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Reissue

Was ist das Leben anderes als eine endlose Reihe von ,Oh oh"-Momenten? Von unseren frühesten Kindheitsunfällen bis hin zu unseren überwältigenden Ängsten als Erwachsene - dieser kleine Ausdruck prägt unser gesamtes Dasein. Fragen Sie einfach den Indie-Pop-Maestro Patrick Watson aus Montreal, der kürzlich mit dem größten ,Oh oh"-Moment konfrontiert wurde, den ein professioneller Sänger erleben kann. Eines Morgens im Winter 2023 wachte Patrick auf und stellte fest, dass seine Stimme - das engelsgleiche Instrument, das 2006 sein kunstvolles Art-Rock-Opus ,Close to Paradise" auf das Podium des Polaris Music Prize katapultierte - komplett kaputt war. ,Natürlich singe ich gerne für Menschen, aber ich hatte auch viel Spaß mit meinem Modular Synthesizer und tauchte tief in die Instrumentalmusik ein" - eine natürliche Neigung für Patrick, der bis heute über 15 Filmmusiken komponiert hat. ,Aber dann dachte ich mir: ,Oh, es wäre cool, Songs für all diese verschiedenen Sänger zu schreiben, die ich wirklich gerne singen hören möchte - so finde ich einen Ausweg aus dieser Situation.` Denn meine Stimme sollte eigentlich nicht zurückkommen. Und als sie es doch tat, dachte ich einfach, dass es für ein Album immer noch cooler wäre, all diese anderen Sänger zu haben, als mich selbst singen zu hören." Einzelne schwarze Vinylplatte in einer Gatefold-Hülle mit bedruckter Innenhülle.

Was ist das Leben anderes als eine endlose Reihe von ,Oh oh"-Momenten? Von unseren frühesten Kindheitsunfällen bis hin zu unseren überwältigenden Ängsten als Erwachsene - dieser kleine Ausdruck prägt unser gesamtes Dasein. Fragen Sie einfach den Indie-Pop-Maestro Patrick Watson aus Montreal, der kürzlich mit dem größten ,Oh oh"-Moment konfrontiert wurde, den ein professioneller Sänger erleben kann. Eines Morgens im Winter 2023 wachte Patrick auf und stellte fest, dass seine Stimme - das engelsgleiche Instrument, das 2006 sein kunstvolles Art-Rock-Opus ,Close to Paradise" auf das Podium des Polaris Music Prize katapultierte - komplett kaputt war. ,Natürlich singe ich gerne für Menschen, aber ich hatte auch viel Spaß mit meinem Modular Synthesizer und tauchte tief in die Instrumentalmusik ein" - eine natürliche Neigung für Patrick, der bis heute über 15 Filmmusiken komponiert hat. ,Aber dann dachte ich mir: ,Oh, es wäre cool, Songs für all diese verschiedenen Sänger zu schreiben, die ich wirklich gerne singen hören möchte - so finde ich einen Ausweg aus dieser Situation.` Denn meine Stimme sollte eigentlich nicht zurückkommen. Und als sie es doch tat, dachte ich einfach, dass es für ein Album immer noch cooler wäre, all diese anderen Sänger zu haben, als mich selbst singen zu hören." Limitierte Edition auf canary-yellow Vinyl in einer Gatefold-Hülle mit bedruckter Innenhülle.

Conceptualized and written during the chaotic fall months of 2020, Hiss Golden Messenger’s O Come All Ye Faithful recorded shortly after the widely hailed Quietly Blowing It is a meditation on grace, loss, hope, and community. Explains songwriter M.C. Taylor, “Big, brash holiday music the type that we hear in big box stores in the middle of December has never resonated with me, and this past year it felt absolutely dissonant. I wanted to make a seasonal record that felt more in step with the way that I, and so many others, experience this time of year: quiet, contemplative, searching, and bittersweet.” Contributors to O Come All Ye Faithful include many members of Hiss Golden Messenger’s extended family, as well as special guests like GRAMMY Award winner Aoife O’Donovan, Nathaniel Rateliff, Erin Rae, and Buddy Miller. The tracklist includes new tunes written by Taylor, classic hymns, and renditions of songs by Spiritualized, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Woody Guthrie, all arranged in the inimitable Hiss Golden Messenger style. Adorned with a beautifully spare design created by celebrated artist Cody Hudson. The deluxe vinyl version of O Come All Ye Faithful includes an additional collection of remixes by Revelators, Taylor’s spiritual jazz and dub-influenced project with Cameron Ralston.

