80s synth-funk goodness from Mr. Ho launches LA-based imprint Zen 2000.

Read More & Buy: https://www.stampthewax.com/2021/07/08/premiere-house-of-ho-aiaiai/
Listen on Youtube: https://bit.ly/HouseOfHoAiaiai

Listen on Youtube

House Of Ho - Aiaiai (STW Premiere)

Tracklist
Greenflow – I Got’Cha
Ayers Rock – A Place to Go
Larry Carlton – With Respect to Coltrane
Spirit – The Other Song 
Ryo Kawasaki – Sweet Tears
Hiroshi Fukumura & Sadao Watanabe – White Clouds
Mdnsgn – Rare Pleasure III
Jack J – Closing the Door
John Carroll Kirby – Capezios for you My Lord
Ian Wilson – Four in the Morning
Pages – Clearly Kim
John Martyn – Smilin’ Stranger (Instrumental Version)
Laura Nyro – American Dreamer

Road Trip

When Paul Murphy released his critically acclaimed debut solo album, Claremont 56, in 2006, many thought it would be the first of many. In a way, it was, as in the years since he’s released a string of collaborative sets alongside Benjamin J Smith (as Smith & Mudd), and as part of underground ‘supergroups’ Paqua, Bison and Hillside. But that second solo album? Well, it just had to wait.

In early 2023, Murphy finally decided to scratch that itch, roping in some of his most trusted collaborators (keyboardist and bassist Michele Chiavarini, percussionist Patrick Dawes, guitarist Dave Noble and HF International’s Kashif included) to lay down a sumptuous set of tracks that not only showcases his now familiar (bit hard to pigeonhole) neo-Balearic sound, but also proves how much he has matured as a writer and producer since 2006.

In The Garden of Mindfulness is richly musically detailed, expertly arranged and full to bursting with fluid instrumental solos, with Murphy and his collaborators serving up tracks that brilliantly blur the boundaries between languid jazz-funk, downtempo, vintage synth-laden krautrock, dubby grooves and sun-splashed soundscapes.

It simply sparkles from the moment that opener ‘Eighty Three’ slowly rises like the morning sun, with gentle, undulating synth sounds ushering in a slow-motion jazz-funk excursion rich in twinkling electronics, spacey pads and warming bass. Recent single ‘Katanaboy’, a lusciously layered dub disco-infused dancefloor excursion in Murphy’s familiar style, raises the temperature a touch, before ‘Bonne Anse’ and the sublime ‘Unka Paw’ (whose combination of evocative fretless bass, extended electric piano solos, Clavinet licks and acoustic guitars is genuinely spellbinding) invite a combination of wavy shuffling and flat-on-the-back, eyes-closed appreciation.

And so it continues, with gorgeous title track ‘In The Garden of Mindfulness’ making way for the boogie-influenced, Japanese-British brilliance of ‘Hangsang’ (check the jaunty pianos, yearning breakdown and exotic melodies). Murphy’s long held love of warm, weighty bass, hypnotic disco grooves, colourful analogue synth sounds and jazzy guitars once again comes to the fore on ‘Afternoon Bob’ before the album reaches a fittingly triumphant conclusion with ‘Late In March’. 

A neat sonic summary of all that makes the set such a rewarding and entertaining experience, repeat listens reveals a wealth of musical details, from off-kilter triple-time drums and surprise bass guitar solos, to impeccable piano solos (provided by the immensely talented Chiavarini), fizzing jazz-funk synth doodles and stirring synth-strings. It’s a breathlessly brilliant way to end an album that was genuinely worth waiting for.

Afternoon Bob

Great music is often about chance meetings and impromptu creative sessions and so it is that Hell Yeah proudly serves up Sensory Blending, a new collaborative album from Italian collective Aura Safari and Finnish musician Jimi Tenor. The nine-track record arrives on 26th April 2024 and is a lush and luxurious fusion of jazz-funk styles.

