$45.00
Of all the artists who recorded for the Black Jazz label, keyboardist and composer Doug Carn was the most prolific, releasing four albums for the imprint. 1972's Spirit of the New Land was his second Black Jazz release, but the first one (of two) to co-feature his wife, vocalist Jean Carn, in the album title; we've chosen to lead with this record from Carn's catalog not only because it's the most collectible of the bunch, but also because it showcases his innovative approach of adding lyrics to jazz standards. Thus, both Miles Davis' 'Blue in Green' and Lee Morgan's 'Search for the New Land' are blessed with spellbinding vocals from Jean Carn set to her husband's words, while Doug Carn originals like 'Arise and Shine' and 'My Spirit' soar with spiritual fervor on the wings of his wife's five-octave range.
Along for the ride are a stellar cast of players, including trumpeter Charles Tolliver, co-founder of the Strata-East label; saxophonist George Harper, who played with Herbie Hancock and Jimmy Smith among others; trombonist Garnett Brown, who appears on albums by Roland Kirk, Albert Ayler, and Art Blakey among his hundreds of album credits; tuba player Earl McIntyre, whose discography spans from Carla Bley to the Band; and drummer Alphonse Mouzon, founding member of Weather Report. – Real Gone Music
Label: Black Jazz Records – BJQD/8, Real Gone Music – RGM-1082 |
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Stereo |
Country: US |
Released: 2020 |
Genre: Jazz, Funk / Soul |
Style: Soul-Jazz, Fusion, Jazz-Funk |
$39.00
Favorite Recordings and Charles Maurice proudly present the 4th edition of the AOR Global Sounds compilations series: 14 rare and hidden tracks, produced between 1977 and 1986 in various parts of the world. Started in 2015, the AOR Global Sounds series was born from the will of Charles Maurice (aka Pascal Rioux) to share his longtime love for the AOR and WestCoast movement and highlight its influence for many artists in the late 70s and early 80s. In this 4th volume, he selected again highly forgotten productions, deeply infused with Disco and Soul flavours.
Half of the compilation’s tracklist is naturally coming from the US, homeland of this music style, but the other half is made of productions from all over the globe, from France, Belgium, Italy, to Mexico. And for most of these beautiful songs, it came from artists and bands rather unknown and often released as private press. – Favourite Recordings
Label: Favorite Recordings – FVR145LP |
Series: AOR Global Sounds – Volume 4 |
Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Compilation |
Country: France |
Released: 21 Jan 2019 |
Genre: Rock, Funk / Soul |
Style: AOR, Soul, Disco |
$45.00
The official Mr Bongo reissue!
A1. Eu Hoje Acordei Com A Luz Do Sol 2:50 / A2. Salamandras 4:44 / A3. Preludio Em Si Bemol Menor 1:50 / A4. Viver 3:15 / A5. Só 3:53 / A6. Sem Nome 3:35 // B1. Primitivo 5:40 / B2. Irracional 3:12 / B3. Papa-Mama 4:27 / B4. Imagem 3:12 / B5. Yélris 1:35
Brazilian arranger and composer Hareton Salvanini was born in Bauru and grew up in Campinas. S.P 73 is his first LP – he worked tirelessly with his right man and brother, Ayrton, was a theatre director. The 'Hareton + Meta' EP was written and recorded for one of Ayrton’s productions – Hareton wrote the music, Ayrton the lyrics – which was given out at performances. – Mr Bongo
Label: Mr Bongo – MRBLP137 |
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Gatefold |
Country: UK |
Released: 2016 |
Genre: Jazz, Latin, Funk / Soul, Folk, World, & Country |
Style: MPB |
$45.00
Otis Redding says these words just before launching into “Respect” on April 8, 1966, wrapping up the first of seven sets he’d play over the course of three days at Los Angeles’ Whisky A Go Go. A few songs earlier, he first informed the crowd that they were recording the concert with plans of releasing it as an album, playing the newly-written “Good to Me” for the second time in nine songs simply because it was the single and they needed to get it right. For his ’66 stint at the Whisky A Go Go, he was backed by his road band, the Otis Redding Revue—a ten-piece group similar to the bands who supported him whenever he toured the south. This is the residency that is captured in its entirety on Stax’s six-disc box Live at the Whisky A Go Go: the Complete Recordings.
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Redding’s residency was a deliberate attempt on the part of the singer and his management to move him out of the Chitlin Circuit and into the mainstream. The idea wasn’t to have Otis record pop music, but rather bring his act straight to the rock audience. So they set up shop right on the Sunset Strip, home to such hip rock‘n’rollers as the Byrds, Love, the Turtles and the Doors, figuring there was no better place to introduce Redding to a white audience.
