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Middle Name Dance Band is a three-piece collaboration between Sampology, Megan Christensen & Sam Stosuur on MPC, Keys & Bass. Originally intended as a one-off EP project, the success of both Middle Name Dance Tracks Vol. 1 and the trio’s first live show saw further show requests plus national touring throughout 2019. Summer 2020, Middle Name Dance Band have so far performed at Laneway & Yonder Festivals.

Vol. 2 broadens the dance tempos and grooves from Brazilian & House to mid-tempo Boogie & Slow Jam, as heard on 'Weekend Love Chant' which received play from Gilles Peterson on BBC 6, & was listed on PBS's Mike Gurrieri's top Australian tracks of the year.

Middle Name Dance Band are; Sampology, Megan Christensen & Sam Stosuur
Trumpet - Tristan Rogers
Vibraphone - Kym Ambrose
Vocals - Merinda Dias-Jayasinha & Roman Albert
Percussion - Gus Cereijo & Jason Bell

Produced & Mixed - Sampology
Mastered + Lacquer Cut - Frank @ The Carvery, London.

WHAT THE COVER LOOKS LIKE_

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Dial warmly welcomes Soela to be the first album release in 2020, the 20th anniversary year of the label and the latest addition to their artist’s roster. Soela’s debut Album Genuine Silk is an exploration into the deepest shades contemporary and House Music and Ambient. With a continuous stream of essential compositions, Soela creates a mesmerising undertow of enchanting atmospheres and moods.
Soela aka Elina Shorokhova is a wanderer, passing through cities, clubs, landscapes and genres that all left unmistakable traces on this release. Genuine Silk marks the end of a three-year-long journey that started in Rostov-on-Don and ultimately led to a new life for her in Berlin. Three years that saw acclaimed and celebrated releases on record labels like Kompakt, Detroit Underground and Nerang Recordings.creditsreleased April 14, 2020

ALL TRACKS W&P ELINA SHOROKHOVA
PROLOGUE CO-PRODUCED BY MODULE ONE
INCONSISTENCY CO-PRODUCED BY CHRISTOPHER LEDGER
MASTERING: KASSIAN TROYER FOR DUBPLATES & MASTERING
COVER IMAGE: ROBERT KULISEK
GRAPHIC DESIGN: TILL SPERRLE
DISTRIBUTION: KOMPAKT (PHYSICAL)
WORDANDSOUND (DIGITAL)
CONTACT: DIAL@DIAL-REC.DE

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Cruise the city in a night ship, dressed to kill in the Seville. Float down waterfalls and fountains, reclined on some pimp shit. The time zone ghost returns to paint a picture that echoes through infinity. The sun is put to rest, the soliloquy is killer bee. A diamond purpose lying beneath the surface. Nothing is ever what it seems, but forever is the theme. It’s time. Shabazz Palaces are back with yet another classic of divine mathematics design. More dazzling Afrofuturist sutras to illuminate distant constellations with sacred abstractions. Enter The Don of Diamond Dreams, raw and uncut, but glowing with 10,000 karat shine.

If you adhere to the corporeal limitations of space and chronology, it’s been roughly a decade since Shabazz Palaces first shook the ramparts with their debut stylistic revolution, Black Up -- which Pitchfork named as one of the Best of the 2010s, hailing it as an “album of impossible vision.” But the project masterminded by vocalist and producer Ishmael Butler (with levitational assists from multi-instrumentalist Tendai "Baba" Maraire) has never conformed to gravitational consideration or terrestrial measurement. They are heirs to the astral imagination of Sun Ra and George Clinton, Octavia Butler and Alice Coltrane. If they technically claim residence in Seattle, their sound emanates much closer to Alpha Centauri than Alki Beach.

