MUSIC

If you don’t know Sababa 5 yet, you’re definitely missing out on one of the hottest bands on the Tel Aviv music scene. Following their very popular debut release ‘Crossroad of Love’, Sababa 5 and vocalist Yurika are back on the exclusive Middle Eastern Grooves with their newest double-sided 7” collaboration titled ‘Tokyo Midnight’. The record is a dazzling encounter of cultures, inspired by the funky and exotic melodies of Sababa 5 and the resplendent Japanese words of Yurika. Title track Tokyo Midnight opens with a groovy guitar riff and continues to an upbeat rhythmic workout, complete with a funky bassline and ululating keyboards. Yurika’s enchanting voice ties things together in a soft, yet hypnotic, musical whirlwind. On the B-side - Nasnusa - a beautiful guitar solo continues into a captivating rhythm inspired by traditional Mizrahi music. Yurika’s delicate vocals evoke a love story; a couple watches the sunset as the gates to a new world are opening. As Nasnusa fades into the light, her lover recalls her beauty and expresses fondness over the wonderful time they spent together. About Sababa 5 Founded by Amir Sadot and Ilan Smilan, Sababa 5 have been playing together for two years and have recently built their own recording studio on the street that connects Jaffa to Tel Aviv. “We just wanted a place to record our music where the whole band could fit together in the same room…so, we built the place ourselves! Mind you, there’s not a lot of space…in fact, we’re a bit crammed in there but that’s how we like it. Additionally, we’re above the best hummus place in Tel Aviv so we couldn’t have picked a better location”. Sababa 5’s musical style has been influenced by all its members and is in continuous evolution, though always remaining very groove-centric. The sound is mainly based in surf rock and retro funk, especially Arabic folk and funk music from the ‘60s and the ‘70s and artists from that period, such as the legendary Aris San. Yurika is a Japanese performer who was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan. During her teenage years, she discovered belly dancing and fell in love with it. She then traveled the Middle East to discover more of this antique art; learning from choreographers of the stature of Orly Portal and performing with renowned artists Raquy Danziger, Boom Pam, and Ouzo Bazooka.

May it please the people of the known universe that the multi-monikered musical ensemble legally trading as Kay-Bee Funk Music Group are releasing what will alphabetically be their first album, ‘Access All Areas’. Created with Karate Boogaloo’s patented ‘Lovely Recording Technique’ these recordings let you know that everyone’s a VIP when you’re listening to KB. ‘Access’ was the one word maxim philosophically guiding The Old Kar-Boo’s this innings. If a tune became convoluted, to the bin it went. Only those that could be hummed by any and all were kept. This sieve was on hand throughout the whole process, arrangements and forms were kept watertight, bells and whistles to a minimum. If 2024’s ‘Hold Your Horses’ was an epic, ‘Access All Areas’ is a haiku. The band’s tried and true recording process was dutifully respected save for one wonderful addition, the magnificent ‘Sound Recordings’ helmed by its proprietor and engineer extraordinaire Alex Bennet. Steering the 4 track Ampex 440 off road when required and making sure the vibes were constantly correct, Alex is a bonafide Booger. Although it feels only a moment, the clock tells us it’s been nearly 20 years since Kay’s Bees first tried to play the songs of their musical heroes, The Meters, Booker T & The MG’s, and The JB’s to name but a few. Since then The Famous Flying Karate Boogaloo Brothers have put one foot in front of the other and distilled their own sound, one that respectfully acknowledges the history of instrumental Funk & Soul music, and reflects the time they’ve spent crafting their distinctive sound. As bright as each member shines individually, it is a special event when all four planets in the Booger System align. ‘Access All Areas’ is one such eclipse, it is an artistic expression of equal measure by each member and it casts a shadow unique to the occasion. Every second of music was composed and produced with all hands on deck, mixing was handled by Henry Jenkins, artwork by Hudson Whitlock and Callum Riley, and Darvid Thor did things you’d have to see to believe. Music is a team sport and there’s no I in Funk. Coming out on the two greatest record labels in the galaxy ‘Colemine Records’ from Loveland, USA, and College of Knowledge from Coburg, Australia, please listen to Karate Boogaloo’s new album ‘Access All Areas’.

