quête:late

After three major releases by Tell, Nachtbraker and S3A, its time for debuting Italian artist Verner to close our beloved Trophy Quartet. This Milanese key virtuoso is ready to blow your mind with this eccentric yet humble ep, taking you on an emotional journey. Long stretched pads, playful chord progressions, organic percussion all produced with analogue 70's and 80's vintage synthesizers and drum computers in Verner's studio reminding us a bit of Harvey Sutherland and Nu Guinea's style. We're talking groove, funk, jazz but also house and soundtrack style compositions which together form a very complete record carefully A&R'd by Nachtbraker.

Drop the needle on the A side and you'll start off with L'inizio, a majestic piece of synthwork. Hurdling through different emotions and vibes, this could easily be the intro of one of your favourite 80's tv series. Upset takes you on a happy groovy tour whilst Crash of the Web Era and The Motion Pictures take us on a trippy and ambient voyage that is hard to wake up from. When flipping the record to the B side, Verner is stepping back into the groove and funk with Tecladista, arguably the dance floor hit of this debut EP. Starting of with again a majestic synth intro Area drops into a festive funk and jazz bomb with some intricate synth work treating us with some lovely solos. Closing this versatile EP is Late Night Job, a deep, deep tune with a thriving baseline and mesmerizing synths.

We suggest to don't sleep on this one and have a listen to this piece of art by the very talented Verner.

Record Kicks Celebrates 15 Years In The Business With A Collection Full Of Exclusive New Singles. Available In Ltd Edition Double Clear Vinyl Lp, Cd And Digital Download. Side By Side With Similar Outfits Like Daptone, Truth And Soul, Freestyle Or Timmion, Under Its Motto "the Explosive Sound From Today's Scene" Milan-based Independent Label Record Kicks Has Been Pitching The Contemporary Funk & Soul Scene Since Day One.

With Over 200 Releases Under The Belt, Rk Has Released Bands From All Over The Globe And Earnedthe Support Of Vip Fans Such As Kenny Dope, Jamie Cullum, Craig Charles And Not Least Jay-z, Thanks To Which The Label Has Recently Received A Grammy Nomination For Hov's Use Of Hannah Williams' "late Nights And Heartbreak" As Backdrop For His "4:44". The New Instalment "record Kicks 15th" Coming Out Next May 18th On Double Clear Lp, Cd And Digital Download, Celebrates 15 Years In The Business With A Collection Full Of Exclusive New Tracks And The Very Best Of It's Roster.

The Album Kicks Off With Rk's Latest And Youngest Signing:
From Chicago, Heavily Inspired By The Impressions And Leroy Hutson, We Are Proud To Present You "the Devonns" With Their Super Soulful Debut Single "come Back", An Appetizer Of Their Debut Full Length Expected To Land On Rk Next Autumn. Another New Signing To The Label Is Men Of North Country's (acid Jazz Records) Side Project "the Faithful Brothers", Here With Their New Single "one More Time".

Other Exclusive Tracks Of The Comp Are "this Strange Effect", A Coverup Of The Hooverphonic's Single From 1998 Brought To You By Dutch Northern Soul Disciples The Tibbs, "love You Back" From Detroit Deep Funk Outfit Third Coast Kings, "the Sort" By The Buenos Aires Mod Reggae Kings The Crabs Corporation, "top Dog" By British Funk Combo The Hook & Slingers And Straight From Down Under "you Don't Know Me" By The Always Great Dojo Cuts.

Along With These New Exclusive Cuts, Dig On Some Label's News Singles And Heavyweight Classics Such As Dj Shadow's "this Time" Taken From Baby Charles Debut Lp, "don't Throw Your Love In The Garbage Can" By James Brown's Original Funk Diva Martha High Feat Japanese Funk Ambassadors Osaka Monaurail, "psycheground" The Brand New Afro-funk Single By Calibro 35 And Then Portuguese Tnt Dynamite Marta Ren & The Groovelvets, Toronto Soul Queen Tanika Charles, Uk Funk Ambassadors The New Mastersounds, The Diplomats Of Solid Sound And The Already Mentioned "late Nights & Heartbreak" By Hannah Williams & The Affirmations.

