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As a member of seminal hip-hop group The Pharcyde, Fatlip helped expand the boundaries of the 1990s L.A. rap scene, releasing classic albums steeped in eccentric creative excursions rather than hard-edged gangsta bravado.

Following in those footsteps, acclaimed emcee Blu has been at the forefront of the independent hip-hop landscape since the late 2000s, narrating the full range of experience in the City of Angels with impressive lyrical ingenuity.

These two famed artists recently joined forces for the collaborative album Live From The End Of The World, a dazzling rhyme whirlwind boasting an overwhelming collection of West Coast lyrical talent, including Del The Funky Homosapien, Gift Of Gab, MC Eiht, and Ras Kass, along with members of iconic groups Jurassic 5, Tha Alkaholiks, Souls Of Mischief, Freestyle Fellowship, and Digital Underground. With production by Madlib, Nottz, Sa-Ra, Knxwledge, and Exile, the album is now available in physical form for the first time ever. This deluxe release includes two new bonus tracks featuring Slimkid3 (of The Pharcyde) and Pigeon John.

“Metropolis” takes one to a trip through metropolitan Berlin at night, a melting pot, where cultural exchange is a constant reality. At his backyard studio in Berlin-Neukölln digitalluc captures the fusion of jazz and hip-hop creating a unique sound that values both musical movements. Thereby he invites plenty of fellow collaborators and old acquaintances to bring his concept of organic hip-hop grooves to life. Contributions come from FloFilz, Made in M, Hubert Daviz, Spanish saxophonist Escandaloso Xpósito and Mexican bass player Monno Briceno, just to name a few.

Welcome to the modern Brazilian disco world of Processman and Cady. We know you're going to love it here.

DJ and producer Processman is from Salvador, Bahia. A passionate and talented musician, he has played in a number of bands in his city, which is famous for artists such as his heroes Gilberto Gil, Joao Gilberto and Jorge Amado.

Processman was introduced to Cady, a fellow Baiana and a very fine solo artist in her own right, by a mutual friend.
The connection was instant and they started making music that very day.

Fast forward to when Dicky Trisco was passing through Salvador after playing the magnificent Mareh festival in Bahia. Processman drove Dicky and a group of friends to local hot spot Pelourinho, and the first track he played in the car that night was 'Adupe'. Dicky was blown away by the track. The brilliant Brazilian percussion, the beautiful layered vocals, the spiritual, synth boogie-laden vibes and those delightful melodies. He was absolutely hooked. The second track Processman played was 'Sou Baiana' and a record deal was already a sure thing. They hadn't even made it to the bar yet.

A year later and the release is ready to let loose its magical, spiritual, boogie-laden vibes.

NYC Brazilian aficionado JKriv, the perfect choice for a remixer for this sound, has delivered an essential, cosmic disco dub of 'Adupe'.
While Dicky Trisco takes on 'Sou Baiana', stripping it down and pumping it up into a truly rocking dance floor bomb.

File it under Modern Brazilian Disco. A truly International sound.

LET'S VAMOS!

Ebo Taylor “Twer Nyame” is being reissued on vinyl by Comet Records, pressed on high quality vinyl, with label designs and artwork as per the original release.
Originally released in 1978 on Philips-West African-Records. Classic highlife sounds; uptempo grooves, vocals, tons of percussion, guitar, horns and organ lines. Featuring
the stand-out ‘Atwer Abroba’.

Ebo Taylor is one of Ghana's finest producer/arrangers.

Taylor was heavily influential in the unique sound that emerged from the country in the 70's; a combination of traditional Ghanaian with Afro-beat, jazz, and funk rhythms.

He worked with bands including Stargazers Band, Broadway Dance Band, Black Star Highlife Band (with Teddy Osei and Sol Amarfio who later joined Osibisa), Apagya Show Band and fellow musicians C.K.Mann, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley and the legendary Pat Thomas.

Brazilian soul, psych, bossa and jazz, reimagined from Berlin, via the Dead Sea, on Moriah Plaza’s dreamy first album for Batov Records.

