,Mulatu Astatke ist ein äthiopischer Musiker (Vibraphon, Perkussion, Keyboard) und Radiomoderator, der äthiopische Melodielinien und Kirchentonfolgen mit westlicher Harmonielehre und Instrumentierung verband und  daraus den EthioJazz formte.  Jetzt wieder erhältlich, sein 1972er Meisterwerk "Mulatu of Ethiopia" .

In Ihrem neuen Album artikuliert Antibalas die Themen Patriarchat, Klimawandel, Militarismus, Spätkapitalismus, Oligarchie, weißen Ethnonationalismus und den Völkermord an den amerikanischen Ureinwohnern  neu, spricht jedoch durch Melodie und Rhythmus.  "Hourglass" beginnt mit einem klagenden und ekstatischen Tenorsaxophonsolo, bevor es in einen intensiven 12-8-Groove eintaucht. Tracks wie "Solace", "Escape" und "Lo Ceiba" erinnern an den klassischen Afrobeat-Sound von Lagos, wenn auch mit einem Brooklyn-Akzent. "Oasis", das Finale des Albums, ist ein Schritt in eine psychedelische, unbekannte Zukunft, mit einem tiefen Gefühl von befreiendem Funk im Kern.

Ruger – BlownBoy RU (LP) Eine echte Entdeckung, dieses treffsichere zweite Album von Ruger: Afrodancehall mit Erkundungen von Amapiano, Trap, R&B und brasilianischem Funk.  "BlownBoy Anthem" mit Tiwa Savage, Kranium und Zlatan ist ein weltweiter Smash und bedient besondere Beachtung auch in unserern Gefilden. MEGA!

Die Band entfesselt endlich einen ersten Vorgeschmack auf  ihrem elftem Album mit dem Titel "Fly Higher".  Vibrierende Afrobeat-Jams, vollgepackt mit ansteckenden, knurrenden Bläsern, einem tiefen, federndern Groove und blitzende Jazz-Improvisationen. Die charakteristischen Call-and-Response-Refrains der Band glänzen durch die mitreißenden Gesangsbeiträge der britisch-nigerianischen Sängerin Lizzy Dosunmu und mit Dele Sosimi, dem ehemalige Keyboarder von Fela Kuti und langjähriger Kollaborateur und Freund der Band, ist ein wahrer Gamechanger mit an Bord. Ahoi!

Menahan Street Band, a veritable supergroup of some of today's most prolific songwriters, arrangers, and producers return with this beat-forward, cinematic masterpiece. Their unique brand of instrumental soul has not only been the foundation for some of modern hip-hop's most successful beats, it has also become the perennial soundtrack and veritable vibe-generator for countless parties, art shows, and restaurants throughout NYC and abroad. While this album carries the aesthetic torch that MSB has skillfully woven into the tapestry of their DNA, it also delves deeper into the experimental, exotic sounds that fill many of the coveted Sound Library and Soundtrack LPs of the late sixties and early seventies - an amalgamation of moog synths, electric pianos, drum machines, and a bevy of analog instrumentation, that ebb and flow in lush swells of Morriconian grandeur.-Includes MP3 Download Card

Special Edition Includes the Global Hits

- Limited Edition -

Sudan Archives steht für diverse Stile, eine packende Mischung aus kraftvollem, hymnenhaftem R&B und elektronischer Musik. Ihr Violinspiel ist beeinflusst von Nordostafrikanischer Geigenmusik, aber auch Westafrikanische Rhythmen finden den Weg in ihre Musik.Für Athena hat sie mit einer Vielzahl von Songwritern, Produzenten und Musikern zusammengearbeitet. Die Stücke auf dem Album klingen voller denn je, Sudan Archives bleibt sich und ihrem einzigartigen Stilmix aber treu, der ihr so viele Fans auf der ganzen Welt eingebracht hat. Zu sehen: Eine Bronzestatue von Sudan Archives.

10th Anniversary Edition Indie Exclusive Dirty Money Splatter Color VinylIncludes MP3 Download Card The unstoppable, irresistible rhythms and melodies of Antibalas have influenced scores of artists across rock, hip hop, afrobeat and beyond.Born in a Brooklyn warehouse in 1997, 12 piece ensemble Antibalas is credited with introducing Afrobeat to a wider global audience, influencing countless musicians and developing a live show that is the stuff of legend. Members of Antibalas served as musical directors and the house band in the Broadway hit FELA! and penned original music for the show. Members have also recently collaborated/performed with Iron and Wine, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Mark Ronson, TV on the Radio and The Roots.On the heels of the hit musical FELA!, Antibalas ended up reuniting with former member and producer Gabriel Roth, who was at the helm for their first three albums. This self-titled album was their first on Daptone Records.

