THIS WEEK & LAST WEEK
APPLES IN STEREO- CD/LP (+free 12′ bonus record while they last)
MERLE HAGGARD – stunning new one from tha Hag
ROKY ERICKSON & OKKERVIL RIVER CD/LP
DOVES – Best Of
OZOMATLI – CD/LP
XAVIER RUDD
TROMBONE SHORTY
JONNY LANG – Live at The Ryman
SHELBY LYNNE
WILLIE NELSON
INFAMOUS STRING DUSTERS – our pals bring out #3
RUFUS WAINWRIGHT
CALIFORNIA FUNK – various artists CD/LP
CARIBOU CD/LP
TRANS AM CD/LP
GOTAN PROJECT – Tango 3.0 CD/LP
DAVID BALL
KINGS GO FORTH CD/LP
LIARS LP
METH/GHOST/RAE CD/LP
MASTODON CD/LP
AVI BUFFALO CD/LP
CANNED HEAT – dude!!
Rarities Editions:
CLAPTON, CREAM, VELVET UNDERGROUND
PETER FRAMPTON
GOGOL BORDELLO CD/LP
ANDERS OSBORNE
MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER
LIVINGSTON TAYLOR
MYNABIRDS CD/LP

FULL FUNK FEATURE FINALISTS

MADLIB – MEDICINE SHOW No. 4, 420 Chalice All-Stars aka Son Of Super Ape CD
All Jamaican sounds. You’re tuning to your boss D.J. Madlib. Musical disc from the flick of his wrist to make you jump and twist. Madlib control the fullest. Roots. rock. reggae. Good stuff, as I would say.
Dubmaster Gene say low note heaven, crucial vibe ya.

CLUTCHY HOPKINS – The Story Teller CD/LP
Is Clutchy Hopkins an alias? Or is this the true name for a reclusive musical powerhouse? Are his recordings vintage, new, or a mix of both? Some may wonder about these things, along with why some dudes have a long pinky nails or whatever happened to myspace, others may ask if any of this really matters? While the mystery surrounding the artist is no longer news, the music only gets better, maturing like a fine wine. It’s the most varied Hopkins album to date encompassing lots of vocal textures, and a dash of worldly vibes. Check the Brazilian-psyche-like “No Contact…Contact,” and the mad spooky science of “Miles Chillin,” or the shuffling “Thinkin’ of Eva” which would sound perfectly at home playing in a Parisian café. It’s an album influenced by Hopkins time in jail, where, while in the courtyard, he met many international prisoners waiting to be deported. Lo-fi, acoustic, finger- snapping, hand-clapping, whistle-and-hummed jam sessions gave Hopkins the ideas which he later put to tape. The album booklet will include the entire story, unfiltered.

CALIFORNIA FUNK : Rare 45s From The Golden State
Heavyweight funk and soul selectors Jazzman Gerald and Malcom Catto put their funkheads together, picking a prime clutch of 21 ultra rare Funk cuts from the Golden State. Together with the 23-page deep booklet, this is a treasure trove of scorching post-James Brown funk circa late 60s, a vibrant and energetic soundtrack to life in California at that time. As Jazzman makes clear, the area between San Francisco and LA developed its own take on Funk, evolving its own style away from the east coast metropolis’ of Chicago, NYC and Detroit etc. A massively increased black population in California from the 40s onwards required a way to vent its frustrations and joy, and when funk hit in the late 60s it was received as the perfect outlet. Each and every cut here represents this sound to the fullest, from the agitated blast of Ray Frazier & The Shades Of Madness on ‘I Who Have Nothing (Am Somebody)’, to the cooler organ driven Latin influences of ‘Arriba Tipo’ from Enrique Olivarez y Los Vampiros and the seminal scorch of John Heartsman.

KINGS GO FORTH – The Outsiders Are Back CD/LP
Kings Go Forth’s popularity is due in large part to its raw and retro R&B sound, which employs funky backbeats, big horns, three-part vocals, and naturalistic, lo-fi production. —The Onion

Kings Go Forth borrows elements from around the world for its sound, but the distinctive three-vocalist attack helps define the band. —Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

MICHAEL LEONHART & THE AVRAMINA 7: Seahorse and the Storyteller
“Gorgeous splashes of mysterious reverb, Free Design harmonies, and a note-perfect reproduction of the dirty-as-f**k drums people love to sample” —Village Voice

“Close your eyes and you’re transported to the set of “Way of the Dragon” with Bruce Lee, getting ready to whip out karate moves to kick ass in unison with the funk and psychedelic rock sounds of [Leonhart's] ’70s styled music.” —Covers Magazine

MULATU ASTATKE – New York-Addis-London
The Story of Ethio Jazz 1965-1975
Vibraphone and keyboard player, master arranger and bandleader, Mulatu Astatke is one of the all-time greats of Ethiopian music and the creator of his own original music form, Ethio jazz. Through the acclaimed Ethiopiques album series and through featuring on the soundtrack to the Jim Jarmusch film Broken Flowers, his music has belatedly reached a global audience and a new, younger generation of fans. In November of last year, he recorded an inspired new album with London psych jazz band The Heliocentrics for Strut’s ‘Inspiration Information’ studio collaboration series. Now, Strut are proud to present, for the first time anywhere, the definitive Mulatu career retrospective covering his landmark ’60s and ’70s recordings.

Mulatu is a true pioneer of African music. He was the first Ethiopian musician of his generation to travel extensively and to record abroad – he studied in the UK in Wales and at Trinity College Of Music in London, cutting his teeth on the buoyant London jazz scene of the early ’60s. He became the first African student to attend Harvard and he lived and recorded in New York, developing a unique sound that fused Western jazz with traditional Ethiopian melodies. As Mulatu says, “it took a long time to get the balance, to let the colours and the feelings of the Ethiopian modes shine through.” Returning to ‘Swinging Addis’ during the late ’60s, he became a pivotal figure, arranging for many of the country’s top vocalists and developing rich, dense textures in his own music during the final years of Selassie’s reign and the mid-’70s rule of the Derg Communist military junta.

Tracing the progression of his Ethio jazz experiments with full access to all of the labels for whom he recorded, Mulatu Astatke: New York-Addis-London is the essential Mulatu. Covering his first recordings in the UK during 1965, his groundbreaking fusions for the small Worthy label in New York and his key ’70s recordings back in Addis on Amha, Phillips and Axum, the album features comprehensive sleeve notes by Miles Cleret, boss of the excellent Soundway Records imprint, and rare, previously unseen photos from Mulatu’s personal archive.