Germany

LIT is a snapshot of Bluestaeb und JuJu Rogers' musical endeavors in Fall 2016. Both had a successful 2015 & 2016 with highly acclaimed albums and a European support tour of Oddisee for JuJu Roogers. Both musicians are working on new solo albums and both of them are not happy with having the "boom bap" stamp forced on them. Their perspective is about progression, live music, changing the formula and going new ways. This doesn’t mean that they’re blindly following trends but to question and adapt one’s own formula. In the case of lit it means adding live musicians to the equation, going for a sound that refines the direction they took on their previous releases.With regard to content, JuJu's raps on the project deals with the important questions of our time. The trend word „lit“ becomes „LIT“, an abbreviation for "lost in translation" and a metaphor for the disconnection from trends of our society in general and hip hop especially. Racism, police brutality, gangsta rapper turning activists while still following a pattern of hate and destruction. Bluestaeb’s productions fluctuates from soulful and smooth to raw and gritty without sounding redundant or interchangeable.Be on the lookout for Bluesteab’s and JuJu’s solo albums dropping in 2017."This record is dedicated to the wretched of the earth. The weak and poor. To the people all around the world less privileged than us who are forced to live under even worse circumstances. The criminalized, racialized and marginalized people of this planet. RIGHT ON! ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE!"

Carthago: Rare Tunisian Disco Including Unreleased Instrumentals And Eight Page BookletWhen we first decided to start Habibi Funk, a label dedicated to re-releasing „funky" Arabic music from the 1960s to 1980s, a band called Dalton was the first release we worked on. Dalton was a band from the Tunisian capital of Tunis and they played a unique mix of soul & funk with an Arabic DNA. We licensed the release from the band’s composer Fawzi Chekili, and when we spoke to him on the phone in preparation of the release he mentioned another band he was part of, called Carthago. Our work with Habibi Funk is like a big treasure hunt. There are too many great bands that fully vanished into obscurity and didn’t leave any traces in the digital sphere yet. We are so used to the internet providing all informations we might be looking for, but Carthago was one of those bands where the internet largely failed to provide any infos despite the fact that Carthago created some incredible music in the form of an highly infectious Tunisian take on disco music. Luckily most of the members of the 1970s musical scene of Tunis are still around to tell their story.Carthago was founded in the late 1970s as a fusion of Dalton and a second band called Marhaba Band. Both bands frequently played at hotels and night clubs in Tunis and Sousse. They had similar musical influences and despite the fact that they were competition for the most part, they came up with the idea to join forces for a new band. Musically Carthago kept on walking on the musical path of Dalton and Marhaba but incorporated disco music, a new style that was making its way to North Africa from Europe and North America. The band had quite some success on local radio and played a number of big shows with thousands of people showing up. The band’s concerts were a mixture of their own compositions as well as cover versions of the hits of the time from Stevie Wonder to Chicago. At the end of the 70s they went to Paris to record their only, self titled album. For our reissue we picked out two of our favorite tracks: „Hanen“ and the outstanding disco version of the Dalton track „Alech“ which has proved to work on every dance floor we played over the last two years.When I came to Tunis for the first time after the Dalton reissue I met Fawzi in person. He still lives in Tunis and still works as a full time musician though his focus has shifted more towards Jazz over the years. Luckily he did not only keep a spotless copy of the Carthago album but he also kept the master tape of the instrumental versions of the album which to this day were unreleased. Being able to add exclusive content to a reissue is something that is rare and we feel highly privileged to be able to do so. Futher more we are so happy that we will be able to add something new to the bands legacy not only musically but also visually: One day I realized that most of the releases from Tunisia I liked, be it from Dalton, Carthago or Marhaba Band had the same photographer credit.Hassen Turki started taking photos at a young age and when he was 18 he started going to the gigs of the bands of the time that were playing in the Marhaba Hotel which was managed by his father at the time. He became friends with the bands and ended up being the person to be asked when it came to shooting the photos for the covers of the records. After some research I managed to get in touch with Hassen and met him in his hometown Sousse. Luckily he kept most of the negatives of the photos he took so we’re more than happy to be able to share these unseen photos with whoever is interested.