Back in stock! Ghanaian Afro-Rock From Producer/Composer JJ Whitefield, Inspired By His Karl Hector & The Malcouns And Whitefield Brothers Projects JJ Whitefield, who in the early ‘90s revived the gritty, analogue Funk sounds of the ‘60s and ‘70s with his Poets Of Rhythm, has been working with Now-Again Records for over decade, releasing a flock of acclaimed projects with Karl Hector & The Malcouns, Whitefield Brothers, Rodinia and the Original Raw Soul anthology. He first started exploring African rhythms with the Whitefield Brothers in the late ‘90s, continuing in the ‘00s with Karl Hector & The Malcouns. He’s been instrumental in launching Ghanaian Afro Beat/Funk legend Ebo Taylor´s international career, decades after the maestro recorded the landmark albums that have inspired thousands. Whitefield recorded two new studio albums with Taylor and toured in his band between 2009 and 2013, where he met Taylor’s son Henry and percussionist/Singer Eric Owusu. The trio now front the Johnny! band and find inspiration not only in Ghana’s hypnotic grooves, but also the full frontal fuzz guitar assault heard on the legion of 70s Zambian Zamrock albums reissued by Now-Again. Indeed, Whitefield credits his tours with Zamrock godfathers Rikki Ililonga and WITCH’s Jagari Chanda as instrumental in creating the Johnny’s sonic backdrop. The band is rounded out by Turkish drummer Bernd Oezsevim (Woima Collective, Rodinia) and Indonesian bassist/multi instrumentalist Tomi Simatupang (Whitefield Brothers). This is what was oft-called “Afro Rock” at the core, with the possibilities to stretch out into swinging highlife, sweet soul or psychedelia . The results, point at a new direction for the music inspired by the Great Continent. One that takes a direction once mocked as derivative and asserts its importance on the globe’s current musical stage.

180g vinyl, incl. bonus CD's, Collection of recordings from one of Tanzania’s most revered but short-lived bands of the 1970s, Sunburst. Covering their entire output from 1973 to 1976, this first retrospective features music from their 45 RPM singles on Moto Moto and TFC label, as well as their sole album, "Ave Africa", and an unreleased radio session recorded in Tanzania in 1973. This release comprises of the double vinyl and a copy of the CD version, which contains extra tracks.

Ein Meisterwerk. Unter der musikalischen Leitung des Saxophonisten Issa Cissoko, dessen dezente, jazzige Bläserarrangements sich durch das gesamte Album ziehen, und des Gitarristen Barthélemy Attisso, dessen hypnotische, virtuose Soli hervorstechen, wurde das Album im "Golden Baobab"-Studio in Dakar aufgenommen und dort von dem jungen Ibrahima Sylla produziert. Die Verwendung des Affenbrotbaums, sowohl im Namen als auch in der Symbolik, unterstreicht das Bewusstsein der Gruppe für die traditionellen senegalesischen Werte, wenn sie mit denen von außen kombiniert werden, in diesem Fall mit der afro-kubanischen Musik, die in den 1960er Jahren so populär war. Issa Cissoko: band leader and tenor saxophoneBarthélemy Attisso: lead guitarCharles Ndiaye: bass guitarPape Bâ: guitarPeter Udo: clarinetMontaga Koite: percussionThione Seck: vocalsMedoune Diallo: vocalsNdiouga Dieng: vocals and maracasBalla Sidibe: vocals and timbalesRudy Gomis: vocals

In 1972, the country of Rhodesia – as Zimbabwe was then known – was in the middle of a long-simmering struggle for independence from British colonial rule. In the hotels and nightclubs of the capital, bands could make a living playing a mix of Afro-Rock, Cha-Cha-Cha and Congolese Rumba. But as the desire for independence grew stronger, a number of Zimbabwean musicians began to look to their own culture for inspiration. They began to emulate the staccato sound and looping melodies of the mbira (thumb piano) on their electric guitars, and to replicate the insistent shaker rhythms on the hi-hat; they also started to sing in the Shona language and to add overtly political messages to their lyrics (safe in the knowledge that the predominantly white minority government wouldn’t understand them). From this collision of electric instruments and indigenous traditions, a new style of Zimbabwean popular music – later known as Chimurenga, from the Shona word for ‘struggle’ – was born. And there were few bands more essential to the development of this music than the Hallelujah Chicken Run Band.

Limited edition of 1000 copies in exact replica

includes a vaucher to download Mp3Sleevenotes by Bill Brewster

Record Store Day RSD 22, Glitter Gold Coloured Vinyl Realease On December 2013, during Alain Pilot's show “La Bande Passante” and as part of the celebrations for Manu Dibango’s 80th birthday, Radio France Internationale gathered around the African master a bunch of prestigious guests including the Ethio- Jazz ambassadors : Akalé Wubé. The band decided to play live and on air African Pop Session and Ekedi - both written and recorded by the Cameroonian saxophonist in the early seventies - quickly joined by Manu Dibango and his saxophone. Two live recordings of this session will be taken out this pathbreaking and improvised meeting. A great complicity shortly settled between them and, a few months later, Akalé Wubé invited Manu Dibango on their track Anbessa (The Lion in Amharic) composed as a tribute to him. This collaboration led them to share several stages together in the following years. With this RFI session still in mind, Manu Dibango invited the band to join him in studio for Akalé Wubé to arrange and re-record 5 other unknown nuggets from his catalogue : La Colère des Dieux, Du Bush a Bush, Gentlemen de Camp Yabassi, Otetena Munja and Peaceful Homeland. Unfortunately, The Lion won’t make it to the Parisian band’s studio to record his last solos, fate decided otherwise... Akalé Wubé decides to pay a strong and sincere tribute to this friendship through out the album Anbessa - gathering the entire tracks written for or by Manu Dibango and played by the band - in a special LP.  Music By, Lyrics By – Akalé Wubé (Titel: A3 , B3)Manu Dibango (Titel: A1 , A2 , A4 to B2 , B4) Alto Saxophone – Manu Dibango (Titel: A1 , A3 , B1) Saxophone, Flute – Etienne De La Sayette Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Percussion – Paul Bouclier Guitar – Loïc Rechard Bass – Oliver Degabriele Drums – David Georgelet Recorded By, Mixed By – Pierre Dachery (Titel: A2 to A5 , B2 to B4) Viktor Gourarier (Titel: A2 to A5 , B2 to B4) Mastered By – Fabien Girard Artwork – Fred Chailleux