Africa Airways Four (Disco Funk Touchdown - 1976 - 1983)

Africa Airways Four (Disco Funk Touchdown - 1976 - 1983)

Africa 7

The ever-impressive Africa 7 are regulars to this blog for good reason. The very finest sounds from Africa reissued, licensed and collected in exciting, relevant compilations is always likely to score big points over here.

The fourth installment of their Africa Airways series amps up the Disco-Funk at the expense of the Psych nuggest in episode 3, and hosts luminous figures like Tala AM, Manu Dibango and Charly Kingson alongside names less internationally known but no less exceptional if this comp is anything to go by!

Available at all good stockists - Juno here or Bandcamp here

NYC Records - Hiding in the Shadows

VA - Hiding in The Shadows

NYC Records

A deadly EP from NYC Records here... all Electro vibes, classic drum machines, vintage synths and an overall aesthetic of a top-notch Miami Vice library submission. Bafflingly, the label themselves describe the music within as 'Modern Funk' which is absolutely not true. Neither modern, nor Funk, it's a curious description. There are some funky touches, but the old addage that one swallow does not a summer make rings true. Still, all that really matters is the music, which Hiding in Tthe Shadows delivers with conviction and quality.

The dedication to retro synthesis is clear, but unlike many of the current crop of revisionists, this EP eschews straight imitation and instead maintains the prerogative to craft proper songs rather than merely rehash classic tropes. 

A nice mix of styles across these 4 tracks, too. From the Prince style Electro-pop of Synthman's Nord Lead, to the suspenseful Acid vibes of Windy City's, er, Windy City. Kozmik Funk delivers a slow groover while Synthman's first effort steals the show, the slow-but-dancefloor-friendly fun of Synths in the Jungle, which sounds like a theme tune for a short-lived 1986 cop show called Palm Springs Police Squad. Or something.

These songs could all be by the same artist and one wouldn't be able to tell, which leads me to wonder if they have a time-share scheme on the same expensive synth collection. Speculation aside, this is a cracking little EP from a label I'll be paying close attention to from now on. Go get it on 12" or digi here

Dream Division - Mosura

Dream Division - Mosura

Polytechnic Youth

All analog John Carpenter-esque Synthwave from Dream Division, who get their first vinyl press thanks to the good folks at Polytechnic Youth. It's revivalist and thus not the most original music, but among the soft-synth copyists going for this sound, Mosura has a convincing air of authenticity. Sonically, the 4 tracks feel more like a soundtrack than an EP, which is not a criticism. Don't expect catchy, Kavinsky-style hooks. Do expect grainy, biting synths oscillating eerily over pulsing, simple rhythms that will have you playing out laser fights and flying car chases in your mind's eye.

Available on cassette from the band's Bandcamp, or 7" through Polytechnic Youth. Which brings me to Polytechnic Youth's rather curious (and effective) model of delivery. A combination of email, Twitter and Facebook updates lead up to a chronologically precise launch time - usually 9pm GMT - at which point said record goes becomes available in a quantity of precisely 111, usually with some sort of hand-stamping, limited edition signature, lathe-cut or other collectible feature. These puppies then sell out within hours to a clearly devoted and satisfied customer base. It's the sort of brand loyalty any company would kill for and must have been exquisitely cultivated in today's ultra-competitive landscape. 

The label also stock through regular outlets on longer run presses, but these collectible launches are particularly eye-catching.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand... with Blade Runner 2049 and Halloween in the same month, Dream Division have a record that neatly joins the dots between the two. I'd muster more enthusiasm if I weren't so jet-lagged. Just buy it.

Galaxians - Let The Rhythm In

Galaxians - Let The Rhythm In

Dither Down US

Sounding exactly like the 80s thought the 2020 would sound like, Galaxians release ther debut LP Let the Rhythm In on Dither Down. Only the 80s actually recorded what they thought 2020 would sound like, and in so doing meant that 2020 had a heads up and would actually sound more like Justin Bieber. Funny old world.

Anyway, it's a cracking album, all power vocals vocals and staccato synths punctuating drum machine-led rhythms and swirly bloops and bleeps. Lovely.

Buy here from Juno (other stockists exist)

Mr Bongo Record Club - Volume 2

Mr Bongo Record Club - Volume 2

Mr Bongo

As far as feverishly anticipated follow ups go, Mr Bongo's sophomore Record Club release is up there with Stranger Things, Blade Runner and the next round of charges to be levelled at the Drumpf administration.

Speaking of feverish, what better word to describe Elbernita 'Zwinkie' Star's Awake O Zion, an Afro-tinged Disco juggernaut that sets the tone for a right old party. That's just what is in store here, 14 tracks (or 18 if you cop the CD version) of infectious African and Latin grooves and rump-rattling rumpus, all influenced by the global Disco phenomenon that swept the globe around the time of these recordings.

