Jazz / Soul / Funk

Originally released in 1982, Kakashi is another high water mark in the 80s Japanese underground. This album, which has gathered cult status in recent years, is the project of musical visionary Yasuaki Shimizu, and considered to be a highlight of his solo career. Shimizu was the bandleader of Mariah, who also saw their album Utakata No Hibi reissued by Palto Flats in 2015. Kakashi offers a similar blend of saxophone experimentations, jazz fusion and ambient dub excursions.

Ambarchi, Berthling and Werliin share a fascination with rhythm and the myriad of ways it can subdivide within the beat. Using aspects of jazz, world and experimental musics, each tune settles into a deep groove, digging itself via continuous minimal adjustments into an ever-deeper, eternal groove.

An album that sounds like The Menahan Street Band playing in a tropical jungle, at dawn, right at the point when the first rays of the sun penetrate the dark depths of the forest. During the 2022 summer of natural disasters, under an unprecedented heatwave, and haunted by news reports of ancient relics, sunken ships, and hunger stones resurfacing as rivers dried-up all-over Europe, Alex Figueira started to hear uncanny metallic vibrations and eerie melodies of untraceable origins, day and night. He recalls nightmares of winged creatures inside timeless structures of Escherian architectures playing cosmic instruments amidst tropical storms and acid rains. As the visions came more often, his wife Hester reported that he babbled during his sleep about South American demon Yurupari. Soon, Alex found himself in a sleepless state and decided to cleanse the studio, with hallowed rites and the intense burning of Palo Santo. After almost burning the studio down, he turned to his neighbourhood’s most experienced psychic, seeking answers. He was told there were “cosmic entities” trying to manifest a message “too complex for us to understand in this dimension” and the only way he could find peace was to deliver those messages in a decipherable form. It was then he decided to transmute his hallucinations into music, an all-or-nothing cathartic solution. Alex entered a feverish dream, fuelled by the kaleidoscopic motion of the cosmos, ancient meteor showers, and visions of forgotten interstellar South American gods. He remembers very little of the work, but the outcome is this record. Entirely composed, recorded, produced, and mixed in a frenetic nine-day studio stint. How the experts describe it: ”Just when outernational vinyl vampires thought they had it all sewn up, the metronomic makeshift magician known as Alex Figueira unravels the entire fabric of your record collection to expose a gaping hole where PUNKUMBIA and Transplant-Tropicalia should be. Reducing an expansive palette of influences to a recipe that tastes wildly exotic but comfortably over-familiar, Alex’s roles as both scavenger and chef, bookend a whole ensemble of other highly adept musical personalities in between. Discover this record NOW, or wait until all your friends (or enemies) recommend it to you later.”

For the very first time on vinyl, Jah Wobble's 1997 extraordinary descent into downtempo and world beat science. Released on his now-defunct 30 Hertz label, »The Light Programme« showcased an excellent cast of musicians. On board are historical Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit – with more of his African-induced rhythms – multi-instrumentalist - and The Wire contributor - Clive Bell, conga player Neville Murray, guitar and synth player Mark Ferda and the exceptional harpist Zi-Lan Liao. If you enjoyed »My Life In the Bush Of Ghosts« you’ll fall in love with »The Light Programme.«

反戦、児童遺棄、ドラッグ問題、国家権力、人種差別、環境問題、アメリカの社会問題を、心の奥地に深く突き刺さる、人類史上最も聖愛な歌声と共に歌い上げられたコンセプト・アルバムであり、間違いなく至上最高のソウル・アルバムと言える1971年の歴史的名盤。

Reissue, originally released in 1957. A multi-instrumentalist who reconfigured jazz many times during his long career, Yusef Lateef came to prominence in the late 1950s, after having toured with Dizzy Gillespie. Jazz Mood dates from 1957, when his quintet had some of Detroit's finest, including Alice Coltrane's brother Ernest Farrow on bass and future Jazz Messenger Curtis Fuller on trombone. The use of an argol on "Metaphor" and a rabat and finger cymbals on "Morning" point to Lateef's Islamic grounding and his belief that music serves a higher purpose; this edition has bonus track "Passion," from the equally excellent Before Dawn (1957). Rich, deep, and varied, this is required listening for all serious jazz heads.

João Gilberto, the "Father of Bossa Nova", is known as one of the most influential lyricists and composers in South America, and Naked Lunch is proud to announce the release of this compilation album focusing on his early career. This compilation album features a selection of great performances from João Gilberto's early works, the ODEON trilogy, or "O Mito".

