Search "nas+life+is+good" 1652 Items

LP | 2021 | US | Original (Awesome Tapes From Africa)

Release: 2021 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Recorded during the thick of the Covid lockdown, Kevin, Tony, & Eric hunkered down in their studio and turned their energy inward. With all live shows and future tours canceled, Brainstory had no other outlet besides their rehearsal space which had been converted into a makeshift studio. Stepping up to the obstacles of the moment, they recorded and produced an EP of brand new music. They were already highly skilled musicians two years ago, but time in the studio with Leon Michels producing Buck and playing alongside bands like Holy Hive and Chicano Batman had a profound effect on them. Their ears have developed, their ethos and their drive has matured, their musicianship is full-blown; hence the name of the EP, Ripe. Ripe is a seven song journey into who Brainstory are as people and as a band. They are lighthearted and fun but never anything less than dead serious about their artistry. In choosing to record a mostly instrumental record, they have departed from their 2019 debut Buck and are showing more of their Jazz roots. Ripe pulls from Jazz, Hip Hop, 70s Funk, 60s Soul, and life in Southern California in the year 2021. Kev's intro to the EP is a testament to their thing, his goofy and charming "let's go baby_.less go baby" is welcoming and fun and then "Scissors" drops - serious as can be. The first vocal number we hear is "Seasons", a song about maintaining through the challenges of 2020 that would make Roy Ayers proud. "Long Day" and "Rogers" are drenched in reefer and psychedelia and promise a moment away from reality if listened to in headphones. "Bye Bye" is another stone cold ballad from the group that is destined to be a staple in sweet soul sets around the globe. Ripe is a welcome ray of sunshine as we all shake off the darkness of 2020 and will hold fans over while they finish recording their full length sophomore album due out in 2022.

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Teno Afrika

Amapiano Selections

LP | 2020 | EU | Original (do you have peace?)

Release: 2021 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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The past five years have seen amapiano, South Africa's electronic music movement born in the townships of the country's Gauteng province, evolve from an underground sound to a nationwide mainstream staple. Even with its commercial success though, amapiano's DIY ethos has continued to disrupt music creation and distribution in the country. Most amapiano commercial successes today began their careers on cracked versions of production software like FL Studio, distributed their work through file sharing platforms like datafilehost and marketed it using social media pages they controlled and influenced. Amapiano Selections, the debut album by DJ and producer Teno Afrika, gives listeners outside the movement's online release economy an insight into the high-burn nature of amapiano that has spawned a distinct typology under its larger umbrella. Twenty-one-year-old Lutendo Raduvha has spent the bulk of his life moving between different townships on the outskirts of Johannesburg and Pretoria in the Gauteng province. The palette of amapiano styles on the album reflect these influences. But at first, South Africa's youngest electronic music movement lived underground with a small, loyal following. "Amapiano is a genre that I chose because I have a passion for it," says Teno "I started following amapiano in 2016 because I wanted to explore how it's produced. It was not taken seriously in our country." Interestingly, Teno Africa only gives vocals prominence on the closing track "Chants of Africa." As a way of making their music recognizable and relatable for broadcast, amapiano producers have sometimes overly relied on vocals in the form of singing, catch-phrases and party refrains for the purpose. "It was my decision not to use vocals on this project," says Teno "The reason is I wanted people to feel my instrumentals and style because this is my first album." On his closing track the young producer gives a glimpse of the considered approach to music which buoys anticipation for greater things from his future releases.

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Jabu

Sweet Company

Tony Allen hits with Afrika 70

Release: 2020 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Sweet Company Is The Second Album By Jabu. Where Their First Lp, Sleep Heavy, Was An Unflinching Exploration Of Grief, Dark And Disembodied, Sweet Company's Deep, Sedative Soul Feels Like More Of A Lovers' Outing: Optimistic, Becalmed, Looking Outwards As Well As Inwards, And Longing For The Kind Of Human Connections Where Ego And Self-Consciousness Might Dissolve. It Is Perhaps Also An Exhortation To Love And Accept Yourself, To Recover A Lost Innocence And Peace - That Paradise Which Has Always Been Lost. Released Via Their Own Do You Have Peace? Label, Sweet Company Is On The One Hand A Very Intimate And Private-Sounding Work - The Sound Of Life Played Out In A Room, A Bubble, A Home, A Head. The Rhythms Of Everyday Domesticity: Listening To The Plants, Cars In The Street, Voices Through The Wall_. Going To Work, Not Going To Work, Sleeping Heavy Or Not Sleeping At All. Wavering On The Brink Of A Revelation, Of Something Just Beyond The Material World, While You Wait For The Kettle To Boil. The Core Jabu Trio Of Producer Amos Childs And Vocalists Jasmine Butt And Alex Rendall Is Present And Correct. Sweet Company Has The Exhilarating Sweep And Confidence Of A Collaboration Between People Who Trust And Understand Each Other Implicitly, And, Secure In That Knowledge, Are Able To Give The Absolute Best Of Themselves To Us. As Before, Jasmine's Voice Is A Textural, Painterly Instrument, Layered And Blurred Into Abstraction, Resisting The Limits Of Language; The Songs She Sings On Are Portals Into Vast Internal Landscapes Where The Normal Rules Of Gravity Are Suspended, Every Sound Is Smothered In A Cathedral-Like Resonance, And You're Both Fearful And Hopeful That You Might Never Find Your Way Back Out Again. Alex Takes A More Narrative, Confessional And No Less Engaging Pop Tack: As On The Gauzy, Decelerated 2-Step Of 'Lately', With His Masochistic, Self-Mocking Entreaties To "Be Cruel To Me [_] I Like It When You Make A Fool Of Me". Childs Has A True Hip-Hop Fiend's Ear For A Striking Sample, And How...

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Jealousy

LP | 1975 | EU | Reissue (Comet)

LP | 2019 | EU | Original (Awesome Tapes From Africa)

Release: 1975 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Comet Records presents the Tony Allen & Africa 70 reissue series with the classic late seventies first four solo albums of Tony Allen remastered and restored: Jealousy, Progress, No Accomodation for Lagos & No Discrimination, all coming in an heavy Deluxe Tip-On Jacket. Recorded with Afrika 70 at the height of their power as Fela Kuti’s band, these are seminal recordings in the pantheon of Afrobeat history. Once again, Comet Records has the opportunity to shine a light on the sheer musicality and originality of the humble drumming giant. Tony Allen’s passing in April 2020 sent a shockwave across the world, as fans and collaborators from Lagos to Brooklyn and everywhere in between mourned the loss of a generous and powerful being, the kind of being we thought would live forever. Thankfully, we have the gift of Tony’s timeless music, starting with these four special solo albums, through which his musical voice guides our dancing feet and full hearts forever. Produced by Fela Kuti in 1975, Tony Allen’s first solo album with Afrika 70, Jealousy, is like the man himself: light on its feet yet deeply settled, spacious yet bursting with magical talent. On the title track “Jealousy” Tony is joyously in his element, conducting one of the mightiest bands in the world - he is the head chef, and the band is cooking. The second track, “Hustler” features one of the most iconic solos in drumming history, a rare glimpse into Tony’s gift of musical phrasing - it is possibly the best example of Tony’s ability to literally speak through his beloved drumset. Tony Allen possessed magic within him, which he spent his entire life sharing with us through his drumming hands, tapping feet and generous heart. That magic is ever-present and strong on these formative solo albums - they are must-haves for Afrobeat fans across the globe.

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Antoinette Konan

The Harlem Gospel Travelers

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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It makes sense that Antoinette Konan's eponymous album features nothing more than her ahoko on the cover. The deceptively simple traditional percussion instrument transformed Ivory Coast's Baoulé music scene when Konan deployed it against a roaring electrified backdrop of synth, bass guitar and drum machines. Released in 1986, the album is a veritable UFO of instrumental force and contemporary pop sensibility landing in a boiling pot of diverse, creative characters inhabiting Abidjan, Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire). Known as the "Queen of the Ahoko" among Ivorians, Konan single-handedly put the central-Ivorian instrument on the map when she gave it a 20th-century re-introduction. The three-piece wooden idiophone is handmade from a thin, ribbed, flexible stick, against which a smaller chunk of wood is rhythmically scraped. A hollow nutshell held in the non-scraping hand amplifies and manipulates the resulting overtones. Despite the ahoko's diminutive appearance, Konan and her powerful voice have remained at the forefront of Ivorian music for decades now, in an extremely diverse country_approximately 70 indigenous languages_with a competitive, internationally-recognized music industry.Music plays an important role in Baoulé cultural life, heard and seen in festivities, funerals and more. They are the largest ethnic group in Côte d'Ivoire and descend from Akan peoples who migrated from present-day central Ghana. Baoulé vocal music is characterized by polyphony, melodies built on parallel thirds and call-and-response. All of this can be heard in Konan's music. Konan's fingerprints are all over Antoinette Konan, she says, as it was meant to be a highly personal recording. She wanted to portray the suffering, injustice, frustrations, humiliations, personal career struggles, experience of child birth and poverty she sees in society. Taking on the producer role for the first time, Konan was the architect of her dancefloor-ready neo-traditional sound. But crucial to the recording was arranger Bamba Moussa Yang. A creati...

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He's On Time

LP | 2019 | EU | Original (Colemine)

Otis Junior & Dr. Dundiff

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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The Harlem Gospel Travelers are not from Harlem. They came to Harlem, however, from far-flung corners of the five boroughs of New York City, and it was in Harlem, that legendary center of African-American culture, that they found their voices. As members of the music education program Gospel For Teens, these young men spent many hours on the subway or the bus to ultimately end up at an unassuming brownstone on W. 126th Street. They walked through the red door at the parlor level, the one with the cross on it, and inside they found a world of music. Gospel music. As their teacher, my job was less to impart information, and more to show these talented young men what they already knew. They already knew how to sing, that much was obvious, but it was here that they learned what their voices could really do and how to use them. We listened to the music of the masters: The Soul Stirrers, The Swan Silvertones, The Violinaires and The Swanee Quintet, and these young men, really boys at the time, soaked it all in. They quickly moved from imitation to creation, writing their own songs and building original arrangements of traditional material from the ground up. They honed and tightened their harmonies. They learned when to shout and when to whisper. What you have before you is the distillation of all their hard work -- the first full-length album from The Harlem Gospel Travelers. Each member of the group gets a chance to lead here, and each gets to showcase his unique and individual voice. Their styles are already fully formed at such an early age (the youngest member is 18, the oldest just 21), and they use them here to great effect. Each song has a purpose, but the goal of the album as a whole is simple: to glorify the name of God and to sing His praises. We hope you like the music included on "He's On Time," but more than that, we hope it lifts up your spirit and brings you joy for years to come.

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Cool

LP | 2018 | EU | Original (Jakarta)

19,99 €*

7" | 2018 | US | Original (Soul Messin')

Release: 2018 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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„Cool“ is the second album by Otis Junior and Dr.Dundiff on Jakarta Records.

Otis and Dundiff both are originally from Louisville, Kentucky. They only met shortly before they released their first work together. Sometimes musicians take their time to find a formula, to carve out a way in which they create. Not those two. It was an instant creative connection, a artistic bond from the get go which makes them produce classic song after classic song. Otis once summarized their working approach like this: "As with our previous works, the concepts for the songs and album were born from Dundiff presenting me with broad ideas (instrumentals and titles) and allowing me to define them through my own perspective (with lyrics and melodies)“.

Dundiff's organic yet hard hitting productions compliment Otis Junior soulful timbre perfectly. Around 60% of the sounds on the album are played live while 40% are based on samples which shows how the music is created within two different musical birthplaces. the result is too Hip Hop to be Soul and vice versa but it is sitting very well in between these chairs.

When Otis Junior and Dr.Dundiff approach an album production they always try to establish an ongoing theme for the album. Their latest work deals with the concept of „Cool“ and the contemplations about what it means to “be cool” to others versus actually feeling cool, calm, and comfortable in life. Thereafter, the album follows a subtle growth towards the latter. Beginning with an overt contemplation on what it means to be cool, the first half of the album speaks from that insecure perspective. Becoming more sure as the album develops, it ends not with a contemplation on being cool, but whether or not people are perceived accurately at all.

The album’s artwork was done by Simone Cihlar who is also the driving creative force behind Anderson .Paak’s and Tom Misch’s visuals.

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Cookin On 3 Burners

Warning / The Jump Off

2LP | 2018 | EU | Original (BBE Music)

Release: 2018 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Australia’s hardest hitting Hammond Organ trio Cookin’ On 3 Burners release new single “Warning” featuring Kaiit the lead single from their new album Lab Experiments Vol. 2 available as a limited edition 7-inch single through our friends at Fat Beats. “Warning” is a collaboration with dynamic 19-year-old vocalist Kaiit who is running things on this punchy, hard hitting vocal banger. Hey you, yes you! Step back in line - didn’t you hear? Kaiit is “…not accepting applications at this point in time…” For the B side, strap yourself in for “The Jump Off.” Frenetic and funky with a nod to the vibe and energy of the JB funky 9th. This is one for the B-boys and B-girls WORLDWIDE - welcome to the Get Down from Down Under.
Here’s some vibes from the last Cookin’ On 3 Burners drop on Fat Beats. The Craig Charles Funk and Soul Show on BBC Radio 6 bestowed some funky love for lead single “Real Life Baby calling” it a ”Wonderful slice of bright, shimmering soul!” New York City heavyweights Wax Poetics are feeling “… a heavy breakbeat ?ip of the Metallica classic ‘Enter Sandman’, and an action-packed video to go with it…,” and French tastemakers Musiculture described the new CO3B release as ”Timeless soul....torrid heat!”
Since its inception in 1997, Cookin’ On 3 Burners has continuously evolved and branched out, bringing their strong trio sound to collaborations with a variety of artists. The 2016 meeting with French electronic wunderkind Kungs resulted in the Kungs vs Cookin’ On 3 Burners version of their classic soul track “This Girl” which saw substantial chart success worldwide, reaching #1 in Europe, #2 in the UK and was the worlds most Shazamed dance track of 2016. Get down to the future sound of yesterday with Cookin’ On 3 Burners.

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Gabriele Poso

Awakening

27,99 €*

LP | 2017 | EU | Original (Favorite)

Release: 2018 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Making his BBE debut in 2017 with compilation
album ‘The Languages Of Tambores’,
described by The Vinyl Factory as “ancestral,
evocative and visceral”, Italian multiinstrumentalist
Gabriele Poso returns to the
label with his new LP ‘Awakening’. Since his
debut album ‘From The Genuine World’,
released in 2008 on Osunlade’s Yoruba
Records, Gabriele has amassed an impressive
catalogue of solo work and guest appearances,
not to mention a hectic schedule of live
performances. Perhaps Gabriele’s most rounded
work to date; ‘Awakening’ captures an artist in
full bloom, examining a crossroads between
creative and personal paths.
“The birth of my eldest son Viktor caused me to
question my career in music and explore other,
more ‘secure’ options, but thanks to my wife I
quickly realised that to be different from your
neighbor doesn’t make you wrong. After all, in
this life, does anyone really have any security?
So actually Viktor and my family have become
my super power: they teach me to believe in
myself more then I ever did before. This album
is all about that realization; that Awakening.”
Encompassing Afro-latin, jazz, soul and dance
music elements, glued together by Poso’s
distinctive layered live percussion sounds,
‘Awakening’ is peppered with guest
performances and production touches from a
talented series of friends. As Gabriele puts it “I
like to surround my music with the people I love
and want to spend my time with.” A deeply
rooted and spiritual project, a few of the tracks
featured on ‘Awakening’ will be familiar to those
lucky enough to catch Gabriele Poso on tour
over the last 12 months; not least his reimagining
of the Roy Ayers classic ‘Everybody
Loves The Sunshine’. From the stunning cover
art by Elvira Gerardi which features Gabriele’s
first born son Viktor, to the special music
contained within, this album’s message is clear;
although as Gabriele succinctly points out: when
we talk about love, ‘words never work.’

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Al Sunny

Time To Decide

LP | 2012 | US | Reissue (Rvng Intl.)

Release: 2017 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Al Sunny is a young composer emerging from the French soul music scene. Soon after learning the guitar, he started composing and became involved in numerous projects and collaborations. Al has been influenced by pop, rock, and electronic music, always with a foundation in the “Black” and “Soul” sound.
During his conservatory studies, he refined his knowledge and confirmed his desire to write and compose. The will to establish himself on a solo project became stronger and stronger. He quickly discovered deep inside himself the music that he truly loves, inspired by artists such as Tim Maia, America, Al Green, and Al Jarreau. Thru his guitar, he gives birth to the majority of his compositions and always seeks to bring the melody of his songs to the forefront. During his studies he met musicians including Florian Pellissier, then professor at the conservatory and a confirmed pianist who worked on various projects such as Guts, Anthony Joseph, Florian Pellissier Quintet, and Shola Adissa.
It's then thanks to Florian that Al Sunny meets Pascal Rioux, founder and A&R of Favorite Recordings. Immediately seduced and impressed by his talent and the various demos that he listened to, Pascal invites the young musician to collaborate and produce an album within Favorite Recordings. Together they agree on a musical direction looking towards the West coast movement of the 70s and 80s. This direction includes influences like Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers, and Ned Doheny, of whom Al Sunny covers the classic “Get It Up For Love” on the new album.
With Time To Decide, Al Sunny shows us the premise of his music style, infused with Blue-Eyed-Soul, Pop and Folk. Written and composed by himself, it’s in close collaboration with Florian Pellissier that his songs came to life. Under the guidance of Pascal Rioux and Favorite Recordings, the production of this album ensures a sound and a final result worthy of the best classics of the genre.

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Pink Skull

Psychic Welfare

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (April)

Release: 2012 / US – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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"Psychic Welfare" was produced by Pink Skull and Jeff Zeigler (Kurt Vile, War On Drugs) between the band's Philadelphia studio and Brooklyn, NY. Contending with the seismic swells in both the macro and micro worlds around him, Grefe refracted the polluted waves in a fantastical fit to write the 13 songs of "Psychic Welfare". The album is a map of time and space portals in which the listener can navigate from the corroded corners of machinated life to boundless, amorphous space in mere seconds. Across the album's pull-out poster artwork for "Psychic Welfare" is a hand-scrawled poem by the late NYC sage Ira Cohen entitled "Blind Assemblage". In the poem, Cohen describes the decay of society and struggles to find civility within tragedy, a sentiment mirrored in Grefe's lyrical content of Psychic Welfare, if not masked by a new found pop propensity. The lead track on the album, "Hot Bubblegum," a Television-inspired piece of pop perfectly pushes this dichotomy of psychotic playfulness. "Mu" is a sprawling instrumental spread of blissed-out 80s funk, complete with a tin rooftop sax solo by Billy Dufala (Man Man). "Janine Aubergine" fictionalizes Grefe's girlfriend's bluegrass fiddle-playing aunt as a psychedelic maven over a tango groover, while "Bee Nose (Put Yr Face On)" is a woozy, hazy late-night phone call from the warped Scottish countryside circa 1998. "Summer Reading" feels like a Transformer-era Lou Reed bullying Mark E. Smith around a disco bouncey castle. Tracks from Psychic Welfare were remixed by Brassica, Higamos Hagamos, Ray Mang, and Worst Friends. Each of these remixes will be released as single support and included alongside additional original tracks as bonus downloads. The artwork of Psychic Welfare is taken from a a series of visual synth feedback experiments conducted by the band and video artist Adam Carrigan. The LP edition features a 48" x 96" heavy-stock pull out poster.

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Lis Wessberg

Twain Walking

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Ellas Rugen)

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Leading Danish trombonist Lis Wessberg is grounded by the concept that a strong melody, and a rich sound are the two most important elements in composition and performance.A continuation of the refined contemporary answer to the"Cool Jazz" sound she"s been cultivating for the past 30 years, her sophomore album"Twain Walking" is set to release on April 12th onApril Records.With more than50 album credits to her name, and having performed and toured with renowned artists including Marilyn Mazur, Fredrik Lundin, Joyce Moreno, Kid Creole & The Coconuts, Ernie Wilkins Almost Big Band feat. Randy Brecker, and more, 2021 saw the release of her debut album "Yellow Maps"to critical acclaim from all around Europe.Diving deep into the personal exploration of her creative roots, "Twain Walking"hails from the warm vitality of New Orleans jazz, to the reflective hum of the ECM sound, and the boundary pushing songwriting of Radiohead.With a respectful nod to her influences such as Miles Davis, Curtis Fuller, Danish Erling Kroner, and Palle Mikkelborg, Wessberg operates within thetraditions they established. However, resisting producing a mere echo of the past, she cultivates her owndistinctaesthetic inspired in equal parts by her heroes as well as contemporary zeitgeist.Led by Wessberg"s dynamic trombone playing, her breathlike approach to the instrument mimics a lamenting human voice singing intricately lyrical melodies. Rock inspired drum grooves, thick synth timbres, and cavernous reverbs craft an expansive and dream-like contemporary soundworld in which Wessberg"s thoughtfully crafted compositions can unfold. From spacious,Nordic ballads todance floor psychedelia, the ensemble tackle all ten varied compositions with confidence, maturity, and a dedicated sense of self-expression.Featuring Estonian rising star Karmen Roivassepp on vocals, her effortless soloisticcontributions explore lyrical themes of recognising the beauty in love in life, elevating the record"s melancholic and reflective...

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Lucha Reyes

Remenbranzas Volume 1

33,99 €*

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Petrola 80)

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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By 1973, Lucha Reyes had already reached the peak of her career, and that summer she gets invited to perform in Chicago and at the renowned Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan. She still does not know that she will have to quit the stages forever that year, at the request of her doctors, who see her body deteriorating due to diabetes. But she now feels like an Ella Fitzgerald or a Nina Simone whose voice has acquired an unquestionable weight. Now she is listened to with respect and attention both in working-class alleys and in renowned theaters of the world. Her triumph in music comes at a time of Afro-Peruvian culture visibility in Peru and in the world, prompted, in part, and from the arts by the siblings Nicomedes and Victoria Santa Cruz.Lucila Justina Sarcines Reyes was born on July 19, 1936, in the Rímac district. Lima, which had just mourned the death of the emblematic composer Felipe Pinglo two months earlier, was a city on the verge of modernization that clung to its colonial and racist ways. Having been born black marked a difficult path in her life: after the father's premature death and a fire that left her and her 15 siblings homeless, she takes the streets to financially support her mother, and at 5 years old learns to sing in bars while begging for money in the port of Callao. After being admitted to a Franciscan convent and studying only until the third grade of primary school, now a teenager, she returns home, but suffers an attempt of rape by her new stepfather; she is forced to move to the central neighborhood of Barrios Altos, to live with her uncle, a guitarist from the legendary Guardia Vieja, also known as the founders of the Peruvian criollo waltz. This group of non-professional musicians, made up of bricklayers, merchants, artisans, marble workers and other employees, prolonged the oral traditions of their African slave ancestors in working-class neighborhoods of the capital. While the wealthy reject the music of their peons, which they associate with alcohol and disorder,...

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Lyra Valenza

Low Gear No Pressure

Maleem Mahmoud Ghania & Pharoah Sanders

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Lyra Valenza set the tone for their first full-length album ‘Low Gear No Pressure’ with an idyllic ambience, which then tumbles into feisty, heartfelt dance workouts. Across eight tracks, the Danish duo explore the pixellated euphoria of their previous ‘Scan, Deliver’ and ‘Nightshade Edition’ EPs with a more focused sensitivity. At the start of 2020, Lyra Valenza had been freshly nominated by music platform Shape. With the pandemic in hand, however, plans changed: instead of playing a slew of festivals, the duo spent weeks in a summer house in rural Sjælland, right at Denmark’s North Eastern coast, making early versions of the tracks in this album. ‘Low Gear No Pressure’ refers to the unusual calmness of that time, away from music industry stress and burnout; inspired by friendship. More than previous EPs, the album is shaped by the duo’s live set, which they’ve been performing in Denmark and Europe for many years now. The album breezes through different modes with confidence and ease, tracks morphing fluidly into one another to create a cohesive listening experience. A cool, expansive breakbeat on track two, ‘True Computer’, hints at the psychoactive journey to follow. ‘Truthwork’ plays with arps over a half time groove: subtle synths which reach their final form in ‘Joy Divided’. These agile swells and drops recall peers-in-precision Minor Science and 96 Back. On the flip, ‘Gameshow’ looks back over one shoulder to eurodance, while ‘Life on the Line’ goes out to the soulful junglists, but with a touches of trance in the samplework. On ‘Who Might Win’, the album’s ecstatic hyperactiveness melts into a slo-mo heartbeat, reminding us there’s a chillout room somewhere in the building. And just when we think it’s time to go home, the album gifts us with “one more tune”, and the soaring pop vocals of featured artist Saltmother on ‘Stretch Your Arms’.

