All Categories — LPs  

DJ Wrongtom takes on the canon of Roots Manuva – giving some dubby Caribbean flavor to Roots Manuva's modern UK hip hop classics! There's not much in the way of consessions to trendy dubstep here, and that approach works very well! Includes the new track "Jah Warriors" feat Ricky... read more

A wild mix of improvised music and electronics from Chicago drummer Frank Rosaly – a really unique album that has Franky taking previous recordings of improvised performance, then laying them out by chance operation – and further restructuring them by the orchestrations of a sound... read more

A massively beautiful piece of work by "the new Rotary Connection" – a version of this groundbreaking Chicago soul ensemble which featured Phil Upchurch, Henry Gibson, and Charles Stepney – the cream of the Chicago production scene! Minnie Riperton's still in the band on... read more

Rare rock from Rotomagus – a heavy group from France – the complete discography of the group, and a completely fresh discovery to us! The sound is loose, ragged and raw on the unreleased album demo that's covers the first half of the anthology – which only enhances the power of... read more

Soulful bossa from Blue Note – and a real lost treasure! Tenor giant Charlie Rouse makes a rare appearance as a leader here – working with a percussion-heavy group that includes Willie Bobo, Potato Valdez, and Garvin Masseaux – and hitting a sax-meets-bossa groove that's simply... read more

The first-ever recording from this legendary Senegalese band – unissued for years, and finally brought to light in this beautiful package! The set was recorded live in 1979 as a night club performance – and because of that, it's got a really cooking sound right from the start – a... read more

Funky funky Hendrix! The record's a surprisingly enjoyable batch of covers – all Jimi Hendrix tunes (save one), played by a funky combo with a very raw guitar in the front! There's plenty of pyrotechnics on the guitar, and the record has lots of solos, but there's also some good funky flute... read more

Todd Rundgren in all of his great early glory – a record that's filled with simple, honest pop tunes – and one that also takes on a few experimental touches as well – but only in ways that further the earnest charm at its heart! There's a really upfront, unpretentious feel to the... read more

One of the greatest records we've ever heard from pianist Mario Rusca – a really open, fluid sort of set – and one that features electric bass in the trio, which really gives things a different sort of vibe! Mario plays acoustic piano throughout, but the use of electric bass (played by... read more

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A loose, rollicking mid 70s studio record for Delmark by the great Otis Rush – with some longer numbers and a lively sound that's pretty damn sweet! There's a raw, invigorating sensibility here that recalls some of the best live sets we've seen Otis play over the years – a side of him... read more

A landmark bit of indie funk from the 70s – one of the few records cut by Detroit keyboardist Eddie Russ, and easily the best! The album features Russ going to town on electric piano – working with a hip combo called The Mixed Bag, which features some wicked work on flute and soprano... read more

Dusty grooves from Alice Russell – a set that's steeped in heavy soul influences all the way through – from her great vocals on the top, to the tight instrumentation in the middle, to all the heavy drums that keep things kicking on the bottom! The album may well be Russell's tightest... read more

Music beyond description – a unique blend of disco, funk, avant garde, and dub – the wonderful world of the late Arthur Russell! Russell was a bass player by trade, but he was schooled in both classical and Eastern music forms – and brought an incredibly fresh vision to his work... read more

The best music in years from RZA – the man who introduced styliized martial arts soundtrack funk to hardcore hip hop – and the soundtrack to his own damn stylized martial arts film, The Man With The Iron Fists! Musically, it's top notch! RZA's wise enough to contemporize his tried-and-... read more

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A gritty, genuinely soulful debut from the team of Miles Bonny and beatmaker Brenk Sinatra – and one of the best underground soul-skewing full lengths yet from Mr. Bonny and Melting Pot! With the exception of some guitar, S3 is a 2-man operation – Brenk on the beats and Bonny on vocals... read more

The second set for Columbia by evolving R&B great Raphael Saadiq – possibly the best album he's ever done! We were knocked out by the preceding The Way I See It, his neo throwback gem, especially for the way he so masterfully flaunted decades of soul/R&B influences on that album... read more

Laetitia Sadier's second excellent post-Stereolab album – a mix of breezy and moody avant pop with some occasionally strident lyricism – a rewarding record that's reminiscent of the timelessly innovative Stereolab, but it's ultimately much more personal! The vibe is less indebted to... read more

A lost bossa classic from Wanda De Sah – aka Wanda Sa, the wife of Edu Lobo, and a singer who worked with Sergio Mendes in his pre-Brasil 66 days! The album's got a wonderfully laidback feel – languid, yet jazzy, with the feel of some of Astrud Gilberto's best work on Verve, yet with... read more

