quête:funk foundation

Here’s a definitive compilation of their first period career, Glaxo Babies was one of the most exciting british post-punk band of the era. Raised in Bristol – altogether with such local influential acts like Maximum Joy, The Transmitters and obviously The Pop Group – Glaxo Babies formed in late 1977. The band signed to local label Heartbeat Records (marketed by Cherry Red), with their first release being the This Is Your Life EP in February 1979; in the same year they released the single “Christine Keeler” . This led to them recording their first session for BBC radio’s John Peel the following April, and the track “It’s Irrational”, from this session, opened the seminal 1979 Bristol Compilation album “Avon Calling”. Their aggro mix of in your face lyrics and groovy bassline led to a unique formula, with both their feet in the post-punk scene and the uprising black jazz crossover. The so-called white funk was the plat du jour, even if the band soon achieved a straight and original personality. Fully remastered and licensed, ltd to 500 copies.

Comet Records presents the Tony Allen & Afrika 70 reissue series with the classic late seventies first four solo albums of Tony Allen remastered and restored: Jealousy, Progress, No Accomodation for Lagos & No Discrimination, all coming in an heavy Deluxe Tip-On Jacket.
Tony's solo album, No Discrimination, marks an important turning point in Tony Allen's musical life. Tony had recently left Fela's band, which was clearly an emotional yet necessary change as Allen sings of love and brotherhood throughout his fourth solo album. No Discrimination, both in composition and sound, is a blueprint for the future of Afrobeat, decades ahead of its time. The songs are a mixture of old and new - fusing the classic Afrobeat compositional style with modern production and ideas. Classic tunes like "No Discrimination" and "Ariya" pushed boundaries for what Afrobeat could be, which a wave of Afrobeat bands would pick up on decades later.
With No Discrimination, Tony begins to move Afrobeat into the future, which he would continue doing for the rest of his career.
Tony Allen was a musical and compositional visionary, and this album finds him beginning to explore that vision outside of Fela's immense gravitational pull. They are the start of a new era in Tony's fruitful career as a solo artist, opening the floodgates for his distinctive Afro-Funk sound and laying the foundation for the next generation of Afrobeat musicians to come.

For over 20 years Gosub has brought us his brand of classic electro cuts, so it was really interesting to see his techno mind in action on “Cosmic Cannibals”. Though out this release Gosub drapes soul across the Detroit fueled 808/909 foundation though out this vinyl release.

Starting with “The Depth Charge” a dark dimensional warping bass and a synth that cuts through the darkness sounding like if Charlie Parker designed a synth a definite for repeat. Full 909 in effect on “The Way Home II” with heavy toms an high Ph acid lines provoke the listener to pay further attention to the details in this track.

On the B-Side “The Ratio” which features New York’s Preston Fulwood on vocals and keys brings in the funk infused to Gosub’s more familiar electro beats we find really rewarding. This track is brings the funk and jazz while Preston’s vocals make you want to sing and find your own soul. The ending’s dark vocoder reminds the listener that “This is just your virtual reality”. Preston & Gosub makes you want more of this future sound. Lastly, “Omni Presence” grounds us again with low swung 303 baselines grinding against a straight 4 on the floor beat while supporting synths carry on with their own conversation. Be warned.

We hope you enjoy this analog recording.

The debut album of the singer-composer Rita Ray from Estonia packs powerful, warm vocals and crisp production to go with it. "Old Love Will Rust" contributes 8 soul-heavy cuts to the current scene: it's got that slower, classic R&B side of affairs, as well as an uptempo disco delight, that keeps things tight. While miss Ray herself has credits in almost all aspects of the LP, it's a certified Solid Gold Production, led by Martin Laksberg of Lexsoul Dancemachine. Blue-eyed soul hasn't sounded so strong in ages! Rita Ray is a small-town girl whose vocal chords are hardened by a decade in choir singing, spirit toughened by the city life and a foundation built in jazz studies. She's the first contemporary soul diva to rise from the post-Soviet state. Her soul-stirring shows have yet to leave a heart cold - she'll have you in her palm to deliver tender melodies, irony-filled lyrics, catchy riffs and disco-stomping sessions.

The debut album of the singer-composer Rita Ray from Estonia packs powerful, warm vocals and crisp production to go with it. "Old Love Will Rust" contributes 8 soul-heavy cuts to the current scene: it's got that slower, classic R&B side of affairs, as well as an uptempo disco delight, that keeps things tight. While miss Ray herself has credits in almost all aspects of the LP, it's a certified Solid Gold Production, led by Martin Laksberg of Lexsoul Dancemachine. Blue-eyed soul hasn't sounded so strong in ages! Rita Ray is a small-town girl whose vocal chords are hardened by a decade in choir singing, spirit toughened by the city life and a foundation built in jazz studies. She's the first contemporary soul diva to rise from the post-Soviet state. Her soul-stirring shows have yet to leave a heart cold - she'll have you in her palm to deliver tender melodies, irony-filled lyrics, catchy riffs and disco-stomping sessions.

