back in print by popular demand, strut bring back the debut compilation by sofrito aka djs hugo mendez and frankie francis
- limited reissue of debut sofrito compilation lp from 2011
- mighty shadow ‘dat soca boat’ subsequently used on malibu tv ad in 2012
- includes exclusive edits of tracks by victor uwaifo and safohene djeni
- cover and package artwork by lewis heriz
for fans of:
fela kuti, orlando julius, quantic, mighty sparrow, lord kitchener, nyboma, franco, nemours jean-baptiste, analog africa, soundway, fania records, invisible city, gilles peterson

deep, storming salegy sounds from madagascar. salegy is the electrified updating of the traditional antsa style from the north-west of the island — 6/8 rhythms, layered with percussion and call-and-response vocals — and the vetson’ androy group one of its most popular proponents. from 1978, mavandeza has the heady urgency of killer fela — with two women singers out front, psychedelic organ and prowling-lion bass. the flip is from a decade later, by malagasy superstar eusebe jaojaby — rough and tough dancefloor worries, with a mazy string-line, mash-it-down percussion and lilting flute. another sizzler from sofrito.

originally released in france in the early 80s, the highest bidder has long been a dancefloor classic, combining snappy boogie bass and a stepping groove with gordon’s soulful vocals. sofrito and gordon henderson are proud to see these tracks legitimately once more, cut nice and loud on a 45 for optimal club play.

a fresh installment in the sofrito super singles series: a limited 3 track ep of raw percussion sounds from the alma negra crew, at the crossroads between organic percussion and electronics, and inspired by the carnival celebrations on the cape verdean island of santiago.

the founder member of afro-disco legends m bamina wickedly go-betweening congolese roots and swinging techno: three boom shots of raw, virtuosic percussion, threaded with complex drum-machine programming and sparse synths.

sofrito returns with more heat for your tropical discotheque, this time dipping into the mysterious sounds of nigerian acid boogie!

esnard boisdur is one of the great voices of gwo ka – the folkloric rhythm of guadeloupe. frankie francis & simbad flip his 1991 track *soufwans* (sufferance) into a groove that combines hypnotic percussion and mournful vocals with detroit-inspired synths and a deep deep bassline. trust us this one is a monster on the dancefloor!

hypnotic carnival rhythms, diy electro and vital compas experiments from haiti.

musical collisions in the atlantic! sofrito kicks off the new island series with a a celebration of the vital dancefloor sounds of cape verde - a mixture of local funana rhythms, batuque percussion and psychedelic disco synths. originally released in the early 80s, dionisio maios anthemic corpim sabe is stretched into a 12 inch mix by the alma negra collective - bringing the thumping bassline to the fore and tweaking the piano-led groove into a slice of cosmic island perfection. on the flip the dynamic hide & smile duo splice an early track from trailblazing group bulimundo into a percussive workout - a sure fire winner that bridges the gap between traditional styles and the sounds of kuduro and coupe decaĺe. os kings complete the ep with an ode to struggling youth, anchored by sweet guitars and a slick bassline

disco mali! sofrito present a unique slice of afro-disco from the celebrated griot, niama makalou, recorded in the late 70s.
descended from a family of griots (traditional malian praise singers), niama makalou moved to france in the mid 70s where she cut this, her one and only vinyl release. at the time paris (like much the rest of the world) was swept up in disco fever, so along with a group of malian musicians the date was set to cut a piece of disco, griot style. the resulting mixture of off kilter hand claps, raw string arrangements, balafon flourishes and bambara vocals combine with a heavy disco groove to produce a one-off piece of cross-cultural dancefloor mayhem.
on the flip daphni (aka caribou) crafts an extended version that distills it into a stripped down and dubbed out groove.

next up in the sofrito super singles series is the highlife underground ep – celebrating the bassline heavy sound of 80s highlife.
on the a-side we have teamed up with new london producer drumtalk for a remix of ghanas mpese mpese band. initially released in 1986 the original track was an extended medley – the remix balances the swing of the original with heavy bass and chopped chords, bringing the track up to date while respecting the vibe of the original – an intense example of futuristic highlife that bridges the gap between hackney and accra.
the flip sees the sofrito crew present a killer groove courtesy of the canadoes dance band, originally released on the rogers all stars label in 1982. a minor key intro drops into bouncing drums, handclaps and a bubbling bassline that build and build into a deep and unrelenting groove…

following the recent release of sofritos acclaimed debut compilation, >sofrito: tropical discotheque<, sofrito djs hugo mendez and frankie francis unleash an accompanying 12 inch single to the album on march 15th featuring one of the key tracks from the compilation and an exclusive new sofrito edit on the flip.
comes with code for free digital download of this release.

more heavy tropical dancefloor sounds from sofrito!
two raw slabs of afro rhythms re-edited by frankie francis (sofrito) and simbad (raw fusion/brownswood). the second in the sofrito super singles series uncovers sounds from benin city in western nigeria.

synthed out disco meets fela in a steel pan dancefloor riot

first up is tabou for the people by sofrito specials featuring l barrabas which twitch edited for his dj sets a couple of years back. the lovely people at sofrito kindly gave permission for it to be included on this release. its a relentlessly driving slab of 4/4 afro funk with horn explosions. next up is the 10th and final track in twitchs cumbia series. the first 8 were released on japans lets get lost label and the missing number 9 is being saved for a future release. colombias cumbia was born out of african influences. this track is based around a sample from colombian cumbia legend andres landero and is an attempt to fuse traditional cumbia sounds with up to date production styles. the end result is a slow motion hypnotic cumbia retaining the haunting melancholia inherent in the original sample. leading the aa side, twitch passed a wild highlife song by ghanas atakoru manu to glasgows super talented auntie flo (whose highly recommended future rhythm machine album recently saw a release) to play around with. auntie flo cut it up and added additional drums and bass to come up with this euphoric modern highlife groover

excellent deep house, made for the summer, very brazil / jazzy styled