Original Raw Soul III

You can always count on Now-Again Records to bring together a quality album.  This is a seventeen-track compilation of mostly previously released music from different groups that were led by Jay and Max Whitefield, who today usually record under the name The Whitefield Brothers.

From Now-Again's site:

Original Raw Soul III looks back at recordings dating back over twenty years but never once sounds dated or dull. There’s the garage funk of the early Poets incarnation the Bus People Express; the deep jazz of vocalist Bajka gigging with a Max Whitefield ensemble; the pan-African psych-jazz of the Whitefield Brothers. And that’s just three of the ensembles contained within. Original Raw Soul III’s sixteen tracks that span the gamut of forty years of musical innovation, recorded over the past twenty years, and presented anew today.

I find this album very enjoyable, especially any of the tracks that feature Bajka's deep, lovely voice.  If you are a fan of funk, soul, or afro-rhythms, I recommend this disc fully. I mean, who can hate on an album featuring a band called Mercy Sluts?

Hell Below

by East of Underground, SOAP, The Black Seeds, and The Sound Trek

Despite containing the work of four bands, this small box set put together by the fine people at Now-Again Records have chosen to label and market this under the title East of Underground: Hell Below.

The four bands listed above were all winners in the United States Army Special Services Agency, Europe's Original Magnificent Special Services Entertainment Showband Contests, the first of which was held in 1971, and the second in 1972.  This was basically a 'battle of the bands' held in Germany, with prizes including European tours, professional record pressings, and unofficially but most importantly, deferment from combat in Vietnam.

These bands were made up of servicemen (although I'm not sure who provided the female vocals for the SOAP album), and featured covers of popular funk songs of the day.  Little more is known about these individuals; the people at Now-Again were only able to find one of them to interview, and he had his name listed incorrectly on the original album's liner notes.

So basically, this is a collection of funk covers.  It's mostly pretty good, but I found myself skipping over it in the pile of discs that make up my current musical rotation.  I do admire the work done to preserve this interesting aspect of US history though...

Texas Thunder Soul 1968 - 1974

by Kashmere Stage Band

Listening to this stuff, you would never come to the conclusion that you are hearing a high school band, unless you read the liner notes.  The Kashmere Stage Band was the greatest high school band in America for a number of years running starting in 1972, when they started winning national competitions.

The band was directed by Conrad O. 'Prof' Johnson, who passed away a few years ago. Eothen 'Egon' Alapatt, who runs Now-Again Records, met Johnson a few times, and made arrangements to put together this excellent package, which includes two CDs and a DVD made up of a documentary about the band, a live TV performance from the 70s, and some footage of Egon going through mountains of records in Johnson's home, which was scheduled for demolition.

Just as he did with his True Soul albums of this year, Egon has preserved some amazing recordings, and made them available to a wider audience than they ever were before.  This band is fantastic.  They cover a lot of the massive funk pieces of their day - 'Do Your Thing', 'Thank You', 'Shaft', 'Burning Spear', among others, but they really kill it on their own piece, 'Kashmere'.

The first disc consists of recordings that Johnson made, most of which he released through his own label, but there are some previously unreleased gems here too.  The second disc has live recordings, none of which had been released before.

This is the type of project that really appeals to collectors, but the first disc on its own is an excellent window into a time when schools and parents valued musical education (and funded it).  It's a great album.

Where Are You From?

Christophe LeMaire and Now-Again Records Present a Series of Global Psychedelic Rock, Funk, and Rare Groove


Where Are You From? is a compilation of sixteen songs, selected by someone who works for Lacoste who was given access to the Now-Again vaults.  In the liner notes, he talks about how he selected music for which it is hard to pin down a location.  There is Afro-funk from Germany, and rock from Iran and Indonesia.

This is an excellent introduction to the Now-Again catalogue, and I have been enjoying listening to it quite a bit.  I rather wish that the whole compilation was new to me though.  There are three tracks off the incredible Rikki Ililonga and Musi-O-Tunya collection Dark Sunrise, and a Panbers track off the Indonesian compilation Those Shocking, Shaking Days.  Also, some of the Karl Hector & The Malcouns tracks (there are two) sound familiar.  I also wish there was a little more information in the liner notes about where some of the artists that are unknown to me, such as Damon, Dan Lambert, and Mrr-Adm can be found.

This album did convince me that I want to pick up the Iranian Kourosh Yaghamaei's album Back from the Brink, which I was previously on the fence about.

Also included here are some Now-Again/Stones Throw mainstays, such as Koushik and Gary Wilson (who I can't hear now without thinking about a strip that Jim Mahfood drew about listening to him.  Gaaaarrrrryyyyyy!).  In all, another fantastic disc from the fine people at Now-Again.

