John Morrison’s Philly Top Five: From King Britt’s Hidden Treasures to Marshall Allen’s New Dawn

2025 is here and I’ve been excited to get back into the mix of writing and doing radio after closing 2024 with a long break. During that time, I’ve chilled with my partner and family, hung out with friends, and dove back into the never-ending mission to properly organize my record collection. The month of January has been relatively sweet for me, despite living in such a sour and brutal world. As always, the music has helped carry me through, and here are just five of the brightest examples from the past month.

Friday Night Aliveness

On Friday, January 10th, the Tiny Room for Elephants art collective transformed the Philadelphia Museum of Art into a hub for some of the city’s best creative talent. The Bul Bey hosted, illvibe Collective legends Sonny James and Lil Dave held it down on the decks and we were treated to live sets from Outlaw Trio and Jacqueline Constance. Shout out to Dame and YaYa of TRFE for the movement they’ve cultivated and for hosting such a beautiful night celebrating Philly’s creative community.

Hidden Treasures: King Britt Presents Scuba

Recently, I’ve been revisiting some of the remixes that DJ King Britt made throughout the 90s and 2000s. Characterized by their off-kilter rhythms, lush keys, and, atmospheric vocals, the Scuba remixes were revolutionary when they hit dance floors back in the day, and many still sound fresh. In 2002, OM Records compiled a fascinating full-length release of Scuba remixes. Hidden Treasures is packed with Britt’s novel takes on cuts by United Future Organization, and 4 Hero, as well as his monster remix of Soul Dhamma’s “Flower”. Highly recommended if you’re hunting for some deep and soulful, psychedelic dance music.

Sammy Dimes ft Corey Wims – “Somewhere Out”

A breezy, heartfelt love song, Sammy Dimes and Corey Wims’ “Somewhere Out” follows the tradition of A Tribe Called Quest’s “Bonita Applebum” and “Electric Relaxation.” Over a chilled-out beat, Dimes and Wims take us on a journey through the excitement and possibilities of new love. Bonus props for the song’s lovely video which was shot at Clark Park in West Philly.

ILL Doots – Sample Pack Experiment 1, 2 & 3

In November of 2024, Philly funk/hip-hop band, ILL Doots became releasing a series of projects that showcase their soulful sound and multi-faceted talent. The first volume of the series is subtitled “Beats” and is full of dreamy beats and intricately chopped samples. “Bars” follows as the second volume while “Beyond” is a fleshed out 9-tracker with a gang of quirky, emotionally-rich songs.

Marshall Allen – New Dawn

Recorded last Spring at Rittenhouse Soundworks in Germantown, New Dawn is the debut solo album of 100-year-old multi-instrumentalist, Marshall Allen. As the leader of the Sun Ra Arkestra, Allen has been tasked with fronting the great jazz institution since the death of saxophonist, John Gilmore in 1995. New Dawn carries on the sound and philosophy of Sun Ra with the stellar title track (featuring Nenah Cherry) and standout tunes like “Boma” and the classic Sun Ra standard, “Angels And Demons at Play.”