Hip-Hop Vinyl New Releases - News

This obscure and difficult to find LP is the Heath Brothers' debut album and is considered to be their best. 'Marchin'on' is unquestionably a masterpiece and is a much sought-after album. With its wealth of riffs, it is much appreciated by samplers and has been sampled by various contemporary artists. It was originally released in 1976 on Strata-East, a label at the time co-owned by Stanley Cowell. The album flows fluidly, meticulously in a warm rich blend with the four part 'smilin' Billy suite being a tour de force on its own. All suites have the same anchor in melody but each branches out to its own distinctive song varying from relaxed to light to dramatic and upbeat. The Heath Brothers was formed in 1975 by brothers Jimmy, Percy, Albert Heath and the much celebrated pianist Stanley Cowell in Philadelphia. The band later on continued with the brothers and alternate new members, with at one point the very talented 'Mtume' who is Jimmy Heath's son, joining. - Rachel Kinoti

The second Yacht Trip comes with two more relaxing tracks. - On A String, originally from Australian band - Stylus , is a nice and soothing little number which reminds of the Bee Gees with his polyphonic vocals and harmonies.
The flipside's - The Beach takes the tempo a bit further and evolves into a percussive dancer.

A humorous look at some of the more infamous characters in history precedes a charming keyboard led instrumental. Most likely Lloyd 'Gitsey' Willis and Family man sharing the musical honours.

Dave Barker on the flipside with a 'modernist' view on 'Smooth and Sorts'. Comes in a hand stamped bag.

Acrhcetype stepper dub maximum power again !

The unpredictable nature of life for a band with members scattered around the globe have forced Guts to give his line-up a shake to start their various tours in the best possible conditions.

A Brand New Revolution!

So Leron Thomas gave way to Wolfgang Volburn, who is also lead vocalist of The Ephemerals. Mary May climbed onto Lorine Chia's throne. Beat Assailant plucked a mic from the air that was still burning from the flow of Von Pea. While Florian Pellissier remains riveted to the keyboards, versatile Greg F. on the bass and Nico Rajao on drums, Guts has gobbled up the miles and bestrode stage after stage at the head of a revitalised live band.

New recruits had kept enhancing the well-practised repertoire with their vibes, redefining some of the contours, adding a bit more soul here or a lightness of touch there. Their impact was so great, in fact, that changing line-ups have become part of the band's identity.

Galvanized by this new alchemy, Guts and his new-look live band stopped off in the studio to compose and record some new tracks which he has brought together on "Stop the Violence", a five-track record that's more like a mini-album than a simple EP.

High on this regenerating juice, energy levels spiking into the red, "Ain't Perfect", "Pick Me Up", "Everybody Wants to Be a Star", "Drummer's Delight" and the title track light up boxes marked soul, afro, disco and jazz, brighten a groove carpeted with retro-funky keyboards and the brass of Cotonete, Heavenly Sweetness's resident jazz-funk specialists. Two birds with one stone, since Guts and his live band will obviously use "Stop the Violence" to set the stage ablaze after burning up people's decks.

The unpredictable nature of life for a band with members scattered around the globe have forced Guts to give his line-up a shake to start their various tours in the best possible conditions.

A Brand New Revolution!

So Leron Thomas gave way to Wolfgang Volburn, who is also lead vocalist of The Ephemerals. Mary May climbed onto Lorine Chia's throne. Beat Assailant plucked a mic from the air that was still burning from the flow of Von Pea. While Florian Pellissier remains riveted to the keyboards, versatile Greg F. on the bass and Nico Rajao on drums, Guts has gobbled up the miles and bestrode stage after stage at the head of a revitalised live band.

New recruits had kept enhancing the well-practised repertoire with their vibes, redefining some of the contours, adding a bit more soul here or a lightness of touch there. Their impact was so great, in fact, that changing line-ups have become part of the band's identity.

Galvanized by this new alchemy, Guts and his new-look live band stopped off in the studio to compose and record some new tracks which he has brought together on "Stop the Violence", a five-track record that's more like a mini-album than a simple EP.

