Conch Records

Date

October 12 2009

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Soul Jazz Presents: Can You Dig It?

Written By 3 - October 12 2009

Soul Jazz Records presents ‘Can you Dig It?’

The Music and Politics of Black Action Films 1969-75

Available on 2xCD and 2LP Vol. 1 and 2LP Vol. 2
CD One
1. Roy Ayers – Coffy (Coffy)
2. Gene Page – Blacula (Blacula)
3. Johnny Pate - Shaft in Africa (Addis) (Shaft in Africa)
4. Willie Hutch - Brothers Gonna Work It Out (The Mack)
5. Don Costa - Soul of Nigger Charley (Soul of Nigger Charley)
6. Marvin Gaye - T Plays it Cool (Troubleman)
7. Bobby Womack - Across 110th Street (Across 110th Street)
8. J.J. Johnson – Willie’s Chase (Willie Dynamite)
9. James Brown - Down and Out In New York City (Black Caeser)
10. Quincy Jones – They Call Me Mister Tibbs (They Call Me Mister Tibbs)
11. JJ Johnson - Keep on Movin On (Willie Dynamite)
12. Dennis Coffy - Black Belt Jones (Black belt Jones)
13. Curtis Mayfield - Freddie’s Dead (Super Fly)
14. Blackbyrd’s - Wilford’s Gone (Cornbread, Earl and Me)
15. Willie Hutch - Foxy Brown (Foxy Brown)
16. Isaac Hayes - Run Fay Run (Three Tough Guys)
CD2
1. Isaac Hayes – Shaft (Shaft)
2. Joe Simon - Theme from Cleopatra Jones (Cleopatra Jones)
3. Roy Ayers – Aragon (Coffy)
4. Gordon Staples - All Strung Out (Mean Johnny Burrows)
5. Brer Soul & Earth, Wind and Fire - Sweetback’s Theme (Sweet Sweetback)
6. Johnny Pate - Truck Stop (Shaft In Africa)
7. James Brown - Make It Good to Yourself (Black Caeser)
8. Isaac Hayes - Pursuit of the Pimpmobile (Shaft in Africa)
9. Edwin Starr – Easin’ In (Hell Up In Harlem)
10. Don Julian - Lay it On Your Head (Savage)
11. Gene Page - The Bus (Cool Breeze)
12. Grant Green - Travelling to get Doc (The Final Comedown)
13. Impressions - Make A Resolution (Three The Hard Way)
14. Nat Dove and the Devils - Zombie March (Petey Wheatstraw)
15. Booker T and MG’s - Time Is Tight (Uptight!)

‘Can You Dig It?’ charts the rise and fall of ‘Black Action Films’ from 1970-75. As well as featuring a double-CD collection of the stunning music from these films, ‘Can You Dig It?’ comes with a 100-page booklet, mini-film poster cards and stickers.

The Black Action Films of the early 1970s gave Hollywood its first African-American cinema – actors, directors, cameramen, editors and writers. These films discussed aspects of the African-American experience in the form of entertainment. Storylines interwove post-civil rights revolution with action stories, many involving pimps, prostitutes, drug dealers or private detectives.

The films also featured the finest funk and soul black music of the time as stars such as James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, Willie Hutch and Roy Ayers produced some of their finest work, with film budgets allowing for the addition of huge orchestral arrangements by jazz legends such as Quincy Jones, Johnny Pate and JJ Johnson.

In the early 1970s, Black Action Films exploded into the cinema with three extremely successful films – ‘Shaft’, ‘Super Fly’ and ‘Sweet Sweetback’s Badasssss Song’. The most profound statement of these films was their actual existence – black actors and black directors entering the previously closed Hollywood film industry.

Black Action Films were a representation of politically everything that had gone before and stylistically of everything that was current. Civil rights, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Black Power, Black Panthers, Vietnam sit alongside the criminal worlds of policemen, private investigators, bail bondsmen and the criminals, drug dealers, pimps and hustlers that they parole.

Black American culture is reflected in the scorching soundtracks, some seriously funky clothes and the language of the street. Rarely does ten minutes pass when someone will expound ‘Right on!’, ‘Can you dig it?’, ‘Stay loose’ or the eponymous ‘Is it Black enough for you?’.

