SOLD OUT
1LP - NOW AGAIN
2018

BIS => 2025 08 01
2LP - NOW-AGAIN
2014

TRACKLIST
A1 Introduction
A2 Push Na Ya
A3 El Gusto
A4 Transition >S<
A5 Karadeniz
A6 The Spirit Of Gine
B1 Transition >T<
B2 Girma's Lament
B3 Sharpville Massacre
B4 Samai Thaqil
C1 Jo Nibunga
C2 Omebele (Makossa)
C3 M'Hammad
C4 Transition >A<
C5 Who's Foolin' Who?
C6 Transition >C<
D1 Hymnin S
D2 Bring It On Down
D3 Mission Control
D4 Kaifa Part 1+2

DESCRIPTION
Karl Hector aka the German producer and guitarist JJ Whitefield, Whitefield is the visionary behind the Poets of Rhythm and the Whitefield Brothers, the ensembles whose rough analog sound and return to the funk archetypes of the late 60s to early 70s paved the way for labels like Daptone, Truth & Soul, Timmion. Whitefield, along with Thomas Myland and Zdenko Curlija, founded Karl Hector and The Malcouns in the early 2000s. Their debut, Sahara Swing, saw release on Now-Again in 2008. The album swung with influences from across the African diaspora and set the stage for a cult, but influential following. Festival promoters intrigued by the possibility of resurrecting the careers of once forgotten African mavericks from Ghana's Ebo Taylor to the progenitors of Zambia's Zamrock scene brought Hector and crew across Europe playing festivals for ecstatic fans. A grueling tour schedule made recording a follow up album to Sahara Swing quite the challenge, and as a result, the band opted to release limited edition, hand-silkscreened EP's, which continued to show their deft handling of musics from Eastern and Northern Africa alongside Western psychedelia, jazz and funk. Whitefield gave himself 2013 to finish the album that would become Unstraight Ahead, which will see release on Now-Again this summer. Unstraight Ahead finds the band exploring territories even outside of the expansive scope of Sahara Swing. On this album, the West African sounds of Ghana and Mali meet the East African sounds of Mulatu Astatke's Ethiopian jazz and are tied together with the groove heavy experimentalism of The Malcouns' 70s Krautrock godfathers: Can, of course, but also more obscure and equally adventurous groups like Agitation Free, Ibliss and Tomorrow's Gift. We look to Middle Eastern funk and psychedelic fusions, and to various ethnic records for sound and phrasing, Whitefield states. We're trying to combine the global experimentalism of Krautrock with the backbeat of funk. This explains how songs in uneven meters 5/4, 7/8 always sound so accessible and natural on Unstraight Ahead. It's mainly an instrumental affair, but guest artists appear throughout, from across the African diaspora to those from the worldly Krautrock forebears of their German fatherland: it's Marja, daughter of Embryo founder Christian Burchard, whose vocals open the album. It's an album out of time, one that couldn't have been made in the era its aural aesthetics reference, as its scope is so broad. But it's an album focused by funk and an ambition to expand funk's reaches. The Malcouns including Poets of Rhythm songwriter and vocalist Bo Baral - created their own instruments to fashion an album that stands alongside the great albums of its progenitors but charges Unstraight Ahead into a curious musical future.

