Nu Genea
Nuova Napoli

This album was the vintage rock heads response to the contemporary sounds of Jazz Funk, Fusion and Boogie. Adapting to the tastes of the times - as well as their own maturing musical sensibilities - Grotto started transitioning from psych rock towards sleeker, more dancefloor-friendly grooves.“As I grew older I think I got a bit jazzier,” Benson says. “I also listened to Curtis Mayfield, James Brown, Isley Brothers, Prince and a lot of funk groups from that era.”“Hard rock was the content of the first album,” Amenechi agrees, “and funk / jazz / R&B the focus of album number two. Especially with the late Toma Mason Jr. joining as bassist.”The group’s second album, ‘Grotto II: Wait… No Hurry’ (released in 1979) reflected the growing sophistication of its members’ musical outlook. Fat, funky bass grooves rubbed shoulders with jazzy flute lines; space-age synthesizer tones punctuated good, old-fashioned crunchy rock riffs. A favourite of DJs worldwide.

Edition Hawara’s second 7“ release features one of the more obscure Austrian bands from the 1980s. Little is known about Magic Sound. The cover suggests that their label wanted them to be Austria’s Village People, though their sound is much rawer and funkier. One thing we know for sure is that the group included Andy Töfferl, who was also a member of the famous Austrian pop ensemble EAV (Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung). And we know that they went to the studio to record a whole album after touring Sweden in 1980. Only these two songs survived, and they are worth listening to over and over again. Enjoy in fancy dress, or dressed down. With or without a moustache.

10 years that The Rongetz Foundation is hanging around the five boroughs. 10 years of wonderful jazz tainted recordings (with: Gary Bartz, Gregory Porter, Corey Fonville, Ronnie Cuber to name a few) “stained” with the grit of soul and funk music that Rongetz (aka Stephane Ronget) likes to bring to the table.This album, Alphabet City Music Club is a marvelous example of that stylish balance established in between, raw and sophisticated feel. The place of the recording first, Alphabet City, a genuine inner town in Manhattan that was for long time defined like this: “Avenue A, you're Alright. Avenue B, you're Brave. Avenue C, you're Crazy. Avenue D, you're Dead”.Then the two sessions that are part of the album: One very much jazz-funk oriented with Corey Fonville (Drums), Corcoran Holt (Acc. Bass), Mathis Picard (all Keys), Morgan Guerin (Tenor sax. / EWI), Erena Terakubo (Alto sax. / Flute). The other one spreading soul music all around with: Homer Steinweiss (Drums), Jeremy Kay (Bass), Kyle Koehler (Organ), Morgan Guerin (tenor sax).The two sessions, ultimately coming together with the help of talented young vocalists: Alina Engibaryan (Snarky Puppy), Vuyo Sotashe, Vanisha Gould, Lewis Parker, or Mr Day.Mix all those elements in a rusty blender and you will enjoy the bootleg Bourbon, hard shake that is Alphabet City Music Club.

Ted Scotto began his musical life as a trumpet player, but got his foot in the door of production soundtracks when he composed the theme for the 1968 French animated series “Les Shadoks”. Soon taking on the pseudonym Yan Tregger (chosen for its nonspecific, English-sounding connotations), Scotto wrote and recorded more than thirty library records, ranging from funk and R&B tunes to deep dives into the then-prevalent Italo-Disco sound. He also continued to record commercial music (including two albums with his disco act M.B.T. Soul and the under- water trumpet novelty hit “Bubble Bubble”), and work on film scores.In 2018, Mark Grusane adapted the track “Riff On” from Catchy LP for BBE Records, which later decided to reissue Catchy and Duck & Drakes on vinyl. For this new 12inch release, Yan Tregger has done us the honor of reworking two unpublished tracks from the M.B.T project. You will have a bliss listening to two originals tracks, slightly transformed, and two reworks that will make you travel through Balearic and Dub atmospheres, preserving to the maximum the soul of the original grooves.This release announces a turning point in the production. Parisian Soul converges on an exclusive and unique dimension with a live sampler concept on stage to remix their Maxi-vinyl in real time. Surrounded by pianist Alexandre Destrez (St Germain, Dimitri from Paris and Dj Yass), and percussionist Edmundo Carneiro (St. Germain, Bob Sinclar, De La Soul).

Official reissue of one of the hardest to find albums by the Afro Soul maestro, a pure Afro Funk spiritual grail from 1978!Born in 1943 in Ikole-Ekiti in Ondo State, Nigeria, Orlando Julius Ekemode (“Orlando was really a nickname, taken from the Nigerian actor, Orlando Martins“) had started in music from an early age, becoming the school drummer and learning flute, bugle and other instruments at St Peters Anglican School in Ikole-Ekiti. Nigerian musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, he is credited as one of the first musicians to fuse US R&B into traditional highlife music, creating his own influential Afrobeat sound during the mid-‘60s.From his time playing in the USA during the 1970s onwards, he is credited with bringing African music to a broader audience and famously co-composed the song “Going Back To My Roots” with Lamont Dozier. In 1978, Orlando Julius Ekemode decided to produce himself this amazing session, originally recorded between Maryland and West Virginia (USA) and released in limited quantity in Nigeria by the obscure label Jungle Records. 6 stunning Afro-Funk monster tracks, recorded by 8 musicians based in Oakland. Fully licensed with the artist and remastered by The Carvery. Essential!