International Hip Hop Vinyl 300 Items

Jahmal Padmore’s debut solo album, Esparonto, arrives via Telephone Explosion Records on May 28th, 2022. Padmore has been honing his producing, songwriting, and drumming skills since 2007, working with artists like Mstrkrft, The Carps, Just John and Brendan Philip. This extensive studio & collaboration experience has primed Jahmal for a standout debut, one that encompasses the diversity of his past musical work. Esparonto is a stunning collection of ten post-Afropunk R&B tracks that are languid, sexy and wry.

There is an undeniable sense of self-reflection that runs throughout Esperanto. Lyrics about distant regrets, ego detachment, and unconditional self-love are reoccurring, sung through Padmore’s signature lyrical croon. “... I can’t give you the things you need, without forsaking a part of me,” sings Padmore in the chorus of album opener Sorted, perfectly encapsulating the overarching vibe of Esperonto. Guitarist Benja’s foggy haze of abstract jazz chords provide a welcoming and warm atmosphere required for such deep contemplation.

Esperonto kicks it up a notch on the more hip hop-leaning tracks. Operator (ft: Matthew Progress), Ingestion (ft: Keita Juma) and Pretty are all rife with energy, with the latter taking the cake as the song most likely to be stuck in your head for the next 10 months, at least! The classic combination of a sample pack-worthy beat and a massive chorus are at work here. The song begins with the lyrics “I can’t help it if god made me pretty,” setting the hook for a stadium-sized chorus where Padmore proclaims “My ego gets me high/My ego tells me who I really am.” A follower of spiritual guru Ram Dass, Padmore appears to be one step closer to his goal of enlightenment, and is not ashamed of it.

The album closes with “So Cold,'' its most delicate track and a perfect come-down after such tireless self-evaluation. The epic crescendo sees Padmore repeatedly announcing “I’ve lost myself.” It’s clear that he has shed some unnecessary facets of his personality and is ready to move forward. Recording at Telephone Explosion’s Studio Z, the trio of Padmore, Benja and OBGMs drummer/keyboardist Colanthony Humphries began with lengthy jam sessions which eventually became the cores of each track. Padmore plucked the most progressive bass and percussion

elements from the sessions and added samples to create Esperonto’s uniquely live aesthetic. The album was then mixed by Louis Cremades at House Of Balloons (The Weeknd) and mastered by Kevin McPhee at East End Mastering.

Esparonto’s title is drawn from the name of the constructed language that Polish ophthalmologist L.L. Zamenhof created in the late 1800s. On this album, Padmore constructs a musical language all his own, with songs firmly rooted in R&B that expand to include elements of jazz, ambient, house, hip hop and pop. After years of holding space for other artists and productions, Padmore’s thrilling debut is a clear proclamation from an artist who is ready to step out of the shadows and into his own light.

Steam Down have released an incredible new single ‘empower’, which is available now on Decca. It’s the first taste of the hugely influential London collective’s debut EP, ‘Five Fruit’, which will see a release on September 24th. After years of building a truly engaged community - and taking London’s melting-pot to the world’s stage - ‘empower’ marks a thrilling new musical chapter for Steam Down. Uplifting, urgent and emotive, the track affirms the power of the listener, the strength of collective hopefulness, and the textures of London’s inner-city subculture. Featuring the fast-paced verses of Tinyman and Afronaut Zu (alongside Theon Cross, who has played with Kano and Sons of Kemet), here is a sound that bridges grime with jazz, and turns it all into something unmistakably Steam Down.

Magical is a fusion of a dozen genres, where every song opens up like a Russian doll, splitting into real songs within the song. Hundreds of details are part of the different sonic worlds in which each song progresses. Magical is no doubt hard to decipher for very good musicians, but it’s easy to dance to for very normal people. Since the orchestral introduction of the first song your senses will be automatically taken on a journey between irony and sadness, emotional intensity and vibing, extreme nerding and introspection. Magical is a dream that, through sound illusion, makes you meditate on the meaning of life, death and love, three fundamental topics in the album lyrics. The album is a leap into a future where no tradition is missing. Just a perfect way to discover the surprising world of Ze in the Clouds.

