Madlib & Four Tet – Sound Ancestors (Madlib Invazion) PRESALE

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RELEASED 05/03/2021

Music by Madlib. Edited, Arranged and Mastered by Kieran Hebden (aka Four Tet).

Gil Evans to Miles Davis.... Holger Czukay to the ensemble known as Can....Jean Claude Vannier to Serge Gainsbourg on Histoire de Melody Nelson. That’s the only way to explain the specificity of Four Tet and Madlib’s collaboration, in this special album that showcases a two-decade long friendship that has resulted in an album that follows Madlib’s classics like Quasimoto’s The Unseen, Madvillainy and his Pinata and Bandana albums with Freddie Gibbs.

In the words of Kieren Hebden:

"A few months ago I completed work on an album with my friend Madlib that we’d been making for the last few years. He is always making loads of music in all sorts of styles and I was listening to some of his new beats and studio sessions when I had the idea that it would be great to hear some of these ideas made into a Madlib solo album. Not made into beats for vocalists to use but instead arranged into tracks that could all flow together in an album designed to be listened to start to finish. I put this concept to him when we were hanging out eating some nice food one day and we decided to work on this together with him sending me tracks, loops, ideas and experiments that I would arrange, edit, manipulate and combine. I was sent hundreds of pieces of music over a couple of years stretch and during that time I put together this album with all the parts that fitted with my vision."

El Michels Affair - Yeti Season (Big Crown Records) PRESALE

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RELEASED 26/03/2021

Fresh off of their 2020 offering Adult Themes, El Michels Affair is back with a new full-length release. Titled Yeti Season, this newest album has everything we’ve come to expect from EMA’s patented cinematic style of instrumental soul music.

Where Adult Themes inspired a soundtrack to an imaginary film, Yeti Season brings us to a different place in time—with new inspirations. Taken with Turkish-styled funk and an almost Mumbai-esque take on soul, El Michels Affair offers us a different kind of drama and imagination with Yeti Season.

Limited Edition Big Crown Deluxe Box Set includes:

– Opaque Green colored LP.

– 50 page children’s book inspired by the album. Written by Francine Prose and illustrated by Omar “El Oms” Juarez.

Chet Baker Reissues (Craft Recordings) - PRESALE

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Pre-Order (Chet Baker Sings) It Could Happen to You 180g Vinyl LP £24.99 Add to basket
Pre-Order Chet Baker in New York 180g Vinyl LP £24.99 Add to basket
Pre-Order Chet 180g Vinyl LP £24.99 Add to basket
Pre-Order Chet Baker Plays the Best of Lerner and Loewe 180g Vinyl LP £24.99 Add to basket

RELEASED 05/03/2021

CELEBRATING CHET BAKER’S ICONIC RIVERSIDE CATALOG WITH FOUR 180-GRAM VINYL REISSUES

Los Angeles, CA—Craft Recordings is pleased to reissue four classic, remastered titles from legendary jazz artist Chet Baker. The albums comprise Baker’s entire output as a leader for the renowned jazz label Riverside—all recorded and released between 1958 and 1959: (Chet Baker Sings) It Could Happen to You, Chet Baker in New York, Chet and Chet Baker Plays the Best of Lerner and Loewe. The recordings, which feature such icons as Bill Evans, Johnny Griffin and Kenny Burrell, have all been cut from their original analog master tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI.

In the winter of 2019, Baker’s Riverside catalog was celebrated with the deluxe vinyl box set, The Legendary Riverside Albums. Now, these meticulously remastered recordings are available as individual albums.

Few musicians have embodied the romantic—and ultimately tragic—jazz figure as totally as Chesney “Chet” Baker (1929–88). Unschooled yet eloquent in his music, and a fast-liver who survived for nearly six decades, the Baker mystique has only reinforced one of the most haunting trumpet styles and ingenious approaches to jazz singing. The Los Angeles–based musician rose to fame in the early ’50s, playing with established artists like Charlie Parker, Gerry Mulligan and pianist Russ Freeman—partnerships which would solidify his status as a major jazz star. By the end of the decade, when he signed a four-album deal with the New York–based label Riverside, Baker had become known for his trademark West Coast “cool jazz” style. However, each of his recordings of this era—which pair the artist with some of the best East Coast players—demonstrate Baker’s versatility as a modern trumpeter who could play with even the hardest boppers.