May it please the people of the known universe that the multi-monikered musical ensemble legally trading as Kay-Bee Funk Music Group are releasing what will alphabetically be their first album, ‘Access All Areas’. Created with Karate Boogaloo’s patented ‘Lovely Recording Technique’ these recordings let you know that everyone’s a VIP when you’re listening to KB. ‘Access’ was the one word maxim philosophically guiding The Old Kar-Boo’s this innings. If a tune became convoluted, to the bin it went. Only those that could be hummed by any and all were kept. This sieve was on hand throughout the whole process, arrangements and forms were kept watertight, bells and whistles to a minimum. If 2024’s ‘Hold Your Horses’ was an epic, ‘Access All Areas’ is a haiku. The band’s tried and true recording process was dutifully respected save for one wonderful addition, the magnificent ‘Sound Recordings’ helmed by its proprietor and engineer extraordinaire Alex Bennet. Steering the 4 track Ampex 440 off road when required and making sure the vibes were constantly correct, Alex is a bonafide Booger. Although it feels only a moment, the clock tells us it’s been nearly 20 years since Kay’s Bees first tried to play the songs of their musical heroes, The Meters, Booker T & The MG’s, and The JB’s to name but a few. Since then The Famous Flying Karate Boogaloo Brothers have put one foot in front of the other and distilled their own sound, one that respectfully acknowledges the history of instrumental Funk & Soul music, and reflects the time they’ve spent crafting their distinctive sound. As bright as each member shines individually, it is a special event when all four planets in the Booger System align. ‘Access All Areas’ is one such eclipse, it is an artistic expression of equal measure by each member and it casts a shadow unique to the occasion. Every second of music was composed and produced with all hands on deck, mixing was handled by Henry Jenkins, artwork by Hudson Whitlock and Callum Riley, and Darvid Thor did things you’d have to see to believe. Music is a team sport and there’s no I in Funk. Coming out on the two greatest record labels in the galaxy ‘Colemine Records’ from Loveland, USA, and College of Knowledge from Coburg, Australia, please listen to Karate Boogaloo’s new album ‘Access All Areas’.

Dance Party Album is an extremely early document of dance‑music history, created in 1984 by Z‑Factor, the project of Jesse Saunders and Vince Lawrence, capturing the atmosphere of Chicago house just before its emergence.

Their soulful funk awareness might have found its grandest stage with their self-titled 1979 “debut” for Mercury, an album that covered the band’s gritty soul with a layer of stifling L.A. gloss, that caused few heads to turn, and that marked the beginning of the end for Father's Children. Years before the coke dust had settled, another album’s worth of material had been tracked, the creative supernova that should have ushered the group into the nation's consciousness years prior. Who's Gonna Save the World is that 1973 explosion, conceived prematurely and then uncovered decades into a lengthy incubation inside producer Robert Hosea Williams’ suburban beltway garage. Unreleased previously, Father’s Children’s true freshman offering is a work genuinely concerned with its own time and place, bringing together comet-hailing funk, sunny group harmonies, fuzz-guitar solos, shimmering keys, bubbling percussion, spiritual prophecy, and dub experiments. Our deluxe LP edition includes the bonus 45 “Linda Movement” b/w “Intellect” and a folio full of promo photos that track the band’s evolution from D.C. doo-woppers to L.A disco denizens.

Khruangbin did not know if they were actually making an album. All they knew in the first frigid days of 2025, as they shivered in the Central Texas barn where they’ve recorded almost all of their music, was that the 10th anniversary of their debut, The Universe Smiles Upon You, was steadily approaching. Months earlier, they’d bandied about ways to mark the occasion, debating orchestral arrangements or compendiums of bonus materials and alternate takes. Thing was, back before Khruangbin helped establish a new modern idiom of semi-instrumental and gently psychedelic American music, there had been no bonus material, no unused songs. And how interesting would alternate takes or symphonic extravagance really be for a band whose aesthetic—essential vibes, infinite grooves, riffs that rippled across the horizon—seemed so direct and pure, anyway? What if, they had instead wondered, they went back to the barn where it all began and recut the record that had started it all, on the actual 10th anniversary of those sessions? They decided, at least, to try.

