Buscar:mille

A showcase of premium West Coast sunshine pop!

During the summer of 1966, Sandy Salisbury arrived on the Sunset Strip in his VW Bug. Knowing little of the mainland from his childhood home of Kailua- Kona, Hawai'i, he became friends with his next door neighbor, who invited him to a party. At that very same time, Curt Boettcher was an up and coming producer, who the Association chose to produce their first album. Introduced by a mutual friend, and Sandy's neighbor, Boettcher and Salisbury went on to form the Ballroom, and later on, the Millennium.

Salisbury and Boettcher saved all of their publishing demos - demos that were to become future material for the Millennium and/or Ballroom. Untouched for over 50 years, step back in time to 1967 with this rare collection of southern California sunshine pop!

The Vaselines have long been celebrated by musicians and music enthusiasts across genres and across the globe, including super-fan Kurt Cobain. Emerging in the mid-eighties under the wing of The Pastels' Stephen McRobbie, The Vaselines came to define the sly wit and irresistible pop hooks of the era's Scottish indie scene. Sub Pop's remastered reintroduction of The Way of The Vaselines is an opportunity for those already familiar with the Scottish band's brief career to delve deeper into their body of work, while those new to their music can experience firsthand why so many hold them in such high regard. Originally mastered from a cassette tape (and since remastered on much better equipment in the new millennium), The Way of The Vaselines compiles the band's two EPs (Son of a Gun and Dying for It) and their sole LP release (Dum-Dum). This 2023 edition is the first ever vinyl release of The Way of The Vaselines, which originally came out on CD in 1992.

The Vaselines have long been celebrated by musicians and music enthusiasts across genres and across the globe, including super-fan Kurt Cobain. Emerging in the mid-eighties under the wing of The Pastels' Stephen McRobbie, The Vaselines came to define the sly wit and irresistible pop hooks of the era's Scottish indie scene. Sub Pop's remastered reintroduction of The Way of The Vaselines is an opportunity for those already familiar with the Scottish band's brief career to delve deeper into their body of work, while those new to their music can experience firsthand why so many hold them in such high regard. Originally mastered from a cassette tape (and since remastered on much better equipment in the new millennium), The Way of The Vaselines compiles the band's two EPs (Son of a Gun and Dying for It) and their sole LP release (Dum-Dum). This 2023 edition is the first ever vinyl release of The Way of The Vaselines, which originally came out on CD in 1992.

After another long hiatus, BEAM is excited to present the vinyl debut from rising star and nebulous neurocranker, al dente. Over 4 tracks, ‘Running and Falling Over’ captures the stylistic fluidity we have come to know and love from Naarm/Melbourne. Ever present traces of Dozzy refract through millennium-bug tech-house, summoning atmospheres of deep yet ever playful psychedelia. Opening the A-side on ‘Ripple Effect’, pulsating drones and echoes of organic percussion slither through the undergrowth. ‘Soft Steps’ explores fractal resonance amid expansive, evolving textures. Flipping to the B-side, ‘Unfold’ melds paranoiac psy with a wiggly tek swagger. Slow-burner ‘Blue Trial’ closes out the EP – a proggy roller for the eternal sunrise.

Mixed by Declan Vadasz
Mastered by Marco Pellegrino @ AnalogCut
Artwork by Rudi Schmidt
Type by Studio Joel

2024 BLACK VINYL REPRESS.
One can hardly imagine the genre-busting, culture-crossing musical magic of Outkast, Prince, Erykah Badu, Rick James, The Roots, or even the early Red Hot Chili Peppers without the influence of R&B pioneer Betty Davis. Her style of raw and revelatory punk-funk defies any notions that women can’t be visionaries in the worlds of rock and pop. In recent years, rappers from Ice Cube to Talib Kweli to Ludacris have rhymed over her intensely strong but sensual music.

There is one testimonial about Betty Davis that is universal: she was a woman ahead of her time. In our contemporary moment, this may not be as self-evident as it was thirty years ago – we live in an age that’s been profoundly changed by flamboyant flaunting of female sexuality: from Parlet to Madonna, Lil Kim to Kelis. Yet, back in 1973 when Betty Davis first showed up in her silver go-go boots, dazzling smile and towering Afro, who could you possibly have compared her to? Marva Whitney had the voice but not the independence. Labelle wouldn’t get sexy with their “Lady Marmalade” for another year while Millie Jackson wasn’t “Feelin’ Bitchy” until 1977. Even Tina Turner, the most obvious predecessor to Betty’s fierce style wasn’t completely out of Ike’s shadow until later in the decade.

Ms. Davis’s unique story, still sadly mostly unknown, is unlike any other in popular music. Betty wrote the song “Uptown” for the Chambers Brothers before marrying Miles Davis in the late ‘60s, influencing him with psychedelic rock, and introducing him to Jimi Hendrix — personally inspiring the classic album ’Bitches Brew.’

But her songwriting ability was way ahead of its time as well. Betty not only wrote every song she ever recorded and produced every album after her first, but the young woman penned the tunes that got The Commodores signed to Motown. The Detroit label soon came calling, pitching a Motown songwriting deal, which Betty turned down. Motown wanted to own everything. Heading to the UK, Marc Bolan of T. Rex urged the creative dynamo to start writing for herself. A common thread throughout Betty’s career would be her unbending Do-It-Yourself ethic, which made her quickly turn down anyone who didn’t fit with the vision. She would eventually say no to Eric Clapton as her album producer, seeing him as too banal.

In 1973, Davis would finally kick off her cosmic career with an amazingly progressive hard funk and sweet soul self-titled debut. Davis showcased her fiercely unique talent and features such gems as “If I’m In Luck I Might Get Picked Up” and “Game Is My Middle Name.” The album Betty Davis was recorded with Sly & The Family Stone’s rhythm section, sharply produced by Sly Stone drummer Greg Errico, and featured backing vocals from Sylvester and the Pointer Sisters.

