As usual we'll just put our Twitter friendly, succinct, alliteratively leaning descriptions by the side of the player to try and tempt you but let's face it music is a subjective thing. I guess we're more or less on the same musical wavelength or your wouldn't be here in the first place but you know how it goes the true test is what happens when that music hits your ears and connects with your brain.

Sequin suit up your commute & funk up your Friday with Mr Bongo's welcome reissue of the classic disco dub sounds of "For the Love of Money"

Put a few fathoms between you and reality with the unrecognisably morphed surf rock samples, various sea field recordings & general womb regressing sonic warmth of chief submariner Jake Muir's wobbly new ambient LP for Sferic

I'm still trying to fathom how Gakudan Hige Danshaku only consists of two members but I know for certain that it is a killer LP of unhurried Afro Latin Jazz on Hazukashi Records from Japan.

Being as music is getting recycled faster than the yellow bin at the bottom of your road a hip house revival is well overdue. Nice to see Channel Tres & GODMODE leading the charge and at some old school tempos as well. Let it roll.

Start the week nice and easy with the new album from Calm on HELL YEAH recordings. Pure Balearic sunshine vibes cooled with an ambient breeze, anchored by jazz & classic house trope tickled, barely conscious beats.

Great Sunday listening as H. Takahashi drops this LP of considered, minimal composition, easing tones, gentle drones and pacifying ambient electronica for the ever reliable White Paddy Mountain

A new release from The Green Kingdom is always a happy day and his latest adventures in gently undulating sun dried synths, dulcet drones and kalimba, guitar and piano blessed ambient for sound in silence is a soothing Saturday tonic.

An oddball not very cohesive selection of great slow music this week with some avant-folk fusions, future ambient soul, jazzy beats, Balearic beats, minimal string led electronica and some deep life affirming house to finish.

The Green Kingdom - Kodama (Sound in Silence)
Merope - Rototo (Granvat Gran)
Jess Sah Bi & Peter One - Clipo Clipo (Awesome Tapes from Africa)
Zenizen - Destiny (Youngbloods)
Rejoicer feat. Mndsgn - Purple T-Shirts (Stones Throw)
Quart - Thinking of You (BBE promo)
J-Walk - Twilight (Balearic Records)
Sampology - SMILE (Self Released)
Nadia Khan with Francis Harris - Local Visit (Scissor & Thread)
Emil Abramyan - Flightplan (Kingdoms promo)
Jose Padilla - Lillipop, I:Cube Casiotone Reprise mix (Compost promo)
Sibu - Skybound (Bandcamp Self Release)
Luciano feat. Rebelski - Hiding Hearts (Cadenza)

We thought we would provide a one stop, weekly shop for our daily music recommendations for the RSS feed massive that means you don't have to log on daily to social media and hope their algorithms actually give you the information you want.

As usual we'll just put our Twitter friendly, succinct, alliteratively leaning descriptions by the side of the player to try and tempt you but let's face it music is a subjective thing. I guess we're more or less on the same musical wavelength or your wouldn't be here in the first place but you know how it goes the true test is what happens when that music hits your ears and connects with your brain.

Keeping the Balearic vibe alive with a fine building selection of eclectic Breesey musical sunshine. An ideal soundtrack for all sorts of summer activities & winter time vitamin D topping up from Balearic Records.

Hotter than a heatwave roots and dub reggae from Freddie Mckay & Augustus Pablo, lovingly reissued on the always impeccably suited and booted Pressure Sounds

The excellent Indonesian DIVISI 62 label continue their shamanic explorations into deep, tribal, gamelan popularising, electronic fusions with this great new EP from Uwalmassa/Linear Persepective.

The dance floor just got a whole lot weirder and without doubt more wonderful as Hausu Mountain unleash this mind altering, reality adjusting, lysergic synth saturated EP of psychedelic space cadet boogie from Potions.

All year round summer vibes for 2018 and beyond as The Cradle (Paco Cathcart) pops up with a wonderful, orchestrally tinged LP of close up acoustic guitar led indie folk with added lyrical depth and bite for NNA Tapes - lovely.

Perfect Sunday listening courtesy of Masayoshi Fujita's gentle vibraphone led, ambient and modern composition, ably supported by some cultured string work, flute and even a choir on this new LP for Erased Tapes. Beautiful stuff.

So a new feature on the blog starting from today. We thought we would provide a one stop, weekly shop for our daily music recommendations that means you don't have to log on daily to social media and hope their algorithms actually give you the information you want.

As usual we'll just put our Twitter friendly, succinct, alliteratively leaning descriptions by the side of the player to try and tempt you but let's face it music is a subjective thing. I guess we're more or less on the same musical wavelength or your wouldn't be here in the first place but you know how it goes the true test is what happens when that music hits your ears and connects with your brain.

Data driven, taking no risks, indie folky Americana by numbers enhanced by the latest popular VST plugins from Elephant Micah for Western Vinyl, carefully crafted not to offend anyone, sound good in the largest shopping malls and be algorithmically next in line on the popular streaming services. Or maybe not?

It's 40 degrees in Lisbon today so I'm keeping cool & calm by listening to Ann Annie's latest modular synthesized, zen facilitating, temperature lowering, horizontally optimised ambient pathway to waking dreams of Japanese gardens.

A beautiful, dreamy, happily melancholic, ambiguous ambient string & synth led, drum machine anchored, meander through otherworldly realms from Matchess for Trouble In Mind Records.

