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After three years of waiting since her seminal Sister funk hit single "2 Kinds Of Men", Record Kicks finally presents "Stop Look Listen" the debut album from the new Oporto soul diva Marta Ren & The Groovelvets that will hit the streets 19 February 2016. Anticipated from the first single "I'm Not A Regular Woman", which is getting airwaves all over Europe (including BBC 6, Rai Radio 1, LeMouv / Radio France), produced and recorded on an Ampex eight-track tape machine by New Max from Portuguese funk combo Expensive Soul and mastered in NYC by Andy Vandette, "Stop Look Listen" is pure dynamite and follows the best tradition of the Soul Sisters of the 60s. Marta Ren, not surprisingly described as the new Marva Whitney, brilliantly supported by her super tight 8-piece rhythm & soul combo The Groovelvets, serves you 11 tracks of pure fire and takes-no-prisoners. From the floorshakin' opening track "Don't Look" to the mellow feel-good anthems "Smiling Faces", "So Long" and the afrotastic "Be Ma Fela", the Portuguese combo deliver a visceral deep funk album, proving that they're the new 'real deal'.

Marta Ren is not a newcomer as she has been around in the Portuguese scene since the mid 90s lending her deep and powerful voice, amongst others, to break-beat outfit The Bombazines, recording two albums and establishing her unique talent at clubs and festivals all around Portugal. But Marta's passion has always been for the deepest funk and rawest soul of the sixties, and now the time has come for her to show the world her immense talent. With a powerful voice that would make the founding soul sisters proud, Marta Ren is looking to rule the world and make herself a household name. Fans of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings get on it!

It’s hard not to notice such an unforgettable sleeve, and if the music it protects is half as memorable as the artwork, you know you just have to hear it. We don’t think you’ll be disappointed because yes, this is the majestic 1971 album Un Muñeco De Madera, courtesy of the shadowy Sola, and it sounds exactly as you’d want it to. Originally released on RCA in Mexico, it’s kaleidoscopic Acapulcan-funk.

The album’s endless grooves are propelled by softly rocking, quasi-library funk breaks. Vocally, Sola is in step with the 60s French pop-chanteuse style, but of course her lyrics are delivered in sensuous Spanish. Her voice is beautiful. Pillowy soft and tender, it can suddenly explode in mystical anger. These are ten tracks of moody, mysterious vibes that stir the spirit and sooth the soul.

The LP was written, arranged and directed by prolific Spanish composer Manuel Alejandro, the man behind an incredible number of now classic Latin love songs from the 60s, 70s and 80s. As for Sola herself, next to nothing is known about the Mexican singer except the occasional whisper heard in only the darkest corners of the annals of music history. It’s said that upon growing disillusioned with the music industry she ended up in a convent of Carmelite Sisters. Fitting perhaps, given that Un Muñeco De Madera is a spiritual wonder of a record.

Much-loved single and title-track “Un Muñeco De Madera” opens the album. It introduces us to Sola’s sparkling Latin-funk, bursting with swaggering grooves sewn by tight drums, sweeping strings and lush keys. It’s followed by the serene but melancholic bossa groove of “Oye Mamá, Oye Papá” and the strings and guitar of “He Bajado Al Infierno” that hold up vocals reaching for an eternal truth. With full-on soundtracky feels, the rolling keys underpinning the Morricone-esque soundscape of “En Ellos Creo” will give you goosebumps. The gorgeous “Soy Rebelde” (“I’m Rebellious”), sets its gentle, piano-led delivery in delicate contrast to the lyrical sentiment.

Perhaps Sola’s most well-known track, the exotic bossa of “Tabu, Tabu”, is a formidable groove. Elegant bongos, prominent bass, delicate acoustics and a persistent flute blend with Sola’s unique voice; sinuous, sassy and forceful at the same time. The stunning “La Última Palabra”, while not literally the album’s last word, is nevertheless a stirring statement of strutting Latin soul, with more musical ideas packed into this one song than the entirety of most long-players.

If you hadn’t decided already, the final two tracks that are the funk-fuelled “Bada-Bada-Ba” and the horn-heavy percussive masterclass “Únete A Mi” will leave you in no doubt that this is one very special record.

