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Telfort’s seductive sound returns with three new cruise missiles from the faultless producer. Deep house done with a dazzling expanse, his imaginative and charismatic influence on the genre have previously piqued the attention of the more creative DJs and diggers who’ve dug the producer’s umami-esque palette: intangibly savoury, hard to define but unequivocally tasty.

On his fourth release via the sporadic yet impactful TLFT imprint, the producer retains his playful touch as he delivers three bright, optimistic dancefloor vistas that shimmer and shine like sunbeams off a dappled ocean. “As Though It Were” immediately injects energy and light into our minds and bodies with its candescent bass riff and catchy three note melodies. Synth-strings are arranged with perfection, hinting at a brave New World full of compassion, love and unity; while its driving and buoyant beats urge us into a hips’ n ’shoulders workout comparable to a high-octane gym session.

“It’s A Phase” is as finely crafted a piece of Telfortian house as one can hope for. With a direct and rugged B-line, peppered with light perx and decorated beautifully by one of Telfort’s trademark, textural synth patches. It’s further garnished by a dreamy, weaving lead solo that should draw heartfelt feelings of desire and nostalgia out of all who experience it.

“MSR Dub” completes the session and deep bass plumes and breathy flute melodies give us Big feelings as we floor the speedboat’s accelerator and splash across the rollers and swells at max speed. Achieving a tranquil and calming terminal velocity, time appears to stand still as gorgeous scenery rushes past our eyes. It’s a picturesque and evocative end to the trip which should etch itself into one’s memory hole, full of jubilant and joyous sentiments and overwhelming positivity throughout.

Evoking ambrosial notes and feels throughout, reminiscent of spending life affirming time with top friends in exotic locations and holiday house music splashing in corals. You only live once; ensure it’s spent enjoying tunes like these loaded with carefree abandon. Telfort’s In A Good Place right now…

It was 50 years ago that a talented local musician named Lamont Butler started to create an album that would combine love, happiness and joy. Lamont’s only official album release It’s Time For A Change has been very popular for record collectors around the world but never saw the wider success it truly deserved.

Born 1949 in Louisville, Kentucky; Lamont Butler was drawn to music and dance from the very beginning. He was the son of a well-known gospel, blues and R&B singer and pianist Clifford Butler Sr, receiving an early education in what’s required to be a touring musician.

It quickly became apparent that Lamont had a wonderful voice and was pushed to the front despite no being fully confident yet of his singing ability. Lamont performed on the gospel circuit for a number of years cutting his teeth with groups such as The Enterprise, The Dynamics and The New Beginnings eventually going solo with Lamont Butler and The Spirit of Truth.

It was whilst he was singing and performing during this period that he started to write his own songs and think about putting together an album bringing together all of his influences from R&B, jazz, soul and of course gospel. The result is very raw, almost low-fi sound of It’s Time For A Change, released nearly 10 years after Lamont started to pen the first tracks and it gained relative success. He toured the album around churches in Louisville with tracks such as Love One Another, Time For A Change and Ungodly War quickly becoming firm favourites within the churches of Louisville.

Miles Away Records are pleased to working with Lamont and to be issuing a long overdue album reissue of It’s Time For A Change on LP and CD. Remastered with care by Nick Robbins at Sound Mastering and complete with in-depth sleeve notes.

Thembisa’s Hot Soul Singers were formed in 1975 by promoter and producer Sam “Jiza Jiza” Mthembu. In the early years the trio was called the Thembisa Happy Queens and consisted of sisters Ntombifuthi and Nombuso Mabaso and Lindiwe Ndlovu. The trio would start out playing Jive, Zulu Disco and other popular sounds of the 70s . In 1979 they became the Hot Soul Singers and would begin a career in the emerging Disco scene which their group name was now more fitting for.

Their first single under the new name was a tribute to their producer Sam, and their first album “Together” would come 2 years later in 1981. It contained their Lamont Dozier rip off from a year earlier, and biggest hit to date “ Give Me My Love Back” which was playing in jukeboxes across the country. At this time the Hot Soul Singers were also gaining popularity due to their demand as an opening act for American groups. Sam’s ongoing pursuit to be a successful promoter also helped to ensure they were always in the headlines and playing shows. It would be in 1983 that the group would temporarily step away from a major label and go onto record their first Maxi single with the independent Raintree Records new Lyncell Imprint.

Like most places in the world the early 80s was a fast changing time in music for South Africa. Although the Maxi had a disco standard for years in other parts of the world it had only recently been popularized in South Africa. Thanks to the Brenda and the Big Dudes smash, Weekend Special, the maxi took over as the preferred format for pop music, replacing the cheaper but time restricting 7” single. Singles were being pushed to the limits in the early 80’s with running times of 4+ minutes a sides by some labels. The Maxi allowed for groups to extend their grooves onto a full side and later album art containing smiling musicians infant of cheesy backdrops became the norm. Synthesizers had been used in pop music for years already but the DX7 wouldn’t land in the country for another year. Drum machines were being used but had yet to fully replace live drummers like would happen in the years to come. The recording of this new single would require a full band resulting in it being one of the gems of the crossover period before the complete midi takeover. Durban’s Graham Handley was recording some of the best upcoming Disco sounds for labels like Heads Music and groups like Kabasa and Masike Mohapi and was tasked as engineer. Other known musicians in the session would be Jimmy Mgwandi from the group Image, who’s signature bass playing can be heard on both songs. A young Daniel Phakoe aka “sox” was also present and took care of the male parts of the vocal line. Both musicians have writing credits along with lead singer Nombuso. Other possibilities of musicians would be Thami Mduli aka Professor Rhythm who had been with the group since their early days as well as a young Chicco who was best friends with Jimmy at the time.

