Michael Kiwanuka KIWANUKA

Louis Vuitton Creative Director, Off-White Founder and DJ, Virgil Abloh, remixes Michael Kiwanuka’s ‘Solid Ground’. Earlier in 2020, Abloh selected ‘Solid Ground’ to introduce his Louis Vuitton Fall/Winter 2020 Paris Fashion Week Show, and has extended his appreciation of the track with the remix.

Michael Kiwanuka debut LP 'Home Again' provoked comparisons to the likes of Bill Withers and Otis Redding. Now, 'Love & Hate' struts to a much more psychedelic, contemporary, and freeform beat, retaining the sounds and style of a classic 70's soul album. Winner!

A stunning blend of folk, jazz and soul from London-based super talented vocalist Michael Kiwanuka. Emotional, sincere, heart-warming lyrics with a vintage soulful acoustic sound, that has gained him comparisons to Bill Withers and Terry Callier, which he almost certainly draws inspiration from.

Beautiful string arrangements, folky guitar, dusty drums and gentle keyboard solos.

Despite their name and place of origin, created some of the finest Philly soul of the era. The opening number "I'm Doin' Fine Now" certainly stands as one of the great forgotten singles of the genre (and the '70s in general)

RSD 2021 DROP 1. Available online from 6pm Sat June 12

£42

LP (Yellow Vinyl)

Same tracklisting as original vinyl (16 tracks / 1 LP), Deluxe packaging - trifold vinyl jacket, 28 page LP sized book and 40 page fanzine, highlighter yellow coloured vinyl

RSD 2021 DROP 1. Available online from 6pm Sat June 12

£16

7"

Haim release a coloured vinyl 7" featuring a new version of the track Gasoline with Taylor S plus the original version.

Whilst Celeste’s earlier music was more jazz and soul focused, ‘Not Your Muse’ is much more pop. Her sound is polished and the production on the album is flawless; the album itself sounding like it has come from an international pop star. This comparison is especially stark when compared to the grittier sound of her earlier work, such as her ‘Lately’ EP.

James Brown, 72

JB tells it like it is 74 - It's bad! Nobody wants to walk everybody wants to fly - You can't get a reservation

Spectral pop/R&B/electronic music experiments from the one and only James Blake!

Louis Vuitton Creative Director, Off-White Founder and DJ, Virgil Abloh, remixes Michael Kiwanuka’s ‘Solid Ground’. Earlier in 2020, Abloh selected ‘Solid Ground’ to introduce his Louis Vuitton Fall/Winter 2020 Paris Fashion Week Show, and has extended his appreciation of the track with the remix.

Original Nigerian vinyl. Killer.

Original Nigerian Vinyl VG+ (some surface marks plays fine) /Sleeve VG (bit of creasing, pen mark on front and labels)

+High-end Audio Desk Systeme Pro Machine Utrasonic cleaned+
100% Guarantee on this and all Original Vinyl at Sounds Of The Universe - 'if you're not happy we're not happy' or your money back!

SEMINAL disco!

Tripped out calypso version of 'Love for Sale' and more.

Nice French LP!

Hmmm

The heavyweight minister of funk doing his disco thang - original USA 45

KILLER Early 1973 album from the seminal latin-funk group. Includes "Fencewalk"!

Psychedelic Tropicalista nirvana. Check the tripped out 'Ando Medio Desligado.'

Wicked boogie funk soul disco

Mercury award winner James Blake returns with his 4th studio album 'Assume Form'. The album features collaborations with Travis Scott, André 3000, Metro Boomin, Moses Sumney and Rosalía.

‘Space Funk – Afro Futurist Electro Funk in Space 1976-84’, is an intergalactic journey into black space, fuelled by funk, powered by computers.

‘Space Funk’ is a lovingly compiled collection of superb, rare and off-the-wall space funk and electro releases mostly released on small independent labels in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Reactors are reacting, boosters are boosting, pack your funk and shake your booty! Computer funk … makes you jump! This is the space funk program!

The album comes in deluxe artwork and three formats – digipack + slipcase CD, a very limited deluxe 2xLP + bonus 7” single + download vinyl version, and a standard 2xLP + download standard vinyl version.

Features music by Jamie Jupitor, Solaris, Robotron 4, Juju & the Space Rangers and many more intergalactic space warriors!

The shuttle program has been altered – there is no Star Wars only electro funk jam joyriders in Space – hold tight!

Great compilation of soul music recorded by latin musicians in New York in the 1960s!

The 1960s saw a new generation of young latin musicians rise to prominance, led by artists such as Joe Bataan, with pioneering styles such as boogaloo, which fused New York salsa with the sounds of African-American soul and RnB music. This compilation is a great collection of some of the most soulful moments from some of these soulful latin artists!

Check it out!

Wicked independently published book containing 180 pages of rare and classic Studio One cuts with the author talking about each song. Nice label artworks. Completely idiosyncratic and groovy too.

