SEALED

EVERYTHING'S BEAUTIFUL, reimagined interpretations of Miles Davis' music produced by Grammy Award winner Robert Glasper (who also served as coproducer of the MILES AHEAD soundtrack) with musical guest artists including Bilal, Illa J, Erykah Badu, Phonte, Hiatus Kaiyote, Laura Mvula, KING, Georgia Ann Muldrow, John Scofield and Ledisi, and Stevie Wonder. A visionary exploration of the music of Miles Davis, EVERYTHING'S BEAUTIFUL incorporates Davis' original recordings into new collaborative soundscapes and will be available Friday, May 27 (the day after Miles' 90th birthday). The Miles Davis track featuring Bilal ''Ghetto Walkin'', from the upcoming release EVERYTHING'S BEAUTIFUL, premieres today for the first time during Zane Lowe's Beats 1 show on Apple Music.EVERYTHING'S BEAUTIFUL is beautifully crafted collection produced by Robert Glasper, blending a diverse group of master takes and outtakes from across the incomparable Miles Davis Columbia catalog with an impressive lineup of contemporary artists and musicians to create original interpretations.''I didn't want to do just a remix record,'' Glasper noted when discussing the 11-song set. ''My idea was to show how Miles inspired people to make new art.'' Realizing that ''Miles didn't have one audience,'' Glasper recruited a legion of diverse guest artists to add to the magic of the project including familiar collaborators like R&B musicians Erykah Badu, Ledisi, Bilal and KING. They are joined by British soul singer-songwriter Laura Mvula, hip-hop producer Rashad Smith, Grammy-nominated Australian neo-soul quartet Hiatus Kaiyote, rapper/singer Phonte, rapper/producer Illa J, jazz guitarist John Scofield, who was in Miles Davis' band, and the legendary Stevie Wonder.''I am living in the spirit of Miles when I am doing what I'm doing because I am documenting my time period. I'm documenting what's around me. I'm documenting who I am now, where music is now,'' notes Glasper. ''That's what this project is about. I wanted to do something where we can take some of Miles' ideas, shake them up, and try to show the influence of Miles and make new things. And that's the beauty of this whole album. The whole project is based on Miles, but it is based on Miles' vision, it's based on Miles' trumpet, it's based on Miles' voice, it's based on Miles' composition, it's based on Miles' influence, it's based on Miles' swag'' Miles Davis is a rarity: a pioneering superstar who was constantly voyaging into new directions and genres with an ever changing cast of collaborators. Throughout his discography, sweeping change and innovation could happen based on who was in the studio and what they brought to his stunning musical vision. Few American artists have impacted popular music and culture in as broad and long-lasting a way as he did.By similar design, pianist/producer Robert Glasper has built a career out of a vibrant fusion of R&B, jazz and hip-hop. As the leader of the acoustic Robert Glasper Trio and the electronic Robert Glasper Experiment, he's pushed the boundaries of each genre he works in to their breaking point. This is the artist whose album, In My Element (2007), featured mashups of Herbie Hancock and Radiohead and tributes to rapper/producer J Dilla. 2013's acclaimed Black Radio featured collaborations with Erykah Badu, Ledisi, Lupe Fiasco, Yasiin Bey and other artists. Black Radio was also capped by a sprawling cover of Nirvana's ''Smells Like Teen Spirit'' and won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. Most recently, Glasper scored for MILES AHEAD, the Miles Davis film directed by and starring Don Cheadle.EVERYTHING'S BEAUTIFUL is unlike any other in Davis' discography. From the familiar (riffs and passages within the catalog) to the obscure (samples of Miles' in-studio instructions spoken after false starts), Glasper has built something unique but still unquestionably Miles. The cover art was created by Francine Turk and integrates elements of Miles Davis' artwork. With the cover, Turk creates a visual that is similar to the idea of Robert Glasper taking fragments of Miles music and reinterpreting in a unique and modern way.Single LP, black standard weight vinyl, single-pocket jacket, no inserts

Seven Davis Jr. presents his new curated compilation Future Society on R2.Seven Davis Jr. has firmly established himself as one of the foremost purveyors of future sounds having released his unique music on forward thinking labels such as Kutmah’s “Izwid”, Funkineven’s Apron Records and Ninja Tune.For “Future Society” Seven has curated a collection of his favourite new, unsung and like-minded forward thinking artists to highlight the talent he has encountered on his travels, (the album features artists from New Zealand, U.S.A., U.K. & Switzerland).Consisting of mostly exclusive unreleased tracks, this collection contains electronic, soul and house tracks with a pioneering spirit. Welcome to the Future Society.

