Review: More from undisputed breaks mash-up king A Skillz, whose impressive productivity shows no signs of slowing down. As with previous outings in the Insane Bangers series, there's much to admire - not least A Skillz' usual blend of classic old skool breaks, wobbly basslines and familiar samples. "Express Yourself" blends elements of Charles Wright's "Express Yourself" with rump-shaking '80s breaks and some serious wobble. "Get Up (Sex Machine)" meanwhile, puts The Godfather of Soul through the ringer, inserting a rocket up the backside of one of his greatest hits via pulverising bass and breakbeats so sharp you could cut a steak with 'em.
Review: A. Skillz (aka Londoner Adam Mills), is a committed funkateer with a mission to reach the top. None more so than on 7 Day Weekend, his latest jam, which offers more than just a passing nod to the good time boogie vibes of Mark Ronson's worldwide smash Uptown Funk. Much like the Ronson track, this tune is three and a half minutes of pop-funk class, complete with early 80s bass squelches, catchy anthemic chorus, digi-brass and general key-tar craziness. Welcome to you, new earworm, you soon won't be singing anything else!
Review: A centrepiece of breaks and hip-hop producer A Skillz' Beatles mini-mix for 1Xtra last year, "Strawberry Jam Forever" is a deftly handled remix, cutting up parts of the original in a Dilla or Bullion-style, and adding drums and intense bass shots along the way. "With You" handles Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" with a great deal of class, concentrating mostly on a tight vocal loop, while "Eat My Shorts" takes Ludacris' verses from "Stand Up" and layers them on top of long-forgotten 90s Britpop tune "Eat My Goal" by Collapsed Lung.
Review: More mashed up funk, hip-hop and breaks from A Skillz on the 10th in his series of bootleg booty-shakers. "Twang Banger" sees Tony Rotten himself, Blak Twang, getting his acapella of "So Rotten" placed over a beefed-up "Cross The Tracks" by The JB's. "Poppa Soul" on the other had uses a cat-iron classic acapella, Ultramagnetic MC's "Poppa Large", and marries it to a lost hip-hop classic, Pete Rock's "The Creator".
Review: There's a kooky video game/'90s feel to this release which in a weird kinda way combines Vanilla Ice vocals with a Justice style of electro, and for a hands up party (where hopefully smoke machines are involved) this will deliver the dance. It combines happy house vocals with modern day incarnations of UK bass styles that have been proliferating the world these past few years, with the slightest touches of bearable EDM synths. And if the vocal ain't your thing, check the instrumental version.
Review: Exclusive to Juno comes the fourth instalment of breaks producer A Skillz's Insane Bangers project - mashing up hip-hop, funk and breaks in a bootleg style for the win. "Feeling Kinda Indsane" whacks down the acapella of Afrika Bambaataa's "Just Get Up And Dance" over a crisp, nu-funk beat, while "Beat Don't Stop" uses portions of Chic-esque disco, the famous "Shack Up" break and tons of vocal cuts from sources such as Marlena Shaw's "Woman Of The Ghetto".
Review: Hooking up with Aussie breaks titan Nick Thayer on the latest in this series of cheeky, hip-hop bootleg cuts, A-Skillz keeps things very funky on "Rock The Spot" - a mix of chanking guitars, thumping drums and tons of accapella cuts from tunes such as Pitbull's "Bojangles". "19.99" is a souped-up take on Prince's classic, with the original accapella layered over a schizoid-funk beat and plenty of fresh MC hooks.
Review: Swapping previous collaborator Krafty Kutz for the Beatvandals on the latest in the Insane Bangers series of hip-hop/breakbeat bootlegs, A Skillz brings home two more battle weapons and party-starters for your delectation. "Hot Dogg" lays the acapella from Snoop's "Drop It Like It's Hot" over some nicely rounded beats and bass, while "Money Banger" has a lot of fun with the O Jay's "For The Love Of Money", blending in cuts from MOP's "Ante Up" and Frankie Cutlass' "Puerto Rico" for good measure.
Review: Hooking up with Aussie breaks titan Nick Thayer on the latest in this series of cheeky, hip-hop bootleg cuts, A-Skillz keeps things fresh over four new tracks - with the Fun Loving Criminal's getting jazzed up on "Booty Snax" and Kool & The Gang getting a thorough rerub on "Jungle Banger". Elsewhere, M.O.P's still-huge "Ante Up" gets looped, sped-up and generally effed with on "Yap That Fool, while Doug E. Fresh's seminal "The Show" acts as the basis for the sample-fest "Nothing Like A Bonus".
Review: Two masters of bootleg-style, hip-hop/funk mash ups team up for this latest instalment in Bombstrikes' series of party rocking tuneage. A Skillz and Beatvandals play a blinder on "Sunshine" - speeding up Roy Ayres' bonafide classic "Everybody Loves The Sunshine" with a tight beat layered underneath and chopped up respectfully. "Slapdance" however sees the pair take the beat from NERD's debut single "Lapdance" and cover it in well-crafted acapella cuts to make it a heavy-hitting floor filler.
