Germany

Limited edition of 500 black vinyl copies worldwide of the Jazz Spastiks' remixes of the classic Penpals album "Made For The Underground" with features by Pete Flux, Junclassic, Marvelous Jay and others. Includes all instrumentals as well.

1996 is an instrumental album by Germany's beatmaker 'Shuko' who produced for the likes of Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Snoop, Pusha-T, Jedi Mind Tricks, Talib Kweli, B-Real and many more... When he started to listen to Hip Hop in 1996 he never thought about working or writing with one of his icons. 22 Years later he looks back on a strong catalog of beats he produced for his childhood heroes from Cypress Hill, Grand Puba, Cl Smooth, Sadat X, O.C., Ras Kass, Keith Murray and many more just to name a few. For this album Shuko only worked with the original equipment that was used 1996 in Hip Hop's golden era to capture the same vibe and sound. SP1200 & Akai MPC60 are the foundation of all his Beats besides one of his favourite samples of this age. 1996 is a homage of one of the best years in hip hop with guaranteed flashbacks, knocking drums, jazzy vibes and nodding heads.

Incredibly unique modernized adaptations of traditional rhythms of the diverse regions of Sudan, recorded in Kuwait 1980. The “holy grail” album from Sudan.I heard about Seif Abu Bakr and The Scorpions maybe 3-4 years ago. Their album “Jazz, Jazz Jazz” ended up on my radar because of an eBay auction with the bids eventually rising daily up to a staggering 1000$. The music is a unique combination of incredible horn arrangements powerfully performed, a vigorous drummer contributing a funky backbone and Seif's vocals uniting those elements. The results range from instrumental tracks awaking memories of 1970s crime thriller soundtracks to more Sudanese-rooted tracks, a lot of them modernized versions traditional rhythms of the diverse regions of Sudan and even an excursion into Colgolese Soukouss.I went for my second trip to Sudan in December 2018 and after doing some research on the first trip my local colleagues Larissa and Yassir had managed to reach Amir, The Scorpions band leader and he was happy to meet. We got together with him in a Cafe right at the Nile in Omdurman. It was a happy occasion for everyone. He told us stories about him meeting Jimmy Cliff and Lewis Armstrong when they visited Sudan and how he and his band mates from The Scorpions played extensively in Kuwait, both in club residencies as well as for television. Amir brought tons of incredible photos illustrating not only the bands history but the vivid cultural live in the many music clubs in Khartoum of the 1970s. During this decade up until 1983 the capital was home to a huge number of clubs, bards and concert halls. This scene started to perish after president Nimeiry's turn away from his socialist policies, that he was widely associated with in the first decade of his rule, towards the implementation of Sharia law in 1983. During the first decade of his rule he had actively supported various artists of the Jazz scene, taking some of them on trips throughout Africa. The 1989 coup of Bashir and his generals then caused the final blow to a once thriving scene. Both of these political events within 6 years lead to significant drawbacks for the Sudanese jazz scene resulting into hardly no gig opportunities left and parties and concerts being critically observed. A number of musicians faced prosecution, most of the time for their political views, some left Sudan for good. Music never completely vanished from public life and even the regime kept selected artists close, but for a majority of those bands affiliated to the jazz scene life and making ends became a lot harder. The Scorpions dissolved as a group around the same time.The re-release was produced with a clean copy of the vinyl version as a source. The original reel tape of the album stayed with Saif Abu Bakr along with another reel with other recordings that were never released. Unfortunately it was lost when Saif Abu Bakr had to flee to Kuwait temporarily during the second gulf war when Iraq raided Kuwait. Both the CD and vinyl version come with extensive booklets with photos, interviews, liner notes. The vinyl version also has a DLL code.

Kutmah started "Sketchbook" as a radio show in 2003 on Dublab in Los Angeles. A year later "Sketchbook" became the first instrumental beat night in the city. This was the breading grounds for the already flourished but almost unknown beat scene outside of Los Angeles. Artists such as Ras G, Dibiase, Georgia Anne Muldrow and Flying Lotus would frequent the club and would bring beat CD's to showcase their talent whenever they pleased and Kutmah always got their beat CD's at the end of the night."Sketchbook Archives Series" is a compilation that dates back to this era and the present day. It features exclusive tracks from artists such as Natureboy Flako, Samiyam, Al Dobson Jr., Ras G, Flying Lotus, Pablo Ygal, Mo Kolours, Shash'u and many more.