Hip-Hop Vinyl New Releases - News

Stix Records, a sub-label of Favorite Recordings, presents the 2nd release from its new Mellow Reggae Series project. Launched earlier this year by Mato & Ethel Lindsey with a stunning cover of the famous “What You Won’t Do For Love” by Bobby Caldwell, the series continues with the same duo, now taking over “Baby Come Back”, the underground AOR/Blue-Eyed-Soul classic from Player.

This time again and likewise could be told about Bobby’s most famous song, “Baby Come Back” can be considered as a “One-Hit Wonder”, reaching #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1977, while very few people might be able to name who performed it. Like he always does, Mato delivers an outstanding version, delighting us with his matchless skills for dub production. Already perfectly matching on Bobby Caldwell’s rendition, Ethel Lindsey ensure again the perfect vocals over Mato’s production. Currently preparing her 1st album to be released on Favorite Recordings, Ethel has a long music and singing experience, unless an almost blank discography. From her very young age, she’s developed a deep passion for AOR and Blue-Eyed-Soul style.

Starting his reggae production career in 2006, Thomas Blanchot (aka Mato) has released music through various projects on EDR Records, Big Singles or Makasound... In the meantime, he developed a real trademark: taking over classic French, Hip-Hop, OST, Classical or Pop songs, into roots reggae-dub new versions. His 15 years collaboration with Stix Records and label honcho Pascal Rioux gave life to many masterpieces and the story seems far from the end…

Mr. K tackles a pair of extended 80's instrumentals down into his characteristic tight, DJ-friendly 7" edits. First up is Klein & MBO’s Italo-disco landmark 'Dirty Talk'. The Milan-via-New York production trio’s 1982 cut has long been recognised as one of the foundational Italo records, its stark, tightly locked bassline and 808 groove a foreshadowing of pop and house sounds to come (indeed, a year after its release the groove was lifted almost wholesale for New Order’s 'Blue Monday'). Mr. K strips the original’s down to the essentials, keeping the irresistibly hooky synth pulse front and centre while trimming the fat for maximum impact.

On the flip is Supertramp’s surprise 1985 club crossover 'Cannonball', a dancefloor curveball still in regular rotation with the deepest DJs. Intentionally written to stay entirely in one key as an experimental exercise by the band, the track’s hypnotic drive unwittingly echoed the tough, four-on-the-floor sound of early house and, via the original 12-inch single’s epic ten-minute instrumental mix, slotted in perfectly alongside underground cuts of the era. Mr. K’s edit leans hard into the pounding keyboard and the bursts of brass crescendos that build on top of it, giving the sought-after instrumental version its first-ever appearance on 7-inch. Impressive sound quality on both tracks!

In the early 90s, led by Nicola Conte, the Fez collective in Bari, Italy, reshaped contemporary jazz through groove, experimentation and a distinctly Mediterranean sensibility. Within this environment the earliest recordings associated with what would become Schema Records first appeared, released at the time through Right Tempo. With a series of three 45rpm releases Schema Records revisits some of its earliest productions, all newly remastered from the original masters. In this third 7”, The infectious pulse of “Sweat” contrasts beautifully with the refined elegance of “Fez Bossa”, together painting a vivid portrait of a scene driven by creativity, musicianship and an unwavering passion for groove. Newly remastered from the original recordings, this 45rpm edition brings these landmark performances back to life for a new generation of listeners while offering longtime collectors a beautifully renewed listening experience.

