If you were wondering what was coming next from Pama International, wonder no longer as the retro-reggae-cum-soul outfit has a new LP, entitled 6, planned for the spring and you can already cop a taste of the first leak as a super limited vinyl 45, Socially Distant. Blimey, that doesn’t sound like a barrel of laughs does it? And you’d be right. But that’s because the band aren’t
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PAMA INTERNATIONAL ft. JEWELS VASS: Socially Distant (Vinyl 7″)
KELLY FINNIGAN: Santa’s Watching You
Monophonics’ singer Kelly Finnigan goes old school with a whole LP of festively-themed retro soul, A Joyful Sound, on 11 December and the first single is Santa’s Watching You. Santa’s watching you? When you think about it, the notion of some omniscient tubby bloke in fancy dress who has eyes on your kids 24-7, is a little bit creepy. Props to Finnigan then, who manages to tap into a good
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BREAKBEAT PARADISE: Christmas Bootleg Bells Vol. 2
Breakbeat Paradise Records start the Christmas festivities early in 2020 (forgivably, you might agree, given the events of the preceding eleven months) by spreading advance Yuletide cheer with the Christmas Bootleg Bells Vol. 2 LP. The plan was simple – give the multifarious members of the BBP family the chance to rework classic funk and soul Christmas tracks (as opposed to more
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JOHNNYPLUSE: The Ultimate Collection 2005 – 2020 (Album & Sample Pack)
Not content with releasing multiple hip-hop sample packs already this year, Johnnypluse makes like Santa and brings forth yet more surprises from his bulging sack with The Ultimate Collection – Album & Sample Pack. Surely this couldn’t be both an array of complete tracks he has produced between 2005 and 2020 along with the breaks, sounds and FX he used to make them?
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THE AGGROLITES: Four LP vinyl reissues
Cheering news if you’re an Aggrolites fan, even better if you’re a vinyl fan too and positively fantastic news if you’ve never got your hands on albums two, three, four and five from the band. That’ll be their self-titled second LP then, along with Reggae Hit L.A., IV and Rugged Road. If you don’t know what all the fuss is about, you clearly aren’t aware of The Aggrolites who have been
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JIMMY PLATES & ENDEVERS: With No Delay…
It is of course purely coincidental that an LP recorded in the noughties by Jimmy Plates & Endevers, given the ironic title With No Delay… and finally released towards the end of October this year is only now receiving coverage on MB a month after dropping. One likes to think that the London-based Plates and Philly collective Endevers will see the funny side. I blame Covid. Still, With
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CHALI 2NA: Comin’ Thru’ (2020 version)
‘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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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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