Suche:stop me

Off The Record (faitiche 39), the new album by French collagist Roméo Poirier, is an amusing romp through the discarded history of recording studios. It contains fourteen miniatures based on accidental recordings of studio talk, revealing things that were never meant for the public: we hear instructions from studio staff, scraps of talk between musicians, or just microphones being adjusted, as well as false notes, false starts: everyone stops. Start again: 1, 2, 3, 4!

Poirier’s approach recalls Accumulation, an artform practiced by Arman, Jean Tinguely and Daniel Spoerri that involved piling up everyday items into assemblages. The objects themselves often remained unaltered, the artistic gesture consisting in the careful curating of a distinctive selection. Poirier’s audio collages explore similar terrain. The fourteen pieces on Off the Record combine more than a thousand found sounds from studio archives into complex miniatures. The audio content of these outtakes is twisted, stretched, cut, reassembled, slowed down and accelerated. Voices cut into a microgroove, from a very old recording, intertwine with digital voices gleaned from YouTube. All of them in dialogue, engaging the listener with the impression of being part of a new music group.

Poirier uses the mundane routine of setting up before the actual recording gets underway to tell a universal story about working in a recording studio. And he manages something few achieve, transforming specialist knowledge into a narrative whose beauty goes far beyond its immediate subject. It speaks to everyone, because the story is told in a musical language that is open and accessible, evoking magical images reminiscent of Oz – a world consisting less of events than of camp hallucinations, captured in grainy black-and-white photographs. En passant, Poirier shows us how the notion of material accumulation can produce great art.

Written and produced by Roméo Poirier, mastered by Stephan Mathieu, photos by Roméo Poirier, graphic design by Tim Tetzner.

Since their reunion in 2015, Malka Family has been enchanting stages once again and releasing fabulous albums. Le Retour Du Kif (2018) and SuperLune (2022), featuring almost all of the original musicians, have marked their comeback.
Today, Planète Claire, a 16 tracks album, is undoubtedly one of Malka Family’s best works.
It was urgent for the great Funk families to return and give the new generations a lesson of kif…
Back to the Roots

In 1987, after organizing the Chez Roger Boîte Funk parties with Dee Nasty and Actuel/Radio Nova, Joseph Mannix and Isaac Ben Araz (then guitarist and trombonist of the group Human Spirit) decided to create a French-style Funk band.
The group quickly became one of the most spectacular live sensations of the 1990s.
Their self-produced debut album, Malka On The Beach, was released in 1991. Both the press and the public went crazy for these little funkateers, leading to a series of non-stop tours. Their concerts—wild, costumed performances—drew massive crowds. Warner France took notice and signed them.

Their second album, Tous Des Ouf (WEA), a true Space Opera P-Funk featuring guests like Sidney (Hip-Hop), Dee Nasty, Marco Prince (FFF), Juan Rozoff, and more, was released in 1992.

After touring the world multiple times, the band became independent again in 1995 and recorded an EP for Big Cheese Records: Fricassé De Funk.

By the late ‘90s, the rise of DJs and electronic music signaled the decline of large live bands. Due to its logistical weight—the band had over 14 members on their last tour—Malka Family was forced to part ways in 1997 after touring for their album Fotoukonkass (RCA/BMG).

But that was without counting on the resilience and extraordinary freshness of these Funk performers…

It began with a cassette tape entitled 'Pleased To Meet You' gifted to us at Sessa's Fasching, Stockholm show by Yann Dardenne, the multi-tasking tour manager/sound engineer/producer/merch stall worker and co-owner of Seloki Records. On first listen, the selection of underground Brazilian artists from the Seloki's roster was superb, however, one song stopped us in our tracks. The hauntingly captivating ' GOSTO MEIO DOCE' by Nina Maia and Francisca Barreto, gave us a taste of Nina's ethereal, addictive voice and we knew we needed to hear more. Born in Minas Gerais but now based in Sao Paulo, the 22-year-old has already packed a lot into a relatively short space of time. The singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, and producer, has already collaborated on the soundtracks for six Brazilian feature films, including a track with the vocalists Maria Gadu, Iza, and Liniker. But things enter a new exciting era with this, her remarkable debut album entitled 'INTEIRA', which translates to English as 'whole'.

