Tanika Charles follows up the brace of dancefloor stormers delivered on last single Love Overdue with her latest drop, soul slowie Tell Me Something. Apparently it’s about that, “moment in every new relationship when you need to establish what exactly the status is. Hopefully you arrive at that point at the same time, but sometimes one of you needs a little extra encouragement. Maybe
…MORE
Tag Archives: Record Kicks
TANIKA CHARLES: Tell Me Something (video)
MARTA REN: Worth It (Vinyl 7″)
“Was it worth it? Am I worth it? The pain ain’t worth it? I don’t know,” sings Marta Ren on the hook of new 45 Worth It – like she doesn’t already know the answer. Of course it was worth it! We commence with the rumbling bass, funky drums of a heavy mid-tempo soul groove, in comes some tremelo guitar and then the Porto soul queen is off, “Something told me this was a trap.” No –
…MORE
TANIKA CHARLES: The Gumption
Rating: 
When Torontonian singer Tanika Charles blew in the a couple of years ago with debut LP Soul Run, she made big waves on the underground soul scene and catapulted herself onto a global stage. Ask most people and they’d tell you that label Record Kicks had unerringly struck gold once again. Which they obviously had – given the fuss. Sadly the monkey wasn’t feeling
…MORE
TANIKA CHARLES: Love Overdue b/w Remember To Remember (Vinyl 7″) + video
Rating: It’s turning out to be a vintage year for lovers of retro soul music and with this new 45, Record Kicks signing, Toronto-based soul sister, Tanika Charles unleashes her own double broadside by way of a lead single off her forthcoming second LP, The Gumption. On the A-side for example, we have Love Overdue a club mover with added clap-along appeal that harks back to classic early/ mid sixties Sugar Pie
…MORE
ALEXIS EVANS: I Made A Deal With Myself + video
Record Kicks’ new boy is the Anglo-French Alexis Evans and the label’s just released the video of his jaunty album-teasing northern soul-flavoured I Made A Deal With Myself. Deal with yourself eh, Alexis? And the nature of said deal? Oh, it’s to do with the missus – it’s over! Right? But how to represent such a matter in audio-visual format? Maybe you stick your earphones in when she starts
…MORE
CALIBRO 35 feat. ELIZA ZOOT: Travelers, Explorers (Vinyl 7″) + video
The new single from Calibro 35, Travelers, Explorer, finds the retro library music-inspired Italian outfit travel along and explore the path that is – well – less travelled – at least as far as they’re concerned anyway. Why? Because they employ the positively ethereal tones of Eliza Zoot to grace this previously unreleased vocal version of the album closer on their recent Decade LP. What was once something that negotiated a twisting
…MORE
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
…MORE
CALIBRO 35: Psycheground (video + ltd. Vinyl 7″)
Of course it was only a couple of months ago that Italian kings of cinematic funk, Calibro 35, dropped their umpteenth studio LP, Decade which, the monkey noted, “…starts innocuously enough with the afro-tinged lilt of Psycheground…[and]…in Calibro 35-land we’re in the title sequence of whatever film is in their heads…[which]…surely…features a lengthy single-take of a
…MORE
CALIBRO 35: SuperStudio/ Gomma (Vinyl 7″)
Rating: As the video teaser before Crimbo should have made clear, Dre and Jay Z-sampled Italian cinematic music fiends Calibro 35 are taking their crime-funk to the next level on forthcoming LP Decade. Why? Because those bad boys have added orchestral elements. You see how that works don’t you? You come at them with fists they bring a knife. You bring a knife, they bring guns. You bring guns, they bring, like
…MORE
Heavily influenced by sixties and seventies crime flicks and sci-fi movies, Italian retro-fiends Calibro 35 have spent the last decade honing their cinematically funky sound. They’ve even managed to get themselves sampled by the likes of Dr Dre and Jay-Z. Blimey. How do you get bigger than that? Well, (not that it’s all about size you understand) the boys have decided to expand their 
