Bloto’s bold 2020 debut brought forth three albums in just twelve months. This prolific creative burst, followed by an ongoing tour and involvement in other projects, meant fans had to wait over three years for the next release. During this time, new ideas took shape, and the vision for their fourth LP crystallized. The wait for Bloto's new album is nearly over. As always, autumn signals the arrival of Grzybnia (Mycelium).

The idea for the album had been simmering within the band since the release of Kwasy i zasady and finally took shape in early 2023 at Warsaw's Studio Pasterka, under Piotr Zabrodzki's guidance. It was the group's most fruitful session, resulting in two singles, Szlam / Scieki and Bakteria, as well as material for an EP to be released next year.
The seemingly chemical title of Kwasy i zasady (Acids and Bases) referred to interpersonal relationships, describing traits that prevent harmony and reflecting the polarization of modern societies. The metaphor of Grzybnia (Mycelium) goes further, emphasizing cooperation as a skill that yields diverse results, both good and bad. Above all, it underscores the power of collective action.

In a fragmented, unstable world, mycelium offers a powerful model. It thrives in degraded, lifeless environments created by humans. Cooperation benefits all parties involved, where each contributes something and receives something in return. Mycelium forms a symbiotic relationship with certain tree species through mycorrhiza, where roots and mycelium exchange life-sustaining substances, benefiting both. This cooperation is key to survival and growth.

Like a mushroom that dies, yet whose mycelium endures, Bloto’s music is an organic and evolving force. The band operates much like mycelium itself, drawing on cultural products and transforming them into new forms. The collaboration of Latarnik, Cancer G, Wuja HZG, and OlafSaxx produces surprising combinations, resulting in music that blurs the lines between genres like jazz, house, techno, and improvisation.

A1 - Lysiczka
A2 - Kozak
A3 - Shiitake
A4 - Boczniak
A5 - Prawdziwek
B1 - Podostroma
B2 - Muchomor
B3 - Szatan
B4 - Zaslonak

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The Bloto quartet had made a comeback six months ago with their first singles in over two years dropping “Szlam” and “Scieki”. These tracks were pressed on a 7-inch vinyl by Astigmatic Records, but this only whetted the appetites of the band’s mud-loving fans, as the singles sold out instantly. And so, the band's musical onslaught continues. Ahead of their upcoming LP “Grzybnia” set to release in autumn 2024, Bloto is putting out another bacteria-laden 7-inch to conclude this brief series of singles. This time, the release features a remix by none other than the modern funk maestro DaM-FunK, hailing from sunny Pasadena, California.

Wading through the sludge of sewage, one can encounter colonies of bacteria. They are well-known for their dark side – causing serious diseases. Nevertheless, they are with us all the time. They exist in humans and all other living organisms – fungi, plants, and animals. They can be found in soil and water. They are even present in radioactive areas, proving that they are truly hard to eliminate. Such is the music of Bloto. Like a post-apocalyptic bacterium, it’s capable of surviving in the harshest conditions.

Sinister, biting, and primitive – just like colonies of microorganisms. This is Bloto's latest single. Drawing heavily from classic acid house, it can truly infect the mind, inviting you to join a rave in Bloto on the eastern flank of Europe. Quartet’s “Bakteria” is a direct continuation of their first 7-inch release. However, this time, during their collective improvisation at Studio Pasterka, the band has entirely forsaken acoustic instruments in favor of a full array of synthesizers accompanied by drums.

Certainly, the dichotomous nature of these organisms presents a paradox. While capable of causing harm, without bacteria, life as we know it would cease to exist, and human civilization would not have reached its current state. Bacteria fulfill numerous essential roles. They serve as decomposers, crucial in maintaining biogeochemical cycles, and contribute to processes such as fermentation and decay. As symbiotic organisms living within other organisms, they are vital for functions like digestion. Their versatility extends to diverse applications, from biological wastewater treatment to the production of various food products.

Such are the properties of the beneficial probiotic titled “Bakteria Re-Freak” by DaM-FunK (renowned for his classic albums released on Stones Throw, like “Toeachizown” and “7 Days of Funk” with Snoop Dogg). It offers a 180-degree transformation of the dark atmosphere of the original version. The track evolves towards G-Funk, brimming with sunny synths and a drum machine. It portrays a vision of a biopharmaceutical bacterium lazily roaming the streets of warm yet perilous Los Angeles.

The 7-inch will be released on July 19, 2024, by Astigmatic Records. The vinyl single is limited to 700 copies.

