Suche:mo do

Two essential and eternal classics from New York Hammond legend Larry Young with vocals by the talented Linda "Tequila" Logan.

Rare groove standard "Turn of the Lights" I would hope needs no introduction, I well known album track that does actually exist on a rare promo arista 45 but it is HARD to find and goes for around $250+ when it turns up once in a blue moon (probably more now people know it exists).On the flip Linda's amazing free vocal on "Fuel for the Fire" is cut on 45 for the first time, one of those out there records you play on a good night when people are feeling open and it all comes together. I have spun both these records for over 20 years and no format surpasses the cut done here by Timmion Lab from the new Sony masters, I'm very happy I don't have to break out the album tracks any more.

Larry died in 1978 from untreated pneumonia and Linda disappeared from music apart from a few writing credits on 90s pop artist Betty Boo's tracks. If you love that voice be sure to check out her great vocal on Tony Williams Lifetime track 'You Make It Easy', great folky Jazz.

It's album release time for this Madrid-based soul/jazz organ trio who have been burning up stages and festivals throughout 2019 and who have already had a successful single out on Rocafort Records. Beat Bronco Organ Trio have not rewritten the Hammond musical handbook, but they do what it says on the tin rather splendidly – a Road Trip that grooves, swings and sashays around the familiar but much loved funky jazz theme.

Although it's impossible to listen to the album without summoning up the ghosts of Jimmies McGriff & Smith and the like, nearly all tracks here are originals and shout out personality, verve and respectful homage to the tradition. Featuring the usual leitmotifs: Shaftish film sountrack, lo-fi lounger, gospel-tinged toe-tapper, the hip shaker and much wah-wah frenesi, there's nothing not to like if the genre is your bag.

The steaming horn section on "Hard Play" thickens the sauce à la JBs and the Meters, aided along by a unique orchestra of handclaps. Vocalist and guitarist Alberto Palacios Anaut storms in with "Hey Hey", an old Dave Bartholomew classic from New Orleans, just to remind us where Fats Domino and Ray Charles got it all from. Chip Wickham makes two welcome appearances on flute, adding an extra jazzy touch to "Squirtly" and "Electro Pi" – the latter a fabulous trippy, spacious head-nodder that demands in our opinion some kind of a wigged out drum'n'bass remix. Every track is clearly dominated by variations on the vintage keyboard, be it Hammond, Clavinet or Minimoog; all roads lead to that sexy, sacred sound.

Spain is already prominent on the modern-day Funk map thanks to groups like The Sweet Vandals, Speak Low and Mighty Vamp – and it comes as no surprise that our hero trio featured at various times in all these bands. Gabri Casanova (keys), Lucas de Mulder (guitar, percussion) and Antonio "Pax" Alvarez (drums, percussion) have been busy reviving the funk gospel for some time now. Road Trip is an elegant culmination of their efforts in keeping alive a revered and timeless tradition that still today serves as a reference to where all the good stuff came from: The Church!

Scottish trumpeter Malcolm Strachan is a founder member of top UK funk/jazz-funk band The Haggis Horns as well as being one of the busiest session musicians in the UK today. In a professional career spanning 20 years, he's recorded with the likes of Mark Ronson, Amy WineHouse, Corinne Bailey Rae, Jamiroquai, Martha Reeves and The Vandellas, Jesse Glynne, The Craig Charles Fantasy Funk Band, Black Honey, The New Mastersounds and Blue Note saxophone legend Lou Donaldson. Now he's finally releasing his first solo album, aptly titled "About Time", on Haggis Records and he's going back to his original roots... Jazz.

The album is a collection of original compositions, all written and arranged by Malcolm, which are firmly rooted in the classic acoustic modern jazz style typified by the great 60's and 70's recordings on the legendary Blue Note Records label. A nice variation of themes and tempos feature throughout the album. From full-on latin vibes to beautiful ballads, soul jazz grooves to cinematic soundtrack flavours, all woven together by a great group of experienced musicians.

Malcolm's core quartet is himself on trumpet/flugelhorn, fellow Haggis Horns members George Cooper (piano) and Erroll Rollins (drums), plus Courtny Tomas on double bass. Featured guests are Atholl Ransome on tenor sax (The Haggis Horns), Rob Mitchell on baritone sax (Abstract Orchestra) and Danny Barley on Trombone. Strings are courtesy of Richard Curran and the percussionist is one of the finest session players in Europe, Karl Vanden Bossche (Incognito, Robert Palmer, Joss Stone, The Gorillaz, Sade, Blur - He and Malcolm met while touring with Mark Ronson)

Malcolm's love of jazz comes from his parents. Aged 7, his jazz musician father gave him a trumpet. From then on, jazz was his life. His musical education came via music teachers, youth jazz orchestras and jazz summer schools but mostly from his dad's record collection listening to Art Blakey and Dizzy Gillespie records and learning to improvise and solo by ear. At 18, he enrolled at Leeds College of Music and quickly immersed himself in the city's vibrant acid jazz, funk and soul scene and from making his recording debut in 1999 with The New Mastersounds, jazz was his musical passion but took a back seat to funk/soul/pop which were the day job. Until now.

Jazz is back. The wait is over. It really is "About Time" for Malcolm Strachan.

FFF continues on his rich run of form with a heavy double hitter on Foxy Jangle - classic jungle signatures meet cutting-edge production precision across both tracks.

"No Ice Cream" fuses rare groove, ragga and neo-classic jungle rhythms, the resulting roller a molotov cocktail of club-ready jungle for the big soundsystems and low-slung, sweaty basements.

"Backstreet Dub" is an altogether smokier affair than the flip. Pulsating UK hardcore DNA meets dub sensibilities and DnB breaksmanship, creating a strong-armed sonic journey littered with emblems of soundsystem culture.

All tracks by FFF
Lacquer cut by Shane @ Finyl Tweak
Mastering by Bob Macc @ Subvert Central
Artwork by CISTO
Additional graphic design by Yorobi

Repress

Melodies Of Ancient Beats Depth or Deep, (with Dep also meaning beautiful in Indonesian) is the meaning of this newly created persona from the artist DemoDc. After many years of experimenting with music making, releasing digital eps and albums, Demo has come to an end of a cycle arriving to a mature state of craftsmanship, ready to deliver his dream onto the vinyl medium.

This is the 2nd ep that continues a volume of a 5 ep project. Its own kind of album type edition so to speak. Everything Eye Love is a piece of electronic music that embodies much of what is personally loved when it comes to innovative techno. Broken beats with a gentle gallop of hop, whisking away into what seemingly can be taken as over melodic madness at 1st, yet when letting go of any expectation, a delightful swim of glistening magic dances with dedicated playfulness expressing a deeper emotion of heart felt delivery. Behind the scenes are a very reminiscent display of Detroit techno chords combining to give the track the old yet new skool vibe. Heart Tribal, is exactly that. Cutting through the ego, battling the darkness with dark undertones seeking to find the jewel of light through the denseness of dark reality, to find true centre. With tribal reflections and electric ground of beats, Heart Tribal extends itself into bridging the soul from dense reality into light. It also pays respects to the fact that when finding clarity in any given moment in everyday life, it doesn’t last long within this complex world of manipulation and dark intention that we seem to be living in. However, this is the meaning understood by MOAB DEP, does it resonate with you? Or does it speak to you entirely differently?

Titonton Duvante's long and more than essential Residual Recordings clocks up a fantastic 25th release in the form of a fifth volume of the famous Refraction series. This one draws on another masterful mix of names including Nachtbraker, Christopher Rau, Titonton himself as well as a rare killer outing from veteran S-Max. Reaching a milestone in style...

Nachtbraker opens the EP with a swirling house cut that is riddled with FM bass, twinkling keys and balmy pads that reach for the heavens. Christopher Rau goes for a more raved up house cut with feel good energy chords but a nice deep bassline and pensive synths on his Give It. Titonton does as he does best - keeps it deep, loopy yet driven, with a slick tech cut that is dubbed out and perfectly atmospheric as well as being hugely infectious. Last of all, S-Max comes correct with the slick boom bap of his stripped back house roller Lil' Lightyear Wants to Ride, with its dreamy pads and sci-fi feels.

Residual is by now, and for many years been a key label for lovers of tasteful house, as this latest collection proves they are showing no signs of slowing down.

Take two monster tracks and apply the ‘Heavy Disco’ ethos to them. Then get on the dance floor and let the music take control. Remember – Heavy Makes You Happy.

Just act like it didn’t happen…
Reznik & Mikesh crack open a fine vintage bottle of conspiracy with the scorching truth bomb ‘The Moon
Landing Was A Hoax’. Following their remix of Telepopmusik last year, the freshly-formed duo of
Keinemusik affiliates deliver such an acid weapon Justin Strauss insisted they release it after it caused
total Panorama Bar meltdown for him.
In case you missed the inaugural edit, ‘The Moon Landing Was A Hoax’ takes off with pure 303 bounces
before sharp vocal cuts pepper the mix leading to a heaven-opening breakdown. Total euphoria; it’s so
powerful it totally misses the lunar landscape and spins us back around our own planet faster and faster
with every emphatic layer. Reznik & Mikesh’s ‘Area 51 Infinite Mix’ adds three more minutes of feels,
creating this immense drama that sits somewhere between Chemical Brothers and Two Lone
Swordsmen.
It’s backed by a giant leap of a remix by Justin Strauss himself. Teaming up with Throne of Blood’s Max
Pask, they take it up through the gears, ramping the rolling acid tension until the last two minutes pays
out the euphoria jolt we’re waiting for. File under rocket-fuel.
There are no small steps elsewhere on this trip either; ‘The Nostromo Swerve’ goes intergalactic with
such tense, epic acid techno thunder it could dodge entire black holes while ‘Kiss My Axe’ goes all-out
Stingray-style electro with its gravity-defying breakbeat swing and sweeping layers of melancholy
synths. Total celestial immersion: in space, no one can hear you scream, dream or even make up
hoaxes… Happy landings.

Entitled ‘My Heart Is Hungry And The Days Go By So Quickly’ Danish singer and songwriter Jacob Bellens presents his fifth solo album. Thanks to his unique voice and his talent for heartfelt melodies, over the years Jacob, also known as frontman of I Got You On Tape and Murder, has become one of the most distinctive figures on the Scandinavian music scene. Slightly darker in tone than its predecessors ‘Trail Of Intuition’ (2018) or ‘Polyester Skin’ (2016), the new album lets us see the world through Jacob’s eyes.
Somewhere between left-field pop and a classical singer/songwriter approach, the songs were recorded in two sessions with producer Mads Brinch, drummer Tobias Laust, bass player Jonas Westergaard, keyboardist Malthe Rostrup and guitarist Tobias Fuglsang. “So many good friends and amazing instrumentalists have contributed to the sound“, explained Jacob. “And mostly, people were playing what they felt the song needed, which was an incredibly inspiring way of just letting the process develop naturally, and take on a life of its own.” As such, the recordings give off a distinct light-footed and organic feel. Rich in metaphors, the lyrics deal with personal perceptions based on everyday life occurrences that at the same time hint at the meaning of life in general - or at least suggest a higher perspective. The sonical expression is timeless but also modernistic and the lyrical point of view is refreshingly diverse, never just black or white. The sad songs have uplifting, often surreal qualities, and the lighter, uptempo songs also invite to a certain darkness. A flower basket full of difficult emotions, sprinkled with magical fairy dust that somehow makes everything worthwhile.

KOGNITIF is back with MONOMETRIC 2020 EDITION, 6 years after the first edition. He totally reinterprets this deeply Trip-Hop album with a very wise and sharp ear and invites you to rediscover his classics , such as “Bande de Dégénérés” or “So Let’s Begin”. Jeannette Robertson’s gorgeous voice being delightfully enhanced by this remastering.

The most important pieces are still the 4 original tracks scattered across the album so just get ready, open ears wide and check this out !

The Devonns dust off the golden age of 70's Chicago Soul with their self-titled debut album on Record Kicks. Straight from the streets of Chicago, Illinois, The Devonns (pronounced "De vaughns") are the brand new soul outfit and the latest addition of the Record Kicks' family, whose self-titled debut album that drops April 03, is an assortment of influences taking us back to the heyday of soul.

Drawing influences from bands such as The Dramatics, The Isley Brothers and Leroy Hutson, yet bringing in their own unique modern twist, influenced by artists such as Jamie Lidell and Raphael Saadiq; singer Mat Ajjarapu explains how unintentionally, the rich heritage of Chicago's history with soul music influenced him.