Killer jazzy grooves from the French jazz house scene – and hands down one of our favorite albums of the 00s! St Germain take a Blue Note 70s sound as their base – with lots of sweet Hammond riffs, mellow Fender Rhodes licks, funky flute lines, and spacey percussion – then they... read more

A heavy, heavy monster from the New Jersey scene at the start of the 70s – the kind of hard rock gem that was years ahead of its time – and which shows that the American underground had more than enough to beat the bigger Brit groups of the time! Sainte Anthony's Fyre have a name that's... read more

A seminal 70s set from this key Aussie band – one that almost had more of an impact here in the US than they did in their homeland! The sound is pretty tight, even though there's some larger horns on some cuts – and The Saints have a razor-sharp guitar edge that doesn't profess to be... read more

Incredible! This is a stunning set of African-inspired jazzy percussion tracks – similar to some of the work done by Art Blakey on his Orgy In Rhythm albums, but with a lot better horn work, and with an overall conception that's much more unified! AK Salim did some sleepier work for Savoy... read more

A Hindi tribute to Abba – sung by Salma & Sabrina Agha – over some sweet arrangements that are for the most part quite faithful the original versions! Salma & Sabrina have a bit more delicate style of vocals than the glossy perfection of the Abba originals – and the... read more

Wicked jazzy bossa from 60s Brazil – a crackling early classic from pianist Dom Salvador! The group here is super-tight – a tremendous triangle of piano, bass, and drums – all grooving at equal pace, with a great deal of energy – and given a heck of a lot of soul from Dom's... read more

Classic trio material from one of Brazil's greatest pianists ever! Dom Salvador was a heck of a player back in the 60s – working in a tight trio format that was certainly part of the bossa combo sound of his day, yet also heavily influenced by American soul jazz artists of the same era. ... read more

Classic Sam & Dave work for Stax – a searing batch of hard soul tracks that forever redefined the concept of a male soul duet! This was the sound that put Sam & Dave over the top hard – and which left a generation of similar acts trying to catch up. The album sports a sublime... read more

One of the best-ever albums by this incredible soul duo! Sam & Dave may have been one of the bigger names on the 60s scene, but they also had a sheer raw soul approach that blew away most of their contemporaries – a way of trading vocal lines then combining them that infused their songs... read more

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The coolest music we've heard so far from this fantastic funky talent – served up here in an ultra-cool package that also offers up four different cover images over two separate pieces of music! Sammi's got a name that's a bit unwieldy, but he serves up the groove with a sound so tight, we... read more

Amazing funky jazz from the 70s – a completely rare little set recorded in the Bay Area scene of the time – featuring hip trumpet work from Woody Shaw, and lots of cool keyboards from Patrick Gleeson! The feel here is somewhere in the territory of work that Gleeson did with Herbie... read more

If you think that Pharaoh Sanders' genius as a leader first blossomed during his post-Coltrane years on Impulse, you owe it to yourself to check out this early album for ESP – a startlingly great session that offers a whole new side of his talents! The album features 2 side-long tracks... read more

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Haunting work from the duo of Sandhy & Mandhy – a pair from the Buenos Aires scene at the end of the 60s, working in a weird mix of beat group styles and hipper rock rhythms! There's a slightly ethereal quality to the work – partly because of the way the pair trade back vocals,... read more

Stone funky Latin soul from the younger member of the Santamaria family! Black Out is one of Monguito's greatest – a hip album of groovy late 60s tracks that perfectly blend the Latin and soul sides of the Spanish Harlem scene. Marty Sheller handled arrangements on some of the album's best... read more

Oooooo-weee – a monster album by one of our favorite talents of the Latin soul era! Monguito Santamaria had a really great way of putting the electric bass right up front in his tracks – kicking things up with a bouncing groove that's as sock-boogaloo as boogaloo can get, and which... read more

Another Santana LP you'll probably be embarrassed to admit you own because it's such a hackneyed classic rock relic, but we won't tell on you, because it's also a great batch of Latin rock numbers with more than a shade of funk and jazz inflection underneath the pyrotechnic guitar solos. Drop cuts... read more

Maybe the greatest album we've ever heard from Lucas Santtana – and that's saying a lot, given that we've been loving his music for years! There's a depth, a richness here that we haven't heard from Lucas in a long time – a quality that has him moving past just the kind of bright new... read more

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Mod grooves from The Satin Chaps – a group that's heavy on organ lines and horns, and who play in a soulful 60s groove! The cuts are mostly instrumental, and they cook along strongly with a sweet blend of sounds from the groove – horns that pack plenty of punch, but which are really... read more

