quête:mark i

Peace of mind after the book release and the long awaited drop of the 5 tunes we were expecting from the pressing plant. While Escai is finalising the cover of Jay Nemor’s album, now it's time for me to go back to work with Yann, the London member of our Funk Investigators little patrol.
Hailin' from Houston TX, Leroy Allen started his career in ‘69 with the group “THE SYMPHONICS “, that later became GOD’S GIFT TO WOMEN, which in 1972 recorded “Let Your Heart Be The Judge“, which still gets air play more than thirty years later. In the early 80’s Leroy started the group ”
The Perfect Timin' Band”, which backed BO WILLIAMS, while touring with Cameo, and Gerald Levert. Perfect Timin' also opened for New Edition, Baby Face, Roger Troutman & Zapp, just to name a few. In 2013, Leroy Allen has started a solo project with the new hit single “I WANT IT “, receiving heavy rotation in the Southern United States and European Markets. Mr. Allen recently formed “Orion The Band” which consists of top musicians from the Houston area, creating the foundation for the “I Want It” Project, of which both songs included in this release are a natural developement. Catchy, extremely soulful, just perfect for this mid summer rainy day!

Days Of Speed is an acoustic, double live album featuring songs from across Paul’s career including The Jam classics; That’s Entertainment and Town Called Malice, The Style Council’s Headstart For Happiness and Down In The Seine and solo hits, You Do Something To Me and Wild Wood. Originally released in October 2001, charting at no. 3 in the UK, the initial double vinyl release was strictly limited and now sells for £250+ on the secondary market. The 2021 reissue features faithful original packaging replication & was cut at London’s Metropolis Studios.

NME: “Live acoustic brilliance from the master songsmith.” (4.5/5)

The second edition of Freakadelle’s ‘44’ series. ’44-2‘ is inspired by the collective’s annual Space Night event – an open-air event happening in front of the club, which aims to push genre boundaries and question the notion of what is nowadays considered the soundtrack of club culture.

Freakadelle residents and associated artists present themselves across nine diverse tracks ranging from free-floating and experimental electronics to more concrete experiments in leftfield club music. 


Mastering by Mattias Fridell, A3 mastered by DJ Buzz
Artwork by rochus.design
Print by Unschuldig Verdorben

Released via Sony CMG - heavy metal legends mark an incredible 50 year career with a brand new collection of 16 tracks including remastered studio recordings and 7 previously unreleased live cuts from the band’s archive. Restored and mixed by Tom Allom at La Cucina W8 and mastered by Alex Wharton at Abbey Road Studios. Available on CD and 2 LP gatefold heavyweight red vinyl (limited/allocated). Promo/marketing activity across all media outlets.

Released via Sony CMG - the first time ever the original demos, which chart the birth of this iconic album, are being released in October 2021. Across 2 LP vinyl set, 'Demodelica' will take fans on the journey of the creation of the album, through demos and work in progress mixes, allowing them an insight into the creative process that went into the finished album. Will also be released on a 16 song CD (and digitally) and will feature liner notes from acclaimed British music journalist and cultural historian Jon Savage. Marketing activity across all media outlets.

Founded in Amsterdam in 1967 by saxophonist Willem Breuker, pianist Misha Mengelberg, and percussionist Han Bennink, Instant Composers Pool (or ICP) was an independent free jazz label and orchestra that would go on to release over fifty albums featuring such pillars of the scene as Derek Bailey, Peter Brötzmann, Evan Parker, Jeanne Lee, John Tchicai, and Steve Lacy. Based around the concept that improvisation was, in fact, an act of instantaneous composition, ICP's legacy on improvised and free music is impossible to overstate.

A live performance from May of 1970 in Rotterdam, Groupcomposing features a North Sea-crossing ICP lineup of British free improv luminaries Derek Bailey on guitar, Evan Parker on saxophone, and Paul Rutherford on trombone, along with ICP mainstays Han Bennink, his brother Peter, Misha Mengelberg, and Peter Brötzmann. The first side, "Groupcomposing, Part 1" is a nearly all-out assault with the reeds trio and Rutherford's trombone blasting nigh-continuously for the album's first side, culminating in a blistering Peter Bennink bagpipes solo. "Part 2" acts at first as the comedown, beginning with a playful piano and percussion back-and-forth before meandering a dark, brooding, path of trill horns to the album's eventual, tense conclusion.

