From Bossa Nova pioneers to Disco 2.0 newcomers, from Jazz Funk legends to cult soundtracks, they have released in just over a year several releases drawn from the large spectrum of their musical tastes. It’s time for them to explain their choice and go back to their own roots…

When did you start digging records?
Olivier: When I was a kid, they were selling vinyls at my local supermarket in the surburb of Paris, and they had turntables so you could listen to them, so I started buying 7” and 12” EPs and then LPs. It was mainly pop stuff from that time: A-ha, Dire Straits, U2. At around 10-11 year old, I also went deep into metal with Iron Maiden, Metallica, etc. I also bought records by groups from the French alternative scene like Les Bérurier Noir. I also had a lot of tapes, bought or duplicated from the local library – I still have these. My tape desk is still working and I’m even buying new cassette-only music, now that this format is hip again. Then by my mid-teenage years I switched all in one go to jazz (with Art Blakey), hiphop (with De La Soul, Ice Cube & Public Enemy) and soul/funk (with James Brown). I was influenced by the emergence of hiphop in my neighborhood and thanks to my city library and also to Radio Nova which was a key radio for me at the time, I had access to music. I discovered Paris’ indie records shops (Tikaret, LTD, Crocodisc, etc.) and I never really stopped buying records. By the end of the 90s I added electronic music on top and this mix pretty much what I’m still listening to.

Matt: I started buying records around 10-11 years old. I’d buy mostly 7”. One of the earliest one I remember buying was The Buggles’ Radio Killed the Video Star at my local supermarket. That was probably around 1979. Then I bought the early 80s music that was big at the time: Culture Club, Michael Jackson, Wham. I remember having a shock when I first heard “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash. I also remember buying the 7” of Malcolm McLaren, “Buffalo Gals” around that time. But that was it in terms of new releases. I didn’t like the 80s sound so I bought a lot of 60s, 70s music like Earth Wind and Fire, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Pink Floyd. I was constantly digging deeper. Also my best friend was very advanced in his music taste so he guided me a lot. He’d listen to stuff like Steely Dan, Art Blakey and Miles Davis at 13 years old so I got into Jazz at that early age!. We were also Pat Metheny groupies. We had our ECM phase and then with Acid Jazz came in and I went into Rare Grooves and JBs. Another big shock around that time was Gil Scott Heron whom I discovered in 91 thanks to a Super Disco Brake compilation I’d bought. I was lucky to see him live in 92 and that was fantastic.

What LPs did you buy at first? Do you still listen to them?
Olivier: I think it was U2’s “Rattle And Hum” and Dire Straits’ compilation “Money For Nothing”, both in 1988. I discovered the songs “Helter Skelter” and “All Along The Watchtower” on “Rattle And Hum”, and I was very surprised when I discovered the original versions. All the more for “All Along The Watchtower”, because before discovering the Dylan song, I first thought it was actually by Jimi Hendrix! For Dire Straits, it was the beginning of a new addiction that lasted a few years and I bought all of their tapes. I don’t listen to them anymore and by the time my musical tastes evolved, I came to hate them, as one usually does with their teenage tastes! But I still have them. I have some kind of affection for them.

Matt: My father was into Rock’n’roll and Rhythm & Blues so I remember a Chubby Checker album as one of the earliest LP I bought. The first second-hand album I bought was Barry White’s Rhapsody in White album in the mid 80s. That’s when the series Magnum PI was popular and the opening music of the series which was inspired by “Love’s Theme”. My first LPs are at my parents so I don’t get to play them but I’d like to take them back one day

Do you have a particular style or favourite period?
Olivier: I have a strong Black Music basis, ranging from hiphop to jazz, funk and soul, to which you can add a lot of electronic music. Then I like some leftfield stuff revolving around punk, experimental, ambient drone…

Matt: I listen to a lot of different styles but I would say it tends to be mostly Black Music, whether it’s Funk, Soul, Jazz, Hip Hop, Afrobeat. For the last five years I’ve been mainly listening to Jamaican music: Ska, Rock Steady, Dub. and also to a lot of Philly Soul and Disco. I like to think in terms of city and/or era. For instance what were people listen to in 1968 in LA or in 1978 in Berlin or New York without necessary put barriers between genres. I try to recreate the mix of pop, jazz, disco, rock that was going on at the time.

