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Alex Bradley's new reissue division at Utopia Records recovers the early works of Gianni Gebbia, a saxophonist and composer from Palermo, Sicily whose highly sought-after debut LP from 1987 is remastered with added unreleased material and updated art work by Gebbia himself.
A minimal and contemporary jazz album of the highest order, its beautiful sound, sentimental electronics and use of synthesisers - that were a precursor to the house and dance music scene of the early 90's - has made the album endure the years that have passed.

It will be sure to be a valuable addition to your home listening collection with stand out tracks like Cud evoking visions of a Sicilian beach stroll and the intense and brooding 'Vedersi Passare le Cose Attorno' with its Juno chords transports you to a Detroit night club in 1992 counterbalanced by Gebbia's soft saxophonic embrace...

The self taught Gebbia's works touches on the avant-garde whilst maintaining a musicality and fluidity with his technique of circular breathing adding an extra element to his playing, the ability to create Reichian like minimalism with a single breath whilst maintaining melodic structure.
The multi solo album artist is noted recently for working on the music score of Heiner Goebbels' music performance piece 'Everything that happened and would happen' at the Manchester international festival and for his curating of the "Anassimandro Festival of Music and Philosophy" in his home city of Palermo of which Bradley hosted last years after party.

As electronic musician Lorenz Brunner sketched his vision for the first Recondite full-length on Ghostly in five years he took a step back to assess who and where he was as an artist. 2013’s Hinterland accelerated a progression — he’s since been touring around the world and releasing music with labels such as Hotflush and his own Plangent Records — yet, for him, the album cast a shadow of pressure that widened over time. As with most art forms, perhaps especially music, there is an expectation to change, to creatively pivot elsewhere with each project. After careful consideration, Brunner rejects this notion with his new work, opting alternately to use the icy Hinterland as an aesthetic and tonal template for a like-minded map of evocative compositions aptly titled after the German word “stillstand,” now presented as Dwell.

“I am coherent with what I do, even if I’m not reinventing myself,” Brunner says contentedly. In regards to the album title, he adds, “It’s like when you’re on a hike and you stop and look at the scenery; you may know which path you want to go next but right now you are dwelling.” The title also doubles as a reference to everyday domestic life, a restorative haven for Brunner between tours. Like Hinterland, he incorporates a subtle range of field recordings to intensify the textural atmosphere. While he worked at home on “Mirror Games,” Brunner noticed the buzz coming from across the room, where his wife was using an electric toothbrush, naturally harmonized with the track. He decided to push that frequency further and record the device directly, syncing vibrations for added urgency across the propulsive piece as well as parts of the ambient “Interlude 2.”

Windswept, moody, and melodic, moments on Dwell linger with emotional resonance. The title track sends an eerie synth loop through a field of techno kicks. The beats recede for a breather four minutes in as if to survey the surroundings. If Brunner pivots anywhere — possibly just a new perspective afforded by being confidently stationary in his craft — it’s by leaning more into hip-hop structures. He’s an avid rap fan and his love for those production techniques is notably present on “Nobilia,” a queasy shuffler (titled in reference to the Super Nintendo game Secret of Evermore), “Interlude 1,” which skitters in lockstep with contemplative synth chords, and “Surface,” an isolatory, ruminative sequence. The closer “Moon Pearl” soothes and shimmers like its namesake, a cherished gem in The Legend of Zelda series that allows carriers of the gem to retain their shape and essence in the Dark World.

In an era where constant reinvention and highly self-reflexive brand awareness reigns supreme in the music industry, Brunner as Recondite does something many artists try to avoid, he dwells in his own established identity, one that has garnered him a devoted fanbase. His murky electronic productions, built around mirage-like pads and clipped drum programming, have proven to be highly functional and spectrally enveloping; Dwell is not a return to form, it is a further study of the shapes, it is the modes, and the structures Brunner has trademarked.

As electronic musician Lorenz Brunner sketched his vision for the first Recondite full-length on Ghostly in five years he took a step back to assess who and where he was as an artist. 2013’s Hinterland accelerated a progression — he’s since been touring around the world and releasing music with labels such as Hotflush and his own Plangent Records — yet, for him, the album cast a shadow of pressure that widened over time. As with most art forms, perhaps especially music, there is an expectation to change, to creatively pivot elsewhere with each project. After careful consideration, Brunner rejects this notion with his new work, opting alternately to use the icy Hinterland as an aesthetic and tonal template for a like-minded map of evocative compositions aptly titled after the German word “stillstand,” now presented as Dwell.

