Search:the classics

Part of the Soul Direction family “Origins” will focus on rare and obscure Soul
Classics.
Soul-Direction bring you these two classic and incredibly rare slabs of soul from The
Ru-Jac label fully licensed courtesy of Omnivore Recordings.

As the title suggests, the album consists of reworked versions of previously released Nat King Cole classics, with a few key elements:  5 newly recorded duets with John Legend, Calum Scott, Kristen Chenoweth, Gloria Estefan, and Johnny Mathis. Nat’s vocals have been extracted and restored from the original recordings on all tracks, with new arrangements and recordings for the orchestral accompaniments on all tracks.

“Abner Jay the most unusual talent in the world. A true Southerner from South G.A. He was raised layin on his belly, drinkin water from the ol Swaunee River. Jay claims the secret for his good health and being the father of sixteen young’uns, and gonna git some more, layin on his belly drinkin water from that ol Swaunee. Abner still go to the Swaunee River every Sunday, and lay down on his belly. Abner is twenty five years older than you think.”
- Abner Jay
Stunning one-man band tunes from one of the United States’ great unsung artists. Rare and previously unreleased tracks from Abner’s vast catalog of home recordings, showcasing some of his most haunt- ing and powerful vocal performances on revelatory new renditions of classics like “I’m So Depressed” and “Ol Man River.”
A truly independent artist who performed at swap meets and fairs out of his custom converted trailer, Abner Jay traveled the United States from the 1930s until his passing in 1993. Told with his characteristic blend of humor and pathos, “I Don’t Have Time To Lie To You” is an unsparing take on the country Abner knew so well.
Licensed from Brandie Records and Abner’s family, 160g black vinyl comes in heavy old-style tip-on jacket.

A pair or Nordic Dubstep Dons join forces for their debut release as "Channel 15" with two reggae classics reimagined inna DUB techno style and fashion. 12" - Ltd. - Vinyl Only.

