Sly and the Family Stone album cuts mixtape

You know all of Sly and the Family Stone's big hits, they are timeless classics. Their albums also offer up a magnificently groovy deep dive into what it is to be funky. I have been thinking about doing this mix for a while - I've remember picking up 5 of their albums on CD plus their Greatest Hits from Borders Books back in the late 90s when Borders arrived here in New Zealand, think they were all like $10 each, absolute bargain.

Much respect to Sly Stone. Go watch Questlove's amazing doco on Sly Stone. Here's some background on it from one of the producers, Joseph Patel.

Also there's a great interview by Jay Mumford with their drummer Greg Errico - Mumford did a series of interviews in 2019 with drummers for Red Bull, so if you ever wondered about the drummers for Funkadelic, War, Tower of Power, Ohio Players or BT Express, go have a read, it's an incredible archive.  Questlove gets interviewed too if you want his backstory.

Errico had a cool career post-Sly as a session musician and producer, on albums by The Pointer Sisters, Betty Davis, and  Lee Oskar (harmonica player for War). He also toured as drummer for David Bowie, Weather Report, and collaborated with Santana, and Larry Graham. 

My favourite Lee Oskar tune is Haunted House, one that Cian (Conch/Ulo) put me onto. Oskar's self-titled solo debut came out in 1976 and featured a number of members of War backing him, plus Greg Errico on several tracks. Errico also produced most of the album and co-wrote several tunes, and held down the producer's seat for Oskar's second solo effort, Before The Rain (1978), which features Haunted House. Errico produced some of Oskar's later records too. 

Oskar left his native Denmark at 18, landing in New York to make it big, with his harmonica in his pocket. Following his success with War (out in LA), he later developed his own line of harmonicas.

My copy of Lee Oskar's debut album has still got the price sticker on it from the record store I got it from, Open Mind Music in San Francisco, a store Cian worked in when he lived there in the early 2000s.

Tracks: Trip to your heart / Dynamite / Soul clappin’ / Love City / Colour me true / Plastic Jim / Are you ready / I cannot make it / I’m an animal / Chicken / Into my own thing / Advice / Higher / Only one way out of this mess / Don’t burn baby / Harmony / Underdog / Turn me loose / If this room could talk / Loose booty / The same thing (makes you laugh, makes you cry) / Thankful n’ thoughtful

Bill's Records (short documentary)

 

This is a lovely watch... "74 year old Bill Wisener had owned Bills Records in Dallas, Texas for 46 years. His shop was once the largest independent record store in the country. 

Director Chuck Przybyl and his crew had filmed with Bill from 2014 to 2019. This short film was created from 2015 to 2017. Bill passed away in January of 2020 as we were filming the yet to be released documentary Love and Records about Bill, his life and his legacy. Featuring music by the band Michelles, from the album Dark as a Daisy.

New tunes from Pains People

 Some beautiful, bleepy, bouncy electronic from Pains People, take a listen.

New Dub Asylum EP out now

Here's a new EP from me, some uptempo reggae dancehall, cumbia vibes with a mad dash of electronica. Made a wee video for it below...

Latest single from Brenda (aka Hudson Whitlock of Surprise Chef, Karate Boogaloo)

"College Of Knowledge Records present new signing Brenda, making their College Of Knowledge debut with two heartbreaking sweet soul ballads ‘Where Did I Go Wrong?’ and ‘Family’.

Brenda is the solo project of prolific drummer / multi-instrumentalist Hudson Whitlock. Known for his indefatigable creative output across multitudinous projects including Surprise Chef, Karate Boogaloo, The Pro-Teens and The Cactus Channel, Whitlock uses the Brenda moniker for his vocal music; as Brenda, Whitlock emerges as singer, in addition to composer, arranger and drummer.

Brenda encompasses the left-field soul sensibilities for which Whitlock has come to be recognised and revered, alongside heartfelt, introspective lyricism delivered in a sincere, delicate falsetto. Stylistically, lines can be drawn to the 1960s sweet soul ballads of The Delfonics, Jean-Claude Vannier’s vivid arrangements for Serge Gainsbourg, and, of course, the unmistakable flavour of Melbourne’s cinematic soul movement à la other Whitlock exploits Surprise Chef and Karate Boogaloo.

