Suche:street sound inc

TThe melodically adventurous soul of Leon Ware continues its expression in his final opus Rainbow Deux, released on double vinyl on September 13th. The album features new songs recorded and performed by Leon before his health turned, leading to his transition on February 23rd 2017. Co-produced by Taylor Graves, it has stellar musical contributions from the likes of Kamasi Washington, Thundercat, Ronald Bruner Jr, Rob Bacon and Wayne Linsey.

Taylor Graves came into Leon’s musical family in 2002 when he, his brother Cameron and the Bruner brothers Ronald Jr and Stephen (Thundercat) were playing along with their schoolmate Kamasi at an L.A. jazz club. Taylor, Cameron, Ronald and Stephen became Leon’s band for his debut shows in Japan in 2002 and Taylor continued to work with Leon as his mentor and collaborator over the next 15 years.

“Leon was ALWAYS writing something or developing his musical palette” his wife Carol Ware tells us, so it’s impossible to pinpoint any single moment of Rainbow Deux’s genesis. Six of the songs go back to 2012/2013 and were released in 2014 as part of Sigh, a Japan-only CD collection heavy with Rob Bacon’s tasteful licks and Wayne Linsey’s piano vibes. The rest of the material comes from Leon’s sessions with Taylor.

Describing Leon’s and his process, here’s Taylor: “We’d start by having some great homemade food! Then a glass of wine ‘to slow down time’. After we’d have our fill and smoked our joints we’d go into his studio room to listen and create.”

The album was finished-up around August of 2016 in a back-and-forth between Leon and his go-to mastering engineer Toni Economides in the UK.

Leon worked on Rainbow Deux with life’s greatest challenge looming over him, yet it is one of his most focused and cohesive solo offerings since the 1980s. The entire record is a vibe: mellow, deep and smooth as silk. The lyrical themes are eternal, and the music is elegant, soulful and sensual.

The album opens with the hypnotic throb of “For The Rainbow”, coming on like a percussive, slow-mo house shuffle. Gilles Peterson is a fan. The exotic “Let Love In” follows, with its gradual-build Island Funk, intricate guitar picks and sassy female vocals. It explodes when it hits its stride. “Sigh” is the stylish slow jam close-out to side A. Serene guitars and polished drums create neck snapping funk, with a swaggering finger-snap strut.

Side B opens with the easy-burning broken-beaty “The Darkest Night”, the centrepiece of the album. Kamasi Washington’s lurking sax, restrained and beautiful, unfurls into the dank, sticky atmosphere of Thundercat’s signature creeping bass laid over his brother’s in-the-pocket drums. Leon’s vocals are perfect, a masterclass in seductive sax-soul.

“Surrender Now” conjures waves of vocals to swell and wash over the glossy piano, subtly bumping hip-hop drums and bubbling synth-bass stabs. It’s got the trademark Leon layers. “Summer Is Her Name” has Kamasi’s effortless, melancholic sunshine sax give way to rising tempos and propulsive rhythms.

“Are You Ready” is a total highlight (and we’ve been playing it out for ages). It’s a nimble groove of piano and synth rolling around Theo Croker’s sensual trumpet playing. Digi-soul at its finest. With lush G-Funk sensibilities “Streets (Keep Me Runnin’)” sounds like a lost Dam-Funk produced gem. All tough kicks and snares and street sounds. Leon’s hood pass will be forever intact.

“Samba Dreams” is the first of two tracks that bring a little Rio magic to Rainbow Deux. Leon created a whole body of work in partnership with Brazilian legend Marcos Valle that includes “Rockin’ You Eternally” - a hit for Leon - and “Estrelar” – a hit for Marcos. Leon channels his obvious love of Brazilian music here through more of Croker’s sumptuous trumpet, played over loose percussion. “Let’s Go Deep” is next up. A dreamy between-the-sheets quiet storm anthem and a real showcase for Leon’s vocals.

The dripping, honeyed harp-funk of “We Should Be Laughin’” marks the star turn of the brilliant Kimbra. Leon first met her on-stage to do an impromptu duet of “Inside My Love” during an open-air celebration of Minnie Riperton in July of 2014. Kimbra was working with Taylor on her music and he brought her to Leon’s house to do some writing. This was the result.