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The Trance Of Seven Colors

2LP | 2019 | EU | Reissue (Zehra)

27,99 €*

LP+7" | 1971 | JP | Reissue (P-Vine)

Release: 2019 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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2024 Repress. A download code is included. Available on vinyl for the very first time: “The Trance Of Seven Colors” by master Gnawa musician Maleem Mahmoud Ghania and free jazz legend Pharoah Sanders. Produced by Bill Laswell and according to The Attic “one of the most important albums of Gnawa trance music released in the ‘90s”. Originally released in 1994 on Bill Laswell’s Axiom imprint, “The Trance Of Seven Colors” is the meeting of two true musical masters: Maleem Mahmoud Ghania (1951 – 2015), son of the master of Gnawa music Maleem Boubker Ghania and the famous clairvoyant and "moqaddema" A'isha Qabral, and a master of the traditional Gnawa style in his own right. Mahmoud learned this craft as a youth along with his brothers, walking from village to village, performing ceremonies with his father Boubker and was one of the few masters (Maleem) who continued to practice the Gnawa tradition strictly for healing (the central ritual of the Gnawa is the trance music ceremony – with the purpose of healing or purification of the participants). With 30 cassette releases of music from the Gnawa repertoire with his own ensemble and performances at every major festival in Morocco, including performing for the King in various contexts, Mahmoud Ghania was also one of Morocco's most prominent professional musicians. In 1994, Bill Laswell and Pharoah Sanders went to Mocrocco, equipped with just some mobile recording devices, to record Ghania and a large ensemble of musicians (to a good part family members) in a very intimate set up at a private house with the legendary free jazz musician contributing his distinctive tenor saxophone sounds that gained him highest praise as a truely spiritual soul right from the days of playing with John Coltrane and his wife Alice and on seminal solo albums like „Karma“. The aptly titled „The Trance of Seven Colors“ ranks among the best Gnawa recordings ever released, made it onto the list of “10 incredible percussive albums from around the world” by Thevinylfactory.com and is 25 years after its original CD release on finally available on vinyl!

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Roy Porter Sound Machine

Jessica Deluxe Edition

51,99 €*

Couldn't Stand The Weather 45RPM, 200g Vinyl Edition

Release: 1971 / JP – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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He wasn’t satisfied simply being a bebop legend!

Roy Porter spent the 40s and 50s playing with jazz pioneers such as Charlie ‘Yardbird’ Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and a young Eric Dolphy, quickly becoming a sought-out drummer in the blossoming bebop scene before disappearing from the music industry. After spending much of the 1960s silent, Roy Porter returned triumphantly with the release of ‘Jessica’ in 1971.

There’s no doubt that his early work in the bebop scene would alter the shape of jazz to come, but it’s his work with Roy Porter Sound Machine where you can really hear the iconic drummer let loose. Recorded at the age of 50, Roy Porter is no longer content to sit back and let others take the spotlight, and his drumming has all the fervent energy of a young drummer who just moved to New York. The title track and album opener, “Jessica” (supposedly written for his girlfriend at the time) quickly became a jazz-funk classic, making appearances on ‘Inner Feelings’ (1975) and ‘Generations’(1994). Throughout the album, Porter shows his incredible talent, whether it’s the downtempo cool swing of “Hip City”, the almost maniacal drum solo on “Drums for Daryl”, or the Jobim-inspired Afro-cuban “Ooh-La-La”. It seems implausible that this was Porter’s first recorded material in over a decade, and one of his first albums as a leader, but it is. With original pressings going for over a thousand dollars on the second-hand market, there’s no doubt that this record is worth its weight in gold.

With the LP reissued on clear yellow vinyl for the first time ever, this record has never looked this good! Combined with a 7” record containing a vocal version of “Jessica”, and a remix by the one and only Kenny Dope, this reissue has “Deluxe” written all over it. Don’t miss this legendary album, reissued for the first time on clear yellow vinyl with a 7” record, available only from P-vine Records!

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Stevie Ray Vaughan

2LP | 2016 | US | Original (Analogue Productions)

69,99 €*

Release: 2016 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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The 45rpm Analogue Productions reissue of Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Couldn't Stand The Weather" is so good, as are its 45rpm companions — "Texas Flood" and "Soul To Soul" — that they truly represent what Gregg Geller, producer and A&R representative described as »the best replication of the master tapes to date«"
We've already brought you the 33 1/3rpm box set "Texas Hurricane" featuring the greatest Stevie Ray Vaughan tribute ever reissued — six of Vaughan's most classic album titles remastered for ultimate blues and guitar fanatics. We've now taken the extra step and done 45rpm versions of these three standout LPs.
We've used the original 30 inches-per-second, half-inch analog master tapes for all of these albums. Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound cut the lacquers for the LPs using the ultimate VMS 80 cutting lathe. Gary Salstrom handled the plating and the vinyl was pressed of course at our Quality Record Pressings, maker of the world's finest-sounding LPs.
"Couldn’t Stand The Weather" is the remarkable sophomore album by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. It follows their critically acclaimed debut, "Texas Flood". Incorporating the same winning formula of musicianship and songwriting, "Couldn’t Stand The Weather" cemented Vaughan’s place as one of music’s greatest. It is their first to earn gold certification and their first platinum-seller. It includes breathtaking renditions of Clark’s “Cold Shot” and Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child”. A staple on the Billboard charts, this definitive masterpiece received praise from Entertainment Weekly, Q, Down Beat and many others.
There's not a link in this production chain that wasn't absolute first-rate. The absolute best that money can buy.
But beyond that we've poured our passion into this project. Acoustic Sounds is a big fan of the blues and Stevie Ray Vaughan. It's a big dream come true to work on this project and to make these records sound and look the best they ever have.

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Heta Jazz! Syouwa Senzen Inchiki Band 1929-1940

LP | 2023 | JP | Original (P-Vine)

31,49 €* 34,99 € -10%

Acabo Con Lima Huyo Pa Nueva York

Release: 2023 / JP – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Originally recorded on 78 rpm discs during the 1920’s, this collection of pre-war Japanese jazz contains some of the earliest recordings of jazz from Japan. Inspired by records brought into the country by US soldiers, Japanese musicians attempted to emulate the then hitherto unheard sounds of New Orleans - with varying degrees of success. Yet many of these records would be distributed, sold, and played at night clubs across the country; serving as the soundtrack to the early years of Japan’s Showa-era. These recordings certainly have historical significance, and as outdated as they may be, you won’t be able to stop yourself from tapping your foot. It’s no wonder that Haruomi Hosono has expressed his love for these records! Album opener “Sing me a Song of Araby” is a Japanese cover of the theme song from 1927’s The Garden of Allah. The song failed to chart in its native United States, but is perhaps one of the first examples of a song being ‘big in Japan’; quickly becoming a standard in musicians’ repertoires, with one record of the song selling over two-hundred thousand copies. In comparison, “My Blue Heaven” (written by Walter Donaldson) is a well established part of the American Songbook, and on this recording, an unnamed singer croons over a lopsided swing, interspersed with drum and out-of-tune piano breaks. These are classic songs of the Jazz age as you’ve never heard them before, but perfect if you want to transport yourself back to 1930’s Japan. Across 12 tracks, big bands play on cheap drums, and tinny horns, sounding like they could fall apart at any moment, but never doing so. These arrangements are charming in their simplicity, and with the limited recording technology that was available at the time, it’s better that way! You may not find any Ellingtons, Armstrongs, or Mortons on this album, but the love that these musicians had for the music is infectious, and you’ll find yourself smiling and nodding your head by the end of each song. Pressed on vinyl for the first time ever (records at the time were pressed on shellac), with modern remastering technology, this is as good as these records have ever sounded!

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Karamanduka Y Melcochita

LP | 2022 | EU | Original (Vampisoul)

Inner Feelings Deluxe Edition

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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This mega-rare 1969 album pays tribute to the Bronx and Brooklyn neighborhoods where young Latinos had invented the boogaloo a few years earlier. This record highlights the quality of Peruvian boogaloo and the talent of musicians such as pianist Otto de Rojas and percussionist Coco Lagos.First time reissue.In the mid-sixties, when young Latino musicians in New York fused Afro-Cuban rhythms with rock, soul and jazz, they had no idea that their boogaloo bang bang would reverberate just as strong and loud in a distant South American country.From 1955, La Sonora Macedo, took Cuban music to every corner of Peru, backed the leading musicians of the Peruvian tropical universe, such as Ñiko Estrada, Joe di Roma, the double bass player Pepe Hernández, and the trumpet players Tito Chicoma and Charlie Palomares. All diehard fans of Cuban music, always alert to any new artist arriving from the island.In the early sixties, light rock, doo-wop, ballads, Italian songs and bossa nova paraded across Lima's stages, making performances by Cuban bands, previously so frequent, a thing of the past. Moreover, the unanimous success of the Beatles from 1964 onwards, gave the impression that music from the English-speaking world would dominate the rest of the decade.But this was not the case. In large part because of Manuel Guerrero's good relations with U.S Latino labels, such as Alegre Records, which released the initial recordings by Johnny Pacheco and Charlie Palmieri, allowing listeners in Lima to follow the development of the salsa movement almost from the beginning.MAG was undoubtedly the best representative of these new sounds. In 1969, the LP "Acabo con Lima, huyo pa' Nueva York" was released on this label, a project which brought together three figures from Lima's show business world: Manuel Antonio Guerrero, owner and founder of MAG, who wasn't shy of joining in on the chorus and percussion during recordings, Pablo Villanueva "Melcochita", a multifaceted artist from a talented musical family...

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Roy Porter Sound Machine

LP+7" | 1975 | JP | Reissue (P-Vine)

51,99 €*

LP | 2020 | EU | Original (Vampisoul)

Release: 1975 / JP – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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He wasn’t satisfied simply being a bebop legend!

After spending the 40s and 50s playing with jazz pioneers such as Charlie ‘Yardbird’ Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and a young Eric Dolphy. After spending much of the 1960s silent, Roy Porter returned triumphantly with the release of ‘Jessica’ in 1971. Four years later, he followed that up with “Inner Feelings”. Listeners back then had to wait four years for the sequel, but you don’t have to wait at all!

The seven-man band, with its powerful horns and phat grooves, is no doubt worthy of the name ‘Sound Machine’ Praise has been sung of this record in and among rare groove circles for over three decades, with mere rumors of original copies being enough to cause collectors to begin salivating. Album opener, “Party Time”, begins with an almost mechanical drum break - a groove so tight, you just might think Roy Porter is a metronome. Jpegmafia certainly thought so, sampling the drum beat on “Free the Frail”. Fans of classic hip-hop may also recognize “Panama”, not just for its beautiful melody and iconic groove, but from DJ SPINNA’s hit-song “rock”. The re-recorded version of “Jessica” adds vocals and a touch of melancholy to the jazz-funk classic. It’s still danceable, but it might also make you stop and think for a second. Album closer, “Out on the Town Tonight”, takes the funk one step further, with an even larger horn section, and fiery solos. Yet throughout the whole album, the drumming remains steadily funky, a reminder that Roy Porter sits at the heart of the Sound Machine.

With the LP reissued on clear blue vinyl for the first time ever, this record has never looked this good! Combined with a 7” record containing a re-edit by the legendary DJ Muro, and the nearly impossible to find vocal version of “Panama”, this reissue is no doubt going to be legendary! Don’t miss this iconic album, reissued for the first time on clear blue vinyl with a 7” record, available only from P-vine Records!

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Alfredo Linares

Lo Que Tengo

12" | 2017 | EU | Original (Betino's)

Release: 2020 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Alfredo "El Inca" Linares Is One Of The Best And Most Beloved Musicians In The History Of Salsa. Fans Love His Piano Playing Because Of His Authentic Cuban Feel And 'Swing' Combined With Progressive Arrangements And Uncompromising Phrasing. "Lo Que Tengo" Is Full Of Rock Solid Dance Floor Killers And No Filler, Recorded In 1980 With Some Of The Cream Of The Crop Of Contemporary Venezuelan Salsa Musicians (Members Of Mango, Madera, El Trabuco Venezolano, Los Dementes, Los Melódicos, Dimensión Latina, Guaco, And La Salsa Mayor) And Launched There On The Indie Label A.L.G. Records As ¡Con Todo!, And Then A Year Later On The Much Larger Velvet Records With A Different Cover. This A Classic Alfredo Linares Album, But With The Updated Studio Sound Of 1980s Caracas. With Fiveperfectly Paced Salsas, One Funky Cha Cha Chá, A Steamy Bolero And A Dance-Friendly Latin Jazz Number To Top It Off, There Is Something For Everybody On This Record. Thankfully Today's Generation Can Now Enjoy This Rarity At A Fraction Of The Cost Of An Original Copy. Presented In Its Original Artwork And Pressed On 180g Vinyl. Good To Know:Alfredo "El Inca" Linares Is One Of The Best And Most Beloved Musicians In The History Of Salsa. Fans Love His Piano Playing Because Of His Authentic Cuban Feel And 'Swing' Combined With Progressive Arrangements And Uncompromising Phrasing That Puts One In Mind Of Eddie Palmieri. As A Composer, Arranger And Band-Leader Linares Is Highly Respected As Well. Ever Since The 1960s In Lima Peru When His Career Began, His Records Have Always Been On Point, Being Super Tight, Sharp, And Hard As Hell, What Salseros Call Salsa Brava Con Afinque. It's No Surprise That Lo Que Tengo Is Exactly That: Full Of Rock Solid Dance Floor Killers And No Filler, Played With Verve And Flair. Unlike Some Of His Other Records That Were Patched Together From Various Sessions Made In Different Studios (Sometimes Even In Several Countries!), This Album Has The Advantage Of Being Produced, Recorded And Mi...

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The Big Hustle

Afrorever

12,99 €*

Full Circle Blue & Purple Marble Vinyl Editoin

Release: 2017 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Betino's Records proudly presents its third release: an EP by the very sharp collective The Big Hustle. The band founded in 2014 by bass player and composer Sébastien Levanneur, brings together 70's old school funk with the hippest actual sound with influences spanning from Steely Dan to Snarky Puppy, from Mandrill to Lettuce and from Herbie Hancock (Manchild era) to Soulive. With mighty horn players, a rock and funky rhythm section, and percussions added to it, The Big Hustle’s music has a very large variety of sound landscapes. Still, the music never loses the groove and always stays close to the funk.
The A side opens with "Afrorever", a tribute to African culture and music. The guest of honor on this song is legendary Malian musician Cheick Tidiane Seck, longtime partner of Salif Keita, and collaborator of Joe Zawinul, Carlos Santana and Damon Albarn to name a few. After Cheick’s introduction, the songs jumps into a typical afrobeat vibe featuring a tight and powerful horn section, suddenly breaks into an electro funk groove and ends in a furious percussive party.
Second track on the A side is "Faure is the Magic Number". It is dedicated to Thomas Faure (co-composer of the track) and François Faure (both featured on this song on tenor sax and keyboards respectively). This piece displays the band’s ability to blend jazz-funk groove with a heavy hip-hop beat. Kind of DJ Premier meets Steely Dan.
The B side starts with "Afrorever (Sun's Up Mix)". Through this mix, one can acknowledge instantly Olivier Portal's touch. From the very first chords, he conveys us into his realm blending warm and melancholy keyboards with an old school deep-house rhythm pattern.
The fourth track is called “1, 2, 1, 2”. It is a purely improvised moment in the studio while the band was sound checking before recording with special guest rapper Raashan Ahmad. Nicolas Gueguen had the good idea to press the R button and what you hear is basically what happened afterwards.
Enjoy!

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Shigeto

LP | 2010 | US | Reissue (Ghostly International)

Teaspoon And The Waves Blue Vinyl Edition

Release: 2010 / US – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Thus far, Zach Saginaw's releases as Shigeto have been fragments, albeit singularly satisfying fragments -- EP-length glimpses into the Detroit producer's creative psyche. After filling two EPs on Ghostly International, Shigeto's lush, sumptuous take on instrumental hip-hop has fully materialized. Full Circle, the artist's first full-length album, completes the journey begun with Shigeto's Semi-Circle EP, synthesizing the drummer/producer's signature themes of family, continuity, and musical boundary-pushing into a vibrant, fully unified artistic statement.The sounds on Full Circle come from four years of obsessive field recording and collaboration. Saginaw brought his Tascam mini-recorder with him everywhere, capturing the "glasses, chains, breathing, children, family meals, monks singing in cathedrals, walks in the south of France, and good friends offering their musical skill" that would all find homes in the record's compositional nooks and crannies. As a result of Saginaw's constant documentation, the songs on Full Circle play like chapters in an ongoing story--as in "Escape from the Incubator", whose initial rhythmic claustrophobia opens up into a boom-clap nocturnal chase, or "French Kiss Power Up", whose romantic digital strut gives way to discord and fragmentation as the waves of synthesizer give way to a shaky, neurotic coda. Full Circle is framed by the "Ann Arbor" diptych, a pair of beat suites named after Saginaw's hometown (one featuring a sample of Detroit MC SelfSays), all double-thick synths and triple-strength kick drums. Saginaw plays the majority of his rhythms by hand, and Full Circle's consistently deep pocket is the record's secret weapon, thumping and breathing like a living being.Having set the stage with Semi-Circle and What We Held On To EPs--twin treatises on Saginaw's Japanese grandmother's escape from a US internment camp--Shigeto is clearly ready to draw the tale to a close and take center stage. "This release represents the end of the beginning--or perhaps that there is no e...

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Teaspoon And The Waves

LP | 1977 | UK | Reissue (Mr Bongo)

26,99 €* 29,99 € -10%

LP | 1974 | JP | Reissue (P-Vine)

Release: 1977 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Limited edition of 200 copies for the 2023 Summer of Jazz campaign, focused on South-African jazz.

Official replica re-issue of a South African jazz-funk rarity from Teaspoon & The Waves. Released in 1977 on Soul Jazz Pop, a subsidiary label of Mavuthela Music Company / Gallo, Teaspoon & The Waves’ self-titled album is an absolute masterpiece. Best known for the song 'Oh Yeh Soweto’, which is an astonishing adaptation of Lamont Dozier's anthem 'Going Back to My Roots', this track has become a contemporary underground club classic in recent times and has been featured in sets from a cross-section of DJs. With such a massive calling card song, it could be easy to write off the album as a typical one-tracker (like so many records often are), but that is a long way from the truth. Each of the remaining four tracks are super strong and, for us here at Mr Bongo, this has to be our favourite South African record of this era. 'Saturday Express' is a jazz-funk/disco stomper which will soon be lighting up dancefloors again. 'Wind and Fire' is true afro-jazz-funk excellence, with great spacey synths and reggae-inspired guitar grooves riding throughout. The opener, 'Friday Night’, also has a slightly reggae-tinged tropical groove, whilst 'Got Me Tight' finishes off the session with a feel-good jazz-funk workout that features cool, quirky, Patrick Adams-esque synths. Saxophonist Teaspoon Ndlela has had an amazing and rich musical career. Releasing albums on records labels Soul Jazz Pop, Hit Special, Gallo GRC, alongside working with and writing for South African artists such as Mpharanyana, Stimela, Sipho Gumede and Sgu. He also features on the Paul Simon track 'Gumboots' taken from the iconic 'Graceland' project. Though best known for 'Oh Yeh Soweto' we hope this re-issue helps demonstrate that there is much more magic in this wonderful musician's repertoire to discover.

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Phil Ranelin

The Time Is Now!

45,59 €* 47,99 € -5%

12" | 2023 | EU | Original (Live At Robert Johnson)

Release: 1974 / JP – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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After Motown left Detroit for Los Angeles in 1972, trombonist Phil Ranelin was largely left without work or direction, until he co-founded Tribe with Wendell Harrison later that same year. Two years after forming Tribe, Phil Ranelin would release his first album as a solo leader, The Time Is Now! The record contains all of the hallmarks of the best Tribe recordings: spiritual-leaning improvisations, soulful grooves, and appearances from Tribe regulars: Wendell Harrison, Marcus Belgrave, Reggie Fields, and more! The album opens with a 13 minute improvisation titled “The Time Is Now For Change”. As Ranelin , Belgrave, and Harrison exchange flurries of notes and squeaks over improvised chaos from the rhythm section, the group builds to a spiritual high that calls to mind the best Albert Ayler recordings. Bebop lines and unison phrases occasionally rise to the surface, offering a glimmer of familiarity in what is largely a harsh soundscape. Yet what sets Ranelin (and indeed, all of his Tribe contemporaries) apart from the larger free and spiritual jazz scene at the time is their sense of rhythm. Even as Harrison evokes sounds that would make a Meditations era Coltrane blush, the drums stay in time, and the looping bass and piano riffs take on an almost hypnotic quality, repeating quietly under a whirlwind of sound. Later tracks see the ensemble veer into soul jazz, and jazz-funk, with “Black Destiny” perfectly highlighting the group’s ability to meld the avant-garde with grooves that you won’t be able to stop yourself from tapping your foot to. Members of the Tribe were well known for their appreciation of African American popular music, and the influence of groups such as Sly And The Family Stone is clear in the song’s edgy rhythms and dense sound. This double LP reissue also contains alternate versions and outtakes that are so good you’ll be wondering why they were originally left out! With modern remastering, three bonus tracks, and an obi-strip, you don’t want to miss the definitive version of Phil Ranelin’s The Time Is Now!

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SIRS

Travel To Hdf Y3d

LP | 2022 | US | Original (Jalapeno)

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Welcome to another fine episode of SIRS aka »Sounds in real Stereo«! After last years' arrival on LARJ with his »Arrived EP«, Berlin based versatile DJ & producer Daniel Klein is back with »Travel To HDF.Y3D« - an utopian (or more likely dystopian) ode to space travel:

The last few remaining humans are traveling with 140bpm to the most distant galaxy in the universe on a mission to seek out a new space for mankind to live after many years of exploiting good old Mother Earth. What sounds like a horror scenario if you start thinking about it, SIRS manages to wrap up in quite a positive musical message. Thus »Travel To HDF.Y3D« becomes that hopeful uplifting slightly dreamy tune we all need these days - not unlike Christian Bruhn's theme of a certain Captain called Future back in 1980 …

It's also nice to have two more versions of such a strong tune at hand: The first one is a true first one for »Cocktail D'Amore« DJ BUDINO as she comes up with her first remix and production work ever. Budino's approach is a slightly darker, maybe indeed more dystopian one. The synthesizer bass lines dominate her remix and by getting rid of the original's playful melody she creates a very special melancholic feel.

Leipzig based PANTHERA KRAUSE's take isn't quite that different from Budino's as he too focuses on the darker vibes of this journey in space. It's his added extra dose of punch that surely will keep dancers on the floor for sure.

The former »Space Ibiza« resident SIRS now takes over the controls again with »Summer Desire« which too is destined to rule dancefloors not only in Ibiza but all over the world with its lovely airy vibe.

»Travel To HDF.Y3D« returns for one last time in form of the spoken word prolog - a nice extra tool to play with.

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Sam Redmore

Universal Vibrations

Brother Sister / Candlelight Hugo Lx / DJ Spinna Remix

Release: 2022 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Having established himself first as a DJ and then as a remixer, Sam Redmore is now very much making himself known as an original producer of quality global grooves that can light up any dancefloor, carnival or party.

After garnering early support for his remixes from the likes of Gilles Peterson, Quantic, Nightmares On Wax, The Nextmen, Lauren Laverne, Danny Krivit and Craig Charles, Sam has built a name for crafting soul-drenched remixes of the classics, with his army of fans eagerly awaiting every new re-work.

