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Mysticisms’ returns to the music of the Conscious Sounds label and their short-lived but highly prized Dub meets Funk project, Dub Specialists. Created by label head Dougie Waldrop and Chris Petter (Love Grocer) to explore their interest in samplers and a love of Funk and Jazz.

A hugely respected “Digital” and “Roots Reggae” label, Conscious Sounds has been a mainstay of the East London digidub sound for over 30 years. Dub Specialists released 3 albums on the Crispy Music sub label, they have recently gained considerable interest in digger circles, with rising prices to match.

As with their first Dubplate outing, the release features extended re-edits by the label and friends, this time featuring versions by Lexx, Miles J Paralysis, Chuggy and Vanity Project. Working with the simplicity and skill of his studio craft, Dougie utilised the Atari 1040, Cubase and Soundcraft mixer to effect. Petters’ chords sit atop reggae basslines, funk samples, loops and this time, a heavy dose of cut up vocals in to the mix.

While the first EP came from their debut album, Breat To Break, here the source material for the re-edits comes, in the main, from their second outing “Dub To Dub Beat To Beat”. A more expansive album that also dipped in to 4/4 rhythms and touches of House / Techno.

Opening track Dynamic Duo is a 4/4 stepper bomb – with samples from Adam West’s iconic interpretation of Batman – expertly extended by long-standing DJ, producer and edit master, Zurich’s own Alex Storrer aka Lexx, who dials things to max for a club stop. A new name on many lips, Miles J Paralysis takes it all back down with a beautifully drawn out, acid-tinged tripper. Bumpin’, the mid-tempo groove sucks you in, psychedelic and mind expanding.

The flip returns to the more traditional Dub Specialist vibes of Breaks’n’Funk’ cut ups, first with (co-)label head Chuggy’s faithful extension of Heavy Dub. Featuring the classic Ijahman Levi’s vocal, the breaks flow and piano / horns stab, a dance floor shaker for the discerning. To close, secret studio fixer to many, Matt Bruce again dons his Vanity Project moniker to perfectly tease and live dub (out) the half-stepper, Reality Dub and close this latest in the Dubplate series.

Beat The Mystery.

Nachdem er Mitte der 1950er Jahre mit “Afro-Cuban” und “‘Round About Midnight at the Café Bohemia” zwei frühe Klassiker für Blue Note aufgenommen hatte, feierte Trompeter Kenny Dorham 1961 mit
“Whistle Stop” ein fulminantes Comeback bei dem Label. Das Album, eingespielt mit einem erstklassigen
Hard-Bop-Quintett, enthält sieben Originale aus Dorhams Feder, die seine erstaunliche Vielfalt als Komponist unterstreichen. Scott Yanow gab der Aufnahme bei AllMusic 4,5 von 5 Sternen und schrieb: “Dorham
präsentiert hier lebhafte, frische und durchweg swingende Musik. Dies ist ein allgemein übersehenes, fast
schon klassisches Album.”

Cuban dancefloor history gets revisited here with the debut release from Luchando Music. This 7" - which has been drawn from the Egrem archives - pairs two fiery 1970s recordings, opening with 'Y Que Se Sepa' by Los Van Van. Written by Juan Formell, delivers a sharp dose of classic Cuban groove with big brass leading the way, enter chords keeping time and tambourine tinkles adding accents to the groove as the vocal offers soulful radiance. Flip it over for 'Mi Quimbin' by Los Bocucos, composed by Jose "Pepe" Couto. Long circulated internationally under a different title, the track is all sunny energy and trilling melodies, busy percussive shuffles and meandering bass that is pulled back into focus by various drum breaks.

The second volume in a survey of the modern jazz & hard-bop scenes that emerged in the new cultural melting pot of post war London, with recordings from the end of the 1940s through to the early 1960s.

Featuring representations from players whose roots lay in the East-End's jewish community alongside a wealth of talent of Caribbean and African descent playing and recording in post war London during this period.