"The city was at the epicentre of a lot of good music back in the 50's all the way to the 80's, a lot of the labels specialising in soul were based in the Chicago and we even had our own sound known as "Chicago soul". Through several years of crate digging it surprised me how many songs I loved were recorded in this city, for example one of my favourites is this great little song by The Natural Four, produced by Leroy Hutson 'Can This Be Real', and released via Curtom Records."

The band started in 2016 after multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Mathew Ajjarapu dropped out of med school and found himself unemployed and drifting. Listening to music constantly at the time, he found inspired to put a band together and create his own music. Pairing up with some of the best musicians Chicago has to offer, he founded The Devonns: the rhythm duty is entrusted to Khalyle Hagood (bass), Ari Lindo (guitar) and Khori Wilson (drums).

Originally he wanted to focus on 50s style doo-wop, similar to The Flamingos; rich in reverb and vocal harmonies, but in the first initial practise they had it was evident the band clicked on their love of soul music from the 70s, so their music took a natural turn towards that sound, with tracks such as the Wilson Pickett-esque single 'Tell Me'.

The release took almost two years to complete as Mat explains "I am a perfectionist, I had a very specific vision in my head about how it should sound and I wasn't going to rest until I achieved it."

"This is a definitely a throwback soul record, as well as being drawn to lush and intricate arrangements of Motown, I was also inspired by the more lo-fi works of smaller labels such as Chess and Capsoul, and I wanted to capture the magic they had in those recordings in our record, as everything feels too precise nowadays" clarifies Mat.

It was thanks to his engineer Mike Hagler, who introduced him to Paul Von Mertons (Mavis Staples, Paul McCartney, Elton John) who arranges and conducts for Brian Wilson's live touring show and after a 45 minute phone conversation about what Mat wasn't keen on, on the album, he realised Paul totally understood where he was coming from.

After a few months wait for Paul to get back from touring they entered the studio with "Paul's players" and as soon as they hit record, Mat explains "I was getting chills up my neck, it was one of the happiest days of my life, and finally we had nailed it!"

Tracks such as 'Come Back; which Mat wrote in ten minutes on a $300 Daneelectro Singlecut guitar initially, came to life, with Paul's rich string arrangements and features guitarist and percussionist Ken Stringfellow (R.E.M.).

It still took a few months to get the recording process finished but finally after a torturous nineteen months they album was finally finished.

The result is an album filled with lavish arrangements and catchy melodies which take us on a nostalgic musical journey inspired by chic 70s soul, yet the band don't hesitate to add their own unique and elegant contemporary stamp to the record.

"Annual Flowers in Color" is an absolutely gorgeous, perfectly weathered, subtly strange record. It's exactly the thing you're thinking of when you think "I want to hear really killer polysynths and tape delay" but it's also much more, glistening with distended reflections of Steve Roach and Stapleton, ringing with simultaneous sublimated echoes of the dorkiest and most expensive French mellotron prog and the most incandescent cheap heat from the $2 exotica bin, and dripping with the "as above, so below" that characterizes synthesizer records at their best. It's both a welcoming point of entry for the uninitiated and a sticky, seductive cut deep enough to envelop any heads seeking a way station on the search for the apocryphal second volume of Cosmos Farm Sessions.

Chris Madak Philadelphia, February 2020

After Nu Guinea’s LP, Nuova Napoli, and Napoli Segreta first compilation, NG RECORDS follows up with an exploration into the unknown groovy side of Naples by releasing Napoli Segreta Vol. 2 Famiglia Discocristiana, DNApoli and Nu Guinea team up again selecting more tracks from their archives, for a new compilation containing 9 mysterious Neapolitan tracks, found in the most hidden corners of remote flea markets around the Vesuvius.

But forget classical Neapolitan songs, "'O Sole Mio" or "Luna Rossa"... Forget about what you expect to find once you land in town … Oh and also forget about Google Maps.
Take a dodgy local guide, keep your eyes open, and follow it to enter the secret downtown, the underground, the routes that no satellite can detect, but beware there is no easy way out.

Napoli Segreta Vol. 2 is a musical journey into the sonic landscapes of Naples that you have never heard of before. A variety of genres merging soul, disco, funk, blues, new wave, afro-beat and boogie, including lyrics in Neapolitan urban slang, instrumental tracks with progressive flavour, and also some unexpected covers!

Nina Simone was an exceptional artist. She was gifted with a precocious talent and she played music at home and in church. Nina originally counted on becoming the first black female classical pianist ; her plans were thwarted and that frustration no doubt permeated almost her entire career. Yet she became a diva capable of combining the jazz world with those of the classics and soul, and among other titles she recorded are some of the most vibrant and moving performances of Wild is the Wind or You Can Have Him, I don’t Want Him.

She was one of the greatest artists of her time, and her fervour and rigorous demands concerning the quality of her music took her to the highest summits, whether in her compositions or in her vocal and piano performances. For all that, she never forgot her condition as a black woman in the America of the Sixties, and her active commitment to defending the rights of the black minority was exemplary - and at times even excessive, for which she was often reproached.

She has left us some of the most beautiful chapters in jazz and soul music, among them the 23 titles that appear in this album.

Produced by Leon Michels. Features vocal and guitar by Kevin martin of Brainstory. When Lizette and Quevin visited Leon Michels at his home in upstate New York an impromptu recording session gave birth to 'Grow Forever', the first ever song from this top-notch duo.

Quevin (aka Kevin Martin) is one third of Brainstory and the man behind the honeyed voice that blessed their hit singles Dead End and Mnemophobia. Lizette is a talented ceramics artist whose voice has a certain 'je ne sais quoi' that is reminiscent of records by Little Ann and Rosie and The Originals. 'Grow Forever' is a mid tempo ballad that will have most collectors buying doubles. Lizette & Quevin trade lines over beautiful chords, fluttering guitar, and crushing drums.

The B Side is an instrumental of the track entitled 'Now It's Your Turn To Sing' that we will be using for a talent contest of sorts. We will be inviting people to write and sing their own songs over the track and sent them into us via Youtube, the three best versions will win Big Crown prizes.

It is truly a family affair over at 7 Days Entertainment. Butterbandz, the youngest son of 7 Days Entertainment label head Big Strick, gives us his debut EP titled Legacy. This freshman EP of the youngest of the Strickland clan is nothing short of what you would expect from a family member deeply rooted in dance music from Detroit. The first song off of the EP is a vocal track from BBZ with help from the artist Marc, who is a rising vocal talent from Detroit associated with the 7 Days imprint. If You Don’t Dance is slated to be an anthem among the scene for years to come. It evokes you to get out there and move your body. It brings the energy from start to finish with excited high hats, a grumpy bass and an admirable synth pattern. Things slow down for a more relaxed groove on Free Roaming, a laid back chiller with a smooth synth and a mellow bass of pure delight. Its reverbed synths take you on a never-ending journey through your own mind. Hellraiser is a straight high-octane pure adrenaline rush. It has the soul of true Detroit techno. The unforgiving drum and percussion pattern shines brightly over an acid bass line and catchy synth keys. The last song on the debut EP, Monkey See, closes the project out with a bang. An offset drum knocks on top of an offset synth and warm pianos. The flute is complementary and the percussion ties it all together nicely. Butterbandz shows unparalleled promise for more top-notch projects in the future

Ten years on from its digital-only release, Utter presents the legendary third Mu album on vinyl for the first time! What can we say? This is possibly the most bonkers and 'out there' Maurice Fulton has gone production-wise, from sub-heavy Hip-Hop to Country (!) to Thrash-Metal (?!) alongside a sprinkling of his signature genius House/Disco magic thrown in for good measure... all with Mutsumi's infamous vocals over the top. Limited pressing with fluorescent pink sleeve & insert. Remastered & cut by Rashad Becker at D&M.

"Who Sent You?" by Irreversible Entanglements is an entire holistic jam of "infinite possibilities coming back around," a sprawling meditation for afro-cosmonauts, a reminder of the forms and traumas of the past, and the shape and vision of Afrotopian sounds to come. Stay on it! This is the future! This is the spectral dreaming, the reshaped soundwaves of post-Katrina, post-Osage Avenue, post-Obamacare that we borrow from to do this work, so stay on it. Who Sent You? they said from their liquid cryo-chamber, from a low-light induction field cobbled together with lithium rods, with melted down Romare Bearden and Howardena Pindell paintings, stitched with chaos fibers and placed in the center of the carrion husk of a burnt out shanty town. They took time to scrape ashen samples of what was, their souls the residue thick and caked on, that still climbs those new high-rise condominiums like moss - the only evidence that they were once there, that they were baked into the fabric of this planet - they were there fixing elevators and tossing wrenches into quantum fields until they were stopped! frisked! and turned into weird, 100-foot martyr murals on the backside, the north side, of supermarket walls-Who Sent You? is how the matrix modulation works. Dig it: Who Sent You? is the punk-rocking of jazz and the mystification of the avant-garde, a sci-fi sound from that out-soul-fire jazz quintet Irreversible Entanglements.

New Jersey group’s debut album released on Brunswick Records, 1980 soul and disco classic. Includes the club classic ‘I Like What You’re Doing To Me’, which helped the band secure a contract with
Brunswick. When released the single reputedly sold over 250,000 in the US alone, yet never made the R&B or pop charts there. When released in the UK, charted to number 20 in Nov 1980. Reissued with original artwork, printed inner sleeve and pressed on 180g heavyweight vinyl

LIMITED EDITION 300 ONLY WHITE VINYL

There was a terrible egregious shift in vibration the day the transmission arrived. It came to me in a dream, as was natural for these particular occurrences, and left no time for preparation. The sound was unmistakable, a low baritone that echoed wildly and reeked of ancient fumes. A deeply monumental and monolithic apparition stood before what appeared to be a crowd of hexagonal beings. The vibrations worked through them in an apparent communicatory way, though would be impossible to translate in any logical linguistic fashion. I don’t know how but I knew they were aware of me, though their disposition was imminent of their consciousness as being collective, rather than individual; and were largely unbothered by my presence.
 
Once the transmission had finished it was clear that there had been a tamper. The kind of which Id seen  before, and had resulted in definite yet undefinable change in the fabric of reality.
 
I initially stumbled upon the odd and highly dangerous musical practices of Perhaps while on an assignment in Bermuda. There had been rumors of a local tribesman partaking in occult practices, of which I knew was native strictly to the Goat Bleeding Bad Men of the Congolese jungle. These rumors intrigued my journalistic nature, so I took the afternoon off in the hopes to possibly glean something that would be an easy pitch to a tabloid back home.
 
Upon arrival it was clear there was a strange foreign intervention within the community of the tribe, which was largely uninhabited upon first glance. Much of the surrounding foliage had been strung with the entrails of various animals and there were several disturbing fixtures composed of bones and various organs lining the commune. I managed to track down the tribesman, who appeared to be in some deep trance and was entirely unable to communicate, though seemed to be fixated on a single task: the drawing of a peculiar symbol. My researching the symbol resulted in only one hit, a piece of musical literature by a band Perhaps, who I later found to be recording in the area just weeks before.
 
It didn’t take long for me to become fully fixated on Perhaps, who were anything but coy about their whereabouts and metaphysical practices. Wherever they went a small commune followed, which was typically composed of deranged acid freaks, occultists, and Norweigian dairy farmers who had sold all their assets to follow the band after “hearing their music speak from the mountains”. After managing to crack into one of their camps that was stationed in an abandoned motel, I spoke with Jim Haney of Perhaps regarding their cultish practices, who gave little in way of detail but claimed to be working towards a deconstruction of reality through a linguistic utilization of vibration.
 
My stint with the cosmic beings through the telekinetic transmission had lead to one conclusion; that Perhaps have been in the works on something new. It seems as if they may have landed on the result which Haney had mentioned years ago. Through my continued interest I’ve procured the names of other members of this current project, which include: Sean Mcdermott, Tom Weeks, Ricky Petraglia, David Khoshtinat, Ben Talmi, Makoto Kawabata, Lucas Brode, Isiah Mitchell, Olivia Kieffer, Tyler Skoglund, Chang Chang. Though I can’t say exactly what is to come, it seems as if the ideas that were proposed during my initial meet may have been surpassed. Perhaps’ plans have begun to surface, and we are all at risk, for whatever that means. The great column and the vibrational prismic beings have shifted their attention to earthly matters, it would be foolhardy to not heed their warning. Though, self-preservation may be an impossibility.
 
