About

Brighter Days Ahead has its genesis in the Covid lockdown, as described on the cover by label owner Terry Cole: “We knew we wanted to continue to release new music, but proceeding with our heavy 2020 release schedule as planned seemed ill-advised. So the idea was to release individual tracks from many of our artists on a weekly basis and as a musical family, we could all help shine a light on each individual artist weekly. Strength in numbers! So throughout the summer and into the fall, that’s what we did. We released several dozen tracks and the weekly announcements certainly garnered a strong sense of community for our artists and fans alike”

This 22-track two-LP set compiles the digital singles which the label released during the 2020 pandemic. One LP features Colemine artists and the other featured artists on their sister label, Karma Chief. – Audiophile Reviews 

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Musicians and labels have had to dig deep in adjusting to the financial and cultural challenges of the Covid pandemic. The Ohio-based cult independent soul label, Colemine, has responded to the disappearance of gigs, the enforced closure of its store and the subsequent hit taken to income streams by issuing a weekly digital singles releases campaign showcasing the breadth of quality on its roster. Housed in yellow and blue vinyl, Brighter Days Ahead is a sumptuous twenty-two-song double LP set consisting of this music released by the label in 2020; one featuring artists on the Colemine roster and the other showcasing artists on their sister label, Karma Chief.

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Brighter Days Ahead unfurls like a gilded and hyper-evolved mix-tape effortlessly joining the dots between obscure yacht-rock, psych-funk, West Coast singer-songwriter, roots reggae, lowrider soul and quivering psychedelics; Colemine resists any notion of a house sound and focuses on firing up the sensibilities of jazz, funk and hip-hop breaks in a way that’s never wilfully eccentric or tainted by parody. – Vinyl Chapters