Cymande

One More

Promised Heights

Changes

Viva andalucia (Remastered)

Complete Mythology

Soul Heaven

The Olympians

Pluto's Lament

Make the Road By Walking

The Duke

Queens Highway

Volume 1

Drug Song

Love is a Hurtin' Thing

How Can You Say It

There is something simultaneously both brand-new and retro about 'All News Is Good News’ - the debut album from Melbourne's instrumental soul group Surprise Chef. It sounds like something dreamt up by lo-fi cousins of David Axelrod and Janko Nilovic, with dramatic Library-music-esque cinematic arrangements echoing both light and dark, delving into moments of dissonance and positivity. There is a meticulous education of 1970’s soul on display that touches on the legacies of the great composer / producers, yet at the same time, this is a truly contemporary record that could have only been made now. 

The first limited pressing of 'All News Is Good News’ was released on the band's own 'College Of Knowledge' imprint in November 2019. It slipped rapidly into the collective consciousness of underground music lovers around the world, with all copies selling out within a week and becoming a firm favourite at Mr Bongo HQ in the process. We felt Surprise Chef had made something very special, a future-classic, and that needed to be heard well beyond those lucky enough to have bagged those limited first copies.

Formed at the end of 2017, Surprise Chef have grown within the fertile, creative, and supportive Melbourne music scene. Whilst the band is comprised of four core members, the album features friends and family as guest instrumentalists on flute, saxophone, vibraphone, congas, and assorted percussion; all adeptly recorded by engineer Henry Jenkins from the band Karate Boogaloo. The warm-raw-authenticity of the album was captured in the recordings live to tape over a handful of sessions in the band’s home studio in Melbourne’s inner-northern suburb of Coburg. As band member Lachlan Stuckey explains “All of the music we record is tracked live to tape, simply because so many of the records we love most were made that way".

The results are a captivating journey of instrumental cinematic-soul that will connect with the hardened Axelrod, Truth & Soul, El Michels Affair, and Daptone's fans, as well as the open-minded first-time listener. We are very excited to share this first slice of Surprise Chef’s world, with plenty more magic from these guys coming around the corner very soon.

All News Is Good News

Surprise Chef - All News Is Good News

🕊️ The new album 'Renascence' OUT NOW

https://cymande.tmstor.es/

Although underappreciated and woefully overlooked during their original tenure together, the fine early-'70s British outfit Cymande (pronounced Sah-mahn-day) was one of the first to merge African rhythms with rock, funk, reggae, and soul. In a musical community that generally took its cues from America, Cymande embraced U.S. styles like funk and soul, but also folded in large portions of reggae, jazz, and African rhythms, creating a sound that was subtle but sinewy, full of grooves both thoughtful and literate -- music that could inspire dancing or a spirited conversation through their entire three-album run in the early '70s: their 1972 self-titled debut, 1973's Second Time Round, and 1974's Promised Heights. After an almost-four-decade hiatus, during which time their recordings were abundantly sampled by rappers and DJs, the band re-formed in the second decade of the 21st century, dropping A Simple Act of Faith in 2014.

Comprised of members who hailed from such exotic locales as Guyana, Jamaica, and St. Vincent, the nine-man lineup (who were all entirely self-taught) contained Steve Scipio (bass), Ray King (vocals, percussion), Derek Gibbs (alto/soprano), Pablo Gonsales (congas),  (vocals, percussion), Peter Serreo (tenor), Sam Kelly (drums), Mike Rose (alto, flute, bongos), and Patrick Patterson (guitar). The band issued a total of three releases: 1972's self-titled debut (which spawned one of their best-known songs, "The Message," peaking at number 22 on the domestic R&B charts in 1974), 1973's Second Time Round, and 1974's Promised Heights -- before splitting up.

But by the '90s, Cymande became the recipient of a strong cult following as another track from their debut, "Bra," was included on the soundtrack to Spike Lee's motion picture Crooklyn, and several of their songs were sampled by rap artists (including , Master Ace, , , , and ). Due to sudden interest in Cymande, two compilations were issued -- a British double-CD titled The Message (which collected all three of their albums), a 13-track collection, The Soul of Rasta, and best of all, Renegades of Funk.

Cymande officially reunited in 2012, with most of their original members -- including frontmen Scipio and Patterson. In 2015, they released A Simple Act of Faith, their first album in four decades. , who helmed their earliest sessions, produced the set. ~ Greg Prato, Rovi