Hip-Hop Vinyl New Releases - News

7" Vinyl Label: Environmentally Friendly Cat No: MBX113 Format: 7" Vinyl Release Date: 26th April 2019 Pre-order online - HERE Genre: Reggae / Dub Price: £4.55 a1. Salute - Step Fresh b1. Salute - Circle Bass

Based in Essex and established in 2016, Side Track Music is the musical collaboration of Singer Tempa (Patrick O'Reilly) and Moss - Low End Music (Will Moss). With their debut digital release on MessenJah Music Records in 2016 (Colours Of Jah Rainbow) and a following release through the S.T.M Band Camp (Leaning Curve feat Apocalypse Dub Faction) the duo are now bringing the label into the vinyl format. The first vinyl release consists of two vocal cuts featuring UK artists Singer Tempa and Paul Fox, a vocal dub composed and produced by Side Track Music and a live dub mix by Paul Fox at Sound Business Studios. A hard hitting UK 1 Drop featuring a conscious message about real world topics.

A one-off limited pressing from her forthcoming album. Sensational singer, Leba, daughter of reggae pioneer Toots Hibbert, highlights her vocal prowess & charm, on her first release for 2018 - a cover version of the Bob Marley classic.

Backed by the Taxi Gang Band, recorded and mixed at Channel One Recording Studios, Kingston Jamaica. Produced and arranged by Sly Dunbar & Robbie Shakespeare.

AN ANTWORTEN showcases two new tracks from Tokyo based producer TENTENKO alongside revisited and reworked versions by TOLOUSE LOW TRAX, MM/KM and NIKA SON.

Whilst on her first ever European tour in December 2019, TENTENKO played a number of highly energised live shows in venues such as Salon des Amateurs or Alien Disko Festival Munich, where she has had the chance to finally meet up with some local electronic producers like TOLOUSE LOW TRAX, MIX MUP, KASSEM MOSSE and NIKA SON, whose work she had admired from afar for a long time already. Through these meetings the ideas towards this remix ep began to take shape.

TOLOUSE LOW TRAX toils a tuff sort of hypnotizing Crepuscule-Hiphop minimalism. His SPRAY SKY MIX is faithfully in tune with the original TENTENKO material whilst still bearing his most explicit rythmic signature.

MM/KM (MIX MUP and KASSEM MOSSE) have over the years consolidated a strong identity of non conformist dance music. When MM/KM stressed that they would rather answer (ANTWORTEN) the sounds of TENTENKO than doing a mere remix, this approach led not only to their “GET VERSION” but also ended up supplying the title of this EP.

NIKA SON’s MIZU-IRO MORPH is exploring a more narrative based dramaturgy of sounds that imbue the original track with a duskier cineastic appeal.

TENTENKO is a Tokyo-based electronic music producer. Her career began in 2013 when she joined the mainstream idol group BiS. Immediately after her departure from BIS in 2014 she commenced work on her solo project under her artist name TENTENKO. Since then she has radically reinvented her music away from glossy J-POP towards weird and industrial rooted dancefloor.

"After my 100th jubilee episode on Brooklyn Radio and the accompanying "Oonops Drops"-45 i am back with this new single.

We gonna start with a funky rap-tune by The Ruffcats featuring Andy Cooper on the microphone. Slick Walk remixed "On The Run" and added hard-hitting drums and on-point-scratches to it and produced a sureshot party starter.

On the flip you'll find two jazzy instrumental joints. First one is by japanese beatproducer 6th Generation and his instrumental 7"- edit of "Remember Us". The last track is by German fingerdrumming master and beatgrinder xtraordinaire Clockwerk who works out a jazzy beats number together with Hannover based jazz combo Birdmoves on the instruments."

Oonops

a 01: On The Run (Slick Walk Remix) feat. Andy Cooper


d 04: Portisheadshop (7) [feat. Birdmoves]

“Never forget our past, our history” so goes the refrain at the end of “Mama” one of the songs from David Walters’s bold and affecting release from earlier this year on the Parisian label, Heavenly Sweetness, “Soleil Kreyol.”

On “Soleil Kreyol” David Walters achieved the apparent impossible - evoking such disparate worlds as New York’s ‘70s club culture and his own familial Afro-Caribbean roots, singing much of the album in Martinican Creole, against a shimmering, percussive soundtrack.

“Mama” returns on his latest, "Nocturne" in a stripped down version alongside a trio of master musicians: the renowned Malian kora musician Ballaké Sissoko, whose previous credits include Taj Mahal and Toumani Diabaté; Sissoko's previous musical collaborator, French cellist/bassist Vincent Segal who also appeared on Walters's “Soleil Kreyol” and veteran percussionist, Roger Raspail, originally from Guadeloupe, who through his four decades has performed genres as diverse Congolese funk, gnawa music from the Sahel and jazz.*

What’s striking about Walters’s "Nocturne" is that despite the players' diversity and the album's array of musical influences - album standout “Freedom” fluidly moves between Walters’s delicate falsetto to a rapped verse in a setting buffered by a pensive cello, interlocking percussion and kora - it remains fully cohesive throughout.

