quête:d roots

Around the time of this recording, Stanley Cowell had achieved a degree of prominence as the pianist for the advanced bop quartet Music Inc., which he co-led with trumpeter Charles Tolliver, as well as for unusual projects like his Piano Choir. With Regeneration he chose another path, essentially trying to produce a jazz-infused pop album with strong African roots, perhaps owing a little bit to Stevie Wonder. He assembled an extremely strong cast of musicians for the venture, including Marion Brown, Billy Higgins, and Ed Blackwell, as well as several African string and percussion masters and, by and large, succeeded conceptually if not commercially. A few songs use vocals in a fairly standard pop framework, and, while they are performed capably enough, the lyrical content leaves something to be desired in typical mid-'70s fashion. But much of the rest of the music makes up for this with, among other things, a delightful fife and drum piece by Brown and strong bass work by Bill Lee (Spike's dad). Regeneration is an interesting, often enjoyable album which, aside from its own small pleasures, provides a snapshot of some of the cross-fertilization in genres occurring at the time.

"After a concert of Kenyan singer Ogoya Nengo in Berlin in 2015 in a pleasant conversation Guillermo Lares told me about his father, Oswaldo Lares, a studied architect who, parallel with his professional activity, began to make field recordings of the traditional and indigenous Venezuelan music from the early 1960s onwards up until today.

His search and fascination for finding the musical roots of his country led Oswaldo Lares to visit the rural villages outside Caracas, investigating the many and varied musical cultures of the region and the complex relationship between Venezuelan folk music and its various origins, including the African (mu´sica afrodescendiente).

The vast amount of music documents in the form of sound recordings, photographs and videos accompanied by notes and studies reflect the scope of this entirely self- taught sound engineer's work and represent a passionate documentary, making his work today one of the most comprehensive and systematic that has ever been assembled by a single person in Venezuela. Oswaldo Lares as an ethnomusicologist remained an amateur in the most direct meaning of the word: amare. Whereas most studied ethnomusicologists travel around the world to explore far away continents and foreign cultures, Oswaldo began to devote much of his spare time to the generally overlooked folk traditions that existed right in his very neighbourhood.

Currently Guillermo Lares has started to promote his father's work through the Achivolares Foundation, turning it into a living archive that preserves an essential part of Venezuelan musical memory. It is a pleasure and honor of our label TAL to support the invaluable work of Oswaldo and Guillermo Lares with this album."

This time Y-Bayani has support from the great voice of Baby Naa. Baby Naa was just hanging out at the studio in Accra/Ghana when the recordings of Rehwe Mie Enyim took place. The crew was waiting desperately for a singer to back up Y-Bayani. After an hour of waiting the producer, knowing that she sings at church every Sunday, asked Baby Naa to do the missing part. Then something occurred that nobody was expecting and finally everybody was happy that the original singer hadn't made it.

Rehwe Mie Enyim is a unique example of how roots-reggae can sound today. Maybe it will be the very last recorded real roots-reggae song in human history

On Mi Sumolo the Band of Enlightment, Reason and Love gives us a light and cheerful instrumental every DJ must have for his late night wedding set or any other high-class party.

Originally issued as a cassette on the ROIR label alongside the likes of Bad Brains, Suicide and The Contortions, this second album from 1983 is an uncompromising collection of heavy dub manners and experimental studio soundscaping. Dreader than dread roots rhythms sit alongside delay-baked post-punk instrumentals such as Drilling Equipment' and Synchroniser'.
.
First ever international vinyl edition, re-cut as a double LP at 45rpm for improved frequency response, includes bonus track Blood Shed Dub' from the classic disco plate series, download card, and gatefold sleeve with sleevenotes by Michael Dub' Shore and Steve On The Wire' Bar

