Mindcut presents the first solo ep with no one else than London based producer Ansome.
4 heavy techno tracks with industrial influences including massive Manni Dee remix.
Early Support by: Randomer, Perc, Truss, J.Tijn, Paul Birken, Rebekah, Paul Birken, Clouds, Dave Tarrida, Kamikaze Space Programme, Myler, Wire, Interferon, Forest People. Keepsakes, Luke Creed, G-23, Axel Sohns
For the Northern Soul collector few places rival Detroit as a source for quality, rare records. But Philadelphia comes pretty close and it is the city of brotherly love that produced America's number one independent record label... the mighty Cameo-Parkway. Here, for the first time, we present the very best that that iconic company has to offer.From the Wheel to Wigan, to the Weekender and beyond, the sound of Cameo-Parkway has packed the dance floors across the UK for over 50 years. From the opening bars of Dee Dee Sharp's driving cover of Mel Tormé's Comin' Home Baby' it's easy to see why the label is so highly prized by collectors and dancers alike and why this unique vinyl tribute will touch the hearts of the faithful! All of the classics are here: Chubby Checker, Christine Cooper, Bobby Paris, Yvonne Baker, Bunny Sigler, Jerry Jackson etc etc. The difficulty has been in deciding what to leave out, not what to include, maybe a second volume later in the year One thing is for certain, 1.2 million YouTube viewers just love Cameo-Parkway!
Volume 1[22,90 €]
repress soon!
"Platform 23 presents the 2nd collection of songs selected from the Alternative Funk series released Vox Man and VP 231 Records. Originally appearing in 1985 across 1 vinyl and 2 cassette albums these cult collections have long been in collectors (and bootleggers) sights and finally see the first official reissue. As with Volume 1 (PLA023) the series covers the weird, wonderful, esoteric, exotic and quirky sound and puts them in a reset context that immediately gives clarity of the original's curation.
This volume opens with some DIY electro stealers, first with Dee Nasty's Orientic Groove, where the early French hip-hop pioneer lays down a battle commence of beats, slapped bass and YMO keys, before the second offering from Scoop! and their rap attack, juxtapositions the past series and leads to label heads Vox Populi! & Man and their continued look at the rudiments of cut up manipulation and scratch techniques. The avant rappears with 3M's percussive marker and legendary Amus Tietchens' is ever challenging, before Melsjest's post-punk meets the Weirmar possibly steals the side as Vox Pop spoken outro joins those (micro)dots.
The cult of Randall Kennedy returns with another garage-fuzz gem. His stories for wackos'n'weirdos end all too soon and are followed by Liquid Liquid's Dennis Young, diving deep with Intuition, before Stanalis returns with another winner. Bene Gesserit is a killer and welcome addition, before Kosa return with more industrial clippings and volume 2 heads to the door with Capital Funk's electro-punk bomb - possibly the series champion - while the slap bass-scratch of California's Psyclones leads to a music hall end in the homage to mum's favourite, Chukk.
What these Volumes again highlight is how the DIY aesthetic of so many independent labels was supplemented and spread via collections of friends, contemporaries and often, literally pen pals, to mail in their offerings that are then picked for wider ears. While some of these artists have become known, just as many are who and whats, but they sit side-by-side as warranted and often killing the scene of what Axel and co sought to be ... the Alternative Funk."
As the grandson of the late trumpeter Doc Cheatham, and former student of legendary jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd, trumpeter Theo Croker is an artist steeped in jazz tradition and he is rapidly becoming one of the hottest jazz artists of this era.
Croker's own music reveals a love of organic funk, soul, and groove-oriented hip-hop. Helping to raise Croker's musical vibrations is his ensemble, featuring saxophonist Anthony Ware, keyboardist Michael King, guitarist Ben Eunson, bassist Eric Wheeler, and drummer Kassa Overall. Also adding color to the proceedings are guitarist Femi Temowo and saxophonist Irwin Hall. Dee Dee Bridgewater appears on the classic tune 'Love From The Sun'. Croker proves he's got deep ideas about life, spirituality, and how music connects us all. It's an ebullient, groove-conscious message perhaps best expressed on the bass-heavy 'It's Gonna Be Alright.' Trading the song's title phrase back and forth like old friends high-fiving on the street, you can hear Croker and his band smiling.
Factory Benelux and New Order present Of Factory New York, a unique benefit album released to assist Michael Shamberg, who ran the NYC office of Factory Records during the celebrated label's Eighties heyday.
