Buscar:sam harris

Critically allaimed debut full-length available for the first time on vinyl. First pressing of 3,000 on “pear” vinyl. Originally released in 2006 on Absolutely Kosher Records, Shut Up I Am Dreaming is the first full-band effort from Montreal’s Sunset Rubdown, a project previously reserved for the solo experiments of Wolf Parade’s Spencer Krug. Alongside Michael Doerksen (guitar), Jordan Robson-Cramer (drums, keys, guitar), and Camilla Wynne-Ingr (keys, percussion, vocals), Krug and his new band recorded the songs in just five days with the help of engineers Jace Lasek and Dave Smith at Breakglass Studios. Though met with praise by fans and critics alike, placing 15th on Pitchfork’s Top 50 Albums of 2006, Shut Up I Am Dreaming was never made available on LP. Now, fifteen years later, Krug is having the album pressed to vinyl via his own tiny record label, Pronounced Kroog. Remastered for vinyl at Greymarket Mastering by Harris Newman (the same engineer who mastered the original), and with original cover art by Matt Moroz reformatted for LP jacket, this first-ever pressing of a now cult classic will be available this winter. After a decade and a half of earnest inquiries, Sunset Rubdown fans are finally able to add Shut Up I Am Dreaming to their record collections. About time!

"Multi-platinum-selling rock band X Ambassadors have released their third studio album The Beautiful Liar. On The Beautiful Liar, X Ambassadors pay homage to the supernatural radio dramas and books-on-tape brothers Sam Nelson Harris and Casey Harris listened to as kids – sharing a selection of songs that together tell the tale of a blind teenage girl discovering her long-dormant superpowers.
X Ambassadors augmented the album’s storytelling component by weaving in a series of interludes that propel its wildly original plot forward. Featuring previously released singles ‘Adrenaline’, ‘Okay’, and ‘My Own Monster’, The Beautiful Liar is available now on a 1LP release."

"Multi-platinum-selling rock band X Ambassadors have released their third studio album The Beautiful Liar. On The Beautiful Liar, X Ambassadors pay homage to the supernatural radio dramas and books-on-tape brothers Sam Nelson Harris and Casey Harris listened to as kids – sharing a selection of songs that together tell the tale of a blind teenage girl discovering her long-dormant superpowers.
X Ambassadors augmented the album’s storytelling component by weaving in a series of interludes that propel its wildly original plot forward. Featuring previously released singles ‘Adrenaline’, ‘Okay’, and ‘My Own Monster’, The Beautiful Liar is available now on a 1LP release."

Grey Marbled Vinyl

But Only After You Have Suffered is a densely layered and deeply personal new work from multidisciplinary artist, composer, percussionist & producer Jamire Williams. Conceived as a spiritual, autobiographical artistic statement, Jamire applies sound collage practice to modern jazz composition, beat production, MC/vocalist features, and his uniquely impressionistic drumming style - making an album as akin to minimalist painting as an art-house film soundtrack or a classic hip-hop mixtape. A "self-reflective, almost testimonial work" that swiftly cycles across a vast spectrum of styles, it's the culmination of his five-year musical journey to the outer reaches of his own sound. It's the album he has always wanted to make.

Home to Cuca Records and hundreds of Nashville-fantasizing pluckers and singers, Wisconsin’s Driftless region was a hotbed of country music in the 1960s. Influenced by old-timey ethnic songs, Bakersfield outlaws, countrypolitan rainbows, and the lonesome twang of every rural route roadhouse, these 17 Driftless Dreamers washed up at Jim Kirchstein’s Sauk City record plant with little more than $100 and a longing. Collected here are the fruits of Cuca’s documentary approach to record making, capturing the voices and stories of a culture and glacier in abatement.

But Only After You Have Suffered is a densely layered and deeply personal new work from multidisciplinary artist, composer, percussionist & producer Jamire Williams. Conceived as a spiritual, autobiographical artistic statement, Jamire applies sound collage practice to modern jazz composition, beat production, MC/vocalist features, and his uniquely impressionistic drumming style - making an album as akin to minimalist painting as an art-house film soundtrack or a classic hip-hop mixtape. A "self-reflective, almost testimonial work" that swiftly cycles across a vast spectrum of styles, it's the culmination of his five-year musical journey to the outer reaches of his own sound. It's the album he has always wanted to make.

To celebrate Billy Preston’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in October 2021 Apple Records and Universal Music Catalogue will be making Billy’s highly regarded 1970 album ‘Encouraging Words’ available on vinyl for a limited period. First released in the UK on 11 September 1970 the album was co-produced by Billy and George Harrison, with two of George’s songs – ‘All Things Must Pass’ and ‘My Sweet Lord’ – issued here for the first time, two months before his own recordings appeared on the triple album ‘All Things Must Pass’.In 2010 Record Collector magazine described ‘Encouraging Words’ as “one of the finest titles in the Apple Records catalogue”, while virtuoso keyboard player Rick Wakeman told BBC Radio 4’s John Wilson he considered Preston’s two Apple albums “absolute gems – a perfect combination of gospel and funk.” The album was last released on vinyl in 1992. The original album credits did not include details of contributing musicians, though the sleeve notes of the 2010 CD reissue included Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann, Ringo Starr, Bobby Keys and the Edwin Hawkins Singers.

Für sein neuem Album, Kiefers zweites für Label Stones Throw, hat sich der gefeierte GRAMMY-preisgekrönte Künstler mit anderen dekorierten Musikern, darunter DJ Harrison, Andy McCauley, Josh Johnson, Will Logan und Sam Wilkes, zu einer Band zusammengetan. Live eingespielt in nur ein bis zwei Takes, lebt das Album von Spontanität.
Auch wenn sich das Album thematisch mit Trauer und Verlust auseinandersetzt, so bleibt der Tonfall positiv, zumindest größtenteils.
Zweifellos einer der aufregendsten neuen Künstler, die die LA Jazzszene derzeit zu bieten hat.

45er Vinylschnitt für beste Audioqualität
Exklusiver Bonustrack nur erhältlich auf Vinyl

In creating Our Beautiful Baby World (May 2021), the pacing of Izzy True’s
songwriting process has slowed down since their prior Don Giovanni
releases -- Sadbad (2018) and Nope (2016).
Arranging with Curtis and Sam, Reidy says they’ve grown as musicians together, and their songs were given space to grow, too. OBBW exhibits eleven rock
songs of melded collaboration, expressing the deepness of acceptance. These
are the band’s most dynamic compositions to date. The result is, Reidy hopes,
to ‘sound like a bad drawing of a rock record.’
The inspiration for the soft-hard dynamics of OBBW may have come from Reidy
listening to Thin Lizzy, along with the bleeding of the band members’ strengths
and histories: Curtis as a courageous experimental musician in the DIY circuit,
Sam’s expertise as a hardcore drummer, one Halloween cover-set of System
of A Down in a Chicago basement from another world, and Reidy’s childhood
growing up listening to old love songs and country music.
OBBW was recorded in Rock Island, IL at Rozz-Tox, a well-loved bar and music
venue in the humble Midwest. Recorded and mixed by Ian Harris on reel-toreel, Izzy True’s tunes returned to tape after Sadbad, which was digitally produced.
The record utilizes the talents of Chicago music friends Jess Shoman (Tenci)
on backup vocals and Andrew Clinkman (Spirits Having Fun) on lead guitar on
‘Four Good Ponies’. OBBW was recorded in the months before the pandemic,
January and February 2020, which can feel obvious (‘I don’t wanna hang out
for a thousand years’) and subtle. The authentic limitations of reel-to-reel tape
recordings give this project the aura of a time when live music was possible.

2021 marks the 50th Anniversary of the legendary record Fela Kuti made
with Ginger Baker of Cream.
 This Anniversary edition features a newly unearthed second drum solo
from Tony Allen and Ginger Baker, taken from Afrika 70’s performance
at the 1978 Berlin Jazz Festival. Part I has never appeared on vinyl and
this second part has never been heard - until now.
 1978’s Berlin Jazz Festival marked Afrika 70’s final live performance with
Fela. In the Spring of 1979, several members of Afrika 70, including
Allen, would leave the band. Allen had been with Fela since 1964. 1980
saw the birth of Egypt 80, with Baritone saxophonist Lekan Animashaun,
who had been with Fela since 1965, as its founding bandleader.
 Reissued with Abbey Road mastered audio.
 Red double vinyl with collector's 50th Anniversary gold foil obi strip.
 Bespoke etching of album artwork on Side D.
 Fela’s legacy spans decades and genres, touching on jazz, pop, funk,
hip-hop, rock and beyond. While he never achieved true icon status
during his lifetime, the last (roughly) decade has seen a broad
resurgence in his popularity and a critical reevaluation of his life, music
and influence. In 2008, the biographical musical ‘Fela!’ (co-produced by
Jay-Z and Will Smith) became a surprise hit off-Broadway and then
Broadway itself. Since then, Beyoncé performed Fela’s ‘Zombie’ at
Coachella, he’s been called out as an influence by everyone from Paul
McCartney to Questlove and sampled by Missy Elliott, Kendrick Lamar,
J. Cole, Nas, and more. Vice President Kamala Harris even used Fela’s
music at her and President Biden's first joint event together.
 ‘Let’s Start’ features prominently in the trailer and the soundtrack for the
new Western, ‘The Harder They Fall’, staring Idris Elba and Regina King.
 Fela features prominently in an episode of Hulu’s docuseries ‘McCartney
3, 2, 1’, where Paul McCartney cites Fela as one of his important
influences.
 This past spring Fela came in second place, behind Tina Turner, for the
fan vote for the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame nominations and received
great press coverage in NY Times, Rolling Stone, MOJO, Record
Collector and more.

Saxophonist Wendell Harrison has lived by a standard philosophy for his 50-plus-year career: One must have complete self-autonomy. Both his music and business dealings reflect this. Besides being a legend on the Detroit jazz scene and mentoring up-and-coming musicians through his non-profit organization Rebirth Inc., he co-founded the Tribe Records label in the 1970s, which produced a magazine and many classic albums.

Harrison is continuing Tribe’s legacy—this time around with a group of rising jazz musicians from the Motor City such as drummer Louis M. Jones III, trumpeter Trunino Lowe, and guitarist Jacob Schwantz—on his new recording Get Up Off Your Knees.

There’s a lot to digest here because the original compositions encompass R&B, soul, spoken word, and “world” music, all seen through the lens of jazz. Harrison tends to weave elements of African music into many of his compositions. On “Siera” and “Samoulén Khalé Yi,” both written by vocalist and bassist Pathe Jassi, he pays tribute to Guinea-Bissau and Senegalese culture. “Educators” also has African nuances in its hardcore drumming and Harrison’s sublime blowing on bass clarinet and clarinet.

Any discriminating jazz listener will be consumed by Get Up Off Your Knees, but it seems Harrison’s primary purpose for making this album is to encourage the current generation to put education first and build social awareness. On the title track, vocalist Miche Braden pushes the self-determination angle, which is again highlighted on “Revolution,” a reimagined take on Gil Scott-Heron’s “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” delivered with an adherence to contemporary events by the poet Rev. Mbiyu Chui. By Veronica Johnson from Jazz Times.

Asleep At The Wheel is celebrating their 50th Anniversary with the release of Half A Hundred Years. The nineteen tracks feature original band members, current band members and guest artists. The special guest artists are Lyle Lovett, George Strait, Lee Ann Womack, Willie Nelson, and Emmylou Harris.
Tracks 1 - 11 are new songs featuring the original band members. Tracks 12 -16 are old songs featuring the current band members and Asleep At The Wheel alumni. Tracks 17 - 19 are songs from the vaults that have never been released and track 14 features the current and the two previous female band members.

Lava Love is the new album by Zoe’s Shanghai. Led by singer Zoé Renié Harris, the band has
made a splash into the crowded neo-soul scene with their debut EP A Mirage (Meant To Last
Forever) released in 2019 - a deeply evocative sound and Zoe’s extraordinary voice gained them
immediately the spotlight as ones to watch (“a worthy torchbearer for heady and hearty soul music”-
Earmilk).
Following a successful string of EPs and singles, the Barcelona & Paris-based four-piece band is
now ready to share with the world their first full-length album.
Lava Love was recorded in an old stable in the French region of Auvergne - known for its mountain
ranges and dormant volcanoes, this region could not have been a more apt setting.
Lava and love portray in fact a dynamic flow of memory and meaning pouring out of Zoe’s
Shanghai’s heart. In and out of the metaphor, Lava and love can be powerful, frightening, beautiful,
dangerous and at the same time are essential elements that create fertile change and growth.
Through the 11 songs, the band evoke memories and pose questions - inner dialogues, life stories,
encounters and relationships – the album depicts a kaleidoscope of moods and feelings, prompting
the listener to open to the conversation: while each song presents a microcosm on its own, the album
manifests itself in the shared musical experience - immersive music to listen to and enjoy with your
loved ones.
Produced with Oli Barton-Wood (Nubiyan Twist, Joe Armon-Jones, Nilufer Yanya), the sound of
Lava Love brings together hypnotic melodies, groovy rhythms and thoughtful lyrics - fusing the
essence of multiple music styles and forging Zoe’s Shanghai unique contemporary soul.
The album follows the critically acclaimed EP ‘A Mirage’, which garnered the support of Gilles
Peterson & Huey Morgan (BBC 6 Music), Jamz Supernova (BBC Radio 1Xtra), Worldwide FM and
Earmilk to name a few.