"...fierce Spanish folk melodies...took orchestral jazz in a new direction....features Davis' trumpet in all its drifting, dry, abstract beauty." Down Beat (p.61) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "With SKETCHES OF SPAIN, Davis' music continued its modal moves away from bebop's busy density, opting to highlight his strengths, which emphasized feeling and lyric expression over technique." Down Beat (1960) - 5 Stars - Excellent - "...One of the most important musical triumphs that this century has yet produced....If there is to be a new jazz, a SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME, then this is the beginning..." Goldmine - 3.5 Stars - "...Brilliantly remixed..." Record Collector (magazine) (p.98) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "Almost panoramic in scope and fusing jazz with classical music, the album kicked off with an epic 16-minute version of Spanish composer Rodrigo's guitar concerto, transcribed for trumpet and orchestra."

Brooklyn's illbient cult Sensational meets Kyoto's composer unbuilt.

Late night '60s R&B caught on tape at Jim Kirchstein's jack-of-all genres Cuca studio. Released on minuscule pressings into the Wisconsin wilderness, these 26 sasquatch-rare tracks uncover the soulful paths between the Chicago, Milwaukee, Rockford, and Rockford scenes. Featuring Harvey Scales, Step By Step, Betty Moorer, Seven Sounds, Twiliters, Birdlegs & Pauline, Esquires, Artie & The Pharaohs, and Fantastic Six, this 2xLP tells an alternate history of soul music that could only happen in the Hinterlands on Highway 12.

There are certain occasions when you can truly feel the stars align. One of these is when the interstellar voyager of cosmic soul Jimi Tenor finally lands his spaceship at full force on a Timmion recording. In 2023, he will be serving us two spaced out album sessions recorded together with Cold Diamond & Mink. Jimi is no stranger in these space ways as he has operated behind the Timmion scenes for years, furnishing several of the label's artists with his flute and reeds artistry. The first album out is titled "Is There Love In Outer Space?", which begs the question with the force of five extended tracks that are guaranteed to blow your mind to the stratosphere. The pieces are loaded with whooshing and glistening synth noises and span from lofi space funk to cinematic soundscapes. The sweetly floating title track is like some of those galactic ballads that rare soul collectors are spending their pensions on. At the other side of the spectrum, album closer 'What Are You Doing?' sounds like Sun Ra sat down at a JBs session, and is straight up meant to get that booty moving.Combined with the raw soul prowess of CD&M, Jimi is able to refine new shades from his already impressive repertoire of talent. Even if you are a friend of his previous work you might not have heard him get down quite like this.

Lost in the soot and fallout from Youngstown, Ohio’s infamous Black Monday steel industry collapse was Tony March’s cross-generational Tammy label. From its early days as a doo wop powerhouse to their last gasps chasing disco hits, Tammy unintentionally documented Youngstown’s small but prolific Black music scene. This single LP surveys the label’s best R&B, soul, funk, and disco, with 13 tracks from Ice Cold Love, Lynn Minor, J.C. & the Soul Angels, The Snapshots, Iron Knowledge, Roy Jefferson, and Steel City Band. Housed in a deluxe tip-on jacket, with a booklet crammed full of notes and ephemera, The Tammy Label continues Numero’s 20 year tradition of preserving regional Ohio music.

Special Alert: A worldwide team-up worth its weight in black gold. Numero Group x Star Creature x Another Taste link up for a seriously HOT collabo. Despite the warning in the song title, blistered fingers and melted gig bags are being reported worldwide. Maxx Traxx’s “Don’t Touch It” has become a certified grail in recent years with its synth-heavy jazz-funk/boogie crossover sound. Rotterdam’s Another Taste has been pounding the scene with a slew of similarly-styled, contemporarily-grailed releases under various aliases across the Space Grapes label. Here the group adds some extra analog flavor plus its trademark “vintage-or-modern?” seasoning for a peak-hour floor-filling rendition of the Chicago classic. For the first time on 12” and cut at 45, Another Taste’s cover plus the Maxx Traxx original get to stretch out properly on the supreme giant disco format. Star Creature x Numero Group are rounding out a boogie bombardment of a year with heavy releases across LP, 45 and Compilations (Chicago Boogie Vol 3, Eccentric Boogie, Magic Touch 45s, Lucky Rosenbloom 45). With the recent deluxe double-dose grail 2xLP reissue of Maxx Traxx & Third Rail’s debut albums alongside extensive liner notes and unearthed photos, the Windy City natives tapped Netherlands' Space Grapes crew to inquire about a viral hit circulating IG from the label’s dominant disco act, Another Taste. After seeing the band perform the song live, we knew it would be a perfect addition to our resurfacing of the Maxx Traxx / Third Rail catalog and really help cement their legacy and influence. Another Taste is the top modern band doing this sound, both live and on record and the perfect current peer to highlight one of the best dance tunes of the era from Chicago’s best underground club band on the opposite end of the DJ-culture era. Another Taste: Known for famous YouTube comments such as; “Shbengg!”, “C’Maaaan!”, “Straight Fire”, and “This is Space Boogie”. Another Taste is the amalgamation, the realization of four brains, hearts and big souls coming together to vibe. They stay firmly grounded and in gratitude to the many music streams that influenced them. Is it boogie? Is it 70’s funk? Obscure disco? Or an ode to Burgess? It’s neither and it’s all. Indefinable yet universal. Being responsible for several releases on the Space Grapes imprint (Mad Honey, GALXTC, Jambonne), Another Taste reinvents itself with every release but remains true to the familiar. And the familiar being that which makes us hit the floor and bop heads for more. Maxx Traxx: There was one irrepressible Chicago club act that refused to be replaced by any DJ’s sound system. Maxx Traxx (and Third Rail before them) were a scene unto themselves in the early 80s, happening live on-stage five-plus nights a week somewhere in the 312. Their two LPs, both recorded in 1982, are like catching a bullet train, a sheer energy ride almost too explosive to be captured by studio tape. And yet these two stone classics would remain unanswered by a city as it moved determinedly toward the motorik sound of house. Hop the turnstile and move with this complete document of Chicago’s last great club band told in detailed text, newly revealed photos, and complete studio recordings painstakingly remastered.

