quête:another

For number 89 in the Brazil45 series, we present a no-nonsense Brazilian funk / samba rock double-sider courtesy of the mighty Golden Boys and Silvio C sar. The Golden Boys were a quartet formed in 1958 by the Correa brothers; Renato, Roberto, Ronaldo, and their cousin Valdir Anuncia o. They enjoyed a stellar recording career, from the 50s through to the 90s, with members of the group still involved in music to this day. For this selection we headed to their self-titled 1975 album released on Odeon and cherry-picked one of the group’s funkiest moments, ‘Segura Na Cintura Dela (O Gavi o)’. By now performing as a trio, they enlisted Paulo Deb tio of Lemos E Deb tio 8206;fame as executive producer and, on the controls, producer Milton Miranda. Miranda was a silent figure behind so many of the much-loved classic Odeon / EMI releases of the 60s and 70s. ‘Beco Sem Sa da’ is another Odeon release, and another classic produced by Milton Miranda. Taken from Silvio C sar’s self-titled 1971 album, here the prolific singer and composer delivers a swinging samba rock / groove. With fantastic arrangements by Geraldo Vespar, this addictive swing was reconstructed in the 2000s when Drumagick sampled it for their track ‘Sambarock’. So here we have two slices of Brazilian dancefloor pressure just waiting to take centre stage again.

- Next installment in BRAZIL45 Series.
- Brazilian funk and samba rock double-sider.
- Both tracks produced by Milton Miranda.

After featuring on the label with a contribution to Erell Ranson’s “Hand In Hand” Remix EP in 2018, SUED co-operator SW. punches back in on KOC with a hectic six-track sonic journey by way of inaugural transmission.

Crest-surfing the margins betwixt abstract beat-making, hardware experimentation and further explosive club-ready wares, the German producer breaks the trip in with the tropical hot "ariaJA" - reeling out a savvy mashup of animalian field recording, spaced-out FXs and loopy elastic bounce.

Cranking up the heat, a notch further, "moonNEWsoon" pulls out a hot mix of muscle-aching breaks, jackin' n’ smackin' toms and iridescent synth stabs, all coated with a thick sauce of mind-boggling machine stunts. Trading its gridlocked intro for an aqueously luxuriant design throughout, gOiOsee has us deep-diving in an all-blue scenario where each element finds itself draped in richly-hued envelopes.

Flip sides and here comes the further shape-shifting, non-formulaic "mASsLESS", which invites us to see straight through glassy cascades of skittish snares, gummy synth arpeggios and futuristic chimes as an Eden of AI-rendered birdsongs and forgotten melodies come to life before our eyes.

Back to a more dynamic mindset, “justMUST4y brings lush flights of altered piano chords and pop-informed harmonics face to face with a gritty, metronomic drum work to weave another singularly off-kilter epic SW. holds the secret of, right before "VFXpeaksTWIN" wraps it all up in a soul-invigorating, Twin Peaks-scented and horizon-broadening ambient finale.

For number 90 in the Brazil45 series, we share a couple of lesser-known discoveries that have become recent favourites here at Bongo HQ. First up we head to the north of Brazil with funky Forr / boogie hybrid monster, ‘Vendedor De Mangaios’ by Josan. Originally released in 1981 on the album ‘Rio De Renova es’ on Copacabana Records. This addictive dancefloor gem is still relatively under the radar, but it has become a firm favourite at Bristol’s Worm Disco Club parties and amongst the DJ’s and collectors of Brazil’s underground dance music scene. Taken from the illustrious singer Bart Galeno’s self-titled 1977 album on Tapecar Records, ‘Vou Tirar Voc Daqui’ is an unusual one. Not easily pigeon-holed, he song sits somewhere between MPB / funk and rock, yet isn’t really any of them. Backed with a big orchestrated sound and tripped-out synths, the track has a truly unique feel. We hope you dig these finds. Another testament to the diversity and depth of Brazil’s rich musical heritage.

- Next installment in BRAZIL45 Series.
- Two lesser-known discoveries

Brainbox is a Dutch progressive rock and jazz fusion group from the late
1960s and early 1970s. Parts is their second studio album, released in
1972, and featured none of the original Brainbox members. As a result, the new Brainbox sounded more progressive than ever on Parts, as the band explored new sounds. The album features elements from psychedelic rock, blues, folk, jazz and pop, and even classical. It is a classic prog rock title, not least because it’s the last album the band released before they first broke up, and belongs in the record collection of any fan of the genre. Released as a limited edition of 500 individually numbered copies on yellow vinyl.

Joshua is the follow-up album to Olympic. While the second album, typically, often shows what critics call “maturity”, here Simon has released instead an album of adolescence. The musician opened up his own memory box to contemplate his childhood souvenirs, and dust them off of all nostalgia. At that time, he would VHS-record movies from TV and tape record soundtracks directly from the TV speaker, so he could listen to them in his bedroom. This is when he “discovered the power of music, the way it makes you enter another world, far from reality. I wanted to pay tribute to the era I shaped myself in – the ’80s and ’90s”. Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk and Soft Machine. Logically, these are the sonic signatures that seem to haunt the album. The timeless pioneers of synthetic music constitute the sound references, without any established chronological timeline, that blend with the atmosphere of typically “French Touch” movie soundtracks – long before the term was even coined. “I use a musical palette that acts as a flashback to my favourite teenage movies: the synth sounds of Close Encounters of the Third Kind; the synth pads in Jean-Jacques Cousteau’s fascinating documentaries about the sea world; the melodies in the manner of François De Roubaix; the themes that evoke the soundtracks of late-night TV sessions (those by Verneuil, those with Belmondo, Depardieu, etc.); and the sci-fi ambiences like in Blade Runner.” In short, an aesthetic was decided on by Simon very early on: French analog synths instead of North American symphonic orchestras.

The name Joshua has two meanings for French 79: one is linked to the idea of nostalgia, the other to adventure. On the one hand, the computer in the 1983 movie Wargames, and on the other, the boat of French sailor Bernard Moitessier.

The track titled Joshua synthesizes the spirit of the album – an odyssey, a neverending crossing of the world in search of oneself, a spontaneous escape into the future, under the benevolent eye of the past. This epic invites everyone of us to a specific place in our imagination, which is also the source of an indescribable pleasure for French 79: a gust of wind, a sailboat ride, a skateboarding trick, the smell of freshly fallen snow, or the dull roar of an impatient audience.

The same aesthetic preferences are found in the videos that illustrate Joshua’s first tracks: for Hold On, the skateboarder chose to recall the cult ’90s skate videos that he would watch on repeat as a teenager, while Hometown hints at Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Although he now calls Marseille home, Simon continuously draws with passion from the anachronic contemporaneity of his childhood in the Eastern French region.

“I need escape to be able to create. A two or three-day sailing trip gives me enough inspiration to lock myself in the studio for a week when I’m back on dry land.” His boat takes him far away from everything, far from the Old Port where she moors, the rest of the time Simon would escape by walking the streets of his city or climbing the Alpine mountains.

