Gunnar Hissam
KING KOOBA - CONSTANTE

New deep house EP from the legendary crew King Kooba

KING KOOBA - CONSTANTE
Gunnar Hissam
KING KOOBA - THE RIDGE
KING KOOBA - THE RIDGE
Gunnar Hissam
KING KOOBA - RAPIDO
KING KOOBA - RAPIDO
Gunnar Hissam
RITHMA - WE'LL MANAGE
RITHMA - WE'LL MANAGE
Gunnar Hissam
KING KOOBA - SMOKING ROOM
KING KOOBA - SMOKING ROOM

KING KOOBA - THE RIDGE

FIRST SINGLE FROM THE NEW HOUSE EP FROM KING KOOBA

What originally started in a pub in London between Charlie Tate & Matt ‘DJ Shuff’ Harris in 1994 has come full circle 30 years later! King Kooba return with a new House EP, Constante, coming this December. The lead single, ‘The Ridge’ is a classic long building deep house tune featuring a driving synth line and a steady dubbed out jazz rhythm. Fans of the numerous Kooba singles over their consistent career will be pleased with this one.

KING KOOBA - RAPIDO

THE NEW DRUM & BASS EP FROM KING KOOBA

What originally started in a London pub between Charlie Tate & Matt ‘DJ Shuff’ Harris in 1994 has come full circle 30 years later! King Kooba return with their new Drum & Bass EP, Rapido featuring the lead single, ‘Smoking Room,’ a massive stretched out tune featuring Kooba signature bass lines and jazzy licks creating a heavy groove. Also includes the standout tune ‘Redefine,’ alongside ‘Votiac’ and ‘3113’. Stay tuned for the second EP of the new triptych from King Kooba focusing on their house music adventures coming soon.

RITHMA - WE'LL MANAGE

Etienne Stehelin AKA Rithma returns with his stunning fourth single from his upcoming Om Records EP The Great Spacious. We’ll Manage feels right at home with the critically acclaimed Music Fiction era with Rithma on guitar alongside long time trumpet collaborator Mitch Manker. The results are a stunning composition of downbeat jazz electronics that is sure to hit the sweet spot with longtime fans and new ones alike. Stay tuned for more as we journey onward with the legend that is Rithma. Cover art manifested by the magnificent Chris Knudsen.

KING KOOBA - SMOKING ROOM

LEAD SINGLE FROM THE NEW DRUM & BASS EP FROM KING KOOBA

 What originally started in a pub between Charlie Tate & Matt ‘DJ Shuff’ Harris in 1994 has come full circle 30 years later! King Kooba return with a new Drum & Bass EP, Rapido, coming this fall. The lead single, ‘Smoking Room’ is a massive stretched out tune featuring Kooba signature bass lines and jazzy licks creating a heavy groove. Let it rock and get ready for more.

THE JAZZUAL SUSPECTS - PSYNG EP

The New EP from the Mushroom Jazz Breaks & Beats Giants

The new EP from The Jazzual Suspects is here! Fans of Mark Farina’s now legendary Mushroom Jazz series will be familiar with the head-nod inducing goodness! Great chunks of Jazz set amongst the best breakbeats brought forth from a bygone era.

Featuring the title track Psyng, a rolling hip-hop instrumental groove over just the right amount of guitar and keys.

The Jazzual Suspects, representing a back in the day Bay Area .. hard.

Max Sedgley - Shedonism (Remixes)

Omie Max Sedgley and Tasita D’Mour join forces with the Om Records family and friends to create the full collection of Shedonism remixes. Featuring a new mix from UK funk legend Smoove, alongside J Boogie’s Dubtronic Science, King Kooba, The Jazzual Suspects, Lil’T of PillowTalk and an unreleased new remix from Max Sedgley himself. This LP packs a wallop or as Craig Charles of BBC6 Music - Funk & Soul Show would say “We’ve squeezed two pounds of funk in a one-pound bag.”

For fans of: Lo-Fi House / Funky House / Deep House / Nu-Funk / Breakbeats

The Jazzual Suspects - Dam Again

Be-Bop Jazz Mixed With Dusted Hip Hop Breaks At Their Finest

The third single from the new Psyng EP from The Jazzual Suspects is here! Fans of Mark Farina’s now legendary Mushroom Jazz series will be familiar with the head-nod inducing goodness! Great chunks of Jazz set amongst the best breakbeats brought forth from a bygone era.

