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In his tenth year with Acid Jazz, the ever-prolific Matt Berry
has crafted a psych masterpiece. Once again proving that
his artistic progression and ambition knows no bounds.
Following the acclaim of last year’s Top 30 album
‘Phantom Birds’ (★★★★ The Times), Acid Jazz release
‘Blue Elephant’, Matt Berry’s sixth studio album with the
ground breaking label.
Recorded during the summer of 2020, ‘Blue Elephant’ is
testament to Matt’s exceptional musicianship, production
skills and songwriting prowess with every instrument
played by Matt - including guitars, bass, a variety of
keyboards and synthesizers (piano, Wurlitzer, mellotron,
Moog, Hammond, Vox and Farfisa organs) - with the
exception of drums (supplied by Craig Blundell), on
arguably his best album to date.
This music soundtracks an album that explores themes
surrounding today’s close scrutiny in all its bewildering,
objectifying and unnerving experiences. Very much a
conceptual and, therefore, continuous long-player, the
album’s infectious grooves come to the fore on standout
tracks ‘Summer Sun’, heavy-psych instrumental ‘Invisible’
and the three-part ‘Blues Inside Me’, which encompasses
a psych journey through a late ‘60s and early glam filter,
mixed with the propulsive ‘Like Stone’.
‘Blue Elephant’ is available on digipack CD, blue vinyl,
black vinyl and audio cassette.

Orange and black. Fire and ebony. Fury and pride. Wearing its signature colors proudly and raising its exclamation point high, Impulse! Records was the go-to label for music that harnessed the searching and political stand-taking of the Sixties. Launched in 1961, Impulse grew to become an inherent part of the era’s velocity as well as its volume, pulling jazz into the age of Black Power, Afrocentricity, and Spiritual Expansion. In its balance of tradition and transition, it bridged the golden age of jazz, that brief window from the late Fifties to the Seventies when players representing every jazz era were alive and active—from Louis Armstrong to Albert Ayler, from the legends of lore to a new generation of energy players. Impulse treated all its musicians as innovators, revolutionaries even—from swing and bebop, to free and Afrofuturist. The performances on Impulse Records: Music, Message and the Moment draw their staying power from a wide embrace of styles and sounds, as well as a tight focus on a historic moment when the promise of change was in the air and the message of racial harmony was in the music. Today that music has lost none of its relevance: the promise still deferred, the message still on time.

The Black Keys release their tenth studio album, Delta Kream, via Nonesuch Records. The record celebrates the band’s roots, featuring eleven Mississippi hill country blues standards that they have loved since they were teenagers, before they were a band, including songs by R. L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough, among others. Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney recorded Delta Kream at Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound studio in Nashville; they were joined by musicians Kenny Brown and Eric Deaton, long-time members of the bands of blues legends including R. L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough. The album takes its name from William Eggleston’s iconic Mississippi photograph that is on its cover.

Auerbach says of the album, “We made this record to honor the Mississippi hill country blues tradition that influenced us starting out. These songs are still as important to us today as they were the first day Pat and I started playing together and picked up our instruments. It was a very inspiring session with Pat and me along with Kenny Brown and Eric Deaton in a circle, playing these songs. It felt so natural.”

Carney concurs, “The session was planned only days in advance and nothing was rehearsed. We recorded the entire album in about ten hours, over two afternoons, at the end of the “Let’s Rock” tour.”

Auerbach says of Delta Kream’s first single ‘Crawling Kingsnake’: “I first heard John Lee Hooker’s version in high school. My uncle Tim would have given me that record. But our version is definitely Junior Kimbrough’s take on it. It’s almost a disco riff!” Carney adds, "We fell into this drum intro; it's kind of accidental. The ultimate goal was to highlight the interplay between the guitars. My role with Eric was to create a deeper groove."

The music from northern Mississippi, which came to life in juke joints, has long left an imprint on the band’s music, from their cover of R.L. Burnide’s ‘Busted’ and Junior Kimbrough’s ‘Do The Romp’ on their debut album, The Big Come Up; to their subsequent signing to Fat Possum Records, home to many of their musical heroes; and to their EP of Junior Kimbrough covers, Chulahoma.

Formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001, The Black Keys, who have been called ‘rock royalty’ by the Associated Press and ‘one of the best rock ‘n’ roll bands on the planet’ by Uncut, are guitarist/singer Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney. Cutting their teeth playing small clubs, the band have gone on to sell out arena tours and have released nine previous studio albums: their debut The Big Come Up (2002), followed by Thickfreakness (2003) and Rubber Factory (2004), along with their releases on Nonesuch Records, Magic Potion (2006), Attack & Release (2008), Brothers (2010), El Camino (2011), Turn Blue (2014) and, most recently, “Let’s Rock” (2019), plus and a tenth anniversary edition of Brothers (2020). The band has won six Grammy Awards and a BRIT and headlined festivals in North America, South America, Mexico, Australia, and Europe.

Shocking Blue was a Dutch rockband from The Hague that was at their peak in the sixties and seventies and gained major cross-Atlantic success. The band was founded in 1967 and after recruiting vocalist Mariska Veres, they soon became huge. With their single “Venus” they became the first Dutch band ever to reach the first spot on the American Billboard Hot 100. The band had a series of subsequent hits but decided to call it a day in 1975. Their influence reached well beyond their generation: even bands like Nirvana and The Prodigy used Shocking Blue’s ‘Love Buzz’.

3rd Album is, strangely enough, not their third full-length album but their fourth. It was originally released in 1971. This reissue comes with six bonus tracks consisting of singles and b-sides.

This release is available as a limited edition of 1500 individually numbered copies on turquoise coloured vinyl.

• When Lonnie Mack’s treatment of Chuck Berry’s ‘Memphis’ broke into the US Hot 100 on 8 June 1963 and peaked at #5 during its 13-week stay, he was initially pigeonholed as an instrumental artist. This perception was heightened by ‘Down In The Dumps’ on the flip, and furthered by his double-sided instrumental follow-up whose topside, ‘Wham!’, reached #28.

• Six months later the other side of Lonnie was revealed with his first vocal 45. The topside was a dynamic re-vamp of Jimmy Reed’s ‘Baby, What’s Wrong’, backed with a version of the gospel classic ‘Where There’s A Will’. Here you could hear him emoting in a way white singers never did – hollering, pleading and screaming in the very finest gospel tradition. The track was even picked up by some black radio stations in the south, but quietly dropped once it was realised that Lonnie was white.

• ‘Memphis’ was recorded at King Records Studio in Cincinnati on 12 March 1963. Carl Edmondson had been booked to produce a split session for Max Falcon, Kenny Smith and the Charmaines, but Edmondson’s band had recently broken up, so Lonnie and his crew were drafted in. With some time left at the end of the session, Lonnie was asked if he had anything he might like to record. ‘Memphis’ was the result. Edmondson thought the track had potential and suggested to Fraternity Records boss, Harry Carlson, that he should put it out. Within weeks it was climbing the charts, launching Lonnie’s long career.

