Juno Recommends Funk / Rare Groove / Reissues : October 2022

Review: Kyoto Jazz Massive's most recent album, the critically acclaimed Message From a New Dawn, was packed to the rafters with highlights, with their surprise collaboration with jazz-funk legend Roy Ayers, 'Get Up', arguably being the best of the lot. Here the track gets a deserved single release, albeit via two 45-friendly re-edits from Japanese scalpel fiend DJ Kawasaki. He subtly snips and chops the track on the A-side '45 Edit', finding room for both the various instrumental solos and vocal sections while keeping the original's focus and energy in-tact. Over on the flip he chooses to showcase Ayers' superb vibraphone solos, jettisoning the original version's vocals on an all-instrumental revision that's a genuine jazz-funk-goes-disco treat.

Review: There is lashings of funk around this month and up there with the best of it is these new Resense tackle. It is designed for the advanced dance floors out there and features 'Lalo Shuffle' which is a rework of the main theme from the original Planet Of The Apes film. Not your average source material but a sure-fire funk destroyer with cool to spare as the big licks and hefty kicks power it along. On the flip is 'Magic Hancock' which swings down low with filtered bass guitar funk and deep house drums carrying you away.

Review: 1970's African music has had a vast impact on global sounds over the decades. Well known for its boogie, funk and disco sounds, it was also as we are increasingly learning a bastion of rock and psychedelia magic. Here that is all collected together masterfully on Afro Psych (Journeys Into Psychedelic Africa 1972 - 1977) with nine essential tunes that will have dancefloors and brain cells erupting in unison. Much of it is made by young musicians influenced and inspired by the likes of Hendrix, the Doors and Santana and Lagos was an epicentre for much of it.

Review: Initially discovered by the label via cassette tapes picked up in Jo'burg's Kohinoor store back in 1995, The Movers feature on the 35th in Germany's Analog Africa's series of band spotlights. As its title suggests, this captures the band's work across the lion's share of the 70s, and tracks like 'Hot Coffee' and '2nd Avenue' are irresistibly, instantly groovy, but also a fascinating sonic crossroads where African jit music meets the funk and soul of the US and the funkier end of the guitar music coming out of the UK and Europe at the same time. All executed In the most natural, free flowing, as well, which makes this package even harder to resist.

Review: The legendary Afro funk fusionists Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou Dahomey have got unlimited amounts of big tunes in their back catalogue and the fiery 'It's A Vanity' is one of them. It has fat and chunky drums with trademark horns leading the way next to the impassioned vocals. The tune twists and turns on a vibe as it funks you up and then on the flip is the more lo-fi and stripped back, earthen funk sounds of 'Nougbo Vehou' (La Verite Blesse). Anotehr killer 7" reissue from this great collective.

Review: Russian turntable warrior Paul Sitter is back with another bout of cut-up grooves to give the nimble-fingered plenty to get busy with. This is all about bad-ass 45s to rock the party by pasting together all manner of iconic licks. 'Paul's Mood' is a midtempo strutter which revolves around the 'Funky Drummer' break and slips plenty more samples into every bar. 'How You Feeling?' pulls up a rave MC call-out you might well have heard from the likes of The Prodigy in the early days, although here the sample gets planted into some classic funk. Given the spectrum of sounds across each track, this 7" feels built for those who like to pick their favourite bits and juggle them to kingdom come.

Review: The fourth EP from Florence on their own Florence label is simply entitled 'Funk.' And that is what we get in two different variations on this limited 45rpm' There is an old swing feel to the opener which has vocals that Elvis would be proud of. 'Bossa Nova Baby' is lovely and hard-hitting with hand claps and steel drums adding fuel. On the backside is 'I Got You' which is a more sweet soul sound driven by funky brass and prickly bass motifs. Two golden oldies for sure.

Review: New Orleans-based Professor Shorthair debuted in 2014 and has been cooking on gas ever since. It is now to his own label Superjock Records that he returns once more with NOLA Beaks: The Funkilation. His hip-hop sound are richly infused with funk and soul knowledge and his back catalogue brims with classics. Now, this new album lands on vinyl with an all-star lineup and classic remixes of gems like 'The Meter's' and 'Hand Clapping Song and 'Ernie K-Doe's.' Some unreleased tunes and original greats also make the cut to add up to a rather epic offering.

Review: After 13 years have passed since his last album, Root Soul is back with a new record that is as emotionally charged as ever. Bassist, composer and sound producer Kenichi Ikeda is the man behind the project and US vocalist Erik Rico is on the full album. First though is this teaser single on At Home Sound out of Japan. It kicks off with a 2022 update of 'Freaky Power' that has sliding drum rhythms and a high speed funky bassline chasing them along. On the backside is 'She's Got It' (feat Andrea Clarke) which dangles guitar riffs, big sax lines and acrobatic soul vocals over a chunky groove.

Review: Markey Funk & Mule Driver aka Group Modular present more outer space sounds from the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv route on their Delights label. Both sides are based on more material from last year's Time Masters LP's initial drum sessions. On side A, you have the intergalactic jazz of 'Per Aspera' which will take you to a higher state of consciousness, followed over on the flip by the offworld downbeat tripper 'Ad Astra' which further explores the band's drum-centric sci-fi sound.

Review: A recreational offshoot of the band Pleasure, Portland's Lights Out were led by their trumpeter Tonmy Collins as a way of staying musically exercised, pushing the envelope and getting a few local bookings on the side when Pleasure weren't on the road. Their sound started out as jazz fusion but they soon developed into a monstrously funky synth/-led funk rollercoaster. as vocalist Andy Stokes and guitarist Greg "Gee Mack" Dalton fronted the band.
The four tracks here were recorded as a demo for Solar Records in 1982 at Wave Sound Studios - a facility more used to housing punk acts such as The Wipers and The Rats - but the label 'fumbled' it and the band fellow apart soon after. Some 40 years on, the likes of 'Surrender Your Love' and 'Tonight' still sound fresh as the proverbial daisy, and likely to lure feet onto the dancefloor.

Review: Ghost Funk Orchestra was conceived back in 2016 when producer Seth Applebaum dropped two EPs to mark the start of the project. The tunes now presented here were one-man-band, reel-to-reel tape recorded experiments that draw on all the many different sounds Applebaum was most into at the time. As such there is a ton of reverb here with Latin-style percussion, tape-saturated drums, weirdo time signatures, surf guitar sounds and Spanish-language female vocals. The music has been remastered for this proper full length release which invites you deep into Seth's unique musical world.