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Baton Rouge sludge band Thou have released over a dozen LPs worth of music, collaborated with divergent artists like Emma Ruth Rundle and The Body and released covers that run the full gamut of genres. Continuing their practice of bucking typical metal tradition, their latest record, a split release with composer Gewgawly I, is a soundtrack created for the highly anticipated new video game NORCO.

Gewgawly I has created a master work of ambiance, not only reminiscent of some of the best game soundtracks from the 80s and 90s but also a stunning work of contemporary experimental music pushing the genre forward in exciting ways. Thou have rounded out the game’s grit with a wash of downtuned doom and drone. The band has previously been described as “For fans of: alienation, absurdity, boredom, futility, decay, the tyranny of history, the vulgarities of change, awareness as agony, reason as disease,” and these themes
come to life vividly in Thou’s collaboration with the richly illustrated world of NORCO.

“Thou represents an aspect of Louisiana that’s close to my heart. The members know the suburbs of New Orleans and Baton Rouge well. They capture a kind of strange irreverence in their sound and visuals that’s specific to the region and has influenced the game NORCO,” says Yuts from Geography of Robots. ”We’ve been trying to collaborate for a while, and I’m just stoked it’s finally happening!”

Baton Rouge sludge band Thou have released over a dozen LPs worth of music, collaborated with divergent artists like Emma Ruth Rundle and The Body and released covers that run the full gamut of genres. Continuing their practice of bucking typical metal tradition, their latest record, a split release with composer Gewgawly I, is a soundtrack created for the highly anticipated new video game NORCO.

Gewgawly I has created a master work of ambiance, not only reminiscent of some of the best game soundtracks from the 80s and 90s but also a stunning work of contemporary experimental music pushing the genre forward in exciting ways. Thou have rounded out the game’s grit with a wash of downtuned doom and drone. The band has previously been described as “For fans of: alienation, absurdity, boredom, futility, decay, the tyranny of history, the vulgarities of change, awareness as agony, reason as disease,” and these themes
come to life vividly in Thou’s collaboration with the richly illustrated world of NORCO.

“Thou represents an aspect of Louisiana that’s close to my heart. The members know the suburbs of New Orleans and Baton Rouge well. They capture a kind of strange irreverence in their sound and visuals that’s specific to the region and has influenced the game NORCO,” says Yuts from Geography of Robots. ”We’ve been trying to collaborate for a while, and I’m just stoked it’s finally happening!”

The debut album from Jack Flanagan, currently best known for his work as a member of the Mystery Jets. ‘Jack Rides The Sky’ is a magical coming of age record that comprises of 12 tracks written over the last decade, some finished and some left as initial sketches of ideas. As brutally honest as it is escapist and romantic, ‘Jack Rides The Sky’ is a body of work that signals the arrival of a unique, poetic talent finally stepping out on his own and releasing the extraordinary songs that have been parked on his laptop for the last 10 years.

Jazz organist ‘Brother’ Jack McDuff (born Eugene McDuffy in 1926 September 17, 1926 – January 23, 2001) was second only to the infamous Jimmy Smith in terms of fame and the impact he made with the King of keyboard instruments - the Hammond B-3 Organ. Self-taught on the organ, he recorded with Willis Jackson & Roland Kirk in the late ’50s and early ’60s, cutting high calibre souljazz dates for Prestige Records, and later Argo / Cadet. Blue Note and Verve Records. McDuff can also take the credit for launching the career of a particularly gifted young jazz guitarist when he recruited George Benson to his own quartet, which resulted in Benson's first solo deal in the mid 1960’s.

‘Live At Parnells’ is made up of 15 tracks selected from a week-long engagement in June 1982, featuring Danny Wollinski on sax, guitarist Henry Johnson and Garrick King on the drums. Stylistically, Jack and his group cover a lot of ground, especially for an organ quartet – from beautifully old school funky, gritty blues with tracks like Walkin’ The Dog & Blues 1 & 8, jazz standards like April In Paris, and A Night In Tunisia through to some frenetic and distinctly edgy fast paced jazz fusion type numbers - Make It Good and Untitled D Minor - and this reflects how Jack's ears were open to the newer, freer sounds that had developed in jazz and reflected in some of his recordings as ‘The Heatin’ System’ – as several tracks have modal and fusion touches that sound remarkably current. Soul Bank’s Greg Boraman explains the 23 year old back story to how this amazing release of previously unreleased music by a bona fide jazz legend came about.

“I first heard these live recordings in 1999, when I came across Scott Hawthorn’s ’s jazz organ website, where he had made available his personal recordings of Jack and his band playing at Parnell’s in Seattle in 1982. It was amazing to have this music to check out – despite the obvious shortcomings with the condition of the recordings themselves”.

Danish Artist Troels Hammer has released 5 albums to date, with his sixth House of Memories due out later this year. As yet there has only been a sampler 12” on vinyl. Therefore ‘An introduction’ LP is a compilation of tracks exclusive to Vinyl for fans and new listeners to enjoy.

Troels was discovered by the Danish producer Kenneth Bager in 2012 and has already gained great recognition for his music on both the Danish and the international scene

The style is instrumental and moving in the area between nu-classical, lounge, dance, ambience and electronica. When Troels Hammer sits down at the piano, the music flows through him and brings the audience in a mood that is both relaxed and intense. He himself says that he creates music you can go in and out of –and get carried away by.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are repressing their sixteenth album, K.G. n 2010. In the wake of a global pandemic, it’s a collection of songs that saw the six members of the band retreating to their own homes scattered around Melbourne, Australia to compose and record remotely. But have no fear! Not a drop of that unnamed alchemical something that makes this band so special is missing. This is the Gizz firing on all sonic cylinders, for if ever a band were built to swiftly adapt to adverse circumstance then it is them. Hell, on paper Covid-19, with its monstrous yet unseen face, ecological implications and new language, even sounds like an abandoned concept for a King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard album.

Truth be told, the practicalities of the creation of K.G. is a side-issue. It is the contents and the sheer visceral power of music that matters. Music that will live on long after a virus has passed. Back in 2017 the band released Flying Microtonal Banana, now one of their most highly regarded albums. That it was the first of five released by the band that year and was only part the story – a story made all the remarkable by the fact it was recorded using a microtonal musical scale that requires quarter tone tunings, on instruments custom-made for the occasion. It spawned a plethora of live favourites such as ‘Rattlesnake’, ‘Sleep Drifter’, ‘Nuclear Fusion’ and ‘Billabong Valley’ and showed the wider world that the Gizz paint from a palette that extends far beyond the musical colours of western rock. Here were songs in tunings more common in traditional Turkish or Arabic music.

“FMB was one of the purest and most enjoyable recording experiences we’ve had, and the ideas just kept coming” explains de facto band leader and multi-instrumentalist Stu Mackenzie. “But we didn’t think we would play it live as the music dictated a new medium that requires different instruments, new flight cases and so. It was a liberating studio-based experiment which surprisingly translated seamlessly and spawned some of favourite songs to play live.”

