‘Verbal Herman Munster’ Chali 2Na continues his current campaign of re-imagining cuts off his ten year old solo LP debut Fish Outta Water with a re-rub of the best track on the album in question, the Nu-Mark-produced Comin’ Thru. The original’s success lay in the simplicity of its boom-bap dancefloor dynamics delivering all the vibe of the best Jurassic 5 cuts but with only one of
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CHALI 2NA: Comin’ Thru’ (2020 version)
JALAPENO RECORDS: Two Decades Of Funk Fire + Ltd. 7″ Vinyl Boxset
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An artist roster like that of Jalapeno Records does tend to render idle boasting superfluous, so when they entitle a compilation to celebrate twenty years as a going concern Two Decades Of Funk Fire, you’d better believe the hype. How is it ‘funk fire’ though? Let me count the ways. Firstly, there’s one track for each year of the label’s existence. No need to
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BRONX SLANG: Copy That
New lyrics of fury from Bronx Slang as they take up their debut LP’s anti-establishment baton to battle American corruption and racism for new single, Copy That, the first off their forthcoming LP. What’s that boys? You’re under attack? Ah well, you know the drill, first they mock you, and if they doesn’t work they try to buy you and if that doesn’t work, they try to kill you – it’s all
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THE L.B.s: Broasted Or Fried b/w SOUL’S PATH ENSEMBLE: Stop Tryin’ (Vinyl 7″)
Unintentionally overlooked at the start of the month as the Covid chaos continued is this split vinyl 7″ from Rocafort Records featuring a brace of instrumentals – a cover of Willie Bobo classic funky jam Broasted & Fried by the L.B.s. backed with Soul’s Path Ensemble’s languid Stop Tryin’ on the other. Despite one occupying the party end of the funky spectrum and the other a more
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MR DORIS & D-FUNK (feat. N’FA JONES & CANTALOOP): All Down
In the sort of close international collaboration that populist politicians could learn a thing or two from, Mr Doris, D-Funk, N’Fa Jones and Cantaloop come together from the four corners of the globe (well, the UK, Ibiza, Oz and NZ at any rate) for All Down. The result is a highly agreeable hip-hop bump possessed of a mellowness also signally missing from international relations these days
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THE BONGOLIAN: Harlem Hipshake
Rating: Looks like everyone’s been saving up all their album-length dope for the end of the year because here’s another spectacular long-playing autumn release in the shape of new Bongolian LP – Harlem Hipshake. This thirteen-tracker is the follow-up to 2016’s Moog Maximus and if that was all about exploring the potential of the Moog in all its glory, this one takes its cues
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GROUP MODULAR: Time Masters
Rating: It might have been eight years since debut album The Mystery Of Mordy Laye but Group Modular are finally back with another album-length configuration of sci-fi, psych-funk adventures in the shape of Time Masters. I say ‘finally back’ – there’s a good chance that with the creative juices flowing the band had become utterly oblivious to quaint linear notions of time
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THE DAMN STRAIGHTS: The World’s On Fire (Let It Burn)
Producer and multi-instrumentalist Lack of Afro hooks up once more with emcee Herbal T to become The Damn Straights and they announce their partnership with the single The World’s On Fire (Let It Burn). Imagine a scuzzy funk-rock-hip-hop take on Eminem’s My Name Is… taking a lyrical WTF! look at the state of things and you’re ballpark. Turns out the track was actually recorded
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DR RUBBERFUNK: Come Back Breaker b/w Beats Working (Vinyl 7″)
You know how it is – you rock up at the Dr’s with a severe case of lethargy suspecting anything from Lyme disease to Chronic fatigue syndrome and he prescribes you a 45 with a cut n paste, drum-heavy, sampledelic nugget like Come Back Breaker on one side and the jazzier (but nonetheless) uptempo breakbeat shuffle of Beats Working on the flip. Has the NHS outsourced General Practice to a record label? No – because
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KIND & KINKY ZOO: Soif, Chameau, Pinot b/w Eau Chaude (VOODOOCUTS remix) (Vinyl 7″)
Rating: Sounding none the worse for having undertaken a recent, crazy-ass, Japanese mini-tour, Switzerland’s Kind & Kinky Zoo turn once again to what they do best – providing discerning punters with monster psych-soul business. A-side Soif, Chameau, Pinot for example, will give you the shivers emerging, as it does, from fuzzy retro-synth-bass pulses. It then
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