Pop & Rock Vinyl New Releases - News

AVAILABLE AS LIMITED EDITION 7' WITH GREAT HIGH-QUALITY PICTURE SLEEVE
Barry Gray is best known for creating the music for most of Gerry & Sylvia Anderson's television series in the 1960s & 70s - UFO & SPACE:1999. While some was released commercially, but now remains out of print, some of his music tragically never found ist way to wax. We always loved the classic Hammond organ sound and thought it would be great to collaborate with Andy Fairclough again to create a new unique version of the soundtrack, especially as the existence of an original 45 of 'UFO' was always a myth. No digital effects, hardware or devices were used at any stage in recording, mastering and pressing this record, the process was 100% analog to tape to lacquer to vinyl in this production, like the intro of 'UFO' which was created with a special, rare vintage type of atonal acoustic musical instrument called 'Waterphone' creating a vibrant ethereal sound. This and the other high quality ingredients like the formidable Hammond organ make these tunes sound as if they could have been recorded any time betwwn now and the late Sixties/Seventies creating two eponymous sci-fi monsters that will destroy any funky retro dancefloor!!

'It may seem far fetched but the parallels are closer than you may think between searching the worlds deepest vaults for lost or undiscovered vinyl treasures, and searching deep space for unseen galaxies, planets and even new lifeforms! Both pursuits involve time, dedication and a relentless hope that the quest will be worthwhile. And with this insatiable desire and determination the intrepid adventurers usually reap the most hearty, satisfying of otherworldly harvests! Both of these worlds collide with the 7" release of "The Preservation Society" "UFO" & "SPACE:1999". These versions have never been heard before, so extremely dedicated explorer of gems of the grittiest rarest, funkiest soundtrack variety will love them to death! These two cult British, funky, epic, Sci-Fi themes were originally written by Barry Gray (in 1969 & 1973) but the originals were sculpted for the title credits, so are relatively short. However "The Preservation Society" a group of top British session players rearranged the themes respecting the original but allowing rocket fuelled Hammond Organ solos, horn blasts, drum breaks, percussion workouts and other worldly sound effects to encapsulate listeners and dancers here on planet earth and beyond!!!' (Commander Straker July 2014)

Soul Safari started as a blog to showcase the music of Africa with a strong emphasis on South Africa. Now in its 6th year, Soul Safari is proud to present the third volume of the compilation 'Township Jive & Kwela Jazz', a collection of rare gems originally released as shellac 78's in the period 1960-1965 in South Africa.
On this third volume the selection features the gorgeous close harmony vocal groups singing in the tradition of American R & B and doo wop. But always with that typical South African swing and sung in the Zulu or Xhosa languages. DJ Eddy de Clercq who initiated this compilation, also selected a few tunes that stand for the transition from early jive to mbanqaga, a most democratic vocal style characterized by the typical 'groaning', a form of call and answer between the male leader (groaner) and female singers. Mbanqaga would follow up jive as the popular vocal music from 1965 onwards.

Kwela jazz knew many variations in which the original instrument, the penny whistle was traded in for accordion, violin, even a melodica, an instrument that also became widely popular in Jamaica. Similarities with uptempo ska can be heard in tunes by Kid Ma Wrong Wrong and Bra Sello featured on this compilation. Again an exciting selection of rare recordings from the heyday of South African Jive & Kwela. Truly music treasures from a long gone past.

Available on LP and CD formats. CD comes as a Japanese mini-LP format with obi-strip.

First ever re-issue of this 1965 Jamaican Latin-Calypso-Jazz album by piano genius Cecil Lloyd, who led a 20-piece hotel band from the age of seventeen. In 1959, the maestro was asked to record an album for 20th Century Fox and he later released three albums at Studio One. Featuring a solid rhythm section with conga and percussion, A Night in Jamaica was produced by Ken Khouri for Federal's Kentone label. This enduring masterpiece still echoes across the beautiful Caribbean Sea.

Available on LP and CD formats. CD comes as a Japanese mini-LP format with obi-strip.

