El Michels Affair - 24 Hr Sports - VINYL LP

Leon Michels has quietly become one of the most sought-after producers in music. His signature sound has caught the attention of the mainstream while continuing to inspire the underground. Since 2023's El Michels Affair & Black Thought album Glorious Game, Michels has been busy producing records for other artists; Norah Jones' Grammy winning Visions, Clairo's Grammy nominated Charm, Kali Uchis' InchMoonlightInch, as well as albums for labelmates Brainstory, Derya Yildirim & Grup Simsek, Thee Heart Tones, and Liam Bailey. His new album 24 Hr Sports marks the highly anticipated return to recording under his own moniker, El Michels Affair. 24 Hr Sports was inspired by the fashion and graphic design of '80s & '90s Sports Illustrated magazines, MF DOOM's Special Herbs albums, the sample sources used on them, and gospel music a la Pastor T.L. Barrett. The sum of those influences with Michels' impeccable creative touch prove to be the recipe for an instant classic that will surely be one of the most heralded releases of 2025. The album opener InchDrum LineInch is an anthemic, uplifting tune with marching band drumming and thundering brass arrangements that command undivided attention and set the tone for what's to come. 24 Hr Sports sees a significant departure from the largely instrumental music of the El Michels Affair catalog with a roster of vocal features that manages to mirror the undefinable genre of his music. The first one on the album is InchMágicaInch which features Brazil's Rogê. He takes the already pumping energy of the track over the top with his fútbol inspired lyrics. Moving from Brazil to Ghana, InchSay GoodbyeInch features Florence Adooni who touts her individuality with an effortless swag jumping between Frafra and English, telling it like it is in the earworm chorus, Inchnever gonna find a girl like me...Inch. Labelmate and world renowned trumpeter from

El Michels Affair's 2025 instant classic 24 Hr Sports. The roster of vocal features on 24 Hr Sports is amazing, Clairo, Norah Jones, Florence Adooni, Shintaro Sakamoto, two different choirs, and even some singing from the man himself, Leon Michels. The background vocals contributions are amazing; Lady Wray and Kevin Martin from Brainstory to name a few. But alas, there's a new energy that shows up in the listen when you pair it down to the impeccable musicianship and Leon's tried and true InchMidas TouchInch production. Leon plays a ton of instruments across the album and is joined by the regular cast of heavy hitters; Homer Steinweiss, Nick Movshon, Dave Guy, Marco Benevento, Hether, and more. There is even a saxophone solo by the late, great Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Some would argue this is some of the best music being made by some of the best musicians of our time. We wouldn't argue with anyone... we let the music do what it does.

Best-known for her classic 1955 Top 10 hit InchCry Me A RiverInch, Julie London was a fine sultry-voiced jazz and pop singer, who enjoyed her greatest popularity during the InchcoolInch era of the late '50s and early '60s - Billboard magazine named her as the most popular female vocalist of 1955, '56 and '57. Although she sang as a child with her parents' vaudeville act on radio, the first decade of her career from 1945 was as a Hollywood movie actress, becoming a popular pin-up girl of GIs, and appearing with the likes of Gary Cooper. Beginning her recording career in 1955, she scored a hit with her first for Liberty, InchCry Me A RiverInch, and over subsequent years released around twenty singles for the tag, as well as having a regular output of concept albums, showcasing her smoky and sensuous vocal style with a mixture of sophisticated pop and mainstream jazz material. This great-value 58-track 2-CD collection comprises her debut recordings on an EP recorded for the Bethlehem tag (the tracks were later released as singles by Liberty), and all her A and B sides for Liberty through to 1962, some of which came from her LP releases, plus selected tracks from the seventeen albums she released during those first important years of her recording career. As well as InchCry Me A RiverInch, it includes what was one of her best-known recordings, her vocal version of the jazz cha-cha InchDesafinado (Slightly Out of Tune)Inch from 1962. InchCry Me A RiverInch has been revived by many high-profile artists over the years. Julie London is an artist who has not received the accolades she deserved as a sophisticated jazz/pop singer to compare with the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Peggy Lee, and this collection will help underline her distinctive talent.