Heavy middle eastern sounding roots from 1996 from The Rootsman & Third Eye Studio, check "Tribal Dervish" while the dubplate mix is first time release.

Rare Black Uhuru recording from Randy's Studio produced by Clive Chin and featuring Augustus Pablo on melodica with dub version on the flip.

New album from American singer, songwriter and Mary J. Blige/D'Angelo collaborator - Raphael Saadiq. This much anticipated new LP is his most experimental to date, gliding through genres with consummate ease. A modern R&B/soul classic!

2019 special edition version of Matthew Halsall's highly acclaimed 2009 album 'Colour Yes'. Amazing, spiritual, U.K. jazz featuring Nat Birchall. This 2019 edition has been re-mixed and re-mastered, two bonus track's, and new artwork from Ian Anderson.

Deep obscure U.K. roots from the early eighties from Rickey Messenger & Semi-Professionals originally released on 12" KIM records given new life with full colour picture sleeve..Limited edition of 300 copies.

From out of nowhere, UK group Sault drop their album debut on Forever Living Originals (home to Little Simz and Kid Sister), channeling post-punk, primal Afro-funk/punk, dub, alt-pop and heavy soul; taking the best part of The Slits, Golden Teacher, On-U Sound, Konono No. 1 and rolling out something outrageously original - ace!

'Animals Garden' by Miyasaka + 5 was originally issued in 1979 on the cult private Japanese label ALM and is reissued for the first time via BBE!

A one-off project led by master drummer Takashi 'Bear' Miyasaka and features a powerful and progressive jazz group including saxophonist Koichi Matsukaze. The four extended tracks exemplify the high standard of playing and arranging that was a characteristic of jazz composed and recorded in Japan during the late 1970s. Essential reissue!

Includes the tune 'Root Down', as sampled by the Beastie Boys, and three extended, unedited performances not found on the original LP. Also includes a previously unissued alternative performance of the title track! Plus the heavyweight funk 'Slow Down Sagg'. This is one of the heaviest organ funk albums Jimmy Smith ever released - a true one-off. Recommended.

Soul Jazz Records’ new album 90 Degrees of Shade features the music of the Caribbean – Mambo, Calypso, Mento, Merengue, Latin Jazz and much more. The music of Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and more all feature in this lightning journey through the many island sounds.

This is the sound of independence, righteous and hot jump-up sounds from the 1950s and 60s, an exciting period of endless new musical styles that would travel across the world – Mento, the Jamaican precursor to reggae; mambos and descargas from Cuba, Dominican merengue, Haitian compas – and more.

This album coincides with the release of Soul Jazz Records’ massive new deluxe large format hardback book 90 Degrees of Shade: 100 Years of Photography In The Caribbean (with foreward by Paul Gilroy) featuring hundreds of fascinating and unique photographs spanning one hundred years of Caribbean history.

The new album comes as a deluxe two-CD pack complete with large outsize booklet, packed full of info and original artwork. There are also two limited edition separate heavyweight double LP vinyl editions, each one housed in gatefold sleeves complete with insert, full text and free download code. Also comes as a worldwide digital release.

100% KILLER KILLER KILLER LP!

Beautiful re-press of Don Cherry's seminal work from 1976, 'Brown Rice'. A brilliant fusion of jazz with rock, African, Indian, and Arabic music traditions.

OUT OF PRINT FOR OVER 40 years on vinyl!

Features the ESSENTIAL title track Brown Rice and the beautiful, hypnotising tune, 'Malkauns' & more!

Every home should have one!

Second album from grime/UK rap star Stormzy. 'Heavy is the Head' features guest spots from Aitch, Burna Boy, Ed Sheeran, Headie One, H.E.R., Tiana Major9 and YEBBA with production from Fred Gibson, Fraser T Smith, T-Minus and more.

Fantastic new deluxe large format hardback 12" x 12" book from Soul Jazz Books featuring 100 years of photography in the Caribbean.

From Calypso to Vodou, Communism to Reggae, Colonialism and the Slave Trade, Rum and Revolution, Industry and Tourism – over 100 years of photographing the Caribbean is captured in this book.

The image of the Caribbean is as much a creation of the outsider as it is the complex identity of its people – a melting pot of races created out of the participants of the 400 year slave trade – enforced Africans, indigenous Americans and their colonisers – French, Spanish, Dutch, English.

From luscious and tropical backdrop of tourism and hedonism, to colonial outpost and revolutionary threat within North America’s own backyard the identity of the Caribbean stands at this intersection of tourism, the detritus of the slave trade and tropicality.

The regions politics span a hot bed of ideas and radicalism – from Castro’s Cuba, communist thorn in the side of North America, to the violent right-wing dictatorship of Haiti’s Papa Doc in the 1960s; also from Michael Manley’s Jamaica in the 1970s to Eric Williams’ Trinidad in the 1960s.

Hundreds of fascinating and unique photographs span more than one hundred years of Caribbean history, culture and industry as well as the subsequent diaspora of its people to America, England, Canada and elsewhere.

