UMC レコード& CD

Review: When he released third album "Me Against The World" in 1995, Tupac Shakur was arguably the biggest name in hip-hop. As we now know, it wouldn't last, with the LA rapper losing his life in a drive-by shooting 12 months later. As tragic as his demise was, his music still resonates and this album - here reissued to celebrate its 25th anniversary - is arguably the best of the lot. Produced by an all-star cast of beat-makers (Brian G, Easy Mo Bee, Tony Pizarro and Moe ZMD included), the set offered a glossy and polished take on the then dominant gangster rap style while including numerous nods to R&B, swing and G-funk. If you don't already own a copy, grab one of these pronto.

Review: There are a few Beastie Boys reissue projects in the works at the moment, but none will be more popular than this 30th anniversary edition of one of the band's best. After their experimental mini-album "Roots Down", "Paul's Boutique" is composed, vocals aside, almost entirely of samples all put together in Matt Dike's apartment and the Record Plant in Los Angeles from 1988 to 1989. It marked the moment they were taken seriously, became hip hop giants and broke free of their one hit wonder tag. Its retro style and gleeful misuse of samples was thrillingly original yet familiar and despite the myriad of sounds, scenes and styles drawn upon, somehow they all added up to make this a cohesive album.

Review: Beastie Boys Music is a new greatest hits compilation album that serves as a companion to 2020's Spike Jonze-directed Beastie Boys Story and 256-page photo book, Beastie Boys Book. The double vinyl affair takes in 20 classic tracks that span the iconic group's more than 30 year career, with the biggest of the big such as 'No Sleep', 'Sabotage' and 'Intergalactic' all making the cut. By now these are well worn classics, but their impact on rap cannot be overstated, and the tunes still get any party banging thanks to the immediacy of the beats and sharpness of the rhymes.

Review: Root Down is an experimental album from 1994 when The Beastie Boys locked themselves in a rehearsal space and went to town on studio experimentation and live jamming. It came between "Paul's Boutique" and "Check Your Head" and resulted in two previously unreleased versions of the title track and snippets of music recorded while on tour in Europe. There is the typical Beastie Boys mix of floor rocking riffs but with funky new flows stitched in and thus charts the period in which the band went from their post punk guitar roots to a more new-groove driven sound.

Review: Is Wendy Carlos one of the most underrated and overlooked of the female synth pioneers? It probably depends who you ask, with the die hard archivists no doubt ready to stand up and scream "who doesn't remember, respect, and revere her?" Nevertheless, in terms of popular culture she hasn't received the same level of reappraisal as the likes of Delia Derbyshire in recent years, in the UK at least, although perhaps that's because Britain always loves celebrating British achievements.

In all honesty, Carlos is just as important as anyone who has ever laid a finger on a synthesizer. Her legacy includes helping develop the benchmark setting Moog, alongside three truly unforgettable and iconic soundtracks. The Shining, A Clockwork Orange, and finally Tron, the latter - this - forsaking omnipresent tension and sense of impending doom, and menacing, snarling electronic takes on classical overtures, for something more in keeping with a Disney movie - fantastical, sweeping, and emotionally charged.

Review: J Cole's 2014 Forest Hills Drive will likely go down in history as one of 2010s hip-hop's most emotive albums. Through various forces, we'd contend it found itself on the iPods of anyone so much as remotely interested in exploring hip-hop beyond the pales of Kendrick Lamar, Drake or Eminem. It put Cole on the map for many young listeners: the virginity-loss classic 'Love Yourz' is the obvious go-to hit, but it doesn't represent the rest of the album, which mostly falls into the category of gushing and nostalgic. '03 Adolescence' and 'Apparently' are our highlights, with Cole indulging emotive jazz-piano interludes and pop-rap production tropes, with his rhymes always circling back to the album's core subject matters: home, childhood, wrong paths, memories.

Review: Few people can be said to be a true hip-hop head lest they've heard 2014 Forest Hills Drive by J. Cole. The heartfelt, orchestrally-tempered album was released way back in 2014 (duh) and hears the rapper sing and speak eloquently of his bittersweet coming-of-age - telling many stories of his first loves, his adolescent angst, and his intentional avoidance of the wrong paths. Now lovingly reissued just in time for its 10th Anniversary, we're glad to hear the LP that helped establish Cole's romantic, reminiscent side won't stay out of the limelight.

Review: Cruising the slipstream of Black Messiah, D'Angelo's debut album gets a timely reissue 20 years after its release. The neo-soul foundations dig deep with every nuance and subtlety D'Angelo has become known for; the Gaye-level harmonies of "Crusin'", the jazz meanders of "Sh*t Damn Motherf*ker" and the unstoppably sexual drive of "Lady"... If this isn't in your collection already, now is most definitely the time.

Review: It was big news when Daft Punk were enlisted to record the soundtrack to Disney's remake of Tron. While the film has perhaps faded from view slightly, the soundtrack remains a popular notch in the French duo's latter-day legacy. Here, we get treated to a reissue of the big budget remix collection which came out in 2011. It's a neat snapshot of the electronic music landscape at the time, ranging from The Glitch Mob to M83, Moby to Paul Oakenfold, Boys Noize to Photek and the late, great Avicii. You certainly wouldn't get the same cast of characters together for a similar package now, making this a document of the era as well as an essential collection of premier league dance music.

