Soundway Records is a British-based independent record label founded and run by English DJ and music producer Miles Cleret. It started in 2002 with the release of a compilation of Ghanaian music from the 1970s : Ghana Soundz: Afrobeat, Funk & Fusion in '70s Ghana'.
Since then the label has released a series of critically acclaimed compilation albums and re-issues of African, Caribbean, Latin and Asian music from the 1950s - 1980s. These include the best-selling compilation Doing It In Lagos (2016) and others such as Nigeria Special, Ghana Special & Kenya Special compilation albums that Cleret spent years bringing together.
With these compilations alongside a string of highly sought-after rare reissue albums, the label has also began in 2012 to develop a series of original contemporary releases. These include releases from acts such as Batida, Ibibio Sound Machine, Debruit & Alsarah, Fumaca Preta, Ondatropica, The Meridian Brothers, Bomba Estereo, Family Atlantica, Dexter Story, The Heliocentrics and Lord Echo.
In 2014, Soundway was named by The Guardian as "One of the 10 British Labels defining the Sound of 2014", and in 2017 was named "Label Of The Year" at the Worldwide Awards in London founded and hosted by Gilles Peterson.
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SNDW 138LP
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$23.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 11/20/2020
Thaba is a collaboration between South African singer/songwriter Khusi Seremane and American producer/musician Gabriel Cyr. Tragically in July 2020, while the two were working with Soundway to prepare the release of their first record, Seremane died a few days past his 41st birthday, after battling health issues for several years. The particular Thaba sound reflects a sonic duality drawing on a double pop heritage of Mbaqanga and Bubblegum artists like The Soul Brothers, Paul Ndlovu, and Pat Shange alongside traces of Roxy Music, Grace Jones, Sade, and Talk Talk that's wrapped up in a modern, electronic, layered, introspective and at times jazz-tinged production style. Brought together by a shared love of kwaito, '90s R&B and classic downtempo, Seremane and Cyr collaborated for a decade after meeting online in the halcyon days of Myspace. While the pair initially planned for Seremane to guest on a Teleseen track, their ideas eventually evolved into an entire record. Their debut, Eyes Rest Their Feet, was created remotely over the course of several years, with the core recorded during a 2016 studio session in Cape Town. After returning to New York, Cyr honed these recordings with several Brooklyn-based musicians, calling upon members of Antibalas, Underground System, Midnight Magic, Loboko, and others. Eyes Rest Their Feet spans genres as well as geography, touching on elements of soul, reggae, synth-pop and beyond, with lyrical themes that explore loneliness and the challenges of human relationships. Eyes Rest Their Feet not only represents the apex of Seremane's work as an artist but also a meditation on the transformative power of love and the impermanence of all things. For fans of: Blood Orange, Young Fathers, Little Dragon, Ntombi Ndaba, Condry Ziqubu, Stimela, Esa Williams, Soundway's Gumba Fire compilation, Soundway's Esa Presents Amandla compilation.
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SNDW 139LP
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$23.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 10/16/2020
Following on from his previous debut album Tape 1/Tape 2 on Soundway, Felbm delivers Tape 3/Tape 4: an intimate, emotional, lilting, and melodic solo project. These 14 lo-fi, instrumental, jazz-infused sketches were written on guitar, with cascading keyboards, vibraphone, and drum machine. Possessing a restorative and soothing quality, it goes some way to balancing out a chaotic year for the world at large. With echoes of the dreamier end of 1980s English indie-pop, minimal ambient music, and Brazilian bossa-nova, Eelco Topper's musical storybook includes touches of The Durutti Column, hints of Antônio Carlos Jobim and Baden Powell, whilst all set firmly in the summer fields of Germany and the Netherlands. The recording method used for the creation and recording of Tape 3/Tape 4 follows the same as his previous release: all sketches were initially recorded onto cassette on a 4-track tape machine. Most notably a vibraphone finds its way onto almost every track fitting Topper's sound-palette perfectly: warm yet distinctive, a percussive as well as sustaining sound that evokes some melancholy and a certain timeless nostalgia. Features that most certainly also apply to the other "new" instrument on the tapes: mellotron flutes. Tape 3/Tape 4 navigates the space between quiet, open, meditative tunes and more solid instrumental works, reflecting his constant search for an optimal balance between stillness and movement. For fans of: KPM Library Records, Basil Kirchin, Gaussian Curve, Young Marco, Greg Foat, Bibio, L'éclair.
