Review: The 'Jalapeno Funk' series reaches its 12th installment. The title's arguably something of a misnomer, because the 20 tracks here are largely closer to Dap Kings-style neo-soul - with, in true Jalapeno style, a side order of hip-hop - than they are to phat-assed 70s funk. But look at the names involved: with the likes of Smoove & Turrell, The Allergies, Skeewiff, Dr Rubberfunk, Ivo Fitzroy and Aldo Vanucci all onboard, you know fans of the label and/or the style are going to be more than satisfied with this one! Soopasoul's jazz-tinged 'A Wild Mad Beat' is one standout for this reviewer, while Skeewiff's 'Man Of Constant Sorrow' is worth a mention for its distinctive use of a country/bluegrass-style male vocal.
Review: Big time Jalapeno legend Soopasoul is back in the spotlight with the undeniable funk of Twin Stix, a three track banger taking in some high-tailing New York jazz in "Soopasoul Theme" thanks to that sweet brass section and big band blaxploitation funk tip. With touches of dub thrown about in "Lookin' For Freddie (edit)" next to some sweetly filtered licks of guitar, it's those solo horns and sustained strings that really hit the spot. "My Place (edit)" also drops in with some soulful vocal touches and a slight "Spacer Woman" Italo feel with its electronic bassline.
Review: The Allergies arrive at the Promised Land with mambo number five - the duo's fifth studio album! Featuring classic numbers in the familiar tones of tracks like "Working On Me" next to some more rap-and-boogie tracks with Andy Cooper of Ugly Duckling fame, other lyricists include soul sensation Marietta Smith, dance music heavyweight Dynamite MC, and the unmistakable voice of hip-hop royalty, Lyrics Born. Particular highlights include the bluesy half-time hip-hop number "Lean On You", Latin funk bomb, "Move On Baby" to the stringed-disco sessions of "The Beat". Get your more soulful numbers "Up Down Left Right", "New Thing" and "Are You Ready" without overlooking the pop-funk-rock-and-hip-hop crossover hit: "Promised Land".
Review: A fine two-tracker here from Soopasoul, a loose collective headed up by Manchester-born hip-hop, funk, house and rave veteran Danny Hybrid (E-Lustrious, Direckt), coming on their regular home of Jalapeno Records. Both tracks are original productions that hail from the jazzier end of the contemporary funk spectrum, with 'A Wild Mad Beat' itself rocking the Blaxploitation soundtrack vibes while on the livelier 'Swing Down' Hybrid's hip-hop roots are showing, as he takes us a little closer to funk-breaks/funk-hop territory, albeit still with a female soul vocal in full effect. An EP no self-respecting funkateer will want to miss.
Review: Spring has sprung and The Allergies have arrived! In the mood for samba, Latin loops, catchy hooks and horns, the Bristol project signal their intentions from the start in "Move On Baby" with a hot and heavy, swung number of bandido funk. Its alternative, "Are You Ready" features lyrics from Ugly Ducking MC Andy Cooper and bigger vocals even still by Miss Marietta Smith whose collaboration collides in a dub-infused, jazz funk number of big beat heat!
Review: Smoove & Turrell's sixth studio album continues to get the royal treatment with a new dose of remixes, this time coming from band member Jonathan Scott Watson's solo project, Smoove. Turning out ten new and previously unheard versions of Stratos Bleu, Smoove embraces dubs of all sounds and sizes. Looking to something trance-like in "Still Don't Know" with its turn-of-the-millenium house vocal - next to "Talk About Nothing" - get some neo-soul and gospel vibes in "Elgin Towers", to a chunky and Balearic instrumental in "Never Wanted You More". "Fade Away" adds an extra breath of fresh air to its vocal section and broken beat rhythm structure, with some summery and upbeat grooves that hit the floor running in an 'Acid Dub' to "This Time". Smoove operator.
