Raashan Ahmad Rita J
Black Koala

“After touring the United-States to promote my first solo album The Push, I discovered that I wanted to add more bangin’ songs to my live set as well as speak on some more topics that I have been dealing with. Soul Power is the result. When I I say “Soul Power”, I’m talking about what gives my soul, my spirit power--which is music! This project was especially born out of all that I learned being on the road as well as teaming up with new friends I’ve met along the way which led to some dope collaborations! I definitely have to give thanks to the folks who have made me feel at home while away from home; who have blessed me with food, shelter, ciphers, laughter, conversation, money, memories, general nonsense, and love. Also mad thanks to the artists who blessed this project with their talent. Peace. Raashan”

** Available exclusively at The Pusher **This album is a return to the collaborations of Moar with unreleased versions on vinyl and also rare tracks. You will find the boom bap flavor that he likes so much in his hip-hop productions and also some names familiar to the label Trad Vibe! 10 tracks with delicious flavors that will make you travel in time all produced by Moar and his faithful MPC & SP1200.

You have to know how to move away from the rich, strong and noisy streets, if you want to discover another Havana. A Havana far from the tourist circuits and preconceived images. A Havana where one discovers bucolic, but hard and stripped too after slow journeys in the crowded buses, a Havana with which Al Quetz maintains a passionate history since more than fourteen years.Installed in one of those neighborhoods that can only be reached by going deeper into the alleys, from the open window of the studio comes the sound of banging drums and thumping bass. The sound reaches the streets on which the day rises. The place wakes up in a growing tumult, with some rare engines coughing, conversations under the windows, songs of the street vendors , an urban ballet sets up as the sun darts its rays. Far from the musical clichés with percussions and horns, Cuba is an island bombarded with influences that one discovers. An island which vibrated for the jazz, the soul, the psychedelic rock , from the waves coming from the Caribbean to those of the bulky neighboring ogre.A musical flowering as varied as abundant that the glorious post-revolutionary label Areito has on thousands of recordings, and that Al Quetz has designated as the sole source of his samples to compose Habanologia. From the ambiences that punctuate the local daily life caught by his samplers, he let the melancholy infiltrate his hip hop beats, the nostalgia melting in the depths of his grooves. Nostalgia in the Cuban air, even during moments of intense laughter, which never totally disappears.Habanologia restores these moments when the song of the birds has extinguished those of the cars. Where, sitting on a doorstep, we comment on the life of the neighborhood, we watch the women's swaying at eye level. The whole day if necessary, the coffee at one peso, after a certain hour, which leaves its place to the Planchao rum. Wandering through its streets where a chance encounter can itself bring others and lead to the essence of the habanera life. From Regla, after a short trip on the bus-boat that crosses the bay, savor the end of the day, observe the capital from afar, let the nocturnal insects ensure some arrangements and drift towards mysterious horizons, bringing to the contemplation of the place and the moment. A flute, a keyboard, percussions or a voice. Al Quetz also invited his friends from the island or elsewhere to decorate his productions with their live touch. To share with him this Havana for which he covered his tracks, mixed times and distorted space-time to make it timeless.To write with Habanalogia, a declaration of love to the Cuban capital, to make Havana, His Havana.

Paris based Roforofo Jazz is a 7-piece liveband fronted by Chicago born MC Days (aka RacecaR), with a certain taste for adventurous blends, mixing hip hop, afrobeat and jazz into their very own style.After more than 15 years slashing the afrobeat of Les Freres Smith with his guitar cuts, Martin Smith digged into the musical sediments and silts in a swamp of hip hop, funk groove, afro power, jazz freedom radicality, with a certain taste for adventurous blends. This wax solid 5 tracks Vinyl was recorded live in Montreuil (France) at Studios La Peche, in November 2019, just a few weeks after the band toured in Nigeria and played at the mythical New Afrika Shrine on the occasion of Felabration 2019, where they got invited to perform by the Fela Kuti family for a series of concerts in Lagos.The 5 titles include the single “Fire Eater”, a raw afro hip hop tune mixing rhythms in the tradition of polyrhythm afrofunk tunes, while also alternating in between jazzy mood and burning hip hop anthem. “Dump It” is a dark, mid tempo beat, borrowing the groove signature of ethiopian soul, and coated with hip hop sharp drops, while horns bring the jazzyness through their themes. “Helelyos” is a cover/extrapolation of Iranian singer Zia’s hit, to which Days vocals bring an heavy old school hip hop vibe. “2Kick1” is a relentless afrobeat oriented tune, though with a languorous spacy chorus that breaks with the traditional afrobeat routine. And “What We Think We Saw” ends the EP with an opening to more psychedelic visions, in which a Gil Scott-Heron spoken word style meets jazzy space echoes, flutes under massive reverbs in a global vibe that could remind old analog recordings of Mandrill, Cymande or LKJ.