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SNDW 136LP
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Reuben Vaun Smith hadn't intended to be a musician; he was supposed to be on the football pitch. As a young prodigy, he was signed to the Leeds United youth team as a rising talent and by 16 he'd been spotted and signed by Sevilla in Spain. But the dream was over before it really began. At 18, he suffered a life-changing knee injury, catastrophically stopping his career in its tracks for good. With no back-up plan, Smith moved back to Yorkshire and contemplated what to do next. Not long after, his grandfather bought him a MIDI keyboard -- and Smith retreated to the shed at the end of his garden and started to teach himself music production. In a world full of sonic musical snobbery, a world full of the hierarchy of expensive hardware and software -- Smith delivers a unique raw, live and improvised style using an inexpensive keyboard and a computer program given to him on a memory stick by one of the punters in his dad's pub. He joins a long list of musicians that were somehow detached from the rule-bound world of the music industry -- making music as much for themselves as for anyone else. With no formal musical education and not over influenced by mixing techniques that may have slowed his raw stream of musical consciousness, here Soundway present some of his earliest musical sketches and heartfelt outpourings. Drawing on the Balearic style of the 1980s, Smith invokes the sound of warm nights, lapping oceans and a young man, in a Yorkshire shed, wrapping himself in layers of musical warmth and shimmering sonic landscapes. RIYL: Harvey Sutherland, Chaos in the CBD, Hidden Spheres, Bonobo, St Germain, Flamingo Pier.
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12"
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SNDW 12032EP
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2020 repress. Following their self-released debut EP, Flamingo Pier (DJ residents Luke Walker, Dominic Jones, and Bradley Craig) have crafted four dance floor-worthy tracks influenced by the boogie, disco, Afro and classic house. Slick, rolling disco synths and punchy drum machines are woven in with Afro-centric percussion and dreamy vocal chants, for an exotic disco-boogie journey from start to finish. Early support for the EP is already coming from Bill Brewster, JD Twitch (Optimo) and Ray Mang. The EP is being released to coincide with the Flamingo Pier Festival in Waiheke, New Zealand.
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SNDW 12041EP
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New Zealand DJ collective Flamingo Pier return to Soundway with their Indigo EP. Their previous release, the eponymous Flamingo Pier EP in February 2019, was the beginning of their relationship with Soundway -- garnering support from industry peers including Gilles Peterson, Tim Sweeney (Beats In Space), The Black Madonna, Gideon Coe, The Wire magazine, JD Twitch, and more. Drawing inspiration again from cosmic disco, Afro-house, and Italo -- Luke, Brad, and Dominic hone their craft further on the Indigo EP with tight percussion, balanced arrangements and hard-hitting grooves. The EP was recorded in Auckland and London over the course of 2019, with additional contributions from local New Zealand collaborators: percussionist Isaac Chadderton and brass player Finn Scholes. The full EP will be released on 12" vinyl and digital on Friday February 8, 2020, to coincide with the hugely popular Flamingo Pier festival on Waiheke Island. For fans of: Psychemagik, Earthboogie, Todd Terje, Joey Negro.
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SNDW 12040EP
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Soundway presents two rare, Parang dancefloor cuts from early 1980s Trinidad & Tobago. Parang is a style of folk music that originated from Venezuelan and Colombian immigrants that came to the Caribbean, and evolved to include elements of Latin music, disco and soca -- as is evident in this release. Although traditionally played during the festive season in Trinidad and Tobago, parang music continues to heat up dancefloors all year round. These two in-demand tracks were originally released on the local RH Productions label in Trinidad & Tobago. Fully restored, remastered, and officially licensed -- both are now repressed for the first time on vinyl. A track each from Colleen Grant and Sandra Hamilton. For fans of: Body Beat compilation (SNDW 132CD/LP), Rebles' Sweetest Taboo single (SNDW 12036EP), The Millers' Easing single (SNDW 12037EP), Steve Monite/Tabu Ley Rochereau edits (SNDW 12025EP), Voilaaa, Nu Guinea.
