Buscar:journey

A new colossal star rises in the twilight of funky soul jazz as Ernie Hawks releases his debut album "Scorpio Man" on Timmion Records. The impressive trombonist/flutist, is known to hold no punches, when performing live in the ranks of The Soul Investigators. Here he delivers a fierce selection of S.O.U.L. and Cymande flavored instrumentals that also bring to mind some of the finest sample-fodder library music.

The album's name, "Scorpio Man" might come from the stinging and slightly intimidating style Hawks handles the trombone slide, known to pierce the hearts and souls of the ladies in the front row during his live performances. On this album, Ernie rides to battle equipped only with the flute, but this does not mean we will be exposed to some smooth jazz snooze fest. Rather Ernie handles his instrument with muscular rawness at times and moody ambiance at others, sliding with ease into any groove that the extended Soul Investigators band lays down.

"Scorpio Man" is no one trick pony, and the listener will be shifted around from the exhilarating psych funk of "Scorpio Walk" all the way to the airy moods of "Street of Tears". Take a chance with the Scorpio Man, his sting will give you a funky high much better than what they sell in the streets.

Females have never figured strongly in the ranks of blues and rock guitar players, but the woman featured on this LP can claim to be one of the formative influences on modern rock 'n' roll guitar. Sister Rosetta Tharpe is remarkable, not just because she was an acclaimed gospel singer from the late Thirties to her death in 1973, but because she was also one of the earliest exponents of the electric guitar. In fact she helped to invent the whole concept of rock lead guitar. Her guitar-playing, which featured a fingerpicking style unusual at the time, strongly influenced Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Etta James, Little Richard and Bonnie Raitt. Enjoy some of those moments on this collection selected from her prolific first recording decade.

After two impressive remix EPs taken from ELLEN ALLIEN's seventh studio album, 'Nost', BPitch Control unveil round three with another heavyweight lineup of contributors stepping up to the plate to deliver their own interpretations of the queen bee's original works.

This time around we're honoured to have ALAN OLDHAM, EOMAC, AMOTIK and XDB volunteering their services to bring a whole new dimension to the music from 'Nost'. Each of the four artists has earned a sterling reputation, with a style all of their own.

Finally the long-awaited second series of 'Invisible Family' outings has arrived. Label boss and compiler GK Machine has this to say: 'Beyond ecstatic to get these tracks out. The Gazeebo track I've been playing in my sets for years. Digital only but SO great it definitely needed to get pressed onto wax!! I would DJ with it using Ableton and speed it up a lot so for the vinyl I asked Jon (Nedza) who I've been a huge fan of since his Community Recordings releases on Grayhound and Imperial Dub, whether he could speed it up a little bit before we pressed it up. Now it's 100% perfect: a Moroder-esque cosmic stomper that's sure to set any dancefloor alight. The Apiento track is another one that's been gestating for a long time...first appearing around the time the original "E.S.P." 12' appeared on the wonderful Golf Channel Recordings in 2014. Secret Circuit gave it a complete overhaul, in fact several complete overhauls, plus some of his signature guitar and has turned the already blissful track into an afro-esque, trippy, beautiful, beautiful piece of music that (IMO) is one of his best yet. Utterly gorgeous!!
Then there's the boy-girl retro-future duo Der Kundalini coming from the wonderful Lectric Sands stable in NY who gave us Zoovox. This one's also been hiding on my hard drive way too long! Finally relative newcomers Konzel (of Junto Club/Optimo Music fame) & Natural Sugars (Pardon My French) round off the package just perfectly. The former so distinct that I felt it was a perfect opener for the A side. So, I hope you dig it...and keep an eye out for the super limited 12-track cassette too!!!'
Limited to 300 hand-numbered copies.

Acknowledged of Red Pig Flower's obsession for the RED color, the 10th cat by Sound Of Vast could not be a different choice. Red Pig Flower, known not only as a musician but also as an artist, prepared a special concept for each track in the box.

Phonograph Music is back with a 4 tracker by Anthropous Anonymous. Four cuts that embody a poetic approach to dance music, trough deep house, balearic and tribal. A few months ago, in the time and space of a few impromptu sessions, an EP was conceived and produced. Not much was planned, but the voice and the keyboard notes our dear Brazilian friend Roberto Coelho hit, gave the whole thing its not so but quite ambiguous form and meaning. Soon after that, the music just flowed...

