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2 more floor-friendly 45's from the Deptford Northern Soul Club’s Record Box. Featuring Fifty quid’s worth of excellent brass-powered psyche soul that originally turned up on Buddah Records in 1969.
An absolutely huge Blackpool Mecca 45 with a backflip moment at around 40 seconds moment that repeats for all stomping excessives.

Backed with the legendary Lee Dorsey’s mighty ‘Give It Up’ from the same year. A swampy soul stew with a funky feel by the hugely under rated singer. An Allen Toussaint production with The Meters providing the chops.

The man behind The Girls of the Internet returns to his techno-leaning alias with five resounding cuts entitled ‘My Dreams Are Slowly Dying’.

Following Tableland’s debut release at the end of the decade that picked up support from the likes of DJ Bone, Laurent Garnier, Jon Hester and Nemone on BBC 6 Music, the Girls of the Internet producer re-joins his self-titled imprint in 2020. The Girls Of The Internet continue to feed their superb reputation of delivering funk-fuelled electronics that draws inspiration from a variety of electronic music styles from the last 40 years.

‘My Dreams Are Slowly Dying’ kicks things off with pulsating kicks, undulant euphoria in the form of dreamy leads and stabbing melodies that fluctuate throughout. ‘Pyramid Scheme’ surges into squeaky modulations, jazzy tones and funky atmospherics that rolls with vibrant energy while ‘Charlie + Suzie’ offers up shuffling rhythms, subdued yet emotive synths underneath clattering highs and snares that get introduced in the latter stages, before ‘Wormwood’ rounds off the enchanting EP with a calming house cut harmonising together exquisite keys, deep bass vibrations and uplifting oscillations which carry you away until the end.

DJ support from Laurent Garnier, DJ Bone, Namone (BBC 6 Music), rRoxymore, Shy One, Ooft, Young Male, Brendon Moeller, Severino (Horse Meat Disco), David Martin (Dimensions Soundsystem), Massimiliano Pagiara, Dan Curtain

"I'm Always Right“ by Imagination is an unreleased jazz rock LP recorded in 1977, 3 years before their sought after “Shake It” debut from 1980. Comprised of five tracks with a playtime of roughly 30 minutes, you will hear one of the finest German late-70s rock-tinged electric jazz albums of the era. The recording is a delightful stand-out with unique compositions, aspiring solo work, and a soulful spirit throughout. Additionally, the album veritably glows with exceptional sound quality, as it has been remastered from original tapes that were cut more than four decades ago at the WDR Funkhaus, Cologne.

We’ve worked with Ian Willson to reissue his insanely good, self-released West Coast classic “Straight From The Heart”. Privately pressed and originally released in 1985, this is the only album Ian ever put out. A magical blend of AOR/sophisticated funk/synth-boogie/spiritual jazz and modern soul, it’s a spellbinding record of many colours.

You might already know “Straight From The Heart” for the dubby-disco paranoid-balearic anthem “Four In The Morning”, and it’s easy to assume this is probably just another one of those one-track LPs. But trust us when we say it’s definitely not. This is an impressively slick record from start to finish, just ask those modern soul DJs and AOR collectors who’ve managed to find a rare copy in the last 35 years. It could’ve (should’ve?) been number 1 all over the world back in 1985.

Album opener “Think About It” is all sorts of right. It’s emotional. It’s tops-off. It’s funk in its purest form. And take the proto-modern-funk of the title track (half Dâm-Funk / half Dâd-Funk).

The shimmering, spiritual Bossa-Jazz of “If I Were You” serves as the album’s soaring centrepiece. A gorgeous suite of Cosmic vibes to get Gilles frothing, it sounds like nothing else on the record which makes sense given that it was recorded a couple of years earlier, and is the only track on the LP that wasn’t recorded in Ian’s own studio.

