Now-Again Records

Out Now – Soul Cal: Disco and Modern Soul Masterpieces, 1971-1982.

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.”

Pure Essence – Another Soul Cal Rediscovery

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).

Out Now: Regional Garland “Mixed Sugar – The Complete Works” (Download 2 Bonus MP3s!)

OUT NOW – The collected works of the Flint, Michigan soul singer/songwriter and his band, including the crossover masterpiece “It’s A Bad Feeling” and entries by Hunts Determination Band, 21st Generations, Reggie and Vann and Brilliance.

We’ve already told you about Flint, Michigan’s Regional Garland and the awesome symphonic soul, heavy funk, pleading ballads, proto-disco and boogie included on our Mixed Sugar: The Complete Works, 1970-1987, much of which came from master tapes and is previously unreleased. We told you that the CD comes with a 32 page booklet and that the 2LP comes with a 16 page booklet. We mentioned that both include a wealth of photos and ephemera and extensive liner notes by Ronnie Reese and Egon.

Well, we did called this set “The Complete Works” – and we’ve just found out that, well, it isn’t his complete works. You see, Regional forgot about a super-obscure 45 released by this woman pictured below, who we know only as Mahana.

Her two songs were two of the last of Garland’s Brilliant Minds productions and are both excellent. One is a version of “What Love Has Joined Together;” the Mixed Sugar version of this song appears on our anthology. The other, “She Really Needs Love,” is an unknown Garland instrumental. We’re offering them for free download below – directly from Regional’s master tapes. But don’t ask us any further about Mahana: shortly after recording these two songs, she disappeared, which explains the rarity of her blue-labled Brilliant Minds 7″.

Download: Mahana “What Love Has Joined Together.”
Download: Mahana “She Really Needs Love.”

Video: Dimlite “One Of Uh Infinity’s Countless Uh Tiny Cycles”

Dimlite’s pal Crôucéd Tif produced a video for one of our favorite songs from Grimm Reality, “One Of Uh Infinity’s Countless Uh Tiny Cycles.” We approve.

Atomic Forest Unleashed – Madhukar Dhas Interviewed At The Quietus.

Since the release of our Atomic Forest Obsession anthology, we’ve been lobbied questions from the world over: Did the band really rehearse in a brothel run by Keith Kanga’s grandmother? Are there any more live recordings from their earliest days? Did their two albums ever really see release back in the day?

We’re happy to say that one of our favorite UK music sites, The Quietus, took the time to interview Atomic Founder Madhukar Chandra Dhas and that Dhas expounded a bit on the genesis and trajectory of this confounding Indian psychedelic ensemble. Read more, including Madhu’s recollections of jamming with Led Zeppelin in Bombay during Atomic Forest’s heyday.

Read: Madhukar Dhas interviewed at The Quietus.
Buy: Atomic Forest: Obsession