 
Comme ça…

Are you still digging’, buying vinyl, visiting record shops?
Olivier: A lot! In Paris and everywhere I travel to. Certainly too much, budget-wise, space-wise… I’m actually re-organizing my vinyls and the question of ‘where does it all lead’ comes to mind. So I try to focus on my core tastes and be selective and straight to the point. Because it certainly won’t stop. In terms of what I buy, I’ve always bought new releases, I’m not really a digger of vintage music with original pressings. I prefer to buy what will be considered gems in 20 years! That’s what I did for 90s hiphop: I bought all these records when they first came out. Now I do the same with electronic music. And I also fill the gaps in my soul and disco collection.
Matt: I buy records on a weekly basis. I used to buy a lot of LPs in the 90s and 00s, mainly Jazz, Soul and Funk. Now I tend to buy more CDs than LPs so I don’t go for the very obscure expensive stuff. More like high quality reissues or classic albums I don’t have. Unlike Olivier I never buy new music. I always wait five to ten years if not more to see an album will stand the test of time. Many albums don’t survive the initial hype very long.

What was your first release on WeWantSounds?
Matt: It was a great compilation of French music from the Nouvelle Vague. We’re big film buffs and there is some incredible music made at the time with composers like Michel Legrand or Georges Delerue. That precise moment when French realized there was something more exciting than realist chanson. Same with Brigitte Bardot, France suddenly woke up and realized there was something more sexy than Raimu or Danielle Darrieux.

Why did you choose this name Wewantsounds: is it a statement?
Matt: We wanted something simple, catchy and straight to the point but without any indication of a music genre or specific era. We thought that Wewantsounds was fun and catchy. We imagine all these zombie-like music lovers cropping out after dark all starving and chanting “Wewantsounds”!

What could be your editorial/artistic direction?
Matt: We focus on the music we love trying to add interesting pop culture angles in the mix. We try to bring high quality music in an accessible way. We’re always puzzled to see that many people outside of the hardcore music circles tend to listen to the same thing because they don’t have all the keys to access the more interesting artists. There are a lot of “if you like this, you‘ll love that” out there but it tends to be very commercial.

 
Monika
Secret In The Dark (The Juan MacLean Edit)
 

What could be the label’s leitmotiv?
Matt: Listen to this cool music, you may not have heard about but you will love it

How do you decide on the choice of reissues?
Matt: There are no rules. We get excited by an idea and we just dig. Most of the time it doesn’t lead to anything: Either we discover it’s been done already or the rights are locked away or there is no real potential but sometimes we hit gold. In terms of concept, it varies. Sometimes it can be led by an artist, sometimes we want to chronicles a label, other times an era or style of Music. We tend to make the decisions organically as we go. We listen to a lot of music so we ping pong a lot of ideas back and forth: do you know this artist? Have you heard this track? What about reissuing that album? We should do a compilation around so and so genre etc.

And what about new artists?
Matt: We both ran labels in the past doing artist development. That’s actually how we met working on Palestinian hip hop group DAM ten years ago. Unlike reissues, artist development requires a lot more muscle and efforts as you deal with the artist, the manager, the touring agent etc. It’s a long chain and things can get more complex. Also you need to be able to sign the right artist who’s got enough of a fan base but the bigger they are the bigger the advance will be. Add to that other costs like tour support, marketing and promotion and the bill will be huge before you start marking a profit. It’s a gamble. With reissue, you won’t probably hit gold but it’s safer and the entry ticket is cheaper. Saying that, we’ll probably try, once we’ve grown to a size that allows a bit of risk taking.