Date

October 06 2009

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3

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International Observer - Felt CD (Dub Mission Records)

Written By 3 - October 06 2009

International Observer - Felt CD (Dub Mission Records)

Two years after the seminal Heard was released, Tom Bailey aka International Observer returns with eleven more slices of delectable dub drenched delights, designed to bother bass-bins worldwide. Get it here 1. House of the Rising Dub 2. Popcorn Slavery 3. The Death of Karamov 4. Rose Madder 5. Neelkanth 6. Lampedusa 7. House Made of Felt 8. Mudshark Lick 9. Binman Dub 10. Miss Hit 11. Abode of the Setting Moon Links: NZ Herald Review by Scott Kara Dub Mission Records International Observer MySpace

Date

October 01 2009

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3

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Mayer Hawthorne - A Strange Arrangement CD / 2LP (Stonesthrow)

Written By 3 - October 01 2009

Mayer Hawthorne - A Strange Arrangement CD / 2LP (Stonesthrow)


Available on  CD / 2LP with 4inch Single

Mayer Hawthorne grew up just outside of Detroit, and vividly remembers, as a child, driving with his father and tuning the car radio in to the rich soul and jazz history the region provided. “Most of the best music ever made came out of Detroit,” claims the singer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, who counts Isaac Hayes, Leroy Hutson, Mike Terry, legendary songwriting and production trio of Dozier, Holland, and Holland Jr. The “retro” tag is added to almost any contemporary work that sounds like it was originally recorded between 1966 and 1974, and Hawthorne, among the newest contributors to the genre, is aware of how trends come and go. After being introduced to Stones Throw label head Peanut Butter Wolf, even the label boss was skeptical. “He showed me two songs and I didn’t understand what I was listening to,” Wolf recalls.  “I asked him if they were old songs that he did re-edits of – I couldn’t believe they were new songs and that he played all the instruments.”

And after meeting in person, it was even harder for Wolf to believe that Hawthorne was also the lead vocalist. Few expect such heartfelt sentiment to come from a 29-year-old white kid from Ann Arbor, but he has caught the ear of his family at Stones Throw, as well as BBC Radio 1 host Gilles Peterson and producer/DJ Mark Ronson. Expectations are high for the admitted vinyl junkie who never planned on taking his crooning public. Hawthorne’s hanging-by-a-string falsetto and breakbeat production on his first recorded effort, the tender “Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out,” are simultaneously Smokey and J Dilla – equal parts “The Tracks of My Tears” and “Fall in Love.” “It’s soul,” he explains, “But it’s new.”

Hawthorne has produced and played instruments for much of his life, but never intended to become a singer. He isn’t formally trained, and never sang in the church choir or in any of the bands he was in before founding the County (formerly the County Commissioners). But here he is, new school soul sensation, who has taken the Motown assembly-line production model and eliminated nearly every element but himself and a few hired hands. “I think Mayer is the only artist in the history of the label that I’ve signed after hearing only two songs,” says Peanut Butter Wolf. “Sometimes, you just know it’s the right thing to do.” And for those willing to believe anything is possible, be grateful to have Mayer Hawthorne on the scene. It’s not just throwback music anymore – this revival is all about progression.
Available on  CD / 2LP with 4inch Single

Date

September 16 2009

Written By

3

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Pax Nicholas and The Nettey Family - Na Teef Know the Road of Teef (Daptone)

Written By 3 - September 16 2009

Pax Nicholas and The Nettey Family - Na Teef Know the Road of Teef CD/LP (Daptone)

pax-artistpage

Available on CD / LP

Sample Tracks:
1. Na Teef Know De Road of Teef
2. Ataa Onukpa
3. Na Six Feet
4. You

Nicholas Addo-Nettey was born in Accra, Ghana on August 7th, 1954. From his early childhood on he was dedicated to music: he started singing in a gospel choir when he was only 6, and later on joined different traditional and cultural groups as a dancer and percussionist. In the 60s, Ghanaian youth were crazy about American soul music, and Nicholas was no exception to the rule. James Brown and Otis Redding were his idols, and by the age of 18 he started to perform himself. Shortly after, fellow musician Joe King Kologbo invited him to the Mecca of African funk music: Lagos, Nigeria. Nicholas was not only talented but also lucky. Kologbo introduced him to Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the undisputed Godfather of Afrobeat. He was able to convince the master of his skills as a drummer and singer and in 1971 became a full member of Fela´s legendary band Africa 70 as a conga player and background singer. The first record he appeared on was “Shakara” – an international smash hit and one of Fela´s greatest. Nicholas was at the right place at the right time. In the 70s, stars like James Brown, B.B. King, Ginger Baker, Stevie Wonder and Manu Dibango came to Lagos to visit Fela’s Shrine Club to hear this new and incredibly heavy thing called Afrobeat.

While playing and recording for Fela’s Africa 70 (he appeared on all of Fela’s releases between 1971 and 1978), Mr. Addo-Nettey also always had his own thing going on the side. He released two solo LPs for the Tabansi Label with the Martin Brothers Band from Portharcort, Nigeria: Mind Your Own Business in 1971 and Na Teef Know The Road of Teef in 1973. The latter, made with Africa 70 musicians and singers, is heavy Afro-funk, recorded in Ginger Baker’s highly equipped Lagos studio, where many of Fela’s albums were recorded, as well. Obviously, Fela was not amused at all about these kinds of things, even less when he heard how strong the Na Teef… album was. Reportedly, he said, “Don’t you ever, EVER play it again!” And so it was. Despite being a killer record, Na Teef… remained undercover for more than 30 years.

