Search:sound of funk

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

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

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

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

The Spaces Between were formed out of creative studio sessions in the summer of 2020 and comprises of bona fide house legend Terry Farley, electronic music producer Wade Teo and renowned author and co-owner of Club Chi’ll Records, Ian ‘Snowy’ Snowball. The idea for ‘Ghosts’ came from Terry’s idea to reference the Jazz greats who have gone to glory leaving behind their astonishing musical legacies. Within days of emailing a comprehensive list of jazz artists to Chicago House luminary and The It/ Jungle Wonz member, Harry Dennis, an answer with Harry’s sparse, haunting vocals was received. These were laid down over a bed of live instruments and electronic sounds and the combined talents of The Spaces Between created the compelling jacking jazz vibe of ‘Ghosts’.

Snowy ran the track past Jo Wallace at F*CLR Records – it was love at first listen. Jo suggested the track should be part of an EP with remixes from the newly reformed Black Science Orchestra. It was agreed and provided an ideal opportunity for Ashley to work with Terry once again, reinforcing the Junior Boy’s Own heritage.

The first incarnation of Black Science Orchestra began life in 1992 when Ashley Beedle joined forces with Rob Mello and their debut release, ‘Where were you’ exploded onto the global dance scene via the iconic UK house label JBO. Broken in the US by the Godfather of House, Frankie Knuckles, ‘Where were you’ entered into the hallowed halls of immortal dance music. Black Science Orchestra has become one of the most respected deep house acts of the 1990s, with the revered album ‘Walter's Room’ and the legendary genre crossing 'New Jersey Deep' track that is considered one of the top dance tracks of all time and rarely leaves discerning DJs' record boxes. Fast forward 29 years and original BSO founding fathers, Ashley and Rob decided that both they and the world needed the sound of Black Science Orchestra again and decided to reform, inviting long time musical and studio accomplice Darren Morris to join the collective now in its 6th incarnation!

When presented with the original version of ‘Ghosts’, Rob, Ashley and Darren loved it and all heard various ways it could be reworked in a true Black Science Orchestra way. Donning their pandemic production hats and remotely getting their feet back under the studio desk again, they worked together to create distinctly different remixes ranging from the deep, spacy electronic to the tough and psychedelic sleazy funk. With original BSO productions included on this EP, 'Ghosts' has helped square off the circle and the Black Science Orchestra conductors are back and mean dance floor business!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Leng Records has long had close ties with the underground music scene in San Francisco, with low-slung dub disco and psychedelic disco outfit 40 Thieves releasing their acclaimed album The Sky Is Yours on the imprint way back in 2014. Now Leng has turned to another stalwart of the Bay Area scene, Cole Odin, on a single that’s every bit as trippy and engrossing as you’d expect from one of San Francisco’s most frequently overlooked talents. Cole made his Leng debut earlier in the year, contributing the electro-influenced track ‘Numbers Game’ to the label’s 10th anniversary compilation. On ‘Little Boxes’, he’s joined by good friend Eddie C, a much-loved disco and house producer from Canada best known for his releases on Endless Flight and Red Motorbike. The pair recorded the track while Eddie was staying with Cole in San Francisco last year.



In keeping with the low-slung, hallucinatory sound that has always been a big feature of the San Franciscan scene, ‘Little Boxes’ is a trippy, mind-altering affair in which waves of sitar sounds, cosmic synths, effects-laden guitars and kaleidoscopic electronics rise above a weighty punk-funk bassline and crunchy, snare-heavy beats. It has serious dancefloor chops but is also atmospheric and immersive: perfect 5am music for Bay Area beach parties and mushrooms-fuelled forest raves.



Fittingly, it’s 40 Thieves who provide the accompanying remix, a 10-minute epic created with the assistance of Adonis and Rodney from the psych rock band ‘Guavatron’ for additional synths and the guitars. Beginning with tabla-style percussion, swirling chords, psychedelic guitar licks and mystical sitar sounds, the remix builds in waves, with looser drums and even weightier bass propelling the track forwards at a metronomic and hypnotic pace. By the time the eyes-closed guitar solos drop two thirds of the way through, you’ll be tripping hard and reaching for the lasers. It’s a genuinely stunning remix of a genuinely intoxicating, mind-mangling track.

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

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

The Jive Turkeys are made up of four musicians who have been playing together for the better part of the last five years in a hip-hop group called Soundscape. Soundscape is a group based in Oxford, OH, home of Miami University. This is where Matt Amburgy (organ), Terry Cole (bass), Andrew DeRoberts (guitar), and Rob Houk (drums) first met. And while Soundscape has always provided all of them the opportunity to grow and develop as musicians through the group's unique fusion of genres (hip-hop, funk, jazz, rock).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Repress! This is the first full length release from The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble. The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble - If you are a fan of the organ, gritty Funk, and beautiful original soundtracks, these guys are for you. The SFSE is a heavy, original, instrumental soul band based out of San Diego, CA that released their debut self titled album on Colemine Records in June of 2015, and the band will be releasing their sophomore album in the fall of 2016 on the same label. The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble has recently shared the stage with Lee Fields and the Expressions, Big Sam's Funky Nation, Kung Fu, Polyrhythmics, New Mastersounds, Monophonics, Kamasi Washington, and many others. They draw influence from the masters of the style from the past and modern day, including: The Meters, Isaac Hayes, El Michels Affair, Mulatu Astatke, Budos Band, The Nite Liters, Menahan Street Band, Fela Kuti, and The Poets of Rhythm.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Limited edition gold vinyl edition.
Hamburg's funk adventurers at the top of their game with special guests Ice-T, Charlie Funk, Peter Thomas, Gizelle Smith, Lee Fields, JSwiss & the Mocambo Kidz.

