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Imagine a Latin remake of Back to the Future. The mad scientist is Arsenio Rodriguez (the godfather of salsa) and the young student who travels through time with him is Eblis Alvarez (Meridian Brothers). This album can only be described as the perfect soundtrack for that movie that never was.

After the massive buzz generated by his first solo album, Mentallogenic, Alex Figueira got back in the studio to work in a more collective fashion this time, carefully assembling the second album of his largest project to date, Conjunto Papa Upa; a team of 6 musicians, spanning 3 generations of some of the best talent in the Latin and avant-garde scenes.

In an era where tropical music is dominated by purely electronic and rhythmically uniform sounds, the ten songs encompassed in “Fruta Madura” (“Ripe Fruit”) wander through the most diverse tempos, rhythms, and motifs effortlessly. A real breath of fresh air that gracefully incorporates soul, funk, jazz, psychedelia, and electronics into a solid tropical, irresistibly polyrhythmic foundation, without ever succumbing to the many genre clichés.

The distinctive production and catchy songwriting of Figueira shine in a very distinctive light on this second full-length. Living up to his reputation (Miles Cleret, founder of Soundway Records, called him “one of the scene's truly authentic and eccentric producers”), he takes the opportunity to show he’s not afraid to keep walking his own path.

Taking the band for a wild ride through the traditions of Africa, America, and the Caribbean; contrasting them with a ridiculously wide plethora of vintage, contemporary, and futuristic sounds, and pivoting on the exuberant musicality displayed by his musicians; the result leaves no doubt: this album is destined to be considered a future classic of the exciting tropical psychedelic music of the 21st century.

Addressing the most diverse themes in this new collection of songs, things take on a much more mature tone, as the title clearly suggests.

The opening track “El segundo es más sabroso” (“The second one is tastier”) sets the tone in the most assertive way imaginable, with the band boldly declaring, through multiple metaphorical references (laid upon a crazy mix of Dominican merengue, Detroit techno, classic and free jazz, dub, and electro), that the bar will be set higher with this second album.

The remaining compositions touch upon the most diverse subjects, with a fair dose of humor, sarcasm, and postmodern “magic realism”. “El Algoritmo” (The Algorithm) is a parranda-cumbia hybrid (for lack of a specific term) about the omnipresence of technology in our lives. The sophisticated Latin soul of the titling track “Fruta Madura” makes a case for the beauty of the maturity process. Some key philosophical teachings of Marcus Aurelius (the role of causality, the impositions of “the logos” and the importance of self-control) get a twisted cumbia treatment on “Reos del Deseo” (Prisoners of Desire). “No le pongas Coca-Cola” (“Don’t put Coca Cola in it”) shows us the most satirical side of the band, accusing those who mix Coca Cola with Rum of committing "sacrilege", on a powerful base of Dem Bow (the grandfather of Reggaeton), intertwined with touches of soul, salsa, and Cuban comparsa.

"Háblame Claro" (“Talk to me clearly”) is a story of heartbreak that evokes in its first part the spirit of the erotic salsa of the 80s (a subgenre deeply despised by purists), and after an unexpected samba interlude, leads to the hardest salsa of the 70s (a subgenre adored by purists), to end up in the surprising form of pure Afro-Cuban ceremonial music.

“Tu mamá tenía razón” ("Your Mom Was Right") is an attempt to exalt the spirit of the Latin American soap opera in the key of “acid bachata”, to recount a real-life case, witnessed by the band on countless occasions: the partying woman who arrives at the show accompanied by her bitter husband, who obviously does not like to dance. A very cheeky song to talk about the very serious and pertinent topic of female empowerment.

“La misma vaina” (“The same thing”) with its indescribable blend of bantú, candomblé, and Mozambique rhythms with abstract synthesizers, is an ode to adventure in favor of the aversion to taking risks and seeking predictability.

“Amigas picadas” (“Salty friends”) is another humorous song recounting another real-life case witnessed by the band on countless occasions: a love encounter sabotaged by the girlfriend's friends, who all happen to fancy the same guy. A jazzy take on the ancient Dominican rhythm of pambiche (grandfather of merengue), with generous psychedelic touches, resembling the classy late 60s releases of Guadeloupe's legendary producer / label owner Henri Debs.

“Vinimos a hablar” (“We came to talk”) takes sarcasm to the highest level, to ridicule the absurdity (also experienced by the band firsthand) seen in live music venues where people pay a ticket to go and have conversations that could be carried out much better on any bar, where no band is playing. The music alternates between a delicate melody with loose, sparse percussion and a full-on, pumping Angolan semba, with a techno kick drum included; bringing things to an apotheotic grooving finale, where the peculiar swing of Venezuelan calypso from the Callao region is thrown on top of all the precedent elements; closing the album in the most uplifting, “end of the carnival parade” feel.

The artwork is a delicate and impactful oil painting by Colombian artist Kevin Simón Mancera, who has collaborated many times with the label before (“Maracas, tambourines and other hellish things” tape and the Lola’s Dice LP).

