Fela Kuti The Complete Works Of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti

Reissue of Fela's highly sought-after 1971 album, 'Open & Close'! Super-funky Afrobeat featuring the incredible title track!

Afrobeat classic! After helping Fela Anikulapo Kuti with Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense, Wally Badarou then produced Beasts of No Nation. 

Fela Kuti stories Nigeria’s attempt at ‘democracy’ in 1979 after more than a decade of
military rule told through this album, originally released in 1985 on Celluloid records. Features a long version of 'Government Chicken Boy'.

Fela Kuti made some frantic albums in his career--ones that popped with his enthusiastic political disobedience and ones that roared with fury at the Nigerian system and Africa's disadvantaged position in the late-20th century. But Coffin for Head of State is a different tiger. It's a downturned, sad, melancholic 22-minute work that signaled how Fela would make his previously general criticisms of Nigerian politics very specific. He recorded the album in 1981, several years after the Nigerian military's destruction of his self-declared Kalakuta Republic (a residential compound, in truth) and the ensuing, relentlessly violent assault on its residents, including his mother, who later died as a result of her injuries. Coffin finds Fela castigating Muslim and Christian leaders for idling while the government raped and pillaged, and it boasts a visionary quality in the antiphonal "Amens" that gets bounced through the band.

Originally released in 1977, ‘Johnny Just Drop (J.J.D.)’ features Fela lampooning Nigeria’s ‘been-tos’, people who had been to Europe or America to work or study and then returned (dropped) home with European social pretensions and an inferiority complex about African culture.

1972 Fela Kuti anthem! This is afro beat at it's finest...ESSENTIAL!!!    

On the title track Fela and the backup singers ridicule the mindset of men in uniform over an urgent, quick-march accompaniment from Afrika 70. The album was a scathing attack on Nigerian soldiers using the zombie metaphor to describe the methods of the Nigerian military. ‘Zombie’ was a smash hit with the people and infuriated the government, setting off a vicious attack against the Kalakuta Republic (a commune that Fela had established in Nigeria). Fela was badly beaten, sustaining a fractured skull and several broken bones. His mother, then aged 77, was thrown out of a window, fracturing a leg and suffering deep trauma. The army then set fire to the compound. The blaze gutted the premises, destroying six Afrika 70 vehicles, all Fela’s master tapes and band equipment and a four-track recording studio.

Alagbon Close represents one of the first times anyone had directly taken on the Nigerian authorities in such a brash manner. Why Black Man Dey Suffer: This album, recorded in 1971 with Ginger Baker behind the board, was originally deemed too controversial for release by his label at the time. The title track is a history lesson on the oppression of the African man - detailing the litany of abuses they have suffered from being taken as slaves to having an alien people impose a new culture upon them, take their land, fight them, and set them against one another

Deluxe digipack, with booklet including Fela’s biography and track-by-track commentary from Afrobeat historian Chris May.

'Let's Start' - Seriously killer tune! and loads more.

It's hard to go wrong with Fela Kuti's work from the 1970s, and LIVE!, which features the Afrobeat innovator backed by his powerhouse band Africa '70 and ex-Cream drummer Ginger Baker, is no exception. Like all of Fela's recordings from the era, LIVE! consists of just a few tracks, each of which approximates or exceeds the ten minute mark. Yet the arrangements are so dynamic on these tracks, the criss-crossing polyrhythms so absorbing, and Fela's incantatory vocals so entrancing that the long running times never seem a factor. Every cut crackles from beginning to end with its mixture of funk, jazz, and traditional Nigerian music, underscoring once again Fela's revolutionary, indelible contribution to world music.

"JJD/Unnecessary Begging" is another gem in the Fela two-albums-on-one-CD reissue series on MCA. As original LPs, "JJD (Johnny Just Drop)," recorded live at Fela's home/club/compound, Kalakuta Republic, was released in 1977, while "Unnecessary Begging" and its b-side "No Buredi (No Bread)" were issued a year earlier in 1976. These albums were part of what was arguably Fela's greatest period as he released more than a dozen albums between 1975-77! While "Zombie" and "Opposite People" are clearly the essential recordings from this period, this disc, and all of the Fela reissues, are really indispensabl

The two titles from these 1977 albums are fiercely anti-authoritarian blasts at the Nigerian governmental regime while on 'Don't Worry About My Mouth O', Fela explains his preference for traditional African ways.