Mastered with great respect by Simon Francis, cut by the master Pete Norman and with that sleeve lovingly restored by the Be With team, this re-issue ensures that Un Muñeco De Madera now sounds, looks and feels as beautiful as it deserves to.
: Un Muñeco De Madera (LP)

Serpente is the alias of Bruno Silva, a prolific and consistent fixture of the Portuguese scene. Silva has operated under numerous aliases throughout the years including the much loved Ondness name. With past releases on Not Waving's Ecstatic and Discrepant, among others, Silva's next release is a long awaited addition to the Alien Jams catalogue, an album called "Irmãs," Portuguese for "Sisters."

Comprising of two 17 minute tracks, both "Da Clara" and "Para Celeste" are intrinsically linked, mirroring and then inverting one another. Sisters share recurring motifs, typical of the Serpente project, both tracks artfully transform the strictest percussive forces into expressive and mind expanding mantras. Redolent of their live incarnations, Serpente gigs often involve a transformative and immersive experience, and "Irmãs," embodies this spirit, embracing melodic digression in a sustained and flowing state.

The Master Scratch Band was first break-dance / hip-hop / electro funk band in Yugoslavia in 1984. The band members were Zoran Vracevic, Zoran Jevtic and Milutin Stoisiljevic, previously known as Data and Sizike. Jugoton, the biggest label in Yugoslavia, published Data 7'' and MSB's 'Degout' 12'' with limited edition cassette containing two bonus tracks. Impossible to find on the collectors market, Fox & His Friends team in collaboration with Jugoton / Croatia Records is releasing a full, complete version of the rare "The Breakwar" tape, with tracks "Tonight" and "Pocket" never pressed on vinyl. All tracks are sourced from original studio tapes. With the kind help of Zoran Vracevic on credit list and liner notes, this is now the ultimate Master Scratch Band album, released originally in a year 1984 when break-dance was in the peak of its popularity in Yugoslavia. While Data was synthpop, Sizike mellow synth-disco recorded in private studio, this release is pure breaks and hip-hop electro, done old-school way in one of the best studios in Yugoslavia, Enco Lesic's 'Druga maca' in Belgrade. MSB used impressive electronic gear and were helped by huge list of famous musicians and guests: Duca Markovic from hit-show 'Hit meseca' (Yugoslavian Top Of The Pops); Japanac on bass, Max Vincent of Max & Intro on synths, Dudu Vudu from Du-Du-A, Goranka Matic as photographer and many more. MSB sampling technique and choices are unique: from obscure industrial records to freestyle; from found-sounds to cut-up breaks and even real prank-calls. This is document of time that still sounds fresh and needs to find it's new, young audience of hip-hop history researchers, break-dancers, b-boys, b-girls and DJ's. When you know that it's produced in 1984 Yugoslavia, far away, but actually, so close to its USA & EU brothers and sisters, it's even more mind-boggling. Thanks to Fox & His Friends and Jugoton CR collaboration, this gem is waiting for your freezes, footwork and electric boogie moves. ----- Equipment used: Commodore 64 Computer, Roland MC-4B Microcomposer, Prophet Pro-One, RSF Cobol II Expander, Korg Mono-Poly Synthesizer, PPG Wave 2.3 Synthesizer, PPG Waveterm Computer, Boss DE-200 Digital Delay, Drumtraks Digital Drum Machine, Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, Electro Harmonix Vocoder, Linn Drum MKII, Juno 60, SH-101, SVC-350, VP-330 Vocoders, Polysix & MS10, Simmons drum module.

To commemorate the 5 years of the disappearance of the true music Genius DAVID BOWIE, the jazz scene pays tribute to the legendary artist Including: Keren Ann • The Puppini Sisters • Mike Garson • Bojan Z • Delta Saxophone Quartet Jen Chapen & Rosetta Trio • Caecilie Norby • Franck Wolf •Yelloworld • Eric Le Lann...
Section of the Tracklisting was made by Jazz Magazine’s journalist Lionel Eskenazi

The debut album from writer and artist Holly Childs and artist Gediminas Žygus formerly known as J.G. Biberkopf.

