In this edition of Selects', we asked one of our favourite selectors in Singapore and good friend Farah (known on the decks as RAH) to pick out a few titles from our online catalog that she recommends checking out.
Handpicking music from Singapore and beyond, Evening Chants releases albums on limited edition cassettes; replete with artwork and packaging that explains why their tapes sell out so easily (aside from their limited quantities).
This week, Nick and Leon have rounded up crates of records that shine in jazz excellence, unsurprisingly, and there’s a healthy mix of current releases and reissues to dig into to get the blood flowing (if you’re not already watching Hammer Time wink wink).
Every few weeks, there’s always a new shipment of wax goodies to be discovered, and it’s no surprise that the choices cover so many bases that sorting through them all might be a tad overwhelming for some of you.
With this assumption, this is where I’ll be coming in, shining a light on just a handful of the stellar picks that the TAV team has brought in. If your post-CB budget is tight — whose isn’t, really? — this is exactly the place to be. (plus the store’s extended their 15% discount if that helps)
$48.00
First-ever official vinyl reissue of Ziad Rahbani's mythical Lebanese Disco 12" "Abu Ali" originally issued in Lebanon in 1978. An ultra-rare and highly collectible album praised by diggers and DJs all over the world (copies exchange hands for £600), it will get its first official reissue by Wewantsounds with its original artwork and RSD limited edition orange coloured vinyl, with audio remastered by Colorsound Studio in Paris. – Banquet Records
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Label: Wewantsounds – WWSLP21, Relax-In – WWSLP21 |
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Format: Vinyl, 12", 33 ⅓ RPM, Limited Edition, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo, Yellow |
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Country: Europe |
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Released: 13 Apr 2019 |
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Genre: Jazz, Funk / Soul, Folk, World, & Country |
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Style: Disco, Jazz-Funk |
$39.00
Official Mr Bongo reissue of the ultra-rare Nigerian disco-boogie, ‘Viva Disco’, album from 1980. Originally released on the Afrodisia label, this one is unknown to even the most knowledgable collectors out there. Tunde Mabadu recorded two albums in the 70’s – ‘Viva Disco’ and ‘Bisu’ as Tunde Mabadu & His Sunrise. Perfect examples of golden-era Nigerian disco & boogie, that still hold their own today. - Bandcamp
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Label: Mr Bongo – MRBLP170 |
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Format: Vinyl, LP, Album |
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Country: UK |
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Released: 2018 |
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Genre: Funk / Soul |
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Style: Afrobeat, Disco, Funk |
$39.00
On ‘Sewele’, Peters explores different themes on four extended juju workouts, showcasing his incredible guitar work and his sense of fun as the odd Bob Marley and Abba riff pops up in the grooves. The title track means ‘shower of blessings’: “it’s like a prayer for my fans throughout Nigeria and the diaspora.” The funky Afrobeat of ‘Yabis’ is about being proud to be African and not to follow American ways and ‘Agbe’ere De’ states proudly that Peters is coming again with something different: “I always wanted to get the message across to my fans that I was keeping things fresh and creating melodies and music that people would enjoy.” The final track, ‘Late Aboderin’, is a moving tribute to Peters’ mentor, the late Chief Aboderin: “He helped me in many ways including legal aid in a court case against a record label. He also bought a van to carry the band to concerts. - Bandcamp
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Label: Strut – STRUT202LP |
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Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue |
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Country: Germany |
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Released: Jan 2019 |
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Genre: Funk / Soul, Folk, World, & Country |
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Style: African, Psychedelic |
$48.00
This Nairobi-London sound clash mixes traditional Kenyan Luo styles with contemporary western influences, and really works. The project started when Jesse Hackett and other members of the electronic hip-hop and soul collective Elmore Judd went out to Kenya at the invitation of a voluntary organisation promoting local musicians. Here they met up with Joseph Nyamungu, an exponent of the traditional nyatiti 8-stringed lyre, and began performing with him and local percussionists, naming their band after Nyamungu's music school (and his late grandfather). Back in London, Judd played one of the tracks they recorded to DJ Gilles Peterson, who was so impressed with "this weird collage with a great groove" that he commissioned a full album for his Brownswood record label. The result includes nyatiti solos alongside percussion and bass work-outs, but the best sections are those when both groups come together to create a quirky, slinky dance style. This is just the sort of project Africa Express set out to promote, so it's no surprise to find Damon Albarn adding Farfisa organ or omnichord (like an electronic autoharp) on a couple of the tracks.- The Guardian
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Label: Brownswood Recordings – BWOOD062LP |
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Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Album |
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Country: UK |
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Released: 02 May 2011 |
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Genre: Jazz, Folk, World, & Country |
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Style: African |
$39.00
Black Savage was a short-lived mid-1970s Afro Rock group of young college-age Kenyans, namely Barrack Achieng (bass), Job Seda (a.k.a. Ayub Ogada) (percussion), Noel Drury Sanyanafwa (drums), Jack Odongo (keyboards) and Gordon Ominde (Golden Simone) (guitar), most of them were from the Luo tribe. Outside of Kenya their output has been mostly invisible until a recent reissue and spreading through the internet, but they were quite popular among Nairobi youngsters in the 1970s. Their music was released on an LP and three singles between the mid-'70s and the early 80s, and has remained out of print ever after. The early years of the band, whose members met during their secondary school years in Nairobi, are well described in the liner notes to the current reissue compilation by Afro7. – Discogs
Psychedelic / Raw / Funky / Afro-rock | Truly a special LP compiled by Afro7, Highly recommend checking this out!
