Silver Linings
So Good To You

Obscure 1980s Brazilian lo-fi synth LP re-issued and remastered for the first time.Soundway Records delivers a beautifully remastered reissue of Brazilian duo Grupo Controle Digital’s only album, “A Festa É Nossa”. First released in 1988, the album is now housed in a tip-on heavyweight sleeve with restored artwork.With the title track “A Festa É Nossa” having circulated the last few years in the DJ sets of influential tastemakers, the album has become highly sought after by electronic fans and collectors alike. Lo-fi synths and cruising bass lines permeate the record, influenced by the group’s Brazilian contemporaries at the time such as Tim Maia, Cláudio Zoli, Secos E Molhados, and rock outfit Made In Brazil.Band members Billy Jaguar and Gel Valiery regularly performed in various groups in São Paulo throughout the 80s and 90s, but after Gel passed away, Grupo Controle Digital was no more - the band and the album faded into obscurity and Billy became a priest, working with gospel music. It remained that way until Brazilian DJ Millos Kaiser (from label Selva Discos, and one half of Brazilian street party organisers Selvagem) tracked down the remaining member of the group to be able to include one of their tracks on the highly anticipated Soundway compilation “Onda De Amor: Synthesized Brazilian Hits That Never Were (1984-94)”, which was released in July 2018.

Extremely rare, under the radar afro-psychedelic LP from South Africa. This mysterious band was produced by African funk master, composer, guitarist and producer Almon Sandisa Memela, who was active since the mid 1950s, first as a musician and guitar teacher and then also as a producer. He is famous for his 1970s Afro funk works Funky Africa and the very sought after Broken Shoes.Action features a cool mixture of incipient afro-funk and garage pop/psych, with one of its songs having been compiled on the famous Next Stop... Soweto compilation series that helped ignite the current fever for African music.

Melbourne-based producer Andras Fox (A.r.t. Wilson) creates a tactile and unique form of antipodean funk that feels equally informed by garage house and new age musical traditions. His productions sound appropriate on both the dance floor and in the lounge, boasting a casual danceability and mood that seamlessly adapts to both environs. On Vibrate On Silent, Wilson creates g-funk with a surf sensibility; congas, shakers, electro-acoustic melodies coalesce with grooves, subtle hooks and a laid-back, oceanic ambience. Wilson's arrangements are spacious and deceptively simple - layers are built up and stripped down, with the rhythm track providing a solid framework for jazzy/improvised flourishes. Opener "Ankle Snapper" begins with a politely funky bass line, adding handclaps and a casual house beat that is gradually adorned with cowbell and midi-saxophone. "Pontoon" pushes the g-funk agenda further, coming across like Dr. Dre driving top-down along the Great Ocean Road. Elsewhere, "Driftwood" and "Mystic Beach" allude to Wilson''s prior dabblings in new age.