The single, which was packaged in a customized but simple company disco sleeve, went on to do quite well. Less than a year later they would feature on a track with Sunset which would lead to them singing with Sounds of Soweto records label. The group would enjoy the growing fame when tragedy struck in 1984. On their way to a show in Mpumalanga they were involved in a car accident which took the life of Nombuso and left her husband Sam with a leg injury he limps with to this day. Upon recovering Sam would organize a tribute concert at Soweto’s Jabulani Amphitheatre. Even though the tragedy left the group broken and without a member the band went back to work to record their second full length album. They worked with Mac Mathunjwa who had written Nombuso’s favourite song “Going Crazy”. This album would be released with two different names and covers. One took the former singer’s favourite song as the album name and used a photo consisting of all three girls where the other released under the name “ A Tribute” and would only have the remaining members on the cover.

Although the tragedy never halted the group, moving forward the trio of singers would see a few members change. Lindiwe would leave to join Freeway and then become Linda “Babe” Majika so by the time they were ready to record in1986, now with Teal records, the only original member was Ntombifuthi. She would also shortly leave the group and provide backing vocals to other artists including her old band mate Linda. The Hot Soul Singers would be kept alive by Jiza Jiza and go on to record 5 more albums before calling it quits in 1990 after a successful 15 year career. Today the only core member left is Sam Mthembu who still lives in Thembisa and is occasionally promoting live events. Even though he did produce a handful of artists back in the 70s, his most significant additions to the music industry were the Hot Soul Singers and his event promotions, which is what he is best known for and will most likely be the legacy of his career.

Jon Tye and Pete Fowler have been making music as Seahawks for a decade now. Given the sounds they’ve been exploring over those ten years it was a cosmic inevitability that they would be asked to contribute to the catalogue of the legendary library label KPM.

They replied with Island Visions, an exploration of sound for vision where they construct “audio micro-worlds to explore and inhabit”. A way to transport the listener away from the everyday without the bother of getting on an aeroplane. Mind travel is space travel after all, and much better for the environment.

Mostly recorded at The Centre Of Sound in Cornwall, with additional recording at Studio 34 in London, Jon and Pete’s travelling companions on this particular trip were boogie wunderkind Sven Atterton on fretless bass and keys, Nick Mackrory on percussion and the Seahawks live team of Dan Hillman and Alik Peters-Deacon.

From the grooves of Brian Bennett to the moog vibrations of Mike Vickers, the lush textures of Les Baxter to the experimental sounds of Delia Deryshire and David Vorhaus, this new music channels sounds and moods from across the KPM universe.

The spacious “Hot Sand Shuffle” opens the record with some of Seahawks’ familiar “deck-shoegaze”. The slinky digi-dub of “Sky Blue Sky” follows, gently encouraging us to lay back and relax. “Mystic Beach” is a refreshing ocean spray of a synthetic groove that clears the head, priming a pathway to receive “Crystal Forest”, a new age house groove of birds and flutes.

Dense, deep and dreamlike, “Distant Shore” is ambient rainforest house with a 90s vibe, its dense foliage clearing to let us bask in the shimmer and shine of “River Run”. Hang drum, electric gamelan, flute and loon close side A.

Side B bounces into being with “Catch A Wave”, an upbeat beach groover of synthetic guitar, effervescent synth and snappy drums. Equatorial bubbler “Paradise Bird Bath” soon glides in with marimba, crisp beats and fat synth bass. Fender rhodes, space echo and fretless bass make “Smooth Runnings” a laid-back poolside groove.

“Spirits Have Flown” conjures a hazy vibe with marimba, sax, synth funk bass and chilled beats before “Rolling Deep” serves up a light cocktail of sultry rhythms, refreshing textures, cooling sax and fretless bass. Almost-title track “Island Blues” brings the horizontal poolside feels with melodic chimes, oboe and more fretless bass for maximum vibrations. The marina drone of modular electronics, celestial trumpet and jungle ambience pay the album’s final respects to the cosmos on “Sun Salute”.

Like many KPM suites, this is a record of two distinct sides. The sunrise of side A brings a deep meditation, a journey within to renew the jaded self. Side B refreshes with cocktails by the pool and a chance to groove away the evening at some sunset beach party before dancing under the stars in the house of dreams.

Pete’s front cover for the LP is part map, part postcard: “the record has five different sections and I wanted to reference those in the worlds they created, musically and physically. From beach campfire, to poolside hanging and nighttime dancing. A kind of portal to those places and the pictures they inspired in my mind. All places we’d like to be in this turbulent year”. The track descriptions on the back help guide the way.

2020 marks 10 years since Ocean Trippin’, the first Seahawks release, and Island Visions is the perfect distillation of the sounds, sights, textures and moods that Jon and Pete have been exploring over the last decade. Sunrise to sunset condensed to two sides of an LP. The normal rules of space and time don’t apply here.

This is the first time Be With has worked with Seahawks, but individually Jon and Pete have been members of the extended Be With family since forever (Pete did those posters for our Ned Doheny tour and we worked with Jon on the vinyl version of Hatchback’s Colors Of The Sun). Of course we were going to put this out on vinyl.

