Search:k tv

2x12"

UPPERMOST will be releasing his upcoming album on March 23, 2018 with a completely new perspective that should change the course of his career, expanding to a brand new pop oriented approach but keeping his French signature at the core of the project. His previous hit tracks Flashback and Beautiful Light have already generated more than 27 Million combined streams across platforms, while Mercedes-Benz selected Uppermost single Disco Kids to be featured in their Formula One advertising campaign and Starz/Encore chose another of his instrumentals for their 2018 TV spot only few weeks ago. Uppermost is being closely followed by international media leading to great articles from influent press channels such as DJMAG, Vice, Complex, Paper Magazine, and famous radios such as BBC 1 and Virgin. In addition to releasing music via his own independent label Uppwind Records, Uppermost has released music through powerful labels such as Sony and Ministry Of Sound and done official remixes for Dada Life, Lemaitre and Crystal Fighters. He has also already shared french festival SOLIDAYS's stage with Madeon, Yelle, Fakear and Die Antwoord. This new year, Uppermost premiered his upcoming live show at Paris . Point Ephemere . for a sold out event that turned into a great success. Meanwhile, a U.S. tour is already confirmed for the month of March.

Joris Biesmans' TVe imprint returns for it's third installment, this time featuring it's eponymous founder front, center and recording under his own name. Led by a forward-thinking electro remix from the ever-versatile Man Power, it's another firm display of synth-led versatility, brimming with confidence and charisma. 'Angry Baby' is an irresistible pressure-pot of stomping house, as playful as it's name and as demanding as its imaginary infant protagonist, with a truly hypnotic, elastic breakdown proving irresistible in a club context . Man Power's aforementioned remix is less loopy, more analog, with his well-tooled production technique pushing the record's texture into altogether more cosmic and overwhelming territory, led by wailing synthesis. Back to Biesmans for B2, and a more acidic, almost unnerving vision unfolds throughout 'Connecting The Dots', which does just that, linking futurist, Michigan influences with a more floor-focused, European aesthetic.

Support for recent album release - Push On

Observer Magzine Feature Dec 2017

Radio:

BBC 6 Music Craig Charles Album of The Year

BBC 6 Music Album of the Day

'That's a great song for the summer' - Alan Carr

"I challenge you not to get down to this!" - Zoe Ball (Entitled to That quote)

'Entitled to That' - Radio 2 (Zoe Ball, Alan Carr & Mel Sykes, Craig Charles) 6Music (Craig Charles, Steve Lamacq, BBC introducing Bristol)

'Main Event (feat. Andy Cooper)' 'Since You've Been Gone' - 6Music (Nemone)

Love That I'm In (Craig Charles, Nemone)

WW International and specialist radio: Jazz FM, WNCW, Solar Radio, Radio One Italy, Radio Krimi, WNCW, Radio Nova Portugal, Kane FM, Radio Pepper Greece, Radio Fg, Radio Z Nurenburg, WUTK FM 90.3, 100.3 Thessaloniki, 1BrightonFM, FM4 Vienna, Radio Z Nuremburg,

Online press: We Plug Good Music, Stereofox, 45Live, Monkeyboxing, The Dutch Guy, Life Support Machine, KBPS magazine, Flea Market Funk, Sphere Of Hip Hop, 45's Corner, AAA badboy,

DJ support: JFB, DJ Food, Renegades Of Jazz, Basement Freaks, Utah Saints, Qdup, Nutritious, Kid Kenobi, Doc Scott, Featurecast, Mat The Alien, Marc Hype, DJ Love, DJ Format

Summary for previous album 'As We Do Our Thing'

Album of The day on BBC 6 music with additional support from Shaun Keaveny, Lauren Laverne, Nemone, Craig Charles, Don Letts, and Radcliffe and Maconie

Andy Cooper (Ugly Duckling) and the Allergies also performed a Dermot O' Leary BBC Radio 2 session and a Loose Ends session on BBC Radio 4.

Hit top 3 in the iTunes UK Hip Hop chart (47 main overall)

#1 on Juno Download

The previous single Rock Rock featuring Andy Cooper was featured on TV Channel 4's Sunday Brunch and

Rock Rock used to soundtrack Euro football qualifiers on ITV (both National television station)

Rock Rock was Tune of the Month in Mixmag

Rock Rock also went to # 1 on Juno Download Hip hop chart on release.

DJ Support: DJ Yoda, Renegades of Jazz, Featurecast, A Skillz, Dom Servini , The Next Men, Aldo Vanucci, All Good Funk Alliance, Mr Benn, Marc Hype, Smoove, Dr Rubberfunk, Fab Samperi, Slynk

* THE No.1 Wigan Casino and Northern Soul anthem
* THE most valuable record in the world
* THE first ever legal reissue, outside of Motown
* THE last record ever played at Wigan Casino

EXACTLY 40 years ago the original copy of Do I Love You' arrived on these shores and, for the first time the true identity of its author and performer was revealed.
The story of the world's most valuable record has been told many times and perhaps most authoritatively by Tim Brown in his book 'Wigan Casino Years'. In brief, here are the salient facts...
The tale begins in 1976 when Northern Soul pioneer Simon Soussan gained access to the Motown archive in Los Angeles where he discovered, and purloined, the original, promotional 45. At the time Soussan was the main source for rare Northern Soul that debuted at the famed Wigan Casino, and in due course he sent an acetate of the track to the club covered up as by Eddie Foster. It was an instant hit with the Casino dancers and soon attained exalted status.
By 1978 Soussan had turned his back on Northern Soul and sent his entire collection to the UK to be sold piecemeal. The original label of the disc was now revealed as the Motown subsidiary 'Soul' and the artist was the Motown writer Frank Wilson. The 45 was sold to record collector Jonathon Woodliffe for the handsome sum of £250. After the near collapse of Northern Soul in 1981 Woodliffe's attentions turned to Jazz/Funk and he traded the disc to former Wigan DJ Kev Roberts for £500's worth of disco twelves!
For 9 long years the legendary record languished in a frame on the wall of Roberts' Staffordshire home until a pending divorce prompted the sale to collector Tim Brown for, at the time, the unheard of sum of £5,000. It remains the property of Tim Brown to this day, the pinnacle of a lifetime of record collecting.
In 1997 Detroit producer, Frank Murphy, sold his entire record collection to Anglo-American, a company owned by Martin Koppel and the aforementioned Tim Brown. Lo and behold, a second copy of Do I Love You' was found and subsequently sold to Scottish DJ Kenny Burrell for an inflated sum of £15,000. In 2008, Burrell's copy was auctioned for a staggering figure in excess of £25,000 making history and further cementing the iconic status of the world's most collectable 45.
Today Do I Love You' has transceneded the strange world of Northen Soul and has become enshrined in the wider public's concsiousness due to mainstream radio play, TV advertising (most recently the 'Happy Egg Co.') and in 2017 an appearance on the country's most popular TV show Strictly Come Dancing.
Now you too can own a copy of Do I Love You'...

here is the long-awaited fifth volume of the well received electronic compilation series from the 1980's color tapes label. As with the other volumes you can find great examples of cold wave, minimal wave and synth electronics made by obscure British bands such as: Berserk In A Hayfield, Disintegrators, Lives of Angels, The Lord, plus a rare track by The good Missionaries, post Alternative TV.