Belched from Hell’s depths into the rustic charms of the Witch County, Suffolk thirty long and disturbing years ago, CRADLE OF FILTH are undisputed giants of the heavy metal realm. Imperious purveyors of a perennially unique strain of dark, dastardly and wilfully extreme metal, with deep roots in the worlds of gothic horror and occult curiosity, the band led by Dani Filth has weathered three decades of tumult and trial, earning a formidable reputation as both a singular creative force and one of the most riotously entertaining live bands the metal world has ever produced.
From primitive early works like 1992 debut »The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh« to more expansive and theatrical classics like ‘Cruelty And The Beast’ and ‘Midian’, CRADLE OF FILTH defied trends and constructed their own idiosyncratic world of foul grandeur, becoming one of the UK’s most notable metal bands in the process. Since then, they have traversed the world countless times, hoovering up plaudits and praise from an ever-expanding international fan base. Resolutely prolific, the band’s catalogue has grown in depth and stature all the while, irrespective of line-up changes or the whims of the faithful.
In more recent times, CRADLE OF FILTH have hit an unmistakable hot streak of creativity and urgency. As a new line-up coalesced around the creation of 2015’s »Hammer Of The Witches«, fresh impetus propelled the band to new heights, as the revitalised crew became more in demand around the world than ever before. 2017’s ‘Cryptoriana - The Seductiveness Of Decay’ repeated the trick with even more explosive flamboyance. Until a global pandemic brought the music industry to a jarring halt, CRADLE OF FILTH were almost permanently on the road and absolutely fucking flying. As a result, it should surprise no one that the band’s brand new album, ‘Existence Is Futile’, is yet another monumental and electrifying journey through the dark.
Buoyed by these recent triumphs, CRADLE OF FILTH recorded »Existence Is Futile« during 2020, piecing the record together in isolation, at Grindstone Studios in Suffolk with studio guru Scott Atkins (Devilment/Benediction/Vader). Although instantly recognisable as the work of these veteran blackhearts, the thirteenth CRADLE OF FILTH album is a wholly different beast from its immediate predecessors. Pitch-black, perverse and at times absurdly brutal and extreme, it hangs together with mesmerising fluidity. It is also absolutely rammed with giant, rousing melodies and moments of jaw-dropping invention. No one could mistake the venomously catchy likes of ‘How Many Tears To Nurture A Rose?’ or monstrous ballad ‘Discourse Between A Man And His Soul’ for anything other than CRADLE OF FILTH, of course, but ‘Existence Is Futile’ confirms that the band’s exploratory instincts remain as sharp as ever.
Underpinned by its huge and disarmingly organic production, »Existence Is Futile« is plainly the darkest and most unsettling album CRADLE OF FILTH have made in a while. Eschewing the band’s trademark twisted storytelling in favour of horrified glimpses into the mortal void and ruminations on the inevitable destruction of life on Earth, its poignancy and relevance to the cluster of nightmares facing humanity in 2021 is impossible to ignore, even if Dani Filth insists, not unreasonably, that he didn’t anticipate a global pandemic when the news songs were being written.
With the best possible timing, CRADLE OF FILTH were already due to make a new album during those long, lonely months of lockdown in 2020. Having grabbed the opportunity with both hands, Dani avows that unavoidable isolation from the rest of the world was the best possible incentive to get the job done, while also adding plenty of eerie atmosphere to the whole experience.
Sonically speaking, ‘Existence Is Futile’ is easily the most powerful and dramatic record CRADLE OF FILTH have ever made: it’s the sound of band’s enviable onstage chemistry spilling over into the studio, propelling each member of the band to new levels of intensity. Combined with the expected labyrinthine arrangements and moments of spellbinding bombast, ‘Existence Is Futile’ may be the most vivid representation of the CRADLE OF FILTH experience yet.
Also, diehard fans will be thrilled to learn that horror icon Doug 'Pinhead' Bradley makes a welcome return to the CRADLE fold, lending his dulcet tones to the epic ‘Suffer Our Dominion’, and to one of the forthcoming new record’s bonus tracks, as Dani explains.
“There are also two bonus tracks in addition to the album, one of which is the culmination to the ‘Her Ghost In The Fog’ trilogy, which began on »Midian«.
For this we had little hesitation in enlisting our friend and actor Doug Bradley to reprise his narrative role. Doug lives in Pittsburgh, which he refers to ‘The Pit’, thus we directed his narrative over Skype from his local studio. He adopts this almost David Attenborough-ish role on ‘Suffer Our Dominion’, which is possibly the most politically astute song we’ve written of late. As a band we usually shy from branching into politics, but it’s something that needed spouting. The fact we’re fucking our ecology up and desperately need to address the situation pronto…”
So, if we’re all going to perish in the fire of our own stupidity, we might as well have a suitably deranged and destructive soundtrack to do it by.
A bewitching, fearless nosedive into the abyss, the band's thirteenth studio album confirms the ferocious efficacy of CRADLE OF FILTH in 2021. Bold, brave, wildly imaginative and heavy as hell, the band’s latest runaway train-ride through the flames is the perfect album for these most imperfect of times. As Dani concludes, “Be like the virus! Mutate and survive!”

