With her new single release "Uh-Ah Song" the Ghanaian Frafra Soul singer Florence Adooni announces her debut album "Fo Yelle" on Philophon.

A lot has happened since the release of her first single "Mam Pe'ela Su'ure" in 2021. While this release was a pure studio project, Florence Adooni is now an eight-member live formation, made up of young talents from the highlife scene of Kumasi. The group has already considerable credentials: In 2023, they toured Europe twice and thrilled their audiences at festivals such as Roskilde, Down The Rabbit Hole and Überjazz. And this year, with the debut "Fo Yelle" under the belt, Florence and her group embarking on a 50+ concert summer tour through Europe, from Sweden to Portugal to UK and at festivals like FMM Sines, Xajazz, Africa Oye, Fusion, End of The Road.

The title track "Uh-Ah Song" is based on a rhythm typical of Kumasi and shines with its playful and cheerful character. Florence remembers the process of creating the piece: "When my producer Max Weissenfeldt came to me to play me on the piano an idea for a new piece, my daughter, who had just been born, began to sing in rhythm ah-ah-ah, with all joy in her face ever imaginable, while Max was playing. Max turned around and answered her with uh-uh-uh, to which she replied again with ah-ah-ah. We laughed so much and decided to make it a piece that would capture that very moment of joy we just had experienced. That's why it's somehow a children's song".

"Otoma Da Naba" (The Creator Has Done Well) has a sequencer bass line from a Roland TB-303 as its foundation. While Florence holds her verse in a kind of Ethiopian pentatonic scale, in the pre-chorus she switches to a sweetly swinging heptatonic motif, with a typical highlife guitar in the background creating the atmosphere. In the chorus, the singing then changes in that unique choir style, which is the trademark of Frafra music.

The international debut album "Fo Yelle" will be released on Philophon this summer. More

Jimi Tenor's new single on Philophon was created at the label's own Joy Sound Studios in Kumasi/Ghana. Here he encountered the lively music scene that the city, once the birthplace of highlife, has to offer.

With the title track My Mind, Jimi brings one of his classics from the 90s to new life. It goes without saying that he takes the highlife beat as his basis here.

With Love Is The Language he has created another hymn to the mystery of love, the exploration of which runs like a common thread through his now extensive work.

On both pieces he is accompanied by the ten-man Rubato Chorus. The result is two epic pieces that are consistent with Jimi's work. More

German artist Erobique, known for his improvisational spirit and irresistible disco anthems, visited drummer and producer Max Weissenfeldt in his Ghana-based Joy Sound Studios. Erobique immediately teamed up with the local musicians to cut some tracks. Together with Philophon artist Florence Adooni, he created the catchy tune "Mam Tola", which Florence sings in her mother tongue Frafra. The swaying and swinging outcome is an example par excellence of Afro Soul. On "Bach in Afrika" you hear Erobique how he converts some deep down Kumasi-style drum and bass jam into a frenetic Baroque ceremony by masterfully operating the Hammond "Extra Voice" with some reminiscence of J.S. Bach. More

Gilles Peterson stated after the band's performance at his Worldwide Festival: "It was my absolute favorite moment in 16 years at the festival. They were everything that music is for me in 2022." The band will complete the summer season 2023 with a solid European tour with a total of 40+ concerts, almost 20 of them in the UK alone. Included is the We Out Here Festival. Based on that and the quote above by Gilles, we expect a strong support by him. More

Philophon's house band The Polyversal Souls is back with two classic songs from the back catalog. The first one is Sad Nile, taken from the band's debut Invisible Joy (PH33001) from 2015, but in a re-mastered version which added some extra fire to the hypnotic rhythm and the lovely melancholic ethopian melody. The second one is Florence Adooni's catchy highlife twister Mam Pe'ela Su'ure as an instrumental. The melody is passionately played on the flute by Philophon artist Jimi Tenor. More

After her surprise debut "Mam Pe'ela Su'ure", Ghana's Frafra gospel queen Florence Adooni is back with her second single on Philophon. Born as Frafra in Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti, she combines the best of both cultures into a unique fusion. The meandering, mostly pentatonic melodies of the Frafra glide over the high-life rhythm of the Ashanti with incredible ease. "Yinne" means The Creator and is one of the songs sung at the culmination of the Sunday service. Its driving rhythm usually guarantees a collective ecstasy in the community. "Fo Yelle", on the other hand, has more of a meditative effect on the listener. Its rather solemn rhythm leads you into tranquility and opens your soul to receive the divine spark. The songs were produced by Max Weissenfeldt in Kumasi/Ghana. More

Alogte Oho & His Sounds of Joy are back with a new single release after their album debut "Mam Yinne Wa", which can be seen as a harbinger of the second album. You can hear another Frafra Gospel masterpiece by the king of this genre.

