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CRIMSON/BLACK COLORED

Indie Retail Exclusive Crimson & Black color vinyl Originally conceived as a medium for Chicago-based multi-media artist/activist Damon Locks's sample-based sound collage work, Black Monument Ensemble (BME) has evolved from a solo mission into a vibrant collective of artists, musicians, singers, and dancers making work with common goals of joy, compassion, and intention. A genuinely multi-generational collective, ages of BME members range from 9 to 52 years old; members include instrumentalists and fellow IARC recording artists Angel Bat Dawid and Ben LaMar Gay. Their debut album Where Future Unfolds was released in 2019 by International Anthem glowing praise; landing at #3 on Bandcamp's "Best Albums of the Year," #25 on WIRE Magazine's "Best Albums of 2019," and being repeatedly dubbed "The Best Album of 2019" by BBC/Worldwide radio titan Gilles Peterson. Locks & BME's new album NOW was created in the final throes of Summer 2020, following months of pandemic-induced fear & isolation, the explosion of social unrest, struggle & violence in the streets, and as the certain presence of a new reality had fully settled in. Set up safely in the garden behind Chicago's Experimental Sound Studio, the music was recorded in only a few takes, capturing the first times members of BME had ever played or sang the tunes. For Locks, the impetus was more about getting together to commune and make art than it was about producing an album. In his words: "It was about offering a new thought. It was about resisting the darkness. It was about expressing possibility. It was about asking the question, 'Since the future has unfolded and taken a new and dangerous shape... what happens NOW?'"

This LP finally brings a Clipping fan-favorite, 2016's Wriggle, onto vinyl in an improved, expanded version that features new art, previously unreleased remixes, and a track that's exclusive to the vinyl format. The original, digital-only Wriggle EP was six tracks that weren't finished in time to make it onto the group's 2014 Sub Pop debut, CLPPNG. For "Shooter," Clipping recorded themselves firing fifteen different guns, the sounds of which exclusively constituted the beat's drums, augmented only by a synthesized tone-row. The verses referenced the well-worn technique of "hashtag rap," but instead of using it to boast about the rapper's personal wealth and masculine prowess, Clipping put forth imagistic narratives of three violent encounters. True to much of the group's music, "Shooter" was an attempt to reframe a familiar style and test the limits of its formal capabilities. "Hot Fuck No Love" contains what might be the most explicit verse to date from Clipping's favorite New Jersey rapper Cakes Da Killa. The EP's title track, "Wriggle," was built around a sample of the influential power-electronics song "Wriggle Like a Fucking Eel" by Whitehouse, transforming William Bennett's torturous imperative into a instructional dance-floor banger. "Wriggle" and "Shooter" have become classic Clipping tracks and staples of their live show. With this vinyl edition, Clipping fans old and new - and there are many new fans thanks to their breakout 2020 album, Visions of Bodies Being Burned, and Daveed Diggs' thriving acting career - get the vinyl version of Wriggle they've been clamouring for.

If you don't yet know, Flexi is a record store and music label based in Italy and run by Simone and Lorenzo.

Over the years, Flexi have gained both the respect and recognition of the music scene, earned by almost forty years of experience in the world of music and with the support of many DJs, artists and fans

Finally Flexi Cuts returns with a brand new release pressed on a “raw transparent" vinyl called “Velvet Series” no 2 – six quality tracks from six superb artists for an electronic journey that makes you fly over “velvet”.

Selection of the works wasn't easy; the tracks were chosen tryin' to maintain a high quality level, such as the oldest (v. series part 1) which have been so appreciated out there.

The A side opening is by Bologna-based Brine, with “YR Body” that provides a Juno-ish bassline with a catchy vocal and a jazzy mood.

Then we have “Benerice" from Daughters and Sons (aka the master Luca Fronza) who throws us into a beautiful Detroit-inspired analog jam.

This side ends with our very own Sicily man Manuold with fresh Italo-House vibes absolutely made for the dance floor.

On the B side, welcome back the veterans Tengrams (formerly the Piatto brothers from N.O.I.A Records) with the outstanding "Rapid Eye Movement"… travelling across retro-future influences and 808 patterns… under a dystopian-sci-fi movie theme.

B2 track is by the Calma duo who plays with a few elements to build a neverending techno climax...did you recognise the sample?

The last track is a sort of relaxing downtempo sunset closure complete with bells, from the California producer Gloved Hands, a name that speaks for itself.

Original compositions for virtual game music recorded in 1995 by Los Microwaves founder David Javelosa. That period in the 90s was one of rare times that Los Angeles was sort of a fun. You'd go somewhere for a drink and hear the late 1950s-early 1960s quirky instrumental pop that became known that year by the "Space Age Bachelor Pad Music" sobriquet. Many of the 14 tracks you are ideally hearing now for the first time were inspired by that long-gone cocktail-glass-shaped crack in time. Made in a tiny Santa Monica studio, surrounded by bits and pieces of torn-apart game consoles, trashed Casios and forgotten keyboards, inventing this set of ephemeral computer-generated sounds. Javelosa remembers what begat the tunes. Thrasher in the Fast Lane, inspired by driving on Bay Area freeways, fast, after hours, an Astor Piazzolla melody blowing with the wind, a party in Mexico City, an exotic perfume, Chet Baker in the background. He's always been fascinated by the concept of computer-generated jazz – still is. The sound of uncertainty, musical cut 'n' paste, excitement when something occurs that maybe has never happened before.

Fantas is the epic opening track on Caterina Barbieri’s acclaimed 2019 release Ecstatic Computation. The original Fantas laid out a magical path of patterns leading the listener on a journey into the sound itself. Fantas Variations maps out eight new potentials sprung from this initial path as constructed by a diverse mix of artists lending to a wide spectrum of new works extrapolated from the original work. For this project Barbieri invited friends and long time collaborators from a variety of musical backgrounds to create a more sustainable and inclusive landscape in terms of stylistic, geographical, gender and generational balance. The results are a diverse array of approaches and instrumentation which blur the boundaries between the acoustic and electronic.

Fantas Variations embraces a platform for mutual exchange and support between like-minded artists, where active and collective re-imagination is prioritised over the traditional model of remixes, which is often strategic, functional and more passive.

Longtime friend and collaborator Kali Malone rearranged Fantas to a slowed-down, austere and eerie version for two Organs. Evelyn Saylor created a piece for a vocal ensemble consisting of her, Lyra Pramuk, Stine Janvin and Annie Garlid, joining forces to express the choral, psychedelic and vitalistic nature of the piece. Barbieri’s former guitar professor at the Conservatory in Bologna, Walter Zanetti, composes Fantas for electric guitar, by translating every single gesture of the original electronic piece into a personal, nuanced and detailed interpretation. Bendik Giske’s reinterpretation for Saxophone and Voice captures the atmospheric essence of Fantas and its psychic meteorology. Longtime collaborator and along with Barbieri the other half of the outfit Punctum, Carlo Maria, resynthesizes Fantas for TR808 and MC202, bringing a more club-oriented dimension of the piece to life whilst unveiling the sonic continuum between rhythm and pitch through a sensitive timbral approach. Jay Mitta’s Singeli reinterpretation of Fantas transpires with pitched-up percussion and turbo-fast polyrhythmic patterns unleashing the frenetic, shifting, transformative matter within the piece to a higher plain of euphoric dance. Baseck’s variation is a rave fantasia, where the prismatic trance of the original is channeled into fierce, uncompromising hardcore, whilst Kara-Lis Coverdale’s take is a phantasmagoria for piano that gently, yet inexorably, captures the relentlessness chimerical qualities of the original, unveiling its spectral backbone.