Belched from Hell’s depths into the rustic charms of the Witch County, Suffolk thirty long and disturbing years ago, CRADLE OF FILTH are undisputed giants of the heavy metal realm. Imperious purveyors of a perennially unique strain of dark, dastardly and wilfully extreme metal, with deep roots in the worlds of gothic horror and occult curiosity, the band led by Dani Filth has weathered three decades of tumult and trial, earning a formidable reputation as both a singular creative force and one of the most riotously entertaining live bands the metal world has ever produced.
From primitive early works like 1992 debut »The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh« to more expansive and theatrical classics like ‘Cruelty And The Beast’ and ‘Midian’, CRADLE OF FILTH defied trends and constructed their own idiosyncratic world of foul grandeur, becoming one of the UK’s most notable metal bands in the process. Since then, they have traversed the world countless times, hoovering up plaudits and praise from an ever-expanding international fan base. Resolutely prolific, the band’s catalogue has grown in depth and stature all the while, irrespective of line-up changes or the whims of the faithful.
In more recent times, CRADLE OF FILTH have hit an unmistakable hot streak of creativity and urgency. As a new line-up coalesced around the creation of 2015’s »Hammer Of The Witches«, fresh impetus propelled the band to new heights, as the revitalised crew became more in demand around the world than ever before. 2017’s ‘Cryptoriana - The Seductiveness Of Decay’ repeated the trick with even more explosive flamboyance. Until a global pandemic brought the music industry to a jarring halt, CRADLE OF FILTH were almost permanently on the road and absolutely fucking flying. As a result, it should surprise no one that the band’s brand new album, ‘Existence Is Futile’, is yet another monumental and electrifying journey through the dark.
Buoyed by these recent triumphs, CRADLE OF FILTH recorded »Existence Is Futile« during 2020, piecing the record together in isolation, at Grindstone Studios in Suffolk with studio guru Scott Atkins (Devilment/Benediction/Vader). Although instantly recognisable as the work of these veteran blackhearts, the thirteenth CRADLE OF FILTH album is a wholly different beast from its immediate predecessors. Pitch-black, perverse and at times absurdly brutal and extreme, it hangs together with mesmerising fluidity. It is also absolutely rammed with giant, rousing melodies and moments of jaw-dropping invention. No one could mistake the venomously catchy likes of ‘How Many Tears To Nurture A Rose?’ or monstrous ballad ‘Discourse Between A Man And His Soul’ for anything other than CRADLE OF FILTH, of course, but ‘Existence Is Futile’ confirms that the band’s exploratory instincts remain as sharp as ever.
Underpinned by its huge and disarmingly organic production, »Existence Is Futile« is plainly the darkest and most unsettling album CRADLE OF FILTH have made in a while. Eschewing the band’s trademark twisted storytelling in favour of horrified glimpses into the mortal void and ruminations on the inevitable destruction of life on Earth, its poignancy and relevance to the cluster of nightmares facing humanity in 2021 is impossible to ignore, even if Dani Filth insists, not unreasonably, that he didn’t anticipate a global pandemic when the news songs were being written.
With the best possible timing, CRADLE OF FILTH were already due to make a new album during those long, lonely months of lockdown in 2020. Having grabbed the opportunity with both hands, Dani avows that unavoidable isolation from the rest of the world was the best possible incentive to get the job done, while also adding plenty of eerie atmosphere to the whole experience.
Sonically speaking, ‘Existence Is Futile’ is easily the most powerful and dramatic record CRADLE OF FILTH have ever made: it’s the sound of band’s enviable onstage chemistry spilling over into the studio, propelling each member of the band to new levels of intensity. Combined with the expected labyrinthine arrangements and moments of spellbinding bombast, ‘Existence Is Futile’ may be the most vivid representation of the CRADLE OF FILTH experience yet.
Also, diehard fans will be thrilled to learn that horror icon Doug 'Pinhead' Bradley makes a welcome return to the CRADLE fold, lending his dulcet tones to the epic ‘Suffer Our Dominion’, and to one of the forthcoming new record’s bonus tracks, as Dani explains.
“There are also two bonus tracks in addition to the album, one of which is the culmination to the ‘Her Ghost In The Fog’ trilogy, which began on »Midian«.
For this we had little hesitation in enlisting our friend and actor Doug Bradley to reprise his narrative role. Doug lives in Pittsburgh, which he refers to ‘The Pit’, thus we directed his narrative over Skype from his local studio. He adopts this almost David Attenborough-ish role on ‘Suffer Our Dominion’, which is possibly the most politically astute song we’ve written of late. As a band we usually shy from branching into politics, but it’s something that needed spouting. The fact we’re fucking our ecology up and desperately need to address the situation pronto…”
So, if we’re all going to perish in the fire of our own stupidity, we might as well have a suitably deranged and destructive soundtrack to do it by.
A bewitching, fearless nosedive into the abyss, the band's thirteenth studio album confirms the ferocious efficacy of CRADLE OF FILTH in 2021. Bold, brave, wildly imaginative and heavy as hell, the band’s latest runaway train-ride through the flames is the perfect album for these most imperfect of times. As Dani concludes, “Be like the virus! Mutate and survive!”

The Stooges are widely considered one of the greatest rock bands of all time and this comes across loud and clear on director Jim Jarmusch’s critically acclaimed documentary film ‘Gimme Danger’. GIMME DANGER: MUSIC FROM THE MOTION PICTURE is a 14-track collection curated by Jarmusch and Stooges frontman Iggy Pop, with a focus on the group’s first three albums. It includes The Stooges’ classics ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog,’ ‘1969,’ and ‘Loose,’ along with rarities ‘I Got A Right,’ ‘I’m Sick of You’ and ‘Asthma Attack,’ and songs by MC5, Iggy Pop’s pre-Stooges combo The Iguanas, & more. It’s one of those rare soundtracks that appeals both to the most discerning fan and also as an introductory to those less familiar.

