Review: Alessandro Alessandroni is a library music legend who set the blueprint for the genre early on and then managed to get even more famous because of providing the iconic whistle on famous spaghetti western 'A Fistful of Dollars'. The influential composer and musician had a big say in the world of soundtracks during the 60s and 70sFour Flies have often released his work or covers of it. The tunes on this 7" are taken from an obscure 1975 Italian film by Elio Bartolini. They walk the thin line between disco and funk and jazz-funk with big horn and rhythm sections. Both might have been lost forever if it weren't for the fact that this label put them on the now modern classic and hard to find compilations Esterno Notte and Esterno Giorno.
Review: As part of the RELOVED series from Four Flies - co-curated with fellow indie label Little Beat More - comes one of a handful new reinterpreted versions of Alessandro Alessandroni's 'Tema di Susie', the star soundtrack cut from the 1976 Italian noir film Sangue Di Sbirro. With the film regaling a gangland drama centring on revenge, passion, and the madness of love, Alessandroni's original minute-and-a-half-long cut is an eerily serene counterpoint to its themes and here appears alongside a new remix from French producer Mounika, who fleshes out the original cinematic-soul number's circa-140bpm headnod and serene flauting with beefier drums and wilder piano flourishes; this is a juxtaposition you can hear as clearly as day here, on this A-and-B'd delight.
Review: The Alex Santos Orchestra is a self-described "orchestra" orchestrated for the express purpose of sanctifying one Alex Santos' lifelong love for jazz and Latin music. Following the much loved 'Alex Santos Y Su Orquesta', 2021's next step in Latinizing said quasi-conceptual ensemble, we've now landed in the project's live ambit. 'The Alex Santos Orchestra On Tour' captures just two live highlights from a much more recent outing (given the mystification surrounding the project, this may or may not have happened). Whatever the case, these recordings span both potentialities, retaining something of a highly-strung Hammond organ come upfront-drumkit drama on the B-side, 'Mr Clean', and an equally stirring version of the main theme from 'The Godfather' on the A.
Review: There's not a lot of information out there about Arcade of Serpe, so let's skip the back story and cut to the chase. If that's really an appropriate turn of phrase here. Nothing about Cave Adventure feels rushed. Nothing. In fact, it's quite the opposite, opening on dub-wise bass and playful organs, the atmosphere - somewhere between lackadaisical, come down, BBQ, and psychedelic - subtly rises, although not to a crescendo as much as a delicate fade out after a few minutes strutting to the funk-laden groove. Flip it to find more explorations in the sonic ether, with 'Unicorn Rider' smoothly stepping out into a surreal track that uses space and emptiness to accentuate the noises that are there, which mirror, if not directly reflect, the opening title tune. It's quiet, but you won't forget it in a hurry.
Review: ATA Records, camped out in Leeds, formed in 2014 by Neil Innes in a formerly disused garage on the outskirts of town. Described as an "Aladdin's Cave of vintage 1960s recording equipment", we've little intel on how exactly Innes chanced upon ownership of such a stockpile, but what we do know is that he soon set about recording these songs exclusively to 2" tape, and using mid-century recording techniques to yield that ever-so-knowable vintage crunch, so native to 60s and 70s funk, soul and soundtrack music. Perhaps a somewhat fictive alias, Kaunas Baltic Connect and the Sorcerers are two such tributary acts to the library archives of yore (KPM, Cavendish, Burton, etc.), and here they lay down 'Baby, I Don't Care' and 'Kaunas Baltic Connect', two fervent fracases packing riffy synth leads and seat-edge strings, nodding to the "brooding menace of Poliziotteschi and Euro-crime movies".
Review: Vintage synthesiser fetishists Belbury Poly were last on record with author Justin Hopper and folk musician Sharron Kraus back in 2019 for the superb Chanctonbury Rings album. Here we're treated to a reissue of their very first EP Farmer's Angle from 2004, all magical electro-folk and left of centre new sound worlds that combine both new and old.
Brian Bennett & Alan Hawkshaw - "Name Of The Game" (4:25)
Dave Richmond - "Confunktion" (4:38)
Review: Measured Mile is a new 7" label run by regular Ace consultant and confidante Bob Stanley. The plan is to release DJ-friendly 45s that are either very rare or previously unavailable on seven-inch. On this new one come two pieces from esteemed library musicians - the well known pairing of Alan Hawkshaw and Brian Bennett, and Dave Richmond. 'Name Of The Game' is a slow instrumental blues piece with beats ready to be plundered for hip-hop beats that once soundtracked a 1970s aftershave ad, while Richmond's 'Confunktion' is a motivational builder-upper with drums and organs aplenty.
