Germany

Loud pressed vinyl single featuring the best track from the group's 1979 album plus an unreleased take of the track ''My Fate'' on the flip.. Very smooth German AOR..Limited to 350 copies and released in a beautiful picture sleeve which shows the original LP artwork.Ara Pacis, a group from the island Föhr in the North Sea, was originally founded in 1971. Initially influenced by blues and classic rock by The Rolling Stones, The Who, and the like, they were also inspired by bands such as Steely Dan as well as the German/British group Lake. However, Ara Pacis created a style of their own when their privately pressed an self-distributed “To the Westcoast” LP was released in 1979. The songs were mainly characterized by two-part guitar riffs by Töns Brautlecht-Deppe and Wolfgang Schiffner, who also were the core songwriters of the band.The freshly remastered single starts with the title track “To the Westcoast”. Due to its sunny and yacht-y vibe it is easily amongst the best and most authentic tunes out of the “Westcoast rock” genre recorded in Germany. With family connections in California, lead singer Töns Brautlecht-Deppe was able to create and capture the feeling of the Pacific sea shore just perfectly.The single is backed with a revised studio version of “My Fate”. The track is also featured on the album but the version presented here on the 7" vinyl is an unreleased, even quite funky and more powerful take. It was recorded in 1981 at the Rüssl studio in Hamburg where Brautlecht had just started to work as an engineer.As the "To the Westcoast" LP was released during a time when styles like New Wave, Synth Pop and Punk became popular in Germany and the interest in organic and soulful rock declined, Ara Pacis’ debut remained relatively unnoticed until today and even the Krautrock collector’s scene does not seem to be fully aware of this hard to find gem yet of which only 1000 copies were originally pressed. The band is still kept in good memory by their fans as a quite legendary live act and although they officially split in 1982, the group still served their fan base with revival concerts in 1990 and 2002 plus a website with full band story and lots of images from the early days.

From Paris to Lisbon to London. FloFilz' third album for Melting Pot Music is deeply inspired by the UK jazz and hip-hop scene. “Transit” features collaborations with Alfa Mist, Barney Artist, Biig Piig and K, Le Maestro. FloFilz last album "Cenario" was released in 2016. It sold 3.000 LPs and acummulated 27 million streams so far.“Transit” will be available digital and on LP (limited gatefold edition includes a 20-page photo booklet by Robert Winter).Linernotes “Jazz (We've Got)” was the title of the second single from A Tribe Called Quest's iconic album “The Low End Theory”. It was released in 1991, the same year FloFilz was born. Similar to Tribe FloFilz resurrects jazz for a new generation. He has been doing this for a while now and is pretty good at it, as you might know if you are familiar with his previous works “Metronom” and “Cenário”. In 2019 things have changed. Today jazz is not only about diggin' old records and learning about Bird and Trane. Jazz is very much alive and the city of London has become one of its epicenters. The UK jazz scene is happening because it is deeply connected with hip-hop, soul and club music. A perfect setting for FloFilz. Over the last 18 months, he has collected serious Eurostar miles, heading from Aachen to London - going to gigs, hanging out with musical allies and recording new material. This is why he calls his new album “Transit”. Through 18 tracks FloFilz translates the current London vibe in his very own style and fashion and I dare to say that “Transit” may be the best album he has treated us with so far.Olski, April 2019