Pop Smoke - Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon (Republic Records)

Gatefold Double Vinyl LP £19.99 Add to basket

Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon is the debut studio album by American rapper Pop Smoke, and first posthumous project following his murder from a home invasion on February 19, 2020. The album contains features from Quavo, Lil Baby, DaBaby, Swae Lee, Future, Rowdy Rebel, 50 Cent, Roddy Ricch, Tyga, Karol G, and Lil Tjay, and King Combs. It was executive-produced by 50 Cent, who was one of Pop Smoke's biggest inspirations. 50 Cent personally took it upon himself to finish the album for Smoke by calling the featured artists and taking care of the deadlines.

Hear My Train A Comin': The Songs of Jimi Hendrix - Popular Music History (Kevin Le Gendre)

SIGNED Hardback Book £24.99 Add to basket

Although his activity as a recording artist spanned a period of just three years, from 1967, the year of his arrival in England from America to 1970, the year of his death, Jimi Hendrix created a body of work that has exerted a significant influence on a number of artists in the 20th century and beyond. A headline-grabbing, explosive performer, he is widely recognized as an innovative guitarist who broadened the vocabulary of his instrument through both his technique and daring use of technology. For several generations of critics and audiences, he remains the archetypal rock star who framed his immeasurable talent with lifestyle excesses inherent to his profession.

Hear My Train A Comin' seeks to appraise Hendrix's legacy in different terms. His ability as a soloist is undeniable, but it is not necessarily the defining aspect of his genius. This book focuses on Hendrix the songwriter, a superlative storyteller who was able to combine melody, lyric and arrangement in order to create pieces that take pride of place in the pantheon of post-war popular music. Why do anthems such as Crosstown Traffic, The Wind Cries Mary, Little Wing, Voodoo Child [Slight Return] Purple Haze or Foxy Lady still affect us today? They alchemize word and sound. These are just a few examples of Hendrix crafting a composition in the most complete sense of the term, making judicious decisions with regard to mood, texture, contrast and overall orchestral richness, looking at his basic resource, the guitar-bass-drums set up as a unit to be enhanced by a range of other instruments and studio production.

This book investigates the artist's immense creativity, and the intriguing relationship he had with the art of song, a platform for a multitude of ideas and improvisation.

Homeboy Sandman - Don't Feed The Monster (Mello Music Group)

Double Vinyl LP £21.99 Add to basket

Homeboy Sandman’s new album Don’t Feed The Monster, is a collaboration with producer/MC Quelle Chris. It’s also his most vulnerable & poignant work to date. Having grown up in Queens, New York, hip-hop was part of everything in life. This deep-rooted connection to the culture is evident when listening to his style of rhyming- bold, classic & deeply respectful. On Don’t Feed The Monster, he pulls back any pretense to show his most honest truth - a process that he needed both artistically and spiritually.

Jneiro Jarel - After A Thousand Years (Far Out)

Vinyl LP £16.99 Add to basket

Throughout a career that has spanned over twenty years and seen collabora- tions with MF DOOM, Thom Yorke, Damon Albarn, BadBadNotGood, Portis- head’s Beth Gibbons, Kimbra and Khujo Goodie (Dungeon Family), Jneiro Jarel’s consistently distinctive, forward thinking productions, as well as his love for the music of Brazil, made his partnership with Far Out a perfect fit.

Recorded between New York, New Orleans, Miami and Costa Rica, After A Thousand Years features legendary multi-instrumentalist Bill Summers, famed for his work with Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones and Eddie Henderson.

The album also features Malawian-American guitarist Masauko Chipembere who has worked with the likes of RZA from Wu-Tang Clan and Ladybug Mecca from Digable Planets.

Reks - T.H.I.N.G.S: The Hunger Inside Never Gets Satisfied (Brick)

Red & Green Splatter Vinyl LP £24.99 Add to basket

On his twelfth studio LP in nearly 20 years, Reks sounds just as hungry and passionate on T.H.I.N.G.S. (The Hunger Inside Never Gets Satisfied) as he did when Along Came The Chosen dropped back in 2001. Perhaps even more so. There seems to be a fire that gets lit under the Lawrence, MA native whenever he begins crafting a new album.

For Reks, it’s all about delivering the best possible music to his fans while staying true to himself. And he does exactly that not just through his own gifts, but also through collaborations with the likes of Pharoahe Monch, Lil Fame, Nottz, Apollo Brown, Statik Selektah, Evidence, and Marco Polo, among others.