Not only does the new version French 79 reveal a few biographical pieces of Simon henner's history, but it also inaugurates the first vocal track for the musician. One feels a guilty pleasure when hearing him take the lead on the first track, The Remedy. The electronic fugue that opens the album sets the tone: Simon has found the cure for his inner turmoil and wants us to discover our own treatment too. Hold On is a sonic explosion that celebrates the feeling of freedom - what's more of a teenage dream than this feeling - and it eventually command one to feel the same way too. Echoing Olympic, the electronic argonaut invites his muse again, singer Sarah Rebecca. On By Your Side and Touch The Stars, the native of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, now based in Paris, hoisted the mainsail of dream pop. First, though a dialogue that surfaced their unfailing attachment to the bonds of friendship, then through the light hearted atmosphere that leaves us with no choice but to believe in our own dreams and do anything possible to fulfill them. The quest for peace in the midst of the daily din is heard in both Code Zero and the title track Joshua, two majestic journeys in search of hedonism, combined with introspection.

"Transitional Being reveals another side of XVARR’s production palette — characteristically tranceinducing, this release highlights the transformational potential of dance music.

Spanning the last ten years, these six tracks handpicked by Aural Medium align with a particular relationship to technology that has formed the central pillar to the XVARR studio set up. Often starting with a drum pattern and sequenced bass-line, the physical rhythm is stripped out and surrounding elements are drawn out and manipulated to convey the ‘hidden’ intention behind the track. With the tracks compiled here, he lets the rhythms ride. The influence of more ‘club-orientated’ music has remained firmly embedded in XVARR’s psyche, although typically the trip has been more introverted. The approach here may differ from other XVARR outputs, but the mood most definitely remains the same, with an overarching desire to channel emotion and passion from the other side of nowhere.

XVARR recognizes the parallels between the ritualistic dance of the Witches’ Sabbath and a dark room filled with sweat, smoke, and sound. It is in this parallel void of transcendent possibilities that tracks such as “Running out of Time”, “The Crooked Path” (a nod to Andrew Chumbley) and “Universal” reside. There’s also a subtle presence of influences from Industrial music, with groups such as SPK, Conrad Schnitzler, Chris Carter and Cabaret Voltaire paving the way for XVARR’s early experiments with electronic music. The alchemical results on this EP float in a universe populated by such luminaries as AFX, Drexciya, and the constellation created by Chain Reaction, within a cosmos governed by the gravitational pull of Baldelli and Weatherall."

One happy thing to be grateful for during otherwise trying times is finally getting to hear and enjoy new work by a man whose music is familiar to millions even if his name is less so. Indeed, Gil Scott-Heron continues to cast such a wide shadow that even many of his biggest fans often seem to forget that there's another name next to his on the bulk of his albums, the name of a man teamed up with Gil as a teenager and proceeded to ride out the decade as his writing partner, keyboardist, arranger, and bandleader for their Midnight Band. That man's name is Brian Jackson. His considerable backlog of unheard material reveals a stillenergetic and still-vital icon of the music wing of the Black Liberation movement. Prepare to hear from a musician whose work has contributed to the enhancement of all our lives in some form or another with the latest installment of the Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Adrian Younge's Jazz Is Dead series.

One happy thing to be grateful for during otherwise trying times is finally getting to hear and enjoy new work by a man whose music is familiar to millions even if his name is less so. Indeed, Gil Scott-Heron continues to cast such a wide shadow that even many of his biggest fans often seem to forget that there's another name next to his on the bulk of his albums, the name of a man teamed up with Gil as a teenager and proceeded to ride out the decade as his writing partner, keyboardist, arranger, and bandleader for their Midnight Band. That man's name is Brian Jackson. His considerable backlog of unheard material reveals a stillenergetic and still-vital icon of the music wing of the Black Liberation movement. Prepare to hear from a musician whose work has contributed to the enhancement of all our lives in some form or another with the latest installment of the Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Adrian Younge's Jazz Is Dead series.

A desperate, desert-baked Midnight Highway of Lost Souls, Cuckolds, Wastrels, blistering Righteous Anthems and delirious Apocalyptic Fever-Dreams. This sublime collection of knowns and unknowns, battered Nashville legends and forgotten backwoods-poets features tales of Grisly Barroom Homicides, Jilted Lustmords, Grim Divorcees in Bedlam and Fiery Suburban Infanticides. Often originally waxed and distributed in unrewarding amounts, these Troubled Troubadours sing of Cowardice, Infidelity, Spurned Lover's Suicide Pacts, Tortured Jailbirds, Vengeful Inebriates and dubious Parenting Skills.
Years in the making – ‘Hillbillies In Hell’ (Volume XII) presents 16 timeless tribulations - Sinful Seductresses, Grinding Poverty, Nihilistic Murderous Horrors, Satan's Eternal Maze of Hardships and Temptations and God's blazing Light of Redemption.
A dank yet at times uplifting stash of marginal 45s - some of these sides are impossibly rare and are reissued here for the very first time. All for your prurient listening pleasure…

. Elton Britt - Lost Highway
, Porter Wagoner - Fairchild
, Justin Tubb - The Great River Road Mystery
, Sanford Clark - It's Nothing To Me
, Johnny Paycheck - You'll Recover In Time
, Stonewall Jackson - Somebody's Always Leaving
, Porter Wagoner And Dolly Parton - The Party
, Buddy Starcher - When Payday Comes
, Tommy Curtis And Bill Taylor - Devil's Stumbling Block
, Jody Reynolds - Devil Girl
, Henson Cargill - Going Backwards
, Lorrie Collins - Another Man Done Gone
, Bobby Braddock - Revelation
, Stonewall Jackson And The Brentwood Children's Choir - That's All This Old World Needs
, The Speer Family - You Can't Run Away From God
, The Singing Rambos - When Payday Comes",Witness...

Various Artists ‘In Bed With Marina’
Classic Indie/Chamber-Pop
2LP MA90 (Marina Records) £15.50
Deal: B/C: 4015698905656

THIS ONE MISSED THE DEADLINE FOR THE OFFICIAL RSD LISTINGS BUT WILL BE AN **UNOFFICIAL RSD DROP 2 ** RELEASE...LIMITED +NON-RETURNABLE..

Celebrating its 25th anniversary, this classic Marina compilation from 1996 makes its first appearance on vinyl. Packaged in a deluxe gatefold cover, In Bed With Marina features track-by-track notes, lots of photographs, two vinyl-only bonus cuts and a gorgeous poster.
Enjoy 24 stunning tracks on two groovy LPs incl. many unreleased cuts and exclusive contributions by Edwyn Collins, Shack, Teenage Fanclub, The Pearlfishers, Cowboy Mouth, The Bathers, Harpers Bizarre, Sugartown, Paul Quinn & The Independent Group, Jazzateers, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Malcolm Ross, The Secret Goldfish, and many others.

