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Two monumental full-side tracks from a pair of late 70s Orchestre Poly-Rythmo albums, ‘Unité Africane’ isn’t exactly a compilation, more a combination of the standouts at a time when the band was at the peak of its powers. Originally released in 1977, the title track is an infectious Afro-Latin workout that is interwoven with driving horn stabs by master trumpet player Tidiani Kone. ‘Unité Africaine’ was recorded over the Nigerian border at the state-of-the-art EMI Studios in Lagos, yielding majestic sonic results. ‘Mede Ma Gnin Messe’ is taken from the 1978 ‘Special 30 Novembre’ and this time Poly-Rythmo wore their Afro-funk hat to deliver almost sixteen minutes of dancefloor fire. Propelled by PolyRythmo’s super-tight beats and underpinned by a relentless keyboard refrain, the magic is in the stellar horn parts that take this track to another level. As with much of the Albarika catalogue, copies of the original LPs are incredibly tough to locate in anything approaching reasonable condition, so this should be a gift.

Acid Jazz Records continue their exclusive licensing agreement with Albarika Store, the legendary record label that defined the sound of Benin and influenced the entire region of West Africa and beyond.

'Kpede Do Gbe Houenou’ is a burning piece of Afro-funk from Benin’s finest, the all-conquering Orchestre Poly-Rythmo. With a killer horns line, imploring vocals and a driving groove, this has it all and is just waiting to ignite reopened dancefloors. 'Ma Wa Mon Nou Mi O’ is equally strong, if a little less intense, and features wonderful guitar work to the fore. Without question, this is essential Beninese music. Both tracks were transferred, restored and mastered from the original 1/4 inch tape.

o B05 Stormy Scream (Iori Yagami [Stormy Saxaphone 4])





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[o] B05 Stormy Scream (Iori Yagami [Stormy Saxaphone 4])





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Penny Records presents the vinyl version of the soundtrack from the TV Series "Anna" written and directed by Niccolò Ammaniti. Fueled by Niccolò Ammaniti's passionate and immersive creative style, the score for 'Anna' was approached almost as a character study. 'Anna' exposes a world of extreme conditions where the essentials of human existence flourish in a wide range of emotions and sentiments tainted through the eyes of children. Striking brutality and primal savagery go hand in hand with the beauty of innocence and hope. Rauelsson's musical language for 'Anna' includes tense and spare textures that blend seamlessly with intimate ambient minimalism; classical elements that coexist with electronic drone experimentation and tribal rhythms, candid piano melodies buried in tape loops and otherworldly rituals of wordless voices. To arrive at this music landscape, Rauelsson enlisted an international cast of collaborators including Finnish percussionist Tatu Rönkkö, German cellist Anne Müller, American multi-instrumentalist Peter Broderick and Oslo-based vocalist Simin Tander. With this ensemble, Rauelsson's music documents a journey of survival that highlights the power of imagination and love.

Credits:

Music by Raúl Pastor Medall except A3 (Salvatore Cardillo, lyrics by Riccardo Cordiferro), A5 (Raúl Pastor Medall, Peter Broderick and Anne Müller), B3 (Raúl Pastor Medall and Anne Müller) and A2, B1, B2 (Raúl Pastor Medall and Tatu Rönkkö)

Played by Peter Broderick (Violin), Anne Müller (Cello), Raúl Pastor Medall (Piano, Electric Piano, Synthesizers, Electronics), Tatu Rönkkö (Drums, Percussion) and Simin Tander (Voice) with additional contributions from Christoph Berg (Violin), Aisha Burns (Violin) and Giulia Dragotto (Voice)

Recorded in 2020 at Rockaway Studios (Castelló, Spain; engineered by Raúl Artana), Niu (Benicàssim, Spain; engineered by Raúl Pastor Medall), Old House at Galgeberg (Oslo, Norway; engineered by Olav Torget), Tanum Church (Bærum, Norway; engineered by Olav Torget) and Indigo Studios (Palermo, Italy; engineered by Fabio Rizzo)

Additional recordings by Peter Broderick (Co. Galway, Ireland), Anne Müller (Berlin, Germany) and Tatu Rönkkö (Helsinki, Finland)

Produced by Raúl Pastor Medall and Niccolò Ammaniti. Mixed by Raúl Pastor Medall and Adam Selzer at Niu and Type Foundry (Portland, OR). Mastered by Adam Gonsalves and Adam Selzer at Telegraph Audio Mastering (Portland, OR). Lacquer mastercut by Andreas LUPO Lubich at Loop-O (Berlin, Germany). Artwork by Emiliano "Stand" Cataldo.

We are extremely proud to announce our 32nd compilation from the Analog Africa regular serie, "Cameroon Garage Funk", highlighting Yaounde's 1970's underground music scene. The quest to assemble the puzzle-pieces of what seemed to be a long lost underground scene took us to Camroon, Benin and further on to Togo and it was in the cities of Cotonou, Lome? and Sotouboua that we managed to lay our hands on most of the songs presented in this compilation. Since there were no local labels, no producers, and almost nothing in way of infrastructure in Cameroon at that time, the artists had to be everything: musician, producer, executive producer, arranger, financier, promoter and sometimes even distributor. The sixteen tracks on Cameroon Garage Funk pulse with raw inspiration and sweat DYI mood uniting the featured diverse musicians around their willingness to do everything themselves in order to take a chance in the music scene.

Over the last few years, NuNorthern Soul has established a number of traditions, most notably annual releases that provide a snapshot of the label’s output while also considering their suitability for certain seasons. Perhaps the most popular is founder Phil Cooper’s Summer Selections series, which each year showcases warm and sunny gems mined from a range of forthcoming releases.

The 2021 edition of the sampler, the third in total, may well be the best yet. Six tracks deep and as subtly varied as you’d expect, the entertaining set features tracks from a mixture of exciting newcomers, experienced producers and long-time members of the NuNorthern Soul family.

To kick things off, Cooper introduces us to Marshall Watson, an American producer who later in the year will release two five-track EPs on the label. ‘A Door To The Sky’, which will feature on the Sunsets On Larkin Part 1 EP, is sumptuously sun-kissed, with delay-laden electric guitar textures and sparkling electronics reclining over a tactile electronic groove.

LOVA’s ‘Echoes of Memories’, the track that follows, recalls the atmospheric, synthesizer-sporting new age Balearica popularised by Quiet Force in the late 1980s. The Italian producer was signed after bringing a USB stick of productions to one of Phil Cooper’s gigs in Ibiza; his Gypsophilia EP will be one to check when it drops later in the year.

Gusk’s ‘Sketch #4 - Anafi Nights’ is seductive and exotic. It’s a crackling and atmospheric musical painting that daubs starry stabs and yearning melodies atop a bubbly, lo-fi drum machine beat. It provides a perfect snapshot of the Greek musician’s Mediterranean Sketches EP, which gathers together home recordings made between 1997 and 2003.

Arguably even more immersive and enveloping is ‘Aqua Blancas Sunrise’ by Tambores En Benirras, the musical project of Cumbrian selector DJ Gripper. A slow-burning delight full of intricate musical flourishes –think drifting female vocalizations, Indian-influenced percussion, twinkling pianos and haunting clarinet motifs the track is one of the many highlights on the Barrow in Furness based producer’s forthcoming debut album for NuNorthern Soul.

To round things off, Cooper has chosen to offer-up cuts from two very experienced artists. George Solar (real name Georg Boskamp) is an Ibiza-based German producer who has been collaborating and releasing music since the late 1980s. ‘Infrared’, his contribution to Summer Selections 3, is a languid and glassy-eyed slab of slow-motion Balearic dub. His Los Ra-yos Del Sol EP will be one to look out for later in the year and is his debut solo release.

The sampler’s final missive fittingly comes from long-time friend of the family B.J Smith, a regular contributor to NuNorthern Soul releases who has reunited with Huw Costin – a vocalist he previously worked with on Smith & Mudd releases for Claremont 56 for a double A side single due later in 2021. ‘Sun When You Come’ is as warming and hazy as you’d expect and features Costin’s emotive, reverb-laden vocals and mazy electric piano solos rising above a suitably horizontal groove. It provides a stunning, sunset-ready conclusion to another superb set of Summer Selections.

