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Music from Super 11, Afel Bocoum, Tartit, Robert Plant & Justin Adams, Sedoum Ehl Aida, Lo'Jo + Django, Ali Farka Toure, Tinariwen, Adama Yalomba, Tidawt, Ludovico Einaudi & Ballake Sissoko, Kel Tin Lokiene, and more. CD

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Christopher O'Riley on piano. CD

A beautifully intimate set of vocal work – done in the best style of the Biscoito Fino label – with lots of organic instrumentation at the bottom, lovely vocals from Monica on the top – and a clear and clean recording style that presents the whole thing without any gimmicks or tricks! Titles include "Vingaca", "Cabrochinha", "Mora Na Roca", "Onde Ir", "Sinhazinha", "Assum Branco", and "Cidade Lago". CD

One of the key records in really helping establish Tinariwen as a powerful global force in music – a set that's worth it alone for the amazing guitar work on the set, alongside the haunting vocals that really send the whole thing home! That's obviously not the band on the cover, but the image showcases some of the hope that the group can convey in their music – especially as their own sounds on record helped draw attention to the larger struggles that faced their culture. Titles include "Tahult In", "Tenhert", "Lulla", "Desert Wind", "Ere Tasfata Adounia", "Chabiba", "Assuf Ag Assuf", and "Tenalle Chegret". LP, Vinyl record album

Really wonderful work from a perfectly-matched trio – an all-star lineup, even though pianist Geri Allen was just at the start of her career – and a group who'd already given the world a few different studio albums on other labels! The set follows up with more material from the group's sessions for DIW at the Village Vanguard – and trust us, the material here is every bit as great as the work that was first issued decades back – a perfect balance between the lyrical flights of Geri Allen on the piano, the warmly round basslines of Charlie Haden, and the measured drum work of Paul Motian – a set that's free of ego, and which really has all three players working in wonderfully sympathetic company. Titles include "Fiasco", "In Walked Bud", "Obtuse Angles", "Two Women From Padua", "Mambo Jumbo", "Song For The Whales", "Dance Of Infidels", "Dancing In The Dark", and "I Didn't Know What Time It Was". CD

An instant classic from Slum Village – one of those records that kind of snuck out into the world, then became legendary as the years went on! Of course, with work from Jay Dee, there's no surprise that the album's got plenty of staying power – as he does a killer job here, throughout, really elevating the work of T3 and Baatin with a mix of influences from soul, deep funk, and mellowed-out jazzy touches! In addition to the core Slum crew the record features D'Angelo, Busta Rhymes, Q-Tip, Pete Rock, and Jazzy Jeff – on titles that include "Conant Gardens, "I Don't Know", "Jealously", "Fall In Love", "Get Dis Money", "Once Upon A Time", "Go Ladies", "Hold Tight", "What's It All About", and "Fourth & Back". Also includes the bonus tracks "Thelonious" and "Fall In Love (Remix)". LP, Vinyl record album

An instant classic from Slum Village – one of those records that kind of snuck out into the world, then became legendary as the years went on! Of course, with work from Jay Dee, there's no surprise that the album's got plenty of staying power – as he does a killer job here, throughout, really elevating the work of T3 and Baatin with a mix of influences from soul, deep funk, and mellowed-out jazzy touches! In addition to the core Slum crew the record features D'Angelo, Busta Rhymes, Q-Tip, Pete Rock, and Jazzy Jeff – on titles that include "Conant Gardens, "I Don't Know", "Jealously", "Fall In Love", "Get Dis Money", "Once Upon A Time", "Go Ladies", "Hold Tight", "What's It All About", and "Fourth & Back". LP, Vinyl record album