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SNDW 132CD
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Soundway releases first Caribbean compilation in over ten years, Body Beat: Soca-Dub And Electronic Calypso 1979-98. 17 obscure soca B-side versions, dubs, instrumentals, and edits as well as vocal tracks influenced by disco, boogie, house-music, soul, and the more conscious lyrics of roots reggae. Owing as much to New York, Toronto, and London as to the Caribbean cities of Port of Spain, Bridgetown, and Kingstown this compilation traces the genre from its explosion in the late 1970s right up to the period just before contemporary soca became established around the end of the 1990s. Compiled by Soundway label founder Miles Cleret and DJ/collector Jeremy Spellacey, Body Beat, as with many compilations on the label, explores the fringes of this often maligned (by outsiders) genre. Boiled down to the bare bones of the matter though: soca is party music. Soca was originally a re-invention of Calypso music; a genre that in the 1970s was fast becoming usurped around the Caribbean by Jamaican reggae and American soul, funk and later disco. The originator of soca (or sokah as he called it), the calypsonian Lord Shorty, began experimenting and modernizing on the formulation of calypso in the early 1970s. His first album featured a strong emphasis on East African rhythms and a punchier recording style that emphasized the beat, and introduced arrangements that often owed as much to American funk and soul as to calypso. So here you go -- seventeen slabs of soca crossover, rapso, electronic calypso, and Caribbean "soca-soul" for your enjoyment -- and bound to fit well into modern, open-minded DJ sets alongside the resurgence of burger-highlife, digi-reggae, soukous, and zouk. Features Cito Jarvis, Roger Bain, *D* Ivan, Bill Campbell, Brother Resistance, Adonijah, Peter Britto, Juno D, Colin Jackman, Levi John, Spiking, Mohjah, Andre Tanker, Touch, D'Rebel Band, The Millers, and Chocolate Affaire. RIYL: Rebles' Sweetest Taboo (Soca) 12" (SNDW 12036EP), George & Glen Miller's Easing 12" (SNDW 12037EP), Wilson LeGendre. Double-CD version comes in three-panel accordion cover; includes 20-pg. booklet.
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SNDW 12038EP
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Soundway presents the unique results of a one-off 2018 meeting in Marrakech between Belgrade-based tribal/techno/industrial outfit Tapan and the nomadic Tuareg electrified desert-blues group, Generation Taragalte. Tapan is not an ordinary "techno" project, rather it escapes easy categorization. It is the Belgrade-based production duo of 20/44 club resident Nebojsa Bogdanović (Schwabe), and Goran Simonoski, a producer behind music projects such as Belgradeyard Sound System, Piece of Shh, and more. Both have been active in the Belgrade music and nightlife scenes since the 1990s, and since 2015 have brought together their diverse musical experience under the collaborative moniker of Tapan. While performing at the Atlas Electronic festival in Morocco in 2018, they encountered Generation Taragalte of southern Morocco, and recorded the initial music for the Atlas EP in an improvised studio on the festival grounds, followed by final production on returning to Belgrade. The result was the four-track EP Atlas, a dark, desolate, and potent collision of the electronic drone-jazz of Belgrade and the windswept, desiccated psych-guitar riffs of the Moroccan Sahara. RIYL: The Bug, The Comet Is Coming, DJ Khalab, Mala, Clap! Clap!, Burial, Tolouse Low Trax.
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3LP
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SNDW 132LP
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Triple LP version. Gatefold sleeve. Soundway releases first Caribbean compilation in over ten years, Body Beat: Soca-Dub And Electronic Calypso 1979-98. 17 obscure soca B-side versions, dubs, instrumentals, and edits as well as vocal tracks influenced by disco, boogie, house-music, soul, and the more conscious lyrics of roots reggae. Owing as much to New York, Toronto, and London as to the Caribbean cities of Port of Spain, Bridgetown, and Kingstown this compilation traces the genre from its explosion in the late 1970s right up to the period just before contemporary soca became established around the end of the 1990s. Compiled by Soundway label founder Miles Cleret and DJ/collector Jeremy Spellacey, Body Beat, as with many compilations on the label, explores the fringes of this often maligned (by outsiders) genre. Boiled down to the bare bones of the matter though: soca is party music. Soca was originally a re-invention of Calypso music; a genre that in the 1970s was fast becoming usurped around the Caribbean by Jamaican reggae and American soul, funk and later disco. The originator of soca (or sokah as he called it), the calypsonian Lord Shorty, began experimenting and modernizing on the formulation of calypso in the early 1970s. His first album featured a strong emphasis on East African rhythms and a punchier recording style that emphasized the beat, and introduced arrangements that often owed as much to American funk and soul as to calypso. So here you go -- seventeen slabs of soca crossover, rapso, electronic calypso, and Caribbean "soca-soul" for your enjoyment -- and bound to fit well into modern, open-minded DJ sets alongside the resurgence of burger-highlife, digi-reggae, soukous, and zouk. Features Cito Jarvis, Roger Bain, *D* Ivan, Bill Campbell, Brother Resistance, Adonijah, Peter Britto, Juno D, Colin Jackman, Levi John, Spiking, Mohjah, Andre Tanker, Touch, D'Rebel Band, The Millers, and Chocolate Affaire. RIYL: Rebles' Sweetest Taboo (Soca) 12" (SNDW 12036EP), George & Glen Miller's Easing 12" (SNDW 12037EP), Wilson LeGendre.