Sam Hailstone Dec 24/ 2019

BBE Music announces the first repress of the classic Roy Ayers albums ‘Virgin Ubiquity’ 1 and 2 since 2006, on luxurious 180g vinyl with brand new sleeve notes written by Sean P. The music on 'Virgin Ubiquity' was selected and mixed down from previously unreleased multi-tracks recorded between 1976 & 1981, which Roy had in storage. It's all unmistakably Ayers, but is diverse and fresh enough to be more than a mere adjunct to one of his most productive and popular periods - testament to his and his musicians' creative abilities, as much of most revered Ayers output stems from this time. These discoveries take their place beside some illustrious company in a timeline bookended by 'Everybody Loves The Sunshine' and 'Africa, Center Of The World', several solo and Ubiquity albums, collaborations with Wayne Henderson & Fela Kuti, as well as guesting on LPs by Buster Williams and Herbie Mann. Out of print on vinyl and CD for over a decade now, BBE is delighted to re- present these groundbreaking Roy Ayers titles, neatly coinciding with the 45th anniversary of his classic album ‘Mystic Voyage’ and a UK tour to commemorate it during April 2020.

Charlotte Dos Santos exists in a lane all her own. As a fiercely independent producer, singer, composer and arranger, she takes full ownership over her art, imbuing it with feather-light vocals one moment and a rumbling piano line the next. Her warm, emotive and jazz-inflected song writing weaves seamlessly between themes of identity, womanhood and human connection.

On Harvest Time, the follow up to Cleo (2017 EP), Charlotte shows no signs of letting up. These are songs written with an honesty that can’t be neatly placed into a box. Rather, they beautifully tell a story of rebirth, growth, self-belief and empathy.

Apparel Music is the platform, Chevals the protagonist, vinyl the material, end of March 2020 is the period of time decided for the landing of the Frenchman’s first solo body of work for the “lovers dogs” label. “Be Yourself” is the title of the four tracks EP by the artist which, by the headline itself, sounds like a declaration of intentions, an acknowledgement of his qualities as a producer, shaping up four different aspects of his creative attitude in a remarkable musical effort. The EP takes off with the title track which is a perfect display of Cheval’s capabilities when it comes to the art of developing intersecting harmonies and melodies, setting up the perfect ground for a smooth vocal line that keeps on repeating the concept in a hypnotic loop: “just be yourself”! With “Keep On” the Bpm increases to design a beat driven track that winks to northern European rhythmics in an apotheosis of upbeat acid lines, a vibey overlapping of loops we advise against light-sleepers! Side B starts with a more rhythmically classic composition called “Good Good” which is also the last of the three original tracks; here the strings section mashes up with the vocals, as usual expertly crafted by Chevals and again some hints of acid bass line to form a proper dance floor hit. B2 is dedicated to Madcat’s remix of “Good Good”, where the French producer explains his point of view with a more funky oriented version of the track but keeping the essential parts intact. Impossible not to be excited by this EP by the Parisian producer who finally slams his fist on the table in what is his best musical statement so far. Bare with us until the end of March to listen to this pearl.

BEHOLD! The inaugural long player from Wick Records - The Mystery Lights! In an era when the city kvetches that there are no good NYC bands, when half of the music scene has split for sunny California, the Mystery Lights are an anomaly. Not only did these bold young men reverse the direction - optimistically migrating east against the tide from the west coast, but they also immersed themselves in the action and diversity of New York City. Organically unfolding over the nights, months and years, the Lights' sound has evolved into a fuzz-fueled, hopped-up 21st Century take on '60s garage pebbles, and artful '70s punk, that is all their own.

If you've ever seen the Mystery Lights live, then you've experienced the otherworldly energy and conviction they exude on stage, compelling their rabid fans to emphatically entwine themselves into an electrified mob. This album is a testament to that. Recorded at The Daptone House Of Soul by (Grammy Award winning) engineer, Wayne Gordon - shortly after their debut single sold out - it marries the Lights' youthful, visceral energy with seasoned song-craft and musicianship far beyond their years.

The Mystery Lights are living proof that vital contemporary music, in this case real-deal rock 'n roll, can still be dreamed, constructed, and thankfully recorded in the Empire City.

Classic album from Italian post-rock collective port-royal pressed on vinyl the first time....180gm transparent blue 2LP w/download.

Flares was the debut album from Genoa post-rock quintet port-royal. The album was initially released in 2005 by the quality-minded UK indie label Resonant Recordings.

Flares has become a watermark of the more contemporary amalgam of ambient, electronica and post-rock. And, is considered a classic of the genre.

Spintink Music stylistically name-dropped Eno and Explosions in the Sky when describing Flares. Tiny Mix Tapes commented that Flares "reveal(s) moments of unde-niable brilliance." and Exclaim! remarked, "this music is both inherently simple while being intricately complex and deserves to be placed in your stereo." "Intoxicating," "rewarding," and "masterpiece" are just some of the adjectives used to describe Flares upon its release.

To commemorate the album's 15th anniversary, port-royal have teamed up with their current partner of ten years, the Oakland based n5MD, to bring you Flares on vinyl for the first time. Remastered and remixed explicitly for vinyl from the original stems. Flares 15th-anniversary edition will be out March 27th on double 180-gram trans-parent blue vinyl.

What can be said about this monstrous Disco Funk extravaganza from 1982? Well, plenty actually... the only entry in the mighty Prelude back catalogue from Michael Wilson, 'Groove It To Your Body' is what this music is all about, a proper dance record, drenched in the funk, a groove that just doesn't stop.

The A-side is incredible, but it's really the b-side dub mix that steals the show. Francois Kevorkian, who was Prelude's A&R man at the time, mans the desk on both mixes, but for a truly stellar work-out the dub flips all of the essential ingredients into a stew of rumbling synth and tape feedback and deep space delay and echo.

This mix could be seen as the template of what was to come, and is an all-out dancefloor wrecker. Try it! It doesn't get any better than this.

A Disco essential. 2nd hand copies of this nugget go for serious wedge these days, now's your chance to snag an *official* licensed reissue from Prelude direct. All totally Above Board! Do it!

Snips is the founder of Barbershop Records and co founder of Livin Proof, with over 15 years experience as one of Londons most prolific DJs and over 10 years worth of production credits across Hip Hops underground. 2018 has seen Snips emerge as a budding solo artist, fusing the production styles of Hip Hop, House, Soul and Funk in the same fashion as he is known to do behind the turntables.

With his debut album "The Barbershop" making waves on both sides of the Atlantic and his Single "The Product" On Classic Records garnering support from a cross genre selection of heavyweights such as Karizma, Benji B, Eli Escobar, House Shoes, J Rocc, DJ Spinna and Henry Wu, Snips returns on his own label Barbershop Records and delves into Edit territory for his second instalment of the "Snips Edits" series. This time cleverly turning a handful of Hip Hop classics into club ready anthems over Snips' original productions.

With their 2013 debut single "Vintage Voudou," Conjunto Papa Upa cemented themselves as the torchbearers of a rare breed of Afro-Caribbean psychedelic soul, a clear delineation from the wonderful world of Venezuelan poly rhythms. That original song, named after the short lived but heavily influential Amsterdam brick and mortar record shop that band leader Alex Figueira founded, was a perfect clue into the deep exploration that Papa Upa would begin to take on their musical journey.

Like the store itself, known for it's solid connection to the musical footprints put down in relatively undiscovered places like Suriname, Curacao, Cabo Verde, Portugal and of course Figueira's native Venezuela, Papa Upa has captured a sound that is entirely unique, a new concoction of influences that at once sound strange, yet totally familiar (...) Perhaps because Venezuela shared such a rich & diverse mix of sounds from the Atlantic, Caribbean & US, a kindred spirit to their neighboring country, Colombia, an equal in terms of their industry output from the 60's & 70's, yet not nearly as publicized and compiled in recent years. Like many places in the greater Afro-Caribbean nexus, they were musically ahead of their time.

This futuristic mélange of sounds is reflective of Papa Upa itself, made up of musicians from Venezuela, Uruguay, Cuba & The Netherlands, all living, practicing & recording at Figueira's
Amsterdam studio, Barracão Sound. With such a wide range of tropical influences, in a cosmopolitan and diverse city like Amsterdam, it's no wonder that Papa Upa's first extended project would find kinship in a collaboration with New York's Names You Can Trust.

Bastard Jazz is proud to present the sophmore solo album by one of the gems of the New Zealand underground soul scene, Isaac Aesili. Woven through electronic soul, with threads of jazz, funk, R&B and house music, Isaac's 'Hidden Truths' is the stylistic unification of all his previous projects (Karl Marx, Funkommunity, Sorceress) into a dazzling and diverse body of work. Three years in the making, its depth is clear from the first listen, and is peppered with some of New Zealand's finest soul and jazz musical talent, including two stunning female feature vocalists from New Zealand; Ladi6 and Rachel Fraser.

The album opens with an ominous instrumental 'Mirror' setting a dark a tone for the album the start, shimmering with shades of Dilla swing snapping over metallic chords and a graceful trumpet solo that enters midway through. Wild feat. Ladi6' is a heavy downbeat future soul joint with stratospheric synths layered over driving beats that build alongside the elegant vocal weavings of New Zealand's first lady of soul, Ladi6, while 'Player' sees Isaac's unique vocals tell a tale of dangerous seduction within a synth funk-driven dancehall cum house music that feels like the Gap Band on a tropical vacation. 'Jungles' is a deep, native and ocean-like soundscape that begins with syncopated synths and beats that collide dramatically into a frantic, sweeping synth outro, followed up by'Realms' , an intricately crafted song that has sonic elements from techno-house that are other-worldly accompanied by live drums that flip after the breakdown into a swinging conclusion of the album's first half.

'Run Every Way' is an epic percussion-driven electronic blues that begins with a vocal chorus from Isaac that could just as easily be interpreted lyrically as a warning about climate change as it could an expression of the inner-self, while "Refugee" is also a heavily percussion orientated joint that fuses romantic classical strings with otherworldly synth stabs and Isaac's haunting vocals moving climactically into a tender coda conclusion. "Rain Gods" feat. Rachel Fraser is a heavenly pathway into Rachel's luxurious vocals with clever lyrics merging the soaring synths and looped bassline into a short yet memorable chorus'and 'Steps' is classic Isaac Aesili production including deep Rhodes chord changes, a knocking beat with layers of percussion, synths and horns providing a warm emotive accompaniment to Isaac's vocals. 'Last Minute' is a simple yet sophisticated jewel of space and time that concludes the vocal tracks of the album in a proper soulful style, and 'Maureen' rounds out the album as an expressive instrumental outrolude that features Isaac's trumpet.

Isaac Aesili is an Internationally acclaimed solo artist and the producer and creative force behind Funkommunity, Sorceress and Karlmarx. Isaac's original productions have been supported internationally by DJs such as Gilles Peterson (BBC Radio 6 Music), Benji B (BBC 1), and Lefto (Belgium, Worldwide FM). His trumpet playing features on many collaborations including 'Layer' by Julien Dyne (Wonderful Noise/BBE) and 'Midnight in Peckham' by Chaos in the CBD (Rhythm Section). A world-renowned musician on both trumpet and percussion, Isaac is a member of the Lord Echo band. His music fuses Soul, Funk, Jazz, Afro and Latin styles with R&B, Hip Hop and Electronic music. Isaac's much anticipated sophomore solo album "Hidden Truths" is out on Bastard Jazz (NYC) in 2020.

Life Notes returns with its 3rd transmission and proudly presents the Mentality EP. After starting the label under his Motion Process moniker, Life Recorder is welcoming on board 2 of his favorite producers with the Birmingham UK based producer, Jayson Wynters who already left a strong impression with releases on Mr G's Phoenix G, or Don't Be Afraid and one of the best current Chicago's deep sound purveyors and Perpetual Rhythms co-founder, Taelue.

Guided by a natural artistic and human being connection, the 3 producers and dj's are sharing the wax here to present their vision of deep, meditative house/techno speaking to the mind and the dancefloor.

Limpio Records is a vinyl and digital record label, founded in 2019 and based in Frankfurt am Main. The releases mainly focus on downtempo, organic and slow techno music. The first label release „Seltene Erden“ is a various artists EP, produced by artists that create new ideas of slow electronic and danceable music between 100 and 108 BPM. Our aim is to bring people, nature, cities and music together in a slow and powerful way. All our releases tell a story and are made for the dance floor.

Shed Remix – This one is made for cardiovascular shit. Best used in dark basements, group gatherings, fire-dances (think Rothschild Surrealist shindigs), but can do wonders for your lower back and thighs, if surrounded with thugs and nasty guys.

