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ALND 31
05 May 13
Played by: The Groovers
Review:
Given his encyclopedic knowledge of music, you'd expect any compilation put together by Bill Brewster to be full of unlikely gems and lesser-known anthems. That's certainly the case with After Dark, the first in a new DJ-focused series from the Late Night Tales camp. From start to finish, Brewster's selections are spot on, from the lowdown, slo-mo disco oddness of Sheffield chanteuse Marti Caine's "Love The Way You Love Me" and wide-eyed, acid-laden kosmiche of Coober Peder University Band's "Moon Plain", to the dirty electrofunk of Zed Bias's "Koolade" (featuring Toddla T, of all people) and mid'80s percussion fest of Martin Kershaw's "Keep On Pokin". If that wasn't enough, Brewster has also unearthed a decent Jamiroquai record. The wonders never cease.
KE 9010
26 Mar 13
Review:
How many edit series can boast reaching a tenth volume? Ok, well how many can boast of attaining ten successful ones? Here French funk party commander Morlack provides five new top-notch retweaks that take no prisoners. "Loose It" is a tight James Brown-style jam that occasionally veers into French electro territory, "Let's Boogie" is all funk grooves and tough hip-hop breaks, "Big Pill" is total rubberband disco-funk,"Capital S" is more electro-boogie and finally "Tough" wraps things up with a big ole slap bass and flute singalong!
TMDG 120
15 Apr 13
Played by: Zamali, Juno Recommends Funk/Reissues, Basement Freaks, Cayetano, Leo Leonardi Aka Funky Brothers, Miles Reverse, Superpendejos
Review:
Although hailing from Germany, DJ Umbo is now running his disco breaks empire from Croatia. Having developed a cult following with a series of remixes on labels like Goodgroove, now he appears to have settled with Greece's Timewarp. His latest release for the Hellenic funk crew features two tracks - the funky sax workout "Sunday Jam" and the urgent groove attack of "Keep That Beat On". Basement Freaks remix the former into a pulsating disco banger, while on the latter Caytaro deliver a sizzling live jam version.
HOPHO 06
02 Apr 13
Played by: Chudy, Zamali, Voodoocuts, Jayl Funk, Justin Johnson, Juno Recommends Funk/Reissues, Killer Funk Records Usa, Morlack, Essex Groove
Review:
Once again Honkey Phonk's label boss Jayl Funk takes a backseat to let his roster shine, this time on a split-single. First up in Berlin-dwelling Voodoocuts, with a pulsating slice of brass and bass duelling, classic funk. On the proverbial flip is Morlack with a killer 'Bootsy goes hip-hop' electro-boogie workout.
PEDS 013
01 May 13
RSREP 032
01 Apr 13
Review:
In the old days, the cross-cultural, cross-genre fusions of Rio de Janeiro-based DJ LK would have been called "beats and breaks". As it is, his wonderfully sunny fusions of samba, bossa nova, jazz-funk, breakbeat and hip-hop could fall between the cracks. That would be a crying shame, as Misturada is as enjoyable a breakbeat-orientated album as you'll hear this year. While there are moments when big basslines and tough drums take over (see the dutty "Nabby Riddim"), for the most part it's a loveably loose, languid and laidback affair, deftly produced by someone who clearly knows what they're doing.
PMP 04
08 May 13
TVLP 08
29 Apr 13
Review:
A special dedication to his formative days praying at the good church of hip-hop, cutting and pasting in Sunday school, Venice Beach member Moar gets down and does the caterpillar. An eclectic ensemble of loops and compositions, this lick shots from Senor Coconut to Bambaataa and back again with its frenetic arrangement of swinging drums, cheeky samples and crafty editing. Highlights include the bongo and fuzz box fusion of "2 vs 2" and low-swung bass shuffle and swing of "Bump On". Moar please!
TR 9021DD
15 Apr 13
Review:
Germany's Tramp are at it again, the little er, tramps! The 'it' of course being tirelessly digging for, and re-releasing, vintage long-lost soul gems. There's a whopping 19 in total here, with plenty of highlights including the smile-inducing "Soul Chicken", the trumpet freak-out of "Funky Screw", the hip jazz of "Behind The Face", the equally sublime and nasty "Pat's Rubber Band" and the intense, wiry funk of "Tend To Your Business (Pt2)".
