Its not often that we have a conversation with Jordan where we don’t come away feeling like we have been through a whirlwind of inspiration and ideas. One particular conversation led to a discussion about new tapes he had acquired and one in particular from the Wishbone production company.
Wishbone was the name of a production company and studio owned by Terry Woodford and Clayton Ivey. These guys worked at Muscle Shoals and went on to be snapped up by Motown as writers and producers before moving on to start their own studio.
This band is known, has some great tracks but never got the backing it deserved to go the distance. With only a handful of released tracks to their name Motown didn’t get behind them. Imagine our excitement when Jordan starts to play the tracks from the tape and there are 2 unreleased tracks on it. Following a quick chat and verification that they were unreleased; we started to hunt down the rights.
Following an intensive week or so of conversations, Terry not only agreed to work with us but then proceeded to share his knowledge and catalogue with us to see what else might make it to vinyl for the first time.
This is a great double sider with the A side being a fabulous 70s/modern version of a classic track that was also sung by Bobby Sheen and Bobby Womack. There is every possibility that this is the first recorded version of this masterpiece of 70s soul.
Flip it over and the skilful writing of JJ Boyce is delivered through a soulful group harmony track that is a fabulous balance to the powerful A side.
Everyone is searching for it and we’ve got it for you.
"Let's Dance The Bugalu/Aprende Mi Tumbao" by The Guantanamo Boys, could be one of the most sought after records in recent times, a jewel produced in the late 1960s by Gabriel Oller, Latin music pioneer in the United States, now reissued by the Gladys Palmera label as its debut title.
The passage of time has in no way lessened the power of this record’s rhythm. On the contrary, today the Afro-Cuban + groove + funk + Latin soul sound that has taken it to cult status among collectors and DJs is connecting more than ever. Just ask the MCs and selectors who say that The Guantanamo Boys is the holy grail of Latin sessions. And its re-release has been a long time coming.
Produced by Gabriel Oller as an EP on his SMC (Spanish Music Center) label, with no cover and scant mention of the participating artists, The Guantanamo Boys’ 7” single was an amazing discovery for the team at the Gladys Palmera Collection, the most extensive collection of Afro-Latin music in the world.
That’s why we´ve reissued this record on vinyl, preserving the original sound and with attention to every detail of the recording, which features multi-instrumentalist Ray Fernández (known in the 1970s for his alternative salsa-funk band Ray and His Court; pianist and arranger Papi Peña (Conjunto Impacto) and singer Rubén Ríos, better known as Mr. Pachanga, Cuban music pioneer in the U.S.
Gladys Palmera Records is the Gladys Palmera label, bringing you this exceptional recording in an exceptional format: 10”. Don’t let it out of your sight, because you won’t tire of listening to its sound, rhythm and sabor.
The Norwegian-born/Berlin-based electronic duo Soft as Snow returns with their most powerful statement yet. Their second full length 'Bit Rot' perfectly captures the friction of our contemporary existence in which smooth digital surfaces are locked in conflict with messy physical realities. The crumbling of fantastic European infrastructure is mirrored by luxurious synthwave and ecstatic trance crumbling into nightmarish, corroded cyberscapes.
The songs on 'Bit Rot' create a wide variety of zones in which pleasure and discomfort come together organically and seamlessly. Even as these songs are eaten alive by oppressive atmospheres and destabilizing glitches they never lose sight of their strong melodic underpinnings. Tracks like 'Always On', 'Soft Body Hard Dreaming' and the terrifyingly intense title cut are like visits to a rave inside a paranoid microchipped brain, while 'Rubber Boy' presents electro-industrial funk sung by a caged mutant. On the more restrained tip, fluorescent ballads like 'Hollow' and 'Quiet Anger' evoke the feeling of slipping into a fugue state at an all-night convenience store. This is European nightlife imagined as biomechanical horror.
