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It’s a bit of oft-repeated wisdom that a new classic song can be identified from the listener’s feeling that they have heard it somewhere before – only to discover that they haven’t. Another bit of oft-repeated musical wisdom is that after the ‘difficult third’ album – a band’s output tends to tail off a bit. The relevance of the first of
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Tag Archives: review
SMOOVE & TURRELL: Crown Posada (2016) Album review
SHARON JONES & THE DAP KINGS: Give The People What They Want (2014) Album review
Rating: The release of the fifth studio LP by Sharon Jones The Dap Kings, was delayed last summer due to the small matter of the reigning queen of retro funk and soul having been diagnosed with cancer of the bile duct. As fans of Jones’ will know from her lyrics (not to mention live show banter), she’s not a lady to take any shit, even if the villain is a carcinoma. Having sent that packing
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DELTRON 3030: Deltron Event II (2012) Album review
Rating: Ignore everything I’ve ever said about releases taking a long time to come out. No one has ever taken the piss to this extent before. Mind you everything about Deltron 3030’s Deltron Event 2 screams ‘epic.’ There are the main participants (West Coast underground rap legend Del The Funky Homosapien, production legend Dan The Automator and turntablist legend Kid
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THE FUNK LEAGUE: Funky As Usual (2011) + tracklist
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I think I might move to France. The food’s better, they don’t take any shit off the government and The Funk League are from there. Formerly The Incredible Funk League, DJ/producers Hugo and Soulbrother Suspect have latterly dropped the ‘incredible,’ in a not very hip-hop downplaying of their prowess. But don’t worry – it’s the only un-hip-hop thing about this pair
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PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS: Highlighter (2011)
Highlighter is People Under The Stairs’ eighth album in fourteen odd years which is going some, so they must be doing something right. For this career landmark they roped in busloads of L.A. session musicians to help out and they’re also possibly the first band to release an LP not only on vinyl (hurrah!) and cd (boo!) but 24 bit HD-AAC format (!) as well. In case you’re worried that such a forward thinking grasping of twenty-first century
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DEEP STREET SOUL: ‘Look Out, Watch Out’ LP (2011) + tracklist + EPK video
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Look Out, Watch Out is the second LP from Oz band Deep Street Soul and – well – it’s pretty much the main shit when it comes to twenty-first century funk with the dirty soul of sixties grooves. It’s all about the grit see? And just as with the raw original rnb and northern soul of The Excitements LP in the spring and the chunky grooves of T Bird & The Breaks’ second album
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UGLY DUCKLING: Moving At Breakneck Speed (2011)
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Proof once again that three is the magic number as Long Beach trio Ugly Duckling return with their fifth studio album Moving At Breakneck Speed. In their eighteen-or-so year career Andy C, Dizzy Dustin and Young Einstein have outlasted peers like Jurassic 5 and latterly maintained a higher worldwide profile than other West Coast underground acts they came up with like
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THE NEW MASTERSOUNDS: Breaks From The Border (2011) + video
The New Mastersounds have been recording quality instrumental funk (often in the Meters or funky Grant Green tradition) for over a decade now, occasionally hooking up with some of the best vocalists of the contemporary scene. Presumably bored of the casual ease with which this has been accomplished they had a crack at a couple of new angles on Breaks From The Border
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LACK OF AFRO: This Time (2011) + ‘A Time For’ video
It seems Lack Of Afro’s recent single was a spot-on indicator of what to expect from Adam Gibbons on his new full length effort This Time which supplies things catering for all needs broadly soul/ funky from the coffee-table to the dancefloor – or from the atmospheric to the banging if you’re sensitive to the term ‘coffee table’ – some people are you know – it’s all the espresso – makes them uptight. Anyway – let’s see how he did on his ‘difficult third’ album.
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T BIRD & THE BREAKS: Never Get Out Of This Funk Alive (2011) – Album review
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Proper funk – where you been you hussy? Mainly hiding out round at T Bird’s place seems to be the answer on the strength of Never Get Out Of This Funk Alive. This is the second full length album from Texan heavy funk and soul outfit T Bird & The Breaks and giant middle finger to all that jazzy noodling that’s been coming out of the contemporary funk scene
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