Reformed Society Remix – This goes down the threaded path of classic Motor-city tech. That famed conveyer belt gave us the best combination of man and machine. And here it works quite well, might we add. Cruise-control on.

Setting the tone with the first release on Lossless in the new year 2020 is co-owner and omnitalented Mathias Schober.
Mathias is opening LL1222 with the title track „The Fall“ on which he invited Jas of the duo Atelier for a vocal appearance showing a new side of his unique voice.
The sparse instrumentation of the the track, built around handclap rhythms, creates the perfect fundament for the vocal highlights. Additional snare drum and synth hits will do the rest to make you move.
Second track of the EP, “Will Make A Difference” sure does make a difference. It’s a 4/4 not 4/4 kinda track with an ever growing huge synth sound that takes you all the way to the middle part where it bursts into emptiness leaving space for some fierce
bass tones. The track has a certain pop-appeal to it but doesn’t at the same time. This doesn’t make sense at all? Just give it a listen and you’ll know. The third and final track is an instrumental version of “The Fall”. A simple reduction.
The essence of beautifully crafted rhythms and synth atmospheres. It simply feels right.

Unreleased album from 1981, a collaborative project by David Behrman, Paul DeMarinis, Fern Friedman, Terri Hanlon and Anne Klingensmith recorded at Mills College in 1981.

Previously known only to cognoscenti through an obscure self-released three-track 7”, this is the first publication of the complete album, an outrageous confection that mixes art-song and theatrical monologue with live electronics. Starting life as a performance art piece described by the artists as ‘Western Performance Noir’, the record centres on a series of texts written by Friedman and Hanlon in which female narrators comically embody a series of iconic roles (The Recording Artist, The Former Movie Star, and The Rancher). Other lyrical themes include recurring references to the notorious cannibal pioneers, the Donner Party, an ironic take on Japanophilia, and the luscious “Archetypal Unitized Seminar,” a satirical poke at self-help culture, whose lyrics are rendered in Indian raga style to the accompaniment of electronic glissandi and toy noisemakers. Delivered by Friedman, Hanlon, Klingensmith and special guest Maggi Payne in forms ranging from spoken monologue to Country & Western waltz, the texts are accompanied by instrumental and electronic contributions by Behrman and DeMarinis. Musically, She’s More Wild is truly unique, demonstrating these two pioneers of live-electronic performance adapting their signature processes to something approaching a ‘pop’ format: we hear the gliding, frequency-sensitive electronics familiar from Behrman’s classic On the Other Ocean and the mutant hacked Speak n’ Spell heard on DeMarinis’ Songs Without Throats propelled by drum machines and twisted into song forms. Perhaps comparable only to the David Rosenboom and Jacqueline Humbert’s contemporaneous Daytime Viewing in its interweaving of performance art tactics, high-tech electronics and pop sensibilities, She’s More Wild is an essential document, both immediately gratifying and ultimately thought provoking.

Repress

The Godfather of Hardcore, Marc Acardipane, needs no introduction. His outstanding releases over the past 30 years speak for themselves. He has been instrumental in helping to create electronic music history, with countless well-known productions which have been unsurpassed by any other artist of this calibre. His timeless masterpieces have been and always will be heard at hardcore raves spanning the circumference of the Planet. With "9 Is A Classic", "Slaves To The Rave", "Pitch-Hiker", "Stereo Murder" and "We Have Arrived", just to name a few, he clearly proves who's the boss. "The Most Famous Unknown" is a well compiled collection of Marc's music, which showcases a mere portion of what he has composed and produced since the early nineties! The vinyl and digital selection of "The Most Famous Unknown" features remixes by Body Sushi a.k.a. VTSS & Randomer, Dasha Rush, Gabber Eleganza feat. Delirio, Jasss, Kilbourne, Minimum Syndicat, Nina Kraviz, Perc, Solid Blake, Stranger, Umwelt and VTSS, which all deliver excellent interpretations of tracks they have chosen to revamp. All original tracks have been re-mastered to the highest possible standard of quality.

The fourth solo album from Hüsker Dü and Sugar vocalist and guitarist, Bob Mould. Reissued on vinyl for the very first time. Housed in a reverse-board sleeve and pressed on two heavyweight 180g clear vinyl. On this release, Mould continued to develop the driving alternative rock sound he had become known for as well as experimenting with sample heavy electronica which feature heavily on his future solo albums. Includes the double A-side single ‘Classifieds’ / ‘Moving Truck’.

Two years after the drop of his latest solo effort, 'Strangers', Budapest cross-dimensional vibes trader Imre Kiss clocks in on Dalmata Daniel with the eagerly awaited followup to his widescreen, sci-fi ready sonic adventures. Here again, the Hungarian producer - who's made a name for himself through discerning blends of kosmische-infused nostalgia and uplifting emotional apexes, takes us off to a world of sense-awakening wonders and hidden alien treasures, well supported in his quest by Den Haag's legend Intergalactic Gary, up on the flip with a heat-seeking belter of a remix.

Written during a tour across Japan, the title-track 'Oimachi' breaks things in on a punchy yet immersively emotional note, flexing out the blunt Casio arpeggios and muscular bass leads for what results in a soul-whelming, wildly enjoyable trip away from the gridlocked 4/4 paradigm. The further jagged and wonky 'Whipromance' extrudes a weirdo-friendly piece of stretchin' electronics from its squelchy gangue of acid subs and straightforward drumwork, all set against a refreshingly contemplative dawn of pastel-brushed pads and ample beat-free sequences that shall leave weary dancers in a daze.

Flip sides and here comes 'Soft Obsession' - a fine-tuned assembly of organic envelopes, plurally sourced sample library and that idiosyncratic sense of otherworldliness the name of Imre Kiss has become synonymous with. Opening the sunroof onto a luxuriantly arranged and incredibly deep forest of rhythmic folds and textures, this is the very kind of track to send you off to the zone on a one-way trip. Rounding off the journey in true Moebius-esque fashion, Intergalactic Gary lets his unmatched jockey know-how do the talk through a mind-expanding finisher that'll be sure to please both the lovers of stadium-sized epics and all-night-long chock-a-block sweatbox action.
/Baptiste Girou/

Ivano Tetelepta's Siena imprint hits double figures with a stylish fifth installment of its Sampler EP series. The co-founder himself features next to Vivian, Toki Fuko and Tom Liem.

Tetelepta goes first with more of his cavernous and dubbed out grooves. They roll smoothly beneath a jumble of toms and vocal samples and sci-fi soul comes from the warm chords. Vivian then serves up something brilliantly trippy, with brain cleansing synth lines, alien life forms and a kinetic minimal drum line all making for a late night mood. Next is Tom Liem, the ESHU associate who excels here with the superbly spacious Freediver, a dubbed out ambient techno with a persuasive rhythm and exquisite sound design. Toki Fuko closes out with a more driving dub techno cut that has rippling chords and perfectly undulating drums. This is another forward thinking fusion of dub, minimal, ambient and techno.

The second collaborative album between alternative rock artist Matthew Sweet and Bangles singer/guitarist Susanna Hoffs. First released in 2009, on Under The Covers Vol. 2 the duo cover 26 of their favourite tracks from the 1970s. For this edition in the series, Sweet and Hoffs invited guests into the studio including Lindsey Buckingham on ‘Second Hand News’, Dhani Harrison on a cover of his father’s ‘Beware Of Darkness and Steve Howe reprising his guitar parts on a version of the Yes track ‘I’ve Seen All Good People’ Pressed on two heavyweight 180g green vinyl.

Detroit blue-eyed soul from The Flaming Ember, a band who signed to the then newly created Hot Wax Records (founded by the prolific hit making Motown team Holland Dozier Holland) Sunshine is the bands third Hot Wax LP with highlights including ‘I’m Not My Brothers Keeper’ to ‘1200 Miles From Heave’. Recognised for their contribution to music and inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 1999
This 1971 album is reissued with original artwork presented in a gatefold sleeve and preseed on 180g heavyweight black vinyl with printed inner sleeve

In the spirit of global collaboration, Specials Worldwide’s first release comes courtesy of Vancouver’s own ZDBT & Washington, DC’s own Dreamcast. The collaborative “On Love EP" between the producer and singer/songwriter is a musical anthology of 2019 “love in this club” anthems, featuring the lead single “Take A Chance (On Love)” and B-Side “Time For You”.

The EP is the end result of a multi-day studio session in August of 2018 when Dreamcast was invited out to Vancouver for a live show with locally based imprint Pacific Rhythm. With immediate chemistry abound, the result was “Take A Chance (On Love)”, a beautiful permutation of R&B and Techno that melds the soulful vocals of Dreamcast with the peak time Techno of ZDBT (known for his work with 1800HaightStreet on labels like Lobster Theremin). B-Side “Time For You” is a slowed down, dubbed out one-take vocal with Dreamcast featuring his soaring vocal range over moody Techno chords, resulting in another ode to the pursuit of finding love in the club.

Rounding out the EP is a blissed out, Trance tinged take on “Take A Chance (On Love)” courtesy of Montreal based producer Project Pablo and an even deeper, dubbier version of “Time For You” by DJ Sports, the Danish producer and member of Århus based collective Regelbau.

Key Clef launches her own imprint Ipnotica Erotica with 'Mental Groove' EP

Key Clef is a Berlin based, italian dj and producer with strong passion for analogue instruments.

After experiencing the last years of the flourishing rave scene in Rome and accomplishing a degree in sound engineering her creative process evolved into different directions from club music, to performance art and electro acoustics.

In 2013 she released her first digital EP followed by releases on Love Blast, KKY, MinimalRome, BlackWater, DelirioRec e Mitten.

In her own world music is a continuous dialogue between styles and hybridation. Her music productions as well her live performances include synth, drum machines and analogue effects reflecting her ethereal trajectory while her dj sets show the full prism of her music taste and knowledge of the dance floor.

Key Clef sound doesn’t hit on surface instead aims to channel emotions and contact between her music and the listener. After maturing her sound over the years she is finally ready to launch her own imprint Ipnotica Erotica rec where she will soon release a new EP.

A new sublabel of the longstanding Canadian electro imprint Suction Records, Ice Machine — focusing on old-school wave/post-punk sounds — launches on Valentines Day 2020 with two fresh Canadian synth-pop LPs on vinyl. Along side a reissue of Ceramic Hello’s cult 1981 minimal synth classic “The Absence Of A Canary,” comes this, the self-titled debut LP from a new Toronto-based duo, Analytica.

Analytica is comprised of David Lush, who’s released several killer solo tapes under the name Memorex, and Gabe Knox, who made a big splash last year with his awesome instrumental synth/kraut solo LP “ABC” on acclaimed UK label Polytechnic Youth.

Analytica make synth-pop the old-fashioned way: driving, verse/chorus pop songs utilizing hardware synthesizers and drum machines, vocals and bass guitar, and recorded to tape. The comparisons to early-Depeche Mode (there’s even a cover of “Reason Man” — an unreleased, Vince Clarke-penned, Depeche song that was part of their earliest live sets), and prime-era New Order (right down to the Oberheim DMX percussion and Peter Hook-style bass guitar) are inevitable, but rarely are these sounds executed with such style and conviction. According to the band, lyrically Analytica “explore facets of the dark age ahead — the propaganda, the nationalism, the environmental disaster in front of our faces - while attempting to offer something of a defence against a nihilistic response to these fears. It's at once a call to arms and a recognition that we're entirely fucked.”

The LP contains 11 songs, and is housed in a stunning reverse-board jacket, and is limited to 500 copies.

With their much anticipated stadium tour underway, the Spice Girls announce the re-release of Spice Girls - The Greatest Hits, available for the first time as a limited edition picture disc vinyl. The special version contains no less than nine No.1 smash hit singles including ‘Wannabe’, ‘2 Become 1’, ‘Spice Up Your Life’, ‘Viva Forever’, ‘Goodbye’ and many more.

Originally released as an album in 2007, the double sided picture disc, released via UMC/Virgin EMI will be available from June 28th and comes packaged in a die-cut sleeve, with 12”X12” insert and a digital download code. With their much anticipated stadium tour underway, the Spice Girls announce the re-release of Spice Girls - The Greatest Hits, available for the first time as a limited edition picture disc vinyl. The special version contains no less than nine No.1 smash hit singles including ‘Wannabe’, ‘2 Become 1’, ‘Spice Up Your Life’, ‘Viva Forever’, ‘Goodbye’ and many more.

Originally released as an album in 2007, the double sided picture disc, released via UMC/Virgin EMI will be available from June 28th and comes packaged in a die-cut sleeve, with 12”X12” insert and a digital download code.

