Organic Grooves CD 377 Items

The fourth album by Sault scored 97/100 at Metacritic and is the most beloved album at HHVs Supreme 100 of 2020 list, chosen by 150 journalists, musicians, label makers and record collectors. Currently repressed and soon back in stock.

Favorite Recordings presents Jazz Traficantes by LE Deal, a new musical adventure from the finest French jazzmen with Florian Pellissier (Piano & Fender Rhodes - Camaraõ Orkestra, Cotonete, Aldorande, Setenta), Yoann Loustalot (Flugelhorn – Bruit Chic, Old & New Songs, Aerophone, Lucky Dog), Théo Girard (Upright Bass – Pensée Rotatives, Discobole) and Malick Koly (Drums - The Wallace Roney Quintet). Needless to say, they’re used to play all over the globe and quite often to New York. During one of these trips to the Big Apple, they discovered that the legendary Van Gelder studio (where most of Blue Note, Verve and CTI albums were recorded) was still active and opened so they decided to book a few days session. Here is the story told by Florian Pellissier: “The tracks had been written the night before. We were going to run through them and then record. A simple plan. Van Gelder had passed a while back, but he left the keys and secret codes with his faithful assistant Maureen before heading off to create the right sound up in heaven. Nothing had changed in the atmosphere or configuration, not even the way the mics were placed. The studio and its wooden beams still exuded New York’s sixties jazz, dimly lit streets and clubs where anything might happen past midnight. Maureen knew just how to capture the ambiance of the sessions and bottle the energy without spilling a drop, taking infinite care to collect each cymbal tone, drum roll and trumpet phrase, without losing a single vibrating bass string or the slightest keyboard pause.” Indeed, the four contrabandists succeeded to deliver an outstanding album, filled with themes that’ll get stuck in your head, just like in the 19 minutes long performance “Mexican Junkanoo Suite” and its three parts. But more than just beautiful melodies, LE Deal truly managed to bring a sense of drama to their compositions, going into the deepest emotions through gutted arrangements, improvising with great attention to the articulation of their ideas. From the beginning to the end, musicians and engineers did their best to emulate the proper vintage sound. Jazz Traficantes could prove once and for all that French Jazz can indeed cross the borders. The album will be available as Tip-On Deluxe Vinyl LP but also on CD & Digital with a bonus track, “Noche en la Carcel”.

The second album of Sault follows their debut "5" which came out just three months prior to this one. Heads all over the world were still in awe of "5", when all of a sudden "7" dropped. Now, by the end of 2020, they are four critically acclaimed albums deep into buiding their own legacy.

The first album by Sault started a series of now four albums in two years that scored big time with critics all over the world.

The UK’s cosmic, psychedelic-funk ensemble issue their second album on maverick producer Madlib’s label, Madlib Invazion. The Heliocentrics’ albums are all confounding pieces of work. Drawing equally from the funk universe of James Brown, the disorienting asymmetry of Sun Ra, the cinematic scope of Ennio Morricone, the sublime fusion of David Axelrod, Pierre Henry’s turned-on musique concrète, and Can’s beat-heavy Krautrock, they have – regardless of the label on which they’ve released their music - pointed the way towards a brand new kind of psychedelia, one that could only come from a band of accomplished musicians who were also obsessive music fans. Drummer Malcolm Catto and bassist Jake Ferguson are the Heliocentrics’ masterminds and producers, and they are obsessive weirdos in today’s musical climate, searching, progressive humans who are often out-of-time with current trends. They have been playing together for nearly two decades and their collective drive is to find an individual voice. The Heliocentrics search for it in an alternate galaxy where the orbits of funk, jazz, psychedelic, electronic, avant-garde and “ethnic” music all revolve around “The One.” With Madilb’s label Madlib Invazion for Telemetric Sounds, the Heliocentrics have returned to develop their epic vision of psychedelic funk, while exploring the possibilities created by their myriad influences – Latin, African, and more.

CD sized hardback book with 32 pages and glued-in wallet for CD on inside back page

This is the limited Digisleeve edition that contains 13 tracks.

Khruangbin has always been multilingual, weaving far-flung musical languages like East Asian surf-rock, Persian funk, and Jamaican dub into mellifluous harmony. But on its third album, it's finally speaking out loud. Mordechai features vocals prominently on nearly every song, a first for the mostly instrumental band. It's a shift that rewards the risk, reorienting Khruangbin's transportive sound toward a new sense of emotional directness, without losing the spirit of nomadic wandering that's always defined it. And it all started with them coming home. By the summer of 2019, the Houston group_bassist Laura Lee Ochoa, guitarist Mark Speer, drummer DJ Johnson_had been on tour for nearly three-and-ahalf years, playing to audiences across North and South America, Europe, and southeast Asia behind its acclaimed albums The Universe Smiles Upon You and Con Todo El Mundo. They returned to their farmhouse studio in Burton, Texas, ready to begin work on their third album. But they were also determined to slow down, to take their time and luxuriate in building something together. Musically, the band's ever-restless ear saw it pulling reference points from Pakistan, Korea, and West Africa, incorporating strains of Indian chanting boxes and Congolese syncopated guitar. But more than anything, the album became a celebration of Houston, the eclectic city that had nurtured them, and a cultural nexus where you can check out country and zydeco, trap rap, or avant-garde opera on any given night. In those years away from home, Khruangbin's members often felt like they were swimming underwater, unsure of where they were going, or why they were going there. But Mordechai leads them gently back to the surface, allowing them to take a breath, look around, and find itself again. It is a snapshot taken along a larger journey_a moment all the more beautiful for its impermanence. And it's a memory to revisit again and again, speaking to us now more clearly than ever.