Opener “Papa Kossa" is an album highlight. Immediately ushering us into the album’s distinctive mood, which is in part innovative folk - think Mano Negra, albeit with a Martinican Creole base, rather than Spanish - and something uniquely its own: whispered melodies, in French, English and Martinican Creole, set against a bed of encircling rhythms and harmonies.

The Marseille-based composer/guitarist/vocalist David Walters has long created music that transcends fixed borders. Whether as a DJ/producer remixing the Buenos Aires/ Paris Gotan Project; as a founding member of Zimpala - an electro hip-hop collective - or during his travels to Africa, where he studied alongside Ali Farka Touré, Walters’s approach has always been refreshingly eclectic, albeit stamped with the imprint of his West Indies origins. Walters is Paris born, his mother is from Martinique, his father comes from Saint Kitts and Nevis.*

Dating back to his first releases - some of which appeared on Gotan Project's ¡Ya Basta! record label - David Walters has affirmed and reinvented his Afro-Caribbean musical ancestry, transforming this rich heritage into the foundations of his distinctive musical voice - reinterpreting, for example to “Mesi Bon Dyé” by the seminal Haitian composer Frantz Casseus for the label in the early 2000s.* While more than a decade later, Walters visited New Orleans for the "Nola is Calling" project that united musicians from the US, Benin and France.*

In a cultural moment where the era's best music is characterised by multicultural, polyglot origins and focus on Black identity and culture, “Nocturne” provides a welcome French - or Martinican Creole - perspective. Because of the music's innovative, fully immersive nature “Nocturne” will appeal to a wide range of listeners curious to engage with music that while deeply personal resonates widely.

“Nocturne” is a profoundly moving and intimate listen: a new kind of folk music, with a French/Afro-Caribbean accent, that is modern and ancient at the same time.

Record Kicks presents "The Black Stone Affair" the lost Italian Cinematic Masterpiece by Whatitdo Archive Group on limited edition 45.

For the first time ever, Record Kicks is pleased to announce the release of the long lost soundtrack by Whatitdo Archive Group to the Italian Cinematic Masterpiece "The Black Stone Affair''. The Soundtrack will be released on April 09 on Gatefold LP, CD and Digital Download. The first extract from the movie soundtrack is a limited edition 45 vinyl featuring "The Return of Beaumont Jenkins" on side A and the non-album bonus track "La Pietra" on side B. The 45 will be released in limited edition to 500 copies worldwide next March 05.

Long thought to be lost alongside the movie itself by the production studio, the soundtrack's master reels were recently recovered and its audio meticulously restored and remastered by J.J. Golden in Ventura, CA. The movie itself was understood to be unusual for its time: a globetrotting adventure/western-noir written and directed by aspiring visionary, Stefano Paradisi. Unfortunately for Paradisi, the tragic loss of his masterpiece also meant the end of his short lived career in movies. People who worked on the film have been cited as saying this film was going to be a turning point in Italian cinema and henceforth put Paradisi on the map alongside the likes of Fellini and Antonioni.

While the movie never saw the light of day, the soundtrack by obscure band Whatitdo Archive Group has thankfully been recovered. The music itself is staggering to hear and this limited edition ultra groovy 45 is just a little appetizer of what you'll be hearing on the LP. Rare groove and soundtrack fans don't sleep on it.

Beware! What the Big Bear Revue laid down in the studio back in the day is a boogaloo-mod-funk monster of the highest order. Here is a little story for you. We first heard about this 45 when it was offered on ebay more than ten years ago. A sound sample accompanied the listing but we missed to save it onto our computer. Many years later we managed to get a copy of this disc without remembering the songs. All we had kept in mind was that one side was a really good funk instrumental. Finally, when we put the disc onto our turntable we could not believe our ears. What was coming out of the speaker was a beast. We remember it as it was yesterday. Hopefully you experience the same thing when dropping the needle to Big Bear for the first time. Pow!

Key selling points:

- limited to 500 copies

- professionally mastered for the best quality possible

- fully licensed

Smoove returns to the label with another couple of skillfully worked mashups. Side A pairs the vocals of Lizzo’s Juice with Boney M’s Sunny with added drums played by label mate Dr Rubberfunk – Oooooo Weeeeee! On the flip sees Skee-lo’s anthem, “I Wish” flipped with Stevie Wonder’s classic of the same name – genius!! You know the drill – doubles required – snooze you lose!

Vinyl Only!

The story, the myth, la leyenda. It was summer, my amigos said “you have to come, you won’t believe it!”. It was decided, vamos a España! Time to exchange the grey skies f or a little bit of Mar y Sol! We
landed, uno cerveza por favor! Days spent recharging on the playa or by the pool. Nights in discotheques dancing under the stars as anonymous f reestyle DJ’s supplied the most exciting eclectic musica. Together in harmony with the chicest chicos and chicas I had ever seen. I was in a dream. My lif e f orever transf ormed. I’d f allen in love. I never looked back...This is where I belong.
El Guiri Discos. Long forgotten Spanish UnClassics, hand picked con amor f rom dusty bargain bins, respectfully re-touched and re-shaped for the most open minded, modern Balearic Beat selector.

