Global Grooves -- Recently Added -- CD  

A sprawling set of tropical grooves from Panama, and the third in the series from Soundway -- compiled by Roberto Gyemant and Miles Cleret, with a little help for this set from Will Holland, aka Quantic -- as soulful and brilliant as it is essential! These rare recordings blend cultural styles ...

The second volume of rare Afrofunk from Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou from Analog Africa -- a killer set of material recorded at EMI Studios in Lagos, Nigeria for the Albarika Store label -- impeccable sounding and feverishly played by the group! This one's fairly jaw dropping, catching us off ...

A compilation of Ghana music like we've never seen before -- and straight up beautifully put together by Soundway -- 70s sounds that fused regional traditions with boundary free soul, rhythm & blues, and rock! Ghana in the 1970s was in a transition from a more prosperous, and less militarily ...

Pulp grooves from 60s & 70s Singapore -- gritty garage rock & soul, beat, and strange girl pop grooves compiled from rare Malaysian 45s! The tunes blend American and European rock & pop sounds with more traditional sounds of Asia and the Malaysian peninsula -- many with female vocals, ...

A real back to basics set from Tony Allen -- much more strongly in his Afro Funk groove of the late 70s than other recent work, and recorded in Lagos with an earthy approach that's totally great! All the experiments and odd flourishes of recent sets have been stripped away -- and Allen returns ...

Swirling Afro soul from Matana -- with lots of African rhythms and heavy percussion laced with some trippy elements from the psychedelic scenes in the US and UK! Matana arrived in London, via their native Kenya in the early 70s -- and rather seamlessly blended elements of soul, and on this record, ...

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 ...

Gritty, garage grooves and organ, guitar and percussion rich numbers from several mid 60s Thai combos -- revolving around industrious singer (although these numbers are mostly instrumental) and ringleader Payong "PM" Mukda! The pulpy groovers are top notch, mostly done with a small combo ...

One of the wildest albums on the Sublime Frequencies label -- really amazing music by a West Saharan group -- one that features some of the most incredible guitar you'll ever hear! The music is all of recent vintage, recorded especially for this CD project -- and the tunes have some incredibly ...

Remixed tracks from Novalima's Coba Coba album -- put together with an even wider range of global influences than the original record! The group get plenty of overseas help here, especially some key input from London mixers -- and many of the grooves are pointed firmly at the dancefloor. Titles ...

A mighty second serving of classic work from Rail Band -- one of the biggest forces in Mali Music during the 1970s, and for good reason too! This 2CD package focuses most strongly on the "second period" of the group -- their mid 70s run -- but it also includes some key tracks from other ...

Heavy-jamming Afro Funk from Osibisa -- the group's first 2 albums, back to back in one 2 CD package! Osibisa were one of the most popular Afro Funk groups of their generation -- with a globe-spanning influence that made them as well-received over here in the US as they were in their post-colonial ...

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 ...

The first ever comprehensive anthology of Ethio Jazz from unrivaled master Mulatu Astatke -- put together by our heroes at Strut Records -- the same label that released Mulatu's stellar collaboration with the Heliocentrics just a year earlier! Strut picks material from his prime 60s & 70s ...

Really wonderful stuff -- a collection of totally unique grooves that won't cross over with any of your other African funk compilations! The focus here is on jazz, not funk or soul -- and the set features a wealth of great tracks pulled from obscure South African records of the late 70s and early ...

The 3rd album by Oneness Of Juju (not counting the lost Bush Brothers & Space Rangers set) -- and a great little set that has them changing things up for the dancefloor! The standout number is their classic "Every Way But Loose" -- a tune that was so big it was later licensed for the ...

The first ever full length effort from blind Addis Ababa singer Mohammed 'Jimmy' Mohammed -- who appeared on the second Ethiopiques compilation -- finally with a recorded set of his own! There's a loose, melodic and all around wonderful feel -- a warmth that really needs to be heard to be believed! ...

Amazingly tripped-out work from Indian composer Dilip Roy -- a sometime collaborator with Ananda Shankar, working here in a groove that's amazingly ambitious and complex! The music includes flute, vibes, organ, synthesizer, and more traditional Indian instrumentation -- blended with a bit of ...

Really unique sounds from Zaiko Langa Langa -- a 70s combo from Zaire, with a sound that's a fair bit leaner than some of their contemporaries! The main sounds here come from vocals, guitars, and percussion -- no added horns at all, and even the rhythms are pretty spare too -- leaving most of the ...

Amazing music from the last decade of Francois Luambo Makiadi -- aka Franco -- the kind of music that made him one of Africa's greatest musical exports of the time! Although Franco and his TPOK Jazz group were riding high during these years, they still were really breaking great new ground with ...

A great set that goes a long way towards filling in the gaps in the under-recorded earlier years of Malian singer Kandia Kouyate! The package brings together a core five numbers from a 1999 session in Paris, done with excellent accompaniment on kora from Ballake Sissoko -- then adds in a rare ...

They certainly got the title right on this one -- because the groove is heavy heavy heavy, and the set is one of the funkiest African collections we've ever stocked! Geraldo Pino's often credited as the man who inspired part of the Fela sound of the 70s -- and Pino was one of the first Africans to ...

A great collection of classic Congolese rhumba work from the 50s and 60s -- music that has some elements of the Cuban style of the genre, but which really takes off on its own in whole new ways! The guitar is an essential part of the rhythms here -- dancing along with percussion at a level that ...

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 ...

