Pop & Rock News

On the back of Chip Wickham's fabulous debut album La Sombra come two quite different but equally mouthwatering remixes of two of its tunes. On the A-side, Detroit house stalwart extraordinaire Andrés grabs 'Red Planet' by the ear and drags it straight to the dance floor. And he means business: no beating around the bush with intros and the like - it's hands in the air and go from start to finish. Relentless.

The other A side, A.K.A. AA side, is for L.A.'s ambassador of avant-garde and spiritual music Carlos Niño. Rather than remixing the album's title track in the strict sense of the word, his 'Spaceways Radio Edit' adds a subtle and otherworldly flavour to it, extending the mix with some gorgeous ambient washes.

La Sombra (Lovemonk, January 2017) is Chip Wickham's first album after a 25-year career touring, recording and experimenting across three decades of jazz, funk, soul, hip-hop, Latin and electronica. It's a monumental record for Chip as it symbolises the moment he stepped out into the light as a director of his creations with freedom to explore his roots, express and tell his version of jazz, and pay testament to his heroes Roland Kirk, Yuseef Lateef & Harold McNair.

Hermann Nitsch playing the organ in the Jesuit church, vienna.
4 long, heavy drones.

Blanche Calloway was the sister of both famous jive bandleader Cab Calloway and the lesser-known performer Elmer Calloway, one of the best jazz vocalist of the era, the recordings are all in chronological order and recorded in various location where the artist was performing.

New work for artist MCENDOZ, an album from the atmospheric lounge with unique sound for a trip around the world, exploring the sounds of every territory. For this new project, Medioli uses the collaboration of Marco Rosetti on guitars, Fabrizio Benevelli on sax, Marco Tonelli on the trombone, Gabriele Bolognesi on the flute, Cinzia Di Nuzzo on the violin, Marco Remondini on the cello, Annibale Guarini on the owl, Elena Giardina, Heron Borelli, Daniela "Dhany" Galli, and Cinzia Di Nuzzo to the voices. In total 16 tracks for a collection album!

A new Sun Ra LP touches ground in the earthly bins, 50 years after its creation!

Sun Ra is still trying to get our attention 50 years after dispatching this transmission. Humanity's path since then makes his message even more urgent today. Years after Herman Poole LeSony'r Ra' Blount left the planet' he's still trying to reach us, to wake us up and to change our destiny. Sun Ra and the Arkestra weren't a traditional studio band, and every star in the vast galaxy of their discography reflects this. The origins of these records can be hard to pinpoint at times, but when it comes to Thunder Of The Gods, it's a bit easier. Calling Planet Earth - We'll Wait For You' was discovered on tapes from Ra's, Universe In Blue, believed to be recorded in '71. The raucous title track and Moonshots Across the Sky' are unearthed from the '66 Strange Strings sessions. Modern Harmonic has once again paired Ra's sonic art with the visual art of The Father of Modern Space Art,' Chesley Bonestell, whose 1952 work 'Formation of the Earth's Continents' spralls across the front and back covers.

"Thanks to Modern Harmonic, in partnership with Sun Ra LLC, soon you will be holding an album of unreleased Sun Ra music 50 years after it was recorded! That this music survived to reach our ears after all of this time is quite a miraculous gift. It sounds as though it could have come from either the ancient past or the distant future, yet most perfectly, it's the music of right now.' — Christopher Eddy (Sun Ra Arkive)

Ten Years After's self-titled debut hit the British blues scene with the subtlety and precision of a wrecking ball in 1967, serving notice that what had once been confined to steamy haunts in London was now there for the world to hear. Cut live with vocals overdubbed later, Ten Years After is an impressive debut, showing off a tight band steeped not only in blues, but rockabilly, jazz, folk and even occasionally psychedelia.

The album paved the way for the band's acclaimed performance at Woodstock, which ensured regular placement on the album charts for years to come. For now, dig the first vinyl reissue of the ultra-rare mono mix of Stonedhenge, housed in its original gatefold cover artwork and meticulously mastered for the most discerning listener.

