The legendary Zambian band’s disco/boogie years, contains the entirety of their two rare albums: 1980-1984. Out now on Now-Again Deluxe, 2CD on 01.21.14.

Regular visitors to this site are no strangers to the Zamrock movement from Zambia’s early to mid ’70s, from issues of the likes of WITCH, Rikki Ililonga and Musi-O-Tunya to our association with the Shadoks, Strawberry Rain and Mississipi Records reissues of Paul Ngozi and the Ngozi Family, Amanaz and Salty Dog.

Left out of our Zamrock investigation, for stylistic reasons as well as logistical concerns, were albums released after Zamrock’s heyday, when the music of ‘80s Zambia came to be influenced by disco and rhumba from neighboring Congo. Bands that didn’t adapt sounded outdated. Thus even Zamrock’s greatest band, WITCH, splintered, with a skeleton crew of core members embracing younger musicians to record and release two albums that found the band replacing fuzz guitars with whirling synthesizers and trying their hand at soul, disco and boogie.

The band privately issued two albums – Movin’ On in 1980, Kuomboka in 1984 – in small quantities before a dearth of gigs and the large ensemble’s overhead caused them to disband, sometime in 1985. Though but a decade separated the first and last WITCH albums, the recording capabilities of most nations in sub-Saharan Africa by 1984 had caught up with the rest of the world. Finally, fans of the WITCH’s arch can listen to, and acknowledge, the breadth of this great band and assess for themselves the recordings of both of WITCH’s incarnations.

We’re currently offering “Movin’ On” via Now-Again Deluxe at Drip.fm – “Kuomboka” will follow shortly. A 2CD set will see release on 01.21.14. Limited vinyl editions of both albums will soon be available through Invisible City Editions. Free download below!

Download: WITCH “Movin’ On”
Subscribe Now: https://drip.fm/nowagain
If you missed it: WITCH We Intend To Cause Havoc!.

Heliocentrics Quatermass Sessions 1 EP available NOW via Now-Again Deluxe and on vinyl. Stream the EP at Soundcloud and download a free MP3 here!

Returning after their 13 Degrees of Reality album with a full on volley of psychedelic-funk songs first heard on Gaslamp Killer’s HELIO X GLK EP, the Heliocentrics offer nine tracks that Rolling Stone describe as “…sprawling, with percussive patterns that suddenly morph into extraterrestrial sound blasts and opaque, detouring patterns.” We couldn’t have said it better. This is the kind of EP that you would happily welcome as an album – and, you know what, in the future you might: as the title hints, this is probably only the beginning of The Heliocentrics’ excavations into the sonic experiments they entered into for years at their recently vacated Quatermass Studios.

We’re currently streaming the entire EP on our Soundcloud and, if that’s not enough, you can grab an MP3 download below – the Jeremy Steig inspired “The Five Thing.”

Download: “The Five Thing”
Subscribe Now: https://drip.fm/nowagain
If you missed it: Heliocentrics 13 Degrees of Reality on Rappcats.

Linked below: Egon’s newest Funk Archaeology post at Red Bull Music Academy’s website, detailing a trip with Madlib to Hungary in search of funky psych, but, after a message from Gabor Szabo, ending up with stacks of proggy jazz.

The exclusive download this time around: Debrecen Jazz Group’s moody “Bitter.” If you like what you hear, you will – no kidding – nearly certainly find this at Creator Julien’s store – mentioned in the piece, and no longer, it seems run out of his bedroom. Happy Hungarian hunting!

The New Series: Jazz Funked Up In Budapest – Egon’s Funk Archaeology at Red Bull Music Academy.
The Old Series: Egon’s Funk Archaeology at NPR.
Download: Debrecen Jazz Group: “Bitter.”

Buy it here.

Produced by: Whitefield/Curulija/Baral
Executive Producer: JJ Whitefield
Artwork by Kevin Lyons.
Mastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters.

Tracklist:

A1 Omebele (Reprise) (V. Olaiya)
A2 The Cave (J. Whitefield)
A3 Beyond Squares (Z. Curulija)
A4 Chess Break (J. Whitefield)
B1 Coomassi (Z. Curulija)
B2 Irtijal (M. Ramdan, B. Baral, Z. Curulija, J. Whitefield)
B3 Medium Rare Pt. 1 (B. Baral)

EP. 2014. NA5111.