Helen
Zanzibar

PRIVATE PRESSYoung At HeartOf Paradise

Since 2019, a dark cloud has loomed over our region, as many have feared the return of the most weaponised duo in Avon.A trail of scorched chambers in their wake, their witnesses still fail to rub the imprints from their retina, drown the wailing from their heads and scrape a metallic taste from their mouths.But finally, our iron tongued padre, Franco Franco, and his crypto-bard, Kinlaw, throw down their second slab, 'Mega Dopo Mega'.Charging straight over the top into 'Com'èèè??', 'CGI World' shells down on us with a white-hot salvo. Round after round, our ringmaster spits cybernated venom as his consort thrashes us with relentless, barbed sonics.Pausing just briefly on 'Tetsuo 2019' to heave up a lung full of filings - they press on into data driven mania and cyber-chotic battle cries.By 'Distretto Nono', their probe lifts off - before exiting in a cacophony of AI laughter, beamed straight from the shell.They're back, and this time it's personal...'

Habibi Funk presents a selection of works by Algerian-born, Amazigh artist Majid Soula. Majid’s music blends the best of Arab-disco, highlife and groovy funk into something wholly unique.Born in Kabylie, Algeria - a place that remains fundamental to his career - Majid Soula is a self-made musician, artist and producer. With no formal music education, Majid’s tenacity has led to a career that is still blossoming. His synths, driving drums, guitar & strong lyrics make a unique sound. A strong proponent for the rights of the Amazigh, he has a band that to this day plays shows, most linked to cultural events of the Amazigh diaspora in France, as well as in Belgium, Russia the UK and Sweden. He was part of a new wave of widely popular and successful Kabyle artists in the 1980s, such as Ait Menguellet, Lounès Matoub, Takfarinas, Idir and many more.Habibi Funk as a label is dedicated to re-releasing music from “The Arab World”, but this release shows how reductive this term can be, as the countries from North Africa and West Asia being summarized under this term include a vast number of languages and identities. Obviously, headlines sometimes come with limited space, and one can’t avoid using terms that paint a half-finished picture. That being the case, however, we are even more happy that Majid Soula liked our idea to work on a release of a selection of his music with us. The tracks here are incredible and need to be introduced to a new generation of listeners.For Majid Soula music is more than just entertainment. He considers himself an activist through music, and foremost a “chanteur engagé”, as he says of himself: „I take my inspiration from the daily life of my people and I share all their aspirations, mainly the official recognition of Tamazight as a language, culture and identity.”He still works on new music in his small home studio in Belleville and occasionally plays concerts for the Amazigh community of the city.We sincerely hope that for you reading this and listening to Majid’s album, his music will have the same revelatory feeling it had on us, and that this will be part of a momentum that will allow Majid to keep on working, playing, and sharing his message for many years to come.

Damon Albarn, Dan The Automator Nakamura, Richard Russell, Jneiro Jarel & others went to Kinshasa to produce this wonderful album with musicians from Congo in just 5 days. Genius stuff!

Zeitgeber and L.B Dub Corp split the second in Stroboscopic Artefacts series of fifth anniversary records. Zeitgeber is the collaborative project of SA label boss Lucy and Dutch techno royalty Speedy J. Their joint alias birthed an exceptional long-player last year and has since been presented as a b2b act at festivals and clubs around the world. Totemism is their first officially released output since that album, and is every bit as compelling.