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Control is the incredible debut album from Sydney based vocalist Natalie Slade, produced by Hiatus Kaiyote's Simon Mavin and featuring contributions from other members of the Grammy Nominated group.

Combining Soul, Jazz, Folk and RnB, Natalie's timeless vocals dazzle across 10 stunning tracks, perfectly complimented by rich, live instrumentation and Mavin's vibrant production. The album is classic to its core, whilst taking a fresh and energetic approach to a long tradition of Soul/RnB long players. Familiar broken rhythms and jazz heavy motifs, notorious with Hiatus Kaiyote's writing and arrangement style are present, reminding us throughout that we are in the hands of true masters. The result is a kaleidoscopic reimagining of sounds and styles from an exciting new vocal talent.

Recording began after a chance encounter between Natalie and the Hiatus keys player Simon Mavin, resulting in a writing session that quickly escalated into a full blown album project. The chemistry was clear and the creativity flowed. Spontaneous recording sessions ensued, with visitors to the studio jumping in to play on tracks, the levels of musicianship on the album never fall short of stunning and Natalie's poetic and enchanting song writing shines throughout.

The album kicks off with an energetic flash on 'Cloud Cover', an arpeggiating bass line bubbles over skipping drums and aquatic synths. The title track 'Control' puts it's foot on the gas with a driving synth bass, broken beats and soaring vocals. 'Colour' see's Natalie pouring out her heart to the universe over a fluttering mellotron whilst the beautiful 'There Is Light In Everything' gives her a chance to show off her vocal prowess. Control is a truly unique and dynamic debut album from two masters of their craft, we hope you enjoy it just as much as we do

Recommend for fans of Hiatus Kaiyote, Rosin Murphy, Fatima, Yasmin Lacey, Khadja Bonet.

Tracklisting
1 Cloud Cover
2 Humidity
3 Control
4 Gimme Ya Love
5 Love Light
6 Letter to Myself
7 I Won't Cry
8 Colour
9 There Is Light in Everything
10 Sunday Morning

Modern roots artist Richie Spice gets a limited edition 7-inch single release for producer legend Clive Hunt in a picture sleeve. "Valley Of Jehoshaphat (Red Hot)" is a big tune for real and one of the feature tracks from the artist's forthcoming album "Together We Stand". Originally written-by and performed by Max Romeo in 1975, it's the perfect re-make and masterpiece for 2020 in a one drop style with full horn section. The deeply moving official music video on VP Records' YouTube channel has already over 500k views in just a couple of weeks.

Video "Valley Of Jehoshaphat (Red Hot)": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsKphOyQr0s

C r e d i t s
Drums: Shawn "Mark" Dawson
Bass: Daniel "Axeman" Thompson
Guitar: Wayne Armond
Keyboards: Franklyn "Bubbler" Waul & Clive Hunt
Percussion: Keith Cunningham & Clive Hunt
Horns: Dean Fraser, Everald Gayle, Dwight Richards
Backing Vocals: Rockaz Element
Recorded and mixed by Hasani "Snysh" Williams at Courtney Recording Studio and Mixing Lab.
Produced and arranged by Clive Hunt.

Tracklisting
Side One
A1 Valley Of Jehoshaphat (Red Hot)
Side Two
B1 Di Dub Dance (Dub Mix)

The first ever international album from the Republic of Djibouti and Ostinato's first studio recorded album. While the music of Somalia is widely celebrated, its neighbor, Djibouti, formerly known as French Somaliland, is home to an equally deep reservoir of its own unique Somali music.

A stunning collision of Indian Bollywood, Jamaican dub and reggae, sleek horns inspired by Harlem's jazz era, and the haunting and joyous synthesizer melodies of the Red Sea by Groupe RTD, the national radio band of Djibouti and one of East Africa's best kept secrets.

Helmed by Mohamed Abdi Alto, possibly the most unheralded saxophone virtuoso in all of Africa, and mentored by guitarist Abdirazak Hagi Sufi -- both of whom feature as instrumentalists on our Grammy-nominated compilation Sweet As Broken Dates -- Groupe RTD is the finest expression of Djibouti's cosmopolitan music style.