Daniel Avery broadens the exquisite sonic universe established on last year's critically-acclaimed sophomore LP Song For Alpha, presenting the collected B-sides & Remixes. Showcasing cuts from the album's writing and recording process, as well, Avery also invites a number of his contemporaries and some of the most vital underground producers in the world to rework his original material, with transformative results.
The frosty melancholy of Citizen // Nowhere is reworked by London producer Manni Dee into something altogether monstrous. Introducing itself with a kick drum powerful enough to level a warehouse, and only getting more urgent from there forward, Dee's remix blends a knowing rave glint in the eye with a nonetheless uncompromising stance.
The Copenhagen-via-Moscow producer Anastasia Kristensen immediately justifies her status as a rapidly rising talent on the scene, locking into a delicate yet no less powerful groove for her sparkling remix of Glitter. Seamlessly heightening the almost meditative qualities of Avery's original, she weaves a blissful rhythmic trip, taking in razor-sharp percussions and spectral dub techno.
A longstanding fixture on the Midwest US rave scene, Patrick Russell applies his typical grit to 'Song For Alpha's firmly dancefloor focused centrepiece, Diminuendo. In subtly shifting the focus to the track's passages of overwhelming feedback, he sculpts a black hole of snarling electro and piston-like breaks, sure to prove an inviting wormhole to those willing to surrender further, deeper and darker.
I wanted it to be the biggest sounding Foo Fighters record ever. To make a gigantic rock record but with Greg Kurstin's sense of melody and arrangement... Motorhead's version of Sgt. Pepper... or something like that.'
So speaks Dave Grohl of the mission statement made manifest in Foo Fighters' ninth epic, the aptly-titled Concrete and Gold, due out September 15 worldwide on Columbia Records and available for pre-order now.
Concrete and Gold marries some of the most insanely heavy Foo Fighters riffs ever with lush harmonic complexities courtesy of a first time team-up with producer Greg Kurstin (Adele, Sia, Pink). The first taste of which came in the form of anthem of the summer Run' which was described by The Times as 'epic', Music Week as 'Classic' and Shortlist as 'the best thing they've done in years'.
Concrete and Gold was written and performed by Foo Fighters, produced by Greg Kurstin and Foo Fighters, and mixed by Darrell Thorp.
Foo Fighters are Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, Pat Smear and Rami Jaffee.
Neville Watson returns to DBA with The Midnight Orchard, his first full-length in five years. Watson is a key figure on the electronic music scene at large and has made regular appearances on Don't Be Afraid, as well as on celebrated imprints such as Crème Organization, Clone and Rush Hour, where he released some of his best-known work alongside Kink.
In a crowded landscape of factory-line jack trax and synthesis for the sake-of-it, it's little surprise that Watson's physical, arresting takes on house and techno have been such a staple in the record bags of the world's leading DJs for the past twenty years. Throughout The Midnight Orchard, Watson seamlessly bridges his futurist leanings gleaned from a lifelong commitment to electronic music with the anarchic spirit of his acid-house heritage.
The record still finds catharsis in the relentless pulse that has defined Watson's life since his early residencies where he peddled ecstatic escapism to towns on the commuter belts of London, notably via his involvement in seminal Reading party Checkpoint Charlie. However, there's a more somber, arguably introspective and perhaps even somewhat wistful tone at play throughout. This might surprise those who've invested their feet and hearts in tracks with titles like Night Of The Inflatable Muscleheads and Everything I Know About House (I Learned on Facebook).
In a move away from his previous musical leanings, The Midnight Orchard embraces a distinctly more UK sound, unapologetically chronicling the paranoia that can be found skirting the euphoria of rave. And while Watson has avoided the eyebrow-arching pitfalls of the self-serious DJ full-length, it must be noted that the rhythms here are more skittering, the atmosphere less jubilant and the signature lo-fi hiss, fully popularised and bastardised since Watson's last album, has taken on a more fore-boding tone.
Meanwhile, the atmosphere elsewhere harks to a more idealistic world, particularly on the cascading and subdued Eine Kleine Emusik, and the euphoric We Own The Night. Twin Tub and Reet Dux provide dubby, sensual moments of escapism. There's uncompromising, hard-nosed rhythms on Dee Sides, and cosmic electro throughout 4am in the Trees. The album then concludes in a bold fashion with Displays of Brotherly Love and the resolutely hopeful atmosphere of Phosphorescent.