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LP
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SNDW 134LP
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Future Afro-Latin jazz house from master percussionist, multi-instrumentalist and composer Gabriele Poso. A true multi-instrumentalist, Gabriele Poso found a particular affinity for percussion at a young age, studying in Puerto Rico and Cuba. His latest album Batik, to be released on Soundway, is once again entirely self-produced and features guest vocalists Nailah Porter, Nina Rodriguez, Quetzal Guerrero, and Sofia Rollo. Following a long-term collaborative partnership with Osunlade/Yoruba Records, as well as albums on BBE and Agogo Records, Gabriele Poso has garnered acclaim from reviewers and selectors, including Gilles Peterson. On Batik, Poso further develops and matures his sound -- exploring his extensive roots in Afro-Cuban percussion, while delving into the realms of jazz and soulful house. Much of the album features Poso on not only vocals but many of the instruments -- including percussion, guitar, and kalimba. With mixing by renowned Spanish DJ and producer Kiko Navarro, the lead single "Africa Linda" is an up-tempo live take on Latin house, featuring American-born soul singer Quetzal Guerrero on vocals. RIYL: Osunlade, Joe Claussell, Kaidi Tatham, Kerri Chandler, Masters At Work, Ron Trent, Cotonete, Kiko Navarro, Atjazz.
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2LP
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SNDW 133LP
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2020 restock. Soundway Records completes the Lord Echo album collection, finally reissuing the second album in the trilogy from the in-demand New Zealand multi-instrumentalist and producer. Originally released in 2013, Curiosities is available here as a DJ-friendly double-LP for the first time. The entirely self-produced album blends jazz with disco-tinged neo-soul, reggae, and classic Afro-beat in effortless manner -- and joins the dots between the more downtempo first album from 2011 Melodies (SNDW 091LP, 2017) and the disco, electronic, club-ready of his third album Harmonies (SNDW 090CD/X-LP, 2017). The album also features a dub-funk cover of Pharoah Sanders' "The Creator Has A Master Plan", with vocals from Lisa Tomlins. Also features Leila Adu and Mara TK. RIYL: Julien Dyne, Fat Freddy's Drop, The Black Seeds, Electric Wire Hustle.