Original press release note (2019):
Carrying blistering funk lines in their fingers and worldly influences in their hearts, the unique and distinctive Mocambo sound is not one to be confused with retro bands trying to recapture an era. Eschewing traditional recording methods, this DIY crew are committed to driving forwards, and 2066 sees them at the height of their powers, broadcasting a call for unity.
After reaching new audiences worldwide and earning critical praise for their two long players on Brooklyn's Big Crown Records in their tropical guise as Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band, the band have reassembled and refocused in their original form, the workhorses behind dozens of 45s on the Mocambo label and beyond. Crossing generations, this album introduces some of the world's youngest funk talent to step up and rub shoulders with soul and rap legends, soul sisters, an elder statesman composer/arranger and a brand new emerging artist out of New York.
As with all Mocambo releases, the two sides of the record have been meticulously sequenced by the
band. Side A welcomes us aboard with joyous instrumental stomper Preaching To The Choir, and a call to build bridges from Mocambo chanteuse and percussionist Nichola Richards, duetting with emerging rap talent, New York MC JSwiss. B-girls and b-boys are called to the dancefloor as Superstrada and Concrete Stardust commence, all buzzing synth lines and relentless drums. New Jersey legend and Big Crown associate Mr Lee Fields is guest of honour for Where Do We Go From Here before a horn workout brings us to a close with Macumba. It's time for a breather.
The B side kicks off with the grand return of the Golden Girl of Funk, Gizelle Smith, a sister who's been busy taking on the world. Composer and presenter Peter Thomas narrates a Return To Space to mark the centenary of the debut of his score to sci-fi show Space Patrol, which first broadcast in 1966. We're back down to Earth and the mean streets for the furious drums and car chase workout of Golden Shadow. Today slows down the pace for a reflective ballad with Nichola front and centre - and here's the next generation: the Mocambo Kidz sing along to their parents' instrumentation for Here We Go, a new kids' block party anthem... with no sleep 'til bedtime. The album closer makes it clear that the Mocambos are nowhere near powering down as Ice T and Charlie F unk bring their A-game for an old school attack which, since you're up bouncing anyway, gives you no excuse not to flip the LP and drop the needle right back on to Side A. Onwards!
A summation of their journey so far and a celebration in anticipation of what's to come, the album is set
to take its place in a legacy of open minded, organically recorded music, showering listeners with the crew's maze of tantalising sounds pulled from funk, afro, hip hop with cinematic composition and storytelling.

With his ongoing commitment to like-minded archivist label Finders Keepers Records, industrial music pioneer Steven Stapleton further entrusts us to lift the veil and expose “the right tracks” from his uber-legendary and oft misinterpreted psych/prog/punk peculiarity shopping list known as The Nurse With Wound List.
Following the critically lauded first instalment and it’s exclusively French tracklisting both parties now combine their vinyl-vulturous penchants to bring you the next ‘Strain Crack & Break’ edition which consists of twelve lesser-known German records that played a hugely important part in the initial foundations of the list which began to unfold when Stapleton was just thirteen years old.
From the perspective of a schoolboy Amon Düül (ONE) victim, at the start of a journey that commenced before phrases like kosmische and the xeno-ignant Krautrock tag had become mag hack currency, this compendium is devoid of the tropes that united what many would accurately argue to be the greatest progressive pop bands in Europe
(namely CAN, Neu! and Kraftwerk) and rather shatters the ingredients across a ground zero landscape for both inquisitive fans and socially rehabbing musos to begin to assemble a unique self-styled identity. If Krautrock was the music that journalist told us lurked behind schlager (German pop) in the 1970s, then this record includes the music that skulked behind Krautrock and perhaps refused to polish its backhanded name belt.
Including lesser-known artists like the late Wolfgang Dauner, whose career proceeded and outlived the kosmische movement while consistently informing and outsmarting them whenever they got stuck in their metronomic ruts, or how about Fritz Müller, the man who
was to Kraftwerk what Stuart Sutcliffe was to The Beatles but had more in common with Yoko and quite rightly couldn’t give a stuff about the Fab Four’s Hamburg roots.
Elsewhere we have a plethora of German bands made for German audiences as they try and shed secondhand flower power Americanisms and feel the benefits of much harder drugs and the realisations of difficult second album budgets while Kommune 1
newsflashes wipe smiles from everybody’s faces and replace them with opioid chic or acid-sarcastic grins. Bonzo Cockettes show us their Big Muffs and drummers ask for extra mics while Conny Plank goes for parliamentary office and gives babies good firm handshakes for the camera.
‘Strain Crack & Break: Volume Two’ is the sound of Steve Stapleton’s sponge-like mind and the dividends of anyone who was brave enough to even peek inside those brick-thick gatefold covers never mind drop the needle.
Over forty years since Nurse With Wound’s first album was released, Finders Keepers Records and Steve Stapleton take connoisseurs of our kind of music back to the disused elevator shaft towards ground zero. Arriving at the same checkout from different departments, Finders Keepers and Nurse With Wound continue to sing from the same hymnal with this ongoing collaborative attempt to officially, authentically and legally compile the best tracks from Steve’s list, where many overzealous erds have faltered (or simply, got the wrong end of the stick).
After ‘Strain Crack & Break: Volume One’ merely scratched the surface of this DIY dossier of elongated punk-prog peculiarities, this second lavish metallic gatefold double vinyl compendium drives a much deeper groove which, in accordance with Steve’s wishes, focusses exclusively on individual tracks of German origin - the country whose music forged the prototype of the NWW inventory in the form of his secondary school vinyl wantlist in the early 1970s, comprised of disassembled free jazz, unshowered stoner psych, hypnotic prog, deranged monk funk and fuzzed out Deutschmark bin bonzo beats.

New Zealand collective Flamingo Pier's debut album - serving up euphoric disco hooks, classic house choruses and forays into Latin funk, balearic and psychedelia

Auckland. Musicians from the tightly knit local scene swung through to contribute to the recording, including fellow Soundway act Julien Dyne on drums, as well as saxophonist Nathan Haines.

