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"The Coroner's Gambit" wurde ursprünglich im Oktober 2000 veröffentlicht. Fünf der sechzehn Songs wurden im Studio von Simon Joyner in Omaha, Nebraska, aufgenommen, fünf weitere in John Darnielles Haus in Colo, Iowa, und der Rest in Ames. Das Album entstand langsam; die Mountain Goats hatten von von 1991 bis 1998 jedes Jahr Musik veröffentlicht, aber zwischen der Veröffentlichung der "New Asian Cinema" EP und "The Coroner's Gambit" verging das Jahr 1999 ohne eine offizielle Mountain Goats-Veröffentlichung. Die zusätzliche Zeit, die "The Coroner's Gambit" in Anspruch nahm hatte sich gelohnt: Es war ein Durchbruch für Darnielle als Songwriter und als Produzent des kompletten Albums, der sich als Gitarrist und auch stimmlich weiterentwickelt hatte. Seine Charaktere sind hier scharf gezeichnet, die makellose Überlieferung der Welten, in denen sie leben, bieten ihnen etwas Schutz vor dem Sturm. Die Mischung aus Heim- und Studioaufnahmen verleiht The Coroner's Gambit ein mitreißendes Gefühl der Unmittelbarkeit und deutete gleichzeitig in eine Zukunft, die die 2002 mit "All Hail West Texas" und "Tallahassee" anbrechen sollte. "The Coroner's Gambit" ist ein eigenständiges Meisterwerk, ein introspektives Epos, das Darnielles Ruf als einer der größten Songwriter unterstreicht, dessen Talent für bekenntnishafte Fabulierkunst nur wenige Rivalen kennt. In den Jahren nach der ursprünglichen Veröffentlichung von "The Coroner's Gambit" wurde es schwierig das Album in seiner Gesamtheit zu erfassen. Die LPs waren damals in einer Papiertüte untergebracht, bedruckt mit zusätzlichen von Darnielle verfassten Liner Notes. Eintausend Vinyl-Exemplare wurden herausgegeben und glaubt man den Berichten aus der Sammlerszene, haben weit weniger als eintausend dieser Papiertüten überlebt. So existiert der Text heute hauptsächlich durch Flickr-Alben und auf Fanseiten weiter. Die Neuauflage von 2024 kommt mit neuen Texten und Liner Notes von Darnielle für sowohl CD als auch LP.

“There are lots of outstanding Joe McPhee LPs. Nation Time being chief among them, but there’s also Pieces Of Light, Oleo and Topology. The Poughkeepsie, New York-based multi-instrumentalist, by now an international star of free music, has amassed a daunting discography, no doubt. If you want to peer deeply into the soul of Joe McPhee, however, there’s no way around it, you need to spend some quality time with Tenor. “Tenor is McPhee’s first solo record. He did not set out to make it. It was an afterthought, quite literally, born of a gathering of friends at the Swiss farmhouse of cellist Michael Overhage. A beautiful meal, some drinks, warm conversation, and ... why not, an impromptu recital. Hat Hut producer Werner X. Uehlinger was there and a year later issued it as McPhee’s third LP for the label (Hat Hut C in their famed letter series). “The existential blues ‘Knox’ sets the stage, indicating that this will not just be a toss-off postprandial singalong. ‘Good-Bye Tom B.’ carries on with aching melancholy, through burred notes and hushed harmonics. The relatively jaunty ‘Sweet Dragon’ is also emotionally loaded with Ayler-esque vibrato, slurs, wipes, and blasts of tone. The side-long title track comes without a theme, as a kind of pure investigation of the horn, its potential, its limits, its expressive capacity. There have been few solo sessions as comprehensive and devastating as this spontaneous after-dinner diversion in rural Switzerland in 1976. We’re very lucky someone pressed record.” —John Corbett (excerpt from the liner notes)

“Let us advance our mortal bodies up Where hearts and minds will go Let’s walk, let’s roll.” So sings Madeleine Peyroux on the upbeat title track of her captivating tenth album, Let’s Walk, the acclaimed singer-songwriter’s most assured, courageous work to date. Powered by the distinctive, honeyed croon that delivered her from the Paris streets to concert halls, these ten unabashedly personal songs, all co-written by the versatile Peyroux, deftly interweave jazz, folk, and chamber pop, with themes ranging from the confessional to the political, from whimsy to yearning. In every note, Peyroux digs deep, rendering this exquisite work with the disarming grace and gravitas of an artist in peak form. Let’s Walk was a long time coming, but well worth the wait. Following Peyroux’s 2018 album, Anthem, the enforced isolation of the global pandemic made any real-time community gathering impossible. From a creative standpoint, however, Covid offered Peyroux a silver lining: she seized the opportunity to hunker down with longtime collaborator, multi-instrumentalist Jon Herington (Steely Dan, Lucy Kaplansky). The pair reflected on the seismic era at hand and wrote and re-wrote in what Peyroux calls “a shadow of reckoning.” When multi-Emmy-and-Grammy-winning producer Elliott Scheiner (Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles) heard a sampling of the new material, including “Let’s Walk,” he mandated “no covers” for the album. The longtime studio veteran knew the time was ripe to highlight Peyroux’s incisive, often topical lyrics meshed with Herington’s ear for melody and arrangements.

Baby Blue & Halloween Orange Vinyl. In their decade-plus together, the four-piece_Julia Shapiro (guitar, vocals), Lydia Lund (guitar, vocals), Gretchen Grimm (drums, vocals), and Annie Truscott (bass, vocals)_have created a resonant body of work. Live Laugh Love is a natural continuation. Against the bizarre backdrop of the past few years, Chastity Belt remained a supportive space for the members to grow and experiment, drawing on the ingredients most essential to their process since the beginning: authenticity and levity. Recorded over three sessions in as many years (January 2020, November 2021 and 2022), the focus became more about enjoying their time together in the studio than making it feel like work. Their ease and familiarity with engineer Samur Khouja in LA, who also recorded their last album, made for a particularly enjoyable process. Once completed, they returned to renowned engineer Heba Kadry who mastered the album.Album opener "Hollow" sets the tone with a gently driving rhythm while guitar layers stream like sun rays through an open car window. A warmth radiates through Shapiro's voice, even while grappling with feeling lost and stuck. "The older I get," Shapiro says of the lyrics, "the more I realize that I might just always feel this way, and it's more about sitting with the feeling and accepting it, rather than trying to fight it." That wisdom seems to anchor Live Laugh Love. Chastity Belt has never shied from navigating the spectrum of difficult emotions, and an existential thread weaves throughout the subject matter. And yet the songs feel more grounded than ever; there's a sense of quiet confidence and self-assurance that comes with being less numb and more present. Facing discomfort takes more fortitude, after all.Live Laugh Love finds the members in their prime as musicians. Their parts trace intricate patterns over one another, but there's room to breathe between the layers. Everyone contributes to the writing, sometimes switching instruments, and for the first time, all four members sing a song. It's never been more apparent that they are creative siblings, cut from the same belt. "We've been playing music with each other for over a decade," says Shapiro, "so it really does feel like we're all fluent in the same language, and a lot of it just happens naturally.""Laugh" seeks in the balm of friendship, aware of the anticipatory nostalgia that hits during a good time that you're already missing before it's gone; the heavier guitar tones on "Chemtrails" streak ominous chord progressions over Grimm's precision timekeeping, lamenting memories that won't fade easily. During a transitional time, Truscott came across a note in their phone that read, "it's not hard all day, just sometimes," which inspired a poignant line in the chorus of "Kool-Aid," their first song as lead vocalist on a Chastity Belt recording. Another standout, "I-90 Bridge" shines with a silvery melody that soars as Lund belts one of the most resounding moments on the album: "Tell your girlfriend she's got nothing to fear/I'm set in my head/My body's a different story." The track "Blue" saunters nonchalantly with a wink; you can almost hear Shapiro's smile as she sings "Faking it big time/So I can hit my stride/Man, it feels good to be alive," channeling early Chastity Belt channeling early '90s before channeling the late Elliott Smith in a spiral of distortion and insight: "Don't get upset about it/It's gonna pass/Tell all your friends about it/They're gonna laugh.""We have such a strong sense of each other's musical inclinations" says Lund. "I think this allows for a lot of playfulness_we can kinda surprise each other, like a good punchline would."

Thanks to the success of his productions and his remixes, all the works printed on vinyl made by Luca LTJ Xperience Trevisi have been snapped up among his fans and DJs from all over the world.

From his past catalog there was still a complete album released only in Compact Disc and in digital format in 2013: Ain't Nothing But A Groove, left behind not because it had anything less than the others but simply to alternate new releases with catalog ones.

Now it is finally being printed.

The album, strictly in the DJ Friendly version, double vinyl with only two tracks on each side, contains some of his Nu Disco Funk pearls such as: What I Feel, Linear Funk and Get Down. Luca LTJ Trevisi (LTJ Xperience) began his career as a DJ and producer in the 80s.

As resident DJ of two of the most famous Italian clubs, the Kinky in Bologna and the Cap Creus in Imola, he was one of the first Italian DJs to play House Music and to revive that particular selection of Black Music called Rare Groove mixed with Jazz and Latin-Bossa who gave birth to the Acid Jazz movement at the end of the 80s.

His first official release was in 1988 and was titled First Job, paired with Kekkotronics, and was also the first album from Irma Records. The song was included in many compilations and many DJ playlists around the world. In the following years, among his singles we find some song forms that anticipated the Breakbeat genre such as Do n't Stop The Sax and Funky Superfly. He produced Tameka Starr's single Going In Circles, also for Irma Records, which has become a classic of the Downtempo/R&B genre.

