*Remastered from tape - includes booklet with detailed liner notes.**

Released in 1978- now re-issued for the first time, the 2nd album from South African jazz/fusion power house, Spirits Rejoice.

The 1970s is regarded as a period of experimentation, boundary-breaking and hybridization in modern music and this spirit certainly informed the mushrooming of ideas that occurred in South African jazz during this time. In the shadow of more commercial township jive and soul, South African jazz evolved on the fringe, nurtured by passionate and enterprising independent producers who courted the interest of the mainstream with enchanting concoctions of jazz with folk, rock, soul and funk.

With a line-up hailing from far flung regions of South Africa, the mercurial sound of Spirits Rejoice and its willingness to weave a patchwork of different influences into its recordings is not hard to account for. More difficult to reconcile is that the band didn’t manage to level up to the status enjoyed by its peers in larger music markets abroad. Nevertheless, Spirits Rejoice has maintained its revered status in the collective memory of South African jazz for over four decades and their recorded artifacts return in the 2020s with the group’s vitality and energy undiminished.

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Deep swedish modal jazz reissued ! - The first reissue of Bertil Strandberg Kvintett’s “Cirrus” album, following on earlier Scandinavian Jazz reissues by Christian Schwindt Quintet and Carsten Meinert Kvartet.

In 1973, a snowstorm almost prevented the band from making it to the studio to record this album. Cirrus, released in 1974 in tiny numbers, has since become a heralded object among jazz aficionados. Now 45 years later, Cirrus is finally available on vinyl again ! Comes with an insert with unpublished photos and liner notes by Mats Gustafsson

Cirrus is full of melancholy. Yet it is balanced with a curiosity and an awareness of the world. Named after a white, wispy cloudscape made up of ice crystals, one can almost picture the deep woods of Sweden as the backdrop to these six compositions.
The group, lead by trombonist Bertil Strandberg, recorded only this album. Bertil wrote the title track which gives you a hint at how he sees the world. Bertil’s brother, Göran Stranberg is on piano and wrote most of the songs on the album. American ex-pat Ed Epstein is on tenor. Ove Gustavsson and Bjarne Boman on bass and drums respectively

"Terrific reissue" - Gilles Peterson

There's a lot to love in this universe and beautiful free spirit jazz from
Sweden is but one of the great creative manifestations of LIFE and
Strandberg's CIRRUS LP is at the top of the list. A rare-as-hen's-teeth
masterpiece newly unwrapped for your sonic pleasure head!
- Thurston Moore

Cirrus represents stunning musicianship, strong personal
compositions and arrangements, highly individual improvisations
and is truly a collective jazz masterpiece. Every detail interacts
with the overall form in the most creative and beautiful way.
- Mats Gustafsson

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This sought-after rarity presents a blend of ambient, new-age, 60’s inspired folk music. The melancholic lyrics of singer-songwriter Suzanne Menzel are transformed by Danish New-Age pioneer, Klaus Schonning’s, futuristic soundscape.


Schonning, not only produced “Goodbyes and Beginnings,” Menzel also credits him as giving her the artistic courage to
self-release her first and only album. “Goodbye’s and Beginnings” sits at the cross-section of many genres.
Menzel’s voice is as timeless as her heartfelt, somber lyrics. While Schønning’s synthesizer, organ and rhythm computers offer a playful contrast. The beautiful tension between them creates a fresh, unique sound and makes “Goodbye’s and Beginnings” hard to categorize even today.

About Frederiksberg Records
Frederiksberg Records was founded in New York in 2013 by Danish video journalist and music lover Andreas Vingaard. The name, Frederiksberg, is the part of Copenhagen where Andreas grew up and first discovered his passion for music. As a collector of vinyl records, he’s travelled extensively to acquire fresh sounds - Sudan, Ethiopia, Togo, Benin, Trinidad among other places.

The idea for the label emerged when Andreas befriended renowned Jazz saxophonist, Carsten Meinert. Committed to telling the story of Meinert’s music the right way, Andreas resolved to take full ownership of the To You re-release (2015).

The result has been a rollercoaster journey of running an independent record label. Frederiksberg Records, with roots in Scandinavian Jazz, will include a wide spectrum of genres - electronic, disco, ambient and more.

