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‘In This Lingering Twilight Sparkle’ finds Mark Leckey stitching together a fantasy travelogue made up of found sounds, spoken word and dismantled tunes like some hallucinogenic mixtape; part audio diary, part YouTube session taking in fairytale folk musics, iMessage notifications and gothic horror that will make you question... stuff. “In the Age before These Times I’d been reading lots of folklore about Fairies, and Changelings and the like. At the same time I’d watch all these shows with my young daughter which revolved around magic and myth: enchanted realms, unicorns, mermaids, trolls etc. That I could instantaneously conjure up these shows on various devices made them appear even more magical. In my head these two worlds began to converge; the contemporary magic of consumerism, embodied within a rainbow unicorn, and an older mindset that could transact between the mundane and the supernatural. When the lockdown began this sense of the modern and medieval co-existing grew and grew, along with the belief that all the streaming sevices served as a protective magic from the encroaching dark age. Come the pestilence I had the kids, online magic and a hard drive full of stuff I’d collected for O Magic Power of Bleakness, things that I wanted to emulate, that sonically suggested the sensations I was looking for, sounds and music that evoked Childhood and Consumerism, Fairies and Trauma, Hauntings and Concrete. More than these concepts though what I really I wanted was it to sound like someone totally lost and confused with the ongoing mystification of reality. An actuality where a Great Worm could reasonably appear on my news feed app as the Moon turns to Iron. We draw the magic cap down over eyes and ears as a make-believe there are no monsters. KARL MARX”

Mark Leckey, May 2020

Hypnotic proto-Raï from 1979-1989 by Drissi El-Abbassi, a pioneer of the Algerian style who bridged its early, live band roots with the era of multi-track digital recording during the sound’s rapid evolution ‘Rai Sidi Bel Abbes’ plays deeply into one of the core influences of borderless Algerian/Egyptian label Nashazphone, highlighting a figure relatively unsung beyond the North African Arabic diaspora and introducing his unusually balmy, soft-voiced take on a genre that came to be known for its harder edges. Set to a mix of microtonal Roland synthesiser leads and swaying drum machines, El-Abbassi’s vocals emote with particular clarity and sensuality, carrying the jazz and psych rock-inspired early sound into a prototype of its current form across eight songs that chart his transition from working with principal group Les Freres Zergui, to selections from recordings by his own band’s influential releases during the mid-late ‘80s.
Drissi El-Abbassi was 17 in 1978, when he joined one of the main groups in Oran region, Les Aigles Noir, working as “stage animator” - a sort of hypeman, also responsible for relaying lyrics to the lead singer, at weddings and parties - and by 1979 he was a member of Les Freres Zergui, who pioneered the use of wah wah pedals and drums in the style of Rai; a new sound established by Messaoud Bellemou and his troupe, that incorporated trumpets and sax into a distinctive new Algerian genre. He cut his teeth in this style playing two shows a night at the weekends with Les Freres Zergui, and his first solo tape came out that year with Zergui on guitar. Following Zergui’s passing in 1983, and dissolution of the band, El-Abbassi set up his own group, embracing new technology and helping progress the style alongside legendary producer Meghni Mohamed for labels such as Editions Anwar, Editions Maghreb, or Editions Saint Crepain.
The eight songs on ‘Rai Sidi Bel Abbes’ cover a spectrum of El-Abassi’s work during 1979-1989, from the mouth watering microtonal psych licks and nagging machine grooves of ‘Zedti laadab aliya’ to the lissom guitars and accordions of ‘Khalouni neck’, showcasing his smoothly contoured vocal cadence in finest style on cuts that resemble melodic Lovers Rock vibes in ’Trig maaskar’ and intoxicatingly sensual highlights ‘Jat jat’, plus the passionate, psychedelic ache of ‘Manetzouedj manebni dar’, or ‘Djibek liyam’, which should appeal to fans of Omar Khorshid as much as Omar Souleyman.

Monster grooves, driven by a perfect symbiosis of fiery oriental rhythms and the deep, relaxed heartbeat of the bass line, with virtuosic, intoxicating solos on bouzoukis, Farfisa organs, clarinets and violins. This is the sound of laika, Greek-oriental pop music from the 60s and early 70s that sets every dance floor on fire!

These 20 carefully selected songs serve as an introduction to this mind-blowing music for the non-aficionado, as it is the first album of its kind to be released outside of Greece or the Greek migrant communities. The extended and illustrated liner notes take you back to the heyday of Greek pop music and put this cultural movement into an historical perspective.

Pure Bugandan thunder from core Nyege Nyege Tapes unit, Nilotika Drum Ensemble, demonstrating the sort of drum circle tempest that has charged up all of the label’s revered parties since day dot Revolving around seven drummers around leader Jajja Kalanda, Nilotika Drum Ensemble play devilishly complex rhythms owing to traditions from across the country, from the Iteso of eastern Uganda, to the Bugandan styles that encompass the capital city Kampala and their tribal south central regions. They’ve been at it for over a decade now, but the rhythms predate them by manifold more years, stemming from ancient central African traditions.
‘Ejokawulida’ rolls out a cascade of swingeing polymetric rhythms from the Iteso tradition that mesh and swarm in ravishingly complex patterns, somehow hingeing around a precise, internal logic of a quantum clock that can’t be read but only understood by dancing limbs. ‘Kekusimbe’ follows on a variant of Ugandan traditional music called Bakisiimba, where, to our ears, it feels like time is moving forwards and backwards simultaneously as the patterns switch on the spot between slow swagger and slow/fast palpitation with turbulent dynamic and discipline.Blinders, both of them

Beautiful mix of eastern sounds and western rhythms, with haunting melodies, nice drum breaks and using traditional Arabian instruments alongside organs and drums.

