LP

Fat Beats Records is proud to present the fourth installment of Baker’s Dozen, an exclusive vinyl series that shines a light on the best minds of instrumental hip-hop, ambient, and electronic music. Each installment gives one artist carte blanche to capture their signature sound. This edition features Los Angeles based producer Ras_G.Every volume features one artist and twelve tracks, and comes equipped with a 5x7” postcard insert that features a photo of the artist’s workspace along with the equipment used in their musicmaking process as well as a personal narrative of how they got into beat making in the first place. Visually cohesive and packaged with the utmost attention to detail, Baker’s Dozen is a series that speaks up for artists whose craft renders voices superfluous, whose instrumentals alone suffice to make a statement.

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.

North Carolina-born producer & veteran Boston MC f/contributions from Gonjasufi, Akrobaktik, Q-Bert, Chester Watson, & narrated by comedian Wyatt Cenac!George Orwell once prophesized, “if you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever.” The latest EP from L’Orange & Mr. Lif, The Life and Death of Scenery, conceives a chimerical “lighthearted dystopia” just far enough from modernity to breathe easily, but close enough to make you consider relocating to that cave in the forest. In this collaboration with the eccentric North Carolina producer, L’Orange, Lif imagines an adjacent future called the “last society,” where culture has been obliterated and survival has taken precedence over art.Released through a partnership between Adult Swim and Mello Music Group, the duo’s latest opus opens with one of four addresses from “The Narrator” (played by The Daily Show’s Wyatt Cenac). These Big Brother missives capture a world where the, “books are all burned, the vinyl has been melted, and the remaining art catapulted over the city walls.” The mere act of whistling is cause for the guillotine. It’s the rap analogue to Fahrenheit 451, 1984, or a Brave New World, where the Soma is uncomfortably soothing and the sunshine eerily abundant.The former Def Jux legend inhabits on the role of The Scribe, frantically showing the post-apocalyptic survivors the power of what's been lost. It attacks those who value disposable art over the timeless, it articulates the necessity of preserving culture, it lampoons the absurdity of attempting to destroy one of the most immutable qualities in mankind.In L’Orange’s words, the collaboration is “a negotiation of influences without compromise.” You can hear the producer’s trademark alchemy of classic boom-rap with glitchy fuzz, a compressed whimsy that slaps against somber scythe-like piano lines, ominous spaghetti western licks, and celestial saxophone licks.Lif spits staccato bars in double-time, adeptly slicing through the beats like banned books to a shredder. He’s joined on “Antique Gold” by the 19-year old monotone samurai, Chester Watson. Gonjasufi’s banshee yelp makes “Strange Technology” even more resonant. Insight bombards on “Five Lies About the World Outside.” The legendary turntablist Q-Bert contributes cuts on “The Scribe.” While Akrobatik, Lif’s longtime partner in The Perceptionists, pops up twice to exhibit their almost telepathic tag-team chemistry.The rapping is virtuosic. The production is sumptuous and scene setting. But what sticks is those cumulative effects: the fantastic imagination of this foreign but familiar world, the importance of illuminations in a world that values cold logic, the sly humor of winking oracles, and inexorable fear that this could be a reality—should we continue down our current path.

Eight track album taking in spiritual jazz, Brazilian fusion, disco and soul composed - performed and recorded by Marc Friedli aka Skymark. Limited Vinyl edition.

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.

Beautifully put together and deeply personal comp of pioneering Belgium New Wave / DIY enigma, Alain Neffe (Bene Gesserit, Psuedo Code, Subject...etc). Highly reccomended - includes Folded Inner with Liner Notes (Biography).

Turkish Pop Star Nº1, Barış Manço, released this album in 1983,a slightly funky prog-pop-folk affair and a grower as we’re used to with Manço’s works. Lots of cool analog keyboards (including Minimoog, Prophet-5, Omni-2), superb rhythm section, tasty electric guitar and the incredible vocals of Barış.Features the killer Oriental groove jam “Selahaddin Eyyübi’nin”, the superb boogie-disco-funk of “Aman Yavas! Aheste” and more!