Acid Jazz Records continue their exclusive
licensing agreement with Albarika Store, the
legendary record label that defined the sound of
Benin and influenced the entire region of West
Africa and beyond.
Recorded and issued in 1974, ‘Le Sato’ is one of
the earliest releases on the Albarika label and it is
also one of the deepest.
Sato is the term for the traditional rhythms that
soundtrack Vodun (Voodoo) rituals and
ceremonies in Benin. Performance of Sato is
reserved for these sacred rites, which evoke the
spirits of the dead and can last for several days
and attract hundreds of people. Sato rhythms
cannot be played outside of Vodun.
A large ceremonial Sato drum is used, which
measured over 1.5m in height. This drum is played
using wooden stick beaters, the drummer dancing
while playing. The Sato drummers are supported
by percussionists and other drummers playing
smaller drums. Together, they create unique,
layered, trance-inducing polyrhythms.

Acid Jazz Records are proud to announce an
exclusive licensing agreement with Albarika Store,
the legendary record label that defined the sound
of Benin and influenced the entire region of West
Africa and beyond.
 This is the first exhaustive trawl of the archive and
will see the label presented in a way that ensures
its historical importance is recognized.
 ‘Ipa Boogie’ is a super rare LP from 1978 that
almost never surfaces in good shape. Today even
average condition copies can command £500 to
£1,000 on the collector's market and for good
reason. These are the only known recordings by
this obscure band and they present the listener
with some of the finest afro-boogie and afro funk
that the extensive Albarika Store catalogue has to
offer.
 Transferred from the original tapes and
remastered by Grammy award-winning engineer
Frank Merritt at The Carvery, the album is
presented with beautiful artwork and packaging to
match the sonics. This is the music as it should be
heard.
 Over the next few years a comprehensive reissue
campaign is planned, overseen by Florent
Mazzoleni and David Hill for Albarika Store, with
Dean Rudland as executive producer for Acid Jazz..

Acid Jazz Records are proud to announce an
exclusive licensing agreement with Albarika Store,
the legendary record label that defined the sound
of Benin and influenced the entire region of West
Africa and beyond.
 This is the first exhaustive trawl of the archive and
will see the label presented in a way that ensures
its historical importance is recognized.
 ‘Segla’ is a hens’ teeth-rare Poly Rythmo album
from 1978 that was originally released without a
sleeve as ALS059. Recorded at EMI Lagos, Nigeria,
as per most of the Poly Rythmo recordings for
Albarika, the sound quality is from the tapes is
dynamic and fresh.
 Transferred from the original tapes and
remastered by Grammy award-winning engineer
Frank Merritt at The Carvery, the album is
presented with beautiful artwork and packaging to
match the sonics. This is the music as it should be
heard.
 Over the next few years a comprehensive reissue
campaign is planned, overseen by Florent
Mazzoleni and David Hill for Albarika Store, with
Dean Rudland as executive producer for Acid Jazz.

Albarika Store is home to many rare recordings, from more traditional folkloric and Sato styles, to the funk, blues and psych inspired workouts of the All Mighty Orchestre Poly Rythmo de Cotonou, as they referred to themselves. Many of the original records are sought after by DJs and collectors as prime examples of Afro-funk, Afro-Latin and Afropsych sounds.
The next in the series of reissues by Acid Jazz presents a straight reproduction of the incredibly hard to find Poly-Rythmo ‘Vol. 4’ album, originally from 1978.
For DJs and dancers this album has long been about the killer track ‘Aiha Ni Kpe We’, an incendiary Afrobeat recording which will activate any dancefloor anywhere. “Every time I listen to the Orchestre Poly Rythmo… Wow, I just discover something new in the music” - Gilles Peterson
This is the first exhaustive trawl of the archive and will see the label presented in a way that ensures its historical importance is recognized. Trips to West Africa have secured original master tapes and the process of transferring is ongoing. Over the next few years a comprehensive reissue campaign is planned.

More dancefloor dynamite from Benin's almighty Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou Dahomey, this time in the form of 'Gbeti Ma Djro'. Confusingly described on the centre label of the 1971 original issue as ’Soul’, this is in fact a prime slice of Afro-psych-funk complete with wails and grunts over fierce drums and picked guitar. 'Angelina II’ is a much warmer affair that rides a shuffling mid-tempo pachanga groove. Both tracks were transferred, restored and mastered from the original 1/4 inch tape.

Analog Africa Presents Edo Funk Explosion Vol. 1, available on
2xLP/Gatefold LP with 20-page booklet / CD with 36-page booklet. It was
in Benin City, in the heart of Nigeria, that a new hybrid of intoxicating
highlife music known as Edo Funk was born.
It first emerged in the late 1970s when a group of musicians began to experiment with different ways of integrating elements from their native Edo culture
and fusing them with new sound effects coming from West Africa s night-clubs.
Unlike the rather polished 1980 s Nigerian disco productions coming out of the
international metropolis of Lagos Edo Funk was raw and reduced to its bare
minimum.
Someone was needed to channel this energy into a distinctive sound and Sir
Victor Uwaifo appeared like a mad professor with his Joromi studio. Uwaifo
took the skeletal structure of Edo music and relentless began fusing them with
synthesizers, electric guitars and 80 s effect racks which resulted in some of the
most outstanding Edo recordings ever made. An explosive spiced up brew with
an odd psychedelic note known as Edo Funk.
That’s the sound you’ll be discovering in the first volume of the Edo Funk Explosion series which focusses on the genre’s greatest originators; Osayomore
Joseph, Akaba Man, and Sir Victor Uwaifo: Osayomore Joseph was one of the
first musicians to bring the sound of the flute into the horn-dominated world
of highlife, and his skills as a performer made him a fixture on the Lagos scene.
When he returned to settle in Benin City in the mid 1970s - at the invitation of
the royal family - he devoted himself to the modernisation and electrification
of Edo music, using funk and Afro-beat as the building blocks for songs that
weren’t afraid to call out government corruption or confront the dark legacy of
Nigeria’s colonial past.
Akaba Man was the philosopher king of Edo funk. Less overtly political than Osayomore Joseph and less psychedelic than Victor Uwaifo, he found the perfect
medium for his message in the trance-like grooves of Edo funk. With pulsating
rhythms awash in cosmic synth-fields and lyrics that express a deep personal
vision, he found great success at the dawn of the 1980s as one of Benin City’s
most persuasive ambassadors of funky highlife.
Victor Uwaifo was already a star in Nigeria when he built the legendary Joromi
studios in his hometown of Benin City in 1978. Using his unique guitar style as
the mediating force between West-African highlife and the traditional rhythms
and melodies of Edo music, he had scored several hits in the early seventies,
but once he had his own sixteen-track facility he was able to pursue his obsession with the synesthetic possibilities of pure sound, adding squelchy synths,
swirling organs and studio effects to hypnotic basslines and raw grooves. Between his own records and his production for other musicians, he quickly established himself as the godfather of Edo funk.
What unites these diverse musicians is their ability to strip funk down to its
primal essence and use it as the foundation for their own excursions inward to
the heart of Edo culture and outward to the furthest limits of sonic alchemy.
The twelve tracks on Edo Funk Explosion Volume 1 pulse with raw inspiration,
mixing highlife horns, driving rhythms, day-glo keyboards and tripped-out guitars into a funk experience unlike any other.

Ahead of their sophomore album, ‘Now is a Long Time’, subversive electronic-punk provocateurs Otzeki are unveiling the latest track, ‘Unthunk’, alongside a striking visual directed by Frankie Roberts. ‘Now is a Long Time’ is set to be released on 19th March 2021 via Akira Records. Singer Mike Sharp on the song: “Unthunk is a sardonic ‘maditation’ on pop. In terms of musical references, I was inspired by the kitschiness of Billy Joel’s ‘We didn’t start the fire’ after overhearing it at the Stapleton Tavern in Finsbury Park, I was also watching a bunch of music videos by the band Devo, Daft Punk, Throbbing Gristle and Kendrick Lamar. The seed grew out of a quirky drum loop Joel and I made using his TR8 drum machine, which gave the song a far slower vibe before Beni Giles later introduced vocoder and synths into the mix, taking it back to the 80’s.”

A Collection with An Exceptional Sound and Visual Aesthetic, In Collaboration With The British Photographer Chris Steel-Perkins, The Counter-Cultures Photograph. Wanted Afrobeat features 9 cuts from Pat Thomas, Ebo Taylor, Mulatu Astatke, Peter king etc.

Jump Salty contains the first songs by Pinhead Gunpowder, recorded
thirty years ago but sounding just as fresh today. This compilation
of singles and compilation tracks is back on vinyl for the first
time in over a decade! Originally a CD-only release on Lookout!
Records, this has been re-cut at 45rpm for the first time and comes
on limited indie-exclusive translucent gold vinyl! Sonically this LP
is a confluence of the bands from which members Aaron Cometbus
(Crimpshrine, Cleveland Bound Death Sentence, Sweet Baby), Billie
Joe Armstrong (Green Day, The Longshot), Sarah Kirsch (Fuel,
Baader Brains, Mothercountry Motherfuckers), and Bill Schneider
(Monsula, Uranium 9 Volt, Dead Sound) hail from.

