Continuing their mission to interpret classic film and TV themes that have been sampled in hip-hop via their left-field, retro library music style, it’s Melbourne crew Karate Boogaloo with blaxploitation number, Bumpy’s Lament from the Shaft OST. Originally a relatively sedate piece of jazzy mood music with the lightest of drums and percussion, KB render the thing into a faster
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KARATE BOOGALOO: Bumpy’s Lament
GIZELLE SMITH: King Of The Mountain
Gizelle Smith proves she’s queen bee with this inspired psych-soul interpretation of Kate Bush’s 2005 number King Of The Mountain. Out go all the wafty art-rock-isms and pantomime dame vocal mannerisms of the original and in come nasty synth, a rolling drum break and Smith dextrously throwing that soul voice around more than usual to create the monkey’s favourite track of hers to
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BREAKBEAT PARADISE: Disco Paradise Vol. 2
Following up on one of the label’s many compilation series is Breakbeat Paradise’s Disco Paradise Vol. 2 – a BBP allstars effort that manages to top Vol. 1 in a couple of ways. It’s longer for one, with fourteen tracks to its predecessor’s eight and it’s even more pumpingly – well – disco. Having said that, there’s all flavours and eras of disco represented with Luke
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APACHE: Liberate/ Hombre (VOODOOCUTS Rework)(Vinyl 7″)
Rating: 
I don’t know if either Liberate or Hombre by Mexican band Apache ever made it onto one of Kool Herc’s famed seventies block-party playlists but listening to this, it’s easy to imagine they might have done. Long unavailable new, after what appears to have been their only appearance on 1976’s four-track Kung-Fu Chino EP, the two cuts in question (for the monkey’s
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BISHOP THA DJ feat. ULLNEVANO & SUN ZULU: I Ain’t Dead (Prod. MYDUS)
He’s been on the scene since ’86 but he’s not dead! Whodat? Bishop Tha DJ of course, back on the cut (with a dash of 1-800 Suicide off Gravediggaz’ first LP Niggamortis, no less) and keeping it boom-bap with I Ain’t Dead. Featuring Baltimore emcees Ullnevano and Sun Zulu and that golden lo-fi production touch from Mydus, the
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MADE TO DANCE: MTD Series 007 – Achili/ Yuda (Vinyl 7″)
Nu-disco business on this new 7″ from the Made To Dance label who seem to specialise in keeping the names of those involved on the downlow – though I can tell you that at least one of those involved on this also has a release out on another edits/re-press label very shortly. In this case, said business involves edits Achili and Yuda. The A-side and first of these reboots an old rumba classic
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THE DAMN STRAIGHTS: The Damn Straights EP
Never a man to have merely a single iron in his fire, Lack Of Afro’s Adam Gibbons follows the release of sixties soundtrack/ cinematic soul-influenced Here We Go EP with an entirely different project in collaboration with rapper Herbal T who constitutes the other fifty per cent of The Damn Straights. Nominally hip-hop, the EP features nearly as much rock guitar as a Beastie
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QUEEN MAB: Roll With The Punches
Sometime of Kitten & The Hip and before that Freak Power, Ashley Slater is a man as likely to be working on a solo project or featuring on someone else’s work. But whither hast thou been of late, Mr S? Working on a recent guest vocal spot? Nope? New guest trombone spot? Nope? Ah, well then, perhaps here I hit it true – Queen Mab hath been with you! Or more correctly, you are half of
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GEE BAG X ILL INFORMED: Foreigners (Vinyl 7″) + Video
Last seen round these parts on the Jim Sharp remix of the Revive Rap 7″ feat. El Da Sensei, Gee Bag here takes centre stage on the Ill Informed-produced Foreigners. Out shortly on 45, the track is lifted from last year’s Gee Bag X Ill Informed LP Respect Ya Elders! and pulls no punches at all in its excoriating attack on twenty-first century racism in the UK which continues to make black
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RICHIE PHOE feat. KASSIA ZERMON: Baby I Love You So (Vinyl 7″)
When he was considering re-making Jacob Miller’s rootsy early 90s cut, Baby I Love You So, it’s quite possible Richie Phoe wasn’t expecting to be told, “If you’re going to cover one of my favourite records, it better be fucking good.” Turns out this wasn’t a line from a resurgent Spanish Inquisition but no less chilling for the fact that it seems to have issued from none other than Massive Attack’s
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