• Post-Fraternity releases on Elektra, Capitol, Epic and Alligator cemented his reputation as the man who brought gospel, soul, blues, country and rock’n’roll together. He was one of the creators of blue-eyed soul, as well as the leading light for the legion of blues-based rock guitarists who plied their trade from the 60s onwards. It has to be said, though, that the bedrock of his legend rests on his Fraternity recordings, which highlighted both sides of Lonnie Mack – the vocalist and the guitarist.

While Joe Henderson seemed to arrive fully formed on his auspicious 1963 debut Page One, the album was really a showcase for the transcendent collaboration between the tenor saxophonist and trumpeter Kenny Dorham who would form a potent frontline team on numerous mid-60s Blue Note classics. Page One opens with a pair of indelible Dorham compositions (“Blue Bossa” and “La Mesha”), with the balance of the six-song set penned by Henderson including his enduring theme “Recorda-Me.” Dazzling performances by pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Butch Warren, and drummer Pete La Roca further elevate this album making it one of the crown jewels of the Blue Note catalog. This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

17 Track compilation of all of their studio recordings, remastered and pressed on Electric Blue Vinyl. Presented in gatefold sleeve with never seen before photographs ,a printed lyric inner sleeve and poster.
The VIP’s were formed in 1978 while at Warwick University. Within weeks they were gigging at clubs in the Midlands, often on the same bill as THE SPECIALS in Coventry. Soon they found a manager, Clive Solomon, who with Timmy Mallet (now a TV and Radio presenter) and both students at the university, financed the group’s first single the EP ‘Music For Funsters. In the summer of 1978 they built up a loyal following in London. The single was picked up by John Peel, who played it constantly on his BBC radio show through the year. The 3 track EP, featuring ‘I’m Perfect’, ‘I Believe’ and ‘Boys of the City’ was released on Clive Solomon’s own ‘Bust’ label.
In 1979 the VIP’s could be found playing all over the country, frequently on the same bill as Squire, stablemates on Clive Solomon’s label.
In early 1980 they went into Olympic Studios in Chiswick to record some tracks with ex-THE ANIMALS bass player and SLADE/Jimi Hendrix manager Chas Chandler. The track ‘I Thought You Were My Friend’ was recorded at these sessions A few weeks later a major record deal was agreed with Gem Records/RCA and ‘Causing Complications’ came out in March. To coincide with the release the VIP’s went on tour supporting SECRET AFFAIR.
After the tour the single ‘The Quarter Moon’ was released, another track produced by Mike Leander. It received extensive airplay around the UK and beyond, and was also picked as BBC Radio 1’s Record of The Week by DJ Mike Reid on his Morning Show, as well as being Radio Luxembourg’s ‘Power Play’ for two weeks. The constant touring, recording and radio play had earned them a spot on Top of The Pops but they were suddenly told -on the afternoon that they were due to appear - that an industrial dispute at the BBC had resulted in the show being cancelled. Disappointed, they continued to record and tour, this time with MADNESS, THE BEAT and DEXYS MIDNIGHT RUNNERS amongst others. This time Bob Seargent (of The BEAT and HAIRCUT 100 fame) was recruited to give ‘Need Somebody To Love’ that sparkle and edge to capture The VIP’s live sound on vinyl. Although perhaps the most representative of the band’s sound, Top of The Pops again eluded them.
By the end of 1980 the VIP’s were selling in Spain, Germany, Italy and France through the RCA label but they seemed to be losing heart with the business. Illness -Jed had been touring with a collapsed lung - and tensions saw the band play their last concert at Leicester University. A fourth and final GEM single, ‘Things Aren’t What They Used To Be’ (a song taken from their earlier Mike Leander recording sessions) proved to be their last. With several songs still to be recorded, it was a frustrating time for all.
Paul Shurey and Guy Morley has already made alternative plans for THE NEW VIP’s and recruited Simon Smith from THE MERTON PARKAS to play drums while Paul returned to his native keyboards. With Tony Conway on guitar and Andy Godfrey on bass they became MOOD SIX.
Paul Shurey played a central part in the birth and proliferation of the Rave movement in the 80’s, 90’s and 2,000’s, initiating a great a great many DANCE RAVES all around the world. Very sadly he died in 2017. He was also a gifted artist/cartoonist, and it’s his picture which graces the album’s sleeve. He is a brother very greatly missed.
Guy Morley works in film editing and Andrew Price is involved in developing community projects in and around his native Bristol.
“We became lifelong friends and shared a great and very exciting rock and roll dream.”

Well known for his tight, aggressively grooving brand of rhythm playing, whether in the service of the Grammy Award-winning band Snarky Puppy, the Fearless Flyers or on his six solo albums, guitarist Mark Lettieri has found the perfect algorithm for the funk.
Merging the influences of ‘70s and ‘80s rhythm and rock guitar icons like Prince and Eddie Van Halen, along with inspiration from George Clinton and P-Funk, Chuckii Booker, Periphery, Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan, and others. This Fort Worth, Texas resident has been insinuating his razor-sharp licks into the consciousness of funkateers since joining Snarky Puppy in 2008. Created during the pandemic, ‘Deep: The Baritone Sessions Vol. 2’ is a triumph of ingenuity built upon Lettieri’s life-long love of funk and rock and showcases the breadth and depth of Lettieri’s nasty, low-end brand of funk.
The guitarist’s Fearless Flyers bandmate, drummer Nate Smith, is also onboard for this cavalcade of groove, along with Bobby Sparks, Justin Stanton and such guests as vocal sensation Jacob Collier, former Prince drummer TaRon Lockett, Rascal Flatts pedal steel guitarist Travis Toy, French harmonica ace Frédéric Yonnet, Lettuce and former John Scofield drummer Adam Deitch, Ghost-Note drummer Robert “Sput” Searight, Snarky Puppy keyboardist Shaun Martin, tenor saxophonist Keith Anderson, and special guest guitar soloist Steve Lukather.

Master craftsman James Welburn’s new LP, Sleeper in the Void, marks the 50th Miasmah release.The six years after his monumental debut have bred six tracks Welburn brings to fruition with the help of past co-conspirators from the Norwegian underground scene - Tomas Järmyr (Motorpsycho, Zu, Barchan), Hilde Marie Holsen (Hubro Records), and vocal artist Juliana Venter (W/V, Phil Winter).

On Sleeper in the Void, Welburn expands the domain of his sound, unveiling surprises until the very end of the album’s 36 minute playtime. While the character of the record is unmistakably his own, the tracks veer into many different territories, including a banging foray to the dancefloor.

The LP begins slowly with Raze, where Järmyr’s ritualistic cymbals introduce layers of Welburn’s signature sculpted bass drones and noise, building into a heart-wrenching epic of a track. This is perhaps the closest we ever get to Hold - Welburn’s previous LP. Falling from Time immediately surprises with it’s subdued mechanical techno beat, stark and cold as a glacier. Welburn’s texture-work is the star of the show, creating curious nooks and crannies of drone adorned with eerie melodies straight out of oblivion. This sense of wonder shines through to the album’s title track as well, where Welburn and Järmyr build another patient, echoing, and deeply cinematic piece, the drum patterns slowly shifting around a metallic hum that evokes the vision of church bells, ringing out under tonnes of seawater.