What the experts are saying:

“Alex (Figueira) dove into this work with a brutal cohesion between lyrics and synths. Timbre poetry, sound poetry (you name it). And that, superimposed on his always impeccable percussive base, confirms the title of “avant-garde visionary of our beautiful Latin music”".
EBLIS ALVAREZ (MERIDIAN BROTHERS)
“Papa Upa's infectious quirkiness is a balm against boredom. A mature album, but without an expiration date”.
GLADYS PALMERA

“Here there is a lot of strength, drum, cadence and psychedelia, lost dance rhythms, united in an intercontinental Latin/African/and Caribbean journey, a unique winning combination that we could consider the new “Ritmo Figueira”.
DISCODELIC

Conjunto Papa Upa are: 



Alex Figueira - Timbales, percussion, vocals. 

Gerardo Rosales - Congas, percussion, vocals. 

Ramón Mendeville - Bongos, percussion, vocals. 

Randy Winterdal - Bass.

Andrew Moreno - Guitar.

Nico Chientarolli - Organ, piano, synths.



All songs written by Alex Figueira. 

Arranged and performed by Conjunto Papa Upa. 

Recorded, produced, mixed and mastered by Alex Figueira at Heat Too Hot, Amsterdam.


Writing music for film and theatre has always been a big part of Hania Rani's musical world. It is also a part of the creative process that can be tantalisingly out of reach for listeners, either the project doesn't come to fruition or the music simply isn't available away from the film or play. From early collaborations with friends, to last year's two scores for full length films (xAbo: Father Boniecki directed by Aleksandra Potoczek and I Never Cry directed by Piotr Domalewski') Rani has been involved in many such projects, each representing an important step in her artistic development and life as a composer and artist:

"Composing for motion picture or theatre is for me a very different kind of work than writing for my own projects. Firstly, I need to collaborate with somebody else who sees the world through the lense of their own art and craft. That's why these kinds of encounters can be so exciting - they are a promise of creating something very new, as a result of creative work of so many people from all walks of life. Secondly, I feel that music in film is an invisible character, a missing emotion that creates a special atmosphere and sensation. It doesn't illustrate, it completes the work of art. I think it is an extremely sensitive matter that rejects banal associations and easy solutions. I feel like composing for film works like an exercise for my imagination."

It is the nature of these collaborations though, that sometimes the composers own preferred compositions don't make the final cut. This is where Music for Film and Theatre comes in as it allows Rani to present a selection of her own personal favourite pieces composed for film and plays. Pieces that made it to the final cut and pieces that were rejected by the director or the producer. Bringing the music together as an album offers a chance for Rani to share her music with her listeners on her own terms and a chance for her fans to hear a different side of her art.

"I put them in one place, as a collection of precious objects that were kept for years in a drawer. Some of them were composed a couple years ago, some are the result of recent research. I am very happy to finally be able to present them as a separate project."

Rani is of course grateful to all of the directors who have entrusted her to create music for their projects, but she professes especially warm feelings for the pieces composed for her first 'real' theatre play, Pradziady, directed by Michał Zdunik. The title comes from 'Dziady' a term in Slavic folklore for the spirits of the ancestors and a collection of pre-Christian rites, rituals and customs that were dedicated to them. The essence of these rituals was the 'communion of the living with the dead', namely, the establishment of relationships with the souls of the ancestors. "I felt this story needed extremely dark and fragile music, and at the same time a sound that could express the mixture of the two worlds - the living and the dead. I decided to compose part of the soundtrack with a string quartet but including two cellos, viola and only one violin. We recorded in a little house, completely built from wood, mostly from Finnish pine. I always felt this space has a very special, warm and natural acoustics - especially when it is combined with string instruments. The track composed for this theatre play is called Ghosts but actually didn't finally make it to the performance, although I like it so much that I thought it would perfectly fit



this compilation". Other highlights include the enchanting Soleil Pâle written for a collaboration with director Neels Castillon, and improvising dancers Alt Take, the beautiful melancholy of In Between (from the film score for xAbo: Father Boniecki) and the magical bliss of The Beach (from I Never Cry) and together they create a beautiful offering from an artist whose every note is worth hearing, but for whom the journey is just beginning:

"I am very happy to see that many artists consider my music as the right soundtrack for their works, because film music was always a huge inspiration for any of my compositions. I find there a lot of life and real emotions, but also a feeling of freedom. Freedom from my own thinking patterns and prejudices. I also believe strongly in collaboration between people, I always feel this is the way to create something really new, based on a mixture of different ways of thinking, feeling, expressing."

This then is Hania Rani, Music for Film and Theatre – enjoy!

Strut introduces a pioneering new compilation 'A Dancefloor In Ndola,' curated by revered East African DJ, Kampire. This release marks an evolution in Strut's approach to compilations, showcasing emerging DJ talent from across the world and embracing an innovative approach to musical discovery from the next wave of selectors. Forging her reputation through memorable sets for the Nyege Nyege Festival in Uganda over the last decade, Kampire now tours worldwide and is celebrated for her brilliantly curated sets spanning the full range of African music styles from the ‘70s and ‘80s to the present day.

