Funky Destination At Juno Download

Review: The clue's in the title - this is hugely funky stuff from duo FD, who combine West-coast brass licks (reminiscent of Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man") with raw breaks, thick double bass riffs and bluesy guitars on "Born To Be Bad". As well as a handy instrumental of the title tune, "Soulbreak Joint" is a jazzy workout combining a scatting MC and some scratches, while "Midnight Flight To Paris" recalls the lyrical piano playing of Ramsey Lewis in his prime.

Review: There's something delightfully different about this latest floorfiller from Greece's Timewarp label. On the face of it, "Power To Groove" is a fairly straightforward deep funk groover that's lifted by some George Benson-ish jazz guitar and a rather nice vocal. Yet listen carefully, and you can hear the swing of classic New York house in the beats and a touch of Kenny Dope in the production. The same can undoubtedly be said about "My Way (Nassau Theme)", which builds the action around a number of well-judged breakdowns. "Floorbreaker" layers up the percussion to take things up a notch, whilst "Hasta Simpare" is classic jazz-house with a delightful Cuban twist.

Review: Funky Destination have been praising funky grooves since time immemorial (well, 2008 at least!) and they've usually been doing it for Athens imprint Timewarp. No change then for this new album, nor with the usual high quality either. After the almost Air-like mellow vibes of "Journey (intro)" things quickly step up a gear for the 70s blaxploitation style workouts of "The Inside Man" and "Such A Good Feeling" (a cover, of sorts, of Always There by Incognito). Elsewhere we encounter the elasticated noodling of the title track and the live-sounding "Gonna Roll You Over" and even Asian disco on "Hollywood-Jollywood".

Review: "War is ugly and love is lovely". Ladies and gentleman, we have ourselves some lyrics we can all identify with here. Mind you, with the title like "The Peace Song", the lyrics were hardly going to be "war is amazing and love is rubbish" now were they? A real beachside bomber, this; lean back as far as you can and immerse yourself in the deep slinky bassline, well executed toasting, live instrumentation and swinging house beats. There are remixes galore, too; Trotter & Timewarp extend the spiritual groove founded on the original, Bad Monkeys take it into vibrant funk pastures, E-Base & Paul Wish add the tech factor while Zamali gets his dub skank on. What a selection!