The Chi-Lites
Are You My Woman? (Tell Me So) / Stoned Out Of My Mind

Israeli DJ and collector Elado is back on New York City's Razor N Tape with some more rare edit action. On the A-side of Elado Edits Part 2 we have the sweltering Latin vibes of 'Big Baba' followed by the low slung affair that is 'Disco Hummus'. Over on the flip, there's an awesome disco cover of The Beatles on 'Sun' and one more late night dancefloor heater in the form of 'Simba'.ELADOElado Edits Part 2Razor-N-Tape

Another Boogie-Funk records repress for the 1st time. Recorded in Lagos, Nigeria in 1982. Features the great Nkono Teles on clavinet and electric piano and Jojo Kuo, drummer who played with Manu Dibango and Fela Kuti among others.

When thinking of urban coastal Kenyan musicians whose careers run decades deep, taarab performers may be the first who come to mind. Indeed, taarab taps into a poetic tradition that goes back centuries and it may be the longest surviving thread in popular music across the Swahili coast. Sadly, in recent years the thriving scenes of Mombasa and other coastal towns have become increasingly quiet, for a number of reasons including economic decline, the ageing of the live musicians who came up in the 1960s and ‘70s, Congolese and later Nigerian music becoming popular, and the recent clampdown on terrorism which adversely affected public life in Mombasa.There’s another Kenyan coastal sound, one that came up in the seventies and survived it all, a genre that even enjoyed commercial success abroad but has often remained ignored and despised by western critics. Afro7 previously released an EP re-introducing one of the finest examples of this school: Them Mushrooms, a band that played its part in the introduction of coastal dances like cha-cha to the masses; then the second volume of Kenya Special included Hinde, a song from the mid-eighties by African Vibration which even made Kikuyu people in Nairobi speak a bit of the coastal Giriama language at the time, as it became an anthem of sorts. Taarab music has been the essential wedding music of the Swahili coast, but these new bands made their living recording for the club and radio, and performing in hotels. Even though the different currents in Mombasa taarab all borrowed from a multitude of local and foreign genres, Them Mushrooms, Safari Sound Band and the likes created a type of pop music with a modern sound led by keyboards and drum machines that was soon embraced by the eclectic Kenyan audience and foreign visitors alike.One of the most prolific bands in this field has been Mombasa Roots. They recently hit their 40th anniversary, not a small feat in the Kenyan musical landscape that is full of pitfalls. When they started out in 1977, the group was made up of the brothers Ebrahim, Suleiman and Ethiopian drummer Tamrat Kebede, among others; another Juma brother, the late Ahmed Juma, joined the next year as he left the Mombasa Vikings. In 1979 the band, trying their best to come up with their own compositions, recorded their first single in their residence at Muthaiga (Nairobi) with the assistance of Nabil Sansool, the Syrian born producer who, later on, would assist in elevating the production values of Kenyan coastal music. On What Is It That You Want / My Everything, which was released on the Mombasa Roots imprint, the band was still carving out their own niche, and it wasn’t a big hit. Unlike other bands, they invested in their own instruments and the equipment from the start, which helped them finetune the sound that propelled them to fame by the mid-eighties.It was a string of singles, released in 1984 and 1985, and ultimately compiled on their first lp ‘MSA-Mombasa’ (1987), that landed the work of Mombasa Roots in discos, bars and jukeboxs in the remotest corners of the country. ‘Disco cha-ka-cha’ was a sensation when it came out, a bold attempt at reinterpreting a semi-traditional female wedding dance for the clubs, but it worked well. Up to that point, the most common way for urban Kenyans and foreign visitors to hear traditional Kenyan music had been through performances during ceremonies or aimed at tourists. Their version of ’Kata’, a sparse and hypnotic rhythm with the right touch of keyboard, is still well remembered after three decades. The chakacha dance songs helped them gain popularity among the taarab audience, but It was their version of ‘Kasha langu’, a Swahili evergreen first recorded in the 1950’s, that got them a lot of new fans; it’s still a part of Mombasa Roots’ live set today.From its inception, Mombasa Roots played the live circuit on the coast and upcountry in clubs aiming at local audiences and foreign tourists, too. In the years to come they accepted gigs abroad, which led them to places like Germany, Dubai and Ethiopia, where they have been regular guests for the past twenty years. And despite most of the founding members leaving the group (Tamrat and Emile since passed away), Mombasa Roots is still going strong today. The band performs in different venues seven days a week with a diverse line-up of young musicians led by veteran Ebrahim Juma, playing own compositions and covers. The latest Afro7 release is a tribute to these pioneers of Kenyan pop music. The EP combines the first Mombasa Roots Band single from 1979 with three of their biggest hits from the mid-eighties: the melancholic ‘Kasha Langu’, the poppy disco of ‘Karibishe’ and the chakacha trance groove of ‘Mezea tu (Lele mama)’.