Moriah Plaza co-founders Tamir Chen and Moosh Lahav first encountered and fell in love with the beautiful and hypnotic sounds of Brazilian bossa nova and samba as children in Tel Aviv in the nineties, via the many local bands and tribute groups that had sprung up since the first wave of bossa had hit swept across the world. Likewise
they developed a fascination with elevator muzak, film soundtracks, and even the hotel pianist performing day-by-day in the lobby of the Sheraton Moriah where Tamir’s mother worked, overlooking the Dead Sea.

Relocating years later to the vastly different environment of Berlin, capital of a country that enjoyed its own Brazilian moment, Tamir and Moosh’s shared passion for Brazilian music would encourage them to create their own songs inspired by the warm pulse of Brazil, albeit a world apart, through a vastly different lens.
Whilst the initial inspiration for Moriah Plaza can be traced back to Tel Aviv and the Dead Sea, the band itself was conceived by Tamir and Moosh in Solarium Studio, Berlin, from the broken fragments of their former shoegaze band, Soda Fabric, who had the honour of backing outsider legend Daniel Johnston. They would go on to write and record their debut album in close collaboration with two Brazilians and fellow Berlin residents,, poet and singer Cecília Erisman, and singer, songwriter, synth operator and Tropical Disco Club founder Flavia Annechini.

The album opens with “Desendereçada”. Dirty drum machine beats thud away under flutes and extraneous noises and a spoken word commentary. The oddness and allure of the intro is a perfect introduction to the world of Moriah Plaza.

The pace picks up on “Mais Amor”. A beautiful Brazilian soul jazz number with a sublime vocal from Flavia Annechini that will surely appeal to the global dancefloor jazz scene. “Te Peço” daws us in deeper with sweetest jazz vocal over an irresistible bassline and bossa drums that transforms halfway through into a modern soul rhythm crowned by flute and horns. A flute solo from Moosh Lahav leads us into the final uplifting refrain.

The Pharoah Sanders meets Ravi Shankar in Rio grooves of “Estelar”
have that fresh feeling that will certainly appeal to fans of modern favourites Rebecca Vasment and Ruby Rushton. Next up, the mysterious “Lagoon de Merim” is practically two songs in one, the first half an atmospheric string-topped number somewhere between Arthur Verocai and Cinematic Orchestra, before snappy drums beats and playful organ chords introduce a slow brassy samba that fills the whole sonic room.

“Teu Porto” is a must for all DJs, mixing calypso, highlife and house, lilting guitars and smooth vocals by Cecilia Erismann.. The deep samba house grooves of “Samba Moosh” close us out. The rich blend of sweet vocals, soaring flute and gritty synths carry us off into the sunset.
Moriah Plaza’s self-titled debut album is a major addition to the global soul and jazz scene. providing the perfect summer soundtrack for music lovers around the world.

Who would be better suited for remixing the Skudge classic? It's not a far-fetched idea, as we now see the remix 12" of Convolution featuring Levon Vincent.

Classic late 00s Levon Vincent style of rhythm and pace meets Skudge's hallmark sound.

It's been over a decade since Skudge took charge and urged us to "Give it all up". 'Convolution' forged two distinct genres while avoiding the trap of losing the attitude of both. The track was a strong take on Techno and House simultaneously and brought something new and interesting to the table.

Fast forward a decade since this effort marked the beginning of the Skudge journey, which not only caught the middle ground between Techno and House but also the ears of fellow producer Levon Vincent.
Levon is a prominent name in the oceanic underwater funk, touching strands of Dub, Techno, and House.

Levon delivers two versions, where the Scream Version captures the UK sound of anarchistic basslines similar to 'Basemental' from '95, on the A-side.

Flipping over to the B-side, one can hear the 'Convolution' atmosphere echoing between Levon and Skudge respectively.

Underground Resistance member James Pennington aka Suburban Knight has his first night strike on EPM with Winds of Fear.