It did not take long for Laura Lee, Mark Speer, and DJ Johnson to know that the idea was indeed a good one, that in holding up a mirror shaped by the past 10 years to their formative set of songs they could feel and hear how they had changed as people and players. The result is The Universe Smiles Upon You ii, 10 entirely new renditions of the songs from Khruangbin’s oldest album, played and sequenced in a way that works for them now without being strictly allegiant to who they were then. Watchful eyes, for instance, will notice that “Bin Bin ii”, a bonus track back in 2015, has moved toward this album’s center. More importantly, attentive ears will hear how liberated Khruangbin sound from any expectations rendered by their own success, how this is once again the sound of three longtime friends deciding how this material might move in real time.

The barn is an essential piece of Khruangbin lore. In 2009, many years before Khruangbin’s early singles started to shape their course or even before they were really a band, they began to head to the barn, bought by Speer’s parents in the ’80s on a modest cattle farm midway between Houston and Austin. They’d been looking for a place to rehearse in Houston when Speer’s parents volunteered the spot and the small house next door—three bedrooms downstairs, dorm-style bunks above, a century-old stove in a small kitchen. The process was so consummately D.I.Y. that, when they convened there in January 2015 to make what would become The Universe Smiles Upon You, Speer and Lee rushed to remove a nest of bees by playing bass and smashing cymbals loudly before Johnson (famously not into bees, mind you) arrived. They made the record for $1,500.

This time around, Khruangbin decided to try a few functional updates. They finally ripped out the plywood dancefloor that had been installed for a wedding nearly two decades earlier but had since become something of a sanctuary for critters that would inevitably destroy any gear left behind. They rented a new floor, then bought silent new space heaters and boxes of hand warmers that they’d stuff into gloves during sessions. The first day was Central Texas paradise—T-shirts in January, the sun shining as they set up their instruments, ran cables, and even recorded the seven-minute version of “Two Fish and an Elephant” that appears here, the rhythm that Lee and Johnson built offering a welcoming group hug for Speer’s flickering lead. But then the cold set in, a cold so gripping that they stuffed bits of construction flotsam into every crack and crevice they could find inside the barn. They moved closer and closer as the four days progressed, as if trying to absorb one another’s radiant heat.

Perhaps, then, that’s why The Universe Smiles Upon You ii feels so warm, as if they were tending a fire simply by playing together. Early into “August Twelve ii,” Johnson watched an eastern meadowlark sing just outside the barn, its song picked up by the microphones. It wasn’t their favorite performance, but they knew it captured the magic of the time and place, the yellow beauty’s melody calling these six gorgeous minutes to order. They are likewise jubilant during this very extended take on “People Everywhere (Still Alive),” applying the lessons about pace, momentum, and dynamics they’ve learned during a decade on the road to start and sustain this dance party. It is an immaculate map of the moment.

Funnily enough, while on tour with this electric trio during the last several years, Speer became fascinated with early European instruments that could sound full without being loud—the viol de gamba, for instance, or the clavichord. He imported that enthusiasm into these sessions, not only often playing acoustic guitar alongside Lee’s hollow-body Höfner bass and Johnson’s brushed drums but also covering instruments in contact mics, so that they sounded close and real. You can hear that pursuit clearly on “White Gloves ii,” a song that has become such a Khruangbin staple they initially struggled with how to remake it here. When Johnson suggested it become “country disco,” though, the track suddenly unlocked. A rural-funk canter buttresses the bittersweet vocals and twilit guitars; the recording makes it feel as if you’re sitting in the center of the barn, head pressed between the bass amp and bass drum as Khruangbin drift away.

