Karl Hector & The Malcouns, Unstraight Ahead  
Karl Hector & The Malcouns
Unstraight Ahead
TIP  
USA 1xCD 
Label: Now Again
Release Year: 2014
Style: Funk & Soul
 
  Tracks  
  SIDE A:
1. Introduction
2. Push Na Ya
3. El Gusto
4. Transition S
5. Karadeniz
6. The Spirit Of Gine

SIDE B:
1. Transition T
2. Girma’s Lament
3. Sharpville Massacre
4. Samai Thaqil

SIDE C:
1. Jo Nibunga
2. Ombele (Makossa)
3. M’Hammad (Slow)
4. Transition A
5. Who’s Foolin’ Who?
6. Transition C

SIDE D:
1. Hymnin 5
2. Bring It On Down
3. Mission Control
4. Kaifa Pt. 1 & 2
 
  It's been some years since the first Karl Hector release, and it's known now that Mr. Hector is indeed the German producer and guitarist JJ Whitefield, ne Jan Weissenfeldt. Whitefield is the visionary behind the Poets of Rhythm and the Whitefield Brothers, the ensembles whose rough analog sound and return to the funk archetypes of the late 60s to early 70s paved the way for labels like Daptone, Truth & Soul, Timmion.

Whitefield, along with Thomas Myland and Zdenko Curlija, founded Karl Hector and The Malcouns in the early 2000s. Their debut, Sahara Swing, saw release on Now-Again in 2008. The album swung with influences from across the African diaspora and set the stage for a cult, but influential following. Hermes designer Christophe Lemaire picked tracks from Karl Hector and The Malcouns as amongst his favorites in the Now-Again catalog, and included them on his Where Are You From anthology. Festival promoters intrigued by the possibility of resurrecting the careers of once forgotten African mavericks - from Ghana's Ebo Taylor to the progenitors of Zambia's Zamrock scene - brought Hector and crew across Europe playing festivals for ecstatic fans.

Unstraight Ahead finds the band exploring territories even outside of the expansive scope of Sahara Swing. On this album, the West African sounds of Ghana and Mali meet the East African sounds of Mulatu Astatke's Ethiopian jazz and are tied together with the groove heavy experimentalism of The Malcouns' 70s Krautrock godfathers: Can, of course, but also more obscure and equally adventurous groups like Agitation Free, Ibliss and Tomorrow's Gift.

"We look to Middle Eastern funk and psychedelic fusions, and to various ethnic records for sound and phrasing," Whitefield states. "We're trying to combine the global experimentalism of Krautrock with the backbeat of funk." This explains how songs in uneven meters - 5/4, 7/8 - always sound so accessible and natural on Unstraight Ahead. It's mainly an instrumental affair, but guest artists appear throughout, from across the African diaspora to those from the worldly Krautrock forebears of their German fatherland: it's Marja, daughter of Embryo founder Christian Burchard, whose vocals open the album.

It's an album out of time, one that couldn't have been made in the era its aural aesthetics reference, as its scope is so broad. But it's an album focused by funk - and an ambition to expand funk's reaches. The Malcouns - including Poets of Rhythm songwriter and vocalist Bo Baral - created their own instruments to fashion an album that stands alongside the great albums of its progenitors but charges Unstraight Ahead into a curious musical future.
 
      Wish List  
  Price: CHF 26.00   Currently not on stock!
Please check back later or call us for more information:
+41 (0)43 322 02 04
 
  Releases of the same artist  
  Karl Hector & The Malcouns, Mother Seletta  
Karl Hector & The Malcouns
Mother Seletta
[Field Records]
EUR 7inch  Wish List
CHF 19.00 Add To Cart
 
  Karl Hector & The Malcouns, Coomassi  
Karl Hector & The Malcouns
Coomassi
[Now Again]
TIP  
USA 1xLP  Wish List
CHF 28.00 Restocking!
 
  Releases of the same label  
  Amanaz, Amanaz (RSD 2015)  
Amanaz
Amanaz (RSD 2015)
[Now Again]
TIP  
USA 2xLP  Wish List
CHF 36.00 Restocking!
 
