After a short label hiatus, Caroline True Records bring US a limited vinyl edition of a classic Salford / Manchester album. The Montgolfier Brothers, Mark Tranmer (GNAC) & Roger Quigley (At Swim Two Birds) initially released “Seventeen Stars” on the Salford-based Vespertine label in 1999.
Much critical acclaim & appreciation from pop dynamo Alan McGee led to a 2000 rerelease on his nascent post-Creation Poptones imprint.

“So we ended up pressing records as usual. Our first record was Seventeen Stars by the Montgolfier Brothers, a baroque, cinematic classic that almost no-one has ever heard.” Alan McGee (On Poptones in “Creation Stories: Riots, Raves & Running A Label” 2013 )

Since that moment, “Seventeen Stars” has gathered universal plaudits & affection, along with occasional live performances from the group. To mark the 20th anniversary of the original release, CTR have remastered this brilliant work for vinyl. The sleeve expands the original Vespertine CD release artwork to LP size. Beautiful, memorable, fragile ... An album that proves the longevity of great songwriting, tunes and textures that stay with you. 
For lovers of Felt, The Durutti Column, Jacques Brel, Blue Nile & François de Roubaix

FORMAT INFORMATION

Ltd LP Info: Fully Restored Vinyl Remaster & Restored Original CD Release Artwork For Vinyl With Memorabilia Assemblage Full Colour Inner-Sleeve

International Feel are back, diving into the mirror world once again for a fresh four track on their Feel International offshoot. This time round the artist is Coombe Harbor, who, with virtually no online presence is possibly another alias of label boss Mark Barrott. Putting my presumptions aside and focussing on the music, I feel the warming vibrations of 'Kyoto Masks' washing over my pleasure centres. Taking one bubbling Fingers-esque bassline, syncopated hats and some gliding, Asiatic leadlines, this is house with depth, rather than deep house - lovely stuff. "Sadness Is A Drug Called Love" loses the kick drum and lays back into a gentle pool of electronic melancholy, achieving a kind of resigned serenity which could work in a warm up, warm down or sunset sesh. The electronic tranquility continues on the A1 with "Abadon Exit", a stately cinematic piece which filters the rich heartbreak of Vaughn Williams through Japanese electronics. Coombe Harbor brings the beat back for the final track, bending wild sine waves around a simple beatdown drum track and timing those piano chords just right.

Møzaika returns to Public Possession with another four track EP of varied dancefloor styles and musical moods. For the titular “Drive”, he collaborates with Australian Sui Zhen, who you may recognize from her previous work with Tornado Wallace, Andras Fox and No Zu. Together they produce a beautiful, mystic synth pop track, which sounds a little bit like The B52's soundtracking a John Hughes movie which only exists in Gwen Stefani's grade school daydreams. A dub version of that track completes the A-Side, splintering fragments of vocal over a beefier, DJ friendly variant of the title track. Over on the B-Side we find the mellow cowbell boogie / new age dance of “Crépuscule”, and the utterly ethereal “Never see You again”, which should be of particular interest to the Balearic DJs out there.

Organically funky, laced with avant-garde synth textures, and studded with breakbeats, the second Outernational release is Jeff Resnick’s unique, ultra-rare, 1978 promotional recording for the School for American Craftsmen, at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Five tracks of soul jazz and modal fusion — re-modelling Trane, and opening with a variation of Norwegian Wood — by a local group including trumpeter Jeff Tyzik and pianist Sonny Kompanek; then Resnick mostly solo for the second side, when the money ran out, multi-tracking synthesizers on his home set-up, in an engrossing blend of reflective abstraction, grooving electro and spiritualised fourth-world tropicalism.

