Dutch musician and producer Phil Martin has always been interested in the West Coast music scene and distinctive sound from the late 70s era. Artist like Steely Dan, Hall & Oates, The Doobie Brothers, Fleetwood Mac and The Eagles all featured heavily in his diet of music when he was growing up. As a producer and songwriter, Phil has historically been more active in soul and jazz music. He has produced albums for successful projects such as The Jazzinvaders, Laura Vane and the Vipertones and The Soul Snatchers, all busy touring bands with international radio support. After working on a project with singer Lo van Gorp (Garp) from the Netherlands, Phil found the perfect vocal fit to his recordings for his own West Coast flavoured pop album. Together with other songwriters like Joel Sarakula and Laura Vane he began writing and producing songs. Lo van Gorp is a well known backing singer and saxophonist in Holland, recognized for his work backing many bigger artists like Marco Borsato, Paul Carrack, Roger Hodgson, Chaka Khan, Trijntje Oosterhuis and Al Jarreau, to name a few. The sound of Martin & Garp can best be described as feel-good, radio friendly melodies romantically looking back to California in the 70s. In amongst the catchy guitar and synth licks and luxurious harmonies, the theme is the unifying effect of music in the quest for sunny optimism.

This album spills groovy rhythms like in the first single “Making Up”, together with jazz harmonies and smooth vocals as in the second single “Told You Straight”. Imagine that ‘feel-good record’ that has to be played loudly in your convertible, recorded by super-pro musicians on original analog equipment. Cruising down the coast with the wind in your hair, darting in and out of the shade created by beach-side palm trees: That’s “Sentimental Fools”.

PM Warson grew up in an English town, in a post 9/11 world, drifting into financial crisis, against the staple suburban musical landscape of heavy rock, the ghost of the New Wave, and the fading star of the Indie Boom of the Noughties. He found his own fit in the form of Rhythm & Blues from half-a-century before, drawn in by records in the family collection, engaging at a visceral level, abstract from any subcultural connotations. While an outlier stylistically, he found camaraderie and direction among musically inclined peers, saving up two summers straight for a Rickenbacker guitar, getting the taste for playing live with an archetypal teenage power trio. After a move to London to study, he was without a band for a while. The Rickenbacker was sold for an archtop, and he delved deeper into his musical vocabulary - delta blues, Americana, early jazz and Rock'n'Roll. Meanwhile, via the capital's blues clubs and soul nights, he discovered a new setting for the music that had enticed him the first place, existing, not in a vacuum, but alive and in the moment. A chance audition thrust him into full-time work as a touring musician. He found himself, blissfully under-qualified, serving an apprenticeship alongside conservatoire-trained jazz musicians and session pros.

Meanwhile, the inevitable downtime in new cities on the road allowed for significant crate-digging between coffee spots and sound checks, while feeding off the knowledge of the players around him. Becoming more and more interested in production, ever-drawn to the Golden Era of record-making, he befriended the proprietors of Soup Studio, then an all-analogue facility based on Cable Street. He started moonlighting on production projects and learning the inner workings of a studio environment. A network was building, and when it was time to break out on his own, everything was in place. Shedding the construct of a 'band' or a 'singer-songwriter', and perhaps the monoculture of contemporary music-making, he started cutting sides with a band of friends and acquaintances found along the way. Without any wider ambition, it was as much about the process as the outcome, evoking the R'n'B records of the '50s and '60s in practice rather than emulation. His first effort, the ramshackle "You Gotta Tell Me" became a de facto single, and after being urged to press a few copies to vinyl by a friend, it began to cause a few ripples on the local DJ scene. Meanwhile, a wild, off-the-cuff cover of 'Hit The Road Jack' caught the attention of a London music agency, giving his lineup an outlet for playing out. This included house-band sets at London establishments such as the Blues Kitchen, Old Street Records and notably at the opening of the Mary Quant Fashion Exhibition at the V&A Museum.

A

fter Shawn Lee's extraordinary country-soul album "Rides Again" in the winter of 2019, he played three exclusive live shows in London, Amsterdam and Hamburg in early 2020 to play the complete album live. In Hamburg the band, consisting of Carwyn Ellis (Keyboards), David Page (Bass), Joe Harvey-Whyte (Pedal Steel) and Adrian Meehan (Drums) spent an off day at Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Studio and recorded this single direct to tape, mixed by studio owner Dennis Rux. “’Wichita Lineman’ is one the best songs ever written,” Shawn Lee says. “Jimmy Webb’s masterpiece has always held a special place in my heart as I born and raised in Wichita Kansas. I have performed ‘Lineman’ many time live and recorded several versions of the song in the past. There is something quick tricky about her and she always gives you a run for the money! While on tour in early 2020 performing my ‘Rides Again’ album in Europe, we checked into the incredible Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! studio In Hamburg and setup house. We recorded two songs completely live with band straight onto analog tape. I was fortunate to have some of my best buddies joining me on the session: Carwyn Ellis, Dave Page, Adrian Meehan and Joe Harvey Whyte. We made quite a noise and this here record is the result!”