  Apple And The Three Oranges, Free And Easy: The Complete Works 1970-1975  
Apple And The Three Oranges
Free And Easy: The Complete Works 1970-1975
[Now Again]
USA 2xLP  Wish List
CHF 34.00 Restocking!
 
  Atomic Forest, Obsession  
Atomic Forest
Obsession
[Now Again]
TIP  
USA 2xCD  Wish List
CHF 28.00 Restocking!
 
  Ayalew Mesfin, Good Aderegechegn (Blindsided By Love)  
Ayalew Mesfin
Good Aderegechegn (Blindsided By Love)
[Now Again]
USA 1xLP  Wish List
CHF 34.00 Add To Cart
 
  Ayalew Mesfin, Che Belew (March Forward)  
Ayalew Mesfin
Che Belew (March Forward)
[Now Again]
USA 1xLP  Wish List
CHF 34.00 Add To Cart
 
  Ayalew Mesfin, Tewedije Limut (Let Me Die Loved)  
Ayalew Mesfin
Tewedije Limut (Let Me Die Loved)
[Now Again]
USA 1xLP  Wish List
CHF 34.00 Add To Cart
 
  Ayalew Mesfin, Mot Aykerim (You Can't Cheat Death)  
Ayalew Mesfin
Mot Aykerim (You Can't Cheat Death)
[Now Again]
USA 1xLP  Wish List
CHF 34.00 Add To Cart
 
  Ayalew Mesfin, Wegene (My Countryman)  
Ayalew Mesfin
Wegene (My Countryman)
[Now Again]
USA 1xLP  Wish List
CHF 34.00 Add To Cart
 
  Candido Y Su Movimento, Palos De Fuego  
Candido Y Su Movimento
Palos De Fuego
[Now Again]
USA 1xLP  Wish List
CHF 36.00 Restocking!
 
  Carleen & The Groovers, Can We Rap  
Carleen & The Groovers
Can We Rap
[Now Again]
USA 12inch  Wish List
CHF 10.00 Restocking!
 
  Chop, Illuminate  
Chop
Illuminate
[Now Again]
USA 2xLP  Wish List
CHF 32.00 Add To Cart
 
  Christophe Lemaire and Now Again present, Where Are You From  
Christophe Lemaire and Now Again present
Where Are You From
[Now Again]
USA 1xCD  Wish List
CHF 21.00 Restocking!
 
  Christophe Lemaire and Now Again present..., Can't You Hear Me  
Christophe Lemaire and Now Again present...
Can't You Hear Me
[Now Again]
USA 2xLP  Wish List
CHF 32.00 Restocking!
 
  Connie Price & The Keystones, Sticks & Stones EP  
Connie Price & The Keystones
Sticks & Stones EP
[Now Again]
USA EP  Wish List
CHF 8.00 Add To Cart
 
  Cook Classics, Cook Classics vs Now Again  
Cook Classics
Cook Classics vs Now Again
[Now Again]
USA 1xCD  Wish List
CHF 26.00 Add To Cart
 
21 Savage
American Dream
[Slaughter Gang]
Emahoy Tsege-Mariam Gebru
Souvenirs
[Mississippi Records]
Major Arcana
Major Arcana
[Out-Sider]
Manillio
Deheim
[Bakara Music]
Men From S.P.E.C.T.R.E.
Magnetic Sunshine
[Library Of The Occult]
Tara Clerkin Trio
On the Turning Ground
[World Of Echo]
  1. Earl Sweatshirt & Alchemist
Voir Dire
 
  2. Mogwaa
Translucent
 
  3. CCO
Sonic Atmospheres
 
  4. TamTam
Ramble In The Rainbow
 
  5. Benedek
Southland Mystic EP
 
  6. Dimitri Grimm
For Beauty's Source
 
  7. Fugees
The Score
 
  8. VA
Instrumental Dubs 2
 
  9. Arctic Monkeys
AM
 
  10. Che
The Incident