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Straight up disco boogie on this 1985 release on Family Affair from Chicago. Vocal on A, instrumental on B.

RAWAX IS PROUD TO WELCOME MR. K-ALEXI SHELBY TO THE FAMILY!
Mr. K Alexi Shelby
Like a moth drawn to a flame, there is something utterly infectious about the music of Mr.K Alexi Shelby, better known as K-Alexi one of the founding fathers of house music direct from his home city of Chicago. Since the late 1980s, he has pioneered the true house sound, leading to a DH and production career spanning over 20 years, including collaborations with artists ranging from The Pet Shop Boys to Derrick May and from Larry Heard and Felix da Housecat to Will Smith, as well as gigs across the globe.
An impressionable young teenager, Mr.K Alexi Shelby developed friendships with Frankie Knuckles and Ron Hardy whilst attending seminal venues like The Warehouse and The Music Box in the mid 1980s. Being here at this embryonic stage of dance music culture, there were no rules or precedents, so K Alexi drew on a rich musical heritage that had seen him grow up in the 70s and 80s listening to Stevie Wonder, Prince, Curtis Mayfield and David Huff. Those roots continue to influence his music to this day.
It was under the moniker Risque III that Essence Of A Dream was released in 1987, firmly establishing the name of Mr.K Alexi Shelby amongst the most prominent of all house producers at the time. Moreover, those early tracks are still recognized to be the quintessential Chicago house sound. The rumbling and dark bass, smooth strings, incredible percussion and the spoken word poetic and erotic lyrical flow became the trademark for classic Chicago house and the template for everything else that followed. To reiterate, there was no template before this. This was the beginning.
This initial success has lead to Mr.K Alexi Shelby working with the leading names across the electronic music world and beyond. Collaborations and remixes for Chicago peers like Mike Dunn, Mr. Lee and Marshall Jefferson merely served as the springboard for Alexi to work with the best in the electronic scene, from Derrick May to Paul Johnson ,Ron Trent Dave Angel to Felix ad House Kat. Furthermore, his talents have also lead to him working with The Pet Shop Boys and Will Smith.
On top of this, his tracks have appeared on compilations by artists varying from Laurent Garnier to DJ Hell, who used It's Me 2010 contribution to the Body Language series for Get Physical Music. Produced under the Club M.C.M. moniker, the 1991 EP It's Me/Club M.C.M. has been a frequent selection for compilations for 20 years and is rightly regarded as a true underground techno classic.

14 tracks: Maniac Lover, All I Can Do Is Cry, Chick Habit, Johnny Are You Gay, Raw Deal, I'm Gonna Dry My Eyes, Clarksdale Boogie, Nothin' But You, Moonshine Song, Walk Italian, Live The Life, The Long Way Down, Brown Eyed Boy, Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son.

Next up in the Delsin house series is a man who's been perfecting it for years - Düsseldorf's Andy Vaz. The boss of Yore and Background Records, Vaz has released two full lengths and many EPs to date, always exploring a heartfelt brand of electronica that draws on house, techno, Detroit and Chicago in equal measure.

Here he serves up two versions of the same track - 'Don't Lose Your Mind'. Both feature the sweet vocal stylings of Niko Marks and the first, the Soul Version, is all ditty, bouncy chords, floating, summery saxophone lines and warm, effusive synths.

The second House Dub mix is a little sharper - the claps cut through the soupy sonics like a knife and as a result the groove has a more urgent bite. Still stuffed with plenty of human loveliness, though, both tracks are surely set for many spins this summer given their classy feel good vibes.

Finnish DJ crew Rollomatik break out on the Boogie Boutique imprint with a two track release that aims to represent the Arctic Circle fully in the nu funk/breakbeat scene. Formed of Hesh & Eaves, Rollomatik aim to rock the party and that much is evident on this cheeky 12" with "We Love To Party" deftly blending Will Smith with Chic amidst a melange of other recognisable samples. A similar approach runs through flipside jam "The Greatest" as Rollomatik lay down the vocal from an oft used Q-Tip solo joint over a heavily filtered take on Sister Sledge's most ubiquitous track.

