Pop & Rock News

Tito Lopez Combo is a combination of some of London’s finest musicians headed by drummer Harbans Srih, best known for his playing on the Theme to Starsky & Hutch with the James Taylor Quartet. Featured on vibes is the legendary Harvey Mason on the opening track. Primarily instrumental the LP also features a great vocal performance by Debbie Taylor on the only non original track Blind,Crippled & Crazy.

"Matasuna" returns to Mexico again - this time to the musical epicenter "Monterrey" in the north of the country. The band "La Tribu" recorded there the song "No Te Quiero Mas (I Don't Want You More)", which was released on "Polydor" in 1971. The Latin soul joint is a gem among connoisseurs and it's difficult to get the original 45. Matasuna is therefore all the more pleased to be able to release the tune for the first time as an official reissue together with a fabulous edit by "Voodoocuts".

The A-side features the original of the song. "No Te Quiero Mas (I Don't Want You More)" is a killer uptempo Latin soul & funk song. The drums, horns, organ and bass create a fast-paced foundation that is enriched by the vocals of singer "Leopoldo 'Polo' Sánchez Labastida". A massive tune!


The B-side features an edit by "Voodoocuts", who has already put his musical stamp on various "Matasuna" releases. Here, too, he delivers another terrific edit that respectfully takes on the original material. His clever re-arrangement expands the song and his drums spice up the already great original. In particular, his solo drum breaks provide additional explosive moments and lead to a furious reinterpretation of the song.

"Monterrey" is the capital of the northeastern Mexican state of "Nuevo León". Along with "Mexico City", Monterrey is one of the musical epicenters in Mexico. On the one hand, through "Cumbia Tropical", the Mexican version of "Cumbia". This music achieved great fame especially through the Sonideros: music lovers and DJs who played that music to the neighborhoods with their sound systems.
But Rock music also has a long history in this city. One of these bands was "La Tribu", founded at the end of the 60s. Like many other rock groups of that time, they covered various songs of successful bands such as the Beatles, Chicago, Ides Of March and others. In 1969, their debut LP "Great Britains Best Sellers" was released: a compendium of cover versions of popular hits sung in Spanish.

In 1971 they recorded music with their own compositions and released an EP with three songs, where "Por Perderte (For Losing You)" became the band's most famous song. The success led them to be scheduled for the "Festival Rock y Ruedas de Avándaro" held in September 1971. It was a historic rock festival that took place in the spirit of "Woodstock" in front of a huge audience and went down in the musical annals in Mexico. The participation could have greatly influenced their musical path. But for unknown reasons their place was filled at the last minute by another band.

In 1972 they recorded new songs in order to regain the lost ground caused by their failure to participate at the Avándaro festival. However, the great success should remain denied to them. Also they never finished a second LP.

This was certainly due to the political situation that arose in the aftermath of the "Avándaro" Music Festival. Drug use, sex and nudity were denounced in media campaigns in newspapers, radio and television and had far-reaching and harsh consequences. Rock music was censored in many places: rock clubs had to change their music program or even close down. So this music really disappeared or had to go underground.

On the other hand, the death of lead singer "Leopoldo 'Polo' Sánchez Labastida" in 1974 made it very difficult for the band to record new music, so the band practically disappeared from the scene.

It wasn't until the new millennium that the remaining living members got back together to sporadically perform their "hits" as well as other cover songs at events in the north of the republic - especially their hometown of Monterrey.

Gang Stories is a super successful podcast produced by Deezer (over a million plays), narrated by NTM superstar Joey Starr. Blundetto scored the season 4, a Mexican ride into the life of Sandra Avila Beltran, the boss of one of the biggest cartels. The new Les Rythmes Ruban 7inch is a combination of Latin rhythm, acoustic guitars and trumpet riff altogether.

A side is a melodic and smooth arrangement, a perfect opening that leads into a hard funk pattern.

B Side is a straight dancefloor Latin funk, bringing fuzz guitars in the game for a sweaty jam.

King Most was a guest in multiple shows of Oonops' radioshow on Brooklyn Radio before he invited him for (meanwhile sold out) releases on his "Oonops Drops" and "Resense" selections via Agogo Records.

Now it's time to say hello again on his own label and his "Redropped" series where he strikes back with double-sided gold for any dancefloor. Enjoy two hot takes on classic songs which are edited perfectly in King Mosts unique style be that heavy beats or eased bossa rhythms.

As a full-time DJ King Most now sits at the top of San Francisco's DJ elite, shared the decks with favorites like Jazzy Jeff, Ali Shaheed Muhammad (A Tribe Called Quest), Rich Medina - his tracks got airplay by Gilles Peterson, DJ Spinna, Anthony Valadez and his songs on SoundCloud have logged over 300k plays!

Enough said - pre-listen to the tracks and get them on limited recycled black vinyl!

With this new set, Rocafort Records digs deep into the vaults of the fabled Colombian label Discos Fuentes to bring you six vintage tropical sound system bangers in the cumbia genre. It just so happens that all six of these tracks are considered classics in the Mexican "sonidero" scene and have been since the 1970s. It's not hard to see why, since they will make everyone dance whether they know what a cumbia is or not.

However most of the original 45s from that era are either very hard to find, far too expensive, or have been abused (some with the center labels erased), so here we present with this collection your very own sonidero "crate starter" with remastered sound and liner notes by DJ Bongohead that tell the story behind the tracks.

Volume Three in the Mr Bongo Record club series. Another showcase of recent vinyl finds and favourites from our DJ sets and radio shows. This is an extra special one however, as it lands in 2019, the year that we celebrate 30 years since it all began way back in 1989.

Compiled by David Buttle and Gareth Stephens, assisted by Graham Luckhurst and Gary Johnson.

Our much in-demand series of classic Brazilian 45’s are back! Featuring a vibrant new design, we’ve curated yet more wants-list regulars and unearthed fresh finds from Brazil that are destined to become collector’s items in their own right.

Number 80 in our Brazil.45 series, aptly sees a double-sider focusing on the awesome 80’s recordings by one of the giants of Brazilian music, Jorge Ben.

