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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Each month, we are focusing on a record label founded by an active digger. This month, Julien Lebrun from Hot Casa, the french label created in 2002 with Djamel Hammadi. This hot label is behind many releases by forgotten artists with a speciality for uncovering rare vinyl gems but also new talents. Julien talks about his passion : music, from west African road trips to French backstages.

When did you start digging records?
Djamel and I come from a Funk family culture. My brother introduced me really young to Soul and Funk but I can say that I was introduced to “digging” through Hip Hop culture: we had to find the unknown loop, the rare record that nobody could find or had already used. It was the perfect link between all the soul culture from the past and the turmoil of this present culture. At the beginning of the 90’s in Paris, labels like Pure or Big Cheese were also organizing great underground soul parties, they played amazing rare soul records and, as a teenager, you tried to be part of it. So we were a small crew of collectors who ran all over record fairs, started travelling to London or NYC to dig, trying to professionalize ourselves, organizing parties in locals clubs such Café de la plage back in 1995. We also travelled to Japan to sell French jazz, would wake up early to go to flea markets in the outskirts of Paris or in the East Village in NYC. DJs like Gilles Peterson or parties like Giant Step in NYC during the 90’s had a big influence on our generation. The principle of playing rare grooves was also part of the digging process or mentality: finding the perfect and unknown LP.

What Lps did you buy at first? Do you still listen to them?
My brother introduced me really young to Funk, so it was mostly mainstream artists like George Clinton or Roy Ayers. But the first records I bought were all the James Brown productions: Lyn Collins, Marva Withney… then we went further and further with soul 7 inches, traveling to the Camden Town market in London to buy rare jazz and soul or waking up early to attend the Paris (Porte de Champeret) record fair.

Did you have a particular style or favorite period?
Latin, Brazil, jazz, soul, funk, and all the funky breaks from the world that is the beauty of music, Soul is everywhere from Peru to the Philippines.

Are you still digging, buying vinyl, visiting record shops?
The word digging can represent many things: a guy going to a record shop or an antiques market can say he is digging, but he is just buying records! The quintessence of “digging” is to find rare unknown records that have a good sound, melody or break.
Yes we are still digging, we can consider that as a drug addiction or a psychological addiction. Djamel and I traveled a lot in Africa these last years but we also went to Brazil or India in the past. Even though it has become harder to find good quality records, we still continue to look for rarities. Ebay and Discogs have changed the rules these past ten years, it’s funny to see all those new reissues done by “Youtube diggers“. It’s a lot, easier to discover new stuff nowadays. I remember the English soul compilation bootlegs in the 90s, it was the only way to discover some new stuff at that time, now everything is easier and that’s cool because it opens this “culture “ to a bigger crowd. The thing the new generation needs to learn is just to be curious.

Djamel Hammadi in action !

What was your first release on Hot Casa?
Our first release was a 7 inch by Franck Biyong, an artist that we met a few years ago at the Cithéa, a soul jazz club piloted by Superfly’s Manu Boubli where we used to DJ. He was also performing there and we understood that he was the man behind a first release in NYC, on Lenar records. The idea was to produce him in France, so we organized a home made recording session that had a limited release of 500 copies. It was sold out in a few months and was the beginning of a long work with this artist until the beginning of 2010.

How did you meet Djamel? And what did you have in common? And what were your differences (background, vision…)?
We met each other in 1997 during a radio show hosted by DJ Bronco for the Generations 88.2 radio station when the radio was still really independent and played real soul and Hip Hop. We found the same affinity and approach about music, we became friends and became resident DJ’s in Paris, we organized funk and soul parties and became resident DJs in various trendy places making a loving out of it. I think we played 150 gigs a year between 1999 to 2005. Nineteen years later, we still have the same passion for rare grooves, rarities, and music altogether.

Why did you choose this name: Hot Casa?
We didn’t want a name with groove or soul, everybody used it in the 90’s, we wanted something unique that had never been used. The idea of the label was to do it ‘home made’, with our connections, faith in soul, we don’t have big studios or money but we wanted to become producers. “Hot” was a common name in the jazz history, the radio Hot 97 in NYC was really popular also in the 90’s with Hip Hop and soul shows, the word “Casa” because it had a universal dimension to it. Our good friend Louis Davis with whom we started producing and collecting was also half nicaraguan and it was a joke between us.