So now they return to the microtonal tunings on K.G., an album best described as a pure distillation of the King Gizzard sound, one that cherry picks the best aspects of previous albums and contorts them into new shapes and via defiantly non-Western rock scales. There’s walk-on theme song ‘K.G.L.W’, the celestial disco-funk of ‘Intrasport’, the righteous life-giving staccato rock of ‘Ontology’, epic stoner-sludge closer ‘The Hungry Wolf Of Fate’, which ends the album in abrupt burst of white noise. All come together to represent the next-level of the expanding Gizz sound.

K.G. is both a stand-alone work and also part of a bigger musical picture. More news on that shall be forthcoming – fans of the band know by now that King Gizzard don’t do things by halves. If music were organic matter, then their albums are ever-changing entities: initial highlights are often superseded on further exploration, favourite tracks replaced by less obvious moments, while riffs or bursts of noise from four or five albums back might suddenly rear their heads again.

LP on classic black vinyl. The long-awaited new album from the best pop band in Scotland... The Orchids were making sophisticated pop music right back in the early 1990s when Sarah Records first started. Their songs were as emotionally pure as anything else on that label, but they were always a step ahead of their peers in terms of song arrangements and musical ambition. With a casual, unpretentious air they made writing perfect pop songs seem easy, almost accidental, and several great releases followed. The Orchids gained a passionate following: people knew a good thing when they heard it and they hugged it close. But maybe now it’s time for the rest of the world to be let in on the secret. The songs themselves are a beautiful mix of strength and gentleness. They wrap you in a powerful embrace, making you feel comfortable and secure – and then whisper their insecurities and anxieties into your ear. They say: ‘it’s OK to admit weakness. It’s OK to be fragile. That’s where true strength comes from’. From Glasgow, and proudly Scottish, the band shares a musical lineage with other great groups from that city, from Aztec Camera to Orange Juice, Lloyd Cole to Teenage Fanclub - bands that specialise in song-writing that can tell big stories through small personal fragments, that can make the ordinary extraordinary. Ian Carmichael has helped the band create a perfectly produced masterpiece. He subtly accentuates the drama of the songs, with a sophisticated choreography and gloss that never overwhelms the tenderness of the music. In ‘This Boy Is A Mess’ (the first single from the album), the lyric confesses frailty while the arrangement gets stronger and stronger. It is bittersweet and exhilarating at the same time. ‘I Want You, I Need You’ has harmonies as big as a house – but the yearning message remains intimate and close. ‘I Don’t Mean To Stare’ is an elegant version of the song that first appeared on Skep Wax compilation Under The Bridge. Album opener ‘Didn’t We Love You’ daringly opens up empty spaces where the reverb of the drums is the only thing you can hear... and then floods your ears with a harmonised chorus, sweet guitar melodies and sweeping effects. Even then, the lyrical lament, expressing the desire to live in a better place - a place unspoilt by the greedy phonies who’ve taken over – comes across as clearly as if Hackett were leaning over for a friendly chat in the snug bar of The Orchids’ favourite Glasgow pub. Dreaming Kind will be released as a CD, digital download and vinyl LP.

8th in the monthly series.

Available on trans blue vinyl with gatefold sleeve. Following the UK chart success & critical acclaim of their last full-length studio album ‘In Vino Veritas’ this new album is another incendiary, 111% proof, guitar-fuelled, alcohol-soaked adrenalin shot. Tyla’s trademark songs of hope & heartache, demons & debauchery and conflict & chaos are taken to new heights by a band in full flow. Big choruses are delivered with power. Tender hearted lyrics with emotion. Track listing: Tree Bridge Cross; Journey to the Centre of the Soul; Stole my Love Away; God Only Knows; Angel Lane; Buried Alive; Raining Fire; Powder Dry; Moth to the Flame; Ghosts - CD Disc 2: Tree Bridge Cross (Acoustic); Journey to the Centre of the Soul (Acoustic); Stole my Love Away (Acoustic with Spike); Angel Lane (Acoustic); Buried Alive (Acoustic); Raining Fire (Acoustic); Powder Dry (Acoustic); Moth to the Flame (Acoustic); Ghosts (Acoustic)

Josh Hughes (Cub\cub) returns for his second album of a long hot summer, Radiant Crush. Following the glimmering enchantments of his previous outing, Nothing New Under The Sun, this latest chapter brings things to a dizzying climax. While Josh's palette champions the lo-fi, it's his ability to unveil rich melody, seemingly spilling through ever shifting sliding doors, that leads the listener on a merry dance of intangible delights. As Radiant Crush continues to build, we increasingly discern hazy voices coming through the divide: Through a Narrow Window resonates like a lost gem from This Mortal Coil; until Drift finally breaks through with Louisa Osborn's blissful vocal performance, pulling everything into focus to stand as the album's glorious centre piece. While Radiant Crush is very capable of speaking for itself, when pressed Josh describes his work as "music for an incurably ambiguous world", and we can see how nothing is quite what it seems when he goes on to describe this latest album in similarly evasive terms: "Radiant crush is a series of nebulous concepts designed to make the listener think about the way in which we as human beings can idealise a past that never existed. The album focuses on the fragility of the human brain and the power emotions have over recollection through tracks that leave you with a feeling of longing, for something you can’t quite put your finger on. I think more than any other work I’ve made, this album feels the most human. Vocals feature quite prominently throughout the record, most of them are distorted, veiled or fragmented in keeping with the theme of a loss of connection and meaning. Drift is the only track on the album with intelligible vocals, this was intentional as it honestly and tenderly deals with the theme of living in an incurably ambiguous world." Radiant Crush will be released on 2nd September, via digital platforms and limited edition pressed vinyl. Genre: Electronic / Ambient

Much of a million magnets sounds as if Möbius has left the music to its own devices. As if he has given it space instead of closing it in and channelising. Little seems to be organised, reflected or calculated. Rather it booms and pulses and chugs and swells.

In 2015 Möbius invited the drummer Andrea Belfi to record with him for his album Batagur Baska (Shitkatapult 2016). They spent a whole day in the studio at Funkhaus Nalepastraße, Berlin. Belfi implemented ideas from Möbius for various pieces and contributed his own ideas. Everything was recorded although in the end only one hi-hat track was used. All the other recordings were left to snooze and be forgotten in a folder on the computer. Years later Möbius discovered them again by chance during a train journey. He decided to answer Belfi’s powerful and concentrated drumming.

If sound recordings are used on specific tracks they start to lead a life of their own. Möbius mostly left Belfi’s recordings unedited. He took them as a trigger for the structure and character of new tracks. So we get the opening track Abayanga with its stoic pulse and airy cymbals. Or Schlucht with such restless drums, fluttering feedback and the mantra-like spoken-song of Yuko Matsuyama. The magical How To Never Make Up is almost a song: feverish percussion (Andrea Belfi on rimshots, Ansgar Wilken on the table top), a rich bass and the other worldly singing by Jana Plewa.

The accordion on Windjammer seems to blow in all directions at the same time, propelled by Belfi’s hounding cymbal playing. Side B starts with a reflection of Windjammer: Discrete Wiring. Guitar riffs in endlessly circling movement and Yuko Matsuyama’s voice and all that it conjures up. Feed Me Fog freely improvised with on drums and feedback is simply complete as a self-contained piece. The singing on Chayyam comes from the Cambodian Prak Chum, who’s voice can also be heard on the title track of Batagur Baska.

