Review: Following the success of Shaka Loves You's previous compilations on Bombstrikes, the label has offered them the chance to launch a new series all of their own. Named in honour of their radio show and regular parties in Glasgow, Joints & Jams offers up a hugely entertaining (and largely floor-friendly) mixture of funk-fuelled hip-hop (Bastien Keb, Fort Knox Five, Andy Cooper), skanking reggae (The Nextmen and Gentlemen's Dub Club sing-along 'Done It Again'), flash-fried funk breaks (the Allergies), tropical goodness (DJ Nu-Mark's hook-up with Quantic), and various fusions of disco, boogie and funk (see the cuts from Kraak & Smaak, X-Ray Ted, Pablo & Shoey and Shaka Loves You themselves). The result is a brilliantly mixed-up collection of tried-and-tested dancefloor bombs.
Review: Bringing a select bevvy of the best Bombstrikes tracks the label has released in 2020, it's enjoyed an explosive year of tunes from Krafty Kuts, Jet Boot Jack, Lack Jemmon, Shaka Loves You and more! They feature here with "Blow Your Whistle", a funked-out "Let's Move" and the lowdown swing-track "I'm A Boss". Other highlights include the Cypress Hill style hip house track "Stir It Up Sister (feat K MI & KDS)" to Prosper & Stabfinger's squelchy, space bubble cruise down mainstreet: "Down In The Basement (feat Awoke)". With some tear-out bass, horns and synths coming out of Ninjulas' "You Know I Like It", check out some lo-fi and slamming funk, disco and house from X-Ray Ted's "On The Floor'' alongside The Nice Guys' Godzilla-themes "Turn It Out" and Jet Boot Jack's strings in "Straight To My Head". Boom!
Review: Bomb Strikes, the UK hip-hop/funk/soul/breaks label headed up by Mooqee & Beatvandals, celebrated their 15th birthday in 2019 with a fantastic compilation album, and to further celebrate the success of the label in 2019 they're releasing another compilation featuring 15 of their best cuts from the past 12 months. What's most impressive is the variety on offer, ranging from straight-up hip-hop from Alexander Norman Prosper & Stabfinger, to party breaks from Ali B and Krafty Kuts, to 'new old' soul from Flevans, to the fairly self-explanatory 'Disco Weapon' and 'Mirror Ballin'' (by Shaka Loves You and X-Ray Ted, respectively. Tons of fun for festive season funkateers of all ages!
Review: A brand new label dedicated to the nu-funk crusade, Funk Fusion are launching with a serious statement of booty-shaking intent. With concentrated mid tempo party vibes littered throughout the set, there are some genuinely unique examples of creativity here... Including the harmonica and slap-bass mischief of "Seems Like A Dream", the rich crooning dancehall vocal of Waykin Bakaman on "The Scury", the haunted house-level scratchy bass on "Monster". With other highlights coming from X-Ray Ted (a discofied version of Junior Senior) Phunk Sinatra (Busta Rhymes goes Bollywood) and Rory Hoy (gritty horn heaven that nods to Exit Planet Dust), this really is a fantastic way to launch a label.
Review: Tru Funk unleash yet another spotless funk collection on Tasty Beats Vol 1. Boasting premium party nuggets from some of their most distinctive contributors, it's a non-stop session of genre-fusion and raw funk. Highlights include Funk Efemdzemov's cheeky Rick James and Bootsy Collins references on "1,2,3, Yeah You Got It", Phunk Sinatra's ode to the one and only James Brown and Zamali's insanely obese, horn-heavy workout "Pervitine Groove". Full flavoured goodness throughout, this lives up to its tasty title.
Review: Spinforth's quest for freshness continues as he follows up the debut December Scour dispatch with another generous selection of chunky-jacksy bass joints. With gnarly fingers probing every party pie, across the collection we're treated to dubstep-meets-classic-Brooklyn ("Time To Rock"), 23rd century electro wobbles ("Boss DAT!") and VERY cheeky Cypress Hill booty business ("Insane Brains"... obviously!) And that's only three examples. Get Scouring.
Review: Glasgow's Shaka Loves You has rightly earned a reputation as disco-centric duo on the rise. Because of this, it's little surprise to see them at the controls on Bomb Strikes' first foray into the disco-focused compilation market. The Scottish pair have naturally pulled out all the stops for the occasion, selecting 20 hot-to-trot cuts that aptly blur the boundaries between disco, funk, nu-disco, electro and boogie. Highlights include, but are in no way limited to, the hazy, sun-kissed soul of Lack of Afro's "Back To The Day", the thickset P-funk revivalism of Kraak & Smaak's "Dynamite" and the rubbery disco-house-meets-UK soul flex of the Reflex's remix of Omar's "Vicky's Tune". Throw in a tasty selection of the pair's productions and you have a suitably strong collection.
Review: Bringing new levels of heat to the nu-funk fire, Rise Above returns with three more surefire party ruckuses. WBBL kicks off with a pitch-perfect update of Bomb The Bass's "Bug Powder Dust" on "Buggin", Sammy Senior looks further back and taps into the deepest pool of classic jams with a savage bass-scorched "Sweet Funk", and finally X Ray Ted closes the show with a cool homage to Al Jarreau, complete with a cameo from Mr Biggie Smalls himself. New blood? Bloody great, more like.