First up is the addictive, building groove of ‘Curumin Chama Cunh t Que Eu Vou Contar (Todo Dia Era Dia De ndio)’. Taken from the ‘D diva’ album from 1981, and originally released on Som Livre Records. A homage to the indigenous people and tribes of Brazil. The flip features one of Jorge’s most beloved Brazilian-Boogie joints, ‘Rio Babil nia’, which celebrates life in Rio, partying, the beach, and the city’s iconic monuments.

The song was originally released on a compacto and taken from the ‘D diva’ album from 1983, it features arrangements by the late-great, Lincoln Olivetti.

Explorations in Tradition, Technology & South African Dance Music (1983​-​1991)...

In the last decade, the breadth of plugged-in African music has become increasingly apparent. Samplers and synths have spread across the continent; nowhere is this more striking than in South Africa, where the end of apartheid coincided with the gradual move away from funk and soul-based township sounds and the emergence of electronic styles.

Enter Shangaan Electro, a seminal compilation released in 2010 of 180-plus bpm South African dance tracks; its rapid dispersal through global dance channels introduced ecstatic audiences to a previously marginal scene.

Shangaan Electro has its own prehistory in electronic variations of neo-traditional Tsonga music (Tsonga has replaced Shangaan as the favoured designation since the 1994 national elections). A new style materialised, pioneered in the early 1980s, integrating Western elements with electrified neo-traditional sounds, known as Tsonga Disco.

Tsonga Disco emerged at a time when apartheid-dictated radio censorship laws exerted near-impenetrable control over radio airwave access. Despite the restrictions, a raft of Tsonga musicians rose to national prominence.

Tsonga Tremors highlights a small but necessary sign of an emerging future. A stunning example of home-grown magic; something both organically arrived at and politically expediated through a cross-wiring of local rhythms, imported dance-pop, cultural censorship, emerging technology and limited means that became the catalyst in shaping the future of South African dance music, paving the way for Shangaan Electro’s international emergence nearly two decades later.

This compilation seeks to revive an important moment in Tsonga music history. These 18 tracks compiled by chOOn!!, a label specialising in obscure, archival and forgotten releases, should serve as a necessary starting point. Featuring early Shangaan-influenced dance music from legendary producers Paul Ndlovu and Richard Siluma alongside lesser-known Tsonga Disco and neo-traditional rarities from South Africa (1983-1991), they offer a disorientating and frenetically accelerated rhythmic bricolage of programmed drum patterns, cascading percussion, squeezebox keyboard lines and truncated vocal interjections sung in rich harmony. Infinitely absorbing and tangled with rhythm in a knotty osmosis between beat and pitch. The effect is both ecstatic and unusually elegiac, a DIY brand of pastoral neo-traditional soul, amplified minimalism and infectious body music.

Mastered for vinyl (2LP) and digital by Josh Bonati. Artwork by the acclaimed book designer Luke Bird.

Panthers prowling through a desert. Cowgirls swaggering into a saloon and kicking up dust. Riding shotgun with a Tarantino heroine. Having the fiesta of your lives under a giant piñata with all your friends. Los Bitchos’ hallucinatory surf-exotica is as evocative as it is playful: the London-based pan-continental group could well be your new favourite party band with their instrumental voyages that are the soundtrack to setting alight to a row of flaming sambucas and losing yourself to the night. They’ve got a bun-tight knack for a groove – and they’ve got the best fringes in rock’n’roll too.

Serra Petale (guitar), Agustina Ruiz (keytar), Josefine Jonsson (bass) and Nic Crawshaw (drums) hail from different parts of the world but met via all-night house parties, or through friends, in London. Their unique sound binds them together, though, taking in a

retrofuturistic blend of Peruvian chicha, Argentine cumbia, Turkish psych and surf guitars. They are London’s answer to Khruangbin, if Khruangbin spent all weekend getting slammed on cheap tequila in
a Dalston dive bar.

2LP with a 4-page colour insert

As Guadeloupean vocalist and composer Marie-Line Dahomay writes in her liner notes to the compilation, gwoka is more than a style of music, it is “a way of living and thinking.” Rooted in the social, musical and ritual practices of enslaved African people and their descendants on Guadeloupe, gwoka has always sought to express the spirit of independence and resistance authentic to the island.Building on its traditional call-and-response form and the ideas of pivotal figures like Gérard Lockel and Christian Laviso, modern gwoka evolved throughout the second half of the twentieth century to include funk, jazz and electronic influences.

Defined by its propensity for innovation and experimentation, this compilation charts the most radical changes to modern gwoka, capturing a sensory riot of traditional répertoires, rhythms and makè techniques fused with genre-defying experimentation.Whether heard in the deeply cosmic, spiritual music of Dao, Freydy Doressamy and Gaoulé Mizik, or the jazz funk inflections of Gui Konket and Horizon, the music here is united by the feeling of santiman ka, crucial not only to gwoka music but the identity of Guadeloupe at large.

As co-curator Cédric Lassonde (Bueaty & The Beats) writes: “What unifies these selections is the depth of the compositions, the experimentation around the santiman ka, and the spirit of resistance and liberation against slavery, be it modern or ancestral. With a thirst for innovation typical of the island’s creole culture, the ka spirit is deeply rooted in collective history and in a quest for identity.”

Co-curator Brandon Hocura (Séance Centre) continues: “The creative energy of these musicians is powerful and demonstrates a universal pursuit of resistance, freedom and identity. Their voices are distinct, but the chorus rises high and carries their message far across the sea.”

Lèsprit Ka: New Directions in Gwoka Music from Guadeloupe 1981-2010 is the first compilation of its kind to bring the sound of modern gwoka to a wider audience, with many of the featured musicians still active today. Presented as a double LP, the release features a specially commissioned essay by Guadeloupean musician Marie-Line Dahomey, and extensive liner notes from Cédric Lassonde and Séance Centre’s Brandon Hocura.

