Luaka Bop 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: David Byrne's Luka Bop label does a wonderful job of serving up some superbly obscure and unknown sounds but in a accessible and enjoyable fashion. Next up for the tirelessly digging label is a third volume of their World Spirituality series: The Muslim Highlife Of Alhaji Waziri Oshomah is an international collection of Afro rhythms that cut deep. Alhaji Waziri Oshomah hails from Edo State in southern Nigeria and is someone who holds sermon and serves up lyrics that warn about the vice of jealousy but the grovers also make his gathered crowd want to get down. He brings together both Muslims and Christians and this record will too.

Review: Alhaji Waziri Oshomah is a master of Afro sounds and rhythms that cut deep. He is from the Edo State in southern Nigeria and always as making music and often holds local sermons. His music was highlighted by David Bryne's always-excellent Luaka Bop label in September with World Spirituality Classics 3: The Muslim Highlife Of Alhaji Waziri Oshomah and now comes another bumper collection of his tunes. As the title suggests, Vol 1-5: 1978-1984 pulls together his best work from that six-year period across five 12"s and a special booklet.

Review: The magnificent Luaka Bop label has been showcasing the work of Alhaji Waziri Oshomah - a master of Afro sounds and rhythms that cut deep - for a while now across several albums and compilations. He hails from Edo State in southern Nigeria and is known for holding sermons of the religious as well as musical sort. After various volumes of work and the superb World Spirituality Classics 3: The Muslim Highlife Of Alhaji Waziri Oshomah record comes this new series of gems that show off his unique take on international rhythms across four long, ever evolving and always engaging grooves.

Review: If you know Blunt's story then you'll already know how genuinely cool, exciting and creative he is. If you don't, look it up - he didn't even start learning to playing music until his mid-30s and he regularly touted his lo-fi, wonky community-spirited fuzzy funk by busking and performing at old people's homes. A big influence on Luka Bop founder David Byrne, Dean Blunt, Dam Funk and many more, this is the first time his work has been available since his highly sought after self-released album Gentle Persuasion. Scuffed, scratched and strangely mixed down, his status as an 'outsider funk' spokesman makes complete sense when heard in all his glory. Genuinely unique.

Review: Last October, acclaimed saxophonist Pharoah Sanders turned 80 years young, and his input on this album is testimony to the fact he has clearly aged like a fine wine. Not that this is to suggest preceding outings were anything less worthy than this collaborative project, which sees Sam Shepherd, the British electronic artist better known to most as Floating Points, write nine spectacular arrangements which are then performed by said brass legend, alongside The London Symphony Orchestra.

The results are spectacular, and wildly far-reaching, albeit firmly rooted in jazz with classical undertones. From the movements that made this final cut, some are whisper quiet and delicate to the point of risking breaking off if you were handling haphazardly. Others are booming loud, musical jumbo jets landing at the end of another great crescendo. Whether hushed or monumental, though, we can feel every note and bar of this masterpiece.

Review: RECOMMENDED
Last October, acclaimed saxophonist Pharoah Sanders turned 80 years young, and his input on this album is testimony to the fact he has clearly aged like a fine wine. Not that this is to suggest preceding outings were anything less worthy than this collaborative project, which sees Sam Shepherd, the British electronic artist better known to most as Floating Points, write nine spectacular arrangements which are then performed by said brass legend, alongside The London Symphony Orchestra.

The results are spectacular, and wildly far-reaching, albeit firmly rooted in jazz with classical undertones. From the movements that made this final cut, some are whisper quiet and delicate to the point of risking breaking off if you were handling haphazardly. Others are booming loud, musical jumbo jets landing at the end of another great crescendo. Whether hushed or monumental, though, we can feel every note and bar of this masterpiece.

Review: Milwaukee soulboys Kings Go Forth formed in 2007, and recorded The Outsiders Are Back three years later as an implicit paean to the increasing outsider status of soul music over the years. As might be expected for a band working in a style whose subculture was out of fashion - not least in Milwaukee - the "outsider" status was surely earned. Lead members Andy Noble and Black Wolf handled its songwriting and composition; inspired by classic soul and funk sounds of the 60s and 70s, the ten-tracker flaunts a ten-piece band to match, with horns, percussion, and vocal harmonies playing out in an unmistakably buzzing fever-pitch.

Review: Following 2012's fourth volume that celebrated the existential work of Tim Maia, here we find Luaka Bop exploring the legacy of William Onyeabor. A high chief and Kenyan diplomat who allegedly refuses to discuss his music, he self-released eight albums in the 70s and 80s and these are some of the many highlights. Stretching from the New York-influenced post-punk synth funk of "Good Name" to the most authentic Afro fusion of "Why Go To War", Onyeabor's range not only reflects his clear creative skill, but also the ever-developing international language of music during the fruitful period he was active. Who is William Onyeabor? Press play and find out yourselves...

Review: Mysterious to the point of genuine legend, ever since Luaka Bop rekindled William's legacy flame in 2013 growing interest has developed in his work... To the point he's granted an interview and, rather amazingly, hinted at new material in the future. For this particular rerelease we head back to one of his finest albums; his second LP that would spawn the name of his live band who are still active to this day. Shining with strong Caribbean influences on "Beautiful Baby" and "Shame", stomping with strident Afrofunk twists and heavy studio techniques on "Atomic Bomb", slinking and skanking with the feel good "I Need You All Life", Atomic Bomb really is a work of beauty.

Review: In the field of spiritual jazz, there are few albums as seminal as Pharoah. Originally released in 1977 and serving as a landmark for the genre as well as Pharoah Sanders himself, it remains a towering work of understated beauty, using negative space and patient pauses as potent as the notes played. Sanders sadly passed on to the next realm in 2022 amidst a wave of renewed appreciation for his work, and Luaka Bop have taken on the task of reissuing this otherworldly classic in fine style. As well as the original album, a second record features two previously unreleased live versions of 'Harvest Time', and the package comes with a 24-page booklet featuring a wealth of additional material to round out the experience of one of the all-time greatest jazz albums.

Review: Back in 2005, the Luaka Bop and Stones Throw labels jointly issued World Psychedelic Classics 3: Love's A Real Thing - The Funky Fuzzy Sounds Of West Africa with the former releasing the CD edition and the latter a double LP version. As the elongated title suggests, the third edition of Luaka Bop's World Psychedelic Classic series swung the focus to West African music from the seventies and really opened people up to the psychedelic sounds of Manu Dibango, William Onyeabor, Gasper Lawal and a whole other host of artists from West Africa. Luaka Bop have evidently secured the rights for a vinyl reissue of the compilation, and anyone who indulged in their popular fifth volume focused on William Onyeabor will relish the opportunity to pick this up again.