"Doose Mam" is a soulful piece that goes straight to the limbs with its repetitive rhythm. The jubilant middle section, in which the wind instruments and the choir pass the balls to each other, is to be emphasized. "Gure Yose Me" ties in with the Frafra Gospel tradition of making use of reggae rhythms. Here we hear a stepper played by Josie Coppola, Europe's No.1 reaggae drummer. Both pieces were produced both in Berlin and in Kumasi by Max Weissenfeldt in Philophon's in-house Joy Sound Studios. More

After his international debut #1 in 2018, the north Ghanaian Kologo (a two stringed proto-banjo) master Guy One is back with his brand new band, consisting of Kumasi's finest young talents, plus Florence Adooni and Tenni Akagam as his choir voices. So La Ma La has a straight forward Highlife rhythm which melts together with some funky articulated afrobeat-a-like bass line. To Kale Na'nabala is instead in the traditional Kete rhythm, a bouncy poly-rhythm in 12/8. But both songs are mostly defined through Guy One's Kologo lines and his soulful interpretation of the typical north-ghanaian vocal style. More

Stamp is back with a special three tracker of disco edits from J1mi Beyonders!
A trio of unashamed hands-in-the-air pumpers to induce dancefloor euphoria... More

London party heads Good Block get snapped up for a new 12" on the ever more crucial Duca Bianco label here. They are well known for laying down tasteful party sounds at spots like Brilliant Corners and The Yard and count as finds the likes of Cosmic Slop, Habibi Funk and Jamie Tiller. That should give you an idea of what to expect here - a wonderfully bespoke and boutique mix of slow-motion dub, Balearic pop, New Age sounds, Japanese synth and proto-deep house with extra character. It's a bonkers collection that brings real charm to the club. More

The hottest 1980?s cosmic italo disco songs from the Czech national music archive bundled on one album. More

2LP including insert with liner notes. Chapter 1 out of 3. Including classic tracks with music from DAF, Throbbing Gristle, Nitzer Ebb, Mary Möör...'Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX' is a return to the dark romantic of the past, present and future. An undying passion for all things post-punk/wave/body music and beyond.


TRACKLISTING

A1. Throbbing Gristle - Distant Dreams, Pt. 2
A2. Mary Möör - Pretty Day
A3. Sad Lovers & Giants - Things We Never Did
A4. Malcolm McLaren - Madam Butterfly (Un Bel Di Vedremo)
B1. Big Audio Dynamite - The Big V
B2. Cabaret Voltaire - Blue Heat
B3. Nitzer Ebb - Hearts and Minds (Mix Hypersonic)
B4. Clan Of Xymox - Obsession

C1. In Sotto Voce - In Sotto Voce
C2. Psyche - Prisoner To Desire (Single Mix)
C3. Propaganda - The Murder Of Love
C4. DAF - Brothers (Gabi Mix)
D1. Book Of Love - Modigliani (Lost In Your Eyes) (I Dream Of Jeanne Mix)
D2. Vicious Pink - Cccan't You See
D3. Absolute Body Control - Total Control

INFO

Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX is the second compilation for Eskimo Recordings compiled and curated by Berlin-based Musician and DJ Luca Venezia, aka Curses, to explore the darker side of club music. Spread across 3CDs and three 2LPs Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX features a mammoth 49 tracks that join the dots between early industrial pioneers Throbbing Gristle, EBM legends like Nitzer Ebb and the post-punk experiments of people like Malcolm McLaren and Big Audio Dynamite with some of the most exciting artists around today, such as Boy Harsher, Nuovo Testamento and Years of Denial.

Where the first Next Wave Acid Punx compilation was a personal journey for Luca, a lockdown inspired exploration of his record collection to find the thread that ran through the music that had soundtracked much of his life, DEUX is a celebration of that music let loose on the world, the thrill of music performed live, the smoke and strobe filled clubs you'll hear it in and the artists you'll find on those stages.

"After our enforced break, getting back out there and playing live again really brought home to me so much of what I love about the scene I'm in but also just how important live music has been and is to club culture over the years," Luca explains. "Too often we think of club nights and live gigs as these separate things, but throughout the years it's where the two meet, the friction that can cause, that you'll find the most vibrant scenes."