A kind of intimate scrapbook of the startling collaboration between the techno maestro and this long-standing musical collective based in Bishkek, devoted to the roots music of Kyrgyzstan. Loose-leaved but balanced, lucid and intimate, it sets out from stunning a cappella and virtuosic komuz and kylak, mouth harp and traditional percussion: not field, but expert studio recordings, using marvellous vintage microphones, made over several days in Berlin. Further, a few of these are deftly treated by Moritz, using Reichian de-synced double-tracking, and discreet effects. Also two ten-minute dubs: a deadly, signature Berlin steppers, plus its version; and an echoing, mystical drum session, recorded live on stage in Bishkek. And a side-long, dream-like summation: the locomotive, oceanic, clangorous, dread Facets. Ravishing, rooted, searching music; beautifully presented.

Heavy Roots dub ! LOUD sound !

One of Rudy Thomas' few roots tunes. The Kingston born singer was better acquainted with softer lovers material than this lament for Paul Bogle, the Jamaican nationalist and leader of the Morant Bay rebellion. A lovely tune, with a flute nagging away, giving the song an unusual feel. Rudy Thomas worked at Joe Gibbs' studio as an engineer and percussionist, before moving on to a successful career as a lover's rock artist. Produced by Lloyd Parks and comes in a hand stamped bag.

* Aquatic Lab Records presents a very special release to close out 2017. LAB018 plays host to Bristol luminary and Tectonic boss Pinch, who delivers three menacing and forward-leaning apocalyptic cuts.

* The pointed and growling ragga-style techno of A-side 'Brain Scan' is built on battering rhythms and dubwise sonic techniques, in the vein of an old school revivalist production. True to the roots, futuristic in scope.

* On the flip, 'Street Light' is an equally abrasive bassweight roller, counter-balanced by Pinch's cavernous and cinematic sound design. Strictly war sounds for the dance.

* Rounding off the release is soundsystem meditation 'Abducted', an icy, gangster half-stepper drenched in thick reverb and melancholic DMZ-style laments.

* Mastered by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering (Berlin). 180-gram vinyl.

After the last years widely appreciated 12 with two extraterrestrial dancefloor cuts on Jon Rust's Levels imprint and a handful of now hard-to-find 7 releases, the estonian musician/producer Ruutu Poiss returns to his minimal funk and leftfield synth-pop roots releasing a debut EP on International Major Label. The six selected homerecordings from 2011-2016 reflect almost a chronological and kaleidoscopic journey through the authors musical explorations, instrumental storytelling and unique sound design, imaginatively non-locking to existing genres. From subtle vocals to vicious toms; celestial soundscapes over restless rubbery bass; shimmering synths over polyrhythmic structures - an environment of romantic futurism and organic transformation appears, surrounded by a warm psychedelic sound palette. Previous releases played and supported by Secretsundaze, Benji B, James Blake, Mary-Anne Hobbs, Call Super, Omar-S and many others.

After a little more than three years since the beginning of the label, Tensal returns with a very strong new double work. It contains eight tracks in which he defines the new evolution of his sound without losing too much sight of his roots.