Although born in Kenya to Ugandan parents, Kampire spent her formative years in Ndola, Zambia. ‘A Dancefloor In Ndola’ is inspired by artists and songs that formed part of her soundtrack during that time. “It is important for me to continually reference Africa’s own musical history,” she explains. “At 17, I didn’t pick up on my Dad’s music but now I love and collect those records. I’m constantly referencing them in my music sets today. I love that feeling of shared nostalgia where people recognise a song they haven’t heard in a long time. It is a touchstone for me when I’m playing.”

The compilation flows through different East African and South African genres from Congolese rumba and soukous to 1980s township bubblegum and the rich guitar-led sounds of Zambian kalindula. “There are styles of music on the compilation which are often considered unsophisticated from rural areas. I and other contemporary African artists and DJs draw inspiration from them; it is part of what makes us ourselves.” Kampire also shines the spotlight on many incredible women in African music from the ‘80s, including Congolese legends like Pembey Sheiro, Feza Shamamba and Princesse Mansia M’bila to V-Mash and Di Groovy Girls from South Africa.

‘A Dancefloor In Ndola’ is released on 2LP and CD and features exclusive new edits by Kampire alongside personal liner notes tracing her links to the music. Cover artwork montage is by Canon Rumanzi and vinyl restoration / mastering by The Carvery
Debut compilation by one of East Africa’s leading new generation DJs, Kampire.
Mix of African classics and rarities spanning 1970s – 1990s from Congolese soukous, South African bubblegum and Zambian kalindula.
Shining the spotlight on women in African music Pembey Sheiro, Feza Shamamba and Princesse Mandisa M’bila.
Exclusive cover artwork collage by Canon Rumanzi.
Worldwide DJ dates supporting release during Summer and Autumn 2024.

Strut present the first definitive retrospective of an icon of 1970s and ‘80s soul, jazz and disco, Patrice Rushen, covering her peerless 6-year career with Elektra / Asylum from 1978 to 1984. Joining Elektra after three albums with jazz label Prestige, Patrice had shown prodigious talent at an early age and had first broken through after winning a competition to perform at the Monterrey Jazz Festival of 1972. By the time of the recordings on this collection, she had become a prolific and in-demand session musician and arranger on the West coast, appearing on over 80 recordings for other artists. She joined the Elektra / Asylum roster in 1978 as they launched a pop / jazz division alongside visionaries like Donald Byrd and Grover Washington, Jr. “The idea was to create music that was good for commercial radio / R&B,” Patrice explains. “We were all making sophisticated dance music, essentially.”

Drawing on some of the leading musicians in L.A. like saxophonist Gerald Albright, drummer “Ndugu” Chancler and bassman Freddie Washington and keeping an open minded approach from her training in classical, jazz and soundtrack scores, Patrice’s music was a different, more intricate proposition to many of the soul artists of the time. “L.A. musicians were not so locked into tradition,” she continues. “None of us were accustomed to limitation and the record label left us to take our own direction.”

Early classics like ‘Music Of The Earth’ and ‘Let’s Sing A Song Of Love’ were among Patrice’s first as a lead vocalist before her ‘Pizzazz’ album landed in 1979, featuring the unique disco of ‘Haven’t You Heard’ and one of her greatest ballads, ‘Settle For My Love’. “Although ballads make you feel more vulnerable as an artist because they are often personal, I think listeners relate to that sincerity,” she reflects. By now, Patrice’s records were supremely arranged and produced as her confidence as an all-round writer, producer, arranger and performer grew. Slick dancefloor anthem ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ and the ‘Posh’ album in 1980 led to her landmark album ‘Straight From The Heart’ two years later. Receiving little support from her label, Patrice and her production team personally funded a promo campaign for the first single from it, ‘Forget Me Nots’. It went on to peak at no. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the album was later Grammy-nominated, while the track became a timeless anthem and popular sample, inspiring Will Smith’s theme for the film ‘Men In Black’ and George Michael’s ‘Fastlove’.

Patrice’s final album for Elektra, ‘Now’ kept the bar high with sparse, synth-led songs including ‘Feel So Real’ and ‘To Each His Own’. It concluded a golden era creatively for Patrice which remains revered by soul and disco aficionados the world over.

‘Remind Me’ features all of Patrice Rushen’s chart singles, 12” versions and popular sample sources on one album for the first time. Formats included a 3LP set and 1CD fully remastered by The Carvery from the original tapes. Both formats include an exclusive new interview with Patrice Rushen and rare photos.

• First definitive Patrice Rushen compilation released on vinyl since the ‘80s
• Includes all of her chart hits, DJ favourites and sample sources
• Official release featuring full interview with Patrice Rushen about her career and music • Features rare photos from her personal collection + some of the photographers she has worked with during her career
• Fully remastered by The Carvery from the original ¼” tapes
• Start of full Patrice Rushen reissue programme from her Elektra era

Filipovich is one of a kind. The Belarus-born, Paris-based artist works in a multitude of media - found footage films, painting, silkscreening and performance to name a few. It's her musical output that has caught the attention of late, though, with Filipovich dropping a run of releases in recent years which began with 2021's Magnificat on Time Released Sound. Filipovich takes as much of a novel approach to her music-making as she does with her other artistic endeavours - Magnificat was centred around treated samples of Sergei Rachmaninov's All-Night Vigil, and she's also combined classical composition with contemporary electronic techniques on her subsequent drops.

