... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

A set originally issued as a Record Store Day goodie back in 2021, and a record that provides the full Czarface experience by combining a very cool comic book with the tracks on the set! Inspectah Deck drops out here, as the set's really an instrumental set – and works almost like one of those cool 70s Power Records comic/record combos – although more as a soundtrack to use while you're reading the comic! And even if you don't have the book, the music's pretty great on its own – with titles that include "Winged Fingers", "Voyage Dans Le Temps", "Rise Of Czar Noir", "Avant Czar", and the cuts "Czarface Theme 3099" and "Czarbot Theme" – which feature vocals from Kendra Morris! LP, Vinyl record album

An album of fragile beauty and buried darkness – in a space that's somewhere between the work of Nico and Brigitte Fontaine, but a fair bit sweeter overall! Emmanuelle Parrenin sings here in a timeless style that might almost be called folksy – especially in the return to tradition styles of the UK 70s scene – but it's also got a slightly headier feel overall, almost trippy at times, with a sense of crumbling innocence that's further underscored by spare instrumentation that includes hurdy-gurdy, spinet, and dulcimer. Most tunes just feature vocals and some combination of these instruments – and a few numbers feature slightly larger backing, but never a full group mode. Titles include "Ritournelle", "Leiturgie", "Copraze", "Lecharpe De Soie", "Ce Matin A Fremontel", and "Belle Virginie". Amazing vinyl reissue – very heavy cover and vinyl, and beautifully done overall! LP, Vinyl record album

A record that's a keyboard lover's delight – especially if you love more synth-heavy sounds – because Rich Aucoin presents the tracks as a mini history of synthesizer sounds and styles – working here with instruments from the collections of the National Music Centre in Calgary, and the Vintage Synthesizer Museum in LA! The music really resonates with the kind of elements you'd expect from that legacy – and from the great image on the front – a shift in sound from track to track, as Aucoin delivers these instrumentals that are especially heavy on influences from the world of 80s club, dance, and funk. Titles include "Shift", "Pure", "Space", "Prophet", "Liminal", "Roger Luther", "Tech Noir", and "Lyra". LP, Vinyl record album

A blistering album from Belgian/Congolese rapper Baloji – music related to his directorial debut in the film Augure, and delivered with even more punch than some of his previous albums! Baloji got his start in the group Starflam, but has really grown strongly as a solo artist – pushing the boundaries of the hip hop elements that informed his roots, and fusing them with Conglese elements in a very strong way – so that the energy on the record really matches the vivid images in the film! The record features guest appearances from Jamila Woods, Mayra Andrade, Sampa The Great, Cha'Brown, Swazzi, and others – and titles include "Maggi", "Cherche Midi", "Tituba", "Autopsy", "Dahlia Noir", "Faux Billets", "Les Dents Du Piegne", and "La Crosse & La Banniere". LP, Vinyl record album

Sexy stuff from one of the most famous French stars of the 60s – a record that has Brigitte Bardot working in the same sort of slinky territory as Serge Gainsbourg, but with a slightly different feel overall! The album's a bit jazzier than some of Bardot's later work – with great backings from Claude Bolling and Francois Rauber – served up with some occasional Latin touches, of the type you might find in some of Gainsbourg's music of the time. Backings are somewhat large, but never sleepy – and titles include originals by Bolling and Serge Gainsbourg – titles that include "C'est Rigolo", "Pas D'Advantage", "Noir Et Blanc", "Rose D'Eau", "Invitango", "El Cuchipe", and "Les Amis De La Musique". LP, Vinyl record album

Some of the hippest sounds we've ever heard from Guadeloupe – served up by Erick Cosaque – a singer, percussionist, and key figure in the gwo-ka genre – yet an artist who works in a special space that's all his own! The tunes here definitely have the heavy percussion of gwo-ka, but they also bring in plenty of elements of funk and soul – the latter from Erick's amazing vocal style, which has this really deep flow that's wrapped around a set of French and Creole lyrics, but which has amazing power even if you can't understand the language! There's lots of great elements on keyboards and electric bass, which further helps underscore the funkier part of the music – and the whole thing is the kind of wonderful blend we've always loved from the criss-crossing of cultures in Guadeloupe, but also in a mode that's head and shoulders above most of the rest. Titles include "Joue Zizipan", "Donatien", "Embawgo", "De Chate Cole", "De Ti Mo Pawol Cweol", "L'Heureux Noir", "Jean La Line La Clere", and "Desere Nou De May". LP, Vinyl record album