Full album from rapper Mista monk produced by Inkswel - featuring super nice guests Illa J, Laneous, Reggie B, Colonel Red, People Without Shoes and Planetsel The son of a mixed-race Zimbabwean mother and white Australian father, Liam Monkhouse aka Mista Monk was born and raised in Katherine, a rural town in the Northern Territory, far from both his African roots and the urban environment most hip-hop evokes. But rap music spoke to the young Monk’s fledgling sense of a mixed race identity, with his hometown being a strange dichotomy of Ocker Aussie and Indigenous culture. These cultural crossroads and their broader implications have informed his lyrics for over a two decades now, culminating in his first solo hip-hop album 'Muti' with prolific producer Inkswel on production duties. Mista Monk represents these crossroads with rhythmic flows and conscious word-play illuminating his world view from the macro of humanity's ills to the miniature of personal identity with nods to fun off-the-cuff flows and cartoon-esque narratives making for a balanced spread of flavours to navigate the vivid sample driven soundscapes provided by Inkswel. He is the founding member of multi-cultural hip-hop band Culture Connect (circa 2000) and currently performs with Afro-Jazz outfit Black Jesus Experience; frequent collaborators of Ethio-Jazz star Mulatu Astatke. Bringing a definitive raw fire to live grooves, hip-hop and Afro-House, Monk brings 20 years experience on the mike and it shows in his commanding stage presence. No stranger to the club and festival circuit in Australia, Monk has held it down down under with artists such as Mista Savona, Digital Afrika, Ganga Giri, Monkey Marc, Combat Wombat, and Laneous amongst many others. Black Jesus Experience have appeared twice at Glastonbury (uk) , and Big Chill Festivals (uk), as well as Azgo (Mozambique) and Bushfire (Swaziland) Festivals during tours to Europe and Africa. Four trips to the motherland have featured numerous tours of Ethiopia with performances with Mulatu Astake at United Nations Africa HQ and solo shows in Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Ban vibes ala Kamaal Williams/ Baker Brown.. with raps from Cazeaux Oslo who is on the Stones throw quakers release, comes with Inkswel mix Cut from live jams at teverte collective’s own studio located in forest range, south australia, same old things is the collective’s first offering to the outside world. Featuring good friend and frequent collaborator, cazeaux oslo (so.Crates). Featuring a line up of 4 core members and a handful of frequent collaborators, tervete collective are a hip-hop and groove collective inspired by hip-hop greats like the soulquarians, j dilla, a tribe called quest and robert glasper, as well as the recent revival of the uk jazz scene.

Song credits: Drums - hamish scanlon Bass - cianan lee Guitar - jay fowkes Trumpet - dan isler Keys - andrew casey Vocals - cazeaux oslo

Limited edition of 250 hand-numbered copies on black vinyl.

Limited edition 2nd pressing of 200 copies on black wax!
Chill Terrific from V.N.P Crew and Yanbian finest Wootacc, rap in Cantonese and Mandarin. Sampling based still, synth-pop mind with modern taste.

Limited deluxe edition of 300 copies on black vinyl incl. all instrumentals!

After well-received collaborations with the likes of Philanthrope (Jazz Dialogue "Quintessenz Und Ihri Nuance") and Devaloop ("Hier & Jetzt!?"), Swiss MC Zaid teams up with one of the illest French beatmakers around, Parental of Kalhex fame. Lex (de Kalhex) provides a remix and Adlib Swayze is down for the cuts. Expect nothing but mellow and jazzy vibes with conscious lyricism.

Suisse made beats. Limited to 150 copies.

After the success of his previous releases, Amsterdam based Joe Kickass sets out to create a worthy follow-up to his ‘Mind Joe’ legacy. It’s been a long time coming but now his second full length album, ‘The Average Joe’ is finally here. Named in celebration of the millions of unique stories that make every individual the person they are, this record gives a little more insight into the man behind the mic. The past years leading up to this release have been somewhat of a rollercoaster ride, with a lot of things happening in Joe’s personal as well as artistic life. All of the different resulting emotions and contemplations are reflected in the diversity and maturity of his sophomore LP.

Besides crafting his own beats, Joe enlisted a small army of talented musicians to contribute to this album. From the nu-soul sounds and vocals of Sacha Vee, via the dusty warmth of Vinyl Frontiers to the boombap vibes of Polish veterans O.S.T.R. and DJ Haem, just to name a few of the influences and collaborators on ‘The Average Joe’. In addition, with trustworthy partners in crime Killing Skills as the executives, every track is produced into perfection. With this second LP, released on gold colored vinyl, Joe is taking Project: Mooncircle back to it’s legendary hip hop roots. The Average Joe kicks ass, indeed.