One of the last great albums of the first wave of Peruvian rock, originally released in 1974, linking psych-tinged rock with Afro-Latin American beats and folk pop. This first record by (former Traffic Sound and Los Nuevos Shain's member) Zulu was also his last and one of the most enigmatic albums released in Peru in the '70s, as the artist vanished into the religious path, making sure his music got as unnoticed as possible... Reissued for the first time with the collaboration of Zulu, including extensive liner notes and one extra track. DESCRIPTION: The first record by Zulu was also his last. Shortly after releasing it in 1974, the artist withdrew from the music scene and never returned. 46 years later, his music still sounds out of time. His musical eclecticism heralded a different era and linked rock with Afro-Latin American beats and pop. His debut and only LP is one of the last great albums of the first wave of Peruvian rock. No other original records of this type were released in Peru until the early 80s. In the 70s, in Peru, most rock groups sang in English. For his LP, Zulu chose to sing in his own language and focus on his own emotions and experiences. In the early days of his career he became member of Los Shain's, for less than a year. Then he was invited to join Traffic Sound playing bass guitar and keyboards and record the band's third album "Lux". An offer to start a solo career would follow and 'Como una escalera ', 'Alegría' and 'Cariño grande' 45s were released. The expectations that his first solo singles generated were met by the release of the LP Zulu in 1974, boasting an eclectic and innovative sound. Andean folk, Afro-Latin beats, psych-tinged prog rock scents, moog glides, choir arrangements spread across the entire album creating a truly unique piece of music. A few demos were also recorded for the next album but this never saw the light. In December 1974, a few months after the LP was released, the artist decided to disappear. At this point of his life, he started to become aware of the need to define spirituality. After exploring and comparing countless religious, philosophical, psychological texts and trying transcendental meditation and yoga, he concluded that the Bible was the most profound and clearest text. While this was going on, his public figure grew thanks to the success of his album. At the end of 1974, Zulu surprised the manager of IEMPSA, Augusto Sarria, by communicating his decision to leave show business. The artist vanished into the religious path, making sure his music got as unnoticed as possible... This is the first ever reissue of Zulú's 1974 album. It has been supervised by the artist himself and includes extensive notes and the extra track 'Haces mal, pobre chico', B side to his first single that never made it into the album.

Sababa 5 sharpens their euphoric Middle Eastern psych sound into an infectious four-track EP, featuring vocal revelation Shiran Tzfira, recorded here for the very first time. Together they reinterpret the traditional Yemenite songs of Shiran’s childhood into modern and irresistible blends of disco, funk, boogie, pop, and rock.

Tel Aviv based four-piece Sababa 5 is a supergroup of musicians from the local scene, steeped in psych rock, funk, the traditional Yemenite music that gave birth to popular Mizrahi Israeli music, and traditions from across the Mediterranean and the Middle East that have long blended into one another. Between them, they have played with everyone from the Hoodna Orchestra, Tigris, and Kutiman Orchestra to widely known vocalists such as Gili Yalo, Ester Rada, and Liraz Charhi.

Sababa 5’s catchy instrumentals and popular songs such as “Tokyo Midnight” have gained attention from the likes of BBC 6 Radio Music’s Gilles Peterson, Cerys Mathews, and Gideon Coe, Rashad “Ringo” Smith, and France’s leading purveyor of alternative sounds, Radio Nova.

Growing up in a traditional Yemenite Jewish household, Shiran Tzfira was heavily influenced by both the Jewish and Arabic traditional songs that play a major role in Yemenite culture. But her soulful, soft, yet powerful voice betrays a love of not only singers of Yemenite heritage, such as Ofra Haza and Balqees but also Western artists such as Stevie Wonder and Erykah Badu. Subsequently, Shiran has gained many fans in the Arab world, especially in Yemen, where she has been dubbed the Israeli Balqees”.

Chicago-based guitarist / composer Eli Winter's new self-titled album
finds him building on the promise of his recent records - like 2020's
Unbecoming and his 2021 collaboration with Cameron Knowler,
Anticipation - with a gem of an album on which he leads an ad-hoc group
that delicately balances a range of colors and moods
Winter is an accomplished player with impeccable technique and an unassuming
virtuosity, capable of both mesmerizing intricacy and florid romanticism, but on
Eli Winter he frequently plays a supporting role, creating ample room for his
collaborators. The result is the sound of an artist escaping any lingering shadows
of his primary influences and coming into his own; ironically, Winter does this by
deemphasizing his role as traditional bandleader. Assisted by a murderer's row of
peers and contemporaries including Cameron Knowler, Yasmin Williams, David
Grubbs, Ryley Walker, Tyler Damon, jaimie branch, and others, Eli Winter
showcases a compositional depth and authoritative skill only hinted at on
Winter's rightfully acclaimed previous work. Highly recommended.

Produced mainly by Jerry Corbetta (Sugarloaf) and Dolenz, “Demoiselle” features solo recordings
made between 1981-1992 and includes previously unreleased material. Originally planned for release
in the early 1990s, the album never received a record deal for a number for reasons. Dolenz privately
released nine of the recordings in 1998, but they were only available for a short period of time via mail
order. This new and definitive version of Demoiselle has been remastered from the original master
tapes. It includes 3 previously unreleased bonus tracks and presents the material in a different
sequence. Available on CD and Vinyl, the CD comes in a deluxe digisleeve and features a big 32 page
CD booklet with extensive liner notes, lyrics and previously unseen photos. The LP version comes in a
gatefold sleeve and is pressed on 180g Red Vinyl.

There have been many great Jazz Pianists, but foremost amongst them is Bill Evans.
Accepted by all fans as being supremely influential for defining the format and scope of the
Jazz trio, Evans entered his first purple patch in the mid to late fifties and refined his playing
with a series of album. Over the years he recorded many trio albums with frequent changes
of members, with the most lauded being his first and second line-ups. By May 1962 Evans
cut what would be his seventh album for Riverside . New Bassist, Chuck Israels, joined the
group, and together this second classic line-up cut two albums in the same sessions. The
first was Moon Beams which contained ballads, while the second one, How My Heart Sings,
had the up-tempo numbers. These were recorded as a mixture during the sessions as
producer Orrin Keepnews wanted to release an album of just ballads from Evans, and so
made up the album from the varied session tracks. During the recordings, Evans only
revealed the tracks to his trio at the session itself. Fans and critics alike were more than
appreciative of Chuck Israels' ability to meld into the trio with his punchy lines, meshing in
especially well with Motian

Blue Mitchell's run of albums for Blue Note are among the great jazz recordings of the era. His '70s output has often been overlooked, however Blue Mitchell remains a fantastic set featuring the stellar lineup of Black Jazz recording artist Walter Bishop, Jr. on piano and keys, the legendary Doug Sides on drums, bass extraordinaire Larry Gales and the one and only Jimmy Forrest on tenor sax. This record deserves reappraisal as a fine selection of recordings. Licensed officially from Mainstream and remastered from the original tape transfers, this is the best the record has ever sounded. Featuring new words from Doug Sides especially for this release.