Francisco Allendes, a classic violinist with a synth rock background, one of the most interesting electronic music artists from Chile, already released on Ghostly, Cadenza and several other labels. Italian born DJ, producer and Ibiza resident Paola Poletto, is not only the 'first female DJ to ever perform at Pacha' - she is also a graduated sound engineer. Together Francisco and Paola are not only the nicest couple of dance music, but as a producer team they are also about to leave a deep mark on the musical landscape. Their Desolat debut is a 4 track EP with their unique view on house music, full of optimism, fun and sundrenched grooves. Enjoy!

Brooks Mosher's return on Dolly with three hot new tracks, with his trademark analog synths and catchy hooks all present, effectively shape-shifting between moody Detroit / classic Chicago house and just plain & uplifting comtemporary underground club music. Three tracks that will unite dancefloors worldwide.

UK stalwarts Jamie Anderson and Owain K team up again for another sumptuous slice of contemporary house music on Steve Bug's Dessous Recordings. Jamie Anderson has been exploring and manipulating the links between house and techno for over 15 years, having released on numerous influential labels, both solo and as a collaborator with other top artists. But it's his work with Bristolborn hot-property Owain K that is currently exciting discerning dancefloors worldwide. 'Do You Know', their latest collaboration, sees Jamie and Owain drop some serious sunshine grooves - shuffling hi-hats and a classic, Chitown synth let you know that this is all about the good times. The spoken word vocal pays homage to forgotten jazz legends - the uplifting vibe sure to put a smile on the faces of dancers all summer long. Jamie and Owain switch it up on the other main track in this release. 'Keep It Pumping' drops the tempo to 118bpm and digs its toes into the sand for a balearic-tinged nu-disco stomper. Disco toms fire, the sub bass rumbles, and spacey synths and vocal samples wash over this expertly crafted sunrise/ sunset groove. A dub of 'Do You Know' rounds off the release from this hugely talented combo.

Well, the ìdeep, raw and realî series has come to an end with volume 4, but Quintessentials
keep these lovely compilations coming. The ìthank you freaksî series is about hot tunes from
hot producers. And part 1 is offering a lot of them: Andy Ash, Uncle Deep, Chicago Damn
and Marcos Cabral! Quite essential!

5 KING'S "Love & Then Sum" : 5 KING'S is five motherfuckers and this one from Chicago shows once again his very natural heritage/memory of Ron Hardy. Taking you into a more than 11 minutes deep house classic blend, classy, spiritual and dj friendly. Once again, core and essence of house music in its purest form ; continuity of & by the pioneers.
Tracklisting:

