Hip-Hop Vinyl New Releases - News

Lynn Taitt remakes the "Batman" movie theme song in a killer Rocksteady style. Those cheerful instrumentals, which well represent the distinctive sound of the Merritone label, were originally released in 1968.

Peter Tosh was the first reggae artist to realise the limitless possibilities of the melodica (listen to the Wailers' first Tuff Gong release 'Sun Is Shining') and here he adds its haunting power to one of Bunny's best ever rhythms, the prophetic 'Amagideon' from 'Black Heart Man'. The melodica phrases and the subtle, restrained mixing on both sides of this single bring out all the brooding introspection and mystery in the track.

ll Camille, LA hip hop's female perspective.

Ill Camille has been a vital member of the LA music scene for some years. Kendrick Lamar used her vocals prominently for the 'good kid, m.A.A.d city' track 'Sing about me', she has been working with other TDE artists occasionally and spend a lot of time writing for different projects Terrance Martin was involved with.

At the same time Camille was developing her own material with her fellow peers such as MNDSGN, Iman Omari, DJ Battlecat, Like (Pac Div) Georgia Anne Muldrow & SIR who are all featured on her album 'Heirloom' just like TDE co-president Punch. 'Heirloom' productions range from smooth, g-funk esque west coast beats to live & organic soulful beats, working as the perfect backdrop for Camille's powerful, intelligent and thought thru lyrics

The album is deeply personal revolving around the issues that mater in her life from friends and family, her role as a woman and the heirloom of her and her surrounding: 'I feel like everyone are heirlooms of our mothers and fathers. An heirloom is just something that's passed down through a family. We get heirlooms in the form of game, encouragement or wise words. I know everyone has an aunt or uncle that's given them some bars about life in general. I have a village around me that have given me heirlooms in the form of conversations'.

L One is a young Munich Hip Hop beat smith and a lover of drum computers. With only 24 years, he already has a considerable discography as producer. Including projects such as ATP's "C'est La Vie Or What" (2016 on Bumm Clack) as well as Weltuntergäng's "Dogmatikers Elfen" (2014 on Tieftonkultur). As a part of Akere and Manufaktur, he also ventured into new genres in the recent years and provided new approaches to TripHop and Dubstep.

Limited press 500 units

The second release from Cordial Recordings is the timeless Montego Bay groove of AJ Brown's 80s modern soul and steppers classic 'Making Love Together,' which has been mastered from the original tapes and sounds phatter than ever on this pressing. Whilst on the flip for the first time on vinyl we have the original instrumental version. AJ is currently singing with the legendary Third World and this official release brings new life to a classic song.

Originally released on the Sufferer's Heights label in 1979, produced by Sugar Minott, backed for the first time with an unreleased Channel One dubplate version.

Amongst hip-hop fans, Boogie Down Productions' first two albums - Criminal Minded (1987) and By All Means Necessary (1988) - both loom very large. And for good reason: they both captured one of the late 1980s' most important and influential crews at their highest powers of lyricism and musical invention. That being said, too many people sleep on BDP's third LP, Ghetto Music. Released in 1989, when the hip-hop world was truly beginning to explode and reach new heights of sales and exposure around the world, the album is arguably as powerful as the group's first two. As on By All Means Necessary, in the wake of the tragic death of original founder, producer and DJ Scott LaRock, KRS-One pushed along mightily on the production side, with help from his extended crew. Musically the sound created on albums 2 & 3 was funky, catchy, and continually innovative, giving him the perfect backdrop to build his Edutainment' syllabus. Lyrically there was never a question about KRS' power, and on Ghetto Music he continues to impress, teach and ask important questions. Clear cases in point are two of the album's singles, You Must Learn' and Why Is That' but he gets even deeper on lesser-jocked tracks like the anti-police thought-piece Who Protects Us From You' (still sadly relevant in 2017), Ghetto Music' and World Peace.' Still as strong and entertaining today as it was almost three decades ago, this new reissue is a perfect way for younger fans to embrace one of the most underrated hip-hop platters of the era.