On his new record "Companionship", London-based Soft-Rock, Soul and Disco artist Joel Sarakula keeps the mood easy and the grooves deep. Ten new songs see Sarakula develop a deeper, more introspective lyrical style from his previous works as he celebrates and laments friendships, love and loneliness. Interspersed with a few standout up-tempo tracks to keep the ship sailing, “Companionship” is a chill-out album and listening experience of the highest order. "Companionship" opens with "Midnight Driver", a driving soft-rock fantasy where the narrator laments his partner's nocturnal habits: 'When she's coming up, it gets me down'. The Californian sun-kissed guitars, vocal stylings and percussion all help to set a cinematic mood which unsurprisingly also makes it a great driving song. On the introspective "King Of Clowns", Sarakula creates a pop song that calls to mind the craftmanship of Hall & Oates and Elvis Costello. Both an admission of guilt and an unapologetic statement of intent, his low vocal careens in the dangerous divide between self-pity and self-parody: "My bad decisions worked out for a while, I'd do my dance tried to make you smile, I'll never wise up it's just the way I am". These confessions all occur over a down-tempo funk groove complete with some vintage synthesizer musings that makes the track ready to be sampled for a hip-hop record.

"Sunshine Makes Me" steps straight out of its mid-1970s swimming pool, heavily dripping in jazz fusion to dry off in the cold light of today's sunshine. The chorus is a mantra of desire, needs and reality that sees Sarakula sing 'Sunshine makes me lose my mind, thirty degrees and my eyes get so wide. Dreaming big and living slow, don't you know that time is on our side". On "Companionship", Joel Sarakula, prolific writer, producer, performer and multi-instrumentalist finally unleashes his chill-out pretensions. In this follow up to the critically acclaimed "Love Club" (2018) he develops a deeper and more mature compositions and production style. His love of all things vintage extends to a devotion to analog synthesizers and on "Companionship" you can hear a genuine love of synthesis that at moments is reminiscent of 70s synth production pioneers Todd Rundgren and George Duke. Joel Sarakula will tour "Companionship" through Europe and the UK this Spring and Summer 2020 with his musical companions. Born in Sydney, based in London and a true internationalist, Sarakula tours with pickup bands sourced from each territory he plays in: a Barcelona band for Spain, a Berlin band for Germany and so forth. This cross-cultural exchange is a sly nod to the golden era of the 1960s and 1970s when travelling US pop, soul and blues artists would do the same.

With their first two albums "West End Coast" (2015) and "AM Waves" (2018), Andy Platts and Shawn Lee, better known as Young Gun Silver Fox, formulated a modern version of the classic West Coast and soft rock sounds. The third album "Canyons" consequently develops the formula with ten well thought-out compositions, wonderful harmonies, incisive brass and inimitable sound images. Young Gun Silver Fox's approach has worldwide respect. They played well-known European jazz festivals (North Sea Jazz, Überjazz or Pori Jazz), sold out several times the Amsterdam Paradiso and were the only current band to feature in the soft rock TV documentary "I Can Go For That" on the BBC. Like the two predecessors, "Canyons" was once again composed, recorded and produced by Platts & Lee in their London studio. A striking feature this time is the brass arranged by Nichol Thomson (Incognito, Robbie Williams, Annie Lennox, Gregory Porter). The ten new songs are an incredible journey through all facets of the golden era of soft rock between 1974 and 1984. "Who Needs Words", "Long Distance Love Affair" or "Things We Left Unsaid" could also be found on albums by genre heroes like Pages, Stylus and Player. "Dream Woman" has a Chicago touch, "Danny Jamaica" is perhaps the crazy theme music of a lost TV series from the 1970s.

A real AOR album includes the great ballad ("All This Love") and top pop hits ("Kids", "Private Paradise"). "Canyons" refers to the importance of the valleys around Los Angeles to the West Coast sound: Some of the most important albums of the 1970s were created in Topanga and Laurel Canyon, they were simply mystical, magical places. Even if Platts & Lee were not there, their "canyons" transport this magic into the present.

“Rides Again” is Shawn Lee’s first vocal and songwriter album since “Harmonium”, released in Japan only in 2005, and is a very personal journey into the world of soul-inspired country music. “Rides Again” has been in the making for a few years, Shawn Lee explains: “Yes, this record has had quite a long gestation period. The opening song ‘Wichita’ was written and recorded way back in 2007!” With every passing year Lee vowed to write and record more songs with a ‘Country’ feeling in view of finishing a complete album, but always got too busy with other projects. 2019 arrived and the American born and London based singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, arranger and filmmaker decided that the time was now. Recorded and arranged very quickly in stolen hours from other recording and touring commitments. The songs came together intuitively and organically. “This is a very reflective and personal album. I am looking back to my childhood in Wichita/Kansas and thinking about where I’m at the present moment and the idea of an unwritten future. I could have only made this album at this point of my life”, Shawn Lee says. Musically Country & Soul music share common vocabulary and “Rides Again” illustrates this in its own personal way.

“I was inspired by people like Tony Joe White, JJ Cale, Glen Campbell, Rob Galbraith and Hoover to name but a few. I grew up with Country music all around me and it only makes sense that some of that fused in my musical DNA.” Recorded in London at Shawn Lee’s studio by long time engineer Pierre Duplan, it features Shawn playing all most all of the instrumentals with haunting pedal steel by Joe Harvey-Whyte, Carwyn Ellis (The Pretenders, Edwyn Collins) on keyboards in two songs plus Andy Ross on saxophone and Everton Nelson on violin on one song. “I’m really proud of this record and damn glad I finally finished it!” Definitely: Shawn Lee is ‘still on the line’.