Side B opens with the propulsive ode to love that is “Two Is Better Than One”. Wonderfully sparse when it needs to be, it’s also richly percussive and that special kind of California-warm. Frenetic, speaker smashing synth and horn workout “Funk Invasion” dares you not to dance and “A Game Called Love” is heavily indebted to Prince with its lush, deep funk stylings. The sweeping sax-drenched instrumental “Song For Katelyn” is head-nod, beat-heavy AOR for that melancholic magic hour we spend our days longing for. It all adds up to the ultimate BBQ record.

Almost all of “Straight From The Heart” was recorded over a few months between 1983 and 1984 on Ian’s brand new Otari 8 track in the Oakland, California studio he built just the year before. Only “If I Were You” was recorded elsewhere, at Bay Sound in 1982.

A “full time poor musician” at the time (and he says he still is), Ian produced the album himself and played all of the instruments, except for guitar. That’s Peter Fujii you can hear, his good friend from growing up together.

Tower Of Power, Average White Band, Earth Wind & Fire and Stevie Wonder was the list of influences Ian gave us when we asked. No wonder the record’s just so easy on the ears.

And why did he put the record out himself? Simple, he had no idea how to go about getting a record deal.

When we first got in touch with Ian he had no idea that “Straight From The Heart” had become something of a cult record, let alone that there were those of us out there that thought the album deserved to be pressed again. The original tapes have long since been lost so this re-issue was only made possible by remastering Ian’s one and only pristine copy of the finished LP.

The end results have been worth the work, including reproducing the original’s unmistakeable sleeve. Ian Willson’s “Straight From The Heart” is yet another Be With release that will find an easy home on the shelves of those of you who up to now have only dreamt of finding a copy and also those of you who who never knew it even existed.

Jon Tye and Pete Fowler have been making music as Seahawks for a decade now. Given the sounds they’ve been exploring over those ten years it was a cosmic inevitability that they would be asked to contribute to the catalogue of the legendary library label KPM.

They replied with Island Visions, an exploration of sound for vision where they construct “audio micro-worlds to explore and inhabit”. A way to transport the listener away from the everyday without the bother of getting on an aeroplane. Mind travel is space travel after all, and much better for the environment.

Mostly recorded at The Centre Of Sound in Cornwall, with additional recording at Studio 34 in London, Jon and Pete’s travelling companions on this particular trip were boogie wunderkind Sven Atterton on fretless bass and keys, Nick Mackrory on percussion and the Seahawks live team of Dan Hillman and Alik Peters-Deacon.

From the grooves of Brian Bennett to the moog vibrations of Mike Vickers, the lush textures of Les Baxter to the experimental sounds of Delia Deryshire and David Vorhaus, this new music channels sounds and moods from across the KPM universe.

The spacious “Hot Sand Shuffle” opens the record with some of Seahawks’ familiar “deck-shoegaze”. The slinky digi-dub of “Sky Blue Sky” follows, gently encouraging us to lay back and relax. “Mystic Beach” is a refreshing ocean spray of a synthetic groove that clears the head, priming a pathway to receive “Crystal Forest”, a new age house groove of birds and flutes.

Dense, deep and dreamlike, “Distant Shore” is ambient rainforest house with a 90s vibe, its dense foliage clearing to let us bask in the shimmer and shine of “River Run”. Hang drum, electric gamelan, flute and loon close side A.

Side B bounces into being with “Catch A Wave”, an upbeat beach groover of synthetic guitar, effervescent synth and snappy drums. Equatorial bubbler “Paradise Bird Bath” soon glides in with marimba, crisp beats and fat synth bass. Fender rhodes, space echo and fretless bass make “Smooth Runnings” a laid-back poolside groove.

“Spirits Have Flown” conjures a hazy vibe with marimba, sax, synth funk bass and chilled beats before “Rolling Deep” serves up a light cocktail of sultry rhythms, refreshing textures, cooling sax and fretless bass. Almost-title track “Island Blues” brings the horizontal poolside feels with melodic chimes, oboe and more fretless bass for maximum vibrations. The marina drone of modular electronics, celestial trumpet and jungle ambience pay the album’s final respects to the cosmos on “Sun Salute”.

Like many KPM suites, this is a record of two distinct sides. The sunrise of side A brings a deep meditation, a journey within to renew the jaded self. Side B refreshes with cocktails by the pool and a chance to groove away the evening at some sunset beach party before dancing under the stars in the house of dreams.

