Mo’ Wax Please — Unreleased 12" from Mo’ Wax Records

Recently while trying to find some scans from British music magazine Straight No Chaser I came across this one from 1992:

It was on a blog called Raider of the Lost Rack where the author had scanned various Mo’ Wax related things. Starting in 1991 James Lavelle wrote a column for Straight No Chaser called Mo’ Wax Please, which is seen in the above image. He would reuse the name in 1992 for his record label Mo’ Wax Records which launched officially in October 1992 with the 12" Promise by Repercussions:

What’s interesting though is that according to that Mo’ Wax Please scan from 1992, Lavelle had previous tried to launch Mo’ Wax Records under the name Mo’ Wax Please Records as he notes in the following excerpts:

Neither of these were released on any label, let alone a Mo’ Wax Please label.

Sweatmouth originally appeared on the label Rhythm and Business, but neither Sweatmouth or their label appear to have released anything after 1991. The group featured singer Nina Miranda as well as other contributors in what Miranda called “ laid-back raps in portuguese and english over hip hop beats, sampled Jazz and Bossa, live acoustic guitar, horns and percussion.”

Check out their 1990 song O Prazer for an idea of what they sounded like:

The second of those Mo’ Wax Please Records is harder to figure out. The Venus Project Discogs page appears to combine two artists using the same name, one a group from Italy whose sole release is from 2003, and the other a Japanese group ビーナス・プロジェクト who appear on a compilation released in 1993 of Soundtrack music. It’s unlikely either of these are The Venus Project James Lavelle was talking about when he described their upcoming EP as songs that “brings forth the sounds of new age jazz-funk. From ‘Freedom’, a piano/vocal storma (sic) to ‘A Brand New Day’, an amalgamation of 70’s jazz-funk fusion and new-age poetry.”

While this appears to be a forgotten piece of Mo’ Wax history, it’s unfortunate that Straight No Chaser back issues are so scarce and they haven’t been digitised as there are likely more unreleased records mentioned throughout their pages.