“I am coherent with what I do, even if I’m not reinventing myself,” Brunner says contentedly. In regards to the album title, he adds, “It’s like when you’re on a hike and you stop and look at the scenery; you may know which path you want to go next but right now you are dwelling.” The title also doubles as a reference to everyday domestic life, a restorative haven for Brunner between tours. Like Hinterland, he incorporates a subtle range of field recordings to intensify the textural atmosphere. While he worked at home on “Mirror Games,” Brunner noticed the buzz coming from across the room, where his wife was using an electric toothbrush, naturally harmonized with the track. He decided to push that frequency further and record the device directly, syncing vibrations for added urgency across the propulsive piece as well as parts of the ambient “Interlude 2.”

Windswept, moody, and melodic, moments on Dwell linger with emotional resonance. The title track sends an eerie synth loop through a field of techno kicks. The beats recede for a breather four minutes in as if to survey the surroundings. If Brunner pivots anywhere — possibly just a new perspective afforded by being confidently stationary in his craft — it’s by leaning more into hip-hop structures. He’s an avid rap fan and his love for those production techniques is notably present on “Nobilia,” a queasy shuffler (titled in reference to the Super Nintendo game Secret of Evermore), “Interlude 1,” which skitters in lockstep with contemplative synth chords, and “Surface,” an isolatory, ruminative sequence. The closer “Moon Pearl” soothes and shimmers like its namesake, a cherished gem in The Legend of Zelda series that allows carriers of the gem to retain their shape and essence in the Dark World.

In an era where constant reinvention and highly self-reflexive brand awareness reigns supreme in the music industry, Brunner as Recondite does something many artists try to avoid, he dwells in his own established identity, one that has garnered him a devoted fanbase. His murky electronic productions, built around mirage-like pads and clipped drum programming, have proven to be highly functional and spectrally enveloping; Dwell is not a return to form, it is a further study of the shapes, it is the modes, and the structures Brunner has trademarked.

On this Caribbean island that is Cuba, El Tipo is a pioneer of Hip Hop. The founder of Obsesion group with he has committed three albums, traveled Europe, Latin America, United States. He has invested the mythical scene Apollo Theater of Harlem, shared the stage with The Roots, Common or Kanye West, integrated the Gilles Peterson’s band for the Havana Culture Tour. 500 LTD!In the world of beatmaking, Al Quets (originally known as Quetzal) is a figure. An instrumental designer who cut, loop, program, cadence, compose. A name marked by 5 albums and collaborations with Onra, Guts, La Fine Equipe ou Milk Coffee and Sugar. Between the French beat maker and the cuban MC, there’s thousand of kilometers but a desire to connect so strongly that no force could have prevented the meeting. So, rather than exchanging digital files , Al Quetz preferred swallowing on the same frequencies. Together they drew on all the musical currents of the island and around, absorbed Afro- Cuban sounds, added the freedom of jazz, the metronome of hip hop grooves, smoking riddims and heavy bass of the Jamaican neighboor.

Black Truffle is pleased to present Realejo, the first vinyl release from Brazilian sound artist and composer Manuel Pessoa de Lima. Having composed works for diverse contexts including cinema, contemporary dance, theatre and television, Lima’s live appearances often take the form of self-reflexive lecture performances that combine electro-acoustic sound, red light, video and spoken text, moving unpredictably from the hilarious to the distressing.

Realejo consists of two side-long pieces of highly idiosyncratic electro-acoustic collage, beginning with recordings Lima made of himself playing the organ in the Schloss Solitude Chapel in Stuttgart. Exploring the peculiarities of the instrument’s mechanics, Lima made hours of recordings with the organ stops half-way open, moving from haunting gliding tones to oddly tuned fair-ground melodies reminiscent of the record’s namesake realejo, a hand-cranked organ traditionally found in Brazil as the musical accompaniment to the work of fortune-telling parrots.

To these organ sounds, Lima added recordings of a security guard made in São Paulo: ‘Just before coming to Stuttgart, I started making field recordings of a security guard in São Paulo. It's something pretty common in residential areas: they sit in a chair with a whistle, and use that to signal when people arrive, leave or pass by in the street. This particular security guard, Miguel Viana, works on the same street my parents live, and where I had my childhood, and he has worked there since I was a small child. He has watched the street at night, from 8PM to 6AM, every single day, except Sundays, for over 30 years’.