Pax Nicholas is one of the last living veterans of Fela Kuti’s Africa 70. Born in Accra, Ghana, he joined Africa 70 as conga player and backing vocalist in 1971, appearing on landmark recordings including Lady Shakara.
In 1978, he left Africa 70 at the Berlin Jazz Festival alongside drummer Tony Allen, and settled in Germany, where he built a remarkable second chapter — leading the twelve-piece Afrobeat ensemble Ridimtaksi, collaborating with Finnish jazz maverick Jimi Tenor, and reuniting with the African diaspora in Berlin for Ebo Taylor’s celebrated 2012 album Appia Kwa Bridge released on Strut Records.
In 2009, Daptone Records reissued his 1973 cult classic Na Teef Know De Road of Teef, earning him long-overdue global recognition.
Now signed to Paris-based Afrobeat imprint Comet Records, Pax Nicholas returns with his new single “Mind Your Business” — a heavyweight dancefloor Afrobeat cut built on thundering brass, interlocking percussion and a razor-sharp guitar riff. The release features an exclusive remix by Gabriel Belabbas, producer, DJ and co-founder of Parisian label Positive Future, who recasts Mind Your Business in deep, minimal territory — a sparse, tension-laced groove that channels the hypnotic darkness of Moodyman and Ricardo Villalobos. Stripping the arrangement back to its percussive skeleton, he lets the Afrobeat elements — brass, rhythm, heat — surface and recede like smoke, leaving just enough space for the tension to build and the dancefloor to fall. Slow-burning and devastating on a proper soundsystem.

Pleasurewood return with 'Electric Telepathy', their second full-length LP offering Simla Space Funk, Psych-Library and Vintage-Cinematic Raga-Rock grooves.

This new offering from the band embraces more of their vintage Hindi Cinema soundtrack influences — "Chump Change", "The Hoverfly" and "RAMMM" could easily fit into the middle of an R.D. Burman score, each with their incongruous synthesis of different genres, infectious percussion, classical modes and funk chops.

There is also a slight sweep across a too-slow-to-disco tempo and feel with the moody Johnny Guitar Watson-esque slow burn of "Good Falcon" up to the nonchalant four-to-the-floor of "Last Dance Saloon" with its lyrical warning of digital over-saturation in our social-media saturated world and a foreboding of the mini-monoliths sat in the palms of our hands that in a Kubrickian way threaten to cosmically absorb us all as a species into their individual jet-black abysses.

And then, coming into focus like a sweet slice of disjointed, lo-fi, 8 bit space disco, "Mojave Desert" is a slacker-strut with telephone vocals dub guitars, dry cosmic synths and futurist Farfisa organ driven by an almost Acid-Jazz meets Post-Punk Bass line. The song is autobiographical in its account of an excursion along the 29 Palms Highway reflecting on an escape from the City of Angels not so far away, up into the stark psychedelic desert realm.

There is a lot to unpack in this record and yet more to discover so it will be best to allocate 40 minutes in a comfortable dimly-lit room with eyes closed and maybe a cognac in hand, to have a deep-dive into its well-travelled and esoterically funky grooves.

“Let It Be Known” sits at a pivotal moment in Spice 1’s catalog — bridging the raw street energy of his independent Bay Area beginnings with the darker, more polished sound that would define West Coast gangsta rap in the early ’90s. This release captures the foundation of what made him one of the most respected voices to come out of the Bay Area scene.

Raised between Hayward and Oakland, Spice 1 helped shape the sound and attitude of West Coast rap during a period when the Bay was developing its own identity alongside Los Angeles. His delivery combined cold realism, street storytelling, and paranoia-laced lyricism in a way that influenced an entire generation of rappers across Northern California and beyond. At a time when gangsta rap was becoming national, Spice brought a distinctly Bay Area perspective — darker, more introspective, and rooted in the realities of East Bay street life.

This reissue highlights an important chapter in that evolution, featuring early versions of songs that would later become staples of his catalog. Tracks like “Ghetto Thang,” “187 Proof,” and “In My Neighborhood” reveal how Spice’s sound was already fully formed from the beginning. For collectors and longtime fans, Let It Be Known offers a rare look at the raw blueprint behind one of the defining voices of ’90s West Coast hip-hop.

Three years on from the release of his critically acclaimed second album as Tambores En Benirras, Graham Newby returns with album number two, a glorious celebration of the mystical, magical and life-affirming musical meditation on stretched-out sunrises and the breathtaking beauty of dawn.

Newby has more reason that most to cherish picturesque and soul-enriching sun-up moments. During the process of making second set Onda Horizontales, the long-serving Cumbrian DJ, crate-digger, beat-maker and producer’s sight deteriorated to such a degree that he was certified ‘registered blind’. As a result, new working methods were found, with Newby delivering widescreen Balearic visions as much from muscle memory and feel as the visual environmental cues that once fired his imagination.