Sleeper in the Void feels like a story in two parts, rising lethargically, but with gargantuan power. The second begins with the momentous In and out of Blue, where Juliana Venter’s disembodied, spectral dirge takes center stage among the furious drums and bassy riffs, reaching a full crescendo with seconds to go. Parallel marks a release - Hilde Marie Holsen’s nostalgic soundscapes, pristine as glass, meeting the distant thunder of Welburn’s strings on the horizon. And finally, Fast Moon ends the record in a most surprising way - a tribal industrialized banger, complete with vile distorted beats and every other spice in demand on a blackened dancefloor.

Welburn’s Sleeper in the Void is a generous shapeshifter. Every inch of its soundwave breathes emotion and imagery - an invitation to take a dive and linger.

Hooveriii - Water For The Frogs Having originally been born as a solo drum machine project by Bert Hoover, Hooveriii (pronounced "Hoover Three") has now evolved into it's true final form - a six member band adept at creating their own brand of psychedelic space rock. And after almost a decade in, the band is set to release their sophomore album and debut for The Reverberation Appreciation Society, Water For The Frogs. Influenced by Iggy’s The Idiot, Bowie’s Berlin records, and Soft Machine, the LP sees the band creating their own version of prog rock, circa 2021. In 2019, Hooveriii took their live show to Europe for the first time. Bert Hoover shares, “seeing all the old cities and beautiful landscapes while becoming closer as a band had a huge impact on this album. A lot of our favorite music came from the Krautrock scene in Germany from the late 60's-70's, and when we had a day off in Furth, Germany, we spent most of it writing the record,” he continues, “we were able to rehearse in an old German bunker that has been converted to rehearsal space. It definitely had a strange energy that helped give this album light.”

The three players in Chicago’s Moontype orbited each other for years before they came in phase. Bodies of Water, their debut album for local label Born Yesterday, documents travel, insecurity, friendship, and the titular element—all of which are representative of the band members’ strong connection to place and to one another. “Being rooted in the landscape became important to me while studying geology, which completely changed how I think about the world,” offers songwriter, vocalist and bassist Margaret McCarthy of the album’s central themes. The arrangements themselves feel like open-hearted negotiations; sparse fingerpicking gives way to saturated tube-screaming as naturally as the changing of tides. Over twelve tracks, Moontype revels in the woozy concoction of its many influences, but always lands on punchy hooks, shifting between arrangements both spacious and mystifying without abandoning their conversational warmth.

Conservatory students at Oberlin College’s prestigious music program, each member focused on exploring different sounds. Guitarist Ben Cruz, who came up on classic rock shredding and migrated into jazz performance, admired the indie pop of Fountains of Wayne, the groundbreaking composition work of pianist Vijay Iyer, and the genre-morphing folk of heavy hitters like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. He played in several projects alongside Emerson Hunton, who’d drummed from age six and entrenched himself in the Twin Cities improvised music scene before even heading to college. Margaret—who grew up outside of Boston playing piano, singing in choirs and writing on guitar—spent her time creating knotty, riot grrrl-and-hyperpop inspired songs for bass and voice, as well as noise soundtracks for art installations. Inspired by artists like Adrianne Lenker and Gillian Welch, she recorded the EP bass tunes at home in an apartment over the town’s optician, releasing it upon graduation. A week later she migrated even farther west to Chicago, where Ben and Emerson had already enmeshed themselves in several projects, from avant garde ensembles to a country group.

Ben was instantly impressed by Margaret’s songs, at once “challenging and unlike anything I had played before.” The duo decided to try performing together, but knew this special music would be even better fortified with drums. Emerson was the obvious choice—as Ben puts it, “He’s our great friend and also the best drummer we know. Who else do you call?” Moontype-as-trio gigged around town, eventually embarking on a first fall tour in Emerson’s Prius. On that trip, they felt the music morph into something living, and the care and trust between them intensified. They decided to put together songs for a record, recorded at the end of 2019 with Jamdek Recording Studio’s Doug Malone, a dependable collaborator whose patient process perfectly captured the magic of their newfound familiarity. While Margaret’s skeletal demos still informed the bulk of Moontype’s full-band debut (some of which are re-recordings of bass tunes cuts), the resulting arrangements are songs reborn and strengthened by the three musicians’ absorption of one another’s ideas.

On Bodies of Water, Margaret’s soothing, unadorned alto is often peppered by the gliding, eerie harmonies of her bandmates. “We love the act of singing together,” explains Ben, who describes it as “connecting and grounding and wholesome.” The push-pull search for common ground characterizes the instrumentals as well. Round basslines occupy higher octaves, trading space with guitars chugging in lower registers, and all the while drums break apart and glue back together in idiosyncratic grooves that never lose the pocket. Of the complicated rhythms that sometimes result: “Any mathy moments are based on how the lyrics fall naturally, which feels like it frees us up from having to stay in one time signature,” says Emerson. “Rhythmic elements never feel like they’re being added in, more like they’re already there and we just float on through.”

Touring’s restlessness informed these songs, but so did the DIY scene that welcomed Moontype to Chicago—including, according to Margaret, the “wild harmonies” of Ohmme, the “deadpan explanatory rock” of Ratboys, and the “luxe math rock pattern music” of The Knees. Working at beloved venue Sleeping Village inspired Margaret’s observational vignettes; “We are sitting at the desk and you are mixing all the bands,” she reports in the middle of the dextrous folk hammer-ons of “3 Weeks,” gently admitting, “I am trying to have fun and I am trying to get paid” in a world of bikes, trucks, and velvet. “About You,” a robust power-popper written about a post-gig romp around Richmond with artist Bebé Machete, opens with a Phair-ian quip: “Looking at you with my fuck me eyes / Do you wanna get inside of mine?” Meanwhile, the spectre of lost camaraderie looms over “Ferry,” an atmospheric and anthemic standout that questions, “If I’m not your best friend / then who am I to anyone?” Alongside water, this preoccupation with friendship is a focal concern lyrically, but the palpable love between Moontype’s players is essential in communicating that desire for connection, and all three members are dedicated to exploring sound and meaning organically and together. Care and generosity are at the core of Moontype, and Bodies of Water is a clever album full of insightful music, as cosily enveloping as it is incisively honest.

The shadow that Gary Bartz casts over the last six decades of progressive Black music, and his continued dedication to same, makes him a logical and very welcome contributor to the Jazz Is Dead label. An alto saxophonist steeped in the history and tradition of his instrument who is also restlessly experimental and not prone to purism of any kind, he enjoys both the respect and admiration of his peers and the hero worship of several generations after him - including Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, which inevitably led to Gary Bartz JID 006. A look at his body of work reveals dalliances with bebop, hard bop, free jazz, spiritual jazz, soul jazz, jazz-funk, fusion and acid jazz, all while resolutely remaining unmistakably Gary Bartz. There's early work with Eric Dolphy and McCoy Tyner in Charles Mingus' Jazz Workshop, work with Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln, a stint in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, and also one with Miles. There's his groundbreaking and highly influential Ntu Troop albums of the early '70s and his jazz-funk work including two classic albums with the Mizell Brothers, one of which supplied A Tribe Called Quest with a sample that was smooth like butter. And while on the subject of samples, the Bartz catalog has provided hip-hop and other genres with a rich source of them, and artists who have gone to his well when producing beats also include Black Sheep, Jurassic 5, Casual, RPM, Warren G, Photek, Statik Selektah, Chi-Ali, 3rd Bass, Showbiz, ZTrip, Young Disciples, and many others.