Evelyn Saylor (feat. Lyra Pramuk, Annie Garlid & Stine Janvin) - Fantas Variation for Voices (7’38’’)
Composed by Evelyn Saylor. Performed by Evelyn Saylor, Lyra Pramuk, Stine Janvin and Annie Garlid. Recording, mix and additional production by Bridget Ferrill at Real Surreal Studio, Berlin 2021.

Bendik Giske - Fantas for Saxophone and Voice (7'31'')
Adapted and performed by Bendik Giske. Recorded, mixed, and produced by Bendik Giske in Funkhaus, Berlin 2020.

Kali Malone - Fantas for two Organs (10'21'')
Arranged for The Utopa Baroque Organ, The Sauer Organ and tuned sine waves. Recorded by Benny Nilsen at Orgelpark, Amsterdam 2020.

Walter Zanetti - Fantas for Electric Guitar (7'27'')
Recorded by Walter Zanetti, Bologna 2020.

Jay Mitta - Singeli Fantas (12'03'')
Recorded by Jay Mitta in Sisso Studios, Dar Es Salaam 2020.

Baseck - Fantas Hardcore (4'44'')
Mixed by Anthony Baldino, Los Angeles 2020.

Carlo Maria - Fantas resynthesized for 808 and 202 (4'29'')
Recorded by Carlo Maria, Milano 2020.

Kara-Lis Coverdale - Fantas Morbida (3'04'')
Performed, recorded and mixed at The Shop in Valens, Ontario by Kara-Lis Coverdale, January 2021. Engineering assistance from Robert Coverdale and Adam Feingold.

Soul Jazz Records are releasing this 20th anniversary edition of their classic Studio One Soul on unique Record Store Day EXCLUSIVE coloured vinyl + download code. This new edition is a one-off special pressing exclusively for Record Store Day 2021.

Owned and founded by Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, Studio One's output serves as a comprehensive guide to the history of Reggae music.

Studio One Soul tracks the link between American Funk and Soul and Jamaican Reggae at the legendary Studio One Records.

Curtis Mayfield, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, The Temptations, King Floyd, Booker T and The MGs - all these artists had a huge influence on Jamaican artists and this album contains versions of songs by all of them. Featuring classic and rare Reggae Funk and Soul cuts from the Reggae giants alongside rarer cuts, Studio One Soul spans over 20 years of classic Reggae from the Rocksteady Funk through to the deep Roots music.

Dublin's Splitradix delivers an EP of intense and melancholic acid / braindance with plenty of ''light in darkness'' to quote Yellow Magic Orchestra. Opener Laplace Formal is a moody, hyper melodic piece for a dreamy dance floor. The oddly titled second track, The Dry Canal, is the centerpiece of the EP. Dry, deep and stomping acid taking you through a tunnel of sound - the two dark droney melody lines slowly but surely turn the piece into something truly epic and unforgettable... Opening the flipside, Empty Sea 1000 is a slow, lazy acid cut from another dimension, very nice! Lucan 303 Distribution Service is heavy on the kick. Basic at first, it later turns into a wonderfully melodic Rephlex-like cut. Last one, Laplace Formal (Navs' No Jacket Required Remix) is a laidback and more euphoric version of the EP's opening track.

The first release from Toronto’s newest and most exciting Record Label, EastSide Edits! Limited run pressing of hand-stamped white labels, exclusive to release 001. Blessed by some of the top DJ’s in the world, this is sure to sell out fast! Donuts for the 45 slingers, and donuts for the House DJ’s, EastSide Edits brings a unique twist to the 45’s world by catering to both markets on each release. Carefully selected familiar Edits that work well in both environments is the name of their game! This first release has gained a lot of attention, with the test pressings being championed by some of the top turntable legends in the game. DJ Koco’s recent doubles routine and feature play of the B-side to this record has his massive following asking where to find it.

Side A is brought to you by the young wonder from New York, Pinto NYC. Pinto has been making quite the name for himself, signing music to some stellar House labels across the world, including the legendary Nervous Records, Glasgow Underground, and Simma Black. His upbeat and funky edit of “Rock with you” brings familiarity and energy sure to light the dance floor on fire! Creative sampling and pumping drums are his signature sound. This one hooks the listener early and smashes it home!

Side B is brought to you by the incredibly talented Toronto Disco duo, LeBaron James. LeBaron James are at the top of their game, pumping out high quality Disco Edits to a whole host of successful labels. Home base for them has been the incredibly successful Spacedisco label, run by Juno award winning Toronto artist, Hatiras. Their super catchy Disco edit of “Never gonna give my love again” will have you singing at the top of your lungs, feeling like you’re front and center at Studio 54! The vibe gets pushed even further into overdrive with the onset of a smooth and sexy sax solo that carries through the tail end of the record. This one has already proven to catch the ears of some major players across the globe! Don’t sleep on this white label. House DJ’s have responded overwhelmingly, and after watching DJ Koco’s Instagram routine we are confident that every 45 slinger in the UK will be digging for doubles on this one!

This album was originally composed in October 2017, performed and recorded live in Kasteliotissa Medieval Hall, Nicosia, on the 19th of November 2017 as an accompanying soundtrack to Fritz Lang's two hour-long edit of the film Metropolis (1927). Commissioned by the the curators of the 'German expressionism in Cinema exhibition' to compose and perform a live soundtrack, Panagiotis and Yiannis employed a hardware heavy arsenal to produce one of their longest pieces. modular synthesizers, guitars, drum samplers and drum machines are all protagonists. The performance lasted for two hours and was recorded in its entirety. It was later edited down to preserve all sound design qualities and a somewhat live feel. The title is an homage to the main actress of the film.


Panagiotis Mina and Yiannis Eliades, longstanding members of 'do it together' collective Honest Electronics and producers of their own material as Panayotis and Isel respectively, often collaborate on projects such as Brigitte. Panagiotis Mina is a producer, musician and visual artist. He lives and works in Cyprus from Pyrgatory studios, his out in the country home diy studio project. Yiannis Eliades produces and performs music using a blend of analog and digital synthesizers, drum machines and twisted recordings, on his own or as part of duos (MYHN, Carnal Throes).

This is the demo recording sessions from Television in 1974 under Brian Eno's guidance. TheA SIDE demos were recorded at Good Vibrations Studios in NYC with Richard Hell on bass, and produced by Brian Eno and Richard Williams of Island Records.It also includes three live tracks from CBGB's in 1975 including the unreleased (I Look At You And Get A) Double Exposure, the band never recorded in studio. An abrasive 13th Floor Elevators number and the inonic Richard Hell (I Belong To The) Blank Generation It is fascinating listening to the early versions of these songs that eventually appeared on 'Marquee Moon'. Each versions are distinctly different having a 'harder edge' to them and closer to the final released editions. Sound Quality: Very good stereo

Andrés Vargas Pinedo is a prominent composer of Amazonian popular music from Peru. He is blind and has excelled as a player of the quena and the violin. He was born in the city of Yurimaguas but he developed as an artist in Lima, for thirty years he has worked as a traveling musician on a street in the San Isidro district of Lima. Throughout his career, he has formed and joined various popular music groups. This compilation presents fifteen songs of his authorship, belonging to his first two groups: Conjunto típico Corazón de la Selva and Los Pihuichos de la selva, active between 1965 and 1974, and which helped define the sound of Amazonian popular music.

