Welcome To Zamrock Vol 1 & 2

Now Again records are at it again. Yes we have not one, but two new excellent compilations of the best vintage Zamrock music out there.
By the mid-1970s, the Southern African nation known as the Republic of Zambia had fallen on hard times. Though the country’s first president Kenneth Kaunda had thrown off the yoke of British colonialism, the new federation found itself under his self-imposed, autocratic rule. Conflict loomed on all sides of this landlocked nation. Kaunda protected Zambia from war, but his country descended into isolation and poverty.
This is the environment in which the ’70s rock revolution that has come to be known as Zamrock flourished. Fuzz guitars were commonplace, as were driving rhythms as influenced by James Brown’s funk as
Jimi Hendrix’s rock predominated. Musical themes, mainly sung in the country’s constitutional language, English, were often bleak.
In present day Zambia, Zamrock markers were few. Only a small number of the original Zamrock godfathers that remained in the country survived through the late ’90s. AIDS decimated this country, and uncontrollable inflation forced the Zambian rockers that could afford to flee into something resembling exile. This was not a likely scene to survive – but it did.
‘Welcome To Zamrock!’, presented in two volumes, is an overview of its most beloved ensembles, and a trace of its arc from its ascension, to its fall, to its resurgence.
Out now on LP, digital and 103-page hard cover book with CD from Now Again.

The Apostles – Banko Woman

For over forty years, the Apostles of Aba have stood as the jewel in the crown of the music scene in Eastern Nigeria. Since their formation in 1973, the band has turned out memorable performances in a variety of styles including rock, soul, funk, pop and reggae. Even today, the Apostles continue to thrill audiences in their hometown of Aba with dazzling shows.
Cultures of Soul are now set to release one of the Apostles’ more obscure, yet relentlessly funky recordings, “Banko Woman”, originally released on the eponymous LP on Love Day Records in 1977. Straddling the world realms of afro-funk and disco, the track has long been a coveted dance floor filler amongst DJs, and for the first time is available for a wider audience. On the B-side is “Faith, Luck & Music,” also from the original Banko Woman album. Released as a limited edition 7 inch on May 19th visit Cultures Of Soul to secure your copy and have a listen. Perfect sunshine music!

 

Podcast No. 16

We return with the latest in our series of podcast. With no guest host, we have put together some of our favourite tracks from the past few months. Covering hip hop, instrumental beats, funk, afro-beat, electronica and all that good stuff.

Tracklist –

Torb The Roach & Floppy McSpace – Tusen baht
AVER – The Land Of The Oversharers
Buddy Peace – My Rain
Your Old Droog – Help feat. Wiki & Edan
The Beta Club – Library Quakes
Revbjelde – Out Of The Unknown
SJOB – Let’s Do It
Clutchy Hopkins & Fat Albert Einstein – Mojave Dervish
El Michels Affair – Tearz feat. The Shacks & Lee Fields
Gonjasufi – Your Maker (Daddy G Remix)
Strange U – Cimmerian Shade
Sludge Factorie – Sunday
Carpetface – Don’t Get It Twisted
David Baron – The Steps
Keno – Studio One
Daryl Donald – Night Games

SJOB Movement – Friendship Train

Cultures of Soul Records unleash a reissue of the rare Nigerian afro-beat overlooked classic “Friendship Train” by SJOB Movement. “Friendship Train” was the second LP by the group and one which saw the group rise to new heights. It’s a masterpiece of African music with it’s fluid afro beat grooves and spaced out Moog synthesizer sounds. Here is an excerpt from the liner notes written and researched by Uchenna:
“Prince Bola Agbana might hardly be the most immediately recognisable name in the constellation of Nigerian music stars, but for a significant portion of the last half-century he laboured in the shadows, dutifully serving as one of the key movers in its development: An in-demand session musician. An early and respected exponent of funk. A catalyst in the retrofit of juju into a modern pop genre. Most of all, though, he is recognized as the founder, leader, drummer and principal vocalist of the SJOB Movement.
SJOB: Sam, Johnnie, Ottah, Bola. For a moment in the mid-1970s, they were le dernier cri in modern Nigerian music, representing the next step in the evolution of afro rhythms, and a new paradigm for the band economy. Their first album, 1976’s A Move in the Right Direction, was a minor sensation and was swiftly followed by Friendship Train in 1977. Then it appeared that the movement stopped moving, and SJOB disappeared from the scene.”

Coming out on LP and CD on March 3rd. The CD comes with a bonus remix of Love Affair by the Sol Power All-Stars from Washington DC. Pre-order your copy of the album here and get the remix of Love Affair via bandcamp.