The outstanding 1971 debut by piano player and arranger Osmar Milito features his amazing cover of Herbie Hancock's Cantaloupe Island plus several classic Brazilian songs by Marcos Valle, Jorge Ben and Ivan Lins among others. Fierce samba jazz and bossa all the way through! The line-up of performing artists could hardly be more impressive: Quarteto Forma on vocals, Luis Ea, Marcos Valle, Pascoal Meirelles. This brilliant album is up there with the best work of Arthur Verocai and Marcos Valle. Presented in facsimile artwork and pressed on 180g vinyl

During the 90s, a walk around London’s Camden Market inevitably meant listening to the music with groove that the most popular DJs had made fashionable at the time: soul jazz instrumentals and Brazilian music targeting the club dancefloors. Among all those songs that ended up becoming classics of the scene was the amazing cover version of Herbie Hancock’s ‘Cantaloupe Island’ that Osmar Milito had recorded in 1971. This song was probably the main reason that made his LP for Som Livre one of the most sought after Brazilian records by collectors from all over the world. Now we finally have a new opportunity to enjoy this album, reissued on vinyl for the first time.

Along with the aforementioned version of Herbie Hancock’s song, this first album by piano player and arranger Osmar Milito is full of versions of Brazilian classics, from Marcos Valle to Jorge Ben or Ivan Lins. Fierce samba jazz and bossa all the way through! Note that Milito spent the first years of his career as a member of the backing band of big artists such as Elis Regina, Jorge Ben, Nara Leão... and after two years working with Sergio Mendes in the United States, he returned to Brazil and recorded his first LP.

The line-up of performing artists on this album could hardly be more impressive: Quarteto Forma on the vocals, Luis Eça, Marcos Valle, Pascoal Meirelles (what an amazing drummer he is!)... and both sides of the record hide a seamless sequence of solid tune after solid tune with similar doses of instrumental and vocal tracks. Just listen to the magnificent ‘Garra’, ‘Que bandeira’ or ‘Rita Jeep’, or the sweet samba that gives its name to the record, and you will see why this LP should be up there, next to the best works of Arthur Verocai and Marcos Valle.

With the collective generosity of all those involved along the way, from mastering, manufacturing, affiliated record stores and PR to the artists themselves and PDD, all profits from this special one-sided Artwork remix of Mildlife ‘Zwango Zop’ will be donated to two charities combatting the bushfire emergency in Australia via Prime Direct Distribution; Wildlife Victoria and the Australian Red Cross.

Their indispensable efforts continue to assist the emergency response, rebuilding homes and habitats, supporting rescued animals and the shelters that house them, alongside aiding the evacuation centres and recovery hubs created in many communities and implementing recovery plans for those who have been devastatingly affected by the bushfires.

Certified man of the people, king of the content and all-round good guy Artwork has been there, everywhere, and done it all - in more guises than many would even know about. From Magnetic Man to Grain, D’N’D to Artwork he’s a master producer, well versed at knowing what dancefloors want and more importantly need.

Now take Mildlife, the boundary pushing, critically acclaimed Melbourne-based space jazz four-piece, who’ve managed to seamlessly blend jazz, funk and disco into one multi-coloured, multi-layered melting pot of auditory excitement. A band whose hype is certainly lived up to, with the likes of DJ Harvey heavily championing them to the point of including ‘Magnificent Moon’ on his ‘The Sound Of Mercury Rising’ VA LP.

A wash with improvisation, soaring synths, stratospheric bass riffs, and a fluidity of grooves, ‘Zwango Zop’, taken from Midlife’s debut album ‘Phase’, is kaleidoscopic cosmic gold. For this special non-profit release, Artwork extracts that undeniable funk energy and turns into a 10-and-a-half-minute, highly hypnotic, instantly addictive creation that it is as psychedelic as it is slamming.

Just one of many examples of the dance music community coming together as a power of good to raise funds for those affected by the emergency in Australia. Support the cause, through the medium of music.

Following up on their explosive and critically acclaimed debut album Free To Believe (2015, Do Right Music), Canada's premiere deep funk outfit The Soul Motivators are back with their sophomore album Do The Damn Thing. The 9-track album delivers a heavy dose of the band's signature funk sound, incorporating the soulful sensibilities of lead vocalist Shahi Teruko, who has been performing and touring with the band for the past two years and makes her recorded debut here.

From the high-octane 'Mindblastin' and 'All the Way to the Bank' to the moody ''Black Rhino' and the car-chase MSFBs-inspired 'Savalas' which show off the Motivators' instrumental grooves, Do The Damn Thing is guaranteed to appeal to the most discerning funk fans.

The band continues to broaden their definition of soul music from a spiritual, political and social standpoint, as evidenced by the album's most poignant and introspective moment, 'Modern Superwoman' featuring lyrics penned by Teruko. The Soul Motivators have toured tirelessly in their hometown of Toronto and all across the country. Their diverse crowd always turns out for their propulsive live show, and their mandate has always been the same: inclusivity, community, togetherness, and getting down on the dancefloor.

Kicking off 2020 – Great Circles takes a step away from the dance floor with the release of the monolithic new work from Philadelphia-based artist Radere, ‘I Do Not Want What I Have.’ This long-in-gestation set of slow burning electronics and shadowy drones is part of the label’s growing selection of releases dedicated to deep listening, following on from the 2017 Prefix Moniker LP.

Radere is the ongoing project of Carl Ritger, who has worked under the nom de plume since 2009 and has deep ties to the Great Circles family. He played some of his earliest shows at Inciting HQ, the recently shuttered, label-affiliated venue, and invited Justin Gibbon AKA Westov Temple and Great Circles label founder to contribute to some of his earlier recordings. While he started out as a more straightforward ambient guitarist, Ritger’s work developed into more experimental textures as he explored modular synthesis and processed found sounds.

Ritger’s releases from his time spent living in Denver, CO c. 2011-2018 are marked by a particular strain of east coast nihilism and an angular aesthetic that keeps the listener off balance. Now back in his native Philadelphia, the two long-form pieces that comprise ‘I Do Not Want What I Have’ represent a perhaps more nuanced meditation on pain and loss. “Spitty Kisses,” the 15-minute album opener, takes aim at the listener with a brutal salvo. It is almost sadistic in its sonic intentions – acerbic modular sound and abrupt stuttering in the material leave a listener personally affected. “You’ve Been A Ghost Your Whole Life,” on the flip, delivers a salve for the A-side’s wounds and resolves its masochistic tones.

Written through a period of intense personal trauma as a means to seek comfort and solace through creative action, it’s clear that the puerile humor of nihilism is gone and grown out of in Ritger’s work.

FFO: taking long walks off of short piers, the legend of the monk Kelpius living among the trees of the Wissahickon, traditional creation and destruction stories in polytheistic faiths, and John Coltrane.

The record is accompanied by a digital-only series of remixes by friends of the artist and regular collaborators, including new works from Borne and Shivers, as well as Great Circles alums Westov Temple, Chaperone, and WOLF DEM.

Dadub ​is a project synonymous with the deepest rhythms from the interior of the human psyche. Low-end mysticism. Tribalist periodic audio patterns. The Berlin-based Italian producers behind the project, now constructed of sonic warlock Daniele Antezza and performance artist Marco Donnarumma, supply an unmistakably unique vision of post-apocalyptic dub landscapes. Past, present, and future blend into one, backed by the supremely sublime BASS of creators who are light years ahead in their field. A Sun Called Moon​ is a superior first representation on Ohm Resistance, detailing their ongoing mission of creating bass-present music, regardless of dancefloor conformity. The Time You Killed opens as a psycho-acoustic audio film, depicting the unknown world from which the EP emanates. I Would Gladly Die… introduces the first heavy rhythmic patterns, completely alien to identified structures, while unmistakably pushing a groove that entrances hypnotically. Past Times Present Ruins lowers the tempo and continues extrapolating into new rhythmic territory – or is it ancient? It Was Too Soon follows with beat driven hednod, as influences from Scorn to Autechre are subsumed into the universal language that comprises Dadub. Feeling both familiar and foreign, both modern and eternal, Dadub’s first appearance on Ohm Resistance is a fascinating drama played out in 4 acts. Spliff recommended – subwoofer required. All tracks Written and Produced by Daniele Antezza and Marco Donnarumma Mixed by Daniele Antezza and Marco Donnarumma at Dadub Studio, Berlin Mastered by Xergio Cordoba @ Eternal Midnight Studio, Madrid Photography by Flora Schwartz Layout by ​MachineTM

4TRK-029 sees label head Dj Hyperactive team up with Jason Patrick for the Inflexion EP. The release kicks off with, “Shadows Of The Underground” a stripped down acid Techno track that builds in a mutating fashion with it’s 808 cymbals, filtering shakers, and pitch bent synth stabs Mississippi Mud Hound gets underway with a growling bassline that morphs throughout alongside additional synth elements and percussion bits. On side b, “Harrier Env” provides a jacking feel that manages to also have stutter step bass groove in conjunction with 909 percussion, a spacey drone, and a mysterious melody. Closing out the release is “Bandaid On A Bullet Wound” an atmospheric stripped down track with powerful bass, sci-fi bleeps, and a lead synth riff that pushes and pulls in intensity throughout the track.

The first album African Head Charge made for OnU since 1993, this 2005 set was a triumphant return that saw longtime collaborators Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah and Adrian Sherwood reunited in the studio once more, the album title referring to the project’s original mission statement (nicked from Brian Eno!)

 This album is African Head Charge at their very
best, rich in varied percussion and spiritual chants,
set over hypnotic and transcendent layers of
African rhythms, trippy and bubbling dubbed-out
effects and trademark pounding bass.

 This is the first time the album has been released
on vinyl. Cut over 4 sides for maximum dynamics
by King Kevin Metcalfe.

 Includes double-sided poster insert featuring a
new interview with Bonjo, two bonus tracks and
digital download card for full contents.

Låpsley releases her highly anticipated second
album. Titled ‘Through Water’, it is the follow up to
her 2016 album ‘Long Way Home’, one of that
year’s most acclaimed debuts. Released while she
was still a teenager, ‘Long Way Home’ featured
Låpsley’s breakthrough moments ‘Station’ and
‘Falling Short’ and spawned one of the biggest club
tracks in recent years (DJ Koze’s edit of ‘Operator’)
as well as inspiring a new generation of
electronically minded songwriters including Billie
Eilish, who namechecked it as a key influence on
her sound.
 ‘Through Water’ is without doubt Låpsley’s most
accomplished work to date, written and recorded
during her transition into young womanhood. With
Låpsley as the major producer and songwriter, the
ten songs (whittled down from over one hundred)
reflect her newfound confidence, clarity and selfawareness as an artist, documenting a wealth of
personal experiences and coming-of-age stories
set against a thematic backdrop of water, climate,
weather and the elements.

Back in 2018, Lumière Noire celebrated its first anniversary with a compilation featuring thirteen exclusive tracks by an eclectic group of electronic musicians – a family portrait of sorts. A few months later, a second volume of From Above, compiled by the label's artistic director (and DJ) Chloé, once more brings thirteen established acts together with promising upstarts. The first compilation was the embodiment of the label policy advocating for both artistic excellence and a widening of electronic aesthetics – bopping from deviant house music to adventurous IDM and to the rigor of dancefloor techno, among other electronic explorations. Some of the artists featured are now closely associated with Lumière Noire, while others were more established performers such as Benedikt Frey, Lauer, Jonathan Fitoussi, Il Est Vilaine, Dave e Brun (half of Swayzak) and Frank Agrario, as well as upcoming artists such as C O N T R A (a side project by none other than Iñigo Vontier), Sutja Gutierrez, Théo Muller, Markus Gibb, Bajram Bili, and a sprinkling of UFOs circling the genre (Suuns' Ben Shemie, Drvg Cvltvre, and electro-acoustic combo Lumi). This group photo laid down a number of paths for a label in perpetual evolution.

Since then, the Parisian entity has continued to grow within the international electronic scene, releasing Local Suicide's Leopard Gum EP, Iñigo Vontier's first LP, and planning another slew of releases for 2020. The lineup for this second volume of From Above is once again equally intriguing, offering a crescendo-like track listing over a double LP format, which is a feat of sorts for a "Various Artists" compilation.