BB 008D
25 Mar 13
Review:
Bucharest's Gemini Bros are all about classic funk sounds, and here they've enlisted a host of pals to help inject plenty of it into their own tune. "Twin Flavour" is a up-tempo belter, with an incessant rubber bassline and piano/organ riffs. The normally electro-heavy Ursula 1000 delivers an ace, but surprisingly discofied version, Stereo 77 go for trippy bongo acid and finally Pips & Midi Kobain beef up the original, adding plenty of brass and wah-wah guitar in the process.
LEGO 050
05 Apr 13
Review:
Not wanting to slow his relentless momentum, Mr Confuse is back in town, all guns blazing and clutching a remixed version of his recent LP, "Do You Realise". All 12 tracks are given a reboot from a variety of producers, highlights of which include the electro-funky big beat of Smoove's remix of ""Catch Me", the totally bonkers Bootsy Collins-esque Funkanomics remix of "Hold On" and the luxuriantly exotic Przasnik remix of "Big Livin".
RBJ 1303
01 Apr 13
Played by: DJ Nova (Rodon Fm 95)
Review:
For the uninitiated, Around7 is a Parisian beatmaker with a difference. Composing mainly with an MPC in the old hip-hop fashion, he makes deep, jazz-soaked jams that sit somewhere between Guru, DJ Cam and Moodymann. This 19-minute 'LP' for Phil Weeks' Robsoul Jazz imprint is something of a surprise gem, flitting effortlessly between bossa-influenced 4/4 cuts (see "Broi"), sampladelic deep soul beats ("The 7th Sin"), stoned trip-hop (the Jazzamatazz flashback vibes of "Butter & Fly" and "I Love BBQ") and head-nodding nu-jazz ("Kick It"). The overall quality suggests that we could be hearing more from him in coming years.
JMEP 017
01 Apr 13
Played by: DJ Nova (Rodon Fm 95), Dusty / Jazz & Milk, Juno Recommends Brokenbeat/Nu Jazz, Renegades Of Jazz
Review:
Jazz & Milk label boss Dusty fires up the anticipation machine with this fruity four piece from his forthcoming album. "Mood Matters" bangs with jazz house attitude. Establishing a rock-solid groove, Dusty lets the trumpets loose as they scribble all over his tight beat work. "Danse Macabre" is a co-lab with his live act Bad Jazz Troupe who live up their name with a whole cavalcade of rhythm switches and psychedelic melodic patterns. "Seventy Three" is heads south for a lesson in horn-heaved Afrofunk while "Longing Lingers" finishes on a sultry, soul-jazz boogie note thanks to the sexy vocals of Carla Vallet. Yummy.
ZEDDCD 028DD
06 May 13
Played by: The Groovers
Review:
Joey Negro's Z Records have a remarkable knack for knocking out vintage compilation after vintage compilation. Here though, they've really discovered a rare niche of unmined gold courtesy of Nuphonic's David Hill who acts as selector. As Hill explains "gospel music has often followed trends in secular music" and this album captures 24 attempts of gospel getting on the disco and boogie trains. Highlights include the hiNRG longing of "I Need You", the electro-soul of "Love Is The Message" and the piano & strings frenzy of "Awake O Zion".
FMD 003
25 Mar 13
SED 6018
22 Apr 13
TMDG 119
25 Mar 13
Review:
He's back! Yep, the Belgian master of soul nouveau follows up last year's mini-album, At The Speed Of Light, with another, Soulshine, again on Greek disco imprint Timewarp. Once again we have a sizzling selection of authentic-sounding retro funk grooves that could easily be lifted from an obscure 70s blaxploitation movie. Highlights include the, analogue 70s porno-style soundtrack-isms of "Unite", the strangely baggy sounding "Brassin" and the very literal "Slap It Hard", which does indeed featured a very sternly slapped snare!
BBE 211CDGROW
29 Apr 13
Review:
Barely Breaking Even know that if you're going to release a series of remixed classic underground New York house, you better get the right remixer. Veteran Bronx DJ John Morales is one half M&M productions, who were there at the time and remixing all the greats and the very goods too! Here's 21 unreleased cuts from their vaults, highlights including the deep and percussive "Always There", the synths-meets-funk-meets guitars of "Do What You Want To", the raunchy growler "If You Know Like I Know" and their ragtime-indebted version of stone cold classic "Is It All Over My Face".
