music

This Hampshire & Foat project should not come as too much of a surprise to those familiar with Greg & Warren's music, influenced heavily by not just Jazz but the library sound of the 60s and 70s along with film soundtracks from the same golden era. Millie says: Hampshire & Foat have yet again created a captivating album, this one is clearly packed with things that have influenced that and the result is a beautiful mix of ambient and folk.

The duo of Warren Hampshire and Greg Foat keep on getting more and more interesting as the years go on – to a point where they seem to be carving out a really special place in music that might well be a genre of their own!

Cochin Moon (コチンの月, Kochin no Tsuki) is Haruomi Hosono's fifth solo album. Cochin Moon is a clear precursor to the groundbreaking synth and sequencer-dominated sounds that would come to define the iconic trio. Credited to Hosono and Pop Art legend Tadanori Yokoo (who created the cover art), Cochin Moon is a fictional soundtrack to a journey into unknown worlds, inspired by Hosono and Yokoo’s trip to India. Initially the album was to be a kind of ethnographic musical document, using found sounds and field recordings made by Hosono himself. Instead, after Yokoo introduced Hosono to the sounds of Kraftwerk and krautrock during the trip, Cochin Moon became something much stranger. Created almost entirely on synthesizers and sequencers with the help of future YMO collaborators Ryuichi Sakamoto and Hideki Matsutake, the music on the album is the perfect encapsulation of Hosono’s concept of “sightseeing music,” transporting the listener to an exotic place that may or may not exist. This highly sought-after album sees its first-ever official release outside of Japan.

Black Metal was the forecast of what was to come with the introduction of La Coka Nostra. Non Phixion front man ILL BILL had recently joined up with Danny Boy, Slaine and others to start working on a new powerhouse group. With friends from both coasts like Sick Jacken, Q-Unique, Killah Priest, Jeru The Damaja, O.C. and more joining in, this release takes a look at the music BILL was recording after Non Phixion disbanded and as LCN was forming.

Jackie Mittoo is one of the most important artists in the history of Jamaican music. As founding member of the legendary Skatalites, as in-house arranger/producer at Studio One and as a solo artist in his own right leading groups such as The Soul Brothers, Sound Dimension and Soul Vendors.

DJ Apt-One dons his hairiest mane for more roaring Lion edits. And this time he's brought company. Fresh from collaborating with Soul Clap, here we find him in fine funk fettle with two more precision dug obscurities: "Keep On Hangin' On" is classic loopy filtered disco house finesse while "Finally" takes us deep into electro boogie heaven. Supamomo Jay Airiness takes the B for two equally XL party-sized joints: "Funky Situation" is a total carnival of percussion and slapbass magic while "Two Of Us" is all about the bumper-busting disco funk. Divine.

Recorded in Tokyo and released in 1979, it features a collection of Kasai’s silken reinterpretations, from Herbie Hancock’s own disco monster ‘I Thought It Was You’, and a butter smooth rework of ‘Sunlight’, to the sun-drenched ballad ‘Butterfly’, and a bubbling version of Stevie Wonder’s timeless ‘As’.

Deep in the LHI tape archive hid a mysterious tape marked “Woodchucks.” The tape held a "lost” instrumental surf album recorded by Lee Hazlewood in the early 1960s. Some of the songs have been recorded by The Astronauts, Jack Nitzsche, Dick Dale and His Del-Tones, Takeshi Terauchi, The Ventures, John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), The Trashmen, The Challengers and The Surfaris.

Marcel Vogel and Khalil Anthony team up for 2 consecutive releases. Brown Curls has been three years in the making and has seen several very different incarnations. Comes with a filthy remix by Nebraska and the bumpy You Are A Star!

Lumberjacks In Hell boss Marcel Vogel and Berlin-based singer Khalil Anthony team up for 2 EPs for the label, exploring together their version of soul, disco and house. Dance The Blues Away gets remixes by BB Boogie and Julien Dyne from New Zealand.