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To say that The Sinseers play oldies would be a misnomer. Fronted by bandleader and son of East Los Angeles Joey Quiniones, the group has quietly chipped away at the sounds of R&B and soul for the last half-decade. Quinones and his crew have continuously created a distinctive vibe that explores all aspects of a timeless genre, bringing together their interpretation of music through an unmistakable modern lens.With their most recent effort, the aptly titled Sinseerly Yours (Colemine 2023), the band recorded most of the album live in the studio. With Quinones on vocals and keys, vocalist Adriana Flores, Christopher Manjarrez on bass, Francisco Floreson on guitar, Bryan Ponce on guitar and vocals, Luis Carpio on drums and vocals, saxophonists Eric Johnson and Steve Surman, and Jose Luis Jimenez on trombone, The Sinseers achieves their most fully realized sound to date.All of the album's stunning tracks were recorded in a converted studio space in Rialto, California, known as Second Hand Sounds. The converted studio space, which used to be a dentist's office, allowed the group to experiment with their sound like never before - this time, the group managed to take a series of big swings, only to emerge with a fuller, more pronounced version of themselves. Despite those new strides, the band remains wholly committed to its sonic aesthetic while injecting its brand of vibrant 21st-century cool.Of course, the group has never been the type to shy away from their influences as they expertly toggle between 60s pop vis-à-vie early Beatles records to obscure dancehall Jamaican tunes - all fully extrapolated and reinterpreted through modern Chicano soul sound that the group has built their everlasting repertoire on.Quinones and bandmates have continued to apply what they've learned from their previous releases and their relentless touring schedule throughout the country. It's clear here that the work is paying off, putting to practice their musical chops thoroughly with all members expertly honing their sound. The melting pot of ideas is showcased with incredibly lush orchestrations and arrangements, married with pitch-perfect harmonies, allowing the group to further solidify themselves in the pantheon of the Southern Californian songbook.

Skin Bank is the second full-length vinyl release from Italian techno deviant Crypto Order. Drawing inspiration from conspiracy theories, occultism, transhumanism and the New World Order, the project mixes confrontational themes and recycled propaganda with a haunting blend of dark beats and ominous melodies. Thanks to a prolific body of work amassed over the last few years, savvy listeners who have been paying attention to the right places will know him already as an unorthodox force to be reckoned with in today’s underground music world. A hallmark of Crypto Order’s work is an enigmatic deployment of both sound and vision. Heavy electro-style breakbeats and extra-terrestrial atmospheres create a warped-yet-familiar sound reminiscent of early techno, whilst a compelling visual aesthetic evoking echoes of the early industrial and power electronics scenes infuses it further with a sense of mystery. Themes of power and control have been par for the course in the music of Crypto Order and Skin Bank is no different, manifesting a world that invites the listener to question the reality around them and dive deep into the shadows of their own repressed and murky consciousness. This is a kind of electronic body music which sends you into a dystopian realm of chaos and intrigue, throwing up uncomfortable questions along the way.

Efficient Space welcomes Th Blisks to the fold with their mutant strain of melodica dub, torched hip hop breaks, post-punk and procession song.

Th Blisks' members have many notches on their collective belt. Amelia Besseny and Altered States Tapes’ founder Cooper Bowman are prolific in their ritualistic ambient-pop duo Troth, while Yuta Matsumura holds a formidable Sydney punk band pedigree on top of his Low Company-backed solo work. A reward for those who took the time to dig it out, Th Blisks’ 2022 debut How So? was a DIY creation that fully embraced its outsider roots, revelling in opportunities for connection through pop flourishes. Feeling like it might have been a one-off, we proclaim their return with Elixa.

With an unseen clarity of vision, Elixa conjures its meticulously fleshed out world. Those familiar pieces are all there - the mystery, the patience, a cheeky pop hook - however this time there's an intentionality to it all. A blurred dialogue stretching across Australia, it was largely recorded remotely with tracks bouncing between Bowman and Besseny in Muloobinba (Newcastle) and Nipaluna (Hobart), and Matsumura stationed in Warumpi (Papunya). Every element is carefully considered, stemming from their individual time spent as lifers in the local DIY scenes. Through these tracks you can feel that history; echoes of Castings and Vincent Over The Sink in ‘Do You Bless It?’, Bowman's distinctive submerged tape loops gurgling away under boom bap and *that* Sydney guitar tone in ‘Esk’.

Elixa attempts to bottle some pinged-eye wonder at the magic surrounding, whether in the city or the bush. Informed by the old but drug into The New, it is a begrudgingly current Australien record that respectively nods at the UK’s sound history.

"Trauma and the shock effect of it - the leftover residue of harsh reality so impactful that it shapes the way you imagine, envision and calculate your position in regard to everything and everyone around you.
A new type of psychological radius evolves. Boundaries are reinforced. Relationships are recessed. A damaged brief system float aimlessly. Vulnerable to and for anything reminiscent of a worthy cause. The truth about facts became satirical monologue, dead end expressions that have no critical arrangement. We all know someone that either has been or will be"

- Jeff Mills


The Eyewitness reveals a habitual pattern in the way it symbolizes a mirror reflection of mankind in our most vulnerable moments. It is the forthcoming album of Jeff Mills and it is composed from the perspective of an unknowingly complicit bystander and it is at the very least, psychologically pathological in nature. What this release is essentially proposing is an admission to the diagnosis that no one is immune to shock and trauma. Not the accuser or the accused. And this abnormality s culturally and generally transmittable - handed down and passed over to one another disguised as righteous theatre.

As an artist, what Mills is notoriously known for is the perspectives and paths he chooses to approach hefty, complex, and sometimes, awkward subjects. The best way to recognize the narratives of his mostrecent album works such as "The Clairvoyant", an eerie transcending album that plays through like a Seance for creating a bridge to reach another dimension or "Mind Power Mind Control", a cautionary warning about the consequences of supporting deceit, mind control and mass mental persuasion is to start by first taking a moment to look at yourself in a mirror. He's suggesting sound as a reflection and what we might be able to see in ourselves. Proposing that we might be the problem and a solution. In the same vicinity of his recent solo albums, the direction, scope or target of The Eyewitness is first about us, then about it.

More than the few previous albums he's released lately, this one has a unique relationship in terms of imagery and visual treatments that represent the concept. The front cover shows Mills, neatly dressed in a black suit that appears to be caught in the act of doing something methodically as he cohorts to supportwith a bright white type of surgical light towards the viewer. Stark and in the act of.......something offensive - it could be some type of hypnotic machine at work. Other photos show him in darkened spaces. Remote and deep in thought.

Other clues are the titles of the tracks such as "Sacred Iridescent Mirror (The Pledge)": this refers to the act of installing value and credit to something ambiguous and "Menticide" which means the systematic effort to undermine and destroy a person's values and beliefs. In the opening track, "in A Traumatized World" we hear the narration spoken by Mills. In a language he specifically created for this album. It's a dialect that is designed to be undistinguishable, but spoken with a compassion that it could be sympathized with. In the latter part of the track, it reaches a climatic point. Meaning, "it" has happened. And the album is the evidence.

On extra note:

In this day and age,it's comforting to see a musician like Jeff Mills administer music conceptually without any conditions attached. The artistry and craft of using sound and rhythm to bring forth a concern, a warning or the result of a diagnosis to the listener.

Repress!