With I Will Make a Baby in this Damn Economy, Fat Tony embodies the kind of quixotic figure he would rap about; a singular entity who’s motivated, confident, and hungry; a perpetual-motion-machine locked in a staring contest with his country. It’s the latest album in his catalog produced entirely by L.A-based producer Taydex since 2020’s Wake Up. Later that same year Fat Tony released Exotica, and ever since he’s demonstrated he is in his own lane as a professional rapper with the mind of a magician, as quick to conjure an image as pull it out from under you, deftly manoeuvring through so many details and references a listener feels as if they have witnessed the work of an illusionist. He paints these canvases inside of songs that rarely spill past three minutes; they’re pocket-sized diaries replete with acute observations, character studies, microdoses of storytelling, and single-minded ruminations on a topic that bud, blossom, and fade before too long. Fat Tony & Taydex’s I Will Make a Baby in this Damn Economy cements Tony’s status as someone whose albums are not so much lyrically-lyrical as they are picaresque.
As with any Fat Tony project, the bars are tight as ever, but are so fluid for the 34-year-old it’s almost easy to take for granted the details, warmth, and humanity inside his free-associative tales of day-one friends who’ve passed, edgelord grifters who want to spit game, and nights on ketamine. Taydex’s production sprints through disparate yet simpatico styles, dipping its toes into Pi’erre Bourne-esque bass (see lead single “Spectacular”), house (“Loosen Up”), and even hyperpop. Meditations on loss and grief are woven throughout, but Tony throws a few curveballs as well: Consider “Alexis,” which sweetly reflects on a long-term platonic friendship. Taydex finds a Teddy Riley-indebted New Jack Swing groove just deep enough for the feeling to land and underlines the song’s sincere candor. This is the appeal of Fat Tony writ-large: his boisterous voice and genial personality invite you to the party, then you stick around to hear what he’s saying, which is frequently more introspective and complex than one assumes.
Written and recorded in Taydex’s new studio in North Hollywood, Tony says, “We had much more freedom and flexibility in making this album and you can hear it. It felt like a family project.” If the album is comfortable and loose, it is also dense and substantial. The album’s final two tracks contextualize the immediacy of what came before it—the mezcal with ices drank, Paul Wall swangin’ through to drop knowledge, the Polaris Prize-winning rapper Cadence Weapon providing a vibe check. “Make a Baby” accounts for Tony who’s seen everything, and knows he’s met the one to be a father with, and yet chooses to take his time to get it done. Taydex’s beat recalls turn-of-the-century R&B and the millennial promise of an endless good time. Sombre closer “Jasper, TX” is Tony coming to grips with the story of James Byrd, Jr., a Black man from East Texas dragged to his death by three white supremacists in 1998. These songs are not only trademarks of Tony’s fastidious rapping—they are deeply personal examples of his approach to artistry and life itself, where every decision is made in the shadow of history.
It’s here the mission statement of I Will Make a Baby in this Damn Economy comes into focus—you get the sense he means it, he’s ready for it, he’ll fight for it. He’s waiting to take the world at its word.

Twice Removed From Yesterday: 50th Anniversary
Deluxe Edition
Twice Removed From Yesterday is Robin Trower's first solo album after
leaving Procol Harum in 1971 and hooking up with Frankie Miller in the
band Jude
Featuring ex-Stone The Crows bassist/ vocalist James Dewar and Reg Isidore on
drums, it was originally released in March 1973 and heralded the beginning of this
legendary power trio, paving the way for Robin to be the deserved guitar hero that
he is. A mix of hard bluesy rock, the album contains nuggets of genius
throughout, none more so than on the title track, I Can't Wait Much Longer, and
Daydream amongst others.This new deluxe version is housed in a gatefold sleeve
and is remastered for 2023. It features 3 unreleased versions of album tracks, the
B side of the "Man Of The World" single (Take A Fast Train) and 4 BBC John Peel
sessions.

A slice of seriously sought after US disco from La She Ba on Heavenly Star Records that has been a firm favourite of master selector Hunee and trades hands for £125+ on the secondhand market, gets a fresh reissue and remaster for a new generation of listeners.

Formed of Catherine Miller on vocals, produced and written by Harvey Miller and arranged by the mighty Patrick Adams, La She Ba – You've Been Hunchin' hits in all the right spots. Exquisite instrumentation with swooning strings, enchanting chords and tight drums laying the foundation for Miller’s celestial vocals to be the star of the show. Heavenly by name, heavenly by nature this is a must have 12 inch for any collection.

"Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You", das neue Album von Bonnie Prince Billy, erscheint am 11. August 2023 bei Domino und ist ein Album, das so gemacht wurde, wie es gehört werden sollte, in einem Raum. Der Klang von Menschen, die zusammen sind, die miteinander spielen, kommunizieren. Streicher, Holz, Tasten und Stimmen singen.

Das Album wurde in Louisville von Nick Roeder aufgenommen, mit Sara Louise Callaway an der Violine, Kendall Carter an den Tasten, Elisabeth Fuchsia an Bratsche und Violine, Dave Howard an der Mandoline, Drew Miller am Saxophon und Dane Waters' Stimme. Die 12 Songs umfassen ein breites Spektrum von Musik. Von der Klassik bis zum japanischen Acid-Folk und darüber hinaus. Und was vielleicht noch wichtiger ist: sie vermitteln ein Gefühl von Gemeinschaft, Zusammenhalt und dem Triumph des Vermächtnisses, das das Mark und das Herzblut dieser Musik ist.

"Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You", das neue Album von Bonnie Prince Billy, erscheint am 11. August 2023 bei Domino und ist ein Album, das so gemacht wurde, wie es gehört werden sollte, in einem Raum. Der Klang von Menschen, die zusammen sind, die miteinander spielen, kommunizieren. Streicher, Holz, Tasten und Stimmen singen.

Das Album wurde in Louisville von Nick Roeder aufgenommen, mit Sara Louise Callaway an der Violine, Kendall Carter an den Tasten, Elisabeth Fuchsia an Bratsche und Violine, Dave Howard an der Mandoline, Drew Miller am Saxophon und Dane Waters' Stimme. Die 12 Songs umfassen ein breites Spektrum von Musik. Von der Klassik bis zum japanischen Acid-Folk und darüber hinaus. Und was vielleicht noch wichtiger ist: sie vermitteln ein Gefühl von Gemeinschaft, Zusammenhalt und dem Triumph des Vermächtnisses, das das Mark und das Herzblut dieser Musik ist.