FOREWORD BY PAUL GILROY. EDITED BY STUART BAKER.

Paul Gilroy is the author of The Black Atlantic (1993),There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack (1987), Black Britain - A Photographic History (2004) and more.

Stuart Baker is the founder of Soul Jazz Records.

FEATURES:

See Guardian newspaper cover story/4-page feature/gallery here

Soul Jazz Records’ new release Black Fire! New Spirits! is a deluxe double CD (and limited triple LP) exploring deep, radical and spiritual jazz in the USA in the period 1957-1975.

In the 1960s and into the 1970s jazz music in the USA was in an almost constant state of revolution, with the music and lives of African-American artists radicalised by the advent of the civil rights movement, Black Power, and a new spiritual awakening.

For over 20 years now Soul Jazz Records have been exploring this rich area of deep and spiritual jazz music with an array of albums such as Freedom, Rhythm and Sound, Universal Sounds of America, New Thing, Soul Jazz Love Strata East and more. Soul Jazz Records have also released a steady stream of reissues of lost and classic deep jazz releases over the years from artists such as Art Ensemble of Chicago, Steve Reid, Pharaoh Sanders and others.

This new album features groundbreaking and revolutionary artists such as Don Cherry, Archie Shepp, The Last Poets and Yusef Lateef as well as many rare and deep lost tracks from lesser known artists such as Creative Artists Ensemble, Granchan Moncur, Lloyd McNeill, Tyrone Washington and others.

This album coincides with the recent ‘Black Fire! New Spirits! Images of A Revolution: Radical Jazz in the USA 1960-75’ book, published by Soul Jazz Books, which as well as including pioneering artists such as John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Roland Kirk and Alice Coltrane also features many of the artists included in this album. 

REVIEWS

"This double-disc set is the companion soundtrack to Soul Jazz's book of the same name. It documents 14 wide-ranging tracks by well-known foundational artists and those who followed the New Thing path to other realms during a fertile period during and after the Civil Rights Era. Soul Jazz has always done an admirable job both in curation and presentation." All Music

Read full All Music review here

Expansion's annual 'Luxury Soul' series continues! As ever, the pick of the previous year’s big tunes are presented on this 34-track collection, with contributions from Cornell CC Carter – ‘I See Love (MetLife Remix)’, Brian Power ft Hil St Soul – ‘Take Me Away’, Zo! Ft Carmen Rogers and Eric Roberson ‘Love Up’, SouLutions ‘Who’s Been Kissing You’, Incognito – ‘Jakarta Dreams’, Halo – ‘Let Me Do It’, SoulPerson & Princess Freesia – ‘Music Man’, ‘Laura Jackson – ‘Reach Out’, Rockie Robbins – ‘Together’, Victor Haynes – ‘Who Do You Love’ and Noel McKoy – ‘People make Change’ among many others.

MASSIVE STUDIO ONE ANTHEM ALERT!!!

Willie Williams' roots rock reggae classic Armagideon Time – the rare 12" extended Discomix version split into two sublime heavyweight slices and cut super-loud on a 12" single.

Produced by Studio One supremo Coxsone Dodd this is a huge Reggae anthem on the classic 'Real Rock' rhythm, famously covered by The Clash and sampled by KRS One, The Fugees and many more.

A dancefloor devastating Reggae party bomb!

Mercury music prize nominees, The Comet Is Coming release their anticipated album of rugged, energetic jazz compositions that hit hard like the most ferocious Sun Ra compositions, melded with the kosmiche, psychedelia of Neu! Huge shop recommendation! 

Amazing new compilation from Analog Africa, compiled via trawling through piles of cassettes and listening to reel-to-reel tapes, in the dusty archives of Radio Mogadishu, Somalia. Full to the brim of amazing Somalian music featuring tracks from The Dur Dur Band, Omar Shooli, Bakaka Band and many more. Highly recommended!

Classic jazz funk album produced by the brilliant Mizell brothers! Features "Music Is My Sanctuary" and "Carnival De L'esprit"!

Get On Down reissue Herbie Hancock's classic, Japanese 'direct-to-disc' album recording 'from 1979 - a jazz-fusion gem available on vinyl again for the first time in 30 years! Features the classic 'Butterfly', 'I Thought It Was You' and also includes 'Shiftless Shuffle'!

Reissue of this rare disco/boogie classic album written, arranged and produced by the great Greg Carmichael and legendary Patrick Adams. Originally released in 1978 and every track a winner!

FKA twigs returns with her highly anticipated second album release, 'MAGDALENE'. Dark, spectral pop / R&B experiments featuring a major contributions from Nicolas Jaar!

UK jazz drummer Moses Boyd returns with 'Dark Matter', an album that explores the point where electronic music and jazz converge. Incredible stuff, featuring guest spots from the likes of Joe Armon Jones, Poppy Ajudha and Nonku Phir.