A deep dive into the one of most collectable jazz catalogues in the world, a selection of some of the rarest and most sought-after recordings from the 60s and 70s, a time when British jazz began to find its own identity. Drawn from the iconic labels of Decca, Deram, Argo, EMI Columbia/Lansdowne Series, Fontana, Mercury, & Philips.
2LPs (+ audio download code voucher)
Vinyl audio remastered & cut by Gearbox Records
180grm Optimal Pressing
16-page 12x12 insert with 20,000 word essay detailing this crucial era of British jazz with track commentaries and artist biographies
2CD Set, hard cover book includes a 20,000 word essay detailing this crucial era of British jazz with track commentaries and artist biographies
Track list below (2CD set is same tracks split LP1 & LP2)
i c1. Neil Ardley, Ian Carr, Don Rendell | Greek Variations: VI Kriti edit
American cellist prodigy Yo-Yo Ma recorded Sing Me Home with the Silk Road Ensemble, a musical collective with performers and composers from all over the world. The album features guest appearances by Grammy Award winning artists Toumani Diabaté, Gregory Porter, Lisa Fischer, Bill Frisell and many more.
Released in 2016, Sing Me Home was meant to open hearts, ears and minds during a time of tragedy and political turmoil. “All around the world, people constantly meet the unfamiliar through change,” Yo-Yo Ma said of the album. “Rapid or dramatic change can feel threatening, tempting us to build walls to defend against the unknown. At Silk Road we build bridges. In the face of change and difference, we find ways to integrate and synthesize, to forge relationships, and to create joy and meaning.”
Bringing together the cultural backgrounds of the musicians, Sing Me Home is a culturally conscious album, reflecting on modern globalisation and collaboration. From Macedonian folk to traditional music from Mali, and from Irish fiddle to Indian sitar: it all comes together wonderfully. Critics agreed, and the album went on to win the Grammy Award for Best World Music Album in 2017.
Previously only available as an ultra-rare USB drive release, Demon Records presents the first reissue of ‘Live At
The Hotel Utah Saloon’.
Recorded in 2007, the album captures an intimate solo performance by Black Francis at San Francisco’s historic Hotel Utah Saloon venue. Featuring renditions of songs from across the Black Francis / Frank Black catalogue including ‘Headache’, ‘I Heard Ramona Sing’, ‘All My Ghosts’ and ‘Wave Of Mutilation.
This reissue features a brand new remix of the complete show by Jason Carter and is pressed on two 140g red vinyl.
Demon Records presents Distortion: Live, the fourth and final edition in a series of expansive vinyl box sets chronicling the solo career of legendary American musician Bob Mould.
Bob Mould’s career began in 1979 with the iconic underground punk group Hüsker Dü before forming the beloved alternative rock band Sugar and releasing numerous critically acclaimed solo albums. The final volume in the series features 8LPs of live recordings from across Mould’s solo career.
8 LPs including –
• 4 live albums – Live At The Cabaret Metro, 1989 (first time on vinyl), The Joke Is Always On Us, Sometimes, LiveDog98 (first time on vinyl), and Live At ATP 2008 (first time on vinyl)
• Each album is presented with brand new artwork designed by illustrator Simon Marchner and pressed on 140g clear vinyl
with unique splatter effects
• Bonus LP Distortion Plus: Live which features live rarities including B-sides and stand-out tracks from the Circle Of Friends concert film
• Mastered by Jeff Lipton and Maria Rice at Peerless Mastering in Boston Plus -
• A 28-page companion booklet featuring: a new and exclusive foreword by Bob Mould; an interview conducted by journalist Keith
Cameron; an exclusive testimonial from Bully’s Alicia Bognanno; rare photographs and memorabilia
New pressing, with a front punch of color! It’s the yellow belt edition!
(yellow vinyl)Take an auditory trip through a wacky world of oddball and obscure ‘classick’ exploitation cinema soundtracks from the 1960s and early 1970s, presented by one of the most beloved genre film video companies of all time’ Something Weird! Two LPs chock-full of oddities and earworms with great sets of liners and track by track factoids!
The debut album by Morris Day's band, The Time. Written & produced with, and performed almost entirely by Prince with vocals from Day. The Time is available on LP for the first time since the original release on red and white vinyl. With a 6-track 2nd LP of original single edits of 5 of the album's songs (with "Cool" in 2 parts).