FORMAT INFORMATION

LP Info: One copy available

Emotional Rescue and Jamwax come together to present the first of three essential 12”s from NY/Jamaican label Capo Disco, all officially licensed and remastered for the first time. The brainchild of reggae vocalist, musician, producer and label owner Glen Adams, the label married disco with his Caribbean roots to perfection. Born and raised in Jamaica, Adams story is a similar one to the performers of the golden period post-Independence. Initially discovered as a vocalist by Coxsone Dodd, he went on to work with such luminaries as Ken Boothe and Stranger Cole before co-founding The Heptones and working Duke Reid, Bunny Lee and Lloyd Charmers.
As a session organist he worked for The Hippy Boys, The Reggae Boys and later with Lee Perry’s The Upsetters, he came in to the orbit of The Wailors, touring England with them in the early 70s and with Perry co-wrote Mr Brown. When most of The Upsetters became Marley’s rhythm section, Adams stayed with Perry before making the move to Brooklyn in 1975.
There he started Capo Records, running it and it’s sub-labels, successfully until the mid-80s. During these later years he ventured in to mixing Reggae with Boogie and Disco rhythms and released just four 12”s under Capo Disco as well as recording boogie and hip-hop influenced releases with T Ski Valley and as Glen Adams Affair for SAM and Moonglow Records.
Here then the spotlight is on Adam’s nascent disco releases and the series starts with the wonderful, uplifting "A Beat For You". Actually appearing on a one off sister-label, Top Secret, this is a beautiful “Lovers” anthem from Adams over a laidback dub-bass riddim. Backed with a simple instrumental Version, the space and interplay of the keys and guitar over drum and bass is superlative. “There is a beat in my heart, just for you…just for you.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: Jamwax meet Emotional Rescue up town for this reissue 12", offering a fresh pressing of Glen Adams seriously groovy disco/dub hybrid "A Beat For You". Boogie synths, serious dancefloor power and a more than a hint of digi-dub result in an essential slab of wax for anyone of a cosmic/Balearic bent.

FORMAT INFORMATION

12" Info: One copy available

Two seminal 12" mixes of a pair of Michael Wycoff heavy hitters from 1982. One a two-step favourite and one a Loft classic, these sought-after versions have never been paired on the same record.

Side A features the smooth-gliding anthem "Looking Up To You". The unmistakable snap of that sighing intro is unlike anything else. As such, it's no surprise that Leon Ware, celebrated master of the unexpected chord, has his fingerprints all over the track. Co-written with Zane Grey, "Looking Up To You" stands among the very best of Leon's staggering bank of compositions, both solo and with Michael Jackson, Minnie Riperton and Marvin Gaye. It's such an influential track, serving as the sample foundation of a massive top five R&B hit for Zhane in 1993, but it has never been bettered upon. Original 12" copies – if you can find them – go for over £50 today, making this side worth the price of admission alone.

If that wasn't enough, it's arguable that the B-Side wins again. A staple of David Mancuso's New York Loft parties, the Tee Scott mix of uplifting boogie gem "Diamond Real" is on another level entirely. A DJ legend of infamous clubs Better Days and Zanzibar and a trailblazing innovator, Tee Scott mastered the art of the reconstructive club mix.

For maximum destruction of discerning dancers, Be With have opted for his heavenly dub. 7 minutes of devastatingly slick dance floor dynamite, at once polished and dilapidated, its ecstatic charm is universal.

Devout lovers of modern soul have long worshipped the rapturous, sophisticated funk of Michael Wycoff. In combining that richly elegant voice, redolent of Donny Hathaway, with the production of keyboardist and arranger Webster Lewis, it's no surprise that both of these tracks became vital club classics of the early 80s R&B scene. Clear, full-bodied and bright – the 12" versions of these tracks are notoriously punchier than those featured on Wycoff's LP, and feature boomin' low end and neck-snapping drums. Buy on sight.

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: MASSIVE Be With 12" here pairing Michael Wycoff's biggest hit, the hair raising disco/club soul/jazz funk gem'Looking Up To You', with a rare Tee Scott instrumental mix of Loft classic "Diamond Real". Pressed to perfection, this is must have tackle for the collector and DJ alike.

