With effortless cool, Moriah Plaza blend Brazilian samba, cinematic Latin jazz and psychedelic 60s pop on new EP ‘Propolis’.

https://listen.k7.com/c530cfc7-7be8-41f1-92b0-7c72e209a472

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Limited green coloured repress of Sababa 5's self-titled 2022 debut album of original instrumentals, built around the band’s distinct mix of Middle Eastern psych, funk and disco groove.

Listen: https://listen.k7.com/8a1a6102-fe35-4116-b1bd-f970fb140377

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Kutiman joins Batov Records’ Middle Eastern Grooves Series with explosive double-sider

https://listen.k7.com/37a5bb49-14f6-4b36-b589-6dbefb0df606

Track listing:
A - Haraka
B - Khamsin

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Psychedelic dub, Afro-Latin rhythms and cosmic grooves come together on La Chooma’s debut for Batov Records. Drawing on Moroccan Gnawa, Colombian cumbia, Afrobeat, Jamaica dub & roots, and cosmic jazz, the six-piece ensemble create deep, hypnotic music rooted in global traditions and shaped for contemporary dance floors.

https://listen.k7.com/01a2906a-b949-46a2-a32f-27496e8f01ce

Tracklist
1.1Magic Plant
1.2High Glow
1.3Huachuma
1.4Praise
1.5Rhinno Dance
1.6Lonely
1.7Cozumel
1.8Gamal Gadol
1.9Cookie Crumble Cumbia
1.10Veggie Berber Boy

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"Electro Baghdad" expands on the ideas explored on the duo"s self-released 2023 debut EP "Electro Hafla, and builds upon SHIRAN"s solo work, which earned her a Songlines "Top of the World" award and widespread praise for her expressive voice and dynamic reinterpretation of traditional Yemeni music - an influence drawn from her maternal heritage. Both born to half-Yemeni, half-Iraqi parents in Israel, SHIRAN and Bakal"s music reflect their diverse heritage. Singing previously in Yemenite Arabic, she bridged generations by blending traditional melodies with contemporary sounds. Now with "Electro Baghdad", SHIRAN and Bakal pay tribute to their Iraqi roots, recontextualising traditional songs passed down through generations, using analog synths, heavy basslines, and pulsing electronic grooves.

Tracklist
1.1Sghayiroun
1.2Alahudlak Yaba
1.3Ah Ya Layla Yumma
1.4Ami Ya Bayaa Elward
1.5Eshrab Kasak Wethanna
1.6Alamtni Shlon Ahibak
1.7Ya Hnayna Ya Yumma
1.8Ayaratni Bi-Shaib (Baba Musa)

https://listen.k7.com/343b5736-8710-443e-a3f9-8aafb893fcac

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Repress on splttered vinyl

Listen: https://listen.k7.com/85e57f38-a36d-4bb7-a47d-4e60744ebe26

Track listing
A1. BIG BAGLAMA
A2. HUDAYDA
A3. DISKO ARABESQUE
A4. OLURMU DERSIN
A5. ZUHTU (LIVE)

B1. SENI SEN OLDUGUN IÇIN
SEVDIM
B2. YAR OI
B3. YEKTE
B4. YAGMUR YAGAR TAS ÜSTÜNE
B5. CECOM

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On their debut 45 for Batov Records, Indonesia-based BABON deliver two irresistible jams, cooked from a recipe full of Indonesian flavours, Afro Latin funk, Morricone grooves, Bollywood breaks and blues, they call "Tropical Desert Music". A must-hear for fans of Khruangbin or Sababa 5.

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Ethio-jazz pioneer Mulatu Astatke joins the Hoodna Orchestra, Tel Aviv’s number one Afro funk collective, melding his enchanting vibraphone playing with their brass heavy force across seven original compositions that play tribute to the classic Mulatu sound while forging fresh paths. Produced by and featuring Dap-King Neal Sugarman, the results are gritty, yet majestic, soulful and uplifting.