"Forever” is a special album that celebrates Alessandroni’s genius and represent his musical testament. Composed and arranged in Namibia during the last months of his life, the album is a stunning collection of orchestral tracks that reveal Alessandroni’s many virtues and abilities as a composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist, fusing pop, jazz and classical music with his unique (Italian) touch.

Formed in 1968, Jazz Sabbath was considered by many to be at the forefront of the new jazz movement
coming out of England at the time. The eagerly awaited debut album, scheduled for release on Friday
13th February 1970, was cancelled when news broke that founding member and pianist Milton Keanes
was hospitalised with a massive heart attack which left him fighting for his life.
The record company shelved the album and cancelled the scheduled release out of financial uncertainty
of releasing a debut album from a band without its musical leader. When Milton was released from
hospital in September 1970, he found out that a band from Birmingham, conveniently called ‘Black
Sabbath’, had since released two albums containing metal versions of what he claims were his songs.
All recalled Jazz Sabbath albums had been destroyed when the warehouse burned down in June 1970;
which turned out to be a case of insurance fraud by the label owner, leaving only a few bootleg tapes of
Jazz Sabbath’s live performances as proof of existence.
The album masters were said to be lost in the fire, but were actually misplaced and gathered dust in the
basement vaults of the recording studio. These tapes have now been remixed and will finally be heard;
proving that the heavy metal band worshipped by millions around the world are in fact nothing more than
musical charlatans, thieving the music from a bedridden, hospitalised genius.

For her third release on the MoFunk label, Moniquea takes to the streets on a certified west coast ride. Named after the corner she resided at in Pasadena, California, during the mid 90’s, Los Robles & Washington is equal parts tribute to her hometown, ode to the laid back Los Angeles lifestyle, and a forward-thinking envisionment of how the g-funk sound of nearly three decades past fits perfectly with the modern funk sound of the present day. Uptempo offerings such as “All The Time,” “Under Control,” & the Mofak-produced “Who Is That Girl” (feat. XL Middleton & Kevin “Slow Jammin” James) channel boogie-era funk legends and Venice Beach pop lock battles, while more medium-paced tracks like “Get Away With My Lovin,” “Put Your Trust In Me,” or the album’s title cut evoke liquor store runs in hot weather and tendrils of chronic smoke trailing from Buick Regal windows. Indeed, the straightforwardly titled “House Party” paints a portrait of a bygone era so vividly it feels like it just happened last weekend - The backyard boogie, the pregame beforehand, the thrill of cutting loose at someone’s house as if it was the Century Club. Finally, the tracks “Believe Me” (feat. Zackey Force Funk & Polyester The Saint) & “Always On The Run” carry nods to contemporary west coast rap & ‘future R&B’ respectively. The bulk of production on Los Robles & Washington is handled by XL Middleton, who continues to serve up varied platters of funk, from “G” to “modern.”

With a timeless sound that blends heavy soul and psych-rock, Monophonics have built a reputation over the past decade as one of the best live bands in the country. Led by singer Kelly Finnigan, the band of has drawn on their colorful history — both their experiences as veteran touring performers and as individuals growing up in the Bay Area — to create “It’s Only Us,” their fourth release since 2012.

A reflection of what they see as the current state of the world, the record touches on difficult subjects such as broken relationships, mental health issues, gun violence and power struggles, all with an underlying message of unity, resilience and acceptance. The band’s signature style of arrangement has been expanded with top-notch production and creative instrumentation to round out the Monophonics’ trademark soul sound, while Finnigan’s vocals are more powerful than ever. At times these tracks can feel classic, as familiar as an old song you grew up with, while simultaneously raising questions about the state of music in 2020 and what the future might hold.

“It’s Only Us” is the sound of a group continuing to grow as songwriters, musicians, performers and people — reflecting on where they’ve been, and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in the years to come.

LP is packaged in high quality Stoughton Tip-On gatefold jacket, LP stored in an anti-static innsersleeve, and includes a download card. Pressed at Gotta Groove Records in Cleveland, OH.