IIn May 2019, I recorded an album at a Kogis' (Kagabas*) village, in the Sierra Nevada mountain of Santa Marta in Colombia. ??Kagabas are indigenous people who consider themselves to be the guardians of the Earth and are concerned by the modern world's attempts to destroy it. The mountain - in Colombia - is their home, it is quite literally a microcosm, a mirror of the planet in which every ecological zone is represented. The damaging lifestyles which stems from the capitalistic dogma are affecting their environment and from their vantage point on the mountain they can see how this is straining the rest of the planet.

?Singing is a staple feature of the Kagabas culture, it is considered as a way to connect with the environment. There are for example a song of the monkey, of the deer, snake, laughing or even death - singing is a way for the Kagabas to feel safe around these animals and concepts and to live peacefully among them without fear and without the need to chase them away. As there's no writing, music and singing are a way to pass memory, knowledge and awareness down through generations.

The ongoing ecological disaster, the uncertainty of the current times and the temptation for many of the youths to leave the mountains for the big city life make this transmission issue all the more critical. ??
As we exchanged prior to my visit and while I was there, the recording and sharing of these songs was a recurring topic and we agreed to have singing at the core of this musical project.

??I was welcomed to spend a week within their community to record this album. I spent most of the time there with the Máma of the village (Mámas are spiritual and intellectual guides that keep the memory of the civilization) and his son Camilo, with help from Franz who has been working with the Kagabas for about 15 years now as part of the Native organization which he runs.??

This album combines songs, field recordings of the village and of its surrounding nature, as well as musical compositions I made in my studio. They liked the result and approved this album to be released. Fully aware of the responsibility the Kagabas have entrusted me with, I've decided to self release this album and will give all the benefits to the Nativa organization to support its fight for the replanting of trees and getting land back. ??

* Widely known as " Kogis ", the name they were given to by the " civilised man ", they actually call themselves " Kagaba ".

Hard to believe its been about 16 years since I last put a compilation together and nearly 20 years since I was asked to raid my collection to put together a selection of rare hard to find music from days gone by.. The music on this compilation is for me a very personal journey tracing back to my earliest experiences as both a DJ and collector on the jazz dance scene. Early memories of frequenting clubs like Jaffas above The Horseshoe on Tottenham Court Road hearing Paul Murphy play these amazing records and then going to his shop pick up tracks like Johnnie Walker's "Dipping" and Jayne Cortez - I See Chano Pozo. DJ'ing on a Monday night at The Wag in Wardour Street was really special. Working with the likes of Gilles Peterson, Sylvester, Bob Jones and Chris Bangs was a musical education.
The on going friendly DJ competitiveness to break and play recently discovered 'old tunes' like Reverie 'In Every Way', Irakere's 'Chekere Son' and Olli Ahvenlahti's dancefloor fusion classic 'Grandma's Rocking Chair' was all part of the appeal. When Gilles Peterson, Bob Jones and myself originally started the Talkin Loud Sunday Afternoon at Dingwalls sessions little did we know what a major part that would play in the history of jazz dance culture. Again it became a 'one-stop' to hear exciting and up until then undiscovered gems from both the jazz and soul scene. Tunes like Kamal Abdul Alim's head nodding funk 'Brotherhood', The Pharoah's 'Freedom Road' and Roy Porter's 'Jessica' all became 'Camden anthems' mainly because of the open-mindedness of both the DJs and the Sunday afternoon regulars as well as the hunger to hear new music. So here is my 'Private Collection'. I hope the music on it moves you in some way, whether you know the tracks or not, as it still does me. (Kev Beadle, 2013)

Bio
DJ, radio presenter, music producer and event promoter Kev Beadle's bio reads like a journey through the halcyon years of the jazz, jazz funk and soul scene in the UK from the early 80s right through to today's various musical manifestations. From early DJ experiences working with fellow spinners Paul Oakenfold and Trevor Fung in the early 80's, and then hooking up with Gilles Peterson and playing alongside him at various residencies including Dingwalls, The Wag, Special Branch, The Fez and the legendary Sunday night jazz sessions at The Belvedere Arms in Richmond. Through the early nineties Kev put together a serious number of compilations for various labels. These included six albums for the 'Essential Argo/Cadet Grooves' series for Charly Records, which also included two 'Best Of's - Terry Callier and Lou Donaldson and also the very successful 'Capitol Rare' series for Blue Note.After a period of working at Timewarp Records in Croydon he then went on to working at
two of the West End's top vinyl outlets - Soul Jazz Records (now Sounds Of The Universe) and Mr Bongo.

Justin Thurgur has been at the heart of the UK's World Music scene for over twenty years, primarily through his collaborations with the Afrobeat maestro Dele Sosimi (former keyboardist for both Fela and Femi Kuti) and with the pianist Kishon Khan. Most recently in Khan's projects Lokkhi Terra and the Afrobeat/Cuban crossover, Cubafrobeat.

Thurgur has worked with Cuban giants Giraldo Piloto, Changuito and Julito Padron, with the Nigerian drum legend Tony Allen and with Damon Albarn's Africa Express project; which included Cheick Tidiane-Seck and Fatoumata Diawara. He's also worked with the likes of Bukky Leo, Francis Fuster, Pandit Dinesh, Baby Akhtar, Inemo, Tony Kofi, Kodjovi Kush, The Soothsayers, The Levellers and The Selecter.

