Funk
See: The video for the slow, surreal funk jam of RAS’ ‘Lo Zaz’; an album follows in May
HAILING from Tel Aviv but these days based in Berlin, RAS are bringing their own brightly eastern Mediterranean twist on classic Seventies’ funk and soul, mixing slow jams with influences from Greek, Turkish and Arabic music for a heady and sometimes psychedelic brew. Multi-instrumentalists and producers Dekel Adin and Eden Leshem come replete with vintage …
Track: Gizelle Smith – ‘King Of The Mountain’: Mighty Mocambos soul queen takes Kate Bush into orbit
GIZELLE SMITH, the glorious voice of deep funk freestylers The Mighty Mocambos, alumnus of WahWah 45s, Big Crown and other rather fine labels that should tell you everything you need to know as a trademark of quality, is all set to release her debut solo album for Brighton’s Jalapeno Records later on in the year. …
Track: The Drive – ‘Can You Feel It?’: South African sunshine funk nugget reissued
CANADIAN label We Are Busy Bodies has unearthed a proper dose of jazz-funk sunshine, South African outfit The Drive’s 1975 set Can You Feel It?; and the label has dropped the title track from that set to tempt you out into the rays for the full album repress. It’s a loose groove, big on the …
NEWS: Matthew E. White and Lonnie Holley announce avant-garde folk album; hear ‘This Here Jungle of Moderness/Composition 14’
THEY may at first somewhat unlikely bedfellows: Matthew E. White, who arrived back in 2011 with his debut album The Big Inner, seemingly a fully formed gentleman of classic Southern Americana; and Lonnie Holley, the scrap sculptor who released his debut set of free-flowing outsider funk, Just Before Music, at the age of 62 in 2012. …
Track: Barley Passable bottle the essence of a Sydney summer with new single Turnaround
Sydney duo, Barley Passable, have released a veritable slice of summer with their new slinky, sensuous single ‘Turnaround’. It is as if they have bottled the essence of Sydney’s northern beaches – the bleach white beaches, the cloudless blue skies and the driving searing heat, hooning around in panel vans and board shorts eating Chiko …
TRACK: El Michels Affair to release new album of funk exotica; hear ‘Murkit Gem’, feat. Piya Malik
EL MICHELS AFFAIR are going all out with the most transporting global groove these days; witness the brilliance of “Dhuaan”, the Hindu funk exotica single drop from last summer, which seems to wizard into being the kind of 7″ you can only crate-dig in some 4am dream. Such a tune can’t really exist, right; can …
Album Review: Garrett – ‘Private Life III’
DāM-FunK has been enchanting listeners for over a decade with his highly filthy but musical synth funk-infused jams. Mostly releasing with Stones Throw, his solo albums Toeachizown and Invite the Light, as well as an anthology of early productions, have joining a number of collaborative projects including with Steve Arrington, Snoop Dogg and Nite Jewel. …
SEE: Jimi Tenor – ‘Small Things’: bright, brassy Afrofunk-pop is a winter tonic
JIMI TENOR, the Finnish producer with roots in the darker, industrial side of dance music way, waay back, has been on a hell of a pilgrim’s progress to where he is today, with his second long player for Philophon, Aulos, out in the racks now. By jiminy it’s a world away from those dark beginnings; …
Rising: We meet Spang Sisters; see the vid for the post-modern soul of ‘Eddie Murphy’
AFTER first being seduced by the name (I mean: isn’t Spang Sisters a thing of beauty?), we were further seduced by the musical chops of the said sisters, in actual fact duo Rachid and Jules. Not just those cool Hall & Oates meets Unknown Mortal Orchestra vibes; but also these keenly observed, skewed views of …
ALBUM REVIEW: Lee Fields & The Expressions – ‘Big Crown Vaults Vol.1 – Lee Fields & The Expressions’
BIG CROWN. Big. Crown. Roll that collocation of words around your mouth; if you’re a real music lover, you know these guys, Leon Michels and Danny Akalepse, are indeed proper royalty for the love, the care and the level of curation they bring to such a fine stable of artists: The Shacks, Lizette & Quevin, …