A new release on the Italian Label Hardcore Classic!

Dillinger one of the most consistently successful DJ’s to come out of the Jamaica, fondly remembered for his massive ‘Cocaine In My Brain’ hit from the great CB200 album and the later reworked ‘Marijuana In My Brain’ which gave Dillinger crossover hits in both England and Europe. But the versatile DJ has many more strings to his bow.

Dillinger (born. Lester Bullocks,1953 Kingston, Jamaica) began his musical venture around 1971, working asa DJ to Sound Systems run by Prince Jackie and El Brasso.1974 saw his first vinyl release in the form of ‘Freshly’ for Producer Yabby U and in 1975 he came with the great ‘Brace A Boy’ for the young Mr Augustus Pablo.But his first album release was through Coxsone Dodd’s Studio One setup, where he let Dillinger fire some vocals over classic Rocksteady rhythms. It took the form of ‘Ready Natty Dreadie’. It was his time at Joseph ‘Jo Jo’ Hookim’s Channel One Studio that produced his second album set(a crossover release and fore mentioned) the timeless 1976 classic ‘CB 200’. It contained three big singles in ‘Plantation Heights’, ‘Cocaine In My Brain’ and ‘Crank Face’. The reworked ‘ Marijuana In My Brain’ even became a No 1 hit in Holland in 1979.

We have taken our set of tunes from his classic 70’s period when Mr Dillinger could do no wrong.Alongside the big ‘Cocaine’ and ‘Marijuana’ hits the great opening track ‘Love Is All I Bring’ sees him working over Alton Ellis ‘Still In Love With You’ which Itself turned into ‘3 Piece Suite’. ‘Money Alone Is Not All’ where he works over Barry Brown’s ‘Mr Money Man’, ‘Hear and Deaf’ working over Johnny Clarke’s ‘Nobodies Business’. ‘King Pharaoh Was A Baldhead’ has him working Frankie Jone’s ‘ Jesse Black’ cut. ‘Concubine’ reworks the Mighty Diamond’s ‘Mother Winney’ and ‘Time So Hard’ sees Dillinger telling it like it is over Ronnie Davis’ original ‘ Time So Hard’ cut, empathizing the points in fine style.

A classic set of tunes all ‘Killer No Filler’ from the master of rhyme himself we hope you agree…..

Strut Records proudly presents the official reissue of Hidden Fire Volumes 1 & 2, the final album released by Sun Ra on his El Saturn label in 1988.
Captured live over three nights at the Knitting Factory in New York City, these performances mark the closing chapter of a 33-year odyssey of radical, independent music-making. Originally issued in tiny quantities with minimal packaging and cryptic artwork—often featuring hand-written labels or Ra’s own handmade designs—Hidden Fire was among the most elusive entries in Sun Ra’s vast discography.
Musically, these recordings stand apart from Ra’s other '80s compositions. Here, Hidden Fire plunges into darker, more dissonant territory. Ra performs exclusively on the Yamaha DX7 synthesiser, pushing its digital sound palette into alien dimensions. The Arkestra lineup is uniquely configured, featuring a rare and heavy string section with three violins, including the legendary Billy Bang, and the singular space vocalist Art Jenkins, whose eerie textures and vocalisations had not been heard so prominently since the early 1960s Choreographers Workshop sessions. The music is raw, unsettled, and often overwhelming.
“Retrospect / This World Is Not My Home” opens with a palindromic riff that evokes Ellington before unraveling into a stark sermon from Ra, warning of death’s dominion over Earth-bound minds. “Hidden Fire Improvisation” is a furious explosion of tone science, with Marshall Allen, Billy Bang, and John Gilmore delivering fire-breathing solos over relentless drumming and Ra’s cascading synth clusters. “Hidden Fire Blues” offers a warped, electrified version of Ra’s familiar blues feature, led by Bruce Edwards on guitar and Rollo Radford on electric bass, transformed through the haze of DX7 textures. “My Brothers The Wind And Sun #9” evokes the experimental weight of The Heliocentric Worlds with its crashing percussion, pulsing synth-vocal duets, and string- driven chaos that seems to spiral into oblivion.
Even the quieter moments—such as “Hidden Fire II,” a duet between Ra and Art Jenkins—feel thick with unease and shadowy beauty. These performances represent a Sun Ra less concerned with cosmic joy or outer-space swing, and more focused on conjuring portals to the unknown.
Remastered from original sources and presented with archival photos, new liner notes by Paul Griffiths, and restored artwork inspired by the original Saturn editions, this reissue offers a definitive window into the last creative surge of one of music’s most visionary figures across two Vinyl LP’s.