"There's an energy, an atmosphere that you get with live music, an unpredictability where at any moment something can go wrong or even better right in a way you never expect. I think about a live set we played at a Lebanese festival where our MPC drum machine froze up because of all the dust and sand trapped in the pads. We had to improvise half our set, jamming bass and guitar and pedal FX and vocals, embracing this surreal environment and experience, something that could only happen in the moment."

"With Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX I wanted to celebrate those bands and artists, past and present who, to me, represent that spirit. Both full live bands and makeshift electronic duos alike, the kind of acts that you might have found wedged between DJs back in the day at The Hacienda in the 80s, Trash in the 00s or today at nights like Berlin's MILK ME, EXBTN in Paris, Night Terrors + SC&P in London, New York City's Synthicide or Ukraine's Worn Pop.

So I've put this compilation together much like my favourite kind of night, going out to see some bands play, hitting up a club where live music and DJs blur together, before the serious business of the after party. On Chapter 1 you'll find bands like Vicious Pink, DAF and Cabaret Voltaire, some of these acts are more obscure than others, some flirted with pop and even the charts but they were all embracing new ways of working in the late 70s and 80s that both set them apart and set the scene for much of what we think of as club music.

Chapter 2 moves the night on, and this is the sound of the clubs I love to both play and just hang out in these days, clubs where the people involved put a lot more time into digging through the crates than working on their Instagram Reels. These are places where you're as likely to find a band on stage as you are a DJ, where 80's German electro pop by a band like Boytronic seamlessly flows into tracks like Silent Servant's Non Fiction. Timeless music that can be romantic, dreamlike and ethereal one moment, then veer into dark, industrial sounds the next.

Then finally we get to that part of the night where you probably should go home but if it's too late for good decisions there's still time for good music. Things are a bit wilder here, the drums a bit harder, the synths are more aggressive, tracks like The Hacker's Monopoly, Zanias' Tryptamine Palace or EVA's Industrial Hope that don't let up, don't let you go, just subjugate you to the beat and keep you there till you stumble out blinking into a new day." More

'Curses presents... Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX' is happening! Ahead of the full release in the fall we are excited to bring you this dj sampler as a taster. On this 12" you'll find two unreleased (!) Curses reworks of Nuovo Testamento and J.W.B. Hits TBeat originals that have been absolute highlights in his DJ sets lately, and two tracks by Mary Möör and Cabaret Voltaire that are taken from Curses' classics selection.


TRACKLISTING

A1. Nuovo Testamento - Heartbeat (Curses Remix)
A2. Mary Möör - Pretty Day
B1. J.W.B. Hits The Beat - Body On Body (Curses Revamp)
B2. Cabaret Voltaire - Blue Heat (12" Mix)


INFO

'Curses presents... Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX' is happening! Ahead of the full release in the fall we are excited to bring you this dj sampler as a taster. On this 12" you'll find two unreleased (!) Curses reworks of Nuovo Testamento and J.W.B. Hits The Beat originals that have been absolute highlights in his DJ sets lately, and two tracks by Mary Möör and Cabaret Voltaire that are taken from Curses' classics selection.

'Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX' is a return to the dark romantic of the past, present and future. An undying passion for all things post-punk/wave/body music and beyond.
More

Everyone’s favourite Israeli digger is back for another round of gloriously rare edit heat on RNT!

‘Baila’ gets the party started with infectious flamenco chants and claps over a churning acidic groove, and ‘Disco Hummus’ rounds out the side with a bit of joyful disco cheek.

On the flip, ‘Sun’ turns an unlikely cover of a classic into an Afro Disco banger, and ‘Simba’ rumbles and rolls with restraint toward a hypnotic peak of brass and vocals.

Elado has done it again…Mazel Tov! More

2LP including insert with liner notes. Chapter 2 out of 3. Including 13 unreleased tracks! With music from Boytronic, Years of Denial, Patriarchy, The KVB...'Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX' is a return to the dark romantic of the past, present and future. An undying passion for all things post-punk/wave/body music and beyond.


