Search:ernest

Available on LP format - comes with Japanese obi-strip.

Jamaica's national treasure. Legendary Jamaican Jazz. Internationally acclaimed guitarist Ernest Ranglin with piano genius Leslie Butler in a dazzling quartet. Recorded in 1965. Ernest Ranglin is a guitar player who represents Jamaica as well as one of the forefront personals who took Jamaican music to the world. As an arranger and a musical director, he contributed with his talent in the development of Jamaican music, including Ska and Reggae, from the origins. Musicians who have started their career at the time, still look up to him as a mentor and pay their respects. The internationally acclaimed guitarist Ernest Ranglin is currently pursuing his career without any musical boundaries at the age of over 80.

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Musicians:GUITAR: Ernest Ranglin, BASS: Stephen Lauz, DRUMS: Carl Mcleod, PIANO: Leslie Butler.

Produced by K. Khouri.

Recorded at Federal Studio.

Mod Mod Ranglin is a fusion of Ska and Caribbean instrumentals by Ernest Ranglin recorded in 1966 while Ska was changing towards Rocksteady. Although Ernest Ranglin recorded 8 solo albums at Federal Records, Mod Mod Ranglin was the only album with Ska instrumentals, interestingly. The album consists of classic Ska, Mento and Carribean songs of all times. From the start to the end, Ernie's guitar playing flutters like Caribbean breeze. The instrumental song entitled 'Felicia' is a perfect number for all Ska lovers.

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Produced By:Richard Khouri

Recorded At:Federal Studio

Engineered By:Louis Davidson

The Taxpayers are a long-running experimental, genre-bending DIY punk band that started in Portland, Oregon in 2007. Their critically acclaimed 2012 concept album God, Forgive These Bastards is about the rise and fall of a fictional baseball player, featuring the hit song, “I Love You Like an Alcoholic”. It was released alongside a book of the same name written by Rob Taxpayer. The story was turned into a musical stage production by the Hum’n’bards Theater Troupe in 2018. After a several year hiatus, The Taxpayers have been selling out shows across the United States, headlining festivals in Australia, and are now set to release their first full-length album in 8 years, titled “Circle Breaker”, in conjunction with the boundary-defying Ernest Jenning Record Company.

Featherstone returns to Ernest's Way with the “Pivot” EP, offering up six tracks that effortlessly blur the lines between various electronic music genres.

The A-side kicks off with “Pivot” where a driving breakbeat rhythm propels the track forward, enhanced by ethereal vocal cuts and rhythmic bass sequences. “Underneath It All” lightens the mood with swung drums, call and response vocals, and emotive string pads that draw the listener in, before “Moving Towards You” rounds out the first side with weighty basslines and acidic leads.

On the B-side, “After the Rain” locks into a repetitive rhythm while dreamy synths evolve and lift the energy as the track builds. “Eclipsed” deepens the experience, exploring a moodier and more intense sonic landscape. “Cipher” the final track, leaves the repetitive rhythm behind and delivers leftfield sound design scattered over a spatial broken beat.

For more than twenty years, +/- Plus/Minus has stood as a captivating fixture in the indie rock scene, defying simple categorization while blending futuristic odd-time signature pop with electronic elements and traditional rock instrumentation. The band's origins trace back to the friendship of childhood friends Patrick Ramos and James Baluyut, who would go on to play with 90s New York indie stalwarts Versus. Following the (temporary!) dissolution of Versus in 2001, Ramos and Baluyut welcomed seasoned drummer Chris Deaner, hailing from the Austin music scene, into the fold This fruitful collaboration led to the creation of five full-length albums, several EPs, a video compilation DVD, and extensive tours across the United States, Europe, and Asia, alongside acts including Death Cab For Cutie, The Wrens, Mates of State and more.

"'Hey Babe' sounds like classic Trummors – their voices a perfect match for one another, Dan Horne’s lingering pedal steel adorning the piece like chapparal, just an ambling walk through life together." - Petal Motel "Is there a scientific formula for creating the perfect country rock record? If there is, the Taos, NM duo of Anne Cunningham and David Lerner — AKA Trummors — have cracked it." - Aquarium Drunkard "Trummors capture a classic country sound — flirting with the heavy-hearted, but formative voices that lent credence to the ‘70s crossover out of psychedelic troupes." - Raven Sings The Blues Trummors are excited to announce their new album 5 out April 12 on Ernest Jenning Record Co.

Bringing together over 50 of Jamaica's greatest session musicians, whose work spans from the birth of reggae in the late 1960s until today, Roots Architects is the largest gathering of Jamaican musical talent on one all-instrumental album. Never before have so many veterans, who helped create the immortal rhythms that made reggae internationally successful, been assembled to play on new material without vocals. This project aims to celebrate and pay tribute to the unsung heroes of reggae music: the rhythm builders or Roots Architects.

Before releasing the full album, due out April 2024, this new single gives you a taste of what's coming your way. Legends back together in Kingston studios doing what they do best: creating instrumental music all together! 'Memories of Old' pays tribute to the rocksteady era. You'll be delighted by Ernest Ranglin's guitar solo and Tyrone Downie's organ solo.

Featherstone’s fifth release for Ernest’s Way is a 5 track, electro inspired EP featuring deep, syncopated sequences and angular rhythms contrasted with

Sometimes, space is the perfect catalyst for intense creativity. Following the release of their fourth LP, 2019's Your Church On My Bonfire, PAWS - the Scottish DIY indie rock songwriting partnership of Phillip Jon Taylor and Joshua Swinney, toured briefly, and as the world began to shut down, they slipped out of sight. Phillip retreated north to the Highlands where he focused on his painting, solo work and the rewarding demands of fatherhood. Josh headed south to London, pursuing his other passion as a chef at the highly acclaimed Plimsoll. It would have been easy for both to settle into their new lives, but PAWS never died…and neither did the tie connecting the two friends. Having missed playing together for too long, a plan was set and in October 2022 Josh travelled to Phillip's home studio in his crofters cottage where work began on the band's fifth self-titled LP. Relying on a set of phone demos and chemistry honed after years on the road the songs came together surprisingly fast. Having recorded previously with both Blink 182’s Mark Hoppus and Frightened Rabbit’s Andy Monaghan, the band once again seized control of production duties as they had on their sophomore release Youth Culture Forever. Utilizing all they had learned and adding their own DIY ethos into the mix, the music was done in a week. Josh headed home and Phillip set to work on lyrics. The resulting record finds the band as grounded and assured as they ever have been. Marrying the deafening assault of youthful abandon with the whispered reasoning that comes with getting older; swaying from anger and exasperation to wide eyed optimism. PAWS is a succinct, razor wire encased documentary chronicling the pains of modern living. Delving into the dark underbelly of 90s alternative rock, painting with evocative instrumentals and reveling in celebratory indie punk, the band also embrace sordid pop and ambient electronics. And while it pays homage to where they have come from, it also signals a clean slate for the pair. Two friends united over distance. After some time apart, all they needed was a spark.

Worriers' new album Trust Your Gut is what happens when a queer Springsteen sleeper cell emerges to throw an indie rock house party. It’s the opening scene of Empire Records if it were soundtracked by Frightened Rabbit. It’s about yearning for a better self when you constantly feel neither here nor there. While that isn’t entirely about their gender, it’s absolutely a part of songwriter Lauren Denitzio’s lived experience as a millennial. After Worriers released an album the same week as the 2020 lockdown - and after a history of what can only be described as music industry slapstick comedy - Denitzio rebuilt their songwriting practice from scratch. Armed with a small artist grant, new collaborators, and a lot of time on their hands, Trust Your Gut was written by taking everything apart and putting it back together again. The album was written and arranged with drummer Atom Willard (Against Me!, Angels & Airwaves), pianist Franz Nicolay (The Hold Steady), and guitarist Frank Piegaro who joined the band in 2019. With bass recorded by Allegra Anka (Cayetana) and strings by Ethan Philbrick, Trust Your Gut crafts a world of heart-punching indie rock with pop and folk influences after a career of fierce punk-leaning anthems.

Reissue of 2022's Critically Acclaimed LP - first pressing sold out directly through band - first time available to Retail! Vinyl is baby blue w/ white splatter and included DL code. "Pigeon Pit's folk-punk twang is as raw as it is rambling, but never reckless in its tender heart.” - NPR

Anthology 2003-2005. Includes “The Unsustainable Lifestyle” and “You Are Right To Be Afraid.” First time on vinyl.

Written and recorded between 1972 and 1982 in Western Oregon, Back to the Woodlands is a previously unreleased, and nearly lost, album made by Ernest Hood during the same era as his near mythical album Neighborhoods . A visionary combination of field recordings, zithers, and synthesizers, Back to the Woodlands offers an unprecedented depth of access to this singular artistic mind. Born into a musical family, Ernest Hood began a promising career as a jazz guitarist during the 1940s, touring internationally with his brother Bill Hood and the saxophonist Charlie Barnet , before contracting polio in his late twenties. The disease left Ernest unable to play the guitar and confined him to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. It also forced him to adapt and innovate around his musical practices in the face of adversity; Hood's value of sound matured with a remarkably democratic and nonhierarchical approach and application. Taking up the zither, a less physically-demanding stringed instrument to the guitar, embarking upon the unprecedented process of incorporating field recordings into his work as early as 1956, and eventually discovering the synthesizer, Hood's music became imbued with optimism and subtle cultural critique. This ethos and technique - refined over the coming decades - would lay the groundwork for a sprawling body of radio work, mail order recordings for homebound listeners, and Neighborhoods , self- issued as a small vinyl edition in 1975. Where Neighborhoods , a nostalgic opus, drawing from a well of collective memory of the 1950s, is defined by traces of human activity, Back to the Woodlands leaves the modern world behind, delving into Hood's love for nature. Only recently discovered in his archives, the album dramatically expands his concept of "musical cinematography," imagistically triggering states of sensory memory from within its zither and synthesizer melodies, intertwined with field recordings made during Hood's extensive travels throughout Oregon. If Neighborhoods is a retreat into the gauzy joys of a romanticized past, Back to the Woodlands is an immersion in the timeless sanctuary of the natural world. A fascinating counterpoint to its predecessor, Back to the Woodlands brings us even closer to Hood's belief in the transportive qualities of sound; that field recordings could serve as a vehicle for the imagination and liberation, particularly for those with similar mobile disabilities as his own. Across the album's twelve compositions, the rippling instrumental harmonics - shifting between abstraction and playful melody - fold so seamlessly into the birdsong, bubbling brooks, and other environmental ambiences, that they often give the impression of having been recording within the landscapes toward which they whisper. Falling somewhere between the immersive calm of healing music and New Age, the creative field recording practices of sound ecologists world building for Folkways, and the jazz infected ambiences during Obscure / Editions EG's highest heights, Back to the Woodlands sculpts an singular proximity of music for its moment; a form of ambient sonic realism that draws the consciousness toward its surroundings as much as within. Working closely with his estate to maintain his original vision, Freedom to Spend has restored and remastered this never before released, lost masterpiece by Ernest Hood from the original tapes. Ernest Hood's Back to the Woodlands will be issued on vinyl, as well as on CD in combination with its contemporary Where the Woods Begin , with new liner notes by Michael Klausman . On behalf of Ernest Hood and Freedom To Spend, a portion of the proceeds from this release will benefit Oregon Wild, an organization dedicated to protecting and restoring Oregon's wildlands, wildlife, and waters as an enduring legacy for future generations.

Ernest Hood’s Neighborhoods was released some two decades after the Portland, Oregon born and raised musician’s first forays into field recordings. These very recordings, and those captured over intervening years, define the universal sound and aural images of childhood, a theme memorialized by Hood’s privatelypressed opus of 1975.

Sprawling through a haze of zither, synthesizer melodies, and foraged pedestrian sound, Neighborhoods is both a score and documentary composed and directed by Hood to offer, in his words, joy in reminiscence. Hood’s nostalgic impulse ran parallel to the developments of other artists, writers, and filmmakers of the 1970s who were looking back to the 1950s to convey a collective memory of childhood. Unlike some of the widely embraced work of this nature, the music of Neighborhoods eschews irony or detachment for lucidity, striving above all for a dream-like return to the details of sensory memory.