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2LP
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SNDW 131LP
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Soundway release their first compilation of 2019: Esa Presents Amandla: Music To The People. Growing up in Cape Town, South Africa, during the last days of Apartheid, Esa Williams recalls the immense power that music had in resisting oppression and division. "Amandla, Awethu", which literally means "the power is ours", was a ubiquitous chant echoing throughout the politically charged atmosphere of the time -- a call to unite, and a call from which this release derives not only its title, but its intention as well. "Music was a crucial way of bringing people and communities together", reflects Esa, "and it's what I hope to achieve with this compilation, too". For Esa is not only a musical polymath but also passionate about connecting people through music -- be it as a skilled DJ, an educator in production, a band leader reigniting the legendary Ata Kak band from Ghana, or a collaborator with the likes of Tanzanian artist Mim Suleiman. A firm favorite on the DJ circuit, he held a monthly residency at Phonox London for over six months -- bringing guests such as Nu Guinea to Brixton audiences -- as well as delivering memorable sets at Dekmantel, Atlas Festival, Boiler Room, and more. The last few years have seen a recent surge in interest in South African music from the '80s and '90s, including bubblegum, which was recently showcased on Soundway's critically acclaimed 2018 compilation Gumba Fire: Bubblegum Soul & Synth Boogie In 1980s South Africa (SNDW 124CD/LP), put together by DJ Okapi. It was only natural that the label looked to delve deeper into the country's rich musical legacy and tap another of its esteemed ambassadors for the role of compiler. The result is a rainbow of complementary electronic styles hailing from not only South Africa but further afield, including zouk from Brazil and the French Antilles, as well as Afro-futurism. Together, they form a comprehensive picture that connects the dots of Esa's musical journey -- from growing up in South Africa, to artists he has encountered in his worldwide travels who have helped develop his identity as a musician. Features Penny Penny, Alaska, Ze Spirits Band, Esa, Nonku Phiri, Dion Monti, Os Panteras, Pascal Latour, Boulo, Masalo, Doussou Koulibaly, Narchbeats, and DJ Spoko. RIYL: Nozinja, Black Coffee, Gumba Fire, Dekmantel "Best Of" compilations, Kokoko!, DJ Khalab, Palms Trax, Masalo, Ata Kak, Awesome Tapes From Africa.
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SNDW 040LP
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2019 repress. Soundway present a reissue of Rob's second album for the first-time outside Ghana, originally released in 1978. Rob was an enigmatic recording artist from Ghana who cut two albums for the legendary Essiebons label in 1977. Neither of these were big domestic hits at the time and have since become prized amongst collectors in recent years. The title track from this LP was always one of the most popular on the first Soundway release Ghana Soundz (SNDW 001LP, 2008) and over the years the label has been asked many times to reissue the LP in its entirety. A stranger, slower offering than his more dancefloor funk-laden and Spartan first LP, this record sees Rob in similar territory but with the tempo switched down and the introspection turned up. Rob's trademark horns dominate and are supplied by the Mag-2, an army band founded by leader Amponsah Rockson, who named it after the army unit the band played for the "magnificent" second battalion. In 1977, Rob traveled to the coastal town of Takoradi in search of Mag-2, which had an entire section of its line-up dedicated to horns, with the intension of laying out his proposal to them. Luckily for Rob, the band took him up on it. With religious overtones and a broody, slightly off-key atmosphere at points it's certainly one of the stranger Afro-funk records to come out of West Africa but with tracks like "Loose Up Yourself" and "Make it Fast, Make it Slow" -- it's a unique gem that warrants repeat listening.
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12"
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SNDW 12034EP
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Soundway reissues Free Youth's long sought-after 1985 single We Can Move, their only release. "We Can Move" is the first known iteration of Ghanaian hip hop, emerging at the dawn of "hip-life" (hip hop meets highlife). "We Can Move" is a blend of hip-hop and Afro-funk with a proto disco-boogie beat, punchy trumpet riffs and melodic rapping. This Soundway reissue includes an exclusive instrumental cover version of "We Can Move" from Welsh ensemble, Drymbago. This replaces the original B side track "Freedom Video Centre", which was an advertising jingle for a business associated with their former producer. Restored and remastered.
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SNDW 127LP
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In the Felbm project, Dutch multi-instrumentalist Eelco Topper steps away from his previous synthesizer-laden sounds as Falco Benz, towards a much looser, simpler, and sketch-like approach. Picking up a number of acoustic instruments, he began experimenting with a Tascam 4-track tape recorder and allowed these sketches to flourish. The result is Tape 1 and Tape 2, a two-part project stretching across fifteen tracks -- encompassing fluttering piano melodies, subtle jazz drums, rumba rhythms and soothing ambience. The jazz element links back to Topper's childhood. "I grew up playing drums, switched to playing piano at sixteen and in the mean time I produced hip-hop beats," he recalls. "I went to study jazz piano at the Utrecht Conservatory, which I finished with pain and effort... I was interested more in electronic and present-day music." This mix of being rooted in traditional jazz composition whilst searching for something more contemporary is the perfect encapsulation of these recordings. Tape 1's jazz roots are palpable and as things move into Tape 2, it takes on a neo-classical, psychedelic soundscape and cinematic quality. Vinyl album comes with dual front cover that can be flipped over, reflecting the project's two-segment structure. For fans of: KPM library records, Basil Kirchin, Ennio Morricone, Bibio, The Natural Yogurt Band.