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Label: Afro7 Records – AFR7-LP-03 |
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Format: Vinyl, LP, Compilation, Limited Edition |
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CD, Compilation |
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Country: Finland |
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Released: 10 Jun 2018 |
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Genre: Jazz, Funk / Soul, Folk, World, & Country |
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Style: African |
$45.00
Nigerian ecological Soul from 1989, this record is a superb dubby manifesto to nature preservation and sounds like nothing else, sublime vocals by Sheila Majekodunmi, all tracks are good! Quality Superfly pressing strictly limited to 1000 copies, with obi and insert. Liner notes by Uchenna Ikone. – Superfly Records
Groovy, Green-inspired, Earth Conscious, Raw Vibes - Rare Record for all you Dub-Disco / Reggae Fans
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Label: Superfly Records (2) – SRLP-031, Superfly Records (2) – SRLP-031 |
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Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue, Remastered |
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Country: France |
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Released: 23 Dec 2018 |
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Genre: Reggae, Pop |
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Style: Reggae-Pop |
$48.00
The Heptones were one of Jamaica's premier vocal trios, but when lead singer, bassist and main songwriter Leroy Sibbles left the group in 1977, the Heptones (Barry Llewellyn, Earl Morgan and new member Naggo Morris) began to suffer from inconsistency, and their post-Sibbles work is equal parts marvelous and bland, depending on the song and/or the production approach. Which is why Swing Low, originally released in 1985, is such a delight, coming off as charming, confident and subtly innovative from start to finish. The opener, "Swing Low," blends the spiritual "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" with the traditional Jamaican "Key Man" melody and a don't-hurry nyahbinghi rhythm to produce an impressive synthesis. Llewellyn's original, "Down Comes the Rain," is simple and direct, sounding a little like a great lost Temptations single. Another highlight is the dub-sounding "So Long," which sets the stage for the final (and most striking) track on the album, an all-the-bells-and-whistles version of Curtis Mayfield's "I'm So Proud" – All Music
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Label: Burning Sounds – BSRLP915 |
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Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 180g Vinyl, 12", 45 RPM |
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Country: Europe |
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Released: 13 Apr 2019 |
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Genre: Reggae |
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Style: Roots Reggae |
$30.00
Man from Wareika was the first album recording for Rico Rodriguez led by his own artistic imagination, and his first recording created for album release. It is notable for being the only roots reggae album to be released on Blue Note Records. After recording one track ("Africa") in London with engineer Dick Cuthell as a kind of a demo for label owner Chris Blackwell - its arrangement is completely different in comparison to the rest of the album and contains flute and chorus - Rodriguez was offered a contract to record this album; and he could arrange to record in Jamaica.
After 15 years Rodriguez returned for the first time to Jamaica. He had left the country in 1961 when he was already heavily involved in creating the then new ska sound. In 1976 he added something new to reggae music. A critic wrote in 1977 that the album "does not just reflect the current popular trends, but ... expresses in a definitive way the Jamaican music tradition."