High on this regenerating juice, energy levels spiking into the red, "Ain't Perfect", "Pick Me Up", "Everybody Wants to Be a Star", "Drummer's Delight" and the title track light up boxes marked soul, afro, disco and jazz, brighten a groove carpeted with retro-funky keyboards and the brass of Cotonete, Heavenly Sweetness's resident jazz-funk specialists. Two birds with one stone, since Guts and his live band will obviously use "Stop the Violence" to set the stage ablaze after burning up people's decks.

Tommy McCook and Rico share the plaudits on 'Going West'. Its possible this was recorded in London's Chalk farm studios with Vic Keary's involvement. The 'Joe Lewis' would certainly have
been over dubbed there. Most likely the rhythm track was laid in Jamaica and then overdubbed in the UK with Ken Elliot on Moog.

180g Gatefold sleeve re-issue of her latest classic

Stranger Cole with a soulful vocal on an infectious rhythm.

All the components of the skinhead period reggae are here.

Roy Richards on the flipside on the same rhythm.

Mouth organ was not the most over used instrument on reggae tunes but this works well.

Mixing abstract hip-hop and house, Blutch's style is mind-blowing and striking, with touches of groove and heat. Borrowing from Pépé Bradock, Francis Inferno Orchestra,Cuthead, Andrés, Shigeto and Massive Attack, Blutch has forged a unique musical identity all along his career, always with this strong desire to combine several universes into a single entity.In January 2015 Blutch revealed his creative genius with his first EP, Equilibrium. He will soon revisit a voluptuous set mixing trip hop, the softness of electronica and a hypnotic deephouse. (r)equilibrium unites 9 artists in one project that representsBlutch' diverse musical spectre.Friends, idols, people who we loved to collaborate with, spend time with, get to know better. The (r) stands for the remix, the reinterpretation of Blutch' EP Equilibrium.Each artist gives new life to one of the tracks, spicing them up to their liking. Cutheadtransforms « Skyview » in a straight-up house floor killer while Maxime Dangles takes « Chocolates & Hamburgers » to gloomy, cold electronic heights. Between these two extremes the music gradually and cleverly evolves track by track. Melodiesinfonieopens up in complete serenity with his take on « A. » which takes us straight into summer with our feet in the sand. Tito Wun follows up perfectly with his version of Wildstar' that is stacked with groovy samples. Next up is Keroué, member of the band Fixpensill. He puts his rhymes on a stellar edit by YWNWA. Jenovah choses to take Deep Diving' on a bass-driven path while Pavane sees and raises that with an orchestral version of Anyoma. It's up to the brothers Ark & Pit Spector to close out the EP by taking « Elis » into deeper territory.The tracks subtly follow each other up to tell a consecutive story. Thanks to the music ofBlutch, these 8 tracks stay connected on this diverse but coherent EP. Driven by our sense of partying and our willingness to meet the people we have been sharing our music with over more than a year, we decided to throw 4 release parties, hostingCuthead, Pit Spector, Tito Wun and Jenovah, who we hadn't met before. Sold out nights, balloons, jokes, fun and groove. Really proud of the project in general, the artists' work and our flawless casting. The project has forged bonds between artists that wanted to continue their collaborations, Blutch and Cuthead will now even be playing back2back at Festival Astropolis July 2nd .

After a while of not releasing any stepper tunes we are proud announce our next vinyl release with Bony Fly.
This 12' limited edition features the notorious Spanish singer Sr Wilson on a heavy riddim built by the upcoming producer Bony Fly out of Geneva, Switzerland. Guaranteed to get a forward in any session.
Front side, Sr Wilson delivers word-sound conscious lyrics, making allusions to the last US elections. Between his sweet singing and hard-hitting flow he rides a powerful hardware dub stepper riddim built and mixed at the Wiki Studio. Next cut is the riddim track welcoming any MC to uplift the session and tear down Babylon. Flip side, a deep percussive extended dub mix. The talented producer shines on his full of pressure cut in which all mixing boundaries are tore down, through a thunder of reverbs and echoes.

Robust (Galapagos4) drops 2 tracks in collaboration with old school Chicago soul singer Doug Shorts (Jazzman Records / Daptone collaborator / Master Plan Inc frontman) who also dropped some cuts on Meaty Ogre's Cherries Records. Picture sleeve.

