IN STOCK
CLEAR
LIMITED - 1LP - TIDAL WAVES MUSIC
2021 02 19

IN STOCK
7 INCH - TRAMP RECORDS
2020

IN STOCK
7 INCH - ROCAFORT
2020 11 06

SOLD OUT
2LP - FIRST WORD RECORDS
2018

1LP - FIRST WORD RECORDS
2017

7 INCH - MATASUNA
PREORDER 2020 11 20

BIS => 2 / 3 WEEKS
LIMITED BLUE COLORED - 1LP - LIGHT IN THE ATTIC
1973 => 2020 11 27

BIS => 2 / 3 WEEKS
7 INCH - VAMPISOUL
2021 01 22

SOLD OUT
2LP - MOSTA RECORDS
2021 02 05

SOLD OUT
1LP - NOW AGAIN
2018

BIS => 2025 05 02
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.

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1LP - FAT BEATS RECORDS
2020 11 20

7 INCH - TRAD VIBE
2020 12 04

1LP - OLINDO
2021 01 15

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1LP - MUTUAL INTENTIONS
2021 01 08

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LIMITED CLEAR
1LP - TIDAL WAVES MUSIC
2021 01 22

BIS => 2 / 3 WEEKS
7 INCH - OUTTA SIGHT SOUL ESSENTIALS
2020 12 18

BIS => 2 / 3 WEEKS
7 INCH - OUTTA SIGHT SOUL ESSENTIALS
2020 11 27

BIS => 2 / 3 WEEKS
12 INCH - EXPANSION
2020 11 27

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1LP - MUSIC TAKE ME UP
2020 10 07

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2LP - OSTINATO
2021 02 12

1LP - FUNKIWALA
2021 02 12

1LP - FUNKIWALA
2021 02 05

1LP - ALTERCAT
2021 01 15

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1LP - GET ON DOWN
2021 01 22

7 INCH - TRAMP RECORDS
2021 01 22

1LP - LIGHT IN THE ATTIC
2021 01 22

BIS => 2 / 3 WEEKS
1LP - BE WITH RECORDS
2018

SOLD OUT
1LP - BE WITH RECORDS
2019

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1LP - BE WITH RECORDS
2019

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1LP - TAMBOURINE PARTY
2021

IN STOCK
1LP - SONORAMA
2019

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2LP - ANALOG AFRICA
2008

IN STOCK
7 INCH - DYNAMITE CUTS
2021 02 12

7 INCH - P-VINE
2021 05 28
2021 06 25

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7 INCH - P-VINE
2021 05 28
2021 06 25

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1LP - P-VINE
2021 04 02

7 INCH - ALOHA GOT SOUL
2021 03 05

IN STOCK
GREEN
7 INCH - ALOHA GOT SOUL
2021 03 05

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7 INCH - HMV
2021 03 26

SOLD OUT
1LP - HMV
2021 05 14

SOLD OUT
1LP - BE WITH RECORDS
2021

7 INCH. - P-VINE
2021 05 28
2021 06 25

BIS => 2 / 3 WEEKS
CD - LIGHT IN THE ATTIC
1986 => 2020

BIS => 2022 02 04
CLEAR WITH BLUE & PURPLE SPLATTER
1LP - SHIP TO SHORE
2021 12 03

BIS => 2022 02 04
BLOODY TRANSPARENT RED VINYL
10LP - CINEVOX / BTF / AMS
2021 12 03

BIS => 2022 02 04
TRANSPARENT BLUE VINYL
10LP - CINEVOX / BTF / AMS
2021 12 03

SOLD OUT
33 TOURS / 12 INCH
1 - 8 RECORDS

BIS => 2 / 3 WEEKS
YELLOW
12 INCH - MR BONGO
2020

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1LP - METAL FACE RECORDS
2016

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2LP - LIGHT IN THE ATTIC
2021 03 19

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2LP - MONTSERRAT HOUSE
2020

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2LP - STRUT
2009

TRANSLUCENT RED
2LP - LIGHT IN THE ATTIC
2021 04 02
2021 11 26

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RED
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

SOLD OUT
RED / GOLD SWIRL
2LP - LIGHT IN THE ATTIC
2012
2021 04 30

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

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1LP - BIG BEAT
2018

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CLEAR
1LP - TIDAL WAVES MUSIC
2021

SOLD OUT
1LP - P-VINE
2021 08 27

3LP - LIGHT IN THE ATTIC
2014
BACK IN STOCK > 2021 08 20

CLEAR
3LP - LIGHT IN THE ATTIC
2014
BACK IN STOCK > 2021 08 20

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DIGIPACK
1CD - LIGHT IN THE ATTIC
2021 04 02

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1LP - 8TH RECORDS
2021 04 30

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DROP 1 - RSD 2021
2LP - STRUT
2021 06 12

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

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

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

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

SOLD OUT
DROP 2 - RSD 2021
7 INCH x 5 BOX SET - SOUL JAZZ RECORDS
2021 07 17

SOLD OUT
DROP 2 - RSD 2021
7 INCH x 5 BOX SET - SOUL JAZZ RECORDS
2021 07 17
2021 10 29

SOLD OUT
DROP 1 - RSD 2021
1LP - SOUL BROTHER RECORDS
2021 06 12
2021 07 23

BIS => 2 / 3 WEEKS
DROP 1 - RSD 2021
7 INCH - EXPANSION
2021 06 12

SOLD OUT
DROP 1 - RSD 2021
1LP - EXPANSION
2021 06 12

BIS => 2 / 3 WEEKS
2LP - VAMPISOUL
2021 06 18

BIS => 2 / 3 WEEKS
7 INCH x 3 - MUNSTER
2021 06 18

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

BIS => 2 / 3 WEEKS
7 INCH - VAMPISOUL
2021 04 09

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 08 27

DROP 2 - RSD 2021
7 INCH - HMV RECORD SHOP
2021 08 27

DROP 2 - RSD 2021
7 INCH - HMV RECORD SHOP
2021 08 27

SOLD OUT
DROP 2 - RSD 2021
1LP - RED SCARE INDUSTRIES
2021

SOLD OUT
1LP - JAKARTA
2016

SOLD OUT
2LP - SOUL JAZZ RECORDS
2018

SOLD OUT
2LP - SOUL JAZZ RECORDS
2017

SOLD OUT
WHITE
1LP - AGE 101
2019

SOLD OUT
2LP - STRUT
2017

IN STOCK
7 INCH - SKYLINE RECORDS
2021 06 18

1CD - FUTURE DAYS
2019
2021 09 03

SOLD OUT
1LP - P-VINE
2021 11 19