In the mid-90s he produced some Italian Acid Jazz groups such as Bossa Nostra and Live Tropical Fish and began to select Rare Grooves compilations that have become classics such as Groovy and Suono Libero. At the same time he also started playing outside Italy, in particular at the Blue Note and the Jazz Café in London, at the
Giant Step in New York and at the Montreaux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. In 1999 he released his first album under the pseudonym LTJ Xperience entitled Moon Beat which featured Ohm Guru in
the production and Taka Boom and Jackson Sloan as vocal guests. Two tracks from the album have become club classics:
the Brazilian House version of Sombre Guitar and the chill out Moon Beat. His second album in 2003 entitled When The Rain Begin To Fall features Joe Bataan in the reinterpretation of his most famous song Ordinary Guy which has become a Gilles Peterson classic.

After some singles including Organ Mind / I Love you (Larry Heard's favorite track) he dedicated himself to the world of the Nu Disco genre, releasing 5 albums in the genre to date. The latest Deepening of A Groove contains Bad Side with the American singer Anduze on vocals, which is one of his most popular hits, adored by Moodyman so much that he included it in the music of Playstation's Gran Theft Auto which sees him as the protagonist with his avatar.

*REMASTERED ROUGH TRADE 4 TRACK E.P LIMITED TO JUST 500 COPIES*

Everything on “Up Home!” is bigger, richer; the guitars are huge, as though they’re being played through the clouds, massive gusts of blue-green noise that move across the stereo spectrum like weather systems. “Baby Milk Snatcher” is built around face-flattening dub bass, with glinting piano and shards of guitar ricocheting through the song. “W.O.G.S.” is delirious to the point of expiration; “One Way Mirror” is their attempt at weird, lopsided ‘anti-funk’, the song’s melody crushed by avalanches of six-string interference. And the closing “Up” is AR Kane’s masterpiece, a disembodied thud pulsing at its heart as a six-note guitar melody spirals ever onward, Ayuli’s voice lost in its own reverie, hymning escapism via references to Jamaican political activist Marcus Garvey’s ‘black star line’.
• Jon Dale, lead review in Uncut Magazine
who grew up together in Stratford, East London. From the off the pair were outsiders in the culturally mixed (cockney/Irish/West Indian/Asian) milieu of the East End, with Alex and Rudy’s folks first generation immigrants from Nigeria and Malawi, respectively. The two of them quickly developed and fostered an innate and near-telepathic mutual understanding forged in musical, literary and
artistic exploration. Like a lot of second-generation immigrants, they were ferocious autodidacts in all kinds of areas, especially around music and literature. Diving deep into the music of afro-futurist luminaries such as Sun Ra, Miles Davis, Lee Perry and Hendrix, as well as devouring the explorations of lysergic noise and feedback from contemporaries like Sonic Youth and Butthole Surfers, they also thoroughly immersed themselves in the alternate literary realities of sci-fi and ancient history (the fascination with the arcane that gave the band their name), all to feed their voracious cultural thirsts and intellectual curiosity.

It was seeing the Cocteau Twins performing on Channel 4 show the Tube that spurred A.R. Kane into being - “They had no drummer. They used tapes and technology and Liz Fraser looked completely otherworldly with those big eyes. And the noise coming out of Robin’s guitar! That was the ‘Fuck! We could do that!
The duo debuted with the astonishing ‘When You’re Sad’ single for One Little Indian in
1986. Immediately dubbed a ‘black Jesus & Mary Chain’ by a press unsure of WHERE to put a black band clearly immersed in feedback and noise, what was immediately apparent for listeners was just how much more was going on here – a tapping of dub’s stealth and guile, a resonant umbilicus back to fusion and jazz, the music less a conjuration of past highs than a re-summoning of lost spirits.

The run of singles and EPs that followed picked up increasingly rapt reviews in the press, but it was the ‘Up Home EP’ released in 1988 on their new home, Rough Trade that really suggested something immense was about to break. SimonReynolds noted the EP was: Their most concentrated slab of iridescent awesomeness and a true pinnacle of an era that abounded with astounding
landmarks of guitar-reinvention, A.R. Kane at their most elixir-like.

If anything, the remastered ‘Up Home’ is even more dazzling, even more startling than it was when it first emerged, and listening now you again wonder not just about how many bands christened ‘shoegaze’ tried to emulate it, but how all of them fell so far short of its lambent, pellucid wonder. This
remains intrinsically experimental music but with none of the frowning orthodoxy those words imply. A.R. Kane, thanks to that second generation auto-didacticism were always supremely aware about the interstices of music and magic, but at the same time gloriously free in the way they explored that connection within their own sound, fascinated always with the creation of ‘perfect mistakes’ and the possibilities inherent in informed play.

Ahead of her upcoming headline tour, eight-time GRAMMY®-nominated diamond-certified icon Avril Lavigne announces her first-ever Greatest Hits album set for a June 21 release via Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment. Avril Lavigne - Greatest Hits will be available on 12" vinyl, CD and digital formats and is now available for pre-order. The album will be available in 12" black vinyl and a Target-exclusive 12" vinyl neon green pressing. The album packaging includes new photos and a personal note to fans from Avril.

An essential compilation from all phases of Avril's pioneering career as one of the 21st century's breakout pop icons, Avril Lavigne - Greatest Hits features 20 career-spanning fan-favorites from her record-smashing catalog including the RIAA 3x platinum-certified "Complicated" and 2x platinum-certified “Sk8er Boi” from her chart-topping 2002 debut album Let Go (Artista) through her seventh studio album Love Sux (Elektra/DTA) with songs such as “Bite Me,” “Bois Lie” feat. Machine Gun Kelly and “I’m A Mess” with Yungblud.

Avril Lavigne will bring her Greatest Hits on the road for a series of unforgettable concerts in 2024. The Avril Lavigne: The Greatest Hits tour kicks off on Wednesday, May 22 in Vancouver, BC at Rogers Arena, with stops in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, 2x Toronto, Charlotte, Nashville, Chicago and more before wrapping up on Wednesday, Sept 18 in Calgary. All Time Low and Simple Plan will join Avril on select dates throughout the tour as special guests and direct support, with Royal & the Serpent and Girlfriends joining select dates as opening acts.

Four of Avril's studio albums – Under My Skin (Arista/RCA - 2004), Best Damn Thing (RCA - 2007), Goodbye Lullaby (RCA - 2011), and Avril Lavigne (Epic - 2013) – will be released for the first time in 12" vinyl editions expanded to include bonus recordings formerly available as digital-only tracks. Amazon will offer an exclusive metallic silver pressing of Under My Skin, an exclusive 2LP surge green pressing of Goodbye Lullaby (with nine bonus tracks) and an exclusive opaque baby blue pressing of Avril Lavigne (with three bonus tracks). Avril's D2C store will offer their own exclusives including a 2LP 12" neon pink vinyl pressing of The Best Damn Thing (with five bonus tracks).

Released in January 2023 in expanded digital and 2LP 12" vinyl formats as Let Go (20th Anniversary Edition), Avril's 2002 studio debut is being re-struck in a new 12" vinyl pressing for the Avril Lavigne catalog reissue celebration.

Ahead of her upcoming headline tour, eight-time GRAMMY®-nominated diamond-certified icon Avril Lavigne announces her first-ever Greatest Hits album set for a June 21 release via Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment. Avril Lavigne - Greatest Hits will be available on 12" vinyl, CD and digital formats and is now available for pre-order. The album will be available in 12" black vinyl and a Target-exclusive 12" vinyl neon green pressing. The album packaging includes new photos and a personal note to fans from Avril.

An essential compilation from all phases of Avril's pioneering career as one of the 21st century's breakout pop icons, Avril Lavigne - Greatest Hits features 20 career-spanning fan-favorites from her record-smashing catalog including the RIAA 3x platinum-certified "Complicated" and 2x platinum-certified “Sk8er Boi” from her chart-topping 2002 debut album Let Go (Artista) through her seventh studio album Love Sux (Elektra/DTA) with songs such as “Bite Me,” “Bois Lie” feat. Machine Gun Kelly and “I’m A Mess” with Yungblud.

Avril Lavigne will bring her Greatest Hits on the road for a series of unforgettable concerts in 2024. The Avril Lavigne: The Greatest Hits tour kicks off on Wednesday, May 22 in Vancouver, BC at Rogers Arena, with stops in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, 2x Toronto, Charlotte, Nashville, Chicago and more before wrapping up on Wednesday, Sept 18 in Calgary. All Time Low and Simple Plan will join Avril on select dates throughout the tour as special guests and direct support, with Royal & the Serpent and Girlfriends joining select dates as opening acts.

Four of Avril's studio albums – Under My Skin (Arista/RCA - 2004), Best Damn Thing (RCA - 2007), Goodbye Lullaby (RCA - 2011), and Avril Lavigne (Epic - 2013) – will be released for the first time in 12" vinyl editions expanded to include bonus recordings formerly available as digital-only tracks. Amazon will offer an exclusive metallic silver pressing of Under My Skin, an exclusive 2LP surge green pressing of Goodbye Lullaby (with nine bonus tracks) and an exclusive opaque baby blue pressing of Avril Lavigne (with three bonus tracks). Avril's D2C store will offer their own exclusives including a 2LP 12" neon pink vinyl pressing of The Best Damn Thing (with five bonus tracks).

Released in January 2023 in expanded digital and 2LP 12" vinyl formats as Let Go (20th Anniversary Edition), Avril's 2002 studio debut is being re-struck in a new 12" vinyl pressing for the Avril Lavigne catalog reissue celebration.

A Gilles Peterson-approved deep jazz-rap classic.

2024 first time vinyl release, 140g double vinyl, remastered audio with restored artwork.

Limited and Non-Returnable.