True to the hybrid nature of the music, the compilation seeks not to provide a definitive sound, but express the variety of contemporary forms that have evolved from gwoka. Just as Guadeloupean trailblazers Kassav fused gwoka with funk and cadence to create zouk, so did the musicians on this collection push gwoka in new directions rarely heard beyond its shores.

In the words of Gérard Lockel, “gwoka is the soul of Guadeloupe”

In the small inland town of São Domingos on Cape Verde's Santiago Island, The Ano Nobo Quartet delivers a fresh take on Koladera, a guitar-driven, subtly rhythmic sound of a lighter spirit. Their sound tells a global story with Cape Verde at its center, a creole melting pot in the middle of the Atlantic attracting the best from four continents: hypnotic, haunting Koladera guitars inflected with twangs of Salsa Cubano, Spanish Flamenco, Brazilian Samba Canção, Jamaican Reggae, Argentine Tango, Mozambican Marrabenta, and finished with a dash of Black American Blues. It's all here. Absent percussion, the quartet's sound still drips with rhythm. Rich, raw acoustic music you can dance to.

This album was recorded in three locations on Santiago Island: at homes, by the sea, and on the volcanic hills of Cape Verde. Each location used a mobile recording studio equipped with different mics placed near and far to capture both the Spanish and Chinese-made guitars and the natural environment that shapes the saudade, a melancholic longing, of Koladera. Each space has its own atmosphere heard in the interludes.

A double LP pressed at 45 RPM for an even silkier listening experience and packaged in a luxurious matte-laminated gatefold with a high quality 12-page booklet along with a hardcover bookcase CD with a 24-page booklet.

Black vinyl with download. Bio Ritmo is recognized around the world as one of the most intriguing and influential indie “salsa dura” orchestras of the last three decades. Their music is rooted in Afro-Caribbean rhythms mixed with retro big-band jazz, a little funk, and all things 1970s. The 10-piece powerhouse began in 1991 as an experimental percussion ensemble that grew out of the diverse local music scene of Richmond, VA, which also gave birth to GWAR, Honor Role, Sparklehorse, and Lamb of God, among many others. Bio Ritmo has received global acclaim, with critics heralding them as “Latin music visionaries” and “one of the most innovative salsa bands of the 21st century.” To commemorate the group’s 30-year anniversary, Merge and Electric Cowbell Records are reissuing Bio Ritmo’s 7-inch single “Piragüero” b/w “Asia Minor,” originally released on Merge in 1996. A-side “Piragüero” is an original track that features the soaring, soulful vocals of Rei Alvarez. The flipside is a mambo classic from the ’50s popularized by the great Cuban bandleader Machito, whom Bio Ritmo regarded as a major influence in its conception. This record is a snapshot of the raw essence of Bio Ritmo in its early years that laid the foundation for the band’s evolution and endurance.

Both as a visual artist with a past in the art world (his first solo exhibition opened at
the Amigos del Arte gallery in 1995), as well as a self-taught minimal
improvisational cosmic garage rocker -see his La Banda's (1993) and Jesus
Freaks (2004) projects-, Diego Hernández (Santiago, 1972), active public and
semi-privately in both fields since 1992, is one of the iconoclastically multifunctional
characters of the scene casually scattered around 'free improv rock, electronic
and psychedelic collectives', such as A Full Cosmic Sound, Kb Cabala,
Watchout!, or more specifically, The Psychedelic Schafferson Jetplane or False
Sir Nicholas, by way of independent DIY labels such as E.T.C.S. Records,
Cosmovisón Andina Registros, BYM, Yellow Moon and Productora Mutante,
within the more adventurous substrate of what has summarily been termed the
new Chilean psychedelic scene, which in this case may be seen as the
connection between local archival reference points of the nineteen sixties and
seventies, such as Los Jaivas, El Polen or the more extravagant moments of Los
Blops, the musical background, halfway between hardcore, conceptual prog-kraut
noise and classic rock, and an autonomous organizational outlook aimed at
practical achievements (rehearsal room or workshop home recordings, analog no-fi
immediateness, concerts and exhibitions set up among friends, and small or
outright minimal print runs of a work aesthetic and ethics equally associated to art
brut as well as to post capitalist popular mass culture, closely connected to the
cassette format rescued for home production values). Thus, DH has devoured
whatever music, cartoons and books he can get his hands on, operating handheld
cassette recorders in order to register noise and melodies privately, as well as
drawing all over his notebooks since he was a child.
As Los Knock Knocks, Diego (guitar plus a limited variety of keyboards and
effects) has published a self-titled EP, the Digital Garage Days full-length
cassette and a seven inch single with two songs taken from that tape (A Hit Is A Hit
and Crack) that came out in a fifteen copy run published by BYM, which brings us
to Procrastination (from the Latin "procrastinare", that translates into the prefix
pro, meaning 'forward', and the suffix 'crastinus', 'untill next day' from 'cras',
'tomorrow', this is, 'the avoidance of doing a task that needs to be accomplished'),
his first incursion into the long playing vinyl format, and which for various reasons
spent a long time awaiting publication, is approachable as an excursion of
exotica/lounge resonances synthesized into instrumental, persistently rhythmic
passages of accentuated panoramic-expansive, almost cinematic pulses, with
Carlos Santana one minute and Lou Reed the next on an astral journey at a beach
rave with some T-1000 robots in charge of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in a
dark wave mood, in what we could consider a firm step towards unknown territory,
removed from convention and with his own well established personal coordinates.
Published by Hueso Records in a limited edition of three hundred copies.
Los Knock Knocks / Procastination

Discover the wonders of Brazilian music from 60s, 70s & 80s. A wave of modernity invades the country and Soul, Funk & Disco influences merge with traditional genres such as Bossa Nova, Samba or Batucada. This union led to a colorful and cheerful groove symbolizing the transformation of Brazil.