A repress in soon finally. Sermonizing Black Nationalism, Pan-Africanism and the benefits of a healthy and just lifestyle during the height of the Bad Boy / Roc-AFella era of nihilistic excess in the late '90s, Dead Prez also signed to a major label (Loud / Columbia) despite leaning much more towards the burgeoning indie aesthetics of the day. But this was a good thing - using major label muscle to wake up righteous hip-hop fans who might have fallen asleep at the wheel. The group itself - consisting of MCs stic.man and M-1, who produced or co-produced most of the duo's music - was formed in Tallahassee, Florida in the early 1990s. By later that decade, the duo had started making significant waves, having their music heard on the soundtracks to Soul In The Hole' and Slam,' as well as appearing on albums by Big Pun and The Beatnuts. By 1998, they released their first official single, the serious, stark Police State,' on Loud, appropriately brought to the label by Lord Jamar of Brand Nubian. After building a solid rep over the next two years with fiery live performances, in 2000 they unleashed their debut album, Let's Get Free. The album was a welcome return to provocative and often radically political rhetoric that hearkened back to hip-hop forebears including The Coup, Public Enemy and KRS-One (as well as poetic descendants like the Last Poets and Watts Prophets). Let's Get Free was critically acclaimed and benefited from multiple singles, including the infectious, thick analog drive of Hip-Hop' It's Bigger Than Hip-Hop,' with a remix co-produced by a young Kanye West, Mind Sex' (with Abiodun Oyewole of the Last Poets), and the poignant I'm An African.' But the singles weren't the only worthy songs, as just about every cut here has deeper meaning than most full albums by their early 2000s peers. Highlights: the thought-provoking, anti-drug album opener Wolves', We Want Freedom' They Schools' and Propaganda' . All in all, this is one of the more underrated and possibly Top 5 fully-realized political hip-hop albums of all time.

A repress in soon finally. In the early 90s hip hop took a turn and gangsta-style rap dominated, making waves off the West Coast that rattled throughout the world. The East Coast's dominance was descending despite the success and positivity of Native Tongues acts like De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest, who favored thought-provoking humor and cleverness over gangsta rap's grittiness and grim outlook. It was in this landscape that Oakland, CA's Del The Funky Homosapien emerged in 1991, with his debut release

I Wish My Brother George Was Here. Cribbing equally from the East Coast's irreverence and wit, and the West Coast's P-Funk inspired production, (the album was produced by Del's cousin Ice Cube) Del's debut has rightly been heralded as a benchmark album for underground hip hop. I Wish My Brother George Was Here not only produced the underground classics "Dr. Bombay" and "Mistadobalina" (#9 on the 1992 Hot Rap Tracks Charts), but also set the scene for the success of the other less gangsta West Coast artists like The Pharcyde, Digable Planets, and of course Del's compatriots in Souls of Mischief. Above all else, Del is credited with injecting some much needed light-heartedness at a moment when it was truly needed. Since his debut Del has gone on to work alongside Gorillaz, Wu-Tang Clan, El-P, Handsome Boy Modeling School, and as a member of the acclaimed hip-hop supergroup Deltron 3030, and even with Dinosaur Jr. Traffic Entertainment now presents I Wish My Brother George Was Here as a special double LP reissue, featuring the original artwork, and all of The Funky Homosapien's witty and innovative rhymes intact.

His very last name, Dinleten, means 'listen'. So back to Anatolia once more and hear the unhinged guitar and electric baglama behind Turkish psychedelia's charismatic singer Ersen. He was discovered by Cem, was connected to Mogollar and 3 Hür-El, and even switched backing bands with Cem before finally hitting the charts with his own group Dadaslar. There's loads of B-sides and burly moves on these 70s singles which make his second LP, released in 1978. Wicked funk drums, fuzzy guitars,organs and the poweful voice of Ersen. Includes "Zalim", the killer psych-funk track made famous by the Gaslamp Killer's edit.

Original artwork, insert with liner notes by Angela Sawyer (Weirdo Records).

After only 3 short years, my second album o u r w a l l s is out. It comes clad in vinyl, polycarbonate, bits and bytes and I'm very happy and relieved to finally let go of this one. The cores of its 10/11 (CD/2LP) Tracks were developed on a loop pedal at home. Lyrics spun here and there. Almost all of them are trying to extract levels of meaning from an everchanging knot of emotions. They take their time - ranging between t h r e e m i n u t e s f o u r t y to t h i r t e e n m i n u t e s f i f t y s e v e n - to clinically isolate, examine and name the elementary building blocks constituting the knot. o u r w a l l s is about the ups and downs of your everyday-mercilessly-hopeless love relationship, about staying mild when things get rough, fabulous metaphors, childish selfdefence mechanisms, the burning space in b e t w e e n words and o u r very personal w a l l s that have so far always kept us safe..