Initiated in 2017, Hydrangea grew out of a series of performances emphasising conspiracies and the designer realities that they generate. Navigating a tangle of digitally induced subjectivities and relationships, Hydrangea sees Childs & Žygus amidst a continuously evaporating world in which narratives dissolve, leak, fold in on themselves and loop.

Childs & Žygus ask: As individuals are siloed online, can rifts in reality ever be reconciled? Is history a form of science fiction? And are narrators ever reliable? The process of creating Hydrangea was defined by the search for a form to bind fiction, poetry, and musical experience. Its narrative is influenced by technical instructions, lectures and whispered conversations, in which slippage and floating focus can create new meanings in the listener that weren’t intended by the speaker.

Aspects of physical and informational security including passwords, codes, locks and obstacles speak to the ways in which meaning or material can be locked, unlocked or instrumentalised for a range of potential outcomes. Hydrangea reflects on the Machiavellian strategies of political ideologists such as Steve Bannon, Aleksandr Dugin and Vladislav Surkov who have made use of contemporary and postmodern artistic strategies to design narrative uncertainty—covertly braiding together questionable truths, slippery narratives and bespoke reinterpretations of history for undisclosed political ends.

"Hydrangea’s Just the Password Though, Right?"

Childs & Žygus employ a musical language that layers their cumulative practices and experiences. The compositions are cinematic and spatial, working with the illustrative qualities of Disneyesque string melodies and taking cues from Maurice Ravel’s impressionistic piano works.

The work is also influenced by both artists’ lifelong experiences of rave culture, beginning for Žygus during childhood in newly independent Lithuania, spending time juggling Disney and happy hardcore cassettes on the family stereo, and for Childs as a preteen in Australia, tagging along with her sisters to doofs and warehouse parties. Initiated while the artists were both working between Amsterdam and Rotterdam in 2017, the work also draws on Dutch gabber music.

Hydrangea’s development has been influenced by collaboration with artists and filmmakers Metahaven, who created the album art.

Holly Childs is a writer and artist. Her research involves filtering stories of computation through frames of ecology, earth, memory, poetry, and light. She is the author of two books: No Limit (Hologram) and Danklands (Arcadia Missa); and has presented her work at ICA (London), Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), Trust (Berlin), Elam School of Art (Auckland) and more.

Gediminas Žygus is an artist working within the fields of sound, documentary and performance. Their practice assembles a spectrum of influences deriving from architecture, ecology, ethnography, science studies, and media theory. As J.G. Biberkopf, their releases have found homes on Knives and Danse Noire. Žygus has performed at Barbican Centre (London), Berghain (Berlin), Sonic Acts (Amsterdam), and Centre Pompidou (Paris), among others. credits

The first of three volumes: stomping, rollicking gospel music, intermingling with raw soul, searing blues, hard-rocking doo-wop and jazz, and storming r&b.

Infused and incandescent with the hurting, surging indignation of the Civil Rights movement, here are twenty-four precious scorchers by giants like the Staple Singers and Jimmy Scott, alongside devastating sides by less celebrated names like the Harmonising Five of Burlington, North Carolina, and teen-group the North Philadelphia Juniors, culminating triumphantly with slamming, sanctified versions of Hit The Road Jack and Wade In The Water.

Gatefold sleeve, with full-size booklet; beautifully designed, with stunning, rare photographs and original Savoy artwork.

Craig Charles has been a soul & funk fan since his teenage years in Liverpool, going to see local heroes The Real Thing live, and wearing out his shoe leather dancing in the city's many underground clubs. Craig has been sharing that passion for the music via his 6Music and BBC Radio 2 shows and DJ nights for nearly 20 years. His brand new 'Trunk Of Funk' compilation series, blends up-tempo club classics, with fresh music from the cream of the crop from the contemporary soul and funk scene, and will be Craigs very first vinyl release - a beautiful, double vinyl gatefold LP and he's certainly excited about it, stating; "I can't wait to bring you big beats, bass lines and booga-bloomin-loo! Presenting The Craig Charles Trunk Of Funk Volume 1 as my first ever vinyl release has put a proper wiggle in my walk!" This collection of 21st century disco, soul, funk & afro grooves from includes tracks from contemporary heroes of the scene such as Monophonics, Amp Fiddler and The James Taylor Quartet, it's also peppered with some old school classics and rare grooves from legends such as Roy Ayers, PP Arnold, Miriam Makeba and Patrice Rushen. Craig has personally selected and sequenced this collection to take the listener of a musical journey, the closest thing to having Craig visit and personally DJ for you in the comfort of your own home! It also includes two 'Trunk Of Funk Edits' that are 100% exclusive to this compilation and not available anywhere else.