Volume One sold out in minutes and was picked by Lauren Laverne as her album of the day on 6 Music. This time round, we've got even more Disco and Soul in favour of a few more traditional sounds, which is marvellous news for anyone throwing a dancing party. 

Highlights are many but Kiru Stars (Julius Kang’ethe) by Family Planning is sublime, while Dee Edwards' Put Your Love On the Line stands out, not only as the only American track featured, but as a bona fide stomper. Elias Rahbani And His Orchestra's Liza… Liza is also particularly curious - is it Bollywood? Genuinely not sure. Anyway, it's all bloody brilliant, go buy.

TRACKLIST (VINYL 2-LP): A1. Elbernita ‘twinkie’ Clark – Awake O Zion (full length, original version) / A2. Dee Edwards – Put Your Love On The Line / A3. Anubis – Ecology / B1. Guy Cuevas – Ebony Game / B2. Kiru Stars (Julius Kang’ethe) – Family Planning / B3. Teaspoon & The Waves – Oh Yeh Soweto / C1. Leny Andrade – Não Adianta / C2. Rosa Maria – Samba Maneiro / C3. Tom & Dito – Obrigado Corcovado / C4. Inezita Barroso – Maracatu Elegante / C5. Joao Diaz – Capoeira / C6. The Equatics – Merry Go Round / D1. Elias Rahbani And His Orchestra – Liza… Liza / D2. The Beaters – Harari

TRACKLIST, (CD): 1. Luiz Henrique – Mas Que Nada / 2. Elbernita ‘twinkie’ Clark – Awake O Zion / 3. Guy Cuevas – Ebony Game / 4. Kiru Stars (Julius Kang’ethe) – Family Planning / 5. Kelenkye Band – Jungle Music / 6. Effi Duke & The Love Family – The Time Is Come / 7. Anubis – Ecology / 8. Dee Edwards – Put Your Love On The Line / 9. Teaspoon & The Waves – Oh Yeh Soweto / 10. Oby Onyioha – Enjoy Your Life / 11. Leny Andrade – Não Adianta / 12. Rosa Maria – Samba Maneiro / 13. Tom & Dito – Obrigado Corcovado / 14. Inezita Barroso – Maracatu Elegante / 15. Joao Diaz – Capoeira / 16. Elias Rahbani And His Orchestra – Liza… Liza / 17. The Beaters – Harari / 18. The Equatics – Merry Go Round

Deena O & Initial Talk - I'm in Love

Deena O & Initial Talk - I'm in Love
NDYD Records

An 80s-inspired throwback Disco jam par excellence from the mysterious Deena O & Initial Talk... No liner notes, can't find them online but this is a cracking tune that deserves your attention. Grab it from Bandcamp below

*edit* NDYD label boss Kris Santiago got in touch to give us some more insight. Initial Talk is a Japanese cat with a huge Youtube following for his throwback 80s productions, while Deena O hails from Frankfurt and is a soul singer influenced by her Nigerian roots and New Jack Swing/RnB. A fine pair they make - let's hope this isn't the last time they work together

Them Mushrooms

Them Mushrooms (Afro 7)Reissue

Afro7 continue their inspired limited 12" series with a taste package from Them Mushrooms. A fully licensed EP of four catchy 80's afro-synth tracks out of Kenya. Housed in a beautiful cardboard jacket with silk screened coastal-inspired artwork designed by Steve Roden.

Buy it here from Mr Bongo

Average EP (Junior Executive)

Average - S/T EP

Junior Executive

The press release makes no mention of the fact that the lead track on this rather brilliant EP is full on Afrobeat/Disco... something you'd think would seem worth shouting about. Haye Haye is, in fact, a really, really infectious groove that blends triumphal, South African sounding, exultations with classic disco bass twanging and jangly guitars. The result is a cacophonous exhortation to dance, and while the kick and snare combo is perhaps a little over-compressed, there's no doubt it makes us want to freaking boogie.

Another reason to love this record is its bewitching diversity. From the aforementioned uptempo of Haye Haye we dive straight into the atmospheric, melancholic Cold; wherein a brooding, resonant guitar refrain loops over long pads, 80s drum machines and plaintive wailing, before climaxing in a proggy latin guitar section and a reverb-drenched vocal call. It's like Alan Parsons, Manu Dibango, Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel all at once.

Finishing off this 3-tracker is Hisingen. With library style grooves aplenty it slowly, ever so slowly, develops its ever so slow loops, gradually introducing flutes and what I assume is a Norwegian vocal which is so short it's hard to imagine how it was conceived.

Eminently listenable stuff.

We couldn't find many stockists of this badboy but they have it at Redeye Records so get in there while you can!