Since his introduction in the 60’s, Roger Damawuzan has lit stages on fire, whether it be with The Rickers Orchestra or with The Melo-Togo Orchestra (taking home 2nd place for the first National Festival of Tologese Music). His first 7" vinyl Wait For Me is a holy grail for diggers all around the world. It was such a hit that Togolese music is and will forever be stamped by Roger Damawuzan. He was principal in introducing Gazo, Akpesse and Kamou rhythms to modern day soul music. Relentless and unstoppable, Roger Damawuzan is now making a comeback with a heavy funk 7 inch!

This release contains an unreleased single from the album Seda , which will be available on October 14th 2022. Such a force of nature, this album could have been only captured, if not mastered, by one studio. Such mission was accomplished by the legendary studio OTODI (Office Togolese of Disks) by utilizing solely analog equipment to translate and to breath all of Damawuzan’s soul into this album. Roger Damawuzan could have been supported by only one group. Led by Peter Solo, the members of the Vaudou Game and Lomé’s most talented musicians are at Damawuzan’s disposal for this new soul DJ friendly vinyl.

‘Cupid & Psyche 85’: Originally released in 1985, includes sleeve notes written by Green Gartside and David Gamson.

From a bedsit in London to New York recording studios… Alternative acclaim to mainstream adulation… Indie label hopefuls to major signings… Despite the series of radical shifts that underpinned its creation, Scritti Politti's second album, ‘Cupid & Psyche 85’, achieved the virtually impossible. While everything was scaled up - the ambition, the sound, the audience - the singular artistic vision that drove the group not only remained intact and undiluted in these bigger surroundings but became more inventive, more adventurous and, ultimately, more beloved. Introduced to pianist and programmer David Gamson while making of the band's debut album ‘Songs To Remember’, Green Gartside realised he had found a creative foil to help him achieve the ambitions he had for Scritti Politti Partially recorded in New York, with several tracks produced by Arif Mardin (who had worked on Aretha Franklin’s ‘I Say A Little Prayer’, a track Green beautifully commemorates on this record) and partially in the UK, with Green and Gamson directly overseeing the process, ‘Cupid & Psyche 85’ is infused shimmering synths and the heat of classic funk.

Yet weaved together by Green’s intoxicating melodies, it is also embroidered with ideas from philosophical writings, while taking cues from myths and fables.

Cool Hand Flex was an original Suburban Base artist since 1993 and published with Subbase Music ever since, with influential releases on both Subbase and his own labels run together with his brothers out of De Underground Records Store in London’s East End.

Such was its influence on the evolution of Jungle and DnB, introducing to the world the talent that is DJ Randall and releasing seminal works such as We Are i.e. that the location of that store now carries a heritage plaque. Flex now brings you De Underground EP as an incredible collectible picture disc, carrying the iconic first-generation logo, it is a must have for all vinyl collectors and those that love and respect the origins of this music.

This is much more than a piece of memorabilia though, with 4 slamming tracks to trouble your speaker system. Starting off with two brand new slices of Flex awesomeness on the Future Flex side – ‘The Bass’ and ‘Let The Music’ distinctively Cool Hand Flex production with deep subs and crashing breaks which still seem to roll into smooth yet hard DnB.

Then on De Underground side you find two highly collectible tracks ‘Ralph’ and ‘Jungle’, that have never received a repress since their initial pressing run back in 1993 despite being in high demand. Expertly remastered and sounding as fresh as ever all packaged on a beautiful 12” vinyl picture disc.

Once again this is an extremely limited pressing & we can only advise you to grab them now before they disappear. Buy now and treasure forever!!

Oli Stewart is Casbah 73. American-born, Madrid-based DJ, producer, vinyl collector and selector extraordinaire with several decades of experience under his belt.

Classic soul, funk and disco at its finest, with releases on mainstay outlets such as Glitterbox and Lovemonk, we're extremely proud to have him in the Boogie Angst record bins.

Casbah 73's Boogie Angst debut is a two-sided live band funk workout reminiscent of early 70's acts and labels such as 24 Carat Black, Black Heat and Strata East, but also connects to the current sounds of Black Jazz Chronicles, Sault and Nu Genea.

Let's Invade the Amazon is a highly grooved piece of live musical wizardry, with vocal performances to match. Beautifully extended and ongoing, the steady backbone interplay with funky electric pianos, with the occasional synth riff popping up for a breath of fresh air. And in the words of Casbah himself: "Quite possibly - no, definitely, the only soul-disco track ever to be inspired by Michael Mann's book "The New Climate War", The Clash, Sun Ra... and Dr Seuss".

On the B-side we find Pale Splash of Blue; some top shelf live Moog-, Rhodes- and Hammond featuring jazz funk. Punchy organs stab away alongside Casbah 73's signature electric piano sprinkles, bouncing around his unique rhythmic groove. All resulting in a driving pace and attractive up-tempo moment; more than worthy of that evening beach club get-together.

Casbah 73's sound is a clear amalgamation of his broad range of influences, and the two songs on this release are a definite showcase of his love for funk, soul and disco.

With some excellent remixes on their way, keep an eye out for the upcoming limited edition vinyl release.

'Casbah 73 – Let's Invade the Amazon' is out on all digital portals on May 20, 2022, via Boogie Angst

One of the most rare and sought after soul lp’s from the mid 1970s, Love Is a Very Special Thing by Charles Williams receives a lush reissue from Svart Records. Originally released in Finland only, American singer and songwriter Charles Williams has remained in obscurity ever since, only known to die hard soul record collecting enthusiasts. Williams’ Love Is a Very Special Thing is an epic concept album that has only been reissued in Japan some years ago in a limited edition run and is still a hard to find, highly prized collectors item. Brilliantly crafted black funk and soul from the disco era, Williams was a highly talented soul singer and musician influenced by a wide range of styles, from soul stars Marvin Gaye, Barry White and Isaac Hayes to folk rock band Crosby, Stills & Nash. Williams’ soul music is neither easy listening nor disco, but brings to mind the best of the creative 1960s Motown artists and singer-songwriters like Joni Mitchell and Judy Collins. Love Is a Very Special Thing began raising interest among soul collectors in the 1990s, when the internet brought record collecting into a new era. Williams’ name was discovered outside Finland and the prices soon went up. It’s no wonder: Love Is a Very Special Thing is as good as the best US soul albums of the era, but soul fanatics outside Finland didn’t have a clue about it, because it was released in Finland only, and as a relatively small pressing too. This new luxury edition by Svart Records is the LP plus a replica of the rare 7” Just As Long / Funky Music (1976) that has never been reissued until now. The CD has the single as bonus tracks. Get yourself acquainted with a rare piece of Finnish funk and soul history, and discover an artist whose music deserves to shine again.

Somewhere in the middle of the first track, “Torres e Baldios”, there’s a sudden change of pace with percussion rhythms interfering with the trance-like sound of the first six minutes. It sounds like steps, people running away on a corridor bashing their feet. It dazzles you because of how unexpected it is, how unpredictable those sounds sound like and, most of all, how it makes perfect sense. It is a monstrous piece. And the beginning of a new age for Ondness, in the same year he defied his Serpente moniker to create an absolute classic, “Dias da Aranha”.