Hannah Williams hat weltweit Aufsehen erregt, als der Hip-Hop-Superstar Jay-Z auf "Late Nights & Heartbreak" ihre herzergreifende Stimme für den Titeltrack "4.44" auf seinem Album 2017 sampelte. Mit dem letzten Album 50 FOOT WOMAN, das auf dem Mailänder Imprint Record Kicks veröffentlicht wurde, gaben Hannah und ihre vorbildliche, in Bristol ansässige Band The Affirmations ein definitives Karrierestatement ab. Die limitierte Auflage der klaren LP ist weltweit auf 500 Exemplare limitiert!

‘Synth Expressionism/Rhythmic Cubism’ LP from Chicago’s Jamal Moss aka Hieroglyphic Being is a collection of idioms that have no past and no future, his jarring use of polyrhythmic polyphony imbues a sense of timelessness.

The prolific catalog of Moss’ covers many musical dialects from his hometown and beyond. Never standing in one artistic sphere for too long, this adventure for On the Corner Records sees Hieroglyphic Being exploring a multitude of expressions of the American Avant-garde.

Abstractions Of The Future Past — Afro-Cubism: The Designation, conceived by an African With A Mainframe — An Etude Of Effigy — A Hieroglyphic Being.

Rhythmic Cubism: In this ‘Dissertation Of Disorientation’ Neal Andrew Emil Gustafson temporal considerations are put aside as polyrhythmic propulsion is the current flowing through the work. As prelude the fastidious ‘Rhythmic Cubism’, Moss enacts a flurry of white noise and musical coda as it phases in-and-out of synchronicity.

The disjointed dance of an alternative Black Music, ‘The Spiritual Or ‘Electromagnetic Worlds’ takes the meter down a fraction to exonerate a granular groove of visceral refracted complexity. Sonorus static sits alongside spastic shards of synthesis to reveal a melancholic medley before its conclusion.

‘Apocrypha’ collages distinct rhythmic source materials in an entrancing abstraction of ‘Hypersonic Hemiola’. An assertion of Art Blakey proportions. Perpetually pushed forward through the building of distorted percussion, Moss precludes into syncopated synapsis before and end of reductive symmetry.

Evolving into a studdered off-kilter groove, ‘The Redemption Project’ flows as a dissipating organ medley dissolves into a deluge of layered sonic textures, creating an indiscernible metric center before fading to a distant vanishing point.

Departing with a common-time ‘Timbuk2’ takes off like a classic Chicago Acid track, then makes a left turn towards the center as it drives the rhythmic motion into a dystopian dreamland, as the sax line surges forcing the track to break free from it’s charted course.

The Fragmented Fantasy of The Synth Expressionism/Rhythmic Cubism LP is a conclusive work that has no end, a conundrum of conceptual calculated improvisation. Drifting through time, this fragmented abstraction of Afro-Cubism leaves room for posterity, as each listen summons a new perspective on the suite. Something ever so common in the work of Jamal Moss. Charting new sonic directions, the very nature of its precedent makes it a truly Hieroglyphic affair.

Words By Neal Andrew Emil Gustafson

Destiny is made. Realised. Driven by the acts of vision. Hireroglyphic Being is a seer. Atomic resonance echoing from the big bang defies the conceptual reality of purity. The nuclear static of ‘white noise’ is HBs canvas. Channeling poly rhythms into the universe. Experience, repetition and eternal decay. From purity back to the absolute by way of a deluge of slurry across time. Infinite layers of distortion and refracted complexity. This is HBs canvas. Sound of eternity channelled through a bass bin, represented by its own impure reflection and fragments. Always more than it's whole but never as was before.

This album seeks to reach beyond ideas and emotions, beyond the comprehension of a human archetype. Beyond ultimate history, forwards and back. To ends and a singular beginnings. Timbuk2 is the frenetic intersection where the call and response of these ideas lock and dissipate back into the void.

Clear Vinyl


It is the year 2020, a year that addresses our awareness of diversity, tolerance and sustainability in an assorted, socio-cultural way. We translate this demand into music. "Nuthin' But A She Thang" focuses on a marginalised view of instrumental beat music.

This sampler, reflects a cross-section of the international female producer scene: 14 female artists, 8 countries, 4 continents, one language - music! The 14 instrumentals take the listener on a musical journey, which creates a tension between classic sample sound and modern current productions.

