Back in stock: Funk Soul & Jazz

Review: Collecting together most of their 7" releases onto this, their first album, 45Trio's keyboardist Swing-O/45, bassist Sunapanng and drummer Masahiko Kubo provide fans with not only their sold-out singles on the same label but new tracks too. So, enjoy their version of Patrice Rushen's 'Remind Me' that pares back the original, sweetening further this already sweet composition by marrying Fender Rhodes with vocoder, or relish Irvine Weldon's 'I Love You', as the sensitive keyboard again takes centre stage. Get lost in Loose Ends' 'A Little Spice' which is fairly true to the original but more synthesised with a jazzy hip hop break and the jerky more downbeat version of Gary Davis' 2006 track 'Gee Dee' reflecting the trio's love of paying homage but creating a different and slower groove. On Bloom Music, a label under the Japanese Flower Records 'Soul Review' soulfully reviews Trio 45s work to date, a must for fans disappointed not to have got in quick enough when tracks were first available on 7" and also for those newly initiated. You're all in for a treat.

Review: The Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band has become the latest jewel in the Big Crown. Lead by Bjorn Wagner, they have stopped several essential recordings not he label, all defined by their famous steel pan sound. Often they turn to covers of the classics such as they did back in March and this time around they take aim at the much loved and low slung hip-hop classic 'Nuthin' But A G Thang' by Dr Dre. In their hands it becomes something else entirely but still delightfully low slung and sleazy. This one is backed with 'How We Do' which is another loveably fresh sound.

Review: Blockhead is New York producer Tony Simon, a revered talent who has put out a wealth of crucial albums. They are all getting reissue treatment now as some are almost 20 years old, but they have weathered that time well. Music By Cavelight is another of his masterful takes on broken beat and nu-jazz and this one comes on nice orange-marbled wax. It peaked at number 43 on the UK Independent Albums Chart back in 2004 when it first landed and it only came to be on Nina Tune after its original label stopped answering the artist's calls.

Review: Hardcore funk and breaks lovers rejoice - the latest Heat Rock is a real winner. This 7th and final entry into the first series has a pair of world music-influenced bangers on it. The first tune is produced by Bounce Castle from Chicago and is primed for the dance floor with its Bollywood-flavoured vibes and big beats. It's a fresh take on a big tune from QB's Finest. And if you reverse it, fellow Chicagoan Altered Tapes mixes up a Cumbia slash dancehall slash breakbeat version of an iconic song from legendary Wu Tang album 36 Chambers.

Review: Casquiat - a mysterious production moniker, and clear play on words of the name of a famous New York neo-expressionist artist, punned with either a casket or casque (we're not sure which) - lays down an equally mysterious but also supremely effective edit of the infamous Boyz II Men tune, 'If I Ever Fall In Love Again', re-baptizing it 'Lady Friend' and lending two alternate takes on the rerub (whether 'Bad Self' or 'Lady Storm' are artists or mix names, we also can't tell). Whereas the original track's bittersweet barbershop tones exist purely as an acapella - unusually, in their case, it was an original acapella, not recorded for a produced pop song - Casquiat lays down two, boxy contemporary breaks / hip-hop mashups here, one operative at 90bpm and the other more at 70bpm, and both bringing unusual dubby flavours to an otherwise pure R&B hit.

Review: You will always have a job second-guessing where The Gaslamp Killer might go next. This time, it is to a new collaborative album with Jason Wool. ANANDA find the pair cooking up 33 minutes of avant-garde experimental jazz underpinned by heavy bass and topped with plenty of sound design madness that calls to mind the likes of Stanley Clark, David Axelrod and Aphex Twin. The synapse firing collage of 'Chaos In The Brain' is a great example of the joys of this record - organic and synthetic, chaotic yet calm. It's a real treat.

Review: Five years after her last album on the Big Crown label, Lady Wray is soon to serve up a follow up in the form of Piece of Me. That arrives in January next year and is proceeded by this taster 7" featuring two singles from it. They showcase Wray's take on classic soul: her vocals do plenty of heavy lifting, and the instrumental funk all around her is steeped in the classic traditions, but it all comes with an extra raw edge, an urgency and crispness that brings it right up to date. 'Through It All' is a confessional that is powered by tight drums, where 'Under The Sun' is a more blissed out vibe.

Review: James Massiah is already regarded by those in the know as one of London's most vital poetic voices and this potent two-tracker only serves to add weight to that reputation. It pairs lo-slung, richly textured beats with razor-sharp lyricism from the off with 'Holland Park,' produced by Shimz343, finding Massiah narrating a cryptic tale over lush strings and jagged rhythms that channel the great Gil Scott-Heron. On the flip, 'Hot Winter' drips with jazz poetry swagger, chopped flutes and dusty breaks with Massiah riding the beat with effortless fluidity. He proves himself a timeless narrator here, half street prophet, half storyteller, but a stylish, witty bridge between past and present with lyrical gravitas.