A fascinating blend of jazz and contemporary classical influences, How Time Passes is the debut album from the envelope pushing trumpeter and composer Don Ellis Known for his extensive musical experimentation, particularly in the area of time
signatures, Ellis began his long career in the New York City's post bop and avantgarde jazz scenes of late 1950s. Most notably he appeared on Charles Mingus'
Mingus Dynasty, and albums by George Russell and Maynard Feguson. But he
also worked with, among others, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Lionel Hampton, and
Woody Herman. On subsequent albums, Ellis would take an even wilder direction.
Here, on his first recoding date as a band leader, the experimentation begins. Ellis
stretches the boundaries of bop-based jazz playing with time, tempo and meter. It
is the start of his exploration of Third Stream - a fusion of jazz and contemporary
classical music. The album title itself - How Time Passes - was taken from an
article written by the controversial German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen on
the "function of time." The exceptional section features Ron Carter on bass, the
underrated Jaki Byard on piano and saxophone, and Charlie Persip on drums. The
LP includes extraordinary liner notes by Candid A&R man and producer Nat
Hentoff, and noted musician, historian and writer Gunther Schuller - the originator
of the term "Third Stream" - giving a context and insight that adds to the
experience of hearing these extraordinary performances.

The tenth volume of Numero's elaborately packaged Cabinet of Curiosities series, L80s finds the group exploring the far-flung corners of the global downtempo underground. This 12-song mix tape weaves icy hot coldwave, Sausalito seafood jazz, Glaswegian goth, makeshift Madonna, Sade spoofs, and Brat Pack balearic into a high-waisted, party-ready pair of danceable denim.

black repress !

No. 1 in the charts in more than 20 countries with more than 2.6 million physical singles sold, a mythical video clip that is shown H24 on all TV channels, nominated for an MTV Award & Victoire de la musique, the most broadcast French song in the world for two years in a row... 20 years later, Starlight still arouses an unfailing love. The opportunity to revive this classic with a '20th Anniversary' collector's vinyl reissue.

Starlight exploded and broke all records when it was released at the beginning of the millennium. 20 years later, the industry has completely transformed but the track still boasts eloquent statistics with over 200M streams! A classic that is all the more notorious for having been part of the advent of a new genre that would mark the history of music: the "French Touch", shaped by Daft Punk, Stardust, Cassius, Etienne de Crécy, Modjo, and thus The Supermen Lovers.

The opportunity to revive this icon with a collector's vinyl reissue; new mix, new master, new disco version.

Mike Cooper wrote his final songwriter record, a suite of gloaming glam-rock anthems performed with a spiritual jazz trio, while living on the Costa Tropical of Granada, Spain, an era when he was considering retiring from music altogether. A chance encounter and a last-ditch record deal convinced him to make one last album, which he recorded in 1974 at Pathway Studios in London, with “The Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World,” featuring the inventive South African jazz rhythm section of Louis Moholo and Harry Miller with UK saxophonist Mike Osborne. This first-ever reissue includes a bonus CD of Milan Live Acoustic 2018, a previously unreleased solo set that represents Cooper’s return, after forty-four years pursuing free improvisation and electronics, to a new, deconstructed approach to singing, steel guitar, and songcraft. The deluxe LP+CD edition also features a six-panel insert with additional artwork and an essay by the artist about both records. The deluxe 2xCD gatefold edition features an eight-panel version of the same insert. In the wake of his magisterial triptych of early 1970s avant-folk-rock records Trout Steel (1970), Places I Know (1971), and The Machine Gun Co. (1972) the British songwriter, guitarist, and fledgling improviser Mike Cooper retreated to the Costa Tropical of Granada, Spain. With no prospects for touring or recording again, his fiery band the Machine Gun Co. had disintegrated. Cooper sets the scene in his liner notes of the first-ever reissue of his unjustly forgotten next album Life and Death in Paradise (1974): No one came running with offers of fame and riches, and we fell apart, and I left the country and headed for the beach, disillusioned and a bit disorientated musically. I went to Almuñécar in Andalusia, a place I had been going since 1969, because a painter friend from Reading, Rowland Fade who made the collage in the gatefold of my earlier album Trout Steel had moved there in 1968. It was in this synthetic coastal “paradise,” unmoored and adrift, considering retiring from music altogether, that he began tentatively writing new songs. A chance encounter with producer Tony Hall, who offered Cooper a last-ditch record deal on Hall’s nascent Fresh Air label, convinced him to make one last album with the stipulation that he could assemble what he called “The Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World.” I told Tony that I would do it if I could hire some of my South African jazz musician friends that I had used on my Pye/Dawn albums and some friends from Reading that I still knew and admired. I called up Harry Miller, Louis Moholo, and Mike Osborne, who were in fact a trio at the time … and several local Reading heroes, including the singer-songwriter Terry Clarke. The result, recorded live with minimal overdubbing at Pathway Studios in London, was Life and Death in Paradise, an utterly singular suite of gloaming glam-rock anthems performed with a spiritual jazz trio comprising the inventive South African jazz rhythm section of Moholo and Miller with UK saxophonist Osborne. Unlike anything else in Cooper’s extensive catalog. Fresh Air fizzled, and Life and Death became Cooper’s final record as a songwriter, having pushed the form as far as he could. Drifting north from Spain back to the UK, he fell into the scene of the London Musicians Collective (LMC) including Paul Burwell, David Toop, and saxophonist Lol Coxhill, Cooper’s bandmate in the Recedents and fully embraced free improvisation. He was still, however, interested in singing and lyrics, so, influenced by Tom Phillips, William Burroughs, and Brion Gysin, he began experimenting with text collage and cut-up techniques, arriving at his own hybrid compositional strategy for improvisatory songs. The previously unreleased solo set Milan Live Acoustic 2018 represents Cooper’s return, after more than four decades pursuing free improvisation and electronics, to a new, deconstructed approach to singing, lap steel guitar, and songcraft. Presented here together with Life and Death in Paradise, the two records provide fascinating bookends to Mike Cooper’s long, mercurial, and pioneering practice as a songmaker.