Mastered by balearic engineer of choice (and Be With’s regular audio co-pilot) Simon Francis, cut by the legendary Pete Norman and pressed in the Netherlands by Record Industry, the sonic frequencies of these Island Visions have been precision tuned and encoded for optimum travelling conditions. Take the trip.

Coastlines is the self-titled long player from the new Japanese production unit of DJ and producer Masanori Ikeda and solo artist, session musician and Cro-Magnon keyboard player Takumi Kaneko.

Masanori and Takumi have been part of the Japanese dance music scene for years and Coastlines was born out of their working together on soundtracks for video projects. The pair wanted to make laid-back listening music for now, laying Takumi’s playful keys over Masanori’s widescreen balearic jazz-fusion to conjure beautiful and breathtaking “coastlines”.

A couple of two-track 7"s put out in late 2018 and early 2019 on Japanese house music label Flower Records soon sold out. Those four tracks were expanded to a full album of music, “a joyous, relaxing, summery soundtrack for everyone’s after hours wind down” that was released just in time for summer. It soundtracked many a Be With BBQ in 2019.

The album opens in the horizontal with the sophisticated, cocktails-by-the-pool groove of “Sunset Reflection”. A lush, beatless wonder. Their re-imagining of Ralph MacDonald’s “East Dry River” removes all the original’s bells and whistles (quite literally) and re-gears it with a subtle balearic chug. The result is a percussive gem.

“Coastline” is a beach-jazz noodle. “Drifting Ice” is as chilled and glacial as its title would suggest, yet Masanori’s head-nod slo-mo house beats throb not far below the surface. “My Fire” is another soft killer, all swelling, swirling organ over muted kicks and snares. An elegant boom-bap.

A pair of insistent tunes of the deeply balearic variety raise the tempo, but not by too much of course. On “Woods And My Guitar” a half-heard vocal refrain breathes life into the synthetic xylophone and guitar. Deft piano-work turns “Half Moon Shadow” into lounge-house for the sophisticated beach bum. A classy duo.

The self-assured re-work of Azymuth’s “Last Summer In Rio” is arguably the album’s centrepiece. Ten minutes of casually propulsive slapped bass, steel pans and slick 80s soul beats. Cue the steel drum interlude of “Maracas Bay” before album closer “Down Town” transitions us one with a shuffling, string-hinted hit of ethereal, euphoric piano bliss. Gentle disco for the new decade.

As former Test Pressing scribe Dr. Rob observed on his ever-reliable Ban Ban Ton Ton blog, the Coastlines fusion is very much in conversation with their 80s counterparts, both at home and along the coastlines of different continents. So among the nods to revered Japanese artists like Hiroshi Sato, Sakamoto and Casiopea, there are also hints of Marcos Valle and Mtume, of the aforementioned Azymuth. “The production though is very much now, not then. Not retro, just proper”. We couldn’t put it better ourselves.

Coastlines was originally a CD release only available in Japan, with HMV putting out a super-limited vinyl version a few months later for Japanese Record Store Day. But this music is just too good, so when Be With was asked via Ken Hidaka to take care of a vinyl version for the rest of the world it wasn’t a tough decision.

Mastered by Simon Francis and cut by Pete Norman, just 500 copies of this double LP have been pressed by the good people at Record Industry.

We’ve worked with Ian Willson to reissue his insanely good, self-released West Coast classic “Straight From The Heart”. Privately pressed and originally released in 1985, this is the only album Ian ever put out. A magical blend of AOR/sophisticated funk/synth-boogie/spiritual jazz and modern soul, it’s a spellbinding record of many colours.

You might already know “Straight From The Heart” for the dubby-disco paranoid-balearic anthem “Four In The Morning”, and it’s easy to assume this is probably just another one of those one-track LPs. But trust us when we say it’s definitely not. This is an impressively slick record from start to finish, just ask those modern soul DJs and AOR collectors who’ve managed to find a rare copy in the last 35 years. It could’ve (should’ve?) been number 1 all over the world back in 1985.

Album opener “Think About It” is all sorts of right. It’s emotional. It’s tops-off. It’s funk in its purest form. And take the proto-modern-funk of the title track (half Dâm-Funk / half Dâd-Funk).

The shimmering, spiritual Bossa-Jazz of “If I Were You” serves as the album’s soaring centrepiece. A gorgeous suite of Cosmic vibes to get Gilles frothing, it sounds like nothing else on the record which makes sense given that it was recorded a couple of years earlier, and is the only track on the LP that wasn’t recorded in Ian’s own studio.

Side B opens with the propulsive ode to love that is “Two Is Better Than One”. Wonderfully sparse when it needs to be, it’s also richly percussive and that special kind of California-warm. Frenetic, speaker smashing synth and horn workout “Funk Invasion” dares you not to dance and “A Game Called Love” is heavily indebted to Prince with its lush, deep funk stylings. The sweeping sax-drenched instrumental “Song For Katelyn” is head-nod, beat-heavy AOR for that melancholic magic hour we spend our days longing for. It all adds up to the ultimate BBQ record.

Almost all of “Straight From The Heart” was recorded over a few months between 1983 and 1984 on Ian’s brand new Otari 8 track in the Oakland, California studio he built just the year before. Only “If I Were You” was recorded elsewhere, at Bay Sound in 1982.

A “full time poor musician” at the time (and he says he still is), Ian produced the album himself and played all of the instruments, except for guitar. That’s Peter Fujii you can hear, his good friend from growing up together.

