Cerca:the town

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

When your roots have a broad geographical diversity, it’s very likely this will resonate in the music you make. This is certainly the case with Alma Negra and their new release on Heist. It seems they have embraced all their cultural influences more than ever in their new ‘Dakar Disco EP’. The whole record oozes class and musicality and feels like a carefree collage of the rich musical lives they live. The three originals on this EP vary in tempo and energy, giving you something for each moment of the day or night. They are accompanied by a remix from none other than the Japanese master of cosmic funk: Kuniyuki.

The EP kicks off with the title track ‘Dakar Disco’; an island style mid-tempo burner, rich with filtered guitars, bells and bleeps. Soothing chords and synth melodies are introduced for a lovely build up, but it’s the live horn section that takes centre stage. Here, the track really comes to full fruition, with a squeaky lead accompanying the horns for an electronic twist to what is above all a lovely summer jam.

‘Contra’ ups the pace and moves more into dance floor territory with loose claps, spacey pads and faraway chants. This track really gets to you with the live percussion and extremely catchy lead running throughout the track. This is afro house just the way we like it.

We’re very proud to have Kuniyuki remixing ‘Dakar disco’. This master of his craft has done an outstanding job with his cosmic take on ‘Dakar disco’. He lays down a great riff on bass guitar, while playing around with all the live elements and adds a serious bit of reverb for a stunning effect. This track is a perfect example of Kuniyuki’s musical skills and we can almost see him jamming this out, eyes closed and directed towards a distant point in space only he can see.

The EP’s closing track ‘Back in town’, is perhaps the clubbiest track of the set. A friendly acid line squeaks over tribal drums & chants and you immediately get pulled in by a great balafon hook. You can really hear how the guys feel at ease combining these worldly elements with modern electronics and ‘Back in town’ is a great example on how to blend these sonic worlds.

So there we are. A taste of the Alma Negra summer with a healthy dose of Japanese funk. Enjoy!

Yours sincerely,

Maarten & Lars

Soweto Soul Orchestra is produced and composed by Sipho "Hotstix" Mabuse, whose importance to South-Africa's music scene can hardly be underestimated. Being a formative member of The Beaters, which was later renamed Harari, he toured Africa extensively and even hit the American charts with their "Party" single. After Harari split in 1982, Sipho went solo and scored another hit with "Burn Out", which could be heard in every township, and produced and recorded for Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba among others.

The Soweto Soul Orchestra project boasts a variety of funky tracks, all marked with that jazzy South-African sound. The stand-out tune on this one, for us, is the epic 8 minute long cosmic disco cover of "Hang em High", the original soundtrack for the eponymous classic Western movie.

This 2020 re-issue sees all tracks cut again from the official studio files, ensuring both audio quality and originality.

Originally released on and licensed through Gallo, 1981.

Eric D. Clark
"Written in approximately 1996 or shortly thereafter & born of a night out on the town naturally!
...having been to hear Ranga Tikki (Ms. Codi from New Zealand) drop knowledge in Berlin's SO36: she'd
played the "I have a dream" speech orated by Martin Luther King;
...the mind stopped at "From every Mountain Top"! I walked back through the streets shouting that to myself
until entering the flat then started immediately on the song!
Written and produced: ERiC D. ClARk
publisher: SUBCURRENT Music lTd.

Hans Nieswandt:
Between 1996 and 2000 (and in some cases beyond), Cologne project Whirlpool Productions produced a lot
of music, both as a group and as solo artists, at the legendary Can Studio in Weilerswist, a small town about
20 kilometres south of Cologne. Much of this music has been released, most notable the international
classic „From: Disco To:Disco“; but some of the music never saw the light of day. These two tracks I
produced myself at some point shortly after my first solo album „Lazer Muzik“ and I’m super glad to get a
chance to finally release them - because there is the important cause of helping to save the Paloma Bar, a
place where I played times and always loved it - an experience I dearly hope to repeat many times more.
And because I always liked those two tracks a lot, they just never found their proper platform, for whatever
reasons. As I think they are quite fitting to the sound of the Paloma, I’m more than happy to support this
unique place with this humble contribution. Written and produced by Hans Nieswandt around 20 years ago
at Can Studio, Weilerswist. Original date unknown.

Lowtec & Marvin Dash:
"Es gibt ein paar Lieblingsclubs in Deutschland, kleine Clubs wie z.B. Paloma in Berlin oder Pudel in HH -
wo es nur um die pure Liebe zur Musik geht - wo keine Kompromisse eingegangen werden müssen in
Bezug auf Trackauswahl oder zu deepen Sets, weil das Publikum einfach versteht worum es geht.
Sozusagen das verlängerte Wohnzimmer... Bei gefühlt jeder 2. Platte fragt jemand nach einer Track ID, alle
paar Minuten bringt jemand etwas zu trinken...das wollen wir unterstützen." (Lowtec & Marvin Dash)
Marvin Dash – Lost in the Woods: Written and produced by Ronald Reuter in around 2010. Previously
unreleased.
Lowtec – Museum Of Natural History Of Life: Written & produced by Jens Kuhn, 2000. Previously
unreleased.

Deep and wicked West African Disco ultra rarity (Recorded in Lagos, 1981) by the band of Cameroonian multi-instrumentalist, Francis Mbilong..
Don't sleep on this winner!

Born in 1952 in Yaoundé, Cameroon, Francis Mbilong, would go on to lead an exciting and diverse career all across West-Africa. From a very young age at the behest of a family friend, Francis studied harmonium, clarinet, saxophone, and many other instruments. He would eventually funnel most of his talent into the guitar, on which he would write the majority of his body of work. After releasing several recordings under myriad band names during the 1970s, Francis went on to form his longest-standing outfit, Revelation; a name under which he has released recordings as recently as 2020.

At the time of the release of Love Affairs by Revelation in 1981, Mbilong would spend most of his time gigging in a club called Phoenicia in Lagos, Nigeria. He preferred the ambiance of a luxury night club to the regular clubs in Lagos, and gigging there afforded him the privilege of sitting in on jam sessions when acts like Kool & The Gang, or Bob Marley were in town. Altogether his career was storied and multitudinous, and was made possible by his immense talent as a musician.

Love Affairs contains within its seven tracks, a heady, deep, soulful approach to boogie that is seldom tapped by other recordings of its time. Mbilong's careful and disciplined approach to songwriting sets this album in a tier elevated from the usual four-on-the-floor disco routine. Each song is more engaging than the last, and each pocket respectively deeper. Revelation serves a familiar live-off-the-floor energy with the precision and soulfulness of a group of musicians who are as comfortable with each other as they are talented. The infectious rhythms on this album are the stuff of earworms and dancing is mandatory.

Demon Records presents three new reissues from the cool ruler of Reggae, Gregory Isaacs.

Often described as the ‘ultimate rude boy Reggae star’, Gregory Isaacs recorded some of the greatest Reggae albums of all time and became known for his iconic, laidback vocal style.

‘I Am Gregory’ was first released in 1993 on Jet Star’s Charm label and was co-produced with Gregory’s wife June. Highlights include ‘Goosie Gander’, ‘Mommy Doesn’t Understand’ and a cover of Bob Marley’s ‘I Am Still Waiting’.

Demon Records is proud to present the first vinyl reissue of ‘Work Up A Sweat’, pressed on 140g black vinyl and featuring a printed inner sleeve.

It takes one to know one. Which is why jazz drummers have always
been ready to join the queue when assessing Art Blakey's influence,
not only in the field of percussion but in the shaping of his chosen
genre. Max Roach described him as "An original - the only drummer
whose time I recognise immediately. When I first met him on 52nd
Street in 1944, he already had the polyrhythmic thing down. He was
doing it before anybody else." Thelonious Monk Jr concurred: "When
I became a drummer, I learned how to swing from Art Blakey. What
he did with the hi-hat and his roll got pressed into my soul. He had a
primal approach to drums." All of which warmed the ears of Blakey,
who admitted that his aim was to be one of the greatest drummers in
the world- an ambition which he undoubtedly achieved

Pressure Cooker South African Township Jazz and Mbaqanga

• Dudu Pukwana’s 1968 debut album, recorded in London, released only in South Africa.

• A second album of mostly unreleased 1969 recordings featuring Richard Thompson, Simon Nicol, Joe Mogotsi, Chris McGregor, Mongezi Feza, Louis Moholo, members of Osibisa, and others.

• Originally produced by Joe Boyd.

• Re-mastered audio, double gatefold album, heavyweight 180g vinyl.

Jori Hulkkonen was born and raised in a small town named Kemi with a population of 20,000, in the north of Finland. Since the early 80s, his musical influences have been on the side of electronic music, quite eclectic style for a 10-year-old boy who grew up in this period still marked by the seal of the Cold War. At the end of the 1980s, Jori's passion for electronic music was reinforced when he discovered its most abstract and minimal part: techno from Detroit and House Music from Chicago. Excellent DJ, he played in the best clubs and festivals in Europe. Jori Hulkkonen is an artist well known and extremely respected in the Nordic countries for his pioneering status, with his love of music and his involvement in making it known.

Industrial, speed, banging and absultly crazy !
Xylocaine in its best style is back in town thanks to TNI !
4 big tunes 1 short ultra speedcore killer...

Tetrode Music head honcho and Sound Signature affiliate, Specter, lines up the next Second Hand Records NYC release and it’s that deep, soulful goodness you need in your life.

'Peace of Mind' hits right from the needle drop. Made for the dancers! Listen to this on a real sound system for that enhanced feeling.

'Front & Center' keeps the energy flowing, mixing deep chords over dark warehouse bass lines. Big leagues tune!

'Cold Sweat' would fit snuggly against any Larry Heard record, or maybe its just that Chi-town flavor soul music we love! Byron The Aquarius adds another layer of flavor to this already killer cut. Deeeeeeep!

DJ Support:
DJ Spinna, Kai Alce, Ash Lauren, Byron The Aquarius, Stefan Ringer, Hugo LX

On The Corner Records is delighted to announce the release of Dialectic Soul, the debut album from one of Cape Town's most cuttingedge, visionary artists and musicians, the drummer Asher Gamedze. This is Jazz at its most spiritual, most progressive and most appealing form. As Asher himself says: Dialectic Soul is about motion and a refusal to remain static or stay still. It's the commitment to be continually moving'. Recorded live over two days at the Sound and Motion Studios in Cape Town with renowned musicians (Thembinkosi Mavimbela (bass), Buddy Wells (tenor sax), Robin Fassie-Kock (trumpet) Nono Nkoane (voc)), Dialectic Soul is breathtaking in its musical vitality and expression of soul seeking truth. By incorporating the concept of the Total Art for this project, it fits perfectly within On The Corner's aesthetic of music, art and vision for creative innovation. Label art director Victoria Topping created the sleeve design working with Asher's drawings and concept.