In demand 7 inch sees a limited edition in translucent yellow vinyl.

Regarding the album: "This has not been off the decks since I first got it and have been hammering it to death on the show. One of the ESSENTIAL albums of 2011. Perfect in every sense and totally irresistable" Craig Charles (BBC 6Music) Two cover versions taken from the essential album GITANO REAL. I Believe in Miracles is an overwhelming take on the Jackson Sisters classic in a rumba funk fashion. Party stomper!! And on the other side, a longer trip departing from McFadden and Whitehead's seminal Ain't Non Stoping Us Now and touching the revered latin disco version of Charanga 76, only to end up as a fabulous clap-driven rumba stormer. Two very necessary sun-soaked tunes for any self-respecting dj on neat black vinyl. And yes, it's a limited edition!

Green Marbled Vinyl

Phyxix is a collaborative project formed by Ø Phase and Matrixxman.

The King & City reissue series continues with Paul Robinson's disco boogie jam Come On Sister. Moving from the Lovers sound of his early productions, his first solo recording was aimed straight at the blues, clubs and pirate stations of South London and beyond - a prolific artist on the rise.

Appearing as a 13 year old protegee drummer in The Simeons, recording for the legendary Freedom Sounds label out of Kingston; to forming the influential Roots / Lovers Rock outfit One Blood; then vocalist in the Nick Straker Band; and through to a 30 year career as "dubplate" producer / singer Barry Boom, Robinson is a man of talents and serious legacy.

This highly sought after debut, part of Neville King and Lee Laing's family of labels, followed releases in One Blood and productions for female Lovers groups Blood Sisters and Charisma. A pure disco boogie party cut, Come On Sister sees the Robinson family hit the Brit funk.

In label style, the flip is given the Discomix treatment, here by up and coming digger, dealer and producer, Bruno (Perfect Lives). Letting the horns, dub bass and drums build in anticipation before the keys and guitar join and it all drops to Robinson's vocals - Come On Sister.

We're glad to be back with our latest reissue, a couple undercover soul gems from the Midwest originally self-released in 1984: LaVerne Washington's "The Promise" and "I Found What I've Been Searching For".

LaVerne has dedicated her life to the arts in every possible way. As an artist herself but also behind the scenes, helping and supporting her contemporaries fulfil their callings. Charlie Parker, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Mary Lou Williams - LaVerne grew up in Kansas City listening to the all time jazz greats, and soon discovered she was blessed with a keen sense for playing music by ear, playing the piano to what she would hear on the radio. In her teens whilst the 60s transitioned to the 70s' disco and funk era, LaVerne was there to witness it all, and she would go on to study music at the Charlie Parker Academy where she was inspired to become an entertainer.

At Langston University, LaVerne kept studying music where her career blossomed, founding and touring the US with the gospel group "Emery Shaw and the Voices of Praise", singing in several college bands and with her choir "The Voices Of Bethel". LaVerne would go on to perform notably with her bands "LaVerne Washington and Rococo" and the "LaVerne Washington Quartet", and record several songs in KC including "The Promise" and "I Found What I've Been Searching For" in 1984 before moving to Washington DC.

In DC, LaVerne was offered a position as a Program specialist with the National Endowment For The Arts where she started supporting other artists through her work. Over the next couple decades, LaVerne became an associate producer for the Rhythm and Blues Foundation and the Pioneer Awards Ceremonies held in New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles, which saw the likes of Prince, Aretha Franklin and Jerry Butler attending among others. She has also managed and was mentored by DeeDee Sharp and consulted with artists including Bonnie Raitt (who acted as a mentor to Laverne as well), Kim Weston, Kathy Sledge (SisterSledge), Smokey Robinson and G.C Cameron (Spinners). During that time, LaVerne has kept singing, on her own and as a backing vocalist for DeeDee Sharp and Freda Payne and has never stopped her lifelong dedication to music and the Arts.