The Afro-Funk side of the Latin Soul maestro!

Born in Gao (Mali), Boncana Maïga is one of the most talented and popular producer of West-African music since the 60's. He studied flute and Latin arrangements in Cuba during the 60's and founded the famous Les Maravillas du Mali' in 1968.

He became orchestra leader for the national Ivorian TV in Abidjan in the mid-seventies, and toured all over the world with the famous Africando band. During his recording sessions in NYC at the beginning of the 80's with a lot of Latin musicians' from Puerto Rico, Venezuela or Colombia, Boncana Maïga also recorded few rare Funky tracks with heavy breaks!

With the artist, we decided to reissue four rare tracks from 1978 to 1982 dedicated to dancefloor, including a really rare soundtrack for the oil company of Ivory Coast called Petroci'.

In 2018, he'll be back on tour with Les Maravillas du Mali', still have a weekly TV show on TV5 Monde and with this reissue will continue to warm your Afro-Funk parties!

Fully licensed, 12inch vinyl (45 RPM) including interview. Remastered by The Carvery!

The people at Antinote are always excited to introduce new names to its roster and Sign Libra, its latest addition, makes no exception to the rule.
.
Released under the moniker Sign Libra, Closer to the Equator is the work of Latvian artist and composer Agata Melnikova. Composed for a contemporary ballet at Latvian National Opera in Riga, the music on this record strongly relies on Melnikova's appreciation of BBC-produced nature documentaries. Projecting the life of each creature that inhabits the British TV-program into her very personal and highly synthetized world, Sign Libra lends these microscopic beings her own voice. Each song works like a musical tableau' in which the main protagonists - plants and animals - come on stage to play their part in a ballet carefully choreographed by the Latvian artist.

Sign Libra's mental and musical incarnations of the microcosm of the rainforest have something to do with Software's album populated by exotic insects and crawling plants, a Carnaval des Animaux' released on Sky by a MIDI-addicted Hector Berlioz. These microscopic beings incarnate themselves in resonated melodies that echo through a technicolour rainforest, while winds blow through holographic ferns, vines and palms.

Closer To The Equator synthesizes visions panning treetops as the sun's rays pierce through clouds nearby. Sign Libra takes you into a harmonic world that shines brightly wherever you stand, and offers a genuine synesthetic experience.

The second album by Istanbul's clarinet virtuoso Cüneyt Sepetçi is an intense trip into modern Turkish wedding and party music. The foundations go deep into Turkey and the surrounding regions' history, which each generation innovates and develops. These days, no wedding or circumcision party is complete without the sound of the micro-tonal keyboard. A new addition, these Turkish keyboardists can play between notes, and supply banging club rhythms in wide variety of time signatures.Sepetçi uses the bedrock of Volkan Sever's synth insanity as a jumping off point for some truly crazy solos. His fluttering sheets of notes tie knots around the pulsating, fried synthesizer. For this recording session, Sepetçi brought in two drummers, Fatih Özden (tapan) and Samet Sertol (darabouka), to play along with the Turkish drum machine. A dense nest of rhythmic complexity is the result. And to further connect to this music's rich past, the ancient double reed zurna of Ahmet Özden and Yasar Uçar's European violin weave ancient melodies and incredible solos throughout.
These musicians are some of the best in Istanbul, and all of these songs are first takes, recorded live with very little planning. Sepetçi essentially leads the band through these complex arrangements as they play them.In Istanbul, one may see Sepetçi playing for change on Istiklal Caddesi, the famous Turkish walking street at the center of the city. Or one may see him on one of the TV stations, playing Anatolian songs in his inimitable style. He's even begun touring outside of Turkey—at Denmark's Roskilde Festival, and at concerts in Italy, Beirut, and Israel. I want to go to America. He says. Do they have mosques there

Don't wanna move to Southern California / I wasn't really meant for LA...' So sang Dent May once upon a time, now he's eating those words with a side of avocado toast in his new Los Angeles bungalow. What made the lifelong Mississippi boy pull up stakes and head west No one looks at you funny if you wear a tuxedo to the supermarket.' What he means is he moved there to shake up his surroundings, clear his head, and write the most accomplished record of his young career, the magical mystery tour de force Across the Multiverse.

Following the lead of musical-polymaths-with-LA-ties before him like Brian Wilson, Van Dyke Parks, and Harry Nilsson, Dent's style on Across the Multiverse will be familiar to fans of his previous work. Yet there's something more refined about this collection... Stately strings mingle with boogie piano like old friends. Synths weave a celestial backdrop throughout. Every verse, bridge and chorus in its right place, giving it the unmistakable feel of a true songwriting craftsman at work. Lyrically Dent has never been sharper, musing on themes like modern romance ( Picture on a Screen', Face Down in the Gutter of Your Love'), existential dread ( Dream 4 Me', I'm Gonna Live Forever Until I'm Dead'), and the distance to the moon ( Distance to the Moon') as he searches for meaning among the infinite scrolling feeds of our 21st century augmented reality. The title track, a duet with Frankie Cosmos, is a deep space love song about finding love beyond impossible boundaries.

Across the Multiverse was written and recorded in a sunny bedroom in LA's Highland Park neighborhood, with Dent producing and playing nearly every instrument himself. The tracks were selected from dozens of songs written after the LA move, a gold rush of productivity inspired by late nights DJing rare disco funk cuts at local watering holes. It's his first record for new label Carpark and will be released August 18th.

Dent May is a self-described hotel bar lounge singer and aspiring daytime TV talk show host - has been charming his way into the hearts of music fans since the release of his debut album The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele on Animal Collective's Paw Tracks label in 2009. The Mississippi-born, Los Angeles-based songwriter, performer, and Dolly Parton enthusiast has since released two more acclaimed records, Do Things (2012) and Warm Blanket (2013), dropped the holiday smash I'll Be Stoned For Christmas', and played hundreds of shows from Shanghai to Chicago. His latest album, Across the Multiverse, is an interstellar voyage of mythic proportions.

Les Shadoks (50th Anniversary Edition) - Collector's VINYL Edition (LP + 7"): High glossy gatefold sleeve, French + English liner notes / poster inlay with Shadok drawing by Robert Cohen-Solal, hype sticker

- Les Shadoks soundtrack by Robert Cohen-Solal available for the first time ever in its entirety, cut and mastered from the original reels, made in cooperation with the artist.
- For fans of musique concrète, electro-acoustic, psychedelic, early electronics, experimental, soundtrack, library, oddities, cartoons, 60s and 70s music, Prospective 21ème Siècle series, Bernard Parmegiani, Jean-Jacques Perrey, Luc Ferrari, Pierre Schaeffer, Pierre Henry, Bruno Spoerri, Groupe de recherches musicales (GRM).