Olivier you have made the selection for your DISCO 2.0 set. What is your role in the label? Is it dedicated to the more contemporary sounds?
Olivier: Thanks to my various jobs in the music industry – running a label, free-lancing as a music PR, working at Radio France and now writing as a journalist, I’ve always been deeply immersed in the music scene: getting new releases, checking out bands, going out to concert venues & clubs. So my aim is to be a curator scanning through the richness of these new scenes, French or international and creaming the best. There are so many incredible young bands and new trends that are bubbling under that deserve to reach a wider audience. We want to go beyond reissues and bring music to people purely on the basis of high quality, whatever the era it comes from.

From Bossa Nova, via Nouvelle Vague …. You have released thematic reissues like Bossa Nova or Sunday Mixtape: why this choice? Are there any others to come?
Matt: We’ve been all submerged by tons of music since the rise of Internet. When your work have something to do with music, your friends and family always ask for advice on some fresh or just good music, because everybody is lost in the flow. So we try to address this need: bring some nicely packaged music curated by connoisseurs for special occasions like Sunday morning mix. There is a big hype around playlists at the moment and we try to give it our own twist with a very selective yet accessible touch, for our compilations to be timeless trips. As we get more established, we’ll do more. We have projects in the pipeline and you can expect some soon in all kind of different genres, from modern punk to sextapes!

 
Afrique
House Of The Rising Funk
 

At the end of 2016, you released “Feeling Good”, a compilation from the Mainstream label, focusing on spiritual jazz, funk and soul. A second set is coming out in June focusing more on the jazz sound. How did you get the access to this catalog?
Matt: I love all that jazz-funk sound from the early 70s and was buying albums from CTI, Flying Dutchman, Groove Merchant, Prestige, Muse. One day in the early 90s I bought two Mainstream LPs in a second hand shop and just loved them. I’d never heard of the label but everything was cool about these: the music was amazing: funky and earthy and you had all these great session photos on the sleeve with this cool producer, Bob Shad, surrounded by young dashiki-dressed black musicians making this outstanding music. In the mid 90s when I started working in the music business I managed to get the contact – from Eddie Piller I think – for Shad’s Daughter Tamara who had inherited the catalog (Shad died in 1985) but I quickly heard that Sony had acquired the back catalogue from her, so I never pursued the idea. Then, last year, I found out it was still owned by Bob Shad’s family, who are none other than comedian producer Judd Apatow and his sister Mia and we got along really well.

Do you also plan to dig the more rock and psychedelic albums of this same label?
Matt: Yes there is some great music on that side as well, although the Big Brother/Janis Joplin master had been sold to Columbia. There are also some great jazz albums from the sixties in the catalogue as Shad ran Time Records as well. There is a beautiful Sonny Clark album for instance. We’re going to reissue this amazing 1967 album by Mauricio Smith called “Bitter Acid”. The title says it all. It’s a fantastic groovy Latin album mixing jazz and boogaloo produced y Joe Cain, very much in the Cotique/Tico vein. Our good mate London Latin DJ John Armstrong will write some new sleevenotes.

