Strictly Breaks US At Juno Download

Review: The latest in this peerless collection of sample-heaving funk, soundtrack and psych nuggets from yesteryear offers some real gold - including the upfront brass funk of John Williams's "Tatou Strip Tease", The Olympic Runners slo-mo "Keep It Up" and the equally slow and warm "Boosey" by 3052.

Review: And so it continues: Strictly Breaks's seemingly weekly delivery of dusty grooves hits the big 16, and this time there's a shift of focus from plain obscure classics to the all important breakbeat. As a result we're treated to some wild drum patterns; the most notable one is Rock-Jazz Rhythm's "Hey Jude" which shifts the melody right the way to the back of the mix while the freaky percussion does all the chatter. And if you fancy taking the freaky factor up a notch or hundred, make a bee-line to the Bob James style "The Look Out" by Black Ninja OST. Weirdly, there's no breakbeat, but the film-like vibes will have you looking over your shoulder every dark night from now until October 2049.

Review: Since the '90s, DJ Danny Dann The Beat Mann has been sourcing the best and funkiest original breaks and releasing them on his "Dusty Fingers" comps - doing the crate-digging work so you don't have too! Dre and Eminem are just some of the people who have bitten his beats over the years. On this latest collection, some tried and tested classic s make a welcome appearance - such as the one-note groove of Serge Gainsbourg's "Requiem Pour Un Con", Franz Auffray's "Son of Popcorn" and Johnny Harris' big-band take on "Light My Fire".

Review: The latest installment of the epic Dusty Fingers series of original funk, soundtrack, library and rock breaks contains some seriously fascinating material from the archives. Take the blustering "Confunktion" by D Richmond fro example, or the melodic instrumental baroque funk of Jack Kayborn's "Music People", the incredible jazz drums of "Type A to E" by Hiro Tsunoda and even a cover of Bob James' breakbeat classic "Take Me To The Mardi Gras", done in a psyched-out way by The Spotnicks.

Review: A consistently mind-expanding series of library breaks and sci-fi funk, the latest in the Dusty Fingers series of original, untapped breakbeats doesn't disappoint. Check out he Morricone/Barry-esque spy breaks of Primo Canale's "Caravan" for example or the tight pastoral funk of The Message's "Is That The Way" as a starting point.

Review: As is standard for this peerless collection of movie-soundtracks, funk rarities and general sophisticated breakbeat sources, the latest volume of Dusty Fingers is an engaging and often eyebrow-raising listen. The choral, quasi-Roman psychedelica of Man's "Puella Puella" for example is an astonishing three and a half minutes, while the groovy and slow funk-rock of Load Stone's "Flower Pot" is simply essential.

Review: Originally released in the late 90s/early noughties, Strictly Breaks are re-releasing their seminal selections and they're doing it one-per-week. Curated by DJ Danny Dann The Beat Mann (quality name!), he's crate dug to the point most of his fingers are bloody stumps in order to deliver the strangest, quaintest funk rarities, oddball movie soundtracks and library breaks possible. The end result is an odyssey that will find you researching names you've never heard of. Take the strange banjo, flute and fiddle work out "Dream" by Shankar. Or indeed the mournful dirge that is "La Longue Marche" by Janko Nilovic. If you're after some new old sounds, the Dusty Fingers collections really are where it's at.

Review: Weekly crate digging sessions don't come much stronger than Strictly's Dusty Fingers series. Now in the big numbers, you kinda wonder when they'll end. Then cry because your week just won't be half as enlightening without it. Let's celebrate the series while we can eh? As with all the previous entries, it's all about gone, forgotten and plain obscure beats, grooves, jams and instrumentals. Just like its predecessors Volume 17 is home some fantastic movie OST vibes in here such as Bixio Franco's stringalicious "A Pungi Nudi Suite" and a jolly hat doff to super rare German work outs such as Gred Michaealis Chor's Iron Butterflyalike "Es Bleibt Die Sonne". Other highlights include Sadi's floor-focussed funk wig out "4 Tet" and Larie Johnson's super cool "Stopover".

Review: This is the latest instalment in a long series packed with rare original tunes that are full of killer breaks and aimed at crate diggers everywhere. Beginning with the 70s prog-horror of L'Aspagueur's "Final", we move on to the Eric-Clapton-on-The-Love-Boat-isms of Ronn Forella's "Crystials", past The Doors-esque "Moon Morning" by Armin Rusch Speilt and on to the sinister electro-funk of "Pit Sign 1" by Hiroshi Miyagawa. Other standouts here include the creepy disco of "Sci-Fi (Japan OST)" by BGM, the self-explanatory "Moog & Drums" by Kauld Wess and "Plenty Action" by Soft Touch - the only vocal track on the album.

Review: An excellent follow-up in this series of far-out and crate-dug breaks and funk originals, "School Yard Breaks Vol 2" is a must-have for fans of untapped yet inspiring funk. B-boys young and old will bug out to Le Par Bongo Rockers' version of "Apache" for example, while the Chicano-meets-Jackson 5 of Karma's "Funk de Mambo" is simply too classy to not adore after just a few seconds.

Review: As always, the team behind the School Yard Breaks collections make this latest set of tunes a heavy source of rocking funk. Mixing old and new, highlights include Lefties Soul Connection giving DJ Shadow's "Organ Donor" an excellent live funk makeover, while Roger Simard's gloriously eccentric remake of The Monkees "Mary Mary" and the Irish folk rock of East of Eden's "Jig A Jig" are definite favourites.

Review: This is a whole double album jam packed with 23 original B-Boy breaks, revealing where most of your favourite records found their drum samples (probably). Selections are chiefly from the 70s soul and funk side of things and include a remarkable cover of "Money" (as made famous by The Beatles) by Bloodstone. Elsewhere we have the spaghetti western funk of "A Few Dollars More" by The Hollywood Soundmaker, the hi-NRG disco of Carol Douglas' "Lovesick", a different take on "Apache" by The Jim Ently Sound and the jazzy drums spectacular that is "Countin' Them White Lines' by Buddy Rich.

Review: Twenty-eight strictly funk beauties get assembled with a lot of love on this new collection which boasts choice cuts by the likes of The Ohio Players, Kool and The Gang, Georgie Fame, Tom Scott and Cannonball Adderley. Plenty of the songs here have been scooped up and sampled by the Beasties, Pete Rock, DJ Shadow and more, yet they remain absolutely unique and engrossing in their own right - from the almost Broadway-esque "On The Move" by The Impressions to Eddie Bo's northern soul stomp.

Review: Here we have a bumper collection of tracks sampled by veteran New York hip-hoppers The Beatnuts. Essentially the Latino wing of the Native Tongues crew, these guys have been rockin' blocks since the late 80s with their trademark sample-led jazzy beats. Obviously Enoch Light's cover of "A Little Fugue For You And Me", the source of an infamous spat between these guys and Jennifer Lopez (she allegedly nicked their sample) appears first, but there are 30 more rare soul, funk and jazz bangers on here too, including "Mixed Drums", "Caseine" and "Sesame Street Theme".