US

The fourth release on LA’s Pleasure of Love “Pleasure of Edits” series features west coast talent Air Zaïre on editorial duties.The desert drive opener “Midnight Sun” finds a hypnotic groove with woodwind leads and acoustic guitar on a cosmic journey through daytime disco.The A2, “Canguelo Perro,” struts through a Paraguayan groove with a sweet saturated guitar hook that sticks with you in the best possible way.The B side features an off kilter synth bass and pad heavy 80s Japanese flip in “Shojo Showdown” with crunchy effects and chugging arps leading the way.Closing out the record is “South of Sunset,” a euphoric looping strings party starter, an instant classic at the Hollywood weekly party.

Felipe Gordon and Vagabundo Club Social (aka Jaime Tuiran) deliver 3 excitingly unique edits in their first 12” outing on RNT, sourcing the Afro-Carribean sounds of their native Colombia.From the Latin-Afrobeat flavor of 'Shakala', to the Salsa-funk swing of 'Los Bareteros', or the Cumbia-inflected romp 'El Cateter', this 12” is something quite different than the typical edit fair, and a likely new staple for any box!

Marcel Vogel aka Em Vee joins the RNT roster with a 4-pack of unsurprisingly heavy edits. The Lumberjack In Hell label boss takes us on a little trip through one of his own eclectic sets, starting with the oddball boogie of You Move Me and then moving on to the hands-in-the-air positivity of Spreading Energy. On the flip it’s the uptempo afro burner Don’t Be Sabi Say, with the 12” concluding on the whimsically catchy I Wish I Knew The Words. Tried and tested and found true!

Record store owner, DJ, producer, and digger extraordinaire Tom Noble comes to RNT with a superb edits EP of sought-after Caribbean and African sounds. The A side burns hot right out of the gate with the explosive and percussive Soca-disco pulse of They Came To New York, then settles into the laid back lilt of Zouk Pour Esa.On the flip, Disco Massamba is a wild ride of an Afro-disco burner and Parang-A-Teng brings it back to the Western hemisphere for some Latin-tinged funk from Barbados. Well worth it for the value of the original source material alone, this 12” is nothing short of dance floor destruction!

Compilation of work from the group, spanning 1986 to 1991.. Dub infused experimental tunes here! Politico dub-collage practitioners Guerilla Welfare came from Edmonton, Alberta, coincidentally the birthplace of prophetic media sage Marshall McLuhan. Armed with vanguard ideas taken from Steve Reich, Fela Kuti, Robert Fripp and Material, the duo of Curtis Ruptash and Brian Schultze adopted the “studio as instrument” mindset of Eno and King Tubby creating complex textural and polyrhythmic sonic insurgencies. They overdubbed drum computers, guitar, bass, noise-makers, mallet percussion, sitars, often accompanied by sampled vocals and found sound taken from TV. Their pan-global, multi-media palette supported zeitgeist commentary — often, with a healthy dose of gallows humour — on gender, power structures, and sexual and geopolitical tensions in the late 80s. Their DIY bunker studio experimentations align them with genre defying dub-infused outfits like African Head Charge, Dome, Lifetones, Naffi, Woo, Negativland and The Residents. The Nature of Human Nature captures Guerilla Welfare’s most formidable output, compiling tracks selected from their entire discography (two LPs and a cassette collaboration with poet Mary Howes), all originally self-released from 1986 to 1991. Remastered from the original tapes.

“Growing up in the 80’s opened doors to the imagination. Like many of us, I watched a lot of music videos just when cable television was on the rise. It introduced me to a new way of storytelling – and because of that, I’ve always liked the idea of cinematic concepts and visual movement.” Ron Trent’s 30+ year oeuvre has encompassed many genres of dance music with a signature, cinematic sound – organic, powerful, and emotive. His new EP WARM treads surprising territories, which to the listener may encompass unexpected influences, while maintaining that sense of space and narrative.Balearic opener On A Journey feels equal parts Cluster and Yo La Tengo, with cosmic guitars and elastic bass entwining around a strutting drum line, while closer Exhale is a slow, heavy number with New Age and soft rock overtones, pairing natural percussion with subdued bass and deep, emotive guitar. Night Ride has the most familiar sound to listeners – those piano lines, synths, chord progressions, and earthy vocal refrains and percussion – sounding like a long lost production finally seeing the light of day.Listeners may wonder “This is Ron Trent?” – and upcoming works are bound to also provoke this question; works that are dreamed up and created by one of the most unique and important figures in dance music. Whatever direction Ron Trent may take, what he makes will always be something special.

Sho is Funky Down Here and The Grodeck Whipperjenny are a pair of albums that are the result of an unlikely but highly productive musical relationship between James Brown, a superstar at the creative and commercial peaks of his long career, and David Matthews, a then young arranger-musician whose limited professional experience had little or nothing to do with the funk and soul of his collaborator. The Grodeck Whipperjenny A psychedelic classic, created by his James Brown’s bandleader David Matthews, the first album issued on Brown’s famed People imprint. As progressive as it is funky, this album was issued in tandem with another Matthews project issued under Brown’s name – Sho Is Funky Down Here. One of the deepest albums in the Brown catalog, its story is finally told. Both albums were lacquered directly from the original master tapes at Capitol Studios. This is the first official reissue of both of these rare titles. Each album contains an extensive booklet with full annotation, liner notes by Brown historian Alan Leeds and never-before-published photos.

Previously Unreleased Cinematic Jazz-Funk for Film & Television by Arranger/Composer J.J. Johnson. 21 tracks featuring music from Across 110th Street, Top Of The Heap, The Fuzz Brothers, The Bold Ones.Funky Moog modulations, car chases, moody library cues and a righteous soul sister preaching universal truths all revealed in these recently discovered recordings.Masterful arranging and lush orchestration by one of the giants of the Jazz & Soul/Funk Genres.Cut direct to vinyl from the reference tapes.