Press Release :
Malmaison have joined forces with Bottletop, the UK's most dynamic charity who raise money for HIV affected youth world-wide.

Launched in September 05, the aptly named 'Sound Affects Malmaison' campaign features an Afrofunk CD and music accessories - iPod cases, iPod speaker cases, Bottletop radios, handbags and clothing. All profits from the sales of each item will be donated to the charity.

Bottletop will distribute the funds to five youth-related charities in Africa who will benefit directly from the Sound Affects Malmaison campaign. A truly fair trade.

The First album: Volume 1 Africa

The first album in the series draws on rare, original afrobeat with elements of funk, rock and jazz salvaged from dusty bars and back rooms in remote parts of Africa.

The material, primarily from Ghana and Nigeria has been remixed in the UK by many of our favourite DJs and producers. We have combined the world famous with the up and coming and the commercial with the underground in a collective effort to use African music to help our beneficiaries grow.

Afrobeat, which came to the fore in the late 1960's with artists such as the great Fela Anikulapo Kuti, is an African sound fusing swing, jazz, funk, rock and soaring vocals, with traditional African rythms. The ten original tracks donated for use on the first Sound Affects Malmaison album are, by themselves, a unique body of work written and produced by amongst the most accomplished Afrobeat artists ever to have lived. The ten remixes are a beautifully diverse combination of tracks covering downtempo and blues to house, techno and broken beat.

With the added complication of having to work with old material and tracks without any parts, the job of remixing the Afrobeat on this album was never going to be easy. Despite this, each artist eventually found his own way in to the music, often using varied production techniques in the process. The outcome speaks for itself.

These ten outstanding artists, who gave their time and energy for free, have created a new spin on Afrobeat and African music that should lift people's perceptions of Africa out of the darkness and in to the light.

There is much to celebrate!!

We intend to do just that. Over the next few years we will go on to explore music from South America and Asia through contemporary adaptation. The sales of each record will benefit young people in those areas as well as in the UK through initiatives supported by Bottletop.

A TRULY FAIR TRADE.

Stream tracks : bottletop.org.uk
For more information visit bottletop.org.uk & malmaison.com/soundaffects Artwork : studioelastik.com