As much inspired by Billie Eilish and Rosalia, as Milton Nascimento and Toninho Horta and not sounding like other records coming out of Brazil, 'INTEIRA' is unique. Though rich in its Brazilian heritage, inspired by samba cancao, MPB, and the Clube da Esquina movement, it also channels influence from bands such as Portishead and Massive Attack, mixed with jazz, contemporary leftfield and electronic pop artists. Musically, it is not easily pigeonholed, with beautiful, well-crafted songs, sophisticated arrangements, eloquent vocals and intimate lyrics. Each track reflects different moments and stories from Nina's youth but with dialogues, feelings, and questions that span generations and resonate with all. This ambitious debut album is Nina's vision and sound, expressing herself without constraints and making music with her friends. Featuring a lineup of Thalin (drums), Valentim Frateschi (bass), Francisca Barreto (cello and vocals), Thales Hashiguti (viola and violin), Yann Dardenne (acoustic guitar and co-producer) and Nina on piano, Rhodes, guitar and production. The album led to a nomination in Paulista Association of Art Critics (APCA) award's 'Breakthrough Artist' category, who also listed 'INTEIRA' as one of the 50 best albums of 2024.

It also received support from Bandcamp Weekly and Jamz Supernova on BBC 6 Music. Released digitally by Seloki Records in Brazil in 2024, Mr Bongo in partnership with Seloki Records now present this new, deluxe worldwide edition that includes four additional songs. These comprise the brand-new exquisite 'MANHA', as well as an original twist on Vinicius de Moraes' classic 'Serenata Do Adeus'. Elsewhere you'll find a live recording showcasing Nina's remarkable energy on stage courtesy of 'DE DENTRO' and 'GOSTO MEIO DOCE' with the amazing musician/vocalist Francisca Barreto, where our whole story began. Here at Mr Bongo, we are honoured to release music by such a remarkable new talent - one whose musical trajectory is most certainly about to soar.

Metatone is a tonic-containing substance used to help restore health and vitality after illnesses or when you are feeling tired. A metaphor, which perfectly describes Ement's debut album - a mixture of peak-time electro/techno tunes spiced up with the modern traces of EBM, which perfectly fits clubs and festivals. It is a personal dancefloor experience materialization of a non-stop party rebel, who started his music production journey in the periphery and got inspired by his brother's hard dance production experiments. After an intensive exploration of the local and foreign club scene through years of intensive djing, remixing and never-ending afterhours, Ement finalized his recent definition of dance, which launches on the new co-curated PZ Records label.
An unexpected break and a long-lasting limbus of the dancefloor consumption turned out as a perfect slot to reveal one of many underestimated Lithuanian producers, who are too shy and too critical to themselves. It's no fiction, as "How Much Is Too Much" was already noticed and compiled by Dave Clark in his "Whitenoise" radio show.

Jonathan Sings! is the fourth album by American rock band Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, and was released in 1983. Richman emerges as an incurable romantic on Jonathan Sings!, an infectiously sunny effort which stands among his finest LPs. Recorded after a long layoff with a new Modern Lovers lineup, Richman sounds thoroughly recharge, even extolling the simple virtues of "This Kind of Music"; among his other enthusiasms are kids; "Not Yet Three" and travel; "Give Paris One More Chance", but his primary focus here is romance, "You're the One for Me," "That Summer Feeling" and "Someone to Hold Me" are positively joyous. NME ranked it at number 19 in their "Albums of the Year" list for 1984. Jonathan Sings! is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on purple coloured vinyl.

Reissue 2003

First time reissue of this French cold-wave / minimal-synth treasure.



