Thanks to the people who supported Paris DJs second crowdfunding campaign this winter, a new, limited edition 9 tracks Paris DJs vinyl LP, with an illustration by graphic artist Ben Hito, is AVAILABLE NOW. Strictly limited to a 500 copies, this new collection of exclusive Grant Phabao remixes and productions is 100% Paris DJs Soundsystem-approved MASSIVE HITS!!

Listen/buy on Bandcamp

Paris DJs Soundsystem - Massive Hits From The Grant Phabao Factory
Paris DJs Soundsystem presents Massive Hits From The Grant Phabao Factory
(Digital compilation) Paris DJs PARISDJS065-D, 2015-02-18
(Limited edition vinyl LP, 500 copies only) Paris DJs PARISDJS065, 2015-04-17

Tracklisting :
A1. Grant Phabao Afrofunk Arkestra - Ymoja feat. Zakari Frantz & Cedric Ricard *
A2. Grant Phabao & RacecaR - We Do Anything feat. Taiwan MC **
A3. Grant Phabao, The Lone Ranger & Carlton Livingston - A Message To You Rudy ***
A4. Grant Phabao Afrofunk Arkestra - Mazouglave feat. Franck Biyong, Muyiwa Kununji & Cedric Ricard *
B1. Imagine This & Grant Phabao - The Break Through **
B2. Grant Phabao Afrofunk Arkestra - Ogun feat. Franck Biyong, Nicolas Baudino & Zakari Frantz *
B3. Grant Phabao & RacecaR - Return Of The Dig-Fu ****
B4. Grant Phabao & The Lone Ranger - Usain Bolt The Puma ***
B5. The Beta Club - Brassa Nova (Grant Phabao Remix) *****

* storming afrofunk instrumentals
** are special blends of roots reggae and hip hop
*** are dancefloor reggae monsters
**** is a unique and deeply funky fusion of afrofunk with hip hop verses
***** is cinematic reggae funk

Credits :
Compiled and liner notes by Djouls
Mastering by Grant Phabao
Artwork by Ben Hito
Vinyl : cutting at The Carvery
Pressed by Sowatt
℗ 2014 T.I.M.E.C./Paris DJs

Links :
Listen/buy on Bandcamp
Paris DJs : parisdjs.com | bandcamp | facebook | juno | pinterest | soundcloud | twitter | youtube
Grant Phabao : official | bandcamp | facebook | juno | parisdjs | soundcloud | youtube
Ben Hito : official | bandcamp | discogs | facebook
The Carvery : official
Sowatt : facebook



Press Release :
Paris DJs is media expanding into a very unusual kind of record company.

It is unusual because its principal characteristic is an uneasy marriage between business and "music you dont hear on the radio". It is unusual because there has been a remarkable consistency in its taste and devotion, for nearly 10 years already, to create an international a network of music lovers, spinning its web outside of the traditional "old school" music industry.

This year Paris DJs started moving in new directions, with vinyl pressings, t-shirts and posters. After a successful crowdfunding campaign named "Vinyl Is Good For You", mainly the feedback has been "when is the next one?". Overwhelmed by the response, we've decided to keep on.

We'll need more time to produce a new astonishing boxset of 45s, so right now the focus is on a selection of nine, as we called them, "Massive Hits From The Grant Phabao Factory", with a vinyl LP (pressed at 500 ex.), a poster (printed at 500 ex.) and a limited edition run of t-shirts & sweatshirts.

Grant Phabao is the in-house producer and sound engineer for the French label Paris DJs, and no doubt familiar to you as France's premier reggae lord. Over nearly two decades of superb music-making, he grew to be a prime purveyor of Jamaican Soul, wether labeled "ska", "rocksteady", "reggae", etc. After releasing albums with Jamaican legends Carlton Livingston, The Lone Ranger, The Jays or The Silvertones, and remixes for the whole planet, from George Clinton to Alice Russell, from David Byrne to Shawn Lee, from Jurassic 5 to The Beta Club… he started producing African music, working with the likes of Ebo Taylor, musicians from Fela's Egypt 80, Antibalas, The Souljazz Orchestra, Brownout or Franck Biyong. With the Paris DJs label, he managed to cross the rigid boundaries of music categorization with an astonishing quantity of high-quality productions and remixes in many styles, achieving a high-order mastery in reggae, ska and afrofunk…