The album was mixed by Ville Haimala of fellow nordic club destroyers Amnesia Scanner, and the striking cover art features a sculpture by Norwegian artist Camilla Steinum. To further elaborate the album's themes in the visual realm the duo is creating a music video and live A/V show with 3D artist Guynoid, including a special latex suit made in collaboration with AGF Hydra. In this way, 'Bit Rot' grows beyond the album itself into a larger project exploring the fluidity of body and identity when the digital and the physical fuse as one.
Soul Jazz Records new ‘Life Between Islands’ collection coincides with the launch of Tate Britain’s exhibition of the same name. This landmark exhibition explores the links between Caribbean and British art and culture from the 1950s to now.
Soul Jazz Records album, sub-titled “Soundsystem Culture – Black Musical Expression 1973-2006,” focuses on the most important Black British musical styles to emerge out of the distinctly Caribbean world of sound systems. The album features an all-star line-up including Dennis Bovell, Shut Up and Dance, Cymande, Digital Mystikz, Brown Sugar, Funk Masters, Janet Kay, Ragga Twins and more.
The album is a lightning-rod journey across Roots Reggae, Jungle/Drum & Bass, Jazz-Funk, Lovers Rock, Jazz, Dubstep and more. Much of Soul Jazz Records’ catalogue comes out of these genres and this album is partly an overview of some of Soul Jazz’s earlier releases (including Digital Mystikz’ long-deleted groundbreaking and now highly-collectible single, ‘Misty Winter’) alongside some choice rare and classic tunes that span over 30 years of sound system culture.
Many of the tracks represent how Black British artists defined their own identity with songs such as Brown Sugar’s righteous ‘Black Pride’, ‘I’m In Love with A Dreadlocks’ and Tabby Cat Kelly’s powerful ‘Don’t Call Us Immigrants’. Aside from being musically rooted in the distinctly Jamaican-born phenomenon of the sound system, much of this identity is also shaped by the triangular relationship of being British-born, of Caribbean heritage, and with an equal love of African-American Jazz, Funk and Soul, as evidenced with many Lovers Rock tunes reggae covers of American soul tunes (such as those of Jean Carn, William de Vaughan and Rose Royce featured here). This stateside influence can also be heard in groups such as the Funk Masters, a group formed by reggae radio DJ Tony Williams, whose jazz-funk music successfully crossed over into New York’s clubland, as well as the great Cymande, whose unique street-funk became staple material for numerous US hip-hop artists in the years that followed.
In the early 1990s, jungle and drum and bass artists took the essence of reggae’s soundsystem culture – MCs, dubplates, crews – and applied them to their own music, applying heavy reggae bass lines to intense double-speed drum breakbeats. At the forefront of this new movement were the duo Shut Up and Dance, working closely with The Ragga Twins, aka Deman Rocker and Flinty Badman, both MCs for North London’s infamous Unity reggae soundsytem. In the early 2000s, dubstep, spearheaded by Digital Mystikz, became the latest instalment in this ever-evolving soundsystem culture.
Karsten PflumReal Name:Jacob Helverskov MadsenIDM legend hailing from Denmark now living in Berlin germany
been making music since 2002 been on many labels such as Hymen Records, Mindwaves Music, Touched Music, Touched Revolutions
The $mokebreak EP follows Pink Siifu & Fly Anakin's critically acclaimed 2020 debut album FlySiifu's and further explores the musical community they've assembled around their imagined FlySiifu's record store.
Now FlySiifu welcome their friends Fousheé, Chuck Strangers, ZelooperZ, MAVI, YUNGMORPHEUS, Koncept Jack$on, Big Kahuna OG, 3wayslim and Peso Gordon into the store and onto the mic, with beats provided by Black Noi$e, Ahwlee, Budgie, Ohbliv, Graymatter, ewonee, and iiye.
Don't miss the video for their posse cut 'Tha Divide', featuring ZelooperZ, MAVI, and Koncept Jack$on, shot by Elijah Maura on a cold night in NYC.