Im Jahr 2008 war Portugal. The Man seit etwas mehr als zwei Jahren eine Band und ritt auf einer kreativen Welle, wie man sie nur selten sieht. In den ersten zwei Jahren ihres Bestehens hat die Band drei Alben, eine EP und ein paar Singles veröffentlicht und dabei knapp 500 Shows gespielt. Die junge Band aus Alaska fuhr von Stadt zu Stadt, kaufte säckeweise Reis und gönnte sich nur selten etwas von ihrem Taco Bell-Feed The Beat-Geld. PTM waren engagiert. Sie beendeten die Tour im Dezember 2008 und anstatt eine dringend benötigte Pause einzulegen, trafen sie die Entscheidung, den Höhepunkt dessen aufzunehmen, was ihre Live-Performance geworden war. Sie fanden ein seltenes Juwel von einem Studio in den Vororten von Portland, und versammelten sich dort mit ihrem Live-Equipment und einer Handvoll Freunde mit Handkameras. Der langjährige Mitarbeiter und Filmemacher Graham (Baclagon) Agcaolli und der Tontechniker/Mixer Jacob Portrait (der später zu Unknown Mortal Orchestra stoßen sollte) halfen bei der Dokumentation. Sie spielten ihr komplettes Set einmal durch - ohne Nachvertonungen oder Overdubs - nur die Band in ihrer natürlichen Form. Ein paar Wochen später gingen sie ins Studio, um ihr nächstes Album, "The Satanic Satanist", aufzunehmen, und "Oregon City Sessions" wurde in ein Regal gestellt. Dort lag es über ein Jahrzehnt lang. Nur wenige sahen den ganzen Film. Die Band, ihr Manager oder Tour-Manager boten gelegentlich an, zu den Leuten nach Hause zu gehen und ihn für sie zu zeigen. Manchmal zeigte die Band auf dem Parkplatz eine Handvoll Songs für die lokalen Fans. Sie knüpften Freundschaften, aber wann immer sie gefragt wurden, war die Antwort: "Ja, wir werden das irgendwann veröffentlichen." Jetzt ist die Band seit über einem Jahr nicht mehr unterwegs, die mit Abstand längste Pause seit ihrer Gründung, und die Zeit scheint einfach reif. Hier ist "Oregon City Sessions", ausgegraben aus den Archiven. Unberührt, unverändert von dem Tag, an dem es fertiggestellt wurde. Es ist eine Zeitkapsel einer Band, die ihren Weg findet. Ein Schnappschuss von jungen, rohen Talenten, bevor sie Preise gewannen, bevor sie Millionen von Platten verkauften, bevor sie Headliner von Festivals waren. Nur ein paar Kids aus Alaska, die die Welt bereisen und Musik machen wollten.
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Bertrand Burgalat's first album 'The Sssound of Mmmusic', also known as TSOM, is released in an expanded reissue, twenty-one years after its first publication, on June 12th 2021 for the Record Store Day. Bertrand Burgalat combines lush arrangements, dreamy atmospheres and pop culture with class and humor.
In 2000, Bertrand Burgalat decided to evolve openly by releasing his first solo album 'The Sssound of Mmmusic' which had been in the works since the creation of the label 5 years earlier. This album, a true melancholic and sensual sonorama, reveals the very essence of Burgalat's art, fragile, nuanced, with a rare humility. Dotted with banjos and club bass, cascades of synthetic strings and soprano saxophone, geisha choirs and unblocked beats, 'The Sssound of Mmmusic' appears as a contrasting work where opposites unite in perfect alchemy.
Accompanied by previously unreleased tracks for the first time on vinyl, the album features songs like 'Gris métal' with a text by Michel Houellebecq, 'Vision of Love' his cover of Mariah Carey, or 'Kim' five minutes of intoxicating music.
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Etruria Beat founder Luca Agnelli unveils his long-awaited debut album, ‘Source Drops’ – presenting a ten-track journey through techno and beyond.
A name at the centre of Italy’s rich house and techno scene for over a decade, Etruria Beat head-honcho Luca Agnelli continues to showcase his talent as a leading DJ, producer and label boss on the international stage. With releases via a host of globally renowned labels, plus standout remixes including Moby’s iconic ‘Porcelain’, the Tuscany native’s reputation has seen him become of the genre’s leading artists when combining energetic, entrancing productions throughout his powerful DJ sets. Yet, the core of his work has always found a perfect home on his own Etruria Beat imprint, with July now welcoming the arrival of his highly-anticipated debut album ‘Source Drops’ – an in-depth musical story presenting growth, development, self-reflection and raw emotions via a collection of ten tracks ranging from powerful peak-time anthems through to EBM influenced cuts and slower, hypnotic productions.