Born into a musical lineage, Hood’s early, promising career as a guitarist in a globetrotting jazz outfit was cut short when he contracted polio in his late twenties. Moving from guitar to less physically-demanding stringed instruments in the late 1940s, Hood first began implementing field recordings in his jazz ensemble collaborations as early as 1956. In 1961, Hood and trumpeter Jim Smith collaborated on a local Portland television program, with their large, tight ensemble providing breakneck contemporary jazz for an action painting by famed West Coast modernist painter Louis Bunce. Hood incorporated his own field-recorded sounds of birds in the performance – an element that would resurface in Neighborhoods with great abundance among other found sounds.

Written and recorded between 1972 and 1982 in Western Oregon, Back to the Woodlands is a previously unreleased, and nearly lost, album made by Ernest Hood during the same era as his near mythical album Neighborhoods . A visionary combination of field recordings, zithers, and synthesizers, Back to the Woodlands offers an unprecedented depth of access to this singular artistic mind. Born into a musical family, Ernest Hood began a promising career as a jazz guitarist during the 1940s, touring internationally with his brother Bill Hood and the saxophonist Charlie Barnet , before contracting polio in his late twenties. The disease left Ernest unable to play the guitar and confined him to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. It also forced him to adapt and innovate around his musical practices in the face of adversity; Hood's value of sound matured with a remarkably democratic and nonhierarchical approach and application. Taking up the zither, a less physically-demanding stringed instrument to the guitar, embarking upon the unprecedented process of incorporating field recordings into his work as early as 1956, and eventually discovering the synthesizer, Hood's music became imbued with optimism and subtle cultural critique. This ethos and technique - refined over the coming decades - would lay the groundwork for a sprawling body of radio work, mail order recordings for homebound listeners, and Neighborhoods , self- issued as a small vinyl edition in 1975. Where Neighborhoods , a nostalgic opus, drawing from a well of collective memory of the 1950s, is defined by traces of human activity, Back to the Woodlands leaves the modern world behind, delving into Hood's love for nature. Only recently discovered in his archives, the album dramatically expands his concept of "musical cinematography," imagistically triggering states of sensory memory from within its zither and synthesizer melodies, intertwined with field recordings made during Hood's extensive travels throughout Oregon. If Neighborhoods is a retreat into the gauzy joys of a romanticized past, Back to the Woodlands is an immersion in the timeless sanctuary of the natural world. A fascinating counterpoint to its predecessor, Back to the Woodlands brings us even closer to Hood's belief in the transportive qualities of sound; that field recordings could serve as a vehicle for the imagination and liberation, particularly for those with similar mobile disabilities as his own. Across the album's twelve compositions, the rippling instrumental harmonics - shifting between abstraction and playful melody - fold so seamlessly into the birdsong, bubbling brooks, and other environmental ambiences, that they often give the impression of having been recording within the landscapes toward which they whisper. Falling somewhere between the immersive calm of healing music and New Age, the creative field recording practices of sound ecologists world building for Folkways, and the jazz infected ambiences during Obscure / Editions EG's highest heights, Back to the Woodlands sculpts an singular proximity of music for its moment; a form of ambient sonic realism that draws the consciousness toward its surroundings as much as within. Working closely with his estate to maintain his original vision, Freedom to Spend has restored and remastered this never before released, lost masterpiece by Ernest Hood from the original tapes. Ernest Hood's Back to the Woodlands will be issued on vinyl, as well as on CD in combination with its contemporary Where the Woods Begin , with new liner notes by Michael Klausman . On behalf of Ernest Hood and Freedom To Spend, a portion of the proceeds from this release will benefit Oregon Wild, an organization dedicated to protecting and restoring Oregon's wildlands, wildlife, and waters as an enduring legacy for future generations.

Written and recorded between 1972 and 1982 in Western Oregon, Back to the Woodlands is a previously unreleased, and nearly lost, album made by Ernest Hood during the same era as his near mythical album Neighborhoods. A visionary combination of field recordings, zithers, and synthesizers, Back to the Woodlands offers an unprecedented depth of access to this singular artistic mind.

Born into a musical family, Ernest Hood began a promising career as a jazz guitarist during the 1940s, touring internationally with his brother Bill Hood and the saxophonist Charlie Barnet, before contracting polio in his late twenties. The disease left Ernest unable to play the guitar and confined him to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. It also forced him to adapt and innovate around his musical practices in the face of adversity; Hood’s value of sound matured with a remarkably democratic and nonhierarchical approach and application.

Taking up the zither, a less physically-demanding stringed instrument to the guitar, embarking upon the unprecedented process of incorporating field recordings into his work as early as 1956, and eventually discovering the synthesizer, Hood’s music became imbued with optimism and subtle cultural critique. This ethos and technique - refined over the coming decades - would lay the groundwork for a sprawling body of radio work, mail order recordings for homebound listeners, and Neighborhoods, self-issued as a small vinyl edition in 1975.

Where Neighborhoods, a nostalgic opus, drawing from a well of collective memory of the 1950s, is defined by traces of human activity, Back to the Woodlands leaves the modern world behind, delving into Hood’s love for nature. Only recently discovered in his archives, the album dramatically expands his concept of “musical cinematography,” imagistically triggering states of sensory memory from within its zither and synthesizer melodies, intertwined with field recordings made during Hood’s extensive travels throughout Oregon. If Neighborhoods is a retreat into the gauzy joys of a romanticized past, Back to the Woodlands is an immersion in the timeless sanctuary of the natural world.

Debut LP from Poster Paints, feat. members of Frightened Rabbit and CHVRCHES.

Gatefold Vinyl reissue of KS's Vitreous Humor's long out of print debut 10" - Fully remastered by original engineer Bob Weston and now featuring an additional studio track from the sessions as well as a bonus full live set performed at Chicago's Fireside Bowl - Peak Vitreous Humor!

Patsy Cline meets Lana Del Ray with King Khan in the passenger seat. Debut full-length from Simich is timeless and sparse country tinged folk pop Produced by the ever evolving King Khan.

One of the two new 7" from All Nations Records coming early 2022 is a rework of a legendary tune that all reggae fans know. “I Know Myself” from Ernest Wilson has been a regular play by all champion sounds from Sir Cosxone to Jah Shaka and alikes since late 70’s. Never would be the intention to do better, but All Nations Records likes to do his thing a little bit different, so Simon Nyabinghi has rebuilt the tune entirely in his studio in 2022 style.
With a clever recipe of carefully picked sounds and a grooving way of playing, it has the original vibes with a bouncing twist that should suit to all original fans and beyond. All in all, a great humble tribute to a legendary artist sadly gone to zion earlier in 2021. 

Reissue of one-off 2003 project by Doug Martsch (Built to Spill), featuring Ned Evett, Ian Waters, and John Mullin Includes covers of David Bowie, Captain Beefheart, The Pretenders and more

Cut Ups was produced by the band and Geoff Sanoff (Nada Surf, Luna, Jets To Brazil) at Renegade Nation Studio in New York City with additional recording done by the band at their Brooklyn practice space and homes. This is an album for listeners who don't seek authenticity, but intuitively know it when they hear it; for people who are interested in language and sound. This is not lifestyle marketing. This is not going to cover your bald spot or shrink your waistband. This is not this year's model. Or last year's model dressed up as tomorrow's hope. This is the sound of four adult men in Brooklyn, New York, sharing their world as they see it. They are not afraid to write about politics or personal failings. They are not afraid to celebrate love. Or yearn for a better world. They may be cut up, but they are here to stay. For those who need references, the band suggests Neu!, The Gun Club, Agent Orange, The Fall, Magazine, Love, Mission of Burma, Gang of Four, The Byrds, Television and dub music, spy movie soundtracks, international folk music, free jazz, spoken word, comedy, food, travel, books, and just trying to sustain humanity in an increasingly hostile world.

Emotional Rescue and HMV Record Shop (Japan) team up to present six limited edition 7"s of DISCO REGGAE LOVERS music. Featuring Sugar Minnott, Dambala, One Blood, 101 Band, Red Cloud and here to start, for the first time ever as a single, Ernest Ranglin's, cover of The Dramatics R&B classic, In The Rain.

A defining guitarist and composer in the development of Jamaican music, Ranglin's career spanned mento to reggae, playing on the groundbreaking recording of My Boy Lollipop itself, before going on to work with the likes of the Skatalies, Jimmy Cliff and Bob Marley.

Moving to Florida in 1982, he teamed up with Noel Williams to mix the bass heavy sound the producer was famous for with Ranglin's unique playing. Featuring a who's who of the Miami scene including Bobby Caldwell, Timmy Thomas, Betty Wright and Williams himself, In The Rain continued the link between R&B and reggae to sweet perfection.

To accompany, for half this series, a modern producer offers their own remix. Here Nik Weston, DJ, promoter and owner of the respected Mukatsuku label, releasing afro, jazz dance and more and with a long standing association with Japan, presents here an instrumental dub - letting the groove roll and Ranglin's ubiquitous playing to shine."

1st time ever on vinyl! Reissue of the long out of print first and final 1998 LP from influential Topeka, KS emo/indie/post-hardcore pioneers Vitreous Humor. Remastered by Bob Weston. Includes rarities not featured on the original release!

Australian label Ernest’s Way is back with their follow up to last year's debut.

Featherstone makes a return with his Tunnel Vision EP, a 4 track release that explores some of the early musical influences that shaped his sound.
Expect chopped up drum breaks, melodic acid lines, swelling JX pads and a few sneaky vocal cuts.

The Martha’s Vineyard Ferries - ‘Suns Out Guns Out’ Over the course of two prior releases — 2010’s ‘In The Pond’ (Sickroom) and 2013’s ‘Mass Grave’ (Kiam) — The Martha’s Vineyard Ferries quietly carved out a high-IQ corner of the U.S. rock underground reserved for taut, deathly catchy songs that showcased deft (if get-to-the-point) instrumentation. That the band have been kinda/sorta under the collective radar has more to do with their being otherwise occupied (more on that in a minute) than a lack of artistic ambition; they’ve slayed before and after a long break, they’re back to slay again. So you’re wondering, what could possibly take precedence in real life terms over playing in a band this awesome? Much as I hate to compare and contrast, part of the dilemma is that the principals of The Martha’s Vineyard Ferries — commonly referred to by their fans as “the Fuckin’ Ferries”, “The Martha’s Vineyard Ferries” by everyone else --- are in too many awesome bands already. Guitarist/vocalist Elisha Wiesner has previously set the world on fire with the Massachusetts sextet Kahoots and earlier this year released a 63 song (!) digital masterclass in songwriting under the John Pancake nom de plume. Drummer/vocalist Chris Brokaw has previously pounded on things for heavyweights including but not limited to Codeine, The New Year and Obnox, though there’s a fair chance you’ve also heard his guitar/vocal performances, both solo and with Come (as well as an impossibly long list of contributions to the likes of The Lemonheads, Dirtmusic, Thurston Moore, Consonant and more). Bassist/vocalist Bob Weston is internationally renowned for his sternum-crushing work on behalf of Shellac, Volcano Suns and sound manipulation tactics for Mission Of Burma (I’ve not heard any of the above, but I’m told they’re all “ok, if you’re into that sort of thing”) Add to this workload the tiny matter of the 3 players having spent most of the last 7 years living in 3 different time zones, it’s nothing short of a miracle the 3rd and finest Martha’s Vineyard Ferries album could pass for the sustained effort of 3 men who’ve been locked up together all this time, writing and recording a powerful statement to rival anything in their collective catalogs (I’m thinking of a scenario kind of like “The Lighthouse”, except there’s 3 men instead of two and there’s more guitars than birds, but maybe the occasional bird, as you tend to get a few of them near the water).

New imprint Ernest’s Way delivers its first offering with a debut release from Australian based artist Featherstone! The A-Side of this four-track EP offers two highly effective dancefloor cuts that ride the line between many diverse influences of electronic music ranging from acidic electro to the early roots of techno.
The B-Side follows up with two deeper, heavily emotive tracks that drift into an uplifting, euphoric and dreamy atmosphere whilst remaining complimentary to the driving rhythms that open the EP.