Review: Bristol duo The Allergies continue to hint at a future album release with this two-track digital 7", Lean On You. Featuring bespoke lyrics from Dynamite MC in its lead cut, it's a track that subtly touches on Southern rap as it does rock and Gorillaz-styled funk or Cypress Hill-styled hip hop. Venturing further down a looped-up blues and rootsy funk tip in "Working On Me", lyrics are swapped for classic vocal samples, brass horns, big beat loops and clever funky drummer motifs. Spicy hot.
Review: Keeping it dusty, beatdown, looped up and moody blue is Asta Hiroki's Entropy album on Jalapeno. Taking in jazz drums, MPC programming, dusty vinyl crackles-and-pops to other classical and acoustic elements - like the harpsichords in its title-track - Entropy is a most alluring, emotional listen. With a sound that lands somewhere between Pantha Du Prince, DJ Shadow and Burial jamming in a jazz cafe/piano bar, get your kicks through classy finger percussion in tracks like "Dahlias" to '90s esque broken beat instrumentals in "Cherry Blossom" - tis the season. Post-dubstep percussion and mirrored synths make their way into tracks like "Butterfly House" next to some broken down hip hop and blues too in "Rose-tint". Entropy never felt so warm.
Review: Brighton-based DJ, producer and multi-instrumentalist Flevans (known as Nigel Evans in real life) has been steadily turning out funk- and soul-inspired beats, breaks n' grooves for the past 20 years, working mostly on the Tru Thoughts and Jalapeno labels. Here, he returns to the latter stable clutching three new tracks: 'Starting Points' is quite overtly disco-fied by Flevans' standards, 'Biznizz' is a little bit more down n' dirty but still upbeat, while the stripped n' looped 'I Wanted You To Stay' is the housiest of the three and wouldn't actually have sounded out of place on a 'Disco Kandi' compilation.
Review: We're full of respect for the team behind Jalapeno Records, who have now been offering up the finest in funk, soul, hip-hop, disco and breakbeat for 20 years. It's a landmark that calls for a celebration, and with this compilation they've certainly marked their anniversary in style. The 20-track set is full-to-bursting with party-starting heat, with vintage gems from the likes of Skeewiff, Ikon, Kraak & Smaak and Featurecast being joined by more recent highlights from current imprint heavyweights such as Smoove & Turrell and the Allergies. Highlights are plentiful, with our picks including the break-driven revivalist soul headiness of Aldo Vanucci's 'You're All Show', the summery positivity of Gizelle Smith's 'S.T.A.Y' and the rushing disco brilliance of Dimitri From Paris's essential edit of Izo Fitzroy's 'I Want Magic'.
Review: 2020 might have been a "dumpster fire" of a year (as our American cousins might say), but somehow Nigel Evans AKA Flevans has managed to remain positive. His new EP - the former Tru Thoughts stalwart's first of 2020 - is led by one of the funkiest, and most celebratory tracks he's ever made, the R&B vocal-sampling, disco and electrofunk revivalism of 'I'm Over Here'. With its' killer bassline, Chic-style guitars, bustling beats and squelchy synths, it sounds like a future peak-time anthem. He explores similar sonic pastures on the more shuffling, synth-heavy 'Uptight', before offering up a slightly deeper (but no less funky) take on early '80s disco via similarly superb closing cut 'Fade'.
Review: Given the vibrancy, instrumental colour and musical richness of Smoove & Turrell's recent Stratos Bleu album, it should come as no surprise to find that this partner remix album is every bit as good. There are some suitably sizable, club-ready takes scattered across the set, with our picks including Ashley Beedle's piano and strings-laden disco revision of 'It Ain't Working', Ray Mang's slap-bass-sporting disco-boogie overhaul of 'Do It', Smoove's proto-house style 'Club Dub' of 'It Ain't Working', and a couple of excellent deep house re-rubs by Vandebilt and Fouk. Elsewhere, Steve Cobby's stirring remix of 'Elgin Towers' is a blue-eyed soul treat, Krash Slaughta successfully re-wires 'TalkAbout Nothing' as a shuffling drum and bass workout, and Dr Rubberfunk's take on 'Never Wanted You More' is a jazzy trip-hop treat.
