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Betty Wright - Betty Wright Live Expanded

Betty Wright (original name Bessie Regina Norris) rose to fame in the 1970s with hits such as “Clean Up Woman”, “Lovin’ Is Really My Game”, and “Tonight Is the Night”. She was an outstanding performer and this Live album provides much evidence of Wright’s vitality as a singer. Besides the wonderful performances of her own hits she also sounds incredible on the cover of Leon Russell’s “A Song for You”. The album peaked at #63 in the Canadian Album Chart. This expanded edition features two bonus tracks not available on the original album. Betty Wright passed away May 10th, 2020 at the age of 66.

Available for the first time on coloured vinyl as a limited edition of 1500 individually numbered copies on translucent yellow vinyl

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24,92

Last In: 5 years ago
LEO SAYER - Here

Leo Sayer

Here

12inchDEMREC586
Demon Records
07.08.2020
  • A1: The World Has Changed
  • A2: When The Money Runs Out
  • A3: The End
  • A4: Lost Control
  • A5: An Englishman In The U.s.a
  • B1: Who Will The Next Fool Be
  • B2: Work
  • B3: Oh Girl
  • B4: Ghosts
  • B5: Takin' The Easy Way Out

In a career spanning 45 years, Leo Sayer has sold more than 80 MILLION records worldwide. ‘Here’ is Leo Sayer’s 7th album, originally released in 1979 and features the singles ‘When The Money Runs Out’, ‘The World Has Changed’, as well as his cover of The Chi-Lites classic ‘Oh Girl’. This album reunited Leo with early producer and collaborator, David Courtney. Leo Sayer has overseen his entire reissue programme and from reading the reviews from many of his sold-out concerts, he remains one of the UK's great singer/songwriters and performers of all time.

pre-order now07.08.2020

expected to be published on 07.08.2020

19,71
Olivier Deriviere, Yuzo Koshiro, Motohiro Kawashima - Streets of Rage 4 - The Definitive Soundtrack

Generation Series 013: Streets of Rage 4 The Definitive Soundtrack comes to wax! Experience all 35 memorable tracks on three 12” 150g vinyl, with every song specifically remastered for the analog format.

Exclusive to the vinyl is a cover co-illustrated by Hitoshi Ariga and Ayano Koshiro, who worked on the past Streets of Rage titles alongside their brother, legendary composer Yuzo Koshiro.

The vinyl comes with a booklet containing liner notes from every composer, including Olivier Deriviere, Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima, as well as both Hitoshi Ariga and Ayano Koshiro, and members of the development team.

pre-order now07.08.2020

expected to be published on 07.08.2020

57,52
Studio Mule - Carnaval Superpitcher Remixes

we are very happy to announce this killer remix package. our dear friend superpitcher(aka pachanga boys) made three versions of remix.

studio mule’s original version which is produced by kuniyuki takahashi and sung by miyako koda (aka dip in the pool) is a cover version of japanese 80’s dance classic by taeko onuki.

superpitcher’s main mix is just for your peaktime set. it’s much more groovy and dance floor friendly than original version. it might be this summer anthem(if the party will be restarted…).

dub mix is more stripped down version and for more disco oriented dj. we love this version so much since superpitcher have been playing at his dj set.

ambient mix sounds like a japanese kankyo ongaku,it’s simply beautiful meditative music. beautiful cover design is by lily fei in new york, she is our new favorite illustrator.

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10,04

Last In: 4 years ago
Mako & Mr Bristow - Stank Soul Edits Vol. 6

Trunk packed with the hot contraband of Stank Soul Edits Vol. 6, Mako & Mr Bristow are barreling down the remix highway yet again, hightailing it first to the Tropics with Stealin' Alright before pulling a u-ey and fishtailing directly north for Stolen Nolan!

While Side A chops and re-arranges a funky steel-drum Joe Cocker cover to fit on one side of a 45, Side B converts a northern soul cut from 6/4 to 4/4 time for a new twist on an old classic. As always, expect bass and drums to be stankily tweaked so both cuts are re-vitalised for twenty-first century sets without losing that vintage feel.