Wicked early reissue album from cult african hero Fela Ransome-Kuti with his first band Koola Lobitos from 1965!

In early 1965, just as the West African High-life scene was becoming rather a drag and everybody was bored with it all, the revoluntionary sound of Fela Ransome-Kuti & His Koola Lobitos burst upon us! Fela had recently trained at the Trinity College of Music in London before making this album, and was heavily influenced by jazz greats such as Miles Davis and Thad Jones, as a result of this the album has a very jazz infused sound. The horn section features heavilly in the album with Fela playing trumpet. Funky exotic rhythmic patterns, deep afro jazz grooves, this album is a brilliant eye opener and rare opportunity to experience the lesser known early Fela recordings compared to his 70's afrobeat output.

Deluxe digipack, with booklet including Fela’s biography and track-by-track commentary from Afrobeat historian Chris May.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

'Expensive Shit', from 1975, is one of Fela's most notorious albums. The title track recounts being framed by the police and his comical escape from certain conviction while 'Water Get No Enemy' is a veritable Afro-beat anthem. 'He Miss Road', also from '75, was produced by Ginger Baker and is a deep and dark album that is one of Fela's best.

'Shakara', originally released in 1972, shows Fela's sarcastic sensibility: 'Lady' criticizes modern African women as becoming overly westernized while 'Shakara (Oloje)' sticks it to arrogant loud mouths.

'London Scene' was recorded at Abbey Road in 1971 and is a great, early example of the Afrobeat stew that Fela was starting to create. Politics began to show up on Fela's lyrics, specifically on the anti-colonial 'Buy Africa'.

Deluxe digipack, with booklet including Fela’s biography and track-by-track commentary from Afrobeat historian Chris May.

Yet more essential afro beat classics from the king of Nigerian music, Fela Kuti! Monkey Banana - reflects his social consciousness in deploring the poor conditions of workers' lives in Nigeria. "Sense Wiseness' has a funkier beat and prominent high, glistening electric keyboards, the backdrop for lyrics criticizing the educated segment of Africa's population for absorbing Western ways.

Monkey Banana was combined with another 1975 album, Excuse O.

Deluxe digipack, with booklet including Fela’s biography and track-by-track commentary from Afrobeat historian Chris May.

Highly Recommended!

Two essential Afro-beat classics from Fela Kuti with 'Upside Down' (1976) and the 'Music Of Many Colours' collaboration with Roy Ayers (1980). Their version of "2000 Black" is a rare groove classic!

Two classic afro beat albums on one bargain price CD! Recommended!

Deluxe digipack, with booklet including Fela’s biography and track-by-track commentary from Afrobeat historian Chris May.

Fela and Afrika 70 at their peak with two seminal albums on one disc. Rowsing, radical stuff as espoused by 'Colonial Mentality'.

Essential afro beat! A dancefloor bomb plus essential previously unreleased tracks! You need this!! This is a CD reissue of Fela Kuti's 1972 album Roforofo Fight, with the addition of two previously unreleased tracks from the same era. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

Two classic afro beat albums!

More afro beat classics from the master himself!

Authority Stealing was actually inflammatory enough to initiate another round of beatings to Fela from the hands of government thugs, this time nearly killing him. VIP is a live performance from Berlin in 1979. This stands as the last recording of the Afrika 70 ensemble.

Highly recommended!

Reissue of Fela's highly sought-after 1971 album, 'Open & Close'! Super-funky Afrobeat featuring the incredible title track!

Fela Kuti stories Nigeria’s attempt at ‘democracy’ in 1979 after more than a decade of
military rule told through this album, originally released in 1985 on Celluloid records. Features a long version of 'Government Chicken Boy'.

Fela Kuti made some frantic albums in his career--ones that popped with his enthusiastic political disobedience and ones that roared with fury at the Nigerian system and Africa's disadvantaged position in the late-20th century. But Coffin for Head of State is a different tiger. It's a downturned, sad, melancholic 22-minute work that signaled how Fela would make his previously general criticisms of Nigerian politics very specific. He recorded the album in 1981, several years after the Nigerian military's destruction of his self-declared Kalakuta Republic (a residential compound, in truth) and the ensuing, relentlessly violent assault on its residents, including his mother, who later died as a result of her injuries. Coffin finds Fela castigating Muslim and Christian leaders for idling while the government raped and pillaged, and it boasts a visionary quality in the antiphonal "Amens" that gets bounced through the band.