He is perhaps most known as the trombonist from the multi-award winning 'folk' group Bellowhead. Their split in 2016 led to him forming his own band and releasing his debut album as a bandleader, 'No Confusion'.

The album features original compositions written by Thurgur in collaboration with double bassist Max De Wardener, piano/rhodes/Hammond organ player Kishon Khan and guitarist Phil Dawson, with band members including the likes of Graeme Flowers on trumpet, James Allsopp on bass clarinet and Oreste Noda on congas.

Thurgur promoted 'No Confusion' throughout 2016 and 2017, culminating in an enthusiastically received performance at Love Supreme Jazz Festival in 2017. Jazz FM, in particular Chris Philips, gave extensive airplay to the album as well as streaming a live performance from the Jazz FM studios and doing an interview. They subsequently playlisted two of Thurgur's single releases. Lopa Kothari played a track on BBC Radio 3's show 'The World On 3'. The band did a live interview and performance on DJ Ritu's 'A World In London' show on Resonance FM. Beyond this Thurgur has been developing relationships with various other digital radio stations, including Gordon Wedderburn, John Waugh and a number of Global music stations based in Europe.

Freestyle Records are proud to present the first ever reissue of this rare Black Ark-era Lee "Scratch" Perry production on LP & CD w/ bonus tracks. Both formats feature liner notes from author of the acclaimed People Funny Boy: The Genius of Lee 'Scratch' Perry and Solid Foundation: An Oral History of Reggae, David Katz.

The late Bunny Rugs was best known as the frontman for legendary reggae band Third World, but prior to that he completed an apprenticeship at Lee Perry's Black Ark resulting in this solo LP, originally released in 1975 and credited to Bunny Scott.

The album captures the laid-back sessions of the early Black Ark, with a few surprising innovations lurking amongst the soul covers and love ballads. Highlights include the sought after Blaxploitation-influenced funk track 'Kinky Fly' featuring members of The Chi-Lites' backing band, passing through Perry's infamous studio whilst in Jamaica for a series of shows - their horn section and Chinna Smith's wah-wah guitar give the track its outstanding difference as synth overdubs add to the moody feeling, underpinned by the ghostly click tracks of the Conn Rhythm Unit (constituting one of Perry's earliest experiments with drum machines).

Breakup track 'Second Avenue' shows how suited Rugs' powerful, deep tenor was suited to a soul framework, the Chi-Lites' horns again making a striking difference. The Bee Gees' evergreen 'To Love Somebody' takes James Carr's soulful rendition as its reference and 'Big May' re-works the 'Return Of Django'/'Sick And Tired' rhythm, with a new drum part. while the broken-hearted 'What's The Use' was cut at the request of Sonia Pottinger, who ultimately failed to release it.

Somehow the sublime rendition of William DeVaughans' 'Be Thankful', recorded during the same session, was left off the LP - but appears here as a bonus track on the CD along with I Never Had It So Good & Hip Harry + it's version track.

Looking back on the sessions documented on this LP, Rugs said that Perry's creativity taught him that music could be limitless. As he explained, 'It was so simple that it became complex. The approach he has to music and to recording, I think the music nowadays lack that kind of intuition. He's somebody that would use pliers and a screwdriver to create percussion; he wouldn't hesitate to experiment. He was a little...not crazy, but somebody with that kind of thinking must be somewhere else, in another zone sometimes.'

Glen Brown pleasantly covering the familiar Beatles classic not to mention stunning arrangement by Bunny Lee. Backed with popular female rocksteady vocal

Studio One and Dub Store co-produced single featuring Jennifer Lara covering Marlena Shaw's 1968 masterpiece "Woman of the Ghetto". This happens to be her last ever recording, riding on funky Side Walk Doctor rhythm led by Jackie Mittoo. Mastered and cut by Moritz Von Oswald.

For Mancha 'E Plátano, la bomba is a transformative exercise, a way for this group of transplanted young women to teleport to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, and step into the land of their birth, la isla de encanta, Puerto Rico. Bomba has become a way to be in two places at once for them, a tool of expression in their adopted city of Barcelona, itself a Mediterrean melting pot filled with diverse cultures and countless musical influences. Formed in 2018, the group has been studying and performing the bomba tradition alongside an adoring collective of multi-national musicians and collaborators, strengthening their reverential pride in this uniquely Caribbean cultural tradition. Their debut release was produced and recorded together with Names You Can Trust while in Barcelona at Nación Funk Studios, and contains one original composition, "No Me Da Pena," and one traditional, "Remigio Tombé." This balance of tradition and new growth represents their life and musical movements within the bustling borders of Barcelona. It is also a dedication to all those who are constantly fighting for their own representation and a thank you to those who have accompanied these talented women on their journey thus far, both on and off the island of Puerto Rico.