The poignant sounds of the security guard’s whistles punctuate Lima’s electro-acoustic environment, which also includes raw digital synthesis, recordings of his friends’ infant child, audio lifted from Youtube, and, on the LP’s second side, elements taken from an earlier work, ‘36 English to Portuguese Lessons’. Finely chiselled from dozens of hours of source material into a detail-rich, mercurial structure, Realejo is alternately jarring and seductive, introducing listeners to a young composer with a powerfully individual voice.

Pacific Express emerged from Cape Town, South Africa in the 1970s. The band were from the so called "Coloured" community and were ground breakers in both musical and political arenas. The founder members Paul Abrahams (Bass), Jack Momple (Drums) and Issy Ariefdien (Guitar) were joined by Chris Schilder (Piano), Vic Higgins (Pecussion), Barney Rachabane (Alto Sax), Stompie Manana (Trumpet) and Zayn Adams & Kitty Tshikana on vocals for their second album "On Time" in 1978.

On several occasions the group fell foul of Apartheid laws and discrimination by the state broadcaster, SABC. On one occasion they were asked to leave the stage of an international tour by Australian act John Paul Young, because the law forbade racially mixed performers on the same stage. The promoter, management and band members all resisted and once he incident made the Australian newspapers the authorities had little choice and turned a blind eye.

And so to the music. The most important thing. The LP opens up with the slick jazz-boogie funk of "We Got A Good Thing Going On", a perfect vehicle for the vocals of Zayn and the statement-of-intent, on-point musicianship of the band.

"I Hear Music" is the first of three smooth sweet string-laden ballads to feature on the LP. The majority of the songs on the LP were written by keyboard player Chris Schilder. As well as high-craft songwriting Chris also contributes layers of effortless musicality with his Rhodes and piano. "Good Old Days" (the only cover on the LP) is next and its smooth-rock grooves swing effortlessly to the fore. The A-Side of the vinyl closes with the instrumental jazz funk of "Saturday Night".

The flip side of the album opens with the bands biggest commercial success. A sweet soul ballad penned "Give a Little Love". Stepping outside their usual sound. This hit however was not without controversy as the video was removed from the TV airways after the South Africa Broadcasting Corp realised that the group were of mixed race, which was against rules for so called local artists in public performance at the time.

"Dream" follows on with the driving jazz rock and travelling keyboard solos. "Reaching Out For Love" is a power-pop boogie groover powered by guest vocalists Erica Lundy and Kitty.

"Say The Last Goodbye" is the last of the trio of ballads. A smooth style moment sounding all the bit like a 70's US TV drama closing theme. The LP features with a funky workout where the band show off their chops and slick level of musicianship.

Besides the success in southern Africa this album became a regional hit as a pirated music cassette in Nigeria. It was also released in France and Japan.

The band would go on to record one further LP in 1979 and a single in 1981. They carried on performing however well pass that. Throughout their years together the band acted as central hub for Jazz musicians within the Cape Town area. Players as Tony Cedras, Jonathan Butler and Alvin Dyers gaining experience alongside established names such as trumpeter Stompie Manana and alto saxman Barney Rachabane.

Here at World Seven we are ever so pleased to be re-releasing what we consider the bands finest album moment.

Award-winning bassist Daniel Casimir and vocalist Tess Hirst release their debut album via pioneering London-based record labe Jazz re:freshed. Following the success of Daniel Casimir's critically acclaimed debut EP 'Escapee' which featured Hirst on vocals and fellow rising stars on the scene Moses Boyd, Joe Armon-Jones and Shirley Tetteh, this album - 'These Days' is inspired by the duo's London surroundings, delivering thought-provoking lyricism, neo-soul and modern jazz

Casimir, a former Birmingham Conservatoire student, has collaborated with Julian Joseph, Jason Rebello, Benet McLean, Lonnie Liston Smith, Nathan Facey, Shane Forbes, Chihiro Yamanaka, Ashley Henry, David Lyttle, Nubya Garcia, The Tracey Quintet (Meantime Jubilation), Tom Harrison (Unfolding In Tempo), Jasmine Power (Stories And Rhymes), Camilla George and Art Blakey Jazz Messenger saxophonist, Jean Toussaint.

Named Young Jazz Musician of the Year by the Musicians' Company in 2016, Casimir has received plaudits for his arrangements and recital, while Hirst has made a name for herself with her vocals on the jazz circuit having moved between London, Leeds and LA to hone her craft. What sets Hirst apart as a musician is not only the originality of her music but her perspective of herself as an artist. She is an Ethnomusicology Graduate of SOAS and her writing style walks us through her upbringing in West London and down the halls of academia

Casimir and Hirst fuse traditional jazz sounds into beautiful compositions, narrating their way through a political and cultural landscape across these twelve tracks. The frenzied groove heavy'Security' addresses the need to trust one another and how we protect ourselves personally, while the rich atmospherics of 'Freedom' combined with Hirst's vocals, explore liberation and the rejection of duty - from a female perspective.