Up and away / To your journey to the sun / Drink your rocket juice / Fly away (Hey, Shooter).
High up in the skies, amongst the clouds, Rocket Juice & The Moon was born. Literally. It happened back in 2008, when Damon Albarn, Flea and Tony Allen convened on the same Lagos flight, to play and exchange musical ideas in that city as part of the Africa Express collective. Relishing a shared enthusiasm for one another's work, and bonding immediately, there and then the triumvirate laid down the blueprint for Rocket Juice.
Still, more than a year passed before conditions were set for three weeks together at Albarn's West London studio, recording and refining two-dozen startlingly out and deeply funky instrumental grooves. The next stage was to invite onboard some extremely talented friends, with further sessions in Dallas, New York, Chicago and Paris... Erykah Badu, no less, queen of contemporary soul. Three companions from Africa Express: Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara, whose debut album has topped World Music charts since its release last Autumn; her multi-talented compatriot Cheick Tidiane Seck, whose prodigious keyboardism has lit up releases by artists ranging from Youssou N'Dour to Hank Jones; the young, Ghanaian rapper M.anifest, quizzically existential, switching seamlessly between Twi and English. And the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, long-time stalwarts in the Honest Jon's set-up — since one of the team discovered them busking near the shop in Portobello Road, on his lunchbreak — with a second album for the label due in May... Finally, the tracks were dispatched for mixing to Berlin, to be meticulously honed, polished and envenomed by Mark Ernestus, one half of the legendary Basic Channel and Rhythm & Sound partnerships.
The result is Rocket Juice & The Moon — out March 26, 2012, on Honest Jon's Records — a triumphant exploration and proliferation of kinetic Afro-funk rhythms: organic, exuberant, communal music-making, evidenced by the project's live debut on stage as part of the Honest Jon's Chop Up in late 2011, which hit London, Marseille, Dublin, and Cork to such great acclaim (witness the flurry of smart-phone film-clips uploaded in the days thereafter).
From the inaugural bars — that absurdly funky slice of instructional timekeeping, 1-2-3-4-5-6 — the liquid pulse of Fela Kuti's classic recordings drives the action through a suite of 18 shape-shifting compositions. The greatest drummer in the world has never sounded so good as he does here. His intricate cross-patterns jostle and lock with Flea's nimble, rumbling bass riffs. Joined by Seck on There and Extinguished — 'when you dispose of something burning, be sure it's out' — Albarn's keyboards spray synth fusillades up top, over, and under... splicing into the mess of wires running between the freaked Afro-disco of William Onyeabor and the space-jazz-moog of Sun Ra. The HBE brings extra intensity and drama to Leave-Taking — likewise Flea's trumpet to Rotary Connection — teasing out the haunting melody coiled in the mix.
Where the best of vintage Afrobeat sides sustained their concentrated energies over the course of sprawling, marathon jams, RJ & TM manages something altogether different: the group bottles the idiom into capsules of funk... and real songs. Beautifully buoyed by Erykah Badu's unmistakable vocals, Hey, Shooter brilliantly traverses metaphysical spaceways sans any semblance of noodling. Lolo and Follow-Fashion — featuring the open-hearted sensuality of Diawara's singing, M.anifest's quick, brawny science, and more brass blasts — play like its musical cousins or codas. Indeed, the album's shrewd sequencing creates the composite effect of tracks working both individually or within the context of an extended song-cycle.
The lovely ballad, Poison, is bittersweet and ruminative: 'If you're looking for love, beware the signs / They will paralyze you one by one / Poison, it will only break your heart.' Down-tempo and dubby, Check Out and Worries amplify the range of styles and moods. And by the time of Fatherless — a chugging Afro blues that evokes John Lee Hooker lost in Lagos, one gets the sneaking suspicion there's very little outside the reach of this collective's inventive musical grasp.
There is, in fact, a palpable openness pervading Rocket Juice & The Moon — the sense of a limber willingness to follow creative impulse — right down to how the group acquired its name. When Ogunajo Ademola — the Lagotian commissioned to do the album's cover artwork — dubbed his submission 'Rocket Juice & The Moon', it quickly morphed into the formal name of the project, like trying to hold onto mercury.
Surely, the stars above also approved.

Speedcore Underground from la Foudre (No Tek), breakcore Hardcore electro from Middle M (a very nice and original track here !), Chilling Breakcore electronika from Dajhne (Kabal) and regular Amiga Hardcore style from Dark Side Klinykal... Superb and out of the comon fields.Full color printed sleeve.

Sect Records' recent compilation It's All For You showcased the exceptionally high standard of the label's roster as well as introducing some talent to the world, and this, the first 12" sampler from the album, selects three of the compilation's finest tracks for vinyl treatment. Victor Martinez takes over the A-Side with "Dav To Dub", combining heavily delayed chords filtered to breaking point, while a massive kick drum propels everything along, and a jazzy piano melody adds some subtle ambience. On the flip, D'Knox's "I'm Sorry (remix)", is a sparse number contrasting soothing chords with micro-loops which contain the spectre of disco, with a rapid rhythmic flutter and chittering melody at its core, while Fanon Flowers closes with "Invisible Life", a murky production filled with chords that ripple like sheet metal over a flurry of 909 rimshots.

