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This album is a tribute to Pastor Wylie Champion, who died while we were in the process of releasing this, his first record, and his wife, Mother Champion, who died a few months earlier. We met Pastor Champion a few years ago while we were putting together another release, The Time for Peace Is Now: Gospel Music About Us. We found him in a collection of YouTube videos from the 37th Street Baptist Church in Oakland, California, put together by the pastor there, Bishop Dr. W.C. McClinton. There was quite a lot of talent in those videos, and among them was Pastor Champion whom we liked so much that we decided to make a record with him. Pastor Champion wasn’t like any other pastor you’ve ever met. As an itinerant preacher, a carpenter, and a father of five, he made a name for himself traveling up and down the California coast with his electric guitar. He traveled alone and he played alone, well into his seventies. The easiest way to describe him would be as an outsider gospel artist. Other than these bare facts, we never learned much about him—except that he was also the brother of the well-known soul singer Bettye Swann. In fact, most of what we knew about him we got from his sister’s Wikipedia page. We decided that because we met Champion through the 37th Street Baptist Church, we would record him there too. We recorded him live on a two-track Nagra reel to reel, as we wanted the album to be analog in the style of traditional gospel recordings. Over the course of two evenings (when the workday was done), Champion taught his band—musicians who had never played together before—a handful of songs, a small selection of the nearly 2,000 fragments of songs and sermons that he regularly performed. We listened in as they all got more familiar with the material and each other over time. At some point, we mentioned to Champion that he would have to be interviewed by someone to write notes for the album. He wasn’t too pleased with this idea, saying he’d had a hard life and he didn’t want to talk about it. Over the next few months, we kept asking Champion to talk to someone about his life. He told us that he didn’t want to talk about growing up in Louisiana, his mother being accosted by the Klan, or that his father was a gambler. He didn’t want to talk about being jailed for 90 days for using a whites only bathroom, being in gangs or having a street name. We told him that was fine—he could talk about what he wanted to talk about. And he told us that he didn’t want to talk about anything. You know, there are times when you make a record where it’s already made in your mind before you start. But then in the end, the record you thought you were making is not the record you made. We spent years puzzling over this one, trying to figure out what it was saying, who it was for, and how to get people to pay attention to it. But Champion knew that this record wasn’t going to be for everyone. He didn’t really care. The important part for him was just getting the message out there in the same way that he always had, travelling alone with his electric guitar. “I want to say what I mean,” he said, “be practical, precise, to the point, and, at the same time, diplomatic.” In other words, he just wanted to be a good man. God bless Pastor Champion and Mother Champion, peace be with them and their family. Love to all.

With Plum, the songwriting partnership rooted in the creative rapport between bandleader Molly Hamilton and guitarist Robert Earl Thomas continues to expand on shared visions, delving deeper into what was always there: dusty guitars, ear-worm melodies, warm expansive arrangements. Each entry to their catalog has marked a subtle reimagining of Widowspeak's sound, though perennial points of reference remain the same: 90's dream pop, 60's psych rock, a certain unshakeable Pacific-Northwestness. Speaking to the timeless feeling of each, the albums continue to be discovered well beyond their respective PR cycles, made beloved by new listeners through word of mouth. The band's fifth album feels comfortable and lived-in: humble in structure, heavy on mood. Perhaps that came taking time off from the touring grind, instead working full-time jobs and settling into the rhythm of daily life in a small upstate New York town. Plum was recorded over a handful of weekends last winter by Sam Evian (Cass McCombs, Kazu Makino, Hannah Cohen) at his Flying Cloud studio in the Catskills, and was mixed by Ali Chant (PJ Harvey, Aldous Harding, Perfume Genius). In addition to Hamilton (vocals, guitar) and Thomas (guitars, bass, synth), it features instrumental contributions by Andy Weaver (drums), Michael Hess (piano), and Sam himself (bass, synth). Plum nestles into the band's canon like it was always there, but with new textures coming to the fore, like the polyrhythmic pulse of "Amy" and "The Good Ones", or the watery, Terry Riley-influenced track "Jeanie" Plum navigates the spaces between the lesser emotions of modern life. Hamilton's lyrics speak to the unique turmoil of anyone who creates as their work, who must somehow survive off such "fruits of their labor." Yet, Widowspeak have always made a bitter pill much easier to swallow. The majestic "Breadwinner", the luminous "Even True Love" - these songs here were made to be listened to, enjoyed. "Money" is particularly hypnotic, built around a repeating, cyclical motif that serves as both skeleton and body. "Will you get back what you put in?" Hamilton asks over an insistent guitar riff. The line is delivered with a knowingness that transcends its surface critiques of late-stage capitalism, asking both herself and the listener whether this is, in fact, the world we want to live in. Through Plum, Widowspeak have brought something into the world that seems to know its own worth, even as it wonders aloud about what is to come. What value and meaning do we assign ourselves, our time, and how do we spend it?