The weekender is a very British thing, particularly combined with that other very British subculture: northern soul. When the first National Soul Weekender took place in Caister in 1979, some ways of celebrating the rare soul music scoring the scene had already been well established: sweaty all-nighters happened all over the country, where dedicated dancers and collectors met and kept the fire burning. And all-dayers came into being, allowing the people to indulge in their passion in different places, with less strict licensing obligations. The clues were all there. British people liked the idea to escape their urban working lives to the seaside on weekends. And the mod culture, always strongly related to soul music, followed suit, partying (and sometimes fighting) on coastal promenades, beaches and clubs, as immortalized by tabloid headlines, and a certain rock concept album plus movie. The brilliant idea in Caister, however, was to combine all-nighters and all-dayers, and given the unreliability of the British weather, the concept was due for success. If it rained, you just danced in a club, and other places. If not, you had fun at sea, and then danced, day and night, the whole weekend. Across the North Sea in Germany, it seemed like only matter of time that all this would catch on.

And indeed, when the British mod revival of the late 1970s hit continental shores, it ran through open doors, and the soul part established itself as a subculture as stubborn and ardent. The German weekenders followed a different path though. Starting in 1990 in Berlin and then led by annual events in Nürnberg and later Bamberg, Dresden, Leipzig, Bremen, München, Aachen and more, the locations were in cities. Hamburg is located very near to the UK and accordingly anglophile, and came fully equipped with a sizeable harbour and airport, and so what happened in the UK arguably left a quicker and bigger mark there than elsewhere in Germany. The city also had a long tradition of dancing to soul music to rely on, and a vital club culture, with a long string of cherished soul nights like the Soul Allnighter at Kir, Shelter Club, For Dancers Only and more recently The Soul Seven, Motte Allnighter, Cole Slaw Club, Cool Cat Club and 45 Degrees, just to name a few. But, strangely enough, it had no soul weekender. In 2007 this changed, when Ralf Mehnert and Jan Drews Tarazi established the Hamburg Soul Weekender, with Tolbert taking care of the all-dayer part. As the three of them were longtime respected DJs and collectors, the weekender had notable line-ups right from the start, and every year a thousand international, national and local soul enthusiasts gather in the storied venue Gruenspan in the seminal Reeperbahn area, to dance and party to the finest 60s and 70s northern soul, modern soul, funk, r&b and other related trends within the scene that were always spotted early on, and with a keen eye. The music has been played by over 120 top of the league DJs from all over the globe so far, and it was always spread across a long weekend of two all-nighters, one all-dayer, a boat cruise through the harbour and an after party. This schedule surely gives leeway to play a whole lot of music, and this compilation can only offer a mere glimpse of all the tunes that got the loyal crowds moving, but it is a heartfelt thank-you to all the dancers who have attended so far, however often they return. And for those who have not witnessed the magic of the Hamburg Soul Weekender yet, please consider this an invitation. 500 handnumbered copies, limited edition

With the release of their first two albums and live shows supporting Snarky Puppy, Roy Ayers, Marcus Miller, Larry Mizell & the Blackbyrds, Butcher Brown, Yellowjackets and more, Resolution 88 have already established themselves as one of the UK’s leading exponents of funk jazz. Their music is synonymous with the silky, buttery sound of the Fender Rhodes. They’re also a bona fide band, a refreshing change in a musical world increasingly occupied by online collaborations and viral videos. They’re best mates who love to hang out, play together and make their own music - that sincerity is evident in their songs and their chemistry on stage. ‘Revolutions’ represents a lot of firsts - the first time Resolution 88 have recorded to multi-track tape, the first time that they’ve included a real string and brass section, the first time they’ve included special guests on record and the first time they’ve pressed an album on vinyl. Imagine a combination of an undiscovered Herbie Hancock album from the mid’ 70’s, rare-groove samples from the golden era of hip hop (ATCQ, Pharcyde etc) and the new London sound of bands like Yussef Kamaal. Every track on ‘Revolutions’ represents an aspect of music on vinyl. On ‘Pitching Up’ you hear the DJ pitch the record up from 33rpm to 45rpm.

‘Out Of Sync’ simulates a clumsy attempt at beat matching. The hypnotic, circling sax line that opens the title track ‘Revolutions’ (echoed by the strings at the end) evokes the mesmerizing sensation of watching the record label artwork whirling as it spins on the platter. ‘Runout Groove’ fades in and out; the drumbeat mimics the distinctive, perpetual rhythm tapped out by the stylus as it reaches the runout groove. On the second side, ‘Sample Hunter’ unexpectedly deviates from the main section into Rhodes-drenched interludes; the type of moment that producers searched high and low for back when hip hop was great. Marcus Tenney’s (Butcher Brown) lyrics on ‘Dig Deep’ are all about the thrill of digging for records and ‘Matrix’ is inspired by the hidden messages sometimes left in the matrix markings on record pressings. On ‘Tracking Force’, you can hear the beat twist and morph as the stylus skates over the record. Finally, ‘Warped Memories’ closes out the album with a wistful, melancholy melody. Sit back with a glass of Japanese whisky and a Cuban cigar (or whatever your chosen poison is), stick the album on and enjoy it from start to finish - although if you’re listening to it on vinyl, you’ll need to get up to turn it over to the B-side.