A - Bloto - Bakteria
B - Bloto - Bakteria (DaM-FunK Re-Freak)

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2023 was a breakthrough year for EABS in many ways. It was all thanks to the well received, fully self-produced album entitled In Search of a Better Tomorrow, recorded in collaboration with the Pakistani band Jaubi. EABS' forthcoming sixth album is a return to their roots – literally and figuratively. It is an in-depth study on rhythm, which materialised in the form of the album titled Reflections of Purple Sun.

The back to the roots part not only manifests itself in the lack of guest instrumentalists, but also in a renewed focus on the history of Polish jazz. The band's debut album Repetitions... was dedicated to Krzysztof Komeda. This time, the band picked up the entire Purple Sun album, which Tomasz Stanko recorded half a century ago. From the POV of Purple Sun fans, a hard-to-find and somewhat forgotten album, it may seem like a doomed undertaking. However, in order to pay tribute to one of the most iconic figures of Polish jazz, it was worth embarking on this mission and attempting to engage in a non-verbal conversation with the Slavic spirit that Master Tomasz Stanko undoubtedly was.

You can learn more about Reflections of Purple Sun through the comprehensive booklet accompanying the record. The cover art was created by the label's regular collaborator, Animisiewasz, whose design pays tribute to Pia Burri's original Purple Sun concept. Release date is 10 May 2024.

A1 - Boratka
A2 - Flute's Ballad
A3 - My Night, My Day
B1 - Flair
B2 - Introduction (for Janusz Stefanski)
B3 - Purple Sun

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4th Press - 600 copies only

It didn't take long for Bloto to become a thing, shrouded by underground secrecy. First, there was the gig during Spring Break 2019 in Poznan where the Blue Note club was packed to the brim. That event gave momentum to 4 more performances in Warsaw and Wroclaw, with no music released at that time. Then, the first pressing of the vinyl was sold out within 24 hours without any single nor cover revealed.

The word about Bloto has spread, increasingly gaining ground, reaching Japan, where the album will also be available on CD. No one expected such a turn of events. In fact, neither did the band itself; after all, Bloto came to being accidentally, yet naturally, like a puddle after a rainy day.

It all started in the summer of 2018 when EABS was touring and the band had a day off. As they were approaching Tricity, people were getting off and eventually there were only four musicians. An evening off, a well-tuned rhythm section on the road, harmonious as can be, and a great deal of creative potential within the members of Bloto band forming at that very moment stirred up common enthusiasm. The album was created without much deliberation, stemming from the need of the heart and the joy of making music together. As a result, 90 minutes of music was recorded of which about 40 made it to “Erozje”.

The music is deeply rooted in brutal hip-hop grooves, referring to the sound of 90’s New York. Dirty and uncompromising, this music’s strength lies in the drums and bass as its sound refers to classics such as Wu-Tang Clan and Company Flow. Radical in a sense, it also captures the atmosphere of the times in which it is created. The times of the planet on the verge of disaster, distinct social divisions, hate speech, growing nationalism, police brutality, nepotism, and various political deals. All this is happening before our eyes. The soil of the world as we know it is eroding right now.

Tracklist:

A1 - Kaluze
A2 - Mady
A3 - Czarnoziemy
A4 - Bagna
A5 - Czarne ziemie
A6 - Redziny
B1 - Bielice
B2 - Ziemie zdegradowane przez czlowieka
B3 - Glina
B4 - Gleby brunatne

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A lot of water has flown under the bridge since B³oto released their last album. Sadly, in Polish rivers it wasn't just water
flowing, but also all sorts of sewage of unknown origin, which destroyed the condition of these once vibrant bodies of water;
it eventually led to a real catastrophe on the Odra River, which, after all, surrounds the entire city of Wroclaw, the band's
birthplace. It is time for a decisive response. B³oto is making a comeback with a seven-inch vinyl and their first singles in
over two years - "Szlam" and "Œcieki".
Climate change had already led to a permanent hydrological drought, which was echoed on Erozje LP. Today, as many as
91.5 percent of Poland's rivers are in very poor condition. It is not only drought that threatens rivers, but also excessive
salinity. This is precisely the kind of disaster that happened on the Odra river. It resulted in 360 tonnes of dead fish and
death of the river along a stretch of almost 500 km, and the reason for that was short-sighted human activity that could
have been avoided. Still, the decision was made to turn the river into a cesspool.
Two years of hiatus is far too long. During this time, reality has not let up for a moment, providing new inspiration. Szlam
(eng. sludge) is the sediment that forms on the river bed and sometimes the river banks. The Polish word derives from
German (Schlamm), which means swamp - or mud. Szlam is therefore a sticky and unsettling remorse that rests somewhere
at the bottom of the human consciousness.
In "Szlam" and "Œcieki" tracks, you will not only hear references to Erozje, but also to Kwasy i Zasady LP. For it is also a
metaphor for everything that pours out of the media, smartphones, and then flows into one's head. The constant bickering,
conflicts and dirty play in political campaigns, scandals to which we are already numb. On top of this, hate speech, lowquality
stupefying influencer content, resulting in an ever-decreasing cultural capital of a society that breeds conformists,
individualistically-minded egoists and mindless consumers. This state of affairs spawns a society of egoists, incapable of
critical reflection, questioning and rebelling against reality.
The sound and genres explored by the band are, as usual, difficult to pigeonhole. These two musical miniatures contain a
lot of anxious and neurotic sounds, as well as synth glitches evoking emotions such as fear, anger, sadness and guilt. The
quartet consisting of Wuja HZG, OlafSaxx, Cancer G and Latarnik managed to distill this mental state by encapsulating it in
shades of breakbeat ("Szlam"), and broadly defined house music ("Œcieki").