Hip Hop Collected will take you on a musical journey through the history of hip hop. This 2LP covers the first 20 years of the genre, showcasing 25 early pioneers who participated in the rise of hip hop. This compilation features music from the new labels that started to rise from the underground scene, like Sugar Hill Records, Profile and of course Def Jam. Including artists that defined a genre, a lifestyle and most of all, artists that inspired millions of young kids with both socially critical lyrics as well as classic party anthems.

This hip hop compilation album is part of the new Collected compilation series, which is a collaboration between Universal Music and Music On Vinyl. The compilations bring together the biggest and best names of its genre, combined with forgotten hits and less discovered gems, giving the listener an experience of both nostalgia and uncovering new musical grounds at the same time.

The 2LP features Kurtis Blow “The Breaks”, Grand Master Flash & The Furious Five “The Message”, Beastie Boys “She’s On It”, Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock “Get On The Dancefloor”, and Eric B. & Rakim “Paid In Full” amongst many others.

Hip Hop Collected is available as a limited edition of 5000 individually numbered copies on red (LP1) and white (LP2) coloured vinyl. The album includes an insert with liner notes, photos and credits.

This album is a tribute to Pastor Wylie Champion, who died while Luaka Bop were in the process of releasing this, his first record, and his wife, Mother Champion, who died a few months earlier. The Label met Pastor Champion a few years ago while they were putting together another release, The Time for Peace Is Now: Gospel Music About Us. They found him in a collection of YouTube videos from the 37th Street Baptist Church in Oakland, California, put together by the pastor there, Bishop Dr. W.C. McClinton. There was quite a lot of talent in those videos, and among them was Pastor Champion whom they liked so much that they decided to make a record with him. God bless Pastor Champion and Mother Champion, peace be with them and their family. Love to all.

Back in May 2019, Vancouver trio Corner Boys released their sole album… and promptly split a few months later. In retrospect, they couldn’t have known that the album’s title (‘Waiting For 2020’) would soon seem grimly ironic - and we all know why, right? No reason to go over all that shit again. But while the past two years have at least seen drummer/songwriter Patrick McEachnie staying active across two essential records with hardcore heroes Chain Whip, lockdown saw him switching roles. Basically, he bought a guitar and made an excellent record all on his lonesome, and as followers of his other projects will have come to expect, it’s fucking excellent. ‘Glad To Be Forgotten’ is the debut album by Pack Rat - in some ways you can see some level of crossover with Corner Boys in its manic energy and dedication to hooks (cuts like ‘Next Time Hit Me’ and ‘My Own Reality’ are so damn catchy, you could be forgiven for thinking you’ve already been listening to ‘em on repeat for the past 20 years). Familiar reference points show up (the melodies of the Pointed Sticks; the garage-slanted rifferama of Rudi or The Undertones) while a tinny budget synth keeps things ticking along nicely, just to remind you that this is a homespun DIY project. But honestly, this has the feel of a fully fleshed-out project and leaves you desperate for another fix of its sweet’n’sour tang. For anyone who loves the collision point between ‘New Rose’, powerpop sunshine and sheer rock’n’roll exuberance, this is essential. For everyone else, this is surely the gateway to all of that good stuff. You want to hear the tunes that’ll star on future generations’ equivalents to the Killed By Death comps? That’ll set your pulse soaring and your pogo muscles into overdrive? That’ll remind you of why this punk rock business still feels worth dedicating your life to, even after all this time? Hey, Pack Rat’s got ‘em. Now do your part

