Pop & Rock News

Afterschool Special: The 123s of Kid Soul The formula was simple: marry bubblegum and soul to the absolute sincerity of an enthusiastic child, cross your fingers and pray for airplay. But while the youthful sums of that formula may have grown up and walked away from their illusions of stardom, their permanent records remain.

By 1973, Michael, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Jackie were as hip as kids could get—household names, with lunchboxes, colouring books, a Saturday morning cartoon, and an Alpha-Bits cereal commercial pushing the J5 brand onto any kid with television reception. Their impressive run of four consecutive #1 singles playing on both pop and R&B stations cemented their appeal to both whites and blacks, prompting MGM to launch the Osmonds as the safer (read: white) alternative. And parents Well Michael had that wrapped up with his impossible-not-to-love mini-James Brown thing. Even their song selection straddled both sides, with Zip A Dee Do Dah' and ABC' for kids, and contemporary standards Standing In The Shadows Of Love' and My Cherie Amour' for the older crowd.

This extreme marketing and merchandising juggernaut created the kid soul explosion. A decade removed from our acclaimed Home Schooled compilation comes a fresh batch of talent show titans. With enterprising parents, neighbours, and teachers turning play dates into recording dates, groups like Magical Connection, Little Man and the Inquires, and Five Ounces of Soul emulated the Jacksons, who'd made grade-school stardom appear easy as ABC. Afterschool Special: The 123s Of Kid Soul contains 19 tiny tunes ranging from bilingual D.A.R.E. anthem, to James Brown bio, to young love and life beyond the playground.

Betty Harris' The Lost Queen of New Orleans Soul collects together the steady stream of amazing soul and funk singles issued by Betty Harris from 1964 to 1969, under the musical guidance of legendary composer, musician and producer extraordinaire Allen Toussaint, a collection which truly captures the heart and soul of the city of New Orleans during this era.
Betty Harris's powerful, fiery soulful vocals found a perfect accompaniment with the New Orleans' players that Toussaint put together to back her, which by the time of her funk classic 'There's A Break In The Road' were the legendary super-tight, super-funk New Orleans group The Meters.
With the extraordinary song-writing skills of Allen Toussaint alongside the powerful, soaring, confident and emotive singer and the groove of The Meters, you have an unbeatable combination. That Harris never in fact lived in New Orleans (she flew in from Florida for all her sessions with Toussaint's local in-house players) seems almost an irrelevance, a geographical aside to the defining New Orleans sound captured on the recordings featured here.
All of these singles featured here were released on Allen Toussaint and his business partner Marshal Sehorn's local New Orleans label Sansu, widely distributed in the southern city but in only limited quantities elsewhere. As a consequence, Betty Harris' music failed to achieve the commercial success of other New Orleans artists such as Lee Dorsey (who she recorded with) and The Meters (who backed her). And so at the end of the decade she stopped recording, retired from the music business to raise her family in Florida.
This is no reflection of the stunning musical quality of all these songs which encompass everything from southern soul, heavy funk, deep soul ballads and northern soul. Betty Harris has been a cornerstone of Soul Jazz Records' New Orleans Funk and New Orleans Soul compilations. Always soulful and always funky, Betty Harris' music contains the essence of New Orleans music. She is the Lost Soul Queen of New Orleans.
This collection is released on CD, heavyweight gatefold double LP vinyl (+ download code) and digital and comes complete with full biography, original label artwork.

A neighboured and befriended imprint of the Borft posse present it's first EP! Four great tracks going from dark techno up to left-fielded house!

Marshall McLuhan's once futuristic idea of the 'Global Village' has long since become a reality. Only now in pop music are we in many ways learning and experiencing what the legendary media theorist had already formulated at the beginning of the 60s. Through digital technological advances, the majority of pop genres have acquired a worldwide, global dimension. Hip-hop, blues, and jazz are all evolving in hundreds of regional varieties, far from their original roots. The music of Malia can without a doubt be seen as impressive evidence of this worldwide fusion. Moving from the southern African republic of Malawi to London at the age of fourteen, the singer spent her teenage years in the Big Smoke. Malia has recorded three albums in France with Andre Manoukian: Yellow Daffodils (2002), Echoes of Dreams (2004), and Young Bones (2007) - all originating in Manoukian's Paris studio.

