Another common denominator is that they both feature one amazing guest vocalist on two equally amazing tracks. The enchanting Bajka performs the vocals on ‘soundtrack for the sound eye’, adding extra depth and mystery to the in itself already cinematic backdrop of dalindèo’s orchestra. For Timo Lassy, golden boy Jose James pours some dark syrupy soul out over the jazz grooves laid down by Lassy and fellow musicians.

But don’t think that the only good thing about these albums is the vocal addition of two jazz greats. Dalindeo does a great job of scoring unseen dark jazz scenes with authentic sounds that are fresh and youthful at the same time. This also applies to Timo Lassy, albeit in his own genre of swinging uptempo jazz.

Being more of a funk/soul head myself I am not able to pin the genre, but I do know that of the similar artists I am familiar with Lassy is on par with Benjamin Hermann as far as I’m concerned. Also, I definitely like José James better on this than on his latest solo offering. The band that springs to mind as a reference for Dalindèo, maybe too obvious, is Cinematic Orchestra, sans electronics. But this should be taken as a compliment!

Maybe I am too harsh on The Bamboos, maybe I expect too much, but as it stands they have managed to underwhelm me a few times now. Don’t get me wrong though, I still think this is good and proper Funk/Soul material. I just expected more, or different, or better from these guys. So, although it’ll be nice to have ‘Turn It Up’ on vinyl for the old skool DJ’s, I think I’ll just wait for the album to drop. Mind you, this material is still good enough to keep me on the lookout for that ‘4’ album. But it’s just not good enough to want to go to etchshop and order immediately.

In the mean time, enjoy this video of ‘On the Sly’:

I can be very short about this band. If you like raw funk then this is a no-brainer. Buy this music! There are two shiny discs of black gold that harbour every deliciously raw tune these funksters have ever put out and it’s all good!

The tracks I think stand out most are ‘Kick Out The Jams’, ‘Greenbacks’ and ‘Red Raw’. The two vocal tunes on the Deep Street Soul LP are available as a 7″ release, but although these two tracks do deserve to be put out as a single, I’m afraid to say that you’d be better off to just buy the LP. The album includes the two vocal tunes, but also a slew of instrumental deep raw funk that would make the Meters proud (although they might think it all to sound a bit too punky). The track ‘Red Raw’ is just a sublime piece of real raw instrumental deep funk. There is nothing I can think of that could improve this song more. It’s one of those songs that is guaranteed to have people come up to a DJ and ask what that tune is. Hear for yourself after the fold!

Deep Street Soul – Deep Street Soul by Freestyle Records

All other tracks come close to this quality and I couldn’t point out any filler tracks if my life depended on it. There’s some uptempo tracks (which are good), some slow tracks (equally good) and some medium tempo tracks (still just as good). The only boring thing about this LP might be its consistency. This disc consistently rocks in the most funky kind of way. And to prove that this band will probably be here for a while to please our funky ears & dancing feet in the future, Freestyle has collected all their previous material, remastered it and put it out as an EP.

It’s my humble opinion that this is the best deep funk album of the year, and I’m very glad that Freestyle picked these funky-ass australians up and gave them a proper vinyl release.  So what exactly can you buy to help this band keep making righteously funky pearls? There’s a 12″ of collected previous releases called the ‘Chilli Fried EP’, a new 7″ with two vocal tracks off the LP and last but not least the ‘Deep Street Soul LP’ (released november 16th). Buy them all at Freestyle’s ‘own’ webshop KudosRecords, or at your favourite vinyl shack down the road.

If you’d like to read more, please consider the excellent reviews at MonkeyBoxing.com: Kick Out the Jams/Greenbacks 7″, Deep Street Soul LP.

Daptone Gold Autographed LP

Coming November 24th, a 23 track compilation featuring rarities, classics and previously unreleased tracks from Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, The Budos Band, Binky Griptite, Lee Fields, Antibalas and more.

The Daptone family has autographed 50 copies of the Daptone Gold LP, the first 50 people to pre-order the LP from our online store will recieve an autographed and gift wrapped copy!  Pre-order Daptone Gold HERE.

* Listen to soundclips, view photos, read liner notes & more HERE

* Download Lee Fields & the Sugarman 3′s “Stand Up” FREE on The Fader online HERE

* Watch the Daptone Gold Teaser HERE

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Daptone Gold Amazon .MP3 Promo (US only)

Get “Daptone Gold” early for only $2.99!  That’s 23 tracks for only 3 bucks, but only through Monday Nov. 23rd so don’t wait.  You will also recieve a bonus track, an instrumental to Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings’ “I’m Not Gonna Cry” titled “Money Don’t Make The Man” which features Neal Sugarman.  This bonus track is exclusive to Amazon .mp3.

Get it HERE

Press Release:
The Bamboos’ upcoming single sees the Aussie kings of funk  hooking up with Californian hip hop sensation Lyrics Born, one of the best loved, most critically acclaimed and biggest selling independent hip hop artists of the last decade. This track is already causing a stir with fans of hip hop, funk, rock and pop alike, so whatever your stylistic leanings, if you’re a sucker for a catchy mother****er, “Turn It Up” will have its wicked way with you.