Signed to Parisian label N F rmat! (home to Oumou Sangar , Blick Bassy & M lissa Laveaux), Soweto-based 4 piece band Urban Village present their debut album, ‘Udondolo’.
Marrying the day-to-day experiences of black South Africans with ebullient elements from traditional Zulu music, Urban Village is the alias of four experimental musicians all born & raised in the township of Soweto at the tail end of apartheid.
Urban Village release music under a name which specifically references the blend of cultures, music & rites which were assimilated into the now 1 million strong population of Soweto, when black South Africans from multiple provinces were brought to the area during the establishment of apartheid, under strict segregation from Johannesburg’s white suburbs.
Born for the most part in the last years of apartheid, whilst growing up the band plunged happily into house and dance music that turned the page of a heavy past. Guitarist Lerato came across older Zulu musicians and their style of maskandi playing. Lerato has since mixed styles from homelands and rural areas, sharpened in club jam sessions (where he went on to meet Tubatsi and form Urban Village) during which spoken word, hip-hop and jazz rub shoulders freely.
‘Udondolo’ - partially recorded at legendary Downtown Studios in the heart of Johannesburg and at Figure of 8 studios in the leafy suburbs of Randburg, - is a journey through all the colours of Soweto. This is where it draws its consistency, strength & identity. That of Soweto itself - a dormitory town designed to
monitor those who were sent there, it has become a laboratory of music where the hopes of an entire people resonate, even today.

Main Source’s paean to the simple pleasures of relaxing with friends is built over two tried-and-tested samples. The dreamy, swoony sounds of Vanessa Kendrick’s timeless ‘90% of Me is You’ is ever-present during this stone-cold classic, while Sister Nancy’s unmistakeable ‘Bam Bam’ lends several elements to the mix. Throw in some Skull Snaps and Sweet Charles and you’ve got the perfect soundtrack for a roll call of Large Professor’s nearest and dearest.

There are plenty of reasons why so many regard ‘Breaking Atoms’ as an all-time classic album, and the sheer variety of singles lifted from it is chief among them. Large Professor was happy to roam over varied topics at a time when many rappers had a manic focus on one thing.

And where better to hang out with friends than at a barbecue? ‘Live at the Barbecue’ is rightly regarded as one of the best posse cuts of all time, and famous for showcasing the debut of one Nasty Nas. While he delivers a dope verse full of quotables over drums from Bob James’ oft-plundered ‘Nautilus’, credit is also due to the other guests. Fatal and Akinyele aren’t disgraced in this company, and Large Professor tops it off with a rare verse of pure brag-rap.

An undisputed entry in the pantheon of head-nod hip-hop, this is its first official UK release, and another debut on 7”.

• Samples Sister Nancy’s unmistakeable ‘Bam Bam’

• Taken from the all-time classic album ‘Breaking Atoms’

• Features the debut of Nas

• Limited Edition Purple vinyl

33 1/3 years after its first release Piranha Records reissues the groundbreaking Stella Chiweshe international debut Ambuya! on quality 180g vinyl, remastered from analog tapes, together with a bonus John Peel session from 1988. Stella Chiweshe stands as one of the most enduring and successful women activists in African music. She started playing the Mbira and performing in her motherland Zimbabwe despite all kinds of racial and male dominant mentalities of that time, setting a spectacular example of how music can cross all kinds of borders, a message that is perfectly aligned with our core values as a record label. With her album Ambuya? the Mbira finally went electric and combined the spiritual with the popular in a creative exchange with British world indie legend 3 Mustaphas 3. Thrilled to have, and still be, teamed up with such a pioneering artist, we feel like time spins like an album: our mbira-meetstapha kick-off of 1987 still lives and rotates with Piranha Records in 2021. Ambuya? Ambuya!

Alkisah is the new album by Indonesian duo Senyawa. Alkisah is co-released by a multitude of independent record labels from all over the globe each with different packaging and design, with multiple version of remixes by various artists.

Senyawa is an experimental music duo made up of Rully Shabara (extended vocal technique) and Wukir Suryadi (homemade instrument). The music that they create is a combination of extended vocal technique and a homemade instrument. The instrument was handcrafted by master instrument builder Wukir out of one long piece of bamboo, it is a string instrument with guitar pick-ups—it is amplified and processed through several effects pedals but at times is played as an acoustic instrument, percussion and string instrument.

They are located in the ancient city of Jogjakarta, Central Java, Indonesia and their music is a reflection of their traditional Javanese heritage filtered through a framework of contemporary experimental music practices. Senyawa try to push the boundaries of both traditions in an attempt to mix the musics’ of the east and the west to create a new sound.

As a duo they have been performing and playing together extensively for the last 3 years and we have toured Indonesia several times over. Last year they were invited to perform internationally for the first time at the Melbourne International Jazz Festival sharing the stage with many great musicians such as Faust, Yoshida Tatsuya, Tony Conrad and Charlemagne Palestine.

This stunning new release on Soul Jazz Records looks at the explosion of music that came out of the Congo in the years leading up to independence in 1960. Congolese rumba, a wild combination of African, Jazz and Latin influences, created future stars of its now legendary creators – Franco, Grand Kalle, Tabu Ley, Dr. Nico, Papa Wemba – and all feature here in their ground-breaking early groups
such as O.K.Jazz, Brazzos, Rock-A-Mambo, African Jazz and The Beguen Band. The Congo is in fact two countries – The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, formerly Zaire) and the Republic of the Congo. Congo Revolution was first released as a sampler 7” box set for RSD, and this expanded release includes a 50-page booklet/double gatefold and inner sleeves containing
extensive text explaining the evolution of the music and history of the two Congos, and how music, politics and popular culture intersected at the point of independence from the two Congos’ European colonisers – Belgium and France – through songs such as ‘Vive Patrice Lumumba,’ and ‘MNC Uhuru,’ which celebrated the Congolese independence leader prior to his political assassination.
Also included is the stunning images of the Congolese photographer Jean Depara who documented the Congo’s vibrant nightlife in the period 1955-65 as well as being the official photographer for the superstar Congolese artist Franco up until his death in 1989. Depara also documents the rise of the
Bills (Congolese teenagers who dressed as cowboys) and sharp-suited évolués (which later gave rise to the fashion-conscious phenomenon of the Congolese ‘Sapeurs’). These images are reproduced in collaboration with Revue Noire in France.
This album comes as a deluxe heavyweight double vinyl with gatefold sleeve and individual inner sleeves, CD with slipcase and 50-page outsize booklet, and as digital release.

