Review: A true party patriot, Skeewiff's been involved in UK dance music for almost 20 years and is one of the founding members of Jalapeno's unique funk movement. With albums racking up into the teens, he knows how these things work... Consistency, clarity, cool collaborations and a powerful party message. Each box ticked, highlights include Ashley Slater's syrupy tones on "Slam Your Funky Funk Funk", the outrageous badman bass glitch fury on "Setting It Off", the dainty piano sprinkles and woozy horn magic of "Dr Groove" and the car-chase jazz boogie power of "Snakeweed" with original rare groove champions the Brand New Heavies. If you know Skeewiff's work, you'll already know this is a bonafide funk odyssey. If you're new to his work then here's your chance to get acquainted. Fo shizzle.
Review: Armada Music 20 Years Classics pays homage to dance music's rich history and aims to educate a new generation of fans about the artists who shaped the genre. There's classics galore on this one as you'd expect, with several bangers by label chief Armin Van Burren, in addition to seminal anthems such as Joe Smooth's "Promised Land", Inner City's "Good Life" (remastered), Chez Damier's "Can You Feel It" (New York extended dub) and Olav Basoski's "Waterman" (extended mix), as well as appearances by newer artists like ANOTR, Patrick Topping and Jan Blomquist.
Review: RatPack are legends of old school rave. They return with their long awaited LP. Featured on here are heavyweights such as The Freestylers, Baby D, Shut Up And Dance, Ragga Twins, Slipmatt, Lady Chann & Billy Daniel Bunter, 28 Hurtz & Skibadee. As you would expect from the RatPack: the musical direction on this album comes from a mixed bag of influences. Breaks, UK bass, acid house, garage and even drum & bass. There's even a little bit of skanking reggae thrown in for good measure. The chemistry the RatPack shares with all the artists, singers and producers on this album is evident and built up over years of touring the world together. Be it sharing the boards with King Yoof or the mic with Skibadee, The (CO)LabRats is an organic musical journey through the story of the RatPack, both old and new!
Review: The title here pretty much says it all, as Midnight Riot serve up a 20-track 'best of' collection that's replete with quality disco- and boogie-inspired house nuggets. There's no room here to go into all the tracks one-by-one, but highlights for this reviewer include Danny Kane's 'Pop Goes The Cherry', which bites Ruby Turner's 90s classic 'Never Ever Gonna Give You Up', and 'Sheroes' by the heavy-hitting Manc double-act of Massey & Paulette - think Daft Punk's 'Teachers' but for people with two X chromosomes. Now dive in and find your own favourites - with cuts from the likes of Amp Fiddler, Paris Grey, Dylan Debut and Jet Boot Jack to choose from, it shouldn't be difficult!
Review: 1981's An Eye For An Eye is, to this day, the only LP produced by Byrne & Barnes together, and it's as playful and fresh as the first day it came out. While it's a little more on the synth side of things, it reminds us of other blue-eyed soul artists such as Ned Doheny, and throughout its eleven tunes, there's plenty of romance, mystique and soul-ridden funk. Think of it as the prototypical bridge between a 70's jazz-funk LP and the beginning of pop music as we know it today. Blue-eyed soul at its finest!
We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you've provided to them or that they've collected from your use of their services.