Kio Amachree
Ivory

Libreville Records presents Totāl Cuevas, a seminal compilation album of legendary DJ Guy Cuevas's own music.Guy Cuevas is a French-Cuban writer, musician, and DJ, a pioneer of the art of modern DJing. A key figure on the Paris night scene, Guy Cuevas gained a cult status as the resident DJ of the mythical nightclub Le Palace, gathering thousands of people every night under his booth, shepherding them with his music towards euphoria. He also collaborated with a great number of Fashion brands, such as Yves Saint Laurent, Kenzo, Dior, Hermès and many more.In the early 80s, Guy Cuevas released a handful of records, channeling his hedonism and natural grandeur into his sound, creating a unique music of his own.Totāl Cuevas brings together music from his three singles Ebony Game (1981), Obsession (1982), and Gallo Negro (1984), and includes previously unreleased alternate mixes. Guy Cuevas’s most iconic output, "Obsession - The Nassau Mix" (mixed by François K) gets a fresh new reboot with "Obsession - The Paris Version".Remastered from the master tapes.

Born in 1949 in Recife (Brazil), Roberto De Melo Santos, despite a very light discography, is among the true icons of the Brazilian Soul music under his artist alias, Di Melo. He’s indeed only needed an eponymous album, released in 1975 on Odeon, to assert himself as a star in his native country, but also as a legend for all collectors and connoisseurs of the world. More than 40 years after its release, this famous album sells for several hundred euros in its original version, and even for the few reissues that were offered. Not very active since then, Di Melo however returned in 2016 with the album O Imorrível, released on the Brazilian label Casona Produções.It is then that a year later, came a meeting with the French group Cotonete, that Florian Pellissier, founding member and keyboard within the band tells us about: “On tour in Brazil with Cotonete, we had a few days off in Sao Paulo and I really hoped to make a collaboration with an important artist or band from the Brazilian funk scene. We had thought of Marcos Valle, Meta Meta or Ed Motta... but Rafaela Prestes our Brazilian "sound ingineer/genious" told me she’d worked with Di Melo for his recent comeback and gave me his number. No sooner said than done, as I'm a huge fan of Di Melo. The next day he arrived at our house with Jo, his wife, and Gabi, his daughter. He takes the guitar in front of us and gives us a private show of 3 hours… we cried the tears of joy. He had 400 original songs never recorded, a gold mine. On the same night, we started working the arrangements for 2 days, followed by a rehearsal and two small gigs in Sao Paulo. Immediately after, we recorded in the magical Epsilon B studio. This album is the summary of this moment, of these 5 days of madness spent together between “the best band in the world” and the legend Roberto Di Melo… Simple, beautiful, Brazilian-French, human music…”Today, Atemporal found its final version in collaboration with Favorite Recordings and is proudly presented as what we believe will become the genuine long-awaited follow-up to the classic Di Melo’s LP.

Emotional Rescue and Jamwax come together to present the first of three essential 12”s from NY/Jamaican label Capo Disco, all officially licensed and remastered for the first time. The brainchild of reggae vocalist, musician, producer and label owner Glen Adams, the label married disco with his Caribbean roots to perfection.Born and raised in Jamaica, Adams story is a similar one to the performers of the golden period post-Independence. Initially discovered as a vocalist by Coxsone Dodd, he went on to work with such luminaries as Ken Boothe and Stranger Cole before co-founding The Heptones and working Duke Reid, Bunny Lee and Lloyd Charmers.As a session organist he worked for The Hippy Boys, The Reggae Boys and later with Lee Perry’s The Upsetters. Here he came in to the orbit of The Wailors, touring England with them in the early 70s and with Perry co-wrote Mr Brown. When most of The Upsetters became Marley’s rhythm section, Adams stayed with Perry before making the move to Brooklyn in 1975.There he started Capo Records, running it and it’s sub-labels, successfully until the mid-80s. During these later years he ventured in to mixing Reggae with Boogie and Disco rhythms and released just four 12”s under Capo Disco as well as recording boogie and hip-hop influenced releases with T Ski Valley and as Glen Adams Affair for SAM and Moonglow Records.Here then the spotlight is on Adam’s nascent disco releases and the series starts with the wonderful, uplifting A Beat For You. Actually appearing on a one off sister-label, Top Secret, this is a beautiful “Lovers” anthem from Adams over a laidback dub-bass riddim. Backed with a simple instrumental Version, the space and interplay of the keys and guitar over drum and bass is superlative. “There is a beat in my heart, just for you…just for you.”

Emotional Rescue and Jamwax end their Capo Disco series by returning to Glen Adams and his cover of Bob Marley’s classic. The early 70s Lee Perry produced original raw sound is taken to the disco reggae dancefloors of the early 80s with a bottom heavy jam, while his Capo Crew works a killer dub flipside.“Fussing & Fighting” was originally released on the 1971’s Soul Revolution album and for many came during the pinnacle of Bob Marley & The Wailers output, before the smoothing out of their sound during the later “Island” years. Whichever, the guidance and collaboration with Perry transformed the Wailers from a successful Ska / Rocksteady group towards a visionary, conscious, crossover phenomenon.Perry’s in-house band, The Upsetters, lent so much to this early period, the brothers Aston and Carlton Barrett creating a perfect drum and bass bedrock. With Glen Adams on organ, the original version known simply as is an incessant, rumbling message and in that light, Adams return to it over a decade later makes justified and righteous sense.Actually released on both Capo Disco and Marley’s own Tuff Gong, Adams’ vocal marries a disco-dub and guitar groove, dropping, in the latter half, right down to tambourine into perfectly stretched Discomix.Things get even more laid out on “Mad Blank” aka the version. Riding the desk, “Capo” lets each instrument time and space, dropping to just a kick and dubbed piano before slowly coming back with hats, guitar and then when the bass comes, the Gospel purity of dub reggae shines, all before the teasing fade calls for a rewind. Rest and rise, Glenroy “Capo” Adams.

Created in 2006, Setenta, the Latin Soul Band spreads a unique mix over the world scene. For their fifth album Materia Negra, the Paris-based band returns to its roots: hard Latin funk with plenty of Afro-Latin percussion upfront in the mix contrasted with accents of lush vocal harmony and warm, breezy melody. But at its core, there is something essentially darker, rougher and funkier than their previous releases, especially in the guitar and synth work, bluesy minor key arrangements, and lyrical content. It’s essentially a heavier feel with this record, influenced no doubt on the negative side by the current dark times being experienced across the globe due to the pandemic, subsequent economic downturn and the lack of effective government leadership and global solidarity to deal with the crisis. On the positive tip, the inspiring Black Lives Matter movement and international protests against oppressive governments, systemic racism, corporate greed, global warming and environmental exploitation no doubt have something to do with the serious feel of Materia Negra as well. Another crucial aspect to this newfound toughness is what band member and Latin Big Note founder and director Osman Jr. states is the group’s desire to address DJs and dancers who appreciate the rawest songs from Setenta’s previous productions. The desire is to leave their mark on the decks and dance floors of the planet with a genre that “we defend by taking the torch extended by our mentors such as Joe Bataan: Latin Funk!” Setenta’s sound has always been soulful, with plenty of tropical Caribbean roots, but this time there is an even stronger Afro-centric theme and gritty psychedelic R&B angle, clothed in galactic, outer-space trappings, bringing to mind another forerunner, Mandrill, as well as the Afro-Futurist mothership vibe of Parliament-Funkadelic.