“This is the journey that traces my musical evolution of the last 20 years, discovering more conceptual, deeper musical territories; taking inspiration from what influenced me in my career as a DJ and from my continuous research without musical barriers. A journey always in equilibrium, at times dark and sharp, solar and fluid, that develops a different creative vision in each track trying to convey my most intimate and strongest emotions". – Luca Agnelli
Opening via the slow-blooming builds and atmospheric and waves of ‘Black Mirror’, before diving into the heady and menacing tones of ‘Mutant Circle’, the ten-track project quickly showcases a wide-reaching range of influences and nuances central to Agnelli’s development as an artist over his career. Productions such as ‘Balance’ and ‘Oxigen’ contrast with one another whilst bringing space to proceedings, guided by breaks-influenced percussion, minimal arrangements and warping leads, whilst the driving ‘Resistance’ harnesses classic techno tendencies to provide an energetic and lively, snaking journey through rich soundscapes.
Title cut ‘Source Drops’ brings that trademark Luca Agnelli energy to the heart of the project, merging scintillating melodies, acid-tinged stabs and icy hats to unveil a high-octane ride into the peak-time, whilst ‘Raw Surface’ keeps the tempo high with sweeping leads, oscillating basslines and resonant lasers. Next, ‘Omega’ spirals into an off- kilter ride through glitchy echoed vocals, crunchy percussion and rumbling low-ends, with the epic ‘Losing Control’ welcoming an infectious lead melody at its core guided by punchy kicks and slick drum licks. To close, the package veers to an eerie yet ethereal close as hazy, celestial vocal chants meet panning sirens and swooping electronics – punctuating an expansive and diverse offering from the Italian favourite and shaping up an impressive debut LP in the process.
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German DJ and producer Terrorrythmus returns with D3l3t3, a bass, gabber and hybrid rave inspired fire red five-tracker. It's time to get vacced and waxxed!
Edition of 250pcs.
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Factory Benelux presents an expanded vinyl edition of Another Setting, the third studio album by cult Manchester ensemble The Durutti Column.
Another Setting was recorded in 1983 at Strawberry Studio, Stockport with production by Chris Nagle, a favourite engineer of Martin Hannett. The 11 track album contains several acknowledged Durutti classics, notably haunting instrumental Prayer (burnished with cor anglais by Maunagh Fleming) and The Beggar, probably the closest Vini Reilly has edged to rock music. Elsewhere, Smile in the Crowd would be covered by Depeche Mode mainman Martin Gore on his 1989 solo project Counterfeit.
This new vinyl remaster also includes non-album single I Get Along Without You Very Well, a bittersweet Hoagy Carmichael cover sung by Lindsay Reade, the former wife of Factory foreman Tony Wilson.
The second disc is a previously unreleased live show taped at the Pandora’s Box Festival in Rotterdam on 4 September 1983, featuring eight tracks performed by Vini Reilly and Bruce Mitchell. This second disc is pressed on clear vinyl.
The 2018 edition of Another Setting is packaged in a gatefold sleeve printed on white reverse board, restoring the original cover artwork by Mark Farrow with cover paintings by Jackie Williams.
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Turin Brakes critically acclaimed debut album ‘The Optimist LP’ gets the re-issue treatment to celebrate its 20th Anniversary
The ground breaking long player, originally released in 2001 features classic tracks such as ‘Underdog (Save Me)’, ’The Door' and ‘Feeling Oblivion’.
’The Optimist LP’ will be re-released on Deluxe 2LP & 2CD on Two-Piers, a new Brighton label, now with a Bonus album of ‘Demos’ from the original sessions and New Artwork. The Album has been out of print on Vinyl for many years now.
Turin Brakes critically acclaimed debut album ‘The Optimist LP’ gets the re-issue treatment to celebrate its 20th Anniversary
The ground breaking long player, originally released in 2001 features classic tracks such as ‘Underdog (Save Me)’, ’The Door' and ‘Feeling Oblivion’.
’The Optimist LP’ will be re-released on Deluxe 2LP & 2CD on Two-Piers, a new Brighton label, now with a Bonus album of ‘Demos’ from the original sessions and New Artwork. The Album has been out of print on Vinyl for many years now.
Originally released in 1975, Force It is UFO’s fourth studio album. Produced by Ten Years After’s Leo Lyons, it was their first album to chart in the US and enabled the band to kick up a rockier gear.
Containing many classic tracks still in their live set today, such as “Shoot Shoot” and “Let It Roll”, this newly remastered 2LP gatefold deluxe version includes the Record Plant live set from 1975.
This limited-edition version is pressed on clear vinyl.
Soul Jazz Records are releasing this 20th anniversary edition of their classic Studio One Soul on unique Record Store Day EXCLUSIVE coloured vinyl + download code. This new edition is a one-off special pressing exclusively for Record Store Day 2021.
Owned and founded by Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, Studio One's output serves as a comprehensive guide to the history of Reggae music.
Studio One Soul tracks the link between American Funk and Soul and Jamaican Reggae at the legendary Studio One Records.