The Humans were Toyah, her musical director Chris Wong and multi-instrumentalist the late Bill Rieflin (drummer for King Crimson and latter-day REM, as well as Ministry, the Revolting Cocks, Lard, KMFDM, Pigface, Swans, Chris Connelly, and Nine Inch Nails) as well as Guest Human on this album, Robert Fripp.
Originally released in 2011 and issued on vinyl for the first time, this second album features “Sea Of Size” and “Small Town Psychopath”

ALTER presents a remastered edition of Cremation Lily’s second album, on vinyl for the first time. Recorded whilst living in Hastings and originally released as a double cassette on his Strange Rules label in 2017, The Processes… forms a trilogy of albums in the CL canon that were influenced by the life and atmospheres within British coastal towns. Composed using a rudimentary set-up of synth, drum machine and two modified walkmans, CL draws upon a broad range of influences from the underground electronic music spectrum. Noise, tape music and ambient techno are all referenced and align to form a cohesive collection of tracks, flowing fluidly in sequence. Melancholic synth pads and deep kick drums intersect with crude field recordings and occasional bursts of feedback, evoking a claustrophobic uncertainty that feels more like being pulled under than carried above.

Features additional piano and violin by Theodore Cale Schafer.
Remastered by John Hannon.

Melvin Bliss’ iconic ‘Synthetic Substitution’ (1973) has been sampled hundreds of times. Gracing records from Naughty by Nature’s ‘O.P.P’ to Public Enemy’s ‘Don’t Believe the Hype’, it’s one of the foundations of hip-hop. However, there’s a school of thought that says the sample could have been retired forever after Ced Gee used it for ‘Ego Tripping’. It was the first song to use those wonderful Bernard Purdie drums, and arguably the best.

Their first release on Next Plateau Records, this instant 1986 classic slams from the first bar, that hard-as-hell beat underpinned by stabs and the breathy ‘ultra-magnetic-magnetic’ chant beneath. Meanwhile, Ced and future legend Kool Keith go to town with pseudo-science and a thinly veiled diss of Run DMC – ‘Say what, Peter Piper, to hell with childish rhymes’. It’s a song shot through with promise they’d more than fulfil on their debut album, 1988’s landmark ‘Critical Beatdown’.

The flip, ‘Funky Potion’, doesn’t coalesce with quite the same genius but is still more than a curio, with the MC’s doubling down on their futuristic nonsense approach to lyricism. Rufus Thomas’ ‘Do the Funky Penguin’ is the base for yet more stabs, discordant scratches and a kitchen-sink approach that shows just innovative the group were prepared to be.

Never before released before on 7”, this undeniable hip-hop classic comes complete with bespoke hype stickers incorporating one of the great rap logos of all time.

Porridge Radio grew out of Dana Margolin's bedroom, where she started making music in private. Living in the seaside town of Brighton, she recorded songs and slowly started playing them at open mic nights to rooms of old men who stared at her quietly as she screamed in their faces. Though she eventually grew out of them, for Margolin these open mic nights unlocked a love of performing and songwriting, as well as a new way to express herself. She decided to form a band through which to channel it all, and be noisier while she was at it - so Porridge Radio was born. Inspired by interpersonal relationships, her environment - in particular the sea - and her growing friendships with her new bandmates (bassist Maddie Ryall, keyboardist Georgie Stott, and drummer Sam Yardley) Margolin's distinctive, indie-pop-butmake-it-existentialist style soon started to crystallise. Quickly, the band self-released a load of demos and a garden-shed-recorded collection on Memorials of Distinction, while tireless touring cemented their firm reputation as one of UK DIY's most beloved and compelling live bands. The band's sound - bright pop-rock instrumentation blended with Margolin's tender, open-ended lyrics - has developed and refined. Now, they are taking that development a step further, as they put out their label debut, Every Bad.

Despite this difficult time for everyone, one thing we all still have and need is music. Therefore after much thought we have decided to continue with the new Cod3 QR, providing a diverse style of electronic music that will hopefully help lift your spirits.

With previous releases including tracks from the likes of Agents of Time, JoeFarr, Nicolas Bougaieff, Madben and raising talent R.O.S.H; plus support from from Djs like Laurent Garnier, who licensed one of the previously released tracks to his Tsugi 'Electro' mix (Francois V ‘Electro’ taken from Cod3QR001) Cod3QR’s profile is steadily growing as a label releasing quality music.

With music being the main focus you'll have to wait another 2 months to find out who is behind this latest release. The curiosity continues.

Head to their Instagram page (ig: cod3qr) for clues to the artist identities of Cod3QR001, 002, 003, 004, 005, 006 & 007!

Vinyl Only

Underground Town is back with our 4th release straight from the heart of the Swiss Alps.

For this one we serve 4 great cuts from 4 great producers. On the A-side we have young Italian producer and Underground Town resident artist Alex Zola with a very groovy and positive dreamy track for every situation. Completing this A-side we have label owner and rising talent in the industry Giorgio Maulini with another great cut with a very groovy athmosphere and rolling rhythms demonstrating why this Venezuelan artist is making waves in the industry.

On the B-side we have Cosmjn, who needs no introduction. One of the Romanian talents with more future projection and a bag full of interesting releases under his arm. On his track "Vanilla" you can feel the characteristic Romanian drums and an evolving synth that traps your senses. Last but not least we have a producer coming all the way from Honduras, Loht Vostok. He is doing an amazing job with his productions changing the game in the Central American region with a new futuristic minimal wave of quality music. "Sivar" is a track with a powerful hip breaking baseline and with a perfect combination of elements and a sweet vocal making it suitable for any dancefloor.

From the Underground Town Team we want to thank you for supporting us and showing us all this love this last year. A lot more to come in our Various Artist series soon and in our new label which will be released at the beginning of 2020 with only singular artists EPs.

Stick around with us for more quality releases and spreading the love for the underground music.

After much anticipation, our Belgian disco diamonds Rheinzand present their debut full-length album. On their self-titled record, The Belgian trio wraps the human heart in synthetic threads of modular electronic disco. 9 songs writhing on timeless dancefloors, morphing in and out of shapes of luxuriant melody and vivid instrumentation.

The album is full of classic disco and electro sounds, wielded with imposing prowess by multi-instrumentalist Reinhard Vanbergen. It’s both an exploration ofdance music’s electronic genealogy and the vintage cool that has defined its different eras. Still, an organic atmosphere pervades as the blend of real instrumentation fixes a sort of retro-futurism, imagining an alternative timeline that’s a bit more exciting, more sensuous and libidinal, maybe more human, too, than our current outlook.

We start the engines with Break of Dawn, a compelling beat rises from the basement and soon we’re submerged by the pulsing bassline. Dark sunglasses on, we cruise through the night, letting flashing city lights flow into unbroken torrents of color. Blind awakens us, a splash of handclaps in the face, vivid strings and Charlotte’s trademark slick vocals enter the stage. Tantalizing sunbeams power up circuits of electronic synths blipping and beeping away.

Later down the road, we hit the Latin part of town. Porque fits enchanting vocal spells in beautiful Spanish on playful flamenco rhythms. Fourteen Again is a throwback to early electro, playing around with knobs and buttons. An oscillating synth imagines new worlds of plastic emotion. Still disco and still very cool, though. A constant velocity is sustained throughout the album bythis recurring locomotive synth, trudging away beneath the action. Once in a while, we hear the deep, mighty, trembling voice of Mr. Rheinzand speaking to us in incantations. Someone’s pulling the strings here.

On Slippery People, the trio cover the Talking Heads classic in a characteristic procedure of bouncy funk. We’re swirled around by the delirious glasswork of You Don’t Know Me into the hypnagogic funk noir of Strange World. Drifting through the house of mirrors after the fourth mojito.

Obey collects all these threads in a full-bodied future classic disco anthem, before Queen of The Dawn wraps up the show with a sky-bound epic of operatic choirs and ceremonious drums that lands somewhere between Kate Bush’s Aerial and Peter Gabriel’s most bombastic.

Islands, volcanoes and instrumental exile stories... From Overseas is the experimental ambient project by Kevin Sery.

Originally from the tiny French overseas department and region, Reunion Island, he routinely bounces between his home island, a small port town on the east coast of the US & Continental Europe picking up fresh ideas & inspiration along the way.

With a beautiful master by Stephan Mathieu (12k, Shelter Press, ... ) From Overseas Releases his first full length album "Home" on PITP. "Home" is a journey through beautiful soundscapes where dark and light intertwine, where ambient tones give way to post-rock guitar craft, then segway to melodic drone, noise and back again.


These soothingly powerful songs evoke emotions on a full spectrum, dreamy unplanned travels and inspire us to question the nature of the place that each of us calls home. The fourth track, Maloya Tales, is a personal tribute to Sery's homeland 'Reunion Island' and gives the listener a glimpse of the mystical rhythms of traditional Reunionese Maloya music.

Coastlines is the self-titled long player from the new Japanese production unit of DJ and producer Masanori Ikeda and solo artist, session musician and Cro-Magnon keyboard player Takumi Kaneko.

Masanori and Takumi have been part of the Japanese dance music scene for years and Coastlines was born out of their working together on soundtracks for video projects. The pair wanted to make laid-back listening music for now, laying Takumi’s playful keys over Masanori’s widescreen balearic jazz-fusion to conjure beautiful and breathtaking “coastlines”.

A couple of two-track 7"s put out in late 2018 and early 2019 on Japanese house music label Flower Records soon sold out. Those four tracks were expanded to a full album of music, “a joyous, relaxing, summery soundtrack for everyone’s after hours wind down” that was released just in time for summer. It soundtracked many a Be With BBQ in 2019.

The album opens in the horizontal with the sophisticated, cocktails-by-the-pool groove of “Sunset Reflection”. A lush, beatless wonder. Their re-imagining of Ralph MacDonald’s “East Dry River” removes all the original’s bells and whistles (quite literally) and re-gears it with a subtle balearic chug. The result is a percussive gem.

“Coastline” is a beach-jazz noodle. “Drifting Ice” is as chilled and glacial as its title would suggest, yet Masanori’s head-nod slo-mo house beats throb not far below the surface. “My Fire” is another soft killer, all swelling, swirling organ over muted kicks and snares. An elegant boom-bap.

A pair of insistent tunes of the deeply balearic variety raise the tempo, but not by too much of course. On “Woods And My Guitar” a half-heard vocal refrain breathes life into the synthetic xylophone and guitar. Deft piano-work turns “Half Moon Shadow” into lounge-house for the sophisticated beach bum. A classy duo.

The self-assured re-work of Azymuth’s “Last Summer In Rio” is arguably the album’s centrepiece. Ten minutes of casually propulsive slapped bass, steel pans and slick 80s soul beats. Cue the steel drum interlude of “Maracas Bay” before album closer “Down Town” transitions us one with a shuffling, string-hinted hit of ethereal, euphoric piano bliss. Gentle disco for the new decade.

As former Test Pressing scribe Dr. Rob observed on his ever-reliable Ban Ban Ton Ton blog, the Coastlines fusion is very much in conversation with their 80s counterparts, both at home and along the coastlines of different continents. So among the nods to revered Japanese artists like Hiroshi Sato, Sakamoto and Casiopea, there are also hints of Marcos Valle and Mtume, of the aforementioned Azymuth. “The production though is very much now, not then. Not retro, just proper”. We couldn’t put it better ourselves.

Coastlines was originally a CD release only available in Japan, with HMV putting out a super-limited vinyl version a few months later for Japanese Record Store Day. But this music is just too good, so when Be With was asked via Ken Hidaka to take care of a vinyl version for the rest of the world it wasn’t a tough decision.

Mastered by Simon Francis and cut by Pete Norman, just 500 copies of this double LP have been pressed by the good people at Record Industry.