Pennington is known for being one of the producers behind the Inner City hit single "Big Fun", as well as his own solo productions for Transmat with "The Art of Stalking" and numerous tracks on U.R, most notably the 'Nocturbulous Behavior' & 'By Night' EPs.

Fellow past U.R members and Detroit legends in their own right Robert Hood & Eddie Fowlkes step up to edit this masterpiece.

Repress!

It can take a while for an artist to find their musical voice. For Alex Andrikopoulos, it’s been a journey that’s taken the best part of two decades. Now he’s set to mark a major milestone in his transition from record store owner, label co-founder and DJ to producer with the release of his long-promised first solo album for Leng, Waving. The Greek artist first joined the Leng Records roster in the autumn of 2020 and has since gone in to release the acclaimed ‘Punta Allen’ EP for the imprint. Before that, he spent the first decade of the century running the popular Radical Sounds record shop in Athens, before refocusing on running Quantized Music with fellow DJ/producer Tolis Q and developing his DJ career, where his unique blends of disco, house and techno tracks earned him bookings at some of Europe’s most storied clubs.

Waving, which appears on the back of a handful of fine EPs for a variety of labels, is his boldest and strongest statement yet as a musician and producer. Created with a little help from guest musicians and collaborators including keyboardist Artis Boriss, bassist Brotha Gilla, percussionists Ilario Arnel and Harold Perez, pianist Luciano Ledesma and guitarist Alex Searle, the album brilliantly blurs the boundary between 21st century disco, afternoon-ready downtempo grooves, and the kind of dancefloor-minded Balearic fare that’s devilishly difficult to pigeonhole.

Fittingly, the set begins with previous single ‘Punta Allen’, an eight-minute chunk of organic dancefloor goodness which slowly unfurls before rising towards and gorgeous and joyous conclusion, and ends with the squelchy, slo-mo cosmic funk of ‘Patrol Di Caribe’, where trippy synthesizer lines, layered percussion and more tuneful style pan style lead ins catch the ear.

In between, highlights are plentiful, from the driving, piano solo-laden dub disco brilliance of ‘Down My Soul’ and the languid, sun-kissed, beach-ready downtempo grooves of ‘The Jamail Pass’, to the rubbery, pitched-down electrofunk of ‘Window Spells’ (featuring a fine lead vocal from Max Giovara, the flash-friend, dubwise Balearic funk of ‘Waving’, and the throbbing brilliance of ‘La Di Da Di’, whose crunchy Clavinet lines, fluid electric piano solos, snappy drums and pulsating, arpeggio-style bass encapsulate all that is good about the album.

The digital edition of the album also comes bundled with eight more tracks not featured on the double-vinyl LP. Featuring the same blend of expansive musicality, organic drums and dancefloor nous, this octet effectively extends the album via a string of similarly playable, club-ready and sofa-friendly tracks. Standouts include the non-stop, nu-disco-meets-house excellence of ‘Large Stacks’, Hammond-laced head-nodder ‘Take The High Road’, horizontal Balearic funk shuffler ‘Prezend’ and hazy, vocal-sporting dub disco roller ‘Angels of Rhythm’, which previously appeared on the flipside of Lex’s ‘Punta Allen’ 12”.

As far as debut EP’s go, Life In Exile is a spellbinding introduction to the sounds of CRTB, a producer and DJ whose name is beginning to burn hot on the tongues of punters up and down the land, with good reason.

Characterised by pulsating, bass-driven grooves and masterful percussion, Newcastle born, London based CRTB has unveiled a monster of sound with his latest venture, where the producer flexes an ungodly blend of four-to-the-floor basslines, contagious melodies and synths to create a visceral soundscape, infectious enough to cause dance-floor destruction wherever these sounds land.

From the pulsating percussion of It Never Ends, to the rattling rapture of Nothing Moves You; a track that erupted in Mall Grab’s Melbourne Boiler Room set, this EP has energy coursing through its veins. This energy fuels the hypnotic sounds of Temper, and the radioactive rhythm of Nature Boy, where CRTB brings fellow heavy-hitter KETTAMA into the fold, resulting in an unforgiving, atomic anthem.

