The Booty Wood All Stars
Hang In There

Five years after his critically acclaimed debut album Throwback, Glenn Astro returns with his deeply personal album Homespun, releasing on Tartelet Records this October.Marking a change in course from his first release on Tartelet Records, Glenn Astro is set to showcase his sophomore album Homespun, a testament to a visionary artist who has come into his own.Made up of ten tracks spanning 45 minutes, the record twists and turns between electronic meditations, soulful vocals by Ajnascnet, and futuristic electro, carving out a world of spacey eclecticism that is as nostalgic as it is experimental.“This album is in all facets different from the first one, which was a deliberate decision. No vintage sounds and references, no sampling, combined with futuristic sound design and song structures. Less obvious references, more everything else. I tried to keep it as current and intuitive as possible,” he says.Known for his chunky beats and fuzzy textures, Glenn Astro was a key figure in the wave of MPC-heavy house music that spread like wildfire between 2013 and 2015. Since then, he has released on labels such as Ninja Tune and Apollo, leaving a distinctive signature on everything he touches.But Glenn Astro has quietly been crafting a new sound for himself. Sometimes taking detours – morphing into his dark alter ego and experimenting with artist collaborations. The sound of Homespun is a culmination of several years of reflection and artistic development – however, the album itself was produced in less than three months.“I set myself an ultimatum to finish the album within three months. If I didn’t make it, I’d have to rethink my career path and keep music as a hobby. If it wasn’t for this album I’d be selling home-assembled ballpoint pens now,” he says.On the introspective first single and album title track “Homespun,” Ajnascent’s vocals lend a sincerity to the melancholic production. “It’s about the regret of not taking chances and giving in too much, but also about taking responsibility and being honest with yourself. Homespun is a nod to nostalgia and a desire for simplicity and prudence, being equally the culprit and the cure,” elaborates Ajnascent.On “The Yancey,” an homage to J Dilla, Glenn Astro paints his vision of contemporary dance music with shimmering melodies, deep ambient soundscapes, and advanced drum programming. “Moreira” and “Look at You” feel like spaced-out electronic funk hybrids, while “Taking Care of Business” goes back to the future with Glenn Astro’s take on jungle. Other tracks such as “Mezzanine,” “Slow Poke Flange,” and “Viktor’s Meditation” provide the finest dubby electronics.

The late Christian Burchard, who founded the Embryo ensemble in 1969, loved the slogan “Auf Auf,” German for “Up, Up,” or “Keep On Going.” Anyone with anything more than a passing interest in the German Krautock scene of the 1970s and 1980s knows that Burchard followed that intent all around the world, tirelessly seeking out new sounds and inspirations and creating a catalog of music unlike most anything else the world has ever heard.Madlib has often said Embryo is his favorite rock band. Of course the hip-hop producer with the deepest musical knowledge knows Embryo is more than just a rock band.When Marja Burchard, Christan’s daughter, who grew up with Embryo and toured with them for years, took the reins of the ensemble after Christian’s death in 2018, she started recording what would become the album Auf Auf. It was recorded over the course of two years, finishing it in the throes of the Covid pandemic in 2020. She approached Madlib and Egon – who had visited and jammed with Christian Burchard and Embryo musicians years ago in a Bavarian wine cellar – with the idea to issue Auf Auf on Madlib Invazion. The reply was a resounding, definitive yes.So here is Marja’s take on the Embryo ethos, continuing with her father’s intrepid style, and leading the band in her own style. Auf Auf ranges from the deep, free-form jazz of “Alphorn Prayer” to modal music from Afghanistan on “Baran” to psychedelic-tinged jazz-rock of the title track.Joining Marja are those like Embryo veterans Bunka, on oud and guitar, and Karl Hector and the Malcouns/Whitefield Brothers/Poets of Rhythm producer and guitarist Jan Weissenfeldt and others, including important players on the global scene from Afghanistan and Morocco.