First ever re-issue of this 1965 Jamaican Latin-Calypso-Jazz album by piano genius Cecil Lloyd, who led a 20-piece hotel band from the age of seventeen. In 1959, the maestro was asked to record an album for 20th Century Fox and he later released three albums at Studio One. Featuring a solid rhythm section with conga and percussion, A Night in Jamaica was produced by Ken Khouri for Federal's Kentone label. This enduring masterpiece still echoes across the beautiful Caribbean Sea.

First release of a previously unknown album from the personal archives of "clarinet bird" Rolf Kühn, recorded 1962 in Hamburg. Outstanding modern jazz and hard bop session featuring Klaus Doldinger (ts), Ingfried Hoffmann (org/ p), Cees See (d) and Herman Schoonderwalt (b), with plenty of tunes made famous by Horace Silver ("Sister Sadie"), Charlie Parker ("Au Privave"), Miles Davis ("Solar") or Thelonious Monk ("Bemsha Swing") - all arranged by Kühn. Comes as 6-page-digipack-CD and limited vinyl LP commemorating the 85th birthday of Rolf Kühn, carefully mastered in 2014, with unreleased photos and new sleeve notes written by Kühn's biographer Maxi Sickert.

Black Spirituals is the Oakland, CA based duo of Zachary James Watkins on electronics and strings and Marshall Trammell on percussion.  This is the band's debut full length after cassette releases on Sixtyhurts and The Tapeworm.Black Spirituals have been performing extensively in and around their Oakland, CA base of operations, have recently completed their first US tour, and have continuous live actions throughout the coming year. LP limited to 250 copies, in custom printed 2 color 12' jackets with hand-stamped labels and inserts.

Album art and design by Faith Coloccia with texts by band members Zachary James Watkins and Marshall Trammell.
OF DECONSTRUCTION emerges from a landscape of sameness fully formed and armed to the teeth with its idiosyncratic musical idiom in the brilliant, crunchy, rocking, swelling, absorbing, immersive, hypnotic, ritualistic, improvised, heart-throbbing, spine-tingling, buzzing, captivating, comforting, raw, non academic, free flow, on the spot, fluxus-like, futurist, natural, psycho-acoustic hyper-realist touches of the twenty minutes tour de force Radiant. Massive electronic synth noise

SELECTED QUOTES:
'Two of the brightest musical minds of today - Marshall Trammell and Zachary James Watkins bring their skills and passion to Black Spirituals. Get this recording right away!'
- PAULINE OLIVEROS
'Whenever I see Black Spirituals play I see a magical collaboration bringing together concepts of history and radical transformation. I see elements of rebellion and elements of simplicity and fun. There are elements of cumbia, noise, jazz, and avant improvisation.'
- SHARMI BASU

Oscillating and reverberating chaotically through sonic orbs and polyphonic sound textures, The Sign of Four is a new creative concept from the Natural Yogurt Band's Miles Newbold.
Hammer, Anvil, Stirrup is the debut album from The Sign of Four on Jazzman Records and is spread exquisitely across 2x10" LPs in hand-printed sleeves, digipack CD and digital download formats.
Recorded live at Chicken Shack studios in Nottingham, real musical instruments are used to create a swirling jungle of throbbing palpitations evoking the spaced-out vibes of an unsound mind. It's an infectious fermentation of debauched instrumental chaos, sometimes calming, but often unnerving, that will leave the listener bewildered, wide-eyed and gasping for more.
The 9-track vinyl version also contains a track from Sun Suite, an alternative incarnation of The Sign of Four, that sees out the release in a less chaotic fashion, a sonic antidote to the preceding pandemonium.

Berlin by Overnight by Max Richter is taken from Daniel Hope's latest album Spheres (2013) and will now be released DIGITALLY and on VINYL together with 4 remixes by internationally acclaimed remixers, who were carefully selected and picked up on the nocturnal, minimal and repetitive atmosphere. The international line up of remixers: Efdemin: A dark sounding producer from Berlin, known for his minimalist musical approach, who regularly performs at clubs such as the Berlin Panorama Bar (Berghain) CFCF: A renowned Canadian electronic artists whose music alternates between the spaces of dance, ambient, pop and neo-classical who has already remixed the music of artists such as Crystal Castles Lorna Dune: One of the most versatile keyboardists & producers currently working in New York, with a background in classical, experimental, electronic, and pop. Known for the creation and performance of new and experimental music Tom Adams: A multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer and songwriter based in Cambridge, who has recently scored the music for the Universal Picture film The Knive that killed me whilst doing remixes for artists such as Nils Frahm

