Tags: Ska

Review: A stellar mix of DJ-able breakbeat and northern soul from Luchito Rodriguez and Nestor Alvarez, two of our favourite contemporary funk artists active today (as long as we're certain of their identities, that is). This limited 7" contains two versions of the same killer track: 'Soy Un Hombre' reincarnates the triumphant 'achievement' of manhood through carnal brasses and kettle drums, in a quiver-inducing cover version of Spencer Davis Group's classic track 'I'm A Man'.

Review: Across four artists and four versions, Original Gravity present 'Woolly Bully', a woollen repackaging of the longtime Sam Sham & The Pharoahs classic. Laid down in 1964, this terpsichorean prancer kept to a 12-bar blues progression, and made for the first American record to sell a million copies during the storied British Invasion. Its mixture of skiffly British rock and Mexican-American conjunto was an intentional blend, and a succesful one at that. Its enduring impact is now felt in these rollicking cover versions from Junior Dell, Donnoya Drake, Luchito & Nestor Alvarez and Curtis Baker, all roomy, costume vintage retrofits of the original. Listen closely to the lyrics for strange talk of a mythical creature: the original song's lyrics were so strange that some radio stations banned it for fear of popular befuddlement.

Review: Tokyo's ska and rocksteady revivalists Inokasira Rangers turn in yet one of two more new 7"s after a career-length focus on similar rocksteady cover versions, reworking familiar pop giants with signature Hammond heft. One disc flips Oasis's 'Wonderwall' into a slow burning organ-led instrumental with Dunbaresque, well drummed weft, harking Kingston, Manchester or Tokyo depending on the angle of earshot. For those with a Hammond fetish, The B redoes Todd Rungren's 'I Saw The Light', rendering its melody through an especially resonant organ, clicking keypresses galore.