The UK’s cosmic, psychedelic-funk ensemble issue their first album on maverick producer Madlib’s label, Madlib Invazion.
The Heliocentrics’ albums are all confounding pieces of work. Drawing equally from the funk universe of James Brown, the disorienting asymmetry of Sun Ra, the cinematic scope of Ennio Morricone, the sublime fusion of David Axelrod, Pierre Henry’s turned-on musique concrète, and Can’s beat-heavy Krautrock, they have – regardless of the label on which they’ve released their music - pointed the way towards a brand new kind of psychedelia, one that could only come from a band of accomplished musicians who were also obsessive music fans. Drummer Malcolm Catto and bassist Jake Ferguson are the Heliocentrics’ masterminds and producers, and they are obsessive weirdos in today’s musical climate, searching, progressive humans who are often out-of-time with current trends.
They have been playing together for nearly two decades and their collective drive is to find an individual voice. The Heliocentrics search for it in an alternate galaxy where the orbits of funk, jazz, psychedelic, electronic, avant-garde and “ethnic” music all revolve around “The One.” With Madilb’s label Madlib Invazion for Infinity of Now, the Heliocentrics have returned to develop their epic vision of psychedelic funk, while exploring the possibilities created by their myriad influences – Latin, African, and more.

"I'm always looking for ways to be surprised," says composer and multi instrumentalist Jeff Parker as he explains the process, and the thinking, behind his new album Suite for Max Brown, released via a new partnership between International Anthem and Nonesuch Records.
"If I sit down at the piano or with my guitar, with staff paper and a pencil, I'm eventually going to fall into writing patterns, into things I already know. So, when I make music, that's what I'm trying to get away from-the things that I know." Despite its musical departures, in presentation Suite for Max Brown is an informal companion piece to The New Breed, Parker's debut release on International Anthem, which was honored as one of the "Best Albums of 2016" by New York Times, Observer, and Los Angeles Times.
"I made The New Breed based off these old sample-based compositions and mixed them with improvising," Parker says. "That's in a nutshell how I make a lot of my music; it's a combination of sampling, editing, retriggering audio, and recording it, moving it around and trying to make it into something cohesive... With Max Brown, it's evolved." Though Parker collaborates with a coterie of musicians under the group name The New Breed, theirs is by no means a conventional "band" relationship.
Parker is very much a solo artist on Suite for Max Brown. His accompanists are often working alone with Parker, reacting to what Parker has provided them, and then Parker uses those individual parts to layer and assemble into his final tracks. The process may be relatively solitary and cerebral, but the results feel like in-the-moment jams-warm-hearted, human, alive. Suite for Max Brown brims with personality, boasting the rhythmic flow of hip hop and the soulful swing of jazz.

To mark the tenth anniversary of the release of I’m New Here , the thirteenth - and last - studio album from the legendary US musician, poet and author Gil Scott-Heron, XL Recordings will release a unique reinterpretation of the album by acclaimed US jazz musician Makaya McCraven. Titled We’re New Again , the album will be released on 7th February 2020; exactly a decade after the release of Scott-Heron’s original Richard Russell-produced recording. It’s set to follow in the footsteps of Jamie xx’s highly acclaimed 2011 remix album We’re New Here and will be McCraven’s first release of 2020, following the huge global acclaim heaped upon his 2018 album Universal Beings . One of the most vital new voices in modern jazz, McCraven is described by the New York Times as a "Chicago-based drummer, producer and beat maker, [who] has quietly become one of the best arguments for jazz’s vitality".

In the 1960s and ‘70s, unbeknownst to most, Saigon (today named “Ho Chi Minh City”) had become a fertile environment for a flourishing music industry which produced countless recordings of beautifully crafted songs.
Ho Chi Minh City based band, Saigon Soul Revival has been bringing alternative pre 1975 music from Saigon back to the stage since 2016 with their live performances. Honoring the original composers, singers and the golden era from which this music (Nhạc Vàng) came, while applying new arrangements and interpretations of old Vietnamese songs. With tight grooves, psychedelic textures and a powerful unique sound, SSR has performed countless shows at a variety of venues across Vietnam, and accompanied live the two release tours to the Saigon Supersound Compilation releases.
While spending the last three years studying and playing this music, Saigon Soul Revival teamed up with producer Jan Hagenkötter (Saigon Supersound / INFRACom!) and finally in January 2019, they started to create own compositions in the same vein for their debut album Họa Âm Xưa. The album was recorded in Vietnam with additional guests during one week in May this year.
The album focuses on compositions that fuse Vietnamese lyrics and sounds with influences of western rock, soul, bolero, tango and other popular genres of this time period, most of which was banned after the war. This project strives to revive this beautiful musical heritage of Vietnam which represents an important cultural bridge between east and west.

Italian cult combo CALIBRO 35 release their highly anticipated 7th studio album “DECADE” on January 24th 2020. “Momentum” follows “DECADE” their previous studio album released in 2018 that has marked 10 years of Calibro 35 and it stands out as a new starting point for the project. In the last 10 years Calibro 35 have dug the golden age of soundtracks and they’ve been to the future with “S.P.A.C.E.”, “Momentum”, as the band stated: "represents a look at nowadays and a reflection about making music right in the time that we’re living”.
Inspired by the work of artists such as Tortoise, Jagajazzist, Dj Shadow, Budos Band, Stelvio Cipriani, Ennio Morricone, Sandro Brugnolini, White Noise, Comet is Coming, JPEGMafia and DJ Signify, compare to the previous Calibro 35’s full lengths on the 10 tracks that make up the new album band’s instruments and sounds have increased in number and complexity as the reality around has it too. The music palette is further extended by incorporating even more synths and electronic sounds, but keeping everything true and 100% real, with all the instruments played live and with no presets or programming. The two featurings on the album serve the cause as well. On the first single “Stan Lee” they’ve collaborated with rapper, producer and songwriter Illa J a former member of super group Slum Village and younger brother of the late legendary hip hop producer and rapper J Dilla. On “Black Moon”, the Milan combo provided the groove for London-based artist MEI. "If Decade was the sum of everything that the band had felt in the previous ten years" Calibro 35 says "Momentum is the prequel of what you will hear in the next ten".