Reflecting decades of immersion in club culture and taking inspiration from wider-found sounds, The Midnight Orchard is loaded with thrilling parallels and a sense of genuine unpredictability. Tracks like Come On In and Anarcho Midnight are layered with unease, utilising pitch dark arpeggios and skittish, growling electronics to devastating effect.
Having dedicated the last eighteen months of his life to the studio, Watson has rec-orded what is undeniably the most unexpected music of his career. Amid the dark-ness, The Midnight Orchard has borne fruit.
Canadian Duo Mdd Make Their Slam Debut Following On From Their First Release In 2018 On And Imprint Inner Surface. Unforgiving, Dark And Distorted Techno At Its Best. Somber Vocals And Murky Atmospheres Create A Wicked Tension Throughout The Ep. Manni Dee Also Features For The First Time On Slam And Gives His Contribution By Remixing Opal Fall Into A Driving Dance Floor Stomper.
The first in a series of all-time CLASSIC hip-hop anthems from the Nervous vaults, pressed onto high quality dinked 45's.
Remastered from the original source material and featuring the unedited 'dirty' version on the A-side, and the full instrumental on the B-side, these 45's are for the heads who know what time it really is! Black Moon's 'Who Got The Props' needs no introduction, it's place in hip-hop history is fully solidified. The combination of vintage Beatminerz SP1200 beats paired with the legendary MC's Buckshot and the 5 Ft. Accelerator's streetwise NYC raps is a heady mixture indeed. Often speaking of street life in New York in the 1990's, Black Moon gained cult status via their 1993 debut LP 'Enta Da Stage', one of the most celebrated hip-hop debut albums of all time. The Beatminerz production changed the game, their deep knowledge and understanding of samples, records and digging in the crates gave their sound a real style and edge. 'Who Got Da Props' is the perfect example of this, one of those timeless rap records that appeals to the hardcore and can ignite the party. Truly essential. Every home should have one (or 2!).
Fully legit, licensed and reissued by Above Board distribution in conjunction with Nervous Records, NYC. 2018.
Both D-Malice and Kid Fonque are well-established players in their native cities, both boasting long-term involvement and impressive credentials. After meeting in 2013 and nurturing a very natural and obvious predilection for golden era hip-hop, 90s R'n B, soul and trip hop they decided to pool their creative resources and rope in a wealth of talent from their combined networks under a new moniker. Enter rkls.
On this debut offering the pair have worked with LA's broken beat visionary Marc De Clive-Lowe, legendary emcees John Robinson and Kev Brown, dazzling new vocal and production talent from South Africa - Sio, Melo B Jones, Daev Martian and White Nite to name but a few.
This diverse list of guests flex their dexterity allowing the album to shift easily between ballads and more up-tempo beats effortlessly. Punctuated with spacey interludes, the resulting twelve tracks glisten with sumptuous textures, swelling harmonies and organic instrumentation. Familiar but fresh, rkls feels like you're meeting an old friend with enthralling new stories to tell.
Tadd Mullinix first made a name for himself as Dabrye in the early 2000s with a pair of instrumental albums combining the rhythmic finesse of Detroit hip-hop with the ingenuity of electronic music. But instrumental beats were only a temporary goal, a way for Mullinix to catch the ears of MCs. On Two/Three, his second Dabrye album for Ghostly International, Mullinix brought together a formidable crew of local and national talent to make the statement he'd always intended. Released in 2006, Two/Three o-ered a fevered vision of rap's future that remains just as intoxicating a decade on. Ahead of the long-await-ed conclusion of Dabrye's hip-hop trilogy in 2018, Ghostly is reissuing Two/Three.
Dabrye's move towards rap began in 2004 with the album's first single, 'Game Over' featuring Jay Dee and Phat Kat. An early inspiration of Dabrye's, Jay Dee invited Mullinix to his crib in 2002 for a listening session during which he picked the 'Game Over' beat to rap on. Crucially everyone involved was in accord that despite perceptions of their respective work this would be a hardcore rap song. Together with Kat, Jay delivered a one-two lyrical punch on 'Game Over' that no one saw coming. Detroit made the world go round and everyone's head spun. 'Game Over' set the tone for the album and, over the next few years, became a Detroit anthem — shortly after Jay's passing in 2006 the audience at Movement Festival sung his verse.
