Favorite Recordings presents a reissue of Lucas Arruda's first album, "Sambadi".

Lucas Arruda’s born in 1983, in a Brazilian state called Espírito Santo, near Rio de Janeiro. Coming from a musical family (his dad and older brother are musicians) he started playing and listening to music very young. At the age of 13, he was playing professionally across Rio.

After studying electric guitar and playing in various bands, Lucas' passion quickly turned to Rhodes and keyboards, expanding his musical range of skills. At the same time he started a project called Du Black, with his older brother Thiago, quickly receiving various local support from people like Ed Motta, William Magalhães (Banda Black Rio), Robert Lamm (Chicago) or Hyldon (Brazilian soul legend).

From the growing notoriety obtained, the band began to work with various other artists and singers such as Tamy Macedo, or Bossa Nova’s legend, Leila Pinheiro, leading Lucas to build a recording studio with Thiago in 2011. Now 2 years after he launched this home-studio, comes “Sambadi”, the first solo album by Lucas Arruda!

On this recording he also started to team up with Fabricio di Monaco (Modo Solar), who clearly became a fundamental piece, as Lucas relates: 'Fabricio introduced me to Pascal Rioux at Favorite Recordings, as they released his EP few years ago. He’s a brilliant musician and a great human being.'

In Lucas’ words, "Sambadi" is highly inspired by Rio de Janeiro. As for the musical side, the album almost sounds like a tribute to his longtime heroes like Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, Marcos Valle, Azymuth, or Robson Jorge & Lincoln Olivetti. And Lucas also humbly concludes: 'I really hope to honor all the guys who influenced me.'

TRACK LISTING

A1 Physis
A2 Tamba Part 1
A3 Batuque
A4 Who's That Lady
A5 Rio Afternoon

B1 Na Feira
B2 Sambadi (Album Version)
B3 Carnival
B4 Alma Nova
B5 Tamba Part 2

More from Favourite super group Voilaaa - the finest purveyors of modern day tropical disco.

2 tracks that clearly reveal the Afro-disco and Caribbean inspiration that have fueled this vibrant and skilled new group, headed up by Bruno Hovart aka Patchworks and featuring a wealth of talent from his locale.

There's a new album due in the new year but in the meantime this double A-side should keep you satisfied!

RIYL: Space Grapes, Ibibio Sound Machine, Tony Allen 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Top drawer modern tropical disco from Patchworks and crew. Rugged and funky, hard not to shake a tail feather to this shit.

TRACK LISTING

Spies Are Watching Me
Le Disco Des Capitales

Favorite Recordings and Charles Maurice proudly present a brand new compilation series: “Fusion Global Sounds”. 9 rare and hidden tracks produced between 1970 and 1983 in various parts of the world.

This time, recordings come from Sweden, Switzerland, South Africa, New Zealand, Uruguay, Spain and France, from artists and bands mostly known in their local scenes. You'll hear here the best elements of the fusion and jazz-funk genre: breezy vocal arrangements, sweet and virtuosic Fender Rhodes (kind of common thread of the comp), melodic spiral-shaped fuzzy synthesizers leads, or irresistible basslines, altogether bringing a unique groove to life.

"Buster" is taken from the first and only album of the Swedish band, Sundance. The band from Gothenburg was formed around US trumpet player Stephen Frankevich (notably playing with Mahavishnu Orchestra) after he moved to Sweden. Cosmic, with razor-sharp rhythms, it naturally brings you to the second title, "Hello Mr. Ancuvis" by Renato Anselmi. One of the key players of the Swiss Jazz scene during the sixties and the seventies, Renato also had the chance to play with Harvey Mason or Alphonso Johnson. Funky, jazzy but still a bit breezy, here again sweet vocals nicely blend with uptempo Rhodes part. Also included is another title from Renato Anselmi, "Quiet Fire", a mellow Rhodes-driven ballad with funky accents, wide strings and guitar arrangements.

"Tropical Island" by Zane Cronje, a South-African composer and arranger, was initially a track from a music library catalogue: dreamy, soaked in thorough synthesizers, we're only attached to the earth by the Guiro groove. You'll also hear this cosmic vibe in "Astral Dance" by French-American drummer and jazz musician/composer Daniel Bechet, taken from “Songs To My Father” LP, dedicated to his father the famous sax / clarinet player Sydney Bechet. In this 4 minutes dope jam, keys, guitar and percussion will elevate your mind to another level of consciousness: deep!
The 1860 Band was hailing from Wellington, New Zealand, playing mostly in bars, cafes and pubs - their name is taken from a tavern where they had an extended afternoon residency keeping the clients entertained. Their sole LP, now rare and sought-after, was a nice mix of jazz-funk and disco grooves. Their amazing and groovy cover of "Keep That Same Old Feeling" by The Crusaders, brings the best of their playing.