Limited Repress!
The world just got a little bit warmer again with this upcoming debut album of D'Marc Cantu. After several releases on Creme JAK, M>O>S>, Nation as well as collaborations as 2AMFM and Saturn V there finally is a full length showcase of this Chicago native's extraordinary talents. Limited edition 2LP of 300 copies in handnumbered/stickered sleeves with poster.

Klectik014 marks Argentinean producer, Pablo Denegri's debut for the Chicago based label. Pablo has emerged in recent years as one of Buenos Aires most dynamic producers and performers in the techno world. His work has been featured on highly regarded labels such as Dumb-Unit and Unfoundsound, and his live set has been featured at many clubs across Europe and South America.

It is a great honor for us to welcome such a living legend, a pioneer from the Chicago House scene: Mr K' Alexi Shelby !
At the age of 12 he was already moving in the right circles, befriending Frankie Knuckles and Ron Hardy whilst frequenting the famous Warehouse. His upbringing in Chicago in the 70s and 80s meant that he was exposed to a range of genres and different styles of music including Stevie Wonder, Prince, Curtis Mayfield and David Huff. These same names would prove to be the roots of his influences.

Theo roars into a fierce, uglier-than-ugly edit, with no let-up for thirteen minutes, when it crashes to a standstill: a hurtling, mesmerizing ride, multi-layered and clustered with synth washes, bleeps and alarms, galloping drums, clattering percussion.
Burnt's Shangaan variation is perforce more chilled, lithe, reverberating. The drums are crafted and fatback, with moody vocal interjections and haunting keys, chocka with dub thrills and spills, lethally spiked with bass.

The EP's exorbitant success and it's makers constantly evolving sound brings their relationship into late summer 2011 as Cadenza announce their sixty seventh cut; the 'I Ching' solo EP from Felipe Venegas. The two track EP triggers with "I Ching" and its spell binding intro of thundering gong crashes and jangling bells, betraying an almost story like theme as sporadic tom's and intense brass melodies converse with one another intensely.

One can hardly imagine the genre-busting, culture-crossing musical magic of Outkast, Prince, Erykah Badu, Rick James, The Roots, or even the early Red Hot Chili Peppers without the influence of R&B pioneer Betty Davis. Her style of raw and revelatory punk-funk defies any notions that women can’t be visionaries in the worlds of rock and pop. In recent years, rappers from Ice Cube to Talib Kweli to Ludacris have rhymed over her intensely strong but sensual music.



There is one testimonial about Betty Davis that is universal: she was a woman ahead of her time. In our contemporary moment, this may not be as self-evident as it was thirty years ago – we live in an age that’s been profoundly changed by flamboyant flaunting of female sexuality: from Parlet to Madonna, Lil Kim to Kelis. Yet, back in 1973 when Betty Davis first showed up in her silver go-go boots, dazzling smile and towering Afro, who could you possibly have compared her to? Marva Whitney had the voice but not the independence. Labelle wouldn’t get sexy with their “Lady Marmalade” for another year while Millie Jackson wasn’t Feelin’ Bitchy until 1977. Even Tina Turner, the most obvious predecessor to Betty’s fierce style wasn’t completely out of Ike’s shadow until later in the decade.



Ms. Davis’s unique story, still sadly mostly unknown, is unlike any other in popular music. Betty wrote the song “Uptown” for the Chambers Brothers before marrying Miles Davis in the late ’60s, influencing him with psychedelic rock, and introducing him to Jimi Hendrix — personally inspiring the classic album Bitches Brew.