November 1981 – In the heart of autumn, we set off in two cars along the Nationale 1 (!) to reach Choisy-le-Roi, where a 16-track studio was waiting for us—a place where, over the course of a weekend, we would finally be able to carve our own grooves into vinyl. We were quite nervous, as Guerre Froide had already been around for a year and a half. Our elders in Kas Product had already released two EPs—one with four tracks, the other with three—in 1980, even though they’d started only a few months before us. Admittedly, there wasn’t really a sense of urgency—some of us came from the punk movement, where the prevailing mood was still very much No Future, even if we’d long since stopped believing in it... And yet others had truly lost everything, like those from the generation before us. The reasons, ironically, were often the same: heroin and/or love—hard drugs, in both cases.

Speaking of which, I had a terrible stomach ache—due to nerves or some form of tension—which forced us to make a pit stop in the Oise region so I could rush to the toilet of a local café. That same stomach discomfort would hit me again once we arrived at the studio—whose name, incidentally, I’ve since forgotten...

We had gotten there thanks to the generous initiative of a friend, Sylvain S., known as “Perlin” (what a phonetic coincidence!?), who had specifically created the Stechak Products label to produce our record. Stechak because it was consistent with his earlier association called Tchernoziom, and Products as a plural tribute to the trailblazers from Nancy.

Guerre Froide originally consisted of four members: Fabrice Fruchart on guitar-synth (Korg MS-20), Patrick Mallet on bass, and Gilbert Deffais, known as “Bébert”, on Korg drum machine. At the time, I was already singing in a rock/post-punk band called Stress, and that’s how Guerre Froide picked up the bad habit of rehearsing in the same basement in Amiens as Stress. Within a month or two, we had half a dozen songs. We then had the opportunity to record a 4-track demo with a friend from Radio France Picardie, and to perform in October at a festival held at the Amiens municipal circus. Then came the now-legendary concert on November 11 at B.J.’s Club. After that, we self-produced and released 50 completely DIY copies of a cassette titled Cicatrice. A few concerts later—after Jean-Michel Bailleux had joined us on bass and Patrick had switched to guitar, which felt more natural to him—and with more concrete plans starting to take shape, we had to find a new rehearsal space and start renting a room.

Then came the moment when Fabrice told us he was leaving to go study in Lille... After the June 19, 1981 concert, which was naturally dubbed “Farewell to 2F,” Marie-José, Bébert’s wife, offered to take over on synth.

That’s when Perlin, who was a close friend of the Deffais couple and a great fan of our music, offered to fully finance the production of a 4-track 12-inch EP—covering the studio time, mastering, pressing, and artwork. What up-and-coming band would have turned that down? An improvised contract was signed with each member of Guerre Froide. The first step was choosing which four songs we would record. Berlin 81 was an obvious pick, having already become the group’s flagship track. We wanted to avoid reusing songs from Cicatrice, so the focus shifted to new material—some written before, some after Fabrice’s departure. Ersatz, for example, was his composition, but Mauve and Peine Perdue, which were also selected, were both written by Patrick.