Incredible early work from Joyce – the completely fantastic female singer who would go on to transform the sound of Brazilian music in the 70s, and have a huge global legacy for years to come! This set's got Joyce working with Nelson Angelo – a bandmate of the singer in the group A Tribo – and the pair write and perform songs with a vibe that's similar to her later work, but maybe a bit darker and moodier too! The music has an extremely haunting quality, and Angelo's presence adds a lot to Joyce's usual mix of lovely vocals and guitar playing – maybe pacing things out in a different way, with some rootsier elements reflected on the cover – but still handled with all the sophistication that we've really come to love from Joyce over the years. A gem throughout – and titles include "Tudo Comeca De Novo", "Sete Cachorros", "Um Gosto De Fruta", "Hotel Universo", "Ponte Nova", "Tiro Cruzado", and "Mantra".

After the recent reissue of their first eponymous album, Favorite Recordings proudly presents Vegas, the second LP from Venezuelan band Esperanto. Rare and sought-after for many collectors, it was recorded in between Las Vegas and Caracas and originally released in 1981. Following bandleader Jorge Aguilar in his musical trip to the infamous American city bathing into flashing lights and vivid colors, we're invited to an excursion in Disco, Boogie and Jazz-Funk territories. Finally reissued, fully remastered, Vegas will be available as Gatefold Tip-On Vinyl LP.

With great care and attention to details, Esperanto managed to create a very convincing sequel to their Jazz-Funk debuts. Vegas keeps indeed a perfect balance between various influences. Through energic disco beats with intense funky solos, catchy AOR-influenced songs, where Jorge delivers convincing vocal performance, or sunny jazz-funk slow jams, the album still reveals something quite authentic. And this feeling echoes surely the one that could have been felt by Jorge Aguilar while discovering USA on a trip - where it all started for the music he loves. Like sometimes a foreigner's enriching view on some local specialty, he surely brought with the band all his authenticity and young but vibrant experience while convincing at the same time major labels for distribution.

With certain notoriety coming with the release of their first album, Jorge Aguilar and his drummer Pablo Matarazzo planned to go to Los Angeles for a few gigs. But once there, they realized their contact had to leave for Tina Turner's tour in Europe. Before that, he invited them to come along to Las Vegas and eventually meet musicians there. Luckily, the plan worked perfectly: Jorge came back to Los Angeles with a lot of contacts then moved to Boston and NYC before finally coming back to Caracas. He told: "I was so impressed with this trip that I told myself that one day I would return to Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The first tracks I did them in Los Angeles with Kenny More, James Gadson and other session musicians from that city. Later, I took the tracks to Caracas where the musicians of the band recorded overdubs. After that, I returned to Los Angeles to master with Bernie Grundman who was still working in his small studio at A & M records studios in Hollywood. As can be seen in the title of some of the songs like "Hollywood", "Vegas", "Kenny's Place", were only the translation of my experiences at the time."

We taking you down to a trip to Bogotà, Colombia!
“Musica tropicale Colombiana contemporanea con rituales de electronica”, rising stars Romperayo hit it again with a blazing 7”.
On the A side, band leader Pedro Ojeda (Los Piranas / Frente Cumbiero / Ondatropica) delivered “Los Demonios De Aguachica” in combination with his fellow musicians, the result is an uptempo High-Life Caribbean gem!
The B side is a classic Romperayo hypnotic loop that will go straight to your inner soul, just like a Jodorowsky's movie.

On Delta Estácio Blues, São-Paulo-based singer, composer and actor, Juçara Marçal delivers an electric, unflinching take on contemporary Brazil where samba, tropicalia and maracatu are reimagined via hip-hop production techniques.

Created under an oppressive political climate as Brazil suffered from the pandemic, pain, anguish, chaos and anger run through Delta Estácio Blues. Co-produced by Marçal with fellow Metá Metá founder Kiko Dinucci the album was partly inspired by Danny Brown’s 2017
leftfield rap masterwork ‘Atrocity Exhibition’.

For fans of: Metá Metá, Moor Mother, Kiko Dinucci, Damon Locks, Neneh Cherry

What do you get when you blend a reverential take on the diverse canon of popular Caribbean music with an all-star cast of seasoned studio musicians from the heart of Brooklyn? The answer lies in Combo Lulo's much anticipated debut studio long-player, Neotropic Dream. The group takes its influence from the deep musical heritage of New York's cultural pedigree, especially the heyday of the city's Caribbean record distribution industry — a culture of music that still bubbles today in the crevices of the city's independent neighborhoods and record communities.

Despite the general scope of the muse, it's hard to precisely pin down this fantastic re-imagining. In some ways, that's why the title for the band's debut album is Neotropic Dream, a nod to the biogeographic region that encompasses the countries along the Afro-Caribbean diaspora, a region intensely diverse in its climate, fauna and flora. This theme manifests musically as you journey through Combo Lulo's original compositions and cleverly chosen covers. More than anything, it's a dreamy storm of styles and musical moments born anew. And just as weather swiftly travels and transforms the Caribbean, so the varied musical styles carry the listener from the album's start to finish. Not just a talented band's showcase of styles, but rather a sumptuous feast of savory and sweet ingredients on display, together. A musical curry roux, if you will, that fits together so harmoniously, it's no wonder the band engenders automatic appreciation both in their studio recordings and in their uproarious live shows.

Whether it's cumbia gone rock steady, or reggae gone chicha, or vocal vs. version, there's a little something for everybody on here, depending on where you drop the needle. With splendid original compositions and horn arrangements from band leader Mike Sarason and saxophonist Anant Pradhan, respectively, Combo Lulo is quickly proving themselves to be a powerhouse of the highest caliber.

Acid Coco left Colombia many years ago, but it’s never far away. Channelling cumbia, punk, champeta, reggaeton and other tropical rhythms with electronic sounds in recording sessions that doubled as therapy, the Colombian duo have created a work of visceral emotion that traverses musical landscapes. Love, Colombia and memories of past lives are some of the sources that inspired the group in the process of writing and creating their debut album, Mucho Gusto.

Sometimes being apart brings you even closer.