The Brkn Record is a new project led and produced by Jake Ferguson, the co-founder and bass player for the UK's foundational deep jazz outfit the Heliocentrics. With fellow Heliocentrics co-founder and legendary drummer Malcolm Catto, Ferguson has been a regular collaborator with globally recognised artists including Archie Shepp, Mulatu Astatke, Melvin Van Peebles, Orlando Julius and many others. The Architecture of Oppression Part 1 represents Ferguson's debut as a bandleader and orchestrator, and manifests as a committed and soulful response to ongoing and systemic anti-black racism, social oppression and state violence both at home in London and across the globe. Combining poetry, testimony and song with rich and cinematic backdrops, Ferguson has produced a sui generis sound that conjures flavours of Arthur Verocai, Ennio Morricone, classic library productions, Madlib-style deep-jazz beat science, and psychedelic soul. With bandmate Malcolm Catto on drums, Ferguson draws on their long years of collaborative experience in the Heliocentrics to build an album of striking texture and depth.

The Brkn Record is a new project led and produced by Jake Ferguson, the co-founder and bass player for the UK's foundational deep jazz outfit the Heliocentrics. With fellow Heliocentrics co-founder and legendary drummer Malcolm Catto, Ferguson has been a regular collaborator with globally recognised artists including Archie Shepp, Mulatu Astatke, Melvin Van Peebles, Orlando Julius and many others. The Architecture of Oppression Part 1 represents Ferguson's debut as a bandleader and orchestrator, and manifests as a committed and soulful response to ongoing and systemic anti-black racism, social oppression and state violence both at home in London and across the globe. Combining poetry, testimony and song with rich and cinematic backdrops, Ferguson has produced a sui generis sound that conjures flavours of Arthur Verocai, Ennio Morricone, classic library productions, Madlib-style deep-jazz beat science, and psychedelic soul. With bandmate Malcolm Catto on drums, Ferguson draws on their long years of collaborative experience in the Heliocentrics to build an album of striking texture and depth.

* Strictly limited-edition 2x12” vinyl in full colour sleeve. Includes card to download full album in WAV format.
* ‘Strange Days’ the debut album from one of the standout Drum & Bass acts of recent years, due for release on the legendary V Recordings on 3rd December 2021.
* Features collaborations with Serum, Makoto, MC Fats, Lorna King, 2shy MC, Cleveland Watkiss, Blak, Riya, A Little Sound, Elipsa & T.R.A.C.
* With support already secured from the likes of Shy FX, Bryan Gee, Fabio & Grooverider, Rene LaVice, Hybrid Minds, Serum, Randall and with a growing international fanbase at their back, Paul T & Edward Oberon's new album 'Strange Days' is set to be one of 2021's defining drum & bass releases.
* Their recent run of singles, including two Beatport number ones and collaborations with vocal talents like Cleveland Watkiss, MC Fats, A Little Sound & Lorna Kings have given us a flavour of this monumental project. An eclectic array of influences from jazz to jump up have been filtered through the unique musical perspective of this duo to bring us something that we've never quite heard before.
* Drum & bass has the capacity to deliver, on the one hand, soulfully emotive musicality and, on the other, sheer rave-inflaming filth. Paul T & Edward Oberon, however, have consistently performed the alchemical magic of bringing together both the music and the mayhem without compromising either.
* But of course they have. Paul and Edward have years of experience creating music for some of the most prestigious labels in the scene and drawing from a myriad of influences. Individually, they have credits stretching back decades, and, as a combo, they've been dusting dances around the world since 2011.
* Having won an army of new-gen fans with anthems like 'Stomp', 'Look for the Light' and the absolutely huge scene smashing Serum-collab 'Moon in Your Eyes', these veteran artists have wasted no time in stepping things up to even greater heights as they gear up to drop their album.
* Balancing vibes and viciousness, 'Strange Days' lays out the definitive manifesto for Paul T & Edward Oberon's dirty soul sound. Operating as both a self-contained audio journey and a collection of rave-ready deejay weapons, this LP is a piece of work that demands your attention!

Enjoy the Melodic Sunshine is a collection of songs by Cosmic Rough
Riders featuring tracks from their first two self-financed albums as well as three new tracks

The album was put together by Alan McGee's label as a starting point for mainstream listeners . The album spawned four singles including the Top 40 hits "Revolution (In The Summertime)" and "The Pain Inside".Most of the tracks on the album were recorded in a community funded recording studio in Castlemilk housing scheme and released on two self- financed albums; Deliverance (1999) and Panorama (2000). On hearing Panorama, Alan McGee signed the band to a one-album deal. The album would take the best of the first two albums as well as some new tracks.Now 21 years later Past Night From Glasgow will take the original masters, add a bonus track "I Call Her Name".

