Real World Gold - classic albums from the Real World vaults
The Real World Gold series peels back the years to revisit some of the most inspirational and beautiful music from the archives. With great performances, unexpected collaborations and unique compositions the albums still sound as fresh today as when they were recorded all those years ago.
Real World Gold is launched on 21st May with ten outstanding titles. You can listen to full sample tracks, browse our media gallery and discover more about each re-release from the Real Wold Gold homepage. Watch out for more to come in July and September.
Samuel Yirga launches his debut album, Guzo, in Australia and New Zealand, 11 May.
Samuel Yirga is one of the brightest young talents to emerge on the Ethiojazz scene in recent years, introduced to Real World as the pianist with Dub Colossus. His debut album, Guzo, is just the start of Samuel's musical journey and a platform to showcase his extraordinary skill as both pianist and composer. The album's roots might be firmly in the Ethiojazz of Samuel's homeland, but this young man from Addis will open up a whole new door on a musical genre and region.
Guzo is released on 11 May in Australia and New Zealand. Samuel will tour Australia in June with dates in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney.
Guzo will be released in Europe on 9 July, in France in September.
"What a fantastic album is Guzo... It has all the ingredients of a masterpiece. Great balance between avant garde jazz and sweet r&b vibe in some tracks and those Ethiopian scales... all tracks are outstanding!"
JPR at Simply Out Of This World/ Radio Bracknell
"I feel very privileged to have an early preview of this fantastic album. (Samuel's) classical music experience shows in his sensitive and thoughtful approach to his solo piano work like Ye Bati Koyita and Drop Me There and at the same time can make a beautiful Charles Stepney tune like I am the Black Gold of the Sun sound fresh yet again. A thoroughly rewarding album."
AfroBase on Juice FM
Portico Quartet in a Bowers & Wilkins Concert For One
A great night yesterday in the legendary Abbey Road Studios as the Portico Quartet recorded a live set to help B&W celebrate the launch of their instantly desirable new P3 headphones. Not only did the guests listen to the performance through a headphone mix but they were lucky enough to take the tracks, freshly recorded and mixed, away with them.
Portico Quartet played a new driving version of Lackerboo and the now epic Line/Rubidium sequence. Lots of happy punters nibbled their canapes and sipped their wine in the gorgeous Studio 2.
New Charlie Winston video...
Charlie has been very busy recently touring Europe but he managed to take a short break to film the video for his new single 'Where Can I Buy Happiness' which was released last week. We caught up with the man himself and also the Director and Producer of the video filmed for the single, which was shot in the Big Apple.
The idea behind the video was to capture a voyeuristic observation of the city through the lens of the camera, a way to tell the story of Charlie's journey using a number of different photographic techniques and styles to really bring the video to life. Rather than using professional extras, Charlie and the film crew instead, approached every day people on the street to reflect the unique atmosphere of New York and give the video real integrity. "Portraiture was always going to be a very important part of this video and for us it was about speaking to, and giving a brief snap shot of the people of NYC." Said Tim Brown, Director from Rokkit
Charlie played a photographer in the video and equipped with his camera he approached all sorts of people from different walks of life. Charlie described his experience of shooting the video as a blast "I was amazed at how obliging everyone was, especially for New York. It's a real city for sure. One of my favourites." Charlie says "Long days, small crew, I saw more of the Big Apple than I think I had ever seen, including movies. People were what made the experience so memorable. That started with the crew of about 8. We all met on a windy street in the meat packing district at 8.00 on Monday morning, greeted by smiles, coffee and hot ham and cheese bagels wrapped in foil. Throughout the two days of shooting I got time to talk to all of them and it felt like a mini family by the end. But it wasn't just the crew I spoke to and that was partly thanks to the role I played in the film, as a photographer. The director gave me an analog reel Canon camera, like the one I took with me to India to make a photo story, and he gave me a bunch of camera rolls and said 'take pics of what you see'. That gave me a good excuse to approach people in the street and ask for their portrait."
Portico Quartet on Guardian 'How I Wrote' session
Watch Portico Quartet performing a live combination of 'Line' and 'Rubidium' as part of The Guardian's "How I Wrote" sessions.
The Guardian "How I Wrote" sessions involve high quality video content of artists discussing their inspiration and background for current material/a song of theirs, as well as a live performance.
Kaleidophonica
Kaleidophonica is the follow-up to Spiro's much-praised Real World album Lightbox, but it's different, says mandolin-player Alex Vann because "we've pushed the ideas and the systems music further". Jane Harbour, Spiro's violinist, argues that "we've taken the most intricate bits of Lightbox and taken the whole mesh to a higher level.
Dub Me Tender Vol 1 + 2
Following the critical success of Dub Colossus' second album, "Addis Through the Looking Glass" (March 2011), and two fantastic shows at WOMAD Charlton Park, Dubulah has now made a dub-heavy album, reworking existing Dub Colossus album tracks plus four previously unreleased tracks.
Portico Quartet
Portico Quartet have expanded to embrace new sonic territories. Drawing on the inspiration of electronica, ambient, classical and dance music as they take their strange, beautiful, cinematic, future music to exciting new vistas where the inspiration of Burial, Mount Kimbie and Flying Lotus rubs shoulders with the textures of Arve Henriksen and Bon Iver and echoes of Steve Reich and Max Richter.
Foxlight
For his third solo album - Foxlight - the acclaimed singer Iarla O Lionaird delivers an impassioned and sublime set of personal songs, combining the twin urges to write more new material and yet also work with an intriguing set of collaborators.
In Trance
If JuJu's chemistry was evident on their acclaimed 2007 debut Soul Science and its equally praised follow up Tell No Lies, it is almost palpable here. In Trance is precisely that: an album that sees Adams' Les Paul goldtop vying and blending with Camara's keening bittersweet vocals and fiery ritti playing, and embracing dub reggae and avant-garde jazz en route.
Addis Through The Looking Glass
"The aim", says Nick Page, the musician and producer best-known as Dubulah, also founding member of Transglobal Underground and Syriana, "is to constantly surprise." The new Dub Colossus album, Addis Through The Looking Glass, does just that. It's a new departure in the band's remarkable history. Dubulah first travelled to Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa in 2006 to collaborate with musicians and explore traditional Azmari styles, 60s Ethiopian pop, Ethiojazz and 70s Jamaican Dub Reggae.
Laru Beya
Encouraged by a songwriter mother with a gorgeous voice and by his widely admired local troubadour father, the young Aurelio made his own guitars from cans and fishing line. Music and songs were the only entertainment in a place with no electricity and little contact with the outside world, and it is these songs that shaped him as an artist and inspired the pieces on Laru Beya.
Tande-La
The Creole Choir of Cuba are called 'Desandann' in their home country which means 'descendants' and with the songs on their forthcoming album 'Tande-La' (a title which translates as 'listen') they tell the stories of their Haitian ancestors who were brought to Cuba to work in near slave conditions on the sugar and coffee plantations.
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