All Good Funk Alliance At Juno Download

Review: Primed with party power and whacked out on some seriously spacey synths, the All Good Funk Alliance update their already impressive repertoire with a fourth studio album. Sounding more polished and developed than ever before, this is a rare breed of album that works well as a collection of individual DJ bombs and a slick cohesive listening experience. Naturally, highlights abound and range in rich flavours from the gritty, KRS-One-meets-Plump DJs style booty shaker "Time To Get Loose" to the classic Danny Breaks style block-rocking bass and timbale fusion "Throw Down". Littered with slippery disco, raw instrumental funk and vibrant breakbeats, these cats aren't jacks at all -they're party masters.

Review: If you're talking ghetto-minded, dirty-assed nu funk then you must be talking Fort Knox. Responsible for some of the scene's biggest heaters, the imprint continues with this second remix package of the All Good Funk Alliance. Featurecast steps up first with an anthemic take on "Throw Down" that comes complete with a lovely synth-tom drum fill, Busta retaliates with a cheekier version that's armed with the juiciest p-funk bassline we've heard all week, Skeewif's take of "Time To Get Loose" is more a Shaft-style organic funk roller and Keith Mackenzie & DJ Fixx finish the set with darker, synth-heavy rub. It's all good... literally!

Review: Jack Of All Trades - It's the album that keeps on giving. Released this time last year it's undergone the full instrumental treatment and two remix EPs. Now this, the nu-funk piece de resistance: a floor-tickling collection of the previous remixes plus a whole load more. Highlights include Skeewif's Young MC-meets-Shaft-on-Mancini Avenue flavoured remix of "Time To Get Loose" and Dads On Display's Koan Sound style mix of smooth 80s b2b screaming midrange bass on "Closer To The Edge". But at 18 tracks that's the tip of this eclectic, open-all-hours party fest. It's all exceedingly good.

Review: Now here's an interesting concept. All Good Funk Alliance follow up their fourth album release with an instrumental version. At first it seems superfluous, but give it a listen and you realise their beats have just as much raw funk power as stand alone instrumentals as they do vocal party jams. It's a daring move - with acts like the AGFA, it's often the vocals that really gives the tracks character, but they've got the confidence to show just how musically adept they are. Tracks that really shine in their new-found naked state include the bouncy, bumpy bass jam "Mr Hipnoid", the superfly slap bass space session "Speaker Sweat" and the squidgy/sexy/borderline absurd synth anthem "RTA (Respect To Arcadion)".

Review: American duo Frank Cueto and Rusty Belicek, aka All Good Funk Alliance, recently dropped their fourth album, Jacks Of All Trades, which signaled a dramatic shift in style for the veteran funkateers. Here, however, we jump back in time a little and see earlier track, "Avance!" being reworked by acclaimed producer Basement Freaks (George Fotiadis). The result is a winner with the original's sassy vocals (courtesy of Merenia and Vincent) gliding over Fotiadis' urgent disco-funk breakbeats.