When Leon Michels and El Michels Affair released their first record, Sounding Out The City, in 2005, it was hard to guess what was next for Michels and his then-introduced, now-patented cinematic soul sound. Now, four EMA studio albums and scores of tribute and remix projects later-all while producing for some of the biggest names…
Big Crown Records is proud to present Adult Themes, the latest full length offering from El Michels Affair. This album takes the band s Cinematic Soul aesthetic literally and sends the listener on a journey through a whirlwind of moods and energies. With their 2005 debut album Sounding Out The City, EMA spearheaded an instrumental…
The world moves faster than ever these days, and even in the digital age, things can always be counted on to go in cycles. Despite all of the advances in computer recording technology, home studios, and electronic instruments, there is a flourishing interest in analog recording techniques and in recreating the mood and sound of…
***REISSUED!!! The Fantastic Damage album from COMPANY FLOW founder and one of hip hop s most respected figures, EL-P. Sixteen groundbreaking and inventive tracks of unparalleled lyricism rocked with cyborg funk, melodic vapor trails, and groove-pumping beats. Features appearances by AESOP ROCK, ILL BILL, VAST AIRE, MR. LIF, CAMU TAO, DJ ABILITIES and others. Fantastic…
Fantastic Damage marked the beginning of El-P s career as a solo artist, following a groundbreaking career as frontman and producer of legendary NYC underground hip hop crew, Company Flow. Fan Dam was a foundational release for his fledgling record label Definitive Jux, which would soon establish itself as an iconic juggernaut of independent rap in…
Capturing Elder s expanding dynamic and ongoing progression, The Gold & Silver Sessions is a trance-inducing LP of ranging, tripped out psychedelic jams that captures their expressive and nuanced development. This is still the band who put out 2017 s crushing Reflections of a Floating World, but allows their imagination to venture into a bold…
Berlin s most important rock band Kadavar collude with US prog rock wunderkinder Elder, and decided to drown in sound together. What surfaced is A Story of Darkness & Light , a marvel of musical liberty, a gushing opus between rock, prog and alternative, held together by the two bands contrasts. Tiger Bartelt, Lupus Lindemann,…
Expanded tour edition Tekkno is the sixth studio album from German electronicore band Electric Callboy, originally released in 2022. With tons of energy and fun on board, the band from Castrop-Rauxel delivers an unprecedentedly fulminant metalcore-firework that is second to none.
The electric eels were the first punk band, full stop. They may not have started the genre, but they were the first to tick all the boxes. The eels rejected every 1970s rock convention professionalism, virtuosity, subject matter, image. Dave E. s caustic vocals, complete with an aggressive lisp and a head full of snot,…
Electric Jalaba comprises six accomplished musicians with an empathy that feels telepathic and a groove that immerses. In Arabic, the mother tongue of Moroccan-born singer and guimbri player Simo Lagnawi, a leading practitioner of Gnawa music in Britain, they call this indefinable quality, “El Hal” – “The feeling”.
New Zealand based group, Electric Wire Hustle, are set to release their sophomore release Love Can Prevail; partnering up with Okayplayer with this venture. A slight venture from their sample-driven debut album, the group venture more into the electronic and psychedelic sides of things with this offering.
Expanding on their psychedelic-soul sound, The 11th Sky continues the surreal storytelling of last year s Aeons EP, which featured Kimbra and Deva Mahal on vocals. This album is described as David Lynch meets Motown by frontman and producer Mara TK, and indeed, a sense of the otherworldly is present here within EWH s layered…
***Full length album from the legendary D-Vine Spirituals queen, Elizabeth King. At 79 years young, Elizabeth has reemerged as a shining light in the Memphis soul-gospel scene. Producer Bruce Watson (Bible & Tire Recording Co. Big Legal Mess Fat Possum) continues to broaden his landscape of Sacred Soul . With a line up of seasoned,…
This is lyric driven and highly evocative, and purpose flows through the current that electrifies every moment of this record. There s nothing fun here, but there s plenty to confide in, and there are poignant moments, times when this album battles on like a warrior encased in armour, yielding a weapon of truth. The…
***The first sound you hear on prolific duo ElkhornÕs latest album, On The Whole Universe In All Directions, is Jesse SheppardÕs 12-string guitar. This is followed almost immediately by a single reverberating note on the vibraphone courtesy of Elkhorn co-founder Drew Gardner, before the piece unfurls to include skittering cymbals and tumbling percussion, overdubbed by…
Ella Fitzgerald – Let No Man Write My Epitaph (Verve Acoustic Sounds Series) – Verve Label Group; Jazz; Considered one of Ella s greatest recordings, she s backed on this 1960 release by pianist Paul Smith. Let No Man Write My Epitaph was a 1960 Hollywood movie featuring Fitzgerald. The album hits at a rare…