Pittsburgh-born Phillip Ballou's earliest years were spent in the gospel field, after he moved to New York City in the '70s, he teamed up with Bennie Diggs and Arthur Freeman, founding members of The New York Community Choir and singer Arnold McCuller to form the group Revelation. The quartet recorded for RSO Records, scoring some R&B success in the US with tracks like Get Ready For This' and You To Me Are Everything,' touring the Bee Gees among others. Phillip also sang on albums by NYCC recorded for RCA Records and continued with Revelation until 1982.Frequently hired for sessions in and around New York, Phillip teamed up with UK soul music journalist David Nathan (who he'd met in 1974 during Nathan's first US visit) and John Simmons, formerly a member of The Reflections, another New York vocal group to write a series of songs for his own proposed solo record deal. Although a contract did not materialize, one of the songs - Ain't Nothing Like The Love' - got some interest from famed Philadelphia producer Thom Bell who presented it to The O'Jays. Ultimately, the tune was turned down by Kenny Gamble and John Simmons, by then musical director for Stephanie Mills, recorded his own version for a small independent label in 1981.Phillip continued his own musical journey, touring and recording with James Taylor and Todd Rundgren. In addition, Phillip's name graced recordings by George Benson, Billy Ocean, Kashif, Nona Hendryx, Jonathan Butler, Teddy Pendergrass and Melba Moore, in 1981, he began recording with Luther Vandross and became a part of Luther's touring band for many years, as well as singing on productions by Luther on Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick and others, continuing his association with him until Luther's 2003 stroke. Phillip returned to his gospel roots in 2004 as Minister of Music at a Brooklyn church and passed away in March 2005, aged 55. Thanks to renewed interest in the John Simmons' 1981 recording on YouTube, David Nathan has uncovered several tracks from the 1978 and 1979 he did with Phillip and John including Phillip Ballou's original version of Ain't Nothing Like The Love,' gaining its first ever worldwide release as a 7' single on Nefer Records in association with Super Disco Edits

Brewing another supremely heavy release on the horizon, Moonshine Recordings is stealing the spotlight once again. Proudly presenting Violinbwoy's first solo album, unadulterated sound system pressure at its finest. Slavic chants and drum rhythms meet the unrivaled power of Violinbwoy's eccentric take on modern bass music 'Fyetisov' kicks off the stellar 3x12" release with a high-powered Stepper emission. Setting the tone with a rumbling bassline and supremely energetic lead instrumentation, full force sound system music down to its core. Shining in a different light, 'Moonspell' reveals its melancholic nature gradually intensifying through otherworldly percussion and anthemic vocal sample placements. Stripped down to its bare bones,'Dubplate' unleashes its detuned, percussive shackles for a massive onslaught of four-to-the-floor, while keeping true to Jamaica's music roots. Warbling tape echo spheres and excellence in emotive expression Violinbwoy's collaboration with singer Marina P turns out to be an anthem by itself enthralling, whoever gets caught into the midst of this hymn of a track. Not backing down one step from the established level of quality, 'Sound System' featuring Junior Dread excels once more in a crystal-clear demonstration of modern roots music mandatory repeat listening. Rejoicing in simplicity, 'Rig Alert' holds true to what the name suggests - cinematic bass meditation, fluidly scaling with the size of its speaker counterpart. Moving on to Dan s vocal skills in 'Wanted': Rastafarian wisdom chanting along a skanking rhythm and orchestral atmosphere. Ethereal bells being submerged in moving air and scattered white noise, 'Run & Hide' demonstrates a more experimental side within the LP exhibiting Downtempo/Ambient inclinations in a magnificent combination with Dub characteristics, only increasing in energy to the call of the dub siren. Ready for more, the title track 'dod' captures us within the expressive, introductory playing of the violin, deserting it for echoes and sub oscillations alike. Calling upon the prowess of Rider Shafique, his harmonic toasting is being escorted by a forward-minded halftime groove in 'Find The Way'. Topping the LP off with Sis' excellence in telling a story through song on a hypnotic instrumental. The nature of last tunes is often powerful, serving to concede with an explosion, appropriate of the session as is the case with 'Surfacing' closing off the monumental EP with visceral lead movements, setting the tone alongside driving drums and one more murderous bassline, sure of receiving countless rewinds in the near future. Encompassing a plethora of current Roots- Dub- and Steppa- influenced styles, Moonshine's next LP installment is sure to be received for what it is: a definitive, quality expedition of what's firing up dance floors around the globe.

Clergy returns for its 9th instalment with a club ready EP of serious weapons from label mainstay, and one half of Works Unit, Reflec. The four track release opens with 'Acid Response', in which Reflec has combined a tough rhythm section with a growling 303 to create a high energy roller guaranteed to keep the dance floor moving. Continuing on this trend of heavy hitting rollers, 'Osmosis' is a drum track through and through, which incorporates dark and sweeping atmospherics into the groove true to Reflec's form.

