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After reuniting Cosmic Renaissance and releasing the album “Universal Language” (SCLP/CD513) in 2022, Gianluca Petrella returns to the future jazz scene 2023 as a protagonist with a new five-track LP, “Universal Message”, again on Schema Records label, keeping the wind section of the original record unchanged. Among the most versatile musicians around today, Gianluca here evolves his style into new forms of futurism afro-jazz with three revisitations in electronic-jazz dance key of “Universal Language” and “Connection”, as well as two previously unreleased tunes, the title-track and “Mutation”, for a final result that is greater than the sum of its parts. And there is no better description of this music than a complete and total immersion in its sonic waves!

Sohan Wilson is a young composer and arranger keyboard player from Switzerland. Half of duo Keys of Lynx, Sohan sent us his album almost 2 years ago and we were totally impressed with the quality and the soulful vibe. He asked us if we were interested in releasing it and we said yes. For this first album the inspiration came from the 70’s and the 80’s with a touch of contemporary soul and jazz. The A side holds 4 tracks entirely recorded with musicians for a total acoustic and organic experience like « in the old days « while the B side is made with Beats and a more electronic soulful approach. This album tells a story, almost like a movie and thats why its a complete album to listen from beginning to end and enjoy the full experience of Sohan Wilson first solo Long player. Featuring the amazing voices from Dwight Trible and Brian Owens this album sounds already like a future classic that you want a listen over and over again.

It’s a new day – and 2022 marks a very special new chapter for Parisian producer Hugo LX, who delivers his latest sound offering on his freshly founded imprint Doma Music.A collective adventure, « The Platinum Wave » sees the return of Hugo’s most frequent collaborators – trumpeter Hermon Mehari and guitarist Christopher Johnson, with the addition of pianist Tony Tixier – the four of them connecting, building and weaving their sonic textures over these five sound cuts.A starting point in the Doma music catalogue, « The Platinum Wave » aims to propose a different sound in dance music, both a continuation of a certain musical legacy and an exploration of today’s boundless possibilities, as much as an intimate soundscape from four artists deeply involved in the Paris creative scene – and most definitely, a first taste of things to come on the label.

“You don’t need to be a fan of Gwoka or even Antillean music in general to fall in love with the deep, expressive voices of the singers of the genre. Artists like COSACK, ANZALA and ESNARD BOISDUR have fascinated music lovers around the globe for decades. It’s not only the drumming style accompanied by their beautiful melodic intonation, but also the revolutionary spirit of these songs that make them a unique and powerful document of the culture and the history of the Antilles and the Caribbean.I remember the first time I listened to this type of drumming and signing, live at the re-enactment of the slave riots, and being completely emotionally overwhelmed by it. Some of my record collector/DJ colleagues and friends – first and foremost Hugo Mendez and Émile Omar – shared the same fascination for the genre and kept inspiring me, and countless others, by their DJ sets at Tropical Discoteq in Paris, where I have had the pleasure to be one of the residents for five years and counting. At one of those nights, I met my friend Pascal Rioux from Favorite Recordings and told him about an amazing unreleased track I received months before, on a home-burned CD, from ESNARD BOISDUR. Among other beautiful songs, it contained one outstanding track, a mix of modern Gwoka and Zouk called “MIZIK BEL”.When I started playing that track out, there were fierce reactions on both ends. The crowds loved it and after a while you could hear people cheer when they heard the first notes. Many DJs and labels wanted it, demanded it, and would even go as far as to block or unfriend me if I refused to comply. It became clear to me that the track had to be released on vinyl for the first time and made accessible to people who wanted to play it, while giving the original artist full credit. At the same time, I knew a remix version of the track that would pay respect to the original could only be created by getting the original stems, and not by editing the main track and pressing it into an “electronic dance corset.” Pascal agreed to the idea and started the licensing work and the search for the stems, which resulted in an ongoing three-year quest that was crowned by the finding of the ADAT containing the original tracks.As AFRICAINE 808, Dirk Leyers and I spent considerable time trying to re-create the composition of the original, respectfully slicing and re-arranging it, adding new instrumentation, and recording additional percussion and talking drum with our percussionist ERIC OWUSU (Pat Thomas/Ebo Taylor). We stretched it, adding a krauty synth part without losing the focus of Esnard’s beautiful voice and lyrics, describing Caribbean music in all its diversity and beauty.With this in mind, I hope you can now enjoy the beauty of “MIZIK BEL” as much as we have so far.” – (DJ NOMAD, June 2019).

Since 2021, FLUPKE counts nine releases, seven self-made music videos, a video game, many stages set on fire, collaborations and remixes with Vonfelt, Émile Londonien, Ouai Stéphane, DJ Earl, amongst others. Time has come for FLUPKE to compile the best of his colorful and pixelated universe on solid wax. LE BEST OF is a manifesto of the French producer’s duality between high and low resolutions, crunchy and textured sounds, that has been fueling his spaceship to explore cosmic and electronic soundscapes.