For now, the only way to get it is to order the Tru Thoughts 10 Year Anniversary Book from Etchshop and have it delivered to you a week before official release by having it shipped NOW (since October 2nd). The track will also be released as a digital single on October 12th and might appear on the next Bamboos album (but no-one knows for sure). Oh and just so you know: Tru Thoughts also have a anniversary tee, which I personally find rather ugly, but hey, it’s a party isn’t it? And as a final anniversary ‘gift’, TT whipped up these small interviews with TT artists Belleruche, Flevans, Natural Self and Lance Ferguson & Kylie Auldist, which are worth checking out if you want to know a little bit more about these fine musicians. So go Turn It Uuuuuup!

It’s called DrawBar Reorganized, and contains remixes by Dr Rubberfunk, JD73, Black Grass, AIFF and is completed by a rework by the gentlemen themselves and just like the album it’s on CounterPoint Records.

For me as a DJ, a release that features or even completely consists of remixes is something worth paying attention to. The five tracks are all good reworks, but for my personal taste, there are three better ones and two lesser ones. I am not a big fan of the sounds of the Black Grass and JD73 reworks, for me they are too smooth and taste too much like disco.

The AIFF rework however is exactly what you’d expect from these afrolicious musicians, and they had the luck to be able to work on and with the vocals of ‘What’s the Matter’. The AIFF version turned out just as good as the original album cut, but however funky it may be, it will not rock my dance floor I’m afraid. Dr Rubberfunk does come close and has already made it ‘into the crate’. He takes some base elements from ‘Broken & Battered’ and whips them up into a mid tempo funk roller, keeping the sweet warped saxophone, vocal and organ (duh) and introducing a fonky guitar lick and some shakin’ beats. Then there’s one more track on the EP left undiscussed; a rework of ‘track’ by DrawBar themselves, taking the original track a step up into breakbeat territory, providing a more up tempo take on the original, which was more of a down tempo DJ Shadow type excursion.

To summarize, this EP shows that other artists are inspired to whip up DrawBar’s originals into new shapes, but for me this mainly makes me curious to new ‘original’ material from DrawBar, and Dr Rubberfunk for that matter. With regard to this EP; I like the originals better or just as much, but a score of 3 out of 5 ain’t bad.

So if you want to buy (please do), you should be able to do so at kudos here, but at the moment of posting the status still displays ‘NR’ (meaning not released yet). The EP should be released as digital & 12″ so keep an eye out at Juno Download too?

I just heard that one of the shops where the video was shot, has to close, likely within a month. Before panic ensues, the only shop that will have to close is the record shop, but it is a pity none the less. So if you have any money left, go spend some money, because the Metro recordstore (within the Revenge) is having its final sale (3 for 2).

This *NEW* 12″ features three tracks, but only one of them is new(-ish). For the A-side, Greg Wilson delivers his take on the 6ix Toys‘ brand of raw funk by re-stirring the album track ‘Paint the Toon’ into a mid tempo roller with some disco influences. The track begins with drums and percussion, slowly strolling along and adding layer by layer of the original track’s samples. It’s quite eloquently done, actually. When I say it has disco influences, I don’t mean ‘scream-out-loud-and-stretch-you-glitter-catsuit’ disco. I mean ‘hey-this-is-really-groovy’ disco. And because the base material is so raw, nothing can go wrong. Add this to you DJ mix and it will certainly not ruin the dance floor, but I expect it not to immediately fill the dance flooreither, because it builds up so gradually. The end result is typical mid-mix material of A-grade quality. As Connie Lush so soulfully exclaims: ‘Give it Soul’ and shake it to these ‘Brothers of Funk’.

The B side features two album cuts: ‘Paint the Toon (feat. Connie Lush)‘ and ‘Wanna Ride (feat. Yarah Bravo)‘. Both cuts are excellent tracks, the Connie Lush featured one being one of my favourite cuts off the album. This might also be why I am not overly enthused by the Greg Wilson version. The original is so raw and so funky and so much anchored in my ears that a new version has to really do something very different to hold my attention.

6ix Toys are known to be working on new material (just follow them on twitter to stay in the loop). I am highly curious about this because of the quality of their previous releases and talk of vintage gear used in the recording.

It is also mandatory to go see this band live, as this recent recording at Craig Charles proves, so here’s a tour schedule. For a current version see the 6ix Toys Myspace and to be extra prepared see more excellent live material on YooToob. Obviously, Mama’s Funky Flow and friends will be standing in the front row at the Utrecht gig on october 23rd, which is also the first in a series of Fudge Special nights, bringing you the funkiest bands straight from Utrecht’s greatest little Jazz basement.