Curtis Mayfield, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, The Temptations, King Floyd, Booker T and The MGs - all these artists had a huge influence on Jamaican artists and this album contains versions of songs by all of them. Featuring classic and rare Reggae Funk and Soul cuts from the Reggae giants alongside rarer cuts, Studio One Soul spans over 20 years of classic Reggae from the Rocksteady Funk through to the deep Roots music.
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Analog Africa Presents Edo Funk Explosion Vol. 1, available on
2xLP/Gatefold LP with 20-page booklet / CD with 36-page booklet. It was
in Benin City, in the heart of Nigeria, that a new hybrid of intoxicating
highlife music known as Edo Funk was born.
It first emerged in the late 1970s when a group of musicians began to experiment with different ways of integrating elements from their native Edo culture
and fusing them with new sound effects coming from West Africa s night-clubs.
Unlike the rather polished 1980 s Nigerian disco productions coming out of the
international metropolis of Lagos Edo Funk was raw and reduced to its bare
minimum.
Someone was needed to channel this energy into a distinctive sound and Sir
Victor Uwaifo appeared like a mad professor with his Joromi studio. Uwaifo
took the skeletal structure of Edo music and relentless began fusing them with
synthesizers, electric guitars and 80 s effect racks which resulted in some of the
most outstanding Edo recordings ever made. An explosive spiced up brew with
an odd psychedelic note known as Edo Funk.
That’s the sound you’ll be discovering in the first volume of the Edo Funk Explosion series which focusses on the genre’s greatest originators; Osayomore
Joseph, Akaba Man, and Sir Victor Uwaifo: Osayomore Joseph was one of the
first musicians to bring the sound of the flute into the horn-dominated world
of highlife, and his skills as a performer made him a fixture on the Lagos scene.
When he returned to settle in Benin City in the mid 1970s - at the invitation of
the royal family - he devoted himself to the modernisation and electrification
of Edo music, using funk and Afro-beat as the building blocks for songs that
weren’t afraid to call out government corruption or confront the dark legacy of
Nigeria’s colonial past.
Akaba Man was the philosopher king of Edo funk. Less overtly political than Osayomore Joseph and less psychedelic than Victor Uwaifo, he found the perfect
medium for his message in the trance-like grooves of Edo funk. With pulsating
rhythms awash in cosmic synth-fields and lyrics that express a deep personal
vision, he found great success at the dawn of the 1980s as one of Benin City’s
most persuasive ambassadors of funky highlife.
Victor Uwaifo was already a star in Nigeria when he built the legendary Joromi
studios in his hometown of Benin City in 1978. Using his unique guitar style as
the mediating force between West-African highlife and the traditional rhythms
and melodies of Edo music, he had scored several hits in the early seventies,
but once he had his own sixteen-track facility he was able to pursue his obsession with the synesthetic possibilities of pure sound, adding squelchy synths,
swirling organs and studio effects to hypnotic basslines and raw grooves. Between his own records and his production for other musicians, he quickly established himself as the godfather of Edo funk.
What unites these diverse musicians is their ability to strip funk down to its
primal essence and use it as the foundation for their own excursions inward to
the heart of Edo culture and outward to the furthest limits of sonic alchemy.
The twelve tracks on Edo Funk Explosion Volume 1 pulse with raw inspiration,
mixing highlife horns, driving rhythms, day-glo keyboards and tripped-out guitars into a funk experience unlike any other.
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DJ Sotofett and LNS have teamed up with Tresor Records for Sputters. The double-vinyl album with 15 cuts spans a hybrid of warped electro and psychedelic hypnosis, all the while remaining fixed in an unmistakable dance release. Recorded between 2017 – 2020, and bookmarked throughout by intros and interludes dug out from archival material, it's a deconstructed yet classic compound of techno-sonics.
LNS from Calgary, Canada, is rooted in braindance, electro and acid. Releasing 12inches on both her self-titled imprint LNS and Sotofett’s Wania - LNS, whilst in the studio, has often pointed out “the lacking blend of dub and electro in dance music”.
DJ Sotofett, hailing from Moss, Norway, is among a myriad of things commonly known for the extended work of his Sex Tags Mania and Wania labels, without forgetting his afro, dub and jazz releases on Honest Jon's London.
Together both artists give space to a guest appearance by E-GZR, a fellow Wania artist, to open the Sputters journey. The sinus bending drum stutter of K.O. by E-GZR collisions flanging basses and chronic-inducing synth pads to blueprint the technoid atmosphere to come. LNS & DJ Sotofett take control with El Dubbing, evoking an effect-heavy demeanour, typical of the Sex Tags Mania soundworld that DJ Sotofett is responsible for, this time rubbing up against solid electrified rhythms. The hypnotic moods carry over to Dúnn Dubbing's deep delays, freely running over a surprisingly minimal skeleton retaining a solid direction. Crafting a warmly emotive end of Side-A with sparse rhythms to perfection.