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8,87

Last In: 5 years ago
Lee Scratch Perry - Lee Scratch Perry meets Daniel Boyle to Drive the Dub Starship through the Horror Zone

RSD2020 TITLE
After collaborating on a number of award winning vinyl albums, box sets and singles totalling over 80 songs together. They are back once again with this special, limited edition Vinyl Dub album.
Taking the original multi-track recordings of their co-produced 2016 sell out Roots Album for Max Romeo, ‘Horror Zone’. Lee & Daniel have created a new analogue Dub journey from those multi-tracks.
The original album was recorded live, using vintage Black Ark equipment to recreate Lee’s famous Lo-Fi Drum sound. With veteran Upsetter and Bob Marley and the Wailers musicians –
Glen Da Costa, Vin Gordon and Robbie Lynn, alongside Daniels Rolling Lion All Stars session band.
It has now been Deconstructed and Dub mixed live on Rolling Lion Studios SSL mixing console, using entirely vintage analogue equipment including the same pieces from Lee’s original Black Ark Studio. Driven by the idea to merge Lo-Fi and Hi-Fi. Merging the absolute best in class Analogue equipment available on the planet, with the very best Vintage equipment from the 1950’s-1970’s They have Dubbed these Bass heavy Lo-Fi recordings live, using space, depth and width. Paired with Phasers, Filters and Delays, resulting in a deep meditative, cinematic, psychedelic Dub journey into the stars.
Bought to you on super rare Glow in the Dark Vinyl, with a hand painted cover by Ellen G, the result sees the pair jumping into Lee’s Dub Starship to drive it straight through the Horror Zone!

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19,12

Last In: 5 years ago
BAS GROSSFELDT - LOST IN SENSATION

2020 reboot for Detroit's legendary Metroplex.

The Label Say "Cologne based producer Bas Grossfeldt has crafted an outstanding release perfectly aligned with Juan Atkin’s brilliant Metroplex aesthetic. As a relatively new name in the scene, Bas Grossfeldt’s music sounds as if it were the results of decades of focused experience in the studio.

With a background in installation, choreography and performance art, Bas Grossfeldt is the artists alias to focus on the musical side of things. His deeply rooted interest in the relation of space and body is also translated into his music. The fusion of spaced-out textures, rhythmical distortions, cold waves of synthesis, and enough modern production prowess ensures a release saturated with innovation and abundant imagination. A rare release for the seminal Detroit label, which also represents Juan Atkins’ interest in the arts world and new, different approaches.

The exchange between the label head and the artist, initially came to life because internationally renown conceptual artist Mischa Kuball, knowing Juan from a joint project, sent him the demo of Bas Grossfeldt. Especially intrigued by the track „Lost In Translation“, Juan and Bas started exchanging, approaching the record as an „art project“ and a classical EP at the same time, for example leading into the cover being made by Bas Grossfeldt/Søren Siebel himself and including numerous hidden references to the sound.

Each track embraces an incredible array of sounds and styles, from soundscapes to mind-bending Techno – all equally as effective for the brain as the dancefloor.

“Lost In Translation” opens the release with a cinematic piece of electronica permeating with frozen emotion and melancholic soul. The beautiful track captures a foggy morning’s haze, the first chill of winter with only a gentle kick-drum keeping the cold from completely taking over. It is also accompanied with a hypnotizing abstract video by film-artist Svenja Voß.

Continuing in a dubby, winter haze is “Lost In Sensation” which floats alongside a sharp, metallic rhythmic arrangement and a gentle, ever-present kick drum. Deep, heavily saturated atmospheric textures sleep underneath the sounds while lucid melodies float in and out.

