Private Release

Wednesday, January 2, 2019

VA - (2018) Gumba Fire: Bubblegum Soul & Synth Boogie in 1980s South Africa

Soundway ‎– 124

16 rare cuts selected by Miles Cleret and DJ Okapi - available for the first time on digital, and first time on vinyl outside of their original release*

- "The real, real sound of South Africa" MOJO
- "Unsurprisingly this is amazing. Beautiful, uplifting sounds." Alexander Nut (Eglo Records/NTS Radio)

In 1980s black South Africa a local form of pop music evolved as the disco boom died down and slowly mutated. It was often ubiquitously described as Bubblegum - usually stripped-down and lo-fi with a predominance of synths, keyboards and drum-machines and overlaid with the kind of deeply soulful trademark vocals and harmonies that South African music is famous for.

Compilers Miles Cleret (Soundway) and DJ Okapi (Afrosynth Records) present a selection of 16 rare, handpicked 1980s cuts that highlight the period that nestles in between the ‘70s (where American-influenced jazz, funk and soul bumped shoulders with local Mbaqanga) and the ‘90s when Kwaito and eventually house-music ruled the dancefloors of urban South Africa.

Alongside French-Caribbean Zouk this kind of music has slowly been making its way into the DJ sets of many of the most open minded selectors around the world. This compilation is in many ways a sister release to the hugely popular compilation of Nigerian boogie and disco that Soundway released in late 2016 : “Doing it In Lagos: Boogie, Pop & Disco in 1980s Nigeria”.

The album takes its name from the band Ashiko’s track of the same name Gumba Fire that features on the compilation. The term is derived from gumba gumba, the term given to the booming speakers of the old spacegram radios that broadcast music into South Africa’s townships and villages. The phrase later evolved into Gumba Fire to refer to a hot party. Put this record on and feel the heat!

Bessie Jones with The Georgia Sea Island Singers - (2014) Get In Union: Recordings by Alan Lomax 1959-1966 2xCD

Tompkins Square ‎– 5074

- Produced by Grammy-nominated Curator of the Alan Lomax Archive, Nathan Salsburg

- Features 26 previously unreleased tracks. Unheard collaborations with Rev. Gary Davis, Sweet Papa Stovepipe, Mable Hillery, and others.

- Remastered from Lomax's original tapes

Bessie Jones was one of the most popular performers on the 1960s and '70s folk circuit, appearing - usually at the helm of the Georgia Sea Island Singers - at colleges, festivals, the Poor People's March on Washington, and Jimmy Carter's inauguration. "Get In Union" is a collection of her classic recordings with the Singers, combined with many previously unavailable solo and small-group performances captured by Alan Lomax between 1959 and 1966.

Alan Lomax first visited the Georgia Sea Island of St. Simons in June of 1935 with folklorist Mary Elizabeth Barnicle and author Zora Neale Hurston. There they met the remarkable Spiritual Singers Society of Coastal Georgia, as the group was then called, and recorded several hours of their songs and dances for the Library of Congress. Returning 25 years later, Lomax found that the Singers were still active, and had been enriched by the addition of Bessie Jones, a South Georgia native with a massive collection of songs going back to the slavery era. Over the next several years, Lomax and Jones worked together to present, promote, and teach Southern black folk song across the country, from nightclubs to elementary schools. "Get In Union" features freshly remastered audio from 24-bit digital transfers of Lomax's original tapes and notes by the Alan Lomax Archive's Nathan Salsburg and Anna Lomax Wood, who accompanied her father on his 1960 recordings of Bessie Jones and the Georgia Sea Island Singers.

Gillian Welch - (2016) Boots No.1: The Official Revival Bootleg

Acony Records ‎– 1601

When Gillian Welch released her debut album, Revival, in 1996, plenty of listeners and critics were taken aback by her strikingly accomplished re-creation of the sound and mindset of country music of the '20s and '30s, as if she'd miraculously stepped out of Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music into Nashville in the late 20th century. It soon became common knowledge that Welch was born in New York City and had attended the Berklee School of Music, leading many to question the sincerity of the artist and the validity of the work. Twenty years later, Welch has released Boots No. 1: The Official Revival Bootleg, a collection of outtakes, demos, and alternate versions committed to tape before or during the making of Revival. The front cover of Boots No. 1 features a photo from the same sitting that produced Revival's cover art, except this time Welch is holding an electric guitar. The shot is a subtle but cheeky reminder of what should have been the point all along: Gillian Welch wasn't a savant but an artist, one who drew clear inspiration from the sounds of America's past, but used them as a starting point to tell powerful and eloquent stories of her own. And while Welch could pass for the lost member of the Carter Family when she saw fit, Boots No. 1 reveals there are plenty of other directions she could have taken that would have been just as compelling and just as valid. Most of the tracks here follow the essential template of Revival -- Welch and her constant collaborator David Rawlings blending their vocals and guitars with minimal accompaniment, sometimes in glorious mono. But the ragged but right rock & roll of "455 Rocket," the sinewy midnight groove of "Pass You By," and the evocative Patsy Cline-isms of "Paper Wings" (which appears in two versions, one featuring ethereal pedal steel work from John R. Hughey) testify to Welch's versatility, as well as her unerring skill as a singer and tunesmith. And while Welch had plenty of gifted accompanists on board (no surprise with T-Bone Burnett producing the sessions), you'd be hard-pressed to name two people who are as musically simpatico as Welch and Rawlings, and his graceful, lively guitar work is a joy to behold here. Boots No. 1 plays less like an expansion of Revival than a document of a fertile period of creativity in the life of Gillian Welch, and while fans of the original album will revel in it, you don't have to be familiar with it to be dazzled by the subtle passion, intelligence, and eloquence of this music.

VA - (2010) Honest Strings: A Tribute to the Life and Work of Jack Rose

Jack Rose LLC ‎– 001

Jack Rose was a masterful musician and even greater friend and supporter of the underground music community. Honest Strings: A Tribute To The Life And Work Of Jack Rose is a massive and exceptional collection of heartfelt contributions from forty artists who were friends with Jack and/or inspired by his prodigious talents. Due to the running time in excess of six and a half hours, this collection is only available as a download. The downloaded file also features new original digital artwork from both Arik Roper and Alex Jako as well as a set of liner notes with thoughts about Jack Rose by many of the contributors including compilation curator Cory Rayborn (Three Lobed Recordings).