WRWTFWW Records is delighted to announce the release of the complete soundtrack of cult French animated TV series Les Shadoks (1968-1974) by Robert Cohen-Solal, available for the first time ever in its entirety. Right in time to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jacques Rouxel and René Borg's legendary television cartoon, this collector's item comes in two versions: a limited edition 12" + 7" vinyl album housed in a high glossy gatefold and with an exclusive Shadok drawing by Robert Cohen-Solal, and a digipack CD. Both versions are cut and mastered from the original reels under the supervision of the artist, and contain liner notes in French and English.

Electro-acoustic pioneer and eminent member of the illustrious GRM (Groupe de recherches musicales, the French equivalent of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop), Robert Cohen-Solal has explored music and sound alongside luminaries such as Bernard Parmegiani, Pierre Henry, Luc Ferrari, and Iannis Xenakis, and is responsible for numerous projects in the field of applied music, soundtracks (documentaries, shorts etc.), and experimental recordings. His work on Les Shadoks is simply extraordinary - a fascinating and bizarre collage of wacky electro pop (à la Jean-Jacques Perrey), drones, musique concrète, classical, and dadaist sound experiments seamlessly mixing into a cohesive and cinematic listening experience. The ideal soundtrack for what will remain one of the weirdest animated TV series ever created!

A true literary, cultural and philosophical phenomenon in France, Les Shadoks caused a sensation while airing between 1968 and 1974. Its unique combination of Alfred Jarry-style surrealism, off-centered British humor, and US comic strip inspiration, all brought to life by illustrated bird-like creatures (reminiscent of Paul Klee's La machine à gazouiller), left a lasting mark, making the term Shadok an often-used satirical expression to describe policies and attitudes considered to be absurd.

Releasing an album into the world is a special moment for any artist but when you're an artist who grew up in remote northern Ghana with no schooling, spending a life herding cows and goats, building your own instruments and teaching yourself to sing, then there's a particular sense of occasion and celebration in finding recognition and an audience for that music.

This is the case for Guy One, an utterly unique artist who is writing and performing Frafra music, a style that originates from a small area in the north of Ghana. Whilst Guy One is already loved and adored locally by now - building up a fervent following in local villages in which no funeral or wedding would take place without his soaring voice and deeply rhythmic playing, before then transforming into an award-winning, TV appearing artist in Ghana - his music is now to find a much wider audience through Max Weissenfeldt's Philophon label (Jimi Tenor, Hailu Mergia, Alemayehu Eshete) on this Berlin meets Bolgatanga release.

Guy One's international debut #1 is an album rooted in tradition as much as it is the contemporary ("Frafra music Made in Germany" says drummer producer Max Weissenfeldt if he's forced to put a label on it) but given the fact that the traditionalism of Frafra music itself is a largely unknown force, the results are more even more potent and stirring in their creations. Choirs, trumpet, organ, bass, drums, synthesiser, vibraphone, saxophone and piano, the album is as bursting with instrumentation as it is ideas and innovation.

The album's perfect positioning between the old and the new and in taking that middle ground and launching it into completely new territory is enough to completely unglue the definitions of what music can be.

'Afro Rock Vol. 1' is one of the most important compilations of heavy original '70s Afro funk and soul to be released in recent years. Originally surfacing on Duncan Brooker's indie Kona label in early 2001, the album single-handedly kick-started the thirst among jazz, funk and soul fans and 'diggers' to rediscover lost music from Africa made during the '60s and '70s from a time when many countries were gaining independence and celebrating a Pan-African identity within their music. The album was one of the first to reach a far different audience to the traditional 'world music' market and spawned many further projects and labels in its wake. A year later, the 'Nigeria 70' compilation surfaced on Strut and labels like Soundway and Analog Africa would continue to unearth amazing lost gems from the Motherland.The album is testament to the determined work of Brooker following several research trips, especially to East Africa - Kenya and Zaire. It brought to light East Africa's finest funk band, Air Fiesta Matata, led by the recently deceased Steele Beautttah, 'The Nigerian James Brown' Geraldo Pino from Port Harcourt in Nigeria, and the storming Afro jam 'Yuda' by Dackin Dackino, a previously unreleased gem from Zaire discovered on a discarded reel. The album has remained influential since its release with tracks appearing on other Afro compilations and on TV and the big screen - Jingo's 'Fever' featured in Kevin McDonald's 2006 hit film, 'Last King Of Scotland'.Out of print since 2015, the album is being reissued on Strut in its original form with the extra dynamite unreleased psychedelic cut by Kenya's Ishmael Jingo, 'Keep On Holding On' taken from the original master tape. The package features the original sleeve notes by Duncan Brooker along with new additional notes providing further background to the album and tracks.

Vinyl only label based in Ukraine. Translated from Ukrainian Tvir means "composition". Owners Vyacheslav & Iuliia Gura. Mastering by Rob Small. Distributed by Memoria.

The album is the fourth LP from FM Belfast. Broadcasting from their home on a remote island you can sense that the tracks are personal. The album has 11 tracks, 11 intimate stories to dance to. It's like you've been invited to a Cabin Fever Dance Party in their living room. The lyrics are about bliss, euphoria, trying to be a human in this strange world, friendship, of loss and growing up.
ALL MY POWER The first song of the album deals with guilt. When you're surrounded with people who wake up early and do everything they are supposed to do but you can't get out of your own bed. This will make you feel guilty. The others don't need to rub it in since you already have bad feelings about yourself. There are two characters in the song. One is a blamer while the other one is being blamed. FOLLOW ME I'm not longer blind, you can follow me". The song is about a person who is no longer blind to the world around her. It's about taking responsibility for your choices. We are not just a group of individuals, we are citizens of this planet and we can't stand idly by when powerful people are destroying it in front of our own eyes. We have ways to connect and we can band together against the hatred and violence. The rich and the greedy are taking everything and ruining it for the rest of us. Being kind is not the same as being naive, it's a choice everyone can make.

ENJOY
Enjoy life while it last. Don't watch the world go by without having a good time. "Here's to feeling alive, everywhere, all of the time".

UP ALL NIGHT
Sometimes you just postpone everything you're supposed to be doing and run away from your problems. The night is the best time for procrastination, you can hide in the dark and nobody can see you waste your life.

AGENT
Like many songs on the album, this one is about holding your head above water in this strange world we live in. It's easy to get blindsided and lost but who's going to speak up for the weak if you don't do it.

YOU'RE SO PRETTY
The lyrics for You're so Pretty originally come from a short story written by Lóa. They are about getting old without maturing. The song is about being restless and broke. Sometimes you feel like there is nothing left to do but shout.

STREAMERS
Streamers is a quiet love-story about having found the person you want to sit next to for the rest of your life and watch crappy TV together. Lyrics are by Árni and Lóa.

