Indiana Jones never dug this deep.
Church – the brainchild of Joe Washington – were a band both lucky and cursed to come up in the seventies. Lucky,
because they rode a wave of community activism, uplifting messages and a moment when music truly mattered. Cursed,
because those same times meant their tight, heartfelt output went overlooked.
Mid-sixties to circa 1980 soul and funk were extraordinarily rich. The era’s big releases have aged like fine wine, yet
countless hidden gems remain buried. Church’s only single was one of them. Their hypnotic 1976 release “How Long”
b/w “Da Da Song” arrived the same year as Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life, Marvin Gaye’s I Want You,
Diana Ross’s Diana, and at a time when Black mainstream music was shifting toward disco. Church, however, sounded
like Sly & The Family Stone in an alternate timeline — gritty, focused, stripped of additives.
“Da Da Song” is pure grits and gravy: furious, tight drums and lyrics that sound like both a plea to DJs to play their
record and an insistence to keep the party alive, noticed or not. It cooks from start to finish in just two and a half minutes.
“How Long” is its own universe. Where “Da Da Song” is skeletal, “How Long” blends key strands of Black music in under
three minutes: touches of spiritual jazz with a Gary Bartz-like sax, gospel-blues undertones, and echoes of the era’s
flower-power-tinged Black creativity — The Undisputed Truth, The Family Stone, even the poetic freedom of Nikki
Giovanni. The lyrics are a timeless plea for love.
Church formed in the Bay Area in the early seventies, shaped by the movement, culture and activism of the time. Joseph
Washington, based in San Jose, never chased a music career — for him, music was a way to bring people together.
Before Church, he led a backing band called Wash, then added gospel singer Linda Williams (née Stephens) and New
York–born Joel Como on xylophone to complete the group.
They rehearsed in Joe’s garage, spread through word of mouth and played every gig they could: Black colleges, opening
slots for The Whispers, neighbourhood house parties. Some members studied at Nairobi Junior College in East Palo Alto,
then a hotbed of Black community activism, with revolution in the air and messages woven naturally into the music.
This single is a message from that era, resurfacing at last — ready to be sampled just as another Joe Washington track,
“Look Me in the Eyes”, was on Drake and J. Cole’s “First Person Shooter”. These rare, spirited tunes are begging for
new life through samplers, again and again.

TRACKLIST:
A. How Long
B. Da Da Song

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More

Tracklist:

1.1Neredesin Sen
1.2Gönül Dagi
1.3Öldürme Beni
1.4Nigde Baglari
1.5Benim Yarim
1.6Sucum Nedir
1.7Gel Yanima Gel
1.8Zülüf Dökülmüs Yüze
1.9Gel Kacma Gel
1.10Bir Nazar Eyledim

Altin Gün, the Grammy-nominated Turkish psych-groove quintet from Amsterdam, return with their sixth studio album Garip — their most ambitious and diverse release to date, and a heartfelt tribute to the legendary Turkish folk bard Neset Ertas.

Neset Ertas (1938–2012) was a beloved icon of Anatolian music; a gifted singer, lyricist, and baglama virtuoso who carried the spirit of the ashik folk tradition into the modern era. Garip ("Strange" in English) features ten of his compositions, each reimagined and richly expanded through Altin Gün’s distinctive lens.

An electrifying live band with an ever-growing global following, Altin Gün push their sonic boundaries even further on Garip — weaving in lush Arabesque string arrangements, bursts of saxophone, glimmering synth balladry, and a fresh surge of tightly wound rock ’n’ roll.

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Since bursting onto the scene in 2018 with their debut album, On, Amsterdam-based Altin Gün have been at the vanguard of the 21st century revival of Turkish-influenced psychedelic grooves.

Coming straight out of the gate with a wah-wah and organ heavy sound that effortlessly captured the spirit of Anatolian 70s psych-funk masters like Baris Manço and Erkin Koray, they deepened and expanded their palette with 2021’s Yol, which brought synths and drum machines into the mix for a more 80s-influenced dream-pop vibe.

