We’re making a limited amount of copies of WITCH’s 4 CD and 6LP box set available, directly from us, at 10% off! We start shipping Friday, May 18th.

Since announcing our WITCH We Intend To Cause Havoc! box sets, we’ve been inundated with requests from folks who want to make sure they don’t miss out on the very-limited 6 LP box set format. We don’t blame ‘em – if we didn’t have copies of all of the WITCH’s original Zamrock albums and 45s at our disposal, we’d be jonesing for legit, straight from the master tapes reproductions of WITCH’s 54 rare and unreleased garage-, psych-, prog-, funk- and afro-rock songs. To be honest, we’d probably want the box just for the booklet.

Well, we’re still in the first phase of building out our new webstore, so we’ve set up something for those that want to be guaranteed a copy (in either format). We have 40 LP box sets and 60 CD box sets, and we’re making them available, on a first come first serve basis. As an extra bonus, you’ll get them at 10% off our suggested retail price. Here’s what to do:

1.email us with subject line WITCH PRE-SALE at: witch@nowagainrecords.com

2.tell us your preferred format: 6 LP ($73 plus shipping) or 4 CD ($30 plus shipping) and give us your address.

3.tell us your preferred shipping method: in the USA we offer both USPS media and priority mail; internationally we offer USPS first class (when possible), priority or express mail. Bear in mind: the 6 LP box set is heavy, so shipping it internationally isn’t going to be cheap (expect to pay $30-$40 in shipping depending where in the world you live).

4.we’ll email you back to tell you your total, and give you our Paypal address. And, just because we don’t want you to wait – we’ll also send a link where you can download all of the albums so you can dig in immediately! Note: we only accept Paypal payments at this time.

It’s finally happening: the LA record release party for our Soul Cal: Funky Disco and Modern Soul, 1971-1982 anthology, with “Egon and friends playing the deepest disco 12s, most-tasty modern soul 45s and the baddest boogie LPs.” We’re doing it with our friends at Turntablelab on Saturday May 19th, from 3-6 PM. Come on through – it’s free!

Soul Cal: Funky Disco and Modern Soul, 1971-1982 is out worldwide now. But you already knew that.

If you’re a regular visitor to this site, you probably remember that the Red Bull Music Academy brought WITCH’s bandleader Emmanuel “Jagari” Chanda to Madrid, Spain last year to discuss the history of Zambia’s Zamrock scene with Egon. Now, as a lead up to the release of our WITCH anthology We Intend To Cause Havoc!, Red Bull Music Academy Radio is presenting two Zamrock specials that Egon and Jagari recorded in Madrid. The first – Jagari’s “Fireside Chat” – is streamable below or available via link, and is essential listening: Jagari breaks down the history of the WITCH band, and plays/discusses music from each of their five albums and rare 45s. The second – an overview of the most important Zamrock bands – is to come later this month.

Link: Emmanuel “Jagari” Chanda’s “Fireside Chat” on Red Bull Music Academy Radio.

The complete works of Zambia’s legendary garage-, psych-, prog-, funk-,afro-rock ensemble. 1972-1977: WITCH’s five albums and rare 7” tracks presented as a 4 CD and 6LP box set. Restored and remastered from the original tapes. Out 05.22.12.

WITCH is the best known Zamrock ensemble – they succeeded in releasing five albums in Zamrock’s 70s heyday. Although there have been two previous WITCH reissues by the Shadoks company, this 4 CD/6LP box set marks the first time that their entire catalog – including rare, 7″-only tracks, all restored and remastered from the original tapes – has been available outside of Zambia.

WITCH’s first two, self-produced albums – Introduction and In The Past, released in unison with the birth of the commercial Zambian recording industry – are exuberant experiments in garage rock, and are as influenced by the Rolling Stones as they are James Brown. Their third album, Lazy Bones!!, is the band’s masterpiece – a dark, brooding psychedelic opus that makes equal use of wah-wah and fuzz guitars, that relies as heavily on the stomping feel of hard rock as it does the syncopation of funk. The band’s last two albums – Lukombo Vibes and Including Janet, recorded after the band toured with Osibisa – make use of traditional Zambian rhythms and folk melodies. They are the most “afro-rock” of WITCH’s oeuvre.

These 54 rare and unreleased songs are presented as a 10″ x 6″ hardbound 4 CD box set with a 24 page booklet and as 6 LPs – each with the original cover art – housed in a slipcase box with a 16 page booklet. The 6 LP box set is limited to 1000 pieces. More photos of each format, and a download of the restored master of WITCH’s “Introduction,” are below.

Download: WITCH “Introduction.”

France’s Radio Nova just broadcast Egon’s exclusive Soul Cal mix and if you don’t live in our second favorite country in the world, well, we’ve some good news: the mix is archived on Radio Nova’s podcast page. Included in the mix are a few unique companions to our definitive survey of America’s best, independent, 70s soul-ensembles, Soul Cal: in stores now.

Pictured above – Anubis, whose “Ecology” appears on Soul Cal and whose self titled jam kicks off this mix.

Tracklist:

1) Anubis – Anubis
2) Cross Bronx Expressway – Help Your Brother
3) Apple & Three Oranges – Love Brings Out The Best In You
4) Hamilton Movement – She’s Gone
5) Key & Cleary – What It Takes To Live (from Soul Cal)
6) Mixed Feelings – Sha La La (from Soul Cal)
7) Elephant Sunrise – Sugar Free
8) Courtial – Losing You
9) Pure Essence – Wake Up (from Soul Cal)

Link (Stream): Egon’s Soul Cal mix on Radio Nova.
Link (Download): Egon’s Soul Cal mix on Radio Nova.

The definitive survey of America’s best, independent 70s soul-ensembles. 15 rare and unreleased tracks; 2LP or CD with 80-page book filled with rare photos and each band’s story. Out NOW.

A decade in the making, Soul Cal is the definitive survey of America’s best, independent, 70s soul-ensembles. Profiled within this album and book are the bands that transitioned from funk to disco; the bands that kept up the backbeat as rhythm moved to the backseat. Against the odds, they left recorded artifacts for we at Now-Again to dig out, dust off and restore. Collected here for the first time are the musical dreams of dozens, dreams that were deferred but were never discarded.

Soul Cal is presented as both a gatefold 2LP and a CD – both formats come with a perfect-bound, 80 page book printed on heavyweight, uncoated paper stock. Photos of each format are presented below; you can also download Luther Davis’ “You Can Be A Star” – the song whose reissue kick started the Soul Cal series ten years ago.

Buy: Soul Cal
Download: Luther Davis “You Can Be A Star.”

We told you that it was a decade in the making: Soul Cal, the definitive survey of America’s best, independent, 70s soul-ensembles. Of course, even though the book has been published, the CDs burned, the records pressed, our investigation continues – and continues to unearth artifacts, like the above photo of Pure Essence that we received today. (Yes, that is a bare-chested LA Reid on the middle right).

The latest post in Egon’s NPR series Funk Archaeology investigates the hard-to-describe music that shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) jazzer Minoru Muraoka recorded in the psychedelic era of the late 60s and early 70s. And, offered as a free download below, the Cut Chemist edit of Muraoka’s masterpiece “The Positive & The Negative” which Egon refers to in his piece.

Link: The Shakuhachi Jazz of Minoru Muraoka – Egon’s Funk Archaeology at NPR
Download: Minoru Muraoka: “The Positive & The Negative (Cut Chemist Edit).”
More: Egon’s Funk Archaeology at NPR.