Stag-O-Lee präsentiert hier Teil 5 und 6 der usserst erfolgreichen Trashcan Records Serie, die sich obskuren und vergessenen Vinyl Schätzen aus den 50er und frühen 60er Jahren widmet. Die originalen 45er stammen aus der stattlichen Sammlung von Fedor, einem Sammler und Jäger aus Amsterdam, der sich in den letzten 25 Jahren durch tausende von Kisten mit Gebrauchtvinyl auf Flohmärkten der holländischen Metropole wühlte. Die Veröffentlichungen sind thematisch gegliedert - Vol. 5: Cha Cha compiliert 12 Tracks mit "an all-female beatnik extravaganza: the first vinyl compilation of its kind! From the bohemian misfit girl with her goateed boyfriend to the espresso sipping art school chick reading Kerouac..." . Vol. 6: The Natives Are Restless bietet 5 Tunes mit einem Dschungel-Thema auf der A-Seite und 5 luftige Exotica-Träume auf der B-Seite. Alle 24 Tracks sind "previously uncomped" und finden erstmals ihren Weg auf Großvinyl!!

Something is stirring in downtown Tucson. That's no great surprise perhaps: Calexico have been sending out missives from the desert for 20 years now, Giant Sand for even longer than that, and the Green on Red revival is surely overdue. Let us remind ourselves that this isn't a big city in the American sense, but that its hinterland is indeed as big as it gets. For an hour south, Mexico starts. And this is where things get interesting.

Born in Nogales, Arizona, raised in Nogales, Sonora, multi-instrumentalist and band-leader Sergio Mendoza grew up listening to the Mexican regional styles jostling for headspace in a young, music-mad mind - cumbia mainly, but mambo, rancheras and mariachi too. The border is always a fierce arena of exchange, both commercial and cultural, and so there was American music too. At one point 'rock and roll, the classics', as Mendoza himself deadpans, seemed to win out and he stopped playing those 'Latin styles' for a good decade and a half.

The return to those sounds was a strong one in 2012's Mambo Mexicano, co-produced by Mendoza and Joey Burns of Calexico - a band for which Mendoza has become an increasingly integral touring and recording member. While that record had a studied air, tentative in parts (as befits the renewal of an old love affair), ¡Vamos A Guarachar! is another beast entirely: by turns raucous ('Cumbia Volcadora', featuring Mexican electronic pioneer Camilo Lara), tender ('Misterio', surely Salvador Duran's finest moment with the band so far) and plain serious fun, as in 'Contra La Marea' and 'Mapache', it also bears a robust electronic edge, a keen pop sensibility and all the hallmarks of Mendoza's love of 60s rock, with the closing track, 'Shadows of the Mind', sure to be included if anyone decides to update the Nuggets collection for the 21st century. This is roundabout way of saying that it appears to have everything, but never too much of anything. Focused, fierce and beautifully executed by a superbly drilled set of musicians, it is a record that fully matches the band's explosive live performances.

You could, of course, take the trip to Tucson yourself, to the home of this essential set of field recordings. The scene hangs out together, so ... if the stars align and their frantic tour schedules permit, you might see any number of folks from Calexico, Giant Sand or up-and-coming cumbia rockers Xixa deep in conversation somewhere in town with a quiet young man in black. That's Sergio. Right now, in this endless game of Tucson tag, Orkesta Mendoza are IT.

Substance, the second album by producer Moisture, sets out to deliver an immersive tech-noir fantasy of emotional and physical deconstruction. Inspired in part by William S. Burroughs 1959 novel Naked Lunch, the conceptual narrative of the album follows a humanoid subject through an urban landscape and the exploration of its depravations.

Sampling and filtering sounds from other music, movies and own field recordings, the tapestry of Substance is a three-dimensional world of hard industrial spaces and fluid organic matter. While it's conception is rooted equally in literature and film as well as music, one can draw comparisons in particular to Barry Adamsons 1989 album Moss Side Story, in that it also works as a chronological narrative; the tracks aligning to make a world of its own.

And while Adamson was aiming to create an imaginary soundscape of his native Manchester, the geography of Substance is based on the city of Malmö. Using field recordings from it's city streets, the album paints a rain soaked, neon-clad portrait of the city's hedonistic nightlife.

On the opening "The Marketplace" we are teleported to Bergsgatan at night (the track title a subtle nod towards Eden Ahbez 1960 song of the same name).

This introduction is similar in line with the experience Burroughs once had in 1957 upon entering Malmö for the first and only time, which he details briefly in Naked Lunch: "averted eyes and the cemetery in the middle of town (every town in Sweden seems to be built around a cemetery), and nothing to do in the afternoon (...)"

This image of Malmö portrayed with dread and loathing holds a longstanding narrative tradition over the cultural geography of the town. Yet it is often paired with an image of great promise and bohemian splendor, seemingly a paradox but often perversely intertwined. This duality has always been a vital mindset in the underground music scene of the town and its illegal after hours clubs. Substance is a work steeped in the grayscale prism of techno and its post-industrial fetischism. Yet in picking it apart, one can find elements of everything from post-punk, drum & bass, trip hop and new age.

The theme of depravation that soaks through Burroughs Naked Lunch seems oddly befitting to this side of Malmö (one wonders what the author would have made of it had he stayed longer) Through rhythmic excursions and the exploration of repetition, the tracks of Substance are arranged to convey this self-destructive longing for depravity. Michel Foucault's ideas on limit experiences serves as context for this peculiar form of endeavour, as he puts it: "the point of life which lies as close as possible to the impossibility of living, which lies at the limit or the extreme."

After Nu Guinea’s LP, Nuova Napoli, and Napoli Segreta first compilation, NG RECORDS follows up with an exploration into the unknown groovy side of Naples by releasing Napoli Segreta Vol. 2 Famiglia Discocristiana, DNApoli and Nu Guinea team up again selecting more tracks from their archives, for a new compilation containing 9 mysterious Neapolitan tracks, found in the most hidden corners of remote flea markets around the Vesuvius.

But forget classical Neapolitan songs, "'O Sole Mio" or "Luna Rossa"... Forget about what you expect to find once you land in town … Oh and also forget about Google Maps.
Take a dodgy local guide, keep your eyes open, and follow it to enter the secret downtown, the underground, the routes that no satellite can detect, but beware there is no easy way out.

Napoli Segreta Vol. 2 is a musical journey into the sonic landscapes of Naples that you have never heard of before. A variety of genres merging soul, disco, funk, blues, new wave, afro-beat and boogie, including lyrics in Neapolitan urban slang, instrumental tracks with progressive flavour, and also some unexpected covers!

"Who Sent You?" by Irreversible Entanglements is an entire holistic jam of "infinite possibilities coming back around," a sprawling meditation for afro-cosmonauts, a reminder of the forms and traumas of the past, and the shape and vision of Afrotopian sounds to come. Stay on it! This is the future! This is the spectral dreaming, the reshaped soundwaves of post-Katrina, post-Osage Avenue, post-Obamacare that we borrow from to do this work, so stay on it. Who Sent You? they said from their liquid cryo-chamber, from a low-light induction field cobbled together with lithium rods, with melted down Romare Bearden and Howardena Pindell paintings, stitched with chaos fibers and placed in the center of the carrion husk of a burnt out shanty town. They took time to scrape ashen samples of what was, their souls the residue thick and caked on, that still climbs those new high-rise condominiums like moss - the only evidence that they were once there, that they were baked into the fabric of this planet - they were there fixing elevators and tossing wrenches into quantum fields until they were stopped! frisked! and turned into weird, 100-foot martyr murals on the backside, the north side, of supermarket walls-Who Sent You? is how the matrix modulation works. Dig it: Who Sent You? is the punk-rocking of jazz and the mystification of the avant-garde, a sci-fi sound from that out-soul-fire jazz quintet Irreversible Entanglements.

With the original UK 7” of this release now as rare as hen’s teeth, and with the group having recently ‘reformed’ for one last album together, the Mr Bongo replica re-release of this 1990 masterpiece by Gang Starr couldn’t be more timely.

The now-legendary duo of DJ Premier and Guru dropped this at the height of hip-hop’s sampling of jazz, which had led to a creative leap forward for the genre. Yet while others plundered in the dark, this instant classic wore its influences on its sleeve and paid verbal homage to the musicians they were sampling. The “melodious funk” of “Thelonious Monk” gets namechecked, while the track samples two of his records, including 1958’s Bop gem ‘Light Blue’.

While both versions presented here have common elements, the ‘Movie Mix’ – so-named for the song’s appearance on the soundtrack to Spike Lee’s mythic jazz biopic ‘Mo’ Better Blues’ – goes in a few different directions to the ‘Video Mix’. Rather than just drop in an instrumental for the B-side, DJ Premier instead shows his versatility by switching up the base track (Kool & The Gang’s 1971 ‘Dujii’) and layering in other samples. In more ways than one, his virtuosity here echoes the improvisation of a jazz musician, akin to Denzel Washington’s Bleak in the movie.

Of course, he’s not the only show in town. The late Guru’s voice is as mellifluous as an instrument itself here, his potted history of the genre and the artists of jazz delivered with his own unmistakable cadence. Without this record, would he have gone on to make his ‘Jazzmatazz’ projects.

We were first introduced to Marumo’s ‘Modish’ album via DJ Okapi's amazing resource the ‘Afrosynth’ blog, which archives South African bubblegum/disco from the 80s & early 90s. Aside from this blog, this music would otherwise remained unknown outside of South Africa, apart from the most hardcore of digger and record collector.
‘Modish’ was originally released on Spades Record in 1982 and was recorded by producer West Nkosi, who was a member of supergroup ‘Mahlathini & The Mahotella Queens’. He worked with the big hitters in South African music such as Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Teaspoon & The Waves, Patience Africa and many more. Marumo were made up of a group of musicians from the Athlone School for the blind in Bellville, close to Cape Town. The band members, John Mothopeng, Munich Sibiya, Simon Falatsi and Marks Mbuthuma, had previously played in the groups Batsumi, All Rounders and The Orations and came together to record this versatile album. It covers a wide number of genres from Sotho soul, Mbaqanga, disco-funk, gospel & spacey-synth slow jams.
Flash forward 30 or so years later and lost dead-stock copies of the album start to appear and Marumo’s music begins to be heard across the world in the DJ sets of Motor City Drum Ensemble, Invisible City Editions, Floating Points, DJ Okapi and others.
We included the afro-disco-funk beauty of 'Khomo Tsaka Deile Kae?’ on our Mr Bongo Record Club Volume Three compilation, but felt ‘Modish’ needed to be available and heard in it’s entirety. We hope you enjoy!

"Available again for the first time since original release in 1974, Outernational Sounds proudly presents one of the deepest custom press jazz recordings of all – Jaman’s spiritualised and funky Sweet Heritage.

The history of jazz is often told as though it was principally a history of releases and recordings. On those terms, it’s easy to mistake a small recorded footprint for obscurity or silence. But that is to put the cart before the horse, for the true history of the jazz is the story of the music as it was played night after night in the clubs, bars, concert halls and backrooms of cities and towns across America and the world. Only a tiny fraction of this living tradition ever makes it onto a recording. The far greater part is embodied in the musicians and their music as they play it and live it. And even though 1974’s Sweet Heritage is James Edward Manuel’s only release, the pianist and educator better known as Jaman has undoubtedly lived it.