These years saw the emergence of an Amazonian popular music movement led by Vargas Pinedo as well as groups such as Los Solteritos, Flor del Oriente or Selva Alegre. These artists based their music on the rhythms of the Amazonian folklore (pandilla, sitaracuy, movido, cajada, chimayche) and were nourished by influences from the coast and the highlands of Peru, as well as by the tropical rhythms of Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador, achieving a musical synthesis that is an invitation to collective celebration and endless dance. A sound that is defined by a constant and hypnotic rhythmic base of kick and snare drums, upon which the quena and violin develop imaginative melodic lines. Sometimes there is a singing voice, sometimes the voices playfully appear as sounds that identify Amazonian popular speech or that emulate jungle animals.

The fifteen tracks gathered in 'El fabuloso sonido de Andrés Vargas Pinedo: Una colección de música popular amazónica' (1966-1974) / 'The fabulous sound of Andrés Vargas Pinedo: A collection of Amazonian popular music' (1966-1974) are a good introduction to the work of an essential creator of Peruvian music, whose sound expresses the spirit of the Amazonian people and summarizes the transition from tradition to the popular in the context of the emergence of a record industry of Amazonian music. Andrés Vargas constitutes a fundamental basis for the music of the Amazon, as his work synthesizes diverse influences, having that original root as its main motive.

This compilation is presented in vinyl format and includes a brochure with extensive information and photos. The audio has been remastered directly from the original tapes. Edition of 300 copies. Art by Jordy García (Blumoo Posters).

Greetings to the new generation of ‘Hip-Hop’ and ‘Shake Your Butt’ music. The man behind ‘Timeless Funk’ ain’t exactly no ‘Spring Funky Chicken’, yet he is still the ‘Funkiest Soul’ to rock this here nation.
Rufus Thomas is the Soul King and Grand Daddy of Funk; as his generation knew him then, as we know him today.

In the beginning, the ‘Power of the Most High’ said: ‘Let it be funky’. Then there was Rufus.
Rufus Thomas was born in 1917 in a small town outside of Memphis, Tennessee. At the age of ten he became a tap dancer. In the 1930s, Rufus worked professionally at the infamous Palace Theatre, Memphis, TN, as M.C., performing comedy and dance routines.

During the early 1940s, Rufus began his singing career. He also continued his M.C. acts at various notable nightclubs and theatres, for amateur nights. He was then considered to be a triple threat: dancer, comedian and singer! The notables he crossed hands with in those days were B.B. King, Bobby Bland and Johnny Ace. In the 1950s Rufus became one of the ‘Hip-pest’ DJs in Memphis TN W.I.D.A. radio station and is affiliated with the company to this day. He was quoted as saying ‘I’m young and loose and full of juice’. At those times he recorded ‘Bear-Cat’ for Sun Records, their first R&B hit for the label.
All-right ‘Kiddies,’ now I take you into the light of Rufus in the 1960s. When most of us were on our way to our happy existence, Rufus was already 30 years in the entertainment circuit. He was affiliated with STAX Records. With daughter Carla Thomas, he gave STAX their first hit, the duet, ‘Cause I Love You.’ Rufus’ world famous hits continued under this label, pouring songs out such as ‘Memphis Train,’ ‘Can Your Monkey Do The Dog,’…

The foregoing is merely a scratch on the surface of a remarkable man, who has dedicated most of his life to the entertainment business. It’s kept short and sweet so you know what you are dealing with.
Rufus was quoted as saying, ‘I ain’t a star, I don’t want to be a star. Stars have a habit of falling. I’m like the moon. Clouds may come and cover it occasionally, but it’s always there, and always shining. It’s just sometimes you don’t see it for a while but it’ll be back.’

If it wasn’t for Rufus, Soul Music would be missing one of its loudest sons. If he didn’t exist, somebody

Continued over…

would have to get up and invent him. And Funk? The man practically invented the stuff with James Brown.
Now at the age of 75 ‘The Oldest Teenager Alive’ check him out on this recording of ‘Timeless Funk’. We’ll agree and leave you with this note: Rufus is the ‘Moon’ that brought us what was ‘Funky’ then to what is ‘Funky’ now. So let us get ‘Buck Wild’ on the Funky side of things

Analog Africa Presents Edo Funk Explosion Vol. 1, available on
2xLP/Gatefold LP with 20-page booklet / CD with 36-page booklet. It was
in Benin City, in the heart of Nigeria, that a new hybrid of intoxicating
highlife music known as Edo Funk was born.
It first emerged in the late 1970s when a group of musicians began to experiment with different ways of integrating elements from their native Edo culture
and fusing them with new sound effects coming from West Africa s night-clubs.
Unlike the rather polished 1980 s Nigerian disco productions coming out of the
international metropolis of Lagos Edo Funk was raw and reduced to its bare
minimum.
Someone was needed to channel this energy into a distinctive sound and Sir
Victor Uwaifo appeared like a mad professor with his Joromi studio. Uwaifo
took the skeletal structure of Edo music and relentless began fusing them with
synthesizers, electric guitars and 80 s effect racks which resulted in some of the
most outstanding Edo recordings ever made. An explosive spiced up brew with
an odd psychedelic note known as Edo Funk.
That’s the sound you’ll be discovering in the first volume of the Edo Funk Explosion series which focusses on the genre’s greatest originators; Osayomore
Joseph, Akaba Man, and Sir Victor Uwaifo: Osayomore Joseph was one of the
first musicians to bring the sound of the flute into the horn-dominated world
of highlife, and his skills as a performer made him a fixture on the Lagos scene.
When he returned to settle in Benin City in the mid 1970s - at the invitation of
the royal family - he devoted himself to the modernisation and electrification
of Edo music, using funk and Afro-beat as the building blocks for songs that
weren’t afraid to call out government corruption or confront the dark legacy of
Nigeria’s colonial past.
Akaba Man was the philosopher king of Edo funk. Less overtly political than Osayomore Joseph and less psychedelic than Victor Uwaifo, he found the perfect
medium for his message in the trance-like grooves of Edo funk. With pulsating
rhythms awash in cosmic synth-fields and lyrics that express a deep personal
vision, he found great success at the dawn of the 1980s as one of Benin City’s
most persuasive ambassadors of funky highlife.
Victor Uwaifo was already a star in Nigeria when he built the legendary Joromi
studios in his hometown of Benin City in 1978. Using his unique guitar style as
the mediating force between West-African highlife and the traditional rhythms
and melodies of Edo music, he had scored several hits in the early seventies,
but once he had his own sixteen-track facility he was able to pursue his obsession with the synesthetic possibilities of pure sound, adding squelchy synths,
swirling organs and studio effects to hypnotic basslines and raw grooves. Between his own records and his production for other musicians, he quickly established himself as the godfather of Edo funk.
What unites these diverse musicians is their ability to strip funk down to its
primal essence and use it as the foundation for their own excursions inward to
the heart of Edo culture and outward to the furthest limits of sonic alchemy.
The twelve tracks on Edo Funk Explosion Volume 1 pulse with raw inspiration,
mixing highlife horns, driving rhythms, day-glo keyboards and tripped-out guitars into a funk experience unlike any other.

Big Country’s “Without The Aid Of A Safety Net” was their first ever live album, originally released in 1994 and recorded at a homecoming gig at The Barrowland Ballroom in Glasgow.

The set mixes tracks taken from their recent studio album, The Buffalo Skinners, such as the singles Alone and Ships, along with the classic tracks from their catalogue In A Big Country, Look Away, Fields Of Fire as well as two Neil Young covers, Rockin’ In The Free World and Hey, Hey, My My (Out Of The Blue).

The original vinyl version of this album only had a limited pressing on 1 vinyl. This new deluxe version features the complete unedited concert recording split over 3 vinyl for optimal sound quality. The package is a tri-fold sleeve with 3x 180gm and Heavyweight Black Vinyl with sleeve notes written by guitarist Bruce Watson.

