Rating: 
Soft Smoke sees Mr Bristow find a way to unite Queen Latifah’s furious haranguing of the politically apathetic on a guest turn she did for Coldcut with a wobbled-up beat and hook derived from Cockney Rebel’s unhinged classic Mr Soft. The result might be construed as a metaphor for the current political climate in the UK where public anger with Westminster and City
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Monthly Archives: November 2014
MR BRISTOW: ‘Soft Smoke’ (2014) free download
PROLETER: Rookie (2014) Free download
Rating: Class work from Proleter here as the Toulouse-based producer drops his somewhat misleadingly entitled new release, Rookie. ‘Somewhat misleadingly entitled’ because this man, clearly, is a highly competent producer and his third EP consists of some of the most beguiling swing-hop it’s ever been the monkey’s pleasure to hear
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STICKYBUDS feat. GREG BLACKMAN: Easy (2014)
Don’t worry, it’s not a Lionel Richie cover. The new collab between British Columbian producer Stickybuds and Essex soul boy Greg Blackman merely shares the same name. On Richie’s cheesy soul ballad, if you remember, he was all ‘easy like sunday morning’ about giving his clingy missus the kiss-off. This ghetto funk stomper on the other hand, sees Greg revealing how he finds it ‘easy to get funky all night,’ adding, moreover, that it’s ‘easy to
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STEPPA STYLE: See The World (2014)
Russian mafi-er – reggae don, Steppa Style, will be inviting all and sundry to See The World shortly as he regales us with the authentic sound of Moscow reggae and dancehall music on his new album which, perhaps unexpectedly, sounds a lot like Jamaican reggae and dancehall music. And when I say ‘a lot’ I mean ‘identical to.’ Forget vodka-soaked atonal mumbling, this is all ganja
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FABREEZE BROTHERS (Paul Nice & Phill Most Chill): LP sampler (2014)
Rating: The full length Fabreeze Brothers LP is due soon but just to get you champing at the bit, a four track wax LP sampler characterised by Paul Nice‘s minimal, funky, MPC-n-samples-based beats and Phill Most Chill‘s lyrical acrobatics is on the way first. Golden Crown is PMC’s semi-biography of a crate-digger while The Break Down uses Led Zep’s When The Levee Breaks – er
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THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL: ‘The Day Everything Turned Green’ (90s Rap Remixes Part 4) (2014) Free download
I remember a day everything turned green but I think that was quite a bit to do with that brie I ate that was past its sell-by date. Ask The Scarlet Pimpernel about The Day Everything Turned Green however and he’ll tell you that it’s the fourth and final installment in his epic mission to rescue 90s rap classics from their original 90s beats and deliver them to brand new 90s-ish
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LEYGO: Three FREE At 3000 (2014) Free download
Leygo‘s hit 3000 followers on Soundcloud and to celebrate this feat, he’s released a triple pack of tracks. First to cascade forth from his pool of talent is a subtle remix of Stone Roses Waterfall. Don’t worry though – he’s not stealing what he could never own – all these tracks are free! Next up is a little-bit beefed up, little bit faster remix of Beck’s classic slacker-hop tune Loser that has
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MY NEIGHBOUR IS: Buddha Fly (2014)
Tech house producer Robot Needs Oil continues to moonlight as a very capable instrumental hip-hop producer under the guise of My Neighbour Is because, well, presumably because he knows it’s more fun than tech house. The man’s latest under the second moniker is LP Buddha Fly which kicks off with some rolling boom-bap grit punctuated by hip-hop shout-outs pretty much used as
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MR RICH & THE CARETAKER: We Can Work It Out (2014)
Rating: Try to see it my way – does the monkey have to keep on blogging till he can’t go on? Pretty much if this is the sort of stuff people keep sending in. I hear the occasional gripe about there being too many bootlegs and not enough original stuff out there but while I try to see it your way, only time will tell if I’m right or if I’m wrong. Can you work it out? Of course you bloody can
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THE DELEGATORS: It Ain’t Love/ I Don’t Mind (2014)
Rating: I’d be surprised if there’s anything other than a guaranteed steady-as-a-rock sales return from The Delegators‘ brand of classic rocksteady and this new 45 is no exception. The release of break-up anthem It Ain’t Love and its flip, the uptempo loved-up I Don’t Mind is made all the more poignant however by the fact that the band have actually split up recently. With a spot
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