These tracks were recorded over two frenzied sessions in Geneva; ideas, lyrics, music, memories laid down on tape (sorry, hard drive), a creative purge driven by emotional and physical collapse. Creation proved to be the panacea and Colombia the shelter, a place where they could rinse away their demons by evoking dreams of yore, both musically and spiritually.
On Mucho Gusto you will find rhythms that speak of the density and diversity of Colombia’s music. These are styles of music made to make people dance, whether next to an ear–shattering picó sound system, a fanfare of brass, an accordion–led trio or even a family vitrola. They are styles that were born nostalgic, tied to the environments where they came, but also full of devilry, serious songs laced with one–liners and fun–poking wordplay, never afraid to mock itself. This is the spirit of Acid Coco.
On "Yo Bailo Sola" the cumbia beat is unmistakable, yet they break with the dogma of tradition (a recurring theme), the song’s female protagonist telling her would–be dance partner to leave her be, she wants to dance alone. The Afro– Colombian party music of champeta takes hold on "Caminando Vas" and "La Chancla", which use the bargain– bin Casio SK–5 keyboard for a sound heard on picó sound systems up and down the Colombian coast.
"El Amor de Mis Amores" continues the champeta love–in, its lyrics finding the duo in playful mood, speaking of "The Love of All Loves" who is instantly forgotten when the romance ends. "It’s the Colombian way of talking about the tragicomic way we live our lives", they say. "We’re used to making fun of everything, it’s our way to cope and survive all our tragedies."
These are tragedies both personal and national, speaking of a Colombia where, despite a peace agreement, activists and social leaders are still being killed on a regular basis. The scars across Colombia still have some way before they can heal, a theme that haunts the cumbia "El Lamento", a pure example of how a song about tragedy can still have a thumping beat.
"Sin Salida" is them at their most punk, transposing Suicide to the Caribbean coast with distorted bass and lo–fi beats, "Solo Estás Tu" brings techno merengue (a popular style from the 90s) bang up–to–date, and a softer side emerges on "Siempre En Mis Sueños", which fuses a ballad with a reggaeton beat. "Nuevo Día" has a pop influence which recalls the beginning of the Rock En Español movement in Latin America. Final track "Me Voy" pays tribute to son montuno, salsa being one of the main musical motors of these two Colombians.
The music of Acid Coco will ring true for anyone who has been paying attention to the diasporic music being made by Colombians around the world – Systema Solar, Combo Chimbita, La Rueda, Bomba Estéreo, the list goes on. Like Acid Coco, these are artists combining Colombian rhythms and folklore with ideas from global music and the Western avant–garde. It’s music with a Colombian heart and soul that’s impossible to shake: "Even if we don’t want to sound like Colombians, we always sound like Colombians", say the group.

Einer der besten Lounge-Serien der Welt, "Hotel Costes", setzt seine Vinylserie mit den Volumes 4-6 fort. Jede der von Stephane Pompouganc zusammengestellten Ausgaben hat ein individuell-exquisites Cover und Tracklisting. Vol.6 enthält 14 superbe Tunes von Tosca, Fingathing, Minus 8, Zimpala, Barbara Mendes, 3-11 Porter, Spiro Projecto, u.v.a.

Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, will celebrate the 20th anniversary of international superstar Shakira's first English language album with the release of Laundry Service
(Washed and Dried) (an expanded digital edition featuring four bonus tracks new to DSPs) on Friday, November 12 and a special, yellow opaque 12” vinyl edition to follow on 17th December in the US and
the UK/EU on 7th January 2022.

The tracklist for the vinyl mirrors the original tracklist from 2001, however the newly expanded 20th anniversary digital edition of Shakira's Laundry Service (Washed and Dried) premieres the previouslyunreleased remix of "Whenever, Wherever" from Shakira's electrifying halftime performance at Super Bowl LIV (February 2, 2020), the previously unreleased "Whenever, Wherever (Pepsi Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show Remix),“. Laundry Service (Washed and Dried) also offers three more bonus tracks newly available on DSPs: "Whenever, Wherever" (Sahara remix), "Underneath Your Clothes" (acoustic version) and "Objection (Tango)" (Afro-punk version).

Laundry Service generated six singles including the worldwide #1 smash "Whenever, Wherever" and the subsequent hits "Underneath Your Clothes," "Objection (Tango)," "Te Dejo Madrid," and "Que Me Quedes Tú" and "The One." Laundry Service topped the charts around the world in countries including Australia,
Austria, Belgium, Canada and Switzerland, while entering the Top 5 in other countries such as Argentina, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. Stateside, Laundry Service peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200 chart. Laundry Service has sold 18 million copies around the world, making it one of the top-selling
albums of the 21st century.

Everyone is searching for it and we’ve got it for you.

"Let's Dance The Bugalu/Aprende Mi Tumbao" by The Guantanamo Boys, could be one of the most sought after records in recent times, a jewel produced in the late 1960s by Gabriel Oller, Latin music pioneer in the United States, now reissued by the Gladys Palmera label as its debut title.

The passage of time has in no way lessened the power of this record’s rhythm. On the contrary, today the Afro-Cuban + groove + funk + Latin soul sound that has taken it to cult status among collectors and DJs is connecting more than ever. Just ask the MCs and selectors who say that The Guantanamo Boys is the holy grail of Latin sessions. And its re-release has been a long time coming.

Produced by Gabriel Oller as an EP on his SMC (Spanish Music Center) label, with no cover and scant mention of the participating artists, The Guantanamo Boys’ 7” single was an amazing discovery for the team at the Gladys Palmera Collection, the most extensive collection of Afro-Latin music in the world.

That’s why we´ve reissued this record on vinyl, preserving the original sound and with attention to every detail of the recording, which features multi-instrumentalist Ray Fernández (known in the 1970s for his alternative salsa-funk band Ray and His Court; pianist and arranger Papi Peña (Conjunto Impacto) and singer Rubén Ríos, better known as Mr. Pachanga, Cuban music pioneer in the U.S.

Gladys Palmera Records is the Gladys Palmera label, bringing you this exceptional recording in an exceptional format: 10”. Don’t let it out of your sight, because you won’t tire of listening to its sound, rhythm and sabor.