Marc Mélias' fascinating, unsettling Permanent Waves gets the proceedings going with a contemplative track that provides a serene opening to the odyssey on which From Above will be taking the listener. Pletnev continues on with the playful, hooky Marco O’Polo, a fundamentally techno track built over a seductive 90s-inspired breakbeat. Douglas Greed (whom Chloé remixed on BPitch a few years back, and had himself remixed track from her album Endless Revisions featuring Ben Shemie’s vocals), supplies Vancouver, a slice of ambiance à la Boards of Canada, supported by a gripping breakbeat. The rhythmic arpeggio of Israeli producer's Middle Sky Bloom makes his contribution a hypnotic, disconcerting slice of dark disco. Thomass Jackson, a safe bet in the new wave of the Latin-American electronic music blowing its sometimes hot, sometimes cold wind, proposes Mithra, a dancefloor incantation to the Antiquity's bull god. With Bells, Goldmoon delivers a track that is both melodic and nostalgic, tinged with rhythmic samples, Moog basses and solar backgrounds. Longtime friend of Chloé, Krikor, who has released two albums on L.I.E.S. Records (Pacific Alley and Saudi), offers a moment of respite with Sally Hardesty (a nod to fans of horror movies), a heavenly and bewitching track that, paradoxically, hints at the highly energetic second half of the compilation. Discovered with Confidences EP released on Lumière Noire, the young French producer Morgan Blanc asserts himself here with Werde Der Du Bist ("Become who you are"), a song with luminous chords and midtempo rhythms to start the second half of the compilation by raising the tension. Galician producer, DJ and designer Cora Novoa continues the rollercoaster's ascent with her Virtual Aesthetics, which once again brings those acid tones – this time without the vertigo. Equally corrosive, but tenser and more percussive, the uncategorizable NSDOS' AL-G attempts to give order to a chaotic electronic world full of violence and danger. Rebeka Warrior (half of the duo Kompromat alongside compatriot Vitalic), takes on a more nostalgic vibe with Ich Komme Zurück, a French/German techno chant evoking a secret dream of a track from a bygone era. Three years after the release by Lumière Noire of Moderna and Theus Mago's stroboscopic Dog Is Calling You, Theus Mago makes a solo comeback with Idealistic Stone, a most acid of club tracks, rattled by the modulations of the inevitable TB 303. French electro-rock saltwarth Yan Wagner's dancefloor alter ego The Populists' Prehistoric Lemurs gives an almost Orientalizing twist to Kraftwerk's techno-pop. To close things off, the collection's last track, the appropriately-named Instant Track by impromptu encounter between Hervé Carvalho (Acid Arab), Jacques Bon (Smallville) and Demian (Kompakt) Acid Love Triangle, releases the pressure with a long, bittersweet reverie that leaves the listener, at the end of these thirteen musical adventures, to rest languorously on an artificial and welcoming shore.

The Prisoners are one of the most influential bands of the 1980s, an astounding live act whose records were the opposite of what pop radio demanded in that era. Raw where they were smooth and full of character where those records needed to be blandly conformist. They hardly sold a record and yet they can count the likes of Noel Gallagher and political journalist John Harris as their fans. Steve Lamacq devoted a whole chapter of his book to his love of them whilst Tim Burgess of The Charlatans once said that at that time he only checked for The Prisoners and New Order. At least two UK hits used their arrangement on Joe South’s ‘Hush’ as their basis.  ‘In From The Cold’ was the final shot at success by The Prisoners the only problem was they didn’t want it. Signed by Eddie Piller to his Stiff-backed subsidiary Countdown they were put in the studio with Troy Tate (Teardrop Explodes / The Smiths) and made this astounding album which they then disowned.  By 1986 they were an incredible live band and had released three albums of their distinctive 60s influenced garage rock. A four-piece featuring Johnny Symons on drums, future Acid Jazz hitmaker James Taylor on organ, Allan Crockford on bass and backing vocals and the compellingly soulful Graham Day on vocals. Graham also wrote fantastic songs. Ten years later and they would have been lauded as heroes in Brit Pop land but the mid-80s had no place in the mainstream for a band with their influences.  ‘In From The Cold’ is full of amazing songs from the hard edges of ‘All You Gotta Do Is Say’, ‘Ain’t No Telling’ and ‘The More That I Teach You’, to the mournful ‘Wish The Rain’ and ‘Be On Your Way’. It is no surprise that Mojo journalist Lois Wilson described this as her favourite album by the band.  This reissue on coloured vinyl is the first time the album has been issued in its original form since 1986 when, due to Stiff’s imminent demise, it was deleted very quickly.

2x12"

Circle Vision proudly presents the anticipated debut album of Copenhagen producer and label head RDG aka. Ruben Nielsen.

"Planetary Sound Fiction" marks the Danish label's 10th release with a subbed-out panoramic trip deep into the current state and future of bass music, with sound allies Killa P, Rider Shafique, K Man, Ill Chill, Monti and Yaa Aisin all complementing the hands and ears of the accomplished Danish producer throughout the album.

Drawing on experience from decades of DJing, musical production, sound engineering and intergalactic excursions, RDG has thoroughly matured his undeniable skill of orbiting and perfectly blending the dimensions of jungle, dubstep, techno, DnB, experimental, leftfield and downtempo music into a coherent and captivating sonic journey.

Following more than 25 EP releases over the past 10 years, "Planetary Sound Fiction" is by far RDG's most exhaustive work to date and presents a sound, encompassing anything else released by the Danish producer so far.

Originally released in 1978, Music By William Eaton is a private-press album from the accomplished experimental stringed instrument builder. The atmospheric recording techniques, mixed with a hint of Fahey/Takoma-lineage make for a listening experience akin to the mountainscape drawing represented on the album cover. The experience may seem simple at first, but like any great trip in nature, new details consistently reveal themselves upon each listen.

“When I started building instruments, playing guitar took on a whole new dimension. From the conception to the birth of each instrument, new layers of meaning unfolded. Cycles, connections and interdependencies became apparent as I contemplated the growth of trees from seed to old age, and the transformation from raw wood to the building of a musical instrument. I sought out quiet natural environments to play and listen to the “voice” of my 6 string, 12 string, 26 string (Elesion Harmonium) and double neck quadraphonic electric guitar. Deep canyons contained a beautiful resonant quality and echo. A starlit night with a full moon provided all the reflection and endless space by which to project music into the cosmos. The sound of a bubbling stream and singing birds added a natural symphonic tapestry to a melody or chord pattern. As I perceived it, everything was participating in a serendipitous dance. Everything was part of the music.

During this time, I decided to record an instrumental album of music. The idea was simple; it would be a series of tone poems with no titles or any information attached, only the words ‘Music by William Eaton.’ While some of the songs evolved out of composed chord progressions, most of the songs were played spontaneously, only on the occasion of the recording. These improvised songs haven’t been played since.” -- William Eaton

Recommended for fans of John Fahey, Harry Partch, Robbie Basho, Laraaji

"Aporia" is a New Age album from Sufjan Stevens and his step-father and record label co-owner, Lowell Brams. In the spirit of the New Age composers who sanded off the edges of their synths' sawtooth waves, "Aporia" approximates a rich soundtrack from an imagined sci-fi epic brimming with moody, hooky, gauzy synthesizer soundscapes. The album may suggest the progeny of a John Carpenter, Wendy Carlos, and Mike Oldfield marriage, but it stands apart from these touchstones and generates a meditative universe all its own. This is no mere curio in the Sufjan Stevens catalog - but a fully realized collaborative musical piece. Stevens and Brams recorded "Aporia" over the course of the last several years during Brams' visits to Stevens' home in New York with the help of several frequent Asthmatic Kitty collaborators, including Thomas Bartlett (Doveman), D.M. Stith, Nick Berry (Dots Will Echo), John Ringhofer (Half-handed Cloud) drummer and longtime collaborator James McAlister, keyboardist and trombonist Steve Moore (Sunn O)))), guitarist Yuuki Matthews (The Shins) and vocalist Cat Martino.

"QUINZE" -"fifteen" in Catalan- is the title of the new release from Barcelona’s Lapsus Records. Lapsus celebrates its fifteenth anniversary with the launch of a new compilation comprised of today’s most compelling, experimental and ground-breaking electronic music. Fifteen unreleased songs from artists that best define the Lapsus sound: Attraktta, Chevel, Gábor Lázár, Gacha Bakradze, Johanna Knutsson, Karen Gwyer, Leif, Machine Woman, Patricia, Pye Corner Audio, RRUCCULLA, Steve Hauschildt, Telefon Tel Aviv, The Belgium and Ylia. "QUINZE" will be released in late February and two different versions will be available: A standard double LP edition; and a collector's edition LP packaged inside a bespoke cement case of which only fifteen units will be manufactured.

- Ursprünglich als EP zwischen den ersten beiden Bon Iver Alben veröffentlicht, enthält Blood Bank einige der beliebtesten Songs der Band - Erstpressung auf farbigem Vinyl - mit 4 brandneuen, exklusiven Live-Aufnahmen der EP-Titel, die auf der Tournee 2018, 10 Jahre nach der Entstehung der Songs, aufgenommen wurden - Bon Iver 2020 live in Berlin, Köln und München // Die "Blood Bank" EP wurde ursprünglich Anfang 2009 veröffentlicht, kurz nach dem geliebten Album "For Emma, Forever Ago". Die EP war der Vorbote eines neuen Sounds für Bon Iver: eine Bewegung weg von der akustischen Gitarren-geführten Instrumentierung des Debüts und der Beginn einer Erkundung der experimentellen Klänge, welche die Entwicklung von Bon Iver seitdem mitdefinieren. Die Neuauflage dieser bahnbrechenden EP ist gekoppelt mit brandneuen Live-Aufnahmen aller EP-Titel. Eine Reflexion über die Blood Bank EP von Ryan Matteson: When I reflect on the songs that make up the Blood Bank EP, I am drawn to mantras, both musical and lyrical. The driving and pulsating rhythm of the title track is held steady by the repeated refrain, I know it well, before it eventually yields to a beautiful array of guitar distortion and noise. These moments are significant through all four songs. When the steel guitar makes its entrance on "Beach Baby," it's transportive. A blissful, breezy feeling sweeps into the room and that puts you within the moment. Close your eyes and you can feel it. "Babys" follows perfectly. A piano guides your mind to the new beginnings that come with the changing of seasons. The awareness of time passes and makes way for another day. Then there's "Woods." A flawless finale. Foreign and new. Not just a new direction but a new beginning entirely. A place where boundaries don't exist. It was a signal change of things to come, laying the groundwork for new collaborations. A decade later, the song says so much in just three lines. Most significant to me are the words, "I'm building a sill to slow down the time." Time doesn't slow down, it races.

"Available again for the first time since original release in 1974, Outernational Sounds proudly presents one of the deepest custom press jazz recordings of all – Jaman’s spiritualised and funky Sweet Heritage.

The history of jazz is often told as though it was principally a history of releases and recordings. On those terms, it’s easy to mistake a small recorded footprint for obscurity or silence. But that is to put the cart before the horse, for the true history of the jazz is the story of the music as it was played night after night in the clubs, bars, concert halls and backrooms of cities and towns across America and the world. Only a tiny fraction of this living tradition ever makes it onto a recording. The far greater part is embodied in the musicians and their music as they play it and live it. And even though 1974’s Sweet Heritage is James Edward Manuel’s only release, the pianist and educator better known as Jaman has undoubtedly lived it.

Brought up in Buffalo, New York, Jaman studied classical piano before beginning formal jazz studies under greats including Earl Bostic and Horace Parlan. Quickly becoming a respected regular on the club scene in Buffalo, Jaman held down innumerable residencies and worked with top local musicians – one of his early trios included the renowned bassist John Heard and drummer Clarence Becton, both of whom were poached one night by a visiting Jon Hendricks; sometime Sun Ra Arkestra bassist Juini Booth and regular Ahmad Jamal sideman Sabu Adeyola (also of Kamal & The Brothers) have graced his groups too. At famous night spots all over Buffalo’s East Side and on excursions to Manhattan’s storied jazz clubs, Jaman has shared the stage with some of the most illustrious names in jazz and blues: Big Joe Turner, Muddy Waters, Joe Henderson, Ruth Brown, Frank Morgan, Woody Shaw, Sonny Stitt, and too many others to mention. His eponymous group, Jaman, was formed in 1970; they toured the US and Canada steadily in the years that followed. He became, in short, one of Buffalo’s true jazz stalwarts, and so he remains.

