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Michigan Band EJ & the Echoes: Rediscovering a Soul Legacy

The story of EJ & the Echoes represents a remarkable chapter in Michigan's music history and the early American soul scene. Its origins date back to the late 1950s, when Everett J. "EJ" Gronda was already active as a young musician. While studying at Central Michigan University in the early 1960s, he met the talented vocalist Manuel "Manny" Holcolm. Together with other musicians, they formed vocal groups that soon performed throughout the state and even recorded near Detroit's legendary Motown studios.

In 1963, Gronda founded EJ & the Echoes, a band that quickly gained popularity at dances, clubs, and weddings across Michigan. With Manny Holcolm as lead singer, the group developed a distinctive harmony-driven sound, blending influences ranging from the Beatles to James Brown. The band served as a house band in Traverse City, opened for national acts, and performed regularly at well-known Detroit venues.

Between 1964 and 1967, EJ & the Echoes released several singles on the Diamond Jim Records label. Although major commercial success eluded them at the time, their recordings later found international recognition. Today, their songs remain staples of the British Northern Soul scene.

After the band dissolved, the members pursued different paths. EJ Gronda became a schoolteacher but remained devoted to music throughout his life. In 2006, the musicians reunited for an emotional jam session. EJ Gronda passed away in 2022, followed by Manuel Holcolm in 2024. Their musical legacy endures-on this vinyl release, dance floors, and in the memory of a remarkable era.

Our sincere thanks go to author and blues historian Fred Reif. He wrote the accompanying text and provided all the pictures of the band printed in the gatefold cover. Without him, this project would not have been possible.

A delve into the murky avenues of sonic territories, exploring off-grid zones & askew worlds – Daisy Moon leans harder into her 4/4 vision in this dancefloor-ready EP – the first release for Off-Kilter.

Each track pulses along to its own singular logic, with Daisy’s distinctive voice and vocal manipulations playfully drizzled throughout, marking an elegant collision of her sonic worlds.

Spirit Princess is a breakneck peak-time explosion – club-ready and bouncy with a pulsing bassline fit to burst from the subs of any system underpinning waves of textured ambience, nagging synths and granular gusts of found sound.

Fuelled with late night techno energy, Grain Pip offers a heads down counterpoint to the title track, while the B side serves up different energies again. Perhaps the most playful track on the record – The Stuff – demonstrates Daisy’s cheekier side as a producer and person, as inspired by a summer of fun with friends on festival dancefloors: a house banger stuffed with melodic stabs, pitched vocals and swung hats, made for the joys and follies of the 3am dancefloor. Drop Cycle rounds things off with a trippy, rolling excursion of delays and warped synths.

Dizzying sonics and relentless dancefloor energy with razor-sharp precision and uncompromising force.

Regal delivers his first full EP on Backspin, marking a defining moment for the label he founded. More than just another release, the Forgotten Heroes EP captures the essence of Regal's vision: groovy, forward-moving techno that balances raw club energy with atmosphere, emotion and narrative.

The title track 'Forgotten Heroes' sets the EP in motion with a sense of controlled urgency. A rolling, slightly breaktinged groove pushes forward relentlessly, while an eerie, almost nostalgic synth melody hovers in the background, giving the track an emotional pull. 'Concentrate' shifts the focus inward_ bleeping motifs, tight claps and restless hihats circle around spoken fragments that feel like thoughts caught between the peak of the night and the quiet hours before sunrise.

On the B-side, 'Forte' accelerates into pure momentum: sharp, bleep-led sequences and forward pressure combine into a rush that feels like racing through the city at night. 'Soft Killer' deepens the mood with a darker, dominant edge, its stripped back power and razor-sharp sounds cutting clean through the mix. Closing track 'Wild Magic' offers a final release of tension, slowing the pace into a lighter, more house-leaning groove. Warm pads and a catchy, uplifting melody bring a sense of air and openness, letting the EP drift out on a hopeful, almost euphoric note.

Regal's comeback EP 'Forgotten Heroes' stands as a personal statement and a cornerstone release for Backspin. It's techno built on groove, contrast and character, made to leave a lasting impression on the dancefloor.

Genning's new EP is a musical journey through four unique tracks, each with its own atmosphere.
Stork brings nostalgia and the feeling of childhood discovery with a steady groove and deep bass. At Home is a smooth, sea-inspired track perfect for closing a set. Clockwork energizes with a blend of electro-trance melodies and powerful tech-house bass. Forget You surprises with processed female vocals and analog synths, inspiring positivity on the dancefloor.

This original album unites soul and positive emotions through long musical journeys and takes your mind to dance.

