Review: Cool Million has long been synonymous with the boogie funk style, which is sadly a genre lost by the late 1980s. Collaborating with singers spanning eras from the 80s to today, they bridge generations of soul, funk, and boogie. Here they work with English soul sensation Kenny Thomas, known for his UK Top 40 hits, who is a cornerstone of the original UK soul scene, boasting eight Top 40 singles and two Top Ten albums. His track 'Without Your Love' exemplifies this genre, a driving uptempo anthem with a funky uplift. The accompanying dub version enhances its appeal for DJs worldwide, affirming its place in contemporary record bags.
Kool & The Gang - "Give It Up" (DJ Soopasoul edit) (4:02)
Aretha Franklin - "Rock Steady" (DJ Soopasoul edit) (3:30)
Review: Jalapeno jive maestro Soupasoul had another standout year, in 2024 and only heightened his reputation for crafting exceptional edits that bring new life into funk standards and hidden gems. With a sharp focus on the groove-rich breaks, he is back once again with another instalment that will ignite dance floors everywhere. This time his scorching rework of 'Give It Up' spotlights dynamic horn interplay and soulful jazzy choruses and 'Rock Steady' celebrates Aretha's powerful vocals paired with a killer breakbeat. These finely tuned edits honour the originals while adding fresh energy.
Review: The latest missive from modern funk maestros The Sleeperz Records is a red seven-inch double header that pairs Canadian neo-boogie queen Maya Killtron (a label regular) with two similarly minded producers. She joins forces with Andrew Napoleon on A-side 'Body Fly', a glossy slab of mid-80s synth-funk/synth-pop fusion rich in squelchy P-funk bass, bright lead lines and colourful chords. Estonia-based Latvian Artis Boris sits in the producer's chair on side two, underpinning a typically expressive and soulful Killtron vocal with sinewy strings, modern boogie grooves and nods aplenty to early 1980s disco. Naturally, the sound is nostalgic, but both cuts sound undeniably fresh.
Review: Emotional Rescue closes out another brilliant year with one final hot drop. This sorting 7" Safari by King Sporty was the artist's first ever single back in 1976. It comes after the label has served up plenty of reissues of the man known as Noel Wiliam's tackle but this one might be the best. It's from his album Deep Reggae Roots and is nice tropical excursion with steamy hits, wooden percussive sounds and funky bass over a low-slung groove and chanting vocals. This one is backed with a special disco mix by Lexx that reworks the tune for more lively moments.
Review: There is some class edit and mash up business going on here with the latest one from the Disco Bits crew. The 45 takes the form of of classic cuts reworked with an all new and contemporary edge with the dancefloor very much in mind. First up, a Patti Job classic gets taken apart and rebuilt with new vocals and a more stepping beat. The Chopper's 'People Hold On' is a more smoochy sound with classic vocal refrains singing out and twanging guitar riffs powering along a groove that is suited for everything from weddings to late night shenanigans.
Review: Absolute funk fire from Gladys and co; "Love Is Always On Your Mind" is arguably one of their most overlooked jams in history. Heavily swung and quite gritty in comparison to their other work, it's an instant floor display lavished with stacks of energy and groove. Flip for the heavily referenced, sampled and edited 1980 classic "Bourgie Bourgie". Silky soul disco at its finest. Another white hot reissue success from Buddah.
Review: For the 29th instalment in their ongoing series of seven-inch singles, Demon Singles Club has decided to offer up a 45rpm pressing of Komiko's 'Feel Alright'. First released on legendary disco-boogie imprint SAM Records back in 1982, the track has long been a favourite with boogie DJs and with good reason. Built around a memorable bassline, squelchy electrofunk synths and unfussy machine drums, 'Feel Alright' boasts a fine female lead vocal whose lyrics extolls the virtues of dancing all night with happy strangers. As it did back in 1982, the vocal mix comes backed with an instrumental take in which producer Darryl Payne's killer bassline and synths rightfully take centre stage. If it's not in your collection already, you need to grab one of these copies pronto.
Review: Hot on the heels of his Discosaurs EP, which saw him expertly re-edit a swathe of obscure disco jams, Pascal Garnier AKA Krewcial delivers another hot-to-trot dose of dancefloor focused rearrangements. This time round, he's chosen to do a bit of (we think) multi-track "versioning", offering a trio of reworks of the same killer cut: Chaka Khan's 1980 disco hit 'Clouds'. The 'Extended Clouds' version is fairly faithful to the original, just longer and even more epic. Arguably more revolutionary and revelatory is the 'New Clouds' take, which opts for a denser, more freewheeling disco-funk sound with crunchy guitar licks aplenty and heavier bass. On the 'Acoustic Clouds' take he removes the groove entirely, instead showcasing Chaka's vocal and the original instrumentation. It's a real treat!
Review: While Toy Tonics' first Italomania compilation, released back in 2010, featured fresh reworks of classic Italian disco tracks, this belated sequel celebrates a new generation if Italian disco and nu-disco artists. This - as they have made clear - is not synth-heavy Italo-disco revivalism, but disco revivalism and disco-house fusion made by Italians. It's a great collection all told, with highlights including the hybrid disco-boogie brilliance of Tommiboy's 'La Sfinge (featuring D Disco Band)', the synth disco-meets-jazz-funk flex of Severino and Giocomo Mora's 'Maledetto', the coloruful nu-disco excellence of Munk & Kapote's 'La Musica (Hot DJ version)', the orchestrated disco cheeriness of 'SessoSpaghetti (extended mix)' by Finniani & Angeleri - an authentically eccentric excursion - and the synth-heavy squelch of 'Tropica' by Giovanni Damico.
