he found that the day-to-day demands of doing his work for Stones Throw made that impossible.
“I was spending a lot of 15-16 hour days working on Stones Throw projects, so I didn’t have much time to put into the reissues. I would have to use my vacation time from Stones Throw to work on Now-Again. I would do things like spend the Christmas break at my parents’ house in Connecticut, writing the liner notes for Now-Again releases. So finally, last year I left Stones Throw. And now there is more time to work on Now-Again projects and that’s why there’s been so much music coming out on the label over the last two years. The stakes are higher now, because this is what is paying my salary and it’s how I pay for my family’s health insurance. So I really have to focus in and analyze the projects every step of the way. That said, it’s nice to work on Now-Again any time I want, instead of having to scramble to work on the projects over my lunch break. I’m doing the stuff I really want to do now. It’s sink or swim.”
While rare American funk and soul finds are still the bedrock of Now-Again’s catalogue, over the years Egon has branched out to release previously underappreciated (if known at all) global psychedelia, Afrobeat, library
recordings, and such, as well as bringing current artists into the fold in taking the occasional departure from the reissues.
“We’ve taken that same approach that we used with the American soul music and applied it to music we’ve discovered and released from other parts of the world – Iran, Africa, Indonesia, India,” Egon avers, when reflecting on Now-Again’s recent outreach. “We try to take a rather objective viewpoint to these musical scenes that are going on around the world. We ask ourselves the same questions we asked with the American funk and soul music: how can we delve far enough into this scene and tell these musicians’ stories while at the same time not trying to colour their experience through 40 years of our retrospective frame of reference? I’m interested in looking at something like some psychedelic music from Iran and asking myself how we as Americans can find something in that music that sounds familiar and that we can grasp onto, and at the same time get drawn deeper into a musical culture that at one time might have seemed foreign to us. So that’s the kind of thing I’m trying to explore through the international releases on Now-Again, whether it’s psychedelic rock from Zambia or fusion-y soul from Indonesia.”
One question I like to ask all the heads
of the labels I cover in this column is: with no shortage of reissue companies on the current market, how do you see your outfit as being distinct from the pack, and in particular how do you think you stand out from others trading in your same kinds of musical territories.
“I was one of the first people who could look at these obscure funk and soul artists who were just disappearing into the urban expanse, and say, hey we can find these people and we can get their records out through reissues, and so we can bring them back the way people have done with obscure garage-punk bands from the ’60s,” Egon responds when it’s his turn to handle this query. “I think what we’ve done, both in Stones Throw and Now-Again, is create a kind of call to action among various labels, to take this obscure funk and soul music more seriously.
“I’d say that while not everything on Now-Again is necessarily something I would personally always listen to or only listen to, I’d like to think that it all showcases something interesting and important about that country or that era or that person. As much as I love this music, if I didn’t think I could do a good job of getting it out there, I wouldn’t bother.”
SHOCKING AND SHAKING NOW-AGAIN ESSENTIALS
VARIOUS ARTISTS Those Shocking, Shaking Days: Indonesian Hard, Psychedelic, Progressive Rock And Funk: 1970-1978 Here’s one of those compilations where every new song that pops up gets you thinking, “Yes, this is my favourite track on the album,” only to have the same thing happen when the next one hits. All the genres mentioned in the subtitle are offered in abundance, and there’s an extent to which the whole set sounds like 20 different variations of Damo Suzuki-era Can.
KASHMERE STAGE BAND Texas Thunder Soul 1968-1974 A passionate high school music teacher from Houston is the visionary and driving force behind these recordings of his award-winning students. Horn-driven soul and funk done with youthful enthusiasm and a professionalism beyond the young players’ years.
KOUROSHU YAGHMAEI Back From the Brink: Pre-Revolution Psychedelic Rock From Iran: 1973-1979 Yaghmaei is a Tehran-based guitar wizard who got into playing via an obsession with The Ventures and other Western acts. What he does with his vocals is neither here nor there, but it’s the subtle psychedelia and constantly unexpected twists and turns he pulls off on his axe, that gets deeply inside your brain. A nice extra here is that Yaghmaei himself penned the liners in telling his compelling personal story.
VARIOUS ARTISTS True Soul Volumes 1 & 2: Deep Sounds From The Left Of Stax True Soul opens the vaults of a funk and soul label run out of Little Rock, Arkansas and overseen by Lee Anthony, who also headed up a shop called Soul Brothers Records. Titles such as ‘Sister Funk’, ‘Psychedelic Hot Pants’ and ‘Down Home Funk’ let you know what to expect, and all the promises suggested therein are delivered. Anthony also produced a Soul Train- like TV show in 1973 – a DVD with clips from the program comes with each of these sets.
SEU JORGE Seu Jorge & Almaz One of Now-Again’s new music releases is a 2010 collaboration between the Brazilian most known for his acting work in the films City Of God and The Life Aquatic, and the band Almaz. Jorge’s lazy and sensual vocal style, juxtaposed with the updated samba of the instrumental backing, makes this sound something like a cross between reggae-era Serge Gainsbourg and Tropicalia. Eighties enthusiasts will appreciate the covers of Kraftwerk’s ‘The Model’ and ‘Rock With You,’ made famous by Michael Jackson.
VARIOUS ARTISTS Black Man’s Cry: The Inspiration Of Fela Kuti
Some of these tracks are covers of songs originally created by the king of Afrobeat, while other are inspired by Fela or are simply grooves likely to hit the sweet spots of anyone who appreciates his epic workouts. Some of the acts are Nigerian and others are from the Caribbean – many of the selections are from previous
decades while the final three cuts are all by modern day bands.
ATOMIC FOREST Obsession Funky, proggy, hard-psych from India, with burning existentialist lyrical content. Their ballads don’t always work but they hit their stride when they get the wah-wah pedals and fuzzboxes going. Can’s ‘Mother Sky’ springs to mind when listening. Ace soundtracky-work on
versions of ‘Windmills Of Your Mind’ and ‘Theme From The Fox’, too.
WITCH
Lazy Bones The Witch, from Zambia were undoubtedly Africa’s greatest psychedelic rock band. Third album Lazy Bones, originally issued on a small privately pressed label in 1975, avoids African influences and focuses on a heavy, primitive rock style with plenty of fuzz, wah-wah, loose drumming and both lively and laid back vocals! A spartan production adds a lot to this dreamy, lo-fi blend.
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