LA underground hubs DISCOS XXX aka DX3 and Elbow Grease join forces to proudly present Point Winona Sound Library Vol 1 — featuring 20 distinct artists from the inspired local dance music scene, working under one unified studio roof in various collaborative
formation at the mighty Los Feliz hilltop palace Point Winona, overseeing the city they collectively represent. These timeless warehouse-wrecking tracks all stand on their own, but the compilation as a whole offers a solid geographic sonic statement with shared rhythmic DNA and bold rooted-futurist production blueprints, guided by the champion efforts of studio executive producers/curators Tavish DJ and Dave Aju.
The BPS stage-setting opener evokes crispy A.M. hours with lush Detroit-meets-Cali feels on “Within Reason” — then studio dream team 5 ATMs bring the dubwise floor vibes up a notch on “A Dub Called Mondo” and Chitown-to-LA legend Scott K lays down an FM bass-laced acid house heater with “Tighter & Tighter”. Nashville-born producer Gryph funks things up on the live space boogie bump of “Winona at Sunset” while SSRI, comprised of Underground Resistance’s DJ Dex/Nomadico, Aju, and Black Lodge’s fearless leader Kosmik, drop fierce robo-Italo bliss on “Omnicallora”. Things take a further psychedelic twist with the PW edit of Scotty Coats’ sublime midtempo tripper “Be Work Zone Alert”, then Omakase’s own Gold Code alongside longtime rave brother Aju drop the nasty J Saul-salute “Yolo Jungle”, and Warehouse Preservation Society aka Tavish DJ & TK fully detonate floors inna raucous Wicked Crew stylee with “Data Bliss”. Undisputed LA scene queen Stacy Christine arrives with her shining debut “Smart Move”, where she and Aju trade sly vox lines of party advice over a bouncing tech banger for the ages, before the “Obsesion Romantica (Free Winona Dub)” sees Sisters Of Sound aka Maddy Maia and Tottie's, OG track getting stripped back and fired up to acidic peak time form. Then Dave Aju and SF homies Moniker aka EO & Kenneth Scott unleash wild uptempo melodic bruk heaven on “Chuy Luis”, and Vastir sends us home with the stratospheric drum n bass closer "Turnpike"

10 years of El Hey, pressed into wax.

A decade of sweat, sound, and raw energy has led us to this: our 10 years anniversary various.
Six tracks, one vision, and zero boundaries.

From the deep textures of Dub and IDM to the groove of House, and the driving force of Techno, Break and Minimal, this record is a celebration of the eclectic sound we’ve been digging since day one.
Featuring the core family Antoine LV, Elhadji, Sebizarre, and NOCH, alongside special guests and long-time friends Camion Bazar and Wooka.

6 tracks. 10 years. One record.

Ground16 proves his genre-bending talent with his latest release on A.2AUM, the new sublabel from SEVEB. The “Breaking Through” EP is like a Swiss Army Knife: Highly versatile, broken beats on the A-side and 4×4 on the flipside.

A DJ must-have, suitable for every occasion, whether opening slots, early-morning closings or the afters. Ranging from electro to deep house and broken beats, plus an uplifting techno remix by Turkish delight Pink Concrete, the record carries an overall dreamy, texture-rich sound aesthetic.

Ezra Collective’s Chapter 7, now celebrating its tenth anniversary, captured the restless energy of a young band finding its voice - spiritually curious, rhythmically fearless, committed to community as compass. Built on grooves made for sweat-slicked basements and late-night communion, its seven movements reveal a blueprint forming: jazz as a living expression of where you come from and who you stand with.

The forthcoming Chapter 7 (10th Anniversary Edition) reissue revisits that formative statement from a band that would soon become trailblazers as both the first British jazz act to win the Mercury Prize, and then a BRIT Award. Remastered for vinyl and expanded with new incarnations - live cuts from NPR's Tiny Desk and the band’s landmark Royal Albert Hall performance - the reissue presents Chapter 7 not simply as an early document, but a living manifesto: rhythm as ritual, youth culture as sanctuary, and jazz as an open invitation.

Pressed on black vinyl, housed in a single sleeve jacket with printed inner sleeve, featuring credits and a message from the band.






k B3. Chapter 7 Live at NPR's Tiny Desk
[m] B4. I Have a God (Feat. Zara McFarlane) [Live at the Royal Albert Hall]






[k] B3. Chapter 7 [Live at NPR's Tiny Desk]
[m] B4. I Have a God (Feat. Zara McFarlane) [Live at the Royal Albert Hall]






[k] B3. Chapter 7 [Live at NPR's Tiny Desk]
[m] B4. I Have a God (Feat. Zara McFarlane) [Live at the Royal Albert Hall]

Soul Jazz Records celebrate 25 years of working in partnership with Studio One with brand new editions of FIVE of their bestselling CLASSIC Studio One collections all released on limitededition one-off pressing coloured double vinyl. Also available in new limited-edition card wallet CD editions. The new edition featured albums are Studio One Funk, Studio One Dub, Studio One Ska, Studio One Roots and Studio One Classics. Studio One Roots set the standard for Soul Jazz Records’ long-standing series and features many of the classic artists from Clement 'Sir Coxsone’ Dodd’s mighty roster of reggae. This album includes Freddie McGregor, Willie Williams, Cornell Campbell, Alton Ellis, Devon Russell alongside some of the defining in-house groups of Jamaican reggae history - The Sound Dimension, Brentford All-Stars, The Skatalites, New Establishment and more. The album is filled with a mixture of seminal cuts and super-rarities from the vast vaults of 13 Brentford Road.

