Last year, we shared a special single by Zambian guitarist, singer and songwriter Paul Ngozi – who, along with his Ngozi Family, will be presented in a compendium on Now-Again in late 2012. This year, we present something a bit harder-edged, in keeping with the garage-psych tradition of the Ngozi Family’s early recordings. “Jesus Christ” is from Ngozi’s The Ghetto, an album that we’ve recently reissued in conjunction with Shadoks Music. If you’re a follower of the music we reissue, this should be a perfect Christmas carol.
Download: Paul Ngozi: “Jesus Christ”.
And, if you missed it last year:
Download: Paul Ngozi: “Happy New Year”.
England’s Guardian just ran a story detailing the story behind our East of Underground anthology. An excerpt from Ben Beaumont-Thomas’ piece:
“In 1971 the US was pulling troops out of Vietnam, and its bases in Germany were full of draftees at a loose end. “You were painting shovels, picking up cigarette butts – it was a lot of busy-work,” remembers former serviceman Lewis Hitt. “There was a longing by everyone, especially the draftees, to get home and go back to what you were doing before.” This was the crucible in which were formed scores of raucous funk bands made up of servicemen, four of which have just been compiled by Now-Again Records. Adoring crowd noise was crudely dubbed on top of their records, which were then distributed in recruitment centres. These bands were used by the army to present service as varied, even hip. But the songs they cover – the bitter, suspicious likes of Backstabbers and Smiling Faces Sometimes – undermine any potential propagandising.”
Read the full article: “Funk Songs From Vietname GIs” by Ben Beaumont-Thomas (Guardian UK, Friday, 12.16.11).
Buy: East of Underground: Hell Below.
Download: East Of Underground “Hell Below.”
Buy it here.
A Soul-Saints Production.
Mastered by Dave Cooley for Elysian Masters, Los Angeles, CA.
Art direction by Lewis Heriz, London, UK
Tracklist:
1. New Process – Bus People Theme
2. Poets Of Rhythm – Summerdays (Inst.)
3. Transgressors – Will Power
4. Bajka – A Vision 1/3
5. Karl Hector & The Malcouns – J.B. R.I.P.
6. New Process – Freedom
7. Mercy Sluts – $600 Song
8. Karl Hector & The Funk Pilots – Funky Sex Machine
9. Bajka – The Only Religion That I Believe
10. Whitefield Brothers – The Bastard
11. Polyversal Souls – Muswell Hill Run
12. Transgressors – Money For Born, Money For Die
13. Karl Hector & The Funk Pilots – Free I Wanna Be
14. Whitefield Brothers – Savannahstan
15. Neo Hip Hot Kiddies Community – Hip Walk
16. Poets Of Rhythm – Flight To St. Vincent
17. Mercy Sluts – Banana Republic
1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 13, 16 , 17 produced by J. Whitefield, B. Baral, M. Whitefield (The Soul-Saints);
3, 12 by J. Whitefield, W. Holland, M. Whitefield; 4, 9, 11, 15 by M. Whitefield;
5 by J. Whitefield, Z. Curulija, T. Myland ; 10 by Whitefield Brothers; 14 by J. Whitefield
CD. 2012. NA5088. Released in conjunction with Transgressors “Will Power/Money For Born Money For Die” 7″. 2012. NA 7025.
Download high res cover art here.
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Last year, American journalist Chris Smith journeyed to Zambia to interview WITCH’s Emmanuel “Jagari” Chanda, Amanaz’s Keith Kabwe and the select few remaining Zamrock musicians he could find. He recently published his story in South Africa’s Mail & Guardian. An excerpt is below; follow the link to the full story. Fill yourself in as we ready our 4CD/6LP WITCH anthology – scheduled for release in May of 2012.
” Although sub-Saharan Africa isn’t much known for rock ‘n roll, for a brief period in the late 1960s and 1970s, young guys from Nigeria to South Africa picked up guitars and started playing like Deep Purple. The lion’s share of these groups hailed from Zambia. The biggest band was the Witch, and Jagari, an Africanisation of Mick Jagger’s name, was the lead singer. Fusing the pop sensibility of the Stones, the fuzzed-out guitars of Cream and homegrown kalindula rhythms, the Witch toured all over Southern Africa, from Botswana to Kenya, playing to thousands at stadium shows. ‘The Witch were the band,” says Errol Hickey, the Zambian entertainment impresario and former chairperson of Lusaka’s Radio Phoenix. “They blew people’s minds, eh?’ ”
Read the full article: “Up From The Underground” by Chris Smith (South Africa Mail & Guardian, Sunday, 11.25.11).
Download: WITCH: “Strange Dream.”
More info on our Zambian “Zamrock” reissues here.
The latest post in Egon’s NPR series Funk Archaeology allows a peek into a record excavation mission with the producer Madlib: excavating jazz trumpeter Stanton Davis’ New Jersey storage unit. Yeah, the fellas struck gold. Read more below – and download one of Egon’s finds, the hitherto unknown Christ Gabriel Jazz Missionary Group’s soul-jazz stomper “Christ Place.” Hallelujah!
Link: Excavating Stanton Davis’ Storage Unit Funk: Egon’s Funk Archaeology at NPR
Download: Christ Gabriel Jazz Missionary Group: “Christ Place.”
More: Egon’s Funk Archaeology at NPR.
