Review:
Just a year shy of 20 years old, "Asiko (In A Silent Mix)" from Tony Allen's perennial Black Voices album enjoys a timely revision as part of Dekmantel's 10 year anniversary celebrations. This one comes from Motor City Drum Ensemble who maintains the dubby washes and pure spaciousness of Allen's original while refocussing the drums for more of a deeper dancefloor drive. Not quite as extensive as Villalobos's half hour remix but sometimes is a sweet seven minutes is the perfect punch. Jump on this.
Review:
Beatnik City is one of the chief exponents of the Northern Soul sound and its crate digging culture. Here they present what they dub "BarBeat", which is a good way to describe the non-purist approach of the edits featured - perfect fodder for bars rather than big room clubs. Perfect examples of this approach include "Finti Cents" where In Da Club gets taken back into time to a shimmying Motown backing groove or the 90s-hip-hop-goes-retro-big-beat vibes of "Jurassic Jive".
Review:
We were thrilled to see Quart's latest project pop up in the release listings and couldn't wait to get into this brand new extended LP project entitled 'Life Is Beautiful'. This project sees Quart really express his Nu Jazz compositional flavour as he unloads colourful instrumentation from start to finish, with a particular highlight being the smooth layerings of the title track 'Life Is Beautiful'. The album also takes in a range of electronically inspired BPMs, with 'Right Time, Right Place' taking a junglist style drum rhythm and 'Just A Lazy Day' swinging 140 themes left right and centre. Other noteworthy recordings include the beautiful piano riffs of 'Thinking Of You' and the uplifting harmonics of 'Orcha'.
Review:
Barely Breaking Even never lets us down. Once again they've dug deep, uncovered a long lost gem and are now giving it a well deserved dusting off. Sun Palace were a project that started as a hobby for musicians Mike Collins and Keith O'Connell (guitar/Roland CR78 drum machine), who in 1981 made Rude Movements, a record that became a rare early dance classic. Now remastered (and also featuring a collection of LP demos, "Raw Movements"), we can now all get to hear the record that blew away the likes of David Mancuso (RIP), Larry Levan and Frankie Knuckles. Lucky lucky us!
Review:
What can we say, it's the second volume of BBE's exclusive From The Archives series. Enough said, really. But, to be honest, a release like this deserves attention and respect from us all given that this label has created whole generations of music lovers and makers, both in and out of the UK. Much like first instalment, there is so much great material on here that many of us haven't had access too previously, and this goes for tunes like Ron Trent's endless voyage that is "Ori Space", or The Rebirth's "Caterpillar" - a giant of a downtempo anthem - and even the Brazil-infused drums and vibes of the carnivally-minded "Finding The Peace" by Skymark. This has quality stamped all over it and you'll be stuck to find any better broken beat out there on the endless planes that are our charts. Recommended, of course.
Review:
Earl Jeffers and Don Leisure's Darkhouse Family project is without a shadow of a doubt one of our favourite new entries over the last decade and, although they haven't put out a huge volume of music, it is all about the quality over the quantity. Their 2017 album, The Offering, is remixed here, and also released via First World, with the dup indeed offering a marvel of jazz-dance and all of its associated sub-styles. The remixers are class, of course, with the likes of Kaidi Tatham, Alfie Swan Andromeda Jones all smashing out some killer broken beats. The highlights, for us, are top-boy DJ Spinna's reinterpretations, with the producer dropping two ice-cold cuts - one house version and another slo-mo hip-hop groove for added texture. Sublime.
Review:
Famously, George Evelyn's Nightmares on Wax project is the only surviving link to Warp's early days as a bastion of Yorkshire house and techno. Of course, the Leeds native left that style behind years ago - though, interestingly, two tracks on this belated seventh album ("Eye (Can See)" and "Tapestry") touch on soul-sampling house - instead turning his attention to slinky downtempo grooves. For the most part, Feelin' Good sticks to the plan, offering up slow, laidback, summery fusions of soul, dub, funk, instrumental hip-hop and string-drenched Balearic moods. It's something of a return to form after a string of so-so sets, recalling Evelyn's two greatest moments, 1990s' downtempo classics Smokers Delight and Carboot Soul.
Review:
After a painfully lengthy hiatus on the solo material front, Koka Mass Jazz aka Konstantin Katsarski reigns supreme once again except this time the man's up on Greece's Timewarp label. We didn't expect this either given his sensibility for jazz music but this new LP, Elephunky Trip, strangely fits like a hand in glove with the imprint's usually more experimental sound archive. "Play The Game" opens with sultry blues vocals and laid-back sort of style, melting nicely into the instrumental jazz-funk of "At This Moment", before turning on the funky pop vibes again with "Getting Better", featuring Boyan Levchev on the vocals. Tiffany Blu is back on the ones and twos on "Summer Soul", a rude little tune that gets sexier by the bar, and there's more funk to be had with the likes of Krista featuring on yet another two dope cuts.
