Hip-Hop News

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.

Local Talk is back again with a fantastic album from Soulphiction who gets deep, down and dirty with this bumping selection of timeless house tracks across 3 pieces of beautifully packaged vinyl...

Dusty grooves and soulful emotion form the foundation of this release, which also takes influence from Jazz, Hip Hop and Afrobeat.

Soulphiction aka Michel Baumann is one of Germany's most respected artists who is also known under the equally successful and iconic alias Jackmate.
This is the third time Soulphiction has featured on Local Talk including his recent single "Beehive". Other labels to have featured Soulphiction tracks and remixes include Lumberjacks in Hell, Rebirth, Pampa and Philpot Records.

A master of both mood and texture, this release showcases the studio wizardry of a true sound-smith.
Chunky percussion with shuffling rhythms form the backbone of the grooves, which are fleshed out with intricate melodies and funky basslines that move mind, body and soul.

Like the tracklist of a J Dilla mixtape, this album flows with a purposeful care combined with a storytelling blend of emotions rarely heard in a house music long player.

Executed to perfect precision, this album is an instant classic and a must-have for home listening along with a club setting.

After a short break since 2007, Proyecto Secreto is back (Bruce Lee not yet). A few smashing performances later, culminating in a comeback at the last Ghent Festivities with Lien De Greef and Paolo Marquez as guests, there is now a new release with skalosal songs that include Dave Hillyard and Vic Ruggiero from The Slackers. The album was mixed by Latin Grammy Award winning engineer en dub master Victor Rice.
The Belgium newspaper De Standaard wrote at the time: "Colorful Proyecto Secreto is a promising addition to the Belgian summer festivals. Ska with cumbia or latin swing with mambo, this tight and groovy Belgian orchestra is not afraid to make daring musical combitinations."

Proyecto Secreto still plays a mix of ska, reggae and tropical rock that catapulted them to the best stages in Belgium and Europe. The previous record, Bruce Lee is Back, from 2003 has since become a "standard" in the ska world. After the many requests from skafanatics, who had to wait 12 years, the Proyectos are fully charged and there is finally the long-awaited come back.

In the early 2000s, they played at just about all ska and world festivals and clubs in Belgium and went on tour in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. The first tour in Spain in the summer of 2000 ends with the recording for the Brixton Label and a follow-up tour in the Basque Country in August 2001. In April 2003 their full album 'Bruce Lee is back' is released on the Brixton label and several songs ended up on collectors. During the subsequent tour in Spain and Italy, they shared the stage with Bad Manners and Alton Ellis at the Ska Explosion Festival (Tarrega).

Afro futurist sensations Onipa unleash their debut album, combining Afro grooves, electronics and fierce energy for an effervescent celebration of cultural and musical encounters.ONIPA means ‘human’ in Akan, the ancient language of the Ashanti people of Ghana. It’s a message of connection through collaboration: from Ghana to London, our ancestors to our children, Onipa brings energy, groove, electronics, Afro-futurism, dance and fire! Born out of deep collaboration between long-time friends K.O.G (Kweku of Ghana of KOG and the Zongo Brigade) and Tom Excell (MD, guitarist and writer of acclaimed jazz/ soul afrobeat pioneers Nubiyan Twist), the group features KOG on vocals, balafon and percussion, Tom Excell on guitar, percussion and electronics, Dwayne Kilvington (Wonky Logic) on synths and MPC and Finn Booth (Nubiyan Twist) on drums.

The group have worked closely with Ghanaian star Wiyaala who features on three tracks, singing in the Sisaala language from the North of Ghana. The album also features collaborations with South African rapper Spoek Mathambo, Lesotho star Morena Leraba, Ghanaian percussion master Afla Sackey and Tanzanian sisters Pendo & Leah Zawose, each adding their own flavour to the project. “Through the musical prisms of London and Ghana our influences join together to create, a fundamental thread of traditional African rhythms, instrumentation and storytelling, interwoven with electronics, urban soundscapes and synth bass. We use technology, but it should never use us, our music is live and about deep human connection.” (Onipa)

Bayetë’s Native Dance 01 starts off an willfully mysterious edits series, with four off-the-wall tunes, flitting between low-slung street soul, 90’s digi-afro and zouk, with notable appearances by venezuelan digger-extraordinaire Trujillo and russian wizard Beard in Dust.

Trying to build cultural bridges across the world, powering connection between dancefloor activists, Hard Fist thinks Princes Of Abzu not only as a compilation but as a tool to give space for expression to local legends like Kaan Duzarat in Istanbul or to upcoming artist such as Linja or Feller who are doing here their debut on wax. A tool to promote another vision of dance music, obviously produced to dance, but also to think, to raise curiosity, to keep a daring spirit and an open mind.

Gafacci is well known for notable artist collaborations, eclectic edits and his Asokpor productions. On this new four track EP, he steps out of familiar soundscapes, driven by his steady desire to ex-plore a more melodic side of his own production style. This led him to experimenting with the ,Lo-Fi' and infuse it with afrobeats as well as diverse tropical sounds.
Over the past three years, the Accra based producer, DJ and songwriter Gafacci had been circulating around the term ,Low Fidelity' and he dedicates this album to all those across the globe who can relate and support the music.
The Title ,TASH BNM', meaning ,Tash bought new music' is inspired by the notifications of a music connoisseur's weekly purchases on bandcamp.

Noteworthy are also the featured artists, from multi instrumentalist Nii Quaye to Chefbanku, singer Amaarae, Ghana Music's OG Kyekyeku and rappers Tinuke & Lazee, each guest complements to this timeless piece of music in their own unique way.