The self-titled album draws from the band’s wide-ranging taste, as well as what they’ve been playing in order to keep spirits up. Channelling classic emotive house, to disco, Afro and jazz funk on their debut album, Flamingo Pier cite a wide range of musical influences such as Khruangbin, Roisin Murphy, Peven Everett, house legends Masters at Work and Brazilian artist Tim Maia. This translates into an uplifting but nostalgic current running throughout the album - reflecting on last chances, soul-searching and longing for the carefree days of the dance floor.

Another top notch Funky Spiritual Jazz release from Paul Murphy's Jazz Room Records. Featuring Strata-East stalwart Shamek Farrah on Saxes and an all star cast including Trumpet Legend Malachi Thompson.

The music is a Funky Spiritual Afro-Latin Soul mix with the Miriam Makeba influenced Cape Township Party title track and the Jazz Soul grooves of "Waiting For Marvin" both highlights..

Get down to the Worldwide Sound with the Latin Jazz grooves of "The White Lady" featuring Sonelius Smith on Piano and "Along Came Ron Rahsaan" with Vivian Chandler singing a wordless Spiritual Jazz Headspace Lullaby.

Totally obscure and his recordings fetching exhorbitant prices (a re-issue Japanese CD is 3 figures) Shamek Farrah ranks with the great unrecorded. Two releases on Strata East in the '70s, a couple for RA, a release in '95. The reissue of this 1978 recording for RA by Jazz Room Records reintroduces a roomful of rarely heard musicians, along with a young Malachi Thompson soon to become an Internationally renowned Jazz Heavyweight.

From their genesis as members of the Venus club in-house band in the early 70s, Hailu Mergia and the Walias Band were at the forefront of the musical revolution during an era where modern instruments and foreign styles superseded the traditional fare to become the staple sound of Ethiopia. No one would argue that the Walias were the trailblazing powerhouse of modern Ethiopian music. They were the first band to form independently without affiliation to a theatre house, a club or a hotel; unprecedented and risky as they had to raise all funding for expenses by themselves including buying equipment. They were the first to release full instrumental albums, considered to be commercially unviable at the time. They opened their own recording studio, with band members Melake Gebre and Mahmoud Aman doubling as technical buffs during sessions. They were also the first independent band to tour abroad. In short, they were the pioneers every band tried to emulate; some more successfully than others.
Odds are, any Ethiopian over the age of 35 who had access to TV or radio by the early 90s, will instantly recognize the sound of Walias. What is not a given is, how many would actually identify the band itself. Barely a day went by without hearing the Walias either in the background on radio or as an accompaniment to various programs on TV.

This Tezeta album, the band’s second recording, released in 1975, is one of those that have been impossible to find for nearly three decades. Sourced by Awesome Tapes From Africa and expertly remastered by Jessica Thompson, its unique and funky renditions of standards and popular songs of the day are so quintessentially Walias, flavorful and evocative. Hailu's melodic organ, unashamedly front and center in every track, makes even the complex pieces accessible.
Profoundly engaging; it's an immersive trip down memory lane for those of us getting reacquainted with it, while also an enthralling and gratifying experience for fresh ears.

Virtually unknown recording outside Ethiopia.
Documents Mergia & Walias legendary early period.
Follow-up to reissue of hugely popular seminal Ethiopian instrumentals LP Tche Belew (ATFA012)

Cassette-only, released in 1975 on the band’s in-house label to fund their record store.
Beautifully-rendered instrumentals of classic Ethiopian standards.

DYNAMITE CUTS and its series of amazing 45s have unleashed another Gem for RSD. This Rare groove club classic has now been shrunk down to a stunning 7”, for the first time. The LP was first released in 1981 along with a single.- which is now a mega-rare collector’s items; selling for £200 plus.
Steve Parks’ big song on this LP is the epitome of Rare groove music in the 90s. almost every club and radio would play this every night – it would be banging out of The Mud Club, Astoria, The Wag and all the other hot, sweaty, but very brilliant, clubs of the 80’s and 90’s. This is definitely on the ultimate soundtrack to that funky era.
This one-off LP and it iconic cover by Steve Parks has been reissued before but never as a 7” and never with a full colour sleeve, Dynamite Cuts’ mini version does both, delivering op-point artwork and finely tuned mastering. Steve Parks is a very private man; this iconic cover only happened because his friend Rico, who coerce him into wearing the shirt as Steve didn’t like it at all. The only way to do it was to take him to Leon’s BBQ by the beach and buy them both a bucket of tips and corn bread.
Don’t miss out!!! - Must have vinyl release – record store day release!

Wagram turn their attention to the hip-swivelling world of Afro-disco and Afro-Funk, putting together a sizzling set of pan African sounds covering a whole host of dance styles from all over the continent. Deeper diggers may recognise some of these gems from individual reissues over the last few years, but this is the only time you'll find them all in one place.

I Be Trying might be the title of the new record from two-time GRAMMY nominee Cedric Burnside, but it's also a mission statement in an era when plenty of us have discovered what "the blues" really means. Recorded over three days at Royal Studios in Memphis (the home studio of Al Green and Hi Records in the 60s and 70s), this album is the ultimate statement of purpose for a critically acclaimed artist who has proudly carried the mantle of Mississippi Hill Country blues around the world. Over thirteen tracks, Burnside delivers his bruised but unfettered truth over blistering guitar and deep pocket drums-a sound birthed in his soul but developed and perfected on the road. But no matter how far he travels, the righteous sound he makes could only come from one place. I Be Trying is the sound of modern Mississippi. Produced by second-generation Memphis soul trailblazer Boo Mitchell ("Uptown Funk") and featuring guest appearances from Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars) and Zac Cockrell (Brittany Howard), I Be Trying takes the sound that Burnside learned from his grandfather, blues legend R.L. Burnside, and reinterprets it into a modern, bold Black American sound that expands the sonic landscape while respecting and honoring its roots.