DENNIS BOVELL, from Barbados, based in London, England, is a legend - a bass player legend (band leader of the legendary Linton Kwesi Johnson Band) - a producer legend (THE SLITS, Fela Kuti, Bananarama, Madness, Joss Stone, a.o.). He produced the soundtrack for the critically highly acclaimed movie Babylon and the hit song "Silly Games" by Janet Kay. In recent years his works regained interest, also due to the recent rerelease of the 80's movie Babylon and his participation in Steve Mc Queens drama series Small Axe about the real-life experiences of London's West Indian community, set btw 1969-82. In 2019 Vienna's Dubblestandart produced a limited selection of reworks of reggae classics of Dennis Bovell's 1980's band Matumbi, Steel Pulse, Burning Spear, Twinkle Brothers, Culture a.o. , focusing on works that have been pivotal for the inspiration of Dubblestandart's bandleader Paul Zasky. Nicolai Beverungen, dub reggae label headman of ECHO BEACH outta Hamburg/Germany, invited DENNIS BOVELL to "REPULSE" the album at Robbie Ost's GoEAST Studio. Dennis felt inspired, loved the idea, re-voiced the songs, added a couple of guitar lines and also re-dubbed the album. "Repulse" Reggae Classics features DENNIS BOVELL on vocals and as a dub producer in co-operation with Robbie Ost from Dubblestandart, mixing on a legendary E - 6000 solid state mixing board (taken over from TEARS FOR FEARS studio in London), using selected vintage outboard Analog equipment, developing a distinctive dub reggae sound for this coming up 2021 release. What do songs like "I'm No Robot", "Babylon The Bandit" or Matumbi's "Hypocrite" have in common? All of them were written during the 1980's of the last century, but never lost their contemporary accuracy, still perfectly criticizing and analysing the "pulse" todays political leaderships and societies controversial points of view, have, while entering the digital age. Re- Pulse 21!

Looks like we are hittin’ a milestone here. A little background has to be provided though, in order everyone to fully understand why it took us that long to put out this Album, which was already
announced at the dawn of 2020. The ELECTRIFIED project started almost 2 (TWO) years ago, with the first vocal takes recorded a few days ahead of Cannonball Weekender in November 2019. Everything seemed fine and in good working order so the release date was
planned and announced for june 2020. All self financed, self conceived and self realised in that style that’s a point of distinction of our small group of labels. Then the CVD damn thing kicked in. “So What?” some of you would be very entitled to ask. And,
believe me, I’d be on the very same
#sowhat lines as you, only that each member of our team reacted to the shitstorm in his very different and individual way. While folks all over the world were confined home
setting up new ventures, creating new labels and dedicating themselves to something productive not to get psychologically annihilated by the media induced fear, our project was totally disrupted instead. It took the first wave to fade away to gather our stuff
together and movin’ the production forward. Anyway, whatever the reasons, the album came ready and mixed by march 2021. So here we are. Further than the two acclaimed singles
“Break Free” and “Sitting On Top Of The World”, the tracklist includes 6 completely new songs, a smashing cover of
Massive Attack’s “Unfinished Sympathy” and the rearrangement of the two classics
“There Are No Winners” and “Mother Got A Way”. The style goes from modern funk experimentation to a more classic soul and a groovy electronic ender foreseeing the future of this beautiful music.

DeLaChaud is the home and record label of krewcial.

A young veteran in the game, krewcial released solo albums on PlayItAgainSam and UK’s BBE in the early 2000’s. With longtime friend Lefto, he sampled jazz’s greats for a beatdriven album on the legendary Blue Note label. He's also released records on Nervous, Lumberjacks In Hell, We Play House, Mysterious Works, Midnight Riot and GAMM.

krewcial's DJ-sets reflect his broad musical tastes: centered around disco and house and adding touches of latin, funk, boogie, hiphop classics and afrobeat anthems into the mix. As long as it’s soulful and keeps the dancefloor in motion, there’s a chance he’ll play it. He has shared decks with disco legend John Morales, Marcel Vogel, Mr Mendel, Lefto, DJ Suspect, Mr. Leenknecht and opened for Hiatus Kaiyote, Sergio Mendez, Angie Stone, Cassandra Wilson, Common, Jill Scott, and many many more.