Recorded just a few years into the ICP's long tenure, it is hard to think of a release more representative of the label's musical principles – or, more broadly, of the power of free group improvisation – than the aptly-named Groupcomposing. This limited reissue marks the first time the album has been in print on vinyl in over forty years.

Founded in Amsterdam in 1967 by saxophonist Willem Breuker, pianist Misha Mengelberg, and percussionist Han Bennink, Instant Composers Pool (or ICP) was an independent free jazz label and orchestra that would go on to release over fifty albums featuring such pillars of the scene as Derek Bailey, Peter Brötzmann, Evan Parker, Jeanne Lee, John Tchicai, and Steve Lacy. Based around the concept that improvisation was, in fact, an act of instantaneous composition, ICP's legacy on improvised and free music is impossible to overstate.

The ICP Tentet's Tetterettet is made up of recordings from 14-17 of September, 1977, cut and spliced together by pianist/composer Misha Mengelberg in a style similar to Teo Macero's work with Miles Davis. The first side is taken up entirely by Mengelberg's multi-part title track that breaks in and out of different tempos, with a loose arrangement style owing more than a bit to Charles Mingus' finest work on Black Saint or Ah Um.

Traversing across decades and styles from free-jazz funereal marches, to carnivalesque excursions, broken piano rolls, and ear-splitting skronk, ICP Tentet show remarkable skill and chops in both their compositional craft and improvisational symbiosis. There's a playful undercurrent here that finds its home in some previously uncharted land between Mingus and Spike Jones.

Featuring numerous ICP regulars along with the brilliant Alan Silva on bass, and a return to the fold of the amazing saxophonist John Tchicai, Tetterettet is one of the best of ICP's larger group recordings; humorous, unnerving, and ultimately, quite beautiful. This limited-edition reissue marks the first time this album has been in print on vinyl since its initial release.

Founded in Amsterdam in 1967 by saxophonist Willem Breuker, pianist Misha Mengelberg, and percussionist Han Bennink, Instant Composers Pool (or ICP) was an independent free jazz label and orchestra that would go on to release over fifty albums featuring such pillars of the scene as Derek Bailey, Peter Brötzmann, Evan Parker, Jeanne Lee, John Tchicai, and Steve Lacy. Based around the concept that improvisation was, in fact, an act of instantaneous composition, ICP's legacy on improvised and free music is impossible to overstate.

Yi Yole – recorded in 1978 – was the first time the legendary South African saxophonist Dudu Pukwana had worked with the ICP. An innovator in the genre of Cape Jazz with the Blue Notes – which also featured Chris McGregor, Louis Moholo, and Johnny Dyani – who fled the apartheid regime for London in 1964, Pukwana's style is the perfect complement to ICP co-founders Han Bennink and Misha Mengelberg, who round out the trio here.

Relaxed and somewhat understated for the ICP catalog, Yi Yole is the one and only time these leaders in European free improvisation would record together in a trio setting. This limited reissue marks the first time the album has been in print on vinyl since its initial release.

Reinvigorated and revitalized, REAPING ASMODEIA are back and set to leave their mark on 2021 with their third full length, Darkened Infinity - due for release via Prosthetic Records on October 15. The Minneapolis, Minnesota three-piece present twelve tracks of rhythmically acerbic modern technical death metal and thematically dauntless songwriting, weaving together a conceptual story of transcendence, consciousness and humanity’s ongoing struggle with the psychological self. Darkened Infinity sees REAPING ASMODEIA capitalize on a growing reverence within extreme metal circles for their off-kilter time signature changes and complex songwriting, thanks in no small part to Alexander Kelly (guitars) and Daniel Koppy (drums)’s blistering sonic camaraderie that make the foundations of the band’s assault. Replete with an inhumanly savage vocal performance across Darkened Infinity’s runtime from Steven Lane, the trio shine on apocalyptic album highlights False Awakening, Oneironautic Oblivion and Simulacra. Produced and engineered by the band themselves in Minneapolis before being mixed and mastered by Zack Ohren (Machine Head, All Shall Perish, Carnifex) at Castle Ultimate and Sharkbite Studios, Darkened Infinity’s intricate lead melodies unfurl with a menacing clarity when set against the album’s more abrasive tones.