With 'BREAKOUT', Echoes of Zoo push their adrenaline fueled jazz sounds to thrilling new levels. Rarely did one single word capture an entire musical atmosphere this accurately: the gates of the cages fell open and won't ever be shut again. 'BREAKOUT' celebrates breaking loose and is constantly

seeking for unexpected and exciting encounters - both culturally and musically. Infused with an eclectic range of western, oriental and African influences, Echoes of Zoo let their psychedelic and energetic jazz roam the streets in all freedom - much like an animal that has just stepped out of his cage and looks you straight in the eye. Meeting is direct, barriers are gone, the adrenaline and energy are rushing high. The band takes a deep dive into the musical melting pots which the world's biggest cities are today:

Balkan ornaments meet Brazilian rhythms

Gipsy scales meet fuzz guitars

Beninese grooves meet Turkish makam

Bass guitars meet Sufi rhythms

Rage riffs meet Kurdish trance

Indian raga meets western guitars

Romanian drums meet swing riffs

Tallava meets drum 'n bass

...

Echoes of Zoo are profoundly inspired by the endless variety of animals and musical genres. Join them on their trip through the city in all diversity, victory and freedom. BREAKOUT.

Echoes of Zoo is a band with a unique sound, under the high tension of Middle Eastern rock music with the striking complexity of West African percussion and a few Dub flavors, all in the service of psychedelic jazz played with a punk attitude. For this project, Nathan Daems (sax) is accompanied by Bart Vervaeck (electric guitar), Lieven Van Pee (electric bass) & Falk Schrauwen (drums), musicians you probably know from other projects they are part of such as Black Flower, De Beren Gieren, Sylvie Kreusch or Compro Oro.

After releasing a first self-produced EP - 'First Provocations' - in January 2019, the group was well received by both the audience and professionals in the sector. Supported and followed by some pioneering organisations and festivals, Echoes of Zoo has already been invited to Brussels Jazz Festival, BRDCST Festival (AB), Brosella Festival (carte blanche guesting Pantelis Stoikos), Leuven Jazz Festival, Amok Festival (KAAP), Recyclart, ...

With his new album Rhapsodic, Nicolas Repac gives life to the archives of the hunter-gatherer of sounds: Charles Duvelle Nicolas Repac is pursuing the dreamlike magic of his art of sampling with his new album "Rhapsodic". The musician plunged into musicologist Charles Duvelle's pioneering field recordings, in order to deconstruct and revisit rare music archives gleaned from all over the world. Repac ventures into the craziest sonic and stylistic pileups - adding voices, rhythms and traditional music from "every world". He offers some "Rhapsodies" of multicoloured sounds and instrumentals, revisited through the prism of electronic music. He liberates himself from all ethnomusicological coherence to speak directly to the soul and imagination of his listeners - beyond the frontiers of time and space. Grafting heady grooves of traditional percussion from Benin onto sub-Saharan violin refrains, interweaving them with Mongolian morin khuur on a bed of pygmy mouth-bow, Nicolas Repac leads us on the most captivating of immobile journeys, to the heart of the most intimate impulses, the most human pulse.

Fast, brutal, slamming and with a distinct message in their music: Necrotted from southern Germany are a bearer of hope for modern death metal! Founded back in 2008, the band from Abtsgmünd (Baden-Wuerttemberg) still invigorates the scene and continuously convinces its growing fan base as well as the music press. Not only the three full-length albums ‘Anchors Apart’ (2012), ‘Utopia 2.0’ (2014) and ‘Worldwide Warfare’ (2017) and the two EPs ‘Kingdom Of Hades’ (2010) and ‘Die For Something Worthwhile’ (2019) are registered in the band’s history, but also hundreds of live concerts in different countries in which Necrotted already unleashed their pure energy on various stages. Sweeping and melodic guitar riffs combined with blaring blast beats and rough, stomping slam parts form the brutal mixture of the quintet. The musical sound is rounded off by deep and high-pitched guttural vocals, emphasizing the catchy refrains and lyrical highlights of the songs. The new album ‘Operation: Mental Castration’ follows this trend and consistently enhances the soundscape of the band. Also, the album once again comes up with a sophisticated lyrical concept, characteristic for Necrotted. Written and recorded in 2020, ‘Operation: Mental Castration’ will be released through the aspiring label Reaper Entertainment Europe in early 2021 and will set a new benchmark for modern, diversified death metal. Social Media Whore (feat. Julien of Benighted): The southern German death metal brigade Necrotted revealed the first single ‘Asocial Media Whore’ of the upcoming album ‘Operation: Mental Castration’. For this groovy slasher of a song the quintet teamed up with Julien Truchan of French brutal death metal band Benighted. My Mental Castration: With ‘My Mental Castration’ Necrotted unleash the title track of their upcoming album ‘Operation: Mental Castration’. The song showcases the characteristic style and the spirit of the new full-length, which will set a new benchmark for modern, diversified death metal. Compulsory Consumption: Sluggish and melodic ‘Compulsory Consumption’ is the third single off of Necrotted’s upcoming album ‘Operation: Mental Castration’. The rough song underlines the band’s status as a bearer of hope for modern death metal.

Cool Ghouls - a band fledged in San Francisco on house shows, minimum wage jobs, BBQ's in Golden Gate Park and the romance of a city’s psychedelic history turns 10 this year. What better a decennial celebration than the release of their fourth album, At George's Zoo!

How did San Francisco's fab four arrive at George's Zoo? The teenage friendship of complimentary spirits Pat McDonald (Guitar/Vox) and Pat Thomas (Bass/Vox) serves as square one. The Patricks were munching on Eggo-waffle-sandwiches and downing warm vokda in suburban Benicia (San Francisco bay) years before McDonald would hear George Clinton address his fans as "Cool Ghouls". The boys played their debut gig as Cool Ghouls at San Francisco's legendary The Stud in 2011, but there's no doubt the musical moment cementing the band's trajectory was much earlier at the 18th birthday party for boy-wonder Ryan Wong (Guitar/Vox) - at the Wong household.

You might remember the Ghouls' earliest days... McDonald’s hair hung luxuriously past his waist, Thomas dreamt of no longer having to crash on friends' couches to call SF home and Wong looked forward to turning 21. Cool Ghouls' Pete Best, Cody Voorhees, thrashed wildly – but briefly - on the drums and Alex Fleshman (Drums), who still claims he's not really "a drummer", turned out to be a really good drummer. Thomas would sleep pee on tour. Those were golden days!

Flash forward to today and everything is up in flames. No shows, parties or bars. Cool people are streaming out of SF. It's been 2 years since the last time Cool Ghouls have even played. The STUD is gone, The Eagle Tavern is for sale and The Hemlock has been demolished for condos. Your boss is an app. Fascism is no-knocking down the door. There's a pandemic.

Fortunately for us, the Ghouls got an album in before it all went to shit, and they made it count. At George's Zoo includes 15 of the 27 tunes they managed to eke out while simultaneously working through major life moves. It was a 5-month, all out, final sprint down the homestretch (to Ryan's moving day) with affable engineer Robby Joseph, at his makeshift garage studio in the Outer Sunset (pictured on the cover). Instead of recording the entire album over a few consecutive days - like they'd done with Tim Cohen, Sonny Smith and Kelley Stoltz for the first three LPs - the band took it slow by working through a few songs each weekend after rehearsing them the week before. Robby would cue up the tape, McDonald would throw some steaks on the grill and they'd get to work - much to the neighbor, George's, chagrin.

These guys have a real commitment to elevating as songwriters, musicians and ensemble players. It's always been for the music with Cool Ghouls and this long-awaited self-produced outing is a track by track display of the ground they've covered and heights they can achieve. Their vocals and trademark harmonies are front and center and out-of-control-good. Ryan's guitar solos are incredible. The horns by Danny Brown (sax) and Andrew Stephens (trumpet) hit in all the right places. Maestro, Henry Baker (Pat Thomas Band / Tino Drima), plays keys throughout. There's even a mesmerizing string section ("Land Song") by sonic polyglot, Dylan Edrich.

