Afrik News

2026 Repress
The legacy continues with Paling Trax 5! A split-EP featuring label-head TAFKAMP and the young talented Amsterdam-based DJ/Producer Vromo, both delivering two groovy no-nonsense club bangers. All killer no filler, highly essential!

Japan's Takuya Matsumoto returns to Inhale Exhale with a new six-track EP entitled 'Song Of The Ocean'.
Japanese DJ and producer Takuya Matsumoto has quietly established himself as one of the most distinctive voices to emerge from Japan's contemporary house scene. Known for his warm, deeply musical approach to production, Matsumoto blends classic house
sensibilities with jazz, funk and soulful influences, crafting records that balance dancefloor functionality with rich musicality. Through releases on respected international labels like Clone's Jack For Daze and Royal Oak, Vibes and Pepper, and Fina he's built a
reputation for refined grooves, elegant arrangements and a timeless approach to house music.
Across the six tracks Matsumoto once again radiantly showcases the depth of his production skills as the project sonically traverses Balearic-tinged House, bouncy acid- laced electro, cosmic nu-disco, breaks driven jungle and dub infused deep house.

Some tracks have a lot of history to them. Some are just one of life's mysteries.

TEDI seems to have been a work in progress with New York producers Greg Carmichael and Mitch Braithwaite.

The body of work being recorded during the late 1970's and early 1980's was a daily procedure with many people passing through. Over time Greg had no recollection of the recording and neither did his good friend Leroy Burgess. Sadly Mitch Braithwaite is no longer with us. But his music lives on with this boogie soul record with those stabbing piano keys , synth and reverbs. Topped with some growling vocals. The singer sounds familiar but I haven't a clue who it is? Tedi someone!!

This comes for the first time on 180g vinyl in a gatefold sleeve. Re-mastered for vinyl.This 22 track compilation spans the years 1995 - 2004 featuring key tracks from all their albums as well and live recordings and many unreleased tracks.BJM has been essential in the development of the modern U.S. garage scene, and many LA and SF musicians got their start playing with Newcombe, including Peter Hayes of The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Originally Newcombe was heavily influenced by The Rolling Stones' psychedelic phase - the name comes from Stones guitarist Brian Jones combined with a reference to cult leader Jim Jones, but his work in the 2000s has expanded into aesthetic dimensions approximating the UK Shoegazing genre of the 1990s and incorporating influences from world music, especially Middle Eastern and Brazilian music.

Presenting the 5th edition of the legendary West-Coast House label, Pacific Coast House reissue series. Here we bring The Coastal Commission / Boing – The Conversation / Currency back onto one 12” for the first time on limited Orange Vinyl.

From a golden period of Philly soul comes one of the most classic 'two step' and 'rare groove' releases from the PIR label's group The Futures. 'Ain't No Time Fa Something' (also released in error as 'Ain't Got Time Fa Nuthin'') remains a timeless spin for DJs, and became rare on 7' since the growth in popularity of the revived format. The track has also been sampled sevent times, first by Jamiroquai in 1994 in 'Morning Glory', and most recently Flamingos is in 'Cruise Control'. The flip of this 7' release 'Party Time Man' came from the same period and is both the group's biggest commercial hits and has become a significant revival itself over the last ten years, equally rare on original 7' single.

Acknowledge Kindness expands San Francisco based The Reds, Pinks And Purples' distinctive brand of emotional pop, music built for the quiet hours and the restless mind. Evolving naturally from the heavier, melancholic indie rock of previous releases, the mood here feels more exposed and reflective, blossoming into lush dreamscapes that recall the bittersweet sorrow of The Cure or the tenderly gloomy transcendence of California by American Music Club. Created from a new headspace, the album finds main man Glenn Donaldson observing both the present and the weight of what came before it. Songs lean into a deeper sense of nostalgia, allowing him to look back with intent and revisit moments that once carried a sting. Donaldson's vocals are captured in high fidelity, raw and immediate, with lyrical abstraction underpinned by chiming acoustic guitars and achingly beautiful piano. Across its 11 tracks, Acknowledge Kindness expands The Reds, Pinks And Purples' emotional and sonic panorama, with Donaldson's ongoing world-building remaining both warmly nostalgic and strikingly original. "Donaldson's best work hides allure within a bigger picture, like a jangle-pop egg hunt" Pitchfork FFO The Smiths, Guided By Voices, The Chills, Leonard Cohen, The Go-Betweens, Robert Wyatt, Twee-, Jangle- & Sophisticated Guitar Pop. Coloured vinyl LP versions and digisleeve CD available

Whatever The Reflex is on at the moment, we want some - he's rolling out the jams left, right and centre across several different styles. For this drop, he has revisited his own revision: ten years after first dropping this and without countless plays from legends like Kerri Chandler, he retouches a disco-house fusion classic that rides big vocal hooks and smooth, breezy grooves. On the B-side he takes aim at another soulful gem and go-to DJ favourite with real invention. 'Nobody' has persuasive drum breaks and slithering synths that shimmer like heat waves and allow the acing, singalong vocal room to work its magic up top.

