Funk | Soul 230 Items

Magic Source is a project led by producer Björn Wagner (The Mighty Mocambos, Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band, Mocambo Records), who is renowned for creating an authentic and hard-hitting raw funk sound. Following a few acclaimed single releases on Favorite Recordings over the past few years, the French label deeply wanted to collaborate further with the German combo, for a special and exclusive project bringing their music on new paths. This new project is a step towards a new style: Analog-Electronica, or so called Cosmic-Disco sound. Recorded on a 16-track reel-to-reel tape, EARTHRISING combines raw unedited live band recording, with the refined production aesthetics of the Disco era, including the use of vintage synthesizers, group chants and processed acoustic percussions, for an organic club feeling. While maintaining an un-edited, but highly hypnotic four-on-the-floor groove, Magic Source leaves the old beaten track of cheesy Disco-Pop and overheard Dance classics.

Producing under the moniker Isoul8, as well as teaming up with Domu under the Rima alias for the incredible jazz/fusion album 'This World', Volcov is a truly important player in the underground music scene.
Remixing artists such as Frankie Valentine, Azymuth & Taylor McFerrin, running his two labels Archive and Neroli, as well as DJing all over the World has given Volcov a rare knowledge of soul, funk, disco and deep house music; knowledge which is very apparent throughout this album.
'From The Archive' comprises a lovingly chosen collection of obscure Funk, Disco & Boogie tracks, alongside three very special edits produced by the man himself. From Chez Damier's sun-drenched remix of The Urban Crew's 'Go' to Bembe Segue's emotional 'Sun On My Back' via Shuya Okino's disco epic 'Still In Love', this record takes the listener on a joyful journey deep into Volcov's musical mind.

Repress of sought after Habibi Funk release from 2016! Carthago: Rare Tunisian Disco Including Unreleased Instrumentals And Eight Page Booklet! When we first decided to start Habibi Funk, a label dedicated to re-releasing "funky" Arabic music from the 1960s to 1980s, a band called Dalton was the first release we worked on. Dalton was a band from the Tunisian capital of Tunis and they played a unique mix of soul & funk with an Arabic DNA. We licensed the release from the band's composer Fawzi Chekili, and when we spoke to him on the phone in preparation of the release he mentioned another band he was part of, called Carthago. Our work with Habibi Funk is like a big treasure hunt. There are too many great bands that fully vanished into obscurity and didn’t leave any traces in the digital sphere yet. We are so used to the internet providing all informations we might be looking for, but Carthago was one of those bands where the internet largely failed to provide any infos despite the fact that Carthago created some incredible music in the form of an highly infectious Tunisian take on disco music. Luckily most of the members of the 1970s musical scene of Tunis are still around to tell their story.

Carthago was founded in the late 1970s as a fusion of Dalton and a second band called Marhaba Band. Both bands frequently played at hotels and night clubs in Tunis and Sousse. They had similar musical influences and despite the fact that they were competition for the most part, they came up with the idea to join forces for a new band. Musically Carthago kept on walking on the musical path of Dalton and Marhaba but incorporated disco music, a new style that was making its way to North Africa from Europe and North America. The band had quite some success on local radio and played a number of big shows with thousands of people showing up. The band’s concerts were a mixture of their own compositions as well as cover versions of the hits of the time from Stevie Wonder to Chicago. At the end of the 70s they went to Paris to record their only, self titled album. For our reissue we picked out two of our favorite tracks: „Hanen“ and the outstanding disco version of the Dalton track „Alech“ which has proved to work on every dance floor we played over the last two years.

When I came to Tunis for the first time after the Dalton reissue I met Fawzi in person. He still lives in Tunis and still works as a full time musician though his focus has shifted more towards Jazz over the years. Luckily he did not only keep a spotless copy of the Carthago album but he also kept the master tape of the instrumental versions of the album which to this day were unreleased. Being able to add exclusive content to a reissue is something that is rare and we feel highly privileged to be able to do so. Futher more we are so happy that we will be able to add something new to the bands legacy not only musically but also visually: One day I realized that most of the releases from Tunisia I liked, be it from Dalton, Carthago or Marhaba Band had the same photographer credit.

Hassen Turki started taking photos at a young age and when he was 18 he started going to the gigs of the bands of the time that were playing in the Marhaba Hotel which was managed by his father at the time. He became friends with the bands and ended up being the person to be asked when it came to shooting the photos for the covers of the records. After some research I managed to get in touch with Hassen and met him in his hometown Sousse. Luckily he kept most of the negatives of the photos he took so we’re more than happy to be able to share these unseen photos with whoever is interested.

