Moonbeam Levels

Amar Patel
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Mixtape x record club™️ 🤯 music selections and conversations. amarofpatel.substack.com

  1. 6d ago

    Moonbeam Levels – October 2026

    Hello, After last month’s epic dispatch about film scores (please listen), I’ll keep this one brief. My odyssey to the Greek island of Koufonisia was … freeing. I traced the coastline, ducking into secluded coves to dip my planks as I tried to spot different boats and trekking up to headlands to feel the full force of the Meltemi winds. As I ventured out on my second-to-last day, a storm arrived, turning the island into a ghost town. The perfect time to head to Ano Koufonisi's most northeastern point (Cape Xylopatis) in flimsy beachwear. Drenched and stumbling towards the cliff’s edge, it was exhilarating to feel like the only soul for miles. Being dragged through the autumn leaves by Finchy in a Lewisham park has a particular charm, but I could have waited another week or two for it. As with most trips, I returned more knackered than when I left, unwilling/unable to lie on a beach for hours on end and bask in a respectable 22ºC. Perhaps it’s my growing unease with solo travel, how city life has us constantly craving stimulation, sending me off in myriad directions to make discoveries. That’s why I chose a small island, right – to limit my options. Next time, I’ll pack a better novel. Leonard Cohen’s Beautiful Losers was not the one. As for food, I heard chef Tom Kerridge say on a podcast that the Greek vocabulary is quite small but what they do, they do really well. I’d go with that. Perhaps my most satisfying meal was at Venetsanos on the sparsely populated Kato Koufonisi. A hearty yet humble stew of wild goat and potatoes with lemon and thyme, which the cook assured me contained nothing else. Washed down with a pilsner from the Alsace region (random), it doesn’t get much better. I’ll make a reel of moments soon to stimulate your wanderlust over the winter. It’s a smart off-peak destination for rest and recuperation, either solo or with the one(s) you love. For now, settle in with me as I present my world in sound, starting with a track I played again and again as I faded into the Aegean blue from my balcony, and the sky became a spectrum of orange, crimson and violet at sunset. Stay close, Amar ***** SPACE AFRIKA – Regards [Dias] Quiet Storm, Joshua Tarelle Reid and Joshua Inyang’s follow-up to Honest Labour, is another bare and disarming suite of compositions that morph from the ambient and operatic into classical and industrial. This time the emotional register is broader, more pronounced to me in the use of voicenote confessions from people who ponder their autonomy, spirituality and survival. Look around. There is a heaviness to existence right now and Space Afrika won’t shy away from that. This record offers more than sublimation. It’s a call to really feel the fullness of human experience. Protect your peace, yes, find your quiet place as Kiala Ogawa sings on ‘Pretty Gospel’. But don’t harden to the world in moments of strife. I’d like to remain open to beauty, whenever and however it appears. ‘Regards’ has acted like a sound bath for me this month. I can’t look beyond it. KLEIN – The illuminati ends now [Parkwuud Entertainment] 6m 50sKlein dropped My own fairytale without much fanfare or warning recently; typical of her instinctive and impulsive approach to music-making. Which is not to say there isn’t an intention behind a composition or performance. By her own admission, she tends to “hyperfixate” on things. This is her 16th release, which stunned me. I’ve seen it described as a dark Disney soundtrack and that could be the vibe in places. How the strings swell and then trip into discordance on tracks such as ‘The illuminati ends now’. But this is Klein so there are ideas aplenty being felt out to differing degrees – loosely formed, f*cked with and strung out – whether it’s a recurring two-note phrase that swells into a new atmosphere (‘c thru me’), guitar plucking enveloped by a gulf of noise (‘true blood’), a vlog-type confessional that can’t decide whether it wants to reveal or conceal (‘man in the mirror’), or a plaintive vocal that spirals into giggles (‘bridge the gap’). Klein keeps me on my toes and open to the unfamiliar. I’d love a feature film score from her. CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE & URSA MAJOR – No Rhyme, No Reason [Mack Avenue] 12m 50sThere wasn’t much time to hang out in Athens on my island jaunt. I’m told the art scene over there is bubbling in pockets around Exarchia and Kypseli. But when I heard that bass maestro and composer Christian McBride’s new jazz project Ursa Major was pulling up at Gazarte in Gazi, I had to reach. Most of their setlist came from the album ‘Points of Light’, which is due on 30 October. Excursions into post-bop, fusion and more funk-forward territory. I was stationed to the side of the stage and able to zoom in on the nimble movements of maestros Mike King (piano), Ely Perlman (guitar), Nicole Glover (sax) and Jonathan Barber (drums) as well as McBride on both upright and electric. ‘No Rhyme, No Reason’ is one of the few tracks I can get hold of. It takes us someplace else, into the twilight realm of The Robert Glasper Experiment, which is no bad thing. L’RAIN – Birthday [Mexican Summer] 18m 35sNew album Fata Morgana is another singular slipstream of tracks from Brooklyn’s Taja Cheek (L’Rain) who enthralled us in the round at the ICA this week. I wrote this after their gig at the Barbican a couple of years ago and it still applies. “In constant motion, open-ended and on the edge is how I would describe Wednesday night. It was a performance where I gave little thought to genre, picking out influences, waiting for my favourite ‘song’ or whatever. It was a night to just go where the sound takes you. Release.” I’m still figuring out how to encapsulate this latest record. Part of L’Rain will always be ineffable. But what I can tell you is that Fata Morgana is about a distorted reality and is partly inspired by a flower called the Rose of Jericho. It looks dead at first, but give it water and it unfurls to reveal a beautiful green interior. To Taja, it’s a symbol of resistance and resilience. Two things her album evokes as she contends with self-doubt and distorted perceptions of her reality. ‘Birthday’ is an RnB slow jam that says love thyself. “Go solo is it worth it/Go single is it worth it/Go alone is it worth it/Be lonely it’s your birthday/Be a hermit is it worth it.” DAMON LOCKS & D-COMPOSED – We Stay Beginning [International Anthem] 22m 40sSome of you will be familiar with Damon’s work alongside the magnificent Black Monument Ensemble and his deft blending of spoken word, sampling and beat production. Collaging, conjuring, locating Blackness in sound. Dawning is a recording of a live performance with chamber music collective D-Composed, featuring violinists Khelsey Zarraga and Anya Brumfield, violist Seth Pae, and cellist Lindsey Sharpe. I can imagine pieces like ‘We Stay Beginning’ supercharging the air inside the auditorium of Theaster Gates’ Rebuild Foundation on Chicago’s South Side. An ancient-to-future aphorism looped and intensified until it’s committed to heart and acted on. The full release is coming in December. FAUZIA – Just a dream [Mexican Summer] 26m 40sI’m always checking for new FAUZIA music and respect how the multi-disciplinary artist has always taken her time. I think the first ever release I picked up was are you hoping for a miracle? in 2020. Back then, FAUZIA was progressing from being an NTS host of a jungle-heavy radio show to making intimate and elusive electronic productions drenched in atmosphere. Nowadays, you’re just as likely to see her behind a piano in a concert hall, supporting Patti Smith behind a mic or drawing us into the undertow on AR Kane-like tracks such as ‘Just a dream’ as she jams with her friends. The ongoing mission appears to be to go deeper into herself and hone ever more unique and personal expressions through sound, irrespective of genre. I’m here for it. JESPFUR – Chuckhole [10K] 29m 05sOn Benji B’s Radio 1 show, Amsterdam-based Jespfur explained that his latest album Iftangible, follows a character in search of home. Each track is like a room that the character tries to create – with good and bad consequences. This restlessness and nomadism also influenced the album’s conception as Jespfur stole moments in faraway places such as London and New York to complete the recordings over a year and a half. There’s a strange kind of proximity effect happening as we crawl along the backstreets and corridors of his mind. It sounds like he’s close-mic’ed yet just out of reach, barricaded by reverb. One minute he needs to ruminate (‘Chuckhole’), the next it’s time to let off (‘sniper’). Iftangible, is a direct line to the artist and what they are compelled to put down, however raw and messy. That’s precious. I missed his recent show in Peckham but vow to be front and centre for the next one. His last release on 10K also deserves your attention. SESSA – Zanzibar (Dirty Mix) [Week-End] 37m 20sPerhaps my favourite contemporary artist from Brazil pays homage to an Edu Lobo classic from 1970. The Sergio Mendes-produced original featured Airto on percussion and Hermeto Pascoal on piano and flute. On this rendition, Sessa adds more fuzz and wah-wah to the (dirty) mix, alongside Biel Basile (drums and percussion), Marcelo Cabral (bass), Marcelo Maita (electric piano) and Marina Nemésio (vocals). STANDING ON THE CORNER – Baby! oh baby [XL] 41m 05sTen years after their self-released debut, the experimental art ensemble and ever-expanding myth builders from Brooklyn return with Standing on the Corner “II”. An equally indefinable collection that was originally promoted in DVD form by someone dressed as Mickey Mouse in Times Square on 11 September 2025. That should suggest where they’re coming from. The collective, led b