Third album Alba Amba – ‘amber dawn’ in English – finds Newby in dawn-ready mode, serving up music to soundtrack stunning sunrises and those clear early morning moments where anything seems possible. It’s a simple idea, beautifully executed, with the artist once known as Gripper conjuring up a meditative and mesmerising mix of slow-burn aural colours, tactile textures, gradually unfurling chords, and heady melodic motifs.

Newby sets his stall out with the smouldering, pre-dawn bliss of the jaw-dropping title track, where reverb-laden female vocalisations and twinkling electronics usher in a golden dawn, before reaching for shimmering, sun-bright melodies, heart-stirring chords and undulating TB-303 lines on the ambient acid chug of ‘Bucanero Acido’.

Newby’s instinctive grasp of mood and texture comes to the fore on the drifting, soft-focus ambient dub head-nod of ‘No Se Me Pasa’, where strummed acoustic guitars, echoing vocal samples and weighty low-end warmth catch the ear, while his history of dusty downtempo beat-making – originally explored on his early 2000s releases for Grand Central Records – informed the dancehall-meets-trip-hop fusion of ‘Batalla De Etiquettas’.


With its epic, head-turning ambient intro, raw electronic bass, effects-laden hand percussion and slow, restless build, this triumphant closing cut signals the moment the sun has well and truly arrived above the horizon. It’s a genuinely stunning conclusion to a soul-stirring set.

LA-based producer Real Bad Man and multi-JUNO Award winning Toronto-based artist TOBi release their collaborative album The Perfect Blue via the producer’s own Real Bad Man Records. The album collects a diverse array of sounds,highlighted by the album’s two advance singles “When I’m Home, ” which Stereogum described as “a moody,graceful soul song with a serious groove, ” and the funk-laden “Over The Moon, ” released last week.

TOBi and Real Bad Man’s work together on The Perfect Blue encapsulates the producer’s mission for 2025, a year in which he released intricate collaborative albums with a wide swath of artists. His work with TOBi was seamless and began quickly after the two first met, finding kinship in their ability to push past their comfort zones in genre and familiar sounds. The result is eclectic and boundless, jumping from straightforward and unflinchingly personal rap moments, to the flared funk of “Over the Moon” and understated contemporary soul flourishes that prove the Toronto emcee can confidently make each of these sounds his own.

The Perfect Blue marks Real Bad Man’s fifth full-length collaborative album of the year, bookending a prolific 2025 that began with his collaborative album with ZelooperZ, Dear Psilocybin. Over a celebrated catalog spanning years, Real Bad Man, also known as Adam Jay Weissman, has cemented himself as a force in underground hip-hop, but his impact extends beyond work with contemporaries like Boldy James, Pink Siifu, Blue and more. Each of Weissman’s five collaborative albums this year showcases a different side of his craft, appeasing fans familiar with his gritty hip-hop production on his third album with Boldy James Conversational Pieces. He also surprised listeners with a bold turn in sonic direction, well outside of his traditional production palette, with his reunion with former Pollyn bandmate Genevieve Artadi on Everything Is Under Control.

Nigerian-born, Toronto-raised artist TOBi has carved out a distinct lane for himself with a celebrated discography of releases that explore themes of vulnerability, self-reflection and contemporary masculinity with a pointed nuance. His 2023 album PANIC swept the rap categories (Best Rap Album, Best Rap Single for “Someone I Knew”) at the 2024 JUNO Awards and his catalog has been praised by the likes of Billboard, Rolling Stone, i-D and more. Expanding on his ELEMENTS project series with the second volume released earlier this year to high praise, The Perfect Blue cements TOBi’s bonafides as an adept collaborator.

Pursuing their explorations of international Funk and Disco music, Favorite Recordings and Bruno "Patchworks" Hovart present us Voilaaa. With this first 2 tracks single revealing the Afro-Disco inspiration of this new experience, Favorite also expands its new series of Disco 12inch singles recently launched with several fine reissues.

Under the imprint of the label and after their long years of collaboration in the achievement of projects such as The Dynamics, Mr President, Mr Day, Patchworks Galactic Project, or Taggy Matcher, the insatiable French producer therefore returns to his first love and specialty, Disco music, staring this time at the African and Caribbean influences.