Enjoy the Melodic Sunshine is a collection of songs by Cosmic Rough
Riders featuring tracks from their first two self-financed albums as well as three new tracks

The album was put together by Alan McGee's label as a starting point for mainstream listeners . The album spawned four singles including the Top 40 hits "Revolution (In The Summertime)" and "The Pain Inside".Most of the tracks on the album were recorded in a community funded recording studio in Castlemilk housing scheme and released on two self- financed albums; Deliverance (1999) and Panorama (2000). On hearing Panorama, Alan McGee signed the band to a one-album deal. The album would take the best of the first two albums as well as some new tracks.Now 21 years later Past Night From Glasgow will take the original masters, add a bonus track "I Call Her Name".

Enjoy the Melodic Sunshine is a collection of songs by Cosmic Rough
Riders featuring tracks from their first two self-financed albums as well as three new tracks

The album was put together by Alan McGee's label as a starting point for mainstream listeners . The album spawned four singles including the Top 40 hits "Revolution (In The Summertime)" and "The Pain Inside".Most of the tracks on the album were recorded in a community funded recording studio in Castlemilk housing scheme and released on two self- financed albums; Deliverance (1999) and Panorama (2000). On hearing Panorama, Alan McGee signed the band to a one-album deal. The album would take the best of the first two albums as well as some new tracks.Now 21 years later Past Night From Glasgow will take the original masters, add a bonus track "I Call Her Name".

Enjoy the Melodic Sunshine is a collection of songs by Cosmic Rough
Riders featuring tracks from their first two self-financed albums as well as three new tracks

The album was put together by Alan McGee's label as a starting point for mainstream listeners . The album spawned four singles including the Top 40 hits "Revolution (In The Summertime)" and "The Pain Inside".Most of the tracks on the album were recorded in a community funded recording studio in Castlemilk housing scheme and released on two self- financed albums; Deliverance (1999) and Panorama (2000). On hearing Panorama, Alan McGee signed the band to a one-album deal. The album would take the best of the first two albums as well as some new tracks.Now 21 years later Past Night From Glasgow will take the original masters, add a bonus track "I Call Her Name".

Bristol's jazz daddies The Jazz Defenders drop their second album for Haggis Records (home of UK funk kings The Haggis Horns), in March 2022 and it's a real departure from their debut release "Scheming" (released in 2020). Whereas that album was a homage to the late 1950s/early 1960s classic jazz style known as hard bop, this release moves into new territory with hip-hop/jazz, cinema soundtrack flavours, Latin rhythms and soul-jazz all upfront in the mix. Three taster singles from the album released in mid/late 2021 and march 2022, "The Big Man/Love's Vestige, "Live Slow" (featuring US rapper Herbal T), and "Perfectly Imperfect" (feat Doc Brown) received great radio support from the likes of Craig Charles (BBC 6 Music), Helen Mayhew (Jazz FM), Jamie Cullum (BBC Radio 2), Ashley Beedle (Worldwide FM), Colin Curtis (Worldwide FM) amongst many others, all loving the Jazz Defenders' musical fusion of retro meets modern.

The classic sound that has inspired the band this time is very much from the mid-late 1960s era and the merging of soul and funk beats with jazz solos/improvisation. Tracks like "Wagger Jaunt" and "Munch" nod to the piano and organ-led soul-jazz of artists like Ramsey Lewis, Herbie Hancock, Reuben Wilson, and Jimmy Smith. Meanwhile "Saudade" and "Love's Vestige" feature Brazilian bossa rhythms but with some added film soundtrack overtones. Speaking of movie soundtracks, "The Oracle'' is a pure homage to the classic cinematic compositions of maestros like John Barry(James Bond, The Ipcress File) or Lalo Schifrin (Mission Impossible, Bullitt) right down to the very impressive string arrangement, beautifully scored and orchestrated by band leader George Cooper.