But despite a life lived deep within the music, Jaman only recorded a single LP, 1974’s Sweet Heritage. Pressed in tiny quantities by the Mark Records custom service, and issued with a stock landscape cover, Sweet Heritage featured the regular Jaman group playing a mixture of covers and originals. The whole LP showcases an ensemble in compete control, and with the flying, spiritual sound of ‘Free Will’ and the upful, Latin-tinged ‘In The Fall of The Year’ – both Jaman originals – the album has since become a legendary collector’s classic. Unavailable since its original issue, Outernational Sounds is proud to present Jaman’s Sweet Heritage – the soulful and spiritualised sounds of a master at work."

'Slacking Off'... The sought-after 1973 Bahamas recorded percussion-led gem that landed on the scene thanks to Jared Boxx. Renowned DJ and proprietor of New York's Sound Library, Jared unleashed this elusive monster soul-funk jam onto wantslists worldwide via his 'Thanks For Waiting' mix in 2009 and it's remained unobtainable until now. Recorded at 'King' Eric Gibson's Elite Recording Studio in 1973, the track features Theo Coakley of T-Connection on keys, British engineer Allen Mottershaw aka MOTT on solo guitar and Nassauvians lead vocalist and guitarist Tommy Goodwin, who relocated to the Bahamas at least a decade earlier from the US. Featured b-side 'The Time Is Now' is a previously unreleased dreamy AOR island recording from the vaults of Elite Studios made the following year with his friend Don Lepage, sung together with Tommy on guitar and Don on harmonica. Both cuts now available on limited 7" from Backatcha Records for playback far and wide .

Released on a shoestring by three musician friends in 1978 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, this 'desert soul' double-sider obscurity surfaced onto the collectors scene a decade ago thanks to DJ and label-owner Russell Paine (Super Disco Edits). A genuine rarity recorded "around one or two mics and a mostly-tuned piano" and still pulling heartstrings. Only 250 copies were originally made and given to family and friends with most long gone into the ether. Self-penned, produced and distributed locally by the artists over fourty years ago, this beautiful double-sider complete with Aka Shaic's hand-drawn 'dove design' is available to purchase again for record people everywhere via Backatcha Records.

Wildflower (Leon Brichard, Tom Skinner, Idris Rahman) continue to explore areas of groove-based improvised jazz on their 2nd album. Taking a slightly freer approach to the writing process, simple but effective melodies and bass motifs are explored to to create fully realised pieces with dynamic extremes that bring a full range of emotion. Recorded over a two day session at Fishmarket Studios in London, the band sounds relaxed and at ease, giving space to explore intricate improvised interplay and dialogue fully whilst at the same time building to fiery powerful climaxes and emotional peaks. Skinner is on fire here whilst Rahman and Brichard trade riffs and push the harmonic and rhythmic boundaries. Rahman’s use of clarinet and bamboo flute plus additional layers of woodwinds, Skinner’s unique approach to stripped-down use of his very personalised kit, and Brichard’s use of both acoustic and electric basses make for a sonic landscape that is both unique and highly approachable. Touching on heavy spiritual vibes whilst taking in dark alternative grooves and delicate folk-like tunes, the overall sound remains instantly accessible



Sax, Flutes and Clarinet: Idris Rahman
Electric and Double Bass: Leon Brichard
Drums: Tom Skinner

Clear Vinyl

Detroit Underground label head Kero returns to his sonic roots with the first of the Detroit Map Series originally featured on the limited DUTT-181 Series functional record player designed by Neubau Berlin. As a kick-start, Kero reveals Highways—a 5-track extended player of (abstract) electronics that is cleverly pulled together with a downbeat flow and tracks aptly sub-titled as major freeway arteries of the Motor City.


"Davison" commutes through glitch bits, bobbles, and broken beats flickering back and forth as it eventually opens midway through the traffic jam and hopscotched potholes with a synthesized melodic stream. Fisher displays its minimized techno flurry and rumbling low-end growl tempered by subtle blips'n bleeps and clinical precision. Southfield busts apart with modular maneuvering and heavy percussion showcasing an opportunity for Kero to cruise in the passing lane as the piece gradually mutates into a crunchy experimental electro epic. Lodge ebbs and flows with The Detroit Escalator Company-styled minimalism felt many miles away from its source. Chrysler expands and contracts with its 7-minute acid-electronic sprawl—here we see Kero carefully downshift to allow an ambient undercurrent to traverse a moonlit sky in the late night hours creating perhaps the finest soundtrack to (minimal) Detroit-inspired techno of yesteryear with a thumping heartbeat. ~PDS

Known for its 808s, Bass, Alligators, & Cocaine Cowboys, Florida is the home of Vanguard Sound's Chris Mitchell, who follows his contribution to Squirrels On Acid with an EP of four absolute Rippers at the intersection of classic booty bass & new-school goth electro.

“Every Asshole” announces its presence with an up-tempo red-lined booty beat that will shake the walls of the Strip Mall Strip Club in any neighborhood. Funk is the key ingredient, and it is added generously, even when the synthesizer melodies bring in a darker texture. “Grippers” is more sinister, but no less funky. Dirty South Cold Wave at full frequency, propulsive & punk rock, but this is strictly party music at its core. The drum patterns stay in perpetual motion, programed with skill & precision. “Sh4” is another banger. The sound of a malfunctioning Fairlight over intricate drums & angular arpeggios. Mitchell's tracks never sit still, and again here, the drum programming shines. This is someone who has put in their 10, 000 hours on the MPC, and it shows. “Land Of Make Believe” slows things down & turns ups the Goth. Cybertron Sci Fi Soundtrack moods, but rump shaking nonetheless, wordless alien vocal textures & synth strings weave with the drums, which here are slightly more sparse than the previous tracks, but programmed with the same attention to detail.

If you're familiar with Chris Mitchell, this EP will not disappoint, & if this is your introduction to his music, you'll be wanting to hear more. This sixth release from the world of Squirrels is NOT for standing around at the party looking cool. This for shaking the tail, sweating with strangers at legendary all-ages club & birthplace of Miami Bass the Pac Jam in hedonistic abandon.

Uzelli Kaset was established in 1971 by Muammer and Yavuz Uzelli in Frankfurt, Germany. Their music resonated not only with the longing that Gastarbeiter (guest workers) felt for the homelands and families they had left behind and the melancholy brought by their difficult living and working conditions in Germany, but also with the joy that welled up at village weddings on their days off, and the long car or train journeys home. Reaching the remotest corners of Germany as well as Turkey, Uzelli Kaset was soon more than just a music company; it became a companion to Turkish workers living far from home. Not counting the handful of 8-track tapes and 14 LPs released in the early days, the catalog consisted entirely of cassettes.

When they opened their Istanbul office in 1977, Uzelli moved beyond production and became successful in the areas of reproduction, distribution and marketing. Taking the catalogs of other production companies under its umbrella, it continued its rapid growth.

The 90s became the CD decade, and because Uzelli Kaset had not released its catalog in CD format, hundreds of albums remained unavailable to an entire new generation. Because the albums had not been released in LP form either, musical explorers ran into the same problem. Remaining active and serving in various areas of the music industry, Uzelli carefully preserved its visual, audio and document archives, ensuring their survival to the present day.

After an immense amount of work, this catalog, which had long awaited discovery by new generations, was finally released in digital format. For record collectors seeking the spirit of those times, we also began offering this special selection of compilation albums in vinyl format. As we created this series, our goal was to guide listeners toward new discoveries, and open new pages for music lovers to explore. Leaving our rich, multifaceted catalog to genuine musicians, curators and artists, our desire became to approach the recordings of that period from a different perspective.

We are overjoyed to know that our continuing meticulous work will bear fruits whose taste and aroma have been long forgotten.

Uzelli

Spencer Clark is back with a futuristic eco-friendly record. It’s life on earth as you never heard it.

The story goes like this: Spencer wanted to do a soundtrack for the yet to be made “Avatar 2”. And if you know Spencer’s work, you’ll know that he engaged on this mission reading material that influenced the rich and crazy imaginary world of “Avatar”. If you think about it a little bit, something like “Avatar” could have really come out from the mind of Spencer Clark.

But it didn’t. So, he dwelled around the idea of that soundtrack, working on what is now known as “Avatar Blue”. The record we now release is a selection he made from the 2CD released last year on his own Pacific City Sound Visions.*

Like many of Spencer’s other alias or incarnations, Star Searchers introduces the listener to a new world. Besides making sounds/soundtracks for alternative realities he cares about making a world for his music to live in. It’s never superficial or dedicated just to the act of imagination, Spencer creates sounds that sustain the reality he imagined. That’s why they’re so rich and consequential in the realization of music as a medium.

“Avatar Blue” is music but also literature. And cinema. Star Searchers’ sound creates an absorbent sound about what’s happening in aquatic life. It goes beyond the perception of what we’ve seen or what we’ve known, it’s a neo-future aquatic life, with a world building structure and sounds and narratives that go along with it.

All done with a sound-aesthetics that could be described as slowed-down-trance, that fits 1980s synth nostalgia and dreams of sci-fi to come.
*Note: The 2CD version is available as a digital download with a purchase of the album on selected stores.

For the first release of the new decade we are honoured to introduce LA-based Oxóssi who has conjured a captivatingly sinister sonic palette for his debut EP on the label.

Sama
A scorching 8-bar intro catapults us straight into 'Sama', the first track of the release, where abandoned-jungle-ruins atmospheres meet threatening wooden flutes and weighty wobs - Oxóssi is not messing about. The narration proceeds with a melody sung by a penetrating laser-beam-like synth, which adds a space layer to this organic banger, getting more and more detuned throughout the track while kickstarting a call-and-answer march between the flute and synth-wob melodies. Don't expect to uncover the secrets of 'Sama' at a first listen, this intricate creation will keep revealing itself listen after listen.

Saut Dans Le Vide
An alluring pad harmony and a hidden inspirational message from the artist introduce the fascinatingly titled 'Saut Dans Le Vide', a masterful arrangement of unrelenting piano chords, subtle choir stabs, dreamy flute leads and compellingly staggering drums. Elements keep artfully alternating throughout this convoluted composition which arouses a pensive, melancholy-nuanced hopefulness.

Undead
It's time to get glitchy here, as 'Undead' makes its entrance. Shimmering melodies rain down in a glittery shower of eerie purple confetti, surrounded by rattling white noise strikes and playful-yet-mighty bass hits. As the story evolves, an 8-bit synth lead briefly takes us to a post-apocalyptic landscape before we momentarily wake up from this psychedelic daydream, just in time to take a breath and dive back in for round two.

Beyond the Mikrosector, passed the Love Quadrant and over the Intersect lies another reality that exists in contrary to our own. This is where we now find Mr. 8040, the Space Dimension Controller, on a planète contraire, a world very much like our own, but one that runs in opposite to the norm. Here he toys with intergalactic Detroit funk and sequenced machines, creating celestial signals of minimalistic, atmospheric boogie. It’s a new course of interconnected, cinematic electro that exists outside of time and yet is apt for moments of timelessness.

Within the world of astrophysics there are select scientists out there that believe space-time gradually loops in on itself. Within this infinite realm of time and space, we can find ourselves once again living our past lives. It’s in this eternal domain that the Space Dimension Controller returns once more, applying his knowledge from the planète contraire to his absorbing palette of C-beams, moon-lit orchestrations, and graviton beats. Matured from his time cavorting through the core of the unknown, the Space Dimension Controller’s sound becomes more focussed, filled with the knowledge of the worlds his visited.

On the A side, Mr. 8040’s strain of progressive and unequivocal deep-space disco lends towards his studio competence, creating lush melodies that will have even the geysers of Enceladus erupting in time along with the symphony of syncopated drum machines. On the flipside, the prodigious Jack Hamill, aka. the Space Dimension Controller, flexes his machine savviness once more creating a timeless electro-funk rhythm for a timeless, time-travelling pioneer.

Max Essa completes a trio of terrific releases on Hell Yeah with The Great Adventure EP. It's packed with more grown up dance floor dynamite and later in the year will be collected together with the first two parts to make for a full album.

By now you will know that Essa is part of the UK's Balearic mafia. He's served up big tunes on Is It Balearic?, Aficionado, Music For Dreams, and his music always acts as a sonic raft that floats you out to sea and leaves you bobbing up and down in a state of pure bliss.

Opener 'Tombolo' starts as acoustic music and the sound of a muffled crowd but soon awakens into an uptempo affair littered with toms, guitar licks and claps that are driven by bumping drums. There are elements of old school, Italo and classic house but somehow it feels completely new and fresh as it takes you ever higher.

'The Great Adventure' is masterfully sun kissed disco with crisp 80s drums, love struck chords and a yacht rock feel that is pure joy, something like topless dancing with sand between your toes and umbrellas in your cocktails.