John William Coltrane belongs to those rare musicians who transform the stylistic universe of their generation. Coltrane was a genius, and without his contribution, jazz in the Sixties wouldn’t have enjoyed its freedom. He transfigured not only melody, and harmony, but revolutionised the entire spirit of jazz. Like a painter seeking to reproduce the richness of his mind on a canvas of only two dimensions, Coltrane restituted a personal mental universe in his music and never duplicated forms and patterns already used. The microcosm of jazz in the Fifties didn’t find Coltrane convincing at first, but his relentless effort and visceral desire to convey his own truth catapulted him to the summits and made him the undisputed leader of modern jazz. Coltrane’s music is a personal message, so I sit down and listen.

The American guitarist Wes Montgomery was one of the greats of jazz.
For all friends of this style-defining musician and beyond, Jazzline presents the NDR Hamburg Studio Recordings for the first time and thus
never before published.
In addition to Wes Montgomery, the musicians Johnny Griffin, Ronnie Scott,
Ronnie Ross, Martial Solal, Hans Koller, Michel Gaudry and Ronnie Stephenson
took part in this session. A fascinating line-up! There is also a 34 minute Blu-ray
of the band’s rehearsals as a bonus, which includes five of the tracks.
In the spring of 1965 this outstanding guitarist had only three more years
to live, as in 1968 Wes Montgomery passed away after suffering a heart attack. The European concerts, particularly the happy hours spent at the NDRJazzworkshop on April 30, 1965 in Hamburg, were probably among the best
memories Wes Montgomery had of himself and of the great art he mastered
so well. Simply a must have album!

As a rock icon and filmmaker with a unique vision, ROB ZOMBIE has continuously challenged audiences as he stretches the boundaries of both music and film. He has sold more than fifteen million albums worldwide, and is the only artist to experience unprecedented success in both music and film as the writer/director of eight feature films with a worldwide gross totaling more than $150 million.
ROB ZOMBIE has achieved great success in the music industry, first as a member of the multi-platinum band WHITE ZOMBIE and later as a solo artist with even greater results collecting numerous multi-platinum and gold albums along the way including Hellbilly Deluxe, The Sinister Urge and Educated Horses. In 2013, the seven-time GRAMMY® nominee released his fifth solo album, Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor, on his Zodiac Swan label through UMe. The album debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 and spawned two Top 10 Active Rock singles, “Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Super Town” and Zombie’s spin on GRAND FUNK RAILROAD’s anthemic “We’re An American Band.”
In April 2016, ZOMBIE released his 6th studio album, The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser. The album debuted at number six on the Billboard Top 200 making it the sixth consecutive release to debut Top Ten. Produced by Zeuss, it was recorded and mixed at Goathouse Studios. A full return to form by the rock icon, The Electric Warlock… features John 5 (Guitar), Piggy D (Bass) and Ginger Fish (Drums).
October 2020 sees the release of the first new ZOMBIE track and video in over four years — “King Freak: A Crypt Of Preservation And Superstition” off of the forthcoming full-length album entitled The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy. A classic ZOMBIE album through and through with high-energy rages like The Eternal Struggles of the Howling Man and Get Loose to heavy-groove thumpers like Shadow Of The Cemetery Man and Shake Your Ass-Smoke Your Grass. This new slab of ZOMBIE madness hits in early 2021
For the past two decades ROB ZOMBIE has also directed dozens of music videos for himself as well as other artists including Ozzy Osbourne. ZOMBIE was also the first self-directed artist to win an MTV Video Music Award. He’s also directed a special episode of CBS’s CSI: Miami, two Comedy Central specials, and uncharacteristically macabre commercials for various brands.

Earth, Wind & Fire’s sixth studio album That’s the Way of the World rose to No. 1 on both the Billboard 200 and Top Soul Albums charts. It was also the soundtrack for a 1975 motion picture of the same name. They won a Rock Music Award for the album in the category of Best Rhythm and Blues Album. The album is filled with gems ranging from the sweat funk of “Shining Star” to the gorgeous ballad “Reasons”.

Listening to Magic Sam playing and singing from a twenty first
century perspective shows distinctly how he was pushing the
blues in a rockier direction and influencing many subsequent
players. During the sixties he attracted many new fans with two
fine albums on Delmark Records that have remained very
collectable. This fine album represents the first phase of his
career and captures his distinct guitar playing with its crisp and
sometimes choppy attack. He was very much a second-wave
bluesman on the Chicago scene, but obviously had so much to
offer in terms of taking the blues in new and exciting directions.

Whitesnake celebrates the blues sound that helped inspire its multi-platinum career on a new collection that features remixed and remastered versions of the group’s best blues-rock songs. The Blues Album is the third and final release in the band’s Red, White and Blues Trilogy, a series of compilations organised by musical themes that began earlier in 2020 with Love Songs (red) and The Rock Album (white). The new compilation delivers a potent mix of hits and deep tracks that originally appeared between 1984 and 2011 on six Whitesnake studio albums and Coverdale’s solo album, Into the Light.

Whitesnake’s singer-songwriter David Coverdale says, the music reflects how blues artists like Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and the three Kings (Albert, B.B. and Freddie) continue to inspire him. In the album’s liner notes, he writes: “It’s hard to find the words to show how profoundly they connected with my soul. But ‘blues’ to me is a beautiful word that describes emotional expression… feelings, be it feelings of sadness, loneliness, emptiness… but, also those that express great joy, celebration and dance, sexiness and love!!!”

The Blues Album showcases two of the band’s biggest songs: “Slow An’ Easy,” a big hit in 1984 from Whitesnake’s massive album Slide It In, and the smash “Give Me All Your Love” from the band’s 1987 self-titled globally successful album. Other choice tracks from Whitesnake are also featured: “Looking For Love” and “Crying In The Rain,” and “Steal Your Heart Away.” The collection also includes “If You Want Me,” a studio recording released in 2006 as a bonus track on the live album, Live…in the Shadows of the Blues. Coverdale also taps his 2000 solo album, Into the Light, for “The River Song.”

Gold-certified bluegrass band The Dead South announce Served Live, their first double live album, available for pre-order now. Recorded during the Served Cold World Tour, which traveled the USA, UK and Ireland before the live music industry was shut down by the pandemic, Served Live is a full concert set list taped at iconic and beloved venues, from London’s Brixton Academy and Denver’s Mission Ballroom to The Belasco Theatre in LA. Featuring new material from the JUNO Award winning album Sugar & Joy, alongside the band’s top charting, global viral hits from previous records, Served Live puts you in the front row in your own home, where we hope you’ll stay safe. "We've often thought of ourselves primarily as live, performing artists as opposed to recording artists. Our studio albums exist as a reflection of and advertisement for what we really do, which is put on high-energy shows. While a "live recording" is a bit of a paradox, we're very excited to give our fans a glimpse of what we do best. If you've seen us before, we hope this record will in some small way bring you back to the sweaty, loud live experience we've all been missing. If you have yet to see us, we hope this record excites you to come see us in the (hopefully) near future.” Served Live will be released January 29, 2021 via Six Shooter Records.

