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LP
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UR 420LP
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"With an adventurous and daring take on instrumental afrobeat, Super Yamba Band's Last Leap takes listeners back to 2014, the band's formative year. 'We had just moved to Brooklyn -- Walter, Sean, Evan, and I,' said Daniel Yount, the band's founder and drummer, 'and our only plan for 'making it' was to just play as much music together as possible.' Finally released from the Yamba archives, the Last Leap is a sonic timestamp of the band's creative energy during those very special first days in New York City. 'We were excited, inspired -- and probably a little overwhelmed. We wanted to record a few of our tunes so that we could have something for the clubs to listen to as we were trying to book gigs,' Yount explained. 'From there, we immediately fell into playing shows at Harlem's African music clubs -- places like Silvana and Shrine -- as well as DIY dance parties in Brooklyn.' The result of all of this, Yount said, was 'a sound that we intentionally designed to keep people dancing for as long as possible.' From the early days of the Last Leap sessions, Super Yamba Band never relented. Today the group has gained notoriety in the global Afrobeat and Afrofunk scenes largely through its extensive touring and Ubiquity Records releases with singer, composer, and guitarist, Leon Ligan-Majek, aka Kaleta, a veteran of the genre. 'Our project with Kaleta gained traction so fast, we basically put these masters on the shelves and forgot about them,' Yount explained. 'Years later we went back to listen -- with fresh ears -- and it was reinvigorating. We're going to keep exploring these sounds and pushing the limits of what an instrumental, Afrobeat-centric band can be, even as we continue to double-down on our work with Kaleta.'"
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LP
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LH 030LP
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"Doin' It Right was originally released in 1973 and re-issued by Luv n'Haight in 1999. Considered a sacred gem in the soul and rare groove canon, it would fetch $500 and upward on the collectors' market. Mike James Kirkland's sweet soulful voice floats off the turntable and into the collective consciousness on killer joints like 'Got To Do It Right,' 'Love Insurance,' and 'The Only Change,' plus five other groovy tracks."
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LP
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UR 422LP
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"Since he made his debut three years ago with sun-soaked first album Warm Nights, Reuben Vaun Smith has grown and evolved as an artist. His aims, objectives and musical output have changed, too -- something that's evident from the opening bars of his third full-length, Da Cuckoo Ya Ya, which also marks his first appearance on Californian institution Ubiquity Records. Whereas the summery and colorful Warm Nights was the result of time spent teaching himself music and production, not to mention over a year of daily recording, Da Cuckoo Ya Ya was recorded in less than two months. It not only showcases Smith's sharpened musicianship and his growing love of Eastern exoticism and wide-eyed psychedelia, but also features guest spots from friends (and fellow Leeds locals) Sakura Murakami (a guitarist who also featured on 2021's Sounds From The Workshop album), bassist Nial Deravairere (on deliciously dubbed-out and hazy closing cut 'Beams') and vocalist Lucy Saddler. While it shares some sonic similarities with its predecessors -- not least a greater reliance on live instrumentation and plenty of audible nods towards Malian musical culture -- Smith's new set is his most confident and dynamic yet, with the Leeds-based producer consciously moving closer to the dancefloor whilst polishing his productions further and showcasing all he's learned to date."
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LP
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LH 048LP
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2023 repress. 2019 release. "With Darondo's passing, the world truly lost a singular and unique talent. His Let My People Go album has now reached 'legendary' status with tracks featured on numerous A-list shows such as Breaking Bad and CSI, gaining legions of new fans in addition to the Soul afficionados who already knew of Darondo's music. A mystery to most, Darondo records are high on the wants-lists of many collectors. He is spoken about in hushed-tones by other Bay Area musicians. Back in the day he was seen cruising around town in a white Rolls Royce. He opened-up for James Brown and lived a colorful lifestyle hanging with folks like the notorious Fillmore Slim. Take a listen to these tracks, released for the first time together on an album, and you may agree that he could have been the next Al Green or Sly Stone. But about 25 years ago Darondo disappeared. Releasing three singles in the early 1970s he mixed low-rider soul with blues and r'n'b. He delivered in a variety of styles from the socially-charged Let My People Go to the sexually-driven funk of 'Legs'. All three singles were recorded in the Bay Area, and both sides of each of the singles are fantastic productions. The six tracks from the three original singles are featured here, along with three previously unreleased songs that were recently discovered on a demo reel. Recorded in the early 1970s, tracks from the demo reel were taken into a San Francisco studio in the summer of 2005 for enhancement. Darondo over-dubbed missing background vocals and guitar parts alongside up-and-coming San Francisco soul man Bing Ji Ling."
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LP
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LH 025LP
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Originally released in 1971. Reissued In 2012; 2021 repress. "Ubiquity Records presents a limited repressing of Awakening" by the legendary Pharaohs which is highly sought after and has been out of print for several years. Awakening was originally released in 1971 and re-issued by Luv n'Haight in 1996 and quickly became a must-have for collectors of spiritual, deep, Afro-centric jazz."
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LP
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UR 396LP
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"For his latest project Chico Mann recalls, 'When I moved from NY to LA, my intention was to start this AfroRock band, Here Lies Man. What you're hearing on this record is music I wrote for that band but has been reimagined to bring it back to its original form.' Using fewer elements of Highlife for its brand of Afrobeat, Double Life infuses more blues elements while still retaining an Afrobeat authenticity representative of African diasporic music. Since the early 2000's Chico Mann has been involved with projects across a wide swath of respected labels as well as earning the respect of musicians and fans alike. Seamlessly switching between genres such as Afrobeat with his work in Antibalas to dance-oriented adventures as a duo with Captain Planet, his current project explores the realm of Afrobeat with psychedelic flashes in a cinematic fashion."
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3LP
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UR 386LP
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2019 release. Gray vinyl. "Famed painter Jean Michel-Basquiat was one of the co-founders of the band Gray. This anthology features reissue of their previously limited self-release plus unreleased material, and remixes from: Todd Rundgren, Hank Shocklee, King Britt, Sal P (Liquid Liquid), Deantoni Parks, Tewz, Free The Robots, and The Gaslamp Killer, along with features from Amir Yaghmai and Kool Keith. 1979, Downtown New York, Gray was making industrial music with sound. Jean-Michel Basquiat played the guitar with a metal file, Michael Holman played masking tape and steel ball bearings, Justin Thyme abstracted the keys, as Nick Taylor played his guitar with historical restraint."
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