Tower Of Power, Average White Band, Earth Wind & Fire and Stevie Wonder was the list of influences Ian gave us when we asked. No wonder the record’s just so easy on the ears.

And why did he put the record out himself? Simple, he had no idea how to go about getting a record deal.

When we first got in touch with Ian he had no idea that “Straight From The Heart” had become something of a cult record, let alone that there were those of us out there that thought the album deserved to be pressed again. The original tapes have long since been lost so this re-issue was only made possible by remastering Ian’s one and only pristine copy of the finished LP.

The end results have been worth the work, including reproducing the original’s unmistakeable sleeve. Ian Willson’s “Straight From The Heart” is yet another Be With release that will find an easy home on the shelves of those of you who up to now have only dreamt of finding a copy and also those of you who who never knew it even existed.

During a karaoke-fuelled haze in the seedy parts of Oslo, Legs 11 was formed based on a shared love of synth pop, post-punk, new wave and house music. Drawing on these influences, the band has created a diverse musical universe, ranging from dark repetitive guitar driven tracks, via infectious pop gems, to deep yet melodic dancefloor-orientated grooves. After exploring the indie-dance themes on their debut album "Another Wave" (2017), it's now time to dive into the world of (electro) pop!

Legs 11 have drawn on many different influences throughout their 15 year history. Still, at the heart of the band's musical universe, there has always been a deep love for pop-music! On their new ten-track album "The Colour Of My Heart", Legs 11 show us ten shades of their brightly pop-coloured heart.

Founded in 1972, SteepleChase Records is one of the most significant and prolific European jazz record labels. With a catalogue running to well over 200 titles, the Copenhagen-based imprint has recorded and released music from some of the greatest names in jazz, including Dexter Gordon, Andrew Hill, Jackie McLean, Horace Parlan, Chet Baker and Stan Getz.

Starting out by recording visiting Americans when they performed at the legendary Café Montmartre, founder Nils Winther was encouraged to start the label by none other than the great Jackie McLean, who was the first artist to release a record on the new imprint. From there, Steeplechase rapidly grew into one of the foremost labels to document European jazz with all its distinctive originality and style.

With a particular emphasis on recording front rank American artists who had chosen the expatriate life in Europe, Steeplechase was first in line to document the sounds of the greats as they developed in exile. Featuring in-demand tracks from the likes of Billy Gault, Johnny Dyani and Khan Jamal, and unearthing deep cuts from greats like Jackie McLean and Mary Lou Williams, our Spiritual Jazz 11: Steeplechase pays tribute to one of Europe's most important jazz labels.

After a 10 year absence Horizontal is back. 3 songs that revolve around Dinky’s pure musical dogma, arpeggiated basses bounce with the beautiful and contorted voices that play within this psychedelic party. Bathing in blue skies and a deep warm acid glow, this is music to capture your body and soul, made with love whilst dreaming of a brave new world within these innocent melodies.

Substance, the second album by producer Moisture, sets out to deliver an immersive tech-noir fantasy of emotional and physical deconstruction. Inspired in part by William S. Burroughs 1959 novel Naked Lunch, the conceptual narrative of the album follows a humanoid subject through an urban landscape and the exploration of its depravations.

Sampling and filtering sounds from other music, movies and own field recordings, the tapestry of Substance is a three-dimensional world of hard industrial spaces and fluid organic matter. While it's conception is rooted equally in literature and film as well as music, one can draw comparisons in particular to Barry Adamsons 1989 album Moss Side Story, in that it also works as a chronological narrative; the tracks aligning to make a world of its own.

And while Adamson was aiming to create an imaginary soundscape of his native Manchester, the geography of Substance is based on the city of Malmö. Using field recordings from it's city streets, the album paints a rain soaked, neon-clad portrait of the city's hedonistic nightlife.

On the opening "The Marketplace" we are teleported to Bergsgatan at night (the track title a subtle nod towards Eden Ahbez 1960 song of the same name).

This introduction is similar in line with the experience Burroughs once had in 1957 upon entering Malmö for the first and only time, which he details briefly in Naked Lunch: "averted eyes and the cemetery in the middle of town (every town in Sweden seems to be built around a cemetery), and nothing to do in the afternoon (...)"

This image of Malmö portrayed with dread and loathing holds a longstanding narrative tradition over the cultural geography of the town. Yet it is often paired with an image of great promise and bohemian splendor, seemingly a paradox but often perversely intertwined. This duality has always been a vital mindset in the underground music scene of the town and its illegal after hours clubs. Substance is a work steeped in the grayscale prism of techno and its post-industrial fetischism. Yet in picking it apart, one can find elements of everything from post-punk, drum & bass, trip hop and new age.

The theme of depravation that soaks through Burroughs Naked Lunch seems oddly befitting to this side of Malmö (one wonders what the author would have made of it had he stayed longer) Through rhythmic excursions and the exploration of repetition, the tracks of Substance are arranged to convey this self-destructive longing for depravity. Michel Foucault's ideas on limit experiences serves as context for this peculiar form of endeavour, as he puts it: "the point of life which lies as close as possible to the impossibility of living, which lies at the limit or the extreme."

Very limited 12" (200 copies worldwide).

In a perfect world one would expect to find the music of Klaus Waldeck in the genre of electronic music. With his new project "The Waldeck Sextet" he leaves this stereotype behind and surprises us with a very pleasant acoustic experiment.