The Phoenix (Kenny Dope Fantastic Souls mix) (4:31)
Kraken (3:41)
Kraken (Kenny Dope Fantastic Souls mix) (3:32)
Review: Kay-Dee Records comes at us with a 45 double-hitter, presenting Bert Hector's 'The Phoenix' and 'The Kraken' with Kenny Dope on remix duties. On the first record, we're treated to 'The Phoenix', a sure-fire funk gem with a super-warm sound - beat is as cool as it gets, with a laid-back and funky attitude sitting beneath a joyous intermingling of sitar, flute, brass and guitar, all performed at expert levels. 'The Kraken', meanwhile, channels a killer groove, strutting at 85 bpm and incorporating a huge brass section which pumps loud, while flute solos and funky Wah-guitar chops take things up a notch.
Review: Arising phoenix-like from the flames of a film soundtrack originally thought to have been lost in a blaze, 'Psychose' and its partner in crime 'Oh! Lord' now come as the latest reissued musical tidbits from French jazz fusion masters Cortex. Though the name of the film for which they composed these two tittilating trinkets is unknown, the vibe of the picture is certainly inferable from the tracks' light restlessness and hard-to-pin-down contrast. Bright clavs, electric pianos and rough-edged drums whirl about both mixes in stereo-optimized fashion, sultrily portraying the headspace of a 70s street urchin with a chromatic relish for life.
Dengue Dengue Dengue - "Oasi Nella Giungla" (4:21)
Giuliano Sorgini - "Oasi Nella Giungla" (2:51)
Review: Library musician Giuliano Sorgini originally wrote music for films, TV and documentaries, and between 1974 and 1976 he laid the foundations for this jungly rhythmic opus. Then in 1975, meandering through a series of animal calls and wild forested textures, a series of entrancing rhythmic pieces emerged from the dark. The collectors' favourite Africa Oscura is now reissued via Four Flies, and is the impeccable album from which these two choice, mix-worthy cuts come.
Review: El Michels Affair continues their reign of reimagined Wu-Tang Clan classics with 'Duel of the Iron Mics', which gets a dramatic makeover on the A-side, with hypnotic piano hooks complemented by stirring strings. The flip offers a fresh take on 'Bring Da Ruckus', transforming its raw energy with mind-bending bass notes and amplified organ hooks. These tracks foreshadow the brilliance of El Michels Affair's Enter the 37th Chamber, which marks its 15th anniversary in 2024, paying homage to the Wu-Tang legacy while carving out their own unique sound in the process. It's a testament to their mastery of musical reinvention and a must-listen for fans of both groups.
Review: The small but potent Tramp label is back with more irresistible gems from Frederic Rabold Crew. The bad was formed in 1968 and went on to soon become big names in the German jazz scene of their era. The crew travelled a lot throughout Europe and between 1972 and 1980 dropped an impressive six studio albums. It is 1975's Open House record that is pillaged for the two singles presented here after they have been served up as part of Tramp's spiritual jazz compilation album Peace Chant which is as worthy of your attention as this 7".
Review: Portland band The Hemloks deal in a specialty take on the genre of funk: lo-fi twangers with a Western verve. 'Outlaw's Theme' is a 7" single that is both good, bad, and ugly; through plodding wah licks and root-note returns, and with true grit, it searches for a place to dance in the sun.. B-side 'Seaweed', meanwhile, plunges us underwater, dub-delaying its lead guitar line for another less-than-clean yet no less infectious slice of West Coast funk.
Review: Nick Ingram is a criminally lesser-spotted artist whose credits stretch back to 1998, among which include his various instrumental and production contributions to the band The New Electrics, as well as single contributions to compilations by NME and Melody Maker. But Dynamite Cuts here call 'Trip Wire' and 'Throng' two tracks expressly made for TV soundtracking - never heard before, they reveal Ingram's repertoire in library scoring; the former track is a feverish trip-funker, packed with twang guitar and yodelling flutes, while the latter is a chromatic instrumental soul-jazz number starring a deeply haunting counterpoint, shared equally between synth and voice.
Basil Kirchin & Jack Nathan - "Viva La Tamla Motown" (3:50)
Alan Parker & William Parish - "Main Chance" (3:05)
Review: KPM Music might just be one of the most expansive music libraries out there, boasting a whopping 30,000 exclusive music tracks for licensing. Some of their earliest pieces are being reissued by Measured Mile, the latest of which appears here in the form of a split 7" by four of the label's most treasured contributors. 'Viva La Tamla Motown' helms up the A-side with wonky, laboured drumming and an excitable rock n' rolly guitar and harmonica. 'Main Chance' brings up the B with a more loungeified flutey strutter.