FORMAT INFORMATION

12" Info: One copy available

The world has changed since Geena last took a weedy excursion on Antinote, but now the Parisian producer is back, inviting one and all to break down the walls and dive into an Olympic size swimming pool full of MDMA. When you're deep in the backlash of all those pills you light-heartedly ate during the previous night, "Peace, Love & Earth: Mental DJ’s Land Vol. 2" might be your best ally to deal smoothly with those never ending morning afterparties of yours: a perfect mix of tribal anthems for happy ravers and a bunch of reassuring, Balearically-named, New Age tunes. Even Geena’s most banging compositions seem to be lurking on the quilted side of house music on "Peace, Love & Earth". "Keep", the most “Metroplexian” moment of the 12”, draws away from the dryness of some of its illustrious Detroit-born predecessors by integrating some liquid elements to its raw structure, while the synthetic choirs of "KG Voice" and tribal rhythms of "Blue Transfer" dip a straw into a big glass of Sizzurp. Behind the overtly suggestive names “La Isla” and “Natural High” lay some quality ambient interludes, taking us back to those halcyon days when ambient records had the word “Ambient” in their titles (both tracks are heavily reminiscent of Aphex’s Ambient Works or the Worms Armagedon’s OST). "Peace, Love & Earth: Mental DJ’s Vol. 2" is as good as the amazing artwork by checkmorris suggests: healing music for quirky party people.

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: Buy-on-sight Parisian boutique Antinote end 2016 on a Rick James level high here with a superb sensory boost from Geena. Soft focus house music meets come down ambience in that typically atypical Antinote style.

FORMAT INFORMATION

12" Info: One copy available

Released just a few years ago on tape on Polish label Sangoplasmo, "Edena" is a stunning audio voyage from Piotr Kurek, a composer and multi-instrumentalist with a penchant for vintage sound equipment, as well as the practical sense to know where their limitations are. His musical compositions, part melodic narrative, part sound collage, distil a sense of nostalgia into a romance for the present. Using a Moebius comic he had never seen (Le Monde d’Edena) and an instrument he would never have (a Mellotron) as a conceptual starting point, the Warsaw-based, Polish artist created Edena. A hypnotic, circular motion pervades all of Edena; a cyclic life force that gives the impression of forward motion, while really folding back on itself, reflected by the infinity symbol of the cover.

FORMAT INFORMATION

LP Info: One copy available

It's a double drop from Dusseldorf this week as Lucas Croon supplies the twelth release in the totally essential Themes For Great Cities catalogue. No stranger to the label after previous appearances as a member of Stabil Elite and in collaboration with Carsten Dämbkes (of run-out groove/mega mastering fame), Lucas perfectly judges the vibe here, switching between chilly kosmishce, horizontal synth voodoo and hypnotic house abstractions over three  expansive cuts. Opening cut "Urania" holds us in its icy grasp from the get go, massaging temples with structural synth work, while mechanical textures and klingklang percussion keep the blood pumping at a regulation 120bpm. Perfect for your next neo-noir adventure into a greyscale mega-city, this is the soundtrack to high-rise trains, holgraphic adverts and chrome-cast dystopias, eventually bursting through the high-polished glass and falling into an opiated nightmare. A2's "Flötenmelodie" offers a moment's respite from all that futurist gloom, finding Croon slowly tesselating a beautiful collage of pulsating sequences, organic percussion and moonlit synthleads into something almost Balearic...B-side cut "Türkischer Tee" sees a caffinated Croon shift through the gears in peak-time mode, swerving the straightforward 4/4 in favour of a polyrhythmic, afro-beat shuffle, perfectly suited to the jazzy keyboard abstractions at play above. Restless, hypnotic and entirely immersive, the track boasts a heady sound akin to Spirutal Life, Wania or vintage Feedelity though really it exists in its own weird headspace. As infectious as they come despite a whole load of melodic complexity, this should be the secret weapon in any forward thinking DJs bag. 