LEAVE A MARK
Even if things are not great today, there is always tomorrow. Leave a Mark is a personal reminder to do something about the life you are given and not waste time. It doesn't have to be important, it could just be writing your name on a wall. I little bit of "I was here" for the people who come after you.

FEARLESS YOUTH
It's a nostalgic song about being a fearless adolescent and the friends you used to have. The lyrics are written by Örvar who's also a founding member of MúM.

STROBE
The Strobe is an atmospheric track. It's made for people who want to dance in a euphoric bliss. The lyrics are like a mantra: It's getting dark so turn on the strobe. Don't think, just get lost in the dance.

THE GAME
The Game tells you to resist the power of bad people and bad governments. There's a big game being played and you don't need to participate, you can resist. The power hungry people of this world will never be satisfied but you don't have to support them.

The latest release from Bjarki Runar's bbbbbb label sees Bjarki delving back into his vast archives and shines a light on a bizarre detour during the early days of the label that involved
a peculiar commission from the Icelandic state. Bjarki introduces the story; 'It was back in 2015 and we were only just putting together the original plans towards making bbbbbb a label. While this was happening, I got a call from a friend who was
working for a local tech start-up and marketing company. They'd been contacted by the Icelandic Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture who came to them with a weird proposition.
They were looking at the idea of marketing Icelandic lamb as this user-exclusive commodity for high end restaurants, the same way they do with Kobe beef in Japan. His marketing company was going all in with this idea of creating an elite herd of sheep that would get the 5-star treatment - fresh food and beer, shampoo and geothermal baths for their fleece, and entertainment such as TV and music for when they were in the hills. That's where I came in'. The initial meeting between Bjarki and the marketeers however didn't go as smoothly as they hoped; 'When I met my friend and his team, they were going to have music pumped through a series of remote speakers across the hillside' Bjarki explains. 'But when they showed me what they were going to play to them, I almost fell of my chair laughing! It was all this
cheesy, easy listening, orchestral Icelandic bullshit. I said to them 'This is nonsense! Why are you bringing me into this project if that's all you're going to be playing' In the end, I told
them I would completely redo all the sounds and music they were going to be using. I was going to drag the Icelandic sheep into the 21st Century'. Bjarki was as good as his word. Over the summer of 2015, he spent several weeks at farm
locations near Kirkjubæjarklaustur and Reykholtsdalur, walking the hills and playing a variety of sounds and beats to various flocks of sheep to see what the best approach was. It
was tough going at first; 'At the beginning, I was working totally blind', Bjarki explains. 'Imean how can you possibly know what sort of modern music and sounds Icelandic sheep
would go for' But Bjarki persevered and he found certain sounds and tones made the sheep more active and engaged.
From this point, he began to make tracks that would encapsulate what the lambs were drawn to the most. 'A track like Soda 'Sugarlicious' for example, came about when I started
playing Candy Crush on the hillside. As I kept playing, the sheep began to gather around me showing interest in the bright chintzy sounds coming from my laptop and that deep voice that
would keep speaking to you. I simply put together a track that was all shiny colours and heavy on the chimes. The sheep fucking loved it!' A track like 'Drab' meanwhile was suited
for less sunny moments. 'I got caught in a nasty rainstorm, so I started playing these synth lines I had made, along with an improvised kick drum. The mix of the softness of the tones
along with the hit of the bass cased the sheep to follow me all the way back to the farm I was staying at. The farmer wasn't too impressed with that, but the flock was completely
hypnotized'. In the end Bjarki, amassed several tracks ranging from soft ambient to gnarly hardcore bangers to present to the Ministry. But in the end, they decided not to go with the whole
proposal. 'These people were fools', Bjarki says. 'They just couldn't get their heads around doing something completely different, that was a bit of fun yes, but was completely done in a
serious manner. We all spent weeks doing this stuff so yeah, it was a bit gutting'. In the end though, there is a silver lining to this story as these efforts were not wasted for we can now hear the best of Bjarki's efforts from this admittedly weird project on a limited 12'release that marks a storming 2017 for the bbbbbb label.

TVe Recordings returns with more experiments! Comes with a killer dOP Remix!

Remastered vinyl with colour innersleeve + download code card. Originally issued by Crammed in 1987, this is one of the most sought-after releases in their legendary 'Made to Measure' series. Known for his numerous albums, soundtracks, and collaborations with the likes of Ryuichi Sakamoto, Van Dyke Parks, Pierre Barouh, Bjork and Elvin Jones, composer and saxophonist Yasuaki Shimizu wrote and recorded this brilliant and inventive collection of short pieces, initially conceived for Japanese TV commercials (and bearing sweet titles such as "Seiko", "Sharp", "Honda" etc). This album has achieved near-mythical status in the last few years, which have seen artists such as Oneohtrix Point Never sing its praise.

Hot off the back of "On Top" that featured on our "Deep Love 2017" compilation, Lorenz Rhode returns to the label with his debut full length EP "Risa". A gifted musician, known for his fierce take on funk, performance prowess on German TV show "NEO Magazin Royale" and as part of Detroit Swindle's live outfit, he's sent us a three-tracker packed full of vibe and musicality.

Opening the A-side "And I Said" is an uplifting, funked-up house jam. Exuberant and alive it's built around a Rhodes riff with a romantic twist, swelling stabs and straight forward percussion direct from Lorenz' collection of Roland machines. The following "Risa" is loaded with energy. A gritty analogue snare and raw drums punch as central synth lines and rippling arps ramp up the intensity to bursting.

On the B1 the mysterious Amsterdam based K.98 returns with his second ever remix! After the huge success of the "Thrilogy" remix for WOLF Music in 2015, we are extremely happy to see Lorenz' original turned into a blasting 909 frenzy, 100% guaranteed dance floor action on this one!

Closing we have "Xpandau", a feel-good indie/disco gem reminiscent of Lindstrøm and Röyksopp. The central lead that sounds like something sampled from a dusty African guitar recording, actually came from a vintage Oberheim Lorenz recently fell in love with. Warbling key melodies dance over the top along with tuned percussion, maintaining the light hearted, tropical tinged tone to the end.

