Kashmere Stage Band Kashmere

Reissue of this wicked, oddball/outsider, boogie/funk 45 from New York circa 1987!

Lo-fi house music, electro-funk, synth pop instrumentals, primitive techno and out-there kosmiche vibes from the awesome talent, Linkwood! An absolute ace via Athens Of The North!

Party-starting heat from East Coast Love Affair who come with the rousing disco vibes of 'Confrontations' backed with the MONSTER percussive breakdown of 'Shake' - killer, killer release via Athens Of The North!

Warren Hampshire's personal folk musings on 'Language Of The Birds' hint at 60s psychedelic folk and 70s ambient moods, provoking "memories of old children's books, fairy tales". Stunning, hypnotic release via Athens Of The North!

A collection of keys tracks from cult 'deep funk' hero, Nathan Bartell! Contains the hugely sought-after cut 'Top Going Down' amongst other soul gems from this US legend.

Oddball disco/modern soul/boogie outsider jam from Christopher Jay - previously unreleased until now via Athens Of The North!

A 45 reissue of Brief Encounter's most popular modern soul/disco side against possibly their best ballad / deep soul spin. Stone cold classic all the way via Athens Of The North!

Super rare boogie/funk nugget from the 80s that was recorded in the golden state of California!

Reissue of this wicked, oddball, mid 80s Brit funk jam via Athens Of The North!

Mid-80s boogie/soul 45 from obscure Daytona act, Akira Freeze - big vibes on both sides!

Milwaukee's artist Chuck Brimley's cover of Michael Frank's classic soft rock / jazz / blue-eyed soul cut 'St. Elmore Fire'. An extremely hard to find 45reissued by the good folk at Athens Of the North.

Wicked soul / disco from LaRombé, out on Athens Of The North.

Lush, breezy AOR / soft rock business from James McKenzie & The Mckenzie Brothers - a compilation of two of their privately pressed albums from the 70s, reissued via Athens Of The North.

Athens of the North reissue a deepfunk/soul rarity flipped with an absolute deep soul killer, from Texas band, Papa Bear & His Cubs!

Woah - we didn't see this one coming! Athens Of The North focus on some unissued material from Dennis Young of no-wave / post punk legends from NYC, Liquid Liquid! Following the group disbanding in '85, Young continued to make music, adding elements of jazz and '4th world' music whilst being rooted into the percussive tradition synonymous with Liquid Liquid. A fantastic and intriguing release that puts a spotlight on that period in Young's career.

Athens Of The North reissue of one of the most coveted unreleased low rider / soul ballads ever. Huge tune - don't sleep!

The two best cuts from the previously unreleased Raw Soul Express LP recently released by Athens Of The North. Limited to 500 copies - no repress! 

Chicano soul / disco floater cut from George Rivera's master tapes and reissued by the good people at Athens Of The North! Limited to 500 copies only. 

Multi talented UK Jazz Pianist Greg Foat has teamed up with Mercury Award nominated "The Bees" member and multi instrumentalist Warren Hampshire to collaborate on a new LP drawing on their diverse musical influences - Classic British library music, 60s Italian soundtracks & lost Americana combined with touches of modern classical, minimalism, Jazz and Folk. Recommended! 

Gospel disco dance-floor filler from one of The Clark Sisters! First time on a 7" - another essential one from AOTN!  

Another big one from The Athens Of The North Camp - The full vocal, never before released version of Brazilian Rhyme! The track is an uncredited cover of Toninho Horta's "Beijo Partido". One for the b-boys and disco heads alike!

One of the best mid-tempo disco rarities to come out the 'deep funk' scene. Reissued nice n loud on a 12" on Athens of the North! 

Two previously unreleased tracks from the outsider disco outfit 'Strange- - A spaced out druggy disco band that had a hint of Rick James with a deeper trippier vibe that's truly unique! Essential!  

Natural Hi’s ‘Fame’ has made it on a 45 for the first time inc. 'radio edits' by Sean P!

The spirit of London's underground 'brit-funk' sound from 1981 - a rare find that finally (and officially) sees the light of day again! Wild overdubs and crazy reverb saturation for maximum on the dancefloor - ESSENTIAL!

Mary Steven’s ‘Find Your Love’ made available together for the first time on 7” featuring the classic Boyd Jarvis & Timmy Regisford and a brand new 'radio edit' by Sean P!

Whether it’s the original or the Boyd Jarvis and Timmy Regisford remix, ’Find Your Love’ sits easy amongst the most enduring classic boogie sounds of New York clubland. Recorded in the heart of Times Square by Mary Stevens from Queen Bridge in 1983.

Dam Funk dons his Garrett guise once again and takes us to the frontiers of electronic funk, kosmiche, new age and dream house music via Music From Memory label! Killer, killer release!