Review: Taken form the forthcoming Bombstrikes compilation - Funk N' Beats Vol. 8, curated by Bristol DJ and Beat Smith X-Ray Ted, 'Party Time' is available digitally for the first time. Originally available on a limited run of vinyl, the release sold out within a matter of days. This one has already picked up some serious heat with support from DJ Koco, Krafty Kuts, and Craig Charles on his BBC Radio 2 show.
Review: Bomb Strikes bring us two fat-assed slabs of contemporary from X-Ray Ted, a producer from Bristol, UK with the best artist name we've come across since Ken At Work! 'On The Floor' centres around a plangent six-string riff that plays throughout, augmented by two competing vocals - one male and chanted, the other a more discofied, female "get on the floor, let's rock, let's do it some more" - and underpinned, naturally, by a full-phat bassline. 'Chopsy's Groove' opens with more guitars and a Lightnin' Rod-like spoken vocal, then develops into a sax-led jazz-funker with a seriously hefty bottom end. Dancing will ensue, you mark our words.
Review: Three very serviceable contemporary funk bullets here, lovingly put together by Bristolian funk and hip-hop producer X-Ray Ted. 'Mirror Ballin'' places a jaunty little funk guitar riff front and centre, augmenting it with a wordless chant and numerous other vocal snips that are scattered liberally across the track in an 80s hip-hop kinda style. 'Get Into It' gets even busier with the sampler as it throws bites from seemingly every "get up" or "get on up" vocal ever recorded into the mix, while finally 'Never Gonna Let 'Em Say' plays us out on a rawer, sleazier funk tip, with more of a 'live' feel and less of the hip-hop production tricks.
Review: Fresh funk is exactly what 2019 ordered here as we get down and stuck into the first offering of the year from the now legendary Bomb Strikes imprint. They bring forward X-Ray Ted for three tracks of super groovy energy, kicking off with the authentic vocal sampling, crunchy drum creations and catchy guitar licks of 'Fake Gold'. Following this we dive into the title track 'Swagger', which pushes out some more super crunchy guitar work, beneath a very expressive horn section which runs riot amidst yet more punchy drums. Finally, the horns are let loose one more time as the classic vocal line of 'Buddy Burger' rounds off this EP with a dash of flare.
Review: It's that devilish X-Ray Ted, back again on the unstoppable Goodgroove. At the moment, the Bristol crew seems to be holding it down for the UK, with the majority of new artists on our disco/funky charts coming from the West of the country. It's natural, it's in the city's DNA, and even these four new burners from X Ray Ted pack enough rave sensibility to please three to four different generations of British head-nodders. "Rollin'" and "My House" are simple tunes, but they do what they do with utter class - the finest of house rolling that we've come across. "Salsoul Lover" is, of course, a disco inspiration taken from the legendary label's outlandish back catalogue, and "Blue Skies" rocks to a slower, more broken boogie vibe that has everything from the bass to the synths, in the right places. Mighty fine!
Review: Bristol's X-Ray Ted is about the light and fun party jams, no cool digger's obscurities welcome here. Here he serves four guaranteed floor fillers starting with "Mild Mild West", a loose-limbed disco rendition of the Good The Bad and The Ugly theme, next "Too Good" sees Aretha Franklin get a house-shaped whoosh under her backside, "EveryMoney" meanwhile sees some vintage soul fused with classic Kelis and ODB and finally "Hold Tight" sees the show close with some sizzling neon-flecked arpeggiated disco..
Review: Four explosive bootlegs from Bristol badman X-Ray Ted (or X-Ray Edward as he's known on his birth certificate). First up is a low-tempo swagger jack rendition of Mary Jane Girls "All Night Long". The heavenly vocal remains intact while mid-range bass worms and wriggles amid the beats. "The Two" flips us up the tempo while D.O.C's Dre-produced "It's Funky Enough" gets a savage nu-funk turbo charge. "Don't Stop" sees Usher, Lil Jon and Ludacris's "Yeah" get a Michael Jackson-level revamp while "Let's Groove" revisits Earth Wind & Fire with gusto. Each one guarantees serious floorplay.
Review: Following fine outings from Fort Knox Five, the Allergies, Smoove and Marc Hype, amongst others, Bomb Strikes' reliable Funk N' Beats compilation series returns with rising star X-Ray Ted at the controls. In keeping with the series' heavyweight, funk-fuelled style, the Bristol-based DJ and beat-maker has gathered together a killer collection of soul, hip-hop and funk club cuts, with a smattering of more laidback numbers to keep things fresh. Highlights are plentiful throughout, with our picks including the boom-bap brilliance is Aldo Vanucci's tidy remix of 'All Down' by Mr Doris and D-Funk, the dancefloor jazz heaviness of Nostalgia 77's 'Changes', the cut-and-paste craziness of Double Dee & Steinski's 'Jazz' and the disco-funk masterclass that is X-Ray Ted's own 'Party Time'.