I Be Trying might be the title of the new record from two-time GRAMMY nominee Cedric Burnside, but it's also a mission statement in an era when plenty of us have discovered what "the blues" really means. Recorded over three days at Royal Studios in Memphis (the home studio of Al Green and Hi Records in the 60s and 70s), this album is the ultimate statement of purpose for a critically acclaimed artist who has proudly carried the mantle of Mississippi Hill Country blues around the world. Over thirteen tracks, Burnside delivers his bruised but unfettered truth over blistering guitar and deep pocket drums-a sound birthed in his soul but developed and perfected on the road. But no matter how far he travels, the righteous sound he makes could only come from one place. I Be Trying is the sound of modern Mississippi. Produced by second-generation Memphis soul trailblazer Boo Mitchell ("Uptown Funk") and featuring guest appearances from Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars) and Zac Cockrell (Brittany Howard), I Be Trying takes the sound that Burnside learned from his grandfather, blues legend R.L. Burnside, and reinterprets it into a modern, bold Black American sound that expands the sonic landscape while respecting and honoring its roots.

DYNAMITE CUTS and its series of amazing 45s have unleashed another Gem for RSD. This Rare groove club classic has now been shrunk down to a stunning 7”, for the first time. The LP was first released in 1981 along with a single.- which is now a mega-rare collector’s items; selling for £200 plus.
Steve Parks’ big song on this LP is the epitome of Rare groove music in the 90s. almost every club and radio would play this every night – it would be banging out of The Mud Club, Astoria, The Wag and all the other hot, sweaty, but very brilliant, clubs of the 80’s and 90’s. This is definitely on the ultimate soundtrack to that funky era.
This one-off LP and it iconic cover by Steve Parks has been reissued before but never as a 7” and never with a full colour sleeve, Dynamite Cuts’ mini version does both, delivering op-point artwork and finely tuned mastering. Steve Parks is a very private man; this iconic cover only happened because his friend Rico, who coerce him into wearing the shirt as Steve didn’t like it at all. The only way to do it was to take him to Leon’s BBQ by the beach and buy them both a bucket of tips and corn bread.
Don’t miss out!!! - Must have vinyl release – record store day release!

Faye Webster liebt das Gefühl des sogenannten First Takes und die Direktheit, wenn sie einen Song schreibt, um dann gleich am nächsten Tag ins Tonstudio zu fahren und das Stück gemeinsam mit ihrer Band live einzuspielen. Beim genauen Hören der selbstsicheren und geradeaus kreierten Alben der 23-jährigen Songwriterin aus Atlanta wird klar, warum: Hier werden Emotionen gebündelt und verarbeitet, die so schmerzlich sind, dass sie jeden Moment nahezu lebendig werden. Webster fängt den Funken ein, bevor dieser die Möglichkeit hat zu schwinden; Textzeilen werden zu Papier gebracht, bevor diese eine Chance haben zu entfliehen. Ihr ganz eigener charakteristischer Sound bringt dabei einen flüsternd ruhigen und zuhause aufgenommen Gesang mit dem Klang der Band in einem Raum zusammen. "I Know I'm Funny haha" ist Websters vollkommenster Ausdruck dieser besonderen emotionalen und musikalischen Alchemie. Auf ihren Durchbruch mit der Veröffentlichung des Albums "Atlanta Millionaires Club" im Jahr 2019 bei Secretly Canadian folgend, blüht Websters Werdegang weiter. Ihr Klang bedient sich dabei sowohl dem von der Steel-Guitar beeinflussten Singer Songwriter-Pop und Country der 1970er-Jahre, als auch den Einflüssen und Persönlichkeiten Atlantas Rap - und R&B-Community aus der Zeit, als Webster ihr erstes Zuhause bei Awful Records fand. In den vergangenen zwei Jahren nach "Atlanta Millionaires Club" hat sich Websters Profil stetig weiterentwickelt, nachdem sie auf Festivals wie Austin City Limits und Bonnaroo spielte, einer ihrer Songs in Barack Obamas 2020-Lieblingssongs-Playlist einen Platz fand und die Musikerin sich auch verliebte. "This record is coming from a less lonely place," erklärt Webster über das Album "I Know I'm Funny haha", das sie vollkommener, aufgeweckter und selbstbewusster erscheinen lässt. Websters Musik ist vor allem geprägt von ihrer starken Persönlichkeit - dies wird auch in ihren Arbeiten als anerkannte Fotografin von Porträts und Stillleben deutlich. Viele ihrer Stücke enthalten Girl Group-artige Gesangs- bzw. Sprech-Passagen, die ihre untypischen Song-Geschichten weiter farbenfroh ausmalen.

Faye Webster liebt das Gefühl des sogenannten First Takes und die Direktheit, wenn sie einen Song schreibt, um dann gleich am nächsten Tag ins Tonstudio zu fahren und das Stück gemeinsam mit ihrer Band live einzuspielen. Beim genauen Hören der selbstsicheren und geradeaus kreierten Alben der 23-jährigen Songwriterin aus Atlanta wird klar, warum: Hier werden Emotionen gebündelt und verarbeitet, die so schmerzlich sind, dass sie jeden Moment nahezu lebendig werden. Webster fängt den Funken ein, bevor dieser die Möglichkeit hat zu schwinden; Textzeilen werden zu Papier gebracht, bevor diese eine Chance haben zu entfliehen. Ihr ganz eigener charakteristischer Sound bringt dabei einen flüsternd ruhigen und zuhause aufgenommen Gesang mit dem Klang der Band in einem Raum zusammen. "I Know I'm Funny haha" ist Websters vollkommenster Ausdruck dieser besonderen emotionalen und musikalischen Alchemie. Auf ihren Durchbruch mit der Veröffentlichung des Albums "Atlanta Millionaires Club" im Jahr 2019 bei Secretly Canadian folgend, blüht Websters Werdegang weiter. Ihr Klang bedient sich dabei sowohl dem von der Steel-Guitar beeinflussten Singer Songwriter-Pop und Country der 1970er-Jahre, als auch den Einflüssen und Persönlichkeiten Atlantas Rap - und R&B-Community aus der Zeit, als Webster ihr erstes Zuhause bei Awful Records fand. In den vergangenen zwei Jahren nach "Atlanta Millionaires Club" hat sich Websters Profil stetig weiterentwickelt, nachdem sie auf Festivals wie Austin City Limits und Bonnaroo spielte, einer ihrer Songs in Barack Obamas 2020-Lieblingssongs-Playlist einen Platz fand und die Musikerin sich auch verliebte. "This record is coming from a less lonely place," erklärt Webster über das Album "I Know I'm Funny haha", das sie vollkommener, aufgeweckter und selbstbewusster erscheinen lässt. Websters Musik ist vor allem geprägt von ihrer starken Persönlichkeit - dies wird auch in ihren Arbeiten als anerkannte Fotografin von Porträts und Stillleben deutlich. Viele ihrer Stücke enthalten Girl Group-artige Gesangs- bzw. Sprech-Passagen, die ihre untypischen Song-Geschichten weiter farbenfroh ausmalen.

