Disco legend Sylvester comes to Dark Entries with Private Recordings: August 1970, an intimate collection of vintage jazz, blues, and gospel. While Sylvester is best known for his chart-topping collaborations with producer Patrick Cowley, such as “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real),” this release reveals his passion for the sounds of the 30s and 40s. In 1970 a 22-year-old Sylvester had moved to San Francisco and found himself involved with the Cockettes, the infamous psychedelic performance art troupe. Among this milieu was Peter Mintun, a pianist and record collector living in a commune devoted to retro culture. According to Mintun, “We were like hippies who lived in the twenties. We lived in a house that didn’t have anything modern in it. Nothing in it was made after World War II.” Mintun and Sylvester bonded over their love of Black singers of yore and were allotted a slot during Cockettes performances reviving the music of the Prohibition Era. One afternoon, Sylvester and Mintun recorded a number of their shared favorites using a high-end microphone a friend had acquired. Private Recordings features 9 songs from this session, including standards like “Stormy Weather,” “Happy Days Are Here Again,” and “God Bless the Child.” Sylvester’s unmistakable falsetto brings depth and a dash of camp to these familiar tunes. The recordings are casual and intimate, even capturing banter between Sylvester and Mintun; their brief rendition of “When My Dreamboat Comes Home” has the duo working out a melody in real time. In addition to their sonic explorations of decades past, Sylvester and Mintun also staged photographic shoots in vintage couture. Private Recordings comes with a 16-page booklet on firm cardstock featuring images from these never-before-seen shoots as well as liner notes from Mintun detailing his friendship with Sylvester and their experiences recording. All this is housed in a metallic silver sleeve designed by Eloise Leigh featuring a 1920’s Art Deco aesthetic. The record will be released on September 6th which would have been Sylvester’s 76th birthday, and all proceeds from Private Recordings will go to the two charities that Sylvester left his royalties after his death: Project Open Hand and PRC (formerly AIDS Emergency Fund). This essential release documents the earliest known recordings from one of disco’s greatest talents. More

Sylvester has too many hits to count, but 'Over And Over' has to be up there. Originally released in 1977, the timeless slice of uptempo disco funk was a mighty meeting of minds - any track penned by Ashford & Simpson is set for iconic status, and with Sylvester up front it's even more of a sure thing. Quite simply eternal. Of course, Sylvester's most famous collaborator was Patrick Cowley, whose magic touch is all over the wriggling, brooding synth boogie of 'I Need Somebody To Love Tonight', presented here as a compact 7" edit for a short sharp blast of perfection More

Repress!
Officially licensed, expertly executed and respectful re-edit of one of Sylvester’s most loved disco anthems, ‘You Make Me Feel Mighty Real’, from the maestro Michael Gray. Set to storm festivals, clubs, radiowaves, you name it – it’s a summer soundtrack if there ever was one! More

Craft Recordings and Soulwax are pleased to celebrate Pride by producing a fresh and joyful remix of Sylvester's 1978 disco classic, 'You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’."You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) - Soulwax For Despacio Remix” is available across digital platforms from June 25th, while a 12-inch release with a vinyl exclusive instrumental version on the B-side is available to pre-order now. It was made to play on the Despacio sound system, a 50,000 watt, state-of- the-art, vinyl only sound system which Soulwax created with James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem, DFA Records) & powered by McIntosh & Jordan Acoustics.“Unlike other remixes where we usually replace most of the elements and make something radically different based around the vocal, we made this remix using only the parts we found on the original multitrack that we were so kindly given by the Sylvester estate. Even though we have played this song a million times, we discovered a few elements that we had never heard before, like a crazy Patrick Cowley synth solo and somewhere hidden before the start of the multitrack, the ending of what sounds like a gospel version of 'Mighty Real’. It was a huge privilege to be asked to remix this seminal track and we hope that Sylvester will dance to it, wherever he is” Soulwax More

JUAN ATKINS legendary first electro productions from the mid-80's now REPRESSED!! More

Jimpster delivered some great releases in 2023, most notably his Natural Child collab EP with Crackazat as well as his Tribute EP featuring South African vocalist Mavhungu and including heavy Osunlade remixes. He also produced some of his best remixes to date including Thakzin’s Don’t Let Me See, Blaze’s Wonderland and Detroit Rising’s Rocket Love.