"a wild taste of what the two artists can create just by reaching into their inner circles" – SPIN
The debut album from hotly tipped kiwi band Jamie and The Numbers, finally sees a release via Pete Brady’s Superfly Funk and Soul Records. After years of limited release 7”s being fought over worldwide by collectors and fans, this superb LP is the culmination of years of work for highly gifted Tongan-Kiwi Jamie Mavusa. Based in Wellington she can occasionally be seen singing soul tunes for Tapestry Music Promotions at many of their Music Reviews and also in her gospel choir at Church. It was at one of the Tapestry Music shows in Wellington that Jamie met Simon from Deltaphonic Records/The Numbers and after watching Jamie perform an amazing version of "Wade In The Water”. It was suggested they do some recording together with the view of doing some cool Soul classics and a bunch of originals too, the rest is now history.
The Numbers are an incredibly tight Wellington based band. Prolific writers of their own original material they are a 4 piece that consist of three brothers from Wainuiamata and a newly adopted Kiwi originally from Birmingham England. If you get a chance check these guys out they are brimming with cool retro tunes and some barnstorming original songs played with verve and passion and their shows are always fun, 2019 they supported "From The Jam" on their visit to New Zealand and after teaming up with Jamie have played Pasifika Festivals and open-air concerts to thousands of people. The Numbers collectively have played, sessioned, recorded for other artists on such labels as Gut Records, D-Star, EG Records, Imaginary Records and have in excess of 40+ published songs with Universal, Complete Music, KWS Records NYC and Cherry Red Records.
In 1976 the Chicago based blues artist Muddy Waters started recording his album Hard Again. It is the first album that was produced by Johnny Winter. Its official release date is set in 1977. Waters opens up the album with the one song that cemented Muddy’s place in Rock & Roll heaven: “Mannish Boy”, on which Winter’s ecstatic ‘Yeah!’s can be heard on. Hard Again features Muddy Waters’ trademark blues sound: rugged, raw and full of energy. The album was very well received and to this day, is seen as one of Waters’ best efforts. Hard Again peaked at #143 on the Billboard 200, which was his first chart appearance since Fathers and Sons in 1969. It also won the Grammy Award for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording.
As no strangers to the West End Records back catalogue – both having taken on remix duties individually in the past – 2022 sees Michael Gray and Dr Packer combine to give two classics the Rework treatment. Brenda Taylor’s seminal “You Cant Have Your Cake And Eat It To” is finessed into a contemporary disco standard: Taylor’s voice still cutting through with plenty of soul while synth and pianos provide the groove. “Don’t Make Me Wait” cuts a slightly edgier tone, with acid-like bleeps and plenty of reverb making it a perfect counter track as part of this release.
Another set of essential Reworks from West End.
MOMENTS LIKE THESE, THE NEW ALBUM FROM SUBWAY SECT, PRODUCED BY MICK JONES AND FEATURING THE 1981 SUBWAY SECT LINE-UP, VIC GODARD WITH SEAN MCLUSKY, CHRIS BOSTOCK, JOHNNY BRITTON, & DC COLLARD and guest appearances by MICK JONES, PETE WILLIAMS, TERRY EDWARDS and SIMON RIVERS. Sukhdev Sandhu runs a publishing imprint Texte und Töne in New York.
The LP, the imprint's first, is also the first-ever Subway Sect record to come out in the States. (Perhaps unsurprisingly: they did have a song called U.S. Cunts!) It's been produced by Mick Jones of The Clash. (A White Riot '77 reunion of sorts.) ‘There’s a certain element of unspoiltness about the whole thing and that’s what really appealed to me about it.’
Mick Jones MOJO ‘This is Vic reflecting on a lifetime in the music business. It sounds like a record that he had to make and is perfect for now. When I was a kid, I used to make up my fantasy punk band with members from different bands and they almost always
contained Vic Godard and Mick Jones. The songs are as good as it
gets and with Mick Jones producing and playing piano, what more do
you need?’ Jim Reid, Jesus and Mary Chain ‘The Subway Sect story is one of the strangest, and therefore one of the best. Vic Godard indicated ways that pop should go. He dropped hints, left clues. It is all there.’ Kevin Pearce ‘Vic's always walked his own path. He's a model of independence.
