Pop & Rock News

Five track new killer EP featuring Lost Balearic classics-not-classics, deep down rare boogie, gospel & soul and places beyond! Very tastefully edited & re-mastered to seduce you into merriment and dance 'Everything you’re about to hear is true'. Limited copies don't sleep on this one!

Hot news: There's significant evidence that the material for Schnitzel Cuts 5 has been created on steroids and therefor unfit for serving to the general public. Those seekers of pan fried & breaded perfection should be cautious.

Both sides have been seen to cause serious energy boosts on the dance floor. The heavy low end and suspense of the 'Strategy" and the all-out string and horn extravaganza of 'Were you ready for that" make this an energy packed dish that's best served with extreme care.

Limited repress !

Holy Grail South African jazz funk cover of Grandmaster Flash ‘The Message’.

Vive La Musique is proud to bring you an official reissue featuring South African artist - the late great Sipho Gumede - in his ‘Boogie Man’ guise and prolific producer Greg Cutler.
Originally released in 1984, ‘Jika Jika’ is an audaciously sassy version of Grandmaster Flash's 'The Message'. A Linn drum machine and Jupiter 4 synth recreate the feel of the hip hop masterpiece, whilst Sipho’s infectious bassline and a soulful female chorus, bring a whole
new dimension of South African groove to the cut. A mysterious rap vocal makes this arguably South Africa’s first ever hip-hop record.

The flip sees a jazzy synth taking the lead over a gritty version of the instrumental for an even sleazier experience.
Recorded at the famous mobile Battery Studios in Botswana, an essential space for black South African musicians during apartheid, the original vinyl release was limited to a few hundred promotional copies and is impossible to find. The release has been carefully
remastered for this official reissue, which comes in a beautiful colour sleeve, based on the original artwork.

"The remasters sound Brilliant!I am loving it all over again nearly 40 years later! Will be great to see this debut on 7"’.
Greg Cutler (Original producer)

Favorite Recordings proudly presents its new series of 7" reissues with the following concept: each side dedicated to one Funky French track coming with its original artwork. You just have to flip it!

On the first side comes "Givin’ It Up" by Belgian funk band Charms. Compiled by Charles Maurice on French Disco Boogie Sounds Vol. 2, the original vinyl 7inch was released in 1982 on famous Biram label and is now a very hard to find gem for reasonable prices. Not really surprising considering the immediate power of this Disco track, filled catchy synths lines, sweet vocals and fateful chorus.

On the other side comes another French Disco underground hit with “Pour moi ça va” by France-Lise. It takes only a few seconds to get driven on the dancefloor by the heavily funky guitar and bassline and the immediate energy of this song. Also compiled by Charles Maurice on French Disco Boogie Sounds Vol. 1, this is also a quite hard to find OG. With its charming French vocals and bouncing percussions, it should delight any Disco player.

Fatal Morgana was formed in the ghetto’s of Amsterdam at the end of 1988 when Mr. Fact and E. Smidt started to experiment with their equipment and get released their first single “I Believe” on the Belgium label Antler-Subway (home of Klinik, Poesie Noire, A Split Second, The Overlords…). From that point things started to take off very fast. Their mutual ideas ended up in a new maxi “Attention” (club-charting in several countries) and the debut album “The Destructive Solution” in 1990.

This album was composed in their own FM-Studio and showed another side of the band. Darker than before. You can find danceable EBM stuff together with some atmospheric and orchestral tracks. All songs contained their view on matters like politics, environment, oppression, etc.

“The problems of nowadays are solved with solutions which will lead to the total destruction of mankind. Most people think that these solutions will solve the world problems but… this is just a Fatal Morgana!”. This was written in 1990 as a prediction of what is a happening now… 30 years later.

“The Final Destruction” brings together all songs from their album plus some tracks from singles and compilations. Everything has been remastered and enriched with an extended artwork based on the original design. Limited edition of 600 copies.

Two ex-Yugo cuts reconstructed for the dance floor by the maestro Ichisan!