Stand-out tracks include Alton Ellis’s ‘Blackish White’, a surreal and powerful Afro-centric dream, Count Ossie’s Rastafarian drummers’ genre-defying interpretation of Booker T and The MGs ‘Meditation’, Willie Williams aweinspiring versioning of the Skatalites' seminal Rastafari anthem ‘Addis Ababa’ and many, many more. Original sleevenotes by Lloyd Bradley (author of When Reggae Was King), compiled by Mark Ainley (Honest Jons), high-quality Soul Jazz mastering, wicked images of Count Ossie and the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari on the cover, and a rare image of Clement Dodd and musicians inside the studio at Studio One on the full colour inner sleeves. “There isn't a weak number across these 16 tracks, from the Gaylads’ ode to ‘Africa’ and Devon Russell's version of the heavyweight ‘Drum Song’ rhythm, to stunning instrumentals such as Jackie Mittoo and the Cyclones with nyahbinghi drummer Count Ossie on ‘Meditation’, Lenny Hibbert’s sparkling vibe work over Mittoo's ‘Ghetto Organ’ and The Sound Dimension’s ‘Congo Rock.” Pitchfork “The music of this compilation is of a rare, rare beauty and is essential to anyone's reggae collection.” All Music

Soul Jazz Records’ long out of print classic ‘Studio One Funk’ collection is being re-released in three new one-off limited-edition coloured pressing 18th anniversary format editions!
Firstly, a heavyweight special limited edition one-pressing only red 2xLP vinyl + download. Secondly, there is also a new special limited-edition one-off pressing edition red-pressed CD enclosed in jewel case and slipcase. And thirdly there is a very limited unique new one-off pressing red-cased cassette format (200 copies only)! 18 years on from its original release Studio One Funk remains one of our Studio One releases most in-demand titles and like all our earlier special coloured editions is sure to sell out fast!
Studio One Funk is made up of rare and unreleased Reggae Funk from the vaults of Studio One. Ever since the birth of Funk in America, the sound has been an ever-present ingredient in the melting pot of Studio One’s musical output.
The music on this release is a combination of originals, US covers and versions of existing Studio One cuts. Jackie Mittoo shows his appreciation for Booker T and The MGs, the studio group at Memphis’ famous Stax Records with ‘Hang Em High’, itself a cover of a film soundtrack by Dominic Frontiere. Incredibly this version has never before been released. Booker T’s super-funky ‘Melting Pot’ is also covered by the little-known Underground Vegetables.
Other versions include Isaac Hayes’ classic Blaxploitation soundtrack ‘Shaft’ again by Cedric Im Brooks track - another unreleased gem, straight from the tape master. Motown gets a look in with Alton’s stripped-down version of the Spinners classic ‘It’s A Shame’, written by Stevie Wonder and Syreeta.
James Brown is apparent in spirit with the JBs-inspired groove on the super rare cut “Now” by Lee Arab. Lloyd Williams similarly does a fine Kingston-style version of the hardest-working man in showbusiness on ‘Reggae Feet’.
Version-wise, we have ‘Idleberg’, Cedric Im Brooks tough instrumental cut on Horace Andy’s seminal ‘Skylarking’. The little-known Prince Moonie gives us a rare DJ cut of another Horace Andy classic, ‘See A Man’s Face’.
Pablove Black’s cut of Sidewalk Doctor (A/K/A Poco Tempo) is one of a handful of Studio One releases featuring Augustus Pablo’s trademark instrument, the melodica, played by Black himself.
Add to these original cuts from Studio One’s heavyweight session players including Leroy Sibbles, Jackie Mittoo, Leroy Sibbles, Eric Frater, Leroy ‘Horsemouth’ Wallace, Richard Ace, Vin Gordon and more and you have one of the finest selections of reggae and funk you will ever hear.







"This collection goes deep into the Brentford Road vaults and unearths a rake of previously unreleased gems alongside hard to find classics. Heavy and inspirational, totally unique and essentially timeless." Straight No Chaser
"An absolute treasure trove for the collector as well as being great for the ears and feet. Jackie Mittoo's 'Hang Em High' is worth the price of the album on its own." Echoes
"A superb collection that shows how much many Jamaican musicians were influenced by the heavy funk belting out of American studios from the early seventies onwards.” Touch
"The most satisfying listening experience so far in the Studio One series." The Wire
"Rare and unreleased grooves from Jamaica's house of excellence." Mojo

Mike Cooper returns to Discrepant with The Dream Island of Birds, a release that blurs the lines between memory, field recording, and reimagined sound.

