Buscar:mo’ funk

They Say: “Driving brass and sax ensemble over funky rhythm section, playing tracks of various feel and style”.

We say: From the Lincoln Continental that memorably adorns the cover to the tranquil funk contained within, this glowing ode to the grooving force of 70s American soul music is ice cool all over. With brilliant contributions from the Three Key Alans™ (Hawkshaw, Parker, Tew) as well as Mike Moran, Les Hurdle and Keith Roberts, this is driving music for only the vibiest cats.

Originally released in 1976, The All American Powerhouse is one of the very best of the Themes library releases. It’s killer. A feast of dramatic jazz, horizontal, melodic funk and bouncing sunshine-y West-Coast feels throughout, there also lurks an intense injection of the Blaxploitation sound. Understandable, given the subject matter and year it was released.

Highlights include Alan Parker’s confident, horn-heavy wah-wah-fuelled album-opener “Sweeny Todd”, Hawkshaw’s graceful “Getaway” glide and dramatic, breathless “Speed Run”, Mike Moran’s loose, organ-driven propulsive B-Boy classic “The Pick-Up” and Keith Roberts’ percussive tour de force “Overide” that closes out the LP.

Yet, perhaps the most significant track here is Les Hurdle’s long-adored “Soul Train”. A grooving, bass-heavy library classic, it’s all swirling strings, stabbing horns, heavy open drums and melodic funk-rock guitars. Add in the funky clavinet, and the combination works beautifully.

As with all of our other Themes re-issues, the audio for The All American Powerhouse comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. We’ve taken the same care with the sleeves, handing the reproduction duties over to Richard Robinson, the current custodian of KPM’s brand identity.

They Say: “A selection of suspense underscores and drama blackcloths which vary in intensity and cover a wide range of suspense and drama situations”.

We say: A breaky, funky library great masquerading as a horror score. Oh, and the cover art is amazing.

Breath Of Danger was originally released in 1974, and rounded up a killer ensemble cast of library legends including Alan Hawkshaw, Brian Bennett, Alan Parker, David Lindup, Kenny Salmon, Barry Morgan and Ray Cooper.

Lindup’s opener “Cold Sweat” sounds like hip-hop-friendly mode Axelrod and, indeed, was brilliantly sampled by Kool Keith for his Dr. Dooom project. Alan Hawkshaw and Brian Bennett’s “The Manipulator” sounds like it arrived straight out of the same sessions as their legendary Synthesizer & Percussion LP from the same year.

Over on the B-side Alan Parker’s “Psychosis” is a moving and beautifully restrained funk-guitar/cello/harp workout. Stunning. Kenny Salmon’s “Flying Squad” is a sleazy, flute-enhanced gem and the album closes with “Voodoo”, a seventy second riot of sound and colour from the dynamic drumming-percussion duo of Barry Morgan and Ray Cooper.

Sonically, there’s a widescreen vitality in all these tracks thanks to the driving rhythms, vibrant horn sections and blazing guitar work. It renders Breath Of Danger - 45 years old - truly ageless. The Themes series is known for having particularly striking sleeves, which was unusual for library records at the time, and Breath Of Danger’s scraps of comic-book crazy make for one of the most eye-catching.

As with all of our other Themes re-issues, the audio for Breath Of Danger comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. We’ve taken the same care with the sleeves, handing the reproduction duties over to Richard Robinson, the current custodian of KPM’s brand identity.

“Osondi owendi. What is cherished by some is despised by others. One man’s meat is another man’s poison. Different strokes for different folks. To each their own. Osondi owendi.

It’s a conventional aphorism in the Igbo language but if you utter the word “osondi owendi” in Nigeria today, the first thing that comes to anybody’s mind is the cucumber-cool highlife music maestro Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe and his legendary album that takes its name from the adage. Released in 1984, Osondi Owendi was instantly received as Osadebe’s magnum opus, the crowning event of an exalted career stretching back to the early years of highlife’s emergence as Nigeria’s predominant popular music.