This is the first ever vinyl release of Ikebe Shakedown’s debut release. The sound of the album is still as heavy as an angry herd of elephants! Recorded at Dunham Studios in Brooklyn with the help of members of The Budos Band, these tracks are rough and tough to be sure and offer a variety of different sounds from the band. Ikebe seamlessly blends the raw emotion and passion of ‘70s African Funk with the danceable horns and rhythms of American soul music! The records is housed in a heavyweight gatefold tip-on jacket and comes with a download.

It was made the way they made electronic music in the good old days, all analog everything, right after synthesizers shrunk to a manageable size and you didn’t have to trek down to a university to use one anymore. Electronic music as practiced and developed by pioneers like Dick Hyman and Raymond Scott and Wendy Carlos is precise and intentional. In making his first electronic album, Younge took his cues from them, reminding a contemporary audience what a synthesizer, deep in its heart, really could be. “Black Noise” is men talking to men about women; “Lemonade” is a woman talking to women about men, and they both orbit around a failure we take for granted like the sun: loving you is complicated. It’s a skill; we forgot. Adrian Younge calls “The Electronique Void” an academic album, by which he means it is both instructional and informational. There’s a problem at the heart of it, a woman who’s been told that she’s loved, but she doesn’t recognize that, can’t feel it, may have heard it all before, may be worrying about the wrong things. Jack Waterson, long a guitarist in Younge’s band, plays the role of narrator, sounding professorial and rather superior as he lays out for the woman where she’s erred. That vocoder you hear is Adrian, talking to her on a subterranean level, the way an artist must. The discourse on the album is the kind of thing that happens when you go blonde and then you can’t keep ‘em off you. These truths are cold and hard, and our hero begrudges the well-meaning advice being rained down upon her as any independent woman would. The science of love, its formulas and if-then constraints, causal relationships and observable properties, is best taught experientially, but learning it hurts so, so bad. Music, especially electronic music, reliant as it is on abstraction and unrepentant as it is about hijacking your physiological responses to tempo and rhythm and dynamics, is a way to get there without going through it.

Robbie M of Midnight Express (Danger Zone) is back with his latest single! This is the first track from Robbie's Upcoming LP.

Box cover has shelf wear but artwork looks great. Includes all original inner sleves. All records are in great condition, with only minimal superficial and inaudible marks

Big Crown Records is proud to present Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band’s new 45, “Scorpio” b/w “8th Wonder”. Coming after the smashing success of their debut full length “55” they drop 2 B-Boy classics back to back on this tough two sider that comes in a beautifully illustrated picture sleeve.
The A side “Scorpio” is a killer cover of the Dennis Coffey breakbeat staple. BRSB turn up the tempo a touch on the original doing the tune justice with crushing drums they have become known for. This is sure to be in every breakbeat enthusiasts box. The B side features the non album cut, BRSB’s cover of The Sugarhill Gang’s 8th Wonder, a tune that lends itself to pans like it was written for them. Another dance floor winner sure to be in DJs sets the world over shortly.

Back in! It all started in a local club in Pine Bluff Arkansas where Mojo and Spider played in their first group together Zodiac in the mid 70s. Spider played lead guitar, and Mojo held the brass section. Sam "Spider" Rice was also the music director for a vocal group called "La Pinch" which included vocalist Gary Pinchom (Pinch). As the 80s approached La Pinch was looking for a new sound. After relocating to the East Coast "The Pinch" was born. New York and Jersey was quite a change. Spider wanted to write a song to address the drug abuse he was seeing all around him. "Shot Out was a street term we used to describe someone with an excessive drug habit", recalls Spider. "We built a voice box from a horn driver, a couple of switches, and some tubing". They had some money stashed from a Zodiac gig and picked up a Prophet 5 and Roland Drum machine. After recording the track in 1981, the song was mastered at the legendary Power Plant in NYC. That would prove to be the major limitation for the release, since they were out of money now and could only afford to press 200 copies of the 7". Distributed in Texas and locally on the east coast, "Shot Out" would be the only release from The Pinch. UNTIL NOW! Re-mastered for the first time on 12" vinyl, this 80s funk masterpiece is finally back on wax.