Ben Hito is one hell of a graphic designer, fitting marvelously Paris DJs' "international music" approach. The French label really wants to spread his work, and notably, make a vast and eclectic collection of vinyl with him. Thanks to the people who supported Paris DJs' second crowdfunding campaign this winter, a new, limited edition 9 tracks vinyl LP is on its way for a early april 2015 release. Strictly limited to a 500 copies, this new collection of exclusive Grant Phabao remixes and productions is 100% Paris DJs Soundsystem-approved MASSIVE HITS, with storming afrofunk instrumentals, special blends of roots reggae and hip hop, dancefloor reggae monsters, a unique and deeply funky fusion of afrofunk with hip hop verses and cinematic reggae funk!!

PARIS DJS MASSIVE HITS TSHIRTS

!! Very limited run of t-shirts & sweatshirts !!
Basically, the t-shirts & sweatshirts will only be available to crowdfunders and people who pre-order, between mid-february and mid-march. After that, it'll be too late… Tshirts are Sol's IMPERIAL. More info here. Sweatshirts are Stanley & Stella STANLEY KNOWS. More info here. Colors available are Royal Blue and Heather Grey. The t-shirts are not particularly large, think European sizes, not American sizes.The sweatshirts are rather "slim", rather close-fitting. Choose one size over your t-shirt size for the sweatshirts.

PARIS DJS MASSIVE HITS CENTER ARTWORKS.jpg

LP Track-by-track info :

A1. Grant Phabao Afrofunk Arkestra - Ymoja
Composed by Grant Phabao
Published by T.I.M.E.C.
Zakari Frantz & Cedric Ricard - saxophones
Grant Phabao - all other instruments, production, mix and mastering
© 2013 T.I.M.E.C./Paris DJs

A monster tune with heavy heavy Afrofunk breaks from producer Grant Phabao and horns slabs from Cédric Ricard (Grand Rateau Big Band, Ensemble Zaïti, Doctor L) and Zakari Franz (The Souljazz Orchestra, Atlantis Jazz Ensemble). Originally released on the Paris DJs Soundsystem digital compilation "Rise of The Troubadour Warriors - Tropical Grooves & Afrofunk International Vol.3".
"Paris DJs' afro releases are superb and this one's no exception!" (The Craig Charles Soul & Funk Show, BBC6).


A2. Grant Phabao & RacecaR - We Do Anything feat. Taiwan MC
Written by RacecaR & Taiwan MC; Composed by Grant Phabao
Published by T.I.M.E.C.
RacecaR & Taiwan MC - Vocals
Grant Phabao - all instruments, production, mix and mastering
© 2014 T.I.M.E.C./Paris DJs

American MC RacecaR comes from Chicago but is now based in Paris. This is a different reggae/hip hop blend than the norm, with the lyricist's groovy rhymes recorded over one of Grant Phabao's heavy one drop reggae riddims, and featuring Parisian activist from the Chinese Man label Taiwan MC on guest vocals. A true Jamaican singer in the heart, Taiwan adds a catchy hook to the tune and the resulting track is pure, burning, smokin', cookin' music.


A3. Grant Phabao, Lone Ranger & Carlton Livingston - A Message To You Rudy
Written and composed by Robert Thompson
Published by Carlin Music
Guillaume Méténier - piano, organ
Grant Phabao - all other instruments, production, mix and mastering
© 2006 T.I.M.E.C.

Originally penned by Dandy Livingston in Jamaica, "Rudy" became the international hit single everybody knows when The Specials covered it in 1979 (with Elvis Costello producing). Grant Phabao, Carlton Livingston and The Lone Ranger's take is an instant classic, a smash in-your-face hit single that you can recognize as such in a few seconds. Keeping the flavour original, on a Jamaican tempo, roots style, this is a sure winner at any kind of floor, from the dancehall to the BBQ party.
Picked for the soundtrack to Jon Favreau's "Chef" movie in 2014 - in a now classic scene featuring Scarlett Johansson...