A playfully swinging little set from Morgana King – given the groovy, latenight lounge Reprise sound by producer Jimmy Bowen! This second album for Reprise is a much more extroverted than the quite strong It's A Quiet Thing LP from a year before – with arranger Torrie Zito grooving out into a lightly swinging sound, in place of his chillier, almost noir approach on the previous LP! Morgana's vocals are tastefully grand – doing more with a hushed tone and an unrivaled vibrato than many more famous peers can do with a showier style! Titles include "Anything Goes", "Nobody Else But Me", "I Thought Of You Last Night", "You Fascinate Me So", "The Best Is Yet To Come", "Wild Is Love" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most electric sets we've ever heard from sound library genius Janko Nilovic – a set that has some spacey moments that live up to the title, mixed with others that have more of the funk that you'd know from his classics! The spacier bits have a variety of keyboards tripping out in a way that's spacious, but always tuneful – and those passages are balanced by cuts that kick up the drums, but still have lots of great keyboard lines too – mixed with wah-wah guitar, flute, and even a bit of trumpet! Production and instrumentation are maybe more late 70s than on Janko's soul-styled records from a few years before – but there's still a strong influence from jazz, and lots of great cop/crime sort of moments. Titles include "Ballad Pour Un Dauphin", "L'Or Noir", "Operation Cancer", "Le Grand Espoir", "Aventures Sous Marines", "La Longue Marche", "Water Colour", and "Operation Survie". LP, Vinyl record album

An overlooked 70s soundtrack from the great Lalo Schifrin – in part because it was never issued on vinyl back in the day! The film is an obscure mid-70s murder mystery, but one that's given a great deal of depth and class from Schifrin's music – which is often surprisingly jazzy, despite the setting of the film – almost with the care of some excellent late night LA noir, and in the territory of Johnny Mandel for its sensitivity and color – yet still served up with all the Schifrin sense of swing and groove! The group features some greats from the LA jazz scene – Emil Richards on percussion, Bud Shank on reeds, and Howard Roberts on guitar – and titles include "Rosehaven Motel", "Maggie's Theme", "Evelyn Story", "Wills' Trance", and "Forest Finale". Plus, this first-ever vinyl version features some great bonus material, some unissued – a whopping 30 tracks in all! LP, Vinyl record album

Beautiful bossa work from Toco – a session recorded in Rio with production by S-Tone, and featuring some wonderful acoustic guitar from the legendary Roberto Menescal! Menescal's presence here really helps give the record a classic grounding – a sense of depth and history that surpasses even Toco's great debut – and which is made even better by the presence of Rosalia De Souza on guest vocals on a number of tracks! As with Rosalia's recent Rio sessions, there's a sound here that's warmer, jazzier, and even more traditionally bossa-based than previous Schema releases – with a bit less of a dancefloor focus in the rhythms, and a lot more live instrumentation! All numbers feature small combo backing, and titles include "Litoral", "Zum Zum", "Assuntos Banais", "Bom Motivo", "Samba Noir", "Barracao", "Voz Da Lapa", and "Contradicao", which features guest vocals from Coralie Clement! LP, Vinyl record album

A real classic from those early 70s European years of exploration by the great pianist Mal Waldron – music that really has Mal pushing forward in ways that are completely unexpected if you only know his American records from earlier years – but maybe a bit more understandable, given the ever-growing genius he showed over the decades! The group's a trio – recorded live with Pierre Favre on drums, and the great Jimmy Woode on bass – and the combination of Favre's free modernism and Woode's soulful swing makes for a very interesting rhythm section – and Waldron, as he often did in this sort of session, dominates the proceedings with some moody and introspective work on the piano – bridging the players with a wonderful sense of creative imagination. Titles include "The Call", "Sieg Haile", "MC", "La Gloire Du Noir", and "Rock My Soul". LP, Vinyl record album