Made in partnership with the Barbican to coincide with the exhibition Postwar Modern: New Art in Britain 1945-1965.

This tidy joint release between Future Rootz and Luchando Music compiles rare recordings from 1970s and 80s Cuba, all sourced from private archives and reel-to-reel tapes. This is the sort of selection to get serious diggers hot under the collar as it explores funk-driven arrangements, jazz-informed horn sections and rhythm-led compositions contoured with Afro-Cuban percussion. There is plenty of tape saturation and analogue noise present throughout that reinforces the archival origins of the music and instrumentation centres on brass, keys and layered percussion, with grooves built from syncopated patterns and live ensembles. Alongside the music, restored credits and contextual research foreground the musicians and recording histories behind these previously unavailable works. Do not sleep on this one.

Ray Barrettos Acid ist mehr als nur ein Debütalbum – es ist ein Moment, in dem sich die Energie der New
Yorker Latin-Szene der späten 60er entlädt. Zwischen Salsa, Boogaloo, Funk und Afro-Cuban Jazz entsteht
hier ein Sound, der bis heute nachhallt. Besonders der Titeltrack „Acid“, in einem Take aufgenommen,
entwickelt sich von einem reduzierten, treibenden Groove zu einem explosiven Percussion-Feuerwerk. Songs
wie „A Deeper Shade of Soul“ verbinden Latin und Soul auf eine Weise, die damals wie heute sofort zündet,
während „El Nuevo Barretto“ direkt zu Beginn klar macht, mit welcher Selbstverständlichkeit Barretto
seinen eigenen Stil definiert. Mit „Espíritu Libre“ endet das Album in einer fast schon hypnotischen,
atmosphärischen Reise, die die afro-kubanischen Wurzeln noch einmal eindrucksvoll in den Fokus rückt.
Acid ist damit nicht nur ein Klassiker, sondern ein prägender Soundtrack einer ganzen Ära – roh, lebendig
und voller ikonischer Momente.

Editing is a specialist game that is easy to play but difficult to master. King Most is more adept than many, as he shows with a third outing here on his own KM label. This one finds him spreading his wings a little, flying away from r&b and hip-hop and migrating towards more worldly grooves with Afro and Latin undercurrents. 'Tony Trinidad' brings swirling guitar echo and coconut percussion to a crispy slow jam, then 'Hermanos Cub' pumps up the funk with blazing horns and vocals. There's lush polyrhythmic looseness and string melodies to 'Zimbabwe Thorn' and earthy disco charm to 'Bebe Cameroon' with its seductive vocal leads. Cultured cuts.

2026 Repress

Life is like a mirror ball! The first one in a hopefully long-lived series of disco and pop influenced Super Sound Singles on Running Back, comes courtesy of the unmistakeable Gibson Brothers. Leaving their biggest wedding hits "Cuba" and "Que Sera Mi Vida" to the side, the philanthropic and smile-forcing "Ooh, What A Life" gets an extended edit service by Shan & Gerd Janson, who cut away some of the fat and make it fit for fun on contemporary dance-floors. The flip side sees them remixing and sandpapering "Heaven" into a disco-house interbred (filters and looping mandatory). To quote John Lyndon: "Disco sucks You never heard that from me."

On October 2 1958, after over 60 years of colonial rule, Guineans voted overwhelmingly for their independence, and Guinea was declared a Republic with Sékou Touré as President. Guinea was the first of West Africa’s Francophone colonies to gain independence. To free Guinea from its colonial legacy, president Touré sought to restore dignity to his nation and give cause for Guineans to take pride in their culture, history and newfound freedom. To achieve this, he instructed his government to implement new cultural policies that were intended to revitalise and celebrate indigenous culture. The focus of these new policies was on music.