In 2010 she got to know the Swiss producer Boris Blank, who, since the 80s as part of the
avant-garde duo Yello ('The Race', 'Bostich') with Dieter Meyer, has enjoyed great success.
In 2012, Malia published a tribute to Nina Simone, Black Orchid, which won that year's
ECHO Jazz Award. In 2014, Boris Blank produced the eleven electronically shaped songs of
her album Convergence.

Malia's sixth studio album, Malawi Blues/Njira, sees her clear, incisive voice again amplified in a soul-jazz context. 'A record that I've long wanted to make... Right now the time feels right for this... I wanted songs that reflected my awareness and ancestry', she sums up the vibe of the ten tracks on Malawi Blues/Njira. The album features thoughtful, mostly slow-paced originals, with sparingly orchestrated piano supported by guitar and percussion, amongst them an almost minimalistic cover version of the classic 'Moon River'. Right from the outset, Malia with Malawi Blues/Njira looks back to the sound of her childhood.
Not only in the rousing 'Love Is Holding Both Our Hands' are the local vibes of the Kwela- and Kwasa-Kwasa traditions heard. 'I consider it in all humility my duty to pass on the rich traditions and stories, in the same way my ancestors did, in the way my grandparents and parents did as we sat around the fire in the evenings in Malawi, eating nsima with pumpkin leaves and peanut sauce.

Of course that is just one aspect of her rich oeuvre. Her songs are characterised by artistic experiences and experiments, an amalgam that has shaped Malia's life, and a lasting effect of her time on the club scene in London, where she was able to sharpen her sense of timing in small bars in front of small audiences. Here she was always able to adjust her sets live and directly, evening after evening. This musical diversity is now to her benefit, when, on 'Chipadzuwa' (a slang term in southern Africa for pretty woman), she switches between the regional language of Chichewa and the world language of English with mellifluous ease. With the support of the virtuoso pianist Alex Wilson, comes a sound that is cool and yet warm-hearted. Malia has arrived in a global musical world which she works and fights for. 'To all the quiet warriors of this world', concludes Malia, 'Malawi Blues/Njira is for you!'

Praise Poems Vol.1: Gilles Peterson (Worldwide / Brownswood Rec.): One of my fave comps of 2015.

Praise Poems Vol.2: Oliver Korthals (Mojo / Out of Spectrum on Byte FM): Extremely well put together track listing of artists which I have never heard before. Left me with my mouth open... - highly recommend!

Praise Poems Vol.3: Dom Servini (Wah Wah 45s): This is incredible.

Praise Poems Vol.4: ...

Hurting, spiritually-charged, Creole genius from the island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, recorded in the 1970s and 80s.
Gorgeous songs seamed with Eastern mysticism and the Romantic sublime — about childhood, eschatology, sufferation, fishing, favourite island haunts — explore the existential homesickness of the Creole wanderer, at the crossroads of African, Indian and European cultures.
Gently hypnotic percussion, Fender Rhodes, ngoni, two plastic bags rubbed together... A one-of-a-kind blend of blues, maloya and outernational roots, with strains of reggae, prog and free jazz.

Soul Has No Tempo and 4101 Records are proud to present CLOAK - the debut album from Jordan Rakei.

Delving deeper into his creative well, Jordan has delivered a record that continues to push personal and societal boundaries, a visionary journey through groove based soul, jazz and hip-hop with hints of psychedelia and afro percussive rhythms. Written and recorded in his new adopted home of London, Cloak is a scintillating and timeless debut drawing influence and inspiration from the discovery of meditation, the separation from ego and a personal conversation with self.