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 music from the personal archives of Group Doueh -- tracks all originally recorded on cassette, but cleaned up nicely and presented in one of those great Sublime Frequencies packages! The first half of the set features shorter numbers by the group -- really compelling numbers that feature ...

Rare recordings from the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique in the French Caribbean -- rare Afro Latin grooves from the mid 60s to the mid 70s -- a fantastic compilation from the global groove compilation heroes at Soundway! The material generally has the thumping drum & percussion backdrop ...

A classic bit of Afro Funk -- one that paired the growing groove of Fela with the focused sound of Ginger Baker -- the ex-Cream drummer who'd been championing Fela's cause on the UK scene! The sound of the set is great -- well on a par with Fela's best work of the time, and perhaps even a bit ...

Massive funk from the Nigerian scene of the 70s -- and miles away from US disco of the time! These cuts represent a tighter, more uptempo side of African funk -- but they're never as polished or professional as American club or disco -- no soaring strings, female chorus vocals, or other sweetening ...

Forget the "rock" in the title, and just focus on the "funk" -- because this set of tracks is a massively heavy batch of Nigerian numbers from the 70s -- all with the same solidly soulful feel as more familiar Afro Funk work of the time! There's a definite emphasis on guitars -- ...

Excellent stuff -- and a much-needed look at the funky 70s scene in Ghana! Much of the Afro Funk that's been revived over the past few years has come from the Nigerian scene -- so it's great to hear this set of funky tunes from Ghana, a rich selection of grooves with a slightly harder edge than ...

Amazing grooves from the Lollywood scene of the 70s -- the Pakistani equivalent of the films coming out of India's Bollywood at the time! The grooves here are often quite different than what you might hear from Bollywood -- still touched with an Eastern, exotic sensibility (at least to our Western ...

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 -- ...

Essential work from the African scene of the 70s -- a collection of tracks that goes way beyond the more familiar grooves of Fela Kuti and Manu Dibango! The set may well be the deepest so far we've heard from the always-amazing Soundway Records -- a package that digs into a wealth of under-heard ...

Massive work from this funky Nigerian cat -- a set that offers up a key mix of James Brown funk and home-grown elements -- all in a blend that's totally unique! The 1970 album mixes together equal parts African highlife and American soul -- making for a style that's heavy one minute, lighter the ...

A decade's worth of groundbreaking funk and African rhythms -- all of it recorded by Hugh Masekela for his legendary Chisa label! Back in the 60s, Hugh cracked the American charts with a playful version of South African jazz -- but he was also an even hipper cat than you'd guess from his hits, and ...

A cool collection of funky grooves from the Caribbean -- tracks that take a strong influence from American soul and funk, then blend it heavily with hip rhythms from the islands! A few of the names here are familiar, but most are relatively obscure -- and put together, the tunes on the set ...

A great dip into the legendary catalog of the Ethiopiques series -- and one that attempts to bring together some of the most groove-heavy tracks from the collection! The series has been going for over a decade -- and is well-known for bringing amazing other-worldly sounds to a much wider audience - ...

A great little Fela compilation of some of the Black President's most iconic material -- plus a DVD featuring excerpts from documentaries and concerts over the years! This 2CD set features Fela's classic mid 70s recordings - with some of them edited down to shorter takes than the extended ones ...

Skin-bending beats from Andre Marie Tala -- a musician whose work has rocked the scene in Cameroon for over 30 years! Tala first got his start with Manu Dibango, who produced some of the first recordings in this collection -- and while you can definitely hear a linage that starts with Dibango's ...

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 fantastic record from one of the greatest underground jazz groups of the 70s! Oneness of Juju are perhaps best known for the heavy funk of their first album, African Rhythms, but we're actually partial to this second album -- a warmly spiritual batch of soul jazz tracks, filled with life, ...

The first album by the group that later went on to become Oneness Of Juju! The album was recorded with a group that featured Plunky Nakabinde and Lon Moshe on reeds and percussion -- plus Babatunde on congas and drums -- and the overall sound is very much in kind of an Art Ensemble Of Chicago mode ...

The long-awaited full length set from Seun Kuti -- the Fela family member who's got even more of his father's groove going on than Femi Kuti! Seun's working here with the Egypt 80 band, who are in razor-sharp formation throughout -- hitting rhythms and instrumental passages that show they haven't ...

A landmark of Afro-centric jazz in the 70s -- and the first album by this famous underground collective! Oneness of Juju were a Washington DC-based group that grew out of the ashes of the Juju avant jazz ensemble -- formed in the culturally rich African-American community of DC in the 70s, with ...

Magical music from the 70s scene in Mali -- work that's often quite different than some of the more familiar modes that have hit the mainstream in recent years! As you'd guess from the titles, a good number of these tracks have a strongly electric vibe -- mostly on the guitars, which are often ...

Killer work from the Syllart catalog of the 70s -- tunes that are neither rumba, nor rock -- but a strange hybrid of a number of different elements! Almost all the tracks here have a pronounced electric part -- not really fuzzy, or rockish -- but often played in a highly rhythmic way that also ...

Amazing work from the Senegalese scene of the 70s -- easily one of the hippest musical hotspots on the African continent at the time, as you'll hear by the wonderful tracks on this set! Senegalese groups really embrace a wide range of sounds -- not just traditional elements, or occasional ...

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 2CD overview of work from the years of Guinea's cultural revolution -- a time when the government sought to unify and direct the newly independent nation through a host of regional and national musical programs! Although potentially domineering, the rare effort was actually somewhat liberating -- ...