To mark the new beginning and come full circle, the recordings took place under the expert hands of usual suspect Tommaso Colliva, in the same studio where Calibro released their self titled debut album twelve years ago.
Been sampled by Dr. Dre on his Compton album and Jay-Z, Love Child & Damon Albarn CALIBRO 35 enjoys a worldwide reputation as one of the coolest independent band around. During their ten years career they shared stages worldwide with the likes of Roy Ayers, Muse, Sun Ra Arkestra, Sharon Jones, Thundercat, Headhunters and as unique musicians they've collaborated with, amongst others PJ Harvey, Mike Patton, John Parish and Stewart Copeland and Nic Cester (The Jet). Described by Rolling Stone magazine's as "the most fascinating, retro-maniac and genuine thing, that happened to Italy in the last years", Calibro 35 now count on a number of aficionados worldwide which includes VIP’s fans such as Dj Food (Ninja Tune), Mr Scruff and Huey Morgan (Fun Lovin’ Criminals) among others.

Rudy Ray Moore was a lot of things. In his Dolemite persona, he was a Kung Fu master. In a smoky club late at night, a comedy master. And his comedy was known to be of the sort that would make Red Foxx blush. The Rudy Ray Moore Zodiac Album is just that sort of record - and then some. Risqué from its cover art, right through the A-side and right through the B-side. When released in the early 70s, this was the sort of record kept under the counter or sold in a brown paper bag. On Zodiac, Rudy Ray is joined by The Madam - as they talk the listener through some solid sexual advice for men and women based on the signs of the zodiac. The illustrations on the cover art give you an idea as to the sort of advice they're offering up...and from the sound of it perhaps demonstrating.

This one is among Rudy Ray Moore's filthy best!

Rudy Ray Moore
The Turning Point

Dolemite Records
DOL103-CD
8 29357 01032 2
$8.14

Throughout the 1970s, Rudy Ray Moore made his name as one of the most uniquely explicit, anti-establishment underground comedians working. With his profane, controversial material, and frequently taboo stories surrounding his famed pimp character Dolemite, Moore commanded a cult-fanbase throughout the decade, remained a star of blaxploitation films of the era, and was a strong influence on rap stars such as Snoop Dogg, Big Daddy Kane, and 2 Live Crew. His party records were considered too vulgar to be displayed in record shops, but word of mouth made his albums the stuff of legends.

Though Rudy Ray Moore was widely known for his provocative stand-up, less is known about his musical side. Though he found success as a comedian he had always wanted to be a famous singer, and deeply loved to perform music. (His stand-up shows regularly featured a backing band, providing his monologues a backdrop of jazz and R&B music.) In 1972, as his comedy career was booming with cult-popularity, Moore released The Turning Point, and fans were treated to the raunchy raconteur's previously unheard croon. The album features smooth R&B renditions of songs by Curtis Mayfield, The Impressions, The Platters, and other favorites of the comedian, even featuring two originals written by Moore himself.

The music on The Turning Point could easily stand toe-to-toe with the smooth, silky 70s soul of greats like Isaac Hayes or Lou Rawls. Over 35 years later, Dolemite Records, with a dedication to bringing Rudy Ray Moore's legacy to a modern audience, now brings you this compact disc reissue, complete with retrospective liner notes from Rudy's former manager Donald Randell.

Although the cover lists it as his third, this was actually Rudy Ray Moore's seventh full length comedy album release. After the massive success of Eat Out More Often and This Pussy Belongs To Me in 1970, Moore had developed a formula taking long traditional spoken monologues, or "toasts", and freshening them up for the "now generation" as he would call it. The release of The Cockpit in early 1971 continued this formula and also introduced the world to "Petey Wheatstraw: The Devil's Son-in-law", a character which Moore would later base a feature length film around in 1977. The Cockpit remains one of Mooreís most popular albums. It also needs to be
noted that this was the first time Rudy used completely topless women in his artwork and this may in fact be the first major record release that includes a man on the cover with semi-naked women!

- Mark Jason Murray, Biographer

Rudy Ray's Petey Wheatstraw was inspired by the real deal, an influential blues recording artist from back in the 1930's who spelled it "Peetie" and billed himself not only as the Devilís Son-in-Law but also the High Sheriff From Hell with song titles like "I Want Some Seafood" and "Meat Cutter Blues." Poetic humor. Rhythm and rhyme. That's where Rudy Ray got the name and then turned his jokester character from a comedy bit into a 1976 motion picture... and during the filming where I, Don Randell, first met Rudy Ray Moore.