The B side see's host to 'Canyon', a peak time Clergy anthem with heavy, driving drums complimented with a spacey and emotional pad on the breakdown. Clergy 009 is rounded off by a broken edit of 'Canyon' which exchanges the driving kicks for a fragmented rhythmic style, a nod to the UK roots of Reflec's musical style. .

Alongside De Gama, Pierandrea The Professor aka Les Inferno is the man behind the much-loved Samosa imprint. A DJ for over 30 years, 'The Professor' is well known in his native Italy as a true vinyl connoisseur, a fact that's no doubt attributable to a seventy-thousand strong vinyl collection.

And so it is that he pipes up with the label's latest. Under his Les Inferno alias, Pierandrea concocts two classic jams (and two neat interpretations of each). A full-scale disco explosion, the EP is a treat for fans of sun-kissed house, the likes of which is sure to win plaudits from DJs such as Prosumer, Hunee and Ben UFO.

The action kicks off courtesy of the original Everything I Do'. Produced with an obscure disco sample at its core, it's a dreamy anthem with roots that will speak to fans of vintage Loft records especially. Effortlessly simple but devilishly catchy, it's the perfect tonic with which to help ease the autumn blues. The 'breakdown'

version strips the original of its vocals, allowing the drums to take centre stage alongside its gorgeous melodies.

On the flip, What Do You Think' goes even funkier still, with its dancefloor prowess epitomised by a vocal that wouldn't sound of place in Paradise Garage. A truly momentous record, it's sure to unleash pandemonium on any DJ it's allowed to let loose on. If you're after something similar but without the campness of the original,
there's a dub version that ought to do the trick. A stunning release throughout.

On Arise , Zara McFarlane returns to a buoyant UK jazz scene with a head-turning third album. Exploring the musical possibilities of British-Jamaican identity, it's a cultural exchange that's born of London's current musical climate. Released on Gilles Peterson's Brownswood Recordings, it sees her working with much-feted drummer and producer Moses Boyd. Both rose through London's Tomorrow's Warriors programme, a finishing school for many young vanguards of the live, ascendant jazz scene springing up across the UK capital. Sharing Caribbean family heritages, it's a product of their joint exploration of the meeting points between jazz and the rhythms of Jamaica, reggae, Kumina, calypso and nyabinghi, shaded with hints of the psychedelic.

Zara's breakthrough 2012 track, a jazz cover of Junior Murvin's 'Police and Thieves', provided a jumping off point to further explore the blurred, colourful territory in between jazz and roots-reggae. Covering Nora Dean's 'Peace Begins Within', she breathes a syncopated groove into a soulful, reggae classic. A beautifully poised version of the Congos' Fisherman teases out the poignant lyrical content of the 1977 classic. Meanwhile new, original compositions from Zara, like 'Fussin' and Fightin'' and 'Freedom Chain', combine a deep, reverberating bass with a steady-stepping roots rhythm. Album opener 'Ode To Kumina' touches on the kumina tradition brought to Jamaica by indentured labourers from The Congo in the later part of the 19th Century. Part of Zara's deeper research into her Caribbean heritage, it alludes to a deep-rooted culture encompassing music, dance and religion.

Similarly, 'Silhouette' arose from that same research, in this case, however, it was about how records and documents often get lost in Jamaica. It kind of came out of the idea of black history and blackness and feeling like you're trying to find yourself,' she explains. Trying to be proud of your history and who you are. And never forgetting the things that brought you to where you are.' Alongside drummer Moses Boyd on production, the album features a stellar line up of some of the key players on the London scene Binker Golding on tenor sax, Peter Edwards on piano, Shirley Tetteh on guitar, Nathaniel Cross on Trombone and an unusually restrained turn on Clarinet from Shabaka Hutchings.
Shared between all of them is a tendency to find the common points between different musical ilks: from US hard bop jazz, to dub and London-rooted hybrids and permutations, the band on Arise reflect the musical diversity of their home. Boosted by new platforms, like East London showcase Church of Sound and a newly-refreshed Jazz Café, the record surfs the momentum currently propelling jazz-influenced music in the UK.