Eine Frau verschwindet nach einem Erdbeben plötzlich spurlos. Was ist mit ihr geschehen? Die drei ??? begeben sich auf eine gefährliche Suche. Die junge Schneiderin Maya erscheint nicht zur Arbeit am Camelot Theatre. Justus, Peter und Bob haben den Verdacht, dass das Rätsel, das die Theaterleitung veranstaltet, etwas damit zu tun hat. Denn ein hohes Preisgeld ist zu gewinnen. Ist des Rätsels Lösung auch die Spur zu Maya? Die drei Detektive ermitteln, während erneut die Erde bebt ... Sprecher:innen und MitwirkendeErzähler Axel Milberg Justus Jonas, Erster Detektiv Oliver RohrbeckPeter Shaw, Zweiter Detektiv Jens WawrczeckBob Andrews, Recherchen und Archiv Andreas FröhlichTante Mathilda Karin LienewegOnkel Titus Erik SchäfflerTrenton Marco SteegerBuzzy Merete Brettschneider Harold Leonhard MahlichGeorge Robin Brosch Roberta Pamela Punti Evander Prettyman Nicolas BöllLiam Stefan BrönnekeLincoln Hans Peter Korff Maya Manuela EifrigHaylie Barbara SchipperProduktionshinweise:Buch und Effekte: André MinningerRegie und Produktion: Heikedine KörtingRedaktion: Maike MüllerTitelmusik: Simon Bertling & Christian Hagitte (STIL)Musik: Jan-Friedrich Conrad, Jens-Peter Morgenstern, Betty George und Constantin StahlbergCover-Illustration: Silvia ChristophDesign: Atelier SchoedsackBasierend auf dem gleichnamigen Buch von Marco Sonnleitner, erschienen im Kosmos Verlag, Stuttgart. Based on characters created by Robert Arthur.Mit freundlicher Genehmigung der Universität Michigan.

Amazingly, but not unsurprisingly, these records still blow the roof off, reissues of the first two White Stripes singles, originally released in another millennium: This is a reissue of their second 7" release, two tracks, the b-side is Sugar Never Tasted So Good, an essential 45!!

Lazy Reflex Complex lands their second release with a split EP by Clone's techno-ambassador Lenson and Sculpturism / Miller & Keane; two collaboration projects of Dave Miller that were produced back in 2003. Tranquilizer, originally released on the Schenk1 compilation (Onderwereld), has been remastered for vinyl and is exclusively available for the fitting format. Label head 543ff reworks Tranquilizer in an ominous and hypnotic fashion. Big room beats built to shake floors and move crowds. Mastered by Audiosculpture.

HiNRG masterpiece and often heard anthem in Mexico's Sonidos movement parties. Originally released in '89 at the tail-end of the HiNRG epoch as “house music” was starting to stake its territory in the charts, this production remained an underground hit by Los Angeles based duo Tyrants in Therapy (aka Dreams Come True). The melodic themes and lyric nuances explored in Sweet Magic make it a unique and unforgettable hymn you'll be humming when you wake up after a night at Patrick Miller. Faithfully remastered from the original master tapes which we managed to find and digitize in Los Angeles. Featuring a new stripped down extended mix by Castro using the original stems from the master tapes.

When Transform-I was released in 2009, Bristol’s Dubkasm were unmistakably prominent on the reggae scene but it is this LP - their tenth release - that put them on the map and cemented their status as outernational roots innovators and one of the most creative outfits in reggae. By 2006, Jah Shaka had been rinsing their percussive vocoder smash ‘Zulu Dawn’ (track 15) at the end of every dance for close to three years. Dubplates from the LP became firm favourites on some of the greatest soundsystems in the world, including Aba Shanti-I, Iration Steppas, and Channel One.
DJ Stryda and producer Digistep’s reputation grew still further when the pair managed to get an extremely rare vocal from the legendary Dub Judah, who at the time had not voiced a tune for many years. The resulting 7”, ‘From the Foundation’ (track 2) was the first tune to be released from Transform-I, an album which took the music world by storm with its singular blend of a deep, conscious roots reggae sound with instrumentation that drew on Digistep’s Brazilian heritage.

As the great DJ and journalist Steve Barker said in his rave Wire magazine review of the initial release, ‘Like many innovations heard for the first time, you wonder why this has not been done before’. Indeed, the LP’s blend of percussion instruments like zabumba, cavaquinho, and cuica with an absolutely stellar cast of vocalists including Tenastelin, Christine Miller, and Ras B, with a pre-Reggae Reggae Sauce fame Levi Roots recording from his living room, became timeless the moment it was released. Barker praised the album for being ‘more orthodox than expected’, by which I think he meant that the album is a completely authentic roots record, rather than an attempt to mix musical flavours to conceal a lack of ideas. Instead, ideas flew back and forth across the Atlantic, as basic tracks were laid in the Dubkasm Studio (then in Brazil, now in England) and overdubs and vocals were recorded in London, Nottingham, Bristol and Norway, with the final mixes being done at the Daddy Roots studio in Bristol. The combination is seamless both because Digistep grew up with Brazilian music, courtesy of his father, and because Dubkasm have lived and breathed reggae since their formation in 1994 – just go and listen to early releases like ‘Chemical Reaction Dub’ (1996) or ‘Hornsman Trod’ (2003) and you’ll hear heavyweight productions with a Rasta ethos immersed in U.K. soundsystem culture.

Since the album’s release, Dubkasm have gone from strength to strength and collaborated with a dazzling array of artists. Transform-I was remixed by some of Bristol’s best electronica producers in 2010, and 2013’s 12” ‘Victory’ became a huge soundsystem hit around the world, before being voiced by two of the greatest singers of all time, Luciano and Turbulence, and being remixed the following year by one of the world’s finest dubstep producers, Mala (who in 2016 released his own project fusing Latin music with electronic bass – the excellent Mala in Cuba).
The first project of its kind, beautifully reissued in its original format by Dubquake (the outfit behind France’s incredible OBF Soundsystem), Transform-I is the LP that launched Dubkasm on their current trajectory and has truly lived up to its name.

