Africa

Artist: Various Artists Label: Analog Africa

Big Ups' second LP, Before A Million Universes, is at once a fist in the face of complacency and a sonic affirmation to, in Walt Whitman's words, "let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes." Pretty heady subject matter... Joe Galarraga (vocals), Amar Lal (guitar), Carlos Salguero Jr. (bass), and Brendan Finn (drums), met studying music technology at NYU. Five years later, the city's notorious crucible of garbage, money, and humanity has had a profound and delightful impact on their art. "Tell me what you're worth / Salary, two weeks off work?" Galarraga screams on "Capitalized," as the bassline frantically roams our conscience like a wet-nosed dog. Galarraga's vocals burn with the heat of a thousand day jobs. Yet all this righteousness is worth as much as a Che t-shirt if it lacks humility, and more than any of the band's previous work, Before A Million Universes plumbs the depths of self-deception in wickedly clever ways. Who doesn't own a coat made of "The Feathers Of Yes"? "Count the ideas in my head so I can love every one," our protagonist coos before Lal's guitar tosses lightning bolts through his cloud. "And it feels so warm / wrapped in self-righteous truths." "Yawp" unspools the exercise in futility that is the overexamined life to the tune of a lumbering giant stomping across a field of insecurities. "How many times can you be poured through the still to the point of perfection? / I've dropped myself through the coils so many times but always come out with something missing / And the proof's so high it makes me dizzy." The album's emotional and musical core lies in "National Parks," a song Galarraga wrote as a tribute to the sacrifices his mother made to raise him. We're led through the anger and bewilderment-at his mom's solitary walks through their neighborhood and the selfishness inherent to childhood-and into a coda where you can almost see the sun streaming through the trees of Galarraga's park, drums steady and swelling, a transition in tone and mood that this band has nearly perfected. "I think I saw her say to herself / This is everything I've missed." Before A Million Universes is Big Ups at their most sincere, urgent, and vital- a salty kiss from the wet lips of Brooklyn's bard. RIYL: Fugazi, Rites of Spring, Minor Threat, Drive Like Jehu, Bad Brains, Shellac, Black Flag, Trash Talk. Record Label: Tough Love Style: Alternative Rock

Artist: The Jazz Butcher Label: Fire Records

Artist: Oneohtrix Point Never Label: Warp Records

Artist: George Cables Label: HighNote

Artist: Amara Toure Label: Analog Africa

Artist: Freddy King Label: Jasmine Music

Artist: Shantel Label: Essay (Indigo)

Composer: Mos Generator Label: Listenable Records (Edel)

140g Vinyl + CD URBAN JUNIOR from (Aarau/Zürich) Switzerland started (belief it or not) in the boy group H2O then found out pretty quick that this is not his thing to do on this planet earth, so he bought himslef a KICKDRUM, a GUITAR and a KORG SYNTHESIZER and started traveling around as a ELECTRO PUNK ONE MAN BAND, the complete oposite of the boy group image he had. It's a twisted situation and so is the man himself, and so is that new Record of URBAN JUNIOR: a twisted Trip into a syntetic world of ELECTRO CLASH GARAGE PUNK, BLUES TRASH, 80'S NEW WAVE DISCO and RAW ELECTRO PUNK like nobody else can. URBAN JUNIOR plays shows in the whole wide world (on tour with JOHN SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION, Bob log III, JOHN SCHOLEY, Jack Oblivian, on stage with OH SEES, King Khan, Pussywarmers, Reverned Beat-Man, etc. and has a growing followership. His live performances are a pure energy spettacolo, a one man FREAK SHOW. Imagine being a totally drunk fucking up at a ROLLER DISCO PARTY and the band hits song after song in your face...that's what an URBAN JUNIOR show feels like. On this record you here him in a conversation with Dr S and Mr P, the two personalities in the brain of Urban Junior. The album Includes 3 SUPER SMASH HIT SINGLES (Jetzt, Backdoor Boogie, The End) and a bunch of other OBSCURE KILLER ELECTRO PUNK Tracks !!! Record Label: Voodoo Rhythm Style: Garage Rock

