MB regulars may remember the name Chicken Grass from the band’s excellent New Orleans funk 45-style bump, Snakebites featuring Princess Shaw which provided one of the funk single highlights of last year. Turns out the band have actually been knocking about for a quarter century though and furthermore that they have finally decided to release their debut self-titled LP. I think
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Tag Archives: album
CHICKEN GRASS: Chicken Grass LP
THE ALLERGIES: Promised Land (Album)
Rating: 
The Allergies finally make it to the Promised Land on their new studio LP and boy have they got every intention of taking you there as well! It’s the duo’s fifth studio LP since 2016 though they’ve maintained such a ridiculously high output of releases in that time as to render surprise at such a schedule obsolete. Let’s consider instead the mental anguish they must
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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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ANDY COOPER: L.I.S.T.E.N. (Album)
Rating: While Ugly Duckling’s last studio album Moving At Breakneck Speed might’ve dropped a whole nine years ago, band member and emcee Andy Cooper hasn’t slowed down for a moment since. Aside from being the official ‘unofficial third member’ of the crew on all The Allergies’ albums and a host of their singles, the last nine years have also seen him deliver two solo
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BOBBY OROZA: This Love (album) + Your Love Is Too Cold video
Vying for the title of king of the new wave of lowrider soul must surely be Bobby Oroza with his debut album This Love. The LP is the culmination of a journey that began three years ago with the original release of the title track – a slice of summery Latin soul haze – on Timmion Records. Last year the single was re-released on New York’s Big Crown label and there was talk of a
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THE HAWKMEN: The Hawkmen (Album)
Rating: The self-titled debut LP of Craig Charles playlist (and live) favourites, The Hawkmen, finally arrives and it certainly doesn’t disappoint. The project is the brainchild of Scott ‘The Hawk’ Milsom (erstwhile bassist for Big Boss Man as well as sometime DJ/Production partner of Mako) and displays a similar love for the music of the fifties, sixties and seventies as Reggae
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BRONX SLANG: Bronx Slang LP
Rating: Hurrah! It’s finally time to get fully attuned to that ‘ol boogie down Bronx argot with the long-awaited, self-titled debut LP from Bronx Slang. The album, on the Fabyl label, follows a trio of dope singles characterised by classic hip-hop word-play between Jerry Beeks (previously known for solo work on Bad Magic, the label owned by The Wiseguys’ Theo Keating, back in the
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TOM CARUANA presents: Black Gold (WU-TANG vs JIMI HENDRIX) Ltd. black and gold vinyl LP
Rating: Oh man – now here’s a Christmas present. Those with longish memories might remember that between the Guardian and New York Times-featured Enter The Magical Mystery Chambers mashup LP and The Beatles vs Hip-hop Legends: ‘An Adventure To Pepperland Through Rhyme & Space’ (he’s not one for short titles), Tom Caruana delivered what is not only still
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THE PUTBACKS: The Putbacks
Arguably the most leftfield of all the big Oz funk-soul outfits, The Putbacks follow-up the heavy soul of Dawn, their 2014 debut (a collab. with vocalist Emma Donovan) with this new self-titled effort. If you caught previous singles The Way (the LP’s only vocal cut) featuring neo-soul man Bilal or the more recent Oranges, you’ll know that things have now headed in directions both ‘cinematic’ and
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MEGATIVE: Megative (album)
Rating: Here we go then – Megative’s debut LP channelling the sound of Ghost Town-era The Specials as if produced by Massive Attack across eleven tracks. What’s that – you wanted a proper review? Like that’s not enough to have you immediately seeking out a copy? Ok then, well, let me see now – I suppose there’s a bit of The Clash
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