One of the most unique albums on the Strata East label - and that's saying a heck of a lot, given the creative energies flowing through that legendary jazz outlet! Descendents Of Mike & Phoebe is a righteous little project put together by Spike Lee's father, Bill Lee, and his brothers and sisters (Cliff Lee, Grace Lee Mims, and Consuela Lee Moorhead) - working here in a group named after their slave ancestors, who are paid tribute in a beautifully flowing batch of tunes! Lee's round, warm bass tones are firmly at the head of the group on most numbers - recorded at a similar level to his excellent work with Clifford Jordan on Strata East during the same time - and other instrumentation includes piano from Consuela, flugelhorn from Cliff, and percussion from Sonny Brown and Billy Higgins - all used in a wonderfully evocative style that's even better than some of Lee's later soundtrack work. A few numbers feature vocals from Grace - singing wordlessly and with a really heavenly sort of quality - and together, the whole group have an undeniable sense of power and majesty, yet also one that's touched by a really personal sense of poetry too. Titles include a great version of Lee's "Coltrane", which was more famously recorded with Clifford Jordan.

By Drago Museveni

"Up next on 20/20 Vision we welcome Nathan Jonson back for his second outing on the label, and this time it's rounded off with a big remix from his brother Mathew Jonson. Business EP finds Nathan back in familiar musical territory. Serving up genre bending tracks which fuse electro, techno, house and old school rave into a melting pot of electronica which is not easy to define. 'Business' & 'Let Your Body' are unconventional, unique and original, with off kilter basslines and rave stabs reminiscent of a Luke Vibert and Carl Finlow hybrid. The release also see's the first appearance on 20/20 Vision from none other than Mathew Jonson, who turns in a killer remix of title track 'Business'. Since 2001 Mathew has constantly evolved, with a back catalogue of scene defining tracks and one of the most electric live shows in the business. It's a honour to finally have him feature on the label.

Comprised of Vancouver producers and multi-instrumentalists Nick Wisdom and Astrological, Canadian duo Potatohead People boast a number of noteworthy accolades thanks to a their signature sound drawing influences from 90's boom-bap, future soul, classic jazz, deep house and boogie/funk. Beginning with a series of EP's, including their landmark "Kosmichemusik" EP, Potatohead People's productions quickly made their way to artists like Illa J who tapped the duo to produce his now critically acclaimed self-titled album, as well as producers like Kaytranada (who co-produced Illa J's "Strippers" with the pair). Supporters such as Soulection, Nightmares on Wax, Pomo, DJ Spinna, Big Boi, and Phife Dawg have also played formidable roles in championing the sound of Potatohead People worldwide.

Now with three years since their last release, 2015's critically acclaimed debut album Big Luxury, Potatohead People are back their long awaited new album Nick & Astro's Guide To The Galaxy (due out May 11th via Brooklyn label Bastard Jazz) The record picks up right where the pair left off, showcasing a leap forward in production chops, musicality, and songwriting. The first single "Quest For Love" "with it's neck snapping drum break, lush rhodes chords, cosmic synths, guitar & horn flourishes and unexpected musical changeups bring in the hip-hop infected musicality the duo has become so loved for, while Nick & Astro collaborate vocally on top. "Morning Sun" featuring Danish vocalist (and Anderson.Paak collaborator) Nanna.B is in part a melancholy piece with knocking drums, an infectious bassline and a soulful, shimmering hook, while "Do My Thing" featuring Canadian singer Kapok and Illa J is a neck-snapping Hip-Hop joint perfect for the dancefloor. "Liftin' Up" featuring San Francisco's K-Maxx ventures into West Coast boogie territories, while the album's closer "Rituals" goes for a deeper more atmospheric electronic vibe.

Arcarsenal duo is back with their first ever full length production in 7 years of making music together. The album is a collection of intuitive jams crossing over the codes of electronic music typologies. With this set of hallucinatory psychedelic electronica tracks evolving over complex patterns and grooves, and sprinkled with pinches of krautrock and folk aesthetics, Arcarsenal is here once again blurring boundaries and proving that their world is located in an ever expanding universe.

All tracks jammed & recorded by Alan Mathias and Etienne Dauta between 2013-2016.