What makes “Oeste A.D.” so remarkable is the intangible idea of nostalgia. “Aqua Matrix Alternative Nation” recreates with a slowed down mentality the theme of one of the main events of the Expo 98 in Lisbon. It’s nowhere similar to the original, what it does is to mess around with the global ideas that were such a big part of that event. The Portuguese musicians that were invited to collaborate with Expo 98 were mesmerized by the ideas of union and globalization, creating overpriced music that sounds like shit today. “Aqua Matrix Alternative Nation” messes around with that vibe in a positive way. Think Mark Leckey playing around with his rave memories. Same thing, but in Portugal we had Expo 98.

Jokes aside, B Side is more futuristic with “Torres e Baldios II” and “Endless Domingo”, a nod to “Endless Summer”, by Fennesz, and “Endless Happiness” (from “Beaches And Canyons”), by Black Dice, mashing up – freely - both covers and reminding of how great 2001/2002 was for experimental music. Both tracks are full of sci-fi drama and this sickness of the future that has been travelling with Ondness since its early days. But the approach here is somehow different. Before “Oeste A.D.” the Ondness sound was fragmented, sparse and intensively reflexive. There was this uncertainty to it that made the previously releases so good. But “Oeste A.D.” is full of clarity, the phrases are straightforward, and the music moves in one direction, continuously. Before, there were loads of unanswered questions. The only doubt is when will the world start to care and listen to Bruno’s brilliant music. Now sounds like a good time.    

The garage -psychedelic French duo The Liminanas straddles since 2009 the boundary between psychedelic ,shoegaze,garage & French yé-yé up to cool vocals . Quintessentially French but first known at the start in the US before hitting homeland France. 7 studio albums so far, 2 rare tracks compilations, many Eps,some OST, collabs such as L’Epée with Anton Newcombe & Emmanuelle Seigner : time for a first time Best of, and actually more than a Best of : Double Cd , Ltd Triple Vinyl& Digital editions offer 12 exclusive bonus tracks -new songs + rare songs when they called themselves les Bellas, before The Liminanas-.
“Electrified” also includes 23 classics songs , with featurings such as Peter Hook, Anton Newcombe and French pionners Laurent Garnier, Etienne Daho & Pascal Comelade.
Features liner notes written by Iggy Pop, Peter Hook & Keith Streng (Fleshtones) : because it’s only rock’n’roll.

Detroit's deep techno master, Deepchord, makes a more than welcome return to Soma after 5 years. With a brand new album dropping, Rod Modell delves deep into his ethereal sonic world to bring you 'Functional Extraits 1'. The first single to be taken from the forthcoming album. Built in a way that only Deepchord can, he transports you to different realms with lush soundscapes and perfectly processed electro-acoustics giving you an insight to the mind of the unique artist.

Shale glides across a field of electo-static noise, guided gently by cisps, fleeting percussion and gently warping synths. Lateral begins awash with waves of sound and glistening dub stabs while rolling beats acts as the heart beat of the track with a building intensity adding a sense of urgency. The uplifting yet dystopian sounds of Mapping spiral into existence urging you down the rabbit hole as more classic techno percussion manoeuvres this track on it's journey. Modell seeking out his roots as yet more traditional dub techno prevails via the final track, Ricochet. Pumping kicks and sub set to a perfect pace and ambience is a perfect, contemporary nod to the time honoured Deepchord sound.

The newest psychedelic space ranger Cumbia band from Bogotá's infamous DIY scene have been sent to earth to save the party! Los Cotopla Boyz make the walls sweat, they set fire to your feet on the dance floor. It all started in Bogotá, which you might say is the tropicanibal venue par excellence, a place that has brought life to acts like Frente Cumbiero, Los Meridian Brothers, Romperayo, Chúpame el dedo, Dub de Gaita, Los Pirañas, Onda trópica and León Pardo, among other eccentricities that have taken the world and stand out not only for their virtuosity but also the connection that lives between that salvaging of traditional folklore and lysergic futurism that expands hypnotically around the world. From this musical hotbed that emerged in the second decade of the new millennium, there is now a new generation to continue the tropicanibal scene, with groups such as La Sonora Mazurén, La Tromba Bacalao, Los Yoryis, El Conjunto Media Luna and, of course, Los Cotopla Boyz, a five-piece that formed in Bogotá in 2018 but inhabit a post-pandemic dystopian multiverse where their mission is to save the party. So their live performances have that illusion of frantic Power Rangers singing about their adventures, as if these were epic chants, except instead of heroic feats they sing with humor about their everyday lives. Mamarron, Vol. 1 consists of seven millennial cannon shots inspired by Los Mirlos, Los Hechizeros Band, Anan, Wendy Sulca, La Sonora Cordobesa, Bad Bunny, Yandel and Los Corraleros de Majagual. The tracks were laid down on their debut record that saw the light in 2020 in the middle of the pandemic and are now re-released in 2022 by ZZK Records imprint AYA records and being pressed on vinyl. The vinyl album also will include the bonus track "El Peruanito" remixed by Colombian producer Santiago Navas. Los Cotopla Boyz are a sweaty, schizophrenic cumbia experience that has been witnessed by emerging Bogotá clubs like Matik-Matik, Boogaloop, El Chamán, Tejo Turmequé, Videoclub and the festival Hermoso Ruido, providing nights of wild abandon to the beat of an outrageous big cumbia sound, a ritual of release giving those present a maximum catharsis that has no compare, not even the most animalistic moves of any metaller shaking his powerful mane. Los Cotopla make the walls sweat, they set fire to your feet on the dancefloor, drawing amorphous moves from their fans on exquisite nights.

30 Jahre nach dem ersten Auftritt von The Charlatans beim Reading Festival erscheint eine Sonderpressung des bahnbrechenden Live-Sets der Band vom Reading Festival 1992, aufgenommen von der BBC. Enthalten sind die frühen Singles 'Indian Rope', 'The Only One I Know', 'Then' und 'Weirdo'.

30 Jahre nach dem ersten Auftritt von The Charlatans beim Reading Festival erscheint eine Sonderpressung des bahnbrechenden Live-Sets der Band vom Reading Festival 1992, aufgenommen von der BBC. Enthalten sind die frühen Singles 'Indian Rope', 'The Only One I Know', 'Then' und 'Weirdo'.

In the late 1950s, Tina Turner (née Anna Mae Bullock) caught a performance of Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm at St. Louis nightclub and practically begged Ike to let her sing with the band. Ike refused, as only men were allowed to sing in his group at the time, but she persisted, and once he heard Tina sing he wouldn’t let her stop. Since that fateful meeting, the world of R&B has never been the same. Ike & Tina Turner’s Kings of Rhythm Dance is their second long player, originally released in 1961, and it is full of stompers, rippers, and all around rocking R&B magic. Ike’s guitar tone and style are the perfect complement to Tina’s unmistakable voice. Now nearly impossible to find an original LP at a reasonable price, Destination Moon once again saves the party by putting another R&B classic back in print. Features the original hit version of “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine”.

After the worldwide success of her debut album ‘Believer’, LAU’s long awaited sophomore album ‘Circumstance’ is finally here.



