Buy / Stream it here: https://orcd.co/makethecall

Taken from the duo's 2021 album 'Break The Wall' MF Robots' Dawn Joseph and Jan Kincaid have released another slab of dance floor soul in 'Make The Call'. A sure-fire groove that underpins a sublime vocal, 'Make The Call' is sure to be one of the festival, event and club hits of the Summer.

Now available as a digital download, 'Make The Call' also comes with an extended version and remixes from the legendary Two Soul Fusion duo of Louie Vega and Josh Milan. These remixes bring something new and special to the track with each creating a subtly different mood for the dance floor, for the radio and for the house party.

MF Robots is a songwriting, production and performing duo created by former Brand New Heavies founder Jan Kincaid and BNH vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Dawn Joseph. The pair left the Heavies in 2014 to record their own compositions and have been wowing audiences and record buyers with their effortless blending of Soul, RnB, Funk, Disco and Jazz ever since.

Louie Vega is one half of the House music dons Masters at Work and Josh Milan is a Grammy nominated vocalist, musician and composer who also collaborate in Vega's collective 'Elements of Life'. With both at the forefront of production, composition and remixing for more than three decades, the House, Boogie and Instrumental versions they have produced for 'Make The Call' are off the scale here.

Atjazz AKA Martin Iveson is a prolific remixer who has reworked tracks for Nitin Sawhney, Bob Sinclair, Jazzanova and even Henry Mancini (the Pink Panther theme) as well as working with vocalists of the stature of Robert Owens and Clara Hill. As Martin states, 'Remixing helps hone your sound and allows the producer to print their trademark into another space.' Well he certainly has done this here with his distinctive remix of 'The Love It Takes.'.

MF Robots - Make The Call Two Soul Fusion Boogie Remix

Nana - The Lulus Band

Available on custom White Vinyl 12" or Digital -> https://bastardjazz.bandcamp.com/

Soundboard maestros Lord Echo and DJ Day link up across oceans to trade remix duties on each other's top tunes, flipping the pair onto a heavily dubbed out Double A-side single pressed up on frothing white vinyl. 

California dance-floor champ DJ Day gives Echo's iconic "Bohemian Idol" a 1980s drum machine reggae vibe and lets the delay run wild, while New Zealand's analog maverick Lord Echo transforms Day's "Land of a Thousand Chances" into a live disco dub studio jam session.

Catch the limited 12" out worldwide May 12th on Bastard Jazz Recordings.

Buy White 12" / Digi

Lord Echo - Bohemian Idol (DJ Day's Chair-Bro Remix)

Dips

Iggy E-Jacked Up [Mutant Rebels]

Africa 45, number 11 – http://www.mrbongo.com/products/ayalew-mesfin-ghedawou-mulatu-astatke-ft-feqadu-amde-mesqel-asmarina-7

Ayaléw Mèsfin ft. Black Lion Band - Ghedawou

Ethiopian dance floor Funk rarity originally released on Kaifa 7” (KF 31) in 1976. Hand claps, guitar lines and call and response lead vocals punctuate the driving bass line and understated drum groove.

Mesfin played primarily at the Lumumba Club in Addis Ababa’s red light district and released many 45’s and cassettes during the mid seventies. He worked very closely with the Black Lion Band (or Tequr Ambessa Orchestra) 

Mulatu Astatke ft. Feqadu Amdé-Mesqel - Asmarina

Laid back, drum-heavy, Ethipian jazz taken from the legendary Ethio Jazz’ LP on Amha (AELP 90). Typifies the sound of the country and the period, truly classic stuff. Mulatu will be touring heavily in 2016, which we are very much looking forward to.

Buy vinyl

Mulatu Astatke ft. Feqadu Amdé-Mesqel – Asmarina

Various Artists - Jazz & Milk Breaks Vol 1

Jazz & Milk Breaks Vol. 1

Jazzhole

Free The Robots - Jazzhole

Available from https://www.mrbongo.com/products/african-dances-vinyl-lp-cd

First official reissue of the extremely rare full-length album by Lagos-based bandleader Shina Williams. Clean copies of the original currently sell for up to £500.

The record was born in 1979 when Shina put Biddy Wright, Fred Fisher, Saliu Alabi, Prince Bola, Tutu Shoronmu, Tunde willimas and several other decorated Nigerian musicians – who played with the likes of Fela Kuti, SJOB Movement, Sonny Okoson, King Bucknor amongst others – together to record. The result is ‘African Dances’, a timeless fusion of afrobeat, electronics, boogie and disco.