Since slipping out on Leng last year, Paul ‘Mudd’ Murphy’s first collaboration with singer/songwriter David Harks, ‘Susta’, has become a much-played modern Balearic classic, with DJs and listeners alike responding to the track’s attractive blend of sun-kissed nu-disco instrumentation, warming melodies and deliciously evocative lead vocals from Jaanika Leino AKA JaneLy. Now the track returns for 2021 in the shape of two superb new remixes from Chicagoan deep house legend Ron Trent, who four years ago delivered similarly ear-catching revisions of Mudd and Pollard’s ‘Far Away’ as part of the 10th anniversary celebrations for Murphy’s Claremont 56 label.



As you’d expect given Trent’s impeccable track record over the last three decades, both revisions are stunning. He begins by eking every last ounce of soul from Leino’s brilliant vocal on a remix that’s warming, deep and luscious. Combining elements of Murphy and Harks’ colourful, synth-heavy original mix – including the lusciously tactile bassline and boogie-style synth flourishes – with his own yearning chords, hand percussion sounds and a shuffling, samba-tinged house beat, Trent re-imagines ‘Susta’ as a future vocal deep house classic. Melodious, musically intricate, infectious and summery, it’s a remix for the ages. It comes accompanied by a Dub Mix that successfully shows off the intricacy of Trent’s production and additional instrumentation while keeping both eyes firmly on the dancefloor. Beginning with effects-laden synth sounds reminiscent of the mid-‘80s proto-house classics by Paul Simpson, Winston Jones and Boyd Jarvis, the mix sees Trent skilfully add selected snippets of Leino’s lead vocal to a backing track rich in delay-laden synthesizer sounds, reverb-rich chords, echoing percussion hits and chords so warming they feel like a late-night, loved-up bear hug for your ears. Like the A-side vocal version, Trent’s dub is breath-taking and spine-tingling in equal measure.

Bosconi welcomes Cosimo D'Amicis aka Cixxx J with his first EP on the tuscany's finest imprint.
The artist explains here the essential meaning of the release with his own words:
"Music gives people the gift of connection by making people mirror into each other. Here the recipe is simple: feed your sequencers all the feelings, and let them become grooves you can dance to. These four psycho-synthetic streams are deeply rooted in italo disco classics, and filtered through that whole culture that originated in Chicago and Detroit and that keeps un-becoming. All the ingredients are carefully selected to bring you to another dimension, because there is no such thing as glorious as love at first BITE"

Norah Jones has been a steady voice of warmth and reassurance for nearly 20 years since her cozy 2002 debut album Come Away With Me became a familiar musical companion for millions of people around the world. Now the 9-time GRAMMY-winning singer, songwriter, and pianist has made her first-ever holiday album with I Dream Of Christmas, a delightful and comforting collection of timeless seasonal favorites and affecting new originals that explore the complicated emotions of our times and our hopes that this holiday season will be full of joy and togetherness. I Dream Of Christmas will be released October 15 on Blue Note Records and can be pre-ordered now on vinyl, CD, and digital download.

“I’ve always loved Christmas music but never had the inclination to make a holiday album until now,” Norah says. “Last year I found myself listening to James Brown’s Funky Christmas and Elvis’s Christmas Album on Sunday’s during lockdown for a sense of comfort. In January 2021, I started thinking about making a Christmas album of my own. It gave me something fun to work on and look forward to.”

The album’s opening track, Norah’s original “Christmas Calling (Jolly Jones)” is available to stream or download today. Over chiming piano chords, Norah expresses a deep desire for holiday cheer and companionship. “I wanna hear the music play / I wanna dance and laugh and sway / I wanna happy holiday for Christmas.”

“When I was trying to figure out which direction to take, the original songs started popping in my head,” Norah explains. “They were all about trying to find the joys of Christmas, catching that spark, that feeling of love and inclusion that I was longing for during the rest of the year. Then there are all the classics that have that special nostalgia that can hit you no matter who or where you are in life. It was hard to narrow down, but I picked favorite classics that I knew I could make my own.”

