For some months now, specialist record shops have been scratching their heads: which bin should they put the "UFO" productions of the young label KA Records in? Not the one for old classics, nor the one for re-pressed gems: the label only releases original productions. Under digital or UK labels, then? Impossible: this roots sound is made the old-fashioned way by flesh-and-blood musicians, in France what's more. "French scene", then? Hard to say. With a "conscious" message delivered in English, and an invitation to meditate rather than dance, the label clearly does not have the same audience as Danakil or Dub Incorporation. The shops' solution? Shift their EPs as fast as possible and stop asking questions. Ours? Meet Guillaume and Clément, the two originals who have built a Jamaican-style studio right in the heart of Lyon.
Despite a monumental record collection and ears shaped by jazz and hip-hop, Guillaume and Clément do not do crossover. KA Records' artistic line is clear: roots, only roots. Their references? Studios and producers rather than singers: "the work of Jack Ruby in Ocho Rios, of Harry Muddie and of the unavoidable Lee Perry". Ha! The great era when Tubby and company tinkered with their eight tracks! "With computers and the internationalisation of production, the sound has become standardised, smoothed out. We have lost the warmth and identity of the great Jamaican studios," explains Guillaume. Dancehall and UK digital have come along since. "Even Perry has changed tack." As admirers of Burning Spear, the two producers regret that the message and the spirituality have been lost with these new styles, very much geared towards the dancefloor. In this context, the reception given to Midnite, or to the Jamaican gems reworked by Makasound, appears as the light at the end of the tunnel, proof that there is still room for roots. KA Records follows in that line. The aim is to "take over the torch, to create a sound of our own, with a message close to our aspirations".
Backing band and analogue
The label was founded in Lyon in 2010. Since then, three EPs and an album have come out, filled with a warm sound, horns, carried by the voices and by effective basslines. Imperfect, these rough-hewn productions stand in contrast to the metronomic precision of drum machines. Guillaume gives us the recipe: "We record our tracks with our backing band, The Soul Agitators. The instruments are not recorded track by track but all together, which gives a particular dynamic and groove." Originally from the Lyon area, these musicians have the advantage of having known each other for years. They play together all the more regularly because they also form the backbone of the Mighty Lions, the label's flagship band. To this core are added visiting soloists, flautists, saxophonists, and of course the voices.
"It is all mixed by us at Ankh studio," Guillaume continues, "which allows us to give the sound a particular colour, an identity of its own." To forge this personality, KA Records chose to turn back time and now works... with tape recorders! "It gives a better bass/drum dynamic, which is essential for us." Clément adds: "We work on a computer as little as possible; everything is done by hand on hardware." Effects boxes, compressors, pedals, equaliser: an anachronism that creates new constraints but also a more spontaneous way of creating. At the mixing desk, fingers move, press, turn. The pleasure is palpable. Even the dub versions are recorded in one shot: three minutes of total concentration for maximum precision. Otherwise, everything has to be started again. Once the euphoria has died down, Guillaume and Clément pick up the thread of their militant discourse. They explain that they can put this know-how and this equipment at the service of other bands... roots bands, of course.
Local scene, think global
In Europe and the United States, some bands pile on the features with prominent Jamaicans or head off to Kingston to this or that prestigious studio. After all, you have to put well-known names on the sleeves and give the buyer some guarantees. Ka Records is surprised by this approach and distances itself from it: "We have to stop this fascination with Jamaica, this reggae-as-folklore. It is now up to us to roll up our sleeves and keep this music alive. There is a pool of good musicians and good singers in France, so why go and look for them in Kingston?" The label therefore multiplies collaborations with local artists, more or less established: Joe Pilgrim, Likkle Johnson, George Cloonie and Woody Allan, so many different voices and styles. The result is astonishing... to the point that some even imagine the label was founded by the Jamaican diaspora. The two partners smile at this. Not long ago, a German journalist asked them, rather baffled: "But... how come there are so many Jamaicans in Lyon?" In the end Clément settles it: "We are not going to pretend to be black or to come from the ghetto; we produce conscious music, but on themes that affect us directly, with artists who are close to us." In English? "A question of feeling. When I think reggae, I think in English. The sounds fit into the music particularly well," Guillaume explains. Clément echoes him: "Unless you are a very good lyricist, like Gainsbourg, it is hard to make reggae in French. Many have come unstuck trying." English is also a question of distribution. Alongside distribution over the internet, the label's vinyl is sent to independent shops in England, Spain and Japan.
The possibility of the Nile
If the message is beginning to get through today, it is because the label has built its own universe. Out with the celebration of ganja, away with the red/gold/green trinity. Texts and visuals stand apart from the traditional imagery of the genre. On their stripped-back sleeves, the Lion of Judah has given way to the profile of a pharaoh, a reference to ancient Egypt. It is from that civilisation, incidentally, that the "KA" comes, "the name of one of the five components of the being, comparable to the life force," sums up Guillaume. "Egypt was a hotbed of scientific, philosophical and artistic ferment, a matrix of civilisation whose influence on Greco-Latin thought, on the West, on our culture in short, was enormous." It also built its power on one of the longest rivers in the world which, by a quirk of geography, rises in Ethiopia and ends its course in the Mediterranean. "These references are important to us; they push us to question ourselves, to give our best and to deliver a positive message." On their second EP, the enveloping voices and the lyrics of the duo The Maât Disciples (Strength Of I Pharaoh) are probably the ones that best convey this religiosity. As for the first album by the Mighty Lions, released in April 2011, it almost amounts to a manifesto, as the titles Free us On Time, Creation, No Need To Judge and Madness is the Fashion bear witness. Radically roots and cohesive, the album consists of six songs, followed by their six dub versions. For the bewildered record dealer, the task now is to explain, in all seriousness, that this sand-coloured album was crafted by hand in Lyon, on the banks of the Nile.
