Conch Records
Congo Natty - Jungle Revolution (BIG DADA)
Available here on 2LP, here on CD
Big Dada are proud and pleased to announce that they will release the album Jungle Revolution by Congo Natty on June 17th 2013. Congo Natty aka Rebel MC has a career dating back to his early hit with Double Trouble, “Street Tuff,” but is probably most respected as one of the pioneers of Jungle – perhaps the first uniquely UK-born bass music.Jungle Revolution features the whole of the extended Congo Natty family and was mixed with Adrian Sherwood. Clearly showing this Rasta’s belief that Jungle is a re-boot of roots reggae for a new century, the record is full of blood and fire, the sternum-buzz of sub-bass, rapid fire drum breaks, sweet hooks, righteous anger and professions of religious fervour. It’s the kind of passionate, committed, raw and spiritual, beautiful record that doesn’t come along every day. To celebrate this release, we are giving away the track “UK Allstars,” which features a who’s who of British soundsystem culture. This is the first time ever that this line up have all appeared on one track together and so also marks a historic coming together of a scene which lies at the roots of so much of what we now take for granted in UK music, from dubstep to grime to drum & bass and beyond. Tracklist: 1. Jungle Souljah Feat. La La & The Boo Ya 2. UK Allstars (Congo Natty Meets Benny Page Mis) Feat. Tenor Fly, Top Cat, General Levy, Tippa Irie, Sweetie Irie, Daddy Freddy 3. Revolution Feat. Nanci Correia, Phoebe ‘Iron Dread’ Hibbert, Ras Buggsy 4. Get Ready Feat. Tenor Fly, Daddy Freddy, Nanci Correia 5. Jah Warriors (Congo Natty Meets Vital Elements Mix) Feat. Nanci Correia, Ras Buggsy, YT 6. Nu Beginningz Feat. Sister Mary 7. Jungle Is I And I (Congo Natty Meets Vital Elements Mix) Feat. Lady Chann 8. London Dungeons (Congo Natty Meets Boyson And Crooks Mix) Feat Martha Kean 9. Rebel Feat 2Nice 10. Micro Chip (Say No) Feat. Kaya Fyah, Phoebe 'Iron Dread' HibbertThundercat - Apocalypse (BRAINFEEDER)
Available here on CD, here on 2LP+mp3
Forever a wildcat and wild card, Los Angeles’ bassist/songwriter/vocalist Stephen Bruner, aka Thundercat, is impossible to tame artistically. A true master of his craft, he can be found playing bass with Flying Lotus, Erykah Badu and Suicidal Tendencies, in the same breath as performing live with the likes of Stanley Clarke, Snoop Dogg or the Red Hot Chili Peppers. His 2011 solo debut (‘The Golden Age of Apocalypse,’ co-produced by Flying Lotus) created an equally genre-blurring enigma of indie rock and jazz, with a touch of electronica.
On his second album, ‘Apocalypse,’ Thundercat pairs up with executive producer Flying Lotus to pull the veil back and reveal the simple truths of the cycle of life, for all its beauty and destruction. An album about loss and rebuilding, trying to gain something back, and capturing that moment of clarity where one finally finds feet back on the ground again. Bringing a fusion of pop, soul, electronica, prog rock and funk into an unexplored dimension, the album slowly descends and tunnels to the core of what it takes to grasp peace, at a time that it seems most far. From the deep, rumbling entrance of ‘Tenfold,’ each of the 12 tracks coalesce with Thundercat’s signature bass, his riffs and basslines gliding skyhigh to meet Fly Lo’s astral touch. Bruner's vocals and harmonies also soar with open honesty, rising above heartbreak with uplifting odes to love and companionship (‘Tron Song’) and wise mantras to live by (‘Special Stage’). The album plays as a comedy and tragedy at the same time, delicately addressing tracks like ‘We’ll Die’ while bringing the all-out cosmic funk of the anthemic ‘Oh Sheit, it’s X.‘ As heavy as the lyrical weight may be, the divine musicality of Flying Lotus, and Thundercat’s instrumental collaborations, brings light. Navigating dense rhythms and intense harmonic progressions, the LP pushes through the hypnotic strands of ‘The Life Aquatic,’ the analogue explorations of ‘Lotus & The Jondy’ (recorded in Adrian Younge’s studio with drummer Thomas Pridgen), and Thundercat and Lotus’ prog rock jam ‘Seven,’ a spontaneous improv recording that organically materialized in less than an hour. It’s no wonder the kindred pair often refer to their freeform sessions as “going to space.” Continually pushing tracks to their furthest point, they take the listener to another place completely - somewhere beyond time, a place that transcends this realm. As the aformentioned track ‘Seven’ (named for its challenging time signature) asks, “Can you hear the sounds of infinity?” Thundercat explains ‘Apocalypse’: “I feel like the album’s a story, more than anything. The music’s almost like a photobook for me. It takes me back to certain things I’ll never forget. I love working with Lotus because he was able to give it a different perspective and mold, to where people can actually see it for what it is.”Tracklist & Soundclips:
