Yearly Archives: 2006

Some labels get slated for churning out compilation after compilation of their back catalogue, putting new names to the compilations and different spins on the themes. With the results still ending in the same old tunes just shuffled into a different order. Trojan, however, manage to avoid this process. Perhaps it’s because the Trojan archive is so extensive it’s almost impossible to churns out the same old songs. For this next chapter in Trojan’s ‘mixtape’ venture they have drafted in Portishead DJ, Andy Smith. This experienced DJ and self confessed vinyl addict has compiled his own ‘Document’ series over the last few years which mainly focused on the sounds of soul, funk and hip hop. This ‘Trojan Document’ glides through some of Trojan’s best, rarest and most popular releases. It’s rocksteady, it’s reggae, it’s dancehall, it’s very good. There are tracks from The Upsetters, Hopetown Lewis, john Holt plus loads of other top notch reggae producers. Reggae heads will have heard the tunes and riddums before no doubt, but Andy Smith glides them all together to suit the summer vibe down to a tee. Bless up!

Jax

This is the first compliation from Manchester’s Phuture Lounge and even though their singles to date have been broken beat influenced, Rainbow Soul Vol.1 features some of the finest soul music that you’ll hear in 2006. You may not recognise any of the artists but I can assure you they are names you need to keep an eye out for in the future. I’ve been lucky enough to have had the Vaceo album sampler for some time and two of my favourite tracks are featured here. There are also two tracks from the amazing Ozlem, two from Fyza who featured on Phuturistix’s single “Fly away”, two from ace vocalist Mr J and two from Michelle Amador. Hopefully you get the idea, it’s bloomin’ fantastic. The four track album sampler will on its way soon.

Simon Harrison

Sound in Color have been quiet in 2006 but have an amazing line-up for the rest of the year. For those who don’t know, Exile has been around for over a decade as a member of Emanon and has also worked with Stones Throw artist Aloe Blacc, who features on “Dirty Science”. Exile has produced some heavyweight beats and then hunted around to find the right vocalist for each of his productions. M.E.D. seems to be guesting on all manner of projects recently and turns out a corker here. Blu is maybe a name you’ve not heard before and has an album due on Sound in Color later this year, and judging by these tracks, it’s gonna be interesting. All in all, Sound in Color deliver another cracking album.

Simon Harrison

Sonar Kollektiv have been amazingly consistent with every release over the last few years, with a slight bias towards things with a 4/4 beat but whatever the style, quality seems to be the most important thing. Michel Baumann is the man behind Soulphiction and also helped set up the well known and sought after Philpot Records, mainly due to the Moodyman/Theo Parrish influences in releases. “State Of Euphoria” is a big nod to the two legendary Detroit producers and covers downtempo and midtempo building up to good quality house. Baumann certainly knows his music and has injected jazz riffs, disco loops and broken beat influences into his productions. This has been hailed as house album of the year by many: it’s maybe a little early to say but it’ll certainly be up there.

Simon Harrison

Back some ten years I was very lucky to be working in a record shop when the limited first releases on Phono records appeared with productions by a new name – Herbert. Still to this day, I dig out those first 12″s and of course he churned out some brilliant albums and remixes over the years. Herbert has been known to sample all manner of things over the years and this album cover features 37 pictures of the 723 objects sampled in the making of “Scale”. As with all of Herbert’s previous albums, there is a serious message behind the songs, which will certainly make you think. “Scale” is the most obvious album to date with disco, jazz and house bits thrown in there but it just goes to prove this man is a modern day genius.

Simon Harrison

Joey Negro and Sean P are back with another selection of disco delights. The sleeve notes estimate that to buy the originals featured here would set you back over £2000! With the likes of the northern soul favourite ‘How Can I Tell Her’ by Curtis Anderson, Sparkle’s funky New York styled ‘Let Yourself Go’, the awesome ‘Can I Take You Home’ by Mel Shepperd and Sabatta’s George Kerr produced ‘Man For My Lady’ you know this is the real deal. As if that wasn’t enough you also get the remixed version ‘Movin On’ from GD & The Big J, here credited as ‘Summer Groove’ by The Joneses, Charles Mann’s ‘Sho Nuff No Funny Stuff Love’ and a great version of David Bendeth’s ‘Feel The Real’ by Adrenalin. The standouts for me though are the killer groove of ‘We Had Enough’ from Arnie & The Lovlettes and Vance & Suzzanne’s ‘I Can’t Get Along Without You’ as sampled on the house track ‘Eyes Of Love’ by Brother Of Soul (Guidance 2000).

Andy Allen

This latest edition of ‘The Great Collectors’ features a further 12 early to mid 80s independent boogie cuts. As is often the case with tracks from this period, not all of the productions have stood the test of time. However there are some real gems contained within, such as the gospel flavoured ‘Lovelight’ by Love Light, Eddie Cornelius’ ‘Release Yourself’ plus Gift Of Dreams’ ‘Better Day’ and ‘Hold On For Love’ from Sho Nuff, both of which have been on my wants list for some time. Takes me back to the good old days of curly perms and formation dancing!

