Back at the dawn of hip-hop, heads thought nothing of dropping ten minute tracks with no clearly-defined verse/ chorus structure and such an animal was the Jean-Michel Basquiat-financed, Rammellzee and K Rob-featuring early psychedelic hip-hop epic, Beat Bop, which first appeared in 1983. Distinctive for its vocals which are periodically drenched in reverb (and for fading out
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Monthly Archives: June 2018
RAMMELLZEE vs. K ROB: Beat Bop repress (Vinyl 12″)
SON OF SAM feat. MASTA ACE & LARGE PROFESSOR: Come A Long Way (Vinyl 7″)
Son Of Sam – haven’t they come a long way eh? Haven’t they done well? They’ve gone from all those original hip-hop instrumentals that got shelved for a few years, to hooking up with a slew of emcees from the cream of the underground (old and new) who still practise the art of rhyme and then finally dropping album Cinder Hill last year and before you know it, it’s all been appearances
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ASIAN HAWK: Shining (Video)
Stand by to be wowed once more by the turntable soul antics of former UK DMC champion, Asian Hawk with new track Shining. What?! Hotels built on Native American burial grounds, the thing in Room 237 and evil twins with fringes? Whoahh their, soldier! I said Shining not The Shining. This is an altogether more uplifting affair as Hawk’s voice soars on an updraft of scratch-drenched neo
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LUCKY BROWN & THE S.G.’s : ‘Bout To Blow/ Saints & Beggars (Vinyl 7″)
New Tramp original 45 alert as Lucky Brown makes one of his occasional appearances on the label (in the company of the S.G.’s) with some low-down funky action. A-side ‘Bout To Blow is a stank-ass, horns-led instrumental soul stew about as raw as they make it which builds slowly from guitar chanks, adds in the bass and drums and finally keys and horns. B-side Saints & Beggars
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THE FAITHFUL BROTHERS: Crossroads Of Love/ One More Time (Vinyl 7″)
It’s not just Daytoner keeping the faith with neo-northern soul cuts this year it seems, for here is an offshoot project of Israeli soul boys Men Of North Country, The Faithful Brothers (a.k.a men of northern soul country – see what I did there?), with a 45 in the classic mould – soul stormer on the one side, soul ballad on the flip. The soul stormer is titled Crossroads Of Love and finds Tel Aviv’s
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EL MICHELS AFFAIR: Unathi b/w Zaharila (vinyl 7″)
Rating: 
El Michels Affair certainly haven’t fallen asleep basking in the glory of last year’s excellent Return To The 37th Chamber and here’s two magnificent reasons why on either side of a fresh new 45 entitled Unathi and Zaharila. Hmm – sounds a bit Bollywood. Damn straight! At least Bollywood funky that is – as they draw on the vocal talents of Piya Malik from label mates
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WAXNERDS: Faith Like This b/w Just Buggin’ Out (vinyl 7″)
Rating: Just out, yet another Waxnerds bomb as the former Instagram chat group turned vinyl edit and mash-up kings open the bomb bay doors again, this time with Faith Evans finding herself atop Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band. Since that does sound a bit rude, permit the monkey to clarify: essentially, the Waxnerds crew have spliced Faith Evans’ Love Like This ‘pella to
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QUANTIC: We Got Soul (ROB LIFE remix)/ Fresh Rhythm (Vinyl 7″)
Back at the turn of the millenium, multi-instrumentalist and producer Will Holland, a.k.a. Quantic, emerged out of darkest Worcestershire, and attracted a lot of attention as a fully-formed purveyor of ‘cinematic breaks’-cum-electronica with the 2001 LP The 5th Exotic. Now, a million albums later, he’s a globe-trotting purveyor of everything from cumbia to drum n bass and lives
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THE BAMBOOS feat. J-LIVE: Broken + lyric video
News of the debut single, Lit Up, off The Bamboos’ forthcoming eighth studio LP Night Time People certainly lit up MB social media (contrary to what is still shown by the flaky MB ‘Like’ widget on post) and second single, Broken, is all set to do the same with an appearance from veteran emcee J-Live. Full of crossover appeal, Live holds forth about the hard times of mental illness and never
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SMOOVE & TURRELL: I Feel Alive/ Mr Hyde (Vinyl 7″)
The monkey told you Smoove & Turrell’s new LP, Mount Pleasant, was on the way and so it is at the end of this month. In the meantime, here is the second single and follow-up to Izo FitzRoy collab. You’re Gone. Entitled I Feel Alive and backed with Mr Hyde – it demonstrates once again that S & T have more than one musical side. The role they’ve carved out as radio-friendly Chic and
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