Madcliff recorded this, their only album in 1977. Singer, Songwriter, Drummer, Bassist and Keyboardist Chris Hills wrote all of the songs, two of them with Chico Waters with whom he had co written with on Herbie Mann's Embryo label in 1971.The album has a broad range of Soul, Funk and Disco tracks. It contains the original versions of two tracks that Chris would go on to record as a member of the Players Association later the same year. The early cuts of "I Like It" and "Goin' To The Disco" have a more raw approach than the better known and more polished versions. The killer cut is the funk bomb "You Can Make The Change".This track was made popular by Keb Darge at his legendary deep funk nights. "It Takes A Little More" was co written with Danny Weiss with whom Chris would work with as The Players Association and then as the group Feel in the early 80's. This album is one of the rarest that we have released in our classic albums series. Original Vinyl copies sell for around £200.

Strut presents a definitive collection of recordings from one of Tanzania’s most revered bands of the early 1970s, Sunburst. Covering their output from 1973 to 1976, this first retrospective features their singles for the Moto Moto and TFC labels, their sole album, ‘Ave Africa’ and an unreleased radio session recorded in Tanzania in 1973By the time Zairean guitarist Hembi Flory Kongo had formed the band in Dar Es Salaam in 1970 playing “copyright” cover versions, soul and funk had long influenced young musicians in Dar and ‘boogies’, weekly soul events, were commonplace at the city’s clubs. Despite the Tanzanian government banning soul (both music and dancing) through their conservative Ujamaa policy in 1969, Sunburst grew as a band and developed their own musical direction which they later called Kitoto Sound, reflecting the diverse backgrounds of the band members. Lyrical themes included black pride and colonial oppression – the band even played a gig for visiting civil rights heroine Angela Davis.After June 1973, Sunburst gained a national audience through a live session for the state-owned Radio Tanzania, a crucial means for domestic bands to air their work. A month later, they won a band competition in Dar Es Salaam and their popularity in Tanzania grew further. They began recording singles in Kenya, standing apart from the predominantly rumba, jazz or taarab styles sung in local languages at the time.In 1974, Sunburst met Zambian musician Rikki Ililonga from Zamrock group Musi- O-Tunya and he invited them to Zambia. Meeting their later manager, car company employee Peter Bagshawe, they embarked on an ill-fated tour with Kenyan funk band Matata before working on a first full album in 1976 in Lusaka with new band members. The LP came out at the height of the Zamrock scene led by bands like Witch and Ngozi Family but Sunburst offered a more intricate sound as musicians born in six different countries tapped into a multitude of styles, languages and stories. “Our songs support freedom struggles and encourage peasants and workers to work harder,” singer James Mpungo recounted. “Our songs also criticize our people for allowing themselves to be too westernized.” After a handful of further singles for Tanzanian state label TFC, including the popular ‘Banchikicha’, the band split, frustrated by living on “bare minimum earnings” from their music. The result of three years’ painstaking work after tracking down bandleader Hembi Kongo, bassist Bashir and the band’s ex-manager Peter Bagshawe, this overdue retrospective is curated by Thomas Gesthuizen (DJ Gioumanne) of Africanhiphop. com and Dave Tinning of Santuri East Africa. The package features a full band biography alongside rare photos, press cuttings and memorabilia.First ever release of band’s recordings outside of AfricaDefinitive collection: the band’s complete recorded output + exclusive unreleased radio sessionOne of the most important of Tanzania’s 1970s bands who developed their own Kitoto sound fusing soul and jazz with many traditional influences.Album and singles fully remastered for this reissue from original tapes where possible

Homeboy Sandman is set to release Kindness For Weakness, his third full-length album on Stones Throw Records. The album's title comes from Sandman's internal insight that "mistaking kindness for weakness is a weakness I need to have more kindness for". One of Sandman's most poignantly lyrical releases to date, the album centres on the MC's discomfort in his comfort zone, and addresses themes such as his personal insecurities, rapper stereotypes and morality. The prolific Queens MC has been prominently published in Gawker and the Huffington Post. In an extensive feature in The Guardian, he stated "I don't want to write something to be a conversation piece. It has to help change something".Since signing with Stones Throw Records in 2011, Homeboy Sandman has made himself at home with 3 full-lengths, a series of 5 short records and, most recently, a free EP with collaborator Aesop Rock (who has a guest feature on Kindness for Weakness) named Lice, which includes a remix by Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park. With Kindness For Weakness, Sandman has once again established himself as one of the most productive and creative lyricists of this generation.