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Otis managed that crossover but not at the Whisky. It happened later at the Monterey International Pop Festival in ’67—backed then by Stax/Volt house band Booker T. & the M.G.’s—because he benefitted from the festival setting. In the open air, excitement spreads like fire. Indoors there is a different dynamic, particularly if it’s a crowd confronted with something they’ve never seen before, which was certainly the case of the Los Angelinos that headed to the Whisky to see Otis Redding that April weekend in 1966.
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Once Otis hit the stage on April 8, the applause was polite but not enthusiastic. He had to work to win that crowd, which he does by the end of the set, by which point they’re cheering “Respect.” At that point, Redding wasn’t unknown, particularly in R&B quarters—he had three Billboard R&B Top 10s, with a fourth soon to follow—but such gutbucket soul shows simply weren’t played in mainstream rock venues like the Whisky A Go Go.
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That alone made the three nights at the Whisky a step forward from Redding, who was hungry to become a star on his own terms. But the concerts alone weren’t the main thing: These shows were designed to be the primary source for an album, one that could capture the raw power of Redding on wax and hopefully bring in a wider audience. Throughout the seven full sets captured on Live at the Whisky A Go Go: the Complete Recordings—a box that doubles Stax’s 2010 set Live on the Sunset Strip, which contains about half of the sets from that April ’66 stint—Redding reminds the audience they’re cutting a record and, in a way, the sets are structured as recording sessions. Over the course of the seven shows, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” is played no fewer than *ten *times, a sure sign that Redding wanted to be sure he nailed this song for the album. A few other songs appear nearly that often (“I Can’t Turn You Loose,” “Good to Me”) but he also made sure to play almost every song he and his Revue knew, throwing in covers of James Brown’s “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” and the Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night” along the way—anything that could snag new listeners. – Pitchfork
Label: Volt – STX00189 |
Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Album, 180g |
Country: US |
Released: 24 Mar 2017 |
Genre: Funk / Soul |
Style: Rhythm & Blues, Soul |
$38.00
The story of Bradley's remarkable rise from the depths of poverty, neglect and violence to the heights of international celebrity has been told many times. His tough times were well documented in autobiographical songs like “Why Is It So Hard” and “Heartaches & Pain”—which tells the story of waking up to the ringing of gunshots and sirens on the day his brother Joseph was murdered—and in Charles Bradley: Soul of America, Poull Brien’s 2012 documentary following Charles in the days leading to the release of this breakthrough first album No Time For Dreaming.
A debut album from a 62-year old was unheard of and its reception from music fans and media alike was rapturous. It was an enigmatic record–Bradley's soulful moans, screams and passion dripping freshly over the ethereally timeless funk of Menahan Street Band. By the time they made it down to South by Southwest a few months later, fans were lining up to get in to see him. The album would go on to be named one of Rolling Stone's Top Fifty Albums of 2011 among other accolades. – Daptone Records
Label: Dunham – DUN-1001, Daptone Records – DAP-022 |
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue |
Country: US |
Released: Oct 2011 |
Genre: Funk / Soul |
Style: Soul, Rhythm & Blues |
$45.00
After advising the listener to turn off the lights, unplug the phone and essentially lose themselves within the context of the music, the album settles into a series of warm analog grooves that touch on psychedelia, funk, soul and sound library recordings that harken back to an age nearly a half century now gone. It’s a warm, wholly immersive listening experience that calls to mind hazy, warm summer afternoons when the world was a much different place. “Little Bird” kicks the record into high gear with its vaguely Latin groove and swirling atmospherics that slowly mutate into a unison line melody, the bass doubling the guitar and horns before ceding control to the vocals. There’s a hypnotic quality that begins to settle in right about this point, one which lasts the remainder of the album, each track flowing into the next with a fluid ease. – Spectrum Culture
Label: Karma Chief Records – KCR-12009 |
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album |
Country: US |
Released: 13 Nov 2020 |
Genre: Funk / Soul |
Style: Funk |
$58.00
The Australian group’s ambitious third album overflows with ideas, samples, guests, and sheer stimuli. In their sparkling music, every sound feels like a treasured memory.
