Review: Like its predecessor, 'Urban Grooves 2' takes a deep dive into the vast vaults of IRMA Records, resurfacing with a 30-track set of "urban funk breaks dub hip-hop beats". In practice, that means a mix of head-nodding, slow-motion disco-funk (see the various contributions by hypno-disco king LTJ Xperience), rubbery jazz-funk-goes-dub disco workouts (Vito Lalinga), toe-tapping, sample-heavy instrumental hip-hop (Ice One), Latin-flecked downtempo grooves (Lo Greco Bros and Flow Bop), sumptuous neo-soul (Orange Factory), and wah-wah guitar sporting deep funk (The Smoke Orchestra). Equal parts club-ready and sofa-friendly, 'Urban Grooves 2' is a uniformly entertaining and life-affirming compilation.
Review: Italy's Sound Exhibitions bring us a 19-artist, 24-track collection that's very much the proverbial "game of two halves (Brian)". The album opens with label boss Vito Lalinga's Afro-jazz workout 'Angola', but that's a little misleading because it's the only real Afro-flavoured cut on offer, and from 'Legend' onwards we drop down into moody, cinematic jazz/jazz-funk territory - you're never far from a warbling Hammond organ, a live-sounding double bass line or a soaraway sax solo here! But then there's a change of mood as, with a little push from M.A.D.Y's 'Tribal Disco' and C Da Afro's 'Speed Dial, we find ourselves propelled into nu-disco/disco-house territory for the rest of the set - albeit with those jazzual flourishes still seldom backwards in coming forwards. A very classy comp indeed.
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