No wonder that he's recorded for some of the best UK independents
(Rough Trade, el, Postcard). Years ago, when I was writing a book
about nocturnal London, he took me on a postal round with him, all
the while telling me funny stories about some of the prog rock
aristos whose mail he delivered, and enthusing about the latest hip
hop and bhangra he was listening to.
Asked by Time Out to write an essay about my favourite Londoner, I wrote it about Vic. Now, in summer 2021, I'm very happy to help release Moments Like These. It's about thinking back and thinking forward, about walking your own path. It's got soul, swagger and swing. Vic Godard: always onward!’ Sukhdev Sandhu ‘It was an accident really as Sukhdev wanted to put What's the Matter Boy out until I told him I'd just recorded a new LP. I'd been in discussions with loads of record labels but they all wanted to get my back catalogue digital rights and weren't into the idea of putting out a new LP. I thought it was on course to be my 2nd lost album until the phone calls with Sukhdev.’ Vic
Outernational Sounds very proudly Presents The Mallory-Hall Band "Song of Soweto" & "The Last Special".
Limited, fully licensed digital and vinyl reissues of two crucial South African sessions led by Charles Mallory and Al Hall, Jnr., featuring Kirk Lightsey, Marshall Royal, Rudolph Johnson, Billy Brooks and more! Essential companion pieces to Kirk Lightsey’s legendary ‘Habiba’.
Featuring tracks:
Song Of Soweto: Side A – ‘Song of Soweto’, ‘Hamba Samba’; Side B – ‘Cape Town Blues’, ‘Moroka Rock’, ‘The African Night’
The Last Special: Side A - ‘The Last Special’, ‘Princess of Joh’Burg’; Side B - ‘Amafu (Clouds)’, ‘Blue Mabone’
Never released outside South Africa, and out of print since 1974, Outernational Sounds presents two long-lost Johannesburg sessions from the Mallory-Hall Band – an all-star review of West Coast jazz stars who toured apartheid South Africa in the mid-1970s.
Sanifu Al Hall, Jnr. is a musician’s musician. During a storied career stretching across six decades, Hall has recorded with the greats of the music including Freddie Hubbard, Doug Carn, and Johnny Hammond, and leads his own Cosmos Dwellerz Arkestra. But until recent years, the only records on which he had appeared as leader were a brace of rich, funky LPs, Song Of Soweto and The Last Special, issued only in South Africa under the moniker of The Mallory-Hall Band (named for Hall and his co-leader, guitarist Charles Mallory – musical director for Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Mallory was conductor for Dusty Springfield touring bands, and had worked with John Lee Hooker, Stevie Wonder, and many others). Neither LP had any wider release, and both have remained out of print since 1974. How did a young stalwart of the Los Angeles jazz scene end up in a recording studio in apartheid South Africa?
Al Hall, Jnr. and Charles Mallory had arrived in South Africa as part of the touring band for the singer Lovelace Watkins. Sometimes billed as ‘the Black Sinatra’, the Detroit-born Watkins sang standards and ballroom classics on the Las Vegas circuit. He never made it big in the US, but in his 1970s heyday he was a huge star in southern Africa, and 1974 he hired a jazz big band to accompany him on a tour of South Africa – Hall and Mallory were part of the line-up, alongside Mastersounds bassist Monk Montgomery, pianist Kirk Lightsey, tenorist Rudolph Johnson, drummer Billy Brooks, and Marshall Royal, musical director of the Count Basie band. The tour was a huge success, and during downtime from performing, members of the group managed to independently record no fewer than three albums. Lightsey and Johnson’s stunning Habiba was the first (reissued as Outernational Sounds OTR.013), and it was followed by two crucial sessions led by Hall and Mallory – Song of Soweto and The Last Special, issued on the local IRC imprint.
