‘Richly harmonic explorations in just intonation, using a sparse but finely detailed palette of organic atmospheres, metallic shimmer and off-kilter rhythms. Sample-based hip-hop, the minimalism of Terry Riley and Jon Hassell, as well as dub techno and post-rock; all in the house. Glassy pads, gamelan metallophones, clarinet and guitar dissolve into fluid, dreamlike forms, suggesting vast coastal landscapes, charged air, the calm after a storm…’

Astounding 1982 conjurations of ancient ragas on the Roland TB-303 and TR-808 synths which would define Acid. Pulsating, minimal grooves; a living Indian antecedent of House.

Released in cooperation with Singh’s estate. With a sixteen-page LP booklet containing previously-unpublished photos and two new essays. Remastered; luxuriating over four sides for maximum aural impact.

‘The mesmeric bass lines, the spare simplicity of the arrangements and the constant motion make the whole work a proper piece of electro history, akin to Manuel Gottsching’s E2-E4 for its understated visionary importance’ (Mojo).

Norway’s finest hardanger fiddle player, performing traditional tunes from her native valley Hallingdal.
Wonderful.

‘Oud-player with The Handover, Eissa was mentored by two legendary figures in Egyptian music: composer and multi-instrumentalist Abdo Dagher, and oud master Hazem Shahin. The music here is heavily rooted in both Egyptian classical music and a number of different folk music traditions, but it goes its own way, through expansive and intricate original compositions.
‘The epic title track, with Eissa playing oud exclusively, takes up two thirds of the album. It seamlessly transitions into heart-stopping recitation of the thirteenth century poet Baha´ al-din Zuhayr… serious, loving, tender and insistent, all at once. Visionary and virtuosic, but at the same time warm and close.
‘A future classic.’

‘Our long overdue return to the Chopper label, which we first reissued way back in 2010. This twelve song LP corrals all our favourites we haven’t previously revived. A mix of early ‘80s style live rhythms laid at Channel 1 and some great classical late ‘80s digital style. Lionel Barrett was the original and perhaps the core artist of the Chopper stable, and is featured heavily here. A few of his tracks as well as a couple of others here are now issued on vinyl for the first time. The remaining are retrieved from long out of press albums and singles. A great overview of a prolific JA-NYC label from dancehall’s best era.’

A four-tracker nodding to the Revolutionaries’ late-seventies instrumental EPs out of Maxfield Avenue.
A double whammy of knockout dubs.
First, a head-turning brace for all darker-than-blue massive. A down-to-the-bone version of Pam Hall’s haunted Lovers take on The Stylistics’ Children of the Night; and the startling dub of Junior Moore’s lovely cover of The Isley Brothers’ Voyage to Atlantis. In both the scraps of singing are deadly.
Then two evilous dubs of classic Hopeton Lewis roots, saturated in classic Channel One hard-grooving intensity. Like the opener, never released before now.

Class-conscious, early-eighties Diamonds from the same little red book as Bodyguard. Determinedly defiant, with an edge of menace. Tight, textbook Gussie’s; your-time’s-up horns; masterful, stripped and detailed dub. Ace.

Over to Digikiller…
‘Howard ‘Sir Tommy’ Mapp is one of the original guard of New York sound men, playing sound system since 1974. Around a decade after that, he began producing for his newly formed label of the same name. Later in the 1990s he established his own studio, which became a hub of the city’s dancehall scene. In true independent fashion, Tommy covered nearly every aspect of the reggae business himself, like Wackie’s, Jah Life and Philip Smart. We’re proud to finally present the first reissue of the early gems in Tommy’s catalogue and make some more classic New York reggae accessible again. So what better to start with than a new compilation, 100% heaters, culled from long unavailable singles and albums. We cannot recommend this record enough, as Tommy’s early production output mainly falls in two of our most beloved categories — the mid ‘80s sound of Channel 1 as played by the Gifted Roots Band, and the late ‘80s early digital sound. This LP is packed with prime cuts of just such music. Absolutely essential stuff for 1980s reggae heads.’

Keith cut some sides for JA producers in the early ‘70s, before moving to New York. In the first half of the ‘80s, his Lovebird label released mostly his own productions, like Honey Bee Fantasy… slow-burning, mid-eighties boogie, nervy with a delicious outsider wrongness. None other than Charles Earland plays keys; Canadian singer Ann Marie handles backing vocals.
AM bounces back on the PM, fronting the first incarnation of the Roots Radics, including Blacka and Bingy Bunny from the Morwells. Sweetly fragile, tentative singing over a dreadnought rhythm.
Painstakingly sleeved as per the original.

Gorgeous roots. Seemingly sardonic and above-it-all but utterly trenchant. All the singing is sublime, including the back-up. The gentle nyabinghi percussion and keyboard stabs are beautifully restrained, as Sylvan Morris brings his genius to the mix. Same dub as the original 45. A stone classic. We could listen for days.
Plus the 12 Tribes launch a two-headed-shark attack on the flip, featuring maestro Pablove Black. No less than an instrumental cut to George Beaufort’s insurgent Reaching Our Goal, and a sick synth excursion on the revered Black Star Liner rhythm.

Dead moody Lovers. A worrisomely loose, rumbling, mid-eighties Channel One rhythm, seamed with a squashed steel-drum sample, unfurled like spells.
‘Everything will be alright,’ sings Hopeton about his prospective date, but it doesn’t sound like it.

A perfect nugget of vintage digi. Chambers’ expert sing-jaying snags your attention — an inner city blues, with premonitions of ICE — over a tight, buoyant rhythm. Paired with its tough dub, for the first time.