HERBERT HUNTER will be forever worshiped by the UK Northern Soul scene for his anthemic 45 'I Was Born to Love You', recorded in the home of country music, Nashville, in 1967. Sometimes things are just meant to be and they collide in perfect harmony. 'I Was Born To Love You' is a case in point. The perfect lyric - 'I Was Born To Love You, You Were Born To Tear My Heart Apart' - the perfect beat, and perfect timing as it crashed onto these shores in the summer of '76 when Northern Soul was at its zenith and Wigan Casino owned the All-Nighter scene! But, Hunter is no one-trick pony, as his list of collectable 45s bears testament, not least 'Happy Go Lucky', also on Spar. Hunter was part of Ted Jarrett's roster of artists and, under Jarrett's stewardship recorded a string of cover versions under the pseudonym Leroy Jones for the neighbouring budget label 'Hit'. He learnt much of his trade from established artists and label mates such as Gene Allison who he toured with as minder and nursemaid, due to Allison's drink problem. Often, when they arrived a venue, Allison was too drunk to perform and Hunter would step in for him.
For our B-side we've chosen a lesser known, but no less wonderful and gritty Northern Soul dancer 'I Know The Feelin'' by THE JADES. Currently very much in demand with a mint copy selling earlier this year for over $900. We know little about The Jades who recorded this incredible slab of up-tempo soul for Ted Jarrett's Poncello label in 1964 featuring, of course, Herbert Hunter's booming lead vocal.
Many thanks to Fred James for making this superb double-sider possible.

2025 Repress

Operation Sole like the summer, hopefully, imminent; “Operazione Sole” like the 1967 song by Peppino Di Capri, considered, perhaps wrongly, the first ska in Italy, but certainly the first to talk about Jamaica and upbeat rhythms.
The record you have in your hand is intended to be a testimony to how much the sounds born in Kingston between the '60s and '70s had a significant influence on local pop.
With the first explosion of reggae in England between 1968 and 1970, as well as with the rise of Bob Marley to a worldwide cult phenomenon, parallel to the all-English phenomenon of Two Tone and the ska revival, Italy, always attracted by the new trends not only English, he certainly couldn't stay on the sidelines.
Therefore these innovative and unknown upbeat sounds, derived from the blues of the 1950s and mixed with a Caribbean sauce, have also taken hold in the Bel Paese.
It began as early as 1959 with the song “Nessuno” by Mina, considered to all intents and purposes a Jamaican shuffle, to arrive in a few years at blue-beat (I4 di Lucca, Claudio Casavecchi) and ska (Margherita, Peppino Di Capri , Silvano Silvi, Renzo and Virginia) and be exposed to the first reggae (for example Jo Fedeli and his Italian version of “Israelites” by Desmond Dekker). Thus, we quickly reach the end of the decade of the economic boom and the culture, styles, references change: everything becomes more busy (on a cultural, artistic and political level).
After a stalemate phase that lasted more than five years, Bob Marley's reggae (considered a sort of new Messiah) conquers the planet, including Italy: the producers and artists, even at a high level, for a few years do not remain at all indifferent to this novelty and decide to introduce the "upbeat", primarily reggae, into the various pop repertoires: well-known names such as
Loredana Bertè, Mario Lavezzi, Rino Gaetano, Ivano Fossati, Ilona Staller, Adriano Celentano, Edoardo Bennato throw themselves headlong into new sonic adventures, in a pioneering way, but often with excellent results.
The "Operazione Sole" collection wants to take the credit, instead, of proposing and discovering lesser-known artists (with the exception of Gino Santercole, former associate and relative of Il Molleggiato), often real meteors in the Italian musical panorama, who have tried to achieve (or achieve again) success by adapting the pop that was so popular in those years to the new black sounds prevailing in the West.
We are in the early 80s and we range from the most classic reggae, to Italo-disco contaminated by dub up to the true Neapolitan style which, on more than one occasion, in its being endemically "black" and full of groove, has wrung out the watch out for agreements made in Kingston and London.
“Operation Sun”: a pleasant philological work, but surrounded by an equally pleasant aura of disengagement.

“Gun The Man Down ” by Dice The boss aka Pama Dice was first released in 1969 on the Trojan sublabel Joe with the track “Thief” by Joe Mansano on the B side. “Thief” is also reissued by us on a separate single dedicated to Joe Mansano.

“Your Boss DJ” was also released in 1969 on the Joe Label with the track “Read The News” by Joe All Stars on the flip.

Both titles are skinhead reggae classics that have never been reissued until now.

About Joe Mansano:

“Gun The Man Down ” and "Your Boss DJ" were both credited to Joe Mansano, real name Joel Mansano, who also produced the songs. Joel was a Trinidadian who moved to London in 1963. He was a record shop seller, song writer and producer and became heavily involved in the early reggae era producing and writing tracks for several Jamaican artists, enough for Trojan to dedicate a label to him: the “Joe” label aimed at the emerging Skinheads market. He also owned a shop the Joe's Record Centre in Brixton and recorded two handfuls of singles under the name Joe The boss…

About Dice The Boss/ Pama Dice:

Not much is known about Dice The Boss. His real name was Hopeton Reid and he was alternatively known as “Pama Dice”. But we know more about Pama Dice thanks to Gaz Mayall!

"Pama Dice was one of Prince Busters ‘no-shoes’ ‘Sunday school gang in west Kingston Jamaica. According to the Prince there wasn’t a car that Pama couldn’t nick. He used to nick the cars uptown with no shoes on & take them to the ghetto to teach the youth to drive. They were called the Sunday school or no-shoes gang as they were so poor that they only had one pair of shoes each & only wore them to church on Sundays. Pama Dice rose in the ranks to become one of Prince Busters main sound system DJs before emigrating to London in the late sixties where he MC’d for Duke Vin & recorded many great records for the UK/Jamaican booming new Reggae market in its infancy on the shoulders of the Bluebeat & Ska & Rock Steady music scene."

Source Gaz Mayall 27/2/2021

Mixing the theatrical, the operatic and the ghoulish, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins was a one-off whose shocking stage tactics helped him find initially fame in the mid-1950s. Recorded in Nashville in 1973 and his sole offering for local label Hot Line, A Portrait Of A Man And His Woman is Hawkins at his most accessible; the title track’s haunting delivery and a remake of calling card ‘I’ve Put A Spell On You’ balanced by bright takes of ‘Itty Bitty Pretty One’ and Conway Twitty’s ‘It’s Only Make Believe,’ with plenty of grunts, shouts and animalistic interjections beneath Hawkins’ operatic and gospel-tinged vibrato. Hawkins fans, take note!

Known as ‘the Architect of Rock ‘n’ Roll,’ the flamboyant rhythm and blues extrovert, Little Richard, made an incredible impact with unorthodox piano playing and rasping, shouted vocals, yielding a series of pivotal hits in the mid-1950s, but he abandoned secular music for gospel following a tour of Australia in 1957. Lured back into rock by promoter Don Arden, his UK tour featuring The Beatles as support, Little Richard Is Back was his comeback set for Vee Jay, his voice now deeper and seasoned; the range of covers are tackled with plenty of pep, and original ‘Groovy Little Suzy’ was co-written by Harry Nillson. All hail the King!

The genesis of "Nosthaigia" is as fascinating as the music itself. Onra spent several years living in Thailand, immersing himself in the vibrant culture and scouring local record shops for rare gems. The result is a collection of Thai songs from various genres, all sourced on 7 inches. These short instrumentals serve as time capsules, transporting listeners to a bygone era filled with nostalgia and longing.

Produced entirely on the MPC1000 in 2017 and revisited in 2020, "Nosthaigia" is a testament to the power of serendipity and artistic evolution. What began as a casual exploration of unfamiliar musical territory blossomed into a deeply personal and meaningful project for Onra. Amidst a series of unfortunate life events, he found solace and inspiration in the beats he had crafted years prior.

Each track on "Nosthaigia" is a reflection of his journey, a sonic expression of longing and introspection. Onra describes the process of creating the album as a cathartic release, a way of letting go of old memories and embracing the present.