Review: During the late 1970s and early '80s, Miami was a hotbed of percussion-rich disco-funk that blended popular Black American grooves of the day with nods to the drum-heavy rhythms of Afro-Cuban music. Herman Kelly & Life were amongst the outfits at the vanguard of this movement, though unusually they only released one album, 1978's Percussion Explosion! Here it gets a remastered CD reissue. It's naturally best-known for boda-fide disco anthem 'Dance To The Drummer's Beat', but there are plenty of other hot, break-heavy classics on display - not least the low-slung, high-octane brilliance of 'Who's The Funky DJ?', the string-drenched disco-soul sweetness of 'Share Your Love' and the low-down, extra-heavy funk rinse-out that is 'Do The Handbone'.
Review: The good folk at Mr Bongo are reissuing Herman Kelly's seminal 1978 album that birthed the iconic breakbeat classic 'Dance To The Drummer's Beat.' This Miami-based disco-funk project headed up by the drummer and producer features Latin, funk and percussive grooves that have gone on to influence generations of hip-hop and dance music producers. It is thought to have been sampled over 125 times by legends like DJ Shadow, N.W.A. and Run-D.M.C. after initially gaining fame via Ultimate Breaks & Beats in 1986. This reissue presents the sought-after 4:12 Alston Records version and it is as infectious and irresistible as ever.
Review: The first release from the all new Epsilon label is Loving Cup, an album from Keys & Friends that features eight of their incredible and previously unreleased soul songs from the mid-70s. These have all been sourced directly from a master tape that was unearthed in the CEO and Founder of Music Of The Sea Inc, Eddie Caldwell's vault. The group was assembled by the famously talented Southside Chicago songwriter William A. Keyes and some included here were tracks first penned for artists like Sly Johnson, Little Johnny Taylor, and Joyce Faison. Now available on vinyl for the first time, these high-quality recordings capture the essence of 70s soul and disco with some upbeat delights next to rueful downbeat beauties.
Donny McCullough - "From The Heart" (Kon's Multi remix) (6:33)
Taxie - "Rock Don't Stop" (3:32)
The Mazyck Project - "More Power To You" (4:39)
The Edge Of Daybreak - "EOB (Edge Of Daybreak)" (4:01)
Shake - "Lost In Space" (5:12)
Oby Onyioha - "Enjoy Your Life" (6:18)
Bomp - "Disco Power" (4:57)
Christy Essien Igbokwe - "You Can't Change A Man" (3:57)
Harry Mosco - "Sexy Dancer" (6:37)
Goddy Oku - "Dont' Ask Me" (5:37)
Review: BBE unearth another batch of rare and underexposed disco cuts on Off Track Vol 3. Compiled by the crate digging New York/Boston based duo Kon & Amir, the release gives an authentic representation of Brooklyn’s ghetto, funk and afro music scenes. Sophisticated tracks for real music heads
Review: B. Bravo and Rojai return as Kool Customer with their sophomore album At Your Service, a ten-track offering of modern funk designed for sun-soaked poolside parties. Following their 2018 debut, the duo pushes their funk sound further, evoking the laid-back vibes of LA's rooftop hotel gatherings while blending boogie, g-funk, and club influences. From the opener 'Endless Summer' to the mellow space grooves of 'One Day At A Time', the album maintains an effortlessly cool, future funk energy. Tracks like 'Fly Away' and 'Learned My Lesson' will undoubtedly find their way into DJ sets from LA's MoFunk to San Francisco's Sweater Funk. With roots in NorCal and SoCal, the pair infuses their music with a cross-regional modern funk spectrum. B. Bravo's use of vintage synths like the Minimoog Voyager and Yamaha DX-100 anchors the project in boogie tradition, while songs like 'DX Heaven' and 'West Coast Livin'' showcase inventive twists on g-funk. Kool Customer's At Your Service is the epitome of smooth, effortless funk.
Ronnie Keaton & Ocean Liners - "Going Down For The Last Time" (part 1)
Chosen Few - "Wondering"
King Sporty - "Thinking Of You"
King Sporty - "I'm In A Dancing Mood"
Ernest Ranglin - "In The Rain"
Ocean Liners - "Self Destruct"
King Sporty - "Don't Kill The Goose"
King Sporty - "Dance To The Music" (part 1)
King Sporty - "The More Things Change" (instrumental)
Band Ocean Liners - "Foxy Funk"
Chosen Few - "Funky Butter"
Timmy Thomas - "Africano"
King Sporty & The Root Rockers - "Fire Keep On Burning"
Phillip & Lloyd - "Keep On Moving"
Noel Williams - "Shoot It From The Hip"
King Sporty & The Root Rockers - "Summer Time"
Bobbie Houston - "I Want To Make It With You"
Della Humphrey - "Dreamland"
King Sporty - "Groovin' Out On Life"
King Sporty - "Driftaway"
King Sporty - "Concrete Jungle"
Review: Daisuke Kuroda has ben DJing since 1990 when the rare groove movement in his native Japan was in full flow. He slowly evolved into the funk world and is now regarded as one of deep funks finest ever DJs over in the Far East. He started Japan's leading deep funk club event series SEARCHING and runs his own Wah Wah party each month, amongst several other things. He heads up a 45 reissue label founded at the beginning of 2015 so is the perfect man to be asked to curate From Kingston To Miami: King Sporty Works 1971-1983, a collection of deep cut funk sounds that span the world from the 70s to the 80s.
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