A big departure from the previous album comes via the two hip-hop/jazz tracks, both of which feature guest MCs. "Live Slow" has US rapper Herbal T blessing the mic over an uptempo soul-jazz number whilst "Perfectly Imperfect" features London MC/actor Doc Brown rapping on a nice and slow 90's style head-nodding hip-hop groove. Both compositions show George Cooper's love for old-school boom-bap hip-hop (by the way, he also plays keys with renowned UK hip-hop big band Abstract Orchestra). For classic jazz lovers who dug the first album, there are two pure jazz tracks that join the dots between that debut release and this sophomore one - "Twilight" and "From The Ashes" - with plenty of vibrant solos for the discerning listener.

"King Phoenix" is a statement in itself from The Jazz Defenders. After 2 years of music being destroyed by the pandemic and many musicians inactive, the band has risen from the ashes with new vigour, energy and vision to try something new and not just repeat past musical glories. A band that sticks to the same script every release might just end up having a short shelf life but the Jazz Defenders are planning on being around for a long time.










j Live Slow (Album Version) feat. Herbal T

This beloved 1963 Impulse! LP is a career highlight for both Johnny Hartman and John Coltrane. Hartman was apparently Coltrane's suggestion for the recording date, and his deep, dark voice meshes perfectly here with Coltrane's tenor. The material is well-chosen, including definitive readings of 'My One and Only Love' and 'Lush Life.' McCoy Tyner fills out the chords, augmenting the harmonies and keeping the tone of these ballads respectful but not overly sentimental. All the players get to the deep structure of the songs and are not afraid to play in the most essential and elegant manner.

Lia Ices was pregnant with her first child when she started writing her forthcoming record, Family Album, a stunning collection of psychedelic-tinged Americana. She was living with her husband, a wine-maker, on Moon Mountain in Sonoma, CA, where she walked from house to studio through a rose garden with an orchard at its center every day to sit at her piano and see what fell out. It was a “total Eden,” Ices describes. “I got pregnant in January, and Una was born in September, so I was on the same ripening mode as all the fruit.” “This album is terroir,” she says, using a wine-making term used for the complete natural environmental factors that make something taste the way it does. Fully, spiritually connected to the soil on which it was made, to the air Ices breathed. Ices hasn’t released music for six years, since her last album, Ices, in 2014. It’s been a long personal journey to get to Family Album, which she’s putting out on her own label, Natural Music. The first song Ices wrote for Family Album was “Young on the Mountain,” a breezy folk-rock track about life and death and freedom that’s the album’s highest energy. “The more real life gets, the more mystical it feels,” she explains. This idea reaches throughout the album, like on “Anywhere At All,” which is essentially an ode to “how psychedelic it is to be a first time mother,” Creating a life and creating this record at the same time is only part of the story. Those two acts also brought Ices closer to who she really is, and to the music she’s supposed to make. There’s a holistic energy around Family Album, epitomized by the opening track, “Earthy,” a gorgeous, dynamic song that begins with Ices solo on the piano, and midway through becomes a total psych-Americana jam. Though it starts the album off, even by the end it’s clear this is the record’s centerpiece, both its introduction and its heart; she sings about the Muse, about life and death, about both being here and giving herself away in order to find herself. She worked with producer JR White (Girls) all over California: three studios in LA, one in Stinson Beach, and one in San Francisco. Ices describes White as a “Brian Wilson type” with a singular mastery over gear; she says even just the way he rigged the mic while she was singing allowed her to get some of her best-ever vocal performances. And for the album’s accompanying visuals, she entrusted good friend and filmmaker Conor Hagen to follow her and her band around the west coast of California on tour over the course of 9 months for the album’s first single ‘Hymn’, as well as director Aaron Brown (Cass McCombs, Arctic Monkeys) to help her make the aura-themed video for the record’s title track. Ices says of Family Album. There’s a “universal timing” to this record that it’s had since its beginning, with Ices’ ripening. “It keeps being a teacher to me, it has its own energy field around it.”

'Still Life' Carson McHones drittes Album und zweite Veröffentlichung bei Loose Music erscheint Ende Februar. Nach ihrem 2019er Album "Carousel" zählt die aus Austin, Texas kommernde Musikerin zu einer der innovativsten Künstlerinnen aus den Staaten. Inspiriert von u.a. John Cale, The Kinks, Richard und Linda Thompson – gleichgesinnte Künstler der späten 60er und frühen 70er, einer anderen Ära des Übergangs und der Innovation. McHone schrieb die Songs von 'Still Life' in ruhigen Momenten zwischen den Tourneen in ihrer Heimatstadt Austin und nahm sie dann in Ontario mit dem kanadischen Musiker und Produzenten Daniel Romano auf. Diese erstmalige Zusammenarbeit zwischen McHone und Romano offenbart eine unwiderstehliche Dynamik von den präzisen Arrangements bis hin zu den ausgefeilten Lyrics der Songs. 'Still Life' ist mehr als zeitlos, es ist zeitgemäß, von Natur aus modern und ist für Alternative Country Fans ein Highlight!