In many ways, The Universe Smiles Upon You ii represents the close of Khruangbin’s first chapter, the complete culmination of the music they made when they arrived at the barn in January 2015. During the last decade, they have reached an apotheosis of sorts, their love of Thai pop and heavy dub and American soul and Ethiopian haze perfectly crystallized in a string of splendid records and live shows that have hypnotized massive theaters and festival crowds alike. They’ve repeatedly sold out the United States’ most famous venues, from Red Rocks and Forest Hills to the Hollywood Bowl and Radio City, and they’ve crowned festivals from Glastonbury to Bonnaroo. Paul McCartney plucked them to reimagine one of his songs, while they’ve collaborated with Mali legend and band inspiration Vieux Farka Touré to honor his late father on 2022’s Ali. After more than a decade of relentless touring and recording, their expertly polyglot 2024 album, A LA SALA, helped earn a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. Not bad for a band that recorded its debut in a barn of bees and mice for a grand or so.

So, then, what is next? The Universe Smiles Upon You ii provides a point of pause for Khruangbin, a chance to step back from a sound they now know so well and figure out where it may go from here. They talk about woodshedding, about spending a few hours every day with their instruments to see what new shapes they can make. Khruangbin’s splendid next run, then, begins where the first one did, too—in the barn, finding their way into the world through the songs of The Universe Smiles Upon You, second time even more absorbing than the first.

A longtime favorite at our shop, El Michels Affair—New York-based instrumental funk/soul band renowned for their unique “cinematic soul” sound and a flagship act of the esteemed Big Crown Records—returns with a brand new album, featuring none other than Shintaro Sakamoto as a guest! Rooted in funk and soul yet infused with a breezy, urban summer feel, this exquisite release blossoms into a light and airy indie pop-soul masterpiece. A refreshing soundscape full of timeless musical elegance, perfect for strolling through sun-drenched city streets.

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.

Kyoto-based lo-fi home-recording funk duo Khan Brown and OHHKI return with a strictly limited 7-inch single cut from Ryokan, their self-released mini-album originally issued on cassette in 2025. Following a release on the renowned US label PPU, the pair deliver another dose of their distinctive DIY funk sound, now pressed on an exclusive 7-inch format.

When a British alt-soul and art-pop duo collaborates with Filipino musical royalty, the result is a blinding flash of artistic spirit that transcends geographical and generational barriers. For Margate-based act Thandii, a chaotic whirlwind of a trip to Manila allowed Graham Godfrey and Jess Berry to explore a new cultural context of song-writing. After several prolific years of self-released albums together, they took the opportunity to channel Graham’s Filipino heritage through an ambitious and somewhat zany project proposed by the label Sama Sama Records: for Thandii to make their next album with the most recorded drummer in the Philippines, Jun Regalado. Now in his late 70s, Jun Regalado has recently gained more recognition internationally after the reissue of his track ‘Pinoy Funk’ (from the Soundway compilation Ayo Ke Disco in 2024), along with the discovery of nearly 500 album appearances that are now finding themselves in the collections of younger generations. And on Coco Okayo - the first time he has collaborated outside of his contemporaries - Regalado effectively passes the torch. Not only does Thandii take inspiration from the 70s ‘Manila Sound’ movement, the sound of Manila itself is inescapably embedded in the album via the local recording studio. It was “like stepping into a time-warp”, the duo say. “Period correct pre-amps, compressors and instruments recreated the tones of the era, and combined with Sir Jun’s magical sound and touch – it created an authenticity so completely right for the moment.” In exploring a sound born of the diaspora with roots in British soul music, Coco Okayo makes full use of the polymath abilities of both Jess and Graham. While they provide vocals, percussion, flutes and production, they still manage to carve out space for regular Margate collaborators (including keyboardist Steve Pringle, Graham’s bandmate in Pigeon), as well as tapping Filipino connections in the United States such as Wyn Avillas and Ian Santillano. “I felt like the melodies and flurries of flute poured out of me during this whole process - it was quite freeing and explorative and unlike any album we’d made previously”, says Jess. The resulting album dances around genres and influences, from OPM to soul, disco-funk and trip-hop, refusing to be categorised as any one thing and yet cohesive in its sound. Thandii likes to dub it MAR-NILA. “It’s a new genre coming from Filipino diaspora artists paying tribute to the Manila sound of the 70s,” say Thandii, “but combining it with modern day post-punk-disco, beat-driven-art-pop music coming from the small seaside town of Margate”. Whichever way the listener might interpret it, it’s clear that Coco Okayo is not stuck between worlds, but rather, has built a utopian world of its own.