It all began with an analogue recording session in Vienna´s legendary supersense studios.And although it is hardly a perquisite to form a new project for these kind of recording ventures, Waldeck - quite obviously enthused by the idea of this analogue adventure - founded his new project "The Waldeck Sextet". Such was his excitement that he lost track of the number of musicians and thus founded the worlds first sextet that consists of 10 members, including his main vocalist Patrizia Ferrara.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

R&S welcome electronic composer Matthew Puffett AKA Future Beat Alliance with his killer single ’Never Forever’ a sublime slice of broken beat techno that originally had a limited release on his “Patience and Distance” album in 2009. It now comes backed with a first rate remix courtesy of R&S regular Afriqua.

A veteran of the UK electronic scene originally from Oxford but now located in Berlin, Puffett made his name in the late 90s with a string of sought after releases on Void Records under the aliases Mode-M and Soul Electrik before settling on the Future Beat Alliance handle. Notching up releases with the likes of Delsin, Rush Hour and Versatile as well as with the storied Tresor imprint, both as a DJ and an artist. In 2019 Matt started his new imprint Reward System to self release new creations.

Life long friend from Oxford, Mo’ Wax and Unkle maestro James Lavelle reached out in 2012, which led to a further creative chapter in Puffett`s story that culminated with him co-writing & programming on Unkle’s 5th studio album ’The Road Part 1’ as well as some singular work in film and television. “The moving image plays a key creative motive in my process,” Matthew explains. “Sound & picture married together is such a powerful combination that always inspires me every time to make my own version, 'Never Forever' is one of my many attempts to try and
capture that.”

Taking cues from modern cinema masters like Denis Villeneuve, Panos Cosmatos, Steven Soderberg and Jonathon Glazer and their respective composers, Puffett's widescreen sonic craftsmanship alongside his irresistible rhythmic sense are a key part of what makes Future Beat Alliance music so alluring; "I want my tracks to guide the listener on a exit route far from this world”

Multi-instrumentalist producer Emma-Jean Thackray presents the ‘Rain Dance’ EP, launching her new label Movementt - cuts to nourish the body, the mind and the soul. As a musician, composer, singer, bandleader and DJ, Emma is just as at home working with the
London Symphony Orchestra as she is hosting her show on Worldwide FM. A former RBMA alumna, co-signed by Gilles Peterson and previously worked with Makaya McCraven. Across the whole record, the music was created through a variety of ways that Emma likes to work; directing her band live, sampling herself to create
new worlds and producing solo as a self-contained one-woman band.
Recent solo release ‘Ley Lines’ on The Vinyl Factory follows Emma-Jean’s acclaimed ‘Walrus’ EP and maintains her trajectory as one of the most talented young musicians whose ambitions go far beyond narrow genre tags. 180g vinyl in printed inners and CMYK sleeve with
3mm spine.

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

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.

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.

Fully remastered from the original tapes and available on vinyl for the first time in 42 years, and CD for the first time in 30 years.
Sleevenotes by Jon Hassell and Brian Eno. Back in record shops on the day of the 2020 vernal equinox, the second release on Hassell’s own Ndeya label.

Hailed as one of the 50 best ambient albums of all time by Pitchfork, Vernal Equinox was the first commercially released work by Jon Hassell, originally put out by Lovely Music in 1977.
It's also the debut of a pioneering new form of music that would become known as “fourth world”: a subtle blend of field recordings, electric jazz, ambience and global music influences.
Hassell’s trademark FX-soaked trumpet is carefully embellished by a studio ensemble including the master Brazilian percussionist Naná Vasconcelos and David Rosenboom on synth.

The result is a quiet, meditative and highly original work of outstanding beauty. Vinyl version is housed in a reverse board outer sleeve with printed inner sleeve. Includes download code.

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

Three artists discover the wider field of dark electronic dance music. Although young, these producers already have a big understanding of sound. A sound which is past-oriented but every track has a certain twist which makes the music contemporary and timeless.

On A1 – Dein Letztes Hemd – Nicola Toma from Berlin combines acid cuts with German Vocals (by Camila Strasdas) and a pushy bassline. Nothing else needed. Zurich’s Prioleau opens up a totally new world on A2. ‘Never Trust A Mirror’ is an energy driven tune without compromises. A dark new wave-y and kraut influenced masterpiece.

On the b-side are two tracks produced by Hesychia369, a well-known producer from Zurich under a new alias. With ‘Dmbrisded’ and ‘Diffspherez’ he shows his love for acid basslines and fast rhythms.

Following on from the release of 'Modern Jazz Dance Classics, Volume One' in 2019, which was popular on the jazz underground, the Staubgold's MJDC sub label returns with another compilation comprising mainly of contemporary artists carefully selected by DJ Jeff The Fish, this time on a Latin trip for 'Sol Vibrations: Latin Dance Movements'.

There are carefully selected tracks from all over the world to make a great set and selection, including three acts based in Catalonia (Tromboranga, The Santiago Acevedo Ensemble and Antoine 'Tato' Garcia), some from the US (Camille, EC3), the UK (Alex Wilson, Born 74), France (Mayomi, Camarao Orkestra), Japan (Jizue), Brazil (Fabio Chagas), Cuba (Jean Pablo Torres) and Uruguay (La Calenda Beat).

For some time now in the continual hunt for new DJ material to play in the jazz scene, the Modern Jazz Dance Classics label (a division of Staubgold) has been coming across great tracks by current artists that are often only available on digital or CD format. The brainchild of French based DJ Jeff The Fish and Markus Detmer at the Staubgold record label in Germany, MJDC aims to provide DJs with this new music on vinyl and inject new sounds into the jazz dance scene.