Originally released in 1977, ‘Johnny Just Drop (J.J.D.)’ features Fela lampooning Nigeria’s ‘been-tos’, people who had been to Europe or America to work or study and then returned (dropped) home with European social pretensions and an inferiority complex about African culture.

1972 Fela Kuti anthem! This is afro beat at it's finest...ESSENTIAL!!!    

On the title track Fela and the backup singers ridicule the mindset of men in uniform over an urgent, quick-march accompaniment from Afrika 70. The album was a scathing attack on Nigerian soldiers using the zombie metaphor to describe the methods of the Nigerian military. ‘Zombie’ was a smash hit with the people and infuriated the government, setting off a vicious attack against the Kalakuta Republic (a commune that Fela had established in Nigeria). Fela was badly beaten, sustaining a fractured skull and several broken bones. His mother, then aged 77, was thrown out of a window, fracturing a leg and suffering deep trauma. The army then set fire to the compound. The blaze gutted the premises, destroying six Afrika 70 vehicles, all Fela’s master tapes and band equipment and a four-track recording studio.

'Let's Start' - Seriously killer tune! and loads more.

It's hard to go wrong with Fela Kuti's work from the 1970s, and LIVE!, which features the Afrobeat innovator backed by his powerhouse band Africa '70 and ex-Cream drummer Ginger Baker, is no exception. Like all of Fela's recordings from the era, LIVE! consists of just a few tracks, each of which approximates or exceeds the ten minute mark. Yet the arrangements are so dynamic on these tracks, the criss-crossing polyrhythms so absorbing, and Fela's incantatory vocals so entrancing that the long running times never seem a factor. Every cut crackles from beginning to end with its mixture of funk, jazz, and traditional Nigerian music, underscoring once again Fela's revolutionary, indelible contribution to world music.

"JJD/Unnecessary Begging" is another gem in the Fela two-albums-on-one-CD reissue series on MCA. As original LPs, "JJD (Johnny Just Drop)," recorded live at Fela's home/club/compound, Kalakuta Republic, was released in 1977, while "Unnecessary Begging" and its b-side "No Buredi (No Bread)" were issued a year earlier in 1976. These albums were part of what was arguably Fela's greatest period as he released more than a dozen albums between 1975-77! While "Zombie" and "Opposite People" are clearly the essential recordings from this period, this disc, and all of the Fela reissues, are really indispensabl

The two titles from these 1977 albums are fiercely anti-authoritarian blasts at the Nigerian governmental regime while on 'Don't Worry About My Mouth O', Fela explains his preference for traditional African ways.

Wicked early reissue album from cult african hero Fela Ransome-Kuti with his first band Koola Lobitos from 1965!

In early 1965, just as the West African High-life scene was becoming rather a drag and everybody was bored with it all, the revoluntionary sound of Fela Ransome-Kuti & His Koola Lobitos burst upon us! Fela had recently trained at the Trinity College of Music in London before making this album, and was heavily influenced by jazz greats such as Miles Davis and Thad Jones, as a result of this the album has a very jazz infused sound. The horn section features heavilly in the album with Fela playing trumpet. Funky exotic rhythmic patterns, deep afro jazz grooves, this album is a brilliant eye opener and rare opportunity to experience the lesser known early Fela recordings compared to his 70's afrobeat output.

Deluxe digipack, with booklet including Fela’s biography and track-by-track commentary from Afrobeat historian Chris May.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

'Expensive Shit', from 1975, is one of Fela's most notorious albums. The title track recounts being framed by the police and his comical escape from certain conviction while 'Water Get No Enemy' is a veritable Afro-beat anthem. 'He Miss Road', also from '75, was produced by Ginger Baker and is a deep and dark album that is one of Fela's best.

'Shakara', originally released in 1972, shows Fela's sarcastic sensibility: 'Lady' criticizes modern African women as becoming overly westernized while 'Shakara (Oloje)' sticks it to arrogant loud mouths.

'London Scene' was recorded at Abbey Road in 1971 and is a great, early example of the Afrobeat stew that Fela was starting to create. Politics began to show up on Fela's lyrics, specifically on the anti-colonial 'Buy Africa'.

Deluxe digipack, with booklet including Fela’s biography and track-by-track commentary from Afrobeat historian Chris May.