Holy grail hip-hop alert! Superstar Quamallah's Invisible Man was never released on wax so, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of this astounding record, we present the first ever vinyl edition. A stunning record which gained accolades upon its initial release, such as a prominent feature on Gilles Peterson's renowned Best Of 2009 show, it's one of the most essential jazz rap albums of all time.

Deep jazz rap on that mellow-melodic tip, Invisible Man is an unforgettable album with nothing but dope beats and dope bars. There's a strong chance this album has passed you by but we truly believe it to be a lost hip-hop masterpiece. It supremely captures the essence of a golden age classic without being slavish to the past. No, this ain't some facile throwback rap. It's a fresh and deeply soulful, original album shot through straight from the heart. Perfect to chill to, Invisible Man is profoundly jazz-oriented and captures with simplicity and sincerity the essence of hip-hop circa 1983-1994. It sounds like vibing with your nearest, dearest and oldest friends on a long hot summer night as the tantalising thought that anything is possible fills the air. You know what, we can just call this "magic hour rap" and we think you'll know what we mean. It's just beautiful. Just Listen.

Brooklyn-born, California-based emcee, DJ, and producer Superstar Quamallah was active in the West Coast underground scene throughout the 90s and recorded extensively with such revered names as Defari and Tajai. His parents were some serious artistic heavyweights, too; his father was soul organist Big John Patton, a giant in the jazz world known for his releases on Blue Note whilst his mother was an active designer. However, he remains relatively unknown. Invisible Man, named ostensibly after the classic Ralph Ellison novel, could also refer to how he is viewed by the public at large. With close affiliations to the Hieroglyphics, Dilated Peoples and Likwit crew, his debut EP "Don't Call Me John" arrived in 1999 on ABB Records, after which he took a sabbatical from recording which included graduate school, travelling, teaching at Inglewood High and eventually a professorship of African Studies at Berkeley.

With a laidback flow and deep, relaxing presence on the mic, Superstar Quamallah is equal parts Big Daddy Kane, Rakim and Guru. Invisible Man is refined, soulful, feel-good hip-hop of the old school. Its wise, spiritual and literate sound, combined with the summertime vibes projected by the smooth beats and the nostalgia-inducing samples and vocal scratches, created jazzy boom-bap rap reminiscent of prime De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest and Gang Starr.

Irresistibly bouncing opener "You Need Knowledge" loops sparkling pianos, horns and a nagging whistle refrain with scratched vocal refrains from Slick Rick, Mobb Deep and Guru. The super-smooth head-nod classic "88 Soul" also utilises a beautifully swelling piano line and dusty breaks whilst Quamé reminisces about his childhood in NYC. Deeply moving, the silky, sultry "Black Shakespeare" is built around an elegant piano loop and goes hard on the superman lover tip whilst "For My People...It's Spiritual" is transcendental rap in conversation with Rakim and older gods. The "Moment Of Truth"-sampling "Lonely At The Top" is striking for its undiluted boom-bap stylings and the staccato flute-hop of "Just Listen" is riddled with soulful refinement. The deeply-affecting, wistful-yet-triumphant bells and horn-drenched single "California Dreamin'" is top-tier rap of unimpeachable quality. What a flow!

Another highlight is the rich melodic piano-rap of "Purity", a beautiful ode to the foundations of rap and those keeping the culture authentically alive. Beautifully played instruments and spiritual jazz samples elevate the deep thinking present on "Kunta Kente" whilst the darker jazz-tinged battle-rap of "93 Shit" goes super hard both in a lyrical sense and with its no-holds drum punches. The breezy Rhodes and string loops that serve as the sonic backdrop to the slinky jazz rap of "We Got Plots" are just gorgeous as our hero evokes Common's "I Used To Love H.E.R." with a head-spinning tale of crime, deception and double crossing. And some twist! "Do Win-Dis" has a tense crime-funk backing and rolling beats which complement Quamé's flow perfectly before the record is rounded out by the tough yet jazzy brilliance of rap confessional "Hope She Remembers Me". Just sensational.

Upon its original release, Quamallah himself declared: "My favorite time period for Hip Hop music was definitely between 1983 and 1994 with 1988 and 1993 being two years that standout as extremely impressive years musically and culturally. The fashion, slang, movies, TV shows and vibe during those years was incredible. While totally submerged in the feelings and music of that entire time period, I went to work on Invisible Man and I am excited for people to hear the result! It is an album that I would want to hear from some of my favorite artists of the past and present today. This is not a RETRO trip for me; this is me at my best lyrically and spiritually using the accessories of the 80s and 90s to fuel me. I am a 88 soul as the song states!"

This album goes deep. It goes all in. When Invisible Man first came out it had a real hold on us here at Be With HQ. We couldn't stop listening to it. We'd venture to say it's one of the top 25 rap records of the 2000s. In the years since its release, it has remained a criminally underrated record, an increasingly hidden gem. We sincerely hope this first time double LP release will go some way to correct this.

It's been mastered for vinyl by Simon Francis, cut by Cicely Balston and pressed at Record Industry. Finally available on the format it should always have been on, it must never be rendered invisible again.

TexiCali, the new album from Grammy winner Dave Alvin and Grammy nominee Jimmie Dale Gilmore, continues to bridge the distance between the two troubadours’ respective home bases of California (Alvin) and Texas (Gilmore). The geographic theme reflects Alvin’s repeated journeys to record in Central Texas with Gilmore and the Austin-based backing band that has toured with the duo for the past few years. As Alvin puts it in the liner notes, those road trips informed the music they made on TexiCali. The 11 songs on this double LP also connect their shared fondness for a broad range of American music forms. Gilmore is primarily known for left-of-center country music, while Alvin’s compass points largely toward old-school blues. But there’s a lot of ground to cover beyond those foundations, and both artists also are well-known for transcending genre limitations. So it’s not surprising that they’ve spiked TexiCali with cosmic folk narratives, deep R&B grooves and even swinging reggae rhythms.

Rare debut LP by the eccentric Peruvian singer Jean Paul "El Troglodita", known for his wild performances and extreme way of life. Enrique Roberto Tellería made his Peruvian television debut in 1965 under the stage name Jean Paul El Troglodita and wearing an imitation leopard skin suit. He would switch from melodic calm to shouting wildly or suddenly drop to the floor on his knees and smash the furniture like crazy. At the age of 19, DisPerú signed him to the label on the strength of these early performances. His first single included a freely translated version of 'Secret Agent Man' in Spanish. He began to work on the eleven cover versions that would feature on his first LP immediately, writing all his own lyrics and accompanied by the beat band Los Steivos. Despite the predominance of English beat music in Peru, the album only included three songs directly related to the British invasion: 'Bus Stop' by The Hollies, also played in raga rock style; 'Paint it Black' by The Rolling Stones; and 'The House of the Rising Sun', which follows the arrangement recorded by The Animals. So most songs come the American songbook. Apart from 'Tema de El Troglodita' (a versión of 'Secret Agent' by The Challengers), we find the bluesy 'Mustang Sally' (Sir Mack Rice). Two other US numbers, originally performed with orchestral accompaniment, were adapted to fit the rock band format: 'Poor Side of Town' (Johnny Rivers) and 'Take Me to the Moon' (Kaye Ballard). 'El verdadero amor' ('True Love'), an uncredited version is in a similar vein. The Spanish song 'Negro es negro' (Los Bravos) and the Brazilian track 'Que todo se vaya al infierno' (Roberto Carlos) also feature on the LP. El Troglodita's association with the so-called nueva ola, indicated on the back cover, needs clarification. In Peru, nueva ola was a mixed bag rather than a specific musical style and encompassed slow rock, twist, bossa nova and all the styles that the record industry produced to tame the wild rock 'n' roll impulses of teenagers in the early sixties. The Peruvian artists that performed these inoffensive Spanish adaptations of Paul Anka, Neil Sedaka or Frankie Avalon, were presented as successful models of youth culture. This was until 1964, when the Beatles with their mop-top haircuts hit the charts, vindicating rock 'n' roll and imposing the group format over the soloist model. Meanwhile the press continued to call any youth music recorded during the rest of the decade nueva ola. Jean Paul noted these distinctions early on and distanced himself from it in several statements. He saw his performance more in a style as a solo artist as following in the footsteps of e.g. Los Saicos. His 'hippie' lifestyle got him arrested by the new de facto military government in 1968, who accused him of promoting drug consumption and corrupting the Peruvian youth. The charges were soon dropped but his reputation was tarnished, and he ended up emigrating to Central America. The album includes Spanish sung versions of British beat songs and covers of the American songbook as well as various international hits.

In the history of Black American soul music many recording artists have been called “Legends” some deservedly and perhaps some not so deserving of this current over used accolade? I might be a tad biased here, perhaps? but in my book one James Howard McCelland a.k.a Jesse James has surely earned the right to be called a “Legend” this octogenarian performer has weathered many storms and shifts in musical trends and styles over the years but like the trouper that he is albeit in lower keys these days he still manages time and time again to come up with the goods! “Back On Top Again” is Jesse James latest production album, a project filled with recent and current recordings in a southern soul style that has likened in passing by several respected soul scribes to the Malaco Sound I’ll let the record buying public make their own minds up on that one, I’m sure veteran DJ Bob Jones won’t mind me using his quote below:

The album also features two of Jesse’s friend’s with Donnie McKisic providing the rapping and additional backing vocals on the upbeat “I Lost My Baby On Face Book” and Shirley Diamond who you may recall from Soul Junction’s recent 45 release “You Don’t Know Who You Sleeping With” (SJ1021) returning with another excellent Diamond & James duet “Another Love Lay Over” as a further foot note the featured song “I’d Be A Fool 2 Fool Around On You” is an excellent cover version of what was a previously unissued Harvey Scales song until Soul Junction released it as the flipside their thirteenth 45 single release way back in 2011.