Gonzalo Benitez and Luis Alberto Valencia were kingpins of the musica nacional movement in Ecuador. Check them out on the cover, on a rooftop in Quito’s Old Town, surveying their dominion. In 1970, when Valencia collapsed onstage during a performance of the yaravi Desesperacion — ‘My heart is already in ashes’ — and died four days later, aged 52, his coffin was carried through those city streets on the shoulders of his fans.

They began singing as a duo in their mid-teens. During twenty-eight years together they recorded more than six hundred songs, for Discos Ecuador, Nacional, Granja, Ortiz, Rondador, Onix, Fuente, Real, Tropical, Fadisa, RCA Victor — and of course CAIFE.

Their exquisitely romantic harmonising is a sublime blend of collected forbearance and abject self-annihilation, underpinned and elaborated by the heart-piercing, improvisatory guitar-playing of Bolivar Ortiz. Effectively the third member of the group. ‘El Pollo’ sets the tone and intensity for everything that follows: listen to his soloing at the start of our opener, Lamparilla.

Musically a pasillo — a cross between a Viennese waltz and the indigenous yaravi rhythm — Lamparilla draws its verses from a poem by Luz Martinez from Riobamba, written in 1918 when she was 15, under the influence of Baudelaire and Mallarme. Another pasillo here, Sombras is one of the best-loved songs in the musica nacional canon, setting lines about undercover sex and loss by the Mexican poet Maria Pren, which were considered pornographic on publication in 1911.

And Benitez & Valencia looked back still further, to the indigenous roots of Ecuadorian music, as the key to its future. Carnaval de Guaranda is their take on a song dating back to the era of the Mitimaes, a broad group of Bolivian tribes conquered by the Incas and displaced to Ecuador. ‘Impossible love of mine / I love you for being impossible / Who loves what is impossible / Is the truest lover.’

Lovingly presented in a gatefold sleeve with spot-gloss, and printed inners, with stunning photos and expert notes. Excellent sound, drawn from original tapes, by way of Abbey Road, D&M and Pallas.

Parisian Kuduro ambassador DJ Lycox kicks the club back to action with six killer, syncopated workouts on the indomitable Príncipe, swaggering between sultry and banging Afrohouse variations

As part of Tia Maria Produções and with his solo shots, DJ Lycox has been a vital player on Lisbon’s finest label since 2014. The ‘Lycoxera’ session leads on from the beatdown kizomba tempo of his ‘Kizas do Ly’ (2020) EP with a return to the quicker meter of his sought-after debut album ’Sonhos & Pesadelos’ (2017), giving the club what it needs as feet return to the ‘floor in late 2021 to dance their worries away.

Cherry-picked by the label from Lycox’s prolific studio output, the EP’s six tracks surely represent a clarion call to the rave, but finely balance a sense of urgency with more tentative, melancholic pathos that smartly reads the room. From its nervy but insistent opening vocal declaration of back to business on the ‘Eu Mbora Dou Bué Show’, thru the breezy lilt of his keys and quizzical top lines in ‘Momentos Unicos’ Lycox coaxes rather than demands, with deeply persuasive results.

The intricate beat science of ‘Rapaz Sinistro’ is bound to snag bodies in its swingeing syncopation of log drums and plucked bass motifs echoing Amapiano styles, while the haughty jack of ’Southside’ follows with immersive soundsphere of water sounds, trumpeting elephants and eagle squawks that transport the city to a jungle mindset. ‘Yoga’ is a standout 3 minutes of deep Afrohouse pressure, eazing tensely infectious drums with coolly poised chords, and ‘Wildin’ is the most concentrated, deeply technoid example of DJ Lycox’s urgent but furtive appeal on what is set to be a definitive solo EP.

Some things take time to happen, some things perhaps take a bit longer than they should but, finally, we are delighted to present an issue of the iconic, and sought-after, Brazilian album 'Alucinolândia' by Zito Righi e Seu Conjunto from 1969.

The trippy, surrealist 60s cover design with hands holding eyeballs is somewhat confusing. Rather than the stoner acid rock record that the art may suggest, 'Alucinolândia' is actually a quintessential 60s gem, mixing samba, MPB, bossa nova, quirky organ-led mod-jazz groovers and easy-listening crooners with a relaxed cool swagger.

Zito Righi aka Isidoro Righi, the Brazilian saxophonist, instrumentalist, conductor and composer brought together an illustrious cast for this masterpiece, including the much-loved vocalist Sônia Santos. Sônia delivers a masterclass on the album's opener, and maybe its crown-jewel 'Poema Ritmico Do Malandro’. The song is fierce and driving with an enticing funk intro that bursts into a Samba / Batucada workout. A real monster that works magic on the dancefloor. Sônia would later re-visit this track in 1971 on a recording for Copacabana Records, which Mr Bongo released as part of the Brazil45 series. The Brazilian songwriter Roberval penned three tracks on the record, including another highlight and the far too short 'Birimbau'; a catchy Brazilian jazzy-samba dancer at its finest. Other musicians include the drummer Fernando who also recorded with the greats Dila & Guilherme Coutinho.

The fact the record was released in 1969 meant it was probably a bit out of step with its contemporaries in comparison to the works of artists such as Os Mutantes, Gilberto Gil et al. The core of 'Alucinolândia' is that of a more optimistic early to mid-sixties party feelgood vibe rather than the angsty, psychedelia, and rebellion of the Tropicália movement. Over 50 years since its release, the work can finally be judged on its own merit; and what a beauty it is.

ntroducing jazz harpist Amanda Whiting. From Wales, the home of the harp, Amanda has taken her classical roots and forged them in the path of jazz harpist Dorothy Ashby.

She has toured extensively with Matthew Halsall and the Gondwana Orchestra performing at Jazz festivals around the world. More recent collaborations have included recording with DJ Yoda and Chip Wickham and touring Wickham's latest album including appearances at Ronnie Scotts and Le Petit Halle, Paris.

