Category Archives: Reviews

Roy Hargrove returns with a straight-ahead jazz set released at the same time as his more soul and funk orientated project ‘Distractions’ under his RH Factor moniker. Although ‘Distractions’ continues the vibe established on ‘Hard Groove’ it doesn’t quite match the standard of ‘Nothing Serious’. This set opens with the superb title track before moving into ‘A Day In Vienna’, both of which have a strong Latin vibe. ‘Camaraderie’ is a pure bop beauty but not to be overlooked is the heavy groove of ‘Salima’s Dance’ and the beautiful swing of ‘The Gift’. A truly timeless piece deserving of your full attention.

Andy Allen

From Winnipeg, Canada, El Salvador born Luis Francisco Cardona (Solidaze) comes with a down-tempo set of hypnotic electro-soul fused with elements of house and nu jazz. Although mainly instrumental it’s the tracks featuring vocalist Sarah Michaelson that appeal the most, ‘Anti Animosity’ and ‘In The Meantime’. Of the instrumentals try ‘I Too Call Myself I’, ‘Late Night Movement’ and ‘Curve Seven’ for some deep darkness.

Andy Allen

After years of production and remix work the nine strong collective finally deliver their debut album. As you would expect it’s largely a broken affair and features a whole host of guest artists such as Bembe Segue, Sharlene Hector, Vanessa Freeman, Michelle Escoffery, Yolanda Quartey, Alex Lattimore, Izzi Dunn, I.G. Culture, Colonel Red and Mark de Clive-Lowe. The singles ‘Booty La La’ and ‘Sounds Like / Once Twice’ are present along with the monster ‘Redhanded’ with Bembe and Don Ricardo on vocals. The vocal hook, "I caught ya you stupid motha f**ka" is absolutely devastating. Other highlights include the Vula fronted ‘It Don’t Work Like That’ and ‘Consequences’ both of which have an 80s boogie flavour, the P-Funk influenced ‘Knocks Me Off My Feet’, ‘Happy Days’ and the conscious message of ‘Worla Hurt’.

Andy Allen

Hitop bring together a selection of ten recent Spanish nu jazz cuts for the second instalment of ‘Spain Is Different’, including ‘En La Calle, On The Street’ by Gecko Turner, Mojo Project’s ‘Nana For Child’ (instrumental) and ‘Cabo Verde Strut’ (Wagon Cookin Mix) from Casbah 73. Better though are Pablo Sanchez’s ‘Umba’ where afro-beat meets broken-beat, the bright and breezy ‘Summertime’ by Soul Dynamics featuring Wanda Felicia and JP Duet’s ‘Charanga Pa Gozar’, a more traditional Latin offering.

Andy Allen

Out of Moers, Germany comes the third in the compilation series ‘Fantastic Freeriding’ which showcases music from Kabanjak, Protassov, Deela, Subrok Mission and Ancient Astronauts. The beats are heavy throughout with touches of soul, funk, hip-hop, dub and electronica all thrown in along the way. The set’s opener, ‘The Rain’ and ‘Night People’, both from Kabanjak along with Ancient Astronauts’ ‘Until The Stars Go Out’ all beautiful atmospheric outings but also check out the funky fusion sound of ‘Makulu’ by Deela. This one could go massive if given the right exposure.

Andy Allen

Most of you should know MKL from his 3 Generations Walking guise that surfaced on Joe Claussell’s Spiritual Life a few years ago, and he certainly caused a stir with DJs around the world. Lion1music was then launched and continued pushing the soulful deep house vibes. R2 Records have wisely put together a fine selection of sought after tracks and remixes from MKL’s back catalogue on to cd. There were quite a few I missed, so this has been handy for me. Highlights include the 3 Generations Walking remix of Fat Freddy’s Drop “Hope”and Francois Kevorkian’s dub of “Midnight Bustling”, and the other nine tracks are wonderfully produced house flavours.

Simon Harrison

This formula has been tried on a number of occasions over the years: some albums have produced some classy new interpretations, but, more often than not, remixing jazz classics hasn’t quite come up to scratch. Dopeness Galore have already released the excellent compilation “Timeless Finest Jazz” which gave us a taster from the massive back catalogue of Timeless Records, and now they’ve brought in the remixers. I am glad to say that here are some of the best re-works to date. Domu’s broken beat version of “Nerada” works a treat, as does Alex Attias’ remix of Art Blakey’s Kenji’s Walk, which goes back to his Bel Air Project days. The combination of Mark De Clive-Lowe and Bembe Segue as The Politik was always going to be a winner and I.N.T produce two tracks, one with Rich Medina and the other with Melodee, which will keep the heads happy. I’ll leave you to check out the rest in your own time.

Simon Harrison

The quartet made up of Hajime Yoshizawa, Masato Nakamura, Kiyoshi Ikeda and Nobuaki Fujii are back on top form with eight more future jazz classics. As Soil and Pimps finally received a well overdue European release, it’s great timing to continue the supply of Japanese jazz. We were given a taster of things to come at the end of 2005 with the Especial 12″ that included “Into The Sun” featuring Bembe Segue and the title track featuring then legend Pharoah Sanders. The beautiful vocalist Yukimi Nagano has also been drafted in on “Afloat”. The formula and sound we know and love continues, with loads more Flute, Piano and Saxophone solos over the baddest jazz percussion in town. Over the following months you should be guaranteed to hear the soon to be massive “Ai-No-Tabi”, assuming you support the right club nights and DJs. All in all, you need this.

Simon Harrison

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

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

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

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

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

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

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