Up to kick off 2021 in the most adequately frenzied, thoroughly corrosive fashion, DDS04 serves up a quintet of chrome-tanned, hi-velocity beats courtesy of Italian hardware fetishist Anna Funk Damage (previously heard on the likes of Mind Records, Lux Rec, Lazy Tapes and more) and Austrian-Hungarian outfit Dutch Courage - alias Superskin & Új Bála - each of whom step up to the plate to deliver an exquisitely ear-wormy slice of their deranged industrial gospel.

A-side starts off to the sound of AFD's hard bouncin' "48 Hours Death" - a raw-cooked deluge of head-reducing EBM grit, flaring binary signals and Giallo-infused arpeggios out a blood-stained Suspirian tale. Fear for the deadly scalp hunters lurking in the club's darkest nooks, they've just sniffed out your trail.

Brutal churner "Youssef" picks up the torch and pulls out the quake-inducing breaks without further ado, dressed out with languorous Orientalistic melodies and steely distortions tailored to bend mind by the dozens. Forged in the furnace, the full-out punk-minded "I Come From Fire" rounds off the side on a drum and bass-heavy note, drawing as much from 60s psych-garage as it does from 80s deconstructionist tape music.

Flip sides and here's Budapest unit Dutch Courage taking the reins with the off-kilter treat "Hand Of The Sword" - navigating a weird zone of its own, floating astride post-apocalyptic Bristol bass, sliced-and-diced abstraction and overly textured yet equally bone-bruising riddims.

Wrapping up the journey with both force and serenity, "Neo-Soulmates" follows a similar path with its warped synth flexions and raucous machine cries making the rounds from one end of the spectrum to the other effortlessly, merging to give birth to something genetically contrasting from any contemporary. A most fitting finale to an EP that celebrates and encourages sonic bizarro in all its forms and manifestations.

In view of the immense Black Lives Matter mobilisation in reaction to the murder of George Floyd and the comparatively meagre societal reaction to the attack in Hanau, the question arises: How come our society does not show the same empathy and solidarity towards its own fellow citizens with Kurdish, Turkish, Bulgarian, Bosnian, Afghan migrant backgrounds or members of the Roma and Sinti?

How limited is our postcolonial discourse if we are unable to address the racist exploitation of those who repair our cars, deliver our parcels or harvest our asparagus?

It’s all a sham. Shake it off like a biometric photograph. Shake off that false consciousness. The Black Diaspora is a transatlantic lie invented by music curators and journalists. Embrace this nuanced return to structures and superstructures, to articulations and historical constellations as analytical tools.

Allow me to dampen your expectations. This is not the sound of decolonisation. This is no compilation of BLM protest songs. This is no celebration of Black emancipatory struggles. You will not be able to play this at your hip post-pandemic house party. This will not go down well with your woke friends. This is music for the square in the room. For that reluctant BAME/Person of Color repelled by your fetishisation of the African-American experience.

This is music for gated communities. This is Fehler Kuti singing of class relations, not of identities and positionalities. This is Fehler Kuti resisting.

Listen to these songs of infrastructure and appraisal of the welfare state. Join me in mourning the broken promises of prosperity for all. Send that “Ausländer“ of your mind to heaven. Colonialism fucked you up. Platform Capitalism is keeping you in chains. Are we to unionise all human and non-human workers at Amazon? Will modernity always have that "forever nigger“? What about those dispossessed field hands harvesting your asparagus?

All is lost. The system is rigged. Because all histories, gestures and identities have been absorbed into this late capitalist apparatus we call diversity. It can integrate anything and anyone. It made me. It is the price of the ticket. And it is unable to challenge its own premise of an atomised society. As if you and I had so little in common.

They will try and help you. They will build a museum for your history and a scholarship program for your future. I warn you. Don‘t let them give you a name. Resist appellation. Don’t get that German passport. Don‘t eat asparagus.

Fehler Kuti, Spring 2021

All songs by Julian Warner. Produced by Markus Acher and Tobias Siegert.

Markus Acher – drums, percussion, backing vocals Micha Acher – sousaphone, trumpet Cico Beck – synthesizer Jenny Bohn – backing vocals Pacifico Boy – vocals Katja Kobolt – spoken word Theresa Loibl – bass clarinet, backing vocals Sascha Schwegeler – steeldrum, kalimba, percussion, backing vocals Tobias Siegert – bass, synthesizers, percussion, backing vocals Julian Warner – piano, memotron, vocals

recorded and mixed by Tobias Siegert at Minga Records, july – december 2020 mastered by Moritz Illner at Duophonic

Cover art and photography by Andreas Neumeister. Layout by Sascha Schwegeler.

Fehler Kuti “Professional People” is part of the same multiverse as “The History of the Federal Republic of Germany as told by Fehler Kuti und die Polizei”. A production by Julian Warner. In cooperation with Münchner Kammerspiele. Funded by the Department of Arts and Culture of the City of Munich. Released by Alien Transistor.

Not Waving renders his pop soul on a definitive album opus ‘How To Leave Your Body’, starcrossed with guest appearances by Jim O’Rourke, Jonnine Standish, Marie Davidson, Spivak and Mark
Lanegan
An escapist parable for the times, Alessio Natalizia marks a career high with his most sensitive production and songwriting illuminated by a coterie of notable collaborators. Its 11 songs deal with the necessity of friendship, the fragility of loss and spiritual transcendence via a spectrum of strategies that ultimately arrive at a mutual conclusion: love is the message. It packs sample amounts of nostalgia into a fantasy sequence of elegiac pop, skewed rave and midnight lullabies that fine-tune over 20 years of devotion to his craft, perfectly matching experimental restlessness with enduring pop appeal.
Perhaps unavoidably, circumstances had a hand in the creation of ‘How To Leave Your Body’, forcing Natalizia to work with collaborators remotely. Yet the strength of his bonds bleeds through in the album’s handful of poignant vocal pieces, none more so than the hushed intimacy of Marie Davidson on the bewitching downbeat trance hymn ‘Hold On’, but also in the bruised blush of ‘My Sway’ featuring Jonnine’s spine-tracing lilt over hovering organ and dembow bumps, while the hook-up with Mark Lanegan once again yields bittersweet fruit on ‘Last Time Leaving Home Part 2’, with gravelly blues vox diffused into detuned, miasmic cello that really tugs.
Effortless and made for rinsing, the whole album is testament to the humility and pathos of Natalizia’s oeuvre, which has gotten better with age. It plays out like a lovingly crafted mixtape, decanting all original material with a classic cadence and fleeting play of styles, from aerial jazz notes in ‘You Are Always Younger Than The Future’, to the gnawing club grind of ‘Define Normal’, a noisily gurning ‘Self-Portrait’, and the lushly resolved admittance of ‘My Best Is Good Enough.’
Comparisons don’t really work with this one, it’s just Not Waving.