FORMAT INFORMATION

12" Info: One copy available

Efficient Space continues to expose Australia’s esoteric musical history with Oz Waves - a collection of 80s DIY recordings, compiled by odd wave anthropologist Steele Bonus. Definitive proof that inhabitants of the Down Underground were links in a global network of creative kooks, Oz Waves connects those who utilised mobile recording rigs and small press releases to create and disseminate misfit synth-punk, tape loop experiments and inner city pop. Through overseas mail order exchanges, anonymous groups like Zerox Dreamflesh could find place on Belgian compilations, while Chris and Cosey lullabied their son to sleep with Irena Xero and her interdisciplinary art collective Zip.?? Bonus selects 10 survivors from this fertile period (1982-1989), most of which were only issued on cassette in tiny editions of 5 to 100 copies. M Squared affiliates Prod join the extraterrestrial Software Seduction, minimal wave neglect from He Dark Age and the irreverent cut ups of The Horse He's Sick and MK Ultra & the Assassins of Light. The remaining tracks have been sourced from musicians’ private archives and are being officially released on Oz Waves for the first time - Andy Rantzen’s industrial dub Itch-E & Scratch-E precursor, the buoyant vocal-drone of Ironing Music and Moral Fibro, Sydney’s short lived answer to Weekend and Marine Girls. With detailed track by track notes, lines are drawn to Severed Heads, Scattered Order and other antipodean post-punk royalty.?? As a DJ, Steele Bonus has gained notoriety via the exquisite selections that form his ongoing mix series Odd Waves. Sydney-born, Amsterdam-based, his graphic design has not only been responsible for sleeves on Efficient Space, but also trusted Amsterdam connoisseurs Music From Memory and Young Marco’s Safe Trip.

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: Musical boundary pusher and design maverick Steele Bonus follows in the footsteps of Andras and Instant Peterson, donning his compiling cap and putting together a ten track introduction to the oddest end of Australia's 80s underground. Minimal Wave meets dub, post punk dances with naff new age and absolutely no Matilda's are waltzed on this weird and wonderful collection of off-the-wall pop.

FORMAT INFORMATION

LP Info: One copy available

Not content with ruling the dancefloor via the oddball electro of Shahara Ja, those Antipodean reissue fiends at Left Ear are back in the house this week with a chilly retrospective of Oz Wave weirdo Peter Westheimer. An irreverent outsider right from the off, Westheimer spiced his unique brand of synth pop with Dadaist lyricism and Japanese tonalities, arriving at a future primitive sound which casually slipped between electronic, ambient, experimental and new age. When he dropped his debut LP, "Move" in 1985, Westheimer took the underground by surprise, blending his unique brand of synth work outs with a distinctly Australian aesthetic which coloured subsequent LPs "Sooner Than Laughter" (1986) and "Transition" (1992). This retrospective collects the finest moments of those LPs alongside 6 unreleased tracks, offering the casual listener a glimpse into the diverse genius of the NSW musician. Leftfield dancefloor cuts "Walking On The Edge" and "Elastic Smiles" groove their way into mutant disco territories, stumbling out the speakers like an ironic antipodean cousin of early 80s Peter Gabriel or Bill Nelson. "Rainforest" and "Circular Walkways" lay down some early markers for the casio tribal madness of Andras Fox or Young Marco while "Personality Change" is an afro-synth oddity worthy of a vintage Beppe Loda tape. Elsewhere Brenda Ray styled Balearic shufflers rub shoulders with Japanesque new age numbers, the whole set forming into a diverse selection all boasting a timbre which whispers Westheimer. 

FORMAT INFORMATION

LP Info: 1 COPY FOUND!

After a run of club-ready 12”s, the fifth No Bad Days release slows the pace right down. On the "Views From My Shed EP", long-standing friend of NBD James Booth breaks in new alias The Gardener with an easy-going record inspired by nature and sure to inspire relaxed, repeat listens. A suite of biotic ambience and wonderfully bucolic atmospheres opens the EP, with "Lilac Moor"'s four parts fluttering on a garden breeze, gentle strings undulating against synthesized wind instruments and tranquil, serene musical scales. It's an absolute delight on the ear and totally transportative - you get instantly get the 'view from my shed' from where the title (and inspiration) for the EP comes from. On the flip, The Gardener gets a little more spring in his step, dishing out some fully synthetic soundbeds rich in meditative, calming frequencies and gentle, lapping grooves. There's even some elevating kraut arpeggio business to unravel the mind... Top stuff here, a fully realized EP beautifully executed. Recommended! 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Chilled out hazy garden vibes, full of pastoral charm and pseudo-balearic melodies. Percussive interludes break up the swooning synthplay before segueing into found-sounds and blissful scenic 'tron. Ace.