Despite the somber undertones, there is a quiet beauty to "Nosthaigia" that is impossible to ignore. Onra's vintage production skills breathe life into each track, infusing them with warmth and depth. From the haunting melodies of "Until The End" to the hypnotic rhythms of "Close Your Eyes And Remember" every moment feels poignant.

Onra's decision to "remove all the bangers" from the album speaks volumes about his artistic integrity and dedication to authenticity. "Nosthaigia" is not about flashy beats or catchy hooks; it's about raw emotion and genuine expression. It's a reminder that music has the power to heal, to uplift, and to connect us to something greater than ourselves.

In the end, "Nosthaigia" is more than just an album; it's a testament to the human experience. It's a reminder that even in our darkest moments, there is beauty to be found, if only we're willing to listen.

"The wash of flangers & shimmery reverb have been the foundation in Cali psych ever since the Byrds went electric. And while that sound might've dropped off occasionally, it never dropped out. The Velvets minimalist stylings were infused into the mix by The Dream Syndicate in the early 80's & thus a game changer was born. Clay Allison, Opal, Green On Red all took their charge from that current. Then the Shoegaze scene of the 90's looked at those bands as vectors, things got a little more drenched, so yet more seeds were sown into the fertile terroir. Cut to current climes & the bay area is teeming with the latest iterations: Children Maybe Later, Now, & Cindy easily come to mind. But curiously the band most steeped in the mohair constitution is April Magazine, who (thus far) have been content in the shadows. Up till now they've seemed like characters plucked out of a Kazuo Ishiguo novel-mysterious & ethereal-but perhaps this pressing of last year's cassette only release will flush them out. 'Wesley's Convertible Tape For The South' shows the band defly balancing all those that have come before them while also incorporating flourishes of Les Rallizes DeNudes, Hallelujahs & Nagisa Ni Te into the pageantry . So in a way, April Magazine is transforming the landscape yet again; denser, fuzzier, lush & wistfully challenging. 'Wesley's Convertible Tape For The South' is the band's 1st vinyl release stateside (an LP of older tracks was released last year via a UK only label) so no import tariffs! What were once whispers are now proclamations. Just because you don't know them doesn't mean you can't love them. So grab a copy & hug it out amongst yourselves." -- Tom Lax (Siltbreeze Records)

"Learn To Die is a bold new step for a group of musicians, artists, and writers that has at least nominally been considered a punk band. A stylistic overhaul. For those who have been following along, it’ll carry some surprises. Slender began over a decade ago as a semi-improvisational cassette recording project, a casual collaboration between a few friends that was initially documented by two self-titled cassette-only releases released in 2014 and 2015 respectively, now both unavailable and out of print. Most fans, however, will know Slender for their two most recent releases, Walled Garden (2017) and Time On Earth (2019), both released on the tastemaking London art-punk label La Vida Es Un Mus. "Their prior work has earned them comparisons to anarcho-punks Crass and The Snipers, lo-fi flagbearers Swell Maps and Pink Reason, and artrockers Cromagnon and Amon Düül. Here, however, such comparisons feel largely unfounded and the band feels somewhat peerless. Moments of artpunk brutalism, lo-fi experimentalism, and kosmiche detours grace the fabric of Learn To Die, but the album reaches for more than pastiche. Teasing the rarified worlds of chamber music and musique concrete, Slender manages something intangible and strange. A vocoded voice intones multi-lingual poems alongside tinny guitars and sampled strings and flutes. Three chord janglepunk anthems arise suddenly out of a cosmic mist crafted by analogue synths reciting the poetry of machines. The album moves in ways reminiscent of works by artists as varied and singular as Nobukazu Takemura, Chuquimamani-Condori, Coil, and Robert Wyatt, but it doesn’t necessarily occupy the same realm as any of them.” – Leah B. Levinson

Repress!
Note - Sleeve says contains a bonus CD, these represses do not have a bonus CD, they have a download card.

Hate Your Friends is the 1987 debut album by the Lemonheads, one of only three full-length releases to feature the original band line- up of Evan Dando, Ben Deily, and Jesse Peretz. The album showcases a hardcore-punk-to-pop-rock sound and sensibility as playfully fierce as it is surprising…especially to listeners who know the band only from their better-known major label recordings of the 1990s. The roots of Hate Your Friends begin with the genesis of the band itself: when high school friends Ben Deily and Evan Dando—inspired by a shared love of the 70’s absurdist comedy troupe the Firesign Theatre, literature, and punk rock—began playing their own songs together in 1985. Dando and Deily first started out as a two-piece ensemble: swapping back and forth between a shared Guild guitar (and a crappy amp) and vocal mic, and pounding a drum kit “borrowed” from the high school jazz band. With the addition of classmate and friend Jesse Peretz on bass, the two-man outfit quickly became a power trio. With a handful of original songs, a passionate love for their favourite bands—from Husker-Du, the Replacements, Black Flag and the Germs, to the Saints, Wire and ‘77 UK punk—and a tiny recording budget, the Lemonheads set about their first studio session within days of their high school graduation in June of 1986. During that summer, a significant amount of what would become the band’s debut album was recorded in Brookline, Massachusetts, with Deily and Dando sharing vocal, guitar and drumming duties. Above and beyond bass, Jesse proved pivotal as the band’s manager, booker and tireless promoter—helping arrange for the Lemonheads self-released debut EP, Laughing all the way to the cleaners, later that summer, and shortly thereafter helping establish the relationship with Curtis Casella of TAANG! records that paved the way to full-length LP Hate Your Friends. Finally, with the addition of full-time (and fairly short-lived) drummer Doug Trachten, the last songs of Hate Your Friends were recorded in the winter of 1986-7. BONUS TRACKS: This Fire Records re-issue features bonus tracks including 12 never-before-released live tracks from a 1987 radio session, rare tracks from the early compilation Crawling From Within, and additional tracks not included on the original release of Hate Your Friends (“Buried Alive” and “Gotta Stop”).

Mazz Swift (they/them), the composer, conductor, bandleader, educator, singer, and Juilliard-trained violinist who weaves classic African-American musics, electronica, and mindfulness into their music, releases "No More" from their upcoming debut solo album The 10000 Things: PRAISE SONGS for the iRiligious via New Amsterdam Records.

Eine raue und schroffe Sammlung von alten Klassikern, die Schwärme von Killer-Beats inspiriert haben. Mit einem Kopfnicken zu den Klängen der Shaolin haben die zwölf Kammern von Shanghai'd Soul sowohl lyrische Meister als auch Produktionsgenies beeinflusst, einige ihrer bedrohlichsten Hip-Hop-Songs zu komponieren. Roher Funk und smoother Soul, später gesampelt von J. Cole, The Game, Cappadonna, The Avalanches, Kanye West, Hudson Mohawke, Anderson.Paak, Loyle Corner, Meek Mill, T.I., Quavo, Danny Brown und 100 anderen.

Through the folded sky to America

Ten albums in three years. That's still the cosmic mission of the Berlin post-kraut trio YELKA with Daniel Meteo, Christian Obermaier, and the namesake Yelka Wehmeier.

With the album "For," there was a Label change. After releasing three albums in 2023 with Maurice Summen, head of Fun In The Church they passed the label responsibilities to Karaoke Kalk. Karaoke Kalk is a friendly label founded in Cologne known for establishing the Berlin post-wende scene (fall of the wall scene).

