SEALED

Bluestaeb's evolution from a beatmaker to a producer is his sophmore album “Everything is Always a Process”.He is one of the key figures of a new generation of up and coming HipHop beatmakers, who have emancipated from genre thinking and instead merge old school aesthetics with a new school attitude and organic instrumentation.Everything Is Always A Process re-iterates Bluestaeb's overall approach to life (and thinking), but also has direct reference to the making of the album itself, which began with moving from Berlin to Paris in 2015 in the search of new influences and a new creative environment. Created between 2015 and early 2018, EIAAP embodies the process of this transition - as well as collaboration with instrumentalists and vocalists from all over the world and recording in different studios in Paris, London & Berlin."Meeting all those musicians and trying out new ways of producing by using real analogue synths, Rhodes, drums and percussion etc. made it possible to overcome the creative boundaries of a home studio with just a midi keyboard" / Bluestaeb.Influenced by Madlib's "Shades Of Blue" and trained in African drum techniques such as Djembé and Daruka, Bluestaeb had been crafting his own beats since his teenage years and gradually found his sound identity through experimenting with HipHop and Jazz – first to be heard by a broader music community in 2013, when he released his debut album "1991 Extraterrestrial" (Radio Juicy). Since then the prolific young artist has released numerous solo and collaboration projects ("B.L.U.E. Friday" in 2015 and „Sidekicks“ with S. Fidelity in 2016). In 2016, he produced collaborative album "LIT - Lost In Translation“ with rapper JuJu Rogers, a keen manifesto against racism, xenophobia and the rise of anti-heroes such as Donald Trump.Today, Bluestaeb lives and works in Paris and Berlin and is set to release his third solo album “Everything Is Always a Process”, a smooth Neo Soul-induced epic featuring artists such as Noah Slee, Harleighblu and Melodiesinfonie, via Jakarta Records in 2018.

The discovery and release of The Nonce ‘1990’ is an important milestone recorded during the Golden Age of Hip-Hop. Recognized as innovators of the LA Hip-Hop Underground, The Nonce was formed by two seventeen year olds, Nouka Basetype aka Sach and the late Yusef “Afloat” Mohammed. As The Nonce, the duo was part of the Project Blowed collective.Just after High School graduation in 1990, the young duo was given the chance to go into a professional studio. Their dreams of a record deal were soon dashed after the production company raised objections to their artistic choices. Unwilling to meet the demands, The Nonce walked away from the project, leaving behind the Masters of the very tracks that make up The Nonce ‘1990’.Daniel Borine, of the independent Family Groove label, discovered the lost material for this album in 2017. Borine rescued the Master tapes from the studio where they were first recorded and subsequently misplaced, (but not forgotten), since 1990. Sach had assumed the tapes were destroyed or thrown in the dumpster bin.These 14 rare tracks by The Nonce, predate their critically acclaimed 1993 single, Mix Tapes and the classic World Ultimate from 1995. Borine returned the found tapes to Sach with the idea to mix multitracks from the 2” tape master tapes and issue the album. The goal was to preserve the original sound from the era in which it was created. For that, they turned to producer and recording engineer, Kamal Humphrey, of Flying Carpet Studios in Redondo Beach. Humphrey mixed the tracks on the SSL console that had belonged to legendary 1980’s Producer, Maurice Starr and to Atlanta’s LaFace label of Outkast, TLC and Usher fame before reaching Humphrey’s Flying Carpet Studios.What was once thought to be lost forever is now preserved for generations. The Nonce 1990 available through Family Groove Records- Lost Full-Length Album from The Golden Age of Hip-Hop- Previously Unreleased Material from 1990- Legendary L.A.Underground Hip-Hop Duo, Part of the Project Blowed Collective- Audiophile Quality Mixing & Mastering from the Original Multitrack Sessions

Originally released back in 2011, Lord Giveth, Lord Taketh Away, saw Freddie Gibbs team up with leg- endary East Coast beat maker Statik Selektah. The project was recorded in a single day, with the sessions being broadcast out on U-stream. Across the seven track EP, Gibbs showcases his hyper technical gansta rap flow, stepping out of his comfort zone rapping over some classic NYC boom bap production. The EP features guest spots from Trae The Truth, Smoke DZA, Termanology and more.Omerta Inc. will be bringing this collaborative project to vinyl for the first time. As well as featuring the sev- en tracks from the original project, the vinyl release will include two bonus tracks, Crushin’ Feelings and Carry On featuring Joey Bada$$.

BRRWD is a label collaboration between Ta-ku/ repeat pattern & Jakarta Records.Villa Rosa is the second in a series of 8 apartment complexes built between 1964 and 1988 in Shibuya, Tokyo. In 1964, the year of the first Tokyo Summer Olympics, the Villa series pioneered large residential apartment buildings in Japan.Villa Rosa sits somewhere between Fitz Ambrose and Submerse's homes.