We’re proud to announce the re-issue of this obscure Hi-NRG banger by Bobby Orlando! Comes with an additional DJ cut by Vanzetti & Sacco. 'You can watch them making love on video…'

Kostantyn Isaev the man behind the project Volta Cab and also Rambal Cochet is now part of the Waste Editions family. The St. Petesburg’s colorful artist has just recorded 6 catchy and powerful tunes which are heavily influenced by the new wave/post punk music of the late 80’s , especially by bands like Кино (Kino) and the Soviet space disco as well.

Cracki Records (Agar Agar, Mangabey, Saint DX...) and Fauve Records, run by the DJ and producer Romain FX, are teaming up for the first time on "Make Italo Disco Great Again Vol.3", a new compilation dedicated to a trend of electronic music loved by all, Italo Disco !

"Make Italo Disco Great Again" is a project that gathers 8 artists from all over the world (France, Hong-Kong, Russia, Germany, Netherlands) under the same banner, with one goal : make people dance !

Featured on this new compilation : Mangabey, Maltitz, Arash & Quasar, Tre Turner, COEO and Romain FX !

repressed !

After so many emails badgering for a repress, we got 500 for you here, grab em quick!

Undisputedly one of the best, across the board crowd and D.J pleasing rare Disco 45s ever cut to vinyl, two sides of AAA grade party smashers. Cut as loud and Deep as we could manage , this fully licenced 45 won't be around long, it sells itself, don't hang about, no repress.

Zagreb-based Legalize Lambada are back with a four track jaunt taking in slow street trance, disco reggae, pumping house and lovers disco.

In The face of adverse clubbing conditions the irrepressible deejay harvey releases volume three of the mercury rising compilation triptych. Representing what could’ve been and what shall be in the hallowed hall which is Freddys nightclub pikes Ibiza in the future.

Put it on, turn it up, feel the magic till we meet again.

Favorite Recordings proudly present its new series of 7" reissues with the following concept: each side dedicated to one Funky French track coming with its original artwork. You just have to flip it!

On the first side, you'll get the amazing track "Funky Biguine" by West Indies band Crystal. Originally compiled by Charles Maurice on French Disco Boogie Sounds Vol. 2, the original eponymous album still goes for crazy prices. And there's a reason for that: "Funky Biguine" will bring the heat on the dancefloor with its enchanting synth bassline, its West Indies influences and melodious Funk arrangement. Don't miss the synth solo in the end!

On the other side, you'll find a reissue of "Looking For You" by J.E.K.Y.S from the island of Réunion. The song has just started and you're already overwhelmed by the strong bassline and the sirens of this French boogie anthem -despite this one has English lyrics. Originally, you'll find it compiled by Charles Maurice on French Disco Boogie Sounds Vol. 3. Expect lovely harmonic progressions and perhaps a more spacey groove, as in these beautiful bridges leading to chorus where the lyrics blend perfectly with the synthesisers line and Fender Rhodes.

In the 1990s, Malka Family landed from the planet Kif to convert France to their vibrant and crazy madness made of euphoric riffs and glittering suits. Direct heirs of George Clinton and his cosmic P-Funk, they quickly burned stages around the world with this communicative energy which only large ensembles have the secret to. France, Europe, Japan, Africa, Canada… They will be forced to stop in the early 2000s replaced by DJs and computers.

2021. June 5th. Three years after the reformation of the band, Ground Control received a message from "Major Thom" - the astronaut Thomas Pesquet himself. The post is clear! Le Retour du Kif produced in 2018 is played in space… @Thom_astro and all the crew members of the ISS are totally fans of the Malka Family’s Music!

A new era begins, the Jedi of Funk have swept away the machines and their logarithmic music, groove and heavyweight Funk reign in the galaxy once again. The Malka Family is releasing a new 14 track album, SuperLune, a crazy and heavenly funk combo!