In 2015 US soul, boogie and disco legend Jay W. McGee teamed up with Hamburg producer, multi-talented musician and DJ Julian "Mzuzu" Romeike to record McGee's comeback album "Good Feeling". Even though both artists are from two totally different generations, they got on so well with each other after the official re-release of Jay W. McGee's classic 12inch "Turn Me On" on Légère Recordings two years before that they started to write and record together. After all, it was Julian "Mzuzu" Romeike himself who made Jay W. McGee return to the music business after nearly 15 years of silence. The creative process did not stop with "Good Feeling": "We now have a brilliant combination of fresh songs. Many different accurate beats and of course Jay’s incredible writing and singing skills," says Romeike. "I feel that it’s a great combination of dedication, skills and talent which made this album possible. I work on some grooves and hooks for Jay, he picks the ones he likes and returns a proper song with vocals and arrangement. My production team, The Unbelievable Two, then work on the final mix." "Smooth Crusing" hints towards McGee's classic late seventies sought after sounds like "When We Party" with the first "Uptown, Downtown". The album also includes some reggae touches and smooth soul excursions.

"It is such a big pleasure to work with these guys as everything works perfectly together," comments a happy Jay W. McGee. "It has all the ingredients for a classic album. It’s funky and soulful, recorded in a unique modern style. We have a tribute to the good old funky music with 'Old School Love'. A lover's rock orientated tune with 'Chance I Have To Take' and some kind of up to date Afro-Disco-Soul with 'Bounce Back To Me'. And of course, 'Smooth Cruising' is full of funk!"

Jazz funk and gritty rare grooves ensemble from down under - Kerbside Collection - return with their third record Smoke Signals! Continuing in a down home, instrumental approach, but this time combining updated ideas and flavours into their spectrum of warm, analogue, dusty grooves from more frequent fender-rhodes electric jazz elements, to New Orleans sprinklings alongside their 60’s inspired West Coast style. Smoke Signals continues the wilder tones, textures and ‘library’ sounds of extra instrumentation where previous ‘Trash or Treasure’ left off, whilst introducing hints of fusion and cinematic analogue electric colours into the mix - bringing things into slightly early 70s territory. Opening with the lush, chilled, palate of Waiting Game, remeniscent of some classic Air ‘Moon Safari’ grooves, before the album properly begins with a fresh rendition of the rhodes heavy Cedar Walton 70’s jazz funk classic ‘Jacob’s Ladder’. Then straight into the street-styled jazzbongo breaks and funky-flute of ‘Traffic’, a skankin’ New Orleans reggae homage to one of its finest Creole dishes, featuring funky hammond organ curtosy of guest Jake Mason (Cookin’ on 3 Burners/Jake Mason Trio) and tasty piano work from multi instrumentalist Andrew Fincher who handles both guitar and keys on the whole record.

The middle of the record comes with a steaming afro funk workout, and a low slung N’awlins styled blues ‘n’ soul groover, both featuring the fruity, low-end brass action of Papa Joe on baritone sax, before taking a gentle, restfull breather with the delightful, soulful, rhodes ballad ‘Little Mountain’; and a ‘waltz-jazz-wig-out’ attributed to their label’s A&R Mr Mellow (remeniscent of some humerous UK acid jazz ala Corduroy and James Taylor Quartet) featuring some beautiful jazzy flugelhorn, and acoustic double bass. The album wraps up with another cover - a grittier reinterpretation and arrangement of a Bob James 80s jazzfunk classic ‘Westchester Lady’ complete with funky flute and soaring guitar solo, before closing with the explosive rock-funk workout and title track ‘Smoke Signals’ (another car reference)........ rounding out a record with a full spectrum of handmade raw jazzfunk, soul, funky reggae, library and gritty rare grooves....enjoy! “Power funk & timeless grooves...” (Phil - Wicked Jazz Sounds / NL)

“Afrokraut II: The Lowbrow Manifesto” returns to the place where David Nesselhauf imagined a world of peace, unity and impossible dreams with the release of “Afrokraut” in 2016. Now, with “Afrokraut II” David Nesselhauf expands into space. David Nesselhauf is unlike any other musician, producer and arranger you know. Through the tiny window of his laboratory he observes the stars. Using self-made antennas and ancient tape machines, he records electromagnetic waves sent from outer space. Played in reverse at triple speed he manages to decode the information herein without much use of psychoactive substances. On “The Lowbrow Manifesto” Nesselhauf collects these fragments and tells stories from a future mankind which seems to live scattered across the universe. They communicate their secret thoughts and wishes through music, painting a picture about what is to come for us all. Using a colourful palette of sounds, selected stories got further enhanced by David Nesselhauf to a digestible, funky and contagious new album. „Afrokraut II: The Lowbrow Manifesto“ documents Nesselhauf’s journey backwards through future, dedicating his work to the heritage of “Afrokraut” history, a brief episode when Krautrock got funky (and David Nesselhauf wasn‘t even born at that time).

As with the first episode of “Afrokraut”, good friends appear as guest musicians: Lucas Kochbeck and Axel Feige (both, like Nesselhauf himself, members of Diazpora) and Soulamadou, patron of Nesselhauf‘s favourite club, the Souledge in Hamburg/Germany.