Adam Cook aka Tommy Rawson returns to Bergerac with another killer EP of uplifting, tropical deep house, broken beat and Brit funk vibes. Following on from 2018s Gilles Peterson hammered 'Deep Blue' EP, he returns to Red Rack'ems Bergerac label with an absolutely killer 3 tracker which showcases the Watford, England based producers world class musical chops. Surely a contender for THE summer record with a sun kissed Brit funk A side which is tailor made for the WWFM and We Out Here crew. A tropical house and broken beat burner make up an equally strong flip. We are very happy (and relieved) to be presenting to you an absolutely belting EP of UK soulful dance music.

It's nothing short of a miracle that the A side track 'Illusions' has ever made it on to vinyl. Jonna from City Fly remembers 'Adam had this on a CDR at Southport in 2008 and it became our official track of the festival as we all partied together the whole weekend it got played again and again back at our Chalet parties'. But then as these things often sadly go, the funk diamond was lost for a few years in the digital ether. Fast forward to 2014 and Danny Berman aka Red Rack'em is playing a 320 of 'Illusions' everywhere but alas it's just a demo and Adam can't locate the arrangement to complete the track as it's on a broken computer in his Mums attic.

Then finally this year, after many pleading emails and plenty of gentle cajoling, there's some amazing news! Adam has located the broken computer and after a day of digital open heart surgery, and then a re-edit over Zoom (no really) we finally had the killer, classic UK soulful anthem you're listening to today. A voice over from a disco documentary cleverly introduces each instrument on the intro before Tommy pushes the button marked 'biggest bassline of the year' and takes us into boogie heaven.

'Sound Crazy' on the flip is another one of those classic Afrobeat tinged Tommy rollers. Big room vibes but with a lot of soul. Rolling broken drums and a huge bassline combine with plenty of spicy, tropical atmosphere on top. The trademark Rawson uplifting chords begin after an anticipatory vibe filled breakdown, taking you to the stratosphere.

'Ads Mood' is the most 'classical' broken beat track on the record, but they are all playable in multiple environments and transcend mere genres. Heavy bass and extra funky syncopated beats climax into a beautiful almost orchestral feel to close off an exemplary EP of higher quality moods and emotions. Don't sleep.

Our secret agent in Oslo returns with another essential communique in the Norsk Tripping series...

Six more tracks selected from a private vault of dance floor dynamite & super rarities, which takes in Italo, Dutch new wave, Space Rock & Balearic obscurities.
All given the sonic once-over for maximum playability...

As always, a VERY limited run.

The Forbidden Dance label is marking their first year of existence and with already top-notch names (Vick Lavender, Alton Miller, The Mechanical Man) with the first three releases, they are celebrating the one year mark with another global gem, disco and house finest - Ilija Rudman!
Where Wild Horses Go is conveying an unquestionable sense of 80's electro and synth boogie filled with smooth and heavily reverberated rhythmics drenched in strong snares. Aligned with catchy and spaced-out disco pads, the album is riddled with ever strong analogue elements processed in a light, quirky and summerish way but with enough groove in some tracks easily applicable on the dancefloors in the late hours.
Dead Horse Gang is a brainchild music band/brand by Ilija Rudman dedicated to cinematic dance concept laying on the Los Angeles funk attitude, Art Of Noise perception of sound and raw 12-bit grooves making a statement of mid 80's culture with surf vibe of California summer.
"Dead Horse Gang Music is more than music, it's a way of life, a way of thinking, a path to a maximum freedom of the one, who can accept it."
-Ilija Rudman

Repress !

Where We're Calling From
The Liminal Zone: Reflections on Duval Timothy’s Sen Am
Lamin Fofana

Sen Am is an enduring and tender album, rich and beguiling and generous in a quiet way. Over the last few years, I find myself returning to it, listening and absorbing, reflecting on the voices and working through the multiple layers of feelings and themes it announces with confidence and equanimity. Notions of care and contradiction, expressions of joy and desire and the underlying feeling of unease and turmoil; there is an urgent appeal to the listener for generosity, to strengthen our capacity to hear multiple voices simultaneously, to exist in multiple places at once.

Duval Timothy’s music was dropped into our world from another realm sometime in the spring of 2017. We received the call and we answered it. The rhythm and spirit was transmitted via London’s NTS Radio on the Do!! You!!! Breakfast Show with Charlie Bones and a short while later we were listening to the first vinyl edition of Sen Am in our living room in Berlin. The record got a lot of plays (at home and at some shows, before and after performances). It was like sunlight filtering through a cracked window and remaining there for a moment, dancing. Blue music emanating from a liminal zone, an in-between space, somewhere on the outskirts of Freetown, or rural Sierra Leone, or the outer edges of South London, or Bath, UK, or some undisclosed orbit, unfixed location. The music is soaked in diasporic experiences. It refuses to settle but still invites us to enter and stay awhile in that zone, where multiple forms exist (all) together with jazz, hip-hop, various strands of expressive electronics and experimental music all breathing together and moving around. It is a portal to a place of possibilities, a space for building and repairing possible and lost connections. But life in that liminal zone is precarious; it is life under duress; under pressure – not merely the pressure to produce a presentable, categorizable, and salable body of work, but the pressure that compels us to experiment and create new concepts and things that will help us imagine a different existence, a way out of the turbulence.

Freetown is a marvellous and sometimes sad place. It is one of those unmistakable locations inscribed diasporic memory; a place that touches you, a place that holds you and demands you bear witness: witness to pain, poverty, joy and desire. You remember the voices and the eyes of people even in momentary encounters. In Sen Am, you hear not only Duval’s recollections and sounds of Freetown, you hear family and friendship, people coming together and forming bonds, creating surrogate families. Forging community wherever you go is a practice, and community is at the core of this music. It’s in all the voices, from Emmerson and 6pac to Aminata and Aruna. It opens up a space for Black voices, for Sierra Leonean voices, and those voices extend through the succeeding projects, the 2 Sim EP and the album Help, and all that radiates from Duval’s Carrying Colour imprint.

Thank you for the invitation to write about the album Sen Am, on the occasion of its re-release which also coincides with the release of the exquisite double 7” Smɔl Smɔl with cktrl — a wonderful piece which calls on the listener to play both records at the same time to hear the music or play them separately and hear different versions. Duval is strengthening us, encouraging us to feel comfortable with discomfort, with incompleteness, with the hard-to-understand. This is a beautiful thing.