None of this growth is to the detriment of the fun, natural, feeling that fans have come to expect from the band. This is a fully realized Cool Ghouls album. It paints a remarkable portrait of SF's homegrown heroes and the many corners they've explored over the last decade. The songwriting, harmony and playing are nothing if not solid. The lyrics are keen. Robby's recording and mixing sound great start to finish and even better after mastering by Mikey Young. It's a triumphant addition to their catalogue. Recommended for Stooges and Beach Boys fans alike. Listen and see!

Yes, many things have changed since 2011. Who knows what the 20's will have in store for life on Earth, let alone the Cool Ghouls? We at least know that 2021 has At George's Zoo for us, a beautiful keepsake from the Before Times when we used to stand in living rooms together while bands played.

Okocha Records sendet Grüße aus „Jazzenatico“ und nimmt euch mit auf eine musikalische Reise an der italienischen Adria entlang. Nehmt euch eine kurze Auszeit und genießt den sonnigen Tag am Strand von "Jazzenatico" mit harmonischen Melodien und warmen, jazzinspirierten Instrumentals von u.a. FloFilz, Wandl, Wun Two, Twit One, digitalluc, Melodiesinfonie uvm.

Without warning, a group of young girls from a remote region of Benin is shaking up the world of garage rock with breathtaking freshness, ingenuity and energy, playing spot-on, loud and clear.

A musician named André Baleguemon decided to form an exclusively female band rooted in the concerns of its time. He puts the spotlight on the guitar, drums and keyboard, instruments he has admired since his childhood, symbols of modernity in this remote region. His observation is simple: “In the North, girls have no room to advance and women are put aside. I simply wanted to show the importance of women in the societies of North Benin by forming a female orchestra “.
On July 25th, 2016, with the support of the city of Natitingou, André launched a press release on Nanto FM offering to help train girls in music for free. A few days later, dozens of aspiring musicians showed up at the Youth Center. “The girls who came didn’t know anything about music. We selected seven girls of the Waama and Nabo ethnic groups from the surrounding villages, some had never even seen these types of instruments before. “
The girls quickly became passionate about their new musical activities, learning how to play drums, guitar, piano and sing vocal harmonies. Their progress was astounding. An intense work of musical training took place, starting with drum workshops, their favorite instrument. Angelique and Urrice on drums and vocals, assisted by Marguerite, the third drummer. Sandrine is on keyboards, as is Grace, who also sings vocals. Julienne is on bass and Anne on guitar.
André’s determination is one of the key elements of this human and artistic success. The girls have already performed dozens of concerts in the region, forging and expanding an already solid repertoire, while attracting an ever-increasing local audience. In addition to musical progress, he has been personally involved with each family, showing them the importance of his project, both musically and humanly and in particular the fact that each girl must remain in school and not be forced into marriage.

At the end of 2018, their encounter with the young French sound engineer Jérémie Verdier accelerated the course of things. On a mission in the region, he called on his Spanish friends Juan Toran and Juan Serra who showed up with their recording equipment in order to record the band’s first songs in the annex of the local museum. Random encounters and fate led Jean-Baptiste Guillot to hear the tapes. He decided to go meet them at the end of 2019. This short but memorable journey sealed the fate of the record you are now holding in your hands.

Nèg Ginen is a song composed by Jean Claude Dorvil on a traditional Nago rhythm (from Benin). Nèg in Haitian creole means “the dude“, “the guy“. It is about pride of being Haitians with solid African roots. As a matter of fact, when we mention Ginen, we talk about Africa. Like the majority of Chouk Bwa’s songs, this one is full of references mentioning Haitian voodoo rituals and spiritual /igures. For instance, Simbi Ganga is a lwa (voodoo spirit) from the Lakou Soukri Danach (voodoo temple) that lives in the water. Wild and brutal when he is chained up, he faithfully represents the Iwa Kongos, notorious for being real party-starters! Kebyesou is an Iwa who lives in the Lakou Souvnans (another temple). He is a royal /igure, like the Dahomey Iwas in general. The voodoo families are, so to speak, all present in this project!

Biography
After a /irst European performance in 2015 at Roskilde Festival leading to many other performances all around Europe, including WOMEX and WOMAD, Haitian traditionnal vodou band Chouk Bwa met the Brussels based duo The Ångströmers in 2016. Their new project combines a renewed dub sensitivity and Haitian rhythm science and spirituality. The ensemble has performed in Haiti and in European festivals including Trans Musicales de Rennes before releasing their /irst album Vodou Alé via Bongo Joe in 2020.
Modular synths and other vintage electronic instruments bring another dimension to Chouk Bwa’s music, although obviously it is always the band’s groove and /luent tempo that leads the energy of the ensemble: no laptops, no drum machines. There are certain freedoms that cannot be coerced. Even more, the electronic instruments are wired directly to the drums that feed them with impacts and caresses. All the Vodou families are there with their many rhythms and songs. Radical Vodou roots for urban audiences.

An exchange between several voices of African artists (the Congolese Flamme on guitar, the late Cameroonian Hilaire Penda on bass, the Beninese Angélique Kidjo on vocals, and the dj singer producer
from South Africa Mo Laudi on the mike) gathered for the dance and celebration of this World Heritage work. The most popular anthem of classical music revisited in Afro Pop mode for crowds around the world. About this project, the producer Philippe Cohen Solal (ex-Gotan Project) tells: « When Mo Laudi, a Paris-based South African DJ, joined me in the studio, he delivered a great rap full of positive energy and geopolitical rhymes, from Patrice Lumumba to Biko and from Congo to São Paolo. Then Queen Angelique Kidjo, like a divine diva, fervently sang her hymn "Lonlon" in the Mina language, where the Afro literally meets the Bolero. We will not forget the fine team that allowed me to concoct this sacred cocktail: Flamme Kapaya,
outstanding Congolese guitarist, the Parisian DJ-beatmaker Lazy Flow and the late Hilaire Penda, Cameroonian bass player who unfortunately left us since. Benin, South Africa, Congo and Cameroon meet in Paname, the capital of World Sound, but the musical adventure did not stop there. The remixes take us straight to London with Poté, to Berlin with Daniel Haaksman and to Johannesburg with the super-group Batuk formed by the godfather of the African electro Spoek Mathambo, the kwaito maestro Aero Manyelo and the Mozambican singer Manteiga. At a time when travel is prohibited or
not recommended, let us be glad that music does not need certificates or passports and knows no borders ».

Another killer Barry Issac production from 2007 back out on re-press.

Historic cassette of first Tuareg guitar studio recording. Newly restored and remastered. Tuareg guitar gets the electronic treatment, with a reissue of the cassette by legendary Nigerien composer Abdallah Oumbadougou. Produced in Benin in 1995, “Anou Malane” is one of the first studio recordings of Tuareg guitar. The genre, known for minimal folk ballads performed on acoustic guitar, is transformed with a full-on 90s swinging groove. Abdallah Oumbadougou is one of the original creators of Tuareg guitar music. Active in the Tuareg rebellion in the 1990s, his early compositions were politically charged, addressing the fighters scattered in the desert. These low-fi recordings were recorded on boomboxes, and found their way throughout the diaspora, passed through clandestine networks of cassette dubbers. In exile, Abdallah traveled to Benin to record an official release with Nel Oliver, a West African producer known for his work on a number of seminal boogie and afro-funk records. Oliver’s influence is heavily felt on the recordings with early digital techniques of programmed drum effects and backing synthesizer, transforming Saharan political ballads into Afro-boogie anthems for the discotheque. The resulting album went on to become a classic and pushed Tuareg guitar and the rebellion into the public consciousness

Hailing from the Voodoo backwoods of Benin, Oladele Franck Komolou, founded the band Frankosun And The Family in Helsinki 2013. Since then, the band has conquered peoples hearts with their amazing music, shows and energy. Heavily influenced by the rhythms and history of the Nago.

The word “Nago” derives from the word “Anago”, a term Fon-speaking people use to describe Nago – Yoruba speaking people residing in Benin. The Nago–Yoruba community is characterized by the masked dance called Guèlèdè – a special dance rich in songs, music, epic and lyrical poems under the rhythms, and sounds of tam-tams.

The band excellently combines 70’s and 80’s style beninese and nigerian afrobeat with afrofunk and afrorock. The awaited- debut album “Frankosun And The Family” will be released in Spring 2020 in Vinyl- and Digital Formats!

A chance meeting in a New York club led to the conception of Mowgan’s debut album, in collaboration with renowned African Benin-born Nigeria raised singer and multi-instrumentalist, Kaleta (Leon Ligan-Majek) an ex Fela Kuti, Sunny Ade, Lauryn Hill cohort who also fronted Akoya Afrobeat Ensemble and presently heads up a 70s style afro funk band called Super Yamba based in NYC.