• With more than 60 MILLION STREAMS across his catalogue listened to by fans all around the world, ‘…TO BE CONTINUED’
is the best ‘greatest hits’ album that you’ve never heard!
• This 12-track Limited Edition Vinyl LP collection, with a brand new floorfiller, features his most popular tracks and fans’
favourites, and this is his first Physical release album to celebrate, LE FLEX has signed 500 prints for this Limited Edition.
• Although LE FLEX clearly states that “I just make Pop music”, his 6 EPs and 6 Studio albums are nothing short of serious and
brilliantly creative blends of nudisco, poolside vibes and slow-jams but retaining the essence of his familiar ‘80s
synthpop/dance-based infusions. The accompanying videos are purely tongue-in-cheek, with more than a smattering of
self-deprecation, as you will see on his dedicated YouTube channel.
• Judging by the comments from long-established fans and music lovers from South America to Australia, via the UK, through
Europe and the Far East, discovering LE FLEX for the first time, they are quick to state that his vocal inflections share more
than a passing resemblance to George Michael, an icon about whom LE FLEX modestly says, “I’m not fit to shine his shoes”.
• LE FLEX is a renowned Producer with his popularity rising, having worked with Jaki Graham, Lemar and Ben Macklin and
was commissioned to produce new Donna Summer remixes in 2020.
• Released on heavyweight 180g Clear Vinyl, if you fancy summery escapism, there aren’t many better ways than doing so
than with LE FLEX

Following the 70s Peruvian cumbia compilation by Ranil last year, Analog Africa returns to Latin America to highlight the work of one of Perú’s undisputed masters of the electric guitar: Manzanita. This 13th release in the Limited Dance Edition Series includes 14 mostly instrumental compositions of electrifying Peruvian cumbia and guaracha. Manzanita's unique guitar lines rest on confident foundations that shifts gears effortlessly. Limited Edition LP in Gatefold Cover pressed on 180g high quality virgin vinyl

"I was in Lima, hanging out with collector-extraordinaire Victor Zela, who had spent the previous few years pouring his passion for Peruvian Cumbia into the blog „la cumbia de mis viejos“, a trove of incredible music. But after the birth of his first child, his priorities shifted and he decided to part with some of his rarest LPs. I was one of the lucky few given an early chance to examine his treasures, and when I picked up the album Manzaneando com Manzanita, Victor said: “Take it! its one of the best LPs ever recorded in Perú … easily in the top five”. That was all the encouragement I needed … two years later many of the songs from that masterpiece have made it onto Manzanita y su Conjunto, a compilation of electrifying Cumbia sides from Manzanita’s golden era.

Berardo Hernández – better known as Manzanita – first surfaced during the psychedelic Cumbia craze. At the head of the scene were the magnificent Los Destellos, whose leader, Enrique Delgado, was such a six-string wizard that other guitarists found it impossible to escape his shadow. But when Manzanita arrived, his electric criollo style sent shockwaves through Lima’s music scene and posed a serious threat to Delgado’s dominance as king of the Peruvian guitar.

Manzanita had come to Lima from the coastal city of Trujillo, five hundred miles up the coast – a place where Spanish, African and indigenous populations had been living and making music together for centuries – and came of age at a time when the first wave of psychedelic rock from the US and UK was starting to sweep the airwaves. But the sounds of Cream and Hendrix disappeared from the radio just as quickly in 1968 when Juan Velasco seized control of the country in a military coup. The new regime, which favoured local traditions over cultural ‘imports’ from the north, was a blessing in disguise for the Peruvian music scene.

Record labels flourished as new bands, raised on a hybrid diet of electric guitars and Cuban rhythms, rushed in to fill the vacuum created by the lack of imported rock. A new genre, known as Peruvian cumbia, was born and Manzanita quickly became one of its most original voices.

Starting in 1969, Manzanita y su Conjunto released a steady stream of singles that used Cuban guaracha rhythms as the foundation for dazzling electric guitar lines. After countless 45s and several years on the touring circuit, the band signed to Virrey, an important Peruvian label, and recorded two LPs acknowledged as masterpieces among aficionados of tropical music. Most of the songs on Analog Africa’s new compilation Manzanita y su Conjunto are drawn from those legendary sessions of 1973 and 74.

Although he scored a few more hits in the later 70s, his dissatisfaction with the music industry caused him to withdraw from the scene for several years; and when he finally retired for good, the golden age of Peruvian cumbia was a distant memory. But when Manzanita was at the top of his game he had few equals. Victor Zela was right: this is some of the best music ever recorded in Perú."

A GROOVY SELECTION IN THREE ORIGINAL VINYLS TO DISCOVER THE GOLD NUGGETS OF FUNK, SOUL & HIP-HOP ! Selection by the journalist Olivier Cachin and illustrations by the artist LAZOO.

Wir haben gehört, dass Post-Punk es bis auf die Frühlingsseiten der Sunday Times geschafft hat. Oh, bleibt da dran - Desperate Journalist wüten schon seit gefühlten Äonen mit ihrer melodramatischen Mischung aus traumatisierten Gitarren und kunstvoll gebrochenem Gesang gegen den Konzern-Apparat. Sechs Jahre sind vergangen seit dem Erscheinen des teuflischen "Desperate Journalist"-Debuts in 2015. Das stürmische zweite Album "Grow Up" erschien 2017, während 2019 das stellare "The Search For The Miraculous" weit und breit zu hören war. "Maximum Sorrow!", das komplett in Crouch End inmitten der Covid-Pandemie aufgenommen wurde, strotzt nur so vor Alt-Rock-Muskeln, die in sieben Jahren unermüdlicher Auftritte und Veröffentlichungen aufgebaut wurden, wie ein wilder Panther auf der Pirsch. Angetrieben von Simon Drowners ohrwurmverdächtiger Bassline zeigt sich das Quartett schon beider Lead-Single "Fault" in makellos brutaler Form, mit Banshee-Heulen und selbstzerfleischenden Texten von Sängerin Jo Bevan: "And those teenage hangups are hard to beat / When your closet is piled up with defeat", schnauzt sie an einer besonders stacheligen Stelle, während ihr Gitarrist Rob Hardy und Schlagzeuger Caz Hellbent nur noch feuriges Öl in die akustischen Flammen gießen können. Wie ein Großteil des restlichen Albums ist "Fault" sowohl verspielt als auch voll mit Wut. Das sind Desperate Journalist in hyperdynamischer Form, superglatt, aber nie krankhaft glatt; ambitioniert und expansiv, aber immer noch selbstverliebt und durch und durch DIY. Es gibt traditionelle verzweifelte Reisen in das Herz der Dunkelheit - siehe die doomig-prägnanten Desintegrationen von "Armageddon". Und es gibt brillant beleuchtete Lichtblicke: die ohnmächtige Eleganz von "Utopia", die sardonische, melodieverliebte Frechheit von "Personality Girlfriend", die Ruhe von "Formaldehyde", ein tragisches Finale auf jedem anderen Album - hier als Opener. Ein Lob auch für die raumgreifenden, epischen Chorschübe von "Everything You Wanted" und die spektakulär bittersüßen Sehnsüchte von "What You're Scared Of", die mit verstreuten Zuckerwürfeln bestückt sind.

In Switzerland, the Ellis Mano Band are not unlike the Wrecking Crew or
the Funk Brothers.
They are top-flight studio musicians and elites in the Swiss music scene. Although they spent years making music with other artists, the band members
never got much time to make music of their own until now.
“We chose the album title “Ambedo” because it reflects the state of the process of recording an album,” says guitarist Edis Mano. “Ambedo” refers to the
tendency both to reflect and to absorb. Musicians like us do it all the time,
especially when we compose new songs and create a new album.”
The first single “Keep It Simple” refers to the one subject on the planet that
certainly is not simple at all... love.”

Big Country’s sixth studio album, ‘The Buffalo Skinners’ was originally released in 1993. The self-produced, impassioned explosion of rock roundly delivers on pulling this band's working-class masculinity, love of full-throated guitar and sense of political and social outrage together in one rousing, melodic, lyrical onslaught.
Featuring the singles ‘Alone’ and ‘Ships’, along with fan favorites ‘What Are You Working For’ and “We’re Not In Kansas”, these relying on a heavier guitar sound than their previous album, the pace rarely lets up throughout, taking in the anthemic `The One I Love' and the outraged “The Selling of America” before it all ends on the angry, science-gone-wrong, cloak and dagger horror tale of “Chester's Farm”.
The original vinyl version of the album only had a limited pressing and was only one 1 vinyl. This new deluxe version has been split across 2 vinyl for optimum sound quality and also features some b-sides and rare tracks on side 4.
The package is a 6mm spine gatefold sleeve and 2x 180gm Heavyweight Black Vinyl with sleeve notes written by guitarist Bruce Watson.