Yet more essential afro beat classics from the king of Nigerian music, Fela Kuti! Monkey Banana - reflects his social consciousness in deploring the poor conditions of workers' lives in Nigeria. "Sense Wiseness' has a funkier beat and prominent high, glistening electric keyboards, the backdrop for lyrics criticizing the educated segment of Africa's population for absorbing Western ways.

Monkey Banana was combined with another 1975 album, Excuse O.

Deluxe digipack, with booklet including Fela’s biography and track-by-track commentary from Afrobeat historian Chris May.

Highly Recommended!

Two essential Afro-beat classics from Fela Kuti with 'Upside Down' (1976) and the 'Music Of Many Colours' collaboration with Roy Ayers (1980). Their version of "2000 Black" is a rare groove classic!

Two classic afro beat albums on one bargain price CD! Recommended!

Deluxe digipack, with booklet including Fela’s biography and track-by-track commentary from Afrobeat historian Chris May.

Fela and Afrika 70 at their peak with two seminal albums on one disc. Rowsing, radical stuff as espoused by 'Colonial Mentality'.

Essential afro beat! A dancefloor bomb plus essential previously unreleased tracks! You need this!! This is a CD reissue of Fela Kuti's 1972 album Roforofo Fight, with the addition of two previously unreleased tracks from the same era. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

More afro beat classics from the master himself!

Authority Stealing was actually inflammatory enough to initiate another round of beatings to Fela from the hands of government thugs, this time nearly killing him. VIP is a live performance from Berlin in 1979. This stands as the last recording of the Afrika 70 ensemble.

Highly recommended!

Detroit techno pioneer, Jeff Mills in collusion with the late legendary Afro-beat drummer, Tony Allen - on Blue Note!

20th anniversary edition of Marcos Valle’s debut release for Far Out Recordings!

Previously unreleased album from the 80s by Cincinnati's legendary soul group gets the loving issue treatment via Numero!

With the 11th edition of their exemplary 'Spiritual Jazz' series, Jazzman focus in on one of the most significant and prolific European jazz record labels, SteepleChase. From 1972, the Copenhagen-based imprint has recorded and released music from some of the greatest names in jazz, including Dexter Gordon, Andrew Hill, Jackie McLean, Horace Parlan, Chet Baker and Stan Getz.

This compilation features some of the more in demand tunes from the catalogue from the likes of Billy Gault, Johnny Dyani and Khan Jamal and unearthing deep cuts from greats like Jackie McLean and Mary Lou Williams - essential!

Recorded live in 1970 with Simone classics "Young, Gifted and Black", "I Got Life" and a rendition of Sandy Denny's "Who Knows Where The Time Goes" in a minimalist arrangement that ends in an uplifting orchestration true to both the writer of the song and the performer.

BACK IN STOCK!!

Light In The Attic dig deeper into the sounds of bubble-era Japan with their superb 'Pacific Breeze 2' compilation! From the proto-City Pop funk of Bread & Butter and Eiichi Ohtaki to the crate-digger favourites Eri Ohno and Piper, the latest entry in Light In The Attic’s Japan Archival Series brings another set of sought-after tunes, most of which have never before been available outside of Japan - fantastic!

Soul Jazz Records’ new journey into the mighty vaults of Clement Dodd’s Studio One steps once more into the fertile musical environment of Jamaican music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, from the sweet harmony vocals of seminal 1960s Rocksteady right up to the nascent birth of Reggae and Roots music at the start of the 1970s.

Sleevenotes to this album are by Steve Barrow, author of ‘Rough Guide to Reggae’ as well as Soul Jazz Records’ own ‘Reggae Soundsystem Cover Art’ books.

While Ska at the start of the 1960s had taken American rhythm and blues as its main influence, Rocksteady focused on the emergence of American Soul music – with Jamaican vocal harmony groups such as The Gaylads, John Holt & The Paragons, Carlton & The Shoes showing a particular fascination with the close harmonies of Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions and other US soul acts. Here The Heptones even feature with a cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘I Shall Be Released’.

The influence of Soul music on Jamaican rock steady and reggae is almost palpable, so much so that one wonders how much more successful singers like Delroy Wilson, Alton Ellis, Slim Smith and John Holt would have been had they been born in Chicago, Detroit or Memphis

Artists such as Alton Ellis, Delroy Wilson and Owen Gray defined the era – a slowed down beat as Jamaican political and social heat slowly increased as the 1960s progressed into the start of the 1970s –  and the music evolved further from rock steady into roots reggae.

Wicked tunes!