The trio's fourth album was also created with Arne Berger at Popschutz Studio, and the team is definitely well-rehearsed. Instead of recording the planned tracks, the band decided to improvise the session, and all tracks, except for the krauty Doors cover "The Crystal Ship," were created in 5 days in the studio, mostly on the first or second take, but with significantly more overdubs - keyboards, backing vocals, second and third guitars, percussion, and piano. The sound of "For" has become warmer, and the album begins with a kind of 60s-Kinks feeling. Overall, the current record has become much more exuberant - like Alice in Wonderland, YELKA seem to want to restore innocence to things in the opener "Smile (Into Skies)," resulting in an uplifting hiking song for experimental outdoor bohemians.

The follow-up piece "The Boar" speaks to everyone from the north, south, west, and east and here YELKA encounter a horde of wild boars on their travels, before the vocals become hardly understandable and ghostly spooled in reverse, suddenly sounding like Damo Suzuki from CAN at the height of Tago-Mago times.

Finally, YELKA‘s "Crystal Ship," simply sails away with the wild boars into remote 4D worlds between the Cocteau Twins and X-Mal Deutschland.

In the first instrumental of the album "Is this enough?", the band reverse tracks like Jimi Hendrix in his Electric Ladyland, and we dive deeper and deeper into the endless sky until YELKA finally arrive on newly trodden sound paths with "MM" to their beginnings on their debut album "Nowhere Jive." At the popular intersection of post-rock and jazz, where guest singer Bela Hagel also likes to linger for a moment: "Sie wissen" (They know), he knows that too! Surely Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser would have had a lot of fun with his shamanistic singing on his "Kosmische Kuriere" label. The guitars sound like a desert, and the reverb reminds us of the expansive space in the opening track "Skies."

Finally, we land in Amerika, or rather, YELKA ponder the melancholic question of whether anyone still wants to travel to America with them, to the land of unlimited possibilities, the haven for artist souls all over the world. "Do you wanna dance?" Yelka Wehmeier finally asks, while a chorus in the best Sun Ra manner mantra-like repeats "Cold dogs, cool cats." The whole band sings. Everything sounds good.

Madlib Invazion presents a colored vinyl issue of the long out of print 11th issue on the Madlib Medicine Show series - Low Budget High-Fi Music, on clear pink vinyl. In 2010, Madlib launched an ambitious series of releases known as the Madlib Medicine Show, which allowed the prolific producer to release new material on a monthly basis. The series touched on all the genres Madlib digs, and that’s just about any genre you can consider - from Jazz to Rock, Soul to Disco, myriad African musics, Brazilian and Reggae. On the 11th installment in series Madlib returned to his hip hop roots with Low Budget High-Fi Music. Featuring a run-down of regular Madlib collaborators who provide the Beat Konducta’s foil, it also included a hint of what was meant to come on the never-realized second Jaylib album, with a previously unreleased J Dilla collaboration."

Repressed. In 2010, Madlib launched an ambitious series of releases known as the Madlib Medicine Show, which allowed

the prolific producer to release new material on a monthly basis. The series touched on all the genres Madlib digs, and that’s just about any genre you can consider from Jazz to Rock, Soul to Disco, myriad African musics, Brazilian and Reggae. On the 11th installment in series Madlib returned to his hip hop roots with Low Budget High-Fi Music. Featuring a run-down of regular Madlib collaborators who provide the Beat Konducta’s foil, it also included a hint of what was meant to come on the never-realized second Jaylib album, with a previously unreleased J Dilla collaboration.

Soul Direction are pleased to announce a new member of the Family “Contempo Soul” series. This label will showcase more contemporary sounding soul from independent artists. Our first offering in conjunction with Kevin Edwards III, and with the help of Dave Thorley. The Keved Project (Feat. Delbert Nelson) – “Life Has Been a Thief” / “Spread Love” – SDCO-1001. Edwards was born in Hamtramck, Michigan in 1959. As a young boy listening to Jimi Hendrix play guitar on Band of Gypsies, he knew he wanted to be a guitar player. By 16 Edwards, was playing in a high school band and at local cabarets. In 1979 Edwards played with Sons, a local jazz band. The group played Top 40s in local venues and eventually opened for the nationally renowned group, Brainstorm, which recorded on the CBS label. Sons and Brainstorm merged in 1980. When Brainstorm broke up in the early '80s Edwards freelanced with several local groups. His career took a turn in 1984 when he began writing and recording his own music. Edwards drew from his experiences and the R & B and jazz classics he'd grown up listening to as his inspiration for writing. Two years later in 1986, Edwards expanded his skills even further when he started producing young local talent. He and a partner produced Rhapsody, a rap group that released several singles on the Giant Record Label. The year 1998 saw the beginning of a new era for Edwards when he and long-time friends Darryl Lee and Greg Nance formed Ground Level. Ground Level enjoyed tremendous success, opening for the Isley Brothers, LL Cool J, Roy Ayers, Ronnie Laws and the funk group Slave. The band received accolades and grew in popularity. In 2003 the band changed its name to Level Rizon, signifying its new status and the fact that they are no longer at "ground level." Level Rizon took a year off of performing to produce That Vibe. With That Vibe Edwards feels he has started a whole new genre of music he calls "NuUrban Soul." He describes NuUrban Soul as a unique blend of jazz-fusion and R & B that has not failed to delight audiences of all walks of life. Kevin has performed with the late Michael Henderson (R/B recording artist known for You are my Starship, Sending a Valentine, Wide Receiver) in 2014. Kevin has also has a certificate in Audio Engineering from the Recording Institute of Detroit, Associates of Science in Electrical Engineering Technology from Lawrence Technological University, and Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering Technology from ITT Tech. Kevin built, and operates his own recording studio, and is continuously writing and recording new music..

LP im Klappcover! Es war der Abstand - der zeitliche, räumliche und methodische - der Mac DeMarco zu "This Old Dog", dem ersten Longplayer seit "Salad Days" von 2014, inspirierte. Mit einer Handvoll Demos in der Tasche, die er in New York geschrieben hatte, zog er von Queens nach Los Angeles und realisierte nach ein paar Monaten in der neuen Heimat, dass dieser Abstand ihm neue Perspektiven eröffnete. Mac DeMarco sagt: "I demoed a full album, and as I was moving to the West Coast I thought I'd get to finishing it quick. But then I realized that moving to a new city, and starting a new life takes time. Usually I just write, record, and put it out; no problem. But this time, I wrote them and they sat. When that happens, you really get to know the songs. It was a different vibe." Mit dem Poppen und Klicken der CR-78 und dem akustischen Geklimper des Album-Opener "My Old Man" sowie dem von Synthesizern durchzogenen zweiten Song "This Old Dog" wird schnell klar, dass Mac DeMarco diesmal tief in die Trickkiste gegriffen hat. Auf "This Old Dog" sind die Synthesizer stärker verwurzelt als auf seinen bisherigen Releases, aber trotzdem achtet DeMarco sorgfältig darauf, dass diese den Rest der Instrumente und den "unplugged"-Eindruck des Albums nicht überschatten. Oder wie er erklärt: "This is my acoustic album, but it's not really an acoustic album at all. That's just what it feels like, mostly. I'm Italian, so I guess this is an Italian rock record." ENG Gatefold LP! This Old Dog by Mac DeMarco (A.K.A. 26-year old McBriare Samuel Lanyon DeMarco) is his third album and first full-length since 2014's Salad Days. The album opener "My Old Man" and title track "This Old Dog" show a new sonic direction and a glimpse into the very personal nature of this record. It was a little space-in time, location (he moved from Queens to Los Angeles), and method-that inspired DeMarco while making This Old Dog. Arriving in California with a grip of demos he'd written in New York, he realized after a few months of setting up his new shop that the gap was giving him perspective. DeMarco says, "I demoed a full album, and as I was moving to the West Coast I thought I'd get to finishing it quickly. But then I realized that moving to a new city, and starting a new life takes time. Usually I just write, record, and put it out; no problem. But this time, I wrote them and they sat. When that happens, you really get to know the songs. It was a different vibe." DeMarco wrote some demos for "This Old Dog" on an acoustic guitar, an eye-opening method for him. "The majority of this album is acoustic guitar, synthesizer, some drum machine, and one song is electric guitar. So this is a new thing for me." And right from the offset, from the pops and clicks of the CR-78 and acoustic strums on the album-opening "My Old Man," and the synth-drenched beauty of the second track, "This Old Dog," it's clear that DeMarco's bag is filled with new tricks indeed. This Old Dog is rooted more in a synth-base than any of his previous releases, but he is careful not to let that tactic overshadow the other instruments and overall "unplugged" mood of the work. "This is my acoustic album, but it's not really an acoustic album at all. That's just what it feels like, mostly. I'm Italian, so I guess this is an Italian rock record."