Whiting's first album was recorded as a trio for CD in 2013, and pays tribute to Coltrane and Ashby with her own take on standards. She's joined by Deej Williams (bass) and Tony Robinson (drums). Here we've taken a selection of tracks for inclusion on vinyl, the best medium for serious music lovers.

Just 500 copies pressed and housed in a beautiful bespoke flip-back sleeve.

Recorded in 1972 at the legendary Landsdowne Studios in London, Cosmic Eye is an extraordinary piece of recorded music. Led by Indian born guitarist Amancio D'Silva, Cosmic Eye was a highly innovative studio experiment in which 'Jazz Meets World'. Following in the footsteps of other pioneering Landsdowne jazz recordings such as Joe Harriott & John Mayer's Indo Jazz sessions, Cosmic Eye is modal, but is also under-pinned with traditional Indian instrumentation and structure, resulting in a hypnotic, psychedelic jazz excursion.
Constructed into two conceptual pieces (Dream Sequences), two side-long jazz ragas showcasing D'Silva's soulful guitar playing reminiscent of his earlier 60s sessions, Hum Dono and Integrations, as well as his session work for the Bollywood film industry under the musical directors Laxmikant-Pyarelal. Featuring a host of UK and Indian musicians, Cosmic Eye is a Singular recording from a fervently rich period of British modern jazz. Finally this phenomenal jazz recording sees a legitimate reissue.

For 20 years the Tuareg culture and music has fascinated the world. Their quasi-sacred poetic songs inspire western songwriters like KURT VILE or JOSÉ GONZALEZ, while the virtuosity of their guitar playing fascinates guitar heroes like JIMMY PAGE, and finally the spirituality and meditative hypnotism impresses electronic music producers like FOUR TET.With two albums, IMARHAN has become an emblem of the new Tuareg generation, breathing new life into “Assouf”, the desert blues.

While most of current Tuareg productions are exiled to the United States, the group, led by Sadam, is part of their culture and their city, the capital of the Tuareg people, with an open door to the desert. By building their own studio in Tamanrasset Aboogi, Imarhan become the spokesmen of the young Tuareg lost generation (forgotten by Algerian, Nigerian and Malian governments).With their new album Aboogi, Imarhan manipulate the rights and ancestry of the Tuareg. By inviting the legendary Mohamed At Itlale aka Japonais (who has since, sadly, passed away) and the genius musician Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni, IMARHAN follows the heritage of TINARIWEN, the godfathers of Assouf. When they recorded with GRUFF RHYS of the SUPER FURRY ANIMALS, their brilliant and universal songwriting takes on every sense of the word. Finally, by inviting the Sudanese singer Sulafa Elyas, we understand that IMARHAN is open to all of Africa, defenders of the Tuaregs but above all spokesperson for the new African generation.

This album comprises hits from the repertoire of the most famous Cuban and Boriquen orchestras in the late '50s, performed by young Peruvian percussionist Ñiko Estrada and his sonora. However, due to contractual restrictions, the album was released under the fictitious Sonora MAG name.
Fascinated by the music of the Cuban orchestras broadcast on the radio and the colourful and flamboyant outfits they sported when played Lima, Ñiko Estrada named his first band Los chicos de Cuba (The Cuban Boys). In 1958 he put together his own group, sonora, signing to the local label Smith and recording a number of hits. At the same time, he also agreed to anonymously record more music for MAG, the Peruvian company owned by Manuel Guerrero. An imaginary Sonora MAG was born…

"El Negro Bembón con la Sonora MAG" includes, with the only exception of the instrumental track 'Té Para Dos', mostly vocal songs -guarachas and boleros- by the likes of Manolo Castro, Rafael "Chivirico" Dávila, and Vicky Zamora, being her take on 'Pepito' the biggest hit of the album.
This album is currently almost impossible to find in its original edition, so we are now happy to present the first ever reissue of "El Negro Bembón con la Sonora MAG" in its original artwork and 180g vinyl pressing.

Two monumental and mega rare versions of Totem’s original ‘Dedos’ (also brought to fame by Airto) with loads of head-nodding funky beats, drum breaks, jazzy arrangements… Dancefloor action guaranteed!

Side A is taken from Chilean band Fusion’s mega rare only LP (1975), while side B features Carlos Franzetti, of the ‘Cocoa Funk’ fame, and was released only in Argentina at the time. Killer!

São Paulo-based carnival collective and brass band combine retro horns with cumbia, baile funk, jazz, Michael Jackson & more

A Espetacular Charanga do França started as a political act, part of a recent movement which has seen the people of São Paulo reclaim their streets, turning their city into a revelation of Brazilian carnival. The group takes equal inspiration from the powerful charanga horn and percussion bands that stir the crowds at Brazilian football matches, and the expertly-arranged sounds of 60s

samba, finding that sweet spot between musicianship and music that makes you lose your shit. And they do it with humour, clear as day in their covers of Michael Jackson and pagode pop hits, and the baile funk and Balkan rhythms that sneak their way in to the tunes.

Since forming in 2013 the group have become an iconic staple of São Paulo’s revived carnival, generating crowds 15,000 strong. Though COVID-19 put a stop to them hitting the streets this year, in 2020 they made their way to carnival with over 60 brass players and 30 percussionists, declaring their bloco an anti-fascist zone, their reply to a political climate in Brazil that is suffocating human rights, culture and any hope for equality.

“I like to think that Charanga is an oasis in the middle of all the shit that we live, where you don't have to be worried about who you are, what are your preferences, whether you can be comfortable. If you want to parade with us wearing a tea towel you can, you won't be harassed. And it's also about music, it's about listening to music. We do this thing the whole year, we rehearse all year, we do too much so that people can just get crazy and not care about the music.” Thiago França

The group is the brainchild of saxophonist Thiago França, best known as a founding member of Afro-punk explorers Metá-Metá, and one of São Paulo’s most in-demand horn men, with credits on influential albums by Criolo, Elza Soares, Céu and Lucas Santtana. A

Formed by Alison Statton of much-loved Welsh avant-garde/indie pioneers the Young Marble Giants alongside guitarists Simon Booth and Spike, Weekend have been more than a cult band during their short career. La Varieté was their 1982 debut album a delicate collection of songs set against a jazz backdrop, switching across several musical settings including samba, cabaret, Afrobeat and truly original contemporary exotic pop. The album was originally released in 1982 on the Rough Trade label and still deserve the status of a masterpiece. It was revered by critics on release as a bold new departure from the prevailing post-punk ethos and served as a major influence on future indie stars as Saint Etienne and Belle And Sebastian.