Album Sleeve Notes:

At the dawn of the 1960’s a young aspiring soul singer from Richmond, California by the name of James H. McClelland was honing his performing skills in several local nightclubs. At one particular show the compere struggled to pronounce the young performer’s surname and to hide his embarrassment he hurriedly introduced him as ‘Jesse James’, which became Jesse’s Stage name to the present day.

Jesse’s big break came through his aunt who at that time just happened to be dating West Coast Blues and R&B Legend Jimmy McCracklin. The aunt suggested to McCracklin the he should take a listen to her talented nephew, suitably impressed McCracklin produced Jesse on a song he’d written “I Will Go” for the local Shirley label. The release is credited to Jesse James & The Royal Aces a bunch of local musicians that Jesse had grown up with which included Slyvester Stewart a.k.a Mr “Dance To The Music” himself Sly Stone” on guitar. “I Will Go” was quite a popular record locally and led to a further four Jesse James releases on Shirley culminating in Jesse’s most sought-after record the delightful “Are You Gonna Leave Me”in 1966. The following year Jesse recorded the minor hit “Believe In Me Baby” released by the local ‘Hit’ label before being picked up by 20th Century for national distribution. While signed to 20th Century Jesse recorded a self-titled album and three other 45 singles before leaving the label.

Following a solitary 45 release for the Uni Label in 1969 Jesse formed his own Production and Publishing company ‘South Richmond Music’ releasing 45’s on his own label logo’s Zea and Zay before returning to 20th Century for a second time during 1974, releasing two 45 singles of which the sublime “If You Want A Love Affair” reaching #92 in the Billboard R&B charts in 1975, a song that would later receive worldwide acclaimed and is now regarded as Jesse’s signature tune. Ron Carson had been the producer on the later 20th Century releases and it was he that placed one of Jesse’s songs “The Same Thing Happens” on the Happy Fox label’s blaxploitation album “Black Fist”.

Into the 1980’s Jesse leased some of his songs for release on the Atlanta Georgia, Midtown label, a solitary release on the Moonlite Hope Music label (a lead single for a proposed album that never materialised) followed before Jesse joined Max Kidd’s Washington based TTED label. The TTED imprint was to yield Jesse’s biggest hit record “I Can Do Bad By Myself” reaching #61 in the R&B Charts. Following TTED Jesse formed Gunsmoke records releasing “Love On The Side” in 1988, from there on Jesse has continued to regularly release numerous studio albums though the 90’s into the new millennium and on to the present day.

Now well into his seventh decade as a performer this most resilient and enduring performer, has never been one to let the grass grow under his feet. He still performs live shows and is actively writing, producing and recording fresh new material. Soul Junction have now gathered together some of Jesse’s most recent and new recordings to form this album project which is aptly titled “Back On Top Again” Ride on Jesse James!

First time on vinyl!
Newly remastered. LP housed in a gatefold jacket.
Featuring Herbie Hancock, Martha Reeves, Alphonse Mouzon, Chuck Rainey, Patryce “Choc’let” Banks, Carlos Morales, and members of The Pointer Sisters.

In the 1970s, Betty Davis defied genre and gender by pushing her voice to extremes and embracing the erotic. She articulated a kind of pre-punk, funk-blues fusion that had yet to be normalized in mainstream music – a style that few musicians have come close to replicating. As one of the first Black women to write, arrange, and produce her own albums, Betty was a visionary who disregarded industry boundaries and constraints. Raw, unapologetic and in full control, Betty paved the way for generations of future artists who said “funk you” to the music industry and social norms.

In 1979, when Davis entered an L.A. studio to record her fifth and final album, she was reeling from a series of setbacks. Three years earlier, after recording her fourth album, Is It Love Or Desire, Davis was dropped from her label and the LP was subsequently shelved. In 1978, her beloved band Funk House went their separate ways. Looking for a fresh start, Davis relocated to Hollywood to focus on songwriting. Before long, British manager Simon Lait (Toni Basil), offered to fund her next project.

With renewed vigor, Davis reunited with former Funk House guitarist Carlos Morales and brought together industry veterans like fusion drummer Alphonse Mouzon and session bassist Chuck Rainey. Old friends Anita and Bonnie Pointer (The Pointer Sisters) and Patryce “Choc’let” Banks joined Davis on vocals, as did Motown legend Martha Reeves. The resulting album, Crashin’ From Passion, was her most musically diverse, blending elements of reggae and calypso (“I’ve Danced Before”), jazz (“Hangin’ Out in Hollywood,” “Tell Me a Few Things”), dark synth-pop (“She’s a Woman”), and even disco (“All I Do Is Think of You”). Equally exploratory are Davis’ vocals, as she trades in her signature sass and snarls for more nuanced stylings.

Among the album’s few funk tracks is “Quintessence of Hip,” in which Davis hails musicians like Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday, Stevie Wonder, and John Coltrane, while deftly integrating elements of their work. The song also offers a moment of stark vulnerability, as she sings, “Isn’t rich? Isn’t it queer? Losing my timing so late in my career.” It would prove to be a prophetic line in the months to follow.

The mixing process was mired by artistic differences and then cut short, amid the death of Davis’ beloved father. Bereft and exasperated, Davis returned home for the funeral, setting into motion her retirement from the music industry. Crashin’ From Passion, meanwhile, would be shelved for 15 years and licensed for a CD-only release, without Davis’ consent, in the ‘90s. This 2023 edition of the album, made with Davis’ full approval and cooperation, marks its first official release and first time ever on vinyl. The package was designed by GRAMMY®-winning artist, Masaki Koike, while the album cover features an incredible shot of Betty captured in London in the mid-1970s by renowned photographer Kate Simon.

Crashin’ From Passion was remastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters and pressed on vinyl at Record Technology, Inc. (RTI). The accompanying booklet includes a treasure trove of rare photos from the era, plus lyrics, and new liner notes by writer, ethnomusicologist, and Betty’s close friend, Danielle Maggio, who integrates interviews that she conducted with Davis, marking her last ever interviews.

"Family Style is a blues rock album by the Vaughan Brothers, originally released in 1990. The album features the brethren guitarists and vocalists, Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan, in their only studio collaboration. In his early years, Stevie Ray Vaughan often remarked that he would like to do an album with his brother. He fulfilled that wish in his very last studio performance, which was released nearly a month after his death. The liner notes end with ""Thanks Mama V. for letting us play."" With slick production from Nile Rodgers, this is bluesy, but far from purist. Jimmie makes his vocal debut on ""White Boots"" and ""Good Texan,"" and the brothers blur the lines between their expected guitar styles - Stevie sometimes going for a less sustainy twang, Jimmie moving into Albert King territory. Family Style is available as a limited edition of 2000 individually numbered copies on translucent blue coloured vinyl and includes an insert with lyrics. "

First time on vinyl!
Newly remastered. LP housed in a gatefold jacket.
Featuring Herbie Hancock, Martha Reeves, Alphonse Mouzon, Chuck Rainey, Patryce “Choc’let” Banks, Carlos Morales, and members of The Pointer Sisters.

In the 1970s, Betty Davis defied genre and gender by pushing her voice to extremes and embracing the erotic. She articulated a kind of pre-punk, funk-blues fusion that had yet to be normalized in mainstream music – a style that few musicians have come close to replicating. As one of the first Black women to write, arrange, and produce her own albums, Betty was a visionary who disregarded industry boundaries and constraints. Raw, unapologetic and in full control, Betty paved the way for generations of future artists who said “funk you” to the music industry and social norms.

In 1979, when Davis entered an L.A. studio to record her fifth and final album, she was reeling from a series of setbacks. Three years earlier, after recording her fourth album, Is It Love Or Desire, Davis was dropped from her label and the LP was subsequently shelved. In 1978, her beloved band Funk House went their separate ways. Looking for a fresh start, Davis relocated to Hollywood to focus on songwriting. Before long, British manager Simon Lait (Toni Basil), offered to fund her next project.

With renewed vigor, Davis reunited with former Funk House guitarist Carlos Morales and brought together industry veterans like fusion drummer Alphonse Mouzon and session bassist Chuck Rainey. Old friends Anita and Bonnie Pointer (The Pointer Sisters) and Patryce “Choc’let” Banks joined Davis on vocals, as did Motown legend Martha Reeves. The resulting album, Crashin’ From Passion, was her most musically diverse, blending elements of reggae and calypso (“I’ve Danced Before”), jazz (“Hangin’ Out in Hollywood,” “Tell Me a Few Things”), dark synth-pop (“She’s a Woman”), and even disco (“All I Do Is Think of You”). Equally exploratory are Davis’ vocals, as she trades in her signature sass and snarls for more nuanced stylings.

Among the album’s few funk tracks is “Quintessence of Hip,” in which Davis hails musicians like Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday, Stevie Wonder, and John Coltrane, while deftly integrating elements of their work. The song also offers a moment of stark vulnerability, as she sings, “Isn’t rich? Isn’t it queer? Losing my timing so late in my career.” It would prove to be a prophetic line in the months to follow.

The mixing process was mired by artistic differences and then cut short, amid the death of Davis’ beloved father. Bereft and exasperated, Davis returned home for the funeral, setting into motion her retirement from the music industry. Crashin’ From Passion, meanwhile, would be shelved for 15 years and licensed for a CD-only release, without Davis’ consent, in the ‘90s. This 2023 edition of the album, made with Davis’ full approval and cooperation, marks its first official release and first time ever on vinyl. The package was designed by GRAMMY®-winning artist, Masaki Koike, while the album cover features an incredible shot of Betty captured in London in the mid-1970s by renowned photographer Kate Simon.