Eine raue und schroffe Sammlung von alten Klassikern, die Schwärme von Killer-Beats inspiriert haben. Mit einem Kopfnicken zu den Klängen der Shaolin haben die zwölf Kammern von Shanghai'd Soul sowohl lyrische Meister als auch Produktionsgenies beeinflusst, einige ihrer bedrohlichsten Hip-Hop-Songs zu komponieren. Roher Funk und smoother Soul, später gesampelt von J. Cole, The Game, Cappadonna, The Avalanches, Kanye West, Hudson Mohawke, Anderson.Paak, Loyle Corner, Meek Mill, T.I., Quavo, Danny Brown und 100 anderen.

Los York's became the epitome of Peruvian garage sound. Two of the best and wildest songs contained on their last LP had never appeared on a single despite their enormous potential for the dance floor and the interest they aroused among DJs since their rediscovery in the 60s scene. Set the dance floor on fire with the first time 45 issue of this Latin garage double-sider. DESCRIPTION After two successful albums on MAG, supported by a handful of singles, the Peruvian garage beat band Los York's culminated their disagreements with their label by leaving it in 1969 and signing a new contract with Virrey. Along the way there was an album to finish for which they had already recorded a good part of the instrumental tracks. "Los York's 69" finally saw the light of day on MAG but, to the surprise of its fans, the voice of its charismatic singer, Pablo Luna, had been replaced by that of the no less iconic Pablo Branda, also known as Melcochita. The all-round artist, trained in the studios of MAG as a skilled percussionist, guitarist and sonero, proved himself to also sing and shout with the same energy and attitude as the brilliant Pablo Luna. On top of that, it is rumored that it was another MAG artists, Los Teddy's, who actually completed the instrumental tracks for some cuts on the album, something that seems consistent with the much more energetic and surfy style of songs like 'El Sicodélico'. Two of the best and wildest songs contained on their last LP had never appeared on a single despite their enormous potential for the dance floor and the interest they aroused among DJs since their rediscovery in the 60s scene. Set the dance floor on fire with the first time 45 issue of this Latin garage double-sider: 'El Sicodélico' and 'El Loco'.

Leicester punk sextet Jools have today released their new single ‘97%’, a provocative track spotlighting the ubiquity of sexual harassment in the lives of women. This comes alongside the band’s announcement of signing to UK indie label Hassle Records (Brutus, The Used, Casey), and the release of an upcoming double A-side 7” single in June.

‘97%’ draws on vocalist Kate Price’s own personal experiences and those of the women in her life. “The point of the song, however, is not to explore my experience as an isolated incident, but instead to force people to confront such commonplace experiences in a manner in which they can’t look away,” Price says. “Everybody knows a woman that has been harassed or assaulted, but nobody seems to know an abuser. That simply doesn’t add up. I want that song to feel uncomfortable because I want everyone who hears it to realise that just because they are not an abuser, that doesn’t mean they aren’t responsible for changing the culture and experiences of every woman. It’s a cry for justice in the world.”

To experience Jools in their most chaotic and unpredictable full flight is, the band were once told, to not know whether you are about to be kicked in the face or kissed on the cheek. Even that, however, feels like an understatement.

At any moment the Jools experience, on stage and on record, can turn on a sixpence from that of unbridled rage at the world to a celebration of the beauty that can still be found hidden in its murky corners. The punk rock of Jools is at once visceral and violent, cathartic and confrontational, and at the next exultant and exhilarating. Jools is duality by design, where contradiction is empowerment harnessed as a force for progress, sonically and societally.

A collective of musicians – Mitch Gordon and Kate Price on vocals, Chris Johnston and Callum Connachie on guitar, Joe Dodd on bass, and Chelsea Wrones on drums – spread between London and Leicester, Jools found each other as much by accident as design in the

earliest days of 2023. Together, they serve as a creative confluence for inspirations that move from the punk and post-punk of The Smiths, Fontaines DC, Iggy Pop, Amyl & The Sniffers and PJ Harvey, through the shoegaze of My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive, and into territories marked metal, rap and pop.

2024 Reissue

redux packaging. aja monet's poems are a work of gravity. They are a fundamental for which all things are attracted, considered upon and enacted towards. Her work moves, constantly, between origin and outcome, allowing them to exist in converse. In her debut album when the poems do what they do, we glimpse her indefatigable commitment to speak. Those thematic origins of this album at times center around Black resistance, love and the inexhaustible quest for joy.In when the poems do what they do aja monet appears as a woman of letters and storm, her poems do not roar in pentameter - but rather in storm surge because, "Who's got time for poems when the world is on fire?!." And this work isn't one to pull apart into one liners, these are poems of things felt. There is a fullness here that can't be encapsulated in even the boundaries that language offers. aja monet is a griot, a storyteller, a chronicler, and your grandmother telling you about her first love all at once. These are baby making poems - literally the spring enacting upon the cherry trees. These are poems of urgency and want and the rallying cry to demolish the insidious systems from which our futures seem to be wrought, in other words, "If we had a sense of humor we'd be more radical. More migrant than citizen we'd breathe the air clean and ration our resources...we would melt ALL the guns." You will find yourself readying arms because of these poems, and simultaneously mourning the unstoppable loss of names already destined to be immortalized. aja monet crafts a work as she always does, that can be entered from many doors. These aren't poems for poets, but poems for everyone.She is joined in effort on this album by musicians Christian Scott (trumpet), Samora Pinderhughes (piano), Elena Pinderhughes (flute), Luques Curtis (bass), Weedie Braimah (djembe) and Marcus Gilmore (drums). Together creating music that is insistent and unrelenting. There are songs reminiscent of jazz club virtuosity and melee, others of a healing balm in gilead, and the chords of Castaway move like that of the call to intercessory prayer.

Pone is one of the founders of The Fonky Family : a French hip hop band from the 90's. He won many gold and platinum records. Paralyzed by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) since 2015, also known as Charcot disease, he started producing again in January 2019. Since then he produced the first album in history to be composed, made and mixed with only eyes, called Kate & Me. Pone used samples from Kate Bush to whom this album is dedicated.

When it comes to musical performance, Charlie Bereal has done it all. Over the course of his 20+ year career, he's performed with and written for some of the greatest Hip Hop and R&B artists of our time (JAY-Z, Aaliyah, Snoop Dogg, and Missy Elliot to name a few). Now, he's shifting gears to focus on his career as a solo artist. On 5/10/2024, Charlie will re-release his second full-length record entitled 11-11-11 via Karma Chief and Colemine Records. Originally released in 2019, 11-11-11 was recorded over the course of a few casual hangs in Los Angeles. Charlie invited his friends Jairus Mosey and Raphael Saadig to join him in the studio and the trio started to jam. "We were just recording for fun - it wasn't for a specific project at first. Afterward, I listened back and decided to turn the best parts into individual songs." This flexible approach combined with Charlie's masterful production resulted in a soulful, psychedelic blend of original R&B. Think Sly and the Family Stone or Funkadelic. Charlie was born in Los Angeles and raised in Pasadena, CA. Musical talent runs in his family. He started performing at his grandfather's church at a very young age. "My grandfather was a pastor, and my dad was a preacher," he explained. "I started playing in the church band when I was 10, and I was drumming even earlier than that." When he was 16, Charlie and his brother Kenneth started making music professionally. He still works on music with his cousins on a regular basis. "I come from a very talented family. I can count at least seven family members who play professionally these days." Beyond the re-release of his second record, Charlie plans to record another album at Colemine's studio in Ohio. Stay tuned for more original music from this Grammy nominated legend.

