Candi Staton
Candi Staton

Millie Jackson's classic soul album It Hurts So Good has gone down in time as a shining example of what many hardcore soul fanatics might call 'deep soul'. Darker and more austere than the usual idea of soul at large, deep soul was known for its added grit and pain behind the beltings and breakbeats. Millie Jackson had this yet-nascent formula down to a T. Active in the early 70s and beyond, Jackson released It Hurts So Good as a testament to the test of love, an analogy for life itself. Yes, it hurts, but the pain is worth it when balanced out by the glorious highs.

There’s a Riot Goin’On, le chef-d’oeuvre tourmenté de Sly and the Family Stone, fête ses 50 ans en 2021. À cette occasion, Legacy Recordings publie un LP collector coloré en rouge de l’album incluant, entre autre, les incontournables “Family Affair”, “Running Away” et “Thank You For Talking To Me Africa”.

Wewantsounds present the first vinyl reissue Omar Khorshid's cult instrumental album from 1978 originally released in Lebanon. The album features Khorshid's trademark twangy electric guitar sound over Arabic melodies enhanced by fascinating fuzzed-up arrangements and early synthesizer sounds. The album has been newly remastered and comes with the original Voice of Lebanon LP artwork. With Love released by the Beirut-based Voice of Lebanon label in 1978 is a testament to Omar Khorshid's greatness and encapsulate the unique sound of his guitar playing over modern arrangements establishing him as one of Arabic music's true innovator. Featuring reworkings of such favorites as Mohamed Abdel Wahab's 'Ahwak', Farid El-Atrache's 'Hebbina Hebbina' (a Brian Eno favorite), and the Rahbani Brothers' 'Rahbaniyat', the album is a fascinating example of modern Arabic music that aimed at fusing traditional influences with the more contemporary ones, and has become highly sought-after by lovers of this Middle Eastern sounds around the world.

We love it when French label Wagram puts out another compilation because they are invariably excellent and can every much make your record collection and therefore digging credentials seem maybe a touch better than they are without doing much work yourself. This one, after loads that have focussed on everything form techno to soul to protest songs, is simply called Groove Diggin. It is another sublime los at some red hot and impassioned soul sounds put together with love by some serious diggers. Cortex, The Heads of the Family and more all feature.

Coming off the heels of 2022's A New Kind of Love, A Trip To The Moon sees GFO diving even deeper in the worlds of film music, exotica, and psychedelic surf rock. The aim is to create a layered and collaged listening experience with more elements than you could possibly pick out in a single listen. The guitars are fuzzy and flooded with spring reverb, and the horns are arranged in a studio big band fashion. It's full of big compositions with garage rock attitude. Influences range everywhere from Eddie Palmieri and Esquivel to The Lively Ones, Dusty Springfield, and War. The tracks are tied together by real recorded transmissions from the Apollo moon missions. The concept for the album is a story about a woman stranded on earth by her cosmonaut partner, left to ponder his whereabouts and whether or not he'll make it back from the cosmos alive.