Honest Jon's
278 Portobello Road
London
W10 5TE
England

Monday-Saturday 10 till 6; Sunday 11 till 5

Honest Jon's
Unit 115
Lower Stable Street
Coal Drops Yard
London
N1C 4DR

Monday-Saturday 11 till 6; Sunday 11 till 5

+44(0)208 969 9822 mail@honestjons.com

Established 1974.

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Mumia

Lugar Alto

This is terrific.
Brazilian post-punk, art rock and DIY from 1988, released here for the first time, by the duo Celso Alves and Kodiak Bachine (whose records with the band Agentss are desperately sought-after nowadays).
Dubwise and rhythmic, percussive and synthy, with tangy Brazilian roots, and a droll humour to its reflections on embalming, LSD and zombies, the music freewheels roughly and vividly from the truffling, chattering, tropical atmospherics of the opener, through to the machine-funk, Romeroesque terrors of the Greenhouse Massacres, to close. 
Sung in Portuguese and English, studded with Spanish, French and German, the lyrics are reproduced on an insert. Pressed at Pallas.
Ace. Check it out.

Mike Anthony

Why War

Elements

Superb, fat, classic roots production by Michael Forbes, with full horn section, organ, expert percussion and drumming. Strong, heartfelt, resigned singing by Mike Anthony (not to be confused with the much more prolific Lovers singer from Lewisham).

Irreversible Entanglements

Who Sent You?

International Anthem Recording Co.

Irreversible Entanglements

Irreversible Entanglements

International Anthem Recording Co.

Junius Paul

Ism

International Anthem Recording Co.

Resavoir

International Anthem Recording Co.

John McCowen

Solo Contra

International Anthem Recording Co.

Ovations

Too Much War

International Record Ltd.

Sublime vocal harmony roots. Pure Abyssinians manners.
George Wright and the boys cut one of our favourite Lovers a few years later… Secret Admirer.
Killer.

Aziz Balouch

Sufi Hispano-Pakistani

Death Is Not The End

Jimmy Riley

Give Me A Love

Black Art

Asher Gamedze

Dialectic Soul

On The Corner

Startlingly accomplished new jazz from South Africa, teeming with ideas, influences and idioms.
Maybe you remember Asher’s drumming on Angel Bat Dawid’s The Oracle.
Hotly recommended.

Asher Gamedze

Turbulence And Pulse

International Anthem Recording Co.

Asher Gamedze

Constitution

International Anthem Recording Co.

Rhodri Davies

Telyn Rawn

Amgen

A terrific album by the Hen Ogledd conspirator, and collaborator with the likes of Derek Bailey, Bill Orcutt and Jon Butcher.
A telyn rawn is a harp strung with wound and pleated horse hair. (Tristram Shandy would have a field day.) It’s maybe a millennium old; passing into obscurity around two hundred years ago.
“All the music on this album is improvised. I designed and built a long forgotten instrument, engaged with historical texts and poetry, learnt the techniques and music from the Robert ap Huw manuscript and researched the importance of the horse and horse cults in Welsh culture. All these interventions were a means to improvise historically informed music and re-evaluate the legacy of the harp in Wales but ultimately served as a jumping off point so as to create new possibilities.”
The music is warmly compelling: polyphonic, convivial, rootsy, evocative, often mesmeric, sometimes banging.
Ancient Welsh folk veers into koto and kora, Appalachian dulcimer and Norwegian langeleik; the wheezing, wailing, rocking traditions of drones and sawing from Louisiana to Albania are streamed into the Valleys, and out again, changed.
Handsomely presented, too. Hotly recommended.

Brother Dan

Eastern Organ

Common Ground

A knockout, proto-Pablo, rocksteady organ instrumental. Dandy Livingstone, surprisingly enough, riding east of the River Nile. Originally out on Trojan in 1968.

Paulette Pearce

Live And Learn

Small Axe / Common Ground

Conscious lovers — Paulette’s own upful, considered advice, delivered with fresh, youthful persuasiveness, and deadly horns. Another killer one-away.

Lascelles Denton

Prince Pharoah

Gingles / Common Ground

Ace mid-seventies roots and dub. Doomily austere and on-point, with both piano and organ, crisp high-hats, and and wickedly effective backing vocals.
An unmissable one-away, produced and arranged by Denton as the solitary release on his own label.

Justo Almario

Interlude

Uno Melodic / Expansion

His first LP, recorded for Uno Melodic in 1981, produced by Roy Ayers.
En route the saxophonist had recorded with Mongo Santamaria, Jon Lucien and Dom Salvador. That’s him on James Mason’s Sweet Power Your Embrace; and he played on various Ayers LPs, including Vibrations and Lifeline.
Treasured for its gorgeous, mellow opener.

Nyah Hunter

Loving Bride

GG Records

Lovely, wheezing roots, with the same charming frankness and male vulnerability as Jux’ She’s Gonna Marry Me.
Great tunes to spin at wedding parties (cut with Pablo’s Bells Of Death).

Barry Biggs

You're Welcome

Afrik / Only Roots

A beautiful song, perfectly suited to BB’s sweetly soulful singing style.
Bunny Lee runnings, originally; with King Tubby at the controls for the first dub here.
Pure loveliness.

Kaleidoscope

New Spirits Known And Unknown

Soul Jazz

A survey of the burgeoning new UK jazz scene.
‘Shows that while there is commonality in these artists’ approach to music, there is a wide variety of styles – from deep spiritual jazz, electronic experimentalisation, punk-edged funk, uplifting modal righteousness, deep soulful vocals and much more.’

Steve Barker

On The Wire

BBC Radio Lancashire

Steve’s truly wonderful radio show On The Wire is being ‘rested’ by the BBC.
Read about it here. Check it out on Mixcloud, live and kicking.
Please write to station manager john.clayton@bbc.co.uk about this heathen foolishness, copying in Head of BBC Local Radio chris.burns@bbc.co.uk.
Chin up, Steve.

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Manfredo Fest

Brazilian Dorian Dream

Far Out

Eddie Jefferson

Letter From Home

Honeypie

Etuk Ubong

Africa Today

Night Dreamer

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