R&B, funk and soul icons Kool & The Gang are returning with a new album release – People Just Wanna Have Fun is out July 14, 2023 on Astana Music Inc. With six decades of hits, the internationally celebrated group continues to tour the world and recently performed on Good Morning America. The band is led by founding members Robert “Kool” Bell (bassist) and George “Funky” Brown (keyboardist, drummer & producer of this album), whose book Too Hot: Kool & the Gang & Me will be released on July 11, 2023. Continuing to release music that makes the good times better and the bad times more bearable, this collection will be the band’s 34th studio album, featuring some of the last studio work by founding horn players, Kool’s brother Ronald “Khalis” Bell and Dennis “D.T.” Thomas, who passed in 2020 and 2021. Lead vocals on the album also include Sha Sha Jones, Shawn McQuiller, Lavell Evans, Dominique Karan, Rick Marcel and Walt Anderson, plus rappers Ami Miller & Ole’. Both Bell and Brown view People Just Wanna Have Fun as a summation of their long career, during which they sold 70 million albums worldwide with hit singles like “Celebration,” “Ladies Night,” “Get Down on It,” “Hollywood Swinging” & beyond. Since their start in 1964, the group has amassed two Grammy Awards, seven American Music Awards, a BET Soul Train Lifetime Achievement Award and star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Kool’s bass guitar is even featured in the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC. From Newark to Nairobi, Kool & the Gang have performed continuously longer than any R&B group in history and are the most sampled R&B band of all time, including by Madonna, Jay-Z, Beastie Boys, Janet Jackson, Cypress Hill and P. Diddy.

Lost private press gem "The Swimmer" by Florida native Danny Morgan, is a cool and breezy, beguiling easy glide from 1987. It should've been huge. It still could be. It's a mellow marina masterpiece and quintessentially Balearic. Over the past few years, it's gathered a cult following yet the album from which it derives is virtually impossible to come by.

Finally available on a standalone, fully remastered 12", it's been backed by an instant classic "Seahawks Swimming Through Space Remix", courtesy of those beloved cats Jon Tye and Pete Fowler.

These won't be around for long, limited to just 500 copies for the world, so don't drown in procrastination.

One listen and you'll want to dive in.

Fans of the deeply entrancing, nautically and narcotically-enhanced cuts of Dennis Wilson or Michael Nesmith’s The Prison will be instantly mesmerised by the sheer beauty of "The Swimmer". After tracking Danny down, we wanted to know more. How does something so magical come about? The man himself answered thusly:

"At the time I was running many miles on the Sanibel Island beach and doing a bit of swimming in the Gulf Of Mexico. Keeping my mind busy on a long run, I imagined a “what if” movie scene. Almost every run or swim someone is sitting there on the beach watching what goes by. Back at my desk I started finger picking some chords and the picture in my head showed up. I punched in a rhythm loop and the song was on its way.

Adrian Belew and I had the same manager Stan Hertzman so I was listening to some of Adrian’s work. I was a huge fan of Joni Mitchel and the unusual chord changes and melodies in some of her songs. All of this influenced the sound on “The Swimmer”

I had a support band at the time living in my house on Sanibel Island so we practiced a lot. We came up with an arrangement of the song and we took across the bridge to John McLane’s Important Studios and recorded it. I played finger picking acoustic guitar and sang, Tim Miller played drums, Jeff Holck played fretless bass, Dave Dust played lead guitar and John McLane played keyboards and sang harmony."

Our deep thanks must go out to Jon Tye (MLO / Seahawks / Ocean Moon) for first hipping Be With to this stunner. We returned the favour by giving him the keys to the stems and requesting a strung out remix to go on the flip - he returned having conspired with Pete Fowler to conjure a cosmically copacetic rerub with the subtropical chug of the "Seahawks Swimming Through Space Remix".

Putting together the artwork for this 12" release was an enjoyable process. It was nice to be able to flip the original sleeve for the Beach Life album by using previously unseen photos, sent to us by Danny. We wanted to create something that looks like it would've gone with the LP sleeve. We think we've cracked it. Simon Francis remastered Danny's original audio and Cicely Balston's precise cut for Alchemy at AIR Studios ensures this 12" sounds appropriately outstanding. The immaculate Record Industry pressing will ensure this previously lost masterpiece stays forever found.

La Escuela Moderna launches with a retrospective revisiting the UK electro and breaks scene at the turn of the millennium. A double album featuring eight tracks, Tactical Shifts covers the years 1995 - 2003, presenting a vibrant era celebrating the creativity and innovation that characterised this pivotal era in British electronic music.

The compilation opens with the starry-eyed Ayemooth, an early transmission from The Wee Paton (The Wee Djs, Distorto). Followed up by The Illistines channelling the free spirited Castlemorton. Re-Incarnated sees the trio on a percussive funk roll. Opening the B-side, System UCS (Neil Keating and Harold Slater) provide a growling electro track with Memory Trace, first released on Break/Flow. The first record closes with a rugged breakbeat number by Milo Smee AKA Kruton.

Rag and Bone co-founder NoYeahNo opens the B-side with the rollicking Pushing Percussion, an early entry in the seminal label. Nick Philphin and John O'Donnell's Orphic project brings the relentless beat science of Obvious Intruder. Lunar builds momentum with the bleepy breaks of Orbiting Ganymede and Phil Holmberg AKA Schematix wraps up the comp with the sinuous pads of Magnum Six.

Circles is the sixth and final studio album by Mac Miller. Conceived as a sister album to 2018's full length Swimming, the album was completed with the assistance of Jon Brion, with whom Miller worked on Swimming and had been working together on Circles at the time of his passing. While sonically distinctly different than its predecessor, Circles features many of the hallmarks for which Swimming was critically-acclaimed upon its release -- Miller further realizing his singing voice in addition to rapping, live instrumentation and earnest, confessional lyrical content. Listeners will hear shades of some of the album's influences in its songs, from the T-Rex guitar tone of "Surf" to the Plastic Ono Band-era John Lennon feel of its production and the inspired cover of Arthur Lee's 1972 single "Everybody's Gotta Live." It's a momentous final entry into the discography of an artist that remains at the centre of reimagining the limits of rap.

Coming straight outta Salerno's vibrant music scene, "Amo' / Voce 'e Notte" is the first 7" single from female rap duo Zetas. Released by DJ's Choice, a partner label of Four Flies Records, it contains two songs produced bybeatmaker, rapper and producer Tonico 70, a true veteran of Southern Italian hip hop.

Both young millennials, rappers Annarella and Miriade were exposed to the world of underground hip-hop from an early age, jamming, freestyling and listening to different music than their peers. Active as a duo since 2019, they're now making their official debut with this 7", which will be followed byan album at the end of September.