After enduring a year like 2020, no one could have possibly expected Al Jourgensen to stay silent on the maelstrom of the past 12 months. As the mastermind behind pioneering industrial outfit Ministry, Jourgensen has spent the last four decades using music as a megaphone to rally listeners to the fight for equal rights, restoring American liberties, exposing exploitation and putting crooked politicians in their rightful place—set to a background of aggressive riffs, searing vocals and manipulated sounds to drive it home.
As Jourgensen watched the chaos that befell the world during the height of a global pandemic and the tensions rising from one of the most important elections in American history, he seized on the opportunity to write, spending quarantine holed up in his self-built home studio—Scheisse Dog Studio— along with engineer Michael Rozon and girlfriend Liz Walton to create Ministry’s latest masterpiece, Moral Hygiene (out October 1 on Nuclear Blast Records). Anchored by last year’s leadoff track “Alert Level”—which asks listeners to internalize the question “How concerned are you?”—the 10 songs on this upcoming 15th studio album cover the breadth of the current dilemmas facing humanity, while ruminating on the sizable impact of COVID-19, the inevitable effects of climate change, consequences of misinformed conspiracies and the stakes in the fight for racial equality. And most importantly doing so with the lens of what we as a society are going to do about it all.
Moral Hygiene comes on the heels of Ministry’s acclaimed 2018 album AmeriKKKant (hailed by Loudwire as Jourgensen’s own “state of the union” address) that was written as a reaction to Donald J. Trump being elected president—though Jourgensen says this new album is more informational and reflective in tone. “With AmeriKKKant I was in shock that Trump won. I didn’t know what to do, but I knew I had to do something. Because I believe if you are a musician or an artist you should be expressing what’s going on around you through your art. It’s going to happen whether you do it consciously or unconsciously. Moral Hygiene however has progressed even further into a cautionary tale of what will happen if we don’t act. There’s less rage, but there’s more reflection and I bring in some guests to help cement that narrative.”
In addition to recruiting long-time cohort Jello Biafra (Jourgensen’s partner in the side project Lard) for the quirky earworm “Sabotage Is Sex,” other guest appearances include guitarist Billy Morrison (Billy Idol/Royal Machines) on a rendition of The Stooges hit “Search & Destroy.”
Another standout track is “Believe Me,” featuring a throwback vocal style from Jourgensen that harkens back to his singing on Twitch and cult classic “(Every Day Is) Halloween.” The song came out of a jam session with Morrison, Cesar Soto and sampling from Liz Walton, and reminded Jourgensen of his formative days at Chicago Trax Studios where communal ideas were constantly informing early Ministry records. “’Believe Me’ had such an old school vibe I wanted to bring back old school vocals. …It’s funny how things come back to you,” says Jourgensen, also reflecting on Ministry turning 40 in 2021.

With the release of Moral Hygiene, Jourgensen is more positive than before. “This may sound crazy but I’m more hopeful about 2021 than I have been in two decades at least,” he says. “Because I do see things changing; people are starting to see through all the bullshit and want to get back to actual decorum in society. We could just treat each other nicely and be treated nicely in return. I never thought Ministry would be in the position of preaching traditional values, but this is the rebellion now.”

Arriving at a time of considerable uncertainty in the world, Son Lux's multi-album 'Tomorrows' is ambitious in scope and intent. Born of an active, intentional approach to shaping sound, the music reminds us of the necessity of questioning assumptions, and of sitting with the tension.

Ryan Lott, Rafiq Bhatia, and Ian Chang train their sights on volatile principles: imbalance, disruption, collision, redefinition. But for all of its instability, Tomorrows’ exploration of breaking points and sustained frictional places is ultimately in service of something rewarding and necessary: the act of questioning, challenging, tearing down and actively rebuilding one’s own identity.

The band remains audibly indebted to iconoclastic artists in soul, hip-hop, and experimental improvisation who themselves carved new paths forward. Distilling these varied influences, Son Lux searches for equilibrium of raw emotional intimacy and meticulous electronic constructions.

- Tomorrows I-III, triple physical album, released previously digitally only
- Featuring the singles “Plans We Made”, Only, Prophecy, Live Another Life and A Different Kind Of Love
- More than 90 minutes music on 3CD and 3LP

• “Choctaw Ridge” explores a new country sound, one that emerged at the end of the 60s in the wake of Bobbie Gentry’s ‘Ode To Billie Joe’, a shock number one hit in 1967. When singers like Gentry, Jimmy Webb, Michael Nesmith and Lee Hazlewood moved from the south to Los Angeles to make it in the music business, they were not part of the Nashville in-crowd and they forged a new direction.

• ‘Ode To Billie Joe’ was the tip of the iceberg, and its success helped a bunch of singers and storytellers to emerge over the next three or four years. Some of the tracks on this collection bear that song’s stamp more clearly than others: Sammi Smith’s moody ‘Saunders’ Ferry Lane’ had a similar mystery lyric, and Henson Cargill’s ‘Four Shades Of Love’ is a portmanteau, with one (or possibly two) of the theoretically romantic situations ending in death.

• Suddenly, character sketches of southerners became a lot more rounded – women didn’t have to stay home, or take abuse at the office, and darkness wasn’t only found at the bottom of a bottle. Storytelling is the link between all of the songs on this collection. We have cautionary tales about what could happen to someone who heads for the bright lights and doesn’t make it, ending up in the grasping hands of ‘Mr Walker’ (Billie Joe Spears), or on the ‘Back Side Of Dallas’ (Jeannie C Reilly), or on a mortuary slab in the case of the songwriter with the ‘Fabulous Body And Smile’ (Robert Charles Griggs). And there are stories about wanting to go home – Nat Stuckey’s ‘What Am I Doing In LA?’ and Charlie Rich’s ‘Feel Like Going Home’ – and others from Ed Bruce and Lee Hazlewood, who know that their home isn’t home anymore.

• The tracklist and fulsome sleeve notes have been put together by Bob Stanley (Saint Etienne) and Martin Green (Smashing, The Sound Gallery), who have been collecting these records for decades.

• The voices are resonant and relatable, and the productions take in the best of what pop had to offer in the late 60s and early 70s. Before the factionalism between smooth pop-conscious Nashville and the hedonistic ‘outlaws’ made it look inward again, this was a golden era for an atmospheric, inclusive and progressive country music. It began on the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day.

»Dog Mountain« is the second release by the Zurich-based producer and composer Laurin Huber on Hallow Ground. After last year’s »Juncture« saw the Edipo Re co-founder work mostly with synthesizers and programmed rhythms, the four tracks are much more restrained, drawing on tape loops and feedback, recordings of acoustic guitar and synthesizers such as the Korg MS-10 as well as field recordings that relate to the overarching topic that informed the making of the record. While »Juncture« had previously aimed at deconstructing the binaries and dualities that shape our lives and thinking, »Dog Mountain« is dedicated to geographical divisions that result from political processes and social constructions. »›Here‹ means one nation, ›there‹ another,« writes Huber in a literary piece that accompanies the record. »Being in sound, such a separation seems odd.«

While treating the metaphor of the border as a »membrane, registering and translating the vibrations of its surroundings« and thus as something that is constantly (re-)defined, maintained and defended however, the artist also takes into consideration that »one cannot escape one’s standpoint,« as he puts it. The music on »Dog Mountain« may transcend and overcome certain borders, but it does not deny the realities that they impose on each and every one of us – whether in our political lives or in the realm of sound. This is mirrored in Huber’s engaging in the structural and sonic interplay of repetition and difference. Working with slowly evolving and modulating elements that are exposed to slight shifts, »Dog Mountain« puts a focus on the interaction between small elements that together form a bigger whole which is marked by constant evolution and change.