Super Bossa Compilation, a Collection of Unpublished and Revisited in Perfect Style Lounge / Bossanova .

Rsd Limited pressing

Mastered from the original master tapes. 

RSD 2016 Release limited to 1500.

RSD Limited pressing

1981 studio album.  James Ingram on the singles "Just Once" and "One Hundred Ways," 

- 180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
- GATEFOLD SLEEVE
- INCLUDES INSERT
- BRAND NEW ALBUM
- A TRIBUTE TO ELLA FITZGERALD, WHO WOULD'VE
CELEBRATED HER 100TH BIRTHDAY IN 2017
- SPECIAL APPEARANCE BY GRAMMY AWARD WINNER
CARLA COOK

A hundred years after her birth, there are still plenty of lessons to be learned from listening to Ella Fitzgerald. But that's not the only takeaway that Regina Carter has gleaned from Ella's storied career. On her new album, Ella: Accentuate the Positive, the virtuoso violinist reveals the many aspects of Fitzgerald that have influenced her own remarkable path in music. That translates to an album that avoids the more obvious song choices in favor of more obscure though no less rewarding tunes from deep inside Ella's bountiful catalogue. Instead of trying to echo Fitzgerald's own choices and arrangements, or attempting the near-impossible task of evoking her beloved voice on the violin, Carter has done what has always set her apart - followed her own dauntless instincts, resulting in a singular new take on both familiar and hidden classics.

Carter's enchantment with Ella Fitzgerald continued from childhood into adulthood and she grew to realize how much technique and virtuosity were involved in producing a sound so warm and inviting. The ability to spark that connection was central to Carter's choice of songs for Ella: Accentuate the Positive. From the gospel-tinged performance on the opening Ac-cen-tchu-ate the Positive' to the airily funky arrangement of Crying in the Chapel' and the bluesy take on I'll Never Be Free' that sets the tone for the slinky groove of All My Live.'

- 180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
- GATEFOLD SLEEVE

First Meeting is the only album from the short-lived British Jazz-Rock septet Trifle, founded by singer George Bean, which also included trumpeter Dick Cuthell, saxophonist Barrie Martin, keyboardist Alan Fealdman, guitarist John Hitchen, bassist Patrick King and drummer Chico Greenwood. The group folded shortly after this album was recorded as a result of the tragic death of its leader.

The brass arrangements are excellent and the mostly original material is definitely up to the standard. In retrospect this forgotten gem should have been listened to over the years if not its obscurity and prompt disappearance from the shelves, as it is another Brass-Rock classic.

DDD Records is a label and a store based in Paris.
Un Drame Musical Instantané is a collective of French composers led by Jean-Jacques Birgé. In 1984, they composed their own score to Dziga Vertov's groundbreaking 1929 film The Man With A Movie Camera.

This release features original 1984 copies of L'Homme A La Camera, as well as more recent material. In 2017, several producers were approached by DDD records to create new tracks or remixes using this rich and unusual recording as source material.

A1. Jorge Velez - Coquillage
The EP opens with Coquillage by US producer Jorge Velez. The word means sea shell in French, and this track is like putting one to your ear. Definitely on the more ambient side of things, Coquillage is full of eerie sounds, from the sea to marine wildlife and other unidentified sources which all create an unsettling atmosphere. Ever shifting and phasing, differently textured pads create a sense of wide open space and spiralling free fall through it.

A2. Un Drame Musical Instantané - L'Homme À La Caméra (Tuff Sherm remix)
Australian producer Tuff Sherm aka Dro Carey delivers a remix which plods along at 112 BPM with an infectious rhythm section thanks to terrific drum programming. Add a bunch of short samples, from metallic sounds to flute licks and many other instruments used in the original UDMI recording and the result is a stripped down remix that nonetheless remains full of surprises.

B1. Un Drame Musical Instantané - L'Homme À La Caméra (Eltron John remix)
Polish producer Eltron John's remix increases the BPM slightly. With the combination of flawless drum machine sequencing and a mellow bassline with a variety of UDMI samples, this is a tune where brass instruments, tubular instruments, lush pads, and other incidental sounds are used to great effect. There's an undoubtedly positive, uplifting vibe in this track which successfully uses UDMI's sounds in a house music context.