The A-side track "Amo'", which is about the overuse and loss of meaning of the word 'love' (amo' translates as 'luv'), makes their intentions clear. Zetas rap in the exuberant dialect and slang of their native city of Salerno, while their sound looks back to the '90s through a contemporary lens. Raw rhymes are delivered with an urgent flow over a beat that, rather than boom-bap nostalgia, is a modern take on classic production styles. The result is a happy medium between old school and fresh – one where the melody of dialect rap and rhymes blends wonderfully with the rhythms of funk, soul and reggae.

"Voce 'e notte", on side B, has a different mood, but the same approach. Here, Zetas weave wistful verses tinged with disillusionment and toughness on top of Tonico 70's 808-led beat, paying tribute to a classic Neapolitan song also titled "Voce 'e Notte". The result is a rap serenade that transforms and reimagines the Neapolitan song tradition through today's sensibility and, of course, through hip hop.

This reissue expands the offering with some of their earliest known recordings, combining to form a full menu from a legendary band that ushered bluegrass into a more modern era! The band, led by the virtuosic mandolin player Roland White, delivers a collection of traditional and original tunes that showcase their impeccable musicianship and tight harmonies.

But it's not just about technical skill - the Kentucky Colonels also bring a sense of soulfulness to their music. Vocal tracks like "I Am A Pilgrim" and "Lonely Heart Blues" are delivered with heartfelt emotion, while instrumentals like "Dusty Miller" have a haunting beauty that lingers long after they've ended

Lucinda Williams’ music has gotten her through her darkest days. It’s been that way since growing up amid family chaos in the Deep South, as she recounts in her candid new memoir, Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I told You. Over the past two years, it’s been the force driving her recovery from a debilitating stroke she suffered on November 17, 2020, at age 67. Her masterful, multi-Grammy-winning songwriting has never deserted her. To wit, her stunning, sixteenth studio album, Stories from a Rock n Roll Heart, brims over with some of the best work of her career. And though Williams can no longer play her beloved guitar – a constant companion since age 12 – her distinctive vocals sound better than ever. The band rocks out on the album’s jubilant opening track, “Let’s Get the Band Back Together,” which features a gang of background singers, including Margo Price and Buddy Miller. Inspired by “that need for community after all the isolation of the pandemic,” Williams offers, the song is “about getting old friends together again who’d drifted apart.” Price also joins her on the bluesy protest, “This Is Not My Town.” The evocative “New York Comeback” also includes guest vocalists – Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa. A Lucinda Williams fan, Springsteen had joined her onstage in London a few years back, and he and Scialfa had wanted to contribute to a Williams album for a while. With Reese Wynans on B3 and the Pettibone-Mathis guitar attack, the musical setting perfectly matches the theme of “Comeback,” as well as on the catchy story-song “Rock N’ Roll Heart,” to which Springsteen and Scialfa also contributed vocals. Says Williams, “Having Bruce and Patti on these songs feels really great. It’s just so cool!” As she promises on the powerful last track of Stories from a Rock n Roll Heart–one of the best albums of her career–Lucinda Williams is “never gonna fade away.”

Richie Culver had been waiting his whole life to record I was born by the sea. His debut album immediately and messily inscribed the artist into the canon of outsider music and experimental electronics, serving both as an arresting statement of intent and a painful reckoning with the difficult path that lead up to it, stealing one last glance back at a place he always knew he had to escape. Between grim lamentations, faded memories and anxiety attacks, all told with searing honesty and disarming openness, I was born by the sea excavates a space for hope, finding Culver digging through Humberside silt to find a world weary optimism, the raw material from which his visual and sound art is shaped. For this collection of expansions and inversions, Culver invites a collection of kindred spirits, contemporary inspirations and old heroes to wade into the salt water of his formative years spent living for impromptu raves and afterparties, connecting vivid memories of his birth place of Withernsea to artists hailing from as nearby as Preston and Bridlington, further afield, from Manchester and London, Berlin and Paris, before returning back to Hull, to where it all began.

For some, responding to I was born by the sea means diving even deeper into the record’s furthest reaches. Space Afrika clear away the pummelling loops of noise from ‘It’s hard to get to know you,’ revealing a cool and cavernous expanse in its wake. Distant chatter, previously heard as though through thin, plasterboard walls, now echoes from outside the maddening claustrophobia of the original’s Sisyphean sonics, illuminated as a dense storm cloud suspended amidst a more open scene, washed clean by a lighter rain, allowing the tender heart of the track to beat clear. London producer MOBBS stretches out ‘Pigeon Flesh’ into an epic, 10-minute, cold-sweat spiral, strung-out tension wrung from disconnected phone tones twisted in unexpected directions, snatches of Culver’s voice turned inside-out and deep fried bass threatening to tip the track over into oblivion, the build-and-release of a nervous breakdown experienced in real time. In an act of subversive self-reflection, Morgane Polanski switches one kind of ennui for another in her adaption of ‘I was born by the sea,’ swapping the sea for the city, English seaside towns in January for summer evenings in Paris and flashing lighthouses and sparkling oil rigs for the Eiffel Tower and the traffic around L’Arc de Triomphe. Even Culver finds time to revisit ‘Dream About Yourself,’ a track taken from his EP Post Traumatic Fantasy, breathing new words into its glacial drift, the half-remembered testimony of a shut-in: Woke up in the evening / Pray for me / Don’t trust anyone / Pray for algorithm. Reframed in a more melancholy light, the track’s reverberant keys even more clearly evoke a mournful nostalgia, fresh pain felt in old wounds.

