Stories

Releasing August 27, 2021, Island Vibes Island Vibes paints a meditative canvas of the Hawaiian Islands’ natural beauty. Merging the sounds of nature along with his resounding vibraphone, Arthur Lyman and producer Gordon Broad created an ambient-jazz-field recording album that exhibits the pure weightlessness of Lyman’s music and the tropical allure of Hawaii.  Originally recorded with Broad Records, who’s responsible for Phase 7’s Playtime and other important 1970s and 80s-era local records.At eight years old, Arthur Lyman's music was already being played in public spaces via a toy marimba performance on the radio. While Lyman laughed about the experience, he would continue performing...

Culled from compact discs spanning 1997 to 2009, our latest release (AGS-064) is an exhilarating collection of exotica instrumentals by Don Tiki, Honolulu's pioneers of the pseudo-Polynesian genre. Hot Like Lava by Don Tiki Led by Fluid Floyd (Lloyd Kandell) and Perry Coma (Kit Ebersbach), Don Tiki draws inspiration from the original masters of the exotica sound: Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman and Les Baxter, to bring such evocative music into the 21st century. The group made its in 1997 with the album, The Forbidden Sounds of Don Tiki, featuring the legendary Martin Denny in what would become one of his final recordings...

Eleven years ago, this record changed my life. It entered my purview in high school four years earlier, but it wasn't until 2010 after graduating college that this album really made an impact.  Now, in 2021, it's getting fully reissued on Aloha Got Soul. After all these years of cherishing this record, I finally can proudly say (still with some disbelief) that AGS is reissuing this timeless album.  Digital drop on Bandcamp is slated for July 30th, 2021. Vinyl expected to arrive in mid- to late-August. We also did a handful of exclusive variants — check out this list:  Vinyl Me, Please sound waves Light...

Our storefront is now open, at 2017 S. King Street in Honolulu. We're located in the Mōʻiliʻili neighborhood, centered between Waikīkī and the University of Hawai‘i.  We got the keys on April 1st, 2021 and spent the next 9 weeks putting lots of hard work and late nights, and not without the generosity of many friends who pitched in. On June 12th, we finally opened the doors for a "soft opening".  There were certainly snags along the way, and countless moments where we were ready to pack up and go home. (We still hits snags now, even though we're officially open.) We knew it’s...

It's been a long time coming.  For the past 6 years I've been running the label from the comfort of my home (or homes, considering we've moved apartments a handful of times in the past several years).  And with each passing year, as the label's operations grew — things like pressing more releases, fulfilling more orders, meeting more artists and producers in person — the need for a dedicated physical space became apparent.  I can't tell you how many fans, folks, and friends have asked us where our shop is, only for me to tell them that we run Aloha Got Soul...