Limited 180 gram vinyl LP with obi-stripFar Out Recordings presents the peerless and criminally undervalued Quartin catalogue, beginning with the reissue of Jose Mauro's forgotten masterpiece 'Obnoxious'. Far Out Recordings presents the peerless and criminally undervalued Quartin catalogue, beginning with the reissue of Jose Mauro's forgotten masterpiece 'Obnoxious'. Over the course of the 60s, Roberto Quartin released more than 20 albums in Brazil on his label Forma, by artists including the likes of Eumir Deodato and Quateto Em Cy. Selling the rights of Forma to Polygram in 1969, Quartin struck out for pastures new at the dawn of the 1970s with the launch of his self-titled label. Significant works and high-water marks for Brazilian music overall followed in that decade's first year, with Victor Assis Brasil Plays Antonio Carlos Jobim and the aforementioned Obnoxious. These rare and unique gems in Brazilian music, difficult to categorise yet compellingly haunting, have for too long gone unheard. Far Out Recordings hopes that listeners out there, be they seasoned Brazilian music aficionados or simply those in thrall to bewitching, hypnotic powers of music from the outer reaches, will appreciate and enjoy these works as much as we appreciate having the opportunity to present them to you.There is very little information to be found about Jose Mauro and as a result those searching for some kind of insight on the man behind the music must attempt to glean what they can from the music itself. In a musical landscape in which the context from music emerges can often overshadow the music itself, Jose Mauro is an increasingly rare phenomenon. Mauro is said to have died in a car accident shortly before the release of ‘Obnoxious’ in 1970, a fact that could have lent his brief musical career a touch of mythology were it not for how scant the details concerning any other aspects of his life are. All tracks on the record were composed by Mauro and Ana Maria Bahiana… Production on the record was cancelled after Mauro’s death and it was never sold commercially until it was rereleased decades later. What appeal does Mauro’s music stand to hold to today’s listeners, forty-something years removed from its conception? Simply put, there is very little else, even within the realm of contemporaneous Brazilian music employing similar tropes, that sounds much like it all. Take the title track of the ‘Obnoxious’ LP, included here. A wholly singular piece of music, it blends string-drenched melancholia with orchestral pomp, sunny psychedelic strumming with propulsive percussion, topped off with Mauro’s yearning vocals. The result is indicative of Mauro’s unique blend of sounds from Latin Jazz and samba to psychedelic folk and baroque orchestration.Today, Obnoxious retains its strange, otherworldly appeal – A firm favourite amongst a small circle of deep diggers including Madlib, Gilles Peterson, Floating Points and DJ Nuts. Jose Mauro’s mournful and melancholic vocals create a dark, brooding atmosphere that stands in contrast to the usual joyfulness and high-spirited rhythm of the more prominent Brazilian music of the era. Despite this air of foreboding, Mauro’s confident baritones, chord patterns and sumptuous arrangements have the ability to induce in the listener in an almost trance-like state of ecstasy. Mauro’s long hidden masterpiece, a complex and uniquely stunning work is being offered the chance to be heard by the wider audience it has always deserved. A second Jose Mauro release, A Viagem Des Horas, compiling more incredible tracks unreleased in Mauro’s lifetime, will follow, alongside other unreleased jewels from the Quartin catalogue, from the likes of Piri and Victor Assis Brasil…All songs written by Jose Mauro and Ana Maria Bahiana

Limited to 500 copies worldwide

Lena Platonos) is a Greek musician, pianist and music composer. One of the pioneers of Greek electronic music, she remains active today. Lena was born in Heraklion, Crete, and grew up in Athens. She began learning how to play the piano at the age of two and became a professional pianist before turning eighteen. Soon afterwards, she received a scholarship to study in the the Berlin and Vienna Academies , where she was exposed to jazz, rock and Middle Eastern music. She returned to Greece in the late 70’s and began working with the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation. Released in 1984, ‘Μάσκες Ηλίου’ (‘Sun Masks’) was Lena Platonos’ first record to feature her own words and vocals. All instruments were performed by Lena herself.. ‘Sun Masks’ was inspired by Argentine writer, Julio Cortázar as well as the film ‘The Wall’ by Pink Floyd. "I began to reverse my thought process, to let melodies fade out, to turn to minimalism, to experiment on my Yamaha C60 synthesizer and a variety of “boxes” which I used to change the sound of my voice as well as the sound of the synthesizer” says Lena. The album featured experiments with different sounds and a new batch of electronic equipment, such as the legendary Roland TR 808 drum machine. Lena narrates each song in deadpan fashion, skillfully reciting her surreal Greek poetry. Her lyrics deal with the futility of love, the gap of human relationships, consumerist alienation in the bourgeois lifestyle of the 1980s.