Double vinyl + download code, Deluxe CD, Digital album.

Reviews:

"Every tune is a bonaflide classic" Pitchfork

Read full Pitchfork article here

Futurist jazz voyagers (lead by Shabaka Hutchings) The Comet Is Coming release their anticipated 2nd album via Impulse! A propulsive, kaleidoscopic trip deep into the cosmos - another essential release!

This is the second installment of deep roots Rastafarian reggae at Studio One and features classic music from some of the most important figures in reggae music – Alton Ellis, The Heptones, Jackie Mittoo, The Gladiators – alongside a host of rarities and little-known recordings, such as a truly rare Mystic Revelation of Rastafari seven-inch single, Willie William’s first ever recording ‘Calling’ and Horace Andy’s righteous (and equally rare) masterpiece ‘Illiteracy.’

Black Man’s Pride 2 extends the legacy of Studio One’s ground-breaking path in roots reggae which began at the end of the 1960s and continued throughout the 1970s. The album tells the story of how the rise of Studio One Records and the Rastafari movement were interconnected, through the adoption of the Rastafari faith by key reggae artists – everyone from the Skatalites and Wailers in the 1960s, major singers such as Alton Ellis and Horace Andy at the end of the decade, through to major roots artists such as The Gladiators in the 1970s – and how Clement Dodd consistently recorded this heavyweight roots music throughout Studio One’s history.

The extensive sleeve-notes to this album also discuss the links between Rastafari and Studio One in time and place, noting how both the religion and Clement Dodd’s musical empire had their roots in the intense period of pre-independence Jamaica in Kingston, expanded in the 1960s following the visit of Haile Selassie in 1966, and how roots music then came to dominate reggae music in the early 1970s. Also discussed is how the outsider stance of both reggae music and the Rastafari movement relate back many hundreds of years to the original rebel stance of the Maroons, escaped slaves who set up self-sufficient enclaves in the hills of the Jamaican countryside.

There is also a track-by-track history by the noted Studio One writer Rob Chapman (Never Grow Old). This new album comes as heavyweight gatefold double vinyl (+ download code), deluxe CD and digital album.

REVIEWS of Black Man's Pride:

"Soul Jazz’s albums are different: not only have they encouraged a new, younger audience, parallel to the one that enjoys rare funk and spiritual jazz, to appreciate this music, their records are coherent. They’re not just a heap of tunes that happen to be sharing a black vinyl apartment. They’re themed and meld musically. They have a reason to exist.
In this instance, that reason is an exploration of 70s vocal roots reggae with a theme of black pride and dignity." Record Collector

Superb 1972 funky reggae cut with top vocal from Dave Barker plus The Techniques rare "War Boat" on the flip.

This is the latest new installment of Soul Jazz Records’ on-going collection of Rastafarian music at Studio One, featuring classic material from legendary roots and culture artists The Gladiators, Horace Andy, Freddie McGregor, Sugar Minott and the Wailing Souls, alongside a superb selection of rarities from Sir Coxsone’s musical empire made up of one-off and practically unknown Rastafarian artists who recorded on a myriad of Studio One off-shoot labels in the 1970s – The Manchesters, Mellodies, The Nightingales and others.

In this new collection, we see that once again the prescient Clement Dodd was a man who saw the wider picture. In the 1960s it was Sir Coxsone who identified the creative potential of The Wailers, Toots and the Maytals, Heptones, Burning Spear and many, many others. In the 1970s Studio One released an untouchable selection of the finest as styles moved from reggae to deejay to dub and, in the latter half, the emergence of dancehall.

But what is also clear is that throughout this era Studio One released an incredible amount of roots music, and not just the most commercially obvious. For alongside the career-building catalogues of Burning Spear, The Wailing Souls, The Gladiators and so on, one needs to be an ardent Studio One collector to know some of the truly raw Rastafarian music featured here. Groups such as The Manchesters or The Nightingales feel as if they were recorded straight out of the churchical chants of the mansions.

Black Man’s Pride explains the links between the ideology of Clement Dodd at Studio One and the Rastafarian faith, which was the creation of Afro-Jamaicans and concerned above all else with a black consciousness and empowerment, a rediscovering of the personal and racial identity of black people. The movement began in the 1930s and, in tandem with this black consciousness, called for a rejection of the British imperial culture that dominated Jamaica, while creating an identity based on a re-appropriation of an African heritage.