"Tough as hell. Hard German Funk, like the younger siblings of The Poets Of Rhythm in their prime & that really is a good thing." (Boca 45) "Funky as a Junkie with a pet monkey." (Shawn Lee) When you are in with Uebertribe, there is no misleading: „We make no fuss and there is no need to discuss. With us, it is all about funk,“ says Legbo, guitarist extraordinaire and head of the freaky funk collective from Hamburg. „Brand New U“ is their debut album and yes, it is very much about finding your direction, and being – or sometimes not being - in peace with yourself and the world around you. „The concept of Uebertribe has been in mind for about 10 years now. At that time I was playing with Diazpora and it was already clear, that we would never be able to finish all ideas that we had - life is short and they were just too many,“ Legbo recalls. „Apparently I needed another funk band, and while touring with a hip hop band, I found a drummer - Martin Kahl - who just felt right.“ Uebertribe can be seen as an offspring of Hamburg funk scene - a lively witches brew of underground parties, bands and musicians. Their early pre-incarnation was visible during the legendary „We Call It Funk“ session series in 2011, where they played many unfairly unknown funk treasures including some cover versions of the Nineties German funk band Zappelbude (which consisted of German jazz legends, pianist Robert Di Gioia and drummer Wolfgang Haffner).

Same year later - in November 2011 - Uebertribe was born. The first single, though, in true funk style, was an instrumental. „Game Over“ was released on the Hamburg specialist 7inch label Our Label Records, with a released party hosted in the newly re-opened Mojo Club. Uebertribe continued playing live but focussed on recording the songs for the debut album, produced by Dennis Rux in his fully analogue Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Studios. The result is a bona fide funk album, rough and raw. A newly recorded version of „Game Over“ sets the pace, followed by the staccato rhythms of the title track and the slow and badass grooving „Shake“. After the psychedelic, Asian style and heavy horn excursion of „Ying Yang Kutsk“ Uebertribe show they have some pop appeal with the Prince tribute and first single „Purple Pearl“. „Don’t Treble Me“ would work well on a late Sixties hippie festival, while the lazy and catchy „I Won’t Go To Bed“ lives up to its title. „In A Matter Of Seconds“ takes on some pace and leads towards the furious closing number which is „The Thief“, sounding like a theme tune of a lost Sixties movie. „We have our roots in raw funk. But we also love Afrobeat, P-Funk and Jazz,“ Legbo explains. „To be honest, we try to put some Voodoo on all of it, if you know what I mean.“ While Uebertribe now established themselves as a consistent live act and went through some personal changes, drummer Martin Kahl, bassist Daniel Vorpahl and guitarist Legbo started writing their own new songs and added Jamaican born singer Ray Darwin, who has been living and recording in Germany for some years as their fresh regular vocalist not yet featured on „Brand New U“, but in all future releases and live shows.

Young Gun Silver Fox are the captains of AM Waves, setting sail towards an isle where melodies soak the shoreline and grooves sway like palm trees. Their route traces a natural progression from West End Coast, an album that cast Andy Platts (Young Gun) and Shawn Lee (Silver Fox) as musical virtuosos of SoCal-infused pop. AM Waves does more than duplicate the perfection of West End Coast. It improves it. Recorded at The Shop in London and Roffey Hall in the English countryside, AM Waves burnishes the blend between the duo's modern aesthetic and their sumptuously crafted homage to '70s-styled pop, rock, and soul. "This music hits a certain spot for me personally that nothing else quite does," says Shawn, who produced the album amidst his projects for Saint Etienne, Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra, and several other acts. "It's real high-caliber music. It's easy and breezy to listen to but it's really hard to make. Every aspect is A game." The A game behind AM Waves fuels 43 minutes of Young Gun Silver Fox in peak form. "AM Waves is much more instinctive," says Andy, whose penchant for writing irresistible hooks and melodies also shapes his role as lead singer and lyricist/composer for the band Mamas Gun. "It's more vivid. You can see the clarity to the colors of AM Waves whereas West End Coast is slightly more impressionist, as it were.