Alto honed his trade from a steady diet of John Coltrane and Charlie Parker. Abdirazak's guitar style draws heavily from his love affair with Jamaican music. Young singers Asma Omar and Hassan Omar Houssein are fluent in the classic hits of Bollywood and Indian music. Synth player Moussa Aden Ainan brings a distinctly dexterous Somali touch, reminiscent of the exceptional keys work of Somalia's Iftin and Waaberi Band. Their sound is kept afloat by measured Tadjouran rhythms, courtesy of drummer Omar Farah Houssein and dumbek player Salem Mohamed Ahmed's perfect interplay.

Recorded in three days -- as per the strict limit set by Djibouti's national radio authorities -- with a state-of-the-art mobile recording studio replete with the very best audio interfaces and carefully positioned microphones around a less than soundproof room to achieve a vibrant, professional sound while maintaining the analog warmth of decades prior.

Double vinyl pressed at 45 RPM, housed in a gatefold sleeve.

Tracklisting
1 Buuraha U Dheer (The Highest Mountains) [feat. Asma Omar]
2 Raga Kaan Ka'Eegtow (You Are the One I Love) [feat. Asma Omar]
3 Kuusha Caarey (The Pearl Necklace) [feat. Guessod Abdo Hamargod]
4 Raani (Queen) [feat. Hassan Omar Houssein]
5 Alto's Interlude (feat. Mohamed Abdi Alto)
6 Uurkan Kaadonaya (I Want You) [feat. Hassan Omar Houssein]
7 Halkaasad Dhigi Magtiisa (That's Where You'll Leave His Reward) [feat. Hassan Omar Houssein]
8 Iiso Daymo (Look at Me) [feat. Guessod Abdo Hamargod]
9 Suuban (Joy) [feat. Hassan Omar Houssein]
10 Wiil Wille (The Jumping Man)

Das JAF Trio veröffentlicht ihr Debüt-Album auf Helsinkis We Jazz Records. Der jungen finnisch-dänischen Band gehören die Saxophonistin Adele Sauros (von Superposition), der Bassist Joonas Tuuri (von Bowman Trio) und der Schlagzeuger Frederik Emil Bülow an. Nach einer Reihe umjubelter Live-Auftritte in den letzten Jahren (die Band wurde 2017 beim We Jazz Festival mit dem "We Jazz Rising Star" ausgezeichnet), ist das Trio nun bereit, ihre erste Studioarbeit zu präsentieren.

Klanglich verfolgt das JAF Trio einen Ansatz, der die Band dem Zuhörer sehr nahe bringt, den "Loft Jazz"-Stil. Saxophon, Bass und Schlagzeug stehen gemeinsam an vorderster Front und sorgen für eine bemerkenswert starke Präsenz. Das Originalmaterial der Band hat Tiefe und Groove gleichermaßen, mal springt es mit Riesenschritten vorwärts, mal beruhigt es die Dinge, um die Zeit wirklich zu dehnen. Die Musik ist sehr melodisch und rhythmisch, was durch die einzelnen Stücke "Ninth Row of the Fifth Floor" und "Dark Sparkle" unterstrichen wird. Die sich wiederholenden Riffs auf "Something New" vermitteln ein Gefühl von Verspieltheit, während "Shades of Tomorrow" von einer düsteren Melancholie durchdrungen ist.

Tracklisting
1 Ninth Row of the Fifth Floor
2 Masterpiece
3 Something New
4 Nostalgia
5 Dark Sparkle
6 Shades of Tomorrow
7 Det Er Dig

‘Débuts’ is France-via-Brussels duo, Nikitch & Kuna Maze’s aka Nicolas Morant & Edouard Gilbert first full length album. Building on their collaborative EP “Mush”, ‘Débuts’ continues to explore the melting point between jazz and club culture, interspersed with the signature sounds of broken beat, Chicago footwork, UK garage, Detroit house, and underpinned by their road-tested new live format.

‘Débuts’ see’s the band push their musical and creative development even further, a result of touring extensively around Europe with a live drummer, from high-brow jazz festivals to sweaty basement clubs. “We would be lying if we said our gig experience didn’t influence us on this record” Edouard explains. “We discovered new aspects to songs such as “Bruk” and managed to push forward the energy side of the music from the rawness of the live shows. This energy empowered to produce and compose new material in the same vein”.

