DL+Booklet Less than a hundred miles inland from the capital city of Lima lies the great Peruvian jungle, an untamed land of impenetrable forests and endless winding rivers. In its isolated cities, cut off from the fashions of the capital, a unique style of music began to develop, inspired equally by the sounds of the surrounding forests, the roll of the mighty Amazon and Ucayali Rivers, and the rhythms of cumbia picked up from distant stations on transistor radios. With the arrival of electricity, a new generation of young musicians started plugging in their guitars and trading in their accordions for synthesizers: Amazonian cumbia was born.Powered by fast-paced timbale rhythms, driven by spidery, treble-damaged guitar lines, and drenched in bright splashes of organ, Amazonian cumbia was like a hyperactive distant cousin of surf music crossed with an all-night dance party in the heart of the forest. While many of the genre’s greatest tracks were instrumental, and others were simple celebrations of life in the jungle, the goal of every song was to keep the party going.Radio stations in Lima remained unaware of the new electric sounds emanating from the jungle, but a handful of pioneeringrecord producers ventured over the mountain passes to the cities of Tarapoto, Moyobamba, Pucallpa – even Iquitos, a cityreachable only by boat or plane – and lured dozens of bands to the recording studios of the capital to lay down their besttracks. Although many became local hits, few were ever heard outside the Amazonian region … until now.With eighteen tracks from some of the greatest names in Amazonian cumbia, Perú Selvatico is both the improbable soundtrackto a beach party on a banks of the Amazon and a psychedelic safari into the sylvan mysteries of the Peruvian jungle.

Back in stock! Ghanaian Afro-Rock From Producer/Composer JJ Whitefield, Inspired By His Karl Hector & The Malcouns And Whitefield Brothers Projects JJ Whitefield, who in the early ‘90s revived the gritty, analogue Funk sounds of the ‘60s and ‘70s with his Poets Of Rhythm, has been working with Now-Again Records for over decade, releasing a flock of acclaimed projects with Karl Hector & The Malcouns, Whitefield Brothers, Rodinia and the Original Raw Soul anthology. He first started exploring African rhythms with the Whitefield Brothers in the late ‘90s, continuing in the ‘00s with Karl Hector & The Malcouns. He’s been instrumental in launching Ghanaian Afro Beat/Funk legend Ebo Taylor´s international career, decades after the maestro recorded the landmark albums that have inspired thousands. Whitefield recorded two new studio albums with Taylor and toured in his band between 2009 and 2013, where he met Taylor’s son Henry and percussionist/Singer Eric Owusu. The trio now front the Johnny! band and find inspiration not only in Ghana’s hypnotic grooves, but also the full frontal fuzz guitar assault heard on the legion of 70s Zambian Zamrock albums reissued by Now-Again. Indeed, Whitefield credits his tours with Zamrock godfathers Rikki Ililonga and WITCH’s Jagari Chanda as instrumental in creating the Johnny’s sonic backdrop. The band is rounded out by Turkish drummer Bernd Oezsevim (Woima Collective, Rodinia) and Indonesian bassist/multi instrumentalist Tomi Simatupang (Whitefield Brothers). This is what was oft-called “Afro Rock” at the core, with the possibilities to stretch out into swinging highlife, sweet soul or psychedelia . The results, point at a new direction for the music inspired by the Great Continent. One that takes a direction once mocked as derivative and asserts its importance on the globe’s current musical stage.

'Kel Tinariwen' ist eine aufschlussreiche Entdeckung aus den Tinariwen-Archiven, eine MC mit frühen Aufnahmen der legendären Tuareq-Band, die 1992 nur innerhalb ihrer Sahara-Stammesgebiete erschien und jetzt erstmals die offizielle Veröffentlichung erlebt. 'Kel Tinariwen' hat noch nicht den vollen Bandsound entwickelt, mit dem sich Tinariwen international etablierten, und erweitert die reiche Geschichte der Band um eine weitere Epoche. Ihr Markenzeichen sind die hypnotischen Gitarrenlinien und der Call-and-Response-Gesang, die sich zwischen rauen Drum-Machine-Rhythmen und Keyboard-Melodien verweben und fast an eine arabische Version von 80er Synth-Pop erinnern. Es gibt deutliche Parallelen zwischen den Klängen auf diesem Band und der Arbeit, die in den letzten Jahren von Cratedigger-Labels wie Awesome Tapes From Africa, Sahel Sounds und Sublime Frequencies entdeckt wurde.