True Soul Vol. 1 & 2

Deep Sounds From the Left of Stax

Now-Again records has to be my favourite boutique label.  With the True Soul collection (I'll discuss both Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 here), label founder Egon has put together an amazing accounting of the work that came out of True Soul Records, an independent label which specialized in soul and funk during the 60s and 70s in Arkansas.

There is an impressive array of talent on these two CDs - much of which was never released before this came out.  There is work by York Wilborn's Psychedelic Six, The Conspiracy, The Leaders, Larry Davis, The Right Track, John Craig, Le'Chance, Albert Smith, Classic Funk, and more.  The best tracks on the compilations belong to Thomas East, who is incredible.

Each of these discs come in a hardcover book, with extensive liner notes.  In them, Egon talks about traveling to Little Rock while in college to meet Lee Anthony, the founder of the True Soul label.  He describes the impressive amount of work it took to get permission to issue this release, and he writes in a loving and respectful way of Anthony's accomplishments.  In many ways, I found this essay (included in both discs) to be the best part of the entire package.

As an added bonus, each album comes with a DVD that shows some TV appearances of the True Soul roster back in the day, with horrible TV production and all.  It's pretty charming and funky.  This is an amazing project.

Those Shocking, Shaking Days

Indonesian Hard, Psychedelic, Progressive Rock and Funk: 1970-1978

I picked up this compilation of 70s Indonesian music under the belief that no album that comes out of Egon's Now-Again record label, an off-shot of Stones Throw, could ever be bad.  I knew nothing of the Indonesian music scene of any decade, and have never been much of a rock fan, but I thought this would be worth checking out.

What you get with this album is twenty tracks of incredible music.  Egon and his team have curated a stunning portrait of a post-colonial, predominately Muslim country that was stifling under the control to two successive dictators.  When Sukarno was in power, any attempt to emulate the music of the West was actively discouraged.  When Suharto took over, dissidence became ever more difficult, yet many of the tracks collected here take on the governments, something that was easier to do by singing in English.

There are a number of big Indonesian names here (or so we are told by the liner notes) - Panbers, Rollies, Golden Wing, Shark Move, AKA, Koes Plus, Black Brothers, and Freedom of Rhapsodia are all giants of the scene.  There is a lot of creative, funky music on this disc from a lot of bands you'll likely never come across again.

Dark Sunrise

by Rikki Ililonga and Musi-O- Tunya

I have been giving this incredible double-disc set a lot of play since December, but just realised that I never wrote about it here.

On Dark Sunrise, Egon (the man behind Now-Again Records) has worked his usual magic, pulling together some thirty-one cuts representing the early history of Zam-rock, or rock music from Zambia.  The set focuses on Rikki Ililonga, who is seen as the father of this musical movement.  The first disc holds thirteen tracks by Ililonga's band, Musi-O-Tunya, recorded between 1973 and 1975, when Ililonga left the group.  The second disc has Ililonga on his own, and encompasses his first two solo albums from 1975 and 1976.

The music is very nice.  It's an African-influenced rock music, and many of the lyrics (at least in the songs sung in English - I have no dead what's going on in the others) deal with the political and socioeconomic realities that Ililonga lived in.  "In the township / where I live / there is so much / pain and misery," starts 'The Nature of Man', my favourite song in the collection.  Others are 'One Reply', with its hopeful horns, 'Walk and Fight', 'Stop Dreaming Mr. D', 'The Queen Blues', and 'Love is the Way'.

This is a very impressive collection of music, and as always, Egon and the people at Now-Again have outdone themselves on the detailed liner notes and lovely hardcover book style packaging.

Seu Jorge and Almaz

by Seu Jorge and Almaz

This might very well be my favourite album of this summer. 

Seu Jorge is a Brazilian singer and actor (he had a role in City of God, one of my favourite movies, and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, which he provided the soundtrack for) with a deep, golden voice, whose timbre reminds me a little of mid-90s Leonard Cohen in its mellifluousness.

The album is made up of twelve tracks, only some of which have vocals.  The sound is a jazz/rock hybrid, which has been tempered in the Brazilian sun.  I believe most of the songs are original compositions (not being too familiar with the Brazilian standards), but Jorge does cover Roy Ayer's 'Everybody Loves the Sunshine' (best track on the disk), and Michael Jackson's 'Rock With You'.

I cannot recommend this album enough.

Earthology

by The Whitefield Brothers

My first exposure to the Whitefield Brothers was through their album 'In the Raw', and while I liked it as background music, this album is miles above it in terms of quality and vision.

Earthology opens with a call for "joyous joyful exaltation" before sliding into a seventies-style funk piece.  From there, the album remains quite mercurial, shifting tones, moods, and styles a couple of times before finishing.

The Brothers have invited a few rappers to appear on the album. 'Reverse', with Percee P and MED, is a funk remix off of the Percee's last album, and I think the track works better than the original Madlib version did.  'The Gift', featuring Edan and Mr. Lif would fit nicely on Beauty and the Beat, but also works great here.