Pete’s front cover for the LP is part map, part postcard: “the record has five different sections and I wanted to reference those in the worlds they created, musically and physically. From beach campfire, to poolside hanging and nighttime dancing. A kind of portal to those places and the pictures they inspired in my mind. All places we’d like to be in this turbulent year”. The track descriptions on the back help guide the way.

2020 marks 10 years since Ocean Trippin’, the first Seahawks release, and Island Visions is the perfect distillation of the sounds, sights, textures and moods that Jon and Pete have been exploring over the last decade. Sunrise to sunset condensed to two sides of an LP. The normal rules of space and time don’t apply here.

This is the first time Be With has worked with Seahawks, but individually Jon and Pete have been members of the extended Be With family since forever (Pete did those posters for our Ned Doheny tour and we worked with Jon on the vinyl version of Hatchback’s Colors Of The Sun). Of course we were going to put this out on vinyl.

Mastered by balearic engineer of choice (and Be With’s regular audio co-pilot) Simon Francis, cut by the legendary Pete Norman and pressed in the Netherlands by Record Industry, the sonic frequencies of these Island Visions have been precision tuned and encoded for optimum travelling conditions. Take the trip.

The Inhale/Exhale posse returns. For our 3 years anniversary and our 10th release we have prepared a super hot double 12 inch pack with shitloads of serious house cutz for your club, bar, living room and ears. With a bunch of love we like to present some common but also fresh faces to the Inhale/Exhale family and this compilation. Be prepared for endless nights full of dance pleasure. Including a wide range of House music from soulful to funky to bigroomesque.

Rhyze were a funk disco band who recorded their debut album in New York and released on Sam Records in 1980. This reissue features highlights such as the fantastic title track ‘Just How Sweet Is Your Love’ (which charted in both the US R&B and Dance chart) plus the single ‘Free’ and two B Sides ‘Singing and Dancing’ and ‘I Found Love
In You’ This classic is presented on 180g heavyweight black vinyl with original artwork and printed inner sleeve.

Wan Chai Records is a Hong-Kong based label, specialized in rare Asian records and quality reissues.

For their first release, they wanted to highlight a promotional record released at 500 copies only in Hong-Kong for a famous Soda brand.
It was offered with a pack of bottles in 1977 and never been
released.

Produced and arranged by Noel Quinlan, this Album is a mix of
Funk and Soul covers. The result is an awesome LP including
groovy covers, from the classic Lowdown' by Bob Scaggs, to a
Funky I Shot The Sheriff' by Bob Marley with a deep Fender
Rhodes, and 12 other outstanding tracks.

M Parent brings us a soundtrack of American dystopia, one that gives a pointed sonic voice to the bubbling frustrations and anxieties of our time. While American politics play out like a circus on the world stage, M Parent responds to the question of what it means to be American through dirty acid riffs
and eerie electro synth stabs. The album opens up with the title track where a deep voice bellows, “The American Dream was a lie,” setting the stage for what comes next. A warped sense of reality bubbles over in Lose Your Mind, as a wailing electric guitar plays a distorted rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. On the track They Gave You What, a glitched out 808 breakbeat unwinds as
psychedelic paranoia sets in over a stiff melodic hook.

But it’s not all doom and gloom, as it wouldn’t be a complete encapsulation of the American dream without a sense of hope. Balancing the LP out are playful tracks and aural details that keep the American tradition of funk alive. Fucked Acid offers a bright acid track with a funky falsetto synth line.
At the album’s cheeky climax, Electric Snake, a reptilian beast is lured out with 808 toms and beat back by unrelenting snare rolls. Maniacal laughter and an acidic bubbly lead race towards the album’s conclusion in the track Get In. The LP finishes with Groovy, an uplifting track that adds a fragile sense
of optimism.

Criminally unavailable, home-recorded fully digital soul JAM from 1990.

