Back Catalogue

Review: Consisting of producer Oliver Belz, keyboard player Andre Neundorf, and singer and multi-instrumentalist Kojo Ebenezer Samuels, Kojato here deliver their fantastic debut album All About Jazz. Heavily influenced by 60s soul and 70s funk as well as the sounds of Afrobeat as much as it is by jazz, the album goes from the 20s swing of "Lika A Gypsy" through the frantic pace and African rhythms of "Oudo Makasan" to the laid back dub of "That Kind of Feeling". The undoubted star of the album however is vocalist Kojo, who combines the smooth delivery of Fela Kuti with the gruff charm of Gil Scott-Heron, to create an album that is light years ahead of most contemporary jazz offerings.

Review: Lost after the Iranian Revolution, the legacy of Iran's bonafide psychedelic star Kourosh Yaghmaei is finally being pieced together thanks to the extensive retrospective by Now Again Records. Recorded from the late '60 through to the mid-'70s, and bearing the influence of The Doors, The Kinks, Jefferson Airplane and other psychedelia, these tracks aren't just enjoyable for their rarity and obscurity - songs like "Hajme Khali", with its proto-Tangerine Dream organs and Scott Walker vocals are simply incredible. With the beautiful remastering for this new collection revealing new depths to the recordings, ballads like "Leila" or proto-disco songs like "Ghazai" really demand to be heard.

Review: Mainstays on Jalapeno since 2003, Dutch trio Kraak & Smaak take a pleasing left-turn on this glamour-soaked new single featuring Lex Empress. Recalling the regal delivery of '60s divas like Shirley Bassey or Dusty Springfield, Lex Empress delivers a stirring vocal over a pop-meets-popcorn funk backing from K&S - full of live drums, brass and a particularly sprightly bassline. Having forged live funk with breaks for years, this all-live direction suits them very well indeed.

Review: Twin brothers Kelvis and Kendall Duffie have been writing and performing as under the name Kloud 9 since 1987. Here we have a brand new track from the Nashville duo, but rather than the gospel-orientated material for which they are best known, "Dime" evokes the smooth early 80s soul sound of acts like Kool & The Gang.

Review: Disco aficionado Al Kent of Million Dollar Orchestra fame is back with the third tour of his colossal record collection, sorry, compilation of rare funk, soul and disco gems. As usual the material featured here is of the lushly orchestrated, organic variety, but this time there's amorous theme to the selection too. Highlights include his own subtle edits of Mighty Gents and Disco Unusual as well as the lo-fi voicebox funk of "Oh! Baby/Get on Down", the driving 4/4 wah-wah banger "Something About You" and the spacey bonkers freakout of "Disco Fever".

Review: As someone who briefly escaped 70's Glasgow and got a taste of the golden age of NYC Disco, Al Kent is a perfect choice to lead you through a classy selection of some choice and rare Disco treats. Having used his huge collection in the past for re-edits and originals, he also took the bold step of forming his own band in 2007 under the name The Million Dollar Orchestra.

The selections here reflect the point at which Funk and Soul mutated into Disco, with most of the tracks capturing that pre-Moroder organic sound. Lee Alfred's Rockin-Poppin Full Tilting for example has a laid back vibe similar to Curtis Mayfield's more uptempo tunes. New Ghetto Express's version of Standing On The Verge of Getting It On (originally by Funkadelic) up's the tempo on the wigged-out classic, again combing the Funk with a Disco groove.

Lypso Disco by Smile Street People, as you'd guess from the title, has a playful Calypso lilt and bounce to it. Cosmic Disco by Patricia White on the other hand doesn't sound like something that Todd Terje or Lindstrom got their cues from, but it is a fun song with some brilliantly random thumb-piano playing in the background!

Anyone looking for samples will have a field day among these tracks, Sweet Daddy Floyd's I Just Can't Help Myself for example has a break in the middle to die for. You could loop up 4 bars practically anywhere and have something pretty damn funky to work with. For that reason alone, it's well worth having a listen and broadening your horizons.

Review: From the recent full-length collection on Strut, these two examples of Danny Krivit's editing skills are promoted onto their own release. Digging Milton Hamilton's "We Have All The Time" out of the vaults is a masterstroke. Produced by the legendary Bob Blank, it's a jazzy disco joy with a vocal that bursts through octave ranges and stays there for an unfeasible length of time. Philadelphia International All-Stars' "Let's Clean Up The Ghetto" is another funk-disco fusion that gets the benefit of Mr.K - both tunes bearing those trademark looped mix-in/mix-out points that DJ's love so much.

Review: Dutch funkateers Kraak & Smaak have never quite achieved the wider acclaim their music probably deserves. While unfashionable in many regards, their records - an entertaining blend of classic funk, live disco, rubbery electrofunk and, more recently, old skool piano house - are rarely anything less than enjoyable. What's more, their live shows are superb. Perhaps Electric Hustle, their first full-length since 2008, will be their breakthrough record. In truth, it's as unashamedly joyous as any of their previous sets, and once again flutters between boogie-licious house, elastic funk, electrofunk, vocal showstoppers and even the odd bittersweet ballad. It's not clever, but Electric Hustle is certainly big.