In 1961, President Touré launched authenticité, the name of his new cultural policy for Guinea. One of its first acts was to assemble the best Guinean musicians into a new state-sponsored orchestras that were tasked with presenting traditional Guinean music in a new and modern style. All musicians in Guinea’s orchestras were officially designated as members of the public service. During the years of Sékou Touré’s presidency (1958 – 1984), the government’s cultural policy of authenticité was applied strictly to the creative arts. Guinea’s sole political party, the Parti Démocratique de Guinée exercised complete authority over artistic production. The scale of the Guinean government’s commitment and efforts to invigorate its indigenous musical cultures was unmatched in Africa, and it presented a clear contrast to the minimal endeavours undertaken by Guinea’s former colonial rulers.

From 1967 to 1983, Guinea’s government presented selections of songs from the Voix de la Révolution catalogue on its own recording label, Syliphone. These recordings were described as ‘the fruit of the revolution’. Syliphone was revolutionary in many aspects: it was the first recording label to feature traditional African musical instruments such as the kora and balafon within an orchestre setting; it was the first to present the traditional songs of the griots within an orchestre setting; and it was the first government-sponsored recording label of post-colonial Africa. Syliphone represented authenticité in action, and over 750 songs were released by the recording label on 12-inch and 7-inch vinyl discs. All are highly sought after by collectors worldwide.

This is the second of a two-volume release which presents a selection of the best songs from Guinea's Syliphone recording label. This volume focuses on recordings from the 1970s, when Guinea’s authenticité policy had transformed the nation's music through a network of over 30 orchestras, each representing their local region, and each presenting Guinean musical traditions alongside the influences of Cuban music, jazz and funk.

After the acclaimed Bar Mediterraneo, Massimo Di Lena and Lucio Aquilina return with People Of The Moon, expanding their sound into a space of creative freedom. The “People of the Moon” are not fictional, but a dimension within us all: a deeply personal yet universal force, an alternative mindset that emerges when freed from social constraints.



Under moonlight, the album explores anxieties and aspirations through groove and rhythm, expressed in Neapolitan, Arabic, English, Spanish, and Portuguese. It moves fluidly from Afro-Cuban influences in “Celavì” to Anatolian textures in “Ma Tu Che Bbuò”, blending highlife guitars with Nu Genea’s signature mandolins-new rhythms filtered through an Italian lens.



The first single “Sciallà” (2025) introduced this direction: dance as catharsis, not escape. The title track reflects a quiet resilience-persistent rather than triumphant. “Onenon”, featuring Tom Misch, channels Mediterranean brit-funk, while “Acelera”, with María José Llergo, evokes a flamenco-tinged pursuit of the unattainable.



“Puleza” recalls Nuova Napoli with driving energy and vintage synths, while “Shway Shway”, sung by Celinatique, captures the album’s orbital flow-measured, rich, and rhythmically complex, echoing afrobeat explorations with Tony Allen.



Melody remains central, as in “Carè”. Across ten tracks, falling, flying, and dancing merge in a suspended groove. Gabriel Prado’s “Ondas Do Mar” embodies this pull: a cyclical motion, like the tides—irresistible, transformative, and alive within us.

The Roots of Chicha, compiled by Barbès Records, was originally released in 2007 and became the first recording to popularize psychedelic cumbia around the world.

From the late 60's through the 80's, Peruvians invented a new popular musical hybrid inspired by music from the Americas. In 1968, Enrique Delgado released his first record on Odeon with his new group, Los Destellos, single-handedly creating Peruvian cumbia. He codified the genre early on by using the electric guitar as the primary melodic instrument, and mixing cumbia rhythms with folkloric huaynos, criollo voicings, Cuban guarachas and guajiras, rock, boogaloo, surf, psychedelia, oriental music, classical music, and bits and pieces from Brazil, France, Chile... All Peruvian cumbia bands for the next thirty years would end up drawing from the exact same sources (Grupo Celeste, Los Mirlos, Juaneco Y Su Combo, Manzanita Y Su Conjunto...).

