Great songs of 2012

Part of a wonderful remixes collection featuring amazing reworks from Louie Vega, The Reflex, Dele Sosimi & Medlar, Local Artist, Pellegrino, Arp Frique, Al Kent, Nuron, Late Nite Tuff Guy, Shield and Sander Mölder.

https://rebirthrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/drumn-voice-remixed-2-louie-vega-the-reflex-dele-sosimi-medlar-local-artist-pellegrino-arp-frique-al-kent-nuron-late-nite-tuff-guy-shield-sander-m-lder-mixes

Billy Cobham Feat. Novecento - Africa’s Sounds (Al Kent Remix)

AMPLITUDES invite Maison Blanche (House Of Underground) - Dimanche Café N°034

AMPLITUDES - Dimanche Café N°051

AMPLITUDES - Dimanche Café N°055

Marshall Allen presents Sun Ra And His Arkestra: 'In The Orbit Of Ra'
Mastered from the original tapes, out now on Strut

iTunes: http://geni.us/SunRa
Amazon (LP): http://bit.ly/OrbitOfRaLP

Marshall Allen on Sun Ra:
As a Sun Ra fan, it has been a pleasure to be able to do an edit of Sun Ra material. Sometimes its more of a restoration project, than it is an opportunity to do an edit. In any case, the goal is always to preserve the original integrity, and direction of the song, while somehow making it appealing to an new and emerging fan base of listeners from the traditional school, and emerging electronic market. Sun Ra's fan base, and listeners might be changing and expanding, but you can always expect the end result of my work to highly respect the integrity of the original version. My version emphasizes the flute and percussive parts in this song. 

More from Mike Huckaby:
https://soundcloud.com/mikehuckaby

More from Strut Records:
http://www.strut-records.com
https://www.facebook.com/StrutRecords
https://www.youtube.com/user/strutrecords

More from Sun Ra:
http://www.sunraarkestra.com
https://www.facebook.com/SunRaMusic

Sun Ra - "The Lady With The Golden Stockings" (Mike Huckaby edit)

Aerials live, dials tuned, Transmission Towers broadcasting. On either side of the river Mersey, transcendental communications are traded back and forth. Two late-night revellers, one firing messages filled with music, the other returning them laced with lyrics. The result, a dopamine hit of oddball machine soul, melded with a highlife, Afrofuturist touch. Wonky and murky yet deeply emotional, Transmission One, is a debut album that also marks the first release on Luke Una’s É Soul Cultura label, encompassing expertly the off-kilter atmosphere the label sets to orbit. 

A synthesised landscape with a Northern charm, Transmission Towers marry the musical worlds of two artists that last collaborated over a decade ago. 10 years have passed, lives have been led, but a gravitational pull has placed Mark Kyriacou and Eleanor Mante back in each other’s spheres on opposite sides of the city of Liverpool. Energised with a newfound desire to strip it all back to the sounds that influenced their formative years in the late ‘80s and ‘90s - astral travelling, intoxicated on Motor City techno, Black Dog IDM and mystical Sun Ra. 
 
Mark half Irish, half Greek Cypriot, Eleanor half Nigerian, half Ghanian, the music contained within is an alchemy of those roots and the pivotal acts that buried deep into their minds. A cosmic contrast, part machine-made, part distinctly human. Take the opener ‘UP’, an ESG-channelling, sci-fi punk beatdown or the polychromatic hyperspace anthem ‘Roller Skater 23’. 
 
Transportive throughout, you ride the solar waves, pace and emotion ebbing and flowing. Tracks like ‘Go Slow Heart’ and ‘Cosmic Trigger’ step to a slower beat but hit with a punch. The former, a slo-mo blast of celestial tenderness, the latter an otherworldly, chugged-out lunar excursion, micro-dosing on whacked-out Wah Wah and Eleanor’s ethereal vocals. Beaming love letters to space and back, ‘Sparse’ marries the organic with the artificial, pianos and percussion circling around synth pads and broadcasting bleeps.
 
Elsewhere, vibrations move faster. ‘Mega’ strikes, fusing sonic tribalism with psychedelic swirls, as ‘Everything’ sweeps you up in its extra-terrestrial new wave grip. Synth stabs and basslines fizzing from every angle.  
 
Demos of Transmission Towers music surfaced on Luke Una’s radar, making him stop in his tracks. Something magical was emerging, perfectly aligned with the E Soul guardian’s tastes. Guidance followed, quickly turning into conversations about Transmission One becoming the first release on Luke’s own label. 
 
Escapist and futurist yet grounded and relatable. Transmission One is synthesis meets sentiment with a deep, spine-tingling soul at its core.

Transmission Towers - Sparse

Set to ignite dance floors and elevate spirits worldwide: "Umoja (Joaquin's Sacred Rhythm Dub)" is New York City house music royalty Joaquin Joe Claussell’s rework of the title track from Italian jazz maestro Nicola Conte’s latest album Umoja.