MSHA 1006
22 Apr 13
KFDIGITAL 004
09 Apr 13
Review:
An excellent split-single release, this is one for the heads out their. Named in honour of the first song from Tribe Called Quest's first album, Lucien's Luck's "You Should Know" is in fact an excellent (an overdue) edit of the sample source - Billy Brooks' "Forty Days". On the flip, The Funktified Enforcers give JB's classic "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" a wigged-out psych makeover.
CM 007
25 Mar 13
Review:
These days with all this 'is it a movie or is it a video game' shenanigans a la Call of Duty, it's sometimes nice to just go back to the old skool, to the days of Donkey Kong, where life was simple and video games simply entailed the player having to jump over pixelated barrels to save the day. Here Totalcult have done the same thing musically, delivering some raw and crackley old-skool funk grooves, albeit with some tough-but-subtle modern beats. After all, how long before musical barrel jumping gets boring, eh?
505545 3686795
01 May 13
Review:
Funky break veterans Skeewiff are back (having apparently won 'Best Electro-Swing Producers Of The Year 2012 award), this time with a bumper packed collection of their remixes of cult 1970s British library music (one of their favourite sources of breaks). There's lots of loungey exotic action to choose from including the sassy, brassy "Scarper", the trippy "Hyper Hippo", the driving, clenched teeth disco rock of "Jet Propelled" and the many collabs with original bandleader Syd Dale (the best of which being the kitschy D&B of "Supermarket Hustle").
MRBCD 104
22 Apr 13
Played by: Juno Recommends Funk/Reissues
Review:
Belgium is not somewhere re-issue experts Mr Bongo expected to find such a fine example of lost rare funk, but that they did. This album, which they say is a 'one of the greatest records to blend both Latin and Afro funk', was originally released back in 1971 and features 10 excursions into bonkers retro funk territory. "Cabello Negro" kicks things off with an urgent hammond and brass wig out, elsewhere we get laid-back Latin ("Naci Para Bailar"), blissed out easy listening ("Samba De Uno Noto So") and even groovy Age Of Aquarius-style freakouts ("Baile Chibiquiban").
SOULABDIGICOMPIL 010
03 May 13
Review:
We can always rely on French funkateers Soulab to keep us supplied with regular selections of vintage sounding modern soul gems. This latest compilation features a host of their regular artists and once again the quality is up there. Highlights include the futuristic electro-funk of LA Mitchell's "The Ease", the hazy g-funk vibes of Uraz Kurt's "Remember The Light", the dark, broken electro-hop of Isaac Aesili's "Freedom Cry" and the crazy garage boogie shuffle of Proser & Azaxx's "Prince Is Not Dead".
STRUT 106CD
01 Apr 13
Alan Hawkshaw & Keith Mansfield - "Theme From 'Dave Allen At Large'" (with KPM All Stars - live at Jazz Cafe) - (2:37) 97 BPM
Alan Hawkshaw & Keith Mansfield - "Beat Boutique" (with KPM All Stars - live at Jazz Cafe) - (2:59) 95 BPM
KPM All Stars - "That's What Friends Are For" (feat Emma Kershaw - live at Jazz Cafe) - (3:29) 104 BPM
Review:
Strut have a strong record in delivering excellent, thoroughly researched compilations, and this is one of them. This album collates the best from the vaults of KPM's public library music collection - music made by expert musicians but never intended to be publically available. Of course everyone from Jay-Z to Doom have sampled these previously hard to find gems, but now we can all enjoy the flute-disco whimsy of Alan Parker's "Unlimited Love", the carnival freakout of Barry Morgan & Ray Cooper's "Samba Street" and the very familiar loungey jazz of Francis Coppieter's "Cross Talk".
FVR 079
12 Apr 13
Played by: Juno Recommends Funk/Reissues
Review:
Pretty self-explanatory title here, veteran French producer Patchworks presents two shining examples of his famously exemplary productions. First up is the 2003 Motorcity mix of Metropolitan Jazz Affair's "Yunowhatthislifeez" which is light and breezy with hazy trumpets and laconic, slappy bass. Mr President's "The Best Is Yet To Come" is a thrilling dead ringer for the urgent 70s soul of Curtis Mayfield. Also included is bonus cover of Gershwin's standard "Summertime", turned into a loungey Latino workout by Patchworks himself.