For Zara, Jamaica's musical legacy is deeply intertwined with her sense of the place itself. Spending whole summers in the hills of Jamaica, it's the sounds and smells which she most vividly associates with her stays there. In particular the local sound systems which were an everyday feature of the local area, be it in shops or bars, each of the small local shacks would have a sound system where they'd play music through the day and evening.

From where my nan used to live, in Cauldwell there's a sound system almost opposite her house,' she says. So you feel this boom of the bass, and then all the smells of the hills and the greenery of Hanover. When you land in Jamaica and you go to walk off of the plane, the heat and the smells hit you and it feels like home away from home for me. When I hear Jamaican music, these are the senses that come.'

No-one else makes music like this: devilishly complex but warm and intuitive, stirring together a dizzying assembly of outernational and outerspace influences, whilst retaining the subby funk-and-hot-breath pressure of Shackleton's soundboy, club roots.The result is an evolutionary, truly alchemical music — great shifting tides of dub, minimalist composition and choral song (Five Demiurgic Options), ritual spells to ward off the darkness (Before The Dam Broke, The Prophet Sequence), radiophonia and zoned-out guitar improv (Seven Virgins), even the febrile, freeform psychedelia of eighties noise rock (Sferic Ghost Transmits / Fear The Crown). Over the five years since Music For The Quiet Hour, Vengeance's vocal and lyrical range has rolled out across this new terrain. Throughout these six transmissions he's hoarse preacher, sage scholar and ravaged bluesman, blind man marching off to war, and exhausted time-traveller warning of impending socio-ecological catastrophe. Six dialogic accounts of our conflicted times, then, expanding beyond the treacly unease of the duo's early collaborative work into something subtler and more emotionally shattering — its shades of brightness more dazzling, and its darkness even murkier. "We almost didn't hear it when the foundations went."

Dark Entries and Serendip Lab have teamed up to release 'Prototech', the first vinyl retrospective by German electronic trio Hypnobeat, recorded 1984-86. James Dean Brown and Pietro Insipido formed Hypnobeat in 1983, but it was the addition of Victor Sol only a few months later that found the project reaching, as Brown puts it, "the desired level of technical sophistication." In time, Tobias Freund also lent his talents (and equipment) to this loose-fit sonic scheme, where the protagonists sought a new, electronic manifestation of mankind's tribal music roots. Two cassette releases surfaced - 1985's "Huggables", and "Specials/Spatials" the following year. By this point the Frankfurt-based group had already explored fiercely mechanical creative expression through various configurations of hardware and personnel, revolving around core ingredients such as the TR-808, TB-303 and MC-202. The project lived on in spirit as Brown activated Narcotic Syntax in the 90s. While a more modern, digital concern, rooted in the Perlon label family, NS still channeled the Hypnobeat concept of a "new tribalism", not least on their "Provocative Percussion" double 12" released in 2006. For all the punky veneer, there are instances where these tracks reach staggering levels of sophistication, not least on "Slash! Buffalo Eats Brass" with its intricately programmed 303 lines and nimble beats that sound a far cry from most machine music made in 1986. Prescient "Can God Rewind" is also dazzling in the complexity of its percussion and the richness of its synth lines in C as they throb out a bastardised version of acidic Disco straight out of the rhythm collider. Elsewhere, some tracks are more primal in their execution. Visceral opening track "The Arumbaya Fetish" was a cathartic venting of Brown's least favourite sound on the 808, the iconic cowbell, while the astounding proto-Acid miniature "Moon Jump" places limber 303 lead lines in a hail of thunderstruck patterns. "Kilian" has a stripped down quality that speaks more to the industrial era that Hypnobeat was conceived in, and "Mission In Congo" is a raw, reverb-soaked drum workout that captures the percussive-obsessive nature of Hypnobeat perfectly. Six of the seven tracks selected on this collection were primarily powered by two 808s. "I am amazed that the release sounds like we really had a plan back then..." states Brown, but this accidental magic is in fact the raison d'etre of Hypnobeat. They weren't the only ones prefiguring the next big revolutions in electronic music in the mid 80s, but there certainly weren't many artists stumbling across modes of expression that sound so relevant today.

