Modha: Through The Cycle
Modha released their debut album Through The Cycle in 2023 and have now recorded their second offering. They remain in their tranquil soundscape, capturing the energy of live studio sessions and natural imperfections while retaining polished production.
The Berlin-based jazz duo, consisting of Dhanya Langer and Max Scholl, have partnered with guests including Melbourne-born Allysha Joy, Budapest-based multi-instrumentalist Fanni Zahár and the US rapper Wakai. It was recorded across Berlin and Limburg, and reflects on childhood memories, emotional vulnerability and what they call “the freeing choice to step outside the pressures of hustle culture”. Instead of chasing expert perfection, they focus on the immediacy of real-time togetherness, welcoming unconventional time signatures and organic textures.
The album moves consistently without interruption, navigating itself across different emotions and seamlessly transitioning through a fusion of contemporary jazz and soul to hip-hop and beyond with some sublime vocal additions. It’s clear the pair went at their own pace piecing together this release and making sure their love of soul, R&B, hip-hop, jazz and electronic music is prominent throughout.
Discography
Move At Your Own Pace; Good News; River; Bullet; Day By Day; The Bee By The Pool; Breeze; Find Me (Underneath The Sun) (27.44)
Modha with various musicians including Allysha Joy (v); Àbáse, Fanni Zahár (f); Wakai (v); James Chatburn (v); Conic Rose, Okandice (v).
Sonar Kollektiv SK535LP
Sun Ra and his Arkestra: Super Sonic Jazz
Recorded in 1956 at RCA Studios in Chicago, Super Sonic Jazz was the first release on El Saturn, the artist-run label founded by Sun Ra and Alton Abraham. At the time, it was one of the most active artist-owned record labels in the US and cited as a key voice for its prolific and forward-thinking independent operations. Alongside artist-owned projects such as Charles Mingus and Max Roach’s Debut Records and Harry Partch’s Gate 5 Records, the label helped pioneer a model of creative independence that extended well beyond jazz, transforming how artists could record, release and maintain control over their work.
On Super Sonic Jazz, each composition is crafted to express hope, joy, a living vision of a better world to come and what Sun Ra describes as “a free language of joy”. The album begins with India, an energetic journey through sound aimed at expressing the soul of India while Sunology is an alternative take on the blues featuring baritone player Charles Davis as the soloist. Soft Talk is a brisk swing track featuring a fine solo attempt from trombonist Julian Priester who is also credited as the writer, the only track on the album that is not composed and arranged by Sun Ra.
Super Sonic Jazz marks a defining moment in the group’s early catalogue. Later reissued as Super Sonic Sounds, a phrase that was already planted across the original record sleeve, the album documents the formative stages of a distinctly personal musical outlook. This reissue includes one bonus track, an alternative take of Medicine For A Nightmare, taken from the same sessions but not featured on the original record.
Discography
India; Sunology; Advice To Medics; Super Blonde; Soft Talk; Sunology Part II; Medicine For A Nightmare (alt); Kingdom Of Not; Portrait Of The Living Sky; Blues At Midnight; El Is A Sound Of Joy; Springtime In Chicago; Medicine For A Nightmare (52.10)
Sun Ra (p, elp, space gong); Art Hoyle (t, pc); Pat Patrick (as, pc); James Scales (as); John Gilmore (ts, pc); Julian Priester (tb); Charles Davis (bs, pc); Wilburn Green (elb); Victor Sproles (b); Robert Barry (d); William “Bugs” Cochran (d); Jim Herndon (tymp, pc). Chicago, February 1956.
WaxTime Records 772379