The late 1980s in the rainbow nation was a time when disco was mutating into what was becoming known as Bubblegum: pop music aimed at the black population of South Africa.

Bubblegum was a response to Western styles like disco and the fast spreading house music which originally came from the black ghettos of Chicago and New York. When the second Summer of Love took over the UK in 1988, first house, and other electronic music styles conquered South Africa as well. DIY - do it yourself - a motto that had already appeared in the punk movement, lifted the young local scene to the next level. With a minimal set up - keyboards, some drum machines and samplers it was suddenly possible to make music without having to rent expensive studios.

Berlin-based house and techno wizard Emanuel Satie brings together a plethora of talent for Addis Ababa on Crosstown Rebels. Ninetoes, Mowgan and Matador all join the party to complete this epic EP.

Satie says of the release that it's 'an homage to worldwide collaboration. While travelling through Ethiopia I recorded traditional musicians, brought the sounds home to Berlin and made electronic tracks out of them with my friends Ninetoes and Mowgan'.

EP opener Injera, produced with Ninetoes, is a mysterious and bumpy roller. Argew Neka, made in collaboration with Mowgan, adds tribal song and brings a delicate yet hypnotic groove to the table. Matador's remix of the latter turns the track completely on its head layering futuristic elements over a harder beat.

Emanuel Satie's career has blown up since he came to our attention in 2016 with his rework of Late Nite Tuff Guy's remix of I Get Deep, which hit the top spot in the Beatport charts. He's won the coveted Best Producer award in the DJ Awards and had a string of releases signed to impressive imprints including; Saved Records, Moon Harbour and Knee Deep In Sound. This year saw his track Don't Forget To Go Home given the accolade of Essential New Tune from Radio 1 tastemaker Pete Tong at Miami Music Week.

Matasuna Records starts the new year 2020 with a brilliant release, featuring two contemporary tracks by Paris based Afrobeat band Batunga & The Subprimes, available for the first time on vinyl.

Batunga & The Subprimes was founded in Paris in 2009 by musicians from different backgrounds, united by the will to mix traditional African music with other elements (Latin, Jazz, Second Line and even Rock) and to bring this explosive mix on the streets & on stage. After many shows all over Europe and beyond, their first official album Man in the Field was published in 2017, followed by their EP Let dem In in late 2019. Matasuna has chosen two extraordinary cuts of these self-released albums to release them on vinyl for the first time.

Gates Of Ouantou from their EP is a great tune that sets the bar for contemporary Afrobeat and has all the ingredients for a timeless classic: the arrangement, the instrumentation and the interplay of the seven musicians in the song are excellent and will immediately draw you into its spell. A real gem and great tune!

Man in the Field on flipside is a cut of their first official album. Unusual is the use of a banjo in an Afrobeat song but not surprising that this fits in very well and also shows that classical structures can be broken up and developed in a new approach/context. Another great piece of this extraordinary band that has been operating under the radar - until now!

Mar & Sol presents the reissue of "Na Cambança" the first album of the big band from Guiné Bissau SUPER MAMA DJOMBO.

The band was formed in the mid-1960s, at a Boy Scout camp, when the members were only children (the youngest was six years old)!
Djombo is the name of a spirit that many fighters appealed to for protection during Guinea-Bissau's War of Independence.

In 1974, the politically conscious band leader Adriano Atchutchi joined. The group became immensely popular in the young country, which had gained its independence on the same year. They would often play at President Luís Cabral's public speeches, and their concerts were broadcast live on radio.

In 1980, they went to Lisbon and recorded six hours of material. The first album "Na Cambança" was released in this same year, and the song "Pamparida" which was based on a children's song became a huge hit throughout West Africa, and an important historical masterpiece that finally see the lights again by the hands of our label.

... Medjool's story starts in 2010, at "Samar", it's a Kibbutz in the Arava valley in the far south of Israel, based on a unique, hippic and cooperative community. The band's four members met and lived there after their Military service. Being surrounded by musicians they started jamming together a lot, finding a joint creative language.

... In 2011, three of the band, – Ori, Nur & Aviram, moved to Tel-Aviv, trying their luck in the big city. 'Gilad' joined them in 2013 and the four friends became Medjool. The next three years were hectic with shows all over Israel, from small clubs to big festivals, gathering loyal crowd which followed the band everywhere. Nowadays, the band's members turned their energy to other musical projects, saying "we only took a short break which we're not sure when it'll end".

'Gbells' and 'Savana' are two energetic wild Afrobeat tunes.
The fact that the rhythm section comprises of a double base and percussion, grants 'Medjool' its unique highlife, groove color.
The guitar and saxophone travel through middle eastern to ethiopian melodies, suggesting the listeners the option either dancing or riding a camel in the desert, on your way to a flush oasis.

SOS: This two tracks on the 7", ... which were recorded in 2015, were the only music of 'Medjool', they had recorded professionally !!!!!