Warm synths radiate shuffling samba soul on “Wishful Thinking” as those Brazilian rhythms return to bring Rainbow Deux to a close.

During an apartment move Leon and Carol rediscovered some watercolours Leon had done years ago. One of these paintings had been dubbed “Deux Hearts” and Leon decided it should be on the cover of Rainbow Deux, getting as far as approving a draft concept for the artwork.

Carol has overseen developing that draft into the final gatefold sleeve. It brings together quotes, photographs and tributes in what is a reflection on the music, relationships and philosophy of the sensual minister.

Gerry “the gov” Brown, Leon’s long-time sound engineer, was by his side throughout the project, recording and mixing. The album was mastered by Toni Economides and Simon Francis’ additional sensitive work makes sure this double LP sounds like it should on vinyl.

Be With’s first ever release was Leon’s eponymous LP. Re-issuing that album planted the seed of a relationship that has grown to grant us the privilege of presenting his crowning achievement. We know that Leon’s fans all over the Earth will love Rainbow Deux. But we also hope that this album, the final entry in a phenomenal body of work, will reach new fans and find fresh conduits for the spirit of this oft-unsung hero of Soul.

Leon always said “they will get it when I'm gone.”

He also said that “the spirit never dies”…

Koma Saxo is a highly potent new five-piece produced by the visionary Berlin-based Swedish bassist-producer Petter Eldh. The lineup brings together five heavy jazz names on the Berlin–Nordics axis, including Eldh on bass, Christian Lillinger on drums and the frontline of three saxes: Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar and Mikko Innanen. Despite the top-billing names, make no mistake: this is not just another "supergroup", but a real working band with their own sound and musical trejectory.

Eldh's vision for the Koma Saxo sound is one step ahead of what groovy avantgarde jazz could sound like in 2019, involving postproduction work with the raw material recorded in Helsinki in connection to Koma Saxo's successful debut at the We Jazz Festival. Both studio and live tapes exist side by side, and Eldh goes deep in molding the final music to be heard on the upcoming Koma Saxo releases.

The first introduction into the world of Koma Saxo comes in the form of a 7"/digital single "Port Koma / Fanfarum For Komarum". Side A presents a restlessly dubby beat track, which would be ripe for hiphop sample use. The flip launches into a joyful full-on groovy free jazz fest which is hard to resist. Think Art Ensemble of Chicago at their swingingest but add a little "Nordic Noir" dropped right into the busy streets of Berlin's Kreuzberg.

More golden era heat from the nervous vaults! It keeps coming!
Another stripped back, rough & raw banger from the vintage mid-90's output of Brooklyn's Black Moon crew, a legendary group.
'Powaful Impak' . still sounds super heavy today, a swirling mixture of dancehall vox, Busta samples and ultra raw and banging SP1200 loops courtesy of the mighty Evil Dee & Mr. Walt aka Da Beatminerz. Nobody comes close to the ferocity of this, super hard, street level hip-hop that encapsulates NYC beautifully, ultra gritty! Throw on your timbs, Carhartt jeans and jump the turnstyle to this right here. Essential vintage rap, instrumental included. Cop that.

Fully legit, licensed and reissued by Above Board distribution in conjunction with Nervous Records, NYC. 2019.

