Kalita

Review: The Kalita crew step up with another finely chosen reissue gem from the history of African dance music, this time welcoming Ghanaian disco maestro Okyerema Asante to the fold with two utterly infectious party starters laced with ample feel good vibes. "Sabi (Get Down)" is a slinky groover with a killer bassline and sweet guitar licks for the heads down crew to bust out some serious moves. "That's My Girl" is a more sizzling affair with a brighter outlook, riding high on soaring brass and woodwind and packing a heartfelt message of love that everyone can vibe with.

Review: Kalita Records are proud and honoured to announce the first ever official reissue of the four choice tracks from Randolph Baker's privately pressed sought-after 1982 disco album 'Reaching For The Stars', plus an unreleased instrumental take of 'Party Life' sourced from the original 24-track analogue master tapes.

Originally recorded at Jim Morris and Rick Miller's Tampa-based Morrisound Studios, 'Getting Next To You' features both a mixture of both local Florida talent plus jazz superstar Nat Adderley and bassist John Lamb at their finest. Originally pressed in a limited run of just one-thousand copies, with no distribution and most copies being sold in the local city and on Randolph's own merchandise table at the back of live gigs, original copies have long been sought-after by both collectors and DJs alike, acknowledged as a true grail and masterpiece in the disco scene and deservedly demanding extortionate figures to those lucky enough to find their own.

Here, in collaboration with Randolph, Kalita Records have chosen to re-release the four choice tracks from the album: 'Getting Next To You', 'Jazzman', 'Callin' Me' and 'Party Life'. The former is an in-demand horn and chant-filled disco masterpiece, which, as Randolph explains, concerns unity and "everyone on the same level in other words, everyone just loving life". It is arguably the song that Randolph is most well-known for in the disco and funk scene and perfect for the modern discerning dance floor. 'Jazzman' is an instrumental track with prominent trumpet and saxophone solos working with funky basslines to produce a truly great jazz-funk groove. It was "a tribute to Nat Adderley and Duke Ellington's bass player, John Lamb, for being so generous and saying yes to the project". 'Callin' Me' is a soulful disco number featuring the lead vocals of Laurie Erickson and is "about being on the road and ensuring loved ones that you will always come back home no matter what. It was like a promise to ensure loved ones they didn't have to worry". Lastly, 'Party Life' is a joyous disco track with a strong funk bassline and horns. As Randolph recalls, it "was the joy like after an actor finishes a movie. There was nothing but joy. It's finished; let's celebrate big time. Where everyone in the studio yelled at the top of their lungs - The End!" Here, with access to the 24-track master tapes we have been able to include the original version plus an unreleased instrumental take, allowing us to focus on the infectious bassline and make it even more ready for the modern dance floor.

Accompanied by extensive interview-based liner notes and never-before-seen photos.

Review: Kalita Records announce the first ever and definitive discography of Carrie Cleveland. Here, they offer an expanded version of her 1978 album 'Looking Up', including both the issue and promotional versions of her single 'Make Love To Me', and the previously unknown sweet soul single 'I've Got A Feeling'.

Privately arranged, recorded and produced by Carrie and her husband Bill as a labour of love in their backyard studio in 1978, 'Looking Up' is one of the most in-demand soul/disco LPs in existence, sought-after in particular for their track 'Love Will Set You Free'. In addition, the promotional version of Carrie's single 'Make Love To Me' is one of the best and rarest sweet soul records to have emerged out of the West Coast soul scene, and her single 'I've Got A Feeling' is until today virtually unknown even to the most seasoned of collectors, with even Carrie herself unsure if it was ever released. With the album originally pressed in a limited run of just 1000 with 500 copies of each single, original copies of Carrie's records deservingly command eye-watering figures on the second-hand market. Kalita now satisfy the thirst with the first ever official reissue of her entire discography.

The CD is accompanied by a mini-poster and includes extensive interview-based liner notes and never before seen photos, detailing Carrie and Bills' life and musical career.

Review: Kalita are honoured to release the first ever compilation focusing on the musical career of Julie Coker, the queen of Nigerian television. Here we collate seven of Julie's most sought-after Afro disco and hauntingly-beautiful Itsekiri highlife recordings, accompanied by extensive interview-based liner notes and never-before- seen photos.

After gaining fame as Miss Western Nigeria 1957, Julie began her career in the Nigerian entertainment industry as the country's first ever (and Africa's second) female television presenter, as well as a popular national radio host.

In 1976, having been surrounded by close musical friends including Fela Kuti and Kris Okotie, Julie entered the Nigerian music scene with the now-invisible psychedelic highlife album 'Ere Yon (Sweet Songs)', followed in 1981 by the highly sought-after disco-centric 'Tomorrow' to great acclaim. Both now fetch eye-watering prices on the rare occasion that they become available for sale.