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12"
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SNDW 12037EP
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Soundway Records presents the official vinyl release of George & Glen Miller's 1979 hit "Easing" -- encapsulating late '70s New York in its blend of disco, soul and Caribbean soca. Restored, remastered and cut loud for the dancefloor, the 12" single features the original vocal on the A-side and the essential instrumental on the flip. Soft, subtle keys and guitars are punctuated with layered trumpet and violin riffs, complimenting George's silken, restrained vocal. Frankie McIntosh's arrangement shines through with what might be his finest work, placing this track on the mantle with other New York classics of the time.
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12"
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SNDW 12036EP
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Soundway reissue the massively in-demand Soca cover-version of Sade's classic cut "Sweetest Taboo" by Caribbean band Rebles from 1986. In the late '80s, as electronic music permeated popular culture, Rebles helped define the soca genre outside of the Caribbean. Also known as D' Rebel's Band and led by St Vincentian band-leader and trombonist Denniston Young, the group were the 1980s house band for Caribbean label, Strakers Records, based in Brooklyn, New York. Strakers released hundreds of Calypso and Soca releases over a thirty year period from 1970 to 2000. This 12" paves the way for a Soca compilation on Soundway.
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12"
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SNDW 12025EP
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2019 repress; 2017 release. Now a firm favorite in many a DJs' record bag, Nigerian disco-boogie king Steve Monite's hit "Only You" -- featured on Soundway's Doing It In Lagos compilation (SNDW 087CD/LP, 2016) -- is given a rework by Sofrito's own Frankie Francis. On the B side, Nick The Record teams up with Idjut Boys' Dan Tyler to take on "Hafi Deo" -- a beautiful taste of breezy tropical Congolese pop from Tabu Ley Rochereau.
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SNDW 12035EP
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Soundway Records will release a double vinyl compilation from South African-raised, UK-based DJ and producer, Esa Williams, in the summer of 2019. Titled Esa Presents Amandla: Music To The People, the compilation will span electronic music from around the globe, which feature heavily in Esa's DJ sets and hold a special place in his record bag. Presented here is a teaser 12", featuring Penny Penny's 2001 Kwaito house monster "Shilungu". On the flip is the acid-soaked "Shilungu (Esa & Mervin Granger '99 Mix)", re-interpreting the track into a Chicago house influenced chugger.
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SNDW 130LP
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2020 repress. Soundway Records present the eponymous debut LP from in-demand Amsterdam five piece, The Mauskovic Dance Band -- fusing no-wave dance punk, Afro-Caribbean rhythms, and space disco in a "controlled explosion" (The Quietus). Entirely self-produced, the band has reiterated their favorite elements of the '70s and '80s legacy of the Afro-Latin psychedelic music of Colombia and Peru, interpreting it through the context of modern-day Amsterdam. The output is a lo-fi no wave groove all its own -- rooted in a deep love of champeta, Palenque, psychedelic cumbia, chichi, classic Afrobeat, and picó soundsystem culture. Since the release of their Down In The Basement EP EP on Soundway Records in early 2018 (SNDW 12029EP), the band have found themselves on a hectic European touring schedule -- not to mention being involved in other side projects. Following stints with Turkish psychedelic folk rock group Altin Gün, and touring with the re-formed '70s Zamrock outfit W.I.T.C.H., Nic Mauskovic also teamed up with Dutch neo-psychedelic artist Jacco Gardner to form the "cinematic Balearic disco" duo of Bruxas (released by Dutch institution Dekmantel) -- and together, they mixed The Mauskovic Dance Band debut album in Lisbon. Lead single "Space Drum Machine" encapsulates the band's prototypical brand of busy rhythmic patterns interwoven with insistent synth stabs and vibrant disco toms, layered with an elastic guitar riff drawing inspiration from Kenyan kikuyu and benga styles. High-pitched vocals describe being on a flight together and inciting each other to press a button of unknown consequence with "push it, push it" -- and push it they do, at breakneck pace. And of course, the undeniable influence of Amsterdam's hotbed of underground dance producers shines through as it does on all tracks - with the vintage psychedelic swirl of synthesizer, lo-fi drum machines, and tape recording. RIYL: Jacco Gardner, Bruxas, Nu Guinea, Voilaaa, Sofrito, Meridian Brothers, EUT, Altin Gün.