Brought up in Buffalo, New York, Jaman studied classical piano before beginning formal jazz studies under greats including Earl Bostic and Horace Parlan. Quickly becoming a respected regular on the club scene in Buffalo, Jaman held down innumerable residencies and worked with top local musicians – one of his early trios included the renowned bassist John Heard and drummer Clarence Becton, both of whom were poached one night by a visiting Jon Hendricks; sometime Sun Ra Arkestra bassist Juini Booth and regular Ahmad Jamal sideman Sabu Adeyola (also of Kamal & The Brothers) have graced his groups too. At famous night spots all over Buffalo’s East Side and on excursions to Manhattan’s storied jazz clubs, Jaman has shared the stage with some of the most illustrious names in jazz and blues: Big Joe Turner, Muddy Waters, Joe Henderson, Ruth Brown, Frank Morgan, Woody Shaw, Sonny Stitt, and too many others to mention. His eponymous group, Jaman, was formed in 1970; they toured the US and Canada steadily in the years that followed. He became, in short, one of Buffalo’s true jazz stalwarts, and so he remains.

But despite a life lived deep within the music, Jaman only recorded a single LP, 1974’s Sweet Heritage. Pressed in tiny quantities by the Mark Records custom service, and issued with a stock landscape cover, Sweet Heritage featured the regular Jaman group playing a mixture of covers and originals. The whole LP showcases an ensemble in compete control, and with the flying, spiritual sound of ‘Free Will’ and the upful, Latin-tinged ‘In The Fall of The Year’ – both Jaman originals – the album has since become a legendary collector’s classic. Unavailable since its original issue, Outernational Sounds is proud to present Jaman’s Sweet Heritage – the soulful and spiritualised sounds of a master at work."

Matt Karmil's fifth album is a meditative collection of woozy loops and soft focus house. STS371 is the follow-up to IDLE033, - - - -, ++++ and 2018's acclaimed Will. Matt Karmil is British born - growing up in the rural town of Salisbury, near Stonehenge. Suffering a prolonged illness as a child, he spent much time indoors whiling away the long hours by playing with a classical guitar. Eventually he was well enough to see the world that had almost left him behind, and he spent his early twenties as an international traveller, DJing, record collecting and working as a producer-engineer in London, Paris, Stockholm and Berlin. In 2012 he decided to settle on Cologne âÇ" a city famed for its excellent club scene and ultra-minimal take on techno via the collective of artists and producers around the Kompakt label. With a studio established in Cologne, Matt made his LP debut with the well received (but hard to Google) "----", combining dusty samples and elegant tape hiss with scuba-diving grooves and minimalist vibes. In the same year he released the jubilant club anthem 'So You Say' on Tim Sweeney's Beats In Space label and remixed John Talabot and Axel Boman's (Talaboman) single 'Sideral'. Recent years have seen a raft of new releases from Matt, remixing XPress 2 for Skint, the albums idle 033 and ++++, as well as 12"s for YumAc Records, Idle Hands, Endless Flight and Studio Barnhus, received with great reviews in publications from The Wire to Resident Advisor and beyond. 2016 also saw Matt much in demand for his skills in engineering, mixing and mastering, working extensively with Matias Aguayo for Crammed Discs, Kornel Kovacs for Studio Barnhus and Talaboman for R&S, among many others. At the invitation of artist Christine Sun Kim, Matt composed a sub-20Hz piece for Bounce House at Sound Live Tokyo 2015, while his video collaboration with Boston's MIT Media Lab, Time Moods, was premiered in late 2017.

buffering juju, the title of dumama + kechou's debut album, relates to the process of "excavating spiritually charged content from within". The duo's textural sound, driven by cyclical song structures and chant making, not only captures the angst of the modern world but mines this state of affairs for regenerative potential.
dumama (vocalist and uhadi player) + kechou (multiinstrumentalist with a focus on indigenous African instruments and handmade instruments) met in Cape Town in 2017. There was an instinctive pulse to the initial clutch of shows they played together, blowing open vast sonic and conceptual possibilities. "I guess we were in similar places with our music processes in trying to push healing music to the edges and be more experimental with it," says dumama. The narrative of the album unravels as a piece of magical realism informed by South African folklore and reality, detailing a woman's liberation story where the characters shift shape and traverse multiple realms, deploying various iterations of their power or lack thereof. "It has an organic, natural, cyber and modern kind of energy - all rooted in African aesthetics of sound and storytelling," says kechou. All of this sits on a bed of the duo's unique musical language, one that, although applied electronically in the form of looping and soundscaping, is founded on approaches to string, vocal and percussion tones that reflect a merger between Northern and Southern African heritage.
Recorded primarily in Cape Town and Johannesburg over the first quarter of 2019, buffering juju is a conduit to a past we were not necessarily present for, and a future where threatened indigenous technologies thrive in an increasingly digitised world.

... The Original Release of 'TJJA-10021' on the 10th in August, was 1989. Score by 'Joe Hisaishi', Album including 21 tracks. Insert songs “Rouge no Dengon” “Wrapped in Kindness” / Vocal: Yumi Arai. ... First One is a movie version. Soundtrack music collection including all the scores, who were also used in the movie ...

LTD editon - Orange vinyl and high quality download codes

Homemade synthesizers, banjo, guitar, recycled toys and broken electronic beats .. there’s more to Solo Moderna than just an unconditional love for analog tweaking. From his native town of Tilburg, Netherlands, Multi-instrumental virtuoso Bas Voorn is peaking in on all corners of the world, infusing Mento, ska, cumbia, Balkan, dancehall, dembow or afrohouse, into his minimal, joyful, 8-bit, approach towards electronica, to create strangely syncopated, ridiculously infectious grooves. It’s as if Kraftwerk and Señor Coconut went on a trip to Africa, the Balkans, the Caribbean and South America, and "Republica Moderna" emerged from these adventures. From the Balkan-Dembow of “Escúchame Como Soy” and the cumbia of the Washington-based Empresarios in “La Bandolera”, to the sun- kissed, afrohouse vibe of “Sonido SID Africano” and the west African “Republica de chonta”, Solo Moderna gleefully shifts from the acoustic to the synthesized to create a surprisingly coherent work. For Solo Moderna, life is not something to be taken so seriously. Instruments are toys, and Earth and it’s cultural diversity a playground. It is this unique lightheartedness and flippancy, moving you to smile, dance and enjoy life as it is, that makes Solo Moderna one of the few artists you can recognize immediately after an 8- bar snippet of a song heard in any club around the corner. Republica Moderna, his 3rd album to date, is a vibrant, delightfully upbeat, timeless homage to the world’s musical diversity.

This is GCLP157
It's an Orange LP and brings download Codes

Townes Van Zandt is the third studio album by the American singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt, originally released in September 1969 by Poppy Records. It includes re-recordings of four songs from his 1968 debut album, including the first serious song he ever wrote, "Waitin' Around To Die".

50th anniversary - 180 gram remastered vinyl - Remastered by Chicago Mastering - Tip-op Jacket - Cardstock innersleeves with lyrics included

Vermonische Melodien is a collection of compositions by DJ-producer M.RUX, made with old VERMONA machines from Eastern Germany. The nine Electronica tracks can’t conceal their influences from Exotica records of the 1960s as well as their fondness for vintage music technology. We hear voices singing lullabies (“Magische Time”), mumbling chopped up syllables (“Seelnatrax”) or reciting a Shakespeare quote (“Bakelit”) - are they real? Yes! But they are mostly generated by the world’s first speech synthesis hardware, the IBM 704 from 1954, and processed into off-key melodic beauty with vocoders. "I’ve always been curious about musical visions from the 1970s", says M.RUX about his inspiration for Vermonische Melodien. "Those nifty Vermona machines can today be seen as future machines from the 1970s. They seem almost mystical to me. Like relics from an epoch long ago… and I wanted to find out how music from that time could have sounded." On the album M.RUX uses, above all, equipment by Vermona, a brand from Eastern Germany manufacturing electronic musical instruments until 1990. The drum machine VERMONA ER-9 (1976) was the first instrument M.RUX ever possessed. It forms the rhythmical backbone of his studio on this record. The melodies on the other hand have mainly been played on a Vermona Formation-1, a suitcase synthesizer from 1980. Although these two machines are joined by countless other instruments and effect units, their particular soft sound is present in every single moment of this soothing album. "I also take a deep bow to the late Reinhard ‘Lacky’ Lakomy", M.RUX adds. "His releases were the first electronic instrumental records on the Amiga label which has been a huge influence for my work in general and this record in particular." M.RUX has appeared as a solo producer with his “In the Hold“ EP (2016) on his own YNFND imprint. Before that he had become famous for his edits which gently transform songs by Nina Simone, Townes Van Zandt, Tom Zé and many more into slow, dancefloor-ready gems. Pingipung is proud to present this first full-length album by M.RUX. He is not only a talented multiinstrumentalist and original producer but also a skillful remixer - as he has shown twice to the Pingipung audience in the last two years with his touches on Umeko Ando’s Ainu folklore songs

Though Al Gardner’s Detroit 60's soul classic ‘Sweet Baby’ was issued in France as well as on a now expensive Sepia release in Detroit, it has never had a UK 45 release until now. The flip is a terrific previously LP-only track by Jack Ashford – the producer and writer of both sides of this 45. Best known for his percussion work at Motown, Pied Piper and Just, he shows he has a good voice on this great, now popular, song.

+ Bonus 7" 400 ltd!

Christina Aguilera, Donny Hathaway, and Gregory Porter. If you are curious to learn how these three names are connected with Movements Vol.10 then all you got to do is to keep on reading.

Those of you who have been enjoying Tramp Records' Movements series from the very beginning know that this series is not just about funk. It actually covers a wide spectrum of genres: early Rhythm & Blues, Soul-Jazz, Latin-Soul, heavy James Brown-style Funk, and mid-70's pre-Disco. The track listing is, as on all previous volumes, selected in chronological order.

For this, our 10th jubilee album, we go back in time more than 60 years. The Frankie Greer Quartet opens the set with their beautiful composition "Spooky". Just as sweet is "Early in the Morning" by the Bill Beau Trio which was recorded in 1958. What Eunice Haze, Phylis Hendricks and the Eddie Buster Band have in common is the fact that each of them has recorded only one 45rpm single in their musical career.

Johnny Spinosa's "Come On" is a fierce Rhythm 'n Blues monster of the highest order. The same goes for The New Philadelphians. No one would question if "The Mustang" was announced as an unreleased Blue Note recording by Lou Donaldson from 1968. Cleveland Eaton, who became one of the most versatile and best jazz bassists in 1970s, started out with his band The Kats in the late 1960s. "Under the Covers" was arranged by none other than Donny Hathaway (of "The Ghetto" fame) with who he has worked closely together in his early days.

Probably one of the finest and most sought after versions of "Coming Home Baby" out there has been recorded by a german dude and bis band, Ronny Pellers Satin Sound. Another excellent cover version is delivered by The Lido which should leave any latin-jazz fan speechless. "El Mexicano" is an inconspicuous little groover while the next two tunes by Herb Crawford's Jazz Ensemble and The Runningboards are more in the soul-jazz vein. Listen to the dummer on "Louisville Assembly Plant" who goes nuts!