LAU (AKA Laura Fares), a prominent figure in the Synthwave and Retrowave scenes has finally gone solo after over a decade of writing Synthwave hits for other artists.



What is it like to fall in love in these crazy pandemic times? What about falling for someone miles away that we’ve never met? Is it real love or just a fantasy?



In this new album, LAU talks about the challenges, the uncertainty, the crazy circumstance she has found herself in, the ups and downs of “virtual romancing” in the distance, and falling in love with a complete stranger that she’s never met (yet). LAU explores the bittersweet feelings of happiness (to finally fall in love again), mixed with the anxiety and the uncertainty of longing for someone that we’ve only seen on a screen, added to the frustration of not being able to travel to meet them in person.



LAU recorded most of this album in her new home in Barcelona (Spain) throughout 2021 and finished recording the album in her hometown (Buenos Aires, Argentina), creating ten fantastic Synthpop / Retrowave tracks (and a couple of Disco-Pop songs) produced by international producers like Brian Skeel (USA), Zak Vortex (UK), Ends 84 (France), Saint Innocent (France), Popcorn Kid (India), Adam Siana (Sweden) and TAKTA (Norway).

For Oleg Azelitskiy, known as DJ Slon, the nineties and the first half of the aughts were an era of "firsts". First squat parties on the banks of the Obvodny Canal and more legitimate ones at Tunnel, first proper techno club in Russia. First DJ sets, first vinyl records in his collection, first radio shows at Port FM. He is a true veteran of the Russian techno movement, who carried his love for the genre through three decades and inspired more than one generation of musicians. Album Nr. 1 is the first edition of his music on vinyl. It comprises the music that Azelitskiy made during 1995 - 2005, except for the track My 40th Vesna, produced in 2010.

Azelitskiy's love for techno was born out of contradictions. Thanks to the Soviet synth band Zodiac and the French pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre, he had loved electronic music since his childhood. When he grew up, he got into the dark, introspective pieces by Einsturzende Neubauten and Bauhaus. Not only does the wide-ranging palette on Album Nr. 1 reflect its creator's taste, it echoes the changing times of the Russian nineties. It was the time when confrontations with criminals were inseparable from the parties and get-togethers bustling with local artists.

His affection for various genres led to many monikers and projects, all represented here on Album Nr. 1. He recorded most of his music as DJ Slon. Then there was a project Zhutkiy Lazer (Scary Laser), where Azelitskiy made music that was more experimental but still techno-oriented, with the occasional help of his friend Aleksey Gaponenko (Lazer became a proper solo project of DJ Slon in 1999). There are also tracks under the aliases Mass Fatality, which combined techno and synth-pop, and Razrushiteli Mozgovych Uliev (Brain Hive' Destroyers), with its more direct tight techno tracks.

The music of DJ Slon sounds fresher and more alive on Album Nr. 1 than ever before.
Noticeably, this record, first and foremost, is dance music. As a voice on one of the album tracks boldly states, we came to dance.

BLACK VINYL REPRESS

ITS 25 YEARS Since the first Heads album was released.. .so.. for 2021..Rooster has decided to get the album back in print on vinyl.. but changing the artwork. With some silver foiling and bordering, the single sleeve has been boosted to a sweet gatefold, Rooster also got the Radio 1 sessions from the time remastered, and re-cut along with the huge b-side to their Television 7” “Jellystoned Park”.
So there you have it, a double vinyl silver jubilee reissue of a fantastic debut album!

From the original reissue sales notes:
“The Heads had self-released a couple of 7"', and then Cargo Uk's inhouse label Headhunter UK got to release a further 7", and then the Debut album in 1996. Amidst a world suffocating in Britpop smarm, the Heads cut a timely swathe with their unkempt rock psychedelique. The album contained 10 tracks of guitar driven, amp destroying rock, with cues taken straight from the US underground, Stooges, MC5, Mudhoney, Pussy Galore, early Monster Magnet too but with a disitinctly British stamp, some of the drone and fuzz from Loop / Spacemen 3, some of the attitude of the Fall, Pink Fairies and Walking Seeds and overlaid with the spaced rock of early Hawkwind. It was obvious that the four members of the Heads were music obsessives. The debut album was recorded at Foel studios (owned by Dave Anderson from Hawkwind) and engineered by Corin Dingley, it was mastered by John Dent at LOUD.”


We’ve asked for some new appraisal of the Heads for the Silver Jubilee edition from good friends....

Stewart Lee February 2021
“The Halley's Comet victory orbits of historic heavy artefacts from Detroit, like The Stooges or The MC5, leave grateful onlookers aghast. But, hidden away in Bristol, The Heads are still with us now, our homegrown acid-garage godfathers, an ongoing thirty-two year old concern with a back catalogue arguably more consistent than the super-dense psyche-rock groups that inspired them. The Heads arrived fully formed and have spent three decades becoming more like themselves, a musical black hole that sucks in all surrounding matter. I love The Heads “

Phil Alexander February 2021
“The Heads make music for freaks in the know. If you were there in 1996, you’ll know just what that means…

Back then, they were gloriously out of step with the pop-cheese of the time and geezerly lumpiness of Britpop. Theirs was an altogether different take on music – a take inspired by the glorious burn-out of the ‘60s, the sonic overdrive of the ‘70s and the axis of joy created by the combination of excess volume and repetition.

We could name-check some inspirations and kindred spirits: The Stooges, Hawkwind, Floyd, Loop, Sabbath, Amon Düül II, Spacemen 3, Walking Seeds, Mudhoney, Monster Magnet among them... But in all honesty, The Heads have always existed in a world of their own, surfacing as and when the mood takes them, before returning to their subterranean rehearsal room to jam their way through yet more mind-altering riffs and mood-altering rhythms.

Relaxing With The Heads is their first defining statement. It is also possibly their most straight-forward release, the sound of a band attempting to find structure in their playing rather than abandoning themselves to their wildest impulses. That would come later…

And yet, 25 years on, this album blasts forth like few records from that time, its slacker charm welded to super-fuzzed riffs that propel its 10 tracks ever onwards. Righteous is probably the only word for it…”

