Global Grooves -- Recently Added  

Covers and music inspired by the towering figure in Afrofunk -- the great Fela Kuti -- rare 70s material a few modern cuts recorded in Nigeria, Trinidad, Ghana, Colombia, Germany and America -- some previously unreleased, and all wonderful representations of the far-reaching influence of Fela! A ...

Covers and music inspired by the towering figure in Afrofunk -- the great Fela Kuti -- rare 70s material a few modern cuts recorded in Nigeria, Trinidad, Ghana, Colombia, Germany and America -- some previously unreleased, and all wonderful representations of the far-reaching influence of Fela! A ...

Bright Persian psychedelic pop, funk, soul and boundless grooves from the 60s & 70s -- one of the greatest compilations yet from Finders Keepers! Many of the tunes are actually classics of the era's Iranian scene, if wildly fresh and new our ears, while others are quite obscure all around, but ...

A heady sampling of work from the legendary Asha Bhosle -- dubbed here as the "Playback Queen", given that her voice stood in for countless other actresses on the Bollywood screen! The collection brings together a really nice range of music -- divided by title into "Seductive ...

A helpful introduction to the Portuguese genre of Fado -- best known to our American ears from a few key proponents of global fame, but at its heart, a complicated style of music with lots of different elements at play! The package is broken into three different discs -- the first of which ...

A sweet little set that's way more "Bollywood" than "funk" -- bit still plenty wonderful overall! The package was put together by our man Jonny Trunk -- of Trunk Records fame (along with Joel Martin of Quiet Village) -- and it's got the kind of offbeat, odd-sounding approach we' ...

A sweet little import single -- pressed up as a limited 10" in a picture sleeve, and featuring 2 of the best remixes from the Femi Kuti remix project! ...

Heavy funk from 70s Ghana -- a sweet little set that's filled with rare and unusual grooves! The collection's got a strong focus on unreleased and very obscure material -- and from what we can tell, none of these tracks have been reissued at all! The work here is not only funky, but it's also got ...

Fantastic funk from Fanga -- one of the hippest Afro-styled combos around! These guys have a bit more grit in their grooves than most -- still very much in the best 70s-inspired Afro Funk styles you'd expect, but with a nice edge in some of the rhythmic undercurrents -- almost as if their new ...

Mindblowing work from one of the greatest new groups we've heard in years -- Michigan's mighty Nomo, easily one of the greatest Afro Funk combos going! Nomo's got a tightness that surpasses most other heirs to Fela's throne -- an intensely focused energy that's really tremendous -- and which soars ...

Great stuff from global funk phenoms Nomo -- deftly blending Afro steeped funk with an astral reach -- with more of a spiritual jazz influence and off kilter avant touches! Invisible Cities arrives just about a year since their breakthrough Ghost Rock opened so many doors, and although ...

The third and tightest of Ade's albums for Island. The sound here is a hybrid of his Ju Ju style with a bit of Afrobeat thrown in, with Tony Allen guesting on one number. The percolating multi-guitar and talking drum sound that was Ade's signature keeps the set gliding along nicely. 6 longer ...

A Capitol soul fan's dream! The record features great vocals by Letta Mbulu, arrangements by HB Barnum, and great production by David Axelrod, who gives the tracks a nice hard punchy sound! A great mix of African rhythms, American soul, and LA production -- and with the tracks "Where Does It ...

A mightily grooving Introduction to Witch -- a 70s Afro rock combo we're glad to have finally been introduced! This Zambian combo is fantastic works in a blend of rock influences from the US and UK and African rhythmic dynamics. Really cool stuff, with fuzzed out electric guitar and heady organ, ...

An Afro Funk treasure from the 70s -- a rare album recorded by Pax Nicholas, a singer and percussionist who was part of Fela's legendary Africa 70 band! The album's got a sound that definitely echoes that heritage, but with a groove that's pretty weird too -- more stripped down than most of Fela's ...

A fantastic bit of Afro funky soul -- one of a few albums recorded by the legendary Lafayette Afro Rock Band! The set has an incredible blend of American funk, African rhythms, and European production -- recorded in the heady cross-cultural scene of early 70s Paris -- with a sound that's often ...

Brilliant work from Benin -- an ear-opening compilation that's filled with wonderful grooves we've never heard before! The rhythms are unusual, instrumentation hypnotic, and vocals really offbeat -- making the whole thing sound very different than more familiar African work we've stocked -- ...