What could be your editorial/esthetic line?
The label DNA could be Afro Soul from past to present. Djamel and I are both from a jazz and soul background and from a Hip Hop generation, these are our roots and both of us were in love with Afro Soul. We have this common goal of spreading underground soul culture, trying to share our passion of unknown and beautiful music with others. Without being pretentious, it was about going further, avoiding the easy way, make obvious choices just because they would sell better.

Roger Damawuzan and Les As du Benin
Wait For Me

Djamel and you were both DJs before creating Hot Casa. Does that give your label a special color?
Everybody knows that the dancefloor has its own rules and they can be different from the records that you like to appreciate on your sofa. Because we are still DJs, we unconsciously try to link those two worlds with a series of edits that brings nu beats on old rare grooves and can open a younger audience to this kind of music. This was the idea behind the Afro Soul edits and remixes when we asked DJ Vas, Umoja or Alma Negra to share their vision of 70’s sounds. We are also friends with Nickodemus, Rich Medina or Osunlade and really appreciate this movement, where you can mix Fela with new afro or electronic breaks. On the Melllotron radio show or on 22 tracks, we try to playlist tropical news to remain connected to the new scene. The label is not only about reissues, it is also dedicated to production and remixes.

Is that the reason why you chose to release 7 or 12 inch singles?
Yes 7 and 12 inches are more dedicated to the DJ audience, the format is really important. It’s a way of paying tribute to the past and perpetuate the tradition. In this era of dematerialization and streaming, we keep fighting even though it was hard in the beginning of 2000 to release vinyl. Even if we are living with our time, we put our music in digital, Spotify or Deezer and we also DJ USB. On the dancefloor the most important is music, skills and sound quality.

How do you decide on the choice of reissues?
First of all, the fact that it can be licensed. We don’t bootleg even though it can take years like for Francis The Great in Cameroon the Ivory Coast Soul compilations. Obviously other criteria are the music itself, the rarity, the history and the cover artwork.

Which Hot Casa reissue are you the most proud of?
Pierre Antoine, because it is physically and musically rare. Afrobeat had its own music standard with Farfisa and Rhodes synths, but Pierre Antoine backed by the Vis à Vis used a piano which gave a perfect fusion of jazz, soul, funk, and traditional Ivorian and Ghanaian horns, kind of a quintessence of the best musical elements.

Orlando Julius
Disco Hi-Life

One of your specialties is to produce forgotten artists, rare records… Is it something still possible in 2015?
Finding unknown and rare will be more and more difficult due to the fact that the generation of producers have started to become old or the dust on the record itself. Reissues are long sellers, we’re not as worried as for new albums. For a new artist if it has not worked after 5 months, you know it will be hard. For reissues, they can sell forever.

Recently, you were in Togo. What did you find there? Could you tell us more about that trip…
We are working hard on a Togo Soul compilation with an aim to release it around spring. I went there twice, first to find records even if Djamel had already a lot of the selection, and a second time to finalize the licensing process (agreement, money, interviews, photos). Our dream is to make a movie or a short documentary about all this process because Togo is so beautiful, its people, history… and the musicians and producers that I met are so powerful and beautiful that the “world” has to see them. It will be a 13 track compilation about the Soul and Funk scene in Togo from 1971 to 1981 with amazing music from deep soul jazz to crazy psyche funk synths at the end. We had the chance to work with Roger Damawuzan that we also reissued and featured on the Vaudou Game album. He helped us find a lot of the musicians and producers for contract purposes.

After supporting the Setenta band for a long time, you produced other new bands among which Vaudou Game in 2014. They became really famous. Were you surprised by this success? And does that give you other ideas for the future?
We didn’t work with Setenta on their third album, they decided to do it by themselves, but it was a beautiful adventure. We traveled to Lituania, Ireland, etc., and went on stage with Erykah Badu in Amsterdam. The Vaudou Game story has been amazing since the very beginning and we are very happy to work on a second record due for release in September 2016. They toured all over France and Europe, they did more than 120 concerts last year and were one of the bands that toured the most last year. They deserve it and it helped us a lot, because living of the only sale of records is very hard nowadays. They also had a smash hit which crossed all the regular borders, they had a “pop” destiny with a really underground Afro Funk style all recorded analog with a pure philosophy : Togolese speaking. And the day the speaker on the big national radio sang it live, we understood the song, the sound of the band had worked and marked their time.
Working as an independent structure is way cooler because you bring the artist in the project, we almost co-produced sometimes to be fair with them and shared the profit. We want it to remain a family adventure. Most of them understand that the music industry has crashed and that we need to find a solution, new ways of producing records.