A. Szlam
B. Œcieki

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When Cicadas appear in the area they cause a huge uproar. It’s hard to escape the distinctive noise these critters make, reaching up to 120 decibels. The hypnotic, trance-inducing sound disappears with the insects. A few months after Cykada's explosive debut, the world was hit by turbulence and from Cykada there was silence - fortunately only seemingly, because the next cycle began underground, in the privacy of the studio. It was there that the cicadas matured, waiting for a metamorphosis.

The year 2019 was very successful for Cykada, with a brilliantly received debut album, concerts at numerous festivals in the UK and Europe such as Glastonbury, Wilderness, London Jazz Festival, BAM Festival, La Defense Jazz Festival or Love Supreme Festival, along with constantly composing and preparing material for the second album. As the musicians entered the studio, the coronavirus pandemic was already in full swing across the globe. It was clear then that the world would never be the same. With increasing restrictions Cykada went underground, waiting for changes to surface again. Unfortunately the expected change that was happening seemed only for the worse - Brexit and its socio-economic consequences, worldwide disinformation, accelerating climate catastrophe and Russian invasion of Ukraine. The collapse of the old world order is the perfect moment for metamorphosis and with this message Cykada steps out again into broad daylight, matured and carrying a message with their long-awaited second album “Metamorphosis”.

The meaning behind the title is multifaceted. It refers both to changes taking place in our society and changes to our world as nature defends itself from human stupidity and greed. It is also a reference to the personal and musical development of the band members in that difficult period. It all became a foundation to bravely attempt to make new beginnings.

The metamorphosis is also clear in the musical aspect of Cykada. Their debut album was already difficult to shoehorn into specific genres with their sound that balanced jazz, electronics and elements of global music styles. With the second album their eclectic style has evolved into something distinct and innovative, combining folk/jazz song form and improvisation with heavier sounds inspired by sound system culture and rock. The band grew into a septet thanks to multi-instrumentalist Rob Milne, expanding the horn section to 3 instruments and galvanising its sound. But the biggest change that happened compared to the first album is the singing of Cykada leader Jamie Benzies in singles “So Divided” and “The Crack in the Bricks”. Both songs carry an important message, showing us that the changes in the world are already happening and that only we can make it head in the right direction. This unique sonic mix along with the message unleashes a powerful energy that the musicians want to send to and infect every listener.

A1 - Crystalline Peaks
A2 - Fallacy
A3 - So Divided
A4 - 3301
B1 - The Cracks in the Bricks (Prologue)
B2 - The Cracks in the Bricks
B3 - Ashen Faun
B4 - Last Throes of the Temporal Monolith