Ed and Joe Wartts, the rowdy younger brothers of acclaimed gospel singer, Andrew Wartts, go hard here with a conscious approach to love and politics; a passionate plea for a more compassionate world. Agitated bass tones cascade only to vanish under a supernatural synth lead that floats somewhere between neo soul and phantom G-funk. Ed's idiosyncratic playing and Joe's raw, emotional vocals deliver an earnest commandment for any era. Electronic instrumentation and voice mingle in a noble and metallic way, giving the track a kind of tough, sophisticated, griminess. A spectral strangeness, rising up from somewhere …

Scottish trumpeter Malcolm Strachan is a founder member of top UK funk/jazz-funk band The Haggis Horns as well as being one of the busiest session musicians in the UK today. In a professional career spanning 20 years, he's recorded with the likes of Mark Ronson, Amy WineHouse, Corinne Bailey Rae, Jamiroquai, Martha Reeves and The Vandellas, Jesse Glynne, The Craig Charles Fantasy Funk Band, Black Honey, The New Mastersounds and Blue Note saxophone legend Lou Donaldson. Now he's finally releasing his first solo album, aptly titled "About Time", on Haggis Records and he's going back to his original roots... Jazz.

The album is a collection of original compositions, all written and arranged by Malcolm, which are firmly rooted in the classic acoustic modern jazz style typified by the great 60's and 70's recordings on the legendary Blue Note Records label. A nice variation of themes and tempos feature throughout the album. From full-on latin vibes to beautiful ballads, soul jazz grooves to cinematic soundtrack flavours, all woven together by a great group of experienced musicians.

Malcolm's core quartet is himself on trumpet/flugelhorn, fellow Haggis Horns members George Cooper (piano) and Erroll Rollins (drums), plus Courtny Tomas on double bass. Featured guests are Atholl Ransome on tenor sax (The Haggis Horns), Rob Mitchell on baritone sax (Abstract Orchestra) and Danny Barley on Trombone. Strings are courtesy of Richard Curran and the percussionist is one of the finest session players in Europe, Karl Vanden Bossche (Incognito, Robert Palmer, Joss Stone, The Gorillaz, Sade, Blur - He and Malcolm met while touring with Mark Ronson)

Malcolm's love of jazz comes from his parents. Aged 7, his jazz musician father gave him a trumpet. From then on, jazz was his life. His musical education came via music teachers, youth jazz orchestras and jazz summer schools but mostly from his dad's record collection listening to Art Blakey and Dizzy Gillespie records and learning to improvise and solo by ear. At 18, he enrolled at Leeds College of Music and quickly immersed himself in the city's vibrant acid jazz, funk and soul scene and from making his recording debut in 1999 with The New Mastersounds, jazz was his musical passion but took a back seat to funk/soul/pop which were the day job. Until now.

Jazz is back. The wait is over. It really is "About Time" for Malcolm Strachan.

Apollo are delighted to welcome Steve Legget & Mark Hand to the fold with their lush new single ‘If You Cannot Try’ featuring the dulcet vocals of Greg Blackman. Originally released as an uplifting bumping house track on Ramrock Records Blackman sent the stems of the release to longtime collaborator Steve Legget for a rework. Legget tore the original to pieces, deconstructing it into a much more ambiguous form. ”I’ve never been a fan of a chorus in a song,” Legget muses. "I like songs that are not direct that leave room for your imagination - Mark and I ended up building a new song around the texture of the original.”

Hand and Legget met in the early 90s at the Northern College of Art in Middlesbrough, and have collaborated at various times in the intervening years, through a shared love of Detroit techno, experimental electronic music, jazz and funk. Their creative process involves sending audio files back and forth - “The release was written in collaboration over the internet Greg in Colchester, Mark in Hartlepool, and me in St Albans."

Hand added spaced out textures and riffs from his collection of vintage Fender Rhodes and classic synths - taking the track into sunny space funk realms that comes on like a lost release from joe Claussell’s Spiritual Life label or Basic Channel jamming with Herbie Hancock.