The many facets of female beat producing are presented by exclusive contributions by Ainie (DE) o Aygyul (AT) o Courtney Hawkins (US) o Da Chick (PT) o Georgia Anne Muldrow (US) o Gnarly (UK) o Jillesque (US) o Josi Miller (DE) o Julie Schatz (US) o Lisa Vazquez (US) o Sadiva (AUS) o Saltyyyy V (DE) o SOWALL (KOR) o USAGI (JP). Together with Stylefile as a cooperation-partner, we were able to persuade none other than HERA (DE). She implanted an even more artistic approach and added an exclusive artprint to this piece of music.

Our latest Release DDCT003 is in the end not only a musical project, it is a statement, it is an attitude.

LP+Buch

Limited Edition Deluxe Version comes with 50 page children's book inspired by the album. Written by Francine Prose and illustrated by Omar "El Oms" Juarez. The colored vinyl is red. Fresh off of their 2020 offering Adult Themes, El Michels Affair is back with a new full-length release. Titled Yeti Season, this newest album has everything we've come to expect from EMA's patented cinematic style of instrumental soul music. Where Adult Themes inspired a soundtrack to an imaginary film, Yeti Season brings us to a different place in time_with new inspirations. Taken with Turkish-styled funk and an almost Mumbai-esque take on soul, El Michels Affair offers us a different kind of drama and imagination with Yeti Season. If you've been following along, this shouldn't be viewed as too far a departure for El Michels Affair. The first single off of Yeti Season showed their hand back in 2018. A double-sided banger, that release brought the musical textures to the fore that dominate this record. The first song, titled "Unathi," is fully realized with the beautifully haunting-yet-hopeful vocals of Piya Malik, formally of 79.5_another Big Crown artist. Singing in Hindi, Piya's ethereal voice is telling us to work and strive together toward progress. Even if you don't understand her language, you can still hear the urgency of purpose, creating a lasting vibe that sits on top of it all. Leon Michels explains that Piya had a vital influence on this record: "When Piya started singing in Hindi, she had a different voice, a different tone. I knew we had to do something together." And so Piya appears on three other songs on Yeti Season: "Zaharila," "Murkit Gem," and "Dhuaan." Each providing particular signatures to the album. "Zaharila" is a building and changing love song punctuated by blaring trumpets, driving drums, and Piya's pleading lyrics. While the more upbeat "Murkit Gem" opens with a fuzzed out, Wu-Tang-esque baseline that buoys Piya's stylings. The psychedelic guitar and Piya's changing tones and textures singing about an all-consuming love are what pushed "Dhuaan" on to the second single from Yeti Season. There is also a vocal appearance from Shannon Wise of The Shacks, yet another Big Crown artist. Her song called "Sha Na Na," lies more in the familiar EMA vein: melodic, hypnotic, soulfully visual. But between Shannon's airy singing, the jumpy baseline, moody vibes, the active drum lines, it sounds like a pensive walk home after a strangely dramatic night. So what is Yeti Season? It could be more of a feeling than an actual place or time of year. It's a heavy album_as evidenced by the signature musicianship and dramatic vocal expressions. But it's also a hopeful record, with phrasings, textures, and chord changes that hint at something better_or fuller_coming our way. You hear it in songs like "Ala Vida," with its stabby, pulsing chords laying a bedrock for EMA's bright, atmospheric horn lines. Or even in "Fazed Out," which leaves you with a feeling of determination, a striving for resolution even though the driving, march-like song structure should accompany some conquering army. This persistence has to come from the fact that Leon Michels and company finished this record during the lockdown. It was a tough and troublesome time. But look at what has come of it: Yeti Season_a record of high and heavy drama, but also one of hope and promise. It may take a year like 2020 behind us to find hope in a winter big footed creature like a Yeti, but that's where we are.

Jesse James rides again! Rejoining the Soul Junction label to bring you his previously unreleased original version of the song “(The Girl In) Clinton Park”

The song is more widely known through the version recorded by the group Masterplan in 1974 as part of their trilogy of 45 releases on the West Coast Fos-Glo label, with this particular release being later picked up and released on The East Coast Delite label.

The story behind Jess’s solo version began 3 years earlier when following his first spell with the 20th Century label Jesse found himself without a label feeling a little disillusioned with major labels but undeterred in his own ability he decided to finance and record his own masters. Hence on 29th of April 1971, Jesse entered the Searra Sound Studio in Berkley C.A under the direction of producer and friend Willie Hoskins (Wilhos Productions, and the man who gave the world the Natural Four on Boola, Boola and ABC, prior to them joining Curtis Mayfield at Curtom). Jesse recorded a five song session, with one particular song being the Stanley Lippett composition “(The Girl In) Clinton Park”. Lippett who prior to becoming part of the Wilhos Productions team sang with the early 60’s group The Five Brooks before recording two very sought after Northern Soul 45’s “The Stran” and “Outta Sight Loving” for Dick Vance’s Out Of Site Label. Stanley later joined Marvin Holmes & The Uptights Band. It had been Marvin Holmes (he of Brown Door Records fame) who introduced Stanley to Willie Hoskins with Stanley subsequently joining Boola Boola Records and Wilhos Productions. Stanley repaid Marvin for this introduction by composing a song based on Marvin’s 3 year daughter, she being the actual girl from Clinton Park!

