LP

2nd pressing - Limited edition 250 copiesRed sticker (different than on the first pressing) :"Paris DJs Featuring 20 guests including Tony Allen, Oghene Kologbo, Sandra Nkaké, RacecaR and members of Antibalas, The Breakestra, Brownout, Fela Kuti's Egypt 80, Jungle Fire, Les Frères Smith, Ebo Taylor's Afrobeat Academy… 2nd Edition"

“After touring the United-States to promote my first solo album The Push, I discovered that I wanted to add more bangin’ songs to my live set as well as speak on some more topics that I have been dealing with.Soul Power is the result. When I I say “Soul Power”, I’m talking about what gives my soul, my spirit power--which is music! This project was especially born out of all that I learned being on the road as well as teaming up with new friends I’ve met along the way which led to some dope collaborations!I definitely have to give thanks to the folks who have made me feel at home while away from home; who have blessed me with food, shelter, ciphers, laughter, conversation, money, memories, general nonsense, and love. Also mad thanks to the artists who blessed this project with their talent. Peace. Raashan”

In 1972, Orchestre Abass released two incredible singles on Polydor. These records - featuring Samarin Banza, Haka Dunia and other afrofunk masterpieces - were powerful enough to knock any music head out, but it wasn’t until the discovery of some unreleased material by the band that the seeds for this project were planted.It all happened in 2008 in Ghana. I was going through some tapes that had previously been the property of PolyGram one of the major record companies based in west Africa. In the late 80s political instability and curfews had paralysed the music industry forcing Polygram to close their Ghanaian subsidiaries leaving all of their recordings behind. These recordings had been packed in boxes and left vegetating in an Accra warehouse for three decades until I came along. To my surprise all of the tapes looked unharmed and I was particularly relieved to hear that the Orchestre Abass tape was in an excellent state of condition. I began fiddling around with the idea of releasing an album of the band and that plan got an additional boost with le “coup de grace” which had landed in the form of an ultra rare tune called Honam discovered in Sotoboua, a small northern Togolese town in the middle of nowhere. That find completed this selection.I had previously discovered some similar music in Northern Benin and in Nigeria and I started picturing an area that spread all the way from Northern Ghana to Northern Cameroon, an area I dubbed ‘The Islamic funk belt’ due to the fact that Super Borgou de Parakou, Napo De Mi Amor, Uppers International and Hamad Kalkaba just to name a few - all from that ‘belt’ - were groups made up of musicians with an Islamic background. This can be felt and heard in the music and particularly in the singing since many of the musicians had attended koranic schools and the languages used in the songs often had Arabic elements fused in - Orchestra Abass was one of them. With their heavy, organ-led sound combining with the deftest of musical touches, these records were the work of a rhythmic powerhouse and we are honoured to be in a position to present the recordings of Togo´s funkiest Band.Unfortunately Malam Issa Abass, the founder, guitarist and organ player of the band, was killed in 1993 by a grenade thrown into his bedroom and to help me reconstruct the biography of the band I tracked down Thon Komla, one of the band´s songwriters and Abderaman Issa, the guitar player of the band.All the music was licensed directly from the various composers of these songs. The vinyl is pressed on 180 High Quality Virgin Vinyl and the gatefold contains previously unseen pictures and a detailed biography of the might band.

"I really felt that Uku led me to this music and what to play.. It happened straight when I got back home from his funeral" -Maryn. "LTA Fusion" featured on this album was one of their last co-writes. Maryn took what foundation her son played, and finished the song with him here.

Another must have part of Marc Mac's "Beats n knowledge" series of mixtape style albums.A Documentary on Wax. Looking back (and forward), reflecting on the movement / organisation known as "The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. Often the term "Self-Defense" is left out of discussion and far too often knowledge of the social programs developed by the Panthers gets push aside to continue a narrative of a violent group of anti-society revolutionaries. Revolutionary yes, anti-society no. All Power To The People.Produced by Marc Mac and pretty much all straight out of his MPC2500 (sampling sequencer), the 'college mixtape' style with sound bites from the era mixed with 90s style hip hop beats is now a trademark of this series. Limited to 300 copies worldwide. don't sleep.

Lance Ferguson's Raregroove Spectrum is a collection of newly recorded versions of classic funk, soul, jazz and latin vinyl rarities, which features some of Melbourne's finest musicians across the album, including past and present members of The Bamboos, The Putbacks and Hiatus Kaiyote.As the man at the helm of many musical projects over the years including Cookin' On 3 Burners, Menagerie & his solo project Lanu, Lance is no stranger to the art of imaginative musical re-interpretation, be the material soul, funk and jazz based or the works of James Blake, Roxy Music and Prefab Sprout.For Raregroove Spectrum, Lance explains that much of the inspiration for the re-works comes from his experience as a DJ; "Some of these versions can almost be looked at as DJ re-edits, sometimes we're extending what may be a really short track into something longer, or teasing out the elements in a song that really make it work on a dance-floor. It's essentially what someone does with a club re-edit, except we went the extra step and re-recorded the whole thing with a live band".In other cases, top-shelf classics have been re-imagined in different guises: James Mason's 'Sweet Power, Your Embrace' as a sun-drenched Samba, or Anderson Paak's sure shot tune 'Am I Wrong' given an 1980's style Boogie/Jazz Funk makeover. Stir into this musical gumbo stew the raw Deep Funk of 'Egg Roll', the swinging Mod R&B of Googie Rene's 'Smoky Joe's La La' to the epic, widescreen Jazz-Funk of Pleasure's 'Joyous' - Rare Groove Spectrum provides new perspectives on the obscure to the well-loved, from old-school to new sounds - this is rare grooves re-grooved... beautifully.