“Your Orbit” rounds out the release with the most club-ready production. Disorienting melodies and gritty synths capture a dreamlike perception while a tough kick drum and clattering percussion drives the music deeper into undiscovered dancing territories just left of center. "

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11,13

Last In: 4 years ago
Gregory Isaacs - I Am Gregory

Gregory Isaacs

I Am Gregory

12inchDEMREC753
Demon Records
31.07.2020

Demon Records presents three new reissues from the cool ruler of Reggae, Gregory Isaacs.

Often described as the ‘ultimate rude boy Reggae star’, Gregory Isaacs recorded some of the greatest Reggae albums of all time and became known for his iconic, laidback vocal style.

‘I Am Gregory’ was first released in 1993 on Jet Star’s Charm label and was co-produced with Gregory’s wife June. Highlights include ‘Goosie Gander’, ‘Mommy Doesn’t Understand’ and a cover of Bob Marley’s ‘I Am Still Waiting’.

Demon Records is proud to present the first vinyl reissue of ‘Work Up A Sweat’, pressed on 140g black vinyl and featuring a printed inner sleeve.

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18,28

Last In: 5 years ago
Los Jaivas - Los Jaivas (Aka El Volantin)

Vinyl reissue of the now classic 1971 album. Produced by Transamericas in collaboration

with the band from original master tapes, in a fully analog process at recording studios in María Pinto

(Chile), London and Haarlem (Holland).

Los Jaivas (“El Volantín”) is the first LP by Chilean rock band Los Jaivas, one of South America's biggest names in the fusion of folk roots and psychedelia during the 1970s. Los Jaivas were born in the city of Viña del Mar, with their five members determined to guide their initial sound through improvisation and experimentation, «trusting that in time a language would emerge that would give us our identity», in their own words.

This debut album (popularly known as El Volantín - The Kite -, because of its cover illustration) combined the free-flow of extended electrical pieces with more conventional three-minute songs filled with references to Chile's popular culture and the musicians’ own upbringing. Theirs was a solitary path, not just for the band but also for the beginnings of Chilean rock. Los Jaivas blazed a trail that was rich in musical references, with ideas inspired by Jimi Hendrix, the Congolese Missa Luba, Argentinian folk (Atahualpa Yupanqui, Ariel Ramírez), South American avant-garde composers (Ginastera, Villa-Lobos, Violeta Parra), the experimentation of pianist Henry Cowell, Caribbean rhythms and Miles Davis’ trumpet re-inventions.

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31,51

Last In: 5 years ago
Rivage - Sittin' On It

Rivage

Sittin' On It

12inchAOTNLP034D
Athens Of The North
28.07.2020

Rivage was one of the records during my early days into Modern Soul I was desperate to get hold of, 'Strung Out On You're Love' is up there in my top ten and I managed to pick a copy of the 45 when in the USA in the Early 2000s for a decent price. I only found out there was a rarer LP with a longer version of the track around the same time, with the bonus of a pile of solid Funk, modern and sweet soul tracks. Fast-forward to 2019 and friend Angelo Angione hooked me up with the band who were excited to work with me on a reissue. Now those who know the LP will know it's rather odd cover, this was a marketing idea by someone at the Label, despite the band not wanting to use it that's the way it ended up. We decided to put things right and have reinstated the original cover shot of the band. This LP is simply one of the finest 70s LPs, it's mad that it has not been reissued before now…enjoy.

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21,72

Last In: 5 years ago
The Principal's - Treacherous Dub

Principal is the new solo project by producer and musician Rasmus Allin, who’s first album Treacherous Dub will be released on the Copenhagen-based label StereoRoyal in July 2020.

Best described as an homage to old-school Jamaican dub, Principal’s music features live recorded drums and other instruments. Fused with electronic elements, it celebrates the sound of the original dub pioneers.

Born in 1970, Rasmus Allin has been working as a producer, musician, and songwriter since the mid-nineties, primarily within the realm of electronic music. Inspired by the British trip hop and drum ‘n’ bass scene, he soon gravitated towards Jamaican dub, rocksteady, and reggae. "I found my inspiration in the old Jamaican dub masters like Lee Scratch Perry, King Tubby, Augustus Pablo, and Scientist. I’ve spent endless hours in the studio trying to replicate their sound, using old tape delays, filter boxes, and modulation effects,” he says.