A meaner turn introduces Side-B. Hints of electro are scattered everywhere, fat basslines, ricocheting drums and synths that mourn and drift in and out of harmony. Vitri-Oil exposes a tumbling sound design, fog-lit chords of material fragility and nosedives - with an alive mix that wallows and grows in equal measures. The side closes with Shim, a classic drift between house and techno releasing sensual euphoria with the albums first big surprise – grand strings.
“LNS wanted to sell her TR-606, while my reply was for us to make a track with the 606 sounding so fresh that she'd never even think about selling it again” Sotofett states. Side-C proves the artists to be some of the most singular producers around with album centrepiece The 606. Clocking in over 10 minutes, it kicks off as a driving techno banger, chugging bass and big chords. Midway through everything falls away, and out of the void enter scattered drums and improv piano lines emerge, while twisted dubs lead us back in an enduringly warm groove.
Side-D sets the clock back to the original electroid foundation of the album, casting fires with alien vibrations. Synchronic Bass Blort is a hard-hitting electro track, steaming sonics and thrills, its melodic hook diving in subterranean motions. On Sputtering the duo raspily beams into outer space, with fizzy motives that disfigure and dazzle while the harmonies of the closing track is for yourself to experience.
DJ Sotofett and LNS deliver an album inhabiting a world full of sci-fi sonics and fierce groove. Their sound is free and live, simultaneously wondrous and sharp.
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In view of the immense Black Lives Matter mobilisation in reaction to the murder of George Floyd and the comparatively meagre societal reaction to the attack in Hanau, the question arises: How come our society does not show the same empathy and solidarity towards its own fellow citizens with Kurdish, Turkish, Bulgarian, Bosnian, Afghan migrant backgrounds or members of the Roma and Sinti?
How limited is our postcolonial discourse if we are unable to address the racist exploitation of those who repair our cars, deliver our parcels or harvest our asparagus?
It’s all a sham. Shake it off like a biometric photograph. Shake off that false consciousness. The Black Diaspora is a transatlantic lie invented by music curators and journalists. Embrace this nuanced return to structures and superstructures, to articulations and historical constellations as analytical tools.
Allow me to dampen your expectations. This is not the sound of decolonisation. This is no compilation of BLM protest songs. This is no celebration of Black emancipatory struggles. You will not be able to play this at your hip post-pandemic house party. This will not go down well with your woke friends. This is music for the square in the room. For that reluctant BAME/Person of Color repelled by your fetishisation of the African-American experience.
This is music for gated communities. This is Fehler Kuti singing of class relations, not of identities and positionalities. This is Fehler Kuti resisting.
Listen to these songs of infrastructure and appraisal of the welfare state. Join me in mourning the broken promises of prosperity for all. Send that “Ausländer“ of your mind to heaven. Colonialism fucked you up. Platform Capitalism is keeping you in chains. Are we to unionise all human and non-human workers at Amazon? Will modernity always have that "forever nigger“? What about those dispossessed field hands harvesting your asparagus?
All is lost. The system is rigged. Because all histories, gestures and identities have been absorbed into this late capitalist apparatus we call diversity. It can integrate anything and anyone. It made me. It is the price of the ticket. And it is unable to challenge its own premise of an atomised society. As if you and I had so little in common.
They will try and help you. They will build a museum for your history and a scholarship program for your future. I warn you. Don‘t let them give you a name. Resist appellation. Don’t get that German passport. Don‘t eat asparagus.
Fehler Kuti, Spring 2021
All songs by Julian Warner. Produced by Markus Acher and Tobias Siegert.
recorded and mixed by Tobias Siegert at Minga Records, july – december 2020 mastered by Moritz Illner at Duophonic
Cover art and photography by Andreas Neumeister. Layout by Sascha Schwegeler.
Fehler Kuti “Professional People” is part of the same multiverse as “The History of the Federal Republic of Germany as told by Fehler Kuti und die Polizei”. A production by Julian Warner. In cooperation with Münchner Kammerspiele. Funded by the Department of Arts and Culture of the City of Munich. Released by Alien Transistor.
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Big Country’s sixth studio album, ‘The Buffalo Skinners’ was originally released in 1993. The self-produced, impassioned explosion of rock roundly delivers on pulling this band's working-class masculinity, love of full-throated guitar and sense of political and social outrage together in one rousing, melodic, lyrical onslaught.
Featuring the singles ‘Alone’ and ‘Ships’, along with fan favorites ‘What Are You Working For’ and “We’re Not In Kansas”, these relying on a heavier guitar sound than their previous album, the pace rarely lets up throughout, taking in the anthemic `The One I Love' and the outraged “The Selling of America” before it all ends on the angry, science-gone-wrong, cloak and dagger horror tale of “Chester's Farm”.