Slum Village's legendary Fantastic Vol 1 – one of the most sought-after hip hop albums of the era – with the most rugged-and-raw Jay Dee production on record! Honestly, we're left pretty close to speechless by how tightly these tracks hold up. This is indeed the template for so many great Dilla productions to come, but it's much more than merely that. While the MCs may not spin the most revolutionary rhymes in the world, the way the mics so deftly fill the deceptively spare production is nothing short of masterful. To put it another way, this genuinely lives up to the legend. This is the long version with 24 in all: "Keep It On (This Beat)","Forth & Back","Beej N Dem", "Hoc N Pucky", "Give This N***a", "Players", "I Don't Know", "Look Of Love (Rmx)", "2 You 4 You", "How We BullS**t", "Estimate" and more. CD

An instant classic from Slum Village – one of those records that kind of snuck out into the world, then became legendary as the years went on! Of course, with work from Jay Dee, there's no surprise that the album's got plenty of staying power – as he does a killer job here, throughout, really elevating the work of T3 and Baatin with a mix of influences from soul, deep funk, and mellowed-out jazzy touches! In addition to the core Slum crew the record features D'Angelo, Busta Rhymes, Q-Tip, Pete Rock, and Jazzy Jeff – on titles that include "Conant Gardens, "I Don't Know", "Jealously", "Fall In Love", "Get Dis Money", "Once Upon A Time", "Go Ladies", "Hold Tight", "What's It All About", and "Fourth & Back". CD

An instant classic from Slum Village – one of those records that kind of snuck out into the world, then became legendary as the years went on! Of course, with work from Jay Dee, there's no surprise that the album's got plenty of staying power – as he does a killer job here, throughout, really elevating the work of T3 and Baatin with a mix of influences from soul, deep funk, and mellowed-out jazzy touches! In addition to the core Slum crew the record features D'Angelo, Busta Rhymes, Q-Tip, Pete Rock, and Jazzy Jeff – on titles that include "Conant Gardens, "I Don't Know", "Jealously", "Fall In Love", "Get Dis Money", "Once Upon A Time", "Go Ladies", "Hold Tight", "What's It All About", and "Fourth & Back". CD

A blistering mix by DMC Champ DJ Kentaro, known to the world for his incredible scratching, juggling and mixing skills, which he puts to good use here, getting busy on the 1's and 2's with Pressure Sounds bouncing back catalog! The emphasis is a bit on the dub side of their vaults, taking pure rhythms and mixing them into a monstrous beats and bass extravaganza, a non-stop roots era routine unlike any you've heard before! The pacing, mixing and tastefully executed tricks take the already crucial Pressure Sounds selections to a whole other level, with a total of 28 selections rendered into one continuously mixed set, and includes numbers like "Diverse Doctrine Version" by the Village Bunch, "False Rumor Version" by King Tubby, "Future Dub" by the Upsetter, "Disco Jack Version" by Jackie Mittoo, "Roots Kunta Kintye" by Joe Gibbs & The Professionals, "Kunta Kite" and "Beware Version" by the Revolutionaries, "Jerusalem" by Devon Irons, "Freedom" by Earl 16, "Road Runner" by SOunds Unlimited, "Shaka The Great" by the Overnight Players, and "Mozabites", "Hello Love Brother", "Shake The Nation", "Out Of The Abyss" and "Lowe Gravity" by Prince Far I & The Arabs. CD

Elzhi of Slum Village brings us a pretty great little tribute to Nas's monumental Illmatic – with backing by Detroit funk combo Will Sessions! This is an homage that works, really, really well. Elzhi stays true enough to Nas's vision, but he's not straight up covering it. He puts his own deft style and rhymes into it and we could say the same for the Will Sessions backdrops – doing it up recognizably, but with their own touches – and the action is transported to Detroit. Includes "The Genesis", "Detroit State Of Mind", "Halftime", "Memory Lane", "The World Is Yours", "Represent", "Life's A Bitch" feat Royce Da 5'9 & Stokely Williams of Mint Condition. "One Love" and "It Ain't Hard To Tell". LP, Vinyl record album

The original Madlib remixes set, with his versions of "The Look Of Love" by Slum Village, "Misery Needs Company" by Noreaga, "Firewater" by Big Pun, "Slang Editorial" by Cappadona, "Wanna Test" by Lootpack, "My World Premiere" by Charizma, "Don't See Us" by the Roots, "No Holds Barred" by MOP, "Just To Get A Rep" by Gangstarr and "Car Horn" by Common. LP, Vinyl record album