In 2002, Allin formed the band Junkyard Productions, playing major venues and festivals like Elysee Montmartre, Le Triptyque, Télérama Dub Festival, and Roskilde Festival while touring through Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, and France. Alongside this, he continued to hone his skills in producing, co-writing, and remixing music, working with top Danish pop and reggae acts the likes of Natasja, Pharfar, Wafande, Shaka Loveless, and the British girl band All Saints.

Treacherous Dub will be released on vinyl and all major streaming platforms, and will be Allin’s first album of pure instrumental dub tracks —an ambition he’s been wanting to fulfil for years. Marking his debut as a solo artist, the album also marks his premiere as a visual artist, with the album cover lithograph made by Allin himself. For Rasmus Allin, the collaboration with StereoRoyal offered “the perfect opportunity to give the tracks the finishing touches.”

StereoRoyal is a Danish library music label founded in 2010 by and specializes in off-kilter music for film and TV. Originally, the label focused on electronic genres, but over the years has grown to include a broader variety of music produced by some of the most talented composers in Scandinavia.

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19,29

Last In: 5 years ago
Eiko Ishibashi - Hyakki Yagyō

Black Truffle is pleased to announce a new solo album by Eiko Ishibashi, her first for the label, following on from the duo recording Ichida alongside bassist Darin Gray. Hyakki Yagyō (Night Parade of One Hundred Demons) was produced for the ‘Japan Supernatural’ exhibition at The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney focusing on ghost stories and folklore from the Edo period onwards. As with The Dream My Bones Dream (Drag City, 2018), the album is a response to troubling questions about Japanese history, and the influence of the past upon the present, but finds Ishibashi shifting further away from her earlier piano-led songwriting and showing a deepening interest in electronics and audio collaging.

The two sidelong parts of Hyakki Yagyō feature layered synthesisers, acoustic instrumentation, recited verse and field recordings, at times densely mixed but always with a subtle interplay of changing elements. The influence of European and American forerunners as diverse as Alvin Curran, David Behrman and Strafe Für Rebellion can be traced, yet at the same time Ishibashi evokes the flute and string sounds associated with Japanese storytelling, and draws directly on the subversive literary tradition of Kyoka (‘mad poetry’) with a verse by the 15th-century poet Ikkyū Sōjun repeated throughout the album. Revisiting what has gone before, re-thinking what is possible musically, as a way of articulating what else might be possible in the future.

As Ishibashi’s liner notes make clear, the album reflects an attention to persistent dangers, myths and evasions in Japanese culture – as well as the lurking uncertainties that might threaten positive change. This would seem to be manifested in the emerging melodies soon met by dissonance, erratic collisions and near silence, as well as the eerie manipulation of the double-tracked vocals. Ishibashi’s underlying concerns ring true more widely of course. Hyakki Yagyō is a work of multiplicities, and mystery, a landscape where nothing is as it seems at first, and everything is vulnerable to sudden violent interruptions.

The album was produced with regular collaborators Jim O’Rourke (double bass) and Joe Talia (percussion), and features dancer and choreographer Ryuichi Fujimura performing Ikkyū’s satirical tanka. O’Rourke’s immersive mix creates a three-dimensional effect, with Ishibashi’s various sound sources enmeshing and interacting in captivating ways.

Pressed on coloured vinyl and presented in a deluxe package with an inner sleeve featuring and artist portrait and liner notes from Eiko Ishibashi. Cover and label design by Shuhei Abe.
Back cover design by Lasse Marhaug. Mixed and mastered by Jim O’Rourke.

key selling points:

- Black Truffle is pleased to announce a new solo album by Eiko Ishibashi, her first since her acclaimed 2018 Drag City release The Dream My Bones Dream.