With guest appearances from fellow Australian's Remi. and Ngaiire - and a feature cameo by the sublime Richard Spaven on Toko - Cloak will take you down the rabbit hole as Rakei expertly navigates explosive new boundaries, where colour and sound collide.

A raw and rare talent, Jordan Rakei today releases his debut album 'Cloak' via Soul Has No Tempo and 4101 Records . Recently completing UK tours with Hiatus Kaiyote and Jamie Woon - including a sold-out show at London's O2 Arena with the latter - the Brisbane native, London-based musician, producer, singer and songwriter, with a Disclosure credit to his name is making waves at home and abroad, his refreshing, modern take on jazz and hip-hop influenced soul resonating globally.

After a successful run of shows across Australia and New Zealand in February, Rakei has set his sights on the release of his debut album. 'Cloak' is a thirteen-track LP, featuring special guests, REMI, Ngaiireand Richard Spaven. Previous album previews, Talk To Me' and "Blame It On The Youth" are blissful journeys into the rhythmic elements of Afro-Beat and Jazz, exploring new boundaries that will delight new and old fans.

On the making and meaning of 'Cloak', Rakei says:

"It was close to midnight. I found myself silently standing on a beach in Piha, staring at the stars. I'd never seen the stars like that before. There was a stillness and oneness that resonated with me. I finally came to terms with the insignificance of "us" and set myself on a quest of self-discovery through music and meditation. It was a war against my pre-conditioned mind, but one I was willing to fight.
I, like many others, was enslaved by reactionary thought and emotional cause. I lived life through the projection of my ego. My ego would feed off negative emotions, public perception, expectation and a need to be somewhere I wasn't. It was through a conversation I had with myself, where I realised I had an ability to control it. This opened my mind to the concept of duality and my second self.

There is a deep space within us, usually cloaked by our emotions. A stillness. The more we delve, the faster we can re-wire our mind and un-learn all that we have been force fed. Shed your Cloak."

After the release of his critically acclaimed 2014 sophomore EP, Groove Curse, Rakei left Brisbane for the UK. He soon caught the attention of perennial UK electronic chart-toppers, Disclosure and Sam Smith, further growing his fan base and reputation as a talent on the rise. His co-written track Masterpiece' went on to close Disclosure's Grammy-Nominated sophomore album, Caracal, alongside featured artists NAO, Gregory Porter, Miguel, The Weeknd and Lorde.

Rakei's since performed solo across Russia, Italy, Belgium, Germany and Dubai - as well as selling out four London shows and receiving a personal invite to play Gilles Peterson's Worldwide stage at 2015'sOnBlackheath Festival. With UK supports for Caracal-comrade NAO, fellow soul-man Jamie Woon and Fat Freddy's Drop under his belt - not to mention headlining Annie Mac Presents live series - 2016 is set to be a huge year for Rakei.

IL DOLCE CORPO DI DEBORAH (THE SWEET BODY OF DEBORAH) is an early giallo movie with sexual coloring dated 1968 and the wonderful soundtrack is by Nora Orlandi, composer, violinist, pianist and singer born in Voghera (North Italy). The style of the giallo/thriller soundtracks of Orlandi is unmistakable, with a compositional use of semitone intervals accentuated by vocalizing and sound carpet of piano or distorted Hammond organ, all seasoned with rhythmic jazz. The orchestration is by Robby Poitevin and voices, as well as that of Nora itself, are of the sister Paola and Tony in the wild shake-beat "I Robot".

The album is presented graphically as the original came out on CAM but with 4 additional bonus tracks. Audio poured from the original master tapes in full stereo. Three years later, Nora Orlandi, in 1971, would carry out his other masterpiece LO STRANO VIZIO DELLA SIGNORA WARDH (The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh) of which a song is finished in Kill Bill 2 by Quentin Tarantino.

Limited edition of 500 copies in a glossy sleeve.