Visiting apartheid South Africa in 1974 was a controversial choice for any artist. Numerous artistic and cultural bodies around the world had already announced that their members would boycott the country in solidarity with the struggle against apartheid, and working in South Africa was severely frowned on by anti-apartheid activists everywhere. For a Black band, touring the country to play to mostly white audiences could have been seen by many both inside and outside South Africa as a questionable decision. ‘It was a batch of mixed reactions when I choose to visit South Africa whilst apartheid policies were in place,’ Hall recalls. ‘To me the choice was a simple one – “I wanna see for myself!” I also wanted to be a part of breaking down racial barriers, having been down some of the same roads in my own country.’
The albums were recorded by a twelve-piece band at Johannesburg’s Video Sounds Studios in December 1974, and feature the legendary pianist Kirk Lightsey, Black Jazz recording artist Rudolph Johnson, and the rest of the touring band. Both records are superbly arranged slabs of peak 1970s funky big band soul jazz, with tasteful Latin inflections and more than a nod to South Africa’s upful township jazz sound. They are the sonic traces left by a seasoned African American band who were touring South Africa in the depths of the apartheid era, and who immediately moved beyond the segregated hotels and ballrooms to build links with local South African players and audiences.
Never previously available outside South Africa, Outernational Sounds’ new editions of Song of Soweto and The Last Special (alongside our edition of Kirk Lightsey’s Habiba) represents the first time these albums have been in print for nearly fifty years. Fully licensed from Gallo Records and pressed at Pallas in Germany from Gallo’s original masters, they feature new sleeve notes from Francis Gooding (The Wire) based on interviews with Al Hall, Jnr., and a reminiscence from pianist Kirk Lightsey.
Scott Lavene is set to release ‘Broke’ on 7th June 2019, an album that is drenched in living in the gutter but staring at the stars.
Lavene has the lyrical smarts and the fairground bark of an Ian Dury, the incisive wordplay of a Costello and the deadpan pop of Madness in his creative DNA, along with the street poetry of an Essex boy version of Lou Reed, the dislocated funk of Talking Heads, the jellied eel lyrical bounce of Chas and Dave, and the inventive surreal see-saw of a Tom Waits, and many other nonconformists.
It’s an intoxicating brew that he makes his own in this collection of wonderful quirky songs that make up ‘Broke’.
These are songs that are full of detail and a life lived in scuffed shoes, rainy towns and the magic of the everyday. Songs about small talk, being skint, doomed affairs and the sweetness of falling in love over a cup of tea.
Creating unconventional backdrops for his street tales Scott builds up shapeshifting rhymes and looping grooves.
Take the freaked-out punked up soul of The Stooges and MC5 mix that with 60s garage trash, blend in Sabbath, AC/DC and heavy rock n roll and then hot wire that sound to a handful of freaks located in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Here it is that The Angered Wrecks were located - in an old Victorian style house in downtown Fredericton. It was here they set up a permanent rehearsal space on the main floor taking up the dining room and living room area with a full P.A. system and the long parties would begin as the Angered Wrecks cranked out an unholy primal serving of mind-numbing, eyeball-popping guttural pure rock and roll.
Lucky for us the Angered Wrecks had a primitive DIY recording set up as they recorded live off the floor with one cardioid mic taped to the ceiling to capture the entire room sound and straight into a cheap Alpine cassette deck. The results of these previously unheard recordings capture the essence of trashy rock’n roll at it’s finest, delivered with pure dereliction, and always a side of extra sleaze.
Keeping warm in the winter at another old salt box style house they would later rehearse and play gigs in, a large circle was cut in the floor so that the rising heat from the pottery kiln downstairs would (along with the right mixture of beer and ‘Purple Jesus’, weed and often speed and hot dogs) keep these boys fuelled long enough in sub zero temperatures to keep pumping out the rock’n roll savagery.
The last show they played was in the fall of ’81 at the Bug Shack after the household was served an eviction noticed with the house to be entirely demolished (just like Stooge Manor aka The Fun House).
