ON THE TURNTABLE: Tungusku – Direction of Travel

Tungusku - Direction of Travel

Short, sharp and frank reviews from a confessed vinyl junkie. I’ll post my most loved records and recent purchases here for your perusal weekly.

A very welcome but bittersweet mid-Summer release on Manchester music scene stalwart Jason Boardman’s new label ‘Before I Die’. Tungusku is ex co-founder of The Mouse Outfit, James Defty’s new project, who had partnered up with fellow ex-member of TMO Phil Ratcliffe. Unfortunately and very sadly, Phil passed away in March of this year, so as I type, I’m not sure what will happen with this project, but I know James has demo tracks of others he and Phil had come up with.

This is a decidedly more mellow affair, instrumental jazzy Balearic tinged Funk would be the best way to describe it. Each of the five tracks on show melt into each other seamlessly, I can almost taste the coconut and feel the sand between my toes.

Heavy beats, gorgeous percussion, flowing bass lines and sumptuous guitar licks make this an all round fantastic debut. Phil was quite clearly a very talented musician, and I’m happy that I got to work on The Mouse Outfit’s excellent ‘Jagged Tooth Crook’ album on which he played. R.I.P. Phil, you’ve left a great legacy behind, and I only hope we get to hear more of what you had planned for Tungusku.

Xsnoize Author
Sean Crossey 86 Articles
Seán is based in Manchester; his favourite artists include James Brown, MF Doom, The National, Bon Iver, Radiohead, Eric B & Rakim, Aretha Franklin, Serge Gainsbourg, John Lennon and Public Enemy. Sean has also been a promoter, DJ and a failed musician. Nowadays he resides in the Northern Quarter of Manchester and is a vinyl junkie, sneaker collector and MCFC fan.

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