Long lost 1968 album from visionary South African jazz composer incorporating traditional African music sources and instruments. Officially licensed from the Nxumalo family and reissued with inner sleeve containing archival photographs and new liner notes by Francis Gooding.Gideon Nxumalo’s Gideon Plays might just be the most mythologised and sought-after LP in the whole South African canon. A sophisticated bop excursion with a distinctive African edge, it was only Nxumalo’s second LP as leader, despite his crucial place in South African jazz history. Pianist Nxumalo was a visionary jazz composer who had recorded regularly during the 1950s, and his 1962 Jazz Fantasia album was the first South African jazz recording to incorporate traditional African musical sources and instruments. But he was also the country’s most significant radio presenter and jazz tastemaker – from 1954 onwards, he had worn the nickname ‘Mgibe’ to introduce ‘This Is Bantu Jazz’, South African radio’s premier jazz show.But in the aftermath of the Sharpeville Massacre in 1961, Nxumalo had been side-lined from radio play, and was eventually sacked for playing records with political meanings. By 1968, he had not been heard on record or airwave for several years. Gideon Plays was a celebrated return to the studio for one of South Africa’s best loved and most forward-thinking jazzmen, and it showcases Nxumalo’s deep understanding of jazz, his brilliant touch as a composer, and his commitment to bringing South Africa’s indigenous sound into the music.However, it was released on the tiny JAS Pride label owned by production impresario Ray Nkwe, and after one pressing in 1968, Gideon Plays fell into the undeserved silence that has obscured so much of the South African jazz discography. It has since become a legend: hardly more than a rumour, it has been bootlegged by the unscrupulous, changed hands for eye-watering sums, and has scarcely been heard outside the circles of the most committed South African jazz devotees. It goes without saying that it has never been released outside South Africa, and even now only a handful of original copies are known to have survived.

On the fourth album of his fusion cycle for the man from the Black Forest, George Duke substantially expanded the number of his colleagues. As before, drummer Leon “Ndugu” Chancler beats as the heart of the rhythm section, and the Brazilian couple, Airto and Flora are again on board. The ten tracks perform a stylistic balancing act. The jittery funk of Chariot and the smooth ballad Someday show off Duke’s soulful vocal flair. Flora Purim crowns the complex Look Into Her Eyes with her spheric sound as she and guitarist George Johnson take care of business on this stratospheric piece with its bluesy electric shuffle. With two high-voltage guitarists (Daryl Stuermer and Byron Miller), That’s What She Said points to the tie between rock and funk. The most eye-opening outing occurs with star guitarist Lee Ritenour stomping on Rokkinrowl, I Don’t Know, and its Hendrix parody. Sister Sirene shows that, naturally, the typical dreamy Duke instrumentals are not left off the album. An almost animistic soundscape is woven into the fabric of Mashavu, and Giant Child Within Us – Ego is a small fusion suite encompassing the spectrum from the classical to the Zappaesque finale. The title piece is indeed a blues, dished out pure and simple – a far cry from the sounds of the preceeding piece with its mountains of synthesizers. Rather, the sultry delta heat, the acoustic simplicity and raw truth of the song prevail – the blues.

Sensational – that’s Frank Hatchett! These words can be found on many of the 16 albums credited to the legendary jazz dancer, choreographer, and teacher to the stars. At the height of his fame in the 1980s, Hatchett’s classes in New York City at the wildly popular Hines-Hatchett studio (now renamed the Broadway Dance Centre) attracted celebrities including Madonna, Brooke Shields, Olivia Newton-John, and Naomi Cambell. Though he hated flying, preferring to cruise in a Corvette from Massachusetts to Manhattan, each week saw Hatchett jet setting for classes and performances around the world.In the highlights compiled on this expansive double LP set, the sounds of Hatchett’s albums run the gamut from disco and funk in the 1970s to electro and proto-techno as they glide through the ’80s. Like many albums in the dance instruction genre, nearly one third of the songs are covers (Prince, Paul Hardcastle, Earth, Wind & Fire, Billy Cobham) and most clock in at a brisk 2:30 – the ideal length for Hatchett’s classes or his students’ recital performances. Fans of library music will find a similar focus on immaculate performances, while the tightly coiled drum breaks, Afro-Cuban rhythms, and thumping 808s will send rare groove collectors into a state of head nodding bliss.

WAR: The Vinyl: 1971-1975 is an exclusive color vinyl boxed set celebrating the 50th anniversary and the first five classic albums from WAR (following the departure of their former lead-singer Eric Burdon). The set showcases WAR’s best-loved albums; WAR, All Day Music, The World Is A Ghetto, Deliver The Word, & Why Can’t We Be Friends?. Each album will be pressed on vinyl for the first time since its original release. Strictly Limited to 5000 exclusively for Record Store Day 2021. Green (disc1), Silver (disc2), Blue (disc3), Orange (disc4) & White (disc5)