| Strut Records | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Founder | Quinton Scott |
| Genre | Funk, Soul music, Disco, World, Dance music, Afrobeat |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Location | London |
| Official website | strut-records.co.uk |
Strut Records is a British record label that started in 1999. The label focuses on releasing dance music, jazz and afrobeat including artists Patrice Rushen, Sun Ra Arkestra and Mulatu Astatke.
The label was "acquired and re-launched in January 2008." The label website states that "from 1999-2003, the label became renowned for its uncompromising high quality packages documenting landmarks in the history of dance music from Italo disco, Calypso, Afrobeat and beyond". [1] From 1999 to 2003 "Strut was one of the UK's leading record labels dedicated to unearthing the lost gems of dance music past, covering music from hard funk, underground disco, original breaks and Nigerian Afrobeat to old skool hip hop and forgotten music library classics." [2] "Set up in 1999 to document important areas of dance music's history, Strut's releases cut no corners, bringing together killer dancefloor tracks as well as giving a full context to the music, telling the story of the characters behind the tunes, the clubs and the scene of the time." [2] "The albums are mastered from original tapes wherever possible and feature extensive sleevenotes, researched and written by respected journalists, rare photographs and memorabilia." [2]
In 2008 Strut & Gold Dust Media joined the !K7 label group, which today is best known for producing electronic music artists and especially for the DJ-Kicks compilations. Between 1999 and 2003, Strut released everything from Nigerian Afrobeat to left field disco to rare groove. The release of Grandmaster Flash's new album also took place this year. Strut's founder, Quinton Scott, is responsible for A&R. Gold Dust Media is A&R'd from the US office of !K7 and will focus mainly on American artists.
As of 2017, Strut serves as !K7's reissue label, including recordings by Patrice Rushen and Miriam Makeba. [3]
One group signed to the label is Ottawa-based Souljazz Orchestra.
In 2019, Strut celebrates its 20th anniversary by re-pressing some of their best releases (Disco Not Disco, [4] Patrice Rushen) [5] or adding new episodes in compilations series (Nigeria 70). [6]
Afrobeat is a West African music genre, fusing influences from Nigerian and Ghanaian music, with American funk, jazz, and soul influences. With a focus on chanted vocals, complex intersecting rhythms, and percussion, the style was pioneered in the 1960s by Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti, who popularised it both within and outside Nigeria. At the height of his popularity, he was referred to as one of Africa's most "challenging and charismatic music performers."
Patrice Louise Rushen is an American jazz pianist, R&B singer, record producer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and music director.
Tony Oladipo Allen was a Nigerian and French drummer, composer, and songwriter who lived and worked in Paris, France. Allen was the drummer and musical director of Fela Kuti's band Africa '70 from 1968 to 1979, and was one of the founders of the Afrobeat genre. Fela once stated that "without Tony Allen, there would be no Afrobeat". He was described by Brian Eno as "perhaps the greatest drummer who has ever lived". Later in life, Allen collaborated with Damon Albarn on several projects, including Gorillaz, the Good, the Bad & the Queen and Rocket Juice & the Moon.
Matthew Dear is an American electronic music producer and DJ.
!K7 Music is a music company based in Berlin, Germany that focuses mostly on electronic music. The name is an abbreviation of the company's original Berlin address, Kaiserdamm 7. !K7 has since opened branch offices in New York City and London. The company now operates an artist management division, managing a roster of artists including the British musician Tricky. !K7 Music also runs a successful Label Services and Synch and Licensing department.
Smith & Mighty are an English trip hop group from Bristol, England, consisting of Rob Smith, Ray Mighty and Peter D Rose. They pioneered the Bristol sound producing Massive Attack's "Any Love". The Bristol sound being a precursor to trip hop. As well as producing for others, they produced their own work, and various solo projects and collaborations.
"Forget Me Nots" is a 1982 song by the American R&B musician Patrice Rushen. It appears on her seventh album, Straight from the Heart. It has been sampled and interpolated in several songs, including "Men in Black" (1997) by Will Smith and "Fastlove" (1996) by George Michael.