Returning to Jesse James, two other songs from this session, a cover version of Etta James “At Last” and “I Know I’ll Never Find Another” did gain a release at the time on the Zay label.

We’ve known about Jesse’s version of this song for many years now but the tape was nowhere to be found and even without hearing it, just knowing the song and that Jesse was a great singer I always promised him that one day I’d put it out. But if there is some good to come out of this pandemic then it was during Jesse’s lock down in Richmond and while browsing through his possessions he luckily found the missing tape, bingo we’re in business!

For this release we have coupled “(The Girl In) Clinton Park” with Jesse’s oh so soulful cover version of the Terry Callier/Larry Wade composition “ Just As Long As We’re In Love” (also recorded by Callier himself and The Mighty Dells), previously issued by Soul Junction on Jesse’s 2012 album “Let Me Show You” (SJLP 5005), enjoy.

The long awaited EP from Messenger Douglas and Kibir La Amlak is finally ready, and ready with style. Yes, it was definitely worth the wait! This testament to modern roots reggae has cut no corners and taken no shortcuts! A large credit list lines the back of this EP, naming a plethora of the best musicians, studios and engineers that the UK reggae scene has to offer. Such as Dennis Bovell, Jerry Lionz, Ashanti Selah, Roberto Sanchez to name but a few.

Messenger Douglas is an artist in a league of his own, high musical standards are seamlessly married with deep lyrical content! The four vocal instalments on this EP showcase this marriage immaculately.

'Real Works' the title track of the EP, kicks off proceedings as a rallying call to anyone who knows they can do better in life. A solid roots rockers riddim explodes out of the speakers to carry the message that 'there is no time to idle, relax or sit down, the battle can be won!' 'Blessings' follows as an exploration of faith and confidence in the ever present blessings of life. As life is a journey with many ups and downs, the riddim track, especially the bassline, reflects this. Dennis Bovell's world class bass playing shines through here, taking us from the highest highs to the lowest lows. Regardless of the position on the journey, the faith still remains. 'Happiness', a song written by Messenger over 30 years ago, finally finds its way onto the anthemic Joshua's Anthem riddim, with a message as relevant to the world today as it was when it was written. The EP concludes with 'Sufferers Tea', a true lyrical masterpiece, that deals with the harsh and bitter realities of life as a sufferer. The hypnotic guitars, and relentless pace of the riddim echo the intensity of the sufferers life, yet true to Messenger's songwriting genius, the song remains upful and even humorous in places.

All four vocals are followed by heavy-weight dub versions, mixed by Kibir La Amlak, in the original analogue fashion, hands on faders, spring reverbs, valve filters and an immaculate attention to detail. The tracks were mixed by Kibir La Amlak and Nick Manasseh at the Yard Studios and then mastered and cut to vinyl by Lewis Hopkins at Star Delta Mastering. The final sonic character of this EP (especially the vinyl) is huge! Warm, punchy, analogue, roots -reggae at its finest.

Both Kibir La Amlak and Messenger Douglas have a firm root in the world of reggae sound system, so it felt only natural that this EP echo that foundation with the vocal / dub format that is so richly associated with that world. The vinyl release honours this tradition with the EP coming on 2 separate 12' disks! Whether you choose to play your favourite track as a vinyl single through a sound system, or tune into the whole EP start to finish on Spotify as you cook dinner, one thing is guaranteed. You will not be disappointed!

Finally, after 40 long years, the impossibly rare diamond-in-the-rough LP from Pure Release is once again seeing the light of day. Led by James Fernandez, this East LA Funk crossover is in a league of its own. It’s sunshine and feel-good vibes from top to bottom with a decidedly learned but still naive aesthetic. Fernandez stacked his band with a cast of mostly Latino local session musicians so it’s needless to say that the rhythm section punches well above its weight for a private release such as this one.

Pure Release - On the Loose can be everything from a house party maker to a DJ’s secret weapon with its depth of dance floor filling cuts. One of the choice tracks from the album, “I’ll Know it’s Love For Sure”, met some criticism after the album’s release for its lack of a certain level of polish in the production. It was eventually re-recorded and pressed to an equally rare 7” single. This version of the hit song would go on to become the most sought after, and therefore most easily recognized version. This means, for old and new fans of Pure Release alike, that the album cut of this track from On the Loose might be an entirely new experience with all the same floor-filling potential.

Even in 2021 this album scratches the itch we all have to get up, get out, and get moving. If you know you know, and if you don’t you’re about to find out.

Limited run 500 copies

From The Fringe Of A Dream House Music Fantasy, Valerie From The Galerie Makes Their Debut With An Album Of Plush, Outsider Nj Style House Music, That Cuts The Space In Between The Nu Grooves Of The Burrell Bros, The Windy City Bump Of Mr. Fingers And The Seductive Club Gleam Of Soichi Terada.