Gyedu-Blay Ambolley was born on the 11th Street in Sekondi, Ghana 72 years ago. On the cover photo you can see on the right side the house of his birth which was also his parental home. The Ghanian legend’s latest release shows off a pride of heritage, and his honed talent for mixing highlife with other genres like rap, Afro-funk and Disco Ghanaian highlife. Gyedu-Blay Ambolley returns with 11th Street, Sekondi, his 31st album since his debut in 1973. The charismatic stage personality, no stranger to mixing humour into his music and who has performed alongside Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti and highlife bandleader Ebo Taylor, has been a record collector’s staple since his appearance on the seminal Ghana Soundz compilation on Soundway in 2002, which re-introduced the world to his trademark ‘Simigwa’ style. Highlife, which started in Sierra Leone and Liberia, took hold in Ghana in the 1940s as a coming together of the musicians fed up with the foxtrot and quickstep parties originally hosted by English colonists. It began with big band horns and happy lyrics, popularised by artists such as E.T Mensah, before opening up in the ‘50s and ‘60s with a wave of guitardriven, socially conscious and more danceable Afro-funk hits -- a product of the easy movement of people between Nigeria and Ghana. It was then that Ambolley’s trademark baritone vocals burst onto the scene, under the tutelage of close personal friend Ebo Taylor.

Ambolley’s latest album, 11th Street, Sekondi, named after the area of West Ghana in which he grew up, is a look back at the area and musical styles that shaped the musician’s life. Black Woman is a funky number that opens the album with Ambolley on a tenor sax solo, while tracks like Little Small Girl showcase his renowned James Brown-influenced vocal flourishes. Soul, jazz, blues and comedy are present -- in keeping with his fervent belief that music must always be entertaining for the listener. The album is the second of his to be released on German label Agogo records, after acclaimed 2017 hit, Ketan. It also stays true to highlife's social ambitions, with reflections on the misguided pursuit of European ideals ahead of African values. Ambolley's career has been filled with accolades, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Charles R Drew University in Los Angeles, and formal recognition from the Ghana Embassy in Washington DC for producing the first ever commercially recorded rap album.

Kalita are happy to announce the first ever re-release of Stirling March's 1985 Bahamian boogie grail 'Under Cover Lover'. With original copies painfully hard to find and commanding eye-wateringly high prices, we believe the time is ripe to share this masterpiece with the world once more, accompanied by never-before-seen photos and interview-based liner notes.

Falling in love with music at an early age, Stirling listened religiously on the radio to both soul and disco greats, as well as to contemporary pop and rock musicians including Stevie Wonder, The Jackson 5 and Elton John. By the age of twenty-one he decided release his own record in an attempt to demonstrate to the Bahamian music industry his own ability, and in the hope that it would help him launch his musical career. Written over the space of just a few hours, the result was 'Under Cover Lover'. A sun-kissed Caribbean boogie track, Stirling explains that “this was the first song the I had written that I felt was good enough in its arrangement to put to tape”.Recorded at a local studio in Nassau that was available for budding young musicians to give it their best shot at fame, Stirling proudly recalls that it “turned out much better than I had expected. It reinforced my confidence that I could really be good at singing”.

The record was originally released on the sound engineer's own label Illumination Records, but was distributed solely by Stirling, who admits that “I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I knew I had something good but didn't quite understand the industry and nobody picked it up”. Although he recalls the local radio airtime being “phenomenal”, difficulties in elevating the record's status were further compounded by his own financial inability to promote the record as it probably warranted. As a result, the record was therefore soon sadly lost into distant memory.We hope that this re-release brings ‘Under Cover Lover’ the recognition that it deserves as one of the best Caribbean boogie tracks to ever be put to wax.

- The first ever re-release of this highly sought-after Bahamian boogie grail
- Accompanied by extensive interview-based liner notes and never-before-seen photo

The Music From Africa series comprises two volumes of never-heard South African library music from the early '80s. They were recorded and produced by Johannesburg musician/producer Tom Mkhize and
released then on vinyl only to be sent to TV and radio stations, as well as cinema productions (never commercially available). Traditional South African rhythms re-imagined, dubbed-out and disco-fied by this legendary producer! Each side of each volume is an A-Side of the original LP's, the B-Sides were only 10/15 seconds loops of the tracks from A-Sides designed as radio jingles and there was no interest in keeping them for the reissues.

Skyf Connection (pronounced skAyf) was a short lived project by long time friends Anthony Mthembu and Enoch Nondala. At the time they were working for Annic Music, an independent label run by married couple Anne and Nic Blignaut. Although the label was known mostly for Zulu, Sotho, Tsonga and other traditional styles, they had a few Disco releases on the label including groups like Keith Hutchinson’s Focus and Enoch’s discovery Lena, who went on to have huge success under the name Ebony a few years later.

In 1984, when an artist didn’t show up for a booked session they decided to make use of the studio time and began working on a demo. At the time Anthony and Enoch had been playing for a year at a new club called Gamsho, located on a farm on the outskirts of Kliptown Soweto. Along with Blackie Sibisi, Sepate Mokoena and Elijah “chippa” Khumalo they made up the resident house band. Due to cultural boycotts and American artists refusing to perform in the country, locals took it upon themselves to fill the market with the American sound the crowds demanded. The demo they recorded at Blue Tree Studios was going to be their product they could use to promote their brand of the American sound. They then took the demo to Universal Studios where their friend and trusted engineer Jan “fast fingers” Smit was working. It would be here that they would polish their demo into something they could take to their bosses and have pressed. Equipped with a DX 7, Linn Drum and some Juno synthesizers they were on their way. Jan lived up to his name and programmed the drums, it is rumoured he could program in almost real time, a skill that translated to the local arcade where he held high scores on many machines. Enoch would be singing and playing guitar while Anthony would do all the Bass and Keyboards. The result was 4 funky party anthems with synth work like no other recording at the time. Their take on what they believed the crowd would want to hear at the beloved club they called home.