A4. Grant Phabao Afrofunk Arkestra - Mazouglave
Composed by Grant Phabao and Muyiwa Kunnuji
Published by T.I.M.E.C.
Franck Biyong - bass, rhythm guitar
Muyiwa Kunnuji - trumpet
Cedric Ricard - baritone & tenor sax
Grant Phabao - all other instruments, production, mix and mastering
© 2013 T.I.M.E.C./Paris DJs

This afrobeat / psychedelic funk dancefloor instrumental is a monster, once again. With the help of former Fela's Egypt 80 trumpet player Muyiwa Kunnuji, co-writing and playing on this one, and also French sax player Cedric Ricard or Cameroonian singer/songwriter/producer Franck Biyong on bass & rhyhtm guitar duties, Grant Phabao puts out a new killer single with a lovely groove!! Originally released on Paris DJs Soundsystem's digital compilation "Have You Ever Been To Electric Afroland ? - Tropical Grooves and Afrofunk International Vol.4".


B1. Imagine This & Grant Phabao - The Break Through
Composed and written by Khalid El Shareif and Grant Phabao
Published by Khalid El Shareif / T.I.M.E.C.
Produced by Imagine This and T.I.M.E.C.
Imagine This - Vocals
Grant Phabao - all other instruments, production, mix and mastering
© 2014 Imagine This/T.I.M.E.C./Paris DJs

Another very unique reggae / hip hop hybrid, gathering the dynamic flow of New-Zealand-based rapper, producer and songwriter Imagine This with Grant Phabao's high standard of vintage quality reggae. Originally released on Paris DJs Soundsystem's digital compilation "Take The Chains Off Your Brains - Psychedelic Hip Hop, Funk & Jazz Grooves".


B2. Grant Phabao Afrofunk Arkestra - Ogun
Composed by Fabien Préaux aka Grant Phabao and Nicolas Baudino
Published by T.I.M.E.C.
Zakari Frantz - alto saxophone
Nicolas Baudino - tenor saxophone, flute
Franck Biyong - bass
Grant Phabao - all other instruments, production, mix and mastering
© 2012 T.I.M.E.C. / Paris DJs

A dancefloor stormer featuring Franck Biyong on bass, with Nicolas Baudino (from Franck's Massak band) and Zakari Frantz (from The Souljazz Orchestra) respectively on tenor and alto sax. a heavy Afrofunk monster, full of massive horn breaks that torns dancefloors apart, "Ogun" has already been ravaging the clubbers heads & feets every time it's been tested, reminding the response Grant Phabao had at the end of the 90s with his pumpin' house hit single "Tub", or in the mid-2000s with his reggae cover of "A Message To You Rudy". Originally released on Paris DJs Soundsystem's digital compilation "Dis Is Good For You - Tropical Grooves and Afrofunk International Vol.1".


B3. Grant Phabao & RacecaR - Return Of The Dig-Fu
Written by RacecaR
Composed by Grant Phabao
Published by T.I.M.E.C.
Vocals by RacecaR
Grant Phabao - all other instruments, production, mix and mastering
© 2014 T.I.M.E.C./Paris DJs

Chicago-born MC RacecaR started rhyming at the end of the 90s. After more than 10 years of touring and recording in the US, he moved to France in 2010 and started a whole new musical life. With both knockout performances and acclaimed featurings with Soul Square, DJ Suspect & Doc TMK, Sax Machine, Blanka, Mattic, or Chinese Man Records artists Son Of A Pitch and Taiwan MC, RacecaR is one of the most in-demand hip hop MCs in France, he met with Grant Phabao at Paris DJs' studio, thanks to an introduction from hip hop activist Miska with whom the French label has been doing hip hop-themed compilations. They decided to try something new together and blend RacecaR's unmistakable flow with Phabao's unique take on deeply funky African and Jamaican grooves. With rhymes evoking the digger's lust for the rare groove in vinyl in inside all of us, "Return Of The Dig-Fu" is the first of their first productions, an unstoppable afro-funk-hip-hop blend that should let every listener wondering what's gonna come next from the crazy minds of this smoking duo.


B4. Grant Phabao & The Lone Ranger - Usain Bolt The Puma
Written by Anthony Waldron aka The Lone Ranger with the help of Julien 'Djouls' Lakshmanan
Composed and produced by Grant Phabao
Published by T.I.M.E.C.
Vocals by The Lone Ranger
Backing vocals by Carlton Livingston
Grant Phabao - all instruments, production, mix and mastering
© 2012 T.I.M.E.C./Paris DJs

After Usain Bolt's heart breaking false start, which left him disqualified from the 2011 World Athletics Championships, Jamaican deejay The Lone Ranger and French producer Grant Phabao decided to record this homage song to Jamaica's greatest sprinter (and, obviously, his sponsor). The song starts on a killer chorus hook before slipping into an unstoppable flow of no less surprising verses, filled with wiki-accuracy, wicked rhymes and dynamic rub-a-dub gimmicks. The reggae groove itself is relentless, tight and bumpy, like 70s Jamaica sounding heavy.