| Track | Title | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Tenfold | clip | ||||
| 02 | Heartbreaks + Setbacks | clip | ||||
| 03 | The Life Aquatic | clip | ||||
| 04 | Special Stage | clip | ||||
| 05 | Tron Song | clip | ||||
| 06 | Seven | clip | ||||
| 07 | Oh Sheit It's X | clip | ||||
| 08 | Without You | clip | ||||
| 09 | Lotus And The Jondy | clip | ||||
| 10 | Evangelion | clip | ||||
| 11 | We'll Die | clip | ||||
| 12 | A Message For Austin / Praise The Lord / Enter The Void | clip |
Digable Planets - Blowout Comb (MODERN CLASSICS)
Available Here
Reissue of the 1994 second album by cult, Brooklyn-based hip hop trio Digable Planets. Limited edition first pressing with embossed cover and 18"× 24" fold-out poster. The album is named for the combs used to maintain an Afro hairstyle, and that's significant. The group's Ishmael ''Butterfly'' Butler said it summed up what they wanted to do with it: ''''It means the utilization of the natural, a natural style,'' he has said. Like with 1993's debut Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space), 'utilizing the natural' meant creating hip hop that blended jazz with the formidable rap skills of the aforementioned Butterfly, Craig 'Doodlebug' Irving and Mary Ann 'Ladybug Mecca' Vieira. Unlike that debut, it meant broadening to include guests such as Gang Starr's Guru, Jeru the Damaja, and Jazzy Joyce. Following the gold-selling commercial success of their debut, they here set out to prove their artistic prowess. This is intelligent, alternative hip hop that sounded like party music. Its lyrics are dense with wit, social commentary and politics - and its original inner sleeve was modeled on the newspaper of the Black Panther movement. Its instrumentation includes sax, vibraphone and flute. Its samples - gathered from global cratedigging trips while touring the first album around the world - included Grant Green, Eddie Harris, Shuggie Otis and jazz-funk pioneer Roy Ayers (whose ''We Live in Brooklyn, Baby'' became ''Borough Check'' here). And yet at the same time its beats are infectious and its spirit undeniable. This is an album firmly rooted in Brooklyn. ''Growing up hearing and cherishing this album, it created a textured soundscape of a mythical world of rhymes, jazz, breakbeats, culture, art and urban ambiance,'' says DJ and fan Mick Boogie in the liner notes. ''When I moved to Brooklyn years later, I found that the world I imagined while listening to this classic LP actually really existed... '' Though Digable Planets have reunited on occasion since - and though their influence endures in every top-shelf rap act with a jazzy sensibility - the trio parted ways after Blowout Comb, citing that old favorite ''''creative differences''. Sometimes, the most volatile combinations create the best art. * Limited edition first pressing with embossed cover and 18"× 24" fold-out poster * Liner notes by Larry Mizelle Jr. Tracklist: A1 The May 4th Movement Starring Doodlebug 4:56 A2 Black Ego 7:02 A3 Dog It 4:21 B1 Jettin' 4:39 B2 Borough Check 6:56 B3 Highing Fly / Agent 7 Creamy Spy Theme 1:23 B4 Dial 7 (Axioms Of Creamy Spies) / NY 21 Theme 5:47 C1 The Art Of Easing 5:06 C2 K.B.'s Alley (Mood Dudes Groove) 2:06 C3 Graffiti 4:03 C4 Blowing Down 3:51 D1 9th Wonder (Blackitolism) 4:27 D2 For Corners 7:02
Fat Freddy's Drop - Blackbird VINYL (THE DROP)
Available Here
Blackbird is Fat Freddy's Drop third full-length release and will see the band exceed half-a-million album sales worldwide, the result of playing over 800 shows in their career to date, clocking up 412 appearances in Europe, 27 Australian Tours and over 300 shows in their homeland.
Fat Freddy's Drop celebrate a decade of European touring by releasing Blackbird in East London. The already sold-out show at Village Underground attracted over 4,000 hopeful ticket ballot entries in just 24 hours for only 500 lucky spots. Featuring nine tracks, Blackbird was written and recorded at Bays, the bands own studio. Situated in Wellington's beach suburb of Lyall Bay, the building was one of the last vinyl pressing plants in NZ before being converted to an Apostolic church in the 70s. Production maestro DJ Fitchie says, "What you hear on the album is the sound of Bays; the room itself, the vibe of the place and the performance we can get out of the band in there." "Blackbird is truer to FFD's musical philosophy than anything else we've done", adds saxophonist Chopper Reeds. "The song forms are unruly - just like our live shows - and we've really tried to craft arrangements that showcase Joe Dukie's voice. It's an unholy mix of disco, rootsy dub, blues, soul and electronic funk - but it's what we love to do."Tracklist:
1. Blackbird 2. Russia 3. Clean The House 4. Silver And Gold 5. Bones 6. Soldier 7. Never Moving 8. Mother Mother 9. Bohannon
Comments
0 Comments