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It would appear that Polish jazz is a well-known subject through and through. Dozens of outstanding albums, biographies of the masters,
hundreds of journal articles. As it turns out, it is still possible to find music that has been waiting for years to be discovered. On the 80th
birthday of Tomasz Stañko, Astigmatic Records presents the first part of Wooden Music, a conceptual project created by the maestro
and his legendary quintet, which has been stored in the archives of Radio Bremen for 50 years.
Tomasz Stañko was an exceptional Polish jazz trumpeter. He passed away in 2018, leaving behind a legacy of numerous releases,
soundtracks, concert recordings and wild stories involving him. Before rising to the top, he honed his craft alongside Krzysztof Komeda
and Andrzej Trzaskowski. In the mid-1960s, he appeared on Astigmatic and Polish Jazz Vol. 4 – the albums that were a creative
manifesto for Polish jazz of those years. However, all this time he was constantly thinking about starting his own band.
In 1968 he completed the line-up – Janusz Stefañski on drums, Bronis³aw Suchanek on double bass, Janusz Muniak on tenor
saxophone and Zbigniew Seifert on alto saxophone, which he soon replaced with the violin. Stañko classified the quintet's output into
three periods. The first, composed, is associated with Music for K, Stañko's publishing debut as a leader, which became a permanent
entry in the canon of Polish jazz records. The second period is wooden music – it's the free jazz period, the least known in the quintet's
history despite the fact that it spanned more than three years. The third and final period is linked to the release of the band's final album,
the cult Purple Sun. However, the entire period between Music for K and Purple Sun is shrouded in mystery, as the band was mainly in
Western Europe at the time. In the early 1970s, all the musicians take one-year visas. In between tours they live in Germany: first in a
hippie commune in Wurtzburg, then in Darmstadt. They play in clubs on a day by day basis. The quintet is said to be distinguished from
other bands by their ability to completely "burn" in the fire of improvisation. They lead their lives as a single organism, touring without
wives or girlfriends. The compositions are blurred, the fascination with free music prevails. Short pieces and motives are the starting point
for further performance. The ensemble does not plan, they just play. On 28 May 1972 they play at the Iserlohn jazz festival. JG Records
would release this performance as Jazzmessage from Poland. The very music recorded there represents what the quintet called Wooden
Music.
The foundation of wooden music is the sound of the double bass and the violin, but it soon becomes apparent that all instruments except
for Tomasz Stañko's trumpet are wooden. A string orchestra is born, over which the metal trumpet can weave all sorts of hues
accompanied by the saxophone. What fascinates the quintet in wooden music is the melody, rhythm and timbre - where these are usually
just an element, they fill the entire piece in their case. Bronis³aw Suchanek, the last living member of the quintet, recalls:
"Wooden music is all about total improvisation. We used to arrive at a gig, start playing without really knowing where we were heading.
The only thing that guided us was the common and mental compatibility, understanding, friendship and respect along this musical journey.
Music was the first most important element to attribute to – it was free jazz in its purest form. If there are any moments that seem
orchestrated it is because we played together for several years, evening after evening, going from club to club. We knew each other
better than our parents knew us, we had total trust in each other – that's what made this music exist in the way it did."

A1 - Piece 1
A2 - Piece 2
A3 - Piece 3
A4 - Piece 4
B1 - Piece 5
B2 - Piece 6

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The discovery of Tomasz Stañko's archive recordings from 50 years ago at Radio Bremen demonstrated the dynamic development of
this shrouded in mystery quintet, which was a blank spot in the history of Polish jazz. Released by Astigmatic Records, the album
turned out to be a surprise and a huge musical treat for many fans who no longer remember such a fiery period in the career of the
outstanding trumpeter. The record received much critical acclaim and sold out in a blink, and Jazz Forum magazine recognised Wooden
Music I as the historic album of the year. Now the time has come for the 2nd and final installment of wooden music.
It takes more than one album to fully illustrate the evolution of the band with which Tomasz Stañko, as its leader, recorded Music for K,
one of the most important albums in Polish jazz. It is the early 1970s, Zbigniew Seifert gives up the saxophone in favour of the violin, so
the band's sound becomes more 'wooden', and around this expression Stañko builds the foundations of a philosophy, which he wrote
down on four small sheets of paper, still kept by Bronis³aw Suchanek, the quintet's bass player:
We seek to create the kind of music that, while operating with all the elements of the most genuine jazz, attempts to look at it from a
different angle, from a different mental plane. We do not experiment with the material, but with the form. For the form does not have to
be a logical and strict construction of the entire piece, it can be free, improvised while playing, resulting from the mood, or atmosphere
existing at a given moment, or random things, creating with their free fluidity that specific "magical mood". This, of course, excludes
compositions in the traditional sense - Tomasz Stañko wrote at the time.
Wooden Music is therefore like a postcard - not so much of a specific gig, but of the entire period of the quintet's activity. It opens with
compositions featured on Jazzmessage from Poland. Wooden Music I recorded in Bremen on 15 June 1972 is its peak - when the band
plays free, vigorous music, but more sensitively planned, as the group is more in-tune after hours of joint stage encounters. Wooden
Music II, recorded in Hamburg on 9 November 1972, is the conclusion of their vision of free-jazz - the final phase where composed
pieces ("Calme" and "6 & 8") begin to emerge from wild improvisation. Some of these would, a few months later, find their way onto an
iconic piece in Tomasz Stañko's discography - the Purple Sun album (e.g. "Flute's Ballad")... but with a slightly different line-up. When
the band decides to wrap up, they are at the peak of their form, each feeling the need to develop on their own. They know when to step
off the stage. They are invincible. Tomasz Stañko Quintet was one of the most outstanding European free jazz ensembles of its time.
The Polish musicians, plus a plethora of individuals such as Brötzmann, Mangelsdorff, Schlippenbach, Vesala or Surman, contributed to
a movement which, while co-operating with the American avant-garde, had its own specificity and its own unique audience. Polish
jazzmen, newcomers from behind the Iron Curtain, were seen as carrying a message of freedom to the countries of the region. It took
many years for this message to come true. Today, European jazz seems to be far more erudite, emotionally restrained, intellectual, seeking
links with contemporary avant-garde and ethno music. It's all very beautiful, but sometimes one would like to discard all of this extra
wrapping and bring out the essence of jazz - the synergic energy and striving for the limits of expression, even if it poses the risk of a
musical explosion - Tomasz Szachowski states in Jazz Forum. Therefore, it is time to see if we are dealing with explosive material in the
case of the second installment of wooden music.
Thus, the Wooden Music series culminates with its second part coming from the archives of NDR radio, which recorded the footage in a
small club in Hamburg called Jazzhouse. This time, the additional stem-mastering was done by Marcin Cichy, who perfected the sound
on the album even more.