Indeed, as everywhere in the 70s and 80s, Funk and Disco movements were extremely influential in these regions, and in most cases, the combination of the festive, yet sometime futile nature of Disco, and the instinctive, deep, sometimes rough nature of African music, sounds like a perfect balance. Aiming to respect this energy and specific sound, Patchworks quickly began producing a few tracks, Using his unique and ruling beats and bass lines as foundations, this time he dresses all with guitars, keyboards and brass distorted with vintage and DIY effects pedals and boxes.

Surrounded by a very dynamic music scene, where there is no shortage of artists with African origins, Patchworks decided to work with local singers, even if it means to accompany them on unusual musical paths. A more than successful bet with a result surprising of authenticity, as it's unveiled by these first two titles alongside Sir Jean and Pat Kalla, both from a musical background as rich than different.

With an album planned for the end of the year, that promises to be as explosive and magnetic, Patchworks and Favorite Recordings make a strike again... Voilaaa tout (Thaaat's all)!!

2026 Repress

New Darius album, featuring Wayne Snow, Kadhja Bonet, Benny Sings...

After the release of his last EP "OASIS (Prelude) on Roche Musique, Parisian producer Darius reveals his second album "OASIS" with the powerful track "EASE YOUR MIND". A groovy dancing track reminiscing of his early trademark electro dance sounds with catchy R&B lead from Devin Tracy. The acclaimed and certified artist is now ready to unveil his new project, teased since the release of the +10 Million streams "EQUILIBRIUM" in 2020.

Featured on the Suns of Dub 2024 Tour on stages across, Europe, Canada, the Caribbean and United Kingdom, Jah Love is Amazing has become an underground Smasher! Veteran Reggae Superstar Macka B brings an infectious vibe and melody to this deep Dub Steppas Riddim composed by Carlton Shepherd for Suns of Dub.

Celestial Echo Records brings back Sweet Mixture’s “House Of Fun And Love”, a killer slice of crossover soul from 1973.

Produced by Ron Rice and originally coming out of Chicago’s Bazar label he ran, “House Of Fun And Love” sits right in that sweet spot between modern soul and boogie before the lines were fully drawn. It has that glide you want from a great crossover record: warm vocals, a rolling groove, tight drums and enough lift to move from a soul room into a dancefloor set without forcing it.

There’s a nice full circle moment with this one too. “House Of Fun And Love” was one of the earliest releases on Discs of Fun and Love, the label run by miche and Frederika. It sold out quickly the first time around and years on, it feels like the perfect record to bring into the Celestial Echo catalogue, another holy grail for 2026.

On the B-side is “I Love You”, a sweet ballad that is smooth, heartfelt and beautifully understated. A beautiful slow number that’s common on a lot of these early soul records.

A rare soul grail made available again, respectfully cut, properly pressed, and ready to play.

"Dance On", the latest single from Canopy continues the label's enthusiasm for re-issuing vintage Afro-tropical funk, reggae & disco, paired with modern remixes and remakes.

Two long out of print and previously un-reissued musical gems from Malian musician Nawari, get an overdue second life. Those gems being the eponymous "Dance On", an upbeat Afro-reggae-disco dancer originally self-released in 1987, and "Fanta Cini", originally released in 1989, which takes a deeper, tougher "proto-Afro-electro-funk" direction.

Sharing creative duties is Russian producer Valique, aka "V" from the best-selling "V's edits series, appearing on Canopy for the first time with a strong contribution to the label. Taking the title tune he reimagined & recreated it, building from Nawari's vocals and recording live horns, skanking guitars and percussion, blended with his signature classy production: crisp, warm, groovy & punchy.

Valique turns in 3 different mixes of Dance On, ranging from reggae disco, to cosmic Afro beat, timbale percussion workouts and beyond.

The release spans a range of moods, segueing between the past & present, organic and electronic, proving itself to be well suited for many environments, from the kitchen party to the bars, clubs & festivals of the world.

CER015 sees Celestial Echo bring back one of the great modern soul 45s, Ramsey & Company – “Love Call”.