life, death, and the cosmos set the boundaries of the Avalanches’ ambitious third album, We Will Always Love You. The record begins with a farewell voicemail—a final communication, we are led to believe, from a young woman who has passed away—and it ends with the Morse code-like bleeping of the Arecibo Message, an interstellar transmission carrying information on the human species into the infinite beyond. In between those poles, the Australian group continues doing what it has always done: spinning the sounds of disco, soul, easy listening, and other nostalgic staples into luminous, ludic shapes, turning musical collage into a sparkling, four-dimensional fantasyland. - Pitchfork
Label: EMI – 060250849963, Modular Recordings – 060250849963, Astralwerks – 060250849963 |
Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Album |
Country: Europe |
Released: 11 Dec 2020 |
Genre: Electronic, Hip Hop, Pop |
Style: Ambient, Soul, Disco, House, Indie Pop, Hip Hop |
$48.00
Alice Clark's highly sought-after Soul Jazz classic produced by Mainstream Records' Bob Shad in 1972. Featuring such classics as "Don't You Care" and "Never Did I Stop Loving You" and remastered from the original tapes, this release is the first official reissue of Alice Clark’s original album for decades, a long-overdue release of one of the best Soul albums ever recorded. – Bandcamp
Label: Wewantsounds – WWSLP19, Mainstream Records – MRL362 |
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Deluxe Edition, Limited Edition, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo, Gatefold |
Country: Europe |
Released: 13 Apr 2019 |
Genre: Funk / Soul |
Style: Soul |
$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
Label: Wewantsounds – WWSLP21, Relax-In – WWSLP21 |
Format: Vinyl, 12", 33 ⅓ RPM, Limited Edition, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo, Yellow |
Country: Europe |
Released: 13 Apr 2019 |
Genre: Jazz, Funk / Soul, Folk, World, & Country |
Style: Disco, Jazz-Funk |
$39.00
Harleighblu X Starkiller is a formidable link-up between British soul/electronic singer Harleighblu and LA duo Starkiller (the production outfit of C.E. Garcia & Alfredo E. Fratti, members of Adrian Younge’s Venice Dawn). A science fiction film in sonic form, the ‘Amorine’ LP tells a tragic future love story in which high drama collides with a cool, clean, sci-fi atmosphere via hip hop sensibilities that draw on musical references from psychedelic funk to DJ Shadow to Portishead. – On Bandcamp
Label: Tru Thoughts – TRULP336 |
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album |
Country: UK |
Released: 2016 |
Genre: Electronic, Funk / Soul |
Style: Electro, Soul |
$38.00
The team of Booker T. and William Bell is one of the great music matches of all time, and it's a real shame that label politics led to each of them getting fed up with the system and heading their separate ways. Bound To Happen stands tall, however, as defiant proof that Stax could have had the same magic after the Atlantic deal ended had they simply done what they always used to do - put the artists first, and let the Stax family flourish as a result. I guess that Stax becoming a business first and a record label second was Bound To Happen, but that didn't stop the partnership between William Bell and Booker T. from delivering one last urgent slice of that good ol' Memphis soul sound. – Rate Your Music
Label: Stax – STS 2014, Stax – STS-2014
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Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue
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Country: US
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Released: 28 Oct 2016
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Genre: Funk / Soul
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Style: Rhythm & Blues, Soul
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$39.00
Disco ditty from Patrice Rushen remastered and reissued for a fresh bit of feel-good dosage in 2020!
1980 and ‘Posh’ represented a year of consolidation for Patrice Rushen. Her studio reputation as a go-to pianist and arranger among other artists and musicians was well established and was growing exponentially. Although never originally planning a career as a solo artist, she had built this side of her work through three Prestige albums and two sophisticated soul and disco albums for Elektra, ‘Patrice’ and ‘Pizzazz’. "I was lucky to have a group of musicians that I knew well by the time of these recording sessions," remembers Patrice. "I had my pick of really incredible players because of all of the studio work I was doing. I also played with Lee Ritenour, Harvey Mason and others almost on a weekly basis at the The Baked Potato club in L.A." – On Bandcamp
Label: Elektra – 6E-302 |
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, AR |
Country: US |
Released: 1980 |
Genre: Funk / Soul |
Style: Disco, Funk, Soul |
$39.00
There is something simultaneously both brand-new and retro about 'All News Is Good News’ - the debut album from Melbourne's instrumental soul group Surprise Chef. It sounds like something dreamt up by lo-fi cousins of David Axelrod and Janko Nilovic, with dramatic Library-music-esque cinematic arrangements echoing both light and dark, delving into moments of dissonance and positivity. There is a meticulous education of 1970’s soul on display that touches on the legacies of the great composer / producers, yet at the same time, this is a truly contemporary record that could have only been made now.
Formed at the end of 2017, Surprise Chef have grown within the fertile, creative, and supportive Melbourne music scene. Whilst the band is comprised of four core members, the album features friends and family as guest instrumentalists on flute, saxophone, vibraphone, congas, and assorted percussion; all adeptly recorded by engineer Henry Jenkins from the band Karate Boogaloo. The warm-raw-authenticity of the album was captured in the recordings live to tape over a handful of sessions in the band’s home studio in Melbourne’s inner-northern suburb of Coburg. As band member Lachlan Stuckey explains “All of the music we record is tracked live to tape, simply because so many of the records we love most were made that way". – Mr Bongo
Label: Mr Bongo – MRBLP202 |
Format: Vinyl, LP, Reissue |
Country: UK |
Released: 10 Jul 2020 |
Genre: Funk / Soul |
Style: Funk |
$39.00
Royal Flush is a winning hand played by trumpeter Donald Byrd, arguably the best recording date under his leadership.