Brass Horizon only ever had one effort put out onto vinyl. The much sought after "We want to play" on the Minda Mark label. Currently commanding big bucks on the collector’s scene. The single also made it onto Keb Darge's Deep Funk LP. Now Super Disco Edits has dug deep again, and unearthed some killer tracks by the band. Brass Horizon were heavily into the Bay Area sound of the mid 70's and especially Tower of Power. The first recording to come to light from these dusty sessions is this one off studio mic take, introducing the band. Fully 6 mins long, we have trimmed it down, so it gets a 45 release. Part 1&2. polish your headspin hat, and hear all the components of the band, horns, keyboards, and last but not least a big arse drum break!! Beware you b-boys out there!

Stix Recordings rounds up all those essential Mato 7" anthems onto this extended player, with all the cuts remastered for the occasion! Includes two unreleased hits featuring Blackstreet (No
Diggity) & Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre (The Wash). Woopiwoop, that's the sound of reggae-hip hop perfection!

Attention: the sticker says "incl. booklet", but there's no booklet inside!

Now-Again Records is proud to present "Back From The Brink", the only legitimately licensed collection of the godfather of Iranian psychedelic rock, Kourosh Yaghmaei. Known within the Iranian diaspora simply by his first name, Kourosh’s Pre-Revolution recordings were thought lost after Islamic fundamentalists took control of Iran. They weren’t: Kourosh had protected them – along with key ephemera from the 70’s. Their collection here - spread over a 3-LP - bolstered by Kourosh’s first person recollections of Iran’s 70s rock scene and its death after the Revolution, tells the story of an immensely talented artist’s desire to persevere in the face of terrible adversity.

Limited edition for Record Store Day 2016!

DaM-FunK is the kind of guy who seems like he’d make great company: laid-back, affable, personable. But to truly get the guy, to really understand him, is to know a deep love of music like no other. Dam’s contribution to the DJ-Kicks series gives you an opportunity to do just that. It’s a snapshot view into the mind of the pioneer of Modern-Funk music… DJ-Kicks invites you to get to know the man behind the shades.

Dam makes a lifetime of digging and absorbing music that feels as laid-back as the Santa Ana breeze. Years ago, he coined the term ‘Modern Funk’ to give context to his music. The elements of the synth-heavy and multi-layered style are gloriously displayed on DJ-Kicks. “Modern-Funk is a combination of all the sounds on the mix,” he explains. “Funk, Boogie, Electro, House, Modern-Soul, Ambient tones… a push and pull of nostalgia and progressiveness…”

At a satisfying 19 songs, DâM-FunK’s DJ-Kicks lets grooves breathe. This is a mix to happily get lost within; a document in vibe. Unexpected contemporary joints mingle with lost gems from unlikely places. The exclusive DâM-FunK production “Believer” makes its debut on DJ-Kicks, an extensive instrumental composition that on it’s own could only be classified as signature Modern-Funk. The mix also includes Dam’s excellent collaboration with Nite Jewel, as ‘Nite-Funk,’ on “Can U Read Me?”

Khun Narin’s Electric Phin Band initially caught the ears of music enthusiasts via a YouTube clip posted to the Dangerous
Minds blog in 2013 with the caption “Mindblowing psychedelia from Thailand”. Helped by some interpreters at his local Thai
restaurant, sound engineer Josh Marcy travelled to a small village near Lom Sak to record the band professionally. The
result was their eponymous 2014 debut.
The music Khun Narin’s Electric Phin Band plays is called phin prayuk. A phin is a 3-stringed lute, on which the band uses
a string of BOSS effects pedals, including a phaser, distortion and digital delay. The ever-rotating cast of members spans
several generations of musicians who play on hand-made instruments and take special pride in their custom mobile PA
system: an imposing tower of 8 loudspeaker horns atop a huge bass cabinet. A standard engagement sees them
performing during morning rituals, playing several low-key sets from the comfort of plastic lawn chairs. After a mid-day
banquet, they lead a parade through the community to the local temple, picking up more and more partiers along the way.
A fan of their casual yet participatory playing environment, Marcy returned to Lom Sak in early 2015 to record more. II
features covers of traditional Thai pop songs, introduces some new players including new phin players Aob and Bas while
retaining some members of the old guard

Hot on the heels of their release, Crush, funk futurists Lettuce return with Mt. Crushmore, a collection of tracks that are easily some of the finest they have produced. The seven-track effort includes a mix of new songs and b-sides from the band’s Crush sessions. Though a majority of the material on their new EP is from the Crush sessions, that speaks more to the amazing quality of that album than it does to the strength of the material here. In fact, with a focus on their spacier and more open and experimental facets, this will quickly become one of the most beloved parts of the band’s already impressive catalog.

