It's been slowly drip-fed to us over a 10-month period but now here at last is the full album. On 'Something Like That', Jalapeno bosses Skeewiff celebrate 25 years in the game by paying tribute to some of the music that's inspired them, delivering generally very faithful but also very accomplished reworks of classic tracks by artists ranging from The Winstons and Jimmy Smith to Dick Dale and Herb Alpert. New additions to the roster on this final version include Nancy Sinatra's 'These Boots Are Made For Walking', Muppets 'Mah Na Mah Na', Mel Tormé's Mod club standard 'Coming Home Baby' and, just to prove they're not taking themselves TOO seriously, Boots Randolph's 'Yakety Sax' - better known to most as the 'Benny Hill' theme.
The mysterious Funk Windows return to Sound Exhibitions with a new four-track slab that, as the EP title suggests, looks to the African funk scene for inspiration. The Afro influences are furthest to the fore on the EP's two vocal cuts, the lively, rolling opener 'Ouma Koume' and the more ponderous 'Minimal Day', while bass, guitar and horns workout 'Funky Times' and the sparse, looping 'Mr Funk' (which comes on a bit like The Last Poets minus the rapping) are perhaps a little more universal in their funk MO, but it's all good, as they say - with 'Funky Times' leading the charge to these ears.
Chicago soul vocalist Donnell Pitman made his recording debut in 1969 and for a long time was best known for a couple of sought-after boogie rarities released in the early 80s. In recent years, though, his team-up with Wings Of Sunshine and the Star Creature label has seen his star shining brighter than ever before - so much so that his debut album 'Brand New Funk' will be with us in May. But for now, there's this four-track sampler. Slick, soulful 80s boogie stylings are the order of the day generally, though the standout to these ears is 'Joog With Me', which rocks a slightly rawer, Rick James-like funk vibe.
Sonar Kollektiv present the first solo album from German drummer, composer and producer Janek van Laak, previously best known as one-half of the duo Tutu Amuse alongside vocalist and fellow Berlin native Rosa Landers, and as co-founder of the experimental outfit Liquid Brain Orchestra. 'Circle Of Madness' is a largely instrumental affair but does feature a brace of guest vocalists - Australia's Madeleine Rose on 'Here To Slay' and Japan's Shiomi Kawaguchi on 'Daiamondo', while van Laak himself sings on a couple of tracks. Musically, it's wonked-out, off-kilter drums and horns that do most of the heavy lifting, augmented by floaty keys and the occasional electronic parp and squelch. Definitely one for those who like things on the more out-there side.
You have to hand it to Finnish musical maverick Jimi Tenor: now over 35 years and more than 25 albums into his career, the man's pretty much a genre all on his own. 'My Mind' first appeared on 1999's 'Organism' long-player, but this new recording - laid down at Philophon's Joy Sound Studios in Ghana, with backing from the 10-piece Rubato Chorus - finds him exploring the musical hinterland between high-life, broken beat and leftfield electronic pop, and is unlikely to disappoint his legions of fans. The accompanying 'Love Is The Language' is an equally hard-to-pigeonhole affair with hints of psychedelia and a singalong chorus.
In an industry where the term 'veteran' is bandied about far too freely, Colin Curtis is the real deal! His DJing career goes all the way back to legendary Northern Soul club The Golden Torch in the late 60s. In the 70s, he was a resident at Blackpool Mecca alongside Ian Levine, where he became one of the first DJs to introduce the more modern sound of jazz-funk to the scene. By the mid-80s he'd become an early UK champion of house, too, but these days it's on the jazz-dance scene that he's most revered - and here he serves up a 26-track connoisseur's collection that shows why. Ranging from straight-up jazz and soul to soulful house and leaning heavily towards the Afro- and Latin-flavoured, some of these cuts are recent offerings, some date back as far as the 70s, but on jazz-dance floors, all will go down a treat.
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