- This album finds Ishibashi shifting further away from her earlier piano-led songwriting and showing a deepening interest in electronics and audio collaging.

- Hyakki Yagyō (Night Parade of One Hundred Demons) was produced for the ‘Japan Supernatural’ exhibition at The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney focusing on ghost stories and folklore from the Edo period onwards and is a response to troubling questions about Japanese history, and the influence of the past upon the present.

- Produced with regular collaborators Jim O’Rourke (double bass) and Joe Talia (percussion), O’Rourke’s immersive mix creates a three-dimensional effect, with Ishibashi’s various sound sources enmeshing and interacting in captivating ways.

- The two sidelong parts of Hyakki Yagyō feature layered synthesisers, acoustic instrumentation, recited verse and field recordings, at times densely mixed but always with a subtle interplay of changing elements, hinting at an influence of European and American forerunners as diverse as Alvin Curran, David Behrman and Strafe Für Rebellion.

- Pressed on coloured vinyl and presented in a deluxe package with an inner sleeve featuring an artist portrait and liner notes from Eiko Ishibashi. Mixed and mastered by Jim O’Rourke.

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17,61

Last In: 5 years ago
Amm - Ammmusic

Amm

Ammmusic

12inchBT018LP
Black Truffle
24.07.2020

Re-release of the record originally released on 2016-02-05!

Remastered and cut by Rashad Becker at D&M Berlin and presented in an exact replica sleeve of the original 1966 release by Stephen O'Malley.

sales information: Black Truffle is honoured to present the first vinyl reissue of the classic debut album from AMM, AMMMusic. Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of its recording in 1966, this reissue makes one of the cornerstones of the experimental music tradition available again in its original form, replete with Keith Rowe's beautiful pop art cover and the terse aphorisms by the group that served as its original liner notes. A testament to the interaction between the experimental avant-garde and the countercultural underground, the album was originally released on Elektra, recorded by Jac Holzman (the label's founder, responsible for signing The Doors, Love, and The Stooges) and produced by DNA, a group that included Pink Floyd's first manager Peter Jenner. (Pink Floyd paid tribute to AMM's influence on their improvisational sensibility with the track 'Flaming' on their debut album, named after the piece that occupies AMMMusic's first side, 'Later During a Flaming Riviera Sunset').

Formed in 1965 by three players from the emerging British jazz avant-garde - Keith Rowe and Lou Gare had played with the great progressive big band leader Mike Westbrook and Eddie Prévost played in a post-bop group with Gare - AMM quickly evolved from a free jazz group into something decidedly more difficult to categorise. By the time these recordings were made, two more members had joined the group: another Westbrook associate, Lawrence Sheaf, and the radical composer Cornelius Cardew. Then at work on his masterpiece of graphic notation Treatise, Cardew brought with him extensive experience of the post-serialist and Cageian currents in contemporary composition. Using a combination of conventional instruments and unconventional methods of sound production (most famously Keith Rowe's prepared tabletop guitar, but also prepared piano and transistor radio), the group performed improvised pieces often running for over two hours and ranging from extended periods of silence to terrifying cacophonies.

Evan Parker famously described the improvisational logic of AMM's music as 'laminal', in contrast to the 'atomistic' approach more common among the generation of British improvisers (Bailey, Rutherford, Stevens and co.) to which he himself belonged. AMM improvised in layers: layers of sound subtly rising and falling or abruptly starting and stopping without being propelled by the implied pulse of free jazz improvisation. Rather than a pulse, AMM's music began with the sound of the room in which it was played, the Cageian anarchy of silence. By embracing the non-synchronous simultaneity of layered sound, AMM was able to create a musical container into which nearly anything could be incorporated at any moment: on AMMMusic, long tones sit next to abrasive thuds, the howl of uncontrolled feedback accompanies Cardew's purposeful piano chords, radios beam in snatches of orchestral music (and, on the LP's second side, an extended fragment of 'Mockingbird').