The rare first solo album from Gary Walker of the Walker Brothers – originally released only in Japan in 1968 – compiled on CD with some equally rare singles! Gary's solo work really is a world away from the baroque noir of his "brother" Scott's solo LPs of the 60s – a buzzing, melodic batch of chiming psychedelic pop with strong harmonies from his Rain band members – which included a pre-Badfinger Joey Molland. Titles include "Magazine Woman", "The Sun Shines", "Doctor Doctor", "I Can't Stand To Lose You", "Market Tavern", "Spooky", "The View", "If You Don't Come Back", Thoughts Of An Old Man", "Francis", "I Promise To Love You" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

A really cool idea for a collection – a set that brings together vintage 70s tracks and more contemporary cuts – all with a globe-spanning ear for a groove, and an approach that's as heavy in soul as you'd expect from the title! This isn't your usual collection of sample tracks or funk classics – as the selection moves way past the obvious, and does a brilliant job of combining tracks we never would have thought to put together – while also introducing us to a number we'd never heard before too! Titles include "Every Time I See Him" by Metropolis, "Eva" by Robson Jorge & Lincoln Olivetti, "O Galho Da Roseira" by Airto, "Apocalypse Now Ho" by Nar'Chiveol, "Wache" by Francisco, "After All" by Soylent Green, "Space Queen" by King Errison, "Robot Man" by Yusef Lateef, "Stay This Way (lunar dub)" by Brand New Heavies, "Le Train" by Chene Noir, "Southern Freez" by On, "The PL (ext edit)" by Typesun, and "Le Cyclope" by Daniel Humair, Francois Jeanneau, and Henri Texier. LP, Vinyl record album

A very cool Japanese package, one designed to appeal to lovers of classic film noir and postwar crime fiction! The set brings together an assortment of jazz and vocal tracks – the sort that might have been coming over the radio in the background while two lovers plotted a murder, or a gang of thieves were staking out a bank – a nice moody mix of work from Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Teddy Wilson, Duke Ellington, Les Brown, Lee Wiley, Peggy Lee, John Kirby, and others! LP, Vinyl record album

With selections from "La Boum", "La Boum 2", "Diva", "La Chevre", "Salut L'Artiste", Le Grand Blond Avec Une Chaussure Noire", and more. LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Fusion Affair are a group who definitely take their name seriously – as the album's got a mix of keyboards and other electric instrumentation that really lives up to the legacy of jazz fusion – yet also has a way of coming across here with a nicely contemporary vibe! The group's inspirations are as much 80s as they are 70s – yet they've also got more of a 21st Century sense of rhythms, which means that some of the best cuts almost have a contemporary clubby sort of groove. Mathieu Guillot handles Fender Rhodes and a range of other keyboards on the set – in a lineup that also includes guitar, bass, drums, percussion, and additional keys – on the tracks "Venom", "Bounce", "Missing Cat", "Bougie Noire", "Dasha", and "Fruits Rouges". LP, Vinyl record album

A really great collection of Chess Records work by JB Lenoir – one of the more unusual singers on the Chicago scene at the time – and one with a sound that's pretty darn great all the way through! Lenoir's tone is a pitch or two up from most of his contemporaries – not as gritty and deep, and with inflections that almost point the way towards soul singers in the generation to come. Yet the backings are definitely in the best Windy City modes of the time – as Lenoir plays some great electric guitar, alongside Alex Atkins on alto, Ernest Cotton on tenor, Joe Montgomery on piano, and Willie Dixon on bass. The set mixes vintage singles with a few unreleased tracks – and titles include "Natural Man", "Don't Dog Your Woman", "Don't Touch My Head", "Five Years", "Mama What About Your Daughter", "Korea Blues", "Let Me Die With The One I Love", "I'm In Korea", and "Carrie Lee". LP, Vinyl record album

Great large group material from Gerry Mulligan – and a record that definitely defines the sound of his famous Concert Jazz Band of the early 60s! The group features a four part sax section – headed by Mulligan, with other players that include Zoot Sims on tenor, Gene Allen on baritone, Gene Quill on alto, and Dick Meldonian on alto – and the set also features work by Nick Travis and Conte Candoli on trumpets, and Bob Brookmeyer on valve trombone and trombone – shading in some nice colors to the group's tone-heavy approach! Titles include "Out Of This World", "Sweet & Slow", "Bweebida Bobbida", and "Manoir Des Mes Reves". LP, Vinyl record album