Opener »Raja« (»border« in Northern Sami and Finnish) starts off with a two-note melody played on an out-of-tune guitar. Different field recordings and synthesizer sounds drop in and out of the mix until the dynamic shifts and Huber starts playing more notes on his instrument, thus increasing the tension. It’s a meditation on minimalism, but also a piece that mediates between notions of what constitutes the difference between noise and music or referentiality and abstraction in sound. After »Nickel« (named after a Russian monotown near the border to Norway) dedicates itself to explore the friction between hissing white noise and melancholic tape loops, »A Town Is Not a Town« (a phrase taken from the documentary »Kiruna – Rymdvägen«) structurally mirrors the experiment of »Raja« with very different sonic means.

Closing the record, »Storskog-Borisoglebsk« (the title refers to the northernmost land border between Schengen-Europe and Russia) is the longest and most challenging piece, working with both long-form drones and musique concrète elements. It proposes a synthesis of the opposites that are explored patiently and with much attention to detail throughout this record.

Ltd Edition, Double LP!
After 12 amazing years together, the UK’s most successful folk band
Bellowhead called it a day in 2016 going out in characteristic style with a
sell-out show at the London Palladium.
It took a few years and a global pandemic, but to the delight of their many fans,
the band reassembled for a one-off worldwide concert stream in December
2020, marking the 10th anniversary of their 3rd album ‘Hedonism’.
Hudson Records are excited to release the release of that live session recording
- ‘Reassembled’ - which will be the bands’ first release on double vinyl LP and
will also be available on CD and digital.
The band re-connected online during the lockdown in 2020 and for the sheer
fun of it remotely made and released ‘New York Girls At Home’ - all from their
respective homes around the UK.
This unplanned performance was warmly received and ignited another idea: to
reunite in person for a one-off broadcast performance. ‘Reassembled’ features
a host of favourites, including New York Girls, Roll Alabama, London Town and
Roll the Woodpile Down

The prolific, Grammy Award winner, Jim Lauderdale has delivered another
batch of songs that further define him as one of the leading voices of
Americana music.
With his new album, Hope, Lauderdale has written 13 songs intended to inspire. Instead of pondering the sadness, fear and isolation the pandemic has
caused with so many around the world, he has instead focused on the optimism of the human spirit and highlighted that, as we always have, mankind will
get through this difficult time.
He has done this within a collection of songs that touch on country, rock, boogie rock, bluegrass and Jim’s own blend of far out space music.

When it comes to smooth jazz vibes with soulful melodies, nobody in the lofi scene can avoid producer Flughand and saxophonist steichi. After a few successful singles, they have now completed another album titled "mandue”.

Kulør is proud to present My Space – Kasper Marott’s 2nd record for the label following 2019’s luscious, longform Forever Mix EP.

The EP represents the latest addition to a diverse but uniquely crafted discography for the Danish producer, DJ and label owner. After scoring something of a mega-hit in 2018 with ‘Keflavik,’ released on Modeselektor’s Seilscheibenpfeiler label and named by Resident Advisor as “one of the biggest club records of the year,” Marott would use that momentum to launch the community-focused label Axces alongside close friend Alfredo92 and release a string of records representing some of Denmark’s finest producers. At the beginning of 2021 Marott released his debut album Full Circle, allowing a more complete picture of his distinctively melodic sound, one described by Pitchfork as “stimulating the imagination as much as the limbs… This is music for dancing but also music for dreaming.”

The four pieces that make up the My Space EP seem to take that last quote as a jumping- off point, oscillating between the beatless serenity of ‘Mosens Tone’, the unashamed force of ‘NV Laser’ and the shades in between on the opening title track and closer ‘Microfest’. Marott’s influences snake over one another, folding crisp percussion underneath his signature glassy textures and intimate field recordings alongside supersaw riffs. This fluid shape-shifting results in an EP that hints at different genres while confining itself to none.

A DAY IN THE LIFE – is the first chapter of a dedicated series fully curated by Steve Bicknell for KR3.

This bold new work by the veteran English artist provides an insight into the mind of the artist.

Side A features three tracks by The Evader, another face of Steve Bicknell.

An obscure intro leads us straight to the point: 4/4 sounds, repetitive and hypnotic, not afraid to be heavy.

In fact, that’s the point: to take everything that is a burden to us and embrace it. After all, there can be no light without darkness.

On Side B, Steve Bicknell has a killer approach. A parallel rail to Side A, with a more furious, still gloomy attitude. He moves in the same direction but vents different emotions. The sound is harder, rawer, faster and more impetuous. An outro ends the EP, as if to represent a circle closing: The first lap inside A Day in the Life.

From the many musical lives of artist Glenn Donaldson emerges The Reds, Pinks and Purples, a project that sifts out the purest elements of pop music and in the process chronicles the point of view of an assiduous San Francisco-based songwriter. The Reds, Pinks and Purples’ third album, called Uncommon Weather, is both an elusive portrait of San Francisco––during one of its fluctuations as an untenable place for musicians and artists––and also a self-portrait, however inverted, of a songwriter who has dispatched another treasured collection of timeless sounding DIY-pop songs.

How The Reds, Pinks and Purples arrived here is a story with many roots, the most consequential of which is perhaps the musical aftermath of his earlier band, The Art Museums, whose brief tenure in the late ’00s coincided with an explosive period of the Bay Area rock scene and was followed by a hermetic musical period of Donaldson’s. Disenchanted with the dissolution of his band, Donaldson averted the DIY-pop sound with an instrumental, conceptual project called FWY! but meanwhile started a habitual songwriting practice, sharing nascent songs with friends in an email exchange. In 2013–2014, The Reds, Pinks and Purples took shape as the moniker for Glenn’s most direct expressions in the DIY-pop mode, enabled by this new disciplined output. By then, San Francisco was already a changed place. The tragic loss of his former bandmate in Art Museums was another source of discontinuity and rupture. You can hear in The Reds, Pinks and Purples’ earliest songs this grappling with life, anxiety, and atrophying subcultures. For an artist with an overriding interest in the aesthetic principles of discrete musical genres, this turn toward his immediate world for subject matter was a major shift, setting The Reds, Pinks and Purples apart from Donaldson’s other musical ventures.

Preceding the release of Uncommon Weather was the Reds, Pinks and Purples’ 2nd album, one of the record buying joys of 2020, You Might Be Happy Someday, and, earlier, their first proper full length Anxiety Art, a title that might nod to the classic Television Personalities song “Anxiety Block.” Donaldson’s music continuously reckons with the influence of Dan Treacy, whose own forays into drum-machines, echo, and reverb in the early 1990s is an important reference point for The Reds, Pinks and Purples’ musical template. Paul Weller, Robert Smith, and Sarah Records also come to mind. But, as important, Donaldson sees his projects as visual expressions too, often blurring the lines of records and physical art objects. They could just as well be “art multiples” as well as records. The pattern for Reds, Pinks and Purples’ records is to document San Francisco’s Inner Richmond district in photographs: the muted, pastel colours and unpeopled compositions unfold in a series of images that read like counter-melodies to Donaldson’s distinctive voice, a vocal tone that always complements the colours.