“Built By Humanoid” is Humanoid's second album, a mere 30 years after the debut, though Brian Dougans claims the first album wasn't really him anyway.
Humanoid's classic acid house single, ‘Stakker Humanoid’, highly regarded as one of the key tracks from the era (Richard James (Aphex Twin) sights the Stakker project as a major influence), enjoyed massive success in 1988. Reaching No.1 for 5 weeks in the UK dance charts, performances on Top of the Pops, a John Peel session for the BBC and European tours eventually led to an album deal.
Whilst all this was happening, Brian Dougans (one half of electronic legends Future Sound of London) claims he was returning to his squat in Kings Cross with no electricity or water. He not only became disillusioned with the business, but also became increasingly ill from the conditions he was living in. Around 6 tracks into the album, he left London and record label, Streetsounds, returning to Manchester to recover and regroup his thoughts. However, Steetsounds pressed ahead with the album and it was finished in Brian’s absence with guest performers.
Brian left Humanoid behind and went on to create FSOL with Gaz Cobain becoming leading lights in the burgeoning ambient scene, scoring a top 10 album "Lifeforms" on Virgin Records.
In 2003 Rephlex (Aphex Twin’s label) released a posthumous album of 1988 out takes compiled by Brian.
Recently Humanoid tracks have been popping up on modern compilation albums (Touched Music / Gasman, etc) signalling a possible return.
“Built by Humanoid” is a brand new nine track album of future acid cuts, breaks and electronics, a lot of which is credited to 2 synthesisers co-designed by Brian Dougans and English Electronics company Digitana. It is this innovation that has helped usher Humanoid back into the limelight and consequently the album has a rather new and unique sound and style.
The track ‘Polymath’ is created using a possibility / probability theory that results in a track which at no point repeats itself - 303 tinged acidic bubbles. Meanwhile ‘Traktion’ is a break beat, pulse laden, bass heavy monster. ‘Fu*k It’ is the future sound of 303. Fast, frantic and beat driven. Whilst ‘Post Humans’ combines thumping 909 and 303 into an acid hallucination.

An LP of tracks, taken from various cassette releases, by Belgian synthwave luminaries The Misz (Jan Van den Broeke and Dries Dekocker)! 600 copies on 180 grams vinyl.

The Misz formed in Gent in 1983 by Jan Van den Broeke and Dries Dekocker at a time when they had both just relocated from the country. They lived on the same street and collaborated freely with the limited equipment they had, which always centered around the Fostex 250 4-track tape recorder. They used an unknown monophonic synthesizer, casio synths, roland drum machines, hand drums and guitars through effects pedals, improvising with their voices and often and included friends for additional voices and sounds. They captured these sonic experiments and sometimes released them on cassette in editions of 100-200. They were also included on numerous cassette compilations throughout the 1980s on labels like Mad In Belgium, The Cassette Factory, 3RIO Tapes, Minimart production, Fraction Studio, Cauchy Productions, Home Product, R.R. products, ZNS Tapes, and Body Records. They described themselves as young, immature and bit strange yet totally bold and fearless. They sang about what surrounded them from world politics and environmental catastrophes to love and lust. The songs on The Lonely Crowd span from various cassette releases and have been remastered from their original reel to reel tapes.

WYLLOWE is Anna Sheard and Rory More – a nascent writing duo with a shared enjoyment of all things folky and groovy (think early '70s Sergio Mendes, '60s sunshine pop and modal jazz versions of Scarborough Fair). The new 7-inch release Fortunate Fool is a rolling and loping affair with a lilting melody accompanied by a chiming 12-string Fender, electric piano and Lowrey organ; its soaring lament and understated groove is an open-road elbows-in-the-wind driving song.

The B side, Berwick Street Blue, brings to the fore Anna's alluring lyricism and Rory's oscillant motifs calling to mind the compositions of continental soundtrack composers and the sonorous femme-fronted productions of the late 1960s. Lush choral harmonies, layered guitars and resonant piano and organ ebb and flow over a soulfully intoned lyrical paean to a part of London lost and changed forever.

Kalim Shabazz looks to find common ground between the old and the new. Electronic music with a soul. Organic electronic music that moves the dancefloor in a new, but not unfamiliar, direction…

This 3 track EP with keyboardist Jerrell Battle signify the true organic deep house vibe with "Bassic" a deep melodic journey with guitar riffs that moves you. On the flipside "Dana Byrd" beautifully demonstrates the power of the voice as "She" is dedicated to the most important women in our lives. Delivering that true NY Soulful vibe you would hear at the Shelter. Lastly "Sound Module" finishes the record with straight deepness.
Shabazz a true Brooklyn native, made his mark in New York in 1993 with his legendary Afterlife party with Kim Lightfoot. Since the early 90's Kalim has been working with partner Nick Jones; recording history together with their first release, “Wake Up People”, on Bobby Konders’ Massive B Records which featured Satoshi Tomiie & Cassio Ware. Shabazz and Jones continued this partnership under various studio monikers including ‘Moments of Soul’ and ‘Soul Movement’ with releases on labels like Wave Music, King Street Records and Shelter Records. The rest is history!

