Back catalogue: Funk/Reissues

Review: Tunes Delivery is a sub-label of Scruscru's Scruniversa and now it enters into the world with a fantastic first offering in the form of this six-track various artists EP. 'Hotmood' opens up with the feel-good disco-funk of 'Just Tonight,' Scruscru keeps it real with 'Funky Flute' which is a nice languid instrumental and Frank Virgilio up the ante with some big horn-laced grooves. The flip side then comes on strong with three more brilliantly musical grooves that brim with catchy riffs and fresh disco-infused rhythms. A great start to what is sure to be a great label.

Review: Original Gravity strides into 2025 with this electrifying debut release from I Ragazzi. The limited 45 rpm has been crafted by the talented Neil Anderson and the title cut 'Terremoto' on the A-side bursts with funky, soulful energy that promises to keep floors moving and grooving all night long. It has big drums, crashing hits and driving Hammond organ stabs that never let up. On the flip, things get a little more laid back with 'Via Appia' which is led by more great organs, this time with swirling horn sounds and an inviting rhythm.

Review: Debut release on the Canadian label imprint from two Icons Of Hip Hop with the the debut 45 with Otis . This 45 draws on hip-hop's golden moments drenched in soul samples .Up first on 'Otis', which is offered up as a vocal mix on the A-side. It's three minutes of beat-making perfection with muted horns sampled throughout, raw back-and-forth bars and dusty drums with plenty of guttural soul. Flip it over for the massive funk instrumental which is stripped of the mic-work and allows the rawness of the classic 6t's soul sample to really shine through.A great start to what is sure to be an essential label for hip-hop heads.

Review: Following their surprise reunion and Strut-release album We Be All Africans last year, Idris and The Pyramids return... This time on Max Weissenfeldt's Philophon imprint. Laying down a spiritual arrangement so frenetic and full of its own life it takes up two parts, Idris's sax plays duet with Philophon's own vocalist Guy One. Gutsy, raw and full of surprises, it's another out-of-body experience from the longstanding jazz troupe.

Review: It is always a highly anticipated event when Ikebe Shakedown drop new music and that is the case here once more. First up they tackle a legendary Ennio Morricone track as the A-side. Their take on 'Adonai' retains all the Western soundtrack charm of the original but with added horns, plenty of filthy but funky guitar riffs and a driving rhythm section sure to make its mark on the club. 'Waiting For The Storm' is a brand new cut that slows things down on the flip with jumbled drums and loose claps making for a more sensuous sound.

Review: Possibly arriving from the same source as those Originals seven inches comes the Rare imprint with a Ronseal approach to their releases i.e. this 45 slaps two highly sought after diggers delights on either side. The horn and string heavy funk disco of IMP Express's "8-1" makes a reappearance after Kon & Amir used it on a BBE comp a while back and it's joined by the equally jaunty "Keep On Moving" from Phillip & Llyod. Only 300 of these for the worldwide independent record shop network so don't sleep!

Review: The backstory to this one is great. It starts in 1978 when a New York producer was in need of some studio musicians to lay down some fast and funky rhythms for a band he was working with, The Imperials. Minneapolis talents Andre Cymone and Prince Rogers Nelson duly stepped up and recorded 'Fast Freddy The Roller Disco King'. An album from the Imperials was set to follow but it never did, leaving us with this one majestic cut. It's soul-drenched and cosmic disco with a killer vocal back with a more leggy and slow-motion cosmic wonder, 'I Just Wanna Be Your Lovin' Man.'

Review: The In Sound Company are in top form on this free new serve ing of 7" funk. It is heavily psyched out stuff for the heads with Yael Lavie the featured guests to kick us off on the time track. The drums splash and crash, the rugged guitar snakes below and the whole thing has a raw but real sense of seduction with plenty of subtle Turkish rock overtones, to our ears. Project Gemini's Paul Osborne plays bass on 'Our Tin Can Rocket'. It is a more driven flip side with whirring guitar pedals and hard biting drums for maximum club clout.

Review: Two insane slices of disco funk from the late 70s/early 80s, Salsoul and Fraternity have collaborated to release this very special 45. Not only is this the first time either track has appeared on 7", but they're also massively influential in sample culture. Instant Funk's "Funk Is On" comes complete with a lavish swinging breakbeat that most will recognise in the work of Stetsasonic but it's Gaz's "Sing Sing" that wins the most-sampled trophy, having appeared everywhere from Wu-Tang's "It's Yourz" to Wamdue Project's "King Of My Castle" to Kylie Minogue's "Speakerphone"! Two legendary slices of history, one special "7... The funk is well and truly on!

Review: Milanese quartet The Invisible Session has a proven track record of delivering soulful nu-jazz workouts, with each successive release displaying a different range of influences (think jazz-funk, soul-jazz, Afrobeat, spiritual jazz and so on). So what do they have in store for us this time round? In its original form (side A), 'People All Around The World Can Make It' is a deliciously languid, fluid, sun-splashed number that effortlessly joins the dots between Afro-soul, soul jazz-and jazz-funk - all spiritual group vocals, Tony Allen-style drums, punchy horns and spacey synthesizer flourishes. The accompanying 'studio live take' is stripped-back affair that adds attractive delay trails to the horns, removes the vocals and prioritises the Fela-inspired groove. In other words, it's effectively their take on a reggae style 'riddem' version. Proper.

Review: Ipa-Boogie's self titled album is a super rare one that is super expensive even if you do manage to find a copy. Thankfully, for the first time ever on 7" vinyl, Acid Jazz kindly serve up short versions of 'Get The Music Now' and 'Africa', which both come from said full length. These are some of the only recordings known from this obscure band, and they first came in 1978 but still sound ahead of their time. This release, it is also worth noting, kicks off a new 45 series from Acid Jazz entitled Albarika 45, which will focus on many rare singles and unknown versions throughout the forthcoming year.