Erased Tapes artists and friends Ólafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm have separately carved out a musical career that defies genres both with their unique live shows and a loyal fan base that's always eager to hear what their prolific output will bring.

Their latest collaborative 2-track release 'Life Story Love and Glory' is a live improv affair on two pianos, recorded in 2012 at Nils's Durton Studio in Berlin. Fans may wonder why they have waited until 2015 to release these tracks, but having revealed a new website you may think this may not be the end to their musical story this year.

We would meet in Reykjavik or Berlin with the intention to share some days off work, hiking, swimming or eating pizza. That is great for a couple days, but after a while we would always end up back in the studio, fiddling with synths or pianos.' - Nils Frahm.

You can hear in the beginning of 'Life Story' how I have already started playing the piano whilst Nils is still moving microphones around and preparing everything. It was all kept in! - Ólafur Arnalds
'Life Story Love and Glory' will be released as a 7' on Erased Tapes - exclusively through record stores only on August 21, 2015 ahead of its digital release later on - as an ode to this classic and beloved format.

Malian music is arguably deeper, more sophisticated and lyrical than any other form of African music. Those of us deeply entranced by Malian culture, and, in particular, the immense hypnotic beauty of Malian music, have put together a selection of songs from across the country.

Compiled by Vik Sohonie & Dave 'Mr Bongo’ Buttle, the story of this release began in 2015 when Dave happened upon the Soul Bonanza blog. A treasure chest of rare finds from around the world! One mix in particular stood out and totally enthralled Dave - le monde à change: a tribute to mali 1970 - 1991. He already knew of Malian legends such as the Rail Band, Salif Keita, & Les Ambassadeurs du Motel de Bamako, but this mix was something else! Deep & culled from the collections of some of the heaviest African music collectors in the world; legends like Vik Sohonie, Hidehito Morimoto, Philippe Noel, Gregoire Villanova, and Rickard Masip. Dave immediately contacted Vik and a journey of discovery tracking down the rights-holders began. He also turned to the font of Malian music knowledge; Florent Mazzoleni. Florent has written the definitive book about Malian music – 'Musiques modernes et traditionnelles du Mali’. He proposed some incredible tracks to include and provided the back bone of the sleeve notes and photos that are used in the album. No Malian album would be complete without a striking front cover photo, and ours is sourced from the late great Malian photographer Malick Sidibé.

On this album you will find well-known artists sitting next to rarer discoveries. The Rail Band, who are one of the best known of all the big bands in Mali, gave us the stars Mory Kanté and Salif Keita. Les Amabassedeurs du Motel de Bamako were another big act that had Idrissa Soumaoro, Kanté Manfila, and for a while Salif Keita in their ranks. Sometimes Salif would play in both bands in one night, quite a feat considering the bands were fierce rivals. As an albino Salif has had to face considerable prejudice from society, focusing on his musical career to help overcome this.

A major discovery on the album has been Idrissa Soumaoro et L'Eclipse de L’Ija. L'Eclipse de l'Institut des Jeunes Aveugles was a Blind teenagers institute and their record was produced by the German association that took care of blind Malian teenagers in Bamako. It was never properly released commercially and was the first recordings by the legends of Malian music Idrissa Soumaoro, Amadou Bagayoko and Mariam Doumbia. Amadou & Mariam later got married and became household stars, including making an album with Manu Chao.

This album is a concerted global effort to showcase the most vital cornerstone of Malian culture in an attempt to preserve its reputation in the face of its current, grim reality. We hope our highlights of Mali's rich history of musical innovation will serve as a starting point for reclaiming an image tainted by unnecessary conflict. May peace and music return to Mali soon.

THE DEFINITIVE RE-ISSUE - supervised by Arthur Verocai from the original Continental master tapes. Limited Edition gatefold sleeve red vinyl

For a very long time, we have been trying to re-issue this record; a true and complete album masterpiece in every sense of the word, considered by many people to be one of the greatest ever made, regardless of genre.

Recorded at Studio Somil, Rio De Janeiro in 1972, the album was produced, arranged, directed by the self-taught, Arthur Verocai. Previously he had worked on many records in various capacities, with artists including Jorge Ben, Ivan Lins and Celia, this album gave him the chance to do his thing in it’s most pure form.

The 29 minute masterpiece, perfect in it’s arrangement and fusion of sonics, epitomises the sound of Brazil at the time; strings, guitars, pianos, break beats, basslines, synthesizers, vocals from the wonderful Célia and percussion from Pedro Santos. Bossa nova, samba, jazz, MPB, psychedelics and funk sit side by side effortlessly.

The album transcends the genre of Brazilian music, and infact all genres. Highlighted in part by the number of artists that have sampled from it; MF Doom, Ludacris & Common, Little Brother, Jneiro Jarel aka Dr Who Dat?, Dibiase and Action Bronson amongst others.

The original Continental versions of the album now fetch around $2000. Our definitive re-issue is an exact replica of the gatefold original LP and the source master is taken from the Continental tapes, re-mastered in 2012 under Arthur’s supervision.