Zawinul is a superb album by Jazz composer and pianist Joe Zawinul, recorded in 1970. Conceptually and sonically, this is really the rst Weather Report album in all but name, conrming that Joe Zawinul was the primary creative engine behind the group from the beginning. It is also the link between Weather Report and Miles Davis' keyboard-laden experiments on In A Silent Way [MOVLP028] from 1969; indeed, the tune 'In A Silent Way' is redone in the more complex form in which Zawinul envisioned it.

The line-up on Zawinul includes Zawinul and the formidable Herbie Hancock on keyboards, putting the galactic sound effects of the Echoplex and ring modulator to good use. The third founder of Weather Report, Miroslav Vitous, checks in on bass. Hard- bopping trumpeter Woody Shaw proves to be perfectly adept at the jazz-rock game. Also Jack DeJohnette features on melodica and percussion, as does Hubert Laws on ute and Wayne Shorter on soprano sax.

'Zawinul is extending the thoughts that we've both had for years. And probably the thoughts that most so-called now musicians have not yet been able to express.' MILES DAVIS

On The Blue Yusef Lateef (1968), listeners get an amazing chapter from the late '60s, an amazing period when everything in the world of Jazz was changing. Lateef was big on concept recordings. This album examines all the different ranges of emotion contained within the blues genre. With a band that included Detroit Jazz gods Roy Brooks on drums and Kenny Burrell on guitar, Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Hugh Lawson on piano, Sonny Red on alto, Bob Cranshaw on electric bass, and a very young Cecil McBee on acoustic bass, you get the idea that Lateef was after something different.

Lateef performs on not only his tenor and ute, but bamboo and pneumatic utes, tamboura, koto, and others; Lateef was exploring the outer reaches of the blues as they might appear and appeal to Eastern as well as Western cultures. The Blue Yusef Lateef is one wild album. In sound, it is the very best the '60s had to offer in terms of experimentation and accessibility. This is blues you can dance to, but also meditate to and marvel at.

Lord Echo returns, producing Kiwi trio f/himself on percussion. A is mellow meander through laidback early 70s soul-jazz vibes, while B picks things deep, spiritual piano groove, double-bass, & Echo's percussion perfectly in the pocket.

he great SUN RA ARKESTRA, live at Jazzgalerie Nickelsdorf, Austria - 11th march 1984

Recording of the whole - nearly three hour - performance!

Sun Ra - piano, synt, voc
John Gilmore - ts, cl, evi, voc
Marshall Allen - as, fl , kora, perc
Danny Ray Thompson - bars, fl , perc
Elo Omoe (Leroy Taylor) - as, bcl, perc
James Jackson - bsn, fl , inf-dr, voc
Ronnie Brown - tr
Rollo Radford - standup eb
Don Mumford - dr
Matthew Brown - congas, dance
Myriam Broche - dance
Greg Pratt - dance

.
Tracklist:

cd 1
1. Untitled Improvisation 11:33
2. Discipline 27-II / Children of the Sun 07:01
3. Nuclear War 07:26
4. Unidentified Blues 06:07
5. Sophisticated Lady 05:45
6. East of the Sun 04:47
7. Springtime Again 08:10
8. Yeah Man! 02:50
9. Mack the Knife 07:27
10. Day Dream 05:30

cd 2
1. Love in Outer Space 10:26
2. Space is the Place / We Travel the Spaceways / No News is Good News / Outer Spaceways Incorporated / Closing
announcement 1st set 04:42
3. Space Infi nity Drum intro 2nd set 01:42
4. Pleiades 03:51
5. Untitled Improvisation part 1 01:23
6. Untitled Improvisation part 2 09:28
7. Untitled Improvisation part 3 01:03



