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Angular, jabbing, psychedelic post-industrial/post-punk from early ‘80s Holland, drawn from hard-to-find and obscure tapes releases by Emotional Rescue and Mannequin Records​"Taken from two 12” EPs, a split 7” and a flexi 7”, all released in 1982, the music within Word & Numbers captures striking compositions, part of, but some way removed from their contemporary post-punk bands coming out of the Dutch “Ultra” scene of the time.Developing out of a series of concerts in Amsterdam, Ultra expanded to Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Haarlem, with artists and musicians creating their own work spaces and studios. Driven by the DIY mentality of the punk movement, this uniquely Dutch take on the post-punk ethos embraced avant-garde thinking and experimentation that disseminated in ideas and from that, sound.Coming from Haarlem, Nexda – consisting of Ivo Schalkx, Karin Hueting, Martienden Nijs – played music on handmade drums, metal, organ, saxophone and voice. Releasing a series of cassettes on their and Wim Dekker (Smalts, Minny Pops) Studio 12 label, the latter’s link with Wally Van Middendorp’s Plurex label, resulted in the release of Nexda’s two EP – 246, 121 and 657 (PLUREX 0026) and Second (PLUREX 0031) - with artwork of Ivo Schalkx, are included here, both in their entirety. Capturing the bands’ heavy percussive backdrop, raw, dub baselines contrast with questioning, mainly spoken word lyrical poetics, saxophone underplay and occasional Pablo-style melodica. The avant nature of the music is apparent and enticing, where experimentalism and artistic expression was sought over commercial success and technique and song form were less important than the process of exploring ideas.The none-descriptive titles match song structures that jettison the traditional verse, chorus, verse; weaving across the 8 songs so that they can be heard as one, as much asshort bursts of individual statements."

This one takes us back! We originally reissued Waltel Branco's 'Meu Balanço' in 1995, it was one of the first releases to come out on Mr Bongo. It is a much-requested title with original copies becoming ever more-scarce and the price tag increasingly rising, so it feels fitting to present this stunning record once again for all to enjoy.Waltel Branco was born in Paranaguá, Brazil in 1929 and died in Rio de Janeiro in 2018. During his triumphant career he accumulated an impressive musical portfolio. A true maestro who from the 1950s onwards appeared on productions as a guitarist, writer, conductor, composer, and arranger. He worked with some of the greats of Brazilian music including Elis Regina, Dom Um Romao, Bossa Três, Marcos Valle and Tony Bizarro to name just a few.'Meu Balanço' was originally released on CBS Records Brazil in 1975. It is Brazilian big band, orchestrated jazz-funk at its finest. Echoing the library and film productions created in Europe and the USA at the time, it also displays the hallmarks of Waltel’s heritage with distinct threads of Brazilian flavour running throughout. The musicians on the record include under-the-radar players that were the backbone of the Brazilian music industry in the 1970s including Luizão Maia on bass, Edmundo Maciel on trombone and Paulinho Braga on drums.The album flirts between jazz-funk, cinematic library excursions, breaks and beats, easy-listening, and 70s cop show instrumentals. It is a breezy ride into Waltel's world, wonderfully nostalgic and of another time and place, yet snippets of the production echo the beats of contemporary hip-hop iconic artists such as Madlib, knxwledge and The Alchemist.