Broken Beat/Nu Jazz/Nu Soul preorders

Review: London soul-jazz composer and producer Andrei Nikolsky - formerly of the equal-parts Palace Records favourite The Kanpai Quartet - now broadcasts yet two more heavy-hitters from straight from the label whose logo pulls from the iconographic Crystal Palace Transmitter. 'Botchit & Scarper' is heard far and wide, hijacking the airwaves with what sounds at face value like an unsound moral principle - but on second listen to its slack-shouldered ease, whimsied brass and scaphoid drumming, might function just as well as a principle for free living. Of course, if something's worth doing then it's worth doing "botched", though Nikolsky currently hasn't botched this one. 'Wafty' follows as the blue piano sojourn, replete with plinking ninths and a hiss-hummed rhythms section.

Review: Berlin-based duo Above The Clouds, the new project of Kidkanevil and Magic Manfred, open their account with a reworked instrumental of MF DOOM's 'Arrow Root', nodding to their shared roots in 90s hip-hop. Having first crossed paths in a Kreuzberg studio, the two bonded over boom bap and basslines, leading to sessions where jazz chops met crisp drum programming. A longtime MF Doom fan, Kidkanevil brings his detailed, samply ill-formatic production style, honed over years split between beat tapes and bleeps, while Manfred - raised in Berlin and shaped by funk, soul and a stint in London's jazz scene - draws harmonic threads across keys and bass. The track also ropes in saxophonist Mario, who laid her parts in one studio take. B-sider 'Tram Delay Beat' hints at more to come.