A1 - Calme
A2 - 6 & 8 I
B1 - 6 & 8 II
B2 - Flute's Ballad

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After the very well received, both by the audience and critics, debut album Repetitions (Letters to Krzysztof Komeda), focusing on the lesser-known works of the legendary Polish composer, the Wroclaw-based EABS decided to further expand this lead and released two more vinyl records, "live" and "on tape", which crowned the "Komeda triptych". The astounding reception of the band's debut whet listeners' appetite for completely new recordings. It took 2 years for the new album to materialise, this time, however, it is filled with 100% original material.
This time the EABS band did not directly address the legacy of the Polish school of broadly understood popular music masters. At the same time, the musicians kept in mind that such legacy is, in a sense, the capital of the past which adds up to identity and builds the future. Therefore, in their further musical quest, the band stayed observant of the signs and inspirations from their predecessors from the jazz and big beat era, who paved the way through their willingness to experiment and pursue a unique sound. Thanks to these concepts, the ensemble decided to listen even more intently to their inner voices. This has enabled EABS to avoid the obsession of imitating the Western sound, which conquers the increasingly generic domestic music industry.
The conceptual direction and the first sketches of compositions were already prepared shortly after the summer of 2017. However, the fast-paced life on tour and the desire to expand the line-up with a soprano saxophone and flute eventually played by Tenderlonious did not allow for quick studio manoeuvres. Especially that the London guest artist needed to arrive for the sessions in Wroclaw. Thankfully, time has only worked in favour of this material. The band was already incredibly harmonious while implementing all the assumptions during the recordings. The compositions have matured and evolved even more.
The idea for “The Darkness”, the composition opening the Slavic Spirits LP, was born out of collective improvisation performed before a Komeda-inspired medley of “Free Witch and No Bra Queen / Sult” played in concert. It came as a surprise to us that this new album, devoted to broadly understood Slavism, turned out to have its roots in the combination of compositions about a witch and hunger. Both were present in Central Europe, not only in the Early Middle Ages. During the tour, while travelling together, we talked a lot about Poland’s difficult history. We noticed a number of dreadful episodes and unresolved traumas that have been haunting us until this very day – Marek Pedziwiatr recollects.
Inspired by deliberations of many musicians, but also historians, journalists, writers, and even psychotherapists, new compositions began to appear rapidly, pouring out of the band’s spirit and imagination. The material is also an attempt to radically break out of the status quo of national mythology which currently steers the collective imagination of the Polish society. The musicians turned to Slavic mythology and Polish demonology, while pondering upon the contemporary spiritual condition of Poles. The enigmatic “Slavic melancholy” remains the main inspiration for the following album, as the band tried to extract it from their own DNA. Slavic Spirits is an an endeavour to get in touch with the world of a long- and brutally lost culture which, due to lack of sources, will never be thoroughly explored. A piece called “The Darkness” is a metaphor of this obscurity and the blank page in the history of our ancestors. What follows is a trip to the woods and fields where we face two demons ruling those realms, namely “Woodland Spirit” and “The Noon Witch”. In the end, we climb a marshy and foggy holy mountain (“Sleza”) to eventually practice ritual “Sun Worship”.