That's quite a Village People cover on the front – no surprise, as The Ritchie Family are also another key project from VP creator and disco wizard Jacques Morali! All the best Morali modes are firmly in place – that hard-driving, long-grooving style that's perfect for the clubs – with extended grooves that blend core instrumentation with larger soaring strings – all at a length that's bound to get most clubgoers as steamy as the guys on the cover! A newly-recast Ritchie trio of Vera Brown, Jacqui Smith-Lee, and Dodie Draher handles the vocals with a boldness that matches the grooves – and titles include "Sexy Man", "Put Your Feet To The Beat", "Bad Reputatin", and "It's A Man's World/Where Are The Men". LP, Vinyl record album

A whole new genre of disco – served up by one of the biggest club collectors in the world! Dimitri's the man who's guided us through so many other great sets of rare disco tracks over the years – and this time around, he's launching new look at the form! Cocktail Disco is a unique variation that's often heavy on orchestrations, and which sometimes has echoes of older jazz, vocal, or Latin recordings – classic influences that simmer nicely through the mix – and help deepen the sound of the already-soulful late 70s style! And although "cocktail" normally means laidback or sleepy, these tunes definitely aren't – because all tracks here are in a soaring midtempo mode or better – cuts you'd be happy to play with some of the funkier numbers on the dancefloor, and which should stand out nicely, given their unique twist. 2CD set features 21 titles that include "Summertime" by Blue Velvets, "What You Need Is My Love" by Cindy Rodriguez, "It's Got To Be Love" by Darcus, "Ocean's Apart" by Vast Majority, "Show You The Way To Go" by Charlie's Roots, "Again" by Night People, "Lady Of The Night" by Ray Martinez, "Disco Village" by J Elliot Group, "Something About You" by Moses, "Baby I Just Wanna Love You" by Jonell Allen", "Canteen" by Serenade, "Starflight" by The Band Who Fell To Earth, "Take Me With You" by Ralfi Pagan, "Never Too Late" by Ms Victoria Barnes, and "Girl From Ipanema (disco version)" by Astrud Gilberto. CD

A second great set of cave art from the DJM Trio – a very groovy instrumental combo who turn out jazz versions of classics from the world of soul, funk, and hip hop! This time around, the trio take on cuts by Slum Village, Patrice Rushen, J Dilla, Solange, MF Doom, and others – and even turn out a cool take on a tune from the Legend Of Zelda Wind Waker video game – all done with lots of beautiful keyboard work from Dominic J Marshall, next to the bass of Sam Vicary and drums of Sam Gardner. Titles include "Sage Fado", "Strange Heart", "Cranes In The Sky/All Falls Down", "Computer Love", "Forget Me Nots", "Fantastic 3", "Cheating", "Maybe Beautiful", and "Bistro". LP, Vinyl record album

Dwele returns with a thematically ambitious effort – a 3 section album divided into W.ants, W.orld and W.omen – and it pays off very well and actually works as cohesively as anything he's done to date! Wisely, Dwele doesn't veer to hard stylistically from one section to the next, a solid modern hip hop soul sound on the production tip, and we're not hearing any short sighted bows to current trends or throwback soul. It's honest and real, just as we'd hope from one of Detroits brightest graduates of the neo soul scene – with guests David Banner, Slum Village, Raheem Devaughn & others. Titles include "Wants (Intro)", "I Wish", "Grown", "Dodgin Your Phone" feat David Banner, "Dim The Lights" & Smoke Up The Back (Interlude)" feat Raheem DeVaughn, "World (Intro)", "How I Deal" feat Slum Village, "My People", "Women (Intro)" feat Kindra Parker, "I Understand", "Love You Right", "I Wanna" feat DJ Quik, "What's Not To Love" and more. CD

