Stone killer Californian funk from 1972, raw and banging, with juddering bass, two tough breaks, and desperately soulful, utterly compelling falsetto pleading.
A proper reissue this time around, courtesy of Ubiquity.

The two Arkestra stalwarts in 2016 with rising star Jamie Saft on keys, bassist Trevor Dunn and drummer Balazs Pandi; also the great trombonist Roswell Rudd, in one of his very last recordings. Nicely presented.

New recordings of self-styled ‘world tribal musette’ by this long-standing orchestra fronted by the ukulele of Dominique Cravic and the banjo of Robert Crumb. The valse musette of 1920s Paris, blending with Congolese rumba, gypsy jazz, Hindu waltzes, Argentine tango, blues, Paso Doble, chanson réaliste…
‘The Primitifs Du Futur travel on sound waves back in time to the early twentieth century and make the world seem like a far better place than it ever actually was. I cant get the band’s music off my turntable or out of my head. Accordion, mandolin, harmonica, saxophone, musical saw, and beautiful haunting melodies — what’s not to love? Even their sad songs make me happy’ (Art Spiegelman).

A stunning complement to Theme De Yoyo!
Panou was an activist and actor, in Paris from Benin; he plays a refuse collector in Jean-Luc Godard’s Weekend. His texts here cross existentialism and Black Power like a knockabout Richard Wright, with an extra shot of anti-colonialism. Recorded by Pierre Barouh for Saravah, in the same months as its classic Comme A La Radio LP with Brigitte Fontaine, furthering the AEC’s rowdily brilliant elaborations of Leroy Jones’ Black Dada Nihilismus.
It’s a scorcher; hotly recommended.

Hip hop trooper Davy D’s vinyl debut, in late 1983. Still buzzing and fresh.

Two disco classics — Groovin’ You’ and Till You Take My Love (with Merry Clayton) — and the blissed-out jazz-funk of Modaji, featuring Hubert Laws.

Surprisingly the first time on 12” for this brassy, string-laden, modern/Northern crossover classic, more Philly than NYC. Beautifully written by Thom Bell, expertly remixed by Tom Moulton.

The first official 12’ release of these two walloping classics by one of the very greatest soul singers of all time. Undimmed after forty years.

A New Breed R&B humdinger.

Soul, Politics, Spirituality & Racially Encoded Girl-Boy Gun Porno In Jazz, 1967-2019.

Originally released in 1978, Wahdon announces this great diva’s switch from traditional to more modern idioms and arrangements.
Three mesmerising songs to start, including Habaitak Ta Neseet Al Naoum (I Loved You So Much I Forgot To Sleep), with ravishing strings and percussion.
Recorded in Athens at the studios of EMI Greece during the same sessions as Zaid Rahbani’s Abu Ali LP, and likewise edging into funk and disco, the second side is something else. In Al Bostah (The Bus), a woman recalls a bus journey with a lover, in scorching heat, to extended, hypnotic, uptempo, funkdafied disco. The title track Wahdon crafts a slower, jazzier setting for Fairuz’ out-of-this-world singing.
Recommended.