B2. Thurston Moore - 7-11
Closing the EP is this distinctive remix by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth fame. You think you're in a for a purely musique concrète trip as the song begins with prepared piano, beeps and heavily treated noise. That's until an infectious drum loop evocative of music played in warehouses rather than concert halls appears. Said loop is cleverly treated and gets noisier and noisier as the track progresses. The contrast between the track's more experimental approach and the immediate pleasure procured by the drums makes it quite unforgettable.

'Creation One' is a stunning eight track, jam packed album, so elusive but full of pure joy! Invigorating, stimulating, delightful, a treasure of rhythms grooves and breaks! 'Sombre Guitar' is the favourite to many, especially DJs! In the 1970's, composer and multi-instrumentalist John Danser formed Danser's Inferno, a funky Jazz-Rock-Fusion band, an ensemble of 14 very talented musicians. At age 14 John Danser emigrated from London and established himself in New York City where he earned a master's degree in music at the Manhattan school of music. In his early years, Danser played in classical as well as jazz gigs, simultaneously arranging and composing. He later went on to have an extensive musical career and at one point served as a bandleader at Concord hotel, during the Borscht Belt era, where he played for Sammy Davis jr., Milton Berle, Bob Hope and Judy Garland. - Rachel Kinoti

Jazzy Hip Hop instrumentals and a little hardcore breakbeat for the road:)

This obscure and difficult to find LP is the Heath Brothers' debut album and is considered to be their best. 'Marchin'on' is unquestionably a masterpiece and is a much sought-after album. With its wealth of riffs, it is much appreciated by samplers and has been sampled by various contemporary artists. It was originally released in 1976 on Strata-East, a label at the time co-owned by Stanley Cowell. The album flows fluidly, meticulously in a warm rich blend with the four part 'smilin' Billy suite being a tour de force on its own. All suites have the same anchor in melody but each branches out to its own distinctive song varying from relaxed to light to dramatic and upbeat. The Heath Brothers was formed in 1975 by brothers Jimmy, Percy, Albert Heath and the much celebrated pianist Stanley Cowell in Philadelphia. The band later on continued with the brothers and alternate new members, with at one point the very talented 'Mtume' who is Jimmy Heath's son, joining. - Rachel Kinoti

Timo Van Lujik (Af Ursin) and Andrew Chalk regroup their quiet energies alongside Tom James
Scott (guitar) and Daisuke Suzuki (korogi) with the tenderly spectral and folksy ambient strokes
of Balayes De La Main Du Hasard for Chalk's private imprint; Faraway Press.
Intimacy, modesty and attention to detail are key to the sound of Elodie and all carefully in check on
this, their 11th recording together since 2011. Absorbing cues from minimal classical, ethereal folk
and even wistful traces of country music, they effectively transmute those inspirations to locate a
gently luminous middle distance sound, one which seems occupy the space between the speakers
and the ears with a quality best compared to the last shaft of dying light in a darkened room.
It's perhaps an overused phrase on these pages, but the effect of their music inside is decidedly
dreamlike. They seem to prise sounds from warm, hazy air, rendering an array of shimmering,
mirage-like extractions through a combination of super refined instrumental techniques and
ineffable levels of empathy, enabling them to conjure very particular out-of-body sensations and
an incredibly lush sort of spectral intangibility.
The way they layer and suspend the elements in their compositions is little short of magical,
bringing the sense of space and detail of a '60s jazz record into the ambient realm with a
ghostly sleight of hand that coolly short circuits and makes much modern classical sound totally
overwrought by comparison, and likewise lends a folk wise delicacy to ambient music which
doesn't come with the usual, cloying tropes.
It's sound like a fine, refreshing mist in hot weather, or a sort of temporal balm for these
accelerated times

Free-Son was composed 8 musicians researchers of Brazilian musical origins, released in 1971 its only and rare LP for Solar Fidelity.
The album Banguelê (name given to a rhythm and dance of African slaves) consists of 12 short tracks that, as written in the backsleeve seek a new musical message essentially ours, with common language to all people and that was "hotter' that the rhythms of the time. Many styles are present, mixing Latin, African rhythms, samba rock and others as funk, psychedelic rock and jazz. It is almost all instrumental, well arranged with killer wah wah guitar, organ and percussion (cuíca, tumbadora) work. The vocal part is limited only to some screams. No highlighting songs, because it is a solid record. Highly recommended to Brazilian music fans, funk and rock / Latin jazz....by Perolas do Rock....