 

Podcast 15 Xmas 2016 : Best of 2016

As Christmas approaches we wanted to give you all a round up of some of our favourite music release this year. As things get busy round this time of year, this will be the final post of 2016. To everyone our there we just want to say thank you so much for your support, interest, music, and all round help, we truly appreciate it. We are looking forward to continuing throughout 2017 and bringing you the best underground music around.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, see in 2017 enjoy the podcast!

Full tracklist is as follows –
Elektro4 – The Asylum
The Gaslamp Killer – Shred You To Bits
Mongrels – Duppy Conqueror
Markey Funk – Face To Face
Bardo Land – Overture
The Dandelion Set – Third Programme
Gonjasufi – Maniac Depressant
Chew – Soap
The Difference Machine – Reel World
A Tribe Called Quest – We The People
Algernon Cornelius – Totally Node
The Comet Is Coming – Slam Dunk in a Black Hole
Herma Puma – Sagat X
Renegades of Jazz – Zebra Talk
Brookzill – Saudade Songbook (feat. Count Bass D)
The Heliocentrics – Phenomenon of Man
Mutant Wildlife – Wu Wei
Digital Midgets – In The Mean Time
Diesler – Repeat This Moment (feat. Double Yellow)
El Michels & The Shacks – No Surprise
Drumetrics – MRR-001
Adrian Younge – Memories of War
BadBadNotGood – Hyssop of Love (feat. Mick Jenkins)
J-Zone – Seoul Power

 

Dem Juju Poets – Elephants On Carpets

Want some tasty afro-beat, funky, soulful beats for Christmas? Well look no further than Dem Juju Poets “Elephants On Carpets” out now on Matasuna Records for free download. Get it while you can, you won’t regret it!

Renegades Of Jazz – Moyo Wangu

Renegades Of Jazz are back with a super fresh, super funky new album. “Moyo Mangu” (Swahili for ‘my heart’) is heavily influenced by Renegades Of Jazz aka David Hanke’s time spent as a child living in Tanzania. Hanke has taken the African influence to create a modern take on afrobeat, afrofunk.
Personally I think it works perfectly, every track has that real authentic afrobeat sound and feel underpinned with modern, slightly dancey, funk production, as you would expect from ROJ. I would go as far to say this is ROJ’s finest offering to date, I challenge you to play this album and not want to move. Jammed packed with modern afrofunk anthems, everyone should own a copy, it will make your life better and put a smile on your face!
Sadly the vinyl is sold out on the bandcamp page, however you can still get the CD and the download.

Christophe Lemaire Presents – Can’t You Hear Me?

Globetrotter of parallel subcontinents and digger of rare, forgotten records, Eothen “Egon” Alapatt tracks sounds from the dawn of time to the four corners of the world. On the other side of the globe, French designer Christophe Lemaire stays forward thinking and audacious in his choices: far from our deified present, he cultivates a love of timeless designs and mixed influences; a passion for iconoclastic music hidden in the dark corners of a global cultural industry.
This extraordinary openness has been at the heart of their friendship since 2007. Their exceedingly eclectic, fierce rock discoveries gave birth to a first anthology, Where Are You From?  (Now-Again, 2010), the fruit of Lemaire’s excavating Alapatt’s archives. That was a postgeographic exploration in psych, rock and funk territories from 1968 to now; this second anthology celebrates their impressionist vision and explores garage rock from the 1970s, voicing the struggles of independence in Zambia, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.
“Can’t You Hear Me” comes from a track by charismatic Zamrock icon Paul Ngozi, a Lemaire favorite. Ngozi’s title track sets the tone for a drastic selection of seventeen songs with rebellious undertones, riddled by an infectious groove, the forsaken writing about a forgotten chapter in the history of music. Ngozi,WITCH, Chrissy Zebby Tembo, Amanaz, Wells Fargo, Eye Q and the Funkees represent a generation fighting for their freedom, armed with fuzz guitars, symbolic objects of a new movement. They played in Fela’s kingly shadow, were influenced by Hendrix’s psychedelic solos, Jefferson Airplane’s penetrating chords and Cream’s repetitive melodies. The music of their colonial oppressors they reassembled and reinterpreted with pure energy, without nod to hymn or flag.
A halo of cosmic design and pure lines, the cover for the anthology by Sanghon Kim transports us in this whirling odyssey in space and time while composer/producer Pilooski concludes the album with an edit of WITCH’s “No Time,” an  xpression of the critical need to open up to new perspectives, new imaginations and to keep unearthing riches of our universal heritage.
“Through these tracks we can feel the communicative energy, this pure vitality, not only of Africa , but of youth and hope,” Lemaire states. “And I find it quite universal and timeless. It is not about music as an industry , or as product , but music as a craft . And one can immediately recognized when music is created with heart and soul.”
Released April 15th on Now Again Records take a listen below.