The rest of the album is strictly instrumental, and that's where the Brothers and their accompanists really shine.  Tracks like 'Safari Strut', 'Alin', and 'Breakin' Through' update older African melodies.  'Sem Yelesh' is a thoughtful piece grounded by a terrific saxophone.

Right in the middle of the album, they have place 'Ntu', a cool percussion-only piece, which serves to cleanse the listener's rhythmic pallet before diving into 'Pamukkale', my favourite track on this album.  This piece could have been the opening theme to an African spy show, like a Mission: Impossible type of thing, set in Lagos or Nairobi.

The album closes out with a pair of lovely pieces, 'Lullaby for Lagos' and 'Chich'.  This whole album is a very cool project, and one that I've had on pretty steady play for the last couple of months.

Black Man's Cry

The Inspirations of Fela Kuti

Is it too early to have a favorite cd of 2010?  I know almost nothing about Fela Kuti and his music, having only been exposed to it in the last few years by way of hip-hop artists that have sampled his work, but I have a great deal of esteem for this wonderful album compiling other peoples' covers of Fela's hits.

Egon, the funk historian emeritus and leading force behind Now-Again Records has searched far and wide for these recordings from the 70s, with three new tracks.  Represented on this disk are other Nigerian bands that covered Kuti's work, as well as Caribbean groups, and the North Americans who have led the revival in afro-funk.  Egon has written a highly-detailed essay outlining the history of the different covers, when and where it is known.  The disk comes with a small booklet bound into the cardboard cover, and the whole package is a classy, sophisticated affair.

It is the music that makes this thing great though.  The pieces here are all very funky, but they vary in their delivery and style.  There are three different versions of the title track, and I would be hard pressed to name a favorite.  I find this entire disk to be uplifting and incredibly beautiful.

Oh No vs. Now-Again

by Oh No

Putting a DJ to work mixing through a label's back catalogue is never really a bad idea. Madlib perfected the genre with his Blue Note disk, 'Shades of Blue', and now it's his brother's turn.

On this 29 track, half-hour album, Oh No plays around in the Now-Again vaults, dredging up familiar pieces (see 'Blindness'), and a lot of material that seems familiar, but that I can't quite pin down the source of.

Granted, this is not the type of album I want to spend too much time thinking about, preferring to just let it spin. This is recommended for anyone who has come to appreciate the Now-Again sound, an upbeat mix of jazz, funk and soul.

Now I just wish that the Ethiopium would drop in wide-release (or that Stones Throw would fix their shipping costs to Canada - $30 to ship a single cd is insane).

Convivência

by Triorganico

This is a really lovely album. Triorganico are Fabiano Do Nasciemento, Pablo Calogero, and Ricardo 'Tiki' Passilas. They play a "raw but beautiful Brasilian-flavored Latin jazz" (taken from the album cover).

I don't have a lot more to say about this album - I don't feel qualified to discuss jazz - but it is definitely something I like.

Out There

by The Heliocentrics

It's interesting to me, how cyclical my musical tastes can be. I first started listening to hip-hop in middle school, but became bored of it in the early 90s, and made the switch to electronica - the less dancey the better. As I finished university, I had become exhausted with that genre, and found that there was fertile ground in the underground hip-hop scene.

Lately, I have been finding myself going back to funk and jazz with a slightly electronic feel (like some trance music, played with live instruments). This album more or less fits into that genre for me. It's smooth and easy on the ears, being exactly the type of thing that I have come to expect from Egon's Now-Again label.

I bought this in anticipation of the new Heliocentrics album, with Mulatu Astkake, when I discovered that HMV's $6.99 Stones Throw promotion was still on. It was definitely a worth-while purchase.

Sahara Swing

by Karl Hector + The Malcouns

Recently HMV had a 5 for $20 Stones Throw promotion, which at first got me excited, and then, looking through the display, I realized I already owned practically every album offered, or knew for certain that I didn't want to buy them (I'm looking at you James Pants). The only unknown factor for me in this promotion was this album here. It was only $6.99 as a single cd, so I thought it was well worth the risk.

My thinking upon purchasing this was that while some of the Stones Throw output can be a little questionable at times, Now-Again records is a much safer bet, and how bad can a cd of German Afro-funk be?

As it turns out, I like this album a lot. It's pretty much exactly what it looks like it's going to be, and that's a good thing. It doesn't bring me to tears, or change my outlook on life, but it is a nice, reliable little album, that I enjoy listening to. If only more things in the world could be counted on like this.....

In The Raw

by The Whitefield Brothers

This is a very cool album. It's a nice example of upbeat and psychedelic funk, with a jazzy side to it.

It is purely instrumental, and moves at a good pace. It works fantastically well as background music when I'm reading.