Surfing The Zeitgeist

I'm heading off on my travels tomorrow until early May - South Africa with brief visits to Addis Ababa and Dubai at either end, since you ask - so you won't be hearing from me for a little while. To keep you occupied in my absence, here is a selection of some of the best new music that those nice folks in Promo Land have sent me over the last couple of months.

I say "some of the best" advisedly, because I haven't included the pick of the bunch.  Last week I got an email from the estimable Kaytea at XO Publicity which opened with "OK so kind of freaking out here". Now I normally take that sort of hyperbole with a pinch of salt, but on this occasion it turns out it was justified.

The cause of the out-freaking was "Understand What Black Is", the first new album by The Last Poets in over 20 years. It is an altogether excellent record, and "Rain Of Terror" is one of the best 10 minutes I've heard in a long time. The album comes out on 19 May and you should order it now.

And while you are doing that you should think about adding some of these albums to the basket as well. We open with Bart Davenport happily channelling The Sound Of Young Scotland, after which things get a bit more downbeat - but in a nice way!

"What's Your Secret (Cleo)" - Bart Davenport (from "Blue Motel")

"Spoil With The Rest" - Ryley Walker (from "Deafman Glance")

"Culture War" - The Mammals (from "Sunshiner")

"Saw A Light" - Bonny Doon (from "Longwave")

"Windsong" - Dana Sipos (from "Trick Of The Light")

"Sunday Road" - Pretty Gritty (from "Seven Year Itch")

Regular readers will know that when I go on holiday I normally post a video of DJ Sven and MC Miker G doing their classic "Holiday Rap". It still seems a little early in the year for songs about summer holidays, so instead here is something equally magnificent which I'll watch to remind me of the place I'm leaving behind for a while.