Self-recorded and mostly self-performed, Uncommon Weather features pinnacle versions of songs Donaldson has honed since the beginning of the project. The album arrives with grateful timing, quick on the heels of You Might Be Happy Someday, and alleviating, for a brief window at least, whatever it is that keeps us coming back to this elemental music. Donaldson imagines his listeners are just like himself: fascinated and addicted to the spiritual power of uncomplicated pop classics. Anthony Atlas

Wewantsounds is delighted to reissue Sylvia Robinson's super rare soul LP released in 1975 on her Vibration label, part of her All-Platinum/Stang/Turbo empire. A few years later, she would bring hip hop to the international stage producing "Rapper's Delight" in 1979 and "The Message" in 1982. "Sweet Stuff" features several Sylvia cult classics including "Private Performance," "Soul Je T'aime", a cover of Serge Gainsbourg's "Je T'aime Moi Non Plus" and the mellow favourite "Sho Nuff Boogie" recorded with The Moments. As bonus tracks, the release features "Sho Nuff Boogie, Part 2" which only came out as the single's b-side at the time and the long version of "Soul Je T'aime", all packaged in the album's original artwork.

Born and raised in New York, Sylvia Robinson began recording at a young age under the name "Little Sylvia" in the early 1950s. She gained exposure when she teamed up with Mickey Baker scoring a hit in 1956 with "Love Is Strange" as Mickey & Sylvia. She went on to record many singles during the late 50s and 60s before setting up her own label, All Platinum Records in 1966 followed by Stang Records and Vibration. Through these labels, she had several hit records in the 70s as a producer including The Moments' "Love On A Two Way Street" and Shirley & Co's "Shame Shame Shame". ​

Sylvia Robinson continued to record as a solo artist shortening her name as 'Sylvia'. She got a massive hit of her own with "Pillow Talk" in 1973, a song she'd originally penned with Al Green in mind. The song went to nr 3 in the charts and started a string of other hits over the next few years. In 1973 she covered Serge Gainsbourg's 1969 megahit "Je T'aime Moi Non Plus" renaming it here "Soul Je T'aime" and duetting with Fania Records' Latin soul singer Ralfi Pagan. ​

The following year was also busy for the singer and producer with three singles that went to the R&B chart: the Soul Ballad "Alfredo", the Funky "Private Performance" and "Sho Nuff Boogie," sung with The Moments. They are all featured on the album "Sweet Stuff" which was released in 1975. Interestingly the song "Sweet Stuff" notoriously sampled by J Dilla for "Crushin'" doesn't appear on this album even if "Sho Nuff Boogie" sounds very much like a forerunner of the song with its similar languorous pace and almost identical melody. "Sweet Stuff" is packed with other tasty soul songs including "I Can't Help It", "The Notion" and "Love Is The Only Thing."

Four years later in 1979, Sylvia Robinson would make another genius move with the launch of Sugarhill Records and the Sugarhill Gang's single "Rapper's Delight" but that's another chapter of Sylvia Robinson's life. Wewantsounds is delighted to reissue one of her rarest albums from her best 70s period for the first time in decades and make it available on vinyl.

Available on CD and 180gram heavyweight gatefold LP.
Noura Mint Seymali hails from a Moorish musical dynasty in Mauritania, born into a prominent family of griot and choosing from an early age to embrace the artform that is its lifeblood. Yet traditional pedigree has proven but a stepping-stone for the work Noura and her band have embarked upon in recent years, simultaneously popularizing and reimagining Moorish music on the global stage, taking her family's legacy to new heights as arguably Mauritania's most widely exported musical act of all time.
Arbina is Noura Mint Seymali's second international release. Delving deeper into the wellspring of Moorish roots, as is after all the tried and true way of the griot, the album strengthens her core sound, applying a cohesive aesthetic approach to the reinterpretation of Moorish tradition in contemporary context. The band is heard here in full relief, soaring vocals and guitar at the forefront, the mesmerizing sparkle of the ardine, elemental bass lines and propulsive rhythms swirling together to conjure a 360 degree vibe. Arbina refines a sound that the band has gradually intensified over years of touring, aiming to posit a new genre from Mauritania, distinct unto itself, music of the "Azawan."

Supported by guitarist, husband and fellow griot, Jeiche Ould Chighaly, Seymali's tempestuous voice is answered with electrified counterpoint, his quarter-tone rich guitar phraseology flashing out lightning bolt ideas. Heir to the same music culture as Noura, Jeiche intimates the tidinit's (Moorish lute) leading role under the wedding khaima with the gusto of a rock guitar hero. Bassist Ousmane Touré, who has innovated a singular style of Moorish low-end groove over the course of many years, can be heard on this album with greater force and vigor than ever before. Drummer/producer Matthew Tinari drives the ensemble forward with the agility and precision need to make the beats cut.
Many of the songs on Arbina call out to the divine, asking for grace and protection. "Arbina" is a name for God. The album carries a message about reaching beyond oneself to an infinite spiritual source, while learning to take the finite human actions to necessary to affect reality on earth. The concept of sëbeu, or that which a human can do to take positive action on their destiny, is animated throughout.

Lyrically, the Moorish griot tradition is complex and associative. Poetry is held in a continuum between author and audience in which a singer may draw on disparate sources, selecting individual lines here or there for musicality to form a lyrical patchwork expressing larger ideas via association. A griot may relate her own thoughts and poetry, sing poetry written for and about her by a third party, and transmit lines from one party addressing another in the course of a single song. With this ever-fluid narrative voice, stories are told.

While 1967's Velvet Underground & Nico was a part of Andy Warhol's global artistic vision, 1968's White Light/White Heat was free of all Warholian influence, so in a way it could be thought of as another debut album. Here the music was left to fester on its own, with no artistic visionary interfering or trying to create a soundtrack for his pop art, and the Velvets filled that void with an album that is an aural subway car full of drunkards, junkies and whores rumbling through the bowels of NYC with a one way ticket to oblivion. Translucent purple vinyl LP.

The Staples do it again with another Ska classic that is guaranteed to get you singing along. This song is something of a good time anthem with happy vibes contrasting with some of the negatives that are around right now. With this song Neville and Sugary Staple really know how to put a smile on people’s faces. I can see this becoming a live favourite.

Dr Pete Chambers BEM, Coventry Observer

My goodness, the best of two huge talents. Husband and wife team Sugary & Neville Staple haven’t disappointed again! Feel good ska-based melody, toe-tapping and butt-shakingly good!TRISH ADUDU, BBC RADIO CWR

Well known for changing the face of music not once, but three times, 2Tone music legend Neville Staple (From the Specials), also known as the ‘Original Rude Boy’ and his super sidekick wife, Sugary Staple, release their brand new song, ‘Be Free Baby’, on the highly respected, Pickout Records.

