1. Frank Ocean – Pink Matter (Zoka)
The breakthrough album ORANGE by Frank Ocean brought soul music to a new level. Really enjoyed and am still enjoying the whole album…
2. Faith No More – Easy (Manolo Bronson)
The best cover version of this classic Commodores tune. Even better than the original. I really enjoy the whole vibe.
3. The Cult – She sells Sanctuary (Zoka)
That Rock Song, totally underrated… released as a single and spent months in the UK charts, was one of the best selling tracks of the year but never reached a Top Ten! Uplifting…
4. Michel Petrucciani – Cantabile (Manolo Bronson)
A modern jazz standard played by the best piano player of the 20th century who composed it as well. Really enjoy his style as well as the unbelievable Anthony Jackson on bass guitar.
5. Al Green – Simply Beautiful (Zoka)
Who hasn’t chopped something from good old Al Green? Always vibin`… ❤
6. The Blues Brothers – Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (Manolo Bronson)
One of the best live performances from the best movie around music of all times. Who doesn’t love Jake and Elwood und the way they dance.
7. Nas – Nas is like (Zoka)
Half man, half amazing… hip hop wake up at the end of the 90s! Salute!
8. Rage Against The Machine – Killing In The Name Of (Manolo Bronson)
Killer Track! It never ever gets boring no matter how many times you listen to it.
9. The Roots feat Musiq – Break You Off (Zoka)
Big Fan of the Roots since they dropped “Things fall Apart” Remembering how flashed I was after first listening to “Baby you got me”! This one of several favs! Love it…
10. Paul Simon – You Can Call Me Al (Manolo Bronson)
Could listen to it for hours. That melody catches me on and on and the piece always makes me smile. Still amazed how he managed to adapt traditional african music into western mainstream pop.
Manolo Bronson & Zoka – Mostly Blue (Stripped Down)
Over the last two decades, Manolo Bronson and Zoka have been brought together through mutual musical development. Whilst Manolo came from jazz music and played bass in bands, Zoka was a DJ, producer and party host. As of the early 2000s, they both met in an artist collective and started to play and work together and soon founded the record label Bespmusic. Besides there, they have released on imprints like Exploited Records, Parquet Recordings and Sinnmusik, They kick off this excellent EP with ‘Mostly Blue’, a deep house track with lush chord riffs that keep you in suspense as the grooves travel onwards and upwards. ‘Bezimena’ is another warm and supple groove with mystery in the lead synth lines that drift way up top. Meanwhile, the organic drums keep you rooted to the floor and locked in a magical moment. First remixer Re. You are Marius Maier, who is in charge of his own Younion label and continues to innovate with his edgy house and tech productions on labels like Mobilee and Moon Harbour. His take on ‘Mostly Blue’ has vocals added and the leads drawn out over a breakdown so that when the drums drop, hands will go in the air. Elias hails from Thuringia, Germany and leans heavily on the power of the voice, real drums, percussion and African sounds on labels like Get Physical, MoBlack and Connected. His version of ‘Bezimena’ is excellently subtle and slowly casts a spell with its prickly percussion and lush synth work.