Max Graef and Julius Conrad are Ratgrave. ‘Rock’ is their
second album - ongoing transmissions of Electronic PFusion from Earth. It follows a stellar debut on Funkineven’s imprint Apron. The duo’s sound palette draws inspiration from 80's funk, soul, rock and electronic but through a contemporary lens from two versatile multiinstrumentalists.

 In their own words: “Rock is the essence of energy and
vibration we felt in different styles of music, almost like a
parallel component connecting all things we like. In the
process of recording the new album we kept coming back
to this essence no matter what style the original idea was.
There was the raw and brutal energy of Jazz-Rock, a lot of
video game influences that somehow adhered this essence
just as well as quieter Pop and Psychedelic passages that
we recorded. Among other things we absorbed a lot of
heavy music during the time of the recording like Blue
Cheer, Black Sabbath, Frank Zappa or Jimi Hendrix and
realized while writing our own music how much impact
they had even on quieter songs. This is why ‘Rock’ felt like
the perfect title although the music ranges from P-Funk
and Spiritual Jazz to various styles of Pop and beyond.”

 Max Graef has previously collaborated with Glenn Astro on
records for Ninja Tune and both artists have previously
released on Tartelet.

 This marks the fourth official album on Black Focus, a
London label founded by Kamaal Williams.

 4pp digipack. 180g vinyl LP in reverse board printed sleeve
with 3mm spine and digital download card.

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.

‘Rejoice’ is a very special collaboration between Tony Allen, the legendary drummer and co-founder of Afrobeat, and Hugh Masekela, the master trumpet player of South African jazz.

Having first met in the 70's thanks to their respective close associations with Fela Kuti, the two world-renowned musicians talked for decades about making an album together. When, in 2010, their touring schedules coincided in the UK, the moment presented itself and producer Nick Gold took the opportunity to record their encounter. The unfinished sessions, consisting of all original compositions by the pair, lay in archive until after Masekela passed away in 2018.

With renewed resolution, Tony Allen and Nick Gold, with the blessing and participation of Hugh Masekela’s estate, unearthed the original tapes and finished recording the album in summer 2019 at the same London studio where the original sessions had taken place.

‘Rejoice’ can be seen as the long overdue confluence of two mighty African musical rivers – a union of two free-flowing souls for whom borders, whether physical or stylistic, are things to pass through or ignore completely. According to Allen, the album deals in “a kind of South African-Nigerian swing-jazz stew”, with it's roots firmly in Afrobeat.

Allen and Masekela are accompanied on the record by a new generation of well-respected jazz musicians including Tom Herbert (Acoustic Ladyland/The Invisible), Joe Armon-Jones (Ezra Collective), Mutale Chashi (Kokoroko) and Steve Williamson.

It's been a long, winding road to Hailu Mergia's sixth decade of musical activity. From a young musician in the 60's starting out in Addis Ababa to the 70's golden age of dance bands to the new hope as an emigre in America to the drier period of the 90s and 2000s when he mainly played keyboard in his taxi while waiting in the airport queue or at home with friends. More recently, with reissue of his classic works and a re-assessment of his role in Ethiopian music history, Mergia has played to audiences big and small in some of the most cherished venues around the world. With 2018's critical breakthrough "Lala Belu" Mergia championed himself and consolidated his legacy, producing the album on his own and connecting with listeners through the sheer creative power of his version of modern Ethiopian music. His subsequent performances revealed an artist who is in no way stuck in the nostalgia for the "golden age" sound. The press agreed, including the New York Times, BBC and Pitchfork, calling his music "triumphantly in the present" in its Best 200 Albums of the 2010's list. Mergia's new album "Yene Mircha" ("My Choice" in Amharic) encapsulates many of the things that make the keyboardist, accordionist and composer-arranger remarkable_elements that have persisted to maintain his vitality all these years, through the ebb and flow of his career. The rock solid trio with whom he has toured the world most recently, DC-based Alemseged Kebede (bass) and Ken Joseph (drums), forms the nucleus around which an expanded band makes a potent response to the contemporary jazz future "Lala Belu" promised. "Yene Mircha" calcifies Mergia's prolific stream of creativity and his philosophy that there is a multitude of Ethiopian musical approaches, not just one sound. Enlisting the help of master mesenqo (traditional stringed instrument) player Setegn Atenaw, celebrated vocalist Tsehay Kassa and legendary saxophone player Moges Habte from his 70's outfit Walias Band, Mergia enhances his bright, electric band on this recording with an expanded line up on some songs. Mergia produced the album which features several of his original compositions along with songs by Asnakesh Worku and Teddy Afro. An artist still reinventing his sound every night on stage during his marathon live sets, this 74-year-old icon refuses to make the same album twice. The album feels as urgent and risky as his concerts can be, pushing the band to the outer limits of group improvisation and back with chord extensions during his exploratory solos. "Yene Mircha" captures this live experience and fosters an expansive view of what else could be in store for this tireless practitioner of Ethiopian music.

"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."

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.

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.

Three years after their critically acclaimed and sold out Abrada LP the great and joyful Japanese afro groovers Ajate are back with their much awaited brand new album Alo!