Rocking Fela style horn section over squidgy early synth to a spicy disco beat from 1977The CHECKMATESDisco Groove (reissue)Wirl

Slipping through the cracks of infinite timelines, Man from the Future just can't put his past behind him. His journey can be filed as a score for breaking the space-time continuum as written by the Polyrhythmics releasing their sixth full-length studio release coming out on Color Red on May 8, 2020. Continuing the band’s exploration across genre and stylistic lines, Man from the Future documents them at their most evocative and cinematic yet.Spurring particles from their previous LP Caldera, Man from the Future rises out of the ravine to tell a tale that paints vivid stories that bridge the gap between the past, present, and future tying them together on one plane. That imagery alone plays into the writing process behind the album. Reflecting Caldera, there is music featuring and authored by each member of the band on this record. With tunes penned by each of the eight members of the ensemble, each paints their own account with the Man from the Future and etches their mark in the continuum. Also much like Caldera, the music for Man from the Future was composed at a mountain retreat, this time in the Mysty Mountain Properties alongside the Skykomish River in Barring, WA. During their stay at this ranch compound, the band got snowed in, hunkered down, and spent the 72 hours running grooves and melding ideas together. “Time was not an issue,” explains drummer Grant Schroff.From workshopping grooves in the mountains came months of road-testing songs that would see the group refining their deepest vibes and heaviest grooves to date. Man from the Future is a collection of songs that transcend your typical head-solo-head format. A collection of songs that serves as a fresh palate for every member to fulfill both rhythmic and melodic roles. And a collection of songs that can conjure an abundance of imagery and emotions without saying a word. “People want to search for a mood rather than an artist when they’re listening to music these days,” says percussionist Karl Olson, “We’re creating a vibe that happens within a song and it happens at several points across this album. A lot of people will want to listen if they know that they can evoke a mood out of this music.”Man from the Future is a “track-to-track musical landscape,” continues saxophonist and flautist Art Brown. “Yeti Set Go” sets the stage for Man of the Future’s quest through the space-time continuum with a Daktaris meets Roy Ayers soundscape. “Digital Cowboy” is poignant and calculated beckoning the future with synthesizers exploring modern sounds and fusion-based modalities. Fast forward to “In the Trees” and you find the band pulling influence from Italo Calvino’s 1956 novel The Baron in the Trees to create a stripped-down spaghetti western tune that stirs up a pensive sound palate. The scaled-back instrumentation features guitar, bass, an old Italian Vox Continental, light percussion and synthesizers and is unlike any tune the band has released prior. “We are able to take much bolder steps in composition and production style to create distinct feelings,” explains Olson. “Chelada” is a spicy melange of flavors where the band veers away from traditional compositional tactics. The rhythm section is at the forefront and the horns are in the background. The melody is carried by Ben Bloom on guitar and Jason Gray on bass while backed by Scott Morning on muted trumpet and Art Brown on flute playing horn pads. The static grooves give headway the synthesizer and percussion to stretch out. The title track “Man from the Future” takes direct queues from Tower of Power’s “Man from the Past” and features Schroff’s linear-style drumming and funky pocket grooves tipping their hat to Herbie Hancock’s iconic fusion album Thrust.The biggest takeaway from Man from the Future is that this is an album that transcends any type of formula and creates vibe pockets. “It’s a live instrumental mixtape,” says trombonist Elijah Clark. “If you think about a DJ crafting a set, it’s more about crafting pockets of different vibes. There’s tension and release and it’s less about songs and more about a cinematic piece of music that has different movements,” Schroff elaborates.Now on their sixth album and tenth year performing, Polyrhythmics, take all sonic exploration experiences of past albums combined with mad scientist experiments testing the tunes on the road and roll them into the final product that is Man from the Future. “We learn so much about how to get the sounds we want—and we do this ourselves. Every record we make, we build off the experiences of the last record,” says Schroff. The album was recorded at Studio Aleph and engineered and mixed by the band’s bassist Jason Gray at Blue Mallard Studios. It was then mastered by Doug Krebs of Doug Krebs Mastering and will be released on Color Red, record label and music platform founded by Eddie Roberts of The New Mastersounds.