This glorious record came about after Tenor was playing a Hell Yeah party at Tangram in Perugia. Aura Safari were local and, in some free time the day before the gig, everyone jumped in the studio together. They had never met before but soon found plenty of free-flowing common ground and the result of that one-off session is now served up on this vibrant new album that brims with musicality, indelible melodies and subtly uplifting vibrations.

Tenor has toured the world and previously collaborated with the likes of Japanese master Calm. He is a psychedelic space-jazz-funk king, skilled musician, composer and producer who, since the mid-nineties, has released more than 25 albums and 45 EPs. Aura Safari is made up of bass, synth, guitar and keys players Lorenzo Francioli, Ruggero Bonucci, Nicola Pitassio Andrea Moretti, Lorenzo Lavoratori, Daniele Melloni and Nicholas Iammatteo, and they are label regulars who served up their sublime Island Dreams album here last year.

Says Jimi, who enjoyed his time in Perugia and adds that "the studio session was 100% efficient. I showed up and we started to play. Almost all that was made was material that we could use for the album. I love to work fast. Quick brushstrokes. Finish! I was amazed at how intuitively the Aura Safari guys could come up with new parts for songs. I mentioned some feeling or approach and they seemed to find it just like that.”

'Bodily Synesthesia' is the seductive opener with steamy sax notes and gentle grooves that are topped by aloof vocal whispers. 'Lunar Wind' is another slow and steamy mix of jazzy keys and soulful vocal hooks, 'Bewitched By The Sea' is a more tropical and percussive number with majestic melodies and 'My Bluebell' picks up the pace with jazz-funk grooves and hustling chords. 'Last Waltz In Perugia' has freeform sax lines soaring over meticulous drums that ebb and flow and 'Gimlet' brings a playful, samba-tinged rhythm and sunny flute leads straight from South America. There's a laidback, carefree mood to 'It's Too Easy To Love You' while 'Your Magic Touch' is a dancey number that exudes melodic joy, and 'Indigo' closes in dramatic fashion with a conversational sax that sticks long in the memory.  

Sensory Blending is a seamless fusion of collaborative minds from Aura Safari and Jimi Tenor and it could well be performed live at some special select shows later in the year.

Sensory Blending

shop

Aura Safari & Jimi Tenor - Your Magic Touch

https://mowrights.bandcamp.com/album/things2proof

Mo Wrights - 'proof of concept (feat. Misto Kay)'

https://hanlitzgroup.bandcamp.com/album/the-universe-is-magic-feat-kid-sublime

Han Litz ft. Kid Sublime - 'Face The Flute (edit)'

Knock U Out (Ken@Work Club Dub Remix)

Knock U Out (Ken@Work Club Dub Mix)

Aura Safari & Jimi Tenor's sublime Sensory Blending album yields its first set of remixes on Hell Yeah as Balearic Beat dream team Reverso 68 aka Phil Mison and Pete Herbert serve up two mixes of Your Magic Touch.

Reverso 68 is the studio-based project of Pete Herbert and Phil Mison, and over the last decade-plus, they have mastered the art of making music for swimming pools.

Aura Safari & Jimi Tenor's original vision of 'Your Magic Touch' is a loved-up groove with golden chords and a killer funky bassline buried beneath the lush chords, horns and flute leads. It's perfect sundown music which gets dubbed out by Reverso 68. Their version is more low-slung and deep with a mid-tempo four-four groove sprinkled with tropical percussion. The muted chords are gloriously dreamy and the whole thing is perfect for early evening warm-ups.

Their second Reverso 68 remix is a little more upright and direct but still soundtracks an island escape where the skies are blue and the cocktails are cold. The mending bass soon hooks you in while the chords drift up top to soul-soothing effect.

Summer might be over, but the good times will live on with this superb trio of escapist jams.