Familiar sounding yet refreshingly different, bass nudged, live instrumentation adourned adventures in the floatiest sort of ambient techno & future age dreams from Daniel Aged for Quality Time Recordings

Ease your way into the week with this deckchair inviting, sea beckoning, sun optimised, leisure enhancing LP of balmy beats, pastoral house and Balearic dreaminess from Here & Now for Claremont 56

Make your Sunday a lazy hazy one with the reality questioning, kosmishche toad licked, acid addled folk and all round psychedelic vibes of the new Prana Crafter LP on Sunrise Ocean Bender

Electronic adventures in laid back beats and ambience this week on the whole but with lots of interesting twists whether is it African, psychedelic, folk, dub or Balearic.

Pariah - Seed Bank (Houndstooth)
Test Card - Too Soon For Yesterday (The Slow Music Movement promo)
Sandro Perri - Everybody's Paris Pt. II feat. Andre Ethier (Constellation promo)
Dorian Concept - Dishwater (Brainfeeder)
Beat Pharmacy - High Tide (ROHS!)
Casino Versus Japan -  Slow Fade (Kranky)
Emil Abramyan - Fever (Kingdoms promo)
David Baron feat. Simi Stone - The Steps, Lomea Rework (Here & Now)
Forma - Three-Two (Kranky)
Gallo - Sverna (Hell Yeah! promo)
Ross From Friends - The Knife (Brainfeeder)
Mike Nyoni - It's Only a Dream (Now & Again)
Cave - San'Yago (Drag City)
Ebo Taylor - Mumudey Mumudey, Naturboy Flako rmx (Mr. Bongo)

Don't forget our daily social media recommendations. No information overload, one recommendation a day, only the good stuff.

www.theslowmusicmovement.org
www.twitter.com/slowmusicmovmnt
www.instagram.com/theslowmusicmovement
www.facebook.com/theslowmusicmovement

So Ryuichi Sakamoto has made an unintentionally well publicised stand against inappropriate background music or BGM in one of his favourite restaurants and I can only applaud him. Actually he has gone a lot further than that, actually replacing the offending playlist with one of his and enlisted helper Ryu Takahashi's own devising - even taking over the job on an ongoing basis.

I would suggest reading the original New York Times article as it is a great story which raises lots of interesting points. Obviously if you have taken any interest in everyday BGM on your travels then you know how easily it can go wrong. In fact it goes wrong so often that wrong is almost the new right. Poor selections, Christmas music, inappropriate volume. The wrongness is so ubiquitous you rarely question it as you feel like it is you that must be wrong. Well you're not wrong - start questioning!

My first exposure of the BGM industry workings was a few years back and a newly relocated company in my old city was hiring playlist designers to program the music going out to some of the world's biggest brands. As I had worked in music for many years in various capacities the local recruiter invited me for an interview and I was given a trial along with a couple of part time DJs and a singer in a covers band. During this trial I had to program a certain amount of new songs for one of the worlds largest fast food outlets to a brief specification which for the sake of argument said "upbeat, commercial pop music for the 15-30 market with no swearing that hasn't been programmed on the clients playlist before".

Now I've always had esoteric music inclinations and had no idea what was happening in the pop world so I checked the Billboard Top 100 and a couple of the most unashamedly commercial, dopamine stimulating, pop playlists on Deezer I could find and loaded the client's playlist with all this music that I'd only ever heard for a few seconds when I was hurriedly auditioning it. In my defence, being a long time DJ, I did actually try and quickly sequence the music so it came across in a slightly more cohesive fashion. The song quota was just met within my 4 hour deadline, promptly given the once over and a nod by the European musical director and then sent to another office for final approval before delivery to almost 20,000 outlets. Job done. By a BGM novice in half a day!

So a quick glimpse into the major league BGM world there but they aren't solely responsible for the mess we're in. Certainly part of the problem lies with the larger brands being serviced and their fear of going out on a musical limb by daring to sound a bit different to their competitors. Consequently the percentages are played, pop music or banal indie/pop/rock/lounge/country/EDM/urban music supplied by the major labels decided upon, the safe option big name BGM companies are hired again, who incidentally also happen to be programming their rivals playlists. Not much differentiation there then. Who is who on the high street or hotel world if you close your eyes?

Now many BGM companies and even myself if truth be told will talk a good game. How an inspired musical selection carefully crafted to enhance the brand's image and emotionally engage with your customer base will increase your bottom line blah blah - the spiel goes on much longer but I'll spare you. The sad fact is that there is a lot of truth in it. Music can make people happy or sad, it can relax or energise people, it can cause people to cry and make people dance all night long. Music is a wonderful and powerful thing. It can certainly enhance and differentiate your brand -  when used properly. 

Except more often than not the delivery rarely lives up to the 3 two hour sales pitches, fawning brand interrogation and test playlists listened to by a marketing manager who thinks they are cool because they went to Watergate once and know who Joss Stone and Lemon Jelly are.

The BMG industry have some of the best sales teams in the game but they also have a lot of middle managers and a team of excel obsessed cost cutters. They want thousands of customers serviced by a small team of underpaid playlist designers who consequently they will never retain for any great length of time. It's never going to be a creative or musical happy ending. There is no space for love in organisations like that and let's face it equally in most of the companies that are playing those playlists - large global operations whose main goal is to post improved earnings at all costs every 3 months so. let's be honest, it's probably a good match. Soulless commercial pop music for shareholder driven conglomerates stuck in their tri-monthly Groundhog Day and their largely undiscerning, easily pleased customers. It's a win win. Except...