A1 - Ciemnosc = The Darkness
A2 - Leszy = Woodland Spirits
A3 - Poludnica = The Noon Witch
B1 - Sleza (Mgla) = Sleza (The Fog)
B2 - Sleza = Sleza
B3 - Przywitanie Slonca (Rytual) = Sun Worship (The Rite)
B4 - Przywitanie Slonca = Sun Worship

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Four years after Nuova Napoli, Nu Genea are back with Bar Mediterraneo, a new album and journey, which projects the
sounds of the Neapolitan duo formed by Massimo Di Lena and Lucio Aquilina even further.
Nu Genea's Bar Mediterraneo is an idea of a shared place where people meet and fuse together; a space that leaves its
doors open to travellers and their lives, always exposed to the whims of fate. Some of this can be experienced through the
multitude of sounds that come together in the tracks, layers of different acoustic instruments, voices and synthesizers
merging in a unique musical blend.
Opening up to the voices of many different people, separated by languages but united by the sea and the music, Nu
Genea's hometown, Napoli, becomes a true place of encounter.
You can hear this all along. In "Gelbi", a gorgeously deep and propulsive Ney flute plunges into murky waters of the
melancholic Tunisian dialect sung by Marzouk Mejri. In "Marechia'", unbridled happiness and sun ooze from the delicate
vocals of Célia Kameni and create an acrobatic bridge between French and Neapolitan language. In "Straniero", your
soul is arrested from the moment the slow spell-binding mandolin ignites the hypnotic patterns recorded by the legendary
Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen. In "Bar Mediterraneo", the title track, bittersweet guitar’s riffs, analog waves and choirs are
overwhelming the song giving you what you would like to hear on a boat trip along the Amalfi Coast.
Nu Genea couldn't afford to overlook their firmly anchored roots into the Neapolitan culture and its dialect with "Tienaté",
where the power of neapolitan language (interpreted by Fabiana Martone) supports those quarter-tone strings and the
uncessant folk-disco groove that spreads to the entire song. In "Praja Magia", repetitive mandolin riffs lead the song,
giving space to a choral yet tight vocal line that speaks of Varcaturo, a village close to Napoli. In "Rire", a volley of poetic,
deceptively laidback, lyrical fury interpreted by Sicilian Marco Castello intimately combines with a highly musical, multitextured
instrumental backbone and the swoon of a chanson in its heart. In "La Crisi'', the lyrics of a Raffaele Viviani’s
poem from 1930 have been adapted to a laidback jazz-funk groove in full NG style. In "Vesuvio", revaluing the evocative
verses and powerful mantra of Vesuvio, Nu Genea re-adapted to the dancefloor a folk song by the working-class band E’
Zezi from Pomigliano D'Arco, combining the voices of a school choir with Jupiter-6 arpeggios and bold percussions.
Bar Mediterraneo is the place where people constantly return to transform curiosity into participation, tradition into
sharing, unfamiliar into familiar. When travellers come through its “doors”, carrying their treasures of words and emotions,
they aren’t strangers any more. They take part in a shared experience, enriching themselves and others by leading to
unexpected musical journeys.

TRACKLIST:

A1. Bar Mediterraneo
A2. Tienaté
A3. Gelbi (with Marzouk Mejri)
A4. Marechià (with Célia Kameni)
A5. Straniero
B1. Praja Magia
B2. Vesuvio
B3. Rire
B4. La Crisi

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Strut proudly presents the first official remastered reissue of Lafayette Afro Rock Band's elusive funk/Afro original album, 'Malik,' originally released in 1974.

Tracklist

1.1Djungi
1.2Raff
1.3Conga
1.4Avi-Vo
1.5Malik
1.6Darkest Light
1.7Baba Hya

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In the early 1980s, a particular alchemy between new musical technologies and significant social, cultural, and political transformations in Ghana gave rise to a new style of highlife. Drum machines and synthesisers appeared alongside lilting guitar lines and punchy horns, and the emerging Ghanaian diaspora began incorporating US disco and boogie, R&B, European new wave, and Caribbean zouk and soca into their music.

This style soundtracked the birth of a new, proud Ghanaian identity and captured the idiosyncrasies of a rapidly changing postcolonial society, marked by increased migration and wider access to global sounds and modern technology.

More than 20 years after the release of the heavy funk and Afrobeat-focused Ghana Soundz compilations, and following the success of 2009’s Ghana Special: Modern Highlife, Afro Sounds & Ghanaian Blues 1968-1981, Soundway is now shining the spotlight on the multifaceted, diasporic sounds of the ‘80s on new compilation Ghana Special - Volume 2, a collection of 18 burger highlife, electronic afrobeat, and reggae tracks.

Though Ghanaian to its very core, burger highlife emerged mostly outside of Ghana and just as the sun was setting on the country’s musical golden age. In the 1960s and 1970s cities such as Accra, Tema, Takoradi, and Cape Coast were home to thriving music scenes, and the loud horn sections of the big highlife bands, or the simpler, socially conscious palm wine music ruled the dance halls, locals drinkeries, and airwaves.