2 track Single from Chosen Few released by Crystal/Dub Store Records

2 track Single from Cornell Campbell released by Bunny Lee/Dub Store Records

2 track Single from I Roy released by Crystal/Dub Store Records

Discostan Records is proud to launch its label with the release of “Disco Se Aagay,” a rediscovered synth-pop masterpiece from 1984.

Rescued from obscurity, “Disco Se Aagay”— literally “Beyond Disco”— is an unexpectedly perfect storm of two unlikely sources: the visionary sound of British new wave seamlessly interwoven with the Pakistani musical heritage of its teenage dreamers, Nermin Niazi and Feisal Mosleh.

Recorded over the course of a summer school holiday in 1984 at the storied Zella Studios, the album was produced by the legendary Oriental Star Agencies record label in Birmingham.

Influenced by the likes of Depeche Mode and Human League as well as the luminous disco of subcontinental icons like Nazia Hasan, musical ingenues 14-year-old Nermin and her 19-year-old brother Feisal created a new wave masterpiece with an unexpected twist — Urdu-language lyrics and Hindustani melodic scales.

Discostan Records is a Los Angeles-based record label, performance space and archival project. For more than a decade, the collective has celebrated the music and cultural traditions of the Arabic world, Subcontinent and Iran and beyond — from Beirut to Bangkok via Bombay.

Released in partnership with the artists, the remastered album has been pressed on a limited vinyl run for a new generation of listeners. Each album comes with a download code.

Strut present the brand new album from Alostmen, led by Stevo Atambire, a band at the forefront of kologo music in Ghana. Formed by Stevo and Wanlov The Kubolor (Fok'n Bois) at the suggestion of co-producer Percy Yip Tong, Alostmen's music is based around the Frafra traditions of the kologo, a stringed lute and uses purely traditional instrumentation in entirely new ways. "I always like to do something "out" with my instrument, I like to force it to work," explains Stevo. "I'm a yout'man and into different kinds of music: commercial, rap music, reggae, Malian sounds. I add all of it to the band's sound in different ways." Wanlov continues, "The kologo is traditionally played a certain way but Stevo will play it at the shortest end of bridge and accentuate, almost Hendrix-style! He plays with a pedal sometimes and can keep it an octave down with a bass sound. He has evolved the instrument in his own way."

Singer, lyricist and composer Nirox Romão aka Diron Animal was born and raised in Cazenga, Angola. Diron Animal's involvement in the music world began early: he was part of a traditional Angolan music band and capoeira group, followed by a hip hop project. 12 years ago he moved to Portugal to study, but music became more than just a passion when he landed in kuduro.

For over 6 years, he sang, danced and traveled the world with Afro Portuguese act Thoes + The Shine, mixing rock and kuduro, becoming an explosive ensemble. At one moment, Diron wanted to record a solo album to show a bit more of his own personality and in late 2017 his debut album ‘Alone’ appeared on Soundway Records, where he himself worked out the melodies, rhythm, vocals and even the guitar parts between classic funk to afrohouse and kuduro bass. Through that album he explored major festivals in Europe during 2018, such as at Paléo Festival Nyon, Trans Musicales Festival, Amsterdam Dance Event and others.

On ‘Pair’, his 2nd album and released on Brussels outernational label Rebel Up Records, he has worked hard to enhance his special formula. Inspired by the cruel death his nephew, it became a testament against oppression via the mixed sounds of afro boogie, disco, funk, afrohouse, coupé décalé and kuduro, with English and Portuguese lyrics.

The first single of the album, ‘You and Me’, is an English sung afro boogie disco song and produced by Diron with the support of musician and producer Moullinex, actor André Cabral and video made by director Vasco Mendes. In the video, featuring dancer and actor André Cabral, Diron Animal takes on the role of a gay man to express that a homosexual is a normal person who loves, feels desire, dreams, conquers, wants to be loved and desired, wants to live next to a being that completes him. With “You and Me”, Diron Animal above all wants to appeal to society, respect for the choice of people and non-discrimination of sexual choices. For in life we all deserve to be happy regardless of our sexual choice.

Yellow Vinyl

Hawaii's legendary Latin superstar Rolando Sanchez & Salsa Hawaii's smash hit "ALOHA MAMBO" Vinyl 7" EP will be released worldwide after its debut in Japan. The jacket illustration by Tammy Yee invites you to a Latin Paradise in Honolulu as you groove to vibrant Latin beats, island-style.

Rolando Sanchez
Rolando Sanchez & Salsa Hawaii
Rolando Sanchez is an award-winning songwriter/producer of Hawaii's leading Latin Jazz, Latin Rock, Salsa percussionists, singer-songwriters, and the owner of RSC Music. Originally from Nicaragua, he began his career in the suburbs of San Francisco and moved to Hawaii in 1984.

He has shared the stage with many of the best of Latin musicians including Tito Puente, Pet & Sheila Escovedo, and regularly appears at BLUE NOTE HAWAII, a mecca of island jazz. In addition, he hosts a live radio show, "LA ONDA LATINA," every Sunday on KNDI-AM1270, featuring the hottest mix of Latin Music in the islands.

He is a leader in the Hawaii-Latino world that connects his hometown of Nicaragua in Central America, to New York, California and Hawaii with a Latin sound infused with island flavors.

Super dope South African disco LP from 81', not a bad track on this really.. Standout tunes are the mesmerising ''Mother Earth'' and the groovy ''Ukhamba'' (even better when pitched up a bit).. GREAT basslines and solid drumplaying all over. BIG tip !!