Where it is not a win win is with smaller cutting edge, creatively overachieving or quality obsessed brands and businesses, certainly the finer end of dining as the NY Times article highlights. These brands need the actual playlist designer to have intimate knowledge of their company, their values, their reason for being. Someone who has slept in the ocean side hotel's bed, eaten the 7 course tasting menu in the sky restaurant and is wearing that organic Egyptian cotton, unknown artist designed fair trade t-shirt and who consequently has a clear understanding of how to musically represent or even better enhance that brand. Someone who can genuinely connect with the customers of that brand perhaps because they are a customer or at least someone with a great deal of respect and intimate knowledge of that brand. A meeting of minds if you will with no degrees of management separation. Certainly not a playlist designer sitting in a far flung office cubicle that have never even visited an outlet and who are working from a two sentence "brand essence" summary, looking at the clock and the contractual agreement rather than thinking about music to make the brand sparkle.

What smaller brands and even some larger brands should actually be doing is hiring someone who cares as much about music as they care about their product. Someone like Ryuichi Sakamoto who was almost as invested in Kajitsu as the staff. Someone who wants to compliment a brands ethos with quality, carefully considered, lovingly curated music and yet who has enough sensitivity and marketing awareness to gently swaddle the brand with a genuinely heartfelt musical selection and maybe even delight, surprise or lavish the ears of a brand's customer as much as their eyes or taste buds are being spoilt by the brands offerings.

If that is what you want then I strongly suggest you look much further down the BGM food chain or even outside the industry if you are looking for that perfect brand soundtrack. Sure it might involve you having to think a bit about how to soundtrack your brand - maybe get the people that know your company the best - your employees, to pitch some objective ideas of people that they would think might do a good job, maybe a blogger or online magazine, maybe a musician, maybe a local promoter or your local independent record store? Most of these groups would welcome a regular steady income on the side of their main musical endeavours I am sure.

Music delivery is not an issue these days with Soundtrack Your Brand, basically Spotify for business, now widely available to use. Their website will also hold your hand through the legalities and science behind BGM and voila your brand has a genuinely unique, differentiating soundtrack.

Just don't hire your DJ friend unless you want to sound like a club.

Talking of music here's a playlist I compiled recently entitled View From a Bhutanese Hotel which even if you are not in Bhutan shouldn't give you indigestion whilst eating and will simultaneously stimulate your auditory receptacles :

Balearic ambience, modern composition, dub flavours and a hint of Africa. Wobbly and cosmic boogie, classic soul jazz, Afro house and classic yacht rocking disco - it's all here.

Test Card - The Analog Nature of Summer (The Slow Music Movement promo)
Seán Mac Erlain - Horse-drawn Thoughts (Ergodos)
Dauwd - Analogische Memories, Piano (Technicolour)
Lianna - Oye, Tricky D Dub (BBE)
The Grey Area - Denge Pose (Tokyo Dawn)
Carlos Maria - Blu Terra (Rush Hour)
Steve Hauschildt - Alienself (Ghostly International)
River Yarra - Sli Ggogg (Antinote)
Ground - Follow Me (ESP Institute)
Gabriele Poso - Everybody Loves The Sunshien (BBE)
Space Ghost - Color Waves (Tartelet)
Sunlightsquare - Celebration of Oggun, Yoruba Soul Mix (Yoruba)
Nicolette Larson - Lotta Love, Jim Burgess Disco Mix

Don't forget our daily social media recommendations. No information overload, one recommendation a day, only the good stuff.

www.theslowmusicmovement.org
www.twitter.com/slowmusicmovmnt
www.instagram.com/theslowmusicmovement
www.facebook.com/theslowmusicmovement

Deep laid back jazz, righteous reggae, dreamy modern kosmische, etherial ambient, a bit of Balearic & deep leftfield house - it's all here

David Axelrod - A Dream (Now Again)
Nat Birchall - Ancient Wisdom (Breadwinner)
Anthony Chambers - Jah Foundation (Dub Store)
Te'Amir - Randal In Addis (Tru Thoughts promo)
Claire Simone - Inside of You, Richard E's Early Hours Mix, (CS Music)
Steve Hauschildt - Saccade feat. Juliana Barwick (Ghostly International)
Bas Relief - Cite Your Sources (Quiet Time)
Forma - Ostinato (Kranky promo)
Kareem Lotfy - Chromosome (Quiet Time)
Conner Youngblood - The Birds of Finland (Counter)
Grasscourt - Stones Upon My Chest (Lost Map)
Huaira - Semilla Solar (Shika Shika)
Nathan Surreal - Where Were We, Lord Of The Isles rmx (Biologic)

Literary guitar representations, ambient D&B, cinematic electronica, Balearic nuggets, abstract dance, jazzstrumentals & deep slow motion cosmic house

David Grubbs & Taku Unami - Threadbare 4 (Empty Editions)
Synkro & Arovane - New Dawn (Apollo)
Ben Chatwin - Fossils (Village Green Promo)
Angelo Ioakimoglu - Easter Theme (Into The Light)
Kuna Maze - Outro (Cascade Records)
Meeting By Chance - Tar (Bandcamp free download)
Topdown Dialectic - A5 (Peak Oil)
Sam Gendel - Pure Imagination (Leaving Records)
Emanative - Sandhyavandanam (Jazzman)
Leon Vynehall - Drinking It In Again (Ninja Tune)
Joyce - Die Siesta (Crowd Spacer promo)
Somerville & Wilson - Melt, The Beat Broker Mix (Hell Yeah promo)
Oliver Coates - A Church (Rvng Intl)

So a super mellow, dreamy, drifting show this week with all sorts of ambient, neo-classical harp fusions, cosmic jazz, freaky folk, Indo vibes, drifting beats, Detroit electroscapes and the most melodic of deep leftfield house.