Review: Fervent Daft Punk fans will be all over this collector's edition of the French duo's soundtrack for the Tron sequel! Spread across two heavyweight 180g slabs of vinyl housed in a gatefold sleeve, this edition features two previously unreleased tracks and a code to grab all thirty tracks on vinyl. Naturally, fans will already know that 'Derezzed' aside, this is strictly Daft Punk doing soundtrack material as opposed to Daft Punk doing new Daft Punk. Perhaps the most important thing about this release is the lack of any of those somewhat risible remixes that Disney insisted on releasing.

Review: Wow, 20 years has gone by since Eminem changed the game with his "Slim Shady" LP. To mark the occasion, this anniversary edition is freshly expanded with 10 bonus tracks that include rarities, a cappella versions, freestyles and instrumentals. It was the iconic rapper's major debut that didn't dampen down his raw spirit and attitude. Anthems like "My Name Is" still bang, "97' Bonnie & Clyde" finds him at his vengeful and most bile-filled best and just about everything else confirms his reputation as one of the most pointed and dangerous lyricists in the game.

Review: Originally issued back in 1998, Mezzanine remains the most commercially successful album released by Bristol troupe Massive Attack, thanks in no small part to the Liz Fraser-featuring "Teardrop". This third album signalled a change in sonic direction that played more explicitly on the darkness and tension that was always an undercurrent of their much loved debut Blue Lines and successor Protection. After numerous bootlegs over the years, Virgin have done the right thing and presented this official reissue of Mezzanine to appease fans of Massive Attack and it's clear the LP has lost none of it's bewitching power. The Quincy Jones and Isaac Hayes sampling "Exhange" and "Exchange" remain a delight in particular.

Review: Two decades have passed since Massive Attack signaled a new stage in their career with the dark, paranoid and claustrophobic brilliance of "Mezzanine", their third studio album. Given the current global political climate, it arguably sounds even more relevant 20 years after it first hit stores. This time round, the re-mastered original set comes accompanied by something none of us have heard before: Mad Professor's complete dub translation, which was slated for release around the turn of the Millennium but for one reason or another never came out. Like his take on "No Protection", it's an inspired set of revisions that takes 3D and Daddy G's dense and red-eyed originals into wild new bass-heavy places. Even if you own the original version already, it's well worth picking up this special edition just for that alone.

Review: Sometime sis feels like The Roots is one of the most underrated yet important groups in hip hop. Musically and lyrically they were always cut from a different cloth. Do You Want More?!!!?! was their second full length and it landed in January 1995 on DGC Records, It was their first outing on a major after the success of their debut and is often talked about as a classic of the genre. This newly remastered trifold, triple vinyl repress has been remastered from the original tapes. It comes with bonus tracks curated by Questlove, plus rare photos, essays by Questlove and Black Thought, and even a track-by-track commentary.

Review: Controversies surrounding 007 are well documented. Questionable sexual ethics and a drink problem that goes well-beyond borderline alcoholism are just two examples. Emotional trauma and mental health issues being one, or maybe two, more. In comparison, the soundtracks to the films we all grew up around are much less open to interpretation and subjectivity. Simply put, the scores - not least the main theme for each flick - are always huge.

Hence the sheer volume of albums that celebrate the sonic world of this super spy. This release is just one in a number that have come and gone over time, and it's hard to know what's left to say. Presenting the likes of Carly Simon, Shirley Bassey, Garbage, Madonna, Adele and - from the forthcoming flick No Time To Die - Billie Eilish, here's proof, if you needed it, that the studios always punt for on-point artists, defining of their era.

Review: Lou Reed, Sterling Morrison, John Cale, Doug Yule, Maureen Tucker and - a little later - Nico broke the mould with their efforts as The Velvet Underground. The Andy Warhol-managed and produced cult rock icons helped lay the foundations for New Wave and punk about a decade before either sound really started to make inroads in any circles, let alone commercial ones. And, listening back to any of their records now, the music itself isn't just a significant bookmark theoretically: it all still sounds incredible today.

Todd Haynes' highly recommendable documentary charts at least some of that story in a commendable way, more so when you consider it arrived around 50 years after the original lineup disbanded. Using interviews with surviving members Cale and Tucker, alongside archive footage, music and other material, it paints a vivid portrait of an equally vivid band. With tracks by them in question, Bo Diddley, The Primitives and The Diablos, this OST helps colour that picture, and era, properly.

Review: Hot on the heels of new album "After Hours", UMC has decided to deliver a fresh vinyl reissue of The Weeknd's 2013 debut studio album "Kiss Land". While the Canadian R&B singer was already a rising star when it was initially released, the DannyBoyStyles produced album shot him towards superstardom thanks to its blend of sassy, emotive vocals, crunchy beats and synthesizer sounds heavily influenced by the soundtracks to 1980s sci-fi and horror films. Many of the songs remain familiar because it spawned a high number of singles - think "Belong To The World", "Live For", "Wanderlust" etc. - but even those that didn't get much MTV play are surprisingly strong.