After the phenomenal response to our previous survey of disco and boogie sounds from early eighties South Africa, we decided to wade a bit deeper into the pool to focus on one of the most compelling acts to emerge from that theater, the Space Cats.

Hailing from the small, insular music scene in the coal-mining city of Witbank, the Space Cats were a five-man band fronted by singer/bassist Themba 'T'Rex' Mzwakali and singer/guitarist Santy Dladala. Operating as a semi-professional live combo rather than a studio-driven aggregation, they stood out from the slick, highly polished conventions of the day. And when they took the stage they offered a take on disco that was stripped-down, raw, rugged and inspired by afro-rock groups like Harari and Hedzoleh Soundz.

While the Space Cats' moment in the spotlight was short-lived—the band played together for barely a year before management issues necessitated a breakup—they managed to produce one endearing document of their brief career. Something New, their first and only album, released in 1981, features ten tracks of jittery, hard-edged disco-boogie-funk that capture the flavor of their performances in the rollicking dancehalls of Witbank.

Issued on the tiny Rejoice imprint, Something New had a very limited distribution reach even within South Africa and has remained heard by very few people over the last thirty-eight years. So we're proud to make it available for the first time to the wide audience it surely deserved upon its initial release.

Salgari Records strikes back with a brand new release on vinyl from East Africa: Uhuru Republic’s “Muda” EP is now available for pre order.

Electronic fat beats blended with Sigeli, Afrofuturism and Gogo Music. Mantric Mganga Mkuu sounds and organic grooves together in a journey into East African vibes featuring Msafiri Zawose, Marleen Xplastaz and Kirundo.

Altın Gün return with a masterful album that widens their critically acclaimed exploration of Anatolian rock and Turkish psychedelic stylings to include dreamy 80’s synth-pop and dancefloor excursions. Yol (Road) brings together all vectors of the AltınGün experience and delivers their most compelling and individual album to date.

Amsterdam’s Altın Gün have built a strong reputation for melding past and present to make brilliantly catchy, psychedelic pop music, as seen with their Grammy-nominated second album, Gece. They are also a renowned live band with strings of sold-out shows on three continents, who have consistently brought a muscular groove to their recordings. Yol, their third album in as many years, excitedly continues these trends; while also digging in deep to unveil a new palette of sonic surprises.

Though it draws from the rich and incredibly diverse traditions of Anatolian and Turkish folk music, Yol is not just a record that reframes traditional sounds for a contemporary audience. The album often presents a textured, avant-pop sound as evidenced by the debut single "Ordunun Dereleri.” Mysterious and atmospheric, the track is a thrilling evolution for the band. It patiently coaxes the listener into a resonant soundworld of down-tempo electro beats, majestic synths and Erdinç Ecevit's yearning vocal of unrequited love.

The album also signals a very different approach in making and recording for the band. Singer Merve Dasdemir takes up the story: “We were basically stuck at home for three months making home demos, with everybody adding their parts. The transnational feeling maybe comes from that process of swapping demos over the internet, some of the music we did in the studio, but lockdown meant we had to follow a different approach.”

Yol displays a noticeable dreaminess, maybe born from this enforced time to reflect. And select elements of late 1970s or early 1980s “Euro” synth pop also shines through. This new musical landscape was nurtured by certain instrument choices; namely the Omnichord, heard on ‘Arda Boylari’, ‘Kara Toprak’ and ‘Sevda Olmasaydi’, and the drum-machine, an instrument that is key to the gorgeous closing number, ‘Esmerim Güzelim’. Dasdemir once more: “bass player Jasper Verhulst loved the song. He said, ‘it doesn’t sound like Altın Gün, this sounds like a Turkish kindergarten music teacher from the 1980s using an 808!”

As ever, the tracks are the result of a true group effort, with ideas on Omnichord, 808 and other elements - such as field recordings and new age-esque ideas - continually kicked about between the six band members. At a safe distance of course. The record also owes something special to its production team, the band working this time with Asa Moto (the Ghent-based producer-crew, Oliver Geerts and Gilles Noë) who mixed the record. Before this Altın Gün always recorded on tape with their own sound engineer.

It would be wrong to say that what made Altın Gün such a loved and successful band has been left to one side. The pressure-cookers ‘Sevda Olmasaydı’ and ‘Maçka Yolları’ are classic cuts from the band. And their signature employment of a dizzying array of ideas and approaches can be heard with the marked Brazilian feel of ‘Kara Toprak’ and ‘Yekte’. Cosmic reggae filters through the grooves of ‘Yüce Dağ Başında’, and there is a steaming version of ‘Hey Nari’ which gives the traditional composition by Ali Ekber Çiçek a kick onto the dancefloor.

But with Yol, Altın Gün have maybe patented their own magical process of reimagining and sonic path-finding, one probably not heard since the late 1960s and early 1970s British folkrock boom. Less of a reworking than a seduction, their recordings transport the listener to a world where the original songs never previously inhabited. Merve Dasdemir again: “After we worked on them, they got a whole new life of their own. Maybe we went a little bit too far (laughs).”

Early summer 2019, João Lobo started recording his compositions at les Ateliers Claus in Brussels, with guitarist Norberto Lobo, bassist Soet Kempeneer and recording engineer Christophe Albertijn. The recording sessions were planned over the course of one week, however the job was mostly done in just a few takes. With the addition of some overdubs, the whole process was finalised in a spontaneous wave. It is too simplistic to define Joao Lobo’s compositions with one term, and the association of the album “Simorgh” with this ingenious partnership’s new creations, is inevitable.