" Originally issued as a single in September 2017, "Midnight in Richmond" is the anchor of AM Waves. "I hit one chord, which I'd never played before, and the song sort of wrote itself," notes Shawn. "It was intuitive. In many ways, the primary function of what I'm doing is trying to find that chord that opens a door and takes you someplace else. Those chords have magic." Andy embellishes the song's appeal by nimbly juxtaposing wistful emotions with a sun-kissed melody, his voice evoking richly drawn memories. The qualities that make "Midnight in Richmond" an instant classic abound throughout the album. "Lenny" and "Take It or Leave It" spotlight Andy's versatility as a songwriter. The former was inspired by a dream he had where Lenny Kravitz owned a bar. "It was surreal," he says. "He was polishing the glasses and just serving me hit after hit." Like swimming through moonshine, Andy languorously savors every syllable in the song. "Take It or Leave It" is pure pop bliss. "That was one of those songs that fell out in half an hour," he says. "I had everything and it was done." Shawn adds, "It's such a perfect song in itself. When I listen to it, it's like you've created a record that already existed." Young Gun Silver Fox introduce a five-piece horn section on "Underdog" that literally trumpets the song's protagonist. Shawn affectionately dubbed them the "Seaweed Horns" in honor of the Seawind Horns, an LA-based unit that recorded with powerhouses like Michael Jackson, Rufus & Chaka Khan, and Earth, Wind & Fire during the late-'70s. Andy explains, "The horns grab another hue of the west coast sound, which is the starting point, but it's also maybe the point where we're injecting a little bit more of ourselves and some outside colors into the familiar west coast palette." A bounty of treasures course through AM Waves' ebb and flow. "Mojo Rising," which the duo penned with Rob Johnson, is a veritable retreat to paradise. "Sky-bound, heaven sent / Way above the clouds watching shooting stars descend," Andy sings, mirroring the music's celestial undertones. Sensuality contours the notes on "Just a Man," a song that basks in the allure of a woman who leaves "footprints on the water" while "Love Guarantee" is festooned with the Seaweed Horns. "I wanted to bring more of that R&B slickness into the mix," Shawn notes about the latter track. "We hadn't done a tune with that sort of groove." Similar to his work on "Underdog," Nichol Thomson's intricate horn arrangement on "Love Guarantee" exemplifies another distinction between AM Waves and its predecessor. "Caroline" occupies a special place on AM Waves, beyond spawning the album title. It tells the story of Radio Caroline, a pirate radio station that broadcast from an offshore vessel during the '60s and '70s. "They played the music that kids wanted to hear, whether it was the old stuff or cutting edge stuff," says Andy. "'Caroline' is about Radio Caroline's eventual capture." Complementing Andy Platts' deft wordplay, which draws parallels between radio airwaves and the station's literal home on the ocean, Shawn Lee layers nearly a dozen different parts on "Caroline," showcasing the vastness of his musicality. "I loved that track as soon as I heard it," Andy continues. "It's a beautiful fusion of me and Shawn."

Do you like Love songs? After spending a lifetime spent avoiding this subject in song, Joel Sarakula finally admits that he does. On his new album „Love Club“ Sarakula relives the golden age of Soulful and Romantic Pop music and connects it with a modern aesthetic. While a deeper message of love and peace flows through the record, Joel Sarakula is no old fashioned hippie: “‚Love Club’ is about connecting to reality and re-framing the idea of romantic love and loss in the present, loveless age ”. Featuring eleven songs touching all genres from disco to blues, from soul to soft-rock, Joel Sarakula’s “Love Club” is a profound pop statement. Joel Sarakula has travelled the world in search of his muse, experiencing everything from being a victim of Caribbean carjackings to performing in the remote fishing villages of Norway, via the dive bars of Europe and the US. It was the hodge-podge musical tapestry of England’s capital that finally drew him to a settling point, in the wake of seemingly never ending run of shows. With personal tastes that span from the more avant-garde to soul and pop greats like Sly Stone, Todd Rundgren and Hall & Oates, there are clear nods to contemporaries like Unkown Mortal Orchestra, Erlend Oye and Toro Y Moi in terms of ambition and style.

With his last two albums “The Golden Age” and “The Imposter” collecting strong radio plays at BBC Radio 2, BBC 6, BBC London, XFM Joel Sarakula has been play-listed nationally in Europe including Flux FM, WDR 5, Radioeins, Bayern 2, Deutschlandfunk and Deutschland Kultur Radio in Germany as well as in Benelux and Italy and Spain. He is a regular fixture on the live festival and club circuit in the UK, Europe and internationally including appearances at SXSW, Primavera Sound, Glastonbury, The Great Escape, Liverpool Sound City, Scala London, Tallinn Music Week, V-ROX (Vladivostok) and Reeperbahnfestival Hamburg. “Love Club” is Sarakula's bold and unashamedly emotional next step. In essence the album is a homage to the soulful singer & songwriter artistry of the Seventies filtered through a darker contemporary lens - fitting for these uncertain times. “I always shied away from generic love songs,” the Sydney, Australia born songwriter admits, “but on this record I embraced the subject wholeheartedly... and intellectually, looking at themes of love, lust, loneliness and everything in-between.” Take the first single “In Trouble”, co-written with Michele Stodart of The Magic Numbers, as the best example for Joel Sarakula’s unique, and honest approach to making music. „We Used To Connect” questions the changing nature of relationships in our social-media addicted world: ‘We used to connect in the real world too, now the touch of your hand is a digital cue'. “Coldharbour Man”, on the other hand, examines the identity of the song's narrator and the artist vs. fan dynamic all wrapped up in a disco love song: “There's a lot going on in this particular track. I feel my writing has grown emotionally...”, explains Joel Sarakula. “Just best to listen yourself and make up your own interpretation!: 'We met in a song come to life like some fantasy cliché, though I'm known for my moves in the dark you flooded sunshine on my day'. Then there’s “Baltic Jam”, capturing romantic love and loss in authentic 70s confessional singer & songwriter style and of course “Dead Heat”, a song about how there is struggle in the most perfect relationship pairings as the match is so even: “I recall an ex-girlfriend of mine... when we first met, we thought we hated each other but we eventually flipped that emotion and realised we had a deep passion and love for each other, there just was a lot of underlying sexual tension!” : 'It's a battle we could only win, if we lose. We'd be stronger if these lonely ones became two'. More than a year in the making, Joel Sarakula recorded „Love Club“ in various studios around London and Berlin capturing soulful performances from his many musical comrades on vintage analogue equipment. “This record has truly been a labour of love. Recording and privately sharing these performances amongst my collaborators started to feel like a bit like a club – I guess that lead to the album title! I was surprised how much I actually enjoyed the ‘love-making process’ and I look so much forward to playing these new songs on stage with my band.” We can’t wait, Joel Sarakula.