A super ska track which mixes the original influences of Jamaican sounds, along with the 2Tone style that this dynamic ska duo, take on tour with them globally, alongside their top band of musicians.

Written by Neville Staple, who has scores of music awards from 40 years of 2Tone & Ska hits and albums, and his super talented sidekick, Sugary Staple and acclaimed record producer Lloyd ‘Pickout’ Dennis this song is a truly happy song, to take our minds away from the difficult days of Covid lockdowns, into a party mood of freedom and dancing. Fans will love the irresistible skanking beat, along with super feel-good lyrics to sing along to.

“After recently writing a song about the Lockdown, which related to the tough days of staying home and following rules and so on, I decided we needed some uplifting music too.” Explained Sugary, Frizzle TV Award Winner and Skamouth Festival Founder. “There is so much doom and gloom about in the news and we know how music can really be so good for the human soul. This tune has a lot of love and feeling behind it, as it encompasses all the fun, freedom and thrills that we have on stage, when we perform live. A whole year of global touring has been postponed, so we put the vibrance of a live show into this song.

Neville agrees, “I love writing with Sugary, as we are both on the same wavelength. We feed off each other. We were both in need of getting out there and performing for the masses but have had all our 2020 shows moved to next year, so we decided to bring the party to everyone through this song. We love the traditional sound and the bluebeat vibes too, with a twist of 2Tone magic. It makes me think about our holidays back home in Jamaica and beach parties, street carnivals, gigs and festivals. This is a happy tune for dancing away the blues!”

Devin The Dude is back with another classic. At 14 tracks, Soulful Distance plays on the current global scenario and oozes the familiar smooth sounds and cruising music that Devin is best known for. Keeping things local, the album features several notable Houston natives, including Scarface, Slim Thug, Big Pokey, & Lil Keke.

8 years after DJ Sotofett’s last visit to our label(FPST1) we received some tracks perfectly timed AND perfectly primed for that elusive number 75 release. This time teaming up with Rex Ronny, we’re stoked to have him back and even more stoked about the music engraved in these grooves. DJ Sotofett and Rex Ronny embodies a solid 7 track EP for Full Pupp with a strong Sci-Fi pallet of Cosmic-Italo racers. “Epidermis” is not another conjectural Nu-Disco record but a strong Disco-Dub infused travel in rhythm and melody. The entirety of the EP is bound together by four Galactic synth tracks and three driving Disco cuts, all with an individual approach. It’s a solid nod to the excellence producers of Italian Disco and UK left-of-center dance music has taught us since the late 70’s. Rex Ronny (aka Ronny Nyheim from PsyPal fame) was challenged by DJ Sotofett to play all synth parts live in the studio, for Sotofett to mix the material in his new studio set up for ultimate Cosmic, Dance & Dub sonics. To perfect the rhythm suction, congas by Stiletti-Ana (from Jesse) was added in the mix, and LNS contributed with a harmony-bridge for maximum pathos. Full Pupp HQ May 2021

Pop royalty the Pet Shop Boys have done an epic 12 minute HI-NRG remix of Paul Weller’s recent album track “Cosmic Fringes”.
The Pet Shop Boy Triad Remix is a thumping fuzzing disco banger featuring the dulcet tones of Neil Tennant as well as Paul’s original vocals.
And if that’s not enough, there’s another remix by Primal Scream’s guitarist-in-chief Andrew Innes. Giving Paul’s vocals a distorted sound, this sensory assault is layered with thumping chimes and a searing 4/4 doof for the dancefloor.

WOLF JAW were born in the depths of the Black Country, UK. Home to greats such as Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and half of Led Zeppelin to name a few. These bands are heavy influences that have sparked The raging fuzz fueled, groove fired, Riff machine WOLF JAW Having toured with bands such as Crobot, Scorpion child, Jared James Nichols, Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown, Stone Broken among others, as well as festivals such as Download, Amplified, Steelhouse and Stone Free under their belt its given Wolf Jaw time to truly master their own unique twist on the power trio formula. 2019 brought a new album entitled 'The Heart won't listen' that is full of muscular riffs mixed with soulful vocals and pounding rhythm. Initially released in 2018, WOLF JAW are re-issuing their debut album ’Starting Gun’ with bonus tracks : "We're super excited to be re-releasing our debut album, 'Starting Gun' via Listenable records. This album was an amazing starting point for us and we still love playing these songs live. In fact we've added 2 live tracks to this version of the album, both were recorded at a live streamed show we did in the first UK lockdown of 2020. We have also recorded a cover of Judas Priests 'You've Got Another Thing Coming' which will be on the CD and available digitally. We're glad this record has got a new home and can't wait to get out there and play these songs live again! » Coming from the same area that gave birth to Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Led Zeppelin, WOLF JAW display the similar class of a future great in English Metal/ heavy rock !. WOLF JAW were born in the depths of the Black Country, UK. Home to greats such as Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and half of Led Zeppelin to name a few. These bands are heavy influences that have sparked The raging fuzz fueled, groove fired, Riff machine WOLF JAW Having toured with bands such as Crobot, Scorpion child, Jared James Nichols, Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown, Stone Broken among others, as well as festivals such as Download, Amplified, Steelhouse and Stone Free under their belt its given Wolf Jaw time to truly master their own unique twist on the power trio formula. Kerrang! Magazine stated Wolf Jaw housed “riffs dirtier than a bucket of double-fried chicken !! ” .

Barcelona's Pau Roca is back with his 2nd release on LA label Pleasure of Love, EP of cool-hazy balearic house with equal parts sunrise and sunset energy.

Roca is a standout in the Barcelona DJ scene, with his party Libido and labels Escola and Bons Records, he’s established himself as a premiere record collector/DJ and a producer in the scene. You can hear it in "Euphoria", a track that shows Roca’s deep understanding/appreciation of this music’s roots while updating the sound and capturing the mood and essence of the title. "Marble Arch" is another chugging, deep italo/spanish house number - filtering in breakbeats, choir patches, and a resonant lead to hypnotizing effect.

The legend Pal Joey brings a trademark sound to his version of "Euphoria" on the flip, lending vocals and organ to a tripped out and blissful vision of the track. "Hope" rounds out the EP, a downtempo, uplifting piece for lovers of atmospheric retro-house.