This new wave of Peruvian cumbia came to be known as chicha. Chicha is originally the name of an alcoholic drink, made of fermented maize, which the Incas were especially fond of. In the past thirty years, however, the word has taken on a pejorative connotation. Peruvian cumbia started being called chicha in the late 70s, around the same time that the music came to be viewed as the expression of the slums – the pueblos jovenes. Little by little, the word became an adjective, and people now talk of chicha culture, chicha press, chicha architecture, even of a chicha president, and none if it – you guessed right – is meant as a compliment. Chicha suggests corruption, shady deals, and cholos – a derogatory term for a person of Andean heritage that, of late, is being reclaimed and worn as a badge of honor by the very cholos it was supposed to demean in the first place.

A collection of earlier and newer works by LFU
combined in one EP.
On November 14, 2025 !K7 Records released DJ-Kicks by Eris Drew. She chose 'Oh Echt' by LFU as the opening track of her mix.
The style of 'Oh Echt' is not easy to categorize. Electronic breakbeats with Detroit hi-hat patterns and a typically pushy four-to-the-floor kick. The funky, staccato bassline and mysterious strings take you back to the eighties and the added funky organs and stabs complete the story. The "Oh Echt" Main Mix is the instrumental mix of the 'Vogel Mix' in which the 'Oh Echtapella' is incorporated.
The first design of 'Boom Boom Tracking' was in 2011 for a DJ/DRUM performance that LFU did. He picked it up again in 2014, but did not finish it until 2024. This big beat floor filler contains chemical beats accompanied by electrostabs and a deep, dark bassline. If you listen intently to this song on a regular audio device, you might notice a thump on every 1 of the 4 beats, but when it's played on a good, big sound system, you can't miss this tension in your stomach. 'Boom Boom Tracking' it is!
Downtempo percussive track 'Tjeetje' is the first track LFU has made in North Coast Studio in 2001. 'Slow Forward' was the third song he completed there in 2003, the same place where he met Ben Baan of Fruitcake, who played the piano part.
Initially, 'Queen Cubana' did not make it as a remix of Eddy Zoey's 'No Soy Cubano' in 2017. In this new version, LFU removed his vocals, except for "Step". LFU took inspiration from Katy Perry's 'Bon Appetit' and turned it into a rhythmic slow jam with carefully programmed beats, resulting in a spectacular funky joint.

Molecular Recordings proudly announces the release of "Structure Series 1," a special vinyl collection marking the label's 30th anniversary.

This release features unreleased tracks from both veteran artists and emerging producers, highlighting the label's ongoing commitment to innovative and high-quality techno music.

For three decades, Molecular Recordings has been a leader in the techno scene, continually pushing the genre's boundaries and redefining its sound. "Structure Series 1" is a testament to this legacy, blending the work of established artists who have shaped the label’s history with fresh talent poised to influence its future.

"Structure Series 1" is more than a collection of tracks; it is a celebration of Molecular Recordings' journey and a glimpse into its future. This release commemorates 30 years of musical innovation and signals the beginning of a new chapter in techno.

Two Seminal albums from cult Ghanaian musician Alhaji K. Frimpong and his group the Cubano Fiestas, recorded in 1976 and 1977 respectively and considered to be some of the best highlife albums ever recorded, at the pinnacle of West African musical tradition and innovation.

Both originally self titled, they have become known by the colour of the covers - Blue and Black respectively. The Blue Album brings new arrangements to traditional Ghanaian melodies and features the masterpiece Kyenkyen Bi Adi M’awu (come back my love) - universally known in Ghana, covered and sampled by artists such as Chronnix, Gnarls Barkley and many more. The Black Album expands the electronic elements and features the equally visionary Hwehwe Mu Na Yi Wo Mpena, although the real gem is hiding on the B side: the extended groove of “Adam Nana”. Sinuously evolving guitar lines, clavinet vamps, harmonised vocal snatches and otherworldly percussion expand and contract over a full quarter of an hour - a Ghanaian repost to the Afro Jazz experiments going on at the same time on the other side of the Atlantic. Although popular in Ghana at the time of the release, the albums were never distributed internationally and original copies of the album are extremely rare.