Soul Jazz Records' are releasing their long-out-of-print album 'Hustle! Reggae Disco' in a new expanded 2017 edition which now features five extra tracks. This ground-breaking album features non-stop killer reggae versions of original funk and soul classics in a disco style. Reggae disco updates of seminal classics by Anita Ward ('Ring
My Bell'), Chaka Khan ('I'm Every Woman'), Michael Jackson 'Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough,' Sugarhill Gang ('Rappers Delight' here performed by Derrick Laro and Trinity for producer Joe Gibbs) and more, all showing the hidden but inseparable link between the dance floors of New York, Kingston and London.

New bonus tracks to this collection include Derrick Harriott's funky take on Eddie Drennon's 'Do It Nice and Easy', the classic disco reggae of Risco Connection's take on McFadden and Whitehead's 'Ain't No Stopping Us Now' and the London rare groove lovers rock take on Barbara Acklin's soul classic 'Am I The Same Girl'.
'Hustle! Reggae Disco' has been one of Soul Jazz Records' best-selling releases since its first release 15 years ago (and subsequently featured heavily in the early Grand Theft Auto games!). This new edition comes complete fully re-mastered and with all original titles plus new tracks. This new expanded edition now comes a triple album (+ download code), CD and digital album.

'The effect of American R&B and soul music on Jamaican reggae is well documented, but the story doesn't stop there, for disco (and more so now for rap and hip-hop) have also been subsumed into the reggae mix, and while one might suspect that the resulting hybrid would die of its own implausibility, the feral mix of disco with reggae rhythms is so darn infectious that it hardly matters. Once you take your brain out of the frame and just let your feet go, this collection is a dancer's delight all done up in full-blown disco style, but with huge dub-style rhythm tracks ... if you're looking for an impossibly infectious dance collection, this is
it.' All Music

Studio One Freedom Sounds Is The New Collection From Soul Jazz/studio One Focussing On The Intense Period In The Second Half Of The 1960s When Studio One's Vast And Unbeatable Output Of Ska, Soul, Rock Steady And Reggae Made It Literally One Of The Hottest Musical Empires In The World.
During This Highly Successful Period, Clement 'sir Coxsone' Dodd Released Hundreds And Hundreds Of Superlative Singles Seemingly On An Almost Daily Basis, In The Process Making Huge Stars Out Of Jamaican Singers Such As Alton Ellis, Delroy Wilson, The Wailers, Slim Smith, Jackie Opel And Many More.
Powered By The Finest In-house Musicians Working In Jamaica, Whether It Was The Skatalites, Jackie Mittoo's Soul Brothers, The Sounds Dimension Or The Soul Vendors, Studio One Functioned As Hit Factory On The Scale Of Motown In The Usa, Shaping And Defining Reggae Music For Decades To Come.
Singlehandedly Studio One's Founder Clement Dodd Was Able To Create The Most Successful Vertically-integrated Record Company That Jamaica Had Ever Known With Pressing Plant, Printers, Studio, Shops, And Sound Systems All Running At Once, With Over 50 Employees And Hundreds Of Artists Working With Studio One During This Time.
Studio One Freedom Sounds Tells The Story Of Studio One In The 1960s With A Stunning Set Of Ska, Soul, Rock Steady And Reggae Killer Tunes As Well As Informative Sleevenotes And Track-by-track Info By Noel Hawks. The Album Is Released As Heavyweight Double Vinyl (+ Free Download Code), Deluxe Cd And Digital Album.

It Was A Musical Cocktail Born In A Marketing Meeting: Two Parts Easy Listening, One Part Jazz, A Healthy Dollop Of Conga Drums, A Sprinkling Of Bird Calls, And A Pinch Of Textless Choir. Serve Garnished With An Alluring Female On The Album Jacket For Best Results. Exotica! The Soundtrack For A Mythical Air Conditioned Eden, Packaged For Mid-century, Tiki Torch-wielding Armchair Safariers. Be It Mosquito-bitten Torch Singers, Landlocked Surf Quartets, Fad-chasing Jazz Combos, Mad Genius Band Leaders, D-list Actors, Or A Middle Aged Loner Programming Bird Calls Into A Hammond, Exotica Was Always More Concerned With What Geography Might Sound Like Over Who Was Conducting. Captured Across Three Albums Are 48 (54 On The Cd) Curious Examples Of The Short-lived Genre's Reach, Each Summoning Their Own Sonic Visions Of Shangri La, Bringing Their Versions Of The Pacific, Africa, And The Orient To The Hinterlands Of America. Technicolor Paradise Is Where One Makes It, After All.

Various Artists - Technicolour Paradise: Rhum Rhapsodies & Others Exotic Delights

This Is The Second Installment Of Deep Roots Rastafarian Reggae At Studio One And Features Classic Music From Some Of The Most Important Figures In Reggae Music - Alton Ellis, The Heptones, Jackie Mittoo, The Gladiators - Alongside A Host Of Rarities And Little-known Recordings, Such As A Truly Rare Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari Seven-inch Single, Willie William's First Ever Recording 'calling' And Horace Andy's Righteous (and Equally Rare) Masterpiece 'illiteracy. Black Man's Pride 2 Extends The Legacy Of Studio One's Ground-breaking Path In Roots Reggae Which Began At The End Of The 1960s And Continued Throughout The 1970s. The Album Tells The Story Of How The Rise Of Studio One Records And The Rastafari Movement Were Interconnected, Through The Adoption Of The Rastafari Faith By Key Reggae Artists - Everyone From The Skatalites And Wailers In The 1960s, Major Singers Such As Alton Ellis And Horace Andy At The End Of The Decade, Through To Major Roots Artists Such As The Gladiators In The 1970s - And How Clement Dodd Consistently Recorded This Heavyweight Roots Music Throughout Studio One's History.
The Sleeve-notes To This Album Also Discuss The Links Between Rastafari And Studio One In Time And Place, Noting How Both The Religion And Clement Dodd's Musical Empire Had Their Roots In The Intense Period Of Pre-independence Jamaica In Kingston, Expanded In The 1960s Following The Visit Of Haile Selassie In 1966, And How Roots Music Then Came To Dominate Reggae Music In The Early 1970s. Also Discussed Is How The Outsider Stance Of Both Reggae Music And The Rastafari Movement Relate Back Many Hundreds Of Years To The Original Rebel Stance Of The Maroons, Escaped Slaves Who Set Up Self-sufficient Enclaves In The Hills Of The Jamaican Countryside.

Ska & rocksteady from the greatest names in reggae.

The creative bond between Atjazz and Fred Everything is a story decades in the making. It began in 1998 at The Bomb in Nottingham during a DiY label night—a label through which they both released music. That first encounter sparked a lasting friendship and a steady exchange of ideas that would continue for many years. While they collaborated regularly and remixed each other’s work, it wasn’t until the summer of 2022 that they committed to making a full-length album.

The project took shape during an 8-day stay at Martin’s (Atjazz) home in the Midlands of England, where they set themselves the challenge of writing one track per day. Their shared musical language allowed ideas to move quickly, with some tracks forming in under an hour. Over the next three years, the material was carefully developed alongside their respective album projects: Atjazz’s Starbase 17, Fred Everything’s JUNO Nominated Love, Care, Kindness & Hope, and All Is Well’s A Break In Time.

A final session in Montreal in 2024, coinciding with Fred’s 50th birthday, brought the album into focus. From there, the duo invited a select group of world-class collaborators, including Jorge Bezerra (The Joe Zawinul Syndicate / St Germain), Octavio N. Santos (SiR, Lupe Fiasco), Clyde Beats, Ernesto & The Basement Gospel, and Dominique Fils-Aimé.

The result is a personal, well-constructed record that draws on the spirit of 90s deep house while applying three decades of experience to a deeply rooted, forward-thinking sound. It is a sonic testament that honours their mutual love of synthesizers, beat making, and sound design.

It is a project that took 8 days to start, 3 years to finish, and 30 years to perfect.

2026 Repress

Deadbeat & Tikiman's occasional collaborative performances have since blown the minds of many audiences

Deadbeat. Tikiman. Infinity. Dub. A quadrangle of such obvious statement and perfect musical inference may very well never have been uttered for those of the wholly weeded out persuasion. Indeed, when the great book of Dub music is written the names Scott Monteith and Paul St Hilaire will undoubtedly figure highly in its chapters devoted to recent years. Monteith, the last great prodigal son of the doctrine handed down from the Blue Mount of Lord Scratch and King Tubby, St Hilaire the undisputed voice of a generation, those fanatical warrior monks, followers of the most Holy House of Ernestus and Von Oswald incarnate.

Having developed a fast friendship from their very first meeting in Montreal at the premier Micro Mutek event a decade ago, Deadbeat and Tikiman's occasional collaborative performances have since blown the minds of audiences from Berlin to Tokyo and many points in between. No great surprise then that their first album length venture is a Tour de Force of Dub music of the highest order.

Nearly a year in the making, the genetic code of Deadbeat's Infinity Dubs series gets shot through with a Dreader than Dread Kingstonian logic, hi hats dropping back from the three to the one, Tikiman at his most militant, poetic, fierce, and flowing. These are the recordings of two lions uncaged, and none who bare witness shall escape their fiery judgement.

If music is truly eternal, here be two voices which shall echo in infinity with all the weight, reverence, and dire power unleashed with every tectonic bass hit, and every whimsical turn of phrase. And if these eight burnt offerings are any indication of what happens when these two sit down for a session of smoke and reasoning, here's hoping they choose to do it frequently. Dub without end. Ad Infinitum.

Strut proudly presents the first-ever reissue of a landmark 1974 Ghanaian highlife classic Sikyi Highlife by Dr K. Gyasi & His Noble Kings, originally released on Essiebons.

A defining recording of the era, Sikyi Highlife bridges tradition and innovation at a pivotal moment in Ghanaian music. Deeply rooted in the classic 1950s–’60s highlife sound, K. Gyasi drew inspiration from the ancient sikyi drum-dance of the Akan people of southern Ghana, shaping the album’s rhythms around its distinctive pulse.

The vocal arrangements echo the traditional Akan modal style, grounding the music firmly in Ghana’s cultural heritage. Yet Sikyi Highlife is equally forward-thinking. As electric guitars became standard in highlife during the 1960s, the 1970s ushered in further experimentation. The Noble Kings broke new ground as the first highlife guitar band to incorporate keyboards and a full horn section into their sound, expanding the genre’s sonic possibilities while retaining its rootsy spirit.

Gyasi’s approach was part of a broader indigenisation movement among Ghana’s electric highlife bands in the post-independence era. Inspired by the nation’s ‘African Personality’ ethos and reinforced by Afrocentric messages arriving from American soul and funk, artists began reclaiming traditional forms within modern arrangements. Contemporaries included Koo Nimo, who revived the older palmwine style, and drummer Nii Ashitey, whose Wulomei band pioneered a folklorised Ga highlife sound from 1973.

Like many musicians of his generation, Gyasi was a passionate supporter of Ghana’s independence movement. In 1963, he travelled as a musical ambassador alongside Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, performing across North Africa and the USSR and carrying Ghanaian culture onto the world stage.

The Noble Kings’ mid-’70s line-up featured some of the country’s finest musicians, including guitarist Eric Agyeman (who led the band at the time), Thomas Frimpong on drums and vocals, Ernest Honny on organ, and bassist Ralph Karikari - who was renowned for his innovative technique of translating the rhythms and tonal language of the traditional talking drum onto electric bass.

Upon its original release, Sikyi Highlife became one of the biggest-selling albums of the 1970s for Essiebons, earning Gyasi the affectionate honorary title of “Dr” from his devoted fans. Today, the album remains an evergreen classic, still cherished across Ghana and beyond.

For the first time in more than a decade, Paul St. Hilaire (AKA Tikiman) presents a solo album – 100% Tiki.

Over his 30-plus year career, St. Hilaire has become one of dance music’s quietly legendary figures. Born and raised in Dominica, he moved to Berlin in 1994 and has lent both his voice and his musicianship to some of the most iconic electronic music from the German capital – and beyond. Renowned for his collaborations with Moritz von Oswald and Mark Ernestus (AKA Rhythm & Sound), he has also appeared on records with Deadbeat, Rhauder, Larry Heard aka Mr. Fingers and Stereotyp (G-Stone Recordings), amongst others.

