Yet another example of some top retro reggae floating over from Stateside this year is this nugget from Cali crew The Soul Chance who’ve teamed up with Ohio singer Wesley Bright to produce the particularly soulful boss reggae number that is Who Could It Be? This single follows the band’s self-titled LP from last year which was filled with rocksteady and early reggae-style cuts while Akron’s Mr Bright has previously
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THE SOUL CHANCE feat. WESLEY BRIGHT: Who Could It Be?
THE ALLERGIES: Get Yourself Some (Vinyl 7″)
Rating: 
Still don’t feel The Allergies have rinsed enough 45 action from their excellent recent Say The Word long player? Then you’re in luck because here’s another. That’ll be Get Yourself Some then, one of the monkey’s favourite cuts off the album in question, which turns on the principle of having a great big audience-friendly shouty hook repeated a lot over a warmly funky breakbeat soul groove. Turn it over and you’ll find
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BILL KING: Soul Street
Here’s Bill King’s Soul Street then, on which the father of Jesse ‘Dubmatix’ King (for it is he) steps out on his own for a funky homage to the night club. You remember night clubs – places where social distancing was a physical impossibility and it was all about the music, the drinking and the good times. Anyway, this instro offers layered and soulfully funky grooves that’ll prompt a shimmy
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PLACEBO: Polk b/w Balek (Vinyl 7″)
Lovers of the first wave of jazz-funk (and sample-fiends) take note, this 45 reissue of two classic cuts off Placebo’s 1973 LP – er – 1973 is still available but unlikely to be so for long – given the sold out status of much of Matasuna Records’ back catalogue. The two tracks in question – Polk and Balek – are the work of Belgian jazz-funk outfit Placebo rather than hitherto unknown early material
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MUNGO’S HI-FI X MARINA P feat. TIPPA IRIE & DENNIS ALCAPONE: The Beat Goes SKA (Vinyl 7″)
Here’s news that Glasgow reggae commandos Mungo’s Hi-Fi have got together with vocalist Marina P (featured on the band’s recent reggae re-version of Smashing Pumpkins’ Soma), Tippa Irie and Dennis Alcapone (!) to get all ska on Sonny & Cher’s The Beat Goes On for Record Store Day. Technically, the official release date was 29 August which makes this bit of MB love a bit tardy. Having said that, it’s the monkey’s
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PIGALLE CONNECTION: Casino & Church b/w Vendetta James (Vinyl 7″)
Rating: Just out – this new slice of 45 hotness on Mocambo Records from ‘cinematic funk’ supergroup Pigalle Connection – Casino & Church backed with Vendetta James. The line-up is drawn from the wider Mocambo roster and bandleader is none other than Hammond hotshot Guillaume Metenier of retro reggae outfit Soul Sugar. Meanwhile the two instrumental cuts on
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SMILE DAVIS/ DJ MAARS: Roots The Jewels b/w Rocksteady Business (ULURU 002)(Vinyl 7?)
Rating: If you’ve ever thought Run The Jewels’ bars would sound better over a beat crafted from rocksteady samples rather than El-P’s ear-challenging rhythms (or even DJ Shadow’s), then Little Beat More Records have got you sorted right out with Roots The Jewels on new 45 Uluru Vol. 2 on sub-label Uluru. Why – it’s a record so positively upbeat it could almost prevent a ruck
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HAITCH & RHABDOMANTIC ORCHESTRA: Veggie Tales Vol. 2 – Wonder Us (Vinyl 7″)
Is it me or does the cross-section of an avocado on the cover of Veggie Tales Vol. 2 look a bit like something else? Er – anyway, let’s not allow that to distract us from the matter at hand which is that the next one in the Little Beat More label’s veggie-food themed series of 45s is out shortly and this time our musical chefs are Nigerian vocalist Hector Edwards (otherwise known as Haitch) and the
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ANDY COOPER: L.I.S.T.E.N. video
Rating: A week ahead of next week’s L.I.S.T.E.N. LP release from Andy Cooper comes the video for the title track revealing a number that’ll definitely make you perk your ears up, not to mention open your eyes wide. There’s Andy’s chaingun vocals of course and also the clear visual references to Children’s Workshop TV of the 70s and 80s as a host of AC’s homies don costumes to
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JIMMY PLATES & ENDEVERS: Tree Gods
Jimmy Plates & Endevers’ transatlantic hip-hop collaboration follows last single Vinyl Comeback with the next to be released from the forthcoming No Delay… LP – Tree Gods. Tree gods? Oh what – like the Green Man? Well, not exactly, though the PR has it that the London DJ/Producer and the Philly hip-hop collective have, “gone from smoking trees to saving them”. That said, it’s not
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