Review: Los Sospechos first dropped 'Jano's Revenge' on Colemine back in 2010, and it's since gone on to become a stone-cold classic of heavy funk played by the most discerning DJs. Now it's finally getting a limited repress on green marbled vinyl, giving you a fresh opportunity to savour the sweet, soulful sound and share it with the world. There's a timeless quality to this instrumental and its spiritual cousin 'Mirror Door' on the flip, where the brass section takes the leads and hammers out hooks to sink your teeth into.
Review: Adding to the niche interest of Italian film soundtrack reissues, centring on the reissuers Four Flies, comes Milano: Il Clan Dei Calabresi - a 7" single featuring two tracks from the 1977 Italian crime film Milano: Il Clan Dei Calabresi. The pieces were composed by Gianni Marchetti, an Italian composer widely known for his work in various genres of cinema. Both the funky, infectious main theme of the film, and the romantic 'La Fine Di Un Sogno' for classical flute and strings, appear on this exquisite artifact.
Review: Dynamite Cuts' current reissuing efforts once more focus on the legacy of the classic library label De Wolfe Music, this time selecting three choice songs from Frank McDonald and Chris Rea, two esteemed musicians who together debuted these cuts while forming a part of the in-house De Wolfe label ensemble, Patchwork. All three numbers are nighttime alleyway slinkers, recalling, in their finger-snapping funk palette, a slick combo of flared trousers, leather jackets, sunshaded visages and strange bumps in the night.
Review: Stridulum (aka. The Visitor) is a 1979 sci-fi horror that featured a star-studded cast including Mel Ferrer, John Huston, and Shelley Winters. The score was written by Italian composer Franco Micalizzi and while the movie wasn't a huge commercial success, the soundtrack became a favourite amongst collectors even if Micalizzi is still best known for his Poliziotteschi scores and collaborations with director Umberto Lenzi. His trademark sound was still there for all to hear and now three key cuts form it are pressed up to this special 7".
Review: Brooklyn based Mighty Eye welcomes the Michael Leonhart Orchestra - which features some 20+ musicians - for their first single since 2018, although the collective has put out three albums in that time. These two cuts on this 45rpm are the first and second movements in Michael Leonhart's The Normyn Suite #1, which is a soundtrack to the five stages of grieving and is both a celebration and a requiem. The soundtrack is inspired by the death of an old dog and first appeared on The Normyn Suites album. Here it is expanded with the original brass, woodwinds, and strings now siting with choir and found percussion as well as gritty breakbeats from Nick Movshon.
Review: Despite the label Farfalla's starting focus on unearthing library music of old, they've thrown a curveball on releasing this new one from guitarist and producer Orgasmo Sonore, who's a contemporary artist, more in the field of making library-esque music. Sonore's first seven or so albums were literally quite consistently (usually) all called something along the lines of Revisiting Obscure Library Music, in which the artist re-produced many of the genre/discipline's star classics. Now, however, we hear two entirely original cuts, 'Pop Sensation' and 'Sounds In The Night', both shimmering neo-synth-jazz cuts with spring-verbed Fenders and watery stabs.
Review: Following a near two-year absence from vinyl, the usually prolific Misha Paniflov is back on Funk Night Records with another nostalgic 45 rooted in deep funk, library music, cinematic soundtracks and psychedelia. The Estonian first offers up 'Dr Juvenal's Solution', a jaunty and genuinely heavy dancefloor work out marked out by sixties spy-movie guitars, bustling breaks, intergalactic synth sounds and warming bass. He opts for a more laidback, downtempo feel on side B, with stretched out, Peter Green style guitar solos and meandering Moog lines reclining atop a bittersweet backing track.
Review: At first an obscure library music curio made by Keith Papworth under the aegis of Music De Wolfe - the brainchild of Dutch composer and oboist Meyer De Wolfe - Hard Hitter long flew under the radar as Papworth's unsung instrumental funk magnum opus, that is, until it was reissued in 2022 by Fat Beats, and again now by Dynamite Cuts. We'd wager that it was the Fat Beats reissue that really cemented the legacy of this gem, which placed its intensely sampleable funk breaks in the context of NYC hip-hop culture, cementing its legacy as a favourite sample source for beatmakers, not just a simple and enduring joy in the realm of hard-hitting library funk.
Review: Latest in the Italian soundtrack reissues crop comes this pair of tracks from the soundtrack of Un Uomo Dalla Pelle Dura (The Boxer), a 1972 film directed by Franco Prosperi and starring Robert Blake and Catherine Spaak. Composed by Carlo Pes - who was also the guitarist of the infamous quartet I Marc 4, who probably played on this session as well - 'The Riff' and 'Bossa Party' are are light-footed, drum-led funk number and a piano-led supernova respectively. Perfect accompaniments for the subject of a disgruntled boxer fighting for his dignity.