Am 26.09.2025 erscheint beim feinen Wiener Indie-Label Voller Sound endlich das heiß erwartete Debüt-Album der New-New-Wave-Band Parc de Triomphe - als Vinyl mit grell-pinken Farbtupfern. Eine Reminiszenz an die 1980er- und 1990er-Jahre. Auf dem selbstbetitelten Album setzen sich Jörn Brien und Florian Knabenschuh in gewohnt düsterer Elektro-Pop-Manier mit der eigenen Vergangenheit auseinander. Themen wie Einsamkeit, Verletzlichkeit und die Angst vor Umbrüchen werden aufgehellt von Farb- und Hoffnungsschimmern. Druckvoll, treibend, wütend Musikalisch geht es bass- und beat-lastig zur Sache. In den oft tanzbaren Stücken werden der druckvolle Basslauf und die treibenden Beats von der markanten Stimme und einem ebenso einprägsamen Gitarrensound begleitet. Manchmal schrille, oft wütende, dann wieder ruhige, kühle Synthie-Klänge unterstreichen die Anleihen beim New Wave der 1980er. Passend zu den Texten, die sich nicht zuletzt mit DDR, Wende und den nachfolgenden Baseballschlägerjahren in Ostdeutschland auseinandersetzen. Aber keine Sorge vor zu viel Vergangenheit und Nostalgie. Im Gegenteil: Frei nach dem Bandmotto "Krawall! Elektro! Pop!" schlagen die Musiker mit ihrer melancholisch-düsteren Musik und den aufwühlenden, lyrischen Texten eine Brücke ins Hier und Jetzt. Die erzeugten Emotionen bewegen Jung und Alt. Radio-Airplay, Charts und TV Mit der EP "Harte Zeiten" haben Parc de Triomphe Ende 2023 ein erstes Ausrufezeichen gesetzt. Mit Airplay auf FM4, zahlreichen Konzerten und einem TV-Auftritt sowie Platzierungen in den Austrian Indie-Charts konnte sich die Band in der Wiener Indie-Szene schon einen Namen machen. Der Song "Westradio" lief beim beliebten Berliner Sender radioeins. Auf Spotify kommen die bisher vorab veröffentlichten Singles jeweils auf Tausende Streams. Auf dem Album "Parc de Triomphe" finden sich insgesamt 12 fein produzierte (Alf Peherstorfer) Songs, die eingängig, aber nie langweilig sind, straight, aber auf ihre Art trotzdem schräg. "Geschmackvoll, eingängig und wundervoll" FM4-Moderator Andreas Gstettner-Brugger schrieb zur Single "Harte Zeiten": "Die beiden deutschen Musiker, die sich in einem Wiener Park kennengelernt haben, produzieren hier einen geschmackvollen, eingängigen und wundervollen Song, der mich an Tocotronic, frühe Blumfeld und diverse Krautrockbands erinnert." Fazit: Fans deutschsprachiger Musik, die den New-Wave-Sound der 1980er-Jahre im modernen Gewand feiern und dem Indie-Sound der frühen 1990er-Jahre nicht abgeneigt sind, sollten "Parc de Triomphe" auf ihre Plattenteller legen.

François and Sylvain Rabbath have turned six years of touring into a joint album that patiently and intensely distills a variety of musical flavors gathered from around the world.

Since the early 1960s, François Rabbath's double bass has resonated through enough landmark recordings to fill several shelves in a record collection. As an arranger, composer, and musician, his imprint on music goes far beyond his collaborations with Barbara, Paco Ibáñez, Charles Aznavour, or Édith Piaf. Aspiring double bassists owe him a groundbreaking method for learning the instrument. Born into a lush musical universe that quickly became his own, his son Sylvain first accompanied him on his travels before settling at the piano and sharing stages around the world at his side.

Those years of accumulating visas in their passports were put to good use by father and son. The continents, countries, and cities they passed through became a rich source of inspiration for composing Amall, the album by the Rabbath Electric Orchestra.

Long hours spent in the air or on the road, watching passing landscapes that never stayed the same, were transformed into compositions imbued with the atmospheres of the places they crossed or visited. Inspiration sometimes struck with force, like a green oasis appearing in a desert of stone—unexpectedly, as glowing red rocks suddenly dominated an otherwise open landscape with an endless horizon, while the mind wandered into a state between meditation and introspection.
Born from these travels, the pieces took on their final colors once brought into the studio, refined, and finally arranged to welcome the guitars of Keziah Jones and Matthieu Chedid, the piano of Laurent de Wilde, the bass of Victor Wooten, the saxophone of Raphaël Imbert, and the percussion of Minino Garay. Enhanced by the scale of the jazz-soul orchestrations, by the richness of arrangements bursting from strings, brass, rhythms, or keyboards, the epic breath of vast plains became ingrained. The urban tension of funk, echoing their movements, found its place—alongside more electric expressions or the ambience of a darkened room.
Melancholic and melodious, expressive and edgy, the bowed double bass—played in the high register where few dare to go—emerged as the musical guide. One that draws a path between Seville and Minneapolis, connects François Rabbath's native Syria to France, and bridges South America to Europe. It sets the tone to follow—the emotion that will carry the piece, and if not filled with light, will carry it there nonetheless.
Musical visions packed in luggage, transported in cargo holds, or imprinted in their minds just long enough to cover the distances to the next stop—father and son deepened their bond, beyond family and art. And their hands have never held each other more tightly.