Valerie From The Galerie Is Dedicated Wife And In-house Producer For Legendary Dj Bob Cuts. Specialising In Hydroxide House, Loose Chignon And The Conk.

When Ajax Tow travels in his Pop Western landscapes, you can be sure there’s always a perfect 70’s road trip soundtrack. Italians cowboys meeting the legendary Miriam Makeba in Rennes suburbs... For his 3rd album The Soul Vegetable Orchestra, Ajax Tow is bringing us on a ten tracks sonic adventure, where many inspirations and references collide. The succession of tracks inspires many feels and moods from sipping a good old bourbon, dance in the kitchen, or gallops though the plains of Napoli.

We can found the influence of Danger Mouse paying hommage to the late Ennio Morricone (Roma, 2011), a cinematic side of Shawn Lee and Misha Panfilov, from music library à la Jean-Claude Vannier to the Band Voilaa, a little glimpse of pimped Ninja tune, a Reworked organic Mo’Wax vibe, all mixed up and spiced up with a Tricky style.

This album is also the result of a collaboration with Dan Voisin (Modul-Club, Eighty…) at the production and drums with Rennes city scene musicians who gives a hand on this album: Romain Baousson (Coupe Colonel, Bikini Machine…) on drums, Sax Machine and Racecar (Saxtoys Records) on horns and vocals, Dj Marrrtin (Funky Bijou, Lord Paramour) on beatmaking, Medline (My Bags) on Flûte.

As a special guest, the late and legendary Miriam Makeba appears on “Magic Miriam”. “Feel it” is definitely setting a west coast on the LP with a Jurassic 5 inspiration, accompanied by a spicy rhythm, MC Racecar (Sax Machine) flows and lyrics brings even more energy to the track. On “Movie” and “Silence”. Ajax Tow give us a nice taste of his favorite psychedelic blends, romantic and intimate at the same time, where we found back Fuzz guitar with 60’s Eric Clapton style (Cream era) and Pink Floyd synths Flavors. The cinematic style and first notes of “So What” reminds Air first EP and the beautiful bass of “Melody Nelson”. For the dessert, “Smallville” is a kind of wedding cake with 70’s loops sprinkling that brings us to Phillipe Sarde’s La Grande Bouffe soundtrack, but with a more contemporary feeling.

Running Back welcomes Blood Shanti! The Falasha Recordings main man and brother of UK's living sound system legend Aba-Shanti delivers four breathtaking versions of Feater's 'Time Millionaire' (taken from the album ‚Socialo Blanco") in proper style. It might sound like an odd pairing, but it's a match made in heaven. Blood Shanti makes it sound as if the song was written for him. Pressed on one 10 in appropriate design and sleeve (watch out for the lion) it sounds as good as any slice of British reggae ever made (horns and piano included). While the 'Main Mix' is everything that lovers rock should be, the three dub versions deconstruct and dismantle the composition more and more as they go along. A modern take with an old-fashioned style of loving.

We are always sitting on a handful of unreleased songs that didn't make their way to albums. Listening back to these gems we decided to launch a new series entitled Big Crown Vaults and the first volume features the music of Lee Fields & the Expressions. These tunes were cut during the Special Night & It Rains Love sessions. Listening to these tracks you can imagine how difficult some of these decisions were in the first place to leave them off the albums. An absolute standout is "Regenerate," a song that finds Lee in the country soul realm, a style that Mr Fields, a North Carolina native, flourishes in. A drum break starts the song and then drops into a chorus where El Michels, Paul & Big Bill Schalda belt out the earworm chorus. Lee sings an encouraging tune about finding your way out of a low point in a relationship while The Expressions lay down an airtight groove. "Thinking About You" takes it back to the dance floors with what will surely be a hit at Soul parties around the globe. An uptempo drum break opens the song and Lee launches into a tale about the unbreakable bond with his significant other and how they keep each strong through moments of hardship and pain. People who have seen Lee perform live in the last decade might have been lucky enough to hear his rendition of Little Carl Carlton's "Two Timer". For those of you who haven't heard it, Big Crown Vaults has got you covered. A faithful version of the song showcases Lee's gorgeous voice and the Expres- sion's unwavering groove. Another treat on here is the fuzzed out funk banger "Do You Know" where Fields uses his platform to address some of our societal woes in a "Make The World" style. A deeper from the vaults number is "Out To Get You", an instrumental that Lee never laid down vocals to. Even as just a rhythm track it stands as a testament to The Expressions musical prowess, the band that created 5 studio albums with Lee Fields which will go down in history as stone classics.

Limited edition clear LP 500 copies worldwide. No Repress!

Record Kicks is proud to present the Instrumentals from 2019's critically acclaimed album "50 FOOT WOMAN" by Hannah Williams & The Affirmations. Recorded strictly on tape at ATA Records and mixed and produced by Shawn Lee, this album captures all of the visceral power of The Affirmations. Hannah Williams turned heads worldwide when the hip-hop superstar Jay-Z sampled her heart-stopping vocals on 'Late Nights & Heartbreak' for the title track, '4.44' on his 2017 album. With the new album 50 FOOT WOMAN, released last October 18th on the Milan based imprint Record Kicks, Hannah and her exemplary, Bristol-based band the Affirmations delivered a definitive career statement.

