Mike James Kirkland - Don't Sell Your Soul
(limited edition 2xCD/2xLP/Digital) Ubiquity Records/Luv'N'Haight LHCD/LP064, 2011-10-18

Before the release of his seminal, socially-conscious, 1972 soul album, Hang On In There, a young Mike James Kirkland released a number of singles as Mike and The Censations. Despite being offered a record deal by Curtis Mayfield, eventually making a deal with MCA, and selling in excess of 50,000+ singles, Mike and the Censations never released an album and never fully realized their potential. Here for the first time are all of his early-releases, along with some unreleased gems discovered on tapes as this project was being researched. Pigeon-holed as a doo-wop group by one of their early labels, Mike and The Censations fought to battle that image. In doing so they made a unique blend of soul, funk, and even jazz-influenced tunes, occasionally sneaking in an up-tempo number on a B-side. Their doo-wop tunes were pretty damn amazing too, dripping in soul and becoming big favorites of the low-rider scene.
"This is a VERY welcome re-issue ! I remember it took me years to find the previous Luv'N'Haight reissues of "Hang On In There" and "Doin' It Right"... Add to that the collection of earlier 45s from the 60s, and it 's definitively an essential Soul (re-)release!" - (Djouls/Paris DJs)

AM & Shawn Lee - Paris DJs Betamix (MP3 Podcast on www.ParisDJs.com) 2011-09-15 Fine songwriter AM and funkateer Shawn Lee have just released a psychedelic electro-soul record called Celestial Electric on ESL music, loaded with killer tunes. The album was conceived between London and Los Angeles, AM and Shawn Lee sending files to each other until they were happy with the result. You can read the full story in a long and funny 'confessions interview' there. And here is an exclusive mix the two friends cooked, which put a special light on Celestial Electric's influences and background....

The Afro Soul-Tet - Afrodesia
(CD/2xLP) Luv'N'Haight / Ubiquity Records LH063, 2011-01-18

Jack Millman, aka Johnny Kitchen, had a hand in many interesting, obscure and highly collectible records from the 1960s and 1970s. Producing, composing, recording, editing, releasing, licensing - you name it, Millman did it. The records he touched had an eclectic range from psychedelic rock to Latin jazz, and several include editing techniques that can only be described as an early incarnation of sampling in music. After seeing them play on Sunset Boulevard, Millman became manager of the Afro Latin Blues Quintet +1, and signed them to Randy Woods in the late 1960s. Having released several albums this band would later become the Afro Soultet. The liner notes to their Afrodesia album state "This is Afrodesia! A Musical collage of many peoples. . .it comes from Africa and from Arabia, from the South Seas and from Asia." Living up to the promise of those notes Afrodesia mixes Latin Jazz, with straight jazz, worldly percussion, surf, rock, funk, oddball sound effects, a touch of lounge, and some hints of tropicalia. Millman produced and released the Afrodesia album on his own Banyon label sometime between 1968-1971 (no release date is listed on the record, and Millman cannot recall a more exact date.). After their short stint as the Afro Soultet, the band morphed one more time into The Afro Latin Soultet< releasing records with pianist Phil Moore III at the helm.