Transversales is a French label based in Paris founded by Sebastien Rosat & Jonathan Fitoussi.
Transversales is specialised in the reissues of long lost tapes, rare original soundtracks and library.
Jonathan Fitoussi is a French composer residing in Paris. He works on minimalist and contemporary musical forms. He's also audio restoration engineer at INA & INA GRM. Sebastien
Rosat is a French Music Supervisor working for Films, TV and Advertising. He's also a member of French electronic duo Sommet.
This first release is the original soundtrack of the film Rock, composed in 1982 by Bernard Parmegiani (1927-2013). A major figure of Electro Acoustic music and member of the historic GRM
(Groupe de Recherches Musicales) where he composed an important work of concert, among which is the masterpiece: De Natura Sonorum.
The work of Parmegiani, a virtuoso of the magnetic tape, is widely known to the public even without their knowledge, through the famous title he composed for the TV program Stade 2', for the French radio France Inter and also through the jingle adopted by Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris (1971 - 2005).
Bernard Parmegiani produced a large number of jingles, soundtracks and indicatives but ROCK stands apart in his repertoire. He recorded it without any outside constraints in his own studio. On listening to ROCK, one is reminded of John Carpenter or François de Roubaix: a work which mixes the sounds of the TR-808 drum-machine, Synthi AKS, Farfisa organ and Clavinet.
Limited Edition Remastered from the Original Master Tapes / Exclusive liner notes

2023 Repress

This the first time this title has been available on vinyl . At the risk of further labouring a rather obvious point, with Thank God for Mental Illness, their third collection of absolutely stunning music in 1996, the Brian Jonestown Massacre parallels the prolific and effortless brilliance of the Rolling Stones at their fevered late-1960s peak, the sheer scope of their achievements is stunning — rarely are bands quite so productive, or quite so consistently amazing. Thank God is the BJM's down-and-dirty country-blues outing, all 12-odd tracks supposedly recorded on a single July day at a cost of just $17.36 .The Brian Jonestown Massacre is a psychedelic rock band originally from San Francisco, California, led by guitarist/singer Anton Newcombe. Since 1995 The Brian Jonestown Massacre has released numerous albums, first for Bomp! Records, the label which gave them their start, and later for TVT and Tee Pee. BJM has been essential in the development of the modern U.S. garage scene, and many LA and SF musicians got their start playing with Newcombe, including Peter Hayes of The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.Originally Newcombe was heavily influenced by The Rolling Stones' psychedelic phase - the name comes from Stones guitarist Brian Jones combined with a reference to cult leader Jim Jones, but his work in the 2000s has expanded into aesthetic dimensions approximating the UK Shoegazing genre of the 1990s and incorporating influences from world music, especially Middle Eastern and Brazilian music.

Expansion's most successful and longest running compilation series returns with a 2017 edition. The concept remains the same, fifteen must-have modern soul room gems taken from the year's biggest dance floor spins on the soul scene. While tracks here have topped UK soul charts, many have not been available in all formats. Once again, attention is paid to the 'flow' of the 15 gems chosen here from shuffling beats to boogie to more soulful house as played at modern soul events. Participants this year include Omar with Los Charly's Orchestra, Tawatha Agree (voice of Mtume's Juicy Fruit') with Aeroplane, Kenny Thomas with Thames River Soul produced by and featuring Incognito, and both Wez and The Groove Association formerly members of Brit Funk group Second Image. Leela James is here after her stint in a US realty TV show R&B Divas: Los Angeles', other guests including Amp Fiddler, Faith Evans, Trina Broussard and Lifford.

Grammy-winning singing sensation Gregory Porter - one of the most successful jazz artists of his generation - is back with a new album, 'Nat King Cole & Me', to be released on Decca/Blue Note on 27th October. It is a deeply personal tribute to Nat King Cole - the legendary crooner who ignited Gregory's love of music. It's only natural that I go to the root of my inspiration and where I come from. And that root would be my mother and gospel music and Nat King Cole,' he says.

Recorded at London's AIR Studios, the 12-track album features some of Gregory's favourite Nat King Cole tunes including 'Smile', 'L-O-V-E' and 'Nature Boy'. There is also a Nat-inspired arrangement of Gregory's own song 'When Love Was King', originally released on his million-selling hit album, 'Liquid Spirit'.

For Gregory Porter, the influence of Nat King Cole on his life and music runs deep, a through-line that reaches back into some of his earliest childhood memories, and culminates in the release of his new album 'Nat King Cole & Me'. Gregory explains, At five or six years old, Nat's music filled a void in me. My father wasn't in my life and wasn't showing interest in me or raising me and Nat's words were the life lessons, words of wisdom and fatherly advice I needed.'

Gregory's love for Nat's music blossomed so much that he wrote a semi-autobiographical musical, also called 'Nat King Cole & Me', which premiered in 2004. After the play, I felt a lighter feeling about my father and a deeper appreciation for both my mother and the great music of Nat King Cole,' says Gregory. He also found his voice through his own songwriting - It wasn't until I wrote the musical that I was fit to call myself a songwriter. Before that, I would write different poems but they had no music.'

'Nat King Cole & Me' is the follow-up to his Grammy-winning albums 'Liquid Spirit' (2013) and 'Take Me to the Alley' (2016). 'Liquid Spirit' took Gregory from being the biggest name on the jazz scene to being one of the most sought-after singers around today, performing sell-out shows across the UK and being invited to perform on high profile TV programmes including The Graham Norton Show, Strictly Come Dancing and the BBC Music Awards. He has become an adopted national treasure in the UK, having sung for the Queen multiple times, as well as major music festivals including Glastonbury, where he performed on the Pyramid Stage alongside the likes of Muse, Adele and Coldplay. Gregory's ability to transcend genres even extends to his surprise dance hit 'Liquid Spirit Claptone Remix' which became one of the most popular tracks in Ibiza.

After winning over audiences with his rich and soulful voice, there can be no better time for Gregory to return to the music which first inspired him to become a singer. On Nat's legacy and influence Gregory affirms, He was one of a kind. He left such great music - such beautiful things to listen to that you can't help but be influenced by that extraordinary timbre, style, and ultimate cool.'

After a decade's absence, spent working in commercial sound design, New York based electronic musician and producer Joseph Fraioli returns to his Datach'i alias for a brand new album entitled 'System'. Featuring 16 tracks of beautiful yet unsettling electronic music recorded exclusively on a Eurorack Modular synth, 'System' will be released on August 19th via Venetian Snares' Timesig imprint. Speaking about the album Fraioli said, 'I've spent much of the past decade building up my own sound design company, Jafbox Sound, and in recent years have become fascinated by modular synths. I'd been making a series of performance videos, showing how they work and that inspired me to start making music as Datach'i again. I suddenly realized I had a growing collection of tracks that worked together and had something new to say. Aaron heard some of them and encouraged me to start thinking of them in terms of an album and here we are.' Venetian Snares says of the album 'Joseph's special take on live modular production has had me really excited this past year. There are so many great tracks, it was nearly impossible to compile this album. I'm tickled he agreed to release them with Timesig!' The first non-VSnares-related release on Timesig, 'System' will be available on double vinyl, CD and digital download. Those who pre-order the physical release via the Planet Mu website will also receive a bonus CD featuring 19 more tracks recorded around the same time as 'System'. In addition Timesig and Datach'i have partnered with TipTop Audio and everyone who pre-orders the album will also be entered into a draw to win a Z3000 Smart VCO oscillator and 'Happy Ending' kit, the perfect introduction to building your own modular system. Having released 6 albums between 1999 and 2006 on labels including Planet Mu and Sublight, Fraioli has spent the past ten years running award-winning sound design company, Jafbox Sound, where his productions for film, TV and adverts have been recognized by the likes of the Cannes Film Festival and the CLIO Awards. In 2014, Fraioli also joined forces with Interpol's Daniel Kessler, forming 'Big Noble.' Their freshman release entitled, 'First Light," combined Fraioli's approach to sound design with Kessler's guitar work to create cinematic, ambient soundscapes.