Pressed here onto Blue vinyl, this classic Grammy winning album, containing 2 sought after classics, “This Masquerade” and “Breezin’” is the fifteenth studio album from the jazz/soul guitarist, George Benson. Marking the beginning of Benson’s most commercially successful era, the album won Best Pop Instrumental Performance and was also nominated for Album of The Year, while “The Masquerade” won Record of The Year and was nominated for Song of The Year at the 19th annual Grammy Awards.

‘‘I am not as other detectives!’
Presently in triple gatefold vinyl for the very first time, Dirk Gently – The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul sees Harry Enfield return as the singular detective in this full-cast BBC radio dramatisation of the novel by Douglas Adams. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2008, these fantastically entertaining comedy sci-fi dramas are adapted and directed by Dirk Maggs, acclaimed for his dramatisations of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Good Omens, Neverwhere and many others.
When Dirk Gently’s long-suffering secretary, Janice, resigns to work in an airport, it’s the beginning of a very strange adventure for both of them. The detective takes to reading palms whilst dressed as an old gypsy woman, but meanwhile the ancient Norse God Odin has fallen into the hands of an unscrupulous advertising executive (and her husband). Bring on Odin’s son, Thor, a godlike curse that turns Janice into a vending machine, and countless other interconnected things…
Starring Harry Enfield as Dirk Gently and Olivia Colman as Janice, with Billy Boyd as Richard MacDuff, Laurel Lefkow as Kate Schechter, Stephen Moore as Odin, John Fortune as Dr Standish, Philip Jackson as the Vagrant, Jan Ravens as Cynthia Draycott and Peter Davison as Simon Draycott, with a guest cast including Rupert Degas, Morwenna Banks, Sally Grace, Jon Glover, Michael Fenton Stevens and Susan Sheridan, and music by Philip Pope. Adapted by Dirk Maggs and John Langdon from the novel of the same name by Douglas Adams. Directed by Dirk Maggs.
Three 140g coloured vinyl discs – in Holistic Red, Yellow and Blue - are presented in an illustratedc triple gatefold sleeve, with an exclusive sleeve note by Dirk Maggs.

gold vinyl / 180 grams

Six striking pieces of music from three unique and distinct artists, each elaborately soundtracking the luxurious and endless nights of tomorrow...

Blues singer and harmonica player Brian Knight (1939-2001) is counted as one of the initial members of The Rolling Stones. Co-founder of Brian Jones first band together with Ian Stewart and Dick Taylor (later Pretty Things) among others. Musical disagreement with Jones, who fancied Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry while Knight was a Muddy Waters follower, led to his departure from the group - later to be replaced by Jagger and Richards. He formed his own "Blues By Six" band, frequently with Charlie Watts on drums, and spent the following years touring and playing London clubs. In the seventies he continued with Bradford-Knight Blues Band. Always a high profile act on the English blues circuit Knight has performed with many known artists through the decades, as Rick Wakeman, Peter Green, Paul Jones, Zoot Money, Ronnie Lane, Charie Watts, Chris Farlowe...and many more. After two successful decades of touring and performing he finally got to record his debut in 1981on the independent label PVK Records. The album is a mix of standard blues and rock numbers as traditional "white blues", sometimes reminding of early British R&B from Cyril Davies or Alexis Korner. It features Dick Heckstall-Smith (Colosseum) on sax, Peter Green on guitar and Stones own Charlie Watts on drums

While Joe Henderson seemed to arrive fully formed on his auspicious 1963 debut Page One, the album was really a showcase for the transcendent collaboration between the tenor saxophonist and trumpeter Kenny Dorham who would form a potent frontline team on numerous mid-60s Blue Note classics.

Page One opens with a pair of indelible Dorham compositions (“Blue Bossa” and “La Mesha”), with the balance of the six-song set penned by Henderson including his enduring theme “Recorda-Me.” Dazzling performances by pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Butch Warren, and drummer Pete La Roca further elevate this album making it one of the crown jewels of the Blue Note catalog.

This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

'How is it that one of Art Blakey’s greatest albums with the Jazz Messengers is so little known? The 1961 edition of the Messengers included Lee Morgan on trumpet, Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone, Bobby Timmons on piano, and Jymie Merritt on bass. In February and May of 1961, this group (with pianist Walter Davis Jr sitting in on two tracks) entered Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in New Jersey and proceeded to lay down Roots & Herbs, a brilliant set of six Shorter compositions including the driving hard bop of the title track, the playful “Ping Pong,” and the clever “United.” The album was eventually released in 1970 and deserves a place among Blakey’s finest recordings.

The Radio 2 Top 2000 is the largest annual radio event in The Netherlands. The audience of Radio gets to vote for their favorite all-time songs. These literally millions of votes come together in the Top 2000. All these 2000 songs are broadcasted back to back from Christmas until a few minutes before New Years Eve, when they air the No.1 of the chart.

Top 2000 - The 60’s contains the best hits from the century in which the music industry saw its biggest change. It were the years some of the biggest bands in the history of music rose to fame, like The Beach Boys, The Kinks, The Who, and Fleetwood Mac. Rock, pop, funk, soul and psychedelia all stand side by side on this release, with artists like James Brown, Nina Simone, David Bowie, Etta James, Elvis Presley, and Dusty Springfield. These artists and many more you’ll find on this wonderful 2LP.

The Top 2000 bridges the gaps between all musical generation from the Sixties to the present, making it the most eclectic chart out there, and keeping more that half of the country glued to their radio day and night for the whole week it’s broadcasted. And with a daily tv spin-off during its broadcast, it has reached an even bigger audience.

Top 2000 - The 60’s is available as a limited edition of 2000 individually numbered copies on yellow vinyl. The package includes an insert.

John Prine’s self-titled debut album continues to sound as fresh as it did back in 1971, with Rolling Stone ranking it amongst its 500 greatest albums of all time. It includes some of Prine’s finest works such as “Sam Stone,” “Paradise,” and the famous “Angel From Montgomery.” After initially being spotted by famed singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson, John Prine’s debut album earned him a number of admirers, including the likes of Bob Dylan. Tracks such as “Paradise” resonated with many, quickly becoming a bluegrass standard. Originally written by John for his father, the track has since been covered by a number of artists such as Johnny Cash and The Everly Brothers.

John Prine, who passed away in April, was one of the most celebrated singer/songwriters of his generation and recipient of the 2020 Grammy® Lifetime Achievement Award. Considered a true folk-singer, Prine was known for his raspy voice and equally admired for his unique songwriting ability. His career spanned over five decades, during which he created witty and sincere country-folk music that drew from his Midwestern American roots and incorporated sounds from rockabilly, R&B and rock 'n' roll.

In addition to earning the Lifetime Achievement Award this year, Prine also won Grammy® Awards for The Missing Years (1991) and Fair and Square (2005). His songs have been recorded by a long list of well-respected artists, including Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Bonnie Raitt, Kris Kristofferson, Carly Simon, George Strait, Norah Jones, John Denver, Miranda Lambert, The Everly Brothers, Bette Midler, Paul Westerberg, Tammy Wynette and Dwight Yoakam.