TRACKLISTING

A1. Boytronic - Voloczny *
A2. The KVB - Still Warm (2023 version)
A3. Cardinal & Nun - Freak And Weak *
A4. Jennifer Touch - Altars *
A5. Matrixxman - Assembly Line *

B1. Silver Tears - Always Shine (Wait For The Rain) *
B2. Essaie Pas - Retox
B3. Aili x Transistorcake - Dansu
B4. Years Of Denial - It Sucks



C1. Dina Summer - Darkness *
C2. Patriarchy - Suffer
C3. Maelstrom & Louisahhh - Hate Machine *
C4. Dame Area - Buon Cittadino *
C5. Kris Baha - Into The Dark

D1. Desire - Love Races On *
D2. Blind Delon feat. I Hate Models - Flashback *
D3. Poison Point - Altered Beats *
D4. Roe Deers - Muscles *



*previously unreleased


INFO

Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX is the second compilation for Eskimo Recordings compiled and curated by Berlin-based Musician and DJ Luca Venezia, aka Curses, to explore the darker side of club music. Spread across 3CDs and three 2LPs Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX features a mammoth 49 tracks that join the dots between early industrial pioneers Throbbing Gristle, EBM legends like Nitzer Ebb and the post-punk experiments of people like Malcolm McLaren and Big Audio Dynamite with some of the most exciting artists around today, such as Boy Harsher, Nuovo Testamento and Years of Denial.

Where the first Next Wave Acid Punx compilation was a personal journey for Luca, a lockdown inspired exploration of his record collection to find the thread that ran through the music that had soundtracked much of his life, DEUX is a celebration of that music let loose on the world, the thrill of music performed live, the smoke and strobe filled clubs you'll hear it in and the artists you'll find on those stages.

"After our enforced break, getting back out there and playing live again really brought home to me so much of what I love about the scene I'm in but also just how important live music has been and is to club culture over the years," Luca explains. "Too often we think of club nights and live gigs as these separate things, but throughout the years it's where the two meet, the friction that can cause, that you'll find the most vibrant scenes."

"There's an energy, an atmosphere that you get with live music, an unpredictability where at any moment something can go wrong or even better right in a way you never expect. I think about a live set we played at a Lebanese festival where our MPC drum machine froze up because of all the dust and sand trapped in the pads. We had to improvise half our set, jamming bass and guitar and pedal FX and vocals, embracing this surreal environment and experience, something that could only happen in the moment."

"With Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX I wanted to celebrate those bands and artists, past and present who, to me, represent that spirit. Both full live bands and makeshift electronic duos alike, the kind of acts that you might have found wedged between DJs back in the day at The Hacienda in the 80s, Trash in the 00s or today at nights like Berlin's MILK ME, EXBTN in Paris, Night Terrors + SC&P in London, New York City's Synthicide or Ukraine's Worn Pop.

So I've put this compilation together much like my favourite kind of night, going out to see some bands play, hitting up a club where live music and DJs blur together, before the serious business of the after party. On Chapter 1 you'll find bands like Vicious Pink, DAF and Cabaret Voltaire, some of these acts are more obscure than others, some flirted with pop and even the charts but they were all embracing new ways of working in the late 70s and 80s that both set them apart and set the scene for much of what we think of as club music.

Chapter 2 moves the night on, and this is the sound of the clubs I love to both play and just hang out in these days, clubs where the people involved put a lot more time into digging through the crates than working on their Instagram Reels. These are places where you're as likely to find a band on stage as you are a DJ, where 80's German electro pop by a band like Boytronic seamlessly flows into tracks like Silent Servant's Non Fiction. Timeless music that can be romantic, dreamlike and ethereal one moment, then veer into dark, industrial sounds the next.

Then finally we get to that part of the night where you probably should go home but if it's too late for good decisions there's still time for good music. Things are a bit wilder here, the drums a bit harder, the synths are more aggressive, tracks like The Hacker's Monopoly, Zanias' Tryptamine Palace or EVA's Industrial Hope that don't let up, don't let you go, just subjugate you to the beat and keep you there till you stumble out blinking into a new day." More

Repress!

Harri Pierson bangs the box with his new EP for Duca Bianco, a full thrill mix of disco and house sounds that want to get the party going. 'Instant Message' has a dense mix of raw drum sounds and squelchy synths with interesting melodic designs and steamy female coos. 'Techno Native' is laced up with piano stabs and a hint of old school energy then 'Trippy Too' cuts loose with a head-twisting mix of drums and whistles and bass and pads. 'Young Australians' then brings some big guitar licks to a Balearic beat that is for dancing under the stars. All four of these cuts are unique and compelling. More

JB Edits is the edit project of UK & Australia based house DJ / producer Jerk Boy. Off the back of the success of his first four releases which have gained love and support from an array of taste makers and DJs around the globe along with multiple premiers on YouTube channels. The first four EP's sold out of its first press in weeks and now he's back with a new 3 x tracker... "EP Number Five"..... with loads of extra keys, drums and magic sprinkled for extra dancing juice. More

With the second 12” V.A. the Italoexotica Crew takes you to the beaches of South America. The release consists of 4 fresh edits of tracks ranging from latin disco, jazz funk and samba.
More

2LP including insert with liner notes. Chapter 3 out of 3. Including 14 unreleased tracks! With music from The Hacker, Boy Harsher, Nuovo Testamento, Buzz Kull...'Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX' is a return to the dark romantic of the past, present and future. An undying passion for all things post-punk/wave/body music and beyond.