True to his modest vagabond nature, Whitlock has released SIX Brenda albums to date, each uploaded exclusively to Bandcamp, gladly resigning the music to the underground. These albums display Whitlock’s indefatigable creativity; he creates every component of the project in total independence, playing every instrument, carrying recording and mixing duties and creating the artwork.

In this new material, Whitlock relinquishes the isolationism of previous works in favour of including his trusted inner circle of friends and collaborators: Surprise Chef’s Lachlan Stuckey and Jethro Curtin on guitar and keyboard respectively, Karate Boogaloo’s Darvid Thor on bass, and production from Henry Jenkins (Surprise Chef, Karate Boogaloo, Frollen Music Library).

‘Where Did I Go Wrong’ and ‘Family’ are the first of many tunes from Brenda to come in 2025.

Out on 7" vinyl/digital on 2 May 2025.

Cinema Royal album drops

"Stones Throw alumni Rejoicer joins forces with longtime collaborator, fellow Apifera band member and renowned pianist Nitai Hershkovits to present a new moniker and concept piece Cinema Royal - a delicate yet audacious album that quietly commands attention. Having previously collaborated on works for Raw Tapes and beyond, this body of work exists more on the modern classical plain with splices of ambient and jazz woven into the musical fabric of the compositions.

Led by piano, the album features a dizzying array of orchestral, percussive and traditional string instruments from around the world- flawlessly combined in a way that might sound contrived, but just fits effortlessly.

Synthesisers cozy up to Afro beat indebted drums , East Asian zithers swim amongst classical string arrangements whilst Ethio-jazz keys dance atop restrained but irresistibly funky drum machine patterns. Inspired to create a cinematic energy they saw the essence of Fellini in their album cover choice, striving to create an album that could exist as a film score.

Speaking on the process, Nitai remarks, “Cinema Royal emerges from years of collaborative writing and recording. Our initial experience with a complete one piano take on a drum loop was in Flying’ Bamboo, a collaboration with MNDSGN and animator Felix Colgrave that garnered millions of views on YouTube. Nearly a decade later, we revisited this unique method of improvising a single piano take throughout the album. We love Emahoy Tzegue, Ennio Morricone, Nino Rota, Lalo Schifrin and lots of music from the ECM catalog. There’s a lot of Africa, too - from Ebo Taylor, Pat Thomas, Felt Kuti, and Ghana high-life, to more niche stuff from the Awesome Tapes from Africa’s catalog “

Rejoicer and Nitai have a rare synergy and have channeled it to create something that speaks without words, or rather - whispers, and in this quiet exclamation we are drawn in to listen closer and closer." 

Out now on LP/digital, on Rhythm Section International.

Ghanaian Fra Fra soul singer Florence Adooni releases her debut album

Via Philophon: "Following a triumphant 70-date touring activity across Europe in 2023 and 2024, including appearances at festivals such as Roskilde, Down The Rabbithole, End of The Road and FMM Sines, Ghanaian Fra Fra soul singer Florence Adooni readies the release of her hotly- anticipated international debut album, A.O.E.I.U. (An Ordinary Exercise In Unity) on Philophon. 

Produced by longtime collaborator and Philophon Records founder Max Weissenfeldt (Poets of Rhythm), with backing from a young generation of talented highlife musicians from the southern Ghanaian region of Kumasi, A.O.E.I.U. is the joyful culmination of a decade-long working relationship between Florence and Max, the fullest expression of their infectiously optimistic and uniquely ebullient sound.

Across seven tracks, Florence and her groove-forward group journey through a range of propulsive influences. “I’m so proud of this album,” Florence says. “It’s the beautiful culmination of the years I’ve been working with Max and a reflection of the incredible energy we’ve experienced playing this music live all around the world. I can’t wait for people to hear it!”

First encountering Florence’s music over a decade ago while Max was travelling through Ghana and absorbing the West African country’s range of rhythmic sounds, it was the chance discovery of her locally self-released debut Fra Fra gospel record 'Ho Sanga La Pa’aya' (This Is Your Time) that planted the seeds for further collaboration. “I kept playing this one track of Florence’s that had been shared with me by a local record shop owner and the second time I went to his store, I spotted Florence outside selling her music,” Max says. “I approached her and knew immediately that she would be the perfect person to collaborate with on my new label, Philophon.”

Over the next five years, Florence’s powerful falsetto and instinctive melodies became a key component of the Philophon sound, featuring on the label’s releases from Fra Fra group Alogte Oho & His Sounds of Joy, with singer Guy One, and with Finnish saxophonist Jimi Tenor. 