'Afro Rock Vol. 1' is one of the most important compilations of heavy original '70s Afro funk and soul to be released in recent years. Originally surfacing on Duncan Brooker's indie Kona label in early 2001, the album single-handedly kick-started the thirst among jazz, funk and soul fans and 'diggers' to rediscover lost music from Africa made during the '60s and '70s from a time when many countries were gaining independence and celebrating a Pan-African identity within their music. The album was one of the frst to reach a far different audience to the traditional 'world music' market and spawned many further projects and labels in its wake. A year later, the 'Nigeria 70' compilation surfaced on Strut and labels like Soundway and Analog Africa would continue to unearth amazing lost gems from the Motherland. The album is testament to the determined work of Brooker following several research trips, especially to East Africa - Kenya and Zaire. It brought to light East Africa's fnest funk band, Air Fiesta Matata, led by the recently deceased Steele Beautttah, 'The Nigerian James Brown' Geraldo Pino from Port Harcourt in Nigeria, and the storming Afro jam 'Yuda' by Dackin Dackino, a previously unreleased gem from Zaire discovered on a discarded reel. The album has remained infuential since its release with tracks appearing on other Afro compilations and on TV and the big screen - Jingo's 'Fever' featured in Kevin McDonald's 2006 hit flm, 'Last King Of Scotland'.Out of print since 2015, the album is being reissued on Strut in its original form with the extra dynamite unreleased psychedelic cut by Kenya's Ishmael Jingo, 'Keep On Holding On' taken from the original master tape. The package features the original sleeve notes by Duncan Brooker along with new additional notes providing further background to the album and tracks.

22 track double gatefold vinyl version of the album (CD) which was released July 7th. Collaborators include Beyonce, Jay Z, Nas,Travis Scott, Alicia Keys, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Bryson Tiller, Rick Ross, Big Sean, Calvin Harris, Justin Bieber, Quavo, Lil Wayne, Chance the Rapper & more. Support across radio, TV & press. Online & social media activity.

Casino Shanghai was a 'techno-pop' band started in the mid-80s in Mexico City. They released their debut and only album 'Film' in December of 1985. An album considered today as cult status.
Casino Shanghai were part of a great cultural change in Mexico and its music scene. The band made various controversial appearances on TV when a band without a drummer or guitarist was unheard of. All members had been in different notorious bands in the local scene. Ulalume was the lead singer of The Casuals (Punk-New Wave) and DenseUndergrowth (Avant-garde). Carlos Robledo and Walter Schmidt were part of Size (Post-punk) and have been playing together for many years in Decibel (Experimental). Humberto Alvarez played with MCC (Prog Rock) and is currently a well-known musician and multi-instrumentist.Before the band split-up they recorded two last songs in 1986, 'Le Tombeau d' Edgar Poe' and 'L'Action Minimal', as part of an unreleased solo EP for Ulalume. These tracks were edited in 2014 on 12 by Mannequin Records together with a remix by In Aeternam Vale.The music of Casino Shanghai was also used for the soundtrack of some Mexican films. 'Crónicas de Familia' directed by Diego López and nominated for the Ariel Award for best original soundtrack in 1986, and 'Juana La Cantinera' directed by José Loza.'Film' has been restored and remastered for this new edition including all original tracks plus two bonus: 'Le Tombeau d' Edgar Poe (Haunted Version)' and 'Cuerpos Huecos' (Spanish version of 'Hollow Bodies' available only on a promotional 7). Limited to 350 copies on white vinyl with a new artwork and printed inner sleeve with photos and song lyrics.

Andras establishes a new home for his out-house productions with Punp Records. While House of Dad laboured in detail, 'Sanity' targets club play - speeding tempos laced with the larrikinism of Boiler Room, Australian reality TV and shark siren cut ups. 'Vinyl Only' takes a swipe at the 100% mentality with a stereo bassline threatening to derail the stylus, further sidetracked by being digitally available a week before the 12'. On the P-side, '40k' pulls swimmers from the Bondi rip while 'Sanitiser's simplicity cleanses the grease from Andras' former plumbing exploits.
Words by Michael Kucyk (Noise in My Head)

Philippe Hallais returns to Modern Love with a new album, the first under his own name following his label debut as Low Jack with Lighthouse Stories in early 2016.
It's by some distance his most important work to date, setting aside the squashed dancefloor productions of his Low Jack Alias for an album of emotive, indefinable ambient pieces.
After working through different subcultural musical languages as Low Jack, this time Philippe takes inspiration from the TV biopics of high-performance athletes for an album of exceptional
emotive impact; somewhere between pastiche, tragedy and electronic futurism.
Fascinated by the sports documentaries mass-produced by the US TV channel ESPN, Hallais transcribed and amplified its dramatic recipes. These form the material of tearful soap operas
which develop the same narrative ad nauseam; the rise to the top, the betrayal, decline, salvation, comeback and, ultimately, nostalgia and regret. The TV formatting reduces the life of these high level athletes to a generic tale, transforming them into impersonators of their own lives through extreme use of editing, slow motion and musical themes.
Divided into four sides (and eleven tracks) acting as parts in a greek tragedy, the album delves into the dislocations of the mythology of sports and its achievement in mass entertainment; whereby the hero becomes a dispensable and mimetic body. Hallais delves into this unusual portrayal of triviality and disaster, naivety and cynicism that make the real life and ordeals of the hero indistinguishable from their scripted form on TV.
This obsession with storytelling and the creation of bigger than life characters forms the narrative of 'An American Hero', a parable for our times.

Blondie return with 11th studio album Pollinator lighting up 2017 with an incredible new record befitting one of the world's greatest bands. Produced live in the studio by John Congleton (St. Vincent, John Grant, War On Drugs, David Byrne). The last album recorded at New York's legendary Magic Shop studios before their closure. Blondie's classic writing duo of Chris Stein and Debbie Harry are at the heart of the creation with an impressive list of song writers on the project including Johnny Marr, TV On the Radio's Dave Sitek, Dev Hynes (Blood Orange, Lightspeed Champion) Adam Johnson aka An Unkindess, Sia and Charli XCX. Studio appearances from Joan Jett, Laurie Anderson and The Gregory Brothers.

Tvir is a vinyl only label based in Ukraine. Translated from Ukrainian Tvir means composition. Strong limited!

Camisole Records celebrates its 10th release with the reissue of «Electronic», first Benoit Hutin's LP.This promo album only send to radio and TV in 1980 is now regarded as one of the best Cosmic Library LP of this period.From the disco tinged of Test and Spot to the ambient and kosmische landscapes of Spectre or Synchronisme you can easily see why:The 5 original tracks are completed by 4 edits made by italo australian master Hysteric, Britanny edit wizard Shelter and Camisole boss Atton.

