RTSAK
Give It Up / The Way They Do...

Since the release of his 2 first albums on Favorite Recordings, Lucas Arruda has quickly established himself as one of the most talented young artist and composer from Brazil. His music is filled with fusion style, mixing influences and elements from his Latin musical background, with his genuine admiration for Jazz, Soul, Pop and Funk music.In spring 2015, it was also not surprising to find Lucas Arruda back with a new LP called Solar, receiving great supports and feedbacks from international media and tastemakers. One of the highlight of the album was the song “Melt the Night”, on which Lucas teamed up with legendary producer Leon Ware, reminding his collaborations in the 80s with Marcos Valle, when they perfectly merged together the sophisticated Boogie and AOR touch from California, with the blazing sense of rhythm from Brazil.Today Favorite Recordings proudly present Onda Nova, new and third album by Lucas Arruda. Mostly written, composed and arranged by himself, Lucas however teams up on a few tracks with his old mate Fabricio di Monaco (Modo Solar), his brother and musical partner Thiago Arruda, who recently joined Ed Motta’s live band, or Gaël Benyamin, also known as Geyster, who brings his longtime “savoir-faire” and skills for writing and composing AOR and WestCoast music genre, and who share this deep passion with Lucas.Onda Nova is therefore pursuing the music direction set with Solar, mixing touch of Blue-Eyed-Soul, Pop, Soul and Brazilian styles together, and influenced by the path of legendary Brazilian producer Lincoln Olivetti, who recorded some of the biggest stars of Brazilian music (Marcos Valle, Jorge Ben, Tim Maia…).In Lucas words: “In this record I really wanted to honor Robson Jorge & Lincoln Olivetti. They are the main influence on this record. We recorded the basic tracks for the album in the same studio that Lincoln Olivetti did his last works. So, this was very important to capture the true essence of Brazilian Funk/AOR tradition. Hope you guys enjoy it!”

After his acclaimed debut EP « Cotonou » on Alma Negra’s record label, James Stewart comes back with his new EP Atlantic River Drive for Mawimbi Records, featuring two collaborations with Ghanaian kologo musician Ayuune Sule as well as two remixes from Simbad aka SMBD.James Stewart met Ghanaian kologo musician Ayuune Sule, after booking several shows of kologo music star King Ayisoba in Lyon. Stewart was quick to witness the bluesy tone of Ayuune’s voice and his kindness as a musician, despite his impressive stature. Quite logically, Stewart invited Sule to record vocals on two of his ongoing demos at Bruno Patchworks’ recording studio (Voilaaa, Mr. President, Da Break), with the idea of making a rather unheard crossover between traditional kologo music and contemporary styles that would both appeal to Ghanaian crowds and a Western audience. Stewart then had a number of his arrangement ideas re-recorded by a talented cast of musicians, resulting in a brilliant mix of acoustic and electronic textures, sounding both vintage and modern.Nodding to Eddie Palmieri’s landmark record “Harlem River Drive”, “Atlantic River Drive” is a stomping dancefloor track, drawing from the 6/8 feel of kologo music and the energy of contemporary club music. The track can be read as a tribute to the musical cross-pollinations between the African continent and its many diasporas, which Stewart has dedicated a long part of his life to, but also as a more intimate story about his life and family. All words were written by Stewart and then translated by Sule in his native Fra fra language from Northern Ghana.“Where Are We Going?” is a two-part journey that reminds us that we should care about each other, about our communities while we don’t know what the future is made of. An important and much welcome message to navigate through these troubled, uncertain times. Referencing congolese N’dombolo tracks, the track has two parts and rich arrangements, with its first part going deep with syncopated clarinet hooks and playful percussion parts, and its second part moving to a four-on-the-floor pattern and an entrancing baritone saxophone solo. The EP also features Worldwide FM and Brownswood maestro Simbad, who delivers two dancefloor-ready reworks of the track “Where Are We Going?” under his SMBD moniker, turning it into a spiritual, dubby journey, as well as an emotional house music track

Following the acclaimed first album of Al Sunny released in 2017, Favorite Recordings proudly presents this single remix package of “Open Up Your Eyes”.Al Sunny is a young composer emerging from the French soul music scene. Soon after learning the guitar, he started composing and became involved in numerous projects and collaborations. He quickly discovered deep inside himself the music that he truly loves, inspired by artists such as Tim Maia, America, Al Green, and Al Jarreau. During his studies he met musicians including Florian Pellissier, and it's then thanks to Florian that he met Pascal Rioux, founder and A&R of Favorite Recordings. Together they produced Time To Decide, a first album acclaimed by many tastemakers and gaining a solid success in Japan.One of the highlights of the LP was the track “Open Up Your Eyes”, which disclosed the premise of Al Sunny music style, infused with Blue-Eyed-Soul, Pop and Folk. Also tainted with a funky dancefloor color, “Open Up Your Eyes” was a perfect match to build a nice remixes package for DJs. On the A side, Bruno “Patchworks” Hovart delivers again a hot Soulful/Disco version of the song with his famous touch. As for the B side, Favorite Recordings asked the Canadian producer Jex Opolis (Good Timin’ Records), with a Disco style slightly more oriented in Electronic and House vibes.

