Steve Hiett
Down On The Road By The Beach

C.Z. - RADIAL LENS [OFFICIAL VIDEO]youtu.be/9hoHn1oCGfUC.Z. debuts on LA's Evar Records with the uncompromising Heat Index EP.The Los Angeles-based producer, beatmaker and DJ sets a course through IDM, techno, jungle and trance to deliver five frenetic, emotionally-charged dancefloor cuts.Over the course of an intensely productive career, Colby Zinser (aka C.Z.) has made music spanning genres like pop, rap, hardcore and jungle. As well as releasing music as C.Z., he's operated multiple aliases, including the prolific Ice Underlord. Drawing from a longstanding fascination with breaks, trance and the IDM of artists like Warp Records' Clark, he's developed his own rich and eclectic style of club music - a sound that crystalized on his 2020 debut album Hyperfocus.

Editions Mego: ...Reflecting Ambarchi’s profound love of Brazilian music – an aspect of his omnivorous musical appetite not immediately apparent in his own work until now – Simian Angel features the remarkable percussive talents of the legendary Cyro Baptista, a key part of the Downtown scene who has collaborated with everyone from John Zorn and Derek Bailey to Robert Palmer and Herbie Hancock. Like the music of Nana Vasconcelos and Airto Moreira, Simian Angel places Baptista’s dexterous and rhythmically nuanced handling of traditional Brazilian percussion instruments into an unexpected musical context. On the first side, ‘Palm Sugar Candy’, Baptista’s spare and halting rhythms wind their way through a landscape of gliding electronic tones, gently rising up and momentarily subsiding until the piece’s final minutes leave Ambarchi’s guitar unaccompanied. While the rich, swirling harmonics of Ambarchi’s guitar performance are familiar to listeners from his previous recordings, the subtly wavering, synthetic guitar tone we hear is quite new, coming across at times like an abstracted, splayed-out take on the 80s guitar-synth work of Pat Metheny or Bill Frisell. Equally new is the harmonic complexity of Ambarchi’s playing, which leaves behind the minimalist simplicity of much of his previous work for a constantly-shifting play between lush consonance and uneasy dissonance.

Ridiculously rare vinyl, superb musicianship, and a Playboy club are ingredients that make the Don Cunningham Quartet's "Something For Everyone" album so tasty. Luv N'Haight is proud to preserve and re-issue one of the most collectible and highly sought-after jazz-dance records."Bunnies plus food and drink equals good time."The Quartet's unique blend of exotica, Latin and Brazilian rhythms, jazz and easy listening was a perfect fit for the Playboy club."I was influenced by having seen Arthur Lyman, Cal Tjader, Willie Bobo, Mongo Santamaria, and Harry Belafonte play live. Not to mention that I was buying all the Les Baxter I could get!" adds Cunningham. The band's sound caught the attention of Bob Webb, a wealthy local businessman. As a friend of piano player Marion Miller he'd learned of the Quartets popularity."I don't want to work, you work, I'll put up the money," Miller recalls Webb 's words.Webb fronted the funds for Miller to create Exclusive records, releasing three albums and two 45rpm singles, including the "Something For Everyone" LP."The music was only sold locally. We never looked up a distributor and we really didn't have a regular record deal," says Miller.Don Cunningham only remembers selling and giving-away the album at Playboy appearances and to a few friends outside of club hours. Only 500 copies were ever printed, some mono, some stereo, it's not known how many of each format."It's great that the album is being re-issued. There's truly a quality of music on it that has been missed for so long. In a way it's world music - Polynesian, samba, Brazil, jazz, West Indian. It has the energy of Latin and funk records. It's inspired by - but is not really - easy listening, you couldn't exactly sleep in our "Quiet Village!"" says Cunningham.