Stephen Osadebe first appeared on the music scene in 1958 as a spry, twenty-two year-old vocalist in the Empire Rhythm Skies Orchestra, directed by bandleader Steven Amechi. With his dapper suits, urbane Nat King Cole-influenced vocal stylings and jaunty, uptempo, calypso-scented dance tunes, he personified the frisky spirit and anxious aspirations of a young, educated generation that had come of age in the wake of the Second World War, in a Nigeria that was rapidly shaking off British colonization and marching towards an independent future. 1959 would be the year that he truly made his mark in the business with his debut solo single “Lagos Life Na So So Enjoyment.” A giddy exhortation of the music, sex, fun and freedom availed by life in the big city, the song became a sensation and an anthem, and Stephen Osadebe became the leader of his own popular dance band, the Nigerian Sound Makers.

Osadebe would ride this wave of acclaim through most of the nineteen sixties, but a change in direction would be called for at the dawn of the seventies. As Nigeria emerged from a devastating civil war, so did a new generation of youth inspired by rock and funk, confrontational sounds reflective of a more violent, less idealistic era. All of the sudden, the idioms of the post-WWII dance orchestras that nurtured Osadebe’s cohort seemed quaint, the stuff of nostalgia. Osadebe needed to evolve to respond to the new tumultuous, turned-up times.

His response? He cooled it down.

Abetted by a new crop of fire-blooded young players, Osadebe slowed his music to a mellow, meditative tempo, brought forward the lumbering, Afro Cuban-accented bass and percussion, from the rockers he borrowed searing lead lines on the electric guitar. Over this musical bedrock, doesn’t so much as sing as he dreamily muses, coos, sighs aphorisms, words of wisdom and inspiration. “When one listens to my music, all I say appears meaningful,” Osadebe explained his lyrical approach, “at times they are in the form of proverbs which provoke much thought afterwards.” The result is a blend that is both rollicking and soothingly languid. Osadebe christened the style Oyolima—a tranquil, otherworldly state of total relaxation and pleasure. Osondi Owendi represents oyolima at its finest, and possibly Nigerian highlife in epitome.

Osondi owendi. What is cherished by some is despised by others. In some way, the album’s title constitutes a paradox. Because Osondi Owendi is a record that it’s almost impossible to imagine being despised by anybody."

Hebi is tough, stomping, mesmerizing romany funk, riding Far East from the Baltic Sea on clopping hooves of uranium, with synths from spaceways further out still. Weakheart deejays will scatter, but Sotofett has road-tested this on dubplate for six months, tearing up parties and dancefloors.

Deeply meditative, desolately beautiful, Haru will stop you in your tracks. Osaruxo’s violin could be a rebab or a shamisen, a reed instrument or a voice.

Ravishing music.

Trevor Wyatt aka ​Spiltmilk ​is madly passionate about refining his sound techniques. He is totally in to spacey mutated funk right now, so keep an eye for his latest Album: ‘Funk Side of A Moon’ which will release in early 2020 on MSLX recordings.

Jozy​ is one of Canada’s hypest new vocalists and she carries a strong message. Her new R'n'B Hip-Hop album ‘Next Phase’ will release in early 2020.

Two great 'Tom Moulton' Mixes back to back! 'SOUTH SHORE COMMISSION' were a self contacted soul/funk band from Chicago.
They released their one self-titled, Billboard Dance Chart No.1 album in 1975 on Wand Records from which comes the Bunny Sigler composed/produced track “Free Man” featuring Instant Funk.

It was recorded at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia. This Tom Moulton mix on “Free Man” was an original feature of the album and is considered one of the first proto-house records.

ULTRA HIGH FREQUENCY:
More Philly splendor here from 1973 with “We’re On The Right Track” co-written and co-produced by Norman Harris. Mixed by Tom Moulton. Never previously released before on 12” single.

Local Talk is back again with a fantastic album from Soulphiction who gets deep, down and dirty with this bumping selection of timeless house tracks across 3 pieces of beautifully packaged vinyl...

Dusty grooves and soulful emotion form the foundation of this release, which also takes influence from Jazz, Hip Hop and Afrobeat.

Soulphiction aka Michel Baumann is one of Germany's most respected artists who is also known under the equally successful and iconic alias Jackmate.
This is the third time Soulphiction has featured on Local Talk including his recent single "Beehive". Other labels to have featured Soulphiction tracks and remixes include Lumberjacks in Hell, Rebirth, Pampa and Philpot Records.