The Rastafari movement was like a pivot, bringing together and balancing many vectors of ideologies. Marcus Garvey’s Back to Africa movement, trades union discourse, anti-colonialism and nation independence, maroon self-definition and independence, the spirit of African rebellion in the Caribbean. For Clement Dodd, a black man and producer growing up in Kingston in this era, Rastafari was simply a part of his everyday world – from witnessing Count Ossie’s grounations to the faith of many Jamaican artists at Studio One – from the Skatalites onwards.

Featured here alongside these classic and rare tracks from Studio One are new and extensive sleeve notes with track-by-track notes by Rob Chapman, author of the acclaimed Downbeat Special and Never Grow Old Studio One books.

The album is released as double heavyweight gatefold vinyl (+ free download code), CD with slipcase and booklet, and digital album.

Another collector’s prize, this dangerous trombone instrumental from legendary trombonist Vin Gordon was produced by Jimmy Radway for his Fe Me Time label. The track was recorded at Byron Lee’s Dynamics Studio with a rhythm provided by an all star line up of sessioneers which include Aston “Family Man’ Barrett on bass, Lloyd ‘Tin Leg’ Adams on drums , and Earl ‘Chinna’ Smith on guitar.

• 13 TRACKS PREVIOUSLY UNAVAILABLE ON CD• INCLUDES 6 PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED RECORDINGS• THE ALBUM’S FIRST GLOBAL REISSUE ON CD

Originally released by Creole Records in 1978, “Roots, Rock Reggae” primarily served as a showcase vehicle for the most recent productions of Phil Mathias and his Big Phil label. Comprising 14 tracks of the highest quality, the album featured some of Jamaica’s leading talent, notably the In Crowd, Cornel Campbell, Sugar Minott, Delroy Wilson and Leroy Smart.

Released in a number of countries around the globe, the LP proved a best-seller, but despite its popularity and rich musical content, it subsequently remained unavailable until the early 1990s when it was re-issued in Germany in limited numbers.

Now, at long last, this superb collection of high quality roots reggae is made available once more, with its original track-listing augmented by the best of Mathias’s remaining productions from the period.

NYC house classic produced by Roger Sanchez, sampling Loose Joints evergreen disco anthem 'Is It All Over My Face'! This double pack features all the crucial remixes and bonus cuts - essential!

• FIRST OFFICIAL RE-ISSUE OF THE ICONIC ALBUM ON CD• MOST TRACKS CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE DIGITALLY• SLEEVE NOTES BY LEE PERRY BIOGRAPHER, DAVID KATZ

Released in 1972, the Junior Byles single ‘Beat Down Babylon’ provided one of the clearest indications to dateof the impending roots sound that would soon dominate reggae. The immense popularity of the Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry-produced 45, both in Jamaica and the UK, swiftly prompted a best-selling long-player of the same title, issued later that year.

Comprising ten of the singer-songwriter’s recent recordings for the mighty Upsetter, the LP has since been re-issued on vinyl on a number of occasions, but has never been officially made available on CD until now.

Now, at long last, “Beat Down Babylon” does finally make it onto the format, with the original track-listing bolstered by the remainder of Byles’ released work for Perry, which includes numerous Jamaican hits, most notably the 1974 smash, ‘Curley Locks’.

Jean-Michel Basquiat completed more than 1,500 works before his death at the age of twenty-seven. His unique compositions--collages of text and gestural painting across a variety of media--quickly made him one of the most important and widely known artists of the 1980s. Reading Basquiat provides a new approach to understanding the range and impact of Basquiat's practice, as well as its complex relationship to several key artistic and ideological debates of the late twentieth century, including the instability of identity, the role of appropriation, and the boundaries of expressionism. Jordana Moore Saggese argues that Basquiat, once known as "the Black Picasso," probes not only the boundaries of blackness but also the boundaries of American art. Weaving together the artist's interests in painting, writing, and music, this groundbreaking book expands the parameters of aesthetic discourse to consider the parallels Basquiat found among these disciplines in his exploration of the production of meaning. Most importantly, Reading Basquiat considers the ways in which Basquiat constructed large parts of his identity--as a black man, as a musician, as a painter, and as a writer--via the manipulation of texts in his own library.

KILLER rare 1875 Strata East deep jazz released on Gilles Peterson's new label! W/ Harold Vick and Billy Higgins - the bomb!