Fabio Borgazzi - aka Fabio Fabor - played literally every known style of music, from baroque to 'satanic' electronic, in his library music albums released during his career which lasted almost seven decades. Born in Milan in 1920, Fabor was one of the great artisans of post-war Italian popular music. Author, arranger and conductor with a classical background, he started writing songs (in the 1950's and 1960's) for popstars such as Nilla Pizzi, Johnny Dorelli and Milva; he then turned to music for theatre, cinema and tv, to which he dedicated the rest of his career. In 1981, when he released 'Galassia M81, Fabor was a veteran in the scene of library music, both as an author and an editor. It was the so-called golden age for the genre, just a moment before the advent of MIDI - which made everything easier, but flatter too, putting an end to the 'Italian Touch". The tracks featured here (credited to the fictional combo The Astral Dimension: Fabor together with his friend Antonio Arena) still have a definite Seventies taste, reminding the wave of German kosmische musik (especially the Darmstad school), but they also reflect the Moog-mania raging in pop music after the big success of Walter/Wendy Carlos with the 'Switched On' series. Avant-garde and kitsch hand in hand, ambient for documentaries and background music for horoscopes... all in sequence, with the only purpose of being used and generating royalties.

(180 gr) Talamanca System are the unlikely trio of Gerd Janson, Phillip Lauer of Tuff City Kids and Mark Barrott. Their sole release in late 2014 became one of the best selling on the International Feel imprint. My Past Is Your Future brings them back together for a trio of magical productions that cumulate the power of their production skills and winks at a forthcoming album coming on the imprint this summer.

Talamanca System are the unlikely trio of Gerd Janson, Phillip Lauer of Tuff City Kids and Mark Barrott. Their sole release in late 2014 became one of the best selling on the International Feel imprint. My Past Is Your Future brings them back together for a trio of magical productions that cumulate the power of their production skills and winks at a forthcoming album coming on the imprint this summer.

Talamanca System's debut set them alight across the dance music press and the follow up catapults their distinctive take on modern dance music back into the current consciousness. The EP delivers a nirvanic state, with My Past Is Your Future's use of delicate chords, cascading keys and effortless groove. This is a divine record, paired with a Beatless Stars Is Space mix that strips it back to its core and the Chukka Chukka Dance mix squares up to the dancefloor with an end of night classic.

Best known for his burgeoning Running Back imprint, Gerd Janson is a DJ's DJ, a connoisseur of dance music with an inimitable style that cross genres. His production partner Phillip Lauer forms part of Tuff City Kids and Black Spuma, who have also released on International Feel, with a style that fuses the rhythms of house music with bold melodies to form structured songs. The result is music that can sit comfortably in many worlds.

Mark Barrott started out in the mid 90's as Future Loop Foundation and since has composed music for numerous films & TV shows and founded one of the world's leading music consultancies. His highly-respected International Feel label has featured albums from the likes of DJ Harvey and Jose Padilla, with a huge portion of the releases dedicated to Barrott's own anonymous pseudonyms. Barrott's Sketches from an Island project has gained support from Pitchfork, the Fader, the Guardian and even the Financial Times for its bold and quirky take on Balearic music.

The three of them form an exhilarating partnership in Talamanca System and this EP gives a snapshot into their forthcoming album due to be released on International Feel in May 2017.

Espen Beranek Holm is a Norwegian musician and comedian, born 1960 and began his music career as a clarinetist. Inspired by early synthesizer bands Kraftwerk and The Residents, he began making experimental pop music. His debut single Dra te' hælvete' was released in 1981 and was immediately banned by national TV/radio channel NRK due to explicit lyrics. This gave the young artist tons of publicity, helping the single spend almost 6 months on the national charts.

Beranek returned to the Starholm Studios in Oslo from June - September 1981 to record nine new compositions. His debut album, Sound of Danger', was released on Mind Expanding Records in November 1981. Nowhere near as accessible as the previous single, the album fared poorly commercially. Withdrawing from the single's fun, kitsch pop, the album is cool and static, driven by thin rhythm boxes, cold synths, and glacial guitars. Taking heavy cues from David Bowie, all of the songs are sung in a nasally English accent, a rare occurrence in Norway at the time. The lyrics are melancholic, but tinged with paranoia. There are also upbeat tracks that evoke a prog or glam sensibility a la King Crimson, Alan Parsons, or Roxy Music.

All songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. Housed in the original jacket featuring red, black, and white lines that evoke a visualized Richter Scale designed by Monica Moltzau. Each copy includes a 2-sided 8x11' insert with lyrics and an autographed press photo of Beranek.

Muyei Power or Orchestre Muyei (muyei means 'our country') was one of the top dance bands of the1970s in Sierra Leone. Soundway Records' first collection of music from this West African country ('Muyei Power: Sierra Leone in 1970s USA') is an album of rock-infused, 'afro' music from a group that traveled the world throughout the mid 1970s. Fusing elements of electric Congolese and Nigerian music with fast, syncopated, uptempo modernised arrangements of traditional music, Muyei Power produced a series of unique single-only releases that have been unavailable for 35 years. The rare recordings featured here are a glimpse of a dynamic and powerful band at the very height of its powers.

Even though lyrically Orchestre Muyei focused on traditional themes and songs, the arrangements and formulation of the instrumental side of things still very much reflected the mixed nature of urban Sierra Leone music, exemplified by a small collection of bands that also included Afro National, Sabanoh 75 and Super Combo.



For the early part of 1970s the band toured extensively throughout Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire before making a handful of 45s in local TV and radio studios. The recordings featured here however come from a period of touring the college circuit in California during late 1975 and early 1976. Later that year, as they played the colleges of the east coast, they gave the tracks to the owner of the African Record Centre in Brooklyn, New York. He initially released two of them on his in-house Makossa Records label as 7-inch 45rpm singles in 1976. The tracks from 1975/6 were then not heard of again until 1979/80 when the African Record Centre released many of them on a series of Makossa Records 12's that sounded far superior than the records that had been released a few years earlier.


Orchestre Muyei Power finally split up in 1979 leaving no proper album releases and only a handful of recordings for us to enjoy all these years later.

COMPILED BY PETE PASQUAL, ERICA OLSON & DJ KINETIC

Following on from acclaimed compilations like 'Down Under Nuggets' and 'Heavy Soul' (and two other new titles 'Running The Voodoo Down' and 'Dodgy Bossa (& Silly Sambas)' - details below), Festival Records presents another deep dig into the archives, this time shining a light on rare Australian soul-jazz, jazz-funk, and freaked-out groove rock from the late '60s and '70s.

BACK ON THE STREET AGAIN - AUSTRALIAN FUNK, SOUL & PSYCH (MOSTLY) FROM THE FESTIVAL VAULTS is a stunning 20 track CD and 2LP release that highlights a point when the previously disparate styles of rock, jazz and soul all started influencing each other, and exciting new genres were created. To quote the liner notes (by DJ Kinetic):

Australia produced some amazing music during the 60s and 70s that sat outside of the normal rock mould. Avant guard artists like John Sangster pushed boundaries and experimented with the fusion of local and overseas influences, artists like Dalvanius recorded soaring disco music that was lost amongst the popular music of the time, only to be rediscovered by DJs overseas who were searching for unknown sounds, composers like Brute Force and His Drum took risks and recorded left-field funky sounds hidden within their more mainstream compositions, and popular artists like Billy Thorpe occasionally strayed from their A&R directions and took leaves from the books of American artists who were largely unknown in Australia at the time. Beneath the veneer of bland rock and roll lay an unknown multitude of funky sounds hidden from mainstream view.

