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STR4TA / Aspects

Gilles Peterson has partnered with Jean-Paul “Bluey” Maunick to reinvigorate the loose, protean energy of the early-80s Brit-funk scene. Long-time friends and collaborators, STR4TA sees them mine new musical possibilities out of that shared formative era. It was through Maunick’s band, Incognito – one of the essential groups of an oft-overlooked, vital pocket of Black British musical history – that they first connected. On “Aspects”, he and Peterson revisit that important period and the spirit that guided it: self-taught, DIY vitality, and a raucous energy built on live performance.

Bringing a fresh slant to a sound first developed by groups like Atmosfear, Hi-Tension, Light of the World and Freeez – with Maunick, it should be noted, also a member of the latter two bands – it’s the first material that Maunick and Peterson have released together in over a decade. First appearing in October 2020 with single ‘Aspects’, the pair didn’t make public that they were behind the project; the limited edition 12” quickly sold out nonetheless, and the track received radio play from Moses Boyd (BBC Radio 6 Music), on KEXP and KCRW, and from Francois K (Worldwide FM), Trevor Jackson (NTS) and Colin Curtis (Worldwide FM).

Peterson and Maunick wanted to approach music-making from the starting point that led to those early records. This meant returning to the era where each of them first found their feet, a period which would shape their respective careers in the decades since. For Peterson, this has been as a tastemaking record label boss, DJ, collector and broadcaster; for Maunick, this has been as a musician, bandleader and composer, touring and making the fabled achievement of scoring chart and radio hits in the USA.

1. STR4TA – Aspects
2. STR4TA – Rhythm In Your Mind
3. STR4TA – Dance Desire
4. STR4TA – We Like It
5. STR4TA – Steppers Crusade
6. STR4TA – After The Rain
7. STR4TA – Give In To What Is Real
8. STR4TA – Kinshasa FC
9. STR4TA – Vision 9

Source: Bandcamp