A veteran of many digital funky breaks releases, it had nevertheless long been Freethinker Funk Essence’s dream to put stuff out on wax. It was only natural then, that he jumped at the chance when the vinyl resurgence made such a thing possible with Burning Sole Records. His latest such effort is the Cathouse Funk/ Outlaw 7″ – his third for the label – on which two sample-free tracks feature a mixture of original instrumentation and self-played keys all spiced-up with a fresh loop or two. A-side Cathouse Funk is all about the fat blaxploitation vibes, initially guitar-driven, but also featuring sitar, horns and keys – in fact about as many flavours as you’d expect to find in a stanky ol’ cathouse. Outlaw, on the other hand, is on a 60s road-trip-cum-spaghetti-western tip where, over a slower drum break, garage-rock guitar, honky tonk piano and smoky jazz club trumpet motifs cross and re-cross each other’s path, eyes narrowed, hands on knife hilts.
(Out now on Burning Sole Records)