  2. Sep 24

    Moonbeam Levels – September 2026

    Hihi, What’s been happening? The ground has split over here and tried to swallow me from the ankle up. I have been hobbling around after doing high knees into a gaping hole. It was a violent wobble. Then came a sharp pain and the humiliation of lying helplessly on the ground, pleading with Finchy not to leave me. Once I got to my feet, he lay flat and expected me to carry him out of the park (again). They are nicknamed Bassholes for a reason 🐶 Amazing how an injury like this knocks you off balance, in more ways than one. RICE aside, patience is the key to a swift recovery but I don’t have much of it. Between now and a long-mooted escape to a little Greek island this week, the goal is to tread carefully. Also a good motto in life 😉 Now this month I was looking forward to speaking to an emerging filmmaker/composer about his debut feature, but he pulled out at the last minute. This was after weeks of preparation on my side. There is a pecking order with these things. I’m not Empire, Variety or whoever, but there has to be a bit more consideration for those of us trying to produce original work with a far smaller platform. Thousands of words had already been dedicated to this film, which should have earned the time. I wallowed for a few days over another brush-off and then decided to pivot to a special show on film scores. As a viewer, this is an area I have been paying closer attention to over the past decade. However, my interest in the use of sound to set the tone or enhance the mood/texture of a scene dates back to 2000 when DJ Shadow worked on Marc Singer’s 2000 documentary Dark Days. Music for film can be hard to grasp without the visuals. So much of it is designed to complement and enhance the story being told through moving image, and amplify the emotions of the characters you’re watching. There was a time when movie music would sit in the background and try not to be noticed. Well, in this soundscape I have chosen cues that can and do stand on their own, even if they don’t call for much attention. In fact, some of these selections led me to the film, not the other way around. Most of them hover in an intriguing space between traditional orchestration and experimental electronic. Many were conceived this century but there are a few exceptions. All are timeless to me. Are you ready for the greatest cinema in sound? Stay close, Amar PS I need your help. Please like and share this show so it finds its audience. And get in touch [at]amarofpatel with your own film score reflections and recommendations. ***** GORDON PARKS – Bluebird [Warner]Parks was a true inspiration for his unwillingness to stay in one lane. I came to him first through his photography. One of the most important (self-taught) documentarians of Black life in America, he was particularly celebrated for his work on staff at Life magazine between 1948 and 1972. But the polymath was also a publisher of 12 books, a director, the writer of a ballet about Martin Luther King and the composer of several film scores. One of those was for his novel The Learning Tree, which was based on his bittersweet childhood in Fort Scott, Kansas. Parks has described it as a movie about “complicated people”, one that “will promote understanding and hope between every race". “Bluebird’ is the momentary sound of calm after the storm. Beauty all around. Glancing over a radiant horizon at what could be if humanity just pulled together. Like blind Uncle Rob tells Newt later in the film, “I think sometimes if all the people in the world were made up of colours, instead of just black and white, it would be a happy world.” For more about Parks the composer, listen to this NTS special with Justen Leroy, who curated the recent exhibition The Sound of Gordon Parks at CAAM. NICHOLAS BRITELL – The Children of Our Age [Invada] 3m 46sBritell’s score for If Beale Street Could Talk is at the heart of Barry Jenkins’ 2018 adaptation of James Baldwin’s book. I was caught up in its rise and fall from scene to scene, from orchestral bliss to the hushed defiance that’s transmitted through the strains and flutters of brass (French horn, flugelhorn, cornet) and woodwind. Its central motif feels like the true love between soulmates Fonny (Stephan James) and Tish (KiKi Layne) – recurring, going through phases yet being sustained. Later, as Britell has described, the melody gets bent, distorted and “harmed” as systemic injustice and Fonny’s wrongful imprisonment test their commitment like never before. Similarly, in a standout scene, Daniel (Brian Tyree Henry) recounts his experience of incarceration to Fonny, flipping from lovable joker to tormented soul. Miles Davis’ ‘Blue in Green’ gives way to a now discordant and broken version of ‘Eros’. “When you’re in there, they can do with you whatever they want,” Daniel shudders. “I mean what-ever they want.” JÓHANN JÓHANNSSON & YAIR ELAZAR GLOTMAN – Childhood & The Land of the Young [Deutsche Grammophon] 5m 20sYou’re going to be hearing a lot by Jóhannsson in the next hour or two. I became aware of him after his Oscar nomination for The Theory of Everything. But the one-time practitioner of shoegaze, indie rock and everything in between, had been scoring since the early 2000s. Copenhagen Dreams and The Miner’s Hymns are two of his most lauded early efforts. Once the Icelandic composer began working with Denis Villeneuve on Prisoners, many people started to hail him as the next great film composer. Here was an iconoclast with an unmatched, ever-expanding vocabulary. Speaking to The Talks around the time of their next collaboration, Sicario (see below), he said ”I’m more a film composer than I am a musician. It’s something that’s always been a part of what I do.” With Last and First Men, Jóhannsson added director to his CV. Based on the 1930 novel by Olaf Stapledon, it’s been described as an “eerie epitaph to humankind”, featuring black-and-white 16mm footage of spomenik monuments scattered around remote South Slavic locations. They were built to mark the tragedy of war in former Yugoslavia and commemorate resistance to fascism. In the film, they also represent the last remaining accomplishments of humanity and act as beacons for receiving psychic messages from a bleak future two billaion years away. Epitaph or harbinger, it’s a stunning achievement, and this piece carries the full weight of what’s at stake. DUVAL TIMOTHY & CJ MIRRA – Journey to Lagos [Carrying Colour] 10m 30sDuval Timothy and CJ Mirra’s work on My Father’s Shadow is the kind of score that has you rushing to the cinema for full audio-visual immersion. The details are important. They aren’t just effects. They are saying something. Director Akinola Davis Jr told Crack he wanted it to “feel like fruit that’s decomposing”, adding, “On one side it looks fine, and then you turn it around, and it’s all organically caving in on itself.” Set over a single day in Lagos during the 1993 Nigerian election crisis, his debut feature film follows an estranged dad guiding his two young boys across the city as political unrest threatens their journey home. I’m always interested in complex father-son stories. Aren’t they always? Fans of Moonbeam Levels will be familiar with Timothy and his gift for building layers of emotion through gentle waves of piano. But his partnership with Mirra, who was also the sound supervisor on the film, conjures atmospheres around them. Together, they explore fading memory and the process of disintegration. My Father’s Shadow comes to Netflix on 21 September. KANGDING RAY – Les Marches [Invada] 14m 30sÓliver Laxe’s Sirāt deranges your senses and the music is a huge part of that as Luis (Sergi López) goes looking for his missing daughter deep in the Moroccan desert. Accompanied by his young son Esteban (Bruno Núñez Arjona), he falls in with a group of travelling ravers who he suspects might know something. After the military breaks up the party, they head to their next rave. Luis and Esteban tag along. They are shown compassion but offered few clues. As the tension builds and this wide expanse threatens to swallow them, you’re left wondering where will it all end? Laxe wanted Kangding Ray, the recording alias of David Letellier, to shift the score from pounding waves of techno to a state of desolate ambience (mirroring the father’s mounting existentialism and a decaying plot). A process he calls “dematerialisation”, which they started to discuss a few years before shooting began. ‘Les Marches’ sounds like the culmination of that transition. The sound design is also superb. Here’s a very interesting featurette about it. MICA LEVI – Guerreros [Invada] 23m 40sPut simply, Mica is one of the most brilliant composers in the UK and certainly one of the most unique in the industry. I just love their choices, the element of surprise, the expressive minimalism (those cascading strings in Jackie get me every time). I saw Monos at the London Film Festival because I had to experience Levi’s score in a cinema. What can I tell you about Alejandro Landes’ film? Well, it’s a bit Lord of the Flies as a young guerrilla group holds hostage someone called Doctora (Julianne Nicholson), under the orders of a rebel faction called The Organisation. We don’t know much more about her or what their motives are. ‘Guerroros’ features the shrill whistle that’s heard whenever The Organisation or its Messenger appears. A sound Levi created by blowing into a glass bottle. Combining it with these sudden electronic jolts and tremors – like spikes of adrenaline – is a genius way to emphasise the volatility of these characters under pressure. The majority of the score is tins and whistles, in fact. JERSKIN FENDRIX – Lisbon [Waxwork] 25m 10sPoor Things was the first score that Jerskin Fendrix made and the first time that dir