Claussell’s trademark brand of deep, afrofuturist house combines with the spiritual jazz dance magic of Conte’s original for an extended mix of ecstatic club music, teasing the wider release of Nicola Conte - Umoja (Joaquin Joe Claussell’s Sacred Rhythm Music & Cosmic Arts Dubs): 10 tracks of comprehensive rearrangements - featuring additional percussion, guitars, keyboards, synthesizers and drum programming - whereby Claussell excavates the source music, re-recording many of its parts under the auspices of his Sacred Music & Cosmic Arts banner.

Claussell's collaboration with Nicola Conte and Far Out Recordings helps mark the label’s 30th anniversary, as Claussell joins fellow producers such as Theo Parrish, Ron Trent, Kenny Dope and 4hero in remixing music from the label’s catalogue.

Nicola Conte - Umoja (Joaquin Joe Claussell Sacred Rhythm Music & Cosmic Arts Remixes) releases on double vinyl LP, CD and digitally on 28th June 2024 on Far Out Recordings.

Umoja (Joaquin Joe Claussell Sacred Rhythm Music & Cosmic Arts Remixes)

Nicola Conte - Umoja (Joaquin's Sacred Rhythm Dub)

Mr Bongo proudly presents the debut album from Tasmania-born, Melbourne-based, Finn Rees. Gliding across a swirling palette of saturated hues, Dawn Is A Melody feels vintage yet vibrant, new but familiar at the same time. A spiritual, deep and textured jazz record, tipping its hat to greats from the past, capturing memories and reformulating them into new ideas with the help of some of Melbourne’s finest talent.

Expert keys player for the likes of 30/70 and Elle Shimada, alongside one-half of Close Counters, this debut LP was Finn’s conscious departure from the realm of groove-based jazz. Instead, Dawn Is A Melody places the piano and arrangements centre stage, giving Finn and his fellow Melbourne crew freedom to explore the spaces in between, new emotions and alternate soundscapes.

In Finn’s own words: “My intention with Dawn Is A Melody was to create a world; a microcosm of colour. Something rich and beautiful that allowed the melodies and compositions to reach their full potential. It was driven by hope, curiosity and the search for beauty and reassurance in this ever-changing world. The emotion behind the music is really about the journey of life, growing up and changing, as well as my relationship with Tasmania’s natural landscapes where I grew up, a part of the world that is incredibly unique and beautiful.”

The album arcs between opening, middle and end. Beginning with the optimism of ‘Looking Up’ and ‘Lagoon’, the former a celestial, string and harp marbled slice of positivity, the latter a spiritual journey of exuberance and hope, Finn’s fingers dancing across the ‘70s Yamaha grand piano. From there the songs blossom outwards with the cinematic soulful journey of ‘It’s Behind Me Now’ and Brazilian-inspired ‘Expansion’, as the divine ‘Crossing’ signals a transition to a new realm. The energy is transformed from the rich cosmic textures to a more intimate and personal feeling with ‘Ablaze’, ‘Between Spaces’ and ‘As It Passes’ which blissfully fades down to simply piano and strings to close out the record.

Recorded at Rolling Stock in Collingwood, Melbourne, Henry Jenkins was drafted in as recording and mix engineer, his minimal vintage mic setups giving a live aesthetic and warmth to the arrangements. Lucky Pereira and Blakely McLean Davies form the rock-solid rhythm section, with a hand-picked line-up of other Melbourne talent on display, including Cheryl Durongpitikul on tenor sax, Siwei Wong on harp, Audrey Powne on trumpet and Allysha Joy on vocals to name only a few.

Plotting a course from Alice Coltrane, through Herbie Hancock, to Arthur Verocai, this is a debut nourished by the past but firmly made in the present. A record unable to be age-stamped, casting ambiguity as to when, what era and by whom it has been crafted. Like a vintage lens capturing a current scene, Dawn Is A Melody is warm and familiar yet focused on the here now.

Finn Rees - Crossing

This one is very special to us. We linked three of our cherished musical family together; the wonderous band SOYUZ, legendary cult artist Asha Puthli and Swedish maestro Sven Wunder, for an exclusive production made especially for the Mr Bongo Record Club 7 compilation. We were so blown away with the results, we wanted to share it as a stand-alone single too. 

They say don't meet your heroes, but this is not the case with Asha Puthli. You couldn't meet a more inspirational, gutsy and funny spirit, who is rich in stories, experience and knowledge. At the age of 79, Asha has embarked on her first-ever world tour, returning to the stage after over 40 years.

The track that would go on to become this collaborative piece, started out in Minsk just a month before the outbreak of full-scale war in Ukraine and SOYUZ’s emigration to Poland. Spending time in the studio playing around with different instruments and recording ideas, SOYUZ’s Alex Chumak wrote the initially piano-driven track, influenced by Azerbaijani pianist and composer Vagif Mustafazadeh, with hints of Holger Czukay weaved within.

As longtime fans of Asha’s music, SOYUZ were incredibly excited about the prospect of a collaboration. Asha loved the demo, so the band recorded a proper studio session, sending it to her in Miami where she returned it with her mystical vocals, that as Alex explains “were like a revelation – strange and beautiful at the same time!”.