Kerry Devine - Vehicle (Trapped Animal)
Mary Lattimore - We Just Found Out She Died (Ghostly International)
Actress x London Contemporary Orchestra - N.E.W. (Ninja Tune)
Anne Garner - The Living (Slowcraft)
Hilde Marie Holsen - Lapis (Hubro)
Seabuckthorn - Inner (Bookmaker)
Uniting of Opposites - Mints (Tru Thoughts)
Kate NV - дуб OAK (Rvng International promo)
Kiefer - AAAAA (Stones Throw)
Doon Kanda - Shed (Hyperdub)
Lost Trax - The Forest (Delsin)
Vels Trio - The Wad (Total Refreshment Centre)
Shy Layers - Midnight Marker (Beats in Space)
Daedelus - Raindrops (Magical Properties)
Sampology - Mt Glorious, short version (Self Relesased)

Music for meditation and East meets West fusion vibes kick things off followed by a roots and dub - old and new, takeover before a chilled front came in from the East with some classic and brand new ambient vibes before late night urban beats and emotional end of night house finish things off.

hackedpicciotto - Emerald Cenote (Potomak)
Don Cherry & Latif Khan - Inspiration From Home (Heavenly Sweetness)
Hindi Zahra - Kiss & Thrills (Blue Note)
Deadbeat - Argenis & Cristobal (BLKRTZ promo)
Tony Clarke - Going Home (Jamwax)
Yeahman - Miniyamba ft. Mina & Hajna, BirdZzie Rmx (Shika Shika)
Blackboxx - Sleep Tight (Finest Ego)
Emanuele Errante - Counterclockwise (Karaoke Kalk)
Leon Vynehall - Movements, Chapter III (Ninja Tune)
Marenn Sukie - Feels Like Love (Apollo)
Gallo - Faron (Slow Motion)
Maribou State - Turnmills (Counter)
Mega Jawns - Never Ending Dream (BBE promo)

Don't forget our daily social media recommendations. No information overload, one recommendation a day, only the good stuff.

www.theslowmusicmovement.org
www.twitter.com/slowmusicmovmnt
www.instagram.com/theslowmusicmovement
www.facebook.com/theslowmusicmovement

So a pretty Balearic show on the whole this week with some great warm weather ambient vibes, midtempo feel good Balearic boogie some leftfield melodic dub, vintage zouk, Krautrock inspired cosmic house and some deconstructed post everything drum & bass ambient fusion for good measure

x.y.r. - bon voyage (InGrown)
Wanderwelle - Roland Juno-106 (One Instrument)
Baron Rétif & Conceptción Pere - Where's My Soul, instrumental (Heavenly Sweetness)
Proc Fiskal - Dish Washing (Hyperdub)
Dominique Fils-Aimé - Strange Fruit (Ensoul)
Kathy Kosins & Paul Randolph - Could You Be Me, Theo's SS Translation (BBE promo)
Shy Layers - Gateway (Beats In Space)
Nu Guinea - Ddoje Facce (Nu Guinea)
JQ - Trampoline (New Atlantis)
PJ - Risqué Zouk (Heat Wave)
Jesse - Mountain Boogie (Hoga Nord)
William Selman - Polysemy (Mysteries of the Deep)
Chrome Sparks - Wings (Counter)

From pastoral Balearic soundtracks to neo-classical leaning minimal, vintage soul folk & Pacific island Afro European roots, weird synth inventions and post trap futuristic ambient sci-fi psychedelic soundscapes make an appearance before heading into some rare library music covers with a subtle hip hop twist, we then get tropical with some brand new Afrobeat & Afro house before finishing off with some deep house and finally drift off into the sunset with some warm weather ambient house.

Test Card - Those Long Dusks Of Summer (Sound In Silence)
Ben Bertrand - Orion Molecular Cloud (Les Albums Claus)
SkyDive Trio - Engine Rest (Hubro)
Band X - Home (BBE)
Alain Peters - Caloubadia 1981 (Bongo Joe)
Sign Libra - Mantodea VS Furcifer Pardalis (Antinote)
Cavalier - Synesthesia (Alpha Pup)
Medline - Scrabble (MyBags)
Ebo Taylor - Aboa Kyirbin (Mr. Bongo)
Laolu & Mr. Raoul K - Djougou Yah feat. Ahmed Sosso (Compost promo)
House of Blondes - Why It Happened in the West (Alrealon Musique)
Gallo - Remember To Forget, Fabrizio Mammarella Ambient rmx (Hell Yeah)

A proper soulful jazz start to the show soon descends into minimal ambient synthscapes before the sounds of Jamaica and Africa enter the fray to be swiftly followed by obscure French boogie, weird double timing ambientology, brand new old sounding Balearic breaks with a Cuban twist and then finishing off with some dreamy tech house.