  3. Aug 21

    Moonbeam Levels – August 2026

    Hello friends, Who’s on holiday then? August seems like the month to get away. The city feels quieter, which I’m not complaining about. Well, that’s how it appears from my vantage point in a slighty more moist SE London (hallelujah) as petrichor scents the air. There have been fewer random chats in the park, and fewer dogs for Finchy to antagonise with his big balls and flagrant disregard for personal space. Meanwhile, I seem incapable of booking a break, instead coming up with umpteen reasons to stay put and on the grind. History is repeating itself as my parents’ frugality and excessive prudence possess me. What’s really needed is a circuit breaker so I can think beyond my daily routine and surroundings. To have the opportunity to contend with this ‘orphan syndrome’ I am experiencing now that mum, dad and my brother are no longer with me. Is that a thing 🤷🏽‍♂️? Also, a chance to really think about what's next for a freelance writer when AI becomes the go-to option for prospective clients who would rather take functional copy in a few clicks, at low-to-no cost. How do we raise respect for the written word in a video-first age and when so many of us are either too tired or in a hurry to read something at length, let alone pay for it? Freelance technology journalist and former Substack employee Jasmine Sun says it’s “one of the best times” to be an independent writer. I wouldn’t go that far, but she has highlighted some key traits that will improve our chances of remaining competitive in a precarious industry. Two that stand out are the rising value of shared secrets over summaries (think old-school sources and on-the-ground reporting outside data sets), as well as having a unique style or weirdness over polish. A previous client did approach me about an enticing project with her new employer but I probably won’t be able to commit to their tight schedule. Anyway, nice to be rated and remembered for the way you write … and how you work in a team. That last bit is also important. People tell me, write a book. Well, I might, once the idea comes to me. Perhaps it will on that remote Greek island I intend to escape to in late September, when the skies turn and everyone else will (probably) be putting away their shorts and flip-flops for another year. In the meantime, we’ll keep this radio thing going, alongside my mentoring with Arts Emergency, volunteering with the Migration Museum and local manoeuvres with Sister Midnight. Take a look inside Lewisham’s first community-owned music venue. We’re getting there… Thanks to those of you who got in touch to say how much you enjoyed my on-air reunion with Basement Soul brother Graham Luckurst last month. We will do it again with the full crew and continue the story of our Brighton club night. In case you missed it, my deep dive into artist and composer Imran Perretta’s coming-of-age movie Ish has also been well received. Please give that a read and tell me what you think. The release date on BFI Player is 7 September. In next month’s show, Imran will be talking to me about his music-making and how he scored his debut feature. Don’t miss it. Ok, that’s all folks. On with this show! ✌🏾 Amar ***** SUN RA – Bluebird Set No 2 Piano Solo [Strut] What better way to ease in than with a Sun Ra solo? Taken from Strut’s expanded reissue of a live recording in Bloomington in 1977, the set reflects the manifold musical bases he and the Arkestra would touch in one night. Anything from the Great American Songbook (‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’) to heavy blasts of swingin’ cosmic mythology (‘Neptune/Voice of Ebah’) and rare original compositions (‘Amen Meni Many Amens’). With Ra on his own, however, without the Arkestra’s sensory overload, we can appreciate what a fluid and emotive player he could be. This edition “restores previously excised material and preserves more of the natural transitions between pieces”. In other words, you will be transported. TEODROS MAKONNEN – Libesh Kabashen [Muzikawi] Teodros, aka Teddy Mak, was a key musical figure in 80’s Ethiopia, among the first to explore the possibilities of drum machines and electric organs in a land of exceptional hotel bands. His father, a chief pilot at Ethiopia Airlines, set him on the way by gifting Teddy his first piano, encouraging him to learn music theory and attend a German school in Addis Ababa. Teddy went on to collaborate with the likes of Dahlak Band, Mulatu Astatke, Aster Aweke and many others as a player, composer or arranger. A chance encounter at Wabi Shabelle Hotel with a diplomat from Saudi Arabia, who owned a Yamaha double-deck keyboard, led to the one-take recording of Tedros Makonnen and His Organ. A cassette steeped in tradition yet cast in oneiromancy, it seems. Let’s go with the magic carpet ride that is ‘Libesh Kabashen’ (‘Wear your Kaba’). AJA MONET – Every Media Minute [drink sum wtr] On perhaps the most urgent track of The Colour of Rain, Monet’s second album, the Brooklyn-raised surrealist blues poet laments the rolling 24-hour negative news cycle that has drained people’s capacity for empathy and made love into work. As if diagnosing the great malaise of these times – a simultaneous collapse of faith and dearth of leadership – she proclaims “We need something, something greater than ourselves,” adding, “There's a whole lot of religion and not enough God.” Monet’s lyrical poise and clarity of thought welcome the listener into this one big conversation of a record. And with the help of Meshell Ndegeocello and Justin Brown as co-producers, she’s managed to find just the right level of instrumental accompaniment to animate each of these poems. ‘To Sister’ is a good example, with Brandee Younger’s harp and Ganavya’s ripples of voice helping us locate the core sentiment to Monet’s words and amplify her musicality. But many other superb musicians appear elsewhere including Josh Johnson, Ambrose Akinmusire and Georgia Ann Muldrow. The Colour of Rain is both balm and ballast in the present moment, helping us to come back to ourselves, as Bandcamper Eleonore puts it. By the way, Monet is a great interviewee, generous and wise. Start here or here. And listen to her still-magnificent poem What I've Learned from 2012, filmed at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, where she was the youngest person to win the Grandslam Championship at the age of 19. YOUR BROTHER’S KEEPER & GARY BARTZ – Solar Flare [Brownswood]Gary Bartz continues to search for new possibilities in sound here. Miles would approve. Some of you might know that Bartz played with Davis in the early 70s on Cellar Door sessions, B*****s Brew Live and Live Evil. And we’re not a million miles away from that energy on this new project, which is also very destination out but more meditative than Bartz’s spritely NTU Troop stuff, which I devoured in my 20s. Your Brother‘s Keeper features drummer and producer Jake Long (Maisha), Ali MacSween (piano, synthesizers and modular FX), Axel Kaner-Lidstrom (trumpet), Twm Dylan (double bass), Tim Doyle (percussion) and Chelsea Carmichael (tenor saxophone). KELELA & AK PAUL – outta time [Warp] So many highpoints to replay on New Avatar as Kelela gets in her “white bag”, as she hilariously put it. That’s shorthand for guitars, metal-ic textures, a nod to Linkin Park and the like. This is no cosplay though. She is a beyond-the-binary alt Black girl and who started out in an indie-rock band. And Kelela loves to test sonic boundaries, unwilling to experiment in a new style of music exclusively at the expense of losing other influences. So we get the Cut 4 Me-ish club track ‘point blank’ on the same album as Kerrang catnip ‘linknb’. But the best song on the album is probably the sensual creeper ‘outta time’ – written more than a decade ago – with a plaintive AK Paul sliding into the mix to lay it all on the line. It’s one of my favourite vocal performances of the year and the guy’s barely trying. As for Kelela, she can do anything. I’ll be paying homage in person at Brixton’s O2 Academy this November. NICK HAKIM – Barii [Earseed] Intimacy is a hallmark of Nick Hakim’s songwriting (think ‘Needy Bees’ or ‘QADIR’). But he’s taken it to another level on his latest album I Can See, even finding a new register to convey the nuanced feelings in these lyrics. It’s a proper headphones record, built on accumulated layers of sound and sustained emotion. One to start your morning with and gently rise to. ‘Barii’ is the song that’s stayed with me after multiple plays, with its sonorous starbursts and sonic floaters orbiting that gorgeous melody. It features Abe Rounds (Meshell Ndegeocello) on percussion and June McDoom on backing vocals (look out for her next record in October). DAWUNA – Grabba Boy Problem [True Panther]It’s a hat-trick of appearances on Moonbeam Levels for Baltimore-based Dawuna after Glass Lit Dream (2021) and Naya (2024). Ian makes lo-fi, experimental r&b that feels so out of the box and spontaneous, like demos of one-take studio experiments laid down after all the obligatory stuff has been recorded. He describes African Family Laptop Musick as a concept piece about his family life at the time (“compositionally simple but necessarily abstracted”), but a traumatic head injury suffered afterwards has prevented him from being able to remember much else. Let your own mind fill in the blanks as you bop and sway to hum-along riddims such as ‘Grabba Boy Problem’. SPARKLEMAMI – Fajas [Verve] Texas-raised, Chicago-based and of Mexican and Indian heritage, multidisciplinary artist Ariella Granados is making music from multiple perspectives and with open ears. Across her debut album, one of this year’s most endearing, I hear a strong sense of 70’s Brazil – the sensuality and groove (Azymuth on ‘Grounded’) as well as th

