2020 is shaping up to be a fine year for humanity to collectively ponder our mortality as a species. The global coronavirus pandemic, climate change, violent political unrest, accelerating wealth inequality and—for those of us in California—good old fashioned wildfires foreshadow how the end might come about. But what would the end times sound like? Shabaka & The Ancestors have the answer. On their epic double LP We Are Sent Here By History, Shabaka Hutchings, leading his octet of South Africa based musicians, channels the tradition of the african griot to narrate the extinction of the human race from a future perspective. Heavy, right?

Within the universe of jazz, We Are Sent Here By History is a momentous record released with appropriately high expectations. After all, it is the most ambitious record yet from the biggest name in the most exciting jazz scene in the world. Shabaka Hutchings, and his global collective of three groups, The Ancestors, Sons of Kemet and The Comet Is Coming, are the de facto torchbearers of the fertile South London jazz scene. 

Too often ‘ambient music’ is defined by what it lacks. Describing it as music without standard melody, rhythm and structure provides a cursory reference point to pop and classical music for the unfamiliar. Unfortunately this overlooks the many truly engaging ambient records which contain creative, nuanced and powerful artist statements.

GREEN, the recently remastered and reissued ambient classic by Hiroshi Yoshimura, is one such record. Like a lot of ambient music, GREEN is mellow enough for heavy rotation while logging mandated work-from-home hours but it stands up to deeper listening as well.