How do you find brand new talents? On the internet? On stage? Through friends?
We have been booked the Reservoir club in Paris for the last 17 years we stay connected with new talents. We also check bandcamp or Juno frequently as well as cool radio stations like Le Mellotron.

And who is the next?
The next will be Shola Adisa-Farrar, a female jazz singer from NYC who lives in Paris now. We had the idea to connect her with our good friend and talented pianist Florian Pellissier with a view to explore an original fusion of instrumental Hard Bop and her beautiful voice. A really beautiful ten songs album called “Lost Myself”. It will be released in April.

What could be the label’s leitmotif?
Afro Soul & Tropical quality funk, good melodies, good philosophy, easy to manage, vinyl quality, no bootleg, interview the artist as much as possible.

What is the best deal/business: to make reissues or to produce new records?
The reissue market is a growing business especially with the good sales of vinyl these last few years but I think that with artists you can have a bigger audience in terms of promo, visibility, radio, licensing, media interview. Reissue is a niche market, dedicated to people who want a collectible, with new records it’s more dangerous but you can have a bigger audience, Vaudou Game made more than 110 concerts this year, in every city you have a radio, newspaper that spreads the info.

There are more and more reissues of old LPs, 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?
Like every music, quality will make the difference, sadly some labels still do bootlegs or shitty covers without any info and multiply unnecessarily the numbers of reissues on the market.

Vaudou Game
Lazy Train

Have you received many negative answers on some of the LPs, artists, unreleased tapes, you were trying to reissue?
It had never happened over around 50 licensing requests that we did since 2006, until last month with Ofege, the famous Nigerian band.

What are your next releases? And could you give us your feeling about each…
We are very excited, because we have almost 8 albums scheduled for release this year including a “Togo Soul 70” compilation with Afro Soul & Voodoo Soul from 1971 to 1981 including 13 tracks that we finished to license, finalized the interview, the translations, photos… It was a beautiful and long work but we’re very proud of it and we start to work on a documentary about it with a Kiss Kiss Bank Bank campaign to organize a release party in Lomé with some artists included in the compilation who still perform and play.
Francis The Great: After the success and the so incredible story of this kid from 7 years old who recorded an album, his parents decided in 1978 to produce a second volume. So we reissue his second album that we will called “Maboya”, and due to the success of the first volume and the timing of the original version we’re going to add an instrumental unreleased version, a radio edit and an edit for the DJs.
Keni Okulolo: A super rare record and brilliant one from The nigerian Bassist, who played with everybody from Fela, to Orlando Julius, to Joni Haastrup, to Tee Mac… and we had an unreleased one a bonus track. The original was sold 800 dollars last month. It’s good to share this one!
Tee Mac: a brilliant Nigerian flutist, we are going to make a best of his brilliant afro funk and good disco tracks. It will be taken from his 1978, 1979, 1980 discography. A beautiful trip between rare afro soul to Afro Funk.
Shola Adisa-Farrar: a jazz singer from Us who lived in Paris since few years now and that we produce with Florian Pellissier Quintet, who’s one of my best friend too and it’s easy to work with, focus on good music, hard bop and few soul references
Reissue of a French Afro Pop band called “DjeuhDjoah & Lieutenant Nicholson” that we produced last year and we want to deliver on vinyl format as well included three new tracks. As I said, we are going to work on a Vaudou Game second album, during this spring for a release party in September! We are very excited on that on too.

What is the LP you dream of reissuing?
We have few dreams. But we are looking for a rare album Of Orlando Julius called “Love Peace And Happiness” produced on obscure label Jungle. Baba Orlando doesn’t have any copies ! The last one was sold around 1000 dollars… If you have any tips we are open. But it will be a beautiful story that we started ten years ago with Orlando and his wife that I consider as a true members of my family.

http://hotcasarecords.com

 

Check Julien Lebrun Top5
 

Each month, we are focusing on a record label founded by an active digger. This month, Quinton Scott, the man behind Strut Records, talks about his passion since more than thirty years and goes back on his choices, reissues as new stuff.