They got a gig together the weekend before demolition, packed the bottom floor and played a blazing set. At the very end, walls were kicked apart, old cans of paint strewn about, general wanton destruction to furniture, doors, windows etc…insane. The bug shack had come to an end and shortly thereafter, The Angered Wrecks.
That these tapes have survived to this day is all thanks to John Westhaver’s archival hoarding (even though the loss of a 90 minute session of the Angered Wrecks still haunts John to this day).
So CRANK these tracks as loud as you can – these audio tapes are not for the faint of heart
"Emotional Rescue presents the first ever reissue of Sugar Minott’s rare 12” of I Remember Mama. Recorded in Soho in mid-80s London, the Boogie meets Reggae song comes in vocal and instrumental mixes, as well as a wonderfully teasing long Discomix by NAD aka Dan Tyler (Idjut Boys).
Having grown up and become a star out of Kingston, JA, with over 50 albums and hundreds of singles for the likes of Studio One and Black Roots labels, the legendary vocalist was a pioneer of the Dancehall and then later Lovers Rock sounds.
Based in London for much of the 1980s, a chance meeting in the Wackies offices he met producer Steve Parr, who had recently opened the Sound Design Studio next door.
Hatching the idea to create a label to showcase their capabilities, Parr played all the instruments except the distinctive sax by friend Andy MacDonald, while Minott’s delivery is at his prime, storytelling in the Jamaica tradition of hardship and praise.
Released on 7” and 12”, they have striking differences. The “Sound Design” instrumental / version sees the studio team craft a disco meets reggae in a cod-style to wonderful, almost Balearic effect.
The collaboration with Dan Tyler continues, as he again works his desk dubbing magic. Extending and editing between the two mixes, teasing the instrumental before finally bringing the sax and vocals together for a ‘discodub’ finale. "
"""Riding SCORCHING hot on the heels of their recent self-titled debut, fans could be forgiven for expecting more of the same from Champyun Clouds’ second long player of
2021. A hodgepodge of cutting-room-floor-fodder and experiments that would’ve been b-sides or Japan-exclusive CD bonus tracks in those halcyon days of physical formats’ golden ages is not what we’re getting. Let’s save those for a deluxe anniversary reissue
one day. Nah - sheer, unabashed creativity fuels this album; and weirdly enough, they’ve managed to branch out in interesting ways while also creating an album that is more immediate and banger-centric. Although Nail’s eclectic psych-lounge tendencies and
Asa’s irreverent poetry and broad Nottingham lilt remain the key touchstones of CC’s sound, opener “Check For Silt”s rough drum’n’bass beats offer an immediate and clear sonic progression for the Nottingham duo. The LP ultimately plays a bit like a haunted
jukebox in outer space - with elements of dub, britpop, early house, trippy, blissed-out sunshine pop (reminiscent of mid-90s His Name Is Alive at their most Beach Boys-aping), William Orbit-esque 90s psych-pop electronica, distorted glam rock shuffles and
garage-y funk. There’s a particularly great moment of sequencing at the end of the first half where I got lulled into a state of near-euphoria with the Air-like “The Flowered Crown” before getting slapped ‘round the face by “I’m Not Right For You”, which sounds
like Nile Rogers producing a demo for Sheila & B. Devotion, except he recorded it at the bottom of a well. Sophomore slump? Never heard of him, mate."""
Parcels have always been a band of extreme light and shade: they’re from surf hotspot Byron Bay in Australia but they’ve been holed up in grimy nightlife utopia Berlin for years; their sweet-as-honey vocal harmonies rival the Beach Boys but they can also turn their live shows into slamming techno rave-ups. The twentysomethings stand out amid the current musical landscape: a soulful rock band that looks like it’s stepped out of a postcard from 1970s California, all flares, moustaches and shaggy hair. They’re a classic band for atypical times.