A master of both mood and texture, this release showcases the studio wizardry of a true sound-smith.
Chunky percussion with shuffling rhythms form the backbone of the grooves, which are fleshed out with intricate melodies and funky basslines that move mind, body and soul.

Like the tracklist of a J Dilla mixtape, this album flows with a purposeful care combined with a storytelling blend of emotions rarely heard in a house music long player.

Executed to perfect precision, this album is an instant classic and a must-have for home listening along with a club setting.

Following on from their stunning debut collaboration - “Fragile” on GLOW/3; we announce a full release from Edlan & Djah.
Introducing the Melancholy EP: 4 uniquely intricate doses of futuristic and deep liquid filled with vibe, funk and soul. Proof this Dutch wonderduo are two of the most forward thinking and exciting new talents emerging on the scene.
Make sure you reserve your limited vinyl copy of Edlan & Djah’s new instalment now to avoid disappointment, dropping this November across all formats.

London’s Axe On Wax Records have been coordinating a quality stream of house since 2014, a trend that continues with their latest release from Zopelar vs Brothermartino. Creating a fraternal connection between Brazil and Italy, these are six tracks of woozy, charismatic house funk of the finest pedigree.

Zopelar - one half of Apron Records associates My Girlfriend - takes the first-side easing in with 'Fin', a starry-eyed and expansive instrumental that let us know immediately what his synths can do. Taking this shimmering sound, he adds distinct pressure funk on the bubbling, West Coast groove of the tellingly titled, ‘Funky Juno’, which delights with sensual vocoder and tough drums. ‘Thamis’ is left to take things in a more psychedelic direction, with Zopelar pushing his studio into fizzy, almost anti-gravitational territory.

On the flip, Brothermartino (Money $ex Records) establishes a sensual atmosphere with the lo-slung slap of ‘For 8 Freakin' Hours’, followed by ‘Dem Type Stars’, which stretches out the acidic funk, creating wormholes of spectral grooves. The release closes with the warm and nostalgic ‘We All Love People Who Die’, a cool, beatless interjection loaded with the charm of a cult film soundtrack.

Sly Stone is a songwriter and record producer, mostly famous for his role as front man for Sly and the Family Stone. The band played a critical role in the development of soul, funk, rock, and psychedelics in the 1960s and '70s.

Sly Stone was identified as a musical prodigy at a young age. By the time he was seven, Sylvester had already become proficient on the keyboards and by the age of eleven he had mastered the guitar, bass, and drums as well. While still in high school, Sylvester had settled primarily on the guitar and joined a number of high school bands.

In 1993 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the group.

High On You (1975) is the first solo album by songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sly Stone. For the most part Stone performed a large part of the instrumentation for each song on his own by using multi-tracking. The album prominently features vocalist Rudy Love and includes the singles I Get High on You', Le Lo Li' and Crossword Puzzle'.

After being blown away by a few tunes - probably just as you will be after listening to this - Samy Ben Redjeb travelled to the infamous capital city of Somalia in November of 2016, making Analog Africa the first music label to set foot in Mogadishu.

On his arrival in Somalia Samy began rifling through piles of cassettes and listening to reel-to-reel tapes in the dusty archives of Radio Mogadishu, looking for music that ‘swam against the current’.

The stars were aligned: an uncovered and unmarked pile
of discarded recordings was discovered in a cluttered corner of the building. Colonel Abshir - the senior employee and protector of Radio Mogadishu’s archives - clarified that the pile consisted mostly of music nobody had manage to identify, or music he described as being ‘mainly instrumental and strange music’.

At the words ‘strange music’ Samy was hooked, the return flight to Tunisia was cancelled. The pile turned out to be a cornucopia of different sounds: radio jingles, background music and interludes for radio programmes, television shows and theatre plays. There were also a good number of disco tunes, some had been stripped of their lyrics, the interesting parts had been recorded multiple times then cut, taped together and spliced into a long groovy instrumental loop.

Like everywhere in Africa during the 1970s, both men and women sported huge afros, bell-bottom trousers and platform shoes.
James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and The Temptations’ funk were the talk of the town. In 1977, Iftin Band were invited to perform at the Festac festival in Lagos where they represented Somalia at the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture.