Rhythm Syndicate Records is proud to present their debut vinyl release. Both tracks come from a true veteran of the Drum & Bass scene, and an exclusive release from top level producer Blade. DJ Blade, has a sound that is much sought after amongst headz, and his following has continued to grow steadily over the past few years. His production style is distinctive, and has seen him have various releases on labels including, Good Looking Records, Fokuz Recordings, Soul Deep Recordings, Smooth N Groove, Liquid V, Think Deep, and Flight Pattern, to name a few. Known for producing big anthems, and a prolific unreleased back catalogue die hard fans can only dream of owning, its no surprise that Blade receives continuous heavy support from some of the top Deejays in the game. The song, "China Town Womad", has been supported consistently by scene legend, LTJ Bukem. Now this sought after track is available on a limited vinyl run, so get one while they last!

Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and collaborator; the mighty Ásgeir returns with highly anticipated third album ‘Bury The Moon’.

The Icelandic artist returns to his folk roots for lead single ‘Youth’ written in collaboration with his admired poet father, the song documents his childhood growing up in his small Icelandic town, unburdened by worry and full of unbridled joy.

The stunning new track swells with horns and hushed acoustic guitars, Ásgeir’s unmistakable honey-soaked vocal soaring across weaving instrumental melodies, culminating in a anthemic peak that exudes nostalgia. ‘Bury The Moon’ will be available via One Little Indian 7th February 2020.

Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and collaborator; the mighty Ásgeir returns with highly anticipated third album ‘Sátt (The Icelandic version of ‘Bury The Moon’).

The Icelandic artist returns to his folk roots for lead single ‘Youth’ written in collaboration with his admired poet father, the song documents his childhood growing up in his small Icelandic town, unburdened by worry and full of unbridled joy.

The stunning new track swells with horns and hushed acoustic guitars, Ásgeir’s unmistakable honey-soaked vocal soaring across weaving instrumental melodies, culminating in a anthemic peak that exudes nostalgia. ‘Sátt’ will be available via One Little Indian 7th February 2020.

Dubbing Sun x Echo Ranks x Radikal Guru bringing the conscious vibes once again.

Album features Ernie K Doe’s ‘Here Come The Girls’, The Meters, Eddie Bo, Professor Longhair, Lee Dorsey, Wild Magnolias and more.

This is the definitive collection of New Orleans Funk featuring acknowledged masters next to some of the earlier artists who shaped the meaning of funk. The album is also filled with many rare, sought after and undiscovered funk tracks. It covers the period from the emergence of New Orleans Funk in the early 1960's through to the mid-seventies.

The record is an essential part of anyone in any way interested in Funk's record collection. It has some vital ingredients in it that you can't find elsewhere. With the sound of the New Orleans Funeral March Bands, Mardi Gras Indian Tribes and Saturday Night Fish Fries all as inspiration New Orleans Funk developed into a unique sound.

New Orleans is a port town. Originally owned by the French, this was where many slaves were brought from the West Indies. Many of these slaves came from Haiti and brought with them the religion of Voodoo and its drums and music. It became one of the first parts of America to develop a strong African-American culture leading to the invention of Jazz in the early 1900's.

A main feature of Jazz in New Orleans were the Jazz Funeral Marching bands. Solemn Brass bands accompanying a coffin would, on burial, be joined by a second line of drummers and dancers which would turn the event into a celebration of the spirit cutting free from earth. This African tradition is strong in New Orleans and still goes on to this day. The backline drums play a syncopated style that is neither on the beat nor the off-beat. It is these rhythms that are the basis of New Orleans Funk.

The album comes with a booklet presenting a historical explanation to how and why this music came about, and with lots of information about the people involved.


Reviews: "A Perfect Primer For Funk Fans" Q (Top 5 albums of the year). "Probably the finest compilation that Soul Jazz has released. Essential" Time Out.

Soul Jazz Records new release takes us on a serious road trip into the North-West region of the USA, 1986-97, to explore the amazing lost and forgotten sounds of the Grunge era.

This Deluxe massive 28-track Double CD with 44-page outsize booklet features extensive text, band features and interviews, exclusive photos. Also Worldwide digital release + Ltd.Edition Two seperate double-vinyl albums with full notes and free download code.

The underground music scene of the North-west of America arose from the early 1980's, strung out in isolated towns across the vast state of Washington. In its early days bands who showed an allegiance to their roots of punk. Yet, by 1991,Nirvana, the biggest band in the world, had been born from this community of outsiders.

This compilation features some of the many divergent bands who emerged out of the North-west during this era. Intensely researched and documented this album features many bands who have now disappeared from history after releasing maybe just a couple of singles, or an album, or even never making it onto vinyl – alongside some bands that continue to this day.

Perhaps most fascinating is the wide-ranging styles that these grunge bands incorporated - from punk to metal, experimental and more.

All Roads lead to Nirvana: 17 of the bands featured here played alongside Nirvana in the period 1987 to 93. All 23 bands featured feature members who shared a stage with Nirvana. Jack Endino (The Ones) produced 37 Nirvana songs. Dave Foster (Helltrout) was Nirvana's 3rd drummer. Bundle of Hiss became TAD who played more gigs with Nirvana than any other band.

With fantastically in-depth sleevenotes, interviews with most of the bands, exclusive photography and all sonically remastered tracks this is a comprehensive double CD (and 2 volumes of 2x12" vinyl releases) bringing together the hidden, lost and forgotten sounds of the North-west grunge era.

Reviews & Articles: Seattle Times feature here. Irish Times here. Read article by compiler Nick Soulsby in Nirvana Legacy here Read second article by the compiler here. Read article about the artwork here.

Wah Wah 45's are proud to present "Cages", the third album from southern soul boys The Milk. Having released "Favourite Worry", their critically acclaimed sophomore album and first for independent label Wah Wah 45's, in 2015, the band are able to trace the seeds of the latest LP back to their recording sessions with producer Paul Butler (Andrew Bird, Michael Kiwanuka, Nick Waterhouse) almost five years ago, blending elements of soul, funk and rock together to create their own unique sound, inspired by some of their favourite artists such as Bill Withers, Traffic and the Isley Brothers.

"I can't wait to hear you write songs that look outward" - these words from Paul subconsciously had a lasting impression on the band. To atone for more inward-looking sentiments on "Favourite Worry", there had to be a shift in perspective. During the formative stages of the new album The Milk started pursuing a Nichiren Buddhist practice. The values and principles they discovered during this have informed every aspect of the record.

"We wanted to write an album that looked outside of the walls, to people, society and the environment - embracing real freedom in musical expression by utilising more complex rhythmic structures, extended harmony and dissonance to paint an original and authentic-sounding record" explains If their debut, "Tales from the Thames Delta", was inspired by hedonism and "Favourite Worry" by introspection, "Cages" is an impassioned conversation with the world. Racism and division are all on the rise. British society is being pulled apart by forces that seek to divide us and rip the compassion and empathy from our minds and hearts. We have become distracted from the more urgent challenges of boundless consumerism, climate change, and the mental health emergency reeking havoc on our streets.

We are the birds in the cage, tied by cheap thrills and fake news to a limited world vision that is no longer fit for purpose. The good news? We can all choose to challenge this view. "Cages" is equal parts the dark black shadow of how far we've fallen and the blazing sunlight whose rays of hope can still change the world. Four life-long friends, Ricky Nunn (vocals), Mitch Ayling (drums) Luke Ayling (bass) and Dan Le Gresley (guitar) formed their first band when they were still at school in Essex, playing countless working men's clubs, and finally became The Milk.

The band have built up a following of dedicated fans around the UK, which has resulted in them selling out venues such as Scala, Koko and Shepherds Bush Empire. Keen to get back on the road where they feel most at home and where the guys really shine, the band offer up a compelling set of diverse styles, matched with an ability to effortlessly intertwine songs together, gives their music a continuous feel to it. Since signing to Wah Wah 45's, the band released their second album "Favourite Worry", which became one of BBC 6 Music's albums of the year, sold out London's Union Chapel, toured with the Fun Lovin' Criminals and completed a sell-out UK tour climaxing at London's KOKO in Camden town. ... More live dates coming very soon!

Pacific Express emerged from Cape Town, South Africa in the 1970s. The band were from the so called "Coloured" community and were ground breakers in both musical and political arenas. The founder members Paul Abrahams (Bass), Jack Momple (Drums) and Issy Ariefdien (Guitar) were joined by Chris Schilder (Piano), Vic Higgins (Pecussion), Barney Rachabane (Alto Sax), Stompie Manana (Trumpet) and Zayn Adams & Kitty Tshikana on vocals for their second album "On Time" in 1978.

On several occasions the group fell foul of Apartheid laws and discrimination by the state broadcaster, SABC. On one occasion they were asked to leave the stage of an international tour by Australian act John Paul Young, because the law forbade racially mixed performers on the same stage. The promoter, management and band members all resisted and once he incident made the Australian newspapers the authorities had little choice and turned a blind eye.

And so to the music. The most important thing. The LP opens up with the slick jazz-boogie funk of "We Got A Good Thing Going On", a perfect vehicle for the vocals of Zayn and the statement-of-intent, on-point musicianship of the band.

"I Hear Music" is the first of three smooth sweet string-laden ballads to feature on the LP. The majority of the songs on the LP were written by keyboard player Chris Schilder. As well as high-craft songwriting Chris also contributes layers of effortless musicality with his Rhodes and piano. "Good Old Days" (the only cover on the LP) is next and its smooth-rock grooves swing effortlessly to the fore. The A-Side of the vinyl closes with the instrumental jazz funk of "Saturday Night".

The flip side of the album opens with the bands biggest commercial success. A sweet soul ballad penned "Give a Little Love". Stepping outside their usual sound. This hit however was not without controversy as the video was removed from the TV airways after the South Africa Broadcasting Corp realised that the group were of mixed race, which was against rules for so called local artists in public performance at the time.

"Dream" follows on with the driving jazz rock and travelling keyboard solos. "Reaching Out For Love" is a power-pop boogie groover powered by guest vocalists Erica Lundy and Kitty.

"Say The Last Goodbye" is the last of the trio of ballads. A smooth style moment sounding all the bit like a 70's US TV drama closing theme. The LP features with a funky workout where the band show off their chops and slick level of musicianship.

Besides the success in southern Africa this album became a regional hit as a pirated music cassette in Nigeria. It was also released in France and Japan.

The band would go on to record one further LP in 1979 and a single in 1981. They carried on performing however well pass that. Throughout their years together the band acted as central hub for Jazz musicians within the Cape Town area. Players as Tony Cedras, Jonathan Butler and Alvin Dyers gaining experience alongside established names such as trumpeter Stompie Manana and alto saxman Barney Rachabane.

Here at World Seven we are ever so pleased to be re-releasing what we consider the bands finest album moment.

Legacy Chicago craftsman Mark Nelson’s latest offering as Pan. American is less a distillation or divergence than it is a return to his musical and spiritual beginnings. Spare, subdued, and largely acoustic, A Son unfurls like late summer dusk on the edge of town, expansive but intimate.

Motivated by notions of “moving backward” and tracing roots – as well as a couple years of hammered dulcimer lessons – the album’s nine songs were written and recorded in his home in Evanston, Illinois, and honed during a recent solo tour in Europe. The emphasis on uncluttered arrangements and the centrality of the guitar and vocals reveal these songs as the most direct and emotional statement of his career.