Fresh off of their 2020 offering Adult Themes, El Michels Affair is back with a new full-length release. Titled Yeti Season, this newest album has everything we've come to expect from EMA’s patented cinematic style of instrumental soul music. Where Adult Themes inspired a soundtrack to an imaginary film, Yeti Season brings us to a different place in time—with new inspirations. Taken with Turkish-styled funk and an almost Mumbai-esque take on soul, El Michels Affair offers us a different kind of drama and imagination with Yeti Season. If you've been following along, this shouldn't be viewed as too far a departure for El Michels Affair. The first single off of Yeti Season showed their hand back in 2018. A double-sided banger, that release brought the musical textures to the fore that dominate this record. The first song, titled "Unathi," is fully realized with the beautifully haunting-yet-hopeful vocals of Piya Malik, formerly of 79.5. Singing in Hindi, Piya's ethereal voice is telling us to work and strive together toward progress. Even if you don't understand her language, you can still hear the urgency of purpose, creating a lasting vibe that sits on top of it all. Leon Michels explains that Piya had a vital influence on this record: "When Piya started singing in Hindi, she had a different voice, a different tone. I knew we had to do something together." And so Piya appears on three other songs on Yeti Season: "Zaharila," "Murkit Gem," and "Dhuaan." Each providing particular signatures to the album. "Zaharila" is a building and changing love song punctuated by blaring trumpets, driving drums, and Piya's pleading lyrics. While the more upbeat "Murkit Gem" opens with a fuzzed out, Wu-Tang-esque baseline that buoys Piya's stylings. The psychedelic guitar and Piya's changing tones and textures singing about an all-consuming love are what pushed "Dhuaan" on to the second single from Yeti Season. There is also a vocal appearance from Shannon Wise of The Shacks, yet another Big Crown artist. Her song called "Sha Na Na," lies more in the familiar EMA vein: melodic, hypnotic, soulfully visual. But between Shannon's airy singing, the jumpy baseline, moody vibes, the active drum lines, it sounds like a pensive walk home after a strangely dramatic night. So what is Yeti Season? It could be more of a feeling than an actual place or time of year. It's a heavy album—as evidenced by the signature musicianship and dramatic vocal expressions. But it's also a hopeful record, with phrasings, textures, and chord changes that hint at something better—or fuller—coming our way. You hear it in songs like "Ala Vida," with its stabby, pulsing chords laying a bedrock for EMA's bright, atmospheric horn lines. Or even in "Fazed Out," which leaves you with a feeling of determination, a striving for resolution even though the driving, march-like song structure should accompany some conquering army. This persistence has to come from the fact that Leon Michels and company finished this record during the lockdown. It was a tough and troublesome time. But look at what has come of it: Yeti Season—a record of high and heavy drama, but also one of hope and promise. It may take a year like 2020 behind us to find hope in a winter big footed creature like a Yeti, but that's where we are.