When did you start digging records?
I started buying vinyl seriously around 1983.

What LPs did you buy at first? Do you still listen to them?
My first love was early ’80s electro. I would travel from the suburbs to Central London and fight through the bomber jackets at the counter in Soho’s Groove Records to get the latest imports. I still love that era. There are brilliant records and some DIY efforts which have dated really badly but that whole period had a particular innocence and is still very special.

Do you have a particular style or favorite period?
1970-1973 was an incredible time for music but my personal favourite is probably around 1986-1987. You would hear a real variety of sounds in London clubs and warehouses from rare groove to boogie to Washington DC go-go, hip hop and early house and it just felt like a very open-minded time for music.

Are you still digging’, buying vinyl, visiting record shops?
Yes, definitely. Running an indie label doesn’t make you rich and I have two growing kids these days but any spare pennies still go on the vinyl.

What was your first release ?
I started a dance reissues label before Strut called Harmless (still going through Demon Music) and we started that in ’95 with a compilation of Masters At Work’s remixes called ‘Masterworks’. With Strut, I kicked off with an Afro-funk / Afrobeat collection compiled by Brighton DJ Russ Dewbury – ‘Club Africa’.

‘Jungle Funk’ by Nkengas

Why Strut ? What does that mean ?
It’s a funky walk! You’re feeling good and you’re struttin’ down the street. It’s obviously inspired by funk records that used ‘Strut’ in their titles too. I was obsessed with The Meters so ‘Cissy Strut’ was probably coming to mind…

What could be the label’s leitmotif?
“Put the artists first and make amazing, lesser known original music available to everyone”. We try and present our albums to appeal to any music fan – it’s personally satisfying to take the music away from over-protective collectors and DJs who feel like they somehow own the music and make it available more widely.

What could be your editorial/aesthetic line?
There’s a broad philosophy of back catalogue dancefloor music that has influenced today’s generation so Strut covers everything from undiscovered “world” fusions to disco, post-punk and industrial music to early house.

How do you decide on the choice of reissues/issues ?
It can happen in a variety of ways – I may spot a gap in the market for a particular album, one of the collectors we work with regularly may have an idea or we may just get approached by someone that we have never worked with before. For an album to work, it needs to be a unique idea with global potential, preferably with an interesting back-story. I think we generally know instinctively straight away if an album will work as an idea or not.

What is the best deal / business : to make reissues or to produce / co-produce new records?
On the whole, compilations are a much safer bet for us – once you know your market, you have a fairly good idea which ones will work and how many they will sell. With artist albums, it’s much more risky. Our work with Ethio-jazz legend Mulatu Astatke was really successful all the way through and set him up as a major world music star. The Souljazz Orchestra too is an amazingly hard-working band – the most super-organised and focused group I have ever worked with. The problem comes when things don’t go right. Touring may not happen at the right time for one reason or another, visas get stuck in the system, recording costs go way over budget. There’s a whole list of reasons why an artist project can become a nightmare!
 

‘Cha Cha’ by Mulatu Astatke & The Heliocentrics

‘Watch We’ by Horace Andy and Ashley Beedle (Souljazz Orchestra Mix)

How do you find brand new talents ? Do you have a team who works for you, I mean who suggests new releases to you?
We’re lucky with Strut now that we get approached by a lot of artists and collectors / compilers – a lot of projects come about because of word of mouth. We do have regular collaborators; collector Duncan Brooker is a core part of the team and is an endless source of amazing rare music and musicians like The Heliocentrics and Ben Abarbanel-Wolff (man behind the Ebo Taylor and Pat Thomas albums) are always great to work with. But, new releases can just as easily come from an in-house idea or a DJ / collector who approaches us out of the blue with a great project.

Strut often creates collaboration projects (Mulatu/Heliocentrics, Tony Allen/Jimi Tenor, Ashley Beedle/Horace Andy,…). What did you expect through these ? and what are the next moves?
We originally set up a series for this called ‘Inspiration Information’ and felt that it would be a really good way to bring in all kinds of interesting and unexpected collaborations and build them into a unique run of albums. In reality, some albums have worked better than others so we have increasingly focused the branding of any collaborative albums on the artists themselves. The next one is Ghanaian highlife legend Pat Thomas with Kwashibu Area Band featuring fellow legends Ebo Taylor, Tony Allen, Ralph Karikari and Osei Tutu alongside younger musicians led by Kwame Yeboah and Ben Abarbanel-Wolff.