From start to finish the 4 tracks portray what would have been a standard night at the Gamshu. Although the club would open earlier and the standard hours of most clubs was 6 to 6 , the band would start playing at 10pm. With their standard set time and Anthony and Enoch unique view on what a Disco should be, they chose the motto Ten to Ten as the album title because those were the hours when they were the stars and Disco ruled the dance floor. To get to the club was a bit difficult, you needed to drive along an empty road where thieves waited for any patrons trying their luck walking after dark. Since there was no transport during the night, the safest way to get home was to wait till the next morning to walk home. Even though in the summer months of Johannesburg light begins to peek in just after 4am, crowds refused to leave and stayed enjoying good music and company until 10am. The lead off track “Let’s Freak Together” has powerful lyrics encouraging people to let go of their worries, put aside any differences and let the music bring everyone to freak and dance together. The whole album is about the joy we can all feel when we share the same moments and how music can bring people together in a unique way, a philosophy shared with the original nightclubs of 70s New York. This approach to music is where the name Skyf Connection comes from, translating from slang to mean the connection we create through sharing, in this case Music and good times.

Skyf Connection would go on to play at Gamsho till the club’s closure in 1986. In those years their popularity lead to being booked for private events like weddings and birthday parties, as well as gigs in some other venues like Mofolo Hall. They would share the stage with many artists through the years learning artist’s songs and providing support as a backing band. After the club closed Anthony would go on to join the house band at The Pelican, another famous club located in Orlando East, as well as dabbling with songwriting for artists like Phumi Maduna and helping Enoch on many projects through the years. Enoch would ditch live music altogether and immerse himself in studio work, starting full time as a house producer and A&R for the recently formed Ream Music. He would go on to produce hit albums for pop artists like Percy Kay and Makwerhu but made his mark discovering countless artists that would become stars in the traditional market. They would remain friends until Anthony’s passing in 2016 and although Anthony is no longer with us his spirit lives in the grooves he left on this one of a kind record. His wife Vinolia will be accepting his portion of the profits on his behalf.

Brooklyn's Breakdown Brass have returned with a monstrous cover of the Rick James classic "Mary Jane", a follow-up to their smash debut 45 "Monmouth b/w Next Episode" (Kept Records). The track blends their trademark heavy sound with the strolling soul vib.

With its latest release Matasuna Records continues to explore contemporary Afrobeat from different countries. After the last trip to the Swiss Mittelland, this time the journey goes across the English Channel to discover more new & authentic Afrobeat and serve it on a tasty vinyl single.

Heroes of Limbo is a new studio project from long-time collaborators, producer and multi-instrumentalist Glenn Fallows (The Impellers, Disposable Breaks, Andres y Xavi) and trombonist/arranger Gram 'Canyon' Treldavs.

Reimagining classic and contemporary pop as authentic 70's Afrobeat and Highlife from Nigeria and Ghana, this first release asks you to fire up your time machine in your mind and wonder what would the Happy Mondays sound like if they'd played at Fela Kuti's Afrika Shrine, rather than Manchester's legendary Hacienda Club? What if Disclosure were not a Mercury Prize-nominated electronica duo, but a Highlife Orchestra based in Accra, Ghana?

Madchester Woman takes Ebo Taylor's African Woman and uses it as a chassis for a cut 'n shut reworking of Happy Mondays' 1990 classic 'Loose Fit' - a hot and explosive mixture as you can easily hear!

White Noise, featuring vocals from Clair Fallows (The Impellers, Soul Grenades), re-works Disclosure & Aluna George's electro-house anthem into an uplifting slice of afro-disco dancefloor shuffle.

Carl Gari is a group of three from Munich: Jonas Yamer, Till Funke and Jonas Friedlich. They released their well received and idiosyncratic debut (NPR mentioned it as one of the 50 best albums in 2016) on The Trilogy Tapes, for which they collaborated with Egyptian singer and spoken word artist Abdullah Miniawy. For the second release on Permanent Vacation they perfected their unique blend of psychedelic ingredients, dubbed out drums, drony sounds and a general hazyness. The mystic chants of Abdullah, who is also featured on two tracks, weave themselves into the band's lively sound texture. Apart from that Carl Gari showcase the diversity of their analogue driven and melodic approach to electronic music through four beautifully detailed tracks.

Local Talk is back again with a fantastic album from Soulphiction who gets deep, down and dirty with this bumping selection of timeless house tracks across 3 pieces of beautifully packaged vinyl...

Dusty grooves and soulful emotion form the foundation of this release, which also takes influence from Jazz, Hip Hop and Afrobeat.

Soulphiction aka Michel Baumann is one of Germany's most respected artists who is also known under the equally successful and iconic alias Jackmate.
This is the third time Soulphiction has featured on Local Talk including his recent single "Beehive". Other labels to have featured Soulphiction tracks and remixes include Lumberjacks in Hell, Rebirth, Pampa and Philpot Records.

A master of both mood and texture, this release showcases the studio wizardry of a true sound-smith.
Chunky percussion with shuffling rhythms form the backbone of the grooves, which are fleshed out with intricate melodies and funky basslines that move mind, body and soul.

With ebbs and flows, the release builds and drops with tracks like "Jus Listen" moving away from the dance floor vibe to focus on a more soothing sound.
Like the tracklist of a J Dilla mixtape, this album flows with a purposeful care combined with a storytelling blend of emotions rarely heard in a house music long player.

Executed to perfect precision, this album is an instant classic and a must-have for home listening along with a club setting.

(180 Vinyl LP) With their authentic formula - jazz musicians in a Jamaican-wise context - Jamaican Jazz Orchestra come with a second album that feels like a fresh dive in the lake on a humid tropical day. High quality musicianship and clever compositions recorded analog on tape, guided by producer Tom Callens (Lady Linn, Lester's Blues, South of the Border, Tiny Legs Tim)...