Ajate is a Japanese band who plays a unique blend of afro-groove dance music mixed with Japanese traditional festival music called "Ohayashi". Formed in 2011 by the band-leader John Imaeda, Ajate consists of 10 Japanese musicians.

Another unique feature of the band is the use of hand-made bamboo instruments as well as traditional Japanese percussion. The "Jahte" is a bamboo-made xylophone or balafon with a piezo pick-up mic attached to each key, connected to a pre-amplifier to obtain a loud sound and to add some touch of dirty distortion to its warm and natural acoustic sonority.

The "Piechiku" is also a bamboo-made string instrument inspired by the west-African "Ngoni" or Moroccan "Guembri" instruments. The Piechiku uses strings of the Japanese traditional "Shamisen". This instrument is also played through a pre-amplifier and John sometimes adds some wah-wah effect to it. All these bamboo instruments are designed, made and named by John Imaeda himself.

On Alo you will also be amazed by the exceptional sound of the Japanese Shinofue flute, which was not on the previous Abrada LP. Now, add to this unique sound some well-crafted Japanese female and male singing and you get a killer mix of Afro-Funk flavored grooves with traditional Japanese music!

Since the release in 2017 of their Abrada LP on the 180g label Ajate has toured Europe twice and has played a memorable concert at the world famous Trans Musicales festival in France in 2018, which has been followed by another great KEXP Live session.

Here is some music you will not be able to hear anywhere else, by one of the most joyful Japanese band to hear on record and to listen live!

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

Ferrum is a large-scale exploration of inharmonic timbres, oscillating between brutal grinding textures and intricate percussive singularities, created by digitally transforming recordings of various metallic objects.

Susanne Kirchmayr's new album takes a close personal look at the spectral richness of iron and other metals, in various shapes and sizes, recorded, processed and arranged to a carefully curated selection of musical miniatures. Some of the results are an obvious nod to her Electric Indigo DJ alias, music that could be played on the dance floor of an alien cargo ship, both highly familiar and foreign at the same time. Others offer almost steady-state like meditative qualities, vibrations from deep within, on a sub atomic level, full of light and motion on the tiniest possible scale. The limitation in material opens up a seemingly unlimited world of colours and rhythms, oscillating, resonating and highly immersive.

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.

Christophe Chassol is reshuffling the deck. After making his name worldwide with three magnificent ultrascore compositions (Nola Che?rie in 2011, Indiamore in 2013 and Big Sun in 2015), working with Solange and Frank Ocean, and playing the most prestigious halls, he's taking his quest to arrange reality even further with Ludi, his new project that includes an album, film and show. It's play - an all-important word in music - that underscores this impressive, masterful construction freely inspired by Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game. Everything is part of the melody: a playground or basketball players in the suburbs, an arcade in Tokyo, a roller coaster, singer Crystal Kay and rapper Kohh. Solo musicians were filmed in rehearsal, like flautist Jocelyn Mienniel and the composer's partner, drummer Mathieu Edward, who managed to reprise on stage

Chassol drew from the great German author's utopic book, where music, mathematics, aesthetics and spirituality intermingle, to create a passionate work produced by Bertrand Burgalat's label Tricatel that once again justifies his special place in the musical landscape.

With Ludi, Chassol directs his own round of Hermann Hesse's game, taking on the title of Magister Ludi, master of The Glass Bead Game. With this double album, Chassol realises his ambition: to compose unprecedented music that fills us with joy and prompts reflection.

Following on from Myele Manzanza's acclaimed 2019 jazz album, 'A Love Requited', we have a 2020 addendum to that project; an EP of remixes by a set of diverse musicians from all corners of the globe.

Detroit legend Theo Parrish starts off the proceedings. Theo & Myele have previously worked together on various projects over the years, such as with live outfit, The Unit, whilst Myele's 'Surgery Session' of Theo's track 'Moonlight' was picked up by The Vinyl Factory last Summer as well. On his remix of 'Itaru's Phone Booth', Theo maintains the tempo & structure of the original track, whilst tempering the horns and adding some spaced-out keys & a little low end theory to the equation, making this a flip seasoned with Theo's unique flavour.

Mark de Clive-Lowe follows with the most uptempo track on the EP, a delightful bruk refix of 'Big Deal'. Fellow New Zealander, regular collaborator (notably on Manzanza's sophomore album 'OnePointOne') and hugely respected musician in his own right, MdCL delivers a hefty groove direct for the clubs; heavy drums & sci-fi synths lead the way atop of the original's powerhouse horns, switching up with some MAW-esque 4/4 tribal business to close out.

Cardiff's finest, Earl Jeffers & Don Leisure, aka First Word label-mates Darkhouse Family, kick off the flipside with their take on the appropriately titled 'Family Dynamics'. Fresh from their solo & combined projects (producing for Kamaal Williams, running house label Melange, and creating beat-tapes like Halal Cool J & Shaboo), the duo turn out some punchy boom-bap vibes which pulsate throughout the track, accompanied by some sweet vocal hooks, transposing the original into a plucky heads-down neo-soul tinged stomper.

Borrowed CS is another New Zealand artist that's been bubbling away in the underground NZ electronic scene for several years now, as a DJ and a musician. He ends this selection of remixes, taking the original jazz components of 'Pencarrow' and transforming it into a synth-boogie lead piece of brooding broken beat - a 'Clear Path Depiction' even.

Released on Worldwide Award-winning UK label, First Word Records, the original album was also co-produced by another antipodean label-mate, Ross McHenry, who released a new album recently.

