House Shoes Presents - Beats!!!! The Japanese Sound!

A beat compilation by Japanese beatmakers, curated by Detroit legend House Shoes.

For this project, Chikaramanga (TRES / Giant Panda) gathered beats from across Japan, with House Shoes curating the final track selection and overseeing the artwork—in the tradition of his Street Corner Music releases.

Bringing together artists across styles, generations, and hometowns, the project reflects the depth and range of Japan’s beat scene today.

This project features 10 Japanese beatmakers, including BALLHEAD, winner of Can I Beat It? 2025, alongside globally respected artists such as BudaMunk, ill-sugi, and tajima hal, as well as Lark Chillout of the legendary crew A.Y.B.FORCE.

Also featured are ariosounds, finalist of BEAT GRAND PRIX 2023 and runner-up at Can I Beat It?; DJ SHUCREAM and Tommy Beats of LORE BEHIND, both active as SP-404MKII instructors; KAPSOUL, a Japan-born producer based in Los Angeles bridging underground scenes; and Pone, a 17-year-old beatmaker representing the next generation of Japan’s beat culture.

Bonus tracks by House Shoes and Chikaramanga (of Giant Panda).

Tracklist:
1. Ballhead - Sky's the Limit[85]
2. ariosounds - headlight hush
3. KAPSOUL - Once There Was a Time
4. BUDAMUNK - Take A Ride　　　
5. Ballhead - YDN[96]
6. Tommy Beats - Cosmic Drip
7. House Shoes - Skyfall (Bonus Track)
8. DJ SHUCREAM - Vanilla
9. tajima hal - Vortex
10. BUDAMUNK - Watchout   
11. ill-sugi - Gecco
12. Lark Chillout - No One Else
13. Pone - KING SIZE  
14. Chikaramanga - Peach Champagne (Bonus Track)

Brown Spirits - Brown Spirits 1-3

Soul Jazz Records release three new albums from the Australian psych/funk/krautrock group Brown Spirits. All three albums are super-limited one-off special coloured vinyl pressings of just 500 copies each that will all be deleted on the day of release.

These albums were originally released in long-deleted very short run-editions - either self-released in Australia or on a small German psych label. No copies of Brown Spirits #2 or Brown Spirits #3 are currently available anywhere in the world. Both of Brown Spirits two earlier releases for Soul Jazz Records, ‘Cosmic Seeds’ and ‘Solitary Transmissions’, are also sold out on vinyl.

Brown Spirits are a super-heavy psychedelic three-piece band from the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, home to an ever-growing local music scene that includes Amyl and the Sniffers, King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard, Tropical Fuck Storm and more.

Brown Spirits play raw energetic super-charged psychedelic rock heavily influenced by krautrock, space rock, free-jazz and deep funk music from the 1970s that gives them a truly unique and highly-addictive sound. The group record and mix their own music to ¼-inch analogue tape at home maintaining a strictly DIY-ethic. Brown Spirits are Tim Wold, Agostino Soldati and Ash Bushcombe.

Tracklist:
1. Lysergic Library
2. Kaiser-Panorama
3. Flying and Falling
4. That River Ain't For Swimming
5. Xan With Red
6. Back To Atoms
7. Another Vintage Phase
8. Precursor
9. Optokinetic Response



Tracklist:
1. Honorable Discharge
2. Parallels
3. Finite Universe
4. Mutations
5. Suite: East Meets West
6. Can Eater
7. First Sign Of Light



Tracklist:
1. Converge Collide
2. Bakelite Dashboard
3. Montage Homage
4. Express Train To Jupiter
5. Vanishing Exits
6. Tumultuous Clouds
7. Flawed Optimist
8. Hats Off To Pojama
9. Chemical Miscalculation

musclecars - Sugar Honey Iced Tea! Double Honey Pack 2 (Remixes from Mark Francis & AmFlow)

Taken from musclecars’ 2024 masterpiece album Sugar Honey Iced Tea, this Double Honey Pack Part 2 features remixes of “Tonight,” “Ha Ya! (Eternal Life),” remixed by Adam Rios, and “Water,” remixed by Mark Francis. Alongside their accompanying instrumentals, these versions take the already outstanding originals to a whole new dancefloor level, driven by bold basslines and rich encapsulations of Black music excellence.

Adam Rios and Mark Lewis are the production duo AmFlow. Mark Lewis began DJing in the mid-1980s around Newark, New Jersey, before launching the house music community platform Buttersoulcafe, built around the message: “it’s about the music.” The platform reached listeners in over 70 countries.

After returning to the local club scene in 2010 with a monthly party, Lewis moved into production and remix work, earning support from Timmy Regisford and releasing music on labels including Restricted Access and Tony Records. He later hosted the FLOW parties at Club Elevation and, in 2016, co-founded AMFLOW Music with Adam Rios. He continues to produce and DJ soulful, Afro and club-oriented sets.