TRACKLISTING

A1. Boy Harsher - Machina (feat. Mariana Saldaña) (Dark Remix) *
A2. Silent Servant - Non Fiction *
A3. J.W.B. Hits The Beat - Body On Body (Curses Revamp) *
A4. Hungry Boys - Toi *
B1. Nuovo Testamento - Heartbeat (Curses Remix - Edit) *
B2. Autumns - Repeat Prescription *
B3. Buzz Kull - A Place (That’s Meant To Be) *
B4. Soft Crash - Dolce Morte *



C1. Dame Bonnet & Mufti - Pleasure Dreams *
C2. Ultra Sunn - Night Is Mine
C3. Neu-Romancer - Burning Eyes *
C4. EVA - Industrial Hope *
D1. Andi vs Randolph & Mortimer - Formidable Truths *
D2. Zanias - Tryptamine Palace *
D3. The Hacker - Monopoly *
D4. Paradox Obscur - Evo-Devo



*previously unreleased


INFO

Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX is the second compilation for Eskimo Recordings compiled and curated by Berlin-based Musician and DJ Luca Venezia, aka Curses, to explore the darker side of club music. Spread across 3CDs and three 2LPs Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX features a mammoth 49 tracks that join the dots between early industrial pioneers Throbbing Gristle, EBM legends like Nitzer Ebb and the post-punk experiments of people like Malcolm McLaren and Big Audio Dynamite with some of the most exciting artists around today, such as Boy Harsher, Nuovo Testamento and Years of Denial.

Where the first Next Wave Acid Punx compilation was a personal journey for Luca, a lockdown inspired exploration of his record collection to find the thread that ran through the music that had soundtracked much of his life, DEUX is a celebration of that music let loose on the world, the thrill of music performed live, the smoke and strobe filled clubs you'll hear it in and the artists you'll find on those stages.

"After our enforced break, getting back out there and playing live again really brought home to me so much of what I love about the scene I'm in but also just how important live music has been and is to club culture over the years," Luca explains. "Too often we think of club nights and live gigs as these separate things, but throughout the years it's where the two meet, the friction that can cause, that you'll find the most vibrant scenes."

"There's an energy, an atmosphere that you get with live music, an unpredictability where at any moment something can go wrong or even better right in a way you never expect. I think about a live set we played at a Lebanese festival where our MPC drum machine froze up because of all the dust and sand trapped in the pads. We had to improvise half our set, jamming bass and guitar and pedal FX and vocals, embracing this surreal environment and experience, something that could only happen in the moment."

"With Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX I wanted to celebrate those bands and artists, past and present who, to me, represent that spirit. Both full live bands and makeshift electronic duos alike, the kind of acts that you might have found wedged between DJs back in the day at The Hacienda in the 80s, Trash in the 00s or today at nights like Berlin's MILK ME, EXBTN in Paris, Night Terrors + SC&P in London, New York City's Synthicide or Ukraine's Worn Pop.

So I've put this compilation together much like my favourite kind of night, going out to see some bands play, hitting up a club where live music and DJs blur together, before the serious business of the after party. On Chapter 1 you'll find bands like Vicious Pink, DAF and Cabaret Voltaire, some of these acts are more obscure than others, some flirted with pop and even the charts but they were all embracing new ways of working in the late 70s and 80s that both set them apart and set the scene for much of what we think of as club music.

Chapter 2 moves the night on, and this is the sound of the clubs I love to both play and just hang out in these days, clubs where the people involved put a lot more time into digging through the crates than working on their Instagram Reels. These are places where you're as likely to find a band on stage as you are a DJ, where 80's German electro pop by a band like Boytronic seamlessly flows into tracks like Silent Servant's Non Fiction. Timeless music that can be romantic, dreamlike and ethereal one moment, then veer into dark, industrial sounds the next.

Then finally we get to that part of the night where you probably should go home but if it's too late for good decisions there's still time for good music. Things are a bit wilder here, the drums a bit harder, the synths are more aggressive, tracks like The Hacker's Monopoly, Zanias' Tryptamine Palace or EVA's Industrial Hope that don't let up, don't let you go, just subjugate you to the beat and keep you there till you stumble out blinking into a new day." More