Parlophone Records is thrilled to announce the release of IRON MAIDEN’s 17th studio album Senjutsu, their first in 6 years, on September 3rd. It was recorded in Paris with longstanding producer Kevin Shirley and co-produced by Steve Harris.

It was preceded on Thursday 15th July by an already highly acclaimed animated video for the first single ‘The Writing On The Wall’ made by BlinkInk based on a concept by Bruce Dickinson with two former Pixar Executives. It followed a month-long teaser campaign & global ‘treasure hunt’ for clues about the track title and concept.

For Senjutsu – loosely translated as ‘tactics & strategy’, the band once again enlisted the services of Mark Wilkinson to create the spectacular Samurai themed cover artwork, based on an idea by Steve Harris. With a running time of a little under 82 minutes, Senjutsu, like their previous record The Book Of Souls, will be a double CD/Triple vinyl album.

It may be his fifth album, but Saturday Night, Sunday Morning marks the start of chapter two for Jake Bugg. Arguably his most complete and coherent record to date, Saturday Night, Sunday Morning manages to combine a love of ABBA, the Beach Boys, Supertramp and the Bee Gees, with a contemporary pop sound: one that’s already spawned his most ubiquitous song in years via euphoric lead single, All I Need. “I knew what I was looking for this time around,” the 27-year-old says, firmly. “And I feel like I accomplished it.” It’s almost 10 years since a two-fingered Bugg burst onto the scene with his eponymous debut, one that topped the UK album charts and saw the then 18-year-old from Nottingham fêted as the next Bob Dylan. A Rick Rubin-produced follow up, Shangri La, quickly followed. But progress stalled with Bugg’s third, largely self-produced, record, On My One, in 2016. “I was having a hard time on that third record,” Bugg admits, five years removed. “The support from the industry wasn’t what it was. All those people telling you how great you are weren’t there anymore. It does feel like the rug’s been swept from under your feet.” What that record provided, however – along with its comparatively stripped-back follow up, Hearts That Strain (2017) – was a much-needed course corrector: one that set Bugg on the upward trajectory he finds himself on today. “When I came to terms with that was when I left the ego at the door,” he says. “It didn’t work out. But it led here. And this is probably my strongest record." It’s testament to Bugg’s rediscovered confidence that Saturday Night, Sunday Morning – a nod to the debut novel by Nottingham author Alan Sillitoe – sees him working with some of his highest profile collaborators to date, most notably American songwriters Andrew Watt and Ali Tamposi, best known for their work with pop heavyweights Post Malone, Dua Lipa, Miley Cyrus, Camila Cabello. “I was looking for how I can incorporate my sound for a more modern era. And I kind of struck gold working with Andrew Watt and Ali Tamposi,” Bugg says. Convening in LA, the first track the trio wrote together is the jealousy-inflected About Last Night, a song about the “insecurities you go through as a young person in a relationship with someone.” “It’s got such dark undertones, which I love,” Bugg says, of a song that showcases a newly discovered, Beach Boys-esque falsetto. “But it’s also very, very pop. That’s what I’ve always loved. With ABBA, with Supertramp. I love pop music. But when you can get it to be dark, I love it even more.” It’s a trick the trio repeated again on Scene, Bugg’s personal favourite from the album and a song that best encapsulates the combination of old and new: Watt’s George Harrison-esquire guitar brushing up against contemporary melodic choices by Tamposi. “I love writing with her,” Bugg says of the Havana hitmaker. “She brought that women’s perspective. And I knew that I’d got that balance of what I wanted. That old school chorus with contemporary verses. That to me was my favourite song when I wrote it, and it still is.” Perhaps the biggest example of Bugg’s newfound ego-less approach to writing, however, came in the shape of Downtown, a song that grew from an idea by Jamie Hartman (Celeste, Lewis Capaldi, Rag'n'Bone Man), and sees Bugg deploy the higher range of his voice to ethereal, ’60s Bee Gees effect. “Usually, the initial spark of an idea comes from me. And when it doesn't, it sometimes loses my attention,” Bugg admits. On Downtown, however, he relished his role as arranger: “Because there were a lot of moving parts and chords, it was almost like a puzzle,” he says. “I’d never approached a song like that before. “What I’ve been enjoying on this record is the collaborative process,” he continues. Working with people, writing with people. Because I’ve realised all I really want to achieve is to be the best writer I can possibly be. And I think by working with other people, it allows you to learn a lot as well.” It’s a theory Bugg has put to the test during lockdown, when he was approached by his manager about writing the soundtrack to an upcoming documentary, The Happiest Man In The World, about Brazilian footballer Ronaldinho. “It’s kind of a completely different experimental outlet,” Bugg explains of his first ever score. “I approach my own work quite professionally. But with this I can just switch off and go into a different world. And it’s been brilliant – I’ve had to learn different styles of guitar: bossa nova, samba. It’s a bit Vangelis, who’s probably my favourite artist – which may surprise people.” Possibly. But you get the impression that surprising is what Bugg likes to do. “I don’t like to be stuck doing the same thing,” he admits. “And that’s what this record Saturday Night, Sunday Morning was. I wanted to push myself. I’m always learning new influences. I’m careful not to get stuck on the same thing. “It’s not going to be right every time. It’s not going to be good every time,” he continues. “But if that’s the process it takes to get to this record, where people are loving the songs again, then that’s the journey we have to take.” For Jake Bugg, chapter two starts now. New album ‘Saturday Night, Sunday Morning’ is out August 20th on RCA Records

Susanna is now releasing a live album of covers with a unique history. Recorded in Oslo and Asker (Norway) in 2019 and 2020
right before the pandemic hit, Live by Susanna and David Wallumrød is a collaboration by the Norwegian and her cousin David, also a prolific musician, whose seeds were unknowingly sown over 20 years ago.“We played a lot together in our childhood and youth, being cousins, growing up in the same small town Kongsberg,” says Susanna. After being highly active musicians for many years, they decided to do a concert together in 2017, at a tiny cocktail-bar concert series in Oslo. It was so much fun they decided to do some more shows. They did, and out of this came Live. The songs on Live are the same covers Susanna and David played together 20 years ago, with a few new additions. They are instantly recognisable classics by Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Emmylou Harris and Tom
Waits, played in the way Susanna and David know best - voice and keys. Pure, simple, and stunning. David Wallumrød is one of Norway’s most used piano/keyboard-players, he has participated on over 150 albums and been a regular member in the bands of artists like Knut Reiersrud, Odd Nordstoga, Jonas Alaska, Band of Gold and Torun Eriksen. He has his own band called Spirit in the Dark. Susanna is the woman behind Susanna and the Magical Orchestra, a creator of bold, original and enrapturing music, capable of
building worlds to lose yourself in and collaborator with artists such as Jenny Hval and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. Alongside this Susanna has also long been an interpreter of other people’s works, from AC/DC to Dolly Parton, Joy Division to Henry Purcell. Susanna has an ability to transform these works into music that sits comfortably next to her own work while never losing what made the original - and the original composer of the song - so special.

"These Exit Times" is the name of a newsletter sent by an environmental organisation advocating the extinction of the human race as a solution to save the planet. When Victor Ramirez first came across the group on the internet a couple of years ago, it brought a smile to his face. But after some pondering on the subject, he decided that "Exit Times" would be the name of his sensational third album as Ramirez Exposure.

The record started to take shape in early 2020, after a musical hiatus that had lasted a year. It had been somewhat of a dark period, and Victor felt it was time to go back to recording songs. It would be the first time he would be doing so at home. He had managed to set up a small studio that would allow him to make some proper recordings, and without having to use a computer. He'd also started a new job, as an orderly in a hospital, which gave him time to record and cash to pay the rent.

Victor was ready to take on the task of making the album with the help—albeit from a distance, this time—of Ken Stringfellow (Posies, Big Star) and Brian Young (Jesus & Mary Chain, Ivy, Fountains of Wayne), both regular accomplices of the Valencian in production and instrumentation. Working with the two of them feels very natural for him, even though they are in three different countries.

Looking back, it seemed as if he'd prepared himself for what was coming.

And so, the pandemic happened, and Victor found himself turning the ideas he had outlined on his phone into the songs for Exit Times. He was in a good place, personally and, despite the situation, he was happy to be able to contribute to society through his job at the hospital and, after coming home, to concentrate on his music and isolate himself from everything else.

Gradually, the sketches turned into luminous songs, with bright harmonies and lyrics that exude a fine irony. Victor admits that he strives to be a good pessimist every day, and the songs reveal a way of understanding life that relativises almost everything in order to stick with what's really important. This subtle sense of humour in the lyrics, like the luminosity of his music, is vintage Ramirez, and is present throughout the album, and even on the cover. The artwork is a painting by German painter Angela Dalinger, depicting Victor himself, their dog, Colombo, and some meaningful objects. The vinyl record featured is George Harrison's Brainwashed.

Exit Times is a shiny collection of songs with a universal vocation, bathed in sunshine pop with touches of new psychedelia. All simmered under the Mediterranean sun—the same sun that illuminates the entire planet.

York Pennsylvania born and raised, R&B vocalist Carman Bryant has performed throughout the U.S. and all over the world. There’s a saying in the Harrisburg/York Pa.area “If you want a seat, you better get there early” for a performance by Carman and her band.
Carman's recording "Midnight Star” is an unreleased recording that was produced many years ago by Cecil DuValle of the Teddy Pendergrass band. The original studio masters were lost when Cecil moved to England because Teddy Pendergrass stopped performing. "Take a Chance" is a duet by Doug Payne and Carman from the same recording sessions at Alpha International Studios that was located in South Philadelphia. This was during the time that Doug Payne was on the "We are Family" tour with Philly recording group "Sister Sledge''. Doug Payne is a graduate of Howard University Washington D.C., and Fiorello LaGuardia High School of Music & Art in New York City, this is the same school that was used for the movie and television series "FAME" starring Debbie Allen and Irene Cara. Doug had two songs signed with TSOP Gamble & Huff's publishing that were selected to be recorded by Phyliss Hyman before her death. In 1981 Doug Payne started his own label in Philadelphia with the release of "HOLIDAY" by Doug Payne & Polygon.
Carman and her son Terrell Bryant aka Nakuu both have been busy lately
recording new music to hit the scene around the same time.Terrell Bryant is
the son of Jason Bryant who started The SOS Band.
Doug's wife June Payne is a former member of Philadelphia recording group The "Three Degrees".

More excellence from the Basin Rock label following albums from Nadia Reid, Julie Byrne, Aoife Nessa Frances, Jim Ghedi, Alex Maas..
With a special knack for balancing bright pop melodies with a drifting sense of melancholy, LA based Johanna Samuels new album Excelsior! is a tender, honest document of the importance of companionship above all else. Named after Dylan’s “Visions of Johanna”, Samuels grew up on the classic songwriters of yesteryear (George Harrison, Tom Petty, Neil Young) and after a healthy dose of Elliott Smith and Jon Brion, has spent the best part of the last decade honing her craft.

her band and producer Sam Evian but it's songs are full of West Coast sunshine. It's Evian's first full album production at his own Flying Cloud Studios. Recorded mostly to tape, the album is as a gorgeous combination of vintage instrumentation, strong melodic hooks, killer harmonies and Samuels’ elegant voice.
Samuels seeks those answers through companionship, exploring the depths of her relationships and then calling upon a handful of womxn to provide the album’s backing vocals - a task she’d always performed herself until now. As such, Excelsior! makes a space for the voices of Courtney Marie Andrews, Hannah Cohen, Lomelda’s Hannah Read, A.O. Gerber, Louise Florence and Olivia Kaplan.
The album takes its name from the signature that Samuels’ grandpa would use before he sadly passed away last December. “He was a very important person to me and he helped raise me,” Johanna explains. “He signed all of his letters and emails ‘Excelsior!’, including the exclamation point. It means ‘ever upward’ and that’s what I wish for everyone: to grow from listening with more empathy and from hearing each other out. I hope this record makes people want to be gentler with each other and themselves.”