Makèz have come a long way since they first sneaked into Amsterdam’s studio 80 at the age of 17 to hand over their demos to Dam Swindle. Those demos led to their debut EP ‘Different planets’ on Heist in 2019 which gained major support from artists like Seth Troxler and Chez Damier. Quickly after, they signed two records on New York based label Let’s Play House. Fast forward two years, and here we are: the release of their debut album “City of all”.

"City of all” shows an admirable level of sophistication and matureness and effortlessly bridges genres across its 13 tracks. You can feel the amount of thought that has been put into this record, with songs happily blending into each other as Makèz submerge themselves in their concept of accidental encounters, inclusiveness and what it means to live in a city like Amsterdam.

On “City of all”, Makèz bring together all the musical influences they’ve picked up in their life as music fans, clubbers and art students. The jazz-funk of opening track “The entrance” feels breezy, casual almost, like the freeform rhythms that are played in a jazz club during soundcheck. That energy also oozes from “Not so different”, which features the smooth vocals of LYMA. There’s a hint of the house-meets-R’n B vibe that made Anderson .Paak the star that he is now. The song is brilliantly funky and shows the songwriting and arrangement talent of Makèz, who cleverly use pop & soul cues to create one of the album’s highlights.

What follows is 4 cuts ranging from the syncopated Balearic funk of “Orbit”, the strings of album title track “City of all”, the organ-led jam “Gonna getya" and the downbeat “Sonder”. Allysha Joy -best known for performing in Melbourne Hip Hop collective 30/70 - is featured on the deep and jazzy cut “Looking up”. If Makèz and Allysha are all looking up, it’s clear they’re seeing the same thing. These kindred spirits perfectly complement each other on this track, where the deep bass, warm harmonies and jazzy percussion prove to be a perfect foundation for Allysha’s rhymes.

Is it an album all about jazz and soulful tracks to listen to at home? Far from that. There’s a nice bit of dance floor-oriented tracks, where the distorted filter funk of “Roselane” featuring Fouk proves to be a highlight along with what is arguably the heaviest cut of the album: “Bent with funk”.

In an EP context, these house tracks would surely do their work, but they really come to life in this album format. No compromise has been made to storytelling and the house tracks all play their part while still standing their ground as powerful club tracks. It’s the expert production and smart arrangement that gives this album its casually funky feel. On “City of all”, Makèz showcase their remarkable talent for writing an album that goes to so many different places, but most of all, just really feels like home.

Enjoy the music,
Maarten & Lars

Analog Africa Presents Edo Funk Explosion Vol. 1, available on
2xLP/Gatefold LP with 20-page booklet / CD with 36-page booklet. It was
in Benin City, in the heart of Nigeria, that a new hybrid of intoxicating
highlife music known as Edo Funk was born.
It first emerged in the late 1970s when a group of musicians began to experiment with different ways of integrating elements from their native Edo culture
and fusing them with new sound effects coming from West Africa s night-clubs.
Unlike the rather polished 1980 s Nigerian disco productions coming out of the
international metropolis of Lagos Edo Funk was raw and reduced to its bare
minimum.
Someone was needed to channel this energy into a distinctive sound and Sir
Victor Uwaifo appeared like a mad professor with his Joromi studio. Uwaifo
took the skeletal structure of Edo music and relentless began fusing them with
synthesizers, electric guitars and 80 s effect racks which resulted in some of the
most outstanding Edo recordings ever made. An explosive spiced up brew with
an odd psychedelic note known as Edo Funk.
That’s the sound you’ll be discovering in the first volume of the Edo Funk Explosion series which focusses on the genre’s greatest originators; Osayomore
Joseph, Akaba Man, and Sir Victor Uwaifo: Osayomore Joseph was one of the
first musicians to bring the sound of the flute into the horn-dominated world
of highlife, and his skills as a performer made him a fixture on the Lagos scene.
When he returned to settle in Benin City in the mid 1970s - at the invitation of
the royal family - he devoted himself to the modernisation and electrification
of Edo music, using funk and Afro-beat as the building blocks for songs that
weren’t afraid to call out government corruption or confront the dark legacy of
Nigeria’s colonial past.
Akaba Man was the philosopher king of Edo funk. Less overtly political than Osayomore Joseph and less psychedelic than Victor Uwaifo, he found the perfect
medium for his message in the trance-like grooves of Edo funk. With pulsating
rhythms awash in cosmic synth-fields and lyrics that express a deep personal
vision, he found great success at the dawn of the 1980s as one of Benin City’s
most persuasive ambassadors of funky highlife.
Victor Uwaifo was already a star in Nigeria when he built the legendary Joromi
studios in his hometown of Benin City in 1978. Using his unique guitar style as
the mediating force between West-African highlife and the traditional rhythms
and melodies of Edo music, he had scored several hits in the early seventies,
but once he had his own sixteen-track facility he was able to pursue his obsession with the synesthetic possibilities of pure sound, adding squelchy synths,
swirling organs and studio effects to hypnotic basslines and raw grooves. Between his own records and his production for other musicians, he quickly established himself as the godfather of Edo funk.
What unites these diverse musicians is their ability to strip funk down to its
primal essence and use it as the foundation for their own excursions inward to
the heart of Edo culture and outward to the furthest limits of sonic alchemy.
The twelve tracks on Edo Funk Explosion Volume 1 pulse with raw inspiration,
mixing highlife horns, driving rhythms, day-glo keyboards and tripped-out guitars into a funk experience unlike any other.