Review:
For this album, London's Huw Bennett created music directly inspired by the magnificent sounds of the Mandinka people in Gambia, namely Susso and Kuyateh griot families. According to Soundway Records, while travelling and seeking inspiration Huw found himself humbled by such a welcoming community of artists. The tracks are said to be composed from original source material, in addition to field recordings and Huw's own multi-instrumentalist leanings (he is the bass player for electronic jazz outfit Saltwater Samurai), all the while paying homage to a traditional Gambian aesthetic. The traditional instruments of the local musicians and their distinct style combine with Bennett's electronic production methods for a truly captivating and, above all, soulful musical experience.
Review:
The first in a series of compilations by Jura Soundsystem which blends dub, ambient, downtempo, boogie and proto house with a focus on previously unreleased music, out of print titles and some special versions edited specifically for the album. According to label boss Kevin Griffiths, the intention of this project was to delve deeper into the reissue pond and unearth some lesser known tracks and artists. Light one up and swagger to the sunkissed groove of Astral Engineering's "Seashore Dub", submit to the sweet steel drums and cosmo-dub vibes of Ken Dang's "Born In Borneo" (Jura Soundsystem Edit) or get down to the boogie-down vibe of Tabou Combo Superstars' "Ooh La La" (Jura Soundsystem Edit). The end of the album includes some soothing ambient tools.
Review:
The latest in a string of excellent GAMM releases, Swedish edit/remix maestro Jazzy Jens has a ball with The Undisputed Truth's progressive early-70s soul classic "Smiling Faces Sometimes" on "Undisputed". Speeding it up a little and adding just the right amount of extra percussion and delay to certain vocal phrases, he keeps the original's vibe nicely in tact whilst also making it a DJ's delight. Backing "Undisputed" is "Guarapera", a nicely arranged romp through some vintage Latin rumba and modest disco beats.
Review:
Amazingly, it's 25 years since George 'E.A.S.E' Evelyn and then production partner Kevin 'Boy Wonder' Harper sat down and recorded "Dextrous", their monstrous, bleep-era classic on Warp. A quarter of a century later, Evelyn is still going strong, though the grooves have mellowed a lot in that time. Here, Warp celebrate the producer's epic career with a much-deserved retrospective. All the familiar favourites are present, from the rush-inducing thrill of early dancefloor smashers "I'm For Real" and "Aftermath", to the sinewy downtempo goodness of the decidedly Balearic "Les Nuits", the blazed hip-hop dub of "195 Llbs" and stoner soul of "70s 80s". This version also includes a number of exclusive remixes, with names like JD Twitch, Special Request, LFO, Morgan Geist and Loco Dice putting their own spin on this classic material.
Review:
DJ/producer duo Troo Luv and Charlie Loud aka Heartbreak Sound have a great knack of re energising hip-hop acapellas and dropping some of the finest mash-up material out there at the moment. This latest release on GAMM is an essential purchase which comes in four pieces - with D'Angelo's "Brown Sugar" given a slow, nu-Philly groove, Jeru Tha Damaja's late-period hit "El Presidente" treated to a thematically-correct Cuban remake, Mos Def's "Ms Fat Booty" redone with a new, DJ Spinna-esque set of beats, and Common's classic "The Light" given a gritty make-over.
Review:
This latest offering from the shady Katakana Edits crew makes their previous offerings seem positively anemic by comparison. Boasting a whopping 22 tracks, it's almost certainly guaranteed to provide decent ammo for every house party imaginable. Highlights include the chugging electro dub sing-along "Shakka Boom" by DJ Clairvo, the p-funk meets disco of vibes of "Miami Freaks" by Lee Zamah and Timewrap's pumped up version of The Velvettes's perennial Motown classic, "He Was Really Sayin' Something".
Review:
Time get out the 'shrooms out as Claremont 56's dancefloor offshoot Leng present this psychedelic DJ mix from Psychemagik. Yes these nu-disco freakazoids have been granted the right to take us on an hour-long journey that takes in their beloved afro-beat, disco, funk and psychedelia. High-lights of this trip include the flower power vibes of "Catching A Wave", the saucy Euro-funk of "Gozame Ya!" and the west coast Manilow-isms of ""House Of The Rock".
Review:
It's a proper Celtic hoedown with Scotland's Capitol 1212 teaming up with Irish Moss for "Worldwide Echo". It's a match made in heaven as the in yer face D&B of the former blends perfectly with dubby vibes of the latter. There's plenty to choose from on the remix front too, from the classic dub of Tuffist & Max Powa to the breaky funk of Funkanomics via the pumpin' UKF beats of Juice Forever.