Tracklist
A1. ZBRA
A2. Francis’ Theme
B1. Bruk
B2. 46 Rue Du Fort
B3. CBD
C1. Monopoli Driver
C2. JPS
C3. Hey, This Must Be Deep
D1. The Leak
D2. Start
D3. La Fin

Während die auf Esja versammelten Stücke vor allem auf ihrer Faszination für das Klavier basierten und sie sich dementsprechend auf dieses Instrument konzentrierte, ist der Nachfolger Home sehr viel breiter und filmischer angelegt, das Klangspektrum dieses Mal deutlich erweitert: Hania Rani setzt nicht nur auf Gesang und elektronische Elemente, denn sie wird dieses Mal für einige Tracks auch von einer Rhythmussektion unterstützt - bestehend aus Ziemowit Klimek (Bass) und Wojtek Warmijak (Schlagzeug). Aufgenommen wurden auch diese neuen Tracks von den angestammten Toningenieuren Piotr Wieczorek und Ignacy Gruszecki (Monochrom Studio), wobei Gijs van Klooster in seinem Amsterdamer Studio und Piotr Wieczorek in Warschau ("Ombelico", "Come Back Home") das Abmischen übernahmen. Gemastert wurde Home in Berlin von Zino Mikorey, der für seine Arbeit mit Künstlern wie Nils Frahm und Olafur Arnalds bekannt ist.

Hania Rani versteht Home ganz klar als Fortsetzung jener Arbeit, die sie mit Esja begonnen hatte - als "Vervollständigung des Satzes", wie sie es selbst formuliert. Die Zuhörer*innen erwartet eine metaphorische Reise: Das Album erzählt die Geschichte von Orten, die unser Zuhause werden - was manchmal ganz zufällig geschieht, manchmal auch bewusst und geplant. Es erzählt davon, einen vertrauten Ort zu verlassen, und von der Reise, die sich daran anschließt. Home beginnt mit einer Passage aus der Kurzgeschichte "Loneliness" (Einsamkeit) von Bruno Schulz, die als Gleichnis für eine Art von Reise steht, bei der gar nicht unbedingt das Haus verlassen wird, denn es werden vielmehr die symbolischen Grenzen von Erfahrung und Vorstellungsvermögen überschritten.

"Für mich fühlt sich Home wie die Fortsetzung desselben Buchs an... Esja war gewissermaßen der Anfang, das klangliche Vorwort für die eigentliche Geschichte. Und Home ist nun eine Story mit einem richtigen Schluss, so dass das nächste Buch wieder von etwas vollkommen anderem handeln kann. Ich bin immer auf der Suche nach neuen Ausdrucksformen, und jetzt bin ich gespannt, in welche Richtung Home mich und meine Musik als nächstes führen wird." - Hania Rani

Tracklisting
1. Leaving
2. Buka
3. Nest
4. Letter to Glass
5. Home
6. Zero Hour
7. F Major
8. Summer
9. Rurka
10. Tennen
11. I'll Never Find Your Soul
12. Ombelico
13. Come Back Home

All diejenigen, die bereits eine Soundsystem-Session mit O.B.F. erlebt haben, wissen bereits, dass es in der letzten Stunde ist, wenn die Magie wirklich geschieht. Der Schalldruck wird stärker, die Dubplates klingen immer unglaublicher, und wenn der Bass abfällt, explodieren Publikum und Künstler gleichermaßen. Es herrscht eine Atmosphäre der Gemeinschaft, die sich einer kollektiven Trance nähert. Es ist die Art von Dopaminfreisetzung, bei der wir, wenn wir sie einmal gekostet haben, unser Leben damit verbringen, dem nächsten Hit hinterherzujagen. Und dabei riskieren wir "AKOUPHENE", oder auf Englisch, Tinnitus... In "AKOUPHENE" sind alle wesentlichen Elemente vorhanden, die eine O.B.F.-Produktion auszeichnen: ein vernichtender Kick-Stepper, ein berauschender Skank, eine futuristische Melodie, mitreißende Rhythmen und natürlich ein überwältigender Bass. Dieses Stück wird endlich allgemein zugänglich gemacht, zunächst als rosa Vinyl in limitierter Auflage.