François et Sylvain Rabbath ont fait fructifier six ans de tournées pour un album commun distillant patiemment et intensément la variété de parfums musicaux récoltés autour du monde.
Depuis le début des 60’s, la contrebasse de François Rabbath résonne dans assez de références pour combler plusieurs étagères d’une collection de disques. Arrangeur, compositeur, musicien, l'empreinte laissée dans la musique va bien au-delà de ses collaborations avec Barbara, Paco Ibanez, Charles Aznavour, ou Edith Piaf. C’est à lui que les
apprentis contrebassistes doivent une méthode novatrice pour apprendre l’instrument.

Né dans un univers musical luxuriant qui est vite devenu aussi le sien, c’est d’abord dans ses voyages que son fils Sylvain l’a accompagné, avant de s’installer au piano, et parcourir les scènes du monde à ses côtés. Ces années où les visas se sont entassés sur leurs passeports, père et fils les ont mises à profit. Continents, pays, et villes qui se sont succédés sont devenues un gisement pour composer Amall, l’album du Rabbath Electric Orchestra.

Les longs moments passés dans les airs ou sur la route à contempler un paysage qui défile sans pour autant rester le même, se sont convertis en compositions habitées par les ambiances de ces endroits traversés ou visités. Là où l’inspiration s’est imposée parfois brutalement, sous
la forme d’un oasis de verdure surgissant au milieu d’un désert de pierres. Au hasard d’imposantes roches rougeoyantes s’invitant dans un paysage jusqu’alors dégagé sur un horizon sans fin, quand l’esprit se laisse aller à un mélange de méditation et d'introspection.

Nés de ces pérégrinations, les titres ont pris leurs couleurs définitives une fois ramenés en studio, peaufinés puis, enfin, pensés pour y inviter les guitares de Keziah Jones et de Matthieu Chedid, le piano de Laurent de Wilde, la basse de Victor Wooten, le saxophone de Raphaël Imbert, les percussions de Minino Garay. Sublimé par la dimension des orchestrations jazz-soul, par la richesse des arrangements jaillissant des cordes, des cuivres, des rythmiques ou des claviers, le souffle épique des plaines immenses s’est imprimé.
La nervosité citadine du funk rythmant les déplacements a trouvé sa place, non loin d’une expression plus électrique ou d’une atmosphère de salle obscure.

Mélancolique et mélodieuse, expressive et nerveuse, la contrebasse jouée à l’archet, dans les notes hautes du manche où peu s’aventurent, s’est érigée en guide musical. Celui qui trace le chemin entre Séville et Minneapolis, relie la Syrie natale de François Rabbath à la France,
réduit la distance entre l’Amérique du Sud et l’Europe. Donne la note à suivre, l’émotion qui traversera le morceau qui, s’il n’est pas habité par la lumière, le portera néanmoins jusque là.

Visions musicales mises dans le coffre, transportées en soute ou imprimées dans l’esprit le temps de couvrir les distances qui les mèneront aux prochaines, c’est côte à côte que père et fils ont prolongé leur lien par delà des seules limites familiales et artistiques. Et leurs mains ne se sont jamais serrées aussi fort.
credits

SCHWERT AUS HOLZ“ klingt euphorisch, leicht und positiv. Bei aller Holz-Melancholie, erlauben es sich die DONOTS, sämtliche Songs neu zu denken mit anderem Vibe, neuen Rhythmen, alternativen Melodien und trotzdem immer mit genügend Grip und auch Drive - denn schnelle Songs wie der Live-Klassiker „Dead Man Walking“ oder der heimliche Sommerhit „Problem kein Problem" treten auch auf dem Akustikalbum durch den Holztisch. Frischen Wind pusten aber nicht nur die neuen Arrangements durch das DONOTS eigene Heavy Kranich Studio, in dem die Songs in diversen Sessions neu gedacht und recorded wurden. Die DONOTS haben sich alte Freund:innen und Wegbegleiter für diverse Gänsehautmomente eingeladen.