A wonderful album from Mali's Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba group -- another step in his boundary pushing mastery of the ngoni -- a stringed instrument used in traditional folk music of Mali, played with unique modern twists by Bassekou & the group! I Speak Fula has a fairly joyous sound ...

Weird and wonderful sounds we never would have heard otherwise -- a host of unusual grooves from the Cambodian scene of the late 60s and early 70s! Given the way the nation's usually remembered from US perspectives at the time, it's great to take such a fresh look at Cambodia -- clearly a place ...

One of the most incredible African collections we've ever heard -- almost more amazing than the African Scream Contest set from the same label! The package focuses on work by Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo De Cotonou -- a group who really live up to their name, by bringing in a host of complicated rhythms ...

One of the coolest African collections we've seen in years -- a beautiful assortment of untapped grooves from the 70s, put together with a massive booklet that sets a whole new standard in packaging! The grooves here are different from other Afro Funk collections of the time -- definitely more in ...

The most outwardly political album to date from Antibalas -- and quite possibly the funkiest one too! The set's got the group really grooving hard in their 70s Afro Funk-inspired vein -- jamming at a level that would make Fela Kuti blush -- working together with a fierce array of percussion, horns ...

One of the greatest grooves from the legendary Desco Records years -- a brilliant album of modern Afro Funk done by The Daktaris -- in a groove that's just as hard-hitting as any of Fela's work from the 70s! The album was one of the first to bring back an older African style to current funk -- and ...

A long-overdue collection of work -- one that really gets at the unusual appearance of Latin rhythms on the African scene of the postwar years! Latin sounds from Africa are nothing new, but they're one of those things that's always taken for granted, too -- kind of assumed in most discussions of ...

A heady brew of guitar-driven numbers from Sir Victor Uwaito -- a key force in the Nigerian music scene for many years, and an instrumentalist with a really mindblowing sound! Some of these tracks have Victor playing a weird double-necked guitar, others a straighter version of the electric ...

A second amazing set of guitars from Agadez -- this time around from Group Bombino, who have a slightly warmer sound than Group Inerane -- but one that's equally great as well! The tunes build up sparely from percussion, guitar parts, and vocals from the group -- sung together in a way that almost ...

A trippy set of 60s & 70s grooves from Cambodia -- wild stuff that mixes mod organs, fuzzy guitar, funky drums and a range of psychedelic touches -- a little strange, but always groovy singles! It includes both male and female fronted groups, and it's mad pulpy fun all the way -- with gritty ...

Wild grooves from Thailand with more than a little bit of soul and funk -- but a real kaleidoscope of pop sounds -- blending influences with a global reach that's really catchy & groovy all the way! There are more touches of psychedelia and otherwise bright and colorful sounds than you might ...

A really great compilation put out by the folks at Red Hot -- an organization dedicated to "Fighting Aids Through Popular Culture". Previous sets by the group have focussed on jazz, bossa, and other music -- and this time around, the focus is Africa, currently suffering from a rampant ...

A beautiful set of late 60s to early 70s Soweto township jive sounds -- soulful, joyful and amazing numbers mostly only ever available on rare South African 45s -- brought to the world at large by our friends at Strut Records! Most numbers are from the early 70s, with a couple from the last couple ...

Heavy heady funk from the 70s Nigerian scene -- a wicked little record that's unlike anything else we've heard before! SJOB is a combo made from ex-members of the group of Sonny Okosuns -- all top-shelf players who've clearly got their chops down in the groove department, but are also really ...

Beautiful grooves from the Nigerian scene of the 70s -- a set of really unique grooves, and the only-ever album from the enigmatic Mebusas! There's kind of a tripped-out feel to some of these tracks -- Afro Funk, but taken left of center from the style of Fela -- thanks to some weird keyboard bits ...

A cliche-breaking compilation of recent work in a Turkish vein -- either tracks recorded from current underground artists working in Turkey, or other global musicians who either have Turkish roots, or strong Turkish inspiration! And although the music is from a wide variety of sources, there's a ...

Heavy heady funk from the 70s Nigerian scene -- a wicked little record that's unlike anything else we've heard before! SJOB is a combo made from ex-members of the group of Sonny Okosuns -- all top-shelf players who've clearly got their chops down in the groove department, but are also really ...

