Announcing: Ayalew Mesfin’s “Hasabe (My Worries)” – the last treasure trove of 70s Ethiopian Funk

Hasabe (My Worries), a Now-Again x Vinyl Me, Please release, the latter’s February 2018 Record of the Month. A variation of this album will see issue worldwide on Now-Again in late 2018.

Ayalew Mesfin is among the legends of the 1970s Ethiopian musical scene – his music is some of the funkiest to arise from this unconquerable East African nation. Ayalew was forced underground by the Derg regime that took control of the country in 1974. Now, over 40 years later, his triumphant return – and the first time that his music has been presented in album form – gives us a chance to discover a rare & beautiful moment in music history. Listen to his classic Ethiopian funk track “Libe Menta Hone” below.

Read more about this important release here. And watch a short film that introduces you to Ayalew’s story and his music:

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Listen: Egon, Gilles Peterson, Ed Wilson on World Wine…


In late 2017, Egon visited Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Studios in London with Ed Wilson, record fiend and chef / owner of stellar restaurant – and frequent Madlib Medicine Show London tour stop – Brawn to chat about wine and music – and record some mixes together. Now the show – World Wine! – is available to listen to at the above link. Curious as to what your’e hearing? Check the tracklist below. MORE

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Landmark late 60s West Coast Psych – Hunger, the definitive reissue, LP#8 in Now-Again Reserve

The latest release in Now-Again’s Reserve Subscription series is Hunger – Strictly From Hunger: the band’s preferred version of the album, unedited, fuzz-guitar heavy late 60s psych-rock, restored and remastered from a rare test press. Bonus 2nd LP of the Public! Records version of the album available only to subscribers.

Shipping to subscribers now – if you missed the deluxe 2LP version there are still limited “Catch Me Up” subscriptions available… MORE

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Announcing Timothy McNealy’s “Funky Movement” – The Last Great Texas Funk LP, Finally Issued

But it now at our web store at Rappcats

The greatest never-issued Texas Funk LP – the legendary Timothy McNealy’s works, collected and officially reissued for the first time.

Extensive booklet detailing Timothy’s story, replete with never-published photos. Download card for WAV files included.

Dallas, Texas funk and soul singer, songwriter, producer and firebrand Timothy McNealy’s “Sagittarius Black” 45 was one of the first key “deep funk” records of the genre’s re-discovery period in the mid- to late-‘90s, when collectors and DJ’s did with the black America’s fertile late-‘60s and early ‘70s musical scenes what they had done prior with blues, jazz and rock. When that rarity was first rediscovered, no one could really explain it’s genesis: It was that rare thing, a record that came out of a specific era, but transcended it. Those who were entranced knew now how much McNealy had recorded, how many records he’d issued on his self-funded Shawn Records, or how good his music might be.

With this anthology – the first time that McNealy’s work has been collected and officially reissued – we now know the answer, and we know that McNealy’s music deserves to be emblematic of Dallas funk and soul in the same way that Texas’s other two largest cities – Houston, with the Kashmere Stage Band, and San Antonio, with Mickey and the Soul Generation – have their unique ambassadors, colored by those cities’ milieus.

McNealy’s recordings offer the breadth and depth that make a case for important idiosyncrasies, as they showcase a singular musical vision and his city’s vast talent, which has been prior documented on Now-Again releases such as Cold Heat and the South Dallas Pop Fest 1970 and Jazzman Records’ Texas Funk. McNealy’s banner recordings for Dallas, Texas’s best and brightest in that wonderful moment for American funk and soul music is worthy as an album, and as a testament to what is great about American music in general, and its creators’ abilities to think beyond the immediate.

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X-Rated High School Funk – Marvin Whoremonger, LP #3 In Now-Again Reserve Shipping Now!

15-17 year old Las Vegas high school kids meet a transient vocalist to create X-rated, basement funk. One of the most sought after funk LPs gets shining treatment as part of Now-Again Reserve: a deluxe vinyl subscription. Shipping now!

SUBSCRIBE: NOW-AGAIN RESERVE – there are a limited amount of “Catch Me Up” subscriptions still available to get you the entire run of NOW-AGAIN RESERVE releases.

Here’s the story of one of funk’s most sought-after albums: Marvin Whoremonger is a concept-piece executed by a Vegas hustler, pairing the troubled musings of a transient vocalist (Marvin Neroes) with the exuberant funk of a teenage trio. Much of the album was recorded in a single take, then embellished by session musicians in Hollywood with synthesizers and a large horn section.

Producer Cholly Willians declared in the liner notes that the album would lead to international stardom for all involved. When Marvin Whoremonger was released in 1976, behind a garish, anonymous jacket, it failed immediately. Forty years later it has aged well, and stands as an immediately accessible – yet bizarre – exercise in late-period, real funk music.

Rob Thomsett will be the fourth release of Now-Again Reserve, set to ship January 18th, 2017/strong>

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