EA Wave (short for East African Wave) consists of Nairobi-based DJs/producers Ukweli, Sichangi, Hiribae, Nu Fvnk and Jinku. They’re getting noticed by all the right people in the West - Boiler Room, Red Bull Music Academy, 1Xtra, and Worldwide FM - as well as securing stacks of African coverage. This debut outing on vinyl presents new sounds from their native Kenya. We’ve listened to the tracks a lot, and concluded that Contemplative House is a good descriptor. Expect beautifully crafted beats, hazy synths, and inch-perfect bass, constructed for the dancefloor when bodies need to get a bit closer. Things are only going to get bigger for EA Wave in 2020, so get on it now. Stand out track: Nu Fvnk’s ‘Happening In The Grey Area’.

Soul Jazz Records’ Nigeria Soul Power 70 album showcases the influence of funk, rock and disco on Nigerian music during the 1970s. Originally released as a now-long-out-of-print collectors’ 7” RSD box, this fully expanded album release now also includes extra tracks from Sonny Okosuns, Wings, Chief Kollington Ayinla and more. While for many people the fusion of funk and jazz music with Nigerian rhythms and aesthetics began with Fela Kuti and his afro-beat sound, in fact this can be traced further back to the phenomena of the 1960s Nigerian artists and house bands in nightclubs and hotels who interpreted US soul and pop music with a local flavour and none more so than Geraldo Pino, the ‘African James Brown’ who features heavily in this collection. Other similarly inspired Nigerian funk and soul artists featured here included Tony Grey and his Ozimba Messengers and Don Bruce and The Angels. Nigeria Soul Power 70 includes a number of tracks from the group Wings originally known as BAF (Biafran
Air Force) Wings, an army band formed during the Biafran civil war in Nigeria. The groups’ heavy mixture of funk, rock and African styles was popular among many Nigerian groups at the time.
Beneath the shadow of the few Nigerian artists who signed international recording deals in the 1970s – Fela Kuti, King Sunny Ade, Chief Ebenezer Obey – lies of vast wealth of largely undiscovered musical transmutation and cultural cross-pollination, and included here are heavy afro-funk/rock and disco tracks
from artists such as the legendary Sonny Okosuns as well as rare cuts from little-known outside of Nigeria - groups such as Colomach and MFB. Most of these obscure artists signed to major labels in Nigeria in the commercial slipstream that opened up as Philips, Decca and EMI tried to emulate the international
success of the big three international Nigerian artists. Finally featured here is Kollington Ayinla, one of the co-founders of Nigerian Fuji music, who gives us perhaps the heaviest of all tracks on this album. Ayinla is the great moderniser of the Fuji sound and in the late 1970s began adding Bata drums and synthesizers to his authentic music to create a powerful and heavy new fusion of traditional and modernist aesthetics, embracing both new technology and experimentation while rooted firmly in Nigerian historical lineage. Nigeria Soul Power 70 is released as a heavyweight gatefold double vinyl LP (+ free download code),
deluxe slipcase CD and digital album.

Between a secluded cabin sanctuary, tucked away in the vast the stillness of Topanga Canyon, California, and a remote 18th century finca on the Balearic island of Mallorca, Spain, BATO BATO's debut album was patiently guided into being.

Three years writing and recording between these two locations brought the group's collaborators - Julian Smith and Henrik Jakobsson, with Balearic legend Nestor Casas Oche on trumpet - to their most natural sound conclusion.
The music of Bato Bato does not just reflect its organic sound habitats; it absorbs them - the duo set up studio and outdoor field sessions capturing various local environments including percussive field recordings and ambient cave sounds.
The album is an exploration in sound somewhere between the influence of exotica, psych, and dub - metered with latin / afro rhythms merged with experimental studio process and mixing.

Dies ist das vierte und bislang unveröffentlichte Album von Kapingbdi, einer sechsköpfigen Band aus Westafrika, die ihren Stil als "African Jazz-Funk-Rock from Liberia" bezeichnete. Es enthält eine exzellente Mischung aus afrikanischen und westlichen Elementen, mit spirituellem Herzen und dynamischen Grooves. Im Januar 1985 und unmittelbar vor ihrer Auflösung nahm die Gruppe neun Tracks für ein abgebrochenes LP-Projekt im Masterpiece-Studio in Detroit/ USA auf. Erst 2019 wurde die Musik sorgfältig vom Original-24-Track-Tape überspielt und remastered. Musik hat für Kapingbdi keinen eigenen Zweck, sondern dient zur Übermittlung einer Botschaft, geboren aus der Erfahrung und Perspektive Afrikas und für alle Menschen bestimmt.