You will reissue two albums from the Mainstream catalog: Buddy Terry and Harold Land. Can you tell us more about these?
Matt: Beside the compilations, we thought it would be great to start reissuing original albums. The great thing with Mainstream is that the archives have been carefully preserved and the label still has most of the tapes and session photos. It’s like a goldmine and you can do a lot more. Buddy Terry is an amazing deep jazz album.I knew of Terry from his playing soprano sax in this amazing Art Blakey track called “Song for a Lonely Woman” which is a personal favourite of mine – it’s from the same sessions that produced “A Chant For Bu” famously sampled by A Tribe Called Quest. Anyway Buddy Terry recorded three albums for Mainstream and “Awareness” is the first one, recorded in 1971. It’s an amazing album that ticks all the boxes especially since Strata East co-founder Stanley Cowell is on there and it has a very funky version of his cult standard “Abscretions”. There is also an incredible line up accompanying them: Buster Williams, Cecil Bridgewater, Mikey Roker. It’s both funky and spiritual and you wonder why Terry didn’t get more exposure after these Mainstream albums as they are all amazing.
The Harold Land album is a personal favourite. We’re huge fans of the Harold Land-Bobby Hutcherson Quintet which made incredible music between 1967 and 1971. Land was older than Hutcherson and he was from the first bop generation that came up in the 40s/50s. He’s on the legendary 1955 Max Roach Clifford Brown quintet album which Bob Shad produced by the way. But in the 60s, following the Coltrane revolution, Land found a second life as this extremely inspired modal saxophonist and the association with Bobby Hutcherson, who was at the forefront of the post-bop scene of the late 60s, was a match made in heaven. The created a unique sound which was influenced by Coltrane but it was something else. This Mainstream album from 1971 featuring the rhythm section from Herbie Hancock’s Mwandishi Sextet (Buster Williams and Billy Hart) is their absolute peak. It’s very sophisticated music but very melodic and serene at the same time. We’re going to add a bonus track “Dark Mood” which was briefly released on a Mainstream compilation in 1974 but this is the first time the whole session will be reunited on one CD. And we’ve got some amazing session photos and have even gone back to the original picture to reconstruct the front cover so we’re very excited about it.

 
Alice Clark
Never Did I Stop Loving You
 

Dope classic of the soul, the Alice Clarke album has already been reissued, but rather cheap way. Do you plan to make a beautiful reissue, with why not unreleased tracks?
Matt: It’s a cult classic that should be up there with the Roberta Flack and Aretha Franklin albums. We are thinking about it but as it stands the specific cheap version you are referring to is a bootleg so we’d probably wait before reissuing it.

Nowadays, there are many labels which follow the deluxe model, more quality with lavish packaging at a higher price bracket… At same time, there’s also a more commercial LP market, with majors and mid-price labels releasing their back catalogue. Is it the (re)creation of the old market for the LP?
Matt: Probably but it’s a good sign as it means that the market is expending and diversifying. There is even a third tier for huge boxsets containing books, LPs, Memorabilia. Digital is great but it tends to become like radios especially since streaming is taking over from download. In the future you’ll just tune in to a few playlists to discover stuff and hopefully you’ll go and buy the record if you really like something. There is a cool edge about vinyl, the turntable, the object, the sleeve. It has become a lifestyle accessory. You will soon get turntable buyer’s guide pages in lifestyle mag if not already.

There are more and more reissues of back catalogue LPs, and more and more record labels (major or indie) are now releasing their new artists on LP, or EP. Do you think that the LP reissue market could ever reach saturation point?
Matt: There is a risk and you can never predict what’s going to happen. Trends are fickle. Ten years ago everybody wanted iPods, now it’s turntables. I think it will depend on the younger generation who didn’t grow up with the object. If some of them can be converted to the object then it will keep growing.

Have you received many negative answers from right owners on some of the LPs, artists, unreleased tapes, you were trying to reissue?
Matt: Yes we’ve had all the usual scenarios. The ones who don’t answer at all, those who answer but want a big advance, those who re ok but don’t want to give you the vinyl rights and those who say they are not interested. And you’ve got all the other ones who play the game and give you the tracks without problems. Which are the ones who end up on our releases you could say.

 
Harold Land
In The Back, In The Corner, In The Dark
 

What are your next releases?
Matt: On top of the ones we mentioned above, we are preparing a 70s London compilation with DJ Scratchy Sounds who was DJing with the Clash in the late 70s it will be a thrilling sonic mix of punk, garage, dub and R&B with a unique 70s London feel. We are also thrilled to announce the release of an incredible OST by Dave Grusin from “The Friends Of Eddie Coyle” a very cool gangster film directed by Peter Yates (Bullitt). Dave Grusin also composed the music for “The Three Days of the Condor” which is the more famous one but Eddie Coyle recorded two years before is even better. It never came out at the time so it will make its LP debut 45 years after the film was released! We’ve got the master tapes which sound amazing. It plays like a long hypnotic jazzy funky suite.

