US

4xLP Black Cover

Limited to 700 handnumbered copies.Comes in sticker sleeve. Contains an extra A5 sized cardboard sheet with notes by Grap Luva.

Killer double sider... The groups only output resulted in two slices of sought after West Coast Boogie-Funk!In 1983, Chateau, a San Francisco based boogie funk band, won the KRE Radio Hot Fun In The Sun Battle of the Bands in Mosswood Park, Oakland. As a prize, they received $5000 (approximately 8 hours) of studio time and a pressing run of 200 45s. Chateau included Alan Ross on lead vocals and percussion, singer Damara "Candy" Stepney, and Kevin Dailey who sang and played saxophone, bass, and guitar. Melvin Jones was on horn and keys, Dennis Knepper played keyboard, Frank Lemon played drums, Lemon's cousin Michael Clark played rhythm guitar, Doug Hearne played guitar and Bill Ortiz (from Santana) contributed trumpet parts.

Moonchild was released as a very limited promo 12” and remixed by Chicago radio DJ Peter Lewicki, now reissued for the first time !

Founded by ordained bishop Larry H. Jordan and his brother-in-law Frank Tinsley in the early 1980s, Enlightment was among the first groups to fuse modern R&B production with gospel themes. After providing the group’s ultra-rare debut album Faith Is The Key with a proper release, Nature Sounds is now making another lost classic from Enlightment available to the world. “Agape Love” was a 1988 promo-only 12” single pressed in anticipation of a second Enlightment album, which unfortunately never came to fruition. Previously only available in extremely limited promotional quantities, “Agape Love” has been re-pressed off the original vinyl parts and will now be hitting record shelves worldwide. “This is well-deserved reissue,” says famed DJ and record collector Kon, who calls the record “a lost gem that slipped through the cracks of obscurity.”- First ever commercial release of "Agape Love", pressed off original vinyl parts- Original 1988 promotional copies of this 12" are highly sought-after collectibles- Rare track not included on Enlightment's famed debut album "Faith Is The Key"

In a genre that has classically been driven primarily by hot twelve-inches, it can sometimes be hard to find a disco album that delivers the goods from end to end—let alone a disco LP that could be described as “perfect.” Does such an animal even exist? We’re pretty sure it has to, and we can probably think of a few candidates ourselves. Cultures of Soul Records presents Sparkle’s self-titled album which many disco aficionados would put into this category. Sparkle was a female vocal trio from Connecticut, assembled by the producer Harold Sargent, erstwhile drummer of the sterling funk band Wood, Brass & Steel, and creator of manifold drum breaks that would go on to be sampled for decades. Originally released in 1979, the album and the group are fittingly titled as the music is a scintillating, radiant collection of shimmering disco and dazzling funk, performed by Too Much Too Soon—the multiracial R&B band that featured Evan Rogers and Carl Sturken, the writing/production team that would discover Rihanna and power her career to global dominance fifteen years later. Also on hand is musical prodigy Rahni Harris, whose Sargent-assisted club classic “Six Million Steps” is also included on the album. The result is an album that by far exceeds the sum of its parts, delivering a truly transcendent disco experience.

Live jazzy orchestral interpretations of the Jay Dee aka J Dilla produced Slum Village classic Fantastic Vol 2! The contributions of the late Detroit producer James DeWitt Yancey -better known to the world as J Dilla- to the world of hip-hop can't be overstated, and nowhere is his legacy more apparent than his work as a member of Slum Village. A founding member of the trio, (alongside rappers T3 and Baatin) Dilla provided the group's distinctly esoteric, free-wheeling sound, built around winding basslines, quirky drumbeats, subtle low-end frequencies, and classic jazz & soul samples. Against the backdrop of Dilla's rich production, T3 and Baatin's free-flowing style of rhyming would also earn wide critical praise, leading to comparisons as the successors to A Tribe Called Quest. All these elements would come together in a truly prodigious fashion in the early 00s, when Dilla and Slum Village would release their second studio album Fan-Tas-Tic Volume 2. The group had already made critically acclaimed waves with Volume 1, but few could have predicted at the time of its release that Dilla's production, which combined portions of alternative, gangsta, and soul hip-hop, meshed with T3 and Baatin's deft lyrical flows, would become such a far-reaching influence. Artists like D'Angelo and Erykah Badu have name-checked Fan-Tas-Tic Volume 2 as a key influences, while The Roots' drummer ?uestlove declared that they hands down "...birthed the neo-soul movement." Enter the Abstract Orchestra. Helmed by composer and saxophonist Rob Mitchell, this 18-piece ensemble has become renowned for their distinct sound, which reinterprets some of the most famous hip-hop productions of all time (right on down to the sample material) into a unique blend of big band jazz and live hip-hop. The group has toured alongside the likes of John Legend, Amy Winehouse, and Adele among others, and have provided live backup for Mos Def, and many more. They previously have released orchestral versions of revered hip-hop record Madvillian and a tribute to Dilla to critical acclaim as well. On this, the 20th anniversary of Fan-Tas-Tic Volume 2's release, the Abstract Orchestra are proud to pay tribute to this highly innovative hip-hop classic. Across two volumes of vinyl and a 2-CD set of studio recordings, the big band applies their own jazzy spin to Dilla's classic productions, with occasional assistance from the surviving members of Slum Village themselves. The end result is Fantastic 2020, a hybrid blend of smooth, funky brass rhythms with boom-bap sensibilities that is just the kind of tribute that an often unsung, but highly influential group like Slum Village deserves, and is a more than welcome addition to any Dilla completist's library.PRESSED ON RED VINYL!