A new chapter - OPIA Records presenting their new offshoot, OWL, their new white label series. Kicking off with Napolitans, Two Opposites with their signature italo style.

An album Maximum Rock 'N' Roll deemed not punk enough to review, Unwound's 1994 sophomore effort was a lethal depth charge aimed at major label grunge and independent hardcore alike. From the off-kilter, vertiginous rhythm of "Entirely Different Matters" to the neck-snapping velocity of "What Was Wound" to the relentless pounding at the end of "All Souls Day," New Plastic Ideas is the Sonic Youth-loving older sister to Fake Train's postpunk- obsessed little brother.

V.I.C.A.R.I. (the acclaimed alias of UK producer Tommy Vicari Jnr) emerges with "Float In," a high-impact release tailored for dance floors and vinyl enthusiasts alike. The title track pulses with disco-inspired stabs layered over crisp, modern production, capturing both nostalgic club energy and contemporary momentum. Tracks like "September Again" delve into deeper territory, offering immersive atmospheres and understated grooves that highlight V.I.C.A.R.I.'s sophisticated touch and adaptability for various times. As usual this will be a Vinyl Only, No Repress affair.

KKYV09 is a four-track EP by Helsinki-based producer and DJ Valeria Croft, exploring a refined intersection of house and minimal shaped by funky rhythms, rolling grooves, and detailed, tactile sound design. Alongside three original cuts, the release features a remix by Romanian DJ and producer Lumieux. The EP opens with Measured By The Silence, a hypnotic, groove-led track that defines Valeria Croft's sound through subtle progression and layered detail. Floating within a vibrating minimal house framework, the track delivers warm, positive dancefloor energy across its eight-minute journey. Lumieux's remix flips the mood, pushing the arrangement into a tighter, more driving house direction while carefully reworking elements of the original into a fresh, high-impact version. On the B-side, Flex Your Body leans into an old-school minimal feel, enhanced by sensual vocal sampling and a darker, late-night atmosphere. The EP closes with Night Shift Funk, a deep, immersive track that pulses with nocturnal energy, unfolding slowly and methodically as textures stack and tension builds. Together, the tracks form a cohesive, dancefloor-focused release designed for extended DJ sets and late-night sessions.

Welcome to the SKA BEAT!.
The sound that came from Jamaica between 1961-67.
Based on the American RnB and Doo-Wop records that Sound Systems in Kingston Town used to play.
The American records style started to mellow out while the Jamaican preferred a more upbeat sound..
So to meet this demand the Sound System bosses became record producers to cater for this demand.
Sir Coxonne and Duke Reid lead the way by putting the top musicians on the Island in the studio to make this Ska Sound!!
Here for your enjoyment is a selection of the some of the top tunes that made Ska so great...
We hope you enjoy the best....

Delano Smith, Patrice Scott and Deepset on Norm Talleys Upstairs Asylum Recordings.

Mind Against launch their eagerly awaited imprint Habitat with a 15-track compilation titled “METAFLORA”, available as a deluxe transparent vinyl 3LP box set including a 24x12” fold-out poster.

Suitably, the compilation features new and emerging artists with whom Mind against have relationships, and recurrent motifs of subtly unsettling melodic house/techno building alternate worlds in soundscapes.

Mind Against & Sideral – ‘Criseide’ heralds this new world with portentous pounding beat/bass, the melodic synth singing beneath like beauty surviving under threat, the vocal/lyrics with an edge of alarm: ‘if you think it couldn’t happen to you…’

‘Talk To Me’ by Dyzen (who also collab’ed with Mind Against on their fabric presents compilation) has stately chords riding a prancing beat while sombre piano and sweet high vocal create a heraldic, post-apocalyptic nu-medieval world, whereas Sam Shure’s ‘Plus Ultra’ has rattling percussion, with melody like a coded message from an abandoned spaceship to which something replies in stark tones…

Marino Canal, whose debut album was released by Nicole Moudaber’s MOOD, and who has support from many big names including fabric’s founder Keith Reilly, features plangent notes veering up, down and off the scale for a disturbing effect in ‘Ample’, while Swiss duo Read The News in ‘A Place’ set a fast, kicking beat against a female voice yearning for ‘a space where I can just be’.

Remcord, often played by Black Coffee, Tale of Us and more besides MA, show us why in ‘Entourage Effect’ while Laroz gives a lively melody and raucous chords in ‘Don’t Touch’ feat. Sheera as her cool, raunchy, layered vocals come to the fore.