The Cockpit was recorded in front of a live audience, their great applause an indication of how deeply into Rudy Ray they were with his pimpin'& players sex on wax party album... ghetto street rhymes that help them free their minds and release some pressure. Rudy Ray Moore takes them on a high flyin' wicked ride, in total control at the helm in "The Cockpit."

- Liners Notes by Donald Randell

Humans is the new album from sought after international touring band the London Afrobeat Collective. From Europe to Africa, Glastonbury to Nigeria’s annual ‘Felabration’ festival, LAC deliver party music born of their truly global DNA. The nine-strong collective from England, Congo, Italy, France, Argentina and New Zealand combine diverse influences such as Fela, Parliament Funkadelic and Frank Zappa to create an eclectic sound drawing on funk, jazz, rock, and dub to create something addictive and unique.
Their 2015 album Food Chain, received widespread radio support on stations such as BBC 6 Music, Radio X and BBC Radio 2, as well as glowing reviews in The Sunday Times, London Evening Standard, Blues & Soul and Songlines Magazine to name just a few. The new album Humans, (featuring artwork by Ben Hito, renowned for his designs for Parliament / Funkadelic), is a collection of anthemic songs with socially conscious lyrics, set to bold brass lines and hypnotic danceable grooves.
In 2015 the London Afrobeat Collective toured Nigeria, appearing several times on national TV and performing in front of ten thousand people at the New Afrika Shrine during ‘Felebration’. They are no less respected in their home town, having collaborated with the likes of Dele Sosimi and supporting legends such as Ebo Taylor, Fred Wesley And The New JB’s, Tony Allen, and Fela’s son, Femi Kuti.
LAC are now globally recognised for what they really are: not a tribute, but an ever evolving, international band of expert musicians, continuously inspiring each other as they create distinct, sincere and powerful music. Humans is an accomplished work with international flair and cultural relevance from London to Lagos.

The motor hasn’t had time to cool down and the belt drive is feeling the fatigue. But Charles Maurice is the kind of DJ who just can’t let a turntable rest. After steaming up the slipmat with three sexy compilations of French Boogie, Charles Maurice is back with Volume 4.
In the late 70s and early 80s, while France was still firmly tuned into variety-show pop, a few enlightened ears and souls picked up the hypnotic beat of funk from across the Atlantic. These first warrior monks spread the good word in discotheques, jumped on newly available frequencies to fill the airwaves and, in some cases, took up instruments themselves to unabashedly build on the U.S. model.
In a short decade stretching from the late 70s to the late 80s – just a blip on the scale of music history – they turned out material in abundance. Lush productions with colorful covers, groovy typeface and creative photo shoots…
But first and foremost, they made music weaned on, spoon-fed and imbued with funk. Music defined by a groove with a robotic beat (Djeneba) that clearly hears hip-hop banging on the door, where layers of synthesizers, handclaps (Eric Chotteau), horns and African percussion line up and follow the all-powerful lead of the swelling slap bass (Cyrill). Music that tells everyday stories, both humorous and lovelorn (Serge Delisle), and often packed with pheromones just waiting to be released on the dance floor or sofa (Chris O’Hara). Shaped by synthetic textures, these productions are also spiced with Caribbean and Creole arrangements that reflect the West Indies’ critical contribution to French Boogie (Wai Kop, Acayouman).
With his immaculate tailoring, slicked back hair and clipped moustache, Charles Maurice has once again transformed himself into a HiFi stylus to explore the groove traced by this specifically French musical style. From 45 to 33 rpm, he has traveled the black spiral to bring us a new selection that proudly features a number of rarely heard pieces and even an unreleased track by Marco Attali. True to form, Monsieur Charles carefully crafted this fourth volume from his personal collection of impeccably restored and mastered vinyl recordings.
Charles Maurice, where French elegance meets uncompromising musical taste.

BBE Music is delighted to present the first ever reissue of ‘Disco Soccer’, the 1979 album from Ghanaian sportsman turned musician Alhaji Sidiku Buari.Originally an athlete, winning silver and gold medals in the Senegal All Africa Games and West African Games in 1963 and a bronze in the All African in Congo Brazzaville in 1965, Buari moved to America on a music scholarship from The York Institute, obtained as a result of his athletic achievements. Buari soon became enthused by baseball, training with the York team and occasionally playing in matches. When one of York’s music teachers heard him singing inspirational team-builder songs and chants for his side - in the Ga language- he suggested putting a rhythm section behind the songs, recording them, and seeing what the American record buying public thought of them.It won’t surprise you to hear that said Americans loved the demos- so, in 1975, he recorded his first album – the first of fifteen. Buari went on to collaborate with Bernard Purdie, Sugar Hill’s Steve Jerome and Salsoul’s bassman, Gordon Edwards.A switch to Polydor in 1979 produced Disco Soccer, and if you’re into disco or boogie or any hybrid thereof, this is a must-have album. A homage, Ay to Zee, to New York’s late 70s disco scene, filtered through an Accra late-night haze: Ga vocals and West African percussion all the way, all of it composed and produced by the artist himself. A generous eleven tracks of all killer-no-filler boogie business: one of those albums you just put on, and leave on.An essential partner to BBE’s double Buari LP Feelings/Sidiku Buari & His Jam Busters, Disco Soccer is reissued from the original masters and reproduced on 180-gram vinyl with new liner notes and original artwork