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2023 REPRESS - PRICE TBC

Sons of Ethiopia by Admas, the 1984 Ethiopian synth treasure - reissued !

Frederiksberg Records is proud to announce the first ever vinyl / digital reissue of Admas’ “Sons of Ethiopia”, the privately pressed album from 1984. Fully licensed from Admas, released with their support, the album includes restored sound and art. The extensively researched booklet features unseen photographs and interviews with the band.

Sons of Ethiopia is a mostly instrumental album, rich with global influences. It is one of the few recordings to be produced outside Ethiopia in the early 1980s. It is a key document of the Washington DC exile scene. The core members of Admas – Tewodros ‘Teddy’ Aklilu, Henock Temesgen, and Abegasu Shiota – had previously played in a group called Gasha, one of the few local Ethiopian bands. Admas was born from Gasha, as an outlet for their more experimental instincts.

Emerging from the community of Ethiopian exiles who fled the brutality of the Derg – the military dictatorship that had deposed Haile Selassie – the album was the sound of a new generation. The members of Admas were not musicians from the ‘golden age’: they were children of the terror of the Derg time. Their music formed during an era of state-sponsored neighbourhood bands and a propaganda-tinged traditional music scene, where the weekends were sound-tracked by the remaining hotel groups of a bygone Imperial world.

Admas took Ethiopian popular music into wholly new territory. Having established a residency at the Red Sea restaurant in the early 1980s, the Admas players were steeped in the polyglot musical culture of the American capital. The diverse sonic influences of the city filter into the music, making the album a radically modern work of Ethiopian fusion.Mulatu, Girma Beyene and their peers in 1960s Addis Ababa had created an Ethiopian pop sound by using rhythms from Latin music, soul and jazz. Admas threw their net wider still, adding highlife, electro, go-go, samba, and roots reggae to the mix.

Sons of Ethiopia is the fresh sound of youth, freedom and imagination, which the band made for themselves and by themselves, owning every part of the process. But it is also a music of exile. Admas performed week in, week out, for crowds of fellow Ethiopians, many of whom had lost family and friends to the Derg. Sons of Ethiopia channels this loss, longing and hope. It is at once imbued with the melancholy and nostalgia so typical of Ethiopian song. And at the same time, is a joyful work of synthesis and experiment with deep roots.

About Frederiksberg Records

Frederiksberg Records was founded in New York in 2013 by Danish video journalist and music lover Andreas Vingaard. The name, Frederiksberg, is the part of Copenhagen where Andreas grew up and discovered his passion for music and storytelling.

The idea for the label emerged when Andreas befriended renowned Jazz saxophonist, Carsten Meinert. Committed to telling the story of Meinert’s music the right way, Andreas resolved to take full ownership of the “To You” re-release (2015). The result has been a rollercoaster journey of running an independent record label. Frederiksberg Records, with roots in Scandinavian Jazz, includes a wide spectrum of genres - electronic, disco, ambient and more.

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Milt Ward & Virgo Spectrum - a selftitled album of spacey rare groove jazz - reissued !LP plus booklet, 500 copies, pressed at Pallas

It seemed trumpeter/composer Milton Ward had all he needed for a breakthrough in the world of contemporary jazz in the late 1970s. Blessed with a beautiful trumpet tone and an impressive work ethic, Ward found a home in Boston’s exploding soul and jazz scenes of the early 1970s. His star never joined the constellation of jazz luminaries, but Ward did leave one fantastic album of spiritual jazz that has become a collectors’ favorite: Milt Ward and Virgo Spectrum.

Frederiksberg Records is proud to present the first and only authorized reissue of this funky jazz classic. The release includes remastered tracks from the original LP along with in-depth liner notes that provide a detailed account of Ward’s journey from his early years discovering music in the South to his toils finding a hold in the music business in Boston and New York City.

Born in Michigan but raised in New Orleans, Ward came up through the Crescent City’s legendary musical educaCon system. AWer a sCnt in the Air Force, Ward and his friend Stanton Davis (of Ghetto/Mysticism fame) looked to the Berklee College of Music in Boston for the next step in their development. Immediately, the two were immersed in Boston’s busy music scene, finding trumpet chairs in Herschel Dwellingham’s Orchestra at the Sugar Shack, where they backed up many of the day’s soul greats.