2025 Repress

More than once Jay Richford and Gary Stevan’s Feelings has been described as the greatest library record ever released. Of course Be With can’t be seen to be playing favourites, but we have to admit, it’s pretty good. Insanely rare and immensely sought-after, it’s a tough funk, street jazz masterpiece coveted for many years by collectors of all musical genres.

Since its original release on Italian label Carosello in 1974, Feelings has appeared on several labels with different sleeves and even under a different artist. Indeed cult library label Conroy put it out in one of their iconic red sleeves in 1976 and yes, Feelings has indeed had more than one modern re-issue since these “original” releases. But a record this special deserves to be kept in press and we think it deserves the Be With treatment.

No, Jay Richford and Gary Stevan aren’t two of the most Italian sounding names. As the story goes these were the pseudonyms adopted by Stefano Torossi and Giancarlo Gazzani who wrote the album but couldn’t use their real names on the original release for legal reasons. But Stefano Torossi himself later both clarified and confused the tale further by explaining that Feelings was the work of four people not just Gazzani and himself. Fellow composers and musicians Sandro Brugnolini and Puccio Roelens also worked on the album and as Torossi himself explained “we all worked together”, with all four gents “dividing the royalties in equal parts… that’s the story.” Right, so, with that all sorted out let’s get back to talking about the music. And what music it is.

Long hailed as a holy grail of library music, Feelings is the epitome of the sort of cinematic orchestral jazzy funk that is “that 70s library music sound”. Infectiously funky, deliciously melodic and with impeccible, elegant production, this record is the showcase for a stunning set of compositions and arrangements and with performances that are nothing short of virtuoso.

The record’s first side lifts off with “Flying High”, soaring brilliant and shimmering. Funk licks, menacing strings and swaggering horns combine for an ice-cold intro groove that Isaac Hayes would surely have envied, before the steady-paced drums deliver the slo-mo TKO. The string-drenched cop-funk of “Going Home” raises the tempo. All funky quick-fire bass lines and killer electric guitar soloing. A real thriller.

“Walking In The Dark” positively drips in blaxploitation-funk drama strings and horn struts, all laced with delicate drums, velvet piano and more filthy wah-wah. “Fighting For Life” is another funk-fuelled workout built around an effortlessly relentless drum track that refuses to give up until even the stiffest-necked head is nodding.

The loping, open drum break that guides the much-loved “Feeling Tense” through its early stages would be good enough on its own. The heavy bass gloss, swirling strings and ominous horns that follow take things to the next level.

The second side opens with another favourite “Running Fast”, and the track does precisely that. This is one fine rollicking chase theme underpinned by frenetic (yet funky) Fender Rhodes and skipping bass and drums. Those sweeping strings are a gorgeous extra. It’s a deliciously feel-good groove that sets the heart racing.

“Loving Tenderly” envelops us in warm, velvety night-time vibes with easy listening horns and slinky strings dialing up the seduction. Definitely one for the lithe lovers out there. The pace picks up on the electrifying “Fearing Much” where strings dart around deep bass, buzzing guitars and another funky drum break. The lush, melancholic “Being Friendly” is another easy beauty, all warm Rhodes and strings. Majestic stuff that puts an aural arm around you. The climactic “Having Fun” rides a pulsating, bass-heavy drum break with snatches of a funky guitar refrain, some luxurious keys, sweeping strings and triumphant horns. Sensational.

Blue House Rockin’ is the result of a unique collaboration between Soul Sugar and Dub Shepherds — two projects united by a shared love for roots reggae, vintage studio gear, and warm analog sound.