The opener, Byrd's "Hush," sets the tone for the entire session, which emphasizes uncommon restraint, nuance and subtlety without for an instant losing its soul. An infectious, gospel-inflected blues in C, "Hush" opens with a rhythmic structural pattern that is maintained through each of the solos: eight bars of stop time (in the manner of the Harlem Globetrotters' "Sweet Georgia Brown"), followed by a four-bar shuffle-rhythm trailer. Byrd's minimalist, alternately sly and plaintive solo serves to set the stage for the laconic statements of Pepper Adams' baritone sax and Hancock's piano which, contrary to expectations, reveals not the slightest trace of overplaying on what must have felt like a momentous occasion for the recent college graduate.
"I'm A Fool To Want You," the only standard on the program, is both ballad- and trumpet-playing of the highest order. If it truly was Ava Gardner who elicited from Sinatra the torch song that has frequently been called his most deeply felt performance, she must have had the same impact on Donald Byrd, who turns in the instrumental equivalent of Sinatra's reading, right down to Old Blue's "breathless" phrasing. The trumpeter takes the song through only once, melding extraordinary technique with sensitive musicianship when he employs circular breathing to extend the two most important notes of the bridge, practically effecting the suspension of time at the point where the lyric laments a love lost.– All About Jazz
Label: Blue Note – ST-84101, Elemental Music – ERLP 1019
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Series: Blue Note Collection –
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Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue, Stereo, 180 Gram
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Country: Europe
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Released: 2015
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Genre: Jazz
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Style: Hard Bop, Soul-Jazz, Post Bop
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$48.00
The Jazz-Funk cult classic reissued!
Experience Unlimited (also known as simply E.U.) was a Washington, D.C.-based go-go/funk band that enjoyed its height of popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s. Fronted by lead singer/bassist Gregory "Sugar Bear" Elliot, the group has had a fluctuating membership over the years, but they have maintained a fairly loyal following. – Wiki
Label: Now-Again Records – NA 5176-LP-ST |
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue |
Country: US |
Released: Jun 2020 |
Genre: Jazz, Funk / Soul |
Style: Jazz-Rock, Jazz-Funk, Soul, Funk |
$30.00
For The Time Being is Hanging Up The Moon’s fifth release and first EP. The four tracks within were written shortly after their return from a trip which saw them performing in Japan and Taiwan.
Inspired by that experience as well as the warm friendships struck up along the way, the songs are uncharacteristically upbeat in their instrumentation. The lyrics however retain the wistfulness so signature of Hanging Up The Moon, touching on loss and resignation — a musical counterpart of the fleeting smile elicited by forgotten old photographs of treasured times.
For The Time Being is released by Big Romantic Records and features Skip Skip Ben Ben’s Lin Yiloh 林以樂, a friend made on the trip and a fellow musician under the label. - Bandcamp
$48.00
P-Funk and Prince & the Revolution led the world through the last stellar evolutionary stages of soul music as it was transmogrified through the pulverizing lens of the 1980s, when African-American culture gave way to an advanced African-Interplanetary civilization. Self-actualized artists and visionaries followed, reflecting and refracting their own interpretations as if translated by Samuel Delaney or Octavia Butler. This unwieldily titled collection documents ten successful experiments in privately-issued sci-fi soul music, lonely transmissions from a planet in a state of cultural fugue. Packaged in a one-way portal to the further limits of expression. Some assembly required. – Numero Group
Label: Numero Group – NUM104 |
Series: The Cabinet Of Curiosities – |
Format: Vinyl, LP, Compilation, Partially Mixed |
Country: US |
Released: 27 Sep 2019 |
Genre: Funk / Soul |
Style: Funk, P.Funk, Minneapolis Sound, Psychedelic, Soul |
$39.00
In the last 10 years, Calibro 35 have released 12 albums inspired by the 1970s ‘Poliziotteschi’ Italian crime film genre. This year the cinematic funk cult combo release their highly anticipated 7th album Momentum. Dr Dre and Jay-Z have both sampled Calibro 35 and the band have shared the stage with Robert Glasper, Muse, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, The Headhunters and many more.