McCoy Tyner - Tender Moments Reissue (Blue Note Tone Poet Series)

Gatefold 180g Vinyl LP £32.99 Add to basket

On his second Blue Note album Tender Moments, pianist and composer McCoy Tyner explored the colors and textures available in a nonet setting with some of the finest musicians of the time: Lee Morgan on trumpet, Julian Priester on trombone, Bennie Maupin on tenor saxophone, James Spaulding on alto saxophone and flute, Bob Northern on French horn, Howard Johnson on tuba, Herbie Lewis on bass, and Joe Chambers on drums. Highlights of the session include dedications to John Coltrane (“Mode to John”) and Thelonious Monk (“The High Priest”) as well as the stunning ballad “All My Yesterdays.”

Blue Note Records' Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series is produced by Joe Harley and features all-analog, mastered-from-the-original-master-tape 180g audiophile vinyl reissues in deluxe gatefold packaging. Mastering is by Kevin Gray (Cohearent Audio), and vinyl is manufactured at Record Technology Incorporated (RTI).

Esoteric - Esoteric vs. Japan: Pterodactyl Takes Tokyo! (Fly Casual)

Red Vinyl LP £24.99 Add to basket

Many know Esoteric as the rhyme partner of Wu-Tang's Inspectah Deck with their group Czarface and their collaboration with MF Doom, but before Czarface landed on Earth, his co-creator was trapped in Japan during a nuclear explosion. Esoteric emerged from the waters of Tokyo Bay, bringing chaos, crisis, and hysteria with him. Armed only with the sounds of 70's and 80's Japanese classics, Esoteric must strike against the uncompromising forces that aim to dismember him.

The sound he created, which he calls "Mecha Mecha," stands as the boldest of the daring directions Esoteric has taken his music. With other genre-bending efforts such as Czarface meets Metal Face and Czarface meets Ghostface, the world needs to hear how he handles the beautiful country of Japan. For the first time ever on vinyl, exclusively on red wax, we bring you Esoteric vs. Japan: Pterodactyl Takes Tokyo.

Esoteric - Egoclapper (Fly Casual)

Blue Vinyl LP £24.99 Add to basket

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.

Curren$y & Harry Fraud - The Outrunners (SRFSCHL)

Vinyl LP £24.99 Add to basket

Curren$y and Harry Fraud's latest masterpiece is now making its way to vinyl. The OutRunners features guest appearances from: Wiz Khalifa, Rick Ross, Jim Jones and Conway the Machine. The OutRunners is the fourth collaborative project by Curren$y (aka Spitta Andretti) and Harry Fraud. The nine-track record follows the pair’s work on Cigarette Boats, The Stage and The Marina.

Spitta and Fraud enlisted a select number of complementing collaborators, including Conway The Machine on Riviera Beach, Wiz Khalifa on 90 IROC-Z, Rick Ross on Mugello Red and Jim Jones on In the Coupe.

Being celebrated by both fans and critics alike as their best work to date, The OutRunners finds Curren$y staying socially relevant while also providing that classic sound he’s known for. Meanwhile, Harry Fraud is at the top of his game on the production end, providing a sometimes wavy, sometimes soulful, sometimes funky, and sometimes sinister soundtrack for Curren$y to flow on.

Pete Rock & CL Smooth - T.R.O.Y (Get On Down)

7" Vinyl £10.99 Add to basket

A. They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y) / B. Straighten It Out

These two songs are taken from the group’s legendary first full-length from 1992, Mecca and The Soul Brother. Originally, both were their own 12-inch singles, but for this special, first-time-ever 7-Inch release, they are paired together.

They Reminisce Over You – a tribute to their late friend Trouble T- Roy (a member of Heavy D’s crew) – is one of the most beloved hip-hop tracks of the ‘90s, and rightfully so. Grooving very deeply over a filtered bassline and a now-ingrained Tom Scott saxophone riff (Today), CL Smooth lives up to his moniker, weaving various tales and lessons about family and friends. His status as a storytelling MC remains underrated, but here it remains proudly on display.

Straighten It Out, although not the runaway smash that They Reminisce was, is equally emotional and soulful. Again over a mid- tempo groove, and again with Pete’s trademark warm horn samples.

Edan - Primitive Plus Reissue (Lewis Recordings)

Double Vinyl Test Press £39.99 Add to basket
Double Vinyl LP £22.99 Add to basket
CD £12.99 Add to basket

First repress since 2002!!