Others find a parallel universe in Culver’s visceral world building. Rainy Miller flips the script with a scorched, avant-drill rework of ‘Daytime TV’, threading puncturing hi-hats and queasy low-end surge through the track’s steady ambient cascade, invoking the irresistible Preston beat magic of Miller’s own essential debut album, Desquamation. Aho Ssan melts away the crystalline textures of ‘Love Like an Abscess’ with the ominous crackle of a nascent fire, building through swathes of organic Max/MSP squelch and brittle, nails-down-chalkboard scrape, swelling and metastasising the original to spill over Culver’s desperate hymn to corporeal desire, at once flesh and not. Teresa Winter transports us an hour up the coast from Withernsea to her native Bridlington, replacing the sea wall of synthesis on ‘Nervous Energy’ with muffled ASMR murk and fever dream whispers, transforming Culver’s unflinching observations into a haunting call-and-response, filling in the blanks with her own eerie utterances, a fleeting conversation with a ghost. In a touching victory lap, Fila Brazillia, eccentric stalwarts of beloved ‘90s trip hop imprint Pork Recordings, whose performances at Hull institution The Lamp convinced a young Culver of the necessity to make his mark on club culture, resurface for their first remix in 20 years. Steve Cobby and David McSherry lead a low-slung, heartfelt stroll back through a suite of tracks from I was born by the sea, tracing a full circle saunter from Culver’s origins to his current musical practice, the sounds of his present repurposed by the sound of his youth. In a gesture that reflects the emotional complexity of the project, Fila Brazillia find joy at the end of Culver’s troubled reflection, picking out an undeniable groove in the stasis of feeling trapped in your hometown. Underlining Hull’s vital musical legacy, from Baby Mammoth to Throbbing Gristle, Cobby and McSherry demonstrate that, though there are certainly storms, by the sea there is also sun and through the fog, if you listen, you can hear a singular sound, a sound now carried by Richie Culver.

Participant is a record label and creative studio run by William Markarian-Martin and Richie Culver

Reformed Society joins the roster of Brussel's, Belgium's Basic Moves this June with a 2x12'' EP, comprising six original compositions from the New Delhi born now Barcelona based artist. After many years sharing music, Basic Moves boss Walrus welcomes Indian artist Harsh Puri onto the imprint for a special double pack vinyl release. The material was gradually reduced down to the six compositions that make up BM19 after received over a hundred demo tracks from Harsh the past few years.

Much of the release is inspired by UK tech house of the late nineties and the turn of the millennium and embraces a heads down, dance floor focused aesthetic throughout.

Opening the release is 'Constant State Of Hustle', perfectly setting the tone with an amalgamation of bubbling synthesizer tones, a choppy bass groove, sporadic pads and a heavily swung drum groove. 'Touch' then shifts focus over to fluttering stab sequences, bright chords, airy strings and a crunchy rhythm section before 'Hammer The Keys' embraces the core essence of the early Tech House sound, fusing organic percussion with multilayered machine funk melodies, all infused with an underlying acid feel.

Next up is 'Hug Pit' which dives into deep realms via ethereal, cinematic pad textures, wandering resonant synth lines and shuffled drums. The aptly named 'Adrenaline Rush' follows next, picking up the pace again courtesy of a gnarly bass melody, squelchy synth tones and a robust drum machine workout. 'Dream Shuttle' then rounds out the release, employing hazy atmospheric textures and a bumpy bass groove alongside dynamic, crisp drums.

Repress!

Montreal’s eclectic producer CFCF (aka Mike Silver) follows 2019’s effusive corporate jungle opus Liquid Colours with a kaleidoscopic capital-E Electronica album that takes a range of styles from his earliest formative listening years (1997-2000) and throws them in a blender. Elements of jungle, house, UK garage, trance, pop and post-grunge are blended to form a glossy picture of restless youth in an
identity crisis: memoryland.

Inspired as much by Sonic Youth and Smashing Pumpkins as the Chemical Brothers and Basement Jaxx; as much by films like Millennium Mambo, Demonlover, Morvern Callar, Safe and Perfect Blue as late 90’s Prada — CFCF jumps across genres as a means of portraying a breadth of overlapping milieus and identities in this hyperactive Y2K period-piece that both explores and criticizes our own nostalgic impulses. From the opening intro’s announcement of arrival to the final credits, it’s an album as film as RPG, with the listener as its protagonist.

Opener “welcome.WAV” functions as a start-up sound file for the journey ahead: from “Life is Perfecto”, a propulsive breakbeat-dreampop hybrid, to a grotesquely-remixed ultra-French-house version of previously released single “Self Service”, and the recursive, metaphysical garage of “After the After”. Two guest vocalists lend their talents: Montreal neo-shoegaze icons No Joy, fresh off their own genre-defying Y2K exploration Motherhood, laconically lists off advice for aspiring fashion ingenues with bite in the alt-rock-IDM “Model Castings”, while Kero Kero Bonito’s Sarah Bonito sweetly delivers the penultimate “Heaven”, grunge-pop paean to the myth of Icarus.

In CFCF’s words:
“I was feeling fatigued by an overabundance of ‘calming’, productivity-oriented music, and wanted to explore something angsty, messy, and dark, while also applying a pop sheen. I see a loose narrative across the album: your early 20’s, a new city, new people, new temptations and new traps. Losing your sense of self to the whims of your surroundings and trends in music and fashion; the wrong people, and trying to dig yourself out of that hole. There’s a hope of moving forward that glimmers in the last quarter of the album, but it’s out of reach and seems to come at a price. And then the looking back on it later with perspective; or the looking forward to it before with anticipation. As a kid I couldn’t wait to be in my 20’s; in my 30’s it’s bittersweet to look back. That’s the core of memoryland: the gulf between the fantasy, the reality, and the memory, and how we live inside each of those at different points.”

New Copenhagen, Denmark based imprint Inherent Futurism shines a light on an unsung gemstone from the Detroit Electro genre, Autobot-1000's '3 Dimension Of Space'. Inherent Futurism is a new label coming out of Copenhagen, Denmark and headed up by Morten Kamper, a staple in the Danish electronic music scene who's been involved in it for more than 30 years and nowadays is running the 313vinyl_collective record store in the capital.

Inherent Futurism will focus on a blend of unearthed old records and new material with no real boundaries, just a focus on quality electronic music in all forms with an inclination towards Techno and Electro. To inaugurate the label, Morten will release Autobot-1000's debut album on vinyl for the first time, the project was only out on CD and released in 2001 on Hoodwink Records from North Carolina, US. Run by James B. Boggs who also was executive producer on the album.

Across the '3 Dimensions Of Space' LP, Autobot-1000 treats us to an array of classic Detroit Techno and Electro cuts, fusing an amalgamation of crisp analogue drums, intricately intertwined synth strings, squelchy acid licks and arpeggios alongside silky snaking bass grooves, twinkling chimes and vocoder vocal lines. The entire project embraces and encapsulates the futuristic, spaced out aesthetic synonymous with the Electro sound of its it's time and place, namely Detroit at the turn of the millennium.