Pixey grew up in the sleepy but picturesque village Parbold, Lancashire before moving to Liverpool for school and remaining there to this day. Now signed to Chess Club - a label famed for breaking new talent, where recent exciting signings include AlfieTempleman and Phoebe Green, and past successes include Jungle, Wolf Alice and Easy Life - Pixey is making more waves than ever before. ‘Just Move’ drew attention from BBC Radio 1 DJs Jack Saunders (who made Pixey one of his Next Wave artists) and Huw Stephens amongst many other admirers like Radio X’s John Kennedy who added the band to the X-Posure playlist at the station in October. Pixey has also featured as the cover artist of Spotify’s Indie Brandneu (GER) and Peach editorial playlists, and wasamongst the artists named in major annual tips lists, the Dork HYPE List and the NME 100.



New single ‘Electric Dream’ - with its accompanying video by Thomas Davies - combines cavernous drum machines and dreamy pop melodies with a signature dance stomp. Speaking about new single, Pixey explains: “‘Electric Dream’ was originally written as a piano ballad but after finishing the lyrics I felt the song worked as a dance track. I wrote it to make sense ofbeing locked in with nothing to rely on but technology. The verses are all of my anxieties that come with that - like trying to simulate humanity digitally and what kind of a future that would be - but the choruses are about the imperfections of real life that technology and AI can’t give us.”



Debut EP Free To Live In Colour was written, recorded and produced in Pixey’s bedroom in Liverpool - with additional production added by frequent Gorillaz and Jamie T collaborator James Dring - and draws inspiration from genres like hardcore breakbeat and





dream pop. Pixey says: “I wanted a collection of tracks which gave a quick snapshot into me and my brain - where I’m from, where I want to be and what I’m thinking about. I hope people can take something meaningful from it or simply have a dance.”



Pixey first discovered music as a toddler - she remembers not even being able to walk yet but desperate to sing and dance to Queen - before discovering the likes of Kate Bush, Björk, and George Harrison, whose classic songwriting struck a chord with her in her youth. The catalyst for Pixey’s musical coming of age however, was a near fatal viral illness suffered in early 2016 which hospitalised her, she says: “When I thought I was going to die I thought of all the things I wish I’d done and music was the first thing I thought of. As soon as I started recovering I started learning to record and produce.” She taught herself Ableton production software before mastering guitar and eventually drums and bass after her previous (and current) boyfriend(s) left their instruments lying around to prove she could learn it quicker and play it better.



Once able to carve out her own sound, Pixey turned to The Verve, The Prodigy and De La Soul for sonic inspiration, adding: “I particularly like the idea of using samples/making my own riffs sound like samples which was heavily inspired by the De La Soul album 3 Feet High and Rising. Starting out initially though Grimes was a huge catalyst when I realized she wrote, recorded &produced herself.” Her prolific and unusual songwriting style stems from an original riff or beat, with further layers added as she records and produces, and lyrics being added last - the process taking only a day or two.



With Free To Live In Colour and a whole arsenal of further material being readied on her new label home, Chess Club, Pixey is primed for big things in 2021 and beyond.

On October 12, 1929, Kathryn Culp and Sammie Lee Brown had the idea to name their first-born baby Napoleon. With such a vital beginning, little Nappy was already predestined to hit the mark, so from a very young age he stood out for his vocal qualities, well cultivated in gospel, which he practiced assiduously in The First Mount Zion Baptist Church run by his father.

To Mr. Brown's chagrin, after his first forays into religious music participating in vocal gospel groups such as The Golden Crowns, Golden Bell Quintet and The Heavenly Lights, with whom he recorded his first single for Savoy in 1954, the young Napoleon decided to try his hand at secular music, convinced by Herman Lubinsky, the big boss man of the New Jersey label.

In this way, between 1954 and 1962, Napoleon recorded a total of 28 singles at Savoy, clearly marking the transition from Rhythm & Blues to Rock’n’Roll, and also his subsequent jump to Soul, being the natural link between the late 40s southerners like Wynonie Harris or Big Joe Turner and artists like Jackie Wilson or James Brown, who cemented the black sounds of the 60s.

This LP includes a compilation of some of his best songs at Savoy, high class rock'n'roll, with a lot of dancefloor favourites like DON'T BE ANGRY, compiled in its two versions, or JUST A LITTLE LOVIN ', but also his more Bluesy sides, with songs like the fabulous DOWN IN THE ALLEY, which would be recorded years later by that certain singer born in Tupelo, Mississippi, that many times declared how much he dug Nappy Brown’s Rhythm & Blues.

In the same bluesy way Nappy wrote the iconic THE RIGHT TIME, one of the first stones of the Soul cathedral, originally recorded by Nappy on 1957, and revised one year before by Ray Charles. Ray’s version, renamed Night Time Is The Right Time, would be included as the main theme of the award-winning film IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT. We´ve also included Nappy’s own answer to this song, recorded in 1961 and titled as ANY TIME IS THE RIGHT TIME.

Finally can´t avoid to name some of the backing musicians you´ll hear in these tracks, Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor, Mickey Baker, Panama Francis… have a look on notes bellow, oh boy! the A-Team of the mid-century New York Rhythm & Blues!

Nappy disappeared from the music scene in 1962, remaining anonymous until 1969, when he would return to Rhythm & Blues on Elephant Records with an LP whose title could not be more eloquent: THANK YOU FOR NOTHING.

Since then, Nappy was very active until his death in 2008, alternating his love for gospel and Rhythm & Blues, touring the United States and Europe and releasing no less than a dozen LPs.

The Peterson Brothers - keyboard player Ricky, bass player Billy, drummer / guitar player Paul and their nephew, saxophonist Jason - are true
brothers in arms, Minneapolis institutions, members and survivors of that city’s musical revolution. They lay the music out like an
uptown groove buffet.
You don’t need to be smart to feel the beat of the heart; you don’t need to play dumb to feel the beat of the drum. This is music everybody can get with.
Natural talent by the yard and years of playing with the some of the best of the best - from Prince to Bonnie Raitt, Eddie Harris to Mose Allison, Dave Sanborn to Boz Scaggs, Fleetwood Mac to Bob Dylan, and that barely scratches the surface - make this tribute to a legendary musical family a back-slapping, finger-popping good time.
The fact that it took a couple of decades to get these world travellers together into the same room for a couple of days only proves that when the time is right the real deal is on the table. Praise the lord and pass the ammunition, the Peterson Brothers are in town!

Nearly two decades into her storied career, 9-time GRAMMY-winning singer, songwriter, pianist, and 2020’s most livestreamed artist Norah Jones will release her first full live album ‘Til We Meet Again on April 16. The collection presents globe-spanning performances from the U.S., France, Italy, Brazil, and Argentina that were recorded between 2017-2019. The first single “It Was You,” which is available to stream or download today, was recorded at the 2018 Ohana Festival in Dana Point, California with Pete Remm on organ, Christopher Thomas on bass, and Brian Blade on drums. Additional musicians featured on the album include bassist Jesse Murphy, guitarist Jesse Harris, flutist Jorge Continentino, and percussionist Marcelo Costa. ‘Til We Meet Again can be pre-ordered now on vinyl, CD, or digital download.

The 14 songs featured on ‘Til We Meet Again also span Jones’ entire career from her 2002 debut Come Away With Me (“Don’t Know Why,” “I’ve Got To See You Again,” “Cold, Cold Heart”), 2004’s Feels Like Home (“Sunrise,” “Those Sweet Words”), 2012’s Little Broken Hearts (“After The Fall”), 2016’s Day Breaks (“Flipside,” “Tragedy”), as well as her more recent singles series (“It Was You,” “Begin Again,” “Just A Little Bit,” “Falling,” and the GRAMMY-nominated “I’ll Be Gone”). The album closes with Jones’ stunning solo piano performance of Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun,” a tribute to Chris Cornell that was recorded at the Fox Theatre in Detroit just days after Cornell’s death following a performance at the same venue.

Far Out Recordings is delighted to present Mora!, and for the first time ever on vinyl Mora! II. Mexican-American percussionist and former member of the Sun Ra Arkestra, Francisco Mora Catlett originally recorded and released his debut solo LP as a private press in 1987, but the sequel he recorded over the course of the next few years with an expanded Detroit jazz brass section was shelved for decades to follow. A pan-American melting pot of hypnotic afro-cuban rhythms, frenetic batucadas and fiery sambas, Mora I & II are holy grails of latin jazz, masterminded by an unsung hero of the genre.

Born in Washington DC, 1947, Francisco Mora Jr is the eldest child of two highly prominent Mexican artists, Francisco Mora Sr and Elizabeth Catlett, to whom this project was dedicated. Being born into a mixed heritage bohemian family provided Mora Jr with what he called a “creative, progressive, and healthy arts environment”, building the foundations for a fascinating career journey ahead. Mora grew up in Mexico City where he began working as a session musician for Capitol Records in 1968, before moving to study at Berklee Music College in Boston, MA in 1970. Once he’d completed his studies in 1973, he very briefly returned to Mexico City with the best intentions of cultivating an avant-garde movement in the city, but when the Sun Ra Arkestra came to perform, Mora ended up leaving with the band to tour the world for the next seven years, a decent innings within a group famous for its constantly evolving line up.

Settling in Detroit after his years with the Arkestra, Francisco set to work on his self-titled debut, gathering an ensemble of musicians that included keyboardist Kenny Cox, founder of the legendary Strata Records, esteemed bassist Rodney Whitaker of the Roy Hargrove Quintet and percussionists Jerome Le Duff, Alberto Nacif, and Emile Borde. The album openly embraces and unites the broad spectrum of improvisation, rhythm, and jazz that has thrived throughout the American continents for centuries. In Mora’s own words the album intended to “manifest the African heritage presence in the American continent.” Epitomising this outlook, album opener ‘Afra Jum’ deploys a melody based on Haitian, African and Native American motifs, which is expanded upon by the soulful excellence of the Detroit veterans Cox and Whitaker, amidst a backdrop of afro-cuban inspired percussion.

The sequel Mora II was recorded shortly after with an expanded line up that included trumpet legend Marcus Belgrave, famed for his work with Ray Charles, Charles Mingus, Hank Crawford, Eddie Russ and Wendell Harrison. Continuing the concept of the first album, the follow up moves deeper into South America with the samba jazz dance belter ‘Amazona’, led by the rich vocals of Francisco’s wife Teresa Mora. The ‘Afra Jum’ concept is further explored, with the original motifs beefed up by the additional horns, and interspersions of Sun Ra inspired rumbling free improvisations. This follow up album remained shelved until 2005, when Mora put it out as a now obscure CD titled River Drum, but only now has it been given the high quality vinyl treatment it so deserves, presented as the sequel to Mora! as originally intended.

Through the 90s and into the the 21st century Mora would continue his Pan-American explorations, moving toward a more electronic afro-futurist direction as part of Detroit techno pioneer Carl Craig’s Innerzone Orchestra. Mora also worked with Carl Craig, moog synth wizard Craig Taborn, and his former Arkestra colleague, the legendary Marshall Allen, to form the Innerzone Orchestra spin-off Outerzone, released in 2007 on Premier Cru Records. Mora I & II will be out as two vinyl LPs, CD and digitally 16th April 2021.

Billy Nomates, the fierce, funny, outspoken force of nature who hails from Melton Mowbray and now flits between Bournemouth and Bristol, has arrived to rattle cages.

The songs on her debut album all come from a place of defiance. Rebellion against Brexit. Against soul-sapping, dead-end jobs and zero-hours contracts. Against gender inequality, sexual harassment and festivals with obligatory female acts hidden in the small print. Billy’s songs lampoon the same bleak reality satirised by her beloved Scarfolk website and explored so abrasively in the fringe theatre
she finds solace in.

Musically, there are snatches of Nick Cave’s rumbling sprechgesang; the “off-the-wall-ness of musicians like Captain Beefheart”; Sleaford Mods’ febrile post-punk; the groovesome lofi art-rock of Sonic Youth and the brassy Americana of Emmylou Harris. What dominates, though, is a feeling of release. Of letting it all out.

The track ‘Supermarket Sweep’ features guest vocals by Jason Williamson of Sleaford Mods.

LP is pressed on yellow vinyl, housed in a heavyweight spined sleeve with gold foil text print. Includes printed insert with handwritten lyrics and digital download card.

Nonesuch releases a remastered, special edition of the 2005 record Our New Orleans for the first time on vinyl. The two-LP set, also available digitally, includes five previously unreleased tracks: ‘Do You Know What It Means’, by Davell Crawford; ‘Let's Work Together’, by Buckwheat Zydeco and Ry Cooder; ‘Crescent City Serenade’, by Dr. Michael White; ‘Walking By the River’, by Dr. John; and ‘Do You Know What It Means’, by The Wardell Quezergue Orchestra featuring Donald Harrison.

The $1.5 million raised from the 2005 release went toward providing housing in partnership with low-income musicians and others through the New Orleans Habitat Musicians’ Village, a concept that was developed by New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity, working with Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick, Jr. Habitat–built homes in the village now provide musicians and others of modest means the opportunity to buy decent, affordable housing. The centerpiece of the village is the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, dedicated to celebrating the music and musicians of New Orleans and to the education and development of homeowners and others who live nearby.