Soul Junction release more of the in demand tunes that were released on the Washington D.C label, Tec. Heavy funk vibes for the dancefloor including a version of the Herbie Hancock classic, 'Watermelon Man'!

Melodies International reissue this super-rare disco anthem from Detroit that was originally recorded in 1980 and dedicated to the “King Of The Champion Fighters” Le Stim 'A Tribute to Muhammad Ali (We CrownThe King)'.

Chip Wickham's highly acclaimed second album "Shamal Wind" get's the remix treatment from some of the finest producers on the circuit right now. Max Graef offers up two versions of Soho Strut, whilst Reginald Omas Mamode IV and Ishamel Ensemble fill in the gaps with killer versions of "Soul Rebel 23" and "Snake Eyes"

Revered soul producer, Nigel Lowis respectfully remixes this modern soul classic from 1982 into a surefire, dancefloor-friendly heater!

Another classic Black Moon hip-hop joint from 1994 reissued on a 45!

Both these killer tracks feature on the classic “Inside is Love” LP from 1979. Two modern soul dancefloor fillers, previously both released as singles but not in their full length versions like here. Essential!  

Heavy, heavy, heavy latin funk jazz live at Sing Sing prison in 1972! Genius!

Features a reissued of the CLASSIC b-boy anthem, '2001' backed with a killer cover of the Curtis Mayfield gem!

More sweet, low rider / brown eyed soul music reissued via Big Crown!

Expansion reissue of two classic Patti Austin tracks from her Columbia days. Big on the Northern scene!

7"

In 2015, Freestyle Records re-issued the groundbreaking 'African Party' album by the somewhat mysterious figure of Ginger (George Folunsho) Johnson. Recorded in 1967, nearly 20 years after he first arrived in post war London and immediately began performing and recording with London jazz stalwarts Ronnie Scott and Pete King.

Credited by those in the know (including Giles Peterson, Louie Vega, Fela Kuti's drummer Tony Allen & writer David Toop) as the godfather of afrobeat, Ginger and his group, The African Messengers enjoyed a varied career as the go to afro-cuban percussion group for recording sessions in the UK, working with Georgie Fame, Osibisa, Madeleine Bell and Quincy Jones - as well as acting us mentor to a young Fela Kuti and members of Cymande who cut their teeth as members of his ensemble. They also performed at The Royal Variety Performance, Ginger's music featured in the James Bond film 'Live & Let Die' and Ginger himself appears on screen drumming in the Hammer Films cult classic 'She', and famously performed with The Rolling Stones in Hyde Park in 1969.

Aside from 'African Party', and several Hi Life singles released on the Melodisc label in the 50's, it was thought that there were no further recordings by this hugely influential musician . Eventually, prompted by the attention afforded the Freestyle re-issues - Ginger's son Dennis Dee Mac Johnson was contacted by Uchenna Ikonne, a renowned African music collector, who told him he had discovered one rather battered original copy of a 45 single, released in the mid 70's on the short lived 'Afrodesia' label,

For Record Store Day 2019, Freestyle are proud to release the 2 tracks on a fresh vinyl 45. 'Witchdoctor' is not the track of the same name on African Party, but it and 'Nawa' (written by Dizzy Gillespie cohort Chano Pozo) demonstrate a musical progression as funk had stamped it's indelible footprint on Ginger's music along with afro-cuban rhythms and jazz.

Jazzman revive their highly acclaimed 'A New Life' compilation with 'Vol. 2', assembling another ground-breaking collection of Brit jazz anomalies and outliers from the 1970s and 1980s. Francis Gooding and Duncan Brooker have dig deep into the archives on this one, featuring tracks from Billy Jenkins, Don Rendell, Gerry McClelland and Ronnie Scott's house band member, Pat Crumly - another exemplary selection!

Key tracks from this classic jazz-funk rarity from 1974 gets reissued into 45s collection via Dynamite Cuts. Limited 2x7"pack available now!

The A side “This Strange Effect” is an updated take on the Ray Davies penned classic from 1965 while the B Side “Hands In Your Pockets” finds The Shacks dipping their toe into the rocksteady / reggae world. Recorded with the rhythm section of the infamous Frightnrs of Daptone Records fame, Shannon’s floaty vocal stylings are right at home on a new jack reggae rhythm.

Two amazing jazz-funk bullets taken from the Forty Seven Times Its Own Weight's album, 'Cumulo Nimbus'. An incredibly rare and highly sought after album, these two tracks are the pick of the album, cut on a load 45 for the first time. Essential!

Soul Jazz Records are releasing this first ever collection of the pioneering British reggae Lovers Rock group Brown Sugar including rare singles, dubs and extended mixes. The album comes with extensive sleevenotes and interviews with Dennis Bovell, Pauline Catlin, John Kpiaye and Winston Edwards (Studio 16).