8. Unidentified Piano Solo 02:57
9. 'Round Midnight 08:54
10. Unidentifi ed Blues 05:51
11. Happy as the Day is Long 03:19
12. Carefree

due to limitations of the original recording there is a 3 seconds gap in cd 2, track 12

cd 3
1. Big John's Special 03:28
2. Days of Wine and Roses 08:49
3. What's New 08:26
4. Fate in a Pleasant Mood 08:45
5. Fate in a Pleasant Mood part 2 06:48
6. Retrospect 03:52
7. Enlightenment / Strange Mathematics / Rhythmic Equations 09:46

This is the second and final pressing (only 500 copies pressed Worldwide) of Dylan Howe's 'Subterranean' on heavyweight 180g pure virgin vinyl. It has received rave reviews across the board, with Bowie himself telling Dylan, ''That's a top notch album you've got there'!

This beautifully produced record comes with 2x audiophile anti-static, 100% non-abrasive inner sleeves and 30x30cm card insert (full colour both sides).

A radical take on the instrumental cuts from David Bowie's 1977 albums Low and "Heroes" from drummer Dylan Howe, "A superb player, inspiring and invigorating" (The Guardian). It features saxophonists Julian Siegel and Brandon Allen, Adrian Utley from Portishead on guitar and Yes guitarist Steve Howe on koto.

Dylan Howe is a British drummer (born in 1969) best known for leading his quintet and other jazz groups since 2002 and his tenures with Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Steve Howe and Wilko Johnson (he played on the number one album, 'Going Back Home', with Roger Daltrey). He has also played with the likes of Nick Cave, Damon Albarn, Ray Davies, Paul McCartney, David Gilmour, Beth Gibbons, Gabrielle, Hugh Cornwell and Andy Sheppard amongst others.

With its tongue in cheek title, The Best of Band X (there had been no previous Band X releases) snuck into the record racks in 1976, the first the world was to hear from musician/producer/writer/arranger (and later all-American hero) Craig Peyton. Fitting in somewhere between contemporaries like Weather Report, Headhunters and Stone Alliance, Craig Peyton definitely ploughed his own musical furrow even in an exceptionally fertile era. Originally a jazz drummer and vibraphonist, Craig was interested in utilizing the potential of some of the new synthesizers that were coming onto the market in that era, (beating even Stevie Wonder to the use of the Fairlight keyboard).
1. Rip Van Winkle
2. Red Cloud
3. Trullion Alastor 2262
4. Afterthought
5. Picking Mushrooms With
Rabbit
6. Home
7. Black Hole

Since its foundation in 1997 Jazzanova always had a big following in Japan. And theintercultural exchange with the Japanese DJ scene has been brisk ever since. However, now for the very first time a remix 12inch jam-packed with works by artists from the land of the rising sun.In collaboration with Especial Records (Kyoto Massive member Yoshihiro Okino's label) four remixes for 'Now There Is We', Jazzanova's last single, had been commissioned. Starting things off is Kuniyuki Takahashi, producer and sound designer from Sapporo. The Future Jazz apostle bends and breaks - Now There Is We' until he puts down an impelling jazz piano accompanied track which would even bring tears to the late Frankie Knuckle's eyes.A completely different approach is applied by Mano Arriba (Spanish for - Hands up!'): Under his direction the song mutates to become a carnival-compliant salsa rhythm. Absolutely striking!

Debut album by Jimmy "The Funky Tramp" aka "Mr. Motion" Lynch! Original store stock from the 1970s - still sealed! Limited quantity available. For fans of Rudy Ray Moore and Blowfly this is a must have.

Odd ball You betcha......., driving 'drinkin' blues rocker with great guitar break and cool moving flip

The Jazz Epistles were not only South Africa's first bebop band, but were also, rumour has it, the first black South African group to release an album. Very few copies of that album 'Jazz Epistle Verse 1' were made in 1960 (issued on the Continental Label), and even fewer survive today. At the time members of the band were very active in the burgeoning South African jazz scene and had also made several recordings for John Mehegan, a self-taught white American jazz pianist and tutor who toured South Africa that same year. Mehegan soon found himself in trouble with the South African authorities for fraternizing with black musicians.

The Jazz Epistles broke up soon after the Verse 1 recordings, with all members being offered work touring Europe with the hit African jazz musical 'King Kong', along with the Manhattan Brothers and vocalist Miriam Makeba.