With his ongoing commitment to like-minded archivist label Finders Keepers Records, industrial music pioneer Steven Stapleton further entrusts us to lift the veil and expose “the right tracks” from his uber-legendary and oft misinterpreted psych/prog/punk peculiarity shopping list known as The Nurse With Wound List.
Following the critically lauded first instalment and it’s exclusively French tracklisting both parties now combine their vinyl-vulturous penchants to bring you the next ‘Strain Crack & Break’ edition which consists of twelve lesser-known German records that played a hugely important part in the initial foundations of the list which began to unfold when Stapleton was just thirteen years old.
From the perspective of a schoolboy Amon Düül (ONE) victim, at the start of a journey that commenced before phrases like kosmische and the xeno-ignant Krautrock tag had become mag hack currency, this compendium is devoid of the tropes that united what many would accurately argue to be the greatest progressive pop bands in Europe
(namely CAN, Neu! and Kraftwerk) and rather shatters the ingredients across a ground zero landscape for both inquisitive fans and socially rehabbing musos to begin to assemble a unique self-styled identity. If Krautrock was the music that journalist told us lurked behind schlager (German pop) in the 1970s, then this record includes the music that skulked behind Krautrock and perhaps refused to polish its backhanded name belt.
Including lesser-known artists like the late Wolfgang Dauner, whose career proceeded and outlived the kosmische movement while consistently informing and outsmarting them whenever they got stuck in their metronomic ruts, or how about Fritz Müller, the man who
was to Kraftwerk what Stuart Sutcliffe was to The Beatles but had more in common with Yoko and quite rightly couldn’t give a stuff about the Fab Four’s Hamburg roots.
Elsewhere we have a plethora of German bands made for German audiences as they try and shed secondhand flower power Americanisms and feel the benefits of much harder drugs and the realisations of difficult second album budgets while Kommune 1
newsflashes wipe smiles from everybody’s faces and replace them with opioid chic or acid-sarcastic grins. Bonzo Cockettes show us their Big Muffs and drummers ask for extra mics while Conny Plank goes for parliamentary office and gives babies good firm handshakes for the camera.
‘Strain Crack & Break: Volume Two’ is the sound of Steve Stapleton’s sponge-like mind and the dividends of anyone who was brave enough to even peek inside those brick-thick gatefold covers never mind drop the needle.
Over forty years since Nurse With Wound’s first album was released, Finders Keepers Records and Steve Stapleton take connoisseurs of our kind of music back to the disused elevator shaft towards ground zero. Arriving at the same checkout from different departments, Finders Keepers and Nurse With Wound continue to sing from the same hymnal with this ongoing collaborative attempt to officially, authentically and legally compile the best tracks from Steve’s list, where many overzealous erds have faltered (or simply, got the wrong end of the stick).
After ‘Strain Crack & Break: Volume One’ merely scratched the surface of this DIY dossier of elongated punk-prog peculiarities, this second lavish metallic gatefold double vinyl compendium drives a much deeper groove which, in accordance with Steve’s wishes, focusses exclusively on individual tracks of German origin - the country whose music forged the prototype of the NWW inventory in the form of his secondary school vinyl wantlist in the early 1970s, comprised of disassembled free jazz, unshowered stoner psych, hypnotic prog, deranged monk funk and fuzzed out Deutschmark bin bonzo beats.