San Francisco Moog: 1968-72 documents a missing link in the history of electronic music, as well as the little-known moment when psychedelic music went electronic.

In 1968, Bay Area native Doug McKechnie got hold of one the very first modular Moog synthesizers ever made and began finding his own way to play it. Soon, he was hauling the finicky instrument around to perform improvised concerts at colleges and ballrooms, as well as an ill-fated appearance on the bill at Altamont. Many of the performances were recorded, and the surviving tapes—never before released—capture a free- flowing, transportive sound that fills in the gap between the austere mid-century academic avant garde and the expansive cosmic suites of Tangerine Dream and the rest of the Berlin School in the ‘70s.

This is not another corny old Moog record. San Francisco Moog sounds as fresh as anything by today’s analog-synth heads while bringing to life a lost moment in the development of the music.

All pieces were created improvisationally in an atmosphere of exploration and discovery on a Moog Modular Series III synthesizer and recorded live with no overdubbing to Ampex PR-10, Nagra 3, or TEAC four-channel recorders.

Produced by Doug McKechnie, Lee Gardner, and PJ Dorsey
Mastered by A.F Jones at Laminal Audio
Art direction by Frank Hamilton and Nolen Strals
Mandala art by Richard Winn Taylor

Matthew Halsall unveils new band and announces 'Salute to the Sun'

his new album on Gondwana Records

Limited edition Double Clear vinyl, printed on reverse board with Gold foil artwork plus double printed reverse board inner sleeves including download code. Cover Artwork by Daniel Halsall with design and layout by Ian Anderson of The Designers Republic.

Comes packaged in a resealable, re-usable Polypropylene anti-static, acid-free, crystal clear sleeve for maximum protection.

Composer, trumpeter, producer, DJ and founder of Gondwana Records, Matthew Halsall has always worn many hats. But at the heart of everything that he does Halsall is first and foremost an artist and a musician. A trumpeter whose unflashy, soulful playing radiates a thoughtful beauty and a composer and band-leader who has created his own rich sound world. A sound that draws on the heritage of British jazz, the spiritual jazz of Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, as well as world music and electronica influences, and even modern art and architecture, to create something uniquely his own. A music that is rooted in Northern England but draws on global inspirations.

Salute to the Sun is his first album as a leader since Into Forever (2015) and marks the debut of his new band. A hand-picked ensemble featuring some of Manchester's finest young musicians: Matt Cliffe flute & saxophone, Maddie Herbert harp, Liviu Gheorghe piano, Alan Taylor drums and Jack McCarthy percussion as well as long-time Halsall collaborator, bassist, Gavin Barras who has been at the heart of Halsall's bands for over a decade. For Matthew it was important to have a band based locally and able, pre-Covid, to meet and play each week, and who also performed a sold-out monthly basement session at Yes in Manchester. The album draws energy from these sessions and inspiration from themes and ideas that have inspired Halsall through the years (on albums such as Oneness, Fletcher Moss Park and When the World Was One) ideas of ecology, the environment and harmony with nature.

"I feel Salute to the Sun is a positive earthy album. I wanted to create something playful but also quite primitive, earthy and organic that connected to the sounds in nature. I was listening to lush ambient field recordings of tropical environments such as jungles and rainforests and found myself drawn to percussive atmospheric sounds which replicated what I was hearing (bells / shakers / chimes / rain sticks) and I started to experiment with more wooden percussive instruments such as kalimba and marimba".

Salute to the Sun features lush wholly improvised tunes inspired by ambient rainforest and jungle field recordings, deeply soulful tunes built around hypnotic harp and kalimba patterns, deep Strata-East inspired spiritual jazz grooves and some of Halsall's most beautiful playing and inspiring healing melodies yet recorded.