Dam Again is a chill blunted beats mixture of beautiful be-bop jazz and breaks.

The Jazzual Suspects, representing a back in the day Bay Area .. hard.

MAX SEDGLEY - GET TOGETHER (J BOOGIE'S DUBTRONIC SCIENCE REMIX)

BUMPIN’ J BOOGIE’S DUBTRONIC SCIENCE HOUSE MIX

Omie Max Sedgley and Tasita D’Mour join forces with the legendary J Boogie’s Dubtronic Science on the fifth release from the forthcoming Shedonism (Remixes) collection. Bumpin’ basslines blend beautifully into a Lo-Fi House jam that takes the hit single into even funkier territory. Stay tuned for more remix goodies coming May 3rd.

For fans of: Lo-Fi House / Funky House / Deep House / Nu-Funk

THE JAZZUAL SUSPECTS - NEG DEK

New boom bap jazz breakbeat goodness for Mushroom Jazz lovers.

The second single from the new EP from The Jazzual Suspects is here! Fans of Mark Farina’s now legendary Mushroom Jazz series will be familiar with the head-nod inducing goodness! Great chunks of Jazz set amongst the best breakbeats brought forth from a bygone era.

Neg Dek is a mellow groove, perfect for Spring time BBQ’s and good times.

The Jazzual Suspects, representing a back in the day Bay Area .. hard.

THE JAZZUAL SUSPECTS - TEEKUP

Kicking off 2004 with breakbeat goodness for Mushroom Jazz lovers.

The first single from the new EP from The Jazzual Suspects is here to kick off the year right! Fans of Mark Farina’s now legendary Mushroom Jazz series will be familiar with the head-nod inducing goodness! Great chunks of Jazz set amongst the best breakbeats brought forth from a bygone era.

Teekup is a monster, stomping on an unshakable foundation of groove. Get set for a fantastic new year from the mighty Om Records beats department.

The Jazzual Suspects, representing a back in the day Bay Area .. hard.

Max Sedgley - Shedonism

Long time Omie Max Sedgley (Roni Size / King Kooba) is back with a brilliant new LP. 

His first single Gotta Get Up sets the stage with a positive jazz funk banger featuring the vocal talents of Tasita D’Mour. Recorded as a pick me up entirely in his garden shed, Max summoned the influences of George Duke, Mighty Ryeders, Ronnie Laws and Roy Ayers mixed with the funky synth work of Greg Phillinganes and Larry Williams to create a dancefloor concoction complete with a solid beat with big Latin style tom fills. It’s all in there.

His second single Get Together is an absolute heavyweight banger featuring the vocal talents of Tasita D’Mour. It’s a funky warning that we have to get together and change the way we treat our planet before it’s too late.

His third single Some Kind Of Love is a heavyweight soul smash featuring Tasita D’Mour’s uplifting, poignant, full of yearning and powerful vocal talents. Sedgley’s solid groove and funky b-lines with some tasty chord progressions let Tasita shine. Stay tuned for more!

His fourth single Too Big to Fail channels Gil-Scott Heron and Brian Jackson for a protest song featuring Tasita D’Mour. Max explains the message is “why do the big players get away with murder while the man in the street doesn’t even get a second chance?” Stay tuned for more!

The featured track on the LP, Lie to Me, locks in right from the start and permeates throughout. Tasita D'Mour's longing vocal slinks through Max's live breakbeats and synth lines to create a beautiful downtempo performance.

MAX  TALKS ABOUT THE PROCESS OF MAKING HIS NEW ALBUM

'When I moved to my new house in Walthamstow, East London a few years ago, I found I had a tool shed in my back garden, just sitting there empty. 'That'll be my man cave' I thought, and after a bit of negotiation and a lot of DIY, the studio was ready. I put carpet all-round the walls to deaden any sound and found I had enough space for my 2 drum kits, my keyboards, a lot of percussion, all my studio gear and me, comfortably. Obviously surround sound was also installed for that man-cave touch. I also had to store a LOT of other stuff from the house, as per negotiations, but that was OK, it was my space!

In order to justify my studio's existence though, and my new life in it, I knew I had to write an album dedicated to the shed that brought it to life.