Moody, propulsive, and above all ambitious, Two/Three emerges from a sonic stew of Detroit and UK dance music, Jamaican sound clashes, and hip-hop sampledelia. The guests, a who's who of the mid-'00s underground rap scene, engage in a raucous rhyming session that pays as much attention to the realities of the streets as it does world events. MF Doom, Wildchild, Vast Aire, Beans, and AG represent for the various coasts while local talents — Waajeed, Ta-Raach, Invincible, Finale, Kadence, Guilty Simpson, Big Tone, Phat Kat, and Jay Dee — bring Two/Three alive with an infectious energy. In between bursts of raw rap and hard beats, Dabrye showcases detailed instrumentals that evoke bleak industrial futures, underwater meditations, and smoky late night sessions. With Two/Three Dabrye placed himself at the forefront of hip-hop's new wave, throwing a Molotov cocktail into the rap world as uncompromising as the head-twisting cover art from WK Interact. The independent press praised Mullinix's audacity. Over the following years the impact of Two/Threewas felt in slow increments as Dabrye's music became central to the sonic makeup of a new generation of producers. As this beat scene grew and moved away from rap, it showed Mullinix the influence of his work and the value of his vision for Dabrye as his own brand of Detroit hip-hop.
This instalment follows on from our acclaimed 'Volume One' - Lauren Laverne's 'Compilation Of The Week', supported by the likes of Disclosure, Jeremy Underground, Horsemeat Disco, Hunee and Laurent Garnier. 'Volume Two' picks up where the last one left off — with a touch more soul and disco — records we've been spinning in our DJ sets and on the radio show of the same name, that inspired this series.
We opened a new record shop in the centre of Brighton late in 2016 - 13 years after the mighty London store closed it's door. Now situated on the ground floor of our Gloucester Yard home the shop is open every Saturday to sell records that we love, some of which you'll hear on the radio shows, and on this album.
It's been a resounding success and we've been able to host sunny instore events and Facebook Live broadcasts with guests including Nick The Record, Dimensions Festival family Debora Ipekel, Flamingods, Slugabed, The Physics House Band and Remi Kolawole & Sensible J.
In 2017 and beyond, we will be releasing more of our official reissues including lesser-known essentials from Brazil, such as Gal Costa's 'India', Robson Jorge & Lincoln Olivetti, Burnier & Cartier alongside 1980's Mexican psychedelia from Luis Perez. We've been digging deep, and will share another edition of our 'The Original Sound of...' series, this time across the border from Mali to neighbouring Burkina Faso. As ever, you'll hear these first, on our radio shows.
There will be more 'Mr Bongo Presents' events - we brought Alain Mion & Cortex to the Jazz Cafe in London in 2017 - and we've highly anticipated slots at Bestival and Lost Village festivals, plus a return to RAPPCATS in Los Angeles, more guest shows on Worldwide FM and NTS Radio and, of course, the continuation
of our own radio shows.
Compiled by David 'Mr Bongo' Buttle and Gareth Stephens,
plus a few personal favourites from Gary Johnson, Ville Marttila and Graham Luckhurst.
Too many people sleep on Tougher Than Leather, Run-DMC's fourth album. But hear us out as we plead the case for this amazing LP. By 1988 there was a lot more competition in the rap game - Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, Eric B. & Rakim, Ice-T and many more had given Hollis, Queens' prodigal sons lots of competition. But Joe, Darryl and Jay were still at the top of their game, and hip-hop fans should never let this classic - chiefly produced by their Queens neighbor, DJ and multi-instrumentalist Davy D(MX) - get lost in their crates. For starters, the album's first single, Run's House' b/w Beats To The Rhyme' is arguably the most powerful one-two punch of the trio's career, showing contenders to the rap throne that they could still destroy a beat, tag-teaming with power at any speed. Not to be lost in the shuffle, fans were also reminded on both sides that Jam-Master Jay remained one of the world's best DJs, flexing the pinnacle of what would be called turntablism' a decade later. Both songs show a musical telepathy between all three that has rarely been equaled. The second single, Mary, Mary,' driven by an infectious Monkees sample, took a different approach, shrewdly ensuring that pop fans who jumped on the Raising Hell bandwagon had something to chew on. But, like Walk This Way,' the song wasn't just bubblegum - there was an edge to it, and the lyrical gymnastics were very real. It wasn't selling out, it was allowing fans to buy in. Papa Crazy,' driven in concept and by a sample from the Temptations' Papa Was A Rolling Stone,' followed a similar pop-leaning path. Overall, the lyrical content on the album was a step up from the group's first three LPs. It's easy to infer, looking back, that they were feeling the heat from their younger competitors in the rap game. The genre was changing fast, and they were up to the challenge. On cuts like Radio Station' they bring substance to the grooves, by attacking Black Radio for its continual denigration of rap. Tougher Than Leather' reminds the world that they were still the Kings of Rock, with hard guitars to drive the point home. And They Call Us Run-DMC' and Soul To Rock And Roll' both bring things back to their early days, with sure-fire park jam rhymes and killer cuts. Tougher Than Leather, which went platinum up against a lot of competition, perfectly bookends the '80s output of one of the decade's most important groups. It encompasses the full range of the trio's capabilities, and reminds us that Run-DMC should never be forgotten as both pioneers and party-rockers. And so, we say, long live Joe, Darryl and Jay!