"The first edition of the vinyl is limited to 550 copies and comes in a wild mix of colors and with an inlay with pictures and lyrics."

Cuba: Music and Revolution: Culture Clash in Havana: Experiments in Latin Music 1975-85 Vol. 2 is the new album compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker (Soul Jazz Records) that takes off in exactly the same vein as the much-acclaimed Vol. 1 - exploring the many styles that came out of Cuba in the 1970s as Latin and Salsa mixed with heavy doses of Jazz, Funk, and Disco to create some of the most dancefloor-friendly music ever made!Much of the music on this album is featured in the deluxe large format book 'Cuba: Music and Revolution: Original Cover Art of Cuban Music: Record Sleeve Designs of Revolutionary Cuba 1959-90', released by Soul Jazz Books and also compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker (Soul Jazz Records), featuring the music and record designs of Cuba, made in the 30-year period following the Cuban Revolution.  

  Cuba: Music and Revolution: Culture Clash in Havana: Experiments in Latin Music 1975-85 Vol. 1 is a new album compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker (Soul Jazz Records) that explores the many new styles that emerged in Cuba in the 1970s as Jazz, Funk, Brazilian Tropicalia and even Disco mixed together with Latin and Salsa on the island as Cuban artists experimented with new musical forms created in the unique socialist state. The music on this album features legendary Cuban groups such as Irakere, Los Van Van and Pablo Milanés as well as a host of lesser known artists such as the radical Grupo De Experimentación, Juan Pablo Torres and Algo Nuevo, Grupo Monumental and Orquesta Ritmo Oriental, groups whose names remain largely unknown outside of Cuba owing to the now 60-year old US trade embargo which remains in place today and which prevents trade with Cuba - and thus most Cuban records were only ever available in Cuba or in ex-Soviet Union states. The music on this album reflects the most cutting-edge of Cuban groups that were recording in Cuba in the 1970s and 1980s - who were all searching for a new Cuban identity and new musical forms that reflected both the Afro-Cuban cultural heritage of a nation that gave birth to Latin music - and its new position as a socialist state. Most of the music featured on this album has never been heard outside of Cuba. Cuba: Music and Revolution is the third book that Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker have collaborated on together and follows on from their two earlier critically acclaimed books, Freedom, Rhythm and Sound (Revolutionary Jazz Music in the 1960s and 1970s) and Bossa Nova and the Rise of Brazilian Music in the 1960s, both of which also had related album releases on Soul Jazz Records. [info sheet from distr.]

-Gatefold Contains Biography, Interviews & Pictures-Download Code For High Quality WAVE/MP3 Die Geschichte von The Movers begann 1967, als zwei unbekannte Musiker - die Brüder Norman und Oupa Hlongwane - bei Kenneth Siphayi, einem eleganten und wohlhabenden Geschäftsmann aus dem Township Alexandra, anfragten, ob er ihnen Musikinstrumente kaufen könne. Im Gegenzug würde er einen Anteil an zukünftigen Auftritten und Plattenverträgen erhalten. Kenneth tat aber noch viel mehr: Er wurde ihr Manager, richtete ihnen einen Proberaum ein und brachte sie mit einem Organisten zusammen, der sich als das fehlende Glied im Klanggerüst der Band erweisen sollte. Er gab ihnen auch ihren Namen: The Movers ... weil, wie er sagte, ihre Musik dich bewegen würde, ob du sie magst oder nicht.