Label website, Ka Records:
www.karecords.com
MySpace The Mighty Lions:
www.myspace.com/themightylions69
Backing band and analogueThe label was founded in Lyon in 2010. Since then, three EPs and an album have come out, filled with a warm sound, horns, carried by the voices and by effective basslines. Imperfect, these rough-hewn productions stand in contrast to the metronomic precision of drum machines. Guillaume gives us the recipe: "We record our tracks with our backing band, The Soul Agitators. The instruments are not recorded track by track but all together, which gives a particular dynamic and groove." Originally from the Lyon area, these musicians have the advantage of having known each other for years. They play together all the more regularly because they also form the backbone of the Mighty Lions, the label's flagship band. To this core are added visiting soloists, flautists, saxophonists, and of course the voices.
"It is all mixed by us at Ankh studio," Guillaume continues, "which allows us to give the sound a particular colour, an identity of its own." To forge this personality, KA Records chose to turn back time and now works... with tape recorders! "It gives a better bass/drum dynamic, which is essential for us." Clément adds: "We work on a computer as little as possible; everything is done by hand on hardware." Effects boxes, compressors, pedals, equaliser: an anachronism that creates new constraints but also a more spontaneous way of creating. At the mixing desk, fingers move, press, turn. The pleasure is palpable. Even the dub versions are recorded in one shot: three minutes of total concentration for maximum precision. Otherwise, everything has to be started again. Once the euphoria has died down, Guillaume and Clément pick up the thread of their militant discourse. They explain that they can put this know-how and this equipment at the service of other bands... roots bands, of course.
Local scene, think globalIn Europe and the United States, some bands pile on the features with prominent Jamaicans or head off to Kingston to this or that prestigious studio. After all, you have to put well-known names on the sleeves and give the buyer some guarantees. Ka Records is surprised by this approach and distances itself from it: "We have to stop this fascination with Jamaica, this reggae-as-folklore. It is now up to us to roll up our sleeves and keep this music alive. There is a pool of good musicians and good singers in France, so why go and look for them in Kingston?" The label therefore multiplies collaborations with local artists, more or less established: Joe Pilgrim, Likkle Johnson, George Cloonie and Woody Allan, so many different voices and styles. The result is astonishing... to the point that some even imagine the label was founded by the Jamaican diaspora. The two partners smile at this. Not long ago, a German journalist asked them, rather baffled: "But... how come there are so many Jamaicans in Lyon?" In the end Clément settles it: "We are not going to pretend to be black or to come from the ghetto; we produce conscious music, but on themes that affect us directly, with artists who are close to us." In English? "A question of feeling. When I think reggae, I think in English. The sounds fit into the music particularly well," Guillaume explains. Clément echoes him: "Unless you are a very good lyricist, like Gainsbourg, it is hard to make reggae in French. Many have come unstuck trying." English is also a question of distribution. Alongside distribution over the internet, the label's vinyl is sent to independent shops in England, Spain and Japan.
The possibility of the Nile
If the message is beginning to get through today, it is because the label has built its own universe. Out with the celebration of ganja, away with the red/gold/green trinity. Texts and visuals stand apart from the traditional imagery of the genre. On their stripped-back sleeves, the Lion of Judah has given way to the profile of a pharaoh, a reference to ancient Egypt. It is from that civilisation, incidentally, that the "KA" comes, "the name of one of the five components of the being, comparable to the life force," sums up Guillaume. "Egypt was a hotbed of scientific, philosophical and artistic ferment, a matrix of civilisation whose influence on Greco-Latin thought, on the West, on our culture in short, was enormous." It also built its power on one of the longest rivers in the world which, by a quirk of geography, rises in Ethiopia and ends its course in the Mediterranean. "These references are important to us; they push us to question ourselves, to give our best and to deliver a positive message." On their second EP, the enveloping voices and the lyrics of the duo The Maât Disciples (Strength Of I Pharaoh) are probably the ones that best convey this religiosity. As for the first album by the Mighty Lions, released in April 2011, it almost amounts to a manifesto, as the titles Free us On Time, Creation, No Need To Judge and Madness is the Fashion bear witness. Radically roots and cohesive, the album consists of six songs, followed by their six dub versions. For the bewildered record dealer, the task now is to explain, in all seriousness, that this sand-coloured album was crafted by hand in Lyon, on the banks of the Nile.
Label website, Ka Records:
www.karecords.com
MySpace The Mighty Lions:
www.myspace.com/themightylions69
Report written by Charly Andral
Comments (3)
la vibe des LIONS n'en finit pas de résonner et c'est une très très bonne nouvelle pour le reggae music !
qui confirme le credo ds rootsmen jamaicains : ROOTS WILL NEVER DIE !!
cra , passeé les modes , passé les futilités , votre son et sa conscience seront toujours là pour illuminer !!
a très vite sur Nnates j'espère !
BIG UP
papayatik · · rating: 5 out of 5
Ca promait que du bon pour le label KA records tant qu'ils ne se laisseront pas faire par la mentalité reggae actuelle , et qu'ils continueont de travailler avec des chanteurs /auteurs ouverts et conscient , et visant a chatouiller le sacré qui est en nous...
Continuez de rugir!!! gardez la bonne vibe for ever!!!et faites faite passer les galette, on est un paquet d'affamés qui refuse de se mettre n'importe quoi sous la dent!
oneaim · · rating: 5 out of 5
Mc Phil · · rating: 5 out of 5