Habibi Funk is back with another album from Casablanca. Completely unreleased album which was recorded in Morocco in 1973 by three generation family band. A unique blend of Gnawa, Funk and Rock. Traditional Moroccan music meets electronic guitars and dense layers of percussion by a band that used to run in the same circles as Fadoul (And actually wrote one of his songs).Attarazat Addahabia & Faradjallah's album came to us as quite a mystery. Our friends from Radio Martiko got access to the studio archive of the Boussiphone label and a reel labeled “Faradjallah” was among the items they had found there. After listening to the selection of reels they borrowed, Radio Martiko felt it was not a fit for their label and helped us licensing it from Mr. Boussiphone instead. We knew nothing about the band. We just had the reel with the music but very little information. What we knew was that the music was incredible and very unique. Gnawa sounds were combined with funky electronic guitars, very dense layers of percussions and female backing vocals more reminiscent of musical styles further south than Morocco. We started asking around whether anyone knew the band with no immediate success until we asked Tony Day, a musician from Morocco who helped us during our search for Fadoul’s family. His sharp memory came through once again, remembering all the names of the Attarazat Addahabia band members and even how to contact the bands singer and leader Abdelakabir Faradjallah. After visiting him at his home in Casablanca with our Moroccan colleague Sabrina multiple times, he shared his personal story. His father arrived in Casablanca from Aqqa at the age of six and his mother came from Essaouira. Abdelakabir was born in the neighbourhood of Benjdia in 1942. Abdelakabir Faradjallah studied fine arts in Casablanca, graduating in 1962. He also played soccer in the second team of "Jeunesse Societe One". His brother-in-law Ibrahim Sadr worked for one of the biggest football teams of the time in Morocco called "Moroco Sportive Union", which allowed him to travel to France occasionally. While Ibrahim was never part of the band he brought along a few instruments from trips. Yet the majority of the instruments they could not afford to buy were build by Faradjallah and Abderrazak, Faradjallah's brother who passed away early. For instance they had built a Spanish guitar and a drum made of wood barrel and sheepskin by themselves.During the 1950s Faradjallah was booked as a singer for surprise parties with friends. He started to write his first songs including "L’gnawi" in 1967 and wanted to make people discover Gnawa culture, or maybe rather his take on the culture to be more exact. Faradjallah recalls his first interaction with the genre in the streets of the Dern neighbourhood, where he used to go to elementary school. Gnawa is one of the essential musical genres of Morocco. It combines ritual poetry with traditional dances and music linked with a spiritual foundation. Musically a lot of influences originated from West Africa as well as Sudan. Gnawa is usually played by a selection of specific instruments such as the qaraqab (large iron castanets centrally associated with the music), the hajhouj (a three string lute), guembri loudaâ (a three stringed bass instrument) and the tbel (large drums). People would put shells on their clothes and instruments and use incense at their parties. "Sidi darbo lalla - lala derbo khadem..." came from Gnawa verses Faradjallah used to sing when he was 14. The lyrics tackle a global (im)balance of power and the question of social status in this course. The band Attarazat Addahabia was formed in 1968. The original line-up included 14 members, all from the same family. They played their first small concerts here and there starting in 1969. Later in 1973 they performed bigger shows for instance at the Municipal Theatre followed by the "Al Massira Show" at Velodrome Stadium in downtown Casablanca. Their first album "Al Hadaoui" (the one you are listening to) was recorded at Boussiphone studios in 1972 and was never released before. Nobody seems to remember the exact reason why Boussiphone ended up deciding not to put the album out. The album's title track also served as the basis for Fadoul's "Maktoub Lah", who frequented the same circles as the band for some time. Their shows sometimes could go as long as 12 hours, starting at 5pm in the afternoon, with an occasional break here and there. In the 1980s the band took a brief break. Faradjallah recalled the reason for that break like this: "Zaki, the bands drummer, had fallen in love with a young girl from Mohammedia. Soon after, he fell very ill. The group members were convinced that the girl had given him ‘s'hor’ (a kind of local Moroccan version of "black magic"). For four years, the whole group stopped playing. It was unthinkable to find another drummer to replace Zaki, even temporarily." So they waited four years for Zaki to "get back on his feet" before going back on stage. Apart from very few gigs here and there Faradjallah stopped playing music in the mid 1990s. Some members from the younger generations formed a new band and still play frequently to this day. Faradjallah runs a television repair shop coupled offerings beverages and snacks in the Belevedere /Ains Sbaa district of Casablanca. While Faradjallah was primarily a musician, he would work for the local cinema and paint their posters for new movies by hand and he designed all artworks and cover posters of the band. And this eventually led to him participating actively in our first exhibition dealing with Habibi Funk’s work in Dubai 2018. He helped us by creating calligraphic complementations on large photo prints for that show.