"I feel like 'Home' is a second part of the same book, that the start was in 'Esja', a musical prelude to a real plot. I feel Home is a story with an ending, so the next book can tell a totally different one. I am constantly looking for new ways of expression. I am curious where 'Home' will lead me and my music". — Hania Rani

Hania Rani is a pianist, composer and musician who, was born in Gdansk and splits her life between Warsaw, where she makes her home, and Berlin where she studied and often works. Her debut album 'Esja', a beguiling collection of solo piano pieces on Gondwana Records was released to international acclaim on April 5th 2019 including nominations in 5 categories in the Polish music industries very own Grammys, the Fryderyki, and winning the Discovery of the Year 2019 in the Empik chain's Bestseller Awards and the prestigious Sanki award for the most interesting new face of Polish music chosen by Polish journalists. Rani also composed the music for her first full length movie "I Never Cry" directed by Piotr Domalewski and for the play "Nora" directed by Michal Zdunik. Her song "Eden" was used as a soundtrack of a short movie by Malgorzata Szumowska for Miu Miu's movie cycle "Women's Tales"

If the compositions on Esja were born out of a fascination with the piano as an instrument, then her follow-up, the expansive, cinematic, 'Home', finds Rani expanding her palate: adding vocals and subtle electronics to her music as well as being joined on some tracks by bassist Ziemowit Klimek and drummer Wojtek Warmijak. The album reunites her with recording engineers, Piotr Wieczorek and Ignacy Gruszecki (Monochrom Studio) and the tracks were again mixed again by Gijs van Klooster in his studio in Amsterdam and by Piotr Wieczorek in Warsaw ( Ombelico and Come Back Home). Home was mastered by Zino Mikorey in Berlin (known for his work on albums by artists such as Nils Frahm and Olafur Arnalds).

For Rani, 'Home', is very much a continuation of the work she started on 'Esja', "the completion of the sentence" as she puts it. The album offers a metaphorical journey: the story of places that become our home sometimes by chance, sometimes by choice. It is the story of leaving a place that is familiar and the journey that follows it. Home opens with the fragment of the short story "Loneliness" by Bruno Schulz, which can be seen as a parable of a journey that does not necessarily mean going beyond the physical door but can signify going beyond the symbolic limits of our knowledge and imagination.

"One can be lost but can find home in his inner part - which can mean many things - soul, imagination, mind, intuition, passion. I strongly believe that when being in uncertain times and living an unstable life we can still reach peace with ourselves and be able to find 'home' anywhere' This is what I would like to express with my music - one can travel the whole world but not see anything. It is not where we are going but how much we are able to see and hear things happening around us". — Hania Rani

Home is also about the inevitability of change. We never find places exactly how we left them. Time flies and life with it. Just like art and music. Once you started the trip, you will never be back really to the place where you started with. It is a sentiment that is at the heart of Home, not just its themes, but at the heart of Rani's music too. Following the success of Esja it would have been easy for her to stick to the same solo piano formula, but while Rani expresses her surprise and gratitude for the success of Esja, "I wasn't sure how this album - based on Piano and silence - will be received by the audience. The reception was a big surprise to me" it has also given her the confidence to express more of herself as an artist. On Home Rani steps into more of a producer's role, adding strings, bass and drums where needed, exploring the sounds of synths and electronica, but also creating textured layered songs made from acoustic samples, mostly from piano recordings. "I try to explore new genres and discover new artists, I don't want to be stuck in things that I know, I want to learn about things that are still new to me". But perhaps most notable is her singing, Rani has a fragile, beautiful voice, both pure and expressive. Long a feature of her live shows she uses it as another instrument, adding extra layers of melody and emotion to her already deeply expressive music.

"I consider voice as another instrument. Maybe if I wasn't so often alone on the stage, I would take another instrument to play the melody that I have in my mind. But while I am alone, singing allows me to have more possibilities at the same time. The human voice has a real magic, nothing carries emotions as easily and powerfully as the voice, and I think being able to bring this atmosphere on stage opens up new possibilities of expression for me". — Hania Rani

Home also features Rani's new band, bassist Ziemowit Klimek and drummer Wojtek Warmijak who appear on some of the albums stand out tracks, the beguiling single 'Leaving', the title track 'Home', atmospheric 'Tennen' and the beautiful 'I'll Never Find Your Soul'. After working and touring alone Rani begin to feel stuck with her own ideas and thoughts, and sounds. It was a prolific period for her compositionally, writing the music on Home, but also a film score and music for the theatre, but she felt that someone else's vision might bring new ideas to things that she already knew. Shortly before she was about to record Home she attended a concert of the young Polish jazz trio, Immortal Onion, in Gdansk, her hometown. She liked what she heard and sked the double bassist and a drummer if they wanted to meet and something clicked. They spent most of the next week improvising and jamming on her music. This gave a whole new insight for some of the songs and brought new ideas for arrangements. And having enjoyed working together on the album Rani is looking forward to touring with the boys.

