quête:the ballistic brothers

*Re-press of first-time 7″ release / limited 300 copies red vinyl / Shipping from 11 August* If you were part of a clubbing tribe in 1994 – any clubbing tribe – you will have danced to the Ballistic Brothers astounding ‘Blacker’. A track on a mysterious 12-inch that no-one could quite work out if it was a 12-inch single of a cheaply packaged album (it was in effect a 12 inch EP), but in the end it didn’t matter. It provided any DJ with a guaranteed dancefloor winner. A sly mix of beats and samples, it is nothing short of an anthem, and with the full cooperation of the group, we are making it available for the first time as a 7-inch single. The Ballistics – Ashley Beedle, Rocky, Diesel and David Hill – went on to record a further 12-inch EP and two full-length albums, making them one of the cult names of 1990s music. On the flip of this seven is one of their most popular cuts, what at the time was an LP-only track ‘Cubafro Con Amigos’, which has been specially edited for this release. Following the sellout of the first-time 7″ in 2023, we are excited to offer a repress. Limited to 300 copies and pressed on transparent red vinyl in a black disco bag!

First-time vinyl reissue of cult UK dance classic.

One of the cult acts of the heyday of London clubland in the early 1990s, the Ballistic Brothers consisted of later-X-Press 2 members Ashley, Rocky and Diesel, alongside David Hill and Uschi Clansen. After the success of underground smash ‘Blacker’ and ‘vs. Eccentric Afros Vol. 1’, The Ballistic Brothers returned with the second volume of their sampledelic good times with ‘Vol. 2’. The group came armed with years of dance floor expertise, and record making acumen, and delivered a further 8 tracks of good time funky grooves.

The opener ‘Delancey Street…The Theme’ paid tribute to their Camden-based record label and was an immediate anthem, while ‘Goodvibes…Goodnight’ was an irresistible mash-up. Elsewhere are jazz, funk, reggae influences and images of the streets of New York.

A vital snapshot of a very unique place in time, specially remastered for this Acid Jazz release, set in a spined sleeve for the first time, with a beautiful expansion of the original artwork

Remastered by Mischa Janisch 2LP

Das österreichische Musikduo Kruder & Dorfmeister, bestehend aus Peter Kruder und Richard Dorfmeister, startete in den 1990er Jahren eine Weltkarriere. Das Duo ist bekannt für seine Downtempo-Remixe von Hip-Hop-, Pop- und Drum-and-Bass-Songs. Ihr erfolgreiches Mix-Album "The K&D Sessions" (1998) wurde in Clubs von Ibiza bis New York rauf und runter gespielt und gilt als Klassiker des Genres. Im Laufe der Zeit wurden die beiden Musiker mit Remix-Arbeiten von Künstlern wie Madonna, Depeche Mode und Roni Size beauftragt. Danach gingen Kruder & Dorfmeister getrennte Wege und waren mit Soloprojekten erfolgreich. Mitten in der Pandemie 2020 veröffentlichten sie ein weiteres gemeinsames Album. Es trägt den Titel "1995" - eine Anspielung auf die Glanzzeit von Kruder & Dorfmeister. Im Oktober 2023 wird nun erstmals eine remasterte "Conversions - A K&D Selection" auf Doppel-Vinyl erscheinen. Ein nahezu historisches Musikdokument eines der erfolgreichsten österreichischen Musikduos

Back in the early 1990s as Acid Jazz began a period of extraordinary commercial success where acts like the Brand New Heavies and Jamiroquai sold millions of records, and US groups such as A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots and Digable Planets were actively influenced by what was being played in London, the whole scene was being fuelled by a small number of clubs, led by Gilles Peterson’s Sunday afternoons at Dingwalls but taking in nights in Leeds, Bari, Munich, Tokyo, Stockholm and New York. In those clubs funky jazz, latin boogaloo and 70s soul soundracks competed for time on the dance floor with import records from New York, and the latest sounds coming out of bedrooms and makeshift basement studios that created contemporary sounds out of the past.

Acid Jazz’s Eddie Piller and Dean Rudland have put together this compilation of the sort of sounds that we were playing at the time. They are releases on Acid Jazz and other label’s that surrounded the scene and they were mainly made by people we knew from either around the club scene, behind the counters of our favourite record shops, or from trips to New York or Europe. They range from The Ballistic Brother anthem ‘Blacker’ to the jazz house of A-Zel - a Roger Sanchez mix that still sounds fresh today. We have the Humble Soul’s instrumental version of ‘Beads Things And Flowers’ which at the time was only available as a DJ special on Acetate. There is the presence of A Man Called Adam before they went to Ibiza, and the early Mo’ Wax (before they went Trip Hop) single by Marden Hill ‘Come On’.

These records could fill a dance floor in seconds and we feel that they are today largely forgotten, as they were non-album, underground club records. It’s time to celebrate them!

Rude Boys are synonymous with Jamaican Dancehall culture from the present day going back to the very early days of Sir Coxsone Dodd and Duke Reid’s first sound-clashes in Kingston. Studio One Rude Boy features artists and songs about rude boys and rude boy culture from all periods of Studio One’s history.

The album features Ska, Rocksteady, DJs, Roots and Dub The album features classic tracks from Jamaica’s finest singers and groups such as The Wailers, John Holt, the Wailing Souls, Dennis Brown alongside super-rare tracks from artists such as Mr Foundation, Dudley Sibbley and The Soul Brothers all recorded under Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd’s supervision at the legendary recording studio and record label. Musical backing comes from the legendary in house bands – The Skatalites, The Sound Dimension, Soul Vendors and Soul Defenders – who provide the classic Studio One rhythms so influential in the history of Reggae.