Now-Again Records

The Guardian UK on our East of Underground anthology: “Funk songs from Vietnam GIs.”

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.”

South Africa’s Mail & Guardian on the Zamrock resurgence: “Up From The Underground.”

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).
More info on our Zambian “Zamrock” reissues here.

Announcing: New World Generation’s Disco-Soul-Boogie Anthology (… download a free MP3 now).

Rare and unreleased late 70s and early 80s disco, soul and boogie recorded by the cult New England ensemble.

We’re happy to present New World Generation’s self-titled anthology, a collection of rare and unreleased soul, disco and boogie by the cult New England ensemble. Presented as a 2CD and as a 2LP; both formats contain extensive liner notes with rare photographs and ephemera. Note: songs from CD disc two are not contained on the 2LP version of this album.

We first got a taste of the New World Generation when Phil Morrison, bassist for avant-garde, Boston-based jazzers Stark Reality, sent us a copy of New World Generation’s solitary recorded document: a five song EP that the band privately released in 1982. We heard echoes of the Roy Ayers produced RAMP sessions and the precise yet sensual vibes of the foundation known as Earth, Wind and Fire. We were intrigued, so we put in a call to New World Generation’s bandleader, Lekan Parsons and found that he had recorded more music in the years leading up to the New World Generation EP. But he’d recorded with different ensembles; finding the first threads of his musical tapestry would take time.

He promised to dig out his masters and send them to us for our consideration. It took years for him to collate the various components of the first phase of his recording career – which stretched from New York to Boston over the course of a decade – but when he did send the music, we were thrilled. The songs he’d recorded with the Universal Rhythms and Orison ensembles were harbingers of the sophisticated soul he’d proffer with New World Generation. They were winsome, hopeful songs – and their existence offered us the chance to present this album.

New World Generation references the faith that carried Parsons through the difficult and demoralizing times accomplished musicians like he and his friends experienced in a post-disco world. Download an example of New World Generation’s music below – “One Of A Kind,” from their 1982 EP.

Download: New World Generation “One Of A Kind.”

Dimlite “Grimm Reality” Album In Stores Now/Session At AOL Spinner

We’d be surprised if you haven’t purchased Dimlite’s Grimm Reality already. But, just in case, we partnered up with AOL Spinner, who are hosting an album session on the eve of its release. Listen to this remarkable album in its entirety and if you like what you hear, well, do your part to support good music at your local shop or follow the links below.

Listen: Dimlite: Grimm Reality Album Session At AOL Spinner
Buy: Dimlite: Grimm Reality
Download: Dimlite “New, Better Pain.”

Podcast – Egon At Red Bull Music Academy Madrid

Egon just returned to Los Angeles from Madrid, where he spent two weeks hanging with the likes of WITCH’s “Jagari” Chanda, Brazilian legend Tom Zé and DOOM at 2011’s Red Bull Music Academy. In between interviewing Chanda, Zé and Erykah Badu – pictured above – he had time to sit down with Red Bull’s Spanish team to discuss future projects at Now-Again. Below, find a link to download his interview, which features exclusive tracks from forthcoming projects by the likes of the Heliocentrics and Dimlite, and music from forthcoming reissues by Indian 70s psych ensemble Atomic Forest and L.A. funk/soul combo Apple and The Three Oranges.

Download: Egon at Red Bull Music Academy Madrid