"Discerning Dancefloor" is right – as the set's one of the hippest you could ever hope to walk into in all your nights of club-hopping! The folks at BBE put this one together with a great mix of soul, funk, Latin, house, and jazz – and they took the time to include some old favorites from the London scene, some overlooked jams from recent years, and a few bubbling under cuts that fit perfectly with the rest of the package. Titles include the MAW mix of George Benson's "El Barrio", plus "The Child (K-Dope rmx)" by Alex Gopher, "Fly Away (Roy's Chitown dub)" by Children Of Planet Earth, "You've Got To Have Freedom" by Pharoah Sanders, "Fearless" by Incognito, "On The Street Where You Live" by Tito Puente, "The Truth" by Handsome Boy Modelling School, "Peer Pressure" by Pepe Bradock, "People Make The World Go Round (Slum Village mix)" by Carl Craig, "Truth Don Die" by Femi Kuti, "Jujazwarfare (Future Peace mix)" by AfterGlow, and "Got The Bug (Bettina's Mix)" by Bourgie Soliterre. CD version features 20 unmixed tracks on 2CDs! CD

Detroit Soul is firmly back on the map – years after Motown, years after Techno, the motor city is humming again – with some of the best underground soul in the US! This excellent set does a great job of pulling together the rich range of current work from Detroit – moving past the obvious hip hop and dancefloor tracks to go for the mellower, more soulful work that's started showing up in recent years. The sound of the set is wonderful – chilled out, but not in a lazy way – with a sweetly soulful vibe that takes us back to the days of Stevie and Syreeta – yet which also has a future fresh sound that's totally today! Titles include "Open Your Eyes" by Platinum Pied Pipers, "Think Twice" by Detroit Experiment, "Feeling Of Love" by Anetria Wright, "Goodbye" by Def Con 5 with Blue Eyez, "The Loveliest" by Athletic Mic League, "Tainted" by Slum Village with Dwele, "People Make The World Go Round" by Innerzone Orchestra, "The Red" by Jaylib, "Inside" by John Arnold with Malik Alston, "Welcome" by Blue Eyez, "Brazilian Groove" by Jay Dee, "You" by Amp Fiddler, and "The Truth" by Dwele. 16 cuts in all. CD

Four full albums from the great Martin Denny – presented here with bonus tracks too! First up is the initial Exotica album – the birth of a sound and the birth of a legend – Martin Denny's first album in the Exotica series, and a record so great it named an entire genre! Denny certainly didn't invent the tropical style of easy listening that came to be known as "exotica" in the 50s – but with a record like this, he delivered the goods better than anyone else – by taking away all the too-sweet styles of Hawaiian music, and serving up a stripped-down, jazzy kind of sound! The album features Denny's classic original quartet – with Arthur Lyman on vibes and Augie Colon on bongos – and titles include "Stone God", "Jungle Flower", "Busy Port", "Lotus Land", and his hit recording of "Quiet Village". Exotica 2 is the second album in Denny's legendary Exotica trilogy – a set of records that provided the extreme definition of the small sub-genre that today has become the stuff of legend! Denny's still working here in his classic format – a small group with heavy piano lines, playful percussion, and some birdcalls sung by the members of the group! The set's a mix of strange songs from strange sources, all given the sublime Denny twist – and titles include "Singing Bamboos", "Escales", "August Bells", "Ebb Tide", "Rush Hour In Hong Kong", and "Soshu Night Serenade". Exotica 3 is sublime late 50s work from Martin Denny – his third album under the Exotica banner, and almost a deeper and weirder album than the other two! The sound here is extremely haunting – even more freed from conventional melody than the rest, and very fixated on the tonal possibilities that could be produced from Denny's unique grouping of percussion, piano, bass, and vibes. There's few tricks or gimmicks on the set – just a spare and other-worldly approach to music that's totally great! Titles include "Manila", "Mama Iti E Papa E", "Bamboo Lullaby", "Ringo Oiwake", "Moon Of Manakoora", "Congo Train", and "Beautiful Kahana". Quiet Village is an undisputed classic in the exotica genre – and the record that yielded Martin Denny his biggest hit! The title track "Quiet Village" was originally written by Les Baxter, but it was Martin Denny's approach that really managed to send the tune over the top – using spare percussion, rhythmic piano, and just the right amount of vibes and bird calls to give the track a really haunting feel. That approach is echoed throughout the set – with shifting instrumentation that includes celeste, bongos, marimbas, and marimbula as well! Titles include "Quiet Village", "Paradise Found", "Sake Rock", "Martinique", "Tune From Rangoon", and "Pagan Love Song". CD features bonus tracks too – "Llama Serenade" and "The Enchanted Sea" and more. CD