Review: We haven't heard any new music from super soul group The Ironsides since back in 2020. Boy, how the world has changed dance then, Anyway, their sound has not and is just as life-enriching as ever across these two new tunes. First up is the glorious 'The Changing Light' with its lush sounds and catchy melodies and then on the flip is 'Sommer' which is just as able to melt your heart. The good news is they also have a new album coming on the label either next year or the year after so keep those eyes and ears peeled.

Review: From soul to disco, pop to balladry, Athens Of The North can do it all, and often much better than most. Another exhibit to back that up now comes in the form of this 7" from Isabr'm and his 'If I Had You.' It's a straight up bit of boogie fire, with soul overtones good enough to suit the L850 plus you will pay if you try to get an OG copy. Next to that superb a-side is 'Nothing At All' on the flip, a sombre track with aimless sax leads conveying a sense of romantic loss.

Review: Originally released back in 1968, Freddie Scott's "(You) Got What I Need" is a US soul staple that went on to be sampled by late '80s rapper and beat boxer Biz Markie on his breakout track "Just A Friend." Scott's track came some five years into a successful singing career and featured production from celebrated duo Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. It's paired up on this 7" with another track that was later popularised in hip hop, Ike & Tina Turner's "Get Nasty". Depending on your view of late '90s hip hop, you'll either fondly remember how Jurassic 5 sampled this track for "Concrete Schoolyard" or jolt at being reminded of Chali 2NA's somewhat grating vocal delivery.

Review: Fledgling label Daje Funk is sure to turn heads with their second sizzling offering of edits, with Rome's Massimo Berardi and Mexico's The Funk District both stepping up to the buttons. Truckin' Company's "Got The Feeling" is a loopy and rolling funk gem that keeps the energy up as strings soar to the skies and a squelchy bassline keeps you locked. The Funk District takes care of the flip with a top tweak of Izk Eyes's "Ton Of Groove", which is an appropriate title: big brass sections to shake your booty, a buttery male vocal and busy guitar licks all drive it forward through big breaks and killer drops.

Review: Famed for their thrilling, dancefloor-friendly fusions of West African funk and disco, American electrofunk and post-punk pop, Ibibio Sound Machine is one of the most exciting and essential bands of recent times. It's for this reason that "Doko Mien", the Eno Williams fronted band's first album for two years, is so hotly anticipated. Happily, we can confirm that it's another stunning set, with Williams and company charging through a set of sizzling songs that wrap kaleidoscopic synths, rubbery bass, fiery horns and off-kilter funk-rock guitars around grooves that variously doff a cap to '80s electro, Italo-disco, jazz-funk, Tony Allen and thrusting, mind-altering mutant disco. In other words, it's another must-have collection of cuts from the London-based band.

Review: Three men with experience of playing as part of the Phenomenal Handclap Band, Embassy Sound Productions and Kings Of Convenience come together for this new project, Incarnations, and With All Due Respect is a fantastically smooth, soulful and thoroughly Yacht Rock-esque album. Echoes of Steely Dan, Shuggie Otis and the Doobie Brothers abound, as well as an appreciation of laidback tropicalia, especially on "I Didn't Know". Not cheesy in the slightest, this unlikely project is the real deal and a perfect new find for anyone hooked on classic 70s soul.

Review: The Ipanemas fifth album 'Call Of The Gods' on the Far Out label, is a gorgeous slice of Brazilian vintage magic and clearly invokes the spirit of their 1962 debut 'Os Ipanemas'. Back then they forged their own unique sound by infusing bossa nova with African traditions, jazz instrumentation and the lyrical themes of Samba-Canção [sung samba]. 'Call of the Gods' exquisitely captures their self styled 'afro-bossa' sound of the 1960s, conjuring up that golden age Rio de Janeiro feel. The Ipanemas are a direct link to the old samba roots of the street bars in bohemian Lapa, the 1950s Copacabana jazz joints, and the emerging bossa wave. Wilson and Neco come from the source and made a sound all their own. Crucially, the album is driven throughout by the deep spiritual kick of the Afro-Brazilian religion and music Candomble, whose Gods inspire the title and so much more, as Wilson says 'Brazilian music is religion'. This album swings with grace and pure class, thanks to the rich experience only The Ipanemas can bring.

Review: Recorded at a time when Japan was in the midst of an intense love affair with all things jazz-funk, this long lost album by Cuban band Irakere (which was recorded in Japan in 1980) has been lovingly brought back into stock by the diggers supreme at Far Out Records.
Having formed in Cuba in 1973, Irakere brought their fusion of jazz and Afro-Cuban funk to these recordings, which were put together by Japanese bandleader Chikara Ueda (notable for having been sampled by Phoenix on "If I Ever Feel Better". The recordings certainly bear a distinctive Japanese quality to the production (sounding similar to Sadao Watanabe's 80's output), but Irakere's funk certainly punches through as well. Opener "Cuba Libre" sounds like an out-take from Curtis Mayfield's Superfly sessions complete with some tight Latin percussion, while "Sea Mail" is looser and blessed with some inspired alto-sax solo's.
The calm and sanguine "Que Pasa?" really shows off the clarity and perfection of the recording techniques, with every rim shot and guitar pluck picked up perfectly and clearly - rarely has this style of music been recorded in such a meticulous way. "Gospelanza" is another real highlight, as two separate pianos panned left and right duel with each other before the brass takes over and does the same. It's a magic moment on an album full of unexpected delights - a very worthwhile reissue indeed.