Another raucous and raw comedy album from Rudy Ray Moore's vast crazy catalog! He's got some nasty ass shit to talk and you will thrill with the exploits of Dangerous Dan, Lolita (who likes mucho peetah) and even Romeo & Juliet (!). Don't be ashamed if you find yourself repeating these bits to friends as there's plenty here to laugh at. This album is over 40 years old and a testament to the power and shock of Moore's material. If you need to catch your breath, Moore gives you a break by the album's end as he reworks one of his old vocal tracks with... well... some pretty nasty lyrics. What did you expect? This is a Rudy Ray Moore album!

- Mark Jason Murray, Biographer

Rudy Ray continued to cut his comedy party records, rappin' out his street rhymes with a little music behind. The room was packed with guys and gals, friends and partiers from the neighborhood. Dudes, pimps, gangsters, players, winos, and just plain Bad Ass Kids! And this album is breakout time! I Can't Believe I Ate the Whole Thing blew the doors open, set the trend, the one that a decade later in 1986 launched 2 Live Crew when they sampled Rudy Ray Moore on hit singles "Throw That D" and "Get it Girl" from their debut album The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are. Through word of mouth and pure outrageousness the 2 Live Crew album sold over half a million copies.

And it didn't stop there!! Rudy Ray was now deep in the Hip Hop mix. 2 Live Crew's "Movin' Something" audaciously sampled "Romeo and Juliet," Rudy Ray's nasty duet with Lady Reed, aka Queen Bee from the Dolemite movies and one of Rudy's early label signings back in the day. Ice Cube with Funk Master George Clinton throws out in "Bop Gun" a Rudy Ray Moore line from on this very album, "No One Knows Where the Nose Goes." Big Daddy Kane loves the track "Dangerous Dan."

I Can't Believe I Ate the Whole Thing is the album that sets the tone for the Hardcore Hip Hop scene. Here you can hear where Dr. Dre, N.W.A. Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes, and Ice T got their stuff. Also where comedian Robin Harris took Rudy's joke "Piccolo Player" and made it one of his own laugh line bits. All of it jumped off
this album and swayed a generation. Straight off the street from shooting dice, playin' the horses in a bookie joint, and cruising in a lowrider car to smoking weed and late night listening when the kids are all asleep. Yeah, right!

As Rudy Ray Moore said, "Rappin' and cappin' is my game. And all those young men are rappin' good! BUT, when it comes down to rappin', I was through with it before they even learned what to do with it!!"

- Liner Notes by Donald Randell

Seminal Japanese jazz album from 1971. Journeys through jazz fusion, soul and big band moods. Impossible to obtain in its original format these days. Official Mr Bongo reissue.

Michael Kiwanuka releases his third studio album on 25th October 2019. Store exclusive special edition format includes Kiwanuka pressed onto heavyweight pink vinyl and includes a bonus 7".

‘KIWANUKA’ was recorded in New York, LA and London. Michael returned to the studio with Danger Mouse and Inflo, the same production team that combined so magnificently on Love & Hate, KIWANUKA finds a new assuredness in Michael’s writing, and takes the basic sonic blueprint of that last record to a dizzying new realm.

Michael will tell you of his love for records that entwine their songs with incidental skits and shape-shifting spiralling outros, so the listener experience is almost that of listening to one long, dramatic song. KIWANUKA fulfils that winding, dream-like haze, unhurried.
KIWANUKA is Michael serving from the heart, from the mind, and from the soul.

On the album title, Michael explains “This album, it’s kind of a defiant thing; I’m engaging with who I am and I’m not going to have an alter ego, or become Sasha Fierce or Ziggy Stardust, even through everyone’s telling me I need to be this, that or the other. I can just be Michael Kiwanuka.”

Tough, mid-tempo Ghanaian funk & Highlife grooves from Ebo Taylor Junior, son of the mighty Ebo Taylor.
Originally released in 1978; now extremely difficult and expensive to find in its original form.
Today Ebo Taylor Jnr plays keys in his fathers band that continues to tour when he is able to.
Official Mr Bongo reissue. Licensed from Ebo Taylor Jnr.

Build Bridges combines stellar musicianship with unlimited drive and lag proof swing-ability. You can hear the maturity of their sound, which inadvertently allows you to appreciate their previous recordings even more. They're all in the same ballpark yet seem to be on a completely different playing field. Tim Felten's lineup not only shows his keen ability to pick top choice artists, but also shows his sense of direction and investment to high quality musicians. The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble is a staple of the west cost soul/jazz/funk scene and with their third LP, they solidify their position. Heavy grooves and drums, with top tier musicianship and writing. Build Bridges is just as sophisticated as it is soulful and funky! FOR FANS OF Menahan Street Band, The Budos Band, Antibalas, El Michels Affair.