So ist aus dem DONOTS Hit „Stop The Clocks“ ein Duett mit Campino von Die Toten Hosen geworden, während Kuddel von Holst (ebenfalls Die Toten Hosen) ein wunderschönes Gitarrensolo zum ersten neuen englischsprachigen DONOTS Song in 13 Jahren eingespielt hat. Frank Turner darf in der Neuauflage von „So Long“ selbstredend nicht fehlen, Chuck Ragan von Hot Water Music und Matt Hensley von Flogging Molly empfehlen sich mit Reibeisenstimme und Akkordeon und Shitney Beers singt auf ihre wunderbare Shoegaze Art und Weise das Intro zu „Keiner kommt hier lebend raus“.

Die Vorab-Singles „Allein zu allein“ und „Problem kein Problem“ haben schon diverse Herzen eingesammelt und das „SCHWERT AUS HOLZ“ dürfte sämtliche restlichen Herzkammern fluten - auch auf der restlos ausverkauften Vorab-Akustik-Tour zum Albumrelease. It’s a love thing…

"Impressed are thrilled to be presenting The Bamboos Best, a compilation in celebration of twenty five year anniversary of the formation of The Bamboos.

The definitive collection of one of Australia’s most celebrated, influential and enduring Soul & Funk acts - tracing the history of the band that laid the foundation for the now internationally recognised Australian Soul scene.

Twenty songs taken from across their extensive catalogue, including many that have been unavailable on vinyl since their original release, and one track appearing in the format for the very first time.

From their raw Deep Funk origins through their own genre defying musical path, The Bamboos have reinvigorated a classic sound whilst seamlessly incorporating contemporary influences to create something altogether brand new.

Managing to appeal to both Soul/Funk purists as well as casual music fans along the way, the band have always focused on what’s important: songwriting, groove and powerful vocals.

Nach dem rasanten The Ride (2020) meldet sich die Punk-Truppe aus Los Angeles mit Lighten Up zurück, produziert von NOFXs Fat Mike. Eine perfekte Band für Fans von melodischem SoCal-Punk mit feministischem Einschlag. Die vierköpfige Band überzeugt mit unendlicher Power und Energie auf der Bühne, inklusive zweier Hauptsängerinnen. Und musikalisch stehen sie nicht still, sondern erweitern sich jedes Mal. "Life is hard, but it's still beautiful. Stop picking the hard shit to look at_look at the beautiful stuff too. Lighten up." Lighten Up (Fat Wreck Chords), das vierte Album der SoCal-Punkband Bad Cop Bad Cop, zeichnet ein eindrucksvolles Porträt der hart erkämpften Siege und Verluste des Lebens. Aufgenommen wurde das Album im Compound in Long Beach, der Heimat des erfahrenen Produzenten Antoine Arvizu (Sublime, Ryan Bingham). Die Band liebte es schon, die Singles ,Shattered" und ,Safe and Legal" dort 2023 mit Arvizu und Migs (Sublime, Slightly Stoopid, Long Beach Dub Allstars) aufzunehmen. Bad Cop / Bad Cop strecken ihren charakteristischen, melodischen Punk in unerwartete Gefilde, wie das jazzige ,Las Ventanas", das Dub-infizierte ,Note to Self" oder ,Johnny Appleseed", eine Neuinterpretation des Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros-Klassikers. Nach dem Einspielen der Instrumente verbrachte die Band zehn intensive 12-Stunden-Tage damit, die Vocals mit Mitstreiter John E. Carey Jr. (Old Man Markley, NOFX, Get Dead) aufzunehmen. "Der Gesang war der wichtigste Teil für uns. Wir haben wirklich alles ausprobiert", sagt Dee und fügt hinzu, dass Gallarza zum ersten Mal die dritte Harmonie gesungen hat. Lighten Up profitiert auch von Windsor, einem erfahrenen Gitarristen, der nicht nur schreddert (siehe z.B. das Ende von ,I4NI"), sondern dessen musiktheoretisches Wissen sich als unschätzbar erwiesen hat. ,Alex' Gitarrenspiel ist einfach fantastisch und hat unser Songwriting wirklich aufgewertet", sagt Dee. Alles an Lighten Up fühlt sich erhaben und echt an. "Das war das erste Mal, dass wir uns einen Dreck darum scherten, was andere machen oder von uns erwarten. Lighten Up war/ist für uns", sagt Dee. ,Es hat uns total viel Spaß gemacht, es zu machen und wir lieben es so sehr." CD, schwarze LP und limitiertes, hellblaues Vinyl erhältlich!

