Blue Note Records has released Transmissions from Total Refreshment Centre. The project is an eclectic new collection featuring a wide range of artists who are part of London’s vibrant Total Refreshment Centre community including Soccer96, Byron Wallen, Jake Long, Matters Unknown, Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange, Neue Grafik, Resavoir, and more. The album is now available on vinyl, CD, and digital streaming services.
To celebrate the record’s release, Blue Note has unveiled a music video for Neue Grafik’s “Black,” which features Brother Portrait.
All the best music has a community underneath it, and the extended family around TRC—a music venue and recording studio founded by Lex Blondel that serves as a vital hub in London’s jazz scene—connects continents and generations, creating the rich relationships that are in full effect on Transmissions From Total Refreshment Centre.
The collection draws from new school jazz, hip hop, dub, soul, funk, and drill, sounds you’ll hear trailing out of cars as they spin up the Kingsland Road or spiraling out of doorways like so much smoke. Turn it up loud to hear the widescreen young cousins of Guru’s landmark Jazzmatazz in full effect: top players from London, Chicago, and Melbourne seeking out new collaborations, new ways of working, or just new tunes, always coming back to that central truth – that we all need each other.
The project was highlighted by Matters Unknown’s pre-release single, “Eloquence.” It is the debut project from multi-instrumentalist and composer Jonny Enser (Nubiyan Twist). He has put together an ensemble that features some of the most powerful forces exploring jazz in the UK, each with different languages for conversing with his compositions, drawing musicians from Nerija, Werkha, COLECTIVA, and beyond.
Matters Unknown opens “Eloquence” with warmth, casting a form for featured artist Miryam Solomon to glide amongst the forces at play. The vocals seamlessly blend and amplify the song, latching onto percussive hooks while remaining poetically understated and complimentary. You can feel resounding influences from New Orleans Brass, Latin percussion, and West African grooves.