Plush. Palace.
regularfantasy's music is about as plush as it gets, filling your area with bright melodic blankets for which to throw around your bod. Turning it into a plush palace of sorts, if you will. Half of this record seems designed to sooth you while the other half is all about getting you steppin'. Our pal dj zozi comes in with an absolute heater of a remix, taking you to planets unknown and raves gone by. Without a doubt, the party is gonna be turned out.

2x12"

UPPERMOST will be releasing his upcoming album on March 23, 2018 with a completely new perspective that should change the course of his career, expanding to a brand new pop oriented approach but keeping his French signature at the core of the project. His previous hit tracks Flashback and Beautiful Light have already generated more than 27 Million combined streams across platforms, while Mercedes-Benz selected Uppermost single Disco Kids to be featured in their Formula One advertising campaign and Starz/Encore chose another of his instrumentals for their 2018 TV spot only few weeks ago. Uppermost is being closely followed by international media leading to great articles from influent press channels such as DJMAG, Vice, Complex, Paper Magazine, and famous radios such as BBC 1 and Virgin. In addition to releasing music via his own independent label Uppwind Records, Uppermost has released music through powerful labels such as Sony and Ministry Of Sound and done official remixes for Dada Life, Lemaitre and Crystal Fighters. He has also already shared french festival SOLIDAYS's stage with Madeon, Yelle, Fakear and Die Antwoord. This new year, Uppermost premiered his upcoming live show at Paris . Point Ephemere . for a sold out event that turned into a great success. Meanwhile, a U.S. tour is already confirmed for the month of March.

The Pendletons return with their latest EP, Funk Forever, a Jazz flavored boogie affair with soul inspired song-writing that evokes old school vibes while still staying fresh and current. Horn lines, Yamaha dx7 keys and snapping hip hop inspired drum programming topped by sweet singing with heartfelt themes, the group carves out a bold new sound on these 5 solid tracks. Featuring Elive, Potatohead People and Ishtar.

The Pendletons are a long-standing boogie-funk and modern soul project of E da Boss (of Myron and E on Stone's Throw) and Trailer Limon. The group emerged with their very first release in 2010, a 7" inch of "Coming Down/Waiting On You" on the Slept On record label, which set the tone for the group to emerge... it instantly became a cult classic receiving constant play at nights like Sweater Funk and Funkmosphere, and fetching for serious sums among collectors. Most recently, in 2016, they released the EP "Gotta Get Out". The title track caught the ear of renowned DJ Gilles Peterson, who liked it enough to release it on his Brownswood Bubbler compilation.

In 2018 the group is hitting the ground running with a brand new EP out this spring, and a full-length album to follow later later in the year on the renowned Bastard Jazz label. Now armed with a horn section, a vast array of accomplished jazz and funk contributors, and a knack for quality song-writing, the Pendleton's sound has shaped into something fresh and unique, setting it apart from the legions of imitators.

KUF create emotion-laden dialogues across layers of time and dimensions of sound. Voices recorded in private are chopped up and brought out center-stage to sing with beats hammered out right here and now. Glowing synths push forward. Basslines rise to grab the melodic role of a track while a vowel is truncated and locked into a grid, driving the rhythm. Voices move within the frame of a sample, performed by hands pushing keys, guided by the ear, immersed in a trio session's deep flow... A vortex of quirky hands, responsive ears and glowing circuits. Since Thomas A. Edison first recorded the human voice in 1877, the recording arts have changed music forever. Musicians have explored the endless possibilities of bouncing their input onto layers of tape, off the walls of an echo chamber or the circuitry of electronic helpers - technology that modulates, spatializes, shifts, divides or multiplies the work of human hands and mouths. An era of sampling offered a cubistic analysis of the recorded past and DJs took dancers onto intricately fractured time travels. This is the historic foundation that KUF keep probing. Just like the sampler and the DJ before them, they found new ways to re-allocate where machine and man stand when making music together. Most importantly, they turn the resulting friction into sparkling bursts of energy. 'Universe' digs deeper into the android vocal chords. The album offers sweeping melodies, different beats and persistent bass. Immerse in the intimacy of the voices, probably recorded in trains, backstage areas and at late night private parties during Berlin Lichtenberg warehouse rehearsals. By striking the keys, KUF squeeze out and serve up all

Instant Chapter is an associative label established by 4 former Hellyum's collective members. It has been created in order to put forward raw, instant and free productions. This project aims at bringing isolated electronic music producers out of the shadow so that their work can come to an end and be released. Instant Chapter thrives on its members diversified horizons. Therefore, the label doesn't have any limitation in terms of genres or formats, and every chapter that will compound its history will aspire in exploring one of the many faces Indie music can represent.