Includes his most well-known song, ‘Agboju Logun’ that Williams knew was ground breaking – “I want to show the whole wide world that Africa is alive with modern musicians to reckon with anywhere,”. This album version is a different mix to the two-track 12” that came out under on Earthworks, Rough Trade in 1984.

Official Mr Bongo reissue. Replica original artwork. Licensed direct from Shina Williams.

Cunny Jam Wayo

(instrumental - fLako 'Erekari')


A week ago I downloaded fLako's beattape 'Leftovers' with tracks he produced in 2008 and I felt so inspired by what I heard I managed to write four songs in like an hour. So I decided to do 'Quattro'. 

I call it an EP but it's more like just one 8-minute song, an illustrated journey into the wild in four parts, combined with mixed sounds I was hearing at that time, both from close surroundings and in my imagination. 

Quattro means 'four' in Italian, and all of the four songs are recorded in my home during the past week.


released 22 May 2012 

All instrumentals are by fLako, out of 'Leftovers' beattape, all rights reserved to Kwatro. www.kwatro.info 

All of the lyrics, recording, mixing and artwork by Kae. www.yasminebey.com 

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alternate download link: www.mediafire.com?g1llopavm253wdf

Kae - Special (Quattro EP) (inst. - fLako 'Erekari')

Pre-order album ~ https://hopest.re/NamingAndBlaming

The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra (The POAO) release ‘Fight So Hard’, the first single from their long-awaited second album ‘Naming & Blaming’. Recorded with the full POAO 17 piece ensemble, Fight So Hard is a simmering slow burn with MC One Sixth trading rap verses with singers Kuukua and Lydia Acquah, Fem Belling and Lamine Sonko. In true afrobeat tradition the album version clocks in at a trance-inducing nine minutes long! (Radio edit supplied for those on a tighter schedule). The vocals are broken up with heavy brass sections and extended instrumental improvisations while the understated rhythm section bubbles away without pause or deviation.

Available everywhere on all formats on November 30th, the ‘Naming & Blaming’ album is a pulsing, percussive journey into classic afrobeat led by fierce vocals and a howling horn section. It’s a fitting 21st-century response to the world-shaking music of 1970s Nigeria defined by Fela Kuti. The result is true to the afrobeat blueprint of hypnotising rhythm, extended improvisation and political comment, but adds to the formula a host of pan-African and local influences as well as hip-hop elements that reflect the deep ranging roots of the band. This balance is what The POAO is all about, paying respects to the culture while keeping their feet planted in the 21st century.

Naming & Blaming

Pre-order Album

The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra - Fight So Hard

Join the BBE Mailing List: http://eepurl.com/yfBFX

Founded in 1996 by Peter Adarkwah, Barely Breaking Even (BBE Music) started life as a London club night, taking its name from the eponymous Disco record by the Universal Robot Band.

The label grew from the vibrant early 90's club scene with its first release, Stop & Listen compiled by Dr Bob Jones in 1996, opening the door to iconic series' such as All Back To Mine & Late Nite Tales.

A tonne of releases followed, ranging from Disco to Funk, Jazz to House. In the year 2000, the label celebrated Masters at Work's 10th Anniversary with a mighty box set that featured near 80 tracks.

A year later BBE Music spawned the Beat Generation Series of artist albums, notably introducing J Dilla (Welcome 2 Detroit) & a young Will.I.Am's first solo outing, alongside DJ Jazzy Jeff, Madlib & DJ Spinna, all of whom contributed to this seminal set of long players.

A quarter of a century and well over 500 titles later, having worked with Mark Ronson, Roy Ayers, Questlove, Hugh Masekela, DJ Premier, Dimitri from Paris, Joey Negro, Kon, RZA, Laurent Garnier, Black Coffee, DJ Shadow, David Rodigan and John Morales among many others, BBE Music looks to the future, celebrating its rich heritage while continuing to release a bounty of fresh titles.

The label’s most recent projects include an expansive reissue series from pioneering Nigerian label Tabansi, new imprint ‘Batakari’ in association with Boddhi Satva and the critically acclaimed ‘J Jazz’ Japanese Jazz multi-album project, not to mention the recent landmark 500th label release: a brand new version of 'Barely Breaking Even', featuring Leroy Burgess, Patrick Adams and Louie Vega.

In 2021 BBE Music is celebrating its 25th anniversary. To mark this milestone, the label is offering up some special projects, from the 20th Anniversary edition of J Dilla’s ‘Welcome 2 Detroit’, through David Bowie tribute album ‘Modern Love’, to a special new ‘Worldwide’ compilation from old friend Gilles Peterson. BBE Music will also be looking to the future with more exciting original artist projects, plus merch collaborations events and more...