The first time I saw a sanza (a type of African "thumb piano"), it was just sitting there on a piece of furniture in my family's living room/dining room - a space that our father also transformed into a recording studio every day. It seemed more like a box than a musical instrument: a mysterious instrument, which arrived at our house, like many things, in a somewhat miraculous way. We knew our father loved to collect anything that could produce a sound. I don't know where he got this sansa. It was rather crude, clearly handmade, with only a few "keys" or "tines". I don't think he really played this one. The sounds it produced seemed particularly bizarre; to my young musician's ears, trained in Western classical music, it sounded out of tune. That's because, like my brothers and sisters, I had been trained on the piano. I had trouble understanding how anyone could endure these tones and, honestly, our father's passion for "unusual sounds" did not interest me. I was in secondary school at the time (the very late 1970s) and was not at all oriented toward musical projects. I planned to graduate, and then become a chef. In the early 1980s, my interest in music picked up. I was still undecided about my career. I was content to pursue my "serious" English studies while hanging out at jazz clubs at les Halles in Paris, where I sometimes joined jam sessions. Next, I put together my first band with professional musicians; I had hidden my age and lack of experience from them. France was just beginning to accept "world music." Musicians of every nationality were performing in Paris. It was a wonderful period. My father asked my brother Toups and me to accompany him for a few concerts. In particular, we toured Tunisia together at the time of the 1983 Carthage International Festival. Back then, my father was renowned across the French-speaking world. Everyone looked forward to hearing his humorous songs, like "Agatha" and "La condition masculine." But, behind the scenes, he continued his research concerning electronic music, the sansa, pygmy polyphony, etc. One day he put a sansa in my hands, without saying a word. He was sending me a message: "Let's see what you can do with it!" That's when I really discovered something. Exploring the instrument and playing, I transcended the "imperfect" aspect of its sound and began to discover its fascinating potential. Playing the sansa, you enter a world that enraptures you in a very serene and mesmerizing way. I think its sounds evoke a rainbow, with rain falling while the sun shines. A very peaceful feeling. It allows you to make music that truly sounds like life. The sansa is also the instrument that my father and I shared the most because I am a pianist and he was a guitarist. I also share this eminently African instrument with my musician brother, Toups. Our father loved to tell us one of the legends of the sansa: how it even managed to dispel the boredom felt by... the Creator himself! This instrument gives life to the world, to beings and things. I did not participate in the production of the various records that my father devoted to the sansa. He did it himself, you might say, in his "laboratory." Yet today, I cannot imagine playing a concert without using a sansa. The piano remains present so that listeners don't become disoriented and wonder about the weird sounds invading their ears! However, I find the eccentric and disturbing side of sansa interesting. And the sansa always affects the audience: in reality, it excites them. The secrets of this instrument are surely its beneficial powers and... its magic! Patrick Bebey Record Label: Born Bad Style: Afrobeat

Artist: Francis Bebey Label: Born Bad Records

Artist: Fela Kuti Label: Knitting Factory Records

Artist: Fela Kuti Label: Knitting Factory Records

Artist: Various Artists Label: Oldies Music Preserved

In the early 1970s, Harry Mosco formed the now legendry funk-rock band, The Funkees. In search of greater opportunity and a wider audience, the group moved to London in 1973. Four years and two albums later they disbanded. Meanwhile, back in Nigeria, prominent businessman G.A.D. Tabansi was interested in getting into the music business, and signing the Funkees was his top priority. He traveled all the way to London to meet with the band only to find out they'd broken up. Tabansi returned home with no record deal. Mosco had already formed a new group called Africanium with drummer/singer Willie Bestman. Later that same year (1977), they recorded an album at TMC Studios in London. It was originally intended for release by EMI, but instead, Mosco licensed the album, titled For You Specially, to Mr. Tabansi for release on his new label. In an attempt to make the album more commercially viable, it was released under the artist name Harry Mosco rather than Africanium (a largely unknown band). In an even further attempt to appeal to the masses, the word FUNKEES was printed on the cover to help consumers make the connection between Mosco and his former band. Despite Tabansi's attempts to capitalize on the success of Mosco's previous recordings with The Funkees, For You Specially was released with very little commercial success. Undaunted by the poor sales of their first attempt, Tabansi and Mosco tried again and released Country Boy in 1978. It would go on to become one of the best-selling Nigerian records of all time. To this day, many people mistakenly credit Country Boy as Mosco's first solo record. In fact, before his death in 2012, Mosco told Uchenna Ikonne (co-producer of "For You Specially" reissue) that he himself had forgotten all about For You Specially. Mosco did however recycle some of the songs from that album in releases during the 1980s. Secret Stash Records is proud to present the first ever reissue of this rare Nigerian funk gem from one of the most influential musicians in the genre. Co-produced by Uchenna Ikonne (Brand New Wayo, Who Is William Onyebar?), this reissue has been lovingly remastered and meticulously restored. Record Label: Secret Stash Style: Afro/Funk/Jazz

Artist: Ladysmith Black Mambazo Label: Metro Sound & Vision

Artist: Peter King Label: Secret Stash

Artist: Marie King Label: Unidisc

Artist: CAROL DOUGLAS Label: Unidisc