A tripped-out set of acid folk guitar from Satwa – featuring Brazilian psychedelic folk genius Lula Cortes, in a feel that's very much like his own great work of the time! Satwa is one of the sweetest sets of psych folk jams we've heard in ages – with a mostly-instrumental, wholly... read more

Spooky sounds from pioneering French composer Pierre Schaeffer – 5 Etudes De Bruits (1948) on one side and Etude Aux Objets (1959) on the other! Visionary experimental sound manipulation from an early pioneer. 5 Etudes De Bruits includes "Edude Aux Chemins De Fer", "Edude... read more

One of Lalo Schifrin's greatest soundtracks ever – a gem of a TV score that's been lost for years – and not nearly as famous or well-reissued as Mission Impossible, Bullitt, or Enter The Dragon! The tunes are pure Schifrin all the way through – a mix of jazz, bossa, and funk... read more

A pretty darn rare Lalo Schifrin soundtrack – to a lost crime thriller that starred David McCallum, Stella Stevens, and Telly Savalas – all of whom are pictured in a nice collage-type movie painting on the front cover! The tracks run from mellow bossa to fast and jazzy, and the album... read more

A landmark in the European avant scene of the 60s – the first self-released album by pianist Alexander Von Schlippenbach – an all star session that features work by Peter Brotzmann, Manfred Schoof, Paul Rutherford, Han Bennink, and others! The work here is very free and a spacious... read more

One of the earliest albums on the Free Jazz Productions label – a large group session led by trumpeter Manfred Schoof, and featuring a wealth of great talents from the European avant garde of the 60s – including Peter Brotzmann on tenor, Enrico Rava on trumpet, Irene Schweizer and... read more

Believe it or not, the title's a pretty good way to describe this modern Brazilian rock release – as the music's a mish mash of newer beats and grooves, grounded in a hip hop/dance tradition, mixed with samples of older Brazilian rock influences – including stuff by Os Mutantes,... read more

One of the greatest in Scientist's early 80s run of essential dub records! In The Kingdom Of Dub find's Scientist working his dub alchemy on a dozen Roy Cousins productions laid down by Sly & Robbie, Santa & Flabba, Ranchie McLean,Pablo Black and Skully. It's an excellent set of deep... read more

Benchmark Scientist dub – great stuff recorded and mixed at King Tubby's near the end of the 70s – and it's some of tightest, heaviest dubs of the period! Scientist works over some of the heftiest Aggrovator sides on this legendary set – one of favorite dub records, period! One... read more

Benchmark Scientist dub – great stuff recorded and mixed at King Tubby's near the end of the 70s – and it's some of tightest, heaviest dubs of the period! Scientist works over some of the heftiest Aggrovator sides on this legendary set – one of favorite dub records, period! One... read more

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A great BBC Jazz Club 45 session from legendary British jazz quintets led by tenor Ronnie Scott & drummer Phil Seamen! As program, it's fun stuff – with both groups assembled for a live broadcast and introduced by an announcer – and the music itself is terrific. Scott's group... read more

An oft-overlooked jazzy gem from Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson – and a beautifully swinging session that has Gil toning it down a bit, and working into a nicely musical groove that gets past the heavy politics of earlier years! The record's a great showcase for the more upbeat side of... read more

A 70s soul classic – and the closest that Gil Scott-Heron ever came to having a hit! The album's best known for its anthemic classic "Johannesburg" – one of the first popular tunes to really push the cause of a free South Africa – but the whole album's a winner, filled... read more

A key crossover set from Gil Scott-Heron – still every bit as political as his earlier work, but with a stronger sense of soul as well! The great Brian Jackson is firmly in tow here – bringing warm keyboards and a nice little groove to most of the tracks – and the previous... read more

A beautiful jazzy classic, and perhaps Gil Scott-Heron's most perfectly realized album ever! The record has a completely sophisticated jazzy approach – one that's miles ahead from even Gil's previous work on Flying Dutchman, and which shows him to be one of the most distinctive and emotive... read more

Heavy, soul-baring lyricism delivered with spiritual resonance and wise authority by Gil Scott-Heron – his first album shot in far too many years, and a direct hit – essential listening for longtime listeners and neophytes alike and a well worthy entry in a legendary career! Scott-Heron... read more

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The boys turn the whimsy back up a notch for their sweetly synth-soaked latest effort, and Prekop's voice has never been so confident and out front. The tunes seem longer and have a more languorous feel than their last couple records, but the hooks are just as sweet. It took a long while to come... read more