At the heart of 'These Days', Casimir plays with a passion and power that resonates throughout each composition. His knack for complex chord changes are highlighted in 'What Did I Do', bringing an energy and enthusiasm to the track while Hirst decries our changing capital. Elsewhere, references to John Agard's poem 'Listen Mr. Oxford Don' in 'The Magic Money Tree', explore the past and its relevance to now while a re-imagining of Charles Mingus' 'Fables Of Faubus' further ensures this theme remains central to the essence of the album.

Daniel Casimir and Tess Hirst have already received radio support from BBC Radio 3, BBC Music Introducing and Jazz FM, along with coverage in the London Evening Standard and Jazzwise Magazine

'Don't Let Them' interpolates elements of 'Fables Of Faubus' written by Charles Mingus (c) 1959. Published by Jazz Workshop Inc. Administered by BMG Rights Management (UK) Ltd. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Dick Verdult, a.k.a Dick el Demasiado is the Philip K. Dick of multi-disciplinary art, the Moby Dick of “cumbia lunática”, and the Charles Dickens of literature and experimental cinema. He first fell in love with cumbia when he heard his nursemaid singing the classic “La pollera colorá”. From this moment on, he adopted the genre and reinvented it, in a perpetual degeneration called Cumbia Lunática, twisting up the elements of traditional cumbia, the “cumbia of the mucamas”, to create an anarchotropical vertebral rhythm, one which supports every moving part.

Celulitis Illuminati is the powerful debut of the anarchotropical gentleman knight of the abstract, Dick el Demasiado, eight dangerous tracks recorded for the first time on vinyl, songs that, upon listening, will liposuck all that grotesque accumulation of adipose tissue out of buttocks and brain. They interweave an amalgam of South American folklore and the cables of electronic music, the plugged-in Ranqueles indians, as in “Asi Que Los Que Sí” (“So That Those Who Yes”) on Side A, surrealist and lugubrious beats, poetry made song and “the dead man’s drool is good for painting watercolors”, as he sings in “Búho Sin Un Ratón” (“Owl With No Mouse”).Euphony that will abduct you away to a viscous street party with “Son Cosas De Hoy” (“They’re Things For Today”) and to an eclectic and excessive dimension with “pero bien bweno” (“but very proper”).

Side B is pure dynamite: “Mecha flan” (“Pudding Fuse”), “Sábado cultural” (“Cultural Saturday”) and “En la jeta” (“In the face”) represent the perfect blend of Lucho Argain (La Sonora Dinamita) and Muslimgauze (Bryn Jones). On top of this, the album includes an as-yet unheard gem, “Llama Mi Abogado” (“Call My Lawyer”), produced by Dick himself and Manuel Schaller, the telepathic mage of the Theremin. When the Dutchman stepped off the boat and onto the block, as well as offering us the TV set, the sculpture of a deranged English woman who devours islands like they were sandwiches, the synthesizer, the sound effect, the African drum, the maraca, the indigenous whistle, he obtained for us the song and the stanza, he provided us with the language and the poetry, the truthful, the epic of the ugly. Cellulite for mortals, cumbia lunática for the enlightened ones! Alfredo Padilla (Trans. Komurki)

Named lovingly after the venerable boozer from Only Fools and Horses, Interpret 'The Nag's Head' is the sonic moniker of Brighton artist Stephen Maskell. Combining on the fly recordings, kitchen sink instrumentation and addictively constructed beats, Maskell's music is as one customer puts it - at times moving, at time hilarious and sometimes just great dance music. Following a trilogy of tapes, 'ENTROPY NOODLE' is Maskell's first LP proper, and signals a maturation of sound - bending, twisting and manipulating synthesis to explore every microtonal corridor of the sonic spectrum.

Legend has it that Brian Eno’s concept of ambient music came to him while laid up in a hospital bed after an automobile ac-cident in the 70's. A friend brought him some records, playing them too low to be properly heard, and Eno couldn’t get out of bed to adjust the volume. While the record spun softly, Eno’s idea for music you could ignore as easily as you could give it your full attention, like a sort of sonic wallpaper, was born. It’s in that spirit of quiet isolation that Ghostly International, in associ-ation with Adult Swim, shares Ghostly Swim 2, our way of giving listeners a space to get away from the manic holiday bustle.