The album was recorded live over two intense days at Blue House Studio by Christophe “French kiss” Adam, using ribbon and tube microphones from the ’50s and ’60s from the ’50s and ’60s, a Hammond organ, upright piano, Fender bass and Gibson guitars, classic amps and preamps, along with drums, syndrums and percussion. The sessions were transferred to a 24-track tape machine, and final mixes were crafted the old-school way by the Dub Shepherds at their own Bat Records Studio, using analog consoles and hardware vintage effects.
The tracklist brings together deep cuts, timeless classics, and original compositions. Curtis Mayfield’s Give Me Your Love and Aaron Frazer’s My God Has a Telephone (Colemine Records) — two soul gems, one vintage, one modern — are reimagined in reggae style, both featuring the great Jolly Joseph on lead vocals, working wonders with his falsetto. He also shines on Hold My Hand, a sweet and mellow original composition with lovers rock flair, written on the spot during the session.
Other standout moments include the soulful fire of UK singer Shniece McMenamin, who lights up Family Affair (Mary J. Blige / Dr. Dre) — flipped into a fiery hip-hop-meets-reggae version packed with energy and attitude.

Instrumentals like Disco Jack, Choice of Music, and Drum Song — all originally composed by Jamaican organ legend Jackie Mittoo — bring Guillaume “Booker G” Metenier’s Hammond work to the front. The playful exchange between organ, guitar, and a rock-solid rhythm section is elevated by swirling spring reverb, dub echoes, and filter sweeps.
The album’s explosive title track — Blue House Rock — was composed and recorded on the spot at the end of the session. A raw, greasy groove that sounds like The Meters jamming at Studio One or a lost instrumental from a Beastie Boys B-side.
Blue House Rockin’ is a vibrant blend of soulful roots reggae and funk, wrapped in the deep, dusty tones of analog tape. A joyful and authentic studio experience, captured live — and played loud.

Here we are with the Earth perched on a thin tenuous wire. The neo-liberal order and its fascist mirror world burning through fossil fuels and the souls of vulnerable peoples the globe over. Conflict, warfare, climate degradation, misinformation. The time is nigh to break the spell with music.

Right on time comes IC007 – Four cuts of progressive elektro roots to shine a light on only four of the multitudinous hot spots of suffering while also inspiring a musical movement forward through the storm. Dedicated to the peoples of the Sudan, Palestine, Ukraine, and Taiwan this tune is another ITAL COUNSELOR sound system scorcher.

The message at its very core is to keep keeping on. Never give up. Forward through the storm like an ITAL WARRIOR! This RHYTHM SHOWER is a guideline toward a better tomorrow.

Delivering this message are some of ITAL COUNSELOR MUSIC’s stalwart players. Inyaki Basque Dub Foundation returns to the fold with yet another top-notch original rhythm – A drum and bass workout that harkens back to the best of Sly & Robbie’s Compass Point era science fiction dubwise and just a little bit of Aswad’s “To The Top” era progressive roots. Both raw and rhythmically complex, Inyaki makes the drum and bass hit hard with the mixing help of top studio man James Zugati. The dubwise cuts on side two are of course custom made to make bass bins rumble and weakheart drop.

Alas, we cannot forget Soothsayer horns – here as always proving that they are the best horn section out there. They feel it. They know it. They execute it in the hardest and sharpest of manors. Heavy heavy hornsman manners…

Progressive. Heavy. Horns. Elektro. Roots. Forward.

One Love and Guidance along the Way,
Andy G, IC

Dusted Angel is a band that likes to keep it in the family. Made up of a group of close friends that have known each since the early 80s, stemming from playing in various intertwined bands engraved in the extended Santa Cruz family of friends. Featuring Ed Gregor, guitar (hedgehog, no use for a name), Eric "Dog" Fieber, guitar (Mock, creature, fire sermon) Steve Ilse drums (creature, Herbert, Automatic Animal) Clifford Dinsmore vocals (Bl'ast!, Seized Up, Spaceboy) and Eliot Young (Lost in Line, Seance) on bass. Formed in 2009, Dusted Angel is a sleeping giant that awakens from time to time to enlighten people with their unique brand of heavy, heavy groove laden music. Now it's time for a new album via Heavy Psych Sounds Records!