B5. The Beta Club - Brassa Nova (Grant Phabao Remix)
Composed by Shaun Stenton, Ben Greenslade-Stanton, Steve Haney
Published by Cartel Records UK
Steve Haney - Percussion
Ben Greenslade-Stanton - Horns
Shaun Stenton - Keyboards & Guitar
Guillaume Méténier - Clavinet
Grant Phabao - Keyboards, Guitars, Bass & Drums, additional production, Mix and mastering
© 2014 Cartel Records UK / Paris DJs

UK-based collective with branches in L.A., N.Y., San Francisco & Paris, The Beta Club get their 'Brassa Nova' scorcher gloriously reggae-fied by French producer Grant Phabao into a post-summer balearic anthem featuring French keyboardist supreme Soul Sugar on clavinet. While the original could be imagined as something close to The Budos Band recording a song for a Steven Soderbergh or a Kim Jee Woon soundtrack with David Holmes, with influences ranging from David Axelrod, Ennio Morricone & John Barry to Joe Cuba, Lee Perry, Norman Whitfield, Antibalas or The Poets Of Rhythm, this new Grant Phabao remix leans now towards a really unique tropical piece of sacred instrumental music. A half-Jamaican and half-cinematic soundtrack to the best memories of your life.


Special thanks to everyone who contributed to our crowdfdunding campaign, we couldn't have made this vinyl without you : Vanessa Alice, Arnaud Amouyal, Marin Basley, Vincent Baverel, Conway Bennett, Adnan Beswick, Chris Black, Avi Bram, Daniel Bukowiecki, Bertrand Carcel, Julien Chantefort, Taposh Chatterjee, Nono Cheminat, Iain Crinson, Edouard Dagron, Thomas Davi, Neil Davis, Stéphane De San Nicolas, Benoit De Vilmorin, Selecta Desha, Pablo Dewez, Matt Dickerson, James Dickman, Kisa Djette, Vincent Doutchy, Kosmas Efremidis, Sean Ernsting, Clément Escalard, Adrien Fache, Aurélien Fache, Puppa Feed, Fred Ferreira Pinto, Jordan Ferrer, George Fox, Sam Funkyfrog, Brian Gibbons, Brian Gouin, Fred Grand, Guillaume Grellier, Paul Griffiths, Guillaume Grosso, Alain Guerci, Cyril Guibourg, Luc-Olivier Guichard, Jamie Hailstone, David Hanke, Nick Hellenbroich, Ben Higgins, Pierre-Marie Jan, Waka Jawaka, Jean Jean, Peter Joppich, Peter Joppich, Sacha Juncker, Sacha Juncker, Folkert Jung, Gareth Kenyon, Isabell Koch, Kim Koerkamp, Athanasios Komitoudis, Guillaume Lakshmanan, Richard Lander, Etienne Laurent, François Martin, Martial Maulave, Matt Mcarthur, Jean Herve Michel, Aurélien Moreau, Anad Nair, Christophe Nicolaïdis, Francois Pajot, Sjoerd Panhuysen, Mathieu Perrin Lacour, Pierre Pleyber, Laurent Poinsignon, Dax Pointon, Pierre Arnaud Porée, Emmanuel Prosnier, Pierre Raingeard, Nick Rayman, Stephane Rix, Guillaume Rocroy, Michael Rufolo, Jean-Philippe Samier, Jerome Sanz, Patrick Sault, Daniel Schaerz, Thomas Schimpf, Seb Selekta, Thomas Seropian, Antonis Sisois, Martin Smith, Frederic Solti, Antonis Steris, Grega Stern, Romain Stucker, Matthieu Tertois, Sarah Thallon, Matt Thompson, Youri Van Driessche, Tim Vanhaecke, Rodolfo Vaz, Guillaume Verney-Carron, Veronique Prebolin, Paulo Vinicius, Roberta Vodkakoka, Ken White, Neil Wilson, Karl Wortmann, Pablo Yglesias. Thanks to everyone else involved in the creation, production and promotion of this record. Please forgive us if you feel you were forgotten on this list. You were essential too.

Original post on Paris DJs