Sunny Side Up cover

Sunny Side Up

Released

Melbourne in Southeastern Australia may be geographically isolated but despite — or perhaps because of — that, it has a remarkable music scene. With more venues per head of population than anywhere else, it’s a magnet for the country’s musicians, and so jamming and intersecting bands and collectives are the norm across styles, but especially in soul and jazz. Sunny Side Up is a compilation put together by the UK’s Gilles Peterson, in his periodic local showcase series that has also featured London (We Out Here) and South Africa (Indaba Is) are built on stunning instrumental proficiency, all of it in service of music that loosely falls under the umbrella of jazz, but also maps out to a whole universe of musical styles. There’s Philadelphia-indebted neo-soul —particularly in the work of singers Allysha Joy and Audrey Powne; there’s a hint of the off-grid rhythms of the California “beat scene.” The ghosts of Sun Ra, Alice Coltrane, and Don Cherry are ever present, but you’re just as likely to hear the influence of Masters At Work, Theo Parrish, or João Gilberto — as well as elements of the city’s own thriving experimental electronic scene. It is, in short, a vibe.

Joe Muggs

Recommended by

Suggestions
Decision Time cover

Decision Time

Charles Webster
Oceanic cover

Oceanic

Niklas Paschburg
Devotion cover

Devotion

Jessie Ware
Black Messiah cover

Black Messiah

D'Angelo and the Vanguard
Wede Harer Guzo cover

Wede Harer Guzo

Hailu Mergia, Dahlak Band
Spirit Walk cover

Spirit Walk

Steve Reid Ensemble
Begin Again cover

Begin Again

Norah Jones
Taken Away cover

Taken Away

Moodymann
Chapters cover

Chapters

Anchorsong
76:14 cover

76:14

Global Communication
Road to Freedom cover

Road to Freedom

Young Disciples