Among the album’s many pleasures are Norah’s playful reinvention of The Chipmunk’s “Christmas Don’t Be Late” by David Seville (aka Ross Bagdasarian), which is given a languid beat and swaggering horns. Other highlights include sublime versions of “White Christmas,” “Blue Christmas,” “Winter Wonderland,” and “Christmas Time Is Here.”

I Dream Of Christmas was produced by Leon Michels, and features an excellent cast of musicians including Brian Blade on drums, Tony Scherr and Nick Movshon on bass, Russ Pahl on pedal steel guitar, Marika Hughes on cello, Dave Guy on trumpet, Raymond Mason on trombone, and Michels on saxophone, flute, percussion, and more.

Norah Jones first emerged on the world stage with the February 2002 release of Come Away With Me, her self-described “moody little record” that introduced a singular new voice and grew into a global phenomenon, sweeping the 2003 GRAMMY Awards. Since then, Jones has become a nine-time GRAMMY-winner. She has sold 50 million albums and her songs have been streamed six billion times worldwide. She has released a series of critically acclaimed and commercially successful solo albums—Feels Like Home (2004), Not Too Late (2007), The Fall (2009), Little Broken Hearts (2012), Day Breaks (2016), Pick Me Up Off The Floor (2020), and her first-ever live album ‘Til We Meet Again (2021)—as well as albums with her collective bands The Little Willies, El Madmo, and Puss N Boots featuring Sasha Dobson and Catherine Popper who released their second LP Sister in 2020. The 2010 compilation …Featuring Norah Jones showcased her incredible versatility by collecting her collaborations with artists as diverse as Willie Nelson, Outkast, Herbie Hancock, and Foo Fighters. Since 2018 Jones has been releasing a series of singles including collaborations with artists and friends such as Mavis Staples, Jeff Tweedy, Thomas Bartlett, Tarriona Tank Ball, Rodrigo Amarante, and Brian Blade, some of which were compiled on the 2019 singles collection Begin Again.

Third album from one of the best French garage/shoegaze/dream-pop
bands around. ‘Vacuum Sealed’ has the potential to become one of theguitar classics of the early 20s.
Bryan’s Magic Tears are made up of musicians who also have - or had - a footin the bands Villejuif Underground, Pleasure Principle, Bisous de Saddam and Dame Blanche.
Like all great albums, it opens with a screaming introduction (“Greeting From The Space Boys”, a middle finger raised by the whole band from the stratosphere - or Lauriane Petit on bass and vocals, Raphael Berrichon and Medhi Briand on guitars, Paul Ramon on drums).
The band goes from one breathtaking track to another (“Excuses” sung by Lauriane like a Kim Deal composition, “Sad Toys” or the paroxysm of dancing melancholia, “Pictures Of You” or the best guitar riff ever played with a vibrato).
One could believe that Bryan’s Magic Tears is the gifted son of The Jesus & Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine and Primal Scream. In 1991 the album would have been recorded by a British band and released by Creation. Except that we are thirty years later and it’s made by a band with a Norman soul and published by Born Bad Records.

Days Of Speed is an acoustic, double live album featuring songs from across Paul’s career including The Jam classics; That’s Entertainment and Town Called Malice, The Style Council’s Headstart For Happiness and Down In The Seine and solo hits, You Do Something To Me and Wild Wood. Originally released in October 2001, charting at no. 3 in the UK, the initial double vinyl release was strictly limited and now sells for £250+ on the secondary market. The 2021 reissue features faithful original packaging replication & was cut at London’s Metropolis Studios.

NME: “Live acoustic brilliance from the master songsmith.” (4.5/5)

Lu's Jukebox is a six-volume series of mostly full-band performances recorded live at Ray Kennedy's Room & Board Studio in Nashville, TN. Each volume features a themed set of songs by other artists curated by the multi-Grammy award winner, Lucinda Williams. The series aired as ticketed shows through Mandolin in late 2020 with a portion of ticket sales benefitting independent music venues struggling to get by through the pandemic. Like thousands of artists, Williams cut her teeth and developed her craft by playing in small, medium and large clubs throughout the country, and the world. These venues are vital to the development of artists and their music. Williams has never forgotten her roots, and often performs special shows in some of her favorite halls. This year, the Lu's Jukebox series will be made widely available on vinyl and CD. Volume 2, Southern Soul: From Memphis to Muscle Shoals, features covers of Al Green, Percy Sledge, Bobbie Gentry, Ann Peebles, Tony Joe White & more. It is scheduled for a July 9th, 2021 release.