If any album could conjure up the revolutionary spirit of Jamaica in the mid 1970’s, Tapper Zukie’s invincible M.P.L.A. set would surely be a fighting contender. The coming together of great rhythms and meaningful lyrics in a time of unrest in the country seemed to have made the album all the more urgent and relevant. As time would tell it would also prove to be a lasting success, not only with the hard core reggae fans but also their punk counterparts. Who embraced its militant themes and crossed the album over to a whole new audience. Tapper Zukie (b. David Sinclair, Kingston, Jamaica.) had already returned from a trip to London England by the mid 70’s .Initially sent with help from his parents, brother Blackbeard and producer Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee to remove the youth from his troublesome ways on the streets of Kingston, Jamaica. He had performed some live shows in London and made some recordings for Larry Lawrence, that produced his debut ‘Jump and Twist’. Alongside other recordings that would emerge as his ‘Man A Warrior’ set. But feeling homesick he had returned to Jamaica in 1974 to work with Bunny Lee. His work would consist of arranging sessions and collecting payments to bodyguard, the now very successful producer. His frustration of Bunny Lee’s reluctance to record him led him cutting ‘Judge I Oh Lord’ for producer Lloydie Slim. Bunny Lee’s then recording of Tapper’s ’Natty Dread Don’t Cry’ and its subsequent release aboard, led to an altercation between Tapper and producer. The police had to be called and an offer to provide the singer with a set of rhythms put this matter to rest. The eight rhythms and a further two from Jo Jo Hookim and Ossie Hibbert alongside some free studio time at King Tubby’s Studio would result in the M.P.L.A album.

The rhythm provided by Jo Jo Hookim was a Channel One studio cut by The Revolutionaires based on Little Richards ‘Freedom Blues’ and provided the backdrop to M.P.L.A. The Ossie Hibbert rhythm again cut at Channel One based on The Royals ‘Pick Up The Rockers’ would provide the backdrop to Tapper’s ‘Pick Up The Rockers’. These and the remaining Bunny Lee rhythms, were all cut in a one hour session, at King Tubby’s Studio. ’Don’t Get Crazy’ cut on a rhythm based on the Joe Frazier rhythm to Tony Brevett’s ‘Don’t Get Weary’. ‘Go De Natty’ cut on Cornell Campbell’s ‘Please Be True’, originally a cut to Alexander Henry’s ‘Please Be True’. ‘Stop The Gun Shooting’ runs over Horace Andy’s ‘Skylarking’.’Ital Pot’ cut on Johnny Clarke’s version of Burning Spear’s ‘Creation Rebel. ‘Marcus’ see’s Tapper professing over Johnny Clarke’s ‘Poor Marcus’ .’Chalice To Chalice’ pulls on Johnny Clarke’s ‘Give Me a Love’,’ Don’t Deal With Babylon’ answers Junior Ross and The Spears ‘Babylon Fall’ and ‘Freedom’ rides on the great rhythm of Junior Ross and The Spears ‘Liberty’. An outstanding album cut by one of Jamaica’s finest DJ’s and producers the mighty Tapper Zukie. We hope you enjoy this now timeless set.