Soul Jazz Records new 'Two Synths, A Guitar (and) A Drum Machine' is a new collection of current D-I-Y post-punk bands shaped by the mutant sounds of no wave, punk funk and New York Noise bands from the late 70s and early 80s that collided with the world of underground dance music found at the Paradise Garage, Mudd Club in New York City (ESG, Arthur Russell, Bush Tetras, Talking Heads, Suicide, Liquid Liquid). Other influences cited here include Manchester and Sheffield's industrial post-punk sounds of the 1980s (Joy Division, Cabaret Voltaire, Gang of Four) as well as the 1970s German electronic experimentalism of Cluster, Neu!, Harmonia and Can. Featured artists from around the globe include Los Angeles D-I-Y band Automatic, New Fries from Toronto, artist/music collaborators Toresch from Germany, Susumu Makai from Japan/UK, VexRuffin from the Philippines/California and Madmadmad, Gramme, Tom of England and other UK groups. That all the bands featured here manage to make distinctive contemporary music out of these 80s roots is testament to the wide range of other musics that are seamlessly absorbed into a modern melting pot of sound - hip-hop, the electronic European avant-garde, rave culture, and more.

Lucky Brown is the alias and stage persona of American composer Joel Ricci, who conducts myriad combinations of musicians drawn from his Seattle Washington based Westsound Recording Collective in dynamic and spiritual public and private happenings. Via his dozens of self-produced experimental deep funk vinyl singles released by Tramp Records over the past 13 years, he has been hailed by music mavens worldwide as a deep funk pioneer.

Deep Blues EP Some Kinda Blues by the Mosquito Hawks is the fruit of a one-off early morning session in a practice room at the Seattle Drum School in 2010 featuring luminaries from the Seattle funk community including fiery guitar phenom Jabrille "Jimmy James" Williams of Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio renown, versatile drummer Jens Gunnoe and dynamic bass player Bob Lovelace. Rounding out the horn section is longtime friend and collaborator Thomas Deakin, who's singular tenor tone will be familiar to owners of the Space Dream and Mystery Road records. A tantalizing glimpse of the session was released by Tramp as a single under the name T.D. & The Jimmy James 3 on the extremely limited edition Mosquitohawk imprint, but this EP offers us time to appreciate the transformative alchemy of the session in its entirety. The new EP makes room for highlights that just couldn't have been contained on one 45, such as the remaining 7 minutes of brutal jamming of Mosquito Eater, the New Orleans street party shout of Hydrangea and the exalted kind of blues of Some Kinda Blues.

On this album, Ricci proves once again that he has developed his own trademark production and sound whose depth and honesty form a basis from which his work will ever remain timeless. Although this is just a 5-track EP we truly hope that the Mosquito Hawks gets at least as much attention as all of Ricci's other marvelous projects he did for Tramp during the past 15 years.

Those who pay close attention to DJ Harvey’s sets should already be familiar with NuNorthern Soul’s next single, a fully licensed reissue of a sought-after 1980 promotional seven-inch from legendary Spanish Flamenco singer Manuel Mancheño Peña, better known as El Turronero (‘The Nougat’).

Both ‘Las Penas’ and ‘Si Yo Volviera A Nacer’ have long been secret weapons in the sets of dusty-fingered Balearic DJs, with Harvey regularly dropping the tracks during his sessions at Pikes Hotel on the White Isle.

Both tracks first appeared on Pena’s 1980 album New Hondo, a set that updated the then veteran Flamenco artist’s sound for the disco era. Whereas most of his previous albums were more traditional Flamenco affairs, New Hondo combined his throaty, effervescent Flamenco singing style with the driving grooves, swooping orchestration and spacey synthesizer sounds of European disco.

To promote the album, Spanish label DB Belter pressed up a promotional “45” featuring two of the most club-friendly cuts on the album. It’s this release that is being reissued for the very first time by NuNorthern Soul.

A-side ‘Las Penas’ is undoubtedly an off-kilter, late-night disco classic. Built around a flanged, action-packed disco-funk bassline, metronomic beats. soaring and layered female backing vocals, intergalactic synth sounds and stirring strings, the track steps up a level when ‘El Turronero’ takes to the microphone to belt out an infectious, energetic vocal in his trademark Flamenco style. It’s the kind of cut that’s as haunting and intoxicating as it is funky and floor friendly.

Flipside ‘Si You Volviera A Nacer’, another of New Hendo’s most sought-after tracks, is another unique and righteous concoction. Looser, groovier and warmer in tone, it sees another sublime, Flamenco style lead vocal from Pena accompanied by even funkier bass, spiralling ’70s synthesizer sounds, sweaty drums and some seriously exotic instrumental flourishes (think sitar and kalimba). It’s every bit as alluring as the more driving A-side, and equally as playable.

Both tracks may be unusual in comparison to the artist’s other releases, but they expertly capture a moment in time, when disco dominated dancefloors all over the world and inspired even the most traditional and historic of European musical styles. Quite a number of flamenco-disco records were made in Spain during the late ’70s and early ’80s, but very few are quite as magical as these.