“Italian cult combo CALIBRO 35 release their highly anticipated 7th studio album “MOMENTUM” on January 24th 2020. “Momentum” follows “DECADE” their previous studio album released in 2018 that has marked 10 years of Calibro 35 and it stands out as a new starting point for the project. In the last 10 years Calibro 35 have dug the golden age of soundtracks and they’ve been to the future with “S.P.A.C.E.”, “Momentum”, as the band stated: "represents a look at nowadays and a reflection about making music right in the time that we’re living” - Calibro 35 on Bandcamp
Label: Record Kicks – RKX074 |
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album |
Country: Italy |
Released: 24 Jan 2020 |
Genre: Funk / Soul |
$30.00
From local imprint Darker Than Wax, reaching out worldwide!
Nomad’s Land is essentially an honest reflection of the artist’s life experiences - inspired by people, relationships, psychedelic experiences, and human existence. The album also represents Dominic’s first outing as a vocalist, bouncing between soulful singing, spoken word, and freestyle rap. This vocal element is crucial to the album’s impact, adding a layer of heart and truth to these deeply personal compositions.
Deep diversity can be found throughout the record, from the sino-grime inflected Time Unremembered, to the lush piano-trio vibes on Feeling, to the glitchy breakbeat jazz hybridity of DMT. Yet despite these seemingly disparate shades, Nomad’s Land is a singular statement and front-to-back listening experience, unified by beautiful production and grounded in raw musicality.
With early support from Alex Barck (Jazzanova), Soul Clap, Simbad, Ennio Styles, and Jad & The (Beats of No Nation) – Darker Than Wax
Label: Darker Than Wax – DTW056 |
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo |
Country: Singapore |
Released: 13 Mar 2020 |
Genre: Electronic, Jazz |
Style: Future Jazz |
$39.00
On this day in 1959, Ray Charles recorded "What'd I Say." Improvised at the end of a concert (it would end up closing most of Charles' shows for the remainder of his career), the song became the performer's mainstream breakthrough and first gold record. The album of the same name features nine more stirring selections including “Jumpin' In The Morning,” “Tell Me How Do You Feel” and “Rockhouse, Parts 1 & 2.” With redoubtable saxophonist David Newman among the backing band, Brother Ray is at the top of his game and clearly reveling in it – WHAT'D I SAY truly is the birth of soul. - Rhino Records
Label: Rhino Records (2) – 0081227944483 |
Series: Soul Music (7) – 01 |
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue |
Country: Europe |
Released: 22 Feb 2019 |
Genre: Funk / Soul |
Style: Rhythm & Blues, Soul |
$32.00
DJ, record label impresario and former Swedish champion b-boy, Mad Mats knows a thing or two about finding good music. As well as iconic underground imprints Raw Fusion and GAMM, Mad Mats is a partner in the highly regarded Local Talk label, making it highly probable that most of the world’s influential DJs have at least one of his discoveries in their record bags.
For his first compilation on BBE, Mats has put together a diverse selection of cuts; from reggae, hip hop and soul to boogie, electronica and house, reflecting his open-minded approach to DJing. “The compilation is very mixed, just like how I like to DJ...all freestyle. Yes, I play a lot of house clubs nowadays because of Local Talk, but at heart I've always been a so called "eclectic" selector. Most of these tracks are tunes I’ve played all over the years, sprinkled with some brand new discoveries.”
Coming from a strictly vinyl background, when Mats embraced Serato around 2005, he carried his crate digger’s mentality with him. Believing firmly that digging should always about the discovery of great music regardless of the format, the concept of ‘Digging Beyond The Crates’ was born.
Ranging far and wide in terms of genre and tempo, the album is tied together by one common factor; this is feel-good music made for dancing. “I'm just as hungry (probably even more so) to find my personal gems as I was back in the day, I just look for them with more variation. This album is dedicated to those select few individuals, just like myself: highly driven music lovers, collectors and DJs that truly are DIGGING BEYOND THE CRATES!” – BBE on Bandcamp
Label: BBE – BBE417CLP, Local Talk – BBE417CLP |
Format: 2 × Vinyl, 12", Compilation |
Country: UK |
Released: 11 Aug 2017 |
Genre: Electronic, Hip Hop, Jazz, Reggae, Funk / Soul |
Style: House, Deep House, Funk, Jazz-Funk, Disco |
$32.00
After releasing a collaborative EP with Warp's Bibio, who is also featured as a producer on “Ever since the fall”, this 2nd solo release under Olivier St.Louis marks the starting point of worldwide live efforts for 2017 with continuous touring. He'll tour with German AnnenMayKantereit for a few dates & will join his partner in crime Oddisee for his “The Iceberg” Wolrd Tour afterwards. All of this comes after a successful UK Tour with Laura Mvula this fall. His upcoming release “Ever since the fall EP”, will be out on Jakarta Records in February 2017 and features productions by Bibio, Olivier himself and co-productions by Oddisee. 6 tracks somewhere in between lo-fi soul, drum computer sounds, warm basslines and funk trenched live compositions...