Primitive Plus is the official debut album by Edan, first released via Lewis Recordings on March 19, 2002. It's a truly amazing album packed with innovative production, intracite rhymes and sophistication. It sounds like it's from the hip-hop's golden age and sits next to Big Daddy Kane, Kool Keith and Slick Rick.

Jahari Massamba Unit - Pardon My French (Madlib Invazion)

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Madlib’s All New Jazz Project.

The Jahari Massamba Unit features Madlib on all instrumentation with the exception of drums, which are laid down by Karriem Riggins. Like Madlib, Riggins is well-versed in both the worlds of Jazz and Hip Hop. Musically, Madlib’s label says “we would call the project Spiritual Jazz, but jazz great Phil Ranelin told us to call it Black Classical Music, so that’s what we’re going with it.”

This is an album put together by students of jazz in its myriad and historic corms who are also proponents of jazz’s future. The resulting recording reflects a lifetime of record collecting, musical study, woodshedding, and a reverential respect for one another’s craft. Regardless of categorization this is an exciting an all new entry in Madlib’s Yesterdays New Quintet canon of difficult to categorize music.

Rasheed Chappell x Buckwild - Sinners & Saints (Get On Down)

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On their ambitious collaboration, New York rap heavyweights Rasheed Chappell & Buckwild have perfectly captured the stress and tension, but also faint sense of the hope, of what it means to be a sinner or a saint. In just 11 tracks, 'Sinners & Saints' plays like an audio documentary series filled with expertly crafted beats and rhymes.

When the two sat down to work together, Rasheed says that they only knew that they “wanted to address the now, the past, and the potential future.” And upon receiving the first batch of beats from Buck—the D.I.T.C. producer with decades of acclaimed work to his name—the NY emcee used a majority of them and knew immediately what they were doing.

Pete Rock & The Soul Brothers - PeteStrumentals 3 (Tru Soul Records)

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CD £9.99 Add to basket
Cassette 11.99 Add to basket

For the third installment of his PeteStrumentals series, producer Pete Rock takes a departure from the sample-heavy style that has earned him recognition as a living Hip-Hop legend. This twelve-track project is instead a collection of beats crafted by the producer, then reimagined byhis stellar band, The Soul Brothers -drummer Daru Jones (Jack White), keyboardist BigYuki, bassist MonoNeon (Prince), guitarist Marcus Machado and vocalist Jermaine Holmes (D'Angelo); all critically acclaimed musicians in their own rights. After performing together across Manhattan, cementing their creative bond, Pete Rock & The Soul Brothers combined their individual musical influences and experiences to craft a smooth sonic experience that is truly the sum of all of its stylistic and instrumental parts.

Meyhem Lauren & Harry Fraud - Glass 2.0 (SRFSCHL)

Vinyl LP £24.99 Add to basket
CD £11.99 Add to basket

In 2018, Meyhem Lauren teamed up with Brooklyn-based producer Harry Fraud to bring you GLASS. The original 9-track project featured Action Bronson, Westside Gunn, Conway the Machine, Big Body Bes and more. For GLASS 2.0, the duo went back to the archives and as the quarantine started, they began to revisit all of the music they recorded together while recording the original GLASS.

Ayalew Mesfin - Wegene (My Countryman) (Now-Again Records)

Vinyl LP £24.99 Add to basket

This re-issue is on vinyl only.

Ayalew Mesfin stands aside the likes of Mulatu Astake, Mahmoud Ahmed, Hailu Mergia and Alemayehu Eshete as a legend of 1970s Ethiopia. Mesfin’s music is some of the funkiest to arise from this unconquerable East African nation.

Mesfin’s recording career, captured in nearly two dozen 7” singles and numerous reel-to-reel tapes, shows the strata of the most fertile decade in Ethiopia’s 20th century recording industry, when records were pressed constantly by both independent upstarts and corporate behemoths, even if they were only distributed within the confines of this East African nation.

Though Mesfin was forced underground by the Derg regime that took control of Ethiopia in 1974, he has returned almost 50 years later with this triumphant set albums –the first time that his music has been presented in this form. These albums give us a chance to discover a rare and beautiful moment in music history, in anthologies built from Mesfin’s uber-rare 7” single releases and from previously unreleased recordings taken from master tapes.

