‘The Complete Josie Recordings, 1968-1970.’

The complete Josie, Reprise & Warner recordings, 1968-1977. Eight full albums, plus non-album singles, bonus material, single edits, and a rare 1977 disco mix of Disco Is The Thing Today. 40-page booklet.

His first album; released in 1967 by Philips.
‘On the eve of the rise of Tropicalismo and electric guitars, the Bahian artist’s guitar is the star of the arrangements orchestrated by Carlos Monteiro e Souza, Dori Caymmi, and Leonardo Bruno. Social, political, and religious issues are transformed into sambas, bossa nova, and classic carnival song, as well as Northeastern rhythms. Gil calls for the people’s attention on the title track, a formidable collaboration with Torquato Neto, also co-author of A Rua, a precocious and bittersweet nostalgic baião. His passion for Bahia spreads like the waters in the lyrical Beira-Mar, composed with Caetano Veloso. Equally poetic is Gil’s vision of the Soviet spacecraft’s moon landing in Lunik 9: ‘Maybe there’s no more moonlight to illuminate my song.’. The young people are called to see truth prevail in a carnival filled with political significance in ‘Ensaio Geral.’ Ancient festivities are recalled in O Rancho da Rosa Vermelha, written with Torquato and Geraldo Vandré, while samba schools get a shout out in Mancada, a great samba full of bossa nova. Written with João Augusto, the brilliant Roda stands out for its rhythmic inventiveness and critical lyrics. A celebration of northeastern resistance, Viramundo is a collaboration with Capinan, as is the nostalgic Água dos Meninos. The simple Maria (Me Perdoa, Maria) is the album’s romantic moment. Sertanejo faith and its social contours are the theme of Procissão, one of Gilberto Gil’s most beautiful and important songs, which closes the album.’

The Treasure Isle masterwork… plus a sweetly rocking Tommy McCook.

Don’t miss the rocking steady Bacharach & David on the flip.

The Equals, The Dirtbombs, Turkish Rock, Black Merda, Dave Bartholomew, Elvis…

Nas, Kurtis Blow, Danny Brown, Shabazz Palaces, The Roots, El-P, Robert Glasper, No Limit…

Killer EP. Next-level Shackleton.
Taking off from Beaugars Seck’s foundational sabar drum rhythms — recorded by Sam in Dakar in February 2020 — Shackleton has constructed a trio of intricately layered, luminous, enchanted, epic excursions. The second is more dazzled and meandering, with jellied bass, insectile detail, and discombobulated jabbering; the third is more liquid, fleet of foot, and psychedelic, with a grooving b-line and funky keyboard stabs, scrambled eastern strings and hypnotic vocalese.
The harmonium in The Overwhelming Yes sounds like Nico blowing in chillily from up the desert shore.
The overall mood is wondrous, twinkling with light, onwards-and-upwards; an uncanny, dubwise mix of the ancient and the futuristic.
Mark Ernestus’ Version is stripped, trepidatious, mystical, and stranger still, with just a snatch of the original melody, extra distortion and delay, and crystal-clear drum sound.

So… Twenty minutes of startlingly original music, with Shackleton the maestro at the top of his game, and a characteristically evilous dub by Mark Ernestus. Mastered by Rashad Becker; handsomely sleeved.
Sick to the nth. Love 4 Ever.

‘More direct than recent releases, with textures that accumulate and disintegrate with renewed urgency. A familiar trajectory, though: the irresistible pull towards dissolution, the gradual erasure of memory, the self rendered irretrievable…’

‘Verve By Request.’

With rare live tracks and demos.