To put the icing on the cake, Alex met one of our heroes, producer and composer Sven Wunder from Stockholm, whilst playing Sessa’s live band. After playing him the Asha track, Sven wrote a glorious string arrangement that was recorded with the Stockholm Studio Orchestra and conducted by Erik Arvinder. 

Lifting the track even further, subtle percussion by Anders Scherp and Anders af Klintberg delicately dusts the grooves. It was a pure goosebumps moment when we first opened the finished track at Mr Bongo HQ and got to hear the song in its entirety. At just over two minutes it's short, but oh-so-sweet, beautifully encapsulating Asha's character and personality - playful, wise and serene, whilst also perfectly capturing SOYUZ’s cinematic, song-writing prowess and Sven Wunder’s distinctive style.

SOYUZ (СОЮ3) Featuring Asha Puthli & Sven Wunder - Spring Has Sprung

Idjut Boys - Freebird Instrumental

Why LA BELLE VIE ?
Because when we first met, it was just a prefect combination: same tastes in food, drinks, music, arts, bullshits….
Then different crowds and collectives welcoming us  gave us back so much energy, something really kind & easy. 
We call this LA BELLE VIE, the "good life". From Poland to Austria, Athens to Singapore, Toulouse to Klaipeda, we realized 
how this people were sweet, how they did it great, everything was always so well prepared for us…

Who can live now from his own music, we know it's not so easy, but still possible, 
if you respect and love people, giving the best of yourself, staying honest, they will give it back to you . 
There's no better feeling and expression than La Belle Vie. Making music, friends, having a lot of fun, 
chillin' with nice people…All of these moments were a joyful experience to share.
Oulala, ça c'est la Belle Vie !

Fulgeance & Soulist

All tracks composed by Soulist & Fulgeance
except track 4 "Pride" arranged by Raashan Ahmad (courtesy of Trad Vibes), 
track 10"Unseen" arranged by Testament from Homecut (courtesy of First Word Records), 
track 11 "Le Plaisir" arranged by Shawn Lee on Drums (courtesy of Ubiquity Records), 
Fulgeance on bass guitar, Soulist on turntables & scratches.


One Step

Why LA BELLE VIE ?
Because when we first met, it was just a prefect combination: same tastes in food, drinks, music, arts, bullshits….
Then different crowds and collectives welcoming us  gave us back so much energy, something really kind &amp; easy. 
We call this LA BELLE VIE, the "good life". From Poland to Austria, Athens to Singapore, Toulouse to Klaipeda, we realized 
how this people were sweet, how they did it great, everything was always so well prepared for us…

Who can live now from his own music, we know it's not so easy, but still possible, 
if you respect and love people, giving the best of yourself, staying honest, they will give it back to you . 
There's no better feeling and expression than La Belle Vie. Making music, friends, having a lot of fun, 
chillin' with nice people…All of these moments were a joyful experience to share.
Oulala, ça c'est la Belle Vie !

Fulgeance &amp; Soulist

All tracks composed by Soulist &amp; Fulgeance
except track 4 "Pride" arranged by Raashan Ahmad (courtesy of Trad Vibes), 
track 10"Unseen" arranged by Testament from Homecut (courtesy of First Word Records), 
track 11 "Le Plaisir" arranged by Shawn Lee on Drums (courtesy of Ubiquity Records), 
Fulgeance on bass guitar, Soulist on turntables &amp; scratches.

La Belle Vie

Available as FREE DOWNLOAD for limited time from: http://www.fayhallamandthebongolian.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3CZGyR9HWw

Fay Hallam &amp; The Bongolian is a brand new collaboration between Fay Hallam (Makin' Time, The Prime Movers, Phaze) and Blow Up Records' Nasser Bouzida (The Bongolian).

http://www.blowup.co.uk

Dancing - Fay Hallam & The Bongolian

iTunes: http://apple.co/1MKVKft
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1P7VF7W
Spotify: http://spoti.fi/1BkJdh0

Title track from the upcoming Jed and Lucia “It’s A Wonder” album featuring 11 tracks. Includes remixes by S. Maharba and Superimposers, instrumentals, and a stripped down, acoustic version of Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites. Digital only release & available direct at: http://bit.ly/IBXFF4

Free Download Available for a Limited Time Only. Enjoy!

Jed and Lucia - "It's A Wonder"

"Bubbles" from EP "Wandering" OUT NOW.
from First Word Records.

bandcamp
http://yosihorikawa.bandcamp.com/album/wandering-ep

iTunes
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/wandering-ep/id530796489

Bubbles

MIKKY EKKO - "PULL ME DOWN" (Produced by Clams Casino &amp; Mikky Ekko)
Download for FREE above or purchase on iTunes here: http://smarturl.it/PullMeDown?iqid=sc

www.mikkyekko.com
www.facebook.com/mikkyekko
www.twitter.com/mikkyekko

Pull Me Down

BUY NOW

California-based record label and music publisher.

Occasional music writer, constant music lover. Radio guy, internet world.

Won't be sharing mixes here.

Jed and Lucia - "It's A Wonder"

Ubiquity Records

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