This tour came at a time when Sophiatown, the black suburb of white Johannesburg where the band lived and played, was about to be demolished. This, along with The Sharpeville Massacre marked the beginnings of forced segregation, violence, repression and a most turbulent time in their country - a time when African arts would not be tolerated.

Thankfully, the touring members of the Jazz Epistles found freedom, enlightenment, appreciation and the guidance of European musicians to further their musical careers. So in some ways, South African jazz flourished for the next few decades, but only in other countries.

Listening now to these recordings we hear that the band's early mix of African and American jazz ideas, rhythms and swingin' tempos make their sound both unique and prescient, and can now be appreciated as a cornerstone and most important landmark in South African sounds.

This unique vinyl release brings together selections from the classic Verse 1 album as well as other rare cues by members of the band, recorded for Mehegan in those lively 1959/ 60 jazz sessions. Of particular note on this release is the sublime track Gafsa, summed up on its original release like so: 'Another piano solo from Dollar Brand. It tells of a man who was madly in love with a wonderful woman. She dies, but her vision comes to him as he walks through the streets of Cape Town on a misty night.'

The fourth album by Jimmy "The Funky Tramp" aka "Mr. Motion" Lynch! Original store stock from the 1970s - still sealed! Limited quantity available. For fans of Rudy Ray Moore and Blowfly this is a must have.

EXPANSION introduce a brand new series of 10' CLASSICS back to back with the coolest CONTEMPORARY takes of the same track. First off is the 70s masterpiece by the MIZELL BROTHERS, as originally recorded by the master of the Hammond organ, JOHNNY HAMMOND in 1975 on FANTASY REORDS - a jazz funk, timeless 'rare groove' previously only a single as a 7' edit but glorified here in it's full 6 minutes. The new version is by QUASIMODE, the hippest new jazz quartet from Japan, signed to BLUE NOTE RECORDS. They have taken the jazz world by storm and have recorded a version of 'Los Conquistadores Chocolates' worthy of comparison to the original and on vinyl here for the first time

Death Shanties is a new mixed media balls-­to-­the-wall Free Jazz group featuring Trembling Bells founder Alex Neilson (drums), Sybren Renema (alto/baritone sax) and Lucy Stein (painting / projections). The group combine references to Medieval music, Sea Shanties and Field Hollars with the ecstatic cry of classic 1960's fire music. Stein uses primitive devotional images, food stuffs and even her own hair in visceral, highly textured painted projections making Death Shanties a unique and immersive live experience. Death Shanties debut album "Crabs" is out on August 11th 2014 on Bomb Shop.

Three tracks from the record were previewed by Wire Magazine (http://bit.ly/1rzhEb8), who also ran a half-page review in their August issue. Airplay is confirmed on Stewart Maconie's Freak Show, and Dense PR (Berlin) are carrying out a European online & radio campaign. A full album premiere, along with an interview with Alex Neilson, is scheduled to appear on The Quietus at the end of the month.

Ever since the end of World War II, the exchange of musical ideas between jazzmen of various nations has gained increasing incidence, particularly in Scandinavia. It was in Sweden that the first outstanding modern jazz soloists were contributed by Europe to the international discographies; and it was in Sweden that a number of happy unions took place between American and Swedish jazzmen, resulting in the production of such successful sessions as the two represented on this album.(...) Jazz Abroad indicates decisively that men like Quincy Jones, Roy Haynes and their confreres are musically at ease in the company of such distinguished Swedish contemporaries as are heard with them here. (...)
(from the original liner notes)

Recorded in 1961 under the direction of the legendary Quincy Jones and featuring members of Count Basie's group as well as crack New York sessions players, Genius + Soul = Jazz is one of the finest records in Charles' storied career. Lushly arranged and impeccably played, the group and performances are the perfect backdrop for Charles' whiskey smooth vocals. A crucial and essential piece of work from one of the 20th century's most celebrated performers.

Somewhat a cross between a Fela edits record, & songs built from Fela breaks. Each track is built from pieces a single Fela track, stripped of all the horns & singing, focused on the backing ensemble, w/some shouts & grunts. Primal stuff.