This time, back to Malka Family’s old recipes. They spend hours, nights in the studio, writing songs, arranging horns, recording vocals, slapping the bass guitar… "SuperLune is a more introspective album, we did everything without any restrictions, and our funk is more accomplished than ever…" says Jo Mannix fresh out from mixing the album. French Radio Nova tells: "In their spaceship, the bass is definitely queen. From your head to your feet and (especially) through your buttocks, “Blue Funk” will awaken your senses. Without even realizing it, you've already been swept up in the crazy storm of the Malka Family. All the ingredients are there: the dance, the music and an atmosphere that only they have the secret to…" Last but not least, to accompany the interplanetary release of SuperLune, Malka re-embark in their spaceship for the next cosmic tour. Let’s go to the Moon! The SuperLune!

Favorite Recordings proudly present a new series of 7" reissues with a simple concept: each side dedicated to one French funky track coming with its original artwork. You just have to flip it!

Starting with "Funky Baby Love" by Paul Fathy, it could not get funkier! The French boogie track originally compiled by Charles Maurice on French Disco Boogie Sounds Vol. 3, is your perfect tool for the dancefloor. It brings together all the ingredients of a great production with irresistible disco strings, a catchy chorus supported by beautiful backing vocals and its final climax will bring the dancers to a point of no return.

On the other side, you get an exclusive reissue of West-Indies band Corail', with their song "Karukera C'est Comme Ça" taken from their eponymous album. This under-the-radar, zouky and funky track will surprise every listener with its appealing arrangement and lyrics: "Ça va danser / Sur l'île aux oiseaux". Soon, you won't be able to get it out of your head. The bass is groovin', the rhythmic guitar is infectious and digital keyboards are on point: we're pretty much sure this one will become sooner or later a banger of its own.

Three quintessential Krewcial variations on this absolute all-time classic. From stripped back intimacy to peaktime dancefloor anthem, made using the original multitracks.

Naples 1982, the earthquake leaves rubble and dismay, unease and misery, smuggling and heroin.
The reconstruction is a shadow that will last more than a decade, it is a shady deal between bureaucrats and criminals.
Naples is an open construction site and the redemption was long coming. There was the "music-music" of the Neapolitan Power, which conquers the national limelight, and a dark and marginal enigma called "VESUWAVE" (especially for those who have not experienced it), that remains so, even after many years. Naples is not a country for young bands that are not familiar with tradition and "bel canto" while the record industry inhabits a platonic and incorruptible world beyond the vault of heaven. At that time five Lucanians and three Neapolitans founded Little Italy, probably a tribute to the homonymous district of New York and inspired by Talking Heads, Contorsions, Polyrock, B-52's, Konk and Liquid Liquid. They have the freedom to experiment and smash the stages of the Italian peninsula festivals more attentive to the new waves as well as participate in some television broadcasts. They basically don’t unnoticed but in spite of the apprenticeship and the kilometers covered in three years of activity (from 1983 to 1985) all they had the chance to record were a couple of songs.

Fragments is a compilation made with archived materials that Futuribile Records releases on vinyl after having discovered and restored old unreleased tapes from back in the day and made available by the band members themselves. Seven tracks that highlight a collective in continuous transformation and outline their drivers and abilities.
Little Italy have a horn section that gives them that chromatic vivacity, a typically mutant funk guitar groove, two fatal and dazed female voices who speak many languages (English, French, Italian) reciting collages of cryptic texts evoking modernity through no-sense and cultured quotations; a funk thrill in the basslines and drums solutions that give a nod to the sly disco beat of a specific easy listening, elegant and refined Italo sound. A super-sophisticated sound with the right dose of fusion, proper New Wave, which in the more New-Yorker passages recalls the volcanic and sweaty sound of the contemporary and fellow citizens Bisca, another out-of-the-box band member. The warm Mediterranean wind blowing on some tracks certifies their origin and the exoticism leads Little Italy to drink from that oasis of escape.
After all, the escape from a world that does not contemplate banality is the synthesis of the 1980s thought. (Words by Fabio Astore)

From a previous album dedicated exclusively to Soul music by the Roman producer Nerio Papik Poggi, this new project in the artistic name 'The Soultrend Orchestra' was born in 2017. The album titlereleased that year, '84 King Street', definied the musical genre to which it is dedicated. In fact, the address is that of the legendary New York club Paradise Garage from where Disco music in the late 70s was definitively launched all over the world by deejays David Mancuso and Larry Levan in the first place. So Soul and Disco are the predominance of this first album which has had great success in the sector so much so that the band has performed live in important European festivals.