Released by Hegoa Records and Night School Records.
Greatest Heads is the fourth album by the radical Basque- Berlinesque group Al Karpenter. A deconstruction of structured “rock” music, here Al Karpenter re-imagine “the band” to explore the intersection between Free music, afro-beat, the avant garde and gonzo rock.
If Theodore Adorno wrote “To Write Poetry after Auschwitz is Barbaric” in 1949, Al Karpenter attempts to answer the difficult question today; what kind of music can be done in the face of a genocide? Álvaro Matilla, Marta Sainz, Enrique Zaccagnini & Mattin’s response to the planet’s slipping into a vortex of hate is to create a music ecstatic, a music of protest bursting with multiple musical languages and glossaries, full of overlapping histories and thrilling tensions.
Greatest Heads posits a plurality of musics both in opposition and intertwined: Al Karpenter play rock instruments pulled apart in the studio in post-production. Distorted rhythm chunks bit-crushed and dissipated, segments of freedom oppressed by waves of sound invading from every direction. The interplay between the chief instrumentalists and renowned, storied sound artist Mattin creates something akin to ESP freedom-seekers Cro Magnon playing in Miles Davis’ early 70s groups, The Los Angeles Free Music Society tightening up into a clenched fist of plunderphonics and runaway percussion.
We Are All Karpenters opens Greatest Heads with the most straight-forward song refrain of the record accompanied by a band that soon crash into eruption, imagining Sun City Girls in full free rock mode.
The modulating synth sound soon sucks the band into its wake to create a spine-chilling climax of distorted sound, made fully orgasmic with mastering engineer Rashad Becker’s attention to detail. On Izugarrizko Buruak (Greatest Heads), Matilla intones in Basque over a mangled distorto-beat. A Brand New Astraphobia creates a black space for a heavily processed guitar to blow up before falling to earth at night, a gentle figure serenading the coming end.
On Side B, the band begins by being masticated by a brutal phaser, squelching and stretching the music into new territories. The overt message of Stop The Genocide! is besieged by violence before Worm City aggressively samples the ghosts of soul music, mixing in noise bursts, prepared piano and swiping, abstracted sound. Epic closer Perfect Love feels like a beat poetry performance on a burnt world, still grasping for community, for home, for some sort of human love. A Mad love, then; an angry love fuelled by solidarity and collaboration.
The band’s cascading layers of references and polyglottal musics attempt to create the perfect lover, alive with rage and disorientating ecstasy: Al Karpenter.

Die ersten fünf Jahre von Karate, verpackt im klassischen Numero-Stil und kommentiert von Frontmann Geoff Farina. Diese Collage aus DC-Posthardcore, De Stijl und Django Reinhardt umfasst auf fünf LPs ihr selbstbetiteltes Debütalbum, In Place of Real Insight", The Bed Is In The Ocean", 7"-Singles aus dieser Zeit und eine bisher unveröffentlichte Demoaufnahme aus dem Jahr 1993. Insgesamt 41 Geschichten aus dem späten Millennium über nächtliche Radtouren um 2 Uhr morgens, Punk-Hauspartys, Nacktbaden, unglückliche Tattoos und Pendeln auf der Interstate 95, allesamt remastered von den Originalbändern und verpackt in robusten Tip-On-Hüllen für den anspruchsvollen Karate-Fan.

The song sets the tone of this album. A simple structure, over which a web of rhythm is woven using an instrumentation of old drum machines in dialogue with live drums and percussion. Lots of sax, tenor and baritone! A pumping bass. A frisky pizzicato violin. And some classic keyboards: the Fender Rhodes, the Hohner Clavinette D6, the L-100 Hammond organ. And lots of analogue synthesisers: a rippling Juno-106 marks the path to follow, which is crossed with phrases from other museum pieces: Crumar's Stratus, Farfisa's Synthorchestra, Sequential's Prophet-10. Or still the Casio Club M-100, which is basically a toy, but has been subtly colouring SKC's songs for years!

SKC has often dived deep into the repertoire of artists he holds in high esteem, looking for pearls, forgotten or not, to work on. Likewise on this album with versions of songs by Prince, Dez Mona, Alain Bashung…