Increasingly detached from the original punk formula, the modern and arty youth of the early eighties set itself to jettison an artform that had lost much of the nihilistic and exhilarating energy of its halcyon days, stuck, as it was, in an endless and noisy regression. No Future was the motto of an artform without…
Get the blues this Christmas with our excellent set of exclusive and vintage recordings by blues guitarists and vocalists who offer a unique spin on holiday cheer! Includes recordings by beloved virtuoso guitarists such as Eric Gales, Kenny Neal, Pat Travers, Leslie West, Joe Louis Walker, Chris Spedding and more! Now available on vinyl!
During his 40 years spent operating in the farthest margins of L.A.’s cutthroat music business, Consolidated Productions founder Mel Alexander penned a total of 73 original songs while running one of the longest running Black-owned independent record conglomerates of the 20th century. Across those same decades, he’d track hundreds of tunes for his Ajax, Angel…
After the fall of the Deep City label, Rocketeers bandleader Frank Williams set up shop under the name of his twin daughters Saadia and Giwada and got to work reinventing the Miami Sound.
Operating in a basement studio at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, pipeline man Howard Neal and his appropriately named Shoestring label was Alton, Illinois answer to a question no one asked. Pressed in minuscule numbers and barely outside the 62002 zip code, the singles by The James Family, Jimmie Green, Pete &…
Lost in the soot and fallout from Youngstown, Ohio s infamous Black Monday steel industry collapse was Tony March s cross-generational Tammy label. From its early days as a doo wop powerhouse to their last gasps chasing disco hits, Tammy unintentionally documented Youngstown s small but prolific Black music scene. This single LP surveys the…
Atlanta s original Eccentric Soul labels, Jesse Jones Tragar & Note concerns captured critical regional R&B, soul, and funk from 1968-1976. Compiling 34 tracks and sprawled across two LPs, this 15 year anniversary deluxe edition appears on vinyl for the first time. Featuring rare-as-hens-teeth 45s by Eula Cooper, Tee Fletcher, Richard Cook, Frankie & Robert,…
Double vinyl LP pressing. UK collection. By the turn of the 80s, the impact of David Bowie s ground-breaking Berlin recordings – the synths, the alienation, the drily futuristic production – was being felt on music across Europe. What s more, the records being made were reflecting back and influencing Bowie s own work –…
Soundway presents a collection of 18 Burger Highlife, Electronic Afrobeat and Reggae tracks, highlighting a time when the burgeoning Ghanaian diaspora across Europe and North America was utilising new music technology and recording techniques. A period of movement, emigration and innovation. The dawn of the 80s saw an increase in emigration following a period of…
The spiritual sequel to Dante Carfagna s landmark Black rock mix tape Chains and Black Exhaust, this 13 track compilation exhumes forgotten brilliance from the Afroamerican underground of the 1970s. Awash in fuzzed-out guitars, wah-wah pedals, lysergic-soaked grooves, and enough inflation depression to fill the tank of a shag wagon, If There’s Hell Below imagines…
Impossible to find in the wild, KPM s Image is exactly that; this record paints extraordinary, hyper-vivid scenes with music, in the way only the library greats can. Originally released in 1974, Image is an absolutely stunning listen from start to finish, and arguably the most wanted KPM grail that s still not been reissued…
The cratediggers of Jazz Dispensary have been set loose on an archive of classic midnight movies, and they ve brought back a treasure trove of jams with them. Lay back on the couch, grab a giant tub of popcorn and surrender to a marathon of grooves from Melvin Van Peebles, Isaac Hayes, Booker T. &…
Remixes JID020 is the twentieth installment in the Jazz Is Dead catalog. This remix album features London based artists Shabaka Hutchings and Theon Cross, New York tastemaker Melanie Charles, LA based producer Bei Ru, Brazil s DJ Nyack, Detroit based producer Tall Black Guy, Bay Area producer Mophono and the LA based house duo LO…
Swan Records is more than just The Beatles and Link Wray; from the late ‘50s through late ‘60s they doled out a magnificent array of records which shaped the early Philadelphia sound. This record celebrates the female voices of the Swan roster. During the late ‘50s, Philadelphia was an epicenter of northeastern teen rock’n’roll. Close…