Brown Sugar were formed by three young teenage girls – Pauline Catlin, Caron Wheeler and Carol Simms in South London in 1976. In the short period of time 1976-1980, the group – working with Dennis Bovell on the mixing desk and John Kpiaye (‘Brownie T) in the studio – recorded barely a handful of singles on the new Lovers Rock label, a number of which went to the top of the UK reggae charts. But success stopped there, and with no album release and no industry support the group broke up in the early 1980s.

Following their split Caron Wheeler became the lead vocalist for the hugely successful group Soul II Soul, Carol Simms launched a solo career as Kofi (re-making a number of Brown Sugar songs with producer Mad Professor) and Pauline Catlin returned to education.

Despite their relatively low-key mainstream public exposure Brown Sugar (and the label on which their first records appeared) announced to the world a new genre of reggae music, Lovers Rock, which spoke for the first time with the sensibility of a new segment of British society; that of first generation-born Black British female youth.

And while Lovers Rock became synonymous with sweet love songs, Brown Sugar’s music in fact expressed far more; a righteous pride and consciousness in being Black and British, a political stance more often associated with UK roots groups like Black Slate, Aswad, Misty in Roots and other British reggae acts in the late 1970s. Brown Sugar were in fact their own genre of ‘conscious lovers rock’ – an expression of ideological black cultural pride.

Brown Sugar’s handful of three-minute love songs (often plus extended dubs) somehow manage to encapsulate all the complexities of identity, sexual politics and youthful righteousness of Afro-Caribbean youth living in Britain in the 1970s. Songs such as ‘I’m in Love with A Dreadlocks’, ‘Our Reggae Music’, ‘Black Pride’ and ‘Dreaming of Zion’ spoke with a straightforward righteousness and consciousness that few roots groups could hope to match. The fact that they were all teenagers is even more striking.

In the mid-70s British reggae came into being as first generation Black Britain was able to find a voice able to express the issues of growing up British with Caribbean roots. This came about in two different ways – the British roots music of (essentially male) groups such as Aswad, Steel Pulse and Black Slate – and Lovers Rock, the expression of a black essentially (but not totally) female consciousness – Brown Sugar, Louisa Mark, 15-16-17, Marie Pierre, Janet Kay, Carroll Thompson, Jean Adebambo and others. And significantly, while British roots music was a variant on a Jamaican style, Lovers Rock was uniquely British – the first authentic British reggae sound.

Dennis Bovell comments, “For Lovers Rock we needed a pulpit, a way of saying ‘this is the style’. Sound systems were already saying ‘this is lovers,’ brandishing it in the dance. Our intention was to create a style of music that my generation could identify with – one that had a beat, and you could dance to with your partner in a sound system setting.”

Dennis Bovell’s mixes for the group gave a further dimension to Brown Sugar records – a sound system mentality, adding sound effects and dub elements. ‘I’m in Love with A Dreadlocks’ was the debut release for both Brown Sugar and the Lovers Rock label, a fitting calling card for both. The record was a hit on many sound systems across the UK, reaching the top of the reggae charts.

John Kpiaye: “They never put out an album. And all these records were seven-inch singles; when 12-inches turned up it just killed the seven-inch.”

Although the career of Brown Sugar was short-lived, their legacy and influence remains significant and now, 40 years on from these first records, all of the members are still involved in music. Pauline Catlin has recently re-launched her career under a new moniker, Shezekiel; Carol Simms, aka Kofi, remains a successful solo artist, one of the queens of Lovers Rock; Caron Wheeler, after leaving Soul II Soul at the end of the 1980s, embarked on a solo career, before re-joining the soul super-group which she continues to front to this day.

This new collection brings together all the groups essential recordings for the first ever time and is released as double gatefold heavyweight vinyl + free download (+ full sleevenotes), CD with large booklet, and digital album.

Two KILLER Latin Funk Jazz tunes! 

Original unplayed vinyl USA ORIGINAL 45 copy.

The great soul survivor, Lee Fields is back on Big Crown with his enduring troupe, The Expressions! 

TOTALLY AWESOME CLASSIC RARE GROOVE BOMB!

Arranged by Vince Montana, Norman Harris and Ronald Baker + MFSB, a 'Philly sound' CLASSIC .The only original 7 inch from the 70's change hands for £150! Don't miss out!

NEW USA IMPORT PAPERBACK £6 BARGAIN!

Prince is the first book to give full treatment to his thirty-five-year career. Acclaimed music journalist Ronin Ro traces Prince's rise from anonymity in the late 70s, to his catapult to stardom in the 80s, to his reemergence in the twenty-first century as an artistic icon. Ro expertly chronicles his music and career, showing how Prince and his albums helped define and inspire a generation.

Wild, percussive club traxx from Airhead landing on James Blake's 1-800 Dinosaur label! More monster wares from the Hemlock and R&S allumi who mixes up grime fx with propulsive techno and old school breakbeat energy - unstoppable and HIGHLY recommended by us!