The Collective Rhythm Network (Hamilton, Canada), is a weekly radio show that focuses on underground dance music past and present. This EP was produced in celebration of the radio show’s 20th Anniversary, featuring tracks by Detroit's Rick Wilhite, Ron Allen and Terrence Parker !Rick “The Godson” Wilhite is a Detroit born producer/label owner/record store owner/DJ and founding member of Detroit’s 3 Chairs. Rick also releases music under his Vibes New & Rare Music label. For this release Rick has provided us with a brand-new track entitled “Mind Control” – a thumping late night dance floor stomper reminiscent of early 3 Chairs, that is sure to keep the crowd jumping!Ron Allen is a Toronto based JUNO Nominated music producer/songwriter/DJ and founder of legendary dance music label Strobe Records that was instrumental in developing the house and techno genres in Canada in the early 90’s. “Whispers” by The R.A.S.E. (Ron Allen Sound Experience), features melodic keys, dreamy vocals and a groovy, head-nod inducing bassline that sounds just as fresh now as it did when it was originally released in 1994.Terrence Parker (“TP”) was born and raised in Detroit and has become legendary for his skillful turntablism style of playing House Music. Terrence has released more than 100 recordings on his Intangible Records & Soundworks label and various other international record labels. With lush keys, and soaring vocals, “Embrace (The Original Melody Vibe)” is one of the deeper cuts in the Intangible Records & Soundworks catalogue.

Ten years on, crate-digger Samy Ben Redjeb unveils a new treasuretrove of Vodoun-inspired Afrobeat heavy funk crossover greatness. Right from the raw guitar fanfare which kicks off Les Sympathics’ pile-driving opener, it’s clear that African Scream Contest II is going to be every bit as joyous a voyage of discovery as its predecessor.A great compilation can open the gate to another world. Who knew that some of the most exciting Afro-funk records of all time were actually made in the small West African country of Benin? Once Analog Africa released the first African Scream Contest in 2008, the proof was there for all to hear; gut-busting yelps, lethally welldrilled horn sections and irresistibly insistent rhythms added up to a record that took you into its own space with the same electrifying sureness as any favourite blues or soul or funk or punk sampler you might care to mention.Ten years on, intrepid crate-digger Samy Ben Redjeb unveils a new treasuretrove of Vodoun-inspired Afrobeat heavy funk crossover greatness. Right from the laceratingly raw guitar fanfare which kicks off Les Sympathics’ pile-driving opener, it’s clear that African Scream Contest II is going to be every bit as joyous a voyage of discovery as its predecessor. And just as you’re trying to get off the canvas after this one-punch knock out, an irresistible Afro-ska romp with a more than subliminal echo of the Batman theme puts you right back there. Ignace De Souza and the Melody Aces’ “Asaw Fofor" would’ve been a killer instrumental but once you’ve factored in the improbably-rich-to-the-point-of-being-Nat-King-Cole-influenced lead vocal, it’s a total revelation.The screaming does not stop there, in fact it’s only just beginning. But the strange thing about African Scream Contest II’s celebration of unfettered Beninese creativity is that it would not have been possible without the assistance of a musician who had been trained by the Russian secret services to "search and destroy" enemies of the country’s (then) Marxist-Leninist president Mathieu Kerekou.Already familiar to fans of the first African Scream Contest as a mainstay of ruthlessly disciplined military band Les Volcans de la Capitale, Lokonon André vanished in a cloud of dust at Ben Redjeb’s behest with a list of names and some petrol money, only to return a few days later having miraculously tracked down every single name he’d been given. The source of this Afrobeat bounty-hunter’s impressive people-finding skills - his training with the KGB - highlights the tension between encroaching authoritarian politics and fearless expressions of personal creative freedom which is the back-story of so much great African music of the 60s and 70s.Happily, in this instance, Lokonon was tracking the artists down to offer them licensing deals, rather than to arrest them.Where some purveyors of vintage African sounds seem to be strip-mining the continent’s musical heritage with no less rapacious intent than the mining companies and colonial authorities who previously extracted its mineral wealth, Samy Ben Redjeb’s determination to track this amazing music to its human sources pays huge karmic dividends.Like every other Analog Africa release, African Scream Contest II is illuminated by meticulously researched text and effortlessly fashion-forward photography supplied by the artists themselves. Looming large - alongside Lokonon André - in the cast of biopic-worthy characters to emerge from this seductive tropical miasma is visionary space-nerd Bernard Dohounso, who laid the foundations for Benin’s vinyl predominance by importing and assembling the turntables that would play the products of his Bond villain-acronymed pressing plant SATEL, a factory that would revolutionise the music industry in the whole region.The scene documented here couldn’t have been born anywhere else but in the Benin Republic , and the prime reason for that is Vodoun. It’s one of the world’s most complex religions, involving the worship of some 250 divinities, where each divinity has its own specific set of rhythms, and the bands introduced on the African Scream Contest series and other compilations from that country were no less diverse than that army of different Gods. At once restless pioneers and masters of the art of modernising their own folklore, the mystic sound of Vodoun was their prime source of inspiration. One especially irascible Vodoun-adept was Antoine Dougbe, who styled himself “The devil’s prime minister” while turning ancestral rhythms into satanically alluring modern beats. As Orchestre Poly-Rythmo songwriter Pynasco has observed sagely, “Evil is not elsewhere; evil extends into the house”. And African Scream Contest II is a gloriously cinematic road-trip through an undiscovered realm of music lore whose familiarity is every bit as thrilling as its otherness.