str4ta: aspects
Francisco Espregueira
Gilles Peterson and Jean-Paul ‘Bluey’ Maunick have known each other for a long time. Connecting over Peterson duties as a musical explorer, DJ and broadcaster and Bluey’s output via Incognito - one of the essential groups of an oft-overlooked, vital pocket of Black British musical history -, they hail essentially from the same scene. That scene, the free-shaped, loose and energetic early-80s brit-funk, is revisited in Aspects, the duo’s project that just came out via Brownswood Recordings - the first material that Maunick and Peterson have released together in over a decade.
Aspects is reminiscent of sounds first developed by groups like Atmosfear, Hi-Tension, Light of the World and Freeez, marking a return to an era where both Peterson and Maunick first found their feet in music, and 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 around the world. STR4TA was an idea in the works for some time, guided by an ethos of capturing raw moments of pure funky sounds, something characteristic of the scene back in the ‘80s.
An array of musical touchpoints have fed into the album’s direct, no-frills entries: each track’s parts are cut back to the bare bone. Peterson would dig out records that showed particular flashes or moods as jumping off points, and Maunick would then work with collaborators to build new directions out of those prompts or suggestions. All part of a spiritual search for that particular sound they were looking for, counting with the help of many talented collaborators and friends.
Deeply indebted to the gritty DIY sounds of the cult ‘80s brit-funk era, STR4TA, and this magnificent Aspects, showcases the perfect imperfections that reveal the raw soul of the music, spurring listeners on to bear their heart and soul on the dancefloor. Available in vinyl via Brownswood Recordings, this is the last chapter of a friendship between two heads from a very eclectic and independent-driven musical lineage. One which each of them has been instrumental in shaping.
“Like everybody else who plays music, we tried to emulate our heroes. But we didn’t have the tools, we hadn’t studied music: were all playing by ear, and we were coming off bits and pieces that we liked off certain records.”