Luaka Bop

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Repress!Promises is an extraordinary, collaborative album by the electronic giant Floating Points and saxophone titan Pharoah Sanders. The album features the London Symphony Orchestra and cover art by the acclaimed American artist, Julie Mehretu. Five years in the making, it will be released on Luaka Bop, March 26, 2021.

The Time For Peace Is Now compiles fourteen songs that, while recorded over four decades ago, speak now more than ever. The tracks are a subset of 1970s-era gospel, not directly talking about Jesus or God, but instead tackling how we live with ourselves and each other. These are undeniably soulful, passionate, and urgent songs from obscure 45s, dug up from a long dormancy in attics, sheds and rated across the American south. Compiled by Gospel guru Greg Belson. “The Gospel bands heard on The Time For Peace Is Now were comprised of musicians who played both church and secular music. The church borrowed—or rather commandeered—the guitar, bass, drums, and other instruments used to backup Motown, Stax, and other popular labels—to give power to the songs they supported. Musicians who sang at ‘the club’ on Saturday night were often leading solos or singing in the choir on Sunday mornings. Saturday night and Sunday morning music began to interweave, which was especially felt when the church choirs sang Gospel. It was Gospel’s influence that made Aretha Franklin, Sam Cooke, and many others the voice of the 1960s and 1970s. Gospel was the soul of America. This album is reflective of the dichotomy of the sacred and the secular. The music here is in some sense the same as the music of the club. “Keep Your Faith To The Sky” could have you singing “Keep Your Head To The Sky” by Earth, Wind and Fire. Listening to “It’s Hard To Live In This Old World” and “That’s A Sign Of The Times” imbues the pessimistic/realistic sense of what was happening. Like many Blues songs, the problem must first be named before it can be solved. At the end of The Time For Peace Is Now, hope is still present. The problem is named in the beginning and a possible solution is presented. -Pastor Keith L. Whitney-Featuring a 36-page booklet in the CD with extensive notes by Jonathan Lethem (“Fortress of Solitude) and Robert Darden. The LP has a church pamphlet by Pastor Keith L. Whitney. Both physical releases come with an exclusive track that won’t be available digitally.-The release will be complemented by a 15 minute documentary that highlights three of the artists, as well as an album trailer and animated music videos.

One of the leading producers and instrumentalists in Brazilian music, Alexandre Kassin has produced roughly 100 records for singers, including Marisa Monte and Bebel Gilberto, recorded with Sean O’Hagan (Stereolab, High Llamas) and made a full album based on Nintendo Game Boy sounds. He has played bass for Caetano Veloso’s live shows and conceptualized the Orchestra Imperial band.His new album, Relax, is rooted in dreams and surrealism, yet grounded enough to reach listeners where they are. Across 11 tracks, Kassin ?irts with Latin rhythms, Brazilian pop, and straight-ahead soul, using this varied stylistic array to tell imagined tales of death, drug usage, politics and fate. There’s a dichotomy to Relax, with Kassin’s arrangements often feeling bright and danceable, yet with incredibly sullen themes. It’s a record that speaks directly to the yin and yang of everyday life, and the uncertainty that comes with simply existing.The Good Is A Big God, by singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Domenico Lancellotti, features contributions from Nina Miranda, Moreno Veloso, Pedro Sá and Sean O’Hagan. Son of composer Ivor Lancellotti, Domenico has collaborated with various MPB (Música Popular Brasileira) names such as Adriana Calcanho]o, Marcos Valle, Caetano Veloso and Fernanda Abreu, and also participates in several projects such as Orchestra Imperial, the +2’s (with Moreno Veloso and Kassin) and Ritmistas.A collection of re?ective samba partially inspired by a trip taken to a Brazilian national park called The Serra dos Órgãos, The Good Is A Big God frst began to take shape when Domenico was asked to take part in an artistic collaboration in the city of London during the 2012 Summer Olympics. There, he reunited with Sean O’Hagan after previously meeting during a show that paid homage to Tropicália. Before he took o? for London, Domenico sent O’Hagan a few musical sketches he’d done on guitar, by the time the Brazilian made it to the U.K., O’Hagan had string arrangements to accompany Domenico’s music. Domenico added lyrics to some of these songs once he returned to Brazil and with help from friend and label mate Kassin, and additional assistance from O’Hagan, the record was fnished. One can hear a sense of isolation and oneness with nature when listening to The Good Is A Big God. It’s the type of art that arrives in a calming stream of thought and is a much- needed respite from the rigors of everyday life.

Double LP with 2 booklets, lyrics, and download cardAs some of you may know, Alice Coltrane was a legendary pianist, composer, spiritual leader, and the wife of John Coltrane, the most venerated and in?uential saxophonist in the history of jazz. In 1967, four years after meeting John, he died of liver cancer, leaving Alice a widow with four small children. Bereft of her soul mate, Alice su?ered sleepless nights and severe weight loss. At her worst, she weighed only 95 pounds. She had hallucinations in which trees spoke, various beings existed on astral planes, and the sounds of “a planetary ether” spun through her brain, knocking her into a frightening unconsciousness.The critical event of this period was not that Alice fell into the nadir of her existence, but rather that she experienced tapas, a vital period of trial. These tapas (a Sanskrit term she used to describe her su?ering) helped prepare Alice for the spiritual ally she found in Swami Satchidananda, an Indian guru, with whom Alice made her frst trip to India. On her second trip there, Alice had a revelation instructing her to abandon the secular life and become a spiritual teacher in the Hindu tradition – so she moved out West – eventually opening the Shanti Anantam Ashram on 47 acres she’d bought in Agoura Hills, California.Music was the foundation of Alice’s spiritual practice. From the mid 1980’s to mid 1990’s, Alice Coltrane self-released four brilliant cassette albums. These cassettes contained a music she invented, inspired by the gospel music of the Detroit churches she grew up in, mixed together with the Indian devotional music of her religious practice, and even fnds Alice singing for the frst time in her recorded catalog. Originally only made available through her ashram, they are her most obscure body of work and possibly the greatest re?ection of her soul.

Record Store Day 2017 release. Recorded live in the studio by a band of touring musicians that played William Onyeabor's music over the previous few years. Artists on this album include Jamie Lidell, Alexis Taylor, Charles Lloyd, Money Mark, Pat Mahoney and Ahmed Gallab. Album sleeve opens up into a double sided 4-way poster (measuring approx. 24" x 24").