 

 

Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band – Love Like This / Dog Was A Doughnut

Long time multi instrumentalist and band leader Bjorn Wagner spend a few months in Trinidad & Tobago where he became fascinated with steel drums. After he became proficient on the pans Bjorn had his own instrument built from a used oil barrel by legendary pan man Louis C Smith. Upon returning home to Germany, Bjorn set out to blend the tropical steel into his sharply hone funk, soul and hip hop sensibilities. The outcome is an updated take on a classic format, a truly unique sound, the Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band sound.
This latest 7″ single is a super funky take on Faith Evans rnb pop hit “Love Like This” backed with a cover of Cat Stevens electro pioneering tune “Dog Was A Doughnut”. Perfect for the dancefloor and for home listening. Buy the single now from Big Crown records now.
The single precedes the bands debut full length album “55” out on May 6th. The album features cover versions of artists as diverse as 50 Cent, John Holt and Dennis Coffey as well as the bands own original material. But more on that to come soon…

 

Renegades Of Jazz – Podcast and Interview

Our man in Germany, Renegades Of Jazz has kindly taken time out to put together an awesome mix for the latest LeftHandSide Podcast and answer a few of our questions. Have a read and a listen, you won’t be disappointed.

Please introduce yourself and what you do.
Yeah hi, my name is David Hanke and I’m a 37 years old, DJ and Producer from north Germany.
Most of the time I spent on producing music under various names and DJing at the weekends.

When did you first get into making music?
I think I was 15 or 16 when I started playing guitar. I was into Alternative Rock at the time, my friends and me were totally into Rock music and all started learning guitar. Unfortunately none of us managed to start a band. So at the end of the 90’s I was through with Rock music and a friend gave me a cassette tape with electronic produced music. For me electronic music was like Techno and Trance at this time, but then I found out how you can create organic sounding music by using sequencer and samples. So I started my first steps in producing around 2003.

What were your main influences? Have your influences changed over time?
At the beginning I was totally into the Ninja Tune sound. Up, Bustle & Out were my biggest heroes. As well as The Herbaliser, Amon Tobin, DJ Food and all the other Ninjas. Bobby Hughes Experience  and Kid Loco also had a big impact on me.
From 2000-2006 I was mainly influenced by the Tru Thoughts sound and Ninja Tune. It all started with
a big love for Downbeat music and later I became a big fan of contemporary Funk and Soul music. So yes, my influences change from time to time.

It’s hard to pin down your sound; there are many different elements and styles in there. How would you describe your music?
Haha well, I call it my “Northern Jazz” which includes Jazz, Funk, a bit of Soul, B-boy elements, Breaks
or even Downbeat with a darker touch. I even did some dub music or Drum & Bass songs.

You have worked with a number of UK artists, including Greg Blackman and Aspects. How did these collaborations come about?
I usually write them a mail. In case of Aspects it was clear to me that I would love to do something with them. I knew them from their own material and a featuring on a Quantic song. So I wrote them a mail, showing them my idea and the song and we teamed up for “Fire”…Same with Greg. He’s a great chap…and he works very professionally. He loved the idea of the “Paradise Lost” album with it’s dark feel and was writing the lyrics and vocals for three songs on the album, I’m really happy that I have the chance to work with him. I only knew his material from his collaborations with DJ Vadim.

Are there any artists out there you are going to or would like to collaborate with in the
future?
Oh yes for sure. Currently I’m working with some new vocalists….there is a wonderful Lady from New York
and we just started working on some material as well as collaboration with Myles Sanko and Alexia Coley.

You regularly DJ at the legendary Mojo Club. Is DJing an important part of your music and life?
Yes it is important. While Djing I can test my new productions and remixes and I always enjoy seeing people dancing to my music. It’s kind of a balance, during the week I produce and at the weekends I’m Djing those songs or remixes.

On that note, you have supplied us with a fantastic new mix for our podcast. Can you give us a
little insight into the thought, inspiration etc that went into this mix.
Thanks, yes sure…The mix is more a podcast kind of selection what I listen to at the moment. So pretty different
styles in it and wildly mixed.

Which cartoon, old or new, would you like to supply the soundtrack to?
Haha…let me think…Maybe CatDog, I liked it a lot when I was a kid.

What’s next for Renegades of Jazz?
Next the “Moyo Wangu” album will see the light. It will be out early 2016 on Agogo Records. It’s an clubby Afrofunk
album with Artwork by Espen Horne.

Any shout outs etc?
Yeah shout out to the Agogo family, Pimpernel Jones, Deli-Kutt, Master Quest, Rhino Soulsystem, Felox @ The 45/7 Vinyl Club and all friends and people who support us. Thanks for having me!

Buy all Renegades Of Jazz releases HERE and check out the awesome podcast Renegades of Jazz have given us.