However, few know the extent of St. Hilaire’s compositional and technical mastery. From his home studio in Kreuzberg, which includes an extensive collection of vintage hardware, self-built instruments and notebooks scribbled with endless lyrics, he has created a vast archive of material spanning ambient dub, avant-jazz, lush techno and lovers rock.

Tikiman Vol. 1 is a heady, downtempo tour de force of patois metaphors on education, displacement and personal vs. global histories, as is evident on slippy album opener “Bedroom in My Bag”: Mister, mister / Where are you going? / I’m heading for a faraway land / What are you having in the bag in your hand? / Help us to understand / He said, I’ve got my bedroom in my bag.

Overall, the album’s lyrics reflect on life between Berlin and Dominica, specifically St. Hilaire’s hometown of Grand Bay, where he has worked with various musicians famous for the island’s different genres of carnival music. St. Hilaire himself always favoured the island’s more “discrete” music, developing a sonic synergy between two different geographical strains of groove and minimalism, and combining them with foundational Caribbean mixing techniques, which provide the basis for his songwriting and distinct
baritone.

Tikiman Vol.1 offers a rare insight into St. Hilaire’s complex artistry, from the eyes-down grooves of “Little Way” and the guitar-heavy digi dancehall experiment “Keep Safe,” to the subtle hypnosis of “Ten to One” and the softly crashing synth waves of closer “Three And A Half”, evoking not only beaches but also coasts and borders. It’s a fitting expression of both the breadth of St. Hilaire’s work, as well as his history as one of the few black, Berlin-based artists who, despite remaining largely overlooked, has influenced the city’s electronic music culture since its beginnings.


Credits
Written & Produced by Paul St. Hilaire
Mastered by Stefan Betke
Artwork by Grant Gibson

Kynant Records was founded in 2015 by Richard Akingbehin, a British-Nigerian radio programmer (Refuge Worldwide), music writer and DJ. Originally specialising in deep techno and featuring artists such as Cio D’Or, Terrence Dixon and Donato Dozzy, Kynant has since launched a sub-label Kynant EX which focuses on ambient, dub and experimental electronics.

Atjazz presents his long-awaited 27-track long player "Starbase 17" — an epic odyssey through song and sound, offering a rich tapestry of styles that draws listeners into a wondrous sonic realm where rhythm, harmony, and imagination intertwine.

Taking inspiration from his extensive body of work, Martin "Atjazz" Iveson fuses his signature deep musicality with cutting-edge production to reach new creative heights. This time, he brings an exceptional ensemble of world-renowned collaborators aboard his cosmic vessel, each adding their own distinct brilliance to the voyage

Together, this stellar lineup consisting of Fred Everything, Nathan Haines, Sio, Karizma, LyricL, Peacey, Pete Simpson, OVEOUS, Charles Webster, Kaidi Tatham, Clyde Beats, Natasha Watts, Omar, Max Beesley, Josh Milan, Rona Ray, Osunlade, and Clara Hill joins Atjazz on a journey through sound, space, and emotion — where each track is a world of its own, yet all are united by a shared creative vision and boundless imagination.

In 2025, Off The Grid celebrated 10 years of existence, throwing several events throughout the world.

It's now time to put a seal on these celebrations with a curation of music, gathering old and new faces orbiting the OTG galaxy, divided into two compilations.

For Part 1, deeper and deeper we go, focusing on delicate aesthetics and dubby grooves, trippy sounds and dreamy atmospheres. A soundtrack for early mornings and initial stages of the night.

Off The Grid was born around this sound and this is a tribute to it.

Part 2 will be announced in Spring.

Stay tuned!

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Mastering & Lacquer Cut by Marco Pellegrino at Analogcut Mastering Studio Berlin
Graphic Design by Guillaume De Ubeda
Pressed at Mother Tongue in Verona

Legendary dub techno artist Paul St. Hilaire (AKA Tikiman) announces new collaborative album, marking 10 years of Kynant Records



Building on the success of Paul St. Hilaire’s landmark solo album for Richard Akingbehin’s label Kynant in 2023, w/ The Producers switches up the formula to pair St. Hilaire’s with a different producer on each track. Referencing fellow dub techno pioneers Mark Ernestus & Moritz von Oswald’s acclaimed album w/ The Artists as Rhythm & Sound, St. Hilaire flips the concept to feature as the lone vocalist.



Over the album’s nine tracks, St. Hilaire offers a range of conscious song-writing and headtop musings, such as the spoken-word dread of “What’s This” or the sparse call-to-action of “Send Them On”. The record weaves through all shades of contemporary dub evolutions, showing the vocal range and versatility of St. Hilaire. w/ The Producers is yet another essential record in St. Hilaire’s unmatched discography.



The producers were curated by label owner and DJ Richard Akingbehin to give the new album a future-facing feel and mark 10 years of Kynant Records. Akingbehin sourced beats from luminaries such as Digital Mystikz boss and dubstep trailblazer Mala or elusive Chain Reaction artist Shinichi Atobe. They sit alongside some of the most exciting names in recent electronic music - Batu, Gavsborg, Azu Tiwaline, Priori, Cousin, Russell E.L. Butler, Aurora Halal and DJ G - all of whom bring different elements of dub techno into their productions.



w/ The Producers finds Kynant Records bridging the original voice of dub techno with the genre’s new wave. It’s a statement of intent from the label, which began 10 years ago with deep, hypnotic techno and has veered gradually towards more dubwise sounds

Plastik People - no, not the legendary London venue that was host to dubstep's formative FWD>> parties - a garage label run out of Albuquerque, New Mexico with some seriously authentic roots. This new one kicks off with a raw, bumping Jovonn Project Boyz mix of a vocal house gem that overflows with dusty and soulful vibes. Straight & Shuffle offer the equally timeless 'Love', complete with twinkling synths, golden chords and nice undercooked grooves. The flip features Wayne Hunter's perfect US garage vibes as he flips 'Keep On Pushin'' and last of all is the super silky and speedy house of Baeka's 'All I Need.' These tunes are the very definition of oldies but goldies.

2025 Repress

The mighty Falsetto voice of Mr Cornell Campbell is another we believe, unsung hero of the Jamaican music scene. Who in our opinion should have broke through to a wider audience, than his cult status currently provides. We have unearthed straight from the master tapes an album that was due for release around the mid 70’s. A few of these cuts, found their way out on limited 7”s, that were mainly for the domestic Jamaican market. But as a complete body of work, never found a release until now. We hope like us, once you have played the tracks, you will feel that this set of cuts, stands up amongst Cornell’s finest work. Cornell Campbell (born 1948, Jamaica), made his first recordings in the early 1960’s for Coxone Dodd at Studio 1. Tracks like ‘Under the Old Oak Tree’, ‘My Treasure’ and later as a duo with Roy Patton ‘Salvation’ and ‘Sweetest Girl’, were local hits on the Jamaican Sound Systems. A short spell with the Uniques was followed by his roll as lead vocalist with the Eternals, under the monicker of Don Cornell. Their finest moment being the classic ‘Stars / Queen of the Minstrels’ cuts which still stand up today as some of Jamaica’s finest.

The 1970’s saw Mr Campbell move on to work with producer Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee, for whom he cut most

of his big tunes. He and fellow singer Johnny Clarke, would become Bunny’s 70’s equivalent to his 1960’s stable of singers like Slim Smith, Pat Kelly and Ernest Wilson. They would provide the voice to his many hits of the day. Bunny not being called ‘Striker’ for nothing. Cornell also had a series of hits around his theme as the ‘Gorgon’. The mighty figure unbeatable at the dances in the Greenwich Town district of Kingston. ‘The Gorgon’, ‘The Conquering Gorgon’. ‘Natty Dread in a Greenwich Farm’. These were all firm favourites at the dances in Jamaica. He also worked with other notable producers around this time. Winston ‘Niney’ Holness “I Heart is Clean’, Tappa Zukie ‘Follow Instruction’

and culminating in a massive hit ‘Boxing’ in 1979 for producer Joe Gibbs. But it was his time with Bunny Lee that set the levels for his record output. This unreleased album is from this period in time, when Cornell Campbell never sounded sweeter......

From the soulful underground of Argentina comes a new chapter on Abuelo Negro Limited, the Taylor Fass EP. A beautifully crafted release that bridges emotion, groove, and timeless aesthetics. Each track unfolds with subtle depth: warm pads, dusty percussion, hypnotic basslines, and that unmistakable deep-house pulse that feels both classic and fresh. It’s music for intimate dancefloors and late-night reflection, the kind of sound that connects body and soul without ever forcing attention. Taylor Fass EP embodies the label’s spirit, raw yet refined, deeply human and full of feeling. The stunning artwork completes the vision, reflecting the warmth, nostalgia, and understated elegance of the music itself. A heartfelt release from Buenos Aires to the world, for those who still believe that house music is more than rhythm, it’s emotion.

Hard Times welcomes back Alex Arnout and his BLACK LOGIC project, following their recent ‘Pull Up’ EP with a second installment of new music from collective - The Illusions EP.

Hailing from West Yorkshire, Arnout spent his formative years on the Hard Times dancefloors, absorbing the beats and vibes that would later shape his own productions. His journey with the label reignited when he was invited to remix Michael Watford’s classic 'Love Change Over' and Steve Silk Hurley’s fresh hit 'All I Need'. Now, he returns with something truly special.

“Black Logic was born out of the pandemic,” says Arnout. “I wanted to move away from drum machines and synths, getting back to sampling jazz and the deep house sounds of the ‘90s - taking inspiration from artists like Bugs in the Attic, Jazzanova, and Ernest Saint Laurent.”

What began as a solo project soon evolved into a collective effort. Bassist and guitarist Alan Riggs, a former member of Delta 5, joined the sessions, bringing warmth and groove to the productions. Vocalists Tempo O’Neil, Anthony Beckford, Mariana Orsho, and Sophie Barker added their distinct voices, completing the vision

Across four tracks, The Illusions EP pulls us deeper into Black Logic’s rich, live-wired universe. The title track pairs Tempo O’Neil’s vocal with a grooving, low-slung bassline, whilst “Dusty” drifts in on brushed snares and ghostly Rhodes, its saxophone lines curling through the mix like smoke. “Chasing Daze,” analog synth shimmer and Tempo’s velvet tones, is a track suspended between head-nod groove and astral lift.

The curtain falls with “Disco Down,” a jubilant ensemble of Hammond organ, flute, guitar, bongos, and horns locking into joyous conversation.

Hard Times proudly welcomes a new release from an artist deeply connected to the label’s storied past. Alex Arnout presents BLACK LOGIC with their debut EP, ‘Pull Up’, a project born from passion, collaboration, and a return to House music's soulful roots

Hailing from West Yorkshire, Arnout spent his formative years on the Hard Times dancefloors, absorbing the beats and vibes that would later shape his own productions. His journey with the label reignited when he was invited to remix Michael Watford’s classic 'Love Change Over' and Steve Silk Hurley’s fresh hit 'All I Need'. Now, he returns with something truly special

“Black Logic was born out of the pandemic,” says Arnout. “I wanted to move away from drum machines and synths, getting back to sampling jazz and the deep house sounds of the ‘90s - taking inspiration from artists like Bugs in the Attic, Jazzanova, and Ernest Saint Laurent.

What began as a solo project soon evolved into a collective effort. Bassist and guitarist Alan Riggs, a former member of Delta 5, joined the sessions, bringing warmth and groove to the productions. Vocalists Tempo O’Neil, Anthony Beckford, Mariana Orsho, and Sophie Barker added their distinct voices, completing the vision.

The ‘Pull Up’ EP is the first of a debut double-header from Black Logic, delivering five stunning tracks that blend jazzy keys, deep grooves, and rich, soulful vocals. From the warm basslines to the celestial closing moments, this EP is a statement of intent - a wonderfully fresh, yet nostalgic take on deep house from a collective of masterful musicians.

Introducing Ernesto: a new project by Gnork. From Euro to Italo, from earworms to theatrical drops. An eclectic journey of musical self indulgement - 100% pleasure, 0% shame.