Since making her debut with the 2011 album Weightless, singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Becca Stevens has tested the limits of musical identity, mining everything from jazz to Irish folk to indie-rock in her striving for complete and authentic expression. In her latest musical endeavor—the five-track EP WONDERBLOOM and a soon-to-follow full-length of the same name—the North Carolina-bred, Brooklyn-based artist again defies all expectation, this time dreaming up a groove-heavy, dance-ready sound infused with elements of pop and funk and R&B. But despite its brighter textures and uptempo rhythms, WONDERBLOOM finds Stevens achieving a profound complexity in her lyrics, ultimately redefining what’s possible in creating music that elevates and edifies. Centered on the captivating vocal presence she’s showcased as a member of David Crosby’s Lighthouse Band, WONDERBLOOM telegraphs an unabashed joy that Stevens partly attributes to the project’s production. In a bold new turn for her musical career, Stevens co-produced and co-engineered WONDERBLOOM alongside Nic Hard (Snarky Puppy, Ghost-Note, The Church), overseeing every aspect of the recording and claiming a sense of agency that had long eluded her in the studio. “Nic and I were truly working as equals and trusting each other to get the job done, and it was an incredibly empowering experience for me,” she says. In another major departure, Stevens purposely brought a communal sensibility to the making of WONDERBLOOM —an undertaking that resulted in more than 40 musicians contributing to the album, including Vulfpeck guitarist Cory Wong, Jacob Collier, and all of her Lighthouse bandmates (i.e., keyboardist Michelle Willis, Snarky Puppy bandleader Michael League, and David Crosby himself).

The focus for this TLM 7" is on SofaTalk from Italy, on the A side we have a superb track called Organica with main man Piero Paolinelli on Roland V-Drum, Arp Odyssey and Juno 106 with Marcus Horndt on Fender Rhodes and Edoardo Ruzzi on the Electric Bass. On the AA side Piero goes solo for Untold Stories, another superb track highlighting Piero's talents. Piero runs his own label Cognitiva Records and has had releases on deepArtSounds and ANMA Records amongst others, we are very proud to have him onboard for this release.

Never before have all The Members significant records been collected together on one compilation. Whilst known mainly for the
punk era hits in the UK, The Members had far-reaching hits all over the world. The bands YouTube channel shows excess of 20,000
monthly plays. In the USA they are known for the 80’s MTV smash Working Girl also a huge hit in Australia where another 80s track
Radio made the #1 slot.

Whispers And Sighs is the final studio album by the late David Olney,
beloved folk songwriter’s songwriter, in collaboration with Anana Kaye, a
young Eastern European powerhouse taking Americana by storm.
If the futile longing to reach back through memory and grasp what is in the
past could be set to music, it would sound like Whispers and Sighs. Over the
course of 13 tracks, David Olney and Anana Kaye manage to craft a journey that
amounts to far more than just another Americana album.
And while it’s hard to escape the seeming cosmic significance of the album as
posthumous Olney release, at no point does this create the air of morbidity;
rather, it lends the project a bittersweet ambiance. Within Whispers And Sighs
is an undeniable reminder that David Olney’s extraordinary legacy can never
fade, while Anana Kaye’s star grows deservedly brighter by the day.

"Gaspard Auge is releasing his Debut Album “Escapades”, out in June 25th
He is best known as one half of Justice, the duo that united rock and rave and whose dancefloor smashes defined a generation.
Gaspard made an instrumental album whose sound will be familiar to Justice ’s fanbase , echoing some previous works & inspirations of the cult duet.
Escapades sounds like a UFO landing from another galaxy, or time, a baroque masterpiece that reimagines European classical music for this century. OFFICIAL BBC THEME FOR THEIR COVERAGE OF THE EUROS."

After a very short break Daje Funk are back with a super fresh redesign. The label is also fully embracing the move from their previous 10” format to 12” with the obvious bonus that they are now able to cram just that little bit of extra music onto their releases.

Their latest release, the Slam Dunk EP, is their 9th since the label arrived and it’s been a memorable journey so far. Keeping things decidedly funk with a modern dancefloor twist for their latest instalment they have assembled and all-star cast of producers with Dutch edits wizard, Ronny Hammond, England’s Shit Hot Soundsystem and Uptown Funk and Italian producer Coldbeard all taking turns to vie for dancefloor gold.

Together they have turned in one mighty slab of black wax.

The EP opens with Ronny Hammond’s ‘Keep On Groovin’ and it’s a very serious club track. For those of you with long memories and deep collections the original used here was sampled for Screen II’s Hey Mr DJ, a 90’s house classic on Cleveland City and it feels just as essential right now in 2021 as it did in both the 70’s when the original arrived and in the 90’s. Keep On Groovin’ is a proper funk bomb and Ronny has taken it to town with the addition of a powerhouse bassline, ass shakin’ drums and cheeky ear worm vocal samples. Indeed there is no chance that you will be able to sit still when this one drops. Expect it to cause serious dancefloor mischief over the coming summer months.

Shit Hot Soundsystem is up next with ‘Woah’ with label co-boss De Gama adding some extra scalpel action. Another track with classic subject matter, this often sampled track has rarely sounded as good as on this monstrous funky outing. It still sounds as fresh and exciting as the first time you heard those vibrant and vital synths and beautifully layered vocals. ‘Woah’ is both immediate and essential and will be soundtracking parties for years to come.

Over on the flip Uptown Funk’s ‘South Side Boogie’ also has De Gama on edit duty and here things head off downtown 70’s funk style. Brass stabs, wah guitar, and spicy synth licks all combine for a track which has plenty of joyous zest as it combines disco edges with a funk packed groove combing to deliver serious club heat.

Seeing the EP out is Coldbeard and he takes up deeper still with a bubbling groove which captivates from the first notes of the dynamo synth bass before adding in electric guitar licks and a rhythm line to die for. A Funky Situation is a perfect example of how to build a track piece by piece until it becomes utterly essential. Once you have heard that Rhodes and the vocal stabs working together you just know that this one will need to be played religiously.

Four utterly essential tracks which perfectly bridge the gap from the 70’s to 2021. Nine releases deep Daje Funk delivers yet again on its mission to make funk as utterly essential in clubs again nearly 4 decades after it’s glorious genres beginnings.

Volume 4: JAZZ N PALMS is back with another selection of some of the most iconic sunset, poolside sounds to be heard at Pikes Hotel (Ibiza), reworked, retouched and edited for your listening pleasure. A trusted taste, JAZZ N PALMS warms up the monthly exclusive Ronnie Scott's (London) jazz concerts held at Pikes, fusing jazz sartorially with latin, funk, rock and international sounds to be enjoyed under the palms and the sun of the Mediterranean sea.

Tape

Ambient Music? Oh yes! Number two in the Frank Music tape series comes from the city of Leipzig yet again. Mary Yalex is a mainstay in various genres of dance music. Better go and check her records on KANN & Dial for instance if you haven't already. We are delighted to give you around 39 minutes of textures, sketches, warmth, weirdness and kindness. In other words: welcome to "Sentimental Journey". Mary guides us through a 10 tracks trip over calm pads ("November Strings"), steady bubbles ("Coral Reef"), postponed dreams ("Broken Café Blues"), ascending melodies ("Moonlight") and bitter realities ("Social Distance"). Tape format for the enthusiast, digital formats for all of us. Artwork by beloved illustrator Jana Marei.