The Ensemble Al-Salaam
The Sojourner

Epitomising the very best of their hometown’s unparalleled musical heritage, Dames Brown are no strangers to the extended Defected family following the recent release of slick, funk-filled record ‘What Would You Do?’As well as joining the Glitterbox crew in 2018 and appearing at Defected Croatia 2019, the Detroit trio continuously impress with their exquisite production, striking lyricism and a hefty dose of house authenticity.Now Athena Johnson, Teresa Marbury and LaRae Starr step out to properly introduce themselves to the wax lovers. Releasing their new record ‘Introducing Dames Brown’ on 7”, plus an instrumental, Detroit’s finest deliver a taste of what’s to come on their forthcoming album, capturing funk, house and soul from across the spectrum.

Residing in Rio de Janeiro, Vasconcelos Sentimento is a self-taught composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist. A mosaic of lo-fi breaks, cosmic ambient jazz and wonky chromatic funk, the eccentric Brazilian DIY wizard’s debut album Furto beautifully pieces together a huge range of seemingly disparate sonic elements. Calling himself an “amateur euphoric sound researcher”, he has no formal training in either music theory or production, and it’s simply by following his ear that has led him to creating his debut album for Far Out Recordings.It was his fascination with his fellow countryman, the enigmatic, psychedelic 70s folk artist Jose Mauro, that led the young Vasconcelos Sentimento (real name Guilherme Esteves) to first make contact with Far Out. Coincidentally living in the same region as Mauro, Sentimento managed to track him down and put label boss Joe Davis in touch, after Davis had spent years of what felt like hopeless searching for the man many assumed dead.When Joe and the Far Out team heard Guilhermes’ own music, there was a sense of shock. “It was unlike anything we’d heard before, but it also sounded curiously at home on Far Out. Like it had taken little pieces of different releases from the catalogue, and all the music from the ‘60s onwards that influences everything we do, and recreated all that magic in such an exciting new way”.Indeed, Sentimento is not afraid to admit what he himself sees as acts of theft. (Furto=Theft in Portuguese). But while the debate surrounding the ethics of sampling is a never ending one, Sentimento’s music - while it does contain the odd sample, including an interview with Joe Davis himself, “One For The Masta Digga”) - steals in an entirely different way. His creative process involves an intensive period, in which he’ll listen to just one artist or song over and over, for days and weeks on end. Then he’ll head to his rudimentary bedroom studio, which, as he puts it, is “built for speed”, hit record and “blurt” whatever comes out. “I never spend more than a day working on any one song idea”...Picasso once said “lesser artists borrow; great artists steal”. And it’s through this process of ‘Furto’ that Vasconcelos Sentimento has somewhat ironically cultivated a sound that is unmistakably his own.

Originally recorded in 1971 by Fela Kuti’s band, Africa 70, with the addition of former Cream drummer Ginger Baker, this album contains 4 songs plus a bonus track 16-minute drum duet between Baker and Africa 70’s drummer Tony Allen recorded at the 1978 Berlin Jazz Festival.Label: Knitting Factory Records – KFR2003-3Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue, Stereo, Red Vinyl, LP, Single Sided, Album, Etched, Limited Edition, Reissue, Stereo, Red