A mostly one man project, made in Chicago by Joel Midden, Bastardgeist blend “orchestral samples, live playing, loops, processed sound and vocals” to create a bed of stimulating sonics. Laying down his own whispers over polyrhythms, best played on kalimba, Joel’s songs are detailed yet uncluttered with a captivating beauty.  Brainlove Records are due to release a self-titled album of 10 tracks made between 2006-09.

Bastardgeist – Flee To The Hills

Rocketnumbernine have more buzz circulating about (or circling above?) them. Consisting of South London based brothers, Ben and Tom Page, they supported Four Tet for seven-eighths of his UK tour earlier in the year. Gilles Peterson also closed a show with ‘Matthew and Toby’ back in May (Overshadowed by James Blake’s live appearance), having been impressed with the duo’s performance at the Steve Reid Memorial Session. The song below is due out on Four Tet’s Text Records on Sept. 20th. Their debut album, You Reflect Me, is available via Trace Recordings. It’s worth a listen but doesn’t have the punch of recent material.

Rocketnumbernine – Matthew and Toby

Neither act can claim their sound to be entirely original. Each carries a sensibility similar to masters who’ve gone before them, and outstanding contemporary figures (including Four Tet and Panda Bear). They do each offer their own exciting individuality and Rocketnumbernine’s live performances add an additional dimension. Both acts cite Moondog and Sun Ra as influences, echoes of which appear in their experimental and otherworldly sounds.

The rest of this post is directed at the Guardian’s column, New Band of the Day.

It must be tricky continuing what they’ve started. Rifling for a supposedly unknown act to publicise every day. At first it probably seemed a jolly idea but, more than three years on, such talent seeking relies on ongoing digging which the current setup lacks. My main gripe is rather than serving as a brilliantly revelatory source to a mainstream readership, the column is lacklustre, mostly churning out artists the author’s heard buzz about and wants to claim some ownership on their rise.

If presented in a humbler way I wouldn’t grumble, but choosing artists who are financially backed to achieve pop chart success, then backslapping yourself when they do, is lame. Are the frequent self-congratulatory statements an attempt to justify its existence? One potential solution to the column’s flaws is by having a pool of contributors rather than one ego. Elsewhere, Scott Pinglewood shows comparative treasure-finding can be done knowledgeably and without being smug.

To New Band of the Day’s credit, a few interesting acts have appeared before prominent releases (Bibio, Ghost Poet, Hype Williams) but 2010 picks have also included Jay Electronica, Drake and Nicki Minaj. Quit trying to hitch on bandwagons.

The column’s format is inevitably going to be hit and miss, however, if research goes beyond reading press releases the likelihood of learning about impressive “new” acts increases. Notable absences from the list of 852 (at time of press) acts, since Dec 4th 2006, include The xx, Little Dragon, Singing Statues, Le Butcherettes, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Kwes, Portico Quartet, Wildbirds and Peacedrums, Golau Glau, American Men, United Vibrations, Sound of Rum, Speakers Corner Quartet, and Juan Son. Let’s wait and see if they get added.

A final specific source of irritation is when the column presents artists working outside guitar-based music. Why does every UK rapper get compared to Dizzee Rascal? Or any beatmaker need to be likened to Dilla? Why choose Bullion, Pariah and Joy Orbison but not Floating Points, any Hyperdub act, Lone, or Kyle Hall? I suggest it’s because the author has no interest in much of the music he’s writing about. And if your heart’s not in it, get out.

Testing 123

This is a special night

This is a night of good vibrations

This is a night of love

This is a night where the past and the future meet

BBC Radio 1

Gilles Peterson Radio music awards

This is your thing…your show

This is your music

You know this music

This Worldwide thing…

it’s about rhythms,

it’s about staying in the rhythms.

it’s about strengthening your LUUUUURRRRVVVEEEE

and the strength this music gives you

it’s about the rhythms

it’s about reggae

it’s about JAZZ

it’s about Africans

it’s about latin

it’s about hip hop

its about dubstep

it’s about HOUSE

It’s about all of em

it’s about Rap

This music is gotta be planted in your heart

It’s like a seed

Seed time and harvest time never stop

Seed time and harvest time never stop

This music is playing for you with passion from our hearts

We love you and we express it thru our music

It’s important that you receive it ….accept it

It’s to give you strength

Its to give you joy

Its to make you feel good

Think good…act good

This music is one of the things you can trust

You can trust the beat

You can trust the beat all the way

You can’t trust the politicians, you can’t trust the money, and you can’t trust the religion

But you can trust the beat

This is a special night… Worldwide Gilles Peterson…all the beautiful fantastic performers tonight and djs

And about the DJs…YO..they’ve kept it alive, they’ve kept the music out front

You know, this is a special thing..

You can hear a lot of varieties of music…The Worldwide thing is the reason you do.

*serious serious drum roll*

I come from the Bronx…I come from Motown

My family is Marvin Gaye

My family is Thelonious Monk

My family is James Brown

My family is Miles Davis

My family is Sun ra

My family is Jimi Hendrix

My family is P-Funk

My family is Bo Diddley

All of us are also all your family

It’s all one thing

It’s the music it’s the beat

You know it’s nice to get funky sometimes

There could be pressures, there could be tensions… there could be bullshit

You gotta keep up getting strong loving one another

*another serious drum roll*

This music can give you THE WAY TO GO

Enjoy this night… enjoy if you can trust in yourself enough to love somebody you don’t like HELLO

This is the 2008. You wanna gotta kick off the HATE – no HATE in 2008 no HATE in 2008

It’s about the LOVE

The evening is about to begin

I want everyone to take a deep breath and be happy…enjoy yourself

That is what life is for…you supposed to have enough of everything there is no shortage of anything

Keep what’s in your heart pure…DO THE RIGHT THING

Stay in the rhythm

Love one another

Thank you for coming tonight. Thank you for your support for the year before that and the year before that and tomorrow

This music is for you…we have to make it…and you’all have to listen to it.

It’s a good thing…it’s good for everybody

Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen.

The video of the performance can be viewed here. Thanks to Dayo for the transcription.

Rest In Peace Steve.

Last year Steve Reid spread peace and love with his drum rhetoric, this time round more excellence looks likely with Jazzanova, Quiet Village, Dorian Concept, Robert Mitchell 3io and Stacey Epps providing the live entertainment!

Joining Gilles to add clout to the deejayed sections of the evening is Red Rack’em. After a busy few months with releases on Tirk and Untracked Records (under his Hot Coins moniker), Red Rack’em had a guest mix for the GPWW International Show in December. He’s since been kind enough to give us an as yet unreleased track of his (from the WW mix), so download and savour this sluggish lil’ number:

Red Rack’em – Drunk Up

The awards take place at Cargo on Saturday 24th Jan 2009. For further info and video clips from last year peruse www.worldwideawards.co.uk