Byrne & Barnes
An Eye For An Eye

** Not available for Italy & UK **Unconscious Collective is the first album by PS5, the new ensemble led by Pietro Santangelo (Nu Guinea, Slivovitz, Fitness Forever) - and it will be out for Hyperjazz Records on 21st May 2021. It’s a further step in the label’s path in trying to connect the musical tradition of South Italy, the love for African-American music, and new ways of expression. ‘Unconscious Collective’ is a musical experiment where layered memories and hidden feelings resonate as if they arise directly from the most recondite part of the unconscious, suspending the stream of consciousness. With the aim to create a state of trance and override the human reason, this is an imaginary round trip across the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, ideally connecting Naples with Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. The arrangements wrote by Santangelo are based on great freedom of improvisation: while the melodic textures of the two saxophones didn’t give any clear references, the other musicians followed the rhythmic pulse and its unpredictable ways. The music moves naturally along an imaginary line highlighting the ancestral connection between Jamaica and Ethiopia or between Nigeria and Cuba. In the background, Naples is a synthesis of all the sonic ingredients, mixed and cooked in its own mystical and spicy belly.Besides Santangelo himself on the tenor and soprano saxophones, the collective is made up of: Paolo Bianconcini, a brilliant Neapolitan percussionist with a very deep Afro-Cuban background; Giuseppe Giroffi, young and talented alto, and baritone saxophonist; the bassist Vincenzo Lamagna and the drummer Salvatore Rainone, both loyal members of the former Santangelo’s trio.Recorded live at the Auditorium Novecento in Naples, the legendary studio of Phonotype Records, Unconscious Collective is mixed in analog format by Fabrizio Piccolo and mastered by Davide Barbarulo at his 20Hz20KHz Studio.

Dwight Druick’s born in Montreal to a professional gambler and an ex-Radio City Rockette. One of five children, he grew up in a family buoyed by music and beleaguered by the vagaries of miscalculated risk. After attaining a McGill University bachelor’s degree in Art History, Dwight fully embraced both music and risk by traveling to London, where he signed a contract with Pye Records and Joe Cocker’s management company. The ensuing record, Druick & Lorange was released to critical acclaim and relative success. After returning to Canada, Dwight recorded two albums with Phil Vyvial: Midnight and Minuit. Recorded with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section in Alabama, the duo’s work achieved airplay success in Quebec and across Canada. Dwight subsequently released his first French language solo album, Tanger, released in 1980 by the Canadian label, Bobinason.Today quite hard to find in its original version, Tanger is first of all an incredibly solid album, clearly underrated and deserving more credit. Mostly known by collectors and DJs for the stunning cover of Toto’s classic hit, “Georgy Porgy”, which was produced and arranged with the help of George Thurston (Boule Noire), it includes many other tasty titles, with amongst them another fine rendition of “Open Your Eyes” by The Doobie Brothers. In fact, with its brilliant mix of Modern-Soul, Disco and AOR styles, the whole album is already considered by many connoisseurs as a classic, and clearly a must have for anyone enjoying this musical blend.Never reissued on vinyl until now, there was not much more needed at Favorite Recordings to make it happened. Officially licensed to Dwight Druick, who was unfortunately not able to provide the original tapes, Tanger has been perfectly restored and remastered by Frank Merritt, at The Carvery, London. CD and digital edition will also come with “Georgy Porgy (Version Disco)” as a bonus track.

Following successful projects such as Metropolitan Jazz Affair, The Dynamics and Mr. President, Bruno “Patchworks” Hovart originally released the Uptown Funk Empire’s album in 2009. Now sold-out for quite a while and still on demand, The Empire Strikes Back is finally reissued.Bruno Hovart, as a self-taught musician and typical teenager, started playing guitar, bass and keyboards at age 15, covering James Brown, Jimi Hendrix and Cream in his bedroom and, later in college bands. His first releases are in the mid-90s, with deep-house and disco live bands and various electronic projects. He quickly develops and shows very special skills for vintage Disco/Funk productions with a contemporary flavor. This gifted boy’s been working with artists such as Amp Fiddler, Archie Shepp, Mr Day, Paul Randolph... and for many recording labels such as I Still Music (US), Favorite Recordings (FR), Infracom (DE), Further Out (UK)...Uptown Funk Empire is an exciting and ambitious project, worthy of its name. It’s like being back to the better days of Funk without a travel machine... the vibe is vintage but the sound is fresh... This album is huge and it covers all styles of the Groove music golden age: Boogaloo, Soul, Disco, Boogie, Funk... With brilliant vocal by silky Juan Rozoff, Brit-Soul legend Noel McKoy at his best, high-voltage divas Ange & Janice... and Bruno himself on the mic... it’s pure funkiness! Beware, The Empire Strikes Back and is kicking... so get up & dance!