Here is a true delight for all ballet fans and music-lovers. This recording of what is probably Tchaikovsky’s most popular ballet, Swan Lake, by Ernest Ansermet and his orchestra in a masterly performance is now available as a new pressing in vinyl. The Russian composer’s first ballet is offered here on a double LP and although not a complete recording, this compilation (with a minimum of cuts) certainly comprises the most beautiful and expressive scenes, losing nothing in the process. “Ballet specialist“ Ansermet and his wonderfully balanced Orchestre de la Suisse Romande offer here a recording which you’ll want to hear again and again for it captures both the tragic moments of the fairy tale and the festive dance scenes. The precise winds in, for example No. 4, provide a marked contrast to the lively and exciting tutti (No. 5), while the gentle woodwinds blend charmingly with the dreamlike cantilena of the strings (No. 11). The various characteristics of the festive national dances (Polkas, Mazurkas, Hungarian Dance etc.) are performed with temperament, verve and rhythm, but it is the waltzes with their sweet dreaminess which invite the listener most of all to put on their dancing shoes and join in the dance.

Here is a true delight for all ballet fans and music-lovers. This recording of what is probably Tchaikovsky’s most popular ballet, Swan Lake, by Ernest Ansermet and his orchestra in a masterly performance is now available as a new pressing in vinyl. The Russian composer’s first ballet is offered here on a double LP and although not a complete recording, this compilation (with a minimum of cuts) certainly comprises the most beautiful and expressive scenes, losing nothing in the process. “Ballet specialist“ Ansermet and his wonderfully balanced Orchestre de la Suisse Romande offer here a recording which you’ll want to hear again and again for it captures both the tragic moments of the fairy tale and the festive dance scenes. The precise winds in, for example No. 4, provide a marked contrast to the lively and exciting tutti (No. 5), while the gentle woodwinds blend charmingly with the dreamlike cantilena of the strings (No. 11). The various characteristics of the festive national dances (Polkas, Mazurkas, Hungarian Dance etc.) are performed with temperament, verve and rhythm, but it is the waltzes with their sweet dreaminess which invite the listener most of all to put on their dancing shoes and join in the dance.

The 1973 album “El Violento” was the fifth full-length salsa LP led by Julio Ernesto Estrada Rincón, aka Fruko, and the second credited to Fruko Y Sus Tesos. Though it did not contain hits like ‘A la memoria del muerto’ or ‘El Preso’, it’s a collector’s item today in places like the US, Europe and Japan, perhaps precisely because it is obscure yet full to the brim with unrelentingly hard and heavy salsa bangers that never let up from start to finish (hence the title, which translates as “The Violent One”). A mix of originals and interesting covers, the LP is “all killer and no filler”, purposely designed to set the dance floor ablaze. It features Fruko’s two main vocalists that took over from the first pair of Humberto “Huango” Muriel and “Píper Pimienta” Díaz, namely the beloved duo of Álvaro “Joe” Arroyo and Wilson “Saoko” Manyoma. Los Tesos were a talented “wild bunch” who listened to their fearless leader, with Fruko holding down the bottom end on electric bass, Hernán Gutiérrez in the piano chair, the Villegas brothers on hand percussion (Jesús tickling the bongos and Fernando slapping the congas), augmented by Rafael Benítez on timbales and an ace horn section of Freddy Ferrer and Gonzálo Gómez (trombones) and Jorge Gaviria and Salvador Pasos (trumpets). The super aggressive sound comes directly from the South Bronx playbook of Willie Colón. The snarling trombones and soaring trumpet are somewhat sweetened by a nice little Puerto Rican cuatro guitar solo. Sonically lightening the mood somewhat, ‘Nadando’ (‘Swimming’) is a bouncy tune in the ‘Mercy’ genre (basically a hybrid of pop, funky soul, cumbia and salsa, in the style of Nelson y Sus Estrellas), gleefully sung by Joe Arroyo. The beats are complex and ever changing, with a little bit of mozambique, conga, bomba, jala jala and of course salsa thrown in for good measure. The side closes out with a brilliant, uptempo salsa reworking of the venerable ranchera chestnut, ‘Tú, sólo tú’. Side two explodes with the frenetic descarga jam session ‘Salsa na’ ma’—which is exactly that: nothing more than the hottest “sauce” to make the dancers go crazy. Fruko’s tune is dedicated to the Latin community in New York that listens to salsa from everywhere and dances to it so fervently on the weekend. The relentless percussion propels the listener along at breakneck speed as if hurtling down the Bronx Expressway, demonstrating that Fruko y Sus Tesos have mastered the ‘violent’ form of urban salsa that was having its transnational moment in the early 1970s. While “El Violento” may not be as well known as some Fruko records, it certainly deserves a new look and should be assessed on its own merits as a very powerful, confident entry in the historical evolution of Colombian salsa dura.Sleeve

2023 REPRESS

Two dub edits "Bad" and "Badder" deconstructed from the track "Badman" with DRS, from legendary Mark Ernestus and exclusively released via his Hardwax Record store on 29th January and via Bandcamp on Feb 12th. "Getting to work with Mark Ernestus is a real honour, I collected his and Maurizio Von Oswald's work for many years and still do," he remarks. "It's hard to avoid the influence of these guys in electronic music across genres and so it is a real pleasure to have Mark do his thing with the Badman tune which I think sounds closely related."

The debut work by Hekura, the duo formed by Ernest Pipó and Edu Pons, both from Barcelona's impro music scene.

The songs in this LP serve as a voyage that evokes daydreams inspired by the everyday. Daydreams that change in surprising ways, as if they were old slides reflecting long-forgotten objects that once carried significance.

Everything begins with "the single petal of a rose" by D. Ellington in a choral rendition that emulates a dialogue between wind instruments, from which fantasy and memories flourish, starting with the ethereal "vane" and the dampness of "frogs". The first stage comes to an intense climax with a gripping gathering in the desert in "runes".

"Mound" takes us on a beautiful descent into the darkest depths of "calf", from which we emerge with life, but tinged with nostalgia in "wine". The book's cover is sealed with a guitar epilogue, where once again, "the single petal of a rose" brings the journey full circle.
This work was recorded by Uriel Ireland at Can Donzella (Sils, Girona) and mixed and mastered by Ferrán Conangle.

Jeder Künstler muss seine eigene Stimme finden. Gia Margaret fand sich selbst erst, als sie ihre Stimme verlor. Aufgrund einer Stimmbandverletzung, die sie jahrelang am Singen hinderte, entwickelte sie andere musikalische Ausdrucksformen und meisterte die Grammatik einer komplexen, heimeligen Form der Ambient-Musik, die von Ernest Hood begründet und von The Books perfektioniert wurde. Angeführt von sanften Klaviermelodien, die wie Atem auf Glas hauchen, jetzt, da ihre physische Stimme geheilt und ihre künstlerische Stimme geschliffen ist, schließt sich der Kreis mit Singing, ihrem ersten Gesangsalbum seit There's Always Glimmer aus dem Jahr 2018. Die Musik auf Singing zeugt von derselben Sensibilität für Details, die sie in ihrer Stille entwickelt hat. ,Es gab eine Zeit, in der ich wirklich nicht wusste, ob ich jemals wieder singen würde. Als ich dann geheilt war, stand ich unter großem innerem Druck, stark zurückzukommen", sagt Margaret. ,Ich wusste nicht mehr, wer ich war. Es fühlte sich an, als würde ich neu anfangen und mich wieder mit diesen sehr alten, alten Teilen meiner selbst verbinden." Dieses Gefühl der Vermischung von Entfremdung und Wiederentdeckung ist auf dem gesamten Album spürbar. Im Opener ,Everyone Around Me Dancing" beobachtet sie eine Party von den Seitenlinien aus und ist sich bewusst, wie ihr Körper sie von gemeinschaftlicher Freude abhält, ihr aber gleichzeitig neue Wege der Selbsterkenntnis eröffnet. Ausgeschlossen von der Szene ist sie ,näher am Boden, am Planeten". In ,Alive Inside" ist sie so weit entfernt von der Quelle, dass sie zu jedem betet, der sie hören könnte (,ein Gott, ein verstorbener Freund, ein Geist"). Wenn ihre Stimme anschwillt, scheint sie in einem Netz aus Verzerrungen gefangen zu sein; es ist, als würde sie in ihrem Streben die Grenzen des Sagbaren ausloten. Der Entstehungsprozess von ,Singing" war ein Prozess des Lernens, jedem dieser Gefühle zu vertrauen. Das Album wurde teilweise in London mit Guy Sigsworth von Frou Frou aufgenommen, der Margaret dabei half, die Vielzahl ihrer Ideen für ,Good Friend" zu vereinen, einem Highlight des Albums, das unter anderem gregorianische Gesänge von ILA und Turntable-Scratches enthält . David Bazan und Amy Millan sind ebenfalls zu hören, ebenso wie Kurt Vile und Sean Carey, während Margarets langjähriger Kollaborateur Doug Saltzman einen Großteil des Albums spielt und co-produziert. Deb Talan, ehemals Mitglied von The Weepies, steuert ihre Stimme, ihr Klavier und ihre Gitarre zum abschließenden und definitiven Statement des Albums ,E-Motion" bei. Gia Margaret singt stets. Jede Note dieses Albums singt ein warmes Requiem für ihr vergangenes Ich; jede Ebene singt ihr zukünftiges Ich ins Leben. Auf dem gesamten Album wendet sie die Lektionen der Sprachlosigkeit an - die quasi-rationalen Wege, auf denen wir kommunizieren, ohne zu kommunizieren, die Art und Weise, wie formlose Klänge wie ein Skalpell zum Kern der Dinge vordringen können - auf ihre eigene künstlerische Stimme.

Jeder Künstler muss seine eigene Stimme finden. Gia Margaret fand sich selbst erst, als sie ihre Stimme verlor. Aufgrund einer Stimmbandverletzung, die sie jahrelang am Singen hinderte, entwickelte sie andere musikalische Ausdrucksformen und meisterte die Grammatik einer komplexen, heimeligen Form der Ambient-Musik, die von Ernest Hood begründet und von The Books perfektioniert wurde. Angeführt von sanften Klaviermelodien, die wie Atem auf Glas hauchen, jetzt, da ihre physische Stimme geheilt und ihre künstlerische Stimme geschliffen ist, schließt sich der Kreis mit Singing, ihrem ersten Gesangsalbum seit There's Always Glimmer aus dem Jahr 2018. Die Musik auf Singing zeugt von derselben Sensibilität für Details, die sie in ihrer Stille entwickelt hat. ,Es gab eine Zeit, in der ich wirklich nicht wusste, ob ich jemals wieder singen würde. Als ich dann geheilt war, stand ich unter großem innerem Druck, stark zurückzukommen", sagt Margaret. ,Ich wusste nicht mehr, wer ich war. Es fühlte sich an, als würde ich neu anfangen und mich wieder mit diesen sehr alten, alten Teilen meiner selbst verbinden." Dieses Gefühl der Vermischung von Entfremdung und Wiederentdeckung ist auf dem gesamten Album spürbar. Im Opener ,Everyone Around Me Dancing" beobachtet sie eine Party von den Seitenlinien aus und ist sich bewusst, wie ihr Körper sie von gemeinschaftlicher Freude abhält, ihr aber gleichzeitig neue Wege der Selbsterkenntnis eröffnet. Ausgeschlossen von der Szene ist sie ,näher am Boden, am Planeten". In ,Alive Inside" ist sie so weit entfernt von der Quelle, dass sie zu jedem betet, der sie hören könnte (,ein Gott, ein verstorbener Freund, ein Geist"). Wenn ihre Stimme anschwillt, scheint sie in einem Netz aus Verzerrungen gefangen zu sein; es ist, als würde sie in ihrem Streben die Grenzen des Sagbaren ausloten. Der Entstehungsprozess von ,Singing" war ein Prozess des Lernens, jedem dieser Gefühle zu vertrauen. Das Album wurde teilweise in London mit Guy Sigsworth von Frou Frou aufgenommen, der Margaret dabei half, die Vielzahl ihrer Ideen für ,Good Friend" zu vereinen, einem Highlight des Albums, das unter anderem gregorianische Gesänge von ILA und Turntable-Scratches enthält . David Bazan und Amy Millan sind ebenfalls zu hören, ebenso wie Kurt Vile und Sean Carey, während Margarets langjähriger Kollaborateur Doug Saltzman einen Großteil des Albums spielt und co-produziert. Deb Talan, ehemals Mitglied von The Weepies, steuert ihre Stimme, ihr Klavier und ihre Gitarre zum abschließenden und definitiven Statement des Albums ,E-Motion" bei. Gia Margaret singt stets. Jede Note dieses Albums singt ein warmes Requiem für ihr vergangenes Ich; jede Ebene singt ihr zukünftiges Ich ins Leben. Auf dem gesamten Album wendet sie die Lektionen der Sprachlosigkeit an - die quasi-rationalen Wege, auf denen wir kommunizieren, ohne zu kommunizieren, die Art und Weise, wie formlose Klänge wie ein Skalpell zum Kern der Dinge vordringen können - auf ihre eigene künstlerische Stimme.