We were first introduced to Marumo’s ‘Modish’ album via DJ Okapi's amazing resource the ‘Afrosynth’ blog, which archives South African bubblegum/disco from the 80s & early 90s. Aside from this blog, this music would otherwise remained unknown outside of South Africa, apart from the most hardcore of digger and record collector.
‘Modish’ was originally released on Spades Record in 1982 and was recorded by producer West Nkosi, who was a member of supergroup ‘Mahlathini & The Mahotella Queens’. He worked with the big hitters in South African music such as Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Teaspoon & The Waves, Patience Africa and many more. Marumo were made up of a group of musicians from the Athlone School for the blind in Bellville, close to Cape Town. The band members, John Mothopeng, Munich Sibiya, Simon Falatsi and Marks Mbuthuma, had previously played in the groups Batsumi, All Rounders and The Orations and came together to record this versatile album. It covers a wide number of genres from Sotho soul, Mbaqanga, disco-funk, gospel & spacey-synth slow jams.
Flash forward 30 or so years later and lost dead-stock copies of the album start to appear and Marumo’s music begins to be heard across the world in the DJ sets of Motor City Drum Ensemble, Invisible City Editions, Floating Points, DJ Okapi and others.
We included the afro-disco-funk beauty of 'Khomo Tsaka Deile Kae?’ on our Mr Bongo Record Club Volume Three compilation, but felt ‘Modish’ needed to be available and heard in it’s entirety. We hope you enjoy!

Prince will forever be remembered as a commanding live performer, chart-topping recording artist, and music business revolutionary. Yet for all the time he spent in the spotlight over his four-decade-long career, Prince also worked tirelessly behind the scenes to nurture talent and pen songs for the rising artists he respected.

Sourced directly from Prince’s vast archive of Vault recordings, ORIGINALS is a brand new 15-track album featuring 14 previously unreleased recordings that illuminates the vital, behind-the-scenes role Prince played in other artists’ careers. These are more than just demos, the production quality has been kept high and the recordings resemble a pristine quality similar to that of Nothing Compares 2 U released last year.

By the mid-1980s, Prince was dominating the charts even as a writer/producer with songs he’d composed and recorded for others. In addition to releasing nine of his most commercially successful full-length albums, he also wrote and recorded endless reels of material for proteges The Time, Vanity 6, Sheila E., Apollonia 6, Jill Jones, the Family, and Mazarati. Several of the iconic songs found on ORIGINALS were considerable hits for the artists who recorded them.

The Star Beams album is a bit of an enigma. When we first came across their epic dance-floor monster 'Disco Stomp’ it was on a Disco Calypso compilation, so we assumed it originated from the Caribbean. Years later we worked out how wrong we were and that this nugget was actually from South Africa and taken off an ultra scarce album on JAS Pride records from 1976. The next problem was tracking down an original copy and we don’t think we’ve ever seen our Bongo team member Gary Johnson as happy as the day he turned up clutching a copy under his arm. 'Play Disco Specials' was produced by Ray Nkwe who also worked with Mankunku Quartet and The Soul Jazzmen, with all writing credits on the album going to Ray, the recording credited to engineer Robin Ritchie and the artwork to Carol Knowles. Other than this, the personnel of the record remains a mystery, but sometimes a bit of mystery is a good thing. Aside from the disco-jazz-funk of 'Disco Stomp’, which has found it’s way into the DJ sets of Theo Parrish, 'Play Disco Specials’ will appeal to fans of The Star Beams South African contemporaries The Drive, Batsumi and Pacific Express.

Off the back of their stunning reissue of Minnie Riperton – Les Fleur / Oh By The Way, Selectors Series hit you with a 7 inch reissue of two straight from the heart, Philly Soul gems by none other than Bettye Swann.

Released on Atlantic Records in 1974 on separate 7 inch’s, the A side houses ‘When the Game Is Played on You’ a quintessential soul number with a bold and passionate message that Swann’s exquisite voice effortlessly delivers. “How does it feel baby, when the game is played on you”... payback of the sweetest kind.

Flip it over to find the smooth, soulful ‘Kiss My Love Goodbye’, a Spinners-esque track with stirring vocals that hit the heartstrings from the off.

Although late bloomers in the Northern / Modern soul scenes they became bona fide classics. Further interest was aroused when Tom Moulton remixed both songs in the ‘00s, igniting dancefloors wherever they were played. Not surprising though when you look at the credits on both tracks.

The Young Professionals were the new crack production team in Philadelphia at the time. Made up of the masterminds Phil Hurtt, LeBaron Taylor, Bunny Sigler and Tony Bell their incredible studio prowess shines bright in both these Bettye Swann recordings.