Bandcamp

Aura Safari & Jimi Tenor - Your Magic Touch (Original Mix)

Crusin

Dino Soccio's LA-based basement-bash-gone-label Pleasure Of Love enlists Bons boss Pau Roca for their second adventure on wax.  Three tasty treats re-edited to perfection, bringing that summertime rooftop vibe to a pair of Technics' near you. Slow and seductive with brittle piano excursions scattered throughout, 'Liquid' definitely is our pick of the pantry.

Artist: Pau Roca
Title: Pleasure Of Edits 002 EP
Label: Pleasure Of Love
Cat#: POLR002
Release Date: 06-2018

* Subscribe for more music: https://goo.gl/tCNU1N
* Listen on Youtube: https://youtu.be/o5id0pPtP4Q
* Buy Release: https://www.deejay.de/Pau_Roca_Pleasure_of_Edits_2_POLR002_Vinyl__314740

Pau Roca:
https://soundcloud.com/paur
https://www.facebook.com/paurocafan

Pleasure Of Love:
https://soundcloud.com/pleasureoflove-la

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Listen Closely is all about spreading love and good vibrations through music and dance, from house and disco to funk and soul. Cruising through life, supporting upcoming artists and labels while we're at it.

https://www.facebook.com/listencloselycollective
listencloselycollective@gmail.com

Pleasure Of Edits 002

Buy Vinyl

PREMIERE: Pau Roca - Liquid (PR's Edit) [Pleasure Of Love]

DC Promo Tracks #321: "New Life" by Ed Longo & Applied Arts Ensemble is part of the release "The Other Fantasy" on Early Sounds Recordings @earlysoundsrecordings @edlongo

Buy Now: http://www.earlysoundsrecordings.com/?product=ed-longo-the-applied-arts-ensemble-the-other-fantasy 

Conceived with a strong jazz-funk, fusion and boogie sound it has been conceptualized around the idea that the schizophrenia of the internet-age, the visions of Otherness (the undiscovered lands, the primitive happiness, the impossible love) permeate the collective consciousness and the idealized “Other” loses any correspondence with the physical world.

Subscribe to our weekly email: http://dreamchimney.com/subscribe

DC Promo Tracks #321: Ed Longo & Applied Arts Ensemble "New Life"

"If you didn't know, Hell Yeah is the Italian label hell-bent on releasing the best modern disco(ish) you can find. Sometimes it's blissed out and Balearic, sometimes it's squelchy and down-right weird and sometimes it's the sort of elongated, tribal stuff that works dancefloors into a salacious frenzy" (Kristan J Caryl - DJ MAG January 2014)


Hell Yeah Recordings, a descendent of leading Italian dance label Mantra Vibes is an Italian-based electronic music label active since 2006. Releasing from Ferrara, Bologna, and Amsterdam and led by Marco Gallerani “peeDoo” (A&R), the label bases its philosophy on a diversity of artists and recording experiences tied together by a common vision of what defines quality progressive recording. 

With a sound as diverse as the artists it represents, Hell Yeah does not limit itself to the constraints of genre but packs a complex palette of sounds ranging from techno to minimal-nu-rave to electro-funk and tech house.  Artists as varied as Radio Slave, Santos, Umek, Oliver Koletzki, Congorock, 3iO, Crimea X and the mighty Balearic Gabba Sound System have helped establish Hell Yeah’s eclectic sound, a distinct take on party music loaded with a sonic Balearic feel good vibe that has made press around the world hail Hell Yeah as a label to watch, always

Hell Yeah aims to build upon its current reputation as a leading Italian Electronic Music play, overseeing the release of a series of progressive productions that straddle genres, defy conventions and blur barriers between listening and dance music. Stemming from Hell Yeah’s initial graphic identity formed by Neverending’s Rocco “the Boghe” Pezzella, new mind-bending web and label artworks from Italian artist Andrea Amaducci and the Berlin-based Ice Cream For Free collective promises complete visual as well as aural stimulation.

info/bookings: 
marco@pplayground.com

Aura Safari & Jimi Tenor - Your Magic Touch

Hell Yeah Recordings

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