The Frenchman was working at Lina Frey when he overheard a Beninese salsa singer called Laurent Hounsavi channeling Afro-centric vibes through his performance. He approached the singer and was put in touch with Kaleta, who lives in the Big Apple, too. What happened next was pure magic, as the two men got to work in the studio to bring their two worlds together.

It’s the kind of mystical alchemy that only happens once in a blue moon; Kaleta was given carte blanche over Mowgan’s extensive collection of Africa-inspired electronic instrumentals.

He selected his favourites and performed on each one, delivering an original vocal, and his own guitar licks, over the top. To stir up even more electrifying vibes, Kaleta also invited several of his talented friends to join the recordings sessions - they included vocalists Shade Myers Emmanuel, Justin Masters and Gbenga Wise, Freddie Deboe on sax, Mic Dada assisting Mowgan on synth pads and Takuya Kuroda, the infamous Japanese trumpet player from Kobe who specialises in neo-soul, hip hop and electronica.

The result is ‘Karoussel’, a vibrant, dynamic, soul-enriching hybrid between electronica and deep African musicality that sets the standard for contemporary collaborations between western and African artists, and the first in a series of album projects from Mowgan on his fledgling label Mow Records...

Techno, Midwest Trap, Grime and Breaks synthesised This may sound like a rather experimental combination. Nevertheless the outcome of Leibniz' latest innovation is a very DJ friendly 4-Tracker called - Quake'. The artist is co-founder of the hundert label, half of the projects DJ OK and DJ Bwin and responsible for releases on Shtum, Ratlife, Ortloff and Fourth Wave. 'Orbb almost dodged Jay's rocket'. Mastered by Beni Brachtel aka Bartellow. Artwork by Paul Bernhard and Arthur Poitevin.

As part of their 20th Anniversary celebrations, Strut present the first new volume in their pioneering 'Nigeria 70' series for over 8 years, bringing together rare highlife, Afro-funk and juju from the '70s and early '80s. Compiled by collector and DJ Duncan Brooker, this new selection of tracks is receiving its first international release outside of Nigeria.

The compilation returns to a fertile heyday in Nigerian music when established styles like highlife and juju became infused with elements of Western jazz, soul and funk and musicians brought a proud new message post-independence. Brooker places the spotlight particularly on some of the incredible Ukwuani musicians from the Delta State region as guitarist Rogana Ottah and Steady Arobby's International Brothers Band forged their own fluid brand of highlife and soulman Don Bruce drew on the US R&B greats for a series of great albums and explosive stage shows at his residency at Hilton Hotel in Abuja.

Elsewhere, the album explores the close connection between Nigeria and Benin's music, most famously through Sir Victor Uwaifo, appearing here with a killer mid'80s ekassa jam, as well as highlife hitmaker Osayamore Joseph on 'Obonogbozu' (Joseph made headlines in Nigeria for very different reasons in 2017, surviving a one month kidnapping ordeal).

Other tracks include 'Sickness' a 1979 lament on how all countries share troubles by Prince Nico Mbarga, the Nigerian / Camerounian star behind the smash hit 'Sweet Mother'; reggae singer Felixson Ngasia switches to funk and disco for a heavy workout with potent lyrics around black identity; another major highlife great Etubom Rex Williams unleashes a punchy psych funk gem with 'Psychedelic Shoes' and Africa 70 member Pax Nicholas vocals a simmering Afrobeat groove from Jacob Lee's Saxon Lee & The Shadows International Band.

'Nigeria 70: No Wahala' iis released on 29th March 2019 on CD, 2LP and digital. All tracks have been restored by See Why Audio and mastered by The Carvery. The package features comprehensive sleeve notes including exclusive interviews with some of the original artists.

" I used to live in rue de Clignancourt, and remember as a kid going to the 14th of July West Indian ball organized by my father rue André Del Sartre in Montmartre every year. There I would meet, among others, saxophonist Robert Mavounzy. Sticking to the area, my older brother had a band and often played at the famous venue La Cigale, where even Henri Salvador joined him for a jam from time to time."Since childhood Serge Fabriano bathed in music, to-ing and fro-ing between his native Guadeloupe and Paris where he grew up. He attended the music conservatory, learnt how to play bass, met and played with many musicians and was ultimately angling for a career as a music teacher. But Serge had wanderlust; he lived to meet new people and was passionate about travel.Thus, it was in a squat located rue de Flandres in the 19th district of Paris that Serge Fabriano met by chance zarb player Djamchid Chemirami, one of Iran's greatest percussionists, who invited him to the Arts Festival of Shiraz-Persepolis. After a month-long motorcycle journey, he and his guitar teacher, Roger Bénichou, arrived in Tehran. Sadly their guitars didn't survive the journey. It was there that he met, among others, Woody Shaw, Max Roach and his wife Abbey Lincoln. Serge also formed a friendship with saxophonist Gary Bartz and stayed on a month playing with the cream of the musicians who'd attended to the Festival.During the mid-70's, he alternated between teaching classes and live gigs, and performed in Germany with a funk band comprised of ex-GIs from the US Army. He also met the members of Chick Corea's group, Return to Forever, and especially Stanley Clarke who became a great source of inspiration to him.From 1978 onwards, Serge Fabriano put aside teaching and devoted more time to music. He became a musician's musician, doing studio recordings with rock bands. He also played with members of the Caribbean diaspora, which included the great drummer Marcel Lollia (known as Velo), Patrick Jean-Marie, Guy Conquette, Winston Berkley, Mino CineluDuring the "Ayatollah Comédie" musical comedy tour organized by the Journal Liberation, Serge met actor Pierre Clémenti (Il Gattopardo, Belle De Jour, The Conformist). This was a game-changer : "I was trying to record my first record. Clémenti suggested the Studio Beaubourg in Paris. "The group Fabriano Fuzion - Fabriano Unit Zion - was born.The band brought together some of the Caribbean's most inspired musicians: Martinican-born Mario Canonge on the piano (his first appearance on an album), Alain-Jean Marie on the synthesizer, Edouard and Pierre Labor on saxophones, Claude Vamur (Kassav ') on the drums, singer/percussionists Marie-Reine Lamoureux and Marie-Céline Lafontaine, percussionists Roger Raspail, Sully Cally and Hector Ficadière (Tumblack, Vent Levé) on Ka percussions.It is precisely the Gwo Ka - this ancestral 'root' music deeply embedded in the heart of the Guadeloupe musician - which constitutes the rhythmic backbone of this first opus. The Gwo Ka, the jazz, the poetry and the spiritual vibe are gathered here to form a splendid album; one of the true masterpieces to emerge from the French West Indies.Rarely will a band have borne its name so well than Fabriano Fuzion - its music is a multiple and collective work in which each element brings its identity and its richness, conferring to this major work a truly fusional dimension.

+++ Available in a non-specified number of copies, these releases are hand-cut on vinyl by the label itself.

Transparent vinyls with a center white silk screen design and hand stamped catalogue number.

External cover designed by Regno Maggiore in white silk-screen print on die-cut black paperboard.

Internal sleeve with an illustrated poetry by Regno Maggiore, tracklist and info +++

Written and recorded in 2018 during and after a nomadic travel in the open air, Astroveliero is the debut ep of Regno Maggiore and an introspective journey inside h** beliefs and experiences.

Across 6 free-flow tracks, the artist has created a world of multi- layered textured details and organic instruments, blended with a fine tune work of sound engineering.

Astroveliero joins together different musical influences as well as world cultures, with a result that could be assimilated to the fourth world tradition.

The ep spans from the quasi- krautock ambient composition in Oracolo to percussive songs like La Danza di Sabasaa and Selva Oscura, balancing haunting atmospheres and benign forces, drawing modern anxiety, spiritual raises and dreamlike visions.

With just a quick appearance on the recent compilation Paradisia V, out on Gang of Ducks as well, Regno Maggiore is creating a new bold world around h**, and we just can't wait to listen more.

European music culture has never been closed, on the contrary - it has always integrated influences from all other parts of the world. Two Tribes makes an effort to give insight in how musicians living in Europe today incorporate and transfer musical traditions particularly from the African continent into their own oeuvre.

Featured on Two Tribes are a broad range of constellations, ranging from musicians with roots in African countries who reside in Europe to collaborations between European and African artists. Musically our compilation tries to capture at least a part of the enormous diversity that contemporary music from Europe of this kind has to offer. The spectrum ranges from classical - songs' using traditional instruments from both continents to electronic productions that combine musical heritage with current club culture. Our selection can only be a musical snapshot since there is so much movement in this genre at the moment.