Review: Prepare to tune in and freak out with this psyched out funky brilliance from the Farfalla label. Pleasurewood is behind it and the a-side is a dark, 60s tinged spy theme tune with Italo echo-oscillator drone that comes alive with bleeping bass and breakbeats and then a mystical world of tremolo guitars, ostinato on electric mandolas, rich strings and more all colour the vibrant airwaves. 'White Spiritual' is just as psyched out and has a touch of The Doors to its hippie rhythms and spaced out synths. Two characterful tracks that will melt minds and move bodies.
Review: James Francis Marion Jones was a Black American religious leader whose movement turned into the Church of Universal Triumph, Dominion of God. During the fifties, he hosted his own weekly television shows in Detroit on a Sunday afternoon, making him the first black preacher to do so. His late night sermons were full of passion and power, and half a century on they are as fascinating as ever. On each side of this reissued 12", extended live recordings of two speeches are presented, meaning those who want to hear them won't have pay upwards of L800 on second hand sites, as they would have up until now.
Review: Skeme Richards delivers a throwback to the golden age of funk with 'Hayes Turner On The Run'. Side-1 features the titular track, an epic 70s-themed piece with a powerful beat, a vibrant horn section and a funky bass and guitar riff, key moments punctuated by an electrifying sax solo, making it feel like the ultimate theme song of the era. Side-2's 'A Bookie Named Janice' offers a groovy blend of funk and soul, highlighted by scintillating guitar work reminiscent of the late 60s. With a hippie psychedelic West Coast slant and big drum fills, this track encapsulates the essence of that transformative period, capturing the spirit and sound of classic funk.
Review: Dirty Harry is one of the greatest Western characters of all time and the main title theme from the movie is just as brilliant. Here it gets pressed up to a fiery and funky 7" that follows on from one on this same label back in summer which offered up 'Scorpio's View' on 45rpm. This one opens with the eponymous theme which is a funky and thrilling chase with superb rhythms and lush strings and then the flip is 'Magnum Force' (main Title) which is more subtle and slow burning but just as dramatic.
Review: Dynamite Cuts brings the heat once more with a second volume of their Sound Music 45s series. Siegfried Schwab takes care of the A-side with 'Getting High', a scorching funk workout with hard-worked guitar chords and precise percussion over lots of wah-wah effects. 'Feel It; flip the script with a superbly stripped-down jazz-funk lounge sound. Klaus Weiss then steps up on 'Time For Rhythm' with some loose, percussive funk beats that are raw and organic, then Peter Thomas closes down with 'Documentation', a more richly instrumental and multi-layered jazz-funk sound that conveys real grandeur.
Review: Dynamite Cuts brings the heat once more with a second volume of their Sound Music 45s series. Siegfried Schwab takes care of the A-side with 'Getting High', a scorching funk workout with hard-worked guitar chords and precise percussion over lots of wah-wah effects. 'Feel It; flip the script with a superbly stripped-down jazz-funk lounge sound. Klaus Weiss then steps up on 'Time For Rhythm' with some loose, percussive funk beats that are raw and organic, then Peter Thomas closes down with 'Documentation', a more richly instrumental and multi-layered jazz-funk sound that conveys real grandeur.
Review: Back in the 60s and 70s, library music exploded as a genre. It saw plenty of talented musicians make extra cash by laying down endless instrumental grooves for use in TV, film and radio. The King Underground label is now digging into the vast vaults for a new series of releases of some of the finest sounds from the era. The first 45 features tracks considered to be 'dramatic' from John Scott and Tony Kinsey. Scott's 'Milky Way' opens up with cosmic chords and sweeping strings that take you to the stars while 'Star Voyage' has a more busy lead. Kinsey's 'Kaleidoscope' builds the tension with multiple movements from several instruments.
Review: The JalapeNo label sure does like it hot and this one is no different. It sees the return of label regulars Skeewiff for a new series of outings that take the form of reworked covers of some of their favourite library tracks, inspired by greats of the genre such as Keith Mansfield, Brian Bennett, and Alan Hawkshaw. First up is 'Exclusive Blend,' a rather classic instrumental composition by Mansfield. 'Spanish Flea' is on the flip and is a version of a very famous work by Herb Alpert and his Tijuana Brass Band. It's a funky take with lots of percussive energy and big strings.
Review: SOLO 500 is back on their own self-titled label with the third entry in Galaxy Sound Company's series and again it digs deep into jazz-funk to turn out some killer breaks. Up first is the main theme from 1974's subway hijack movie The Taking Of The Pelham One Two Three and it is one with a funky, jazzy, high-octane sound that has been sampled by Company Flow, Mix Master Mike and many more. On the backside is an edit of a tune from Manfred Mann Chapter Three's self-titled 1969 LP. This one has been famously sampled by The Prodigy. Another great little 7".
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