Original founding members of New England's premier reggae band, The I-Tones; Jon Gorr (Keyboardist), Tony Allen (Drummer), and RAM (Vocalist) released their side project "It's No Lie" in 1983 on Massmedia Records.

The first ever retrospective in the west of one of Japan's guitar pioneers, Takeshi Terauchi. Charting his career from the surf boom, to groovy 60s instrumentals, fuzz freak-outs and funk rock.

The Fenoms return to burn on Fraternity with a pair of hard-edged, break-heavy instrumental jams. "Shakem" on the A-side marries a classic b-boy get-down drum and bass groove with an exotic horn line that touches on vintage Ethiopian funk. Throw in some bongos and wah-wah guitar and you've got a dancefloor sureshot. "Mile 187" on the flip goes hard as well, with a fuzz guitar riff that adds a psych feel to the proceedings. An eerie synth lead sneaks in like a nastier Funky Worm, all leading to another crushing drum break. Another killer double-sider from Fraternity Music Group and the funky Fenoms!

Fame Records was an off shoot of the renowned FAME Studio, and this special vinyl-only compilation looks at the very best of the label’s work during its first four years.

Helmed by owner Rick Hall, aided and abetted by his team who included Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham and the Swampers house band, this LP collects together some of the very finest music from the birth of southern soul.

The LP features hits by Clarence Carter and Jimmy Hughes, Northern soul classics from James Barnett and Art Freeman, recordings by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham as well as a plethora of cuts appearing on vinyl for the very first time.

Two albums in a single sleeve with two lavishly illustrated inner bags including extensive notes.

Billy Hawks’ second album "Heavy Soul" is an organ-heavy mod R&B masterpiece. It included club classic ‘O'Baby (I Believe I'm Losing You)’, as well as three other floor-fillers; ‘You've Been A Bad Girl’, ‘Whip It On Me’' and ‘What More Can I Do?’.

The beautifully packaged EP is designed in the London Records / Decca style and showcases the two known photographs of Billy. These were provided by the organ-playing singer's brother Leroy in 2014. Until this point almost nothing was known about Billy.

A native of Richmond, Virginia, he based himself in Philadelphia and his trio worked up and down the Eastern seaboard. He was discovered playing in one of the endless clubs and lounges that existed at the time and made his first album for Prestige, “The New Genius Of The Blues”, in 1966; “Heavy Soul” followed a year later.

Produced by Cal Lampley at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Englewood Cliffs, both ‘You've Been A Bad Girl’ and ‘What More Can I Do’ are appearing on 7- inch for the first time.

West Coast singer Lynn Varnado is known for her northern soul masterpiece ‘Wash And Wear Love’. The record is so expensive that its flip, ‘Tell Me What Is Wrong With The Men’, rarely gets the exposure it truly deserves.
To make this release irresistible we have added the sister funk masterpiece ‘Staying At Home Like A Woman’, which makes its 7” debut here.

Louisiana-based singer Camille “Lil” Bob was one of the most successful R&B stars of southern Louisiana. His recordings for Goldband, La Louisianne and ANLA are the highest quality soul and funk.
These sides have caused a storm on discerning dancefloors. ‘Stop’ is an incendiary cover of the Howard Tate number, whilst our flip is a 100 miles-per-hour slice of hardcore funk.

Two of the classic floor fillers from the Acid Jazz age released on 7” single for the very first time. Pianist Mabern’s take on the Jackson 5’s US #1 is propelled on a non-stop rhythm courtesy of Idris Muhammad and fiery trumpet from Lee Morgan.

‘Sister Janie’, clearly influenced by James Brown’s ‘Sex Machine’, is as funky as jazz ever got. This Indianapolis group show why they are so highly rated by DJs everywhere. A 33 1/3 rpm release.

This 45rpm by Nicola Conte anticipates the Schema Records 2-lp reissue of his 2011 album “Love & Revolution”, a diverse and modern jazz album that has never been released on vinyl until now. It includes two of the most significant tracks and the main ingredients of the entire work: the soul of “Do You Feel Like I Feel” and the Latin-jazz of “Ghana”. Both tracks are further embellished by Magnus Lindgren’s arrangements and, in particular, by the voice of Gregory Porter, here still at the beginning of his career and therefore recognised by Nicola Conte himself as a rising star of the contemporary vocal jazz scene.