The nine self-composed tracks on the album offer Jamaican rhythms with horn lines between a melodic use (e.g. on "This Day", "Lumumba") and jazz; the latter helped to define something like a new genre, Jamaican jazz, transforming the experience from early ska days into 1970s roots reggae. Most of the songs remain in Rodriguez's live repertoire until today. Some have been re-recorded by other artists as well as by himself. - Wiki
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Label: Power House – SS 01 |
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Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue |
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Country: Jamaica |
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Genre: Reggae |
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Style: Reggae |
$45.00
Dreamy Production and a straight up Dub expression by Jamaica’s finest Sonia Pottinger for Errol Brown & The Revolutionaries. If you are a dub fan, love rocking rhythms, and that low end … Its for you!
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Label: Dub Store Records – DSR LP 615 |
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Format: Vinyl, LP, Reissue |
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Country: Japan |
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Released: 08 Feb 2018 |
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Genre: Reggae |
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Style: Dub |
$30.00
Dennis was the third Jamaican teenage singing sensation (after Delroy Wilson and Errol Dunkley), but this collection skips his earliest work.
…country and doo-wop covers Let Me Down Easy and Silhouette, and the hypnotic self-penned self-help anthem Concentration. From there we move to his crisp, scratchy sides for the underrated Phil Pratt, including one of the definitive revisits to Peter Green’s Black Magic Woman. After the clattering, flute-swept At the Foot of the Mountain, and a spiky, eerie Heptones collaboration, Satisfaction Feeling (both bearing the sound blemishes of past 45 reissues), we travel through the rockers era to the early 1980s when Dennis was increasingly producing himself and visiting the UK. Results include the haunting anti-violence stepper (Don’t) Want to Be No General and his immortal pairing with Aswad, Promised Land – covered recently by Nas and Damian Marley.
…The sheer number of producers (each with their distinctive styles) for whom Dennis recorded – across roots, dancehall and lovers rock as the market demanded – can leave the casual listener unsure of where to begin. This collection, while inevitably missing the odd classic, should help. – BBC
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Label: 17 North Parade – VPRL4145 |
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Series: Reggae Anthology – |
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Format: Vinyl, LP, Compilation |
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Country: US |
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Released: 16 Nov 2010 |
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Genre: Reggae |
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Style: Roots Reggae |
$30.00
180 gram reissue of Al Campbell's debut album from 1977. Produced by Phil Pratt (Star Wars Dub) and featuring Ansel Collins, Aston "Family Man" Barrett, Earl Smith and more.
Roots Reggae / Lovers Rock - Classic Here!
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Label: Burning Sounds – BSRLP942 |
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Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue |
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Country: Europe |
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Released: 24 Nov 2017 |
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Genre: Reggae |
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Style: Roots Reggae, Lovers Rock |
$30.00
Scorching free improvisation by Chicago-based cellist Fredrick Lonberg-Holm and Norwegian drummer Paal Nilssen-Love. 'You Can Be Mine' catches the duo sparking against each other in a free-flying tussle of drums, cello and electronics, from raging jazz tornados to pointillist precision and quieter, intent passages of extended technique. – Boomkat
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Label: Bocian Records – bc fp |
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Format: Vinyl, LP, Limited Edition |
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Country: Poland |
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Released: Apr 2015 |
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Genre: Electronic, Jazz, Rock |
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Style: Free Improvisation |
$39.00
'Vladislav Delay Quartet' is an album veiled with peculiarity given the various dance material that preceded it. It is the result of Ripatti's return to his homeland in Hailuoto, an isolated island in the Northern Ostrobothnia region of Finland, populated only by 1,001 thousand people after living a good part of his life in Berlin. And as one return brings another, this album emerged from Ripatti's roots in jazz which surfaced again in the shelter of an undisturbed environment where music ceased to be about what surrounds it too. Once reducing production entirely to sensibility, the result came out as an intimate listening involvement where one is enraptured by the communication this album invites to.
The album begins with 'Minus Degrees, Bare Feet, Tickles', a turbulent song that feels like a sonic picture of an abrupt dive into Purgatory. Purification is achieved once the deepest roots of guilt, regret and hatred are faced and ravaged. 'Santa Teresa' follows as a first experimentation of the divine state. Apprehension makes its way out of the spirit through cornered pristine corridors. The sound of closing gates left behind and opening ones ahead is emulated in 'Des Abends' and the seemingly endless walk through them is underlined by the repetitive electric sounds of 'Hohtokivi'. 'Killing the Water Bed' sounds like steps made tiredly into an unknown dark space where flickers of light are moving chaotically, guiding the followers towards their destination. Thick mist suffocates skin pores while earthly lake sounds emerge through delirious clarinet, saxophone and crumbling drums.