What is the LP you dream of reissuing?
Matt: “Nightclubbing” by Grace Jones but it’s already been done! It’s the meeting of so many talents: Chris Blackwell’s flair to reinvent Grace Jones as this ice-cold 80s diva, the unique blend of reggae, disco with a zest of punk played by the Compass Point Studio musicians, Grace Jones personality filtered by Jean-Paul Goude’s groundbreaking visuals. It suddenly grabbed everybody out of the 70s. It’s a 4 dimension masterpiece.

Olivier: There’s a French artist called Sig, who wrote the OST of his own indie movies, Louise (Take 2) and Sansa and worked with virtuoso violinist Ivry Gitlis. He’s a modern day hobo, travelling light all over the world and playing with musicians he meets along the way. In 2002, he came back from a long photo trip to India, where he had played and recorded some music. He finished the music in his Montmartre flat, which was completely empty except for a keyboard, a cello and some African percussions. It features famous Swiss trumpeter Erik Truffaz and his musicians. It’s a beautiful dreamy trip that was only released on CD, without a barcode, because Sig didn’t want one. I was the PR for this record, and although it was a tough one to push, it was a tremendous life experience working with Sig. He called everybody “my brother”. I still listen to it on a regular basis each time I need an escape. It doesn’t age. I’d love to bring this treasure to people’s turntables!

From Lyon to Paris, producer Pascal Rioux Aka Charles Maurice has been busy the last 20 years producing and reissuing quality music from deep house to disco, nu reggae to AOR, modern soul or French boogie! Time to go back to the complete story…

When did you start digging records?
As I am an “old-young” man born in 67, I started to buy records when I was 12-13 years old, around 1979, just like a lot of young kids. At that time, the difference compared to now was the format and I was also buying quite a lot of 7inches, most of them being commercial/mainstream Funk and Disco airing on radios before FM showed up in the 80’s.

What LPs did you buy at first? Do you still listen to them?
I remember my first 7inch was “Knock On Wood” by Amii Stewart! I can’t listen to that anymore, even drunk at a wedding. But I still have some records from that time, 70% were cheap commercial stuff, but some are good commercial music like “Take It To The Top”, “Ladies Night”, “Celebration” by Kool & the Gang, or bands like Earth Wind And Fire, George Duke or Gino Soccio. That early 80’s Disco-Funk sound was clearly commercial, everybody around me was listening to these stuff, however there were a lot of people more on the Rock side, with some stuff I liked by the way, but I was more naturally attracted by Dance music.

Do you have a particular style or favorite period?
My favorite period in term of production is the 70’s, when analog sounds reach the perfection not only in the US but also in Brazil, Europe and all parts of the world. I like early 80’s too, but only productions sounding and clearly infused with that 70’s touch.
The 90’s were also important for me, as it’s the period where, with Teddy Gilles, we started a record label call Disques Rotax in Lyon, getting involved in House production process! Both of us had our own home-studio then, and I did several 12inch on Rotax, but also some for Guidance Recordings (US), and 2 albums in 1999 and 2000 with Mr Day for Glasgow Underground (UK). 17 years later, I’m still working with Eric (Mr Day)! At that time, I was DJing pretty often, playing mostly Disco, House and Hip-Hop, but also some Brazilian productions (I discovered Brazilian music thru Patrick Forge and Gilles Peterson in 92-93) and Jazz-Funk. So I really start to collect records more seriously at that period.

Are you still digging, buying vinyl, visiting record shops?
Yes I’m buying records all the time, mostly second-hand records, but not only! In stores and also more and more through internet for stuff that are hard to find in some repertoire like Brazilian, AOR and some other rarities.