2026 Repress

Gaudi’s Jazz Gone Dub is a masterclass in genre fusion, seamlessly blending the improvisational essence of jazz with the heavy atmospheric grooves of dub. Known for his eclectic approach to music production, Gaudi pushes the boundaries yet again, creating a sonic landscape that feels both nostalgic and refreshingly innovative.

Four years in the making, from the opening track it’s clear that Jazz Gone Dub is more than just a mashup of styles—it's a thoughtful exploration of the intersections between two rich musical traditions.

Gaudi’s multi-instrumental talents are on full display, and the presence of reggae royalty is palpable, courtesy of rootsy melodies from David Hinds (Steel Pulse), Jah Wobble’s iconic bass grooves, Ernest Ranglin’s intricate guitar lines and Sly & Robbie’s rhythmic genius. Add Sardinia’s Train to Roots band, Manu Chao collaborator Roy Paci, veteran guitarist Marcus Upbeat, Mr Woodnote and Tim Hutton’s brass work, Gavin Tate-Lovery’s sultry sax and flute, Horseman’s percussive flair plus Colin Edwin and Vlastur’s serious basslines, and the
result is a rhythmic foundation that’s both solid and fluid, allowing the jazz elements to float freely above the dub undercurrents.

Despite this star-studded line-up, Gaudi remains the glue that holds this gem together: his production is meticulous yet organic, allowing each track to breathe and evolve naturally. The use of space, delays and reverb—a hallmark of dub music—is expertly handled, giving the album a dreamy, immersive quality. Tracks like Susceptible and Alabaster Moon showcase Gaudi’s ability to create mood and atmosphere without sacrificing melodic and rhythmic complexity.

In Jazz Gone Dub Gaudi has crafted an album that feels both timeless and forward-thinking, a celebration of musical synergy where the free-spirit of jazz meets the deep resonance of dub. Whether you’re a fan of either genre or simply appreciate masterful musicianship and innovative production, this album is a must-listen.

For the first time in more than a decade, Paul St. Hilaire (AKA Tikiman) presents a solo album – 100% Tiki.

Over his 30-plus year career, St. Hilaire has become one of dance music’s quietly legendary figures. Born and raised in Dominica, he moved to Berlin in 1994 and has lent both his voice and his musicianship to some of the most iconic electronic music from the German capital – and beyond. Renowned for his collaborations with Moritz von Oswald and Mark Ernestus (AKA Rhythm & Sound), he has also appeared on records with Deadbeat, Rhauder, Larry Heard aka Mr. Fingers and Stereotyp (G-Stone Recordings), amongst others.

However, few know the extent of St. Hilaire’s compositional and technical mastery. From his home studio in Kreuzberg, which includes an extensive collection of vintage hardware, self-built instruments and notebooks scribbled with endless lyrics, he has created a vast archive of material spanning ambient dub, avant-jazz, lush techno and lovers rock.

Tikiman Vol. 1 is a heady, downtempo tour de force of patois metaphors on education, displacement and personal vs. global histories, as is evident on slippy album opener “Bedroom in My Bag”: Mister, mister / Where are you going? / I’m heading for a faraway land / What are you having in the bag in your hand? / Help us to understand / He said, I’ve got my bedroom in my bag.

Overall, the album’s lyrics reflect on life between Berlin and Dominica, specifically St. Hilaire’s hometown of Grand Bay, where he has worked with various musicians famous for the island’s different genres of carnival music. St. Hilaire himself always favoured the island’s more “discrete” music, developing a sonic synergy between two different geographical strains of groove and minimalism, and combining them with foundational Caribbean mixing techniques, which provide the basis for his songwriting and distinct
baritone.

Tikiman Vol.1 offers a rare insight into St. Hilaire’s complex artistry, from the eyes-down grooves of “Little Way” and the guitar-heavy digi dancehall experiment “Keep Safe,” to the subtle hypnosis of “Ten to One” and the softly crashing synth waves of closer “Three And A Half”, evoking not only beaches but also coasts and borders. It’s a fitting expression of both the breadth of St. Hilaire’s work, as well as his history as one of the few black, Berlin-based artists who, despite remaining largely overlooked, has influenced the city’s electronic music culture since its beginnings.


Credits
Written & Produced by Paul St. Hilaire
Mastered by Stefan Betke
Artwork by Grant Gibson

Kynant Records was founded in 2015 by Richard Akingbehin, a British-Nigerian radio programmer (Refuge Worldwide), music writer and DJ. Originally specialising in deep techno and featuring artists such as Cio D’Or, Terrence Dixon and Donato Dozzy, Kynant has since launched a sub-label Kynant EX which focuses on ambient, dub and experimental electronics.

Jackie Mittoo, organ and piano maestro, was also one of the founding members of Jamaica's top session band The Skatalites. Musical arranger for Studio One he provided the backbone to so many of Jamaica's finest tunes. The invention of Ska music and the sounds that rode through the Rocksteady and Reggae period all carry his stamp. Whether it be in his various incarnations, the aforementioned Skatalites, The Soul Brothers, Soul Vendors and the Sound Dimension or under his own name, his distinctive organ and piano sound and musical arrangements have all played a major part in Jamaica's musical history.

Jackie Mittoo (born 1948, Kingston, Jamaica) began playing musical instruments at a very early age. Taught piano by his grandmother he was performing live by the age of 10 and recording by the age of 15. Two Kingston bands that he played with the Rivals and the Sheiks brought him to the attention of Studio One's founder Coxsone Dodd. Who at the time was putting a group of musicians together to be his studio band. Impressed by his skills on both the organ and the piano, Jackie was asked to join in what would become Jamaica's foremost band The Skatalites. The fellow band members were Lloyd Brevett (bass), Lloyd Knibbs (drums), Don Drummond (trombone), Tommy McCook, Roland Alphonso and Lester Sterling (Sax), Johnny Moore (trumpet), Jah Jerry (guitar) and Mr Mittoo (piano). This line up ruled the Jamaican scene between 1964 - 1965 as well as inventing the Ska sound, they also performed the backing duties for the other top labels of the time including Duke Reid's Treasure Isle and Justin Yap's Top Deck label.

1965 saw The Skatalites disband and Jackie Mittoo move on to his next musical project The Soul Brothers. Formed with fellow Skatalite Roland Alphonso, this band would back all the hits coming out of Studio One for the next three years with Jackie Mittoo working as band leader and musical arranger. Around this time Jackie also had his own single released, a Ska underground classic called 'Got My Bugaloo'. Rare, as it also features Jackie in the unusual role for him, as lead singer!!!!.

1966 saw the Ska sound evolve into Rocksteady, again with Jackie's band at the helm, and his first hit single the Rocksteady cut 'Ram Jam'. The success of which would lead to a solo career and album releases under his own name such as 'Now', 'Macka Fat', 'Evening Time', 'In London' and 'Keep on Dancing', to name but a few. In1967 the hits at Studio One were still flowing when The Soul Brothers morphed into The Soul Venders and began backing such luminaries as Ken Boothe, Alton Ellis, Delroy Wilson, The Heptones, The Cables, The Wailers and many other of the labels solo artists.

By 1968 Jamaican music was ready for another change and Rocksteady rolled into a slower groove soon to be called Reggae. Jackie Mittoo would be at the forefront with his latest band The Sound Dimension. A line up that included Leroy Sibbles (bass), Roland Alphonso and Cedric Brooks (saxophone), Eric Frater and Ernest Ranglin (guitar) and Bunny Williams (drums). Being the house band at Studio One they backed all the leading names of the time, John Holt, Horace Andy and Alton Ellis, all of Studio One's output carried his sound.

Jackie Mittoo emigrated in the late 60's to Canada, but travelled to Jamaica and London to record with many of the big new names, who were trying to redress Studio One's supremacy and needed his magic touch. Such Producers as Bunny Lee used Jackie Mittoo on many of his sessions, Sugar Minott among others were always glad of his services.

We have captured some fine 1970's cuts that feature Jackies numerous talents, showing his ability to embellish tracks with a feel that few could better, Musical arranger, band leader all round studio ace. We hope you enjoy the set and I'm sure you'll agree with us Jackie Mittoo does indeed Ride On.........

The Modern Sound Quartet represents one of the most treasured, yet least documented, outfits in the history of Italian library music. An exceptional studio band of session musicians with a formidable groove, they released only a handful of albums under this name in the second half of the 1970s. However, their sound indelibly shaped dozens of "invisible" soundtracks, often without ever receiving an official credit on the back sleeve.

Led by pianist and composer Oscar Rocchi, and featuring Andrea Surdi (drums), Luigi Cappellotto (bass), and Ernesto Verardi (guitar), the quartet embodies the more jazz-funk, cinematic, and irresistibly groovy side of the 1970s Milan scene. They established themselves as a compelling alternative to the already established groups operating primarily out of Rome, such as I Marc 4 or I Gres.

Juggling late-night club jam sessions, tours supporting Italian pop giants like Ornella Vanoni, and creating rhythmically intense library records, the Modern Sound Quartet forged a unique sonic aesthetic: sophisticated, electric, and profoundly metropolitan.

This boxset celebrates their funkiest side—an irresistible combination of incandescent drum breaks, tight grooves, and high-intensity fusion passages—bringing together some of the most sought-after tracks from legendary LPs like Erbe Selvatiche (1977), Floreama (1977), Horoscope (1978), and I Tarocchi (1980). The selection also delves further back to the roots of their sound, including two powerhouse tracks from Pop-Paraphrenia (1973), a project where Oscar Rocchi—backed by a young, lethal Tullio De Piscopo on drums—sowed many seeds that would fully blossom in the subsequent Modern Sound Quartet output.

Created with DJs, beatmakers, and collectors of Italian library music in mind, this boxset deliberately features tracks that were never previously released on 7 inch—an ideal format for maximizing the rhythmic punch of the quartet's sound.

Available in a limited worldwide edition (500 copies), enriched by iconic 70s-style artwork conceived and designed by Eric Adrian Lee.

Pianist and singer songwriter Tilda Gebhardt creates a curious and immersive world on her debut "Come the Afternoon", a tender portrait of her upbringing in the bleak yet beautiful north west English countryside.

Telling tales that take us back to a 1936 premier of Swing Time, or inside a telescope where a man named Ernest lives, via the vast plains of the Australian desert - Gebhardt's unusual combination of playfulness, storytelling and profound reflection is carried along by her crystalline voice, and acrobatic piano.

Inspired in turn by the magic of moving images and nature, "Come the Afternoon" is like a collection of miniature films, chronicling Tilda's adventures on the fells of the langdales, hiding in the heather on the Trough of Bowland, and exploring the fields and valleys that surround her home in Lancaster.

Sounds like: Joni Mitchell, Liza Minelli and Joanna Newsom picking cockles in Morecambe Bay.
Recommended if you like: Keith Jarret, Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru, Issa Kobayashi, John Berger.

‘Workaround’ is the lucidly playful and ambitious solo debut album by rhythm-obsessive musician and DJ, Beatrice Dillon for PAN. It combines her love of UK club music’s syncopated suss and Afro-Caribbean influences with a gamely experimental approach to modern composition and stylistic fusion, using inventive sampling and luminous mixing techniques adapted from modern pop to express fresh ideas about groove-driven music and perpetuate its form with timeless, future-proofed clarity. Recorded over 2017-19 between studios in London, Berlin and New York, ‘Workaround’ renders a hypnotic series of polymetric permutations at a fixed 150bpm tempo.