The Promise original 7" was LaVerne's last recording in Kansas City before her move to DC and the beginning of her involvement behind the scenes. Channelling her gospel roots - with impeccable arrangement, a contagious drum machine led rhythm section, soaring vocals and relatable lyrics, "The Promise" is guaranteed to bring back smiles to dancefloors and living rooms alike! "I Found What I've Been Searching For" on the flip is a beautiful soul ballad which really showcases the strength and emotion in LaVerne's voice.

Back again in it's original 7" format, we've had the audio transferred and restored from the original 24 track tape provided by LaVerne, and got the recordings re-mixed for the best possible sound! Floating Points behind the mixing desk for this new iteration of a lost classic, comes with a 14"x14" poster of the original picture

On the Corner goes beyond being a record label. It is a story of innovative artists from hotbeds of ancient-future* music across the globe. This 'Door to the Cosmos' compilation is the 10th full release (and an eclectic array of 20 EPs). OtCs rawkus sonic explorations are brought to the fore via 24 tracks making a heady blend of label mainstays and fresh family recruits. The label is an inimitable mixture of Miles Davis' 'call it what you want' attitude, the afro centric futurism of Sun Ra and the evolving electronic frontier where black music kicks it to the dance floor. 'Door to the Cosmos' expresses On the Corner's adventure; future sounds referencing the source, be it Detroit, UK bass culture, New Orleans or the Niger delta. The title riffs off of the otherworldly, afro futurist jazzer Sun Ra's infamous chant 'dare to knock at the door to the cosmos'. Sun Ra's sound and narrative bending inspires us to kick at the rules and push at the infinite, the ecstatic and the unknown through music by knock, knock, knocking at the door to the cosmos. The compilation is the first outing for a new raft of artists who are celebrated by the label and welcomed to a creative space brimming with the tales of unsung pioneers of the past and champion sonic explorers of the future.

ALTER is proud to present ‘Tendrils’, the first LP release from London based artist & musician Malvern Brume. After gathering some hushed praise from the UK underground for a couple of excellent cassette releases and strong local live performances, ‘Tendrils’ is the first definitive document of the Malvern Brume sound world. His instrumentation and sound sources would be considered familiar staples in the world of “experimental” music, but Salter does an admirable job of making them his own. Comprised of 8 pieces, this is electronic music at its core but a kind that sounds as if it’s being played through fog. Like spores growing on a damp surface. Densely composed and thick with an almost asphyxiating atmosphere - even during the record’s more minimal moments - track titles like ‘Caught In The Exhaust Trails’ and ‘Sunk Into Plastics’ only heighten the tone further.

Salter was originally born in the countryside and since relocated to London, a place he finds “over stimulating in every sense”. Much of ‘Tendrils’ could be taken as a response to the city and a means of equating the two. Camberwell is listed as the location for composition, but field recordings are attributed to rural landmarks. The Rollright Stones on the Oxfordshire / Warwickshire border and Seven Sisters Cliffs by the English Channel are two in case, but despite their picturesque origins Salter renders them into abstract clatter. As if dubbed from the private tape archive of an old eccentric. In addition, synthesised electronic tones hum and buzz, occasionally giving away to strange, slurring sequences that sound like lost transmissions from the radiophonic workshop. Despite the nod to this electronic music institution, it’s lacking the sincere level of esteem that can turn one into a heritage act. There is a strangeness and distant other worldliness to the music that feels unselfconscious and keeps Malvern Brume from being easy to define by contemporary terms.

Salter says the album is defined by movement and the environments that have inspired him over the years. In his own words, “each of these tracks is inspired by a journey or moving through a space, not in a wishy-washy cosmic sense but more as a practical A to B.” With that in mind, ‘Tendrils’ is perfect music for solitary inner-city marshland walks and urban bike rides to forgotten local suburbs.

The #1 Best Selling Track for 2019 in Electronica / Downtempo genre on Beatport, Namito - 'Stone Flower' sees a new vinyl release featuring a previously unreleased, and vinyl only, remix by Satori. It also serves as a teaser for Satori's upcoming full length album on Sol Selectas Records.