Back then music represented a powerful force, and an artist’s endorsement or dissent could make or break a politician. Perhaps to curb this power, the incoming military regime-imposed curfews and substantial import taxes on musical instruments in the early 1980s. These measures, coupled with a profound economic downturn and shifting musical preferences that saw DJs replacing large live bands, served as the final blow to Ghana's once-thriving music scene.

Musicians left Ghana in droves, scattering across West Africa, Europe, and North America. Thanks in part to its more permissive migration policies Germany became the heart of this scene, and the movement in fact takes its name from “Bürger”, the German for “citizen”. Less confined by genres than back in Ghana, artists in the diaspora were quick to engage with the different styles, working disco, boogie, and funk into their highlife melodies. Access to state-of-the-art studios and modern musical technologies also gave birth to all sorts of mutations: burger highlife in fact is less defined by one particular sound, than by the experimental approach and global outlook of its artists.

Tracks such as Ernest Honny’s experimental cut “New Dance” are an example of just how far artists strayed from original highlife arrangements. Honny, who started his career as a keyboard player with Dr K Gyasi’s band The Noble Kings, had moved to Benin in the 1980s, where he experimented with synthesisers and drum machines at one of Cotonou’s top studios. Similarly, Nan Mayen’s “Mumude” is a slick, 80’s pop track which was recorded in Germany, with only a slight echo of highlife in its opening Fanti lyrics.
This generation of artists found inspiration in sounds that transcended geographical boundaries: singer and guitarist Nana Budjei, who was originally from central Ghana but had moved to the UK in the 1980s, says that his radiant, sun-drenched 1988 track “Asobrachie” is “influenced by reggae maestros Bob Marley and Alpha Blondy, and traditional Akan folklore music”; on “Jigi Jigi”, the Kumasi-born, Sweden transplant Delips Apo draws on soca, latin, and zouk influences.

Throughout the 1980s Ghanaian artists kept producing increasingly innovative and experimental hybrids, winning over new audiences abroad. Though back in Ghana the new sound was initially met with disapproval by purists, it slowly became a symbol of a new, worldly and modern Ghanaian identity. The creativity and open mindedness that characterised burger highlife have gone on to shape the evolution of Ghanaian music since, giving artists the freedom to explore new global sounds while preserving a proudly Ghanaian soul. Ghana Special - Volume 2 stands as a vibrant tribute to the lasting legacy of this groundbreaking musical era.

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Four years after Nuova Napoli, Nu Genea are back with Bar Mediterraneo, a new album and journey, which projects the
sounds of the Neapolitan duo formed by Massimo Di Lena and Lucio Aquilina even further.
Nu Genea's Bar Mediterraneo is an idea of a shared place where people meet and fuse together; a space that leaves its
doors open to travellers and their lives, always exposed to the whims of fate. Some of this can be experienced through the
multitude of sounds that come together in the tracks, layers of different acoustic instruments, voices and synthesizers
merging in a unique musical blend.
Opening up to the voices of many different people, separated by languages but united by the sea and the music, Nu
Genea's hometown, Napoli, becomes a true place of encounter.
You can hear this all along. In "Gelbi", a gorgeously deep and propulsive Ney flute plunges into murky waters of the
melancholic Tunisian dialect sung by Marzouk Mejri. In "Marechia'", unbridled happiness and sun ooze from the delicate
vocals of Célia Kameni and create an acrobatic bridge between French and Neapolitan language. In "Straniero", your
soul is arrested from the moment the slow spell-binding mandolin ignites the hypnotic patterns recorded by the legendary
Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen. In "Bar Mediterraneo", the title track, bittersweet guitar’s riffs, analog waves and choirs are
overwhelming the song giving you what you would like to hear on a boat trip along the Amalfi Coast.
Nu Genea couldn't afford to overlook their firmly anchored roots into the Neapolitan culture and its dialect with "Tienaté",
where the power of neapolitan language (interpreted by Fabiana Martone) supports those quarter-tone strings and the
uncessant folk-disco groove that spreads to the entire song. In "Praja Magia", repetitive mandolin riffs lead the song,
giving space to a choral yet tight vocal line that speaks of Varcaturo, a village close to Napoli. In "Rire", a volley of poetic,
deceptively laidback, lyrical fury interpreted by Sicilian Marco Castello intimately combines with a highly musical, multitextured
instrumental backbone and the swoon of a chanson in its heart. In "La Crisi'', the lyrics of a Raffaele Viviani’s
poem from 1930 have been adapted to a laidback jazz-funk groove in full NG style. In "Vesuvio", revaluing the evocative
verses and powerful mantra of Vesuvio, Nu Genea re-adapted to the dancefloor a folk song by the working-class band E’
Zezi from Pomigliano D'Arco, combining the voices of a school choir with Jupiter-6 arpeggios and bold percussions.
Bar Mediterraneo is the place where people constantly return to transform curiosity into participation, tradition into
sharing, unfamiliar into familiar. When travellers come through its “doors”, carrying their treasures of words and emotions,
they aren’t strangers any more. They take part in a shared experience, enriching themselves and others by leading to
unexpected musical journeys.