Maybe the warmest record by the Sea & Cake – drawing a lot more from their earlier The Biz and Sam Prekop's solo album than their previous The Fawn, adding strings to a lot of the melodies instead of the electronic sounds. Sunny avant pop that manages to pull off a little bit of... read more

A great record with all the known recordings of the Sea-Ders (or Cedars) – a beat combo from mid-to-late 60s Lebanon – and a pretty much perfect mix of period rock & roll hooks and rhythms with Middle Eastern string buzz in place of a Stratocaster! The vocals are in English and the... read more

Sean Price moves in for the knockout! Includes "Genesis Of The Omega", "Bar-Barian", "Pyrex", "Price & Shining Armour" feat Ruste Juxx, "Straight Music", "Hush", "Solmon Grundy" with Ill Bill, "Frankenberry" with... read more

Sean Price moves in for the knockout! Includes "Genesis Of The Omega", "Bar-Barian", "Pyrex", "Price & Shining Armour" feat Ruste Juxx, "Straight Music", "Hush", "Solmon Grundy" with Ill Bill, "Frankenberry" with... read more

A Brazilian rock classic! The band had a very sophisticated sound that mixes nice vocal production with spare arrangements supported by guitar, piano, and bass. The sound is difficult to describe – but the record has some extremely compelling songwriting, and great vocal work that carries... read more

An early album by this groovy Brazilian rock group that featured Ney Matogrosso on vocals! The record has a haunting sound that mixes nice vocal production with spare arrangements supported by guitar, piano, and bass. The sound is difficult to describe – but the record has some extremely... read more

The seminal first album from Section 25 – a crucially overlooked British act of the post-punk years, one with a sound that's as important to our ears as the work of Joy Division or PIL! Section 25 were contemporaries of the latter, and labelmates of the former – and worked in a similar... read more

A groundbreaking debut from The Seeds – one of those albums that seemed to come out of nowhere back in the 60s, then went onto have an undeniable influence on music for decades to come! The music is gritty and garagey right from the start – but also has a sinister focus that really... read more

A gem of a record from pianist Renato Sellani – and a set that cooks with all of the best energy of the Italian scene in the 70s! Like some other classics on the Carosello label, this record's got a vibe that mixes strong acoustic leads with a slight touch of electricity in the mix –... read more

Rare Afro Rock from Nigeria's Semi-Colon group – and it's an astonishingly strong record! It's got fuzzy guitar grooves and spacey electic piano that are indebted to the global psych soul and rock scenes of the late 60s and early 70s – but the rhythmic sensibility, percussion and... read more

This album's like a funky 45 party! Senor Soul first started out as one of those fake Latin acts in the LA scene – kind of a soul jazz version of the Tijuana Brass – but by the time of this album, they've turned into a hot funky combo, with a really wonderful sound! The groove here is... read more

An amazing discovery in music – rare work from an artist who's already pretty darn rare to American ears – even though he recorded some of these spacey gems in Virginia during the mid 70s! Sensation's Fix is the brainchild of musician/electronician Franco Falsini – an Italian... read more

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Funky Afro Soul from Oz – the brilliant full length debut of Shaolin Afronauts! Flight Of The Ancients blasts off from the bedrock of 70s West Africa and Ethio funk influences, but their one of the rare few combos who pull it off without it feeling like a retread of past glories. Part of... read more

A deeper, spacier set from Shaolin Afronauts – and one that goes a bit further into the cosmos, as you might guess from the title and cover art – though it's still firmly rooted in timeless Afro Soul and Funk! Once again, the greatest West African soul, jazz and funk of the 70s... read more

The amazing return of the Shaolin Temple Defenders – a group who've really deepened their sound since we last heard from them! On previous albums, the Defenders were a razor-sharp funk combo – a French ensemble who'd really studied the funky 45 underground of the late 60s and early 70s... read more

Hard to take it slow with the Shaolin Temple Defenders – given that these guys are one of the tightest funky combos working in the European scene! The set smokes right from the get-go – quick rhythms, bold horns, and burning Hammond – all to set a groove for deeply soulful lead... read more

One of the best-ever Sonny Sharrock albums – and one of the few that really captures the fresh genius of his approach! The set was recorded in New York during the period when Sonny had just come out of Herbie Mann's group with Roy Ayers – but the sound is far far different than the... read more

Wow! This is one of Sonny Sharrock's rare early recordings, recorded in France shortly after he had been playing with Herbie Mann. The groove's kind of crazy, and it's amazing that Sonny jumped out so soon after leaving the sort of pop-jazz environs he was in with Herbie – but hey, lots of... read more