As you can hopefully see and hear, the leitmotif while compiling Two Tribes was to keep an eye on the ease of handling different cultural influences amongst the featured artists. It was important to us that the included music doesn´t just copy African music styles one to one but has an own handwriting and builds a bridge between the musical legacy of both continents. With all the track included, we have found a number of great examples and decided to showcase twelve of them on this first volume. The music included refers to the musical traditions of Senegal, Kenya, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Morocco, Zimbabwe and South Africa amongst others. The involved musicians are spread all over Europe, from Finland to Great Britain, Italy, England, France and Portugal to Germany.

Be it organic or electronic music, we think that all of the tracks really deserve your ear! Tobi Kirsch & Ubbo Gronewold, June 2018

Rich, Deep, Percussive Soulful Folk Album From Master Togolese Singer, Akofa Akoussah.

The Album Moves Through Uptempo Afro-folk-funk On 'tango' To Deep Ballads Of 'ramer Sans Rame' And 'i Tcho Tchass' And Lighter Moments On 'g Blem Di' And 'mitso Aseye'. Akofas Exceptional Songs And Soaring Vocals Are Decorated With Percussion, Guitar Lines, Subtle Backing Vocals And Horns To Create A Unique, Rich Sonic. The Album Was Recorded For Release By French Label Sonafric In 1976. Produced By Gérard Akueson; Founder & Owner Of African Record Label, 'akue', Based In Paris.

Music Was Truly In The Blood Of Julie Akofa Akoussah. She Began Singing At The Age Of Three, Inspired And Led By Her Mother And Older Sister And Became Principal Soloist In Her School Choir, St. Peter & Paul Choir Of Our Immaculate Conception Parish Of Nyékonakpoé, At The Age Of 8. From There Her Career Blossomed, And Singing Often Took Precedence Over Her Studies. In Order To Master Her Art She Spent Time Studying And Working Closely With Local Groups Including Mélo Togo, Rocka Mambo, Rio Romamcero, Ok Fiesta, Eryco Jazz, Afro Cubano, Los Muchacho, Elégance Jazz And Togo Star Amongst Others. In Her Own Words: 'luck Opened The Door In January 1966 Where I Had The Honour Of Being Selected To Share The Stage With Bella Below - One Of The Best Voices Of

Africa - At The 1st 'negro Arts Festival' In Dakar. On My Return, I Was Approached By Ambroise Ouyi, The Highly Respected Singer & Poet, And We Wrote 'tu Ne M'écris Plus', My Very First Opus.'

The Popularity Of Her Work Led To An Increased Exposure For Togolese Music Outside Of The Country, In Neighbouring Ghana And Benin Most Notably. During Her Career She Collaborated And Performed With Greats Including Manou Djibango, Queen Pelagie, Abeti Massikini, Aycha Koné And Myriam Makeba. Akoussah Was Also Dedicated To, And Widely Recognised For, Her Work For Social Causes, Championing And Nurturing Young Musical Talent, And The Fight Against Aids. She Was President Of The National Union Of Artists Musicians Of Togo (unam) Before Sadly Passing Away In April 2007 After A Long Illness, At The Age Of 57.

The Analog Africa label delves into the amazing history of music from 1970s Benin and Togo.
This compilation highlights forgotten raw and psychedelic Afro sounds, and the well-researched liner notes tell fascinating stories to accompany the mind-blowing music. The essence of Analog Africa is clear, searching in dusty warehouses for forgotten music to keep the sound alive!

By the late seventies Nigerians were increasingly drawn to reggae. It was regarded as a more spiritual and contemplative type of music. When the bright lights and cheap thrills of the dance floor waned, reggae provided life with a deeper meaning. And it didn't come any deeper than 'We Shall Win' by Pogo Limited. Pogo Limited were a Beninese 'super' band, made up of performers from the popular Nigerian Television Authority program, 'Music Panorama'. Emma Ogosi, future superstar and household name, was on rhythm guitar. Robo Arigo was on bass. Pat 'Finn' Okonjo, former frontman of The Hykkers, provided lead vocals. 'We Shall Win' was their first album and a clarion call for change. 'Together' envisages a time when everyone enjoys the riches of Africa. 'Switch Your Lights On' bathes in the purest kind of love and in 'Something Must Be Done', the dream is a long, happy life with great grandchildren. The album's brightest moment, the upbeat 'We Shall Win', takes heart from change in southern Africa. Ironically, it was adopted by the Nigerian ruling party in 1983 as their theme song in what was widely regarded as a massively rigged election. Focussed, deep and contemplative, 'We Shall Win' is a thoughtful alternative to the bright lights of the Lagos dance floor, an album where exceptional musicianship combines with a meaningful lyrics to provide hope in a desperate world. It is an album as relevant today as it was back then.

After years of playing with the Moroccan community of Brussels, music maker and jazz musician Luc Mishalle knows every trick of the cross-fertilization of gnawa music, jazz & brass. Gnawa is the Northern African islamic sufi music with healing vibrations and spiritual lyrics, played by the descendants of African slaves. The album title 'Beats & Pieces' refers to the collaborations with Belgian percussionist Roel Poriau (Think of One, Antwerp Gipsy-Ska Orkestra), Tunisian electronic producer Sofyann Ben Youssef (Ammar808, Kel Assouf) and Moroccan-Belgian gnawa master Maalem Driss Filali. 'The album is significantly less 'jazz' than past collaborations with Byron Wallen and Trevor Watts,' explains Mishalle. 'It's based on gnawa songs I transcribed and arranged together. Half of the songs contain vocals, which makes it more radio-friendly.' There are also fragments of Beninese traditionals and which bring us to another thread through the album: trance. You can find it in gnawa music and even more in Benin, the cradle of voodoo. 'Trance music aims to create obsession through constant repetition. We kept the essence of that music, adding jazz and brass colours,' Mishalle finds these musicians in Brussels, and together they search for the sound of this city known for its hyper-diversity. 'Brussels' context is unique, in Belgium and beyond. Our metropole has quirky vibrations. To catch them, you have to fully submerge.'

Master of snare disaster "Limewax" strikes back hard again on this huge 4 track EP on PRSPCT. Delivering all things great this disturbed but brilliant producer has to offer. Drum & Bass for the freaks and outcasts that crave for more then just a rolling beat.
2 solo tracks + 2 collabs with the likes of L 33, Switch Technique, Dieselboy and Thrasher. Did we mention this release is huge Hell yeah we did! Well it's a good thing as its double huge anyway!

All Hail Limewax and HouJeKKMuil!

A Fortuna-selected compilation for Tel-Aviv restaurant "The Brothers". Only available locally except for a few limited export copies. Fortuna describe this compilation as "A set of ten killer tunes we licensed especially for the restaurant. One-off tracks from the golden Jaffa, dancefloor certified bangers, and all-time personal favorites!"

Mid last century. Commercial Music is a machine that generates dances that run each other over in the urge to reach the audiences and mark their place in time and history.

A never-ending list of choreographies co-habit: hully gully, madison, rock, limbo, twist and a long etcetera, until a new dance, bossa nova takes over the dance floors. Joao Gilberto, Tom Jobim or Vinicius de Moraes reach stardom in Brazil with this mix of samba and jazz, but the genre doesn't explode internationally until a few American jazzmen decide to import it. From there it reaches Europe, via France, thanks to Sacha Distel, the first on the continent to record an EP completely dedicated to this phenomenon.

It is 1962.

Shortly after in Spain, the number of artists including original or adapted tracks in their albums, escalate: Tony Vilaplana, Mina, Duo Dinámico, Latin Combo, Los 4 Brujos, Gina Baró, Grau Carol, Salomé or Marisol, who popularizes the new trend by recording 'Marisol rumbo a Río', a blockbuster film partially filmed in Brazil. The maestro Augusto Algueró writes the films soundtrack.

For this compilation we have consciously dug into the archives of three Barcelona based labels like Belter, Discophon and Olympo to serve Spanish sung bossa nova songs that have never, inexplicably, been released on vinyl, all songs are recorded during those two (musically speaking) prodigious decades: the twentieth centuries sixties and seventies.

The unseen forces emitting out around ever being natures forces of destiny. Belief itself is God.

AURA's journey could be best described as a spiritual call to connect man and music.