Closer 'Fool in the Pool' sinks into gentle tabla drums and unhurried chords. It's horizontal and thoughtful - the sound of a lazy afternoon somewhere on the Mediterranean coast, gazing at glistening seas through the romantic lens flare in your sunglasses.

This EP is already great feedback from the DJ dons who have been giving it early plays, so act now to snap up your first summer sounds of 2020.

Two giants of Brazilian music back-to-back!

Jorge Ben can do it all - vocalist,songwriter, musician, producer and to many their ‘all-round’ favourite Brazilian artist. Jorge has had an amazing career, involved in music from the early 60's through to the current day, writing countless classic songs for him and other artists.

This awesome samba-disco-funk joint 'Waimea 55.000’’ is a lesser-known production, taken off a 7” B-side released on Som Livre in 1978. This is a gem which needed to be dusted off and given the
wider audience it deserves.

Baby Consuelo with her distinctive voice is one of Mr Bongo’s favourite Brazilian singers. The only female founding member of the mythical group Os Novos Baianos, Baby is a real innovator andpioneer, changing her persona and musical styles over the years, but still staying unique.
Here we have Baby at the start in raw psychedelic hippy mode,
giving a powerful vocal delivery where she manages to sound simultaneously badass and lovable. This early song was released in 1970 on RGE records on a compacto 7” credited to Baby Consuelo and additionally featured on OsNovos Bahianos’s debut album 'É Ferro Na Boneca!’ in the same year (re-issued on Mr Bongo in 2019).

It is hard to think of many 7” singles where both sides are as heavy as this one! "Change The World" & "Try, Try" were released in 1977 by 'Solat', a Dutch-based funk group made up of Surinamese and Dutch-Antillian musicians.

Formed after ex-band members of Reality/Tony And Reality; Eddy Veldman, Franky Douglas, Ivor Mitchell and Glenn Gaddum teamed up with singer Billy Jones, Solat went on to release two singles for Poker records. With it's crossover nature, it pleases disco, funk and modern-soul collectors and DJs alike, plus due to only been released in the Netherlands, the record has now become an extremely sought-after item with a high price tag to match.

Both amazing cuts are aimed straight for the dance-floor, but retain conscious and positive messages that are as relevant now as they were back then. 'Change TheWorld’ is an anthemic feelgood disco funk gem, whilst 'Try, Try ‘ is reminiscent of a Mizell Brothers golden-era production.

Mr Bongo present a replica edition with dinked centre- and original cover- and also label artwork, for all to enjoy!

Ryan Crosson takes care of the fifth EP on tastemaking Detroit label My Baby Records with a fantastically forward-looking four-track vinyl offering. Ryan Crosson is a complex artistic creature who has roamed far and wide in his storied career. His always innovative music has come on groundbreaking labels including Wagon Repair, M_nus, Spectral Sound, and of course his own Visionquest. Each time he explores a new sound world and draws on things as diverse as musique concrète, Downtown New York funk, and East African jazz. Now he cooks up more beguiling brilliance on this fresh new EP. Opener ‘Speaker Dubs’ is a deep, bubbly rhythm track with dub chords rippling out to infinity. It’s a stylish track full of far-sighted reverence and supple groove that locks you in a trance. ‘Ogilvie’ is a piece of absorbing ambient with found sound recordings of muffled voices that sounds like you’re in an underground station. B-side opener ‘FutureTheory’ is another minimal masterpiece with glitchy sound design and eerie chords peeling off a tight, kinetic groove. Ghoulish voices add more late-night atmosphere and the whole track grows ever darker and more consuming as it unfolds. The excellent ‘OortCloud’ takes you back to the heart of a dance-floor with futuristic menace: the smooth drum loops are militant, the voices are dehumanised and the searching synths speak of a desolate landscape. It’s heady, brilliantly bleak stuff that is utterly infectious. This is another hugely inventive EP from one of the underground’s most consistent talents

Dom Trojga bounces into 2020 with an EP beautifully crafted by one of Warsaw's finest young talents - 2shy. Best known for his work as one half of the burgeoning duo Private Press (of Indigo Area & REKIDS fame), Night Conclusion is his long-awaited solo debut. Citing late 90s US house luminaries and Polish underground hiphop as some of his main influences (WSP's deep classic Faktem Jest was an actual reference during mixing), 2shy combines deep sensibility, great skill and genuine vehemence across the four tracks, telling a story that blends right into the greater narrative of house music, while adding to it its very own emotional touch. To use other words, Night Conclusion is a tender slammer, and does it good for DJs, dancers, lovers and night-time dreamers alike. The label art is an acrylic painting by Micha? Ratajczak, whose work we admire greatly. We've only just begun - look out for more Dom Trojga!

Ionisation is the first LP by Italian poet Adriano Spatola. Born in Yugoslavia in 1941, by the age of 23 he became a major force in the Italian avant-garde. “Towards Total Poetry,” Spatola’s critical study on the state of modern poetry, spells out his position: “to become a total medium, to escape all limitations to include theater, photography, music, painting, typography, cinematographic techniques, and every other aspect of culture, in a utopian ambition to return to origins.” Graphic poetry (cut-up zeroglyphs), volatile and beautiful prose (particularly his books The Porthole and Majakovskiiiiiiij), and of course sound poetry, represented here for the first time. Spatola was the editor of many underground publications: Baobab (a legendary audio-cassette magazine), Tam Tam, and Edition Geiger. Each of his pursuits spread the margins of the format, all done with a relentless, piercing curatorial eye.

Spatola has dark, drunken wit in spades. In his sound poems, an even more saturated persona is conjured. A desperate humor sneers through this LP, a humor that has surrendered to the severe joke of life long ago - lashing out on syllables and ingrown word games. Particularly, his classic “Aviation/Aviateur” (akin to his “Seduction/Seducteur,” & “Violacion/Violateur” etc.). Read by lesser performers, these pieces would falter and float by in the trough, though Spatola’s bull-like confidence tears through. “Poker Foundation” features the poet hysterically singing “the play of the words” over a classical radio piece, mocking and squawking against the string swells. Steve Lacy plays scissors, knife, and saxophone on “Hommage à Eric Satie,” a piece originally recorded for the luxurious Cramps LP boxset Futura. Collaborators Gian Paolo Roffi and Paul Vangelisti are also featured across the collection.

The LP concludes with the titular work “Ionisation,” recorded just days before his premature death in 1988. Feeling his sinking health, his belly in the quicksand, he prefaces the piece, “a funeral march for my body.” He proceeds to scrape and pound the microphone on his chest, face, and clothing. This thick pumping of Adriano’s torso rapping across the speakers abruptly stops after two minutes. A piercing moment.

I was born the day after Adriano died, which has some poetic meaning to me, naturally. I am indebted to him, his sickly sweet manner. The opportunity to publish these largely unknown sound works is an honor which brings a warmth to my torso. Much appreciation goes to Giovanni Fontana (poet and dear friend of Adriano), who helped produce this edition with me. “Every single word has been a tempest of gestures.“

Sean McCann, January 2020

Like an ode to your Walkman and to those 90-minute tapes that you used to rewind with your pen, DA BREAK's first LP was all about Funk & Hip Hop 90's flavors. Like an ode to your Walkman and to those 90-minute tapes that you used to rewind with your pen, DA BREAK's first LP was all about Funk & Hip Hop 90's flavors. This was completely unexpected, a major learning experience, and above all a lot of fun and gave the Lyon-based gang a whole lot of ideas for the next stage in their musical journey, propelling them towards new musical horizons: infectious riddims with grooving keyboard & guitar licks as their bedrock and free association leading them into jazz, broken beat, soul or disco vibes … During the creation of Let It Shine, all doors were wide open and all musical genres potentially welcome. The production still has a « home made » feel to it, like the previous album, but with a modern, sonic twist when needed- a result of three years on the road together and new creative input from group members. Whether it be on a New York summertime roof-top, or settled in a Low-Rider with some G-Funk, or moving to some phat Jamaican style bass-lines or getting sensual on a tight breakbeat, lead singer Hawa knows how to shine her feminine and versatile brilliance on the project. She gives to the songs the final touch and the emotion needed to share with us her stories about human relationships - everyday tales sharing her real life-experience. This ever-expanding musical spectrum, Da Break play with it, explore it and also let it kick
completely free at times ! Song after song, they bring a magic glow to LET IT SHINE.

Deliberately breaking all the rules Mr. Hornby once famously outlined regarding the creation of homemade (tape) compilations, Saroos’ members indeed had the term “mixtape” on their minds while working on their latest full-length – albeit in the hip-hop sense: a sonic snack box, interconnected shots from the hip, something that just came together and immediately felt right.

Whereas hip-hop folks nowadays often use the vacuous term “project” in order to steer clear of the ontological debate caused by the almost synonymous use of album/mixtape, Florian Zimmer, Christoph Brandner, and Max Punktezahl, otherwise busy with The Notwist, Driftmachine & Lali Puna, stick to the classics: their new 16-track project “OLU” (Off Label Use) is, officially, still an album. But it’s wild and vibrant like a mixtape, interwoven like its cover: a seamless burst of ideas, impulsively combined to form a split-screen snapshot of recent moments and momentums.

Re-appropriating the term “Off Label Use” – which actually means: using prescription drugs in ways that aren’t mentioned on the instruction leaflet – in their own “off-label” way, Saroos never sounded more loose-limbed and elastic. Whereas the trio’s earlier releases were rather conceptual and homogenous, “OLU” indeed has a more loose, spur-of-the-moment feel, a spontaneous force at its core. Checking the weighty sci-fi inspirations at the door, they use that Bomb Shelter-type of freedom to reinvent themselves at every turn, chasing sounds that happened to emerge in the group’s triangular energy field.

Kicking it off “with a killer, to grab attention” (Hornby/Cusack, after all), the massive reverb-stumblin’ adjustment between beats and bass of opening track “Quarantaine” cross-fades smoothly into “Humdrum Rolloff,” an early hint at the group’s off-label practices: the underwater creepers floating around here were really voices (mostly). From majestically built oriental sound-pieces (“Looney Suite Serenade”), synth-based “End House Mario” and a triptych of speaker-boxxxing gas lamp experimentations entitled “Cord Burn 1-3,” Saroos have rarely sounded this playful and unrestricted: there’s a new energy at work that welds all the different sonic playing fields together to create one continuous 40 minute mix.

For the B-side descent, “Tatsu Jam,” at less than 4 minutes still the longest cut, billows over the kind of sizzling hi-hats you’d expect to hear on real trap tapes from Hotlanta. A prelude to a bunch of quicker-paced instrumentals (“Scratch Pets”, “24h Love Gumbo”) and ambient sun showers, until the next “Plateau” (Mo’Wax vibes!) brings the beats to the fore once again (“Tomorrow’s Kudos”), and the ultimate “Whirligig” sounds like a mix of Oktoberfest 2020 and Johnston’s “Casper The Friendly Ghost” coming apart at the seams.
Whatever you wanna call it – album, LP, mixtape, project, who cares? –, it’s definitely a double A-side tour-de-force.

Taylor Swift, seven-time GRAMMY award winner, and the
youngest recipient in history of the music industry's highest
honor, the GRAMMY Award for Album of the Year. She is the
#1 digital music artist of all-time and is the first artist since the
Beatles (and the only female artist in history) to log six or more
weeks at #1 with three consecutive studio albums. Taylor has
an album on Rolling Stone's prestigious The 50 Greatest
Albums of All Time (by women) list, Time magazine has named
her one the of the100 Most Influential People in the world, and
she is Billboard's youngest-ever Woman of the Year. Taylor
has career record sales in excess of 30 million albums and 75
million song downloads worldwide, and has had singles top both
the pop and country radio charts around the globe.
LONDON, 18th August 2014 - Taylor Swift, announced her new
album 1989 and it is available immediately for pre-buy on
TaylorSwiftand iTunes. In addition, Taylor released Shake
It Off, the first single and video from her fifth studio album.
1989 is a touchstone - Taylor's songwriting and sonic evolution
surprises us more than ever before. Heavily keyboard and beat
driven, the pop sensibilities that have always been the hallmark
of Taylor's music now move front and centre on 1989. "I spent
two years making 1989. Two years gives you enough time to
grow and change and let things inspire you. I was listening to a
lot of late 80's pop music and how bold those songs were and
how that time period was a time of limitless possibilities. In
thinking about that, this album is a rebirth for me. This is my
very first documented, official pop album. 1989 is the most
sonically cohesive album I have ever made and my favourite
album I have ever made," said Taylor.