New "regular edition" on 140 gram vinyl. We Release Jazz (WRWTFWW Records' new sister-label) present the official reissue of criminally overlooked Japanese jazz gem Mellow Dream by Hokkaido pianist wunderkind Ryo Fukui, originally released in 1977. Released in conjunction with the its legendary predecessor 1976's Scenery (WRJ 001CD/LP/LTD-LP). Firmly standing on the foundation he laid down with Scenery, Ryo Fukui continues his exploration of modal, bop, and cool jazz sounds with meticulous grace and absolute mastery. As its title suggests, Mellow Dream ventures into slightly mellower, more soulful, and sometimes more contemplative territories (the Bill Evans-reminiscent "Mellow Dream" and "My Foolish Heart") while still packing the commanding punch Fukui's work is loved for, as heard on the amazingly bombastic "Baron Potato Blues" or the gigantic McCoy Tyner/John Coltrane-influenced "Horizon" which sees each member of the trio -- Satoshi Denpo is on bass and Yoshinori Fukui is on drums -- demonstrating their virtuosity for nine exhilarating minutes. With his sophomore album, Ryo Fukui swings from melancholy to vibrant joy with ease, and reminds you that jazz is best served with a pinch of blues, and displays an immensely rare combination of pure talent, unique personal approach and focused discipline. The man undeniably deserves a spot in the pantheon of all-time great jazz pianists. After releasing the outstanding Scenery and Mellow Dream back-to-back, Ryo Fukui worked on developing his live skills, often performing at Sapporo's Slowboat Jazz Club (which he co-founded with his wife Yasuko Fukui), and even releasing two live albums. He sadly passed away in March 2016, leaving behind a legacy of works that all jazz lovers should explore. Sourced from the original masters. Mastered at half speed; 140 gram vinyl; includes sticker.

180g weight vinyl. Hidefumi Toki's debut album features a hot soprano solo in "Lullaby for the Girl" and a melancholy alto solo in "Darkness," and he shows his presence in both performance and composition.

180g Heavy weight vinyl.Enjoy the soulful melodies of Isao Suzuki, Art Blakey's esteemed bassist, as he, along with his fellow musicians Kunihiko Kanno and George Otsuka, brings his distinctive musical vision to life on this captivating album.

180g Heavy weight vinyl. The third TBM release from Mari Nakamoto, a melancholy vocalist who sings softly with a sweet husky voice backed by the supreme duo of Isao Suzuki (b) and Katsumi Watanabe (g). (From series supervisor Koki Hanawa)

This is a soundtrack created by haruka nakamura for THE NORTH FACE Sphere in response to a request for "one album for each of spring, summer, fall, and winter. This project, entitled "Light years," is a project to produce four albums over the course of one year.

This is a soundtrack created by haruka nakamura for THE NORTH FACE Sphere in response to a request for "one album for each of spring, summer, fall, and winter.
This project, entitled "Light years," is a project to produce four albums over the course of one year.

Duval Timothy's latest album Help, his most ambitious work to date, sees him collaborate with co-producer Rodaidh McDonald (King Krule, The XX) and Marta Salogni (Bjork), with collaborations from Lil Silva, Melanie Faye, Vegyn, Desta Haile, Mr Mitch, Dave Okumo, and Twin Shadow amongst others. Recorded in London and Los Angeles, it reveals the artists' experience traversing the meshes of the music industry, mental health, YouTube self-help videos, and the healing he discovered through friendship and collaboration. Duval Timothy is a multidisciplinary artist, whose practise is centred around colour and involves the use of music, photography, textiles, painting, sculpture, design, cooking and video. In between delivering a celebrated cookbook for Penguin Books, and an interactive installation at Tate Modern Turbine Hall, Duval makes music, which is sampled by the likes of Solange and Loyle Carner.

A memorable debut album released in 1972, featuring many songs covered by jazz giants and a killer song, "Homey," popular in the rare groove scene!

Sweet coupling single of mellow / urban soul classic.

An amazing document of the life experiment that was the Organic Music Society. This super quality audio, recorded by RAI (the italian public broadcasting company) in 1976 for television, documents a quartet concert focused on vocals compositions and improvisations. Here, Don Cherry and his family-community’s musical belief emerges in its simplicity, with the desire to merge the knowledge and stimuli gained during numerous travels across the World in a single sound experience. Don's pocket-trumpet is melted with the beats of the great Brazilian percussionist Nana Vasconcelos, the Italian guitar of Gian Piero Pramaggiore, and the tanpura drone of Moki. A pure hippie aesthetic, like in an intimate ceremony, filters a magical encounter between Eastern and Western civiliziations, offering different suggestions of sound mysticism: natural acoustics in which individual instruments and voices are part of a wider pan-tribal consciousness. A desert Western landscape marries Asian and Latin atmospheres. Indigenous contributions with berimbau explorations find fossil sounds of rattles and clap-hands invocations. Influences of Indian mantra singing are combined with eternal African voices or with folkish-Latin guitar rhythms , while flute and drums evoke distant dances. In the Organic Music everything becomes an act of devotion and love, an ecstatic dwell in the dimension of a sacred free-rejoice.