The albums got a limited reissue in 2011 and have been unavailable since - even reissue copies sell for high prices on the second hand market

A compilation of rare and unique pop songs sung in Okinawa's unique musical scale with rock and soul grooves. It is based on “Ryukyu Rare Groove” released in 2003 and its sequel “Ryukyu Rare Groove 2” in 2006. This is a renewed version of those two albums, with more carefully selected and new songs included.

The Yara Families, the symbol of this series, as well as songs by Shokichi Kina, the originator of Okinawan folk rock, Mitsuko Sawamura, who made a breakthrough from Okinawa into American musical films, and Teiko Saito (Teiko Taira), a jazz singer who released her debut album in 2022 at the age of 86 and became a topic of conversation, The album contains 14 precious tropical groove songs. A renewed version of “Ryukyu Rare Groove” is now available in analog format!

The compilation “Ryukyu Rare Groove” became a hot topic as many people became addicted to its unique groove, which was created by applying Western arrangements to Okinawan scales and traditional Okinawan music. Ryukyu Rare Groove Revisited” is now available in analog format.
It features 14 precious tropical grooves, including not only the iconic Yara Families from this series, but also songs by Shokichi Kina, the originator of island song rock, and Teiko Saito (Teiko Taira), a jazz singer who released her debut album in 2022 at the age of 86 and became a hot topic.
Ryukyu Rare Groove Crossover,” a selection of jazz arrangements of Okinawan melodies and folk songs, was also released simultaneously, featuring MURO selection
‘Diggers Dozen’ and Kiyoshi Yamaya's Okinawan folk song Jazz Funk, which was featured on the ‘Ryukyu’ 7-inch from Tropic Night Records. and other instrumentals,

including Latin big band jazz by Naoteru Misuna and the Tokyo Cuban Boys.

A compilation of tracks that rearrange Okinawan folk songs into Jazz Funk, crossover, and large ensemble jazz, featuring works by Kiyoshi Yamaya, who was also highlighted in "Diggers Dozen" (BBE) by the Japanese DJ MURO, known as the "King of Diggin," and "Wamono Groove: Shakuhachi & Koto Jazz Funk 1976" (180g). This collection debuts as the latest installment in the "Ryukyu Rare Groove" series, which was originally released in Japan in 2003 to great acclaim.