Nelson cites everything from June Tabor, The Carter Family, Suicide and Jimmy Reed as oblique inspirations, though his truest muse was creative self-inquiry: “What does music do, Where does music start? How simple can it be? How honest can it be?”

After decades of mining post-rock pathways and latticework electronics in Labradford and early Pan. American, A Son strips away ornament and distraction in favor of a direct gaze into the heart of what is.

Inviting slow disco and spaced out ambient characterizes this new material from Golden Bug and In Fields on their collaboration-album ”Vibration Métallique”. Golden Bugs kind of extrovert and electronic sound is recognizable from his previous 7” release on Höga Nord Rekords and together with In Fields it gets dressed in a fluffier costume.

This album is the result of two persons with tons of respect for one another musically, two musicians who have been floating past and sometimes in two each others projects for the last couple of years. Their musical roots In ”Leftfield land” intertwine and reaches up above ground, connecting to different musical stems and holds together the sound; like sightseeing in a familiar town this album has outer limits but as unpredictable as the city can be, this record surprises you from one track to the other.

The album has a springtime feel to it in all it's brightness, but suddenly it shifts shape in a song like ”Lush”, picked straight from the factory floor. This album is both a standoff and a board meeting in electronic music. Golden Bugs metallic excentricity meeting with In Fields darkness and live feel creates an unpredictability and the music goes on an exploratory trip far away!

Local Talk ends 2019 with something special, a release by Antony Nicholson & Mark de Clive-Lowe.

Anthony Nicholson aka Miquifaye is deeply rooted in the movement of taking music and art forward in the city we call Chi-town, across the globe and around the world.
Anthony has a discography that has been one of the most respected and sought after collections in dance music.

Mark is an artist in constant evolution, reaching for that next level, to call him prolific is something of an understatement.
Together they've created two tracks that got 'classics' written all over them and executed to perfect precision.

Michael Edgehill aka Mikey Melody was born in the parish of Portland, Jamaica. As a youth he constantly raised his voice in song and performing with sound system in the neighborhood community. Known by his sweet voice, his friends gave him the nickname «Mikey Melody».

Mikey Melody was influenced by 60’s and 70’s US R&B icons and Jamaican singers like Bob Marley, Sugar Minott, Burning Spear, Dennis Brown, Bob Andy and Half Pint. In the 1980’s he went to Kingston and was identified early by Lord Sassafrass, who gave him his first recording single “Under Mi Fat Thing” that was covered by many reggae artists. He was then signed by Black Scorpio Corporation which he was a singer on the sound system and recording label. He did songs like “World Is A Disaster”, “Jumbo Mi Jumbo”, “Romance For The Moment”, “Ragga Muffin”, “Unemployment”.

He then moved on to Dennis Star Label which he did songs like “Mona Lisa”, “Maranda” and the hit song “Soldier In Town”. Released in 1988 on Dennis Star International records, ‘’Soldier In Town’’ by Mikey Melody is a pure late 80’s dancehall vocal over heavy digital rhythm by Firehouse Crew.

The Planet X invasion continues ... The third release is the most-awaited EP this year featuring the Matrixxman himself. According to the Alien Council, it is his best EP so far. It contains four tracks of serious icebreaking soundscapes, running trough the listener's veins by freezing the complete solar system with a coolness.

Starting the process is A1 with the fall-out Syren track called ‘Hong Kong Day’ played exclusively in the Matrixxman Dekmantel Boiler Room set last year, now finally being released for the hungry trainspotters who have been waiting for quite some time.
Next up A2, the second installment of the Hong Kong- the Night version- the most spooky-sounding spirit-catching meltdown of a track. It is reminiscent of a lethal death scene in a brutal manga cartoon, where the Iron eagle flies over the lands looking for prey.

On the other side- B1 starts with the track ‘Power Drain’ featuring his label mate-Exos- definitely the festival track of the release which then takes the listener to the breakbeat part of town in the final track called ‘Tango Down’ on B2.

This is where the real Matrixxman signature strikes with raw, dirty rave bass turning it back and forth, finishing the EP with some analog screams. The Planet X continues tearing through the galaxy.

Pedro "Ramayá" Beltrán, born in Patico, a small town in Colombia's Bolívar province, is a maestro of Colombian folkloric music known as the King of the 'caña de millo' flute, although he is also proficient in various percussion instruments as well as the reed instrument known as 'gaita'. He founded La Cumbia Moderna de Soledad in the early 1970's. With this group he set out to "modernize" the folkloric music of his people, adding electric bass and a brass section to

fresh arrangements of cumbias, porros, fandangos, puyas and other costeño genres. "La Clavada" (1979) was La Cumbia Moderna de Soledad's sixth record and first for Codiscos' Costeño imprint.

The LP has many excellent examples of Beltrán's inventive mix of the ancient and the modern, making for a collection of tunes brimming with tradition and yet fearlessly bristling with innovation, not the least of which is 'Crees que soy sexy', with its gaita refrain mimicking the main melody of Rod Stewart's international disco smash 'Da Ya Think I'm Sexy'.
The album's title song was a massive hit in Colombia and has become a standard of the genre. Restored to its original glorious sound, this LP is poised to be rediscovered as an innovative yet rootsy gem. Presented in facsimile artwork and pressed on 180g vinyl.

Part of Vampisoul's reissue series of classic LP's from Colombia's Codiscos and it's sublabels such as Zeida, Costeño and Famoso.

On The Corner provide the first taste of a landmark recording that the label embarked upon two years ago on the East African island archipelago of Zanzibar.

Pete On the Corner was consulting for the ambitious permaculture development of Fumba Town. The story of Siti Binti Saad, the mother of Taarab is rooted in Fumba. Pete joined the dots to shine new light on the pioneering life of Siti Binti Saad as the innovative town development took shape and looked to connect with the Island's unique history at the centre of the Swahili world.

Whilst steering a recording project that would celebrate Siti Binti Saad's legacy, Pete brought in producer Sam Jones and the pair met with filmmaker Andy Jones (who documented the life and work of the legendary Bi Kidude) who revealed that Siti Binti Saad had a great grand-daughter, Siti Muharam who led a very private life but had a 'golden voice'. With music director Matona on board the scene was set to go beyond celebrating the singular legacy of a Swahili pioneer and find a new hero.

Siti Muharam has a golden timbre and on this 7" we get the first taste of her debut LP that will represent her great grandmother's legacy for the next generations.

After being blown away by a few tunes - probably just as you will be after listening to this - Samy Ben Redjeb travelled to the infamous capital city of Somalia in November of 2016, making Analog Africa the first music label to set foot in Mogadishu.

On his arrival in Somalia Samy began rifling through piles of cassettes and listening to reel-to-reel tapes in the dusty archives of Radio Mogadishu, looking for music that ‘swam against the current’.

The stars were aligned: an uncovered and unmarked pile
of discarded recordings was discovered in a cluttered corner of the building. Colonel Abshir - the senior employee and protector of Radio Mogadishu’s archives - clarified that the pile consisted mostly of music nobody had manage to identify, or music he described as being ‘mainly instrumental and strange music’.

At the words ‘strange music’ Samy was hooked, the return flight to Tunisia was cancelled. The pile turned out to be a cornucopia of different sounds: radio jingles, background music and interludes for radio programmes, television shows and theatre plays. There were also a good number of disco tunes, some had been stripped of their lyrics, the interesting parts had been recorded multiple times then cut, taped together and spliced into a long groovy instrumental loop.

Like everywhere in Africa during the 1970s, both men and women sported huge afros, bell-bottom trousers and platform shoes.
James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and The Temptations’ funk were the talk of the town. In 1977, Iftin Band were invited to perform at the Festac festival in Lagos where they represented Somalia at the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture.

Not only did they come back with an award but they also returned with Afrobeat. While Fela Kuti’s ‘Shakara’ had taken over the continent and was spreading like wildfire throughout Latin America, it was the track ‘Lady’ that would become the hit in Mogadishu.

RAVE026 is a double hammer of blitzkrieg gabber and seething acid trance/schranz from Service
Animal (Vereker) and Crime Unit, featuring material previously issued on impossible-to-find
tapes by the cult, DIY label; Live Adult Entertainment
The punkish reputation of Live Adult Entertainment precedes them as one of the underground’s
keenest yet elusive operations to emerge in recent years. Based in Thessaloniki, a port city in
northern Greece, they’ve released some 28 tapes, CDR’s and lathe cut vinyl of musick ranging from
psy-trance to industrial noise and concrète since 2017, and always in editions ranging from zero
to 20 tops, leading to feverish and frustrated reactions from those listeners who’ve chanced upon
their YouTube videos before they get taken down. Finally, this 12” features the first readily available
and properly mastered LAE material on a physical format.
On the A-side, Endangered Species label boss Oliver Vereker adopts his gabber alias Service
Animal for his first outing proper since appearing as Renoir on his label’s 2017 CD, ‘Death Always
Follows’. Revolving material originally available on tape in edition of 20 copies, it boots off with
the 12-hp hoof and dive-bombing drones of ‘Core Of Reality’ next to the evil Arcardipane styles of
‘F.T.W’, which are both produced with the same, powerful conviction in charred black metal, noise
and hardcore techno that made his 2015 releases as Restraint and Grace so vital, only with added
acceleration and syncopation.
The B-side follows with a pair of seething workouts from the ‘Cyber Afterbirth Vol.1’ mix by
LAE co-owner, Crime Unit. Hearkening back to a sound that was ubiquitous between Hackney
Warehouses and small-town UK/European techno clubs in the late ’90s/early ‘00s, they are
ravenous examples of the LAE aesthetic, applying scuzzy DIY principles to gnashing German
schranz and adrenalising acid trance with ruthlessly direct results that pack one of the meanest
breakdowns you’ll hear this year. Trust they will mercilessly sort the dancers from the posers.

From the people who brought you Disques Sinthomme and Ghost Town comes a new imprint LESDK.

Bringing back that NYC Lower East Side grime, LESDK will feature edits as well as new work from Dennis Kane and his circle of proper low-lifes...

Ghost Town and Disques Sinthomme featured contributions from Brennan Green, Richard Sen, The Beat Broker, Bicep, Jose Manuel, and Cosmic Metal Mother, as well as edit monsters like Jeff 'The Drunk' Overton and Cazbee. Kane will be helming this label, curating work and providing his own productions and remixes.

LESDK

Starts off side A with 'Real' - A soulful disco romp that has a gospel force as well as a powerful vocal performance. The song grooves from its first beat, and pushes the energy as it builds. "Now it's time to be real..." Edit as manifesto - Pure heat! The edit work here comes from one of the OG's of serious digging, Senior Reyes aka Jersey Pete.

Side B brings 'Action' as its first track, complementing the A Side, this is some dirty late night Philadelphia bar nastiness, mentholated disco with a humid female vocal, "I like to party, I like to flirt..."

Side B closes out with 'Motion', a slice of cosmic funkiness that laments a love that is not happening while a thick bassline moves the proceedings along.
This song has heartbreak and the haze of an early morning on the dancefloor.

Three essential edits for the DJ to bless the party people with.

Dennis Kane is a DJ and producer based in NYC, he has run the Disques Sinthomme and Ghost Town labels and is also a partner in the recording group SIREN, (with Darshan Jesrani) on Compost records.
Kane has produced numerous tracks and done remix work for Cantoma, Liz Torres, The Phenomenal Handclap Band, and Hokis Pokis among others.
He has been a DJ in NYC since the mid 90's holding down numerous residencies and touring worldwide.