1970 Italian obscure psychedelic jazz-rock masterpiece composed by Sandro Brugnolini and recorded in Rome at Dirmaphon Studio. Performed by SILVANO CHIMENTI (Guitar), GIORGIO CARNINI (Organ), GIOVANNI TOMMASO (Bass) and ENZO RESTUCCIA (Drums).


STRICTLY LIMITED EDITION of 300 NUMBERED COPIES on multicolor vinyl with Mp3 download card.

"Sway", a beautiful and groovy instrumental jazz-rock record, is the debut album by Sante Palumbo, a pianist who grew up musically in the Northern Italy jazz scene. His 'bandmates' - Hugo Heredia, Sergio Farina, Marco Ratti and Lino Liguori - make Palumbo and his Orchestra a real supergroup! Never reissued on vinyl since its first release in 1973, its unique sound makes it a cult LP, deeply sought after by collectors all over the world.

The progressive jazz groove library holy grail album produced in 1971 by Gianfranco Reverberi, composed by himself, Stefano Torossi and Sandro Brugnolini, and performed by the musicians from NUOVA IDEA band.

STRICTLY LIMITED EDITION of 300 NUMBERED COPIES on multicolor vinyl with Mp3 download card.

'More Early Pakistani Dance Music From Original 7" Vinyl 1965-1978' - The music on this compilation is quite different from the filmy music that was featured on the Karachi airwaves at the time. Bands like The Bugs, The Thunders, The Fore Thoughts, The Panthers, The Drifters, Incrowd, The Talisman, etc. played at parties, local hotels, dancehalls or wherever they were invited. They made the hip crowds take the dancefloor and move to the groove. Those were exciting days like we may never see them again.

Conrad Rook had asked Ornette Coleman to compose the music for his film "Chappaqua". In june '65 David Izenzohn, Charles Moffet, tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders and several other musicians started recording the album.

Conrad Rook eventually decided to go for a different score for his film, as he found it was so beautiful that he feared it would overpower the imagery and action of the film.

Since its original release by Columbia in 1965, Chappaqua Suite has been out of print most of the time or available in small quantities, until now...

The seminal 1994 double album by the original PAINKILLER line-up BILL LASWELL, JOHN ZORN and MICK HARRIS on vinyl for the first time! Avant-jazz, grindcore, dub and ambient melt into eerie tracks of haunting atmospheres.

When PAINKILLER started in 1991, their first two albums "Guts Of A Virgin" and "Buried Secrets" (both released on extreme metal label Earache) were heavy attacks blending grindcore and free jazz that brought together the musical backgrounds of the three protagonists: drummer MICK HARRIS had just left grindcore legend NAPALM DEATH, JOHN ZORN explored new extremities with his NAKED CITY project while BILL LASWELL had as a member of roaring free jazz quartet LAST EXIT ( PETER BRÖTZMANN / SONNY SHARROCK / RONALD SHANNON JACKSON) proven that he was not only a visionary producer but also an accomplished bassist. But it is their 1994 double album "Execution Ground" that remains the opus magnum of the brilliant trio: ZORN's unmistakable shrieking saxophone, HARRIS' pounding drums and LASWELL's growling sub-bass lines were given heavy mixing desk treatment, resulting in extended tracks that are no less intense than their early works but display the full range of the musicians' skills. Soaked with reverb and delay, avant-jazz, grindcore, dub and ambient melt into eerie tracks of haunting atmospheres - even more so in the ambient versions of disc 2. Mastered and cut by RASHAD BECKER at D&M Berlin, "Execution Ground" is now available on vinyl for the very first time as 2x 180gr LP incl. a download code and insert in a limited edition of 500 items.