Mixing meticulous FM synthesis and harmonics with crisply edited acoustic samples from a wide range of guests including UK Bhangra pioneer Kuljit Bhamra (tabla); Pharoah Sanders Band’s Jonny Lam (pedal steel guitar); techno innovators Laurel Halo (synth/vocal) and Batu (samples); Senegalese Griot Kadialy Kouyaté (Kora), Hemlock’s Untold and new music specialist Lucy Railton (cello); amongst others, Dillon deftly absorbs their distinct instrumental colours and melody into 14 bright and spacious computerised frameworks that suggest immersive, nuanced options for dancers, DJs and domestic play. ‘Workaround’ evolves Dillon’s notions in a coolly unfolding manner that speaks directly to the album’s literary and visual inspirations, ranging from James P. Carse’s book ‘Finite And Infinite Games’ to the abstract drawings of Tomma Abts or Jorinde Voigt as well as painter Bridget Riley’s essays on grids and colour. Operating inside this rooted but mutable theoretical wireframe, Dillon’s ideas come to life as interrelated, efficient patterns in a self-sufficient system.

With a naturally fractal-not-fractional logic, Dillon’s rhythms unfold between unresolved 5/4 tresillo patterns, complex tabla strokes and spark-jumping tics in a fluid, tactile dance of dynamic contrasts between strong/light, sudden/restrained, and bound/free made in reference to the notational instructions of choreographer Rudolf Laban. Working in and around the beat and philosophy, the album’s freehand physics contract and expand between the lissom rolls of Bhamra’s tabla in the first, to a harmonious balance of hard drum angles and swooping FM synth cadence featuring additional synth and vocal from Laurel Halo in ‘Workaround Two’, while the extruded strings of Lucy Railton create a sublime tension at the album’s palatecleansing denouement, triggering a scintillating run of technoid pieces that riff on the kind of swung physics found in Artwork’s seminal ‘Basic G’, or Rian Treanor’s disruptive flux with a singularly tight yet loose motion and infectious joy. Crucially, the album sees Dillon focus on dub music’s pliable emptiness, rather than the moody dematerialisation of reverb and echo. The substance of her music is rematerialised in supple, concise emotional curves
and soberly freed to enact its ideas in balletic plies, rugged parries and sweeping, capoeira-like floor action. Applying deeply canny insight drawn from her years of practice as sound designer, musician and hugely knowledgable/intuitive DJ, ‘Workaround’ can be heard as Dillon’s ingenious solution or key to unlocking to perceptions of stiffness, darkness or grid-locked rigidity in electronic music. And as such it speaks to an ideal of rhythm-based and experimental music ranging from the hypnotic senegalese mbalax of Mark Ernestus’ Ndagga Rhythm Force, through SND and, more currently, the hard drum torque of DJ Plead; to adroitly exert the sensation of weightlessness and freedom in the dance and personal headspace.

Horace Andy made his debut with producer and mentor Phil Pratt at the age of sixteen. His voice has the soulful influence of artists Otis Redding and Smokey Robinson as well as fellow countryman Alton Ellis.

1975's Get Wise collects a series of singles Including versions of hits like "Money, Money" ("Root Of All Evil") and "Zion Gate" ("I Don't Want To Be Outside"). Recorded between 1972 and 1974, these tracks were record at the legendary studios Channel One, Black Ark, Dynamic Sound and Randy's Studio 17, with house engineers Ernest Hoo Kim, Lee Perry, Carlton Lee and Errol Thompson. The album is also a showcase for The Soul Syndicate Band, the session group that featured Sly & Robbie, Aston Barrett and Earl Smith, among others. Get Wise is available as a limited individually numbered edition of 750 individually numbered copies on orange coloured vinyl.

„Good things take time“; this saying fits perfect for the new and fifth studio album „High On Fire“ of the inernational Classic Hard Rock group SAINTED SINNERS, featuring vocalist Jack Meile (Tygers Of Pan Tang), founding member and guitar player Frank Pané (Bonfire), Ernesto Ghezzi (Gotthard) on Keyboards, Samy Saemann (ex-Fredom Call) on bass and Berci Hirleman on drums. With almost three years in the making, the band returns with their newest collection of songs under the bands own motto: The Essence of Rock’n’Roll. „High On Fire“ delivers a feeling of good time Rock’n’Roll vibes! Let‘s forget and escape from all the bad things in life and enjoy life to the fullest with freedom of expression and a overall positive attitude. With „High On Fire“ you should feel uplifted by music. The album features ten new tracks, including a surprise The Who cover-version, done in the SAINTED SINNERS style!

This is a reissue of the original 1963 album El Decano De Los Cantores 4. Chuíto el de Bayamón (Jesús Sánchez Erazo) was a legendary Puerto Rican troubadour and one of the earliest jíbaro singers to appear on the radio, also known as "el decano de los cantores" (the dean of the singers). Known for his witty décimas and lively improvisation, he helped popularize traditional Puerto Rican music. His work influenced generations, including salsa greats like Héctor Lavoe. In the 1940s, he became the lead-singer for cuatro player and composer Ladislao "Ladí" Martínez's Conjunto Típico Ladí, created in New York City. With Ladí, he recorded "Un jíbaro en Nueva York," a controversia with Ernestina Reyes "La Calandria." It was actually Ladí who baptized him as "Chuíto el de Bayamón". From 1949 to 1977 Chuíto collaborated with Abelardo Díaz Alfaro, the famous Puerto Rican author, in the radio program "La vida de Teyo Gracia y su mundo" aired in WIPR. In addition, Chuíto participated in the films "La trulla" (1951), "Preciosa" (1965), and "El otro camino" (1959). Throughout his career Chuíto recorded more than 40 LPs and performed in New York, Boston, Chicago, New Jersey, Hawai'i, Spain, Cuba and other Latin American cities. His repertoire is characterized by its witticism and sense of humor, and sophisticated musical arrangements. Along with Flor Morales Ramos "Ramito", Odilio González and Daniel Santos, he had a huge influence in the singing style of Puerto Rican salsa star Héctor Lavoe. In 1975 and 1976 he was recognized with the "Agüeybaná Gold Album" award. This is the forth edition of Ansonias Chuito reissue series.

In 1964, Martin Denny looked beyond the Hawaiian and Asian influences of his previous records to find another place to plant his umbrella in the sand, as well as in your drink: the sounds of Latin America. With this new sound to hang his exciting arrangements on, Latin Village has long been considered one of Denny's high-water marks, and Jackpot is thrilled to have this long-cherished LP back in print. This is an album that rips through what was considered "The Now Sound From Overseas," a sophisticated mash-up of sambas, bossa novas, and Latin jazz. From the first track, "Angelito" (the hit song written by Réne y Réne, later to also be covered by Trini Lopez & Herb Albert), all the way through to its closer, "Flying Down To Rio" (a song which Roxy Music later referenced in their 1972 song "Virginia Plain”), the album is a hypnotic listen. Latin Village also drops in some serious jazz numbers, with respected compositions such as "On Green Dolphin Street" by Kaper & Washington (which has been covered by Miles Davis, Bill Evans & Sarah Vaughn), "Malagueña" the sixth movement in Ernesto Lecona's Suite Andalucía & "Corcovado" by Antônio Carlos Jobim (who merged samba with jazz to create bossa nova). Latin Village is comforting in its familiarity within Denny's sonic world, but steps refreshingly out of the smoke-filled Tiki bars of his previous records and straight into the sunlight where this music still strolls around in a listener's heart, soul, and mind. “Latin Village is a triumph of Martin Denny’s search for a new style, post-exotica.” – ALLMUSIC, 4 stars.

Hekura are a Barcelona-based duo that create expansive soundscapes anchored in ritual minimalism. With influences ranging from the ethereal mysticism of Alice Coltrane to the hypnotic pulse of Steve Reich, their music explores the boundary between introspection and bold sonic exploration. Inspired by ethnographic traditions and the raw energy of Julius Eastman, their compositions fuse scattered percussion, shimmering textures, and hypnotic saxophone rhythms for moments of solitude and profound reflection. Hekura's work invites listeners to immerse themselves into a spectral world where tradition meets the avant-garde, offering a unique and evocative listening experience. Ernest and Edu met during their jazz studies at Taller de Musics in Barcelona. Their first conversation was about Charlie Haden Liberation Orchestra's "free jazz" version of the South African anthem, Nkosi Sikelele. That bond quickly translated into a shared world of listening, respect, experimentation, and sound that crystallized in Hekura. Edu Pons is a saxophonist and a music teacher at Taller de Mùsics in Barcelona. His music ranges from jazz to folk or from classical to free improvisation yet with his own distinctive voice. Ernest Pipó is a guitarist and composer from a small town in La Garrotxa. Currently based in Barcelona, he primarily focuses on music production and soundtrack composition. His influences range from jazz, electronica, noise, pop, and, although he dares to admit it, also ambient. For fans of: John Tchicai (with strings), Steve Reich, Arv & Miljö (Discreet Music, 2024)

The music on this album was inspired by the original ska recordings coming out of Jamaica in the early to mid 1960s. In particular, the fiery horn instrumentals played by musicians like Don Drummond, Tommy McCook, Roland Alphonso, Lester Sterling, Baba Brooks, Dizzy Moore, Lloyd Brevett, Ernest Ranglin, Jackie Mittoo, Lloyd Knibb, Drumbago, to name just a few. Many of them were originally jazz musicians, and they played in groups like Prince Buster’s All Stars, the Skatalites, Baba Brooks’ Band, King Edwards’ group, and many more.

This is my humble paean to their great works in this now largely neglected era of music. I hope you enjoy it.

Peace,
Nat Birchall.

Recorded in the Oscar Niemeyer Dome in Tripoli, Lebanon, The Dome Sessions captures the distinctive acoustics of this iconic masterpiece.
Designed in 1962, the dome’s architectural and acoustic qualities provide a distinctive reverb and resonance, shaping a project that dissolves the boundaries between sound, space, and memory.
Featuring performances by notable musicians from Lebanon's contemporary experimental scene, the album invites listeners to engage in an immersive auditory journey, exploring the interplay of sound, memory, and space.


[a] Session 1 Sandy Chamoun, Abed Kobeissy, Pascal Semerdjian [Voice, Tanbur, Drums]
[b] Session 2 Makram Aboul Hosn [Double Bass]
[c] Session 3 Abdo Sawma, Anthony Tawil [Percussions]
[d] Session 4 Ghassan Sahhab [Qanun]
[e] Session 5 Wassim Tanios [Duduk, Acoustic Guitar and E-bow]
[f] Session 6 Julia Sabra [Voice, Acoustic Guitar]
[g] Session 7 Farah Kaddour [Buzuq]
[h] Session 8 Marc Ernest [Bassoon]
[i] Session 9 Makram Aboul Hosn [Double Bass]
[j] Session 10 Fayha Choir [Voices]
[k] Session 11 Charbel Haber, Anthony Sahyoun, Fadi Tabbal, Marwan Tohme [Acoustic Guitars and E-Bow]

In Guadeloupe, many people think that jazz and ka music are like a ring and a finger. To some extent, the same could be said about so called Latin music and the music played in the French West Indies.

Both aesthetics were born in the Caribbean and bear so many connections that they can easily be considered cousins. In constant dialogue, there are lots of examples of their fruitful alliance and have been for a while. The English country dance that used to be practiced in European lounges came to be called kadrille in Martinique and contradanza in Cuba. They both featured additional percussion instruments inherited from the transatlantic deportation. Drawing from shared feelings about the same traumatized identity – later to be creolized – it would be hard not to assume that they were meant to inspire each other. The golden age of the orchestras that graced the Pigalle nights during the interwar period further proves the point. As soon as the 1930s, Havana-born Don Barreto naturally mixed danzón and biguine music in a combo based at Melody's Bar. In the following decade, Félix Valvert, a conductor who was born and raised in Basse-Terre in Guadelupe, also worked wonders in Montparnasse with La Coupole, which was an orchestra made up of eclectic musicians. Afro- Caribbean performers of various origins were often hired on rhythm and brass sections in jazz bands, which used to enliven the typical French balls of the capital. In the 1930s and onwards, Rico’s Creole Band was one of them.