All this sinister attempt to escape ends with a dash into 'Presentiment', a ravishing track which encloses scarce gravity between the walls of soft cymbal strokes. This moment of light and clarity is interrupted by 'Louhos' as one last struggle before eternal peace. 'Salt Flat' is a continuously ascending track ending the album in a mood so buoyant that it reinforces the listener to go again through this now known experience. – The Attic Mag
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Label: Honest Jon's Records – HJRLP56 |
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Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Album |
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Country: UK |
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Released: Jun 2011 |
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Genre: Electronic, Jazz |
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Style: Industrial, Abstract, Avant-garde Jazz, Drone, Noise, Ambient, Experimental |
$45.00
Machu Picchu is one of the more intimate projects by Tangerine Dream – not planned for a release during the composing and recording process. It is an homage to a man who – like no other person in the business – had ‘created’ TD´s career from a distance many years ago, believing in their talent and extraordinary skills. His name was John Peel. The background story and atmospheric influence of this one-piece, 42-minute composition came to life after this music-driven character and long-time BBC progressive pioneer passed away in October 2004, in the city of Cusco (Peru) close to the sacred Inca site Machu Picchu. Originally not made available until 2012, and then only on CD/Digital, Machu Picchu will be released exclusively for Record Store Day 2019 on yellow vinyl. Edgar also wrote about John and their 1974 encounter in London in his autobiography ‘Force Majeure’; the chapter in question (‘The John Peel Files’) reprinted in a booklet within this package. Tangerine Dream owe John their international career. Edgar wanted to say thank you with this album, composed especially for John. – Record Store Day
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Label: Kscope – KSCOPE1037, Eastgate – KSCOPE1037 |
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Format: Vinyl, LP, Limited Edition, Reissue, Yellow |
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Country: Germany |
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Released: 13 Apr 2019 |
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Genre: Electronic |
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Style: Ambient |
$55.00
An album with each track inspired by a particular park somewhere around the world, Le Parc marked Tangerine Dream's last studio release with Johannes Schmoelling. This RSD 2019 release features 2 x LP colored vinyl, reproduction labels, printed inner sleeves, and a gatefold jacket with marketing folder (obi). – Record Store Day
TRACK LISTING:
Bois de Boulogne | Central Park | Gaudi Park | Tiergarten | Zen Garden | Le Parc (L.A. - Streethawk) | Hyde Park | The Cliffs of Sydney | Yellowstone Park | Le Parc (L.A. - Streethawk)-12 Inch Single Radio Remix
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Label: Culture Factory – 782 937 |
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Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue, Yellow, Gatefold |
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Country: Europe |
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Released: 13 Apr 2019 |
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Genre: Electronic |
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Style: Berlin-School |
$39.00
On her first new release in almost 20 years, Japanese composer Midori Takada joins London-based musician Lafawndah on a short but fascinating multimedia project with mythical overtones.
Le Renard Bleu is something different: a series of collaborations in both content and form. Sonically, Takada has joined forces with the London-based singer/producer Lafawndah, best known for her 2016 pan-global (or even post-global) pop EP Tan. Visually, the pair took up with filmmakers and artistic directors Partel Oliva for an accompanying film, of interest mainly as a chance to see how Takada creates her sounds, and a one-sided 12" with a flip etched by Parisian illustrator Neila Czermak. Logistically, the crew found funding and distribution from cult fashion house KENZO, whose runway shows Lafawndah has soundtracked. - Pitchfork
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Label: !K7 – KENZO1 |
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Format: Vinyl, 12", 33 ⅓ RPM, Single Sided, Etched |
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Country: Europe |
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Released: 30 Aug 2018 |
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Genre: Classical |
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Style: Ambient, Modern |
$45.00
This album is a result of Cantu-Ledesma finding himself at a sort of crossroads. When his marriage ended, he moved in with filmmaker Paul Clipson at the Headlands Center For The Arts near San Francisco. The experience let Cantu-Ledesma devote himself to these compositions in a very organic but time-intensive way. Recorded on reel-to-reel tape, the album uses synthesizer, drum machines, field recordings and electric guitar. The results, while not so far from Love Is A Stream, exude a confidence of composition and simple songwriting that's sometimes been missing in Cantu-Ledesma's past work. Stringing together dream pop touches, wall-of-sound shoegaze and poignant noise and drone passages, The Year with 13 Moons might best be described as an ambient pop album, one whose passages are knotted with keenly-crafted melodies.