Life In Exile is an EP that sees its creator, CRTB, conduct wild, electronic experiments of sound to devastating effect: a sign of things to come from one of Newcastle, aka the Steel City’s most exciting prospects.

Factory Benelux presents the very first vinyl edition of the only soundtrack album recorded by The Durutti Column, the Factory Records ensemble fronted by lauded guitarist and composer Vini Reilly. A limited edition of 1000 copies on 180gm black vinyl have been pressed for Record Store Day 2023. (NonReturnable) Treatise on the Steppenwolf is a soundtrack to the performance piece of the same name by experimental theatre group 12 Stars, written and directed by Gerard McInulty (of fellow Factory band The Wake), first staged in Glasgow in May 2003. Freely adapted from the celebrated counter-culture novel by Hermann Hesse, the performance is a portrait a divided character in an ongoing state of conflict.

‘Steppenwolf was something I’d read recently and when we approached Durutti Column with the idea it turned out they were interested too,’ explained McInulty. ‘People have described their music as ambient, although that’s a description they don’t care much for. It’s certainly atmospheric and there’s something about their sunny-sounding guitar that seemed appropriate to a book that, although published in 1927, didn’t become popular in America until the 1960s.’

This expanded vinyl edition combines the studio recordings of the 12 pieces performed live by The Durutti Column during the Glasgow run, along with 3 long and previously unreleased tracks from the Human Avatars art installation at Manchester MOSI in 2005.

Newly mastered for vinyl by Peter Beckman at TechnologyWorks, this limited Record Store Day edition also features new gatefold artwork by Howard Wakefield.

Portuguese maestro Lewis Fautzi drops his 2nd EP on Soma of 2020 with the State Of Pressure EP. As well as two top drawer originals from Lewis, the EP features two specially commissioned remixes from fellow Portuguese rising stars Nørbak & Temudo, both of whom have featured this year on Soma to high acclaim.

Title track State Of Pressure opens and doesn't mess about as thumping, driving drums lay the foundation before pure, hypnotic rhythms begin their descent delivering that typical Fautzi sound. Nørbak's remix of State Of Pressure takes note of the originals hypnotic vibe offering a deeper and more percussive driven affair. Epidemic Of Wellness has Fautzi working in darker elements and delivering more tension with his use of each particular strain of the track, pulsing and modulating perfectly in sync. Temudo closes out the EP with his remix of Epidemic Of Wellness. Always focussing on groove and momentum, Temudo goes sub heavy on his version but retains the dark tones of the original whilst almost adding an Electro-like flex on the groove.

Mastered By Conor Dalton @ Glowcast Mastering.

Limited to 1000 copies on Sea Blue vinyl! There's freedom to be found in consistency. Until recently, Juan Wauters may not have agreed with this statement. As a touring musician and multinational citizen, transience had always come naturally to him. Circumstance, however, recently prompted him to reconsider the benefits of staying in one place. His most introspective work to date, Wauters' sixth solo album Wandering Rebel finds the artist taking stock of how he's changed, how the world sees him, and what he wants out of life. Written mostly during an extended break from touring, the songs on Wandering Rebel are candid reflections on subjects like career ("Wandering Rebel"), romantic commitment ("Amor Amor"), mental health ("Nube Negra") and the personal toll of touring ("Let Loose"). On "Modus Operandi," he voices his frustration with New York's fairweather residents, who fled the city at the onset of the COVID-19 lockdown. Vocal contributions from fellow New Yorker Greta Kline (Frankie Cosmos) add to the chorus of playful disapproval. On the singalong-worthy "Millionaire," he turns his eye to the west coast: "It's hard to get around Los Angeles / If you don't have a car / I'm staying in a privileged part of town / It's suspicious for me to be walking." The clarity with which Wauters approaches these subjects lyrically is reflected in the music as well. His trademark eclecticism is still present (fans of Real Life Situations' spirited hip-hop should look to track 6, "Bolero"), but it's more refined this time, anchored in his signature Latin-influenced indie folk. Wandering Rebel is peppered with delicate additions that add depth throughout: rain sounds and hand drums on "Nube Negra," a strings section on "Modus Operandi," a gentle vibraphone on "Amor, Amor." Some of these are classic Wauters touches, but others are owed to outside influences, like production from Brooklyn-based Carlos Hernandez (Ava Luna, Carlos Truly) and Brazilian indie artist Sessa, as well as vocal contributions from Kline, Luz Elena Mendoza (Y La Bamba), Zoe Gotusso, and Super Willy K. Throughout Wandering Rebel, Wauters attempts to reconcile the stability he's come to enjoy with the nomadic restlessness that's characterized his life thus far. In the end, though, it's the interplay of both of these elements that makes the album so strong.

