BBE Music is thrilled to announce the release of Modern Love, a diverse compendium of specially commissioned cover versions of rarities and classics in tribute to David Bowie.

Featuring an array of artists such as Jeff Parker, We Are KING, Meshell Ndegeocello, Helado Negro, Khruangbin, Matthew Tavares, Nia and more, Modern Love seeks to champion Bowie’s lesser-known connection to soul, R&B, jazz, funk, and gospel. The prominent jazz influences throughout Bowie’s final album, Blackstar, were a key inspiration for curating this collection of reimagined Bowie songs with these artists. The resulting album is an eclectic tribute featuring a group of artists who not only fit together creatively, but who, like Bowie, straddle different worlds musically, with soul and jazz at their core.

Modern Love offers a fresh look at Bowie’s trailblazing career, aiming to highlight the often overlooked relationship between his back catalogue and musical genres traditionally pioneered by artists of color. The project was curated by music executive and DJ Drew McFadden, alongside BBE Music founder Peter Adarkwah. “I felt that the connection between Bowie and R&B, jazz, funk, gospel and all things soulful, had never really been explored before — at least not so much in covers, which tend to lean more towards rock and pop,” says McFadden. “Certainly, there’s been plenty of Bowie covers over the years, but none that have really tapped into what seems to have been a big part of his core musical
style and direction.”

Modern Love is an interactive sonic map. Here, seventeen artists make their way into the varied regions of his sundry catalog and circle back with seventeen unique re-imaginings of both his cornerstone and lesser-known tracks. Some, in atmosphere, feel like a sly alternate take from original sessions (Khruangbin’s ethereal, funk infused version of “Right” from Young Americans); others nod at the source, then wink before diving into the deep waters of another musical stratosphere (Sessa’s sexy Tropicalia-drenched “Panic in Detroit” from Aladdin Sane). Still others take tunes down to the studs and then re-arrange the moody interiors: Meshell Ndegeocello’s pensive “Fantastic Voyage” from Lodger and Tavares’ clever take on “Heroes” which is restructured into a kinetic hardbop-esque backdrop, fronted by ice-cool, held-back vocals. The bullseye these artists aim for is Bowie’s fearlessness. “Fame was an incredible bluff that worked,” he once reflected. “Very flattering. I’ll do anything until I fail. And when I succeed I quit too.”

Modern Love packs us off on a journey that balances on risk’s sharp blade. Track-to-track, it explores what happens when a musician throws out notions of should and safe and stretches beyond the known. These artists use Bowie both as a guide and a prism: A way of being and seeing. Their offerings, widely divergent, explore the inheritance from an artist who freed himself from labels, genres and, consequently, pigeonholes. While he was at it, he decimated fixed notions about territory (or terra) itself; boundaries hemmed-in his creative process, but his essence remained free to roam. He may have vanished in earthly form, yet, as he also promised in the lyrics of “Modern Love,” But I never wave bye-bye . . .” This compilation assures us that his spirit swirls around us. His force is alive to all of us and, here, it is summoned with an incantation that celebrates possibility.

Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family - Foxtrott

Tokyo FM 1990

Be My Wife (live)

Suffragette City (live)

Dark Entries and Honey Soundsystem have teamed up to release “Catholic”, the lost opus of disco pioneer Patrick Cowley and Indoor Life vocalist Jorge Socarras. Perhaps one of the most revolutionary and influential people in the cannon of disco music, Cowley created his own brand of Hi-NRG dance music coined "The San Francisco Sound." Born in Buffalo, NY on October 19, 1950, Patrick moved to San Francisco at the age of 21. He studied at the City College of San Francisco and met Jorge Socarras in 1973 through mutual friends. The duo’s first collaboration was a ten-minute trance like piece that Cowley composed for a performance piece by Socarras in 1975. Patrick, who played drums, guitar and keyboards, provided the perfect match for Jorge’s vocal talents. Between 1975 and 1977 they recorded an album’s worth of material before Socarras moved to London and Cowley started playing synthesizers for Sylvester. Upon Jorge’s return to San Francisco in 1979, the duo would re-record some of the “Catholic” songs with Patrick’s newly accumulated equipment. Meanwhile, Socarras met the musicians with whom he would form Indoor Life, and in 1980 Patrick co-produced their first album before the band relocated to New York in 1981. The “Catholic” album was offered to San Francisco’s Megatone Records who passed on it. Fast forward to 2007 when Honey Soundsystem was contacted by John Hedges, former co-owner of Megatone Records. Hedges’ was moving to Palm Springs and invited the crew over to his basement to collect over 2,000 records from his collection. Among the archives were three moldy boxes of quarter inch reel to reel tapes featuring unreleased music by Cowley, including the “Catholic” material. The reel was passed on to Stefan Goldmann of Macro Recordings in Berlin who tracked down Jorge Socarras to clear the rights, and released the album on CD in 2009. 

