Back catalogue: Funk

Review: Given that both have eclectic musical tastes and play a multitude of instruments, it makes perfect sense that Misha Paniflov and Shawn Lee have ended up working together on a handful of seven-inch singles. 'Volkswagenesque', the opening gambit from the pair's latest "45", is another strong sonic statement. It boasts the sun-kissed warmth and laidback vibe heard on many of Lee's productions, with the duo wrapping glistening guitars, gravelly funk-rock solos, spacey synths and warming bass around a languid, percussion-rich rhythm track. You'll find more weighty, beautifully played percussion on flipside 'Miles Away', a more low-slung and dancefloor-ready affair that features some excellent electric piano playing from Lee.

Review: Fresh from dropping another essential seven-inch with his regular Sound Combo band, Misha Paniflov has joined forces with fellow multi-instrumentalist Shawn Lee for a string of collaborative singles. This "45" sports two genuinely impressive cuts, each full to bursting with quality live instrumentation. It opens with 'Sigmund Jahn Bossa', a superb fusion of late 1960s library jazz (think Roy Budd's score for Get Carter and you're in the right ballpark), bustling bossa-nova and spiralling psych-funk. Over on the flip the pair continue to deliver lounge, influenced, tongue-in-cheek thrills via the cheap, Sideman drum machine rhythms, tumbling guitars, elongated Hammond organ chords and hazy backing vocals of 'Aquaria'.

Review: Earlier in the year Misha Paniflov impressed with a library music and laidback 1970s funk-rock-inspired soundtrack for a Janno Jurgens-directed movie called Rain. Both of the tracks featured on this "4e5" are taken from that soundtrack album. On side A you'll find 'Road Home', a relaxed and effervescent affair that fuses drifting, wordless female vocals, snaking saxophone lines and rising orchestration with grooves reminiscent of Roy Budd's work for the original Get Carter soundtrack. Over on the flip there's a chance to savour soundtrack album opener 'An Unexpected Journey', where Paniflov more expressively explores his easy listening and library music influences. It, too, is a calming treat for the ears.

Review: Misha Panfilov is an Estonian multi-instrumentalist and producer who is in several well-regarded groups and has put out a rather incredible 18 albums since only 2019. There have been nine EPs in that time and this new one on Funk Night is a real gem. The a-side is cosmic-tinged 60s psyche-funk and campfire rock with tight-as-you-like organic drumming and lush synth work. It's a real delight. On the flip is the more laidback and slow-motion lo-fi funk of 'Jogo', but it still has a nice spaced-out synth side to it that makes it so lush.

Review: Following a near two-year absence from vinyl, the usually prolific Misha Paniflov is back on Funk Night Records with another nostalgic 45 rooted in deep funk, library music, cinematic soundtracks and psychedelia. The Estonian first offers up 'Dr Juvenal's Solution', a jaunty and genuinely heavy dancefloor work out marked out by sixties spy-movie guitars, bustling breaks, intergalactic synth sounds and warming bass. He opts for a more laidback, downtempo feel on side B, with stretched out, Peter Green style guitar solos and meandering Moog lines reclining atop a bittersweet backing track.

Review: 
Pascal & Bryce have got a couple of new 7"s out this month and 'Live Saturn' is another golden offering. It features two live versions of the same source track. Each one is super short which means you are left begging for more once they finish. 'Part 1' is all hard hitting drum breaks, wooden hits and drawn out, wobbly sitar sounds, and 'Part 2' is more beefy and chunky, with bigger bass underneath the jittery rhythm section and razor sharp hi hats. The sitar is missing, making it more direct, but no less essential.

Review: This stone cold slice of 7"s of funk comes all the way from Finland but takes you on a journey much further away. As the title suggests has some mad sitar action stitched into the raw and stuttering drum breaks on the A-side. It's a bristling groove to inject any floor with energy and worldly goodness. On the flip is 'Practise Witchcraft,' a more deep, slow moving groove that brings some psyched out sounds and a late night sense of playful soul. This one is limited to 250 copies so move fast.

