Review: Set up in 1964, Bob Shad's Mainstream label covered a lot of musical ground during its 15 years or so of existence, starting out as a straight jazz imprint, moving into psychedelia in the late 60s then putting out a slew of classy funk and soul releases in the early 70s. This retrospective, compiled with Shad's grandchildren, features 13 cuts culled from the latter period, with standouts including Jay Berliner's car-chase funk rework of 'Papa Was A Rolling Stone', Maxine Weldon's Bassey-esque cover of Bread's 'Make It With You' and Blue Mitchell's sleazy, soundtrack-y 'Blue's Blues', while the jazz dancers will fiend for Pete Yellin's ker-razy 'Bird & The Ouija Board'.
Review: Every now and then we bestow an unofficial 'outstanding achievements in professional moniker' award. Philly Vanilli are pretty much guaranteed to hold on to this title for a long time to come. "The Sould Groove Experience" is their latest missive for Manolo Brigante's Austrian We Mean Disco! imprint and it's packed with reworked '70s soul gems (eight to be precise). Highlights include the shimmering Fender Rhodes slow jam "Soul Food", the rolling phasered guitar freak out "I Need Da Funk" and the campy Eurodisco effervescence of "To Be In Love".
Review: Following from Nightmares On Wax's Imagineering single the legendary Warp artist follows suit with Wonder, a two track trip diving through soundsystem filter funk and crestfallen electro-jazz. Featuring the golden vocals of Haile Supreme across both tracks, "Own Me" sees the artist's voice morph between half Ol' Dirty Bastard Wu-Tang sample & half cosmic soul train instrument. Backed by heavily dubbed-out beats, peaking filter switches and dope horns, Nightmares On Wax looks to textural love ballads in "Wonder", also featuring Haile Supreme and British jazz saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings in effect. New school jazz meets future pop.
Review: Veteran British downtempo producer George Evelyn aka Nightmares On Wax presents his ninth studio album on the esteemed Warp Records. Featuring 15 new tracks, on Shout Out! To Freedom...' Evelyn encouraged all the guest artists to 'make music inspired by what freedom means to them'. Some of the highlights include the evocative Balearic beats of "3D Warrior" (feat Shabaka Hutchings & Haile Supreme & Wolfgang Haffner), the dope urban swagger of "Wikid Satellites" featuring neo-soul artist Greentea Peng, and the jazzy sunset feels of "Isolated" (feat Pip Millett & Sabrina Mahfouz).
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