Soul Jazz Records' are releasing Tee Mac's 'Night Illusion', a lost classic Nigerian Afro soul meets disco boogie funk album originally released in Nigeria in 1980 as a private-press release of 1000 copies on the enigmatic artists' own label. Impossibly hard to find, the record remains practically unknown outside of Nigeria.
Tee Mac Omatshola Iseli is a multi-instrumentalist, composer and arranger and features on Soul Jazz Records' recent collection Nigeria Soul Fever - Afro Funk Disco and Boogie alongside Joni Haastrup, Christy Essien and others, as well as on a recent compilation 'Nepa Oh Nepa' (released on Hot Casa earlier this year). The timelessness of this soulful, ground-breaking funk jazz lost masterpiece 'Night Illusion' leads to comparisons with James Mason's legendary lost classic album Rhythm of Life, with his unique individualism and intensity hinting at the boogie funk of groups such as Mass Production and Slave so loved by artists such as Moodyman and Theo Parrish. While Fela Kuti is now a cultural icon of Nigerian music throughout the world, the recent crossover success of William Onyeabor shows just how much undiscovered Nigerian music remains waiting to be explored outside of the country.
Tee Mac was born in Lagos, the son of a Nigerian princess and a Swiss diplomat. He picked up the flute at age 7 and ten years later was studying classical musical in Switzerland under his uncle the composer J.J. Direndirger. Returning to Lagos, Nigeria in 1970 he formed the heavyweight afro rock group Tee Mac and Afro Collection (which included Johnny Haastrup on keyboards and The Lijadu Sisters on vocals). This band was famously joined by the legendary Cream drummer Ginger Baker who came to Nigeria to play with them in 1971 (captured in the film Ginger Baker in Africa).
At age 24, Tee Mac moved to Germany where he co-wrote and recorded the European disco group Silver Convention (whose 'Fly Robin Fly' became number one in the USA charts). This enabled him to return to Nigeria where he formed his own label SKJ Records to release his self-financed album Night Illusion, as well as buying two nightclubs and also investing in a number of mineral mining companies!
Tee Mac continues to live in Lagos today and travels the world as a composer - one of whose pieces is The City of Mer Kailash (2009), a two-hour ballet featuring over 60 dancers and a 100+ piece orchestra.
Soul Jazz Records are releasing this lost classic Nigerian album as a strictly limited-edition 1000 copies worldwide exact-replica artwork reproduction LP (+ sleevenotes + free download), CD and digital album.

16 early vocal & jazzy tunes from the Golden Age of Jive & Kwela in South Africa. Released originally on fragile shellac discs only. Shellac is a very delicate material but the music survived thanks to the archives of ILAM. A truly great source of South African music is being preserved here for new generations, to inspire young and hopeful musicians and singers from all over the world. 180gram vinyl.These pearls of musical genius were recorded in the glory years of jive and kwela, the years 1940-1965 . On side A it is not difficult to recognise the similarities to American popular music like R&B and small combo close harmony singing.
But most of all notice that typical South African swing, that jive, that incredible smooth form of African jazz on side B; Kwela!
The rarest and most treasured finds are collected here, some with the original spoken intro's, 'sketches' as these were called. Characteristic conversations between the musicians, often in a humoristic slang, always extremely funny.
Now available as the fourth issue in the series 'Township Jive & Kwela Jazz'.

2 track Single from David Isaacs released by Dub Store Records

Child of Somebody is the new album from multi-award winning composer, producer and bass player Ross McHenry. Known for his work as bandleader of The Shaolin Afronauts as well as his 2013 First Word release 'Distant Oceans', Ross has been described as "The Future of Australian Jazz" (PBS FM) The album was recorded at Red Bull Studios in New York in mid-2015 alongside regular collaborators Mark de Clive Lowe, Myele Manzanza and Dylan Marshall as well as seasoned NYC players Marcus Strickland, Corey King, Tivon Pennicott and Duane Eubanks. The resulting album represents the arrival of a unique antipodean voice in modern jazz, one that sits comfortably alongside artists like Kamasi Washington and The Robert Glasper Experiment at the vanguard of contemporary improvised music. Child of Somebody is more than just a collection of compositions, it is an album in the truest sense. Thematically inspired by the world events that have dominated our headlines over the last 12 months this new body of work clearly represents an artistic and compositional progression since the release of Distant Oceans in 2013. "I wanted to create an album that drew on sonically on the template of Distant Oceans but that was harmonically and melodically more ambitious. The album captures my thoughts and feelings at a time where our world is rapidly transitioning towards a future that we are unable to fully envisage but that we are a part of whether we like it or not. It's an album about the choices we make as individuals and as communities and the intensely personal way we experience the world around us. I feel that as artists we have a responsibility to reflect honestly on the way we see the world." Having recently completed an Australian national tour that included supporting Robert Glasper at the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, Ross will be touring the world in the second half of 2016 in support of this album release - look out for dates in the coming weeks.

