Juno Recommends Funk / Reissues March 2021

Review: Mukatsuku label labels latest release showcases some typically funky workouts from Black Milk Music regular LTF AKA Light The Fuse, a Siberia-based beat-maker known for the deepness of his samples and the dopeness of his productions. Both these tracks lifted from Rucksack Records Monolith long player and here features on A-side 'King of Funk' is a bombastic tribute to James Brown that peppers a weighty, bass-heavy boom-bap beat with sharp, effects-laden horns and razor-sharp guitar licks. It sounds a little like a long lost late 80s NYC hip-hop club instrumental, which is no bad thing. B-side 'Give Them Some Horns' is deeper, hazier and jazzier, with dusty sax and trumpet samples riding layered percussion and a typically head-nodding beat. As played by DJ Koco ,Bobbito & The Allergies

Review: We know that there are tons of re-edits around and some tend towards the pointless, but it's always worth paying attention with the editor involved is Danny Krivit AKA Mr K. His edits are rarely less than brilliant, in part because the veteran New Yorker is usually able to breathe new life into classic cuts just through rearrangement and occasional use of additional instrumentation. 'Street Player', his latest rework of the Chicago classic of the same name, is a brilliant example of this. We all know and love the original, but Krivit's take is vastly different thanks to a lengthy, percussion-heavy build up and next to no chorus. It's a genuinely brilliant revision. Over on the flip he presents a short 'breakdown edit' of a sweaty old James Brown jam.

Review: To mark the fifth anniversary of Black Buffalo Records, Jorun Bombay has decided to remake some of the earliest mash-ups and remixes he released on the imprint, with this "45" boasting a fresh take on 2016 single 'Concrete Jungle (Boogie)' - a genuine dancefloor killer that peppers a punchy, up-tempo hip-hop beat with elements of Kool and the Gang classic 'Jungle Boogie'. Arguably even better is A-side 'Celebration in the Heart', a borderline genius fusion of two of the best-loved party classics of all time: Dee-Lite's 'Groove is in the Heart' and Kool and the Gang's 'Celebration'. Like mixing peanut butter and jam, it just works.

Review: Sample-digging mash-up maestro Jorun Bombay has decided to mark the fifth anniversary of his Black Buffalo Records imprint by offering up a string of seven-inch singles featuring some of his most sought-after bootleg reworks. He kicks off the first instalment in the series with 'NBTT', a head-nodding, toe-tapping gem that elements of Biz Markie's 1987 single 'Nobody Beats The Biz' with tough-but-bouncy new beats and subtle instrumental samples. Over on the flip there's a chance to savour 2016 single 'Fliplight', a killer hip-hop style revision of Parliament classic 'Flashlight' that's guaranteed to get dancefloors poppin'.

Review: Athens Of The North is unveiling a whole wealth of new 7"s this month and as usual, each and every one is an essential purchase. This one in particular will resonate with a wide audience thanks to the ubiquity of the source material - Luther Vandross's 'Never Too Much.' There have been many versions over the years but this reggae take from Derrick Cross is special indeed, and an OG will costs basically too much for any sane person. Now a fully legit repress makes it accessible to all once more, and hurrah for that.

Review: Matasuna Records' latest release isn't a reissue of an ultra-deep Latin or Afro-funk gem from the dim and distant past, but rather fresh Renegades of Jazz reworks of cuts from two top-notch contemporary outfits, Brownout and Jungle Fire. It's the former who feature first, with Renegades of Jazz delivering a B-boy friendly dancefloor rearrangement of their horn-heavy soundtrack funk number 'Flaximus'. Turn to the B for a more expansive remix of Jungle Fire's Latin-funk and psychedelic rock inspired number 'Comencemos'. The revision is as infectious and tuneful as you'd expect, with enough low-end weight to suggest that it will sound suitably heavy over more sizable soundsystems.

Review: If fresh synth-funk inspired by shimmering sounds of the 1980s is your thing, you should already be well aware of sometime Star Creature, Omega Supreme and Neon Finger regulars First Touch. Here the boogie and electrofunk-loving German crew pops up on Dr.MaD and Walla P's Voyage Funktastique imprint for the very first time. A-side 'You Got It Baby' is emotive and effervescent, with soulful female vocal snippets, glassy-eyed chords and colourful synthesizer flourishes rising above squelchy bass and unfussy drum machine beats, while fliside 'Crampjuice' sounds like a loved-up fusion of the hard-wired club cuts of D-Train and the 21st century synth-funk revivalism of Dam Funk.

Review: Ryuhei The Man has been utilising his scalpel skills a lot of late, in the process offering up a string of floor-friendly re-edits that stay true to the original ethos of the artform. Here he offers a re-arrangement and extension of Erma Franklin's scintillating 1969 cover of Doors classic "Light My Fire", subtly looping up some key instrumental passages before unleashing the original's righteous horns and Franklin's fine vocal. By doing this, the dusty-fingered Japanese DJ/producer has managed to make the too-short original - which is of course featured on the flip - much more suitable for dancefloor spins. Most of his edits are good, but this one is genuinely extra-special.