This album is a fully acoustic, introspective voyage into the world’s greatest Rainforest, featuring 12-string guitar, mandolin, zither, tabla, flute and self-made percussion instruments.Carioca is the term used to describe those who originate from Rio de Janeiro. But, in fact, there’s only one Carioca in the music scene in Brazil: Ronaldo Leite de Freitas, who took up this nickname in São Paulo after relocating from his native Rio de Janeiro to study music at University.Recorded in 1980, Mistérios da Amazônia is also, at least to our knowledge, one of the first crowd-funding initiatives in the Brazilian music scene. Carioca, lacking the resources to pay for the studio and manufacturing fees, sold the album to fans, friends and independent record stores before having recorded it.Carioca’s first work is a fascinating one of a kind album, certainly difficult to classify. Often compared to the path set by musicians such as Egberto Gismonti or Naná Vasconcelos, who were always seeking new musical expressions whilst retaining a Brazilian character.In spite of what the music might suggest, Carioca hadn’t yet experimented with the introspective power of the Amazon’s sacred root, the Ayahuasca — he would have his first life-changing experience in 1987. “All of a sudden, it all made sense. In 1987 I finally lived what I had recorded seven years earlier”, in his own words. Drawing inspiration from the folklore of the Amazon and Brazil’s north eastern regions, the six self-penned compositions that form the album shape an introspective voyage into the Amazon — a part of Brazilian culture that Carioca had researched but not yet lived first-hand. Percussionist Sérgio Otanazetra, who had also moved to São Paulo from Bahia in order to pursue a career in music, played several percussion instruments (some of which he had built himself) and provided a solid knowledge of folkloric regional traditions. Zé Nazário, a prominent percussionist who had already played with some of Brazil’s biggest artists, such as Hermeto Pascoal or Milton Nascimento, joined the recording of Mistérios da Amazônia playing Tabla.

Growing up as an avid listener and collector of music, Freddie Joachim began djing in the mid 90’s, which progressed into recording and producing his own music. Since then, he has continued to produce music featuring such artists as, J.Cole, Joey Badass, Aloe Blacc, Blu, Grap Luva, LMNO, Kev Brown, and more. He has performed around the world, headlining shows in Asia, South Africa, Europe, and North America, sharing the stage with artists such as, Jean Grae, Joss Stone, Jimmy Cliff, Ali Shaheed Muhammad (ATCQ), Teeko, DJ Babu, Rakaa Iriscience, Bobbito, Scoop Deville, Blu, Choice37, and others.Freddie gained worldwide popularity after working with Brooklyn emcee, Joey Badass, and their single, “Waves.” A couple years later, renowned rapper, J.Cole, would pick up the same instrumental, for his release called “False Prophets.”Over the past 15 years, Freddie has released many albums and singles, the majority with the San Francisco based label, Mellow Orange. His signature jazzy and soulful sound can be heard across all of his releases. And as Freddie grows and matures, so does his music. This is particularly evident in his latest release, “Beyond The Sea of Trees,” with Germany based, Jakarta Records. The album is another instrumental endeavor by Freddie, featuring such artists as, FloFilz, Elijah Fox, and Natalie Oliveri

The Swiss musician Kevin Wettstein has been continuously releasing music since 8 years under the alias «Melodiesinfonie». Besides putting out numerous EPs and two solo albums he is a relentless live performer. With his third album «A Journey To You» (April 26th 2019, Jakarta Records) he ventures into unknown territories. While his previous releases can be attributed to Hip Hop and beat making, «A Journey To You» retraces Melodiesinfonie's musical path in the realm of jazz and soul. Long improvisations and playful instrumental passages become decisive style elements that let you dive into sonic landscapes that sound a lot more like a west coast band than a product of Swiss home style studio production. The constant search for new ideas, approaches and concepts, in life as in music, is not at all an arbitrary side effect but a desirable objective of the young musician. Albeit the musical reorientation there is a common thread through out his music: Songs that spread positive vibes and bring people together. «Spread Love» is his music in its essence. For him the human being is a small component in a blooming reality that transcends time and space: music is a spiritual language that lets the individual connect with this transcendence. Musically and philosophically he is way more than your average beat maker. Born 1993 in Bülach, he began playing the drums when he was 12 years old, which triggered a long lasting fascination for rhythms and grooves. Inspired by his peers like J Dilla, Pete Rock and Mndsgn he started sampling and experimenting with electronic sounds when he was 17. His first release followed one year after his initial experiments on the Los Angeles based label Soulection. He released his first both albums «Friede Freude» (Boyoom Connective, 2014) and «Be Thankful» (Boyoom Connective, 2016). After over 150 concerts as «Melodiesinfonie» he will tour Europe with his new album «A Journey To You» with a new band 4 piece band for the first time, playing the drums himself. Many of the 12 album titles will be broken open for long improvisations.