Encore Records

Gil Scott-Heron

I’m New Here

His first release in 13 years.

Gil Scott-Heron came to prominence in the late 60s and early 70s and is cited as a supreme influence on countless Hip Hop vocalists and producers. Despite an incredible and influential body of work, he has not released an album since the ‘90s.

Produced by XL label owner Richard Russell, I’m New Here sees Gil reflecting on his life with his trademark vocal power and insight, sharing his visions among Russell’s flickering, electronic soundscapes; which at various times conjure up thoughts of Burial and The XX, as well as a host of Hip Hop influenced sounds. The album is brave, contemporary and quintessentially Gil Scott-Heron.

Sade

Soldier Of Love

The sultry Pop/Jazz vocalist’s first album since the multi-platinum Lovers Rock in 2000.

Soldier Of Love was recorded in England and produced by the band and their longtime collaborator Mike Pela.

Various Artists

Fire In My Bones

Almost 4 hours of music on 3 discs—super-compelling, undiluted, stripped-down gospel! 

Single disc price !

The majority of this music has never been reissued on CD, or in any other form (most tracks were originally released on regional independent labels).

Most post-WWII compilations of African-American gospel music naturally concentrate on the astounding quartet and solo vocalist sounds made during the music’s Golden Age.

Fire In My Bones attempts to address and collect more neglected sounds from that era (and on to the present day).

Dozens of traditions are represented. Some go back hundreds of years while others seem to have been arrived at as soon as the tape began to roll.

Field recordings and studio tracks are all mashed together, with solo performances next to congregational recordings, hellfire sermons next to afterlife laments.

Leon Pinson, Elder & Sister Brinson & the Brinson Brothers, Grant & Ella, Straight Street Holiness Group, Theotis Taylor, Brother & Sister W B Grate—these artists will now be just a little less obscure.

Various Artists

Good God: A Gospel Funk Hymnal

A collection of this nature can only exist in hindsight. ‘Gospel Funk’ is a genre in the same way that deep soul or acid folk are, created by collectors and enthusiasts as a way to define a subsection of another genre.

There aren’t any labels, artists, or producers that focused strictly on funky gospel music; rather, there were a couple hundred groups that had a funkier number in their repertoire.

The Numero Group has spent the last year scouring LPs and 45s for tracks that fit this bill, and have collected 18 standouts from this newly minted genre. The album is a mix of primitive choirs, spacious breaks, congas, elderly rappers impersonating the devil, cast recordings, thumping bass, and JB impressionists, all with a heavy slathering of gospel gravy.