For Idealized, Filipovich's debut on Sheffield's Central Processing Unit, she maintains the gothic air which characterised her previous releases and applies it to a record of widescreen contemporary techno joints. These tracks represent something of a gear shift for CPU, a label which has long made its name by delivering top-quality electro and machine-funk jams, but such is the quality of Idealized that these superbly-executed techno productions are sure to win over label fans both old and new.

Idealized is very much schooled in the German tradition of minimal/dub techno. Tracks like 'Physical', 'Wave' and 'Dance Minor' all anchor themselves on single, steady drum pulses and delay-drenched single-chord loops. Filipovich generally lets the central idea of these tracks play out across several minutes while introducing increasingly disorientating elements into the rest of the mix - wiccan atmospherics, clashing chords, spiralling delays and so forth. It's an approach at once respectful of Filipovich's predecessors - Basic Channel, Deepchord, Ellen Allien and so on - but also full of idiosyncrasies and individuality.

Many of the club cuts here hardwire us into the moody, murky environs of the darkest Berlin Basements. 'Ultra Red' rides forward on a crisp drum machine snap, a menacing burble of bassline and an eerie single-note synth whistle in the upper end of the mix; 'Dance Minor' shows off a bit of KiNK in the brain-bending modular loop that waxes and wanes at its centre; the second-half run from 'Wave' to closer 'Small Cave' travels ever-further out into deep space - the kick drums remain insistent, yet the textural elements are delivered with an edge and flair that evidences Filipovich's ability to think outside the box.

Filipovich's unusual methods, and the influence of sound art and electroacoustic composition on her music, are drawn out further when Idealized steps away from the dancefloor. 'Hydra' comes off like a more gothic version of Pole - its central pulse draws from dub techno but never quite settles into a danceable groove, and this beat is combined with the kind of unnerving keyboard work that would make John Carpenter proud. Although closer 'Small Cave' eventually locks into another dark-room techno roller, the opening section of the track delivers a weightless soundscape of bright, tinny chords and a scene-setting field recording.

Idealized, the first drop on Central Processing Unit from Paris-based Belarusian Lina Filpovich, broadens the label's horizons with a selection of finely crafted minimal/dub techno joints.

RIYL: Andy Stott, Deepchord, Ellen Allien, Moritz von Oswald

Grande Coisa! (Big Deal!). You could hear it. It is the eternal irony of life. For a composer who has been making music since he was a teenager and only at the age of 38 does he make his work public, it can indeed be a big deal. Grande Coisa, is Dorea's first authorial album, and tells his stories, the ones he lived, others he heard about, but mainly the ones he created. With all the songs composed during the most isolated period in the pandemic, the work can be dense in many moments, difficult to digest, but there are sighs. And there are stories that intersect, like those of the boys who are one and also millions, and show the artist's vision of Brazil. The disappeared, forgotten, the sad and aimless still appear. And there is the warmth of the song for a loved one or even a family partnership, between mother and son. Grande Coisa has ten songs, all written by the artist himself, one of them with lyrics adapted from an excerpt from a book written by his mother. Its musical roots are rooted in rock, but with a blatantly Brazilian gaze and interpretation. It has musical production and minimalist paths chosen by Sebastian Notini, collaborative arrangements forged in the encounter of Dorea's guitar with Seba's percussive and melodic vein and Carla Suzart's bass, and a wood weave that ends the album with the timbres of Joana Queiroz (bass clarinet and clarinet) and Leandro Tigrão (flute) under the baton of maestro Per Ekdahl.

The hypnotic folk music of the Ainu a cappella group Marewrew has received the first of two remix treatments by Pingipung artists. Part 01 is by Andi Otto and M.RUX.

Andi Otto was the curator of the Marewrew album for Pingipung, released earlier in 2024. He selected gems from their archive for the "Ukouk" LP. His remix pays homage to the frenetic vocal dynamics of the round canon Sikata Kuykuy. Beginning with a stubborn piano beat, it's the bass clarinets that sit in sync with the vocals that make this dance track so charming. Bonus fact: they're played by Pingipung co-founder Heiko Gogolin - his first outing on the instrument for his own label.

M.RUX's take on Etukuma Kara is playful and groovy. Many will remember his legendary 2018 remix of Umeko Ando (Iuta Upopo), which marked Pingipung's first involvement with Ainu traditional music from northern Japan. His reworking of Marewrew's vocal music blends elements of various tracks with his own percussion, and the result is nothing short of spectacular.

The two tracks will be released on 7" vinyl.