Californian keyboardist & beatmaker Kiefer (birthname Kiefer Shackelford) drops his debut LP on Leaving Records, which has enough jazz piano chops to transform L.A.'s Low End Theory into a smokey speak easy.' The title track from Kiefer's debut album, Kickinit Alone, is a striking entry to this lineage of hip-hop inextricably tethered to jazz. Kickinit Alone' moves with a patient step, its short piano phrase looping like it was ripped from a dusty vinyl and brought to life. The warm hiss of tape noise and subtle effects give the track a smokey vibe. But then the piano suddenly flips to a Rhodes-y sound, and the melody moves from its blues center towards more muted hues. Even in brief divergences, Kiefer is a subtle showman, bringing depth to quiet flourishes.' - Pitchfork

Miles Davis and his electric group of the early 70s is some of the most innovative and important jazz music ever set to tape. While the studio recordings are amazing, they often pale in comparison to the loose, improvisational and fiery heights that the group could reach in front of a live audience (as was captured on Live-Evil, In Concert, and Miles Davis At Fillmore, among others). This set from September of 1972 is no exception. Recorded just prior to the release of On The Corner, this stellar performance features tracks from that classic as well as Jack Johnson, and Bitches Brew. Featuring the great guitar work of his live band staple, Reggie Lucas, and the phenomenal saxophonist Carlos Garnett, this is early 70s electric Miles at its finest, a brilliant radio broadcast released in a limited edition pressing on blue vinyl with white splatter.

Wonderful, joyous new recordings of Afro-Colombian roots music, from the Pacific coast of the country.
Currulao, cumbia, bunde, juga, requentilla, chalupa.
Warm, rolling marimba de chonta, thumping cununo and bombo drums, and rhythmic, digressive alegre, crisp, ringing, move-your-body guasas and maracas, all-out singing, gorgeous and exuberant, full of life. It's hard to track down music in this style, and this is a downright tremendous example, a musical elixir. In handsome, silk-screened sleeves, too.

A diverse collection for the second full-length album and an overtly political statement from Weller - lyrical targets included racism, excessive consumerism and the effects of self-serving governments. The only Style Council album to reach number 1 in the UK, Our Favourite Shop features Features the top-ten singles - Shout To The Top and Walls Come Tumbling Down, as well as some of Weller's best songs - Come to Milton Keynes, Boy Who Cried Wolf and Down in the Seine.

Released in 1987, this album saw the group concentrating on a more extreme, urban-soul style, influenced by soul music pioneer Curtis Mayfield and by the contemporary House music scene of the time, including the Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis sound. Includes top-ten hit It Didn't Matter, as well as tracks included in the band's surreal film Jerusalem. Released here as two LPs at 45 RPM.

Confessions Of A Pop Group is probably the band's most experimental and divisive album, with hints of Beach Boys, classical music (Weller was listening to Debussy and Satie, amongst others around this time) and jazz influences. Songs such as the nine-minute title track and the 'Three Piece Suite' of The Gardener of Eden, an avant-garde mix of classical and jazz stylings, were new territory for The Style Council, and an even more radical departure from the sound of The Jam. Straight pop-oriented songs exist though - the hit single Life at a Top People's Health Farm, How She Threw It All Away and Why I Went Missing are regarded as lost Weller classics.

Motivated by the underground club scene, Weller chose another new direction for the last album - his take on the UK deep-house or garage scene. Featuring Sure Is Sure, which went on to become a big bootleg dance hit throughout Europe and the instrumental - That Spiritual Feeling - one of the key cuts of the then-new acid jazz scene. However, upon its completion in 1989, it was rejected by the label Polydor, which led to the band breaking up. It was eventually released in 1998 on the box set, The Complete Adventures of The Style Council. Now available as the two LP 'promo' set.