Branches Of Sun by Wyndham Wallace Like every musician, Markus Sieber is used to going the extra mile to make the music he hears in his head and feels in his heart. There aren’t many, however, who would – or indeed, could – get to work in the mornings by strolling across a frozen lake before settling in a small cabin high up in the mountains located close to the Old Spanish Trail in Colorado where he had set up a home studio. For most of an entire month, though, he’d begin his day by pressing “Record’, and end it by pressing ‘Stop’. The world outside barely existed. Sieber’s no stranger to solitude and frugal living. Born near Leipzig, East Germany, 15 years before the Wall fell, his parents moved to a remote village outside Dresden when he was six, spending his free time in the summer fishing or swimming in the nearby Zschopau and Mulde rivers and, in the winter, ice skating, sledging and skiing. It’s no surprise, then, that with a background like this, and in locations such as those in which he now works and lives, Aukai’s work is imbued with a sense of peace. Even if the album took another half-year to complete, this was done in an unhurried fashion: after a month, he returned to the cabin to “shape, carve and edit” the material, inviting others to contribute along the way..

2021 marks the 50th Anniversary of the legendary record Fela Kuti made
with Ginger Baker of Cream.
 This Anniversary edition features a newly unearthed second drum solo
from Tony Allen and Ginger Baker, taken from Afrika 70’s performance
at the 1978 Berlin Jazz Festival. Part I has never appeared on vinyl and
this second part has never been heard - until now.
 1978’s Berlin Jazz Festival marked Afrika 70’s final live performance with
Fela. In the Spring of 1979, several members of Afrika 70, including
Allen, would leave the band. Allen had been with Fela since 1964. 1980
saw the birth of Egypt 80, with Baritone saxophonist Lekan Animashaun,
who had been with Fela since 1965, as its founding bandleader.
 Reissued with Abbey Road mastered audio.
 Red double vinyl with collector's 50th Anniversary gold foil obi strip.
 Bespoke etching of album artwork on Side D.
 Fela’s legacy spans decades and genres, touching on jazz, pop, funk,
hip-hop, rock and beyond. While he never achieved true icon status
during his lifetime, the last (roughly) decade has seen a broad
resurgence in his popularity and a critical reevaluation of his life, music
and influence. In 2008, the biographical musical ‘Fela!’ (co-produced by
Jay-Z and Will Smith) became a surprise hit off-Broadway and then
Broadway itself. Since then, Beyoncé performed Fela’s ‘Zombie’ at
Coachella, he’s been called out as an influence by everyone from Paul
McCartney to Questlove and sampled by Missy Elliott, Kendrick Lamar,
J. Cole, Nas, and more. Vice President Kamala Harris even used Fela’s
music at her and President Biden's first joint event together.
 ‘Let’s Start’ features prominently in the trailer and the soundtrack for the
new Western, ‘The Harder They Fall’, staring Idris Elba and Regina King.
 Fela features prominently in an episode of Hulu’s docuseries ‘McCartney
3, 2, 1’, where Paul McCartney cites Fela as one of his important
influences.
 This past spring Fela came in second place, behind Tina Turner, for the
fan vote for the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame nominations and received
great press coverage in NY Times, Rolling Stone, MOJO, Record
Collector and more.

Limited edition 180g orange coloured vinyl + 4 bonus tracks. Originally
released as ‘The Great Artistry of Django Reinhardt’
(Clef Records MGC-516).
“Django was in his final weeks when he made this beautiful recording. He had
seemingly fallen out of love with music, or with performance, in the post-war
period and gained a reputation for unreliability. But there were signs that his
old fire was coming back.” - Penguin Guide To Jazz
“The disc you hold in your hands was the final album Django Reinhardt recorded before his death on May 16, 1953. The guitarist left behind a work as
vast as it was modern, and he left an indelible mark on the history of jazz guitar
and music in general.” - Jazz Magazine (France)

Frozen Music’ was recorded in New York City 32 years ago and like most of
pianist Andy LaVerne’s releases this album has not lost its original energy
and charm.
Tenor and soprano saxophonist Rick Margitza was then a young rising star under contract with Blue Note. Andy was already a prolific composer who penned
all the tunes of this album. Bassist Marc Johnson who was a member of Bill
Evans’s last trio gave graceful and subtle colouring to LaVerne’s compositions.
“Frozen Music, Andy LaVerne’s third album for SteepleChase, is a solid, modern
blowing session...he makes skilful use of suspensions, pedal points, and ostinatos, which along with the music’s floating harmonies, give the soloists a wealth
of elbow room.” - Mark Stryker, Cadence
Personnel: Andy LaVerne (piano), Rick Margitza (tenor and soprano saxophone), Marc Johnson (bass), Danny Gottlieb (drums)