Orange Street has a mystical place in Reggae's history.
Set in the heart of downtown Kingston, Jamaica. Even to this day it stands somehow locked in time and space.
The beat of the music ever changing and evolving. As politics, religion even the weather effect its course one thing remains a constant, Orange Street is central to the islands musical story.
The Ska era of Jamaica's sound time has told us can be dated from around 1962 to late 1966.
The instigators being the big three producers of this period, Clement Coxonne Dodd,Prince Buster and Duke Reid.
Prince Busters phenomenal output on the Blue Beat label, Coxonne Dodd's opening of his Studio One premises in 1963 at 13 Brentford Road gave him the facilities to hone and produce his music and Duke Reid's opening his own studio above his Treasure Isle record store in 1965.
The Rocksteady sound which ran a shorter more intense race between 1966 to 1968 would be Duke Reid's to command.
We hope you enjoy this selection of fine tunes that you can imagine bellowing out from Orange Street...So as the great song suggests...If you ever get to Orange Street..Close your eyes and let us take you there...

The name of the band and the cover of the disc explicitly reveal the influence: Secos&Molhados. Investing in androgenia, progressive rock and samba-soul, Assim Assado tried to be a response of the smallCID label to the enormous success that the Secos&Molhados did to the young public. Led by Miguel de Deus (formerly Os Brazões), who signed most of the compositions and assumed the guitar and vocals, the group never took off, leaving only this LP, now almost forgotten. Curiosity: in 1977 Miguel de Deus falls headlong into funk, casting the rather interesting (and rare) "Black Soul Brothers" Also repressed on Groovie Records.

Band formed by Miguel de Deus in 1974, inspired by the Secos&Molhados and making clear both in the name, which is copied from a song of Secos&Molhados, both on the cover of the band's only album. Also the visual was well androgen but the Music, a mixture of psychedelic, Progressive and a strong touch of Brazilian Soul music. The only album that had the same name as the band, did not get repercussion despite presenting a lot of quality. Now the repress of this rare pearl brings to the light the huge talent of Miguel De Deus.

Roots reggae vocalist Barry Brown had a very distinctive singing style. His most obvious role model was the fragile tenor of Horace Andy, but Brown gave his delivery further distinctiveness with a range of wordless slurs, some of which were doubtless inspired by the creatures of the animal kingdom. As with his friend and fellow west Kingston resident, Johnny Clarke, Brown got his start in the many talent shows that were regularly held in the downtown Kingston area, and also got early experience on west Kingston sound systems such as Tape Tone, which gave rise to Barrington Levy, Trinstan Palmer, Sammy Dread, and Rod Taylor among others, Taylor and Brown even had a short-lived duo called The Aliens for a time. Such was his widespread popularity that several different producers all claimed to have been the first to capture his voice on tape, but it is undeniable that Bunny Lee was the first to bring Brown to prominence through the outstanding 1978 hit, 'Step It Up Youthman,' an optimistic meditation on the merits of self-determination, which led to this popular debut album of the same name, as with Johnny Clarke's Enter Into His Gates With Praise, the Step It Up Youthman LP mixed hard-hitting songs of Rastafari devotion with well-executed cover tunes.

Introducing 'FLEXICUTS' by DJ Woody, the World's first skip-proof 7' Flexi Disc scratch tool.


Half the price and twice the fun, FLEXICUTS brings you 10 new and original skip proof scratch sentences plus 1 regular scratch sentence arranged at 83.33bpm and pressed at 33.33rpm

Along with his rival, Cornell Campbell, Johnny Clarke was one of the most esteemed singers of the roots reggae era. Having grown up next door to a popular sound system on Waltham Park Road in western Kingston, Clarke's early fascination with music led him to hang out at Studio One with Jacob Miller while still at school. He then made the rounds of talent shows with Barry Brown, Sugar Minott and the Diamonds, which led to a debut recording in 1973, for the pianist Glen Stair, which remains unreleased. An early effort for Clancy Eccles, 'God Made The Sea And Sun,' was not promoted properly, though 'Everyday Wondering,' for Rupie Edwards, impacted in Britain, 'Golden Snake' for Stamma Houghton and a cover of Smokey Robinson's 'You Really Got A Hold On Me' for Glen Brown were also false starts. The breakthrough finally came in 1975 when Clarke linked with Bunny Lee, who had him voice the Rastafari landmark 'None Shall Escape The Judgement' (written by Earl Zero, who failed to muster a credible take), which kick-started the 'Flying Cymbal' craze. Clarke's resultant debut album, Enter Into His Gates With Praise, mixed hard-hitting Rastafari devotional material with sympathetic cover versions of classics by the likes of the Paragons, Slim Smith and Delroy Wilson, along with a few reggae renditions of some vintage American R&B.