Standout favorites of RidingEasy Records’ Brown Acid compilation series, White Lightning’s stellar discography of rare and under-appreciated heavy psych, proto-metal rock gets a vital revival for new generations to learn how swinging, swaggering and often blazingly fast rock’n’roll is done.White Lightning was formed in Minneapolis, MN in 1968 by guitarist Tom “Zippy” Caplan and bassist Woody Woodrich after leaving garage psych band The Litter (themselves popular standouts from the Nuggets and Pebbles series of garage rock rarities.) Originally a power trio, the band later expanded to a 5-piece in 1969 while shortening its name to Lightning. The quintet’s brilliant and rare 1970 self-titled album on Pickwick International’s P.I.P. imprint provides 6 of the 10 tracks on Thunderbolts of Fuzz.The original White Lightning trio only released one 45-rpm single “Of Paupers and Poets” during their existence (on local Hexagon label in 1968, later reissued by major label ATCO Records in 1969.) A long out-of-print posthumous album released in 1995 gathered unreleased recordings, 3 of which are found here. This rounds out this collection of recorded highlights from the band’s rocky history.
Taking their name from a particularly potent type of LSD, White Lightning laid out from the start that it was not cute and cuddly 70s rock. In fact, the band’s aggressive tempos are like punk rock way before punk. However, their dirty blues groove and musical prowess shows the band was more than unrefined ne’er-do-wells, they had true versatility.
Drummer/lead vocalist Mick Stanhope later relinquished his drum throne to take center stage as lead singer of the expanded lineup. Throughout its initial 1968-1974 run, the band had 10 different lineups, with Caplan, Woodrich and Stanhope the most consistent members — though the band points out that no one member has played in all 11 incarnations of the group. For more facts and information visit thelitter-lightning.
Album opener “Prelude to Opus IV” is a wailing rocker with blazing double-kick drum, sizzling melodic riffs and Jim Dandy howls jam packed into an epic 4 minutes that serves enough testament to the band’s greatness, nothing more need be heard or said. However, the would-be hits keep coming as the Led Zeppelin meets Black Oak Arkansas thwack of “Hideaway” and “Born Too Rich” come screaming out of the speakers. “When A Man Could Be Free” shows the band could also reign in the fury, at least a little bit, for a warm Southern rock style ballad. “Borrowed and Blue” echoes the stately poetry of Electric Ladyland-era Hendrix with a dash of The Who’s rollicking psychedelia. “1930” is, quite simply, insane. Searing twin guitars with incredible fuzz-drenched tone, a warm and buzzing bass line bounce atop drummer Bernie Pershey’s unrelenting bass drum triplets while Stanhope ravages his lungs with soulful abandon. The album closes with the aptly titled “Before My Time” a barnstorming boogie rock instrumental the proves the band vanished long before receiving their due.

'No Sub Reino dos Metazoários' is the first and only record by musician and poet Marconi Notaro, out of Pernambuco, Brazil. Originally released independently, however, with the support and distribution of Rozenblit, the 1973 album featuring Lula Cortes, Zé Ramalho and Robertinho de Recife is part of the holy trilogy of "Psicodelia Nordestina" amongst the equally mindblowing Paebiru (1975) and Satwa (1973). For its non-comercial a raw aesthetics, the record became a true rarity among collectors worldwide and one of the most important albums of Brazilian Psychedelia. For years it was known that the master tape of 'No Sub Reino dos Metazoários' had been lost during two floods that wrecked the Rozenblit Studios. Lots of equipment were damaged and plenty of material gone. However what no one expected was that the tapes were kept on the highest shelves in the studio where the water did not reach with the thought of "equipment can be replaced, master tapes are unique". Notaro's daughters inherited and rescued the tape and made it available so that Fatiado Discos could release the first and remastered version from the original tapes since 1973. The lysergic highest moments come with nature elements textures as water and wind mixing together with the unmistaken sound of the Tricórdio Acústico - which is a very unique instrument that Lula Côrtes brought himself from India and then adapted it with the help of a local luthier to the regional sound of the Brazilian northeast. The gatefold designed by Lula Côrtes is portrayed in this release and it also has its inner side designed by Cátia Mezel, apart from an extra insert with unpublished photos of Marconi provided by the musician's family.

1972-1985 KATEBEGIAK - Prog-Rock, Psych-Folk & Jazz-Rock Music from the BASQUE COUNTRY. The album KATEBEGIAK, now published by ELKAR, contains 13 tunes on double LP gatefold edition from Haizea, Izukaitz, William S. Fischer, Magdalena, Enbor, Itoiz, Koska, Itziar, Errobi, Lisker, Amaia Zubiria & Pascal Gaigne, Gontzal Mendibil & Taldea and Urria, and the CD-Book edition adds an extra bonus track by the great unknown artist Juan Arkotxa. Complied by Mikel Unzurrunzaga Schmitz aka DJ Makala. Music produced in the 70's in the Basque Country got trapped between two earth shattering artistic currents; Ez Dok Amairu in the 60s and Basque Radical Rock in the 80's, and unfortunately, most of the lovely discs and tunes created at that magical time have been pushed to a remote (and sometimes even despised) corner of our collective memory. 60's and 80's music currents are almost opposite, and both work as magnetic poles with a very strong power of attraction, and maybe also as a burden for any of the later artistic currents. 60's generation of artists searched within their rich and ancient cultural roots to acknowledge and update them, in proud, hopeful and unforgettable folk songs. The 80's one on the other hand, worked in a flammable environment in constant social and political conflict and found in punk the perfect way to express their anger and weariness for so many unfulfilled promises and the lack of opportunities into short, noisy, direct and corrosive songs, technically sparse but full of energy and expressive power. Most of the "classic" names engraved in our memory come from one or the other like Benito Lertxundi, Mikel Laboa, Lourdes Iriondo and Xabier Lete or Kortatu, Hertzainak, Zarama, Las vulpes, Eskorbuto or Cicatriz. 70's generation and their music work somehow as the "missing link" ("katebegia" in Basque) between the two. They loved folky tunes and don't forget their ancient roots, but they also look outside for inspiration and experimentation. Just as the 80's boys and girls found punk the 70's guys found a completely different sonic and aesthetic landscape in the works of Grateful Dead, Fairport Convention, King Crimson, Soft Machine, Gong_ and worked closely with keen souls in other neighboring regions such as Maquina!, Pau Riba or Sisa in Catalonia or Smash and Triana in Andalusia. This resulted in more abstract and poetic lyrical content, much longer psych-folk-prog-jazz tunes, full of complex instrumental passages and mesmerizing structures of sheer ambition and masterful execution in many cases. But, most important of all, they found a voice of their own, rich, unique, and fascinating, and that's what makes them so valuable to us. Not only to us, but also to lots of vinyl collectors and crate-diggers around the world, who have in many cases paid fortunes for some of the original editions of LPs that are the source of tunes in this compilation. Mikel Unzurrunzaga Schmitz aka DJ Makala, DJ and producer of worldwide scope and wisdom, noticed this fact first and decided to pay homage to these wonderful tunes through this masterful and dedicated selection for your pleasure and as an open invitation to dig deeper into your adventures in the dark and hidden side of Basque popular music.

With their ability to move seamlessly from the triangle to the donkey jaw, cymbals to Chinese gong, vibraphone to wind machine, percussionists are undoubtedly the most atypical members of the classical orchestra. Paul Changarnier, Nicolas Cousin and Alexandre Esperet are a case in point. Having set their sights on the marimba - Latin American xylophone, cousin of the African balafon - they decided to use it as the main vehicle for their artistic dreams. With the label No Format, they embarked on a project which would see them taking on pop hits of the kind that are produced in mega studios on the other side of the Atlantic and dazzle with a thousand lights and special effects. But they wanted to do it without leaving France or their beloved instruments. They wanted to make pop without machines, guitars, bass or synths. They ended up finding a hitherto unknown instrumental formula that belongs to them and them only, one conceived as the perfect fit for the voices from the well-known French artists that were called upon to interpret the songs. Camille, with her extraordinary energy, makes Rihanna"s "Don"t Stop the Music" waltz in a new organic mode; Blick Bassy redecorates Ariana Grande"s "One Last Time" in the colours of Bassa; Malik Djoudi envelopes Frank Ocean"s "Super Rich Kids" with a subtle ethereal texture; Camélia Jordana made her mark on this bonanza of reinvention by slowing down the tempo of "Dance Monkey"; The voice of Sandra Nkaké, imbued Lana del Rey"s "Video Games" with a solemn and sublime mystery. Like an old love that"s rediscovered with new eyes, an air that comes back from far away but could have been born today, somehow familiar but never seen before. Déjà vu but never heard until now. Déjà Vu: the name of this magnificent, unprecedented experience, this unidentifiable flying platter.