Available april 30th

Heavy heavy heavy gospel compilation.. Including a few tracks that are under the radar or recently discovered such as Harrison Jones - On that Other Shore, Converters, I've Been Converted and the super limited self-released 45 by Mr Jesse R. McGuire – Jesus Is On the Mainline. Only 50 copies were ever pressed... Also holds Paradise's brilliant "Keep the Fire.".. TIP!!

Although gospel and disco music seem like polar opposites—one is secular while the other has embraced a hedonistic culture—the marriage of the two genres has birthed the uplifting spirituality and dance floor thump found in gospel disco. By the mid-'70s many established and independent gospel artists started creating records with a tight four-on-the-floor beat that touched both churchgoers as well as patrons of the drug-fueled establishments of the '70s.

Cultures of Soul Records is proud to present the second installment of Greg Belson's Divine Disco. Belson is one of the world's leading authorities on the funky gospel sound; for this collection he dug deep into his crates to
undercover the rarest independent and private press gospel disco records ever recorded. Greg Belson's Divine Disco sound is one that's been heard around the world from his DJ appearances at Glastonbury's NYC Donwlow stage to LA's Funky Sole to soul nights across
Europe.

Many tracks are under the radar or recently discovered such as Harrison Jones - On that Other Shore, Converters, I've Been Converted and the super limited self-released 45 by Mr Jesse R. McGuire – Jesus Is On the Mainline. Only 50 copies were ever pressed. This volume even includes gospel disco from the UK with Paradise's brilliant "Keep the Fire." This compilation also includes remixes and edits by Steve Cobby (who was a member of Fila Brazillia) and the Divine Situation production duo of Greg Belson and Paulo Fulci.

Dubplate’s Don Persian has repressed this Hardcore Breaks Techno Riddim, seeing there were only 100 in existence before going for crazy prices, now including a mix from S.Bell capturing a shimmering soundscape vibe, adding perfection to his unsung abilities. This E.P. has some speaker destroyer’s on there, introducing the MixMaster Max into the pot alongside the Persian doing what can only be called world dub music. Sterling breaks shuffling at a downtempo 8 bit vibe with a really heavy bass! MixMaster Max’s history is interesting to say the least...

Born October 1966. Break Dancer in 1984, under the moniker Mad Max, started a crew named The Back Street Warriors, busking all over the UK at places such as Covent Garden/Leicester Square Performing on stage & in clubs. They once jammed with The Rock Steady Crew in Camden Palace in front of an audience.

Then in 1987 he became a DJ, playing all genre’s of music, he first played on RJR Radio, playing Electro, Hip Hop, Soul, R&B & Reggae. Moving forward he started playing Acid House & Four to the Floor Music styles, by the early 90’s he played on Weekend Rush & then went onto Defection, Touchdown, Don & Passion FM, playing Acid & Hardcore Jungle.

In the early day’s, MixMaster Max was one of the Innovator’s of Jungle music by mixing Hardcore, Reggae & Hip Hop together, helping other’s to produce, fuse & gain idea’s in the music industry. He was by Far the most Original, Innovative, DJ anybody had ever heard.

In 1991 he played alongside John Saunderson at the Camden Palace on a Friday night, he also played at the Famous Hacienda Club in Manchester.

He was the first DJ to create the Topsy Turvey, which is one turntable on top of the other, he came runner up in the DMC World Championships in the early 90’s.

He played at some of the Biggest Rave’s back in the day, Pirate club 93, Fantazia 92, Dungeon’s 91/92, Turnmills 92, to mention a few. He also played on Avenues FM & People’s Choice, which were legal Radio Station’s, not forgetting Kool FM & Centreforce.

He performed on stage with the We Papa Girl Rapper’s in 1990 at the Notting Hill Carnival. This Legendary Cult figure is a Master of the Nunchucker’s & TurnTable’s!

His innovative Mixes were ‘legendary’ he was a pioneer precursor to the Art form known as Jungle Music, not to mention his Scratching abilities, which was ‘extraordinary’!