Signing to Jalapeno Records for his debut album of original material, Sam has kept the eclectic tastes of all his fans satisfied with a series of very different singles showcasing the wide range of styles he is known for - all picking up rave reviews and a very wide spread of radio support including Radio 1 / 6 Music / Radio 2 / Jazz FM / Worldwide FM in the UK as well as hitting Number 1 most added on US college radio charts (world).

The single Nagu in particular has become a mainstay on daytime 6 Music but each successive release has been finding new fans. From his killer cumbia covers (Tears / Just Be Good To Me) through to the afro-house exuberance of One More Time and leading neatly up to Just Can't Wait, an extremely soulful disco house floorfiller, this is an album with broad appeal both in the UK and overseas.

In the meantime, Sam has been honing his live shows throughout 2022, with festival bookers keen for a piece of the action. Boomtown, Wilderness, Green Man, Kendal Calling and a whole host of others have seen what the punters at Mostly Jazz, Funk & Soul Festival saw last summer, when Sam debuted his live show on the main stage of a key festival on the Saturday afternoon. Anyone who was there and saw the audacious 12-piece live ensemble playing their first show knew they were seeing something special.

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Cho & Random Impetus

12" | 2022 | EU | Original (Menace)

16,49 €* 21,99 € -25%

Blush White Vinyl Edition

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Straight out of New York, the debut 7 inch by Cho and Random Impetus was presented by Menace label and first released in the USA in July 2019. Featuring the two singles "Brother Sister" and "Candlelight", the EP is a powerful call to humanity. Previously released on vinyl, this project was directed by Japanese artist Cho and features local musicians. It was recorded in analog, giving the track a very old school vibe by utilizing jazz, funk, soul and disco melodies to create a rich 1970s-esque sound. "Brother Sister", is a feel-good modern disco that could easily pass as something from the heyday of the genre, and "Candlelight," another sure-shot tune is a funk groover with its jazzy horn harmonies and strong male vocals. Many DJs featured the 7 inch record during their sets shortly after its release, including Floating Points, DJ Muro, Richie Medina and many more... becoming a club anthem in New York City. The record also caught the attention of Paris-based French DJ Hugo LX, who is very close to the Menace collective and also a genuine funk and disco enthusiast. Offering a remix album for Cho and Random Impetus' 7-inch record seemed evident for him. He invited DJ Spinna, the renowned hip-hop and house producer from Brooklyn, as well as his long-time friend and collaborator, to join him on the project. This remixed record actually enters a cycle in Hugo LX's work, as he collaborates with Japanese artists on a yearly-basis, among others Satoshi Tomiie, Toshio Matsuura, Kuniyuki or Takecha. The Paris-NYC-Tokyo triangle is also key in his work: his music drew many influences from these cities. Hugo LX remixed the track "Brother Sister" in a style matching the soul, funk, and disco vibes of his DJ sets, with a more contemporary approach. As for DJ Spinna, he delivered a progressive version of the track "Candlelight": more electronic-sounding, it feels softly psychedelic

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Facta

LP | 2021 | EU | Original (Wisdom Teeth)

LP | 2021 | EU | Original (South Of North)

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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London-Based Record Label Wisdom Teeth Kicks Off 2021 With Something Close To Home: Blush - The Playful, Dynamic Debut Lp By Label Co-Founder, Facta. Recorded Unusually Quickly Over A Short Stint In Early 2020, The Record Is The Product Of A Period Of Refreshed And Unfussy Creativity. It's An Innovative And Distinctly Contemporary Album That Moves A Good Few Steps Beyond The Artist's Work To Date - Loosely Rooted In Uk Dance Music But Taking Added Influence From Ambient, Modern Classical, Dreampop, Balearic, Folk Music And Beyond. The Result Is A Lush, Ornate Record Populated By Aqueous Pads, Bleeping Arps, Wandering Melodies And Sparse Broken Rhythms; Acoustic Instruments That Play Out Alongside Fm Synths, All Processed With A Pristine Uv Sheen Inherited From Modern Pop Music. The Record Opens With 'Sistine (Plucks)' - A Crystalline Synth Piece With A Stumbling, Shifting Metre Revolving Around An Odd-Ended Midi Harp Loop, Coloured Through With Washed-Out Pads And Snatches Of Found Sound. This Breezy Mood Follows Through To 'On Deck', Where An Fm Vibraphone Rings Out On Top Of Woozy, Warping Chords And A Subby Soca Groove. Moving Forward The Record Moves Cohesively Through A Range Of Shifting Moods And Hues. The Machine Jazz Of 'Brushes' Is Tense And Coiled, With Nods Towards Burnt Friedman, Photek And Eli Keszler. 'Iso Stream' Sees A Rich, Colourful Sprawl Of Arpeggiated Synths And Dissociated Vocal Chops Unspool Slowly To Form Pooling, Lowlit Melodies. Title Track 'Blush' Is A Forlorn Autonomic Love Song Built From Clicks-N-Cuts - Like Dbridge & Instra:Mental Reduced And Reinterpreted By Snd. Throughout, Bold, Broad Melodies Take Centre Stage, And The Tracks Build Like Compositions Rather Than Loops Or Club Tools. There Are Echoes Of The Dancefloor - Particularly In The Slo-Mo Bruk Of 'Verge' And The Glacial Subs Underpinning 'Diving Birds' (A Collaboration With Friend And Trilogy Tapes Regular Parris) - However The End Results Find Us Somewhere Far Off. 'Blush' Is The Second Long-Form Release To Co...

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Lyckle De Jong

Mini Skirt And Go Go Boots / What You've Got

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Rock & Indie

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"Oscillation associations

This album is titled Os. When I look at the shape of these two letters, O and S, I realize that they are a rotation and an oscillation.

Os is Dutch for Ox. An ox is a castrated male bull. The primary benefit of castrating bull calves is to temper their tempers, making it easier and cheaper for people to handle them. Os is also an abbreviation of oscillation, -cillation being castrated off. Oscillation means a movement back and forth in a regular rhythm, like breathing, push-ups, tides, swinging or sound. For this album Lyckle was not dealing with oxes or bulls, but with oscillations, guiding them through synths, handling their tempers. If I look at the etymology of oscillation, I learn that it stems from the term Oscilla, which were ancient disks depicting a face or animal on each side. Oscilla is a diminutive of os and means ‘little face’. They were hung in trees during religious feasts honoring various deities, as well as being thought of as purifying the air as they swung in the wind.

The wind chime with its little sunny face, smiling on the cover of this record was hanging in the windowsill of Lyckle’s studio, behind his back, where the wind would make it jingle, averting the Evil Eye according to apotropaic magic. In ancient Rome, wind chimes named Tintinnabulum were decorated with a phallus, which was also seen as a good luck charm. Phallic charm also appeared as objects of jewelry such as pendants and finger rings. It has been suggested that some types of phallic pendants were designed to point outwards in the direction of travel in order to face any potential danger or bad luck, nullifying it before it could affect the wearer.

When I take the record itself out of the sleeve, I see that there are two phalluses carved into the surface of the vinyl, like little ornaments. When you start playing the record, they start chasing each other, going round and round. They point in all directions of the room, but are never able to point at each other. Finally, I am told that it is recommended to listen to this record with the window open, allowing sounds from outside to blend in with the music. "

- Bernice Nauta

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Lloyd & Glen

7" | 2021 | EU | Original (Harlem Shuffle)

11,99 €*

12" | 2021 | EU | Original (Chuwanaga)

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Lloyd Altamont Thomas Robinson recorded many songs as a singer first for Studio One in 1963 and later for many labels and Jamaican producers including Duke Reid, Lloyd Daley, Sir JJ and more. Robinson was part of the duo Lloyd and Devon, whom had quite a few good songs under their belt including a hit for Derrick Morgan's Hop label, "Red Bum Ball.". With Glen Brown, under the name Lloyd & Glen, he wrote and recorded many outstanding Rocksteady & early Reggae tracks, some quite heavily influenced by black Soul including the two sublime tracks featured here. He went on to record the big dancehall hit “Cuss Cuss” in 1984 on the Harry J. label. He died in 2013 in the Kingston Public Hospital. He was 68 years old. Glenmore Lloyd Brown, began his career as a vocalist in Sonny Bradshaw’s jazz group before recording duets with Hopeton Lewis, Dave Barker, and Lloyd Robinson. Later, Brown became the founder and owner of the Reggae/Dub labels Pantomine and South East Music. A sought after producer he worked with many with many Reggae greats including U Roy, Gregory Isaacs, Big Youth, I-Roy, Prince Jazzbo, Johnny Clarke, Lloyd Parks, and Little Roy. The heavy rhythms of his Dub productions resulted in his being known as "The rhythm master". He died at the Far Rockaway Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in New York City on 4 October 2019, at the age of 75. As “Lloyd & Glen”, they composed, sang and recorded together about 15 tracks, ranging from Ska to Rocksteady to Soul on a variety of labels between 1966 and 1968. Most of these songs are outstanding, many are just sublime with a strong American Soul influence. In the late 50s & 60s, Jamaica was Rhythm & Blues/Soul crazy. Many Jamaican artists regularly performed and recorded tracks in these styles along with Rocksteady and Reggay. Very few though could do it as well Lloyd & Glen...

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Latitude

Léo / Attitude

Sings And Plays With Len Mercer And His Orchestra Angel Eyes

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Electronic & Dance

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Parisian label Chuwanaga proudly presents Latitude, Saint-James label co-founder new studio project. Keeping it close to the deep jazz-funk ethos of the label, Latitude brings to the light two luminous songs of joy and hope for a better day, highly danceable yet rich and complex grooves with a human feel to feed your soul and make you move. Their new EP Leo / Attitude presents these first effort with a Dub Remix by Mato: plenty of diverse tastes for every music enthusiasts. Available as Vinyl 12" and Digital. Latitude is french. Not a random collection of chansons sung in french. Latitude is so french in its sheer elegance, in its simple yet so sophisticated seemingly effortless attempt to groove in a pop context, trying to create moments of grace in the process. Latitude is here with the right vibe as the chorus of "Attitude" says it in french: "It’s the bad attitude, always the good latitude". Latitude is sprung out of the wicked musicianship of Parisian jazz-funk and fusion mavericks and Saint-James tight and adventurous compositions and production. All that jazz combined with David Cukier (Greita) retro-futurist engineering skills in these intense sessions captured in his cutting edge vintage Delta studio. On A Side, "Leo (Extended Mix)" is an uptempo disco track for the dancers but also a beautiful song for the summer. A seductive number with a pregnant classic French jazz-funk feeling with the help of Parisian singer Club Celest’s energy and beautiful voice. It comes on digital as a short edit for radio but as a serious extended 12inch mix on the vinyl with 8 minutes and 10 seconds of pure pleasure, ending in a real climax after an irresistible percussion break. On B1, "Attitude" enchanting quality shines with a banging rhythm section and goes for the win as an anthem chorus while sweeping synths keep on growing till the very last drop. On B2, Reggae/Dub don Mato(Stix Records) delivers a sweet dub wise riddim for the Lovers Rock massive.

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Chet Baker

LP | 2020 | IT | Original (Cinevox)

Big Pig Alley / Cut Loose

Release: 2020 / IT – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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The lyricism of Chet Baker cannot be doubted because Chet in his musical expressions remains as singer and musicians essentially romantic. He fits beautifully into a context created around him and for him, a context that finds in the sonority of his trumpet or in the opacity of his voice a leading element, dominator and at the same time attractive and fascinating.

The songs on this record are aimed to everyone: jazz fans and those who are not very familiar with jazz. For music arrangers Ezio Leoni and Giulio Libano the work ground with Chet has been smoothed out: there was no need to build beyond the measure, it was important to expand, enhance, galvanize what Chet wanted to express. They have alternated lyrical songs with more stringent and alive tracks. With the continuous alternation of times, expressions and atmospheres they made sure to avoid any monotony.

The orchestra that recorded the album was consisted of 16 violins, 4 violas, 4 cellos, a flute, a bass clarinet, an oboe, a French horn, a harp which matched with Glauco Massetti's alto sax, Fausto Papetti's baritone sax, Mario Pezzotta's trombone, Gianni Basso's tenor sax, Franco Cerri's double bass, Gene Victory's drums. An imposing orchestra that was able to mix perfectly and alternate purely jazzy instruments with strings during the performances.

The repertoire included in the album ranges a lot: from well-known motifs such as 'Angel Eyes', 'When I Fall In Love' or 'I Should Care', to others less known but very pleasant tracks as 'The Song Is You' or
'Forgetful'. Other tracks lend themselves perfectly to a wider orchestration such as 'Autumn In New York', 'Violets for Your Fur' or 'Deep in A Dream'. Another theme was treated with a thrifty intervention of the strings, almost a crown of the whole performance, represented by the recording 'Street of Dreams'. In the last track Good-bye of Side A Chet expresses an exceptional sadness in a very valid and unusual way.

The tracks were recorded on September 28, 1958 and October 5, 1959 at the Guertler Bros. recording
studio.The tracks were recorded on September 28, 1958 and October 5, 1959 at the Guertler Bros. studio

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The Teacher Haters

7" | 2018 | EU | Original (Preservation Project)

LP+7" | 2016 | EU | Original (Wah Wah)

Release: 2018 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Smile your way through two songs by The Teacher Haters — in fact, we challenge you to get through these tracks without smiling. Even the name of the band invokes a chuckle as it suggests what these guys are about — and that’s the P-A-R-T-Y. Straight out of the 60s comes a group that could have been played with Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs back in the day. These whimsical works are deceptively deep as they take us to a time when garage punk fused with R&B.
“Big Pig Alley” is uncomplicated, and that’s what makes it great — it sounds like a bunch of college guys having a good time, writing lyrics on the spot: “If you’re lookin’ for romance, take a train, take a plane...or a raft to France.” The guys have something other than romance on their minds as they chug along on acoustic guitar and trash can drums (and possibly other things). What really makes the track, though, is the witchy background voice — the performance is loose enough, while the witch is doing his own thing entirely.
The witch returns on side B in the up-tempo, dance-ready “Cut Loose.” No obscure artistry here — these guys tell you exactly what the song is for in the title. In fact, just in case you missed it, they state their thesis in the opening lines: “I wanna shake all night, I wanna do it right, I wanna dance, dance, dance with you…” All of their collegiate effort is put toward getting you to move your hips in this groovy, rockabilly-flavored mix.
Snap up the mid-century college party in a box that is PP006 — and hope your tables don’t get too scuffed up from people dancing on them. The fun that The Teacher Haters had in making these tracks is all here and available to you — whether you want to go on a nostalgic trip through a 60s coed party, or host your own shindig where dancing is mandatory. Get your hands on this 7" before the regents show up.

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Howard Wales

Rendevous With The Sun

20,99 €*

The Electronique Void: Black Noise

Release: 2016 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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You may probably remember the name of Howard Wales due to his association with The Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia, but besides those important collaborations Wales has also produced some highly interesting solo material. Among it, one of the best jazz funk / psych fussion albums ever: Rendezvous With The Sun. Wales had played backing artists such as Ronnie Hawkins, Lonnie Mack, James Brown or The Four Tops as a session musician before becoming a member of psychedelic blues combo AB Shky, who moved from Milwaukee to the San Francisco Bay Area. He then explored the worlds that span somewhere between psychedelia and funk when forming part of Shades Of Joy, the band that recorded Alejandro Jodorowsky's Music Of El Topo LP in 1970. That same year he joined forces with Jerry Garcia and released the acclaimed Hooteroll? album.

Rendezvous With The Sun was released on Costal Records in 1976 and contained ten splendid jazz funk psych fussion songs, the mixture of different styles Wales is so good at. The musicians that contributed in the recording sessions where basically the same that had accompanied him and Jerry Garcia on the Hooteroll Band in 1972: Jim Vincent on guitar, Tom Donlinger on drums and of course Wales on keyboards, augmented by Pete Escovido on percussion and congas, Doug Killmer, Peter Marshall and Roger "Jelly Roll" Troy on bass, Bill Champlin on guitar, Pat Gleason on synth and seven horn players, including Martin Fierro, Jock Ellis, Chuck Bennet, Jane Woodworth and three members of Frank Zappa's Petit Wazoo ensemble: Gary Barone, Mike Altschul and Sal Marquez.

Part 2 of the title track was once compiled in a split single (Bruno Spoerri's 'Les Électroniciens' was on flipside) on Jazzman Records.

First ever vinyl reissue, with remastered sound and an insert with notes. Comes with a bonus 7" EP that features the two tracks from the mega rare, sought after Wales Costal Records single plus two previously unreleased gems. Limited to only 500 copies!

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Adrian Younge

LP | 2016 | US | Original (Linear Labs)

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (DixieFrog)

Release: 2016 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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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.

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Boney Fields

Just Give Me Some Mo'

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Far Out)

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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"Cross My Heart" is a tribute to the harmonica player and singer James Cotton, one of Boney Fields" heroes and companions on the road, is certainly the most representative track of this thrilling groove mood that authentic blues musicians know how to infuse. Boney Fields possesses that almost funk tone matured enough to tickle our ears and make us tap our feet. By revitalizing, for example, "The Thrill Is Gone" in the spirit of its original author (Roy Hawkins), Boney Fields perpetuates the tradition of spirited orchestras of yesteryears without compromising the modernity of its irresistible tempo. Much more personal than all his previous albums, "Just Give Me Some Mo" is also the expression of introspection, that of a man who remembers without drowning in dark nostalgia. He thinks of the courage of his mother bravely facing obstacles in an unequal America. "Back in the Day" is not a sad song. It makes one stronger and nurtures faith in the future. This melody is certainly the most touching of the six compositions written by Boney Fields. From "Control of you" to "Something" holding me" or "I know yes I Know" he invites us into his intimate biography, the story of a large family shaken by inevitable upheavals that must be faced, the destiny of a combative musician who resists adversity. Boney Fields chose to let his soul speak. This effort of truth had to be supported by the artistic direction of a master. By enlisting Sebastian Danchin for the production of this album, Boney Fields turns to a historian of African-American culture whose keen ear has already won over Little Milton, Mighty Mo Rodgers, Toni Green, and Jean-Jacques Milteau, among others... Their exchanges uncovered a perfect understanding of "Chicago Blues" the brassy vigor of which they experienced firsthand 40 years ago. Surrounding oneself with the right people is quite a challenge. Fortunately, Boney Fields knows how to spot true talents. He was convinced that the Senegalese guitarist Hervé Samb would also be a good musical director. Ha...

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Nicola Conte

Umoja

31,99 €*

2LP | 2020 | EU | Original (Blue Note)

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Renowned Italian spiritual jazz lover, DJ, producer, guitarist, and bandleader Nicola Conte proudly presents his new album Umoja via London based label Far Out Recordings.

A joyous exultation across ten tracks, Umoja taps into the abundant well of knowledge Conte has amassed over his career as connoisseuring compiler and archivist of deep jazz, latin, afrofuturist, bossa-nova and soul music from around the world. Expressing unity, oneness and harmony in Swahili, Umoja coalesces universal feelings through the multifaceted global music Conte has spent his life studying and researching.

Having released music with Blue Note, Impulse! and Schema records, Nicola Conte’s relationship with Far Out began over a shared love of hard-edged bossa-nova and swinging samba-jazz. Between 2009-2013 Nicola Conte compiled five volumes of forgotten 60s Brazilian music for his Viagem series. He then released his critically acclaimed Natural album: a collaboration with vocalist Steffania Dippiero, featuring jazz standards alongside covers of lesser known Brazilian gems.

The music of Umoja draws on the deep-dug 70's independent spiritual and free jazz sounds, private-press soul records, and African and Afro Caribbean rhythms in Conte’s collection. But he equally recognises his debt to many of the decade’s more celebrated musical icons, such as North American cosmic jazz masters Lonnie Liston Smith and Gary Bartz, and Afrobeat originators Fela Kuti and Tony Allen.

Since founding the Bari-based bohemian cultural movement and club night Fez at the dawn of the nineties, Conte has proven to be a pillar of the contemporary, international soul-jazz scene. Composed alongside his long time friend, guitarist Alberto Parmegiani, Conte brings together a dazzling host of guests from around the world, including award winning British vocalist Zara Mcfarlane, acclaimed Finnish saxophonist Timo Lassy, french vibes player Simon Mullier, US vocalist Myles Sanko, rising South African drummer Fernando Damon, former Roy Hargrove bassist Ameen Saleem and Serbian flute sensation Milena Jancuric.

A joyous exultation across ten tracks, Umoja taps into the abundant well of knowledge Conte has amassed over his career as connoisseuring compiler and archivist of deep jazz, latin, afrofuturist, bossa-nova and soul music from around the world. Expressing unity, oneness and harmony in Swahili, Umoja coalesces universal feelings through the multifaceted global music Conte has spent his life studying and researching.

Having released music with Blue Note, Impulse! and Schema records, Nicola Conte’s relationship with Far Out began over a shared love of hard-edged bossa-nova and swinging samba-jazz. Between 2009-2013 Nicola Conte compiled five volumes of forgotten 60s Brazilian music for his Viagem series. He then released his critically acclaimed Natural album: a collaboration with vocalist Steffania Dippiero, featuring jazz standards alongside covers of lesser known Brazilian gems.

The music of Umoja draws on the deep-dug 70's independent spiritual and free jazz sounds, private-press soul records, and African and Afro Caribbean rhythms in Conte’s collection. But he equally recognises his debt to many of the decade’s more celebrated musical icons, such as North American cosmic jazz masters Lonnie Liston Smith and Gary Bartz, and Afrobeat originators Fela Kuti and Tony Allen.

Since founding the Bari-based bohemian cultural movement and club night Fez at the dawn of the nineties, Conte has proven to be a pillar of the contemporary, international soul-jazz scene. Composed alongside his long time friend, guitarist Alberto Parmegiani, Conte brings together a dazzling host of guests from around the world, including award winning British vocalist Zara Mcfarlane, acclaimed Finnish saxophonist Timo Lassy, french vibes player Simon Mullier, US vocalist Myles Sanko, rising South African drummer Fernando Damon, former Roy Hargrove bassist Ameen Saleem and Serbian flute sensation Milena Jancuric.

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Tom Misch & Yussef Dayes

What Kinda Music

7" | 1990 | UK | Reissue (We Jazz)

Release: 2020 / EU – Original

Genre: Hip Hop, Organic Grooves

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We are excited to present Tom Misch and Yussef Dayes’ “What Kinda Music” – an astonishing collaboration between two artists of very different disciplines, and one of the most unique and seamlessly original projects of its ilk to date.

Moving fluidly through sleek electronica, avant-garde jazz, vintage hip hop and so much more, Misch and Dayes take you on a journey that is by turns surprising and spontaneous, heady and head spinning, and nothing less than compelling – a singular vision which fuses the DNA of both musicians with spectacular results, as can be seen in the title track, which comes backed by a gorgeously atmospheric video by XX.

Even though the fundamental bones of this project came together very quickly, its actual provenance stretches back much, much farther back, with the pair not only growing up in the same area of South East London, but Misch actually seeing Dayes play on drums in the school talent show for the first time when he was roughly 8 or 9. They both kept tabs on each other – Misch becoming a fan of Dayes’ act Yussef Kamaal, Dayes clocking his videos in 2014 – but it was only when they met at a launch party for Misch’s debut LP “Geography” in 2018 that the proverbial creative sparks began to fly. “As a musician you’re always looking for contemporaries who can push you and challenge you and make you better”, says Dayes. “I instantly felt that with Tom – he was such a gifted musician, and so prolific”. That summer they decided to go into the studio together, jam a little, and see what happens, with no other expectation placed upon it.

As it turns out, the music came fast and furiously. Two initial tracks were suddenly followed by a handful of others, and the pair found themselves contemplating what to do next. “Pretty soon, we knew that something was gelling”, Dayes says. “It didn’t feel like a one-off collaboration, it felt like a body of work”. What made the pair click, according to Misch and Dayes, were the exact same factors that meant it shouldn’t, by all rights, work. Misch says, “Yussef comes from a more experimental background, and he has a lot of loose, crazy ideas. I know how to write a catchy melody, but with interesting chords and have a good understanding of popular song forms, so I think I streamlined those ideas and made them accessible”. And certainly, in “What Kinda Music” you can sense the DNA of both musicians, but fusing so effortlessly and beautifully that it creates something else entirely, the appropriately named “Lift Off” sending goosebumps with its jazz flecked crescendo, and “Night Rider” hynotising with its deeply mesmeric grooves. “I have a love for harmony and chords”, Misch adds. “Working with someone like Yussef, who has such a gifted sense of rhythm allowed a perfect balance”.