Review: Joe Mount of lovable scuzz pop outfit Metronomy mans the latest volume in the long running Late Night Tales, a series who always seem to get the best results out of an unexpected cast of participants (Belle & Sebastien, MGMT, Trentemoeller and Midlake being recent inductees). It's hard not to get sucked in from the sugar sweet opening of Outkast's "Prototype", which is the first of several tracks that demonstrates Mount has a penchant for slow bumping R&B and outsider hip-hop with Tweet, Sa Ra and a Dr Octagon classic also appearing. A typically far reaching approach to genres applies here with the cosmic jazz of Chic Corea happily mingling with Autechre and Two Lone Swordsmen, and American synth oddities Geneva Jacuzzi and Appaloosa mingling for attention with The Alan Parsons Project and Herman Dune. The de-rigueur cover version arrives with a Metronomy rendition of Jean-Michel Jarre's "Hypnose" while Paul Morley ends the selection with a spoken word piece. This vinyl edition has 18 of the tracks spread separately across two plates as well as the mixed CD and a booklet!

Review: Few labels are better at saving up big cut-and-paste tunes from the world of hip-hop, r&b, funk and breaks than Heat Rock. Here they come again with more of the goodness, firstly with Nick Nack. His 'And Ya Say' roll deep, with smooth bars flowing freely over the leggy drums. On the reverse, Chicago's Altered Tapes crew offer up their own unique take of hip hop classic 'Still Running' in the form of a shuffling Bossa B-boy flip which has Latin percussion and ass-wigging drums. Both of these are floor-friendly cuts that pack in plenty of heritage.

Review: Parisian producer Onra is a hugely prolific beat maker and sample taker who has dropped several volumes of his Chinoiseries album, The first was his debut back in 2007 and now his home label All City Ireland have put together this reissue of it. The whopping collection has been painstakingly pieced together using samples from old Chinese and Vietnamese records and leans on r&b, funk and hip hop frameworks. It's packed with marvellous moments and Eastern charm, lazy beats and sunny sounds that all two incredibly addictive as they play out in perfect chopped up fashion.

Review: Red Snapper return with Barb And Feather, celebrating 30 years since their debut album. Liquidising the band's signature jazz, funk, and electronic grooves into a prostrate puree of vivid, electronically augmentable sound, we once again hear Rich Thair, Ali Friend, Tom Challenger and new addition Tara Cunningham perform a brilliant post-punk-dub-disco dramaturge, mullioned at the midpoint by a cracking instrumental redo of David Bowie's 'Sound And Vision', upheld by a true Balearic trestle. The second half, on the other hand, hears a four-track collaboration with the legendary David Harrow, pushing Red Snapper ever further towards unsnapped chunks of dietetic punk-disco delight.

Review: Smoove AKA Jonathan Scott Watson brings us Bizarre Cut 'N' Paste Ride for the most recent Wack Records release. The producer is known for using his cut up style of east coast flavor. On the A-side, 'Bizarre Cut 'N' Paste Ride' uses Pharcyde tracks and edits them seamlessly like a DJ would. Focusing in on the original instrumentals, he creates a jazzy sound with them. 'Summer Cyde' expands upon this theme while using the all-time classic 'Passin Me By' in the mix. This is like having a dub plate of Pharcyde cuts to your own personal bag. Sounds like these will never get old.

Review: LA beat scene veteran Mtendere Mandowa looks to a fresh set of talented collaborators (including Panda Bear, MNDSGN, Thomas Stankiewicz) on his new album for Brainfeeder. It is his first for five years and the results are superb. The 14 original tracks across the album constantly evolve and flourish. Opener "Atoms Song" is built around a loopy keyboard that's joined by drifting synths that wash over you like a warm shower, Shufflin' beast "Daughter Callin'" is something that Dilla would be happy to put his name to and album highlight, Sudan Archives hook-up "Black Dove" is an emotive, georgeously moving number, all at once proving Teebs' ability to integrate dynamic talents seamlessly into his own sonic realm. Warm and organic, "Anicca" is an essential piece of work.

Review: Flying Lotus collaborator Thundercat returns to Brainfeeder with his first full album since 2013's superb Apocalypse. Presented over four coloured pieces of 10" vinyl, Drunk is a thrill-a-minute, mix-tape style trip through the multi-instrumentalist and beat-maker's various inspirations (think skewed hip-hop, jazz, soul, funk, left-of-centre electronica, and so on), all of which have been fused and mutated to fit his unique musical perspective. His high standing within the leffield hip-hop community has allowed Thundercat to snag some impressive guest stars, too, including Kendrick Lamarr, blue-eyed soul legend Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, Pharell and jazz man Kamasi Washington. Old pal Fly-Lo also lends a hand.