For those keeping track at home, Ghostly is wrapping up its 15th anniversary as an Ann Arbor/Brooklyn-based indie. 2014 has seen the company soundtracking video games (Playstation’s Hohokum), collaborating with awesome companies like Warby Parker and VOID watches, and clearing 300 releases of for-ward-thinking music with records from Tycho, Com Truise, and HTRK. What better way to end this banner year than to revisit one of our favorite partnerships from the past decade and a half?

Released in 2008, Ghostly Swim was praised for its adventurous survey of exploratory dance and pop music. Our curatorial focus has shifted this time around, moving further inward (spiritually) and outward (as far as our roster goes) to reflect the electron-ic underground in all of its hazy and vibrant experimentalism. Ghostly Swim 2 is a document of textured ambient zone-outs and woozy, granular house and techno that will help you find some downtime away from The Most Wonderful Time of the Year. So sit back, lower the volume, and enjoy our selections.

Kicking off the year in style, with a new album by someone we've greatly admired and whose music we've followed for many a year; the mighty William Burnett aka Willie Burns / Speculator and Black Deer.

We first were introduced to his music through the wonderful Grackle remix by our pals T.Keeler & Capablanca. Over time we've followed his many aliases with much enjoyment and can still recall hearing the first Black Deer music being played one afternoon in Phonica and NEEEEDING to know everything about it. There's also fond boat party memories in Stockholm soundtracked by the UTTU release. Not to mention WT Records putting out some brilliant records by now familiar faces - our favourites include Art Crime, Kartei and Tummy Tummy!

Recently, William has started a new long form interview podcast, Talk Video on The Lot Radio and Marc Maron comparison isn't far off the mark. Well worth digging into. He's also been making music for himself and we're chuffed to be releasing some of that with you now.

Artwork by Belgrade's finest, floating.bstrd

Direct from the Midwest CLEAR is proud to present four tenacious hardware workouts from Juzer.

In theory the 12” starts slowly, with the 100 bpm rattle of Old Reliable, although it’s fitful energy is anything but, while the following track September coils itself into a tightly wound circuit freak-out. Busy Bees and We Work Hard We Play Hard are the buildup and climax of the record’s machinedriven anxiety, fit for a chase scene in a post apocalyptic megacity thriller.

Juzer is the joint project of two artists central to the underground musicscene in Chicago, Beau Wanzer and Dan Jugle. The work of both straddles the fault-lines between, noise, techno, industrial, EBM, and the more frenzied shades of house. In addition to a prolific number of solo releases, Wanzer is a member of Mutant Beat Dance with Traxx and Steve Summers, Civil Duty with Shawn O’Sullivan, and many more. Like Wanzer, Jugle was a habitual collaborator and his untimely passing last year shocked Chicago’s electronic music community. Jugle was a natural collaborator, the sort of person for whom creating music was a daily act, and even better with friends. In addition to Juzer he was also a member of Dar Embarks, Chandeliers, and Ghost Arcade. Previous Juzer material was issued on The Corner and Dog In The Night.

Total Refreshment Centre is proud to present a brand new mini-LP from Neue Grafik Ensemble entitled 'Foulden Road'. French producer, instrumentalist and DJ, Neue Grafik, has been building a strong rep for himself over the past few years, releasing records previously on labels such as Rhythm Section, 22a, CoOp Presents and Wolf Music.

His sound is a hybrid of jazz, house and hip hop, all with his unique geographical flavours of African ethnicity, Parisian roots and a love for London sounds like broken beat & grime thrown into the mix. In his own words "this mini album has been conceived as a journey from Deptford to Dalston, right through Peckham. During a personal period of transition, I put this music forward at a crossroad of all my influences, taking the time to share and experiment with a band more than that, an ensemble. The idea is to incorporate musicians with their own sensibilities, collaborating together as a reflection of our society; unreal & rebellious, but with magic moments, and full of hope.

The best representation of that is Total Refreshment Centre. This building and its community were a perpetual source of inspiration for me over the past two years & gladly allowed the creation of this project". Having been first properly introduced to the community of the TRC during an after-hours jam, it came to TRC founder Lex Blondel's attention that New design had some exquisite compositions of his own. A few weeks later, it was decided that Neue Grafik would form a band and that they would do their first gig at TRC, a week after the first day of rehearsals. No pressure … Lex continued; "we paired him up with Emma-Jean Thackray, to arrange his compositions for a quartet, added Vels Trio's Dougal Taylor on drums, Matt Gedrych from MaddAddam on bass and Jordan Saintard on sax.