Throughout the record, there is an utterly joyful feel of two musicians at the top of their game sparking off one another, picking up ideas and running with them – zigging where the other zags, ebbing where the other flows, with Misch producing the majority of the record and both having a hand in the overall sound and feel of the record.

“Working with Yussef has actually changed the way I work as a musician”, Misch muses. “He’s pushed me and unlocked a more experimental part of me that I hadn’t really allowed myself to explore before. I think we really did impact each other in a fundamental way”. Dayes is similarly effusive in his praise for Misch. “A musician like him, who’s at the top of his game, he doesn’t need to do this”, he raves. “He can just keep doing the same thing and why not? He’s killing it. The fact that he’s so humble, that he’s so curious about everything and open to collaboration, speaks a lot to him as an artist, because it’s not easy finding musicians who want to collaborate. Something always gets in the way, whether it’s ego or their team or whatever. But with Tom it felt like the intention was purely creative, and that’s what made it exciting”. In fact, Dayes says that the intentions of the record go even deeper than just music. “Both our parents who’d never met each other before, are now best friends as a result of this, they now see each other more than we do! I’d like to think, in some small way, that this album has a similar impact for people too – everything feels so divided these days, it would be nice for people to hear the record and hear two very different musicians coming together and realise it doesn’t have to be that way”.

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Rosanna & Zélia

Baiao Da Luna

Blast Furnace! Flamingo Pink Vinyl Edition

Release: 1990 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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A lost MPB gem from rural Finland! We Jazz presents the first ever reissue of this rare 1990 local release by Brazilian duo Rosanna & Zelia. 7" EP with inside out 3mm spine sleeve. Riyl: Gilberto Gil, Joyce, Musica Popular Brasileira, bossa nova, bossa jazz
Liner notes by Mikko Mattlar:
"Rosanna & Zélia were a Brazilian duo of singers and musicians Rosanna Guimarães Tavares and Zélia Nogueira da Fonseca. They moved from Minas Gerais, Brazil to Europe in 1988, released five albums in Germany between 1993–2004 and featured vocals on an Ian Pooley house track Coração Tambor before Rosanna died of cancer in 2006. Zélia still continues her career in Germany, touring actively and releasing new music.
The duo's journey from Brazil to Germany also included two brief visits to Finland. In the years 1989–1990, they spent time in the small town of Seinäjoki in Ostrobothnia. Rosanna & Zélia performed Brazilian music in Finnish clubs and festivals and recorded a 7" EP for local label Maumau Music. The record was distributed mostly in the Seinäjoki area, but the three songs are well-performed and authentic Brazilian MPB, so the largely unknown record now gets its first reissue for a wider audience on We Jazz Records.
But how did two Brazilian women find their way to a small Finnish town to record an EP? The main reason for this was music journalist and promoter Risto Vuorinen, who was on a holiday in Albufeira, Portugal, where a friend of his lived. The streets were almost empty that evening, but Vuorinen and his friend heard fine guitar playing and singing from a bar. There were Rosanna and Zélia performing on a small stage, and the two Finnish men happened to be the only customers. When the artists ended their performance, Vuorinen's friend, who spoke Portuguese, went to talk to them. Rosanna and Zélia told him they had recently come from Brazil and are trying to gain ground in Europe with their music.
Because Rosanna and Zélia didn't know where they would head next, and because Vuorinen liked their music, he thought of bringing the duo to his hometown, Seinäjoki. They immediately liked the idea, and in the autumn of 1989 they arrived in Finland. The national Finnish jazz festival was held in Seinäjoki, and Vuorinen thought Rosanna & Zélia's Brazilian music would fit right in. They performed at the festival and in November 1989, also made recordings in a local studio with backing musicians from Seinäjoki.
Music enthusiast Pertti Hakala had a record shop and label Maumau Music in Seinäjoki releasing music from local artists. He released a three-track EP from the sessions. with two tracks written by Rosanna & Zelia themselves and their cover version of Extra (Brazilian Reggae), written and originally performed by Gilberto Gil in 1983. A small pressing was made for the Finnish market, and Hakala also sent a box of records to Brazil, but for some reason it was sent back.
After their first visit to Finland, Rosanna & Zélia headed back to central Europe, but Vuorinen decided to organize more performances for them for the next summer. Maybe he also wanted to show them the beautiful Finnish summer, as Rosanna and Zélia had so far seen the country only during the darkest autumn. The duo came back to Finland for the summer of 1990 and performed at the Womad world music festival organized as a part of local Provinssirock. They also played in Nummirock and Puistoblues, both respected music festivals, and performed on TV in Helsinki.
Rosanna and Zélia lived in a small apartment in Seinäjoki and played two to three gigs per week all summer. Because there were only two of them, even small pubs could afford to book them, and in 1990 the economic situation in Finland was good. It was before a major economic depression hit the country. The duo travelled by bus or train, and because they were an acoustic duo, they could easily carry their instruments in public transport. Vuorinen got excellent feedback from organizers. Rosanna and Zélia were good performers, but also really nice people.
With the income from their summer gigs, Rosanna and Zélia could buy a PA mixer and other musical equipment. When the summer 1990 turned to autumn, they continued their journey from Seinäjoki to Germany where they settled down."

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Scone Cash Players

LP | 2022 | US | Original (Colemine)

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Anti)

Release: 2022 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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The Hammond Organ is lead singer on this soulful and orchestral journey about industrial decay and the death of the steel town. Deep from the rusted steel mills of Youngstown, Ohio, we bring you the much-anticipated reissue of the melting debut from the Scone Cash Players. It's the same organist that brought you the screaming organ on all those Daptone favorites from The Sugarman Three. Scone was behind that organ bench on the modern classics as follows. "Sugar's Boogaloo", "Soul Donkey", "Pure Cane Sugar", and "What the World Needs Now." Adam Scone entered the studio on Dunham Street in Brooklyn. He was wearing a blue Adidas jumpsuit. The studio had just opened. At the helm were his old compadres from The Dap-Kings. Namely Thomas Brenneck, Eric Kalb, Homer Steinweiss and lan Hendrickson-Smith. They make up the "Bliss Machine" behind Scones's groove. It was a truly rare moment to catch these masters of music and taste in between tours of Sharon Jones and Charles Bradley. Tommy put the mics around. Scone powered up the organ. The analog tape machine turned and turned until they couldn't turn anymore. These songs were recorded. We worked all day and all night. Tears were shed. Espresso was made. There was beer on tap. 3 days of life were taken to make this album. We will never get them back. They were distilled to 40 minutes of pure emotion. It's a tale of woe. It's a tale of leaving art for responsibility. It's a farewell to an era. It's a journey that the Hammond B3 organ wasn't accustomed to. You can't compare this album to any other organ record. Don't expect to hear what you want. Free your mind. Be open. Your world is going to feel the heat of the BLAST FURNACE! It never quite feels how you want it to. Don't get burned...FOR FANS OF: Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble, New Mastersounds, Soulive, Jimmy Smith, Khruangbin

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Alfa Mist

Variables

LP | 2023 | US | Original (Hope Street)

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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I"ve been focused on who I am in my music, but now I"m exploring where I am," Alfa Mist says. "I"m asking: how did I get here?" This is the journeying question that underpins Alfa"s fifth album, Variables. Traversing luscious, big band swing, head-nodding boom-bap rhythms and yearning vocal melodies, the record is expansive, soulful and moving, in both body and spirit. On Variables, his second release for Anti-, Alfa achieves his most fully-realised, expressive musical work to date, coupling his keen ear for looping, memorably emotive piano melodies with intuitive grooves and a free-flowing jazz improvisation. Since the release of his first full-length project Nocturne in 2015, Alfa has established himself as one of the UK"s most focused, indemand and distinct musical voices. He has worked with the likes of Jordan Rakei and Tom Misch. Artists look to him for his unique blend of intimate bedroom production and expansive jazz group orchestration, since Alfa is yet to be boxed into a specific genre. His music spans everything from hip-hop beat-making to producing for artists such as rapper Loyle Carner, composing neo-classical works for the London Contemporary Orchestra, and reworking tracks from composer Olafur Arnalds and pioneering jazz label Blue Note. The return to live shows has been a welcome one for Alfa and his fans, resulting in an extensive tour throughout UK and Europe. Including a sold-out headline show at the Barbican in London. Alfa Mist will be touring Europe, UK and North America in 2023 again. It is a balance between feeling and perfectionism that ultimately gives Alfa"s music its depth and capacity for repeated listening. It is also an ethos that has enabled his remarkable work-ethic to date. "I"ve never been a "one album every four years" artist - I want to put out new projects every year," he says. "Music is an extension of my life; it is the practice of creating."

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Hannah Macklin

Blast Furnace! Black Vinyl Edition

Release: 2023 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Hannah Macklin’s debut LP ‘Mu’ is a glittering piece of cosmic orchestral neo-soul. Jazz-informed vocals & production merge triphop and prog influences and join the dots between Homegenic era Bjork or Portishead and contemporary artists like Solange. What’s Mu about? Mu is about everything: Songs about heartbreak and parting share the album with songs marveling at the scale of the universe. Mu is a concept from Zen and Chan Buddhism that means: “nothingness” and also, “pure awareness.” The awareness at the source of all things. In Hannah’s words: “There is so much life in every moment. Endless patterns, algorithms and instances repeating and changing and adapting. Spiraling outwards from the source. What source? The source.” In search of the source, Hannah has composed and arranged an undefinable, cinematic album that leads the listener on a winding path through her imagination. Sonically as well as thematically, Mu is an album of extremes and lofty ambitions. Fragile and delicate vocal and violin textures contrast with crunchy noisescapes and brooding synthesizers. Hannah’s commanding voice shares the spotlight with a string section and is backed by spacious production featuring many acoustic instruments. Sonically, producer Nick Herrera has brought a reassuring chunkiness to this unplugged palette, in particular the head nodding drums that anchor Hannah’s celestial musings . Like a film soundtrack or a symphony Mu is best listened to and understood as a whole - it circles back to themes and refrains and re-examines them. Sometimes a song is a song, sometimes it’s a soundscape dreaming of a song. “When making this album, I had a specific concept for how I wanted the music to sound. I don’t mean in terms of genre… it was more of a visceral, sensory concept which I knew I could only realise by allowing myself to experiment and create simultaneously, believing in my rough ideas enough to grow them, to weave them into stories... I have decided to call the album “Mu” to signify the empty chasm I allowed to hold within me whilst these songs were born."

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Scone Cash Players

LP | 2022 | US | Original (Colemine)

Interactive Feat. Novecento Louie Vega Remixes

Release: 2022 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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The Hammond Organ is lead singer on this soulful and orchestral journey about industrial decay and the death of the steel town. Deep from the rusted steel mills of Youngstown Ohio, we bring you the much-anticipated reissue of the melting debut from the Scone Cash Players. It's the same organist that brought you the screaming organ on all those Daptone favorites from The Sugarman Three. Scone was behind that organ bench on the modern classics as follows. "Sugar's Boogaloo", "Soul Donkey", "Pure Cane Sugar", and "What the World Needs Now." Adam Scone entered the studio on Dunham Street in Brooklyn. He was wearing a blue Adidas jump suit. The studio had just opened. At the helm were his old compadres from The Dap-Kings. Namely Thomas Brenneck, Eric Kalb, Homer Steinweiss and lan Hendrickson-Smith. They make up the "Bliss Machine" behind Scones's groove. It was a truly rare moment to catch these masters of music and taste in between tours of Sharon Jones and Charles Bradley. Tommy put the mics around. Scone powered up the organ. The analog tape machine turned and turned until they couldn't turn any more. These songs were recorded. We worked all day and all night. Tears were shed. Espresso was made. There was beer on tap. 3 days of life were taken to make this album. We will never get them back. They were distilled to 40 minutes of pure emotion. It's a tale of woe. It's a tale of leaving art for responsibility. It's a farewell to an era. It's a journey that the Hammond B3 organ wasn't accustomed to. You can't compare this album to any other organ record. Don't expect to hear what you want. Free your mind. Be open. Your world is going to feel the heat of the BLAST FURNACE! It never quite feels how you want it to. Don't get burned...FOR FANS OF: Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble, New Mastersounds, Soulive, Jimmy Smith, Khruangbin

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Billy Cobham

12" | 2021 | EU | Original (Rebirth)

13,99 €*

LP | 1969 | US | Reissue (Analogue Productions)

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Since the release of the first volume in 2019, we knew we couldn't stop there. In 2021 we are even more excited to present the 'Drum'n Voice Remixed 2' album by the legend Billy Cobham in collaboration with Italian producers and composers Nicolosi / Novecento. As a taster to the album we are very happy to be releasing an EP containing remixes of ‘Interactive’ from the legend Louie Vega. Acclaimed as jazz-rock fusion's greatest drummer, Billy Cobham has dedicated his whole life to musical exploration and creative expression. Born in Panama, he has been surrounded by music. His father was a pianist, his mother was a singer and Billy started playing drums at four years old. Throughout his career he has collaborated with artists like Miles Davis, Horace Silver, Airto Moreira, George Benson and appeared on over 300 recordings, including icons like Peter Gabriel, Quincy Jones, Jack Bruce, Bob Weir, and James Brown, and to date, has produced and released more than forty albums as a leader. The first album ‘Spectrum’ is a masterpiece and still considered a reference album today. Billy and Nicolosi composed so many songs of the highest quality and class that we immediately wanted to get to work preparing a second volume of remixes. We are really happy to present the Louie Vega remixes of ‘Interactive’ in the run up to ‘Drum’N Voice Remixed 2’ collection that's set for a release later in the year. ‘Little’ Louie Vega does not need any introduction. One half of the Masters At Work (that are back now after a long time with their new single), he is one of the most important House Music duo of the last 30 years, even receiving a nomination in the last Grammy Awards. With the collaboration of Josh Milan (aka Honeycomb and former one half of Blaze) at the keyboards, these incredible remixes of 'Interactive' make track shine thanks to a powerful blend of funky cosmic disco and a perfect killer groove that makes us dance on Brian Auger's magnificent Hammond improvisation.

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Tony Joe White

Black And White

46,99 €*

LP | 1973 | UK | Reissue (Pure Pleasure)

Release: 1969 / US – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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"Polk Salad Annie" was the song and cadence for delivering White's unmistakable swamp rock sound, which called to mind the sound John Fogerty whipped up on Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bayou Country" and "Green River". Released in 1969, White's album debut "Black And White" contains some of the best swamp-folk-soul-funk of the era. White grew up in the soggy marshlands of Louisiana, his real-deal deep voice sounding like it's dredged from the bottom of the Delta. Rural life in the dirty south provided the inspiration for witty, sometimes funny, and sometimes poignant lyrics (later Tony Joe would pen the smash "Rainy Night In Georgia"). This Analogue Productions edition is the highest-quality reissue of "Black And White" released to date. It was mastered from the original analog tape by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, and features unsurpassed plating and pressing on 200-gram heavyweight vinyl by Quality Record Pressings, makers of the finest-sounding LPs in the world. The dead-silent LP playing surface captures White's voice and his strong and funky backing band in true analog majesty. Besides "Annie", side one of "Black And White" includes several other White originals. AllMusic judges the best of these to be "Willie And Laura Mae Jones", a song about race relations with an arrangement similar to "Ballad Of Billie Joe", and "Soul Francisco", a short piece of funky fluff that had been a big hit in Europe in 1968. "Aspen, Colorado" presages the later "Rainy Night in Georgia," a White composition popularized by Brook Benton. The second side of Black and White consists of covers of hits of the era, with the funky "Who's Making Love" and "Scratch My Back" faring better than the slow stuff. Dusty Springfield had a minor hit with "Willie And Laura Mae Jones", and White's songs were recorded by other performers through the years, but "Polk Salad Annie" and the gators that got her granny provided his only march in the American hit parade. Highly recommended for fans of Creedence Clearwater Revival, J.J. Cale, and 1960s soul!

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Milt Jackson

Sunflower

LP | 2024 | UK | Original (180g)

Release: 1973 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Recorded over two days in December of 1972 at Rudy Van Gelder's Englewood, New Jersey home studio, vibraphonist Milt Jackson's "Sunflower" is the first -- and best -- of his three albums for Creed Taylor's CTI imprint. (And one of the finest offerings on the label.) With a core band consisting of Herbie Hancock (playing electric and acoustic piano), bassist Ron Carter, drummer Billy Cobham, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, drummer/percussionist Ralph McDonald, and guitarist Jay Berliner. A chamber orchestra exquisitely arranged and conducted by Don Sebesky adorns the session as well. Jackson's "For Someone I Love", opens the five-tune set, with Berliner playing solo flamenco guitar before the vibes, trumpet, and elements from the chamber orchestra delicately, impressionistically color the background. It gradually moves into a languid, bluesy ballad that slowly gains in both texture and dynamic until the strings trill tensely. Hubbard and Hancock engage them in solos that gently swing out the tune. The reading of Michel Legrand's "What Are You Doing for the Rest of Your Life" is a gorgeous showcase for Jackson; his solo dominates the arrangement. Carter gets downright funky on his upright to introduce Thom Bell's "People Make The World Go Round," and Hancock follows him on Rhodes. Jackson takes the melody, striking a layered contrast as Hubbard slips around all three playing an extension of the melody with requisite taste, fluidity, and taut phrasing. Hancock gets funky to the bone in his brief solo, as the vibes soar around and through his phrases. The title track is a Hubbard composition that floats and hovers with a Latin backbeat before shifting tempos as the solos begin. The expanded harmonic palette of trumpet with the reeds, woodwinds, and strings on the melody add an exotic textural palette for his solo. Jackson's "SKJ" closes the set with an old-school, swinging hard bop blues with barely detectable embellishments by Sebesky. While "Sunflower" sometimes feels more like a group session rather than a Jackson-led one, that's part of its exquisite beauty.

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Ajate

Dala Toni

22,79 €* 23,99 € -5%

Release: 2024 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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● Tokyo based band and Afrobayashi pioneers Ajate are back with their third album: experience the explosive encounter of Afro groove and Japanese traditional Ohayashi music!

During a stay in West Africa in the late 2000’s, Japanese musician Junichiro "John" Imaeda was taken aback by the similarities he felt between the Afrobeat that resonated in the streets of Accra, and the sounds of the "Ohayashi”, the music played during ancestral Japanese festivals, in which John had participated since his childhood.

On his return to the archipelago in 2009, Imaeda created Ajate, a collective of ten passionate musicians. Together they started crafting music that moves from one world to another, with intertwined roots. The drums, flutes and bells are joined by curious instruments handmade by John himself with the essential material of the Japanese countryside: bamboo. The “Jaate”, an amplified xylophone-balafon equipped with piezoelectric sensors on each of its keys, or the “Piechiku”, a bamboo version of the Malian “Ngoni” or the Gnawa “Guembri”, equipped with shamisen strings and connected to an arsenal of guitar pedals, give Ajate an absolutely unique sound. Powerful and catchy Japanese female and male vocals bring the final touch to an incredible groove where Afrobeat and Ohayashi music are woven together so seamlessly that Ajate has managed to capture a truly distinct fusion. The band sings about the power of human connections, the force of being and living all together, the joy of sharing, and the beauty of life. Ajate’s music is a magnificent example of the way sounds are able to migrate in contemporary music.

The band’s explosive live performances have taken Ajate to the most prestigious stages in Japan, such as the Sukiyaki Meets The World and Fuji & Sun festivals. The release on French label 180g of their “Abrada” and “Alo” albums, in 2017 and 2020 respectively, opened the doors to Europe, with memorable shows at the Transmusicales de Rennes festival - followed by a session on KEXP (Seattle, USA) - at Jazz a Vienne, and at WOMAD UK, among many others. With their brand new album “Dala Toni”, Ajate prove once again that they are at the forefront of global music "made in Japan".

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With Love: Volume 2 Compiled By Miche Pink Vinyl Edition

2LP | 2023 | UK | Original (Mr Bongo)

Runnin The Mardi Gras / Smile

Release: 2023 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Compiling the follow-up to a very successful first album is always a tricky task, but just 12 months since the release of volume one in the 'With Love' series, miche has excelled himself once again with another glorious, deep dive into the world of rare soul. 15 tracks of independently released music, created by magnificent artists with stories to tell and primed for rediscovery.

The ambition to celebrate under-the-radar artists has remained, but instead of a facsimile of volume one, what we have here is a selection shaped by life changes. Volume two is for the dancers; still soulful, still ultra-rare and slept-on records from the USA, Chile, Brazil and beyond, but the dynamics of the collection have shifted slightly. It represents a move from being immersed in a week in week out environment of beautiful, soulful music in a cosy, dimly lit hi-fi bar to playing livelier, more energetic, dancefloor-focused music in nightclubs. This volume will get you on your feet, make you move and unleash whatever it is that makes you get down.

One of the jewels in the crown of this compilation is a joyous, anthemic gospel version of Stevie Wonder's 'As' by The Family Tree (a project produced by the fantastic Julius Brockington). We are also treated to a rare and sought-after Pennsylvanian funk / AOR bomb by Maxwell, a stunning modern soul tune 'High On You' by Freedom, and self-released Brazilian 45s by Banda 22 and Zé Da Lata. P.J. City's 'Straight Forward (Non-Stop)' is gospel-disco perfection, and we also have 'Dame Solamente Amor’, a sublime, soul beauty from Chile by Rogers Mitchell. Many of these artists featured in this compilation aren't household names, but they deserve their moment to shine, to be heard, loved and appreciated for their artistry.

As Miche says it, “I hope this compilation helps in some way to keep this glorious music alive and play a part in connecting generations of music lovers from the worldwide soul family. As always, it has been made ‘With Love’.”

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Boco

7" | 2023 | US | Original (Big Crown)

12,99 €*

Mamarron Volume 1 Blue Vinyl Edition

Release: 2023 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Repress! Rare underground cult classic Running The Mardi Gras by Boco. Those lucky enough to find an original copy are paying upwards of $1000.00 for this truly unique psych rock / funk gem on 45.From the title to the sound to the cryptic lyrics "Running the Mardi Gras" seems to confirm all the mystique that surrounds the southern Louisiana Bayous and Cajun culture. This record is a family affair. It started one morning when one Mr. Latour, the father of the group, was shaving in the mirror and a song struck him. It was to be about Mardi Gras, not the beaded revelry of New Orleans familiar to most, but the traditions of rural Louisiana, where one would "run the Mardi Gras," going house to house getting home cooking from the neighbors. He would sing the song every day in the car and the children of the family soaked up the spirit of the song.Playing and performing was just part of life for the family. Mr. Latour had bought studio equipment for his children to record on, which he kept in their house. Growing up in the shadow of New Orleans, the Latour children listened to the sounds of Funk and R&B that came in on the radio, which was the biggest influence on the family projects' sound. Together the four Latour children, with the eponymous Boco Latour on lead vocals, and a couple of local musicians recorded "Running the Mardi Gras" in the Latour home. Feeling that they really had something, the makeshift band decided to record a b-side. The guitarist had a song he had been working on and they recorded what would become "Smile" as well. The two songs were pressed under the Laughing Eye label, nothing more than the heading under which the Latour family released their music, and mostly sold the 45 at gigs around southern Louisiana. The recorded output under Laughing Eye was understandably limited, but locals still remember well Boco's powerful voice from her shows in clubs around the bayous. Boco and George Latour still live around Baton Rouge and continue to make music and play in the area.