Pacific Blue Vinyl, limited to 200 copies. From being right in the middle at the birth of US hardcore punk with DYS to creating the blueprint of melodic hardcore with DAG NASTY, from helping to invent pop punk as we know it with ALL to finding himself in the middle of the west coast punk explosion of the 90s with DOWN BY LAW: Smalley was always on the forefront every time hardcore punk pushed its envelope. While others may use a legacy like that as an excuse to take it a little slower, Dave Smalley has no intention to rest on his laurels and keeps writing new music and releasing records.

When he founded DON'T SLEEP with fellow East Coast punk rockers Garrett Rothman, Tony Bavaria, Jim Bedorf and Tom McGrath in 2017, the world was more than excited about seeing him front a fast yet melodic hardcore band again. Being motivated by immensely positive feedback, DON'T SLEEP was finally ready to release its debut album "Turn the Tide" in 2020.


And then the world came to a grinding halt. But after the dust settled, all five members decided that DON'T SLEEP was too important to not overcome all obstacles thrown in their way. The five piece went back into the rehearsal room, finished 8 original songs and added an amazing TOM PETTY cover to the mix. The result is DON'T SLEEP's second full length "See Change".

Tidal Waves Music proudly presents ‘Fly By Night’ for the FIRST TIME on vinyl (the album was only released as a limited compact disc back in the early nineties).
This unique record comes as a deluxe 180g vinyl edition (strictly limited to 500 copies) with obi strip.NonReturnable.

This vinyl edition also features the original painted front cover artwork by Virgil Grady (known for his work with Tribe records) and back photography by acclaimed Detroit scene photographer & author Barbara Barefield, whose work has appeared in many renowned publications such as The New York Times, LA Times, People magazine and countless others.

Released exclusively for Record Store Day 2023 (UK/Europe) and available in participating stores on April 22, 2023.

Wendell Harrison was born in Detroit in 1942 where he began formal jazz studies for piano, clarinet and tenor saxophone. At 14, while still in high school, Harrison started performing & recording professionally with artists such as Marvin Gaye, Grant Green, Sun Ra, Hank Crawford … and many others.

In 1971, Harrison began teaching music at Metro Arts (a multi-arts complex for youth) where he also connected with Marcus Belgrave, Harold McKinney and Phil Ranelin…soon after they formed the (now
legendary) Afro-centric TRIBE record label and artist collective. TRIBE used the Metro Arts complex as a vehicle to convey a growing black political consciousness. Wendell Harrison also published the very popular TRIBE magazine, a publication dedicated to local and national social and political issues, as well as featuring artistic contributions such as poetry and visual pieces.

In 1978 Harrison and McKinney co-founded REBIRTH, a non-profit jazz performance and education organization, in which many notable jazz artists have participated. Around the same time Wendell Harrison
also created the WENHA record label and publishing company, which released many of his (now classic) recordings as well as those of other artists, such as Phil Ranelin, Doug Hammond and Reggie Fields (The Real ShooBeeDoo).
In the early 1990s, Wendell Harrison was awarded the title of “Jazz Master” by Arts Midwest. This distinction led Harrison to collaborate with fellow honorees and gave him the chance to tour throughout the UnitedStates, Middle East and Africa. Even to this day Wendell Harrison's recordings for the TRIBE, WENHA and REBIRTH labels have a large worldwide fanbase.