For Our New Orleans, many of the Crescent City’s best-known musicians recorded songs that are integral to their lives and that express their feelings about the city and the trauma of Katrina. The album was made swiftly and simply, over the course of a month, in one-day sessions across the country. Nick Spitzer, host of public radio’s New Orleans–based American Routes, contributed liner notes to the record, as did Pulitzer Prize–winning author Richard Ford, also a Crescent City resident. Other producers who made enormous contributions include Mark Bingham, Ry Cooder, Joel and Adam Dorn, Steve Epstein, Joe Henry, Doug Petty, Matt Sakakeeny, and Hal Willner.

Nonesuch’s parent company – Warner Records, part of the Warner Music Group – donated all production costs for Our New Orleans as part of the Group’s larger efforts on behalf of hurricane victims on the Gulf Coast. Many others involved in creating the album also generously donated their time and services.

Nonesuch President David Bither recalls, “What was most remarkable to me was the immediate response of the musicians. Many were in New Orleans when Katrina struck. Many lost everything they owned including even the musical instruments that are their livelihood. Yet they responded within days to the question of whether they might participate in this project. The emotion and the power of Our New Orleans come both from their anguish and from their incredible generosity.”

And the label’s Chairman Emeritus Bob Hurwitz said, “When we pick up a CD booklet, we usually skip over the page that says, ‘Special thanks to…’, but in the case of Our New Orleans, it is, after the listing of the musician’s names, the most important part of this package. Everyone wanted to help – studios that insisted on contributing free time, caterers, photographers and videographers, instrument rentals, producers, engineers – every step down the line, people gave, not only their profits, but absorbed all of their costs. It was an incredible outpouring of generosity.”

“Our New Orleans is a testament to the power of music to heal and provide a sense of community,” said Marguerite Oestreicher, Executive Director of New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity. “Musicians helped the city heal after Hurricane Katrina, and Musicians’ Village helped them come home. We’re grateful to Nonesuch and everyone who worked on this album. This year has brought new challenges to everyone, but especially to our culture-bearers. This re-release could not be more timely.”

The five members of Sun June spent their early years spread out across the United States, from the boonies of the Hudson Valley to the sprawling outskirts of LA. Having spent their college years within the gloomy, cold winters of the North East, Laura Colwell and Stephen Salisbury found themselves in the vibrant melting-pot of inspiration that is Austin, Texas. Meeting each other while working on Terrence Malick's 'Song to Song', the pair were immediately taken by the city's bustling small clubs and honky-tonk scene, and the fact that there was always an instrument within reach, always someone to play alongside. Coming alive in this newly discovered landscape, Colwell and Salisbury formed Sun June alongside Michael Bain on lead guitar, Sarah Schultz on drums, and Justin Harris on bass and recorded their debut album live to tape, releasing it via the city's esteemed Keeled Scales label in 2018. The band coined the term 'regret pop' to describe the music they made on the 'Years' LP. Though somewhat tongue in cheek, it made perfect sense ~ the gentle sway of their country leaning pop songs seeped in melancholy, as if each subtle turn of phrase was always grasping for something just out of reach. Sun June returns with Somewhere, a brand new album, out February 2021. It's a record that feels distinctly more present than its predecessor. In the time since, Colwell and Salisbury have become a couple, and it's had a profound effect on their work; if Years was about how loss evolves, Somewhere is about how love evolves. "We explore a lot of the same themes across it," Colwell says, "but I think there's a lot more love here." Somewhere is Sun June at their most decadent, a richly diverse album which sees them exploring bright new corners with full hearts and wide eyes. Embracing a more pop-oriented sound the album consists of eleven beautiful new songs and is deliberately more collaborative and fully arranged: Laura played guitar for the first time; band members swapped instruments, and producer Danny Reisch helped flesh out layers of synth and percussion that provides a sweeping undercurrent to the whole thing. Throughout Somewhere you can hear Sun June blossom into a living-and-breathing five-piece, the album formed from an exploratory track building process which results in a more formidable version of the band we once knew. 'Real Thing' is most indicative of this, a fully collaborative effort which encompasses all of the nuances that come to define the album. "Are you the real thing?" Laura Colwell questions in the song's repeated refrain. "Honey I'm the real thing," she answers back. They've called this one their 'prom' record; a sincere, alive-in-the-moment snapshot of the heady rush of love. "The prom idea started as a mood for us to arrange and shape the music to, which we hadn't done before," the band explains. " Prom isn't all rosy and perfect. The songs show you the crying in the bathroom,, the fear of dancing, the joy of a kiss - all the highs and all the lows." It's in both those highs and lows where Somewhere comes alive. Laura Colwell's voice is mesmerising throughout, and while the record is a document of falling in love, there's still room for her to wilt and linger, the vibrancy of the production creating beautiful contrasts for her voice to pull us through. Opening track 'Bad With Time' sets this tone from the outset, both dark and mysterious, sad and sultry as it fascinatingly unrolls. "I didn't mean what I said," Colwell sings. "But I wanted you to think I did." Somewhere showcases a gentle but eminently pronounced maturation of Sun June's sound, a second record full of quiet revelation, eleven songs that bristle with love and longing. It finds a band at the height of their collective potency, a marked stride forward from the band that created that debut record, but also one that once again is able to transport the listener into a fascinating new landscape, one that lies somewhere between the town and the city, between the head and the heart; neither here nor there, but certainly somewhere.

Parlophone Records are pleased to announce the release of IRON MAIDEN’s new double live album Nights Of The Dead - Legacy Of The Beast, Live in Mexico City on November 20th. Containing over 100 minutes of classic Maiden music and available in multiple formats, Nights Of The Dead - Legacy Of The Beast, Live in Mexico City was recorded during the band’s three sold out arena shows there in September 2019 and is a celebration of their Legacy Of The Beast World Tour which began in 2018 and will finish next Summer in Europe.

Iron Maiden founder and bass player Steve Harris comments,

“When the final leg of our 2020 Legacy tour this summer had to be cancelled due to the COVID pandemic, the whole band was very disappointed and deflated and we know our fans felt the same. We’d been really looking forward to bringing the show to even more countries and although we’ve been able to reschedule most of our European own-shows for 2021, we thought we’d take a listen to the recordings from the tour so far and see if we could create a definitive live album souvenir that everyone, everywhere could enjoy. I’m very pleased with the results, especially as this set list includes songs which have never made it to a live CD before, such as For The Greater Good Of God, and other older songs like Where Eagles Dare, Flight Of Icarus, The Clansman and Sign Of The Cross which haven’t been included in our live set releases for many years.

We’ve never released a live album from Mexico before and I think this recording does justice to the passion and joy of our Mexican fans who always give us such a fantastic welcome whenever we play there.”

"On Tour" - Delaney Bramlett (g, voc); Bonnie Bramlett, Rita Coolidge (voc); Eric Clapton, Dave Mason (g); Bobby Keys (sax); Jim Price (tb); B. Whitlock (org, voc); Carl Radle (b); Tex Johnson (bgo, cga); Jim Gordon (dr)

This 42-minute-long live album, which was recorded in December 1969 in Croydon, England and was awarded 5 stars by the magazine Rolling Stone, is not only the culmination of Delaney & Bonnie’s creative output, but also marks their connection to the further careers of Eric Clapton and George Harrison. On this particular tour Clapton plays the same mixture of country music, blues and gospel that were to hallmark his own early solo appearances from 1970. He rose to the occasion with consistently brilliant virtuosity; the highlights are a dizzying solo in "I Don’t Want To Discuss It", a lengthy 'Slowhand' passage in "Only You Know And I Know", and a dry fervent introduction to the wonderfully balanced "Coming Home". Vocally Delaney & Bonnie were never better than on this live set, and the 11-piece band sounds musically more close-knit than many a quartet of the times, regardless of whether they are playing a lengthy blues number or a medley of Little Richard songs. It is certainly no coincidence that the band featured here would become Clapton’s own choice for his first solo LP, or that the kernel of this group – Bobby Whitlock, Carl Radle and Jim Gordon – would metamorphose into Derek and the Dominos, or that the bulk of the band would constitute the group that would perform with George Harrison in "All Things Must Pass" and The Concert For Bangladesh, except that their playing (not to mention the recording) is better here. Half the musicians on this record attained near-superstar status less than one year later, and although their fame was fairly short-lived, this is certainly justified, as you will ascertain when you listen to this live performance.

This Speakers Corner LP was remastered using pure analogue components only, from the master tapes through to the cutting head. More information under pure-analogue.

All royalties and mechanical rights have been paid.

Recording: December 1969 live at Fairfield Halls, Croydon (UK), by Andy Johns and Glyn Johns

Production: Delaney Bramlett and Jimmy Miller

Houston’s reputation for developing first-class jazz acts is well-established, as a stream of young players have been distinguishing themselves for decades…among those musicians and mentors who stood tallest, Bubbha Thomas was no exception (and a major key-player) in this long tradition of talent.

Before becoming an artist and educator, Bubbha Thomas (born 1937) was a Fourth Ward kid who grew up in a music-filled household. In High School he divided his time between music & basketball (he excelled at both) and studied with jazz legend Conrad “Prof” Johnson. “Prof” would later bring jazz glory to Texas with the Kashmere Stage Band, the group of teenagers who would win the “Best High School Stage Band In The Nation” prize in Mobile, Alabama in 1972 and who were anthologized in 2006 on Now-Again’s ‘Thunder Soul’ (which led to the 2010 Jamie Foxx documentary of the same name).

After finishing college, Bubbha got drafted in the service (he was a Korean War veteran) and would return to Houston in the early 1960s where he found work as a session drummer for the Duke and Peacock labels. Thomas drummed on recordings by O.V. Wright, Buddy Ace and the Mighty Clouds of Joy. He was playing his own stuff and backing luminaries such as R&B singer Chuck Jackson and homegrown legends like Lightnin’ Hopkins. Bubbha Thomas also teamed up with some of his equally legendary peers (like guitarist Melvin Sparks & organist Leon Spencer) and eventually established his own group, the Jazz Merchants.
Bubbha learned every style that was thrown at him and he played straight-ahead jazz with renowned artists before the political and social upheaval of the late 1960s led him to a path first charted by Coltrane and Sun Ra…the result of these new found influences was the incredible spiritual jazz ensemble ‘The Lightmen’, who released four incredible recordings in the 1970s. Their first album ‘Free As You wanna be’ predates the deep-set, maverick jazz issued by the likes of Tribe and Strata East and is a harbinger of some of the best in the 1970s jazz underground. The Lightmen albums eventually fell out of print until 2017 when the Now-Again record label brought them back into circulation and generated new interest in Bubbha Thomas’ work.
Thomas had a storied career as a drummer and bandleader, but perhaps his most enduring work is that as founder of Houston’s Summer Jazz Workshop, a remarkable program that nurtured upcoming talent for generations...we can’t begin to count the number of young people who benefitted from the exposure to music-arts because of Bubbha Thomas and what he meant to the Houston music community. In his career he earned five Grammy nominations and authored a pair of books. Next to this he was also a writer/editor for several local newspapers, ran one of the first Houston African American Television shows and he hosted a radio program on KYOK. Impressive to say the least!

Bubbha Thomas passed away in March 2020 at the age of 82. It was obvious he was a principled, fiery & wise person…and any anger he felt at America’s (and the world’s) injustices he met with music, intellect, activism and unity!

Next to his work with ‘’The Lightmen’’, Bubbha also released the fantastic (solo) album ‘Life & Times’ in 1985. ‘Life & Times’ (which we are proudly presenting you today) is particularly interesting to boogie-enthusiasts because of its high doses of funky twerks, solid grooves, crazy synth work, soulful vocals and excellent drum-beats courtesy of Mr. Thomas himself. You’ll quickly find yourself shaking hips the moment the needle hits the first track! The whole album is backed by a fantastic cast of all-star players and includes Howard Harris (Ruth Copeland), Dwight Sills (Bobby Lyle - TLC), Jerry McPherson (Donna Summer), Leo Polk (Kashmere Stage Band), John Gordon (Strata East) and Jackie Simley (Queen Latifah - Lionel Richie). All of the above makes this LP an essential purchase for any self-respecting fan and collector.

Tidal Waves Music now proudly presents the FIRST ever vinyl reissue of this fantastic album (originally released in 1985 on Lightin’ Records). This rare record (original copies tend to go for large amounts on the secondary market) is now finally back available as a limited 180g vinyl edition (500 copies) complete with the original artwork.

3 x LP - Live in Sharjah Box Set + Booklet. designed by Lorenzo Mason Studio.

If you’ve ever travelled to Egypt and wandered through its crowded streets, you probably ended up buying a cassette or a CDR of popular synth based music heard in most cabs, cabarets, or alleys around town: the almighty Shaabi.Raed Yassin and Paed Conca based their project PRAED on research between Shaabi and Mouled (traditional trance music from Egypt) and the hypnotic structures of both these genres. Repetitive beats, loud Mizmar and loads of energy, with a strong influence from psychedelic rock, free jazz and electronica.