Review: UK "new old" funk 'n' soul faves Smoove & Turrell bring us four remixes of three tracks culled from their sixth studio album 'Stratos Blue', which dropped back in June. 'Fade Away' - an uptempo Pharrell/Cee-Lo/Aloe Blacc-style funker in its original form - gets housed-up nicely by Fouk on his fairly self-explanatory Remix and Dub. Elsewhere, Rayka's take on 'EP' is even more transformational, taking the pop-soul original into throbbing acid territory; 'This Time', on the other hand, was pretty uptempo and house-y to start with, but Rayka still injects some hands-in-the-air pianos, just to make sure.
Review: In the version used to open Smoove & Turrell's recent (and rather good) "Stratos Bleue" album, "Do It" is a slap-bass-propelled chunk of revivalist early '80s disco-boogie excitement with an added side order of jazz-funk colour. Because of this, it's not a great stretch to think that disco remix king Ray Mang would provide some killer reworks. And so it proves. The long-serving producer delivers superb Vocal and Instrumental takes that mirror the structure and production tricks of original disco mixers such as Tom Moulton and Shep Pettibone. That means a greater role for the rubbery bassline, beefed-up percussion, Chic-style guitar riffs, delay-laden percussive breakdowns, kaleidoscopic synth sounds and early '80s effects aplenty. Ace!
Review: In its original "Stratos Bleu" album mix form, "It Ain't Working" was one of the deepest and slickest cuts in the Smoove & Turrell catalogue. To kick off this excellent remix package, Ashley Beedle takes the best bits of the track and adds some summery disco and old school house flavours of his own (the "NSW Vocal Mix"), before delivering a deeper, sweeter and more spacey instrumental "NSW Dub" mix that's arguably even better (if only because you get more piano stabs, more trumpet solos and plenty of intergalactic synthesizer doodles). Those looking for something more forthright and bass-heavy should head for Sorley's sweaty and low-slung revision, which re-imagines the Newcastle crew's original as an acid-fired slab of sleazy late-night house hedonism.
Review: In its original form, jazz-funk and electrofunk-flavoured neo-soul number "Elgin Towers" was one of the standout moments on Smoove & Turrell's recent (and must-check) sixth album, "Stratos Bleu". Here it gets the remix treatment, with Crazy P man Chris Todd leading the charge under his now familiar Hot Toddy alias. Todd kicks things off with a warming, deep disco vocal version that places Turrell's fine vocal atop a bed of Balearic guitars, bubbly synths, snare-heavy drums and dreamy deep house chords, before offering up a mostly instrumental "Dub Mix" that's even more Balearic, loved-up and life-affirming thanks to some suitably stirring chord sequences. Fila Brazillia man Steve Cobby takes a totally different approach on his remix, re-imagining the track as a slow, languid, string-laden downtempo soul treat.
Review: Formed in 2012, Bristol duo The Allergies have spent the past eight years crafting a signature style that's like the missing link between Stereo MCs and The Dap Kings. This, their third studio long-player, doesn't throw up any huge surprises - yet again they float effortlessly from party-style hip-hop and funk breaks to effective 'new old' funk and northern soul pastiche - but is notable for its range of guest vocalists, who include Dynamite MC, The Cuban Brothers (on Latin excursion 'Let Them Know') and veteran Ugly Duckling rapper Andy Cooper, not to mention Bristol's own most notorious busker, Mr Woodnote. The Ike & Tina vibes of 'Every Trick In The Book' and the fast-n-furious 'I'm On It' (feat Dr Syntax) are among the highlights.