Yet, it wasn’t until Max relocated his Berlin studio to Kumasi in 2019 that their first collaboration with Florence under her own name took shape. “We made a recording together with the two female choir singers of the Sounds of Joy, a classic blend of highlife with Fra Fra singing,” Max says. "Originally it was planned to be released as a merchandise item for the upcoming tour of Alogte Oho & His Sounds of Joy, but as the tour never happened due to the circumstances of 2020, I just put it out under Florence Adooni - and it became an unexpected door opener“.

The response to the track, 'Mam Pe’ela Su’ure' (My Heart is Pure), was overwhelming and soon the infectious sound of Fra Fra and Florence’s joy-filled vocals were to be found on stages across Europe. “That song has given us a platform to play over 70 concerts since, something I could never have imagined,” Florence says. “My band had never left Ghana before but now we have seen the world and we are more united and thrilled than ever before.”

New soulful cuts from Troy Kingi

Brand new collab between the funky fine folk at Manuka Recordings and Troy King aka the Hongi Slicker. Out on digital/7" vinyl.

"When our co-founder and in-house producer, Kenny Sterling, met Kingi for the first time backstage at an Avantdale Bowling Club show at Auckland Town Hall in 2022, he was already a fan of ‘Grandma’s Rocket Poem’ off his psychedelic funk album Shake That Skinny Ass All the Way to Zygertron (2017). Feeling a natural affinity with the song’s star-dusted ‘70s sensibilities, he approached Kingi about exploring that zone together further via some of his throwback productions.

For ‘Falling Off’ Sterling pulls in Julien Dyne (drums), JY Lee (horns), Cory Champion (vibraphone), Tiare Kelly (sitar) and Romi Wrights (backing vocals) to summon up a cruisy cinematic soul instrumental. On ‘Do It Better (For Us),’ he brings back Champion on the vibraphone and tags in Samara Alofa on backing vocals while boiling up some slow-simmering jazz-funk arrangements dripping in sunkissed guitar figures. Together, they provide a fitting platform for Kingi’s richly expressive vocal timbre and inward-looking songwriting."

What would Andrew Weatherall do?

Five years since Andrew Weatherall left us. Read this great piece from DJ Mag, "What would Andrew Weatherall do? 13 tales of the Guv'nor's infinite wisdom" - excerpt below:

"Andrew Weatherall had a way of distilling life into simple, sharp truths. Be kind, be open-minded, don’t be afraid. Not everyone will like what you do, and that’s okay—music’s not for everyone. Wear good jeans, sturdy shoes, and don’t be shy with the turn-ups. Jah will provide. Climbing the greasy pole isn’t worth it. Read books, eat biscuits, and never underestimate the power of a proper cup of tea. Adrian Sherwood is the boss. A good haircut matters. Quality is remembered long after price is forgotten. Keep it under 122 bpm. Don’t fear the cheese—fear the cheesemans. Avoid the artist dinner unless it’s with people you love. Work hard, do your research, then do more. Always be prepared. Low culture is just as valuable as high culture. Laugh at yourself, laugh at everything. Always do a sound check. Be courteous, but don’t suffer fools gladly. You can’t win them all. If you’re remixing, keep the five best bits and bin the rest. Never let the band in the studio while you’re at it. Cake is good. And whatever you do, don’t let the grubby little opportunists grind you down."

Seun Kuti x Sampa the Great - Zamrock remix coming

 Out Feb 14 2025 on 7" vinyl/digital, this is a very groovy rework off the latest album from Seun Kuti. 

"Zambian singer, rapper and songwriter Sampa The Great unleashes a "Zamrock remix" of the song ‘Emi Aluta’ taken from Seun Kuti & Egypt 80’s latest album ‘Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head)’. The original song on the album already sees a featuring of Sampa The Great with Afrobeat virtuoso Seun Kuti, who described Sampa as “one of best and most innovative lyricists of our time". 

With this new spicy “Zamrock remix” the track gets a urban R&b/afro-funk twist, courtesy of new African Queen Sampa. Seun Kuti & Sampa The Great "Emi Aluta Zamrock rmx" will be released on limited edition clear 7” vinyl on February 14 via independent Milan label Record Kicks. 

The 7” vinyl is limited to 700 copies worldwide and has a 45 edit of the original Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 “Emi Aluta feat Sampa The Great” on the B side."