It is on WEHHA in 1990 that Harrison released (and self-produced) the opus: ‘Fly By Night’ which we are proudly presenting you today. ‘Fly By Night’ is a monster of an album featuring an all-star line-up that
includes Doug Hammond (Mingus, Lonnie Liston Smith) on drums, Kirk Lightsey (Chet Baker, Calvin Keys) on piano, Cecil McBee (John Hicks, Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane) on bass, Jaribu Shahid (Sun Ra) on contrabass and Pamela Wise (Tribe) on Piano. Harrison is killing it here with this selected ensemble (guys he grew up with in Detroit in the late 50’s, when hard bop was the thing and Miles and Coltrane were the heroes of the day). This group of talented veterans are taking this classic album to unseen heights.

On ‘Fly By Night’ the gloves come off…no more jazzy-funk or poppy-jazz. Wendell picks up his tenor for one tune but the remainder of the sessions he performs on clarinet. Wendell’s mastery coaxes the sweet piquant sound of the instrument and as it re-emerges in the contemporary jazz scene. The eight handpicked tunes demonstrate the fertile new directions Wendell Harrison has been working on, combing standards with a fresh new approach.

On these amazing recordings (recorded at the Rebirth Studios in Detroit) the listener is invited to experience a synthesis of what has been and what is now. The record shows Wendell’s trademark proficiency. All of the above makes this incredible record both timeless and as relevant today as it was back when it was initially
released.

Various Artists - A Giant Has Nowhere To Go: Tongue Master Records Presents Selections From Comes With A Smile (2000-2006) LP + 7' + 4 page booklet insert describing the legacy of the magazine, 500 only pressed. A vinyl only release. "A Giant Has Nowhere To Go: Tongue Master Records Presents Selections From Comes With A Smile (2000-2006)" is a celebratory vinyl-only release drawn from the magazine's sixteen cover-mounted compilation CDs. Across some 300 tracks, the magazine presented previously unheard tracks from its eclectic array of interviewees drawn from the worlds of the Singer Songwriter, Americana, Post-Rock, Electronica, and all things Indie. Comes With A Smile's designer/editor Matt Dornan's association with Tongue Master Records began with the first TM 7" and has continued to the present day. In some ways the association has come full circle with this curated release. The selections on this album represent the place where the worlds of Tongue Master and CWAS converge. Most remain exclusive to the magazine, and all appear on vinyl for the first time. Side one features artists who appear in the Tongue Master discography - from established masters Mark Eitzel, Mark Mulcahy and Howe Gelb to the equally idiosyncratic stylings of New York's The Scene Is Now, Athens' Sigmatropic (featuring Edith Frost) and London's cinematic The Real Tuesday Weld. The latter revisits a CWAS favourite, featuring a newly recorded vocal by Sephine Llo, exclusive to this release. Other contributions include intimate demos from Eitzel and Gelb (better known in embellished form by American Music Club and Giant Sand respectively), to standalone gems like Mulcahy's "Elephantine" (which gives this collection its title) and the bruised avant-garde blues of The Scene Is Now's "The Word". The tracks on side two and the accompanying 7" are a diverse selection drawn from the 16 CDs CWAS issued between 2000 and 2006 that reflect and complement the oeuvre of Tongue Master Records. Here you will find the dense literature-infused art-folk of Lullaby For The Working Class, the sparse acoustic balladry of Nina Nastasia and the curious Matmos-enhanced stylings of veteran polymath and fellow New Yorker David Grubbs. In their wake comes an epic jazz-tinged duel between Douglas McCombs's Brokeback and sometime labelmates Chicago Underground Duo, and the raw gothic Americana of Blanche. The LP concludes with a haunting lo-fi lament by the sorely missed Jason Molina in his Songs: Ohia guise. The 7" presents two further gems: a concise edit of the lengthy title track from a 2005 12" tour EP from CWAS regulars The American Analog Set, and an acoustic rendition of a track from the album 'The Great Destroyer' by shapeshifting veterans Low from the same year. Together the 14 tracks hint at the breadth of the CWAS archive, a treasure trove from a not-too-distant musical past. With full lyrics, a special four page insert tracing the history of the magazine, and an Alex Wharton Abbey Road cut, this quality release is a testament to the legacy of CWAS. 'Probably the best independent music magazine in the world '- ESQUIRE // Tracks: SIDE ONE: 1 The Scene Is Now - 'Words' (3:10) 2 Howe Gelb - 'Wolf Pup' (4:42) 3 Mark Mulcahy - 'Elephantine' (4:12) 4 Sigmatropic featuring Edith Frost - 'Haiku 4 (Alt)' (2:31) 5 Mark Eitzel - 'Bought A Book' (3:36) 6 The Real Tuesday Weld featuring Sephine Lo - 'Dreaming of You' (3:47). SIDE TWO: 7 Lullaby For The Working Class - 'In Defense Of Abstractions' (3:18) 8 Nina Nastasia - 'I Will Never Marry' (3:29) 9 David Grubbs- 'Aging Young Lovers' (2:53) 10 Brokeback With Chicago Underground Duo- 'Chomsk, Live!' (7:08) 11 Blanche -'Never Again (Demo)' (3:26) 12 Songs: Ohia - 'Untitled' (3:01). 7" SIDE 3: The American Analog Set - 'Everything Ends In Spring (Edit)' (4:41). SIDE 4: Low - 'Walk Into The Sea (acoustic version)' (3:07) For indie stores only!