With its cozy LinnDrum pattern and buzzing blurts of noise, "The Twins/Shadows" is the musical equivalent of staring at a cloud-hidden moon. "Pale Flower" and "Disappear" both use a similar drum pattern, curling electronic sounds and a slow, ascending guitar to create a strange and beautiful blur of sound. Opener "The Last Time I Saw Your Face" is blissful, droning guitar left to echo for over eight minutes. "Agate Beach" opens with the kind of grainy, wind-blast noise that Yellow Swans used to make before rippling into another of the album's distant guitar melodies. And yet for the melodic songcraft that dominates The Year with 13 Moons, Cantu-Ledesma closes the record on the wind-howl sounds and explosive, scattered noises of "Remains"—a clamorous finale for an album that finds Cantu-Ledesma orchestrating perhaps the most gorgeous ambience of his career so far. – Resident Advisor
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Label: Mexican Summer – MEX1980 |
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Format: Vinyl, LP, Limited Edition |
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Country: US |
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Released: 10 Feb 2015 |
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Genre: Electronic |
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Style: Ambient, Noise |
$38.00
Most Nine Inch Nails albums play like documents of sharp, turbulent mood swings. Bursts of rage give way to creeping anxiety; momentary ambiance begets nihilism and noise. It’s a routine so familiar by now that fans should be able to predict Trent Reznor’s shifting temperaments like weather patterns. So when he recently announced plans to release his new music in a series of interconnected EPs, there was hope that he might, in this condensed format, locate his best angles, find a few new ones, and leave us wanting more.
Depending on who you ask, the refreshingly cohesive Bad Witch is either the final EP in that trilogy or his first full-length in five years. Even Reznor himself seems slightly bewildered by it: “It wasn’t necessarily what we thought it was going to be when we started,” he explained coyly about the project. While the six-song, 31-minute record is easily the shortest thing to ever pass for a NIN album, it’s hard to deny that it does feel distinct. Its preceding releases, 2016’s Not the Actual Events and last year’s Add Violence, were concise and sporadically thrilling surveys of Reznor’s oeuvre, but Bad Witch stands on its own. Like his greatest albums, it works best as a whole, played loudly on headphones in a dark room. Like his celebrated film scores with bandmate Atticus Ross, it successfully creates an atmosphere and invites us to explore every inch of it. – Pitchfork
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Label: Caroline International – B002818021, Caroline International – 00602567473367Z, The Null Corporation – B002818021 |
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Series: NIN – HALO THIRTY TWO, NIN – HALO 32 |
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Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, 180 Gram |
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Country: Europe |
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Released: 22 Jun 2018 |
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Genre: Electronic, Rock |
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Style: Industrial |
$39.00
RSD Exclusive!
• Recorded Live at Pleasure Island, June 17th, 1997
• Includes the Power Pop Classic “Girlfriend”.
• FIRST TIME EVER RELEASED ON VINYL
• TRANSLUCENT ORANGE VINYL
• ONE PRESSING
• MASTERED FROM THE ORIGINAL TAPES
• COLLECTOR EDITION LIMITED TO 2,000 COPIES
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Label: Mountain Man Records (2) – CFU01170, The Big Bang (3) – CFU01170 |
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Format: Vinyl, LP, Limited Edition, Orange Translucent |
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Country: USA & Canada |
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Released: 13 Apr 2019 |
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Genre: Rock |
$36.00
With its powerful chants, majestic brass, overheated organs, chicken-scratch guitars, hypnotic bass and polyrhythmic percussion, Manifesto mixes dirty funk and tropical jazz to the band's signature militant afrobeat. – The SoulJazz Orchestra
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Label: Do Right! Music – DR057LP |
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Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, 180G |
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Released: 2014 |
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Genre: Jazz, Funk / Soul, Folk, World, & Country |
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Style: Afrobeat, Funk |