Ward worked with many up-and-coming musicians emerging from Berklee’s nurturing arms. He recruited many to his projects, including his Ultra Modern Quintet Plus Two, which played regularly around Boston in the early 1970s. It was in the mid-1970s that Ward took it upon himself and his entrepreneurial spirit to start his own record label, Twin Quest, and record his stand-alone release.

Milt Ward and Virgo Spectrum brought together great young musicians who would quickly make names for themselves within the jazz world, including keyboard wizard Delmar Brown and future Jazz Messenger saxophonist Billy Pierce. Saxophonist/flutist Eddie Alex is a standout, as is baritone saxophonist Glenn Barbour, who soon would head to Atlanta to join The Whole Darn Family. Percussionist Ignacio Mena, bassist Cucho MarCnez, and drummer Hugh Petersen all hailed from farther south: Chile, Venezuela, and St. Croix, respectively. The recording also incorporated two bona fide New York jazz masters and veterans of the spiritual jazz movement, bassist Cecil McBee and saxophonist Carlos Ward.

The recording still stands as a hallmark to the creative music scene of Boston and New York City when soul and funk began to emmesh themselves in jazz. Milton Ward’s Milt Ward and Virgo Spectrum remains a youthfully vibrant recording that is ripe for rediscovery by a new generation of explorative listeners.


About Frederiksberg Records

Frederiksberg Records was founded in New York in 2013 by Danish video journalist and music lover Andreas Vingaard. The name, Frederiksberg, is the part of Copenhagen where Andreas grew up and first discovered his passion for music.The idea for the label emerged when Andreas befriended renowned Jazz saxophonist, Carsten Meinert. Committed to telling the story of Meinert’s music the right way, Andreas resolved to take full ownership of the To You re-release (2015). The result has been a rollercoaster journey of running an independent record label. Frederiksberg Records, with roots in Scandinavian Jazz, includes a wide spectrum of genres -electronic, disco, ambient and more.

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Compilation of the best tracks of Mocko Jumbie's only two albums, infectious blend between funk/soul/soca, has a disco tinged feel on 'Children Children' and a electronic edge on 'We Can Live Together', flipside holds lovely soca tunes.

The second youngest of eight children, Hugo Leanzo Moolenaar was born on September 23rd, 1948, in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. His mother was from Puerto Rico; his Dutch-German father worked as a contractor, but also played the guitar and had a 6-piece band that performed at house parties. The young Hugo was a born entertainer. Watching his elders, particularly an uncle who played the ukulele, he began to teach himself to play guitar, practicing on his own. Eventually he began to perform his own songs as he gradually gained confidence and ability.

As well as being a proficient musician, Hugo would also become a highly skilled Mocko Jumbie — a performer of the carnival stilt dancing tradition which has had a presence in the Virgin Islands for several hundred years, and which historians consider to have been brought to the Caribbean by enslaved West Africans.

Carnival in the Virgin Islands was revived in 1952, and from then on it became an annual event. The two most famous Mocko Jumbies at this time were John Magnus Farrell and William Richardson (to whom Hugo would dedicate his second album). The pair mentored a young talent named Alvin “Allie” Paul who later in turn would go on to teach many others. In 1964, at age 14, Paul entered the St. Thomas carnival as a stilt-dancer, and revolutionized the Mocko Jumbie style. While Farrell and Richardson would perform in a more European influenced outfit — usually a conical shaped hat, a female dress and a wire mask — Allie brought back some of the older African influence, wearing what some say is a Ghanaian-style hat and striped pants to cover the stilts.

Paul founded his own troupe in the late 1960s. He was the first to allow female students, starting by teaching family members and friends. One of his best students was Hugo Moolenaar, who quickly became known as one of the fastest dancers on the 6’ stilts, and was renowned for adding kung-fu-style moves to his performances.

In 1968, Hugo enlisted in the US army. He served in Vietnam, where he was severely injured. In 1970 he was honorably discharged and was awarded the prestigious Purple Heart for his service. Nevertheless, his injuries did not stop him from returning to Mocko Jumbie performance, and his reputation continued to grow. He also began to work for local government in St. Thomas. In the fall of 1982, Hugo was asked to become a resident performer at the Hotel Shibui in Contant Hill, St. Thomas after a convincing audition for the manager. Hugo brought in his girlfriend Juanita, a singer since high school, and a duo was born. Together, they performed Hugo’s compositions. Eventually, Juanita started to learn Mocko Jumbie as well. The couple, who were married in 1983, later founded a Mocko Jumbie school, that at its peak had 75 students.