The original vinyl version of the album only had a limited pressing and was only one 1 vinyl. This new deluxe version has been split across 2 vinyl for optimum sound quality and also features some b-sides and rare tracks on side 4.
The package is a 6mm spine gatefold sleeve and 2x 180gm Heavyweight Black Vinyl with sleeve notes written by guitarist Bruce Watson.
Fresh off of winning the Listener's Choice award at the 2020 Soundcity MVP Awards Festival, Fireboy DML follows up his debut album with "Apollo." Fireboy DML enlists help from fellow labelmate, Olamide, as well as D Smoke and Wande Coal.
Polo & Pan's debut album Caravelle reached the heights of professional recognition by being certified platinum in the international market, gold in France, with three singles exceeding the threshold of gold certification outside of France, consecrating Polo & Pan as the new French Touch ambassadors. Now, our two explorers invite us with Cyclorama to a journey through time, along the steps of human existence. After a year of lockdown introspection, the duo decided to create music that weaves themselves into the backgrounds of our lives. From birth to death and transcendence, Cyclorama offers a colorful score to the "comedy of life" as Celentano sang, this existential theatre that is played-out by every human being.’’ Out everywhere on 6/25.
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Re-mastering by: Cicely Baston at Alchemy/Air Mastering, Lyndhurst Hall, London
A two-LP set on Theresa, Rejoice features Pharoah Sanders in excellent form in 1981. Sanders sounds much more mellow than he had a decade earlier, often improvising in a style similar to late-'50s John Coltrane, particularly on "When Lights Are Low," "Moments Notice," and "Central Park West." The personnel changes on many of the selections and includes such top players as pianists Joe Bonner and John Hicks, bassist Art Davis, drummers Elvin Jones and Billy Higgins, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, trombonist Steve Turre, trumpeter Danny Moore, a harpist, and (on "Origin" and "Central Park West") five vocalists. The music always holds one's interest, making this one of Sanders' better later recordings. Scott Yanow/AMG
COLTRANE'S classic "Moments Notice" is a complete gas! Sanders like Coltrane, pulls and holds attention with his entrances. Bobby Hutcherson's and Hicks solo's are heated and models of vivid imagination. The three put forth some of the very best solo...'s in the entire album.
Then there's the arresting new talent introduced here -GEORGE V JOHNSON JR., whose marvelous lyrics and vocal work are truly auspicious! He sings with James Moody on occassion and is happily remindful of the insistent giftness of the late EDDIE JEFFERSON. Johnson's three stanzers close with "Relax dig the sounds of Coltrane's Music. Coltrane fills your heart with love and harmony. Trane played with magic. Listen to the melodies and you will see momently. When you here the message of his song!". There's no doubt in my mind that henceforth George V Johnson should and will be sought for his own gift to the music. He sang the song for Sanders at the Village Vanguard, and Sanders "felt that George ought to be heard".Thank you, Pharoah Sanders for Sharing.... by Herb Wong
This is the very first original soundtrack of our new Japanese Anime Collection!
MEGALOBOX is the tribute animation to the legendary Ashita no Joe, produced by TMS Entertainment and broadcasted worldwide since 2018 with a dazzling success.
MEGALOBOX Original Soundtrack is produced by mabanua (Manabu Yamaguchi) and features several renowned artists such as DJ TAKU, KOMA-CHI or Michael Kaneko. It was acclaimed by the critics for its unforgettable rhythm and melodies, inspired by a broad variety of genres such as hip hop, black music and rap.
This soundtrack is now entirely remastered for the sumptuous vinyl format!
The Megalobox Vinyl Edition features:
- The illustrated gatefold with Joe and Yuri
- 2xLP black color, housed in two illustrated sleeves
- A 12-page booklet with comments from the composer and the team (Yo Moriyama, Keiichirô Miyoshi) and the English translated lyrics from the songs
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Strut presents one of the most in-demand and significant albums from the archives of Jimmy Gray's Black Fire Records, 'Bow To The People' (1976 )by theatre collective Theatre West, based out of Dayton, Ohio. Recorded at Arrest studios in Washington in '76, 'Bow To The People' brought together songs from several of Theatre West's best known plays including Bow To The People, The System and Black Love and unflinchingly explored serious issues around drug addiction, mental health and cultural awareness. "The whole idea of Bow To The People was to honour our black forefathers," explains Dillard. "It was important to do that for the kids that didn't know." Shelved following the original recording, the Bow To The People album eventually surfaced on a limited CD on Black Fire in 1993. Now receivingits first full international release, the album features the previously unreleased tracks 'Man Of Many Means' and 'I Don't Know Much About Love'
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On his new album "Famous Last Songs Vol. 1" Westbam presents himself as a brilliant curator of his own music. With unerring instinct, the legendary techno DJ and producer succeeds together with guests such as Dieter Meier (Yello), Inga Humpe (2raumwohnnung) and Jon Marsh (The Beloved) in paying homage to the spirit of the Eighties and making the ultimate statement about the current time: music for the club in your head.