In the past years, the multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer and music enthusiast Jeff Özdemir had been focusing on organising the Live-Mixtape series in Berlin, inviting numerous artists to join him on stage for every single event. However, the year 2020 put an end to this for all the painfully obvious and obviously painful reasons. Undeterred, he instead put together the third instalment of the »Jeff Özdemir & Friends« series, working with singers, musicians and groups such as Knarf Rellöm & DJ Patex, F.S. Blumm, Joanna Gemma Auguri, Elke Brauweiler and Elmer Kussiac for an 18-track … Now, is this a compilation or an artist album? Well, why just either this or that when it can just be both at once? This is »Jeff Özdemir & Friends Vol. 3« after all, emphasis on »&«.

Released on Karaoke Kalk like its two predecessors from the years 2015 and 2017, respectively, »Jeff Özdemir & Friends Vol. 3« sees the man behind Kreuzberg’s 33rpm record store and the 33rpm Records label showcase his qualities as a people remixer, songwriter and versatile musician. He put together a collection of groovy tunes picking up on funk and afrobeat rhythms, introspective ballads, a musically channeled punk attitude, shoegaze sentiments, spoken word passages, drones, glockenspiel sounds, seriously fun experimentation and much more. Just like on the cover artwork - courtesy of Marion Eichmann, Özdemir’s favourite visual artist - everything here seems to discreetly exist for itself while being tightly connected to everything else at same time.

While artists like Ertan Doğancı, Désolé Léo, eng°n, F.S. Blumm and Zap have been long-term collaborators of Özdemir and were featured on previous instalments of the »Jeff Özdemir & Friends« series, new faces and forces also enter the mix. The melancholic »Love Letters« for example marks the first (though hopefully not last) collaboration with singer Joanna Gemm Auguri, while Knarf Rellöm & DJ Patex’s appearance has been dreamt of collectively but hasn’t been fully realised until now.

Whether it’s Désolé Léo’s French crooner soul, the lo-fi synth pop song »Bored« featuring former Commercial Breakup singer Elke Brauweiler or the many different sounds and styles presented under the name Jeff Özdemir: no decision is ever made between either that or this musical direction, but all are being joyfully enjoyed together. Thus, throughout its 70 minutes, the stylistic diversity of »Jeff Özdemir & Friends Vol. 3« does not once border on randomness. Instead, these sometimes very different songs are marked by a shared atmosphere - a direct result of these very different musicians approaching their studio time together less as a chance to make music but more of a chance to carefully listen to and interact with each other.

Just like you’d expect it from someone deeply connected with the local music community who also happens to run a record store, Özdemir is also the kind of person who’ll hand you the worn copy of a record he has just fished out from the bargain bin because he knows about its potential to change your life. The contributions by Vackrow (»Kleistpark«), Gebrüder Teichmann’s old band BeigeGT (»Disco«), and Otto von Bismarck (»Zu viele Erinnerungen«, produced by The Whitest Boy Alive’s Daniel Nentwig) do not even feature Özdemir, but are simply musical pearls that were (almost) lost in the shuffle of music history and unearthed for this very special occasion. That’s just what friends do, don’t they?

A few years ago, Don Zilla was sat alone in an internet cafe teaching himself FL Studio, dreaming of becoming one of Africa's greatest music producers. These early experiments evolved into 2019's "From the Cave to the World", an EP that showcased Zilla's rare fusion of eerie industrial electronics, lurching bass and constantly-shifting East African rhythms. Now the manager of Kampala's Boutiq Studios, Zilla returns to Hakuna Kulala with his eagerly-awaited debut album "Ekizikiza Mubwengula", a labyrinthine album that weaves freewheeling dance sub-genres into a bejeweled tapestry, signaling a path to the future. There's the cybernetic 'nuum funk of dBridge, Emptyset's overdriven, cacophonous anxiety, the hyper-paced airlock club ofShanghai's Hyph11E and the confrontational intensity of Dreamcrusher; everything is melted into a groove-fwd whole that's tough to resist. Tangling trap into slippery, atmospheric doom-step on 'Buziba', experimenting with uptempo, Slikback-esque rhythmic complexity on 'Tension' and reshaping noisy industrial ambience on 'Shots', Zilla uses the album to continuously challenge expectations, folding sounds in on themselves Inception-style and allowing fresh rhythms, textures and forms to peek through. It's a bold step from a central character in East Africa's rapidly-growing stable of paradigm shifting experimental club producers.

Here is one of the most sought after Turkish records.

Really a rare single from Turkey.

Turkish psych folk-rock sound with killer electric saz/fuzz heavy funk single from 1975.

Remastered sound, arranged by Zafer Dilek.

Blue Lab Beats sind momentan eines der gefragtesten Produktionsduos der Welt und stehen für einen Sound, dem sie selbst den Namen Jazztronica gegeben haben und in dem Elemente von Jazz, Hip-Hop, Soul, Funk, R&B, Boom-Bap und Musik der afrikanischen Diaspora zusammenfließen.
Ihre erste EP bei Blue Note enthält fünf großartige Tracks, darunter den Kracher “Blow You Away (Delilah)”.
Die fröhliche Nummer ist unüberhörbar von westafrikanischem Highlife und Afrobeat inspiriert und featuret den aus Ghana stammenden, aber heute in London ansässigen Sänger Ghetto Boy, der als “Prinz” der dortigen Afrobeat-Szene bezeichnet wird. Ein weiteres Highlight ist der Track “Nights In Havana”, der
Hörer/innen mit souligen Jazzfusion-Klängen und einem Solo des jungen Gitarristen Alex Blake in karibische Gefilde lockt. In der slicken Titelnummer “We Will Rise” setzt sich der Bostoner Saxofonist Braxton
Cook in Szene, der schon mit Rihanna und Solange Knowles auf der Bühne stand. Das letzte Wort auf der
EP hat in “Tempting (Dance 2)” schließlich der momentan omnipräsente Rapper Kojey Radical, der auch
auf dem neuen Album von Sons Of Kemet glänzt

Since first emerging in the latter half of the noughties, Guillaume Metenier’s Soul Sugar project has evolved considerably. Initially a trio built around the virtuoso organist’s love of ‘60s and ‘70s soul-jazz and Hammond funk – Metenier studied under jazz organ legend Dr Lonnie Smith – Soul Sugar is now a collaborative collective that draws just as much influence from classic Jamaican dub and reggae as the works of Jimmy Smith and Jimmy McGriff.