You take a trio of the fnest traditonal griot musicians from Mali and put them in a studio with Western music's most revolutonary string quartet - and the resultng album is one of the most richly rewarding musical collaboratons you are likely to encounter.
Together the Kronos Quartet and Trio Da Kali have created an album that is rich in texture, hauntngly melodic and strikingly inventve as violins, viola and cello combine with balafon, ngoni and the powerful female voice of Hawa 'Kassé Mady'
Diabaté in transcendental style. David Harrington, who founded the Kronos Quartet in 1973, describes the album as one of the most beautful Kronos has done in forty years.' All three Da Kali members come from hereditary musical families, Balafon
player and musical director Lassana Diabaté was a long-tme member of Toumani Diabaté's Symmetric Orchestra and has recorded with Salif Keita, Taj Mahal and many others. A musician of great subtlety and inventon he has honed a virtuoso
two-balafon technique to perfecton. Bass ngoni player Mamadou Kouyaté is the eldest son of the instrument's greatest exponent, Bassekou Kouyaté and he holds down the groove in his father's band 'Ngoni Ba'. Singer Hawa 'Kassé Mady' Diabaté
is the daughter of Mali's greatest traditonal singer, Kassé Mady Diabaté, and the power, range and phrasing of her voice led David Harrington to compare her to the late queen of American gospel, Mahalia Jackson.
Kronos Quartet have earned an enviable reputaton collaboratng with contemporary composers such as Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Terry Riley and Laurie Anderson and with world music icons from Argentnian tango hero Astor Piazzola to Bollywood singer Asha Bhosle.

180GR. LTD. 1000 PCS.

When Adderley formed this group, including Cannonball's brother Nat Adderley (1931-2000) on cornet, and the superlative pianist Bobby Timmons (1935-1974). Timmons, then 23-years old, was already working with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, who enjoyed tremendous success with the pianist's composition 'Moanin'' and the album built around that tune. The Cannonball Adderley Quintet in San Francisco marked Adderley and Timmons' first of only two collaborative recordings. Their second and final album together, Them Dirty Blues, was recorded on February 1, 1960 (that album introduced the tune 'Work Song', a composition by Nat Adderley which would become one of Cannonball's greatest hits).

180GR. / 1 BONUS TRACK / LTD. EDITION 1000 PCS.

180g ./ LTD. EDITION 1000 PCS. / 1 BONUS TRACK

Among the hundreds of Ellington recordings, Side by Side - like its companion Back to Back- remains a singular album. Back to Back was recorded in a small group format, a sextet with just two horns (the co-leader Johnny Hodges and Harry Sweets' Edison) and a rhythm section composed of Ellington on piano, Les Spann on guitar, Sam Jones on bass and, oddly enough, Count Basie's long-time drummer Jo Jones. For an artist so widely recorded (and one with one of the most extensive -if not the most extensive- discographies in jazz history), his small Group sessions are considerably scarce.

180GR./ 2 BONUS TR.

"Finnish sax man Mikko Innanen introduces his massive ensemble Mikko Innanen 10+ on this Grotto Editions X We Jazz release featuring four tracks composed by Innanen and recorded live at the Moers Festival in Germany in May 2015. The new EP shows 10+ displaying both raw power and remarkable finesse. Innanen's way of using the large ensemble and it's able bodied soloists displays great vision and his ability as composer and arranger. The lineup is strictly A-list Finnish jazzers from trumpet man Verneri Pohjola to pianist Seppo Kantonen and drummer Mika Kallio, to name but a few. The minimalist artwork of the Grotto X We Jazz series is created by the Stockholm based graphic designer Johanna Lundberg.Airplay:Gilles Peterson Worldwide BB6, Deutschlandradio Kultur, Radio Helsinki, Bassoradio Helsinki, Finnish National Broadcasting company YLE"

FT. WYNTON KELLY / 180GR. LTD. 1000 PCS