Now-Again Records

Announcing Johnny! Ghanaian Afro-Rock From JJ Whitefield.

ON SALE AND SHIPPING AT OUR RAPPCATS WEBSTORE – JOHNNY! 3 x 7″ COLLECTION

Introducing: Johnny! Ghanaian Afro-Rock from German producer/composer JJ Whitefield and an international cast of top shelf musicians.

Limited edition of 1000. Not to be repressed. Each 7″ comes with a download card for wav files. Die-cut dress jacket and resealable “Japanese-style” sleeve. Specially priced bundle available at our webstore at Rappcats

Whitefield, who in the early ‘90s revived the gritty, analogue Funk sounds of the ‘60s and ‘70s with his Poets Of Rhythm, has been working with Now-Again Records for almost a decade, releasing a flock of acclaimed projects with Karl Hector & The Malcouns, Whitefield Brothers, Rodinia and the Original Raw Soul III anthology.

He first started exploring African rhythms with the Whitefield Brothers in the late ‘90s, continuing in the ‘00s with Karl Hector & The Malcouns. He’s been instrumental in launching Ghanaian Afro Beat/Funk legend Ebo Taylor´s international career, decades after the maestro recorded the landmark albums that have inspired thousands. Whitefield recorded two new studio albums with Taylor and toured in his band between 2009 and 2013, where he met Taylor’s son Henry and percussionist/Singer Eric Owusu.

The trio now front the Johnny! band and find inspiration not only in Ghana’s hypnotic grooves, but also the full frontal fuzz guitar assault heard on the legion of 70s Zambian Zamrock albums recently reissued by Now-Again. Indeed, Whitefield credits his tours with Zamrock godfathers Rikki Ililonga and WITCH’s Jagari Chanda as instrumental in creating the Johnny’s sonic backdrop. The band is rounded out by Turkish drummer Bernd Oezsevim (Woima Collective, Rodinia) and Indonesian bassist/multi instrumentalist Tomi Simatupang (Whitefield Brothers).

This is Dance Rock at the core with the possibilities to stretch out and go into psychedelic realms. The results, spread out over three 7” singles and pressed in a run of 1000 units each, speak for themselves. Every record comes with a download card for WAV files of all six tracks (vocals and instrumentals from each release) and point at a new direction for the music inspired by the Great Continent. One that takes a direction once mocked as derivative and asserts its importance on the globe’s current musical stage.

Announcing: Original Raw Soul III album and Transgressors 7″ (with a free mp3)…

The collective that includes the Poets of Rhythm, Whitefield Brothers and Karl Hector & The Malcouns present a series of rare funk, jazz, soul and world-psych singles compiled as an album. Out NOW – worldwide.

It’s been nearly fifteen years since the vinyl-only releases by the various ensembles helmed by Jay and Max Whitefield – also known as the Whitefield Brothers and the nucleus of the revered Poets of Rhythm – were collated onto an Original Raw Soul album. The last – 1997’s More Original Raw Soul – largely contained the duo’s heavy funk and soul… well before the aughts’ Deep Funk revival that one could argue began with these two German siblings’ earliest recordings.

Fitting, then, that this – Original Raw Soul III – looks back at recordings dating back over twenty years but never once sounds dated or dull. There’s the garage funk of the early Poets incarnation the Bus People Express; the deep jazz of vocalist Bajka gigging with a Max Whitefield ensemble; the pan-African psych-jazz of the Whitefield Brothers. And that’s just three of the ensembles contained within. Original Raw Soul III’s sixteen tracks that span the gamut of forty years of musical innovation, recorded over the past twenty years, and presented anew today.

Contains two previously unreleased songs by The Transgressors, which also released on a 7” in conjunction with this album. Download one – the garagey funk number “Money For Born Money For Die” – below.

Buy: Original Raw Soul III
Download: Transgressors “Money For Born Money For Die.”

Not Really A Podcast: Part Three – The Poets of Rhythm, Malcolm Catto, Bajka Live In Nottingham, UK (2006)

Part three of what we think will be four – but might be five. Thanks to Sofrito’s Lewis Heriz we’re presenting another entry in our “Not Really A Podcast” series – the third song from the gig Heriz produced for the Poets of Rhythm/Whitefield Brothers, Heliocentrics drummer Malcolm Catto and vocalist Bajka at The Maze in Nottingham, UK, in 2006. This time – a cover of Egyptian drummer and bandleader Salah Ragab’s “Neveen.”

Download: The Poets of Rhythm featuring Malcolm Catto and Bajka ““Neveen.”

Not Really A Podcast: Part Two – The Poets of Rhythm, Malcolm Catto, Bajka Live In Nottingham, UK (2006)

Again, courtesy of Sofrito’s Lewis Heriz we’re presenting another entry in our “Not Really A Podcast” series – a second song from the gig Heriz produced for the Poets of Rhythm/Whitefield Brothers, Heliocentrics drummer Malcolm Catto and vocalist Bajka at The Maze in Nottingham, UK, in 2006. Now up – a modal-funk number in the vein of Mulatu Asatke, the aptly titled “Ethiopia.”

Download: The Poets of Rhythm featuring Malcolm Catto and Bajka ““Ethiopia.”