Yazmin Lacey - 90 Degrees (First Word)
Gabriele Poso - Awakening (BBE promo)
Rodrigo Tavares - De Roda (Hive Mind)
Lucinate - Santiago (King Deluxe promo)
Tourist Kid - Learn (Melody as Truth promo)
Beverley Glenn-Copeland - Sunset Village (Seance Centre)
Cultural Roots - No Fish Head (Dub Store)
Tenesha The Wordsmith - Madea (On The Corner promo)
Oumou Sangare - Yere Faga, Ghetto Vanessa Rmx (No Format)
Maya - Lait de Coco, Dub (Favourite)
Braille Face - Leave Your Heart, Bullion Rmx (Spirit Level)
Daymé Arocena - Cómo, Esa's Havana Synth Mix (Brownswood)
Ross From Friends - March (Brainfeeder promo)

All about the fusion today - catatonic Americana folk, space jazz fusion, Berkshire Balearic, French beats, future dancehall, ethereal ambience, spring beckoning synthscapes and all sorts of deep leftfield melodic house.

Hour - Beautiful OH (Sleeper Records)
Mildlife - Phase (Research Records)
Toshio Matsuura Group - Change (Brownswood promo)
Revbjelde - Severance (Buried Treasure)
Groeni - Last Lungs (Project Mooncircle promo)
Labelle - Souviens-Toi (Infine promo)
Heal - Poids d'évidence (Sound On Probation)
O$VMV$M - Lion feat. Rider Shafique (LavaLava)
Carl Craig - Dominas, Benedikt Frey Outback rmx (Infine promo)
Brett Naucke - Flora Counterpoint II (Unifactor)
Sefi Zisling - Daytime near Calm Waters (Raw Tapes)
Midori - Over, Daisuke Tanabe (Cascade promo)
Via Maris - Toys (Shellys)
Old Shady Grady & The Neighbourhood Character - Of Two Minds (LavaLava)

Distressed ambience to psychedelic languid dub, soulful hip hop beats to Americana infused hip hop beats, drones & tones, aquatic dreamscapes, Somalian female choirs, interstellar cosmic synths, deep jazz house, Zambian Afro futurism to deep melodic Chicago house. Happy days.

Benjamin Finger - Earview Map (Eilean promo)
Captain Ganja & The Space Patrol - The Creepy Crawl (Boken Versions)
Out 2 - Pale Fens (Emotional Response)
Skinny Pelembe - Spit/Swallow (Brownsood)
The Office Project with jeff Ozdemir - Emin Misin (Karaoke Kalk)
Beatchild & The Slakadeliqs - The Remedy ft. Edda Magnason (BBE)
Ezra Feinberg - God Sized Hole (Related States)
Memorygarden禅 - 表面の光り輝く光る光 (Constellation Tatsu)
Hello World Choir - Shagara (Bandcamp Self Release)
Weirdest Dream - Happenings (Dopeness Galore)
E Rushca V - Endless Sunday (Beats In Space promo)
Henry Keen - Connectin' (Mad Jazz)
The Maghreban - Revenge feat. Rutendo Machiridza (R&S promo)
Hieroglyphic Being - The Melody Lingers (Soul Jazz)

Neo-Classical Americana fusion, future folktronica, ambient dreams, throwback lovers soul, gently propulsive kosmische, deep nu-soul, hip hop jazzstrumentals, cinematic synthscape beats, Cairo based Sudanese female choral purity and joy, the regional sounds of Brazil, broken house fusion and a jazz beats remake of an untouchable house classic to finish. That's how we're rolling this week.

Aaron Martin - Depth of a Glance (Preserved Sound)
Kahn - And The World Was Gone (Houndstooth Promo)
Run Child Run - Whispering One (Bandcamp Self Release)
r beny - Fernwood (Dauw)
Stimulator Jones - Choosey Lover (Stones Throw)
Future Museums - Hang Low, Moon (Holodeck)
Colonel Red - Make Life GuD 4 U (Tokyo Dawn)
Contours - Copson Street (Rhythm Section)
Dam-Ru - Deathhead (Temporize)
Hello World Choir - Hello World (Bandcamp Self Release)
Forró Red Light - Baiao Violossintetico (Jazz n Milk promo)
Ad Bourke & Rotla - Raw (Far Out)
Turbojazz - Strings of Life (BBE)

Another super mellow show this week with some psychedelic ambient guitar, Afro percussion, Dub (per)versions, sparkling Japanese ambient tones, Balearic and spiritual jazz vibes from Australia, jazz beats from Tel Aviv, cosmic Russian vibes, pastoral folk with a bit of attitude, analogue synth and tape loop joy and a drifting cosmic guitar and synth flourish to round things off.

Dean McPhee - The Blood of St. John (Bandcamp Self Release)
Penya - Rootless (On The Corner)
Seekersinternational - RunComeTest (Bokeh Versions)
Ikpathua - Forest Echoes (Noorden)
CHAM - PAS (Bandcamp Self Release)
Rumpistol - Circular Drops, ISAM remix for Cassini (Rump)
Albrect La Brooy - Daybreak (Apollo promo)
Jackson Milas - December 21st (Pique Nique)
Nitai - Hershkovits - Flyin' Bamboo feat. MNDSGN (Raw Tapes promo)
Indoor Plants - Solovushka (Udacha)
Space Captain - Hours (Tru Thoughts promo)
D. Lachlan - Terylene (Cafe Kaput)
Mark McGuire - The Ground Is Breathing (Bandcamp Self Release)

We thought we'd ease you into 2018 with a pretty mellow selection, so we've got some horizontal soundscapes, dreamlike electronica, laid back tropical jazz, African roots reggae, classic UK soulful rock, less is more tonal ambience, classic library music, a slice of Brazil, warm warped beats and some back in the day Kwaito to round things off.