"Touring with band is a totally different thing, way more challenging technically, but it also brings a new energy and new sound possibilities. I am very curious how we will manage to bring the album to life. I would like to keep the show balanced - mixing the new textures of Home with the atmosphere of minimalistic songs from Esja." — Hania Rani

For Rani, this sense of exploring is a key part of her art. But it isn't only the music, Rani is keenly interested in art and architecture (as anyone who follows her exquisitely curated Instagram feed will know) and how her music works in the wider world.

"I try to keep my eyes and ears wide open. What I want to master in my art is how to build the right atmosphere on stage, in recordings. To do this you need to be aware of many aspects - not only music, but also the full range of gestures, acoustics, visual aspect. I want to learn how to bring particular atmosphere and bring people to a specific space. I observe how music works in different contexts, how the feeling of sound changes in different acoustics, space, light conditions. The same thing happens with artwork that I share. I feel like everything of what I am bringing to the the world and sharing with others has an impact of reception my music. If we are an inseparable part of the ecosystem, then the music should be considered similarly." — Hania Rani

The album's distinctive cover artwork was designed by the architect Lukasz Palczynski, who combined his sketches with the stills from the music video for the song Leaving shot by her regular collaborators Mateusz Miszczynski and Jakub Stoszek in Greece and together with Rani's music and vision it is this sense of collaboration that gives Home it's power as Rani starts to give full expression to her own unique vision and perhaps the most exciting thing is that it is just another step on her journey, one that we are all lucky to be a part of!

-Double black vinyl, printed in reverse board wide spine sleeve with printed insert

Tracklisting
1 Leaving
2 Buka
3 Nest
4 Letter to Glass
5 Home
6 Zero Hour
7 F Major
8 Summer
9 Rurka
10 Tennen
11 I'll Never Find Your Soul
12 Ombelico
13 Come Back Home

ONENESS OF JUJU AFRICAN RHYTHMS 1970-1982
We are very happy to announce that Strut kick off a brand new deal with the seminal independent black jazz and soul label Black Fire Records with ‘African Rhythms 1970-1982’,
a comprehensive 2CD / 3LP compilation of Oneness Of Juju, led by Plunky J. Branch.

3LP
A1 Oneness Of Juju - African Rhythms (Album Version) 7.19
A2 Oneness Of Juju - Follow Me 5.02
A3 Oneness Of Juju – Nooky 4.37
B1 Oneness Of Juju – River Luv Rite 8.06
B2 Roach Om – No Name #3 / Love Is… / My Nigger & Me 4.29
B3 Juju – Nairobi / Chants 6.32
C1 Oneness Of Juju – Chants / Don’T Give Up 6.58
C2 Oneness Of Juju – Be About The Future 5.14
C3 Juju & The Space Rangers – Got To Be Right On It (Original 45 Version) 5.21
D1 Oneness Of Juju – Space Jungle Funk 9.39
D2 Oneness Of Juju – West Wind (Previously Unreleased) 7.40
E1 Juju & The Space Rangers – Plastic (Original 45 Version) 6.10
E2 Plunky & Oneness Of Juju – Every Way But Loose (Original Version) 6.41
E3 Okyerema Asante Feat. Plunky – Sabi (Black Fire Mix) 6.23
F1 Okyerema Asante Feat. Plunky – Asante Sana 6.35
F2 Oneness Of Juju – Bootsie’S Lament (Unreleased Version) 11.09