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Los Cotopla Boyz

LP | 2022 | EU | Original (Aya)

Hypnotic Guitar Of John Ondolo

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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The newest psychedelic space ranger Cumbia band from Bogotá's infamous DIY scene have been sent to earth to save the party! Los Cotopla Boyz make the walls sweat, they set fire to your feet on the dance floor. It all started in Bogotá, which you might say is the tropicanibal venue par excellence, a place that has brought life to acts like Frente Cumbiero, Los Meridian Brothers, Romperayo, Chúpame el dedo, Dub de Gaita, Los Pirañas, Onda trópica and León Pardo, among other eccentricities that have taken the world and stand out not only for their virtuosity but also the connection that lives between that salvaging of traditional folklore and lysergic futurism that expands hypnotically around the world. From this musical hotbed that emerged in the second decade of the new millennium, there is now a new generation to continue the tropicanibal scene, with groups such as La Sonora Mazurén, La Tromba Bacalao, Los Yoryis, El Conjunto Media Luna and, of course, Los Cotopla Boyz, a five-piece that formed in Bogotá in 2018 but inhabit a post-pandemic dystopian multiverse where their mission is to save the party. So their live performances have that illusion of frantic Power Rangers singing about their adventures, as if these were epic chants, except instead of heroic feats they sing with humor about their everyday lives. Mamarron, Vol. 1 consists of seven millennial cannon shots inspired by Los Mirlos, Los Hechizeros Band, Anan, Wendy Sulca, La Sonora Cordobesa, Bad Bunny, Yandel and Los Corraleros de Majagual.The tracks were laid down on their debut record that saw the light in 2020 in the middle of the pandemic and are now re-released in 2022 by ZZK Records imprint AYA records and being pressed on vinyl. The vinyl album also will include the bonus track "El Peruanito" remixed by Colombian producer Santiago Navas. Los Cotopla Boyz are a sweaty, schizophrenic cumbia experience that has been witnessed by emerging Bogotá clubs like Matik-Matik, Boogaloop, El Chamán, Tejo Turmequé, Videoclub and the festival Herm...

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John Ondolo

LP | 2022 | US | Original (Mississippi)

LP | 1966 | EU | Reissue (Cortizona)

Release: 2022 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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John Ondolo spent his life traveling between Tanzania, where he was born, and Kenya, where he recorded a string of singles for independent labels in the late 1950s and early 60s. Unlike most guitarists from the region, Ondolo used open tuning (a favorite of American blues guitarists), creating a hypnotic drone over which he laid down endless rhythmic variations on his main themes. Inspired by the exploding pop music scene in Nairobi, the newest rock and roll imports from the US, and the Abakuria tribal music of his youth, Ondolo transposed traditional instruments and rhythms to his guitar, playing it more like a traditional harp at times, and inventing a sound totally unique in the recorded history of African guitar. This album brings together John Ondolo's rare early 78rpm recordings in the first-ever overview of this innovative but overlooked artist. The music traces Ondolo's creative output, from the resonant acoustic guitar masterpiece Tumshukuru Mungu to the relentless guitar and flute (!) interplay of Kenya Style to his later electric guitar, bass, and drum recordings with the Jolly Trio, all tied together by Ondolo's unique rhythmic sense and vocal style. The breadth and variety of Ondolo's recordings may be a result of his sporadic recording history. Unlike more famous artists, Ondolo wasn't sucked into the Nairobi nightlife scene of the early 60s, instead traveling from his farm in the foothills of Kilimanjaro on occasion to record. An outsider and devout Catholic whose music was sometimes at odds with the style of the times, he later left music entirely, shifting to film and driving a mobile cinema van for the Tanzanian government, introducing socialist and Pan-African films to the countryside. An accident in his mobile cinema led to the loss of his left arm, though he continued his travels. He died in 2008 in Dar Es Salaam, leaving behind two wives and 11 children. Over a decade in the works, Hypnotic Guitar of_ includes an insert with lyrics and translations, as well as notes by Tanzanian m...

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Patty Waters

You Loved Me

The Enchanted Guitar Of Pekka Laine Orange Vinyl Edition

Release: 1966 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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First time release on vinyl of the breathtaking songs Patty Waters recorded with engineer Steve Atkins in 1970 at the Coast Recordings studio, together with the unreleased single 'My One And Only Love' and a recorded live session at Lone Mountain College in 1974.

The album 'You Loved Me' is the missing link between her two groundbreaking pioneering and highly acclaimed ESP-Disk records from the end of the 60's and her post 90's releases. The missing link between the radical ingenue of the 1960s and her late 90's songs wherein she expressed the resolution of all of her life's moments through mature readings of traditional songs and jazz standards. This collection aims to provide that missing link and to finally complete the picture of her storied recording career.

In what would have been her third LP, the 'You Loved Me' album serves as the inverse of Patty's debut. While her debut "Sings" concerned itself with themes of heartbreak, loneliness and yearning, there's an abundance of love, joy and togetherness on "You Loved Me".

Or in Patty's own words:

"I was a young girl alone at age 19, I was longing for love and dreaming of how wonderful love could be"

On 'You Loved Me' Patty Waters velvet voice captures this longing for love, straight from her soul to your heart. Crossing the border of the avant garde jazz entering a strange zone, somewhere between spiritual jazz, early folk vibes on the songs on the A-sides while the 14 minute composition 'Touched By Rodin In A Paris Museum' on the B-side is (dixit David Stubbs for Uncut in 2004) a brilliant extended showcase for the uneasy Cageian minimalism of her piano playing.

'You Loved Me' proves also again why Albert Ayler introduced her to ESP-Disk president Bernard Stollman, impressed Miles Davis, Pharoah Sanders and Henry Grimes with her concerts and can count Patti Smith and Yoko Ono (to name a few) amongst her fans.

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Pekka Laine

LP | 2022 | EU | Original (Svart)

LP | 2021 | US | Original (Rune Grammofon)

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Pekka Laine is leading a double life. There is his daytime persona, a longstanding journalist and maker of award-winning documentary series for radio and television. Then there is the other side to him that comes out at night: the guitar player and DIY-composer. As a driving force of The Hypnomen, a band with a cult following, Laine has explored the world of instrumental music since the 1990s. In his intrepid journeys from primitive noise art to the spheres of soulful psychedelia, he has now reached one important milestone. As a result of a series of unpredictable twists and turns, Pekka Laine’s first solo album was born. The making of the album has been a highly personal journey. It is a declaration of his undying love of the enchanted instrument that is the electric guitar and the cosmic echoes that tie together the primal 1960s space sounds, psychedelia, dub music and weird film soundtracks to form one futuristic continuum.

What started as an innocent and unexpected email in last March has turned into a process mentored by Esa Pulliainen, the fearless leader of the legendary band Agents. From his seat behind the mixing console, the guitar legend captured the sound waves and created the right mood. Multi-instrumentalist and producer Toni Liimatta, a serious alchemist in the world of instrumental music, added his invaluable expertise and experience. The spirit during the sessions where Laine’s compositions were transformed from dreamy ideas into reality was free and almost childlike in zeal. No holds were barred and nothing could stop the stream of influences, associations and sounds ricocheting off the studio walls. Joe Meek, electronic space sounds, Spaghetti Westerns, experimental tape music, London, California, Moscow, Jane Birkin, library music, Björn Olsson, Link Wray, early hip hop, the Wrecking Crew, folk, Roy Anderson’s films – there was no end in sight when the party started raving about all things inspiring. The music, however, is authentic. It came straight from the composer’s own head and heart.

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Sex Magick Wizards

Your Bliss My Joy

LP | 1981 | UK | Reissue (Pure Pleasure)

Release: 2021 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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As Is The Common Circumstance For So Many New Groups Forming In Norway This Century, Sex Magick Wizards Met At The Norwegian Academy Of Music In Oslo Where They Studied Jazz And Improvisation. They Released Their Promising Debut Album "Eroto Comatose Lucidity" In 2019 Through A Small, Local Label Based In Northern Norway, Where Leader And Guitarist Viktor Bomstad Was Born. Viktor Bomstad (28) Was Raised On A Diet Of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath And Jimi Hendrix Before Being Introduced To DJango Reinhardt, A Turning Point In His Life. After Several Years Of Cultivating A More Traditional Jazz Direction He Became Engulfed In The Possibilities Of Free Jazz. He Later Returned To His Local Roots, Including A Deep Dive Into Traditional Joik. Sigrid Aftret (29) Is An Exciting Sax Player Known For Her Strong Musical Presence And Open Approach To Improvisation. She's Been Making Waves On Oslo's Fertile And Ever Growing Improv Scene, Performing Solo And In Various Constellations And Band Projects. Henrik Sandstad Dalen (27) Is Firmly Grounded In Jazz And Improvisation And Is Always Looking To Stretch The Limits By Challenging Himself As Well As The Listener. He's A Tireless Source Of Any Musical Ideas That Will Develop The Band As A Living Organism. Ingvald André Vassbo (25) Is A Very Active And In Demand Young Drummer. He Took Over The Sticks After Axel Skalstad (Krokofant), Who Played On Their Debut. Raised On Progressive Rock And Jazz From A Young Age, He Has Ample Experience With Both Heavy Metal As Well As Improvisation. He's Also A Member Of Kanaan And Juno, And Played In Hedvig Mollestad's "Maternity Beat" Project With Trondheim Jazz Orchestra. Opener "Qliphoth Chokehold" Immediately Sets The Tone With A Frantic, Slightly Angular Yet Controlled Burst Of Energy, Propelled By Drummer Vassbo. "Exaltation", Written By Aftret, Nods To Early 70s Swedish Folkish Prog, While The Concluding Title Track Brings To Mind Their Mighty Stablemates Fire! All In All, The New Album Is A More Varied And Dynamic Affair And C...

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Creative Arts Ensemble

One Step Out

LP | 2021 | EU | Original (Unseen Worlds)

Release: 1981 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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One of the most sought after and highly-regarded titles to have appeared on Tom Albach's celebrated Nimbus West imprint, "One Step Out" is a timeless work of spiritualized jazz. A true gem from the Los Angeles jazz underground, the album was pianist and composer Kaeef Ruzadun Ali's first recording as leader of the Creative Arts Ensemble, the only large ensemble group that emerged directly from Horace Tapscott's legendary Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra community jazz group. A Los Angeles native, Kaeef was introduced to the Tapscott circle in the late 1970s. His first experience of the Arkestra's ethos was through Papa tenorist Michael Session, who took him to the famous "Great House" at 2412 South Western Ave., LA -- a large mansion house which members of the Arkestra had taken over as a space for communal living. Life in the Great House was a continuous stream of music, dance and community events. »When I walked in there,« recalled Kaeef, »it was like this whole rush came over me, just from going in the front door -- It was like a very, very warm feeling of love. I went and I came out with "Flashback Of Time", and that was my first arrangement.« Kaeef quickly became a significant contributor of compositions to the Arkestra's songbook -- his piece "New Horizon" would be recorded by Horace Tapscott for the latter's Tapscott Sessions series. But "Flashback Of Time" would eventually appear on "One Step Out", played by the new group he had put together from stalwart Arkestra members. Inspired by both Tapscott's example and by the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Kaeef had wanted to follow their lead by assembling a larger unit. Featuring seasoned Arkestra regulars including reedsman Dadisi Komolafe, drummer Woody "Sonship" Theus and altoist Gary Bias, with veterans Henry "The Skipper" Franklin on bass and George Bohannon on trombone, "One Step Out" is a key document of the Los Angeles radical jazz underground. Featuring the sanctified vocals of Kaeef's sister, B. J. Crowley, the album is a tour de force of spiritually energized independent jazz music.

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Carl Stone

Stolen Car

33,99 €*

LP | 2021 | UK | Original (Black Acre)

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Over The Past Several Years, The Recorded Output Of Carl Stone Has Been Turned On Its Head. In Previous Decades, Stone Perennially Toured New Work But Kept A Harboring Gulf Of Time Between The Live Performances And Their Recorded Release. This Not Only Reflected The Careful Consideration Of The Pieces And Technical Innovations That Went Into The Music But Also The Largely Academic-Minded Audience That Was Themselves Invested In The History And Context Of The Work. The Time Span Of Stone's Recorded Output In Both Sheer Musical Duration And Year Range Was Generously Expansive. Following Multiple Historical Overviews Of Stone's Work On Unseen Worlds And A Re-Connection With A Wider Audience, The Time Between Stone's New Work In Concert And On Record Has Grown Shorter And Shorter Until There Is Now Almost No Distance At All. Stone's Work Has Often At Its Core Explored New Potential Within Popular Cultural Musics, Simultaneously Unspooling And Satisfying A Pop Craving. On Stol En Car, The Forms Of Carl Stone's Pieces Have Also Become More Compact, Making For A Progressive New Stage In Stone's Career Where He Is Not Only Creating Out Of Pop Forms But Challenging Them.Stolen Car Is The Gleeful, Heart Racing Sound Of Hijack, Hotwire, And Escape. Stone Carries The Easy Smirk And Confidence Of A Car Thief Just Out Of The Can, A Magician In A New Town Setting Up A Game Of Balls And Cups. With Each Track He Reaches Under The Steering Wheel And Yanks A Fistful Of Wires. Boom, The Engine Roars To Life, The Car Speeds Off Into The Sunset, The Cups Are Tipped Over, The Balls, Like The Car, Are Gone."These Tracks Were All Made In Late 2019 And 2020, Much Of When I Was In Pandemic Isolation About 5000 Miles From My Home Base Of Tokyo. All Are Made Using My Favorite Programming Language Max. However Distinct These Two Groupings Might Be They Share Some Common And Long-Held Musical Concerns. I Seek To Explore The Inner Workings Of The Music We Listen To Using Techniques Of Magnification, Dissection, Granulation,, Anagrami...

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FYI Chris

Earth Scum

Cicatriz Red Vinyl Edition

Release: 2021 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Northern Bred, South London Based Duo Fyi Chris Announce Their Debut Album, Earth Scum. Following 2020 Ep, Black Dragon Loop, Scum Of The Earth; Is A Nod To The Duo's Northern Roots And A Signal To Their Friends And Fam Ethos, Featuring Watson's Uncle - Mancunian Poet Thick Richard. Blending Swirling Synths With Punk Energy, On 'Scum Of The Earth' Thick Richard's No-Frills, Spoken Word - "But Just Remember This Planet Is Made Out Of Dirt, When You Call Me The Scum Of The Earth" - Is Peppered With Broken Beats And Distorted Vox Lines. Originally A Track Made From A Live Recording Of Thick Richard Taken In The Wee Hours Of The Morning In The Smoking Area Of Corsica Studios About Eight Years Ago, He Managed To Re-Record During The Uk Lockdown In 2020, Adding Verses From Another Poem, People In Crack Houses Shouldn'T Throw Rocks. A Duo With Strong Creative Vision, Follow Thick Richard Cycling Around The Canals Of Manchester, Tinnies In Hand, In The Glitchy, Wigged Out Visuals For Scum Of The Earth, Directed And Edited By Dilesh Patel. The Follow Up To Their Sensational 2020 Ep Black Dragon Loop Which Garnered Support From Clash, Loud And Quiet, Mixmag, Boiler Room 4:3 And More, Fyi Chris Return To Esteemed Bristol Label, Black Acre Records, A Fitting Home For Their Debut Album Earth Scum. Traversing Post-Punk, Jazz, Techno, Weirdo House And Beyond With A Psychedelic Spin, Across Twelve Tracks Earth Scum Promises Insight Into The Multiverse Of Fyi Chris. The Duo Pay Homage To Their Strong Sense Of Community And Life As They Know It In South London And The North Of England, Nodding To Friends And Family Along The Way. Sonically, The Pair Showcase Their Varied Palettes And Musicality With A Darker And More Rugged Multi-Instrumental Approach, While Shining A Light On Their Gallows Sense Of Humour. Hailing From The North, Fyi Chris (Chris Watson And Chris Coupe) Met In South London - Fast Becoming Key Players In That Tight-Knit Local Community As Well As The Global Dance Music Scene. Regulars At Peckham's...

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Kamixlo

LP | 2020 | Original (Pan)

LP | 1975 | EU | Reissue (ECM)

Release: 2020 / Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Kamixlo Has Experienced A Lot Of Loss In The Last Two-And-A-Half Years. His Long-Awaited Debut Lp, Cicatriz, Is Named After The Spanish Word For "Scar", Taking Its Intense And Energetic Tone From The Tough Times In The Brixton-Based Producer's Life. An Extremely Personal Album That Follows 11 Songs With Titles Like "Sick", "Poison" And "Destruction", It Pitches Soft And Hard Sonics Against Each Other To Create An Urgent And Exciting Tension As The Track Listing Hurtles Through Its Own Emotional Rollercoaster. It Runs From The Lurching Drone And Monstrously Distorted Vocal Samples Of Opener "The Coldest Hello (Live From The Russian Spiral)" To The Bright And Melodic Kosmiche-Reggaeton Closer Of "Azucar" ('Sugar'), Produced With Swedish Cloud Rap Producer Woesum.Only Just Past His Mid-20s, Kamixlo Has Been Making A Name For Himself With His Dembow And Bass-Influenced Dance Deconstructions, Releasing Three Eps Since 2015, As Well As Running The Recently Defunct Bala Club Party And Label, Named After Japanese Pro Wrestling Group Bullet Club. The Night Was An Inclusive Operation That Established Its Own Unique Style Of Cross-Genre Post Club Music For The Margins, While Allowing Kamixlo The Space To Develop His Soundâç"One That Was Imbued With Its Own Pop Immediacy, As Well As Smatterings Of Emo, Electro And Hardcore.British-Chilean Kamixlo's Cicatriz Is Rife With Surprising References. These Include The Thumping Industrial Of "The Burning Hammer Bop" - Taking Its Title From One Of The Most Dangerous Professional Wrestling Moves Ever Invented - And The Growling Sub Bass Of "Dkd Lethal" - Named After DJ Lethal Of Famous Nu Metal Band Limp Bizkit. Meanwhile, Long-Time Collaborator, Producer And Endless Party Founder Felix Lee Appears On The Scrambled Rhythm And Cut-Up Sampling Of "Demonic Y". As The Saying Goes, There's No Pleasure Without Pain, No Resurrection Without Destruction, And Cicatriz Is All These Things At Once.The Album Is Mastered By Beau Thomas, Featuring Artwork By Daniel Swan.

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Ralph Towner

Solstice

Release: 1975 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Featuring a lineup of musicians who would go on to weave ECM’s significance into the fabric of time, Solstice is a tour de force of musicianship, writing, arrangement, and recording.

Each track is brimming with life and features the sensitive application of a variety of instrumental combinations and studio savvy. “Oceanus” showcases Garbarek in his prime, soaring with an unbridled emotional register. As always, Towner’s 12-string speaks in 360 degrees. Superb drumming from Christensen complements lush melodic lines from Weber, who stretches a melodic cello into infinity while his bass arises like the conical aftereffect of a water droplet. “Visitation” clouds this ardor in a nocturnal vision filled with laughing spirits. “Drifting Petals” is a slow progression, a timid look out onto a dusty plain where the promise of freedom looms larger than the possibility of danger. But then an elder’s advice rings in our ears and pushes us onward. Feet move of their volition and pull us into the ever-receding horizon as the first drops of a squall streak across our foreheads. Towner proves again that his piano musings are not to be taken lightly, as they make for one of the most evocative tracks on the album. A transcendental 12-string solo (with gentle dimensional support from Weber) opens “Nimbus,” soon blossoming into a flourish of flutes, drums, and a bowed bass that cries with the grating fluidity of a sarangi. Garbarek’s sax joins in the fray and lets loose its harmonious fire. The deftly overdubbed flutes return, spreading their wings for a few moments before fluttering off into the distance. “Winter Solstice,” “Piscean Dance,” and “Red and Black” comprise a triptych of duets: the first for classical guitar and sax, the second a prime jam for 12-string and drums, and the third for 12-string and bass. “Sand” ends our cosmic journey with one of Garbarek’s deepest meditations for sax set to the strangely compelling ululations of Christensen’s flexatone lolling about in the background.

Melodically robust while structurally yielding, this is an album to be treasured and is a must-listen for anyone desiring to know what ECM is all about. An astounding meeting of musical minds if there ever was one.

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Butterfly Black Vinyl Edition

LP | 1975 | EU | Reissue (Afrodelic)

Release: 1975 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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With one foot planted in jazz and the other in the township groove of Mbaqanga, saxophonist Sello Mmutung was a powerful crossover figure in the history of popular music in South Africa. Using the stage name Bra Sello, meaning “brother” and used as a term of affection and respect in the jazz community, he came up in the era of shellac 78s as an exponent of the 1960s sax jive sound that brought the swinging rhythm of kwela into the domain of South African jazz. Despite the injection of American rhythm and blues into South African pop in the late-1960s, Bra Sello’s first releases on vinyl on the
CBS label saw him backed by the group Abafana Bentuthuko and holding down an unapologetic township sound.
Joining the independent Soweto label under producer Cambridge Matiwane in the mid-1970s, Bra Sello recorded two records in the hit-making bump jive style popularised by serious jazz musician Dollar Brand on the one hand and prolific studio group The Movers, operating in funk and soul territory, on the other. Blending modern American and traditional African elements into joyful hip-swinging rhythms, Butterfly (1975) and The Battle of Disco (1977) reflect the vivacity of urban life in South Africa and document an era when dance music was performed by bands as extended jams laced with jawdropping solos. With music trends shifting dramatically in the late-1970s, the title of The Battle of Disco was an ironic call to arms in response to the territory that group musicians were beginning to cede to synthesisers and DJs.
For enthusiasts of African music from the 1970s, a full appreciation of the continent’s output is incomplete without South Africa’s pop-jazz sound providing a regional counterpoint to the funk experimentation of West Africa. Reissued for the very first time, Bra Sello returns in 2023 with limited replica editions from Afrodelic using master tape sources from the As Shams / The Sun collection. Afrodelic’s unique edition of Butterfly features a previously unreleased track on Side B.

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The Battle Of Disco Black Vinyl Edition

LP | 1977 | EU | Reissue (Afrodelic)

7" | 2023 | EU | Original (Eraserhood Sound)

Release: 1977 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Abby Jeanne

Know Better

12,99 €*

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Abby Jeanne has been an artist her entire life. While growing up in Milwaukee, WI, she was indoctrinated into the arts via a public art schooling experiment in the 90s. As a pre-teen, she was socially adopted by a Rock N Roll cafe cult, where she wrote music, painted, and started her deep infatuation with records, especially 60s pop and underground soul/rock n' roll via the haunted jukebox that lived there. A series of family tragedies, including the loss of her sister, left Abby living in a car with her guitar, which led to her traveling overseas and carving out a music career for herself. Through it all, she is currently a New York City-based multimedia artist who has built a name for herself through not only her music, but her visual art and event throwing. After years of hustling to create DIY releases and garnering the support of national radio stations across the country, 2022 saw Abby Jeanne release the single "That's Where We Are" on Philadelphia's Eraserhood Sound. Today she is back with a brand new 45, Know Better / Sage and Cigarettes. Both of these unforgettable tracks feature Eraserhood Sound's signature in-house analog synth and soul production, and they represent some of Abby's best, most inspired work to date. A-side "Know Better" is a rollicking pop-soul party-starter that features a four on the floor beat, electrifying guitar riffs, and deceptively profound lyrics that examine the selfishness and vapidity of today's society. On the flip side, "Sage and Cigarettes" is one of the most powerful and intimate songs Abby has ever recorded. The track, with its slow-burning shuffle and classic instrumentation reminiscent of Otis Redding's most emotional work, is a direct reflection of her experience healing as a traumatized woman in a modern world. Together, these two songs showcase the extremely talented, complex, and exciting Abby Jeanne, an artist who is undoubtedly ready to take the world by storm in 2023 and beyond.