In his unstinting drive to reimagine hip-hop, Butler remains one of the preeminent visionaries of the last quarter-century. His first album with Digable Planets, Reachin (A New Refutation of Time and Space, nodded at Miles Davis in the first half of its title, but 27 years later, he has become one of the most vaunted inheritors of the trumpet deity’s rarefied legacy -- still innovating as he enters his fourth decade as a working musician -- splintering, rebuilding, and expanding the possibilities of sound. He has collaborated with like-minded visionaries Flying Lotus and Thundercat, Battles and Animal Collective. While all-timers like Radiohead and Lauryn Hill have invited him to join them on tour.

It remains impossible to accurately describe a Shabazz Palaces album without lapsing into cosmic tropes. Yet sometimes clichés are stand-ins for eternal truths. Therein, The Don of Diamond Dreams embodies a futuristic manifestation of ancient myth, full of robotic vocoder and warped auto-tune, Funkadelic refracted into different dimensions, weird portals and warm nocturnal joy rides alongside the coast (a reflection of it being mixed near the beach in California). The synthesizers are alien but the drums speak a universal language. It is hip-hop, dub, jazz, R&B, soul, funk, African, experimental, and occasionally even pop. But over the course of five albums, Shabazz Palaces have conceived the fluid boundaries of their own one-band genre.

Even though the construction of the album is meticulous, it’s a startling masterpiece of improvisation and instinct. It’s both cerebral and automatic, with Butler jotting down phrases and ideas in his phone and eventually shaping them into amorphous abstract expressionist canvasses. If anything, their latest illustrates Butler’s gift for being a conduit of sounds and experience. It’s partially shaped by his own reflection on being a parent and watching his son, Jazz, become internationally renowned as the artist, Lil Tracy. If you listen closely, you can hear the interplay between father and son, as Butler does what is impossible for most veteran artists: he absorbs the sounds of today’s youth, but filters it through his own fractured lens, spitting back convex poems with wild cadences, freestyling with the wisdom of age and the frenetic passion of someone still trying to show and prove. It’s confident and suffused with the thing that defines almost all great art: the willingness to risk attempting something new.

There is “Ad Ventures,” a shout out to Butler’s crew, The Black Constellation. The beat operates like a melodic free jazz hymn, with Ish boasting about Ethiopian carats and watching lakes from a theological terrace. It’s an imagistic rendering of their tours through Europe in sprinter vans, blitzing from place to place and absorbing every detail. Featuring Purple Tape Nate, “Fast Learner” offers odd splendor, spoken word reveries and flexes that wriggle through a wrinkle in time. The synthesizers sound like New Age from the 37th century crossed with 90s R&B, the drums are slow and seething. On top of that, Butler laid a guitar line down and auto-tune harmonies that instantiate the feeling of driving along PCH at night.

“Wet” is a freestyle of sorts with Ish offering his own twist on contemporary rap cadences but making it sound like an underwater Atlantis symphony. There are Based God shoutouts and fuzzy guitars that wouldn’t sound out of place on an Ariel Pink album. “Chocolate Souffle” is some god-level shit-talking in the way that only Butler could do: replete with Maurice Chevalier allusions and admissions of being an “elitist at the zenith of slick demeanor.” While “Thanking the Girls” might be the most poignant song in the Shabazz catalog, a song that acknowledges the myriad positive ways in which women have shaped Butler’s life. The second verse is dedicated to his two daughters and the pride which they engender. Of course, this is a Shabazz Palaces song so the beat sounds like a riff on Panda Bear distilled through a bent futuristic boom-bap prism.

In some respects, it’s difficult to consider the possibility that this might be the best Shabazz Palaces album yet. Very few musicians have ever peaked in their fifth decade on earth, but whoever said they were actually from earth? It’s wrong to say that Shabazz Palaces have gone beyond the looking glass. This time they’ve shattered it entirely and created a brilliant new universe in each one of the shards.