While the mix of genres and styles may be easy to distinguish, the focus centres on the result of the mixing: a highly grooving and an occasionally paused and introspective music that seems out of time and out of space. It is difficult to grasp or define a specific period in time or a geographic origin in this fusion of references, as what you listen to is a bold creation of original and surprising elements. Drummers – such as João Lobo – employ a multi-layered concept in their music, weaving the different tracks into a linear wash of sound. He plays the song with the drum set while the other members fly in and out of the compositions, always gathering around their phoenix in order to attain enlightenment.

What João Lobo and many of his contemporaries are up to, can be explained through simple terms as a future exploration of the emotionally expressive possibilities of sound. It breaks away from the conventional order providing space for the discovery of a new order. Simultaneously it allows a more profound and broader expression of what the current reality of music is and represents. It was instantly clear for me that we had to share his music with our audience and create this medium for happiness.

This release is the trio’s debut record, which is the impetus for their personal development in the realisation that features João as a mentor in the creation process. The featured compositions highlight the musicians’ unique physical aspect to control their instruments and their hidden techniques that underlying these tracks. The result is an ongoing aural interplay. It was love at first sound.

This album is a co-release between Les Albums Claus and Shhpuma.

Tibor Szemző returns with a new album, based on the music for his film about historic figure Alexander Csoma.

Tibor Szemző is a Hungarian composer, performer, media artist. Recently his album Snapshots From The Island (1987) gained renewed interest. Over the years Tibor Szemzo continued composing classical / electronic works. His pieces often include spoken texts, film and other media. He creates installations and composes music for his own and others’ films.

Csoma, his new album, is based on the music for this film about Alexander Csoma. Alexander set up to research the origin of the Hungarians 200 years ago. During his student years, before he enrolled in college, he and two fellow students vowed to go to Central Asia to discover the origins of their nation. In the first thirty-five years of his life, he spent his humble pilgrimage in Asia traveling and studying with Buddhist priests in Tibet in isolation, and devoted the remaining eleven years of his life to publishing some of the material he had collected in India.

Now on the 200th anniversary, Szemző’s Cinematic Opera wishes to pay tribute to Alexandar Csoma. Over the course of two vinyl sides classical and acoustic instruments are mixed with angelic voices, spoken word in German, Hungarian & English. Sounding like vintage Tibor Szemzo compositions, vividly performed by the Gordian Knot Company and the Voces Aequales Ensemble.

A virtuoso pianist and composer of seminal works in early electronic and experimental classical music, Jocy de Oliveira’s musical output has had a great influence within Brazil and abroad. Her sole contribution to Brazilian popular music, her 1959-recorded album, ‘A Música Século XX de Jocy’ in many ways stands apart from the rest of her artistic oeuvre.

The original vinyl release marketed the record as adding to Brazil’s samba heritage with a ‘simple and original dialectic’, naming its style ‘vanguard samba’, which differs from both traditional samba and Bossa Nova, in its infancy at the time.

Listening to Jocy’s ‘20th century music’ in the context of the contemporaneous and vastly more influential Bossa Nova style is especially striking. Where Bossa Nova’s innovators incorporated influences from jazz and French piano music to a samba foundation, Jocy de Oliveira took a greater leap, wedding her century’s classical music to samba. Where Bossa Nova dawned a new epoch of poetic lyricism in Brazilian popular songs with great poets such as Vinicius de Moraes and themes of longing, love and nature, Jocy de Oliveira’s lyrics are concerned with scenes of urban tragedy and decay, presenting an alternative vision to Brazil’s stereotypical tropical paradise image almost 10 years before the emergence of the Tropicália movement.

The sounds and lyrics of Jocy’s landmark release still shock today. Put in the context of a conservative Brazil on the eve of Brasília’s inauguration, it is even more startling that this record ever got made. An unconventional mix of classical and popular musical influences combined with socially critical, ironic and at times journalistic lyrics make for a unique listening experience.

A unique representation of Brazilian popular music, Jocy de Oliveira’s masterpiece ‘A Música Século XX de Jocy’ is reissued for the first time. Meticulously remastered, the record is pressed on high-quality 45-RPM vinyl, with a modernised back cover and printed inner sleeve including previously unseen pictures taken for the record’s release in 1959.

REPRESS...Black vinyl LP with 3-color jacket and 12-page large format booklet.
George Mukabi is a mythical figure across East Africa, known for his incredible fingerstyle guitar and hard living. Mukabi invented a solo technique in which melody, rhythm and bass lines all merged in two hands on one guitar. Combined with his gentle raspy voice, wood and glass percussion, and the harmonies of his companion Jack Malenya, he created a sweet and thriving “omutibo” music that belied his tough reputation and untimely death.
An imposing man who was both respected and feared, he sang of the tumults of marriage, morality and life in Kenya on the cusp of independence. He sold hundreds of thousands of records in East and Central Africa before his murder in 1963, leaving behind just a few dozen beautiful songs and a complicated legacy.
This is the first comprehensive release of his music outside of East Africa. We traveled to Kenya to meet Mukabi’s surviving son Johnstone, as well as a generation of the artists he inspired. Their stories are included in a 12-page oral history which includes lyrics in Swahili and English and full color photos. Restoration and Mastering by Timothy Stollenwerk at Stereophonic Sound. Co-released by Raw Music International and Olvido Records.