The album has finally been released in all its glory, and not only is it gathering great reviews, it is also accompanied by a new 12″ single, featuring the stomping track ‘Roof Off’ in an extended DJ friendly re-edit, a remix by Diesler and a remix by the Part Time Heroes, keeping it all ‘in the family’. I’m gearing up to do a full review of the album in the near future, but for now, let’s look at the 12″, which was released around the same time as the LP.

The A side is The aforementioned ‘Roof Off (original extended version)’. Thanks to the press release, I can tell you that it’s the Vipertones’ own Phil Martin that is responsible for chopping and up the lead track and reassembling it into a grooving steady built up track that will fit snug in your funk mix. The B side kicks off with the same track, but remixed by ‘Daddy D.’ Diesler, adding a bit more electronics but still keeping the steaming pace of the original. It sounds a bit more subdued in spite of the added percussion, because the rawness of the original is polished to the background. Still a good tune, but it sounds like this is a finished, mastered version of the demo on which the final (album) version was based, by condensing it into pure funk and replaying it live explosively. The second B-side track completes the trio, and although the production of ‘Mean Lover (Part Time Heroes Remix)’ is not by one of the Vipertones’ own, it is kept close in the family tree. Laura Vane’s brother is half of the duo, and with this knowledge it is no wonder that PTH know how to handle miss Vane’s vocals. Even with the original track sounding completely different, they make it sound like the vocals have never known any other instrumentation and were specially sung for this production. The disco vibe is, as the british say, not exactly my cup of tea, but with LV on the vocals, who cares? The execution is excellent.

To summarize; the ‘Roof Off Remixes EP’ is a good 12″. But the main reasons for this being a good EP are not that you cannot afford to miss out on these tracks, I’m afraid to say. The to notch production and Laura Vane’s voice are the main reason that this EP is worthwile. But each of the songs on this EP has a better, rawer, punchier version on the Laura Vane & the Vipertones LP. So if you don’t own any music by them yet, then go buy the LP, but if you already own that LP and simply want more, this is not a bad piece of black plastic to throw your money at. Buy from your local record shack or your favorite online retailer (or Juno).

The Vipertones just recorded at least two more (new) tracks last week, so expect more to come in due time. It seems like the modern funk/soul movement has a new player in the front lines and they keep steaming forward in full gear. Also check out the soulful 7″ ‘Good & Plenty b/w Soul to Soul’ Ton & Phil have just released with the Soul Snatchers. And Diesler is gearing up to release his new LP in November, called ”Confessions Of A Dieslerous Mind” and featuring Laura Vane, Stee Downes (Sonar Kollectiv), Linda Bloemhard (The Jazzinvaders), Caroline Ekstrom & Double Yellow.

Wrong.

Yes, this album is full of samples. Yes, it is full of funky breakbeats. And hell yes, it will work on the dance floor. But NO it is not that simple.

This Danish beat master is an experienced beat smith, using sounds known and unknown to create his own style of Nu Funk breaks, forging old & new to work together as if they have always been.

Some of the tracks on this album may already be known to you, as BadboE has previously released about half of the tracks on GoodGroove, home to Nu Funk & Funk Break mash-up’s finest releases. And if you want the grooves to be on vinyl, you’d have to get those 12″es, since this album is only released on CD or Digital format.

BadboE – Break The Funk by auditorydesigns

Highlights on this album for me are the previously released ‘Loose Your Funky Self’, ‘Funky Intro’, ‘The Original Groover’. Some tracks have the problem of having too well known samples, like the rework of Rescue me. Although it does a good job of updating the track to the 21st century in terms of club music, it is a bit spun out too much, from a mere 2:50 to a full 5:09, making it slightly too repetitive. Another ‘down side’ is that the source material could still rock a dance floor on its own, making such a rework nice but not essential. Don’t be afraid though, not many tracks suffer from a too well-known basis, plus It may bother me but for many people the track will probably sound fine. I’m hard to please!

In the end, as an album this set of tracks do please me and it was a pleasure to have to listen to it for this review. A few more tracks that are worth a mention are ‘Break the Blues’ featuring some aching soul vocals on a bouncy mid-tempo blues break and ‘Spread the Words’ featuring some original vocals by Linn Lavinsky from Phat Old Mamas. The only other original vocal is provided by MC Sens One, who rides the beat of ‘Funky Medley’ with skill even though I can’t always understand what he’s saying.

Too round up this review, it may be too obvious to mention, but this kind of music is best listened to on a good bass heavy system, although the music still sounds great from my teeny macBook speakers. This album deserves a dance floor, but is also well equipped to provide a good listening experience. Unlike some other tracks that are only interesting as long as you can spaz out to them, BadboE has managed to create songs that can also be listened to and enjoyed on a musical level.

As a bonus, BadboE just released a mix for the Australian radio StraightUp, which you can download from here (right-click & save as).

The cd release is postponed till September 28th. It will be available on Kudos and Juno. But you can already buy it digitally at a few stores, sor pick your favourite digital grooves provider: Junodownload, Beatport, DjDownload, Amazon, SoulSeduction, Play.Com & The BBP Website.