  4. Jul 24

    Moonbeam Levels – Basement Soul Pt 1 with Graham Luckhurst

    ‘Not everything that counts can be counted. Not everything that can be counted counts.’ I can’t remember when I first heard this saying, and I don’t know who to attribute it to, but … time to live by this adage. Focusing on the personal significance of an experience over follower counts, conversions or whatever KPI we’re told to fixate on nowadays, is not only comforting … it’s necessary. One might draw a parallel with the wellness world here and the modern scourge of self-optimisation. Always looking ahead and striving to perform better can promote harsh self-judgment and erode joy. With this in mind, instead of belittling a rite of passage for me as a music writer and selector, why not celebrate it? Between 2006 and 2008, I co-ran a club session in my home town, Brighton, with Graham Luckhurst (Jazz Rooms All-stars, Tru Thoughts, Mr Bongo) and Simon ‘Midtempo’ See. We set out to create a night that could slip and slide like a Balance or Co-Op at Plastic People in East London. From Joyce, John Klemmer and Johnny Hammond to Madlib, Theo Parrish and IG Culture, via Leroy Burgess and Patrick Adams. Basement Soul became an almost weekly soundsystem social and underground throwdown at the Jazz Place on Ship St. There, extended family could pass through and air their latest discoveries, ‘headz’ could find community around their slightly offbeat or muso tastes, and tipsy revellers were welcome to stumble down the stairs for a late-night boogie. Looking back, the whole endeavour was a holistic musical education that stretched my understanding of the dance and forged long-lasting friendships. How we would trace the lineage from a Herbie Hancock production to a Likwid Bizkit dubplate in the dark, or effervesce as Joyce Sims’ ‘Come into My Life’ – a big radio track from my childhood – got revived and reloaded. Occasionally, we would invite guests such as my old Straight No Chaser brudda Max Cole, Ok-Ma, Domu and Ryan Hunn (who later recorded for Ninja Tune and Young Turks as Ilum Sphere). For our first birthday party at the Komedia, a very young Andreya Triana came down from Leeds with her loop pedal station to support certified UK soul don Omar and his band. There were road trips to Bristol and the Netherlands. Graham and I toured Estonia and Japan. Jeannie Hopper invited us onto her Clocktower Radio show DJ Culture in NYC. A compilation followed featuring exclusives from Kid Sublime, Soulphiction, Jneiro Jarel’s Shape of Broad Minds and Aroop Roy. We did things! But as anyone who has run a local club night will tell you, it can be a grind. Slow nights, quiet nights, too many late nights taking their toll… As new roads open up, professionally and personally, a crew either mutates or disbands. The music remained our glue, even after we dispersed around London and beyond, but more time was spent attending other people’s gigs than putting on our own. After reading about the fantastic work De School has done to create an archive of past sets, browsing club-related memories on the Museum of Youth Culture’s Instagram and listening to oral histories of sessions such as Charlie Dark’s Blacktronica, it felt right to document our own pivotal adventures in nightlife. So I invited Graham to talk through his memories and go back to back. You will learn more about our motivations for starting the night, hear stories about a few regulars and appreciate how we used to build the vibe from doors opening to peak-time energy. An extended family formed around Graham, who was the nucleus, including blood brother (Phat) Kev, Matt Neale and art director Pete Hughes. I would like to open up the floor to several of them and get their perspective on the night, so expect a part two very soon. What would you like to know about the night or this era? Who were you into back then? We didn’t have time to play any hip-hop, which was a crucial component in the Basement Soul sound. Something to rectify. And there will be lots more nominations for contemporary artists who would fit right in, were Basement Soul to make a comeback 😲 Let’s start with Kelela, GENA, Sessa, Nourished By Time, John Glacier, Michael J Blood and Marvin Jupiter. Enjoy the show and I hope this heady act of remembrance inspires you to revisit (what you thought was) a footnote in your own life. Stay close, Amar ***** KIDKANEVIL – Good Morning, What’s New? (ft Andreya Triana) [Unique Uncut] STEVE SPACEK – Dollar [Sound in Colour] 3m 20s SUN PALACE – Rude Movements [BBE] 6m 45s THE REBIRTH – This Journey In (Instrumental) [Kajmere Sound] 12m 10s SOLANGE – Binz [Columbia/Saint] 20m 30s TOM BROWNE – Thighs High (Grip Your Hips And Move [Arista] 22m 50s TEENA MARIE – You Make Love To Me Like Springtime [Gordy] 27m 20s MARTA ACUNA – Dance, Dance, Dance [P&P] 31m 15s SEAWIND – It’s Not Free [Underdog Edits] 40m 00s RAINBOW BROWN – Let’s Go Another Round (Tom Moulton Extended Edit) [PAP] 45m 45s CORINNA JOSEPH – Live Your Life With Me [Atlantic Jaxx] 52m 42s VIKTER DUPLAIX – Manhood [Groove Attack] 58m 20s BOPSTAR – Chiaroscuro (ft Zara McFarlane) [Unique Uncut] 1h 03m 00s AFRONAUGHT – Transcend Me (ft Melissa Browne) [Apollo] 1h 16m 40s BUGZ IN THE ATTIC – Once Twice [V2] 1h 22m 10s JAZZTRONIK – Samurai [Pantone] 1h 26m 30s ROMANTHONY – Bring U Up (Original Mix) [Glasgow Underground] 1h 31m 10s JAMES BROWN – I’m Satisfied [Polydor] 1h 35 25s LINKWOOD – What’s Up With The Underground? [Firecracker] 1h 41m 05s PEPE BRADDOCK – Deep Burnt [Kif] 1h 44m 35s PEVEN EVERETT – Put Your Back In It [Unified] 1h 54m 10s This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amarofpatel.substack.com