Comet Records presents the Tony Allen & Afrika 70 reissue series with the classic late seventies first four solo albums of Tony Allen remastered and restored: Jealousy, Progress, No Accomodation for Lagos & No Discrimination, all coming in an heavy Deluxe Tip-On Jacket.
1978's No Accommodation for Lagos, Tony Allen's third solo album, is an effortless Afrobeat masterpiece. The Afrika 70 band floats through two of Tony's heaviest and most churning compositions.
With this album, we start to hear Tony Allen's unique style of Afro-Funk that he would explore for decades to come as a solo artist - it is groove-focused, a rolling meditation on rhythm.
The first track, "No Accommodation for Lagos" is one of Tony's most pointed and churning songs, recorded in a chaotic period following the army raid of Fela's compound. There is a seriousness to the funk, a real burning purpose in the performance of every instrument, from the horns to the shekere. Tony's performance is supercharged - he clearly showed up to the studio that day with a fire in his heart. The followup track, "African Message," is an Afrobeat compositional staple. Tony sits back in the cut through most of the supremely funky track until about seven minutes in, when he steps into the spotlight to express himself fully - his emotions, his frustrations, his convictions - in a fiery duet between his drumkit and his voice. The percussionists coalesce around him in support, lifting Tony up as he gives it his all.
Tony Allen was a musical and compositional visionary, and this album finds him beginning to explore that vision outside of Fela's immense gravitational pull. They are the start of a new era in Tony's fruitful career as a solo artist, opening the floodgates for his distinctive Afro-Funk sound and laying the foundation for the next generation of Afrobeat musicians to come.

Before drum‘n’bass there was Jungle. Born on the progressive reggae sound systems of the early 1990s, jungle was the UK’s answer to dancehall and one of Soul II Soul’s enduring legacies - take what’s already there and adapt it to make it unique. Fittingly, next up on the Funki Dred label are two of 1995’s most elusive jungle mixes: the sought after version of 'Missing You', giving vocal outtakes a deserved new life; and Dillinger’s Genius mix of 'Do You Love Enuff'. Both only previously available as limited-edition white labels, each has a strictly junglist foundation – edgy, headrush and dubwise haziness – overlaid with dreamy Funki Dred-style vocals, as Soul II Soul in the jungle gives a distinctive take on an under-appreciated black British style.

This limited vinyl-only and single-sided 12" gem of a jam by Tetzlaff, an originally well-kept secret Rico Puestel project from 1995, had it coming for over 20 years now...

The mystical inscription "Angliziskuss" appeared on the original audio tape cassette as well as the magnetic tape that carried several drum machine and bass guitar recordings from the mid and late 1990s until the early 2000s - totally forgotten until they emerged in 2011 when everything slowly started coming together.

"Angliziskuss" is a combination of the German word for "Anglicism" (vocabulary borrowed from English from another language) and "kiss", like one language kisses the other one throughout some kind of symbiotic and overriding act.

That initial naming gave a deeper meaning to the whole development of the production and triggered the gathering of all creative amendments to the track over the years that led to one final and closing addition to it about seven years ago: The dynamic meeting of an infamous, emotionally charged English vocal snippet and its more rational counterpoint German translation, delivering a subtle tension overall and within.

All embedded into one charming housier journey of over 14 minutes, the „Angliziskuss“ establishes an unique recipe of balearic-like piano playings, a disco-and-funk-styled live bass guitar theme, both futuristic and nostalgic synth lines based on one unadulterated 1980s drum machine foundation.

In collaboration with Brooklyn-based artist RDO/ATK, Sophia Saze makes her long-awaited return to her Dusk & Haze imprint with four slamming cuts on a release entitled ‘Stalker’.

Born in Tbilisi and now residing in Philadelphia after years living a nomadic lifestyle, Sophia Saze began her creative journey in her formative years with classical music and dance training. With a solid and natural musical foundation, Sophia became engulfed by electronic music leading to the launch of her Dusk & Haze imprint in 2017, before dropping a remix of Heathered Pearls on Ghostly International and the release of her much lauded debut album on Kingdoms. ‘Stalker’ sees her team up with old friend RDO/ATK who has been soaking up the dancefloor since the early 90s. With much of his influence stemming from the early east coast rave and club scene, his sound maintains a homage to the past without getting stuck in it. A sucker for a dirty 303, a breakneck amen, or a crushed 909, RDO/ATK’s style spans across genres from jungle to acid to broken beat and everything in-between.

The EP kicks off with a dynamic, jungle roller entitled ‘Stalker’ featuring old-school, amen breaks, stirring yet intriguing synths and hefty bass shatters balancing styles of glitch and funk together with pure class whilst ‘Fucking Crazy B’ lays focus on cold, syncopated grooves, chopped up shrieks and screams from a video of a traumatic personal incident and shimmering pads moving into ominous territories.