During the years in which the duo produced 4 albums and performed on an endless number of stages around the globe, PRAED started working on anambitious expansive project: an orchestra that could transpose this study of rural and popular culture into an immense, iconic work. In autumn 2018, supported by the Sharjah Art Foundation, PRAED Orchestra! premiered “Live in Sharjah”, interpreting new material merged with some of the band’s iconic pieces. The composition process started with the choice of musicians: the line-up consisted of some of the most innovative artists coming from a wide spectrum of musical practices. Each musician was chosen for a defined role, and the common denominator was their capacity to interpret written material, and their ability to improvise effortlessly. Each role was clearly set to work in unison with the rest of the group, while simultaneously sustaining a centrality in the choir. Solo parts masterfully drawn over the structure as a fil rouge connecting every piece of the entire concert; massive and powerful orchestral sections leading to a breathtaking trance-like state of mind; all of this material ultimately coalescing into an Egyptian Operette that narrates the sorrow, love, and deeply rooted culture of this urban music called Shaabi.

Paed Conca: Clarinet, Electric Bass, Electronics
Raed Yassin: Synthesizers, Vocals, Electronics
Alan Bishop: Alto Saxophone, Vocals
Nadah El Shazly: Vocals, keyboard, Electronics
Christine Kazarian: Electric Harp
Hans Koch: Bass Clarinet, Soprano Sax
Martin Kuchen: Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Sax
Maurice Louca: Keyboard, Organ
Radwan Ghazi Moumneh: Buzuk, Vocals, Modular Synthesizer
Sam Shalabi: Electric Guitar, Oud
Ute Wassermann: Vocals, Mouth Harp, Whistles
Khaled Yassine: Drums, Percussion, Darbuka
Michael Zerang: Drums, Percussion

Recorded live at Calligraphy Square on November 3rd, 2018 in Sharjah, UAE by: Sudish Suman & Shuaib Ahmad Poonthala
Edited by: Rabih Beaini at Morphine Studio, Berlin, Germany
Mixed by: Radwan Ghazi Moumneh at Hotel2Tango Studio, Montreal, Canada. Mastered by: Harris Newman at Grey Market Studio, Montreal, Canada.
Artwork by Lorenzo Mason Studio.
Project manager : Simsara Music

After a long delay due to his previous powerhouse 'Hypnotised' blowing up the worldwide spot, German maestro Purple Disco Machine finally lets loose the next step in his world dance domination. Every superlative under the sun has been used for this man's talents and he does not disappoint with a return to his updated Italo disco stylings on new single 'Exotica'.

Purple Disco Machine remains at the forefront of world dance music, following a series of remixes for A-list icons Diplo, Dua Lipa, Mark Ronson, Foals, Calvin Harris, Fatboy Slim, Sir Elton John, whilst more recently delivering his stellar cuts of Duke Dumont’s ‘Ocean Drive’, and Lady Gaga and Adriana Grande’s international hit single ‘Rain On Me’.

He now unveils yet another side of his impressive production prowess with new single ‘Exotica’ featuring the Italian electro funk producer Mind Enterprises on vocals, creating an electric club record exploring and playing homage to '80s German and Italian euro disco records that he grew up with.

Based around a replayed sample of 80’s Italo disco classic ‘Void Vision’ by Cyber People, Purple Disco Machine creates a high energy dance-floor heater with a lively modulated vocal. ‘Exotica’ shares its name with the forthcoming studio album, which the artist confirms will feature his playful interpretation of the music of the decade that birthed the Purple Disco Machine sound; Synth Pop, Italo Disco, Electro Funk, Soul, R&B and Boogie.

Certified as one of the most prolific electronic artists of our generation, the Dresden born producer ranks #2 on Beatport’s all-time Top Artists, with his 2013 breakthrough hit ‘My House’ remaining as one of the platform’s best-sellers through to today. With an undeniable midas touch, Purple Disco Machine landed himself in the record books once again in 2018, whilst amassing a stunning 100 million streams across his original ‘Dished (Male Stripper)’, and remixes of Weiss’ ‘Feel My Needs’, and most notably his remix of the seminal ‘Praise You’ by industry icon Fatboy Slim. With a slew of varied releases including hit singles ‘In My Arms’, ‘Body Funk’ and ‘Devil In Me’, the producer’s status was propelled by his debut LP ‘Soulmatic’, earning him critical acclaim across the globe.

Widely and rightly regarded as one of the best ever soul and funk bands, the now legendary Average White Band tore-up the rule book and conquered the US, UK & International charts with a series of soul and disco hits between 1974 and 1980.

AWB’s repertoire has been a source of inspiration and influence for many R&B acts and they are one of the most sampled bands in history, remaining relevant today, continuing to reach new generations of younger audiences.

Snoop Dogg, Fatboy Slim, Ice Cube, Puff Daddy, TLC, Rick Ross, will.i.am and Mark Ronson amongst countless others, have all borrowed sections of their grooves.

Following a seven-year break, Average White Band returned in 2003, with their most recently released wholestudio album, ‘Living In Colour’, which includes two soul classics in ‘I’m Gonna Make You Love Me’ and Major Harris’ ‘Love Won’t Let Me Wait’.

The full album line-up comprised Alan Gorrie, Onnie McIntyre, Klyde Jones, Fred Vigdor and Brian Dunne, along with additional musicians Eliot Lewis ,Cliff Lyons, John Fumasoli, Tony Kadleck, Bill Harris, Carlos Gomez, Joe Najmy and Rob Aries.

Andrés almost doesn’t need an introduction. But we’re gonna give him one anyway. Mentioned in the same reverential tones as such illustrious names as Hanna (aka Warren Harris), Marcellus Pittman, Rick Wilhite, Theo Parrish and, of course, Kenny Dixon Jr. (aka Moodymann), all collaborators, colleagues and compadres over many years, the long-serving Detroit producer has rocked up on the likes of Mahogani Music, Moods & Grooves, NDATL Muzik and his own imprint La Vida. Many more besides too when you take into account his hip-hop alter ego DJ Dez. Which is why we are super-stoked that he has joined the Hizou family with his house head on for the super-limited EP, All U Gotta Do Is Listen, a master class in downtempo, sun-kissed soulful beats, both the timeless eponymous title track and the funked-up flipside Night Time Is The Right Time.

London-based folk-psych-country band The Hanging Stars return with their eclectic third studio album, A New Kind Of Sky, due out on 21 February 2019. Carrying on their exploration of transatlantic psychedelic folk and cosmic country, the new album blends twelve-string, harmony-laden lullabies with soft rock anthems to create a guilded box of bucolic folk-rock. As well as the band’s signature wistful pastoral escapism, there are lyrical concerns about the recent past; the systematic division of people, values, facts and humanity in The West in general - and the UK in particular. The band weave the same thread they have always woven but this time with a more unified vision, creating a kaleidoscopic poncho for these times.

The Hanging Stars comprise songwriter, singer and guitarist Richard Olson, Sam Ferman on bass, Paulie Cobra on drums, Patrick Ralla on guitars, keys and vocals, and renowned pedal steel player Joe Harvey-Whyte. Returning guest Collin Hegna from Brian Jonestown Massacre plays an instrument called a Marxophone on “Choir of Criers”. They also welcome Sean Read of The Rockingbirds and Dexy's Midnight Runners, who adds horns to “Three Rolling Hills” and “I Was A Stone”.

The main bulk of the recording for the new album was done live in the studio at Echozoo in Eastbourne with Dave Lynch. For the first time, the band decided to dive straight in to the recording studio following their German tour in 2018. Having lived in each other’s pockets and playing their new songs every night, the band were as tight and primed as they could possibly be. There ensued a few, very long, days of recording, capturing the essence of the band in their element.

The songwriting process was even more collaborative for this album, with the usual co-writes between Richard Olson, Sam Ferman and Patrick Ralla enhanced by Joe Harvey-White’s arrangements and Paulie Cobra’s harmonies. The biggest difference is that Sam Ferman sings lead on the first single “‘(I’ve Seen) The Summer in Her Eyes”, a song about lost love and self doubt channeled through two and a half minutes of garage pastoralism.

The album’s title track “A New Kind of Sky” tells a story from the point of view of somebody who idealises a past that never existed. The band go glam-rock on the stand-out track “I Will Please You”, a tale of a cult leader/world leader and his irresistible (for some) charm from the point-of-view of his most recent victim and “Heavy Blue” is a country music tale of drunken debauchery seen through the eyes of an inexperienced young man. The triumphant trumpet-driven song “These Rolling Hills” is a minor-key tale of a journey into the hills of Marin County, California undertaken by Paulie and Richard to visit friends Asteroid No. 4, with a most interesting outcome.

The Hanging Stars released their debut album Over the Silvery Lake in 2016, which received plaudits from broadsheets such as The Times, who described it as; "An album with enough of a hazy, sun-dappled charm to make the capital's dreariest weather bearable”, as well as The Guardian, who said; “Mersey-laced harmonies and just a whiff of the Gun Club.” They picked up a good amount of support at 6 Music and “The House on the Hill” scored a much-coveted 10/10 by John Robb on Steve Lamacq’s Roundtable.

Their second album Songs For Somewhere Else in 2017 received critical acclaim from the likes of Uncut (Revelations article), Shindig (several features and 4* review) as well as The Quietus and The Line Of Best Fit, plus radio support from Gideon Coe and Bob Harris (they performed an Under the Apple Tree Session for Bob Harris in January 2019).

Whilst playing their own successful sold-out headline dates, the band were invited to share the stage with Teenage Fanclub, The Clientele, Wolf People, The Long Ryders and GospelbeacH, as well as playing festivals such as Liverpool’s International Festival of Psychedelia, Red Rooster, Ramblin' Roots, UK Americana Festival and The Long Road.

2025 Repress

2019 marks the year that Music for Freaks has officially been running for over 20 whole years. Two decades of topsy turvy, downright Freakish behaviour. How the hell did that happen?

So, what better time to delve deep into the labels vaults again and uncover more of its hidden treasures. Back in 2015, we approached some of today's most discerning producers, those who truly "get" the label's ethos from old, to let them loose on tracks old and new. It brought to the fore the "Freaks - Let's Do It Again" series of releases and we're super chuffed to bring you the 3rd in the series to kick off the label's 20th anniversary celebrations; a new collaboration with likeminded artists and we think you'll agree it's another testament to the divergent & insouciant house music that has always been the beating heart of this label.

First up, we welcome back the Chilean anti-hero Ricardo Villalobos.

When we sent Ricardo the parts to the Freaks album, "The Man Who Lived Underground" a few years ago, he sent back 5 interpretations which blew our collective minds. This is the 3rd of his journeys. Edited by head Freak, Justin Harris, it delivers a tripped out, discordant tech mix of the Freaks track, 'He's Angry' and is a wonderfully warped and highly hypnotic jam, that drives deep down into the subconscious.

The 20th anniversary wouldn't feel right without some brand spanking new music from Freaks themselves.
This track was properly hidden in the Freaks DAT vaults from the 1990's and Justin & Luke have dusted it off, mixed it down and "Unbeknown To Us" will finally see the light of day. It's safe to say Freaks have always had a timeless feel to their music and this track, despite being 20 years old as an original production, is no exception.

Next up, The Martinez Brothers make their MFF debut and to say we're chuffed to be releasing this one after 3 years of it being in the vault, is a huge understatement. There's nothing but good vibes, cranked to eleven, on this cut and the brothers have cooked up a true rip snorting tech house remix of "Time", that will charm the roof off any self-respecting club or festival tent.

And last but by no means least, fellow previous collaborators on Let's Do It Again, Part 1, Gerd Jansen and Phillip Lauer, aka Tuff City Kids, have graced us with another superb remix of a firm Freaks favourite from back in the day, "Turning Orange". The duo have whipped up an excellent stripped 808, electro-hop mix with low slung electro beats, minor key atmospherics and nostalgic 80s vocal pitch-shifts. Villalobos, Martinez Brothers, Tuff City Kidz and Freaks all on the same record? This is the type of house music madness that dreams are made of.
A fitting start to the celebrations - we reckon you'll agree!

Good For You present a special Paradise Garage inspired 12 Inch sampler from the upcoming ‘Paradise Garage : Inspirations’ compilation, featuring two of Kenny Summit's collaborations with the Director's Cut duo, and Godfathers of House, Frankie Knuckles and Eric Kupper. Neither of these tracks have ever been pressed to vinyl, so this is your chance to own these masterful tracks cut loud and proud on either side of a 12 inch.