Iranian artist Namito, who has made quite a name for himself over the years in the Techno scene of Berlin, diverges from this tip for 'Stone Flower', putting a new twist on a Persian classic. Creating a hypnotic deep house groove, with ethereal uplifting lyrics, listeners and dancers alike are taken on a journey to a time when Persian culture was at its peak of creativity and freedom.

Namito heard this traditional song at a family gathering in Iran, sung by his 2 sisters Mojgan and Marjan, and was instantly moved by its beauty. He invited his sisters into the studio the very next day to record their vocals, and the result is 'Stone Flower', which pays homage to the Persian tradition, while embracing the modern edge of electronic music at the same time.

For this special vinyl only remix, Satori winds his way deeper down into the electronic abyss, with a reinterpretation that maintains the original Persian vocals, but also blends in elements of an old Afghan interpretation of the same classic song, creating a tougher, club-leaning version.

The artwork by Helia Jamali, also of Persian decent, takes us into the mystical world of ancient scared geometry and displays the beauty of her home country Iran.

The sublime Time Capsule remains Weldon Irvine's most fully realized and influential recording. A supremely talented multi-instrumentalist and composer, Irvine had a musical vision that was unerringly soulful, spiritual, and funky. Assembled as a kind of musical scrapbook documenting the thought patterns and belief systems of the early '70s, it nevertheless boasts a surprising vitality and timelessness thanks to luminous funk grooves that anticipate the latter-day emergence of acid jazz. Irvine also rhymes over several tracks, further cementing his influence on successive generations of hip-hop. A profoundly righteous spirituality winds through all eight of Time Capsule's performances, assaying both the affection ("Soul Sisters") and anger ("Watergate") vying for control of post-Woodstock America. Irvine's searing keyboard and piano playing further capture the moment in question, deftly balancing between beatitude and bitterness. For fans of funk, soul and jazz, it doesn’t get much better than this 1973 classic.

a A1. Time Capsule - Electric Piano, Narrator Recitation – Weldon Irvine

UPSIDE DOWN SMILE WAS RECORDED AND PRODUCED BY EWA JUSTKA AND BY SELF-DESIGNED, SELF-MADE, SELFSELFSELF, ODD LOOKING SLIGHTLY DYSFUNCTIONAL SYNTHESISERS AND BY A TRANCE PURPLE KILLER ROLAND JP8080 AND BY HIS BROTHER VIRUS AND SOME OTHER ROLAND BROTHERS NO SISTERS INCLUDED DURING THE TIME WHEN EWA JUSTKA WHO CURRENTLY LIVES IN GLASGOW, GOVANHILL, ALLISON STREET, WHERE RECENTLY HER PASSPORT WAS STOLEN DUE TO THE BURGLARY, WHERE SHE LIVES IN JOY, ALTHOUGH SOMETIMES THE FLOOR GETS WET DUE TO THE LEAKING WINDOWS AND SOMETIMES ONE CAN FIND DEAD PIGEONS LAYING ON THE STAIRCASE BUT IT'S NICE AND COSY AND EWA JUSTKA HIGHLY INFLUENTIAL PERSON IN THE DEEP DARK TRANSISTOR LADDER CIRCUITS LIVES SINCE SHE IS STUDYING PHD AT EDINBURGH COLLEGE OF ART WHERE SHE THINKS A LOT ABOUT IMITATION IN SYNTHESISER DESIGN AND FILTERS AND VCOS AND FORMANTS AND ACID AND HARDCORE MUSIC AND TWIN T FILTERS AND OPERATIONAL AMPLIFIERS AND SHE TURNS KNOBS AND THINKS AND THE UPSIDE DOWN SMILE ALBUM WAS MADE IN THE DEPTH OF THOSE THOUGHTS QUITE OFTEN SAD THOUGHTS UPSIDE DOWN SMILE IS A BIT OF A CYNICAL SMILE BUT AN HONEST SMILE CYNICAL BUT HONEST UPSIDE DOWN SMILE IS A SMILE THROUGH TEARS BUT TEARS OF JOY SCOTTISH JOY UPSIDE DOWN SMILE IS UPSIDE DOWN ACID ONE COULD SAY UPSIDE DOWN SMILE COULD BE INTERPRETED AS A SAD SMILE BUT IT IS A SMILE IN THE END OF THE DAY

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

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

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

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

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