Carole King’s The Legendary Demos will be released April 24th, 2012 via Hear Music / Concord Music Group. A previously unreleased collection of 13 history-making Carole King recordings of some of her most celebrated songs, The Legendary Demos traces King's journey from her days as an Aldon staff writer in the 1960's, where she crafted hit after hit for other artists, to the dawn of her own triumphant solo career in the 1970's, and contains her original recordings of future standards like "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," "It's Too Late," and "You've Got A Friend." Featuring liner notes by acclaimed author and Rolling Stone contributing editor David Browne, the collection brings to light a heretofore missing link in the chain of King's career. Fittingly, The Legendary Demos serves as a companion to King’s long-awaited memoir, A Natural Woman, which is being released April 10th, 2012 via Grand Central Publishing.

Aldon Music used these demos—short for “demonstration records”—to pitch King's material to other artists, from Gene Pitney and Bobby Vee to Aretha Franklin and the Monkees. While the recordings have long been coveted and collected within the industry, they have never before been released to the public.

Whether it was a potential single for the Monkees or a solo performer like Pitney, King’s demos were remarkable in their completeness. “When she sat down to the piano and played a demo of one of her songs, the whole arrangement appeared right in front of your eyes magically,” recalls Brooks Arthur, who engineered a number of these efficient sessions for King at one of several midtown Manhattan studios. “A lot of the smarter producers would adhere to Carole’s demos. If you stuck to that, you’d come home a winner.”

King and then-husband / songwriting partner Gerry Goffin signed with Aldon Music in 1959, and anyone who listened to the radio during the first half of the ‘60s will recognize the songs of teen passion and devastating heartbreak heard in King’s original recordings. “Take Good Care of My Baby” was a No. 1 hit for Bobby Vee in 1961. Goffin’s gift for tapping into teen anguish—in this case, hiding behind a stoic public face—was never conveyed better than in “Crying in the Rain,” which the Everly Brothers took into the top 10 in early 1962. “Just Once in My Life” was the Righteous Brothers’ follow-up to their still-spine-tingling “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’,” and King’s demo reveals how she and Goffin were instantly able to tap into the duo’s (and producer Phil Spector’s) dramatic, impassioned sound.

