The Umoza Music Project - "Down By The Beach" (3:05)
Woodfield Rd Allstars - "Ghetto Guitar" (4:25)
Review: The crucial Original Gravity label is busy this month with three red hot new 7"s all dropping in quick succession. The top-notch funk crew has this spilt 7" from Umoza Music Project and The Woodfield Road Allstars up here on limited wax. The a-side is a sunny bit of original rousing 70s reggae direct from the islands. Backing vocalists provide plenty of butter while the lead laments a love lost and the rhythm rolls on. On the back side is a much more stoner-paced and funk drenched laidback instrumental with Balearic guitar licks that look to the stars as organ chords warm you through and the rocksteady rhythm gently sways to and fro. Two gems for sure.
Review: Upstairs P. is also known as Garrett Rowley) and is a DJ and producer who is currently based in Los Angeles. So far his sounds have come on the likes of Germany's Public Possession in the form of a collaboration with Baba Stiltz, who has contributed to part 2 on the flipside of this new 12" on Punchy & Friends. 'Grem Freche (part 1)' is a melon-twisting bit of psyched-out dark disco, chug and downtempo no wave with endless percussive evolutions and winding rhythms. 'Grem Freche (part 2)' has a more loose, DIY and dubbed out edge but is just as excellent
Review: PPU is one of your favourite labels when it comes to dusty and lo-fi soul and related sounds. Now the DC-based crew delivers another gem with Grand Hotel, a collection of ten rare tracks from Estonian funk legend Uku Kuut, who they have released several times before now. The instrumental album traces Kuut's journey through the Soviet Union, Sweden, Los Angeles, and Estonia and is a window into his excellently eclectic style. Highlights include his first home recording from 1982 and a track produced in Herbie Hancock's studio. After more than 30 years of travelling across borders, these precious masters have found a permanent home and means that Grand Hotel is a fine tribute to Kuut's international influences.
Review: Check classic dance music books of the 1990s - and even some later music texts, such as Richard King's The Lark Ascending - and you'll find plenty of praise for Ultramarine's work of the early 1990s, which added pastoral and folk-rock inspired sounds to the sample-heavy pulse of dance music. What you won't find is any reference to their final album of the decade, A User's Guide. Yet it may well be their best album. A conscious exploration of techno and IDM shot through with references to Detroit, Berlin and Sheffield (well, Warp Records at least), it reportedly took the duo almost two years to record. A largely unheralded British techno classic, it has been painstakingly remastered for this first ever vinyl reissue and boasts extensive contextualising liner notes from UK techno historian (and sometime Juno writer) Matt Anniss.
Review: Foam On A Wave is a brand new London-based reissue label. Its first offering is a carefully dug out delight from Ian Cooper and Paul Hammond aka Ultramarine, one of the UK's foremost ambient techno artists. Folk is a seamless weaving together of "unique instrumentation and sonic influences into rich, ethereal soundscapes" that have all been fully remastered for this 30th anniversary release. Mixing up organic and synthetic sound is what this pair did best and this album has a kaleidoscopic pallet drawn from Canterbury's jazz-infused psychedelia, the contemporary Benelux scene, and plenty in between. It manages to be both thoughtful and playful, serious yet irreverent, and has aged as well as a fine wine.
808 State - "Pacific State" (Massey Conga mix) (4:04)
Magma - "Eliphas Levi" (10:53)
Homelife - "Stranger" (6:05)
Michael Gregory Jackson - "Unspoken Magic" (5:25)
Dora Morelenboum - "Avermelhar" (4:27)
Simone - "Tudo Que Voce Podia Ser" (2:17)
Experience Unlimited - "People" (6:09)
Otis G Johnson - "I Got It" (4:26)
Mel & Tim - "Keep The Faith" (3:56)
Review: In this collection, Luke curates music with the perfect blend, inviting listeners on an esoteric journey of enlightenment through sound. Exploring late-night, after-hours musings; Everything Above The Sky (Astral Travelling with Luke Una) is a new compilation by the enigmatic DJ, promoter, and cultural curator. Following the E Soul Cultura phenomenon, this compilation comes at a pivotal moment in Luke's career as he travels the globe. Avoiding any chance of his sound being pigeonholed, Luke has assembled a tracklist that feels transcendental, stepping off the grid and back to source. Luke's Everything Above The Sky manifesto describes the music as Astral Travelling in the meadowlands with acid folk, spiritual jazz, midnight hocus pocus, cosmic psychedelic soul, magical whirling love songs, Brazilian ballads of light into machine soul gospel dreaming, Balearic bossa and Outer Space ancient African drums. Expect something different and highly unique with this listen.
Review: The Mellophonia label offshoot Fusion Sequence won us over with its well-presented and great-sounding first EP, and now a quick follow-up does the same. This one is another various artists affair that starts with some nice futuristic robot disco from Vanity Project. There is more organic and lush Balearic from Bobby Bricks and Pacific Coliseum follows that spine-tingling Ibiza sunset vibe. On the flip side, there is everything from late-night electronic house to lazy disco via Sorcerer's blissed out 'Just For Love' which would entrance any dance floor. There's as much quality as there is variation on this one, which makes it a useful EP indeed.
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