2LP Gatefold Sleeve.

Lost Ethnography of the Miscanthus Ocean” contains six of their earlier works from 2013 to early 2014. The original release was on cassette from Guruguru Brain which was sold out less than a month. There is a new added D2. Miscanthus Ocean only for the LP version. The album is dedicated to Grass Mountain and the incredibly hot, humid summertime in Taipei. This is also the echo of their instrumental trio period before they moved on to digital composing.

Band Info:
Formed in Taipei, Taiwan in 2013, comprised of member Lu Li-‑Yang and Lu Jiachi, Scattered Purgatory is a name
derived from a Taoist ritual which expiates the souls of the innocent from a state in between life and death and then at last, release.
Growing up in Taipei, where two wheeled transportations are popular, the basin city of such population density and humidity had
inspired their sound distinctively differentiates from the US west coast desert drone. If we use Taiwan new cinema wave in 80s as
the analogy, the massive use of longshots of those films expressed a different halo from the Western Spaghetti; Scattered
Purgatoryʼ’s sound expresses soundscape to the world by using a familiar approach ‒– but with an oriental narration geographically
and spiritually.

(180 Vinyl LP) With their authentic formula - jazz musicians in a Jamaican-wise context - Jamaican Jazz Orchestra come with a second album that feels like a fresh dive in the lake on a humid tropical day. High quality musicianship and clever compositions recorded analog on tape, guided by producer Tom Callens (Lady Linn, Lester's Blues, South of the Border, Tiny Legs Tim)...

Crepuscule presents The Scottish Affair (Part 2), a vibrant live album by iconic Scottish guitar group Josef K recorded at the historic Beursschouwburg arts centre in Brussels on 8 April 1981.
Pressed in a limited edition of 1000 copies in clear vinyl, the sleeve features original 1981 poster artwork by designer Jean-Francois Octave printed in black overlaid with metallic gold pantone. The inner bag includes period flyers and images, as well as quotes by Paul Haig, Malcolm Ross, Alan Horne, Michel Duval, Annik Honore, Allan Campbell and Bert Bertrand.
Best known for their association with Postcard Records, Josef K also recorded two singles for Belgian indie Les Disques du Crepuscule (Sorry For Laughing; The Missionary), and also taped studio album The Only Fun In Town in downtown Brussels. The group first performed in the city on New Year’s Eve 1980, playing a riotous show with Orange Juice and Marine at legendary warehouse venue Plan K, and resumed their ‘Scottish affair’ with Crepuscule the following April, cutting their album in a matter of days and performing at the Beursschouwburg as well as a small youth club in Lier three nights later.
 At the Beurs show Jokay rattled off 10 songs in just half an hour, with journalist Bert Bertrand noting “several good reasons to get excited” about the visiting quartet. Adds guitarist Malcolm Ross: “We played four dates in Holland on our way to Brussels and then recorded the album in about five days. So we were pretty tight and Paul was in good voice.”
 Recorded from the mixing desk, all 10 songs have now been newly re-mastered for issue as a vinyl only album, The Scottish Affair (Part 2).

The second release on Freevoyage is from Rokko, dj and producer from Slovenia. Founder of Just Jam collective, based in Ptuj.

One of the greatest enigmas of the music scene in mid to late 1970s Harare was The New Tutenkhamen, a band which played an eclectic brand of Zimbabwean township music combining
traditional rhythms and western influences. The band included some luminaries of Zimbabwean township music. Elisha Josamu was an alumnus of the fabulously-named Hallelujah Chicken Run Band (alongside Thomas Mapfumo), and Green Jangano’s long-running Harare Mambos, and would later form Two Plus Two with bassist Christopher “Chex” Tavengwa. Jethro Shasha played the drums, and would arguably become the New Tutenkhamen’s most famous export, making continental waves working with likes of Salif Keita. Paul Sekerani played the rhythm guitar, with Amos Chatyoka on the organ, while the enigmatic Maggie Mbuli provided vocals and F. Manda played the sax. The New Tutenkhamen recorded I Wish You Were Mine at Teal Records, produced by Crispen Matema, a talented jazz drummer in his own right who had played drums on the all-time classic Skokiaan, and had backed Louis Armstrong on his 1960 Rhodesia visit. Combining the
heavyweight producing talents of Matema and the writing chops of Josamu, The New Tutenkhamen band created an album howcasing various musical styles popular at the time. From the afro-jazz jam session aesthetics of “Tutenkhamen Theme”, “Big Brother alcom” and “Forever Together”, to the almost Van Morrison-sounding “Sunday Morning”; from the upbeat rock ballad “True Love”, to the funk-infused dance song “Togetherness”; from the bouncy jazz
exhortations to work hard in “Ane Nungo”, to the brassy, raunchy foot-stomper “Me & Dolly”. The title track “I Wish You Were Mine” is a ska-infused ballad that wouldn’t be out of place in post-war
Birmingham, while the star of the show is “Joburg Bound”, itself a fast-paced rock piece with Motown undertones and funky guitar lines. As a collective effort, I Wish You Were Mine provides a fascinating insight into a fraught time in Zimbabwe’s history, and the bands plying their trade through the turmoil, making music for young people, by young people.

An ode to the music of Zimbabwe past and future, representing the country’s two major cities - Bulawayo and Harare.
The Bulawayo side sees longtime township legends Bulawayo Kwela meet UK producer Danalogue (The Comet is Coming). Reverb-drenched drums and snatches of Penny whistle back the words of the poet Albert Nyathi for a leagues-deep dub Conference. “Nomalenga” stays true to the Township Kwela style that the group has been playing for over 30 years.
The Harare side sees David Tapfuma (longtime collaborator with Stella Chiweshe) deliver an ode to the ghettoes of the capital, accompanied by a solo mbira. Cape Town’s ESA delivers a subtle treatment of the original, drifting the mbira hook into 3am dancefloor territory on a cloud of synths…

Detroit imprint My Baby returns with its third musical offering, a split release from two Motor City heavyweights, in the form of Rex Sepulveda and Acid Pimp.
This fledgling vinyl only label has got off to a superb start showcasing music from Detroit locals on its first two stellar Eps. With a focus on the underground sound of the city it resonates with global fans of quality house and techno and continues to do so here with four outstanding new tracks.
First up is Acid Pimp, a DJ & producer who has been an integral part of Detroit’s music scene since the early 90s. His distinct sound saw him release a string of classic twelves on the Cheshire imprint, whilst his DJing took him from the warehouse parties of the city to international clubs like Tresor. He founded the ‘Friction Detroit’ night in his home town, hosting the likes of Ben Sims, Regis and Chris Liebing, and he co-founded the M-Nus sub label D- Records with Richie Hawtin and two other friends. The first of his two offerings is the superb ‘Re-Ak-O-Pan’, seven minutes of intense, industrial tinged techno with taut drums working alongside panning synths and static machine noise to superb effect. This is complemented by the looped excellence of ‘Lupe 09’, a rolling groove that is sure to lock in any dancefloor.
The flipside sees another of Michigan’s sons in the shape of Rex Sepulveda. Rex has a musical history dating back to 90s, he was one of the aforementioned friends that launched D-Records with Acid Pimp and Richie Hawtin and has released original and remix material on a number of imprints. His first cut here is ‘Rex presents Dvda’ a deep, brooding affair populated by rubbery, acidic synths and razor-sharp percussion. This is a pure early-hours number that is sure to twist up the floor wherever it’s dropped. Closing the package we have ‘Rexie’s Orgasm’ a spacious, and understated track that perfectly captures the echoing sounds of a cavernous warehouse space.
This is a sterling package of quality underground sounds from the city that sparked the fire.

The avant-garde composer and conductor Pierre Boulez was a titan of post-War experimental classical music. Born in the small cheesemaking town of Montrbrison in central France in 1925, Boulez studied at the Paris Conservatoire with the composer and organist Charles Messiaen and received private tuition from pianist Andrée Vaurabourg; after moving to the Marais district in 1945, he briefly studied with Schoenberg disciple, René Leibowitz, and further influence came from immersion in Balinese gamelan, Japanese classical music and African drumming, among other sources. Earning money by playing an early electronic keyboard called the ondes Martenot on theatre productions, Boulez soon became music director of the Renaud-Barrault theatre company (led by actor/direction Jean-Louis Barrault and his actor wife, Madeleine Renaud), leading to tours of Belgium, Switzerland, Britain and both North and South America. American composer John Cage became an ally, though they subsequently clashed over Cage’s commitment to the role of chance in his compositions, paving the way for an intense and lasting friendship with the German composer, Karlheinz Stockhausen, who arrived in Paris in 1952 to study with Messiaen. In July of that year, the pair attended the International Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt, leading to contact with Italian composer Luciano Berio and other noteworthy figures. Then, in 1954, with backing from Barrault and Renaud, Boulez began staging a series of concerts of experimental music at the Petit Marigny theatre, titled Le Domaine musical. The pieces collected on this album are all taken from performances staged for the 1957 Domaine musical season, beginning with Berio’s “Serenata I,” conducted by Boulez, which debuted in Paris in March of that year; arranged for flute and fourteen instruments, Berio said that the idea behind the piece was for the solo flute to be confronted by continuously interchanging elements, rather than mere accompaniments or oppositions. Boulez’s own “Sonatine,” composed in 1946 for flute and piano, is a 12-tone piece that evidences Messiaen’s influence, with shades of Asian classical music in places; then, Stockhausen’s monumental “Zeitmasze” or “Time Measures,” a serial composition for five woodwinds, played in different combinations of tempos and speed, was partly inspired by Webern’s principles of homogenous and harmonic textures. Finally, Messiaen’s 1949 work “Cantéyodjayâ,” delivered by pianist Yvonne Loriod, takes it shape from the classical Hindu rhythms of ancient India, as with much of the composer’s oeuvre.

Humans is the new album from sought after international touring band the London Afrobeat Collective. From Europe to Africa, Glastonbury to Nigeria’s annual ‘Felabration’ festival, LAC
deliver party music born of their truly global DNA. The nine-strong collective from England, Congo, Italy, France, Argentina and New Zealand combine diverse influences such as Fela, Parliament Funkadelic and Frank Zappa to create an eclectic sound drawing on funk, jazz, rock, and dub to create something addictive and unique.
Their 2015 album Food Chain, received widespread radio support on stations such as BBC 6 Music, Radio X and BBC Radio 2, as well as glowing reviews in The Sunday Times, London Evening Standard, Blues & Soul and Songlines Magazine to name just a few. The new album Humans, (featuring artwork by Ben Hito, renowned for his designs for Parliament / Funkadelic), is a collection of anthemic songs with socially conscious lyrics, set to bold brass lines and hypnotic danceable grooves. In 2015 the London Afrobeat Collective toured Nigeria, appearing several times on national TV and performing in front of ten thousand people at the New Afrika Shrine during ‘Felebration’. They are no less respected in their home town, having collaborated with the likes of Dele
Sosimi and supporting legends such as Ebo Taylor, Fred Wesley And The New JB’s, Tony Allen, and Fela’s son, Femi Kuti.
LAC are now globally recognised for what they really are: not a tribute, but an ever evolving, international band of expert musicians, continuously inspiring each other as they create distinct, sincere and powerful music. Humans is an accomplished work with international flair and cultural relevance from London to Lagos.