The legendary Finnish pianist/composer Olli Ahvenlahti returns with his first new jazz album in 31 years! The new album "Thinking, Whistling" will be released 8 Dec by Helsinki's We Jazz Records.

The new record finds Ahvenlahti teaming up with the Jaska Lukkarinen Trio, one of the most highly-regarded ensembles in Finnish jazz. From funk-influenced acoustic jazz to heartfelt ballads, the band are delightfully in a world of their own, drawing from Ahvenlahti's effortless pianism and the trios natural swing.

As Ahvenlahti sums it up: "For me, jazz music has always been about three things: melody, harmony and rhythm."

Olli Ahvenlahti is one of the living legends in the Finnish jazz scene. His debut album was released in 1975 by the famed Love Records. DJs are likely to know him from such highly-regarded rare groove classics as "Grandma's Rockin' Chair" and "Countenance". The new album "Thinking, Whistling" presents Ahvenlahti's knack for writing catchy jazz music with a solid groove base, plus his more introspective side through the heartfelt ballads found on the new record.

Music for post-apocalyptic deserts. Experimental synth-sounds with hypnotic percussions - imagine Moondog performing with John Carpenter and Cabaret Voltaire.

Relating to their live appearances, Phantom Horse might be named a lazy combo since they are not to be found on stage all too often. Yet their withdrawn approach fits this album very well - Als Ob' is once more a journey through inwardness, a contemplative excursion to the electronic outback, still friendly asking for your attention. There's plenty of things to discover if you listen mindfully, the Phantom Horse rides out where you as a listener like to be lonely. Those ancient synths are still around, playing their melodies as if* there were no time thieves waiting around the corner (*That is what Als ob' means).

Altogether, the sound has become more electric yet not eclectic, the duo has dekrauted, describing their sound as more ritual but of course avoiding any kind of mysticism and fairy-tale dullness.

Since 2015's Different Forces' (also on Umor Rex), Phantom Horse have fleshed out their friendly stoicism that hauls their experimental synth sounds into the area of songs - maybe even pop songs that aren't tangible at least. Welcome to the insular state of Phantom Horse.

After more than a year of silence, the French duo VTCN RADIO releases its debut album "'Mydriase"

Mysterious and audacious odyssey, 'Mydriase' presents itself as a sensory and confidential journey. Fruit of a nocturnal composition guided by a need of musical introspection and a decisive encounter with an owl, the writing of this album will cut off its creators in an alternative reality for three years. Behind VTCN RADIO are the French producers Nathan Bokobza - a pianist fascinated by the romantic repertoire and the harmonic research of the impressionists - and Louis Martinez, a guitarist passionate about digital technologies and their uses in the process of sound creation. The group revealed its existence at the end of 2015 with the esoteric Riddle Song and continues to surprise the spirits with the release of the compositions Late Night Shuttle and Venus Flytrap in 2016, before creating in 2017 their own label "Five to Six Records". VTCN RADIO presents with Mydriase an experience based mainly on the dialogue between two entities - a dark, deep and a purer and luminescent - to constitute an elegant music, and ambivalent by its capacity to propose different interpretations. This self-produced album marks the first release of their label Five to Six Records, and presents us for the first time in a broader way the hallucinatory and singular universe of VTCN RADIO.

Great house cuts by Mr. G on his Phoenix G imprint.
Gotta keep pushing forwards. This ones personal!

Underground Jazz, Street Funk & The Roots Of Rap 1968-79. Soul Jazz Records' new release 'Soul of a Nation: Afro-Centric Visions in the Age of Black Power' is released in conjunction with a major worldwide art exhibition, Soul of A Nation: Art in the The Age of Black Power which takes place at the Tate Modern, London, UK (July-Oct 2017) and The Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA.