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Saigon Supersound Volume 1

2LP | 2017 | EU | Original (Saigon Supersound)

30,99 €*

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Cortizona)

Release: 2017 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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What started as an idea 5 years ago now becomes reality with the release of SAIGON SUPERSOUND Vol.1, compiled by Jan Hagenkötter. A compilation about the story of a musical era in Vietnam that was almost lost, made of tracks from 1965 to 1975, the so-called “Golden Music” period in the south of Vietnam, where – under difficult circumstances – a lively pop culture had developed. This period is characterized by the fusion of Vietnamese music with western pop music. The compilation includes some tunes reissued for the very first time since they´ve been released originally. With the release of Saigon Supersound Vol. 1 on double gatefold vinyl and cd in May 2017 the story of this nearly unknown music will be reissued.
Jan Hagenkötter a music-lover and DJ who is also the mind behind the renowned music publishing company and record label INFRACom!, relocated to Saigon in 2012. In co-operation with the Vietnam based dOSe crew, Jan organized parties and shows, inviting guest and friends like DJ Spinna, Jazzanova, Alice Russell and many other artists. During this year as he was spinning tunes in Saigon and other parts of South East Asia the idea for this project was born. In 2013 Jan returned to Germany but has been swinging back and forth between Saigon and Frankfurt ever since.
In the following years he began to research and collect more seriously. He bought vinyl singles from around the world, often several copies of the same release, just to restore or rather “rebuild” one good recording from several sources. With the help of friends based in Saigon, he was able to navigate an almost impenetrable jungle of music websites. Thanks to invaluable support and translation assistance from Vietnamese friends, he came into contact with several collectors. The best recordings from this treasure hunt were then retouched, refined and remastered in the studio for this release.
Besides this amazing project, Vietnamese producers like Maqman from Saigon, DJ Yellow from Paris and others who also share roots in Vietnam have already started to work on edits and re-works of songs featured on Saigon Supersound Vol. 1. These will be released in a next step....the mission is not completed....it just started!

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Brahja

Nebulizer

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Preorder shipping from 2024-11-15

From the first moment the pulsating tone of Devin's synth blends with the whispering voices of Earth, Wind and Choir and the menacing bells Naima Karlsson set in motion this record you just know and feel immediately 'Nebulizer' will be a soul-searching journey, soaking you deep into an unknown and very personal musical world.

Devin Brahja Waldman is a New York saxophonist, drummer, synthesizer player and composer who leads the group BRAHJA. He has performed with Patti Smith, William Parker, Nadah El Shazly, Malcolm Mooney, Thurston Moore, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Charles Hayward, Luke Stewart and Yoshiko Chuma. Waldman is also a member of NYC's Heroes Are Gang Leaders (led by poet Thomas Sayers Ellis and saxophonist James Brandon Lewis), of Sam Shalabi's Land of Kush, and of the Norwegian hardcore group MoE.

In 2022 BRAHJA released the critically acclaimed album 'Watermelancholia' on the Belgian leftfield imprint Cortizona. For his second album on the same Cortizona label, Devin Brahja Waldman gathered a group of insanely gifted and talented musicians to start a new and highly moving musical chapter titled 'Nebulizer'.

Together with Adam Kinner, Georgia Wartel Collins, Earth, Wind and Choir, Luke Stewart, Kenichi Iwasa, Naima Karlsson, Alexis Mercelo, Janice Lowe, Watson and Damon Hankoff, Devin forms a slow-burning fireball unity.

A devotional séance channelling unknown powers proving music is a healing force of the universe.

Rejoicing the Holy Jazz Spirit.

Ready to nebulize the world and bring light out from the darkness. Head cleaning the world in 4 musical parts: Geological Drum, Nebulizer, Bushido and Movements of The Mind. Nebulizer is an elevating meditation on our estrangement of nature.

Interstellar sonic stardust from a mindblowing collective that will leave you flabbergasted.

Be prepared and hear it to believe it.

For fans of: Art Ensemble of Chicago, Archie Shepp, Pharoah Sanders, John & Alice Coltrane, Kamasi Washington, Shabaka Hutchings, SAULT, Ill Considered, Jamie Branche, Angel Bat Dawid, Mackaya Craven, Matana Roberts, Sun Ra and other good music.

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LP | 2024 | UK | Original (Miles Away)

Miles Away: One

32,99 €*

CD | 2024 | WW | Original (Mr Bongo)

Release: 2024 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Compiled by label founder Dom Ore Miles Away: One is a collection of tracks that spans continents, era and genres. Rooted in soul this compilation features recordings from legendary musical figures side-by-side with perhaps lesser-known soulful gems – all beautifully bought together in one cohesive long player.
Setting the tone is Idris Muhammad's spiritual-jazz recording I'm A Believer before moving into the modern soul and funk selections Miles Away have built their reputation around. We have the crossover-soul rarity Yes It's You by Eugene Smiley, the remarkable foot-to-the-floor soulful dance cut She's So Good by Solid Gold Revue, enduring soul funk explosion No Communication by True Transfusion, the gospel-infused Fantasy Ride by Uneda Dennard & the full length extended version of Superstar by Ruth Waters. Many tracks appearing here for the first time since their original release.
On the second disc the compilation begins to weave a slightly different direction compared to the output from Miles Away thus far. Here you'll find soundtrack and library music cuts from the likes of Czech artist Milan Kymlicka, renowned Argentinian composer Oscar Lopez Ruiz and noted Italian song-writer Paolo Zavallone alias Bimbo E I Milionari (edited by Ric Piccolo). Oddities and curiosities come in the form of Be My Friend by Laine August - an 80s electro-pop gem courtesy of Freeez keysman Andy Stennett. There's the stripped back street-soul-sounding Deeper by Colour and the breezy Latin American sounds of Paulina Virgo's Vale Valor. Finishing the set is Lady Africa Margaret Singana's timeless cover of the Stretch track Why Did You Do It.
Painstakingly researched and officially licensed from the artists, producers and labels that originally put out this wonderful music. In-depth liner notes go into great detail about each artist depicting their histories, stories and music - something which has been at the heart of Miles Away from day one. This music deserves to live on long in the memory!

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Raul Gomez

Clap Hands / Double O One Disco

Release: 2024 / WW – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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For the next reissue in Mr Bongo’s Cuban Classics series, we look to Raúl Gómez’s entrancing 1977 Instrumental album. Presenting a unique blend of orchestral disco and jazz-funk, with Afro-Cuban flavours and soundtrack influences, it’s rich with drum breaks, energy and evolving compositions. A record that forever keeps you guessing, powered by an exemplary orchestra at the top of their game.

Cuban composer and singer Raúl Gómez is most known for featuring in the groups Mirtha Y Raul and Los Bucaneros alongside producing the Cuban classic Los Reyes 73 album, amongst a whole host of other incredible productions over the years. Released on Cuba’s state-owned label Areito, Instrumental sees Gómez not only as an instrumentalist and author, but also as a producer and arranger.

It's an album that deftly evades pigeonholing. Floating between instrumental mood music and library/soundtrack mastery, followed by explosions of cosmic-Latin funk, psych guitar workouts and compositions that reflect the orchestrated disco coming out of the US at the time, from greats such as Love Unlimited or Mfsb. Lace that together with a healthy serving of Afro-Cuban magic to underpin the tracks and it’s a recipe for a record that captivates from start to finish.

Predominantly an instrumental album as the title suggests, the record showcases the Orquesta Egrem in full flow, soaring strings and vibrant horns at every turn. Highlights include 'Mi Samba Carnaval' with its breathtaking drum break, bubbling synths and sublime arrangements and the romantic film music impressions of ‘Tema De La Sierra', that have been a sampling source for many a producer. Elsewhere, ‘6 Son’ is a mind-melding psych guitar powerhouse, with 'Dacapo', written by Gilberto Peralta, offering up a slice of atmospheric and energetic Latin shuffle. One of only a handful of tracks where scat vocals compliment the orchestral tones, a Brazilian percussion theme marries with dancefloor sensibilities for a dose of feel-good, brilliance.

A wide-ranging, multi-dimensional release, Instrumental exhibits musicianship, composition and creativity at its finest and demonstrates another key example of the rich output of music that flowed from the island of Cuba post revolution.

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Highway Motion

7" | 1980 | UK | Reissue (Freestyle)

Mr Brown Eyed Soul Volume 2 Red Vinyl Edition

Release: 1980 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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**7" vinyl in printed house-bag w/ Postcard insert**
Freestyle dig out another rarity in the form of a DIY brit-funk 7" from Highway Motion aka David Humphrey (a session drummer who played with Sparks, and with PiL on the iconic Metal Box LP & Death Disco 12"). Tinged with raw post-punk edge and 70s library music-style synth leads, this 45 is quite simply massive amounts of fun.
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David Humphrey's professional career as a drummer began aged 19 with Public Image Ltd, providing some of the drum tracks on their iconic Metal Box album and Death Disco single. Humphrey would then go on to work with Mike Oldfield and then Sparks, playing with the latter on their Number One Song in Heaven tour, Top of The Pops and recording sessions for Beat the Clock and Tryouts for the Human Race (those sessions were included and featured in Edgar Wright's recent film 'The Sparks Brothers).
In 1980, Clap Hands and Double O One Disco were recorded under the name 'Highway Motion' - intended by Humphrey as "raw experimental tracks" they were both laid down on a 4-track and subsequently released on the DIY Star Records imprint. Rough, grooving, candid and playful; these two tracks seem to somehow simultaneously meld the burgeoning brit-funk sound of the early 80s with a riotous post-punk edge, along with a good dollop of synth-led library music.
Following it's release David formed the group Reflex, recording and releasing the Funny Situation 7" in 1981 - forming the only other title in the Star Records catalogue. A more straight-up brit-funk dancer yet still pressed and sold in small quantities, Funny Situation became a sought-after record on the second hand collector's market, and finally saw reissue last September 2020 on the start-up Paint A Picture label - garnering plays from from Gilles Peterson on BBC 6 Music and Worldwide FM, StreetSounds radio and reaching No 1 in Juno records Chart. David has now started to working on new music using the name Davey H, and released his first new material in decades recently on Six Nine Records.

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Sunny & The Sunliners

LP | 2022 | US | Original (Big Crown)

LP | 2022 | EU | Original (Gringo)

Release: 2022 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Sunny Ozuna is a living legend and a man worthy of praise on many levels. In the Texas and Latin Music pantheon, few have been at it longer and are more revered by their fans and peers than Sunny is. He became a star right out of high school in the late `50s and hasn't looked back in the seven decades since. Among countless other honors and notable achievements, Sunny was the first Latino artist to appear on Dick Clark's "American Bandstand" (in 1963). He penned "Smile Now, Cry Later," a hit for him and The Sunliners, which along with the theater masks that grace the album's cover, became staples in the Chicano Soul and Lowrider Soul cultures. We have been fans of Sunny & The Sunliners' music for a long time. We first got in touch with Sunny to try to reissue some of his records in 2013 but we didn't sign a deal until 2015. It took a trip to San Antonio and then two years of steady phone calls before they decided "if you have been chasing us for this long, you must be serious." With Sunny's blessing we started getting everything mastered, scanned, and planned. First we released 2017's Mr Brown Eyed Soul Vol. 1 compilation that put rare 7" sides next to some of his biggesthits and mixed in some choice album cuts for good measure. In the wake of that, we released three of Sunny's full lengths with their original track lists and art: Smile Now, Cry Later, Little Brown Eyed Soul, and The Missing Link - all of which were Record Store Day releases that raised money for the victims of 2017's Hurricane Harvey. For the 7" collectors, we reissued ve 45s,making some very hard to come by sides widely available again and pressing some tunes on the format for the first time. In 2020, as an homage to Sunny, we released Dear Sunny... a compilation of Big Crown artists covering Sunny & The Sunliners songs. Through all of this we were able to do what we set out to do: get Sunny's music to a new audience of people and make it all accessible and available again to his existing fanbase. Sunny still keeps a busy schedule an...

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Holodrum

The Soul Vegetable Orchestra

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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FFO: Arthur Russell, Stealing Sheep, Neu!, Agar Agar, Galaxians. Holodrum are a new disco-infused synth-pop group, who feature members of Hookworms, Yard Act, Cowtown, Virginia Wing, Drahla and more. Maybe Holodrum were destined to start at this point. This might be the first time they've all officially worked together, but between Emily Garner (vocals), Matthew Benn (synth/bass / production), Jonathan Nash (drums), Jonathan Wilkinson (guitar), Sam Shjipstone (guitar/vocals), Christopher Duffin (sax/synth) & Steve Nuttall (percussion) they've shared bands, mixed each other's records, promoted live shows and made music videos together in and around Leeds. As Holodrum, this is the 7 piece's debut album, but the interlocking grooves and hot headiness of their repeato-rock-via-CBGBs dopamine hits have in one way or other been fermenting for years. "When it comes to doing music most bands fall between two extremes of doing it for some goal or as an end to itself" says Shjipstone. "I think Holodrum is about the joy and complexity of living, and I just hope to god everyone gets to have a good time doing it." Ultimately the core of the group comes from Shjipstone and his former Hookworms bandmates Benn, Nash and Wilkinson. After their abrupt dissolution in late 2018, the four of them spent 6 months apart; Benn still had Xam Duo, his ongoing project with Virginia Wing and some-time James Holden & The Animal Spirits live member Duffin, Nash remains vocalist and guitarist of long-running DIY rockers Cowtown and helms his solo project Game_Program; and Shjipstone plays guitar with Yard Act. However, the 4 of them missed the sixth sense synergy they'd built-up playing together over a decade and soon enough demos were being swapped and new ideas were discussed. The vision of a large live electronic ensemble formed quickly. Friends were added: Duffin and Nuttall who was keen to resurrect the double percussion interplay that he and Nash had been exploring as part of motorik trio Nope joined first. Then animator and V...

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Ajax Tow

LP | 2021 | EU | Original (Stereophonk)

Liquid Portraits Red/ Purple Vinyl Edition

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Hip Hop, Organic Grooves

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When Ajax Tow travels in his Pop Western landscapes, you can be sure there’s always a perfect 70’s road trip soundtrack. Italians cowboys meeting the legendary Miriam Makeba in Rennes suburbs... For his 3rd album The Soul Vegetable Orchestra, Ajax Tow is bringing us on a ten tracks sonic adventure, where many inspirations and references collide. The succession of tracks inspires many feels and moods from sipping a good old bourbon, dance in the kitchen, or gallops though the plains of Napoli. We can found the influence of Danger Mouse paying hommage to the late Ennio Morricone (Roma, 2011), a cinematic side of Shawn Lee and Misha Panfilov, from music library à la JeanClaude Vannier to the Band Voilaa, a little glimpse of pimped Ninja tune, a reworked organic Mo’Wax vibe, all mixed up and spiced up with a Tricky style. This album is also the result of a collaboration with Dan Voisin (Modul-Club, Eighty…) at the production and drums with Rennes city scene musicians who gives a hand on this album: Romain Baousson (Coupe Colonel, Bikini Machine…) on drums, Sax Machine and Racecar (Saxtoys Records) on horns and vocals, Dj Marrrtin (Funky Bijou, Lord Paramour) on beatmaking, Medline (My Bags) on Flûte. As a special guest, the late and legendary Miriam Makeba appears on “Magic Miriam”. “Feel it” is definitely setting a west coast on the LP with a Jurassic 5 inspiration, accompanied by a spicy rhythm, MC Racecar (Sax Machine) flows and lyrics brings even more energy to the track. On “Movie” and “Silence”. Ajax Tow give us a nice taste of his favorite psychedelic blends, romantic and intimate at the same time, where we found back Fuzz guitar with 60’s Eric Clapton style (Cream era) and Pink Floyd synths Flavors. The cinematic style and first notes of “So What” reminds Air first EP and the beautiful bass of “Melody Nelson”. For the dessert, “Smallville” is a kind of wedding cake with 70’s loops sprinkling that brings us to Phillipe Sarde’s La Grande Bouffe soundtrack, but with a more contemporary feeling.

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Clap! Clap!

2LP | 2021 | UK | Original (Black Acre)

Release: 2021 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Italian Producer Clap! Clap! Returns To Bristol's Black Acre With His Third Album, 'Liquid Portraits'. Born And Bred In Florence, Cristiano Crisci's Musical Career Extends Back To The Mid-90s Where He Started Out As A Rapper, Before Picking Up A Saxophone And Exploring Both Jazz And Jazz/Punk Fusion With Trio Cane, And Then Returning To His Electronic Roots With A Smile For Timbuctu Project - A Collaborative Effort That Released Four Albums And Performed Across Europe. By 2008, Crisci Decided To Strike It Out On His Own As Digi G'alessio, Channeling The Same Hip-Hop Meets Electronic Music Energies As Those Animating The Nascent Los Angeles Beat Scene For A String Of Eps And Albums. Soon Crisci Hit Upon A New Formula When He Started Combining Samples From The African Continent With Energetic Drum Programming. The Results Led To The Birth Of Clap! Clap! In 2013, Which Has Since Been Recognised And Supported By The Likes Of Paul Simon And Gilles Peterson. The Stripped-Back, High-Energy Yet Inventive Sound Caught The Attention Of Black Acre With Whom Crisci Has Been Working With Ever Since, Including His First And Second Albums 'Tayi Bebba' And 'A Thousand Skies'. Returning To Black Acre, Clap! Clap!'S Third Album Once Again Deploys His Inimitable Technique In Fine Style, However With New Eyes As This New Project Signifies A Definite Shift In His Work Having Spent The Last Few Years Learning The Art Of Mixing Which Has Lead To Some Breakthroughs: "In Recent Years I've Spent A Lot Of Time Studying Essential Mixing Techniques. I Then Built An Acoustic-Treated Room And Set Up My New Studio. I Started To Convert Digital Into Analogue And Vice Versa With Good Converters And Achieved Sounds That I've Never Heard Before From My Speakers. This Had A Huge Positive Impact On My Mixes And Result On My Music." Entitled 'Liquid Portraits', The Album - As The Name Suggests - Is A Collection Of Sonic Paintings, An Attempt At Capturing Furtive, Subconscious Memories Through Sound. The Tracks Reference Trips Crisci Took And...

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Big Business / Wind Of Change

LP | 1973 | UK | Reissue (Be With)

2LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Enchante)

Release: 1973 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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The two sides of 1973’s Big Business / Wind of Change are mainly the work of the great Keith Mansfield but there’s a killer cameo each from Alan Hawkshaw and David Snell to help deliver “a thematic suite, diverse in mood, applicable to dramatic and environmental situations”. A Be With favourite and truly one for the heads.

The Big Business of side A is all the work of Keith Mansfield. It’s heavy on the suspense and features the vital “Hot Property”, an insistent groove so good that Madlib sampled it to lace the ace “Long Awaited” by Lootpack with Dilated Peoples.

“Sleeping Giant 1” is a more fleshed out version of the equally-dazzling “Fatal Error”, evoking the orchestral magic of David Axelrod. Indeed, it conjures images of Diamond D falling over himself in the early-to-mid 90s to loop its intoxicatingly eerie soundscape. Complete with guitar fills that recall Paris, Texas-era Ry Cooder, you need this record for this piece alone.

The horn-and-flute-led "Tycoon" is a head-nodder and "Power Complex" has some fantastic percussion. Other highlights include the breezy glide of “Whistle Stop Tour” and its sister groove “Clean Air.”

Over on Side B is the more expansive Wind Of Change, which includes the David Snell and the Alan Hawkshaw contributions. But these ain’t no filler. Snell’s shuffling “International Flight” sounds like a smooth Dorothy Ashby track tossed from the heavens. Hawkshaw’s “Road And Rail” is about as luxurious and strung-out as the great man gets and it might just be the highlight of this whole set.

Not to be outdone, if Mansfield’s “Balance Of Power” doesn’t make you feel like king of the world then you must be playing it wrong. Oh, and did we mention “World In Action”?!

As with all ten re-issues, the audio for Big Business / Wind of Change comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. We’ve taken the same care with the sleeves, handing the reproduction duties over to Richard Robinson, the current custodian of KPM’s brand identity.

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Linda Lee Hopkins

Spirit & Soul

42,99 €*

LP | 2023 | US | Original (F-Spot)

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Rock & Indie

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Linda, you already know her, without really knowing her. Because in 2002, she piloted The beat goes on, DJ Bob Sinclar's house hit. because she directed Gospel pour 100 voix, an XXL choir that filled Bercy several times. It's a big difference, in keeping with the way she embraces music: a matter of emotions and feeling, not labels. A deep love that goes back to the childhood of this American native of North Carolina. When her father's amateur gospel group rehearsed at home, when the microphone was a hairbrush in front of a mirror reflecting a little girl imitating Aretha, Otis and Michael. As a young adult, winning a singing contest in a Pennsylvania club gave her confidence. Linda is gifted at embodying songs and drawing audiences along with her. Word of mouth opened doors for her. Under her spell, several bands recruited her in the seventies, until she set up her own band in 1980. And then she was hired by a musical that ran for several years in Atlantic City. A few years on the Caribbean island of Saint-Martin followed, before a guardian angel extricated her from a nightlife that was beginning to burn her wings. Off to Paris. In June 1991, Linda settled in for good. A godsend for France, its studios and touring artists. Nino Ferrer, Bernard Lavilliers, Gloria Gaynor, Percy Sledge, Ray Charles and many others called on Linda's expertise. As did Ben l'Oncle Soul in 2013 for Hallelujah!!! (J'ai tant besoin de toi), the lead single from his second album "À Coup de Rêves". Ben knew that this treasure of a voice deserved a new light. He introduced her to his great guitarist & accomplice Christophe Lardeau. The collaboration is immediately crystal-clear, naturally fruitful, and the compositions are deep and meaningful. For the first time, Linda has her own album. Drawing on the rich roots of Afro-American music and her own personal experience, "Spirit & Soul" encapsulates all the vitality of a hidden gem that we are at last truly discovering. With a repertoire like this, upcoming concerts promise to be particularly intense moments.

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Tim Carman Trio

King Comfy

Suonando La Batteria Moderna

Release: 2023 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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From the first notes of King Comfy, Tim Carman Trio play jazz like it was supposed to be played: hot, sweaty, and a damn good time. Recorded in one day on the floor of The Record Co. in Boston MA, this LP opens up the door to what jazz is really all about. “Jazz doesn’t have to be so academic. It can be a party. It doesn’t have to be about playing a million complicated notes that only schooled musicians would enjoy. I went in focusing on groove, sound, and simplicity,” says bandleader/ drummer Tim Carman (ga-20). That’s exactly what the listener gets from this trio: straightforward grooves with a sound that blows the roof off the joint. Drawing inspiration from notables such as Big John Patton, Brother Jack McDuff, Babyface Willette, and Freddie Roach, they open the door to a very special party that we’re all invited to. In fact, it’s a ten-track jazz party that’s swinging, upbeat, and funky as hell. Consisting of eight original songs and two covers, the entire record itself gives off a live feel. Tim Carman Trio could be playing at Club Mozambique, The Lighthouse, The Cliche Lounge, The Front Room, or any jazz club on the circuit during the late sixties or early seventies, but they’re playing in your living room right here in the present day, and you’ve got a front row seat. On this record, as with their freshman Keylime LP, the trio did not rehearse before the sessions. They would figure out a tune and cut it in one or two takes. It’s about the process, old and new. TC3 does a top-notch job of preserving a style while adding their own feel from start to finish. With Tim Carman on drums, Ken Clark on organ, and Steve Fell on guitar, these three accomplished musicians have done more than release a jazz record, finding and perfecting a formula that most can not even buy. They’ve put together an homage to the true essence of great jazz music, one that the aforementioned greats would be proud of. King Comfy pays respect to the past and is a real jazz party, just like it should be.