Hiroshi Yoshimura - Music for Nine Post Cards (1982)

Hiroshi Yoshimura

Music for Nine Post Cards

Empire of Signs

EOS01LP

Lovely vinyl repress of 1982's ambient masterpiece

Despite his status as a key figure in the history of Japanese ambient music, Hiroshi Yoshimura remains tragically under-known outside of his home country. Empire of Signs – a new imprint co-helmed by Maxwell August Croy, Spencer Doran and distributed by Light In The Attic – is proud to reissue Yoshimura’s debut Music for Nine Post Cards for the first time outside Japan in collaboration with Hiroshi’s widow Yoko Yoshimura, with more reissues of Hiroshi’s works to follow in the future.

Working initially as a conceptual artist, the musical side of Yoshimura’s artistic practice came to prominence in the post-Fluxus scene of late 1970s Tokyo alongside Akio Suzuki and Takehisa Kosugi, taking many subsequent turns within Japan’s bubble economy afterward. His sound works took on many forms – commissioned fashion runway scores, soundtracking perfume, soundscapes for pre-fab houses, train station sound design – all existing not as side work but as logical extensions of his philosophy of sound. His work strived for serenity as an ideal, and this approach can be felt strongly on Music for Nine Post Cards.

Home recorded on a minimal setup of keyboard and Fender Rhodes, Music for Nine Post Cards was Yoshimura’s first concrete collection of music, initially a demo recording given to the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art to be played within the building’s architecture. This was not background music in the prior Japanese “BGM” sense of the word, but “environmental music”, the literal translation of the Japanese term kankyō ongaku [環境音楽] given to Brian Eno’s “ambient” music when it arrived in late 70’s Japan. Yoshimura, along with his musical co-traveler Satoshi Ashikawa, searched for a new dialog between sound and space: music not as an external absolute, but as something that interlocks with a physical environment and shifts the listener’s experience within it. Erik Satie’s furniture music, R. Murray Schafer’s concept of the soundscape and Eno’s ambience all greatly informed their work, but the specific form of tranquil stasis presented on releases like Nine Post Cards is still difficult to place within a specific tradition, remaining elusive and idiosyncratic despite the economy of its construction. This record offers the perfect introduction to Hiroshi’s unique and beautiful worldview: it’s one that can be listened to – and lived in – endlessly.

Buy here: https://lightintheattic.net/releases/3538-music-for-nine-post-cards

Junior Byron - Trying To Hold On (CoS Reissue)

Very excited to present another fine Cultures of Soul release, this time the killer Junior Byron track "Trying To Hold On," written and produced by Wild Fire's Oliver Chapman and originally released on the Wild Fire label back in 1985. The A-side includes the original mix as well as the Version.

On the  B-side we've got the  epic "Megamix." The track was reworked by Gerd Janson, who created the mix old-school style with two copies of the record, a mixer, and an EFX box. Adding the final touches to this track is  mixing and mastering engineer LOPAZZ, who mastered many of the best techno tracks in the Get Physical catalog and released the seminal dance-classic "I Need Ya" on Output.  Pre-order for release on October 6th!

Here's a taste of the original cut

 

Pre-order here: https://culturesofsoul.com/collections/all/products/junior-byron-trying-to-hold-on-12

Tony Allen & Afrobeat 2000 - NEPA (Don Dayglow Remix)

More Afrobeat meets Disco here as the devilishly handsome and charismatic Don Dayglow reimagines Tony Allen's 1984 jam NEPA Dance Dub

Free Download too!

Free - Classic Synths sampled to tape!

At CMFCP, we are not only vinyl enthusiasts - we're also slightly obsessed with synthesizers and drum machines. So we were very excited to see the ever excellent sample house Samples From Mars are currently giving away a sumptuous collection of classic synths, all sampled to reel to reel tape. It's almost too good to be true!

Here's what Samples from Mars are saying:

Not many people multi-sample synths to tape - it's time consuming and can leave a pretty big dent in your wallet. In fact, each synth patch we recorded took up about 1,250 ft of tape! (around 10 - 15 minutes).

But the results sound absolutely incredible! Who cares about time and money when you have sweet, sweet analog synths recorded to a classic reel to reel machine? These patches are truly special. Warm, fat, gritty and pretty. Enjoy :)

What You Get:

• 10 soft synth instruments created by multi-sampling analog synthesizers to a 1/4" mastering reel to reel
• Sounds range from saturated sub bass to epic 80s poly synths, sync leads and dirty FX
• Featuring: Roland MKS-7, Oberheim SEM, Moog Micromoog, and Novation Bass Station
• Ready for Ableton 9, Kontakt 5 and Logic
• 24bit WAV Files for any sampler / DAW
• 737 MB

Grab this stupidly awesome bundle for FREE here