The A side houses the last ever Frankie Knuckles production, a project Frankie and Summit worked on with Eric Kupper - remixing 'You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine' by the legendary Lou Rawls – pure soulful house brilliance from the very first second. On the flip you’ll find a further Kenny collaboration with the dynamic duo entitled ‘Loving You’ – the trio teaming up to deliver a stunning Motown inspired dance floor stomper with an uplifting vocal by the one and only Yasmeen. Two certified anthems that have had heavy rotation with DJs like Cajmere, Grant Nelson, Sonny Fodera, Quentin Harris, Robert Owens, Tony Humphries, Danny Rampling, John Morales, Graeme Park, Pete Tong and still continue to get played the world over.

These tracks form part of a wider compilation, ‘Paradise Garage : Inspirations’ that contains unreleased remixes of iconic club tracks like Loves Last Episode‘s remix of Deee-Lite‘s ‘Power Of Love’, and seminal club classics like the Masters-At-Work remix of Todd Terry‘s anthem ‘Sume Sigh Say’ and Francois K’s “Time & Space.”

Both this sampler and the full compilation feature a masterpiece of cover art designed by Alexander Juhasz, the artist behind the award winning films The Little Prince and The Babadook.

Georgian artist Sophia Saze releases her debut two-part album 'Self' on Francis Harris' Kingdoms imprint, with part one dropping on cassette this June. "The record embodies my story of duality within the context of identity, insomuch as the idea that every person has a deeper layer we don't show on the surface."
Born in Tbilisi, Sophia Saze is the daughter of political refugees who's spent her life living in numerous different countries before eventually finding home in Brooklyn. Finding it difficult to find her own identity due to living a nomadic lifestyle, the classically trained musician became entangled with electronic music before becoming a key player within New York's nightlife scene and launching her Dusk & Haze imprint in 2017.
A reflection of her struggles throughout life, 'Self' is very much a memoir of the many different places she's lived during her journey, including Georgia, Russia, USA, France and Canada. Contrasting to her recent productions, which are geared more towards the dancefloor, her debut longplayer is downtempo and features a medley of musical influences - mixed in two parts and released as a concept album on cassette. Maintaining a sonically raw feel throughout, 'Self' draws the analogy of analog to modern day digital culture whilst also taking a stance against perfection, whether integrating the distance crackle of her machines or intentional off-beat piano notes in minor. Part One was conceived, for the most part, during a sleepless yet inspired 48-hour studio session. Processed field recordings accompany samples from her childhood, such as soviet cartoons and intimate VHS recordings of her family. The result is a well-seasoned and personal story portrayed in fourteen tracks mixed together.
"I feel the element of patience is somewhat of a lost commodity in our generation, particularly for albums. We're consumed by track to track interpretations and constantly searching for the next instant stimulation. With this record, I wanted to reiterate the idea that if you don't have the willingness to sit through the whole thing, then you're not stepping into it with the right mindset to begin with."
Every artist who collaborated on the record is handpicked, such as vocalist Ricardo Rivera. The final production was also mixed by Francis Harris himself. All of their involvement means they share a fragment of the concept.

Soul Jazz Records are releasing this stunning new collection, The World of Keith Haring, featuring
music influential to the artist Keith Haring.
The art of Keith Haring is today one of the most recognisable of any visual artists of his generation,
defining 1980s New York during an intense period when downtown artists and musicians collaborated
like never before. Haring’s musical inspiration took in the punk/dance downtown sounds of clubs like
The Mudd Club, underground disco at Larry Levan’s Paradise Garage, as well the early days of hip-hop
and electro.
The album is released to coincide with the opening of the first major exhibition in the UK of Keith
Haring’s work at Tate Liverpool and which runs for the next six months.
Haring’s many friends included Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Madonna, Fab Five Freddy,
William Burroughs, Jenny Holzer, Yoko Ono, Grace Jones, Larry Levan, Futura 2000.
If you were looking for a person to guide you through the wide variety of nightclub scenes of
downtown New York in the 1980s, then Keith Haring would have been your man.
This album comes in deluxe artwork and three formats – Double CD + 48-page book, a deluxe 3xLP +
bonus 7” + download code vinyl version, and a standard 3xLP + download standard vinyl version. All
formats of the album feature stunning photography, extensive sleevenotes and interviews.
The music here includes the work of a number of Haring’s close friends, including Jean-Michel
Basquiat, Yoko Ono, Larry Levan, John Sex and George Condo (The Girls), as well as healthy dose of
rare disco, early electro and New York punk/dance tracks.

French modern-classical quartet astrïd return on May 10th with the first part of a new release entitled A Porthole.

Conceptually the two records work in unison, focusing on portholes into the abyss, with part one delving into the depths of the deep sea. The tracks are named after various strains of seaweed, the artwork depicting dark waves and uncertainty. Part two will follow in a years time and will turn its attention to the night sky and constellations.

A Porthole continues astrïd’s signature style of billowing guitars, strings and woodwind. Each element intertwined with another, linked perfectly together through restrained jazz-tinged percussion. 2017’s highly-acclaimed release ‘Through the Sparkle’ with renowned pianist Rachel Grimes (of Rachels) set the bar extremely high for this release but astrïd have matched the depth, melody and quality of that record here.

Part one of this journey features some sublime compositions with Cyril Secq’s expressive and bold guitar playing carrying the pieces into chamber music territory, joined seamlessly by a variety of other instruments that swell and soar and fit perfectly into the story being told. Everything seems to have its place, nothing is overplayed or out of step here, there is an organic nature to the way this quartet plays and interacts with one another as melodies circle back and fade away in the same beautiful breath.

A Porthole is a deeply charming record, exercising glorious, nuanced refrain and offering a sort of hope rarely found in music these days.

• Aqua blue vinyl - limited to 300 copies w/ download code

• The album was mastered by Harris Newman (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Tindersticks etc)

• The artwork is extracted from an original one of a kind monotype print by Gizeh overlord Richard Knox.

Presenting 'Fire Zone'. Album written, produced & mixed by Zane Reynolds and pressed on 180g vinyl, by Ekster. Coming out May 2019, including poster 57x57cm artwork by the artist. Mastered & cut by Helmut Erler at Dubplates & Mastering.

The music of Zane Reynolds AKA SFV Acid celebrates lysergic life in small town America. His are urban hallucinations. Conceived in 'business parks, strip malls', in 'blue collar luxury'. On a diet of 'diner burgers'. From the self-released, hand-painted cassettes of his high school years, he has moved to work commissioned by locals 100% Silk, Japan`s Big Love, and Dutch imprint, BAKK. His latest long-player, Fire Zone, will be issued by Belgian label, Ekster.

The album continues to reference Zane's Los Angeles home, and in this case the devastation that rages there every Summer. The concept however, reaching away from the horror and flames, to offer an escape.

There are moments, interludes, that hint at, and hide, something darker. Where drone twists from tape hiss. Bends. Out of shape. Where chords distort. Their degraded edges disintegrating. Charred perhaps But Ai welcomes you to 'San Fernando Valley', and a low-riding 808 booms. Less L.A. More Overtown, or Liberty City. Its racing booty bass calmed by wind chimes. The rapid Electro-Funk clip countered by modal synths. Its sunny disposition reflecting the SFV climate.

Playful rhymes, fragmented dialogue, and answer phone messages, rub up against Rave sirens. Roland`s silver box squeezes out a Sci-Fi Jazz. Through ping-ponging percussion. Through a drum and bass battery. Punched by keys that wanna be horns. Rewinds that create a bin-blowing vacuum. Shore-line samples washing the more head-nodding tempos. Euphoria rising while a perfect beat pops and locks. (text: Robert Harris)

Fifth part of the Strata-East Dolphy Series, Glass Bead Games is arguably the crown jewel of the Strata East movement, an amorphous genre that treads an unusual path between post-bop, 70's avant-garde and spiritual jazz, with a groove.

Glass Bead Games is full of revelations at many levels. First, the decade of the 1970s did produce genuinely creative, "human" new music flowing from the jazz mainstream; second, Bill Lee was more than Spike's dad: he was a superlative bassist, a team player of the first order, a powerful catalyst who, if anything, deserves to be better known than his son; third, Billy Higgins was, as so many musicians insist, a once-in-a-lifetime drummer—the bellows inspiriting the collective flame.

Most importantly, Clifford Jordan was an artist of the first order, his playing so effortless and unforced, unselfconscious and focused, mature and wise that, at a time when altissimo fury was all the rage, it's small wonder his authentic voice frequently went unheard. His musical rhetoric is so personally expressive, its substance so compelling, the listener couldn't care less about the extraordinary technique required to convey its captivating message. Compared to some of his more acclaimed peers he's a less aggressive yet paradoxically more directive and shaping influence. The climaxes, rather than spelled out, are merely suggested, registering with deep and lasting impact on the listener. It all comes down to learning the language, those precious little beads. Not every player, including Jordan or the listener, can use it like Shakespeare, but all can learn to read Shakespeare and understand its principles of arbitrariness and serendipity, of invariance and transformation.

Jordan, no less than Shakespeare, requires a like-minded cast of players—in this case four musicians of such redoubtable proficiency that each remains committed to keeping the beads in play. He's not a man content with a mere musical "dialogue" with his fellow musicians nor is he about to take the initiative in pulling his troops up to his level. Instead he begins to tell a musical story that's so compelling his three comrades are inspired equally to contribute to a collaborative narrative. This is brilliant music-making by a Coltrane- influenced successor who feels no obligation to mime the predecessor. It may be the most significant saxophone performance on record since Coltrane and, providing the listener stays with it for any length of time, the most deeply satisfying. Jordan's game—so effortless, unforced, and "level"—erases distinctions between composed and improvised, soloist and ensemble, narrator and narrative, the dancer and the dance. It seems incapable of wearing out its welcome.

By Samuel Chell/All About Jazz

Fantastic 80s pop music with a soul and funk touch and an outstanding singer. A must have for fans
of Billy Ocean, Barry White and similar artists. Perfect playing, perfect production, perfect songwriting.

On the edge of the lightfooted disco movement there was sophisticated funk music and one of the often
overlooked protagonists oft he scene was Mr. Sterling Harrison, born in 1941, passed in 2005. His legacy contains
two solo albums from the early 80s and this, dear friends of funk music, is his second from 1981. Copies in good
shape fetch prices up to 800 Dollars so we should give this current reissue on EVERLAND warm welcomes. Is it all
worth the enthusiasm Oh, you can bet it is. Sterling Harrison had left behind the 70s and was ready for the 80s.
The sound is up to date, clear, clean and powerful. The music still shows the fire of the earlier funk records but the
synthesizer passages, the whole production proves that we are now entering a new age. 80s Synthie Pop is part of
the mix, despite the main ingredients are soul, funk and a bit of disco here and there. The vocals are overwhelming,
sung with great emotions and a feeling for the freaky edge of soul. The tunes here come as diverse as they can be,
each one with his very own face, but they all have the same spirit courtesy of Sterling Harrison. Each one should
have had a spot on the top ten pop charts in 1981 but in this case this album would probably be legendary in
another way. This music will drive every 80s black pop enthusiast wild. When after all these powerfully driving pop
and dance tunes, with a more relaxed reggae groover in between, your feet ask for a break, just go for a sweet soul
ballad in the best Barry White style. Smooth and slick, yet still performed with depth and spirit, such a song might
calm you down until the next dancefloor sweeper will hit your ears. The overall atmosphere of this record is truly
happy and enlightened. Good vibrations pour from every note, played here by a team of highest order musicians. A
perfect record for 80s black pop aficionados who admire Billy Ocean's 80s albums for example. This record is a
typical example of the contemporary pop music of its era, but this is what makes it even more charming. And the
songs will definitely stick to your mind after just a few spins without losing their fascination. A true gem for true
music lovers.

Nach Dem Sensationellen Erfolg Des Ersten Albums - oracle Im Letzten Jahr, Erscheint Nun Das Zweite Album Der Deutschen Jazz-supergroup Web Web. - dance Of The Demons Ist Ein Furioser Tanz Mit Den Dämonen - Mal Im Positiven Spirit Soul Jazz Rausch Wie Bei - land Of The Arum Flower , Das Mit Seiner Ergreifenden Melodie An Ethopian Jazz Der 60er Jahre Erinnert, Oder Mal Verrückt, Entfesselt Wie Bei - sandia .

Web Web Spielt Nun Mittlerweile Seit 2 Jahren Intensiv Zusammen, Man Hat Duzende Konzerte Absolviert Und Man Spürt Förmlich Die Geschlossenheit, Intensität Und Kraft, Die Sich Als Homogener Organismus Aus Einem Guß Heraus Zu Einem Phantastischen Sound Zusammenbraut.