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Something wicked this way comes. Following singles 'Know The Future' b/w 'Digital Warfare' in 2019 and 'Hypersocial' b/w 'Safety Test' in 2020, ESP’s own Patrick Conway has now teamed up with the illustrious Appleblim (of Skull Disco and Apple Pips fame) for a meaty self-titled debut 2xLP under the new collaborative moniker, Trinity Carbon. There is something to be said for art created in the face of global unraveling, while mass transgression and the friction of culture shifting produce poignant commentary, but more often than not, it’s the personal coping mechanisms within our work that have the power to speak directly to the receiver. After a number of sessions resulting in wild imaginative beginnings, it was the untimely passing of Andrew Weatherall and a coming to terms with that loss that moved the two Brits-via-Berlin to herd their roaming sketches into a more narrative statement. In the uphill struggle to retain some sense of individualism, it’s always outsiders like Weatherall whose risks illuminate the roads of creativity less traveled, and when those beacons go dark there is a disorientation felt far and wide. Conway and Blim concede to the internal inquiry, “What would Weatherall do?” bringing to mind the man’s pervading morale, always soldiering onward through mediocrity, as it was undoubtedly an impetus for the duo growing steadfast and chiseling 'Trinity Carbon' into completion. While employing trusted machines in the bass department, they established a warm euphonic home base from which they could stray in a variety of tonal and rhythmic directions without straining a tether to the album’s core. However, as soon as any hint of familiarity may arise, or listeners begin to mentally assign stylistic epithets, the duo boldly change course to remind us that while the banal stay safely defined, it’s the iconoclasts, the outsiders who make us feel.
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Nina Simone: The Montreux Years is released as part of a brand new Montreux Jazz Festival and BMG collection series “The Montreux Years”. The collections will uncover legendary performances by the world’s most iconic artists alongside rare and never-before-released recordings from the festival’s rich 55-year history, remastered in superlative audio. Each collection will be accompanied by exclusive liner notes and previously unseen photography.
Nina Simone’s story from the late sixties to the nineties can be told through her legendary performances in Montreux. Taking to the Montreux stage for the first time on 16 June 1968 for the festival’s second edition, Simone built a lasting relationship with Montreux Jazz Festival and its Creator and Founder Claude Nobs, which uniqueness, trust and electricity can be clearly felt on the recordings. Simone’s multi-faceted and radical story is laid bare on ‘Nina Simone: The Montreux Years’. From Nina’s glorious and emotional 1968 performance to her fiery and unpredictable concert in 1976, one of the festival’s most remarkable performances ever witnessed, the collection includes recordings from all of her five legendary Montreux concerts – 1968, 1976, 1981, 1987 and 1990.
Featuring rare and previously unreleased material from Claude Nobs’ private collection, Nina Simone devotees worldwide will be thrilled by the inclusion of the powerful I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free, poignant and fearless Four Women and Simone’s hauntingly beautiful performance of Ne Me Quitte Pas. A spine-tingling version of Janis Ian’s searing and potent Stars, which Simone covered for the very first time during her 1976 Montreux performance, sits alongside her bold and electrifying re-imagine of Bob Marley’s ballad No Women No Cry in 1990. The collection closes with the encore of Nina Simone’s final Montreux Jazz Festival concert and one of Simone’s most-loved and best-known recordings, the exuberant My Baby Just Cares For Me, showcasing the deep and multidimensional facets of Simone’s life and music.
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The four Scottish-Irish musicians Conor Dalton, David Donaldson, Greame Reedie and Ian Maclennan are Island People. After their highly acclaimed debut from 2017, they have now finished their second album with the simple and consistent title »II«. Compared to their debut, »II« sounds more mature and complex. The arrangements unfold like the long tracking shots of an early Antonioni film - time seems to stand still, circling the moment. Impressionistically, one feels transported into the Scottish island landscape with its contrasting lights and harsh elements. Gloomy, darker, richer textures have conquered their space on »II« as much as the more present acoustic components. As much as its predecessor, also this record was skilfully produced, the musicians’ entire experience is audible (Conor Dalton is a sought-after mastering engineer; David Donaldson a Grammy Award-winning producer) – but anything fashionable or sensationalist has been intentionally waived. The musical serenity, holding up a craft that neither has to show itself off every minute nor wants to respond to the latest trends impressed us the most. The cover photo was contributed by the Scottish artist Helena Ohman. She also provided the video for the track »Crash«. Furthermore, singer Alice Hill-Woods was invited to contribute the lyrics and vocals to »Stalling«. Island People »II« will be released as gatefold double LP as well as on CD and digitally. In advance we asked Island People about the creative process behind the album and quote as follows: This album reflects on the destination we have in common before us, and celebrates the longer road while also considering paths not taken and journeys that ended too soon. It has been said that »art is how we decorate space; music is how we decorate time.« For us the writing of this album has been a great journey through both, shared with friends. While our first album acknowledged our own spaces and borders as individuals, the new album seemed to grow very quickly from our travels together as a band. Periods spent on the road playing live afforded extra time together and while we didn’t feel constrained to a concept at the start, more and more of the tracks evolved to reflect these journeys and experiences together.