  5. Jun 26

    Moonbeam Levels – June 2026

    Hello sunshine! Agh, this London furnace is all-consuming. Is the world still burning where you are? Walking feels like a major achievement at the moment, never mind scouring the world day and night for music to write about and play to you. My eyeballs are stuck to my lids (out to the blepharitis crew), my body is turning a cold shower warm in seconds and food just don’t hit like it used to. A man cannot live on salads and watermelon alone. But my appreciation for linen and coconut water has reached new heights 💦 Last Friday, I got suited and booted for my best friend’s wedding. That was a test, and I’m not just talking about the speech (which went well). Imagine wearing a coat in this madness, aka being a doggy. Finchy has just thrown up and is panting by my feet as I type this. Solidarity with pooches, plants, kitchen staff and all living things under stress. According to the UK’s Met Office, between 2015 and 2024 the number of days exceeding 30°C in the UK more than trebled compared with the 1961-1990 average. And we ain’t seen nothing yet. Look at this prediction for 2056. The forecast across the continent is also blazing orange. “The European Environment Agency says the 27-country bloc and its governments aren’t protecting their people from extreme temperatures,” Politico reports, “assessing the threat of heat stress for the general population as critical in this decade, and ‘catastrophic’ from mid-century onward.” We urgently need a revolution in myriad facets of industry, from manufacturing and energy production to transport, construction and urban planning. Enough talk. The fact that no more than 6% of UK homes are currently reaping watts from this scorching summer (compared to roughly 25% in the Netherlands and 22% in Belgium) makes the situation an even bigger joke. Perhaps most of the other 94%, like me, are put off by the £5,500-£8,000 upfront cost for a standard 4kW solar PV rooftop system and the 6 to 10 years it will take to pay for itself (though assistance is available for low-income households, among others). Weaning off fossil fuels and reducing emissions are only part of the solution. How about building and adapting homes so bedrooms are more bearable at night. Providing more shady streets lined with trees to diffuse the heat and courtyards to take shelter. Or being more merciful to public transport passengers. In London, only 40% of underground trains are air-conditioned, though you would barely notice them. How have you been adapting and surviving? Hacks and tips appreciated. Ok, that’s enough about the weather and ecological peril. As you can see below, there is a ridiculous amount to share, more than I could squeeze into a wobbly live session at the studio. Dive in and hit me back with your favourite moments. A couple of gifts: * I’m always trying to stretch the definition of “writer” and expand my practice. So I wrote a poem on the theme of exile, published to coincide with Refugee Week. Can you spare a few minutes to read it and tell me what you think, please? * You may remember that I am a voluntary director at Sister Midnight, Lewisham’s first community-owned music venue, which opens later this year. For a new radio series called Brick by Brick, I sat down with founder Lenny Watson to join the dots between early days in a Deptford record shop, an unsuccessful campaign to buy a local pub, the many challenges in renovating an old working man’s club and why it’s taking so long. Listen here. Stay cool but close… Amar ***** MARK JENKIN – Kneebone Barton [Invada]British filmmaker Mark Jenkin has garnered much praise for Cornish allegories Bait and Enys Men, but did you know he also loves messing around with tape loops? For his latest 16mm film Rose of Nevada, we again find him building unease with ease as a composer, in addition to his other duties as writer, director, cinematographer and editor. Isn’t that a bit much, you ask? Well, one man’s control freak is another’s auteur. Jenkin knows exactly what we should be hearing from scene to scene as George MacKay and Callum Turner realise they have joined a fishing vessel that’s been lost for three decades and transported them to 1993. His score gently ripples and drifts in ominous tones and plangent yet distant strings, perfectly conveying the disorientation of both men and a hint of the supernatural about their predicament. Quick fact: Kermode said the BFI put this weird little mystery in more than 100 cinemas nationwide. DEITADO NA BARRA (ROUGH) (Bonus Track) [Flee] 4m 15s Candomble is a foundational religion and spiritual belief system of Afro-Brazilian culture involving the worship of divinities known as orixás through music, dance, rituals and offerings. Drums and chants are used to induce a trance-like state, allowing practitioners to ”channel the invisible” as master percussionist Airto once said. Oshun/Oxum was one of the first I encountered through Osunlade (see below), who is an ordained priest of the Yoruba religion Ifá. Oshun is the orixá of beauty, love and fertility. Candomble originates from the African ancestors brought to Brazil by Portuguese colonialists who forbade them from practicing their own beliefs. So they had to preserve these spirits under Catholic names. There were violent state crackdowns during the rule of President Vargas and until 1977 it was illegal to perform drum rituals in the streets of Bahia. This rhythm is taken from a project called Candomble: Sacred Rhythms of Brazil. ZENA – Temesgen [Brownswood] 8m 45s I caught Yohan Kebede (keys, synths) of Kokoroko and Menelik Claffey (bass) at Cross the Tracks festival in May and was quickly intoxicated by their jaunty take on ethio-jazz. It’s as if Badbadnotgood and Shuggie Otis went to bandcamp in Addis Ababa with masters Hailu Mergia and Mulatu Astatke. Zena is about respecting their musical heritage – the “tezeta” of it all – while projecting traditional sounds into the present and adding a new dimension. Let’s go with the title track from their last EP, simply because I love the reason it’s called ‘Temesgen’. A word that means “Thank God” in Amharic. I’ve never heard my mother receive good news without saying it aloud,” says Yohan. Join them in the dance asap and don’t be afraid to get your “eskita” on. HI-TEK – Get Ta Steppin’ (featuring Mos Def and Vinia Mojica) [Coalmine] 13m 30s Hi-Teknology should be in more conversations about the best hip-hop albums of the 2000s. A jewel from the Rawkus era when independent hip-hop was in the ascendancy, putting conscious lyricism over deft beats. It’s recently been repressed with all the trimmings on its 25th anniversary. The Cincinnati producer first caught the ear with ‘Fortified Live’ and all-time great Black Star, before working on Talib Kweli’s solo project. On his debut solo offering, he gets to flex in all types of ways. ‘Get Ta Steppin’ is the kind of transcendent vibration that stops you in your tracks, calms the central nervous system and makes you kiss the sky. I’ve always appreciated Mos/Yasiin’s singing tone but this song would be a shadow of itself without the graceful tones of Vinia Mojica. JACKIE MITTOO – Sky King Jack [17 North Parade] 18m 00s How did Jackie Mittoo’s In Cold Blood come into my life? Who knows. My memory is so atomised these days, I find myself telling tales and making up stories to plug the gap. The important thing to know is that is this a heavy heavy set he cut alongside the Aggrovators – Sly & Robbie on riddim, Tommy McCook and Bobby Ellis on horns, Winston Wright on organ – with Bunny Lee producing. Not only that, King Tubby is engineer so you know these vibrations will zing. ‘Sky King Jack’ shakes and slinks along in ghostly fashion under Jackie’s mystical runs, begging for a reload. The remastered vinyl has decent liner notes and archival images to pour over. SONNY ROLLINS – The Cutting Edge [Milestone] 22m 05s Despite having made a stack of albums since the 50s, many of them revered such as The Bridge and Tenor Madness (with Trane), saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins remained an ineffable enigma to me as a player. I knew him more for his rigour and dutifulness to the music that had him practicing days upon end on the Williamsburg Bridge, than for a signature sound or style. He remained, as Peter Keepnews put it in his NYT obituary, “ultimately unclassifiable”. Sonny could bop with the best of them, full-bodied and agile an improviser as you could find, but I prefer his controversial 70’s period when he responded to the times by opening up to guitars and breakbeats. This is the title cut from his 1974 live recording at Montreux Jazz Festival, featuring Mtume on percussion and Stanley Cowell on piano. For a spiritual séance with the man on death and other matters, read this incredible interview. GENIUS – Bermilyia Avenue [BBE] 28m 40s My top selection from a recent collection of lost and hidden Argentinian grooves called Danza Secreta. So many candidates on here, trust me. Props to Buenos Aires selectors Ric Piccolo and Ariel Harari. The overarching is funk, soul and cosmic disco as resistance music. Some of you will know that the country was in the grip of a far-right, authoritarian dictatorship from the 70s into the early 80s, known as the Dirty War. The people’s spirit of rebellion manifested also as musical experimentation and a quest for new sounds and styles. HARRIET TUBMAN – The Terror End of Beauty [Sunnyside] 32m 44s HARRIET TUBMAN AND GEORGIA ANN MULDROW – We You Rise [Pi] 39m 05s Listening to prolific music medium Georgia Ann Muldrow raving about Harriet Tubman on The Questlove Show compelled me to revisit their recent joint album. While a jazz major in NYC, she discovered guitarist Brandon Ross (Henry Threadgill’s Make A Move), bassist Melvin Gibbs (Black Rock Coalition, Defunkt) and “liminal thrash monster” dru