Yet another chapter in the long and fruitful collaboration between Piero Umiliani and the director Luigi Scattini, who films here a Mondo Movie between fiction and documentary, settled in the world of pornography. Umiliani returned to his jazz roots and composed fifteen tracks, recorded with some of the best Italian musicians of the time: Cicci Santucci, Sam Genovese, Roberto Scoppa, Enrico Pieranunzi, Franco D'Andrea, Bruno Tommaso, Gegè Munari, Carlo Coppotelli and Antonello Vannucchi.

Few would challenge the claim that the 1960s and 70s have been the most fertile two decades in the history of popular music ever - a period which, regardless of genre, laid the foundations for everything that has followed. What is more, this period was so fertile that the speed with which tastes changed left a colossal amount of incredible music to gather dust - perhaps most famously a profusion of funk, soul and jazz. It was a musical legacy that lay mouldering until the rise of sampling in late 80s hip-hop precipitated a mad scramble for lost crates and suddenly, the music that became known as 'rare groove' - for obvious reasons (it was rare and very groovy) - experienced a phoenix-like rebirth.

A quarter of a century on and a million funk, soul, jazz-funk and 'rare groove' compilations, re-presses and re-releases later, you'd think that cupboard was bare and yet, even now, there are gems to be found. PT is re-releasing the rarest of cuts that often were originally only limited runs or private pressings and new compilation Down & Wired is just such a collection.

Always soulful, this features everything from mod groovers and northern stompers, to funky bumps and latin heaters. Yet while the quality of all cuts is immediately apparent, only one of the seventeen has ever been previously been compiled because when PT 'do' rare, they don't mess around. In fact, if these tracks were steaks - they'd still be walking around eating grass.

Few would challenge the claim that the 1960s and 70s have been the most fertile two decades in the history of popular music ever - a period which, regardless of genre, laid the foundations for everything that has followed. What is more, this period was so fertile that the speed with which tastes changed left a colossal amount of incredible music to gather dust - perhaps most famously a profusion of funk, soul and jazz. It was a musical legacy that lay mouldering until the rise of sampling in late 80s hip-hop precipitated a mad scramble for lost crates and suddenly, the music that became known as 'rare groove' - for obvious reasons (it was rare and very groovy) - experienced a phoenix-like rebirth.

A quarter of a century on and a million funk, soul, jazz-funk and 'rare groove' compilations, re-presses and re-releases later, you'd think that cupboard was bare and yet, even now, there are gems to be found. PT is re-releasing the rarest of cuts that often were originally only limited runs or private pressings and new compilation Down & Wired is just such a collection.

Always soulful, this features everything from mod groovers and northern stompers, to funky bumps and latin heaters. Yet while the quality of all cuts is immediately apparent, only one of the eleven has ever been previously been compiled because when PT 'do' rare, they don't mess around. In fact, if these tracks were steaks - they'd still be walking around eating grass.

Reissue of an Library Music gem from 1972. Massimo Catalano was a jazz trumpet player. For him, the step from jazz to library music was short and easy (even if he wasn't so prolific) and he started working his friend Remigio Ducros - composer and piano player. The joint efforts of Catalano and Ducros produced two albums only: "Idee 1" (also featuring Casa in a track) and the beautiful "La Fatica" - a weird, hard to file item, mixing avant-garde, proggy moods, electro rhythms, jazz and musique concrète

Limited high quality pressing with handmade silk screen company sleeve. 500 copies only.