Sonmi451 - Piave (Eilean Records)
Shuttle358 - Sea (12K promo)
Kokoroko - Abusey Junction (Brownswood promo)
Y-Bayani And His Band of Enlightenment, Reason And Love - Rehwe Mie Enyim (Philophon)
Traffic - Dream Gerrard, Siren Edit (Bandcamp)
Balmorhea - Behind The World (Western Vinyl)
XYR - Golden Haze (12th Isle)
Jon Brooks - Ascent (Cafe Kaput)
The Cavendish Orchestra - Funkrund (BBE)
Luiz Henrique - Mas Que Nada (Mr. Bongo)
Jitwam - Alone (Cosmic Compositions)
Sandy B - Amajovi Jovi (Invisible City Editions)

Slow Music, as with all things scientifically unquantifiable or mathematically unprovable, is subjective, relative and open to interpretation. Do an online search for "slow music" and you will get several suggestions - from literal interpretations referring to musical tempo, slow music as a community enabling form of live entertainment or as an antidote to modern music commercialisation and consumption. We concur with all of those opinions but would like to offer some further thoughts on what slow music is and could possibly be.

Slow Music has much in common with other slow movements and fully supports and advocates a cultural shift towards slowing down life's pace & connecting more meaningfully with others, our surroundings and ourselves. We would like to think slow music makes people reflect on modern living, not shy away from addressing many of the pressing issues of our times and encourages people to come together and make a positive difference.

Admittedly slow music here at The Slow Music Movement largely means a drop in tempo. In this modern world of over stimulation and unrelenting information bombardment we enjoy the mentally soothing sounds and textures of ambient and more relaxed music. Their assistance in helping us to switch off from the stresses of modern living, ability to aid reflection and the sonic joy they provide make them a powerful force.

Maybe it is just part of the ageing process, the knowledge of self and place gained by experience, awareness of the perils of continual growth in a finite world or just largely abandoning those late night parties but we feel less in need of propulsive music these days. Saying that we still like to dance when the stars align and movement to music is a wonderful, liberating, exhilarating experience so there are times we need something a bit faster to throw some shapes to. It certainly won't be pounding techno, commercial EDM or death metal though and we find that dancing to slower music is often a more sensual, communal experience and we highly recommend dancing with each other rather than standing in rows staring at the DJ whilst filming a non experience for the purpose of an enviable social media status update.

Any form of community building, especially in an autonomous space, even if it is a temporary, fleeting one as happens in dance clubs or concerts with people uniting through communal listening, movement and it's associated joy can only be a good thing and is often a welcome and necessary release from the grind of daily life. We also believe events like this can assist in altering perceptions, encouraging creativity and highlighting the power of collective behaviour - a key component in making the world a better place. So fight for your right to party, move those hips to a slower groove & make some new friends whilst you're at it.

Slow music is also, by our definition, not commercial music. Most commercial music comes from three very large, multi-national companies and as with most big business their overriding concern is to make money. We prefer artists and labels whose first purpose is to make music and who then work smartly to monetise this art to support themselves and facilitate further musical creations. We want music coming from the heart and done for the love not driven by finance and bonus chasing executives.

Commercial music has to be popular to succeed in it's money making ambitions and we're not adverse to pop music as such. It is a rare talent to be able to write something that appeals to millions of people and as much as we can appreciate good pop music our heart and ears belong to the musical underground. That is where the real art is, a place where musicians and producers can let their minds run free, say what they feel, experiment and create without restriction. Saying that the major labels do also control some great, creative sub labels with a focus on interesting sub genres and also have some of the world's best musicians on their books so we keep half an eye on what they do and support good music where we find it but slow music, on the whole, lies in the world of independent artists and labels.

Slow music is also about the consumption of music. The world's literature, every film and tv show ever made are available at the click of a few buttons or keys and now there are tens of millions of songs to listen to on your favourite streaming service. It is an impossible amount of music to comprehend let alone even start to listen to despite the promise and excitement of endless possibilities. A tub of chocolate chip is manageable, a free pass in an ice cream factory an altogether different proposition.

Here at The Slow Music Movement we encourage a less is more mantra and offer an escape from the tyranny of choice. We believe that listening to a small amount of music intently is more rewarding than flipping through an endless stream of new releases. That is why we adopt a slow approach to slow music recommendations. We propose one release a day to our community and resist the temptation to measure our success by hits, clicks, likes and reposts. Rather than blindly post press releases we keep the recommendations personal, heart felt and to a minimum. Hopefully you trust our judgement, although as music is so subjective, we don't expect you to agree with everything we say. To this end we keep our descriptions to a minimum because the real test is your brain's reactions when those sound waves reach your ear drums. Why read about something that is created to be listened to? Don't believe the hype - trust your own ears.

Slow music is also about active listening. Music is becoming a passive experience as it is increasingly consumed whilst multi-tasking, often staring at a screen, whilst commuting, checking photos, working, exercising, idly messaging friends or sometimes all of those things at once. Rarely is our attention just on the music. Ideally music should be listened to in a dark room with eyes closed so the full focus is on that musical creation. When was the last time you did that, if ever? Try it. Even if you have listened to that track or LP several times the chances are you will be hearing that music in a new light now it has your full attention. We know time is precious though and that the tedium of jogging and road trips are alleviated by a fine music selection but once in a while just close your eyes and take a moment to listen to something properly. Just make sure the hand brake is on.