3LP IN SINGLE SLEEVE WITH 4PP 12”-SIZED BOOKLET
Strut kick off a brand new deal with the seminal independent black jazz and soul label Black Fire in May with ‘African Rhythms 1970-1982’, a comprehensive 2CD / 3LP compilation of Oneness Of Juju, led by Plunky J. Branch. Tracing their career from the band’s earliest work in 1970 with South African exiled jazzman Ndikho Xaba in San Francisco, the compilation covers the band’s journey to New York’s loft jazz scene, forming Juju and releasing two landmark albums of hard-hitting percussive jazz on Strata-East. “I saw myself as a cultural warrior,” explains Plunky. “We studied about Africa and tried to infuse our music with an African spirit.” Moving back to his hometown of Richmond, Virginia during the mid-‘70s, Plunky drew in a superb new group of musicians and vocalists and created the band’s new incarnation, Oneness Of Juju, retaining the African influence but fusing his sound with funk and R’n’B on the classic ‘African Rhythms’ album. “We realised that, if we put a backbeat to the Afro-Cuban rhythms, people in Richmond and Washington D.C. could be drawn into it; it didn’t change anything about our message.” The change would lead to a series of enduring soul-jazz classics on Jimmy Gray’s Black Fire label, including ‘River Luv Rite’, ‘Plastic’ and ‘Don’t Give Up’ and their biggest crossover international hit, ‘Every Way But Loose’ in 1982, later famously remixed by Larry Levan. The band received renewed interest in their music during the mid-‘80s as Washington D.C.’s go-go innovators cited the band as a major influence and rare groove DJs revived their albums for London dancefloors. ‘African Rhythms 1970-1982’ reprises a compilation released on Strut in 2001 and is newly remastered by Frank Merritt at The Carvery. Both formats feature a 12” sized 4pp booklet featuring rare photos and a comprehensive interview with Plunky Branch within liner notes by Chris Menist.

KEY POINTS:
• First album in Black Fire catalogue reissue programme by Strut in coming years
• Definitive compilation of influential band’s career, spanning 1970-1982. Reissue of Strut compilation from 2001
• Includes full band biography and interview with bandleader Plunky Branch by Chris Menist + rare photos
• Fully remastered by The Carvery. Vinyl pressed at DADC.

FOR FANS OF:
Roy Ayers, Pharoah Sanders, Sun Ra, Weldon Irvine, New Rotary Connection, Okyerema Asante, Norman Connors, Lonnie Liston Smith, Brian Jackson, Gil Scott Heron, Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids, Maze, Gary Bartz