For a long time now, you have been putting out multiple compilations emphasizing the « latin » scenes : Funky Nassau, Fania Selection, Haiti Direct or Calypsoul… In this part of your catalogue, you are adding a new project : Peru. What is the specificity of this scene ? How did you discover it ? Do you believe there was/is a connection between all these latin versions? The Peruvian link has come specifically through a partner label we are working with, Tiger’s Milk. The guys behind that are Martin Morales (ex-Outcaste and now a restaurant entrepreneur in London with the Ceviche group of Peruvian restaurants) and Duncan Ballantyne (ex-Soundway). They have already produced two superb comps, ‘Peru Maravilloso’ and ‘Peru Bravo’ and we’re working together on a fine new folk / electronic band called Kanaku y El Tigre.
For the Latin releases we put out, there’s obviously a direct link with the Nu Yorican sound of ’60s / ’70s and some of the Latin-rooted Caribbean bands of the same era – the issue for us as a compilation label is to come up with something different and fresh. We felt that there needed to be a strong overview of Fania on the market (Dean Rudland compiled a great set for us) and ‘Calypsoul 70’ was more of a general celebration of some of the rare funkier island sounds of the era spanning the Caribbean.

‘You Think it Soft!’ by Lancelot Layne

Strut is involved in most of The Heliocentrics projects. What type of collaboration do you have with them?
We actually only work album by album with the Helios – there’s no long term deal. Jake, Malcolm and I will talk at certain points and the timing will just be right to start putting together a particular album. As collaborators, I don’t think there’s anyone to touch them in Europe – they’re all brilliant musicians and they just have a way of working with the legends that brings out the best from them and takes their music into trippy, progressive new areas. The sessions with Mulatu, Lloyd Miller and Orlando Julius were amazing to watch. Not least for the mixing process – Malcolm and Jake essentially have to piece together a big jigsaw of sessions to create their final versions with amazing attention to detail.

Are you still connected to the electro-disco scene, like Berlin touch for instance ? Do you have some similar projects?
Yes, we’re currently working on a project called ‘Subkultur’ which looks at the Berlin scene of the early ‘80s, some of the key artists like Mania D and Malaria!, one-off art experiments, a brilliant demo of Anita Lane and Mick Harvey doing an anarchic version of Sister Sledge’s ‘Lost In Music’ – there’s all sorts in there. The compiler is a musician who was at the centre of that scene, Mark Reeder, and Horst Weidenmueller, boss of Strut’s parent company !K7, started out filming in Berlin clubs and venues during that time so we definitely have the inside story.

What about the Celluloid years, do you want to make a second part of that, more focused on Braziloid ?
I would love to do another Celluloid / Braziloid collection but it’s one of those messy situations on licensing rights, unfortunately. Through doing the first compilation, we discovered that three different parties had claims to the label name and master rights and it all became extremely complicated with the licensing. So, I doubt another will happen, sadly.

You won Label Of The Year at Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Awards… How is it to make a living out of a record label in 2015?
It’s definitely hard making it a viable business. Everything has to be right – the idea, the artwork, bringing the album in on budget and setting up a really strong marketing campaign globally. If everything falls into place, you can still make money but if any one part of that mix doesn’t work, it can all fall through your fingers very quickly.

‘Kyenkyen Bi Adi Mawu’ by K. Frimpong and His Cubano Fiesta

‘African Dialects’ by Peter King

You worked with Ebo Taylor, Orlando Julius and now Pat Thomas, and released a lot of african music compilation, including the great ‘Next Stop Soweto’ series! Is Strut the main african label at the moment?
I hope Strut plays its part but there are obviously many superb labels around today. I think our compiler Duncan Brooker certainly changed the whole market with his ‘Afro Rock Vol. 1’ compilation and our first ‘Nigeria 70’ collection around 2000. They were some of the first albums to dig deep into African archives and market the music to a much wider audience than the traditional ‘world music’ buyers which definitely helped to inspire other labels to form. Today, the variety of new and original African music out there is mouth-watering – Soundway, Analog Africa, Awesome Tapes, Sublime Frequencies, Now Again, Glitterbeat, Transgressive, Luaka Bop, Voodoo Funk, Hot Casa and of course, the DADDIES – Stern’s and World Circuit, among many others, including Superfly! All doing a great job. It’s an amazing time for record buyers.