The outfit’s musical evolution comes into sharp focus on Excursions in Soul, Reggae, Funk & Dub, a collection of hard-to-find tracks that have been released at different points, and on different vinyl formats, over the last three years. Taken as a whole, the set offers a stunning snapshot of Soul Sugar’s rapidly expanding catalogue of classics. Metenier is once again at the controls but this time round Soul Sugar’s cast list of contributing musicians includes Sly & Robbie, Blundetto, Lone Ark, Slikk Tim, Thomas Naim and honey-voiced soul singer Leo Carmichael. Metenier also stars as a musician, providing lively and ear-catching organ solos under his now familiar Booker Gee alias.

What’s most noticeable from the off is the richness of the reggae riddims, the warmness of the instrumentation and the effortlessly soulful nature of the music. This is particularly evident on the collective’s stunning covers of Luther Vandross’s "Never Too Much" and Marvin Gaye’s "I Want You": effortlessly sunny and life-affirming interpretations that re-imagine the tracks as sumptuous slabs of reggae-soul and provide a platform for Leo Carmichael’s inspiring and comforting voice. Metenier and friends’ take on dub reggae – toasty, authentically bass-heavy and seeped in analogue effects – can also be admired on "Matumbee" and "Cool Down", the latter a digi-dub influenced affair rich in colourful synths sounds, echoing delay trails and sub-bass so deep it will rattle your teeth. Both also contain lusciously jazzy guitar licks and some incredible keys-work from Metenier.The guiding hand of Spanish multi-instrumentalist and producer Lone Ark can be heard on album opener "Aximites" – think Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry producing Jimmy Smith – and "Faith", an expertly breezy concoction that sports Jackie Mittoo-esque Hammond B3 solos from Metenier over a luscious backing track that sounds like something that may have emerged from Studio One in the mid 1970s. The collective’s love of Studio One is explored further on a sweaty, reggae-funk cover of "Greedy" that features fabulous drums, bass and guitar from Slikk Tim, while "Out In The Rain" is an authentically sparse, spaced-out dub number laden with fluid instrument solos and devilishly heavy riddim.
Part compilation, part artist album, part collaborative celebration of dub-soul fusion, Excursions in Soul, Reggae, Funk & Dub is the strongest statement yet of who Soul Sugar are, and where they’re going.

African, funky, sarcastic, bewitching, green, ecstatic: these words collide to describe Vaudou Game and all of them are true.

Noussin is the fourth album of the french Afro Funk band. Forced into lockdown, like much of the planet, Peter Solo and his Vaudou Game had no choice but to retreat into the studio. A reunion to once again invoke the spiritual forces of the Voodoo Deities. A reunion that was Initially imagined for an EP…yet these spiritual forces behind that imagination yearned for something more, and as we all know, these forces are impossible to push away once they have decided to stay.

Under the strain enforced by the current socioeconomic climate, as much as by the environmental peril that faces us all today - they diverted the course of the groove towards daring new vibrations. Without extinguishing or diminishing its highly communicative power, they released Vaudou Game from its origins of pure Afro-Funk to gradually engage into compositions which crystallized themselves into tones resembling more rock than funk.

On this fourth album, with an entirely revisited line-up, Peter Solo separates for the first time in his career from his brassy guard, leaving saxophone, trumpet and trombone outside to invite an arsenal of keyboards to define, with him, this new voodoo sound. A sound, as usual, built on vintage and precise analogical material - grime even on the white side of the tape, a blunt instrument used to blanket anything that strived to shine too much in the mix.

Graced with tapered guitars stringing out rhythmic bumps or withdrawing a few beats to indulge in infectious solos, this album is boisterously alive with vintage 70's Funk, infused with a few digressions into other ethers of the funk timeline, nicking different sounds and frequencies to render the black and white keys of an inspired keyboard to reach new euphoric levels of melodic acidity.

Tearing off the enigmatic mask to reveal his true face: on a few titles, Peter Solo ventures outside of his sacred voodoo range to reconnect with his London years, these titles feature small nods to the time he spent in “The Smoke” where the incantations of British music culture were written within him.

Noussin which means “Stay strong” in Mina, a dialect spoken in the south-west of Togo. Noussin, a message of hope as much as a call to come together to weather the turmoil and to come out better on the other side. Don’t let them grind you down…Noussin!

Steve.Martin - the man with two brains, is the collaboration project of Stevn.aint.leavn and Porter. The two groove maniacs joined forces for dancefloor oriented productions with lots of funk! Besides their own imprint and musical home "Certain Circles" you can find their sound stamp on labels like Beste Modus, Quality Vibe, Rubisco. At the menu, 3 tracks : Deep / Warm / Dub & Rhythm.
We have the honor to welcome the prolific Chris Stussy who give us his deep vision of « Belladova » !

50th anniversary of the legendary Philadelphia International Records label founded in 1971 by innovative and prolific songwriters/producers Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff. This superb compilation showcases the sophisticated sound associated with the label also known as 'The Sound of Philadelphia'. Featuring the legendary roster of music stars who helped bring these chart topping disco, R&B, soul and funk sounds to life including The O’Jays Patti LaBelle, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, Billy Paul, Teddy Pendergrass, Lou Rawls, McFadden Whitehead, The Three Degrees, Phyllis Hyman, The Intruders and the ultimate 'house band' MFSB. A 12 song album pressed on a standrad single black vinyl. Marketing.