Crashin’ From Passion was remastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters and pressed on vinyl at Record Technology, Inc. (RTI). The accompanying booklet includes a treasure trove of rare photos from the era, plus lyrics, and new liner notes by writer, ethnomusicologist, and Betty’s close friend, Danielle Maggio, who integrates interviews that she conducted with Davis, marking her last ever interviews.

(Clear with black, white & blue splatter limited to 500 copies on LP) Jeff Rosenstock's 2018 album POST-. Written in the days after the 2017 Presidential inauguration, POST-'s lyrics get (really) heavy but the melodies are so catchy and the builds are so big and bright that the end result is more of a rallying cry than a surrender. The album was recorded in a one-week, 86-hour marathon recording session with Jack Shirley (Joyce Manor, Deafheaven) at the Atomic Garden in East Palo Alto, CA. "I wrote the songs and the liner notes. And did the layout. This is Jeff."

Review: Three German instrumental talents - Chris Haertel, David Nesselhauf, Julian Gutjahr - make up The Drawbars, whom together describe their music as 'off jazz'. Following up their prior outing for Basel's BurningSole, on which two instrumental originals stuck out like raw thrums, their latest is an unexpected curveball in the form of a standout rare groove version of Billie Eilish's modern classic 'Bad Guy'. Riffing of its madhouse hooks by way of a watery high electric keyboard part, the essence of the track pairs timely well the Northern-soulful form of breaks, fills and bass jaunts. The B, 'Smokes & Mirrors', returns to OG songwriting and hears electric glisses and portamento synths dance across sultry, incense-filled rhythmatic rooms and navy-noted blueses.

Der visionäre südafrikanische Pianist, Komponist, Philosoph und Heiler Nduduzo Makhathini legt mit „uNomkhubulwane“ seinen elftes Studioalbum und insgesamt drittes auf Blue Note Records vor (nach „Modes of Communication: Letters From The Underworlds“ von 2020 und „In The Spirit Of Ntu“ von 2022).

Das tiefgründige Werk, das eine Hommage an die Zulu-Göttin uNomkhubulwane darstellt und die tragische Geschichte der Unterdrückung Afrikas erforscht, besteht aus drei Sätzen und präsentiert Makhathini in Triobesetzung mit Zwelakhe-Duma Bell le Pere am Bass und Francisco Mela am Schlagzeug.

Ella Fitzgerald was an great American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing. Louis Armstrong, nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several eras in the history of jazz. Together Ella & Louis recorded various songs. On this 3 LP in a gatefold sleeve the complete “Ella & Louis”& “Ella & Louis Again” albums (30 tracks). All these tracks were recorded in Hollywood in 1956 & 1957 with on most tracks Oscar Peterson on piano, Herb Ellis on guitar, Ray Brown on bass. Buddy Rich played drums on Ella & Louis. Louie Bellson drums on the “Ella & Louis Again” tracks. This Classic Albums Collection is a must have for music lovers.

Tangential Music is pleased to present the new album from veteran Spanish DJ and producer, Dj Toner (aka Antonio Herrera). Alongside his co-writer/arranger Daniel Molina and with guests that include the legendary Blue Note Records innovator Erik Truffaz and Grammy winning flautist and saxophonist Jorge Pardo, he has created a 10 track collection of slow-burning instrumentals that straddle the worlds of hip hop, jazz and electronica.

With a personal, precision tooled approach to his craft, the Andalusian has offered up an album of finely modelled downbeat moods.

At first glance, ‘Out Side’ is made up of recognisably superior hip hop instrumentals but if you listen carefully, and with patience, one can hear a craftsman at work. A wooden box is just a box until you look closer. The hidden joints, the perfect lining up of the grain, the years of artisanal graft and laser-focussed attention to detail that go into making something that has nothing present, that doesn’t deserve to be there. This is how Dj Toner operates.

The two singles that preempt the album’s release reveal different sides of his craft. ‘Camina’ struts with tough intentions. Soundtrack-y in an exploitation police drama manner, the get-out-of-my-way drum break and tension-filled chords suggest the bad cop, Erik Truffaz’s piercing lyrical trumpet lines, the good. The Afro-jazz horns led second release ‘Surprise’ is an altogether more playful, sunbaked affair. Sensual and slow-burning, there’s still an edge but it’s too hot to quarrel.

Dj Toner’s minimalist attitude to creation is shared with his co-composer Molina - an individual’s contribution may be cut to the bone, leaving just its aura or tone. The echo of a piano, a single blast of tuneful wind from a flute, a perfectly positioned drum hit.

Since the Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA began applying his beatmaking prowess to movie soundtracks, the hip hop instrumental has been acknowledged as something to listen to, as much as being used as a DJ tool or backing for an MC. Dj Toner’s instrumentals can, therefore, be seen as soundtracks. Soundtracks to his life and craft, vignettes of his environment in both the urban sprawl and the wider and slower spaces of “el campo”.

The sweet-tempered jazz-blues of ‘La Rimosa’ is a gentle welcome to the album. A simple, laid back groove with the most romantic of piano hooks that one could imagine Common dropping rhymes on. You’re kept on your toes with the odd purposeful moment of discordant interruption but the tender heart of the composition is never far away.

‘O’Beat’ hints at John Coltrane with the sparse but full-sounding upright bass before a head-snap break leads into a curious piano groove, a vintage organ swirls into a psychedelic fractal, whilst the bluesy female vocal snippets add the spice, that zing in the Granadan gazpacho.

The flamenco guitar driven ‘Flama’ is an excellent example of intricate sample placement and musicality. Old school (school yard) scratch interludes, sweet piano hooks, a minimalist but knife sharp flute contribution from Jorge Pardo, and the crunchiest of drums taking us for an intriguing walk round the corner.

We’ve mentioned them before but it’s on ‘Sweetband’ that we can feel that Wu-Tang dread hanging off its shoulders. A brooding orchestral number with powerful horns and a cavernous piano hit. The title of the piece is in stark contrast to the dark shadows of the tune.

Erik Truffaz returns in fine form on the super lethargic jazz-funk-hop of ‘The Day’. His instantly identifiable muted trumpet sound paints dazzling colours over the more earthy tones of the filtered down keys as a rubbery upright bass keeps the forward momentum. Dj Toner’s ‘Blessed Are The Weird People’ album, was rated in Jazz Magazine as one of the 20 jazz albums of 2021, so he isn’t some dilettante when it comes to playing with the complex hues of jazz but he does like to strip it to its bare essentials.

‘Fanega’ sees a gorgeous flute contribution from Jorge Pardo. An eerie boom-bap groove with sprinkles of electronic pulses and washed out chords is the canvas on which the award-winning multi-instrumentalist evokes the heat shimmer of the savannah.


‘Esperanza’ translates as ‘hope’ in English and this lovely slow, swinging jazzy groove really does provoke feelings of positivity and belief. Sublime vibraphone and another stunning trumpet offering from Erik Truffaz, take us on a journey of warm days and possibilities, the shuffling drums and sweet chord patterns are nicely finished off by a tranquil horn chorus towards its unhurried end.

‘Under Beat’ ends on a beefy boom-bap groove with a liquid funk bassline, elegant synth strings and old school scratching. Again, there’s that undisputable soundtrack edge, action and motion, the smell of the city.

There you have it, 10 tracks that go beyond the surface, deep into the dedicated craft of Dj Toner. Decades of experience and collaboration purified and refined into beat-heavy emotions, listen closely or crank it up, it’s down to you!

Artist and musician Gillies Adamson Semple explores the material resonance of drone
on new vinyl-only album Volumes.

In 2022, Gillies Adamson Semple made a pilgrimage to the Valère Basilica in the Swiss Alps to play the oldest functioning pipe organ in the world. Built in 1435, this unique instrument is the centrepiece of this sensitive and stirring 6-track release, tracing the elemental themes of spirituality, anatomy, ecological collapse, and the nature of listening in its glacial minimalist drones.

Drawing inspiration from the long-form compositions of Sarah Davachi and Kali Malone, Volumes was built from in-situ recordings Semple made in Switzerland, with the aim of capturing the physical qualities of the sound, from the stops and pedals to the air rushing through the organ’s ancient pipes. Treated like sculptural material and re-assembled at Semple’s London studio in the tradition of musique concrète, the tracks evoke a sense of exquisite timelessness, at once part of and floating free of their environment.

As Semple explains: “What I like about the organ is that you can make it feel very physical. It has all these mechanical parts that sound really beautiful. And the piece is never performed. It is something that is rooted in the site. The whole pilgrimage to see this organ in Switzerland ended up acting like that, where you’re going to this very sacred place to see this specific instrument, but all you’re taking back is recording.”

Released on vinyl via Fourth Sounds, Volumes was initially conceived as the soundtrack to Semple’s 2023 exhibition of the same name at Cedric Bardawil in London.

Edition of 200 with risograph insert, liner notes by Anton Spice. Fully remastered for vinyl.

THE 1968 ALBUM ON WHICH JOHNNY CASH BECAME A LEGEND: AT FOLSOM PRISON AMONG THE MOST IMPORTANT AND POTENT STATEMENTS OF THE 20TH CENTURY


Johnny Cash already knew his way around Folsom Prison when he and his band stepped inside the institution’s forbidding walls on the morning of January 13, 1968 to record At Folsom Prison. He’d played there two years prior. But this time was different.

Cash took the stage that day for two shows amid a darkening sociopolitical atmosphere and a raging war in Vietnam, as well as the knowledge his career and health hung on by a thread. The Arkansas native shared many of the long odds and abject failures of the inmates for which he performed. The songs he chose, and the conviction with which he delivered them, say as much. The point at which Cash transformed from a country star into a legendary artist, and a bold statement about the American prison state and its commitment to rehabilitation, the triple-platinum At Folsom Prison remains one the most important, potent, and fabled records of the 20th century.

