High-grade jazz fusions, contemporary favourites and sought-after house cuts. Sonic wizard Danilo Plessow marks the 30th instalment in our Buy Music Club series.
Formerly known as Motor City Drum Ensemble, Danilo Plessow needs little introduction. A true pioneer of today’s underground music scene that operates with a pure deduction to his craft and sound, always striking with soul, depth and feel-good energy. From his legendary Rawcuts series, remixes for the likes of Caribou and Midland and his original works, he manages to skillfully fuse his early jazz, disco and house influences with modern-day notes in forward-thinking fashion. Being a regular on the Amsterdam festival circuit with close ties to Dekmantel and Rush Hour, we can vouch for the sheer talent of his DJ skills, blending euphoria-inducing house and disco in seamless ways with just the right amount of roughness, energy and gritty soul.
With an upcoming compilation for fabric presents in the pipeline, featuring a seamless mix of 28 tracks, including a new track from the man himself, we extended the invite and asked him to curate our latest Buy Music Club episode. Crossing borders and genres, he delivers in trademark fashion with an array of laid-back jazz, dreamy folk, disco funk to atmospheric dance floor movers.
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Words and curation by Danilo Plessow.
Andy Hay – Many Rivers (Self-released)
A beautiful modern jazz LP with a strong spiritual quality. This was a big favorite during Covid times, providing much comfort during those last months. The packaging is worth mentioning too — every LP is unique with different artwork, there’s an infosheet of the album with pictures and poems by Andy. Beautiful all around!
Beverly Glenn Copeland – S/T (Super-Sonic Jazz)
Here’s another one that provided warmth and healing over the last year, one of my favorite Canadian records of all time, Beverly Glenn Copeland’s second album from 1971. I was chasing this record for a long, long time and finally got lucky a couple of years back in Montreal. Her whole discography is really amazing and it’s great to see that she’s still active and releasing new material too. Highly recommend!
East New York Ensemble de Music – At the Helm (Folkways Records)
Folkways Records has always been a big inspiration for me, it’s really easy to get lost in their vast catalog. Since my early days of record collecting, I would pick up anything on the label, as well as Ocora and other similar outings. As with Library records, Folkways’ stuff would pop up in the most unexpected places, and usually you would find a whole bunch at once. Now being owned by the Smithsonian Institute, some of the catalog is available on Bandcamp. There are many, many highlights but this one has been my personal holy grail.
Floating Points & Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra – Promises (Luaka Bop)
You have to admire the effort and dedication that Sam has put into this project, which will definitely stand out as one of the best records of the year. Pharoah is one of the absolute key figures in my musical formation, and one of the few artists with a decade-spanning career of which I own and celebrate the entire discography, and this LP respectfully continues a lineage of perfection.
Cake – The unreleased Master Tapes (Mutual Intentions)
The friends in Oslo got their hands on the master tapes of a legendary modern soul 45, resulting in this great reissue. The original 45 is the stuff of legends, selling only a handful of times in the last ten years. Now finally this will see a wider audience.
Jordan GCZ – Introspective Acid (Rush Hour)
One of the best techno records I’ve heard in a while for sure, the production quality is nuts and the whole thing quite unique. This one will stand the test of time!
Billy Lo – It’s The Life (Cosmocities Records)
I have always loved Billy Lo’s voice, and this new Kai Alce remix is amazing. Took me back to hearing Peven Everetts “Enchantment” on Prescription Records for the first time, in a very good way. Beautiful record!
Powder – Powder in Space (Beats In Space)
Powder has become one of my favorite producers and DJs in recent years, her mix of styles is really one of a kind and this compilation a perfect starting point to her world. Tim Sweeney’s Beats In Space continues to release amazing stuff!
Don Cherry – Om Shanti Om (Black Sweat Records)
Closing things off with another artist whose entire discography is pretty much untouchable. This is a “lost” live recording of a performance in Italy in 1976, at the height of Don Cherry’s career and it sits perfectly between his other amazing albums from that time: “Brown Rice”, “Organic Music Society” or “Hear & Now”. Through the grapevine I heard of more “lost” Don Cherry music about to surface, and I couldn’t be happier about it!
Check out the list on Buy Music Club HERE.
Photo credit: Hermon Mehari + Unland.