2024 Repress

180 Gram, Tip On Sleeve RSD version of this classic. One of the rarer records of the mythical Strata East albums is finally reissued for the first time on Heavenly Sweetness!
The recording of Earth Blossom, the John Betsch Societys one and only album, seems something of an enigma nowadays. For even though Nashville is clearly one of the towns in the US with the highest number of recording studios, who would have thought that the capital of country music would give birth to one of the forgotten masterpieces of 1970s spiritual jazz. The path leading to the album starts in 1963 when John Betsch, originally from Jacksonville in Florida, arrives in Nashville to study at Frisk University. He is a young drummer and joins Bob Holmes trio. Holmes is one of the towns major jazz organists and pianists; he becomes Betschs mentor and, over the space of two years, John will play alternately with him and with the trumpeter Louis Smiths group. However, in 1965, John leaves town to go to the prestigious Berkeley University in Boston and do a two-year course along with his fellow debutants with names like John Abercrombie, Ernie Watts and Alan Broadbent. Two years later, he is invited by a pianist friend, Billy Chilf, to join the legendary singer/songwriter Tim Hardins group. Just after Woodstock, John Betsch and Tim record a psychedelic album Columbia will never release together with the members of the future group Oregon: Colin Walcott, Glen Moore, Paul McCandles and his friend Billy Chilf. But he soon leaves this group to return to Nashville where he hooks up again with his friend Bob Holmes. Two years later, he is accepted on Archie Shepp and Max Roachs famous course at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMASS) and for the next four years he participates in this collective of intellectuals and musicians under the aegis of the two masters.
During this period he returns to Nashville to form his Society whose music is obviously influenced by the Afrocentric ideas of the UMASS student and political movement. However, the album, recorded in one day and in one take, also bears the hallmark of their generations psychedelic experiences, and in the themes and playing of the musicians we can hear a less violent form of music than the radical free jazz of New York or Chicago. Nature and environmental themes are the inspiration behind tracks touched by the spirit of Coltrane but also of Flower Power.

After Amherst, John Betsch joins Marion Browns group in 1976, leaves Tennessee for good and makes his home in New York over the next ten years or so. He plays and records with Dollar Brand, Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre and many others, before heading off to France. He has lived in Paris for the last twenty years and played in Steve Lacy, Mal Waldron and Archie Shepp bands, as well as forming groups of his own. He now lives in Paris and plays with many musicians/bands.

David Bowies bahnbrechendes Debütalbum erlebt mit einer Neuauflage ein pulsierendes Revival und bietet exklusive Tracklisten, die alte und neue Fans begeistern werden.

Kritiker der damaligen Zeit äußerten sich wie folgt: Der NME lobte Bowies frischen Sound als „durch und durch sehr erfrischend“ und pries ihn als „ein sehr vielversprechendes Talent“. Melody Maker lobt das Album als „eine außergewöhnlich lohnende Sammlung“ mit „exzellenter“ Produktion und zeigt sich überrascht, dass Bowie die Popszene noch nicht stärker beeinflusst hat. Disc & Music Echo schwärmt unterdessen von dem Album, beschreibt es als „ein bemerkenswertes, kreatives Debütalbum eines 19-jährigen Londoners“ und bezeichnet Bowie als „ein neues Talent, das Aufmerksamkeit verdient“. Mit solch aufschlussreichen Kritiken verspricht diese Neuauflage, Bowies frühes Erbe wiederzubeleben und sein visionäres künstlerisches Schaffen einer neuen Generation von Zuhörern vorzustellen.

David Bowies bahnbrechendes Debütalbum erlebt mit einer Neuauflage ein pulsierendes Revival und bietet exklusive Tracklisten, die alte und neue Fans begeistern werden.

Kritiker der damaligen Zeit äußerten sich wie folgt: Der NME lobte Bowies frischen Sound als „durch und durch sehr erfrischend“ und pries ihn als „ein sehr vielversprechendes Talent“. Melody Maker lobt das Album als „eine außergewöhnlich lohnende Sammlung“ mit „exzellenter“ Produktion und zeigt sich überrascht, dass Bowie die Popszene noch nicht stärker beeinflusst hat. Disc & Music Echo schwärmt unterdessen von dem Album, beschreibt es als „ein bemerkenswertes, kreatives Debütalbum eines 19-jährigen Londoners“ und bezeichnet Bowie als „ein neues Talent, das Aufmerksamkeit verdient“. Mit solch aufschlussreichen Kritiken verspricht diese Neuauflage, Bowies frühes Erbe wiederzubeleben und sein visionäres künstlerisches Schaffen einer neuen Generation von Zuhörern vorzustellen.

“Todavía No”, La Paloma’s debut album, consolidates the young band from Madrid as one of the realities of the current scene. Undoubtedly, it’s definitely a bold step forward in all senses: compositional, interpretative, and artistic. Noise-rock to combat all the noise out there.