When faced with the decision to take a different direction at the risk of getting lost in a synthetic sound or to further explore the same musical path, Vaudou Game didn’t need to consult the oracle for very long when putting together their new album. Since their first acclaimed album, Apiafo and its irresistible single "Pas Contente", these Lyon natives never turned down the heat on over 130 stages across Europe, Africa, America and Asia. Peter Solo has displayed his amulets, charisma and yellow pants around the globe.When time came for them to harness their Afro-Funk sound for the second time, they turned their attention once again to their analog strengths. Vintage material, instruments produced in the 70's and cassette tapes were the "grigris" (or lucky charms) which proved most effective to ward off digital corruption of their music and return them to a tight-knit group with a solid groove.This unbeatable trance rhythm, inherited from James Brown and Fela, icons of Funk and Afrobeat, becomes trident when joined by Mawu, the creative voodoo divinity hidden in each of the group's notes. This inspiration transcends their spirit of communion, plunges them deeply into Mother Earth and results in the telepathic trance which is directly connected to Togo Peter's native Togo.Each song then becomes a celebration where the listener becomes the group's voodoo doll, embraced by the rhythm, submitting itself to the mercilessly metronomic cutting of guitars, struck by the copper-colored flashes of lightning forged by the African voodoo deity Hevioso, pierced by the psychedelic visions generated by the organs and a six-string guitar, cheerful songs, and hypnotic incantations. KIDAYU means "sharing" in Kabye, the language spoken in northern Togo. Sharing, is the philosophy of Vaudou Game – both in their recorded music and on stage.

La Maison Venturi & Bazaar Records proudly present the first 12inch EP of the French duo Cee-O-Funk.Expect deviant house with boogie/funk touch and bizarre/weird sexy things. "T'as le cul qui dit oui" ("You got the ass that says yes"), is a sexy groove carried by a heady and sharp bassline to pay homage to the moving bodies on the dancefloor and the little music of their buttocks when the whole stuff moves to the sound of the beat. "Sex with the beat" is a joyful ode to love in all its forms, whether it is libertine or tidy or whatever. We all love without limit with or without music, but with music it's still better. "Naked on the dancefloor" looks like a huge electronic blues, a postpartum blues, with the memory of someone on their lips, inseparable from this feeling that one can have in a trance on the dancefloor. "Rock with U" is a repetitive, unifying, loving hymn ... let's do things together, forever.

After an album made out of hip-hop extrapolations of their atypical music (Got To Get Down released in September 2016, featuring the creme of NYC MC’s Emskee (The Good People), Audessey & Oxygen (Soundsci)), the Afro Latin Vintage Orchestra returns with another hip-hop colored LP, IMPACT, featuring Paris based Chicago MC Racecar. These two parties have had the opportunity for a clever joint venture, wisely stirred during both live and studio sessions. A furiously efficient mashup of their respective talents, combining the characteristic crazed orchestration and composition skills of the ALVO, to the survitaminated flow and writing of one of the most prolific MCs on the French territory.After the success of this oldschool oriented hip-hop album, the ALVO locked up itself during months in the studio with Racecar to compose a successor to the thunderous Got To Get Down, but also to the hovering Pulsion (compared to Miles Davis’ On The Corner by Wax Poetics) released in 2015 on Ubiquity.A more orchestral approach, on which the MC takes the same furious train as the ALVO musicians, all led by the Masta Conga locomotive, once again with strength and determination but also and still with this obsession for details that characterizes the Parisian band since its beginnings in 2007. More modern tunes, but more obscure as well, such as “Schizo” opening the album on a sharp flow and a dark, stellar, music that sets the tone: the combination in between ALVO and Racecar is naturally attacking, contagious and uninhibited.Tunes “Impact” and “The Jam” further rely on the fundamentals of funk music, which are not more an issue to the shrill flow of the Chicago MC, much at ease on jazz or fusion beats. Then everything erupts with “Let’s Move” and “One To One”, on which ALVO’s craziness contaminates Racecar’s flow and reciprocally, in a furious osmosis, which results in an atypical and spontaneous jazz and hip-hop fusion.