Not only did they come back with an award but they also returned with Afrobeat. While Fela Kuti’s ‘Shakara’ had taken over the continent and was spreading like wildfire throughout Latin America, it was the track ‘Lady’ that would become the hit in Mogadishu.

Hoshina Anniversary is conquerer of the mind, creating the most beautiful sound, other than silence.
This is his first offering for the ESP Institute.

Side A’s 'Sagano' is fairly representative of the Hoshina sound — raw organic samples and instrumentation, of traditional Japanese origin, mercilessly bent and tweaked to suit the needs of his obsessively precise arrangement. Midway through the track, we’re bewildered by his demonic breakdown on the Rhodes, which daringly tags the bassline and strings into a synchronized trio of jazz-funk noodles, and he even throws in a key change before dropping us back into the main hook for the duration of the dance. It's a major flex, and indeed makes an impression.

On side B’s 'Haru Wa Akebono', Hoshina displays an alternate and equally significant side to his songwriting, merging optimistic twinkles and arpeggios with slightly detuned dry percussion for an overall uneasy vibe, not dissimilar to early video game aesthetics or circuit-bent toys. Across both sides, there lies an unhinged overtone, such that we feel one small step from spiraling deep into a demented quicksand, a freak-out where hallucinations get the better of us.

Initiating a breadth of releases planned with the ESP Institute, this single summarizes a few of Hoshina’s most compelling modes, and though there is a whole circus yet to unfold, we hold his cards close, no spoilers before the main act.

These two songs will have you drinking moon juice and dancing naked at the Mardi Gras.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!
Let's celebrate the most peaceful time of the year with this fantabolous double-sided soul bomb! "Christmas Is A Drag" starts with a monstrous open drum break and goes straight into a 1960s boogaloo-type funk track! The b-side is a fierce instrumental which might even appeal to the open-minded Northern Soul crowd.

The perfect gift for your record loving husband! Limited edition too!

Vinyl Only. Produced by Ollie Marland of De-Lite and Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart fame Label logo by manga legend Shintaro Kago. Archival reissue of rare 1984 jazz-funk fusion diamond in the rough by German-Australian-British madcap ensemble Bells of Kyoto, produced by Ollie Marland of De-Lite and Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart fame. Fusions grooves with Orient-funk detours and looking out the window of a Swissair aircraft moments of cool mid 1980s contemplation.

Highly recommended to porthole dreamers, seasoned mind travelers, inventive dancefloor adventurers, and dogs who like to stick their head out the car window.

Drums - Alex Friedrich
Electric Bass - Peter Drefahl
Mastered By - Rico Sonderegger
Piano, Bells - Peter Waters
Producer - Bells Of Kyoto, Laurie Carls, Ollie Marland
Recorded By - Laurie Carls, Ollie Marland
Synthesizer, Guitar, Percussion - Ollie Marland

Derek Neal is a Turin based producer born in Vermont (USA). He started his DJ'in career as an undergraduate student at his college radio station and since then he's been cultivating his interest in house and techno music. Fostered by his brother's own producer career, who goes by the name of Motions and is 1/3 of the Montreal collective 00:AM, Derek pushed further his own interest in production to the point of proposing a set of tracks to Funnuvojere Records. Probably struck by the simplicity and effectiveness of Derek's sound, the Berlin label agreed on releasing Reason Machine, Derek's debut EP.? A comforting sound distinguishes this record, it is gentle and deep at the same time. If A1 - Sky City feels like diving in calm water, A2 - Jet Fuel could soundtrack a romantic date. On the flip B1 - October has a cinematic personality, envisioning a urban landscape, while B2 - Stereosense expresses a special dynamicity of sound.? Don't get tricked by my rather emotional introduction though, Neal knows about beats and you'll hear. From breakbeat to funk, Chicago house to dub this EP is all-round a delightful expression of contemporary club music.

Greg Hates Car Culture was Venetian Snares' first ever vinyl release. Long out of print, it came out in 1999, as the third release on Minneapolis label History Of The Future. Aaron Funk's hallmarks were there from the start. His absurdist sense of humour, the razor sharp edits and his use of odd time-signatures. There is a rawness here, not often captured on later records, where you can imagine Aaron playing live in front of a room full of young breakcore fanatics. Indeed most of the tracks here were recorded live, tweaking his effects and EQ on the fly, to DAT from his Amiga. The album opens with "Personal Discourse", recorded in 1997, which samples Aaron calling into a Dominatrix live on community cable TV, while "Fuck A Stranger In The Ass" samples from the film The Big Lebowski. The track "Aqap" has a different sound to the others having been recorded later, in 1998, on Aaron's first PC.