Three years on from their last EP, Kristallpalatset, Sweden’s Blodet have
announced their return with a new EP, titled VISION, due for release on
24th September via Church Road Records.
VISION sees the sextet build upon their sonic palette of atmospheric doom and
post-metal with brooding folk and European post-hardcore sensibilites in the
vein of Swans, Breach and early Amenra.
Marking their first recorded output since vocalist Hilda Heller joined in 2019,
Blodet’s esoteric musical landscape is buoyed by quietly assured ruminations
on the human condition and self across VISION ‘s three songs. No better is this
dichotomy showcased than the title-track, with the vocal refrain of “What do
you see? Do you see me?”, as the song erupts in the latter half of it’s 15 plus
minute slowburn - giving way to jarring post-hardcore akin to Unwound at their
headiest.
On VISION, Blodet possess a familiarity for those who have long been enamoured by post-metal and post-hardcore’s more recherch leanings, whilst carving out their own nich and expanding on their native country’s rich history
of colouring outside of genre lines. For this alone, VISION, is a short but vital
addition to Blodet’s growing discography.
VISION is out on 24th September via Church Road Records

On October 15th, Mac Miller's cult favourite mixtape Faces will be available on all streaming services for the first time since its initial release. The project, which originally debuted on Mother's Day 2014, is a vital release in Mac's catalogue that followed-up his critically-acclaimed sophomore album Watching Movies With The Sound Off. Upon its arrival, the mixtape served as the high water mark for Mac's technical prowess and cemented a creative actualization that would continue through his career; reinventing himself with each new project. Reviewing the project following its release, critic Craig Jenkins succinctly described it as "the best work of his career.
"In addition to being made available on streaming services, Faces will be available on vinyl for the first time on October 15th. .

The announcement of the mixtape’s release on streaming services next month arrives alongside a new music video for Faces highlight "Colours and Shapes." Its director Sam Mason speaks on the work: “The track felt very visual to me—like it had its own world. This atmospheric night time place that was sometimes dangerous, sometimes comforting, then I saw a picture of Ralph and a story emerged. To build it out I asked Malcolm’s family to send me bits and pieces from his childhood, scenes from the town where he grew up, objects, toys from his room—little pieces of his life that I extrapolated outwards and used to inspire the story. In the abstract, it’s meant to be a video about childhood—growing up as an artist and the highs and lows of that experience. It’s sort of a look at the emotional and difficult and perilous but noble path of an artist. ”Stay tuned for more Mac Miller and Faces news soon.

Das kanadische Ensemble BADBADNOTGOOD machte sich einen Namen als sie kurzerhand Jazz und HipHop miteinander verbanden - nun kehren sie mit ihrem Debüt auf XL Recordings zu ihren instrumentellen Anfängen zurück! Mit dem Talk Memory reflektieren sie die Geschichte und die Innovationen der Musiker und Komponisten, die sie auf dem Weg zum eigenen Sound beeinflussten. Die Band formte sich 2010 im Humber College Jazz Kurs in Toronto, das feste Trio-Line-Up mit Alexander Sowinski (Drums), Chester Hansen (Bass) und Leland Whitty (Gitarre und Holzbläser) existiert seit 2015. Für die drei ist ein Song ein lebender und atmender Organismus, der sich natürlich entwickelt und je nach Umgebung anders klingt. "Talk Memory" ist ein Album, das ganz in diesem Sinne entstanden ist und markiert auch einen Wechsel vom Ego hin zum Kollektiv, zur Balance und zur Harmonie. Es enthält musikalische Beiträge von Arthur Verocai, Karriem Riggins, Terrace Martin, Laraaji und der gefeierten Harfenistin Brandee Younger, die bereits mit Moses Sumney und Thundercat gearbeitet hat. Die Visuals entwarf Virgil Abloh mit seiner Designfirma Alaska-Alaska_äó, der auch das Albumcover gestaltet hat. "Talk Memory" ist ein Album, das betont, wie Musik als Konversation unabdingbar kollektiv und improvisiert sein muss. Es erinnert dabei an die typischen Momente einer Live Jazz- oder Soul-Show, in der der Frontmann jedes einzelne Bandmitglied vorstellt, um ihm/ihr den gebührenden Applaus zukommen zu lassen. Und so ist ein Album voller tiefer Zuneigung zur Musik und zur Community entstanden.