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Just a continuation of things that have been done before and that will be done in the future. The plan is that there is no plan and the story goes on! 18 tracks about distinct moods, patterns and the pure joy of creation itself.
Mastered by the Zenker Brothers & Klaus Arnold.
Artwork photos by Lara Köcke.
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Factory Benelux presents an expanded double vinyl edition of Sex and Death, the 11th studio album by lauded Factory Records ensemble The Durutti Column.
Originally released in 1994 on CD only, the album has now been re-mastered with 5 bonus tracks and appears on vinyl for the VERY FIRST TIME in a coloured vinyl edition limited to 1500 copies.
The vinyl edition is housed in a gatefold sleeve . Disc 1 is pressed in blue vinyl, and disc 2 in silver. A 2xCD edition is also available (FBN 201 CD).
The writing and recording of Sex and Death closed an uncertain period for Vini Reilly and the group following the collapse of Factory Records in 1992. Factory founder Tony Wilson remained in post as manager of the band, but Sex and Death would be their last album with producer Stephen Street, famed for his work with Morrissey, The Smiths and Blur.
Writer and master guitarist Vini Reilly remained philosophical. “People say the Durutti Column is this or that. I don’t care, so long as we make good music. There’s screaming feedback on some tracks, heavy metal guitar, Spanish picking. It’s not just this ethereal trip. Don’t listen to the form, never listen to the form. Listen to the content.”
Stand-out tracks include Anthony (dedicated to Wilson), The Rest of My Life, and Believe In Me. Guest musicians include viola player John Metcalfe, vocalist Ruth-Ann Boyle (later to form hitmakers Olive with Tim Kellett), programmer Martin Jackson (Magazine, Swing Out Sister) and bassist Peter Hook, then on furlough from New Order post-Republic.
All 5 bonus tracks are previously unreleased, having been retrieved from a long-lost DAT tape located in Tony Wilson’s personal archive. All tracks on the album have been newly re-mastered in 2020 by Peter Beckmann and Technology Works.
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Soul Jazz Records new 'Two Synths, A Guitar (and) A Drum Machine' is a new collection of current D-I-Y post-punk bands shaped by the mutant sounds of no wave, punk funk and New York Noise bands from the late 70s and early 80s that collided with the world of underground dance music found at the Paradise Garage, Mudd Club in New York City (ESG, Arthur Russell, Bush Tetras, Talking Heads, Suicide, Liquid Liquid). Other influences cited here include Manchester and Sheffield's industrial post-punk sounds of the 1980s (Joy Division, Cabaret Voltaire, Gang of Four) as well as the 1970s German electronic experimentalism of Cluster, Neu!, Harmonia and Can. Featured artists from around the globe include Los Angeles D-I-Y band Automatic, New Fries from Toronto, artist/music collaborators Toresch from Germany, Susumu Makai from Japan/UK, VexRuffin from the Philippines/California and Madmadmad, Gramme, Tom of England and other UK groups. That all the bands featured here manage to make distinctive contemporary music out of these 80s roots is testament to the wide range of other musics that are seamlessly absorbed into a modern melting pot of sound - hip-hop, the electronic European avant-garde, rave culture, and more.
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Soul Jazz Records' new Studio One release Rocksteady Got Soul is a collection of uplifting and superb rocksteady and soulful reggae from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Studio One is the number one label in the history of reggae and he album features - as ever with Studio One - an impeccable and unbeatable line-up of reggae superstars, all soaring at the height of their creative powers. Alton Ellis, John Holt, The Heptones, Jackie Mittoo, The Ethiopians, Lee Perry and more. The album is a mix of classic tunes and rhythms alongside super-rarities that were released in a dazzlingly complex web of Studio One labels and issues, deftly navigated with new sleevenotes from author and Studio One authority Rob Chapman. But enough with the chatter, just spin the platter - these tunes rule the town, hands down! This Soul Jazz/Studio One album is released as deluxe gatefold double-vinyl + house inners + download code. Also as jewel case CD housed in card slipcase. Both formats come with full sleeve notes/discography and exclusive photography.
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