Adam Rios has worked with Louie Vega on releases for Vega Records and has collaborated with artists including Erykah Badu, Cleo Sol and Koffee. His production work spans House, Broken Beat, R&B, Nu-Jazz and Soulful House.

Mark Francis is a DJ who worked alongside Timmy Regisford at New York City’s legendary Club Shelter and has developed a distinctive style built on seamless blends and rhythmic journeys for the dancefloor.

It is fitting that this five-track digital EP arrives as BBE Music celebrates 30 years of releasing innovative Black music across genres and continents.

The musclecars duo — Brandon Weems and Craig Handfield — use the Sugar Honey Iced Tea album to explore the nuances of their daily lives, environment and the Afro-American experience through sonic storytelling. These remixes of “Tonight,” “Ha Ya! (Eternal Life)” and “Water” add further chapters and perspectives to that story, making this release an essential addition to any music collection.

Sugar Honey Iced Tea: Double Honey Pack Part 2 is released as a digital EP, while the full Sugar Honey Iced Tea album is available digitally and as a double vinyl LP. 

Tracklist:
1. Water (Mark Francis Remix)
2. Water (Mark Francis Remix Instrumental)
3. Tonight (AmFlow Remix)
4. Tonight (AmFlow Remix Instrumental)
5. Ha Ya! (Eternal Life) (AmFlow Remix)

BBE - J Jazz volume 5: Deep Modern Jazz From Japan 1970-1988

BBE Music’s celebrated J Jazz compilation series reaches its fifth and final volume in early 2026, culminating in a track list that maintains the exceptionally high standard first set with volume one back in 2018.

This final volume features a selection of tracks that is as diverse as it is deep, reflecting the rich and varied Japanese jazz scene that spanned from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, a golden era of innovation and creativity. J Jazz volume 5 sees compilers Tony Higgins and Mike Peden dig ever deeper into their respective record collections to reveal tracks that encompass myriad styles including white hot jazz funk fusion from Toshiyuki Honda (Eastern Legacy) and Mikio Masuda (Sonic Barrier), super rare ethnic jazz crossover by Crystal Zone - their one-off 45 promo release from 1971, Rai Rai, a deconstructed and abstract jazz classic by Yasuhiro Kohno with his solo piano rendition of My Favourite Things, and Mile and Half’s skin-tearing, shredding freak-out from their mega rare private press album. A track that is so relentless, it leaves the listener in need of oxygen and a Valium.

These hand-picked selections sit alongside other specially chosen numbers that embrace hard-driving samba (Seiichi Nakumura’s Judy’s Samba), epic head-nodding soul jazz (Masaru Imada’s World Line), psychedelic private press fusion (Aoyama Gakuin 101’s Fervor), angular post-bop tear-ups (Akia Miyazawa’s Nijimasu), intense and insistent fusion (Motohiko Hino’s Olive Step), serene cinematic pianism (Hideo Ichikawa’s On the Trade Wind) and tripped-out hallucinogenic tribal funky jazz (Masahiko Sato’s Garandoh’s Africa to Africa).

Most of the tracks on this collection are being reissued for the first time, many of them only available previously on extremely limited and mega-rare private press or independent releases. J Jazz volume 5 is a fitting end to a compilation series that helped create a new audience and appreciation of Japanese jazz.

Some of the albums the tracks are drawn from are featured in the large format book J Jazz: Modern and Free Jazz from Japan 1954-1988, by Tony Higgins and Mike Peden, published by BBE Music in 2024.

With almost 7000 words of extensive sleeve notes, J Jazz volume 5 comes in a triple 180g vinyl set inside a deluxe gatefold sleeve with obi strip, and comes with a 4- page insert, with photographs from the renowned Tokyo Jazz Joints project. It is also available as a double CD and digital download.

Mastered at the Grammy-nominated Carvery Studio by Frank Merritt, this latest collection is a worthy successor to the preceding four volumes that set the bar so high. The J Jazz series is curated for BBE Music by Tony Higgins and Mike Peden. 

Tracklist:
1. AOYAMA GAKUIN 101 - Fervor
2. Hideo Ichikawa - On The Trade Wind
3. Toshiyuki Honda, Burning Waves - Eastern Legacy
4. Masaru Imada - World Line
5. Christal Zone - Rai Rai ライ・ライ
6. Masahiko Satoh Trio, Akira Miyazawa JPCO06922430 - Nijimasu Part 1 and 2
7. Hot Session - Run After
8. Seiichi Nakamura - Judy's Samba
9. Yasuhiro Kohno - My Favorite Things
10. Masahiko Satoh - History of Jazz
11. MILE AND HALF - Mile and Half
12. Mikio Masuda - Sonic Barrier
13. Tomoki Takahashi, Elvin Jones - Another Soil
14. Motohiko Hino Quartet - Olive's Step

Duval Timothy & Carlos Niño - rain music

A collaborative album by Duval Timothy and Carlos Niño has been released, featuring an intimate duo session for prepared piano and percussion. The project initiated during a meeting in London in November 2025 and was completed through remote collaboration. A defining element of the creative process was the rainy weather, which contributed a distinct atmospheric presence to the final tracks. The album is available as a limited-edition yellow heavyweight vinyl pressing.