The steady income from the hotel residency provided financial opportunity that the entrepreneurial Hugo seized. Travelling with their band to Puerto Rico, Hugo and Juanita hired a local horn section and created Hugo’s first album, entitled High, High, High, a reference to the Mocko Jumbie tradition. The cover depicts Hugo dressed in a golden outfit on stilts, on a palm beach, holding a guitar while Juanita looks on from the ground, holding their two children. Hugo’s second release, Mocko Jumbie Jamboree, came out not long after and also featured original compositions. It was recorded at the local Virgin Island studio Turtle Point. Both albums were self-distributed and feature a heady cocktail of island and popular sounds – from jump-up calypsos and kaisos to drummachine modern soul and upful disco.

During his career, Hugo performed the Mocko Jumbie on many neighboring Caribbean islands, as well as in the US, in New York, Portland, Oregon, and at the 1979 Super Bowl show in Miami, alongside the Grammacks band from Dominica. He also performed in Japan, as well as at the Festival de Música del Caribe in Cartagena, Columbia, where he appeared in a bullfighting arena with a group of the finest Mocko Jumbies and a local Virgin Islands band. But in 1989 a hurricane — ironically named Hugo —destroyed many of the Moolenaar’s belongings, including master tapes and photos, leaving them with very little to show for their long careers.

Hugo retired in 2008, after working 32 years for the local government. In 2009, the Virgin Islands Department of Tourism adapted a new logo, a Mocko Jumbie. I’d like to think Hugo Moolenaar was a part of the reason.

Hugo passed away on January 25th, 2012, from cancer. It is thought that the disease may have been a result of exposure to Agent Orange during his military service in Vietnam.

To his very last day, Hugo lived by his motto: “Peace, Love and Happiness Always”.

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TIP!!!

Tracklist:

SIDE A
1. Doin’ It
2. Step 2

SIDE B
1. Work Work Work
2. Super (Kiki)
3. Chase Scene Part 1

Drawing inspiration from the depths of late 70’s NYC proto-rap disco instrumentals, Nigerian boogie, Jamaican dub and modern jazzy house - The Lahaar is a Trans-Tasman collaboration between Julien Dyne, Horatio Luna and Surprise Chef’s Lachlan Stuckey, featuring Mara TK and Toby Laing on vocals.

The EP embarks on a 5-track rollercoaster - kicking off with “Doin’ It”, fast-paced jazz-funk peppered with marimba and organ riffs, balanced out by the siren vocals of Mara TK.

“Step 2” suddenly brakes and swerves into cruise mode, repurposing the trumpets and dub echoes - picking up tempo in the soulful melancholia of “Work Work Work”. In the last two tracks the organs and guitars make a frenetic comeback by way of disco-house, ending with a nod to 70s cop movie funk.

FOR FANS OF:
Julien Dyne, Surprise Chef, 30/70, Ezra Collective, Jitwam, Makaya McCraven, Lord Echo, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange

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The Heliocentrics are a group for which genres are meaningless and boundaries invisible. Since first appearing on DJ Shadow’s 2006 album The Outsider the group have gone on to release a string of records that float through jazz, hip-hop, psych, krautrock, and musique concrete whilst collaborating with numerous genre heavyweights from Mulatu Astake to Gaslamp Killer and picking up prestigious fans along the way, such as Madlib and the recently departed David Axelrod.

The primarily instrumental group, who operate out of their vintage analogue studio in East London called the Quatermass Sound Lab, bring in a new singer on album number four - a young Slovakian singer called Barbora Patkova. The result is an album that takes the band, already solidified in ever-ex- panding grooves and rhythms into new previously unexplored dimensions.The group’s deep-set ability to craft music intuitively and impulsively stems from a desire to avoid typical processes or generic structures. Since its conception, the band’s music has mainly been created from live improvisation. This musical approach gives the band its own sound and identity -”for anything to happen it must be at that time from the people in the room, and on the spot”. A decade of such sonic adventures has resulted in a tightly knit bond that the group refer to as “almost a form of telepathy” with “musical changes that otherwise would be near impossible to write.”