Using their new version as the seed - Hand decided to try his own ’Teesside Techno’ version - "I wanted to give the track more of a 'machine funk' vibe with my rework” he explains. “I generally like to work by jamming with hardware - the bass line is generated by triggering the arp on my Juno 6..using triggers from a TR606 kick drum and hats replaced by a TR909.. the result being more of a jackin' electronic funk mutation!"

This continuing game of musical pass the parcel has indeed born some juicy fruit -

It's album release time for this Madrid-based soul/jazz organ trio who have been burning up stages and festivals throughout 2019 and who have already had a successful single out on Rocafort Records. Beat Bronco Organ Trio have not rewritten the Hammond musical handbook, but they do what it says on the tin rather splendidly – a Road Trip that grooves, swings and sashays around the familiar but much loved funky jazz theme.

Although it's impossible to listen to the album without summoning up the ghosts of Jimmies McGriff & Smith and the like, nearly all tracks here are originals and shout out personality, verve and respectful homage to the tradition. Featuring the usual leitmotifs: Shaftish film sountrack, lo-fi lounger, gospel-tinged toe-tapper, the hip shaker and much wah-wah frenesi, there's nothing not to like if the genre is your bag.

The steaming horn section on "Hard Play" thickens the sauce à la JBs and the Meters, aided along by a unique orchestra of handclaps. Vocalist and guitarist Alberto Palacios Anaut storms in with "Hey Hey", an old Dave Bartholomew classic from New Orleans, just to remind us where Fats Domino and Ray Charles got it all from. Chip Wickham makes two welcome appearances on flute, adding an extra jazzy touch to "Squirtly" and "Electro Pi" – the latter a fabulous trippy, spacious head-nodder that demands in our opinion some kind of a wigged out drum'n'bass remix. Every track is clearly dominated by variations on the vintage keyboard, be it Hammond, Clavinet or Minimoog; all roads lead to that sexy, sacred sound.

Spain is already prominent on the modern-day Funk map thanks to groups like The Sweet Vandals, Speak Low and Mighty Vamp – and it comes as no surprise that our hero trio featured at various times in all these bands. Gabri Casanova (keys), Lucas de Mulder (guitar, percussion) and Antonio "Pax" Alvarez (drums, percussion) have been busy reviving the funk gospel for some time now. Road Trip is an elegant culmination of their efforts in keeping alive a revered and timeless tradition that still today serves as a reference to where all the good stuff came from: The Church!

Taken from a Detroit Underground CD on FAMILIAR RECORDS (FMLR 001) first issued in 1999. Only available direct from DETROIT, USA as part of a very small run of self released CD's. All music is by local Artists. The original FORWARD Album was 10 tracks. We selected our favorites and remastered four tracks for release on the Preservation Sound label in 2020. The music spans Club Techno and Electronica. Cover Art are photographs of "Detroit In The Rain" by Chrissie Clees, who originally sent me a copy of the Album. Ltd Edition of 303 with Full Art Cover.

The longtime portuguese dj-producer Dedy Dread lands on DJ's CHOICE label for his first full-on original production. "Don't Wanna Wake Up" kicks off the collaboration with the soulful Hawaiian-born singer Olivia Ruff, a velvety warm r'n'b banger which will certainly tear through the airwaves. On the flip side, a "bikini-dub" version by The Rebel – helped by the sax of Danilo Desideri (Funkallisto) – which will make you wish summer comes sooner rather than later.

Getting stuck into the new year with a fresh, contemporary jazz attitude, Rocafort Records are proud to present the Kumadé EP from exciting Swiss-French quartet KUMA, led by keyboardist Matthieu Llodra and saxophonist Arthur Donnot.

Confidence, rhythmicality and solidity are the first impressions that hit you from this tight outfit of young but highly experienced musicians. After nine years of holding down a 10-night residency at the prestigious Cully Jazz Festival, Llodra and Donnot have honed down their skills in front of a live audience making tension, pacing and release their speciality in compositional strategy. Grooves and moods are created with just the right amount of rise and fall, push and pull, melodic catches and improvisational wanderings.