On the flip, ‘Talk To You In Your Brain’ delivers relentless kicks and spiralling acid squelches peppered with chilling vocal samples and frazzled fx that pulsates strikingly throughout until ‘Acid B’ rounds off proceedings with an effervescent, warehouse techno cut as the electrifying modulations bounce gracefully off the menacing percussion and slashing, 303 tones.

Freestyle Records are proud to present the first ever reissue of this rare Black Ark-era Lee "Scratch" Perry production on LP & CD w/ bonus tracks. Both formats feature liner notes from author of the acclaimed People Funny Boy: The Genius of Lee 'Scratch' Perry and Solid Foundation: An Oral History of Reggae, David Katz.

The late Bunny Rugs was best known as the frontman for legendary reggae band Third World, but prior to that he completed an apprenticeship at Lee Perry's Black Ark resulting in this solo LP, originally released in 1975 and credited to Bunny Scott.

The album captures the laid-back sessions of the early Black Ark, with a few surprising innovations lurking amongst the soul covers and love ballads. Highlights include the sought after Blaxploitation-influenced funk track 'Kinky Fly' featuring members of The Chi-Lites' backing band, passing through Perry's infamous studio whilst in Jamaica for a series of shows - their horn section and Chinna Smith's wah-wah guitar give the track its outstanding difference as synth overdubs add to the moody feeling, underpinned by the ghostly click tracks of the Conn Rhythm Unit (constituting one of Perry's earliest experiments with drum machines).

Breakup track 'Second Avenue' shows how suited Rugs' powerful, deep tenor was suited to a soul framework, the Chi-Lites' horns again making a striking difference. The Bee Gees' evergreen 'To Love Somebody' takes James Carr's soulful rendition as its reference and 'Big May' re-works the 'Return Of Django'/'Sick And Tired' rhythm, with a new drum part. while the broken-hearted 'What's The Use' was cut at the request of Sonia Pottinger, who ultimately failed to release it.

Somehow the sublime rendition of William DeVaughans' 'Be Thankful', recorded during the same session, was left off the LP - but appears here as a bonus track on the CD along with I Never Had It So Good & Hip Harry + it's version track.

Looking back on the sessions documented on this LP, Rugs said that Perry's creativity taught him that music could be limitless. As he explained, 'It was so simple that it became complex. The approach he has to music and to recording, I think the music nowadays lack that kind of intuition. He's somebody that would use pliers and a screwdriver to create percussion; he wouldn't hesitate to experiment. He was a little...not crazy, but somebody with that kind of thinking must be somewhere else, in another zone sometimes.'

Residing at the base of Mount Yōtei on Japan’s geologically wondrous island Hokkaido - with it’s volcanoes, hot springs and national park - Masaki “mfp” Konagi is no stranger to natural beauty. Having resided in L.A. and Melbourne in the past, mfp (or mindfullpeace) settled in this natural haven as the place to set down some roots and create.

Having begun his musical journey over a decade ago, including an appearance on Gilles Peterson’s “Brownswood Electr*c 2”, we are proud to announce his debut full length album “Natural Law”.

Drawing on long time collaborators and friends from his travels, mfp has pulled on his foundation in hip-hop and pushed its boundaries to breaking point, embodying the true ethos of the genre as an ever expandable principle.

Featuring Melbourne stalwarts Simon Mavin (Hiatus Kaiyote) and ALIEN (Piette Aillion) plus Sydney’s Natalie Slade (Eglo), funk maestro sauce81 and hip-hop hero Stan Smith, mfp’s productions ebb and flow, building and releasing pressure, exploring discord and harmony through electronic polyrhythms and diverse explorations in slaps, swirls, lopes and kicks.

Masaki has also opened the very first organic food store in the area - Pyram Organics & Plants - embodying his, (and our) ethos in food and music as a way to bring ecological awareness to reconnect with nature and our planet for sustainable living.

Legendary Turkish psych innovators Moğollar grace the Artone Studios in Haarlem for a masterclass in the original Anadolu psych roots, cutting a compendium of their rawest hits and most-wanted psychedelic rock classics – including the J.Dilla-sampled ‘Haliç’te Güneşin Batışı’ – for the latest edition of Night Dreamer’s essential Direct-to-Disc series.

In the beginning, there was Moğollar.