Shabazz Palaces The Don of Diamond Dreams will be available April 17th, 2020 worldwide on Sub Pop. The 10-track album includes the highlights “Fast Learner (ft. Purple Tape Nate),” “Chocolate Souffle,” “Bad Bitch Walking (ft. Stas THEE Boss), and “Thanking The Girls.” It also features contributions from singer/keyboardist Darrius Willrich, Percussionist Carlos Niño, Knife Knights collaborator OCnotes, Saxophonist Carlos Overall, and bassist Evan Flory-Barnes.

The Don of Diamond Dreams was recorded throughout 2019 and produced by Shabazz Palaces at Protect and Exalt: A Black Space in Seattle, mixed and engineered by Erik Blood with mixing assistance from Andy Kravitz at Studio 4 Labs in Venice, California, and mastered by Scott Sedillo at Bernie Grundman Mastering in Los Angeles. 

A quick heads up that the first release of many from The Slow Music Movement in 2020 will be dropping on May 7th and it's an introduction to a new producer from the vibrant, obviously microdosing en masse, Melbourne music scene. Wu Cloud will be dropping his & the label's first LP in a few weeks, which is a masterpiece of  tropical field recording enriched, ambient electronica that he produced whilst deeply immersed for an extended period in the Sumatran jungle.

As an introduction we thought we'd dig into his hitherto wide ranging, weird and wobbly off the grid first 3 EPs and give you a taste of this fresh face on the psychedelic dub, exotic ambient & leftfield electronic music scene.

A bright, slightly purple hazed future in the leftfield music scene surely awaits.

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"A Thousand Harmonies in Silence" is an album that highlights the idea of being "safe". Since writing this record I wanted to portray personal memory and experience that had me feeling at peace. Each track signifies a special place, thing, person and time. All of which had some sense of security. I challenged myself to really embody these moments and record my guitar in single takes. I can only hope you enjoy listening to this record as much as did writing it."

-A. London
Credits
Written and recorded by Adam London
Editing and mixing by Billy Mannino / Adam London
Additional performances on 'Apart Worlds' include:
Raphael Weinroth-Browne, Cello
Laurence Schaufele, Viola
Alex Toskov,Violin
Mastered at 12K Studio (NY) by Taylor Deupree
Artwork by Irek Jania

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Gunned Down is the newest collection of tracks by Fly Kin Mountain, a project from Portland’s Brandon Knocke (Body-san, Discoverer). Leaning towards the ambient and atmospheric side of Knocke’s prolific work, Gunned Down is a beautiful set of tunes. Expansive and textural slow burners like “Secrets I II III” and “Gamma Camera” melt their way into goosebump-inducing sunset horizons (“Under Dim Light”), or flow seamlessly into the lone beat-oriented, head bobbing “Concrete Pillar.” A tightly wrapped, thoughtfully produced package of hopeful sounds and feelings for the incoming warmer seasons. Edition of 50 pro-dubbed cassettes with full-color, double-sided artwork by Andrew Heuback and Erok Johanssen.

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All tracks included on this compilation are previously unreleased or new material produced specifically for Healing Sounds II: A compilation for those in need.

All proceeds will be donated to Feeding America. Feeding America is a nationwide organization that harnesses support from local communities to keep low-income families supplied with food. Right now, its biggest concern is children whose schools have closed, cutting off a source of healthy, free meals.

All arrangements featured on this compilation belongs to the respective copyright holders and graciously provided their arrangement in an effort to raise donations for 'Feeding America' in response to the devastating effects of COVID-19. Thank you to all artists and fans alike for the support.

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The music of MIke Steva has always found its natural home in Yoruba Records.

Label head Osunlade recalls:

“My relationship with Mike was family from the start. During my first ever visit to Australia I only had one gig in Sydney and him being a fan of the label, he actually made a gig happen in Melbourne as he felt it was rude that I had no gigs there. Upon arrival I was immediately introduced to his crew there, which quickly became family. I’ve been coming here now for ten years and it’s more home than anyplace because of my family here. Musically, he was already onto something with tracks I heard back in 2009, however I guided him over the next four years to what eventually became his first album, ‘Who Am I?’”