´Distant Memories - Live in London´ vereint ausgewählte Songs von DREAM THEATERs aktuellem Album ´Distance Over Time´ (2019) zusammen mit der vollständigen Aufführung von ´Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory´ (1999). An einem lang herbeigesehnten und fast schon als historisch zu bezeichnenden Abend in der Geschichte der Band entstand dieses bemerkenswerte Live-Album. Die Tour ´The Distance Over Time Tour: Celebrating 20 Years of Scenes From a Memory´ war ein Dankeschön an die Fans für ihre jahrzehntelange Wertschätzung und Liebe. Für die Band war ´die Tour in vielerlei Hinsicht wirklich unglaublich. Wir durften unsere neuesten Werke präsentieren, die von DT-Fans auf der ganzen Welt auf eine Weise aufgenommen wurde, für die wir unglaublich dankbar sind. Und die zwei Abende, die wir in London aufgenommen und gefilmt haben, gehörten definitiv zu den besten Shows der Tour.´ Petrucci fährt fort: ´Egal ob man die Gelegenheit hatte, diese Tour persönlich zu sehen und das hoffentlich großartige Konzerterlebnis noch einmal erleben möchte, oder ob man das Konzert zum ersten Mal auf Video genießt: ´Distant Memories´ fängt die Live-Energie sehr genau und sehr schön ein - ebenso wie die positive Aufregung, die wir alle im vergangenen Februar gemeinsam im Apollo verspürt haben.´ Er hebt das ´unglaubliche Touring- und Produktionsteam sowie unser großartiges Filmteam hervor, die allesamt perfekt abgeliefert haben und es uns ermöglichten, in bestem Licht präsentiert zu werden. Wir sind überaus stolz darauf, diese Veröffentlichung dank unseres talentierten Mix Engineers, unseres Regisseurs und Art Directors mit brillantem Sound sowie in visueller und künstlerischer Perfektion anbieten zu können.´ Die bedeutsame Performance ´Distant Memories - Live In London´ ist als Limited Deluxe 3CD / 2Blu-Ray / 2DVD 44-seitiges Artbook, Limited Edition 4LP + 3CD Boxset, Special Edition 3CD + 2Blu-ray Digipak, 3CD + 2DVD Mulitbox & als Digitales Audioalbum erhältlich.

This 3LP compilation documents B.B.King's breakthrough years, when, initially signed to the Bihari Brothers' RPM label, he unleashed a torrent of superb recordings that would establish him as the world's most famous blues singer-guitarist. He made scores of remarkable recordings during his career - but the ones on this compilation represent that marvelous moment in time when Riley King and Lucille combined to make their indelible mark on the history of the blues.

Take Five is probably one of the jazz titles that is best-known to a mass audience. It was composed by Paul Desmond and it appeared on the album Time Out by the Dave Brubeck Quartet.

Pianist Brubeck had studied veterinary medicine before turning to music, and in 1949 he formed an octet, and then in 1951 his famous quartet with Paul Desmond playing saxophone. He signed with Columbia in 1954 and built up an excellent reputation, but in 1959 he became famous around the globe thanks to two titles, Take Five and Blue Rondo à la Turk.

In France, the singer Claude Nougaro made the quartet’s work popular when he wrote the French lyrics for versions of Three to get ready (adapted as Le jazz et la Java) and Blue Rondo a la Turk (with the title A bout de souffle). Dave Brubeck was “quiet man”, far from the legends and excess often linked with jazz: he would spend six decades in a world where life, and jazz, was “cool.”

Reissue of this mesmerizing record including an unreleased alternate mix of "Subterranean Zappa Blues". Hypnotic rhythms made of slow minimal beats, industrial textures, intoxicating drones and repetitive voices that seem to merge from dreams. Everything built by two of the most brilliant industrial music minds: Steven Stapleton and Colin Potter.

"This album arrived somewhere after a dream meeting of several individuals, Graham Bond, Joe Meek, Jacques Berrocal and myself. After a few beers and a heated disscussion of puncture repair we all lay down in a circle and point our penises at Venus, telepathic messages are sent out to Colin saying he can use the two golden microphones. He did, and here we are." Steven Stapleton, 17.1.94.

Rock 'n Roll Station began life with Steven Stapleton asking engineer Colin Potter to remix some of the more rhythmic elements of 'Colder Still' from 1992's Thunder Perfect Mind. As Potter gradually warped these sections into weirder and weirder pieces, a new album began to emerge. Potter himself explained it to David Keenan in England’s Hidden Reverse: “What I sometimes did in the studio was to ‘over-use’ effects and processors to totally mutate a piece into something completely different” while Stapleton observed how “it was almost as though telepathic messages were sent over to Colin. We’d started an album together at IC Studio that was never finished. He then sent me some vague mixes, which were just what I had in mind. So, from that basis, I started putting the album together.”

Potter would quickly become a key player in Nurse With Wound’s productions, a position he continues to fulfil to this day. He was first credited as a member on 1992’s Thunder Perfect Mind, a tour-de-force of cold, at times hostile, machined atmospheres, but considers Rock ‘N Roll Station from the following year to still be his favourite.

Building on percussion and drone elements, Stapleton and Potter throw in a huge range of bizarre and atmospheric elements: didgeridoos, chanting voices, and their usual selection of unidentifiable sounds.

Its strong focus on rhythm was erroneously surmised by some as an attempt to join the then rising electronic dance music scene. But it was Stapleton’s recent obsession with the music of ‘King of the Mambo’ Pérez Prado that was beating at the heart of Rock N’ Roll Station’s heady rhythms.

The album’s title alluded to two specifically rock-related stations of influence: the song of the same name by Jac Berrocal, of which a surprisingly straight cover opens the album in homage; and the tragic life of the Sixties British R&B organist Graham Bond who influenced bands such as Deep Purple and Cream. Beset by mental health problems (at one point believing he was the son of Aleister Crowley), Bond died under a train at a Tube station in 1989 and it is this tragic scene that Rock ‘n Roll Station’s closing track, ‘Finsbury Park, May 8th, 1:35 PM (I'll See You In Another World)’, sets in sound.

The first of three volumes: stomping, rollicking gospel music, intermingling with raw soul, searing blues, hard-rocking doo-wop and jazz, and storming r&b.

Infused and incandescent with the hurting, surging indignation of the Civil Rights movement, here are twenty-four precious scorchers by giants like the Staple Singers and Jimmy Scott, alongside devastating sides by less celebrated names like the Harmonising Five of Burlington, North Carolina, and teen-group the North Philadelphia Juniors, culminating triumphantly with slamming, sanctified versions of Hit The Road Jack and Wade In The Water.

Gatefold sleeve, with full-size booklet; beautifully designed, with stunning, rare photographs and original Savoy artwork.