In the early 1990s, Cooper met illustrator and writer Charles van Sandwyk while walking on a small island in Fiji. Van Sandwyk was living there quietly, working from a modest bamboo house near the beach. Years later, Cooper learned that following a serious car accident, van Sandwyk experienced vivid dreams during his recovery — one of which became a small illustrated book titled The Dream Island of Birds. A signed postcard from that book still hangs in Cooper’s studio.

In 2012, Cooper spent a month as artist-in-residence on Pulau Ubin, a small island between Singapore and Malaysia, recording birds and insects across the island. Home to more than 300 resident and migratory bird species, Pulau Ubin provided the source material for this album, later combined with electronics and digital processing. The track titles reference some of the island’s more evocatively named birds, though the sounds themselves are not literal representations. One piece is not derived from live birds at all, but imagined entirely through electronic means.

Neither documentary nor abstraction, The Dream Island of Birds sits between field recording, memory, and invention — an island heard through time and circuitry.

The repress sold out double quick, so the label has commissioned another repress in transparent green vinyl!

Delusions Of Grandeur proudly welcomes back 6th Borough Project, the Scottish duo known for their deep-rooted devotion to dusty MPC jams, late-night disco refractions, and the raw, low-slung house grooves that have made them underground staples for over a decade. The Deal EP hears them at their best.

To celebrate three decades of one of electronic music’s most iconic tracks, ‘Insomnia’ by Faithless will be released as a 12” single on orange vinyl. Featuring classic mixes of the track including fan favourite Armand Van Helden European Vacation Mix as well as the Original Mix, this colour vinyl is housed in a replica die-cut Cheeky Records house bag and will be released on 5th June.

In the early 1990s, as techno began to emerge from the shadows of New Beat and EBM, a number of tracks crossed over into wider club circulation, helping define the sound of a new era. Among them was “Fingerfoc” by Friends Of Carlotta, the project of German producer Volker Then.

Originally released in 1990 on ZYX Records, “Fingerfoc / Alles Klar” quickly achieved cult status. Both tracks are driven by punchy drum machine patterns, sharp synth stabs and looping vocal fragments, combining the rhythmic directness of New Beat with the emerging minimalism of techno. “Fingerfoc” stands out for its hypnotic repetition and stripped-down structure, while “Alles Klar” takes a slightly more playful, rhythmic approach. Together, they capture the raw, functional club aesthetic of the early 1990s.

Limited to 300 copies on black vinyl and 200 copies on crystal silver vinyl, this new edition of “Fingerfoc / Alles Klar” pairs the original mixes with two previously unreleased remixes and two previously unheard recordings, offering a broader glimpse into the project's output during this formative period.

In the early 1990s, as techno began to emerge from the shadows of New Beat and EBM, a number of tracks crossed over into wider club circulation, helping define the sound of a new era. Among them was “Fingerfoc” by Friends Of Carlotta, the project of German producer Volker Then.

Originally released in 1990 on ZYX Records, “Fingerfoc / Alles Klar” quickly achieved cult status. Both tracks are driven by punchy drum machine patterns, sharp synth stabs and looping vocal fragments, combining the rhythmic directness of New Beat with the emerging minimalism of techno. “Fingerfoc” stands out for its hypnotic repetition and stripped-down structure, while “Alles Klar” takes a slightly more playful, rhythmic approach. Together, they capture the raw, functional club aesthetic of the early 1990s.

Limited to 300 copies on black vinyl and 200 copies on crystal silver vinyl, this new edition of “Fingerfoc / Alles Klar” pairs the original mixes with two previously unreleased remixes and two previously unheard recordings, offering a broader glimpse into the project's output during this formative period.

Faith Beat’s 14th signal comes from Ferrari - 4 tracks mixing peak time bass lines, late night vocals, and classic US house influences.

House music legends NATURAL RHYTHM deliver a 4 track EP of some of their finest work. This release has the vibe that will get people up, keep them moving and keep the trainspotters looking.

To mark its 20th birthday, Lisbon-born label Enchufada is releasing A Lisbon Club Story - 20 hand-picked tracks bridging bass, trap, grime and rave with baile funk, kuduro, batida, Afro-house and more dance-oriented styles. A mix of 12 archive selections and eight fresh cuts, the LP unites some of the boldest champions of Afro-diasporic and global bass music today, from household names in Portugal such as Buraka Som Sistema - back with their first track in 12 years, DJ Marfox and Shaka Lion to newgen dynamos like Vanyfox and international stars like Dengue Dengue Dengue and Mina.