RedNilo is an Italian-Moroccan duo composed of Reda Zine and Danilo Mineo, two musicians based in Bologna linked by a deep passion
for world music, particularly African music. Their ongoing and tireless musical exploration has led them to collaborate for over a decade
on numerous artistic and recording projects. Their new album, eponymously titled RedNilo, features six tracks characterized by a sound
reminiscent of Gnawa, Hassani, Tuareg, and experimental rock. The psychedelic, raspy riffs of the electric guitar, the repetitive rhythms
of the percussion, and the rhythmic-melodic lines of the guembri represent and evoke their journey. The resulting sound material is the
culmination of their journey and their encounters with masters, artists, griots, artisans, and instrument makers in the Draa Valley in
southeastern Morocco, bringing together the two musicians' urban and experimental backgrounds and souls. The album's artwork was
designed by Moroccan artist Aali Wica, initiator and mentor of their spiritual and artistic journey to the southern African continent,
across the long black snake.
Réda Zine, a musician and documentary filmmaker born in 1977 in Casablanca, launched his musical career in the 1990s, contributing
to L'Boulevard, Africa's largest independent festival. Raised in the Casablanca medina, he was introduced to Gnawa music by various
Maallems. After studying at the Paris 3 Sorbonne University, he founded Café Mira, a project that has performed at several international
events.
From 2011 to 2014, Zine was artistic director for Creative Commons (Middle East and North Africa), where he won the #CC10 Korea
award in 2012 with the project "It will be Wonderful," which brought together musicians from over 12 countries. He has also been
involved in exhibitions on music and censorship, participating in events in major cities such as Paris, Buenos Aires, and Seoul. In Italy,
he continued his musical research with the Hardonik project and was part of the Afrobeat group Voodoo Sound Club, recording the
album Mamy Wata. Zine collaborates with artists such as Seun Kuti and has initiated educational activities related to Gnawa music,
contributing to initiatives such as the African Symphony Laboratory for improvisers. He is the co-founder of Fawda, a Gnawa-based
project, and is part of the Gnawa Rumi collective, which explores the music of the Moroccan diaspora in Italy. He directed the documentary "The Long Road to the Hall of Fame" about Public Enemy, which won an award at the Pan African Film Festival in 2015.
Danilo Mineo graduated as a national educator from the AMMnationalscholl music academy in Milan, with a thesis entitled "Afro-Cuban
Music and the Rhythm Section." Over the years, he has attended workshops and masterclasses with international artists and masters
of percussion and drums, including Horacio El Negro Hernandez, Airto Moreira, Trilok Gurtu, Luis Agudo, Arto Tuncboyaciyan, Dudu
Tucci, Dom Famularo, Karl Potter, Rodney Barreto, and Eno Zangoun, exploring the rhythmic language of various musical genres and
styles.
In addition to publishing several educational manuals for percussionists, music critics consider him a versatile percussionist, active in
various musical productions and recordings: Mop Mop, Fawda, Guglielmo Pagnozzi "Voodoo Sound Club," Fabrizio Puglisi "Guantanamo," Panaemiliana, The Mixtapers, and many others, with whom he has performed at numerous national and international music festivals (in Europe and Africa). As a percussionist and side man he has recorded numerous albums and collaborated with Italian and
international artists including: Giancarlo Schiaffini, Gianluca Petrella, Roy Paci, Roberto Freak Antoni, Famoudou Konate, Melaku Belay, Baba Sissoko, Kalifa Kone, Jamal Ouassini, Deda, Dj Lugi, Bioshi.

Next up in our Cuban Classics series, one of the jewels of record label Areito’s extensive and sought-after catalogue. Ricardo Eddy Martinez’s Expreso Ritmico from 1978 is a prized album fusing funk, disco, and orchestrated influences with Afro-Cuban percussion, Latin breaks, and lush vocal harmonies.

Whilst maintaining its distinctive Cuban identity, Expreso Ritmico is one of the more American / Western-influenced Cuban titles of the time drawing inspiration from jazz funk, disco, and library music. The album was directed, written, and orchestrated by keyboardist and drummer Ricardo Eddy Martinez, who was also the mastermind behind the orchestration of the Los Reyes 73 album (that was recently reissued by Mr Bongo). Martinez would later go on to work with international musicians and singers such as Gloria Estefan, José Feliciano, Chick Corea, and many more, whilst also working as a sound engineer in the US.

Produced by Adolfo Pichardo, who worked on much of Areito’s output, Expreso Ritmico is packed with gold. The opening title track carries a loose, breezy Latin-disco-funk vibe that breaks into a brilliant Afro-Cuban workout. ‘Que La Tristeza Se Fue’ was expertly sampled and looped by Jazzanova on their 2008 song ‘Look What You Are Doing To Me, featuring Phonte from the hip hop group Little Brother. Elsewhere, ‘Tambo Iya’ has an Afro-funk, Soul Makossa-esque groove, while tracks such as ‘Te Quedas’, ‘Mi Conga Es La Que Es’ and ‘La 132’ run with a heavy pulsating Latin-funk sound. Head to the sultry psych funk of ‘Este Tumbao’ for a spacey journey that blends and morphs through genres.