Tracklist:
1. assata's rain
2. loopy
3. ideations on rain (feat. Nate Mercereau)
4. bellsssswell
5. bumpy
6. beautiful, tender, colours (feat. Navy Blue)
7. reallyfeelingthis
8. birds, shells, rivets, keys

Homeboy Sandman, Jack Splash - TWENTYFOURSEVEN

Fred P - Resonant Connection

Resonant Connection

A Journey In Modern Electronic Music

This project was created somewhere between sunlight and memory… between the ocean breeze, late-night reflections, and the invisible emotional frequencies that connect us all.

Resonant Connection explores warmth as vibration — deep rhythmic communication designed for movement, intimacy, healing, and elevation. These recordings lean into sensual textures, glowing atmospheres, hypnotic percussion, and emotionally rich harmonics inspired by tropical nights, open skies, salt air, and human connection.

There is a romantic spirit throughout this work. Not romance in the obvious sense, but the kind found in energy exchange… eye contact across a dance floor, heat rising from concrete after sunset, conversations without words, bodies moving in rhythm under moonlight.

The music exists somewhere between deep house, ambient soul, late-night electronic jazz, and spiritual dance music. Built carefully with texture and space in mind, each piece unfolds slowly — allowing emotion, groove, and tone to breathe naturally.

This is music for warm evenings.

For long walks near water.
For driving through cities after midnight.
For moments of reflection and release.
For lovers.
For dreamers.

For those searching for deeper feeling within sound.
Written, produced, and arranged by Fred P.
Created with intention, soul, and love.

Tracklist:
1. To Love You
2. Understanding The Way
3. On The Beach
4. Strangers
5. Making Love
6. Ride
7. Obsession
8. Micro Cosmic Orbit
9. Multiples
10. Sun Drenched
11. Divine Beauty

Karl Hector & The Malcouns - Yolek EP

Tracklist:
1. Yolek
2. Space Race
3. Love Is The Key
4. Sahara Sepp

Brian Jackson - Now More Than Ever

'Collaboration is stimulating, it's in my blood.' Thus speaks Brian Jackson and his philosophy for making music and it's indeed collaboration that runs through this amazing album of reimagined and revisited songs from his artistic past. Featuring artists such as Black Thought, Rahsaan Patterson, Josh Milan, Moodymann, Omar, J. Ivy and others and being produced by Masters At Work, ‘Now More Than Ever’ takes the enduring classic tracks that Brian Jackson made with Gil Scott-Heron and places them in the now over nineteen tracks and across a triple vinyl LP, Double CD and digital release.

Songs such as Lady Day & John Coltrane, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Home Is Where The Hatred Is, Winter In America, The Bottle and more soundtracked a generational movement of Black Consciousness in the 70s and 80s. As Brian says, 'This album is one way to connect to what we were about in the 70s; we were about change and this is part of the lineage of resistance. These tracks mark a period of time when resistance was essential and now a younger generation has picked them up.'

'As young men in their twenties, we (Brian and Gil) just wrote about what we saw and were feeling and people interpreted these songs in ways we never thought about but as Sly stone said the song comes from me but it's for you.' This statement from Brian perfectly sums up the collaborative nature of Now More Than Ever and the relevance of these songs in a contemporary perspective can be perfectly summed up by the songs themselves.

The formidable stable of artists contributing to each track and the excellent production from Louie Vega and Kenny 'Dope' Gonzalez make this album an event in itself. However, these songs are there to be enjoyed as a canon or as individual masterpieces, whether on the dancefloor or on a home system.

Available as a high res. digital release, Double CD and a Triple Vinyl LP ‘Now More Than Ever’ just has to be in everybody's music collection.

Tracklist:
1. Poetic Sands (Interlude) (feat. Wes Felton)
2. It's Your World (feat. Raheem DeVaughn, J Ivy)
3. We Almost Lost Detroit (feat. Moodymann)
4. The Bottle (feat. Omar)
5. Peace Go With You, Brother (feat. Raheem DeVaughn)
6. Beautiful Dame (feat. Raquel Ra Brown)
7. Lady Day & John Coltrane (feat. Rahsaan Patterson)
8. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (feat. Black Thought)
9. Addiction (Interlude) (feat. Raquel Ra Brown)
10. Home is Where The Hatred Is (main) (feat. Lisa Fischer)
11. Madison Avenue (feat. Raheem DeVaughn)
12. Is That Jazz? (Rahsaan Patterson)
13. More Than Ever (Interlude) (feat. Raquel Ra Brown)
14. Now More Than Ever
15. Home is Where The Hatred Is
16. Moonshine (Live) (feat. Carl Cornwell)
17. Racetrack in France (feat. Josh Milan, J Ivy, Moodymann)
18. Winter in America (feat. Rich Medina)
19. New York City (feat. Cindy Mizelle, Dawn Tallman, Ramona Dunlap)