Coming out of New York in the late ’70s, Ramsey & Company was led by Mainor Ramsey, with the group originally playing the Catskills supper club circuit. Their only single was released privately on Ramsey’s own Ramco label, with copies sold at shows and barely making it into wider distribution. Like so many great soul records, it found its real afterlife much later, becoming a favourite across the UK modern soul and rare groove scene.

“Love Call” is the reason this record has carried such a reputation for so long. A beautifully arranged modern soul dancer, it has that perfect late ’70s balance of groove, song and musicianship. On the B-side, “Leg Grease” brings the funk.

Original copies are now almost impossible to find, often selling for serious money when it turns up and even the Lotus Land reissue has become expensive in its own right. This Celestial Echo edition puts the track back into circulation properly, cut loud and ready for the DJs and soul heads who have been waiting on a clean copy.

Celestial Echo is here to put proper soul records back into circulation — respectfully cut, properly pressed, and ready to play.

On Chuck Strangers’ latest opus, Glory Of The King’s Hand, he raps, “I still rap from the perspective of my government name…” The stage name “Chuck Strangers” is, of course, an alias but it’s not necessarily an alter ego. For the man born Che Jessamy, his rap moniker isn’t some over-the-top rock star persona contrived for public consumption, it’s just a name. What you hear on his records is really who he is - a heavy-tongued griot from East Flatbush, Brooklyn with a gift for vivid stream-of-consciousness storytelling. His bars are imbued with the wisdom he’s gained in his lifetime - especially in the 14 years since he first made his debut with the Pro Era collective.


The elaborate title of his new album, Glory Of The King’s Hand, speaks to his gratitude for the hand that life’s dealt him, which is a pretty good one. At age 34, he does what he loves professionally and does it on his own terms. That’s something to be thankful for.


Glory Of The King’s Hand, not only represents Chuck’s matured attiGlory attitude but also his matured sound. Key to this refined approach was tude collaboration. Chuck is a proficient beatmaker in his own right as evidenced by his production for himself and artists like Joey Baevidenced Badass, and Boldy James. But this time around Chuck chose to be a dass, producer in the Quincy Jones sense of the word, bringing together vocalists, producers, and musicians instead of handling all of the beats and rhymes himself. d Up Reprise


The list of contributing producers is a who’s who of underground sound scientists including The Alchemist, Animoss, Theravada, Kensound Kenny Segal, Preservation, Child Actor, and Morriarchi.

YL Hooi returns with 'Running Around (83)', the project's first release since 2019's Untitled. Valya Ying-Li Hooi and Tarquin Manek finally commit a long road-tested live favourite to tape, welding together engine room doom, disembodied vocals, cryptic lyricism and a smouldering dub-techno bassline, recast and overdriven.

The hand-stamped white label 12" honours its roots with three heavyweight remixes. After corrupted audio files erased YL Hooi's recent live collaboration with Mad Professor, the Ariwa boss gives their encounter lasting form with a percussion-dripped halftime stepper featuring veteran Black Steel and new blood Karmelody.

The flipside immediately detours with Ulla's full-scale tear down and rebuild, layering woodwind, keys and subtle percussion into an improbably elegant convergence of ambient, minimal jazz and modern classical. John T. Gast's Midas touch then drags it into bardo dancehall territory, a rugged soundsystem destroyer that's scuzzy, screwed and wired with punk instinct.

Die neueste 45er vom Co-Sänger und Schlagzeuger von Indications liegt voll in seinem Element, bietet aber eine schöne neue Palette an Klängen. Die Gitarre im Intro erinnert ein wenig an Filmmusik im Morricone-Stil, ähnlich wie etwas, das man auf dem Soundtrack zu ,Postales" hätte hören können - was Sinn macht, da auf beiden Alben der legendäre Gitarrist Tommy Brenneck zu hören ist. Uptempo, eingängig, rau _ frisch und doch klassisch. Genau das, was du auf einer frischen 7er für die Plattenteller willst. Die B-Seite trifft genau das, wofür Mr. Frazer bekannt ist _ die langsame und tiefe Süße. ,Let Your Love Grow" besticht durch eindringliches Cembalo, kraftvolles Schlagzeug, ein Klavier, das Rza gutheißen würde, und einen Refrain, der einfach nicht aufhört. Schnapp dir gleich zwei Exemplare.