But no matter how far out they’ve gone, they’ve always maintained a strong link to the same Anatolian folk traditions that inspired those early pioneers. Founder and bassist, Jasper Verhulst says: “We’re doing the same thing a lot of those artists were doing, which is playing Turkish traditionals and songs written by folk artists.”

Now, with their sixth album, Garip, they’ve brought that connection to the folk source front and centre, showcasing a collection of songs all originally written by Turkish folk legend Neset Ertas.

Ertas (1938-2012) was a revered and much-loved Turkish singer, lyricist and baglama player, and a modern-day embodiment of the ancient ashik tradition of the folk-bard-troubadour. Throughout his long career, he recorded more than 30 albums and wrote hundreds of songs – some of which were famously recorded by the likes of Baris Manço and Selda Bagcan.

For Altin Gün's vocalist, keyboardist and baglama player, Erdinç Eçevit, interpreting a suite of Ertas’s tunes is a chance to get back to his roots.

“Both of my parents are from Turkey, from the same area he is from,” he says. “It's the music that I grew up with. When I was five, six years old, my grandfather always had cassettes by Neset Ertas and I used to listen to it all day long. Then I was too young to really understand the lyrics and the meaning, but I really liked the melodies.

Now, years later, Eçevit has fully immersed himself in Ertas’s lyrics – messages from the heart that are, he says, “stories about what he’s facing in life. The Turkish traditional music is the blues of the Turkish people.”

Nowhere is this better exemplified than on ‘Gönul Dagi,’ one of Ertas’s most famous compositions, here brought to life by Eçevit’s yearning, sensitive vocals.

“‘Gönul Dagi’ is about the pain of love, the storms of the heart and the loneliness of longing,” says Eçevit. “He’s expressing what rural Anatolia has always felt – that love is both sacred and sorrowful, a force of nature.”

In Altin Gün's hands, the tune becomes a languid funk-rock crawl with watery guitar, a loping bassline and a palpable hint of mystery deepened by luxuriant string arrangements provided by the Stockholm Studio Orchestra.

The strings feature on several tracks, touching on influences including Egyptian popular music, Bollywood soundtracks and Turkish Arabesque. But, as Verhulst explains, there’s another touchstone underpinning the sound. “There’s definitely a French Italian influence in those arrangements,” he says.

It's a prime example of Altin Gün's urge to cast their net wide and incorporate a far-reaching set of magpie musical directions.

Album opener, ‘Neredesin Sen,’ is a throbbing, bass led vamp with a strong early-80s Indie flavour that showcases the fluid chemistry between drummer Daniel Smienk and percussionist Chris Bruining. The closing track, ‘Bir Nazar Eyeldim,’ is a breathtaking ballad with Eçevit’s pleading vocals playing out over lush synth arpeggios and a sparse electronic rhythm. Along the way, the band also touches on proggy vibes, with Eçevit getting down and dirty on the synth’s pitch-bend, and a laid-back west coast ambiance. Check out Thijs Elzinga’s gorgeous slide guitar on the smouldering ‘Gel Kaçma Gel’ to dig just how relaxed they can sound.

Fans of Altin Gün's past work will find much to love too.

The Anatolian element is still strong – and not just in Eçevit’s aching vocals. Eçevit’s tight baglama figures are woven throughout, making a direct link back to those earliest influences on tracks like the smoky ‘Nigde Baglari,’ with its off-kilter folk rhythm and cavernous sense of the Anatolian steppes stretching out for miles.

“It’s our most eclectic album,” says Verhulst. “There’s a little bit of everything. The songs are harder to label. We wanted to do something different than what we’ve done before. Less in your face, less poppy, less obviously psych-rock. More just vibing.”

Garip is the sound of a band that’s constantly evolving. A mature musical unit with nothing to prove. A band that’s having a whole lot of fun.

Sicherheits- und Herstellerinformationen / safety and manufacturer info (GPSR)
WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: [email protected]More