Wegene gives us a chance to discover a rare and beautiful moment in music history, in an anthology built from his uber-rare 7” single releases.Contains an oversized 11” x 11” 16 page book that tells the story of modern Ethiopian music and Mesfin’s role within it.

Ayalew Mesfin - Tewedije Limut (Let Me Die Loved) (Now-Again Records)

Vinyl LP £24.99 Add to basket
CD £10.99 Add to basket

This re-issue is on vinyl only.

Ayalew Mesfin stands aside the likes of Mulatu Astake, Mahmoud Ahmed, Hailu Mergia and Alemayehu Eshete as a legend of 1970s Ethiopia. Mesfin’s music is some of the funkiest to arise from this unconquerable East African nation.

Mesfin’s recording career, captured in nearly two dozen 7” singles and numerous reel-to-reel tapes, shows the strata of the most fertile decade in Ethiopia’s 20th century recording industry, when records were pressed constantly by both independent upstarts and corporate behemoths, even if they were only distributed within the confines of this East African nation.

Though Mesfin was forced underground by the Derg regime that took control of Ethiopia in 1974, he has returned almost 50 years later with this triumphant set albums –the first time that his music has been presented in this form.These albums give us a chance to discover a rare and beautiful moment in music history, in anthologies built from Mesfin’s uber-rare 7” single releases and from previously unreleased recordings taken from master tapes.

Tewedije Limut gives us a chance to discover a rare and beautiful moment in music history, in an anthology built from his uber-rare 7” single releases. Contains an oversized 11” x 11” 16 page book that tells the story of modern Ethiopian music and Mesfin’s role within it.

Ayalew Mesfin ?– Mot Aykerim (You Can't Cheat Death) (Now-Again Records)

Vinyl LP £24.99 Add to basket

This re-issue is on vinyl only.

Ayalew Mesfin stands aside the likes of Mulatu Astake, Mahmoud Ahmed, Hailu Mergia and Alemayehu Eshete as a legend of 1970s Ethiopia. Mesfin’s music is some of the funkiest to arise from this unconquerable East African nation.

Mesfin’s recording career, captured in nearly two dozen 7” singles and numerous reel-to-reel tapes, shows the strata of the most fertile decade in Ethiopia’s 20th century recording industry, when records were pressed constantly by both independent upstarts and corporate behemoths, even if they were only distributed within the confines of this East African nation.

Though Mesfin was forced underground by the Derg regime that took control of Ethiopia in 1974, he has returned almost 50 years later with this triumphant set albums –the first time that his music has been presented in this form. These albums give us a chance to discover a rare and beautiful moment in music history, in anthologies built from Mesfin’s uber-rare 7” single releases and from previously unreleased recordings taken from master tapes.

Mot Aykerim (You Can’t Cheat Death) gives us a chance to discover a rare and beautiful moment in music history, in an anthology built from his uber-rare 7” single releases. Contains an oversized 11” x 11” 16 page book that tells the story of modern Ethiopian music and Mesfin’s role within it.

Little Barrie & Malcolm Catto - Quatermass Seven (Madlib Invazion)

Vinyl LP £24.99 Add to basket

Quatermass Seven, the meeting of minds between guitarist Barrie Cadogan, bassist Lewis Wharton and drummer Malcolm Catto represents a re-birth of sorts for Little Barrie, with these their first recordings since 2017’s Death Express and the untimely passing of their gifted drummer and friend Virgil Howe.

With most tracks recorded live with minimal overdubs, and produced by Malcolm at his Quatermass studios, The Heliocentrics’ main man brings new flavour to the band’s rhythm section by blending his power behind the drum kit and his expansive skills behind the mixing desk to take Little Barrie’s music forward into new territories. Recorded on Catto’s treasure trove of analogue gear, and mastered onto ¼” tape, the overall effect is guitar, bass and drums finding a sweet spot where genres collide, delivering a record that takes the influences of the past and pushes them towards somewhere more contemporary.

Quatermass Seven delivers a dark, deep and expansive set of grooves, layered with frazzled and flawless guitar and flowing melodies, as well as pointing toward a future of exciting new musical opportunities. “Still here, so fine, just a little darker state of mind” sings Cadogan on Steel Drum, words which sum up hope in times of uncertainty, whilst unintentionally offering a perfect description of Quartermass Seven.

