Release-Highlights in July 2019 8 Items

Back on the Riotvan with the third installment already, it is the ever on point Llewellyn, still being the more extroverted Synth/Wave/NeoDisco-alter ego of Lake People - that just as a minor gloss for those who've been living under a rock over the last years. On "These Days" we see him further elaborate his distinctive signature sound, more than ever brimming with confidence and splendour.

Stellar full-length album selection of archival material from Tim Jackiw ranging from timeless late night techno and deep space soundtracks through to electronic jazz and ambient atmospheres. All music sequenced and recorded in Tim's Adelaide-based bedroom studio between 1995 to 1997 using an Amiga 500 interfaced to various analog synthesizers, drum machines and samplers. Limited Color Vinyl double pack - big tip!

Bella Vista was a one off project from Michel Esteban, founder of seminal New York Disco/Electro/New Wave imprint ZE Records. Originally released in 1982 ‘Mister Wong’ is a Pop oddity that sits between French Synth Pop and Leftfield Disco. The 12” includes the sought after Disco Dub version that lets the bassline work its magic alongside some heavy dub delays, on the flip Jura Soundsystem provide an extended version with added live percussion.

Madlib, the prolific producer and adept sampler with a record collection spanning all genres and eras and Freddie Gibbs, the gravel-voiced braggadocios rapper, a vocal athlete. As a pair, they exude a natural chemistry and craft an alchemical music. Reunited after their widely celebrated 2014 album Piñata, Gibbs and Madlib are back with Bandana, a brand new collaboration for 2019. Bandana includes first single, “Flat Tummy Tea,” which received critical praise upon release from the likes of Rolling Stone, Billboard, Vulture, Pitchfork, FADER, GQ, and more. The album will also include features from Pusha T, Killer Mike, Yasiin Bey, and Black Thought and more.

It’s been more than forty years since Kool Herc starting throwing parties in the South Bronx, and so you could forgive the casual fan for thinking that nearly every permutation of hip-hop has already been explored. But KEITH, the new album from the iconic rapper Kool Keith and the master producer Psycho Les (due out July 12 on Mello Music Group) argues just the opposite: that what’s absurdly funny can also be sinister and strange, that the form can still be broken in new and radical ways. Keith is, of course, one of the pivotal figures in the history of hip-hop, and has been one of the genre’s most singular writers and original voices. The Bronx native was a founding member of Ultramagnetic MCs, whose debut album, 1988’s Critical Beatdown, served as a blueprint for both internationally famous acts like Public Enemy and for the entire future of underground rap. But Keith’s solo work, which began in earnest in the mid-’90s with Dr. Octagonecologyst (released under a pseudonym, naturally) is even stranger, more experimental, more brilliant. He will enjamb seemingly unrelated ideas and images against one another with a poet’s love for language and a pornographer’s knack for camp. Subsequent records like 1997’s Sex Style, ‘99’s Black Elvis/Lost In Space, and 2000’s Matthew were hailed as instant classics; Keith has spent the last several years crafting expertly written records that are rewardingly bizarre, unlike anything else on the rap landscape –– and KEITH is a crown jewel in that excellent late-period run.

Psycho Les is a founding member of the Beatnuts, who were first notable as the only Latino members of the Native Tongues, the collective of groups that pushed hip-hop to its avant edges in the early ‘90s. They were staples throughout that decade, both with their own albums and via the production they did for artists as disparate as Fat Joe and Common –– as well as for their work pioneering the remix. The Beatnuts’ music had in its foreground cramped house parties and reckless debauchery; Les developed the unique ability as a producer to merge that abandon with technically rigorous sample manipulation and unique arrangements.

If you’re worried that two artists who have been working at this for so long would be tempted to rest on their laurels or make music that’s predictable, disabuse yourself of that notion. Keith opens the album with a tangent about Foot Locker –– not about buying shoes, but about lusting after the footwear chain’s employees, with their tight, referee-striped shirts and form-fitting black pants. It only gets stranger from there. His Lamborghinis aren’t just green, they’re pistachio green; his head is perfectly round like Charlie Brown’s; his handkerchief is worth your per diem. And as a vocalist, Keith is still as slippery and innovative as ever: see the way he slides right into an unorthodox flow at the beginning of “Slave Owner,” only to thin out his writing to allow for a string of insults from the titular slave owner.

KEITH is a laser-focused, remarkably vital work from two artists entering the fourth decades of their respective careers. If nothing else, take as an example a couple of the guests who appear here: there’s Jeru the Damaja, who represents the true-school ethos of New York in the early ‘90s, but there’s also Paul Wall –– he rides shotgun on “Foot Locker” –– who broke through more than a decade after Jeru, as the woozy, laconic Houston scene of the mid-2000s briefly stole the national spotlight. Both serve as ideal foils for Keith: they’re somehow tethered to Earth as we understand it, while he’s free to orbit around them, and us, in a path that only he will ever understand.

The vinyl edition is limited to 300 copies and comes in a sealed heavy old-fashioned cardboard sleeve. A free download code plus a BJINT logo sticker round up the packaging.

After Philanthrope's opener »Waking Dreams« and the follow-up's by IAMPAUL (“Something Between”) and Flitz&Suppe ("Ijin") on Beat Jazz International, we are super excited to present the next release focusing on Beats, Jazz and Vinyl. Norway's Ol' Burger Beats joins the roster with "Daybreaks", a deep journey into Jazz and Hip Hop with so much Soul. Hope you enjoy!

"Hot recordings from the golden era of the Italian sexy comedy film scene"! Early Sounds Recordings, in collaboration with the historical Italian label "Eleven" and A. Dallera, puts together a compilation of some of the rarest and sought after disco and funk records inspired by the Italian sexy comedy era.