Beyonce's sixth album Lemonade (when life serves you lemons, make lemonade) is an album that follows a clear story, the discovery of your partner cheating, the anger which is followed by her leaving him, reconciling, and ending with the beginning of a fresh start together. The music has a very Southern Blues feel to it overall (harking back to Beyonce's childhood and the roots of her parents), but also has a couple of the Beyonce-standard piano lead slower numbers, and a few feisty hip-hop leaning grooves that are a bit similar to the BEYONCE era tracks. Telling such a painful and personal story through the songs gives Beyonce's vocals amazing depth and power, from her vulnerability in Pray You Catch Me, the anger in Don't Hurt Yourself, defiance in Sorry, the sadness behind Sandcastles, acceptance in Freedom, to the hope tinged delivery of All Night - Lemonade delivers it all.

The hour-long film is composed of the music videos for every song strung together to form the visual story of the potential destruction of a relationship, the journey of emotions and self-discovery the wronged party goes through, and finding forgiveness. Beyonce did the 'visual' concept for the deluxe edition of B'Day and for BEYONCE, but Lemonade is heads and shoulders above them - the videos here aren't about Beyonce looking pretty, rather adding to the emotive tale of the songs.

- 12 TRACKS
- HEAVYWEIGHT VINYL
- FULL COLOR LABELS + PICTURE SLEEVE

Favorite Recordings presents Jazz Traficantes by LE DEAL, a new musical adventure from the finest French jazzmen with Florian Pellissier (Piano & Fender Rhodes - Camaraõ Orkestra, Cotonete,
Aldorande, Setenta), Yoann Loustalot (Flugelhorn – Bruit Chic, Old & New Songs, Aerophone, Lucky Dog), Théo Girard (Upright Bass – Pensée Rotatives, Discobole) and Malick Koly (Drums - The Wallace
Roney Quintet). Needless to say, they’re used to play all over the globe and quite often to New York. During one of these
trips to the Big Apple, they discovered that the legendary Van Gelder studio (where most of Blue Note, Verve and CTI albums were recorded) was still active and opened so they decided to book a few days session.

Here is the story told by Florian Pellissier: “The tracks had been written the night before. We were going to run through them and then record. A simple plan. Van Gelder had passed a while back, but he left the keys and secret codes with his faithful assistant Maureen before heading off to create the right sound up in heaven. Nothing had changed in the atmosphere or configuration, not even the way the mics were placed. The studio and its wooden beams still exuded New York’s sixties jazz, dimly lit streets and clubs where anything might happen past midnight. Maureen knew just how to capture the ambiance of the sessions and bottle the energy without spilling a drop, taking infinite care to collect each cymbal tone, drum roll and trumpet phrase, without losing a single vibrating bass string or the slightest keyboard pause.”

Indeed, the four contrabandists succeeded to deliver an outstanding album, filled with themes that’ll get stuck in your head, just like in the 19 minutes long performance “Mexican Junkanoo Suite” and its three
parts. But more than just beautiful melodies, LE DEAL truly managed to bring a sense of drama to their compositions, going into the deepest emotions through gutted arrangements, improvising with great attention to the articulation of their ideas. From the beginning to the end, musicians and engineers did their best to emulate the proper vintage sound. Jazz Traficantes could prove once and for all that
French Jazz can indeed cross the borders. The album will be available as Tip-On Deluxe Vinyl LP but also on CD & Digital with a bonus track, “Noche en la Carcel”

For every celebrated name in jazz, soul and related music, there are probably another 1000 musicians who had all the talent and potential but for whom widespread recognition remained elusive. Roscoe Weathers is one such figure, a jazzman who earned his chops the hard way, a sideman in smoky clubs from Memphis to Seattle, before finally settling in LA. He recorded a significant amount of music through the 1960s, but never found the slightest modicum of commercial acclaim nor the success that comes with it.

Overlooked by all but the tiniest of record labels, Weathers' released much of his material himself. Indeed, we can lay claim to be the first outside label to release any of his music since the early 1960s. That's sixty years of being overlooked by the record industry, so we are delighted to release this first full length album of his music in a first attempt at righting that historic wrong.

A multi-instrumentalist, Weathers mainly led on the flute in his recorded output. The music here spans the course of the 1960s, and moves from laid back beatnik jazz stylings through to percussion heavy Afro-Latin influenced workouts. As usual with Jazzman, we have not only dug deep to unearth Weathers' music but also his background and biographical details, shining much deserved light on this enigmatic and largely unheralded figure for the first time.

A memorable name with an outstanding cover, Fuzzy Duck is a classic slice of underground London art rock and melodic psychedelia. Originally released on MAM in 1971, it’s truly a musical force of infectious riffs and fiery solos, sharp tempo changes, a tight rhythm section and heavy, Hammond-drenched grooves. With echoes of Spencer Davis Group, early Grand Funk and Vanilla Fudge, it comes on like a heavier Soft Machine or Caravan. No wonder Fuzzy Duck’s cult appeal has endured.

The album features Mick Hawksworth (Five Day Week Straw People, Andromeda) on bass, acoustic 12-string, electric cello and some of the vocal duties, and also Roy “Daze” Sharland (Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Spice) on organ and electric piano. Accompanying those two were Paul Francis on drums and percussion, and Grahame White on guitars and the rest of the vocals.

Originally released in an edition of 500, Fuzzy Duck became legendary all over the world through a holy trinity of scarcity, personnel and its sheer brilliance.

The album kicks off with a heavy, bass-fuelled, Hammond rocker titled “Time Will Be Your Doctor”. This is pure hard-edged blues rock, brilliantly played. Its drum break intro was sampled by DJ Premier for Gang Starr’s “Mostly Tha Voice” on 1994’s legendary Hard To Earn. And we can hear its personality all over Harvey and Thomas Bullock’s Map Of Africa.

Rollicking highlight “Mrs. Prout” follows. At nearly 7 minutes long, it incorporates more psych-leaning guitar and drawn-out keyboards à la Ray Manzarek with the band effortlessly switching from jazzy rhythm section to a progressive one. That magnificent instrumental jam that starts half-way and continues through to the end is a true wonder.

“Just Look Around You” is propulsive folk-rock with a soaring, proto power-pop chorus, backed by frenetic organ and heavy bass high in the rich, intoxicating mix. Back comes the heavy, strung-out psych to both close out side one with “Afternoon Out” and kick off side two with “More Than I Am”. Both tracks are improvisational winners that stylistically nod to the late sixties and “More Than I Am”’s guitar hook, catchy organ and memorable chorus would’ve surely made it a great single.

“Country Boy” quenches the thirst for rhythm and melody, only the lyrics and vibe are wonderfully creepy. The sudden cut of the groove and the drop into a more sinister tempo will make you stumble, before the band pick up speed and toss you back again into the opening jam, this time with a badass organ to ride you home. The final, fully fleshed out track is the majestic “In Our Time”, which oscillates between endless organ-driven boogie and heavenly, genuinely moving vocals. Just stunning.

Infamous instrumental cut “A Word from Big D” rounds out the album. Yes, that’s the band jamming with duck quack sound effects accompanying the music. “Ducking vocals” as the sleeve says. You know, just in case the whole “duck” theme had passed you by. It’s an appropriate closer for what sounds like an album that must have been *a lot* of fun to record. It’s definitely fun to listen to.