Through his dedication to the Los Angeles grassroots projects that gave so much stability and focus to many younger musicians, artists and the community, Horace Tapscott became a neighbourhood hero at a time when the world wanted his presence. He stayed in Los Angeles and focused instead on building a community, rarely giving interviews and instead focusing on passing on the message from his mentors. He shaped a unique sound with his arkestra and community minded musicians. It was a close-knit family that emanated a sound that was deep and unique, flowing with a creative spirit that definitely comes through on this album.

In 1961 he founded the Pan-African Peoples Arkestra, which aimed to preserve, develop and publicise African-American music through the ever-growing family that emanated within many of the deprived areas of Los Angeles. Through his subsequent collaboration with Bruce Albach, a producer and founder of Nimbus West Records, they sought to document the importance of this music alongside many artists who were energetically linked to the ethos and understanding which came from the collective dialogue.

Here the composer leads four extensive arrangements through his 16 piece orchestra, featuring many of the Nimbus West artists including Adele Sebastian, Jesse Sharps and Linda Hill. The music weaves the sound of afro-futuristic music through changing tempos and a relentless dynamic expressive sound that is complex and beguiling with a deep spiritual sound throughout all four tracks.

The ceremonial ‘Peyete Song no. III’ is a great swirling evocative piece from the large collective, with amazing solos from especially Horace Tapscott who seems to find a sound from the piano that is from another dimension. The arrangement airs an important message of a people and their rituals.

Horace Tapscott gives Cal Massey’s composition ‘Nakatini Suite’ a splendid futuristic big band interpretation. The composition had been earlier illuminated by both Lee Morgan on his ‘Lee-Way’ album and John Coltrane on his ‘Believer’ album titled ‘Nakatini Serenade’. Through the more expansive soundscape, the interpretation allows for some great interplay between saxophonist Jesse Sharps and drummer Everett Brown Jr. with the whole orchestra led by Horace Tapscott capturing the essence of Cal Massey’s message.

Vocalist Adele Sebastian opens up the free probing arrangement ‘Quagmire Manor at 5am’ composition with a similar delivery as with her ‘Day Dream’ from the classic ‘Desert Fairy Princess’ album before the music takes off onto the mothership adding a sense of what time and space within the manner was about amongst many great musicians and artists. Their journey and moments encapsulated within the music.

There are certain albums you hear something new every time you revisit the music and this is one of those albums. An important part of Afro-American history; the politics and art which surrounded the album. If you get a chance check out the film ‘Horace Tapscott, Musical Griot’, by filmmaker Barbara McCullough, or buy the book ‘Songs Of The Unsung’: The Musical & Social Journey of Horace Tapscott’. Mark Jones/UK Vibe

In the beginning, there was chaos_ A while later in the Heavens, where angels reigned, there was once held a great symposium, a glorious feast. Everyone was happy and having a great time, until Lucifer, fairest and mightiest of all the angels, brought in suspicious and strange substances, offering them freely with both hands for everyone to take. All were fooled by the Ancient Serpent, starting to misbehave and act in contradiction to the Heavenly Laws. The Almighty God, enraged upon learning about the mutiny, threw everyone down on earth to suffer eternally in hunger, ugliness and desperation. Vulnerable now to each and every temptation, they are ready to perpetuate Good and Evil, while building their new earthly Kingdom in any way they can. Angelic chants, Demon's screams, witches dancing and woeful mortal suffering are recounted in this album's songs, embellished with mesmerising hymns and sharp riffs. Chaos is always close and all that remains is the human revolution against the forces of evil. "Battlefields of Satan's servants, witch-hunt for our ways, face off reality and eat TV today. Lucifer, Forever Grey". - Bill Politis - "The Unknown Secretary" comes to further unsettle the turbulent waves of music and burn its own mark in history. Today, five years after its original release, Heavy Psych Sounds reissues this retro gem, serving it once again straight into your record case.

‘Colors II’ is the tenth studio album from American progressive metal band Between The Buried and Me (BTBAM).
UK is the band’s 2nd top International market.
The band’s 2018 record ‘Automata I’ hit the Billboard charts at #1 Independent, #4 Hard Music, #6 Rock Albums and #8 Top Albums.