Here we select four recordings from 'Ere Yon (Sweet Songs)' and three from 'Tomorrow', all as contemporary-sounding today as they were when first released forty years ago. These include Julie's 'Ere Yon', which was recently re-interpreted by Anderson Paak on his latest album 'Oxnard' released on Dr. Dre's Aftermath imprint, and the lost Afro disco classic 'Gossiper Scandal Monger'.

In partnership with Julie, we now believe the time is right to share Julie's phenomenal story and music with the world once more.

Review: Kalita are honoured to release the first ever compilation focusing on the musical career of Julie Coker, the queen of Nigerian television. Here we collate seven of Julie's most sought-after Afro disco and hauntingly-beautiful Itsekiri highlife recordings, accompanied by extensive interview-based liner notes and never-before- seen photos.

After gaining fame as Miss Western Nigeria 1957, Julie began her career in the Nigerian entertainment industry as the country's first ever (and Africa's second) female television presenter, as well as a popular national radio host.

In 1976, having been surrounded by close musical friends including Fela Kuti and Kris Okotie, Julie entered the Nigerian music scene with the now-invisible psychedelic highlife album 'Ere Yon (Sweet Songs)', followed in 1981 by the highly sought-after disco-centric 'Tomorrow' to great acclaim. Both now fetch eye-watering prices on the rare occasion that they become available for sale.

Here we select four recordings from 'Ere Yon (Sweet Songs)' and three from 'Tomorrow', all as contemporary-sounding today as they were when first released forty years ago. These include Julie's 'Ere Yon', which was recently re-interpreted by Anderson Paak on his latest album 'Oxnard' released on Dr. Dre's Aftermath imprint, and the lost Afro disco classic 'Gossiper Scandal Monger'.

In partnership with Julie, we now believe the time is right to share Julie's phenomenal story and music with the world once more.

Review: Kalita's obligatory Record Store Day offering is something rather special: synth-funk visionary couple Emerson and Leora Sandidge's mythical unreleased album finally sees the light of day, following Emerson's sole private press seven-inch single release way back in 1988. Those two tunes ("Sending All My Love Out" and "Why Are You So Cold?") make the cut on this belated debut set, alongside six other previously unreleased recordings from the same sessions. Their take on electrofunk, boogie and '80s soul is colourful, soulful and synth-heavy, with the included tracks veering from up-tempo club workouts (see "Raw Deal Cocaine Kills") and fizzing dancefloor pop workouts, to sugary ballads and seductive slow jams. In other words, it's a more than tidy selection of rare and unheard gems.

Review: Kalita Records are proud and honoured to announce the first ever and official reissue of Kallaloo's sought-after 1982 disco single 'Star Child', accompanied by interview-based liner notes. Originally released on Jeffrey Turpin's Trinidadian record label IDA, 'Star Child' has since become highly sought-after by both DJs and collectors alike as an invisible, yet astonishing piece of Caribbean disco. Unable at the time to gain the traction and success that it deserved, we hope that this re-release provides an opportunity to bring such a great record to a much wider audience.

Kallaloo consisted of various Trinidadian musicians including Keith Alexander and Peter Wayne Barkley. Keith had been well-respected as a member of the Trinidadian group Impact, and was later to become an in-demand producer and composer under the name of Keith Diamond, responsible for various hits by Billy Ocean, Donna Summer, Starpoint and Melba Moore. In contrast, Peter was a well-known recording session drummer, but after 'Star Child's' release he moved to North Carolina to pursue other interests and "was never heard from again".

'Star Child' was recorded at Right Track Recording, in mid-town Manhattan, New York. As Jeffrey recalls, the atmosphere in the studio was "great", with "everyone upbeat, the cream of the crop just looking for that break... everyone was talented and just wanted the chance to express their own ideas". Five hundred copies of the record were released on IDA with a white label design, and they were sold both in Brooklyn, New York and Port of Spain, Trinidad. It was also released on a red label, however this was not to Jeffrey's knowledge at the time.

Jeffrey explains that the reason why the record didn't fare well at the time was because of the difficulty in getting the song played on the radio. As he recalls, radio stations were much more likely to play 'radio versions' of songs which lasted for a couple of minutes, rather than five or seven minute 'extended' versions such as 'Star Child', which were more suitable to a club environment. In addition, as Jeffrey explains, radio airplay is a "political business", and also within a short while band members such as Keith got their own breaks, and the Kallaloo era was over as quickly as it had started.

Review: Steel City Connection were not, as the name might suggest, an unlikely disco act from Sheffield, but rather a heavyweight combo from the American equivalent, Pittsburgh, who released a sole, now highly sought-after private-press single way back in 1978. "Steel City Disco" has long been regarded as a "holy grail" amongst collectors of rare disco, hence this essential reissue from Kalita Records. The title track is certainly something of a beast - an inspired fusion of disco-funk tropes, spiraling Latino horns, jazz-funk style male harmony vocals and sustained organ chords that will wind their way through your subconscious. Excitingly, the flipside boasts a previously unreleased extended version of the similarly fine workout "Dansation".