Liam Bailey - Ekundayo SIGNED (Big Crown Records)

SIGNED Red Vinyl LP £20.99 Add to basket
SIGNED Black Vinyl LP £18.99 Add to basket

Big Crown Records is proud to present Ekundayo, Liam Bailey’s debut record on the label. This album is a long time in the making, and after listening, clearly worth the wait. It didn’t take a long time to record, but it did take years for all the stars to line up. Bailey, born and raised in Nottingham, England, the son of an English mother and Jamaican father got his early influences from his mom’s record collection. Bob Marley and Dillinger, Stevie Wonder and The Supremes, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix would eventually shape the singer/songwriter we know today.

Tracklist: 1. Awkward 2. Champion 3. White Light 4. Don’t Blame NY 5. Cold & Clear 6. Angel Dust 7. Fight 8. Vixit 9. Ugly Truth 10. Young In Love 11. She Hates This Life 12. Where Do I Start? 13. Paper Tiger

Liam Bailey - Ekundayo (Big Crown Records)

Red Vinyl LP £20.99 Add to basket
Black Vinyl LP £18.99 Add to basket
CD £9.99 Add to basket

Big Crown Records is proud to present Ekundayo, Liam Bailey’s debut record on the label. This album is a long time in the making, and after listening, clearly worth the wait. It didn’t take a long time to record, but it did take years for all the stars to line up. Bailey, born and raised in Nottingham, England, the son of an English mother and Jamaican father got his early influences from his mom’s record collection. Bob Marley and Dillinger, Stevie Wonder and The Supremes, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix would eventually shape the singer/songwriter we know today.

Tracklist: 1. Awkward 2. Champion 3. White Light 4. Don’t Blame NY 5. Cold & Clear 6. Angel Dust 7. Fight 8. Vixit 9. Ugly Truth 10. Young In Love 11. She Hates This Life 12. Where Do I Start? 13. Paper Tiger

Liam Bailey - White Light / Cold & Clear (Big Crown Records)

7" Vinyl £9.99 Add to basket
SIGNED 7" Vinyl £9.99 Add to basket

A: White Light / B: Cold & Clear

Liam Bailey comes out swinging with “White Light,” an instant-classic, dancefloor filler. The rough and tough drum break intro catches you from the first beat before the track gives way to an infectious and uplifting reggae-dis- co number. Liam’s instantly recognizable voice showers his muse with praise over deep round bass lines and a four on the floor beat. The combination of Leon Michels’ crushing production and Bailey’s lyrics like “You love yourself, you’re so exciting, like no one else”… is sure to make this a staple in dj sets around the globe.

The B side “Cold & Clear” is a proper lighters in the air, slap the wall, top ranking tune. The track struts in the door with a natural and undeniable confidence. Liam weaves a heavy metacognitive story over the one drop drums, perfect basslines, and organ stabs that will have people stepping in rhythm. The lo-fi production weaves elements from the finest early rocksteady era with touches from the late 70s / early 80s digital era and takes the entire vibe into the present with unorthodox arrangements and vocal treatments. Bailey has a tune here that will hold up next to the classics in the dancehalls from the yards of Jamaica to the discotheques in his homeland of England.

Pet Symmetry - Runway Looks: The Pet Symmetry Collection 2012-2020 (Asian Man Records)

Clear Vinyl LP £14.99 Add to basket

This is a compilation featuring the bands out of print singles and rarities. Features Evan Weiss from Into It. Over It. on bass and vocals, Erik Czaja from Dowsing on Guitar, and Marcus Nuccio on drums.

Music Makers Band – You Can Be (Now-Again Reserve)

Limited Editon Numbered Gatefold Double Vinyl LP £49.99 Add to basket
CD £10.99 Add to basket

Previously unreleased disco-soul-funk album with mixes by Kenny Dope.

Tucked in the back corner of a linen closet in Macon, Georgia since 1979 sat a box that very few people knew existed. Lost and presumed forgotten, this box contained reel-to-reel tapes of the lost album by the band that issued the lauded Black Gold as The Mighty Chevelles in 1977. By 1979, while transitioning to the name Music Makers Band, the band entered Capricorn Studios and recorded this previously-unreleased disco funk opus, finally issued as You Can Be as part of the Now-Again Reserve series.

Nearly all songs have been remixed from the original multi-track masters by Kenny “Dope” Gonzalez. Bonus second LP contains instrumentals and Kenny’s extended edits of selected tracks – available only to subscribers. Georgia funk and soul historian Brian Poust details the band and album’s story in detailed liner notes in an oversized booklet. Download card for WAV files included with LP.

