Moody, experimental, Ghanaian Afro-Rock — recorded by these teenagers in 1973 for EMI Nigeria, after a run at Fela’s Shrine.
Rudie gone soft. Irresistible love songs — with simmering brass, splashing cymbals on the A; classy sax on the flip.
Pure loveliness from 1967 — with an acappella version.
Sublimely versioning the almighty Curtis anthem; with another rocksteady clarion-call on the flip, brassy and more stern, by The Hamlins.
‘Recorded in mid-1987 by a trio of Blue Notes — Dudu Pukwana, Louis Moholo-Moholo, Chris McGregor — as a memorial to their former bandmate Johnny Dyani, on the group’s twenty-fifth anniversary.
‘The final Blue Notes studio recording, For Johnny shuffles in a considerably broader range of touchstones than For Mongezi, nodding toward the band’s foundations in be-bop and post-bop without forgetting their journey onwards, including modal jazz, and free improvisation.
‘It is a startling creative statement, imbued with a tension that poses an equally radical and sophisticated challenge, like a furious tide masquerading in gentler forms, slowly revealing itself.
‘A celebration and a memorial. Joyous and tragic. A real time resurrection of personal experience, Blue Notes For Johnny dodges, dances, and mutates across its two sides, refusing to be nailed down. As the three musicians push against each other, bristling tonal and rhythmic collisions suggest something is bound to explode, without ever fully letting go.’
Entirely exclusive music, unique to this release, with a radiant silk-screened sleeve: four from The Marble Downs sessions with Will Oldham, a Scott Walker to start; and a side of unaccompanied folk singing.
Stone classic Detroit techno.
On the Chopper version of Billie Jean.
Virtuosic, sor-led molam music from Isan, the province bordering with Laos and Cambodia — sprightly melodies through haunting dirges, over woozy basslines, drones, clattering percussion.
Says Mississippi — ‘Some call them the thinking man’s AC/DC & some call them the working man’s Roky Erickson but really there is nothing that compares to Dead Moon. D.I.Y on every imaginable level, brilliant song writing, perfect elemental stripped down playing, honest & intense vocals. It’s all here.’