This visionary record, a precursor to the math music of the new millennium, skilfully blends stripped- down, repetitive guitars with angular, minimalist drum patterns. The original 1999 recording was helmed by Bob Weston (he of Shellac fame) Also of note is that Lynx included in its ranks guitarist Dave Konopka who went on to be a founding member of the group Battles.

This deluxe edition is augmented by a second vinyl entitled Human Speech, an EP featuring three unreleased tracks recorded in 2021 but composed more than 20 years ago. The entire collection, LP and 12" is released by Computer Students" in their Expanded Reissues series. It includes a massive double-sided poster and is housed in a sleek, tactile aluminium packaging.

Along with Wu-Tang Clan's Inspectah Deck and 7L, MC Esoteric is probably best known as 1/3rd of the acclaimed trio CZARFACE. Before creating the comic friendly hip-hop supervillain, Eso developed and unleashed another fictional anti-hero that bolstered his music, and that character was dubbed EGOCLAPPER. You could view Egoclapper as Czarface's predecessor. Esoteric's legacy as a leading vanguard of Boston's underground rap scene extends far beyond CZARFACE, AOTP, and recent collaborations with MF DOOM, it leaps across multiple decades of records both solo and in collaboration with 7L. So now, Eso's imprint Fly Casual Records is proud to present this sterling reissue of his 2007 solo debut; the twitchy, punchy, eccentric Egoclapper. Not only has this record never previously been released on vinyl, but it is now presented on exclusive transparent blue wax.

Urban Desire is Genya Ravan creating music on her terms after artistically successful work with producers Richard Perry, Jimmy Miller, and Jim Price, along with the three strong albums she recorded with Ten Wheel Drive. As producer of the prototypical punk band the Dead Boys and their classic single "Sonic Reducer," Ravan was an essential part of the new wave explosion of the '70s, which was a blend of punk rock and power pop. Urban Desire is the quintessential new wave album, and though it caused a stir, it has never fully been recognized as the groundbreaking work it is. A driving cover of the Supremes hit "Back in My Arms Again" has guitarists Conrad Taylor and Ritchie Fliegler fragmenting Deep Purple's "My Woman from Tokyo" riff under Ravan's brilliant New York party atmosphere. That comes right after her duet with Lou Reed, a tune called "Aye Co'lorado," one of the album's highlights written by Ravan and keyboard player Charlie Giordano. Classic girl group vocals, blues sensibilities, and the hard edge of underground rock & roll are the ingredients that propel "Jerry's Pigeons" and "Cornered," while a John Cale signature tune, "Darling, I Need You," becomes a barroom brawl -- and that's thanks to the band assembled for this: Bobby Chen on drums, Don Nossov on bass, along with the aforementioned Fliegler, Taylor, and Giordano. Ravan's harp playing pushes "Messin Around," which keeps up the intensity -- and volume. Joe Droukas, who would author the successful "Junkman" duet with Ian Hunter on Ravan's next outing, ...And I Mean It, brings the disc to a close with his third composition on Urban Desire, a tune called "Shadowboxing." Genya gets mellow with this performance, which feels like Ten Wheel Drive meets the Rolling Stones at the "Memory Motel." A bit of a different groove from the equally profound ...And I Mean It, which was released a year later. -Joe Viglione, AllMusic

Urban Desire is Genya Ravan creating music on her terms after artistically successful work with producers Richard Perry, Jimmy Miller, and Jim Price, along with the three strong albums she recorded with Ten Wheel Drive. As producer of the prototypical punk band the Dead Boys and their classic single "Sonic Reducer," Ravan was an essential part of the new wave explosion of the '70s, which was a blend of punk rock and power pop. Urban Desire is the quintessential new wave album, and though it caused a stir, it has never fully been recognized as the groundbreaking work it is. A driving cover of the Supremes hit "Back in My Arms Again" has guitarists Conrad Taylor and Ritchie Fliegler fragmenting Deep Purple's "My Woman from Tokyo" riff under Ravan's brilliant New York party atmosphere. That comes right after her duet with Lou Reed, a tune called "Aye Co'lorado," one of the album's highlights written by Ravan and keyboard player Charlie Giordano. Classic girl group vocals, blues sensibilities, and the hard edge of underground rock & roll are the ingredients that propel "Jerry's Pigeons" and "Cornered," while a John Cale signature tune, "Darling, I Need You," becomes a barroom brawl -- and that's thanks to the band assembled for this: Bobby Chen on drums, Don Nossov on bass, along with the aforementioned Fliegler, Taylor, and Giordano. Ravan's harp playing pushes "Messin Around," which keeps up the intensity -- and volume. Joe Droukas, who would author the successful "Junkman" duet with Ian Hunter on Ravan's next outing, ...And I Mean It, brings the disc to a close with his third composition on Urban Desire, a tune called "Shadowboxing." Genya gets mellow with this performance, which feels like Ten Wheel Drive meets the Rolling Stones at the "Memory Motel." A bit of a different groove from the equally profound ...And I Mean It, which was released a year later. -Joe Viglione, AllMusic

Australian vocalist Jo Lawry has forged an impressive solo career with a global fan base, while earning deep respect as a "musician"s singer" within and beyond jazz circles. She"s also spent nearly a decade performing and recording with Sting and has worked with Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel. The two albums she released as a singer/songwriter/producer, Taking Picture (2015) and The Bathtub and the Sea (2017) garnered critical acclaim. Now, more than 10 years since her last solo jazz album, Lawry presents "Acrobats", unequivocally returning to the genre alongside globally in-demand bassist Linda May Han Oh and versatile drummer Allison Miller.

„Emotional Contracts“, das erste Album von Deer Tick seit 2017, ist das bisher kollaborativste Werk der Band und zeigt alle vier Mitglieder in Höchstform. Produziert von Dave Fridmann, bietet die 10 Songs Auftritte von Gastmusiker wie Steve Berlin (Los Lobos) und Hintergrundgesang von Courtney Marie Andrews, Vanessa Carlton, Kam Franklin, Angela Miller und Sheree Smith. Das Debüt von Deer Tick bei ATO Records verleiht ihrer mitreißenden Sammlung von zeitlosem Rock'n'Roll noch mehr Vitalität.