  6. May 23

    A late 2000s beat tape

    Hello pod people, How’s it all going? Summer is almost here in the UK, as is another political circus and a World Cup. What a time. So … I’ve been thinking about the hip-hop instrumental and 2000s’ beat culture, in particular. The spark being Flying Lotus first album 1983, which was released exactly two decades ago. That’s mad. I remember picking up the record on my first trip to NYC and thinking music would never be the same. The way I heard hip-hop would never be the same. It’s also been 20 years since Jay Dee/J Dilla passed away, just three days after the release of his momentous mixtape Donuts. This is more than a coincidence. For one thing, Lotus was interning at record Label Stones Throw around the time of Dilla’s final days and recalls dropping off a cheque at his house. Though saddened by how frail this 32-year-old legend had become, seeing all his gear lit up and Dilla still so committed to creation galvanised the young artist to get to work. I was a rookie reviews editor and writer at Straight No Chaser in the 2000s, a starchart for “interplanetary sounds, ancient to future”. It was my job to seek connections between generations and genres. It was clear that Lotus and his contemporaries, both in LA and elsewhere, were part of a lineage. The torch was being passed. Leaving Records’ Matthewdavid said as much in All Ears, Gus Sutherland’s documentary about the LA scene in 2013. “When [Donuts] came out, it was like a hit in the face. A call to action. We will not let this sound die.” In truth, Dilla had been going ‘out there’ for several years prior – embracing synths, techno, the wildest samples and odd time signatures (check Dan Charnas’ book on how he reinvented rhythm). Thinking back to Slum Village, the ’97 mix of ‘Players’ hit different, as did the raw dynamics of ‘Raise it Up’, which I used to skip on Fantastic vol 2 in my neo/smooth era! His debut studio album Welcome 2 Detroit in 2001 featured the Kraftwerkian ‘Big Booty Express’. Later came Ruff Draft and the new wave-y ‘Nothing Like This’. Common’s Electric Circus bewildered many of us when it dropped in 2002. Dilla was an executive producer on that, programming and playing on several tracks. Today, it’s widely acknowledged as what it always was: an epochal vision of what hip-hop can be. Chaotic yet liberating. This music was eons away from his work with the likes of A Tribe Called Quest and The Pharcyde, and Soulquarian collaborations with Erykah Badu and Bilal. Today, you can hear traces in releases on Lotus’ label Brainfeeder, Leaving Records, LuckyMe, Ghostly and many others. Sa-Ra deserve recognition for their experimentation, crashlanding with ‘Glorious’ and freaking the beat as early as 2004 with remixes like this for DJ Mitsu. Another pioneer is Dabrye, whose ‘Game Over’ had Dilla guesting on the mic and sounded like an enormous stargate smashing open. At their best, productions from this era were more than wonky wormholes or glitchy portals. More than sub-busting, circuit-melting departures from the sparse boom-clap, boom-bap of the 90s. Though it was thrilling to get blasted by these retro-future sonics in the club, the music that stayed with me had a more elusive quality to it, resonating far beyond the nostalgia of 8-bit frequencies that hooked a whole generation of avid gamers. It had nuance, intricacy and texture. It built a world to inhabit, conjured tension and release. Far more compelling than today’s immensely popular ‘lofi beats’, or “Starbuck music” as Lotus likes to call it. In a recent interview with Hearing Things’ Dylan Greene, he described the boundlessness of the LA scene back then. “It felt like we had so much potential to the way we were turning beats away from just rappers and crafting a producer world. I was curious to see how far we could take it.” “Dilla really opened up the possibilities of what could be done with samples,” he adds. “For so long, people were so fixated on getting a two or four-bar loop out of a sample, where he’d get little pieces of a thing and make it sound like it was a four-bar loop.” Dilla set the trajectory and gave the next generation of producers confidence to take centre stage, to be the headliner. Soon, beat culture would become “part of the fabric of pop culture” according to historian and author Laurent Fintoni. Did you know that Paul White produced for a young Charli XCX? Or that Bullion wrote one of my favourite songs of recent years with Carly Rae Jepsen? Anyway, I thought it would be fun to go back – back to the future. So here is a beat tape time capsule of some of my favourite MC-free transmissions from around 2006 to 2010. The rules are simple. No MCs. No guest vocalists. No interruptions. It’s compiled in the spirit of latter-day Dilla and where he was taking hip-hop: deep into the realms of electronic music. Though if you ask Dabrye, that’s where it’s been since the beginning. This sound convergence reached its zenith, arguably, in an East London car park during two consecutive summers. Look at those bills. By 2009, you had the likes of Lotus and Pursuit Grooves releasing on Pinch’s Bristol label Tectonic. United in bass. Ok, it’s your turn. Please reach me [at]amarofpatel on IG or in the Substack comments with memories, favourites, thoughts… I’d love to know whose influence you see where in modern music. Look out for part two, where I’ll be in conversation with one of the artists I featured. Otherwise catch me for the usual runnings on Sister Midnight FM, 26 May and 23 June from 2-4pm GMT. Stay cool. Stay close. And turn it up! A ***** FLYING LOTUS – Fall in Love (c2006) FLYING LOTUS – 1983 [Brainfeeder] (2006) 3m 20s(FYI, FlyLo’s Dilla’s Still Here mix on Dublab in 2006) DIMLITE – In Groups To The Hydrandd (Album Edit) [Sonar Kollektiv] (2005) 7m 30s 2TALL – Distant Shadows [The Content Label] (2008) 11m 50s HUDSON MOHAWKE – Fuse [Warp] (2009) 15m 30s(Hudson’s Heeters vol 1 also very influential in the heyday of Myspace) MIKE SLOTT – Snow Birds (2009) [Lucky Me] (2009) 18m 25s BULLION – Are You The One? [One-Handed Music] (2009) 21m 30s PAUL WHITE – unreleased beat (c2007) 24m 10s AMMONCONTACT – Infinity of Rhythm (Instrumental) [Ninja Tune] (2004) 26m 30s TAKE – In Every Way You Can [Poo-Bah] (2006) 30m 30s RAS G & THE AFRIKAN SPACE PROGRAM – El Saturn Day [Poobah] (2010) 33m 15s RAS G – Power of Thought [Poobah] (2005) 36m 00s KNXWLEDGE – Dryice (2011) 38m 05s MUHSINAH – Gogh [Rock Slinger Incorporated] (2009) 40m 10s(Tip: the full vocal version is one of my favourite songs of the era.) FLYAMSAM – The Offbeat [Ghostly International] (2009) 40m 40s DORIAN CONCEPT – Define Soft [Earstroke] (2006) 44m 00s DAK – Frthbnghtsthtnvrhppnd [Leaving Records] (2009) 47m 30s DABRYE – That’s What’s Up (instrumental) [Ghostly International] (2006) 49m 50s HARMONIC 313 – Köln [Warp] (2008) 53m 40s AZYMUTH – Melô Dos Dois Bicudos (Harmonic 313 remix) [Far Out] (2007) 57m 15s PURSUIT GROOVES – Healing Secrets (2006) 1h 01m 15s PAUL WHITE – Marshen Signals [One-Handed Music] (2010) 1h 04 50s WAAJEED – Tetris (2009) 1h 06m 35s MNDSGN – Trance Dance (featuring Devonwho) [Klipmode] (2009) 1h 09m 55s THE BIG PAYBACK (BYRON THE AQUARIUS & ONRA) – Cosmic Travelling [Rush Hour] (2007) 1h 12m 10sFull project / Backstory KID SUBLIME – I’m Back [Rush Hour] (2007) 1h 17m 10s GEORGIA ANN MULDROW – Frames (instrumental) [Stones Throw] (2006) 1h 20m 45s(My interview with GAM for Straight No Chaser in 2006. Possibly her first cover feature.) GEORGIA ANN MULDROW – Pad Control [Mello Music Group] (2010) 1h 22m 35s DR WHO DAT? – Deep Blaque [Viberian Experience] (2006) 1h 24m 05s SA-RA CREATIVE PARTNERS – Timeless Continuum [Plug Research] (2006) 1h 29m 30s SHAPE OF BROAD MINDS – Viberian Sun [Lex] (2007) 1h 31m 40s FLYING LOTUS – Satelllliiiiiiiiteee [Warp) (2010) 1h 33m 40s FLYING LOTUS – Glendale Galleria [Tectonic] (2009) 1h 37m 20s BLACKPOCKET – STA Simonez [Exit] (2007) 1h 40m 10s BEAT SPACEK – Alone in Da Sun [Ninja Tune] (2007) 1h 42 05s BARON ZEN – Burn Rubber (Dam Funk remix instrumental) [Stones Throw] (2007) 1h 47m 50s TOKIMONSTA – Lucid Waking [Young Art] (2010) 1h 52m 30s BULLION – Crazy Over You [One-Handed Music] (2010) 1h 55m 40s MR DIBIASE – Keep On Runnin [Fat City] (2010) 1h 58m 20s OHBLIV – Send it On Down [Thrash Flow] (2009) 2h 00m 45s DANNY BREAKS – inginging [Droppin’ Science] (2014) 2h 4m 00s ^Go deeper^ * A Beat Happening with Laurent Fintoni and Kutmah (whose Sacred Geometry was a landmark mix in 2009) * Bedroom Beats & B-Sides: Instrumental Hip-hop and Electronic Music at the Turn of the Century by Laurent Fintoni * How Flying Lotus Redefined What Instrumental Hip-Hop Could Sound Like * All Ears, a documentary by Gus Sutherland (dakim clip here) * Dublab’s Secondhand Sureshots featuring Ras G, Daedalus and Nobody * Beat Culture & the SP-404 (Roland short) * Mass Appeal: Rhythm Roulette (start with Paul White and Dibiase) * Questlove Show with Georgia Ann Muldrow * BTS Radio archive (shout out to Andrew Meza) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amarofpatel.substack.com

    A late 2000s beat tape

  7. Apr 12

    Moonbeam Levels – March 2026 (extra time)