Mastered by Be With’s chief sound duck Simon Francis and cut with glee by the veteran Pete Norman, this reissue of Fuzzy Duck’s one-and-only LP sounds as mighty as it should. That unforgettable sleeve artwork has been carefully restored and the records pressed by the wonderful Record Industry in the Netherlands. Essential.

Dead Or Alive have sold more than 30 million albums and 25 million singles worldwide and gave Stock Aitken Waterman their first #1
single. Their first three albums, which the band wrote, all reached the UK Top 30, with ‘Youthquake’ reaching the Top 10. In the 1980s, they charted seven unique singles in the UK Top 40, with two further re-entries this century, with a remix and original version of ‘You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)’. Respected US magazine Billboard, ranked them in their all-time Top 100 most successful ‘dance artists’ chart.
Recorded at PWL Studios, London, “Nukleopatra” is the Band’s sixth studio album and was initially released in Japan in 1995, although
subsequently released in different versions - track existing / versions / durations / artwork - in eight other countries between 1996 and 1998. It contains the singles ‘Rebel Rebel’ and ‘Sex Drive’. The album was not released in the UK, until a re-worked version was included within the ‘Sophisticated Boom Box MMXVI’ box set in 2016. This vinyl edition replicates the original Japanese version, which features longer versions ‘Nukleopatra’ and ‘Sex Drive’, along with rerecorded versions of ‘Unhappy Birthday’ and ‘Gone Too Long’, which appeared on “Fan the Flame (Part 1)”. This special 25th Anniversary Edition of “Nukleopatra” is the first time that the album has been commercially released on vinyl in its original configuration, with original playing durations and will be pressed on 180g heavyweight blue colour vinyl.

Fusing dexterous hand-percussion, hypnotic guitar riffs & soaring melodies, Waaju rise from London’s rich cultural palette with their latest album ‘Grown’, proving UK Jazz doesn’t have to sound the way we expect it to. Led by drummer and percussionist Ben Brown (Alfa Mist, Dizraeli, Ashley Henry), the band comprises percussionist Ernesto Marichales (Jordan Rakei, Sigala), guitarist Tal Janes (Nubiyan Twist, Bahla), Sam Rapley (Fabled, Maria Chiara Argiro) and Joe Downard (China Moses, Judi Jackson), each with their own strong presence on the UK’s extensive music scene. Waaju’s refined and divergent sound connects the dots between the likes of Ali Farka Touré, Alain Peters, Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, Oscar D’Leon and Beth Carvalho. Waaju formed as a means of exploring music’s hidden connections, from trance-inducing Moroccan Gnawa to Caribbean carnival music, and embracing them to reflect different shades of London’s own musical culture. It was the band’s love for Mali’s folk music – and Ali Farka Touré’s stylistic prowess in particular – that first set the project in motion. London’s Jazz Cafe invited Waaju to reinterpret classic tracks from Farka Touré’s catalogue to sold-out audiences in 2018 and 2019. According to Brown: “Ali’s one of the best. He has such a unique sound. His playing is so gnarly. His spirit and attitude are things I always think of when making music.” Waaju (meaning ‘to urge, inspire or influence to take action’ in Malian language Bambara) blends pulsing Latin polyrhythms, psychedelic Malian blues licks and cinematic textures. Following the group’s 2018 self-titled debut record, Grown presents a group more unified and distinctive-sounding than ever with six fresh, bold compositions. The record begins with Moleman, a potent reminder of the intricacy and energy Waaju’s become known for. Gritty, clattering metal defines the landscape for sizzling builds, hinting at rave culture styles like Bashment and Jungle. Listening Glasses follows and it’s clear why this is the album’s lead single – its Afrobeat-like energy and joyful interplay between guitar and tenor sax lies somewhere between Tony Allen’s grooves, Chimurenga guitar and Headhunters’ funk. On late night jam Rollando, Joe Downard’s skulking bass frequencies rule and wonkiness reaches new heights as heavy dub grooves almost tear themselves apart. Time’s Got a Hold was co-written by Waaju and Jordan Rakei for a show together in November 2018. Kicking off side B, this version features special guest vocalist Will Heard over bouncing triplets evocative of 1970’s Sega from La Reunion. A kind of looseness found only at night, the quiet drive of Wassoulou is sparse yet purposeful. Pulling back the tempo and dimming the lights, cavernous percussion fills each corner of the room, springing back as spectral reverbs. The title and final track shows the many dynamic sides of the outfit’s far-reaching sound, with its expansive harmonies and explosive psychedelia, spanning Yoruba Andabo to Hendrix, signing off an exciting and energetic second LP from Waaju at their most scintillating.

While the ongoing global pandemic means our chances to gather and dance beneath deep blue skies are likely to be limited, there’s never been a greater need for warm, positive and life-affirming music. NuNorthern Soul has decided to do its bit by offering up a brand new 'Summer Selections' sampler that’s packed to the rafters with magical musical treats lifted from some of the label’s most potent forthcoming releases.

The EP begins with something rather special from Canadian producer Igor B: a gentle, sunrise-ready soundscape rich in languid hand percussion, bubbly synthesizer lines and glistening guitars. Entitled 'Deep Breath', the track is just one of the many highlights you’ll find on his forthcoming debut album, “Stranded Seaside”.

There’s a similarly tactile and immersive feel to 'Early Morning Ferry' by George Koutalieris, a Greek producer whose debut album 'Stop, Look, Listen' will be released by NuNorthern Soul later in the year. On his contribution to 'Summer Selections Two', Koutalieris wraps lilting, sun-soaked guitar solos and soft-touch electronics around a chunky groove that doffs a cap to the more laidback end of the 1970s West Coast rock spectrum.

Next up, long-time friend of the family Chris Coco delivers a stunning interpretation of 'Dinum', an overlooked neo-classical/ambient fusion track by Faroe Islands-based producer Kristian Blak’s Yggdrasil project. Coco’s simmering, string-drenched re-imagining is featured here as a teaser of NuNorthern Soul’s reissue of the 2014 track in the autumn, which will also feature a mind-blowing 10-minute rework by Mike Salta – an artist who is also featured on 'Summer Selections Two'.

This time round you’ll find Salta collaborating with Mortale on the starry, EP-ending ambient bliss of 'Bells of Burgibba', a deliciously drowsy mixture of twinkling electric piano motifs, chiming lead lines and woozy pads taken from the forthcoming “Celestial Hike EP”. It paddles in similar sonic waters to label boss Phil Cooper’s stretched-out, slo-mo Balearic dub of new signing Faint Waves’ 'Aphrodesia', a teaser of the artist’s “Islands In Time EP” which can be found elsewhere on 'Summer Selections Two'.

No NuNorthern Soul label sampler would be complete without a contribution from BJ Smith, an artist who has been with the imprint from its earliest days. Smith returns to the imprint with another reminder of his uncanny ability to deliver ear-catching cover versions that re-cast classic cuts as loved-up rays of Balearic sunshine. This time round Smith takes us on a huggable shuffle through Prefab Sprout’s 'All the World Loves Lovers', re-imagining it as a future Balearic anthem and a summer 2020 sing-along. It’s not only a sneak peak of what we can expect from 'Dedication to the Greats Volume 3', his first covers collection for nigh on six years, but also a life-affirming highlight of an EP that oozes musical positivity from start to finish.