For those that listened to pirate radio back in the day, he was the legendary cult figure that inspired us all, giving us the freshest musical styles that had never been heard before!

He can still be heard on Radio today...What an inspiration this Unsung Hero has been to us All!

From the minds of Direct Beat and Detroit Bass Classics, comes the first initial compilation of electro/techno heat... "Electro In The Key Of Detroit: Volume 1"...Proven dance floor dope & record crate staples that provide the hungry ears of masses the groove to move: World-Wide. 'DJ K1's "Erase The Time" (featured on Detroit's WGPR TV "New Dance Show" in the 1990s) rocked the airwaves and global clubs with its signature thumping style laced beneath alien-like melody and repetitive vocal structure. 'Posatronix' mutant-rhythm mantra, "Pure Techno Sound" pulls the weight of Detroit's street dance roots down to the origin of how to boogie in space. A sure-fire stepper that also shared popularity on TV dance show platforms from Techno City. 'Blaktony's tempo-pushing "Holla Holla" , direct from the documentary soundtrack: "AUX88: Portrait Of An Electronic Band" dvd box set (a radio Dj/mix show favorite) sees the light of day on this wax collectable, giving praise to Motor City footwork culture. Also included in this monster EP is the rare 'AUX88' voyage entitled: "Phantom Power"...a gem and collector's choice. Crafted exclusively for the laid-back option away from the party or to enjoy accompanying a night's drive. This collection of re-issued jams and new explorations 'IS' the must-have for the electro/techno & bass aficionado...See it as either a DJ's weapon of choice, or the gift from vault

Remix extravaganza ahead! What started as an attempt to transport Feater's brillant outsider pop 'Time Millionaire' (taken from the Socialo Blanco album) onto a dance floor with one or two remixes, ended up as a feast served on three different platters with some heavy hitters. First up, Pépé Bradock and Ricardo Villalobos are crossing their beams. Spread over two 12s, the masters of idiosyncrasies and splendid aural design, Bradock and Villalobos treat the voice of Vilja Larjosto with love and care and bring it into their respective universe during peak time: vocals, dubs, acapellas and bonus bits included. Expertly, tricky and inventive. Remix EP no. 3 merges different trajectories of UK dance music traditions (or Ireland for that matter). Man of the moment Krystal Klear takes the material down to love town: the sound of 1980s Island records meets NYC boogie and UK street soul sounds. Hessle Audio's Pangaea follows the other path: uptempo bass fun with a driving dub and an instrumental pass. Last but not least, Feater & Sam Irl themselves deliver a blissed out dub of the original. Oh, and if you have enough time, flip over to the 10 with an Aba Shanti-I approved UK reggae and lovers rock take on it by Blood Shanti.

Remix extravaganza ahead! What started as an attempt to transport Feater's brillant outsider pop 'Time Millionaire' (taken from the Socialo Blanco album) onto a dance floor with one or two remixes, ended up as a feast served on three different platters with some heavy hitters. First up, Pépé Bradock and Ricardo Villalobos are crossing their beams. Spread over two 12s, the masters of idiosyncrasies and splendid aural design, Bradock and Villalobos treat the voice of Vilja Larjosto with love and care and bring it into their respective universe during peak time: vocals, dubs, acapellas and bonus bits included. Expertly, tricky and inventive. Remix EP no. 3 merges different trajectories of UK dance music traditions (or Ireland for that matter). Man of the moment Krystal Klear takes the material down to love town: the sound of 1980s Island records meets NYC boogie and UK street soul sounds. Hessle Audio's Pangaea follows the other path: uptempo bass fun with a driving dub and an instrumental pass. Last but not least, Feater & Sam Irl themselves deliver a blissed out dub of the original. Oh, and if you have enough time, flip over to the 10 with an Aba Shanti-I approved UK reggae and lovers rock take on it by Blood Shanti.

The wondrous rarity that is Hipnotic 'Are You Lonely' gets the rework treatment form four masters of the re-edit, each with their own trademark sound.

First up to the operating table, Opolopo increases the tempo edging up to the 118-mark adding a characteristic juiced up bass synth that oozes smoothness and swapping the flute melodies with cosmic synth lines that sparkle in the darkness.