2x12"

Nyege Nyege Tapes spotlight the charming, young style of Electro Acholi from the Luo of Northern Uganda with a compilation of zippy rhythms and ear-worm hooks by 15 artists including Otim Alpha, whose ‘Gulu City Anthems’ NNT003, 2017 introduced the fast and melodic sound to the world at large Electro Acholi is the plugged-in version of traditional Acholi courtship songs from the region around the cities of Gulu and Lira, in an area spanning north Uganda and southern Sudan. This compilation surveys the sound’s golden years circa 2003-2008, when a brutal civil war in north Uganda meant that traditional, larger wedding ensembles of up to 25 players were too costly, and younger producers with access to Fruity Loops and video editing facilities stepped in to fill a gap in the market. Using samples and synthesis, they created custom, sped-up versions of traditional songs and performed them at the ceremonies, leading the sound to spill out into local nightspots such as the Alobo Night Club and the Opit Travellers Inn. Scaling from a balmy 106bpm in the likes of Brother Q & City Boy’s slinky bumper ‘Can Deg Ming,’ to pelting uptempo styles embellished with local instrumentation, such as Pro Lagwee’s ‘Rwot Moo’, and the quick, all-electronic backing to the call-and-response vocals of ‘Kolo (Dog Mix)’ by Opiyo Twongweno, the set affords a privileged insight to modern Acholi music usually omitted from the “world music” racks. Now for the first time, pioneers of the style such as Bosmic Otim and the breezy swang of ‘Bandera pa kaka’, Lakoc Jojo with the cracking stepper ‘Apiyo Nyara’, or the mellifluous Lady Grace Atim and her acidic banger ‘Adoko Gwok’ take their place alongside Otim Alpha to present the best of Electro Acholi to keen-eared dancers everywhere.
Effectively a continuation of NNT’s ongoing archaeology of the Luo people’s sonic culture, following the roots excavation of Langi Griot and thumb piano player, Ekuka, and the branches of Otim Alpha on his single string fiddle and drum machine, ‘Electro Acholi Kaboom’ is an unmissable, even rare, survey of a critical, metamorphic phase shift between ancient, analog worlds, and digitized modernism.

Limited edition (200 copies of orange transparent and 100 of yellow vinyl records with postcards-photos from Ms. Gia's family album)

Lua Preta is an Angolan/Polish duo consisting of vocalist/MC Ms. Gia of Angolan descent and experienced Polish DJ and producer Mentalcut. Together they bring the frenetic mixture of modern electronic music and African genres characteristic not only to Ms. Gia's native Angola but also to the whole continent - including kuduro, afrohouse, gqom and more.

'Polaquinha Preta' is a brand new EP by Lua Preta. With the music produced by Polish producer Mentalcut and vocals from Angolan Ms. Gia the release tells the story about Gia's childhood in Poland of the 80s and 90s and how she was seen as a foreign both here and back in Angola.

There are interesting guests on the record:

B4mba – Paris-based artist with roots in Senegal and Spain who raps both in French and Spanish. He's an author of the 'Baile Punk' EP in which he blends Latin American music with avant-garde electronic sound.

Isilda Viegas – Ms. Gia's mother hailing from Sao Tome e Principe. On the 'Polaquinha Preta' EP she's featured on 'Noemia' where she sings in forro language – a creole language native to her homeland. During colonial times Portuguese banned people from using forro. Currently only around 70 000 people use it.

Rafael Aragon – French DJ, producer and musician who has become one of the key players on the European global bass scene throughout the past ten years. In his music he relates to all the continents but especially to South America and Africa where his ancestors come from.





d B2 Noemia (Rafael Aragon Remix) feat. Isilda Viegas

Strut is proud to announce Pat Thomas & Kwashibu Area Band’s sophomore release ‘Obiaa!’, released on 4th October 2019. The album, produced again by Kwame Yeboah and Ben Abarbanel-Wolff at Lovelite Studio’s analogue HQ in Berlin, is a deep and soulful journey into the heart of Ghana’s indigenous highlife music celebrating the timeless and iconic voice of Pat Thomas, the 72 year-old “Golden Voice of Africa”. After producing Ebo Taylor’s seminal albums ‘Love and Death’ and ‘Appia Kwa Bridge’ for Strut Records, in 2014 Ben Abarbanel-Wolff approached Kwame Yeboah, Ghana’s top contemporary instrumentalist and bandleader, to work on a new project: “We initially wanted to invite Pat back into the studio with Ebo Taylor and Tony Allen to recreate and expand on some of the vibes they had recorded together during a lost session in 1977,” Ben explains. Recorded in Accra, the result was the critically acclaimed self-titled debut album ‘Pat Thomas & Kwashibu Area Band’ in 2015.

Pat and the Kwashibu Area Band (named after Kwame’s neighbourhood in Accra) hit the road in October 2015. After a memorable performance at WOMEX in Budapest, they never looked back. The next two years took them around the world to play at major venues and festivals including Glastonbury, Roskilde, WOMAD, Sakifo, WOMADelaide, Sines and many more. “We could see there was something for everyone in our music. People of all ages, colours and trends were dancing together!’ explains Kwame, the mastermind behind the band’s unbelievable precision and killer live show.

The new album is called ‘Obiaa!’ which means ‘Everybody!’. Tracks include the modern parables ‘Onfa Nkosi Hwee’ warning against arrogance and ‘Odo Ankasa’ about the value of real love and trust as well as a great new cover of Thomas’ Afro-disco favourite ‘Yamona’. “Playing highlife around the world taught us what we had to do to move our sound forward,” continues Ben. While simultaneously looking back towards the classic days of highlife and forward to a fresh revival of the guitar band sound, this album cements Pat Thomas & Kwashibu Area Band’s position at the pinnacle of modern African music.

‘Obiaa!’ is released on all formats on 4th October The album features exclusive cover artwork by Lewis Heriz with photos by Marie Weikopf and Michelle Chiu and is mastered by Édouard Bonan at Ed-Room Studio in Paris.