It’s always a good day to announce a new Jimpster EP on Freerange and with two captivating originals plus a stunning Atjazz remix you’re in for a treat! You’re My Ecstasy sets the tone with Jimpster’s trademark deep Rhodes pads, punchy bassline and shuffling classic house drum groove. He once again manages to strike a great balance between soulful, musical, warm and just a touch moody.

Next up we have The Passion which builds a deep and jazzy mood around a 4 bar piano progression whilst the sampled interviewee gives his insight into how he maintains his passion for music. London based trumpet player KingCrowney adds some lovely horn parts, emphasising the jazz feel to compliment the spoken word.

Atjazz gets well and truly stuck in on his remix of The Passion. Reportedly completed in just two studio sessions the hardest working man in deep house (as Jimpster calls him) brings his well-loved deft touch introducing an beautifully syncopated bassline and classic Atjazz drums making for a clubby interpretation for the deep, discerning dance floors. More

Big Love guru Seamus Haji commits four of the label’s freshest funk, disco and groove-laden releases to wax for the fifth edition of ‘A Touch Of Love’. Who else to open up the compilation but the label boss himself with ‘Dance With Me’, his funky, feel-good collaboration with prolific dance vocalist and friend Kathy Brown. Glaswegian production duo Illyus & Barrientos bring their genre-crossing disco and house vibes with ‘Wait’, featuring soulful Big Love returnee Phebe Edwards. Up next, a collaboration between two house masters, the multi-faceted Richard Earnshaw and Sole Channel founder Mr. V unite for funky release ‘This House Is Yours’. Closing out this tight and groovy vinyl collection is Rio De Janeiro’s premiere producer DJ Meme with ‘Century’, utilising a classical piece of music from Strauss synonymous with the sound of the future. More

Research Records indicate their inclination for cosmic instrumentation and kraut pervaded polyrhythms once again with an introduction to newcomer Glass Beams. Recorded at the beginning of 2020, Mirage is the first release from the artist, issuing four compositions that lend from a profusion of sounds and influences. The album's opener and title Mirage arrives with a coiling vocal mantra that conspires with a sliding bassline and transcendent synthwork, reminiscent of early 70's prog jams yet inverted and futuristic. Taurus is a brisk arrangement, steeped with spaghetti-western elements and space-jazz to pave the way for the agile Kong. Rife with psych-fusion guitar phrases and instrumentation, Kong unfolds like a forecast lysergic voyage. The finale Rattlesnake nudges the serpent with intergalactic scales and spellbinding riffs. We may not know much about the enigmatic Glass Beams but Mirage is one epic inauguration, leaving the listener with more questions than answers. More

Birmingham Techno paragon Monrella (Mick Harris) doesn't mess about, returning to Trauma Collective with 'Shank', a no-nonsense cut of heads down 909 techno. His analog production strikes a fine balance between solid groove and industrial rumble as the characteristically dry precussion crunches around a relentless synth stab.

Alongside Regis and Surgeon, Harris was an architect of the dark Birmingham sound that blossomed out of club night House of God. He played a key role in the genesis of grindcore in the late 80s as the former drummer of Napalm Death and went on to translate his taste for raw, analog distortion into rugged 4x4 club tools with productions for Regis' ZET label in the mid 90s as Monrella. Several alias projects followed, the broken techno explorations of Fret, beatless dark ambient with Lull and the dub inflected trip-hop / illbient of Scorn.

'Shank' is remixed on the flip by the Berlin-based Force Reaction, a collaborative project from Kwartz and Kaiser, two purveyors of a particularly muscular strain of techno igniting dances across Europe. They last released together on Kaiser's K S R imprint back in 2021 but this is Kwartz's second outing on Trauma Collective after a link up with Monrella on TRM003. Their version introduces reverb and echo to the mix while firmly retaining dancefloor utlity.

Rounding up the B-side is a polyrhythmic and densley textured remix from Héctor Sandoval as Tensal. Sandoval is one half of pioneering Spanish techno duo Exium, and he also contributed to ZET back in 2001. Tensal doubles up on this release, dispatching a second remix in the form of a peak-time thumper available as a digital only bonus track. More