Good music and good covers – that's the trademark of the Munich / Cologne based Label Jazz & Milk!
„Jazz & Milk“ was founded by Dusty, together with graphic designer Tim Schmitt. The label and the associated clubnight „Jazz&Milk“ have been installed in 2005 and since then represent an integral constant of the Munich club culture with international guests such as Mr. Scruff, Max Graef, Romare, Mark de Clive-Lowe, Dorian Concept, Clap Clap!, Debruit, Quantic, Sofrito Soundsystem, Lefto, Simbad, Poets Of Rhythm, Karl Hector & the Malcouns and many others.
Jazz & Milk is all about a broad spectrum of musical styles. Bringing together jazz, soul, afrobeat, dub, cosmic, disco, boogie and raw house rhythms, the label offers an experimental playground for international artists (such as Ziggy Zeitgeist, Abase, Sam Irl, Dusty, Steve Spacek, Bongani Givethanks and many more) that share one passion: a natural balance between accoustic and electronic sounds, traditional music and a modern club-music oriented approach.
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Review: Abase (Hungarian producer Szabolcs Bognar) teams up with Australia's Ziggy Zeitgeist (real name Zeke Ruckman) on an EP that'll suit those who like it downtempo, experimental and world music-oriented. In fact, of the six cuts on offer, only 'Body Mind And Spirit' and 'Phoenix Rising' have anything to do with "deep house" at all - and even then they're strictly for floors that lean heavily towards the soulful/bruk beat end of the spectrum. Elsewhere, 'Elevation' and 'Meditation' blend ambient and jazz influences, 'Saturn Return' comes on like Incantation gone prog and 'Nuit Des Torres' is a midtempo beats thang.
Review: Having joined forces to launch Jazz & Milk's "Twelve Inch Jams" series back in September 2017, old pals Sam IRL and Dusty return to action to mark the project's fourth release. They're in fine form, too, with virtual A-side "Broken Spell" offering a near perfect blend of loved-up synthesizer riffs, blissful high-register electronics, elastic synth-bass and skewed, off-kilter house drums (think old Italian dream house fused with West London broken beat and you're close). This dreamy and melodious vibe continues on "Love Prelude", an altogether deeper and more glassy-eyed affair built around solid house drums, jaunty boogie bass and more glistening, sunrise-ready electronics.
Review: When the admirable Jazz & Milk label launched its 12" Jams series last month, it was with an EP that brought together label boss Dusty and long-time pal Sam IRL. For volume two, the latter has gone solo. In many ways, "You Don't Feel Enough" is an echo from the past, featuring as it does skipping, West London style broken beats, raw analogue bass and some killer jazz-funk instrumentation. Yet that style has been making a comeback in recent times, and the track has a similar vibe to recent EPs from Kaidi Tatham, Dego and the rest of the 2000 Black crew. Then, German heavyweights Session Victim deliver their interpretation, which re-casts the track as a drowsy and jazzy chunk of wavy deep house.
Review: Following a fine outing on Sampling As An Art earlier this year, dusty deep house and disco fusionist Sam IRL returns to the loving arms of long-term home Jazz & Milk. This time round, he's joined forces with label-mate Dusty to launch the label's new Twelve Inch Jams series. As the title suggests, these are sparkling club workouts that aren't afraid to stretch things out in pursuit of greater dancefloor thrills. The duo begins with the rolling, spacey riffs, twinkling music box melodies, bustling analogue bass and swinging, organic-sounding deep house beats of "Pick Up The Pieces", before necking a boot load of happy tablets on the sweltering summer sunshine of high quality disco/deep house fusion of "Drift".
Review: Bavaria via Vienna's Sam IRL is back with more dusty deep house and disco antics on Raw Land. This is highly recommended for anyone into Motor City Drum Ensemble's Raw Cuts series or Glenn Astro and Max Graef's Money $ex dirty MPC driven vibes. There's some great stuff on here such as the sexy late night deep groove of the title track, the crusty hip-hop of "Day Break", "Small Things" and its classic midwest vibe reminiscent of old Terrence Parker and closer "Tea & Jay" whose swirling Rhodes and syncopated rhythm checks the smooth vibes of KDJ off the list too. Impressive!
Review: Munich's Jazz & Milk have rustled up this mini label comp to mark their current ten-year anniversary. We get four cool cuts from as many producers: "Dreams" by Sam IRL kicks things off with deep organic grooves and bleeps and "Technotrap" by Mieux sees a raw, frenzied beat underscore some seriously trippy arpeggiation. Elsewhere Dusty's "Heavy Lights" is more of a loopy 4/4 space disco jam and finally things end on a brassy New Orleans party tip with Todd Simon and the Angel City All Star Brass Band's cheery rendition of "Mas Que Nada".
Review: Given that it's been two years since Bavarian MPC abuser Sam IRL last released on Jazz & Milk, the Free Two Grow EP is long overdue. The Gilles Peterson favourite is at his best when coming at styles from a different angle, and that's exactly what he seems to have done on opener "Free Two Grow". It's deep house - swinging, loose, off-kilter and typically evocative - but boasts a heavy sub bassline and is built around a jazzy flute loop. "Ions" has a similar dusty, minor key-heavy, soul-driven deep house feel, but its closer "Einerfuerheiner", a dancefloor-friendly head-nodder full of hip-hop drums, jazzy keys and throbbing electro bass, that hits home hardest.
Review: Dusty's Jazz & Milk imprint has developed a killer reputation for providing us with some of the best hepcat-jazz-with-a-contemporary-twist thrills in recent years. Here he decides to tie up the story so far in a neat compilation featuring some fine work by his every trusty roster. Highlights include Dusty's laid back brassy mix of "Afro Hop", Sam Irl's deep and sensual house cut "Time", the stoned g-funk of "Hey Girl/Boy" and the furious drum-fuelled joint "A Good Old Holiday Groove".