The Fruit Band's fleeting existence was only recently revealed by the discovery of a few unsold copies of their sole 1978 single,Say It, which quickly became a cult showpiece for savvy DJs and collectors. Athens of the North has since reached out to Cypress Studios of Jacksonville, Florida and discovered a complete album of the group's stylish, dancefloor-smashing funk and deep disco on tape, unreleased for over 30 years. Vinyl is presented in a Handmade cardboard Tip-On Sleeve as would have been used at the time as only the best will do.

Space Echo - The mystery behind the "Cosmic Sound" of Cabo Verde finally revealed! In the spring of 1968 a cargo ship was preparing to leave the port of Baltimore with an important shipment of musical instruments. Its final destination was Rio De Janeiro, where the EMSE Exhibition (Exposição Mundial Do Son Eletrônico) was going to be held.It was the first expo of its kind to take place in the Southern Hemisphere and many of the leading companies in the field of electronic music were involved. Rhodes, Moog, Farfisa, Hammond and Korg, just to name a few, were all eager to present their newest synthesisers and other gadgets to a growing and promising South American market, spearheaded by Brazil and Colombia.The ship with the goods set sail on the 20th of March on a calm morning and mysteriously disappeared from the radar on the very same day. One can only imagine the surprise of the villagers of Cachaço, on the Sao Nicolau island of Cabo Verde, when a few months later they woke up and found a ship stranded in their fields, in the middle of nowhere, 8 km from any coastline.After consulting with the village elders, the locals had decided to open the containers to see what was inside - however gossip as scintillating as this travels fast and colonial police had already arrived and secured the area. Portuguese scientists and physicians were ordered to the scene and after weeks of thorough studies and research, it was concluded that the ship had fallen from the sky. One of the less plausible theories was that it might have fallen from a Russian military air carrier. The locals joked that again the government had wasted their tax money on a useless exercise, as a simple look at the crater generated by the impact could explain the phenomena. "No need for Portuguese rocket scientists to explain this!" they laughed.What the villagers didn't know, was that traces of cosmic particles were discovered on the boat. The bow of the ship showed traces of extreme heat, very similar to traces found on meteors, suggesting that the ship had penetrated the hemisphere at high speed. That theory also didn't make sense as such an impact would have reduced the ship to dust. Mystery permeated the event.Finally, a team of welders arrived to open the containers and the whole village waited impatiently. The atmosphere, which had been filled with joy and excitement, quickly gave way to astonishment. Hundreds of boxes conjured, all containing keyboards and other instruments which they had never seen before: and all useless in an area devoid of electricity. Disappointment was palpable. The goods were temporarily stored in the local church and the women of the village had insisted a solution be found before Sunday mass. It is said that charismatic anti-colonial leader Amílcar Cabral had ordered for the instruments to be distributed equally in places that had access to electricity, which placed them mainly in schools.This distribution was best thing that could have happened - keyboards found fertile grounds in the hands of curious children, born with an innate sense of rhythm who picked up the ready-to-use instruments. This in turn facilitated the modernisation of local rhythms such as Mornas, Coladeras and the highly danceable music style called Funaná, which had been banned by the Portuguese colonial rulers until 1975 due to its sensuality!The observation was made that the children who came into contact with the instruments found on the ship inherited prodigious capabilities to understand music and learn instruments. One of them was the musical genius Paulino Vieira, who by the end of the 70s would become the country´s most important music arranger.8 out of the 15 songs presented in this compilation had been recorded with the backing of the band Voz de Cabo Verde, lead by Paulino Vieira, the mastermind behind the creation and promulgation of what is known today as "The Cosmic Sound of Cabo Verde".

BACK IN STOCK !!!Producing under the moniker Isoul8, as well as teaming up with Domu under the Rima alias for the incredible jazz/fusion album 'This World', Volcov is a truly important player in the underground music scene. Remixing artists such as Frankie Valentine, Azymuth & Taylor McFerrin, running his two labels Archive and Neroli, as well as DJing all over the World has given Volcov a rare knowledge of soul, funk, disco and deep house music, knowledge which is very apparent throughout this album. 'From The Archive' comprises a lovingly chosen collection of obscure Funk, Disco & Boogie tracks, alongside three very special edits produced by the man himself. From Chez Damier's sun-drenched remix of The Urban Crew's 'Go' to Bembe Segue's emotional 'Sun On My Back' via Shuya Okino's disco epic 'Still In Love', this record takes the listener on a joyful journey deep into Volcov's musical mind.