A tremendous project from the scene in Uruguay at the start of the 70s – a magical moment of musical creation, put together by the legendary Eduardo Mateo and some of the key artists of his generation! As with Mateo's music, there's an approach here that's both sophisticated and down to earth at the same time – some qualities that resonate strongly with the best Brazilian work of the time, but which have that special bent that was taking place amidst the struggles that were facing Uruguay at this difficult time in their history. Instrumentation is a great blend of acoustic and electric elements, and the shifting voices really help keep things interesting – on titles that include "Pippo" by Urbano & El Kinto, "Principe Azul" by Mateo & El Kinto, "Si Te Vas De Mi Pueblo" by Mateo & Reinaldo, "Mejor Me Voy" by Diane Denoir & Mateo, "Musicasion III" by Urbano, "Muy Lejos Te Vas" by El Kinto, "Sueno De Una Noche De Mermelada" by Horacio, and "Margaritas Rojas" by Mateo, Federico, & Figares. 2LP version features new mastering – and a massive 18 tracks from the same generation, most unreleased! LP, Vinyl record album

A weird and wonderful chapter in the career of Django Reinhardt – a posthumous album that has his solo guitar parts taken from older Barclay albums, then reworked with added 60s sounds from Guitars Unlimited! The approach is totally great – an all-guitar groove that has the newer combo adding in rhythm and melody bits with their own electric work – all augmenting Django's originals in ways that are surprisingly wonderful, and which really retain the bristling excitement of the classics. Titles include "Nuages", "Gypsy With A Song", "Insensiblement", "Brazil", "Manoir De Mes Reves", and "Confessin". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

A baroque instrumental masterpiece from Jean Claude Vannier – Serge Gainsbourg's right hand man at the start of the 70s, and a key figure in the legendary Histoire De Melody Nelson album! The feel here is very much along the lines of work that Serge was doing at the time – larger orchestrations mixed with smaller instrumentation – in a level that's often funky, always baroque, and very much in the best Sexopolis styles of the French pop scene of the time! There's a marked similarity here to some of the work of Michel Colombier – but unlike Colombier, and Gainsbourg, there's no vocals at all on these tracks – and the main genius is carried by Vannier's incredibly arranged strings, rolling rhythms, fuzzy guitars, and dark little soundtrack-styled groove! Some tracks are wonderfully funky, others are moody and tripped-out – and the whole thing's a masterpiece that we'd file right up there with our favorite French work of the time! Titles include "L'Enfanta La Mouche Et Les Allumettes", "Danse Des Mouches Noires Gardes Du Roi", "Mort Du Roi Des Mouches", "Le Papier Tue-Enfant", "Les Garde Volent Au Secours Du Roi", and "Petite Agonie De L'Enfant Assassin". LP, Vinyl record album

That's a mighty sexy cover on the front – and the grooves inside definitely have the flavor to match! The work here is from the obscure French disco underground – a European scene that never got the same exposure as German or Italian work for clubs – which makes the whole package a really great discovery in sound! The music is surprisingly fresh, and often quite funky too – and done in modes that are arguably warmer and more soulful than most other European disco – and often a lot like the best American underground club of the period. Some tracks have breathy female vocals, while others have bolder lyrics that almost echo some of the global musical crossovers happing in 70s Paris and a few of the later tracks bring in electro elements, but in a subtle way we totally love. The collection's a follow-up to the Brazilian Disco Boogie Sounds compilation – and like that one, it's really a cut above the usual! Titles include "Super Star" by Contessa, "Lady Jones" by Over Drive, "Music Madness (ext Charles Maurice version)" by Beckie Bell, "Y'A Du Blues" by Marche Noire, "Un Fait Divers & Rien De Plus (re-remix)" by Le Club, "Pour Moi Ca Va (Charles Maurice version)" by France Lise, "Polar (Charles Maurice version)" by Bernard Guyvan, and "Minuit L'Heure Du Swing" by Didier Makaga. LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most unusual Christmas albums you'll ever buy – at least if you're an American like us – as all the work here is from a variety of different French singers, which makes for a very different spin on the season! Yet even if you can't understand the lyrics, there's plenty here to love – as the tunes have all the warmth and sentiment of work from the Anglo world of Christmas recordings of the postwar years – served up here by a diverse array of artists who include George Brassens, Dalida, Edith Piaf, Line Renaud, Tino Rossi, Charles Aznavour, Marcel Amont, Jean Ferrat, Charles Trenet, Henri Salvador, and Les Chaussettes Noires! LP, Vinyl record album