The story of Na Teef… would have ended there had it not been for Frank Gossner (aka DJ Soulpusher of voodoofunk.com, a dedicated cratedigger who, in the 90s, found a copy hidden at a record store in Philly, tracked down Nicholas in Berlin, and brought the album to the attention of Daptone Records.

As for Nicholas, in the 70s he experienced life in Fela’s Kalakuta Republic, a place where about 100 musicians, dancers, friends and family members of Fela lived, played, loved, and celebrated together. It was a property in Lagos that had been declared an independent state by Fela, in open defiance of the brutal dictatorship that was ruling in Nigeria at that time. The regime, which hated Fela for his radical messages and his popularity, attacked Kalakuta several times. In one of these raids, Nicholas was arrested with several other band members and remained in prison for nine months, where he was strongly mistreated. During another army attack in 1977, Fela’s mother was thrown out of an upstairs window and killed, and the whole compound was burned to the ground. The dangerous conditions became to much for Nicholas to bear. When playing at the Berlin Jazz Festival in 1978, he and other band members, including drummer Tony Allen, left Africa 70 because they didn’t want to go back to Nigeria. While Allen moved to Paris, Nicholas stayed in Berlin where he raised two sons and continues to play music to this day. Pax Nicholas now leads his own band, Ridimtaksi, which features West African musicians, continuing to play his own fresh take on Afrobeat.

– Matti Steinitz

Date

September 16 2009

Written By

3

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Clutchy Hopkins Meets Lord Kenjamin - Music Is My Medicine CD (Ubiquity)

Written By 3 - September 16 2009

This album has been out for a little while now but we here at Conch feel it is a bit of a grower.  Check out the blurb from Ubiquity Records below as well as music samples.  This album is also available on LP, please contact us at info@conch.co.nz if you would like it on LP format.

From Ubiquity Records:

Late last year Ubiquity was approached by the mysterious Misled Children about another project from Clutchy Hopkins, the man they claim to represent. A vintage Caribbean tracksuit jacket was found in the office fridge, and written in permanent marker on the inside right arm was a request for a meeting where we would “get another piece of the Clutchy Hopkins puzzle.”

Despite the goose chase involved in putting out the last album we could not pass up the opportunity to hear some more Clutchy Hopkins music. We agreed to meet the Misled Children in Joshua Tree, CA. Sweating from the 110 degree heat and skeptical about the possibility of a no-show we went to the Joshua Tree Tavern for a cool beer. The bar tender spotted us as we walked in. When we ordered a couple of drinks he looked us straight in the eye and whispered, “Follow me.”

Taking us to a messy back room, filled with empty glass bottles, a collection of stuffed owls, and strewn with old newspapers, he handed over a plastic bag and said, “I think this is what you came for.” Despite the lack of liquid refreshment we decided to leave quickly, the local eyes were glued on us and we were itching to get at the contents of the bag which by now we knew had to have been planted by the Misled Children.

Inside was a short stack off Apex 2-inch reel-to-reel tapes and a small journal. The journal contained stories of Clutchy Hopkins, and his move to Barbados. The dates of the stories were vague but seemed to span the late 1970s through the early 1980's. Hopkins had moved there in search for a medicine man, who also hand-made percussion instruments, named Lord Kenjamin. Over the years Hopkins had heard stories about this simple man and as the notes read “his mission to help people come to a place of peace and humbleness through music.” Hopkins searched for several weeks, tricked on several occasions into dead ends by the local children. At times it seemed that the village people wanted nothing to do with Hopkins, “The children enjoy confusing me with directions that lead me back to where I started. It is like a daily joke,” he wrote, “One day they tell me to head east, the next day west, and all with a suspicious smile.”

Hopkins was about to give up his search and go home when he was bitten by a poisonous Lionfish. He passed out from the pain while in a side street on his way back to his hotel room. He was dehydrated and in bad shape after laying there for nearly 2 whole days. A group of the local children found him close to death when their soccer ball bounced down the street and rolled into his listless body. Feeling guilty that they had misled him on his quest, the children carried Hopkins on a stretcher made of sugar cane to Lord Kenjamin. For the next 3 months Hopkins was in and out of consciousness.

At this point in the journal the notes in the book have been ripped-out, we don’t know why. But the next page that is legible reads “With faint memories of a 4 track, deep-rooted beats, and a melodica, I have been brought back to health by the help of Lord Kenjamin and the music we made together. As a token of my appreciation I have promised the good Lord Kenjamin that the world would one day hear these recordings. The music has made a huge impact on our spirits and health during this time. We will call this record Music Is My Medicine.”

Tracklisting:

01. The Old Spot 02. Brother John 03. Cold and Wet 04. Riff Raff Rollin 05. Lord Kenji 06. Dotsy's Leslie 07. Tune Traveler 08. Shadowfish 09. Gourds of the Desert 10. Turtle Rock 11. Heavy Hands

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