You can hear it echo off the walls of the room; pulse through the itchiness of the Tennessee Three’s acoustic-based boom-chick rhythms; crackle in the announcements conveyed over the intercom; ring in the comedy of the off-cuff remarks and pair of novelty tunes; sense it in palpable energy that wells up within Cash and his audience. And you can experience it like never before via Cash’s knockout singing. The bedrock foundation of all his music, the singer’s baritone resonates with profound degrees of depth, pliability, and passion that underscore how much this appearance meant to him — and the extent he was living the narratives.

Indeed, every song on At Folsom Prison serves a purpose and speaks to the conditions — mental, emotional, physical, geographical, legal, social — the inmates confronted on a daily basis. Beginning with the explicit messages of the opening “Folsom Prison Blues,” Cash makes it clear he understands and shares many of their plights. Not for nothing did the myth of Cash having done hard time persist for decades once this record hit the streets. That’s how real it is, and how dedicated Cash remains to conveying every note with the same truth he invests in the impromptu comments he makes between and amid songs.

Listen to the sorrow, regret, pity, and loneliness of Merle Travis’ “Dark as the Dungeon,” Cash pulling syllables til they threaten to break and inhabiting the mood of bleak phrases such as “pleasures are few” and “the sun never shines.” Witness the isolation, dejection, and sadness punctuating the walking-blues “I Still Miss Someone,” matched in gravity by a solemn reading of “The Long Black Veil” — a traditional dirge that involves murder, cheating, and deception. Cash cuts even deeper on a heartbreaking solo rendition of “Send a Picture of Mother” and plainspoken version of Harlan Howard’s “The Wall,” detailing a suicide disguised as jailbreak through cliched-jaw deliveries that softly curse the impossible situation.

In chronicling temptations, mistakes, mortality, punishment, and life “inside” — for better or worse, the stories of the disenfranchised, forgotten, written-off, and unrepentant — At Folsom Prison also has a blast playing the outlaw role. Cash captures wild-eyed craziness and out-of-control mayhem on a revved-up take of “Cocaine Blues,” taking extra satisfaction in its dastardly tales by way of voice that shifts into character for the sheriff and judge. The gallows humor and racing drama of “25 Minutes to Go”; quicksilver accents and resigned acceptance of “I Got Stripes”; train-whistle blare and twangy locomotion of “Folsom Prison Blues” — all fight the law only to see the law win.

Cash remains deeply committed at every moment, and inseparably connected with the tortured souls removed from the goings-on of the outside world. No wonder all but two songs here stem from the day’s first performance that saw Cash, Luther Perkins, Marshall Grant, and company give everything. As does the Man in Black’s soon-to-be-wife, June Carter. The couple’s fiery duet on “Jackson” scorches; their combination of surrender and fortitude “Give My Love to Rose” puts us in the dying protagonist’s shoes.

And with the closing “Greystone Chapel,” famously penned by convict Glen Sherley, who watched it all happen under the watchful eye of guards, Cash separates the corporeal from the spiritual, relaying lessons about salvation and survival. Heady themes to which he’d return for the remainder of his illustrious career.

To address the weight of the world without speaking of weariness. To march the song to breathlessness but loosen your grip when the band wanders. To tell all your secrets but shield your loved ones from vulnerability. To dress up in the charm and temptation of the pop song but maintain a core of peculiarity, of a single voice trying to navigate this world. This is the project of the Spatulas. Think of the few songwriters who know they're the only ones in the world who could write their songs. The ones who sing in the confidence that the song couldn't exist without them: Peter Jefferies, Jenny Mae, Ron House, Heather Lewis. Jonathan Richman? Put Miranda Soileau-Pratt and the Spatulas on this list. All eleven songs on `Beehive Mind' share a percussive, unshadowed presence, a steady, clear-voiced clop. Every note on the record is a little bit sad on its own but then they're organized in a way that you don't actually notice. Credit this to the band's skill_Jon Grothman, Lila Jarzombek, Kyle Raquipiso and Miranda Soileau-Pratt all play with no limits and they all play with profound ease. The songs breathe in warmth and patience, they are immediate and sweet. And then they start to meander. The guitar skitters with the deliberate unpredictability of a wild animal. Parts repeat and reset with the obsessiveness of an anxious mind. The lyrics open doors to unexpected scenes of lovers, family, and violence. This is all intentional: "I need to play music and listen to music as a form of therapy," explains Soileau. This means safety, this means encouragement, this means trauma, this means hard questions. Only a band so comfortable at the margins, only a band so capable, only a band so trusting can achieve all this. Miranda Solileau-Pratt wrote the first Spatulas song in 2020, while living in Oregon. Since that time, the band has released two cassettes and toured the United States. Members of the Spatulas have also played in The Blimp, Honey Bucket, Hot Gum, and Meerkaz. The band has shared stages with Helen, Lavender Flu, Debt Rag, Pink Reason, Blues Ambush, and Kath Bloom. `Beehive Mind' is their debut LP.

Unadorned with any post-production tricks or overdubs, Garcia/Grisman breathes with naturalism and presence. You will effortlessly detect the full body of the instruments, witness the woody grain textures, and get lost in the surprisingly velvety qualities of Garcia's lullaby-like singing. Our pressing also marks the first time this delightfully joyous affair has been issued in analogue form. You will never hear a better-sounding Americana-styled recording.

Pals since the mid-1960s, Garcia and Grisman bonded over their love for traditional folk and bluegrass. The two teamed up amidst what became a gold rush of top-notch productivity and creativity for Garcia. Partnering with bassist Jim Kerwin and percussionist/fiddler Joe Craven, the pair approaches every passage with innate ease, as if either musician could finish the others sentence. The affable chemistry and soothing interplay wash over a selection of songs as notable for their diversity as the way Garcia and "Dawg" turn them into the equivalent of old friends you haven't seen in years.

Exquisite melodies and jewel-shaped notes decorate the simple, convivial structures of tunes that hop, jump, skip, skitter, and bop. The atmosphere is reminiscent of the legendary gypsy-jazz exchanges between Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli, and equally sharp. Swirling with Middle Eastern modality, the closing 16-minute-plus rendition of Grisman's rippling "Arabia" – complete with a section based on a Cuban fold theme - is alone enough worth the price of admission to this sensational session. But there's so much more.

The quartet delves into Celtic themes ("Two Soldiers"), jazz-grass ("Grateful Dawg"), old-world ballads ("Russian Lullaby"), and Appalachian flavours ("Walkin' Boss") with nonpareil skill and soulfulness. Garcia and Grisman's tandem picking throughout epitomize sublime. And for many listeners, the duo's revised version of the Grateful Dead staple "Friend of the Devil" ranks as the finest-ever recorded, the pace patient, the narrative vocals heartfelt, and the synchronous solos tailor-made for the enveloping progression. Better yet, it's all captured in astonishing fidelity.

Er war einer der ersten Tenorsaxophonisten, der modernen Jazz nach dem Big-Band-Stil spielte, was ihn zu einer Quelle der Inspiration für viele machte. Im Juli 1979 spielte er beim North Sea Jazz Festival mit seinem Trio, bestehend aus dem Pianisten Kirk Lightsey, dem Bassisten Rufus Reid und dem Schlagzeuger Eddie Gladden. Auf “North Sea Jazz Concert Series Dexter Godon 1979” sind ihre Performances von 'It's You Or No One' und 'More Than You Know' zu hören. Außerdem enthält das Album eine Aufnahme des „Tenorkampfes“, der am Abend während "Flying Home" mit Hank Jones am Klavier, Gene Ramsey am Bass und Gus Johnson am Schlagzeug, sowie Dexter Budd Johnson, Illinois Jacquet, Arnett Cobb und Buddy Tate am Saxophon, stattfand. Nachdem mit Ella Fitzgerald die North Sea Jazz Concert Series erfolgreich startete, folgt nun die zweite Veröffentlichung der Vinyl- Serie, die Ende letzten Jahres von Bertus Distribution in Zusammenarbeit mit NTR, AVROTROS und MOJO präsentiert wurde. Es ist eine neue Vinyl-Serie, bestehend aus Live-Aufnahmen von legendären Künstlern aus den Jahrzehnten des renommierten North Sea Jazz Festivals. Die North Sea Jazz Concert Series umfasst offiziell lizenzierte Veröffentlichungen, die standardmäßig auf weißem 180-Gramm-Vinyl in einer Hülle aus hochwertigem Papier zusammen mit einem Liner Notes kommen. Die Veröffentlichungen erscheinen mit schwarz-weißem Artwork von Hans Pol, der sich am typischen Stil des Festivals orientiert. Die Gestaltung ist von den Cover-Klassikern älterer Jazz-Veröffentlichungen des Labels Blue Note inspiriert. Die Liner Notes wurden von dem Journalisten und Jazz-Experten Jeroen de Valk verfasst. Das besondere Merkmal der Serie: Alle Aufnahmen sind erstmalig auf Vinyl verfügbar.

Some songs are so ingrained in our consciousness that they are immediately identifiable upon hearing one or two notes. Featuring one of the most indelible riffs ever played, Foghat's air-guitar anthem "Slow Ride" is such a tune. The hit single turned the British band into stars and catapulted 1975's Fool for the City up the charts. And what a ride it is.

We hear a lot of yearning today about the good-old, glory days of rock and roll, the simple kind that just locked into a good beat, turned out a raunchy groove, and simply kicked you in the butt. The no-pretense type meant for kicking back, letting loose, and surrendering to the melody. Bare-bones music that doesn't need image or looks as a crutch.