Otroshakers was formed around Hugo and Osvaldo Fattoruso, as a tribute project to their former band Los Shakers, some sort of copycat band of The Beatles with great success in Latin America. Listening to "Siempre Tu", you can almost hear The Beatles' psychedelic vocal of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Later joining Ringo Thielmann in the US, they formed the band OPA together, after having recorded for Airto's seminal album “Fingers”. Blending jazz, South-American musical elements and funk, their fusion quickly gained the respect of the NY musical scene.
"Despertar" by Spanish drummer, singer and actor Pedro Ruy-Blas, is taken from Luna Llena, his great first jazz-funk album. The track is a funky piece with wah-wah expressive Rhodes, ending with a beautiful flute solo. "Prologue" by Dutch-French pianist Majoie Hajary (sometimes called the "Hindu pianist"), can be found on La Passion Selon Judas, a very unique religious album blending her own style with psych, funk and jazz elements.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Avant, left-of-centre, spiritual-leaning jazz-funk cuts that'll captivate your ears! No idea where they're plucking these from - but everything seems pretty uncomp'ed thus far. You'd wish they'd compiled another disc but the time it gets to the end of side B. Such is the quality of the offerings presented here.

TRACK LISTING

Sundance - Buster
Renato Anselmi - Hello Mr. Acuvis
Zane Cronje - Tropical Island
The 1860 Band - Keep That Same Old Feeling
Otroshakers - Siempre Tu
Daniel Bechet - Astral Dance
Renato Anselmi - Quiet Fire
Pedro Ruy-Blas - Despertar
Majoie Hajary - Prologue

Aldorande is back! The French jazz-funk quartet returns with a strong new EP “Summer Body / Breakfast in Space”.

After their first eponymous LP our explorers strike again with two club-friendly compositions joining the dots between jazz-funk and disco-boogie. Recorded with great care, reflecting a penchant towards the authentic analogue sound, both tracks come with Charles Maurice dub versions.

A-side opens with “Summer Body”, a summery and frivolous boogie jam with magnetic bassline, surrounded by lush synthesizers and catchy backing vocals arranged in the tradition of the best Brazilian songs.

On the B-side comes “Breakfast in Space”, a sort of cosmic opera with maximum flamboyance! The slap bass and drums combo set up a tight P-Funk foundation whilst Aldorande puts psychedelic vocal lines and rampant percussion bursts over the top causing spontaneous eruptions of energy and pleasure all over the mix!

Behind Aldorande, you will find a team of great musicians including bandleader and founder Virgile Raffaëlli on bass (Setenta, Camarão Orkestra), Florian Pellissier on keys (Iggy Pop, Guts, Setenta, Cotonete), Mathieu Edward on drums (Chassol, De La Soul) and Erwan Loeffel on percussion (10LEC6, Camarão Orkestra). For this new EP, always looking for more funk into their groove, they’ve been joined by French guitarist Farid Baha (Cotonete, Camarão Orkestra).

Modern disco and funk doesn’t get much better than this! 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Favourite are on a roll at the moment. Releasing brand new funk, boogie and disco that sounds as good as anything from the golden era. This new one by Aldorande is no exception!

TRACK LISTING

A1 Summer Body
A2 Summer Body (Charles Maurice Dub Version)
B1 Breakfast In Space
B2 Breakfast In Space (Charles Maurice Dub Version)

After the recent reissue of their first eponymous album, Favorite Recordings get their licensing paws on “Vegas”, the second LP from Venezuelan band Esperanto. Rare and sought-after for many collectors, it was recorded in between Las Vegas and Caracas and originally released in 1981. Following bandleader Jorge Aguilar in his musical trip to the infamous American city bathing into flashing lights and vivid colors, we're invited to an excursion in disco, boogie and jazz-funk territories.

With great care and attention to details, Esperanto managed to create a very convincing sequel to their debuts. “Vegas” keeps a perfect balance between various influences. Through energic disco beats with intense funky solos, catchy AOR-influenced songs, where Jorge delivers convincing vocal performance, or sunny jazz-funk slow jams, the album still reveals something quite authentic. And this feeling echoes surely the one that could have been felt by Jorge Aguilar while discovering USA on a trip - where it all started for the music he loves. Like sometimes a foreigner's enriching view on some local specialty, he surely brought with the band all his authenticity and young but vibrant experience while convincing at the same time major labels for distribution.

With certain notoriety coming with the release of their first album, Jorge Aguilar and his drummer Pablo Matarazzo planned to go to Los Angeles for a few gigs. But once there, they realized their contact had to leave for Tina Turner's tour in Europe. Before that, he invited them to come along to Las Vegas and eventually meet musicians there. Luckily, the plan worked perfectly: Jorge came back to Los Angeles with a lot of contacts then moved to Boston and NYC before finally coming back to Caracas. He states: ‘I was so impressed with this trip that I told myself that one day I would return to Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The first tracks I did them in Los Angeles with Kenny More, James Gadson and other session musicians from that city. Later, I took the tracks to Caracas where the musicians of the band recorded overdubs. After that, I returned to Los Angeles to master with Bernie Grundman who was still working in his small studio at A & M records studios in Hollywood. As can be seen in the title of some of the songs like "Hollywood", "Vegas", "Kenny's Place", were only the translation of my experiences at the time.’

TRACK LISTING

Tell Me This Is Love
Kailua
Love Crusader
Wishful Thinkin'
Hollywood
Kenny's Place
Elle Est Tres Ellegant
Theme From Vegas