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Tullio De Piscopo

LP | 2023 | EU | Reissue (Dialogo)

The Movers - Volume 1 1970-1976

Release: 2023 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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A Brief History OF THE Drums Jazz Drums as we know them today are a complex group of percussive instruments that reveal the inventive genius of the first jazz-band players of New Orleans, on Mississippi show-boats and later, in Chicago. In their actual form (which is substantially the same as that used in the first New Orleans groups ) they are none other than the como ination into one single instrument of all the percussive units used by the Southern blacks. Let us examine the drums in their single parts: the bass drum is a percussion instrument without definite pitch, normally beaten by a stick that has a large, felt-covered knob on one end, while the other end is attached to a pedal played by the right foot. It is the same instrument used in parades with brass bands, when it is worn around the neck and can also be played with regular drumsticks if a drum roll is required. Also a descendant of the traditional New Orleans brass bands are the Charlestons, two superimposed metal plates which are also played by pedal. Drumsticks or brushes are used to play one or two cymbals, large, slightly cupped disks of brass which when struck together loudly, also produce a crashing, dramatic effect. Drumsticks are also used to play the snare drum, of military origin, and the tom tom, of African descent, which can also be played by beating the drum-head with the fingers and the heel of the hand to accompany dancing. Other supplementary instruments such as the castanets, cow-bells, etc., are also played with drumsticks. In early jazz formations and in all New Orleans jazz, drums were used to rhythmically sustain the group, in other words, to furnish the beat, particularly with the bass drum playing the strong beats; the Charlestons would follow on the weak beats and the other parts would more or less ‘fill in’ depending on the player’s ability, by playing syncopation and off-beats. Rarely were the drums used as a solo instrument in New Orleans or traditional jazz bands; at the most, the drums would perform during a break, that is, a brief solo that filled in a pause left by the other melodic instruments between two stanzas or refrains. In jazz history the most important representatives of this ‘archaic’ jazz style are considered to be Warren ‘Baby’ Dodds (brother of the famous clarinet player Johnny Dodds ) and Zutty Singleton; both can be heard on the historical recordings of the Hot Five and the Hot Seven where they played under Louis Armstrong. During the swing era the drums were somewhat modified and perfected (it was during the ’30s that they assumed their standard and present form), thus requiring players to develop a more refined, sophisticated playing technique. In fact, during the swing era the small groups that had made up the backbone of New Orleans and Chicago jazz moved momentarily into the background and attention was focused on the first big, commercial dance bands, then to small, experimental groups that consisted of trios and quartets. But while the New Orleans drummer had been accustomed to playing with musicians he knew personally and with them performed music with which he was completely familiar and could therefore easily provide rhythmic support to, during the ’30s the drummer found himself in the new situation of having to play with a large number of musicians who played written music that had been selected for commercial reasons and part of complicated, orchestral arrangements. In addition, because of continuous changes in orchestral personnel, he seldom had time to familiarize himself with his fellow musicians; he was forced, by necessity, to adapt himself to the needs of the group at a short time notice and it was not unusual for the band leader to expect an exceptionally long break during which the drummer had to demonstrate his particular virtuosity. Naturally the technical superiority of this generation of musicians found supremacy in small groups in which the drums sustained first place together with the melodic instruments. An example of two such outstanding drummers of the swing era were Chick Webb and Gene Krupa. Around and immediately following World War II there took place, gradually and not as suddenly as one is led to believe, a so-called ‘revolution’ that initiated what was the ‘modern jazz’ trend, to which the preceding jazz style was superimposed and defined as ‘traditional’ jazz. While it would be impossible to analyze here all the melodic, harmonic, rhythmic and timbric innovations created by modern jazz musicians, two considerations can be made about the drums. The first is that in modern jazz there is no longer any distinction between ‘melodic’ and ‘accompanying’ instruments, thus leveling all instruments of the group to equal importance, all with solo possibilities (just think of what a classic accompanying instrument like the guitar becomes, in the hands of Charlie Christian!). The second is that while in traditional jazz the beat, i.e., the basic rhythmic scansion of a piece, offered the possibility of rhythmic balance, in swing, rhythm became explicitly an element of sound, while in modern jazz the beat is implicit and despite its prominence throughout an entire piece, whether solo or group playing, no instrument has the specific job of sustaining the others. It is clear therefore, that when the drums have been given equal value to the other instruments, they are freed from the obligation they once had to sustain rhythmically an orchestra or group and in modern jazz find enormous expressive possibilities. The musician most responsible in giving the drums their prominence in this era was Kenny Clarke, and among his many followers two of completely different styles but both with supreme technical skills, were Shelley Manne and Max Roach.

THE Drums AND POP Music The introduction of drums in European pop music occurred at the same time as the transformation of dance bands and was conditioned by the popularity of jazz. In the first dance orchestras that offered American dance music in Europe (the fox trot, one-step, and later the Charleston), the drummer often gave his name to the entire group, which was called a ‘jazz band’. The pop music drummer, in general, was not just a pale image of his jazz colleagues. If he performed any virtuoso passages they were certainly not the result of an expressive need, but rather, well-calculated effects created by an arranger for purely commercial reasons. The drums in pop music were also liberated from their secondary role, however, in another change similar to that brought on by the modern jazz revolution: it was with rock ‘n’ roll and the experiments of the new American groups that followed the Beatles and the Rolling Stones that re-evaluated the possibilities of the drums in new forms of instrumental ‘sounds’ and added to the wealth of technical capacity and the actual physical make-up of the instrument, adding other percussive instruments from both Afro-Cuban origin (bongos) and classical music (tympani), as well as oriental instruments like the gong, Chinese bells, Korean blocks, etc. For those who are fascinated by the virtuosity of some jazz or pop musician and have undertaken the study of the drums with the intention of imitating them, it is well to remember that it is no longer possible to do so with just a good sense of rhythm, musical sensitivity and the physical capacity to play. The modern drummer must also have a thorough theoretical background and a good teacher to guide him. Sightreading is of course indispensable particularly for playing the drums and a music school diploma certainly helps. This record, therefore, does not pretend to offer more than a series of modern rhythms that anyone with a good musical background can learn from and have fun with. The rest is up to you!

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The Movers

LP | 2022 | EU | Original (Analog Africa)

32,99 €*

12" | 2019 | EU | Original (La Casa Tropical)

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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It’s a special, but also a strange sensation to be releasing an album of one of your early musical heroes. I first discovered The Movers on my very first “record safari” in 1996. My destination was Bulawayo, in southern Zimbabwe, and to get there I had to travel via Jo’burg. While in town I stopped at a store called Kohinoor, in search of Mbaqanga – also known as Township Jive – and found a few tapes which I listened to non-stop on the bus that carried me to the land of Chimurenga Music. One of these cassettes included the songs “Hot Coffee” and “Phukeng Special” which instantly became part of my daily life. Twenty-five years later I’m still grooving to them.

What I didn‘t know at that time was that The Movers were hugely successful during the 1970s; so when it came time to release some of their music, I though it was going to be “a walk in the park” to track down information about them and write their biography. I was in for a rude awakening. Despite their legendary status, there was almost no information available on band or any of its members.

Fortunately Nicky Blumenfeld from Kaya Radio came to the rescue. A few days after I reached out to her, she had managed to get the phone number of Kenneth Siphayi, who is considered to be the founder of the band, as well as vocalist Blondie Makhene and saxophonist Lulu Masilela. Although we left no stone unturned, we were unable to find any of the four original members who seem to have passed away in total anonymity.

The story of The Movers began in 1967 when two unknown musicians – the brothers Norman and Oupa Hlongwane – approached Kenneth Siphayi a stylish and wealthy businessman from the Alexandra township to ask if he could buy them musical instruments. In return he would receive a cut from future life shows and record deals. Kenneth, ended up doing much more, becoming their manager, setting them up in a rehearsal space, and introducing them to an organist who would prove to be the missing link in the band’s skeletal sound. He also gave them their name: The Movers … because, as he said, their music was going to move you, whether you liked it or not.

The band exploded onto the country’s racially-segregated music scene at the dawn of the 1970s with a sound that applied the rolling organ grooves and elastic rhythms of American soul to songs that came straight from the heart of the townships. Rumours of the band started to spread throughout the country and soon the record labels were sending their talent scouts to the Alexandra township to hear it for themselves.

The Movers finally signed to Teal Records in 1969, and their first album, Crying Guitar, went on to sell 500,000 copies within the first three months, launching them into the front rank of South African bands. In their first year they went from local sensations to being the first band of black South Africans to have their music cross over to the country’s white radio stations,

Although the first record was entirely instrumental, The Movers started working with different singers soon after – scoring an early hit with 14 year old vocal prodigy Blondie Makhene – and enriched their sonic palette with horns, extra percussion and various keyboards. Their stylistic range also expanded, incorporating elements of Marabi, Mbaqanga, jazz, funk, and reggae into their soul-steeped sound. But the essence of their music came from the almost telepathic connection of its founding members: the simmering organ of Sankie Chounyane, the laid-back guitar lines of Oupa Hlongwane, the energetic bass grooves of Norman Hlongwane and the simmering rhythms of drummer of Sam Thabo.

The band reached their apex in the mid-1970s, and their hit ‘Soweto Inn’, sung by Sophie Thapedi, became inseparable from the student revolts that signalled a new resistance to the apartheid government. In 1976, however, their manager was forced out, and their producer started to play a more active role in the band’s direction. By the end of the decade there were no original members left. But at their height The Movers were titans of South African soul who left a legacy of over a dozen albums and countless singles of pure groove. On The Movers 1970–76, Analog Africa presents 14 of the finest tracks from the band’s undisputed peak.

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Skyf Connection

Ten To Ten

18,99 €*

LP | 2019 | UK | Reissue (Forever Living Originals)

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Skyf Connection (pronounced skAyf) was a short lived project by long time friends Anthony Mthembu and Enoch Nondala. At the time they were working for Annic Music, an independent label run by married couple Anne and Nic Blignaut. Although the label was known mostly for Zulu, Sotho, Tsonga and other traditional styles, they had a few Disco releases on the label including groups like Keith Hutchinson’s Focus and Enoch’s discovery Lena, who went on to have huge success under the name Ebony a few years later.
In 1984, when an artist didn’t show up for a booked session they decided to make use of the studio time and began working on a demo. At the time Anthony and Enoch had been playing for a year at a new club called Gamsho, located on a farm on the outskirts of Kliptown Soweto. Along with Blackie Sibisi, Sepate Mokoena and Elijah “chippa” Khumalo they made up the resident house band. Due to cultural boycotts and American artists refusing to perform in the country, locals took it upon themselves to fill the market with the American sound the crowds demanded. The demo they recorded at Blue Tree Studios was going to be their product they could use to promote their brand of the American sound. They then took the demo to Universal Studios where their friend and trusted engineer Jan “fast fingers” Smit was working. It would be here that they would polish their demo into something they could take to their bosses and have pressed. Equipped with a DX 7, Linn Drum and some Juno synthesizers they were on their way. Jan lived up to his name and programmed the drums, it is rumoured he could program in almost real time, a skill that translated to the local arcade where he held high scores on many machines. Enoch would be singing and playing guitar while Anthony would do all the Bass and Keyboards. The result was 4 funky party anthems with synth work like no other recording at the time. Their take on what they believed the crowd would want to hear at the beloved club they called home.
From start to finish the 4 tracks portray what would have been a standard night at the Gamshu. Although the club would open earlier and the standard hours of most clubs was 6 to 6 , the band would start playing at 10pm. With their standard set time and Anthony and Enoch unique view on what a Disco should be, they chose the motto Ten to Ten as the album title because those were the hours when they were the stars and Disco ruled the dance floor. To get to the club was a bit difficult, you needed to drive along an empty road where thieves waited for any patrons trying their luck walking after dark. Since there was no transport during the night, the safest way to get home was to wait till the next morning to walk home. Even though in the summer months of Johannesburg light begins to peek in just after 4am, crowds refused to leave and stayed enjoying good music and company until 10am. The lead off track “Let’s Freak Together” has powerful lyrics encouraging people to let go of their worries, put aside any differences and let the music bring everyone to freak and dance together. The whole album is about the joy we can all feel when we share the same moments and how music can bring people together in a unique way, a philosophy shared with the original nightclubs of 70s New York. This approach to music is where the name Skyf Connection comes from, translating from slang to mean the connection we create through sharing, in this case Music and good times.
Skyf Connection would go on to play at Gamsho till the club’s closure in 1986. In those years their popularity lead to being booked for private events like weddings and birthday parties, as well as gigs in some other venues like Mofolo Hall. They would share the stage with many artists through the years learning artist’s songs and providing support as a backing band. After the club closed Anthony would go on to join the house band at The Pelican, another famous club located in Orlando East, as well as dabbling with songwriting for artists like Phumi Maduna and helping Enoch on many projects through the years. Enoch would ditch live music altogether and immerse himself in studio work, starting full time as a house producer and A&R for the recently formed Ream Music. He would go on to produce hit albums for pop artists like Percy Kay and Makwerhu but made his mark discovering countless artists that would become stars in the traditional market. They would remain friends until Anthony’s passing in 2016 and although Anthony is no longer with us his spirit lives in the grooves he left on this one of a kind record. His wife Vinolia will be accepting his portion of the profits on his behalf.

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Sault

30,99 €*

7" | 2024 | EU | Original (Sticky Buttons)

Release: 2019 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves, Rock & Indie, Pop

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Last chance, last repress.

Sault - 5 is the debut album by the mysterious collective Sault, released in May 2019. It was the first in a series of albums that would establish the group's signature blend of genres, including funk, soul, R&B, post-punk, Afrobeat, and electronic influences. The album received critical acclaim for its fresh sound, combining socially conscious themes with infectious grooves and rhythms.

The album features minimalist yet impactful production, with prominent basslines, funky guitar riffs, and layered vocal harmonies. The vocals are often delivered with a cool, detached style, which contrasts with the emotional and sometimes politically charged lyrics. Themes of identity, love, power dynamics, and the Black experience are present throughout the album.

Sault's 5 also stands out for its stripped-down approach to instrumentation, emphasizing rhythm over complexity, and allowing space for the vocals to shine. The tracks have a raw, DIY aesthetic, reminiscent of post-punk and underground soul movements, yet they feel timeless and modern.

Key Tracks:
“Up All Night” – One of the most well-known songs from the album, it’s a funky, high-energy track with danceable grooves and infectious hooks.
“Don’t Waste My Time” – A song that encapsulates the band’s ability to blend catchy melodies with a gritty, almost industrial sound.
“Why Why Why Why Why” – This track combines soulful vocals with a driving rhythm and contemplative lyrics about the struggles of life.
“Let Me Go” – A standout song about freedom and independence, with minimalist production that places focus on the emotional delivery of the vocals.
Mystery Around Sault: At the time of this release, very little was known about the members of Sault, which only added to the intrigue. The group has kept a low profile, eschewing traditional promotion and rarely giving interviews or detailed credits for their music. It’s widely believed that the producer Inflo is a central figure in the collective, with vocal contributions from artists like Cleo Sol and Kid Sister, though these have not always been officially confirmed.

Sault - 5 marks the beginning of the collective’s prolific output, which would continue to evolve with subsequent albums like 7 (2019), Untitled (Black Is) (2020), and more.

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Natacha Fink

Pirarublue

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Reggae & Dancehall

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Irresistible Brazilian blues reggae from the heart of the Amazon rainforest. A psychedelic guarana induced trip and ode to the fading indigenous cultures and shifting hegemony in Brazil. This one-off release by Manaus native Natacha Fink was originally written in 1986 as the lead track on Nossa Musica - a compilation celebrating regional music from the Amazon. Emerging out of the dictatorship, Natacha and her fellow artists rejected the aesthetic standards driven by internal colonialism and sought out new ways to express themselves away from the styles of the dominant Rio-São Paulo axis. What surfaced was a melodic blend of genres, with Natacha’s haunting vocals and playful lyrics gliding over an arrangement of guitars and double bass. Vocal backing is led by Torrinho, well known for his layered composition style, whose song ‘Porto de Lenha’ is recognised throughout Amazonas as an unofficial anthem. Hidden within the Amazon, Pirarublue lies in that wonderful space between innocence and honesty. Proudly exploring cultural and ecological spaces through a refreshing, ghostly infectious groove. For fans of Gal Costa, Elis Regina, Chico César, Jorge Ben Jor and Joni Mitchell.

Accompanying Natacha’s beguiling single is the field recording “Unseen Songlines” by artist and academic Nimalan Yoganathan. The composition immerses the listener in the soundscapes of Mamori Lake, a remote village inside the Brazilian Amazon. Nimalan explores the ambiguous perception of sounds emanating from the dense rainforest and deep beneath the Amazon River, where we hear the sounds but cannot see their sources: an acousmatic concert performed by the rainforest itself. Processed field recordings of birds and frogs, as well as underwater hydrophone recordings of dolphins and fish subtly weave throughout electroacoustic textures and beats. The listener is invited to hone in on the musical subtleties hidden throughout the environment. The compositional methods employed in this piece draw on the concepts of sonic rupture, presence, absence and memory found in the dub music tradition.

This limited edition 7” by Sticky Buttons puts these two outlying works together for a unique listening experience, combining the human and more-than-human experience of life at the heart of Brazil. Both uniquely Amazonian but with a universal appeal.

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The Battle Of Disco HHV Summer Of Jazz Exclusive Clear Yellow Vinyl Edition

LP | 1977 | EU | Reissue (Afrodelic)

23,39 €* 25,99 € -10%

LP | 1988 | EU | Reissue (Arabusta)

Release: 1977 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Limited edition of 100 copies for the 2023 Summer of Jazz campaign, focused on South-African jazz. Only available at HHV.

With one foot planted in jazz and the other in the township groove of Mbaqanga, saxophonist Sello Mmutung was a powerful crossover figure in the history of popular music in South Africa. Using the stage name Bra Sello, meaning “brother” and used as a term of affection and respect in the jazz community, he came up in the era of shellac 78s as an exponent of the 1960s sax jive sound that brought the swinging rhythm of kwela into the domain of South African jazz. Despite the injection of American rhythm and blues into South African pop in the late-1960s, Bra Sello’s first releases on vinyl on the
CBS label saw him backed by the group Abafana Bentuthuko and holding down an unapologetic township sound.
Joining the independent Soweto label under producer Cambridge Matiwane in the mid-1970s, Bra Sello recorded two records in the hit-making bump jive style popularised by serious jazz musician Dollar Brand on the one hand and prolific studio group The Movers, operating in funk and soul territory, on the other. Blending modern American and traditional African elements into joyful hip-swinging rhythms, Butterfly (1975) and The Battle of Disco (1977) reflect the vivacity of urban life in South Africa and document an era when dance music was performed by bands as extended jams laced with jawdropping solos. With music trends shifting dramatically in the late-1970s, the title of The Battle of Disco was an ironic call to arms in response to the territory that group musicians were beginning to cede to synthesisers and DJs.
For enthusiasts of African music from the 1970s, a full appreciation of the continent’s output is incomplete without South Africa’s pop-jazz sound providing a regional counterpoint to the funk experimentation of West Africa. Reissued for the very first time, Bra Sello returns in 2023 with limited replica editions from Afrodelic using master tape sources from the As Shams / The Sun collection. Afrodelic’s unique edition of Butterfly features a previously unreleased track on Side B.

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Pluto Shervington

Rhythm Of The City

LP | 1979 | US | Reissue (We Are Busy Bodies)

Release: 1988 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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* First ever official reissue * LP includes insert featuring lyrics and liner notes with artist bio and album story * Pressed on black vinyl

Rhythm Of The City

The time was 1988, and urban life in Miami was at its apex. After having moved from Jamaica to The Magic City in the summer of 1977, Pluto saw the future. Rhythm Of The City fully expresses this forward thrust, where technology, nightlife, love and urban vibes mingle in an exciting vision of a past future. Recorded at Earthman Studio in Miami, and produced by Geoffrey Chung, the album overthrows the normal rules of reggae, mixing it together with funk, soul and disco, and giving birth to what Pluto himself describes as urban reggae folklore.

Pluto Shervington

Leighton “Pluto” Shervington was born in Kingston, Jamaica on August 13th 1950. Determined to be a musician for as long as he remembers, Pluto built his very first guitar with his own hands, and in 1966, at the age of sixteen, joined his first band: The Presidents. After The Presidents came The Hurricanes, and in 1968 he became a member of the showband Tomorrow’s Children.

After releasing hits like I Man Bitter, Ram Goat Liver, Dat, Your Honour and I Man Born Ya, Pluto climbed the charts, both in Jamaica and overseas, and established his solo career, selling tens of thousands of copies with every album release. In 1972 he founded Sound Associates Limited, a recording studio which provided radio, TV and advertising agencies with original jingles produced on a sixteen-track reel to reel recorder and a twenty-four-track mixing board which Pluto had bought from Byron Lee.

In 1977, due to political shifts in Jamaica, Pluto moved to Miami, where he formed Pluto & Co. The band played regularly for eighteen years at Sunday’s On The Bay in Key Biscayne, Florida, and in June 1982 toured throughout England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. In August 1984, Pluto returned to Jamaica on tour, performing at the Reggae Sunsplash in Montego Bay. Through the years, Pluto continued his musical career between the United States and Jamaica, and is yet to stop experimenting and exploring what he can do with reggae music.

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Lionel Pillay

Plum & Cherry

32,29 €* 33,99 € -5%

You Who Are Leaving To Nirvana

Release: 1979 / US – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Following the April 2022 reissue of the album Shrimp Boats, We Are Busy Bodies presents companion titles Plum and Cherry and Deeper in Black to round out a Lionel Pillay and Basil Mannenberg Coetzee “trilogy” as part of the label’s As-Shams South African jazz archive series. The connection between these three albums is tight as the 1987 release Shrimp Boats compiled unreleased recordings from both the 1979 session for Plum and Cherry and the 1980 session for Deeper in Black. These two rare records have been carefully remastered from their original tapes and are back in print for the very first time in over 40 years.Shrimp Boats and Plum and Cherry capture the extraordinary musical chemistry that existed between pianist Lionel Pillay and tenor saxophonist Basil Coetzee in the late 1970s. The respective album showpieces “Shrimp Boats” and “Cherry” each occupy an entire side of vinyl with both exquisite musical journeys clocking in at an epic 25 minutes a piece. While “Shrimp Boats” was an instrumental reimagining of the popular 1951 song by American singer Jo Stafford, “Cherry” drew inspiration from Abdullah Ibrahim at the behest of producer Rashid Vally, who wanted to emulate the success of the famous track that had helped launch his independent As-Shams/The Sun record label in 1974. Ibrahim’s hit “Mannenberg” had also featured Basil Coetzee and it was this zeitgeist South African jazz recording that had given rise to his stage name.Capturing the grace and vitality of working-class township life on the city fringe, “Cherry” channels the type of laid-back Cape groove that Abdullah Ibrahim, recording as Dollar Brand, introduced to South African jazz in the 1970s. On the flip side, “Plum” appears to take its own simple chord change in the same direction before breaking into a chugging 20-minute romp that verges on proto-electronica and on which Pillay hangs all manner of savage keyboard riffing and experimentation. The two distinct flavours of Plum and Cherry make for a well-rounded platter with an iconic cover featuring the work of abstract expressionist painter and As-Shams/The Sun collaborator Hargreaves Ntukwana.

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Midori Takada

CD | 2022 | EU | Original (WRWTFWW)

18,99 €*

You Who Are Leaving To Nirvana

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Electronic & Dance

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Wrwtfww Records and MEG Museum (Geneva) are ecstatic to announce a new full length album by celebrated Japanese percussionist Midori Takada (Through The Looking Glass), in collaboration with Buddhist monks belonging to the Samgha group of the Shingon school of Koya-san, led by Reverend Syuukoh Ikawa. You Who Are Leaving To Nirvana is available on half speed mastered vinyl LP, housed in a 350gsm sleeve, with OBI, and liner notes, as well as on digipack CD.

Recorded at The Premises Studio (London) and in Tokyo in 2019,You Who are Leaving to Nirvana is a majestic work combining a suite of six Buddhist liturgical chants and a musical creation by Midori Takada. The Buddhist chants come from three types of repertoires: shomyo ("Teisan", "Unga-Bai", "Sange", "Taiyo"), but also goeika ("Kannon-Daiji") and mantra ("Hannya-Singyo").

After supervising the recording of the Buddhist chants, Midori Takada added her own compositions, with subtle layers of percussion and the melodies of her beloved marimba, giving full life to the sacred texts.

Reverend Syuukoh Ikawa explains: "Shomyo is a form of declamation of sacred esoteric texts, inherited over many generations. The power of words goes far beyond their mere pronunciation. I think there is something that words alone cannot really convey. If I recite prayers in a musical way, the feeling transmitted will be even stronger than if I say it normally, in everyday language. I think that the musicality of a work carries a hidden power that cannot be expressed in words alone. The setting of the music has an additional power for you and for those around you who listen to it. The words of a song are not just words set to music. They carry an additional hidden power that cannot be expressed in any other way. Listening to Midori Takada's musical performance, the words truly seem to come alive."

Original recordings of the Buddhist chants are held in the International Archives of Folk Music (iafm) at the MEG Museum in Geneva. The album sleeve features an artwork by famed Japanese sculptor Katsura Funakoshi selected by Midori Takada. You Who Are Leaving To Nirvana is released in conjunction with Midori Takada's Cutting Branches For A Temporary Shelter, also available on LP and CD on Wrwtfww Records.