Review: The original version of "All I Want" is one of the lesser-known gems in Kraak & SMaak's epic back catalogue. The squelchy slab of revivalist electrofunk, which features a brilliant lead vocal from Keyhole, was first sent to DJs five years ago, but for whatever reason was only released earlier this year. Here the long-serving Dutch trio treat us to the essential (and previously unheard) extended mix, plus a trio of reworks from industry pals. Mason kicks things off with a vibrant and colourful take that re-casts the track as a delay-laden chunk of 1980s NYC freestyle, Xinobi opts for a bass-heavy deep nu-disco flex, and Ash Reynolds re-imagines it as a swinging chunk of lusciously sun-kissed deep house with warming boogie flourishes.
Review: We were rather impressed by Flevans recent album "Accumlate" - his fifth in total over a career spanning almost two decades - and in particular its inherent funkiness and effortlessly soulful flavour. Here one of the LP standouts, "Realisation" with vocalist Laura Vane, is given the remix treatment. The EP-opening "Re-Tide Mix" brilliantly joins the dots between funk-fuelled disco-house and colourful, synth-heavy boogie, while Lonely Boy's "Isolation Mix" is a deliciously loose-limbed breakbeat revision that gives due prevalence to track's insanely funky bassline and jaunty Rhodes keys. You'll also find full-length and radio versions of Supermini's hot-to-trot remix, which may well be the funkiest and freshest of the lot.
Review: Album number six here from the northeast of England's finest neo-soul combo Smoove & Turrell. Coming like all five of its predecessors on the mighty Jalapeno Records, 'Stratos Bleu' sees the Gateshead gang exploring a slightly wider range of musical territory: 'This Time', for instance, operates at a soulful house tempo, while 'E.P.' has an almost Underworld-ish, indie-dance kinda feel. Synths n' samples play a more prominent role than on previous albums, too - though John Turrell's distinctive tonsils remain front and centre at all times, so existing fans needn't worry too much!
Review: Shaping up to be one of the biggest soul tunes of the year, here 'Blind Faith' gets the remix treatment courtesy of Art Of Tones (formerly known as F-Comm fave Llorca) and fellow Jalapeno regular Smoove (as in Turrell). Art Of Tones nudges the track closer to soulful house territory - his Dub, in particular, would undoubtedly have gone down a storm at Ben Watt's legendary Sunday sessions Lazy Dog back in the day, with its phat b-line and jazz-funk guitar chops. Smoove then surprises with a shimmering, squelchy-basslined rub that also operates at a near-house tempo.
Review: Jalapeno bring us a single-track release from label regulars and 'new old' funk/soul stalwarts Smoove & Turrell. You already know roughly what to expect musically, so the only thing to note on that front is that 'It Ain't Working' is perhaps a little more electronic and less live-sounding than the duo's usual output (check out that bassline), while lyrically the song laments the trials and tribulations of life on the road, reflecting in bittersweet style on all the times working musicians are told dismissively that "that ain't working". Look out for new long-player 'Stratos Blue', coming soon...
Review: Jalapeno regular Flevans returns with an 11-track album that won't disappoint lovers of the label's trademark funk-breaks-soul sound one iota. It's actually his fifth, reflecting the fact that Flevans does this stuff better than most; if there's a criticism, it's that the album perhaps tries a little too hard to please everyone. Where cuts like 'Power Rocks You' have an authentic 60s/70s 'deep funk' feel, others such as 'Ambition Like Cream' (feat Scooby Jones) opt for a more commercial approach and end up in Radio 2-friendly pop territory. But even if you do find yourself hitting the Skip button once or twice, there's still much to enjoy here.
Review: The Allergies seem to have settled into a routine with their releases lately - one retro-tastic 'new old' funk/soul jam with a sung vocal, plus one slice of funked-up hip-hop - and so it is again here. 'Felony' is all dusty horn parps, live drums and soulful male vocal, while the accompanying 'Ride 'Em Up' finds the Bristolian crew at their most Stereos-esque while a guest rap from Andy Cooper alternates with a sultry female soul vocal. There's nothing especially groundbreaking going on, but if your toes aren't tapping you might want to double-check that you remembered to put your feet on this morning...