What was your first release on Favorite?
First Favorite Recordings release was a 12inch by Lee McDonald in 2005-2006. When I was producing music in the 90’s, we did a cover of a Lee MCDonald’s song called “Gotta Get Home” on our second album with Mr Day. I was a big fan of Lee McDonald’s album at that time, and I was buying a lot of this kind of Mellow Soul. Then I had the chance to get in contact with Ron Foster (who was playing keys in Ecstasy, Passion & Pain), the producer of Lee McDonald’s Sweet Magic album. So I went to meet him in Philadelphia in 2004, at a Soul music convention where I spent two days. He introduced me to some of his friends like Barbara Mason, Gene Chandler, Mandrill or The Escorts! Those are amazing ‘souvenirs’ and still in my mind like if it was yesterday.
During the weekend we had a long conversation and I asked him if he still had the stems of the Sweet Magic songs. The story started when he answered yes for the songs “We’ve Only Just Begun” and “I’ll Do Anything For You”. Thus the first release on Favorite was a single reissue of “We’ve Only Just Begun” with an exclusive extended version and a remix by TM Juke. That was in late 2005.

What could be your editorial/esthetic line?
My editorial line is very simple; there is no calculation, only music gives me the impulsion to do something. As long as I love the music, I’m keen to engage things and produce or release it. With that process, some of the records are selling well and some are not selling that much… But I’m always very proud of each release. So, music comes first of course, but sound quality is also very important to me. I give a lot of attention to drums recordings for example, and all the steps to the final mix. My goal is always to reach the sound quality of records I love. When vinyl was the only format, the “savoir-faire” and quality of the sound engineers reached the top! It’s quite hard nowadays to have that quality, but a few passionate (maybe a bit crazy) guys on this planet are working towards that. It’s the same when it comes to reissues. Unfortunately most of the time, the master owners we contact don’t have the tapes anymore. I’m also trying to bring the best from ripping the original vinyl copies with HI-FI high-end equipment, then doing mastering and cutting at the Carvery (UK) with Frank Merrit. He is really doing a great job in restoration, mastering and cutting.

What could be the label’s leitmotif?
Same thing I guess, the label’s leitmotif is quality music and great sound!

What is the Favorite LP you are prouder of?
All of them of course! More seriously, maybe some a bit less, but for the large majority I feel deeply proud and I’m even prouder to be friends with these talented guys, including some I’ve been working closely with for a long time now.

Did you have any references labels?
Clearly yes, but it would be difficult to name only a few as most of them are again from the 70’s. Quality at that time was the most important thing and many labels had their own studios and sound engineer, in order to do it better and faster. To maintain that cadence and that quality, you better have people knowing what they do. If you check musicians from many classics albums in that golden period (60’s, 70’s, early 80’s), they were often the same because they had to record an album fast and right… there was no possible digital recall or correction. So when the engineer pressed rec on the tape recorder, musicians had to be tight and together from the start to the end. To record each parts of a song on tapes, it takes you 2-3 hours a day just for the tape recorder logistic, so for producers, having the best musicians around was the best way to go fast in the recording process and to save money on studio costs. I’m also highly impressed and fascinated by most of the labels active at that time.

You’re working a lot since the beginning of the label with French producer Bruno ‘Patchwork’ Hovart (under his various names Voilaa, The Dynamics, …). What the next step?
Yes indeed and I think Bruno (Mr President, The Dynamics, Uptown Funk Empire, Voilaaa, Patchworks and many more…) is amongst the best producers from our generation in this kind of music. He plays almost every instrument and he produces fast and great, as he has his own studio, he can work whenever he wants. I sincerely hope that he will get an acknowledgment equal to his talent one day. There is not so many true producers like him nowadays.