Like many of their fellow songwriters at the time, King and Goffin wrote songs for Don Kirshner’s TV show about a fictional, Beatles-derived pop band that debuted in September 1966. The Monkees turned out to be more credible singers (and musicians) than anyone initially expected, as their high-charting 1967 version of King and Goffin's “Pleasant Valley Sunday” revealed. The Monkees also cut “So Goes Love,” a dreamier ballad heard here, but the track didn’t make their first album and wasn’t released until long after they’d disbanded.

The Legendary Demos includes early takes of six tracks that formed the basis for King’s world-wide solo breakthrough Tapestry. King and lyricist Toni Stern’s ever-poignant “It’s Too Late” is here, along with King’s own “Way Over Yonder,” “Beautiful” and “Tapestry,” all three bursting with the artistic and spiritual renewal infusing King’s life during this period.

Among the collection’s numerous gems is the original 1967 demo for Goffin, King, and producer Jerry Wexler’s “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” a song that would later appear on Tapestry and of course be famously cut by Aretha Franklin later that same year. King’s version offers several different takes from the Franklin and Tapestry versions. Her delivery in the opening lines is looser (check out the way she stretches out “Lord” in “Lord, it made me feel so tired”), and the bridge is even more imbued with palpable romantic and sexual heat.

And finally, there’s King’s initial take on “You’ve Got a Friend,” a classic entry in the Great American Rock Songbook. Milling around in the Troubadour balcony during soundcheck, her friend James Taylor heard King perform the song on a bare stage and was immediately taken with it; his own version, a massive hit, would arrive the following year.

2023 Repress

The reissue of classic and seminal releases from the Tresor catalogue comes round to Waveform Transmission Vol. 2 by The Vision aka Robert Hood which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.
Released in the same year he left UR and his hometown of Detroit, Waveform Transmission Vol. 2 represents a pivotal moment in Hood’s career as his move to New York with fellow UR co-founder Je Mills led to Hood experimenting with a new work ethos through which he settled on his trademark sound.
Fast, aurally assaulting, yet funky - the release is techno as eective as it can possibly be; in this version, remastered by Thomas P. Heckmann, we see the first results of his transmutation as Hood manipulates the raw sounds he would soon distil into seminal works like Internal Empire and Minimal Nation.
Ever philosophical and spiritual, in the sleeve notes for the release Hood dedicated the release “to the form of simplicity, the reasoning of vision, the understanding of where we came from and how we got here and to the perspective we use to construct over destiny” - words which from our early 2020s vantage point almost foresee the influence this intuitive work would have on artists working from Birmingham to Berlin and beyond over the next three decades.

Fellow violinist Stuff Smith marveled, "He plays violin like Coltrane plays saxophone." Born in 1942, the French violinist Jean- Luc Ponty transported jazz violin playing into the world of modern jazz. On Frank Zappa's urging, Ponty moved to the States in 1970. Over the next years he toured with Zappa, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, and Chick Corea's "Return to Forever".If Ponty's 1983 album Individual Choice was the sketchbook of his decision to take his music in a new direction, Open Mind (1984), released the following year, was a deeper
exploration of the emerging world of synthesizers and sequencers and their impact on live and studio performance. Here, complex rhythmic patterns shift in the background while new sounds appear and disappear on the surface in colorful bursts, and outstanding jazz improvisors create familiar music in new settings. It's almost an audio version of a kinetic wind sculpture.

Ponty chose to use a Roland rhythm machine instead of faking real drum and percussion sounds and played all the keyboard parts himself in order to further explore the concept he had introduced in Individual Choice. He additionally asked two longtime friends to solo on various tracks: George Benson, whom JLP had met and played with when they were both 21 years old, and Chick Corea, who
excels on two tracks with his Moog synthesizer. Open Mind has been re-mastered by 2023 Grammy Nominee Christoph Stickeland includes new liner notes.