Label: JAKARTA – JAKARTA114 |
Format: Vinyl, LP, EP, Stereo |
Country: Germany |
Released: 03 Feb 2017 |
Genre: Electronic, Hip Hop, Funk / Soul |
Style: Soul, Psychedelic, Rhythm & Blues |
$30.00
For years, the music of UK vocalist Olivier Daysoul has been burning bright. A deep-voiced songwriter with a penchant for collaboration, the man has worked alongside Onra, Bibio and Hudson Mohawke in the studio and logged many a mile on the road with Oddisee‘s live backing band. If R&B were a kitchen, Olivier could rightly say that he’s worked every single station, from savory to sweet. But now, a change is happening. For his new Black Music project, the “Daysoul” moniker is being shed; Olivier is taking up his proper surname – St. Louis – as his new artistic identity, and from the sound of things the effect has been one of revitalization.
It only takes a few seconds for opener “Ain’t Cool” to find its stride, coasting Curtis Mayfield-like on the breeze. Things time travel to the late 90s on “Dog In Man,” which features a Dilla-level drum chop and more syrupy vocals. “Ship is Going Down” is an all-sneering strut, while EP closer “The Proud” gradually unfolds as a patient, tender ballad. With just one short and sweet record, the new Olivier St. Louis has already proven that there’s no groove he can’t bend to his melodic will. - Okayplayer
Label: JAKARTA – JAKARTA092 |
Format: Vinyl, 12", Single Sided, EP |
Country: Germany |
Released: 2015 |
Genre: Funk / Soul |
Style: Contemporary R&B, Neo Soul |
$30.00
Man of the Woods is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Justin Timberlake. It was released on February 2, 2018. The production of the album was handled by Timberlake, The Neptunes, Timbaland, Danja, J-Roc, Eric Hudson, and Rob Knox. The album sees Timberlake experimenting with elements of R&B, funk, pop, soul, and Americana. The album is named after his son Silas, whose name means "Man of the forest". The album's first single "Filthy" was released on January 5, 2018, followed by "Supplies" and "Say Something" on January 19 and 26, respectively. The album track "Man of the Woods" was also accompanied by a music video.
The album debuted atop the US Billboard 200, while "Filthy" and "Say Something" reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. To promote the album, Timberlake embarked on his sixth concert tour, The Man of the Woods Tour in March 2018. The single "Say Something" received a nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards. – Wiki
Label: RCA – 19075-81321-1 |
Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Album, Gatefold Sleeve |
Country: Europe |
Released: 02 Feb 2018 |
Genre: Funk / Soul, Pop |
Style: RnB/Swing |
$39.00
Quality soul record from the one and only Esther Phillips :)
Esther Phillips never had the most aesthetically pleasing or ear-ravishing of voices - her sound, unique as it was, was unorthodox to say the least: raspy, tart, adenoidal and, perhaps worst of all, it possessed a quivering vibrato that on occasion resembled a bleating lamb on the way to the slaughter house. And yet for all those apparent deficiencies, there remained something ineffably beautiful about Phillips' delivery - but that beauty, as with Billie Holiday and Nina Simone, came from the emotion she injected into her performances and which shaped her phrasing and dictated her timing.
In 1972, Phillips went into the studio with Taylor at the helm and cut 'Alone Again, Naturally,' an album that also picked up a Grammy nomination and which is considered by many critics and fans as the chanteuse's best long player. Given its elevated status in the Phillips' canon, it's tantamount to a crime that the album was only briefly available on CD via the now defunct Reel Music label in 2008. But thanks to Soul Music Records in alliance with Real Gone - who've brought out some great vintage soul reissues recently - the waiting is over and 'Alone Again, Naturally' with its lucid, remastered sound is back in the racks.
Label: Kudu – KU-09 |
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue |
Country: Canada |
Genre: Jazz, Funk / Soul |
$48.00
The influential singer-songwriter returns after many years with a powerful album that mixes spoken word, folk, and blues over roughed-up sonics.
There were few voices that articulated the anxious, fractured state of America in the 1970s and early 80s as well as the clear baritone of Gil Scott-Heron. As a spoken-word artist and poet, he could pinpoint the fissures in the American dream and exorcise them with a wit that blended righteous anger and arch sarcasm. As a singer, he could envelop those same uncomfortable confrontations in a rich, emotional tone that brought out the empathetic face of unrest. Yet except for a chorus cameo on Blackalicious' "First in Flight" and a memorable shout-out on LCD Soundsystem's "Losing My Edge", he was rarely heard or cited in the early years of America's great post-traumatic decade, even if his pained depiction of "a nation that just can't stand much more" in "Winter in America" rang as true in 2002 as it did in 1975.
