In the 1950s organs left the church and were embraced by jazz musicians thanks to Jimmy Smith and his incredible albums and live shows.

There’s a long list of artists who’ve made the organ their own, and we previously touched on the work of Brother Jack McDuff, but here’s a small selection worth checking out.

Dr. Lonnie Smith

Still recording today, his latest album Breathe arrived in 2021 on Blue Note. Early in his career he worked with Lou Donaldson and Jack McDuff, and was an original member of The George Benson Quartet. …

Lathe record pressing is a process of cutting a record in real time on polycarbonate discs, as apposed to vinyl which is pressed using stampers. The lathe process is slow, but has gained a cult following, with one of the most famous in the field being Peter King.

Peter began his lathe career in the 80s after he purchased two lathe cutters and thanks to his background in music and engineering, Peter began to master the lathe technique. But it wasn’t easy at the start, as he once revealed:

The equipment was English and it was all in pieces. So…

Part of the appeal of a Mo’ Wax release, other than the music, is their amazing artwork, and the label became famous for their visually appealing packaging. This series will take a a brief look at some of the artists who worked with Mo’ Wax between 1992–2003.

Yamatsuka Tetsurō (山塚徹郎) is a Japanese artist who creates work under the name Yamataka Eye, or EYƎ. Regarding his name, EYƎ revealed in 1993, “it comes from my younger sister’s name Aiko. I took the Ai part, writing it out like the English word ‘eye.’ No meaning, I just did it.” …

When David Toop’s Rap Attack book was released in 1984 he wrote about several of the early important rappers and DJs. Since then some have remained household names, like Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa. But here’s five you may have missed. Listen along on Mixcloud too.

Joe Bataan ‎– Rap-O Clap-O (1979)

Joe Bataan is a Latin soul musician who released his first album in 1967. But in the late 70s he saw how popular rapping had become and decided to release one of the first rap records ever recorded.

The session was meant to feature rappers Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, but when they…

Medium now requires writers to have 100 followers before they can earn any money. It seems like a push for less writing and more promoting of Medium?

Yesterday I saw Medium had changed their Partner Program rules again. This saw a number of changes, such as the way writers earn from newsletter subscribers, and more importantly (for me), that eligibility is changing for the Partner Program.

While previously anyone in an eligible country could join the program, under new rules you have to meet a specific criteria which no new writer would be eligible for. …

Sisters With Transistors is a documentary telling the stories of several female electronic music pioneers. The film is currently touring festivals around the world, and is available to stream in some countries now.

Billed as “the remarkable untold story of electronic music’s female pioneers”, Sisters With Transistors begins with Suzanne Ciani discussing her work with synthesisers, over footage of a performance from the 1970s, before jumping back to one of the earliest pioneers featured, with Clara Rockmore and her work with the theremin instrument in the early 20th Century.

The film then follows a semi-chronological format as it shifts from…

Part of the appeal of a Mo’ Wax release, other than the music, is their amazing artwork, and the label became famous for their visually appealing packaging. This series will take a a brief look at some of the artists who worked with Mo’ Wax between 1992–2003.

Robert del Naja, also known as 3D, is a Bristol artist who has been active since the 1980s. He was a member of The Wild Bunch, a group of musicians including DJ Milo and Nellee Hooper, but later left and formed Massive Attack with bandmates Mushroom (Andrew Vowles) and Daddy G (Grant Marshall).

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Part of the appeal of a Mo’ Wax release, other than the music, is their amazing artwork, and the label became famous for their visually appealing packaging. This series will take a a brief look at some of the artists who worked with Mo’ Wax between 1992–2003.

Born in Southampton, Ben Drury’s family moved to Cornwall where he studied at the nearby Falmouth college of Art & Design, and later London’s Central Saint Martins School of Art, where he studied graphic design.

Drury began his career designing album artwork while he was at Saint Martins, in partnership with fellow student…