The Shadow Knows

Category: Features

  • March Mix & New Article

    After a short break we’re back with a new article on Pressure Drop, the English duo Justin Langlands and Dave Henley who released their first two albums on Marlboro Music in Germany.

    Read the article here. Then listen to our latest mix here. It includes Justin and Dave’s productions as Pressure Drop and Blood Brothers, as well as some selections from their London Underground compilations from the early 90s and a few other related beats.

    Tracklisting:

    1. Pressure Drop – Back 2 Back
    2. Blood Brothers – Transfusion
    3. D*Note – The Scheme Of Things
    4. Marden Hill– Come On
    5. Palm Skin Productions – Like Brothers
    6. Raw Stylus  – Pushing Against The Flow
    7. A-Team – Trouble (Parts 1 & 2) 
    8. Cane Matto – Taxi
    9. Pressure Drop – You’re Mine (Leftfield Remix) 

  • Celluloid Records — The French Label Who Released The Freshest Rap Records of 1982

    1982 Celluloid 12″ singles featuring Futura artwork on back covers

    Back in 1979 in Paris, Jean “Karakos” Georgekarakos started Celluloid Records with Jean-François Bizot and Gilbert Castro. The label initially released reggae, new wave, and world music, before they discovered hip hop.

    Read the full article here.

  • Jazz In Transition

    Between 1955–57 Transition Records released 15 albums, including early records with Sun Ra, John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, and Donald Byrd. Each album had beautiful packaging, including booklets with information about the band, their songs, and Transition’s future releases.

    The label was unsustainable and closed after two years, but its founder Tom Wilson continued to work within the industry and produced albums for Bob Dylan, The Velvet Underground, and Frank Zappa. It’s these projects he is best known for now, but it started with Transition.

    Read the full article here.

  • Groovin’ To The Max : Marlboro Music

    Marlboro Music logo as it appears on Blacklicious’ Melodica (1994)

    Mo’ Wax Records is best known for helping define trip hop, the early-90s genre of downtempo hip hop. The record label was based in the UK, but made connections internationally, with labels such as Toy’s Factory in Japan, Solesides in the USA, and Marlboro Music in Germany.

    This allowed for releases by DJ Shadow, DJ Krush, and UNKLE to gain popularity around the world. But wait a second! Marlboro Music? Is that real? It’s got to be fake, right? Although many people believe Marlboro Music and their releases are funny bootlegs, I’m here to tell you they’re real.

    Read the full article here.

  • Who Is Tony Lawrence?

    Tony Lawrence at The Harlem Cultural Festival (1969)

    The 1969 The Harlem Cultural Festival has recently found itself back in the spotlight thanks to the documentary film Summer of Soul which is streaming and showing in select cinemas around the world.

    Festival founder Tony Lawrence was celebrated for his work around the Harlem community. Yet, he remains a mystery for the most part, with much remaining unknown about his life.

    Read the full article here.

  • Five of their best: Jazz organist Brother Jack McDuff

    Jack McDuff 25 Sep 1961, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA. Photo Francis Wolff (Source)

    Brother Jack McDuff was a prolific jazz organist who released over 50 albums, and appeared on session with Willis Jackson, Bill Jennings, and George Benson. 

    We previously wrote about his career, but now we’re highlight five of his best albums. Read our picks here.

  • Five musicians who rocked the organ

    Alan Hawkshaw Plays The Philicorda (1972)

    In the 1950s organs left the church and were embraced by jazz musicians thanks to Jimmy Smith and his incredible albums and live shows. 

    There’s a long list of artists who’ve made the organ their own, and we previously touched on the work of Brother Jack McDuff, but we’ve compiled a small selection worth checking out. Read the article here.

  • Peter King — New Zealand’s lathe record cutting master

    Beatsie Boys — Aglio E Olio (1995) via Gram Vinyl

    Following our article on Australian record presses, we have written about Peter King. Master of the lathe record cutting technique, his work is popular among collectors, and continues to be celebrated around the world.

    Read our article about Peter King here.

  • The Rap Attack — Five early hip hop hits you may have missed

    Grandmaster DST, photographed by Patricia Bates for Rap Attack (1984)

    We’ve detailed five early rap singles we think are worth a look, after reading about them in David Toop’s Rap Attack book. Starting in 1979, these are truly old school.

    You can read the article here, and listen along to our mix on Mixcloud.

    1 – Joe Bataan – Rap-O Clap-O
    2 – The Younger Generation – Rappin All Over
    3 – Spoonie Gee – Spoonin Rap
    4 – The Sequence – Funk You Up
    5 – Spoonie Gee & The Sequence – Monsert Jam
    6 – The Deuce – Think About It
    7 – The Fearless Four – Rockin’ It
    8 – Fearless – Creepin’ Up On Ya

  • Five of their best: Anika

    Anika in Change music video

    Ahead of the release of her new album Change, due out Friday 23 July, we’ve listed five key tracks from across Anika’s career. Read here.