DāM-FunK returns with a seven song listening experience titled: STFU II. The follow up to 2015’s STFU. This 2019 Glydezone Recordings released project kicks off with the heavy knock and breezy synths of ‘The Flow’, while ‘Hood Biz’ is a more ominous, street-funk anchored groove. The ‘Inhale, Exhale (Interlude)’ is the equilibrium that opens up the second half of the EP, highlighting DāM’s melodic laid-back funk, as expressed through tracks like ‘Ladera Heights’ and his lead single, ‘On Code’. The soulful side of Techno is even touched on in the track “Deeper”. In discussing his inspirations for the EP, DāM explains “In this time of colossal distractions, easy trouble online, heavy trolling and cancel culture, this project provides an alternative to instead..just lay back, take a deep breath, stay outta trouble and simply ‘glyde’ for a while. Nothing illegal about that, right?”.

STFU II
- Completely Produced, Played and Recorded by DāM-FunK

- Artwork and layout created by Freddy Anzures (long time art director of Wax Poetics magazine)

- Special Limited Edition CD Version (Eco-Friendly Digipak)

- First Ever Glydezone Recordings CD release

- DāM-FunK has collaborated with, produced or co-produced original songs for the likes of Tyler The Creator, Snoop Dogg, Ariel Pink, Mac Miller, Steve Arrington, Todd Rundgren, Nite Jewel and many more, while staying on the road consistently..giving his all musically (& then some..) to the people of the world.

Hand-picked 60s she-pop from UK Philips, Fontana and Mercury, including many titles new to CD.

Ten years ago, Ikebe Shakedown began pushing the boundaries of instrumental music. Each new track and live set has sent them deeper into combining the primal elements of ’70s soul, raw psychedelic style, and cinematic Western soundtracks with powerful grooves and soaring melodies. Now, with their new release, Kings Left Behind (Colemine Records), the band is giving listeners more mystery and majesty than ever before. The album features the entire group collaborating to produce tracks that deliver punches right to the gut, even as dreamy guitars and lush horn melodies and string arrangements capture the imagination.

The album was recorded by Ikebe's bassist, Vince Chiarito, at Hive Mind Recording. Opened with Ikebe's saxophonist, Mike Buckley, and another collaborator in 2017, Hive Mind has become a home base for the band, leading to more experimentation with the textures and sounds of a genre they define as Instrumental Soul.

Ben ’Tukumazan’ Molatzi (1954 -2016), a self-taught singer and songwriter from Tsumeb, Namibia, wrote timeless, beautiful ballads drawing on the distinctive melodies and harmonies of his Damara and Sotho heritage.
His music recordings have been slumbering in oblivion in Namibian radio archives. His songs were consciously censored and damaged as its messages did not please the South African apartheid regime. The album contains field and studio recordings that were made in 1981 by SWABC. To this day, these recordings have never been commercially released. In his liner notes, Thorsten Schütte describes his ultimately successful search for Ben Molatzi and further meetings with the artist, who talks in detail about his life, his songs and the life circumstances in his country.
On these recordings he accompanies himself on the guitar. The lyrics are reprinted in the enclosed booklet in the original tribal language as well as in English translation.

Krishnanda is an album in the truest sense of the word – a spiritual, psychedelic Brazilian masterpiece from start to finish – celebrated by everyone from Seu Jorge and Kassin to Floating Points, Madlib and DJ Nuts. These days, originals change hands for thousands of dollars.

Pedro dos Santos, born in Rio in 1919, was a percussionist virtuoso, composer and inventor of instruments that apparently included oddities such as the ‘Tamba’ (electrified bamboo drum) and the mouth berimbau whistle. Nicknamed Perdo ‘Sorongo’ after the rhythm he invented, that features throughout ‘Krishnanda’. A highly spiritual man who was regarded as a philosopher by many.

He worked with greats including Baden Powell, Elis Regina, Maria Bethany, Elza Soares, Sebastião Tapajós, Roberto Ribeiro, Milton Nascimento, Clara Nunes, Paul Simon and Arthur Verocai, playing on his legendary self-titled LP. In the same vein as Verocai and his self-titled LP, ‘Krishnanda’ was Pedro’s chance to shine with his own, and only, solo recording.

Krishnanda was produced by Hélcio Milito, the drummer of Tamba Trio, and arranged by conductor Joppa Lins, and originally released in 1968 on CBS (Brasil). Musically, the album touches folk, samba, afro-brazilian and psychedelia plus added effects, with a lyrical depth and diversity to match; themes including morality, perception, existence and ego.

Despite the genius of the record and the influence that it had on musicians at the time of release, it disappeared into obscurity. We first discovered the record around 2003, through a friend Julio Dui. Around that time Brazilian funk and bossa was the flavour of the day, so didn’t catch our ear immediately, however it continued improve with age and now we consider it to be one of the best albums ever made, regardless of genre or origin.

The Mr Bongo reissue is produced as a replica original LP / audio master by Ricardo Garcier at Magic Master (Rio de Janeiro) / artwork restored by Andrew Edwards, from the original copy borrowed from Julio Dui – thank you, sir!