Carla dal Forno announces her second full-length album, Look Up Sharp , on her own Kallista records.

Dal Forno beckons a bold new era in her peerless output pushing her dub-damaged DIY dispatches to the limits of flawless dream-pop. In a transformative move towards crystal clear vocals and sharpened production, Look Up Sharp is an evolutionary leap from the thick fog and pastoral stillness of her Blackest Ever Black missives, You Know What It’s Like (2016) and The Garden EP (2017). Three years since her plain-speaking debut album, the Melbourne-via-Berlin artist finds herself absorbed in London’s sprawling mess. The small-town dreams and inertia that preoccupied dal Forno’s first album have dissolved into the chaotic city, its shifting identities, far-flung surroundings and blank faces. Look Up Sharp is the story of this life in flux, longing for intimacy, falling short and embracing the unfamiliar. Dal Forno connects with kindred spirits and finds refuge in darkened alleys, secret gardens and wherever else she dares to look.

In her own territory between plaintive pop, folk and post-punk dal Forno conjures the ghosts of AC Marias, Virginia Astley and Broadcast through her brushwork of art-damaged fx and spectral atmospheres. The first half of the record is filled with dubbed-out humid bass lines, which tether stoned hazes of psychedelic synth work as on ‘Took A Long Time’ and ‘No Trace.’ These are contrasted with songs like ‘I’m Conscious and ‘So Much better’ that channel the lilting power of YMG and are clear sequels-in-waiting to dead-eyed classics like ‘Fast Moving Cars.’

The B-side begins with the feverish bass and meandering melody of ‘Don’t Follow Me,’ which takes The Cure’s ‘A Forest’ as its conceptual springboard. It’s the clearest lyrical example since ‘The Garden’ of dal Forno’s unmatched ability to unpick the masculine void of post-punk and new wave nostalgia to reflect contemporary nuance. Look Up Sharp reaches its satisfying conclusion with ‘Push On’ - dal Forno’s most explicit foray into an undiscovered trip hop universe between Massive Attack and Tracey Thorn. The album’s last gasp finds personal validation in fragility: ‘I push on / I’m the Place I’m Going,’ a self discovery lifted by reverberant broken beats and glass-blown vocals.

Adding further depth to Look Up Sharp are the instrumentals, which flow seamlessly between the vocal-led pieces. ‘Hype Sleep’ and ‘Heart of Hearts’ drink from the same stream as The Flying Lizard’s dubbed-out madness and the vivid purple sunsets of Eno’s Another Green World. While ‘Creep Out of Bed’ and ‘Leaving for Japan’ funnel the fourth-world psychedelia of Cyclobe’s industrial-folk into the vortex of Nico’s The Marble Index.

Conceived as a whole, Look Up Sharp is a singular prism in which light, sound and concept bend at all angles. A deeply personal but infinitely relatable album its many surfaces are complex but authentic, enduring but imperfect, hard-edged but delicate. A diamond. Look up sharp or you’ll miss it.

Kusht surfaces with a playful release full of tottery synths, crisp percussions and mind-bending samples.
On this 6-track LP released on almost occult YNFND from Germany's ever rainy baltic coast, the Scottish producer easily blends bluesy guitar riffs
with wailing electronic pads. 
Shuffled backbeats melt with ominous samples into a sticky glue, trapping every listener into a bouncy dance.
Kusht can already look back on a vivid and versatile back-catalogue but still manages to top it off with a many-sided and thought-out work of art in his signature style. 
This 12" full of folkloristic beats has what it needs to become one of this year's secret weapons, with early support of some of Germany's acknowledged tastemakers.

And we used to be such a nice record label .... BKV 026 swells up from the Bristol swamp in the forms of post-human industrial duo Bad Tracking. Here they have assembled variously, one spacious black metal intro (with original screams), an industrial-pop earworm not unlike Depeche Mode imploding in a feedback tunnel, two itch-tek dancefloor riddims namecheking local venue bans and I just don't know what to call 'Wellspring' really, the end of days? Well you had it coming anyway…..


Known in town for upsetting local MPs and lisencees with their live performances as 'naked technology sex slaves' think cassette-induced self harm, total nudity, blood from ears, Bad Tracking are the most visceral thing we've seen in this new wave of Avon experimental - a breath of life into the longstanding tradition of industrial performance art (and an antidote to idle BR club culture). Lyrically touching on censorship and tech // sonically they use feedback as a punishing instrument of anguish and expression.Widower EPis truly chewed nail sonics, more human than all your noise records, genuinely more scary than your edgelord power electronics nonsense, more forward than all yer government funded experimental think-records.


You may remember Bad Tracking from their remix of 90s soundsystem legends Bush Chemists on Bokeh last year. It sounded like they played the original through 1,000 knackered tape decks and added one kick drum. It was total sacrilege and we loved it. Bad Tracking is Gordon Apps aka reputed jungle/drumfunk producer Relapse (who also moonlights as Avon Terror Corp's Olivia Mutant John, buy his shit) and poet / VHS video artist Max Kelan (who has lent his visuals to MVs from Hodge, The Pop Group, OM Unit, Young Echo to name only 4). They've released on tRewdindForward family labels like Mechanical Reproductions and champions of bad taste and good music - Fuckpunk.

Fresh new dance affair cuts from a hot town of northern Germany.powerful beats, enigmatic passages and wicked catchy melodies.

TROY TOWN are back with their 3rd release and itʼs another dance floor focussed EP from a South East London mainstay. El Prevost has been a fixture of the underground London dance music scene for nearly 20 years - his first label, Linx Recordings, was at the forefront of the garage and grime crossover at the turn of the millennium signing early tracks by Kano, Wiley and Pay As U Go Cartel. However, over the past decade his productions in the world of house, garage and techno have brought him widespread respect amongst discerning A&Rʼs and DJs such as Third Ear Recordings, Patrice Scott and Ricardo Villalobos whilst building his own label and party series ‘No Speakersʼ. This EP is unmistakably indebted to the sounds of London but equally doesnʼt sound like anyone else out there at the moment. ‘A Little Politicalʼ, dripping in dub effects and toughened up with the immense delivery of poet Kyla Jenee Lacey, is full throttle and combines consciousness with a determination to fill dance floors. The broken beat influence of Ladbroke Grove and the Co-Op collective is given a hefty rejuvenation on ‘Nu Jazzʼ. ‘Wheelʼ and ‘Acid Tonerʼ are heads-down, deep and dubby. Both tracks that would ramp up the temperature in dark basements like Plastic People circa 2011.

The brand new Hip-Hop Boom Bap duet The Vibe Drops (Emcee G Roc Gayle & Moar) first 7" release. Vinyl release "Higher Frequency" featuring from Chi-Town Rita J on the mic and the b side "Breaking It Down" featuring from France, Jean Louis Potin on the Flute.
Both tracks are taken from The Vibe Drops soon to be released forthcoming album Higher Frequency LP.

Hailing from Chicago, Beau Wanzer has carved out a singular voice in electronic music since debuting on the L.I.E.S. label in 2013. Wanzer’s music is not industrial, wave, electro, or techno - it’s a unique and twisted amalgamation of all that, and more. Crazy as it sounds, we at Suction Records have been sitting on this Beau Wanzer material since 2003. Back then Beau was working at Weekend Records And Soap — a Chicago hub for the city’s exploding electro scene — when Solvent and Lowfish rolled into town to perform at an Ersatz Audio label showcase. We met Beau at the shop and he gave us a 21-track CDR. We were instant fans, fast friends, and went on to the share the stage with him several times, well before he released his first records. That CDR contains these 6 tracks now released on 10”-vinyl as the “Do The Spider Shimmy” EP. This is suction049.

Had that CDR not been held onto, and recently-unearthed by Solvent, this music would have disappeared into digital oblivion; Beau had long forgotten them and didn’t even have a copy of these CDR tracks. Beau Wanzer’s trademark sound — raw, minimal electronics and effected-beyond-recognition vocals — were already in full-effect circa 2003, but what makes this material different from his contemporary output is the dry, drumbox-funk influence of Detroit’s Ersatz Audio label (Le Car, ADULT.), which is also heard loud and clear across the EP.

Esa's compilation Amandla: Music To The People holds diverse dancefloor tracks from over the world. The first compilation in 2019 for Soundway and a comprehensive picture that connects the dots of Esa’s musical journey.

Growing up in Cape Town, South Africa, during the last days of Apartheid, Esa recalls the immense power that music had in resisting oppression and division. “Amandla, Awethu”, which literally means “the power is ours”, was an ubiquitous chant echoing throughout the politically charged atmosphere of the time – a call to unite, and a call from which this release derives not only its title, but its intention as well.

“Music was a crucial way of bringing people and communities together”, reflects Esa, “and it’s what I hope to achieve with this compilation, too”. For Esa Williams is not only a musical polymath but also passionate about connecting people through music – be it as a skilled DJ, an educator in production, a band leader reigniting the legendary Ata Kak band from Ghana, or a collaborator with the likes of Tanzanian artist Mim Suleiman. A firm favourite on the DJ circuit, he held a monthly residency at Phonox London for over 6 months - bringing guests such as Nu Guinea to Brixton audiences - as well as delivering memorable sets at Dekmantel, Atlas Festival, Boiler Room and more.

The last few years have seen a recent surge in interest in South African music from the 80s and 90s, including bubblegum, which was recently showcased on Soundway’s critically acclaimed 2018 compilation Gumba Fire: Bubblegum Soul & Synth Boogie in 1980s South Africa, put together by DJ Okapi. It was only natural that the label looked to delve deeper into the country’s rich musical legacy and tap another of its esteemed ambassadors for the role of compiler.

The result is a rainbow of complementary electronic styles hailing from not only South Africa but further afield, including zouk from Brazil and the French Antilles, as well as Afro-futurism. Together, they form a comprehensive picture that connects the dots of Esa’s musical journey – from growing up in South Africa, to artists he has encountered in his worldwide travels who have helped develop his identity as a musician.

Wah Wah 45s are very proud to announce the release of Kalba, the first album from Ghanaian xylophone master Isaac Birituro and Leeds-based producer and singer- songwriter Sonny Johns AKA The Rail Abandon. The boundary crossing duo were introduced to the world via the first two singles released in early 2019, Yesu Yan Yan and Für Svenja, and the reactions to the project have been overwhelmingly warm.

There are many differences between Isaac and Sonny, but a powerful similarity -- which gives Kalba its element of relatability -- is that desire to hear the usual done unusually and play with the shared influence of the music from afar. Named after the town in North Ghana where Isaac resides, the album is a combination of differences; a magnifying glass over the Venn diagram of our lives, the unfathomable meeting of parallel lines.

“It was clear to me that, though he played a traditional instrument in a traditional way, Isaac was influenced by the Western tinged music that filled the streets of Accra - in fact his father, Edmund, introduced him with “He plays the modern way!” Partly dismissive, mostly proud,” said Sonny. “And as this Viking sat before him played the guitar, it sounded too much like the stringed instruments of Mali for it to be just a coincidence.”

There are so many stories behind each track on this album, but the common denominators are clearly the importance of community, of preserving and presenting local cultures, the ardent desire to contribute to changing the world around us, and, of course, the love and power of music created from a genuine place.