2xLP

The re-discovered third album by India’s best known psychedelic-rock ensemble, presented in its entirety. The companion piece our Atomic Forest anthology Obsession (NA 5087) Covers of Deodato, Stevie Wonder and “Spectrum,” the heaviest Indian psych-funk jam unearthed to date.Over the course of four years, culminating in 2011, we at Now-Again Records assembled the Atomic Forest anthology Obsession, which delved into and told the story of India’s 70s rock underground and this psychedelic ensemble’s story. At the time we issued Obsession, we were not aware of the third album that the Atomic Forest had recorded, issued under Kanga’s name as Disco Roar. When it came to our attention, we figured that we owed it to anyone entranced by this hard-to-believe, underground, Indian rock scene to issue this, the first album that the Atomic Forest recorded. “That Disco Roar album was the first time we were doing anything like that. It was the first thing we did. It progressed into the Hit Film Themes album. Then these guys came with more commercial potential songs (which became Obsession ’77).But originally it was just a band, the live performances that we did, that made us very popular, these simple songs,” guitarist Abraham Mammen recalls.Atomic Forest’s story stands in for the untold stories of many of India’s underground bands, bands remembered vividly by those who witnessed their performances, bands that often homemade, cassette recordings – that have been lost to time. Mammen, now a traveling preacher splitting his time between India and the United States, reflects on the unlikely reissue of the Atomic Forest’s recordings: “What’s left of the Atomic Forest? It’s just like smoke: smoke on the water.’ With the release of Disco Roar, that smoke keeps rising.

The motor hasn’t had time to cool down and the belt drive is feeling the fatigue. But Charles Maurice is the kind of DJ who just can’t let a turntable rest. After steaming up the slipmat with three sexy compilations of French Boogie, Charles Maurice is back with Volume 4.In the late 70s and early 80s, while France was still firmly tuned into variety-show pop, a few enlightened ears and souls picked up the hypnotic beat of funk from across the Atlantic. These first warrior monks spread the good word in discotheques, jumped on newly available frequencies to fill the airwaves and, in some cases, took up instruments themselves to unabashedly build on the U.S. model.In a short decade stretching from the late 70s to the late 80s – just a blip on the scale of music history – they turned out material in abundance. Lush productions with colorful covers, groovy typeface and creative photo shoots…But first and foremost, they made music weaned on, spoon-fed and imbued with funk. Music defined by a groove with a robotic beat (Djeneba) that clearly hears hip-hop banging on the door, where layers of synthesizers, handclaps (Eric Chotteau), horns and African percussion line up and follow the all-powerful lead of the swelling slap bass (Cyrill). Music that tells everyday stories, both humorous and lovelorn (Serge Delisle), and often packed with pheromones just waiting to be released on the dance floor or sofa (Chris O’Hara). Shaped by synthetic textures, these productions are also spiced with Caribbean and Creole arrangements that reflect the West Indies’ critical contribution to French Boogie (Wai Kop, Acayouman).With his immaculate tailoring, slicked back hair and clipped moustache, Charles Maurice has once again transformed himself into a HiFi stylus to explore the groove traced by this specifically French musical style. From 45 to 33 rpm, he has traveled the black spiral to bring us a new selection that proudly features a number of rarely heard pieces and even an unreleased track by Marco Attali. True to form, Monsieur Charles carefully crafted this fourth volume from his personal collection of impeccably restored and mastered vinyl recordings.Charles Maurice, where French elegance meets uncompromising musical taste.

After being blown away by a few tunes - probably just as you will be after listening to this - Samy Ben Redjeb travelled to the infamous capital city of Somalia in November of 2016, making Analog Africa the first music label to set foot in Mogadishu.On his arrival in Somalia Samy began rifling through piles of cassettes and listening to reel-to-reel tapes in the dusty archives of Radio Mogadishu, looking for music that 'swam against the current'.The stars were aligned: an uncovered and unmarked pile of discarded recordings was discovered in a cluttered corner of the building. Colonel Abshir - the senior employee and protector of Radio Mogadishu's archives - clarified that the pile consisted mostly of music nobody had manage to identify, or music he described as being 'mainly instrumental and strange music'. At the words 'strange music' Samy was hooked, the return flight to Tunisia was cancelled.The pile turned out to be a cornucopia of different sounds: radio jingles, background music, interludes for radio programmes, television shows and theatre plays. There were also a good number of disco tunes, some had been stripped of their lyrics, the interesting parts had been recorded multiple times then cut, taped together and spliced into a long groovy instrumental loop. Over the next three weeks, often in watermelon-, grapefruit-juice and shisha-fuelled night-time sessions behind the fortified walls of Radio Mogadishu, Samy and the archive staff put together Mogadisco: Dancing Mogadishu, 1974-1991.Like everywhere in Africa during the 1970s, both men and women sported huge afros, bell-bottom trousers and platform shoes. James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and The Temptations' funk were the talk of the town.In 1977, Iftin Band were invited to perform at the Festac festival in Lagos where they represented Somalia at the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture. Not only did they come back with an award but they also returned with Afrobeat. At the same time Bob Marley was busy kick-starting reggae-mania in Somalia, which became such a phenomenon that even the police and military bands began playing it. Some say that it was adopted so quickly because of the strong similarities with the traditional beat from the western region of Somalia, called Dhaanto.But then suddenly the trousers got tighter as the disco tsunami hit the country. Michael Jackson appeared with a new sound that would revolutionise Somalia's live music scene. You couldn't walk the streets of Mogadishu without seeing kids trying to moonwalk.'Somalia had several nightclubs and although most use DJs to play records, some hotels like Jubba, Al-Uruba and Al Jazeera showcased live bands such as Iftin and Shareero' - so ran a quote from a 1981 article about the explosion of Mogadishu's live music scene. The venues mentioned in that article were the luxury hotels that had been built to cover the growing demands of the tourist industry.Mogadisco was not Analog Africa's easiest project. Tracking down the musicians - often in exile in the diaspora - to interview them and gather anecdotes of golden-era Mogadishu has been an undertaking that took three years. Tales of Dur-Dur Band's kidnapping, movie soundtracks recorded in the basements of hotels, musicians getting electrocuted on stage, others jumping from one band to another under dramatic circumstances, and soul singers competing against each other, are all stories included in the massive booklet that accompanies the compilation - adorned with no less then 50 pictures from the '70s and '80s.As Colonel Abshir Hashi Ali, chief don at the Radio Mogadishu archive - someone who once wrestled a bomber wielding an unpinned hand-grenade to the floor - put it: 'I have dedicated my life to this place. I'm doing this so it can get to the next generation; so that the culture, the heritage and the songs of Somalia don't disappear.'

Special 2xLP official reissue containing the original LP and previously unreleased extended and instrumental versions