Bonding over a shared love of Chic, Parliament andthe other signs in the greater funk Zodiac, MayerHawthorne (Aquarius) and Jake One (Taurus),collectively known as Tuxedo, return with their thirdstudio album, Tuxedo III released on theTuxedo-owned and newly launched label, Funk onSight. Their powers combined have yet again yieldeda bevy of absolute slappers that are packagedperfectly for dance floors in 2019. The album includesfeatures from MF DOOM, DāM-FunK, Leven Kali,Benny Sings, Gavin Turek and others. Tuxedo is backto remind you that the dance floor will always bethere to welcome you, whoever you are.

Born in 1949 in Recife (Brazil), Roberto De Melo Santos, despite a very light discography, is among the true icons of the Brazilian Soul music under his artist alias, Di Melo. He’s indeed only needed an eponymous album, released in 1975 on Odeon, to assert himself as a star in his native country, but also as a legend for all collectors and connoisseurs of the world. More than 40 years after its release, this famous album sells for several hundred euros in its original version, and even for the few reissues that were offered. Not very active since then, Di Melo however returned in 2016 with the album O Imorrível, released on the Brazilian label Casona Produções.
It is then that a year later, came a meeting with the French group Cotonete, that Florian Pellissier, founding member and keyboard within the band tells us about: “On tour in Brazil with Cotonete, we had a few days off in Sao Paulo and I really hoped to make a collaboration with an important artist or band from the Brazilian funk scene. We had thought of Marcos Valle, Meta Meta or Ed Motta... but Rafaela Prestes our Brazilian "sound ingineer/genious" told me she’d worked with Di Melo for his recent comeback and gave me his number. No sooner said than done, as I'm a huge fan of Di Melo. The next day he arrived at our house with Jo, his wife, and Gabi, his daughter. He takes the guitar in front of us and gives us a private show of 3 hours… we cried the tears of joy. He had 400 original songs never recorded, a gold mine. On the same night, we started working the arrangements for 2 days, followed by a rehearsal and two small gigs in Sao Paulo. Immediately after, we recorded in the magical Epsilon B studio. This album is the summary of this moment, of these 5 days of madness spent together between “the best band in the world” and the legend Roberto Di Melo… Simple, beautiful, Brazilian-French, human music…”
Today, Atemporal found its final version in collaboration with Favorite Recordings and is proudly presented as what we believe will become the genuine long-awaited follow-up to the classic Di Melo’s LP.

Cynicism is an easy sell. We’re skeptical of harmony because the news sows division, social
media runs on scorn, and tangible reminders of good have become increasingly rare. Yet
there are those whispered moments of unity, those artists who effortlessly embody the
ideals of fusion –those who allow us to reap the rewards that can only yielded from an
embrace of different ideas, cultures, and sounds. This is the genius of Seba Kaapstad.
Seba Kaapstad is a multi-national neo-soul quartet comprised of a South African, a Swazi,
and two Germans. They summon the most powerful manifestation of creativity: music that
represents an idea. Their Mello Music debut album, Thina, takes its name from the Zulu
word for “us.” It is a gorgeous halo of soul, encompassing several continents worth of sound,
and obliterating the notion of genre. It is divined by artists whose lineage is riven with trauma
and suffering. But like their ancestors, they endured. And only in this futuristic present could
they reconcile the perseverance and turmoil of the past, using music to inspire unity and
heal.
They conjure beatific grooves that radiate with alluvial soul, celestial jazz, electronic
experimentation and the polyrhythmic essence of Africa. It is marrow music, what digs
beneath your bones, seeping into your bloodstream and inner visions. You hear flashes of
the greats: Badu, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Jill Scott, and the Things Fall Apart-era Roots. You
might even hear the ethereal float of Frank Ocean or the glowing bliss of Flying Lotus and
Thundercat. But like all stellar quartets, Seba Kaapstad is indivisible and made stronger by
the sum of their parts.
If the sonic roots lie in the tessaracts of eternal memory, Seba Kaapstad’s present-day
genesis trace to 2013, the year that Sebastian Schuster arrived in Cape Town and
immediately fell in the love with its rich cultural tapestry, legendary musical community, and
artful chaos. He soon paired with the rest of the band—Zoe Modiga, Philip Scheibel (Pheel),
Ndumiso Manana—developing the sort of telepathic chemistry can’t be replicated or really
even explained.
You hear this harmonic synthesis all over Thina. Each song is a symphony of its own. Take
“Don’t,” which opens with glistening pianos and a head-bobbing slap, then Zoe Modiga
unleashes her sky-rattling voice, alternating between near-rapping and time-stopping,
levitating multi-octave solos—all the while paraphrasing Shakespeare. And in the last
minute, there’s an exquisite string coda that you’d expect to hear at a world-class
philharmonic.
There’s "Breathe," which OkayAfrica raved was “a refreshing combination of the crew's
different influences…as much of a Friday/Saturday night jam as a Sunday morning one.” It’s a
spiritual hymn in search of water and solace, a loose-limbed rhythm that echoes the themes
of Fela and the jams of classic Electric Ladyland neo-soul. While the title track alternates
between Zulu and English, as Modiga offers inspirational uplift and timeless lyrics about the
natural elements.