Dur-Dur Band Volume 3 and 4Funk, disco and Somali soul from 1980s MogadishuIn the 1980s, Mogadishu was home to one of East Africa's most vibrant music scenes. Nightclubs, hotels and theatres filled with the sound of ambitious young musicians blending Somali melodies with funk, disco, reggae, soul and jazz. At the centre of that movement was Dur-Dur Band - a group whose recordings would later travel far beyond Somalia's borders and find new audiences decades after they were made.Drummer Adan Handal, alongside childhood friend Isse Dahir Qassim, brought some of Mogadishu's finest young talents together to explore new directions in Somali popular music. That idea gave birth to Dur-Dur Band. Drawing inspiration from Somali traditions as well as international influences, Dur-Dur created music that was both deeply local and remarkably modern.Their early cassette releases - Volumes 1 and 2 - quickly spread across Somalia. But it was with Volumes 3 and 4 that the band reached it's creative peak. Recorded under difficult circumstances, these albums captured a group pushing against every limitation: experimenting with rhythms, arrangements and studio techniques while facing personal losses and a country moving toward crisis.Volume 4 became one of Dur-Dur's most adventurous recordings - combining electronic percussion, unusual drum textures and reggae-inspired grooves with the unmistakable spirit of Somali music.Today, Dur-Dur Band's music has travelled further than anyone could have imagined - from Somalia's dance halls to listeners around the world. Their recordings are more than a document of a vanished era; they are proof of a musical creativity that survived war, displacement and decades of silence.For Adan Handal, the only musician to appear on every Dur-Dur recording, the story of the band is ultimately the story of a sound that refused to disappear.

Money Chicha, the Austin-based collective featuring members of the Grammy-winning Latin orchestras Grupo Fantasma and Brownout, unveils their third full-length album, “Onda Esotérica”.

Psychedelic cumbia amazónica with South Texas swagger. “Like taking a hit of acid, downing a couple shots of tequila, and hopping a plane to 1960s Peru” – KUTX.

A look at a time, just before the Islamic Revolution of 1978, when Tehran was buzzing with the vibrant sounds of Western funk and soul blended with the rich traditions of Persian music, creating an exciting new sound that has to be heard to be believed. Featuring a selection of artists ranging from the era's biggest names to more obscure gems. Get ready to be blown away by 10 ultra-groovy tracks of incredible Persian funk. Includes notes on the artists. Featuring Hamid Shabkhiz, Kourosh Yaghmaei, Mehrpouya, Googoosh, Neli, Shamaizadeh, Nooshafarin, Zia, Taherzadeh, and Morteza.

Demdike Stare’s DDS label kicks off a new series of limited edition 12”s with the return of Shinichi Atobe, offering a slow evolution of his inimitable deep house, finely balanced with a new found sub-heavy bias while unlocking extra space in the upper registers.

 

 

Atobe’s third 12” since debuting on Chain Reaction in 2001 marks a subtle but crucial development of his style, leaning towards classically deep, dub house templates. On both sides he adds supple flesh and hypnotic emotive pathos to his stripped formula, resulting in some of the most immediate and enduring work in his canon thus far. It coincidentally also marks a decade since he first graced DDS with his debut album ‘Butterfly Effect’, followed by a tranche of cultishly acclaimed albums in the years since.

 

 

On the A-side pearl ‘Ongaku 1’ he steps out with a shimmering take on the effortless gait of M-Series blueprints, as derived from the deepest NYC house, delicately ornamented with cascading levels of detail. Precision-tooled kicks precipitate Prescription-via-Maurizio feathered dub chords, interlaced with a frisson of darker strings and synth melodies for the full goosebump. ‘Dub 6(six)’ on the flip whisks up a psychedelic lattice of arps and synth voices with ruder bass ballast, taking its sweet time before the kicks come to swing the ‘floor deep and wide. 

 

 

Straight bullets, no messing.