Als Einen Besonderen Glücksfall Konnte Die Band Den Berühmten Marrokanischen Sänger Und Gembri-spieler Majid Bekkas Gewinnen, Der In Rabat Beheimatet Ist. Tony Lakatos Arbeitete Mit Majid Und Joachim Kühn In Den Letzten Jahren Immer Wieder Zusammen, Ebenso Roberto Digioia In Zusammenhang Mit Klaus Doldinger. Insofern Lag Es Nahe, Diesen Brillianten Musiker Mit Seinen Nordafrikanischen Wurzeln Mit Dem Ungeschliffenen Konzept Von Web Web Zu Verbinden. In - maroc Blues , Einer Soloperformance Von Majid, Hört Man Den Warmen Klangkörper Der Gembri, Einem Kontrabassartig-klingendem Instrument (dreisaitige Langhalslaute), Sowie Auch Majids Wunderbare Stimme, In Der Sich Die Jahrhunderte Alte Tradition Der Berber Widerspiegelt. - safar Zeigt Ebenso Die Große Improvisatorische Klasse Von Web Web, Vor Allem Wie Sie Auf Allen Ebenen In Die Spirituelle Sprache Eintauchen.
Majid Bekkas Ist Einer Der Bedeutendsten Musiker Und Vertreter Der Gnawa-musik, Die In Der Südlichen Sahara Beheimatet Ist. Am Konservatorium Für Musik Und Tanz In Rabat Studierte Er Seit 1975 Klassische Gitarre Und Oud.
Nach Ersten Erfahrungen Mit Eigenen Bands In Den 80er Jahren Gründete Er 1990 Sein Trio Gnaoua Blues Band, In Dem Er Blues Mit Gnawa-musik Verband. In Den Darauffolgenden Jahren Interessierte Er Sich Zunehmends Für Jazz, Trat Schon Bald Mit Größen Wie Archie Shepp, Louis Sclavis, Peter Brötzmann Oder Hamid Drake Auf.

- dance Of The Demons- Wurde Wie Auch - oracle An Einem Wochenende Live In München Eingespielt
Toningenieur Ist Wie Auch Bei - oracle Jan Krause (beanfield, Poets Of Rhythm U.v.m.)
Das Nächste, Dritte Web Web Album Wird Im Winter 2018 Ebendort In München Aufgenommen, Und Es Werden Wíeder Ein Oder Zwei Hochkarätige Gäste Dazu Eingeladen.

Web Web Sind: Roberto Di Gioia (piano, Synth, Percussion), Tony Lakatos (tenor- Und Sopranosaxophone), Christian Von Kaphengst (upright Bass) Und Peter Gall (drums).

Roberto Di Gioia Arbeitete Mit Zahlreichen Jazz-legenden Zusammen, Wie Z.b. Mit Woody Shaw, Art Farmer, James Moody, Johnny Griffin, Charlie Rouse, Clifford Jordan, Clark Terry, Roy Ayers, Gregory Porter U.v.m.
Anfang 1990 Wurde Er Mitglied In Klaus Doldingers Passport.
Als Pianist Machte Er U.a. Aufnahmen Mit Udo Lindenberg (mtv-unplugged,2011), Charlie Watts (- music Of The Rolling Stones , 2005), Console (- reset The Preset , 2003), The Notwist (- shrink 1998, - neon Golden , 2002).
Seit 2007 Arbeitet Er Zusammen Mit Samon Kawamura Und Max Herre Als Kahedi: Max Herre (- hallo Welt , 2012), Joy Denalane (- gleisdreieck , 2017), U.v.m.
Seine Eigene Band Marsmobil (produziert Von Peter Kruder) Wird Im Herbst Ihr 4.studioalbum Veröffentlichen.

Tony Lakatos Stammt Aus Der Berühmten Lakatos-familie Aus Budapest, Ungarn. Sein Vater War Ein Berühmter Geiger, Ebenso Sein Jüngerer Bruder Roby. Er Begann Mit Dem Saxofon-spiel Als Er 15 Jahre Alt War.
Tony Studierte Auf Dem Bela-bartok-konservatorium In Budapest, Machte Seinen Abschluß 1979 Und Spielte Seither Auf Über 350 Jazzproduktionen Weltweit Mit, U.a. Mit Al Foster, Kirk Lightsey, Randy Brecker, George Mraz, David Witham, Terri Lyne Carrington, Anthony Jackson. Tony War Mitglied Der Band Pili Pili Von Jasper Van´t Hof. Seit 1993 Ist Er Solist In Der Hr Radio-bigband.

Christian Von Kaphengst Bekam Mit 6 Jahren Klassischen Klavierunterricht Im Peter-cornelius-konservatorium In Mainz.
Von 1988 Bis 1995 Studierte Er Jazz-kontrabass Sowie Instrumentalpädagogik An Der Musikhochschule In Köln.
Sein Jazzquartett - cafe Du Sport Absolvierte Im Auftrag Des Goethe-instituts Tourneen Nach Pakistan, Indien, Türkei Und Westafrika. Seit 1999 Ist Er Regelmäßig Bassist Von Patti Austin Sowie Der New York Voices Für Europäische Konzerte.
Von Kaphengst Spielte U.a. Mit Randy Brecker, Nat Adderley, Roy Hargrove, Joe Sample, Charlie Mariano, Katja Ebstein, Xavier Naidoo, Roachford, Yvonne Catterfeld.

Peter Gall Gewann Bereits In Jungen Jahren Erste Preise Bei Jugendjazzt Und Tourte Mit Dem Bundesjazzorchester Unter Leitung Von Peter Herbholzheimer. Er Studierte An Der Berliner Universität Der Künste Und Am Jazz Institut Berlin Bei John Hollenbeck. Gall Absolvierte Sein Masterstudium An Der Manhattan School Of Music Bei John Riley.
Er Arbeitete U.a. Mit Kurt Rosenwinkel, Seamus Blake, Ben Street, Gabriel Rios, Jasmin Tabatabai, Thomas Quasthoff, Peter Fessler.

Feedback - Web Web - oracle :

"oracle Ist Nicht Nur Ungemein Packend, Sondern Klingt Auch Absolut International, Bewegt Sich Auf Einer Ebene Mit Leuten Wie Kamasi Washington Oder Shabaka Hutchings." - Jazzthetik

"ein Wirklich Erstaunliches Erstes Album" - Süddeutsche Zeitung

"sun Ra Wäre Stolz Gewesen Auf Web Web Und Ihr Erstes Album Oracle." - Soultrainonline.de

"...the Album Is Engaging And Fascinating In Equal Measures. ... Sonically, The Album Embraces The Various Late 1960s And '70s Jazz Aesthetics Of Modal, Fusion And Spiritual Jazz Soundscapes, But 'oracle' Isn't A Strata East Or Black Jazz Tribute Record. This Is Very Much A Contemporary Affair With Its Richness Emanating From The Group's Varied Musical Tastes And Sensibilities And It Favours An Entire Listening Experience." - Ukvibe.org

"raise A Glass And Toast This Supremely Enjoyable Recording." - Birdistheworm
"oracle Contains 13 Tracks Of Pure Retro Sounding Perfection. This Is Like A Long Forgotten Treasure. It's Certainly An Album Serious Lovers Of The Genre Will Embrace." - Reviewgraveyard
"wonderful Album!!" - Simon Harrison / Basic Soul

"this Is Amazing. Going To Have To Grab A Vinyl Copy For The Collection" - Kev Beadle

"fantastic Record ! Love It ! We Need More Music Like This !!" - Peter Kruder

Way back in 1967, an animated superhero cartoon was released into the world. It was created by Grantray-Lawrence Animation and was based on a web-spinning, crime fighting blue and red dressed character that had originated in1962, in Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. This amazing series (that we're not allowed to mention the name of for legal reasons) ran on ABC TV in the USA, then Canada, then a few years later started to spread its web further, running here in the UK throughout summer holidays, after school and possibly early mornings at weekends in the late 1970s. The series then got released on VHS video (and probably Betamax too) in the mid 1980s and still continues to spin its animated magic around the world through further broadcasts, YouTube and DVDs.

The series was notoriously low budget, with animated errors everywhere and numerous scenes, sequences and backgrounds being re-used all the time, often across the same episode. Even a certain spider logo on a costume would appear with six legs, then eight legs later on, then back to six again in the same show.

Series One opened with a newly written spider theme, a classic, hooky song all about doing whatever spiders can, and had, as Big George (RIP) once pointed out to me, a set of session singers falling slightly out of time with the backing track after the first verse. Series One also featured background music by jobbing composers Bob Harris and Ray Ellis but these cues and master tapes are now believed to be lost.

After Series One the company Grantray-Lawrence went bankrupt, so the amazing spider series (that we're not allowed to mention for legal reasons) was taken on by producer Steve Krantz. He brought in new talent, including animation director Ralph Bakshi who later went on to turn a Robert Crumb strip cartoon into the feature Fritz The Cat. Krantz also slashed the already cripplingly small spider budget, and brought in the idea of using economic library music. Here, thanks possibly to an independent sync agent (it has been suggested that a company called Music Sound Track Services may have been the one) production turned to the KPM catalogue. This was one of the few really established library catalogues around at the time with a modern edge, it was full of fabulous, modern dramatic music tracks - often all on the same LP. But more importantly all the tracks were far longer than the one minute musical cuts that many of the fledgling USA library companies were issuing at the time. Not only would this KPM music be efficient, affordable and very easy to use, it would also mean syndication worldwide would not be held up by any future musical issues. Krantz produced two amazing spider series (that we're not allowed to mention for legal reasons), and both were smothered with KPM music. In fact barely a spider second goes by without music playing in either the background or foreground.

For many years I - and many nostalgic others - have been thinking about putting this vinyl album together. For many enthusiasts this really is formative music - a junior foray into hip swinging crime jazz and esoteric musical grooviness. I've also read on line accounts by DJs from WFMU on the trail of original spider master tapes, and there's even a whole forum dedicated to Spidey-Jazz'. Then recently I was looking at an old spider tracklist and realized that several of my favourite KPM cues were there including Syd Dale's Hell Raisers' and Walk And Talk', both from one of the most elusive and desirable KPM albums of all time (yes, you just try and find yourself a copy of KPM 1002 right now), so I decided to push on and get the album made.

So, what features on this Spider-Jazz Lp Well it's music from the amazing TV series we are not allowed to mention for legal reasons, BUT, not music from Series One. No, but it is all from Series Two and Series Three. From looking at archival cue sheets, over 50 tracks from various early KPM 1000 series albums were used across episodes. I've distilled this down into one exciting and enthralling LP, and if this works a further Spider Jazz album may well swing in to production. If you're interested (and I'm sure you may well be) cues here came from KPM1001, KPM1002, KPM1015, KPM1017, KPM1018 and KPM1043 and were composed by master library composers of the era - Dale, Hawkshaw, Hawksworth, Mansfield etc.

And if you are listening over there in the USA, you may well recognize many of the cues here not just from the amazing TV series (that we're not allowed to mention for legal reasons) but also from classic 1960s and 1970s NFL highlight shows that we are allowed to mention.

Fresh on Francis Harris' Kingdoms imprint comes Rasmus Juncker's 'Ophold' - six tracks of sublime atmospheres and textures. The Danish musician, sound composer and DJ fits perfectly with the label's aesthetic, joining the dots between ambient, leftfield electronica and modern classical.

Juncker has a background in studying jazz drumming and has been playing improvised music within the jazz domain for many years. He also started to DJ at the age of 14 and was introduced to the world of electronic music production at the same time.

When Rasmus started to think about his debut album he spent several months trying to find his own way to combine his favourite musical influences, improvisation, electronics and classical music. 'Almost a year later', Juncker says, "I went to a sensory deprivation floating tank in Copenhagen while researching for another performance and while I was lying there, floating in the water, deprived from most of my senses, I got the idea to do something drastic in my musical process. Philosophers like Immanuel Kant describe this deprived state as a mental 'Cesura', which became some sort of guideline for the album."

So Juncker decided to start working on the album by leaving the process as well as the final result completely open. 'I wanted to create sounds and music that I had no idea what they would sound like, but would feel like a mental 'Cesura', an 'Ophold' (in Danish)' he states.

He invited musicians, one after the other, to his studio. "I had an electronic musician to improvise patterns and new interesting sounds based on my experience in the deprivation tank. I chose some of the takes and some weeks later I invited a jazz guitarist to listen and improvise on top of what he heard. Then a classical string quartet and a double bass player came to my studio months later, and finally I recorded myself on percussion and drums.

Throughout the recording process I've been experimenting with special microphones in various setups, used noises from the recordings and the room became absolutely essential for the pieces." Juncker states.

"The material I used was all first take improvision which I arranged, layered and edited into compositions. The final pieces were mixed by Andreas Pallisgaard with the same improvised and experimental approach of the recording and the production. None of the musician met each other, but their sounds developed into something completely fantastic I think. The presence of the acoustic instruments and the depth and complexity of the synthesized layers gave some kind of an indescribable sounding music from another galaxy.

Track by track:

'Norddrum' starts proceedings - ethereal, grainy sounds merge and disassociate, as a distant rhythm gradually finds its way to the fore.