Instead, Scott-Heron spent much of the 00s in and out of prison on drug charges, adding onto a long hiatus that saw him turn away from the record industry in favor of live performance and writing. Between 1983 and 2009, he released only one studio album, 1994's Spirits, so issuing his first in 16 years could've been rife with potential for a pent-up analysis of everything that's happened in the process of race relations and American culture over the last couple decades. Yet I'm New Here sees an incisive political voice turning inwards, not protesting the doings of the greater world but crafting a frank confessional over the state of his own. He does this allusively, through cover songs and short soundbite interludes and original compositions that feel like sparse flashes of a deep, once-dormant creative impulse. Yet it still feels honest, like something said out of necessity instead of opportunity, and the result is an album that engages with the idea of loneliness in exceptional ways. - Pitchfork
Label: XL Recordings – XL1005LP |
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Pink |
Vinyl, LP, Green |
Country: Europe |
Released: 07 Feb 2020 |
Genre: Electronic, Hip Hop, Jazz, Funk / Soul |
Style: Spoken Word, Poetry |
$39.00
Gabriel Garzón-Montano became famous when Drake sampled his voice for “Jungle,” but his debut album stands on its own, heavy on pearly funk and pop, live instrumentation and harmony.
Montano's album marks him as part of a current of rising singers pointedly and successfully ignoring the latest wave of hip-hop/R&B hodgepodge. This varied group includes Guordan Banks, who landed a No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult R&B chart in 2016; Yuna, whose album Chapters spawned a pair of radio hits; and KING, who recently earned a Grammy nomination for last year’s We Are KING. Montano has been tactful about his tenuous connection with Drake in interviews, but Jardín represents a soft rebuke to the star—as well as a rich, buffed debut from an adept young artist. - Pitchfork
Label: Stones Throw Records – STH2381 |
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album |
Country: US |
Released: 27 Jan 2017 |
Genre: Funk / Soul |
Style: Rhythm & Blues, Funk, Psychedelic, Neo Soul, Soul |
$45.00
Great little oddity of a reissue here by Mad About Records! Mike Selesia - Flavour is a literal trip to listen to. Recorded in one day, apparently while under the influence. Holding down solid soul jazz grooves and venturing into far out explorations, it’s a hybrid of early 60s Coltrane, early 70s Miles Davis and Ravi Shankar here. Check it out!
Label: Not On Label (Mike Selesia Self-released) – SS RS-9976, Mad About Records – MAR 017 |
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Numbered, Reissue |
Country: Portugal |
Released: 2019 |
Genre: Jazz, Funk / Soul |
$39.00
Super-funky business from Nigerian-born multi-instrumentalist, Peter King; fuses funk, jazz and highlife vibrations. ‘Omo Lewa’ follows his ‘Miliki Sound’ album, also available on Mr Bongo. Recorded in London, originally released in 1976 by Orbitone, this is one of his finest records.
Released November 8, 2019 Licensed from Clinton Roberts.
Official Mr Bongo reissue. – Mr Bongo
Label: Mr Bongo – MRBLP102 |
Format: Vinyl, LP |
Country: UK |
Released: 2016 |
Genre: Jazz, Funk / Soul |
Style: Highlife, Jazz-Funk, Afrobeat |
$45.00
Melbourne composer/violinist Tamil Rogeon (The RAah Project, Harvey Sutherland & Bermuda) brings his most ambitious work to date. That's saying something when your previous works include composing a Stravinsky tribute for a 100-piece orchestra, soundtracking a concert screening of the drawn 2010 AFL football Grand Final for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and the Red Bull Beat Suite, a unique work combining orchestra, turntablists, beatmakers and vocalists including Aloe Blacc and Ladi6!
24 Hours in Lapa is a mesmerising 12-part song cycle built on Brazilian rhythms, an orchestral score and subtle electronics. Rogeon bases this sweeping, cinematic suite around the tragic story of Joseph Martin, a young expat killed by an off-duty police officer while celebrating his 30th birthday in the Rio party district of Lapa. Rogeon travelled to Rio to record Tiago Loei's percussion group, returned to Melbourne to write the score for Orchestra Victoria, then added vocals from sessions in LA, London, Paris and Melbourne. Guest vocalists include Heidi Vogel (Cinematic Orchestra), earthy soulstress Krystle Warren, globetrotting MC Raashan Ahmad, RAah partner Ryan Ritchie, crooner Bobby Valentine and ethereal backings from Ella Thompson (GL, The Bamboos). - Bandcamp
Label: Heard And Felt – HF010V |
Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Album |
Country: France |
Released: 21 Apr 2017 |
Genre: Electronic, Hip Hop, Reggae, Latin, Funk / Soul |
$39.00
Over Under Away - Volume I is the first compilation LP from Melbourne independent label Hopestreet Recordings and is released to celebrate their 10th anniversary.
