Stories

In March 2014, Aloha Got Soul hosted a dual-city party in London and Honolulu. We called it Soul Time In Hawaii, and since then we've been hosting it every month in Honolulu, London, and Chicago. You might remember the mix we created for the party: Now it's 2016, and we're celebrating the two year anniversary of Soul Time with a week of special events in Honolulu. Our friends from Chicago and London are flying to town to help host the events. We're also welcoming Amsterdam's Red Light Radio to Hawaii for their first time to broadcast each event live. Here's...

Last November we released (sort of) the long-awaited reissue of Mike Lundy's 1980 Hawaiian holy grail, The Rhythm Of Life. It was accepted with great reviews from critics and listeners worldwide—the title track made it onto Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Winners 2015 list, which broadcast in December. "The crown jewels of Hawaiian funk, from 1980 — with an open, upful ‘island sound’ attuned to the spaced-out, mystical vibe of classic, late-seventies Roy Ayers, Gary Bartz and co." —Honest Jon's, January 2016 The Rhythm Of Life on deck at Hungry Ear in January 2016. While many enjoyed listening to TROL streaming online...

We are extremely pleased to tell you that for that past 12 months we've been working with London's Strut Records on a compilation entitled Aloha Got Soul: Soul, AOR & Disco in Hawai‘i 1979-1985, and it hits stores worldwide in February 2016. Compiled by Roger Bong, the aptly-titled Aloha Got Soul comprises 16 tracks of inspired funk, disco, jazz and AOR recorded in Hawai‘i. The release is the first definitive compilation representing a vibrant and varied era of recordings, and we're hoping it shines a whole new light on the Hawaiian Islands’ not-so-distant music culture of the 1970s and 1980s....

Mike Lundy's The Rhythm Of Life is finally available again in its full glory: the nine-track quintessential Hawaiian funk/soul opus that has come to represent the birth of the Aloha Got Soul record label and the rebirth of Lundy's almost forgotten masterpiece. Here's a snippet from the liner notes which expresses my feelings for this special project: "There couldn’t have been a more perfect collaboration with which to launch the Aloha Got Soul label. Working with Mike has been a blessing. Coincidence has found us time after time along our journey. We share a mutual respect for each other’s honesty...

When paired with photos from the evening, DJ Notoya's recording transports the listener to Soul Time In Hawaii. Together they recreate an authentic, nostalgic experience of what this monthly all-vinyl event in Honolulu is like. Even though the sound quality is far from perfect, it perfectly captures more than a mix ever could.