A rough-edged batch of spiritual jazz tracks from trumpeter Charles "Cha Cha" Shaw (not to be confused with Charles "Bo Bo" Shaw) – recorded in an open-ended loft jazz mode with a really open, echoey feel! The album's a rare 70s jazz date on the Folkways label, and it's... read more

A classic! This is one of the best-ever albums by the legendary Marlena Shaw – and it's a tremendous live set that really lives up to the righteous promise of her earlier work on Cadet Records! The album was cut with a small combo, and the overall feel is incredibly hip – a mixture of... read more

An amazing batch of sophisticated soul tracks – and a favorite with the righteous groove scene! On the surface, the record's a combination of jazz and soul tracks in the same mode that you'd find on some of Nancy Wilson's albums for Capitol during the same time – but digging deeper,... read more

A late date for Woody Shaw, but a great one too – a bit more straightforward than some of his more righteous albums of the 70s, but still proof that Shaw is easily one of the greatest trumpeters of his generation! The album's got a laidback sort of feel, and features a fair bit of familiar... read more

A classic of spiritual, soulful jazz – and one of Archie Shepp's greatest albums! The set was recorded in New York after a few free and festive years in Paris, and it's an amazing about-face that has Archie stepping into a world of righteous, full-on, political, and funky themes – the... read more

An amazing Impulse debut from Archie Shepp – easily one of his boldest musical statements ever, and a key announcement to the world that a new generation of modernists was on the rise! The album was co-produced by John Coltrane – who brought Shepp to the label, and almost gets out-done... read more

Some of Archie Shepp's most freewheeling material of the 60s – a long, extended, single-song album recorded at the Donaueschingen festival a few years before his classic work for BYG/Actuel – and very much in the same bold spirit as his recordings for that label! The single tune –... read more

A rare live set – recorded in Algiers during the Panafrican Festival in 1969, featuring a set of work that is some of Shepp's rootsiest of the 60s! The recording features a core group of Shepp, Grachan Moncur, Clifford Thorton, and Dave Burrell – all joined by a host of Algerian and... read more

Beautifully balanced 60s work from Archie Shepp – a record that mixes newer freedoms with sharper vision – all wrapped up with some wonderfully intense solo work! As with some of Shepp's other great dates for Impulse at the time, the group's a largeish one – a nonet of players... read more

Growing brilliance from the young Archie Shepp – a record that's not just about Archie's own amazing work on the tenor, but also his keen modern vision as a leader! The combo here is an ensemble that features some of the hippest modernists of the 60s – Roswell Rudd and Grachan Moncur... read more

Double-length brilliance from the mighty Sahib Shihab – a set that collects a number of killer 60s sessions with members of the Clarke Boland Big Band – all of them great! The small combo work here is amazing – hard-hitting modal jazz that matches, if not tops the best MPS/Saba... read more

A legendary album from saxophonist Sahib Shihab – a record that's gone onto become the birth of all things modal and club jazz in the current scene! Shihab always sounded great, no matter what the setting, but there was definitely something magical going on with this session – a one-of-... read more

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A madly tripped-out little record – about as wild as you could hope to expect from a group named Shiva's Headband! There's a real San Francisco hippie feel going on here – a blend of rootsy rock and psychedelia, plus a few bluesy touches – done in a mode that's down-homey, yet... read more

The long-lost first album from Shoes – recorded at home, and even rawer than any later releases – appearing here on vinyl for the very first time! The group are already pretty amazing at this early point – right on the money, and almost with more of a punkish vibe at points... read more

Breakout sounds from Shoes – and an album that may well stand as the group's lasting treasure! The set's got a sharp-edged quality that still sounds pretty tremendous all these many years later – power pop, but without any commercial elements to smooth out its energy – served up... read more

The debut album from Shoes – a cracker of a first record from any band, but a set that hardly made a dent at the time – given that it was only pressed in a limted run of 300 copies! That doesn't stop it from being a real moment of greatness, though – because the set sparkles with... read more

A pivotal moment for Shoes – demo material that pre-dates their classic Present Tense album – pulled from the vaults, and issued here as a wonderful pre-Elektra slice of their career! The tunes were originally cut in the basement of a bridal shop in Northern Illinois – yet... read more

An incredible album – one of our favorite Blue Notes ever! Despite the fact that the album's a spare quartet session, the record is one of Wayne Shorter's richest – and features his gutsy young tenor soloing insanely with a rhythmically intense combo that includes Herbie Hancock,... read more

An excellent set of some fairly out material – performed by Shorter with a group that includes Freddie Hubbard, Grachan Moncur, James Spaulding, Herbie Hancock, and a rare appearance by his brother Alan on flugelhorn! At times, the record builds into a sound that's freer and more... read more