“Catholic” is a genre-bending concept album that ranges from minimalistic proto-techno to synth-driven post-punk, pre-dating the dance punk acts LCD Soundsystem and The Rapture by almost 30 years.  It shows a much broader range than any Cowley or Socarras material available and gives a totally new perspective to one of the most inspiring eras in music history. Influenced by Tomita, Wendy Carlos, the Velvet Underground and Roxy Music, “Catholic” fills in the gaps between these artists and preempts bands like Talking Heads, Units, The Human League or Chris & Cosey.  Patrick forges his unique electronic sound from his collection of synthesizers, modified guitars and self-constructed equipment while Jorge’s vocals go from hypnotic to camp, singing about gay love juju and tackling classics by Donovan and Stoller & Leiber.  


Featuring over 80 minutes of music, never before released on vinyl, this compilation contains two bonus tracks not on the CD. The tapes were meticulously restored by mastering guru Rashad Becker at D+M, in Berlin, then remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, CA.  The vinyl comes housed in a glossy dual pocket gatefold featuring the intended album cover from the original “Catholic” photo shoot in 1979 plus original hand-lettering by Arch Connelly aka A. Style for the first 45rpm single that never was. Inside the gatefold sleeve contains lyrics and an essay from Jorge Socarras. For the 32nd anniversary of Patrick's death, Dark Entries and Honey Soundsystem present a glimpse into the innovative minds of two geniuses. These recordings shine a new light on the experimental side of a disco legend who was taken too soon. All proceeds from “Catholic” will be donated to the San Francisco AIDS Housing Alliance. 

16 Hurdy Gurdy Man

Email: Booking@Knifight.net

KnifightMusic.com

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White Denim covers the Kenny Rogers song, "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)", for "Fargo" (TV show on FX) which aired on November 23, 2015. 

Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)

Cover of Summertime by Janis Joplin with Big Brother & The Holding Company 

12'' Inch - Mandinka

Sinéad O'Connor - Mandinka (Instrumental Dub Mix)

The '60s Music for Sync Licensing (Film & TV)
www.cleopatrafilmtv.com 
For Inquires please contact: 
Benny Cardenas 
tel: (310) 477-4000 
email: benny@cleorecs.com 
(P) (C) 2012 Cleopatra Records, Inc.. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is a violation of applicable laws

Donovan - Sunshine Superman

The White Stripes - Let's Shake Hands

Since planting themselves in Austin, Texas in the summer of 2010, Knifight has been distinguishing themselves as a premiere act in the indie-electronic scene. Formed in 2002 as a solo IDM/noise project of singer John Gable, Knifight has slowly evolved into a fleshed-out quartet of four distinct songwriters, producers and instrumentalists. Referencing the melodic tendencies and dancy electronics of Xiu Xiu, New Order and LCD Soundsystem along with the kind of guitar and bass bombast that brought post-punk to arenas, the members of Knifight have created music that is both introspective and widely accessible. 

Known for their intensely energetic live performances, Knifight has had the opportunity to play official showcases at both SXSW 2011 and SXSW 2012 in addition to being asked to open for the likes of Future Islands, Active Child, Com Truise, White Denim, The Octopus Project, and Thomas Dolby among others. The band has also received much love from Austin’s own KUT and KOOP radio stations, including an hour-long exclusive spot as well as several interviews and guest DJ opportunities. 

On May 18, 2012 the band released the IN THE FIRE EP, a preview of their anticipated debut full-length record due out 2013 which will be the follow-up to two other highly regarded self-produced EP’s: 2011’s The End Is Knifight and 2009’s Now We’re Invisible. 

Knifight is currently working with Alex Bhore and Chris King of This Will Destroy You on their first LP, Dark Voices. The album release is projected to be early summer. 

Knifight’s music can be found at KnifightMusic.com 

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