Community - 15 Years of Jazz & Milk

2020 sees Jazz & Milk celebrating its 15th anniversary! Since 2005 the label, founded by Dusty, offers an experimental playground for international artists that share a passion for organic and soulful dance music. Many legendary club nights and over 30 releases later, Jazz & Milk has become a household name amongst the eclectic music imprints. The focus has always been to transcend genres, including a broad spectrum of styles ranging from jazz, soul, brazil, afrobeat to house, broken beat and electronic music.

Jazz & Milk continuously provides a global platform for new international talents alongside established artists, friends and worldwide family. For this very special occasion, the label presents six exclusive tracks by the likes of Steve Spacek, Àbáse, Sam Irl, Feater, Bongani GiveThanks and Moe Fabrik - the club focused collaborative moniker of Wayne Snow, Ziggy Zeitgeist and StyleBoi 92.

With this compilation project, Jazz & Milk is not only celebrating an illustrious 15 years of operation. The label also wants to take the opportunity to highlight the importance of 'community', at a time when racism, greed, injustice and a deadly pandemic are jeopardizing our ability to harmoniously exist with one another. Music has enormous individual and social health benefits, the potential to empower whole communities and build cultural bridges. Thus, Dusty's vision was to invite artists coming from completely different corners of the world - from South Africa to Europe and Australia. Each one of these featured producers is representing their local music culture and individual influences, as well as sharing their current emotions during the lockdown, through music.

The compilation starts off with Bongani GiveThanks. The musician from Pretoria (South Africa) addresses the issue of gender-based violence in his song "Indoda (African Repraise)". Consisting mainly of rich vocal chants on top of heavy ritual drumming, clapping and melodic improvisation, the song represents an open conversation between men about toxic masculinity and mental health... "That's how we conduct or communicate our talks in our villages and communities, we do it with a song and drumming", Bongani states.

Moe Fabrik is a brand new project by (30/70) drummer Ziggy Zeitgeist, vocalist Wayne Snow and keyboard/guitar virtuoso StyleBoi 92. On the soulful uptempo joint "Sassy Boi", the trio fuses a live band approach with the progressive vibe of a futuristic club track - perfectly rounded off by the incredibly soulful vocals by Nigeria born, Berlin based singer Wayne Snow.

Sam Irl is a long time member of the Jazz & Milk family. The Vienna based dj, producer and sound engineer developed quite a trademark sound with his MPC and sample-/synth driven production style. His contribution "Changes" is based on a minimalist approach, working with subtle developments in the arrangement and intertwining warm chords, chopped up slap-bass samples, a deep bassline and a stepping beat into a tight and captivating groove.

There's no need to introduce the legendary Steve Spacek. With his epic projects ranging from Spacek to Afrika Hitech and Space Invadas, this man continuously redefines the sound of modern music with his futuristic approach. While most producers are in need of a studio environment full of equipment to create music, Steve Spacek is currently shaping the sound of tomorrow entirely on an iOS based mobile phone. "Do U Want My Lov" is a progressive and bass heavy, yet very soulful track thanks to Steve's highly distinctive vocals.

Hailing from Vienna and having made a name for himself as a trustworthy and skilled studio equipment dealer and working closely with producer and studio engineer Sam Irl, Feater has a knack for turning yesterday into today. His two last albums on Gerd Janson's "Running Back Incantations", plus his debut being released on his own imprint "International Major Label", are the result of some magical and effortless sessions featuring the voice of Vilja Larjosto from Finland and Ghana's Eric Owusu (Pat Thomas, Ebo Taylor, Africaine 808) on percussion. "Cosmic Dust" sounds like the perfect, hypnotic 4am club anthem, instantly pulling you in with its West African polyrhythmic percussions and Vilja's smooth and silky vocal layers.

Inspired by Fela Kutis Afrobeat, Blue Note jazz, 90's boom bap, a life-changing experience in Brazil and the vibrant energy of his new home Berlin, Àbáse combines the best of these worlds in his music. The term "Àbáse" in the West African Yorùbá language stands for collaboration. Constant musical exchange with like minded musicians from around the world is obviously an important element in his music, providing a continuous source of inspiration. The Hungarian born musician and producer was deeply affected and moved by the renewed wave of protests in the United States and around the globe, once again shining light on the reality of racism and injustices around us. "I couldn't create anything for weeks, but later realized that I need to channel my feelings into this song (Fallen Statues). I wanted to create something dark and aggressive that reflects my sadness and anger but also offers strength and hope. I believe we all have a responsibility in being aware of the disturbing facts of not just our history but present situation and take part in building a better future. Some statues need to fall and we need to rise up to the task of replacing them with new ones."

The wonderful cover artwork comes from no other than Tim Schmitt, who joined the label as a graphic designer in the very beginning and is responsible for a vast amount of highly creative flyer and sleeve designs ever since. Make sure to head over to our bandcamp page to check out a limited edition of apparel and poster prints featuring the classy "Community" logo (all silk-screen printed by hand): www.jazzandmilk.bandcamp.com/merch

We'd like to thank each and everyone for supporting Jazz & Milk and vinyl music culture throughout the years! Furthermore we'd like to once more remind you how important it is to get together and cultivate inclusive communities in these turbulent times. While the term "social distancing" is still widely used at the moment, it may be sending the wrong message and contributing to social isolation. More than ever before in our history, we have ways to remain social, while maintaining "physical distance". Staying in touch with people feeds the human connection we all need to thrive daily! Let's appreciate our differences and celebrate our similarities. Let's help each other to stay healthy and sane in these crazy times! And what tool could be better for all of this than music.

Peace, Love & (Comm)Unity!