Then the band got to work…" Title track 'Foulden Road' commences the session in truly energetic fashion, named after the street in North London where TRC is based, and where these sessions were largely laid down. Keeping with the geographical vibe, next we have 'Dalston Junction', a two-part affair starting on a sci-fi boom-bap tip, before switching to the ethereal flute playing of Brussels musician Esinam, and the first outing on the collection for Brother Portrait.

'Voodoo Rain' is next, a sweet slice of afro-funk, featuring the incredible talents of London's own Nubya Garcia on sax, and the tempo picks up once again for 'Something Is Missing' - this live version comes from the afore-mentioned infamous first gig at TRC.

The goosebump-enducing vocals of Melbourne soulstress, Allysha Joy, set off the second half of the record with the beautiful downtempo track 'Hotel Laplace', recorded at a live session at Giant Steps, before kicking the energy levels back up with 'Hedgehog's Dilemma', once again featuring the vocals of Brother Portrait, as does the closing track, 'Dedicated to Marie Paule', a mid-tempo piece akin to 90's golden era jazz-hop, bringing the set to its conclusion.

This collection of tracks reflect the many moods and various genres indicative of Neue's creative approach illustrated above.

At the start of the year, Rocafort Records treated us to it's first roots reggae outing in the form of 'The Circle of Confusion' featuring the legendary Studio #1 vocalist 'Cornel Campbell'. ... Warm, feel-good, socially conscious, intergalactic dub.

We hoped for more, and finally it's here! Although slightly more digital in production, "Yesterday was History" cannot be claim to differ enormously from its predecessor. But hey, why mess with the formular when the results are pure and damn-near perfect ... ?

'The Circle of Confusion' are a Swiss production duo: Seb.K (Shakedown productions) and Phil'eas (Black Diamond Sound).
Recorded at Addis records in Geneva on the day of Mandela's passing, this track is another slice of dubby humanity-driven peace and love that buoyantly skips along aided by the sweetest scatting voice in reggae, (not showing any signs of it's 73 years), and all the appropriate studio space-age sound effects, harmonics and vintage keys. Modern roots reggae at its best, where the dub version is as banging and cosmic as the A Side.

‘I Want You To Be Mine’ has all the hallmarks of classic 1960’s Rocksteady, an era which many refer too as the Golden Age of Jamaican music. Over the top of a live one-drop beat, cool & deadly sax and warm analog guitar & bass Deemas J rides the riddim in a ‘old time style & fashion’ whilst Rachel Wallace provides the perfect accompaniment with her gorgeous vocal. On the B-Side we have the deeper cut ‘Questions’, where Deemas delivers a poignant poem over Adam Prescott’s moody instrumental in the style of Linton Kwesi Johnson. Featuring live instrumentation from Harry ‘Papa B’ Bradford (Sax), Clifford Junior (Guitar) & Guillaume Metenier (Hammond Organ). As an integral part of the Reggae Roast Soundsystem team Adam has established himself as one of the finest selectors in the world. Initially with some early support and guidance from Mark Iration (from the Leeds based Iration Steppas), Adam was quickly recognised as one of the key players in the re-emergence of British Reggae, producing first class original songs featuring the likes of Cornel Campbell, Macka B, Sugar Minott, Ranking Joe, Rod Taylor, Johnny Osbourne & Earl 16 to name but a few. Add to that consistent play on BBC Radio One & Rinse FM plus huge support from Sir David Rodigan, featuring Adam on his ‘Best Of British’ show on 1Xtra, Adam has become one of the hottest prospects in the revival of soundsystem music. Deemas J has built a formidable reputation as a go-to MC & vocalist with equally genre-busting credentials; His background in Reggae & Jungle means that his lyrical skills and style holds no bounds. He currently works with 3 of the top London Reggae Soundsystems, Unit 137, Reggae Roast & Solution Soundsystem as well as running his own Sound Limey Banton Bass in Guernsey. He has released music on some very well known labels such as Irie Ites, Irish Moss & Tru Thoughts, which released the cult LP ‘Wrongtom Meets Deemas J in East London’. More recently his latest release ‘Muhammed Ali’ received fantastic support from Don Letts, Sir David Rodigan & Ras Kwame. His virtually endless CV boasts collaborations with everyone across the worlds of Drum & Bass, Old School, Garage, Reggae and Hip hop, including High Contrast, Andy C, DJ EZ and Nick Manasseh to name just a few as well as touring the world with Manudigital

The hyper talneted Stellar Om Source (NOT NOT FUN, RVNG, NO 'LABEL) blowing up new styles on this one!