Well, this is it, friends, classic meat-and-potatoes 70s rock that comes with killer slide-guitar solos, crunchy leads, driving rhythms, and soaring vocals. No need for any further instructions or explanations. The pact between artist and audience is understood. Here, the band trusts that you know what to do and is ready to rock out with anyone in earshot.

Pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, Mobile Fidelity's remaster of this Foghat gem bring to the surface the band's marble-solid sturdiness and bluesy structures like never before. Bass notes are thicker and richer, the dual guitars bite and snap, and Lonesome Dave Peverett's singing comes across with realistic grit. This LP invites you to hear and feel the energy Foghat brings to the boogie-infused title track, great cover of the Righteous Brothers' "My Babe," and, of course, the everlasting "Slow Ride."

Continuing Mr Bongo’s series exploring the wealth of material released through the record labels of Sonny Lester, 1977’s Funk Reaction finds Hammond B3 organ virtuoso Lonnie Smith at his most dancefloor-friendly. Dripping with groove and swagger, this album skates between jazz-funk, cosmic disco radiance, beat-laden slow-jams and conscious psychedelic soul.

Having played with the likes of George Benson and Lou Donaldson in the ‘60s, alongside releasing a string of albums on Columbia and Blue Note, Funk Reaction sees Smith move into late ‘70s disco-funk-tinged territory.

Originally released on Sonny Lester's Groove Merchant Records successor, Lester Radio Corporation, the album feels more like a collaborative band-orientated project as opposed to a solo artist outing. Featuring some elite session players of the time, including Steve Gadd on drums, guitarist Lance Quinn and bassist Bob Babbitt, the album is tied together expertly by songwriter, arranger and conductor Brad Baker.

It’s worth the price tag alone for the superb disco-funk nugget 'Funk Reaction’. Other highlights include the only Lonnie Smith penned track on the album 'All In My Mind', that shines with a beautiful Stevie Wonder-esque quality and the slick guitar-led floater 'When The Night Is Right’, written by and featuring guitarist Richie Hohenburger. Elsewhere, ‘For The Love Of It’ and the Brad Babbitt written ‘Babbitt's Other Song’ serve up classic jazz funk flavours, both featuring stellar tenor saxophone from Eddie Daniels.

As a whole, the album is a superb example of Lonnie Smith’s ability to merge jazz with elements of funk, soul, disco and beyond, experimenting with ideas whilst broadening the scope of both his audience and appeal. Fans of The Blackbyrds, the CTI / Kudu stable and ‘70s George Benson will dig this!

DJ and producer David Holmes is welcomed to the Late Night Tales fraternity with an evocative collection of personal songs and music, peppered with exclusive new material and rare gems. By now, I think we all know David Holmes, right There's acid house Holmes, with bone-rattling Chicago jams and Detroit destroyers, break-digger Holmes responsible for the grittily shaking 'Let's Get Killed' and seminal Essential Mix compilation (which brought Sixto Rodriguez to people's attention, and then there's soundtrack Holmes. His most enduring and vital source of musical inspiration - cinema - plugged into David's rst solo record 'This Film's Crap, Let's Slash the Seats' and inspired 2000's 'Bow Down to the Exit Sign', created as the soundtrack to a not-yet-made movie. Ofcial soundtracks have been bountiful, including scores for Soderbergh's Out Of Sight and Ocean's trilogy, '71, Hunger and Good Vibrations. In a series of personal songs sung by himself, David's last solo album 'The Holy Pictures' explored inuences of La Düsseldorf, The Jesus and Mary Chain and early Brian Eno. His Unloved collaboration with Keefus Ciancia and Jade Vincent then took us on a musical journey full of raw 60s pop-noir, psychedelia and French Ye Ye with a contemporary twist. Somehow he's also found time to produce records by Primal Scream and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Unsurprisingly, for someone au fait with matters cinematic, this Late Night Tales conjures up its own mindmovies. It's not only packed with the judiciously selected nuggets for which his mixes are noted but also stuffed with original material, including collaborations with BP Fallon and Jon Hopkins and an amazing new reading of 10cc's 'I'm Not In Love' by Holmes-produced Song Sung. In fact, there's a Celtic thread running through the whole journey with Stephen Rea's reading of an extract from Seamus Heaney's AENEID BOOK VI - Elsewhere Anchises. Among the other gems included here are David Crosby's lush 'Orleans', Buddy Holly's celestial 'Love Is Strange' and the Children Of Sunshine's 'It's A Long Way To Heaven'. David Holmes loves music. It's a way of expressing the sometimes inexpressible or the inconsolable, a questing desire to nd out just what is over the next hill. It's no surprise to learn he's a keen walker. Always on the move, headphones on, lost in some reverie or piece of music, the soundtrack to his life, the stuff that feeds his imagination. I walk a lot. It's amazing for listening to music: your phone or your emails aren't going and you're just in the forest listening to music. It's so intimate. Anyway, I was listening to the KLF's Chill Out album, which still sounds amazing, but it triggered an idea with concrete sounds through travelling and movement. And one of the things I was trying to do was to use this idea not just break up the moods but also as a metaphor for moving through life and arriving in different destinations or arriving at different stages in different parts of your life. Memory, Love, Living, Family, Friendship, Healing, Death and The Afterworld are some of the themes I wanted to explore within this record. Although these strong themes and tracks are personal to me, I also wanted it to be a great listen that was unpredictable yet had a seamless ow - a journey that was personal to me yet to the listener a great compilation of music that they may or may not have heard before. I hope I've succeeded in the later.' David Holmes 2016

"The Eighties spawned many iconic films such as Footloose, Dirty Dancing, Ghostbusters, Rocky and The Breakfast Club. Despite all the different genres, they all had something in common: great film music. 80’s Movies Hits Collected is a collection of music that is inextricably linked to Eighties movie classics, including Queen, Billy Ocean, Lionel Richie, The Bangles, Duran Duran, Pat Benatar, Tina Turner and Survivor amongst many others. 80’s Movie Hits Collected is available as a limited edition of 1500 copies on translucent blue (LP1) and gold (LP2) coloured vinyl. This 2LP-set includes an insert with liner notes, photos, and credits. "

80'S Movie Hits Collected by Various Artists, released 24 May 2024, includes the following tracks: "Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder - Together In Electric Dreams (From Electric Dreams)", "Limahl - Never Ending Story (From The Never Ending Story)", "Los Lobos - La Bamba (From La Bamba)", "Ray Parker Jr. - Ghostbusters (From Ghostbusters)" and more.
This version of 80'S Movie Hits Collected comes as a 2xLP. This release comes with (a) Insert(s).

The vinyl is pressed as a translucent, blue disc. Another vinyl is pressed as a translucent, gold disc.

"Rave-up & turn on! Fueled by a classy high-stepping image and hot instrumental licks born of old R&B and Northwest stalwarts the Kingsmen, Wailers and Sonics, this collection shows their always excellent material ranging from '60s punk to sunshine pop. Includes their debut single!

In many ways they were one of the quintessential Northwest bands. Their credentials were impeccable - leader Don Gallucci was a classically trained pianist who, as a younger teenager, played keyboards for the Kingsmen on "Louie, Louie." Early guitarist Pete Oulette had been in the Raiders and his replacement, Jim Valley, had founded the white hot Seattle band the Viceroys. When Valley got the call to become "Harpo," his slot was filled by Charlie Coe, who had played with the Raiders and Jack Ely and the Courtmen. And the last Goodtime guitarist was Joey Newman, who had made his mark with the Enchanters and Merrilee Rush and the Turnabouts.

Their only hit single, "I Could Be So Good to You," a Jack Nitzsche song, was their only national hit (#56) in spring 1967. Their Nitzsche-produced Epic album So Good was a curious amalgam of Overman originals and British Invasion covers.

Their earlier sound is much more raw – "You Were Just a Child" could have been a national hit. The dynamics and bridge in this are killer, as is the pulverizing fuzz bass. "I'm Real" may be the punkiest Don and the Goodtimes got; Note the cool reference to LA disc jockey "The Real" Don Steele. Other cuts like like "Make It" are as Northwest as they come. Rough and raunchy, this hot instrumental was the B side of their first single."

First exposed to the sounds of Samba and Bossa Nova while
touring South America with Dizzie Gillespie in 1956, Jones recalls
hearing Gillespie sitting-in with a Samba combo at Rio's Gloria
Hotel and how he was fascinated by the thrilling fusion of Jazz and
Samba. Some years later in 1962, he took a stellar big band into
NYC's A&R Studios to record the Big Band Bossa Nova album. It
was the culmination of a dream for Jones, who had never
forgotten the musical experiences he had encountered in Brazil.

The latest release on Jai Alai follows the format of forgotten vinyl tracks never before released on 7” format, or previously CD only album tracks, and will raise some eyebrows in artist selection and pairing.

Donaldson Toussaint L’Ouverture Byrd II was one of the most significant jazz artists of all time having joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in the mid-50s and establishing himself as one of the best hard bop trumpeter/flugelhorn players. His progression was continuous through the 50s/60s working with John Coltrane, Gigi Gryce, Pepper Adams, Thelonius Monk, Sonny Rollins as sideman, and became one of Blue Note Records leading artists.

By the end of the 60s Byrd decided to move away from that idiom, experimenting with jazz fusion, African music and Rhythm & Blues. He worked hard to make jazz and its history part of the curriculum in US music colleges and he taught at many including Rutgers, Hampton, Howard, and Columbia, the latter from who he received his PhD in music.
Byrd took a great interest in how Miles Davis’ experimentation was resonating with a younger audience, and despite being castigated by his musical peers, his development of jazz fusion changed the jazz scene forever. His work with the Blackbyrds was a cornerstone for the progression of jazz funk in the UK.