But her songwriting ability was way ahead of its time as well. Betty not only wrote every song she ever recorded and produced every album after her first, but the young woman penned the tunes that got The Commodores signed to Motown. The Detroit label soon came calling, pitching a Motown songwriting deal, which Betty turned down. Motown wanted to own everything. Heading to the UK, Marc Bolan of T. Rex urged the creative dynamo to start writing for herself. A common thread throughout Betty’s career would be her unbending Do-It-Yourself ethic, which made her quickly turn down anyone who didn’t fit with the vision. She would eventually say no to Eric Clapton as her album producer, seeing him as too banal.



Her 1974 sophomore album They Say I’m Different features a worthy-of-framing futuristic cover challenging David Bowie’s science fiction funk with real rocking soul-fire, kicked off with the savagely sexual “Shoo-B-Doop and Cop Him” (later sampled by Ice Cube). Her follow up is full of classic cuts like “Don’t Call Her No Tramp” and the hilarious, hard, deep funk of “He Was A Big Freak.”

For its fourth release Back To The Future nudge even closer to the Chicago sound. Melodic and jazzy with tonnes of jack, the 4 tracks
available on this bumper package meet Chi town on their own terms.

The new Sound Signature is from Chicago artist Specter. When Theo heard a a CD given to him by the artist he just had to release this track. "A comrade from Chicago passed me a cd with some serious tracks on it. All of them I recognized except this one

Hey is Helmut Erler, one half of Hey--Hansen. In "Wuzlguzl" he presents a children's song from Austria.
In his original dialect he sings about the five fingers on the hand and what they have to do with the plums on the tree! The flip turns the song into a psychedelic lullaby.

Limited to 300 Copies....
Solamente is back with their strictly Vinyl only series. This time with Lopazz and Zarook (Get Physical, Shaker Plates, Pokerflat, Circle) meeting Labelhead Sierra. 2 jacking & chicago-influenced Originals with a superb Shooshine remix. We love Vinyl !!!

Influenced and inspired by new electro minimal tendances and artists such as Audion, Stephan Bodzin or Extrawelt, SkryptömRecords, second Electric Rescue label born in 2006, reminds AFU ltd, Boys Noize, as Spectral Sound or Cocoon. A fresh and avant gardist techno music

Kompakt welcomes an old friend and new face to our fold. Berlin based with Parisian tastes, Sebastien Bouchet is groomed to be our most charming producer for the coming year. A regular in the DJ scene for years now with releases for Freak n' Chic and Hypercolour, we bring him to our family with his first 12" single for us - "Fallen Angel".

Omar S treats us to a second release in the space of a week, with a much deserved reissue of some 1996 Roy Davis Jnr rawness across the A Side. The Stevie Wonder classic "All I Do" gets chopped up, laid over a killer Chi town beat filled with instantly gratifying raw drum edits and augmented by some evil bass thumps. Relentlessly brilliant and sounds just as fresh some 14 years on. Echoing a current trend this side plays outwards from the inside groove. On the flip Omar S teams up with DJ B Len D for the bongo heavy deep groove of "Da Teys" a track that's characterised by melodic keys which increase with curveball drama as the track progresses.

Emporor Tune is a superb Chiseese warrior tune, acid and violent, with a loud obsessional melody. Old school killer !

Pure electronic beauty from Chicago based producer m50 aka Area. We are really feel that stuff and gladly share it with you.

Second release with Stacy Kidd & Mike Dixon for Chicago Party time. After the success of the first release this UK Label continue with a solid EP.

The latest EP to come from the Detroit Grand Pubahs label Detelefunk is DJ and producer K' Alexi Shelby with "I Can Go".

After several hot releases on Labels like Cadenza, Kling Klong, Globox, Capsula and his own imprint called Andes Music Chile based Producer Francisco Allendes is back on the street and debuting for Phaze Records. Two great tribalistic tracks with hot remixes from Someone Else (Foundsound, Resopal, Glückskind, Microcosm) and the Bad Boys !!

the 2nd release of french producer anthony collins on mule electronic. anthony collins have released from get physical,freak n' chic, bangbang!, curle and name a few. his biggest track "reeves" was incuded to the compilation of 10 years anniversary of circoloco@dc10.