It features 10 tracks from Hopestreet’s first generation of artists: psych-Bollywood SciFi orchestra The Bombay Royale, cinematica pioneers The Cactus Channel, soul queen Emma Donovan and her mighty band The Putbacks and dusty country soul from The Meltdown, plus a couple of rarely heard gems, an afrobeat rap cut by One Sixth and a Marvin Gaye inspired environmental panic anthem by Zillanova feat. Cisco Tavares.
Over Under Away is the label’s creation story. The material in Volume I was created in Hopestreet’s infancy, when the same people played in all the bands, and everyone who worked in the office was also making the records. If a compilation put together out of nine different albums sounds unusually cohesive, it’s because the same people performed, wrote and produced all the songs. Putbacks guitarist Tom Martin leads the charge, appearing on 8 out of 10 cuts. All production and engineering duties were shared by label founders Bob Knob and Tristan Ludowyk. These days are past, but the aim of Over Under Away - Volume I is to represent the seed that grew into the label as it is today.
The compilation takes its name from a song on Emma Donovan & The Putbacks’ 2014 album Dawn. Over Under Away is a story of struggle, perseverance and, above all else, patience. About growing from small beginnings to “sing and shout and talk up loud.” Hopestreet began as a recording experiment, an afternoon goof between friends in a decrepit factory in Brunswick. The only ingredients were an Otari tape machine, some decent musicians and little bit of goodwill. When the label started, 7a Hope Street was surrounded by a desert of vacant industrial property. Now it’s surrounded by gleaming new apartment complexes. In that moment between decay and gentrification a little magic happened. Now the label, like it’s surroundings continues to evolve, but this compilation celebrates that fleeting point in time and everything that grew from there. - Bandcamp
$45.00
Label: Lewis Recordings – LEWIS092 |
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album |
Country: UK |
Released: 07 Jun 2019 |
Genre: Hip Hop, Jazz, Funk / Soul |
Style: Cut-up/DJ, Instrumental, Jazzy Hip-Hop |
$39.00
Truly excellent soul jazz from the pianist Don Walker - this is Volume 1!
Label: Brunswick – BL 754174 |
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue |
Country: US |
Genre: Jazz, Funk / Soul |
Style: Jazz-Funk |
$39.00
Label: RCA Victor – LSP-4526, RCA Victor – LSP-4526-1 |
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue |
Country: US |
Genre: Funk / Soul |
$39.00
Label: Parachute Records – RRLP 9001 |
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album |
Country: US |
Genre: Funk / Soul |
$39.00
Label: De-Lite Records – DE-2011, De-Lite Records – DE-P-2011, De-Lite Records – DE 2011 |
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue |
Country: US |
Genre: Funk / Soul |
Style: Funk |
$39.00
Label: RCA – APL1-1399 |
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue |
Country: US |
Genre: Funk / Soul |
$35.00
While jazz and funk are at the core of Michele Manzo’s musical foundation, the Italian artist deftly draws upon his inspirations in hip-hop, dub, and Brazilian music as both an instrumentalist and producer. But above genres, inimitable grooves are the key driver of his work, and in his grooves one can hear the vibe of a moment being captured and perpetuated for eternity. With this combination of musical depth and raw feeling, it is no surprise Michele has crossed paths with Darker Than Wax, and we feel truly blessed to present his LP ‘ALL RISE’ to the world.
‘ALL RISE’ is a genuine reflection of Manzo’s art form, which sees so many different styles and influences coming together in the most natural, organic way. Everything was recorded live using bass, synth bass, guitar, old analogue keyboards, blended together with modern synths, dub delays and ambient fx - giving off the familiar warmth of boom bap and progressive stimulation of neo-soul. The pervasive harmonies and clever use of chords give the album a real musical depth, but grounded with an effortless, natural approach to creation. - Bandcamp
Label: Darker Than Wax – DTW055 |
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album |
Country: Singapore |
Released: 25 Oct 2019 |
Genre: Electronic, Hip Hop, Funk / Soul |
Style: Neo Soul, Funk, RnB/Swing |
$39.00
Music On Vinyl re-issue of the great Terry Callier's 1978 album 'Fire On Ice'.
A1. Be A Believer
A2. Holdin' On (To Your Love)
A3. Street Fever
A4. Butterfly
A5. I Been Doin' Alright Part II (Everythings Gonna Be Alright)
B1. Disco In The Sky
B2. African Violet
B3. Love Two Love
B4. Martin St. Martin
Label: Music On Vinyl – MOVLP2134 |
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue |
Country: Europe |
Released: 25 May 2018 |
Genre: Funk / Soul |
Style: Soul |
$39.00
Label: RCA – LSP-4430 |
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue |
Country: US |
Genre: Funk / Soul |
Style: Funk |