Tracklist
1.1Tension
1.2Major
1.3Hatula
1.4Yashan
1.5Delilah
1.6Dung Gate

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Batov Records presents a full-length foray into the musical world of Italian producer and multi-instrumentalist Ayala, with particular emphasis on his love of African music, from Afrobeat to disco. Whilst earning the support of leading DJs such as Colleen Cosmo Murphy, Dave Lee, Danny Tenaglia, J-Kriv, and DJ Rocco, Ayala has built an increasingly visible profile producing and DJ, with releases across a wide range of prolific labels, such as Compost, Hector Romero's Latin freestyle label, Orianna, and leading Italian label, Rebirth, early supporters of the likes of Tensnake, Motor City DrumEnsemble, Soul Clap, Jimmy Edgar, and Deetron.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Born in Baleveng, Cameroon in 1952, Momo Joseph is known more for his endeavours in acting than for his musical output, having appeared in numerous French films between 1977 and 2000, including 'L'Africain' (1983) and 'La Haine' (1995). However, his single 'Love Africa Soul', originally released in 1980, is acknowledged by many as an outstanding piece of relentless West African disco, and has recently become highly sought-after by collectors and DJs alike. Momo has lived most of his life in Paris, however has always retained a strong connection to his native Cameroon and to other fellow Cameroonian musicians such as Tala A.M. and Manu Dibango. Here we pair the original 'Love Africa Soul' with an on-point afro disco re-work of the original B side, 'Cameroun Airline', courtesy of Mukatsuku's very own Nik Weston. We hope that this much-deserved re-release helps to shine a light on Momo's career and musical genius.


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Tracklist
DISC 1
SIDE A
1. Rude Movements (Moodyman Remix Extended Version)
2. Rude Movements (Frankie Feliciano Remix)
SIDE B
1. Rude Movements (Kenny Dope Dancefloor Powder Remix)

DISC 2
SIDE C
1. Rude Movements (OPOLOPO Remix Extended Version)
2. Rude Movements (Kenny Dope O'Gutta Remix Extended Version)
SIDE D
1. Rude Movements (François K SATS Dub)

Following a limited 7” vinyl release of SunPalace edits in 2020, BBE Music finally delivers the
full-length versions of Moodymann and Kenny Dope’s ‘Rude Movements’ remixes, alongside
brand new interpretations by François K, Frankie Feliciano and OPOLOPO, plus a special edit
by Phil Asher.
François Kevorkian needs no introduction to fans of House and electronic music. Featuring
keys by Eric Kupper, his ‘SATS Dub’ and ‘TradMix’ versions of ‘Rude Movements’ are simply
classic works, summoning House music’s golden era forward in time, to the here and now.
Bonus spaced-out ‘Flerken Space Bubbles’ and beat-less ‘Atmosphere’ revisions are also
included in the digital version: both invaluable tools for DJs. Ricanstruction label founder and
long-time champion of the good groove, Frankie Feliciano delivers a slick and faithful update
of ‘Rude Movements’, with a slight Latin soul twist. Swedish mix-king OPOLOPO turns in a
typically live-sounding, funky and dancefloor-ready jam (ready whenever the dancefloor is,
anyway) The full, extended version of Moodymann’s remix retains the original ‘jammed’ feel
of Rude Movements, adding stellar flute, sax and piano solos to that hypnotic vibe. Kenny
Dope’s Afro-Latin inspired ‘Dancefloor Powder’ version is joined this time by a rough’n’ready,
street tough ‘O'Gutta’ mix; calling all b-boys and b-girls! For the expanded digital package,
we are also including a special edit by our sorely missed brother Phil Asher, created for his
own DJ sets and now available to all.
Made famous by David Mancuso at his New York Loft Parties, ‘Rude Movements’ was an
obscure Brit-funk b-side recorded in the home studio of Mike Collins. The track’s unique
sound, coupled with pristine sonics and production values caught the audiophile ears of
Mancuso, and the rest is history. Soon the track found its way into the hands of Loft Party
denizens Larry Levan, Nicky Siano, Frankie Knuckles and Danny Krivit and continues to
influence House and electronic producers through to this day.

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A stunning reissue of Delano Smith's album on Sushitech, originally released in 2017. This collection of previously hidden tracks from the master's archive was brought together into a beautiful album that has become highly sought after over the years, largely due to its exclusive vinyl only tracks.

This limited edition repress comes on special silver vinyl, released to celebrate the label's 20th anniversary.

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Originally released in 2012, this is one of the most influential house records to come out from Detroit and one that's become associated with Sushitech's deep, driving and dub-infused aesthetic is getting repress on a special gold vinyl, repressed as part of the label's 20th anniversary releases.

A must have collector's item from a true master of the craft, Delano Smith.

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