Greg Wilson & Che Wilson tackle edit duties next in classic Wilson style. Again, opting to move into peak-time tempo territory, they begin with a stripped back, spacey intro that sees elements added one by one from a bumping bass and panning pads to rough snares and crisp claps. It wouldn't be a Wilson edit without a double dose of tape delay, the duo dropping the vocals and synth lines expertly in and out for maximum dancefloor flavour.

Back down to the original pace on the B side, The Revenge offers up a slick, late-night redub treat. Only a handful of components are involved as he chops and changes the bass and synth lines to provide a mesmerizingly chuggy groove whilst dropping in choice vocal echoes that makes Hipnotic, even more hypnotic. Last up, Yam Who brings those strutting guitars further forward in the mix whilst adding some delicate piano touches that offer an elegant enhancement to the original.

Four new interpretations of a much loved and sought-after funk fuelled, boogie gem.

First Word Records are thrilled to announce a brand new addition to the label - LA beatmaker and producer 14KT.

Known for his deft, soulful hip hop production, KT has broadened his palate for his FW debut to create 'For My Sanity', the first offering from his jazz-influenced project IAMABEENIE.

The album will be released in early 2019, but we couldn't wait that long to share this taster of what 14KT created as a form of escaping from his "normal" ways of making music. Case in point: the first single taken from the project - 'The Power of Same' feat. Muhsinah.

Strongly rooted in KT's spiritual practice, 'The Power of Same' is a bass and synth-heavy ode to consistency and unconditional love, laced nicely together by his signature drum lines, harmonious guitar riffs (played on the track by Stro Elliot) and the unmistakable sound of James Poyser (The Roots). Vocal powerhouse Muhsinah adds layers of emotion via her endearing delivery of the core message, and, deep in the background you can hear KT sharing a very personal routine with us all - giving thanks to God.

How much of a personal project this is, in 14KT's words "This was inspired by a bible study plan I was reading called The Power of Same. It spoke about the power of being consistent in our lives. I thought about how consistently God's love and my family's love have gotten me through my journey of life. Once I made a "skeleton" of the song, I reached out to the brother James Poyser who I was extremely blessed to work with. My brother Stro Elliot was living right down the street from me at the time. One night he walked over to my house, I played the record for him, he picked up my electric guitar and played the first thing that came to mind - which was perfect. I played the record for my brother Tall Black Guy, who suggested I reach out to Muhsinah to add vocals. I sent the record to her and two days later she sent me exactly what you hear. Amazing. That was definitely the spirit of God working. Huge shout out to my Playlist family. Love y'all."

To date, 14KT has released seven solo albums, as well as his collaborative hip hop album, 'Takin' Ls' with emcee Ozay Moore, R&B/soul album, 'Saturn Return' with singer/songwriter AB, and 'The Big Knock', together with Mayer Hawthorne as Jaded Incorporated.

Last year saw another duo collaboration album with Michigan rapper Ro Spit, entitled 'RSXGLD', a project held in high regard by the global hip hop community.14KT is also part of Jazzy Jeff's Playlist Retreat, alongside our very own Eric Lau, Tall Black Guy and Kaidi Tatham, who also turns out an unmistakably dope remix on this 7" single.

A very warm welcome to the family, KT!

'The Power Of Same' is available on 7" and all digital platforms on March 1st 2019.

Hip hop heads, 7" freaks - Check this one!

Earth shattering early 80's Bronx sounds transmitted back to us as fresh as the day they were terraformed!
NYC's Easy Street label is known for it's contributions to house music, electronic disco and boogie, but there was a handful of early rap singles on the label too including this megaton bomb from the freshly monikered Lil' Jazzy Jay & Cool Supreme from '85, all the way live. This record has it all, dubbed out FX, vox, cuts and brain frying vocoders..... not to mention the monolithic drum machines and dope braggadocios rhyming.

This is the FIRST TIME this mid 80's rap rarity has been made available on a 7". Both the 'club vocal' & 'dub instrumental' are featured here, cut at 33 rpm for maximum sonics. Made available courtesy of Above Board distribution for 2019. Shout out to Easy Street, %100 legit re-issue, re-master & re-press, essential wax!