Nobody will dance the boogaloo like you do! Certainly not once you have these two steaming dance floor fillers in your record box. Grab your copy while you can.

Barrett Strong certainly found himself in the right place at the right time in 1946, when his family re-located to Detroit. The city
already had an active music scene, and Barrett became part of it when his three sisters included him in their gospel group, The
Strong Singers. During the fifties they befriended the local star Jackie Wilson. It was through Wilson that the eighteen year-old
Barrett was introduced to Berry Gordy, whose local record label, Tamla, was trying to find its feet. Gordy recognised Barrett's piano
and singing skills and took him on... and the rest became musical history.
With its raw enthusiasm and songwriting, this album is a great example of the earliest development of Berry Gordy's
Motown empire. Barrett Strong had bags of talent and helped bolster the company finances with his hits. He was the first major
Motown star, and this fine album celebrates his earliest work.

Back in the 1960s, some of the best songs emerged from a New York building located at 1619 Broadway called The Brill
Building . It was where the cream of young songwriters, paid by music publishers, would sit and churn out hits for the
booming teenage market. One of the first and most successful songwriters was Carole King, a teenage girl from Brooklyn and a
piano-playing prodigy. Carole's demo for "It Might As Well Rain Until September", originally intended for Bobby Vee, was so
good that it was issued as a single and reached No.3 on the UK charts in September 1962. Enjoy this superb LP with songs from
the early years of her career including "Queen of the Beach", "School Bells Are Ringing" and "Oh Neil", her answer to Neil
Sedaka's "Oh, Carol".

The legendary Don Cherry with his great 1966 quintet featuring Gato Barbieri (tenor sax) Karl Berger (piano) Bo Stief (bass) Aldo Romano (drums) which can also be heard on three fine releases on ESP-Disk, and with the New York Total Music Company in 1968. Taken from an excellent radio broadcast for the first time in a glorious vinyl release.

Recorded live by KPFA Radio in the halls of the sculpture court of the San Francisco Museum of Art on January 16, 1965, the day of 39th birthday of fellow pianist and longtime associate David Tudor, this historic concert with John Cage opens with a duet for Cymbal with contact microphones agitated by a wide gamut of objects and concludes with Variations IV in which loudspeakers outside the performance space interacted with speakers next to the audience. First release on vinyl for a very important piece in the history of minimalist music.

Originally released in 1974, Big Fun presents music from three different phases of Miles Davis's early-seventies 'electric' period.

Sides one and four ('Great Expectations' and 'Lonely Fire') were recorded three months after the Bitches Brew sessions and incorporate sitar, tambura, tabla, and other Indian instruments. They also mark the first time since the beginning of Miles Davis's electric period that he played his trumpet with the Harmon mute which had been one of his hallmarks, making it sound much like the sitar. This contributed to creating a very clear and lean sound, highlighting both the high and low registers, as opposed to the busier sound of Bitches Brew which placed more emphasis on the middle and low registers.

'Ife' was recorded after the 1972 On the Corner sessions, and the framework is similar to tracks from that record. It has a drum and electric bass groove and a plethora of musicians improvising individually and in combinations over variations on the hypnotic bassline.

Recorded in March 1970, 'Go Ahead John' is an outtake from Davis's Jack Johnson sessions. The recording is a riff and groove- based, with a relatively sparser line-up of Steve Grossman on soprano saxophone, Dave Holland on bass, Jack DeJohnette on drums, and John McLaughlin on guitar with wah-wah pedal.

Hailed as one of the most beautiful women in the world, Sophia Loren began her film career in 1950 at the age of 15,
working her way through bit parts and minor roles and on to international stardom, winning awards that include a Best
Actress Oscar (1961), a Grammy, and several Golden Globes. Additionally, along the way she established a reputation
as a singer of considerable talent - as the recordings on this compilation surely confirm. Enjoy this superb LP including
"Felicita", "Almost In Your Arms" and "Tu Vuo Fa' L'Americano".