Review: Penza Penza is one of many aliases used by funk-fuelled musical polymath Misha Paniflov. This "45" showcases two tracks from the project's recently released debut album, which added heavy funk vibes to a hallucinatory stew of flavoursome psychedelic rock. A-side 'Mad Madis Twist' is gnarly, rugged and impressively heavy, with Paniflov and company wrapping squally, Jimi Hendrix style guitar solos and flanged funk-rock riffs over a cacophonous, all-action rhythm track. 'Shulz' Thing' is a little tighter, more bass-heavy and undeniably funkier, though the wild guitars and acid-fried attitude remain front and centre.

Review: What's important is to spread confusion, not eliminate it: Estonian production master Misha Panfilov knows this as much, running a carefully-curated imagecraft cartel, in which his many aliases confound and bemuse us into believing his many works are the doing of someone else. Case in point: At first glance, we were well-duped into believing Penza Penza were some kind of exotic psych supergroup lost to time, but a deeper investigation as to the origin of the alias indeed reveals the singular force of Panfilov to be the artist behind these tracks. It's no wonder the A-sider is called 'Deep Dive', affirming our propensity for curious, almost forensic suspicion as to its true origins. A serene groove of just-intoned riffs and sizzlingly offbeat hits, this one's certainly a solid accompaniment for your next mescaline dabbling. Meanwhile, we're happy to award the B-sider with "banger of the year so far" - 'My Friend Ash' is an ecstatic mover, as deceivingly retro as it is beguiling, with stabbing counterpoints and wild toppers, as suitable for the club as it is would've been for some kind of 70s hoedown.

Review: For the latest instalment in their ongoing "Jazz Series", Funk Night Records has turned to Finnish outfit PLOP, a trio made up of world-renowned musicians Miko Innanen, Ville Herala and Joonas Riippa. With experienced Estonian producer Misha Paniflov at the controls, the trio serves up two fine cuts. A-side "Emu" is thrillingly wild, with free-jazz flute solos clustering around a bustling double bass-line and Tony Allen style Afro-jazz drums. There's a more psychedelic feel to flipside "Ume", a more radical, off-kilter exploration of Afro-funk-fusion rich in fuzzy, lo-fi organ solos, timpani drums and metronomic double bass. It's definitely freestyle in tone and delivery, but all the more alluring for it.

Review: Talk about a sonic time capsule. Misha Panfilov never ceases to impress with his compositions, but on Rain he arguably breaks the mould. The tracks are as groove-laden and funky as anything the 1970s could possibly have come up with, all laidback funk rock stylings, and play out across this album like a series of found sounds in full song form.

The phrase 'library music' springs to mind, only here it means the kind of eye-catching accidentals that would perfectly soundtrack a classic TV show, movie introduction or cut scene. They exude so much cool you can almost see the record strutting its stuff through the streets of Paris in the throws of youth revolution , and the smoke from a hundred Galwans wafting over your head. At times mysterious, often playful and occasionally raucous and rabid, it's all very sexy indeed.

Review: There's a good chance the name Misha Panfilov doesn't mean that much to you. Yet. The Estonian producer and musician is indicative of the thriving Tallinn music scene, and has worked with the liked of US maestro Shawn Lee, and also released work as Misha Panfilov Sound Combo. Despite those exceptional outings, though, Penza Penza might be the artist's finest project of the lot, with Neanderthal Rock the best outing to date.

Incredibly detailed, almost cacophonous stuff, to put it mildly, what's here is a trippy, psychedelic ride through the furthest reaches of rock 'n' roll, touches of folk, shoegaze, jazz, and downtempo electronic pop ensuring things rarely remain the same for very long on a full play through. Overall, though, the feeling here is one that has at least a foot stood in the 1960s, and another in the vast expanse of space itself.