PARISDJS 028-D
09 May 13
887396 450035
25 Mar 13
Review:
Veteran label Mr Bongo started life in a Soho basement a quarter of a century ago and has since established themselves as chief authorities on rare funk, soul, Latin and Brazilian releases old and new. Here they concentrate firmly on the latter by combining the best cuts from their famous Brazilian Beats series, cuts that include the squelchy funk of "Mais Kriola", the dubby disco of "Take Me Back To Paiui", the hazy acoustic orchestration of "Summertime", the remarkably titled "Hot Pants Road" and the ethereal Supremes-stoned-on-a-beach vibes of "Naeo Aguento Voca".
KFDIGITAL 003
09 Apr 13
Review:
Two slices of juiced-up funk on a familiar theme on this split single, as Angelina Goalie & The Football Funkateers drops a splendid Latin funk instrumental cover of Aretha Franklin's everlasting "Rock Steady", while Texas Toni Needle and Thread drop a chopped up edit of a Stevie Wonder classic.
BOOTY 01
29 Apr 13
KFDIGITAL 002
09 Apr 13
KFDIGITAL 001
09 Apr 13
Review:
The Killer Funk label changes tack here, eschewing raw soul and heavy funk for two distinct afro-tinged cuts. As it happens, this isn't a totally new development - both of these tracks originally saw the light of day a few years back - but it's still a refreshing change. "Water Get No Enemy" from the amusingly named Fella Cutie (well, we chuckled) is, unsurprisingly, a Fela Kuti-ish chunk of bumpin' Afrobeat, as authentic as they come (it is, we think, actually a tight re-edit). On the flip, the Killer Funk latin Allstars join forces with Kan Dee Doh for a track that effortlessly blurs the boundaries between Afrobeat, Latin and good old US heavy funk - all spiraling horns, heavy grooves and Cuban percussion.
KFDIGITAL 005
09 Apr 13
Review:
Two tip-top edits here from the mysterious Texas Toni. Thanks to being heavily sampled back in the big beat days you should recognise The Minister & Saviour's track instantly. Tweaked, chopped and given a nice distorted edge, it doesn't sound dissimilar to The Meters' cover a while back. Which is certainly no bad thing. The Equations, meanwhile, is a bit more obscure and rides with a rather fancy air of jazz to it. Robust, funky and riddled with great percussion and dramatic horns, Toni's done a fine job digging it out and bringing bang up to date. Plus it's a song about maths, which is always very encouraging for the youth of today.
JMCD 006
29 Apr 13
HC 25
10 May 13
Review:
In a break from their high quality re-issue campaigns, Hot Casa switch focus to the contemporary for their newest release. Fourteen-armed Parisian Latin-funk combo, Setenta, are back with the highly anticipated follow up to their 2010 debut Funky Tombao. Boasting as many tracks as they have arms, "Latin Piece Of Soul" sees the band really fine tune the fusion sound they always sought to achieve, particularly on tracks like the wah-wah and organ freak-out of opener "Colorblind", the Afro-electro-funk of "Guapeta" and the disco influenced "Mambo Machine".
OF 023
25 Mar 13
TMDG 121
13 May 13
Review:
Hoorah! It's been a long time coming, but the album from this Canadian act is finally here. We got a taster for their new retro/contemporary jazzy sound with a single in August. The EP featured the breaks-driven "Soul Sugar", the 70s funk indebted "Driving To Montenegro" and the jazzier "Blow", all of which made it to the album. Now joining these tunes are the likes of the fretlessly rhythmic "Blues For BL", the crazy flute frenzy of "The Kelly Affair" and the gentle piano intricacies of "Snowfall".
IRM 939
02 Apr 13
Played by: Juno Recommends Funk/Reissues
Review:
Typically poetic Italian collective Lunare Project 'select and merge styles from different worlds' at sophisticated early evening events (usually on yachts). Don't call them DJs though; they insist they are simply a group of guys who are 'just a little crazy'. This LP sees the guys launch a new compilation series that pays tribute to certain experiences they've had, this one inspired by a certain party held at Grand Hotel Santa Lucia. Included are tracks by fellow lunatics including the elastic funk of Crazy Penis, the jazzy broken beat of Max Sedgley and the velvety synth work of Santorini.
HC 24
03 May 13
Review:
Hailing from Togo, West Africa, Itadi Bonney is an internationally respected musician. Here Hot Casa have tracked down and reissued one of his most desirable albums, "Itadi", originally released back in the 70s and thought long lost ever since. Recorded live with four musicians in a in a Ghanaian radio station, it features eight rousing political Afro-soul gems intended as a call for peace and unity in Africa, a message still very much needed today.
PMP 03
04 May 13 |