Tagliabue provides the two original tracks from his AFRO SPAZIO EP released on COSMICA MUSIC in May 2019. With psychedelic atmospherics, deep melodic layers and tribal rhythmic formations, he sets a wonderful palette of cosmic frequencies, to stimulate the remixers visionary powers and creativity. DJ Rocca started to produce in the late 90s, working on some drum&bass and breakbeat singles as Maffia Soundsystem from the same name club in Italy, where he was the main resident DJ. In his career he
collaborated with Howie B, Pressure Drop, Zed Bias, Dimitri From Paris, Daniele Baldelli and Jazzanova producing singles, remixes and albums on some of the best european labels as Sonar Kollektiv, Compost, Classic, Rekids, Skint, Hell Yeah, Rebirth, Internasjonal, Futureboogie Recordings, !K7, Deep Freeze, Tirk,
International Feel, Defected, Skint, Gomma, Paper Recordings. As a producer, DJ Rocca is also part of Ajello (with Taver), Supersonic Lovers (with Marcello Giordani) and Crimea X (with Jukka Reverberi). He has remixed big names such as Oliver Koletzki, Luke Solomon, Blaze, Isolee, Pete Herbert, Bjorn Torske, Chris Coco, Dimitri From Paris, Andrew Weatherall, Justin Robertson, Soul Clap and now our very own Joseph Tagliabue. With the award-winning jazz musician Franco D’Andrea he has formed the Electric Tree Project, a contemporary music trio, hovering between jazz and electronics, with a double album released in April 2016 on Parco Della Musica Records, defined as record of the month for the magazine Musica Jazz (June 2016). The collaboration with such a great name of the jazz scene, moves on with the realisation of an octet and the production of a new album entitled “Intervals I”, recorded live at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome last March 2017. Mushrooms Project is Giorgio Giri and Marco Lentano, producers and serial collectors of vinyl with a common passion for dj’ing and for any type of music whatsoever. The project came into being in 2003 when Giorgio, a punk band drummer and vinyl collector with a strong preference for anything from psychedelic rock to Afro, meets Marco a deejay since 1994 who mixes every possible kind of dance music; from afro to house, passing through techno and progressive. 2013 saw their debut album ‘Undergrass’ released on Leng Records, which was a continuous evolution of their sound elaborated in close contact with other musicians.
In 2015, Ivan King, a talented guitarist who had collaborated many times with the Mushrooms Project, became an integral part of their productions. They have now dj’ed across the world and are known for their hallucinating and all encompassing music that is made using live instrumentation such as guitar, bass, synth and percussion to create a “dirty” but unique insight to the very long, deep, mesmerizing and unusual minds of the Mushrooms.
We are proud to showcase a pure Italian collaboration effort. The uprising talents of the new generation of progressive producers meet with the Masters of the Cosmic House genre for an epic production.

Extremely hard-to-find Ghanaian LP from legendary musician Gyedu-Blay Ambolley, originally released in 1980.

Tough Highlife, funk and boogie moods with added synthesizer!

Ambolley is still actively touring today, keeping these vibes alive – he will be touring Europe throughout 2019.

This is the third Gyedu Blay Ambolley LP that we have reissued on Mr Bongo, following on from his seminal ‘Ambolley’ and ‘Simigwa’ recordings.

Official Mr Bongo reissue. Licensed from Gyedu Blay Ambolley

For its 3rd releases, Nubiphone is proud to present you a compilation of the best early 7inch releases of the mythical Cameroonian band Los Camaroes.
10 raw tracks taken from various singles from 1968 to 1975, that present the musical diversity played by those seven young people: Bikutsi, Afro-Funk, Jerk, , Soukous, Rumba & Blues music. The band led by the charismatic lead vocal Messi Martin that managed to modernized Cameroonian music. Deluxe edition that includes an 8-pages booklet, with exclusive pictures, biography in both English and French languages, and a HQ digital download
card.

Obed Ngobeni and his backing singers the Kurhula Sisters were among the originators of Shangaan Disco, a genre that helped shape South Africa’s ‘bubblegum’ sound of the 80s.

The group emerged in 1983 with 'Kuhluvukile Ka Zete', a hit that later gained international recognition as ‘Kazet’. In 1984 Ngobeni followed this with the album Gazankulu, which included the irresistably catchy ‘Ta Duma’, pioneering in its fusion of traditional and electronic - a sign of things to come.

Heads Music boss Emil Dean Zoghby also cooked up a disco version of the track with producer Peter Moticoe and engineer Phil Audoire for release as a 12” (with a dub, of course), replacing the original version’s guitars with another layer of stinging synths and a proto-house beat to drive the song’s emphatic call-and-response chorus.

Ta Duma, the latest release on DJ Okapi’s Afrosynth Records, brings together all three versions of this massive track for the first time - a tribute to the roots of bubblegum. On the B-side, ‘Xikhobva’ offers a more traditional bass and guitar-driven groove over simmering drums.

From the crucible of Lisbon’s renowned club scene, DJ Firmeza fulminates four cuts of roiling
Batida rhythm and free-spirited vocals in a kuduro (hard-ass) style for his return to the
indomitable Príncipe
Leading on from his 2015 solo debut 12” and numerous international DJ forays, Firmeza’s ‘Ardeu’
sees him inject devilish detail into his productions at no expense to his signature, stripped-down
suss. All four cuts are intensely rhythmelodic, and include two highlights revolving Firmeza’s own
vocals, toasting not boasting in a stream-of-consciousness flow know locally as “animação” that
expresses his singular spin on classic styles, as inspired by ghetto guru DJ Nervoso.
The A-side finds Firmeza freely associating words and themes in a rootsy style of Kuduro. The
sounds of police sirens, telephone hold tones and crowd noise mingle with colourful carnival
vamps while Firmeza’s lilting vocal cadence matches the rhythm’s cantering syncopation on
‘Intenso’, and ‘AVAN’ sees him scudding melodically over cold, direct drums in a style recalling DJ
Petchy & MC Shantie’s vintage UKF pressure or Brazilian Baile Funk trimmed of subbass.
Firmeza’s B-side follows to replace the rap style with a strong showcase of his elevated
production levels. On the mesmerising ‘RRRRRR’ vocals are trapped in psychotic, nanoscopic
loops and woven with infectiously offset, technoid bass patterns to gripping effect, before the
extraordinary ’25’ supplies a masterclass in loose-limbed percussion, and nothing but, in a style
nodding to DJ Nervoso that can be taken as Lisbon’s answer to the purist Gqom drum influence of
Griffit Vigo upon DJ Lag.
It’s all essentially a form of mutant, minimalist techno, and counts as some of the most irresistible
dance music on the planet right now.