    Hello, How are you feeling? As I write this little covering note, Lewisham is bathing in sunshine and the plants are about to bloom. My dog can roam in the park without his snood and I don’t have to whine (as much) about the daily clean-up, particularly those ears that swipe up all the street gunk like extra-large flannels. Finchy is a loveable rogue but he is work. The tracksuit bottoms are about to come off – by popular demand – and the light is beginning to charge my cells. You see, this is why the changing seasons are so important. I haven’t managed to submit to the quirks of each one but I do get a buzz from seeing the back of winter! All this is to say that hope is in the air, which is a distant memory to any Tottenham fan. The plan is to channel some of this extra energy into more spontaneous and frequent writing on here, especially given the dearth of freelance opportunities. In case you missed it, this reflection on Chadwick Boseman’s play Deep Azure was a decent warm-up. As was this trip to The Weight of Being, an exhibition that explores how mental health shapes creative expression. The painter and teacher John Wilson McCracken caught my attention. I have another story lined up about my local area, gentrification and the importance of holding on to the best of a place. To the music… Twice in one month? Confusing, I know. This is what happens when you are scheduled to broadcast every fourth Tuesday. What can I say? Take advantage. It’s a double-shot of a show. I am still defiant in my commitment to making life online a little more genuine and convivial, so please write back with your favourite moments, or to share whatever good news has come your way. Back at the end of April with a guest 🤞🏾 Want to come on? Message me. I’m very keen to speak to SE London dwellers. The artists, activists, writers, community builders and late bloomers. If you like talking about music, even better. Stay close… Amar ***** MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO – Papillon [Universal Music Jazz France]Having completed the last show featuring the tribute to the late great engineer Bob Power, I dug into more of his work and realised that not only had he helped make Peace Beyond Passion with Meshell Ndegeocello, he was also in the studio for jazz excursion The Spirit Music Jamia: The Dance of the Infidel in 2005. ‘Papillon’ features Kenny Garrett on soprano sax and Federico González Peña on keyboards. Spellbinding. GREGORY UHLMANN – Imprint [International Anthem] 11m 40sAnother month, another selection from Chicago’s International Anthem records, stewards of contemporary, forward-thinking jazz music. You may have encountered Gregory Uhlmann before as co-leader of the fiery SML, who have featured on Moonbeam Levels. Or in a trio with saxophonist Josh Johnson and bassist Sam Wilkes. His solo debut Extra Stars is full of harmonically rich and meditative compositions like ‘Imprint’, with Uhlmann trying to coax unusual sounds from stringed and other instruments. Alabaster Deplume and Anna Butterss are among the guests dropping in. BY.ALEXANDER – Bloom in Paris (featuring Charles Bukowski) [Blue Note] 14m 25sThe music of By.Alexander, aka Alex Da Kid, passed me by for a minute. Perhaps it was the fashion dimension to the project. But then I started reading all the comments from fans on IG. All that appreciation got me curious, so I paid closer attention. He has a very particular conception of jazz that he’s not afraid to disrupt or agitate through sonic experimentation. Compositions like ‘Bloom in Paris’ (featuring infamous poet Charles Bukowski) access some netherland in the mind. Well, they do for me. The expanded edition of Memories For Sale… is coming in April and his choice of guests says a lot about how wide open he is musically – Theo Coker, Rapsody and JD Reid. MIKIO MASUDA – Moon Stone [Nippin Columbia Japan] 19m 15sFor his second Nippon Columbia compilation, Tokyo archivist and artist Kunimond Takiguchi turns his attention to jazz funk. Expect to hear the full spectrum, from orchestral and baroque movements to the nighttime frisson of city pop and fusion for the fleet-footed. Names such as Eri Ohno and Jiro Inagaki will be familiar to all you diggers out there. The stargazer in me can’t look past Mikio Masuda’s ‘Moon Stone’, which recalls Lonnie Liston Smith at his most seductive. Out to Portal records for putting me on to lots of Japanese gold via Instagram. Follow them for more like this. MYSTIC JUNGLE – The Memory (featuring Roxana) [Stix] 24m 00sOff volume six of Disco Reggae, this is Periodica Records founder Mystic Jungle with Roxana doing a cover of Roy Ayers Ubiquity’s classic groove ‘The Memory’ (source LP Vibrations is tremendous, featuring genius Edwin Birdsong and bassist William Allen). I actually wanted to play a new track called ‘Mountain River’ but you’ll have to wait until May for that one to emerge on 7” from a very remote corner of Napoli. KJADE – Virginia is for the Lovers 28m 20sI always fall for a lackadaisical flow over a thick bass groove, the artist rappin’ about how she “died three times and came back just to write this”. KJade first popped into my world through Spotify’s begrudgingly useful Discover Weekly – ‘Sankofa’ off debut album The Sound That Trees Make. On Everything I Love, she’s in a bit more of a hurry to unload feelings and indulge desires, bluntly stating on ’Virginia is for the Lovers’, “I need you to be all over me”. Oh, FYI KJade wants you to play her music in your local café. “OMG, I love it when people tell me that,” she tweeted last month. You know what to do. ANNE CLARK – Poem for a Nuclear Romance [Dark Entries] 31m 40sImpending doom never felt so good. Anne Clark was a punk and poet who hooked up with Psychic TV affiliate David Harrow to make two albums: Changing Places in 1983 and Joined Up Writing the following year. From the latter, various versions of ‘Our Darkness’ comprise the bulk of this reissue, and you could imagine the early house and techno pioneers across the pond flipping out over the machine pulse and wanting some of that arpeggiated intensity in their tracks. But ‘Poem for a Nuclear Romance’ speaks to my plaintive heart in this moment. TIOMBÉ LOCKHART – Strange Things [Mothertongue] 36m 20sLA-based Tiombé has been a name to check for since I discovered her on the PPP album back in the early 2000s and this rare song produced by Bilal, which you can find on her unofficial debut album, The Aquarius Years. She always glides and tip-toes gracefully over heavy beats and this dub rhythm, courtesy of frequent collaborator Georgia Ann Muldrow, is no exception. Coming Forth By Day came out last year and deserves wider attention. VIRGO – The Art Roots [Mukatsuku] 40m 00sNick Weston from Mukatsuku Records has collected four classic ambient techno tracks from Form@ records on one 12” for your pleasure. I adore music like this at the moment. It calms my mind and helps me to find a flow state. Virgo is the alias of Yasutaka Sato, who adopted the moniker from 1996 to 2004 before shelving it for 20 years. With its icicle melody and robotic oscillations, ‘The Art Roots’ creates a strange yet addictive sensation. For more ambient experimental business out of Japan, listen to this NTS Special on Japan’s CD-era electronic underground. SHY ONE – Nort Wess [Touching Bass] 44m 15sShy’s new album is rightly getting lots of attention for its adept fusion of great Black British music from the past few decades, from soundsystem and street soul to grimey, UK funky and broken. I still remember getting very excited about early tunes such as ‘Waterfalls’ but if you look on Bandcamp, you’ll find unreleased material from as far back as 2010 (see below). It’s not easy to make a project feel this cohesive, particularly with such a wide array of guests dropping in (George Riley, Steve Spacek, James Massiah). But Mali is just that. Bass, Mids, Tops co-author Joe Muggs traced the roots of this record really well in his piece about lineages of sound. SHY ONE – Cardiophobia 47m 40sA precocious offering from a collection of previously unreleased beats and bleeps made between 2010 and 2011. 2562 – Stranger Than Paradise [Tectonic] 51m 25sDave Huismans (aka 2562) was one of the names I would check for regularly at the dawn of what became known as bass music around 2006-7. His releases on Tectonic quietly helped to inform the sonic architecture of this nebulous and ephemeral sound, a mutation of dubstep and techno among other influences. This scurrying monster is on an EP of previously unreleased music from that period, which Dave discovered on an old studio PC. SECOND STOREY – Viper Returns [Frustrated Funk] 56m 30sOff the Descend to Ascend 12 by Berlin-based UK producer Alec Storey, this is reminiscent of that golden period of Hessle Audio releases in the early 2010s. Made to fry bassbins. JULION DE’ANGELO – NOWnormal [Mother Tongue] 1h 01m 00sJulion’s been steadily building a rep for punchy and raw productions like ‘NOWnormal’ from his debut EP, as well as dynamite edits like this. There aren’t enough percussive trax out there these days, or afro dubs in the vein of classic MAW. The kind that DJs could use to work the crowd over with, before reeling us in with an irresistible vocal. KEVAN ADRIAN – Give It Up (Grusane Dub) [Rush Hour] 1h 08m 10sThere’s a great story behind this joyous floorfiller, made by Nigerian-born Kevan Frost while working as a session man in 90’s London. In place of pay, he would be given free time to record and the self-taught musician knocked out ‘Give It Up’ in just two days using C-Lab on his old Atari, the Akai S-1000 sampler and a few instruments. Decades later, a friend of Chicago DJ Mark Grusane found a copy in the Africa Record Centre in Brooklyn and handed it to him. Mark recognised its magic and a

