Those of you paying attention may have noticed both tom and myself hyping releases on this label over the past couple of years. For those who don’t know, PPU is a Washington DC based label run by Andrew Morgan, specialising in rereleasing obscure private press and unreleased 80s funk jams. I think their first release to really grab my attention was Danger Zone by Midnight Express, a ridiculously dope 80’s synth funk jam rescued from the archives and given a wider exposure than it ever would have had when it was originally released on an obscure private press back in the day, I heard it played out quite a few times in Dublin which certainly illustrates that point.
Danger Zone had me checking everything PPU-related and I ended up putting in an order for about 5 or 6 records direct from the label. Andrew Morgan personally took the order and thanked me for my support which is always a nice touch, shipping to Europe was reasonable too so if you’re thinking of catching up I’d recommend just ordering direct. And, of course, I now check every latest PPU release, perhaps some of the stuff is more incredibly obscure than incredibly good, but the gems far outweigh any such criticisms. My personal favourites so far include; George Franklin Smallwood & Marshmellow’s “Mr. Sunshine”, a super slick funky soul jazz tune, Sir Bentley’s “Street Shuffle”, Tom Noble’s Africa Bump Edit (anyone know the og for that one?), 4 Reel’s “One Life To Live” and the District Maryland Virginia EP compilation, many of which I’ve featured in my mixes, and there’s plenty more too.
They also released some modern electro-funk from Dam-Funk (as Wavelength) on a limited 7″.
As the label has gained momentum and increased support, they’ve even started putting out DVDs featuring rare live footage of PPU artists, 80s funk parties, original videos and more. Andrew Morgan has set up his own youtube channel as madmosaic to showcase all that stuff, so you should definitely check that shit out. Here’s the trailer for the PPU Party DVD…
6 Comments
THANK YOU for this G. That video is amazing, have to get it. Quality label too, good stuff yo!
thanks for linking to our interview.
For the fans … here’s a mix by Andrew Morgan; http://www.mixcloud.com/phonicarecords/andrew-morgan-ppu-records-tapes-mix-for-phonica-records/
thank YOU! 🙂
i second that emotion! my fave is the tom noble, africa bump 12. also check out minority band. great stuff.
PPU-16 was a fairly recent “just one more” purchase at Gphone – couldn’t put it back after giving it a spin. Very cool feature on the label, thanks.
Highly informative as usual gmos. I bought the Family Album compilation CD earlier this year and it’s very hard to pick a favourite – but the two tracks by Crunch (“Cruise” and “Funky Beat”) are near the top…