Made during summer 2020, Loraine James’ second Hyperdub album, ‘Reflection’, is a turbulent expression of inner-space, laid out in unflinching honesty, offering gentle empathy and bitter-sweet hope. ‘Reflection’ further develops a unique pop sensibility realised on last year’s ‘Nothing EP’, while tones of Drill and R&B seep through into this collection too. In contrast to the brash splashes of 2019’s ‘For You And I’ LP and the grimey anger of ‘Nothing’, ‘Reflection’ is pared-down and confident, taking the listener through how last year felt as a young black queer woman in a world that has suddenly stopped moving, the arc of the album peppered with Loraine's diaristic confessions. Starting positively with the gentle pop-trap of ‘Built To Last’ ft Xzavier Stone, into the bumpy instrumental of ‘Let's Go’, the album switches tone with ‘Simple Stuff’, followed by regular collaborator Le3 bLACK amplifying Loraine's vulnerability on the downcast drill of ‘Black Ting’, then ‘Insecure Behaviour And Fuckery’ is a techno glide which pairs Nova's confrontational plea for respect, delivered in monotone autotune, against deep Drexciyan chords. With Baths on vocals, the weightlessness of ‘On The Lake Outside’ soothes numb feelings, and Eden Samara explores the shadow world of anxious dreams on the airy R&B of ‘Running Like That’. Closing track ‘We're Building Something New’ with Manchester rapper Iceboy Violet brings the album together, confidently suggesting a new world is in reach. ‘Reflection’ is a brave step forward for a unique and creative 21st century musician.

The latest collection by Cascadian resident loscil aka Scott Morgan is a stunning meditation on light, shade, and decay, sourced from a single three-minute composition performed by a 22-piece string orchestra in Budapest.
The subsequent recording was lathe-cut on to a 7-inch, then “scratched and abused to add texture and color,” from which the entirety of Clara was sampled, shape-shifted, and sculpted. Despite their limited palette, the compositions summon a sense of the infinite, swelling and swimming through luminous depths. Certain tracks percolate over narcoleptic metronomes while others slowdive in shimmering shadowplay, sounding at times like some noir music of the spheres.
Although Morgan's compositional premise for Clara was quite defined, the resultant work is wonderfully opaque and spatial, equal parts lush and lurking, traced in fine-grained gradients and radiant silences. The album's title comes from the Latin for ‘bright': a fitting muse for this masterpiece of celestial electric currents and interstitial ether, where “shadows are amplified and bright spots dimmed.”

'The inventive record producer and vocalist Lee 'Scratch' Perry was involved in every musical shift of note in his native Jamaica, from the rhythm and blues that pre-dated the arrival of ska in the early 1960s through the slower and more spacious rocksteady style that appeared middecade and, of course, the frenetic sound of reggae, which he helped to birth as an independent producer during the late 1960s. Operating as 'The Upsetter' from his base in a downtown Kingston record shop, Perry found his greatest success with instrumental music during this phase, the organ and saxophone re-castings of standard vocal issues proving exceptionally popular overseas.

'Scratch The Upsetter Again surfaced early in 1970 as a largely instrumental set, but with dreamy reverb a hefty feature and keyboards veering away from standard organ motifs. Dave Barker, who was soon to hit the pop charts as part of Dave & Ansel Collins, tackles The Shirelles' 'Will You Still Love Me' in soul reggae mode, only for Perry to shift things towards the emerging dub spectrum with 'Take One.'

'As Perry inched ever closer to the dub experimentation he would turn into an art form at his own Black Ark studio later in the decade, Scratch The Upsetter Again shows him moving away from the standard approaches of his competitors in his quest to test the very limits of recorded sound. And reggae was all the richer for it.'
—David Katz (excerpt from the liner notes)

Jamaican reggae duo Dave and Ansel Collins recorded and released their reggae debut album Double Barrel in 1971. The single “Double Barrel” topped the UK and Jamaican charts and the follow-up “Monkey Spanner” also enjoyed international success. “Double Barrel” was sampled by hip hop artist Special Ed and two of Dave Barker’s introductory exclamations (“Don’t watch that, watch this!” from “Funky Funky Reggae” and “This is the heavy, heavy monster sound!” from “Monkey Spanner”) were quoted by vocalist Chas Smash, in the introduction to the Madness single, “One Step Beyond”. All of the songs on the album were written and produced by Jamaican heavyweight Winston Riley and it was the first record that legendary drummer and percussionist Sly Dunbar played on. Shortly after the Double Barrel release Dave and Ansel split-up.

The 50th anniversary edition of Double Barrel is available as a limited edition of 750 individually numbered copies on orange coloured vinyl.

Re-mastering by: Ray Staff at Air Mastering, Lyndhurst Hall, London

Morgan was one of the most active artists in the Los Angeles underground jazz scene, and a member of the late great Horace Tapscott‘s artist collective Union of God’s Musicians and Artists Ascension (UGMAA). He performed alongside Tapscott, and other Nimbus recording artists like Jesse Sharps, who he introduced to Tapscott. He also performed with Arthur Blythe, Gary Bartz, Azar Lawrence, as well as soul icons Willie Hutch (notably on the Foxy Brown soundtrack) and Rufus & Chaka Khan. Most recently he contributed to Carlos Niño’s 2016 album Flutes, Echoes, It’s All Happening!, and was a part of Niño and vocalist Dwight Trible’s soul-jazz group Build An Ark (which also featured Tribe’s Phil Ranelin).

Journey Into Nigritia was Morgan’s debut as a leader, and the first of three recordings he released for Nimbus West. The album has a strong post-Coltrane spiritual feel, with some modal-based melodies, and some fiery solos from saxophonist Dadisi Komolafe. The record also features a solid rhythm section featuring bassist Jeff Littleton and drummer Fritz Wise.

Review by T J Gorton

At the dawn of the Reagan years, LA jazz pianist Nate Morgan recorded his first album for Nimbus West. Journey Into Nigritia portrays an artist marked by the icons of his day, and striving for reinvention. Although he came from a solid jazz background, coming up through the Pan Afrikan People's Arkestra, Morgan found more exciting work with pop bands in the seventies, including glory years with Rufus w/Chaka Khan. On Journey into Nigritia, Morgan re-embraces jazz. Included in the band are Jeff Littleton on bass, Fritz Wise on drums, and Dadisi Komolafe on alto sax.

The collection opens with the Trane-ish Mrafu. Komolafe blasts off in short order, and while the modal chording recalls Tyner, Morgan shows flashes of the nimble loquacious gift that define him. While Alice Coltrane incense perfumes "Morning Prayer, Morgan's devotional sincerity and personnel expression triumph.

Suitably complex with yearning minors, Mother features the trio performing a memorable composition. Littleton's deep-note sustain contrasts Wise's shimmering cymbals, while Morgan tells heart-wrenching truth. With a somewhat solemn theme, He Left Us a Song regularly bursts through into straight-ahead fast break sprints up and down the court. The unexpected "Study in C.T. offers an homage to Cecil Taylor and Morgan's musical roots with free improvisations on a dense and spiky theme. The exhilarating result has Morgan exploring his own way, with a winking slinging of jagged bass chords halfway through.