“Since then Steva has been a major part of the growth for Yoruba records. His strong Macedonian background with songs like “Oro” fit perfectly with Yoruba’s focus on traditional and folkloric music.”

And indeed since 2013, Steva has steadily put out some of the label’s finest moments of the last decade, including his aforementioned debut album “Who Am I” (YSD67), two EP’s (“Birds Of Paradise” and “Visions of Paradise”) and the single, the oh-so-wrong-but-it-feels-right “Weekend Love”, a very special song which subsequently brought about a beautiful remix by the Master At Work himself, Louie Vega.

So it is with great pleasure that Yoruba Records presents to you: Earth Mother

Earth Mother, the follow up album to Who Am I, displays a more musical side to Steva, teaming up with musicians such as local Macedonian guitarist Simon Milan and taking his music to the next level organically while keeping the core of his signature rhythms.

“Rain Song” is the proper purifier needed to start out the proceedings. The chant of “Chove Chuva” (Translates to “Rain, Rain”) sung by Yoruba Records staple Quetzal Guerrero, accompanied by the handclaps, strings (also performed by Quetzal) and midtempo percussive pulse serves as a perfect introduction. In the words of the renowned Turkish thinker and novelist Mehmet Murat ildan, “The Sun after the rain is much beautiful than the Sun before the rain!”

And that sun comes in the form of “Dobro (Dusan’s Song).” This soul-opening burst of radiant regenerative energy features Steva showing off one of his great strengths as a composer, combining organic elements such as the live flute you hear throughout the song, along with the electronic to give it its unique blend. The particular flute you are listening in “Dobro”, performed by Dusan, is called a Kaval. The Kaval is an instrument played throughout the Balkan region and is considered one of the primary melodic instruments in the folk music of mountain shepherds of the area. Just one of many odes that Steva gives to his Macedonian heritage.

“Sonceto” (Sun in Macedonian) is the sound of Brazilian air under a clear and breezy summer night sky. A looped guitar motif over a delicate bossa-house rhythm will fit just about right in any part of the world, from a lakeside café in Ohrid, to the beaches of Miami and Rio De Janeiro all the way to the St. Kilda Foreshore, Melbourne, Australia.

The title track is one of Steva’s most gorgeous pieces of work to date. Featuring the wonderful guitar work of Simon Milan, this song attemps to capture the awe of our earth, allowing the listener an introspective moment to be grateful for these great lands we call home. The only thing you will wish for after listening to the precious rhythms of “Earth Mother” is that the musical stars align and that we can, some-way, some-how, get a feature with the equally precious Sade on vocals. We should all just put that out there and let it manifest. #SadeEarthMother

Channeling in the ancestral power characteristic of Steva’s productions, “Egokila” is strictly for the dancefloor warriors. The track wastes no time in its No-BS approach. While Steva takes on percussion / drum duties (playing on Congas, Indonesian Tribal Drum, Cajon, Tambourine), Quetzal Guerrero delivers an inspired performance on the violin, using different techniques throughout the song. This is for our floor stompers all across the globe, and if you’ve seen Steva or any one of our artists rock a dancefloor, you know exactly what we mean.

“Adore” is one of the vocal centerpieces of this album. This is the soundtrack of feeling the high of another person, the sound when the lines of infatuation and love can no longer be easily distinguished. The lyric “I just want you to be, I just want you to be mine” is spread repetitively in all eight and a half minutes of the song making it very clear that someone has fallen in love. In the same way the lyrics repeat, the clean synth chord and percussion patterns don’t give much away in terms of variation, and why would they? The focus is strictly this one person:

Thinking ‘bout you endlessly
Don’t know how much I think about ya
Sense it with a hit of anything
Can’t sleep without, I can’t breathe without

Like falling in love, they say the best things in life are free… we tend to forget that sometimes. In fact, some even scoff at the notion. For Steva “Shake It” is “a song made for people to remember to dance, no matter what we are going thru it is highly important to shake it! Get down and Boogie!” Completed in just thirty minutes, the immediacy of this track is quickly palpable. The song leaves very little space for thinking, only space for feeling and motion.