Beautiful grooves from the Nigerian scene of the 70s -- a set of really unique grooves, and the only-ever album from the enigmatic Mebusas! There's kind of a tripped-out feel to some of these tracks -- Afro Funk, but taken left of center from the style of Fela -- thanks to some weird keyboard bits ...

A blistering set of Afro-Funk from the 70s -- the debut of Ofege, a band of high school students at the time! There's a really trippy sound to the set, as the guitars figure strongly in the groove, and are often recorded with some slightly psychedelic touches -- similar to Blo or some of the other ...

A second serving of Eastern-styled sounds from the Turkish underground -- amazing music you're not likely to hear in any other setting! As with the first volume, the set offers up a host of contemporary tracks that really take off from the original Arabesk generation in Turkish music of the 60s ...

One of the hippest groups of the Nigerian scene of the 70s -- presented here in two classic albums, back to back on a single CD! Chapter One is a landmark set of African grooves -- very unusual in both conception and execution -- with a feel that's unlike anything we can think of! There's ...

An amazing world of music -- rare funk, soul, reggae, and other grooves from Belize -- all beautifully compiled in the rich Numero Music style! We're really stunned by the set -- as we had no idea at all that Belize had anything going on at this level -- and the collection is an amazing surprise ...

Weird and wonderful sounds from India -- Konkani music with its roots in the state of Goa, filtered through a range of modern influences from the recording scene of Bombay! The sounds here are quite different than more familiar Indian modes you might know from sitar records or Bollywood ...

Great work from the early days of Indian cinema -- a set that features music from a host of key films of the 50s! Ravi Shankar's music dominates the first half of the collection -- as it features themes composed for films that include Parash Pathar, Apur Sansar, Aparajito, Pather Panchali, and A ...

A bit more than a Rough Guide, if you ask us -- actually a great little set that capable shows the range of Afrobeat and funk in a new generation -- featuring tracks by Souljazz Orchestra, Tony Allen, Kaleta & Zozo Afrobeat, Afrodizz and more! Compiled by Pablo "DJ Bongohead" ...

A wealth of contemporary Afro Funk music -- played here by some of the hippest groups in the global funk underground! Over a decade ago, the idea of "new" Afro Funk seemed an impossibility -- yet recent years have shown a tremendous growth in the genre -- with wonderful new recordings ...

Cambodian rock, pop and psychedelia from the 60s & 70s -- compiled by the members of Dengue Fever, LA's modern torchbearers of rare prime rock era rarities from Cambodia! It's wonderful stuff -- like a lot of the sounds from the pulpy garage rock era Asian underground, most tunes have love ...

Cambodian rock, pop and psychedelia from the 60s & 70s -- compiled by the members of Dengue Fever, LA's modern torchbearers of rare prime rock era rarities from Cambodia! It's wonderful stuff -- like a lot of the sounds from the pulpy garage rock era Asian underground, most tunes have love ...

Moody, kind of sultry and pulpy Cambodian rock, LA style -- perhaps the best record yet from Dengue Fever! The backdrop of keys, horns, guitars, percussion and bass has never sound as measured, loose and assured as it does on Venus On Earth -- with Chhom Nimol reminding us of the sweetness out ...

A wonderful compilation of Vintage Palmwine -- acoustic highlife music from Ghana and recorded at Bokoor Studios there! It focuses on 3 pioneering figures of the music -- Ghana folk highlife guitarist Koo Nimo, palmwine guitarist Kwaa Mensah and Thomas Osei Ampoumah, better known as TO Jazz -- and ...

A stylistically varied mix of great dance music from Curacao in the early 50s -- Riba Dempel -- named for the central marketplace in Willemstad, the capital of Curacao and blend of Carribean, African and European influences on 2 dozen tunes by a number of wonderful combos! The material was culled ...

A classic album of steel band grooving -- a sound that made a surprising crossover in the American soul market in the early 70s! This album's one of the most famous of the genre -- a session that was originally produced by Van Dyke Parks for Warner Brothers, and which has a nice blend of Caribbean ...

Wow! This is probably the rarest of the Juju/Oneness of Juju albums -- and it's also one of the best! Unlike their first album on Strata East, the group's a little bit more inside, and doesn't get lost in overindulgent avant garde solos. Instead, they groove hard with a deep warm sound, in ...