Review: The Acid Jazz label opens it archives to turn out this magnificent slice of northern soul from the legend that is Dean Parrish, a man who sold over a million records and worked with the likes of Jimi Hendrix. It's 10 years old but still bangs and is maybe one of the best records of his career. The psychedelic 'It's Time - Purple Mountain Majesty' is a hard hitting tune with layers of percussion, amour nines, bendy guitar riffs and soaring vocals that have female backings for extra richness. The version on the flip is more tense, steamy and rousing.

Review: Amerigo's The Big Payback series finds him bring together some fantasy all stars for his "J.B. and The Soul Mates" tribute concept. Here, James Brown's music is reworked, edited and chopped together with the work of hip hop giant Notorious BIG. It results in speaker blasting, floor filling, ass wiggling jams that mash up all the most iconic verses and choruses from each singer with their most recognisable guitar riffs, drum breaks and samples. It's a colourful collage that is as fun as it is funky.

Review: While much turn-of-the-80s electro-funk was inherently futuristic in tone, the music gathered together on Soul Jazz's latest compilation, "Space Funk", is particularly intergalactic. The venerable London label has searched in particular for cuts from obscure independent labels that bear all the hallmarks of "Afro-futurism" - a musical and cultural movement that would later inspire the birth of techno in Detroit. The quality of the material remains dizzyingly high throughout, with our picks including the bleeping, slap-bass-propelled brilliance of Frank Cornilius' "Computer Games", Egyptian Lover/Jamie Jupitor's signature electro style on "Computer Power", the starry jazz-funk of Ernest Flippin II's "Supersonic Space Lady" and the guitar-laden P-funk strut of Below Zero Band's "Seven (We Are)".

Review: Selected from thousands of singles, World Circuit brings together the greatest recordings from Colombia's legendary record label Discos Fuentes, recorded between 1950 - 1988 on Cumbia Cumbia 1 & 2 . The label was founded in Cartagena in 1934 by Antonio Lopez Fuentes and was long considered the most important in the country, becoming a significant outlet for Colombian music, and responsible for thousands of hits over six decades. Fuentes hand-picked musicians and singers to perform on his immaculate productions, which were all recorded in-house. Existing since the 17th century, Cumbia is the music and dance synonymous with Colombia.

Review: Q.A.S.B."is a funk and soul group that formed in Tokyo in 2005 and is influenced by James Brown, Kool & The Gang, and Sly & The Family Stone. They have put out four albums before now and they can do nice smooth groovers as well as more mellow and laid back tunes for home listening. 'Escape' and 'Gotta Believe' is their latest single release from late last year now finally making its way to wax. The a-side has dazzling synths next to more organic and dusty rhythm work with funky licks leading the way and the flip is similar with its cosmic rays and nice loose limbed beats. Both have been subtly reworked here.

Review: Two monolithic slabs of sizzling funk right here... "Rigor Mortis" takes the lead. A cover of Cameo's 1977 lonesome dancefloor classic, the minute the staccato riff is plucked, you know you and your dancefloor are in for a treat. Complete with a lavish horn section (that's played by BPJ's own stepdaughters on all accounts), it's a quintessential example of cover version perfection. Sided with the equally funky "Too Cool To Be True", this 45 won't hang around for long at all.

Review: Props to new label Smiling C, which debuts with a thrilling collection of tracks by obscure 1980s Moroccan rapper Shams Dinn. Originally, the label intended just to re-issue his sole single, 1987's brilliant electro-funk/rap hybrid "Hedi Bled Noumo", but quickly discovered that he had a wealth of unreleased material ripe for release. These six previously unissued tracks, which mostly join the dots between original New York electro, synth-pop, P-funk and boogie with a few trademark North African touches, are all on a similar tip to his most famous outing. More impressively, they're all unbelievably hot dancefloor workouts that deserve wider recognition. In other words, you need this in your life.

Review: is an incredibly hard to find Australian jazz-funk & latin tinged 45 - It rarely turns up anywhere, which is why originals listed fetch upwards of $500AUD. The A-side was written by master Australian-Czech trumpeter/composer Miroslav Bukovsky (Renee Geyer, Marcia Hines, the list goes on) Coupled with the original, more Latin-tinged B-side, which was written by highly regarded fellow Australian jazz composer, arranger, drummer, cornettist and vibraphonist John Sangster, this was one of a few 45s The Life Organisation recorded. This 2020 re-issue 7" single comes in a custom-made pink outer cover-sleeve featuring a single line pencil drawing by Sydney artist Bradley O'Brien.