Rap Album Two is the latest offering of music from the California based MC and producer, releasing the album on his label Authors Recording Company. Rap Album Two follows up on four maxi-singles released over the last twelve months, further entrenching the archives and material available through his new imprint. Recordings for Jonwayne's new full-length took place at the Cosmic Zoo in Los Angeles, CA and features contributions from close allies Shango, Danny Watts, Low Leaf and Zeroh. Production guests include D-Styles, Eets, Oliver The 2nd, Babu and Dibiase, with mastering facilitation by Low End Theory's Daddy Kev. Conceptually, Rap Album Two serves as a detailed painting of Jonwayne's life changing experiences over the last few years, diving into the inner realms of conflict and the alterations of life that followed. The album has been praised from journalists and radio all over the world, adding to the success of his sold out Rap Album Two European tour. Rap Album Two has been coupled with a series of music videos, including the already released Almost Raymond directed These Words Are Everything' and the Ruffmercy animated Live From The Fuck You.'

Californian keyboardist & beatmaker Kiefer (birthname Kiefer Shackelford) drops his debut LP on Leaving Records, which has enough jazz piano chops to transform L.A.'s Low End Theory into a smokey speak easy.' The title track from Kiefer's debut album, Kickinit Alone, is a striking entry to this lineage of hip-hop inextricably tethered to jazz. Kickinit Alone' moves with a patient step, its short piano phrase looping like it was ripped from a dusty vinyl and brought to life. The warm hiss of tape noise and subtle effects give the track a smokey vibe. But then the piano suddenly flips to a Rhodes-y sound, and the melody moves from its blues center towards more muted hues. Even in brief divergences, Kiefer is a subtle showman, bringing depth to quiet flourishes.' - Pitchfork

Wonderful, joyous new recordings of Afro-Colombian roots music, from the Pacific coast of the country.
Currulao, cumbia, bunde, juga, requentilla, chalupa.
Warm, rolling marimba de chonta, thumping cununo and bombo drums, and rhythmic, digressive alegre, crisp, ringing, move-your-body guasas and maracas, all-out singing, gorgeous and exuberant, full of life. It's hard to track down music in this style, and this is a downright tremendous example, a musical elixir. In handsome, silk-screened sleeves, too.

Limited edition remastered of the rare Phillip Wright classic!

'A psychedelic induced hypnotic state, crossing over borders of the physical realm...'
Ramson Badbonez, one of the most revered MC's in the UK underground is back!
In his last musical offering, Ramson Badbonez took us through the conceptual 'Year In The Life Of Oscar The Slouch', a gritty seasonal account of the harsh realities of London inner city street life. This June, the illusive skull clad lyricist makes his grand return to the airwaves with his brand new collaborative effort alongside producer DJ Fingerfood entitled 'Hypnodic'. As the title suggests, this is a much more cerebral journey onto the astral plains of the mind of Ramson Badbonez. However, do not be mistaken, Badbonez' signature gritty rapping style is still as prevalent and as sharp as ever and is a perfect match for Fingerfood's 'Hypnodic' production style. The album is tied together with a string of esoteric vocal samples and interludes as well as razor sharp cuts provided by the dexterous hands of DJ Fingerfood.
In a day and age where UK rap music is diluted with generic concepts and weak lyrics, Badbonez is back to demand respect through his impeccable lyricism. With big hooks, lyrical jabs and stomping production amidst features from the likes of Leaf Dog, Res One, Gadget & MAB to name a few this album is set to get some serious rotation.