This new album entitled Live For Funk starts from where the first left us musically to enter much more on the Funk sound, especially the English one of the early 80s and the American one linked to jazz musicians such as Donald Byrd or Roy Ayers who have been re-evaluated so much in the years starting from the Acid Jazz scene from the 90s onwards.

15 songs in total, including three covers, all three already released as digital singles. The three covers are remakes of cult songs from past
years in the Disco Funk world and exactly Get Down Saturday Night by Oliver Cheatham, Outstanding by the Gap Band and Act Like You
Know by the Fat Larry's Band. In the project Nerio Poggi brought with him his historical musicians such as Alfredo Bochicchio on guitars, Peter De Girolamo on keyboards, Massimo Guerra on trumpet, Fabio Tullio on sax, Simone 'Federicuccio' Talone on percussion and Luca Trolli on drums. In addition to a dozen other guest musicians also 8 different singers among which the names of Alan Scaffardi, Al Castellana, Kenneth Bailey and Danny Losito of Kaigo stand out

An Italo Disco rarity from 1984 now available again as 12″ vinyl with exclusive remixes by Flemming Dalum and Also Playable Mono.

Re-issue of this Italo Disco rarity from 1984. Comes with Flemming Dalum and Longdrink remixes.

'I Don't Know Why' is Kraak & Smaak's debut single from their legendary album 'Juicy Fruit', and it's an outstanding collaboration with Grammy-nominated soul royalty - Mayer Hawthorne.

It's a true meeting of minds which is exactly what you'd expect from these two class acts. Kraak & Smaak throw down the gauntlet in a popping boogie track with the Tuxedo frontman delivering his signature sweet and catchy soul melodies over the top. Sublime!

The flip sees another jewel in the K&S arsenal. The album version of their hit single 'My Mind's Made Up', which features live band member and regular collaborator Berenice van Leer, is a more funked up spin on the original. Nonetheless it brings more fire to play with on this one-off 7" release.


b B: My Mind's Made Up (Album Version) feat. Berenice van Leer

Octoposse delve deep in the disco funk vaults once again, bringing two previously unreleased 7” versions of The Fatback Band’s stone-cold classic to the surface. Featured from the original 1975 session recordings, the drum-break 45 version of ’Do The Bus Stop’ coupled with the exclusive instrumental mix. A top choice pick amongst this seasons soul-funk-disco anthems on 45.

Sometimes it is meant to be. I remember years ago Ian Wright (a notorious 45s collector, not a footballer) played me Marion Javius, it was about $1 at the time. I really love the record, but the "sshumwere" vocal in the chorus and the cha cha at the end of the bars did my head it a little.

Roll on 15 years and I was speaking to my record fiend and friend David Haffner who helps with releases on AOTN. It turned out he had been sitting on the multi-track tapes for Marion Javius for some time and was cool with us doing a 45. Having multi-track was an opportunity for me to fix the little bug bears with the OG mix. On first listen, I was delighted to hear a vocal take without the "Shamwooon" on the chorus, so myself and Linkwood got on the case to rebuild an ECLA version without the Game Show bar ends and "Shamons" that had been haunting me for years.

So here we are, the ECLA version, with the OG on the flip in case you think I'm talking rubbish.

