Eslmusic

AM & Shawn Lee

Promises Are Never Far From Lies EP (vinyl)

Dive into a new journey merging pop, soul, folk, R&B and psychedelia and the highly personalized songcraft of AM & Shawn Lee as a cast of worldwide remixers offer new takes on selected tracks from the duo’s debut album, “Celestial Electric”. Rob Garza from Thievery Corporation serves up a groove-machine uptake on “Promises are Never Far From Lies”; Australia’s Dic Money puts serious disco beats into “Lonely Life” making it an ass-shaking dance-floor thumper; Brooklyn’s Captain Planet (Bastard Jazz) puts his take on “City Boy” offering an ambient escape and the U.K.’s Virgil Howe sets off AM’s vocal on “Dark Into Light” to showcase the lyrics in a new style.

Chris Joss

No Play No Work

ESL Music is excited to announce the release of Chris Joss’ newest studio album, “No Play No Work!” Hot on the heels of last year’s dusty groove album Monomaniacs Vol. 1, prolific multi-instrumentalist and French funkateer Chris Joss returns with yet another masterpiece collection of sonic delights:  No Play No Work.  Never one to rest on his laurels, Chris Joss recorded 60 distinct instrumentals intended for Monomaniacs Vol. 2 but decided on an entirely new tack for his next album.  This time Joss draws inspiration from the progressive jazz/rock/funk fusion of Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock and the Afrobeat rhythms of Fela Kuti.  No Play No Work ups the ante with an aggressive whirlwind of blazing guitars, popping basslines, crisp breakbeats, raw turntable scratching and infectious robo-vocals! A definite milestone in Chris Joss’ ever-evolving musical catalogue and an indispensable gem for those who worship at the altar of funk!

Ursula 1000

Repetez Le Repertoire

The third single culled from Ursula 1000′s Mondo Beyondo album is “Repetez Le Repertoire” featuring French avant-jazz chanteuse Isabelle Antena. This bubbly electro bouncer comes with some wicked remixes from the likes of Germany’s Linntronix (who’s done production for Kris Menace and remixed the likes of LCD Soundsystem and Depeche Mode), Australia’s nu- school breaks producer Omegaman and Barcelona’s electro popsters The Pinker Tones!

AM & Shawn Lee

Celestial Electric

The musical collaboration of AM & Shawn Lee has resulted in a unique brand of electro-soul that achieves seamless pop perfection, while mining a startlingly broad array of stylistic influences.  The resulting blend of heartfelt, warmly melodic songcraft and vivid, inventive soundscapes underlines the artists’ abiding love for all manner of vintage genres, encompassing pop, soul, funk, jazz, Brazilian tropicalia, Turkish psychedelia, and soundtracks and library music from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.

Volta Bureau

Hope EP

ALBUM DETAILS

Afrolicious

A Dub for Mali EP

Imagine stepping into a bumping dance party at the peak of the night and feeling the movement of the dancers around you; take a psychedelic walk through the Malian desert with a boom box, or meditate on some modern dub as the night winds down. Afrolicious brings musical treats for you to feed your mind, body and soul which mixes a love of dj and dance culture along with a passion for organic soulful live music from around the world.

With their first official release “A Dub for Mali” *(out 8/16 on ESL Music)*they have created a recipe that will satisfy diverse musical palettes, with elements of Afro-Beat and Disco brought together for ‘Thursday Night Kinda Swing’, Electro-Dub, reggae and down-tempo on the title track ‘Foolin’ and a funky mix of Malian blues, psychedelia and beats on ‘A Dub for Mali’ the ep is a reflection and a taste of the wide spectrum of sounds that have been cultivated weekly at the San Francisco based Afrolicious party, hosted by real life brothers Pleasuremaker and Señor Oz.  Afrolicious’ debut features some outstanding vocal performances from Burkina Faso’s Yacouba Diara and Trinidad’s Fresh is Life; locked in percussion and scatting vocals of Baba Duru,  tight horn work of Billy Magic and Aaron Lebowitz and the wicked slide guitar, funky bass and arrangements of Joey “Pleasuremaker” McGuire.

Produced by Rob Garza of Thievery Corporation the tracks were recorded in an improvisational atmosphere that helped capture the magic of the Afrolicious party environment, a place where magic might happen if you give it a chance.  The vibe of the Afrolicious party and the years of working with outstanding musicians, vocalists and djs in clubs all over are captured on this release.

Ursula 1000

Mondo Beyondo

Thievery Corporation

Vampires Remixed EP

Stand out gems “Vampires” and “El Pueblo Unido” from Thievery Corporation’s album Radio Retaliation finally get the remix treatment on the Vampires Remixed EP.  Taking the original version, with vocals by Femi Kuti, even further down the Afrobeat road Afrolicious and Thievery’s own Rob Garza extend the track to over seven minutes of dance floor bliss.  On the flipside Jeremy Sole and Quantic convert “El Pueblo Unido” into a bangin’ cumbia, and Uproot Andy adds infectious horns and synth to his remix.