The mark that the late producer J Dilla left upon hip-hop during the 90s and early-to-mid 00s is undeniable. His work with De La Soul, Busta Rhymes, The Pharcyde, and of course Slum Village long been cemented his prominence in the annals of hip-hop history. Of the many words one can use to describe J Dilla's legacy, one that's not used enough is prolific. Dilla made beats constantly. So new Dilla compositions are still being discovered. One of the places where those works are still being unearthed is the archives of the Ne'Astra Music Group, who proudly present here 8 Dilla tracks previously unissued on vinyl. Dilla's legacy continues to be shared and celebrated by today's hip-hop audience - with help from the tireless efforts of Ne'Astra.

Hutson, long revered on the soul scene for his production,
songwriting and perfromace skills, was Curtis Mayfield's heir apparent chosen by the great man, to replace him in the Impressions, and then groomed for an extensive solo career on Curtis own label, Curtom.
The Hutson catalogue has not been available on any format
for nearly two decades. This is the first release of many as the
label will be working with Leroy and his team to create the
definitive sounding masters, and unearthing lost gems from
his extensive archive.
This is a double sided limited edition 45 containing two
previously unreleased Hutson gems. The A-side is a previously
unreleased 1977 recording, which is making its debut on this
single. It is coupled with the unreleased full length instrumental of 'All Because Of You'.

Hailing from Nashville, Tennessee the smoked out instrumentalist trio Magic In Threes are highly influenced by library records, old film soundtracks, and hip hop tapes. They were formed in 2010 as a side project to their work with DeRobert & The Half-Truths. Following a long line of solid and well-received releases on Nashville's own G.E.D Soul Records, KU started their investigation into the chances of signing the group.

In 2016, Magic In Threes members, Dave Singleton, Nick DeVan, and Mark Spain set a goal to record and release a new track every week. You are about to hear two of them. The a-
side At Jody's' was recorded at flautist Jody Douglas's house in the Sylvan Park neighbourhood of Nashville, Tennessee. Breezy Day' was recorded at DeVan's Poor Man Studios in Madison, Tennessee. We think you'll agree, it's quite blazed out.

Digi roots with runaway steppers version, from 1995 getting a timely reissue.

A special 50th anniversary edition of King and Queen by Otis Redding and Carla Thomas will be released on gold-coloured vinyl.

Ray Barretto's Latin/soul crossover record of 1968, Acid includes a few tracks of his ebullient, instrumental salsa, but also plays off the boogaloo craze of the past few years with a few Latin soul numbers. The crossovers "A Deeper Shade of Soul," "Soul Drummers," and "Teacher of Love" (all written by Barretto himself) are a lot of fun, but the (relatively) straight-ahead salsa of "El Nuevo Barretto" and the title track easily edge out the competition. It's nowhere near as psychedelic as the title would indicate, but Acid holds up nevertheless as a great document of the late-'60s confluence of Latin, funk, and soul.

Robert Montgomery returns with his follow up release to his immensely popular SJ1007 45, I Need You Girl' (See previous webpage).

Following on from the release of Robert's solitary US 45 I Need You Girl', on the Crescent label during 1976. Robert spent a period of some 12 months touring with a group called Villaruz, that over, he decided to relocate to Atlanta G.A sometime during 1978. Following an invitation to join a band he'd over heard rehearsing as their keyboard and organ player, Robert began a short tenure with the Michigan funk group Ripple' who themselves had previously moved to Atlanta upon signing with GRC Records. Ripple recorded several hit singles for GRC including I Don't Know What It Is, But It Sure Is Funky'. Followed by the seminal album Sons Of The Gods' for Salsoul Records in 1977, which featured their perennial disco/hustle classic The Beat Goes On And On'. During a later period of reconstruction by Ripple's band leader and percussionist Brian Sherrer, Robert using the musicians from Ripple embarked on a vanity project of his own to record four songs that he had composed. Although these songs remained unissued, two of them are now to be released on a Soul Junction 45. The modern soul dancer 'Time Of The Day' backed with Take Me High' a more modern 'boogie' soul orientated song (Catalogue number SJ537).

While a third track, the excellent ballad 'Love Song About You' will also be making it's long awaited debut as part of the forthcoming We Got A Sweet Thing Going On' Volume 3 compilation. These tracks were to be Robert's last attempt at a performing career, by then being a married 28 year old, he decided to put more emphasis on his family life. In doing so he turned his back on a full time musical career and entered a new career in the insurance business where he worked as an insurance agent for the next 30 years.
Robert for many years remained oblivious to the interest in his melodic piano driven Crescent 45 outing I Need You Girl' within the European modern soul fraternity. Now with Soul Junctions intervention Robert now has three highly collectable 45 releases to his name.

Repressed !