Transparent orange vinyl, limited to 300 copies. Dusted Angel is a band that likes to keep it in the family. Made up of a group of close friends that have known each since the early 80s, stemming from playing in various intertwined bands engraved in the extended Santa Cruz family of friends. Featuring Ed Gregor, guitar (hedgehog, no use for a name), Eric "Dog" Fieber, guitar (Mock, creature, fire sermon) Steve Ilse drums (creature, Herbert, Automatic Animal) Clifford Dinsmore vocals (Bl'ast!, Seized Up, Spaceboy) and Eliot Young (Lost in Line, Seance) on bass. Formed in 2009, Dusted Angel is a sleeping giant that awakens from time to time to enlighten people with their unique brand of heavy, heavy groove laden music. Now it's time for a new album via Heavy Psych Sounds Records!

Tyler Bates' original score for MaXXXine and selected songs from the film, pressed on sparkly red carpet glitter vinyl.

2025 Repress

In 2022, Daniele “Shield” Contrini of Rebirth Records proposed Paraíso to the great man himself, a compilation honouring Alfredo’s legacy. After Alfredo’s passing in December 2024, the project was final; with artists rallying to honour his vision and memory.

Before becoming a global clubbing hotspot, Ibiza embodied freedom—a place where sunrises blurred into sunsets and music became a way of life. In the 1950s and '60s, the island drew artists, hippies, and outsiders seeking escape and creative liberty.

In 1976, Alfredo Fiorito, fleeing political repression in Argentina, arrived in Ibiza and stayed. A former music journalist, he soon began DJing at Amnesia, a farmhouse-turned-club where time bent and boundaries dissolved. With eclectic, genre-defying sets, Alfredo blended reggae, flamenco, soul, rock, and early house, crafting a hypnotic energy that captivated a generation.

British DJs like Trevor Fung, Paul Oakenfold and Danny Rampling brought this “Balearic Beat” back home. But Balearic wasn’t a style it was a mindset. As DJ Leo Mas said, it was “a state of mind,” where rhythm, spirit, and psychedelia merged.

Other clubs like KU, Es Paradis, Pacha, and Lola’s amplified the movement. Visual artists such as Yves Uro gave it a striking identity, and DJs like César de Melero, DJ Pippi, and Jon Sa Trinxa carried the sound into a new era. José Padilla’s sunset sessions at Café del Mar birthed chill-out music as breath, not just beat.

But the 1990s brought change. Laws requiring roofs on clubs altered the open-air magic. Commercialisation followed; freedom became luxury, and many pioneers left.

Still, the Balearic spirit lives—raw and untamed. It pulses in hidden parties, intimate venues like Pikes and Hostal La Torre, and sacred places like Benirrás and Las Dalias.

Featuring 16 tracks of classic and true Balearic sound; alongside House & proto-House tracks that Mr Fiorito spun, the album also includes an unreleased Alfredo track and stands as a tribute to the man, the music, and the enduring spirit of true Ibiza.

Includes 4-page booklet
Featuring "Heartstrokes" and "Bedside Radio"
Quadruple platinum certified album
Limited edition of 666 numbered copies on blue coloured vinyl

Metal Rendez-Vous is the fourth studio album by Swiss hard rock/heavy metal band Krokus, originally released in 1980. It marked the debut of vocalist

Marc Storace and became the band's international breakthrough. The album features energetic, riff-driven songs such as “Heatstrokes,” “Bedside Radio,” and

“Tokyo Nights,” blending classic hard rock with the rising heavy metal sound of the early 80s.

The album was a commercial success, reaching four times platinum certiciation in Switzerland. “Heatstrokes” hit No. 1 on the British Heavy Metal Charts, while “Bedside Radio”

received international airplay, helping the band build a strong following across Europe and North America.

Metal Rendez-Vous is available as a limited edition of 666 numbered copies on blue coloured vinyl and includes an original 4-page booklet with lyrics.