Limited edition 180g blue coloured vinyl + 1 bonus track.
“January 4, 1956: Clifford Brown, Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Richie Powell and
George Morrow met up in a New York studio to record At Basin Street, which
would be the group’s final album. That summer, Clifford Brown and Richie Powell died in a tragic car accident. This final testimony is one of the most exciting
records from a quintet which was like very few others.” - Jazz Magazine
“Each arrangement is worked to a point that actually propels the soloists, gives
them - and Brown particularly - maximum lift. These are classics of modern
jazz.” - Penguin Guide To Jazz
“Clifford Brown and Max Roach at Basin Street reemphasizes the loss jazz suffered when Clifford and Richie Powell died. Energetic, full-bodied jazz. Thoroughly recommended.” - John A. Tynan, DownBeat”

Yellow Vinyl

The first release on Optimo Music founder JD Twitch’s new compilation-focused label Cease & Desist will be a collection of pioneering turn-of-the-90s British “Bleep & Bass” techno tracks curated by author and music journalist Matt Anniss.

Join The Future: UK Bleep & Bass 1988-91 is a partner product to Anniss’s critically acclaimed book on the foundations of British dance music’s ongoing love affair with sub-bass, Join The Future: Bleep Techno and the Birth of British Bass Music. The book, which was published by Velocity Press in December and features a foreword by JD Twitch, documents in vivid detail the previously untold story of the Yorkshire-pioneered style and the impact it had on the development of UK dance music.

The compilation is the first to focus on Bleep & Bass since the sound’s heyday in the late 1980s and early ’90s. It features a mix of historic cuts, period classics, overlooked gems and unreleased material. It was mastered for release by Warp Records co-founder and Forgemasters member Rob Gordon, a producer, remixer and studio engineer who arguably did more than anyone else to define the sub-heavy sound of the style.

Gordon also contributed a previously unheard version of Alfanso’s “Dub Feels Nice”, a near mythical track he produced in 1991 that has never received a proper commercial release. The cut has been a secret weapon for a handful of Sheffield DJs for almost 30 years, most notably Gordon’s fellow Forgemasters member Winston Hazel. Fittingly, the compilation also includes the original unreleased instrumental version of Tuff Little Unit’s Steel City classic “Join The Future”.

Many of the other tracks on the compilation are rare, hard to find or have not been issued on vinyl or digital since their initial release. It opens with Unique 3 and the Mad Musician’s “Only The Beginning” – the 1988 A-side of the first ever Bleep record – and also includes tracks and remixes from fellow scene pioneers Ital Rockers (an early alias of dub hero Iration Steppas), Nightmares on Wax, Cabaret Voltaire and DJ Martin and DJ Homes, the previously unheralded Chapeltown duo behind the influential Leeds-based studio and record label BASSIC.

Elsewhere on the compilation you’ll find Birmingham producer Demonik’s sought-after debut single “Layrinthe”, a hard-to-find cut from Bedford-based men of mystery Original Clique, two classic cuts from the vaults of influential Midlands label Network Records and a glassy-eyed slab of Bleep/deep house fusion from 100 Hz.

Join The Future: UK Bleep & Bass 1988-91 will be released on double vinyl and digital download. The 10-track vinyl version features an insert with extensive liner notes by Matt Anniss. It also comes with a code to download the 12-track digital download version. The compilation will be released by Cease & Desist on March 25th 2020.

UMe will release an updated version of The Best Of Bond…James Bond, a 2CD and 3LP black vinyl compilation featuring celebrated theme songs from the longest-running film franchise. The new collection will include “No Time To Die” by Billie Eilish from No Time To Die, the 25th film in the series. Also now included will be Adele’s “Skyfall” from Skyfall, the highest-grossing Bond film to date, and Sam Smith’s Spectre theme, “Writing’s On the Wall,” – Oscar® winners for Best Song in 2013 and 2016, respectively. In addition to Billie Eilish, Adele and Sam Smith, included is the signature instrumental “James Bond Theme” by The John Barry Orchestra, which remains one of the most recognizable themes from film. The collection also includes Dame Shirley Bassey, Louis Armstrong, Nancy Sinatra, Paul McCartney and many other classics.