"Under My Skin" ist das 2. Studioalbum von Avril Lavigne, das ursprünglich am 19. Mai 2004 veröffentlicht wurde. Es enthält zum ersten Mal die Trackliste der digitalen Extended Edition auf Vinyl und enthält die Hits "My Happy Ending", "Take Me Away" und "Nobody's Home".

Paranoid Cocoon is an album full of quiet, wooden psychedelia reflecting Cotton Jones' casual pursuit of comfort and freedom. Under the mountains of Cumberland, Maryland, where creeks zigzag in the lonesome dark of the forest and a red moon hangs overhead, these songs were born of leaving, of dreams both good and bad, sung from surroundings the band has known their whole lives. Paranoid Cocoon is simple, understated perfection: they sound timeless from singing together forever.

Alternative were a Scottish anarcho-punk band of the early 80s that often drew comparison to Crass for their black attires, logos, firm political beliefs, as well as having their own open house, “The Pad”, where like-minded radicals would join and discuss ideas surrounding pacifism and anti-nuclear armament. The ‘In Nomine Patri’ EP is dark, furious, and articulate.

Penny continues; “Largely through their fierce commitment to ‘changing the world’, Alternative were often referred to as the Scottish Crass. Knowing that talking the talk could only be a half of it, Alternative resolutely walked the walk. Based in Dunfermline, they set up The Pad, an autonomy centre where, over tea and buns, revolutionary visions of peace and love could fester and grow. Theirs was a studied and often poetic form of anarchy which concentrated on people not power. Their interest was not in themselves, but in others. They knew all too well that the only way forward was to do it yourself, and that’s precisely what they did, a’plenty. After all these years, give ‘em your ears.”

When it comes to musical performance, Charlie Bereal has done it all. Over the course of his 20+ year career, he's performed with and written for some of the greatest Hip Hop and R&B artists of our time (JAY-Z, Aaliyah, Snoop Dogg, and Missy Elliot to name a few). Now, he's shifting gears to focus on his career as a solo artist. On 5/10/2024, Charlie will re-release his second full-length record entitled 11-11-11 via Karma Chief and Colemine Records. Originally released in 2019, 11-11-11 was recorded over the course of a few casual hangs in Los Angeles. Charlie invited his friends Jairus Mosey and Raphael Saadig to join him in the studio and the trio started to jam. "We were just recording for fun - it wasn't for a specific project at first. Afterward, I listened back and decided to turn the best parts into individual songs." This flexible approach combined with Charlie's masterful production resulted in a soulful, psychedelic blend of original R&B. Think Sly and the Family Stone or Funkadelic. Charlie was born in Los Angeles and raised in Pasadena, CA. Musical talent runs in his family. He started performing at his grandfather's church at a very young age. "My grandfather was a pastor, and my dad was a preacher," he explained. "I started playing in the church band when I was 10, and I was drumming even earlier than that." When he was 16, Charlie and his brother Kenneth started making music professionally. He still works on music with his cousins on a regular basis. "I come from a very talented family. I can count at least seven family members who play professionally these days." Beyond the re-release of his second record, Charlie plans to record another album at Colemine's studio in Ohio. Stay tuned for more original music from this Grammy nominated legend.

Rare debut LP by the eccentric Peruvian singer Jean Paul "El Troglodita", known for his wild performances and extreme way of life. Enrique Roberto Tellería made his Peruvian television debut in 1965 under the stage name Jean Paul El Troglodita and wearing an imitation leopard skin suit. He would switch from melodic calm to shouting wildly or suddenly drop to the floor on his knees and smash the furniture like crazy. At the age of 19, DisPerú signed him to the label on the strength of these early performances. His first single included a freely translated version of 'Secret Agent Man' in Spanish. He began to work on the eleven cover versions that would feature on his first LP immediately, writing all his own lyrics and accompanied by the beat band Los Steivos. Despite the predominance of English beat music in Peru, the album only included three songs directly related to the British invasion: 'Bus Stop' by The Hollies, also played in raga rock style; 'Paint it Black' by The Rolling Stones; and 'The House of the Rising Sun', which follows the arrangement recorded by The Animals. So most songs come the American songbook. Apart from 'Tema de El Troglodita' (a versión of 'Secret Agent' by The Challengers), we find the bluesy 'Mustang Sally' (Sir Mack Rice). Two other US numbers, originally performed with orchestral accompaniment, were adapted to fit the rock band format: 'Poor Side of Town' (Johnny Rivers) and 'Take Me to the Moon' (Kaye Ballard). 'El verdadero amor' ('True Love'), an uncredited version is in a similar vein. The Spanish song 'Negro es negro' (Los Bravos) and the Brazilian track 'Que todo se vaya al infierno' (Roberto Carlos) also feature on the LP. El Troglodita's association with the so-called nueva ola, indicated on the back cover, needs clarification. In Peru, nueva ola was a mixed bag rather than a specific musical style and encompassed slow rock, twist, bossa nova and all the styles that the record industry produced to tame the wild rock 'n' roll impulses of teenagers in the early sixties. The Peruvian artists that performed these inoffensive Spanish adaptations of Paul Anka, Neil Sedaka or Frankie Avalon, were presented as successful models of youth culture. This was until 1964, when the Beatles with their mop-top haircuts hit the charts, vindicating rock 'n' roll and imposing the group format over the soloist model. Meanwhile the press continued to call any youth music recorded during the rest of the decade nueva ola. Jean Paul noted these distinctions early on and distanced himself from it in several statements. He saw his performance more in a style as a solo artist as following in the footsteps of e.g. Los Saicos. His 'hippie' lifestyle got him arrested by the new de facto military government in 1968, who accused him of promoting drug consumption and corrupting the Peruvian youth. The charges were soon dropped but his reputation was tarnished, and he ended up emigrating to Central America. The album includes Spanish sung versions of British beat songs and covers of the American songbook as well as various international hits.

Digipak w/ 12-pg booklet + sticker. Darwin is back! Follow-up to the critically acclaimed epic albums "Origin of Species" ('A prog rock masterpiece' - Classic Rock Magazine) and "A Frozen War" ('A rock tour de force with melody, shredding, and orchestral flourishes' - Prog Rock UK) Darwin, whose production is masterfully driven by Simon Phillips, expands on their trademark sound - adding new levels of depth and melody. The album features a stellar lineup of musicians. Bass sensation Mohini Dey joins the band, bringing her sophisticated and punchy low-end sound. Guitar maestro Greg Howe delivers some of his best playing to date across the album, which also features a beautiful solo appearance by Andy Timmons. Derek Sherinian and Julian Pollack (J3PO) add their keyboard wizardry across the tracks. Vocalist Matt Bissonette provides a rich harmony-filled performance across the various songs. Released on CD, including a special album cover sticker in the package

We have a subtly edit of “Soul Town” by The Motherhood, the psychedelic 1969 LP “I Feel So Free. Motherhood was the unlikely name of Klaus Doldinger's psychedelic fusion band, who eventually transmuted into the bands Passport (Klaus Doldinger, Lothar Meid & Udo Lindenberg) & Hallelujah (Paul Vincent & Keith Forsey). “Soul Town” appears as the B-side to the first single “Back In The Grass”, which fetches ~$275. It was produced by Siegfried E. Loch, & written/arranged by Paul Nero. Many will recognize it as the closing track on the Ocean’s 13 soundtrack. It’s a psychedelic, jazz-funk bomb that punches hard.