Recently you re-released some AOR LP’s and compilations! what will be the next releases in that particular style?
Yes, I’m a huge fan of this style of music and period! We started the AOR Global Sounds series in 2015 and the third volume is coming out in a few weeks. The direction is still the same, 14 rare and obscure tracks influenced by the AOR and West Coast movement with a Disco and Soul flavor. Many of these great gems were produced through the USA, often by artists with a very short career. And it also includes some stunning tracks from Brazil, Sweden and Canada.
Otherwise, a new artist has been signed on Favorite under the name of Al Sunny, with a first album coming out in May. It’s clearly oriented in the same AOR/West Coast direction. I’ve met Al Sunny thanks to Florian Pellissier and I was immediately seduced by his voice and compositions. I think we’ve done a great job in recording and producing the album. It’s been mixed at studio “Question De Son” on an early 80’s SSL 4000. I’m pretty happy with the sound for a first album and hopefully people will feel the same…
Also in that direction and coming out this year is the third album of Lucas Arruda. The album is almost mixed and we also did it at “Question De Son”. Drums and others instruments have been recorded in Rio, by a guy who used to work with Lincoln Olivetti. To me, Lucas is a genius! He composes, plays and performs like very few musicians are able to do nowadays. You have to stay tuned on this album, it’s gonna be really massive!! I’m so proud to have this talented guy in our family.

Do you plan to extend you ‘boogie’ compilations to other countries (we’ve seen Brazil, France, West-Indies)?
There is no new country planned for now, but I intend to release ‘French Disco Boogie Sounds Vol.3’ in 2018 and I’d love to do another one on Brazil. I have already the track-listing in mind and I could think of many other volumes, but it’s a nightmare for the clearance. Anyway we have many other reissue projects in the pipes…

You are still releasing 12’’, is the market still big on that format, usually only bought by DJ’s ?
Yes DJ’s mostly, but anyway most of our records are sold to DJ’s, 12inch or LP. The single format is clearly not selling as it used to, following the explosion of digital and Serato. But when you have a great track and a dancefloor killer, there is still a market for it. Besides I think a new generation of DJ’s is getting back to vinyl format. Recently we’ve experienced some nice sales with 12inches and I hope it will continue…

Nowadays, there are many LP labels who follow this model, I mean more quality even if it’s more expensive… but in same time, there are also another « new » LP market, with major companies come-back and other labels, who prefer to sell cheaper. Is it the (re)creation of two camps for the LP?
Indeed, quality costs more, especially when you do it the right way, with official licenses, real treatment, quality mastering and proper packaging. These kinds of expenses have to be impacted on the price. Major companies don’t have those expenses, as they don’t have to license the music, they still have mastering and artwork, etc… So of course they are able to sell records cheaper. But I don’t see the point to reissue a classic album when you can get the original copy in great condition for the same price. So it’s not the same target. They are selling their reissues in chain stores, we are selling ours in independent record stores. DJ’s and collectors don’t go to chain stores anymore and that’s a good thing.

There are more and more reissues of old LP’s, and more and more record labels (major or indie) now release their new artists on LP, or EP. Do you think that the LP reissue market could ever reach saturation point?
No I don’t think so, as long as people buy turntables, they will need to put something on it. What I expect from them is to be addicted to vinyl format, which is the case most of the time when you realize that the sound is much better. Besides there is a kind of ritual with vinyl and it participates to the addiction. We are in a niche, but when the quality is here, it’s clearly possible to reach a few thousands of listeners and buyers. Independent record stores usually have good taste, so they need and keep on buying good quality music. The only marketing working in that niche is the quality, so a good LP will always sell.