In “Una idea, pero es triste”, their celebrated debut EP, La Paloma expounded something very serious, but they explained it only once. Five songs that instantly connected with an audience eager for new references. In “Todavía no” there is more depth; here practically each cut shows a different shade of being La Paloma. “Tiré una piedra al aire” is far from “Algo ha cambiado”, but both are unequivocally La Paloma. Surely, this is something that can be attributed to the baggage acquired during this time lapse, but it certainly speaks very well of the artistic ambition of a band to which now seems to have no ceiling.
We are not, therefore, facing a mere extension of their 2021 EP, although musically they pick it up from where they left off. “Todavía no” is an accessible and contagious work, equal qualities shared with “Una idea, pero es triste”. It’s a work that conveys discontent and liberation, ambition and boredom. In large part, it’s due to the accredited ability of its composers Nico Yubero and Lucas Sierra to observe the world with the right dose of skepticism and disappointment, avoiding tormented gesticulation.
The presentation tour that followed the publication of the EP was extensive and led La Paloma to defend their songs throughout the Spanish geography, as well as visits to Portugal, Mexico and the United States. That state of grace was transferred to the studio, where they tried to reflect their live sound and proposal. With an elegant production and without undue frills, the mission of preserving the sharp fang shown in concert halls was achieved, ensuring, in turn, that the elements, arrangements and the proposal of each instrument were heard crystal clear.
Right from the start, we notice in the sequence many of the virtues that make La Paloma one of the most advantaged groups of the current scene: gushing guitars, the solidity of its rhythm section with Rubén Almonacid on bass and Juan Rojo on drums and the color tone provided by the voices of Nico and Lucas, who share the vocal tasks on alternate tracks.
But there’s more: songs that destroy the most generic canon of noise-rock to take it to little-explored territories, frantic guitar games and a cascade of imaginative arrangements. It combines popular song constructions with unpredictable structures that prevent you from anticipating what twist is to come next, making listening experience exhilarating and addictive.
“Todavía no” is a tightly cohesive album, a remarkable fact considering the two creative inputs from which the band draws from and the artistic ambition with which they faced the building of this work. Because we are talking about a complete work, conceived as such. The first chords of “Sigo aquí” sound and the disorganization of reality… is still disorganized, but somehow it makes sense now.

GB's debut album, Gusse Music, emerges as a collaged symphony of experimental music with a pop sensibility. Its makeshift compositions, stretched out to linger in memory, offers a 33-minute textural plunge into the melancholy of the infinite – shadowed by loneliness yet illuminated by glimpses of light, a longing for the memories ahead. Tracks bleed into each other, like videos in a feed, momentarily grabbing the listener's attention only to be forgotten again shortly after. However, in the constant stream of impressions, GB patiently strives to inspire new thoughts and conjure an image, quaint and affectionate. From the sludged electric guitars and hypnotic baritone vocals of the opening track "FACETIME," to a solemn, almost Wicker Man-esque, acoustic instrumentation on "CONCRETE CITY," to stoned-out beats and rolling bass on "NEW PLANES”. Gusse Music evokes a world of music that is both welcoming and fun, hauntingly desolate, dark, and gritty. “the world in us, and all the spectacle, so much it hurt, wouldn’t trade anything”

Next up in Mr Bongo's Groove Merchant Records reissue series, sees an outing for a much-loved and heavily sampled funk/soul/blues album by Junior Parker. Originally issued under the title The Outside Man on Capitol Records in 1970 with an alternative cover, this reissue replicates the Groove Merchant release titled Love Ain't Nothin' But A Business Goin' On featuring the car cover released in 1971.

The Mississippi-born, Memphis-based blues singer, harmonica player and songwriter Junior Parker (aka Little Junior Parker) had a stellar career in music. Since the early 1950s he released records on labels such as Duke, Mercury, United Artists Records and more. Sadly though, Parker died at the young age of 39 during surgery on November 18, 1971.

Originally released under the alternate title a year before his untimely death, Love Ain't Nothin' But a Business Goin' On is drenched in Parker’s trademark buttery vocals and soulful grooves, swaggering between smokey blues, raw funk outings and orchestrated soul ballads (with sublime arrangements by Horace Ott).

The album also features three Beatles cover versions in the form of ‘Taxman’, ‘Lady Madonna’ and ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’. For 'Taxman', Parker completely reinterprets the song taking into a New Orleans funk realm, a sample of which was used as the main hook line on Cypress Hill's classic 'I Wanna Get High'. Elsewhere, 'Tomorrow Never Knows' is flipped into a tripped-out, psychedelic soul-swamp blues ballad, whilst 'Lady Madonna' is given a funky blues makeover.

As shown with Cypress Hill’s use of ‘Taxman’, since the ‘70s Parker’s legacy has been immortalised for future generations through the deep well of samples that his music has become a source of. Tracks from Love Ain't Nothin' But a Business Goin' On have been sampled by some of the biggest names out there, such as A Tribe Called Quest, DJ Shadow and De La Soul.

A seriously smooth album oozing with soul and emotion from a Blues Hall of Fame inductee, Junior Parker’s Love Ain't Nothin' But A Business Goin' On is a superb example of the early ‘70s crossover funk/soul sound.

Pleasure Planet’s kaleidoscopic debut album has been a long time coming, but good things come to those who wait. Developed over years of late-night studio improvisations, ‘Pleasure Planet’ is an affectionate and colorful patchwork of the New York City-based trio’s knotted influences that’s suspended between the rave and the chill-out room, weaving glistening pads and chunky basslines into vocal earworms and warm, saturated rhythmic cycles. Bandmates Andrew Potter, Kim Ann Foxman and Brian Hersey enter into a lysergic dialog with their discrete personal musical histories, drawing inspiration from vintage EBM, ambient music and heady early ’90s West Coast rave sounds and launching these classic elements into a transcendent new sonic universe.