As Metronomy work on their forthcoming sixth album, they take a moment to reflect on the 10th anniversary of their breakthrough album 'Nights Out'. Metronomy's Joseph Mount has delved into the archives for 'Nights Out: 10th Anniversary Edition' which will be released on February 8th on Because Music.

It features the original critically acclaimed album alongside a second LP which expands upon Mount's vision with a set of unreleased demos, rarities and b-sides - many of which make their first appearance on vinyl. Two of the highlights come with alternative versions which have become staples of the Metronomy live set: a bedtime dub version of 'Holiday' which takes it into a darker, glitchier direction, and a French-language version of 'Heartbreaker'.

Mount's Francophile leanings are also explored in Breakbot's remix of 'A Thing For Me', which contrasts French touch vibes with Mount's distinctly English-accented vocals. Previously issued on an exclusive Rough Trade bonus disc, 'Over' is an instrumental of cinematic scale, while the disc closes with four previously unreleased demos including the leftfield minimalism of 'Das Booty'.

Although Metronomy's 2006's debut album 'Pip Paine (Pay The £5000 You Owe)' was discovered by those in the know, it was 'Nights Out' that captured the imagination of a much wider audience. Mount achieved the seemingly impossible: he highlighted both the joyous atmosphere of a big night out and a taste of the resultant comedown in a set that playfully veered towards being a concept album.

About Nights Out Joseph Mount says: 'Oscar reminded me the other day how I said to him on completing Radio Ladio 'I think I've just written my first number 1'. I hadn't. We also reminisced about the day we borrowed the Honda Insight for the album artwork: I found the owner on an enthusiast chat room, we gave his daughter two Kate Nash tickets and a meet and greet with Kate in exchange for a few shots with the vehicle... simpler times. Shout out to Myspace.'

Metronomy's most recent album 'Summer 08' was released in 2016 to widespread critical acclaim. DIY described it as a 'pure-pop odyssey' and NME concluded, 'Mount has done it again. He could write music about the impact of Brexit on the UK's trade with China and make it sound amazing. He's that good.'

Metronomy bring 2018 to a close when they play Edinburgh's Hogmanay Street Party on December 31st. The 65,000 capacity show is headlined by Franz Ferdinand and completed by Free Love.

When Dunham Records/Daptone producer and musician Thomas Brenneck first heard the close family harmonies of the Sha La Das he had a revelation; he knew he had to get it on tape.



Direct from Staten Island, the four Schaldas, father Bill and sons Will aka Swivs, who also toured the world playing keyboard for Charles Bradley and his Extraordinaires, Paul of Paul and the Tall Trees and Charles Bradley and his Extraordinaires, and Carmine had come into the studio in Brooklyn to record background vocals on Charles Bradley's Victim of Love. It was a passion that drove Brenneck from the very beginning.



'Hearing them sing together in the studio was incredible', says Brenneck. He collaborated with Bill Schalda writing songs and applying harmonic sensibilities rooted in doo wop, blues and soul. It wasn't a stretch for Bill, after all he'd been second tenor when still a teen in Brooklyn vocal group, The Montereys in the 1960s (their 45, Face In The Crowd/Step Right Up on Blast records sells for $500 these days) who would play venues from neighborhood bars to the 1964 World's Fair in Queens.



'Bill is the genuine article, just like Charles Bradley and Sharon Jones, he came directly from the source,' says Brenneck. Indeed, Bill Schalda was right there amongst doo wop and r&b groups of the era, singing Moonglows and Flamingos tunes.

'You'd go out on the street and constantly hear a bunch of guys singing on the corner, they'd finish playing handball in the schoolyard during the day and then they'd start singing at night,' says Bill. 'We were all just guys in the neighborhood in Brooklyn, who gradually found each other.'



After their children were born, Bill and wife Linda moved the family across the Verrazano-Narrows bridge to Staten Island. Growing up, sons Will, Paul and Carmine remember summer nights singing group harmonies on the stoop of their home with their father Bill guiding them. 'He would bring us out on the stoop on Staten Island and he would teach us each parts of say, the sesame street song - we were his backing group very early on - that was fun,' says eldest son, Will.