Slow music is not about format for us here at The Slow Music Movement although there seems to be an assumption that a return to vinyl or cassette should be part of the slow music world. Despite living through the vinyl & CD years before embracing the digital revolution it has always been about the music not the format. Don't believe the hype that vinyl sounds better. For sure it sounds better than a low resolution MP3 but it has limited dynamic range compared to CD or high resolution digital. It has a different sound not a better sound and all formats' sonic qualities are heavily influenced by the equipment, set up, acoustics and even power supply. Use the format that is best for you but we would suggest researching how to improve the experience and there is no doubt that spending more on components will help no end.

There is also a good argument that digital formats are more environmentally friendly than vinyl and cassette. For instance just imagine the natural resources that go into the production of a piece of vinyl and then the energy to ship that vinyl from the pressing plant to the distributor, from there to the global retail network and then finally to people's home. Then think about the energy used to rotate a heavy vinyl platter and convert that vinyl into sound waves. I don't know the exact figures but I'm guessing it is a lot more than downloading a high resolution digital file once and then playing it on demand or even streaming the same music multiple times from your streaming provider.

We plan to do an article on the energy consumption of the various formats when we can find someone technical enough to do the research project justice but as slow music is also intrinsically linked to the other slow movements then our present guess is that, just on environmental grounds, digital music (that excludes non recyclable CDs) is more "slow music" than vinyl. Embracing slow living & slow music does not always mean going back in time.

We also appreciate that selling physical formats and merchandise, especially at live shows, is an important extra revenue stream for many live acts struggling in difficult times for artists but until we complete a well researched paper on the environmental impact of physical music and how those effects can be made carbon neutral I would suggest that you plant a few trees every time you produce, sell or buy a record or tape. In fact when you buy or produce anything!

Slow music is many things to many people and we're not about to start dictating what it is or isn't although we're happy to get the conversation started. Above are a few suggestions and thoughts and we will come back and update them in the future as our thinking develops, as thinking always should. Take from them what you want and if you have any suggestions then don't hesitate to get in touch, we're open to suggestions or even changing our minds if we hear some well reasoned arguments.

The final transmission from The Slow Music Movement for 2017 is here and we thought we'd give you one of the best mixes we've done so far. From Middle Eastern ambient to orchestrated electronic folkscapes, horizontal ambience to Norwegian psychedelic Americana, Digi Dub to Asian & Afro beats all the way to evocative spiritual jazzcapes & sublime pop ballads.

Enjoy it and there is plenty more to come in 2018.

Oiseaux-Tempete - Notes From The Mediterranean Sea (Sub Rosa)
Maggie Koerner - Dig Down Deep (R'Coup'D)
James Murray - Holloways (Ultimae)
Geir Sundstol - Gratarslaget (Hubro)
Sarathy Korwar - Dreaming (Ninja Tune)
Tapes - Datura Mystic (Honest Jons)
Domenique Dumont - Un Jour Avec Yusef (Antinote)
Ultramarine - Sidetracked (Real Soon)
Tapes - Somebodies Baby (Workshop)
Smoke Signals - A Very Powerful Spell (Kings Chambers)
Andi Otto - Bangalore Whispers, Peter Power rmx (Pingipung)
Luka Productions - Dignetignena (Sahel Sounds)
Quentin Sirjacq - Aquarius (Karaoke Kalk)
Solo Andata - Left (12K)
OjeRum - Blodet Pa Horisontens Laeber (Bandcamp Self Release)
Steve Hauschildt - Strands (Kranky)
Yazz Ahmed - The Space Between The Fish & The Moon (Naim)
Elephant Revival - Hello You Who (Thirty Tigers)

Norwegian neo-classical cinematic folk fusion, dronescapes, leftfield dub, Urban Afro ambient beats, modern Balearic vibes, dreamy techno breaks, even dreamier synth led house & some brand new throwback 80's summer house.

Nils Økland Band - Skumring (Hubro)
Dedekind Cut - Tahow (Kranky promo)
Moritz Von Oswald & Ordo Sakhna - Draught Dub (Honest Jons)
Andy Mac & Ossia - Soup Riddim (NoCorner)
Sampa The Great - Healing (Big Dada)
Synkro - Automatic Response (Apollo promo)
Field Theory - Callisto, Micko Roche Balearo Mix ( Eclectics)
Denis Mpunga & Paul K - Intermezzo B, Dazion's Turtle Maraca Rmx (Music From Memory)
⣎⡇ꉺლ༽இ•̛)ྀ◞ ༎ຶ ༽ৣৢ؞ৢ؞ؖ ꉺლ - ƪ. ◖ƪ❍⊁◞.|◗щ (*ㅇ△₊⁎❝᷀ົཽ*ೃ:(꒡͡  ❝᷀ົཽ ꉺ¨.·*:･✧⃛(ཽ๑ (Bandcamp Self Release)
Phantom Horse - Als Ob (Umor-Rex)
Cass. - The Voynich Manuscript (Throne of Blood)
Earth Trax & Newborn Jr. - Bailando (Echovolt promo)

​Ethereal nu-soul, tropical new age vibes, flat out ambience, lysergic dreamscapes, cosmic funk, Brazilian vibes, Balearic house and nu/old school NY Arthur Russell inspired trombone dub mutations. It's all here.  