"If there is one thing that leaps out from Stellar OM Source’s music, it is the sense of a highly active mind at work. There is an indivisible feeling that a real person is behind this dynamic flurry of tones, waves, vibrations and modulations. On I See Through You, the first full Stellar OM Source release in over four years, the spark that first LP piqued the interest of so many listeners is glowing stronger than ever.

In the 2010's, Christelle Gualdi carved a name as one of the most essential live electronic musicians around, dazzling dancers and home listeners in kind with her bombastic, acidic hardware jams. Circumstances outside her control forced a stop for the Stellar OM Source project. It was touring, including two shows in the summer of 2019 at Dekmantel Festival and Listen! that Gualdi credits as year highlights, which proved to be the integral jump-start to the engine.

Inspiration came rushing back thanks to the human connection of performing. Seeing a younger generation connect with her put fresh charge into the circuitry of her gear. All this accrued into new material on the road, and thus I See Through You was born.

The spirit of 2013’s cult favourite Joy One Mile is alive and well on I See Through You. There is once again immediacy, urgency and lust. But Stellar OM Source stepping into a comparatively more poppy and playful mode on these four tracks could also throw some. Fundamentally she says, it comes from a similar place, and ends with an enmeshed and positive outcome. Gualdi credits both “1995 rave” and “the clarity, bass and breath” of hi-def hip-hop productions as being twin northern stars for her to follow.

The artwork comes from friend and highly respected photographer & director Pierre Debusschere, whose work similarly flits between arresting close-ups and, well, the widescreen luxe of Beyoncé videos. “I’m definitely not a purist anymore,” Gualdi laughs – and with club-ready impact meeting human warmth, this shows in abundance.

“Night Alone” wastes no time in getting the listener up to speed. Is that an LFO sample running through “Night Alone”? Is this a lost Metro Area classic? Is that Stellar OM Source taking a diversion into searching Ibiza-rousing vocal for a moment, or did we imagine that in a heat haze? Where are the kicks? Oh there they are. How many elements are buried and revived within just over five minutes?
It’s hard to tell. Before we know it, “Lost Codes” is up and away, keeping pulses racing. A pitter-patter of baby kicks feel like a pre-tremor before a welting electro-Italo lead crashes into play. With fizzing energy, rasping synths and a frisson of danger, fans of Unit Moebius and The Hacker will be doing somersaults of joy.

“White Echoes” wastes kicks off the flip side with low gurgles descending briefly like a UFO reverse parking into the spot SOS had vacated. Soon, 303s are twisting like Chinese burns while warm chords offer a salve. The mood maintains on “Wild Palms”, the only song on this record not to feature additional mixing work from Peaking Lights’ dub-wise sensei Aaron Coyes.

True to form, the B2 is all Stellar: elements switching up and out, with all the fun and frenzy of capital-L Live action. Kick drums and bassline darting back and forth like a synchronised swimming routine, all elements in concert. The momentum of a runaway mine cart that you can’t help but strap yourself to. I See Through You is one for the dancers who have given Stellar OM Source the motive to move forward once again."

Influential UK artist Man Power makes his Skint Records debut this December with a thrilling new offering featuring Berlin’s Private Agenda.

Man Power is a true electronic virtuoso who has proven he can do searing acid, raw techno and expressive disco with equal elan.
As well as running his own Me Me Me labels, he has appeared on top outlets like ESP Institute and Correspondent and now impresses once again with the help of Berlin’s Private Agenda.

The electric original version of ‘Do It Thin’ is an intense and steamy affair with Eurobeat synths and Italo piano chords that are sure to make a huge impression on the crowd. Vocals that Bronski Beat would be proud of soar to the heavens and get hands in the air whilst the hard hitting drums drive things forward.

Dramatic chords build the suspense, leading you towards an epic, guitar laden breakdown with well sequenced synths adding weight and colour. Edgy and expressive, it is a real stomper with a fusion of myriad different styles.
An instrumental version is also supplied that removes the vocal and allows the studio skills and musicianship to really shine, this was a showstopper in Man Power’s recent Boiler Room set and it not to be missed.

Man Power marks his Skint debut here with the same sense of timelessness and quality that has defined his career to date.

Pedro "Ramayá" Beltrán, born in Patico, a small town in Colombia's Bolívar province, is a maestro of Colombian folkloric music known as the King of the 'caña de millo' flute, although he is also proficient in various percussion instruments as well as the reed instrument known as 'gaita'. He founded La Cumbia Moderna de Soledad in the early 1970's. With this group he set out to "modernize" the folkloric music of his people, adding electric bass and a brass section to

fresh arrangements of cumbias, porros, fandangos, puyas and other costeño genres. "La Clavada" (1979) was La Cumbia Moderna de Soledad's sixth record and first for Codiscos' Costeño imprint.

