Before debut long player, Road Trip, drops at the end of the month, Beat Bronco Organ Trio saddle up for one more single entitled – well – Beat Bronco. And if that conjures images of something musically wild and untamed, it’ll be entirely appropriate given this one’s frantic uptempo drums, squalling wah-wah guitar and organ riffs. You’ll need a rest after that so they’ve put Easy Baby on the flip. I say ‘the flip’ – this is actually a digital single – but MB readers may remember Easy Baby as being the A-side of an actual 45 which came out almost a year ago. Mind you, I say ‘rest’ too – although, now I think about it, while this one starts out all mellow, it builds to something of a crescendo.
(Out now on Rocafort Records)
BEAT BRONCO ORGAN TRIO: Beat Bronco / Easy Baby
THE HEMPOLICS: Bongadashi
The new Hempolics album, Kiss, Cuddle & Torture: Volume 2, is due in April but before that check new single Bongadashi. Where previous ones Play On, and Full of Surprises have seen female vocalist Nubiya Brandon head things in a reggae soul direction and a reggae/ trip-hop direction respectively, Bongadashi is an altogether scuzzier male vocal affair on a digi-dub tip. All of which
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EAMON: Captive Thoughts
Rating: 
Recently released on Egon’s Now Again label is Eamon’s fourth studio album Captive Thoughts and it’s dope. Wait a minute – surely not Eamon of 2003’s Fuck It (I Don’t Want You Back) notoriety? The very same. Mind you, the man has paid a heavy penance for that crime – a poorly-marketed second album followed by ten years in the wilderness characterised by drug abuse
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TRAMP RECORDS: Gut Funky (The Best Of C.R.S. Records)
Rating: It might have been nearly three years since Tramp last put out a label retrospective, but they remedy that now with new compilation Gut Funky (The Best Of C.R.S. Records) – named after the dirty seventies sister funk of Midnight Madness’s Gut Funky which appears towards the end of the album. The label itself was the project of Philadelphia record
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CALIBRO 35: Momentum
If Calibro 35’s previous LP, 2018’s Decade, marked something of a watershed in what was the tenth year of their career, so, apparently does new one Momentum. The band put it like this, “If Decade was the sum of everything…in the previous ten years, Momentum is the prequel of what you will hear in the next ten.” And they do have something of a point. Not only does the new album feature
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BATUNGA & THE SUBPRIMES: Gates Of Ouantou/ Man In The Field (Vinyl 7″)
Although they’re more closely associated with dropping Latin bangers, it is not unheard of for Matasuna Records to dip their toes into afro-influenced waters as with new 45 from Paris-based Batunga & The Subprimes which sees Gates Of Ouantou and Man In The Field on wax for the first time. The first of these cuts was featured on the band’s self-released Let Dem In EP from last year
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BOCA 45: Powerful (feat. HANNAH WILLIAMS)/ Sparky Evans (2020 Donuts # 1)(Vinyl 7″)
Who’s this hard-charging straight into February with his Powerful/ Sparky Evans 45 – the first in a strictly limited series called 2020 Donuts? It’s Boca 45 of course, championing the vinyl 7″ as ever with one track that sounds like it was named after a soul sister and one that features one. The latter, Powerful, is the A-side and finds the Jay-Z-sampled Hannah Williams give it large about corrupt leaders over a conga-tastic beat that veers
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PROJECT GEMINI: Path Through The Forest / The Ritual (Vinyl 7″)
Rating: In what must surely be the monkey’s favourite Delights Records release so far, the label drop Project Gemini’s new 45 – Path Through The Forest. Those familiar with the Delight’s psych-funky output will already suspect this is a path leading to ritual sacrifice at the very least and what should the B-side be called but…The Ritual. Told you. Still, at least the journey is highly groovy
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INNEREYEFULL feat. KURNEL MC: Music Is Alive
A couple of months since last single, Night Of The Living Bass Bins (and less than that before the new LP) comes the next Innereyefull single, Music Is Alive, which again suggests a varied and impressive album in the offing. The trademark bass rumble is in full effect once more though while it was employed to dubby effect on the previous one, this time around it underpins a
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ALESSANDRO ALESANDRONI: Afro Discoteca – Reworked and Reloved by CALIBRO 35, JOLLY MARE, L.U.C.A. and pAd (Vinyl 12″)
Like afro-beat, cosmic disco and cinematic soundtrack vibes? Have Four Flies Records got a treat in store for you! The Afro Discoteca Reworked and Reloved 12″ has got all three in spades whilst simultaneously providing the sequel to one of those uplifting tales of musical discovery too. Back in 2017, a dusty old tape was found in the vaults of the soundtrack legend Alessandro Alessandroni
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