We have also added three hitherto unreleased 1997 tracks to this reissue. Two of them "Eating America.." and "Punk Kids" appeared on Venetian Snares rare self-released 1998 cassette Spells and the long sought after "Milk" was only passed around by his friends.

Greg Hates Car Culture lets you hear the raw energy of a musician at the birth of his sound.

Enzo Carella was an Italian singer-songwriter who scored a major hit with the song “Barbara” in 1979. His third album Sfinge is considered by many as his best album. It is an infectious mixture of funk, jazz, and Creole music. With the music of artists like Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and Genesis in mind he created his own compositions, and the result still sounds incredible.

Sfinge is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on transparent blue vinyl.

Second release from Label head Mouhcine Zouitina commonly Known as Polyswitch. Casablanca’s finest returns for a second release with six songs spanning over the spectrum’s most vivid junctions. « FEVERISH CUTS VOL.2 » flaunts a strong funk connection merging with an uplifting rhythmic activity under a jazzy atmosphere. This continuum endorses the first volume with an ensemble of afro-diasporic and free flowing sonic slices.

Vinyl only imprint DMK (sub-label of Dogmatik Records) returns this November with the ‘Future Funk’ EP from Alex Jann.

Alex Jann’s material has amassed a wide array of supporters over the years, from Solid Blake and Alienata to Dave Clarke, Afrodeutsche and Posthuman his strictly hardware and modular synth workouts perfectly weave emotional synthesis with raw, gritty aesthetics. He’s released several EP’s over the years on labels such as his own Censor imprint with remixes of his work by such artists as Marco Bernardi & Animistic Beliefs, multiple EP’s with Clive Henry and shared label space on Rhythm Cult alongside Deadbeat, Barem, & Aquarius Heaven.

Title-cut ‘Future Funk’ leads with crunchy 808 style bumpy drums, tension building strings and squelchy acid licks at its core, while ethereal pad swells and wandering sub bass tones wander within the groove. ‘Robotic Prayer’ follows next, with shuffled percussion, soft atmospherics and a choppy bass line smoothly carried across five and a half minutes all subtly nuanced throughout.

Opening the flip side is ‘The Return’ which employs robust drums and murky synth flutters alongside cinematic string melodies before ‘Liberation Of Mass’ rounds out the release, fusing a broken rhythm and intricately programmed oscillating synth effects to create a hypnotic end to the EP.

We wanted to make a promo text for this release, but then this message by Alphabets Heaven came thru:

Subtitles is my love letter to salsa. A torn, scribbled, badly translated love letter to an old address that the resident left years ago. But fuck it, it's still a love letter.

Every since I heard Larry Harlow's La Cartera about 12 years ago I've been trying to find out as much as I could about salsa. So much of it runs counter to everything I know about dance music, and yet it so clearly bangs. So on and off for the last 10 years I've been buying salsa, trying to work out how many imprints of Fania there were, trying to get my head round the horn arrangements, and generally having a great time with basically no contact with anyone who was actually a part of the culture in anyway. My Spanish is pretty bad as well, so all I really know is quite a few songs are about farmers.

Subtitles is my shot at salsa. My completely uneducated stab at something that's way too complex to just guess at. Not surprisingly, it sounds nothing like salsa. What's weird is that it sounds like pretty much everything else I listen to. I think in many ways it's the most honest thing I've ever made. By completely failing at making salsa I've managed to blend together all the club music, art music and everything else I've loved. You might hear some UK funky, or whatever the 2019 version of that is called. You might hear some minimalism. You might hear some psyched out shit. You also might hear a gigantic fucking mess. Subtitles is a translation to a film done so badly you find out more about the person who translated it than the film. I was trying to tell you about the film, but maybe you'll like the subtitles.

Shout to London Afrobeat Collective for the horns Memotone for the cello Deft for the Woos. Shout out to Scratcha DVA for being Scratcha DVA.