Crayon Unveil "flee", His Last Ep Available On Roche Musique.
Animated By The Desire To Produce His Own Music, As The Artists Who Have Influenced Him, He Has Relied On His Abundant Imagination And Quickly Develops His Own Aesthetic.
The Same Way He Did As A Designer, Crayon Transcribes Mental Images Through A Suave, Heavenly And Melancholic Music.

An extremely rare album left by Detroit-based jazz keyboard player Johnny Griffith known for the album "Together, Togetherness" on RCA. An album covering "From The Music Connection" with Freddie Redd Quartet and Jackie McLean. The Music From "The Connection" was composed by jazz pianist Freddie Redd for Jack Gelber's 1959 play The Connection. This first recording of the music was released on the Blue Note label in 1960. It features performances by Redd and Jackie McLean Jack Gelber originally planned for the play to feature improvised music performed by jazz musicians who would also play small roles in the production. Freddie Redd, however, persuaded Gelber to include his original score. Redd re-recorded the score later in 1960 as Music from the Connection.

In 1974 The pianist Johnny Griffith, who was a member of the prestigious Motown rhythm section "Funk Brothers", covered the album "The Connection" by Freddie Red as a whole album, playing electric piano here, which really changes the vibe of the music - and the players are supposedly a host of Motown studio musicians - playing jazz here, but with a nice funky soul undercurrent. Originally released on Detroit Geneva Label.

Pianist Johnny Griffith can be heard on classic Motown sides, as well as on recordings from other Detroit-area labels. Like Motown's other pianists, Joe Hunter and Earl Van Dyke, Griffith's had an extensive musical background.

Signed to Motown's Jazz Workshop label, he recorded the albums "Detroit Jazz" and "The Right Side" of Lefty Edwards. When the march of the Motown hits began, Griffith started playing on sessions for their R&B/Pop acts. But rather than signing a work-for-hire contract with Motown like other musicians, Griffith remained a freelancer, doing other dates and sessions in New York and nearby Chicago.The Motown hits that Griffith played on include: Marvin Gaye's "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)", his celeste trills are heard on "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)", adding Wurlitzer electric piano on both Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and the Temptations' "Ain't Too Proud to Beg", organ on the Supremes' "Stop in the Name of Love and organ and shotgun effects on Junior Walker and the All Stars' "Shotgun.

Griffith's non-Motown hits are with Edwin Starr, Jackie Wilson, The Chi-Lites, and Young-Holt Unlimited's "Soulful Strut" In the '90s, Griffith was still active on the Detroit club scene.

Pablo Fierro's edit of 'Baiana’ is one of the most sought after tracks 2019 and is finally out on vinyl! Further more this release features a FNX Omar remix of the Innervisions’ classic 'Kuar’.

smokey vinyl / label sleeve / ltd 10"

Radikal Guru joined forces with Tenor Youthman to raise their voice against injustice that’s happening in the world today and encourage people to stand up for their rights! #beyondtheborders

Throughout their career, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings remained in high demand both publicly and privately to recreate and often re-imagine songs by other artists.

More often than not, these covers were recorded by request – commissioned for placement in movies, television programs, tribute albums, or for samples. This album compiles some of their most popular as well as never-before-heard renditions. Includes covers of Prince, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Dusty Springfield...

Though the band has mostly built their career on a prolific catalog of originals, these forays into other artists’ compositions lay bare their gift for arrangement and the unmatched studio prowess that earned them their reputation as The Baddest Band in the Land.

DJ Swagger and LUZ1E team up to present you DJ DOOM, a collaboration project set in (post-)apocalyptic sceneries and theme-based productions. DJ DOOM will appear in all sorts of horrific predicaments to fight his way out. This time he got abducted by evil extra-terrestrials which were attracted by his spaced out beats. Will he ever come back home? What will he do to fight back those aliens??

• Funkadelic’s first album, eponymously released in 1970, gets the HIQLP treatment to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

• In a thick card sleeve with 180g orange vinyl pressing

Expert in trippy joints- and knee-buckling bounce, OZ-based producer Reptant is back with a vengeance after an array of choice outings on the likes of Salt Mines, Planet Euphorique and Craigie Knowes!

No warm-up lap needed, ‘Phasic Reflex’ may start as a tycho-esque daydream, what’s bred in the bone comes out in the flesh. A pure adrenaline rush of vogue-ing 303, hi-voltage electro- and intricate
drum programming, this one has dancefloor ripper written all over it.

Keeping the tension up to hazardous levels, ‘MS Plenty’ zones out to a Detroit-style elixir of arpeggiated seesaws and pong-indebted, body-jacking pep. As it's title suggests – or not, the B-side opener ‘A Realist’s Realistic Reality’ clearly lies closer to a cyphered Dick-ian parallel world full of binary bleepin’ and swirlin’, post-kosmische infused riffs and tentacular Arpanet-style modularity, which Roza Terenzi alters into a lo-pressure dub expedition – better tasted at sunrise, feet buried deep in the sand and your hazy mind draped in the cosy folds of a cheerful seaside sloth with friends.