Amsterdam based Leyla records presents part two of it's various artists compilation, this time bringing together a host of international artists, as well as a contribution from label boss Chafik Chennouf.
The four tracker commences with Insufferable People from label regular Manni Dee. Following his spectacular EP on Perc Trax, Dee delivers a dancefloor roller containing punctilious sound design integral to his work, with vocals from the artist superimposed over crunchy drums, riding the waves of submerged synths.
Track two from France's Von Grall offers a similar treat for DJs, this time with more introspective elements working in harmony with with propulsive polyrhythms. As the track creeps forward the revelation of drones and synth lines further involves the listener and contributes to a musical landscape populated by rhythmically independent segments, coalescing to form a cogent whole.
Head honcho Chafik Chennouf injects light in to the darkness on the B1 with Kosmai, redolent of EBM style funk rhythms. The stolid arpeggios function as the foundation for percussive interplay which propel the track in to new territory as it progresses. The 90s rave influence becomes apparent as the automations mould and shape the multidimensional lead.
The closer, Useless Landscape, from Japan's Katsunori Sawa immediately immerses the listener as the concrete groove is quickly overtaken by field recordings and a unique tonality emerging through layered drones and warped artefacts. Reminiscent of his work with Yuji Kondo as Steven Porter, the track unveils an intimacy through detail, while maintaing distance through evolving layers of sound creating mystery and magic.
Rising Amsterdam-based star Esther Duijn leads the charge with a hypnotic, understated slice of dub techno that grooves in all the right places. Label boss Brothers' Vibe then steps up with a sharp-edged, percussion led workout that blooms into a fulsome, acidic jam laced with techno futurism and pure machine soul. German production duo youANDme are regular collaborators with Brothers' Vibe, and here they join forces for the tough, drum-pounding Playing With Toys. Rodriguez also takes the opportunity to unveil the Silent Rodgerz alias, championing the Toad Red vision with a daring, experimental trip through abstractmodular-synthesizer processes that build towards a jacking rhythmic throw-down.
Aussie rare groove ensemble Kerbside Collection's second album of instrumental funk and jazz grooves "Trash Or Treasure" (released May 2015) gets the remix, rework and re-use treatment with a variety of re-interpretations with everything from downtempo hip- hop/neo-soul and dusty analogue lounge beats, to fuzzy, Balearic electronic club workouts and even some broken beat flavours.Kicking off this limited edition 12" vinyl, AV artist/DJ/Producer Sampology lights up the sitar disco vibes of "Strawberry Fields" taking the track into sizzling Balearic, club work-out territory with added afro percussion, squelchy wobbles and effects, perfect for summer festivals and hazy end-of-night vibes. Vinnie Laduce's follows with his cruisy vocoder and lo-fi indie beats reconstruction of "Shake 'n' Bake", while another local Brisbane producer TwoDee (who also appears on "Mind the Curb" remixed) delivers an eighties, electro break flavoured re-work of 'Rabbit Hole'.Side B starts JNBO (The Cactus Channel bass player) and his unique wonky, analogue and quirky touch to the title track for a fuzzed out, analogue electronics burner for fans of Floating Points, Cro Magnon, Dabrye and Dimlite (bounced to tape no-less for added bump!). Closing in on this special vinyl is Kerbside's drummer Paprika who takes the coastal groove of 'Bogangar' to the afro side with his 'Mountain Air Afro- dub', recreating a low slung, Tony Allen styled afrobeat groove with added melodic movements and dubby effects, while he adds another remix taking "Trash Or Treasure" into future jazz/broken beat territory with added percussion, moog bass and a surprise heavy change up at the end, almost reflective of some classic Fat Freddy's Drop!