The effect of his hook-up with brothers Larry & Fonce Mizell was immediate and his Blue Notes albums “Black Byrd” (1973), “Street Lady”, “Stepping Into Tomorrow” (1974), “Places & Spaces” (1975) and “Caricatures” (1976) became legendary on the newly evolving jazz funk scene with certain tracks such as “Change (Makes You Wanna Hustle)” normalising dance jazz on the disco floors, not to mention being a rich source for many hip-hop samples.
A slightly leaner period followed when he moved to Elektra Records and of the three albums with his new incarnation 125th Street NYC, a group of musicians he taught at North Carolina Central University, two were produced by Isaac Hayes including “Words”, “Sounds, Colors & Shapes” (1982) from which “Everyday”, a fabulous forgotten piece of mellow jazz funk derives.

By the end of the 80s he had returned to his harder straight-ahead jazz roots, but his place in history and the evolving of jazz as a dance culture in our clubs should never be forgotten.

Tillla is 19 year old prodigal piano player Mateo Davis, a graduate of Purcell (Tirzah, Mica Levi, Jacob Collier) & a polymath musician, producer & mixer.

Third Person is Tillla's debut EP, a 13 track sprawling opus the then-18-yr-old made alone in his bedroom on a modular synth and dodgy copy of Ableton. The musicianship, depth and technical creativity in this record really is something that should be noted.

7A Records are proud to present Davy Jones’ “Incredible!”. A deluxe reissue of Jones' “lost” ‘80s album, remastered and expanded with bonus tracks. The limited edition gatefold Vinyl release is limited to 1,000 copies. Pressed on 180g transparent blue vinyl, it features extensive liner notes from Monkees historian Mark Kleiner and rare and previously unseen pictures by photographer Henry Diltz.

Fuelled by MTV’s re-runs of the original Monkees TV series, “Incredible!” was recorded at the height of mid-‘80s Monkees comeback-euphoria. Given the flurry of activity happening on multiple fronts for the Monkees throughout 1986, especially the grueling demands of their touring schedule, the fact that Davy Jones managed to record a full album amid the chaos is somewhat staggering. “Incredible!” features several songs that could well have reached the Billboard charts, had things played out differently. However, Jones decided to hang on to the album and it ended up being self-released on cassette on his own mail order label. The minimalistic promotion and treatment of the original release belie the considerable studio and artist firepower behind these recordings. This deluxe repackaging allows this chapter in Jones’ fascinating journey to finally more fulsomely shine.

• Remastered With 6 Bonus Tracks
• Rare & Previously Unseen Photos
• Extensive Liner Notes
• Limited to 1,000 copies

UK jazz ensemble The Jazz Defenders release their third album "Memory In Motion" in April on Haggis Records (home of The Haggis Horns and Malcolm Strachan). The Bristol jazz boppers deliver another quality release of original material that takes in their usual diverse mix of influences and genres, from timeless acoustic jazz referencing the classic sounds of Blue Note Records, to a more contemporary fusion where jazz meets soul, funk and hip-hop.

Although they love to mix things up, their roots are in the classic acoustic jazz quintet sound of the late 1950s/early 1960s, back when hard bop and modal jazz ruled. They have already explored this musical path well on their previous albums but they still deliver a couple of classic inspired jazz cuts here. "Chasing Fantasies" and "Fuffle Kerfuffle" both give the band some space to cut loose on solos over swing jazz beats that will keep their original jazz audience happy. The latter bubbles away with a jazz shuffle beat that would make drum legend Art Blakey smile.

"Meanderthal" and "Snakebite Playfight" bring soul to this jazz party. Exactly like jazz legends Lee Morgan/Herbie Hancock/Freddie Hubbard etc did back in the early-mid 1960s. The first is a feel-good, toe-tapping gem that's heavy on the backbeat and short and snappy on the solos, the exact reasons that made it the perfect opening single from the album. "Snakebite Playfight" comes with a jaunty New Orleans shuffle before transforming into a heavy psychedelic soul jazz burner, flipping back with ease to the NOLA shuffle for the Mardi Gras meets bebop piano solo by band leader George Cooper.

"Rolling On A High" is a hip-hop/jazz banger that sees the band continue their collaborations with UK rapper Doc Brown, a perfect combination that began on their second album "King Phoenix''. This time, the Doc spits some old-school block party-style bars over a bouncy uptempo funky beat with the band cooking up some soul stew behind him. Definitely dancefloor material.

Another uptempo jam is the heavy jazz fusion jam "Net Zero". It kicks off with some live broken beat kit playing and piano/bass staccato vamping before taking off into Headhunters territory on the solos, sounding both contemporary and classic at the same time. This is The Jazz Defenders at their fiercest and toughest and delivering a track that will have jazz dancers worldwide in an utter frenzy.

It's not all uptempo numbers or dancefloor-oriented compositions on this album. Two tracks take the musical dynamics right down to give a temporary break from the high-energy numbers. "Take A Minute" has a rolling double bass line locked into the groove while the horns play a lazy and laid-back theme with vibes embellishment, sounding like some trippy independent film soundtrack. Another recurring musical reference point for this band over the years.

The album finishes on a poignant and introspective note with a beautiful piano and double bass feature for George Cooper and bassist Will Harris. It's called "Enigma", it was recorded live in Paris and it closes the album on a peaceful note evoking the music and playing of Bill Evans. The perfect way to close this brilliant third album from The Jazz Defenders.

With Memory In Motion, pianist George Cooper and his band undoubtedly pay great homage to a golden era of jazz music that they love, but also elaborate on this influence with a wealth of modern musical experience, to create their own raw and vibrant compositions. The result is an enthrallingly unique sound that is as danceable as it is listenable.

With Les Liaisons dangereuses 1960, Roger Vadim stirred up a scandal. Based on the famous epistolary novel by Laclos, the director presented audiences in the early 1960s with a film in which libertinism, scheming and the upper middle classes intertwine in 1960s Paris. Gérard Philipe and Jeanne Moreau excel, and the film is often considered one of Vadim's best. It also owes much to its music, which reflects Vadim's taste for jazz. For the soundtrack to Les Liaisons dangereuses, the director called on Art Blakey and his Jazz Messengerswhose exceptional musical qualities make for a record full of daring musical ideas and a marvellous choice of brilliant themes. The majority of the tracks feature Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers of mid-1959 with trumpeter Lee Morgan, tenorman Barney Wilen, pianist Boby Timmons and bassist Jymie Merritt joining the explosive drummer/leader. This beautiful re-issue of the original recording is pressed on 180g vinyl at GZ, and packaged in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket with the original liner notes and a photo of Gérard Philippe and Jeanne Moreau from the film, and additional notes by recording producer Marcel Romano from 1988.

1000 copies worldwide. Deluxe freshly remastered edition of Royal Trux's seminal debut album, originally released on their own Royal Records label in 1988. Fierce and uncompromising, this long overdue re-issue comes with rejuvenated artwork and brand-new liner notes. Formed in 1987 by Neil Hagerty (vocals, guitar), formerly of Pussy Galore, and his then girlfriend Jennifer Herrema (vocals), Royal Trux successfully dismantled alternative rock with a discordant guitar and time signatures akin to Miles Davis on an unholy mission circa 'Bitches Brew' or Manson strumming in his prison cell. Often described as a garage rock act, Royal Trux were far more complex, an unravelling surge of ideas, influences, mangled theories and out-there meandering, setting the blueprint for lo-fi indie amid their intricate reflections on their self-destructive lifestyle. "Their music was wild and their lives even wilder." The Guardian // "A chop-shop approach to pop history." Pitchfork

Hal Singer – Tenor Sax
Alain Jean-Marie – Piano
August “Gus” Nemeth – Bass
Oliver Johnson – Drums


When the U.S. State Department announced in the mid-1970s that they were sponsoring a South African tour for the Oklahoma-born, Paris-based saxophonist Hal Singer, producer Rashid Vally took note. Even though his nascent record label As-Shams/The Sun (established in 1974) was making waves on the local scene, the idea of commissioning a recording from an international artist was a ballsy idea. With a discography that stretched back to the 1950s, Hal Singer was already somewhat of a legacy artist by 1976. Vally was well-versed on Singer’s accomplishments and specifically enamoured by his composition “Blue Stompin’,” which appeared on a Prestige album from 1959 that had struck a chord in South Africa.

With his irresistible charm, Vally managed to coax Singer into a studio in Johannesburg, South Africa, to record a new version of “Blue Stompin’” with South African sax star Kippie Moeketsi, which became the title track of a 1977 album by Moeketsi. The recording session also yielded an album’s worth of new material by Hal Singer and his quartet that took its name from a track inspired by Singer’s trip to South Africa entitled “Soweto to Harlem.” Released in 1976 and only available in South Africa, Soweto to Harlem captures a laid-back, cheeky and nostalgic rhythm and blues set from the Hal Singer Quartet that is unlikely to have emerged for a different target market.

With her irresistible charm, Vally was able to convince Singer to enter a Johannesburg studio. The recording session produced this album of new material by Hal Singer and his quartet named after a song inspired by Singer’s trip to South Africa, entitled “Soweto to Harlem.” Released in 1976 and available only in South Africa, “Soweto to Harlem” captures a laid-back, unabashed and nostalgic rhythm and blues of Hal Singer’s quartet that would hardly have been born for a different market.

Cinedelic’s 2024 edition of this rare album is sourced from the original tape masters and presents it on vinyl internationally for the very first time. The reissue follows Singer’s passing at the 100 in August 2020 as we contemplate and celebrate his extraordinary contribution to jazz in the United States and beyond.