Nick Holder is an underground hip-hop and house music DJ and producer from Toronto, Ontario.
Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou is a band from Cotonou, Benin, originally active from the 1960s to the 1980s and founded by singer-guitarist Mélomé Clément. They reformed in 2009 to international recognition. Their work has mixed styles such as funk, afrobeat, psychedelia, jazz and local voodoo influences. The Guardian called them "one of West Africa's best dance bands."
Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, known professionally as Wizkid, is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. Born in the Ojuelegba suburb of Surulere, Lagos, Wizkid is a voice in the emerging Afrobeats movement. His music is a blend of Afrobeats, afropop, R&B, afrobeat, reggae, dancehall, and pop. He began recording music at the age of 11 and released a collaborative album with the Glorious Five, a group he and a couple of his church friends formed. In 2009, Wizkid signed a record deal with Banky W's Empire Mates Entertainment (E.M.E). He rose to the limelight after releasing "Holla at Your Boy", the lead single from his debut studio album, Superstar (2011), which also spawned the singles "Tease Me/Bad Guys" and "Don't Dull".
Opera Multi Steel, often abbreviated as OMS, is a French minimal synth and coldwave band, originally founded in Bourges in 1983 by Franck Lopez, Patrick L. Robin and Catherine Marie.
Camille Filfiley, known professionally as Camille, is an American singer best known for her recordings with Eumir Deodato and her prominence in the early 1990s freestyle music and dance music genres.
Soundway Records is a British, London-based independent record label, founded and run by English DJ and music producer Miles Cleret. Since its initial release of a collection of Ghanaian music in 2002, it has released compilation albums of African, Caribbean, Latin, and Asian music from the 1950s to 1980s.
Abiodun Odukoya, better known as Abiodun, is a Nigerian-German singer, songwriter, producer and music arranger. Abiodun's name is of Yoruba origin and means "he who is born on a day of festivity". He is better known as the co founder of the Afro German music collective Brothers Keepers and as one of the pioneers of the German reggae, afro and soul music scene.
Bantu is a 13-piece band based in Lagos, Nigeria. Their music is a fusion of Afrofunk, Afrobeat, highlife and Yoruba music. The group features multi-instrumentalists and singers who perform as a collective.
Doing It In Lagos: Boogie, Pop & Disco in 1980s Lagos is a compilation album released in 2016 by Soundway Records. It collects Nigerian pop and club culture tracks released in the late 1970s through the 1980s. Though afrobeat, led by artists like Fela Kuti, dominated Nigerian music during the 1970s, Doing It In Lagos chronicles Nigerian music's move away from the afrocentric style of afrobeat and toward more American forms of pop music in the 1980s. Many of the tracks are rare and, prior to this album's release, were sold for high prices in online auctions.
Afrobeats, not to be confused with afrobeat or afroswing, is an umbrella term to describe popular music from West Africa and the diaspora that initially developed in Nigeria, Ghana, and the UK in the 2000s and 2010s. Afrobeats is less of a style per se, and more of a descriptor for the fusion of sounds flowing majorly out of Nigeria. Genres such as hiplife, jùjú music, highlife, azonto music, and naija beats, among others, were amalgamated under the "afrobeats" umbrella.
Orlando Julius Aremu Olusanya Ekemode, known professionally as Orlando Julius or Orlando Julius Ekemode was a Nigerian saxophonist, singer, bandleader, and songwriter closely associated with afrobeat music.
Horst Weidenmüller is a German music executive producer and entrepreneur, founder of !K7 Music. He has been part of the music industry since the early 1980s when he began as a producer of concert video footage of musicians in the punk music genre. He founded !K7 in 1985 and became an influential part of the Berlin techno music industry in the early 1990s. Weidenmüller curated and produced a popular techno music audiovisual series, X-Mix, which aired on MTV in the mid-1990s. He also serves on the board of several trade associations, including the IMPALA where he was co-president until 2011. Since its founding in 2008, he has also served on the board of the digital rights agency Merlin Network.