The second track, 'Sora' , clocking in at under 2 minutes, is an interlude full of strings, pads, and percussive hits, rich in feeling. This strong sense of sound design and seemingly disparate sounds woven together into a whole carries through into 'Eksotisk Tirsdag' - the strings, plucked instruments and electronics harking back to 4th world adventurers like Jon Hassel and Brian Eno.

'Cyklus' dives into drone textures, pulsing and modulating to create an unearthly soundtrack.

'Havekunst' is another 2 minutes interlude, this time bringing a fully charged rhythmic barrage to the front.

'Cesura', the final track is in essence the EP's centerpiece - a sprawling 8 minute journey that traverses tense, fibrous sections and on into pulsing modular passages, before opening up into glorious moments of wonder and brightness. It's a hugely bold yet fragile endeavour, in line with the whole release.

For his third album for Far Out Recordings, London based multi-instrumentalist and one of Europe's finest saxophonists Sean Khan ventures to Rio de Janeiro to collaborate with iconic Brazilian polymath Hermeto Pascoal. Taking its title from the escaped slave settlement 'Palmares' in the Northeast of Brazil during the 1600s, Palmares Fantasy is Khan's utopian jazz message for the world, and features Azymuth drummer Ivan 'Mamao' Conti, bassist Paulo Russo, guitarist Jim Mullen, and guest vocals from Brazilian chanteuse Sabrina Malheiros, and Cinematic Orchestra frontwoman Heidi Vogel.

Like Hermeto Pascoal, Sean Khan is a self-taught musician. Never able to afford his original dream of studying at Berklee, and having been turned away from Guildhall School of Music for being 'too raw', he became disillusioned with what he saw as the exclusivity, elitism and dangerous institutionalisation of the jazz world. Yet Sean's love for music and the drive to create never faltered.

Hermeto Pascoal, the man Miles Davis once dubbed the most impressive musician in the world', is a similarly independent artist. A true maverick whose ingenuity and freedom from conventional restraints is so great that he has essentially conceived his own musical language, made him the dream collaboration for Sean.

Aspiring to inclusivity and equality also informs the message in Khan's music. Inspired by the 17th Century settlement of Palmares in Brazil's Alagoas region, which was free from the Portuguese crown's murderous exploitation of South America for a century, Khan notes his fascination with the fact that while majoritively made up of escaped African slaves, many deserter conquistadors also joined the settlement.

Hearing the deep-grooving title track with this history in mind, the listener is transported to a futuristic musical eden, with Mamao's insatiable 10/8 rhythm back-boning Hermeto's wild improvised vocals, rhodes and whistles, while Sean's harmonically brilliant sax and flute add more layers of moody, characterful expression. 'Moment of Collapse' is Sean's poetic study on the uncertainties of modern day western civilisation, delicately presented by the gorgeous vocals of Heidi Vogel and drenched in lugubrious strings and Alice Coltrane-esque harp. The two covers on the album are of Hermeto's own 'Montreux' (on which Hermeto plays solos on a teapot and a pint of water), and an uplifting soulful jazz-funk take on Milton Nascimento & Lo Borges MPB classic 'Tudo Que Voce Podia Ser' featuring the vocals of pioneering nu-bossa voice Sabrina Malheiros.

The recording sessions for the album were part of an intensive and hugely productive eight-week excursion to South America for Far Out boss Joe Davis in the summer of 2016, which also saw the sessions for Azymuth's Fênix and a forthcoming album from Uruguayan fusion legend Hugo Fattoruso.

Fantastic' Gilles Peterson

Loving this!' Opolopo

Thank you!' Sassy J

Proper! Great track.' Colin Dale

this is great!' Yannick Elverfeld (RBMA / Needs Records)

I've enjoyed Sean Khan's earlier releases, but this really seems like he's grown into his fairly considerable talent.' Mark Sampson (Songlines)

His last album was his best so far, but I think this one may be even better.' Laurence Pragnell (Soul Brother Records)

dope!!!' Kyri (R2 Records)

this is great - really cool vibe!' Sam Redmore

wonderful track - can't wait to hear the lp.' Simon Harrison (Basic Soul Radio)

This is very tasty indeed.' Gavin Boyd (Soul Has No Tempo)

Stunning!!!' Mark Milz (Further In Fusion)

Oi Oi' Samuel Lloyd (Balamii Radio)

PRESS / ONLINE

VINYL FACTORY (UK) News (Anton Spice) 09/03/18 online

SOUNDS & COLOURS (UK) News (Gabriel Gahan) 09/03/18 online

THE WIRE (UK) Review confirmed (Joseph Stanard) print

EVENING STANDARD (UK) Review confirmed (Jane Cornwell) print + online

ECHOES MAGAZINE (UK) Review confirmed (Laurence Pragnell) print

LIBERATION (FR) Feature confirmed (Jacques Denis) print + online

MUSIC IS MY SANCTUARY (CA) Premiere confirmed (Mike Jones) online

JAZZ MAGAZINE (FR) Review confirmed (Frederic Goaty) print

SHINDIG! (UK) Review confirmed (Grahame Bent) print

MUSICA MACONDO (UK) Premiere confirmed (Tim Garcia) online

RAWCKUS MAGAZINE (USA) News (Randy Radic) online

KIND OF JAZZ (UK) Review confirmed (Fernando Rose) online

TONART MAGAZINE (DE) Review confirmed (Michael Moehring) print

WORLD MUSIC NETWORK (USA) Review confirmed (Raul Da Gama) online

BADD PRESS BLOG (USA) Review confirmed (Kevin Press) online

ORKESTER JOURNALEN (DK) Review confirmed (Patrik Sandberg) print

LIVE

WORLDWIDE FM (UK) Sean Khan live session confirmed (Gilles Peterson)

RADIO

BBC RADIO 6 (UK) Gilles Peterson - Palmares Fantasy (24/02/18) link

OTHER

BRITISH AIRWAYS On board BA flights (June 2018)

Noplace is an improvised collaboration between Aidan Baker (Nadja / Caudal / B/B/S/), Simon Goff (Molecular, Bee & Flower) and Thor Harris (Swans, Shearwater, Thor & Friends).
Having known each other for a number of years and previously contributed to one another's recordings this trio finally came together as a whole on May 7th 2017 at Redrum Studios in Berlin. In a short, improvised session of just a few hours they set about laying down as much material as possible which was then subsequently edited and re-worked (without overdubs) to form this album.
The same evening the trio played together as part of a 9-piece Thor & Friends ensemble which also included Christopher Hefner (on musical saw) whose artwork graces the cover of the record and gave it its name.
Noplace is a hypnotic and deep listen. Kinetic rhythms pulsate throughout whilst the guitar and violin jostle and weave around the metronomic beats, creating a cathartic and all-encompassing experience. The very nature of the instrumental repetitions give it an immediate avant/krautrock feel but the whole record is coated in a wonderful psychedelic atmosphere that's both melodic, textured and innovative.
Without doubt a perfect marriage and the sum of its parts. You would be forgiven for thinking Noplace took years to craft but that's testament to three excellent musicians who have produced a real treat of a record. Broken down into seven pieces but very much best enjoyed as a thrilling whole, Noplace is a powerful and highly addictive album.

DJ Harrison is Richmond VA-based producer and multi-instrumentalist Devonne Harris.

The son of a radio DJ who introduced him to the world of record collecting, Harris grew up with music, progressing from violin, to high school drum-line, to the Jazz Studies program at Virginia Commonwealth University. He also continued working with other instruments and developed an interest in sampling. His development as a producer - at first, without a computer or sampler - came first learning to replay samples on the drums, piano, bass or guitar.

DJ Harrison finds himself inspired by local musicians in the Richmond scene that's as diverse and nonexclusive as they come. Among rappers, producers, punks and bluegrass bands, he falls within reach of an expansive pool of musicians to collaborate with. He lives and works in Jellowstone, a house turned recording compound occupied by his band mates in Butcher Brown, a 'garage punk jazz funk' group.

ll Camille, LA hip hop's female perspective.

Ill Camille has been a vital member of the LA music scene for some years. Kendrick Lamar used her vocals prominently for the 'good kid, m.A.A.d city' track 'Sing about me', she has been working with other TDE artists occasionally and spend a lot of time writing for different projects Terrance Martin was involved with.

At the same time Camille was developing her own material with her fellow peers such as MNDSGN, Iman Omari, DJ Battlecat, Like (Pac Div) Georgia Anne Muldrow & SIR who are all featured on her album 'Heirloom' just like TDE co-president Punch. 'Heirloom' productions range from smooth, g-funk esque west coast beats to live & organic soulful beats, working as the perfect backdrop for Camille's powerful, intelligent and thought thru lyrics

The album is deeply personal revolving around the issues that mater in her life from friends and family, her role as a woman and the heirloom of her and her surrounding: 'I feel like everyone are heirlooms of our mothers and fathers. An heirloom is just something that's passed down through a family. We get heirlooms in the form of game, encouragement or wise words. I know everyone has an aunt or uncle that's given them some bars about life in general. I have a village around me that have given me heirlooms in the form of conversations'.

Absolutely classic double header of brand new mixes from the mighty Mike Maurro! A Detroit classic goes head to head with another solid gold Philly classic on this 12" of exclusive mixes lifted from his "Peak Hour remixes" project, all produced from the original master tapes. The Spinners evergreen Soul classic "I'll Be Around" takes up the A-side with Mike's trademark respectful flourishes evident - a restrained, classy version of this all-time anthem is what we're treated to by someone who truly understands the originals and feels the music. A must have for all serious Soul lovers out there. On the B-side we have The Trammps stellar "The Night The Lights Went Out", a long time favourite that has been extensively sampled by numerous House artists and The Trammps paean to the infamous city wide blackout during the summer of '77 in NYC that ended up subsequently reshaping popular culture as we know it. Maurro's mix, as always, has respectfully rearranged the track in such a way that he's managed to put a new spin on a legendary disco classic focussing on the incredible arrangements of Norman Harris' original. Simply put, another set of essential mixes from a modern day master! File under - *Essential Disco*

Die vierköpfige Band aus Ithaca (New York) X Ambassadors besteht aus Sänger und Gitarrist Sam Harris, seinem blinden Bruder Casey Harris am Keyboard, Gitarrist Noah Feldshuh und Schlagzeuger Adam Levin. Ihren bereits veröffentlichten EPs - Love Songs Drug Songs' (2013) und - The Reason' (2014) folgt nun ihr Debütalbum - VHS'. - Mir war wichtig, dass sich das Album insgesamt wie ein Film anfühlt', sagt Sam Harris. Wie in einem Film, geht es in den Songs um Bewegung, um Geschwindigkeit, um den Wunsch, irgendein Beziehungschaos und die Enge des Kleinstadtdaseins hinter sich zu lassen. Die erste Single - Renegades', ist bereits auf Hitkurs! Am Radio belegt die Single nur wenige Wochen nach Radiostart bereits #26 der Airplaycharts. In den USA chartete sie an die Spitze der Alternative Airplay Charts und der Triple A Radio Charts, sowie auf #8 der US Top 40 Radio Charts.
Die Single hat sich schon jetzt weltweit über eine Million Mal verkauft und verzeichnet über 45 Millionen Streams. In Kanada, USA und Italien wurde - Renegades' bereits mit Doppel-Platin ausgezeichnet. Die Band tourte mit Bands wie Imagine Dragons, The Lumineers und Panic! At The Disco und eröffnet im Januar 2016 acht US-Shows für Muse! Das Album erscheint als CD und Vinyl.l

To anyone with even a passing interest in the weirder end of good-time party-ready house music, Freaks should need little introduction. Luke Solomon and Justin Harris have been keeping our preferred kind of dancefloor vibrating to the cheekiest manifestations of house music since the mid- 90s, never letting up and moving in the same oscillations as the good ship Circus Company. From first emerging on Phono through to setting up their Music For Freaks label, stopping by Playhouse, Wash House and Rebirth amongst countless other labels along the way, the UK duo have constantly given the traditions of house music a tickle in the ribs without losing that fundamental funk that makes a record great to dance to. We were thrilled to welcome Luke and Justin to remix Dave Aju's 'Nu Threads' at the end of last year, and now we follow up on that connection with a special EP of gems from the extensive Freaks archives. On 'Shrunken Heads (One Pro Mix)' the rock solid foundations of filter house music collide with flamboyant synth noodlings for a truly cosmic end result, while 'Absolut Zero' finds solace in a slower, deeper groove peppered with oddball effects tweaking and disembodied vocal samples. Heading further into loose-fit, slippery territory, 'Funk You (Who Do You Trust Dub)' lets soulful sample licks wriggle and writhe through a decidedly laid-back atmosphere that shows off the range Freaks have always sported in their output since day one. In many ways this coming together of Circus Company and Freaks feels like a logical development for two bastions of the oddball house music community, not to mention a great opportunity to hear tracks that otherwise might never have seen the light of day.