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When The Ironsides first hove into view with their Stig & Steen cover Sommer in 2020 it was as a Monophonics side project (of bassist Max Ramey, along with his brother Joe) doing atmospheric but rhythmically funky cinematic soul. Even then the potential was clear: the production was amazing; the combo of orchestral strings and funky rhythms their USP
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THE IRONSIDES: Changing Light LP
THE ALLERGIES: Tear The Place Up
Rating: Aren’t bands supposed to take a mid-career hiatus or something – go off and do vanity solo projects, realise they were greater than the sum of their parts and return to deliver a mediocre pastiche of earlier work or an embarrassing pastiche of whatever the kids are doing? With the release of Tear The Place up the Allergies are now into a career six albums deep (if
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CALIBRO 35: Gun Powder
Say hello to a returning Calibro 35 who, having re-invented themselves for the new decade as a band liable to use a lot more electronic sounds and arguably more late seventies/ early eighties influences on 2020 LP Momentum now deliver their first single in ages – Gun Powder. Ironically Gun Powder harks back to sort of Rage Against The Machine-meets-mod-funk sound bomb they
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THEE MARLOES: Midnight Hotline b/w Beri Cinta Waktu (Vinyl 7″)
Hailing from Surabaya, the latest signings to Big Crown Records are Indonesian outfit Thee Marloes and they’re going large with debut 45 Midnight Hotline backed with Beri Cinta Waktu. The former is a midtempo dancefloor number turning on a funky rhythm layered with electric piano and plenty of horns while the sweet soul vocals of singer Natassya regale the listener with a
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WHATITDO ARCHIVE GROUP: Palace Of A Thousand Sounds
On previous album The Black Stone Affair LP – Whatitdo Archive Group was all about the sound of giallo and spaghetti western soundtracks but when you’ve pastiched those so effectively, whither next? Well, as anyone who’s been keeping an eye on recent singles will know, the destination arrived at on new album Palace Of A Thousand Sounds is very much Planet Exotica with musical influences
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MUNGO’S HI-FI X HOLLIE COOK: Sugar Water feat. HORSEMAN:
Carnival season is a couple of months off yet but Mungo’s Hi-Fi ensure they’re prepared good and early with the next single off their forthcoming album Past And Present. Intended as a companion piece to 2021’s dub LP Antidote, the new one will focus on the late 70s/ early 80s (pre Sleng Teng riddim) rub-a-dub sound. Sugar Water finds Hollie Cook revisiting the Horseman-featuring track from
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SKEEWIFF: Spanish Flea (Vinyl 7″)
What are the chances of Skeewiff returning to the label on which they were one of the original artists with a fresh example of a dance music genre that they were one of the original artists to establish? Pretty strong the monkey would say. The label is Jalapeno, the genre is party breakbeats (especially if featuring sixties samples) and the track is their reboot of Herb Alpert & His Tijuana
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ORIGINAL GRAVITY RECORDS: Reggae Dynamite Vol. 4 EP (Vinyl 7″)
Have you had enough of your early reggae fix recently? Of course you haven’t because you can never get enough! You can give that itch a really good scratch though with Vol. 4, no less, of the Original Gravity label’s ongoing Reggae Dynamite 45 series. Those who copped any of Vols. 1-3 will know what this means straight away – four cuts to include both vocal and instrumental numbers in a
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LOS INVASORES: El Ratón (Vinyl 7″)
Rating: Matasuna Records deliver once again for Latin soul fans as they re-release another classic on vinyl 7″. In this case, that’ll be the smouldering El Ratón from Panamanian outfit Los Invasores, first released in 1967. It’s one of many covers of the Joe Cuba Sextet classic and also one of the best. Also, as they often do, the
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KERBSIDE COLLECTION: Fleet Streak
Rating: The second of two jointly-released singles announcing Volume 3 of the all-original contemporary funk LP series The Originals by German label Golden Rules is Fleet Streak by Australian funk outfit Kerbside Collection. And it’s a beast. You have to wonder if the label pitted the Oz crew against Great Revivers when acquiring these tracks. Did they ring Great Revivers up and
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