Hanyo van Oosterom lived in the small cave of the Kallikatsou in the early eighties, finding inspiration there for the Chi project (1983-1986). From the nineties to 2006 he created drones, loops, samples and soundscapes, traveling numerous times annually back and forth to the Kallikatsou for fine-tuning. With the Original Recordings and Bamboo Recordings, both strongly connected to the Kallikatsou, creating the perfect timeframe, 'the circle [is] closed. Together these recordings reflect and express the different aspects of the experience. A trilogy of random dream-catching over 30 years.'

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Fans of Chi Factory's "Original Recordings" and "Bamboo Recordings" can finally get some closure as the final record in the triptych lands this week. More unfathomably esoteric sounds from a true witch doctor.

FORMAT INFORMATION

Ltd LP Info: ONE COPY FOUND!

Blink and I missed it! After the highly sort after and supremely limited first run disappeared over the horizon, OBI strip and all, Claremont 56 take pity on schmucks like you and I with a plain sleeve repress of this serene Balearic beauty. Though it may not be the looker it once was, you'll be reassured to know that this gem sounds just as good as ever. Label favourite, Cafe Del Mar hero and all round top talent Phil Mison takes controls on the A-side, rewarding one and all with a pair of pure, ambient bathers. Celestial synthwashes wax and wane beneath gentle acoustic guitar, occasional piano chords ripple through the infinite calm and the fx laden vocal sings sweetly to the siren, leaving us to drift peacefully into a new state of mind. In dub form, Phil omits the vocal and lets his tranquil instrumentation take centre stage, rivalling the superb "69" on Growing Bin for untampered beauty. Over on the flip, original Okinawa Delays cut "Vibration" steps a nimble path between Japanese jazz, mature funk and city pop to take a place at the top table with Eri Ohno, Ruriko Ohgami and Sadao Watanabe. The mix of shuffling percussion, diminished 7ths and rubber-necking bass should keep your body loose and limber, while Satoko Ishimine's smooth vocal soothes your soul to perfection. This won't be around for a long time, so buy a copy and stay cool all summer long. 

FORMAT INFORMATION

Ltd 10" Info: ONE COPY FOUND!

Over five years of vinyl endeavours, Antinote have gone from strength to strength, rising from the underground to become the first port of call for the forward thinking DJ. Menthol fresh, ever-interesting and way ahead of the curve, Antinote releases come and go quickly on the good ship Piccadilly, swiftly finding their ways into the most discerning record bags before soaring in price on Discogs. Comprised of 14 sketches - each reflecting one of the many shades of the label’s catalogue - "Five years of Loving Notes" places new names alongside those who've been involved with the label since it’s very beginning, like Geena or Iueke - responsible for the first 12” released on Antinote. Musically, the collection covers the broadest spectrum of mood and atmosphere, skulking from the dark and raw excursions of Tolouse Low Trax or Iueke to the lush instrumentals crafted by Nico Motte and Syracuse’s Antoine Kogut; Though disparate and diverse, the set seems to breathe as one; contrasting cuts all pointing in the same direction, seeking out the emotional response in all of us without relying on the trite cliches you might find elsewhere. Prepare to take a sensory trip, hurtling from the opening Latvian arabesques from Domenique Dumont to the Pink-Floyd-ian ending from Alek Lee, via Leonardo Martelli’s smoggy electro and Raphael Top Secret’s ominous talk-over. Long live Antinote.

FORMAT INFORMATION

2xLP Info: ONE COPY FOUND!

Ciao ragazzi e ragazze! This is Piccadilly's resident Italophile, here to spice up your dancefloor life all over again. As Best Records continue to take us on an official tour of essential Italo reissues, the label raid the (now defunct) Eyes Records archive to treat us to a remastered rerun of the finest boogie bomb to come from Il Bel Paese. The work of signori Carugati and Greico, "Going Crazy" first flipped the dancefloor in 1984, turning the tide on the flow of cheesy BS with sheer bassline power, raw white funk and pure sex appeal. Silly, synthetic and partially robotised, this is club music for the sophisticated dancefloor. Alongside the vocal and instrumental of the original release is a brand new (old) dub, unearthed during tape transfer. Though it doesn't stray too far from the original mix, the brain shredding fx abuse may well make this the mix to pick! Gustare!

FORMAT INFORMATION

12" Info: I COPY FOUND!