Mbongwana Star
From Kinshasa

The first official reissue of ‘Good Lovin’’ – a modern soul dancer with a killer groove, heavy low-end, delectable string & horn trade-offs and the husky tones of the inimitable Al Mason, that blew up on the scene in 1980 and now commands eye watering prices between collectors. This dinked 7 inch comes backed with ‘We Still Could Be Together’ off the original promo 12 Inch, with both tracks fully remastered and officially licensed for the first time since its original release.‘Good Lovin’’ stormed dancefloors back in the early ‘80s taking Al’s undeniable, raspy vocal prowess and stirring it up with an energetic combination of funk guitars, full frontal basslines, on-point harmonies and a perfectly arranged string and brass section. It’s been a rare treasure on the second-hand market with original copies trading hands for £400 so an official reissue will be music to many an ear.The B side, ‘We Still Could Be Together’, is an emotive ballad filled to the brim with Mason’s tangible passion alongside smoky pianos, cinematic strings and velvety backing vocals. A slow stepper with a bittersweet message behind it.

Return to Space Ghost’s celebrated Dance Planet LP with six summer-ready remixes by Central, Dirk 81,Jarren, Nelson of the East and Space Ghost himself, releasing June 10.The Oakland-native’s romantic and empowering house sound has enjoyed a growing audience madeup of fans and tastemakers alike. The remix package comes courtesy of friends and label affiliates, eachlending their touch to Space Ghost’s work.Capitalizing on the inherent warmth in the Bay Area- artist’s sound, Tartelet label head Dirk 81 subtly threads a slow, rolling breakbeat into ‘Deep’, channeling 90s RnB and Balearic. Danish underground powerhouse and Help/Regelbau label affiliate Central injects some up-tempo garage house energy into ‘Be Yourself’ – without losing the swirling romanticism of the original. And LA-based producer Jarren, neighbor to Space Ghost on UK label Apron, leans in to the punchy Lately Bass and turns up the swing on his own version of the track.Space Ghost comes back to ‘Emotional Healer’ and creates a pointedly club-tooled ‘Dance Mix’ versionwith a panoply of 90s touchstones delivered in the classiest of ways. To finish, Nelson Of The East’s ‘Forever Dub’ of the track adds a sharp and snappy strain of modern steppas.

Reconnected is compiled from Harold Lucious’ addictive 1990 release Connections, a visionary mix of soulful house, New Jack Swing and RnB, an American predecessor of street soul. Deeply connected to music from an early age, Harold started his music career in the early 70s at the age of 16. He sang in his first group, The Final Seconds, who pressed a 7” single in New York City in 1973. The group would go on to record a full album called Neo Cosmic Blues, but never had the chance to press it. They would continue to perform and write together throughout the 70’s and searched in vain for a label to work with. During that time, Harold landed a guest spot on the legendary Brother Ahh record Move Ever Onward, set up by his manager who was Brother Ahh’s sibling. Harold is listed as having played koto, but really he provided background vocals. Throughout the 80’s, Harold worked at WBI radio programming talk shows. On air, he would act out modified scripts to Richard Wright novels like “The Outsider”.Connections was his effort to finally release a record after years of recording and playing music. Experimenting with dance music he came up with an album that was inspired by his love of house music and RnB. He sold the record out of his backpack, ending up with boxes of copies that were eventually destroyed when he had to move from his long-time apartment in Brooklyn. Few of the original LP remain, and it has become almost impossible to find.Reconnected is a remastered redux with four songs taken from the original LP, and pressed onto a loud 45rpm 12” for maximum dance-floor potential. Mixed Signals is honoured to introduce Harold’s music to a contemporary audience around the world.

Compilation of all new productions from a wealth of international talent, put together by Knekelhuis.This is a story of friendship, about how it grows stronger through the years. But it’s just as much about fledgling togetherness and shared art in times of crisis. The result is an introspective document of contemporary music, in spirit of Eno and Hassell. A space where we embrace our differences and speak the language of collectivity together, where we reflect, adapt and value each artist's contribution equally. To witness a multitude of cultural backgrounds that speak one like-minded language. Soothing and illuminating. And felt like...Mastered by Amir Shoat and artwork by Keziah Phillips and Steele Bonus.

Detroit mainstay Andrés returns to MotorCity Wine Recordings with an anthemic 4 tracker entitled Sunday Kinda Love. For those that know, MotorCity Wine is the spot for Sunday parties, so we only thought it appropriate to have one of Detroit’s most seminal producers highlight the vibe with this EP. On the A side is Andrés’s dusty house sound that we’ve all come to love, complete with bouncing basslines, slick vocal chops, and drums to turn out any dance floor. On the flip side Andrés slows the tempo just a touch to highlight his chunky midtempo beatdown sounds, with “Rubin Samba” bringing a Latin flair and “Sunday Kinda Love” driving it all home. Essential Detroit music manufactured in Detroit and housed in a gorgeous vinyl package.