AMM's clearest break with jazz-based improvisation concerned the idea of individuality. Where improvised music has tended to foster the development of idiosyncratic stylists who move freely from one group to another, AMM, initially through an engagement with eastern philosophy and mysticism and later though a politicized communitarianism, sought to develop a collective sonic identity in which individual contributions could barely be discerned. In the performances captured on AMMMusic

the use of numerous auxiliary instruments and devices, including radios played by three members of the group, contribute to the sensation that the music is composed as a single monolithic object with multiple facets, rather than as an interaction between five distinct voices.

- Francis Plagne

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13,07

Last In: 5 years ago
Bob Marley - Legend LP (PICTURE DISC)

Bob Marley & the Wailers’ LEGEND stands tall as one of the best-selling and best-loved albums in history, touching millions with a beautiful flow of Bob’s most memorable songs, from “One Love/People Get Ready” to “Get Up, Stand Up,” “Is This Love” to “Jammin’,” “Could You Be Loved” to “Three Little Birds,” and eight more classics . And now, in celebration of #BobMarley75, the album is available in a limited edition picture disc presenting the iconic cover shot backed with a previously unseen image of Bob.

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27,31

Last In: 20 months ago
Tone B. Nimble - Soul Is My Salvation Chapter 6

“Soul is My Salvation is a collection of dance friendly gospel songs. The mission is to simply uplift your spirit through music and word. Dance floor’s around the world mirror the reactions of Churches from the 70’s and 80’s when experiencing these recordings.” - Tone B. Nimble.

Released as a series of eight limited vinyl-only 45, when assembled together the covers reveal a beautiful design courtesy of designer Charlotte McCrae. A true collectors item.

One side contains a boogie-infused cut from The Gospel Miracles, ‘Building Up Myself’ housed on their hard-to-find 1985 LP ‘The Lord Has Been Good To Me’. The other shines a light on the funk-heavy, gospel joy of Serenity - Don’t You Worry from another rare and pricey gospel LP, Serenity - ‘Like It Is!’

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13,40

Last In: 5 years ago
The Lions - The Loser

The Lions

The Loser

7"-VinylNYCT7063
Names You Can Trust
21.07.2020

Blowing in like a cool breeze on a sultry Caribbean evening, LA reggae veterans the Lions drop by Names You Can Trust with a perfectly timed sentimental summer blast. Lovingly taken for another dance by the west coast crew, the Derrick Harriott 1967 rock steady classic "The Loser" is canon, a masterpiece of Jamaican sweet soul instantly identifiable from its first chiming piano notes. In a nod to the "disco mix" DJ versions pioneered by Harriott, the Lions mic man Black Shakespeare provides a period-perfect chat backdrop to the Impressions-istic harmonies of the band, giving the tune an au courant spin while staying wide of heavy-handed faux ragga. All said, we wouldn't have felt right about releasing this without running things by the family, so we consulted Duane Harriott who approvingly called it "a brilliant take on one of the best rock steady songs of all time! Not an easy one to cover well and the Lions smash it out the park."

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11,72

Last In: 5 years ago
AVERAGE WHITE BAND & BEN E. KING - BENNY AND US
  • A1: Get It Up For Love 4.33
  • A2: Fool For You Anyway 5.38
  • A3: A Star In The Ghetto 7.01
  • A4: The Message 5.17
  • B1: What Is Soul 4.34
  • B2: Someday We'll All Be Free 5.13
  • B3: Imagine 4.56
  • B4: Keepin’ It To Myself 4.30