Each new day brought in new and more difficult problems. In the hardest of times Aura lost their original lead guitarist. Green-Bird real name Dannie Stewart - a Jamaican, humble, handsome, and talented to the bones. He was too nice to die. He was drowned in a river within the historical city of Benin. All friendly hearts cried and cried, a memory too sad to recollect. Aura's journey sorrowly went along. Full of accedents, and frustration. We nearly crash-landed.

Thanks to Sheila, for her love and courage. Uzo, a true frendship that inspired every-body in Aura. He solved so many problems. Gratitude is the only word of our choice. The Lawsons and the Shotade family also have their very noble thanks; they were nice and helpful. Many more thanks to the numerous friends and heart-felt appriciations to Mr. J. H. Booth - Decca's new Director for his kindness and the entire staff that made this great 8 track maiden stereo album possible.

A solid belief in ourselves has pushed this group to this point; Aura making an "Astral Trip". This is an album which is a sincere sweet fruit of determination, soulful enough to turn you loose into true life experiences of good music.

All I owe you is love and appriciation.

Very nice compilation on this artists work - on the ever excellent Born Bad imprint!
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For many decades until quite recently, little was known about music from Burkina Faso (which was formerly known as the Upper Volta). It is still one of the lesser known forms of popular music from West Africa. A few years before the country changed its name to Burkina Faso, thanks to Thomas Sankara's dream of a new society, Voltaic music emerged as some kind of true cultural revolution in the wake of the country's independence in 1960. Remote, poor and isolated, Upper Volta musicians coveted the orchestras and artists from abroad while creating a music of their own, based on rich cultural traditions

Popular music that sprung up from Burkina Faso owed much to the music from neighboring countries like Mali, Ghana, Ivory Coast or Benin, and to the longing for cultural authenticity' conveyed through Guinean music. In capital city Ouagadougou, as well as in Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina's cultural capital until the 1980s), the first two decades of independence saw the upcoming of such orchestras and artists as Amadou Balaké, Georges Ouedraogo, Volta Jazz, l'Harmonie Voltaïque, Les Imbattables Léopards, Abdoulaye Cissé, Tidiane Coulibaly or Pierre Sandwidi.

Nicknamed the troubadour from the bush', Pierre Sandwidi stands as one of the finest Voltaic artists from the 1970s. He belonged to an unsung elite of Francophone artists such as Francis Bebey, G.G. Vickey, Amédée Pierre, André-Marie Tala, Pierre Tchana or Mamo Lagbema. His entire released output consists of less than ten 7 inches, two LPs and a bunch of cassettes. A man from the provinces, he always favored social engagement and carefully crafted lyrics over instant fame. His words and music challenged General Lamizana's dreary presidency, which ruled the country from 1966 to 1980.

Drumphilia volume 1 is a rhythmic experiment that sits on the fault line between traditional instrumentation and analogue electronics. The project is a response to many years spent working with, learning about and listening to African and Caribbean percussion. Traditional rhythmic influences are combined with analogue drum machines and drum synths to create a hybrid sound that continues in the tradition of artists like Francis Bebey

Twenty-eight Years Ago, Pissed-off Twelve-year-olds Around The Universe Discovered A New Planet, A Black Planet. Public Enemy's Aggressive, Benihana Beats And Incendiary Lyrics Instilled Fear Among Parents And Teachers Everywhere, Even In The Border Town Of Laredo, Texas, Home Of The Future Founders Of The Latin-funk-soul-breaks Super Group, Brownout. The Band's Sixth Full-length Album (out May 25th) Fear Of A Brown Planet Is A Musical Manifesto Inspired By Public Enemy's Music And Revolutionary Spirit.

Chuck D., The Bomb Squad, Flava Flav And The Rest Of The P.e. Posse Couldn't Possibly Have Expected That Their Golden-era Hip Hop Albums Would Sow The Seeds For Countless Public Enemy Sleeper Cells, One That Would Emerge Nearly Three Decades Later In Austin, Texas. Greg Gonzalez (bass) Remembers A Kid Back In Junior High Hipped Him To The Fact That Public Enemy's bring The Noise' Is Built On James Brown Samples, While A Teenaged Beto Martinez (guitar) Alternated Between Metal And Hip-hop In His Walk-man, And Adrian Quesada (guitar/keys) Remembers Falling In Love With Public Enemy's Sound At An Early Age. when I Got Into Hip Hop, I Was Looking For This Aggressive Outlet . . . And I Didn't Even Understand What They Were Pissed Off About, Because I Was Twelve And Lived In Laredo . . . But I Loved It And I Felt Angry Along With Them.'

Joseph Abajian (fat Beats' Owner) Must Have Sensed The Deep Hip-hop Well Lying Beneath The Versatile Band's Latin-funk Veneer. i Thought Their Sound Would Work Covering Public Enemy Songs,' Abajian Says, And, it Was Good To Know They Were P.e. Fans . . . We Came Up With A Track Listing And They Went To Work.' Despite The Band's Eagerness To Work On New Original Material (an Album Of Original Songs Is Slated For Next Year), They Couldn't Pass Up The Opportunity To Pay Homage To This Iconic And Influential Posse.

Translating Sample-based Music To A Live Band Turned Out To Be More Of A Challenge Than They Anticipated. Adrian Tried To Get Inside The Bomb Squad's (public Enemy's Producers/beat-making Team) Head In Order To Find The Inspiration To Reinterpret P.e.'s Songs: imagine The Bomb Squad Going Back In Time And Getting The J.b.s (james Brown's Funky Backing Band) In The Studio And Setting Up A Couple Analog Synths And Then Playing Those Songs.' While Some Songs Closely Follow The Original Musical Blueprint, Others Use The Source Breakbeats As Jumping-off Points Later Sweetened By Trombonist Mark speedy' Gonzales' Horn Arrangements, Synth Wizardry Courtesy Of Friend-of-the-band Peter Stopschinski, And Dj Trackstar's Turntable Scratches. But Don't Listen Expecting To Hear Paint-by-numbers Recreations Of Classic Public Enemy Jams. our Approach Is Never In The Tribute Sense,' Adrian Explains. we've Always Taken It And Made It Our Own, Whether It's The Brown Sabbath Thing Or This Public Enemy Thing.' Coming Off Numerous Tours As Brown Sabbath And Even A Stint Backing The Late Legend Prince, Brownout Is Arguably The Tightest And Funkiest Band On The Road Today And They're Psyched To Bring This Revolutionary Music To The People. For A Band Without An Overt Political Agenda, They Collectively Couldn't Resist The Opportunity To Play This Music Live, Especially Now. if There's Any Way That We Can Use The Already Political And Protest Nature (of P.e.'s Music), We Would Like To Try,' Beto Says. the Album's Title, Fear Of Brown Planet Is Definitely A Relevant Idea Today And We're Not Afraid To Put It Out There, Because We Want To Speak Out.' By Reinterpreting These Hip Hop Classics In Their Unique Style And Channeling The Spirit Of Public Enemy That First Echoed Around The World And Captured Their Imaginations All Those Years Ago, Brownout Is Doing Exactly That.

African Scream Contest 2

A great compilation can open the gate to another world. Who knew that some of the most exciting Afro-funk records of all time were actually made in the small West African country of Benin Once Analog Africa released the first African Scream Contest in 2008, the proof was there for all to hear, gut-busting yelps, lethally well- drilled horn sections and irresistibly insistent rhythms added up to a record that took you into its own space with the same electrifying sureness as any favourite blues or soul or funk or punk sampler you might care to mention.

Ten years on, intrepid crate-digger Samy Ben Redjeb unveils a new treasure- trove of Vodoun-inspired Afrobeat heavy funk crossover greatness. Right from the laceratingly raw guitar fanfare which kicks o Les Sympathics' pile-driving opener, it's clear that African Scream Contest II is going to be every bit as joyous a voyage of discovery as its predecessor. And just as you're trying to get o the canvas after this one-punch knock out, an irresistible Afro-ska romp with a more than subliminal echo of the Batman theme puts you right back there. Ignace De Souza and the Melody Aces' Asaw Fofor" would've been a killer instrumental but once you've factored in the improbably-rich-to-the-point-of-being-Nat-King-Cole-influenced lead vocal, it's a total revelation.

The screaming does not stop there, in fact it's only just beginning. But the

strange thing about African Scream Contest II's celebration of unfettered Beninese creativity is that it would not have been possible without the assistance of a musician who had been trained by the Russian secret services to "search and destroy" enemies of the country's (then) Marxist-Leninist president Mathieu Kerekou.