  8. Mar 15

    Moonbeam Levels – March 2026

    KWES – Orange Blue [Warp]I consider one-time Lewisham resident Kwes a singer-songwriter at the root, because that’s how I first met him in 2009 with the track ‘Tissues’. On more recent Warp releases he’s been experimenting with an ever-widening palette of noises, creating these little idiosyncratic universes of sound, tuff but sweet. ‘LGOYH’, last heard on his Rye Lane Soundtrack a few years ago, showed his earnest lyricism could still tug on the heartstrings in a very British way. But instrumental snippets like ‘Wave at Boats’ hinted at where he might go next – ambience with a featherlight touch. Latest album Kinds offers nine colour-coded variations on a theme, for all the synesthesiasts out there. DUVAL TIMOTHY & CJ MIRRA – Passing On [Carrying Colour] 4m 50sThe kind of score that has you rushing to the cinema for full audio-visual immersion, this is Duval Timothy and CJ Mirra with ‘Passing On’ from Akinola Davis Jr’s debut feature film My Father’s Shadow, which was written by his brother Wale. I’ve yet to watch it but it’ll happen. Always interested in complex father-son stories. Aren’t they always? Set over a single day in Lagos during the 1993 Nigerian election crisis, Akin’s debut follows an estranged father guiding his two young sons across the city as political unrest threatens their journey home. SULAH JORDAN – Leaves in the Trees [Test Pressing Arts] 11m 00sHappy to see that Oakland artist Sulah Jordan’s EP Lady Bug from 2023 is getting the vinyl treatment on Test Pressing’s offshoot label Test Pressing Arts. I included ‘Musee Melancolique’ in a previous edition of Moonbeam Levels after being seduced by the iridescent beauty of that debut, which transported me to some cove shaded by tropical leaves. So why not this track next? FABIANO DO NASCIMENTO & VITTOR SANTOS ORQUESTRA – Trenzinho Imaginário [Far Out] 15m 05sVILA is the very classy collaboration between guitarist Fabiano Do Nascimento and trombonist/arranger Vittor Santos, who leads a 16-piece orchestra here to breathtaking heights. It’s inspired by the former’s upbringing in a Rio de Janeiro neighbourhood called Catete and exudes a beguiling mix of grandeur and homeliness. The swirling strings of melody, to me, represent the best of big band Brazil. TILAYE GEBRE & THE DAHLAK BAND – Tizita [Muzikawi/Mr Bongo] 18m 00sThe product of one-take live sessions that Tilaye would conduct with his band at the Ghion Hotel in Addis Ababa in the 70s, ‘Tizita’ is the saxophonist, composer and arranger at his most winsome and romantic. The lo-fi haziness of the recording lends a little eeriness to proceedings. Check the extensive liner notes for more about his path in music. BRENT FAIYAZ – Butterflies [ISO Supremacy/UnitedMasters] 27m 35sBrent is one of those artists from the post-MySpace era that I would discover almost daily on blogs and YouTube. I think it was the Black Child EP that hipped me to his use of heavy atmospherics in the pleasure centre of R&B and rap. He’s now ascended to the realm of pop superstar (man’s got more than five million IG followers), making tracks such as ‘Pure Fantasy’, which, as one commenter wrote, has him “fully in his MJ bag”. Others are in disbelief that the same guy who wrote ‘Wish You Well’ is now falling in love with superwomen on ‘Butterflies’, which I had to include for that audacious intro alone. There’s a whole team that produced this track, but the project is executive produced by Mr Instant Vintage, Raphael Saadiq. CHARLOTTE DAY WILSON – Selfish [XL] 31m 30sLet’s stay in song mode with something from Patchwork, the latest self-produced album from Charlotte Day Wilson, who just has this undeniable gift for aching melodies. All it took was one guest spot on a BADBADNOTGOOD record in 2016 to know she’s a ride-or-die artist. An old soul with an alluring tone. Remember, she made Van and Earn catch feelings again in Atlanta. Tempos shift across this project but the writing is rock-solid, from the refined slow jam ‘If Only’ to the doo-doodoo two-step that propels ‘Selfish’ and then evaporates. GENA – Douwannabwithastar [Lex] 35m 10sThe Pleasure is Yours, the full-length remote collab between Liv.e and Karriem Riggins, is out now. As satisfying and uplifting a collection of boomin’ ditties as you will hear this year. There are styles for miles, so it’s almost impossible to pin down. All I will add is that it’s soul-deep top to bottom and sounds like Karriem’s workin’ the kit right next to you. God Energy, Naturally Amazing, uh huh. Fun fact: the project name is inspired by Tisha Campbell’s character in the TV show Martin. “Specifically how Martin Lawrence would say Gina [Payne’s] name”, Liv.e told Hearing Things. “That’s how these songs make me feel.” ** Tribute to Bob Power ** A TRIBE CALLED QUEST – Rhythm (Devoted to the Art of Moving Butts instrumental) [Not on Label] 38m 00sWe recently lost one of the great mixing engineers of the past 30 years plus. You may not know the name but you will definitely have savoured Bob Power’s work if you were raised on a similar diet to me. First up, A Tribe Called Quest’s Low End Theory and Midnight Marauders. On the back of the former, he’s given the nickname “LOCKED”. No doubt, a nod to his powers of precision, focus and the ability to get sh*t with finesse. Then there was De La Soul’s Bulhoone Mindstate and De La Soul is Dead, The Roots’ Illadelph Half Life and Things Fall Apart, Baduizm, Brown Sugar, Dee-lite, Meshell Ndegeocello’s Comfort Woman and Peace Beyond Passion, Common’s Like Water For Chocolate, Ozomatli’s Embrace The Chaos, India Arie’s Acoustic Soul… His mastery of dynamic range, pitch, timbre, clarity and frequency balance ensured the artist’s sonic vision was coming through just as clearly as their musical one. And he also knew when to get out of the way. Let’s hear from man himself and then run through a few underappreciated moments of his greatness. Plug in your best phones or speakers and listen closely. For more on Bob, check this interview where he gives a very telling anecdote about recording Chaka Khan. Chip Fu, who worked with Bob on Fu-schnickens’s first Jive album, breaks down what made him so good in the studio here. A TRIBE CALLED QUEST – The Chase Pt 2 [Jive] 42m 40s“Bob Power, you there? Adjust the bass and treble, make my s**t sound clear!” A TRIBE CALLED QUEST – Same Ol’ Thing [Jive] 46m 01s THE ROOTS – Distortion to Static [Geffen] 50m 05s“Redder than pork, comin’ to New York to mix, It’s Bob Power with the snares and kicks to fix.” MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO – Andromedia & The Milky Way [Maverick] 53m 58s ** tribute ends ** BRIAN AUGER’S OBLIVION EXPRESS – Total Eclipse [Strut] 75m 55sIt’s been a while since I’ve listened to anything Brian Auger-related. In my early loop-digging days I would stumble on some of his 60’s releases with Julie Driscoll and Trinity. In the next decade, the British organist and composer strode confidently into the age of jazz rock, forming the Oblivion Express. Strut has reissued their self-titled offering and on there is one of the group’s finest grooves (‘Total Eclipse’), which we’re gonna ride for the full 11 minutes to appreciate the rhythm section of bassist Barry Dean and drummer Robbie McIntosh. Though guitarist Jim Mullen is all up in this track, saying don’t forget about me. ROLAND BRIVAL – Créole Gypsy [Soundway] 1h 09 20sOsunlade introduced me to the resonant timbre of Roland Brival with his Yoruba Soul remix of ‘Sakitayo’ in 2004. The Martinique poet and painter’s Jon Lucien x Leon Thomas incantations instantly put me in a trance and hinted at a rich musical heritage. And so it was that in 1980 he made a spiritual jazz opus about his Créole identity, love and colonial injustices that became a private press obscurity. Until now… HUNEE – The World [Rush Hour] 1h 17m 05sI think it was Rush Hour who served me this flashback to 2015 Hunee. I knew of his reputation as a marathon DJ and selector at the time, but I skipped over his album Hunch Music. Listening more than ten years after its release, there is a nagging sense of unease or introspection in tracks like ‘Bruises’ and this one, which samples June Tyson on Sun Ra’s ‘After The End of The World’, beckoning us into whatever comes next. A track for precarious times, right. SHACKLETON – The Dream in Fragments [AD93] 1h 23m 00sAfter dropping one of Shackleton’s many versions of Saagara in the last show, I couldn’t resist giving the trance master a little more airtime with this, ‘The Soul of Everything’, taken from AD93 album Euphoria Bound. The PR blurb for it chooses some very apt words to describe its mood … or should that be mode? Dissolution, erasure, disintegration… Yes, something is being shed or cast off in this set and it all feels necessary. To make way for renewal. NONDI – Tree Festival [Planet Mu] 1h 27m 15sComing out of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Nondi makes these very raw but melodic rhythm trax that draw from juke, footwork and IDM among other sources. Think Aphex, Actress, Rashad… Ringing, rumbling, clattering into your ears and down the spine, it’s a full-body experience. ‘Tree Festival’ is my eargasm of choice. Check out Nondi’s first Planet Mu release Flood City Trax as well. DJ FOOD – Peace (Harvey’s 30 Something Mix [Mr Bongo] 1h 30m 25sA standout track from Luke Una’s third volume of É Soul Cultura. A psychedelic coolout track that I haven’t heard since picking up Harvey’s Late Night Sessions mix years ago. Always open to some gratuitous shredding, especially when it pops up in unexpected places. Luke’s been playing some proper parties around the world recently, restoring my faith in the floor. Go dance with him. WILLIE COLÓN – Set Fire To Me (Inferno Dub) [A&M] 1h 38m 25sPure Afro-Cuban soun

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About

Mixtape x record club™️ 🤯 music selections and conversations. amarofpatel.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Amar Patel
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    25
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Amar Patel
  • Show Website
    Moonbeam Levels