We are both proud and excited to present this highly sought after early 80's gem, originally created as a showcase project for young artists and composers by a community music organisation in Texas.

Originally referred to as the 'Pop Music Lab', the Peoples' Workshop was formed in 1976 at Texas Southern University as a space for students to compose and perform, free from the constrains of Western classical music education.

Swiftly gathering momentum, in 1980 the organisation was granted non-profit status and in 1983, moved off the TSU campus. The Workshop has since grown in size and scope, becoming the first Black-founded organisation to present shows in major performance venues around the Greater Houston area.

Houston Talent Expo '82 features original compositions by members of The Peoples' Workshop, performed exclusively by musicians from Houston. The songs vary in style, but remain centered around gospel, funk and soul; music and lyrics with a powerful positive message. Many of the artists featured remain active today around the world, working with such acts as Alice Coltrane and The Charles Mingus Band among others.

Houston Talent Expo '82 comprises a truly special collection of songs born from the struggle, true to the spirit of togetherness that underpins The Peoples' Workshop, written and performed by astonishing young talents.

Betty Harris’ The Lost Queen of New Orleans Soul collects together the steady stream of amazing soul and funk singles issued by Betty Harris from 1964 to 1969, under the musical guidance of legendary composer, musician and producer extraordinaire Allen Toussaint, a collection which truly captures the heart and soul of the city of New Orleans during this era.
Betty Harris’s powerful, fiery soulful vocals found a perfect accompaniment with the New Orleans’ players that Toussaint put together to back her, which by the time of her funk classic ‘There’s A Break In The Road’ were the legendary super-tight, super-funk New Orleans group The Meters.
With the extraordinary song-writing skills of Allen Toussaint alongside the powerful, soaring, confident and emotive singer and the groove of The Meters, you have an unbeatable combination. That Harris never in fact lived in New Orleans (she flew in from Florida for all her sessions with Toussaint’s local in-house players) seems almost an irrelevance, a geographical aside to the defining New Orleans sound captured on the recordings featured here.
All of these singles featured here were released on Allen Toussaint and his business partner Marshal Sehorn’s local New Orleans label Sansu, widely distributed in the southern city but in only limited quantities elsewhere. As a consequence, Betty Harris’ music failed to achieve the commercial success of other New Orleans artists such as Lee Dorsey (who she recorded with) and The Meters (who backed her). And so at the end of the decade she stopped recording, retired from the music business to raise her family in Florida.

Followers of soul music might have a pang of recognition on reading the name Frierson. That was the surname of Wendy Rene, whose work was collected into the 2012 LITA anthology "After Laughter Comes Tears", and indeed, Johnnie Frierson is Wendy's brother – a fellow member of her mid-'60s Stax four-piece The Drapels. "But Have You Been Good To Yourself" will come as a surprise to anyone expecting more of the beat-driven R 'n' B Johnnie and his sibling produced – including that compilation's much-sampled title track. A mix of spoken word and gospel songs laid down direct to cassette, these ultra-rare home recordings draw from Johnnie's religious upbringing and his history in the music business, which was interrupted in 1970 when he was sent to fight in Vietnam. Crate digger Jameson Sweiger found Have You Been Good To Yourself and a companion album, Real Education, released under the name Khafele Ojore Ajanaku in a Memphis thrift store, but it was noticeably Frierson's work. They hadn't made it far – they would originally have been sold at corner stores and music festivals in the Memphis area, where Frierson continued to perform and host a gospel radio show, all the while working as a mechanic, laborer and teacher.

The seven songs on Have You Been Good To Yourself are overtly religious; some, such as “Out Here On Your Word,” are strident and faithful; others, like the self-questioning “Have You Been Good To Yourself,” are more meditative. They reflect the difficult situation that Frierson was in when recording, shell-shocked from his time in the military and grieving the untimely death of his son. "He was really trying to find his way," remembers Frierson's daughter Keesha in Andria Lisle's liner notes. "And writing and making music were a way out for him."

The album is now remastered and released professionally for the first time, the message spread by Frierson – who passed away in 2010 – remains undimmed.

Cosmic Chronic Records, in association with Peoples Potential Unlimited & Gangster Groove America, proudly announces Psychic Mirrors' debut LP, "Nature of Evil." Remastered for 2020 and available for a limited time..