Widely and rightly regarded as one of the best ever soul and funk bands, the now legendary Average White Band tore-up the rule book and conquered the US, UK & International charts with a series of soul and disco hits between 1974 and 1980. AWB’s repertoire has been a source of inspiration and influence for many R&B acts and they are one of the most sampled bands in history, remaining relevant today, continuing to reach new generations of younger audiences. Snoop Dogg, Fatboy Slim, Ice Cube, Puff Daddy, TLC, Rick Ross, will.i.am and Mark Ronson amongst countless others, have all borrowed sections of their grooves. ‘Benny And Us’ is the 6th album by AWB, who were joined by Soul/R&B legend, Ben E. King and originally
released in 1977. The album reached #33 in the USA. ‘Benny And Us’ includes the singles ‘Get It Up For Love’ (later covered by Tata Vega), ‘The Message’, a new version of ‘Keepin’ It To Myself’ and the classic ‘A Star In The Ghetto’. It was produced by Atlantic’s legendary producer, Arif Mardin and Jerry Greenberg

pre-order now17.07.2020

expected to be published on 17.07.2020

19,75
All The People - CRAMP YOUR STYLE / WATCHA GONNA DO ABOUT IT? (Blue Vinyl Repress)

"Cramp Your Style" by All The People surely belongs among the canon of all time funk standards, sampled aplenty over the years, included on numerous compilations as well as being the recipient of cover versions from Breakestra and Killer Meters. Originally issued on the Blue Candle label back in 1972, a newly remastered edition of that 7" is now available for any funkateers out there without the 45 in their collections already. Robert Moore's yearning vocal sounds all the better for it too! And don't sleep on the bluesy delights of B side track "Watcha Gonna Do About It?".

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10,29

Last In: 4 years ago
Hekla - A

Hekla

A

12inchPHNTM3
Phantom Limb
14.07.2020

Newcomer Hekla releases her uniquely beautiful debut album for solo theremin and voice Á through Phantom Limb Records - run and curated by former FatCat Records, Thrill Jockey and Royal Albert Hall execs James Vella, Ken Li and Mark Pearse.

A Berlin-residing Icelander, Hekla's sparse, delicate, fractal music exists within these two worlds: dark and magical as Iceland's permanight folklore; and (though beatless) as deeply sonic and intense as Berlin's electronic scene. A long-term scholar of solo theremin, Hekla (shortened from her own name Hekla Magnúsdóttir) uses her instrument as an otherworldly and highly evocative Siren-call. A spectral, wailing, howling, lamenting yearning second-voice that underpins a soft vocal delivery, as if her studio had been haunted with a chorus of ghostly backing singers.

While a handful of reference points share a similar ground to Á - Colleen's interplay of voice and instrumentation; the richly immersive filmscore work of sadly passed fellow Icelander Jóhann Jóhannsson's; 'grandmother of theremin' Clara Rockmore's close relationship with such a singular instrument; Julia Holter's intelligent and classically-aligned songwriting - Hekla's music still exists singularly. A one-off talent, emerging from no particular scene, ascribing to no particular rules.

As a creative tool, the theremin - bizarre, unique, rarely heard - can be expressive, intuitive and highly adaptable. In Hekla's hands, her instrument covers an enormous range, from skittering birdsong of high frequency chirrups and chirps, to grinding, tectonic sub-bass. We are given the throbbing, apocalyptic dread of 'Muddle' and the baroque beauty of traditional Icelandic hymn 'Heyr Himna Smiur' in sequential tracks on the album's a-side. Appropriately, she also writes that the album title - Á - is similarly multifaceted in her native Icelandic: 'a river is an á and also it means ouch like when you hurt yourself, and also when you put something on top of something you put it á (on) something.'

The album was written and self-recorded by Hekla in her home studio in Berlin around her son's daycare schedule. Icelandic super-musician Mr Silla (a part-time múm member) guests on a number of tracks. Tallinn-based engineer Jose Diogo Neves - a stalwart of Icelandic and Portuguese music - mixed and mastered Á.

James Vella formed Phantom Limb in June 2017 after eight years in A&R for FatCat Records. Mark Pearse (formerly head of contemporary music programming at the Royal Albert Hall) and Ken Li (formerly of Thrill Jockey, now of Nettwerk) joined the team shortly after.

pre-order now14.07.2020

expected to be published on 14.07.2020

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