The next 12″ that Forest Jams proudly presents is the official re-issue of Nathalie Letertre’s ‘Rêveur’. The lush beauty of this French electronic synth-pop single was recorded in 1986 at R.B.O. Studios of which Titan Records was a connected label. Although the vinyl recording eluded many DJ’s and collectors of today, Nathalie and ‘Rêveur’ did enjoy local success at the time of its release. The popularity of ‘Rêveur’ upon its 1986 arrival could have been attributed to it’s airing on the “Free Radios” of post-1981 France and Nathalie’s several appearances on the regional ‘FR3’ TV Station and at the forest-encircled, emblematic ‘Châlet’ nightclub (1962-2010) in Strasbourg. This re-issue includes the original and instrumental versions transferred from the original tape as well as two fresh edits from the likes of Flemming Dalum & Spaziale.

The much acclaimed city pop masterpiece with flavors of boogie-disco, funk and fusion and the soulful voice of Eri Ohno. Originally released in 1981 and repressed on vinyl for the very first time from the original master tapes.

Limited edition.

Jimmy's 1982 Disco-Boogie anthem !!

Monsters are the result of the sleep of reason” said Goya, and today we live with its complete absence. Murder and grief, destitution and corruption surround us. War. Democide and the madness of the lies that adorn it - a casual dispersal of humanity and lives put to the fire.
Where is joy? Where is hope? Music and Art are all that remain to salve the spirit, yet they are done. A Twentieth-century devotion that now only exists as an outfit, a thin layer worn as social currency. What was previously a mountainous range for pilgrims to climb is now a warehouse stacked high, lit by LED, every last shadow removed. Served online as a superficial ghost, reanimated by computer in St.Vitus dance - those warm corners where we used to reside now stark and scratchy - no place left to hide, no orange glow to spark cognisance. Right against the wall, held by the throat, we are only free in dreams. Yet Music still lives here - in reverie amongst the world of spirits and memory, recharging and recuperating, awaiting rebirth. So let the psalms of decades past instead serve as armour - dress yourself with these plates and reside here while storms rage outside. Here are 12 dreams to serve as armour. Take hope with lord and dego, sit here with us in the warmth and dream again, for in the words of Hughes “if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.

Jessica Winter is the queen of sad-bangers, a purveyor of dark glittery synth-pop and a truly unique artist, as well as an acclaimed producer and writer (The Big Moon, Jazmin Bean, Phoebe Green, Walt Disco & more). Growing up on a diet of Nine Inch Nails and Siouxsie and the Banshees, her music is just as likely to channel Madonna, trap, pop, and indie disco. Much of her childhood was spent gazing out of the window from her hospital bed due to hip dysplasia, which led to a very vivid imagination to grow.

Across Jessica Winter’s debut EP ‘Limerence’ for new label Lucky Number, Winter shows her versatility as an artist, from the cinematic-pop aesthetics present in ‘Choreograph’, to a more raucous, dance-heavy approach with ‘Funk This Up’. Grounded within her unique, unmistakable style, Winter delves into everything from synth-pop, punk, and 80’s glam and cements her glimmering pop vision.

“Limerence was written during a time when I was trying to understand my relationship to love and my behaviours around it.” says Jessica; “Love confuses me so much and I think this EP demonstrates that.”

From his studio retreat in the heart of the Norwegian forest, Raaja Bones astral projects to adistant paradise, glancing the frosty tips of Norwegian fir trees on his way to exotic locations. Trading the Scandinavian fjord for a beach in Miami, Raaja finds a bounce in his step, moonwalking his way across groovy keys and shuffling beats through Boardwalks . A sonic palette echoing with the reverberations of bygone days, playing on a collective nostalgia, a Kodak moment turned gif, frozen on a telephone screen. Hazy chords and playful melodies glisten against temperate rhythmical zones as they roll through the arrangement. Disembodied vocals float in a steamy fog above warm tones, as Raaja's voice passes through the record like a spectral dream. A rusty vignette forms within crystalline tones as bold synthesizers are coerced into reluctant musical forms, ambling through cheery earworms and rousing rubber bass-lines.