Six slices of perfectly poised and fantastically bouncy Balearic funk, electro and boogie circa 1984 from the minds and hearts of Belgian composer and producer Frank Degryse’s Mezzanotte group. There are some really lush, beautifully synthesised man/machine grooves on here, like ‘Love Sweet Love’ and ‘Send Out An S.O.S’.
Suzy K, Kink (禁句)
I got hip to this awesome album via Diego Olivas’s FOND/SOUND blog. As Diego put it, “Released in 1989, KINK (禁句) encapsulates, quite smartly, that prodding and searching musicians do when faced with myriad options to explore. In Suzy’s case, it’s finding that pocket where all sorts of soul music could exist within the slipstream of new forms of dance music and her own unique voice.” New Jack Swing meets Electro-Funk meets sophisti-pop, street soul and hip-hop. Check out ‘Missin You’ here.
Roger Morrison, Pictures In My Mind
Pictures In My Mind, Roger Morrison’s sole LP for the Jam Today label, came to me via my ongoing personal investigations into the expansive sound of UK street soul. Interestingly though, what really caught me about this album was his sunset/sunrise afro-house slanted track ‘Go Where The Music Takes You’. Co-produced by Andy Sojka of Atmosfear/Elite label, Pictures In My Mind encompasses a lovely array of smooth and soulful vibes.
Various Artists, New Zealand Poets Read Their Works
Beautifully packaged and pressed, New Zealand Poets Read Their Works is an impressive LP-length collection of exactly what the title suggests: New Zealand poets reading their works. Recorded and released in 1974 by Waiata Recordings, the compilation collects crucial work by Alan Brunton, Albert Wendt, Sam Hunt, Bill Manhire, Janet Frame, Gloria Rawlinson, Fleur Adcock, and many others.
Various Artists, Reggae Mood Swingz
I got hip to this 1998 CD compilation while I was researching the international new jack swing/swingbeat scene during the pandemic. As it turns out, there’s a small but rather vital strain of Ragga new jack swing out there, and Reggae Mood Swingz shows it off in fine style. My top picks from the compilation are Lukie D’s ‘Platonic’ feat Zulu, ‘Don't Front’ by Kenyatta and Nardo Ranks, and Clive Ross and Jr. P’s ‘Testosterone’. I’ve included a bunch of these tracks on DJ mixes I released this year.
FIN.