Chillum Trio started out as a collective of like-minded musicians in 2002, however, after releasing an album together (which was supported by the likes of Laurent Garnier) the project slowly become the solo act of founding recording producer, Geza Szekeres.
At that time he discovered West-African music, latin jazz and the universe of soul and funk, these new directions have been shaping his musical evolution ever since.

In 2014 he turned out as one of the winners of Gilles Peterson's Havana Cultura remix contest that gave him the opportunity to travel to Havana and record music with the creme of the Cuban jazz scene.
One of his songs recorded in this session got released on Brownswood Recordings compilations Havana Cultura Mix and Havana Cultura Anthology.

Budabeats Records is more than proud to release Chillum Trio's first ever 12" single called Cosmotropica with two dancefloor friendly tracks mixing broken afro-house with tropical and cosmic influences.



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King Street Sounds has reached its Silver Anniversary and in celebration of twenty-five years of iconic house music we’ve selected eight standout tracks for this special edition double vinyl release “25 Years of Paradise.” Kicking things off is house music maestro Kerri Chandler’s fun, funky and soulful King Street classic “Harder Gets Higher (623 Heavy Mix).” Following suit legendary KSS artist LY (aka Jovonn) pays homage to the New Jersey dance institution with “Back To Zanzibar (Sublevel Edit)” aka Doc Martin. Berlin based DJ/producer David Mayer brings his unique touch of class and deep groove to Tuccillo and Kiko Navarro’s classic release “Lovery” (first time release on vinyl). Prepare to experience all the feels over again as we conclude record #1 with London duo Idjut Boys’s gorgeous and emotional dub remix of Ananda Project’s original mix “Moments Before Dreaming.” Moving right along, record #2 opens again with house music icon Kerri Chandler’s appropriate un-released dub mix of “Welcome To King Street.” When Japanese DJ/production duo guri guri boys teamed up w/ Blaze vocalist Josh Milan for their single “Be Yourself” we were ecstatic! French Afro-house wizard Manoo slides in next with his remix of “Be Yourself.” Louie Vega and Kenny Dope’s project Masters At Work is synonymous with house music as it’s kick and hats. We flip record #2 to their MAW club mix of “Give It Up.” The King Street sound wouldn’t be what it is without some Dennis Ferrer. We conclude the VA with his DF’s Kicked Out Mix of “Dem People Go!”

This debut Archivators records release embraces the charms of nudisco, deep house and garage-afro-tribal side and we think it hit on every level with wonky bassline. It's easy-breezy number built around wild drums, warm chords to catch your breath, lovers of rhodes should lend the EP an extra ear, it's pure bliss. All producers on this timeless release known for their contribution to Disco/House Music. Godfather
Frankie Knuckles & Joey Negro has been injecting deep soul & funk into house music since the early 90s, making them one of house music's originators. EP bring unforgettable impressions & inspiration for mind, body & soul. 4 tracks came together to tell music stories about hypnotic deepest stuff, depression, happiness, loneliness, love, miracles and magical experiences. And now we're asking other's to join the sound conversation

While it may have been Sea Bee's release, key to the album's success was the magic touch of Spokes H, who composed, produced and arranged all the tracks. Sea Bee would soon disappear off the radar, while Spokes remained an influential and popular figure in SA until his untimely death in 2013.

The latest release on DJ Okapi's Afrosynth Records removes two tracks from the original six-track album, keeping four of the choicest downtempo dancefloor bombs - 'Home Boy', 'I Wanda Why', 'Thiba' and 'Stoppa - all heavy on the bass, with uplifting vocals and unique lyrics guaranteed to not let any discerning (or aspiring) DJ down - ever!

In the beginning of the summer of 2019, AM returns with four exotic edits and reworks to dance to on grass. Solima is a pitched down lush and spatial Afro gem that will cause instant euphoria on any dance floor, followed by a faster and uplifting African jam called Ali Baba. Both have that late 80’s synthetic vibe we dig so much.On the flip there are two tracks which are constructed upon respectively an Egyptian and a Turkish sample. Badaouiah reminds of Carl Craig’s edit of Congo Man, builds up slowly and gets highly hypnotic and deep, while the second track Mustapha rolls out a quirky rhythm pattern with a hysteric Turkish clarinet sample.

Comes in a disco bag, hand stamped with a new drawing by Frank Koedood.

Fortuna boss Kalbata joins forces with five-piece band Tigris, creating a mesmerizing percussion-led album inspired by African and Caribbean traditions. Repetitive guitars, blissful synthesizers, and roaring voodoo drums set the tone across this extra-trippy, six-track journey. Techno and Balearic undertones remind us of Kalbata's wide musical spectrum, ranging from very dark to luminous tropical sunlight. Essential!