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Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH275gX4auQ

The debut album from Bahraini-born, British-based musical duo Dar Disku is a celebration of their Arabic heritage and multicultural influences that melds golden age West Asian and North African sounds with a contemporary dance floor focus. Recorded between the UK, Algeria, Turkey and Tunisia, the album seamlessly crosses from disco to Raï, piano house to Turkish psychedelia, ambient to Bollywood and features guest artists from Algeria, Turkey and Bahrain as well as legendary Indian singer Asha Puthli.

Dar Disku is the innovative duo of Mazen Almaskati and Vish M, known for their dynamic DJ sets and eclectic mixes, into which they bring a deep-rooted passion for the rich musical traditions of the SWANA region (South West Asia and North Africa).

The self-titled album is a culmination of years of learning, listening, and creating. It serves as a transportive portal into the duo's expansive world beyond the dance floor, capturing the cosmic emotions of cinema through a meticulous analog approach to live recordings. It channels a wide range of influences, including Egyptian folk, Turkish psych, Algerian rai, Sudanese funk, Ethiopian jazz, and Khaleeji disco.

“Sonically we have tried to capture what time traveling with Dar Disku through our different influences would feel like,” they say of their recording process, “and although inspired directly some of our favourite hidden gems from the past, the sound of this record remains unmistakably rooted in our present day where current influences from electronic genres, hip hop, jazz and psychedelia also shine through.”

The pair explain that they learnt much of this through their own previously released edits of middle eastern music “which inspired us to create our own brand new original songs that draw from a similar breath. We've been able to combine this with our contemporary inspirations and bring to life something that is comfortingly nostalgic and yet refreshingly new.”

Vish and Maz have put immense effort into researching the songwriting and recording methods of the decades they draw inspiration from - utilising vintage consoles, analog synthesisers, and carefully crafted sonic spaces. This dedication is evident in every track, which combines their contemporary influences with the rich musical traditions of the region to create something that feels both timeless and innovative.

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Soundway Records delivers an exciting new compilation, diving ever deeper into South-East Asia. Ayo Ke Disco celebrates the musical identities emerging during the 1970s and 80s from the newly independent countries nestled around the South China Sea.

This time, Soundway’s long-time general manager Alice Whittington (aka DJ Norsicaa) steps into the limelight, embracing her Malaysian heritage and selecting music from her heavy collection of Asian records. Aside from steering the label, she is often found on international stages and radio stations playing an eclectic array of music.

For Ayo Ke Disco (meaning ‘Let’s go to the disco’ in Indonesian), 10 rare tracks of disco-funk, psychedelic funk, synth, city pop, and Hindustani-Arabic rhythms were painstakingly licensed from local labels – forming a snapshot of the vibrant discotheques and live scenes across Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the Philippines.

The vinyl release is also accompanied by the Ayo Ke Disco zine from Norsicaa, with extensive research on the history of music in South-East Asia, archival photos and exclusive interviews with some of the region’s most respected collectors.

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King Street Sounds is on a mission to reintroduce timeless house classics to the dancefloor with another iconic release. Their aim, to educate a new generation about the sounds of the old school while also offering fresh remixes for everyone to enjoy.

Kerri Chandler's 'Bar A Thym' is back on 12-inch vinyl, featuring the full original 7:24 mix. This track builds, keeping listeners at the brink of euphoria and inviting them to dance. It’s THE perfect groove.

The original track is accompanied by a new version via South African producer Themba who adds his signature afro sound to the mix, infusing the song with swing, extra percussion, and heightened anticipation around the various drops.

Then the classic Foremost Poet's version, which was a great alternative to the timeless bomb. If you’re a house head, you need this in your life.

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We welcome back Tom Carruthers to the M.A.D fold, first appearing on a V.A back in 2022 it give us great pleasure to present a full EP from enigmatic producer.

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Tramp Records is extremely proud to collaborate with a true German jazz legend. FRÉDÉRIC RABOLD will celebrate his 80th birthday this year. To honor his musical legacy we will release a double-gatefold LP with compositions by him spanning more than 40 years. Additionally a 7" single will be released with a bonus track ("Red Point") which is available on vinyl for the first time. "Spring Feelings" is taken from the album "FREDERIC RABOLD - TIME MACHINE" (TRLP-9123).

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