The latest RJD2 release "The Fun Ones" was set up to place RJD2 in the studio by himself to explore all different styles and sounds. The song selection for an album really dictates the story that gets told. What is most different about this album is that he disregarded any concern for showing versatility; The songs were chosen strictly by which were the funnest to listen to, hence the title The Fun Ones. By and large, it is a funk record. Once the songs were completed and ordered, the idea was to sequence the album like a mixtape or treat the raw songs as selections in a mixtape. The concept of the album became the stories of purpose that everyone told. Because of this, the digital version of the album plays like a mixtape of sorts, while the vinyl version plays as the raw audio tracks. So a listener could choose which way they prefer to hear the songs themselves.

The track is already on the ‘Filoxiny’ album so Skinshape extended the mix and backed it with a dub version for the flip. Skinshape is the project of British musician William Dorey. The sound has roots in many genres but in particular 1960s Funk, Soul, Reggae, Psychedelic Rock, Afrobeat and Folk. Aside from the Skinshape project Dorey was bassist for the band Palace from 2014-2017 and also runs a reggae label called Horus Records based in North London. About I Didn’t Know from Dorey himself: “This is the most 'pop' song I've possibly ever made, and possibly the most 'modern' sounding. It is about being in a difficult relationship and not knowing how to deal with it and making mistakes as a result. I wrote and recorded most of the song around the drum pattern, and created some (terrible sounding) digital orchestral parts temporarily whilst I created the body of the song. I recorded the strings and horns in the last part of the recording process before doing the final mixes. The horns were recorded separately with the help of my long-time friend (since school) and master arranger Jon Moody (of the group Franc Moody).”

Music on Hold deliver an LP with strictly "only the hits" in updated graphics and soundbite studio wizardry. It's the shinning neon-colour video game classic you never played in your youth in the arcades. You only dreamed about it after too many bong hits. You think you've heard these songs before? Ha! You've never heard them better brother. Gary Wilson called, and sung you a melody and the Human League stole the synth lines.. then The Spits put lead guitar in slow-motion. This is a record for all four seasons in all TV Colours and black and white nouvelle vague romance. This LP is the first baseball bat you take you A Ferrari parked outside a strip club. This is the flock of seagulls that exploded in the sky The project once a solo affair is now a power-trio featuring funky starship troopers Guillaume Mobstaire and beloved cult-hero Mathis (Police Control, Skategang) in the shuttle. And as they blast off into cyberspace, tThey toss this their first greatest hits out of the cockpit and into your hands.

Premieres from Data Transmission and Bolting Bits. Early support from Hospital, Huey Morgan, Rupture, Fanu, Rob Luis, Anthony Kasper (Fokuz), Red Rack'em, Bandcamp Weekly, etc.

150 copies pressed on 180 gram vinyl. Picture shows the HF021VFELT edition which comes with 'Nuthin' But a Jungle Thang' die-cut felt sleeve insert (in assorted colours), with Heard and Felt embroidered fabric tag. HF021V edition is the same 180g vinyl without the felt sleeve insert.

With music from Jonny Faith's recent Night Lights EP appearing in Grand Theft Auto and best of 2020 lists including Gilles Peterson's, you might think Jonny would continue to mine his take on hip hop and broken beat. Well, all in good time. He's been ready to enter the jungle for 20 years, and he's not waiting any longer.

Now based in Melbourne, Jonny first got involved in music in Edinburgh as a DJ and turntablist in the 90s, getting hooked on jungle, drum & bass, hip hop and the hybrids of these championed by the Mo'Wax label. Formative experiences included hearing DJ Hype spinning in Newcastle, seeing the Roni Size/Reprazent live show with two drummers and hanging out at cult Edinburgh club night Manga, where residents G-Mac and DJ Kid hosted the likes of Marky, Grooverider and J Majik.

Jonny was keen to start making his own sounds, signing up for an electronic music production course. But it wasn't quite what he was after.

'The course turned out to be more house-oriented,' Jonny recalls. 'Sampling wasn't on the curriculum, and the students weren't allowed to touch the Akai S900, the sampler used in lots of the early jungle classics.'

When Jonny did start releasing his own productions a few years later, he was starting to explore the experimental beat scene around the time Flying Lotus and Hudson Mohawke (another Scottish turntablist) were starting to make their mark.

Jonny continued to widen his sonic palette, adding elements of dub, jazz, funk, electronica and broken beat, and picking up fans like Radio Nova Paris, KCRW, Vice and Clash Magazine along the way. But he's never been more than one degree of separation from his jungle/D&B roots. He continued to buy and play the music, did the odd D&B remix and snuck sonic elements and techniques into his tracks at various tempos. Over the years his releases have shared labels with the likes of Peshay, Om Unit, Drumagick, Reso, Kid Drama and Danny Scrilla.

Now, more than 20 years after those early experiences in Edinburgh, Jonny unveils his first jungle/D&B EP, On Lock. And it sounds like he's been making this music the whole time. In a way, he has.

The single 'Open My Eyes' bursts out the gate, chopping not only the breaks and the soul for a tune that sounds like Amerie's '1 Thing', or some Just Blaze chipmunk soul, reimagined for the 174 BPM crew. Jonny started this one as a hip hop beat for a live routine on his MPC, but it only really came together when he reframed the groove around a D&B rhythm. Next up, Jonny tries a similar trick on his own boom bap tune 'Stay in Your Lane' from the 'Night Lights' EP. His new Step Off Mix totally recontextualises US MC Lady K's slinky soulful rap and hooks with a tough and funky junglist groove. One for fans of the old Roni Size/Bahamadia collab. 'Create' then spaces things out just a touch, with atmospheric but propulsive drumfunk. Vinyl bonus track 'Nuthin' But a Jungle Thang' layers cascading amen breaks, timestretched vocals and a massive double bass-line over the wah guitars and synth whistling of a G-funk era classic.

With early support for Jonny Faith's take on jungle/D&B coming from Hospital Records, Rupture (Rinse FM) and Fanu (Metalheadz), Jonny is ready to be welcomed (back) into the scene.


b A2: Stay in Your Lane (Jonny Faith Step Off Mix) feat. Lady K