Singer-songwriter and cult anti-folk troubadour Stanley Brinks returns with Happy New Year, a 10-song collection of lo-fi gems recorded in Berlin. Happy New Year is a warm and celebratory record. Over simple rhythms and minimalist arrangements, Brinks delivers lyrics that oscillate between surreal humour, earnest wisdom, and playful melancholy. Happy New Year features contributions from longtime collaborator Clemence Freschard, plus appearances from Jyoti Sekhawat, Monica Kremidi, Rachel Lipson, Irma Ignataviciute, and Elisa Aseva, weaving together voices from across Brinks' musical community. Their harmonies lend the songs a communal intimacy. Stanley Brinks is renowned for his unique anti-folk style: both playful and suggestive, insightful and entertaining. Brinks was born in Paris, France, in 1973. He studied a bit of biology and worked as a nurse for a while. Half Swedish, half Moroccan, strongly inclined to travel the world, he soon began spending most of his life on the road and developed a strong relationship with New York. By the late 90s he'd become a full time singer-songwriter - Andre' Herman Düne - as part of three piece indie-rock band, Herman Düne. Several albums and Peel sessions later and after a decade of touring Europe, mostly with American songwriters such as Jeffrey Lewis, Calvin Johnson and early Arcade Fire he settled in Berlin. The early carnival music of Trinidad became a passion, and in the early 21st century he became the unquestioned master of European calypso, changing his name to Stanley Brinks. Under this moniker he has recorded considerably more than 100 albums, collaborated with the New York Antifolk scene on several occasions, recorded and toured with traditional Norwegian musicians, and played a lot with The Wave Pictures. The vinyl is of silvery color.

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

Everything Is Recorded, ist das musikalische Kollaborationsprojekt von XL-Recordings Chef Richard Russell. Auf dem Album "Temporary" sind zu hören u.a. Sampha, Bill Callahan, Noah Cyrus, Florence Welch, Maddy Prior, Berwyn, Alabaster Deplume, Jah Wobble, Yazz Ahmed, Laura Groves, Kamasi Washington, Ricky Washington, Roses Gabor, Jack Penate, Samantha Morton, Clari Freeman-Taylor und Nourished By Time. "Temporary" entstand im Verlauf von vier Jahren in Russells Londoner Copper House Studio und während einiger zusätzlicher Sessions in Tottenham, Cumbria, Dorset, Los Angeles und Las Vegas Es schließt an die vorangegangenen Releases wie das 2018 für den Mercury Prize nominierte Debüt an. Auf dem neuen Album erfährt Russells musikalische DNA allerdings ein Reboot: Sein Cut & Paste Approach reicht in die Zeit vor Sampling-Helden wie The Bomb Squad und Prince Paul zurück bis hin zu Innovatoren wie Steve Reich, Robert Rauschenberg und William S. Burroughs. Während Russells Musik bislang geprägt war von Rhythmus, Worten und Melodie - in ebendieser Reihenfolge - tauschen zwei Aspekte diesmal ihre Rollen. Der Rhythmus tritt zugunsten der Melodie in den Hintergrund. Musikalisch ist "Temporary" vom Gedankenexperiment "what if folk music had "gone digital" in the 80s, just as reggae had?" geleitet, während sich in spiritueller und lyrischer Hinsicht vieles um Trauer und den Verlust von Freunden, Familienmitgliedern und Kollegen dreht. Im Ergebnis stehen leuchtende und gelassene Kompositionen, auch dank der faszinierenden und vielfältigen Gästeliste, die "Temporary" mitbringt. Die fragilen, zärtlichen und stillen Tracks liefern vielleicht eines der sanftesten Alben, die je über den Tod geschrieben wurden. "Das Album zu machen, war erfüllend, eine Art, das Leben zu heiligen", so Russell. "Temporary" ist die erste reguläre Veröffentlichung von Everything Is Recorded nach über vier Jahren. In der Zwischenzeit war Russell allerdings nicht untätig. Via Soundcloud und Bandcamp erschienen zuletzt "Summer Solstice", "Autumn Equinox", "Winter Solstice" und "Spring Equinox", die alle mit einer Reihe von Gastmusikerinnen und -.musikern im Rahmen ausgiebiger Jams an jeweils nur einem Tag entstanden. Mit der Schauspielerin und Regisseurin Samantha Morton tat er sich zum Duo Sam Morton zusammen, welches sein Debüt "Daffodils und Dirt" veröffentlichte. Für Peter Gabriels Comeback-Album "i/o" produzierte Russell den Song "Four Kinds of Horses".

Includes insert Featuring covers of iconic cinematic scores Performed with the London Symphony Orchestra Limited edition of 1000 numbered copies on purple coloured vinyl 2CELLOS explore the magic of cinema and television in their new album Score, r eimagining the most beloved film and TV melodies with their distinctive sound.

2CELLOS have forged a signature style that breaks down the boundaries between genres of music, from classical and film music to pop and rock. Score is available as a limited edition of 1000 numbered copies on purple coloured vinyl and includes an insert.