Blitz The Ambassador - More organic rap meets west african sounds from Ghana. The visionary sound of Blitz The Ambassador has been years in the making, with each album crafted to reflect a sonic and visual narrative unique to Blitz's personal experience. His fourth studio album 'Diasporadical' exemplifies this trajectory. Blitz spent a great deal of time traveling between Accra, Salvador Bahia and Brooklyn experiencing the similarities between the African diaspora. "The album title 'Diasporadical' was born out of this experience" Blitz explains. " The radical notion that no matter how fragmented the African diaspora is, the influence of rhythm and spirituality remains largely the same."On Diasporadical, Blitz conjures his signature blend of Classic Hip-Hop and Contemporary African rhythms, enlisting producers like Optiks and IAMNOBODI to create a seamless fusion of live instruments and hard hitting beats. To bring his vision to life, Blitz assembled a supporting cast of continental and diaspora African artists such as Tumi, Akua Naru, Kamau, Patrice, M.anifest and Somi. The sonic result is a three act narrative, crafted like a stage play.Diasporadical offers itself as a study of intersections between the global African experience and struggle. No track exemplifies this more than A(wake), written in response to police brutality and the 'Black Lives Matter' movement in America. Inspiration also came from the 'Fees Must Fall' movement in South Africa and the Afro-Brazilian protests during the Olympics.Besides it's politically charged message, Diasporadical also explores themes common in Blitz's past work. Immigration (Hello Africa), Spirituality (Heaven), Nostalgia (Long Time Coming) and Love (Juju Girl).To reinforce these themes, Blitz directed a 15 minute short film called 'Diasporadical Trilogia'. The story follows a woman who mysteriously wakes up in three different continents. Through a magical realism lens, she shares her memories of growing up as a little girl in Brooklyn, a young lady in Accra and a middle aged woman in Salvador Bahia. With Diasporadical, Blitz has brought his sonic and visual journey full circle. From immigrant struggles on 'Native Sun', to touring in over 30 countries on 'Afropolitan Dreams', this is the album Blitz has been writing his whole life.

Whether you’re floating free to antipodean ambience or toasting the sunset with a Baltic beauty, you can always count on Growing Bin to take you someplace new for a while. Swapping bucolic Poland for the buzz of the Big Apple, the Hamburg imprint reaches a magnificent seven in the company of synth-pop dreamer Shy Layers (JD Walsh to his mum) and his sublime self titled debut.Over the course of ten emotional pop serenades, the New York musician recalls lost days sofa surfing to the lounge electronica of Air, Mellow and early Phoenix or the swooning lo-fi psychedelia of a pre-MD Simian. Shy Layers welcomes us aboard with the shimmering pads and soothing soft synths of ‘Black & White’, a drifting soundtrack to a John Hughes-directed episode of ‘In The Night Garden’. From there we swerve into the wistful synth-pop of ‘Famous Faces’, locking into the rattling Tears For Fears groove while the West Coast guitar licks and vocoder vocals f loat off into the distance. ‘You Won’t Find Me’ shuff les through afro-tronic keyboard lines, Beta Band breakbeats and loose funk guitar before the sweltering ‘Stabilized Waves’ dips a toe in the Med, swaying gently to the fluid bass, acoustic strumming and cascading electric guitar. Swapping continents to close the A-side, ‘Too Far Out’ finds Walsh working highlife guitars and fuzzy sanza sequences into a pie- ce of perfect off-kilter pop. The B-side begins in glitchy fashion with the flying hats and seesaw synths of ‘Holding It Back’, before ‘Playing The Game’ offers sprinklers over summer lawns, dub fx, jangling guitars and cooing vocals. The afrobeat influence shines through once again on the rhythmic ‘Bees & Bamboo’ before ‘SEG’ sees Shy Layers don Mario’s Red Wing cap for a chip-set safari through the bright blue sky. Playing us out with the same cinematic splendour with which we began, Walsh conjures a woozy, sun-dappled mood for the sumptuous ‘1977’.Fusing French pop, glistening Americana, 80s AOR and afrobeat into a hazy vision of balmy mor-nings, long evenings and lazy days, Shy Layers has served up the soundtrack to your summer.

Ron Trent's masterpiece from 1993 "I feel The Rhythm" in the rebound! For the first time together on one record with the remixes by Paul Johnson & Inner Experience which came out 1999 on Prescription Records - a must have!

Limited Coloured Vinyl 2xLPPieced together from sounds and samples from all over the globe, the album’s aim is to charge listeners with harmony and a feeling of connectedness to the world. Reflecting on his own attitude towards life and the importance of inner balance, Pavel attempts to share some of the spiritual experiences he made while traveling.

The Funk-scene in Germany is growing pretty steady because of labels like Born To Shine! Bybo lives in the city of Karlsruhe, but has a distinctive sound that could come straight out of the Westcoast.This is fine modern funk, great compositions that will take you on a trip• Debut album of the highly anticipated Modern funk producer Bybo from Germany• Limited to 500 pcs

Nachtbraker is back! It's been a huge year for the Amsterdam deep house juggernaut who returns to Dirt Crew with his all new and colourfully titled Really Ties The Room Together EP.Constantly on the move, he's found time between touring throughout Europe, Asia and South America to continue to push his a-typical house sound forward with this year's HEIST release and his quirky jam Busy Bee that was featured on our Deep Love 100 Compilation.This three tracker is jam packed with bouncing club tunes and a whole lot of flange. Things kick off with the title track Really Ties The Room Together. It twists and turns over an unconventional but irresistible groove, shimmying shakers, brass stabs and a serpentine riff work together creating a super tight dance floor cut.Rew begins somewhere in deeper territory, suspense building beneath the clouds, a rumbling bass rolls in from over the horizon before a glorious funk guitar blows the whole thing wide open, letting the sun's rays burst through and that familiar Nachtbraker good time energy shine in.The rerub of Rew is something altogether new from our deep house protagonist, a break beat and casual groove guide gently towards an ever intensifying acid trip. Don't be fooled by the lovely deep chords, things get nasty in the end.It's best to expect the unexpected from our adventurous resident producer, and this EP is no exception.