Strut Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Mulatu Astatke's 1972 album Mulatu of Ethiopia stands as a seminal work introducing listeners to the innovative sounds of Ethio-jazz. Born out of Mulatu's unique blend of Ethiopian melodies with Western instruments and influenced by his experiences in Boston and New York, the album exudes a captivating fusion of styles, as Mulatu's mastery of the vibraphone, paired with organ, flute and horns creates a mesmerising sonic landscape across seven tracks. Straying from traditional Ethiopian vocal-centric music, Mulatu's instrumental compositions showcase his singular vision. The album's reissue provides a deeper understanding of its creation, with additional outtakes revealing the bandleader's meticulous direction and experimentation. Over the years, Mulatu's influence has extended beyond jazz, inspiring artists across genres and spurring renewed interest in his timeless work.

Review: As part of their 20th anniversary celebrations, Strut has decided to bring back the compilation series that first put the label on the map: "Nigeria 70". Curated by Duncan Brooker, this latest volume in the series is the first for eight years. It's another history lesson, with Brooker largely focusing on exposing the musical links between the music of Nigeria and Benin. You get a white-hot mixture of Highlife, Afro-Funk and Ju-Ju, mostly hand-picked from albums and singles that are near impossible for mere mortals to find. Interestingly, this edition doesn't just contain heavy cuts from the '70s, but also more synth-powered songs from the 1980s, too. As you'd expect, it makes for terrific listening.

Review: Thanks to an upsurge in interest in zouk, the synthesizer-heavy tropical style that emerged from the French Antilles in the early 1980s, reissues of superb but hard to find gems from the style's original heyday are becoming increasingly popular. This one from Strut Records is a peach. Originally released in 1988, "Las Pale" is the sole album from Feeling Kreyol, a female trio from Guadeloupe assembled and produced by local studio buffs Darius Denon and Frankie Brumier. It remains a brilliantly effervescent and colourful set, with the trio adding strong and attractive to distinctively tropical drum machine rhythms, shimmering synths, kaleidoscopic melodies and jangling guitars. In other words, it's a giddy blast of electronic tropical brilliance. Don't sleep.

Review: Long Island's finest, the Lafayette Afro Rock Band, formed firstly as the Bobby Boyd Congress and then renamed themselves Ice; only after a string of travails and a return to the US after a long stint in France did they rename themselves the Lafayettes. Soul Makossa came a long while after this renaming; their second album is packed with the same Boyd-centric hallmarks, from bulbous Rhodeses, cowbells and wahs through to riffing funk fantastics, culminating in the peak sonic movements that are 'Hihache' and 'Nicky'.

Review: The Lafayette Afro Rock Band's superb Malik is a vibrant fusion of funk, soul and Afrobeat rhythms that was initially released in 1974 and now, alongside some of their other works, is getting reissued. The iconic track album showcases the band's infectious energy and dynamic instrumentation. It is packed with driving basslines, intricate percussion and hypnotic grooves that captivate from start to finish and transport you to the heart of a steamy dance floor. The band's mastery of blending African and Western musical elements shines through to make for an enduring musical document that is still widely celebrated for its infectious rhythms and influence on the funk and Afrobeat genres.

Review: Acclaimed South African folk singer Vusi Mahlasela joined forces with singer songwriter Norman Zulu as well as the superb Swedish jazz and soul collective Jive Connection for this album back in 2002. It was thought to be a lost recording until it recently showed up and now gets fully revived by Strut. There are strong political links between these countries which no doubt adds weight to this musical link up. It is a great exchange of cultures from parables to laments on child abuse to tunes that fuse reggae, jazz and post-punk with township styles.

Review: This is the cult classic and historically important debut album from Malombo Jazz Makers, a group that was formed in Mamelodi township near Pretoria. It came in 1966 after they had become a well known and loved band who toured across Africa with the second iteration of their line up. It featured Mamelodi-based guitarist Lucas "Lucky" Ranku who was brought in to replace the troubled and erratic genius that was Philip Tabane who had become chaotic on tour. With that lineup change came a change of name from their first years as Malombo Jazz Men. The album fused South African tradition with new jazz thinking and for that reason remains classic.

Review: Malombo Jazz Makers was first formed in Mamelodi township near Pretoria. They used the name Malombo Jazz Men and included Julian Bahula on malombo drums, Abbey Cindi on flute and Philip Tabane on guitar. They were known as one of the first outfits to fuse South African musical heritage with jazz and set out on tour, but soon found their creative differences so the lineup changed with Tabanbe out and Mamelodi-based guitarist Lucas "Lucky" Ranku brought in under the new name. Their debut album came in 1966 and the follow-up, Malombo Jazz Makers Vol. 2, came a year later. It is full of earthy flow and is a landmark of South African jazz.

Review: There aren't many characters quite like Lori Vambe in British music. He was a self-taught drummer, inventor, and sonic experimentalist who also made his own instrument, the drumgita, or string-drum. He was born in born in Harare, Zimbabwe but moved to London in 1959 and soon became entrenched in the Brixton squat scene. Now revered as a fine outsider along with the likes of Moondog and Daphne Oram, his privately pressed album Space Time Dreamtime: The Four Dimensional Music Of Lori Vambe now gets a first ever issue on Strut. It is an international and experimental work full of overdubs, tape effects, temporal shifts and reversed sound.