All songs are remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. Housed in a jacket featuring cave engravings by Pietro Insipido of an archer and animal printed in a wallpaper pattern style designed by Eloise Leigh. Each copy includes an transparent insert of an x-ray photograph from 1984 of Romulus Cœurque holding the circuit board of a BOSS DR-55 rhythm machine.

The sub label of Sonic Groove, 'Sonic Groove Experiments', returns after a 4 year hiatus with a stellar re-release of the Electrowave classic 'Eruption' by Beta Evers. Originally released as a Limited Edition 12' back in 2005 on Beta's own Kommando 6 label. Now in 2017 the original pressing goes for quite a fortune on the record collecting market. Often exceeding €60 for a mint copy. For the first time in a dozen years this release is available on vinyl in its original running order but with very sleak new artwork for the normal asking price of a new store bought 12'.

Beta Evers is Brigitte Enzler from Augsburg, Germany. An artist with a substantial amount of accomplished work to her credit including an early release on the storied Hague label, Cre`me and her side project Black Spider Clan. After ceasing Kommando 6 operations, Beta Evers continues on independently releasing music on her other labels Bodyvolt and Venus Noir. Her most recent release is the 2016 awesome 'Delusion' album on legendary Industrial/EBM pioneer Dirk Ivens prestigious Daft imprint.

The opening track's title serves as a warning, titled 'Don't Be Afraid', a cold introduction led by sinister synth lines soliciting our attention to expertly crafted true analog electronic percussion in the EBM/Dark Electro disciplines. Surreal, deep and seductive vocals lie in the wake at the center of the composition giving us a melancholic piece worthy of deep contemplation during listening on or off the dance floor.

The following track 'Move In My Body Rhythm' continues in the same sinister and dark aesthetic in a more driving manner, this track continues to bring forth energy with a precise beat and rhythm accompanied by acidic synth modulations.

Side B continues to hold the heavy weight of this extended player with the track 'Eruptive' This reference track to the title of the EP. is an electronic/vocal robotic analog circuit breaker suitable for dawn light on the floor. Traditional arsenal of classic analog sounds are arranged and rearranged with sonic manipulation at the test. Mutant dance music for cosmic venues.

The closing track, 'Destination Lost' is comprised of lyrics of urban angst and disturbance whispered out through sultry vocals. Dark minimalist and cinematic cyberpunk breaks reinforced by low drone synth waves and crystals of lysergic analog bleeps drifting along the perimeter. Dead serious wave infected electronics.

This sonic document also serves as a good example of a roots approach to creating music whilst at the same time giving us something entirely innovative. This is as futuristic as it is timeless and that reflects the elements of a masterpiece.

Mothball Record continue to branch out from their Italo-disco roots while staying true to a high quality of unique and obscure music. This latest release is a collection of 90s rave and hardcore inspired tracks with an unmistakable euphoric/melancholic Dutch flavor from mysterious producer Ruud Jansen. No less than six strong and diverse tracks provide options for all occasions, from home listening to techno parade.

We are pleased to announce the next vinyl only release on Pathway Traxx and an exciting new direction for the label focusing on the more minimal/tech side of house while still maintaining its true house roots. Label owner Niko is accompanied by underground house hero Nima Gorji and the in-form trend setter Primarie from the formidable Tzinah Records.