Celebrated DJ and producer Foxman was a lead singer of Hercules and Love Affair when she first ran into DC rave veteran Potter, and the two rapidly realized their musical interests overlapped. So when Potter was recording with his studiomate Hersey, a NYC underground club scene mainstay, and they needed to bring in a vocalist, the choice was simple. Working together was a refreshing, freeing experience for the three seasoned artists, and the more they experimented, the closer they became; Foxman ended up moving into the studio, and Pleasure Planet was manifested into existence. “We’re like family,” says Potter. “We’re always on the same page – we couldn’t make this music solo.”

For Foxman, the open-ended jam sessions provided her with a chance to try something new, a few steps from the dancefloor-forward DJ tracks she’s best known for producing. And as the trio pooled their adolescent rave memories, reflecting on them with more mature ears, they began to develop the signature sound that was first heard on the Throne Of Blood-released ‘Animals’ 12″. Pleasure Planet aren’t trying to re-capture the past, but suggest a poetic contemplation that layers their recollections and musical obsessions into a hypnotic sci-fi dream. Harnessing a self-described “Aladdin’s cave” of analog and digital gear that help galvanize the timeline, they bridge the gap between avant-pop and icy bleep techno, curving suggestive words through lattices of tightly-engineered electronics.

On ‘Endless’, Foxman’s voice is echoed into a glistening haze that hovers around ethereal pads and tense, electroid pulses. Slow-moving and evocative, it’s a track that capture the open endedness of post-rave euphoria, touching the afterparty but moving far beyond the material world. She’s more recognizable on ‘Alien’, the album’s most upfront track, singing in a glassy, upper-register coo over urgent bass bumps, taut guitars and florid electronic atmospheres. “Are you an alien, or are you an angel?” she asks, fractalizing the borders between genres. And the band’s sense of cosmic togetherness bubbles to the surface on ‘Saved by the Bells’, a meditative after-hours experiment that diminishes the pulsing beats for a moment to bring out a spectrum of interconnected, serpentine melodies.

Modular bleeps and echoing percussion anchor the swooning ‘Planet Love’, one of Pleasure Planet’s most recent compositions and one of the album’s most outwardly psychedelic cuts, while the urgent and anthemic ‘Go With Madness’ steps back towards the main stage, evaporating Foxman’s memorable calls into a thumping procession of analog drums and squelchy, acidic bass tweaks. But they save the best for last, tugging at the heartstrings with ‘Remember (In Dreams)’, a giddy spiral of blipping synth arpeggios and haunting, reverberated chorals. It’s the perfect way to conclude an album that cryptically gestures towards the vulnerability of friendship, celebrating the shared experiences that result in some of the most meaningful memories of all.

Things are getting better is a bold statement to make in a time when the world seems to be on the verge of world war 3 and the cost of living is rising beyond most of our reach. Five years ago when I started the Voices of Creation with Jack I knew the world would need new songs, new mantras and prayers for this new day that is dawning. We would need more faith, we would need love, we would need vision, and we would need each other. A part of every beginning is an ending, this is an observable law of nature. So it is with unyielding faith and a hopeful heart that I look out at this world and find reasons and ways to keep moving forward with love; making music that echoes with the sparks of this new world I’m working to see come into view. Things may be falling apart, old ways of being becoming unsustainable; death, war, chaos, genocide, famine, and floods; symptoms of the internal combustion of a society wracked with fear and given more access to weapons than to their own feelings.

This collection of songs are my testimony in a way, a sonic exploration of finding my faith and figuring out how to use my faith to navigate life and this great big old world after losing family (my mother Betty and my brother Keith) and in a way losing my sense of hope for what my future could even be. Through the writing and singing of these songs I healed myself of the doubt and mistrust of the unknown. I found a way to forge my faith into what is now a mighty sword of song, community, and ministry with the intention of healing myself and others. I’ve always felt as though melody and language were tools that could be agents of change and healing if used with intention and integrity. To witness the expanding joy and shared purpose grow within the choir and to see the contagious nature of faith and togetherness through our rehearsals and shows showed me how necessary it is to the human experience. This has been truly revelatory, further anchoring me in what I feel my purpose is on the planet; and that is to sing and bring to life more joy, peace, love, community, unity, faith, and praise. With more of those energies flowing around the planet, things will surely get better and better and better…ad infinitum. Word to Nina, Jimmy & Betty, and all my angels and ancestors riding wit me. We still here and God is still good.

"An artist's duty, as far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times." Nina Simone

Numero's Hottest Sounds Around trio gathers castaway late-'70s grooves from across the Greater Antilles. Stan Chaman's Trinidadian Semp concern delivered Wilfred Luckie's wobbly "My Thing" and the Hamilton Brothers' calypso-disco smash "Music Makes The World Go `Round" in 1978. Across the sea, Frank Penn's G.B.I studio tracked Stephen Colebrook's Doobies-inspired "Stay Away From Music" for the cruise ship curious. All three are housed in a custom Numero sleeve inspired by Edward Seaga's Caribbean music manufacturing and distribution powerhouse WIRL (West Indies Records Ltd.)