The album shows how the ideals of the civil rights movement, black power and black nationalism influenced the evolvement of radical African-American music in the United States of America in the intensely political and revolutionary period at the end of the 1960s following the assassinations of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and the rise of the Black Panther party.

Featuring groundbreaking artists such as Gil Scott-Heron, Roy Ayers, Don Cherry, Oneness of Juju, Sarah Webster Fabio, Horace Tapscott, Phil Ranelin and many others, Soul of A Nation shows how political themes led to the rise of 'conscious' black music as new afro-centric styles combined the musical radicalism and spirituality of John Coltrane and radical avant-garde jazz music alongside the intense funk and soul of James Brown and Aretha Franklin and the urban poetry and proto-rap of the streets.

The Soul of a Nation exhibition draws on the links between Black art forms - art, music, poetry - and how they came together during the civil rights and black power era as part of the wider black arts movement across the United States.

Iconic African-Amercian revolutionary figures such as Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Angela Davis, John Coltrane, Muhammad Ali all appear in the radical artworks of Barkley L. Hendricks, Romare Bearden, Norman Lewis, Lorraine O'Grady and Betye Saar.
A selection of original radical jazz record sleeves artworks which appear in Soul Jazz Records' earlier groundbreaking Freedom, Rhythm and Sound - Revolutionary Jazz Original Cover Art book will also be on show at the Tate, London throughout the exhibition. The Freedom, Rhythm and Sound book is also newly back-in-print in conjunction with this major exhibition and the release of the Soul of a Nation album.

Stuart Baker (founder of Soul Jazz Records) will appear on the panel of Jazz for Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power discussion at the gallery as part of the show. Soul of a Nation comes with extensive sleeve-notes and exclusive photography in a large 36-page outsize booklet and slipcase. Double gatefold vinyl album edition comes with full colour inners + bonus download code and includes full sleeve-notes/photography.

10 Years Boxset

In the spring of 2007, musician and producer Paul 'Mudd'
Murphy decided to launch his own label. Named after the house
he grew up in, Claremont 56 would release beautiful music by
friends, associates, collaborators and like-minded musicians.
In the 10 years that have passed since, Claremont 56 has more
than surpassed Murphy's modest expectations. It has built up
a cult following around the world, with listeners responding
positively to the label's combination of magical music, beautiful
artwork, and impeccable packaging.
To mark the label's frst decade, Murphy has put together
a sumptuous vinyl box set of previously unheard material,
produced and presented with the same attention to detail that
listeners have come to expect.
Each copy of Claremont 56: 10 Years contains fve weighty slabs
of wax and a bespoke info sheet, housed in a specially designed,
hand-numbered box with debossed logos on the front and rear.
However impressive the packaging, it's the music that makes
Claremont 56: 10 Years stand out. Featuring a mixture of
unreleased tracks and brand new remixes of vintage label
releases, the highlights come thick and fast.
As you'd expect, some of the most impressive contributions
come from those artists you could describe as legendary',
including Chicago deep house originators Larry Heard and Ron
Trent. Can legend Holger Czukay kindly contributes one of the
standout moments, the eccentric 'Music To Be Murdered By',
from his own unreleased catalogue, while Afro-cosmic pioneer
Daniele Baldelli joins forces with Marco Dionigi to deliver a
typically spacey remix of Bison's 'Familiar Stranger'. There's also
an epic, Afro-tinged dub disco remix of Smith & Mudd's 'Nether'
by Norwegian scene founder Bjorn Torske.
Elsewhere, Good Timin' man Jex Opolis turns an overlooked
track by Paraiso into a samba-boogie killer, Sean P dubs out
Zee Erf's beautiful cover of 'Southern Freeez', and Phil Mison
turns FreshRo's laidback electrofunk cut 'Pacifc State' into a
breezy, Balearic gem. Look out too, for the emotion-rich beauty
of Statues' 'River Darkness' - a track arguably worth the cost
of the box set on its own - and the deep space explorations of
Almunia's Leo Ceccanti.
We could go on, but we're running out of space. Sufce to say,
Claremont 56: 10 Years is a lovingly compiled, curated and
presented celebration of the label's frst decade.