Review: This is a first for all parties: JFB's first official mix, Ghetto Funk's first artist-fronted compilation and Disco Cakes' first ever long playing release. Needless to say each party has really stepped up; JFB has curated a mammoth 37-track adventure exploring every possible corner of Ghetto Funk's sprawling sonic scenery, ranging from wholesome, down-home country funk (Grinny Granddad "Good Girl"), slick ragga-swing (Stickybuds "Clean Air") bump-shuffling electro ghetto (Featurecast "Around The Block") and raw, teeth-clenching bass filth (Skullee - "Badboii"). Leaving no stone unturned, this documents the Ghetto Funk movement with immersive mischief, AND it comes with a killer DJ mix.
Review: Sometimes it pays to be a label boss, like for example here, on this latest Bomb Strikes comp where head honcho Mooqee has decided to hand himself the reigns. Manning the decks for nearly an hour, he whips up a frenzy of party breaks delirium over the course of 24 tracks. The tracks are supplied individually too, with highlights including the tropical trap-house of "Ladies Look Pretty" by Basement Freaks, the furious electro-bass mash-up "Get Got (VIP mix)" by Nick Thayer & A Skillz and the strompingly retro electro-funk of "How We Do This" by Tom Booze.
Review: Featurecast flexes hard into the crates right here: digging deep over 20 years of party breaks, he's put together the definitive journey of funk with the refreshing devil may care attitude we've come to expect. His selection excavations are here for all the benefit from... The Wiseguys's lesser-spotted jam "One For The Ladies", Lack Of Afro's horn-melting "The Outsider", Max Sedgley's sugar-sweet "Happy", Flevans' Afrofunk shake-up "12 Apostles" and Featurecast and Aldo Vanucci's 2008 hoe-down stomper "Blue Grassed Devil" are just some are just some of the floor-matured classics amid the 25 cuts on offer here. And that's before we even get to awesome mix. Don't dillydally on this one.
Review: One of Shambhala's most revered and friendliest neighbourhoods Fractal Forest celebrate 20 years of leftcentric bassline hurly burly with another resplendent all-star cast compilation. Ranging from the snake-like sleazing and horn melting funk of Opiou's "Ginger Lizard" and the organ melting sassiness of Neighbour's "Summertime Girls" to outright Krafty Kuts classics ("We Do This") and zippy bumpers from the Stanton Warriors ("Walking") via powerful full fat funk such as Gramatik's "Future Crypto" and A Skillz almighty brass band blazing classic "Dead Ringer", this whole collection represents one of North America's wildest, warmest and vibiest parties. Here's to another 20 years of Fractal fire.
Review: UK purveyours of funky breaks, Bombstrikes Records, may have a controversial name but there's everything to love about their sound. The fun loving and dancefloor bothering label run by Mooqee & Beatvandals was founded in 2004 and they claim that if you have been to a club since then you will most likely have heard their releases. Well then! Starting off with the low slug funk of A Skillz's "Mooger Fooger (dub mix)", Mooqee & Beatvandals themselves appear with "Back Up" and the legendary Cut La Roc is still at it; "Sunday Morning People" (Herbgrinder remix)" proves that he's still got his finger on the pulse. Other highlights include Pimpsoul's ever soulful "Is This Love (feat Pat Fulgoni - Pimpsoul funk remix)" the street attitude of A Skillz & Beatvandals "Simply Playing (feat Real Elements)" and the legendary Martin Solveig (remixed by the equally legendary Mousse T) who appears with the James Brown sampling "I'm A Good Man".
Review: Destination: Latvia. Bombstrikes welcome label regular Dubra to the stage to take selection duties for the third in their floor-firing Bass Funk mix series. Digging deep into the groove vaults, he's picked some outstanding timeless classics such as Krafty Kuts and Dyna's swaggering entrance theme "We Do This", Stickybuds' life-affirming glitch-slapper "Clap Your Hands" and A Skillz & Nick Thayer's body-slamming "Drop The Funk". Elsewhere we get our alien freak on with Opiuo, we get our heads knocked off by Dubra himself on "Keep It Going" and Punks favourite "You Don't" from Horger and Steve among many other straight up party-battering bass jams. 24 originals and a killer mix to boot, Bombstrikes are causing some serious damage with this collection. Strike while the dancefloor is hot yo!
Review: Fun loving Party Breaks and Beats label Bomb Strikes serve up a retrospective collection curated by label bosses Mooqee and Beatvandals. With 31 full-length cuts plus a one-hour DJ mix, there's no faulting the VFM as we move through breaks, funk, hip-hop and the occasional gnarlier nugget. Standouts include Andy Cooper & The Allergies' rework of Run DMC's 'Mary Mary' and Beatvandals & A Skilz's 2007 cut 'Sunshine', which mashes up Roy Ayers and Indeep. But the one we keeping back to is Mooqee's 'Supacat Police' (2006), which makes devastating, ragga-fied use of chunks from a certain KRS-One classic that we won't insult your intelligence by naming!
Review: Well, it look as if Bomb Strikes have caused a ruckus yet again here as they look set see out the year in style. This 6th edition of their now infamous 'Funk N' Beats' series sees them bring together a collection of twenty high powered insta-classics, all packed to the maximum with old school flavours, crunchy riffs and explosive grooves, perfect for chopping down any party. This project sees appearances from the likes of Smoove, Torpedo Boyz, Groove Armada, A.Skillz, Chrome, The Traffic and many many more, who all deliver the goods. This project also comes complete with a full continuous DJ Mix.