You released a compilation of Sun Ra material with Marshall Allen. How did you get to work with him ? And what was the main aesthetic idea for that particular project?
That one came through the nicest man in the music business, Peter Dennett at Art Yard. He has worked with the Sun Ra catalogue and the Arkestra for many years and pulled the strings to make the album happen, linking us with the catalogue gatekeepers over at Sun Ra LLC. The thinking behind it was quite simple – Sun Ra had primarily always been the domain of the collector and there hadn’t ever been a well-marketed Sun Ra compilation. So, rather than going for a straight ‘Best Of’, we felt that a deeper selection curated by the current Arkestra bandleader Marshall Allen would be a strong direction to take. Marshall is truly inspirational for a 91 year-old and it was a huge pleasure to work with him and Peter.

Have you received many negative answers on some of the LPs you were trying to reissue?
Yes, we do often get knocked back, for different reasons. Artists may want to release the album themselves or may just not want to licence their music at all, our licence fees may be perceived as too low or the rights to a track may be complicated and locked in a legal battle.

From Marshall Allen presents Sun Ra And His Arkestra – In The Orbit Of Ra

There are more and more reissues of old LPs, 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?
There are a lot of releases but I can’t see it reaching saturation quite yet, no. Labels do a run of vinyl and many releases then don’t get repressed so there’s always new titles coming in to replace the ones that sell out. With the music, a lot has been reissued now but there’s many many great albums that are still untouched so I think the vinyl river will flow sweetly for a good while yet…

What are your next releases?
We have quite a lot coming – a previously unreleased Sun Ra concert from Amiens in 1973 for Record Store Day; new studio albums from Kanaku y El Tigre and Pat Thomas in June; The Souljazz Orchestra drop their best album yet in September; we also have a new compilation put together by Roger Bong, the man behind the excellent blog ‘Aloha Got Soul’ bringing together late ‘70s / ‘80s Hawaiian rarities. Then there’s the ‘Subkultur’ compilation and a new Sun Ra collection curated by Gilles Peterson on the way.

What is the LP you dream of reissuing?
We have tried since Strut first started to work with Eddy Grant on reissuing the brilliant obscure funky oddities from his back catalogue. It won’t ever happen on Strut but, if I can be involved in making it happen on his own label Ice at some point, it would feel like a real achievement!

To go further

ANITA LANE & MICK HARVEY – LOST IN MUSIC (demo)

From ‘Subkultur’ compilation – forthcoming

PAT THOMAS – GYAE SU

SUN RA AND HIS INTERGALACTIC RESEARCH ARKESTRA – LIGHTS ON A SATELLITE

From ‘Planets Of Life Or Death: Amiens ‘73’

Each month, we are focusing on a record label founded by an active digger. This month, Lee Bright of BBE, a british label which, since march 1996, has been releasing countless DJ tracks in many genres (hip-hop, house, disco..) and epic selections made by famous DJs such as Spinna or Keb Darge.

When did you start digging records?
Late 80’s, early 90’s I was living in Manchester, as well as spending time in Eastern Bloc, Fat City (well they kinda had a stall in the indoor market up Oldham St) Decoy Records, King Bee & a couple of other spots – names i cannot recall now – I’d frequent markets… There was a guy in The Moss side centre who always had some nuggets at silly low prices – I remember picking up a Maceo Parker album for £3 I played it ’til it was worn out – and car boots… these especially were a rich vein of gems, near always for pennies not pounds.

What Lps did you buy at first? Do you still listen to them?
My early purchases as a kid were very varied : I’d spend my paper round money on chart albums, along side Soft Cell, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath… I’m too embarrassed to mention some of the terrible albums i bought back then. As I got older I moved through rockabilly, jump jive , jazz to « indie », The Smiths and Felt – especially poignant as I freelance for Cherry Red who look after Felt’s catalogue and i got to meet the « mysterious Lawrence » – and on to electronic, old/new soul, funk, boogie… Pretty much anything.

Do you have a particular style or favorite period?
For me personally the late 60’s to the late 70’s was an amazing period : that said it’s not so much about when, its about the sound and how it makes me feel.