Do you like Love songs? After spending a lifetime spent avoiding this subject in song, Joel Sarakula finally admits that he does. On his new album „Love Club“ Sarakula relives the golden age of Soulful and Romantic Pop music and connects it with a modern aesthetic. While a deeper message of love and peace flows through the record, Joel Sarakula is no old fashioned hippie: “‚Love Club’ is about connecting to reality and re-framing the idea of romantic love and loss in the present, loveless age ”. Featuring eleven songs touching all genres from disco to blues, from soul to soft-rock, Joel Sarakula’s “Love Club” is a profound pop statement. Joel Sarakula has travelled the world in search of his muse, experiencing everything from being a victim of Caribbean carjackings to performing in the remote fishing villages of Norway, via the dive bars of Europe and the US. It was the hodge-podge musical tapestry of England’s capital that finally drew him to a settling point, in the wake of seemingly never ending run of shows. With personal tastes that span from the more avant-garde to soul and pop greats like Sly Stone, Todd Rundgren and Hall & Oates, there are clear nods to contemporaries like Unkown Mortal Orchestra, Erlend Oye and Toro Y Moi in terms of ambition and style.

With his last two albums “The Golden Age” and “The Imposter” collecting strong radio plays at BBC Radio 2, BBC 6, BBC London, XFM Joel Sarakula has been play-listed nationally in Europe including Flux FM, WDR 5, Radioeins, Bayern 2, Deutschlandfunk and Deutschland Kultur Radio in Germany as well as in Benelux and Italy and Spain. He is a regular fixture on the live festival and club circuit in the UK, Europe and internationally including appearances at SXSW, Primavera Sound, Glastonbury, The Great Escape, Liverpool Sound City, Scala London, Tallinn Music Week, V-ROX (Vladivostok) and Reeperbahnfestival Hamburg. “Love Club” is Sarakula's bold and unashamedly emotional next step. In essence the album is a homage to the soulful singer & songwriter artistry of the Seventies filtered through a darker contemporary lens - fitting for these uncertain times. “I always shied away from generic love songs,” the Sydney, Australia born songwriter admits, “but on this record I embraced the subject wholeheartedly... and intellectually, looking at themes of love, lust, loneliness and everything in-between.” Take the first single “In Trouble”, co-written with Michele Stodart of The Magic Numbers, as the best example for Joel Sarakula’s unique, and honest approach to making music. „We Used To Connect” questions the changing nature of relationships in our social-media addicted world: ‘We used to connect in the real world too, now the touch of your hand is a digital cue'. “Coldharbour Man”, on the other hand, examines the identity of the song's narrator and the artist vs. fan dynamic all wrapped up in a disco love song: “There's a lot going on in this particular track. I feel my writing has grown emotionally...”, explains Joel Sarakula. “Just best to listen yourself and make up your own interpretation!: 'We met in a song come to life like some fantasy cliché, though I'm known for my moves in the dark you flooded sunshine on my day'. Then there’s “Baltic Jam”, capturing romantic love and loss in authentic 70s confessional singer & songwriter style and of course “Dead Heat”, a song about how there is struggle in the most perfect relationship pairings as the match is so even: “I recall an ex-girlfriend of mine... when we first met, we thought we hated each other but we eventually flipped that emotion and realised we had a deep passion and love for each other, there just was a lot of underlying sexual tension!” : 'It's a battle we could only win, if we lose. We'd be stronger if these lonely ones became two'. More than a year in the making, Joel Sarakula recorded „Love Club“ in various studios around London and Berlin capturing soulful performances from his many musical comrades on vintage analogue equipment. “This record has truly been a labour of love. Recording and privately sharing these performances amongst my collaborators started to feel like a bit like a club – I guess that lead to the album title! I was surprised how much I actually enjoyed the ‘love-making process’ and I look so much forward to playing these new songs on stage with my band.” We can’t wait, Joel Sarakula.

Eddie Roberts started his music career in 1989 aged 18, having left his Welsh homeland to study Jazz at Leeds College of Music. More interested in live performing and getting his own thing going than in college work, he quickly rooted out the best players in town and set up his first band, The Jazz Mailmen, dedicated to playing the golden era of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. After transcribing all the parts and enforcing a dress code of Bop suits, he set about taking the UK Jazz Dance scene by storm. During this time British Hard Bop legend Tommy Chase asked him to relocate and join his band, but Eddie had other ideas. Following his early bands The Eddie Roberts Organisation and The Three Deuces Eddie's focus shifted towards Deep Funk, the New Mastersounds were born and released their first album on Keb Darge’s Deep Funk Records. The rest is history, with six full albums recorded and an impressive history of live shows around the world. Eddie's love for 60s Blue Note & Hard Bop didn't waver despite the media hype of the Deep Funk scene. Soon Eddie was commissioned to produce a Hard Bop track for the Jazz dancers to go on Adrian Gibson’s renowned 'Messin Around' compilation. This project turned into the „Roughneck“ album, released summer 2004 on the NMS’ One Note Records label.