Since Crommelin, keyboardist Louie Swain, keyboardist/guitarist Patrick Hetherington, bassist Noah Hill and drummer Anatole ‘Toto’ Serret formed in 2014, fresh out of school, they’ve struck upon a singular sound, weaving together gossamer disco and exotica, soft rock and Sixties pop with a focus on uplifting grooves. Their seductive style has translated into 100,000 album sales worldwide, over 200 million streams, cross-continental tours, shows with French royalty Phoenix and Air, a US TV debut on Conan O’Brien, a Coachella slot and a debut single that was produced by none other than Daft Punk, who saw them live in Paris and ushered them into their studio.
After two EPs, 2015’s Clockscared and 2017’s Hideout (the band’s penchant for smooshing words together is a result of a broken keyboard when they submitted their first demo), Parcels’ acclaimed self-titled debut album came in 2018 and was called “timeless and devilishly fun'' in a five-star NME review. They followed it in 2020 with an impressive live album, Live Vol.1, recorded at Hansa Studios, the legendary studio where Iggy Pop and David Berlin hung out during their Berlin years.
The band returns for summer 2021 with an ambitious third studio album,
Day/Night, a double record that spans impossibly catchy disco-soul, prog, pastoral folk, Laurel Canyon-era classic songwriting and cinematic strings. Made over the course of 2020, when the world was at a standstill, it’s the sound of a band growing up; five guys who’ve known each other since childhood and are finding their way together, in spite of all the major obstacles the last 18 months have thrown at them, when they were unable to return home to Australia and see their loved ones. Day/Night is huge in scope and sound, and its hopeful messages of perseverance through difficult times are a balm for these uncertain times.
2 LP Boxset. 2 vinyls packaged together in a clear PVC wallet (in order to display each vinyl cover). 2 x : 140 G black vinyl ( 33 rpm)+ 3mm spine printed sleeve + printed inner sleeve + cmyk vinyl label.
Cello. Marketing Front sticker 5 cm x 7 cm , back cover sticker (upc + tracklisting) 5 cm x 7 cm
Recorded by the band direct to 8-track tape in a basement behind a cemetery, these nine timeless teenage anthems and jukebox rippers tackle love (“Got Me High”), lust (“Tell Your Boyfriend”), and drugs (“Here He Come”) with a counterculture sneer and trickster’s wink. Fueled by Savage Sam's fiery guitar and Farfisa leads, vocal snarl, and arsenal of self-built custom analog effects pedals, the trio offers fresh and lucid hallucinations of various Seeds-y, Fugs’ed up strains of American underground rock and freakbeat rave-ups at the farthest edge of the British Invasion.
Crucially, the group laces each composition with more than enough personality to ensure that this joyful noise couldn't be coming from anybody else's garage. An upbeat singles band to the core, they save their lone improvised psychedelic jam for the end of midtempo closer "Watching" - a glimpse at the wild abandon of the trio's facemelting live shows. Savage Sam: guitar, organ, lead vocals, production
Michelle: drums, backing vocal Herb (Matt Lajoie) : bass guitar, backing vocals
This album comprises hits from the repertoire of the most famous Cuban and Boriquen orchestras in the late '50s, performed by young Peruvian percussionist Ñiko Estrada and his sonora. However, due to contractual restrictions, the album was released under the fictitious Sonora MAG name.
Fascinated by the music of the Cuban orchestras broadcast on the radio and the colourful and flamboyant outfits they sported when played Lima, Ñiko Estrada named his first band Los chicos de Cuba (The Cuban Boys). In 1958 he put together his own group, sonora, signing to the local label Smith and recording a number of hits. At the same time, he also agreed to anonymously record more music for MAG, the Peruvian company owned by Manuel Guerrero. An imaginary Sonora MAG was born…
"El Negro Bembón con la Sonora MAG" includes, with the only exception of the instrumental track 'Té Para Dos', mostly vocal songs -guarachas and boleros- by the likes of Manolo Castro, Rafael "Chivirico" Dávila, and Vicky Zamora, being her take on 'Pepito' the biggest hit of the album.
This album is currently almost impossible to find in its original edition, so we are now happy to present the first ever reissue of "El Negro Bembón con la Sonora MAG" in its original artwork and 180g vinyl pressing.