What was your first issue?
BBE’s first release was ‘Stop & Listen Vol. 1’, I remember buying this album… I was not working with Ben & Pete back then. I joined with Peter 1999, when Ben pursued another career path, but I had been hanging about at some of their club nights. Friends had suggested they could release an album featuring some of the music they were playing in the club. To gain attention they asked Dr Bob Jones to compile the album. Bob had a radio show on Kiss Fm at the time (The Surgery) and was well known and respected not just in the UK. So it seemed like a good idea to have his name on the front cover attached.

Barbara Lynn
You Make Me So Hot

Why this name BBE (Barely Breaking Even) ?
It was not only the state of the finances and still true today, but also a favorite from Greg Carmichael’s Universal Robot Band.

The Disco touch ?
Disco, combining so many musical styles, it makes you smile, it feels like a treat, you want to dance, it’s sex.

What could be the editorial/esthetic line?
If we like it and if it’s possible we release it.

How do you decide on the choice of reissues/issues ?
We release music we love, with people we love and trust, who bring their expertise and musical passion to us with a clear concept. And in re-issuing them we hope to give our audience music they’ve never heard before. Releasing albums is a high risk business, more so today than ever before, we lessen that risk by creating high quality product.

You released ‘Phantom’ in january. What is the best deal/business: to make reissues or to produce/coproduce new records?
The artist and label must synchronise, both be equally responsible, share the risk and have complete trust in one another and understand expectations and be sensible…

Jay Dee aka J Dilla
BBE (Big Booty Express)

Is it two different jobs?
Compilations are more straightforward… Artists i.e. a new record : it might have more potential …e.g. tours / remixes / videos, but it is much much harder to make it work !
Running a small record label is many jobs : accounting, office services, human resources, shoulder to cry on, press and radio… You have to do everything and understand each area of the business intimately and keep up with the array of changes that are taking place near daily now.

What could be your leitmotif for the label?
Real Music for Real People. Music that we’ll want to listen to yesterday, today and all of our tomorrow , music that was created from the heart, with feeling that speaks a universal language

BBE is famous for a few compilation series like ‘Kings Of’, ‘Strange Breaks…’… Are there any plans for future volumes?
Always plans not just for these, but other series’… forthcoming ‘Private Wax II’, ‘Strange Breaks yes Mr Thing’: just follow him on Instagram and you’ll see he is unearthing new gems week on week… More compilations with Keb Darge, Sean P, Amir of 180 Proof… Al Kent (Million Dollar Disco)! We’re usually working on a bunch of albums, it’s just a case of how long it takes to prepare everything

Frank Pleyer Big Band
Sally

You chose to collaborate with famous DJ’s (Gilles Peterson, DJ Spinna, Dimitri From Paris, Jazzanova…) for your compilations. Who are the next/future collaborators?Jay Strongman, Snowboy, Volcov, Jeremy Newall if the idea makes sense to us, it’s fresh … We’ll give it a try.

Are you still digging’, buying vinyl, visiting record shops?
Not so much me personally – too busy mostly / maybe i got too lazy / ran out of space for records… And many moves later – felt i could not carry them into a removal truck anymore … Peter spends some time… I’m sure of that UK/Ghana/Berlin… if I pass a box of records in a charity / junk shop i’ll always peek.

Have you received many negative answers on some of the LPs you were trying to reissue?
Negative answers… You cannot dwell on unresponsive radio / press / public. It’s a crowded market place, sometimes people miss things … quality never goes away and we daily receive compliments, feedback about releases some of which are more than 10 years old.

There is more and more reissues of old LPs. Do you think that the LP reissue market could ever reach saturation point?
I cannot see that happening any time soon. I’ve been freelancing at Cherry Red Records for long time and for years they’ve been re-issuing 30 to 40 albums a month…

What are your next releases ?
All to look out for : on 7” J Dilla – ‘Love’ (vocal/instr), DJ Vadim – ‘Black is the Night b/w Lyrical Soldier’, The Hempolics – ‘Warrior Sound’, Beam Up – ‘No Chains/Travelling’ ; on LP Keb Darge & Little Edith’s Legendary ‘Wild Rockers 5’, ‘20 Years Henry Street Music – The Definitive Collection’, and two volumes of Private Wax 12” Series…

What is the LP you dream of reissuing?
‘Eyes of Love’ by Edge of Daybreak.
 

Bama Love Soul

A video of Otti Albietz