The son of a Congolese master percussionist, Myele Manzanza's roots in jazz and African rhythm are well established. Adding his long-time influences of hip hop and dance music into the mix, this EP exemplifies his approach to fusion, and his persona as an ever-evolving artist, drummer & composer. Since his days as part of Electric Wire Hustle, he had his debut release on BBE, has released three solo albums, and done tours & collabs with folks like Jordan Rakei, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Recloose & Amp Fiddler. Since moving to London from New Zealand late last year, he has already shared stages with Hiatus Kaiyote, The Bad Plus & Alfa Mist, rocked The Jazz Cafe & Ronnie Scott's, and ably demonstrated his DJ side-hustle chops at stations like Soho Radio, Worldwide FM & NTS, as well as behind the decks in a few danceries across the capital, and behind his drum kit daily.

Already hard at work on brand new material, expect to catch Myele Manzanza live at various shows & festivals across the UK & Europe this coming Summer.

'A Love Requited - The Remixes' is available on 12" vinyl & all digital outlets from March 6th 2020.

Mavericks of the musical landscape, Brooklyn’s finest genre-defying duo Dave + Sam release their anticipated debut album ‘No Shade’ on Classic Music Company this spring, a thirteen-track narration of the 21st century experience, told through the eyes of vocalist Dave Giles II and production maestro Sam O.B. With the aim to package love, empowerment and socio-political commentary into a collection of tracks that never compromise on groove or soul, this enchanting album never loses sight of its message as it journeys from deep Chicago house and otherworldly melodies to funk-laden jams and adventurous studio experimentation.

Hinged tightly by the soulful nuances of Moodymann, Mos Def and Gil Scott Heron, Dave’s captivating spoken word delivery is purposeful and considered, as Sam weaves rhythms and grooves so deep you can get lost in them – the two musical narratives working in perfect harmony. Impassioned cuts like ‘Facts’, ‘Worth It’ and ‘Sauce’ leverage hip-hop’s tradition of battle rap against white supremacist rhetoric, a message that remains ever more relevant in today’s political climate. Title track ‘No Shade’, ‘Day One (Oh Baby)’ and ‘Can’t Get Enough’ allow stories of love and loss to unfold to the listener, while the stripped-back grooves of ‘Round The Way’ and ‘You Da Shit Girl’ add another dimension to the album. Featuring a number of collaborators such as Chicago legend Mike Dunn, powerhouse vocalist Ramona Renea and fellow Brooklyn natives Cor.Ece and LATASHÁ, ‘No Shade’ is an evocative, powerful and joyful experience when played in its entirety.

Recorded in Brooklyn’s Bedford Stuyvesant, a neighbourhood bearing the scars of over-policing and encroaching gentrification, the vibrancy of the community and its unyielding history of creative expression shines through on the album’s entirety. As products of such environments, Dave + Sam’s music is resilient, revolutionary and organic in equal parts. An homage to their mutual reverence for early Chicago house and the golden era of underground parties in New York, ‘No Shade’ is a riveting body of work ready for you to lose yourself in.

Third time is a charm they say. But if the first 2 times were already so memorable, what more can you ask for?
Nebraska comes in with a bang for his third release on Heist after ‘Soften the Wireless’ EP in 2016 and ‘Metaphor to the floor’ in 2017. It’s hard to believe it has been 3 years since his last appearance on Heist, but with ‘Y’miss me baby?’, Nebraska takes back center stage with another releasefull of disco flavored electronics. Italian disco man-of-the-moment Giovanni Damico comes along for the ride and delivers a stunning 80’s flavoredremix.
It’s not to say that Nebraska (Alistair Gibbs) has been sitting still since 2017. He’s launched his own label ‘Friends & Relations’ where he explores his cut-and-paste style even more with some seriously cool disco dubs and other sonic adventures. Furthermore, he made a guest appearance on Aaron Dae and JKriv’s Razor ‘n tape Reserve. Apart from his regular musical explorations, he has also published a book (Surprise party every week) where we get a glimpse of how Gibbs sees the world.
His view is one of humor and positivity and one of creating new meaning through rearranging context. This is certainly true for his music and this new EP on Heist. The title track ‘Y’miss me baby?’ oozes funk with a clever combination of samples from different contexts put together to create something altogether new, yet familiar. The track has a real 80’s disco vibe to it and the vocoder adds even more to the ‘Zapp & Roger’ flavor of things. It’s a laidback track that feels like it was recorded on a gloomy Sunday evening with no pressure on anything and just room for fun.
The vibe takes a complete left-hand turn with ‘Dip and Flip’, a high energy house track that rattles, loops and bleeps into a full-on disco frenzy.
The b-side kicks off with Italian disco wizard Giovanni Damico remixing the title track. He’s had a great run recently with releases on Lumberjacks in Hell and more recently on Star Creature, where he’s found a home to explore his own view on modern day boogie. His ‘jam’ remix flips the track into a freeform arrangement where guitars, disco claps, delays and retro synth licks all work together for a great taste of Italian boogie.
The EP finishes off in true Nebraska style, with yet another curveball. ‘Xia long bao’ sounds like a lost Nick Holder track from the 90’s with its loopy island style Rhodes and lazy chanting. The choice of samples along with the catchy groove makes this a signature Nebraska track and a quality closer for this single.
We are super happy to have Nebraska back on Heist and with this amazing EP, you are certainly going to create smiles on your dancefloor of choice.
Yours Sincerely,
Lars & Maarten