While a quarter century's experience has nurtured Morgan's prodigious gifts beyond this ambitious debut, Journey Into Nigritia offers enjoyable insights into his artistic evolution, while adding another precious title to the discography of one of the most woefully under-recorded greats of our time.

Re-mastering by: Cicely Baston at Alchemy/Air Mastering, London

Electric blues guitarist Melvin Taylor had been sporadically recording solo albums for 20 years when Dirty Pool arrived — and was somehow just beginning to find fame. Already a hit in Europe, it had taken a steady run of performing in Chicago’s famed blues clubs to slowly earn Taylor a well-deserved reputation as an equal talent among the giants before him, such as Otis Rush, Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

While early records like Melvin Taylor Plays the Blues For You show off an equally amazing jazz side, Taylor traded away his Wes Montgomery-inspired runs for more Luther Allison/Jimi Hendrix attacks with the formation of the trio Melvin Taylor and the Slack Band in the mid ’90’s.

The title song of the second album by that outfit, “Dirty Pool,” is actually more the balls-to-the-wall, no-compromise, hard-rockin’ electric Texas blues of Vaughan and Johnny Winter than the sweet Chicago soul of Buddy Guy.

Indeed, three tracks on this 1997 release, including “Dirty Pool,” were SRV tunes. Other standards, like “Kansas City” and “Floodin’ in California” also have more of a Lone Star State approach to them. But the Jackson, Miss.-born Taylor’s guitar is cleaner than his forebears and technically, he even surpasses them, yet the anger and sorrow of the blues is readily evident in his playing.

This rare combination of qualities really comes out in a slow blues tune like his solo in “Dirty Pool,” which after repeated listens, still makes me head shake in disbelief when I hear it.

“Too Sorry” is a good example of how well Taylor fares when he treads in Jimi Hendrix territory, whereas his rhythm work is the best I’ve heard from a lead guitarist since Vaughan; listen to “I Ain’t Superstitious,” “Born Under A Bad Sign” and the funky “Telephone Song” for your proof.

It also helps that Taylor’s drummer James Knowles is well in synch with him, while Ethan Farmer completely owns the low end of the sound. Farmer’s peppering bass lines in and “Floodin’ in California” is the textbook way electric blues bass should be. Overall, a tight little band.

Taylor’s vocals certainly won’t draw any comparisons to the Wide-Brimmed–Hatted One but he holds his own just fine until it’s cuttin’ time. This is right at the top of my list of best blues guitar playing on record over the last couple of decades. If you decide to give this one a listen, prepare to be blown away.

Nimbus West spirit jazz essential: the Creative Arts Ensemble's classic debut One Step Out. One of the most sought after and highly-regarded titles to have appeared on Tom Albach's celebrated Nimbus West imprint, One Step Out is a timeless work of spiritualized jazz. A true gem from the Los Angeles jazz underground, the album was pianist and composer Kaeef Ruzadun Ali's first recording as leader of the Creative Arts Ensemble, the only large ensemble group that emerged directly from Horace Tapscott's legendary Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra community jazz group. A Los Angeles native, Kaeef was introduced to the Tapscott circle in the late 1970s. His first experience of the Arkestra's ethos was through PAPA tenorist Michael Session, who took him to the famous "Great House" at 2412 South Western Ave., LA -- a large mansion house which members of the Arkestra had taken over as a space for communal living. Life in the Great House was a continuous stream of music, dance and community events. "When I walked in there," recalled Kaeef, "it was like this whole rush came over me, just from going in the front door -- It was like a very, very warm feeling of love. I went and I came out with 'Flashback Of Time', and that was my first arrangement." Kaeef quickly became a significant contributor of compositions to the Arkestra's songbook -- his piece "New Horizon" would be recorded by Horace Tapscott for the latter's Tapscott Sessions series. But "Flashback Of Time" would eventually appear on One Step Out, played by the new group he had put together from stalwart Arkestra members. Inspired by both Tapscott's example and by the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Kaeef had wanted to follow their lead by assembling a larger unit. Featuring seasoned Arkestra regulars including reedsman Dadisi Komolafe, drummer Woody "Sonship" Theus and altoist Gary Bias, with veterans Henry "The Skipper" Franklin on bass and George Bohannon on trombone, One Step Out is a key document of the Los Angeles radical jazz underground. Featuring the sanctified vocals of Kaeef's sister, B. J. Crowley, the album is a tour de force of spiritually energized independent jazz music.

Re-mastering by: Ray Staff at Air Mastering, Lyndhurst Hall, London




Owning both this disc and Live at Slugs', Volume 1 is essential for hardcore Jazz fans. Part two of the Slugs' date is just as impressive and again feature three originals all penned by the group. Here we get a better example of Tolliver's compositional work with the touching Coltrane tribute Our Second Father. Again Tolliver's trumpet is simply stunning. The rhythm section of Cecil McBee and Jimmy Hopps also deserve mention as these two really drive the quartet along in a similar fashion to Garrison and Jones did with Coltrane. The McBee original Wilpan's also highlights the strength of McBee's writing and is probably the pick of the tunes here.

Seit langem fragen Leute, ob sie diese Alben erstehen könnten und bisher lautete die Antwort: Nein. Bisher! Wir sind begeistert, die Re-Issues dieser vier unglaublichen Alben mit verbessertem Artwork bekannt zu geben. Alle Alben wurden remastered und ist zum ersten Mal überhaupt auf Englisch erhältlich (eine englische CD-Version wird später auch noch erscheinen). Als die ursprünglichen Versionen veröffentlicht wurden, wurden die meisten Exemplare in Frankreich verkauft. Aber Yann wurde, nicht zuletzt durch den Soundtrack von ,Die fabelhafte Welt der Amelie auf der ganzen Welt bekannt. Für sein internationales Publikum hat er nun höchstpersönlich seine Titel mit größter Sorgfalt ins Englische übersetzt, um sicher zu stellen, dass die Originalinhalte beibehalten bleiben. Im Januar folgen die nächsten beiden Alben. "Dies ist die Synthese aus klassischem Können, postmoderner Kreativität und zugkräftiger Vorstellungskraft. YANN TIERSEN hat ein Album geschaffen, das zwei Bewegungen vereint, denn die beiden Kompositionen wurden ursprünglich für zwei Theaterstücke - "Freaks" (nach dem Film von Tod Browning) und "Le Tambourin de Soie" (nach einem Stück von Yukio Mishima - komponiert. Das Werk ist voller neuer Gedanken; ein zukünftiger Klassiker den man unter gar keinen Umständen verpassen sollte." - La Griffe, 1995

The legendary soundman and record producer, Lloyd Coxsone, began his career in the 1960’s soon after arriving from Jamaica. He was one of the first soundmen to play at West End clubs where a generation of British pop stars like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones first heard music from Jamaica. Sir Coxsone sound then dominated the seventies, when Bob Marley & Dennis Brown were among his greatest allies, as heard on unforgettable dub-plates from that era.



He formed the Tribesman Label and issued King of the Dub Rock before recording the likes of Fredlocks, Willy Stepper & Jimmy Lindsay. King of the Dub Rock 1 & 2 are recognized as reggae classics. They not only feature Lloydie’s own productions but also riddims by Jamaican producer Gussie Clarke and heavyweight dubs by mix master Scientist. On King of the Dub Rock 3, Lloydie teams up with Jahsolid Rock Music, who’s albums with Brinsley Forde, Apple Gabriel and Earl 16 were regularly heard on Sir Coxsone playlists. This album features exclusive dub mixes and vocal tracks from these artists plus brand new tunes by Mutabaruka, Chezidek, Micah Shemaiah, Var & Ras Teo.