Already familiar to fans of the first African Scream Contest as a mainstay of ruthlessly disciplined military band Les Volcans de la Capitale, Lokonon André vanished in a cloud of dust at Ben Redjeb's behest with a list of names and some petrol money, only to return a few days later having miraculously tracked down every single name he'd been given. The source of this Afrobeat bounty-hunter's impressive people-finding skills - his training with the KGB - highlights the tension between encroaching authoritarian politics and fearless expressions of personal creative freedom which is the back-story of so much great African music of the 60s and 70s. Happily, in this instance, Lokonon was tracking the artists down to oer them licensing deals, rather than to arrest them.

Where some purveyors of vintage African sounds seem to be strip-mining the

continent's musical heritage with no less rapacious intent than the mining companies and colonial authorities who previously extracted its mineral wealth, Samy Ben Redjeb's determination to track this amazing music to its human sources pays huge karmic dividends.

Like every other Analog Africa release, African Scream Contest II is illuminated by meticulously researched text and eortlessly fashion-forward photography supplied by the artists themselves. Looming large - alongside Lokonon André - in the cast of biopic-worthy characters to emerge from this seductive tropical miasma is visionary space-nerd Bernard Dohounso, who laid the foundations for Benin's vinyl predominance by importing and assembling the turntables that would play the products of his Bond villain-acronymed pressing plant SATEL, a factory that would revolutionise the music industry in the whole region.

The scene documented here couldn't have been born anywhere else but in the Benin Republic , and the prime reason for that is Vodoun. It's one of the world's most complex religions, involving the worship of some 250 divinities, where each divinity has its own specific set of rhythms, and the bands introduced on the African Scream Contest series and other compilations from that country were no less diverse than that army of dierent Gods. At once restless pioneers and masters of the art of modernising their own folklore, the mystic sound of Vodoun was their prime source of inspiration.

One especially irascible Vodoun-adept was Antoine Dougbe, who styled himself The devil's prime minister' while turning ancestral rhythms into satanically alluring modern beats. As Orchestre Poly-Rythmo songwriter Pynasco has observed sagely, Evil is not elsewhere, evil extends into the house'. And African Scream Contest II is a gloriously cinematic road-trip through an undiscovered realm of music lore whose familiarity is every bit as thrilling as its otherness.

Written by Ben Thomson, March 2018

S3A, a fundamental player in the French house scene and resident at Paris' famous Concrete between 2012 and 2016 has been making serious waves with releases on labels such as Gerd's 4lux, Local Talk, Hold Youth, Lazare Hoche, Quintessentials, his very own Sampling As An Art records and in 2016 he debuted with his track "Antois Benime (Austral Parc)" on the second release of Quartet Series. This cut became a major summer hit, played by nearly every house music DJ, including Byron the Aquarius during his wicked set on the Boiler Room stage at Dekmantel in 2017. We decided this greatly deserved a follow up and we're proud to finally present Climax EP with S3A's signature sound written all over it....

Opening on the A side is "Presentiment", a collaboration with Mika Blaster. Starting off with majestic strings then suddenly dropping into a massive beat with haunting samples flourishing over the thriving percussion telling you to dance... THOU SHALT DANCE!! The second track "Something More" picks up where Antois Benime left off. A genius mix of uplifting samples and 909 percussion makes this another club ready weapon, bound to leave smiling faces on the dancefloor.

When flipping the record you'll dive into S3A's deepness with "Wu Impact". Soft and sweet Rhodes chords, an insanely groovy bass line with percussion and those mellifluous strings again. Finishing off the release is a deep slammer that goes by the name of "Influences", again a display of S3A's ability to use a wide array of elements within a single tune, molded together to one coherent, lovable and danceable piece. Boy did we wish we had the sampling skills of this master.

A must have record for any House Music lover. On y va!

You probably don't know this disco banger, I think there is about 4 or 5 known copies on 7", everyone who has a copy has been keeping it quiet. I first heard it from David Haffner about 4 years ago and had been after it since then.
After a lot of research I came to the conclusion the everyone involved had passed away, but months after giving up after I spotted Benita's full name on another related LP credited as a backing singer.
I was then able to track down Benita who was alive, well and surprised and very happy to hear from me. This one is a beast and will fly out
(I find myself saying this far to often).

Last years SVS residency took place in Budapest at 4DSOUND's 'Spatial Sound Institute', where SVS artists from LA, NY, Osaka, Seoul, Berlin, London,Tel Aviv and Munich worked for 10 days preparing a showcase on the 4DSOUND system.During rehersals for the Showcase, Bartellow alias Beni Brachtel met Grun alias Daichi Furukawa During three long nightshifts, the tracks emerged out of a continuous great vibe. Always joined by several artists from the SVS family, it became the soundtrack for a very special event. First pressing comes with limited 24'x36' sized hand folded poster and silver sticker. - Beni San and Daichi San will play a release tour through Japan in April.-Exclusives sales on April 1st at the independent label market in London-Early support by Renaat from R&S and confirmed reviews on Tsugi, Thump + more to come

Lost sounds are the archives of a forgotten history. The raucously raw, Vodoun-inspired rhythms of Cotonou have confirmed Benin as a mecca of 70s Afro sounds and revived the story of its people, but the unopened vaults housing the country's catacombs of musical riches are endless. With this as our compass, Analog Africa charters its fifth expedition to Benin, traveling far north to delve deeper into the obscured repertoires and tales of the Bariba and Dendi people.

With half a century of existence, Beninese band Poly-Rythmo can easily be considerate as legends of the African music alongside Sela Kuti and Tinariwen. Drawing their name from the extensive mix of influences that forged their sound (American soul and funk, Nigerian afrobeat, French chanson, Congolese rumba, etc.), they are known to be impressively productive as they released from 1969 to 1980 hundreds of EPs and dozens of albums. In 2014, orchestra conductor Florent Mazzoleni visited the band and decided to produce this new album recorded in the legendary African studio Satel. With its warm tone and mastery of rhythm variations, 'Madjafalao' ("watch out") will instantaneously become a classic of afrobeat and Poly-Rythmo will share their warm joie de vivre with thousands of people during their European tour starting in late October.

Lunapark is the trio of Burkhard Ballein, Klaus "Schlips" Gebauer, Reinhard "Zoppen" Benisch from Wuppertal, Germany. Formed in 1981 when the boys were dissatisfied with their surrounding musical environment. They packed their instruments and a cassette recorder and set off to create their own brand of Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW "New German Wave'). Their influences included The Beatles, Colloseum, Roxy Music, Frank Zappa as well as Sex Pistols, Ian Dury & The Blockheads, Blondie and The Cure. Gefangene Vögel' ('Prisoner Birds') is their debut album released by Intakt Records, Stuttgart in 1982. Utilizing a simple set up of guitar, bass, drums, drum-computer, Korg MS-10 and Korg MS-20 they recorded 10 tracks that make up the album. Songs bridge the Belgian-type industrial and cold sounds with NDW quirkiness. In the vein of Sad Lovers and Giants, and Schleimer K they blend post-punk and new wave music with electronic influences. All songs are sung in German with monotone vocals and epitomized the urban Zeitgeist of the Cold War. All songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The vinyl comes housed in a replica of the original jacket design, which features a drawing of birds on a grid. There are 4 different color versions of the screen printed jacket: blue, yellow, magenta and turquoise. Each LP includes a copy of the double sided 11x11 insert that was included with the original pressing with lyrics and photos.

SVS Records was set up by Beni Brachtel and Daniel Hermann-Collini as an imprint of Brachtel's sister project Selbstversorgersound (SVS). A compilation titled "SVS 1" was released in Oct 2012. This was the first official collection made up of songs from the last three years by various artists whose backgrounds could hardly be more diverse. Next up is a three vinyl series named "Polyrhythmic Series 1-3". Volume 2 contains exclusive productions from Gnther Lause (Karlsruhe/ Berlin, Crosstown Rebels, Paradise Now!, Laut und Luise, SVS), Larkin & the Sky (London/Munich, Paradise Now!, Goldsmith, SVS), Bartellow (Munich, Pollyester, Tambien, Columbus, GTA Hoffmann, SVS) and Konrad Wehrmeister. Five techno tracks of the highest calibre ranging from from dubbed out to tripped out and way beyond!

DJ support by Norman Nodge, Extrawelt, Ripperton, Trus'me, Ben Westbeech, Alland Byallo, Archiepelago, Brett Johnson, Eric Duncan, Agoria, Jonas Kopp

we are so proud of introducing an old friend of ours'label in discograph roaster... Here comes REINCARNATION. It's the joint project of Luca Benini's SLAM JAM and Enrico Crivellaro's NEROLI to release quality records and more.