Girl…

What are your other next releases?
Additionally to AOR Global Sounds Vol.3 and Al Sunny, which I mentioned earlier, we’ll release the first album of Joao Selva. Joao is a native from Brazil who’s now based in Lyon and has been involved in various projects. He and Patchworks have quickly met and connect through their passion for music and they then produced a great album together. The album is titled ‘Natureza’ and it’s a trip, with influences of Jorge Ben and Caetano Veloso Tropicalism period, the intoxicating Funk of Tim Maia, and the social poetry of Vinicius de Moraes.
We’ll also reissue a rare self-titled album by Arian from the 80’s. He’s from Serbia and recorded this LP in New-York. It includes a track called “Your Love Makes Me A Winner”, which I love for a while.
There should also be a first single release from Lucas Arruda next album, and, just a few days ago, we’ve released the second album by Voilaaa, titled Des Promesses. Voilaaa is the Afro side of Bruno “Patchworks” Hovart and, as I said earlier, everything Bruno’s touching is gold!!
And however it will not be released before the summer, I’m also very excited about the new and third album by Andre Solomko for Favorite. He’s currently recording and mixing it and all the demos were just great!! It’s been now more than 4 years since we’ve started our collaboration with Andre and I’m genuinely honored to have him in our roster. His writing and composing skills are amazing and he’s also a real kind of geek when it comes to engineering (he’s an engineer himself), even building his own preamp and microphones. He grown up in Russia and has been fed during all his life with the analog production paths. I think he’s not able to produce and imagine his music another way.

What is the LP you dream of issuing/reissuing?
My dream is more into issuing great original music and trying to approach the quality sound of the golden analog years. Favorite will keep on going in that direction, aiming to do better and better with our own music. Reissue is cool, but you don’t own it and you cannot build something strong that will cross decades. I hope people will consider some of our own productions as classics in the future. It would be the best reward I can think of.

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What did Miles Davis, Salvador Dali, Jackie Kennedy, Leonard Bernstein, Andy Warhol, Timothy Leary and Brigitte Bardot have in common? Mati Klarwein, the painter who realized the mythical LP sleeves for ‘Bitches Brew’ and ‘Live Evil’ (Miles), ‘Abraxas’ (Santana) and so many others like Jimi Hendrix, Earth Wind and Fire, the Lats Poets, Jackie McLean, George Duke, Hermeto Pascoal, Eric Dolphy, Jon Hassell, Muddy Waters and Jerry Garcia… His colorful paintings have been used for numerous LPs, across all types of musical genres. They are a testimony of his totally special link to music, as underlined it the splendid book published in 2012 by Antoine de Beaupre : Mati and The music, a sort of “catalogue raisonné” about an unreasonable artist!

Mati Klarwein was born on April 9th, 1932, in Hamburg. He was from a family of artists : his father was an architect of the Bauhaus and his mother, an opera singer. But when the Nazis took power, the family had flee to Israel. During the post-war years, the young man settled in Paris, where he crossed path with Fernand Léger, Salvador Dali and Ernst Fuchs. They would become three pillars for his future works. At that time, he even tried jazz with Boris Vian, a writer and trumpet player, before crossing the Atlantic. In New York, Mati Klarwein added Abdul to his name, in support of the Palestinians. In the Mecca of jazz, he became known for being at the heart of the “flowery revolution”. He became an icon of the hippy generation by illustrating some of the most famous records of their most emblematic period. “I take nothing when I paint. When I am on drugs, I become really hot and I prefer to leave for nightclubs. On the other hand, I find most of my ideas when I am broken up well! Speaking about drugs can be as interesting as speaking about sex. Everything depends on who is expressing themselves. William Burroughs or Nancy Reagan.” Explicit lyrics.

The fact remains that the eminently sensory paintings of Mati Klarwein, between hallucinated surrealism and psychedelic naturalism, make spring kaleidoscopic colors, mythological characters and incredible landscapes, a vision of the world fed by the nature which he appreciated through his numerous trips the world over. During one of his journeys, he discovered Deia, a village nested in the nature of the Balearic Islands where, after several stays, he chose to settle down while the world was turning itself to other trends : yuppie, the Wall Street trader. That is where he decided to live, out of this world, without ever stopping painting, accompanied by his ghetto blaster, organizing hallucinated parties, where percussions became an invitation to shaman trances. He died there on March 7th, 2002.

A song for your trip…