The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over The Lazy Dog - (6:02) 111 BPM
Broken Chords For Broken People (part 1) - (6:55) 99 BPM
Broken Chords For Broken People (part 2) - (4:14) 142 BPM
The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over The Lazy Dog (Bartellow remix) - (5:26) 120 BPM
Review: Jazz & Milk come through with Broken Chords For Broken People, a wonderful debut mini album from the unheralded GTA Hoffman, neither a new computer game, nor a novelist, but a tight Jazz formation of three musicians. Beni Brachtel, aka Bartellow (guitar), Lukas Rabe (keys) and Gabriel Hahn (drums) combine, offering a taut take on the live jazz sound that's poised at a hip swaying 120BPMs and touches on earthy R'n'B grooves, wooden house and analogue elevator-minimalism. "Levitate" is a bonafide dusty house gem that could easily find a home on Theo Parrish's new Wildheart Recordings and the fact it's followed by the low slung funk rock of "Kleine Mausestory" and "The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over The Lazy Dog" demonstrates the diversity on offer here.
Review: A fruity four piece from his album of the same name, Jazz & Milk boss Dusty's "Mood Matters" bangs with jazz house attitude. Establishing a rock-solid groove, Dusty lets the trumpets loose as they scribble all over his tight beat work. "Danse Macabre" is a co-lab with his live act Bad Jazz Troupe who live up their name with a whole cavalcade of rhythm switches and psychedelic melodic patterns. "Seventy Three" is heads south for a lesson in horn-heaved Afrofunk while "Longing Lingers" finishes on a sultry, soul-jazz boogie note thanks to the sexy vocals of Carla Vallet. Yummy.
Review: Sometime around the early 2000s, you couldn't move in Bavaria and Austria for nu-jazz producers. On this warm, Rhodes-heavy EP, Vienna-based Bavarian Sam IRL pays tribute to that time, when Compost Records' releases ruled Munich dancefloors. The hot and humid "Bataque" recalls the label's flirtations with Brazilian beats, laying delicious keys over righteous Latin rhythms. "Oh Mother" does likewise, throwing in lazy trumpets and loose-limbed percussion to great effect. "Safety Hertz", meanwhile, delivers an organic take on deep house. This is even more evident on Cid Rim's smoky, atmospheric rework, which sits somewhere between European deepness and the sort of liquid bruk once made by Trickski.
Changi De Manteca (feat Julio Cesar Rodriguez) - (5:08) 113 BPM
A Moment To Think (feat BluRum 13) - (4:38) 90 BPM
Verbeneo - (5:00) 83 BPM
The Culture (Peruvian mix) - (3:29) 97 BPM
Review: Spanish producer Kidboy enlists a team of talented singers and MCs on this new and diverse set of tunes for Jazz & Milk. The instrumental joy of the samba 'n' bass opener "Yo Me Voy De Aqui" leads into the mellow, warm and very essential nu jazz/hip-hop of "The Culture". Featuring Quantic, Bamboos and Breakestra cohort Ohmega Watts, it recalls The Roots and Common at their Philly-residing best, as does the BluRum 13 collab "A Moment To Think" which sports a beat worthy of late-period A Tribe Called Quest or De La Soul.
Review: Having been on the radar of nu-jazz, broken beat and subterranean soul heads since way back in 2005, the Jazz & Milk label is now one of the longest-serving imprints in a fiercely underground scene. Here, they offer-up a digital reissue of Jazz & Milk Breaks Volume 2, a compilation that deservedly proved popular on CD first time round. In typical Jazz & Milk fashion, it features a breezy collection of floor-friendly cuts in a jazz dance style. There's plenty of variety within the 11 tracks, with decidedly robust nods to mambo, Cuban dance music and skittering electro-jazz nestling side by side with downtempo jazz, hip-hop inclined beatscapes and shuffling soul. If you've not yet got a copy, don't sleep.
Review: Out after a host of EPs and an album on their own Jazz & Milk label, eight-piece jazz/exotica/Brazilian group Dusty follow up the album with four fresh new remixes of some of their biggest tunes to date. Solo Moderna rework "Loco Para La Pista" around its Cuban piano parts and an addictive sax line that's nicely anchored by a soft house beat. "Voodoo" however is transformed on Romanowski's "Voodoo Island" mix into a hugely funky, breaks-driven Latin party-starter - mainly thanks to some smart looping of both clarinet and guitar.
Review: A real feast of guitar-driven, psych funk exotica on this new LP from the enigmatic Mr Chop, who manages to conjure up the echoey, cavernous and raw textures of late '60s/early '70s jazz-rockers like Gary Burton or Charles Wright on this fantastic LP. With an all-live/no samples aesthetic, Mr C is even aided out by the drumming of Heliocentrics' legendary Malcolm Catto on "The Red Baron", while spooked-out and gritty rock doesn't get any better than on the excellent "Trip through the Water Door".
Review: This splendid package from long-time jazz dance/broken beat players Jazz & Milk is the audio equivalent of a New Year detox. If you need to flush out your system after a month of sludgy excess, you could do worse than check the two original tracks here - the breezy, sunshine vibes of "Do What" and Bugz In The Attic-ish "Move On Girl". Both come backed with a slew of excellent, floor-friendly remixes. Of these, it's DJ Moodz NuYorican Soul style re-fix of "Do What" that most impresses, though Don Pascal percussive, 4/4 dub of "Move It Girl" - think Simbad in his Marathon Men days - pushes it close.
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