The God Spell Beat tape just happened. I always make quick freestyle beats at work. I work at a WrekaStow' so I'm always surrounded and listening to random records and after my Bluntch breaks. I would come in make a few quick joints on my SpaceProgram 303 And I just ran thru the gospel section that round and in 2 weeks I Had. - Ras G

SA-HA-RA are a London based writing and production team led by Peter Hinds Keyboards player of UK funk outts Light of the World,Incognito and Beggar& Co.
With Partners Steve Sinclair and Kevin Ellis they wrote and produced The enduring club classic Love so Fine'.
This 9 track vinyl album for 2017 includes tracks which expand on the SA-HA-RA sound and includes Dance,Soul,And Funk. Standout Tracks Include Why the hate, You are my Everything, and Lets get it on.
Including the Previously Hard to nd track Love so Fine'.

Much anticipated series of 3 new 12's from SBTRKT - SBTRKT launches 'Transitions', a collection of six instrumentals written and produced over the past year that reference the creative process that led to his debut album

"This is music written over the last year, whilst recording for my second album. Much of the music I released before my debut album was instrumental and I want to continue to share this side of the music I make. This series of tracks is titled TRANSITIONS. " - SBTRKT

July 7 sees Seramic release a limited 12' vinyl version of their I Got You EP on Parlophone Records.

The EP includes recent singles Greg's Love, with Parliament-Funkadelic legend Bootsy Collins, Same Mistakes and the title track I Got You, the video for which features two members of the Great Britain Olympic Synchronised Swimming team and was recently nominated for a Berlin Music Video Award.

A diverse collection for the second full-length album and an overtly political statement from Weller - lyrical targets included racism, excessive consumerism and the effects of self-serving governments. The only Style Council album to reach number 1 in the UK, Our Favourite Shop features Features the top-ten singles - Shout To The Top and Walls Come Tumbling Down, as well as some of Weller's best songs - Come to Milton Keynes, Boy Who Cried Wolf and Down in the Seine.

Released in 1987, this album saw the group concentrating on a more extreme, urban-soul style, influenced by soul music pioneer Curtis Mayfield and by the contemporary House music scene of the time, including the Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis sound. Includes top-ten hit It Didn't Matter, as well as tracks included in the band's surreal film Jerusalem. Released here as two LPs at 45 RPM.

Confessions Of A Pop Group is probably the band's most experimental and divisive album, with hints of Beach Boys, classical music (Weller was listening to Debussy and Satie, amongst others around this time) and jazz influences. Songs such as the nine-minute title track and the 'Three Piece Suite' of The Gardener of Eden, an avant-garde mix of classical and jazz stylings, were new territory for The Style Council, and an even more radical departure from the sound of The Jam. Straight pop-oriented songs exist though - the hit single Life at a Top People's Health Farm, How She Threw It All Away and Why I Went Missing are regarded as lost Weller classics.

Motivated by the underground club scene, Weller chose another new direction for the last album - his take on the UK deep-house or garage scene. Featuring Sure Is Sure, which went on to become a big bootleg dance hit throughout Europe and the instrumental - That Spiritual Feeling - one of the key cuts of the then-new acid jazz scene. However, upon its completion in 1989, it was rejected by the label Polydor, which led to the band breaking up. It was eventually released in 1998 on the box set, The Complete Adventures of The Style Council. Now available as the two LP 'promo' set.

Isolated geographically in the southern Pacific Ocean, Australian rock musicians may as well have been plying their trade on another planet as far as North American, British and European audiences were concerned. Indeed, in terms of rock music per se, only the Bee Gees (who were primarily pop) and the Easybeats made any headway internationally, and only then once they'd relocated to the mother country.
Yet despite its vast distance from the all-important American and British markets, Australia gave birth to vibrant music scenes that delved deep into beat, R&B, punk and psychedelia. Many of the recordings from this period have found their way on to compilations over the years, most notably Raven Records' superb Ugly Things and the noteworthy Sixties Downunder series. Thanks to the dedicated and exhaustive work of respected Australian music archivist Glenn A Baker, mastermind behind Raven Records, these priceless gems have provided a handy introduction to Oz legends like the Missing Links, the Purple Hearts and the Master's Apprentices.

Less celebrated than many of their Australian contemporaries but arguably more significant in the creative stakes was Melbourne's Wild Cherries. Where most Oz bands during those halcyon days blatantly wore their influences on their sleeves, the Wild Cherries were uniquely original and uncompromising in their delivery and execution. Exciting, revolutionary excursions into a musical void with no concessions to commercial demands' is how Australian rock journalist Ian McFarlane describes the band's music in his superb Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop.
The 16 tracks are the ones that Australian labes didnt want to put out on a recording, to wild for them, so expect not more than that on this LP. The inside inner brings a ton of photos and texts by Nick Warburton.