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First released in 1971, Le Monde Fabuleux des Yamasuki is a delirious cult album that sounds as mischievous and unclassifiable now as it did then. Conceived not as a band but as a studio-born fantasy, YAMASUKI created a pan-cultural pop opera that gleefully ignored genre boundaries and common sense. Produced by Jean Kluger and written with Daniel Vangarde, the album sits at a surreal crossroads of psychedelic pop, funk, samba and bubblegum melodies. Phonetic pseudo-Japanese chants, performed by a children’s choir, collide with ritualistic cries from a Japanese judo grandmaster, turning each track into a playful piece of sonic theatre. What began as a single quickly expanded into a fully realised concept, one whose influence has travelled far beyond novelty. Elements of Yamasuki have resurfaced through reinterpretations, samples and pop mutations across decades, from underground soul and hip hop to mainstream chart pop and television soundtracks. Revisited today, Le Monde Fabuleux des Yamasuki remains a reminder that pop can be strange, joyful and inventive without explanation. It is music that laughs at rules, dances around definitions and proves that imagination never dates.

May it please the people of the known universe that the multi-monikered musical ensemble legally trading as Kay-Bee Funk Music Group are releasing what will alphabetically be their first album, ‘Access All Areas’. Created with Karate Boogaloo’s patented ‘Lovely Recording Technique’ these recordings let you know that everyone’s a VIP when you’re listening to KB. ‘Access’ was the one word maxim philosophically guiding The Old Kar-Boo’s this innings. If a tune became convoluted, to the bin it went. Only those that could be hummed by any and all were kept. This sieve was on hand throughout the whole process, arrangements and forms were kept watertight, bells and whistles to a minimum. If 2024’s ‘Hold Your Horses’ was an epic, ‘Access All Areas’ is a haiku. The band’s tried and true recording process was dutifully respected save for one wonderful addition, the magnificent ‘Sound Recordings’ helmed by its proprietor and engineer extraordinaire Alex Bennet. Steering the 4 track Ampex 440 off road when required and making sure the vibes were constantly correct, Alex is a bonafide Booger. Although it feels only a moment, the clock tells us it’s been nearly 20 years since Kay’s Bees first tried to play the songs of their musical heroes, The Meters, Booker T & The MG’s, and The JB’s to name but a few. Since then The Famous Flying Karate Boogaloo Brothers have put one foot in front of the other and distilled their own sound, one that respectfully acknowledges the history of instrumental Funk & Soul music, and reflects the time they’ve spent crafting their distinctive sound. As bright as each member shines individually, it is a special event when all four planets in the Booger System align. ‘Access All Areas’ is one such eclipse, it is an artistic expression of equal measure by each member and it casts a shadow unique to the occasion. Every second of music was composed and produced with all hands on deck, mixing was handled by Henry Jenkins, artwork by Hudson Whitlock and Callum Riley, and Darvid Thor did things you’d have to see to believe. Music is a team sport and there’s no I in Funk. Coming out on the two greatest record labels in the galaxy ‘Colemine Records’ from Loveland, USA, and College of Knowledge from Coburg, Australia, please listen to Karate Boogaloo’s new album ‘Access All Areas’.

At the beginning of the 1960s, at the Berklee College of Music, Byard Lancaster met some feisty friends: Sonny Sharrock, Dave Burrell and Ted Daniel. It is easy to see why he rapidly became involved in free jazz. Once he was settled in New York, he appeared on Sunny Murray Quintet, recorded under the leadership of the drum crazy colleague of Albert Ayler. In 1968, the saxophonist and flutist recorded his first album under his own name: It’s Not Up To Us. The following year he came to Paris in the wake of… Sunny Murray. He would come back to France in 1971 (again with Murray) and in 1973 (without Murray for a change). This is when he met Jef Gilson, the pianist and producer who encouraged him to record under his own name again. On Palm Records (Gilson’s label), he would release four albums: Us, Mother Africa, Exactement and Funny Funky Rib Crib. “Funny Funky Rib Crib” is an unforgettable recording (made up of several sessions dating from the middle of 1974) of creative jazz overwhelmed by funk and soul. If Lancaster had already made successful albums in the same genre – notably New Horizons, under the name Sounds Of Liberation which he co-led with Khan Jamal –, this one is an homage to James Brown and Sammy Davis enjoying the company of a host of guests including François Tusques (electric piano), Clint Jackson III (trumpet), François Nyombo (guitar), Joseph Traindl (trombone)… Funny Funky Rib Crib’s cover is a three-quarter profile portrait of the saxophonist (who can also be heard on flute, piano and even vocals), however, on the record, it is the whole group, inspired and frenetic, that tests the melodies of “Just Test”, “Dogtown” or “Rib Crib” – the two versions of which display leader Lancaster’s art of nuance. On both sides of the album, the group also moves into a calmer groove, infused by blues and soul, “Work And Pray” and “Loving Kindness” are meditative tracks where listeners can lay back and relax before asking for more: Funny Funky Rib Crib!!!

