Repertoire proudly announces the "Blood Rhythm EP," releasing in June 2023. This innovative collaboration between electronic musician Basic Rhythm (Anthoney J Hart) and rising star Blood Trust (Quinn Smith) features four tracks of dark, experimental drum and bass, inspired by the late 1990s. Learn More
First Word Records is proud to bring you 'The Essance' - the classic debut album by Essa (formerly known as Yungun), originally released in 2004, now released on vinyl & digital for the first time, 20 years on!
A lyricist, lawyer and a Londoner, legendary MC Essa has earned praise over the years from artists such as Nas and Mark Ronson, as well as performing and recording with legends like De La Soul, Wu-Tang Clan, Guru, Slum Village and Pharoahe Monch. Learn More
"The EP includes newly recorded versions of "Kingston Town", "Man Next Door"and "No Place Like Home", recorded with Max's touring band during a break between gigs on tour in France, and mixed by legendary producer Dennis Bovell. Learn More
Bringing together over 50 of Jamaica's greatest session musicians, whose work spans from the birth of reggae in the late 1960s until today, Roots Architects is the largest gathering of Jamaican musical talent on one all-instrumental album. Never before have so many veterans, who helped create the immortal rhythms that made reggae internationally successful, been assembled to play on new material without vocals. This album aims to celebrate and pay tribute to the unsung heroes of reggae music: the rhythm builders or Roots Architects. Learn More
For this Studio One release we return to the roots of Reggae music-The Soundsystem. Throughout the late 1950s and 1960s Soundsystems played throughout the city of Kingston, Jamaica. As well as Sir Coxsone's Downbeat Soundsystem other famous Soundsystem operators included Duke Reid (the Trojan), Prince Buster, Tom the Great and King Edwards. Learn More
This album includes Freddie McGregor, Willie Williams, Cornell Campbell, Alton Ellis, Devon Russell alongside some of the defining crack-session men groups of Jamaican reggae history - The Sound Dimension, Brentford All-Stars, The Skatalites, New Establishment and more. Learn More
Studio One's music in the 1970s took the label to new heights. The new style of Disco Mix brought many areas of Reggae together Roots, Lovers, Disco and Dub all came together in extended form, re-versioning classic hits, experimenting with new studio technology, over-dubbing, syn-drums and more producing what many fans describe as the most creative and innovative phase in the history of the legendary Studio One Records. Learn More
A collection of singles released between 2007-2023 as well as unreleased tracks from Sugar Minott and Binky Griptite. The genesis of which came via an 11th hour request from Daptone for a Sharon Jones remix (2007) that resulted in the reggae version of “How Long Do I Have To Wait For You?” found here. Learn More
T Funk Collective teams up with Atomphunk for his debut track for Regulate Recordings on the labels fifth release. Atomphunk has deep house roots and productions on labels such as Toko Records, 3AM Recordings, Urban Torque Records and Deepfunk Records (USA) and he brings his A game to the flip side for this release. Learn More
The 1974 debut album Ojinga’s Own and single Basa Bongo/Black Pepper by Guyanese Afro-Folk band The Yoruba Singers has been remastered for vinyl and digital.
The Yoruba Singers formed in Georgetown, Guyana in 1971. Despite their name they were not from Nigeria, but identified strongly with the area from which so many of the African diaspora in Guyana and neighbouring regions were originally descended. Learn More
Critics in the early 1970s called Gil Scott-Heron the most important Black voice since Martin Luther King Jr and described him as a black Bob Dylan. "His poetry is with much muscle, with stiletto humor, with street talk, much of it justifiably angry and accurate," the New York Times wrote in 1975, marveling at the angry man from the Bronx. No wonder that decades later Scott- Heron was celebrated as the "Godfather of Rap". Born in Chicago, the musician, poet and pugnacious activist for human rights himself lived for years in the Bronx. Learn More
Pinecone Moonshine's latest dnb album spotlights Greenleaf. Greenleaf's musical roots from New Orleans influence the rhythm, creating a live drummer feel out of programmed breaks. And mixing different drum kits as if multiple drummers are in the same studio. Science-fiction, funk, and soul set the atmosphere for drum and bass ranging in styles from drumfunk to techstep. Learn More
The eleven-man roots reggae ensemble from Copenhagen - Guiding Star Orchestra is set to release their second LP "Communion" on May 5th, a follow up to their super strong debut double LP, “Natural Heights” an album that was sitting on the shelf for 6 years and then finally saw the light of day in November of 2022.
Since the band took shape in 2016, the musical collective's tunes have been played all over the world by fans, sound systems and D Learn More
Somebody’s Child is the anticipated debut album from stalwart Manchester rapper/ producer Chunky. A proud Mancunian with Zimbabwean roots, the record reflects on his journey growing up in Manchester and takes a deep, introspective dive through his inner workings, set to a backdrop of deconstructed Grime and rap fused with a variety of Afro- Diasporic sounds. A regular MC/Host for the likes of Swamp81 and Hessle Audio and a long time affiliate of Loefah, Zed Bias, Chimpo, Dub Phizix, and Manchesters Levelz crew, Chunkys voice is synonymous with the sounds of the UK’s underground club scene. Revered as one of the cities finest MC’s and producers, his music is soaked with depth and experience, unafraid to push the envelope and create a space all of its own. The album is truly something special.
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We've now arrived at Whytwo's debut LP, 'Ghost', an exhilarating and elasticated take on Drum & Bass that exists in the hinterland between elation, melancholy and longing. Mirroring Whytwo's music, the album's title, 'Ghost', is richly layered word, meaning, in different places and at different times; a memory of something or someone; to disappear without communication; to move quietly and quickly; to secretly do work for another; and, of course, a being caught between worlds.
From the old English, 'Gast', meaning 'breath' or 'spirit', the word eventually transformed into 'Ghost' coming to describe "a slight suggestion, mere shadow or semblance". All of these definitions relate, in some way, to the album now before us. Learn More
The long awaited debut LP from Kokoroko - Could We Be More 5th August 2022. Following the huge success of 2018’s Kokoroko EP’ and the sensational Abusey Junction (100M streams and counting), ‘Could We Be More’ is an expansive and ambitious debut album that speaks to the force of Kokoroko. Learn More