Sounds Familiar celebrates 10-year anniversary with three-volume collection of future-facing dance music
Sounds Familiar will celebrate its 10th anniversary this year with a triple LP collection released in three 6-track volumes, bringing together 18 artists from across the Sounds Familiar roster.
Released on 21st April 2023, Familiar Sounds Vol. 1 features new music by Dego ft. Lord
Kamma & Masalo
Aleqs Notal ft. Anu
Kai Alcé
Retromigration and Hugo LX
Reflecting the broad church of soulful dance music that has come to define Sounds Familiar over the last decade, album begins with
Dego’s supreme machine funk - a liquid bassline connecting seamlessly across the shuffling broken beat drums of ‘Bluetooth Headset’.
Things go up a gear on track two, with Kamma and Masalo’s cosmically-aligned acid supernova ‘Neon Ocean’
Aleqs Notal serves up a slice of fluttering deep house on ‘Reminder of Tomorrow’, voiced by the brooding spoken word of London-based producer, illustrator, radio host and DJ anu, interpreting the poem ‘Restraint’ by poet Hibaq Osman.
Floating in on a jazzier tip, the B-Side hears Kai Alcé go nocturnal on ‘Late Night Submersion’, following serpentine saxophone lines down the rabbit hole and into the early hours.
Retromigration keeps the mood smooth as in-the-pocket sax and flute improvisations weave a low-lit spell into the fabric of the groove, before Hugo LX steps up the snap-back drums on ‘Sunday Night Service’, propelled by a fluid and angular drive that closes out the compilation in style.
Built on an ethos of community, Sounds Familiar also recently opened its own record shop in the heart of Rome’s Trastevere and will embark on a series of events and other exciting collaborations
The release of Familiar Sounds Vol. 1 will be followed by Volume 2 in July and Volume 3 in October 2023. Keeping it in the family, all three volumes will feature artwork and creative direction by SF logo creator and long-time collaborator Tyler Askew, and will be pressed and distributed by Patrick Gibin’s Verona-based Mother Tongue Records.
Familiar Sounds Vol. 1 is released on 21st April 2023.
This is not the first time that Sounds Familiar has ventured into releasing new music from its artists. In the early years SF produced a set of limited 45s, collaborated with Salsoul on a compilation of reworks and re-edits, and in May 2021 launched 7 Inch Nails, a 7” series of dance floor jams that has featured Dego, Kaidi and K15.
“We grew organically into something more than just a platform for artists,” says founder Ornella Cicchetti, who launched SF in 2013 with the desire to offer artists support, network and expertise built over 30 years in the industry.
credits
released April 21, 2023
A1 WRITTEN AND PRODUCED BY DEGO/LORD
A2 WRITTEN AND PRODUCED BY KAMMA & MASALO
A3 WRITTEN AND PRODUCED BY ALEQS NOTAL. POEM BY HIBAQ OSMAN. SPOKEN WORD BY ANU
B1 PRODUCED AND MIXED BY KAI ALCÉ. ADDITIONAL KEYBOARDS BY BYRON THE AQUARIUS
B2 WRITTEN AND PRODUCED BY RETROMIGRATION. HORNS BY MAURICESAX
B3 WRITTEN. PRODUCED AND MIXED BY HUGOLX [H-LASCOUX] FOR DOMA MUSIC
supported by 17 fans who also own “Familiar Sounds Volume 1”
KT is back! A killer album. KT's tonal signature is in the soul of each track. So beautifully recognisable. Like listening to Mr Glasper or SAULT. Quality all the way. majhium