Formed at the end of 1967 with five young musicians, Moğollar were the original Anadolu psych originators. They were the first Turkish pop band who tried to blend the microtonal folklore and traditional instruments of rural Anatolia with Western pop and rock; they were the first Turkish psychedelic band to achieve overseas recognition, winning the prestigious French Grand Prix Du Disque in 1971 after a period in Paris; and they coined the very phrase ‘Anadolu Pop’ with their first album release. They were radical, innovative, and hugely popular, and when the great artists of the Turkish rock revolution appeared on the scene, Moğollar were already there – stars including Barış Manço, Selda, Cem Karaca and Ersen all recorded with them or briefly joined the line-up. Moğollar were and are the undisputed pioneers of the style.

More than fifty years after first forming, Moğollar materialised in the Artone Studios to give a masterclass in fuzzed-out folklore and Turkish psychedelic roots for Night Dreamer’s Direct-to-Disc series – a fitting follow-up to Night Dreamer’s BaBa ZuLa set, coming straight from the group who laid the foundations of the genre.

In 1971, having already released numerous singles, they secured an album deal with French label Guild International du Disques. Travelling to Paris that year, they recorded their first major statement, Danses Et Rythmes de la Turquie d’Hier à Aujourd’hui, a set later released in Turkey as Anadolu Pop. The album won a prestigious French award – the Grand Prix du Disque from the L’Académie Charles Cros, an honour that had been won in the past by Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd and Soft Machine. Moğollar, and Anadolu psychedelic pop, had arrived on the international scene.

In 1976, after many more releases and line-up changes, and pressured by an increasingly difficult political situation in Turkey, the group dissolved for seventeen years, and various members dispersing to exile in Paris and Berlin. However, after a petition from their fanbase asked them to reform, they agreed to play a comeback concert in 1993. It was a huge success, and reunited, they went on to record some of their greatest work. Led today by original member Cahit Berkay alongside original bass player Taner Öngür, and joined by Cem Karaca’s son Emrah, Moğollar continue to push their uniquely original brand of fuzz-scorched folk-rock and crackling Anadolu psychedelia forward into a new millennium.

For this Night Dreamer session, Moğollar spent two days in the Artone studios, recording sides A and B on the first day, and C and D on day two. With BaBa ZuLa’s Murat Ertel adding contemporary sonic punch behind the boards, the band revisited their most renowned hits to lay down energised new versions, and dusted off some of the most sought-after cuts from their enormous catalogue. The result is a showcase set by a band that are one of true pioneers in global psychedelic rock, and a masterclass in the true roots of the Anadolu psych sound: fuzzed-out, committed, and straight from the source.

Highlights of the set include:
-‘Haliç’te Güneşin Batışı’, an Anadolu psych classic which was first issued as the b-side to the ‘Ternek’ single in 1970, before being recorded again for the Danses Et Rythmes de la Turquie d’Hier à Aujourd’hui LP in 1971. A tense slab of roughneck psychedelia, the final breakdown of the original recording was sampled by none other than J. Dilla for the ‘Intro’ cut on Welcome To Detroit.
-‘Gel Gel’, a 1974 song with head-nodding tempo change, originally featuring Cem Karaca. It is here voiced by his son Emrah Karaca, now a permanent member of Moğollar.
-‘Çığrık’, a 1972 cut which originally appeared on one of Moğollar’s most coveted singles, is a funky psych-rock workout with an unforgettably riff, a ringing guitar motif, and twist of Led Zeppelin.
-‘Düm Tek’, the title track of the bands second full LP (Düm Tek, 1975), a raw psych screamer, laced with hardcore davul drum patterns.
-‘Bi’Sey Yapmali’, first recorded for the 1996 Dört Renk album, became the anthem of huge street protests that took place in Turkey that year after an investigation uncovered a huge network of state, police and mafia corruption.
-‘Dinleyiverin Gari’, a hit from the 1994 come-back album Moğollar 94, addresses a notorious corruption scandal of the era.

""Dad! Look, we can see the moon through the window."

Record made on Earth. All children, young and old, you will hear my heart here without a stethoscope. This record is "home-made with a window open to the world". Inspired by my family and friends, these music tracks are dedicated to them!" The Architect

The Architect takes us on a trip through the world and styles: Hip Hop, Jazz, Electro, Soul, Funk... A true vinyl lover and real digger, turntables have always been his favorite playground. Hyperactive beatmaker, he is also engaged with different side projects such as L’Entourloop and Bloc.

The success of his first EP "Foundations" released in 2013, including several hits such as "Les Pensées" (8M views) or "Dreader Than Dread (ft. Skarra Mucci & L'Entourloop)" (15M views), led him to do more 200 shows around the world and accumulate more than 35M of streams on the platforms.

Seven years later, The Architect finally returns with a new single "Darling", the first single from his long-awaited new album entitled “Une plage sur la lune” to be released on June 12th, 2020. A "home-made album with a window open to the world" as he describes it himself.