The jazz community here is pretty small – just a sextet, but one that had a huge impact on the Swiss jazz scene at the time! The group have a vibe that's maybe a bit earlier than the date of the material here – maybe more like some of the early 70s expressions from the American, German, and British jazz worlds – with lots of modal energy in the rhythms, and solos that are strong and freewheeling, but never too far outside – working with a really great sensibility between the members of the group. The music is dynamic, but never in a way that's forced or showoffy – and the set's filled with great originals by members of the group – who include Hans Kennel on trumpet, Paul Haag on trombone, Heiner Althaus on tenor, Armin Keil on piano, and Alex Bally on drums. Titles include "Snobben", "Keiler", "Welcome", "Incarnation", "Leaving The City", "Segara Village", "Fjorden", and "Paris Minor". CD features four more tracks than the LP! CD

Genius work from Les Baxter – two of his best albums for Capitol, back to back on one CD! Ritual Of The Savage is one of those must-have albums from the 50s – a super-huge record upon its initial release, and an album that pushed the genre of exotica far further than most others at the time! Before this record, most attempts at exotica were simple instrumental pop, colored with slight worldly instrumentation – or too-dreamy recordings, putting over a sleepy version of life on the islands. Enter Les Baxter, who had an amazing ear for sounds, rhythms, and arrangements – one that was the first to record this sort of music in a way that was sonically evocative, and could stand on its own without other referents. Instrumentation is often conventional, but used oddly here – and Baxter's original compositions are all pretty darn great – playful without being goofy, and nicely mixing Latin and Pacific rhythms at the bottom. Titles include "Busy Port", "The Ritual", "Coronation", "Jungle Jalopy", and Les' original version of "Quiet Village". Heck, even the cover is gorgeous – with a brilliant blue illustration of some guy putting the moves on a woman amidst spooky tribal relics! The Passions is a really obscure box set recording – done as Les Baxter's classic exploitation of "a woman's passions", using vocalist Bas Sheva in the role of the tormented female! Shiva's got a bold, evocative style that's not unlike Yma Sumac – and she sings here wordlessly, as an added instrument on top of Baxter's orchestrations – playing the role of the inner psyche of woman, on titles that include "Lust", "Terror", "Joy", "Hate", "Ecstasy", and "Despair"! The whole thing's a mini docu-drama in sound – beautifully recorded in a flurry of red, blue, and other chromatic hues – not as exotic as Baxter's other work from the 50s, but equally great as a modern sonic psychoanalytic text! CD

An overlooked gem from Pharoah Sanders' years on Impulse – one that has him breaking the pattern a bit, but in a really great way! The session mixes up more shorter songs than before – still all quite spiritual, but also a bit more focused – in a way that packs an incredible punch, even at more contemplative moments. Players include Sanders regulars – like Norman Connors on drums and Cecil McBee on bass – but also some key newcomers, like Art Webb on flute, Joe Bonner on piano, and Jimmy Hopps on drums – making one of his excellent Impulse appearances for the record. But perhaps even more striking are the vocals on the set – done often by Sedatrius Brown, who sings partially in a Leon Thomas spiritual mode – but also hits notes that are a bit earthier, and which are picked up in added vocalizations by members of the group. Sanders himself plays soprano and tenor sax – and titles include the expanded "Village Of The Pharoahs" suite, plus "Went Like It Came", "Memories Of Lee Morgan", "Myth", and "Mansion Worlds". LP, Vinyl record album