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SNDW 12033EP
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Continuing the series of 12" dancefloor singles, Soundway Records presents the highly sought-after track "Hinde" by African Vibration, now re-mastered from the original master tapes. Originally pressed on 7" vinyl in 1987, it was the group's last release together. A unique piece of East African synthesized electronic soul from 1980s Kenya, it was reissued by Soundway on Kenya Special: Volume Two (SNDW 084CD/LP, 2016), but following the acquisition of the master tapes it has now been revitalized. The B side features a deep, extended rework with cruising synth stabs and slick production from one of Soundway's recent recruits, Julien Dyne.
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SNDW 12024EP
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2016 release; 2019 repress. Originally released in the lead-up to Lord Echo's third album Harmonies (SNDW 090CD/X-LP, 2017), the Just Do You (Disco Mix) 12" has carved out its own special place in many a music lover's heart. In 2016, Lord Echo emerged with a slice of pure disco dub indulgence with all the rough trimmings that have made him a cult favorite. With the real-life concerns of the DJ always foremost in his mind, this 12" has something for every occasion -- two different vocals and a radical excursion into the realm of left-field disco dub. Features Mara TK and Toby Laing.
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SNDW 128LP
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Dexter Story is an artistic spirit in the truest sense of the phrase. From his work as a multi-instrumentalist for acts like the Sa-Ra Creative Partners, to his management role with Snoop Dogg and his turn producing Daymé Arocena's 2017 album Cubafonia, Story understands the business from every conceivable angle. Initially inspired by the music and cultures pervasive throughout the Horn of Africa, Story translated his experiences there into his previous album Wondem (SNDW 076CD/LP, 2015), followed closely by the single "Wejene Aola" featuring jazz luminary Kamasi Washington (SNDW 7022EP), both on Soundway Records. If Wondem was a brief glance into Story's new creative vision, Bahir is a pinpoint refinement of that purpose, the fine-tuning and expanding of the world he created on his Soundway debut. On Bahir, Story steps in front of those influences and melds his world into the one he fell in love with so strongly while in Africa. One way in which he's done so is by incorporating musicians from both sides of this coin. LA luminaries are featured throughout, as are African contemporaries he encountered throughout his travels. Sudan Archives gives a show-stealing vocal performance on "Gold", while the Ethiopian producer Endeguena Mulu adds impenetrable and psychedelic texture to the album's title track. So Bahir finds the polymath musician not stuck between two worlds, but as a member of both. We get Ethiopian jazz tonalities, Tuareg grooves, ekista dance rhythms, Afro-funk, Somalian soul, and forays into more contemporary jazz rhythms, too. Angelenos like Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and Josef Leimberg give the record its backbone, while African artists like the Ethiopian singer Hamelmal Abate give Bahir its glimmer and shine. Also features Kibrom Birhane, Jimetta Rose, Haile Supreme, and Marie Daulne. For fans of: Sudan Archives, Kamasi Washington, Laraaji, Carlos Niño, Mark de Clive-Lowe, Zap Mama, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Josef Leimberg.
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12"
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SNDW 12020EP
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2019 repress. On the first side South African singer Shaluza Max's massive Mashkandi/house anthem from 2002 gets a first release on vinyl. With a soaring Zulu vocal and big sound it's a fitting reminder of a very talented musician who worked as a well-respected producer, composer, and arranger. On the flip is a fairly unknown track from the mid-1980s from one of the biggest names in African music, Tabu Ley Rochereau. A kind of almost Balearic, proto-house, Congolese pop cut with drum machines and trademark sweet Congo horn section, "Hafi Deo" is a beautiful track that fell into obscurity.
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12"
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SNDW 12030EP
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Soundway presents the first in a new series of 12" releases which will make available many hard-to-find tracks on loud, DJ-friendly pressings. On Asafo/Enye Woa are two late 1980s Ghanaian highlife cuts taken from the catalog of Nakasi Records. The A-side showcases a track from Jon K, a rework of the traditonal Fanti song "Asafo Beesuon". On the B-side, Pat Thomas needs little introduction; this dance floor-heavy cut has eluded recent reissues. With horns arranged by long-time collaborator Ebo Taylor, it's an instantly recognizable sound that also features Rex Gyamfi, himself a well-known purveyor of 1980s highlife.
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