Mammal Hands
Floa

Belgium, not the first place you'd think of when it comes to Latin or Afro funk. Yet one of the greatest records to blend both styles came from the small northern European country, masterminded by Nico Gomez and his Afro Percussion Inc.Ritual was originally released in 1971 on the Dutch label Omega International (Gomez was born in Holland before moving to Belgium in the late 40s) and is being reissued by Mr Bongo in 2013, bringing its blazing funk grooves to both new ears and those already tuned in to this masterpiece's legacy.Across its 11 tracks Ritual delivers the kind of production, arrangement and musicianship that rightfully belong in a dictionary next to the definition of professional. Gomez' band was tight and they knew it, showing it off on their covers of Perez Prado's 'Caballo Negro' and 'Lupita' by injecting the originals with a deep funk that blends both Afro and Latin influences. On 'Samba De Una Nota So' and 'El Condor Pasa', another pair of covers, they switch to soulful downtempo with mesmerising ease. The title cut remains one of the album's highlights, a devastating dancefloor groove with horns to match that has aged beautifully and was heavily sampled by Liquid People for 'The Dragon'. 'Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!' adds touches of rock with fuzzy guitars for one of the album's headier experiences.

Recordstoreday 2020 release.Underdog Records reissues Martial Solal's album 'Locomotion' as an 180 gram coloured vinyl edition. This groovy French jazz-funk and avantgarde album was originally released in 1974 on the PSI label.Date des enregistrements : 4 et 5 février 1974Studio : Comédie des Champs-Elysées, Paris

REPRESSED 2021! "Alèmayèhu Eshèté is no less than one of the great voices of the heyday of modern Ethiopian music, the swinging sixties which, in this country, went on until the fall of the Emperor Haile Sellassie 1 in 1974. On a par with Tlahoun Gèssèssè, Bzunèsh Bèqèlè or Mahmoud Ahmed, Alèmayèhu is a star at the top level of the constellation that once lit up the wild nights in the capital."

Bon Voyage Organisation is above all the story of the construction of an ensemble, the quest for harmony, through music, between beings. A central leitmotiv in Adrien Durand's composition and production work for almost ten years.Emancipated from all constraints and affirming the radical choice - previously initiated with La Course - of an entirely instrumental sound, (Loin des) Rivages was recorded over five days in June 2020 at Jean-Benoit Dunkel's Studio Atlas (Air) and mixed the following summer by Adrien Durand in his Parisian studio, Bureau 12. It was an orchestrated performance considering that all ten tracks were played live, gathering up to thirteen musicians in the same room.This close collaboration allowed Adrien Durand and the members of the ensemble to transcend themselves. Together, they deliver the incredible energy of Sentier des Orpailleurs (and Adrian Edeline's superb solo), the depth of melancholy of Apacheta (co-written and co-arranged by Adrien Durand and Gustave Rudman), and the originality of Et s'éveillent...Inspired by the great explorers of the soul: Sun Ra, Moondog, Coltrane - a cover of his Naïma actually opens the album - Adrien Durand mixes humanity’s first instruments (the percussions and the winds) with its latest ones (the mixing tables and the synthesizers). Thus, he continues the most interesting yet rewarding artistic journey: The journey inward, far from the standards of civilization, in the heart of what some can take for madness, reaching into a jungle of the soul so marvelously represented in Clément Vuillet’s artwork.This is not an intellectual record but rather a spiritual effort, because, as Adrien Durand likes to repeat in his concerts: "Let us step into music as we step into a sanctuary."