The LP has many excellent examples of Beltrán's inventive mix of the ancient and the modern, making for a collection of tunes brimming with tradition and yet fearlessly bristling with innovation, not the least of which is 'Crees que soy sexy', with its gaita refrain mimicking the main melody of Rod Stewart's international disco smash 'Da Ya Think I'm Sexy'.
The album's title song was a massive hit in Colombia and has become a standard of the genre. Restored to its original glorious sound, this LP is poised to be rediscovered as an innovative yet rootsy gem. Presented in facsimile artwork and pressed on 180g vinyl.

Part of Vampisoul's reissue series of classic LP's from Colombia's Codiscos and it's sublabels such as Zeida, Costeño and Famoso.

“Osondi owendi. What is cherished by some is despised by others. One man’s meat is another man’s poison. Different strokes for different folks. To each their own. Osondi owendi.

It’s a conventional aphorism in the Igbo language but if you utter the word “osondi owendi” in Nigeria today, the first thing that comes to anybody’s mind is the cucumber-cool highlife music maestro Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe and his legendary album that takes its name from the adage. Released in 1984, Osondi Owendi was instantly received as Osadebe’s magnum opus, the crowning event of an exalted career stretching back to the early years of highlife’s emergence as Nigeria’s predominant popular music.

Stephen Osadebe first appeared on the music scene in 1958 as a spry, twenty-two year-old vocalist in the Empire Rhythm Skies Orchestra, directed by bandleader Steven Amechi. With his dapper suits, urbane Nat King Cole-influenced vocal stylings and jaunty, uptempo, calypso-scented dance tunes, he personified the frisky spirit and anxious aspirations of a young, educated generation that had come of age in the wake of the Second World War, in a Nigeria that was rapidly shaking off British colonization and marching towards an independent future. 1959 would be the year that he truly made his mark in the business with his debut solo single “Lagos Life Na So So Enjoyment.” A giddy exhortation of the music, sex, fun and freedom availed by life in the big city, the song became a sensation and an anthem, and Stephen Osadebe became the leader of his own popular dance band, the Nigerian Sound Makers.

Osadebe would ride this wave of acclaim through most of the nineteen sixties, but a change in direction would be called for at the dawn of the seventies. As Nigeria emerged from a devastating civil war, so did a new generation of youth inspired by rock and funk, confrontational sounds reflective of a more violent, less idealistic era. All of the sudden, the idioms of the post-WWII dance orchestras that nurtured Osadebe’s cohort seemed quaint, the stuff of nostalgia. Osadebe needed to evolve to respond to the new tumultuous, turned-up times.

His response? He cooled it down.

Abetted by a new crop of fire-blooded young players, Osadebe slowed his music to a mellow, meditative tempo, brought forward the lumbering, Afro Cuban-accented bass and percussion, from the rockers he borrowed searing lead lines on the electric guitar. Over this musical bedrock, doesn’t so much as sing as he dreamily muses, coos, sighs aphorisms, words of wisdom and inspiration. “When one listens to my music, all I say appears meaningful,” Osadebe explained his lyrical approach, “at times they are in the form of proverbs which provoke much thought afterwards.” The result is a blend that is both rollicking and soothingly languid. Osadebe christened the style Oyolima—a tranquil, otherworldly state of total relaxation and pleasure. Osondi Owendi represents oyolima at its finest, and possibly Nigerian highlife in epitome.

Osondi owendi. What is cherished by some is despised by others. In some way, the album’s title constitutes a paradox. Because Osondi Owendi is a record that it’s almost impossible to imagine being despised by anybody."

Remastered and reissued for the first time since their original release, AOTN are proud to present three classic cover versions from the lovers rock era. Al Charles' take on the Gap Band's 'Outstanding' is a full of swagger outing that takes all the sweetest of their melodies and gives it some added bass pressure for the dancefloor.

Tough to track down previously, the Sonia version of 'Easier To Love' was always a favourite amongst lovers fans. After getting a spin on Sam Floating Point's NTS show, its popularity soared and any remaining copies were quickly hoovered up. The final release brings together two of the finest lovers singers to ever duet, the late Jean Adebambo and Trevor Walters, covering Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway's 'Back Together Again'.

The first press of the 12 comes in a printed AOTN sleeve which is a respectful tip of the hat to the OG dub vendor disco sleeve that many of these original 12s were distributed in.