Martinican violinist-clarinettist Ernest Léardée, who would become the king of biguine music as well as the main figure of French Uncle Ben's TV commercials (a dark stigma of post-colonial stereotypes), had musicians from the whole Caribbean sphere play at his Bal Blomet – and they all enchanted "ces Zazous-là" (according the words of Léardée's biguine-calypso piece). In les Antilles (French for French West Indies), music history started to speed up in the 1950s, when trade expanded and radio stations grew bigger. The Guadelupean and Martiniquais youth tuned in their old galena radio sets to South American and Caribbean music. As for the women traders, les pacotilleuses, they bought and sold goods across different islands (the "passing of items through various hands" was thought to be most pleasurable) and brought back countless sounds in their luggage. Such was the case of Madame Balthazar, who once returned from Puerto Rico with the first 45rpm and 33rpm to ever enter Martinique.

Out of this adventure was created the famous Martinican label La Maison des Merengues, a music business she opened and undertook with her husband and which proved to be a major landmark. At the end of the 1950s, in Puerto Rico, Marius Cultier competed in the Piano International Contest playing a version of Monk's Round 'Midnight. He won the first prize and this distinction foreshadowed everything that was to come. Cultier, the heretic Monk of jazz, was quickly praised for writing superb melodies, always tinged with a twist that conferred a unique sound to his music. It didn't take long for the gifted self-taught musician to get to play with Los Cubanos, making a name for himself thanks to his impressive maestria on merengues.

The rest is history. Besides, in the late 1950s, Frantz Charles-Denis, born into the upper middle class in Saint-Pierre and better known by his first name Francisco, went back home after working at La Cabane Cubaine – a club located rue Fontaine where he had caught the Latin fever. Francisco's music was therefore heavily marked by his Cuban cousins' influence, which gave the combos he led a specific style and also led to renewal. Things were swinging hard in La Savane, located in the main square in Fort-de-France. He set up the Shango club close by and tested out the biguine lélé there, a new music formula spiced up with Latin rhythms. Soon afterwards, fate had him fly to Puerto Rico and Venezuela.

As for percussionist Henri Guédon (percussions were only a part of his many talents), he was born in Fort-de-France in May 22nd 1944, the day marking the celebration of the abolition of slavery. As an old man, he could remember that in " his father's Teppaz, a lot of hectic 6/8 music was constantly playing...". In the opening lines of his Lettre à Dizzy, a small illustrated collection of writings published by Del Arco, he highlighted the huge impact that cubop had on him as a teenage boy, around 1960. He eventually turned out to be the lider maximo in La Contesta, a big band steeped in Latin jazz. He was also the one who originated the word zouk to describe music which brought the sound of the New York barrio to Paris. It was the culmination of a journey that started in Sainte-Marie: "a mythical place for bélé, the equivalent of Cuban guaguancó". In the early 1960s, the tertiary economy developed to the detriment of agriculture. Yet rural life was where roots music emerged in Martinique and in Guadeloupe.

Record companies played a major part in the process of Latin versions sweeping across the islands – before reaching everywhere else. Producer Célini, boss of the great Aux Ondes label, and Marcel Mavounzy, both the head of Émeraude records - a firm which was founded in 1953 - as well as the brother of famous saxophonist Robert Mavounzy, were big names to bear in mind. Although there were many of them - all of whom are featured on this record - Henri Debs was definitely the major figure in the recording adventure. He proved to be so influential that he even got compared to Berry Gordy. In the mid 1950s, when he acquired his first Teppaz, he worked on his first compositions: a bolero and a chachacha. Then, he became the one man who made people discover Caribbean music, from calypso to merengue. He was among the first ones to rush out to San Juan, Puerto Rico, to buy records and distribute them through a store run by one of his brothers in Fort-de-France. He had members of the Fania All Star come and perform there, which he was madly proud about. He was also the first one to pay attention to Haitian music, such as compas direct and various other rhythms which would soon flood the market. As a result, many of the combos hitting his legendary studio would end up boosted by widespread "Afro-Latin" rhythms. However, he never denied his identity: gwo ka drums were given a major role, although they were instruments which had long been banned from the "official" music spheres. The present selection bears witness to such a creative swarming. Here are fourteen tracks of untimely yet unprecedented cross-fertilization: all types of music rooted in the Creole archipelago have found their way, whatsoever, to the tracklisting. Whether originating from the city or being more rural, they all go back to what Edouard Glissant, in an interview about the place of West Indian music in the Afro-American scope, called "the trace of singing, the one which got erased by slavery." "It is so in jazz, but also in reggae, calypso, biguine, salsa... This trace also manifests through the drums, whether Guadelupean, Dominican, Jamaican or Cuban... None of them being quite the same. They all point to the idea of a trace, seeking it out and connecting to each other through it. This is the hallmark of the African diaspora: its ability to create something new, in relation to itself, out of a trace. It may be the memory of a rhythm, the crafting of a drum, a means of expression which doesn't resort to an old language but to the modalities of it." The opening track features one of the emblematic orchestras of this aesthetic identity, criscrossing many music types from the archipelago. The 1974 Ray Barretto guajira – Ray Barretto was a major New York drummer influenced by Charlie Parker and Chano Pozzo – is magnificently performed by Malavoi, a legendary Fayolais group (i.e from Fort-de-France). Additionally, the compilation ends on a piece by Los Martiniqueños de Francisco. It symbolically closes the circle as it is a genuine potomitan of Martinique culture which also functions as a tireless campaigner for Afro-Caribbean music. Practicing the danmyé rounds (a kind of capoeiria) to the rhythm of the bèlè drum, it delivers a terrific Caterete, a kind of champeta of Afro- Colombian obedience which was originally composed by Colombian Fabián Ramón Veloz Fernández for the group Wgenda Kenya. The icing on the cake is Brazilian Marku Ribas, who found refuge in Martinique in the early 1970s, bringing his singing to the last trance-inducing track. These two "versions" convey the whole tone of a selection composed of rarities and classics of the tropicalized genre, swarming with tonic accents and convoluted rhythms. It is the sort of cocktail that the West Indians never failed to spice up with their own ingredients. For instance, the Los Caraïbes cover of Dónde, a famous Cuban theme composed by producer Ernesto Duarte Brito, has a typical violin and features renowned Martinique singer Joby Valente and his piquant voice.



The track used to be – or so we think – their only existing 45rpm. The meaningful Amor en chachachá by L'Ensemble Tropicana, a band which included Haitian musicians among whom was composer and leader Michel Desgrotte, also recalls how Latin music was pervasive in the tropics in the mid-1960s. They were the ones keeping people dancing at Le Cocoteraie in Guadelupe and La Bananeraie in Martinique. Around the same time, another "foreign" band, Congolese Freddy Mars N'Kounkou's Ryco Jazz, achieved some success on both islands by covering Latin jazz classics – such as their adaptation of Wachi Wara, a "soul sauce" by Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo whose interweaving of strings and percussions can have anyone hit the dancefloor. How can you resist Dap Pinian indeed, a powerful guaguancó by Eugene Balthazar, performed by the Tropicana Orchestra and published by the Martinique-founded La Maison des Merengues? It also acts as a symbol of the maelstrom at work. Going by the name Paco et L'orchestre Cachunga, Roger Jaffory used to play guaguancó too: his Fania-inspired Oye mi consejo is one example of his style. Baila!!!!! Dancing was also one of the Kings' focus points. Oriza is a Puerto Rican bomba and a "classic" originally composed by Nuevayorquino trumpeter Ernie Agosto, which reserves major space for brasses, giving it a special sheen.

Emerging from the New York barrios crucible was also La Perfecta, a Martinique group originating from Trinidad, whose name directly references the totemic Eddie Palmieri figure as well as his own band, also called La Perfecta. Here they borrow Toumbadora from Colombian producer and composer Efraín Lancheros and interpret it by emphasizing percussions, which set fire to the track even more than the wind instruments. The same goes for Martinique's Super Jaguars, who use Tatalibaba – a composition by Cuban guitarist Florencio "Picolo" Santana which was made famous by Celia Cruz & La Sonora Matencera – as a pretext for sending their cadences into a frenzy. In a more typically salsa vein, the Super Combo, a famous Guadelupean orchestra from Pointe-Noire that was formed around the Desplan family and had Roger Plonquitte and Elie Bianay on board, adapt Serana, a theme by Roberto Angleró Pepín, a Puerto Rican composer, singer and musician also known for his song Soy Boricua. Here again, their vision comes close to surpassing the original. In the 1970s, L'Ensemble Abricot provided a handful of tracks of different syles, hence reaching the pinnacle of the art of achieving variety and giving pleasure. They played boleros, biguines, compas direct, guaguancó and even a good old boogaloo - the type they wanted to keep close to their hearts for ever, "pour toujours", as they sang along together in one of their songs. Léon Bertide's Martinican ensemble excelled at the boogaloo which had been composed by Puerto Rican saxophonist Hector Santos for the legendary El Gran Combo.



Three years later, in 1972, Henri Guédon, with the help of Paul Rosine on the vibraphone, tackled the Bilongo made famous by Eddie Palmieri. Such a classic!!!!! And so were the Aiglons, the band from Guadelupe: choosing to execute Pensando en tí, a composition by Dominican Aniceto Batista, on a cooler tempo than the original, they noticeably used a wonderfully (un)tuned keyboard in place of the accordion. On the high-value collectible single – the first one released by Les Aiglons under the Duli Disc label – there is a sticker classifying the track under the generic name "Afro". Now that is what we call a symbol. Jacques Denis

With his honeyed falsetto, Horace Andy has long been considered one of roots reggae's most inimitable voices. His signature tune, "Skylarking," is one of a handful of songs that can be instantly recognized by even the most casual of reggae fans. Making his debut with producer and mentor Phil Pratt at the age of sixteen, Andy's expressive vocal style is immediately distinctive, bearing the soulful influence of American artists Otis Redding and Smokey Robinson as well as fellow countryman Alton Ellis.

1975's Get Wise collects a series of singles produced by Pratt including versions of hits "Money, Money" ("Root Of All Evil") and "Zion Gate" ("I Don't Want To Be Outside"). Recorded between 1972 and 1974, these sides were captured at legendary studios Channel One, Black Ark, Dynamic Sound and Randy's Studio 17 with house engineers Ernest Hoo Kim, Lee Perry, Carlton Lee and Errol Thompson at the helm.

Originally released on Pratt's Sunshot label, the album doubles as a showcase for The Soul Syndicate Band, a typically ad-hoc session group which featured Sly & Robbie, Aston "Family Man" Barrett and Earl "Chinna" Smith, among others.

Get Wise delivers ten tracks of Andy's finest material and should be in the collection of any aficionado of the classic '70s Kingston sound. Liner notes by JR Gonne.

Bringing together over 50 of Jamaica's greatest session musicians, whose work spans from the birth of reggae in the late 1960s until today, Roots Architects is the largest gathering of Jamaican musical talent on one all-instrumental album. Never before have so many veterans, who helped create the immortal rhythms that made reggae internationally successful, been assembled to play on new material without vocals. This project aims to celebrate and pay tribute to the unsung heroes of reggae music: the rhythm builders or Roots Architects. Following the outstanding success of the first chapter of the project, From Then 'Til Now (2024), Fruits Records is pleased to reveal the dub album From Dub 'Til Now. A veritable immersion in the mythical sound of Kingston studios in the late 1970s. Dub master Roberto Sánchez sublimates the work of the Roots Architects with wildly inventive sound experiments. Reminiscent of the finest years of King Tubby, Lee "Scratch" Perry and Scientist.

The project is the brainchild of Swiss keyboardist and producer Mathias Liengme. In 2013, he travelled to Kingston, Jamaica, to produce The Inspirators project, an all-star album gathering Leroy ”Horse-mouth” Wallace, Lloyd Parks, Earl ”Chinna” Smith and Sangie Davis, the four of them acting both as musicians and vocalists. This first experience in Kingston studio life paved the way to what would become the Roots Architects project. In February and March 2017 Mathias Liengme travelled for the fifth time to Kingston to record as many of reggae’s greatest living veteran musicians as he could. With the help of a few of these Architects like Robbie Lyn, Fil Callender or Dalton Browne, he managed to gather over 50 session musicians aged 60 to 85 on nine instrumental songs.

Roots Architects are legends back together in Kingston studios doing what they do best: creating in-strumental music all together!