In the late 1960s, Canada’s largest city was musically booming as Caribbean immigrants made Toronto their new home. The finest ska, rocksteady, and reggae recording artists of the era—Studio One, Treasure Isle, and Trojan Records originators—simply did what came naturally to them. One by one, they hit the studio and captured some of the toughest tunes this side of Kingston. Collectively, they broke down racial and cultural barriers to form an unprecedented and little-known Canadian reggae community. Jamaica to Toronto: Soul, Funk, & Reggae 1967-1974 details this crucial sonic migration.

This first volume of a two-volume series presents a selection of the best of early Syliphone recordings. The songs demonstrate not only the essence of Guinea’s authenticité policy and of its subsequent Cultural Revolution, but of a confluence of musical styles from Cuba, jazz, highlife and the diverse influences of Guinea’s cultural groups.

(2LP, High quality records in gatefold sleeve with extended liner and song notes) This is the second of a two-volume release which presents a selection of the best songs from Guinea's Syliphone recording label. This volume focuses on recordings from the 1970s, when Guinea’s authenticité policy had transformed the nation's music through a network of over 30 orchestras, each representing their local region, and each presenting Guinean musical traditions alongside the influences of Cuban music, jazz and funk.

Re-issue of this ultra-rare Oriental psych monster from the organ king of Casablanca, combining traditional rhythms with spaced out modern sounds.

First issue of this previously unreleased Oriental psych monster from the organ king of Casablanca, combining traditional rhythms with spaced out modern sounds. This album contains dazzling instrumentals spiced up here and there with some traditional vocals. While playing his fine melodies Abdou switches swiftly from his Farfisa Professional mothership to an analog ARP synthesizer. This new sound and some funky wah guitar riffs give his music an extra cosmic touch.

Released in 1970, Funkadelic’s self-titled debut was a radical collision of psychedelic rock, gospel, blues, and soul — a chaotic, genre-defying statement that redefined the possibilities of Black music. Where Motown aimed for polish and crossover appeal, Funkadelic dove headfirst into distortion, improvisation, and spiritual ambiguity, offering a sound as gritty and unpredictable as the era itself.Backed by a ferocious young band — including Eddie Hazel, Billy Bass Nelson, Tawl Ross, Tiki Fulwood, and Mickey Atkins — the album rejected convention in favor of raw groove and existential noise. Tracks like “I Got a Thing…” and “What Is Soul” pulse with menace and joy, bookended by surreal monologues that echo both street philosophy and space-age gospel.As part of Org Music’s Westbound Records reissue series, this edition restores the album’s full impact across multiple formats. The deluxe double LP, mastered at 45RPM directly from tape by Dave Gardner at DSG Mastering, offers the highest fidelity to date. Gardner and restoration specialist Catherine Vericolli archived and restored the original master tapes at 54 Sound Studios in Ferndale, Michigan, with assistance from in-house engineer Nick King. A single LP edition, cut from high-resolution tape transfers, is also available, alongside CD, cassette, and digital formats.A sonic revolution in its time and a lasting influence ever since, Funkadelic remains a groundbreaking testament to music without rules and freedom without limits.

Connecting Wasulu hunter music, griot praises, Senufo pastoral dances, Fula and Mandingo repertoire alongside Western psychedelia, blues and afro-beat, Zani Diabaté’s Super Djata Band was among Mali’s top orchestras of the 1980s. On their 1982 album, Diabaté enshrines himself within the pantheon of mythical West African guitarists, hypnotically picking through eight vivid compositions on his path to godhead status.