"Trenta", released early 2007 on Salvo’s Records, features instrumental arrangements of traditional Neopolitan songs. Eddie stayed busy that year playing with Papa Mali, Johnny Vidocavitch, Idris Muhammed and The Greyboy Allstars. „Is that all?“ Eddie Roberts asked in 2009 and the answer was simple: No! Légère Recordings had a good look on Eddie’s extensive back catalogue and released „An Introduction To Eddie Roberts“, showcasing his work from the early days up to the present. Following the releasse The New Mastersounds played their first German shows since many years. When in Spain during the same year Eddie joined forces with The Sweet Vandals’ rhythm section, adding Chip Wickham’s (Nightmares On Wax, Rae & Christian, The Pharcyde) world-class flute and Taz Modi’s funktastic organ from Leeds/UK, and he sensed that this could be the beginning of something special. „Burn!“ is the proof that his feelings were true. The Fire Eaters, as the combo was now called, recorded the album produced by Eddie Roberts himself in 2010, completed 12 tracks including a good number of Eddie Roberts originals as well as their versions of classic acid jazz & soul tunes like „I Believe In Miracles“, the „Lope Song“

Gemma & the Travellers give a nod to the early deep Soul, R&B, Northern Soul and Funk of the Sixties but add a refreshing twist with their unique songwriting. With her powerful and distinctive voice, Gemma M. is a true Soul woman who left the south of Italy as a teenager with a small bag in her hand and a bit of cash in her back pocket. Travelling through Europe, she met Robert P., an Anglo-Swedish guitarist living in Germany at the time and formed a travelling duo, which ended up returning to Robert’s hometown London. After many years getting sick and tired of the city’s distractions, they looked for a more creative environment beside the sea and fell in love with Northern Brittany, where they formed the band Gemma & the Travellers with friends and musicians from down the road. Contrary to the “Motown” or “manufactured” model where the singer is rarely the songwriter, Gemma M. writes all of her songs with the help of Robert P. on the guitar. Her influences are Aretha Franklin and Julie Driscoll - genuine vibrations where life is your own creation! Recorded live at Lemoncake Studios in northern Brittany, producer Robert P. strived for an authentic and original Soul sound with a certain crunchiness and analogue distortion, like that of an old vinyl from the Sixties without falling under the overused retro banner.

The title track of Gemma & The Travellers’ debut album “Too Many Rules & Games” is a song about a woman who has had enough of a world run by the men looking only for their own personal glory and fame. Love is the answer to the problems of this world! “Where I lived before” is another highlight: “I am looking back at the years of my upbringing living in the south of Italy, a juxtapose of poverty, injustice and hardship with all the beauty of the land and warmth of the people; it was hard to be a teenager there as my mum would not let me go out, which amplified the rebel in me,” Gemma explains. In 2015, the band played their live debut at London Jazz Café, opening for the Craig Charles’ “Funk & Soul Show”, who then described the band’s sound as a “tasty little nugget of Soul”.

Soul funk powerhouse Nick Pride & The Pimptones return with their second album on Légère Recordings. “Go Deep” mixes their trademark jazzy sophistication with a gritty retro sound. Following on from the instrumental heavy "Midnight Feast of Jazz" (Record Kicks, 2011) and the diverse "Rejuiced Phat Shake" (Légère Recordings, 2014), "Go Deep" is a more focussed and consistent affair. As always with The Pimptones there's a heavy dose of funk, but this album's personality comes from ten strongly written slices of deep soul music, beautifully delivered by singer Beth Macari. "I wanted to get back to basics", says writer and arranger Nick Pride. "My aim was to be as direct as possible from the original inspiration of each song right through to the recording process. I wanted to keep that energy and that magic. We've had some great collaborations in the past but this time I kept everything in-house to capture the excitement of the band playing together. You really get that vibe when you hear these recordings." The result is an album of depth and substance from a band continuing to evolve. The Pimptones’ sound has always been a profound combination of funky grooves, beefy breaks and blue eyed soul. Slick arrangements and harmonic sophistication delivered with a heavyweight punch crosses over from jazz to keep the dance floor moving.

A Pimptones live show kicks off with tight, punchy instrumentals, making way to sweetly crafted soul songs as they are joined on stage by one of many fantastic guest vocalists. However in 2016 the band has flipped the script by taking on sultry soul siren Beth Macari as their full time vocalist. Having first made a guest appearance with the group on “Rejuiced Phat Shake”, Beth’s supercharged R&B vocal style is the perfect match for the Pimptones’ deep funk sound. Formed back in 2007, the group first caught the eye of funk fans around the world with their single "Deeper Pimp" on Wack Records. The track was the first of the group’s “Live-Band Bootlegs”, an acapella fused with original live backing, a unique approach to the mash-up genre, and a show stopping live feature. In 2010 The Pimptones broke through with the single “Waitin’ So Long”, a song which was used extensively on Italian mainstream rom-com “Lezioni di Cioccolato 2”, and accompanying album “Midnight Feast of Jazz”. This global success was quickly followed up by the digital release of “Remixed Feast of Jazz”, including collaborations with TM Juke, Diesler, Smoove and Renegades of Jazz. The focus of The Pimptones’ sound shifted from instrumental jazz to the soul sound of 2014’s “Rejuiced Phat Shake” album which featured many guest vocalists and musicians, finely crafted melodies, dance-floor beats and killer hooks.