The mystified sound emanating from the disc in question belongs to the flute wielding monster Ernie Hawks. This dynamic player has grazed the airwaves of the worldwide underground for the past two decades. Now it's his star time.This two-tracker single from Ernie's debut album "Scorpio Man" sinks the listener deep into the moods of European library music and American instrumental funk classics. On "Journey To The Bottom", backed with fuzzy synth lines, he and The Soul Investigators explore emotional funk to the fullest. Their raw sound has pushed artists like Nicole Willis, Myron & E as well as Willie West to new heights before and now it's Ernie Hawks, who holds the torch.The intro of the title track "Scorpio Man" should give the breakbeat friends something to get excited about, while the rest of the track pushes the listener into the midst of a exploitation chase scene. It's possible that it's been a while since you've heard something as hard as well as uncomplicated and sincere. Keep your senses open for the coming full-length, it should drop like a bomb soon enough.

Another solid EP compiled by JORDAN FIELDS. Check the fresh grooves of KSTARKE's man of the moment JEREMY WILLIAMS, Detroit's GARI ROMALIS, SERIE LIMITEE's MONSIEUR CEDRIC, Japan's 99LETTERS and another special one from GILES DICKERSON.

Andrea Pellegrinelli and Davide Brugola are two men born and bred in the traditions of italo and electro disco. The duo, as Forklift & Saw, release their debut 12', Regression, as they melt past influences into the present. Meandering hooks, emotion soaked keys and snapping rhythms are at the centre of this Milan partnership's music. Across four tracks the pair delivers crashing snares, starlit synths and rumbling arpeggiators. Infectious full bodied funk oozes from this fledgling outfit, crisp percussion supporting their night gazing melodies. Welcome to the world of Forklift & Saw.

Mo Kolours flipped and whisked with some new treats ...

The Roundtable & Northside Records are pleased to offer this long awaited and special Record Store Day reissue of this highly collectible Australian rare groove LP.
If you can imagine the gathering of a group of Australian session musicians channelling the sounds of Herbie Hancock Headhunter's and Marc Moulin's Placebo, recording an album out of hours at a TV studio and then releasing a privately pressed hard hitting jazz funk record then what you have is Arena, one of Australia's most revered and scarce rare groove records.
This was the name given to a pick-up group of session players led by Ted White, a veteran of the British big band jazz scene (an associate of Ted Heath and Basil Kirchin) who had immigrated to Australia in the 1960s to work in the burgeoning television industry. This one-time studio project (recorded only to test out the facilities for a new studio) barely yet thankfully saw an LP release in 1975. Pressed in minute quantities only with limited distribution, the album was subsequently forgotten and obscured by time, only to be resurrected in the 90s by DJs and collectors seeking out lost and rare records.
The album has since become one of the country's most celebrated and collectible jazz funk recordings and has proved to be a pivotal point in Australian jazz, marking a shift from the modern jazz and R&B sounds of the previous decades to the cross pollinating electric jazz funk of the 70s. Characterized by the heavy use of electronically treated saxophone, psychedelic guitar, Moog and spacey Fender Rhodes, the album is a classic of the genre.
While acknowledging the often compiled and sampled breaks track, The Long One, the complete album offers much more, exemplified by its complicated and obsessive jazz rhythms, abstract and middle-eastern horn lines and pulsing electric funk.

Phase 2: Expansion Unit returns with another three tracker of bass-heavy electro robotics, lush techno variations and beautifully tweaked Pro One madness.

Having released on the label before (including a collaboration with Lake Haze last time out) Lisboa based producer IVVVO now returns to Creme Organization with a new three track solo EP. Showcasing his unique take on analogue house, here he conjures up his most unique work to date, Up first, 'Raised' is a dishevelled concoction that sees organic hand drums rattling over heady kicks, with groaning vocals, ghostly pads and afro mutterings all adding to the intoxicating brew. 'Our Journey' is then an acid flecked, lo fi techno rave up with car alarms, barking dogs and white noise textures that all come over like an urban soundtrack as much as anything else. It's captivating stuff that gets rounded out with '0000', a slurred, smeared bit of ambient with awkward key progressions, wordless vocals and tons of crunchy texture. Few people sound as idiosyncratic as IVVVO and this EP proves that in spades.