Bonus second LP contains previously unissued alternate mixes and studio outtakes and is available only to subscribers. LP package also features liner notes by Jeff “Chairman” Mao chronicling the band’s and Raymond Jenkins’ inspiring story. Download card for WAV files included with LP.

Blu & Exile - Below The Heavens (Sound In Colour)

Blue Double Vinyl LP + 7" Vinyl £34.99 Add to basket

Blu & Exile - Below The Heavens on blue marbled vinyl. Includes bonus 7" on blue splatter vinyl, with two unreleased instrumentals.

Blu is the leader of West Coast Hip Hop. Since the days of Pharcyde, Freestyle Fellowship, and Jurassic 5, there have been few wordsmiths that have grasped the attention of listeners worldwide. Introduced to NWA and Public Enemy by his father, Blu later was captivated by the likes of Black Star, The Roots, and Common, creating a unique balance that is displayed in Blu’s personality and music.gular artist.

Sun Ra - Space Is The Place (Jackpot US)

Gatefold Blue Vinyl LP £29.99 Add to basket

Space Is The Place, the afro-futurist film Sun Ra made is a remarkable watch, mixing plenty of familiar film tropes with the sheer weird wonder of Sun Ra. This soundtrack to the film is a remarkable mixture of chants, harsh synth and free-blasting Arkestra jazz. Widely regarded as a masterpiece, and a perfect entry point into the world of this singular artist.

Main Source - Thing / Atom (Mr Bongo)

Limited Edition Sky Blue 7" Vinyl £14.99 Add to basket

A: Think / B. Atom

A year before Wild Pitch Records properly introduced us to the trio of Queens native Large Professor and Toronto’s Sir Scratch and K-Cut, the soon-to-be-legendary group self-released their own debut single. Dropping on Actual Records, the 12” of ‘Think’ and ‘Atom’ was soon a sought after rarity, with scarce originals still fetching upwards of three figures.

On it, they only hint at the greatness to come, while simultaneously showing that they’d already mastered the three-minute rap single – this is concise brilliance with no flab whatsoever. Engineered by the late, esteemed Paul C, ‘Think’ is a study in how to turn well-worn samples into something new. The combination of several James Brown snatches, along with bits lifted from Lyn Collins and Jimmy Castor Bunch, could have been tired and almost parodic by 1989, but instead, the group weave something interesting from old fabric.

‘Atom’ is arguably even better, built around a brace of elements from Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s 1967 duet ‘Little Ole Boy, Little Ole Girl’. On it, Large Pro gives the first real hints that he’ll not just be a super-producer, but a committed MC to watch. Mixing threats with humour, positivity with braggadocio, it’s a calling card performance on a track that could have still sat comfortably on 1991’s ‘Breaking Atoms’ album.

Heavily bootlegged, this is the first official double-sided 7” release bringing together both these foundational cuts.

Main Source - Looking At The Front Door (Mr Bongo)

Limited Edition Mint Green 7" Vinyl £14.99 Add to basket

A: Looking At The Front Door (Vocal) / B. Let Roger Do His Thing (Vocal)

One thing hip-hop has never been great at – and certainly something for which it has zero reputation – is nuanced emotion. Enter Large Professor and ‘Looking at the Front Door’, the group’s first single on Wild Pitch Records and the lead out for their stunning ‘Breaking Atoms’ album.

Wrapped around a loop from Donald Byrd’s Blue Note classic ‘Think Twice’, bolstered by the infectious chorus of ‘Chick A Boom’ by The Pazant Brothers and Beaufort Express, it’s a melancholy tale of love gone wrong. It was a brave choice of lead single in the 1990 hip-hop landscape, plucked from an album full of genuine head-nodders and standout tracks. It was also the right choice – a piece of production perfection laced with romantic honesty.

The B-side also strikes a different tack, a tale of a brother who “doesn’t fight, his brain is his left and right.” Using a solid foundation of drums from Funkadelic’s ‘You’ll Like It Too’ (most famously used on Eric B & Rakim’s ‘I Know You Got Soul’), Large Pro weaves his tale of an ambitious, studious man over an original organ line (by JD Drumsticks) that wouldn’t sound out of place at a hockey rink. The theme is sledgehammer subtle – don’t sell drugs, stay in school – but delivered with the lightness of touch that would be Main Source’s signature.

This is the first official UK release, and the first time both sides have been together on a 7”.