This mega-rare 1969 album pays tribute to the Bronx and Brooklyn neighborhoods where young Latinos had invented the boogaloo a few years earlier. This record highlights the quality of Peruvian boogaloo and the talent of musicians such as pianist Otto de Rojas and percussionist Coco Lagos. First time reissue. In the mid-sixties, when young Latino musicians in New York fused Afro-Cuban rhythms with rock, soul and jazz, they had no idea that their boogaloo bang bang would reverberate just as strong and loud in a distant South American country. From 1955, La Sonora Macedo, took Cuban music to every corner of Peru, backed the leading musicians of the Peruvian tropical universe, such as Ñiko Estrada, Joe di Roma, the double bass player Pepe Hernández, and the trumpet players Tito Chicoma and Charlie Palomares. All diehard fans of Cuban music, always alert to any new artist arriving from the island. In the early sixties, light rock, doo-wop, ballads, Italian songs and bossa nova paraded across Lima's stages, making performances by Cuban bands, previously so frequent, a thing of the past. Moreover, the unanimous success of the Beatles from 1964 onwards, gave the impression that music from the English-speaking world would dominate the rest of the decade. But this was not the case. In large part because of Manuel Guerrero's good relations with U.S Latino labels, such as Alegre Records, which released the initial recordings by Johnny Pacheco and Charlie Palmieri, allowing listeners in Lima to follow the development of the salsa movement almost from the beginning. MAG was undoubtedly the best representative of these new sounds. In 1969, the LP "Acabo con Lima, huyo pa' Nueva York" was released on this label, a project which brought together three figures from Lima's show business world: Manuel Antonio Guerrero, owner and founder of MAG, who wasn't shy of joining in on the chorus and percussion during recordings, Pablo Villanueva "Melcochita", a multifaceted artist from a talented musical family from the popular district of La Victoria, was responsible for the vocals and percussion on the album. And the third Lima show business figure in this project was the musician, singer and comedian Alberto Montroy Laostervened, who gained fame in the sixties while still in his twenties for his imitation of Cantinflas, the Mexican actor. Alberto bore a devilish resemblance to Cantinflas, not only in his gestures but also physically. Under the name of Pepe Moreno "Karamanduka" he also went on to record songs abroad such as "El boogaloo de Cantinflitas". "Acabo con Lima, huyo pa' Nueva York" was immediately re-released in other countries, highlighting the quality of Peruvian boogaloo and talent of musicians such as pianist Otto de Rojas and percussionist Coco Lagos, who feature prominently on the album. Songs such as 'Vuela mi descarga', 'Peruvian boogaloo' and 'Peruvian guajira', pay tribute to the Bronx and Brooklyn, neighborhoods where young Latinos had invented the boogaloo a few years earlier.

"Ésta sí es salsa!" is one of the most sought-after records in the impressive catalog of the Discos Fuentes tropical all-star group Los Corraleros de Majagual. The record is high on collectors' want lists for many reasons: excellent sound quality, diverse and highly danceable repertoire infusing its grooves, and the inclusion of the Cuban genres of descarga and charanga. The album includes outstanding cover versions of '60s New York salsa but featuring the unusual sound of the accordion and the heavy bass playing of Julio Estrada. First time reissue. "Ésta sí es salsa!" is one of the most sought-after records in the impressive catalog of the Discos Fuentes tropical all-star group Los Corraleros de Majagual. It was released in 1970, nine years after the band was first conceived by Alfredo Gutiérrez, Calixto Ochoa and label boss Don Antonio Fuentes as an orchestra to play mostly typical folkloric Colombian genres like porro, cumbia and paseo and the occasional guaracha or pachanga, but with a fully orchestrated big band sound that combined the accordion with a complete rhythm and brass section. The record is high on collectors' want lists for many reasons, not least of which is its excellent sound quality and the diverse repertoire infusing its grooves, ranging from expected coastal tropical Colombian rhythms like paseaíto, paseo and pasebol (all related to cumbia and vallenato), to more exotic modes like sonsonete, casatschok, and the Cuban genres of descarga and charanga. There was never any doubt with the label's intentions of introducing this "new" genre of salsa on this LP, albeit as seen through the lens of Colombian musicians only recently converted to the movement, and indeed, the title unequivocally proclaims: "¡Ésta sí es salsa!" ("This is definitely salsa!"). The proof is in the fascinating (and long) cover versions of Nuyorican artists from the burgeoning Big Apple salsa scene that are the centerpiece of the album. Two massive dance tracks on the record are 'Ocho días' and 'Amanací tomando', but neither was inspired by exposure to New York salsa, as they are very "typical" Colombian numbers. First time reissue.

A reissue on black vinyl of the cult 1982 soundtrack to Tron by legendary electronic pioneer and composer Wendy Carlos (The Shining, Clockwork Orange). The music, which was the first collaboration between Carlos and her partner Annemarie Franklin, featured a mix of an analogue Moog synthesizer and GDS digital synthesizer, along with non-electronic pieces performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Two additional musical tracks (“1990’s Theme” and “Only Solutions“) were provided by the American band Journey. This is the first reissue of the black 18 track 1 LP vinyl. 2022 will mark the 40th anniversary of the Tron Franchise. The original film tells the story of computer engineer Kevin Flynn who finds out that an executive at his company, has been stealing his work. Flynn tries to hack into the system but instead is transported into the digital world of The Grid , where he has to battle Sark, and the imposing Master Control Program. Helped by Tron (a security program) and Yori , Flynn becomes a freedom fighter for the oppressed programs of the grid. The soundtrack perfectly captures the geometrically intense landscapes of cyberspace and the virtual gladiatorial computer game.

This is no easy listen... sparse, complex, often brooding arrangements coupled with Cassandra Wilson's deep, earthy voice and complicated phrasing demand your attention. Waver and you're lost. But... give this album the listening time & space it deserves and reap the rewards. Unusual, highly atmospheric tracks that combine superb singing and marvellously "distant" musical backings to weave real magic.

Cassandra Wilson's own excellent, jazz tinged compositions sit alongside a stunning set of ingenious covers from a highly diverse spectrum of composers. "Last Train To Clarksville" is transformed from a catchy pop song into a stripped-down and genuinely effective jazz vocal work-out. "Harvest Moon" slows down Neil Young's already wistful ballad to an almost painful level and, in so doing, takes it to an even higher level of gentle reflection. Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" & U2's "Love Is Blindness" are transformed into 3 in the morning jazz club classics. The vocals and backing to Robert Johnson's "32-20" are simplified to the point where only the essence of the blues is allowed to shine and, Lewis Allan's "Strange Fruit" becomes as desolate and challenging as it's horrific lyrics.