In addition to the artists that Kinetic mentions (and the compilation features two John Sangster tracks - stunning versions of 'Hair' and the Beatles' 'A Day In The Life'), the collection includes iconic names of the era like the Daly-Wilson Big Band (featuring Kerrie Biddell), Renee Geyer and the Johnny Rocco Band. '60s sides from Ross D Wyllie and The ID (featuring Jeff St John) reveal the various styles' roots in American rhythm & blues, and the unexpected inclusion of some legendary Australian rock outfits like Tamam Shud and Blackfeather reveals the psychedelic and progressive rock influences at play. The full range of the music is highlighted by the inclusion of both cabaret/daytime TV performer Al Styne and outrageous Kings Cross club act Count Copernicus & The Cosmic Fire as well as the in-house studio 'pops' orchestra, Festival Studio 24 Orchestra.

Co-compilers Pete Pasqual, Erica Olson and DJ Kentic to undertake interviews with specialist media around release. Facebook ad's around release.

Ekambi Brillant was born in the village of Dibombari in Cameroon in 1948. In 1962 he attended school in Yaounde and learned his musical craft. In 1971 he heads off to the big city lights of Douala. Here he finds himself in a French TV, music competition hosted at "Le Domino" nightclub. It is here where he brushes shoulders with other Cameroonian music legends such Manu Dibango and Francis Bebey.

The music contest win gives him the break he needs and in 1972 and with the support of fellow troubadour JK Mandengue he finds himself with a record deal with Phonogram and his first hits in France.

Its in 1975 where we pick up this merry tale. Because it is in 1975 when things start to get a bit funky. Which is just how we like it here at Africa Seven. In partnership with French producer, guitarist and all around hero, Slim Pezin he creates the "Africa Oumba" album. He goes on in the two subsequent years to record the Soul Castle and Djambo's Djambo's albums also with Slim.

Our compilation focuses on the funkier end of Ekambi's music drawn mainly from the 1975 to 1978 period. Things open up with our theme tune "Africa Africa" (of course). It's tribal twisted psych funk is the perfect start to any album. We then move to "Aboki" possibly Ekambi's finest dance floor filler. Next it's the choppy disco strings and slap bass of "Nyambe" and the swirling African swing of "N'Kondo" and the pulsing chop-funk "Ekila".

The flip side starts off with "Soul Castle" an ordinary day tale for our hero. "Massoma" and its funk boogie get things bopping next up before "Machine Ma Bwindea" gives us some punchy brass and low slung funk grooves. "Mother Africa" shows us the songwriting power of Ekambi while also managing to have one of the funkiest flange basslines we have heard in a good while. Things close off with swing-time of "Lambo Lena".

Ekambi Brillant would go on to become one of the big name legends of Cameroonian music with nearly 20 albums to his name. He has contributed to the emergence of several Cameroonian artists such as Marthe Zambo, Valery Lobe, Aladji Toure and Africans. He now spends his time in Cameroon and Washington DC. Ekambi, we salute you sir.

Remember how badly we wanted to join them and be part of those sea-faring adventures: Jack London’s The Sea-Wolf, classic TV shows based on his novel The Road, on Radu Toduran’s novels... back then, a couple decades ago, the titles of these shows alone were enough to trigger some strong gusts in our hearts, salty squalls perfect for imaginary downwind journeys we dreamed of with billowing sails. We wanted to cruise alongside albatrosses, seagulls, and fellow sailors. Floating high above a three-masted vessel, we watched our own adventures unfold far below, an imagined movie scene complete with a whole crew that worked the rigging, and all the rest. Cutting waves. Amidst the storm and stress of sounds hitting our eardrums far out in the ocean. Combined with the sounds of rotors, of tropics crossed, of marimbas and cabin wood pounded, of strange music spotted in the distance. And even though it was merely for an hour or two that we were rescued by that seal-hunting ship “Ghost,” as Jack London had it, plus, even worse, often found ourselves surrounded by villains: it was a great escape, for we’d successfully set sails – to new and exciting places.

Both around their own Weilheim shores and elsewhere, brothers Markus and Micha Acher have launched various musical vessels, bands and free-floating constellations over the past three decades – and yet: amid all these other speedboats and unlikely sonic barges, The Notwist has always remained the mother ship. This new album documents the latest live incarnation of this very band, which also features Andi Haberl, Max Punktezahl, Karl Ivar Refseth, and Cico Beck. Recorded on December 16, 2015 on the second of three consecutive, sold-out nights at UT Connewitz in Leipzig, Germany, "Superheroes, Ghost-Villains & Stuff" indeed feels like a first-hand live experience caught on triple vinyl. That’s why it’s the definitive album of The Notwist’s career.

Although there is one song that points to the early, “louder years” of The Notwist – “One Dark Love Poem” off the album Nook –, the rest of the night’s set sees the band perform all the major hits off Neon Golden, The Devil, You + Me, and Close To The Glass. However, these are different, organically enhanced versions, new interpretations and combinations that feel much more alive; thanks to Olaf Opal’s incredible mix, they sometimes even outshine the original studio recordings. Listening to "Superheroes, Ghost-Villains & Stuff" feels like watching these songs evolve and change, moving from one frame to the next, much like a baroque triptych.

What starts out like ‘wimmelbook’ imagery, the music soon folds and unfolds like a Moebius strip: Sans bottom or top, sans inside or outside, the inside becomes the outside and vice versa. It’s all about sonic interconnection, about music as entanglement, music as reconciliation. The rather majestic, cinematic (indie) pop and experimental, kraut- infused jazz, the spirit of the enlightenment and baroque playfulness, the traces of modernism and minimal music, dub leanings, hip-hop lessons, and even hints of house music: here is where they all come together, reconciled in a sound that’s both melancholy and romantic. And ultimately, the spirit of these songs is set free – and the band has released itself, is free at last.

As for the album title, it’s lifted from the song “Kong,” and encapsulates Markus Acher’s motto. Throughout the track, the water theme first appears as a dangerous threat: a force that’s strong enough to wash away an entire house; and yet the fluid state keeps transforming and eventually releases that sense of threat into something rather hopeful, a new musical beginning, a melodic departure that ultimately leads to euphoria and a renewed spirit of adventure. These are the strong gusts mentioned above, it’s the spirit of discovery, the urge to set sail together. The crew’s back at it, working the instruments, the rigging, with sails a- billow, launching the next voyage of discovery, assuming the East in the West and vice versa. And thus the adventure saga continues.

Pico Be (Das Weiße Pferd)