Pinball Number Count (Edit) by The Pointer Sisters b/w Soul Town (Edit) by The Motherhood | Galaxy Sound Company — GSC45-043, test pressing | You know the drill. It’s Galaxy Sound Co. It is cop-on-site. It is yet another GSC45 edit you need in your crates. & number 43 doesn’t disappoint. I have been wanting both of these jazz-funk nuggets on 7-inch for a minute now, so much love to the GSC crew!

Any of us who grew up on Sesame Street in the 1970s will know this A-side righ away. “The Pinball Number Count” (or Pinball Countdown) is a collective title referring to the 11 one-minute animated segments on the TV series Sesame Street that teach children to count to 12 by following the journey of a pinball through a fanciful pinball machine. These segments are notable for the colorful, imaginative animation as well as the funkysoundtrack with vocals by The Pointer Sisters. It was produced in 1976 by Imagination, Inc. in San Francisco, California for the Children's Television Workshop & debuted on Sesame Street during Season 8 .

Berlin underground authority Stefan Braatz returns to Nu Groove with a four-track EP showcasing his timeless sound – Outlaw. An established club DJ and producer who has donned many hats in his 30-year career, Stefan Braatz is known for his expansive knowledge that defies genre convention, with his previous Nu Groove collaboration ‘Everyman Jack’ featuring Chicago legends Virgo Four combining his respect for the old school with new school techniques. Opening the EP is the eponymous track ‘Outlaw’, featuring vocals from Chicago house pioneer Harry Dennis – a contemporary of Ron Hardy, the late Frankie Knuckles and a member of Jungle Wonz alongside Marshall Jefferson. As Braatz’s relentless synth energy powers through, Dennis’s unmistakeable free flow guides the composition with ease. What follows are three solo tracks that summarise the Berlin expert’s opposition to the genre restraints; ‘Conversation’ opens a dialogue between synth strings and piano that loops in ecstasy, while ‘Dingy Thoughts’ and ‘One More Dream’ are darker club cuts that bubble with intensity in the lower registers.

In the history of Black American soul music many recording artists have been called “Legends” some deservedly and perhaps some not so deserving of this current over used accolade? I might be a tad biased here, perhaps? but in my book one James Howard McCelland a.k.a Jesse James has surely earned the right to be called a “Legend” this octogenarian performer has weathered many storms and shifts in musical trends and styles over the years but like the trouper that he is albeit in lower keys these days he still manages time and time again to come up with the goods! “Back On Top Again” is Jesse James latest production album, a project filled with recent and current recordings in a southern soul style that has likened in passing by several respected soul scribes to the Malaco Sound I’ll let the record buying public make their own minds up on that one, I’m sure veteran DJ Bob Jones won’t mind me using his quote below:

The album also features two of Jesse’s friend’s with Donnie McKisic providing the rapping and additional backing vocals on the upbeat “I Lost My Baby On Face Book” and Shirley Diamond who you may recall from Soul Junction’s recent 45 release “You Don’t Know Who You Sleeping With” (SJ1021) returning with another excellent Diamond & James duet “Another Love Lay Over” as a further foot note the featured song “I’d Be A Fool 2 Fool Around On You” is an excellent cover version of what was a previously unissued Harvey Scales song until Soul Junction released it as the flipside their thirteenth 45 single release way back in 2011.

Album Sleeve Notes:

At the dawn of the 1960’s a young aspiring soul singer from Richmond, California by the name of James H. McClelland was honing his performing skills in several local nightclubs. At one particular show the compere struggled to pronounce the young performer’s surname and to hide his embarrassment he hurriedly introduced him as ‘Jesse James’, which became Jesse’s Stage name to the present day.

Jesse’s big break came through his aunt who at that time just happened to be dating West Coast Blues and R&B Legend Jimmy McCracklin. The aunt suggested to McCracklin the he should take a listen to her talented nephew, suitably impressed McCracklin produced Jesse on a song he’d written “I Will Go” for the local Shirley label. The release is credited to Jesse James & The Royal Aces a bunch of local musicians that Jesse had grown up with which included Slyvester Stewart a.k.a Mr “Dance To The Music” himself Sly Stone” on guitar. “I Will Go” was quite a popular record locally and led to a further four Jesse James releases on Shirley culminating in Jesse’s most sought-after record the delightful “Are You Gonna Leave Me”in 1966. The following year Jesse recorded the minor hit “Believe In Me Baby” released by the local ‘Hit’ label before being picked up by 20th Century for national distribution. While signed to 20th Century Jesse recorded a self-titled album and three other 45 singles before leaving the label.

Following a solitary 45 release for the Uni Label in 1969 Jesse formed his own Production and Publishing company ‘South Richmond Music’ releasing 45’s on his own label logo’s Zea and Zay before returning to 20th Century for a second time during 1974, releasing two 45 singles of which the sublime “If You Want A Love Affair” reaching #92 in the Billboard R&B charts in 1975, a song that would later receive worldwide acclaimed and is now regarded as Jesse’s signature tune. Ron Carson had been the producer on the later 20th Century releases and it was he that placed one of Jesse’s songs “The Same Thing Happens” on the Happy Fox label’s blaxploitation album “Black Fist”.

Into the 1980’s Jesse leased some of his songs for release on the Atlanta Georgia, Midtown label, a solitary release on the Moonlite Hope Music label (a lead single for a proposed album that never materialised) followed before Jesse joined Max Kidd’s Washington based TTED label. The TTED imprint was to yield Jesse’s biggest hit record “I Can Do Bad By Myself” reaching #61 in the R&B Charts. Following TTED Jesse formed Gunsmoke records releasing “Love On The Side” in 1988, from there on Jesse has continued to regularly release numerous studio albums though the 90’s into the new millennium and on to the present day.

Now well into his seventh decade as a performer this most resilient and enduring performer, has never been one to let the grass grow under his feet. He still performs live shows and is actively writing, producing and recording fresh new material. Soul Junction have now gathered together some of Jesse’s most recent and new recordings to form this album project which is aptly titled “Back On Top Again” Ride on Jesse James!

Los Fulanos, Barcelona's champions of Latin Soul, are back on wax!

Miguelito Superstar, co-producer along with Manuel Dabove of their celebrated debut album, "Si esto se acaba, que siga el boogaloo", has crafted two electrifying versions that are pure fire. 'Why Don't We Do Some Boogaloo?', already a local classic, is paired with a take on New Order's legendary 'Blue Monday', which is transformed into a nearly unrecognizable Latin Funk powerhouse.

Both tracks receive special treatment, Miguelito has unearthed some key breaks from the original sessions and pushed the rhythm section front and center, making this 7" a must-have for you know who.

Latin Soul para que baile la gente!

Powered by the massive hit single “No Diggity,” (which sam- ples Bill Withers’ “Grandma’s Hand”) featuring Dr. Dre and Queen Pen, Another Level is arguably the best album created by Teddy Riley, the leader of Blackstreet. Riley is a very influ- ential producer, known for inventing a whole new sound, a combination of soul harmonies, rap breaks and hip-hop beats called new jack swing.

Another Level is the second album by the American R&B group. Released in 1996, it reached #3 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, and #1 on the Top R&B Albums chart for five weeks and has sold over 4 million copies. This was the first album with new members Eric Williams and Mark Middleton. They joined the group after replacing departed members Dave Hollister and Levi Little.