During an interview recorded at the KPFA Radio Steve Reich and John Gibson introduced an East Coast performance of Steve Reich masterpiece 'Four Organs' as well as an exciting recording of Ghanian drumming which the artist recorded in Ghana. They also introduced the music of Philip Glass, playing a tape of his historical Music in Similar Motion.

As the grandson of the late trumpeter Doc Cheatham, and former student of legendary jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd, trumpeter Theo Croker is an artist steeped in jazz tradition and he is rapidly becoming one of the hottest jazz artists of this era.

Croker's own music reveals a love of organic funk, soul, and groove-oriented hip-hop. Helping to raise Croker's musical vibrations is his ensemble, featuring saxophonist Anthony Ware, keyboardist Michael King, guitarist Ben Eunson, bassist Eric Wheeler, and drummer Kassa Overall. Also adding color to the proceedings are guitarist Femi Temowo and saxophonist Irwin Hall. Dee Dee Bridgewater appears on the classic tune 'Love From The Sun'. Croker proves he's got deep ideas about life, spirituality, and how music connects us all. It's an ebullient, groove-conscious message perhaps best expressed on the bass-heavy 'It's Gonna Be Alright.' Trading the song's title phrase back and forth like old friends high-fiving on the street, you can hear Croker and his band smiling.

Vanessa Paradis is the self-titled third album and English debut by popular French singer Vanessa Paradis. It was originally released in 1992. Lenny Kravitz, who was Paradis' partner at the time, produced and co-wrote the album.

The album was one of her most successful and most critically acclaimed, proving to be both popular in France and the UK. It spawned several successful singles, including one of her most recognisable songs 'Be My Baby' and the hit single 'Sunday Mondays'.

The album is also noted for being the first time Paradis took creative control over her music. The album also became memorable for being extremely innovative in its use of instruments, and for its replication of the 60s soundscape on virtually every song.

Killer funk compilation full of highlights from the music archives of Josef Weinberger Ltd. in London, pulled from the most famous library albums on labels like JW (Josef Weinberger/ Theme Music), IA (Impress) or PM (Programme Music). First selection of 16 lost tracks by Toni Campo, Midas Touch, Trevor Bastow, Sidney Dale or Vick Flick, oscillating between jazz-funk, soul music, proto techno and eastern-tinged disco, with open drum breaks, fat bass lines and plenty of horns/ wah wah/ organs/ vibes/ flutes/ electronic effects. Recorded from the master tapes, restored and mastered 2016 for 6-Page-Digipack-CD and limited vinyl LP, comparable to the best works of KPM, De Wolfe or Bosworth.

Lichter is the first piece in a new series of electroacoustic dub compositions by Mouse on Mars. It is a massive, lurching, up-tempo percussive epic - a long-haul runaway train that keeps switching tracks without ever losing sight of its destination. Like much of Mouse on Mars' output, Lichter deftly traverses a varied sonic landscape, encompassing elements of jazz, dub, krautrock juke and psychedelia.

Lichter incorporates trigger robots built by Sonic Robots' Moritz Simon Geist and features Andi Toma & Jan St. Werner's long time collaborator Dodo NKishi on percussion. The basic layers were produced with a feedback software called smrph, and were edited, arranged and used as a foundation for various live and studio improvisations. The 13min track, Lichter, is a concentration of these various layers. Lichter is also a highly visual piece, and performed live it employs a bespoke network of light-bulbs triggered by data derived from the sounds and pulses of the composition.

Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner have been recording and playing live as Mouse on Mars since 1993, and have released over a dozen albums. In 2014 the duo celebrated their 21st birthday with a curated festival at Berlin's HAU theatres, and an accompanying compilation which showcased the band's numerous collaborations.

The video for Lichter was created by Paul McDevitt and Jamie Lemoine.