Reissue of Biosphere's classic 'Dropsonde' album that was originally released via Touch in 2006. The album was noted for its "new directions towards the jazz colours of Miles Davis and Jon Hassell, whilst re-invigorating the pulse and projection of his signature sound". This edition features seven previously unreleased recordings.

The first international album from the Republic of Djibouti - Groupe RTD's stunning label debut 'The Dancing Devils of Djibouti'! While the music of Somalia is widely celebrated, its neighbour, Djibouti, is home to an equally deep reservoir of its own unique Somali music.

"Khruangbin has always been multilingual, weaving far-flung musical languages like East Asian surf-rock, Persian funk, and Jamaican dub into mellifluous harmony. But on its third album, it’s finally speaking out loud. Mordechai features vocals prominently on nearly every song, a first for the mostly instrumental band. It’s a shift that rewards the risk, reorienting Khruangbin’s transportive sound toward a new sense of emotional directness, without losing the spirit of nomadic wandering that’s always defined it."

Taken from a mysterious Acetate cut by Derrick May in 1987 this release was originally penned for KMS offshoot Pheerce Citi.

Both these sides were later released; 'The Darkside' as 'A Relic' (by Longer Than Long ago) and 'Tic Tic Tic' was later released on the limited edition compilation as Music Institute 20th Anniversary as 'Untitled'.

Both tracks are however, very hard to get on vinyl and have now been re issued as loud 45rpm pressings in Pheerce Citi artwork and remastered.

Legendary Afrobeat pioneer Fela Ransome Kuti's first recordings of highlife and calypso, recorded in London in 1959, on a limited edition 10". Two of the tracks are released here for the first time ever!! The tape of the very first Fela Ransome Kuti recording session has languished in a series of dusty cupboards and damp basements for 60 years. It's a miracle that it has survived in such fine condition. The original Melodisc single, comprising side A of this release, was for long thought lost until a copy of the session acetate turned up and was reissued as part of the superb Soundway compilation Highlife on the Move (2014). However the two tracks on side B of this album have never been issued in any form and are reproduced here in all their glory for the very first time!

VINYL FACTORY COMPILATION OF THE YEAR 2020!!!

See chart here

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LIMITED EDITION COMES WITH FREE GRAPHIC STORY!

Soul Jazz Records’ new Black Riot: Early Jungle, Rave and Hardcore is a brand new collection of heavyweight ragga-influenced hardcore jungle tracks from the early 1990s. Dark and heavy!

Featuring classic and seminal tracks from the likes of Levictus and Krome &Time, alongside a host of rare and little-known ragga & junglist hardcore tunes from the likes of Babylon Timewarp’s hypnotic Durban Poison, Rhythm for Reasons’ mad ‘The Smokers Rhythm’, The Freaky rave-y breakbeat sound of ‘Time and Age,’ Trip One’s super dark ‘Snowball’ and loads more!

Expect super heavy basslines, equally heavy twisted Amen drum loops, even heavier ragga vocals! Original jungle style - roots and culture - from the earliest days of drum and bass.

Included with the album is a free limited-edition graphic mini-novel “Black Riot: The Mysterons save Planet Earth from the Xatheroid Angels.” This is the third collaboration between Soul Jazz Records and writer/illustrator Paulo Parisi, the highly respected author of graphic books on Jean Michel Basquiat and John Coltrane.

This new graphic story continues the story of black electronic dance music – this time set around the birth of Jungle and continues onwards from Soul Jazz’s earlier ‘Invasion of the Killer Mysterons’ (Jamaican electronic Dub, co-compiled by Kevin Martin (The Bug)) and Mysterons Invade the Jackin’ Zone (about Chicago Acid & Experimental House).

Reissue of this CLASSIC Kevin Saunderson production under his Reese production guise. 'Just Want Another Chance' features one of techno's most iconic basslines that went on to inspire a generation of dnb, garage and dub producers!

Originally released on Detroit's Incognito label, this re issue on Saunderson's own KMS imprint Contains the original, dub and accapella versions plus a whole host of 'Rhythm Tracks' written by Kevin Saunderson on the B side for creative DJ's to play with!

Essential!

Available for the first time since 1979. Remastered and reissued on heavyweight translucent gold vinyl, complete with extended liner notes and limited edition hand-numbering. One of the rarest soul records to collect by The Sweet Inspirations. Originally released on the Koala label out of Tennessee, the label had hardly any distribution and very few of these were originally pressed. Gold vinyl edition.