Echo & The Bunnymen made music history with their 1984 song »The Killing Moon« from the album »Ocean Rain«. This song goes deep. It deals with themes such as life and death in a way that is expressed in the melancholy melody and the haunting vocals of Ian McCulloch. The record, re-released as an EP by the Rhino label in 2024, also contains the live song »Do It Clear« and demonstrates the band's unmistakable style, which skilfully combines new wave, rock and melancholic pop.
Celeste DittbernerErasmus Hall was first… a photo, then at some point two albums were created. Did anyone care much? Nobody did. Until the founding myth spilled over into reality. So »Lost And Found« features rare and previously unreleased tracks, including some of Eramus Hall's earliest demos. As is familiar from the Detroiters, the record combines jazzy elements with soulful, melodic vocal passages. Collectors should not look away here.
Christoph BenkeserIn 1975, the great era of cultural activism was slowly coming to an end. But not for Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson. »From South Africa To South Carolina« is the poet's second collaboration with his musical buddy. The fight against racism, apartheid (in the anthem ‘Johannesburg’) and social injustice continues. In contrast to the album's messages is the lovingly orchestrated soul jazz, from which Brian Jackson's flute playing stands out.
Albert KochIt goes down in music history alongside »Shaft«, but Isaac Hayes wrote far more outstanding music in his lifetime, including the blaxploitation classic »Truck Turner«, for which the American singer also appeared in front of the camera. Fifty years after its first release, the mix of soul and jazz is still going strong. At the time, however, it was not universally well received: The first edition was soon on the bargain shelves. Philistines! Listen to it today and you'll hear one of the most charming sounds of recent decades.
Björn BischoffLabrinth, Sia und Diplo verbinden in »LSD« Pop mit Elektro und Psychedelia zu einem Trip für die Ohren, der jetzt nochmal geremixed auf den Regenbogen schießt. Zum ersten Mal auf Vinyl gibt es dabei die Collabs mit Lost Frequencies, CID, MK, Banx & Ranx und anderen. Nachdem die Super-Troupers Sia, Diplo und Labrinth 2019 ihr Debütalbum herausgebracht haben, erzielten sie über zwei Milliarden Streams. Jetzt bringt die Remix-Edition neue Perspektiven auf die zehn Tracks und macht dabei eine mehr als dankbare Ergänzung für jede Plattensammlung.
Ania GleichProducer and songwriter Lee Hazlewood seemed to have run out of ideas for the fourth album that Nancy Sinatra recorded in 1966. Apart from »Sugar Town« and »Coastin«, »Sugar« only contains song standards from the 1920s and 1930s. They are arranged somewhere between ragtime, Dixieland and vaudeville. But Sinatra gives the songs that special 60s pop vibe with her voice. ‘Sugar’ is the strangest of Nancy Sinatra's early albums. But strange is not synonymous with bad.
Albert KochEasy-going soul from the heart of California: the eight-piece groove machine Orgōne from Los Angeles also blends jazz and funk into their instrumental sound. On their third album »Bacano« from 2008, they delivered eleven fantastic tracks with rousing guitars, hearty horns and danceable drums. »Nasty Hats« could have come straight out of the 70s, »Hott Karl« fires its bass insistently forwards. The perfect record for genre lovers.
Björn BischoffSoup coma, need to hibernate, death wish? It could all go away if you put some Zamrock in the player. The Zambian mixture of US rock and African rhythms revitalises tired spirits, and "Viva Ngozi ’ is no exception. Paul Ngozi's Ngozi Family was one of the first bands to be categorised as Zamrock. ‘Viva Ngozi’ is their debut album, released in the same year as the rather legendary “My Ancestors”, on which the Ngozi Family played together with Chrissy Zebby Tembo.
Pippo KuhzartThe Souls of Mischief, almost grown up on their second album, deliver a gloomy reckoning with Californian reality with »No Man's Land« in 1995. Beats booming out of the speakers meet jazz samples and raps that tell of frustration, identity and the struggle for survival. This is how Phesto, Tajai, Opio and A-Plus developed a sound that remained outside the mainstream and was to characterise the music for decades. Now this pioneering work is returning to the shelves as a reissue on vinyl.
Ania GleichAnyone who ventures into the dark soundscapes of Sunn O))) will find their fifth album »Black One« an unrivalled listening experience that flirts with death. Released in 2006, it leads into the deepest abysses of drone-doom and the human psyche. From nightmarish noises and air-crushing riffs to the eerie »Báthory Erzsébet«, for whose recordings guest singer and claustrophobic Malefic was locked in a coffin. Drone taken to the extreme
Bea GottwaldHow awesome is this cover? The seven men of the Tribe 's latest line-up - the two albums before were recorded with a different line-up - descend from the sky in a colonial look, ready to set the bushes in the desert on fire. Their means: straight groove. »Dedication« is A-class, slap-pants funk. There's not a single bad feeling here, dance occasions are created, not problems. This reissue from 2024 is the very first of the album.
Pippo KuhzartWar are one of the best-known insider tips in the triangle of soul, funk and jazz. This is due to the fact that the band from California has regularly pushed these boundaries since their beginnings at the end of the 60s. With this box set, the albums from one of the band's best phases are now available on vinyl. »Galaxy«, »Outlaw« and »Peace Sign« are still among the strongest and most interesting albums this sound has to offer - even though they are now several decades old. Five records in a special presentation and for particularly loud listening.
Björn Bischoff