One thing hip-hop has never been great at – and certainly something for which it has zero reputation – is nuanced emotion. Enter Large Professor and ‘Looking at the Front Door’, the group’s first single on Wild Pitch Records and the lead out for their stunning ‘Breaking Atoms’ album.

Wrapped around a loop from Donald Byrd’s Blue Note classic ‘Think Twice’, bolstered by the infectious chorus of ‘Chick A Boom’ by The Pazant Brothers and Beaufort Express, it’s a melancholy tale of love gone wrong. It was a brave choice of lead single in the 1990 hip-hop landscape, plucked from an album full of genuine head-nodders and standout tracks. It was also the right choice – a piece of production perfection laced with romantic honesty.
The B-side also strikes a different tack, a tale of a brother who “doesn’t fight, his brain is his left and right.” Using a solid foundation of drums from Funkadelic’s ‘You’ll Like It Too’ (most famously used on Eric B & Rakim’s ‘I Know You Got Soul’), Large Pro weaves his tale of an ambitious, studious man over an original organ line (by JD Drumsticks) that wouldn’t sound out of place at a hockey rink. The theme is sledgehammer subtle – don’t sell drugs, stay in school – but delivered with the lightness of touch that would be Main Source’s signature.

This is the first official UK release, and the first time both sides have been together on a 7”.

Reissue of this long lost funky Afrobeat/Reggae classic from 1978
For fans of Fela Kuti, Peter Tosh, Bob Marley, Segun Bucknor

The year is 1978 and one hot thing from the musical underground is Reggae music from Jamaica, the USA or the UK, where most of the acts had musicians of Caribbean descent. Reggae had the groove, the rebel spirit, and the relaxed attitude all in one, to enchant a big part of the world’s inhabitants. And while at least Jamaica as a relatively poor and so-called "Third World“ country proved to spawn Reggae acts of the highest quality, literally nobody dared to look further and dig deeper into the underground except of a few maniacs who were not satisfied with spinning Marley over and over again. And maybe they stumbled over the 1970s Afro Beat sound from countries like Zambia or Nigeria and then got interested. What did they find in the simmering metropolises of this still mysterious continent? Somewhere in Nigeria, they would have certainly caught a glimpse of mind-blowing performances of The Sea Lions, a six-piece group mixing the then hip Reggae and Afro Beat styles to generate fresh and furious music with a hypnotizing atmosphere.



Polyrhythmic beat patterns build the foundation, the utterly fruitful soil for the heartwarming melodies wailed out by the guitars and the commanding vocals with their conjuring charm. Great organ work builds the link between the groove section and the melody instruments. You can imagine what a pleasant experience this band might have been live back in 1978 when their sole album "Free The People“ got released. And this album, of which copies in only good conditions already fetch prices of $450, while nice clean pieces might go up to $1200, lives up to the expectations one might have from watching a live show by the Sea Lions. The sound is vivid, transparent, powerful, and clean enough to make the music a real pleasure listening to, but earthy enough to present nothing but the band going wild here. The songs all have a similar pace, not too fast, but swinging and pulsating to spread their energy to and among the listeners. The melodies are simple but come from the depth of the heart. This feels typical for African 70s music and despite being kind of reduced, these melodies keep haunting you still even hours after the record been taken off the turntable and put back into its sleeve. They bring images of an ever pulsating city by night, warm climate, palm trees, people at the bar, a witches cauldron of sounds, smells, voice, and pictures. And you feel the magic floating through the air while this groove will not let you go so easily.

You can either dance your soul out to this ultimate reissue or you can sit down, listen and let the music tell you a story of the dark corners of the big city, the narrow alleys that lead you into a boiling labyrinth of mystical dreams. And in songs like "You Can Make It If You Try“ you will find the whole magic of the African world, a world so fascinating for us Europeans but still so unapproachable in some ways and dangerous for the weak. Do not try to resist, this is your pleasure. Grab a copy and the Sea Lions will carry you off to their place. I haven’t heard such a killer Afro Beat and Reggae album with songs this exciting and wild in a long time. If you equally love Peter Tosh, Bob Marley, Segun Bucknor, and Fela Kuti, look no further. Here is the spiritual essence of all these great artists merged into one giant act.

ATA's newest release comes from The Yorkshire Film & Television Orchestra and features the vocal talents of Bugalu Foundation & Mind On Fire vocalist Martin Connor. This cover of the Georgie Fame classic "Somebody Stole My Thunder" features a powerhouse vocal performance from Martin Connor alongside the heavyweight big band brass sound of the Yorkshire Film & Television Orchestra's 10 piece horn section. This 7" single is backed with Rachel Modest's debut recording for the label, her intense vocal rendition of the Ben E King classic "I Who Have Nothing". Both tracks feature the trademark elements of the ATA sound: Big brass arrangements sit alongside the propulsive rhythm section, perfectly supporting both singers incredible performances.

