Stories

I sometimes get asked about current soul music from Hawaii. Spending so much of my time focusing on a very particular era of soul music from the islands, I admit find myself caught off-guard when faced with such an inquiry. Thanks to several tips, namely from my buddy JBMbeatz, prominent Honolulu DJ Bennie James, and my fiancé, I picked up Maryanne Ito's debut album Waking Up from Hungry Ear Records. Dear lord is it good. A week or so later, Bennie and I chatted on the phone. Bennie's taken on the role of manager for Maryanne and has successfully arranged...

What follows is a recent discussion I had with record label owner Rob Butler, who runs the London-based Be With Records which, since its inception in May 2014, has released a steady string of solid reissues that dance across a landscape of good music. ORDER NOW: Nohelani Cypriano Nohelani LP reissue available from Be With Records. I was relieved, then, to learn late last year that Rob had secured the rights to reissue Nohelani Cypriano's debut LP, Nohelani, on vinyl. Relieved because Rob cherishes music for what it is—food for the soul—not so much for its collectability. In my mind,...

The second release from Aloha Got Soul is here. After months of waiting for the test pressings to arrive (thanks to Record Store Day for the springtime delays at the pressing plant!), the second 7-inch from Mike Lundy is on schedule for worldwide release on June 22, 2015. The single will be available from the Aloha Got Soul online shop and select retailers worldwide. We've also made the tracks digitally available on Bandcamp and all major digital outlets. Just like Mike's first release in January, we're celebrating with two parties in Honolulu, plus two parties in London and one in...

Last August I took a trip to Maui, during which I drove the Road To Hana, proposed to my girlfriend, and went hunting for records in the basement of Wailuku’s Request Music, the only record store on the island. It was there I met Brendan Smith, the shop’s general manager. With Record Store Day now nearly a month behind us, I decided to spend more time getting to know Brendan, his involvement with Request Music, his awesome #sleevefaceoff contest idea that (unfortunately) no one entered, and his take on the annual frenzy we call Record Store Day. Note: an edited...

On March 26, 2015, Aloha Got Soul celebrated the one-year anniversary of Soul Time In Hawaii, our monthly all-vinyl party right here in Honolulu. To celebrate, we played 100% Hawaiian vinyl all night: 8 hours straight. Initially, the Soul Time party was a one-off event in two cities to promote a tee/mixtape collab I did with a new London apparel company called Weekends West. We held it in Honolulu and London. The events were a success, so we turned Soul Time into a monthly gig on both sides of the globe. (We recently had the opportunity to expand to the...