If you are in 60's savage stuff as The Kinks or The Pretty Things or even in to more late 60's psicadelia, this is for you.

We are proud to announce the third release of the Tony Allen & Africa 70 (Disco Afro Series): featuring remastered original versions of Jealousy' and remixes produced by Loya (Reunion Island).

Multi-instrumentalist, initially playing jazz as well as African music, Sébastien Lejeune discovered electronic music when he was living in mainland France. This was the golden age of Warp Records figureheads IDM who had a huge effect on him, in particular the naïve melodies of Plaid and Boards from Canada. During a trip back to his homeland Sébastien became Loya. From that moment on, he started to mix Réunion maloya, Mauritian séga and Indian music with footwork tempo. He blends traditional maloya drums, beatboxes and synths, harmonizing the powerful vocals of Indian Ocean Island singers.

Tony Allen Afrobeat groove inspired me a lot to create the patterns with my drums machines which is the basic of my production work. The Indian Ocean Rhythms formerly coming from Africa recover the true sense on this beats.'

In 1975, Tony Allen recorded his debut album, Jealousy, the first of three made with Afrika 70 and produced by Fela Kuti. Jealousy is according to many still the highlight of his 4 solo-albums, featuring 2 afro-beat gems Jealousy' and Hustler'. Recorded at Decca's 16 track Abule-Oja studio in Lagos, Nigeria. Originally released on Soundworkshop Records in 1975.

Auf den ersten Blick ein leiser Mann, doch gib Boshi San ein Mic und du begreifst es.
Seine Musik inspiriert durch die Schritte, die er geht und die Einflüsse, die ihm auf seiner Reise begegnen. Mal geht es hoch hinaus, dann wacht er am nächsten Morgen wieder am Boden auf. Durch Höhen und Tiefen, Upgrades und Abwege. Hauptsache nicht aus der Bahn werfen lassen. Über 30 und immer noch ein Rapkid, das genau weiß, was es will.

Jeder hat seine eigenen Ziele und Herangehensweisen - gut so, denn Uniformen gibt es genug. Umso angenehmer, mal wieder jemandem zuzuhören, der bewusst lebt und Ahnung davon hat, wer er sein will. Jemand, der mit sich selbst im Reinen ist und weiß, worauf es ankommt. Nämlich auf das, was du dir mit diesen bunten Scheinen nicht kaufen kannst. Die Selbstreflexion macht ihn zum reichen Mann - auch wenn er sich davon nichts leisten kann. Bescheiden bleiben lautet die Devise.

Aber was kann sich ein Mcee eigentlich mehr wünschen, als ein Album, das fast durchgängig von Glammerlicious produziert wurde (Track 7 & 8: Herr Minute) Vielleicht einen Freundeskreis aus talentierten Musikern, die eine Zusammenarbeit nicht als Promo Move, sondern als eine gute gemeinsame Zeit im Studio sehen Die zwei Hauptakteure bekommen auf ein - Reicher Mann' Unterstützung von Sara Lugo, David Pe, Wasi, Roger Rekless, Minute, Ebow, Get Open, Lux, Malarchi, Sujazz und SVB. Aber ganz abgesehen von der unantastbaren Produktion und den dopen Featuregästen - wahrscheinlich hätte der ein oder andere vor allem gerne etwas von dieser smoothen Art und Weise ab wie Boshi San über Glams Instrumentals flowt.

Musikalisch gesehen liegen der Main Concept-Produzent und der facettenreiche Rapper auf einer Wellenlänge. Mal jazzig, mal verdammt soulful, mal straightester Rap - ein rundes Ding, das locker Live-Hymnen und R'n'B-Einflüsse mit tiefen Lyrics vereint. Ein Album, das pusht und sich gut anfühlt. Positive Vibes für positive Menschen, die nicht stehen bleiben, bis sie mit den Händen den Horizont berühren. Seid ihr down Dann hebt die Pfoten hoch!

Remastered limited edition : Originally released in 1984 on Eyes and distributed by Best Record.
Comes with the original picture cover art as was originally planned to be released.