The Kecak is a Balinese Hindu dance that dates almost a hundred years. “Woman’s Kecak” is a follow up to the original “Kecak” featured on Steva’s debut album Who Im I. The original was performed by male tribesmen at a faster tempo, while “Woman’s Kecak” is performed by female tribeswomen at a slower tempo with a warmer more soulful feel. In the battle it depicts in its performance, the story of the Kecak ceremony is said to cleanse the soul of bad spirits and exorcise any demons that may linger. This new 17-minute rendition is aimed at providing a soundscape that can heal. The female ceremony was recorded live by Osunlade in Bali, who then sent it to Steva, which ended up being the perfect continuation in the story of Kecak through his lens. This is very reminiscent of the work California producer Gabriel Reyes-Whittaker has done under his Frankie Reyes alias with the Technoindigenous Studies project. No doubt, some of Steva’s most transcendent work.

Earth Mother is an ode to the Mother, Mother Earth and Mother Sun. The album provides a positive, healing, nurturing musical scope, with aim at representing the beauty she encompasses! It is a fully self-expressed body of work that calls for reconnection with nature, a reconnection with that Mother Earth and sun, and most importantly a reconnection with ourselves. It is time for the conscious revolution of your mind... 
Credits
01 Rain Song ft QVLN 6:15
Drums, Percussion, Synth by Mike Steva
Violin & Vocal by QVLN

02 Dobro (Dusan’s Song) 6:24
Drums & Percussion by Mike Steva
Keys, Bass by Damian Smith, re arranged by Mike Steva.
Kaval by Duśan

03 Sonceto 6:24
Drums & Percussion by Mike Steva
Guitars by Simon Milan

04 Earth Mother 5:29
Drums, Percussion, Bass & Synth by Mike Steva
Guitars by Simon Milan
Keys by Mike Steva & Simon Milan

05 Egokila 5:52
Drums, Synth & Percussion by Mike Steva
Violins by QVLN

06 Adore ft Areign 8:30
Drums & Percussion by Mike Steva
Vocals by Areign

07 Social Music 4:24
Drums & Percussion by Mike Steva
Guitar & Bass by Simon Milan

08 Dimensions 7:14
Drums & Percussion by Mike Steva
Keys by Damian Smith
Guitar & Bass by Simon Milan

09 Shake It 4:14 ft. Disk-Ant
Drums, Percussion, Bass, Synth & Vocals by Mike Steva
Vocals by Disk-Ant

10 Woman’s Kecak
Drums & Percussion by Mike Steva
Keys & Bass by Damian Smith

11 People ft The Black Bond
Drums, Upright Piano, Bass & Percussion by Mike Steva
Horns , Rhodes & Piano Solo by Damian Smith

12 Conscious Revolution 5:42 ft Disk-Ant
Drums & Percussion by Mike Steva
Keys by Damian Smith
Guitar & Bass by Simon Milan
Vocals by Disk-Ant

Written, Produced & Arranged by Mike Steva For Deeperoots Music & Yoruba Records.
Recorded & Mixed by Mike Steva @ The Deeperoots Dojo, Melbourne, Australia & Momma’s Groove Studio’s St. Louis, Missouri
Deeperoots Music, ASCAP
Mastered by Martin Iveson for ARCO Labs, UK
Label Manager: Colin Boardway
Executive Producer: Osunlade


This album is dedicated to Mother Earth!

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Peace. ?

Be kind to one another.

tHHs.Credits
Composed, arranged, performed, engineered, produced, mixed and mastered by Kaz.
Except for 'Opening Aunt Dora's Box in 6/8'. Composed by Rainer Ptacek.