A voice pure, clear and true, floating above bass, synthesizer, traditional percussion and infectious Mande guitar grooves: in Mali, West Africa, everyone knows Rokia Koné, the "Rose of Bamako". On her international debut album, she has teamed up with Grammy award-winning producer Jacknife Lee for a groundbreaking reinterpretation of the Malian sound. While she was one of the 10 powerful vocalists in the West African supergroup Les Amazones d’Afrique, you could be forgiven for not being familiar with the work of Malian singer Rokia Koné. Being in a group helmed by the legendary Angelique Kidjo can do that. But for anyone who heard her stellar showcases on that supergroup’s first two albums, it’s welcome news to learn that the “Rose of Bamako” had finally stepped out on her own with her debut album, BAMANAN. That arresting voice—tender one second, lion-like the next—can soar to dizzying highs and growling lows over the span of a single verse. It would have satisfied purists to hear that instrument in as unadorned and traditional a setting as possible. Yet BAMANAN shoots for the stars with a bold mash-up of tradition and technology, thanks to the rather unlikely pairing of Koné with Irish producer Jacknife Lee. Koné may be a newcomer, but Lee has made a career out of working with big, big names, with producer credits for the likes of U2, Taylor Swift, The Killers, and the last two R.E.M. albums. There may be a fear that a mainstream producer like Lee would opt for bombast over nuance and small details, but the synergy between singer and producer is evident throughout, with Lee always deferring to the song. That feat becomes even more incredible when you realize that the creative process occurred across three continents. Koné recorded a few songs in her home of Bamako, but some of that music sat on a hard drive in her booking agent’s home in Portugal during the pandemic, before making its way to Lee’s studio in California. But you wouldn’t know it from the rollercoaster of electronic drums and throbbing bass that powers “Kurunba,” as Koné matches that velocity with total confidence. Alternately purring, chanting, and wailing through all of the track’s contours, she decries the patriarchal customs that diminish women’s roles in her homeland. “Mayougouba” sets Koné’s delivery into a blur of neon synths and club-ready kicks. Fans of Kidjo’s own early ‘90s forays into house music will find plenty to groove to here, but the song is aimed specifically towards the women: ​​“Move, dance/ You’re perfect as you are,” she sings in Bamana. Yet it’s when Lee heightens the hush inherent in Koné’s songs that proves to be the most affecting. Opener “Bi Ye Tulonba Ye” is declarative yet downtempo, full of shimmering vistas surrounding her. The dreamy chords and filtered whorls of “Bambougou N’tji” give every breath of Koné given plenty of space to enchant. And Lee knows when to disappear completely, as on the spare meditation of “N’yanyan.” With only an electric piano to accompany her, Koné recorded the song in one take, right before power in the city went out and a coup d’etat roiled Mali. Her message is clear though: this too will pass.

Includes code for free MP3 download on a coupon.Limited Edition, Amethyst Color

180g vinyl, incl. bonus CD's, Collection of recordings from one of Tanzania’s most revered but short-lived bands of the 1970s, Sunburst. Covering their entire output from 1973 to 1976, this first retrospective features music from their 45 RPM singles on Moto Moto and TFC label, as well as their sole album, "Ave Africa", and an unreleased radio session recorded in Tanzania in 1973. This release comprises of the double vinyl and a copy of the CD version, which contains extra tracks.

Limited edition of 1000 copies in exact replica

In 1972, the country of Rhodesia – as Zimbabwe was then known – was in the middle of a long-simmering struggle for independence from British colonial rule. In the hotels and nightclubs of the capital, bands could make a living playing a mix of Afro-Rock, Cha-Cha-Cha and Congolese Rumba. But as the desire for independence grew stronger, a number of Zimbabwean musicians began to look to their own culture for inspiration. They began to emulate the staccato sound and looping melodies of the mbira (thumb piano) on their electric guitars, and to replicate the insistent shaker rhythms on the hi-hat; they also started to sing in the Shona language and to add overtly political messages to their lyrics (safe in the knowledge that the predominantly white minority government wouldn’t understand them). From this collision of electric instruments and indigenous traditions, a new style of Zimbabwean popular music – later known as Chimurenga, from the Shona word for ‘struggle’ – was born. And there were few bands more essential to the development of this music than the Hallelujah Chicken Run Band.