Limited edition 7” single from 1983 rare one-off project with blind singer Nohemi (who can be nicknamed as the Kate Bush de los Andes) and written by Los Shapis guitarist and composer Jaime Moreira.

Legally blind from birth, Brazilian keyboard player, composer and bandleader Manfredo Fest learnt to read music in braille and began studying classical music at a young age. By 17 he had fallen in love with jazz (particularly the music of fellow blind pianist George Shearing) before becoming swept up in Rio's emergent bossa nova movement in the sixties. Moving to the States in 1967 where he would go on to work with fellow countryman Sergio Mendes, Fest recorded and self-released Brazilian Dorian Dream in 1976, enlisting Thomas Kini (bass), Alejo Poveda (drums, percussion) and Roberta Davis (vocals).

Like a turbo-powered, intergalactic elevator ride, Brazilian Dorian Dream builds on the principle of the modal diatonic scales of the Dorian mode, with influences of Brazilian rhythms, North American jazz and funk, and music of the European baroque and romantic era. The coming together of these intergenerational and intercontinental styles coupled with Fest's visionary use of the Fender Rhodes, Clavinet, Arp and Moog synthesizers (plus a whole load of effects units), makes for an album light years ahead of its time.

The miraculous wordless vocals of American jazz singer Roberta Davis are nailed so tightly alongside Manfredo's keys and mind-bending synths that it sounds almost alien. On the album's liner notes, Fest preaches Davis' ability highlighting how hard it is to sing such precise intervals so accurately. One of the tracks on which the vocals shine brightest is space funk stepper "Jungle Cat", which features hard funky drums, freaky synth lines and expert Rhodes comping. The track builds up and up before releasing into the unmistakable scat melody in the chorus.

A few years after releasing Brazilian Dorian Dream, Fest recorded and released his Manifestations album in 1979, featuring 'Jungle Kitten'': a new dancefloor focused variation on "Jungle Cat". At around 140 BPM 'Jungle Kitten' was possibly deemed too fast for statside dance floors, which explains why it never got a US 12" release. But the track became something of an underground hit at jazz dance clubs and all-dayers across the UK in the 80s and as a result it has probably become Fest's most well known track since.

The original Rio beach boy returns in style, with a new record of unabashedly feel-good Brazilian party music. Featuring Azymuth bassist Alex Malheiros (responsible for some of Brazil’s all-time funkiest low-end licks), a horn section including Valle’s go-to high-trumpeter Jesse Sadoc, and percussion master Armando Marcal, Sempre has all the masterful composition, exceptional musicality, and forward-thinking ideas you’d expect from the Brazilian titan, and it’s fresher than a fruity caipirinha in the Copacabana sunshine.

Updating Marcos Valle’s seminal boogie-era sound, Sempre spans ecstatic disco, cosmic samba, and late-night jazz-funk, drawing obvious comparisons to some of Valle’s late-seventies and early-eighties output. ‘Estrelar’ (1983), for example, an ode to the joy of exercise, has become one of the biggest Brazilian disco hits of all time. But lyrically the new album is more closely reminiscent of Valle’s progressive early seventies’ releases. Heralding love, tolerance and living in the present, while satirising political corruption, the new release recalls a time in which Valle, together with his brother Paulo Sergio, was writing subtly subversive lyrics in order to bypass the censorship imposed by the military dictatorship, which ruled over Brazil between 1964 and 1985.
The album marries compositional genius with pure pop perfection. From the blistering brass arrangements on up-tempo disco hit ‘Olha Quem ta Chegando’ and the infinitely classy ‘Vou Amanhã Saber’, to the nine-minute synth heavy instrumental funk stepper ‘Odisséia’, which gradually morphs into an interplanetary samba jam, the songs are tightened and given an extra coat of gloss, by London based producer Daniel Maunick (son of Incognito frontman Bluey). More moments of boogie delight come in the form of ‘Minha Roma’ (a musical nod to the famed ‘Estrelar’), and the sunshine anthem title-track ‘Sempre’.

Translating as ‘Ever’, Sempre is a testament to the continual drive for development and reinvention that has defined Marcos Valle’s astounding six-decade career. Ever changing, ever moving forward, he began as one of the second-wave of early bossa nova composers in the sixties, writing the world famous bossa standard ‘Summer Samba (So Nice)’ for his sophomore album ‘Samba 68’. After a brief stint in the States, Valle returned to Brazil, and the early ’70s saw the release of four ground-breaking Valle albums which incorporated progressive rock, psychedelic influences, pop, jazz, soul and cinematic arrangements. These albums would see Valle work alongside a number of hugely influential Brazilian bands, including Milton Nascimento’s backing band Som Imaginaro, the prog-rock band O Terco and jazz funk legends Azymuth. Returning back to the US in ‘75, Valle resided in LA, writing music for the likes of Eumir Deodato, Airto Moreira, Chicago, Sarah Vaughn and Leon Ware, before returning to Brazil once more, where after releasing a handful of hit pop records, he took a hiatus from recording.

Since the mid-nineties, Marcos Valle has been experiencing a renaissance with London based label Far Out Recordings, where his approach to music has remained, as always; decidedly open to new influences, possibilities and technologies. Sempre is Marcos Valle’s fifth album for the label, following 2010’s critically acclaimed Estatica.

Just in time for summer, Sempre is out on Vinyl LP/ CD on 28th June 2019 on Far Out Recordings, and Marcos Valle and band will be touring Europe in May /June (see below for dates).