King of the Dub Rock 3 is an essential companion for all Coxsone fans wanting to complete the trilogy. It delivers such a high standard of musical quality that it promises to be a modern day classic!

I attended a trade fair in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In this show, we met producers, label and festival managers. It is a privileged moment when it is possible to learn about new trends, new musical forms, emerging groups. The timing of the meal is undoubtedly the most important. We take the time to introduce ourselves and discover each other. When my turn arrived, I took out my little map to locate the town of Sète on the map of France. There, an American promoter exclaimed "Yeah! You live in this beautiful city. Where there is this incredible music. ” I admit that at the time I didn’t quite understand what he meant but flattered by his remark I told him yes. Later, I realized that he was talking about gypsy music that made the whole world dream.



When my friend shared this anecdote to me, it resonated deeply with me. Indeed, for us, people of the south of France, this was nothing exceptional. Indeed, every day you could meet in the street a gypsy musician performing a rumba, another declaiming a fandango or another who liked to paraphrase the maestro Django. It is part of our daily environment, but it is indeed a peculiarity of this region. The territory of the Mediterranean arc, from Arles to Perpignan, is indeed the cradle of gypsy music in France. In addition, we must underline the major influence of the Gypsy artists of Catalonia in the development of these different artistic forms. Through weddings and family reunions, the repertoires have shifted to be reinterpreted according to the identities specific to each and the territories of residence.



With this new collection, we wanted to show, to hear all the musical richness of Gypsy and Manouche artists populating the territory. From appropriation to recreation, they never stop bringing this music to life, re-enchanting it and offering it a resolutely modern reading, open to the world. In this first opus, devoted to the guitar, we will take the routes of latin music, flamenco or jazz alongside renowned artists and young talents. With "The sound of guitars", it is a first door open to the gypsy music of the Mediterranean Arc, that we will discover gradually through the "Mediteranean Gypsies roads" collection.

Los Angeles based Alt-rock quartet THE INTERRUPTERS are releasing their first-ever live album "Live In Tokyo!" with a set list that captures the live power that made them one of the busiest touring bands in the world, with fan favorite songs from each of the bands three albums including hit tracks such as "She's Kerosene," "Gave You Everything," "Take Back The Power" and "Bad Guy." Their greatest hits performed in the greatest way you can see THE INTERRUPTERS: LIVE! The past three years have been pivotal for THE INTERRUPTERS. The band toured the world in support of their Fight the Good Fight (2018) album, including their first ever tour stop in Japan, where they captured this energetic live performance for their first live album "Live In Tokyo!" This recording captures the band that is known for their powerful live performances which features the band's most popular tracks from their three Hellcat Records albums. Not to mention, an onslaught of successful touring worldwide including many sold out headlining dates as well as appearances at Download Festival, Slam Dunk and support runs with Green Day and Rancid throughout Europe and the UK. The band shows no signs of slowing down and have recently announced tour dates next year with the Dropkick Murphys across Europe and the UK.

Hong Kong based hypno-tropicalia duo Blood Wine or Honey are set to release their second album 'DTx2' on 30th June 2021. Made up of seasoned multi-instrumentalists James Banbury (synths, bass, percussion, cello) and Joseph von Hess (vocals, clarinet, sax, percussion), they create a heaving, heady brew of brazen sax themes, lo-fi/hi-tech electronics, densely layered cello inflections and motorik drums.

These explorations start with the dance-floor then go above and beyond, taking notes from post-punk and tropical polyrhythms, always anchored by the bass weight of the sound system. Their distinctive sound is created in the industrial warehouses and hidden rural settlements of Hong Kong, surrounded by the low-end throb of heavy machinery, the lingering scent of hand sanitiser and the humidity of the South China Sea.

Written and recorded during 2020-21, new album 'DTx2' looks ahead to an uncertain future, drawing deep on their experiences and influences and welcoming a host of co-conspirators.

Jean Daval, aka Preservation (credits include Yasiin Bey fka Mos Def, MF Doom, RZA, GZA, Raekwon, KRS-One, Aesop Rock), provided truffle-hunted beats, synths and basses, which, when put through the BWoH mangle, emerged as 'Messenger'.

Superstar and old friend of the band KT Tunstall came to work with BWoH after they contributed a DJ mix for her lockdown 'KTRave' on Instagram. 'Attraction' was the result. Wonky bass, found-bounce beats and Buddy Rich drums smashed out by Tim Weller (Marc Almond, Future Sound of London, Goldfrapp, The Chemical Brothers, David Axelrod) resulted in a bonkers production with passionate vocals and layers of harmony.

'I Shall Rush Out As I Am' is a collaboration with legendary pop provocateur Paul Morley and Janice Lau of Hong Kong band David Boring. The track is based on the words and the spirit of sci-fi writer, satirist, literary critic and radical feminist Joanna Russ and took shape quickly, with tinges of A Certain Ratio and memories of Suicide, provoking Janice to an authentic scream-of-consciousness delivery.

Multi-talented London singer, musician and composer Kamal (Neighbourhood Recordings) took time away from being the Next Big Thing to transform 'Testing Time' with funk-edged keys. A key figure in the extraordinary '90s Hong Kong music scene, Zoë Brewster contributed vocals.

Roughly divided, the album's first set of songs make relatively short statements, punchily self-contained with common threads. The final four tracks, Testing Time, Embers, Embrasure

and Echt Embrace disperse into flights of mantric fantasy, with quicksand time-signature shifts and key-changes emerging into a more introspective zone with a fervent pulse, a shift in energy: stamina over speed.

Apparel Wax is back with the 9th gem of its catalogue, a stunning six track EP out worldwide on the 7th of June 2021. The vinyl faced hero always wants to grow, therefore is on a constant quest for the evolution of its music and this record proves it once again being it a superb array of assorted sounds. A1 kicks it off in style with its Chicagoan touch taking over after a smooth intro: the mellow pad chords laying down the foundation of the arrangement, the soft strings and the melodious piano notes make it a perfect start. A2 opens with a steady kick and a silky bassline murmuring throughout the whole track while some more keys create a Deep dynamic beat. To end side A here's A3 with its far-out, spacey atmosphere and its Deep chords backed by an energetic rhythm section. Side B of our vinyl is about class: B1 is a nothing short of chic with its sampled vocals and its elegant pads. B2 is more Deep with its evolving piano melody, its balanced and groovy drums and some masterly crafted tiny vocal samples. B3 wraps up the record with a Jungle beat sprinkled with Jazz, R&B and Soul. APLWAX009 is a tenacious and cohesive work, yet disseminated by inspirational and diverse sounds which will be Wax's touch forevermore. A perfect EP to start the warmest season with the hope of being able to enjoy the outdoors without restrictions.

Our second record from Sweden's Sune is a proper full-length. Ten tracks, forty- five minutes—classic LP!

And it's arranged as such, too; it tells a story through tightly-arranged chapters. Early on in the journey, they're bouncy and whimsically animated, pillowy white clouds slowly drifting across an azure sky. As we get more invested, the tempo rises and the warm, squishy house beats feel as though they can't always quite keep up. A delight. To conclude the A-side, Sune brings a twinkly ballad, a late- night Joe Jackson piano serenade with instrumental hip-hop drums keeping everything in place.

The other side only wants to party; it begins with a wiggly bass lick that's got a wicked charm to it, and continues to explore the unusual jazz-club-meets- sweaty-warehouse space that Sune's compositions are so often possessed with. The B concludes as the A did, with a lilting, hopeful, and heartfelt send-off. Everything is fine? Everything is fine.
Everything is fine.