WEB LINKS
www.strut-records.com

It is 1971. South Africa is struggling with a myriad of political and cultural problems. Mandela is in jail and the United Nations has declared it supports isolating South Africa for its apartheid policies, requesting that other nations “suspend cultural, educational, sporting and other exchanges with the racist regime and with organisations or institutions in South Africa which practise apartheid”. The state-controlled South African Broadcasting Corporation has an almost complete monopoly on what is being played on the radio, and the advent of television wouldn’t be seen in South Africa for another 5 years as such things are seen as a threat that would undermine the proud Afrikaans tradition and spread communism and immorality. The stain of apartheid also means that most of the music being aired on the radio comes from exclusively white artists and the majority of accessible music comes from the States and the UK, with many people not realising that local exports like Manfred Lubowitz (later known as Manfred Mann) actually come from South Africa. Despite such a tumultuous social and political backdrop, or perhaps because of it, music remains an escape for much of South Africa’s youth and local scenes do spring up, without the dream of international stardom driving them. This is the setting in which a band with the unusual name of Humphrey is born. On a Sunday night in a suburb of Johannesburg, then husband and wife duo, Lisa and Robin Hogarth, find themselves at a friend’s soiree. A multitude of musicians is in attendance, including Lisa’s brother Zane, who is entertaining guests while tinkling away on the ivory keys. But it’s the guitar noodlings of one Robbie Kallenbach that they find themselves drawn to. His chord combination, “just an idea I’m fooling around with,” inspires Lisa (who had previously recorded a successful solo album under her maiden name - Lisa Spencer Look out for Lisa 1965) to pen some lyrics right there on the spot. She writes, Robbie plays, Robin joins them on his guitar, and within literal minutes, the song In The Morning is written and promptly performed to the other party guests. It seems the synergy isn’t a one-time fluke. The three of them get together regularly to jam and find that the music flows and the songs keep coming. Sonically, the three distinct voices of Lisa, Robin and, Robbie; whether solo or in glorious harmony, layered over the duelling chord progressions of the two men create something that sets them apart from what is the norm in their local scene - and so the band is born. The name Humphrey must have been particularly auspicious in the Hogarth household. Already having named a plant and then a cat, Humphrey — it makes sense that their band should also be named thus so. Humphrey plays out at various venues and starts to build a following. Folk is the “in” thing at the time, and Lisa Hogarth later suggests that their particular style being “folk-rock” is what separates them from the norm; but on contemporary listenings, this doesn’t account for the psych elements, hypnotic melodies, and hazy dreamscapes that infuse the band’s only album. Enter Billy Forrest. A forerunner of the South African Pop and Country Music scene, his career now spans almost six decades and includes multiple awards and Top 20 hits, both as a producer and behind the mic - and at the time he offered to produce a Humphrey LP, already included a gold record and BestMale Vocalist SARI (South Africa Record Industry) award. Continuing with the serendipitous synergy of the earlier “jams”, something about the combination of the songwriting, Billy Forrest’s production skills, and the unexpected, secret-weapon of the orchestral-style string and brass arrangements, written by Lisa’s aforementioned brother, Zane Cronje, results in the stunning self-titled masterpiece you now hold in your hands. (Zane would continue to have success as an award-winning composer for both film and TV.) The album was recorded over 2 weeks, and upon its release is met with rave reviews and nominated for a SARI award. Naturally, a single — Down Down b/w In The Morning — is released, but is met with a surprisingly lacklustre response. It may have been the political and social climate of the time, it may have been that the South African music scene suffered due to its isolation, it may have been that the surprise elements that came together to make Humphrey so unique had just enough power to sustain one beautiful album, but whatever it was, Humphrey seemed to fade into obscurity not long after the album came out. Until, that is, our own Stefan Leisering stumbled across the album in Johannesburg, while touring South Africa with the Jazzanova live band. A rare break in the schedule left the band members with a few hours to spare, so Stefan, naturally, skipped the usual tourist attractions and headed straight for a dusty megalith of an antique store, in which they were reputed to have over 300,000 2nd-hand records littering their upper floors. The dreams of stumbling across rare and forgotten South Africa jazz, jive, funk, and disco gems were quickly dashed and he found himself sorting through the stacks of usual suspects one finds in used-record stores across the globe, until, amongst the easy listening, Christmas specials, and late 80s pop, the mystical cover art of the Humphery record catches his eye. Very much judging a book (record) by its cover, the artwork, blurb on the back and band pictures immediately piqued Stefan’s interest, and with no way to listening to the record in the store, he purchased it on the spot and packed it in his luggage — where it stayed until he finally got back home to Germany and was able to have a listen to it. Based on the fact that you are sitting here, reading these notes; we don’t have to guess as to whether his reaction was a positive one or not. Although the Anglo-American folk, pop, rock, and psych influences on Humphrey are undeniable, something about these influences finding a voice at such a particular time and in such a particular place makes this album truly unique. The record seems almost polarised in nature, the saccharine melodies of the harmonized vocals and the band’s pop sensibilities are kept from becoming throwaway bubblegum tunes by the songs unexpected psych lements, chord changes, and arrangements that bring a touch of darkness and mysticism — like a dangerous current running beneath the waters of a gently flowing stream. The people that came together to make Humphrey — the band themselves, Billy Forrest, Zane and his arrangements — all went on to have long careers in music, or are, indeed, still playing to this day. And while Humphrey may have just been a blip on their respective musical radars, on hearing this slice of early Seventies South African Pop Psych, all of us at NOAJ reckon you’ll be delighted it’s getting another chance to shine. Enjoy.

TRACKLISTING:
A1 – Nowhere World
A2 – Season’s Change
A3 – Silence Of Love
A4 – Down Down
A5 – Time To Change
A6 – Make Sure You’re Sure
A7 – In The Morning
B1 – Shine Your Light
B2 – Skies Turn To Grey
B3 – Follow Follow
B4 – Planet 43
B5 – San Michelle
B6 – Southern Bound Line
B7 – Music

SNIPPETS
https://soundcloud.com/notes-on-a-journey/sets/preview-noaj006-humphrey-humphrey/s-aQYtP

FORMAT: LP (180g vinyl + Old School Tip On Cover) + DL Card

All songs published by Zebra Music.
Re-mastered from original vinyl by Oliver Haertel at Upstairs Studio Berlin.
Produced for reissue by Oliver Glage, Stefan Leisering & Jürgen von Knoblauch.
Product management by Oliver Glage.
Reissue artwork by Frohe Zukunft Export.

www.notesonajourney.com