TRACKLIST:

1. Bar Mediterraneo
2. Tienaté
3. Gelbi (with Marzouk Mejri)
4. Marechià (with Célia Kameni)
5. Straniero
6. Praja Magia
7. Vesuvio
8. Rire
9. La Crisi

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Very first version of the first single by Cortex, reissued as 7inch for the 1st time. “I remember that I and Alain Gandolfi wanted to put ‘Mary & Jeff’ on the A side, but the producer decided to set ‘L’Enfant Samba’ instead because he thought that the voice of Mireille would be more selling than my piano… 6 months after, at the beginning of 1976, ‘Mary & Jeff’ was a hit in a lot of Disco clubs and radios!” (Alain Mion).

Limited to 500 copies.

La Rue 4:23
Automne (Colchiques) 2:35
L'Enfant Samba 3:00
Troupeau Bleu 5:00
Prelude A "Go Round" 3:52
Go Round 1:20
Chanson D'Un Jour D'Hiver 5:20
Mary Et Jeff 2:40
Huit Octobre 1971 4:22
Sabbat (1ère Partie) 1:00
Sabbat (2ème Partie) 3:15
Sabbat (3ème Partie) 0:26
Madbass 2:50

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Promises is an extraordinary, collaborative album by the electronic giant Floating Points and saxophone titan Pharoah Sanders. The album features the London Symphony Orchestra and cover art by the acclaimed American artist, Julie Mehretu. Five years in the making, it will be released on Luaka Bop,

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Side 1
01 I Saw You 02 Secret 03 Radio 04 Follow 05 Enough 06 Pause
Side 2
01 Safety 02 Cmon 03 Trying 04 Chest 05 Come On Home

Produced by Brian Eno and Fred Gibson
4th April 2020 - 23rd December 2022
Mastered by Kieran Hebden
Lacquer cut by Bernie Grundman
Artwork by loose
Gatefold photograph by Brian Eno


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Strut proudly presents the first official remastered reissue of the funk/Afro classic, Lafayette Afro Rock Band's 'Soul Makossa' from 1973.

Tracklist
1.1Soul Makossa
1.2Azeta
1.3Oglenon
1.4Voodounon
1.5Hihache
1.6Nicky

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Following on from 2016’s Doing It In Lagos: Boogie, Pop & Disco in 1980s Nigeria, Soundway Records return to that blistering set for the first and only officially licensed re-issue of the highly coveted debut album from Steve Monite, featuring the single ‘Only You’ that recently seeped its way into popular culture. Lovingly restored and remastered on 180g vinyl with liner notes.

Shooting, space-synth sounds ripple and vibrate, incessant grooves keep the tracks in motion and Nkono Teles production, a producer often overlooked for his hand in the Nigerian boogie sound, sets the LP into orbit. An album that was largely overlooked on release in 1984, the track list includes the latter day hit ‘Only You’ and ‘Things Fall Apart’, the melody of which was lifted for Young Franco’s 2020 single ‘Fallin’ Apart’.

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Mondo Groove is back with another beautiful compilation featuring six sought-after late 80’s gems by the ladies of italo disco. Limited supplies!

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With Pharoah Sanders’ blessing, we present the definitive, remastered version of PHAROAH, his seminal record from 1977, in an embossed 2 LP box set. Alongside the original record, we’re including two previously unreleased live performances of his masterpiece, “Harvest Time," and a 24-page booklet with rarely seen photographs and ephemera, which tell the story of this album and this moment in Pharoah’s life in a way that has never been done before—including through interviews with many of the participants and a conversation with Pharoah himself.

For those of you who already know this record, then you know that its origin story is as elusive as Pharoah was about everything Pharoah. It was born out of a misunderstanding between him and the India Navigation producer Bob Cummins, and was recorded when he was at a crossroads in his career with an unlikely crew. Among them was a guitarist who was also a spiritual guru, an organist who would go on to co-write and produce “The Message,” and a classically trained pianist—his wife at the time, Bedria Sanders—who played the harmonium despite never having seen one. At times ambient and serene, at others funky and modal, PHAROAH radically departed from his earlier work. And it became beloved.



Tracklist:

Pharoah

A1. Harvest Time
B1. Love Will Find a Way
B2. Memories of Edith Johnson

Harvest Time Live 1977

C1. Harvest Time Live – Version 1
D1. Harvest Time Live – Version 2

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