On this, their debut, the talent is harnessed in 11 songs, each tender-voiced delight delivered with absolute conviction combined with musicians that have help define the Daptone/Dunham Records sound including Brenneck, Homer Steinweiss, Dave Guy, Leon Michels, Nick Movshon and Victor Axelrod. 'I wanted to take the Sha La Das outside of the doo wop genre,' says Brenneck. 'To take the whole vocabulary of doo wop harmony and reapply it to soul - so you get super soulful harmonies along the lines of The Manhattans & The Moments.'



From the opening atmospheric guitar strum of Open My Eyes via a walk along the Coney Island boardwalk catching the last glimpse of sunlight at dusk of Carnival to the sublime crescendo of harmonies of the winsome Love in the Wind, each song evokes a deeply personal yet universal yearning that none of us can escape. Quite simply every song yields magic.

There's something special when a family can meld voices in close harmony. The Everly Brothers had it, The Beach Boys had it, the Schalda's have it.

Welcome to the strange musical world of Tolley & Dara, an experimental duo whose incredible music held a marginal yet vital position on the fringe of the Australian music industry during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Consisting of jazz bassist and synthesist David Tolley and percussionist Dure Dara, their union was a relationship of romance and intense creativity, a deep spiritual bond consecrated amidst banks of modular synthesizers and racks of exotic percussion instruments.

Recorded over a series of live performances in the spring of 1979, the music featured on Cutheart was edited and assembled from eight improvised pieces recorded at the Universal Theatre Melbourne. Comprised of analogue synthesizers and a vast array of tuned and non-tuned percussion, Tolley and Dara sculpted a cluster of electronic abstractions and organic splashes of Gamelan-influenced percussion; a dense otherworldly soundscape coloured with trance-like vocal scatting and deranged muttering.

Known for his bass playing on the classic Australian jazz-rock album Carlton Streets by The Brian Brown Quintet and also as a member of EX-, (the collaborative project with Daevid Allen from Soft Machine/Gong), Cutheart sees Tolley explore the outer realms of heady improvised electronic music.
While the music of Tolley & Dara exists in a sonic universe all of it's own, similarities could easily be drawn to another likeminded musical partnership, the American husband and wife duo Annette Peacock and Paul Bley. Cutheart is a pioneering recording of extended synthesiser and percussion technique from the Australian experimental underground.

If you read the name Shankar you may right away think of Ravi Shankar, the grand master of contemporary Indian folk music who was very popular in the 60s due to his connection with the music industry in the United States despite staying away from the pure pop music by maintaining his classic sitar and tabla style ragas to express himself musically. Ananda Shankar used to be his nephew who also made a journey to the USA to gather inspirations from rock artists like Jimi Hendrix among others. His first album from 1970, a conglomerate of classic Indian folk tunes and instrumental versions of the hottest rock songs of the day clothed in a veil of sitar melodies and backed up with tabla drum grooves, was an attempt to combine the spiritual approach of his cultural origins with the light minded blissful attitude of western psychedelic pop music. It worked well in the sense that it is still, nearly fifty years later on, a groovy little album that leaves nobody sitting around at any random hippie party. He took a five year break from recording to create what should become his second album and this is what I am about to present to you now. The cover-tunes were replaced by all original compositions with a lush instrumentation that features the typical sitar, tabla and bowed string instruments such as sarong and sera arrangements mixed with sounds that have a definite western origin such as rock guitars, Hammond organ and moog synthesizers plus full drum kits that take care to enhance the actual groove. Psychedelic rock, raga, fusion-jazz and funk flow into each other quite naturally giving birth to something fresh and exciting I would label as Bengali pop'. The borders between eastern and western music get abrogated here. If it was not for a few deeply mythical chants on a bed of drones here and there you could not even tell this was a record by an Indian artist. This album is quite accessible most of the time and comes with a certain slickness that makes it easy for the listener to understand and appreciate what is going on. Still there is the other side of the coin, the depth pop music often lacks. So in the end this might have been too far out for the average western mainstream fanatic back in 1975 when disco began to rule but it is an awesome sound trip for fans of psychedelic dance music like INCREDIBLE BONGO BAND and all eastern influenced popular rock.