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Midori Takada

LP | 2022 | EU | Original (WRWTFWW)

Boy Child Felix Dickinson Mix

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Electronic & Dance

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The Prolifics

12" | 1984 | UK | Reissue (Emotional Rescue)

2LP | 2022 | EU | Original (Holidays)

Release: 1984 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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The Emotional Rescue reissue series of Noel Williams aka King Sporty working with other artists and singers on the Konduko label's roster comes to completion with the deep funk disco of The Prolifics' Boy Child.

Formed in 1970 as part of "Senator" Nolan Jones' New Orleans soul and funk label Hep' Me Records, the bands early deep southern soul saw them release a series of 7"s for Hep' Me and Avco, plus an Xmas single for EMI and the minor hit A Place Called Home, recorded at the infamous Musle Shoals studios, backed by the Rhythm Section band who, from the early 60s, turned out hit after hit, from When A Man Loves A Women to Brown Sugar.

Landing on the newly inked Drive label, set up in '72 by Henry Stone as a sub label of his burgeoning T.K Records empire, their developing move in to funk saw them featured alongside Funky Nassau, Jimmy Castor and Peter Brown. It is here the connection with Noel Williams was formed. While putting together the "Konduko Six Pack" showcase album, the band were invited to the Miami Sound Studios for sessions that brought us both title cut Boy Child and the accompanying You Got Me.

All brass and claps, Boy Child is as funky as Williams got, backing the groups soul vocals, a story of first born's energetic path in life and a mothers love. The backing from Deep Rockers band bring the swing, the trippy keys and wide bottom end has made this a secret drop for many. You Got Me on the other hand is true King Sporty, a driving 9-minute disco boogie cut, where the warm harmonies lay down this uplifting, killer dance floor stop.

To close, the flip is again given over for reinterpretation, welcoming back Felix Dickinson to expertly cut, loop and dub. A special personal song for Dickinson, his subtle extension teases the intro for DJ play, before letting things fly - "the little show-off" as the song notes. With a near 30-year DJ and production career in place, his Discomix is a fitting way to complete this cycle of reissues of this benchmark label, for now.

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Alessandro Bosetti

Plane/Talea 31-34

27,99 €*

7" | 2021 | EU | Original (Mr Bongo)

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Electronic & Dance

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Since a few years Alessandro Bosetti has been collecting voices that become part of the Plane/Talea archive. The creation of the archive stems from dozens of individual meetings and recording sessions, in which each voice is detached from its owner or originator and anonymized. With each new iteration and performance, Bosetti plays the archive as if it were an instrument. He searches for hidden details and correspondences through exploration, immersion and contemplation. Each re-activation of the archive results in a dense and swarming polyphony made up of thousands of short utterances - shorter than any word bearing a meaning - recombined and interwoven into complex textures. The particularity of the grain of Plane/Talea lies in the autonomous and darting life that each of these fragments lives in a teeming community of voices. Such polyphonies are rich in microtonal detail emerging from the incessant juxtaposition of vocal objets trouvés. Harmonic relationships are sometimes rough and chaotic, other times surprisingly just. The voices are never treated electronically but only recombined and musical tension is provided by the particular grain, inflection, energy of each one of them in counterpoint to the others and to a frugally used instrumentarium (Harpsichord, Ondes Martenot, Cristal Baschet, grand piano, analog synth, Hammond organ). Implicit reference goes to ancient, modern and postmodern forms of vocal polyphony. "Plane/Talea 31-34" - the continuation of the homonymous 2016 LP - is a work of sampling that projects an imaginary community and a disembodied choir. The four arching and extensive tracks were created between 2017 and 2018 and bear the trace of two specific moments: August nights in a country house in Vicobarone, in the hills of Piacenza (31-32) and a week-long residency at the "Studio Venezia", an environment created by French artist Xavier Veilhan in the French pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale (33-34). « Encounters of this sort did happen, with the voice still clinging onto its own origin, and then seen, as it were, coming out of the original mouth and caught saying other things, with a slightly different intonation, a slightly different timbre, maybe due to a little aging, an extra cigarette, a cold. At that point we would come out unsettled, or maybe convinced that it was not the same voice anymore, but another. »

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Sven Wunder

Impasto / Prussian Blue

David Batiste & The Gladiators

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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In collaboration with Piano Piano Records, Mr Bongo is thrilled to present a taster 7” single, ‘Impasto’ / 'Prussian Blue’. The single showcases the colourful palette of Sven Wunder's fabulous forthcoming third album 'Natura Morta’. The album is set to be released on Piano Piano Records later in 2021 with this 7” acting as the perfect prelude. Sven's 2019 album 'Eastern Flowers' took us into the world of Anatolian rock, European jazz, library, funk, psychedelia, and traditional folk melodies. The 2020 follow up, 'Wabi Sabi’, mixed jazz and Eastern and Southern Asian sounds to present an aural aesthetic of the Japanese ancient wisdom. 'Natura Morta’, "still life" in Italian, owes its inspiration to art. Sven Wunder explores it as a bridge between nature and the human ability to judge and observe through eleven unique musical compositions, each one brightly coloured and textured with an emphasis on vibrant melodies. As with previous Sven Wunder material the tracks here on this 7" are covered in lush orchestration, evoking the rich musical soundscapes of a previous era (think library music or the film scores of Morricone). First up is the beautiful ‘Impasto’ which refers to the technique used in painting where the paint is laid in very thick layers on a surface. With its lavish sweeping strings and melodies there are echoes of the arrangements of Arthur Verocai, but it then takes a turn into 60s detective movie territory. You can imagine it being the score to a scene in a Harry Palmer film which breaks for a romantic interlude in between the action and suspense. 'Prussian Blue’, is built on Sven’s ‘Shinrinyoku' from the 'Wabi Sabi’ album, sharing the same melody but here with an uptempo beat and another arrangement. It begins with a moment of calm with its soothing piano intro before it bursts into a percussive breakbeat workout. It skates and glides with the influences of Italian library music and Eastern melodies, yet at the same time it retains a unique element that can only be Sven Wunder. 'Prussian Blue' refers to the pigment that was imported to Japan. Once again, we are indebted to Sven Wunder and John Henriksson at Piano Piano Records for letting us share this melodious vision from one of our favourite contemporary musicians. The compositions on this 7" were produced with financial support from the Swedish Arts Council.

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Funky Soul Part 1 & 2

7" | 2021 | UK | Original (Family Groove)

LP | 2021 | EU | Original (Teklife)

Release: 2021 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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7" of this funk classic re-issued for the first time from recently discovered Master Tapes.

Funky Soul (originally titled "Going To See The Man") was a routine crowd pleaser during live shows that even had its own dance "rock the ship." This was the part two of the song. It was part one that was created in the studio as a riff off of part two. The raw energy of this song when performed live created hysteria and drove spectators into a frenzy. It didn't take long for word to get around and catch the attention of the famous Wyld DJ Larry McKinley. McKinley wanted to capture this magic onto record and helped arrange the session at Cosimo Matassa's studio. He drove Isaac Hayes down from Memphis to New Orleans in 1968 and organized Issac Hayes to arrange the horn section on this record while he was working with the Okeh label and developing an emerging artist named Margie Joseph. It was during this time that Margie recorded two singles Why Does A Man Have To Lie/See (Okeh, 4-7304) and Show Me/A Matter Of Life Or Death (Okeh, 4-7313).

David Batiste & The Gladiators were a band David Batiste and several of his brothers formed while they were in High School in New Orleans back in 1961. The band won a talent show in 1965 at Harlem's famous Apollo Theater and are the pioneers of what is now known as "Funk." David Batiste & The Gladiators were legendary mainstays of every bar in New Orleans that every band was hustling trying to get booked at.

It's no wonder that this song was famously complied on BBE Records and Ubiquity in the 1990's, rediscovered and performed by Miles Tackett & The Breakestra in the early 2000's. Those compilations contained audio sourced only from the vinyl record originally pressed up twice in the early 1970s and sought after by collectors and DJs for years and years. This version is from a direct master tape transfer from recently discovered Nola tapes. But wait… The party's just started. An entire album's worth of 1960s previously unreleased David Batiste & The Gladiators material from recently discovered master tapes is in the works and forthcoming on Family Groove Records.

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Slick Shoota

Function

LP | 2020 | US | Original (Awesome Tapes From Africa)

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Montreal-Based Producer & DJ Slick Shoota Brings Us Function, His Debut Lp And First Solo Release On The Teklife Imprint. A Native Of Norway Known For His Renowned Oslo Club Night Ball Em Up, He's Been A Member Of The Elite Crew Since 2015, Contributing Tracks To The Label's Compilations Such As On Life Vol. 2 And Vip Trax. Using A Unique Palate That Combines Both Traditional Footwork Drums And Eclectic Otherworld Sonics, This Album Expands On The Signature Sound He's Been Brewing During The Course Of His Career, Celebrating His Longtime Love Of The Chicago Soundscape, With A Healthy Helping Of Uk Rave, Jungle, And Vibes From Other Fast Paced Club Realms. Slick Starts The Record Off With Hovercraft, A Big Burly Mutant Rap Beat Riding A Glowing Titanic Wave Of Jungle Subbass, With Vicious Hi-Hats Stabbing Through The Mix. Desire Path Follows With Hysterical Horns Cruising Along A Stampede Of Erratic Chicago Percussion. A Glitchy, Malfunctioning Computer Meets Drumline Stomps On See Me Flex, Resulting In A Psychotic, Yet Psychedelic Sci-Fi Soundscape. Ultra-Distorted Hardcore Kicks Open Up Jellyneck, Dropping Straight Into A Dungeon Of Ghostly Vocals And Headlong Toms. Warehouse 2k Opens Up The B-Side With R&B Chops And Lasers Floating On A Charming Cloud Of Pulsating Pads. Mad Doppler Sirens Loop Around Your Head On Delahaze, As Distant Clangs And Crashes Fight An Impatient, Throbbing Bassline. Classic Rave Atmospheres Are Met With Slick's Elegant Sound Design On Mtl Hardcore, His Ode To His Adoptive City. The Album Closes Off With Special Tek, Channeling The Signature Quirky Drum Sounds Of The Late DJ Rashad Over A Pounding, Fast Paced House Beat, A Wonderful Nod To The Windy City And Its Influential Sonic Culture. Carving Out His Own Sound From The Legacies Of Chicago, The Uk, And Other Underground Club Hotspots, Slick Shoota Has Found His Own Recognizable Voice Within These Realms Of Dance Music, And This Lp Serves As Documentation Of That Solidified Voice. Years Of Studying The Masters And Immersin...

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Penny Penny

Yogo Yogo

LP | 1974 | UK | Reissue (Pure Pleasure)

Release: 2020 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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The rags-to-riches chronicle of Penny Penny's life would be remarkable if he had only released his smash debut Shaka Bundu and packed houses for a few years. But the inimitable South African singer and dancer known for his trademark top ponytail and emphatic anthems was no one-hit wonder. In the aftermath of Shaka Bundu's nationwide explosion, far beyond his country the album resonated with ever bigger audiences. He performed up and down the continent, building fanbases in more than a dozen countries. So his sophomore album Yogo Yogo - released in 1996 - solidified Penny Penny's standing in pop music nationally and provided new energy to his pan-African stadium-filling adventures."I was very busy between Shaka Bundu and Yogo Yogo. Shows every week, local and outside the country. There was no relaxing from 1995 until 1999."The album also reflects the era in which it emerged. If Shaka Bundu arrived triumphantly amid newfound political freedom in South Africa with the end of Apartheid and Nelson Mandela's election, Yogo Yogo was a next level expression for the maturing artist. He wanted to get a message out. Composed with Joe Shirimani, who also produced the album, the sound and compositional style echoes the earlier recording but the topical nature of the lyrics became more deliberate, more didactic. In the song "Ingani" Penny proclaims, we are all one people even though we may speak different languages, we are all NguniâÇ"a larger historical grouping that includes many of the ethnic groups in modern South Africa. "Kulani Kulani," which means grow up, urges young people to say no to drugs and yes to education. Ama Owners, referring to the public transport drivers involved in violent rumbles, asks the nation's drivers to relax because we need them for our safe arrival. Penny's success as a Xitsonga artist should not be under-estimated in the context of popular music at the time in South Africa. "When I started with my own style and image, first time in Shangaan we had artist like me," Pen...

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Cecil McBee

Mutima

Release: 1974 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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A landmark recording in early creative improvised modern music, bassist Cecil McBee's recording for the Strata East label is an important document introducing him as a leader from the international jazz-based scene in New York City via his native Tulsa, OK and following a brief mid-'60s stint in Detroit. McBee as a pure musician has staggering technique, rich harmonic ideas, and an indefatigable swing, but it is as a composer that he is set apart from other musicians of this mid-'70s era. "Life Waves" is a stunning piece of composed and improvised music, with a brief clarion horn section setting off McBee's chordal strumming and harp bop drive. Trumpeter Tex Allen's brash lines, the incendiary tenor saxophonist George Adams, and more thoughtful alto saxophonist Allen Braufman dig into hefty but contrasting solos, while drummer Jimmy Hopps stokes the coals. The other premier piece, "Mutima", has a soaring longer melody switching on and off onto a samba palate that is pretty, beautiful, and much more introspective than other wild and woolly cuts. The legendary but under recognized flutist Art Webb shines on the floaty free "A Feeling", and the atypical but wholly contemporized "Tulsa Black", a portent to the music that would be made later in this time period by Sonny Fortune, and featuring the wah-wah electric bass guitar work of Cecil McBee, Jr. The two-minute "Voice Of The Seventh Angel" sports the disparity of a complex arrangement alongside the beautiful singing of a young Dee Dee Bridgewater, while the marathon "From Within" has McBee performing solo, but overdubbed on two basses in opposite stereo channels, using serene long-toned arco and static pizzicato in arresting sounds that meld into a bridge squawk reminiscent of the saxophone playing of bandmate Adams. In retrospect, McBee's great career was ostensibly launched well before this recording, having worked with prominently with Charles Lloyd, Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Yusef Lateef, Charles Tolliver, and countless others. "Mutima" (translated as "unseen forces") undoubtedly solidified his stature and brilliance as a major player.

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Jack Ashford's Just Productions

LP | 2019 | UK | Original (Kent)

LP | 1978 | EU | Reissue (Otoroku)

Release: 2019 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Famed as one of the tight-knit group of musicians the Funk Brothers, who played on the vast majority of Motown’s 60s records, Jack Ashford was the percussionist and vibes player who augmented that infectious beat so successfully.

After his time at Motown he co-founded Pied Piper Productions with Shelley Haims and when that folded in 1967 started his own Just Productions. The infectious beat continued to propel many of their releases but the main songwriters – Jack, Lorraine Chandler and George Rountree – added great new melodies and well-crafted songs and then a big injection of Motor City funk. They unearthed talented singers like Eddie Parker, Sandra Richardson and the Smith Brothers and even employed Jack’s own voice. Parker’s ‘I’m Gone’ and ‘Love You Baby’ are considered the epitome of ampheta-soul by UK devotees, who have adored the records since the early 70s. The Smith Brothers’ output is all high class and their full take of ‘Things Won’t Be The Same’ (which shares the backing track of Sandra Richardson’s ‘After You Give Your All’) is available for the first time. Similarly the new version of Jack Ashford’s recording ‘I’ll Fly To Your Open Arms’, by the Family Brick, debuts here; it is a masterful slice of sophisticated, uptempo Detroit soul.

Then a new singer in the city, Billy Sha-Rae’s ‘The Story Of My Life’ sees its first vinyl outing and the mysterious Ray Gant & Arabian Knights’ reading of ‘Don’t Leave Me Baby’ is considered the ultimate rendition of this superb song.

Al Gardner knew Jack at Sport/Boss Records and his ‘Sweet Baby’ has been a big collector’s item for decades. Also, from the late 60s comes a terrific uptempo version of ‘I Need Your Love (To Satisfy My Soul)’, originally only known as an acetate by the Stylists; it was later cut at a slower pace by Lee Rogers on Premium Stuff.

The LP is rounded off by Jack’s own take on ‘Let Me Take Care Of Your Heart’, a remarkably fine recording that the Smith Brothers would later cover on a Shield 45.

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Louis Moholo Octet

Spririts Rejoice

Disco Highlife Reedit Series Volume 1

Release: 1978 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Otoroku is extremely proud to present the first vinyl reissue of one of the most legendary free jazz records ever produced. Originally released in 1978 on Ogun recordings, Louis Moholo Octet’s Spirits Rejoice! is a high achievement in the movement of the era as it soars beyond oppression with a raucous and spiritually uplifting surge of movement and melody

Featuring Harry Miller, Johnny Dyani, Keith Tippett, Evan Parker, Nick Evans, Radu Malfatti and Kenny Wheeler, this is former Blue Note artist Louis Moholo’s first album under his own name and is a classic example of the cross-pollination between South African and British players. Mongezi Feza’s ‘You Ain’t Gonna Know Me ‘Cos You Think You Know Me’ alone is enough to make your life a better place.

From Matthew Wright’s new liner notes:

The South African melodies, now so familiar, were wholeheartedly taken on board by the individual musicians, their unity of purpose mirroring the belief in the strength of the collective. Stunning solos, often close to the edge, feature throughout – Evan Parker and Keith Tippett on “Shine Wherever You Are”; the contrasting trombone styles of Nick Evans and Radu Malfatti on “You Ain’t Gonna Know Me...”; the octet sounding like a full big band; and behind them, the relentlessly rhythmic urgency of the piano, bass and drums. Add to this Kenny Wheeler’s moving and all-encompassing trumpet on the elegiac “Amaxesha Osizi” and the joyous flamboyancy of “Wedding Hymn” with Parker’s relatively straight-ahead tenor and Tippett’s dextrous piano solo over a bed of riffing horns, fast walking bass lines and a supreme sense of swing. Louis’ early hero, Big Sid Catlett, would have loved it!

This 2019 re-issue has been made with permission and in association with Ogun records. Features an exact reproduction of the original artwork and liner notes along with new liner notes from Matthew Wright. Remastered by Giuseppe IIelasi and packaged in a high gloss sleeve this is the definitive release of one of the absolute free jazz classics of the 20th Century.

Edition of 1000 copies.

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Ebo Taylor & Pat Thomas

12" | 2019 | EU | Original (Comet)

13,99 €*

Love Is A Hurtin' Thing 180g Edition

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Comet presents the first release from its new Disco Highlife series, featuring remastered originals by Ghanaian legends Ebo Taylor & Pat Thomas and disco reedits by LeonxLeon and Leo Nanjo.
Founder of Comet Records, Eric Trosset, started working with those great heroes of West African music, back in 2010. Taking on the role of manager/publisher, Comet teamed up with Strut Records and musician/producer Ben Abarbanel Wolff to revive Ebo Taylor‘s international career with a string of album releases: Love & Death, Appia Kwa Bridge and Life Stories. In 2014, he collaborated with Pat Thomas & The Kwashibu Area Band on a new album, gathering together the old ‘pals’ (Ebo Taylor, Pat Thomas, Tony Allen) in producer Kwame Yeboah’s studio in Accra.
It is with great pleasure that Comet launches this new series. Let's make this beautiful and timeless music the soundtrack to an unforgettable summer!
On side A, comes “Enye Woa” by Pat Thomas, originally released in 1988 on Nakase Records and taken from the album Me Do Wiase. It’s killer disco cut, and as innovative a piece of highlife as it was 30 years ago. Paris-based producer LeonxLeon has been cooking up songs in his Parisian home-studio since 2013. He did a remarkable remix of Cerrone's "Funk Makossa" and more recently released his new Rokanbo EP on Cracki Records. His remix of “Enye Woa” is a classy modern disco cut with funky bass and spacey synths.
On side B is “Atwer Abroba” by Ebo Taylor, a stand out up-tempo track from the album Twer Nyame, originally released in 1978 on Philips West African Records. Tokyo-based multi-instrumentalist/producer/arranger Leo Nanjo formed the first Japanese afrobeat group, Kingdom Afrorocks. Since the band broke up in 2014, Leo has been producing and arranging music with various collaborations, such as DJ Muro, Pushim and Misia. This is a trippy afro-futurist, broken-beat reedit with highlife grooves flying to deep space.

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Gloria Ann Taylor

LP | 2019 | EU | Original (Luv N Haight)

31,99 €*

Cos / Daniel Schell & Dick Annegarn

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Repress of her in-demand and sought after 10 track LP compilation with all her Selector Sound 7in output.

180 gram pressing housed in heavyweight tip-on jacket

Amidst much anticipation from collectors, record stores, DJ's and producers alike Gloria Ann Taylor's musical output on Selector Sound have been compiled and will be presented in a deluxe triple-gatefold double LP package complete with photos and extensive liner notes. Soul singer Gloria Ann Taylor has no rags to riches tale to tell. Her story is one of personal sacrifice, failed relationships, and missed opportunity. She was leading a hard knock life before being swept-up by the flash and promise of a marriage and business partnership with a successful record producer.

She would be nominated for a Grammy, rub shoulders with James Brown and Bootsy Collins, and turn heads from Motown. But in the end she rejected professional singing, the music business, and the lifestyle that came with it. Thankfully for music lovers, before Gloria closed the doors on her singing career, she left us with some amazing soul songs. Deeply shaded by gospel roots, her haunting sound clearly comes from the gut. Gloria did not fake the funk.

Gloria was a partial owner of the Selector Sounds label, along with her husband/producer Walter Whisenhunt (previously a right-hand man to James Brown), and her brother Leonard. They released five Gloria Taylor singles between 1971 and 1977. They also released the three-song Deep Inside You EP, under the name Gloria Ann Taylor and Walter Whisenhunt's Orchestra. In the studio Whisenhunt would work up a unique musical brew that mixed northern soul with exotic percussion and fuzzy psychedelic guitars.

He moved Gloria through a range of tempos and stylings from ballads to disco. Her gritty vocal performance was set to orchestral arrangements creating a juxtaposition of grandeur and solace. The pinnacle of their collaborations has to be the jaw-droppingly epic EP version of "Love Is a Hurting Thing"; a chugging, string-laden disco track, that sounds like proto-Theo Parrish.

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Mein Maschin Ist Schön / The FF Boom

7" | 2021 | UK | Reissue (Finders Keepers)

Release: 2021 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves, Rock & Indie, Electronic & Dance

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From the same continental cosmic egg that hatched Marc Moulin, Marc Hollander and Belgian synth fusion combo Placebo comes your favourite new Franco-Flemmish pop discovery. COS, where have you been all my life? Compact in name but wide-eyed in nature, it’s understandable how the 70’s band known simply as COS has remained trapped in the tight cracks between pop stardom and prog indulgence where other like minded names like CAN, Zao, Neu! And Egg have managed to squeeze into gaps of your record collection. In presenting one of the band’s most infectious and potentially crossover legible tracks on this exclusive user-friendly 45, COS mastermind Daniel Schell not only breaks an unlikely new format for this lesser-known femme-fronted, electro/jazz fusion/prog pop opera/would-be disco cinematic six-piece but also sends a sonic telegram to a new generation of futurist pop aficionados ready to explore the deep realms of his band’s dense, expansive and consistently rewarding catalogue. Placing the microscope over the central motif of the band’s onomatopoeic 1978 triptych known as Mein Maschine Ist Schön (My Machine Is Beautiful) this very rare proposed single edit from the group’s third album combines the type of warm, brooding, discoid funk and nymphish Morse code vocals that unite fans of Stereolab, Curved Air, Jan Hammer, Emerald Web and Ursula Dudziak not to mention Schell’s own close friends, the aforementioned, Hollander, Moulin and Placebo. A prog rock 45 might sound like a contradiction in terms but with a band like COS you can only expect them to defy convention. Backed here with another deeply conceptual sliced of deep orchestral symphonic psych from Schell’s short-lived FF Boom project from the previous year this suitably compact introduction to your new favourite COSmonauts provide digestible versions of some of Schell’s finest moments and clears the decks for future explorations of a wider musical universe waiting to be explored. Turn on this beautiful machine and let yourself melt into the COSmix.

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Butterfly HHV Summer Of Jazz Exclusive Clear Vinyl Edition

LP | 1975 | EU | Reissue (Afrodelic)

23,39 €* 25,99 € -10%

CD | 2023 | UK | Original (Mr Bongo)

Release: 1975 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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