Andy Allen

More boogie business this month from Soul Brother and their 2nd volume of ‘Groove On Down’. Classics of the genre are present and correct; Cheryl Lynn’s ‘Got To Be Real’, the Larry Levan remix of ‘Seventh Heaven’ by Gwen Guthrie and Carol Williams’ ‘Can’t Get Away (From Your Love)’ which was recently covered by Only Freak on Freerange Records. Also included are Brooklyn Express’ version of Eddie Kendricks’ ‘You Need A Change Of Mind’ and ‘Help Is On The Way’ by The Whatnauts which Fat Larry’s Band lifted the groove from for their ‘Act Like You Know’ a year later (1982). The real winners here though are Mandrill’s intoxicating ‘Stay Tonite’, ‘Bizzaar’ by Rhyze which has more than a hint of the Spinners’ ‘Ill Be Around’ and the super slick production of ‘Our Hearts Will Always Shine’ from Ozone.

Andy Allen

Compiled by DJ Floro, ‘Republicafrobeat Vol. 2’ further explores the sound of modern Afro-beat. From it’s West African roots this music has truly spread worldwide particularly during the past decade and this disc draws together fine examples from Spain, France, US, UK and of course the motherland. ‘Elephants’ by Karl Denson & Tiny Universe featuring Fred Wesley, Raw Deal’s ‘Afro Rainbow’, the Hi-Perspective Remix of Franck Biyong’s ‘Power Brain’ featuring Wunmi and Bukky Leo’s take on Timmy Thomas’ ‘Why Can’t We Live Together’ all hit the spot. Al Green is not a name you would normally associate with Afro-beat, but the rare 1989 Bwana Mix of his 1975 cut ‘Love Ritual’ works perfectly. This album is worth the purchase price for this track alone.

Andy Allen

‘Early Morning Hush’ continues where ‘Gather In The Mushrooms’ left off and further explores the music of the British acid-folk scene of the late 60s, early 70s. Simple but beautifully crafted songs such as the string laced ‘Peacock Lady’ from Shelagh McDonald, Pentangle’s ‘Sovay’, ‘Sheep Season’ by Mellow Candle and John Renbourn’s ‘The Cuckoo’ featuring some wonderful sitar work, all standout. I’m currently hooked on Keith Christmas’ ‘Forest And The Shore’ though, an orchestrated folk-funk trip with haunting yet alluring backing harmonies.

Andy Allen

Dabrye will be known to most people because of “Game Over” featuring Jay Dee (RIP) which had the darkest beats know to man. Part two of Dabrye’s three part album series takes influences from his home town Detroit and continues to push the boundaries with not only hip hop but also electronic music. With a massive list of top of their game MCs aka Waajeed, MF Doom, Wildchild, Beans amongst others, this is the kind of music the masses need to hear, rather than the jiggy nonsense that is featured on our air waves and blasting out of young kids car speakers. Forward thinking and all the better for it.

Simon Harrison

I first picked up on DJ Spinna back when he was producing hip hop and it was a great surprise to me and probably the house heads: that all of a sudden he was knocking out quality house productions equal to, if not better than some of the masters of the 4/4 beat. This was strengthened by the release of “We Can Change This World” featuring Heavy, which has been blowing dancefloors apart for a few months now and set to be a massive summer hit. It’s not all uptempo with guests like Little Brother’s Phonte, N’Dea Davenport, Eric Roberson and Lizz Fields these tracks just ooze soul. The latter half picks up the tempo with yet more quality vocalists including Trish Angus, Christian Urich from Tortured Soul and the Free Radikalz. Spinna proves yet again his versatility with a cracking second album.

Simon Harrison

The Broken Keys are a collaboration between friends Nostalgia 77 and Natural Self. With a background between them that spans all manner of styles, this was always going to be interesting, especially if you’ve been checking out their solo projects. As with all collaborations you never quite know what will come out of the mixing pot but here these guys have gone for funk which captures soul, rock and hip hop. I’ve never been a huge fan of rock but the influences in “Gravity” work in so many different ways, that you just can’t help being sucked in. There are tracks for DJs and for home listening, so don’t miss out.

Simon Harrison

Since the beginning of house music there has always been compilations that try to capture the early days and as time goes by some tracks do sound dated, but maybe it’s a “you had to be there” kind of attitude that makes sense. DJ Deep’s series started in early 2005 with some downright house classics and I’m glad to say the quality continues with Vol.2. Some of the big producers are on here but thankfully nothing too obvious: these include Mr Fingers, Jovonn, the underrated Romanthony, Mike Dunn, Pleasure Control and Risque 3. If some of these don’t mean much to you, you should definitely give this a listen. Vinyl junkies will be pleased that 3x vinyl package is in the shops now.

Simon Harrison

A match made in heaven: the superb ‘DJ Kicks’ mix series from K7 teaming up with one of eclecticism’s true masters – Four Tet’s Kieran Hebden. This, believe it or not, is number 26 in the DJ Kicks series and once again fulfil’s the high standards of the previous selections. This 20 track mix album really is full of talent, ‘If I Were Only A Child Again’ by Curtis Mayfield features early on, there is a belter from Madvillain plus the excellent ‘Psychosomatic’ from personal faves Model 500. The mood rounds off with some Cabaret Voltaire and Gong in the mix with hip hop from Group Home and Showbiz & A.G. The final slice comes in the form of ‘Flutter’ from the truly brilliant Autechre and that’s that. Another spot-on selection from a DJ Kicks compiler. From now on when people ask me the dreaded question, "What sort of music are you into?". I’m just gonna tell em’ to listen to this album because it just about covers the lot. Well, well worth a listen.

Jax