I didn't know where to start writing so I got on with trying to make my drums sound as fat as possible in their new space. I'd cobbled together enough cheap mics for the kit and played around with loads of different set-ups. This meant that I was recording a lot of drum tracks and listening back to get the best results for the room - eventually I had a pretty good sound and I had plenty of solid beats and grooves to start building new ideas for tracks on. I'm no bass player so I knew there was going to be a lot of synth bass lines coming. Add to that my love of the playing around with the Rhodes / clavinet combo and it would be no surprise what genre of music started pouring out of the shed.

So It became clear pretty early on that with those sounds and the kind of drum grooves I had recorded, I was coming up with songs that were very reminiscent of the style of Chaka Khan from about '79 to '82. I knew Chaka wouldn't necessarily be available for a few shed sessions round mine, but I also knew my old friend Tasita, who I'd worked with many times before, had a really similar voice and style and so I was thinking of her from an early stage.

There followed many months of writing and a lot of inspirational 'shed sessions' - basically all my friends coming round to hang out in the shed - some of whom found it very hard to leave. There were lots of 'creative writing sessions' where I'd try out ideas and gauge the responses, not to mention a lot of late nights but by February of 2020 I had maybe 6 or 7 tracks I thought were strong and a lot of other 'nearly' ideas.

It was time to give Tasita a call...

We arranged a two-day session as T had moved a few hours away from London but I wasn't worried about time pressure as I knew how easy it was working with T and how quickly she nailed ideas and brought her own style to any recordings. Sure enough, that was the case, we had a blast and had seven tracks done, complete with all BVs after just two days' work. Foolishly, I thought I'd only need one more day recording with Tasita to finish the album, and I was right, but I hadn't allowed for the global pandemic that was about to strike. A week after our first recording session the whole country was put into lockdown.

It would be another 18 months before I'd get to have that last day recording with T, thanks to covid-19.

The less said about that 18 months the better. So much of the joy and inspiration in music comes from other people sharing and communicating that it was really difficult to go for that long without a proper 'shed session'. And that's just from the perspective of writing the type of music I do. But eventually it was over and Tasita came back for her final day's work on the album, finishing all the songs I'd waited so long to hear.

It's hard to say what effect that 18 months had on the album, a lot of things were changed, re-written, probably played around with too much. But then new tracks came about that probably wouldn't have done, so rough with the smooth I guess. I think lyrically it developed more than it maybe would have done and there was a lot more social commentary going on, with more thoughts about mental health issues, loneliness, social injustice - I suppose generally all a bit darker - but at the end of it I felt like I'd explored things a bit more deeply than I would have done and I still had an uplifting, positive feeling listening to it all, so I'm grateful for that.

I always thought funk and soul music was a product of its time in the 60s,70s and early 80s - a time of great social upheaval and change, a time for protest and a need for positivity to lift humanity out of the darkness. It seems those times are here again so I'm hopingmy nod to the music I grew up loving won't seem entirely out of place right now. And a bit of 'shedonism' is definitely no bad thing.

For fans of: 70’s & 80’s Jazz - Funk / Breaks / Soul / Downtempo / Electronic

MAX SEDGLEY - TOO BIG TO FAIL

Long time Omie Max Sedgley (Roni Size / King Kooba) is back with a brilliant new LP Shedonism coming this Fall. His fourth single Too Big to Fail channels Gil-Scott Heron and Brian Jackson for a protest song featuring Tasita D’Mour. Max explains the message is “why do the big players get away with murder while the man in the street doesn’t even get a second chance?” Stay tuned for more!

ROCKET EMPIRE - TODAS PARTES (REMIXES)

Abstract chill beats lovers and dubbed out deep house heads join forces with the mighty Rocket Empire for their first ever remixes collection. Kicking things off is Ukrainian born electronic artist Waveskania with her rework of Birmingham. Waveskania’s production never fails to impress in consistency, textural variety and stylistic gamut. Next up is Seattle’s own Jeromy Nail who delivers not one but two mixes for the collection. Both are deep dubbed out house versions with a huge helping of old school electro influences. Also, on deck for two mixes is Portland’s abstract beats technician Hologram Pacific. Check out those cat purrs on his mix of New Brunswick. Closing things out is South Africa’s Jus Funo with his Mood Mix of Astoria, a fitting ambient closing to a fantastically eclectic collection.