Another Level is available on black vinyl and includes a 4-page booklet.

Any reasonably knowledgeable fan of post-punk will likely recognise the name of Una Baines. A founder of both The Fall and Blue Orchids, Una's influence in the development of both bands is a matter of historical fact . . . so much so that people scarcely realise how few recordings she's actually made - a solitary 7" with The Fall, one LP and a few singles by Blue Orchids, and that's it, barring her most recent recording, The Fates' obscure album "Furia", released nearly forty years ago on a tiny label until its rediscovery a few years back on the Finders Keepers label. Una's spent much of the last four decades working in community organising, raising a family, and functioning as a symbolic godmother to many Mancunian artists and musicians who cite her as an aspiration and mentor. Her band Poppycock has undergone several line-up changes between their sporadic - almost exclusively local - live appearances. Una was never shy in describing her personal ideals and artistic expression in terms of feminism - even if the term was occasionally derided by some female punk artists. "Magic Mothers" displays a consistency of vision rare traceable back to interviews she did during The Fall. Hearing it, we're reminded of the emotional fierceness set against pop arrangements from acts like Look Blue Go Purple and Dead Famous People, or the spare pop jazziness found in songs by Marine Girls, Tracey Thorn's pre-fame combo. The arrival of "Magic Mothers" will come as a surprise to many. Though recorded in fits and starts over the last fifteen years, it's a cohesive statement with an expansive cast of friends and allies, including Blue Orchids' Howard Jones and The Fall / House Of All's Simon Wolstencroft, plus many others. The original keyboardist for both The Fall and Blue Orchids, Una Baines returns with her brilliant musical partners for her first album in 39 years

Jacken Elswyth is a London-based folk musician, banjo player, and instrument builder. At Fargrounds is her third solo album, her first for the Wrong Speed label and the latest in a rich catalogue that repositions the spectral, vulnerable sound of the banjo away from its familiar role as signifier of the past and onto lands brave, new and unexplored. “The living wood is imbued with qualities that require engagement and understanding. Working with cherry, oak or walnut involves naming it an equal partner. The parallel, synchronous transformations of wood into instrument, of growing tree into resonating sound, musical tradition into musical flourishing, lie at the heart of Jacken Elswyth’s practices both as an instrument builder and as a creative musician. One might consider her primarily as a worker in wood, but whose craft and fields of expression are absorbed by those transitional and interim processes that manifest change. The traditional tunes included here have been cultivated and maintained by generations of players and collectors, pruned, grafted, and shaped over time. However, in this setting, their long-established forms seem to morph and shift. They audibly accrue unique qualities, blossoming and swelling into new modes of being, bright-stepping arrangements unfolding with a liveliness hinting at practices of ritual and community. Meanwhile, other pieces, creative cornerstones of this collection, appear fluid, partially formed. They suggest not the cultivation of new growth from established stock, but instead the actions of something on the verge of taking form. Working with raw elements of melodic and tonal abstraction, they illuminate the process of emergence and evolution. In this context, the title At Fargrounds is telling. It suggests a point set at some distance from any centre of human concerns, a liminal space in which the cultivated world encounters the world of other living things in their living state. Here, the innate strangeness of the maintained environment–vast lawns, sculpted hedges, vacant playing fields–encounters sprawling vistas of driftwood, dense thickets of brambles, stony hillsides. Across a full century-and-a-quarter, long-standing rural and pastoral musical traditions, at some distance from their origins, have been preserved, nurtured and re-shaped under the folk revival. Placed here, these artefacts now sit in alignment with unvarnished documents featuring the raw elements of sound-making. Their working-together is achieved through a universally-applied interest in musical growth and development. The juxtaposition and combination of these elements gives evidence of new, emerging approaches to community and social music: familiar, known, yet charged with an alien vitality”–CWK Joynes. “...she knows how to knit atmospheres, and does so to especially powerful effect during Scene 4b’s three minutes of stunning bowed banjo, yearning with longing and dread, while showing off her talent, curiosity and range”–Jude Rogers review of Six Static Scenes (Guardian Folk Album Of The Month July 2022) "Jacken is an emotive player with high technical ability. Further, she builds banjos and other instruments, and that intimate knowledge of the bones and fibres holding everything together means that her playing has very few cracks" - Foxy Digitalis

British four-piece rock band Collateral are set to release their highly anticipated sophomore album Should’ve Known Better on May 24, 2024. The album is distributed worldwide by Cargo. The album will be released on CD, red vinyl, picture disc, limited edition cassette, and digital. Friday February 9th saw the release of the lead single “Glass Sky.”. The new single “Glass Sky” and the forthcoming album Should’ve Known Better is produced by Dan Weller (Those Damn Crows, Enter Shikari, Monster Truck, Kris Barras, Holding Absence, Bury Tomorrow). "I love massive riffs, massive hooks and feel-good guitar music,” says Weller. “When Collateral sent me their demos, I jumped at chance to produce their new record. I’m proud of what we managed to create. It’s Collateral mk2 - ambitious, daring and refined. I can’t wait for people to hear it." Since the band released their debut album (Top 5 UK Rock Album Chart) at the start of 2020 Collateral have spent no time standing still. Covid came only weeks after the debut album was released and forced the band to cancel their highly successful tour with Phil X (Bon Jovi) halfway through. This made the band hungry to keep the momentum. With innovative ways to produce top quality live streams, the band became special guests supporting the likes of Skid Row, H.E.A.T and Reckless Love. The exciting and flamboyant Kent-based rock and roll band are comprised of Angelo Tristan (lead vocals, guitar), Louis Malagodi (guitar), Jack Bentley-Smith (bass) and Ben Atkinson (drums). On October 21, 2022, Collateral independently released a re-mixed and re-mastered version of their debut album “Re-Wired” which featured Jeff Scott Soto, Phil X, Kee Marcello, Rudy Sarzo, Danny Vaughn, and Joel Hoekstra. The re-release saw the band in the Official UK Rock Charts at #12. After the gruelling back-to-back tours with Skid Row, H.E.A.T and Reckless Love, the band ignited a spark and strengthened their already loyal fanbase leading them to win the opening slot at 2023s Stonedead Festival, leading the band to perform their biggest show. Collateral’s hotly tipped sophomore album looks like it will take them to the next level. A lot of people don’t know what to expect from the new album, as the band have been tight-lipped about the new songs. Collateral have created a state-of-the-art rock album that will immerse listeners in their rock music universe, enabling fans to feel the blood, sweat and glory that went into the recording of every song. “We felt that our debut album was lacking the production,” reflects Collateral’s frontman, Angelo Tristan. “For the sophomore album, I wanted to make sure that this time we left no room for error and so got one of the hottest producers in the music industry, Dan Weller, to help lift these songs into a new dimension. With Dan’s pioneering studio expertise, this album has massive production quality that enables you to get lost in each character-filled track. Dan really brought out the emotions we were trying to portray and has achieved it with his own unique style.” “We wanted this album to express where we were in our own lives since the release of our first. So much has happened since then, I mean the world shut down for what felt like a lifetime! And it was obvious that people were going to need some sort of optimism. I hope ‘Glass Sky’ is one of those songs that gives people the belief to find themselves again.” “Whereas, the feel-good ‘Just One Of Those Days’ is trying to find the good side of a bad day. Me being me, couldn’t help but to write a big power ballad, ‘The Long Road’, that I wrote from a very hard and deep place, in hope that it could maybe bring some peace and comfort to people who need it. I think there’s all aspects of life running though this album and what it means to us will remain in our hearts forever. ”Should’ve Known Better” is an album that goes beyond specific music genres,” says Angelo. “It’s almost like a soundtrack to a beating heart. It’s an album that will remain timeless in years to come