The Cactus Channel
Stay A While

Ultra-positive consciousness from Afro-Caribbean London, circa 1979. Members of the legendary 20th Century Steel Band (one of Grand Master Flash's favourites) sailing Trinidad-wise over gratifyingly intricate African ritual rhythms. Strong vocals compliment reggae, funk, disco and soul influences to form a relentless groove machine.Steel an' Skin, a unit composed of young nightclub musicians born in Ghana, Nigeria, St. Kitts, Trinidad and the U.K., who once performed with Ginger Johnson's Afrikan Drummers, a highlife band under the tutelage of the late Ginger Johnson and played at Johnson's Iroko Country Club in Hampstead, London. Steel an' Skin began activities giving concerts and workshops in London schools, expanding nationwide to schools, prisons, psychiatric hospitals and summer festivals, including the world-famous Notting Hill Carnival. The group combined an admirably brave, open and unironic mix of musical forms with community outreach, non-cynical and untainted by preachiness or "social work." Good feelings from good hearts.This EM reissue consists of Steel an' Skin's 1979 debut 12 inch single "Reggae is Here Once Again", featuring "Afro Punk Reggae (Dub)", a fine disco-dub workout, plus some tracks from their 1984 recordings, as well as one unissued track for CD version. Also CD version includes a documentary DVD by Steve Shaw featuring perceptive commentary from Steel an' Skin's founder Peter Blackman, killer live and rehearsal footage of the band, workshop scenes (check out the 1970s suits and parkas!) and devastating views of inner-city Liverpool. Steel an' Skin soars above the 1970s ruins!

P-Vine: ...The best of 90s R&B "storehouse"!　Jeff Redd's fantastic second album, miraculously reissued on CD in 2015, is now available on analog LP for the first time, much to the delight of 90s freaks!Jeff Redd's first album, "A Quiet Storm" (Uptown), was produced by the Untouchables, a unit of producers who would later lead the Hip Hop/R&B world, and Divante Swing, an R&B group just before their debut with Jodeci. (1985,'90), debuting as a major newcomer with hits such as "I Found Lovin'" and "Love High".After the success of the first album, the long-awaited follow-up, "Down Low," was scheduled for release in 1993, but was switched to Manhattan/EMI following the sudden closure of the black music division of the MCA label. The album was postponed shortly before its release. The album was postponed just before its release, and only a very small number of copies were recovered and released on the market, never to be heard again... a hidden item in the shadow of 90s R&B history!　Despite the tragedy, the production is somewhere between New Jack Swing and Hip-Hop Soul, and Jeff's voice is irresistible! It is!

LITA: ...Ethiopians’ deep-seated ethiocentrism, the legacy of a thousand years of history, has contributed in no small way to their music’s strong national identity, particularly impervious to any African influences. Latin influences, so pervasive in the great musical centers of West Africa and the Congo, have been similarly rebuffed, despite the brilliant attempts of a musician like Mulatu Astatke. He was the first and for a long time the only Ethiopian to have studied music abroad (England and USA). In the late ‘60s, he brought back ’ethio-jazz’, as well as a passion for Latin rhythms that was not readily shared by the Ethiopian audience. As early as 1966, he released a single and two LPs in the US entitled Afro-Latin Soul (and a third LP, Mulatu of Ethiopia in 1972), with his Ethiopian Quintet composed of American and Latin-American musicians (Worthy Records). That was three years before Fela’s first American tour and six years prior to Manu Dibango’s key breakthrough with the release of Soul Makossa in the Western ‘pre-World music’ market. All this goes to show how much the history of the African continent’s musical modernity should be reconsidered in light of the Ethiopian adventure, even though this lone spark bore little relation, musically or ideologically to the musical revolutions initiated most notably by Ghanian highlife, South African jazz, Congolese rumba or, much later on, by Fela.

“Chase the sun with me,” beckons singer Rebecca Jade during the chorus of “Come With Me,” the funky uptempo opening track of Running Out of Time. It’s a fitting start to the second full-length by Rebecca Jade and the Cold Fact, which sees the San Diego supergroup build on the distinct brand of West Coast soul it developed in its 2016 debut. Anchored by vintage tones and tightly knit grooves, the album fills a modern rock meets R&B space previously staked out by Alabama Shakes and Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings.Jade herself shows up with Mavis Staples-like dynamism when called for, injecting power into soul shaking numbers including “Come With Me” and the revved up “I Only Smoke When I Drink” (and its follow up lyric “I only drink when I think of you”). The San Diego native has been touring nationally with Sheila E., and echoes of the 90s R&B she grew up listening to are woven through Running Out of Time, found in the summery pop of “Worth My Wait,” and torchy, Caribbean inflected “New York.” Elsewhere she balances her potent gospel-like choruses with breezy Minnie Riperton sweetness, as in the Hammond organ-drenched “Miss You” and timeless vintage of album closer “Change.”The soft brass swells of “Change” and other mid-tempo tunes lend textural contrast to the percussive funk blasts livening up other parts of the record. Horn arrangements were contributed by Andy Geib, the San Diego music vet who’s brought brass sections to a litany of projects, including Toots and the Maytals, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, and B-Side Players. Most of the band behind the Cold Fact is comprised of frequent Redwoods Music collaborators, including drummer Jake Najor, bass player Jason Littlefield, and evocative lyricist Alfred Howard. Along with their accomplished crew of musicians, Howard and co-producer Matthew Molarius display a studied fondness for the output of their spiritual predecessors with Staxx records and the Wrecking Crew, while adding a tinge of Hollywood Hills psychedelia to the mix.Rebecca Jade credits a convergence of influences for bringing so much creative energy to the new album. “The guys in the Cold Fact bring an extensive catalog of music with them.” she says. “My musical upbringing had a lot of soul and R&B, more radio friendly stuff. We get together and listen to these deep cuts they love, that spark ideas for all these different directions we might go. I’m really grateful to work with them, because they open my world up big time.”