Stories — Releases
Eddie Suzuki's "City Of Refuge" is one of those songs that feels like eternity
"City Of Refuge" is an island psych rock rarity that burns blissfully like the Hawaiian sun. Available on vinyl and digital platforms from Aloha Got Soul. (AGS-036)
Phase 7 "Playtime" will make you dance and make you laugh
Phase 7's "Playtime" album, recorded in 1980 at Honolulu’s Broad Recording Studio, captures the band’s winning combination of playfulness and musicianship across eight tunes. Available on vinyl LP from Aloha Got Soul.
Roots Run Deep: our new imprint for Hawai‘i reggae on wax
Earlier today, Oahu entered another lockdown. It's not the first one this year— back in April, the entire state entered a stay-at-home mandate, an unprecedented move that shut down — but it definitely heightens the reality of the pandemic, reminding us to be smart, safe, and respectful to the community-at-large. Back in April, Likkle Jordee, a local reggae artist who hails from my hometown of Mililani, posted a string of singles on his Bandcamp and Shopify pages. These were tune he'd made during the lockdown with his go-to producer, Pana. Together they created one of the most relevant and timely songs of...
New release: Steve & Teresa's 'Catching A Wave' finally reissued in full!
I'm a bit late to announcing this on the blog, but Catching A Wave (AGS-038) dropped last Friday. We're elated with the response it's generated among fans new and old! It's the first classic Hawaiian album that we've reissued on Aloha Got Soul. Up until now, most the albums we've released have been lesser known diamonds in the rough that sit outside of the Hawaiian music genre spectrum. I believe it's a solid first step in the label's ongoing progression. And I can't thank Teresa and Steve enough for this opportunity. Earlier today, Bandcamp published a feature on the album, detailing its origins in the early 1980s to...
Disco Island Edits: Volume 2 comes ashore via NYC
Today I'm happy to share with you the second installment in our Disco Island Edits series. The six tracks composing Volume 2 were pieced together with care by our crate-digging cohort in NYC, Sticky Dojah, real name Phil Lembke. Phil has been an enthusiastic supporter of AGS for a few years now, his love of local music really kicking in when his father-in-law moved to Hawai‘i Island. Annual family vacations to Hilo side yielded Phil with a growing collection of hard-to-find Hawaiian gems, as evidenced by his (current) photo on his Bandcamp page, where he's seen holding up a copy...