The EP is well balanced out with two spaciously laconic, ethereal tracks - Alfama and The Core - that could easily belong on some ECM-inspired soundscape, juxtaposed with Kumadé and I.G.A.T.F. that pack a fuller punch, fat and chunky in all the right places, hinting at a 1970s style George Duke at his funky-fusion best.

Despite a whiff of nostalgic reference, rest assured that the KUMA timbre is fresh and exploratory, as innovative and curious as any protagonist from the current UK jazz explosion. Keep an ear out for these young Jedi masters, all of them at the top of their game. More assured, impressive releases are due out this year.

Matthieu Llodra – Fender Rhodes

Arthur Donnot – Sax

Fabien Iannone - Bass

Maxence Sibille – Drums

Zacharie Ksyk – Trumpet (guest on Kumadé").

Since the get-go Pond Life Records has strived to combine jazz and funk infused instrumentation and electronic programming. Humble B Flat, who has helped define Pond Life's sound has played true to this concept since his first release on PL001. Two years later, we are blessed with an four track EP that’s builds upon this blueprint - ‘Harnessed The Wind’

Dimi is the new solo project and label of (Dimitrios Ploumpidis) one half of techno duo, AnD.

The Dimi label will be an exploration in sound, pushing techno, rave and dance floor sounds with a raw and powerful attitude.

DIMI001 kicks off with "Time Travel". Pulsating kick drums and vocal cuts interweave, creating groove with the snappy snare and lashing hi hats. When the huge synth stab and melody drop to take us straight to a hedonistic past put looking clearly into the future.

"Bang Your Face" enters the room with a tight, hard-hitting kick and serrated rave sirens building an infectious groove before being banged in the face with the old school euphoric synth line that drops in and out of the mix creating tension and dramatic shifts in the track.

"Groove Away" a throbbing bass and kick drum drop with a sinister stab for this funky techno monster. Hard in dynamics but with a maximum amount of groove this track thumps and slams while the spaced out synth line and rave stabs help keep this funky banger grooving all the way to outer space as the alien melodies propel us for take off.

"All In" syncopated delayed synth stabs build in this track with tight rhythmic percussion and distorted kick drum. The snare enters like a punch to the face but only solidifying the swing while the main synth line opens building tension ready to destroy everything in its path. This is Dimi showcasing his direct and unique take on techno music.

3 years after the release of his debut EP « Seize The Day », DJ, producer and founder of Roche Musique Cezaire is back with another evocatively named project : "Attraction".

Faithful to himself, he creates a sensual ambience made of warm and swaying tones, the sweet fruit of the melodic groove which always drives him. Once the eyes closed - the imagination becomes fertile and takes us back in a 90’s daydream accompanied by hypnotic synths. Regardless of the place, it’s all about lightness and smooth vibes.

Between G-Funk influences and francophone contemporary soul, the 5 titles EP unveils the producer’s taste for retro and voluptuous sounds, echoing to the universal theme of desire.

“This second EP is to me a logical follow-up which falls within my path. Of course, its central theme is attraction, but by that, I refer to one thing : making your dreams come true. ”

After Nu Guinea’s LP, Nuova Napoli, and Napoli Segreta first compilation, NG RECORDS follows up with an exploration into the unknown groovy side of Naples by releasing Napoli Segreta Vol. 2 Famiglia Discocristiana, DNApoli and Nu Guinea team up again selecting more tracks from their archives, for a new compilation containing 9 mysterious Neapolitan tracks, found in the most hidden corners of remote flea markets around the Vesuvius.

But forget classical Neapolitan songs, "'O Sole Mio" or "Luna Rossa"... Forget about what you expect to find once you land in town … Oh and also forget about Google Maps.
Take a dodgy local guide, keep your eyes open, and follow it to enter the secret downtown, the underground, the routes that no satellite can detect, but beware there is no easy way out.

Napoli Segreta Vol. 2 is a musical journey into the sonic landscapes of Naples that you have never heard of before. A variety of genres merging soul, disco, funk, blues, new wave, afro-beat and boogie, including lyrics in Neapolitan urban slang, instrumental tracks with progressive flavour, and also some unexpected covers!