Tropics Green Colored Vinyl. Numero's Hottest Sounds Around trio gathers castaway late-'70s grooves from across the Greater Antilles. Stan Chaman's Trinidadian Semp concern delivered Wilfred Luckie's wobbly "My Thing" and the Hamilton Brothers' calypso-disco smash "Music Makes The World Go `Round" in 1978. Across the sea, Frank Penn's G.B.I studio tracked Stephen Colebrook's Doobies-inspired "Stay Away From Music" for the cruise ship curious. All three are housed in a custom Numero sleeve inspired by Edward Seaga's Caribbean music manufacturing and distribution powerhouse WIRL (West Indies Records Ltd.)

7A Records are proud to present our deluxe reissue of Mungo Jerry’s Electronically Tested. Released on July 19th, the album has been remastered and expanded with four bonus tracks and features extensive liner notes including Ray Dorset’s own recollections.

Electronically Tested, Mungo Jerry’s second album, was first released in March 1971. Even the title clued in listeners that this was no ordinary record. As Ray Dorset reveals, “I came up with the name of the album. Durex used to have ‘electronically tested’ written on their packets. I thought that was quite the talking point, if people in the know said, ‘That’s the same name as on the packet of condoms!’ It was taboo to mention stuff like that.” Electronically Tested offered hints of the familiar via its inclusion of the UK #1 Hits “In the Summertime” and “Baby Jump,” but elsewhere, the album was pure, eclectic Mungo Jerry. Every side of Dorset’s talents as a singer, songwriter, and musician came to the fore on Electronically Tested, with his bandmates John Godfrey, Paul King, and Colin Earl–as well as producer Murray– joining him to create a joyful noise: “It’s got a lot of tracks that could have been singles in their own right. It was good for me to be able to play all that kind of stuff”. Mungo Jerry’s singular sound has been described as rock, folk, blues, country, good-time music, jug band music, pub rock, and gypsy rock–and that’s just a partial list. One can hear all of those elements in the disparate, timeless songs that form Electronically Tested. How would Mungo himself describe it? “It’s kind of rocky stuff. It’s got social commentary. It’s got all sorts of influences in there. It’s really best to say it’s Mungo Jerry music.” Electronically Tested originally peaked at # 14 on the U.K. Albums Chart the week of April 14, 1971.

It's already hard to describe what Deerhoof sounds like. So we'll skip that part and say this sounds a lot like Deerhoof with a different singer. And in keeping with 30-year Hoofian tradition, melodies soar, big hit earwigs abound, harmonies are complex, and keys change frequently and unexpectedly. Arrangements are in a constant state of impatient agitation. Emotions run high but delivery is usually a falsetto deadpan. We Sang, Therefore We Were is grief delivered in code. Greg plays everything save for a few birds who join in singing now and again. He keeps the instrumentarium severely limited, the sound shambling and anti-slick. It turns out Greg is a really good bass player and guitar player, if a bit more rudimentary and slicing compared to his Deerhoof bandmates. He does play more angry guitar solos. But don't expect another Chippendale/Saunier speed-drum freakout; the songwriting is gorgeous and sophisticated, and drums are almost an afterthought. Here, song is Queen. The singing is high and whispery, tending towards the three-part harmony. What we're saying is: We Sang, Therefore We Were sounds a bit like Deerhoof fronted by The Andrews Sisters. This is a peek inside the mind of one of indie rock's most celebrated drummers, many of whose fans may not even realize the relentlessness of his musicianship and compositional prolificacy. Mozartian chords and sounds insinuate themselves here and there on this record, finally taking over in a big climax at the end, when the drums break off unexpectedly into a laugh-or-cry orchestral outpouring that ironically may be the rawest part of a very raw album. "Satomi, Ed, John and I were chatting between shows in Austin in early December. They encouraged me to make a record on my own. With no one to please but myself, it came together way faster than usual. It was basically done by the holidays. I had been excited by the announcement that the new Rolling Stones record was going to sound 'angry.' I thought, 'Yes, I'm angry too.' But Hackney Diamonds turned out more like cotton candy than punk rock. So I went back to Nirvana. I always loved the catchy melody over massive distortion, the way their songs refused to conform to simple major or minor scales, the dark sarcasm which still resonates in this age of phony blue-check-washing of fascism." The album cover is all text, penned by Greg on the familiar topic of interspecies absurdist operatic anti-Cartesian revolution. The songs' lyrics are all drawn from this epic poem. White House spokespersons are recast as The Queen of the Night from The Magic Flute, The Queen of the Night is recast as a mockingbird singing all night in a battle for survival, and ultimately the mockingbird is recast as a campy drag artist taking pleasure in her own aggressive, tireless music-making.

Cold is the self-titled debut studio album by Jacksonville-based rock band Cold and was originally released in 1998. Discovered by A&R man Fred Durst (from Limp Bizkit), Cold burst onto the scene with their self-titled album, a potent blend of raw emotion, haunting melodies, and powerful instrumentation. Led by vocalist Scoot Ward, the band quickly garnered attention for their introspective lyrics and intense live performances. The singles culled of the album ""Go Away"" and ""Give"" showcased Ward's ability to convey deep-seated emotions with raw honesty, while tracks like ""Confession"" and ""End of the World"" captivated listeners with elements of alternative rock, metal, and post-grunge into a cohesive sonic tapestry. Cold is available on vinyl for the first time and includes an insert.