Agnes Gosling - Bianca (Tokyo Dawn promo)
​John Carroll Kirby & INGA - The Shrek Orchid (Terrible)
Bibio - 9:13 (Warp)
Ben Zucker - Triksco (Free Download)
Locust Toybox - Saptiro (Brainfeeder)
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - Riparian (Bandcamp)
D.k. - Keyboard Study (Antinote)
E. Live - Master Blaster (Star Creature)
Washed Out - Floating By, Mindsgn Rmx (Stones Throw)
Gaby Hernandez - Lo Mas Dulce, Natureboy Flako Rmx (Mr. Bongo promo)
Thunder Tillman - The Ridge To Catequil (ESP Institute promo)
Hello Skinny - Watermelon Sun (Brownswood promo)

​A new soul and jazz start soon gives way to a super deep mellow show full of new age, cosmic vibes in various forms with a taste of the modern Egyptian avant-garde, deep slow motion ambient techno, some cosmic funk and a bit of neo-classical thrown in for good measure.

The James L'Estraunge Orchestra - See You Tonight (BBE)
Onyx Collective - Fruit Stand (Big Dada)
Radio Citizen - Ninguém (Sonar Kollektiv)
John Keek - Come Give It Up feat. Jacob Mann (Bid Dada)
Jaxx Madicine - Return To Planet Earth (Local Talk promo)
Visible Cloaks - Frame (RVNG International promo)
Bitchin Bajas - Angels And Demons At Play (Drag City promo)
Nada El Shazly - Barzakh (Nawa promo)
Jonti - Sleeping and Falling (Stones Throw)
Call Super - Ekko Ink (Houndstooth promo)
Snow Palms - White Shadows (Village Green promo)
Pauline Anna Strom - The Unveiling (RVNG International)
Robert Haigh - Sunken Pavillions (Unseen Worlds)
​Patty Duke - Cloud 1 (BBE promo)

​It was with great joy last week we noticed a new Ruspo album in our Bandcamp feed so we felt compelled to spark the blog back into life and shout about it to the world. So without further ado hit play below and carry on reading as, not only is this a wonderful musical endeavor, there is a very serious message in the music. Now The Slow Music Movement is primarily concerned with the promotion of our deliberately vague musical philosophy and it is not our intention to enter the world of activism or politics but sometimes the two are so intertwined as to be inseparable. Welcome to Ruspo's world.

​Ruspo first came to our attention in 2013 with his excellent debut album Esses Patifes which was one of those wonderful finds only Bandcamp's global platform could provide and which makes it our favourite and such an all round exciting place to go digital digging. You can have a listen to it here if you like:

Full of lo-fi, home produced breezy, Brazilian charm the new album Dourados partly picks up, certainly in its production approach, where Esses Patifes left off but due to the serious subject matter and Sposati's recent and disturbing experiences there is an unmistakable air of melancholy that pervades this sophomore album. The contrast between the two albums is most obviously highlighted by the new album cover. Gone is the warmth and the organic, artisanal vibe and in comes a grey, misty, vaguely dystopian photo which in my darker moments I imagine to be reclaimed agricultural land cut off from it's original displaced owners by newly installed fencing.

It's always interesting to have sleeve notes with an LP to provide further context to the music, especially in this digital age when such a thing is mostly deemed superfluous, and even more so when the lyrics are in a foreign language and really saying something so I've copied them here. Please brace yourself this is not pleasant reading.

A little bit" grayer" than its predecessor, the new album is mainly set nearby Dourados, the second largest city in Mato Grosso do Sul state, near the Paraguay border - which is where the Guarani and Kaiowa indigenous peoples live. They have longstanding conflicts with agribusiness corporations, as the state is a central area in the Brazilian soybean industry. The monocultural export crop is notorious for displacing small farmers and Indigenous peoples.

During the 20th century, the Guarani and Kaiowa lost more than 90% of their territory to ranchers (and non-indigenous populations from other states, initially settled by the government as part of the "Conquer Of The West" national policy), and were put in small indigenous reservations, which are overpopulated. Food insecurity amongst their communities is as high as up to 100 percent - over four times higher than the national average. -, while also having one of the highest suicide rates in the world, and are plagued by alcoholism, depression, poverty and violence, due to the lack of land.

For the last couple of years, Sposati was one of the few journalists permanently based in Mato Grosso do Sul covering the Kaiowa story of their ongoing struggle to have their ancestral lands demarcated.

Although Brazil has strong constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression, the country is one of the most dangerous places in the world to practice journalism. Media workers are frequent targets of aggression, intimidation, and judicial censorship, while impunity for crimes against journalists remains high.

In response to his work, in 2013, federal policemen seized Sposati’s computer and sound recording equipment without a warrant while he was documenting the forced removal of an indigenous population from a land currently owned by a wealthy ex-right wing congressman and landowner from the state, and claimed by the Terena indigenous people as theirs.

Besides that, Sposati suffered several lawsuits and police inquiries aiming to put him off the track of his work of speaking out against violence targeting indigenous populations and other traditional communities in the country. He was also investigated in a parliamentary inquiry that falsely accused him of being related to the paraguayan guerillas (!) training indigenous peoples to "invade" private property, "serving international corporative interests" that are "interested in Brazil's natural resources". This is the surrealist environment where "Dourados" the album was crafted.
​
Despite this tragic story of the Guarani and Kaiowa people and Sposati's harrowing experiences in reporting it being the inspiration driving the album, there is still a Brazilian joie de vivre bubbling under the surface, as with so much of Brazil's music. A certain musical optimism that is saying that despite the dark political turns of recent times and the countless struggles, not only in Brazil but worldwide, there is still hope if all good men and women stand up and confront the greed, hate, discrimination, sexism, inequality, racism and violence.

 Have a listen. Have a think. if you feel so compelled spread the word, do your bit and spread some love.