Back catalogue: Funk Soul & Jazz

Review: Following their first boom-bap flavoured collaboration with Crimson Alchemist, last year's 'Storytelling', Diess Productions regulars Mister Modo and Ugly Mac Beer once again join forces with the underground MC for a similarly retro-futurist hip-hop throwdown. Crimson Alchemist's Q-Tip-esque rap sounds superb on both versions, both of which boast fat, toe-tapping beats and tons of nods towards Mister Modo and Ugly Mac Beer's turntablist roots. The A-side 'Donut Mix' is the slightly bouncier of the two takes, with tidy organ motifs and sweeping synth-strings, while the flipside 'Serious Mix' revolves around some killer horn samples and a descending bassline.

Review: Saucy Lady's last collaboration with fellow Japanese native U-Key (real name Yukihiro Kanesaka), 2018's 'It's All Here', remains one of the standout cuts in the Star Creature catalogue. Given the label's incredible track record, that's no mean feat! Hopes are naturally sky-high then for this belated sequel, which sees them switch to Star Creature's sister label Tugboat Editions. Shiro Schwartz joins in the fun on A-side 'Hey DJ', a typically boogie-fired chunk of melodious city pop revivalism that ticks all the right boxes. Lee Wilson makes a guest appearance on the similarly glossy - and arguably more city pop-inspired - flip-side 'Tell Me If You Still Care', an eyes-closed male/female duet of the kind that were all the rage in the 1980s.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Record has light surface marks/scratches, but otherwise in excellent working condition***


GAMM has been a treasure trove of edits, golden old soul and forgotten funk gems for an eternity and they come correct again with this monstrous dance floor dynamite on a loud, one-sided vinyl pressing: Ukokos & Jabco's hip hop and gospel styled rework of the world renowned clip of Kanye West's Sunday Service band doing a live cover of "Keep Rising". A majestic, triumphant and real floor filling, crowd pleasing bomb that will bring everyone together for many years to come.

Review: Another killer issue from the 5 Borough Breaks crew, unearthing yet another classic hip hop anthem rarely seen on 45. Taking it back to 1989, Ultimate Force's "I'm Not Playing" catches a young Diamond D in full flow over a looped blues lick. Famed for its appearance on Shadow & Cut Chemist's "Brainfreeze" mix, the original 45 will set you back a hefty sum. As always, flip it over for the original sample source - step up Blues master Albert King's "Cold Feet".

Review: There's been a lot of online chatter about this blink-and-you'll-miss-it release, a perfectly pitched debut from the DJar One's freshly minted Beats House remix series. Fittingly, Djar One handles side A, offering up a suitably fat and insatiably funky revision of Ultimate Force's "Tuff". Utilising thick drum beats, on-point scratches, hazy horn blasts and occasional snatches of the "Apache" break, the French DJ/producer re-imagines the cut as a floor-friendly boom-bap smasher. Pal Kesta is in similarly good form on the flip, where he offers up a heavy but bouncy take on Large Professor's "Key To The City" that's full of razor-sharp scratches, breakdancing-friendly drums and all manner of classic hip-hop samples. Wherever the party's at, these two remixes will definitely do the business.

Review: It has been a while since Umbo released any new music but now he is back on the Austrian label Resense with a superb pair of edits on this essential little 45 rpm. Kicking things off is 'Grits' which is a hard hitting bit of b-boy funk and breaks with old school soul vocals and plenty of horn stabs powering it ever onwards and upwards. '23h' is a little more seductive but no less busy with tightly woven bongos and congas peppering the high speed funk groove. Fantastic stuff that we hope is the start of much more to come from edit king Umbo.

Review: Somewhat predictably, this double-dose of party-hearty Professor Shorthair remixes is as colourful and vibrant as the purple marbled vinyl seven-inch onto which the tracks are pressed. On side A he does his thing with The Unemployed's rugged 1970 funk-rock jam "Funky Thing", beefing up the beats for modern dancefloors while adding a choice selection of scratched-in samples. Arguably even better is his rework of Lee Dorsey's "Occapella", a sweet, lo-slung groover that gets re-cast as a dubbed-out chunk of hazy, bass-heavy hip-hop soul rich in echo-laden vocal snippets, snatches of rap and hazy horns. As Dorsey's vocal says, it's "finger-snapping good"!

Review: In 2002, New York producer Ursula 1000 released his groundbreaking, genre-busting album Kinda' Kinky, meshing groovy retro sampladelic licks with modern breaks and beats. For its 20th anniversary this year, Ursula revisits the 60's swinging London mod shaking title track with his own 2022 redux. UK breakbeat master A.Skillz remixes the flipside into a relentless, giggling funky disco monster! The cover design is by world renowned space-age bachelor pad artist Shag.

Review: Limited edition version with hard gate-fold sleeve and booklet picture inserts

Review: Limited edition version with hard gate-fold sleeve and booklet picture inserts

Review: Us3's fifth album Schizophonic sees producer Geoff Wilkinson's rolling cast of rappers and musicians returning to the task of fitting the pieces of the jazz and hip-hop puzzle into one kaleidoscopic whole. Building on the group's mammoth 50-date/14-country European tour last year, the sound of Schizophonic is a lively, raucous and uptempo affair with a heavy emphasis on live playing married to crunchy hip-hop beats. The album features two new rappers, Akil Dasan and Gaston, both of whom Geoff found at New York's legendary underground hangout the Nuyorican Poets Café. All members of the Us3 live band are also featured, including the blistering trumpet of Chris Storr, the soaring sax stylings of Ed Jones, the funky muscle of double bass player "Level" Neville Malcolm, and the unique turntable mastery of DJ First Rate. Mike Gorman, Sean Hargreaves and John Crawford take turns at the pianist's chair, while (60 year-old!) newcomer Ernie Cranenburgh lays down some truly beautiful jazz guitar. Schizophonic bounces from the brazilian samba school sampling "Kick This", to the lyrical hip-hop sarcasm of "Huff & Puff", through the 60s soul-jazz vibe of "Girls U Like", to the furious jazz drums & Monk-like piano of "Get Busy". Gaston recounts a desperate tale of child abuse in "Don't Even Ask" complimented by the delicate brushes, moody piano and brooding horns. And if you came to dance flip to the 21st century bossa groove of "Much 2 Much."