Favorite Recordings and Charles Maurice proudly present the 4th edition of the AOR Global Sounds compilations series: 14 rare and hidden tracks, produced between 1977 and 1986 in various parts of the world. Started in 2015, the AOR Global Sounds series was born from the will of Charles Maurice (aka Pascal Rioux) to share his longtime love for the AOR and WestCoast movement and highlight its influence for many artists in the late 70s and early 80s. In this 4th volume, he selected again highly forgotten productions, deeply infused with Disco and Soul flavors.Half of the compilation’s tracklist is naturally coming from the US, homeland of this music style, but the other half is made of productions from all over the globe, from France, Belgium, Italy, to Mexico. And for most of these beautiful songs, it came from artists and bands rather unknown and often released as private press.As an example, “Come Back” is the result of a music talent competition won by a student band named Parenthèse, gaining a full recording session in a professional studio and the production of a limited promotional 7inch vinyl, which still completely obscure til now. “Mellow Out” comes from the only album by Pacific Dreams, which was fully self-produced and released by its leader Tommy Sweet. Fernando Toussaint, however having quite a solid career and discography as a drummer and with his brother forming the Mexican Jazz-Funk band Sacbé, had solely one solo album released in very limited quantities on Discos Alebrije, a label directed by Alain Derbez. As for “Never Was Love” by Russ Long, despite becoming quite famous when recorded and sang by Judy Roberts, it’s still surprisingly undiscovered in its original version, taken from Russ’ beautiful album from 1982, Long On Jazz In Kansas City.And we could detail stories like this for each of the titles included in AOR Global Sounds Vol.4, but our guessing is the best way to learn more about all these gems is to listen to it, fully remastered from originals, and whether your preference is for vinyl or CD formats.

"What you have here, pouring out of your listening devices, is Parisian Dreams. A genre-busting, generation-spanning, cross-pollination of 21st century beatmaking and 1970’s psychedelic composition. The styles are myriad. Running the gamut, between acoustic folky guitar riffs, through fuzzy movie-soundtrack textures, hitting grooves that land somewhere between dub and funky breakbeat jazz. MPC producer Yeti recently found himself in a session with one of his musical heroes, Janko Nivolic. A veteran composer of psychedelic funk and jazz dating back to the late 1960’s. In his digging and sampling obsession Yeti had marvelled at the compositions of Mr Nivolic for years, collecting these rarities, mostly found on obscure Library records. The title ‘Parisian Dreams’ is highly significant as is explained in this anecdote from Yeti. “At the session that I was involved in with Janko in Paris, he showed up with a score that he had conceived while dreaming the previous night. He awoke at 5 AM, scribbled it down immediately and brought it with him to the session. He didn’t need to take it over to the piano, to check if it made sense. He just knew it did. Blew my mind!” So, sit back and absorb these magical sounds from the sub-conscious of an 80 year-old musical legend, combined with punchy beats, from a revered MPC pad-tapper, specially designated, to give your woofers a workout. DJ Ollie Teeba". (Text by Soundsci/The Herbaliser)

New Jersey born Clyde Kingrap (aka The Real Fake MC) is probably the freakiest MC on earth. His Flow is definitely influenced by old-school Hip-Hop masters, but The Real Fake MC declares that his major influence remain in P-Funk, Gogo and early Punk Rock.For more than 15 years he’s been grabbing mics and spreading funky vibes on stage & in collabs all around the world. His two 12″ out on Favorite Recordings, Live & Survive & Hunt Ya Sunshine, and his 1st LP Rock It Up were produced by French producer Patchworks aka Mr President.These two musicians have been dropping some tracks together for more than a decade, with always the same target: educate their love for Hip-Hop with jokin lyrics and Funk inspired beats played live with instruments.They’re back with a brand new LP, Future Funk Survivors out on Boogie Butt Records.