Originally appearing as part of ATA Records free download series "Hard Work, No Pay" these 2 tracks have been sought after on vinyl for some time after garnering radio play and positive responses from BBC6 Music's Craig Charles Funk & Soul Show and the Huey Morgan show.

The Yorkshire Film And Television Orchestra is the brainchild of ATA founders Neil Innes & Pete Williams and multi-instrumentalist/arranger Steve Parry, who was approached by Neil & Pete in 2014 to provide the horn arrangements and brass performances for a then untitled British library style track intended for release as a 45. That track went on to become the track "Hawkshaw Philly" and features on the compilation "Early Works: Funk, Soul & Afro Rarities From The Archives" released earlier this year. Their shared love of huge big band arrangements and British library music ensured future collaborations, notably on this year's "ATA Records: The Library Archive Vol. 1".

Martin Connor is a well known face to anyone familiar with the Mancherster music scene and has spent 10 years as part of the Manchester collective "Mind On Fire" before providing vocals for the Latin-Funk band Bugalu Foundation (Legere Recordings).

Sheffield born,Rachel Modest developed her unique vocal ability within the churches and gospel choirs of her local community. Now based in Leeds she has developed a powerful and soulful vocal style that takes inspiration from artists such as Madeleine Bell, Dee Dee Warwick, and Dusty Springfield. Her debut for the label was this cover of the Ben E King classic "I, Who Have Nothing", which was later followed by an appearance on the debut 45 by The Magnificent Tape Band "Patterns in My Mind"and her own solo 45 "I Try/Forbidden Love", as well as collaborating with The Magnificent Tape Band on their debut LP "The Subtle Art Of Distraction" all of which received radio support from the likes of Gilles Peterson (BBC6 Music), Huey Morgan (BBC6 Music/Radio 2) and Lauren Laverne (BBC6 Music).

We're glad to be back with our latest reissue, a couple undercover soul gems from the Midwest originally self-released in 1984: LaVerne Washington's "The Promise" and "I Found What I've Been Searching For".

LaVerne has dedicated her life to the arts in every possible way. As an artist herself but also behind the scenes, helping and supporting her contemporaries fulfil their callings. Charlie Parker, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Mary Lou Williams - LaVerne grew up in Kansas City listening to the all time jazz greats, and soon discovered she was blessed with a keen sense for playing music by ear, playing the piano to what she would hear on the radio. In her teens whilst the 60s transitioned to the 70s' disco and funk era, LaVerne was there to witness it all, and she would go on to study music at the Charlie Parker Academy where she was inspired to become an entertainer.

At Langston University, LaVerne kept studying music where her career blossomed, founding and touring the US with the gospel group "Emery Shaw and the Voices of Praise", singing in several college bands and with her choir "The Voices Of Bethel". LaVerne would go on to perform notably with her bands "LaVerne Washington and Rococo" and the "LaVerne Washington Quartet", and record several songs in KC including "The Promise" and "I Found What I've Been Searching For" in 1984 before moving to Washington DC.

In DC, LaVerne was offered a position as a Program specialist with the National Endowment For The Arts where she started supporting other artists through her work. Over the next couple decades, LaVerne became an associate producer for the Rhythm and Blues Foundation and the Pioneer Awards Ceremonies held in New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles, which saw the likes of Prince, Aretha Franklin and Jerry Butler attending among others. She has also managed and was mentored by DeeDee Sharp and consulted with artists including Bonnie Raitt (who acted as a mentor to Laverne as well), Kim Weston, Kathy Sledge (SisterSledge), Smokey Robinson and G.C Cameron (Spinners). During that time, LaVerne has kept singing, on her own and as a backing vocalist for DeeDee Sharp and Freda Payne and has never stopped her lifelong dedication to music and the Arts.

The Promise original 7" was LaVerne's last recording in Kansas City before her move to DC and the beginning of her involvement behind the scenes. Channelling her gospel roots - with impeccable arrangement, a contagious drum machine led rhythm section, soaring vocals and relatable lyrics, "The Promise" is guaranteed to bring back smiles to dancefloors and living rooms alike! "I Found What I've Been Searching For" on the flip is a beautiful soul ballad which really showcases the strength and emotion in LaVerne's voice.

Back again in it's original 7" format, we've had the audio transferred and restored from the original 24 track tape provided by LaVerne, and got the recordings re-mixed for the best possible sound! Floating Points behind the mixing desk for this new iteration of a lost classic, comes with a 14"x14" poster of the original picture