The album was recorded at the band's weekly sessions, using Halsall's own recording set-up, giving the recordings a relaxed vibe and unforced energy that really lets the music breath. The album is also very much a family affair as Halsall's brother Daniel Halsall, artistic director of Gondwana Records, was an important presence at the sessions and co-produced the album. It is also his memorable artwork that adorns the cover of Salute to the Sun, an album beautifully designed by legendary designer Ian Anderson of The Designers Republic, who also created the covers for the recent archival releases Oneness, Sending My Love and Colour Yes and is one of Halsall's favourite designers. Together Daniel Halsall and Ian Anderson have designed all of Matthew's seven albums to date, so it felt extra-special to bring them together for, Salute to the Sun, an album that Halsall was determined to present in the very best way possible. The album was mixed with another long-time collaborator, George Atkins at 80 Hertz in Manchester, who works tirelessly with Halsall to perfect the sound and was mastered by noted engineer Peter Beckmann who brings an added depth to the sound specially around the bass notes as well as Halsall's trumpet. The magnificent double vinyl was cut as a Half Speed master by Barry Grint at Alchemy Mastering for the best possible analogue experience.

The result is arguably Halsall's most beautiful and complete recording to date, playful, charming and imbued with the warmth of the sun and the energy of life.

First Word Records is very proud to present you with 'Peace + Harmony'. The first EP from our most recent signing, K S R .

Hailing from Moss Side, Manchester, this young talent has been steadily building a rep for himself over the past few years as one of the UK's most exciting soul vocalists, with his releases encompassing an eclectic assortment of alternative R&B, future soul, hip hop and D&B. Influenced by an array of neo-soul artists, such as D'Angelo and Anderson .Paak, his own soulful style has already seen him tour and collaborate with a number of UK peers; working on projects with label-mates Children of Zeus & Australia's REMi, and supporting the likes of Etta Bond & The Mouse Outfit, as well as performing sell-out headline solo shows in Manchester and London, and playing various festivals across Europe, including the We Out Here festival very recently.

Since he began developing his music in 2017, K S R has had support from the likes of 1Xtra, BBC Radio 1, BBC Introducing, Mixmag, NTS, Reprezent, Unity & Soho Radio, in addition to featuring on a slew of D&B tracks with artists like Lenzman, BCee, Emba & Redeyes. The collab with Emba was recently named a 'Kiss FM Future Selection' courtesy of Hybrid Minds and features have been supported on Spotify's 'New Music Friday' and 'Mandem - Kings' amongst others. His debut release 'Unfiltered' appeared on Polarface Records in 2019, which was followed by single 'Flex With Me' (also produced by Tyler Daley from Children of Zeus) then an independent second EP, 'Take Control', followed in late 2020 (during the pandemic) which amassed over 500k streams. Additionally to the releases, he was recently recruited by Manchester United as part of their 21/22 season kit announcements, as well as working with Nike and Size? on a special MCR-themed Air Force 1 release.

It's now time for a new extended project from Roosevelt Kazaula Sigsbert - better known as K S R . 'Peace + Harmony' is a solid set of alternative R&B, produced by Dom Porter and mixed by Eric Lau. Six tracks in all, including the single, 'Harmless' (which received support from the likes of Mr. Scruff (Worldwide FM), BBC Manchester and Victoria Jane (BBC Radio 1), was 'Track Of The Week' on 1Xtra/BBC Introducing, and saw the video racking up several thousand plays in its first weekend) and follow-up 'CGWY' featuring Children of Zeus on a brand new interpretation of their classic track 'Get What's Yours'. From the intro track 'I Wonder', to the downlow future soul of 'Lily Apart', to the autobiographical vibes of 'Born In '98', to the closing track 'Given Summer', also featuring the vocals of Ayeisha Raquel, each track on the EP is of course laced with Roosevelt's unmistakable silky smooth vocals, and is set to join his already impressive catalogue of underground soul classics such as 'Alien Boo', 'Stylin' and 'New Love'.

K S R says "my third EP, P E A C E + H A R M O N Y is a collection of my thoughts and experiences from my journey throughout the last two years of my life. Lots of aspects of my life changed over 24 months, along with everyone around the globe. When we were thrown into the unknown at the start of 2020, I stepped away from music for a while as I couldn't find any peace in my creativity and needed to evolve. I finally started to feel cohesive with my songwriting and music, and I could feel harmony between myself and my art once again."

'Peace + Harmony' by K S R is released on vinyl & digital on First Word Records, late 2021.