SOLD OUT
1LP - FAT BEATS RECORDS
2020 11 20

15 janvier 2021

1LP - MUTUAL INTENTIONS
2021 01 08

LIMITED - 1LP - TIDAL WAVES MUSIC
2021 01 22

1LP - MUSIC TAKE ME UP

2LP - OSTINATO
2021 02 12

1LP - FUNKIWALA
2021 02 12

1LP - FUNKIWALA
2021 02 05

1LP - ALTERCAT
2021 01 15

SOLD OUT
1LP - GET ON DOWN
2021 01 22

1LP - LIGHT IN THE ATTIC
2021 01 22

1LP - BE WITH RECORDS
2019

1LP - BE WITH RECORDS
2019

1LP - TAMBOURINE PARTY
2021

IN STOCK
1LP - SONORAMA
2019

SOLD OUT
2LP - ANALOG AFRICA
2008

7 INCH - P-VINE
2021 04 23

7 INCH - P-VINE
2021 04 23

1LP - P-VINE
2021 03 19

1LP - HMV
2021 05 14

SOLD OUT
1LP - BE WITH RECORDS
2021

1LP - SHIP TO SHORE
PRE ORDER => 2021 11 19

BLOODY TRANSPARENT RED VINYL
10LP - CINEVOX / BTF / AMS
PRE ORDER => 2021 12 03

TRANSPARENT BLUE VINYL
10LP - CINEVOX / BTF / AMS
PRE ORDER => 2021 12 03

SOLD OUT
33 TOURS / 12 INCH
1 - 8 RECORDS

1LP - METAL FACE RECORDS
2005
2021 04 16

2LP - LIGHT IN THE ATTIC
2021 03 19

2LP - MONTSERRAT HOUSE
2020

2LP - STRUT
2009

2LP - LIGHT IN THE ATTIC
2021 03 19

3LP - COLEMINE
2020 04 13

BIS => 2 / 3 WEEKS
1LP - KENT
2017

BIS => 2 / 3 WEEKS
1LP - KENT
2017

BIS => 2 / 3 WEEKS
1LP - ACE RECORDS
2020

BIS => 2 / 3 WEEKS
1LP - BIG BEAT
2016

BIS => 2 / 3 WEEKS
1LP - BIG BEAT
2003

2LP - LIGHT IN THE ATTIC
2021 04 02

BIS => 2 / 3 WEEKS
2LP - KENT
2019

BIS => 2 / 3 WEEKS
1LP - BIG BEAT
2001

1LP - WE WANT SOUNDS
2021 05 07

BIS => 2 / 3 WEEKS
1LP - BIG BEAT
2020

SOLD OUT
1LP - BIG BEAT
2018

SOLD OUT
CLEAR
1LP - TIDAL WAVES MUSIC
2021

1LP - P-VINE
2021 07 09

3LP - LIGHT IN THE ATTIC
2014
2021 04 02

1LP - 8TH RECORDS
2021 04 23

2LP
2021-06-12

DROP 1 - RSD 2021
1LP - COUNTRY CLUB RECORDS
2021 06 12

DROP 1 - RSD 2021
1LP - IRON MOUNTAIN ANALOGUE RESEARCH
2021 06 12

DROP 1 - RSD 2021

DROP 1 - RSD 2021
1LP - TIDAL WAVES MUSIC
2021 06 12

DROP 1 - RSD 2021
1LP - SOUL BROTHER RECORDS
2021 06 12

DROP 1 - RSD 2021
1LP - EXPANSION
20211 06 12

BIS => 2 / 3 WEEKS
2LP - VAMPISOUL
2021

1LP - VAMPIISOUL
2021 04 09
2021 04 30

BIS => 2 / 3 WEEKS
1LP - MUNSTER
2021 04 09

SOLD OUT
1LP - MUNSTER
2021 03 19

DROP 2 - RSD 2021
1LP - HMV RECORD SHOP
2021 07 17

DROP 2 - RSD 2021
1LP - RED SCARE INDUSTRIES
2021 07 17

1LP - JAKARTA
2016

2LP - SOUL JAZZ RECORDS
2018

2LP - SOUL JAZZ RECORDS
2017

WHITE
1LP - AGE 101
2019

2LP - STRUT
2017

2021 11 19

1LP - P-VINE
2021 11 19

1LP - P-VINE
2021 11 19

1LP - P-VINE
2021 11 19

BIS => 2 / 3 WEEKS
1LP - ADARCE
2021 09 24

BIS => 2 / 3 WEEKS
1LP - ELPALMAS MUSIC
2021 11 05

1LP - P-VINE
2021 11 05

SEAGLASS BLUE VINYL
1LP - NEXT RECORDS
2021 10 08

BACK IN STOCK 2021 02 05
2LP - TRAFFIC ENTERTAINMENT
2014

SOLD OUT
1LP - LIGHT IN THE ATTIC
1986 => 2020

1LP - VAMPISOUL
PRE ORDER => 2021 12 03

1LP - LIGHT IN THE ATTIC
2021 11 19
PRE ORDER => 2022 03 25

1LP - ALTERCAT
PRE ORDER => 2021 11 26

1LP - LIGHT IN THE ATTIC

1LP - LIGHT IN THE ATTIC

CLEAR WITH BLUE & PURPLE SPLATTER
1LP - SHIP TO SHORE
PRE ORDER => 2021 12 03

BLACK AND WHITE SPLATTER
1LP - EBALUNGA!!!
PRE ORDER => 2021 11 19

BLUE VINYL
1LP - ALOHA GOT SOUL
PRE ORDER => 2022 04 08

RED & GOLD SWIRL
2LP - EVERLAND
PRE ORDER => 2021 11 19

WHITE VINYL
2LP - QUARTET RECORDS
PRE ORDER => 2021 11 19

SOLD OUT
VIOLET & PURPLE SPLIT
2LP - MODERN CLASSICS RECORDINGS
2021 11 19

CLEAR
2LP - CINEWAX
PRE ORDER => 2021 11 19

SOLD OUT
RED
2LP - SOUL JAZZ RECORDS
2006 => 2021

SOLD OUT
CLEAR / GREEN SWIRL
1LP - LIGHT IN THE ATTIC
1986 => 2020

BACK IN STOCK 2020 12 25
1LP - MR BONGO
2016

BACK IN STOCK 2020 12 25
2LP - MR BONGO
2017

2LP - LIGHT IN THE ATTIC
2012

DROP 1 - RSD 2021
SILVER
1LP - MR BONGO
2021 06 12

BLACK FRIDAY 2021
2LP - HHC
2021 11 26

1LP - GET ON DOWN
2013

2LP - GET ON DOWN
2014

1LP - P-VINE
2021 03 05

1LP - HMV
2021 11 26

1LP - P-VINE
2021 10 08