Classic 1969 rocksteady, with backing vocals from Dawn Penn, and Boris Gardiner - also on bass and production.

Note small price change. Special Ed's debut LP presented in a gatefold jacket with liner notes by Brian Coleman that include interviews with Ed and Howie Tee. In 1989, Hip-Hop was truly bona fide. It had shed the just a gimmick' tag years before, as it showed not only artistic growth, but serious sales numbers. In short, it was here to stay. After the explosion of Run-DMC, the Beastie Boys and Public Enemy in New York and the rise of the West Coast seen in multiplatinum successes by N.W.A. and Ice-T, the music started to truly expand, letting new voices and approaches join the party and make their own waves. One of those was a young man from Brooklyn who went by the name Special Ed. Only 16 when his debut hit shelves (and then quickly flew off them), his age was indeed just a number. Beyond any gimmicks, Ed had serious skills. Fortunately, Ed found his way into the recording studio with fellow Brooklynite, Hitman Howie Tee. Howie had seen some success as part of the group CD III earlier in the 80s, and also did uncredited production on the worldwide smash Roxanne, Roxanne' by UTFO in 1984. With skills and experience under his belt, he was waiting for his true big moment.' Ed was the MC that Howie had been waiting for, and together they made history. Once it hit, Howie's instincts were proved correct - Youngest In Charge was a smash, rocked on radio, in clubs and on boomboxes around the world. It shot up the Billboard 100 and Rap / R&B album charts with ease, and hit Gold status by the late '90s, proving the album's staying power. Even considering the novelty of Ed's youth, the Youngest In Charge album stands very firmly on its own as a hip-hop classic, the ultimate in late '80s New York brag swagger, with hit singles I Got It Made' and Think About It,' both which showed off Ed's battle stances and Howie Tee's masterful, never-endingly catchy productions. Add to it deeper album cuts that still resonate like Taxing,' Fly M.C.' and I'm The Magnificent' (a later single, in 1990), and it brings you back to a time when hip-hop was all about skills and chemistry. Special Ed and Howie Tee certainly had both, with dopeness to spare.

ZamZam embarks on their next 50 releases with the return of Portland's own Systemwide. After a many-years hiatus the crew once hailed as 'The States' finest dub band,' by author & journalist Jeff Chang, is back with two new adventures into live left-of-center dubwise.Systemwide released their first album 20 years ago this year, and dealt in an utterly unique live, full-band, leftfield, DIY mutation of dub until 2003. They collaborated extensively with Sound Secretion (now known as Alter Echo), and were remixed by the likes of Muslimgauze, Twilight Circus, Zion Train, Alpha & Omega, Deadbeat, and many others. They were well-known as a live band from Seattle to LA, opened for Lee Perry and Dub Syndicate up and down the West Coast, and were mixed live by none other than Scientist.Aside from the occasional reunion show, a number of forces sent the band into a long hiatus. But a new generation was exposed to their unique brand of live dubwise via Bristol's No Corner in 2016, when the label reissued two early cuts on limited 12'. This release was a partial catalyst for the creation of these new tunes. In truth the boys had been getting together every few months since 2013 to blast out improvised jams for fun, but with the foresight to multitrack every minute of them. The task was then to shape two of these freeform jams into proper tunes. Systemwide was always at their best live, and both of these sides capture that energy while harnessing the vibes to 7' length. The lineup is a deadly tight combo of midi drums (Tim Ennis), Korg and Moog bass (Mondell Wells), samples and FX (Steve Wegner), Synths and keys (Tim Andrews), and percussion and samples (Ezra Ereckson AKA E3). For this release the crew chose to recruit Alter Echo for a mix, as his deft touch always brought out the deepest aspects of the band's sound. In addition, it felt natural to ask Dubkasm for a version as they championed the No Corner 12' with enthusiasm and earnest love."Low Orbit" describes a heavy, dark, enveloping dub universe in the classic Systemwide fashion, led by a growling, minimal bassline with swung drums fully locked. Thick, swirling, alien atmospheres that wed inner out and outer space through ancient samples, test tones, cosmic sparkles and a gallery of organic percussion. Hard and low-slung at 134 bpm, it pitches up easily for the 140 crew. Dubkasm's remix of 'Liberation' echoes out from the same well, offering a solemn, magisterial steppers with bubbling bassline and keys seeming to refract each other through dubwise prisms. Bristol legend and Rasta elder Ras Addis intones words of wisdom as Stryda and Digistep work their magic with a brilliant hide-and-seek journey through the tune's instrumentation and the deep spaces opened up through their own hardware and Sountracs desk.